Part 44

=21=, 85. =Tis leape yeare.= F. G. Fleay (Biog. Chron. I, 59) considers that this refers "to the date of production, as Bussy's introduction at Court was in 1569, not a Leap Year," and that it "fixes the time of representation to 1604." See Introduction.

=22=, 110. =the groome-porters.= Chapman here transfers to the French Court an official peculiar to the English Royal Household till his abolition under George III. The function of the groom-porter was to furnish cards and dice for all gaming at Court, and to decide disputes arising at play.

=23=, 123. =the guiserd.= The play on words here is not clear; "guiserd" may be a variant of "gizzard," in which case it would mean the Duke's throat. This is more probable than a "jingling allusion . . . to goose-herd or gozzard," which Dilke suggests.

=23=, 124. =are you blind of that side:= unguarded and assailable in that direction.

=23=, 130. =Accius Naevius:= the augur who cut a whetstone in pieces in presence of Tarquinius Priscus.

=23=, 133. =mate:= either match or put down, overcome. The latter sense is more probable, with a punning allusion to the use of the word in chess, at which Guise seems to be engaged with the King. Cf. l. 184.

=23=, 135-36. =of the new edition:= of the recent creation. An allusion to the lavish creation of knights by James, shortly after his accession.

=24=, 141-42. =y'ave cut too many throats.= An allusion to Guise's share in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Contrast the references to the episode in The Revenge, II, 1, 198-234.

=24=, 149. =the Knights ward.= Dilke thought that the allusion here was to the "poor knights of Windsor," but it really refers to a part of the "Counter" prison in London. Cf. Eastward Hoe, V, 2, 54, where Wolf says of Sir Petronel Flash, "The knight will i' the Knights-Ward, doe what we can, sir." (See Schelling's note.)

=24=, 163-64. =out a th' presence:= outside the presence of the Sovereign.

=25=, 168. =like a rush.= An allusion to the custom, still prevalent in Chapman's time, of strewing floors with rushes.

=25=, 178-79. =of the place The divers frames.= An obscure expression, which may mean: the varied character in different places of the bed of the sea.

=25=, 180-83. =Bristled . . . fome.= The imagery in these lines also presents difficulty. D'Ambois's heart is likened to the sea, which, once swollen into billows, will not sink into its original calm till it is overspread by the crown or sheet of foam which the waves, after their subsidence, leave behind.

=25=, 184. =You have the mate.= Cf. textual note on I, 1, 153, and note on =23=, 133, p. 148.

=26=, 208. =a blanquet.= To toss D'Ambois in, as is plain from l. 212.

=26=, 211. =carrie it cleane:= comes off easily superior.

=27=, 237-38. =Your descants . . . this ground.= There is a complicated play on words here. Descant in music is the melodious accompaniment to a simple theme, the plainsong or ground. Hence arises the derived meaning, a variation on any theme, a comment, often of a censorious kind. This, as well as the original meaning, is implied here, while ground has, of course, its usual as well as its technical sense.

=28=, 243-44. =Ile be your ghost to haunt you.= May this be an early reference to Banquo's ghost? Macbeth was probably produced in 1606, the year before Bussy D'Ambois was printed.

=28=, 261. =musk-cats:= civet-cats, and hence, scented persons, fops.

=28=, 262. =this priviledge.= The royal presence-chamber, though the King has left it, is still regarded as inviolable.

=29=. =Henry, Guise, Montsurry and Attendants.= The Qq of 1607 and 1608, instead of Montsurry and Attendants, read Beaumond, Nuncius. Nuncius is a mistake, as he does not enter till after l. 24. Beaumond is evidently a courtier, who speaks ll. 105-107 (Such a life . . . of men), and who goes out with the King after l. 206. In 1641 and later Qq it was apparently thought desirable to leave out this "single-speech" character and transfer his words to Montsurry; but by an oversight Beau. was left prefixed to the second half of l. 105, and the S. D., Exit Rex cum Beau., was retained after l. 206. The editor has therefore substituted Mont. for Beau. in either case. Montsurry being thus present at the pardon of Bussy, the 1641 and later Qq leave out ll. 1-50 of the next Scene wherein inter alia Montsurry speaks of the pardon as yet undecided, and Guise enters to announce it to him.

Dilke in his edition in 1814 thought Beaumond a misprint for Beaupre, who appears in other scenes, and whom he took to be a man, instead of a woman. Hence he reads Montsurry, Beaupre and Attendants both here and after l. 206. The other editors have not realized that there is any discrepancy to be explained.

=29=, 12-13. =bruits it . . . healthfull:= proclaims it through the world to be sound and wholesome.

=31=, 51-52. =Pyrrho's opinion . . . are one.= A sweeping generalisation, which cannot be accepted as an interpretation of the doctrines of the sceptical philosopher of Elis.

=31=, 54-58. =As Hector . . . speak.= The reference is to Iliad, VII, 54 ff., though Hector is there described as keeping back the Trojans with his spear.

=32=, 60. =Ript up the quarrell:= explained the cause and origin of the quarrel (Dilke).

=32=, 63-64. =conclude The others dangers:= might put an end to the risks of their companions by making their single combat cover the whole quarrel. Conclude here unites the Elizabethan sense include with the ordinary meaning finish.

=32=, 77-80. =And then . . . never kill.= An anticipation, as Lamb and others have pointed out, of Milton's description of angelic wounds, Par. Lost, VI, 344-49.