He enters and
announces
to Merecraft that
Fitzdottrel and his wife are coming.
Fitzdottrel and his wife are coming.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
650:
Vae illis uirgis miseris, quae hodie in tergo morientur meo.
(Gifford mentions the fact that this is adapted from the classics. I
am indebted for the precise reference to Dr. Lucius H. Holt. )
=3. 6. 40 the vse of it is so present. = For other Latinisms cf.
_resume_, 1. 6. 149; _salts_, 2. 6. 75; _confute_, 5. 6. 18, etc.
=3. 6. 61 I'll= . . . See variants. The original reading is undoubtedly
wrong.
ACT IV
=4. 1. 1 referring to Commissioners. = In the lists of
patents we frequently read of commissions specially appointed
for examination of the patent under consideration. The King's
seal was of course necessary to render the grant valid.
=4. 1. 5 S^r. Iohn Monie-man. = See Introduction, p. lxxiii.
=4. 1. 37 I will haue all piec'd. = Cf. _Mag. La. _,
_Wks. _ 6. 50:
_Item. _ I heard they were out.
_Nee. _ But they are pieced, and put together again.
=4. 1. 38 ill solder'd! = Cf. _The Forest_, 12,
_Epistle to Elizabeth_, etc. ; 'Solders cracked friendship. '
=4. 2. 11 Haue with 'hem. = 'An idea borrowed from the gaming
table, being the opposite of "have at them. "'--C.
=4. 2. 11 the great Carroch. = See note 1. 6. 214.
=4. 2. 12 with my Ambler, bare. = See note 4. 4. 202.
=4. 2. 22 I not loue this. = See note 1. 6. 14.
=4. 2. 26 Tooth-picks. = This was an object of satire to the
dramatists of the period. Nares says that they 'appear to have been
first brought into use in Italy; whence the travellers who had
visited that country, particularly wished to exhibit that symbol
of gentility. ' It is referred to as the mark of a traveller by
Shakespeare, _King John_, 1. 1 (cited by Gifford):
--Now your traveller,
He, and his tooth-pick, at my worship's mess.
Overbury (_Character_ of _An Affected Traveller_, ed. Morley, p. 35)
speaks of the _pick-tooth_ as 'a main part of his behavior. '
It was also a sign of foppery. Overbury (p. 31) describes the
courtier as wearing 'a pick-tooth in his hat,' and Massinger, _Grand
Duke of Florence_, Act 3 (quoted by Nares), mentions 'my case of
tooth-picks, and my silver fork' among the articles 'requisite to the
making up of a signior. ' John Earle makes a similar reference in his
_Character_ of _An Idle Gallant_ (ed. Morley, p. 179), and Furnivall
(Stubbes' _Anatomy_, p. 77) quotes from _Laugh and lie downe_: or
_The worldes Folly_, London, 1605, 4to: 'The next was a nimble-witted
and glib-tongu'd fellow, who, having in his youth spent his wits in
the Arte of love, was now become the jest of wit. . . . The picktooth in
the mouth, the flower in the eare, the brush upon the beard; . . . and
what not that was unneedefull,' etc.
It is a frequent subject of satire in Jonson. Cf. _Ev. Man out_, _Wks. _
2. 124; _Cyn. Rev. _, _Wks. _ 2. 218, 248; _Fox_, _Wks. _ 3. 266. See also
Dekker, _Wks. _ 3. 280.
=4. 2. 63 What vile Fucus is this. = The abuse of face-painting is
a favorite subject of satire with the moralists and dramatists of
the period. Stubbes (_Anatomy of Abuses_, Part 1, pp. 64-8) devotes
a long section to the subject. Dr. Furnivall in the notes to this
passage, pp. 271-3, should also be consulted. Brome satirizes it in
the _City Wit_, _Wks. _ 2. 300. Lady Politick Would-be in the _Fox_
is of course addicted to the habit, and a good deal is said on the
subject in _Epicoene_. Dekker (_West-ward Hoe_, _Wks. _ 2. 285) has
a passage quite similar in spirit to Jonson's satire.
=4. 2. 71 the very Infanta of the Giants! = Cf. Massinger and Field,
_Fatal Dowry_ 4. 1: 'O that I were the infanta queen of Europe! '
Pecunia in the _Staple of News_ is called the 'Infanta of the
mines. ' Spanish terms were fashionable at this time. Cf. the use of
_Grandees_, 1. 3. It is possible that the reference here is to the
Infanta Maria. See Introduction, p. xviii.
=4. 3. 5, 6 It is the manner of Spaine, to imbrace onely, Neuer to
kisse. = Cf. Minsheu's _Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues,_ pp. 51-2:
'_W. _ I hold that the greatest cause of dissolutenesse in some women
in England is this custome of kissing publikely. . . . _G. _ In Spaine
doe not men vse to kisse women? _I. _ Yes the husbands kisse their
wiues, but as if it were behinde seuen walls, where the very light
cannot see them. '
=4. 3. 33 f. Decayes the fore-teeth, that should guard the tongue;=
etc. Cf. _Timber_, ed. Schelling, 13. 24: 'It was excellently said of
that philosopher, that there was a wall or parapet of teeth set in
our mouth, to restrain the petulancy of our words; that the rashness
of talking should not only be retarded by the guard and watch of our
heart, but be fenced in and defended by certain strengths placed in
the mouth itself, and within the lips. '
Professor Schelling quotes Plutarch, _Moralia, de Garrulitate_ 3,
translated by Goodwin: 'And yet there is no member of human bodies
that nature has so strongly enclosed within a double fortification
as the tongue, entrenched within a barricade of sharp teeth, to the
end that, if it refuses to obey and keep silent when reason "presses
the glittering reins" within, we should fix our teeth in it till the
blood comes rather than suffer inordinate and unseasonable din' (4.
223).
=4. 3. 39 Mad-dames. = See variants. The editors have taken out of
the jest whatever salt it possessed, and have supplied meaningless
substitutes. Gifford followed the same course in his edition of Ford
(see Ford's _Wks. _ 2. 81), where, however, he changes to Mad-dam.
Such gratuitous corruptions are inexplicable. Cf. _Tale Tub_, _Wks. _
6. 172:
Here is a strange thing call'd a lady, a mad-dame.
=4. 3. 45 Their seruants. = A common term for a lover.
Cf. _Sil. Wom. _, _Wks. _ 3. 364.
=4. 3. 51. = See variants. There are several mistakes in the
assignment of speeches throughout this act. Not all of Gifford's
changes, however, are to be accepted without question. Evidently,
if the question _where? _ is to be assigned to Wittipol, the first
speech must be an aside, as it is inconceivable that Merecraft should
introduce Fitzdottrel first under his own name, and then as the
'Duke of Drown'd-land. '
My conception of the situation is this: Pug is playing the part
of gentleman usher.
He enters and announces to Merecraft that
Fitzdottrel and his wife are coming. Merecraft whispers: 'Master
Fitzdottrel and his wife! where? ' and then, as they enter, turns to
Wittipol and introduces them; 'Madame,' etc.
=4. 4. 30 Your Allum Scagliola=, etc. Many of the words in this
paragraph are obscure, and a few seem irrecoverable. Doubtless Jonson
picked them up from various medical treatises and advertisements
of his day. I find no trace of _Abezzo_, which may of course be a
misprint for Arezzo. The meanings assigned to _Pol-dipedra_ and
_Porcelletto Merino_ are unsatisfactory. Florio gives '_Zucca_:
a gourd; a casting bottle,' but I have been unable to discover
_Mugia_. The loss of these words is, to be sure, of no moment. Two
things illustrative of Jonson's method are sufficiently clear.
(1) The articles mentioned are not, as they seem at first, merely
names coined for the occasion. (2) They are a polyglot jumble,
intended to make proficiency in the science of cosmetics as
ridiculous as possible. It is worth while to notice, however, that
this list of drugs is carefully differentiated from the list at
4. 4. 142 f. , which contains the names of sweetmeats and perfumes.
=4. 4. 32, 3 Soda di leuante, Or your Ferne ashes. = Soda-ash is still
the common trade name of sodium carbonate. In former times soda was
chiefly obtained from natural deposits and from the incineration
of various plants growing by the sea-shore. These sources have
become of little importance since the invention of artificial soda
by Leblanc toward the end of the eighteenth century (see _Soda_
in _CD. _). Florio's definition of soda is: 'a kind of Ferne-ashes
whereof they make glasses. ' Cf. also W. Warde, Tr. _Alessio's Secr. _,
Pt. 1 fol. 78^{m} 1? : 'Take an vnce of Soda (which is asshes made
of grasse, whereof glassemakers do vse to make their Cristall). '
In Chaucer's _Squire's Tale_ (11. 254 f. ) the manufacture of glass
out of 'fern-asshen' is mentioned as a wonder comparable to that of
Canacee's ring.
=4. 4. 33 Beniamin di gotta. = The _Dict. d'Histoire Naturelle_,
Paris, 1843, 2. 509, gives: 'Benjoin. Sa teinture, etendue d'eau,
sert a la toilette sous le nom de _Lait virginal_. ' See 4. 4. 52.
=4. 4. 38 With a piece of scarlet. = Lady Politick Would-be's remedies
in the _Fox_ are to be 'applied with a right scarlet cloth. ' Scarlet
was supposed to be of great efficacy in disease. See Whalley's note
on the _Fox_, _Wks. _ 3. 234.
=4. 4. 38, 9 makes a Lady of sixty Looke at sixteen. = Cunningham
thinks this is a reference to the _In decimo sexto_ of line 50.
=4. 4. 39, 40 the water Of the white Hen, of the Lady Estifanias! = The
Lady Estifania seems to have been a dealer in perfumes and cosmetics.
In _Staple of News_, _Wks. _ 5. 166, we read: 'Right Spanish perfume,
the lady Estifania's. ' Estefania is the name of a Spanish lady in B. &
Fl. 's _Rule a Wife_.
=4. 4. 47 galley-pot. = Mistresse Gallipot is the name of a
tobacconist in Dekker's and Middleton's _Roaring Girle_.
=4. 4. 50 In decimo sexto. = This is a bookbinder's or printer's
term, 'applied to books, etc. , a leaf of which is one-sixteenth of
a full sheet or signature. ' It is equivalent to '16mo. ' and hence
metaphorically used to indicate 'a small compass, miniature' (see
_Stanford_, p. 312). In _Cyn. Rev. _, _Wks. _ 2. 218, Jonson says:
'my braggart in decimo sexto! ' Its use is well exemplified in John
Taylor's _Works_, sig. L_1 v^{0/1}: 'when a mans stomache is in Folio,
and knows not where to haue a dinner in Decimo sexto. ' The phrase
is fairly common in the dramatic literature. See Massinger, _Unnat.
Combat_ 3. 2; Middleton, _Father Hubburd's Tales_, _Wks. _ 8 64, etc.
In the present passage, however, the meaning evidently required
is 'perfect: 'spotless,' and no doubt refers to the comparative
perfection of a sexto decimo, or perhaps to the perfection naturally
to be expected of any work in miniature.
=4. 4. 52 Virgins milke for the face. = Cf. John French, _Art
Distill. _. Bk. 5. p. 135 (1651): 'This salt being set in a cold
cellar on a marble stone, and dissolved into an oil, is as good as
any _Lac virginis_ to clear, and smooth the face. ' _Lac Virginis_ is
spoken of twice in the _Alchemist_, Act 2, but probably in neither
case is the cosmetic referred to. See Hathaway's edition, p. 293.
Nash speaks of the cosmetic in _Pierce Pennilesse_, _Wks. _ 2. 44:
'She should haue noynted your face ouer night with _Lac virginis_. '
=4. 4. 55 Cataputia. = Catapuce is one of the laxatives that Dame
Pertelote recommended to Chauntecleer in Chaucer's _Nonne Preestes
Tale_, l. 145.
=4. 4. 63 Doe not you dwindle. = The use of _dwindle_ in this sense
is very rare. _NED. _ thinks it is 'probably a misuse owing to two
senses of _shrink_. ' It gives only a single example, _Alch. _, _Wks. _
4. 163: 'Did you not hear the coil about the door? _Sub. _ Yes, and I
dwindled with it. ' Besides the two instances in Jonson I have noticed
only one other, in Ford, _Fancies chaste and noble_, _Wks. _ 2. 291:
'_Spa. _ Hum, how's that? is he there, with a wanion! then do I begin
to dwindle. '
=4. 4. 69 Cioppino's. = The source of this passage, with the anecdote
which follows, seems to be taken from Coryat's _Crudities_ (ed.
1776, 2. 36, 7): 'There is one thing vsed of the Venetian women, and
some others dwelling in the cities and towns subject to the Signiory
of Venice, that is not to be obserued (I thinke) amongst any other
women in Christendome: which is so common in Venice, that no woman
whatsoeuer goeth without it, either in her house or abroad; a thing
made of wood, and couered with leather of sundry colors, some with
white, some redde, some yellow. It is called a Chapiney, which they
weare vnder their shoes. Many of them are curiously painted; some
also I haue seene fairely gilt: so vncomely a thing (in my opinion)
that it is pitty this foolish custom is not cleane banished and
exterminated out of the citie. There are many of these Chapineys of a
great heigth, euen half a yard high, which maketh many of their women
that are very short, seeme much taller then the tallest women we haue
in England. Also I haue heard that this is obserued amongst them,
that by how much the nobler a woman is, by so much the higher are her
Chapineys. All their Gentlewomen, and most of their wiues and widowes
that are of any wealth, are assisted and supported eyther by men or
women when they walke abroad, to the end they may not fall. They
are borne vp most commonly by the left arme, otherwise they might
quickly take a fall. For I saw a woman fall a very dangerous fall as
she was going down the staires of one of the little stony bridges
with her high Chapineys alone by her selfe: but I did nothing pitty
her, because shee wore such friuolous and (as I may truely term them)
ridiculous instruments, which were the occasion of her fall. For both
I myselfe, and many other strangers (as I haue obserued in Venice)
haue often laughed at them for their vaine Chapineys. '
=4. 4. 71, 2 Spanish pumps Of perfum'd leather. = Pumps are
first mentioned in the sixteenth century (Planche). A reference
to them occurs in _Midsummer Night's Dream_, 1593-4, 4. 2. They
were worn especially by footmen.
Spanish leather was highly esteemed at this time. Stubbes (_Anat. of
Abuses_, Part 1, p. 77) says: 'They haue korked shooes, pinsnets,
pantoffles, and slippers, . . . some of spanish leather, and some of
English lether. ' Marston (_Dutch Courtezan_, _Wks. _ 2. 7) speaks of
a 'Spanish leather jerkin,' and Middleton (_Father Hubburd's Tales_,
_Wks. _ 8. 70) of 'a curious pair of boots of King Philip's leather,'
and a little farther on (_Wks. _ 8. 108) of Spanish leather shoes.
Fastidious Brisk's boots are made of the same material (_Ev. Man
out_, _Wks. _ 2. 147). Cf. also Dekker, _Wks. _ 2. 305.
Perfumes were much in fashion, and Stubbes' _Anatomy_ has a great
deal to say on the subject. We hear of perfumed jerkins in Marston's
_Malcontent_ (_Wks. _ 1. 314) and in _Cynthia's Revels_ (_Wks. _ 2.
325). Spanish perfume for gloves is spoken of in the latter play
(p. 328) and in the _Alchemist_ (_Wks. _ 4. 131) 'your Spanish
titillation in a glove' is declared to be the best perfume.
=4. 4. 77, 8 The Guardo-duennas, such a little old man,=
=As this. = Minsheu gives the definition: 'Escudero, m. An
Esquire, a Seruingman that waits on a Ladie or Gentlewoman,
in Spaine neuer but old men and gray beards. '
=4. 4. 81 flat spred, as an Vmbrella. = The umbrella of the
seventeenth century seems to have been used exclusively to protect
the face from the sun. Blount, _Glossographia_, 1670, gives:
'_Umbrello_ (Ital. Ombrella), a fashion of round and broad Fans,
wherewith the Indians (and from them our great ones) preserve
themselves from the heat of the sun or fire; and hence any little
shadow, Fan, or other thing wherewith women guard their faces from
the sun. '
It was apparently not in use in England when Coryat published his
_Crudities_, which contains the following description (1. 135): 'Also
many of them doe carry other fine things of a far greater price, that
will cost at the least a duckat, which they commonly call in the
Italian tongue _vmbrellaes_, that is, things that minister shadow
unto them for shelter against the scorching heate of the sunne.
Vae illis uirgis miseris, quae hodie in tergo morientur meo.
(Gifford mentions the fact that this is adapted from the classics. I
am indebted for the precise reference to Dr. Lucius H. Holt. )
=3. 6. 40 the vse of it is so present. = For other Latinisms cf.
_resume_, 1. 6. 149; _salts_, 2. 6. 75; _confute_, 5. 6. 18, etc.
=3. 6. 61 I'll= . . . See variants. The original reading is undoubtedly
wrong.
ACT IV
=4. 1. 1 referring to Commissioners. = In the lists of
patents we frequently read of commissions specially appointed
for examination of the patent under consideration. The King's
seal was of course necessary to render the grant valid.
=4. 1. 5 S^r. Iohn Monie-man. = See Introduction, p. lxxiii.
=4. 1. 37 I will haue all piec'd. = Cf. _Mag. La. _,
_Wks. _ 6. 50:
_Item. _ I heard they were out.
_Nee. _ But they are pieced, and put together again.
=4. 1. 38 ill solder'd! = Cf. _The Forest_, 12,
_Epistle to Elizabeth_, etc. ; 'Solders cracked friendship. '
=4. 2. 11 Haue with 'hem. = 'An idea borrowed from the gaming
table, being the opposite of "have at them. "'--C.
=4. 2. 11 the great Carroch. = See note 1. 6. 214.
=4. 2. 12 with my Ambler, bare. = See note 4. 4. 202.
=4. 2. 22 I not loue this. = See note 1. 6. 14.
=4. 2. 26 Tooth-picks. = This was an object of satire to the
dramatists of the period. Nares says that they 'appear to have been
first brought into use in Italy; whence the travellers who had
visited that country, particularly wished to exhibit that symbol
of gentility. ' It is referred to as the mark of a traveller by
Shakespeare, _King John_, 1. 1 (cited by Gifford):
--Now your traveller,
He, and his tooth-pick, at my worship's mess.
Overbury (_Character_ of _An Affected Traveller_, ed. Morley, p. 35)
speaks of the _pick-tooth_ as 'a main part of his behavior. '
It was also a sign of foppery. Overbury (p. 31) describes the
courtier as wearing 'a pick-tooth in his hat,' and Massinger, _Grand
Duke of Florence_, Act 3 (quoted by Nares), mentions 'my case of
tooth-picks, and my silver fork' among the articles 'requisite to the
making up of a signior. ' John Earle makes a similar reference in his
_Character_ of _An Idle Gallant_ (ed. Morley, p. 179), and Furnivall
(Stubbes' _Anatomy_, p. 77) quotes from _Laugh and lie downe_: or
_The worldes Folly_, London, 1605, 4to: 'The next was a nimble-witted
and glib-tongu'd fellow, who, having in his youth spent his wits in
the Arte of love, was now become the jest of wit. . . . The picktooth in
the mouth, the flower in the eare, the brush upon the beard; . . . and
what not that was unneedefull,' etc.
It is a frequent subject of satire in Jonson. Cf. _Ev. Man out_, _Wks. _
2. 124; _Cyn. Rev. _, _Wks. _ 2. 218, 248; _Fox_, _Wks. _ 3. 266. See also
Dekker, _Wks. _ 3. 280.
=4. 2. 63 What vile Fucus is this. = The abuse of face-painting is
a favorite subject of satire with the moralists and dramatists of
the period. Stubbes (_Anatomy of Abuses_, Part 1, pp. 64-8) devotes
a long section to the subject. Dr. Furnivall in the notes to this
passage, pp. 271-3, should also be consulted. Brome satirizes it in
the _City Wit_, _Wks. _ 2. 300. Lady Politick Would-be in the _Fox_
is of course addicted to the habit, and a good deal is said on the
subject in _Epicoene_. Dekker (_West-ward Hoe_, _Wks. _ 2. 285) has
a passage quite similar in spirit to Jonson's satire.
=4. 2. 71 the very Infanta of the Giants! = Cf. Massinger and Field,
_Fatal Dowry_ 4. 1: 'O that I were the infanta queen of Europe! '
Pecunia in the _Staple of News_ is called the 'Infanta of the
mines. ' Spanish terms were fashionable at this time. Cf. the use of
_Grandees_, 1. 3. It is possible that the reference here is to the
Infanta Maria. See Introduction, p. xviii.
=4. 3. 5, 6 It is the manner of Spaine, to imbrace onely, Neuer to
kisse. = Cf. Minsheu's _Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues,_ pp. 51-2:
'_W. _ I hold that the greatest cause of dissolutenesse in some women
in England is this custome of kissing publikely. . . . _G. _ In Spaine
doe not men vse to kisse women? _I. _ Yes the husbands kisse their
wiues, but as if it were behinde seuen walls, where the very light
cannot see them. '
=4. 3. 33 f. Decayes the fore-teeth, that should guard the tongue;=
etc. Cf. _Timber_, ed. Schelling, 13. 24: 'It was excellently said of
that philosopher, that there was a wall or parapet of teeth set in
our mouth, to restrain the petulancy of our words; that the rashness
of talking should not only be retarded by the guard and watch of our
heart, but be fenced in and defended by certain strengths placed in
the mouth itself, and within the lips. '
Professor Schelling quotes Plutarch, _Moralia, de Garrulitate_ 3,
translated by Goodwin: 'And yet there is no member of human bodies
that nature has so strongly enclosed within a double fortification
as the tongue, entrenched within a barricade of sharp teeth, to the
end that, if it refuses to obey and keep silent when reason "presses
the glittering reins" within, we should fix our teeth in it till the
blood comes rather than suffer inordinate and unseasonable din' (4.
223).
=4. 3. 39 Mad-dames. = See variants. The editors have taken out of
the jest whatever salt it possessed, and have supplied meaningless
substitutes. Gifford followed the same course in his edition of Ford
(see Ford's _Wks. _ 2. 81), where, however, he changes to Mad-dam.
Such gratuitous corruptions are inexplicable. Cf. _Tale Tub_, _Wks. _
6. 172:
Here is a strange thing call'd a lady, a mad-dame.
=4. 3. 45 Their seruants. = A common term for a lover.
Cf. _Sil. Wom. _, _Wks. _ 3. 364.
=4. 3. 51. = See variants. There are several mistakes in the
assignment of speeches throughout this act. Not all of Gifford's
changes, however, are to be accepted without question. Evidently,
if the question _where? _ is to be assigned to Wittipol, the first
speech must be an aside, as it is inconceivable that Merecraft should
introduce Fitzdottrel first under his own name, and then as the
'Duke of Drown'd-land. '
My conception of the situation is this: Pug is playing the part
of gentleman usher.
He enters and announces to Merecraft that
Fitzdottrel and his wife are coming. Merecraft whispers: 'Master
Fitzdottrel and his wife! where? ' and then, as they enter, turns to
Wittipol and introduces them; 'Madame,' etc.
=4. 4. 30 Your Allum Scagliola=, etc. Many of the words in this
paragraph are obscure, and a few seem irrecoverable. Doubtless Jonson
picked them up from various medical treatises and advertisements
of his day. I find no trace of _Abezzo_, which may of course be a
misprint for Arezzo. The meanings assigned to _Pol-dipedra_ and
_Porcelletto Merino_ are unsatisfactory. Florio gives '_Zucca_:
a gourd; a casting bottle,' but I have been unable to discover
_Mugia_. The loss of these words is, to be sure, of no moment. Two
things illustrative of Jonson's method are sufficiently clear.
(1) The articles mentioned are not, as they seem at first, merely
names coined for the occasion. (2) They are a polyglot jumble,
intended to make proficiency in the science of cosmetics as
ridiculous as possible. It is worth while to notice, however, that
this list of drugs is carefully differentiated from the list at
4. 4. 142 f. , which contains the names of sweetmeats and perfumes.
=4. 4. 32, 3 Soda di leuante, Or your Ferne ashes. = Soda-ash is still
the common trade name of sodium carbonate. In former times soda was
chiefly obtained from natural deposits and from the incineration
of various plants growing by the sea-shore. These sources have
become of little importance since the invention of artificial soda
by Leblanc toward the end of the eighteenth century (see _Soda_
in _CD. _). Florio's definition of soda is: 'a kind of Ferne-ashes
whereof they make glasses. ' Cf. also W. Warde, Tr. _Alessio's Secr. _,
Pt. 1 fol. 78^{m} 1? : 'Take an vnce of Soda (which is asshes made
of grasse, whereof glassemakers do vse to make their Cristall). '
In Chaucer's _Squire's Tale_ (11. 254 f. ) the manufacture of glass
out of 'fern-asshen' is mentioned as a wonder comparable to that of
Canacee's ring.
=4. 4. 33 Beniamin di gotta. = The _Dict. d'Histoire Naturelle_,
Paris, 1843, 2. 509, gives: 'Benjoin. Sa teinture, etendue d'eau,
sert a la toilette sous le nom de _Lait virginal_. ' See 4. 4. 52.
=4. 4. 38 With a piece of scarlet. = Lady Politick Would-be's remedies
in the _Fox_ are to be 'applied with a right scarlet cloth. ' Scarlet
was supposed to be of great efficacy in disease. See Whalley's note
on the _Fox_, _Wks. _ 3. 234.
=4. 4. 38, 9 makes a Lady of sixty Looke at sixteen. = Cunningham
thinks this is a reference to the _In decimo sexto_ of line 50.
=4. 4. 39, 40 the water Of the white Hen, of the Lady Estifanias! = The
Lady Estifania seems to have been a dealer in perfumes and cosmetics.
In _Staple of News_, _Wks. _ 5. 166, we read: 'Right Spanish perfume,
the lady Estifania's. ' Estefania is the name of a Spanish lady in B. &
Fl. 's _Rule a Wife_.
=4. 4. 47 galley-pot. = Mistresse Gallipot is the name of a
tobacconist in Dekker's and Middleton's _Roaring Girle_.
=4. 4. 50 In decimo sexto. = This is a bookbinder's or printer's
term, 'applied to books, etc. , a leaf of which is one-sixteenth of
a full sheet or signature. ' It is equivalent to '16mo. ' and hence
metaphorically used to indicate 'a small compass, miniature' (see
_Stanford_, p. 312). In _Cyn. Rev. _, _Wks. _ 2. 218, Jonson says:
'my braggart in decimo sexto! ' Its use is well exemplified in John
Taylor's _Works_, sig. L_1 v^{0/1}: 'when a mans stomache is in Folio,
and knows not where to haue a dinner in Decimo sexto. ' The phrase
is fairly common in the dramatic literature. See Massinger, _Unnat.
Combat_ 3. 2; Middleton, _Father Hubburd's Tales_, _Wks. _ 8 64, etc.
In the present passage, however, the meaning evidently required
is 'perfect: 'spotless,' and no doubt refers to the comparative
perfection of a sexto decimo, or perhaps to the perfection naturally
to be expected of any work in miniature.
=4. 4. 52 Virgins milke for the face. = Cf. John French, _Art
Distill. _. Bk. 5. p. 135 (1651): 'This salt being set in a cold
cellar on a marble stone, and dissolved into an oil, is as good as
any _Lac virginis_ to clear, and smooth the face. ' _Lac Virginis_ is
spoken of twice in the _Alchemist_, Act 2, but probably in neither
case is the cosmetic referred to. See Hathaway's edition, p. 293.
Nash speaks of the cosmetic in _Pierce Pennilesse_, _Wks. _ 2. 44:
'She should haue noynted your face ouer night with _Lac virginis_. '
=4. 4. 55 Cataputia. = Catapuce is one of the laxatives that Dame
Pertelote recommended to Chauntecleer in Chaucer's _Nonne Preestes
Tale_, l. 145.
=4. 4. 63 Doe not you dwindle. = The use of _dwindle_ in this sense
is very rare. _NED. _ thinks it is 'probably a misuse owing to two
senses of _shrink_. ' It gives only a single example, _Alch. _, _Wks. _
4. 163: 'Did you not hear the coil about the door? _Sub. _ Yes, and I
dwindled with it. ' Besides the two instances in Jonson I have noticed
only one other, in Ford, _Fancies chaste and noble_, _Wks. _ 2. 291:
'_Spa. _ Hum, how's that? is he there, with a wanion! then do I begin
to dwindle. '
=4. 4. 69 Cioppino's. = The source of this passage, with the anecdote
which follows, seems to be taken from Coryat's _Crudities_ (ed.
1776, 2. 36, 7): 'There is one thing vsed of the Venetian women, and
some others dwelling in the cities and towns subject to the Signiory
of Venice, that is not to be obserued (I thinke) amongst any other
women in Christendome: which is so common in Venice, that no woman
whatsoeuer goeth without it, either in her house or abroad; a thing
made of wood, and couered with leather of sundry colors, some with
white, some redde, some yellow. It is called a Chapiney, which they
weare vnder their shoes. Many of them are curiously painted; some
also I haue seene fairely gilt: so vncomely a thing (in my opinion)
that it is pitty this foolish custom is not cleane banished and
exterminated out of the citie. There are many of these Chapineys of a
great heigth, euen half a yard high, which maketh many of their women
that are very short, seeme much taller then the tallest women we haue
in England. Also I haue heard that this is obserued amongst them,
that by how much the nobler a woman is, by so much the higher are her
Chapineys. All their Gentlewomen, and most of their wiues and widowes
that are of any wealth, are assisted and supported eyther by men or
women when they walke abroad, to the end they may not fall. They
are borne vp most commonly by the left arme, otherwise they might
quickly take a fall. For I saw a woman fall a very dangerous fall as
she was going down the staires of one of the little stony bridges
with her high Chapineys alone by her selfe: but I did nothing pitty
her, because shee wore such friuolous and (as I may truely term them)
ridiculous instruments, which were the occasion of her fall. For both
I myselfe, and many other strangers (as I haue obserued in Venice)
haue often laughed at them for their vaine Chapineys. '
=4. 4. 71, 2 Spanish pumps Of perfum'd leather. = Pumps are
first mentioned in the sixteenth century (Planche). A reference
to them occurs in _Midsummer Night's Dream_, 1593-4, 4. 2. They
were worn especially by footmen.
Spanish leather was highly esteemed at this time. Stubbes (_Anat. of
Abuses_, Part 1, p. 77) says: 'They haue korked shooes, pinsnets,
pantoffles, and slippers, . . . some of spanish leather, and some of
English lether. ' Marston (_Dutch Courtezan_, _Wks. _ 2. 7) speaks of
a 'Spanish leather jerkin,' and Middleton (_Father Hubburd's Tales_,
_Wks. _ 8. 70) of 'a curious pair of boots of King Philip's leather,'
and a little farther on (_Wks. _ 8. 108) of Spanish leather shoes.
Fastidious Brisk's boots are made of the same material (_Ev. Man
out_, _Wks. _ 2. 147). Cf. also Dekker, _Wks. _ 2. 305.
Perfumes were much in fashion, and Stubbes' _Anatomy_ has a great
deal to say on the subject. We hear of perfumed jerkins in Marston's
_Malcontent_ (_Wks. _ 1. 314) and in _Cynthia's Revels_ (_Wks. _ 2.
325). Spanish perfume for gloves is spoken of in the latter play
(p. 328) and in the _Alchemist_ (_Wks. _ 4. 131) 'your Spanish
titillation in a glove' is declared to be the best perfume.
=4. 4. 77, 8 The Guardo-duennas, such a little old man,=
=As this. = Minsheu gives the definition: 'Escudero, m. An
Esquire, a Seruingman that waits on a Ladie or Gentlewoman,
in Spaine neuer but old men and gray beards. '
=4. 4. 81 flat spred, as an Vmbrella. = The umbrella of the
seventeenth century seems to have been used exclusively to protect
the face from the sun. Blount, _Glossographia_, 1670, gives:
'_Umbrello_ (Ital. Ombrella), a fashion of round and broad Fans,
wherewith the Indians (and from them our great ones) preserve
themselves from the heat of the sun or fire; and hence any little
shadow, Fan, or other thing wherewith women guard their faces from
the sun. '
It was apparently not in use in England when Coryat published his
_Crudities_, which contains the following description (1. 135): 'Also
many of them doe carry other fine things of a far greater price, that
will cost at the least a duckat, which they commonly call in the
Italian tongue _vmbrellaes_, that is, things that minister shadow
unto them for shelter against the scorching heate of the sunne.
