The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
as if they had been written with blood, O HOMO, FUGE."
THE HISTORY OF DR. FAUSTUS, Sig. B, ed. 1648.]
[Footnote 87: me-- So the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "thee."]
[Footnote 88: he desires-- Not in any of the four 4tos. In the tract
just cited, the "3d Article" stands thus,--"That Mephostophiles
should bring him any thing, and doe for him whatsoever." Sig. A 4,
ed. 1648. A later ed. adds "he desired." Marlowe, no doubt,
followed some edition of the HISTORY in which these words,
or something equivalent to them, had been omitted by mistake.
(2to 1661, which I consider as of no authority, has "he
requireth.")]
[Footnote 89: that, &c.-- So all the 4tos, ungrammatically.]
[Footnote 90: these-- See note §, p. 80.[i.e. Note 25]
: ]
[Footnote 91: there-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]
[Footnote 92: are-- So two of the later 4tos.--2to 1604 "is."]
[Footnote 93: fond-- i.e. foolish.]
[Footnote 94: What! walking, disputing, &c.-- The later 4tos have "What,
SLEEPING, EATING, walking, AND disputing!" But it is evident
that this speech is not given correctly in any of the old eds.]
[Footnote 95: let me have a wife, &c.-- The ninth chapter of THE HISTORY
OF DR. FAUSTUS narrates "How Doctor Faustus would have married,
and how the Devill had almost killed him for it," and concludes
as follows. "It is no jesting [said Mephistophilis-- with us:
hold thou that which thou hast vowed, and we will peforme as we
have promised; and more shall that, thou shalt have thy hearts
desire of what woman soever thou wilt, be she alive or dead,
and so long as thou wilt thou shalt keep her by thee.--These
words pleased Faustus wonderfull well, and repented himself that
he was so foolish to wish himselfe married, that might have any
woman in the whole city brought him at his command; the which
he practised and persevered in a long time." Sig. B 3, ed. 1648.]
[Footnote 96: me-- Not in 4to 1604. (This line is wanting in the later 4tos.)]
[Footnote 97: no-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]
[Footnote 98: Saba-- i.e. Sabaea--the Queen of Sheba.]
[Footnote 99: iterating-- i.e. reciting, repeating.]
[Footnote 100: And argue of divine astrology, &c.-- In THE HISTORY OF
DR. FAUSTUS, there are several tedious pages on the subject;
but our dramatist, in the dialogue which follows, has no
particular obligations to them.]
[Footnote 101: erring-- i.e. wandering.]
[Footnote 102: freshmen's-- "A Freshman, tiro, novitius." Coles's DICT.
Properly, a student during his first term at the university.]
[Footnote 103: resolve-- i.e. satisfy, inform.]
[Footnote 104: Seek to save-- Qy. "Seek THOU to save"? But see note ||,
p. 18.]
[Note ||, from page 18 (The First Part of Tamburlaine The
Great):
Barbarous-- Qy. "O Barbarous"? in the next line but one,
"O treacherous"? and in the last line of the speech,
"O bloody"? But we occasionally find in our early dramatists
lines which are defective in the first syllable; and in some
of these instances at least it would almost seem that nothing
has been omitted by the transcriber or printer.--]
[Footnote 105: Enter the SEVEN DEADLY SINS-- In THE HISTORY OF DR. FAUSTUS,
Lucifer amuses Faustus, not by calling up the Seven Deadly Sins,
but by making various devils appear before him, "one after another,
in forme as they were in hell." "First entered Beliall in forme
of a beare," &c.--"after him came Beelzebub, in curled haire of
a horseflesh colour," &c.--"then came Astaroth, in the forme of
a worme," &c. &c. During this exhibition, "Lucifer himselfe sate
in manner of a man all hairy, but of browne colour, like a
squirrell, curled, and his tayle turning upward on his backe as
the squirrels use: I think he could crack nuts too like a
squirrell." Sig. D, ed. 1648.]
[Footnote 106: case-- i.e. couple.]
[Footnote 107: bevers-- i.e. refreshments between meals.]
[Footnote 108: L.-- All the 4tos "Lechery."--Here I have made the alteration
recommended by Mr. Collier in his Preface to COLERIDGE'S SEVEN
LECTURES ON SHAKESPEARE AND MILTON, p. cviii.]
[Footnote 109: Away, to hell, to hell-- In 4to 1604, these words stand
on a line by themselves, without a prefix. (In the later 4tos,
the corresponding passage is as follows;
"------ begins with Lechery.
LUCIFER. Away to hell, away! On, piper! [Exeunt the SINS.
FAUSTUS. O, how this sight doth delight my soul!" &c.)]
[Footnote 110: I will send for thee at midnight-- In THE HISTORY OF DR.
FAUSTUS, we have a particular account of Faustus's visit
to the infernal regions, Sig. D 2, ed. 1648.]
[Footnote 111: Enter CHORUS-- Old ed. "Enter WAGNER solus." That these
lines belong to the Chorus would be evident enough, even if we
had no assistance here from the later 4tos.--The parts of Wagner
and of the Chorus were most probably played by the same actor:
and hence the error.]
[Footnote 112: Learned Faustus,
To know the secrets of astronomy, &c.-- See the 21st chapter
of THE HISTORY OF DR. FAUSTUS,--"How Doctor Faustus was carried
through the ayre up to the heavens, to see the whole world,
and how the sky and planets ruled," &c.]
[Footnote 113: Enter FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHILIS-- Scene, the Pope's
privy-chamber.]
[Footnote 114: Trier-- i.e. Treves or Triers.]
[Footnote 115: From Paris next, &c.-- This description is from THE HISTORY
OF DR. FAUSTUS; "He came from Paris to Mentz, where the river
of Maine falls into the Rhine: notwithstanding he tarried not
long there, but went into Campania, in the kingdome of Neapol,
in which he saw an innumerable sort of cloysters, nunries, and
churches, and great houses of stone, the streets faire and large,
and straight forth from one end of the towne to the other as a
line; and all the pavement of the city was of bricke, and the
more it rained into the towne, the fairer the streets were:
there saw he the tombe of Virgill, and the highway that he cu[t]
through the mighty hill of stone in one night, the whole length
of an English mile," &c. Sig. E 2, ed. 1648.]
[Footnote 116: The way he cut, &c.-- During the middle ages Virgil was
regarded as a great magician, and much was written concerning
his exploits in that capacity. The LYFE OF VIRGILIUS, however,
(see Thoms's EARLY PROSE ROMANCES, vol. ii.,) makes no mention
of the feat in question. But Petrarch speaks of it as follows.
"Non longe a Puteolis Falernus collis attollitur, famoso palmite
nobilis. Inter Falernum et mare mons est saxeus, hominum manibus
confossus, quod vulgus insulsum a Virgilio magicis cantaminibus
factum putant: ita clarorum fama hominum, non veris contenta
laudibus, saepe etiam fabulis viam facit. De quo cum me olim
Robertus regno clarus, sed praeclarus ingenio ac literis, quid
sentirem, multis astantibus, percunctatus esset, humanitate fretus
regia, qua non reges modo sed homines vicit, jocans nusquam me
legisse magicarium fuisse Virgilium respondi: quod ille severissimae
nutu frontis approbans, non illic magici sed ferri vestigia
confessus est. Sunt autem fauces excavati montis angustae sed
longissimae atque atrae: tenebrosa inter horrifica semper nox:
publicum iter in medio, mirum et religioni proximum, belli quoque
immolatum temporibus, sic vero populi vox est, et nullis unquam
latrociniis attentatum, patet: Criptam Neapolitanam dicunt, cujus
et in epistolis ad Lucilium Seneca mentionem fecit. Sub finem fusci
tramitis, ubi primo videri coelum incipit, in aggere edito, ipsius
Virgilii busta visuntur, pervetusti operis, unde haec forsan ab
illo perforati montis fluxit opinio." ITINERARIUM SYRIACUM,--OPP.
p. 560, ed. Bas.]
[Footnote 117: From thence to Venice, Padua, and the rest,
In one of which a sumptuous temple stands, &c.-- So the
later 4tos.--2to 1604 "In MIDST of which," &c.--THE HISTORY
OF DR. FAUSTUS shews WHAT "sumptuous temple" is meant: "From
thence he came to Venice....He wondred not a little at the
fairenesse of S. Marks Place, and the sumptuous church standing
thereon, called S. Marke, how all the pavement was set with
coloured stones, and all the rood or loft of the church double
gilded over." Sig. E 2, ed. 1648.]
[Footnote 118: Just through the midst, &c.-- This and the next line are
not in 4to 1604. I have inserted them from the later 4tos, as
being absolutely necessary for the sense.]
[Footnote 119: Ponte-- All the 4tos "Ponto."]
[Footnote 120: of-- So the later 4tos.--Not in 4to 1604.]
[Footnote 121: Then charm me, that I, &c.-- A corrupted passage.--Compare
THE HISTORY OF DR. FAUSTUS, Sig. E 3, ed. 1648; where, however,
the Cardinal, whom the Pope entertains, is called the Cardinal
of PAVIA.]
[Footnote 122: Sonnet-- Variously written, SENNET, SIGNET, SIGNATE, &c.--A
particular set of notes on the trumpet, or cornet, different from
a flourish. See Nares's GLOSS. in V. SENNET.]
[Footnote 123: Enter ROBIN, &c.-- Scene, near an inn.]
[Footnote 124: ippocras-- Or HIPPOCRAS,--a medicated drink composed of wine
(usually red) with spices and sugar. It is generally supposed to
have been so called from HIPPOCRATES (contracted by our earliest
writers to HIPPOCRAS); perhaps because it was strained,--the woollen
bag used by apothecaries to strain syrups and decoctions for
clarification being termed HIPPOCRATES' SLEEVE.]
[Footnote 125: tabern-- i.e. tavern.]
[Footnote 126: [Exeunt.
Enter ROBIN and RALPH, &c.-- A scene is evidently wanting
after the Exeunt of Robin and Ralph.]
[Footnote 127: purchase-- i.e. booty--gain, acquisition.]
[Footnote 128: Drawer-- There is an inconsistency here: the Vintner
cannot properly be addressed as "Drawer." The later 4tos are
also inconsistent in the corresponding passage: Dick says, "THE
VINTNER'S BOY follows us at the hard heels," and immediately
the "VINTNER" enters.]
[Footnote 129: tone-- i.e. the one.]
[Footnote 130: MEPHIST-- Monarch of hell, &c.-- Old ed. thus:--]
"MEPHIST. Vanish vilaines, th' one like an Ape, an other like
a Beare, the third an Asse, for doing this enterprise.
Monarch of hell, vnder whose blacke suruey," &c.
What follows, shews that the words which I have omitted ought
to have no place in the text; nor is there any thing equivalent
to them in the corresponding passage of the play as given in
the later 4tos.]
[Footnote 131: Enter EMPEROR, &c.-- Scene--An apartment in the Emperor's
Palace. According to THE HISTORY OF DR. FAUSTUS, the Emperor
"was personally, with the rest of the nobles and gentlemen, at
the towne of Inzbrack, where he kept his court." Sig. G, ed. 1648.]
[Footnote 132: Master Doctor Faustus, &c-- The greater part of this scene
is closely borrowed from the history just cited: e.g. "Faustus,
I have heard much of thee, that thou art excellent in the black art,
and none like thee in mine empire; for men say that thou hast a
familiar spirit with thee, and that thou canst doe what thou list;
it is therefore (said the Emperor) my request of thee, that thou
let me see a proofe of thy experience: and I vow unto thee, by
the honour of my emperiall crowne, none evill shall happen unto
thee for so doing," &c. Ibid.]
[Footnote 133: won-- May be right: but qy. "done"?]
[Footnote 134: As we that do succeed, &c.-- A corrupted passage (not found
in the later 4tos).]
[Footnote 135: The bright, &c.-- See note ||, p. 18.]
[Note ||, from page 18 (The First Part of Tamburlaine The
Great):
Barbarous-- Qy. "O Barbarous"? in the next line but one,
"O treacherous"? and in the last line of the speech,
"O bloody"? But we occasionally find in our early dramatists
lines which are defective in the first syllable; and in
some of these instances at least it would almost seem that