204
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vn. MARCH ie, 1901.
As when an herd of lusty Cimbrian bulls
Run mourning round about the females' miss,
And stung with fury of their following,
Fill all the air with troublous bellowing.
' 2 Tamb.,' IV. i. p. 63, col 1, Dyce.
Note the following :
As when almightie love, in wrathful mood, To wreake the guilt of mortall sins is bent, Hurles forth his thundring dart with deadly food, Enrold in flames, and smouldring dreriment.
Book I. canto viii. stanza ix.
And will you not, you all-beholding heavens, Dart down on him your piercing lightning brand, Enroll'd in sulphur, and consuming flames ?
And, in Thy justice, dart thy smouldring flame, &c.
' Selimus,' 11. 1329-31 and 1446. And bullets, like Jove's dreadful thunderbolts, Enroll'd in flames and fiery smouldering mists.
'1 Tamb., 'II. iii. p. 15, col. 1.
Lo ! 1 the man whose Muse whylome did maske, As time her taught, in lowly shepheards weeds.
' The Faerie Queene,' opening lines. Jove sometime masked in a shepherd's weed.
' 1 Tamb.,' I. ii. p. 12, col. 1.
Poor prince, thou thoughtest in these disguised weeds
To mask unseen
hiding my estate in shepherd's coat.
' Selimus,' 11. 2061-8.
Their scepters stretcht from east to westerne shore, And all the world in their subjection held.
Book I. canto i. stanza v. Ay, though on all the world we make extent, From the South-pole unto the Northern Bear's, And stretch our reign from East to Western shore.
' Selimus,' 11. 21-3. Stretching your conquering arms from east to west.
4 2 Tamb.,' I. iii. p. 47, col. 2. So from the East unto the furthest West Shall Tamburlaine extend his puissant arm.
' 1 Tamb.,' III. iii. p. 25, col. 1. The word "glut" with its variants occurs so many times in Marlowe's work as to con- stitute a feature by itself and a mark by which he can be known. Note how it comes in in 'Selimus' and 'Tamburlaine,' although Spenser does not use the word in the parallel passage :
" But if that carelesse hevens," quoth she, "despise The doome of just revenge, and take delight To see sad pageaunts of mens miseries," &c.
Pi ti full spectacle of deadly smart,
Pitifull spectacle, as ever eie did vew !
Book II. canto i. stanzas xxxvi. and xl. ! you dispensers of our hapless breath, Why do ye glut your eyes, and take delight To see sad pageants of men's miseries?
Pitiful spectacle of sad dreeriment ! Pitiful spectacle of dismal death !
- Selimus,' 11. 1278-80, and 1295-6.
Zeno (viewing the dead}. But see, another bloody
spectacle !
Ah, wretched eyes, the enemies of my heart, How are ye glutted with these grievous objects, And tell my soul more tales of bleeding ruth !
' 1 Tamb.,' V. i. p. 35, col. 2.
Observe how beautifully Spenser is varied by both plays in the following case, and note that the first line of the ' Selimus ' speech repeats a different part of Spenser : Thou, most auncient grandmother of all.
Book I. canto v. stanza xxii.
As does ' Tamburlaine ' in line 6 : Enwrapt in coal blacke clowds and filthy smoke. Book I. canto xi. stanza xliv.
But I will quote, and clinch the parallel in the two plays more tightly directly : Bajazet. Night ! thou most ancient grandmother
of all,
First made by Jove, for rest and quiet sleep, When cheerful day is gone from th' earth's wide
hall;
Henceforth thy mantle in black Lethe steep, And clothe the world in darkness infernal.
' Selimus,' 11. 1804-8.
lightsome Day, the lampe of highest Jove, First made by him mens wandring wayes to guyde, When Darknesse he in deepest dongeon drove : Henceforth thy hated face for ever hyde, And shut up heavens windowes shyning wyde.
Book I. canto vii. stanza xxiii. Add three lines from the preceding stanza to complete the parallel with 'Tamburlaine': Now let the stony dart of sencelesse Cold Perce to my hart, and pas through everie side, And let eternall night so sad sight fro me hyde.
Compare :
Bajazet. highest lamp of ever-living Jove, Accursed day, infected with my griefs, Hide now thy stained face in endless night, And shut the windows of the lightsome heavens Let ugly Darkness with her rusty coach, Engirt with tempests, wrapt in pitchy clouds, Smother the earth with never-fading mists.
Then let the stony dart of senseless cold Pierce through the centre of my wither'd heart, And make a passage for my loathed life
'ITa-mb.,' V. i. p. 35, col. 1. Here is the completion of the parallel. The speeches in both plays are made by a Baja- zeth, who has been deprived of his empery and who is in a state of the utmost dejection and misery. The association is not a fancy of mine ; it is an association deliberately made by the author of 'Selimus,' who is, of course, Marlowe himself. But I will quote : Bajazet. That woeful emperor, first of my name, Whom the Tartarians locked in a cage To be a spectacle to all the world, Was ten times happier than I am. For Tamberlaine the scourge of nations, &c.
Lines 1750-6. Readers of 'Tamburlaine' are only too
