The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus Part 14

[Footnote 62: thorough-- So one of the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "through."]

[Footnote 63: country-- So the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "land."]

[Footnote 64: desir'd-- So the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "desire."]

[Footnote 65: Enter WAGNER, &c.-- Scene, a street most probably.]

[Footnote 66: pickadevaunts-- i.e. beards cut to a point.]

[Footnote 67: by'r lady-- i.e. by our Lady.]

[Footnote 68: Qui mihi discipulus-- The first words of W. Lily's AD DISCIPULOS CARMEN DE MORIBUS,

"Qui mihi discipulus, puer, es, cupis atque doceri, Huc ades," &c.]

[Footnote 69: staves-acre-- A species of larkspur.]

[Footnote 70: vermin-- Which the seeds of staves-acre were used to destroy.]

[Footnote 71: familiars-- i.e. attendant-demons.]

[Footnote 72: their-- So the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "my."]

[Footnote 73: slop-- i.e. wide breeches.]

[Footnote 74: vile-- Old ed. "vild." See note || p. 68.

[Note || from page 68 (The Second Part of Tamburlaine the Great):

Vile-- The 8vo "Vild"; the 4to "Wild" (Both eds. a little before, have "VILE monster, born of some infernal hag", and, a few lines after, "To VILE and ignominious servitude":--the fact is, our early writers (or rather transcribers), with their usual inconsistency of spelling, give now the one form, and now the other: compare the folio SHAKESPEARE, 1623, where we sometimes find "vild" and sometimes "VILE.")]

[Footnote 75: vestigiis nostris-- All the 4tos "vestigias nostras."]

[Footnote 76: of-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]

[Footnote 77: me-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]

[Footnote 78: he lives-- So the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "I liue."]

[Footnote 79: why-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]

[Footnote 80: Solamen miseris, &c.-- An often-cited line of modern Latin poetry: by whom it was written I know not.]

[Footnote 81: Why-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]

[Footnote 82: torture-- So the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "tortures."]

[Footnote 83: Faustus-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]

[Footnote 84: Bill-- i.e. writing, deed.]

[Footnote 85: Here's fire; come, Faustus, set it on-- This would not be intelligible without the a.s.sistance of THE HISTORY OF DR. FAUSTUS, the sixth chapter of which is headed,--"How Doctor Faustus set his blood in a saucer on warme ashes, and writ as followeth." Sig. B, ed. 1648.]

[Footnote 86: But what is this inscription, &c.-- "He [Faustus-- tooke a small penknife and p.r.i.c.kt a veine in his left hand; and for certainty thereupon were seen on his hand these words written, as if they had been written with blood, O h.o.m.o, FUGE."

THE HISTORY OF DR. FAUSTUS, Sig. B, ed. 1648.]

[Footnote 87: me-- So the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "thee."]

[Footnote 88: he desires-- Not in any of the four 4tos. In the tract just cited, the "3d Article" stands thus,--"That Mephostophiles should bring him any thing, and doe for him whatsoever." Sig. A 4, ed. 1648. A later ed. adds "he desired." Marlowe, no doubt, followed some edition of the HISTORY in which these words, or something equivalent to them, had been omitted by mistake.

(2to 1661, which I consider as of no authority, has "he requireth.")]

[Footnote 89: that, &c.-- So all the 4tos, ungrammatically.]

[Footnote 90: these-- See note --, p. 80.[i.e. Note 25]

[Footnote 91: there-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]

[Footnote 92: are-- So two of the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "is."]

[Footnote 93: fond-- i.e. foolish.]

[Footnote 94: What! walking, disputing, &c.-- The later 4tos have "What, SLEEPING, EATING, walking, AND disputing!" But it is evident that this speech is not given correctly in any of the old eds.]

[Footnote 95: let me have a wife, &c.-- The ninth chapter of THE HISTORY OF DR. FAUSTUS narrates "How Doctor Faustus would have married, and how the Devill had almost killed him for it," and concludes as follows. "It is no jesting [said Mephistophilis-- with us: hold thou that which thou hast vowed, and we will peforme as we have promised; and more shall that, thou shalt have thy hearts desire of what woman soever thou wilt, be she alive or dead, and so long as thou wilt thou shalt keep her by thee.--These words pleased Faustus wonderfull well, and repented himself that he was so foolish to wish himselfe married, that might have any woman in the whole city brought him at his command; the which he practised and persevered in a long time." Sig. B 3, ed. 1648.]

[Footnote 96: me-- Not in 4to 1604. (This line is wanting in the later 4tos.)]

[Footnote 97: no-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]

[Footnote 98: Saba-- i.e. Sabaea--the Queen of Sheba.]

[Footnote 99: iterating-- i.e. reciting, repeating.]

[Footnote 100: And argue of divine astrology, &c.-- In THE HISTORY OF DR. FAUSTUS, there are several tedious pages on the subject; but our dramatist, in the dialogue which follows, has no particular obligations to them.]

[Footnote 101: erring-- i.e. wandering.]

[Footnote 102: freshmen's-- "A Freshman, tiro, novitius." Coles's DICT.

Properly, a student during his first term at the university.]

[Footnote 103: resolve-- i.e. satisfy, inform.]

[Footnote 104: Seek to save-- Qy. "Seek THOU to save"? But see note ||, p. 18.]

[Note ||, from page 18 (The First Part of Tamburlaine The Great):

Barbarous-- Qy. "O Barbarous"? in the next line but one, "O treacherous"? and in the last line of the speech, "O b.l.o.o.d.y"? But we occasionally find in our early dramatists lines which are defective in the first syllable; and in some of these instances at least it would almost seem that nothing has been omitted by the transcriber or printer.--]