'
He is mentioned twice in Spark's _Narrative History of King James_,
Somer's _Tracts_ 2.
He is mentioned twice in Spark's _Narrative History of King James_,
Somer's _Tracts_ 2.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
' _The Vision of Sir Thomas
Overbury_, 1616 (quoted in Amos, _Great Oyer_, p. 50) speaks of
----that fantastic, ugly fall and ruff
Daub'd o'er with that base starch of yellow stuff
as already out of fashion. Its popularity must have returned,
however, since Barnaby Riche in the _Irish Hubbub_,1622, p.
40, laments that 'yellow starcht bands' were more popular than
ever, and he prophesies that the fashion 'shortly will be as
conversant amongst taylors, tapsters, and tinkers, as now they
have brought tobacco. '
D'Ewes also in describing the procession of King James from Whitehall
to Westminster, Jan. 30, 1620, says that the king saw one window
'full of gentlewomen or ladies, all in yellow bandes,' whereupon he
called out 'A pox take yee,' and they all withdrew in shame. In _The
Parson's Wedding_, printed 1664, _O. Pl. _ 11. 498, it is spoken of as
out of fashion. Yellow starch is mentioned again in 5. 8. 74. 5, and
a ballad of 'goose-green starch and the devil' is mentioned in _Bart.
Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 393. Similarly, Nash speaks in _Pierce Pennilesse_,
_Wks. _ 2. 44. of a 'Ballet of Blue starch and poaking stick. '
See also Dodsley's note on _Albumazar_, _O. Pl. _ 7. 132.
=1. 1. 113, 4 Chimney-sweepers To their tabacco. = See the quotation
from Riche in the last note and note 5. 8. 71.
=1. 1. 114, 5 Hum, Meath, and Obarni. = Hum is defined B. E. _Dict.
Cant. Crew, Hum_ or _Humming Liquor_, Double Ale, Stout, Pharoah.
It is mentioned in Fletcher's _Wild Goose Chase_ 2. 3 and Heywood's
_Drunkard_. p. 48. Meath or mead is still made in England. It was
a favorite drink in the Middle Ages, and consisted of a mixture
of honey and water with the addition of a ferment. Harrison,
_Description of England_, ed. Furnivall, 1. 161, thus describes it:
'There is a kind of swish swash made also in Essex, and diuerse other
places, with honicombs and water, which the [homelie] countrie wiues,
putting some pepper and a little other spice among, call mead, verie
good in mine opinion for such as loue to be loose bodied [at large,
or a little eased of the cough,] otherwise it differeth so much from
the true metheglin, as chalke from cheese. '
Obarni was long a crux for the editors and dictionaries. Gifford
(_Wks. _ 7. 226) supplied a part of the quotation from _Pimlyco or
Runne Red-Cap_, 1609, completed by James Platt, Jun. (_N. & Q. _
9th Ser. 3. 306). in which 'Mead Obarne and Mead Cherunk' are
mentioned as drinks
----that whet the spites
Of Russes and cold Muscovites.
Mr. Platt first instanced the existing Russian word _obarni_ or
_obvarnyi_ (see Gloss. ), meaning 'boiling, scalding,' and C. C. B.
(_N. & Q. _ 9. 3. 413) supplied a quotation from the account of the
voyage of Sir Jerome Bowes in 1583 (Harris's _Travels_ 1. 535), in
which 'Sodden Mead' appears among the items of diet supplied by the
Emperor to the English Ambassador. The identification was completed
with a quotation given by the _Stanford Dict. _: '1598 Hakluyt _Voy. _
1. 461 One veather of sodden mead called _Obarni_. '
=1. 1. 119 your rope of sand. = This occupation is mentioned
again in 5. 2. 6.
=1. 1. 126 Tissue gownes. = Howes, p. 869. tells us that John Tuce,
'dweling neere Shorditch Church', first attained perfection in the
manufacture of cloth of tissue.
=1. 1. 127 Garters and roses. = Howes, p. 1039, says that 'at this
day (1631) men of meane rancke weare Garters, and shooe Roses, of
more than fiue pound price. ' Massinger, in the _City Madam_, _Wks. _,
p. 334, speaks of 'roses worth a family. ' Cf. also John Taylor's
_Works_, 1630 (quoted in _Hist. Brit. Cost_. ):
Weare a farm in shoe-strings edged with gold
And spangled garters worth a copyhold.
=1. 1. 128 Embroydred stockings. = 'Then haue they nether-stocks to
these gay hosen, not of cloth (though neuer so fine) for that is
thought to base, but of _Iarnsey_ worsted, silk, thred, and such
like, or els at the least of the finest yarn _that_ can be, and so
curiouslye knit with open seam down the leg, with quirks and clocks
about the ancles, and sometime (haply) interlaced with gold or siluer
threds, as is wonderful to behold. '--Stubbes, _Anat. _, Part 1, p. 57.
The selling of stockings was a separate trade at this time, and great
attention was paid to this article of clothing. Silk stockings are
frequently mentioned by the dramatists. Cf. Stephen Gosson, _Pleasant
Quippes_:
These worsted stockes of bravest die, and silken garters
fring'd with gold;
These corked shooes to beare them hie makes them to trip
it on the molde;
They mince it with a pace so strange,
Like untam'd heifers when they range.
=1. 1. 128 cut-worke smocks, and shirts. = Cf. B. & Fl. ,
_Four Plays in One_:
----She show'd me gownes, head tires,
Embroider'd waistcoats, smocks seamed with cutworks.
=1. 1. 135 But you must take a body ready made. = King James in his
_Daemonologie_ (_Wks. _, ed. 1616, p. 120) explains that the devil,
though but of air, can 'make himself palpable, either by assuming any
dead bodie, and vsing the ministerie thereof, or else by deluding as
well their sence of feeling as seeing. '
=1. 1. 143 our tribe of Brokers. = Cf. _Ev. Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 82:
'_Wel. _ Where got'st thou this coat, I marle?
_Brai. _ Of a Hounsditch man, sir, one of the devil's
near kinsmen, a broker. '
The pawnbrokers were cordially hated in Jonson's time. Their
quarter was Houndsditch. Stow says: 'there are crept in among
them [the inhabitants of Houndsditch] a base kinde of vermine,
wel-deserving to bee ranked and numbred with them, whom our old
Prophet and Countryman, _Gyldas_, called _AEtatis atramentum_,
the black discredit of the Age, and of place where they are suffered
to live. . . . These men, or rather monsters in the shape of men,
professe to live by lending, and yet will lend nothing but upon
pawnes;' etc.
Nash speaks of them in a similar strain: 'Fruits shall be greatly eaten
with Catterpillers; as Brokers, Farmers and Flatterers, which feeding
on the sweate of other mens browes, shall greatlye hinder the beautye
of the spring. '--_Prognostication_, _Wks. _2. 145. 'They shall crie out
against brokers, as Jeremy did against false prophets. ' _Ibid. _ 2. 162.
=1. 1. 148 as you make your soone at nights relation. = Cf.
Dekker, _Satiromastix_, _Wks. _ 1. 187: 'Shee'l be a late
sturrer soone at night sir,' and _ibid. _ 223:
By this faire Bride remember soone at night.
=1. 2. 1 ff. I, they doe, now=, etc. 'Compare this
exquisite piece of sense, satire, and sound philosophy in 1616
with Sir M. Hale's speech from the bench in a trial of a witch
many years afterwards. '--Coleridge, _Notes_, p. 280.
=1. 2. 1 Bretnor. = An almanac maker (fl. 1607-1618). A list
of his works, compiled from the catalogue of the British Museum,
is given in the _DNB_. He is mentioned twice by Middleton:
This farmer will not cast his seed i' the ground
Before he look in Bretnor.
--_Inner-Temple Masque_, _Wks. _ 7. 211.
'_Chough. _ I'll not be married to-day, Trimtram: hast e'er an almanac
about thee? this is the nineteenth of August, look what day of the
month 'tis.
_Trim. _ 'Tis tenty-nine indeed, sir. [_Looks in almanac. _
_Chough. _ What's the word? What says Bretnor?
_Trim. _ The word is, sir, _There's a hole in her coat_. '
--Middleton, _A Fair Quarrel_, _Wks. _ 4. 263.
Fleay identifies him with Norbret, one of the astrologers in
Beaumont and Fletcher's _Rollo, Duke of Normandy_.
=1. 2. 2 Gresham. = A pretended astrologer, contemporary with Forman,
and said to be one of the associates of the infamous Countess of
Essex and Mrs. Turner in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. Arthur
Wilson mentions him in _The Life of James I. _, p. 70:
'Mrs. _Turner_, the Mistris of the _Work_, had lost both her
supporters. _Forman_, her first prop, drop't away suddenly by death;
and _Gresham_ another rotten _Engin_ (that succeded him) did not hold
long: She must now bear up all her self.
'
He is mentioned twice in Spark's _Narrative History of King James_,
Somer's _Tracts_ 2. 275: 'Dr. Forman being dead, Mrs. Turner wanted
one to assist her; whereupon, at the countesses coming to London, one
Gresham was nominated to be entertained in this businesse, and, in
processe of time, was wholly interested in it; this man was had in
suspition to have had a hand in the Gunpowder plot, he wrote so near
it in his almanack; but, without all question, he was a very skilful
man in the mathematicks, and, in his latter time, in witchcraft, as
was suspected, and therefore the fitter to bee imployed in those
practises, which, as they were devilish, so the devil had a hand
in them. '
_Ibid. _ 287: 'Now Gresham growing into years, having spent much time
in many foule practises to accomplish those things at this time,
gathers all his babies together, _viz. _ pictures in lead, in wax, in
plates of gold, of naked men and women with crosses, crucifixes, and
other implements, wrapping them all up together in a scarfe, crossed
every letter in the sacred word Trinity, crossed these things very
holily delivered into the hands of one Weston to bee hid in the earth
that no man might find them, and so in Thames-street having finished
his evill times he died, leaving behind him a man and a maid, one
hanged for a witch, and the other for a thief very shortly after. '
In the 'Heads of Charges against Robert, Earl of Somerset',
drawn up by Lord Bacon, we read: 'That the countess laboured
Forman and Gresham to inforce the Queen by witchcraft to favour
the countess' (Howell's _State Trials_ 2. 966). To this King
James replied in an 'Apostyle,' _Nothing to Somerset_. This
exhausts the references to Gresham that I have been able to
find. See note on Savory, 1. 2. 3.
=1. 2. 2. Fore-man. = Simon Foreman, or Forman (1552-1611)
was the most famous of the group of quacks here mentioned. He
studied at Oxford, 1573-1578, and in 1579 began his career as
a necromancer. He claimed the power to discover lost treasure,
and was especially successful in his dealings with women. A
detailed account of his life is given in the _DNB_. and a short
but interesting sketch in _Social England_ 4. 87. The chief
sources are Wm. Lilly's _History_ and a diary from 1564 to 1602,
with an account of Forman's early life, published by Mr. J. O.
Halliwell-Phillipps for the Camden Soc. , 1843.
He is mentioned again by Jonson in _Silent Woman_, _Wks. _ 3.
413: '_Daup. _ I would say, thou hadst the best philtre in the
world, and couldst do more than Madam Medea, or Doctor Foreman. '
In _Sir Thomas Overbury's Vision_ (Harl. Ms. , vol. 7, quoted in
D'Ewes' _Autobiog. _, p. 89) he is spoken of as 'that fiend in
human shape. '
=1. 2. 3 Francklin. = Francklin was an apothecary, and
procured the poison for Mrs. Turner (see Amos, _Great Oyer_. p.
97). He was one of the three persons executed with Mrs. Turner.
Arthur Wilson, in his _Life of James I. _ (p. 70), describes him
as 'a swarthy, sallow, crooked-backt fellow, who was to be the
_Fountain_ whence these bitter waters came. ' See also Somer's
_Tracts_ 2. 287. The poem already quoted furnishes a description
of Francklin:
A man he was of stature meanly tall.
His body's lineaments were shaped, and all
His limbs compacted well, and strongly knit.
Nature's kind hand no error made in it.
His beard was ruddy hue, and from his head
A wanton lock itself did down dispread
Upon his back; to which while he did live
Th' ambiguous name of _Elf-lock_ he did give.
--Quoted in Amos. p. 50.
=1. 2. 3 Fiske. = 'In this year 1633, I became acquainted with
Nicholas Fiske, licentiate in physick, who was borne in Suffolk, near
Framingham [Framlingham] Castle, of very good parentage. . . . He was a
person very studious, laborious, and of good apprehension. . . . He was
exquisitely skilful in the art of directions upon nativities, and had
a good genius in performing judgment thereupon. . . . He died about the
seventy-eighth year of his age, poor. '--Lilly, _Hist. _, p. 42 f.
Fiske appears as La Fiske in _Rollo, Duke of Normandy_, and is also
mentioned by Butler, _Hudibr_. , Part 2, Cant. 3. 403:
And nigh an ancient obelisk
Was rais'd by him, found out by _Fisk_.
=1. 2. 3 Sauory. = 'And therefore, she fearing that her
lord would seek some public or private revenge against her, by
the advice of the before-mentioned Mrs. Turner, consulted and
practised with Doctor Forman and Doctor Savory, two conjurers,
about the poisoning of him. '--D'Ewes, _Autobiog. _ 1. 88. 9.
He was employed after the sudden death of Dr. Forman. Wright
(_Sorcery and Magic_, p. 228) says that the name is written
Lavoire in some manuscripts. 'Mrs. Turner also confessed, that
Dr. Savories was used in succession, after Forman, and practised
many sorceries upon the Earle of Essex his person. '--Spark,
_Narrative History_, Somer's _Tracts_ 2. 333.
In the _Calendar of State Papers_ the name of 'Savery' appears
four times. Under date of Oct. 16, 1615, we find Dr. Savery
examined on a charge of 'spreading Popish Books. ' 'Savery
pretends to be a doctor, but is probably a conjurer. ' And again
under the same date he is interrogated as to his relations with
Mrs. Turner and Forman. Under Oct. 24 he replies to Coke. 'Oct.
? ' we find Dr. Savery questioned as to his 'predictions of
troubles and alterations in Court. ' This is the last mention
of him.
Just what connection Gresham and Savory had with the Overbury
plot is a difficult matter to determine. Both are spoken of as
following Forman immediately, and of neither is any successor
mentioned except the actual poisoner, Franklin. It seems
probable that Gresham was the first to be employed after Forman,
and that his own speedy death led to the selection of Savory.
How the latter managed to escape a more serious implication in
the trial it is difficult to conceive.
=1. 2. 6-9 christalls, . . . characters. = As in other fields,
Jonson is well versed in magic lore. Lumps of crystal were one
of the regular means of raising a demon. Bk. 15, Ch. 16 of
Scot's _Discovery of Witchcraft_, 1584, is entitled: 'To make a
spirit appear in a christall', and Ch. 12 shows 'How to enclose
a spirit in a christall stone. '
Lilly (_History_, p. 78) speaks of the efficacy of 'a
constellated ring' in sickness, and they were doubtless
considered effective in more sinister dealings. Jonson has
already spoken of the devil being carried in a thumb-ring
(see note P. 6).
Charms were usually written on parchment. In Barrett's _Magus_,
Bk. 2, Pt. 3. 109, we read that the pentacle should be drawn
'upon parchment made of a kid-skin, or virgin, or pure clean
white paper. '
That parts of the human body belonged to the sorcerer's
paraphernalia is shown by the Statute 1 Jac. I. c. xii, which
contains a clause forbidding conjurors to 'take up any dead
man woman or child out of his her or their grave . . . or the
skin bone or any other parte of any dead person, to be imployed
or used in any manner of Witchcrafte Sorcerie Charme or
Inchantment. '
The wing of the raven, as a bird of ill omen, may be an
invention of Jonson's own. The lighting of candles within the
magic circle is mentioned below (note 1. 2. 26).
Most powerful of all was the pentacle, of which Scot's
_Discovery_ (Ap. II, p. 533, 4) furnishes an elaborate
description. This figure was used by the Pythagorean school as
their seal, and is equivalent to the pentagram or five-pointed
star (see _CD. _).
Dekker (_Wks. _ 2. 200) connects it with the Periapt as a 'potent
charm,' and Marlowe speaks of it in _Hero and Leander_,
_Wks. _ 3. 45:
A rich disparent pentacle she wears,
Drawn full of circles and strange characters.
It will be remembered that the inscription of a pentagram on the
threshold prevents the escape of Mephistopheles in Goethe's _Faust_.
The editors explain its potency as due to the fact that it is
resolvable into three triangles, and is thus a triple sign of the
Trinity.
Cunningham says that the pentacle 'when delineated upon the body of a
man was supposed to point out the five wounds of the Saviour. ' W. J.
Thoms (_Anecdotes_, Camden Soc. , 1839, p. 97) speaks of its presence
in the western window of the southern aisle of Westminster Abbey, an
indication that the monks were versed in occult science.
=1. 2. 21 If they be not. = Gifford refers to Chrysippus, _De
Divinatione,_ Lib. 1. ? 71: 'This is the very syllogism by which that
acute philosopher triumphantly proved the reality of augury. '
=1. 2. 22 Why, are there lawes against 'hem? = It was
found necessary in 1541 to pass an act (33 Hen. VIII. c. 8) by
which--'it shall be felony to practise, or cause to be practised
conjuration, witchcrafte, enchantment, or sorcery, to get
money: or to consume any person in his body, members or goods;
or to provoke any person to unlawful love; or for the despight
of Christ, or lucre of money, to pull down any cross; or to
declare where goods stolen be. ' Another law was passed 1 Edward
VI. c. 12 (1547). 5 Elizabeth. c. 16 (1562) gives the 'several
penalties of conjuration, or invocation of wicked spirits, and
witchcraft, enchantment, charm or sorcery. ' Under Jas. I, anno
secundo (vulgo primo), c. 12, still another law was passed,
whereby the second offense was declared a felony. The former act
of Elizabeth was repealed. This act of James was not repealed
until 9 George II. c. 5.
_Social England_, p. 270, quotes from Ms. Lansdowne, 2. Art.
Overbury_, 1616 (quoted in Amos, _Great Oyer_, p. 50) speaks of
----that fantastic, ugly fall and ruff
Daub'd o'er with that base starch of yellow stuff
as already out of fashion. Its popularity must have returned,
however, since Barnaby Riche in the _Irish Hubbub_,1622, p.
40, laments that 'yellow starcht bands' were more popular than
ever, and he prophesies that the fashion 'shortly will be as
conversant amongst taylors, tapsters, and tinkers, as now they
have brought tobacco. '
D'Ewes also in describing the procession of King James from Whitehall
to Westminster, Jan. 30, 1620, says that the king saw one window
'full of gentlewomen or ladies, all in yellow bandes,' whereupon he
called out 'A pox take yee,' and they all withdrew in shame. In _The
Parson's Wedding_, printed 1664, _O. Pl. _ 11. 498, it is spoken of as
out of fashion. Yellow starch is mentioned again in 5. 8. 74. 5, and
a ballad of 'goose-green starch and the devil' is mentioned in _Bart.
Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 393. Similarly, Nash speaks in _Pierce Pennilesse_,
_Wks. _ 2. 44. of a 'Ballet of Blue starch and poaking stick. '
See also Dodsley's note on _Albumazar_, _O. Pl. _ 7. 132.
=1. 1. 113, 4 Chimney-sweepers To their tabacco. = See the quotation
from Riche in the last note and note 5. 8. 71.
=1. 1. 114, 5 Hum, Meath, and Obarni. = Hum is defined B. E. _Dict.
Cant. Crew, Hum_ or _Humming Liquor_, Double Ale, Stout, Pharoah.
It is mentioned in Fletcher's _Wild Goose Chase_ 2. 3 and Heywood's
_Drunkard_. p. 48. Meath or mead is still made in England. It was
a favorite drink in the Middle Ages, and consisted of a mixture
of honey and water with the addition of a ferment. Harrison,
_Description of England_, ed. Furnivall, 1. 161, thus describes it:
'There is a kind of swish swash made also in Essex, and diuerse other
places, with honicombs and water, which the [homelie] countrie wiues,
putting some pepper and a little other spice among, call mead, verie
good in mine opinion for such as loue to be loose bodied [at large,
or a little eased of the cough,] otherwise it differeth so much from
the true metheglin, as chalke from cheese. '
Obarni was long a crux for the editors and dictionaries. Gifford
(_Wks. _ 7. 226) supplied a part of the quotation from _Pimlyco or
Runne Red-Cap_, 1609, completed by James Platt, Jun. (_N. & Q. _
9th Ser. 3. 306). in which 'Mead Obarne and Mead Cherunk' are
mentioned as drinks
----that whet the spites
Of Russes and cold Muscovites.
Mr. Platt first instanced the existing Russian word _obarni_ or
_obvarnyi_ (see Gloss. ), meaning 'boiling, scalding,' and C. C. B.
(_N. & Q. _ 9. 3. 413) supplied a quotation from the account of the
voyage of Sir Jerome Bowes in 1583 (Harris's _Travels_ 1. 535), in
which 'Sodden Mead' appears among the items of diet supplied by the
Emperor to the English Ambassador. The identification was completed
with a quotation given by the _Stanford Dict. _: '1598 Hakluyt _Voy. _
1. 461 One veather of sodden mead called _Obarni_. '
=1. 1. 119 your rope of sand. = This occupation is mentioned
again in 5. 2. 6.
=1. 1. 126 Tissue gownes. = Howes, p. 869. tells us that John Tuce,
'dweling neere Shorditch Church', first attained perfection in the
manufacture of cloth of tissue.
=1. 1. 127 Garters and roses. = Howes, p. 1039, says that 'at this
day (1631) men of meane rancke weare Garters, and shooe Roses, of
more than fiue pound price. ' Massinger, in the _City Madam_, _Wks. _,
p. 334, speaks of 'roses worth a family. ' Cf. also John Taylor's
_Works_, 1630 (quoted in _Hist. Brit. Cost_. ):
Weare a farm in shoe-strings edged with gold
And spangled garters worth a copyhold.
=1. 1. 128 Embroydred stockings. = 'Then haue they nether-stocks to
these gay hosen, not of cloth (though neuer so fine) for that is
thought to base, but of _Iarnsey_ worsted, silk, thred, and such
like, or els at the least of the finest yarn _that_ can be, and so
curiouslye knit with open seam down the leg, with quirks and clocks
about the ancles, and sometime (haply) interlaced with gold or siluer
threds, as is wonderful to behold. '--Stubbes, _Anat. _, Part 1, p. 57.
The selling of stockings was a separate trade at this time, and great
attention was paid to this article of clothing. Silk stockings are
frequently mentioned by the dramatists. Cf. Stephen Gosson, _Pleasant
Quippes_:
These worsted stockes of bravest die, and silken garters
fring'd with gold;
These corked shooes to beare them hie makes them to trip
it on the molde;
They mince it with a pace so strange,
Like untam'd heifers when they range.
=1. 1. 128 cut-worke smocks, and shirts. = Cf. B. & Fl. ,
_Four Plays in One_:
----She show'd me gownes, head tires,
Embroider'd waistcoats, smocks seamed with cutworks.
=1. 1. 135 But you must take a body ready made. = King James in his
_Daemonologie_ (_Wks. _, ed. 1616, p. 120) explains that the devil,
though but of air, can 'make himself palpable, either by assuming any
dead bodie, and vsing the ministerie thereof, or else by deluding as
well their sence of feeling as seeing. '
=1. 1. 143 our tribe of Brokers. = Cf. _Ev. Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 82:
'_Wel. _ Where got'st thou this coat, I marle?
_Brai. _ Of a Hounsditch man, sir, one of the devil's
near kinsmen, a broker. '
The pawnbrokers were cordially hated in Jonson's time. Their
quarter was Houndsditch. Stow says: 'there are crept in among
them [the inhabitants of Houndsditch] a base kinde of vermine,
wel-deserving to bee ranked and numbred with them, whom our old
Prophet and Countryman, _Gyldas_, called _AEtatis atramentum_,
the black discredit of the Age, and of place where they are suffered
to live. . . . These men, or rather monsters in the shape of men,
professe to live by lending, and yet will lend nothing but upon
pawnes;' etc.
Nash speaks of them in a similar strain: 'Fruits shall be greatly eaten
with Catterpillers; as Brokers, Farmers and Flatterers, which feeding
on the sweate of other mens browes, shall greatlye hinder the beautye
of the spring. '--_Prognostication_, _Wks. _2. 145. 'They shall crie out
against brokers, as Jeremy did against false prophets. ' _Ibid. _ 2. 162.
=1. 1. 148 as you make your soone at nights relation. = Cf.
Dekker, _Satiromastix_, _Wks. _ 1. 187: 'Shee'l be a late
sturrer soone at night sir,' and _ibid. _ 223:
By this faire Bride remember soone at night.
=1. 2. 1 ff. I, they doe, now=, etc. 'Compare this
exquisite piece of sense, satire, and sound philosophy in 1616
with Sir M. Hale's speech from the bench in a trial of a witch
many years afterwards. '--Coleridge, _Notes_, p. 280.
=1. 2. 1 Bretnor. = An almanac maker (fl. 1607-1618). A list
of his works, compiled from the catalogue of the British Museum,
is given in the _DNB_. He is mentioned twice by Middleton:
This farmer will not cast his seed i' the ground
Before he look in Bretnor.
--_Inner-Temple Masque_, _Wks. _ 7. 211.
'_Chough. _ I'll not be married to-day, Trimtram: hast e'er an almanac
about thee? this is the nineteenth of August, look what day of the
month 'tis.
_Trim. _ 'Tis tenty-nine indeed, sir. [_Looks in almanac. _
_Chough. _ What's the word? What says Bretnor?
_Trim. _ The word is, sir, _There's a hole in her coat_. '
--Middleton, _A Fair Quarrel_, _Wks. _ 4. 263.
Fleay identifies him with Norbret, one of the astrologers in
Beaumont and Fletcher's _Rollo, Duke of Normandy_.
=1. 2. 2 Gresham. = A pretended astrologer, contemporary with Forman,
and said to be one of the associates of the infamous Countess of
Essex and Mrs. Turner in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. Arthur
Wilson mentions him in _The Life of James I. _, p. 70:
'Mrs. _Turner_, the Mistris of the _Work_, had lost both her
supporters. _Forman_, her first prop, drop't away suddenly by death;
and _Gresham_ another rotten _Engin_ (that succeded him) did not hold
long: She must now bear up all her self.
'
He is mentioned twice in Spark's _Narrative History of King James_,
Somer's _Tracts_ 2. 275: 'Dr. Forman being dead, Mrs. Turner wanted
one to assist her; whereupon, at the countesses coming to London, one
Gresham was nominated to be entertained in this businesse, and, in
processe of time, was wholly interested in it; this man was had in
suspition to have had a hand in the Gunpowder plot, he wrote so near
it in his almanack; but, without all question, he was a very skilful
man in the mathematicks, and, in his latter time, in witchcraft, as
was suspected, and therefore the fitter to bee imployed in those
practises, which, as they were devilish, so the devil had a hand
in them. '
_Ibid. _ 287: 'Now Gresham growing into years, having spent much time
in many foule practises to accomplish those things at this time,
gathers all his babies together, _viz. _ pictures in lead, in wax, in
plates of gold, of naked men and women with crosses, crucifixes, and
other implements, wrapping them all up together in a scarfe, crossed
every letter in the sacred word Trinity, crossed these things very
holily delivered into the hands of one Weston to bee hid in the earth
that no man might find them, and so in Thames-street having finished
his evill times he died, leaving behind him a man and a maid, one
hanged for a witch, and the other for a thief very shortly after. '
In the 'Heads of Charges against Robert, Earl of Somerset',
drawn up by Lord Bacon, we read: 'That the countess laboured
Forman and Gresham to inforce the Queen by witchcraft to favour
the countess' (Howell's _State Trials_ 2. 966). To this King
James replied in an 'Apostyle,' _Nothing to Somerset_. This
exhausts the references to Gresham that I have been able to
find. See note on Savory, 1. 2. 3.
=1. 2. 2. Fore-man. = Simon Foreman, or Forman (1552-1611)
was the most famous of the group of quacks here mentioned. He
studied at Oxford, 1573-1578, and in 1579 began his career as
a necromancer. He claimed the power to discover lost treasure,
and was especially successful in his dealings with women. A
detailed account of his life is given in the _DNB_. and a short
but interesting sketch in _Social England_ 4. 87. The chief
sources are Wm. Lilly's _History_ and a diary from 1564 to 1602,
with an account of Forman's early life, published by Mr. J. O.
Halliwell-Phillipps for the Camden Soc. , 1843.
He is mentioned again by Jonson in _Silent Woman_, _Wks. _ 3.
413: '_Daup. _ I would say, thou hadst the best philtre in the
world, and couldst do more than Madam Medea, or Doctor Foreman. '
In _Sir Thomas Overbury's Vision_ (Harl. Ms. , vol. 7, quoted in
D'Ewes' _Autobiog. _, p. 89) he is spoken of as 'that fiend in
human shape. '
=1. 2. 3 Francklin. = Francklin was an apothecary, and
procured the poison for Mrs. Turner (see Amos, _Great Oyer_. p.
97). He was one of the three persons executed with Mrs. Turner.
Arthur Wilson, in his _Life of James I. _ (p. 70), describes him
as 'a swarthy, sallow, crooked-backt fellow, who was to be the
_Fountain_ whence these bitter waters came. ' See also Somer's
_Tracts_ 2. 287. The poem already quoted furnishes a description
of Francklin:
A man he was of stature meanly tall.
His body's lineaments were shaped, and all
His limbs compacted well, and strongly knit.
Nature's kind hand no error made in it.
His beard was ruddy hue, and from his head
A wanton lock itself did down dispread
Upon his back; to which while he did live
Th' ambiguous name of _Elf-lock_ he did give.
--Quoted in Amos. p. 50.
=1. 2. 3 Fiske. = 'In this year 1633, I became acquainted with
Nicholas Fiske, licentiate in physick, who was borne in Suffolk, near
Framingham [Framlingham] Castle, of very good parentage. . . . He was a
person very studious, laborious, and of good apprehension. . . . He was
exquisitely skilful in the art of directions upon nativities, and had
a good genius in performing judgment thereupon. . . . He died about the
seventy-eighth year of his age, poor. '--Lilly, _Hist. _, p. 42 f.
Fiske appears as La Fiske in _Rollo, Duke of Normandy_, and is also
mentioned by Butler, _Hudibr_. , Part 2, Cant. 3. 403:
And nigh an ancient obelisk
Was rais'd by him, found out by _Fisk_.
=1. 2. 3 Sauory. = 'And therefore, she fearing that her
lord would seek some public or private revenge against her, by
the advice of the before-mentioned Mrs. Turner, consulted and
practised with Doctor Forman and Doctor Savory, two conjurers,
about the poisoning of him. '--D'Ewes, _Autobiog. _ 1. 88. 9.
He was employed after the sudden death of Dr. Forman. Wright
(_Sorcery and Magic_, p. 228) says that the name is written
Lavoire in some manuscripts. 'Mrs. Turner also confessed, that
Dr. Savories was used in succession, after Forman, and practised
many sorceries upon the Earle of Essex his person. '--Spark,
_Narrative History_, Somer's _Tracts_ 2. 333.
In the _Calendar of State Papers_ the name of 'Savery' appears
four times. Under date of Oct. 16, 1615, we find Dr. Savery
examined on a charge of 'spreading Popish Books. ' 'Savery
pretends to be a doctor, but is probably a conjurer. ' And again
under the same date he is interrogated as to his relations with
Mrs. Turner and Forman. Under Oct. 24 he replies to Coke. 'Oct.
? ' we find Dr. Savery questioned as to his 'predictions of
troubles and alterations in Court. ' This is the last mention
of him.
Just what connection Gresham and Savory had with the Overbury
plot is a difficult matter to determine. Both are spoken of as
following Forman immediately, and of neither is any successor
mentioned except the actual poisoner, Franklin. It seems
probable that Gresham was the first to be employed after Forman,
and that his own speedy death led to the selection of Savory.
How the latter managed to escape a more serious implication in
the trial it is difficult to conceive.
=1. 2. 6-9 christalls, . . . characters. = As in other fields,
Jonson is well versed in magic lore. Lumps of crystal were one
of the regular means of raising a demon. Bk. 15, Ch. 16 of
Scot's _Discovery of Witchcraft_, 1584, is entitled: 'To make a
spirit appear in a christall', and Ch. 12 shows 'How to enclose
a spirit in a christall stone. '
Lilly (_History_, p. 78) speaks of the efficacy of 'a
constellated ring' in sickness, and they were doubtless
considered effective in more sinister dealings. Jonson has
already spoken of the devil being carried in a thumb-ring
(see note P. 6).
Charms were usually written on parchment. In Barrett's _Magus_,
Bk. 2, Pt. 3. 109, we read that the pentacle should be drawn
'upon parchment made of a kid-skin, or virgin, or pure clean
white paper. '
That parts of the human body belonged to the sorcerer's
paraphernalia is shown by the Statute 1 Jac. I. c. xii, which
contains a clause forbidding conjurors to 'take up any dead
man woman or child out of his her or their grave . . . or the
skin bone or any other parte of any dead person, to be imployed
or used in any manner of Witchcrafte Sorcerie Charme or
Inchantment. '
The wing of the raven, as a bird of ill omen, may be an
invention of Jonson's own. The lighting of candles within the
magic circle is mentioned below (note 1. 2. 26).
Most powerful of all was the pentacle, of which Scot's
_Discovery_ (Ap. II, p. 533, 4) furnishes an elaborate
description. This figure was used by the Pythagorean school as
their seal, and is equivalent to the pentagram or five-pointed
star (see _CD. _).
Dekker (_Wks. _ 2. 200) connects it with the Periapt as a 'potent
charm,' and Marlowe speaks of it in _Hero and Leander_,
_Wks. _ 3. 45:
A rich disparent pentacle she wears,
Drawn full of circles and strange characters.
It will be remembered that the inscription of a pentagram on the
threshold prevents the escape of Mephistopheles in Goethe's _Faust_.
The editors explain its potency as due to the fact that it is
resolvable into three triangles, and is thus a triple sign of the
Trinity.
Cunningham says that the pentacle 'when delineated upon the body of a
man was supposed to point out the five wounds of the Saviour. ' W. J.
Thoms (_Anecdotes_, Camden Soc. , 1839, p. 97) speaks of its presence
in the western window of the southern aisle of Westminster Abbey, an
indication that the monks were versed in occult science.
=1. 2. 21 If they be not. = Gifford refers to Chrysippus, _De
Divinatione,_ Lib. 1. ? 71: 'This is the very syllogism by which that
acute philosopher triumphantly proved the reality of augury. '
=1. 2. 22 Why, are there lawes against 'hem? = It was
found necessary in 1541 to pass an act (33 Hen. VIII. c. 8) by
which--'it shall be felony to practise, or cause to be practised
conjuration, witchcrafte, enchantment, or sorcery, to get
money: or to consume any person in his body, members or goods;
or to provoke any person to unlawful love; or for the despight
of Christ, or lucre of money, to pull down any cross; or to
declare where goods stolen be. ' Another law was passed 1 Edward
VI. c. 12 (1547). 5 Elizabeth. c. 16 (1562) gives the 'several
penalties of conjuration, or invocation of wicked spirits, and
witchcraft, enchantment, charm or sorcery. ' Under Jas. I, anno
secundo (vulgo primo), c. 12, still another law was passed,
whereby the second offense was declared a felony. The former act
of Elizabeth was repealed. This act of James was not repealed
until 9 George II. c. 5.
_Social England_, p. 270, quotes from Ms. Lansdowne, 2. Art.
