The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3)Marlowe, Christopher
General
The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Marlowe, Christopher
English poetry
Publius, a[555] student at the Common-Law,
Oft leaves his books, and, for his recreation,
To Paris-garden[556] doth himself withdraw;
Where he is ravish'd with such delectation,
As down amongst the bears and dogs he goes;
Where, whilst he skipping cries, "To head, to head,"[557]
His satin doublet and his velvet hose
Are all with spittle from above be-spread;
Then is he like his father's country hall,
Stinking of dogs, and muted[558] all with hawks; 10
And rightly too on him this filth doth fall,
Which for such filthy sports his books forsakes,
Leaving old Ployden, Dyer, and Brooke alone,
To see old Harry Hunkes and Sacarson.[559]
FOOTNOTES:
[555] So MS.--Not in old eds.
[556] The Bear-Garden in the Bankside, Southwark.
[557] In _Titus Andronicus_, v. 1, we have the expression "to fight at
head" ("As true a dog as ever fought _at head_"). "To fly at the head"
was equivalent to "attack;" and in Nares' _Glossary_ (ed. Halliwell) the
expression "run on head," in the sense of incite, is quoted from
Heywood's _Spider and Flie_, 1556.
[558] Covered with hawks' dung.
[559] "Harry Hunkes" and "Sacarson" were the names of two famous bears
(probably named after their keepers). Slender boasted to Anne Page, "I
have seen Sackarson loose twenty times and have taken him by the chain."
IN SYLLAM. XLIV.
When I this proposition had defended,
"A coward cannot be an honest man,"
Thou, Sylla, seem'st forthwith to be offended,
And hold'st[560] the contrary, and swear'st[561] he can.
But when I tell thee that he will forsake
His dearest friend in peril of his life,
Thou then art chang'd, and say'st thou didst mistake;
And so we end our argument and strife:
Yet I think oft, and think I think aright,
Thy argument argues thou wilt not fight. 10
FOOTNOTES:
[560] So MS.--Old eds. "holds."
[561] So MS.--Old eds. "swears."
IN DACUM. XLV.
Dacus,[562] with some good colour and pretence,
Terms his love's beauty "silent eloquence;"
For she doth lay more colours on her face
Than ever Tully us'd his speech to grace.
FOOTNOTES:
[562] Dyce shows that Samuel Daniel is meant by Dacus (who has already
been ridiculed in _Ep._ xxx.). In Daniel's _Complaint of Rosamond_
(1592) are the lines:--
"Ah, beauty, syren, faire enchanting good,
Sweet _silent rhetorique_ of perswading eyes,
_Dumb eloquence_, whose power doth move the blood
More than the words or wisedome of the wise," &c.
Perhaps there is an allusion to this epigram in Marston's fourth
satire:--
"What, shall not Rosamond or Gaveston
Ope their sweet lips without detraction?
But must our modern critticks envious eye
Seeme thus to quote some grosse deformity,
Where art not error shineth in their stile,
But error and no art doth thee beguile?"
IN MARCUM. XLVI.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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