Endnotes

  1. This distinguished Florentine, degraded into a personification of unscrupulous policy, was frequently appealed to on the Elizabethan stage ↩

  2. The Due de Guise, who had organised the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572, and was assassinated in 1588. ↩

  3. Old ed. “Samintes;” modern editors print “Samnites,” between whom and the “men of Uz” there can be no possible connection. We have Saba for Sabraea in Faustus [see p. 195]. —⁠Bullen ↩

  4. Count. ↩

  5. Seldom seen. ↩

  6. It was an ancient belief that a suspended stuffed halcyon (i.e. kingfisher) would indicate the quarter from which the wind blew. ↩

  7. Enter them at the custom-house. ↩

  8. Freight. ↩

  9. Scrambled. ↩

  10. The scene is here supposed to be shifted to a street or to the Exchange. ↩

  11. I.e. Foolish. ↩

  12. Misquoted from Terence’s Andria, iv. 1, 12. The words should be “Proximus sum egomet mibi.” ↩

  13. The scene is supposed to be inside the council-house. ↩

  14. Bashaws or Pashas. ↩

  15. I.e. Haply. ↩

  16. Refuses. ↩

  17. Convert. ↩

  18. Violent emotion. ↩

  19. Dyce suggests that on the Jews’ departure the scene is supposed to shift to a street near Barabas’s house. ↩

  20. I.e. Repair. ↩

  21. Foolish. ↩

  22. Portuguese gold coins. ↩

  23. I.e. Sex. ↩

  24. The old edition has † inserted here, presumably to indicate the sign that Barabas was to make with his hand. ↩

  25. The scene is before Barabas’s house, now turned into a nunnery. ↩

  26. We have a kind of echo of this in Shylock’s “My daughter, O my ducats,” etc. ↩

  27. I.e. Treat. ↩

  28. Freight. ↩

  29. I.e. Did not lower our flags. ↩

  30. Old ed. “Spanish,” ↩

  31. Old ed. “left and tooke.” The correction was made by Dyce. ↩

  32. Established. ↩

  33. The scene is the market-place. ↩

  34. This recalls Shylock’s “Still have I borne it with a patient shrug.” ↩

  35. Defiled. ↩

  36. Pieces of silver coin. ↩

  37. An allegorical character in the old moralities. ↩

  38. I.e. Break off our conversation. ↩

  39. Barabas was represented on the stage with a large false nose. In Rowley’s Search for Money (1609) allusion is made to the “artificiall Jewe of Maltaes nose.” ↩

  40. Use. ↩

  41. I.e. In good earnest. ↩

  42. Dyce supposes a change of scene here to the outside of Barabas’s house. ↩

  43. Affianced. ↩

  44. A piece of money with a cross marked on one of its sides, like the Portuguese cruzado. ↩

  45. Satisfied. ↩

  46. The scene is the outside of Bellamira’s house, and it is suggested that she makes her appearance on the verandah or on a balcony. ↩

  47. The scene is a street. ↩

  48. Brave. ↩

  49. The scene is a room in Barabas’s house. ↩

  50. “Prior” in the old editions, which both Dyce and Bullen follow. Cunningham substituted “governor,” which is evidently correct. ↩

  51. The scene is still within Barabas’s house, but an interval of time has elapsed. ↩

  52. I.e. Portendeth. ↩

  53. I.e. In short. ↩

  54. The juice of ebony, formerly regarded as a deadly poison. ↩

  55. The scene is the interior of the council-house. ↩

  56. Cannon. ↩

  57. The scene is the interior of the convent. ↩

  58. I.e. Hated. Formerly the word was in common use in this sense. ↩

  59. Artifice. ↩

  60. This was a crime of which the Jews were often accused, especially, according to Tovey (in his Anglia Judaica), when the king happened to be in want of money. ↩

  61. The scene is a street in Malta. ↩

  62. I.e. Equal to. ↩

  63. Attics; lofts (Latin, solarium). The word is still in use in some parts of England and in legal documents. ↩

  64. Ithamore. ↩

  65. Convent (as in “Covent Garden”). ↩

  66. The scene is a room in the house of Barabas. ↩

  67. The old edition has “save,” but from Barabas’s retort, “You would have had my goods,” the word is most likely a misprint. ↩

  68. It would appear from the following scene that the body was stood up outside of the house. ↩

  69. The scene is outside Barabas’s house. ↩

  70. Succeed. ↩

  71. The scene is a verandah of Bellamira’s house. ↩

  72. Brave. ↩

  73. The verse which criminals had to read to entitle them to “benefit of clergy,” and which was usually the first verse of the 51st Psalm. ↩

  74. I.e. Looking on. ↩

  75. Sermon. ↩

  76. Mustachios. ↩

  77. A derogatory expression often found in writers of this period. ↩

  78. Hasty. ↩

  79. A quibble upon “realm” and “kingdom”; “realm,” which was often written without the l being commonly pronounced “ream.” ↩

  80. A musical term. ↩

  81. Dyce suggests that the scene is a room in Barabas’s house, but as Barabas presently enquires of Pilia-Borsa when he shall see him at his house, their meeting probably takes place in the street. ↩

  82. Tattered. ↩

  83. Knavery (from cazzo). ↩

  84. Swindling. ↩

  85. Reckoning. ↩

  86. The scene is a verandah or open porch of Bellamira’s house. ↩

  87. I.e. On. ↩

  88. A familiar Bacchanalian exhortation of doubtful origin. ↩

  89. A corrupt passage. “Snickle” is a noose or slipknot, and the word is commonly applied to the hangman’s halter, and to snares set for hares and rabbits. Cunningham proposed to read “Snickle hard and fast.” ↩

  90. Dainty, sweet. ↩

  91. Judas is said to have hanged himself on an elder-tree. ↩

  92. The scene is inside the council-house. ↩

  93. The scene is outside the city walls, over which Barabas has been thrown in accordance with Ferneze’s orders. ↩

  94. Old edition⁠—“truce.” Dyce printed “trench.” ↩

  95. The scene is an open place in the city. ↩

  96. Lower. ↩

  97. I.e. Treat. ↩

  98. The scene is here supposed to shift to the governor’s residence inside the citadel. ↩

  99. The scene is outside the city walls. ↩

  100. Cannons. ↩

  101. The scene is a street in Malta. ↩

  102. The stick which held the match used by gunners. ↩

  103. Slaves. ↩

  104. The scene is a hall in the citadel, with a gallery at the end. ↩

  105. I.e. Intended. ↩