Christopher Marlowe - The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3)

So the old eds.—Dyce reads "about."

We are reminded of Lycidas :—

Omitted in ed. 1600 and later 4tos.

This word cannot be right. Query, "high-aspiring?"

Cf. Rom. and Jul. v. 1—

Omitted in eds. 1600, 1606, 1613, and 1637.

Peised, weighed.

Rooms were strewed with rushes before the introduction of carpets. Shakespeare, like Marlowe, attributed the customs of his own day to ancient times. Cf. Cymb. ii. 2—

Old eds. "crau'd."

Some eds. give "O, none have power but gods."

"In ages and countries where mechanical ingenuity has but few outlets it exhausts itself in the constructions of bits, each more peculiar in form or more torturing in effect than that which has preceded it. I have seen collections of these instruments of torments, and among them some of which Marlowe's curious adjective would have been highly descriptive. It may be, however, that the word is 'ring-led,' in which shape it would mean guided by the ring on each side like a snaffle."— Cunningham.

Some eds. give "so faire and kind." Cf. Othello , iv. 2—

Ed. 1613 and later eds. "upstarting."

Fetched

Some eds. give "shallow."

In the old eds. this line and the next stood after l. 300. The transposition was made by Singer in the edition of 1821.

Old eds.—"then … displaid," and in the next line "laid."

Old eds. "heare" and "haire."

Old eds. "glympse."

Pluto was frequently identified by the Greeks with Plutus.

Old eds. "day bright-bearing car."

Dinged, dashed. Some eds. give "hurled."—Here Marlowe's share ends.

This Epistle is only found in the Isham copy, 1598.

Old eds. "improving."

"He calls Phœbus the god of gold, since the virtue of his beams creates it."—Marginal note in the Isham copy.

The reader will remember how grimly Lady Macbeth plays upon this word:—

"It is not likely that Burns had ever read Hero and Leander , but compare Tam o' Shanter —

In England's Parnassus the reading is "of men audacious."

Wholly.

Some eds. give "For as she was."

A magical figure formed of intersected triangles. It was supposed to preserve the wearer from the assaults of demons. "Disparent would seem to mean that the five points of the ornaments radiated distinctly one from the other."— Cunningham.

Old eds. "her."

Heated.

Old eds. "how."

Substance, as opposed to spirit. Cf. note. Vol. i., 203.

Cadiz, which was taken in June 21, 1596, by the force under the joint command of Essex and Howard of Effingham.

So the Isham copy.—The other old eds. read "townes," for which Dyce gives "town."

Within.

Vent forth.

"Fowl" and "fool" had the same pronunciation. Cf. 3 Henry VI. v. 6:—

The "moorish fool" is explained by the allusion to the lapwing, two lines above. (The lapwing was supposed to draw the searcher from her nest by crying in other places. "The lapwing cries most furthest from her nest."— Ray's Proverbs. )

A kind of crape.

So the modern editors for an "imitating."

Ingenious. Chapman has the form "enginous" in his translation of the Odyssey, i. 452,

Some modern editors unnecessarily give "With crowd of sail."

Old eds. "joys."

Old eds. "he."

Some eds. give "For such a Hero."

Command.

Picture.

"This conceit was suggested to Chapman by a passage in Skelton's Phyllyp Sparowe :

Affections.

"This description of the fisherman, as well as the picture which follows it, are borrowed (with alterations) from the first Idyl of Theocritus."— Dyce.

"Eyas" is the name for an unfledged hawk. "Eyas thoughts" would mean "thoughts not yet full-grown,—immature." Dyce thinks the meaning of "eyas" here may be "restless." (Old eds. "yas.")

A monosyllable.

Some eds. give "them, then they burned as blood."

Approaching catastrophe.

Some eds. "and."

Used transitively.

Some eds. "Leanders."

Shakespeare uses the verb "slubber" in the sense of "perform in a slovenly manner" ( Merchant of Venice , ii. 8, "Slubber not business for my sake").

Companions, yoke-mates.