2 cave underground passage

9 orifex orifice, breach

21 the wheel an instrument of torture

33 s.d. Although it has been argued that the Rose and other early theatres did not have a stage trap, the staging here seems to require one to simulate a pit in which Olympia can place the bodies of her dead husband and son. Fireworks and smoke under the stage could then furnish the desired effect (see Introduction, p. xxx). Actually burning the bodies onstage would seem to surpass the ingenuity and technical resources even of modern producers.

47–51 ‘In Tamburlaine’s looks there dwells more majesty than is to be found throughout the heavens, from the hollow roof [‘concave superficies’] of Jove’s palace to the shining bower where the moon sits veiled in a crystal robe like Thetis the ocean goddess’ (Ellis-Fermor).

49 empyreal orb heavenly sphere

57 Rhamnusia Nemesis

61 zenith crest; the highest point in his career

64–5 adverse … heaven the diameter of the sphere of heaven

67–8 lineation ed.

75 frame forming, fashioning