The Complete Plays (98 page)

35        
thereon do they stay
: They are waiting for the appointment of a general.

38        
countervail
: (Here) repay, be worth.

41        
And makes… security
: And takes his ease in his over-confidence of safety.

Scene
17

5          
suffer't
: (For O's
suffer
) endure it. 14.1 SD
makes horns
: The sign of the cuckold.

28        
Par… mourra!
: By God's death, he shall die!

37        
may… dead
: I.e. He will not be the man to kill me.

41        
shake off… heels
: (i) Stop her loving me, but (ii) while heels are raised in lovemaking.

Scene
18

0.1    
SD
The DUKE JOYEUX slain
:
Oliver 1968    treats this as an offstage cry, rather than an indication of stage-action.

17        
relics
: A jibe at Catholic reverence for the relics of saints and martyrs.

Scene
19

For the fuller version of the opening of this scene preserved in a manuscript in the Folger Shakespeare Library, see Appendix.

2        
counterfeit… door
: A bawdy reference to the affair between Mugeroun and the duchess of Guise.

4–5    
forestall… should not
: I.e. he steals the Guise's trade (‘market') and sets up a stall (‘standing', with a pun on ‘erection') in a forbidden place (the duchess).

6–8    
landlord
…
land
: Mugeroun exercises rights of ownership over the duchess.

7        
occupy
: With the sense of sexual ‘possession'.

10        
gear
: (i) Plan, (ii) weapon.

12        
this
: Money.

25        
in the cause
: In the matter.

30        
I am… Valois' line
: Guise claims alliance with the French royal family.

31        
Bourbonites
: Navarre's lineage.

32        
juror… Holy League
: One who has sworn allegiance to the Holy
Christian League (established in 1576    to promote die interests of the Catholic Church in France).

35        
able
: (Here) sufficiently wealthy.

37        
foreign exhibition
: A pension from abroad.

45        
sectious
: Sectarian, factious (for O's
sexious).

50        
them
: The ‘Puritans' (45).

55–6    –
dictator… senator
: In times of crisis, the Roman republic elected a single leader (
dictator
) to exercise the powers usually vested in the Senate.

placet
: Latin, it pleases (me), a form of giving assent in an assembly.

62        
simple meaning
: Innocent intentions.

73        
His Holiness'
: The Pope's.

83        
And so… suspect
: ‘And in such a way as to clear you from all suspicion' (Oliver 1968) or, and so rid you of any further anxiety (about Guise).

88        
tragical
: Disposed to create a tragedy.

Scene
20

23        
vantage
: Vantage-ground (a military term).

Scene
21

1          
bent
: Determined.

27        
Holà, varlet, hé
: Guise calls for a page (French
varlet
).

28        
Mounted… cabinet
: Gone up into his private apartments.

65        
Yet Caesar… forth
: Julius Caesar ignored portents of his impending murder. This line recurs in Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar
(2.2.28).

71        
As pale as ashes
: Possibly Guise inspects his ‘looks' (68) in a mirror, or the phrase may refer to an intensification of the third murderer's ‘ghastly' look (57).
look about
: Be on one's guard.

81        
Sixtus
: Pope Sixtus V. See (N).

82        
Philip and Parma
: King Philip II of Spain and his general (N). Cf.
Doctor Faustus
1.95n.

85        
Vive la messe!
: Long live die mass!

101      
Douai… Rheims
: Under the patronage of the duke of Guise, a number of students who had been expelled from the seminary at Douai were resettled at Rheims. The Elizabethan authorities were deeply fearful of the seminary at Rheims which was often used to harbour Catholic converts from England (see Introduction, p. xi).

103      
Spain's huge fleet
: I.e. the Spanish Armada.

105  
monsieur that's deceased
: The duke of Alençon, whose death in 1584 left Navarre the heir to the throne. Cf. 14.63–4n

109      
make me monk
: Subject me to a life of monastic austerity.

114      
yoked
: Restrained (as by a yoke).

126      
that… cardinal
: The Cardinal of Lorraine, whom Marlowe has already made partly responsible for the massacre of 1572.

130      
These two… Guise
: Together these two are as dangerous as one duke of Guise.

144        
changeling
: Unnatural children were sometimes supposed to be substitutes left by fairies who stole the real child from its cradle.

145        
exclaim thee miscreant
: Proclaim you an evildoer (infidel).

155        
insult
: Exult (over the Catholics).

158      
all for thee
: All as a result of your death.

Scene
22

13        
drench
: Drown.

16        
pluck amain
: Pull with full force.

Scene
23

3          
The king's alone… satisfy
: The King's death alone is not enough (to avenge the death of my brother).

5        
stay
: Support.

11        
He
: I.e. King Henry.

13–14    
But that's… Rome
: Syntax and punctuation are unclear (and O repeats
His life
at the beginning of line 14). Dumaine can forestall (‘prevent') the plot against him by killing the king and the other enemies of the Church.

15        
durst
: Dared.

23–4, 27–8    
I am… meritorious
: Religious orders were regarded with deep suspicion by Protestants in England, who believed that the Catholic Church sanctioned the murder of Protestant monarchs (such as Elizabeth).

24        
Jacobins
: Dominicans (from the church of St Jacques in Paris).

Scene
24

13        
lie before Lutetia walls
: Besiege Paris, here given its Latin name (for O's
Lucrecia
).

14        
strumpet
: Disloyal (Paris supported the Guisards).

16        
cast
: (i) Vomit up, (ii) throw down.

stomach
: (i) Stomach-contents, (ii) courage.

18        
President of Paris
: The chief officer of the
parlement
(local assembly) of Paris.

30    
speedy
: Hastily written.

33        
Sancte Jacobus
: Inconsistently inflected Latin vocatives.

41        
pagans' parts
: Unchristian actions.

42   .    
hold them of
: Claim to belong to.

47        
his
: Emended from O's
their.

52        
search
: Examine with probe.

60–63  
These bloody hands… holy earth
: These lines are a mangled recollection of
Edward the Second
, 4.99–101.

62        
crazèd
: Unsound.

66        
practices
: Plots.

78        
new-found death
: Newly devised method of killing.

98        
whet… Sixtus' bones
: Sharpen your sword on the Pope's bones (i.e. if Sixtus V is, as he was at the time of Henri Ill's murder in 1589, still alive, kill him).

109–10    
As Rome… king
: For the unintended historical irony, see headnote to this play.

(M) = Marlowe's coinage;
n
noun,
v
verb,
adj
adjective,
adv
adverb,
imp
imperative.