_ That she might be mistaken for a
countess?
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
4.
97 If no body should loue mee, but my poore
husband. = Cf. _Poetaster_, _Wks. _ 2. 444: 'Methinks a
body's husband does not so well at court; a body's friend,
or so--but, husband! 'tis like your clog to your marmoset,' etc.
=4. 4. 134 your Gentleman-vsher. = 'Gentleman-Usher.
Originally a state-officer, attendant upon queens, and
other persons of high rank, as, in Henry VIII, Griffith is
gentleman-usher to Queen Catherine; afterwards a private
affectation of state, assumed by persons of distinction, or
those who pretended to be so, and particularly ladies. He
was then only a sort of upper servant, out of livery, whose
office was to hand his lady to her coach, and to walk before
her bare-headed, though in later times she leaned upon his
arm. '--Nares.
Cf. Dekker, _West-ward Hoe_, _Wks. _ 2. 324: 'Weare furnisht for
attendants as Ladies are, We have our fooles, and our Vshers. '
The sources for a study of the gentleman-usher are the present play,
_The Tale of a Tub_, and Chapman's _Gentleman Usher_. In the _Staple
of News_ the Lady Pecunia is provided with a gentleman-usher. The
principal duties of this office seem to have consisted in being
sent on errands, handing the lady to her coach, and preceding her
on any occasion where ceremony was demanded. In Chapman's play
Lasso says that the disposition of his house for the reception of
guests was placed in the hands of this servant (cf. Chapman, _Wks. _
1. 263 f. ). Innumerable allusions occur in which the requirement
of going bare-headed is mentioned (see note on 4. 4. 202). Another
necessary quality was a fine pace, which is alluded to in the present
character's name (see also note 4. 4. 201). An excellent description
of the gentleman-usher will be found in Nares' _Glossary,_ quoting
from Lenton's _Leasures_, a book published in 1631, and now very rare.
=4. 4. 142 the Dutchesse of Braganza. = Braganza is the
ruling house of Portugal. Dom John, Duke of Braganza, became
king of Portugal in 1640.
=4. 4. 143 Almoiauna. = The _Stanford Dictionary_ gives:
'Almojabana, Sp. fr. Arab. _Al-mojabbana_: cheese-and-flour cake.
Xeres was famed for this dainty, which is named from Arabic
_jobn_ = "cheese. "'
=4. 4. 147 Marquesse Muja. = Apparently a Spanish marquise,
occupying a position in society similar to that of Madame
Recamier.
=4. 4. 156 A Lady of spirit. = With this line and lines 165
f. cf. _U. _ 32, _Wks. _ 8. 356:
To be abroad chanting some bawdy song,
And laugh, and measure thighs, then squeak, spring, itch,
Do all the tricks of a salt lady bitch!
--For these with her young company she'll enter,
Where Pitts, or Wright, or Modet would not venture;
(Fol. reads 'venter')
And come by these degrees the style t'inherit
Of woman of fashion, and a lady of spirit.
=4. 4. 164 Pimlico. = See note 3. 3. 170.
=4. 4. 164 daunce the Saraband. = The origin of the saraband is in
doubt, being variously attributed to Spain and to the Moors. It
is found in Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and
its immoral character is constantly referred to. Grove (_Dict. of
Music_ 3. 226) quotes from chapter 12, 'Del baile y cantar llamado
Zarabanda,' of the _Tratado contra los Juegos Publicos_ ('Treatise
against Public Amusements') of Mariana (1536-1623): 'Entre las otras
invenciones ha salido estos anos un baile y cantar tan lacivo en las
palabras, tan feo en las meneos, que basta para pegar fuego aun a las
personas muy honestas' ('amongst other inventions there has appeared
during late years a dance and song, so lascivious in its words, so
ugly in its movements, that it is enough to inflame even very modest
people'). 'This reputation was not confined to Spain, for Marini in
his poem "L'Adone" (1623) says:
Chiama questo suo gioco empio e profano
Saravanda, e Ciaccona, il nuova Ispano.
Padre Mariana, who believed in its Spanish origin, says that its
invention was one of the disgraces of the nation, and other authors
attribute its invention directly to the devil. The dance was attacked
by Cervantes and Guevara, and defended by Lope de Vega, but it seems
to have been so bad that at the end of the reign of Philip II. it was
for a time suppressed. It was soon, however, revived in a purer form
and was introduced at the French court in 1588' (Grove 3. 226-7).
In England the saraband was soon transformed into an ordinary
country-dance. Two examples are to be found in the first edition of
Playford's _Dancing Master_, and Sir John Hawkins (_Hist. of the
Science and Practice of Music_, 1776) speaks of it several times.
'Within the memory of persons now living,' he says, a Saraband
danced by a Moor was constantly a part of the entertainment at a
puppet-show' (4. 388). In another place (2. 135), in speaking of the
use of castanets at a puppet-show, he says: 'That particular dance
called the Saraband is supposed to require as a thing of necessity,
the music, if it may be called so, of this artless instrument. '
In the _Staple of News_, _Wks. _ 5. 256, Jonson speaks of 'a light
air! the bawdy Saraband! '
=4. 4. 165 Heare, and talke bawdy; laugh as loud, as a larum. = Jonson
satirizes these vices again in _U. 67_ (see note 4. 4. 156) and
_Epigrams_ 48 and _115_. Dekker (_Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _
2. 238) advises the young gallant to 'discourse as lowd as you can,
no matter to what purpose, . . . and laugh in fashion, . . . you shall be
much obserued. '
=4. 4. 172 Shee must not lose a looke on stuffes, or cloth. = It being
the fashion to 'swim in choice of silks and tissues,' plain woolen
cloth was despised. =4. 4. 187 Blesse vs from him! = Preserve us. A
precaution against any evil that might result from pronouncing the
devil's name. Cf. _Knight of the Burning Pestle_ 2. 1: Sure the devil
(God bless us! ) is in this springald! ' and Wilson, _The Cheats_,
Prologue:
No little pug nor devil,--bless us all!
=4. 4. 191, 2 What things they are? That nature should be at leasure=
=Euer to make 'hem! = Cf. _Ev. Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 119: 'O manners that
this age should bring forth such creatures! that nature should be at
leisure to make them! '
=4. 4. 197 Hee makes a wicked leg. = Gifford thinks that _wicked_ here
means 'awkward or clownish. ' It seems rather to mean 'roguish,' a
common colloquial use.
=4. 4. 201 A setled discreet pase. = Cf. 3. 5. 22; 2. 7. 33; and
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 238: 'Walke
vp and downe by the rest as scornfully and as carelesly as a
Gentleman-Usher. '
=4. 4. 202 a barren head, Sir. = Cf. 2. 3. 36, 7 and 4. 2. 12.
Here again we have a punning allusion to the uncovered head of
the gentleman-usher. 'It was a piece of state, that the servants
of the nobility, particularly the gentleman-usher, should attend
bare-headed. ' Nares, _Gloss. _ For numerous passages illustrating the
practice both in regard to the gentleman-usher and to the coachman,
see the quotations in Nares, and Ford, _Lover's Melancholy_, _Wks. _
1. 19; Chapman, _Gentleman-Usher_, _Wks. _ 1. 263; and the following
passage, _ibid. _ 1. 273:
_Vin. _ I thanke you sir.
Nay pray be couerd; O I crie you mercie,
You must be bare.
_Bas. _ Euer to you my Lord.
_Vin. _ Nay, not to me sir,
But to the faire right of your worshipfull place.
A passage from Lenton (see note 4. 4. 134) may also be quoted: 'He is
forced to stand bare, which would urge him to impatience, but for the
hope of being covered, or rather the delight hee takes in shewing his
new-crisp't hayre, which his barber hath caused to stand like a print
hedge, in equal proportion. '
The dramatists ridiculed it by insisting that the coachman should be
not only bare-headed, but bald. Cf. 2. 3. 36 and Massinger, _City
Madam_, _Wks. _ p. 331: 'Thou shalt have thy proper and bald-headed
coachman. ' Jonson often refers to this custom. Cf. _Staple of News_,
_Wks. _ 5. 232:
Such as are bald and barren beyond hope,
Are to be separated and set by
For ushers to old countesses: and coachmen
To mount their boxes reverently, etc.
_New Inn_, _Wks. _ 5. 374:
_Jor. _ Where's thy hat? . . .
_Bar. _ The wind blew't off at Highgate, and my lady
Would not endure me light to take it up;
But made me drive bareheaded in the rain.
_Jor.
_ That she might be mistaken for a countess?
Cf. also _Mag. La. _, _Wks. _ 6. 36, and _Tale Tub_,
_Wks. _ 6. 217 and 222.
=4. 4. 204 his Valley is beneath the waste. = 'Waist' and 'waste' were
both spelled _waste_ or _wast_. Here, of course, is a pun on the two
meanings.
=4. 4. 206 Dulnesse vpon you! Could not you hit this? = Cf. _Bart.
Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 358: 'Now dullness upon me, that I had not that
before him. '
=4. 4. 209 the French sticke. = Walking-sticks of various sorts are
mentioned during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 'In Chas.
II. 's time the French walking-stick, with a ribbon and tassels to
hold it when passed over the wrist, was fashionable, and continued
so to the reign of George II. ' (Planche).
=4. 4. 215, 6 report the working, Of any Ladies physicke. = In
Lenton's _Leasures_ (see note 4. 4. 134) we find: 'His greatest
vexation is going upon sleevelesse arrands, to know whether some lady
slept well last night, or how her physick work'd i' th' morning,
things that savour not well with him; the reason that ofttimes he
goes but to the next taverne, and then very discreetly brings her
home a tale of a tubbe. '
Cf. also B. & Fl. , _Fair Maid of the Inn_ 2. 2: '_Host. _ And have
you been in England? . . . But they say ladies there take physic for
fashion. '
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 255, speaks of 'a
country gentleman that brings his wife vp to learne the fashion,
see the Tombs at Westminster, the Lyons in the Tower, or to take
physicke. ' In the 1812 reprint the editor observes that in Jonson's
time 'fanciful or artful wives would often persuade their husbands
to take them up to town for the advantage of _physick_, when the
principal object was dissipation. '
=4. 4. 219 Corne-cutter. = This vulgar suggestion renders hopeless
Pug's pretensions to gentility. Corncutters carried on a regular
trade (see _Bart. Fair_ 2. 1. ), and were held in the greatest
contempt, as we learn from Nash (_Four Letters Confuted_, _Wks. _ 2.
211).
=4. 4. 232 The Moone. = I. e. , see that the moon and zodiacal sign are
propitious.
=4. 4. 235 Get their natiuities cast! = Astrology was a favorite
subject of satire. Cf. Massinger, _City Madam_ 2. 2; B. & Fl. , _Rollo
Duke of Normandy_ 4. 2, etc.
=4. 5. 31, 2 his valour has At the tall board bin question'd. = _Tall
board_ is, I think, the same as _table-board_, a gaming-table. In
Dyce's edition of Webster's _Devil's Law Case_ (_Wks. _ 2. 38) we
read: 'shaking your elbow at the table-board. ' Dyce says in a note
that the old folio reads _Taule-board_. _Tables_ is derived from Lat.
_Tabularum lusus_ > Fr. _Tables_. The derivation, _table_ > _tavl_ >
_taul_ > _tall_, presents no etymological difficulties. A note from
Professor Joseph Wright of Oxford confirms me in my theory.
The passage seems to mean that Merecraft was accused of cheating,
and, his valor not rising to the occasion, his reputation for honesty
was left somewhat in doubt.
=4. 6. 38-41 intitle Your vertue, to the power, vpon a life . . . Euen
to forfeit. = Wittipol is 'wooing in language of the pleas and bench. '
Cf. 4. 7. 62.
=4. 6. 42 We haue another leg-strain'd, for this Dottrel. = See
variants, and note 2. 2. 49, 50.
=4. 6. 49 A Phrentick. = See note 5. 8. 91-2.
=4. 7. 37-40. = See variants. Gifford silently follows Whalley's
changes, which are utterly unwarrantable. Cunningham points out the
wrong division in 37, 8. The scansion is thus indicated by Wilke
(_Metrische Untersuchungen_, p. 3):
Of a/ most wor/thy gen/tleman. / Would one
Of worth/ had spoke/ it: whence/ it comes,/ it is
Rather/ a shame/ to me,/ ? then/ a praise.
The missing syllable in the third verse is compensated for by the
pause after the comma. This is quite in accordance with Jonson's
custom (see Wilke, p. 1 f. ).
=4. 7. 45 Publication. = See 3. 3. 137.
=4. 7. 54 I sou't him. = See variants. Gifford says that he can make
nothing of _sou't_ but _sought_ and _sous'd_, and that he prefers the
latter. Dyce (_Remarks_) confidently asserts that the word is the
same as _shue_, 'to frighten away poultry,' and Cunningham accepts
this without question. There seems, however, to be no confirmation
for the theory that the preterit was ever spelt _sou't_. Wright's
_Dialect Dictionary_ gives: '_Sough. _ 19. to strike; to beat
severely,' but the pronunciation here seems usually to be _souff_.
Professor Wright assures me that _sous'd_ is the correct reading,
and that the others are 'mere stupid guesses. '
=4. 7. 62 in possibility. = A legal phrase used of contingent
interests. See note 4. 6. 38, 9.
=4. 7. 65 Duke O' Shore-ditch. = 'A mock title of honour, conferred on
the most successful of the London archers, of which this account is
given:
When Henry VIII became king, he gave a prize at Windsor to those
who should excel at this exercise, (archery) when Barlo, one of
his guards, an inhabitant of Shoreditch, acquired such honor as an
archer, that the king created him _duke of Shoreditch_, on the spot.
This title, together with that of marquis of Islington, earl of
Pancridge, etc. , was taken from these villages, in the neighborhood
of Finsbury fields, and continued so late as 1683. Ellis's _History
of Shoreditch_, p. 170.
The latest account is this: In 1682 there was a most magnificent
entertainment given by the Finsbury archers, when they bestowed the
title of _duke of Shoreditch_, etc. , upon the most deserving. The
king was present. _Ibid. _ 173. '--Nares, _Gloss_.
Entick (_Survey_ 2. 65) gives an interesting account of a match which
took place in 1583. The Duke of Shoreditch was accompanied on this
occasion by the 'marquises of _Barlow_, _Clerkenwell_, _Islington_,
_Hoxton_, and _Shaklewell_, the earl of _Pancras_, etc. These, to
the number of 3000, assembled at the place appointed, sumptuously
apparelled, and 942 of them had gold chains about their necks.
They marched from merchant-taylors-hall, preceded by whifflers and
bellmen, that made up the number 4000, besides pages and footmen;
performing several exercises and evolutions in _Moorfields_, and at
last shot at the target for glory in _Smithfield_. '
=4. 7. 69 Ha'. = See variants. The original seems to me the more
characteristic reading.
=4. 7. 84 after-game. = Jonson uses the expression again in the
_New Inn, Wks. _ 5. 402:
And play no after-games of love hereafter.
ACT V.
=5. 1. 28 Tyborne. = This celebrated gallows stood, it is believed, on
the site of Connaught Place. It derived the name from a brook in the
neighborhood (see Minsheu, Stow, etc. ).
=5. 1. 29 My L. Majors Banqueting-house. = This was in Stratford
Place, Oxford Street. It was 'erected for the Mayor and Corporation
to dine in after their periodical visits to the Bayswater and
Paddington Conduits, and the Conduit-head adjacent to the
Banqueting-House, which supplied the city with water. It was taken
down in 1737, and the cisterns arched over at the same time. '--Wh-C.
Stow (ed. 1633, pp. 475-6) speaks of 'many faire Summer houses' in
the London suburbs, built 'not so much for use and profit, as for
shew and pleasure.
husband. = Cf. _Poetaster_, _Wks. _ 2. 444: 'Methinks a
body's husband does not so well at court; a body's friend,
or so--but, husband! 'tis like your clog to your marmoset,' etc.
=4. 4. 134 your Gentleman-vsher. = 'Gentleman-Usher.
Originally a state-officer, attendant upon queens, and
other persons of high rank, as, in Henry VIII, Griffith is
gentleman-usher to Queen Catherine; afterwards a private
affectation of state, assumed by persons of distinction, or
those who pretended to be so, and particularly ladies. He
was then only a sort of upper servant, out of livery, whose
office was to hand his lady to her coach, and to walk before
her bare-headed, though in later times she leaned upon his
arm. '--Nares.
Cf. Dekker, _West-ward Hoe_, _Wks. _ 2. 324: 'Weare furnisht for
attendants as Ladies are, We have our fooles, and our Vshers. '
The sources for a study of the gentleman-usher are the present play,
_The Tale of a Tub_, and Chapman's _Gentleman Usher_. In the _Staple
of News_ the Lady Pecunia is provided with a gentleman-usher. The
principal duties of this office seem to have consisted in being
sent on errands, handing the lady to her coach, and preceding her
on any occasion where ceremony was demanded. In Chapman's play
Lasso says that the disposition of his house for the reception of
guests was placed in the hands of this servant (cf. Chapman, _Wks. _
1. 263 f. ). Innumerable allusions occur in which the requirement
of going bare-headed is mentioned (see note on 4. 4. 202). Another
necessary quality was a fine pace, which is alluded to in the present
character's name (see also note 4. 4. 201). An excellent description
of the gentleman-usher will be found in Nares' _Glossary,_ quoting
from Lenton's _Leasures_, a book published in 1631, and now very rare.
=4. 4. 142 the Dutchesse of Braganza. = Braganza is the
ruling house of Portugal. Dom John, Duke of Braganza, became
king of Portugal in 1640.
=4. 4. 143 Almoiauna. = The _Stanford Dictionary_ gives:
'Almojabana, Sp. fr. Arab. _Al-mojabbana_: cheese-and-flour cake.
Xeres was famed for this dainty, which is named from Arabic
_jobn_ = "cheese. "'
=4. 4. 147 Marquesse Muja. = Apparently a Spanish marquise,
occupying a position in society similar to that of Madame
Recamier.
=4. 4. 156 A Lady of spirit. = With this line and lines 165
f. cf. _U. _ 32, _Wks. _ 8. 356:
To be abroad chanting some bawdy song,
And laugh, and measure thighs, then squeak, spring, itch,
Do all the tricks of a salt lady bitch!
--For these with her young company she'll enter,
Where Pitts, or Wright, or Modet would not venture;
(Fol. reads 'venter')
And come by these degrees the style t'inherit
Of woman of fashion, and a lady of spirit.
=4. 4. 164 Pimlico. = See note 3. 3. 170.
=4. 4. 164 daunce the Saraband. = The origin of the saraband is in
doubt, being variously attributed to Spain and to the Moors. It
is found in Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and
its immoral character is constantly referred to. Grove (_Dict. of
Music_ 3. 226) quotes from chapter 12, 'Del baile y cantar llamado
Zarabanda,' of the _Tratado contra los Juegos Publicos_ ('Treatise
against Public Amusements') of Mariana (1536-1623): 'Entre las otras
invenciones ha salido estos anos un baile y cantar tan lacivo en las
palabras, tan feo en las meneos, que basta para pegar fuego aun a las
personas muy honestas' ('amongst other inventions there has appeared
during late years a dance and song, so lascivious in its words, so
ugly in its movements, that it is enough to inflame even very modest
people'). 'This reputation was not confined to Spain, for Marini in
his poem "L'Adone" (1623) says:
Chiama questo suo gioco empio e profano
Saravanda, e Ciaccona, il nuova Ispano.
Padre Mariana, who believed in its Spanish origin, says that its
invention was one of the disgraces of the nation, and other authors
attribute its invention directly to the devil. The dance was attacked
by Cervantes and Guevara, and defended by Lope de Vega, but it seems
to have been so bad that at the end of the reign of Philip II. it was
for a time suppressed. It was soon, however, revived in a purer form
and was introduced at the French court in 1588' (Grove 3. 226-7).
In England the saraband was soon transformed into an ordinary
country-dance. Two examples are to be found in the first edition of
Playford's _Dancing Master_, and Sir John Hawkins (_Hist. of the
Science and Practice of Music_, 1776) speaks of it several times.
'Within the memory of persons now living,' he says, a Saraband
danced by a Moor was constantly a part of the entertainment at a
puppet-show' (4. 388). In another place (2. 135), in speaking of the
use of castanets at a puppet-show, he says: 'That particular dance
called the Saraband is supposed to require as a thing of necessity,
the music, if it may be called so, of this artless instrument. '
In the _Staple of News_, _Wks. _ 5. 256, Jonson speaks of 'a light
air! the bawdy Saraband! '
=4. 4. 165 Heare, and talke bawdy; laugh as loud, as a larum. = Jonson
satirizes these vices again in _U. 67_ (see note 4. 4. 156) and
_Epigrams_ 48 and _115_. Dekker (_Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _
2. 238) advises the young gallant to 'discourse as lowd as you can,
no matter to what purpose, . . . and laugh in fashion, . . . you shall be
much obserued. '
=4. 4. 172 Shee must not lose a looke on stuffes, or cloth. = It being
the fashion to 'swim in choice of silks and tissues,' plain woolen
cloth was despised. =4. 4. 187 Blesse vs from him! = Preserve us. A
precaution against any evil that might result from pronouncing the
devil's name. Cf. _Knight of the Burning Pestle_ 2. 1: Sure the devil
(God bless us! ) is in this springald! ' and Wilson, _The Cheats_,
Prologue:
No little pug nor devil,--bless us all!
=4. 4. 191, 2 What things they are? That nature should be at leasure=
=Euer to make 'hem! = Cf. _Ev. Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 119: 'O manners that
this age should bring forth such creatures! that nature should be at
leisure to make them! '
=4. 4. 197 Hee makes a wicked leg. = Gifford thinks that _wicked_ here
means 'awkward or clownish. ' It seems rather to mean 'roguish,' a
common colloquial use.
=4. 4. 201 A setled discreet pase. = Cf. 3. 5. 22; 2. 7. 33; and
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 238: 'Walke
vp and downe by the rest as scornfully and as carelesly as a
Gentleman-Usher. '
=4. 4. 202 a barren head, Sir. = Cf. 2. 3. 36, 7 and 4. 2. 12.
Here again we have a punning allusion to the uncovered head of
the gentleman-usher. 'It was a piece of state, that the servants
of the nobility, particularly the gentleman-usher, should attend
bare-headed. ' Nares, _Gloss. _ For numerous passages illustrating the
practice both in regard to the gentleman-usher and to the coachman,
see the quotations in Nares, and Ford, _Lover's Melancholy_, _Wks. _
1. 19; Chapman, _Gentleman-Usher_, _Wks. _ 1. 263; and the following
passage, _ibid. _ 1. 273:
_Vin. _ I thanke you sir.
Nay pray be couerd; O I crie you mercie,
You must be bare.
_Bas. _ Euer to you my Lord.
_Vin. _ Nay, not to me sir,
But to the faire right of your worshipfull place.
A passage from Lenton (see note 4. 4. 134) may also be quoted: 'He is
forced to stand bare, which would urge him to impatience, but for the
hope of being covered, or rather the delight hee takes in shewing his
new-crisp't hayre, which his barber hath caused to stand like a print
hedge, in equal proportion. '
The dramatists ridiculed it by insisting that the coachman should be
not only bare-headed, but bald. Cf. 2. 3. 36 and Massinger, _City
Madam_, _Wks. _ p. 331: 'Thou shalt have thy proper and bald-headed
coachman. ' Jonson often refers to this custom. Cf. _Staple of News_,
_Wks. _ 5. 232:
Such as are bald and barren beyond hope,
Are to be separated and set by
For ushers to old countesses: and coachmen
To mount their boxes reverently, etc.
_New Inn_, _Wks. _ 5. 374:
_Jor. _ Where's thy hat? . . .
_Bar. _ The wind blew't off at Highgate, and my lady
Would not endure me light to take it up;
But made me drive bareheaded in the rain.
_Jor.
_ That she might be mistaken for a countess?
Cf. also _Mag. La. _, _Wks. _ 6. 36, and _Tale Tub_,
_Wks. _ 6. 217 and 222.
=4. 4. 204 his Valley is beneath the waste. = 'Waist' and 'waste' were
both spelled _waste_ or _wast_. Here, of course, is a pun on the two
meanings.
=4. 4. 206 Dulnesse vpon you! Could not you hit this? = Cf. _Bart.
Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 358: 'Now dullness upon me, that I had not that
before him. '
=4. 4. 209 the French sticke. = Walking-sticks of various sorts are
mentioned during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 'In Chas.
II. 's time the French walking-stick, with a ribbon and tassels to
hold it when passed over the wrist, was fashionable, and continued
so to the reign of George II. ' (Planche).
=4. 4. 215, 6 report the working, Of any Ladies physicke. = In
Lenton's _Leasures_ (see note 4. 4. 134) we find: 'His greatest
vexation is going upon sleevelesse arrands, to know whether some lady
slept well last night, or how her physick work'd i' th' morning,
things that savour not well with him; the reason that ofttimes he
goes but to the next taverne, and then very discreetly brings her
home a tale of a tubbe. '
Cf. also B. & Fl. , _Fair Maid of the Inn_ 2. 2: '_Host. _ And have
you been in England? . . . But they say ladies there take physic for
fashion. '
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 255, speaks of 'a
country gentleman that brings his wife vp to learne the fashion,
see the Tombs at Westminster, the Lyons in the Tower, or to take
physicke. ' In the 1812 reprint the editor observes that in Jonson's
time 'fanciful or artful wives would often persuade their husbands
to take them up to town for the advantage of _physick_, when the
principal object was dissipation. '
=4. 4. 219 Corne-cutter. = This vulgar suggestion renders hopeless
Pug's pretensions to gentility. Corncutters carried on a regular
trade (see _Bart. Fair_ 2. 1. ), and were held in the greatest
contempt, as we learn from Nash (_Four Letters Confuted_, _Wks. _ 2.
211).
=4. 4. 232 The Moone. = I. e. , see that the moon and zodiacal sign are
propitious.
=4. 4. 235 Get their natiuities cast! = Astrology was a favorite
subject of satire. Cf. Massinger, _City Madam_ 2. 2; B. & Fl. , _Rollo
Duke of Normandy_ 4. 2, etc.
=4. 5. 31, 2 his valour has At the tall board bin question'd. = _Tall
board_ is, I think, the same as _table-board_, a gaming-table. In
Dyce's edition of Webster's _Devil's Law Case_ (_Wks. _ 2. 38) we
read: 'shaking your elbow at the table-board. ' Dyce says in a note
that the old folio reads _Taule-board_. _Tables_ is derived from Lat.
_Tabularum lusus_ > Fr. _Tables_. The derivation, _table_ > _tavl_ >
_taul_ > _tall_, presents no etymological difficulties. A note from
Professor Joseph Wright of Oxford confirms me in my theory.
The passage seems to mean that Merecraft was accused of cheating,
and, his valor not rising to the occasion, his reputation for honesty
was left somewhat in doubt.
=4. 6. 38-41 intitle Your vertue, to the power, vpon a life . . . Euen
to forfeit. = Wittipol is 'wooing in language of the pleas and bench. '
Cf. 4. 7. 62.
=4. 6. 42 We haue another leg-strain'd, for this Dottrel. = See
variants, and note 2. 2. 49, 50.
=4. 6. 49 A Phrentick. = See note 5. 8. 91-2.
=4. 7. 37-40. = See variants. Gifford silently follows Whalley's
changes, which are utterly unwarrantable. Cunningham points out the
wrong division in 37, 8. The scansion is thus indicated by Wilke
(_Metrische Untersuchungen_, p. 3):
Of a/ most wor/thy gen/tleman. / Would one
Of worth/ had spoke/ it: whence/ it comes,/ it is
Rather/ a shame/ to me,/ ? then/ a praise.
The missing syllable in the third verse is compensated for by the
pause after the comma. This is quite in accordance with Jonson's
custom (see Wilke, p. 1 f. ).
=4. 7. 45 Publication. = See 3. 3. 137.
=4. 7. 54 I sou't him. = See variants. Gifford says that he can make
nothing of _sou't_ but _sought_ and _sous'd_, and that he prefers the
latter. Dyce (_Remarks_) confidently asserts that the word is the
same as _shue_, 'to frighten away poultry,' and Cunningham accepts
this without question. There seems, however, to be no confirmation
for the theory that the preterit was ever spelt _sou't_. Wright's
_Dialect Dictionary_ gives: '_Sough. _ 19. to strike; to beat
severely,' but the pronunciation here seems usually to be _souff_.
Professor Wright assures me that _sous'd_ is the correct reading,
and that the others are 'mere stupid guesses. '
=4. 7. 62 in possibility. = A legal phrase used of contingent
interests. See note 4. 6. 38, 9.
=4. 7. 65 Duke O' Shore-ditch. = 'A mock title of honour, conferred on
the most successful of the London archers, of which this account is
given:
When Henry VIII became king, he gave a prize at Windsor to those
who should excel at this exercise, (archery) when Barlo, one of
his guards, an inhabitant of Shoreditch, acquired such honor as an
archer, that the king created him _duke of Shoreditch_, on the spot.
This title, together with that of marquis of Islington, earl of
Pancridge, etc. , was taken from these villages, in the neighborhood
of Finsbury fields, and continued so late as 1683. Ellis's _History
of Shoreditch_, p. 170.
The latest account is this: In 1682 there was a most magnificent
entertainment given by the Finsbury archers, when they bestowed the
title of _duke of Shoreditch_, etc. , upon the most deserving. The
king was present. _Ibid. _ 173. '--Nares, _Gloss_.
Entick (_Survey_ 2. 65) gives an interesting account of a match which
took place in 1583. The Duke of Shoreditch was accompanied on this
occasion by the 'marquises of _Barlow_, _Clerkenwell_, _Islington_,
_Hoxton_, and _Shaklewell_, the earl of _Pancras_, etc. These, to
the number of 3000, assembled at the place appointed, sumptuously
apparelled, and 942 of them had gold chains about their necks.
They marched from merchant-taylors-hall, preceded by whifflers and
bellmen, that made up the number 4000, besides pages and footmen;
performing several exercises and evolutions in _Moorfields_, and at
last shot at the target for glory in _Smithfield_. '
=4. 7. 69 Ha'. = See variants. The original seems to me the more
characteristic reading.
=4. 7. 84 after-game. = Jonson uses the expression again in the
_New Inn, Wks. _ 5. 402:
And play no after-games of love hereafter.
ACT V.
=5. 1. 28 Tyborne. = This celebrated gallows stood, it is believed, on
the site of Connaught Place. It derived the name from a brook in the
neighborhood (see Minsheu, Stow, etc. ).
=5. 1. 29 My L. Majors Banqueting-house. = This was in Stratford
Place, Oxford Street. It was 'erected for the Mayor and Corporation
to dine in after their periodical visits to the Bayswater and
Paddington Conduits, and the Conduit-head adjacent to the
Banqueting-House, which supplied the city with water. It was taken
down in 1737, and the cisterns arched over at the same time. '--Wh-C.
Stow (ed. 1633, pp. 475-6) speaks of 'many faire Summer houses' in
the London suburbs, built 'not so much for use and profit, as for
shew and pleasure.
