870 a), and in the year 1563
great numbers of Netherlanders with their wives and children fled
into England owing to the civil dissension in Flanders (Howes, p.
great numbers of Netherlanders with their wives and children fled
into England owing to the civil dissension in Flanders (Howes, p.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
).
=1. 1. 51 In a cloake to thy heele. = See note 1. 1. 85.
=1. 1. 51 a hat like a pent-house. = 'When they haue walkt thorow the
streetes, weare their hats ore their eye-browes, like pollitick
penthouses, which commonly make the shop of a Mercer, or a Linnen
Draper, as dark as a roome in Bedlam. ' Dekker, _West-ward Hoe_,
_Wks. _ 2. 286.
With your hat penthouse-like o'er the slope of your eyes.
--_Love's Labour's Lost_ 3. 1. 17.
Halliwell says (_L. L. L. _, ed. Furness, p. 85): 'An open shed
or shop, forming a protection against the weather. The house
in which Shakespeare was born had a penthouse along a portion
of it. ' In Hollyband's _Dictionarie_, 1593, it is spelled
'pentice,' which shows that the rime to 'Juventus' is probably
not a distorted one.
=1. 1. 52 thy doublet all belly. = 'Certaine I am there was neuer any
kinde of apparell euer inuented that could more disproportion the
body of man then these Dublets with great bellies, . . . stuffed with
foure, fiue or six pound of Bombast at the least. '--Stubbes, _Anat. _,
Part 1, p. 55.
=1. 1. 54 how nimble he is! = 'A perfect idea of his activity may be
formed from the incessant skipping of the modern Harlequin. '--G.
=1. 1. 56 the top of Pauls-steeple. = As Gifford points out, Iniquity
is boasting of an impossible feat. St. Paul's steeple had been
destroyed by fire in 1561, and was not yet restored. Several attempts
were made and money collected. 'James I. countenanced a sermon at
_Paul's Cross_ in favor of so pious an undertaking, but nothing was
done till 1633 when reparations commenced with some activity, and
Inigo Jones designed, at the expense of Charles I. , a classic portico
to a Gothic church. '--Wh-C.
Lupton, _London Carbonadoed_, 1632, writes: 'The head of St. Paul's
hath twice been troubled with a burning fever, and so the city, to
keep it from a third danger, lets it stand without a head. ' Gifford
says that 'the Puritans took a malignant pleasure in this mutilated
state of the cathedral. ' Jonson refers to the disaster in his
_Execration upon Vulcan_, _U. 61_, _Wks. _ 8. 408. See also Dekker,
_Paules Steeples complaint_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 4. 2.
=1. 1. 56 Standard in Cheepe. = This was a water-stand or conduit
in the midst of the street of West Cheaping, where executions were
formerly held. It was in a ruinous condition in 1442, when it was
repaired by a patent from Henry VI. Stow (_Survey_, ed. Thoms, p.
100) gives a list of famous executions at this place, and says that
'in the year 1399, Henry IV. caused the blanch charters made by
Richard II. to be burnt there. '
=1. 1. 58 a needle of Spaine. = Gifford, referring to Randolph's
_Amyntos_ and Ford's _Sun's Darling_, points out that 'the best
needles, as well as other sharp instruments, were, in that age, and
indeed long before and after it, imported from Spain. ' The tailor's
needle was in cant language commonly termed a _Spanish pike_.
References to the Spanish needle are frequent. It is mentioned by
Jonson in _Chloridia_, _Wks. _ 8. 99; by Dekker, _Wks. _ 4. 308; and by
Greene, _Wks. _ 11. 241. Howes (p. 1038) says: 'The making of Spanish
Needles, was first taught in England by Elias Crowse, a Germane,
about the eight yeare of Queene Elizabeth, and in Queen Maries time,
there was a Negro made fine Spanish Needles in Cheape-side, but would
neuer teach his Art to any. '
=1. 1. 59 the Suburbs. = The suburbs were the outlying districts
without the walls of the city. Cf. Stow, _Survey_, ed. Thoms, p. 156
f. They were for the most part the resort of disorderly persons. Cf.
B. & Fl. , _Humorous Lieut. _ 1. 1. ; Massinger, _Emperor of the East_
1. 2. ; Shak. , _Jul. Caes. _ 2. 1; and Nares, _Gloss_. Wheatley (ed.
_Ev. Man in_, p. 1) quotes Chettle's _Kind Harts Dreame_, 1592: 'The
suburbs of the citie are in many places no other but dark dennes for
adulterers, thieves, murderers, and every mischief worker; daily
experience before the magistrates confirms this for truth. ' Cf. also
Glapthorne, _Wit in a Constable_, _Wks. _, ed. 1874, 1. 219:
----make safe retreat
Into the Suburbs, there you may finde cast wenches.
In _Every Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 25, a 'suburb humour' is spoken of.
=1. 1. 60 Petticoate-lane. = This is the present Middlesex
Street, Whitechapel. It was formerly called Hog Lane and was
beautified with 'fair hedge-rows,' but by Stow's time it had
been made 'a continual building throughout of garden houses and
small cottages' (_Survey_, ed. 1633, p. 120 b). Strype tells us
that the house of the Spanish Ambassador, supposedly the famous
Gondomar, was situated there (_Survey_ 2. 28). In his day the
inhabitants were French Protestant weavers, and later Jews of a
disreputable sort. That its reputation was somewhat unsavory as
early as Nash's time we learn from his _Prognostication_
(_Wks. _ 2. 149):
'If the Beadelles of Bridewell be carefull this Summer, it may
be hoped that Peticote lane may be lesse pestered with ill aires
than it was woont: and the houses there so cleere clensed, that
honest women may dwell there without any dread of the whip and
the carte. ' Cf. also _Penniless Parliament, Old Book Collector's
Misc. _ 2. 16: 'Many men shall be so venturously given, as they
shall go into Petticoat Lane, and yet come out again as honestly
as they went first in. '
=1. 1. 60 the Smock-allies. = Petticoat Lane led from the
high street, Whitechapel, to _Smock Alley_ or Gravel Lane.
See Hughson 2. 387.
=1. 1. 61 Shoreditch. = Shoreditch was formerly notorious for the
disreputable character of its women. 'To die in Shoreditch' seems
to have been a proverbial phrase, and is so used by Dryden in _The
Kind Keeper_, 4to, 1680. Cf. Nash, _Pierce Pennilesse_, _Wks. _ 2. 94:
'Call a Leete at _Byshopsgate_, & examine how euery second house in
_Shorditch_ is mayntayned; make a priuie search in _Southwarke_, and
tell mee how many Shee-Inmates you fin de: nay, goe where you will in
the Suburbes, and bring me two Virgins that haue vowd Chastity and
Ile builde a Nunnery. ' Also _ibid. _, p. 95; Gabriel Harvey, _Prose
Wks. _, ed. Grosart. 2. 169; and Dekker, _Wks. _ 3. 352.
=1. 1. 61 Whitechappell. = 'Till within memory the district north
of the High Street was one of the very worst localities in London;
a region of narrow and filthy streets, yards and alleys, many of
them wholly occupied by thieves' dens, the receptacles of stolen
property, gin-spinning dog-holes, low brothels, and putrescent
lodging-houses,--a district unwholesome to approach and unsafe for
a decent person to traverse even in the day-time. '--Wh-C.
=1. 1. 61, 2 and so to Saint Kathernes. =
=To drinke with the Dutch there, and take forth their patternes. =
Saint Kathernes was the name of a hospital and precinct without
London. The hospital was said to have been founded by Queen
Matilda, wife of King Stephen. In _The Alchemist_ (_Wks. _ 4.
161), Jonson speaks of its having been used 'to keep the better
sort of mad-folks. ' It was also employed as a reformatory for
fallen women, and it is here that Winifred in _Eastward Ho_ (ed.
Schelling, p. 84) finds an appropriate landing-place.
From this hospital there was 'a continual street, or filthy
strait passage, with alleys of small tenements, or cottages,
built, inhabited by sailors' victuallers, along by the river of
Thames, almost to Radcliff, a good mile from the Tower. '--Stow,
ed. Thoms, p. 157.
The precinct was noted for its brew-houses and low drinking
places. In _The Staple of News_ Jonson speaks of 'an ale-wife in
Saint Katherine's, At the Sign of the Dancing Bears' (_Wks. _ 5.
226). The same tavern is referred to in the _Masque of Augurs_
as well as 'the brew-houses in St. Katherine's. ' The sights of
the place are enumerated in the same masque.
The present passage seems to indicate that the precinct was largely
inhabited by Dutch. In the _Masque of Augurs_ Vangoose speaks a sort
of Dutch jargon, and we know that a Flemish cemetery was located here
(see Wh-C). Cf. also Sir Thomas Overbury's _Character of A drunken
Dutchman resident in England_, ed. Morley, p. 72: 'Let him come over
never so lean, and plant him but one month near the brew-houses of
St. Catherine's and he will be puffed up to your hand like a bloat
herring. ' Dutch weavers had been imported into England as early as
the reign of Edward III. (see Howes, p.
870 a), and in the year 1563
great numbers of Netherlanders with their wives and children fled
into England owing to the civil dissension in Flanders (Howes, p.
868 a). They bore a reputation for hard drinking (cf. _Like will to
Like_, _O. Pl. _ 3. 325; Dekker, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 3. 12; Nash,
_Wks. _ 2. 81, etc. ).
The phrase 'to take forth their patternes' is somewhat obscure, and
seems to have been forced by the necessity for a rhyme. Halliwell
says that 'take forth' is equivalent to 'learn,' and the phrase seems
therefore to mean 'take their measure,' 'size them up,' with a view
to following their example. It is possible, of course, that actual
patterns of the Dutch weavers or tailors are referred to.
=1. 1. 63 Custome-house key. = This was in Tower Street
on the Thames side. Stow (ed. Thoms, pp. 51. 2) says that the
custom-house was built in the sixth year of Richard II. Jonson
mentions the place again in _Every Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 69.
=1. 1. 66 the Dagger, and the Wool-sacke. = These were two
ordinaries or public houses of low repute, especially famous
for their pies. There were two taverns called the 'Dagger,' one
in Holborn and one in Cheapside. It is probably to the former
of these that Jonson refers. It is mentioned again in the
_Alchemist_ (_Wks. _ 4. 24 and 165) and in Dekker's _Satiromastix_
(_Wks. _ 1. 200). Hotten says that the sign of a dagger was
common, and arose from its being a charge in the city arms.
The Woolsack was without Aldgate. It was originally a
wool-maker's sign. Machyn mentions the tavern in 1555; and it is
alluded to in Dekker, _Shoemaker's Holiday_, _Wks. _ 1. 61. See
Wh-C. and Hotten's _History of Signboards_, pp. 325 and 362.
=1. 1. 69 Belins-gate. = Stow (ed. Thoms, p. 78) describes
Belins-gate as 'a large water-gate, port or harborough. ' He
mentions the tradition that the name was derived from that of
Belin, King of the Britons, but discredits it. Billingsgate is
on the Thames, a little below London Bridge, and is still the
great fish-market of London.
=1. 1. 70 shoot the Bridge. = The waterway under the old
London Bridge was obstructed by the narrowness of the arches,
by cornmills built in some of the openings, and by the great
waterworks at its southern end. 'Of the arches left open some
were too narrow for the passage of boats of any kind. The widest
was only 36 feet, and the resistance caused to so large a body
of water on the rise and fall of the tide by this contraction of
its channel produced a fall or rapid under the bridge, so that
it was necessary to "ship oars" to _shoot the bridge_, as it was
called,--an undertaking, to amateur watermen especially, not
unattended with danger. "With the flood-tide it was impossible,
and with the ebb-tide dangerous to pass through or _shoot_ the
arches of the bridge. " In the latter case prudent passengers
landed above the bridge, generally at the _Old Swan Stairs_, and
walked to some wharf, generally _Billingsgate_, below it. '--Wh-C.
=1. 1. 70 the Cranes i' the Vintry. = These were 'three strong cranes of
timber placed on the Vintry wharf by the Thames to crane up wine there
(Stow, ed. Thoms, p. 00). They were situated in Three Cranes' lane, and
near by was the famous tavern mentioned as one of the author's favorite
resorts (_Bart. Fair_ 1. 1, _Wks. _ 4. 356). Jonson speaks of it again
in _The Silent Woman_, _Wks. _ 3. 376, and in the _Masque of Augurs_.
Pepys visited the place on January 23, 1662, and describes the best
room as 'a narrow dogg-hole' in which he and his friends were crammed
so close 'that it made me loath my company and victuals, and a sorry
dinner it was too. ' Cf. also Dekker, (_Non-dram. Wks. _ 8. 77).
=1. 1. 72 the Strand. = This famous street was formerly the road between
the cities of Westminster and London. That many lawyers lived in this
vicinity we learn from Middleton (_Father Hubburd's Tales_, _Wks. _ 8.
77).
=1. 1. 73 Westminster-hall. = It was once the hall of the
King's palace at Westminster, originally built by William Rufus.
The present hall was formed 1397-99. Here the early parliaments
were held. 'This great hall hath been the usual place of
pleadings, and ministration of justice. '--Stow, ed. Thoms,
p. 174.
=1. 1. 75 so Veluet to Leather. = Velvet seems to have
been much worn by lawyers. Cf. Overbury, _Characters_, p. 72:
'He loves his friend as a counsellor at law loves the velvet
breeches he was first made barrister in. '
=1. 1. 85 In his long coat, shaking his wooden dagger. =
See Introduction, pp. xxxviii f.
=1. 1. 93 Cokeley. = Whalley says that he was the master of
a puppet show, and this has been accepted by all authorities
(Gifford, ed. ; Nares, _Gloss_. ; Alden, ed. of _Bart. Fair_).
He seems, however, to have been rather an improviser like
Vennor, or a mountebank with a gift of riming. He is mentioned
several times by Jonson: _Bart. Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 422, 3: 'He has
not been sent for, and sought out for nothing, at your great
city-suppers, to put down Coriat and Cokely. ' _Epigr. _129; _To
Mime_, _Wks. _ 8. 229:
Or, mounted on a stool, thy face doth hit
On some new gesture, that's imputed wit?
--Thou dost out-zany Cokely, Pod; nay Gue:
And thine own Coryat too.
=1. 1. 94 Vennor. = Gifford first took Vennor to be a juggler, but
corrected his statement in the _Masque of Augurs_, _Wks. _ 7. 414.
He says: 'Fenner, whom I supposed to be a juggler, was a rude kind
of _improvisatore_. He was altogether ignorant; but possessed a
wonderful facility in pouring out doggrel verse. He says of himself,
Yet, without boasting, let me boldly say
I'll rhyme with any man that breathes this day
Upon a subject, in _extempore_, etc.
He seems to have made a wretched livelihood by frequenting city
feasts, &c. , where, at the end of the entertainment, he was called in
to mount a stool and amuse the company by stringing together a
number of vile rhymes upon any given subject. To this the quotation
alludes. Fenner is noticed by the duchess of Newcastle: "For
the numbers every schoolboy can make them on his fingers, and for
the _rime_, Fenner would put down Ben Jonson, and yet neither boy
nor Fenner so good poets. " This, too, is the person meant in the
Cambridge answer to Corbet's satire:
A ballad late was made,
But God knows who the penner;
Some say the rhyming sculler,
And others say 'twas Fenner. p. 24.
Fenner was so famed for his faculty of rhyming, that James, who,
like Bartholomew Cokes, would willingly let no raree-show escape
him, sent for him to court. Upon which Fenner added to his other
titles that of his "Majesty's Riming Poet. " This gave offense to
Taylor, the Water poet, and helped to produce that miserable
squabble printed among his works, and from which I have principally
derived the substance of this note. '--G.
'In Richard Brome's _Covent Garden Weeded_ (circ. 1638), we
have: "Sure 'tis Fenner or his ghost. He was a riming souldier. "
(p. 42. )'--C.
The controversy referred to may be found in the Spenser Society's
reprint of the 1630 folio of Taylor's _Works_, 1869, pp. 304-325.
Here may be gathered a few more facts regarding the life of
Fenner (or Fennor as it should be spelled), among them that he
was apprenticed when a boy to a blind harper. In the quarrel, it
must be confessed, Fennor does not appear markedly inferior to his
derider either in powers of versification or in common decency. The
quarrel between the poets took place in October, 1614, and Fennor's
admittance to court seems to be referred to in the present passage.
=1. 1. 95 a Sheriffes dinner. = This was an occasion of considerable
extravagance. Entick (_Survey_ 1. 499) tells us that in 1543 a
sumptuary law was passed 'to prevent luxurious eating or feasting
in a time of scarcity; whereby it was ordained, that the lord-mayor
should not have more than seven dishes at dinner or supper,' and 'an
alderman and sheriff no more than six. '
=1. 1. 96 Skip with a rime o' the Table, from New-nothing. = What is
meant by _New-nothing_ I do not know. From the construction it would
seem to indicate the place from which the fool was accustomed to take
his leap, but it is possible that the word should be connected with
_rime_, and may perhaps be the translation of a Greek or Latin title
for some book of _facetiae_ published about this time. Such wits as
Fennor and Taylor doubtless produced many pamphlets, the titles of
which have not been recorded. In 1622 Taylor brought out a collection
of verse called 'Sir Gregory Non-sense His Newes from no place,' and
it may have been this very book in manuscript that suggested Jonson's
title. In the play of _King Darius_, 1106, one of the actors says:
'I had rather then my new nothing, I were gon. '
=1. 1. 97 his Almaine-leape into a custard. = 'In the earlier days,
when the city kept a fool it was customary for him at public
entertainments, to leap into a large bowl of custard set on
purpose. '--W. Whalley refers also to _All's well that Ends Well_
2. 5: 'You have made a shift to run into it, boots and all, like
him that leapt into the custard. '
Gifford quotes Glapthorne, _Wit in a Const. _:
The custard, with the four and twenty nooks
At my lord Mayor's feast.
He continues: 'Indeed, no common supply was required; for, besides
what the Corporation (great devourers of custard) consumed on the
spot, it appears that it was thought no breach of city manners to
send, or take some of it home with them for the use of their ladies. '
In the excellent old play quoted above, Clara twits her uncle with
this practise:
Now shall you, sir, as 'tis a frequent custom,
'Cause you're a worthy alderman of a ward,
Feed me with custard, and perpetual white broth
Sent from the lord Mayor's feast. '
Cunningham says: 'Poets of a comparatively recent date continue to
associate mayors and custards. ' He Quotes Prior _(Alma_, Cant. 1) and
a letter from Bishop Warburton to Hurd (Apr. 1766): 'I told him (the
Lord Mayor) in what I thought he was defective--that I was greatly
disappointed to see no custard at table. He said that they had been
so ridiculed for their custard that none had ventured to make its
appearance for some years. ' Jonson mentions the 'quaking custards'
again in _The Fox_, _Wks. _ 3. 164. , and in _The Staple of News_,
_Wks. _ 5. 196, 7.
An Almain-leap was a dancing leap. 'Allemands were danced here a few
years back' (Nares). Cunningham quotes from Dyce: 'Rabelais tells us
that Gargantua "wrestled, ran, jumped, not at three steps and a leap,
.
=1. 1. 51 In a cloake to thy heele. = See note 1. 1. 85.
=1. 1. 51 a hat like a pent-house. = 'When they haue walkt thorow the
streetes, weare their hats ore their eye-browes, like pollitick
penthouses, which commonly make the shop of a Mercer, or a Linnen
Draper, as dark as a roome in Bedlam. ' Dekker, _West-ward Hoe_,
_Wks. _ 2. 286.
With your hat penthouse-like o'er the slope of your eyes.
--_Love's Labour's Lost_ 3. 1. 17.
Halliwell says (_L. L. L. _, ed. Furness, p. 85): 'An open shed
or shop, forming a protection against the weather. The house
in which Shakespeare was born had a penthouse along a portion
of it. ' In Hollyband's _Dictionarie_, 1593, it is spelled
'pentice,' which shows that the rime to 'Juventus' is probably
not a distorted one.
=1. 1. 52 thy doublet all belly. = 'Certaine I am there was neuer any
kinde of apparell euer inuented that could more disproportion the
body of man then these Dublets with great bellies, . . . stuffed with
foure, fiue or six pound of Bombast at the least. '--Stubbes, _Anat. _,
Part 1, p. 55.
=1. 1. 54 how nimble he is! = 'A perfect idea of his activity may be
formed from the incessant skipping of the modern Harlequin. '--G.
=1. 1. 56 the top of Pauls-steeple. = As Gifford points out, Iniquity
is boasting of an impossible feat. St. Paul's steeple had been
destroyed by fire in 1561, and was not yet restored. Several attempts
were made and money collected. 'James I. countenanced a sermon at
_Paul's Cross_ in favor of so pious an undertaking, but nothing was
done till 1633 when reparations commenced with some activity, and
Inigo Jones designed, at the expense of Charles I. , a classic portico
to a Gothic church. '--Wh-C.
Lupton, _London Carbonadoed_, 1632, writes: 'The head of St. Paul's
hath twice been troubled with a burning fever, and so the city, to
keep it from a third danger, lets it stand without a head. ' Gifford
says that 'the Puritans took a malignant pleasure in this mutilated
state of the cathedral. ' Jonson refers to the disaster in his
_Execration upon Vulcan_, _U. 61_, _Wks. _ 8. 408. See also Dekker,
_Paules Steeples complaint_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 4. 2.
=1. 1. 56 Standard in Cheepe. = This was a water-stand or conduit
in the midst of the street of West Cheaping, where executions were
formerly held. It was in a ruinous condition in 1442, when it was
repaired by a patent from Henry VI. Stow (_Survey_, ed. Thoms, p.
100) gives a list of famous executions at this place, and says that
'in the year 1399, Henry IV. caused the blanch charters made by
Richard II. to be burnt there. '
=1. 1. 58 a needle of Spaine. = Gifford, referring to Randolph's
_Amyntos_ and Ford's _Sun's Darling_, points out that 'the best
needles, as well as other sharp instruments, were, in that age, and
indeed long before and after it, imported from Spain. ' The tailor's
needle was in cant language commonly termed a _Spanish pike_.
References to the Spanish needle are frequent. It is mentioned by
Jonson in _Chloridia_, _Wks. _ 8. 99; by Dekker, _Wks. _ 4. 308; and by
Greene, _Wks. _ 11. 241. Howes (p. 1038) says: 'The making of Spanish
Needles, was first taught in England by Elias Crowse, a Germane,
about the eight yeare of Queene Elizabeth, and in Queen Maries time,
there was a Negro made fine Spanish Needles in Cheape-side, but would
neuer teach his Art to any. '
=1. 1. 59 the Suburbs. = The suburbs were the outlying districts
without the walls of the city. Cf. Stow, _Survey_, ed. Thoms, p. 156
f. They were for the most part the resort of disorderly persons. Cf.
B. & Fl. , _Humorous Lieut. _ 1. 1. ; Massinger, _Emperor of the East_
1. 2. ; Shak. , _Jul. Caes. _ 2. 1; and Nares, _Gloss_. Wheatley (ed.
_Ev. Man in_, p. 1) quotes Chettle's _Kind Harts Dreame_, 1592: 'The
suburbs of the citie are in many places no other but dark dennes for
adulterers, thieves, murderers, and every mischief worker; daily
experience before the magistrates confirms this for truth. ' Cf. also
Glapthorne, _Wit in a Constable_, _Wks. _, ed. 1874, 1. 219:
----make safe retreat
Into the Suburbs, there you may finde cast wenches.
In _Every Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 25, a 'suburb humour' is spoken of.
=1. 1. 60 Petticoate-lane. = This is the present Middlesex
Street, Whitechapel. It was formerly called Hog Lane and was
beautified with 'fair hedge-rows,' but by Stow's time it had
been made 'a continual building throughout of garden houses and
small cottages' (_Survey_, ed. 1633, p. 120 b). Strype tells us
that the house of the Spanish Ambassador, supposedly the famous
Gondomar, was situated there (_Survey_ 2. 28). In his day the
inhabitants were French Protestant weavers, and later Jews of a
disreputable sort. That its reputation was somewhat unsavory as
early as Nash's time we learn from his _Prognostication_
(_Wks. _ 2. 149):
'If the Beadelles of Bridewell be carefull this Summer, it may
be hoped that Peticote lane may be lesse pestered with ill aires
than it was woont: and the houses there so cleere clensed, that
honest women may dwell there without any dread of the whip and
the carte. ' Cf. also _Penniless Parliament, Old Book Collector's
Misc. _ 2. 16: 'Many men shall be so venturously given, as they
shall go into Petticoat Lane, and yet come out again as honestly
as they went first in. '
=1. 1. 60 the Smock-allies. = Petticoat Lane led from the
high street, Whitechapel, to _Smock Alley_ or Gravel Lane.
See Hughson 2. 387.
=1. 1. 61 Shoreditch. = Shoreditch was formerly notorious for the
disreputable character of its women. 'To die in Shoreditch' seems
to have been a proverbial phrase, and is so used by Dryden in _The
Kind Keeper_, 4to, 1680. Cf. Nash, _Pierce Pennilesse_, _Wks. _ 2. 94:
'Call a Leete at _Byshopsgate_, & examine how euery second house in
_Shorditch_ is mayntayned; make a priuie search in _Southwarke_, and
tell mee how many Shee-Inmates you fin de: nay, goe where you will in
the Suburbes, and bring me two Virgins that haue vowd Chastity and
Ile builde a Nunnery. ' Also _ibid. _, p. 95; Gabriel Harvey, _Prose
Wks. _, ed. Grosart. 2. 169; and Dekker, _Wks. _ 3. 352.
=1. 1. 61 Whitechappell. = 'Till within memory the district north
of the High Street was one of the very worst localities in London;
a region of narrow and filthy streets, yards and alleys, many of
them wholly occupied by thieves' dens, the receptacles of stolen
property, gin-spinning dog-holes, low brothels, and putrescent
lodging-houses,--a district unwholesome to approach and unsafe for
a decent person to traverse even in the day-time. '--Wh-C.
=1. 1. 61, 2 and so to Saint Kathernes. =
=To drinke with the Dutch there, and take forth their patternes. =
Saint Kathernes was the name of a hospital and precinct without
London. The hospital was said to have been founded by Queen
Matilda, wife of King Stephen. In _The Alchemist_ (_Wks. _ 4.
161), Jonson speaks of its having been used 'to keep the better
sort of mad-folks. ' It was also employed as a reformatory for
fallen women, and it is here that Winifred in _Eastward Ho_ (ed.
Schelling, p. 84) finds an appropriate landing-place.
From this hospital there was 'a continual street, or filthy
strait passage, with alleys of small tenements, or cottages,
built, inhabited by sailors' victuallers, along by the river of
Thames, almost to Radcliff, a good mile from the Tower. '--Stow,
ed. Thoms, p. 157.
The precinct was noted for its brew-houses and low drinking
places. In _The Staple of News_ Jonson speaks of 'an ale-wife in
Saint Katherine's, At the Sign of the Dancing Bears' (_Wks. _ 5.
226). The same tavern is referred to in the _Masque of Augurs_
as well as 'the brew-houses in St. Katherine's. ' The sights of
the place are enumerated in the same masque.
The present passage seems to indicate that the precinct was largely
inhabited by Dutch. In the _Masque of Augurs_ Vangoose speaks a sort
of Dutch jargon, and we know that a Flemish cemetery was located here
(see Wh-C). Cf. also Sir Thomas Overbury's _Character of A drunken
Dutchman resident in England_, ed. Morley, p. 72: 'Let him come over
never so lean, and plant him but one month near the brew-houses of
St. Catherine's and he will be puffed up to your hand like a bloat
herring. ' Dutch weavers had been imported into England as early as
the reign of Edward III. (see Howes, p.
870 a), and in the year 1563
great numbers of Netherlanders with their wives and children fled
into England owing to the civil dissension in Flanders (Howes, p.
868 a). They bore a reputation for hard drinking (cf. _Like will to
Like_, _O. Pl. _ 3. 325; Dekker, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 3. 12; Nash,
_Wks. _ 2. 81, etc. ).
The phrase 'to take forth their patternes' is somewhat obscure, and
seems to have been forced by the necessity for a rhyme. Halliwell
says that 'take forth' is equivalent to 'learn,' and the phrase seems
therefore to mean 'take their measure,' 'size them up,' with a view
to following their example. It is possible, of course, that actual
patterns of the Dutch weavers or tailors are referred to.
=1. 1. 63 Custome-house key. = This was in Tower Street
on the Thames side. Stow (ed. Thoms, pp. 51. 2) says that the
custom-house was built in the sixth year of Richard II. Jonson
mentions the place again in _Every Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 69.
=1. 1. 66 the Dagger, and the Wool-sacke. = These were two
ordinaries or public houses of low repute, especially famous
for their pies. There were two taverns called the 'Dagger,' one
in Holborn and one in Cheapside. It is probably to the former
of these that Jonson refers. It is mentioned again in the
_Alchemist_ (_Wks. _ 4. 24 and 165) and in Dekker's _Satiromastix_
(_Wks. _ 1. 200). Hotten says that the sign of a dagger was
common, and arose from its being a charge in the city arms.
The Woolsack was without Aldgate. It was originally a
wool-maker's sign. Machyn mentions the tavern in 1555; and it is
alluded to in Dekker, _Shoemaker's Holiday_, _Wks. _ 1. 61. See
Wh-C. and Hotten's _History of Signboards_, pp. 325 and 362.
=1. 1. 69 Belins-gate. = Stow (ed. Thoms, p. 78) describes
Belins-gate as 'a large water-gate, port or harborough. ' He
mentions the tradition that the name was derived from that of
Belin, King of the Britons, but discredits it. Billingsgate is
on the Thames, a little below London Bridge, and is still the
great fish-market of London.
=1. 1. 70 shoot the Bridge. = The waterway under the old
London Bridge was obstructed by the narrowness of the arches,
by cornmills built in some of the openings, and by the great
waterworks at its southern end. 'Of the arches left open some
were too narrow for the passage of boats of any kind. The widest
was only 36 feet, and the resistance caused to so large a body
of water on the rise and fall of the tide by this contraction of
its channel produced a fall or rapid under the bridge, so that
it was necessary to "ship oars" to _shoot the bridge_, as it was
called,--an undertaking, to amateur watermen especially, not
unattended with danger. "With the flood-tide it was impossible,
and with the ebb-tide dangerous to pass through or _shoot_ the
arches of the bridge. " In the latter case prudent passengers
landed above the bridge, generally at the _Old Swan Stairs_, and
walked to some wharf, generally _Billingsgate_, below it. '--Wh-C.
=1. 1. 70 the Cranes i' the Vintry. = These were 'three strong cranes of
timber placed on the Vintry wharf by the Thames to crane up wine there
(Stow, ed. Thoms, p. 00). They were situated in Three Cranes' lane, and
near by was the famous tavern mentioned as one of the author's favorite
resorts (_Bart. Fair_ 1. 1, _Wks. _ 4. 356). Jonson speaks of it again
in _The Silent Woman_, _Wks. _ 3. 376, and in the _Masque of Augurs_.
Pepys visited the place on January 23, 1662, and describes the best
room as 'a narrow dogg-hole' in which he and his friends were crammed
so close 'that it made me loath my company and victuals, and a sorry
dinner it was too. ' Cf. also Dekker, (_Non-dram. Wks. _ 8. 77).
=1. 1. 72 the Strand. = This famous street was formerly the road between
the cities of Westminster and London. That many lawyers lived in this
vicinity we learn from Middleton (_Father Hubburd's Tales_, _Wks. _ 8.
77).
=1. 1. 73 Westminster-hall. = It was once the hall of the
King's palace at Westminster, originally built by William Rufus.
The present hall was formed 1397-99. Here the early parliaments
were held. 'This great hall hath been the usual place of
pleadings, and ministration of justice. '--Stow, ed. Thoms,
p. 174.
=1. 1. 75 so Veluet to Leather. = Velvet seems to have
been much worn by lawyers. Cf. Overbury, _Characters_, p. 72:
'He loves his friend as a counsellor at law loves the velvet
breeches he was first made barrister in. '
=1. 1. 85 In his long coat, shaking his wooden dagger. =
See Introduction, pp. xxxviii f.
=1. 1. 93 Cokeley. = Whalley says that he was the master of
a puppet show, and this has been accepted by all authorities
(Gifford, ed. ; Nares, _Gloss_. ; Alden, ed. of _Bart. Fair_).
He seems, however, to have been rather an improviser like
Vennor, or a mountebank with a gift of riming. He is mentioned
several times by Jonson: _Bart. Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 422, 3: 'He has
not been sent for, and sought out for nothing, at your great
city-suppers, to put down Coriat and Cokely. ' _Epigr. _129; _To
Mime_, _Wks. _ 8. 229:
Or, mounted on a stool, thy face doth hit
On some new gesture, that's imputed wit?
--Thou dost out-zany Cokely, Pod; nay Gue:
And thine own Coryat too.
=1. 1. 94 Vennor. = Gifford first took Vennor to be a juggler, but
corrected his statement in the _Masque of Augurs_, _Wks. _ 7. 414.
He says: 'Fenner, whom I supposed to be a juggler, was a rude kind
of _improvisatore_. He was altogether ignorant; but possessed a
wonderful facility in pouring out doggrel verse. He says of himself,
Yet, without boasting, let me boldly say
I'll rhyme with any man that breathes this day
Upon a subject, in _extempore_, etc.
He seems to have made a wretched livelihood by frequenting city
feasts, &c. , where, at the end of the entertainment, he was called in
to mount a stool and amuse the company by stringing together a
number of vile rhymes upon any given subject. To this the quotation
alludes. Fenner is noticed by the duchess of Newcastle: "For
the numbers every schoolboy can make them on his fingers, and for
the _rime_, Fenner would put down Ben Jonson, and yet neither boy
nor Fenner so good poets. " This, too, is the person meant in the
Cambridge answer to Corbet's satire:
A ballad late was made,
But God knows who the penner;
Some say the rhyming sculler,
And others say 'twas Fenner. p. 24.
Fenner was so famed for his faculty of rhyming, that James, who,
like Bartholomew Cokes, would willingly let no raree-show escape
him, sent for him to court. Upon which Fenner added to his other
titles that of his "Majesty's Riming Poet. " This gave offense to
Taylor, the Water poet, and helped to produce that miserable
squabble printed among his works, and from which I have principally
derived the substance of this note. '--G.
'In Richard Brome's _Covent Garden Weeded_ (circ. 1638), we
have: "Sure 'tis Fenner or his ghost. He was a riming souldier. "
(p. 42. )'--C.
The controversy referred to may be found in the Spenser Society's
reprint of the 1630 folio of Taylor's _Works_, 1869, pp. 304-325.
Here may be gathered a few more facts regarding the life of
Fenner (or Fennor as it should be spelled), among them that he
was apprenticed when a boy to a blind harper. In the quarrel, it
must be confessed, Fennor does not appear markedly inferior to his
derider either in powers of versification or in common decency. The
quarrel between the poets took place in October, 1614, and Fennor's
admittance to court seems to be referred to in the present passage.
=1. 1. 95 a Sheriffes dinner. = This was an occasion of considerable
extravagance. Entick (_Survey_ 1. 499) tells us that in 1543 a
sumptuary law was passed 'to prevent luxurious eating or feasting
in a time of scarcity; whereby it was ordained, that the lord-mayor
should not have more than seven dishes at dinner or supper,' and 'an
alderman and sheriff no more than six. '
=1. 1. 96 Skip with a rime o' the Table, from New-nothing. = What is
meant by _New-nothing_ I do not know. From the construction it would
seem to indicate the place from which the fool was accustomed to take
his leap, but it is possible that the word should be connected with
_rime_, and may perhaps be the translation of a Greek or Latin title
for some book of _facetiae_ published about this time. Such wits as
Fennor and Taylor doubtless produced many pamphlets, the titles of
which have not been recorded. In 1622 Taylor brought out a collection
of verse called 'Sir Gregory Non-sense His Newes from no place,' and
it may have been this very book in manuscript that suggested Jonson's
title. In the play of _King Darius_, 1106, one of the actors says:
'I had rather then my new nothing, I were gon. '
=1. 1. 97 his Almaine-leape into a custard. = 'In the earlier days,
when the city kept a fool it was customary for him at public
entertainments, to leap into a large bowl of custard set on
purpose. '--W. Whalley refers also to _All's well that Ends Well_
2. 5: 'You have made a shift to run into it, boots and all, like
him that leapt into the custard. '
Gifford quotes Glapthorne, _Wit in a Const. _:
The custard, with the four and twenty nooks
At my lord Mayor's feast.
He continues: 'Indeed, no common supply was required; for, besides
what the Corporation (great devourers of custard) consumed on the
spot, it appears that it was thought no breach of city manners to
send, or take some of it home with them for the use of their ladies. '
In the excellent old play quoted above, Clara twits her uncle with
this practise:
Now shall you, sir, as 'tis a frequent custom,
'Cause you're a worthy alderman of a ward,
Feed me with custard, and perpetual white broth
Sent from the lord Mayor's feast. '
Cunningham says: 'Poets of a comparatively recent date continue to
associate mayors and custards. ' He Quotes Prior _(Alma_, Cant. 1) and
a letter from Bishop Warburton to Hurd (Apr. 1766): 'I told him (the
Lord Mayor) in what I thought he was defective--that I was greatly
disappointed to see no custard at table. He said that they had been
so ridiculed for their custard that none had ventured to make its
appearance for some years. ' Jonson mentions the 'quaking custards'
again in _The Fox_, _Wks. _ 3. 164. , and in _The Staple of News_,
_Wks. _ 5. 196, 7.
An Almain-leap was a dancing leap. 'Allemands were danced here a few
years back' (Nares). Cunningham quotes from Dyce: 'Rabelais tells us
that Gargantua "wrestled, ran, jumped, not at three steps and a leap,
.
