Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/431

 us. vii. may si, ma] NOTES AND QUERIES. 423 This joke occurs again in Heywood's play, and in exactly the same form :— Wincott. This fellow 'a my best clock, He still strikes true to dinner. Clown. And to supper too, sir; I know not how the day goes tcith you, but my stomach hath struck twelve, I can assure you that. ' The English Traveller,' I. i. Heywood was evidently pleased with it, for it appears again, with a slight differ- ence, in ' The Late Lancashire Witches' (1634), I. i. :— Whetstone. I know not hoic the day goes with you, but for mine own part, my stomach is now much upon li. You know what hour ray Uncle keeps, and I love ever to be set before the first grace, kc. Heywood's ' Dramatic Works,' ed. 1874, iv. 175. In ' The English Traveller ' the joke is carefully "led up to " ; in ' Appius and Vir- ginia ' it is introduced abruptly, and not particularly appropriately. The inference, therefore, is that Webster is borrowing from Heywood, rather than Heywood from Web- ster. ' The English Traveller ' was printed in 1633, though possibly it may have been acted some few years previously. I now come to the uncommon words for which, I submit, Webster was indebted to Heywood. These are confine, dbdure, novel, palpid, thrill, comrague, infallid,. and slrage. None but the first of these words occurs elsewhere in Webster. Redeem a base life with a noble death, And through your lustburnt veins confine your breath. 'A. and V.,'V. iii. (Hazhtt, iii. 221). Or if the general's heart l>e so obdure To an old begging soldier. IV. ii. (205). Marshal yourselves, and entertain this novel Within a ring of steel. IV. ii. (204). his smooth crest hath cast a palpid film Over Rome's eyes. III. i. (167). Let him come thrill his partisan Against this breast. IV. ii. (205). Comrague, 1 fear Appius will doom us to Action's death. IV. ii. (202). upon my infallid evidence You may pronounce the sentence on my side. II. iii. (164). I have not dreaded famine, fire, nor strage,. V. iii. (221). The first four words arc of no use so far as evidence as to date is concerned. I merely draw attention to them here because it is practically certain that Webster got them from Heywood. Confine, v., in the sense of " to banish " or " expel." This is extremely rare outside Heywood's works. Dyce, indeed, believed it to be peculiar to Heywood. It occurs, however, once in Shakespeare, and in Holinshed, and possibly occasional examples- may be found elsewhere. Heywood uses it repeatedly ; but it occurs in his earlier works from 1608 onwards, and Webster had also previously made use of it in 1. 254 of ' A. Monumental Column,' 1613. Obdure, adj. = " obdurate." Heywood uses this adjective four or five times, from 1608 onwards. He has also the verb " to obdure," used transitively ( = "to harden") and in- transitively ( = " to become hard "), as well as the substantive obdurenesn. No other authorities are given in the ' New English, Dictionary,' except O. Darnel, 1639. Novel, sb. — " novelty." Several times in Heywood. Very rarely elsewhere. Palpid, adj. = " that can be felt or per- ceived." Heywood twice uses the expres- sion " palped darkness" — in 'Great Bri- tain's Troy ' (1609) and ' The Brazen Age ' (1613). No other examples in ' New English Dictionary.' For none of the four remaining words can I find any authority earlier than 1630; for the last two, none earlier than 1635. Thrill, v. = "hurl." This occurs twice in Heywood's 'Iron Age,'Part I. (1632), and once in ' Pelopcea and Alope ' (1637); see ' Dramatic Works,' 1874, iii. 299, 316 and vi. 301. Comrague, variant of comrade. In his note on this word in his edition of Webster's plays, Dyce says that he had noticed several instances of its use, but had mislaid all references except one from Heywood and Brome's 'Lancashire Witches' (1634); no other reference, however, appears in ' New English Dictionary,' where it is merely cited as a variant of comrogue—i.e., " fellow-rogue," a meaning here scarcely supported by the context. Injallid, adj. = " infallible." "conclusive." Appears in Hevwood's ' Hierarehie of the Blessed Angels '"(1635), bk. v. SOS : "Infallid testimonies of the wisedome and power of the Almighty." No other authority in ' New English Dictionary,' except G. Daniel, 1639. Strage, sb. = " destruction." "slaughter." Also in ' Hierarehie of the Blessed Angels,' p. 230 : " He presaged the great strage and messaore which after hapned in Sicilia." Heywood again uses it in ' Earth and Age ' (1637):— What broiled ? what strage! what slaughter to d stroy Did this loath'd carkasse breed 'twixt Greece and Troy? ' Pleasant Dialogues and Drammas' (Dial. 3; •Dramatic Works,' 1874, vi. 143).