Volume Iii Part 146 (2/2)

p. 392 _who now cannot supply one_. The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. If Mrs. Behn's complaint about the public is true, James II was, none the less, himself a good friend to the stage, and many excellent plays were produced during his reign. There is, however, considerable evidence that at this period of strife--religious and political, rebellion and revolt --things theatrical were very badly affected, and the play-house poorly attended.

p. 393 _No Woman without Vizard_. cf. Cibber in his _Apology_ (1740), ch. viii: 'I remember the ladies were then observed to be decently afraid of venturing bare-faced to a new comedy, till they had been a.s.sured they might do it, without the risk of an insult to their modesty: or, if their curiosity were too strong for their patience, they took care, at least, to save appearances, and rarely came upon the first days of acting but in masks (then daily worn, and admitted in the pit, the side-boxes, and gallery) which custom, however, had so many ill consequences attending it, that it has been abolished these many years.'

p. 394 _Sice_. Six. The number six at dice.

p. 394 _it sings Sawny. Saunie's Neglect_. This popular old Scotch song is to be found, with a tune, on p. 317, Vol. I, D'Urfey's _Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy_ (1719). It had previously been given in _Wit and Drollery_ (1681). It commences thus:--

Sawney was tall and of n.o.ble race And lov'd me better than any eane But now he ligs by another la.s.s And Sawney will ne'er be my true love agen.

Ravenscroft, in _The London Cuckolds_ (1682), Act iii, introduces a link-boy singing this verse as he pa.s.ses down the street.

p. 394 _There's nothing lasting but the Puppets Show_. About this time there was a famous Puppet Show in Salisbury Change which was so frequented that the actors were reduced to pet.i.tion against it. cf. The Epilogue (spoken by Jevon) to Mountfort's _The Injured Lovers_ (1688), where the actor tells the audience they must be kind to the poet:--

Else to stand by him, every man has swore.

To Salisbury Court we'll hurry you next week Where not for wh.o.r.es, but coaches you may seek; And more to plague you, there shall be no Play, But the Emperor of the Moon for every day.

Philander and Irene are the conventional names of lovers in the novels and puppet plays which were fas.h.i.+onable. It is interesting to note that less than a century after this prologue was first spoken, _The Emperor of the Moon_ was itself being played at the puppet show in Exeter Change.

p. 395 _Doctor Baliardo_. The Doctor was one of the leading masks, stock characters, in Italian impromptu comedy. Doctor Graziano, or Baloardo Grazian, is a pedant, a philosopher, grammarian, rhetorician, astronomer, cabalist, a savant of the first water, boasting of his degree from Bologna, trailing the gown of that august university.

Pompous in phrase and person, his speech is crammed with lawyer's jargon and quibbles, with distorted Latin and ridiculous metaphors. He is dressed in black with bands and a huge shovel hat. He wears a black vizard with wine-stained cheeks. From 1653 until his death at an advanced age in 1694 the representative of Dr. Baloardo was Angelo Augustino Lolli. The Doctor's speeches in _Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune_ (1684), are a mixture of French and Italian.

p. 395 _Scaramouch_. In the original _Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune_ Scaramouch is Pierrot. The make-up and costume of Pierrot (Pedrolino) circa 1673 is thus described: 'La figure blanchie. Serre-tete blanc.

Chapeau blanc. Veste et culotte de toile blanche. Bas blancs. Souliers blancs a rubans blancs.' It will be seen that he differed little from his modern representative. Arlechino appeared in 1671 thus: 'Veste et pantalon a fond jaune clair. Triangles d'etoffes rouges et vertes.

Boutons de cuivre. Bas blancs, Souilers de peau blanche a rubans rouges.

Ceinture de cuir jaune a boucle de cuivre. Masque noir. Serre-tete noir.

Mentonniere noire. Chapeau gris a queue de lievre. Batte. Collerette de mousseline.'

Colombine (Mopsophil) in 1683 wore a traditional costume: 'Casaquin rouge borde de noir. Jupe gris-perle. Souliers rouges bordes de noir.

Manches et collerette de mousseline. Rayon de dentelle et touffe de rubans rose vif. Tablier blanc garni de dentelles.'

p. 397 _your trusty Roger_. cf. John Weever's _Ancient funerall monuments_ (folio, 1631): 'The seruant obeyed and (like a good trusty Roger) performed his Master's commandment.' Roger stands as a generic name.

p. 399 _Lucian's Dialogue_. The famous [Greek: Ikaromenippos hae hypernephelos]--'Icaromenippus; or, up in the Clouds.' Mrs. Behn no doubt used the translation of Lucian by Ferrand Spence. 5 Vols. 1684-5.

'Icaromenippus' is given in Vol. III (1684).

p. 399 _The Man in the Moon. The Man in the Moone_, by Domingo Gonsales (i.e. Francis G.o.dwin, Bishop of Llandaff, and later of Hereford), 8vo, 1638, and 12mo, 1657. This is a highly diverting work. The Second Edition (1657) has various cuts amongst which is a frontispiece, that occurs again at page 29 of the little volume, depicting Gonsales being drawn up to the lunar world in a machine, not unlike a primitive parachute, to which are harnessed his 'gansas ... 25 in number, a covey that carried him along l.u.s.tily.'

p. 399 _A Discourse of the World in the Moon_. Cyrano de Bergerac's [Greek Selaenarchia] _or the Government of the World in the Moon: Done into English by Tho. St. Serf, Gent_. (16mo, 1659), and another version, _The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and Sun, newly Englished by A. Lovell, A.M_. (8vo, 1687).

p. 400 _Plumeys_. Gallants; beaus. So termed, of course, from their feathered hats. cf. Dryden's _An Evening's Love_ (1668), Act i, I, where Jacinta, referring to the two gallants, says: 'I guess 'em to be Feathers of the _English_ Amba.s.sador's train.' cf. Pope's Sir Plume in _The Rape of the Lock_. In one of the French scenes of _La Precaution inutile_, produced 5 March, 1692, by the Italian comedians, Gaufichon (Act i, I) cries to Leandre: 'Je destine ma soeur a Monsieur le Docteur Balouard, et trente Plumets comme vous ne la detourneroient pas d'un aussi bon rencontre.' The French word = a fop is, however, extremely rare. Plumet more often = un jeune militaire. cf. Panard (1694-1765); _Oeuvres_ (1803), Tome III, p. 355:--

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