ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

And then at auctions-money ne'er regard, Buy pictures like the great, ten pounds a yard: Zounds, we shall make these London gentry

say,

We know what's damned genteel, as well as they.

Notes.

Prol.—Woodward refused the part of "Tony,” and the recitation of the Prologue was his only share in the performance. Prol. 3, 4. Cp. Hamlet, I. ii.

6

Prol. 12, 15. Shuter,' 'poor Ned'; Edward Shuter, who played" Mr Hardcastle."

[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small]

I. i. 15. basket'; usually explained as the two outside seats of a stage coach, facing each other behind; but more probably a large wicker receptacle fastened to the back axle-tree for the conveyance of luggage and occasionally of passengers. Cp. Act V. ii. 13 and C. P. Moritz, Travels in England in 1782. I. i. 34. Darby . . . Joan'; the names of a married couple who in the eighteenth century lived in the West Riding and had a traditionally long and happy life. Prior has been credited with a ballad on the subject which was, however, probably written by Henry Woodfall.

[ocr errors]

I. i. 37. 'make money of that'; i.e. reckon how much that

comes to.

I. i. 60, 61. I popped my bald head in Mrs F.'s face.' "One evening at Gosfield, she (Lord Clare's daughter) tied the tail of his wig, whilst he was asleep, to the back of his chair. When

he woke, and his wig came off, he, knowing at once who was the practical joker of the family, threatened to revenge himself upon her. He was then writing She Stoops to Conquer, and his revenge was to make Tony Lumpkin the hero in precisely the same trick." Letter from Lord Nugent, quoted in Forster's Life of Goldsmith, IV. xv.n.

I. i. 89. The Three Pigeons.' Possibly from the inn of this name on the road between Abingdon and Thame (see Trans. of Cambridge Antiq. Soc. 1882). The inn at Lissory derived its name from this incident, not vice versa.

6

I. i. 97. music box'; a barrel-organ.

I. i. 114. gauze'; a very thin transparent fabric usually of silk, so equivalent to "dainty clothes." 'frippery'; finery in dress, especially (though not here) of a tawdry kind. Cp. 'a little Pinke Laden with toyes and fripperies from France' (Crowne, Henry VI. i. 10). The word is also used of old cast-off clothes and the place where they are sold.

I. i. 119. the indigent world. . . vain.' Cp. Lear's words—

'Take physic pomp ;

Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,

That thou mayst shake the superflux to them.'

King Lear, III. iv. 33-35.

I. i. 237. or example of perfection. Cp.

"the pink of perfection'; i.e. the flower or highest type

'I am the very pink of courtesy.'

Romeo and Juliet, II. iv. 61.

'This is the prettiest pilgrim,

The pink of pilgrims.'

Fletcher, Pilgrim i. 2.

I. i. 258. 'Would it were bed-time and all were well.' So Falstaff (1 Henry IV., V. i. 125) on the eve of Shrewsbury,

I. ii. 17. Methodist.' The name dates from about 1730, when it began to be applied to the circle which centred round the Wesleys at Oxford for common Christian worship and service. I. ii. 24. pigeon'; a dupe, a 'gull.'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

'Then hey! at Dissipation s call
To every Club that leads the ton,
Hazard's the word; he flies at all
He's pigeon'd and undone

Richardson (Observer, No. 27).

I. ii. 38. he never gives us nothing that's low ; "When this piece was originally brought forward, the taste of the nation had sickened with a preposterous love for what was termed sentimental comedy: that is, a dramatic composition in which the ordinary business of life, which in a free country like Great Britain produces such a diversity of character, was to be superseded by an unnatural affectation of polished dialogue, in which the usages and singularities of the multitude were to be nearly, if not altogether, rejected. This false taste was borrowed from France...; Kelly and others were enforcing it with ardour, when Oliver Goldsmith planted the standard of Thalia on the boards of Covent Garden Theatre."-Baker's Biographia Dramatica, 1812. Cp. Preface.

6

I. ii. 47. May this be my poison'; ' Before I would stoop to slavery may this be my poison (and he held the goblet in his hand) may this be my poison-but I would sooner list for a soldier.'Citizen of the World, iv.

6

I. ii. 49. Water Parted'; i.e. a song (quoted on next page) from Arne's Artaxerxes, an opera which appeared in 1762.

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »