244
NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. vm. SEPT. 27, 1013.
the lay devotee had freshly attained the elementary saintship through revolving what the aged dunce had delivered unwittingly. So he summoned the old monk, commanded him to accept the present, and explained to him why he was entitled to it. With the utmost pleasure the monk listened to his master, and thereupon he became himself an elementary saint too."
WEBSTER AND SIR THOMAS
OVERBURY.
(See ante, p. 221.)
I now come to parallels between 'The Duchess of Malfy' and the 'Characters' of 1615.
In one of Antonio's speeches at the beginning of the play there appears a casual observation which looks so much like a quotation that I long since noted it down with a view to the discovery of its source:—
If too immoderate sleep be truly said
To be an inward rust unto the soul.
' D.M.,' I. i. (Hazlitt, ii. 160). It is from the character of ' A fayre and Ihappy Milke-mayd ' :
" She doth not, with lying long abed, spoyle l)oth her Complexion & Conditions ; nature hath 'taught her too Immoderate sleepe is rust to the soule" Kimbault, p. 118.
Antonio is acquainting Delio with the -disposition of Duke Ferdinand
If he laugh heartily, it is to laugh
All honesty out of fashion.
' D.M.,' I. ii. (Hazlitt, ii. 164). 'Compare the description of ' An Improvident -young Gallant ' :
" If all men were of his minde all honestie would bee out of fashion." Bimbault, p. 124. Again :
He never pays debts unless they be shrewd turns, And those he will confess that he doth owe.
' D.M.' I. ii. (Hazlitt, 165).
-which appears thus in the character of ' An Intruder into favour '
" Debts hee owes none, but shrewd turnes, and
those he paies ere hee be sued." Rimbault, p. 117.
Antonio's speech is a cento of extracts from
various authors. Of the last eight lines in
praise of the Duchess the first three, as
already stated, were suggested by Over-
7 bury's ' Wife,' the next three are derived
from Donne's ' Anatomie of the World.'
The two concluding lines are from the
- Characters ' :
-Let all sweet ladies break their nattering glasses .And dress themselves in her.
' D.M.,' I. ii. (Hazlitt, 165).
" She ought to be a mirrour for our yongest
dames to dresse themselves by, when she is
fullest of wrinkles." ' A Vertuous Widow,'
Rimbault, p. 139.
The term " flattering glass " was doubtless suggested by another passage from * An Intruder into favour ' :
" He is a nattering Glasse to conceale age, and wrinkles." Rimbault, p. 117.
Bosola advises Castrucchio how to behave if he wishes to be taken for an eminent courtier. " I would have you." he says,
... .in a set speech, at th' end of every sentence, To hum three or four times, or blow your nose till
it smart again, To recover your memory.
' D.M.,' II. i. (Hazlitt, 179). This was suggested partly by the descrip- tion of ' A Fellow of a House '
" He hath learn' t to cough, and spit, and blow his nose at every period, to recover his memory." Rimbault, p. 129. and partly by an allusion to the " endless tongue " of ' An Hypocrite ' :
"... .the motions whereof, when matter and words faile, (as they often doe) must be patched up, to accomplish his foure hours in a day at the least, with long and fervent huntmes. Rim- bault, pp. 96-7.
Bosola questions Ferdinand as to his in- tentions with regard to the Duchess. Fer- dinand evades the query with " Can you guess ? " Bosola says he cannot, where- upon Ferdinand replies : Do not ask then.
He that can compass me, and know my drifts May say he hath put a girdle 'bout the* world And sounded all her quicksands.
' D.M.,' III. i. (Hazlitt, 204). Compare the ' Character ' of ' A ISToble and retir'd Housekeeper ' :
" The Adamant serves not for all Seas, but his doth ; for he hath, as it were, put a gird about the whole world, and sounded all her quick- sandes." Rimbault, p. 116. Rimbault's edition here wrongly prints " found all her quicke -sands."
Ferdinand and Delio are discussing " the great Count Malateste " :
Ferd. He 's no soldier.
Delio. He has worn gunpowder in 's hollow tooth, for the toothache.
' D.M.,' III. iii. (Hazlitt, 219). For this gibe Webster was indebted to the character of ' A Roaring Boy ' :
" Souldier he is none, for hee cannot distin- guish 'tweene Onion-seed and Gunpowder ; if he have worne it in his hollow tooth for the Tooth-ach, and so come to the knowledge of it, that 's all." Rimbault, 122.
The remark made by the Marquess of Pescara, called forth by his suspicion that
