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NOTES AND QUERIES. [10* s. n. OCT. 29, 190*.
Mr. Norman has traced the devolution
of the "Cold Harbour" property from the
death of Sir John Pulteney to the present
time, but it is sufficient to state that it now
occupies the site on which the premises of
the City of London Brewery are built.' From
an orthographical point of view, it may be
interesting to note that the place was spelt
in two different ways in Sir John Pulteney's
will : Le Coldherberuy and Le Choldherbemve.
In the declaration of the executors it is spelt
LeColdherbercfh. W. F. PRIDEAUX.
JOHN WEBSTER AND SIR PHILIP
SIDNEY.
(See ante, pp. 221, 261, 303.) IT is not by chance, as I have shown, that Webster causes the fortunes of Antonio, a man of mean birth, and his wife the duchess, to resemble at times the fortunes of the queen Erona and her mean - born husband Anti- philus. Nor is it fanciful to compare the strange incident in ' The Duchess of Malfi ' of Ferdinand showing his sister the artificial figures of her husband and children with Sidney's story of the pretended execution of Philoclea, as well as with that of Pamela told just previously. The dumb shows in the
- Arcadia' are devised by Cecropia to drive
her victims to despair and to make them yield to her wishes. In Webster's play the device is the same : the duchess is to be "plagued in art," and Ferdinand says he will "bring her to despair." Pamela, who was also a witness of the scene of the pretended execution of her sister, nothing daunted at the sight, became more hardened in her opposition to the wishes of Cecropia, and " she vowed never to receive sustenance of them that had been the causers of my [Philoclea's] murther." Book iii.
So in the play the dumb show has the opposite effect on the duchess to that in- tended, and she tells Bosola that she will starve herself to death. Again, when Cecropia found that her cruelty was defeating its own ends, she permitted the sisters, who had been imprisoned in different chambers, to come together again,
" with the same pity as folks keep fowl when they are not fat enough for their eating." Book iii. Compare :
Bosola. Your brothers mean you safety and pity. Duchess. Pity!
With such a pity men preserve alive Pheasants and quails, when they are not fat enough To be eaten.
'The Duchess of Malfi,' III. v. 132-5.
I have been thus particular in pointing out a few of the resemblances between the plots
of Sidney and Webster because I asserted in
my first paper that incidents in the play
were founded upon similar incidents in the
'Arcadia.' I could pursue the subject much
further, but do not wish to deprive myself of
space for dealing with Webster's langua
and proverbial lore.
It is interesting to find that Webster lingered over his reading of the story of the King of Paphlagonia. Everybody knows that it was from this story that Shakespeare derived material for the underplot of Gloster and his sons in ' King Lear.' Sidney's king opens his speech thus :
"'Sirs,' answered he with a good grace, 'your presence promiseth that cruelty shall not overrun hate ; and if it did, in truth our state is sunk beloio the degree of fear.' " Book ii.
The italicized words, slightly altered, appear in a speech of Bospla's, and in a scene where the duchess, like Desdemona in 'Othello,' speaks after she has been strangled :
These tears, I am very certain, never grew In my mother's milk : my estate is sunk Below the degree of fear.
' The Duchess of Malfi,' IV. ii. 429-31. Sidney alludes to a quaint saying, breaking off in the middle of it ; Webster obligingly fills up the blank, as the following will show :
"Cecropia grew so angry with this unkind answer that she could not abstain from telling her that she was like them that could not sleep ivhen they ivere softly laid" &c. ' Arcadia,' Book iii. Julia. You are like some cannot sleep in feather- beds, But must have blocks for their pillows.
' The Duchess of Malfi,' V. ii. 244-5. A fine saying in the play is that of Bosola : The weakest arm is strong enough that strikes With the sword of justice. V. ii. 407-8. It comes from the defiance of Argalus to Amphialus :
" Prepare therefore yourself according to the noble manner you have used, and think not lightly of never so weak an arm which strikes with the- sword of justice." Book iii. Sidney says :
" Strictness is not the way to preserve virtue ;: he had better leave women's minds the most un- tamed that way of any; for no cage will please a bird, and every dog is the fiercer for tying." Book i.. The proverb is not uncommon, yet we may assume that its presence in Sidney is re- sponsible for its reappearance in Webster :
Bosola. This restraint,
Like English mastiyes that grow fierce with tying, Makes her too passionately apprehend Those pleasures she's kept from. IV. i. 14-17.
It is a singular and remarkable fact that,, although Massinger was well acquainted with
