The missing
syllable
in the third verse is compensated for by the
pause after the comma.
pause after the comma.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
191, 2 What things they are?
That nature should be at leasure=
=Euer to make 'hem! = Cf. _Ev. Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 119: 'O manners that
this age should bring forth such creatures! that nature should be at
leisure to make them! '
=4. 4. 197 Hee makes a wicked leg. = Gifford thinks that _wicked_ here
means 'awkward or clownish. ' It seems rather to mean 'roguish,' a
common colloquial use.
=4. 4. 201 A setled discreet pase. = Cf. 3. 5. 22; 2. 7. 33; and
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 238: 'Walke
vp and downe by the rest as scornfully and as carelesly as a
Gentleman-Usher. '
=4. 4. 202 a barren head, Sir. = Cf. 2. 3. 36, 7 and 4. 2. 12.
Here again we have a punning allusion to the uncovered head of
the gentleman-usher. 'It was a piece of state, that the servants
of the nobility, particularly the gentleman-usher, should attend
bare-headed. ' Nares, _Gloss. _ For numerous passages illustrating the
practice both in regard to the gentleman-usher and to the coachman,
see the quotations in Nares, and Ford, _Lover's Melancholy_, _Wks. _
1. 19; Chapman, _Gentleman-Usher_, _Wks. _ 1. 263; and the following
passage, _ibid. _ 1. 273:
_Vin. _ I thanke you sir.
Nay pray be couerd; O I crie you mercie,
You must be bare.
_Bas. _ Euer to you my Lord.
_Vin. _ Nay, not to me sir,
But to the faire right of your worshipfull place.
A passage from Lenton (see note 4. 4. 134) may also be quoted: 'He is
forced to stand bare, which would urge him to impatience, but for the
hope of being covered, or rather the delight hee takes in shewing his
new-crisp't hayre, which his barber hath caused to stand like a print
hedge, in equal proportion. '
The dramatists ridiculed it by insisting that the coachman should be
not only bare-headed, but bald. Cf. 2. 3. 36 and Massinger, _City
Madam_, _Wks. _ p. 331: 'Thou shalt have thy proper and bald-headed
coachman. ' Jonson often refers to this custom. Cf. _Staple of News_,
_Wks. _ 5. 232:
Such as are bald and barren beyond hope,
Are to be separated and set by
For ushers to old countesses: and coachmen
To mount their boxes reverently, etc.
_New Inn_, _Wks. _ 5. 374:
_Jor. _ Where's thy hat? . . .
_Bar. _ The wind blew't off at Highgate, and my lady
Would not endure me light to take it up;
But made me drive bareheaded in the rain.
_Jor. _ That she might be mistaken for a countess?
Cf. also _Mag. La. _, _Wks. _ 6. 36, and _Tale Tub_,
_Wks. _ 6. 217 and 222.
=4. 4. 204 his Valley is beneath the waste. = 'Waist' and 'waste' were
both spelled _waste_ or _wast_. Here, of course, is a pun on the two
meanings.
=4. 4. 206 Dulnesse vpon you! Could not you hit this? = Cf. _Bart.
Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 358: 'Now dullness upon me, that I had not that
before him. '
=4. 4. 209 the French sticke. = Walking-sticks of various sorts are
mentioned during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 'In Chas.
II. 's time the French walking-stick, with a ribbon and tassels to
hold it when passed over the wrist, was fashionable, and continued
so to the reign of George II. ' (Planche).
=4. 4. 215, 6 report the working, Of any Ladies physicke. = In
Lenton's _Leasures_ (see note 4. 4. 134) we find: 'His greatest
vexation is going upon sleevelesse arrands, to know whether some lady
slept well last night, or how her physick work'd i' th' morning,
things that savour not well with him; the reason that ofttimes he
goes but to the next taverne, and then very discreetly brings her
home a tale of a tubbe. '
Cf. also B. & Fl. , _Fair Maid of the Inn_ 2. 2: '_Host. _ And have
you been in England? . . . But they say ladies there take physic for
fashion. '
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 255, speaks of 'a
country gentleman that brings his wife vp to learne the fashion,
see the Tombs at Westminster, the Lyons in the Tower, or to take
physicke. ' In the 1812 reprint the editor observes that in Jonson's
time 'fanciful or artful wives would often persuade their husbands
to take them up to town for the advantage of _physick_, when the
principal object was dissipation. '
=4. 4. 219 Corne-cutter. = This vulgar suggestion renders hopeless
Pug's pretensions to gentility. Corncutters carried on a regular
trade (see _Bart. Fair_ 2. 1. ), and were held in the greatest
contempt, as we learn from Nash (_Four Letters Confuted_, _Wks. _ 2.
211).
=4. 4. 232 The Moone. = I. e. , see that the moon and zodiacal sign are
propitious.
=4. 4. 235 Get their natiuities cast! = Astrology was a favorite
subject of satire. Cf. Massinger, _City Madam_ 2. 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. ?
=Euer to make 'hem! = Cf. _Ev. Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 119: 'O manners that
this age should bring forth such creatures! that nature should be at
leisure to make them! '
=4. 4. 197 Hee makes a wicked leg. = Gifford thinks that _wicked_ here
means 'awkward or clownish. ' It seems rather to mean 'roguish,' a
common colloquial use.
=4. 4. 201 A setled discreet pase. = Cf. 3. 5. 22; 2. 7. 33; and
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 238: 'Walke
vp and downe by the rest as scornfully and as carelesly as a
Gentleman-Usher. '
=4. 4. 202 a barren head, Sir. = Cf. 2. 3. 36, 7 and 4. 2. 12.
Here again we have a punning allusion to the uncovered head of
the gentleman-usher. 'It was a piece of state, that the servants
of the nobility, particularly the gentleman-usher, should attend
bare-headed. ' Nares, _Gloss. _ For numerous passages illustrating the
practice both in regard to the gentleman-usher and to the coachman,
see the quotations in Nares, and Ford, _Lover's Melancholy_, _Wks. _
1. 19; Chapman, _Gentleman-Usher_, _Wks. _ 1. 263; and the following
passage, _ibid. _ 1. 273:
_Vin. _ I thanke you sir.
Nay pray be couerd; O I crie you mercie,
You must be bare.
_Bas. _ Euer to you my Lord.
_Vin. _ Nay, not to me sir,
But to the faire right of your worshipfull place.
A passage from Lenton (see note 4. 4. 134) may also be quoted: 'He is
forced to stand bare, which would urge him to impatience, but for the
hope of being covered, or rather the delight hee takes in shewing his
new-crisp't hayre, which his barber hath caused to stand like a print
hedge, in equal proportion. '
The dramatists ridiculed it by insisting that the coachman should be
not only bare-headed, but bald. Cf. 2. 3. 36 and Massinger, _City
Madam_, _Wks. _ p. 331: 'Thou shalt have thy proper and bald-headed
coachman. ' Jonson often refers to this custom. Cf. _Staple of News_,
_Wks. _ 5. 232:
Such as are bald and barren beyond hope,
Are to be separated and set by
For ushers to old countesses: and coachmen
To mount their boxes reverently, etc.
_New Inn_, _Wks. _ 5. 374:
_Jor. _ Where's thy hat? . . .
_Bar. _ The wind blew't off at Highgate, and my lady
Would not endure me light to take it up;
But made me drive bareheaded in the rain.
_Jor. _ That she might be mistaken for a countess?
Cf. also _Mag. La. _, _Wks. _ 6. 36, and _Tale Tub_,
_Wks. _ 6. 217 and 222.
=4. 4. 204 his Valley is beneath the waste. = 'Waist' and 'waste' were
both spelled _waste_ or _wast_. Here, of course, is a pun on the two
meanings.
=4. 4. 206 Dulnesse vpon you! Could not you hit this? = Cf. _Bart.
Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 358: 'Now dullness upon me, that I had not that
before him. '
=4. 4. 209 the French sticke. = Walking-sticks of various sorts are
mentioned during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 'In Chas.
II. 's time the French walking-stick, with a ribbon and tassels to
hold it when passed over the wrist, was fashionable, and continued
so to the reign of George II. ' (Planche).
=4. 4. 215, 6 report the working, Of any Ladies physicke. = In
Lenton's _Leasures_ (see note 4. 4. 134) we find: 'His greatest
vexation is going upon sleevelesse arrands, to know whether some lady
slept well last night, or how her physick work'd i' th' morning,
things that savour not well with him; the reason that ofttimes he
goes but to the next taverne, and then very discreetly brings her
home a tale of a tubbe. '
Cf. also B. & Fl. , _Fair Maid of the Inn_ 2. 2: '_Host. _ And have
you been in England? . . . But they say ladies there take physic for
fashion. '
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 255, speaks of 'a
country gentleman that brings his wife vp to learne the fashion,
see the Tombs at Westminster, the Lyons in the Tower, or to take
physicke. ' In the 1812 reprint the editor observes that in Jonson's
time 'fanciful or artful wives would often persuade their husbands
to take them up to town for the advantage of _physick_, when the
principal object was dissipation. '
=4. 4. 219 Corne-cutter. = This vulgar suggestion renders hopeless
Pug's pretensions to gentility. Corncutters carried on a regular
trade (see _Bart. Fair_ 2. 1. ), and were held in the greatest
contempt, as we learn from Nash (_Four Letters Confuted_, _Wks. _ 2.
211).
=4. 4. 232 The Moone. = I. e. , see that the moon and zodiacal sign are
propitious.
=4. 4. 235 Get their natiuities cast! = Astrology was a favorite
subject of satire. Cf. Massinger, _City Madam_ 2. 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. ?
