No More Learning

' 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. 398:

In christening, shalt thou have two godfathers:
Had I been judge, thou should'st have had ten more,
To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.

Cf. also _Muse's Looking Glass_, _O. Pl. _ 9. 214: 'Boets!
I had rather zee him remitted to the jail, and have his twelve
godvathers, good men and true contemn him to the gallows. '

=5. 5. 50, 51 A Boy O' thirteene yeere old made him an Asse=
=But t'toher day. = Whalley believed this to be an allusion to the
'boy of Bilson,' but, as Gifford points out, this case did not occur
until 1620, four years after the production of the present play.
Gifford believes Thomas Harrison, the 'boy of Norwich,' to be alluded
to. A short account of his case is given in Hutchinson's _Impostures
Detected_, pp. 262 f. The affair took place in 1603 or 1604, and it
was thought necessary to 'require the Parents of the said Child, that
they suffer not any to repair to their House to visit him, save such
as are in Authority and other Persons of special Regard, and known
Discretion. ' Hutchinson says that Harrison was twelve years old. It
is quite possible, though not probable, that Jonson is referring
again to the Boy of Burton, who was only two years older.
See note 5. 3. 6.

=5. 5. 58, 59 You had some straine 'Boue E-la? = Cf. 1593 Nash,
_Christ's Tears_, _Wks. _ 4. 188: 'You must straine your wits an Ela
aboue theyrs. ' Cf. also Nash, _Wks. _ 5. 98 and 253; Lyly, _Euphues_,
Aij; and Gloss.

=5. 6. 1 your garnish. = 'This word _garnish_ has been made familiar
to all time by the writings of John Howard. "A cruel custom," says
he, "obtains in most of our gaols, which is that of the prisoners
demanding of a newcomer _garnish_, footing, or (as it is called in
some London gaols) chummage. _Pay_ or _strip_ are the fatal words. I
say fatal, for they are so to some, who, having no money, are obliged
to give up part of their scanty apparel; and if they have no bedding
or straw to sleep on, contract diseases which I have known to prove
mortal. "'--C.

Cf. Dekker, _If this be not a good Play_, _Wks. _ 3. 324:

Tis a strong charme gainst all the noisome smels
Of Counters, Iaylors, garnishes, and such hels.

and Greene, _Upstart Courtier_, Dija: 'Let a poore man be arrested
. . . he shal be almost at an angels charge, what with garnish,
crossing and wiping out of the book . . . extortions . . . not allowed by
any statute. '

The money here seems to have been intended for the jailer, rather
than for Pug's fellow-prisoners. The custom was abolished by 4 George
IV. c. 43, ? 12.

=5. 6. 10 I thinke Time be drunke, and sleepes. = Cf. 1. 4. 31. For
the metaphor cf. _New Inn_, _Wks. _ 5. 393:

If I but knew what drink the time now loved.

and _Staple of News_, _Wks. _ 5. 162:

--Now sleep, and rest;
Would thou couldst make the time to do so too.

=5. 6. 18 confute. = 'A pure Latinism. _Confutare_ is properly to
pour cold water in a pot, to prevent it from boiling over; and hence
metaphorically, the signification of _confuting_, reproving, or
controuling. '--W.

For the present use cf. T. Adams in Spurgeon, _Treas. Dav. _, 1614,
Ps. lxxx. 20: 'Goliath . . . shall be confuted with a pebble. ' R. Coke,
_Justice Vind. _ (1660) 15: 'to be confuted with clubs and hissing. '

=5. 6. 21 the Session. = The general or quarter sessions were held
regularly four times a year on certain days prescribed by the
statutes. The length of time for holding the sessions was fixed at
three days, if necessity required it, but the rule was not strictly
adhered to. See Beard, _The Office of the Justice of the Peace in
England_, pp. 158 f.

=5. 6. 23 In a cart, to be hang'd. = 'Theft and robbery in their
coarsest form were for many centuries capital crimes. . . . The
question when theft was first made a capital crime is obscure,
but it is certain that at every period some thefts were punished
with death, and that by Edward I. 's time, at least, the distinction
between grand and petty larceny, which lasted till 1827, was fully
established. '--Stephen, _Hist. Crim. Law_ 3. 128 f.

=5. 6. 24 The charriot of Triumph, which most of them are. = The
procession from Newgate by Holbom and Tyburn road was in truth
often a 'triumphall egression,' and a popular criminal like Jack
Sheppard or Jonathan Wild frequently had a large attendance. Cf.
Shirley, _Wedding_ 4. 3, _Wks. _, ed. Gifford, 1. 425: 'Now I'm in the
cart, riding up Holborn in a two-wheeled chariot, with a guard of
Halberdiers. _There goes a proper fellow_, says one; good people pray
for me: now I am at the three wooden stilts,' etc.

=5. 6. 48 a body intire. = Jonson uses the word in its strict
etymological sense.

=5. 6. 54 cheated on. = Dyce (_Remarks_) points out that this phrase
is used in Mrs. Centlivre's _Wonder_, Act 2. Sc. 1. Jonson uses it
again in _Mercury vindicated_: 'and cheat upon your under-officers;'
and Marston in _What You Will_, _Wks. _ 2. 387.

=5. 6. 64 Prouinciall o' the Cheaters! = _Provincial_ is a term
borrowed from the church. See Gloss. Of the _cheaters_ Dekker gives
an interesting account in the _Bel-man of London_, _Non-dram. Wks. _
3. 116 f. : 'Of all which _Lawes_, the _Highest_ in place, and the
_Highest_ in perdition is the _Cheating_ Law or the Art of winning
money by false dyce: Those that practise this studie call themselues
_Cheators_, / the dyce _Cheaters_, and the money which they purchase
[see note 3. 4. 31, 2. ] _Cheates_ [see 1. 7. 4 and Gloss. ]: borrowing the
tearme from our common Lawyers, with whome all such casuals as fall
to the Lord at the holding of his _Leetes_, as _Waifes_, _Strayes_, &
such like, are sayd to be _Escheated to the Lords vse_ and are called
_Cheates_. '

=5. 6. 64 Bawd-ledger. = Jonson speaks of a similar official in _Every
Man out_, _Wks. _ 2. 132: 'He's a leiger at Horn's ordinary (cant name
for a bawdy-house) yonder. ' See Gloss.

=5. 6. 68 to sindge your nayles off. = In the fool's song in _Twelfth
Night_ we have the exclamation to the devil: 'paire thy nayles dad'
(Furness's ed. , p. 273). The editor quotes Malone: 'The Devil was
supposed from choice to keep his nails unpared, and therefore to pare
them was an affront. So, in Camden's _Remaines_, 1615: "I will follow
mine owne minde, and mine old trade; who shall let me? the divel's
nailes are unparde. "'

Compare also _Henry V. _ 4. 4. 76: 'Bardolph and Nym had ten times
more valor than this roaring devil i' the old play, that every one
may pare his nails with a wooden dagger. '

=5. 6. 76 The Diuell was wont to carry away the euill. = Eckhardt, p.
100, points out that Jonson's etymology of the word _Vice_, which
has been a matter of dispute, was the generally accepted one, that
is, from _vice_ = evil.

=5. 7. 1 Iustice Hall. = 'The name of the Sessions-house in the Old
Bailey. '--G. Strype, B. 3. p. 281 says that it was 'a fair and
stately building, very commodious for that affair. ' 'It standeth
backwards, so that it hath no front towards the street, only the
gateway leading into the yard before the House, which is spacious.
It cost above ? 6000 the building. And in this place the Lord Mayor,
Recorder, the Aldermen and Justices of the Peace for the County
of Middlesex do sit, and keep his Majesty's Sessions of Oyer and
Terminer. ' It was destroyed in the Gordon Riots of 1780. --Wh-C.

=5. 7.