Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/228

 182 NOTES AND QUERIES. ti 2 s.ix. 8^.3,1021. of some (if slight) value as corroborative evidence of Webster's authorship of both plays. References are to the pages of vol. iv. of Dyce's edition of Middleton's works. Act I., sc. i. p. 419. Lord Beaufort reproves Sir Francis Cressingham for marrying again only a month after the death of his first wife, whom he describes as : . . . one that, to speak the truth, Had all those excellencies which our books Have only feign' d to make a complete wife Most exactly in her practice. In this vague reference to " our books " I suspect an allusion to Sir Thomas Over- bury 's poem ' A Wife.' Webster borrows a line from this poem* both in his preface to ' The Duchess of Malfy ' and in ' The Devil's Law Case,'f &nd many a passage in his plays reveals his familiarity with the ' Characters ' published with it. p. 419. A sentiment from the ' Characters ' will be found in the concluding lines of this very speech. Lord Beaufort warns his friend that he is likely to regret his marriage with the new Lady Cressingham, who is only 15 years of age and has been " bred up i' the Court," adding : . . . you shall make too dear a proof of it I fear, that in the election of a wife As in a project of war, to err but once Is to be undone for ever. Of ' A Worthy Commander in the Warres ' we read : He understands in warre there is no mean to erre twice ; the first and least fa^lt being sufficient to ruin an army. It is to be noted that other aphorisms from this character of ' A Worthy Com- mander ' (one of the 1615 additions to Overbury's ' Characters ') reappear in Webster's ' Devil's Law Case ' and ' Monu- mental Column.' p. 420. Speaking of Lady Cressingham, Lord Beaufort observes : She was not made to wither and go out By painted fires that yield her no more heat Than to be lodg'd in some bleak banqueting house I' the dead of winter. A similar allusion to " painted fires " will be found in ' The Devil's Law Case,' IV. ii. (Hazlitt's ' Webster,' vol. iii. 84) : As void of true heat as are all painted fires. Webster has slightly altered the phrasing. t Act I., sc. i. (Hazlitt's ' Webster,' vol iii., p. 10). p. 420. Sir Francis Cressingham's praise of his wife : I confess she was bred at Court, But so retiredly, that, as still the best In some place is to be learnt there, so her life Did rectify itself more by the court-chapel Than by th' office of the revels, recalls several passages in Webster's works, and particularly Icihus's description of Virginia in * Appius and Virginia,' I. ii. (III. 135), as: . . . one whose mind Appears more like a ceremonious chapel Full of sweet music, than a thronging presence, . . . her port, Being simple virtue, beautifies the court. p. 420. Sir F. Cressingham continues : . . . best of all virtues Are to be found at court ; and where you meet With writings contrary to this known truth, They're fram'd by men that never were so happy. To be planted there to know it. That this was Webster's opinion we may gather from a remark attiibuted to Romelio in ' The Devil's Law Case,' III. iii. (III. 60) : Indeed the court to well-composed nature Adds much to perfection. p. 421. The entry of Water-Camlet brings us to a patch of prose. Water-Camlet speaks of his wife making his collection of silkworms (then no doubt somewhat of a novelty) an excuse for introducing gallants into his house : Lord Beaufort :. . . how thrives your new plantation of silk-worms ? those I saw last summer at your garden. W'-Cam. : They are removed, sir. L. Beau. : Whither ? W.-Cam. : This winter my wife has removed them home to a fair chamber, where divers courtiers use to come and see them, and my wife carries them up. This allusion will be found again in Webster's part of ' The Fair Maid of the Inn,' II. i. : ... in England you have several adamants to draw in spurs- and rapiers : one keeps silk-worms in a gallery ; a milliner has choice of monkeys and paraquitos, &c. p. 422. Water-Camlet twits Sir Francis Cressingham with his fantastic projects, amongst which he mentions : Your devising new water-mills for recovery of drowned land. a palpable reference to the scheme of the projector Meercraft in Jonson's play, ' The Devil is an Ass.' This play evidently made a great impression upon Webster, for he twice borrows from it in ' The Devil's Law Case.'* Law Case," 'US. vii. 106.
 * " Gentry is but a relique of time past.'
 * " See my note on The Date of " The Devil's