Part 82

=265=, 98-102. =the late . . . on him.= It is singular that Bussy D'Ambois contains no such "dying prophesie" as is here alluded to, unless the reference is to V, iv, 76-78. Bussy, as he dies, forgives his murderers (V, iv, 112).

=267=, 37-9. =Hast thou . . . Reimes.= Cf. Appendix B. "At the Barricades this voice was heard: 'It is no longer time to dally, let us lead my lord to Reimes.'"

=268=, 53. =The cause alike doth.= The same cause doth.

=268=, 55-61. =which . . . counsailes.= Cf. Appendix B. "Advertisements were come to him from all parts, both within and without the realme, from Rome, Spaine, Lorraine, and Savoye, that a bloodie catastrophe would dissolve the assemblie."

=268-69=, 62-8. =Retyre . . . exhale.= Cf. Appendix B. "The Archbishop of Lion . . . 'Retyring yourselfe from the Estates' (said he unto him) 'you shall beare the blame to have abandoned France in so important an occasion, and your enemies, making their profit of your absence, wil sone overthrowe al that which you have with so much paine effected for the assurance of religion.'"

=270=, 89-91. =To be . . . eternitie:= to be His image is to do the deeds that confer immortality, which, owing to the existence of death, consists only in doing the deeds that befit eternal life.

=270=, 102. =Thou dream'st awake now.= Guise here turns Clermont's own words in l. 41 against him.

=272=, 144-8. =those loveliest eyes . . . teares.= A much more overwhelming calamity than that which befell the lady in the original narrative, where it is stated that owing to her "passion . . . she lost the sight of one eye for a tyme."

=276=, 18-19. =for not . . . neglect:= for the counsels that you disclose you do not render of no account.

=278=, 29. =this mortal quarrie:= this deadly attack. Quarry is generally used of slaughtered game, but it also signifies the attack or swoop of the bird or beast of prey on its victim, and here we have an extension of this sense.

=280=, 3-6. =I . . . enter.= Chapman here combines two episodes assigned by De Serres to different days. Cf. Appendix B. "The eve before his death, the Duke himselfe sitting down to dinner, found a scroule under his napkin, advertising him of this secret ambush." On the following morning "the Duke of Guise comes, and attending the beginning of the councell sends for a handkercher. . . . Pericart, his secretarie . . . ties a note to one of the corners thereof, saying, 'Come forth and save your selfe, else you are but a dead man.'"

=281=, 34-5. =Not . . . goe.= Taken in conjunction with III, iii, 24, this means: Hercules is no match for two foes, but Guise will encounter two, though with Hercules as their ally.

=283=, 61-3. =y'have a brother to . . . on him.= Louis de Lorraine, youngest brother of the Duke of Guise, became Archbishop of Rheims in 1574, and Cardinal in 1578.

=286=, 33-4. =the sword . . . life.= Cf. Bussy D'Ambois, V, iv, 114-118.

=286=, 41-2. =Hee will lie . . . shee cryes.= This habit of the lapwing gave the bird an evil reputation as a symbol of deceitfulness. Cf. Measure for Measure, I, iv, 32.

Though 'tis my familiar sin With maids to seem the lapwing and to jest, Tongue far from heart.

For a sarcastic hit at a different trick of the lapwing, cf. Hamlet, V, ii, 174.

=289=, 85. =[Enter Renel, the Countess, and] Charlotte above.= The addition of the bracketed words is necessary, as the Q gives no indication of the entrance of these two characters. They appear with Charlotte "above," i. e. in a gallery at the back of the stage. When Charlotte, enraged at Clermont's slowness in dispatching Montsurry, "gets downe" (l. 87), they remain in the gallery unobserved.

=291=, 125-7. =That the Shatillions ghost . . . death.= Gaspar de Chatillon, better known as Admiral de Coligny, the champion of the Huguenot party, was murdered during "the Massacre of St. Bartholomew," on Aug. 24, 1572, at the instigation of the Duke of Guise.

=293=, 161. =I . . . descend.= Renel and the Countess have overheard from the gallery (cf. note on l. 85) Clermont's speech, and Renel, realising that it foreshadows suicide, descends in the hope of preventing this. But, as he has to lead his blind companion, his progress is slow, and when they "enter" the main stage (l. 203), it is too late.

APPENDIX A

DE LA MORT PITOYABLE DU VALEUREUX LYSIS

Under this title, in the 17th of the series of tales founded on fact which he calls Les Histoires Tragiques de Nostre Temps, Francois de Rosset relates in 1615 the story of Bussy's death. In the Preface to the volume he declares: "Ce ne sont pas des contes de l'Antiquite fabuleuse . . . Ce sont des histoires autant veritables que tristes et funestes. Les noms de la pluspart des personnages sont seulement desguisez en ce Theatre, a fin de n'affliger pas tant les familles de ceux qui en ont donne le suject, puis qu'elles en sont assez affligees." We thus find that the outlines of the story of "Lysis" tally with what we know about Bussy from other sources, and Rosset not improbably preserves details omitted by the historians of the period.

Lysis, Rosset tells us, was sprung from one of the most noble and renowned Houses of France. At seventeen he had acquired an extraordinary reputation for bravery, which increased till "jamais la France depuis le valeureux Roland, ne porta un tel Palladin." Afterwards "il vint a la cour du Prince qui venoit de quiter une Couronne estrangere, pour recevoir celle qui luy appartenoit par les droits de la loy Salique, [i. e. Henry III, who gave up the throne of Poland on succeeding to that of France.] . . . Les rares dons dont il estoit accomply luy acquirent tant de part aux bonnes graces du premier Prince du sang Royal, qu'il estoit tousiours aupres de luy. . . . Mais l'envie . . . tous les jours . . . faisait de mauvais rapports a sa Maieste de Lysis, de sorte qu'elle le voyoit d'aussi mauvais oeil, que l'autre Prince, son proche parent, faisoit conte de sa prouesse."

He had never been the victim of love, but he was instantly captivated by the beautiful eyes of a lady whom he met at an assembly at the house of a Judge in one of the towns of which he was Governor.

"Ceste beaute, pour le respect que je dois a ceux a qui elle appartenoit, sera nommee Sylvie. . . . Cette dame . . . estoit mariee avec un grand Seigneur, jeune, vaillan, sage, discret et courtois." She would not at first gratify her lover's passion, though she granted him "de petites privautez," which only fanned the flame. He wrote her a letter in which he declared that if she refused him her favour, it meant his sentence of death. She replied in a temporising manner that when he had given proofs of his fidelity, she would decide as to what she ought to do. Rosset asserts that these two letters are not invented, but that he obtained them from a friend who had made a collection of such epistles, and who "a este curieux de scavoir le nom des personnes qui les ont escrites."

Meanwhile, he continues, "elle donne le vray moyen a Lysis de la voir, sans le souciet qu'on en parle, pourveu que sa conscience la deffende. Et particulierement ce fut en un jardin qui est a l'un des fauxbourgs de la ville." Some tale-bearers, putting the worst construction on their behaviour, gave information to Lisandre, the husband of Sylvie, but he refused to credit anything to the dishonour of his wife. To stop gossip, however, he took her with him to a house he had not far from the town. But the lovers communicated with one another by messengers, till Lisandre's departure on a journey removed all obstacle to their intercourse. "Ce Seigneur avait des affaires hors de la province ou il faisoit pour lors sa demeure. Pour les terminer, il s'y achemine au grand contentement de Sylvie, qui neantmoins contrefaisoit la dolente a son depart & le sommoit de revenir le plustot qu'il luy seroit possible, tandis que dans son ame elle prioit a Dieu que son voyage fust aussi long que celuy d'Ulysse." When he was gone, she immediately sent for Lysis, and they spent two or three days in transports of delight, though she continued to safeguard her honour.

On Lisandre's return the King, instigated by the enemies of Lysis, reproached the former for tamely enduring dishonour, and bade him never reappear in the royal presence till he had wiped out the stain. Lisandre therefore offered his wife the choice of three courses. She was to swallow poison, or die beneath his dagger, or write to Lysis, telling him that Lisandre was still absent, and begging him to come to her. After a struggle Sylvie wrote the fatal missive, and Lysis, though at the castle gate he was overcome by a premonition of evil and almost turned back, was obedient to her summons, and entered her chamber unarmed. The final scene is thus described.