THE FALSE COUNT.
p. 99 Forty One. cf. note, Vol. II (p. 207) p. 433, The City Heiress.
p. 99 no Plot was true. A patent allusion to the fictitious Popish Plot.
p. 99 Conventicles. For the accentuated last syllable, vide Vol. I, p. 454. A striking example of this accentuation occurs in a Collection of Loyal Songs—1639-1661—
But all the Parish see it plain,
Since thou art in this pickle,
Thou art an Independent quean,
And lov’st a conventicle.
p. 99 Christian Suckling. The charge of murdering young Christian boys, especially at Passover time, and eating their flesh was continually brought against the Jews. Little St. Hugh of Lincoln, St. William of Norwich, the infant St. Simon of Trent and many more were said to have been martyred in this way. But recently (1913) the trial of Mendil Beiliss, a Jew, upon a charge of ritually murdering the Russian lad Yushinsky has caused a world-wide sensation.
p. 99 Gutling. Guzzling. Guttle is used in a secondary sense (= to flatter) in The City Heiress. Vide Vol. II, note (on p. 207) p. 433.
p. 100 took in Lamb’s-Wool Ale. Lamb’s-Wool Ale is hot ale mixed with the pulp of roasted apples, sugared and well spiced. The allusion is to Lord Howard of Esrick, who, having been imprisoned in the Tower on a charge connected with the so-called Popish Plot, to prove his innocence took the Sacrament according to the rites of the English church. It is said, however, that on this occassion, instead of wine, lamb’s-wool was profanely used. cf. Dryden’s bitter jibe—Absalom and Achitophel (November, 1681), I, 575:—
And canting Nadab let oblivion damn,
Who made new porridge for the paschal lamb.
cf. also Absalom’s IX Worthies:—
Then prophane Nadab, that hates all sacred things,
And on that score abominateth kings;
With Mahomet wine he damneth, with intent
To erect his Paschal-lamb’s-wool-Sacrament.
A ballad on the Rye House Plot, entitled The Conspiracy; or, The
Discovery of the Fanatic Plot, sings:—
Next valiant and noble Lord Howard,
That formerly dealt in lamb’s wool;
Who knowing what it is to be towered,
By impeaching may fill the jails full.
p. 100 Brumighams. Bromingham was a slang term of the day for a Whig. Roger North says that the Tories nicknamed the opposite party ’.Birmingham_ Protestants, alluding to the false groats struck at that place’. Birmingham was already noted for spurious coinage. cf. Dryden’s prologue to The Spanish Friar (1681):—
What e’er base metal come
You coin as fast as groats at Bromingam.
A panegyric on the return of the Duke and Duchess of York from Scotland says of Shaftesbury’s medal that
‘Twas coined by stealth, like groats at Birmingham.
For Birmingham = Whig we have Old Jemmy, an Excellent New Ballad:
Let Whig and Bromingham repine,
They show their teeth in vain;
The glory of the British line,
Old Jemmy’s come again.
Also in Matthew Taubman’s A Medley on the Plot, this stanza occurs:—
Confound the hypocrites, Birminghams royal,
Who think allegiance a transgression;
Since to oppose the King is counted loyal,
And to rail high at the succession.
Dryden in his Preface to Absalom and Achitophel, I, speaks of ‘an
Anti-Bromingham’, i.e. a Tory.
p. 100 dry bobs. A bob was a sarcastic jest or jibe. cf. Sir Giles Goosecappe (1606), Act. v, I. ‘Marry him, sweet Lady, to answere his bitter Bob,’ and Buckingham’s The Rehearsal (1671), Act iii, I, where Bayes cries: ‘There’s a bob for the Court.’ A dry bob (literally = a blow or fillip that does not break the skin) is an intensely bitter taunt, cf. Cotgrave (1611), Ruade seiche, a drie bob, jeast or nip. Bailey (1731) has ‘Dry Bob. a Taunt or Scoff’.
p. 100 By Yea and Nay. ‘Yea and Nay’ was often derisively applied to the Puritans, and hence to their lineal descendants the Whigs, in allusion to the Scriptural injunction, S. Matthew v, 33-7, which they feigned exactly to follow. Timothy Thin-beard, a rascally Puritan, in Heywood’s If you Know Not Me, You Know Nobody, Part II (4to, 1606), is continually asseverating ‘By yea and nay’, cf. Fletcher’s Monsieur Thomas, Act ii, III, where Thomas says:—
Do not ye see me alter’d? ‘Yea and Nay,’ gentlemen;
A much-converted man.
In Sir Patient Fancy (1678), Lady Knowell’s late husband, a rank Puritan, is said to have been ‘a great Ay and No Man i’th’ City, and a painful promoter of the good Cause.’
p. 109 Twins. Vide note (p. 319, Amorous Twire), Vol. II, p. 440, The Feigned Courtezans.
p. 113 gives Julia the Letter. Mrs. Behn took the hint for this device from L’Ecole des Maris, ii, XIV, where Isabella feigning to embrace Sganarelle gives her hand to Valère to kiss.
p. 116 Just-au-corps. ‘A sort of jacket called a justacorps came into fashion in Paris about 1650. M. Quicherat informs us that a pretty Parisienne, the wife of a maître de comptes named Belot, was the first who appeared in it. In a ballad called The New-made Gentlewoman, written in the reign of Charles II, occurs the line “My justico and black patches I wear”. Mr. Fairholt suggested that justico may be a corruption of juste au corps.—Planché’. Cyclopedia of Costume, Vol. I, p. 318. Pepys, 26 April, 1667, saw the Duchess of Newcastle ’.aked-necked, without anything about it, and a black just-au-corps’. cf. Dryden’s Limberham; or, The Kind Keeper (1678), iv, I: ‘Aldo. Give her out the flower’d Justacorps with the petticoat belonging to’t.’
p. 116 Towers, The tower at this time was a curled frontlet of false hair. cf. Crowne’s The Country Wit (1675), Act ii, II, where Lady Faddle cries to her maid, ‘run to my milliner’s for my gloves and essences … run for my new towre.’ Shadwell, The Virtuoso (1676), Act iii, mentions ‘Tires for the head, locks, tours, frouzes, and so forth’. The Debauchee (1677), Act ii, I: Mrs. Saleware speaks of buying ‘fine clothes, and tours, and Points and knots.’ The Younger Brother (1696), Act v, the last scene, old Lady Youthly anxiously asks her maid, ‘is not this Tour too brown?’ During the reign of Mary II and particularly in the time of Anne a Tower meant almost exclusively the high starched head-dress in vogue at that period.
p. 116 beat the hoof. To go packing; to trudge off on foot. Dic. Canting Crew (1690), ‘Hoof it or beat it on the Hoof—to walk on foot.’ Pad the hoof is a yet commoner expression. These and similar slang are still much used.
p. 117 finical. According to the N.E.D. the use of finical as a verb is a nonce word only found in this passage.
p. 119 lead Apes in Hell. To die an old maid. A very common expression. It will be remembered that Beatrice had something to say on the subject. —Much Ado About Nothing, Act ii, I.
p. 122 Docity. Gumption, cf. note (p. 340), Vol. II, p. 441, The Feign’d Curtezans.
p. 123 Don Del Phobos. The adventures of the Knight of the Sun and his brother Rosiclair belong to the Amadis school of romance. They were published in two volumes, folio, at Saragossa, 1580, under the title Espejo de principes e cavalleros; o, Cavallero del Febo. The first part of this romance was translated into English by Margaret Tiler, The Mirrour of Princely deedes and Knighthood (4to, 1578), other portions appearing subsequently. The whole four parts, translated from the original Spanish into French, appeared in eight volumes, and an abridged version was made by the Marquis de Paulmy. The Amadis cycle long remained immensely popular.
p. 129 Gad-bee in his Brain. As we now say ‘a bee in his bonnet’. For ’.ad-bee’ cf. Holland’s Pliny (1601) I, 318. ‘The bigger kind of bees … and this vermin is called Oestrus (i.e. the gad-bee or horse fly).’ cf. The Lucky Chance, ii, II: ‘The Gad-Bee’s in his Quonundrum’ and note on that passage infra. For the idea compare ‘brize-stung’ (= crazed).
p. 142 Cockt. Set his hat jauntily. A very frequent phrase.
p. 146 Slashes. Bumpers. From the idea of vigour contained in ‘slash’. The word is extremely rare in this sense and perhaps only found here. But cf. Scottish (Lothian) ‘slash’ = a great quantity of broth or any other sorbile food.
p. 148 what the Devil made me a ship-board? cf. Géronte’s reiterated complaint ‘Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?’—Les Fourberies de Scapin (1671), ii, VII; and the phrase in Cyrano de Bergerac’s Le Pédant Joué (1654): ‘Ha! que diable, que diable aller faire en cette galère?… Aller sans dessein dans une galère!… Dans la galère d’un Turc!’—Act ii, IV. In France this phrase is proverbial.
p. 156 glout thy Eyes. Scowl; frown. Glout (without ‘thy Eyes’. is very common in this sense. cf. Note (p. 201), Vol. II, p. 433.
p. 160 an Antick. A fantastic measure. This is a favourite word with Mrs. Behn.
p. 165 Aquinius his Case. This is, I take it, some confused allusion to the great Dominican Doctor, S. Thomas Aquinas, who was regarded as being the supreme Master of scholasticism and casuistry. Casuistry must be taken in its true and original meaning—the balancing and deciding of individual cases.
p. 175 Bantring and Shamming. Banter = to chaff or make fun of, at this time a new slang word. It is almost certain that the verb, which came into use about 1670, was a full decade earlier than the noun. In 1688 the substantive ‘Banter’ was up-to-date slang. For the verb vide D’Urfey’s Madam Fickle (1676), Act v, I, where Zechiel cries to his brother: ‘Banter him, banter him, Toby. ‘Tis a conceited old Scarab, and will yield us excellent sport—go play upon him a little—exercise thy Wit.’ cf. Swift, Apology (1710), Talke of a Tub: ‘Where wit hath any mixture of raillery, ‘tis but calling it banter, and the work is done. This polite word of theirs was first borrowed from the bullies in Whitefriars, then fell among the footmen, and at last retired to the pedants.’
For ‘shamming’ cf. Wycherley’s The Plain Dealer (1674), iii, I, where the Lawyer says to Manly: ‘You … shammed me all night long.’ ’.hammed!’ cries Manley, ‘prithee what barbarous law-term is that?’ ’.hamming …’ answers the lawyer, ‘’.is all our way of wit, Sir.’ And Freeman explains ‘Shamming is telling you an insipid dull lie with a dull face, which the sly wag the author only laughs at himself; and making himself believe ‘tis a good jest, puts the sham only upon himself.’
p. 176 Dumfounding. A rude and rough form of practical joking. The players ‘dumfounded’ each other with sudden blows stealthily dealt. cf. Shadwell’s The True Widow (1678), Act iv, I. Prig in the theatre says: ’.ou shall see what tricks I’ll play; ‘faith I love to be merry’. (Raps people on their backs, and twirls their hats, and then looks demurely, as if he did not do it.) The pit, often a very pandemonium, was the chief scene of this sport. Dryden, prologue to The Prophetess (1690), speaks of the gallants in the theatre indulging freely in
That witty recreation, called dumfounding.
p. 176 stum’d Wine. To stum wine is to renew dead and insipid wine by mixing new wine with it and so raising a fresh fermentation. cf. Slang (still in common use) ‘stumer’, a generic term for anything worthless, especially a worthless cheque.
p. 176 Grisons. A ‘grison’ is a servant employed on some private business and so dressed in gray (gris) or a dark colour not to attract notice. cf. Shadwell’s The Volunteers (1693), Act ii, sc. I: ‘Sir Nich. I keep grisons, fellows out of livery, privately for nothing but to carry answers.’