Bussy D'Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D'AmboisChapman, George
General
Bussy D'Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois
Chapman, George
Bussy d'Amboise, 1549?-1579 -- Drama; English drama -- 17th century; Revenge -- Drama; Tragedies (Drama)
"Yet seeke my Fathers love, still seeke it, sir;
If opportunity and humblest suite
Cannot attain it, why then harke you hither."
=45=, 121-122. =as to their pardons . . . Parliaments.= The meaning
appears to be: as the exceptions they make, after Parliaments have
ceased to sit, are to the pardons they have granted.
=46=, 129. =part'st with victory:= comest off victoriously.
=48=, 165. =the Center:= the unmoved central point of the earth,
according to the Ptolemaic system.
=49=, 182. =cast . . . beene:= undress, as if I had never been watching
here. Tamyra here determines to go to bed, but afterwards (l. 242) she
returns.
=49=, 198. =the first orbe move.= An allusion to the _Primum Mobile_,
which, in the Ptolemaic system, was the tenth sphere "of a most pure and
cleare substance and without starres," which revolved in twenty-four
hours, and carried round in its course all the inner spheres.
=51=, 231-32. =If not . . . satisfi'd:= if she is not given opportunity
to dissemble or show petulance, she is not satisfied even if she gains
what she desires.
=56=, 20-30. =Sin . . . troth.= A characteristic illustration of how one
simile in Chapman's verse begets another, with little regard for logical
sequence. The "shadowes" with which sin frightens us are first compared
to the imaginary creatures into which fancy shapes the clouds; then sin
itself (relegated from an active to a passive part) is likened not to a
pure creation of the fancy, but to an exaggerated picture of a real
monster displayed by "policy," i. e. the craft which seeks to debar men
from their desires.
For the custom of exhibiting a rude painting of a curiosity, as a decoy
to sightseers, cf. _The Tempest_, II, 2, 29-31, "Were I in England now .
. . and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would
give a piece of silver."
=56=, 21. =in his truest valour:= if his valour be rightly estimated.
=56=, 33. =our three powers.= The vegetative, sensitive and reasoning
faculties.
=56-57=, 40-43. =Nor shall . . . wings.= Tamyra's "fame," which in l. 38
has been spoken of as a "jewell," is now likened to a fabulous winged
creature which is accorded free flight.
=57=, 44. =It rests as:= the secret remains as inviolable as if.
=58=, 69-71. =layes . . . oppos'd.= I am indebted to Dr. J. A. H. Murray
for the following interpretation of this passage: [Nature] brings our
powers into accordance with its own will or working, just as the stone
(laid by the builder) should be apposed or brought into accord with the
line, not the line (which is straight and not to be shifted) made to lie
along the stone.
=60=, 119. =greatnesse with him:= high place in his favour.
=62=, 13. =Boots of hay-ropes.= Bands of hay were sometimes wrapped
round the legs, to serve instead of boots. Cf. Ben Jonson's _Every Man
in his Humour_, I, 2. _Step._ But I have no boots . . . _Brainworm_. Why
a fine wisp of hay roll'd hard, Master Stephen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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