Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/229

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

12 s. ix. SEPT. s, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 183 p. 424. Water-Camlet has married a shrew, who keeps a strict watch over all his actions : She has a book, which I may truly nominate Her Black Book, for she remembers in it In short items, all my misdemeanours. We are here reminded of the Cardinal, Honticelso, in ' The White Devil,' III. iii. (II. 76), who also keeps a " black book " : Francisco : It is reported you possess a book Wherein you have quoted, by intelligence, The names of all notorious offenders Lurking about the city. Monticelso : Sir, I do ; And some there are which call it my black book, Well may the title hold, &c. p. 426. Franklin junior tells Lord Beau- fort that he has been encouraged by the Duke of Florence To do him some small service 'gainst the Turk. In the same speech also there is a reference to the trade with the East Indies. Both these allusions are continu- ally cropping up in Webster, especially allusions to service "'gainst the Turk." Thus in ' The White Devil,' IV. iv. (II. 99), Brachiano says to the disguised Francisco : We have heard at full Your honourable service 'gainst the Turk, and in ' The Devil's Law Case,' I. ii. (III. 20), Leonora says of Ercole : . . . his intents are aim'd For an expedition 'gainst the Turk. Cf. also ' W.D.,' IV. iv. (II. 103), ' D.L.C.,' IV. ii. and V. vi. (III. 102, 121). p. 427. When Knavesby, the lawyer, enters, George Cressingham (Sir Francis's son) asks what he is, and Franklin junior replies : a very knave and rascal, That goes a-hunting with the penal statutes. Compare the description of ' A Meere Pettyfogger ' (Overbury's ' Characters,' 1615): ... in a long vacation his sport is to goe a-ftshing with the penal statutes. Knavesby, says Cressingham, is a " scurvy informer " : . . . has more cozenage In him than is in five travelling lotteries. Webster again alludes to " cozening " by means of lotteries in ' A Cure for a Cuckold,' III. i. (IV. 45) : But, when it came to the proof, my gentlemen Appear' d to me as promising and failing As cozening lotteries. and ^ once more in 'The Fair Maid of the Inn,' II. i., vhere the reference is specifi- cally to travelling lotteries. Here the mountebank Forobosco, speaking to the Clown, observes that their cheating does not prosper as it used to do, and the Clown replies : No sure, why in England we could cozen 'em as familiarly as if we had travell'd with a Brief or a Lottery. Franklin junior has been cast adrift by his patron Lord Beaufort and George Cressingham has fallen out with his father. Franklin asks George what is to become of them : G. Cres : Faith- I'm resolved to set up my rest For the Low Countries. Frank, jun. : To serve there ? G. Cres : Yes, certain. Frank, jun. : There's thin commons ; Besides, they've added one day more to the week Than was in the creation. The Pedant who appears in Webster's part of ' The Fair Maid of the Inn ' (IV. ii. ) makes the .same resolution to settle in the Low Countries, and he wishes Foro- bosco (a professed magician) to add yet another day to the week there : Pedant : ... I mean To leave Italy and bury myself in those nether parts Of the Low Countries. Forobosco : What's that, sir ? Pedant : Marry, I would fain make nine days to the week for the more ample benefit ofj the captain. In this Act there are four conspicuous instances of the omission of the relative pronoun in the nominative. Such omis- sions are frequent in Webster's plays. H. DUGDALE SYKES. Enfield. (To be continued.) A JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND IN 1730. (See 12 S. ix. 161.) June 22d 1730 Appleby. At Glasgow I was taken so ill wth a -violent cold catch' d upon Enterkin and sate up so late wth ye worthy honest antiquary, yt I never recover' d it all ye while I staid in Scotld : nor had I leisure or inclination to go on wth my acct till I got home where you find we now tho' I have forty ways to go before Monday ye 28th wn I .shall be to be spoke wth at my warehouse amongst my customers, haberdashing Nouns and Pronouns, till ye 4th of Decemr ; wn please God I be well, and ye weather seasonable, I may perhaps wait upon my Frds at Queen's and detail such particulars of my Scotch Expedition, as my memory may retain till yn, and wd be tedious to insert in a Lr. The Antiquary I spoke of, who shew'd us ye College in ye afternoon was M r Symson, Professor