the school directly opposed to Händel, had signally failed in 1707; Steele was so much interested in the success of the English musicians, Clayton among others, who were trying to rival the Italian singers and composers as his ownership of their concert rooms in York Buildings gave him good reason for being that he wrote to Pope (26 July, 1711) “to know whether [he were] at leisure to help Mr. Clayton, that is Me." In earlier days (Tatler 115) Steele had thought Nicolini's acting "so significant, that a deaf man might go along with [i.e. follow] him in the sense of the part he acted." 67 15-16 To enter . . . and to fly about the stage: George Hogarth, Memoirs, II, 275, says: "Almirena's song ["Angelletti che cantati," etc.] is introduced, in the original score, by a long symphony of twenty bars for octave flutes, in imitation of birds, which is not inserted in the printed music, but its place is merely indicated by a mark of twenty bars rest. During the performance of this symphony, the sparrows were let loose, and flew about the stage." The stage direction (act i, scene 6) is "A delightful grove in which the birds are heard to sing, and seen flying up and down among the trees." 67 21 Sir Martin Mar-all: Dryden's Sr Martin Mar-all, Or The Feign'd Innocence: A Comedy, London, 1668, adapted from the Duke of Newcastle's translation of Molière's L'Étourdi, contains a scene (v, 1) where Sir Martin pretends to serenade his mistress, while in reality his man Warner furnishes the music from behind the scenes. "The song being done," the stage direction runs, "Sir Martin continues fumbling and gazing on his mistress," who, perceiving the trick, exclaims: "His man played and sung for him, and he, it seems, did not know when he should give over." ... 67 30 New-River: an artificial watercourse some thirty miles long, constructed 1607-1613 to supply the city of London. See Wheatley and Cunningham, II, 584-5. Lady Wentworth (Wentworth Papers, p. 65) writes in commendation of a certain house that "thear is New Rever water in all the offices." 67 30 Jetteaus: jets of water, a form probably arising, says the Oxford Dictionary, from confusion of It. getto (d'acqua) with Fr. jet d'eau. 68 2-3 Thunder and lightning: In act 3, scene 2, "Godfrey, Eustatio, and the soldiers, having climb'd half way up the mountain, are stopp'd by a row of ugly spirits, who start up before 'em; the soldiers, frighted. endeavour to run back, but are cut off in their way by another troop, who start up below 'em. In the midst of their confusion, the mountain opens and swallows 'em up, with thunder, lightning, and amazing noises." 68 5-6 Several Engines filled with water: Nichols has the following note: "An alarm of fire having occasioned great confusion in the play house, a manager came forward, and begged the audience to be composed, for he had the pleasure to assure them that there was water enough a-top to drown them all." (Spectator, 1797, I, 30, note.) 68 8 Owner of this Theatre: Christopher Rich, who died in 1714. See Tatler 12, 42, 99 (of which Rich is the "Devito "); and Spectator 258, where Rich figures as " Kit Crotchet." John Rich, the "immortal Rich" of the Dunciad, was his father. See Dict. Nat. Biog. Cibber (Life, ed. 1756, I, 306 ff.) and Genest contain a good deal of material on Rich's theatrical squabbles. Aitken's papers on "Actors and Managers under Queen Anne" in Athenæum, Aug. 11 and 28, 1888, are also valuable. 68 14 The argument: The argument in full is as follows: "Godfrey, General of the Christian Forces in the expedition against the Saracens, to engage the assistance of Rinaldo, a famous hero of those times, promises to give him his daughter Almirena when the city of Jerusalem shou'd fall into his hands. The Christians, with Rinaldo at their head, conquer Palestine, and besiege its King Argantes in that city. Armida, an Amazon enchantress, in love with and beloved by Argantes, contrives by magic to entrap Rinaldo in an enchanted castle, whence, after much difficulty, being deliver'd by Godfrey, he returns to the army, takes Jerusalem, converts Argantes and Armida to the Christian faith, and marries Almirena, according to the promise of her father Godfrey." (Aaron Hill, Dramatic Works, London, 1760, 2 vols., p. 79. Cf. ibid., p. ix.) 68 22 The Italian... preface: This preface ("Il Poeta al Lettore") is in vol. I, pp. 77-78, of Aaron Hill's Dramatic Works, London, 2 vols., 1760. 68 29 Afterwards proceeds to call Mynheer Hendel, etc.: "Il signor Hendel, Orfeo del nostro secolo, nel porla in musica, a pena mi diede tempo di scrivere, e viddi, con mio grande stupore, in due sole settimane armonizata da quell'ingegno sublime, al maggior grado di perfezzione un' opera intiera.” (A. Hill, Dramatic Works, London, 1760, I, 77.) 68 31-32 Composed this Opera in a fortnight: In at least two other cases Händel is known to have composed very rapidly: he wrote The Messiah in twenty-three days (cf. Chrysander in Allgem. Deutsche Biog., XII, 789) and composed his first opera, Almira, faster than the librettist could supply the words. (Dict. Nat. Biog., XXIV, 279.) 69 13 M. Boileau: Boileau's Œuvres, ed. Gidel, Paris, 1870-73, II, 44 : Tous les jours à la cour un sot de qualité Peut juger de travers avec impunité; Et le clinquant du Tasse à tout l'or de Virgile. Cf. Mme de Sévigné's Letters, ed. Monmerqué (Les Grands Écri vains de la France, ed. Regnier), Paris: Hachette, 1862–66, V, 229 (Letter 628): "Je crois, ma fille, que je serais fort de votre avis sur le poëme epique: le clinquant du Tasse m'a charmée." See also Boileau, L'Art Poétique, iii, 205, Réflexions sur Longin, ii; Voltaire's Works, ed. Benchot, Paris, 1826-40, XII, 509. Cf. also Spect. 279, 369. 69 14 Clinquant: Bishop Hurd (Works, London, 1811, IV, 314) in his Letters on Chivalry and Romance (1762) says: “ A lucky word in a verse, which sounds well and every body gets by heart, goes further than a volume of just criticism. In short, the exact, but cold Boileau happened to say something of the clinquant of Tasso; and the magic of this word, like the report of Astolfo's horn in Ariosto, overturned at once the solid and well-built reputation of the Italian poetry. It is not perhaps strange that this potent word should do its business in France. What was less to be expected, it put us into a fright on this side the water. Mr. Addison, who gave the law in taste here, took it up, and sent it about the kingdom in his polite and popular essays. It became a sort of watchword among the critics; and, on the sudden, nothing was heard, on all sides, but the clinquant of Tasso." 69 23 Whittington and his Cat: For the legend about Whittington, see Clouston, Popular Tales and Fictions, II, 65-78; Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales (3d ed., London, 1898, p. 167); Harper's Magazine, August, 1901 (CIII, 459 ff.). Powell seems to have taken the hint: in Les Soupirs de la Grand Britaigne: Or, The Groans of Great Britain, Being the Second Part to the Groans of Europe (London, 1713), which is generally ascribed to Defoe, we find (pp. 73-74): "I was the other Day at a Coffee-House, when the following Advertisement was thrown in . . . At Punche's Theatre, in the Little Piazza Covent-Garden; this present Evening, will be perform'd an Entertainment, call'd the History of Sir Richard Whittington, showing his Rise from a Scullion to be Lord-Mayor of London, with the Comical Humours of Old Madge the Jolly Chamber Maid, and the Representation of the Sea, and the Court of Great Britain, concluding with the Court of Aldermen, and Whittington, Lord-Mayor; honour'd with the Presence of King Henry VIII and his Queen Anna Bullen; with other diverting Decorations proper to the Play, beginning at Six of the Clock. Note, No Money to be return'd after the Entertainment is begun. VIVAT REGINA. Boxes Two Shillings. Pit One. "On Enquiring into the matter, I find this has long been a Noble Diversion of our Quality and Gentry, and that Mr. Powel by Subscriptions and full House has gather'd such Wealth as is ten times sufficient to buy all the Poets in England.” 69 33 Pied Piper: It is unnecessary to speak of Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin," which has brought this old story into English nursery legend; on earlier versions, see Baring Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, Philadelphia, 1869, pp. 417 ff. 70 4 London and Wise: the royal gardeners; see Mr. Gregory Smith's valuable note in his edition of the Spectator; also Lecky, I, 523 ff., and the Honorable Alicia Amherst, A History of Gardening in England, pp. 217-218. 70 8 Undertakers: managers, promoters. See Greenough and Kittredge, Words and Their Ways, pp. 252-253. 70 Motto: Horace, Epist., ii, 208-209: : Visions and magic spells can you despise, And laugh at witches, ghosts, and prodigies? 70 20-21 Stranger in the candle: Sir Thomas Browne (Vulgar Errors, ed. 1672, p. 317) esteems this phenomenon of "low consideration." It is due, he says, to "the fungous parcels about the wicks of candles which only signifieth a moist and pluvious ayr about them, hindering the avolation of the light and favillous particles: whereupon they are forced to settle upon the Snaft." The "fungous parcels," it seems, were actually called "strangers." See Brand's Pop. Antiq., ed. 1803, II, 503 (ed. Hazlitt, III, 181). 70 23 Join-hand: connected writing, to be entered upon only after one has learned to form the letters separately. In Dekker and Webster's Westward Hoe, act ii, scene 1, the writing-master says: "I trust, ere few days be at an end, to have her fall to her joining, for she has her letters ad unguem." 70 25 Childermas-day: The popular name for Holy Innocents Day, which falls on the twenty-eighth of December and commemorates the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem by order of Herod (Matthew ii. 16-18). But in this case the meaning is obviously that of "the day of the week throughout the year, answering to the day in which the feast of the Holy Innocents is solemnized" (Johnson). This explains the phrase "a day in every week." Cf. in Swift's Directions to Servants the "Advice to the Cook." 711 Salt: Sir Thomas Browne says in his Vulgar Errors, 1646 (bk. 5, chap. xx, § 3): "The falling of Salt is an authenticke presagement of ill lucke, nor can every temper contemne it, from whence notwithstanding nothing can be naturally feared: nor was the same a generall prognosticke of future evil among the ancients, but a particular omination concerning the breach of friendship: for salt as incorruptible, was the Simbole of friendship, and before the other service was offered unto their guests; which if it casually fell was accounted ominous, and their amitie of no duration." See also Brand's Popular Antiquities, ed. Hazlitt, III, 164-165; Bishop Hall's "Superstitious Man" in his Characters of Virtues and Vices; Congreve's Love for Love, act iii, scene 9, where Sir Sampson says, "Ha! thou'rt . . . as melancholic as if thou hadst spilt the salt, or pared thy nails on a Sunday." 71 16-17 Battle of Almanza: April 25, 1707, a victory of the French and Spanish over the allies, which established Philip V on the Spanish throne. 71 20 Knife and Fork: On this superstition, see Brand's Popular Antiquities, II, 222. It is to be noted that the superstition has become a bit of popular manners. 71 32 Aspect: here probably colored by the earlier sense of the word, which was astrological: see Greenough and Kittredge, Words and Their Ways, pp. 33-34. 72 7 On superstitions connected with shooting stars, see Brand, ed. Hazlitt, III, 214. 729 Merry-thought: wishbone. In the British Apollo of Nov. 26– Dec. 1, 1708 (vol. I, No. 84, Q. 6), we have the question, "For what Reason is the Bone next the Breast of a Fowl, &c. Called the Merrythought. And when was it first Called so." The answer is "The Original of that Name was doubtless from the Pleasant Fancies, that commonly arise upon the Breaking of that Bone, and 't was then certainly call'd so, when those merry Notions were first started." Johnson finds the word used in Eachard's Contempt of the Clergy, 1670. 72 9 A Screech-owl: Sir Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. v, chap. 23, treats “Of the ominous Appearing of Owls and Ravens "; The Athenian Mercury, vol. I, No. 22, Q. 1, discusses "Why Rats, Toads, Ravens, Screech Owls, &c. are Ominous; and how come they to foreknow fatal Events." See also Brand's Popular Antiquities, ed. Hazlitt, III, 194–196. 72 11 ff. Cricket, thirteen, death-watches: On superstitions about crickets, see Brand, London, 1813, II, 510–512; on the number thirteen, supposed to have had its origin in the circumstances of the Paschal Supper and therefore especially applicable to companies at table together, see Brand's Popular Antiquities, ed. Hazlitt, III, 232. On the death-watch, Sir Thomas Browne, at the beginning of the seventh chapter in his second book of Vulgar Errors, observes: "Few ears have escaped the noise of the death-watch, that is, the little clickling sound heard often in many rooms, somewhat resembling that of a watch; and this is conceived to be an evil omen or prediction of some person's |