Notes on the Text.

La Monstre (1686).

p. 4, l. 1 To Peter Weston, Esq. This Epistle Dedicatory and the five complimentary poems which follow are only in the editio princeps, 1686.

p. 12, l. 1 La Monstre. Only in 1686.

p. 12, l. 9 dare. 1697 'dae'. 1735 'do'.

p. 13, l. 14 you will not. 1735 'will you not'.

p. 15, l. 5 Worships. 1735 'Worship'.

p. 17, l. 25 never. 1735 'ever'.

p. 19, l. 30 To give. 1735 'That give'.

p. 20, l. 11 dear Object. 1735 omits 'dear'.

p. 20, l. 18 to the Hour. 1735 omits 'to'.

p. 21, l. 25 so much Goodness. 1686 'Goodness enough', 1697 'Goodness enough to write you enough'. I follow 1735 here as the repetition of 'enough ... enow (enough)' is very harsh.

p. 22, l. 13 Evidences. 1697, 1735 'Evidence'.

p. 23, l. 7 Lover. 1697, 1735 'Lovers'.

p. 24, l. 18 a Heart. 1735 'the Heart', and punctuates with no comma after Heart but after Damon, comma.

p. 29, l. 9 sets. 1735 'set'.

p. 29, l. 10 idle. 1735 omits.

p. 29, l. 12 Melinda. 1686, 1697 'Milinda'.

p. 31, l. 8 shall. 1697, 1735 'should.'

p. 35, l. 26 Sense and. 1735 omits.

p. 35, l. 27 to purchase. 1686, 1697 omit 'to'.

p. 37, l. 4 that. 1697, 1735 'the'.

p. 37, l. 22 never. 1735 'ever'.

p. 40, l. 29 such a sort. 1697, 1735 omit 'such'.

p. 47, l. 9 grow. 1697, 1735 'strow'.

p. 49, l. 29 more. 1697, 1735 'most'.

p. 49, l. 30 Glist'ring. 1697, 1735 'Glitt'ring'.

p. 50, l. 19 recollected. 1735 'collected'.

p. 53, l. 2 Incertainty. 1735 'Uncertainty'.

p. 53, l. 11 Answers. 1735 'Answer'.

p. 53, l. 19 impossible. 1735 'possible', a very patent error.

p. 59, l. 15 the. 1735 'thy'.

p. 65, l. 3 won. 1735 misprints 'now'.

p. 65, l. 7 and. 1735 'tho'.

p. 65, l. 16 unreasonably. 1697, 1735 'unreasonable'.

p. 66, l. 3 happen you. 1735 'happen that you'.

p. 67, l. 8 and Mall. 1735 'the Mall'.

p. 68, l. 26 on me. 1735 'of me'.

p. 70, l. 21 rack. 1686, 1697 'wreck'.

p. 70, l. 23 subvert. 1735 'pervert'.

p. 70, l. 24 To the most tort'ring Jealousy. 1686, 1697 'To tort'ring Jealousie'.

p. 73, l. 4 vanisht. 1735 'banish'd'.

p. 73, l. 21 a Peace. 1735 omits 'a'.

p. 74, l. 17 Imaginations. 1735 'Imagination'.

p. 75, l. 27 unimitable. 1735 (here and elsewhere) 'inimitable.'

p. 75, l. 32 Katharine. 1735 'Catharine'.

p. 75, l. 34 Heighth. 1735 'Height'.

p. 75, l. 35 Meads. 1735 'Meadows.'

p. 76, l. 29 Morland. 1735 'Moreland'.

p. 76, l. 30 Gorden. 1735 'Gordon'.

p. 81, l. 23 toucht. 1735 'taught'.

p. 82, l. 34 to tie. 1697 'to die'.

p. 83, l. 14 believ'd. 1735 'believe'.

p. 86, l. 11 it. 1735 'they'.

p. 88, l. 13 never. 1735 'ever'.

p. 89, l. 3 Odour. 1686, 1697 'Ardour'.

p. 91, l. 8 Fundamentals. 1735 'Foundations'.

p. 94, l. 4 Sent from Damon to Iris. 1697, 1735 both omit this. 1697 on separate title reads: 'The Whole Art of Charming.'

p. 95, l. 18 Iris's. 1697, 1735 'The Lady's'.

p. 95, l. 32 its. 1735 'their'.

p. 98, l. 29 of it weaves a Chain, not easily ... 1697 'if it weaves a Chain, not easily ...' 1735 'if it weaves a Chain, 'tis not easily ...'

p. 100, l. 2 Monarchs. 1735 'Monarch', 1697 'Monarchs guest'.

p. 105, l. 11 softest. 1697, 1735 'softer'.

p. 106, l. 25 Wit and Youth! 1735 'Wit and Truth!'

p. 106, l. 26 Love and Truth. 1735 'Love and Youth'.

Poems Upon Several Occasions (1684).

p. 115, l. 3 Viscount Cramborn and Baron of Islington. So 1684; but 'Cramborn' should be 'Cranborn', and for 'Islington' we should read 'Essingdon.' Possibly Mrs. Behn sent the Dedicatory Epistle to press as an afterthought at the last moment and did not see a proof. Though she was frequently careless, such mistakes as 'Cramborn' and 'Islington' would seem to be chargeable to her printers.

p. 125, l. 32. Forsake their Kinds. Query 'their Kids'.

p. 130, l. 33. E'er they're. 1684 'E'er their'.

p. 139, l. 5. The Gray-Plum'd Natives of the Shades. So 1684, but we should doubtless read 'Gay-Plum'd'. cf. l. 2 of sixth stanza: 'little Gay-wing'd Loves.'

p. 144, l. 11 The Sun and Spring receive but our short Light. This, the reading of 1684, is clearly corrupt but can be easily mended by changing 'receive' to 'revive'.

p. 147, l. 8 the rushing of the wind-blown leaves. On p. 171, l. 23, we have 'Whispering Gales Sigh through the Rushing Leaves.' Mrs. Behn uses 'rushing' in the sense of 'rustling'.

p. 150, l. 17 From Active Joyes with some they hast. The words 'with some' are meaningless and corrupt. Query 'eftsoon'.

p. 154, l. 25 Like Pan, a Majesty. 1684 'Like Panna, Majesty'.

p. 177, l. 15 Gold and Grain. Probably a misprint for 'Golden Grain'.

p. 181, l. 21 Priapus. 1684 'Priapas'.

p. 182, l. 11 All that the Gods e'er made, if Fair. Query 'e'er made of Fair'.

p. 183, l. 28 Astrae. Misprint: the old copy rightly gives 'Astrea.'

p. 183, l. 30 I slept. Muses Mercury (May, 1707), 'I saw last night a pretty sight'.

p. 183, l. 32 Stars. M.M. 'Eyes so bright'.

p. 186, l. 5 are. Misprint: read, with the old copy, 'art.'

p. 194, l. 31 Not add. Query 'Not au' (i.e. Not all).

p. 200, l. 17 were throng. Query 'were throng'd'.

p. 206, l. 20 decry. Misprint: read, with 1684, 'descry'.

p. 207, l. 12 and Kill. 1684 'a Kill'.

p. 218, l. 1 we part. 1684 'me part'.

p. 219, l. 14 thee and I. The bad grammar has not been changed, as it may be due to Mrs. Behn's carelessness.

p. 222, l. 2 Hadst. 1684 'Hads'.

p. 224, l. 25 That, best instructs. 1684 'instruct'. (The comma after 'that' is unnecessary, but Mrs. Behn used it to emphasise the word—here and in the following line.)

p. 225, l. 12 ne'er to visit more. 1684 'near to visit more'.

p. 227, l. 4 whether. i.e. (as frequently) 'whither'.

p. 230, l. 28 barely wishing. Query 'dearly wishing'.

p. 230, l. 33 Love gives. 1684 'give'.

p. 231, l. 18 treads. 1684 'tread'.

p. 232, l. 32 Kisses. 1684 'Kiss'.

p. 233, l. 13 Mad. 1684 'Made'.

p. 235, l. 17 In modest Speech, as might well subdue. Corrupt. Query 'Modest in Speech, such as might well subdue.'

p. 247, l. 2 Says. 1684 'Say'.

p. 250, l. 5 replies. 1684 'reply'.

p. 251, ll. 1-2 the dumb and silent languishes, Are predic'd, which so well explain the Heart. The word 'predic'd' is very suspicious. Taking 'languishes' as a substantive (and deleting the comma), we might change 'predic'd' to 'produc'd' (with the accent on the first syllable).

p. 253, l. 3 Winter. 1684 'Winters'.

p. 253, l. 7 All bleek and cale. In a Pastoral to Mr. Stafford, (p. 383), we have: 'In summer let the Boughs be cale and dry.'

p. 258, ll. 1-2 who's lovely Face Disdain'd the Beauties of the common race. So 1684; but 'Disdain'd' may be a misprint for 'Distain'd' (outshone).

p. 272, l. 28 And let her Feet weep my neglect away. Corrupt. We should doubtless read 'And at her Feet weep my neglect away'.

p. 273, l. 10 hear. 1684 'here'.

p. 278, l. 5 hallow'd. 1684 'hollow'd'.

p. 280, l. 10 wear. 1684 'were'.

p. 284, l. 7 Inspiring Love, inciting. 1684 'Inspiring my Love inciting.'

p. 285, l. 28 soft breath'd. 1684 'oft breath'd'.

LYCIDUS (1688).

p. 302, l. 35 no one place could continue her. So 1688; but 'continue' may be a misprint for 'contain'.

p. 327, l. 4 Now. 1688 'How'.

p. 344, l. 18 This there. 1688, but query ''Tis there'.

p. 345, l. 19 wert. 1688 'wers't'.

p. 352, l. 23 'Twas youth, 'twas wit, 'twas Beauty. 1688 'was Beauty'.

p. 360, l. 12 Amintas. M.M. (April, 1707), 'Amyntas,' and throughout.

p. 360, l. 15 conquer'd. M.M. 'conquer'.

p. 361, l. 5 stoln. M.M. 'stole'.

p. 361, l. 27 with which. M.M. 'wherewith'.

p. 361, l. 29 That may declare. M.M. 'which may disclose'.

p. 362, l. 2 Lovers. M.M. 'shepherds'.

p. 362, l. 4 softer. M.M. 'ruder'.

p. 362, l. 5 By the sad purling ... M.M. 'There, there, my Soul, by some still Rivulet'.

p. 362, l. 7 That. M.M. 'Which'.

p. 362, l. 8 melancholy. M.M. 'solitary'.

p. 362, l. 10 stream the shade forsakes. M.M. 'Streams the Shades forsake'.

p. 362, l. 12 Trees. M.M. 'Boughs'.

p. 362, l. 13 ThÔ. M.M. 'But'.

p. 362, l. 20 ungrateful know, why tis. M.M. 'Ingrate know how and why'.

p. 362, l. 22 Thy. M.M. 'The'.

p. 362, l. 27 what weak resistance. M.M. 'no opposition'.

p. 362, l. 28 every charming word. M.M. 'For ev'ry dangerous Smile begot ...'

p. 362, l. 30 willing ... will. M.M. 'weeping ... wouldst'.

p. 362, l. 32 But stay thy hasty fight. M.M. 'But stay, my hasty Soul, Alas! Alas!'

p. 363, l. 5 Think how the faithless. M.M. 'Then think how ill he'.

p. 363, l. 6 And then my tortur'd soul. M.M. 'And in that Sigh, my Soul'.

p. 364, l. 17 (Westminster Drollery, 1671.) if I see they mend. Query 'thee mend'.

p. 366, l. 18 (Miscellany, 1685.) Ignorance. 1685 'Igrance'.

p. 375, l. 6 So fair. 1685 'so far'.

p. 375, l. 27 be given. 1685 'be gived'.

p. 379, l. 5 Indian Priests. 1685 'Indian Priest'.

p. 382, l. 28 intrigues. Unless we are to pronounce this as a trisyllable a word must have dropped out of this line.

p. 383, l. 18 Damon false? 1685 'Damon safe?' (The use of the long 's' led to much misprinting.)

p. 384, l. 31 soild. 1685 'solid'.

p. 386, l. 5 tall. 1685 'tale'.

p. 391, l. 3 wand'ring Fires run. In Poems on Affairs of State, II (1703), this is: 'wandring Fire runs.'

p. 402, l. 12 Deme. i.e. 'Demme' (damn me).

Notes: Critical and Explanatory.

La Monstre.

p. 4 Peter Weston, Esq. Peter Weston, the second son of a Cheshire clergyman, was born in 1665. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and afterwards proceeding to the Inner Temple (1683) was called to the Bar in 1697. He attained considerable eminence in his profession. Foster, Alumni Oxon. has: 'Weston, Peter s. Tho. of Chester (city) cler. Brasenose Coll. matric. 10 June 1681 aged 16; bar. at law Inner Temple, 1697.' The Inner Temple Admission Register gives: 'Petrus Weston. Generosus filius secundus Thome Weston nuper de Christalton in Comitatu Cestrie Sacre Theologie Professoris generaliter Admissus est in Societatem istius Comitive in consideracione Trium librarum Sex solidorum etc. etc. Septimo die Februarii Anno Domini 1683 (i.e. 1683/4).' In the Inner Temple Records, amongst the Bench Table Orders, is noted, 27-9 January, 1696-7: 'that Peter Weston be called to the bar', and again 31 January following, we have: 'Peter Weston's call to the bar respited.' Doubtless Weston was a friend of Hoyle, and by him introduced to the circle which surrounded Mrs. Behn.

p. 7 Charles Cotton. Charles Cotton was born at Ovingdean (Sussex), 28 April, 1630. Upon coming into his estate he found it heavily encumbered, and probably as much from necessity as from natural inclination turned to literary work. He produced a large number of poems, translations, panegyrics, prominent amongst which is his Scarronides, or Virgil Travestie (1664). He will be remembered by his best lyrics, his Second Part of the Compleat Angler, and his version of Montaigne. Cotton, who seems to have been continually harassed with pecuniary difficulties, was a gay liver, albeit an intimate of Isaak Walton. He died 1687.

p. 7 two Orinda's. 'The matchless Orinda' was Mrs. Katherine Philips (nÉe Fowler), prÉcieuse and poetess (1631-64). After marriage the lady divided her time between London and her husband's house at Cardigan, where she was the centre of a circle of admirers and friends who adopted various fanciful names, e.g. Silvander (Sir Edward Dering), Antenor (her husband). Her verses and a translation of Corneille's PompÉe (Dublin, 1663) became famous. At the height of her popularity she died of smallpox at a house in Fleet Street, 22 June, 1664. For an excellent account of her see Gosse, Seventeenth Century Studies.

p. 8 N. Tate. Nahum Tate, born in Dublin, 1652, was educated at Trinity College. He does not appear to have followed any definite profession. Coming to London he produced much miscellaneous literary work, and was even entrusted by Dryden with a portion of the second part of Absalom and Achitophel (1682), the master himself enriching it with some two hundred lines. Tate succeeded (24 December, 1692) Shadwell in the laureateship which he did not hold till his death (12 August, 1715) as Rowe was appointed to that post, 1 August, 1715. His plays are perhaps not so mediocre as they are often judged to be, but they have been damned by his outrageous mangling of King Lear (1681), which, none the less, persevered on the stage for many a long decade.[6] Perhaps he is chiefly known for this, and a version of the Psalms (the first twenty appeared in 1695) written in conjunction with Nicholas Brady (1696).

p. 9 G. J. George Jenkins, who, it will be remembered, edited Mrs. Behn's posthumous play, The Widow Ranter, vide Vol. IV, p. 215, and note p. 415 on G. J. (p. 222).

p. 18 cock, and comb. Cock = set his hat jauntily. For comb (his wig), cf. Dryden's prologue to The Conquest of Granada, II (1670):—

And Shadwell's The Humorists (1671), Act v, where Briske says: 'No man appears better upon a Bench in the Play-House; when I stand up to expose my Person between the Acts, I take out my Comb and with a bonne mien comb my Perriwig to the Tune the Fiddles Play: Thus, look you; fa, la, la, la.' Also Congreve, The Way of the World, iii, xii (1700): 'The gentlemen stay but to comb, madam, and will wait on you.' The phrase is frequent.

p. 20 Scrutore. cf. Vol. V, p. 73, The Fair Jilt: 'Scrutore perpetually employ'd,' and note on that passage (p. 519).

p. 75 Varrio. Antonio Verrio, the celebrated Neapolitan painter, was born at Lecce, in the Terra di Otranto, about 1639. His earliest pictures were done for ecclesiastics—the Jesuits College, Naples, the high altar in the Carmelite Church, Toulouse. His facility of execution and rich colouring gained him fame, and Charles II appointed him to direct the royal tapestry works at Mortlake. Soon, however, Verrio was transferred to Windsor to paint the walls and ceilings. Under Charles II and his successor Verrio was in high favour. At the Revolution he threw up his office of surveyor of the royal gardens (a sinecure) and refused to employ his pencil for William of Orange. He had, however, many commissions from nobles and private persons. His sight failing, Queen Anne bestowed on him a pension of £200 a year. He died 1707. A list of Verrio's ceilings will be found in Jesse's Eton and Windsor. Pope, Windsor Forest, has a couplet (307-8):—

p. 75 Gibbon. Grinling Gibbons, the celebrated sculptor in wood, was born at Rotterdam, 4 April, 1648. He came to London in 1667. He was first brought into notice by Evelyn, who introduced him to the King. Charles II gave Gibbons a place in the board of works. Besides being employed at Windsor, Gibbons decorated other of the royal palaces in marble sculpture as well as wood. His exquisite carvings are to be found in many noble houses. They are unrivalled for their presentment of foliage, fruit, flowers; of a marvellous delicacy and beauty. In 1714 he was appointed master carver to George I. He died at his house in Bow Street, 3 August, 1721.

p. 76 noble Clifdon. Evelyn, 23 July, 1679, writes: 'To Court: after dinner I visited that excellent painter, Verrio, whose works in fresco in the King's palace, at Windsor, will celebrate his name as long as those walls last.... I went to Clifden, that stupendous natural rock, wood, and prospect, of the Duke of Buckingham's, buildings of extraordinary expense. The grots in the chalky rock are pretty: it is a romantic object, and the place altogether answers the most poetical description that can be made of solitude, precipice, prospect, or whatever can contribute to a thing so very like their imaginations. The stand somewhat like Frascati as to its front, and, on the platform, is a circular view to the utmost verge of the horizon which, with the serpenting of the Thames, is admirable. The staircase is for its materials singular; the cloisters, descents, gardens, and avenue through the wood, august and stately; but the land all about wretchedly barren, and producing nothing but fern. Indeed, as I told his Majesty that evening (asking me how I liked Clifden) without flattery, that it did not please me so well as Windsor for the prospect and park, w^ch is without compare; there being but one only opening and that narrow, w^ch led one to any variety, whereas, that of Windsor is everywhere great and unconfined.'

Pope's reference is quoted to triteness:—

—Moral Essays, iii, 307-8.

p. 76 Sir Samuel Morland, or Sir Robert Gorden. Sir Samuel Morland, the celebrated inventor and projector, was born in 1625. Having served the Commonwealth, he turned royalist, and on Cromwell's death joined the King at Breda. He was rewarded at the Restoration with a baronetcy, a pension, and the appointment of Master of Mechanics to the King. He devoted himself to practical science, and his house was long the resort of the curious to view his models, inventions, &c. In a MS. (Harleian) treatise he shows an accurate knowledge of steam power and explains how it can be employed to work cylinders in raising water, a subject to which he had paid particular attention, having brought water from a considerable distance to the top of Windsor Castle. He died blind and in penury, 30 December, 1695.

Sir Robert Gordon, Bart. was born 7 March, 1647. He became famous for his scientific pursuits, and in the neighbourhood of Gordonstown (Elginshire), his birthplace, he was long known as 'Sir Robert the Warlock'. A MS. account of the family says: he was 'particularly skilled in mechanics and chemistry.... He contrived a curious machine or pump for raising water, w^ch was tried in the Fleet and highly approved of, and found far to exceed anything of that kind then known, both for the facility of working and the quantity of water it discharged.' Gordon sat in the Scotch parliament, and seems to have been a favourite with James II, who was interested in his experiments. He died 1704.

p. 79 l'heure du Bergere. cf. 'the hour of the Berjere'. The Feign'd Curtezans, iii, 1 (Vol. II, p. 346), and note on that passage (p. 441).

Poems Upon Several Occasions (1684).

p. 115 To the Right Honourable, James. James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury, Viscount Cranbourn, was the eldest son of James, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, and Margaret, daughter of John Manners, Earl of Rutland. He married Frances, one of the three daughters and coheiresses of Simon Bennet of Beechampton, Bucks, when she was only thirteen years old. A firm Tory, he was in 1688-9 committed to the Tower as a recusant, but the prosecution was waived. His name was forged by Robert Young to a document purporting to be that of an Association to seize the Prince of Orange, and declare for King James. On this account he was a second time committed to the Tower, 7 May, 1692, but as nothing could be proved his bail was soon formally discharged in the Court of King's Bench. He died 25 October, 1693, leaving an only son, three years old, who succeeded him. He was buried at Hatfield, 29 October.

p. 117 Ogs and Doegs reign'd. Shadwell is scarified as Og by Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, II (1682), Elkanah Settle as Doeg.

p. 117 Baxter's zeal. This ardent Presbyterian divine was considerably harassed during the reign of Charles II. He had bidden farewell to the Church of England in the great Blackfriars church, 16 May, 1662, three days before the Act of Uniformity was passed, but he still held forth with unabated zest and vigor in meeting-houses and conventicles whenever opportunity offered. He was imprisoned 28 February, 1684-5 on a charge of libelling the Church in his Paraphrase of the New Testament (1685). His sermons, devotional and other writings amount to nearly two hundred.

p. 119 J. Cooper, Buckden. John Cooper (who doubtless wrote the following lines initialled J. C.), was a contributor to Dryden's Miscellany, at the end of which (Vol. I) is advertised: 'Poems upon Several Occasions; written by Mrs. Behn; are now in the Press, and will be published this Term.' Cooper was also the translator of the [OE]none to Paris epistle in the Heroides 'By Several Hands' (1680).

Buckden is a village and parish some sixty-one miles from London, and four miles south-west from Huntingdon.

p. 120 Orinda. vide note supra (on p. 7), 'two Orinda's'.

p. 120 No dying Swan. cf. Ovid, Heroides, vii, 1-2:—

and Metamorphoseon v. 386-7:—

p. 121 J. Adams. John Adams was a member, and afterwards a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He proceeded B.A. 1682, M.A. 1686, and is mentioned as a Professor of Theology, whence we infer that he took Orders. In 1712 he was 'Collegii Regalis Praepositus'. He prefixed a copy of complimentary verses (1 January, 1682), to Creech's Lucretius, and was also a contributor to Dryden's Miscellany.

John Adams, the celebrated topographer, who in 1680 laboriously drew up the Index Villaris, a gazetteer dedicated to Charles II, was a barrister of the Inner Temple, and must be carefully distinguished from the Cambridge litterateur.

p. 123 T. C. i.e. Thomas Creech, who was born at Blandford, Dorset, 1659. In Lent Term, 1675, he was admitted as a commoner at Wadham College, Oxford. Having studied hard he graduated M.A. 13 June, 1683 (B.D. 18 March, 1696), and was elected a Fellow of All Souls, 1 November, 1683. For two years (1694-6) he was headmaster of Sherborne, and then returned to Oxford. Melancholia, however, grew upon him, and after accepting the college living of Welwyn (where he never resided) he committed suicide, his body being discovered (June, 1700), in a garret in his lodging at the house of an apothecary named Ives. Creech's translation of Lucretius was printed at Oxford, 1682. It is of value, and Munro in his edition of the poet speaks of his predecessor as 'a man of sound sense and good taste', no mean praise from so great a scholar.

p. 125 her Pen Can be instructed. An obvious allusion to the rumour that Mrs. Behn was assisted in her work by Hoyle.

p. 127 the learned Daphnis. Thomas Creech.

p. 128 barbarous Getans. Ovid in exile cries:—

—Ep. ex Ponto, IV, xiii, 17-8.

p. 129 Achitophels. Achitophel==the Earl of Shaftesbury.

p. 129 murmuring Shimei's. Shimei, Slingsby Bethel, by poll chosen one of the sheriffs for the City of London on Midsummer day, 1680, was a factious fanatic, who had formerly been one of the committee of safety. Burnet says that his miserable way of living and extreme miserliness rendered him disagreeable to everybody, even his own party. Dryden very justly lashes him, Absalom and Achitophel, I, 585-629.

p. 133 In an Azure Mantle. This phrase is very nearly equivalent to Ovid's 'purpureus Amor' (Amorum, ii, I, 38); and Hieronymus Angerianus in his Erotopaignion, repeats the same expressive adjective: 'purpureus lumina pandit Amor.'

p. 137 H. Watson. Henry Watson was a member of Christ's College, Cambridge.

p. 138 Groves appear'd. Martinus Scriblerus (Pope) ???? ??T??S? or, The Art of Sinking in Poetry: written in the Year MDCCXXVII, chap. xii, has: '1. The Florid Style than which none is more proper to the Bathos, as flowers, which are the lowest of vegetables, are most gaudy, and do many times grow in great plenty at the bottom of ponds and ditches.

A fine writer in this kind presents you with the following posie:

(which, indeed, most branches do).' Pope, as often, is not a little unfair in his critique.

p. 144 Eternal Night.

—Catullus, Ad Lesbiam.

p. 148 On a Juniper-Tree. This poem is also to be found in the following editions of Rochester's Works: Poems on Several Occasions by the Rt. Hon. the Earl of R——. Printed at Antwerpen. [London.] 1680? In The Works of the Earls of Rochester, Roscommon, Dorset, 1712; 1718; 1731; 1739 (in which year there were two several and slightly divergent editions); 1752; 1800? It must not, however, be for a moment supposed that the Earl of Rochester has any claim to the authorship of this piece. Unscrupulous booksellers collected songs, poems, satires of every kind under his name and included them amongst his oft-reprinted works without explanation or discrimination. With the opening lines of this poem cf. Horace, Sermonum, i, viii:—

p. 148 Busks. A Busk is 'A strip of wood, whalebone, steel, or other rigid material passed down the front of a corset and used to stiffen and support it'. N.E.D. which quotes, inter alia, 1688, R. Holme, Armoury, in, 94/2: 'A Busk ... is a strong peece of Wood, or Whalebone thrust down the middle of the Stomacker.'

p. 151 Mr. Grinhil. John Greenhill, the famous portrait-painter, was born at Salisbury about 1644. He was the eldest son of the registrar of the diocese of Salisbury. About 1662 he migrated to London and became a pupil of Sir Peter Lely. Almost instant success awaited him, and his progress proved so rapid as to excite the master's jealousy. He married early, and was at first industrious. After a few years, however, he became a boon companion of the free-living theatrical and literary circles of the day, and fell into irregular habits. 19 May, 1676, whilst returning from the Vine Tavern, Greenhill fell into the gutter in Long Acre, was carried to his lodging in Lincoln's Inn Fields where he died that same night. He is buried in St. Giles-in-the-Fields. Amongst his portraits, which are highly esteemed, are those of Charles II; James, Duke of York; Shaftesbury; Locke; Davenant; Cowley; William Cartwright, the actor. This Poem on Greenhill's death has been included amongst Poems on Several Occasions by the Rt. Hon. the Earl of R—— Printed at Antwerpen. [London.] 1680? And again, in Poems on Several Occasions by the R. H. the E. of R. London. 1712.

p. 153 Mr. J. H. i.e. Mr. John Hoyle.

p. 156 Our Cabal. Considerable research has unhappily failed to identify most of the personages whose initials appear in this poem. Mr. J. H., however, is John Hoyle, Mrs. Behn's well-known intimate, to whom so many of her poems are addressed. In The Muses Mercury for January, 1708, the verses for Mr. E. B. and Mrs. F. M. are given with this note: 'The following poem was written by Mrs. Behn on one Mr. Edward Butler and Mrs. Masters, and is a Description of the Success of their Passion, in a little Journey took into the Country, with many more Gentlemen and Ladies of that Time, whom we shall speak of hereafter': a promise which was never fulfilled.

p. 163 The Willing Mistriss. This song was reprinted in The Muses Mercury, December, 1707, when it is termed 'A Song for J. H.' with this note prefixed: 'The following Verses are call'd, A Song by the late Mrs. Behn; we have a Copy of them in her own Hand Writing, as well as of many others never printed, except in our Mercuries; and by her putting her Nom de Guerre AstrÆa to them, we find they were made upon her Self and her very good Friend Mr. Hoyle.' At the end of the third stanza we have: 'As Amorous as these Verses may be thought, they have been reduc'd to bring them within the Rules of Decency, which all Writers ought to observe, or instead of a Diversion they will become a Nuisance.'

p. 165 Song. When Jemmy. This was reprinted in The Muses Mercury, September, 1707: as 'On Capt. —— going to the Wars in Flanders', A Song. To a Scotch Tune, and signed AstrÆa. The Muses Mercury adds the following note: 'Tho this Poetess's true Name was Apharra, yet she in her Amours and Poetical Characters, assum'd the Nomme de Guerre of AstrÆa: And thus we find this Song subscrib'd by her self, which shews it came from her Heart, however imperfect it may be otherwise.' Surely, so dainty and, indeed, pathetic a little song can need no plea for admittance into any poetical collection.

p. 166 To Mr. Creech. This poem appears as 'To The Unknown Daphnis on his Excellent translation of Lucretius', dated 'London. Jan. 25, 1682', and signed 'A. Behn' in the second edition of Creech's translation of Lucretius (Oxford, 1683), there are also commendatory verses prefixed to this edition by Waller, Evelyn, Otway, Tate, Duke and others.

p. 168 The Learned Thirsis is Thomas Sprat (1635-1713), the famous Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, who matriculated from Wadham, 12 November, 1651, and 25 September, 1652, was elected a scholar. He graduated B.A. 25 June, 1654, M.A. three years later. He took his B.D. and D.D. 3 July, 1669. From 30 June, 1657 to 24 March, 1670 (when he resigned), he held a Wadham fellowship. Cowley, in his Ode to the Royal Society, had praised Sprat's History of the Royal Society of London (1667), and when Cowley died, in 1667, Sprat wrote An Account of the Life of Mr. Abraham Cowley.

p. 169 Strephon the Great is John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647-80), who was admitted a fellow commoner at Wadham, 18 January, 1659-60. He was created M.A. 9 September, 1661, when little more than fourteen. The four silver pint pots he presented to his college are still preserved.

p. 171 To Mrs. W. i.e. Anne Wharton, born in Oxfordshire about 1632, second daughter and coheiress of Sir Henry Lee, third baronet of Ditchley, by Anne, daughter of Sir John Danvers of Cornbury; 16 September, 1673, she married as his first wife Thomas Wharton (afterwards first Marquis of Wharton), to whom she brought £10,000 dowry and £2,500 a year. The match proved childless and unhappy, and it was only owing to Burnet's persuasions that she did not separate from her husband in 1682. She died at Adderbury, 29 October, 1685, and was buried at Winchendon on 10 November following. Anne Wharton's Elegy on the Death of the Earl of Rochester, which may be found in Examen Miscellaneum (1702), drew a poem from Waller in which he says that she

The earl's mother was aunt to Mrs. Wharton's father, Sir Henry Lee. Rochester died 26 July, 1680. On p. 242 of The Temple of Death, a miscellany (1695), may be read Mrs. Wharton's 'To Mrs. A. Behn, on what she Writ of the Earl of Rochester'. Various other of her poems have appeared in similar collections.

p. 173 The Return. The first two stanzas of this poem appear in The Muses Mercury, August, 1707, as 'To J. Hoyle, Esq.'

p. 175 my Lady Morland. Mrs. Behn is here complimenting her friend Carola, daughter of Sir Roger Harsnett, Knight, and second wife of Sir Samuel Morland, whom she married in Westminster Abbey, 26 October, 1670. Lady Morland died 10 October, 1674, aged twenty-two.

For an account of the Queen's visit to Tunbridge Wells ('the place of all Europe the most rural and simple, and yet, at the same time, the most entertaining and agreeable'), see Grammont's Memoirs. Rochester has a famous satire, Tunbridge Wells. Burr's History of Tunbridge Wells will be found to give a very full account of that fashionable watering-place.

p. 177 Song to Ceres. The Wavering Nymph; or, Mad Amyntas was the name given to a Restoration revival of Randolph's beautiful and truly poetic Amyntas or The Impossible Dowry. The title of the editio princeps runs thus: Amyntas or The Impossible Dowry. A Pastoral Acted before the King and Queen at Whitehall. Written by Thomas Randolph.

Oxford, Printed by Leonard Lichfield for Francis Bordman, 1638.

In the pastoral, Ceres, by an obscure oracle, has announced the dowry to be given to Urania, the daughter of her priest. Amyntas, conceiving it impossible to bestow this required dowry, has lost his wits. The wavering nymph is Laurinda. Eventually the divine riddle is happily solved.

There is no record of the revival for which Mrs. Behn wrote these two songs, but the play was undoubtedly put on at the Duke's house. It was probably acted in 1682-3, when a large number of the older plays were staged, especially such as gave scope for scenic effects and the introduction of musical interludes. In the spring of 1703, Amyntas, reduced to three acts as The Fickle Shepherdess, was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Mrs. Bracegirdle acted Amyntas, and Mrs. Barry, Clorinda (Laurinda).

p. 178 The Disappointment. This poem, which was extremely popular, was sent by Mrs. Behn to John Hoyle, her friend, with a letter in which she anxiously urges him to give the lie to various scandals of a grave nature that were current concerning his private life. The letter and the poem are both to be found in the various editions of Familiar Letters of Love, Gallantry, &c. This poem was also printed in Poems on Several Occasions by the Rt. Hon. the Earl of R—— Antwerpen. [London.] 1680(?) And in Poems on Several Occasion by the R. H. the E. of R. London. (1712). Under the title The Insensible it is to be found in the following editions of Rochester, 1718; 1731; 1739 (in which year there were two several and slightly divergent editions); 1752; 1800 (?); and in a selected reprint circa 1884. In these editions which contain The Insensible, The Disappointment is the title given to a different poem seemingly based on Ovid, Amorum, iii, vii. The whole subject has frequently been treated by poets and amorists of all time. Also cf. supra note on a Juniper-Tree.

Mr. G. Thorn Drury has drawn my attention to the fact that the original of Mrs. Behn's The Disappointment, entitled Sur une Impuissance is to be found in Recueil de Diverses Poesies Choisies Non encore ImprimÉes. A Amsterdam, 1661. A full translation of the French verses (Mrs. Behn's is only of part), appears in Wit and Drollery (1682), under the title The Lost Opportunity recovered. This poem is not given in Wit and Drollery (1661).

p. 182 Sir R. O. Either Sir Rowland Okeover, of Okeover, Staffs., knighted by the King, May (April?), 1665; or Sir Richard Osbaldeston of Hunmanby, York, knighted 12 August, 1681.

p. 183 The Dream. This song appears in The Muses Mercury, May, 1707, as Cupid in Chains. For variants see Textual Notes, p. 183.

p. 185 A Letter to a Brother. There is nothing to indicate to whom these satirical lines are addressed. [Ravenscroft?] For 'Sweating-Tub' cf. the Epilogue to The Lucky Chance: 'Tubs must cure your pain' (Vol. III, p. 279), and note on that passage (p. 492).

p. 185 Pusillage. cf. The Feign'd Curtezans, i, ii: 'Thou shalt part with thy Pusilage' (Vol. II, p. 320), and note on that passage, (p. 440).

p. 188 To Pesibles Tune. James Paisible, flautist and composer, who set this charming song to music, was born about 1656. He came to England circa 1680, and soon found patrons, the chief of whom was the Duchess de Mazarin, who, with the help of St. Evremond, continually gave exquisite but elaborate concerts at Paradise Row, Chelsea. In a little drawing-room scena Paisible is actually mentioned by name. He is said to have won great favour owing to his easy manners and fluent wit. 4 December, 1686, he procured a licence for his marriage with one Mary Davis. About 1691 he began to supply overtures and musical interludes for the theatres, and from 1703 to 1714 he set the tunes to Isaac's dances performed at court on birthdays and other gala occasions. He lived in the parish of S. Martin's-in-the-Fields, and died August, 1721. Much of his work has been published and some yet remain in MS. His are the overture and interludes to Southerne's Oroonoko.

p. 189 Set by Captain Pack. Captain Pack was an exceedingly popular and prolific musician of the day. The British Museum possesses four songs of his in one volume (MS.). Some of his compositions may be found in Playford's Choice Ayres (1675); in The Theatre of Music (1685-7); in The Banquet (1688). Amongst other pieces he composed incidental music for D'Urfey's Don Quixote, I and II (1694), both the first two parts of which play were received with great applause.

p. 191 Set by Mr. Farmer. Thomas Farmer, Mus. Bac., was originally one of the Waits of London. He graduated at Cambridge in 1684. He composed much instrumental music for the theatre, and contributed some songs to the second edition of Playford's Choice Ayres (1675), to The Theatre of Music (1685-7), and to D'Urfey's Third Collection of Songs (1685). His is the music to Lee's drama The Princess of Cleve (1682), and various other compositions, including A Consort of Musick (1686), of which work a second part followed a year or two after, bear his name. As Purcell composed an elegy, the words by Nahum Tate, for his funeral, Farmer must have died before 1695.

p. 195 In Imitation of Horace. An altered expansion of and no very close parallel to

p. 198 A Dialogue. There is nothing to show when or for what entertainment this little Pastoral was written.

p. 200 Mr. J. H. i.e. Mr. John Hoyle.

p. 204 To the Honourable Edward Howard. The Six Days Adventure; or, The New Utopia was produced at the Duke's Theatre in 1671, and printed quarto the same year. Although the best of Edward Howard's comedies it was received with scant favour, and the author vindicates himself, pretty sharply rebuking both actors and audience, in a long preface.

Sir Grave Solymour, about to enter the bed of the chaste Celinda, finds himself in the embraces of a black-a-moor, whilst his friends rush in and jeer the precise old knight, whose 'night-hag' eventually proves to be Celinda's sooty page. The 'braver Heroins' of Howard, Serina, Crispina, Eugenia, Petilla, wish to assume and usurp all the privileges of the bolder sex. The scene lies in Utopia. Peacock, created by the low comedian Angel, is a silly fribbling fop.

When the play was printed commendatory verses were prefixed by Ravenscroft and Mrs. Behn, both of whom adopted Pindarics; by J. T.; and by Sam Clyat.

In Mrs. Behn's Miscellany of 1685 is included 'A Pindaric by the Honourable Edward Howard to Mrs. B. Occasioned by a Copy she made on his Play, called the New Eutopia'. The piece is fluent and not ungraceful, concluding with a pretty compliment.

Mrs. Behn's Pindarick is reprinted in the Muses Mercury, October, 1707, with this note: 'The following Paper of Verses was written by Mrs. Behn, to a Poet, who being damn'd, declar'd he wou'd write no more: However out of Affection to his Brother Poets, he left Rules for them to write; which she seems to judge kinder of than they deserve; since both the Rules and the Critick are already entirely forgot. The Reader will perceive that Mrs. Behn had no Notion of a Pindarick Poem, any farther than it consisted of irregular Numbers, and sav'd the Writer the Trouble of even Measure; which indeed is all our common Pindarick Poets know of the Matter.'

Shee who late made the Amazons so Great refers to Howard's tragicomedy, The Women's Conquest (4to 1671), the scene of which lies in Scythia, where we meet with several pseudo-classical Amazons.

For a detailed account of Edward Howard vide the present editor's edition of The Rehearsal (pp. 76-9).

p. 207 the Musick-Meeting. cf. Southerne's The Wives Excuse; or, Cuckolds make Themselves (1692), Act i, i: 'the outward Room to the Musick-Meeting,' which gives a very lively picture of these fashionable assemblies. An Italian and then an English song—('which won't oblige a Man to tell you he has seen an Opera at Venice to understand')—are sung.

p. 210 Song. This song, with six additional verses (certainly not the work of Mrs. Behn), is found in a broadside, which version is given in Vol. IV. of the Roxburghe Ballads (pp. 656-9), issued by the Ballad Society. In a similar way the song 'Ah Jenny gen your Eyes do kill', sung in the City Heiress (vide Vol. II, p. 253), was in another broadside amplified to no less than eighty lines, and dubbed 'The Loves of Jockey and Jenny'. Ebsworth in his note on this song (Roxburghe Ballads, VI, pp. 176-80) refers to Mrs. Behn and says: 'it is less her handiwork than that of her friend Tom D'Urfey, who considered himself facile princeps in the writing of Anglo-Scotch ditties'. Similar treatment was accorded the 'Song made by a Gentlemen' in Sir Patient Fancy, iii, i (Vol. IV, p. 44). For the ballad writer's additions to this vide Roxburghe Ballads, VI (46-9). It is noticeable that these four stanzas ('Young Jemmy was a Lad') under the title Jemmey appear in Female Poems on Several Occasions. 'Written by Ephelia. The Second Edition, with large Additions' (1682). They are not in the first edition (1679) of these Poems. Jemmy is, of course, Monmouth, and in the line 'But oh he dances with a Grace' we have an allusion to his skill in dancing. Evelyn speaks of him as 'an excellent dancer'.

p. 211 Nickey Nackeys. This song is sung in The Roundheads (vide Vol. I, p. 397). Nickey Nackey is the name which the old senator Antonio (a satire on Shaftesbury) gives to the Greek courtezan Aquilina, Venice Preserv'd, iii, i. There may be an allusion to some mistress of that debauched Machiavel.

p. 212 A Paraphrase on the Eleventh Ode.

p. 212 A Translation. This charming poem,

twenty-five lines in length, was often but quite erroneously ascribed to Cornelius Gallus. vide Scaliger PoËtices, Lib. VI. It has very frequently been rendered. The versions of Rochester, of Nott, and of Elton are all particularly graceful.

p. 213 A Paraphrase. As this is not even claimed to be an exact translation from the Heroides we must not too strictly judge any divergence from the original.

Lycidus (1688).

p. 295 The Earl of Melford, &c. Knight of the most Noble Order of the Thistle. John Drummond, first Earl and titular Duke of Melford (1649-1714) was the second son of James, third Earl of Perth. He filled various posts of importance in Scotland, for which country he was in 1684 appointed Secretary of State. Converted to Catholicism, with his brother (Lady Anne Gordon, their mother, had been a staunch Catholic), the two are said practically to have ruled Scotland for three years' space. A firm follower of James II, he accompanied him to exile and supported all his measures. During this period he was busy with many intrigues, and was attainted in 1695. He died at Paris after a long illness in the year 1714.

p. 296 Thessalian Feilds. A forced conceit. Lucius travelling through Thessaly traverses 'ardua montium et lubrica vallium et roscida cespitum et glebosa camporum'.—Apuleius, Metamorphoseon (I, ii). Again, he is 'anxius alioquin ... reputansque me media Thessaliae loca tenere, quo artis magicae nativa cantamina totius orbis consono ore celebrentur.'—(II, i.)

p. 297 Sappho. Ephelia, the authoress of Female Poems on Several Occasions. 'Written by Ephelia.' 1679. In 1682 appeared 'The Second Edition, with large Additions'. This contains a poem 'To Madam Bhen'.

p. 297 of Thirsis and of Strephon. vide note supra (on p. 166).

p. 298 Kendrick. Daniel Kenrick or Kendrick, physician and poet, was born about 1652. 31 March, 1666, he entered Christ Church, Oxon, as a servitor, and proceeded M.A. 1674. He was much esteemed in his native town of Worcester (where he practised as a doctor) as 'a man of wit and a jolly companion.' Several poems of his appear in The Grove, or a Collection of Original Poems (1721), before which date, however, he was dead. The preface to this book highly praises him, and he appears to have been on terms of intimacy with the great Purcell as well as with Mrs. Behn. Dr. Kenrick is stated 'to have taken his degrees both in divinity and physic, and being a person of vivacity and wit, entertain'd his leisure hours in poetical compositions.' He may be identical with Daniel Kenrick, D.D., who preached the assize sermon at Worcester, in 1688.

p. 313 any Sir Fopling, or Sir Courtly Nice. cf. Vol. III, p. 278, Epilogue to The Lucky Chance, 'Nice and Flutter', and note (p. 492) on that passage.

p. 313 Galliard. Lively, cf. Shadwell's The Humorists (1671), Act iii, where Briske says to Theodosia: 'Come Madam, let's be frolick, Galliard, and extraordinary Brisk, fa, la, la, la!'

p. 342 quillets. A variation of 'quip', a play upon words; or an evasive retort, cf. Love's Labour Lost, iv, 111:—

p. 343 On the Honourable Sir Francis Fane. Sir Francis Fane (died 1690?) was the eldest son of Sir Francis Fane, K.B., F.R.S., of Fulbeck, Lincolnshire, and Aston, Yorkshire. He was created a K.B. at the coronation of Charles II. During the latter part of his life he retired to his country estate at Henbury, Glos., where he died. His will is dated 14 November, 1689, and was proved 15 September, 1691. He is the author of a comedy, a masque, and a tragedy. Love in the Dark; or The Man of Business (4to, 1675), was produced at the Theatre Royal with Lacy, Jo Haines, Mohun, Kynaston and Mrs. Boutel in the cast. The scene is laid at Venice in Carnival time, and Intrigo, a good character, was not forgotten by Mrs. Centlivre when she composed The Busy Body. The Masque was written at Rochester's request for his alteration of Valentinian. It may be found in Tate's Poems by Several Hands (8vo, 1685). The Sacrifice (4to, 1689), was never acted, and would hardly have succeeded on the stage. The scene lies in 'a Revolted Fort in China'. It concludes with numerous deaths including that of Tamerlane the Great. Irene is his daughter belov'd by Axalla 'General to Tamerlane'. Despina is the wife of the Emperor Bajazet. Ragalzan is pithily designated a Villain, and he well merits the description. There is a copy of prefatory verses 'To The Author' by Nahum Tate, but neither prologue nor epilogue. Fane's plays are not without merit, but yet do not occupy a noteworthy rank in our theatrical library.

p. 348 To Alexis in Answer. This poem was written in answer to a copy of verses (which in Lycidus, 1688, immediately precede it), entitled 'A Poem against fruition—written on the reading in Mountains Essay: By Alexis'.

p. 350 A Pastoral Pindarick. On the Marriage of the Right Hon. the Earle of Dorset and Middlesex to the Lady Mary Compton. Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, sixth Earl of Dorset and Earl of Middlesex (1638-1706), wit, courtier, poet, debauchee, married his second wife Mary, daughter of James Compton, third Earl of Northampton, in 1685. Lady Mary Compton, who became lady of the bedchamber to Queen Mary II, was celebrated for her beauty and understanding. She died 6 August 1691. Walpole says of Sackville that he was the finest gentleman of the voluptuous court of Charles II. It has been well observed that after 1668 we hear little of his debaucheries, much of his munificence to and patronage of men of letters.

p. 359 Calenture. A tropical fever and delirium, especially incidental to sailors in torrid climes. Hence used very widely for any glow, passion, ardour, cf. Donne, Poems: 'Knowledge kindles Calenture in some.' Jeremy Taylor speaks of 'Calentures of primitive devotion'.

p. 360 To Amintas. To Amintas, upon reading the Lives of some of the Romans. The Muses Mercury reprints this poem, April, 1707, as 'To Mr. H——le, being belov'd by both Sexes. Upon Reading the Lives of the Romans. By Mrs. A. Behn.' In the British Museum copy of this number an old hand has supplied the omitted letters 'oy' and we have Mr. Hoyle.

p. 361 On the first discovery. This poem appeared in the Muses Mercury, March, 1707, with the following note: 'If it were proper to make publick what we have learnt of the Story of the Author of the following Verses, 'twould be an unquestionable Proof of their being genuine. For they are all Writ with her own Hand in a Person's Book who was very much her Friend; and from thence are now transcrib'd for the Mercury. There are Fifteen or Sixteen Copies of Verse more, which will in due time be printed in this Collection. There's no Man who knows any thing of Mrs. Behn's way of Writing, but will presently see, that this Poem was written by her Self; and the rest are of the same Character.' The Muses Mercury, as a fact, gave eleven other poems beside the present verses. Eight of these had already been printed: On the first discovery of falseness in Amintas (p. 361) appears March, 1707, as The Disoblig'd Love. To Amintas (p. 360) appears April, 1707, as To Mr. H——le, being belov'd by both Sexes. Upon reading the Lives of the Romans. The Dream (p. 183) appears May, 1707, as Cupid in Chains. Of The Return (p. 173) the first two stanzas appear August, 1707, as 'To J. Hoyle, Esq.' Song (When Jemmy first) (p. 165) appears September, 1707, as On Capt. —— going to the War in Flanders. To the Honourable Edward Howard (p. 204) appears October, 1707, as To the Author of a new Eutopia, A Pindarick. The Willing Mistriss (p. 163) appears December, 1707, as A Song for J. H. Mr. E. B. and Mrs. F. M. (p. 159) appears January, 1708, as The Loves of Mirtillo and Phillis. From their notice and the reprinting of so many pieces it would seem that the editors of the Muses Mercury were not very well acquainted with Mrs. Behn's published Poems.

p. 364 Westminster Drollery. This song has been here included from Westminster Drollery (1671), on the authority of Ebsworth. It cannot, however, originally be Mrs. Behn's since it appears in a fuller form as To his Whore who askt money of him (Wit and Drollery, 1656). There are other variants. It will be remembered that in The Rover, II, v, 1 (Vol. I, p. 195), Willmore jestingly sings the fifth verse to La Nuche.

Miscellany, 1685.

p. 365. Sir William Clifton. Sir William Clifton, Bart., of Clifton, Notts, the only surviving son of Sir Clifford Clifton, Knight, and Frances his wife, daughter of Sir Heneage Finch, Knight, Recorder of London, succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his uncle Sir Gervase Clifton, 14 January, 1675. Sir William Clifton died unmarried, leaving two sisters, coheirs.

p. 368 On the Death of the late Earl of Rochester. John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, libertine, poet, wit, died from a complication of ailments due to his profligacies on 26 July, 1680, at the High Lodge, Woodstock Park, whither he had journeyed in the preceding April. During the last three months of his life he shewed signs of a sincere penitence. He was much comforted by the ministrations of his chaplain, Robert Parsons, and on 25 June he wrote to Gilbert Burnet to come and receive his death-bed repentance. Burnet arrived 20 July, and stayed four days, spending the time in consolatory exhortations and prayer. Parsons' funeral sermon giving an account of Rochester's death and penitence is well known, but Burnet's book, Some Passages of the Life and Death of John, Earl of Rochester (1680, 8vo), has been even more constantly re-issued. The Earl was buried in the north aisle of Spelsbury church, Oxfordshire, but without any inscription or monument to mark the grave.

p. 369 Cyprus. A fine transparent stuff now called crape, cf. Winter's Tale, iv, iv (first folio):—

Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement de la Langue FranÇoyse, has: 'Cypres for a woman's necke—crespe'; and Cotgrave, Fr. Dict., 'Crespe: m. Cipres; also Cobweb Lawne'. The etymology of the word has given rise to much discussion. Skinner, Etymol. Angl., regards it as a corruption of the French crepes, but suggests that it may be derived from the island of Cyprus where it was first manufactured. This is almost certainly the case, cf. arras; cashmere; dimity; dornick; muslin, and many more. Wheatley in his notes on Every Man in His Humour suggests that Cyprus is derived from 'the plant Cyperus textilis, which is still used for the making of ropes and matting.' One of the English names of this plant was 'cypress'. Gerarde in his Herbal (1597) says: 'Cyperus longus is called ... in English, Cypresse and Galingale.' Mr. Wheatley's suggestion is ingenious but impossible. There is, moreover, ample evidence in favour of the derivation from the isle Cyprus.

p. 372 A Paraphrase on the Lord's Prayer. One may compare with this Paraphrase of the Pater by Mrs. Behn that by Poliziano—???se??? p??? t?? Te??—written in 1472 when the poet was eighteen years old. Waller has sixteen lines OF the Paraphrase on the Lord's Prayer, written by Mrs. Wharton. cf. also Some Reflections of his upon the Several Petitions in the Same Prayer.

p. 378 To Mr. P. who sings finely. Perhaps Henry Purcell, whose voice was a counter-tenor, or possibly a relative of the great musician, a bass, who sang in the choir of the Abbey at the coronation of James II.

p. 379 On the Author of that Excellent Book. The Way to Health, Long Life and Happiness was published (4to, 1682), as Health's Grand Preservative; or, the Women's Best Doctor ... shewing the Ill-Consequences of drinking Distilled Spirits and smoking Tobacco ... with a Rational Discourse on the excellency of Herbs (2nd edition, 1691, 8vo, under the first-named title; 3rd edition 1697). It is the work of Thomas Tryon (1634-1703), 'Pythagorean', mystic, economist. This remarkable man, of whom a full account may be found in the Dic. Nat. Biog., was long a fervent follower of Jacob Behmen, and forms an interesting link between this enthusiast and the early quakers. In The Way to Health he advocates a vegetable diet, complete abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and indeed all luxuries. This, however, is done without fanaticism, and he has many pages of sound common sense. The manual is in the highest degree interesting, and in spite of much quaint detail his hygiene was excellent. Tryon died at Hackney, 21 August, 1703. This same poem appears prefixed to The Way to make All People Rich: or Wisdom's Call to Temperance and Frugality, by Philotheos Physiologus. [T. Tryon]. 12mo, 1685.

p. 382 Epilogue to the Jealous Lovers. The Jealous Lovers, which is by many considered Randolph's best play, was originally acted before the King and Queen at Cambridge by the students of Trinity. It was printed quarto, 1632, with nine copies of English, and seven of Latin, verses. The revival of this comedy at the Duke's house in 1682 met with extraordinary success, and is mentioned by Langbaine. Nokes, who spoke this epilogue, acted Asotus the prodigal, and Leigh, Ballio the pimp. Jo and Jack are Joseph Williams and John Bowman who sustained Tyndarus and Pamphilus.

Rebell Ward is a sharp hit at Sir Patience Ward (1629-1696), the ultra-protestant lord mayor of London, to which office he was elected on Michaelmas day, 1680, entering on to his duties 29 October following. He was a violent upholder of the city against the court, and in 1683 was tried for perjury in connection with the action brought by the Duke of York against Sir Thomas Pilkington for scandalum magnatum. On being found guilty he escaped to Holland but returned at the Revolution. He died 10 July, 1696, and is buried in the chancel of St. Mary Abchurch. This fanatic incurred much odium early in his Mayoralty by having an additional inscription engraved on the Monument to the effect that the Great Fire had been caused by the Catholics. A similar inscription was placed on the house in Pudding Lane where the fire began. Tom Ward (1652-1791), in his England's Reformation (1710, canto iv, p. 100), jeering at Titus Oates and his fictions has the following lines:—

Roscommon, The Ghost of the old House of Commons ... (1681), dockets 'the Bethels and the Wards' together as

Your Damage is at most but half-a-Crown. half-a-Crown was the price of admittance to the Pit. vide note, vol. I, p. 450.

p. 383 A Pastoral to Mr. Stafford. John Stafford, the translator of the Camilla episode (Dryden's Sylvae: or, the Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies, 1685, p. 481), is the same person who translated other parts of Virgil and Horace in the same Miscellany, Vols. I and II. In the 3rd edition of Vol. II he is called 'the Honourable Mr. John Stafford.' Stafford is also the author of the Epilogue (sometimes erroneously printed as Dryden's) to Southerne's The Disappointment; or, The Mother in Fashion (1684, and 4to, 1684).

p. 383 cale. This excessively rare adjective, which the N.E.D. fails to include, is an Irish word = hard.

p. 390 Gildon's Chorus Poetarum. 'Adequately to translate Sappho' says J. A. Symonds in The Greek Poets 'was beyond the power of even Catullus: that love-ode, which Longinus called "not one passion, but a congress of passions," and which a Greek physician copied into his book of diagnoses as a compendium of all the symptoms of corroding emotion, appears but languid in its Latin dress of "Ille mi par." Far less has any modern poet succeeded in the task: Rossetti, who deals so skilfully with Dante and Villon, is comparatively tame when he approaches Sappho.' This rendering of The Ode to Anactoria (as tradition names it) Fa??eta? ?? ????? ?s?? ????s??, first appears under Mrs. Behn's name in Gildon's Chorus Poetarum, 1694. In State Poems, Vol. II (1703), it is printed with the title On Madam Behn, a very different matter. If the lines are Mrs. Behn's she must have versified them from a translation given her by Hoyle or some other friend. In any case they are graceful and far better than the versions of Ambrose Philips (1711), or Smollett (1748). But, indeed, it is impossible to translate these lines which are so truly 'mixed with fire' as Plutarch has it. For various attempts and a literal prose version see Wharton's Sappho.

p. 391 Complaint of the poor Cavaliers. The Muses Mercury, June 1707, prefixes the following to this poem: 'All the World knows Mrs. Behn was no Whig, no Republican, nor Fanatick; her Zeal lay quite on the other Side: And tho her Manners was no Honour to any, yet her Wit made her acceptable to that which she espous'd. She was a Politician, as well as a Poet: for we find in the short Account of her Life, printed with those of other Poets, she was employ'd by Charles II. in the Discovery of the Dutch Intrigues in the Dutch War; which she was the better qualifi'd to do by her knowledge of their Language, she having liv'd a long time in Surinam, a Colony where there were many Dutch Merchants; and not long after she left it 'twas surrendered to that Republic by King Charles. 'Tis well known, that the Gentlemen she speaks of in the following Poem, had too much reason to complain; and that the very Men, who had been so much instrumental in keeping King Charles the II. out of his Dominions, were most caress'd after his Restoration.'

p. 393 Mrs. Harsenet. Carola, daughter of Sir Roger Harsnett, knight. These verses are a variation of 'To my Lady Morland at Tunbridge.' vide p. 175.

p. 395 A letter to the Earl of Kildare. John FitzGerald, 18th Earl of Kildare, lived in St. James' Square, and in 1648 married, as his second wife, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Charles Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh ('a fortune of £10,000.') She died in 1758 at the great age of ninety-three. She was extremely beautiful, and either she or one of her unmarried sisters was a mistress of the King.

The Lady Mary Howard, sister to the Earl of Carlisle, died in the last week of October, 1694. She was notorious for her intrigues, and the satires of the time accuse her of being little better than a procuress both for King Charles II and the Earl of Dorset. cf. Rochester's The Royal Angler

and the Earl of Dorset's Lamentation for Moll Howard's absence (Harleian MSS.), which ends

Amongst her lovers were Harry Lumley, Hungerford, Howe. It is noticeable that the lampoons inevitably refer to her in the grossest terms.

writes one versifier, and in Rochester's Ghost addressing itself to the Secretary of the Muses she is found bracketed with seven other ladies of the most dubious repute,

When Lady Mary Howard was received into the Church in 1685, the wits (as was often the case on these conversions) seized the opportunity to flood the town with their pasquils, e.g. The Ladies March.

p. 397 an Urban Throng (as Mr. Bayes calls it). cf. The Rehearsal, iii, v, the scene of Prince Volscius 'going out of Town'.

p. 398 Prologue to Romulus. vide Vol. I, pp. xlii-iii.

p. 399 Green-Ribbon-Brother. The green ribbon was the badge of Shaftesbury's party, as a red ribbon was of the Tories. North (Examen) gives the following account of the green ribbon fraternity: 'This was the club originally called the King's Head Club. The gentlemen of that worthy society held their evening sessions continually at the King's Head Tavern, over against the Inner Temple Gate. But upon occasion of the signal of a green ribbon agreed to be worn in their hats, in the days of street-engagements, like the coats of arms of valiant knights of old, whereby all the warriors of that society might be distinguished, and not mistake friends for enemies; they were called also the Green Ribbon Club. Their seat was in a sort of car-four at Chancery-lane-end; a centre of business and company most proper for such anglers of fools. The house was double balconied in the front, as may be yet seen, for the clubsters to issue forth in fresco, with hats and no perruques; pipes in their mouths, merry faces, and diluted throats, for the vocal encouragement of the canaglia below, at bonfires, on usual and unusual occasions.' The Green Ribbon is frequently alluded to. cf. Otway, The Poet's Complaint of His Muse (4to, 1680), xv:—

p. 400 Mrs. Behn's Satyr on Dryden. This acrid attack upon the great laureate is ungenerous to a degree, and Mrs. Behn's jibes are the more surprising, inasmuch as she had always been Tory to the backbone and a particular partisan of King James II. No doubt continued ill health and a hard struggle are largely responsible for her bad temper. There can be no question that Dryden's conversion was absolutely conscientious, and his line of action at the Revolution amply proves his sincerity. Few, if any, critics would to-day venture to echo Macaulay's discredited pronouncements, doubly dangerous that they are from the vigour and charm of their expression. Burnet's partisan libels and denunciation of Dryden can be dismissed as impertinent and groundless. It is not to be supposed that on such an occasion the whole horde of waspish Lilliputians, who hated the genius of glorious John, would not pour forth a very torrent of venom and slime. Such impotent pasquils as The Renegado Poet, and To Mr. Dryden upon his declaring himself a Roman Catholic abound. Dryden, so far as we know, had always shown himself kindly to Mrs. Behn. He included her paraphrase of Ovid's [OE]none to Paris in the translation of Ovid's Epistles 'by several Hands' (1680), and took care to pay her a graceful compliment in the preface. Further, he allowed a prologue of his own to be used at the production of her posthumous play, The Widow Ranter, in 1690. His letter of advice to Corinna (Mrs. Thomas), which, with an acknowledgement of the freedom of some of his own scenes, bids her refrain from following the carelessness of the illustrious Astrea, was written with reference to the mitigated taste of the last years of the seventeenth century when Collier had already penned his diatribe of decorum, rather than as a rebuke of, or a reflection upon Mrs. Behn.

I owe the present copy of this satire, which has never before been printed, to the kindness of G. Thorn Drury, Esq., K.C., who generously transcribed the lines, thirty-one in number, from a MS. in his possession, which he copied from Haslewood, who writes 'From an old MS. in my Port Folio'.[7] The Historical MSS. Commission Third Report (1872) Appendix gives amongst the MSS. in the custody of the Bishop of Southwark, On Mr. Dryden renegate, by Mrs. Behn, 1 leaf, 33 lines. Fr. Cunningham, the Southwark archivist, whom I take this opportunity of most heartily thanking for the trouble he was put to in the matter, finds that this leaf was one of a number of MSS. restored by Bishop Danell in October, 1875, to the two sources whence they had been borrowed by the Rev. Mark Tierney. These were the Archivium of the late Cardinal Manning, and the Stonyhurst collection. Fr. Cyril Martindale, S.J., informs me that the poem is not to be found at Stonyhurst College. Nor can it be traced at Westminster. The unfortunate conclusion is that it has been irretrievably lost. A couplet would appear to have dropped out in the present copy.

p. 401 Valentinian. For Rochester's Valentinian see Vol. III, The Lucky Chance, Preface (p. 186), and note on that passage (p. 484). This alteration was printed quarto, 1685, with a vigorous defence of Rochester, 'a Preface concerning the Author and his Writings. By one of his Friends.' (i.e. Robert Wolseley, son of Sir Charles Wolseley.) It is curious to note that two publishers divided the risk of publication, and on the title pages of different 4tos we have different names. Mrs. Sarah Cook, who spoke this Prologue the first day, was an actress of no little eminence and beauty. Her origin was humble (her mother is said to have kept a tiny shop), and she early joined the Nursery. In 1677 we find her cast for Gillian, when Leanard's wholesale plagiarism of Brewer's Country Girl entitled Country Innocence; or, The Chambermaid turn'd Quaker, was produced during Lent by the younger part of the Theatre Royal Company, with help from such experienced performers as Haynes, Lydal, Goodman, Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Knipp. The following year Mrs. Cook acted Flora in The Rambling Justice, another Nursery play, also put on in Lent. Langbaine ascribes this comedy to Leanard, and much of it is stolen in his style. Amongst Mrs. Cook's many rÔles after she had joined the King's Company as a regular actress were:—1681, Livia, in D'Urfey's Sir Barnaby Whig; 1682, Semanthe, in Southerne's The Loyal Brother; The Countess of Rutland in Banks' The Unhappy Favourite. After the Union of the Companies (first performance 16 November, 1682), Mrs. Cook, who had already taken a high place, acted parts of great importance. We find that she spoke the Epilogue to Dryden and Lee's The Duke of Guise (December, 1682), and in 1683 she appears as Spaconia in a notable revival of A King and No King. The same year she possibly acted the Countess in Ravenscroft's Dame Dobson. In 1684 she played Serena in Lee's Constantine the Great; Erminia in Southerne's The Disappointment; Portia, in a revival of Julius CÆsar; 1685, Aminta in D'Urfey's The Commonwealth of Women; Edith, in a revival of Rollo, Duke of Normandy; 1686, Lady Lovemore in Jevon's farce, A Devil of A Wife; Donna Elvira in D'Urfey's The Banditti; 1687, Letitia in Mrs. Behn's The Lucky Chance; Quisara in Tate's poor alteration of The Island Princess; Elaria, in Mrs. Behn's farcical The Emperor of the Moon. Genest who records this as her last rÔle says that she quitted the stage at this time. It has been stated that she died in the winter of 1687. At any rate her name no longer appears, and her place was amply filled by the advent of Mrs. Bracegirdle. Mrs. Cook was celebrated for speaking saucy and political epilogues, e.g. that to The Duke of Guise, and, again, Dryden's brilliant epilogue to Constantine the Great. A MS. (Harleian) Satire on the Players (c. 1682-3) coarsely vilipends her thus:—

On the Second Day of Valentinian a second prologue was spoken by Mrs. Cook. They are clever verses, and with regard to the critics who gird at Rochester, some 'for his want of Wit', and others because 'he too obscenely writ', it is said:—

The third 'Prologue intended for Valentinian, to be spoken by Mrs. Barrey' contains the famous lines with reference to the dead author:—

p. 402 Jenny. A well-known orange wench to whom there are allusions in the satires of the day. 'Jenny' is sometimes also a generic name for a mask.

p. 402 Blanket Fair. Evelyn, 6 January, 1684, notes 'the river quite frozen', and on the 9th writes: 'I went across the Thames on the ice, now become so thick as to bear not only streets of booths, in which they roasted meat, and had divers shops of wares, quite across as in a town, but coaches, carts and horses passed over.' On subsequent days he notes the continuance of this frost, and on 24 January has a famous description of the Thames fair with its 'sleds, sliding with skates, a bull-baiting, horse and coach-races, puppet-plays and interludes, cooks, tippling, and other lewd places, so that it seemed to be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival on the water'. A printing press was even set up and cards printed, one of which is given, dated 5 February, in a note by Bray, Evelyn's Diary, II (p. 192) (1850).

p. 403 To Henry Higden. Henry Higden, to whose translation of Juvenal's tenth satire Mrs. Behn prefixed these complimentary verses, was a well-known wit of the day. A Yorkshireman, a member of the Middle Temple, he moved in the best and gayest society. In 1686 he published A Modern Essay on the Thirteenth Satyr of Juvenal (Licensed 11 November, 1685), and in 1687 followed this up by A Modern Essay on the Tenth Satyr of Juvenal. With Mrs. Behn's Poem are also printed verses by Dryden and Settle. Higden is the author of a good comedy, The Wary Widdow: or, Sir Noisy Parrat (4to, 1693). Sir Charles Sedley wrote the prologue, there are six copies (one by Tom Brown in Latin), of complimentary verses, and the play is dedicated to the Earl of Dorset and Middlesex. A legend exists that the author 'had introduced so much punch-drinking into it that the actors got intoxicated before the end of the third act, and the house separated in confusion'. This seems to me dubious at the least, and if true the actors must have begun in a singularly mellow condition. Sir Noisy, indeed (Act i), declares 'we must banish Venus out of our Calender, Jolly Bacchus shall rejoyce our hearts, and be our Dominical Letter,' yet in Act ii, sc. iii, he toasts Clarinda's health but once and that in 'Wine and Colour'd water'; whilst Act iii, sc. vi, 'the Rose Tavern' where Sir Noisy gets drunk with Scaredevil and Fulham is somewhat quiet for a toping of the period. In Act iv Nantz is quaffed on shipboard, but all the rest of the play is temperate enough, and the tradition (repeated ad nauseam), must indubitably be dismissed as pure fiction. Higden in his Preface ascribes the doom of The Wary Widdow to those 'Sons of Zeruiah', the 'murmuring Israelites' and 'Pagans of the Pits' who 'hissing, mimicking, ridiculing, and Cat-calling' utterly 'vanquished the stage', and dumbfounded the unfortunate performers. No doubt a braying clique damned the piece. It may be noted that in his Preface Higden takes occasion to gird at the recent success of Congreve's The Old Bachelor.

p. 405 On the Death of E. Waller, Esq. Edmund Waller died at Hall Barn, 21 October, 1687, and on 26 October was buried in Beaconsfield churchyard. This elegy of Mrs. Behn's was first printed in a collection entitled Poems to Memory of that Incomparable Poet Edmund Waller, Esquire. 'By Several Hands.' 1688. The volume (27 pages), contains poems by Sir John Cotton, Bart.; Sir Tho. Higgons; T. Rymer; Monsieur St. Evremon (six lines in French, with an English translation by T. R.); George Granville; Bevill Higgons; A. Behn; an Anonymous Poem; and 'To Mr. Riley, Drawing Mr. Waller's Picture', signed T. R. The letter accompanying these lines sent by Mrs. Behn to Waller's daughter-in-law, will be found in the Memoir (Vol. I, pp. l-li).

p. 407 A Pindaric Poem. For the occasion of this Poem vide Vol. I, p. liii. From stanza 4 it would appear that Dr. Burnet had suggested to Mrs. Behn that she should write a Pindaric or some similar poem on William of Orange and his consort. To her credit she refused. The verses To Her Sacred Majesty Queen Mary are more than ample on such themes.

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