The proverb
is quoted again in _Eastward Ho_, Marston, _Wks.
is quoted again in _Eastward Ho_, Marston, _Wks.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
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. '
The spelling _Major_ seems to be a Latin form. Mr. Charles Jackson
(_N. & Q. _ 4. 7. 176) mentions it as frequently used by the mayors
of Doncaster in former days. Cf. also Glapthorne (_Wks. _ 1. 231) and
_Ev. Man in_ (Folio 1616, 5. 5. 41).
=5. 1. 41 my tooth-picks. = See note 4. 2. 26.
=5. 1. 47 Saint Giles'es. = 'Now, without the postern of Cripplesgate,
first is the parish church of Saint Giles, a very fair and large
church, lately repaired, after that the same was burnt in the year
1545. '--Stow, _Survey_, ed. Thoms, p. 112.
=5. 1. 48 A kind of Irish penance! = 'There is the same allusion to
the _rug gowns_ of the wild Irish, in the _Night Walker_ of Fletcher:
We have divided the sexton's household stuff
Among us; one has the _rug_, and he's turn'd _Irish_. '--G.
Cf. also Holinshed, _Chron. _ (quoted _CD. _):'As they distill the best
aqua-vitae, so they spin the choicest _rug_ in Ireland. ' Fynes Moryson
(_Itinerary_, fol. 1617, p. 160) says that the Irish merchants were
forbidden to export their wool, in order that the peasants might
'be nourished by working it into cloth, namely, Rugs . . . & mantles
generally worn by men and women, and exported in great quantity. '
Jonson mentions rug as an article of apparel several times. In
_Alch. _, _Wks. _ 4. 14, it is spoken of as the dress of a poor man
and _ibid. _ 4. 83 as that of an astrologer. In _Ev. Man out_ (_Wks. _
2. 110) a similar reference is made, and here Gifford explains that
rug was 'the usual dress of mathematicians, astrologers, &c. , when
engaged in their sublime speculations. ' Marston also speaks of rug
gowns as the symbol of a strict life (_What You Will_, _Wks. _ 2. 395):
Lamp-oil, watch-candles, rug-gowns, and small juice,
Thin commons, four o'clock rising,--I renounce you all.
=5. 2. 1 ff. put me To yoaking foxes,= etc. Several at least of
the following employments are derived from proverbial expressions
familiar at the time. Jonson speaks of 'milking he-goats' in
_Timber,_ ed. Schelling, p. 34, which the editor explains as 'a
proverbial expression for a fruitless task. ' The occupation of lines
5-6 is adapted from a popular proverb given by Cotgrave: 'J'aymeroy
autant tirer vn pet d'un Asne mort, que. I would as soone vndertake
to get a fart of a dead man, as &c. ' Under _Asne_ he explains the
same proverb as meaning 'to worke impossibilities. ' This explains
the passage in _Staple of News_ 3. 1. , _Wks. _ 5. 226.
The proverb
is quoted again in _Eastward Ho_, Marston, _Wks. _ 3. 90, and in
Wm. Lilly's Observations,' _Hist. _, pp. 269-70. 'Making ropes of
sand' was Iniquity's occupation in 1. 1. 119. This familiar proverb
first appears in Aristides 2. 309: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . In
the _New Inn_, _Wks. _ 5. 394, Lovel says: 'I will go catch the wind
first in a sieve. ' Whalley says that the occupation of 'keeping
fleas within a circle' is taken from Socrates' employment in the
_Clouds_ of Aristophanes (ll. 144-5). Gifford, however, ridicules
the notion. Jonson refers to the passage in the _Clouds_ in _Timber_
(ed. Schelling, 82. 33), where he thinks it would have made the
Greeks merry to see Socrates 'measure how many foot a flea could
skip geometrically. ' But here again we seem to have a proverbial
expression. It occurs in the morality-play of _Nature_, 642. II
(quoted by Cushman, p. 116):
I had leiver keep as many flese,
Or wyld hares in an opyn lese,
As undertake that.
=5. 2. 32. = Scan:
And three/ pence. ? / Give me/ an an/swer. Sir.
Thos. Keightley, _N. & Q. _ 4. 2. 603, suggests:
And your threepence, etc.
=5. 2. 35 Your best songs Thom. O' Bet'lem. = 'A song entitled "Mad
Tom" is to be found in Percy's _Reliques_; Ballad Soc. Roxb. Ball. ,
2. p. 259; and Chappell's _Old Pop. Mus. _ The exact date of the poem
is not known. '--H. R. D. Anders, _Shakespeare's Books_, p. 24-5.
Bethlehem Royal Hospital was originally founded 'to have been a
priory of canons,' but was converted to a hospital for lunatics in
1547. In Jonson's time it was one of the regular sights of London,
and is so referred to in Dekker's _Northward Hoe_, _Wks. _ 3. 56 f. ;
_Sil. Wom. _, _Wks. _ 3. 421; _Alch. _, _Wks. _ 4. 132.
=5. 3. 6 little Darrels tricks. = John Darrel (fl. 1562-1602) was
born, it is believed, at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, about 1562.
He graduated at Cambridge, studied law, and then became a preacher
at Mansfield. He began to figure as an exorcist in 1586, when he
pretended to cast out an evil spirit from Catherine Wright of Ridgway
Lane, Derbyshire. In 1596 he exorcised Thomas Darling, a boy of
fourteen, of Burton-on-Trent, for bewitching whom Alice Goodrich was
tried and convicted at Derby. A history of the case was written by
Jesse Bee of Burton (Harsnet, _Discovery_, p. 2). The boy Darling
went to Merton College, and in 1603 was sentenced by the Star-chamber
to be whipped, and to lose his ears for libelling the vice-chancellor
of Oxford. In March, 1596-7, Darrel was sent for to Clayworth Hall,
Shakerly, in Leigh parish, Lancashire, where he exorcised seven
persons of the household of Mr. Nicholas Starkie, who accused one
Edmund Hartley of bewitching them, and succeeded in getting the
latter condemned and executed in 1597. In November, 1597, Darrel was
invited to Nottingham to dispossess William Somers, an apprentice,
and shortly after his arrival was appointed preacher of St. Mary's
in that town, and his fame drew crowded congregations to listen
to his tales of devils and possession. Darrel's operations having
been reported to the Archbishop of York, a commission of inquiry
was issued (March 1597-8), and he was prohibited from preaching.
Subsequently the case was investigated by Bancroft, bishop of London,
and S. Harsnet, his chaplain, when Somers, Catherine Wright, and Mary
Cooper confessed that they had been instructed in their simulations
by Darrel. He was brought before the commissioners and examined at
Lambeth on 26 May 1599, was pronounced an impostor, degraded from the
ministry and committed to the Gatehouse. He remained in prison for
at least a year, but it is not known what became of him.
(Abridged from _DNB. _)
Jonson refers to Darrel again in _U. _ 67, _Wks. _ 8. 422:
This age will lend no faith to Darrel's deed.
=5. 3. 27 That could, pitty her selfe. = See variants.
=5. 3. 28 in Potentia. = Jonson uses the phrase again in the
_Alchemist_, _Wks. _ 4. 64: 'The egg's . . . a chicken _in potentia_. '
It is a late Latin phrase. See Gloss.
=5. 4. 17 my proiect o' the forkes. = Forks were just being introduced
into England at this time, and were a common subject of satire. The
first mention of a fork recorded in the _NED. _ is: '1463 _Bury Wills_
(Camden) 40, I beqwethe to Davn John Kertelynge my silvir forke for
grene gyngour. '
Cf. Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 211: 'Oh golden
world, the suspicious Venecian carued not his meate with a siluer
pitch-forke. ' B. & Fl. , _Queen of Corinth_ 4. 1 (quoted by Gifford):
It doth express th' enamoured courtier,
As full as your fork-carving traveler.
_Fox_, _Wks. _ 3. 261:
--Then must you learn the use
And handling of your silver fork at meals,
The metal of your glass; (these are main matters
With your Italian;)
Coryat has much to say on the subject (_Crudities_ 1. 106): 'I
obserued a custome in all those Italian Cities and Townes through
the which I passed, that is not vsed in any other country that I
saw in my trauels, neither doe I thinke that any other nation of
Christendome doth vse it, but only Italy. The Italian and also most
strangers that are commorant in Italy, doe alwaies in their meales
vse a little forke when they cut their meate. For while with their
knife which they hold in one hand they cut the meate out of the
dish, they fasten their forke which they hold in their other hand
vpon the same dish, so that whatsoeuer he be that sitting in the
company of any others at meale, should vnadvisedly touch the dish of
meate with his fingers from which all at the table doe cut, he will
giue occasion of offence vnto the company, as hauing transgressed
the lawes of good manners. . . . This forme of feeding I vnderstand is
generally vsed in all places of Italy, their forkes being for the
most part made of yron or steele, and some of siluer, but those are
vsed only by Gentlemen. ' Coryat carried this custom home with him to
England, for which a friend dubbed him _furcifer_. This passage is
doubtless the source of Jonson's lines. Compare the last sentence of
the quotation with lines 30, 31 of this scene.
=5. 4. 23, 4 on my priuate, By cause. = See variants. There is no
necessity for change. Cf. 1616 Sir R. Dudley in _Fortesc. Papers_ 17:
'Nor am I so vaine . . . bycause I am not worth so much. ' The same form
occurs in _Sad Shepherd_ (Fol. 1631-40, p. 143):
But, beare yee Douce, bycause, yee may meet mee.
Gabriel Harvey uses both the forms _by cause_ and _bycause_.
_Prose Wks_. 1. 101; 102; et frequenter.
=5. 4. 34 at mine owne ap-perill. = The word is of rare occurrence.
Gifford quotes _Timon of Athens_ 1. 2: 'Let me stay at thine
apperil, Timon;' and refers to _Mag. La. _, _Wks. _ 6. 109: 'Faith, I
will bail him at mine own apperil. ' It occurs again in _Tale Tub_,
_Wks. _ 6. 148: 'As you will answer it at your apperil. '
=5. 5. 10, 11 I will leaue you To your God fathers in Law. = 'This
seems to have been a standing joke for a jury. It is used by
Shakespeare and by writers prior to him. Thus Bulleyn, speaking of
a knavish ostler, says, "I did see him ones aske blessyng to xii
godfathers at ones. " _Dialogue_, 1564. '--G.
The passage from Shakespeare is _Merch. of Ven. _ 4. 1.
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. '
The spelling _Major_ seems to be a Latin form. Mr. Charles Jackson
(_N. & Q. _ 4. 7. 176) mentions it as frequently used by the mayors
of Doncaster in former days. Cf. also Glapthorne (_Wks. _ 1. 231) and
_Ev. Man in_ (Folio 1616, 5. 5. 41).
=5. 1. 41 my tooth-picks. = See note 4. 2. 26.
=5. 1. 47 Saint Giles'es. = 'Now, without the postern of Cripplesgate,
first is the parish church of Saint Giles, a very fair and large
church, lately repaired, after that the same was burnt in the year
1545. '--Stow, _Survey_, ed. Thoms, p. 112.
=5. 1. 48 A kind of Irish penance! = 'There is the same allusion to
the _rug gowns_ of the wild Irish, in the _Night Walker_ of Fletcher:
We have divided the sexton's household stuff
Among us; one has the _rug_, and he's turn'd _Irish_. '--G.
Cf. also Holinshed, _Chron. _ (quoted _CD. _):'As they distill the best
aqua-vitae, so they spin the choicest _rug_ in Ireland. ' Fynes Moryson
(_Itinerary_, fol. 1617, p. 160) says that the Irish merchants were
forbidden to export their wool, in order that the peasants might
'be nourished by working it into cloth, namely, Rugs . . . & mantles
generally worn by men and women, and exported in great quantity. '
Jonson mentions rug as an article of apparel several times. In
_Alch. _, _Wks. _ 4. 14, it is spoken of as the dress of a poor man
and _ibid. _ 4. 83 as that of an astrologer. In _Ev. Man out_ (_Wks. _
2. 110) a similar reference is made, and here Gifford explains that
rug was 'the usual dress of mathematicians, astrologers, &c. , when
engaged in their sublime speculations. ' Marston also speaks of rug
gowns as the symbol of a strict life (_What You Will_, _Wks. _ 2. 395):
Lamp-oil, watch-candles, rug-gowns, and small juice,
Thin commons, four o'clock rising,--I renounce you all.
=5. 2. 1 ff. put me To yoaking foxes,= etc. Several at least of
the following employments are derived from proverbial expressions
familiar at the time. Jonson speaks of 'milking he-goats' in
_Timber,_ ed. Schelling, p. 34, which the editor explains as 'a
proverbial expression for a fruitless task. ' The occupation of lines
5-6 is adapted from a popular proverb given by Cotgrave: 'J'aymeroy
autant tirer vn pet d'un Asne mort, que. I would as soone vndertake
to get a fart of a dead man, as &c. ' Under _Asne_ he explains the
same proverb as meaning 'to worke impossibilities. ' This explains
the passage in _Staple of News_ 3. 1. , _Wks. _ 5. 226.
The proverb
is quoted again in _Eastward Ho_, Marston, _Wks. _ 3. 90, and in
Wm. Lilly's Observations,' _Hist. _, pp. 269-70. 'Making ropes of
sand' was Iniquity's occupation in 1. 1. 119. This familiar proverb
first appears in Aristides 2. 309: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . In
the _New Inn_, _Wks. _ 5. 394, Lovel says: 'I will go catch the wind
first in a sieve. ' Whalley says that the occupation of 'keeping
fleas within a circle' is taken from Socrates' employment in the
_Clouds_ of Aristophanes (ll. 144-5). Gifford, however, ridicules
the notion. Jonson refers to the passage in the _Clouds_ in _Timber_
(ed. Schelling, 82. 33), where he thinks it would have made the
Greeks merry to see Socrates 'measure how many foot a flea could
skip geometrically. ' But here again we seem to have a proverbial
expression. It occurs in the morality-play of _Nature_, 642. II
(quoted by Cushman, p. 116):
I had leiver keep as many flese,
Or wyld hares in an opyn lese,
As undertake that.
=5. 2. 32. = Scan:
And three/ pence. ? / Give me/ an an/swer. Sir.
Thos. Keightley, _N. & Q. _ 4. 2. 603, suggests:
And your threepence, etc.
=5. 2. 35 Your best songs Thom. O' Bet'lem. = 'A song entitled "Mad
Tom" is to be found in Percy's _Reliques_; Ballad Soc. Roxb. Ball. ,
2. p. 259; and Chappell's _Old Pop. Mus. _ The exact date of the poem
is not known. '--H. R. D. Anders, _Shakespeare's Books_, p. 24-5.
Bethlehem Royal Hospital was originally founded 'to have been a
priory of canons,' but was converted to a hospital for lunatics in
1547. In Jonson's time it was one of the regular sights of London,
and is so referred to in Dekker's _Northward Hoe_, _Wks. _ 3. 56 f. ;
_Sil. Wom. _, _Wks. _ 3. 421; _Alch. _, _Wks. _ 4. 132.
=5. 3. 6 little Darrels tricks. = John Darrel (fl. 1562-1602) was
born, it is believed, at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, about 1562.
He graduated at Cambridge, studied law, and then became a preacher
at Mansfield. He began to figure as an exorcist in 1586, when he
pretended to cast out an evil spirit from Catherine Wright of Ridgway
Lane, Derbyshire. In 1596 he exorcised Thomas Darling, a boy of
fourteen, of Burton-on-Trent, for bewitching whom Alice Goodrich was
tried and convicted at Derby. A history of the case was written by
Jesse Bee of Burton (Harsnet, _Discovery_, p. 2). The boy Darling
went to Merton College, and in 1603 was sentenced by the Star-chamber
to be whipped, and to lose his ears for libelling the vice-chancellor
of Oxford. In March, 1596-7, Darrel was sent for to Clayworth Hall,
Shakerly, in Leigh parish, Lancashire, where he exorcised seven
persons of the household of Mr. Nicholas Starkie, who accused one
Edmund Hartley of bewitching them, and succeeded in getting the
latter condemned and executed in 1597. In November, 1597, Darrel was
invited to Nottingham to dispossess William Somers, an apprentice,
and shortly after his arrival was appointed preacher of St. Mary's
in that town, and his fame drew crowded congregations to listen
to his tales of devils and possession. Darrel's operations having
been reported to the Archbishop of York, a commission of inquiry
was issued (March 1597-8), and he was prohibited from preaching.
Subsequently the case was investigated by Bancroft, bishop of London,
and S. Harsnet, his chaplain, when Somers, Catherine Wright, and Mary
Cooper confessed that they had been instructed in their simulations
by Darrel. He was brought before the commissioners and examined at
Lambeth on 26 May 1599, was pronounced an impostor, degraded from the
ministry and committed to the Gatehouse. He remained in prison for
at least a year, but it is not known what became of him.
(Abridged from _DNB. _)
Jonson refers to Darrel again in _U. _ 67, _Wks. _ 8. 422:
This age will lend no faith to Darrel's deed.
=5. 3. 27 That could, pitty her selfe. = See variants.
=5. 3. 28 in Potentia. = Jonson uses the phrase again in the
_Alchemist_, _Wks. _ 4. 64: 'The egg's . . . a chicken _in potentia_. '
It is a late Latin phrase. See Gloss.
=5. 4. 17 my proiect o' the forkes. = Forks were just being introduced
into England at this time, and were a common subject of satire. The
first mention of a fork recorded in the _NED. _ is: '1463 _Bury Wills_
(Camden) 40, I beqwethe to Davn John Kertelynge my silvir forke for
grene gyngour. '
Cf. Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 211: 'Oh golden
world, the suspicious Venecian carued not his meate with a siluer
pitch-forke. ' B. & Fl. , _Queen of Corinth_ 4. 1 (quoted by Gifford):
It doth express th' enamoured courtier,
As full as your fork-carving traveler.
_Fox_, _Wks. _ 3. 261:
--Then must you learn the use
And handling of your silver fork at meals,
The metal of your glass; (these are main matters
With your Italian;)
Coryat has much to say on the subject (_Crudities_ 1. 106): 'I
obserued a custome in all those Italian Cities and Townes through
the which I passed, that is not vsed in any other country that I
saw in my trauels, neither doe I thinke that any other nation of
Christendome doth vse it, but only Italy. The Italian and also most
strangers that are commorant in Italy, doe alwaies in their meales
vse a little forke when they cut their meate. For while with their
knife which they hold in one hand they cut the meate out of the
dish, they fasten their forke which they hold in their other hand
vpon the same dish, so that whatsoeuer he be that sitting in the
company of any others at meale, should vnadvisedly touch the dish of
meate with his fingers from which all at the table doe cut, he will
giue occasion of offence vnto the company, as hauing transgressed
the lawes of good manners. . . . This forme of feeding I vnderstand is
generally vsed in all places of Italy, their forkes being for the
most part made of yron or steele, and some of siluer, but those are
vsed only by Gentlemen. ' Coryat carried this custom home with him to
England, for which a friend dubbed him _furcifer_. This passage is
doubtless the source of Jonson's lines. Compare the last sentence of
the quotation with lines 30, 31 of this scene.
=5. 4. 23, 4 on my priuate, By cause. = See variants. There is no
necessity for change. Cf. 1616 Sir R. Dudley in _Fortesc. Papers_ 17:
'Nor am I so vaine . . . bycause I am not worth so much. ' The same form
occurs in _Sad Shepherd_ (Fol. 1631-40, p. 143):
But, beare yee Douce, bycause, yee may meet mee.
Gabriel Harvey uses both the forms _by cause_ and _bycause_.
_Prose Wks_. 1. 101; 102; et frequenter.
=5. 4. 34 at mine owne ap-perill. = The word is of rare occurrence.
Gifford quotes _Timon of Athens_ 1. 2: 'Let me stay at thine
apperil, Timon;' and refers to _Mag. La. _, _Wks. _ 6. 109: 'Faith, I
will bail him at mine own apperil. ' It occurs again in _Tale Tub_,
_Wks. _ 6. 148: 'As you will answer it at your apperil. '
=5. 5. 10, 11 I will leaue you To your God fathers in Law. = 'This
seems to have been a standing joke for a jury. It is used by
Shakespeare and by writers prior to him. Thus Bulleyn, speaking of
a knavish ostler, says, "I did see him ones aske blessyng to xii
godfathers at ones. " _Dialogue_, 1564. '--G.
The passage from Shakespeare is _Merch. of Ven. _ 4. 1.
