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)
=169=, 35-36. =the most divine philosopher.= The reference is doubtless
to Epictetus, the influence of whose _Discourses_ appears throughout
_The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois_.
=174=, 70. =That thinke . . . that=, that do not consider heavenly bliss
complete folly, when compared with money.
=175=, 71-2. =Well . . . arise.= A hypocritical appeal by Baligny to the
absent Duke of Guise, of whose ambitious schemes he suspects Renel to be
a supporter.
=175=, 79-82. =My brother . . . brother.= Cf. _Introduction_, p. xxxvii.
=176=, 97. =stands now on price with him:= is now the subject of
bargaining between him and me.
=178. Monsieur taking leave of the King.= Henry apparently leaves the
stage, after this formal ceremony of farewell, without speaking, for he
takes no part in the dialogue, and he is not mentioned among those who
_exeunt_ at l. 290.
=178=, 145. =See . . . Brabant.= The expedition of the Duke of Anjou
here alluded to is that of 1582, when he was crowned Duke of Brabant at
Antwerp.
=181=, 202-4. =durst . . . lady.= Cf. _Bussy D'Ambois_, I, ii, 96-179.
=181=, 204-8. =emptied . . . were.= Cf. _Bussy D'Ambois_, III, ii,
478-515.
=182=, 234-5. =When . . . commanders.= Monsieur's description in these
and the following lines of Clermont's and Bussy's first appearance at
Court is purely fictitious.
=183=, 254. =a keele of sea-coale.= A keel was a flat-bottomed boat,
used in the northeast of England, for loading and carrying coal.
Afterwards the word was also used of the amount of coal a keel would
carry, i. e. 8 chaldrons, or 21 tons 4 cwt. Sea-coal was the original
term for the fossil coal borne from Newcastle to London by sea, to
distinguish it from _char-coal_. Cf. Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of
Windsor_, I, iv, 9, "at the latter end of a sea-coal fire."
=184=, 267. =a poore knights living.= The knights of Windsor, a small
body who had apartments in the Castle, and pensions, were often known as
"poor knights."
=185=, 278. =But killing of the King!= Cf. _Bussy D'Ambois_, III, ii,
411.
=188=, 332-3. =Why, is not . . . worthily.= If this is a complimentary
allusion to Jaques' speech in _As You Like It_, II, vii, 140-166, it is
remarkable as coming from the writer whom Shakespeare at an earlier date
had probably attacked in his _Sonnets_.
=188=, 335-42. =what the good Greeke moralist sayes . . . of both.= This
passage is based upon the _Discourses_ of Epictetus, bk. IV, vii, 13,
which, however, Chapman completely misinterprets. Epictetus is
demonstrating that a reasonable being should be able to bear any lot
contentedly. "θέλεις πενίαν? φέρε καὶ γνώσῃ τί ἐστιν πενία τυχοῦσα καλοῦ
ὑποκριτοῦ. θέλεις ἀρχὰς? φέρε, καὶ πόνους."
ὑποκρίτης is used here metaphorically, of one who acts a part in life,
not, as Chapman takes it, of an actor in the professional
sense.
=188-189=, 354-5. =The splenative philosopher . . . all.= Democritus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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