Can nothing great, and at the height, Hath she not foes enow of those tatis lepore, familiarium consortia detinere.— WHAL There are three different expressions which occur in our old writers, and which the commentators perpetually perplex and confound with their ridiculous annotations: these are to board, to bourd, and to boud or boude, from the Fr. The first, as Sir Toby correctly and briefly explains it, is to approach, to accost; the second, as above, to jest or toy with; and the third, which is less frequent, to pout or appear sullen. These distinct and appropriate meanings the respective words always preserve, and nothing but the perversity or dulness of the critics can account for the pages wasted in conjectures upon the sense of a couple of terms as frequent the Humourous Lieutenant, where, by an error as they are simple. "Boude at this!" occurs in of the press, it is printed boudge. Boude, boute, and pout are the same word. And what they raise so ill sustain ! She builds in gold, and to the stars, Yet are the men more loose than they; and trimmed, More sleek, more soft, and slacker limbed ; So much, that kind] i.e., nature.-WHAL. The people's voices, and the free Tongues in the senate, bribed be:] In this part of the chorus our poet had his eye upon the specimen belli civilis by Petronius Arbiter: "Nec minor in campo furor est, emptique Quirites Ad prædam strepitumque lucri suffragia vertunt. That hath enforced Rome's virtue thence, ACT II. SCENE I.-A Room in Fulvia's House. Enter Fulvia, Galla, and Servant. Ful. Those rooms do smell extremely. Bring my glass And table hither.-Galla! Gal. Madam. Ful. Look Within, in my blue cabinet, for the pearl : opinion he says the sentiments in them are not sufficiently great, nor his measures at all imitative of the ancients. But I imagine Seneca, not Sophocles or Eschylus, was what the poet copied after, and 'tis then no wonder that he succeeded no better.-WHAL. Jonson has, as Whalley truly says, laid the rhapsody of Eumolpus under contribution, and in more places than he seems aware of. Even the opening lines are taken from it ;-but I shall not multiply quotations. It seems more necessary to observe that in this string of moral reflections which Jonson calls a chorus, but which is spoken by no one, and addressed to no one, he thought not of imitating the ancients, but his own countrymen. Most of our old tragedies have appendages of this kind; but those which he had obviously in view were the Cornelia of "En etiam mea regna petunt, perfossa dehiscit Kidd, and the four tragedies of Lord Sterling, Molibus insanis tellus; jam montibus haus-whose choruses, like the present, make no ap Venalis populus, venalis curia patrum." The sentiments of Petronius furnished him with matter not only in the present instance, but for the general design of the whole chorus. I will take leave to transcribe a few lines from the speech of Pluto to Fortune, which are made use of in the verses before these: parent part of the action. Gorboduc has a chorus, and, to name no more, so have the Cleopatra and Philotas of Daniel, all prior not only to Ca tiline but the Silent Woman; and all tending to prove the candour and judgment of Messrs. Steevens and Malone in affirming that, when Jonson says, in the latter play, "You shall be the chorus and-speak between the acts," he in vidiously meant to sneer at Shakspeare! Gal. I do it indeed but for your exercise, As your physician bids me. Ful. How! does he bid you To anger me for exercise? Gal. Not to anger you, But stir your blood a little; there is difference Between lukewarm and boiling, madam. Ful. Jove! She means to cook me, I think. Pray you, have done. Gal. I mean to dress you, madam. Be friend to me! offering at wit too? why, Where hast thou been? 1 Gal. Will you have't in the globe or spire?] These were some of the various ways in which the Roman ladies bound up their hair: and the manner is still to be seen on the coins and medals of that and the following age.-WHAL. 2 Ful. And doth dance rarely? Gal. Excellent! so well, As a bald senator made a jest, and said, 'Twas better than an honest woman need.] Our poet throughout the character of Sempronia Ful. Thou dream'st all this? Gal. No, but you know she is, madam; And both a mistress of the Latin tongue, And of the Greek. Ful. Ay, but I never dreamt it, Galla, As thou hast done; and therefore you must pardon me. Gal. Indeed you mock me, madam. Forth with your learned lady. She has a wit too? Gal. A very masculine one. Ful. A she-critic, Galla? And can compose in verse, and make quick jests, Modest, or otherwise? Gal. Yes, madam. Ful. She can sing, too? As a bald senator made a jest, and said, had his eye upon Sallust: he has faithfully selected the particulars, yet varied the arrangement of them in a manner different from the historian's relation. Sallust, in drawing the picture of this celebrated lady, hath the following strokes: Psallere, saltare elegantiùs quàm necesse est proba. Jonson has made Fulvia's attendant express herself in the saine terms, but as coming from the dry gravity of a conscript father. This gives an air of humour to the whole, Ful. Tut, she may bear that: few wise With crumbs of bread and milk, and lies women's honesties Will do their courtship hurt. Gal. She's liberal too, madam. Ful. What, of her money or her honour, prithee? Gal. Of both; you know not which she Ful. A comely commendation ! She is in years. Ful. Why, Galla? Gal. For it is. Ful. O, is that all! I thought thou'dst had a reason. Gal. Why, so I have: she has been a fine lady, And yet she dresses herself, except you, madam, One of the best in Rome; and paints, and hides Her decays very well. Ful. They say, it is Rather a visor, than a face, she wears. Gal. They wrong her verily, madam; she doth sleek and is justly adapted to the vein of loquacity characteristic of my lady's woman. (Whalley perhaps did not know that this "bald senator' was Scipio Africanus.) This scene will come under the censure which Dryden passes on some others in this play, and on a scene of our author's Sejanus. Jonson himself, says that critic, "in Sejanus and Catiline has given us this oleo of a play, this unnatural mixture of comedy and tragedy. In Sejanus you may take notice of the scene betwixt Livia and the physician, which is a pleasant satire upon the artificial helps of beauty; in Catiline you may see the parliament of women; the little envies of them to one another, and all that passes betwixt Curius and Fulvia; scenes admirable in their kind, but of an ill mingle with the rest."-WHAL. The world, it may be hoped, will one day have enough of the critical opinions of Dryden. Just at the time in which he wrote this it happened to suit him to decry what he calls "the unnatural mixture of comedy and tragedy;" afterwards, it became convenient to think it the properest thing in the world; and the Spanish Friar was produced, on which, as Dr. Johnson says, he prided himself not a little. When he introduced the vile buffoonery and licentiousness of the despicable Dominick among his battles and murders, the "unnatural mixture' probably no longer sounded in his ears just as ridiculously as the history of David with the merry humours of Goliah :" (Essays on Dram. Poet.) though it subsequently fell again under his displeasure. But omitting this, it appears to me that the criticism of Dryden is as injudicious as it is inconsistent. The brothel loves of Torrismond and Leonora indeed are neither " a-nights In as neat gloves--But she is fain of late To seek, more than she's sought to, the fame is, And so spends that way. Ful. Thou know'st all! but, Galla, What say you to Catiline's lady, Orestilla? There is the gallant ! Gal. She does well. She has Very good suits, and very rich; but then She cannot put them on; she knows not how To wear a garment. You shall have her all Jewels and gold sometimes, so that herself Appears the least part of herself. No, in troth, As I live, madam, you put them all down With your mere strength of judgment, and do draw, too, The world of Rome to follow you! You attire Yourself so diversly, and with that spirit, Still to the noblest humours, they could make forwarded nor retarded by the comic scenes; but the introduction of Livia's physician in Sejanus, and still more of Fulvia and Sempronia in Catiline, is a main part of the story and absolutely necessary to the progress and success of the plot. Dryden allows that the "scenes are admirable;" and unquestionably the curious and pertinent learning displayed in the act before us, which is written with all the sprightliness and vigour of the best ages of English prose, may be sought in vain in the dramas of our author's contemporaries. Sempronia is most exquisitely described by Sallust; Jonson wrought, therefore, after a finished model; but he has not disgraced it. She was the wife of D. Brutus, and, as is generally supposed, the mother of the Brutus "who stabbed Cæsar." Her beauty (which was now in the wane), her accomplishments, her wit, he ambition, and her notorious profligacy and extravagance, made her a fit tool for Catiline, who employed her in the furtherance of his designs with considerable success. Of Fulvia Sallust says little, but that she was of noble birth. It appears from other authorities that she was an abandoned strumpet: subsequently she became the wife of Clodius, a man not ill suited to her; after his death she married Marc Antony, whom she involved in war by her turbulent passions. Jonson has used the few hints which the historian afforded him with great ingenuity, and amidst a rigid adherence to facts, expanded her character with much liveliness of incident and genuine humour. So that herself 1 Appears the least part of herself.] The though is from Ovid, "Pars minima est ipsa puella sui.”—WHAL. For four of the other, Licinius, Longinus, Sem. It will be crossed by the nobility. Sem. Nor were it fit. He is but a new fellow, An inmate here in Rome, as Catiline calls him,' And the patricians should do very ill As 't would be, if he obtained it! a mere upstart, That has no pedigree, no house, no coat, No ensigns of a family! Ful. He has virtue. Sem. Fulvia, good wench, how dost Than the nobility? or boast any quality thou? Aurelia Orestilla; she sent for me. I came to call thee with me; wilt thou go? Ful. I cannot now, in troth; I have some letters To write and send away. Sem. Alas, I pity thee. I have been writing all this night, and am So very weary, unto all the tribes, And centuries, for their voices, to help Catiline In his election. We shall make him consul, Ful. Does he stand for it? Give me some wine, and powder for my teeth. Sem. Here's a good pearl, in troth. Sem. A very orient one!--there are Caius Antonius, Publius Galba, Lucius Cassius Longinus, Quintus Cornificius, Caius Licinius, and that talker Cicero. But Catiline and Antonius will be chosen ; Worthy a nobleman, himself not noble? Ful. "Twas virtue only, at first, made all men noble. Sem. I yield you, it might at first, in When both her kings and consuls held the plough, Or gardened well; but now we have no need To dig, or lose our sweat for't. We have wealth, Fortune, and ease; and then their stock to spend on, Of name, for virtue; which will bear us out 'Gainst all new comers, and can never fail |