Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/561

I 9“‘S.VI-DEC-15.1900-] NOTES AND QUERIES. 465 Disriaiviinglfortune, with his brandish’d steel, Which smo ed with bloody execution, Like valour’s minion carved out his passage Till he faced the slave ; ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to im, Till he unseam’d him from the nave to the chaps, And fix’d his head upon our battlements. Dun. O valiant cousin ! worthy gentleman ! Ser. As whence the sun égins his reflection Shipwrecking storms and ireful thunders break, So from that spring whence comfort seem’d to come Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark .° No sooner justice had with valour arm’d Compell’d these skipping kerns to trust their heels, But the N orweyan ord surveying vantage, With furbish’d arms and new supplies o men Beéaln a fresh assault. _ n. Dzsma;/'d not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banque? Ser. Yes; As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. If I say sooth, must report they were As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe. ‘Macbeth,’ I. ii. The account of the battle between Mus- tapha and Scanderbeg is too long for quota- tion here, but I give an extract showing how Paul Manessey singled out and overcame one of the barbarians :- “ At length Mperceiving afarre off, that one of the Barbarians h disbanded himselfe from the rest of his troupes, and was verie hotte and importunate upon those of his companie, he turned himselfe towardes him, without anie word spleakin : and having gotten neere unto him, he disc argedg so full a blow with all his strength overthwart his head, and redoubled one or two strokes upon him, that he overthrew him headlong oil' his horse, making him to take the measure of his tombe upon the hard earth. When his companions sawe him lie dead upon the ground, they began presently to turne the bridle, neither caring to revenge his death, nor to warrant his body from the outrage of the enemy.” Romeo. Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel: Wert thou as young as I, Juliet th(y love, An hour but married, Tybalt mur ered, Doting like me and like me banished, Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair, And fall upon the ground, as I do now, Taking the measure of an unmade rave. ‘ Romeo and §uliet,’ III. iii. When Romeo falls at full len th upon the ground he takes the measure 0% an unmade grave; when the barbarian is overthrown headlong from his horse, he takes the measure of his tomb upon the hard earth. There is a great resemblance between the ser eant’s account of the “broil” and the g I battle between Mustapha and Scanflerbegf I 1 . ’ I and also between the manner in which Paul Manessey was assalled by the Turks and Macbeth by the kerns and gallowglasses.‘ Macbeth carved out his passage till he faced the slave and then unseam’d him from the nave to the cha s ; and Paul Manessey turned him- self toward; the barbarian, and, having got near to him, discharged so full a blow with all his strength overthwart his head, and redoubled one or two strokes upon him, that he overthrew him headlong off his horse. Paul Manesse and Macbeth are similarly situated, and their action is the same. They each single out their competitors and over- come them in the same wa . The kerns and gallow glasses confront Macbeth, and the Turks press upon Manessey to the uttermost of their powers. When Macbeth has overcome Mac- donwald, the kerns trust to their heels ; when Manessey has overthrown the barbarian, the Turks turn the bridle; and Macbeth and Manesse both redoubled strokes upon their foes. “'llo turn the bridle” signifies to flee away. The expression is used again on p. 273 of this translation. In Archiv f. fn.. S rac/um, in ‘N . JL Q.,’ and in the small booksl) have from time to time written, I have shown that when Shake- speare refers to passa es in the works of old authors, he frequentIy uses not only their thoughts, sentiments, ideas, and figures, but also the words in which they are expressed and by which the are sometimes preceded and followed. The reader will find in the oration of Scanderbeg to his soldiers, and in the account of the battle between Mustapha and Scanderbeg and the encounter between Paul Manessey and the barbarian (pp. 122, 123, and 12-U, many of the words used by Shakespeare in the ser§eant’s narrative, suc as “smoking with t e blood,” “valiant,” “ mark,” “disdaining,” “ fortune,” “ multiplyl,” and some of these words are applied to t e same conditions. For example, Macbeth disdained fortune which supplied Mac- donwald with kerns and gallowglasses, and Scanderbeg bravely disdained the great forces and mighty uissance of his enemy; Macbeth’s brandislied steel smoked with bloody execution ° Paul Manesse 's hands were smoking with the blood of the infidel Caragusa. Lear. The barbarou-s Scythian, Or he that makes his generation messes To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom Be as well neighbour’d, pitied and relieved, As thou my sometime daughter. ‘ King Lear,’ I. i. In the oration of Scanderbeg to Pope Paul II. (p. 479) the barbarous Scythian is mentioned :- “ Having lost so many excellent captains, and so many of my soldiers and subjects being slaine and destroyed, we have no part of our ancient- fortune