Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/211

 9" S. VII. MARCH 16, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

203

" In sul Tamigi " is too indefinite an expres- sion to locate the depository of the relic least of all on London Bridge.

7. To whomdoes Scartazzini allude (' Danto- logia,' p. 406) at the close of the following sentence?

"Tra gli imitator! di Dante vanno annoverati i sommi poeti di tutti i secoli posteriori, incom- minciando dal Petrarca, il quale soggiacque mal suo grado all' influenza della ppesia Dantesca nelle ' Rime,' e si fece imitatore di Dante nei ' Trionfi,' e giu giii sino al poeta geniale cui oggi 1' Italia accorda fl primo posto tra' suoi poeti viventi."

J. B. MCGOVERN.

St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.

P.S. Since writing the above the news has been received of Dr. Scartazzini's death. The event is an irreparable loss to Danteian literature, and should at least be recorded in 'N. & Q.' His judgment did not always commend itself to students of his favourite author, but he leaves no peer amongst them in industry and scholarship.

EDMUND SPENSER, ' LOCRINE,' AND

4 SELIMUS.' (Continued from p. 144.)

MARLOWE not only borrowed much from 'The Faerie Queene,' but what he borrowed frequently parallels or is marked by signs of the same distinctive character as are to be observed in the adaptations of Spenser in are, as I take it, of sufficient authority in themselves to establish a common authorship for 'Selimus' and the work that goes under Marlowe's name. Fortunately, however, we have very strong corroborative testimony in favour of Marlowe's claim, as I shall show further on.
 * Selimus.' These marks and these parallels

Note how 'Faustus ' and * Selimus' borrow kindred material from the same canto of Spenser's poem, and how this material helps to give expression to the atheism that is rampant in both plays.

The following partly describes the appear- ance of Sir Trevisan after his escape from the Miscreaunt :

In fowle reproch of knighthoodes fair degree About his neck an hempen rope he weares, That with his glistring armes does ill agree.

Book I. canto ix. stanza xxii. Compare :

Methought, Mustaffa, I beheld thy neck, So often folded in my loving arms, In foul disgrace of Bashaw's fair degree With a vile halter basely compassed.

' Selimus,' 11. 2227-30.

The rope was put about Sir Trevisan's neck by the Miscreaunt, who was using all his

wiles to tempt the knight to destroy himself. In 'Faustus' we are to imagine Mephisto- philis or the Evil Angel acting similarly with the Doctor, and with the same motive : Then gan the Villein him to overcraw, And brought unto him swords, ropes, poison, fire, And all that might him to perdition draw, &c.

Stanza 1. Compare :

"Faustus, thou art damn'd!" then swords, and

knives,

Poison, guns, halters, and envenom'd steel Are laid before me to despatch myself.

Dyce, p. 88, col. 1, ed. 1604. When his victims showed signs of waver- ing, the Miscreaunt, to draw them to perdi- tion, would show them

painted in a table plaine

The damned ghosts that doe in torments waile, And thousand feends, that doe them endlesse paine With fire and brimstone, which for ever shall

remaine. Stanza xlix.

Marlowe did not believe in hell : with him it was " a trifle and mere old wives' tale " (see Dyce, p. 87, col. 1), and Faustus further calls it^a fable " (same page and col.). More- over, Spenser's description of the torments of the damned is remembered in the speech of the Evil Angel, p. 133, col. 2, commencing Now, Faustus, let thine eyes with horror stare, &c. Compare 'Selimus' with 'Faustus,' as well as with Spenser : No, no, I think the cave of damned ghosts, Is but a tale to terrify young babes ; Like devils' faces scor'd on painted posts, ' Or feigned circles in our astrolabes.

Lines 428-31.

The comparison could be carried much further, but what I have said will serve to show how intimately ' Selimus ' can be con- nected with ' Faustus.' In ' Selimus ' Corcut the Philosopher seems to be a first faint shadowing of Dr. Faustus, just as Barabas of 'The Jew of Malta' is the full develop- ment of Abraham the Jew poisoner.

A long string of parallels could be adduced to show how closely Marlowe copied ' The Faerie Queene ' but I have only room to deal with those that connect themselves with 'Seliraus.' Yet here is one, noted by Mr. Bullen, which may be fitly compared with some of the coincidences I have brought from 'Selimus ' and Spenser : He lowdly brayd with beastly yelling sownd, That all the fieldes rebellowed againe : As great a noyse, as when in Cymbrian plaine An heard of bulles whom kindly rage doth sting, Doe for the milky mothers want complaine, And fill the fieldes with troublous bellowing.

Book I. canto viii. stanza xi. I'll make ye roar, that earth may echo forth The far-resounding torments ye sustain ;