The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume VI

by Aphra Behn

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:—

Sic, ubi fata vocant, udis abiectus in herbis,
Ad vada Mæandri concinit albus olor.

and Metamorphoseon v. 386-7:—

non illo plura Caystros
Carmina cycnorum labentibus audit in undis.

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:—

Nec te mirari, si sint vitiosa, decebit
Carmina, quae faciam paene poeta Getes.

—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) ΠΕΡΙ ΒΑΘΟΥΣ· 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:

The groves appear all drest with wreaths of flowers,
And from their leaves drop aromatic showers,
Whose fragrant heads in mystic twines above
Exchange their sweets, and mix'd with thousand kisses
As if the willing branches strove
To beautify and shade the grove,—

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

p. [144] Eternal Night.

Soles occidere, et redire possunt:
Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux,
Nox est perpetua una dormienda.

—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:—

Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum,
cum faber, incertus scammum faceretne Priapum,
maluit esse deum.

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

Shews that still in her he lives.
Her Wit is graceful, great, and good,
Ally'd in Genius, as in Blood.

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.

Pastorem, Tityre, pingues
Pascat oportet oves, diductum dicere Carmen.

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

Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa
perfusus liquidis urget odoribus
grato, Pyrrha, sub antro?
cui flavam religas comam,
simplex munditiis?—Carminum, I, 5.

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.

Tu ne quaesieris scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi
finem di dederint, Leuconöe, nec Babylonios
tentaris numeros—Horatii, Carminum, I, xi.

p. [212] A Translation. This charming poem,

Lydia, bella puella candida,
Quae bene superas lac et lilium,
Albamque simul rosam rubidam,
Aut expolitum ebur Indicum....

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:—

O! some authority how to proceed;
Some tricks, some quillets, how to cheat the devil.

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.