Bussy D'Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois Part 30

=60=, 119. =greatnesse with him:= high place in his favour.

=62=, 13. =Boots of hay-ropes.= Bands of hay were sometimes wrapped round the legs, to serve instead of boots. Cf. Ben Jonson's _Every Man in his Humour_, I, 2. _Step._ But I have no boots . . . _Brainworm_. Why a fine wisp of hay roll'd hard, Master Stephen.

=62=, 18. =a redhair'd man:= a deceiver, traitor; so called from the representation of Judas in tapestries, and probably on the stage of the Miracle plays, with red hair.

=63=, 23. =put them up:= start them from their cover.

=63=, 28. =That . . . clapdish:= That keeps regal state, though sprung from beggary. A clapdish was a wooden dish with a lid, carried by beggars and lepers, which they clapped to announce their approach.

=63=, 46. =Venting . . . Hebrew:= putting the best product of his livings to the reverse of its intended use. Hebrew is read backwards.

=65=, 69. =that popular purple.= An allusion to the Duke's robe, which was of royal purple, to impress the populace.

=65=, 76. =He's n.o.blier borne.= "n.o.blier" has been here subst.i.tuted for "n.o.bly." The parallel phrases in the preceding lines are all comparatives, "better," "more," "greater," and Bussy, in the second half of this line, cannot mean to deny that Guise is of n.o.ble birth.

=65=, 79. =Cardinall of Ambois.= The Cardinal Georges d'Amboise was in reality Bussy's great-uncle.

=66=, 84. =great in faction:= active in promoting leagues.

=66=, 86-87. =Be a duke . . . field.= A play, of course, on the original meaning of Duke, as _Dux_ or _leader_.

=67=, 108. =the Hermean rod:= the caduceus or rod of Hermes, with which he parted two fighting serpents, whereupon they embraced and stuck to the rod.

=69=, 144-47. =and as this . . . pride.= An allusion to the myth of the giant Typhoeus who, according to one version, was created by Hera alone, in anger at the birth of Pallas from the head of Zeus. He was killed by Zeus with a flash of lighting, and was buried in Tartarus under Mt.

Etna.

=69=, 154. =make scapes to please advantage:= commit escapades, and thereby give points against themselves.

=69=, 155-56. =women . . . candels:= women who make the worst accomplices to men.

=70=, 157. =their women:= their waiting-women.

=71=, 187-88. =as far as an unkle may.= Guise is uncle to the lady Beaupre. Cf. note on II, 2, 18.

=74=, 243-44. =Come . . . courted.= These words are whispered by Monsieur to Pero. The rest of his speech is spoken aloud as if in disgust at the rejection of advances made by him to Pero.

=74=, 244. =dry palm:= a sign of chast.i.ty.

=77=, 311. =I have the blind side of:= I can play on the weakness of.

=78=, 325. =engag'd in some sure plot:= involved in the toils of some plot securely laid against him.

=78=, 330. =Train . . . wreak:= allure D'Ambois within reach of his revenge.

=80=, 375. =angell of my life:= an allusion to the tutelary genius. For a similar use of _angel_ cf. _Ant. and Cleop._ II, 3, 21.

=81=, 383. =rais'd without a circle.= If a necromancer, before raising a spirit, drew a circle within which he stood, he was secure against its power.

=82=, 406. =which I have still in thought:= which is always with me, as far as my thoughts are concerned.

=84=, 445-46. =to force . . . estates.= With the punctuation adopted _And . . . throats_ is a clause parenthetically inserted in the main statement, and the meaning is: to get possession of estates by foreclosing mortgages, and thus destroying their owners. The Qq have a comma after _possessions_, and no brackets in the following line.

=84-85=, 448-49. =quarrell . . . Ajax.= A reference to the well-known episode in Sophocles' _Ajax_.

=85=, 453. =make them of a peece:= make them complete.

=85=, 464-66. =which not to sooth . . . Thou eat'st.= An anacoluthon.

=85=, 465. =And glorifie . . . Hammon.= Probably an allusion to the adoration of Alexander the Great as the son of Jupiter Ammon by the priests of this originally aethiopian deity, at Thebes in Upper Egypt, in B. C. 331.

=86=, 473. =like a scrich-owle sing.= The screech of the owl was supposed to be an omen of death to the hearer. Cf. _Macbeth_, II, 2, 3-4.

=87=, 500. =to that wall:= at the distance of that wall.

=87=, 507. =her breathing rock.= Dilke explains this as "the distaff from whence she draws the thread of life," but though this is evidently the meaning required, it is difficult to extract it from this obscure phrase.

=87=, 510. =Defil'd . . . soule.= Another instance of confused imagery, which yields no satisfactory meaning.

=89=, 28. =which=, sc. time.

=90=, 35. =princely mistresse:= the d.u.c.h.ess of Guise.

=90=, 39. =Your servant:= D'Ambois.

=90=, 52. =in high formes:= on stools of disgrace.

=91=, 55. =great eagles beak.= Cf. III, 2, 4.

=91=, 57. =her . . . liver.= A double allusion, as Dilke has pointed out, to the story of Prometheus, and to the conception of the liver as the seat of the emotions.

=92=, 77. =with a traine:= by a stratagem.

=93=, 84. =gus.h.i.+ng.= Used here transitively, qualifying _laws_, and governing _blood_.

=93=, 87. =bare . . . hammes:= the uncovered heads and cringing postures of sycophants.

=93=, 98. =Armenian dragons.= Chapman is fond of locating fabulous monsters in Armenia. Cf. II, 1, 118-19.

=94=, 115. =almighty aether.= Probably a reminiscence of Virgil, _Georg._ 2, 325, _pater omnipotens aether_.

=94=, 120. =Nay, they are two.= Monsieur, while saying this, makes two horns with his fingers.

=95=, 126. =a meere Cynthia:= a perfect moon-G.o.ddess.

=96=, 138. =The plague of Herod.= Cf. Acts XII, 23, "And he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost."

=98=, 180. =thus, with his fingers.= Cf. note on l. 120.

=98=, 181-83. =comes . . . slew:= if he is the source of the blot on my honour, it becomes a beauty, not a blemish, and proves that I posses the same innocence that caused the death of.