Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/110

 84 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 S. X. FEB. 4, 1922. resemblance between this passage and the following (where they are again asso- ciated together and catalogued amongst the objects most fatal to mankind) is striking : The mandrake's shrieks, the aspic's deadly tooth, The tears of crocodiles, or the basilisk's eye Kill not so soon, nor with that violence As he who, &c. (' Believe as You List ; III. iii.) 2. Calista : Our amity increasing with our years. Compare : My fondness still increasing with my years. -,' Great Duke of Florence,' V. iii.) Her excellence increasing with her years, too. (' Duke of Milan,' IV. iii.) 3. Dorothea : Knows every trick and labyrinth of desires That are immodest. Compare : . . . since I wander'd In the forbidden labyrinth of lust. (' Fatal Dowry,' IV. iy.) To guide me through the labyrinth of wild passions. (' Great Duke of Florence,' II. i.) ... of approved cunning In all the windings of lust's labyrinth. (' The Picture,' II. ii.) . . . wander in the wild maze of desire. (' Bondman,' II. i.) 4. Dorothea : Or pleasures that do leave sharp stings behind them. Compare : Such embraces As leave no sting behind them. (' Parliament of Love,' III. ii.) Such delights As leave no sting behind them. (' The Guardian,' II. iii.) There are plenty of other marks of Massinger's vocabulary, such as the use of the word " apostata," " at the height " {Your pride being at the height ") and " registered " ("to be hereafter registered as a goddess "), all of which are constantly met with in his plays. Scene ii. This scene (all in metre) is also Mas- singer's. Note, almost at the beginning : 1. (A shout within : loud music. A rtemia : What means this shout ? Sapritius : 'Tis seconded with music. Compare : (Shouts within : then a flourish of trumpets. Cleon : What shout's this ? Diphilus : 'Tis seconded with loud music. (' Bondman,' I. iii.) 2. Theophilus : I am ravished With the excess of joy. Compare : . . . oh, I a,m overwhelmed With an excess of joy. (' Bashful Lover,' III. iii.) Impute it ... to the excess Of joy that overwhelm'd me. (' Picture,' III. ii.) 3. Theopldlus : . . . as my feet were rooted hero, I find 1 .have no motion. Compare : Stephana : How the Duke stands ! Tiberio : As he were rooted there, And had no motion. (' Duke of Milan,' III. iii.) he stands As if he wanted motion. (76 id., IV. iii.) You stand, madam, ! As you were rooted. (' Guardian,' I. i.) . . . yet you stand As you were rooted. (' Bondman,' V. iii.) 4. Theophilus : Do not blow The furnace of a wrath thrice hot already. I This is akin to " pouring oil on a fire burning already at the height " (see Act I., sc. i.) and is used by Massinger even more fre- quently. ' Three examples will suffice : 'Tis far From me, sir, to add fuel to your anger, That, in your ill opinion of him, burns Too hot already. (' Maid of Honour,' II. i.) Do not fan A fire that burns already too hot in me. (' Guardian,' II. ii.) That will bring fuel To the jealous fires which burn too hot already In Lord Leosthenes. (' Bondman,' V. i.) 5. Artcmia : We are not so near reconciled unto thee ; Compare : Who is not so far reconciled unto us As in one death to give a period To our calamities. (' Maid of Honour 1, ' II. iv.) What will you do ? . . . Not kill thee, do not hope it : I am not So near to reconcilement. (' Guardian,' III. vi.) Scene iii. This scene presents no difficulty. It con- sists chiefly of prose dialogue between Hircius and Spungius. There is one speech of Angelo's in metre, and, after his departure, Harpax enters speaking in metre, while Hircius and Spungius continue to speak in prose. Both prose and verse are clearly Dekker's. The prose contains Dekker's hard- worked punning allusions to shoes and cobblers (" set many a woman upright," " trod'st thy shoe awry," " taking the length of my foot," &c.), and to " catchpoles," i.e., sheriff's officers, another
 * Thou shalt not perish such an easy way.