=3. 1. 8 Innes of Court.= ‘The four Inns of Court, Gray’s
Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, the Inner, and the Middle Temple, have alone
the right of admitting persons to practise as barristers, and
that rank can only be attained by keeping the requisite number
of terms as a student at one of those Inns.’--Wh-C.
Jonson dedicates _Every Man out of his Humor_ ‘To the Noblest
Nurseries of Humanity and Liberty in the Kingdom, the Inns of Court.’
=3. 1. 10 a good man.= Gifford quotes _Merch. of Ven._
1. 3. 15: ‘My meaning in saying he is a good man, is, to have
you understand me, that he is sufficient.’ Marston, _Dutch
Courtesan_, _Wks._ 2. 57. uses the word in the same sense.
=3. 1. 20 our two Pounds, the Compters.= The London
Compters or Counters were two sheriff’s prisons for debtors,
etc., mentioned as early as the 15th century. In Jonson’s day
they were the Poultry Counter and the Wood Street Counter. They
were long a standing joke with the dramatists, who seem to
speak from a personal acquaintance with them. Dekker (_Roaring
Girle_, _Wks._ 3. 189) speaks of ‘Wood Street College,’ and
Middleton (_Phoenix_, _Wks._ 1. 192) calls them ‘two most famous
universities’ and in another place ‘the two city hazards,
Poultry and Wood Street.’ Jonson in _Every Man in_ (_Wks._ 1.
42) speaks of them again as ‘your city pounds, the counters’,
and in _Every man out_ refers to the ‘Master’s side’ (_Wks_. 2.
181) and the ‘two-penny ward,’ the designations for the cheaper
quarters of the prison.
=3. 1. 35 out of rerum natura.= _In rerum natura_ is a
phrase used by Lucretius 1. 25. It means, according to the
_Stanford Dictionary_, ‘in the nature of things, in the physical
universe.’ In some cases it is practically equivalent to ‘in
existence.’ Cf. _Sil. Wom._, _Wks._ 3. 382: ‘Is the bull, bear,
and horse, in _rerum natura_ still?’
=3. 2. 12 a long vacation.= The long vacation in the Inns
of Court, which Jonson had in mind, lasts from Aug. 13 to Oct.
23. In _Staple of News_, _Wks._ 5. 170, he makes a similar
thrust at the shop-keepers:
Alas I they have had a pitiful hard time on’t,
A long vacation from their cozening.
=3. 2. 22 I bought Plutarch’s liues.= T. North’s famous
translation first appeared in 1579. New editions followed in
1595, 1603, 1610-12, and 1631.
=3. 2. 33 Buy him a Captaines place.= The City Train Bands
were a constant subject of ridicule for the dramatists. They are
especially well caricatured by Fletcher in _The Knight of the
Burning Pestle_, Act 5. In addition to the City Train Bands,
the Fraternity of Artillery, now called The Honorable Artillery
Company, formed a separate organization. The place of practice
was the Artillery Garden in Bunhill Fields (see note 3. 2. 41).
In spite of ridicule the Train Bands proved a source of strength
during the Civil War (see Clarendon, _Hist. of the Rebellion_,
ed. 1826, 4. 236 and Wh-C., _Artillery Ground_).
Jonson was fond of poking fun at the Train Bands. Cf. _U._ 62,
_Wks._ 8. 409; _Ev. Man in_, _Wks._ 1. 88; and _Alchemist_,
_Wks._ 4. 13. Face, it will be remembered, had been ‘translated
suburb-captain’ through Subtle’s influence.
The immediate occasion of Jonson’s satire was doubtless the
revival of military enthusiasm in 1614, of which Entick
(_Survey_ 2. 115) gives the following account:
‘The military genius of the _Londoners_ met with an opportunity,
about this time, to convince the world that they still retained the
spirit of their forefathers, should they be called out in the cause
of their king and country. His majesty having commanded a general
muster of the militia throughout the kingdom, the city of _London_
not only mustered 6000 citizens completely armed, who performed their
several evolutions with surprizing dexterity; but a martial spirit
appeared amongst the rising generation. The children endeavoured
to imitate their parents; chose officers, formed themselves into
companies, marched often into the fields with colours flying and beat
of drums, and there, by frequent practice, grew up expert in the
military exercises.’
=3. 2. 35 Cheapside.= Originally Cheap, or West Cheap, a street
between the Poultry and St. Paul’s, a portion of the line from
Charing Cross to the Royal Exchange, and from Holborn to the
Bank of England.
‘At the west end of this Poultrie and also of Buckles bury, beginneth
the large street of West Cheaping, a market-place so called, which
street stretcheth west till ye come to the little conduit by Paule’s
Gate.’--Stow, ed. Thoms, p. 99.
The glory of Cheapside was Goldsmith’s Row (see note 3. 5. 2).
It was also famous in early times for its ‘Ridings,’ and during
Jonson’s period for its ‘Cross,’ its ‘Conduit,’ and its ‘Standard’
(see note 1. 1. 56 and Wh--C.).
=3. 2. 35 Scarfes.= ‘Much worn by knights and military
officers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.’--Planché.
=3. 2. 35 Cornehill.= Cornhill, between the Poultry and Leadenhall
Street, an important portion of the greatest thoroughfare in the
world, was, says Stow, ‘so called of a corn market time out of mind
there holden.’ In later years it was provided with a pillory and
stocks, a prison, called the Tun, for street offenders, a conduit of
‘sweet water’, and a standard. See Wh-C.
=3. 2. 38 the posture booke.= A book descriptive of military
evolutions, etc. H. Peacham’s _Compleat Gentleman_, 1627 (p. 300,
quoted by Wheatley, _Ev. Mall in_), gives a long list of ‘Postures of
the Musquet’ and G. Markham’s _Souldier’s Accidence_ gives another.
Cf. _Tale Tub_, _Wks._ 6. 218:
--All the postures
Of the train’d bands of the country.
=3. 2. 41 Finsbury.= In 1498, ‘certain grounds, consisting of
gardens, orchards, &c. on the north side of _Chiswell-street_, and
called _Bunhill_ or _Bunhill-fields_, within the manor of _Finsbury_,
were by the mayor and commonalty of _London_, converted into a large
field, containing 11 acres, and 11 perches, now known by the name
of the _Artillery-ground_, for their train-bands, archers, and other
military citizens, to exercise in.’--Entick, _Survey_ 1. 441.
In 1610 the place had become neglected, whereupon commissioners were
appointed to reduce it ‘into such order and state for the archers as
they were in the beginning of the reign of King Henry VIII.’ (_Ibid._
2. 109). See also Stow, _Survey_, ed. Thoms, p. 159.
Dekker (_Shomaker’s Holiday_, _Wks._ 1. 29) speaks of being
‘turnd to a Turk, and set in Finsburie for boyes to shoot at’,
and Nash (_Pierce Pennilesse_, _Wks._ 2. 128) and Jonson (_Bart.
Fair_, _Wks._ 4. 507) make precisely similar references. Master
Stephen in _Every Man in_ (_Wks._ 1. 10) objects to keeping
company with the ‘archers of Finsbury.’ Cf. also the elaborate
satire in _U._ 62, (_Wks._ 8. 409).
=3. 2. 45 to traine the youth=
=Of London, in the military truth.= Cf. _Underwoods_ 62:
Thou seed-plot of the war! that hast not spar’d
Powder or paper to bring up the youth
Of London, in the military truth.
Gifford believes these lines to be taken from a contemporary
posture-book, but there is no evidence of quotation in the case
of _Underwoods_.
=3. 3. 22, 3 This comes of wearing=
=Scarlet, gold lace, and cut-works!= etc. Webster has a passage very
similar to this in the _Devil’s Law Case_, _Wks._ 2. 37 f.:
‘_Ari._ This comes of your numerous wardrobe.
_Rom._ Ay, and wearing cut-work, a pound a purl.
_Ari._ Your dainty embroidered stockings, with overblown roses,
to hide your gouty ankles.
_Rom._ And wearing more taffata for a garter, than would serve
the galley dung-boat for streamers....
_Rom._ And resorting to your whore in hired velvet with a
spangled copper fringe at her netherlands.
_Ari._ Whereas if you had stayed at Padua, and fed upon cow-trotters,
and fresh beef to supper.’ etc., etc.
For ‘cut-works’ see note 1. 1. 128.
=3. 3. 24 With your blowne roses.= Compare 1. 1. 127,
and B. & Fl., _Cupid’s Revenge_:
No man to warm your shirt, and blow your roses.
and Jonson, _Ep._ 97, _Wks._ 8. 201:
His rosy ties and garters so o’erblown.
=3. 3. 25 Godwit.= The godwit was formerly in great repute as a table
delicacy. Thomas Muffett in _Health’s Improvement_, p. 99, says:
‘A fat godwit is so fine and light meat, that noblemen (yea, and
merchants too, by your leave) stick not to buy them at four nobles a
dozen.’
Cf. also Sir T. Browne, _Norf. Birds_, _Wks._, 1835, 4. 319: God-wyts
... accounted the daintiest dish in England; and, I think, for the
bigness of the biggest price.’ Jonson mentions the godwit in this
connection twice in the _Sil. Wom._ (_Wks._ 3. 350 and 388), and
in Horace, _Praises of a Country Life_ (_Wks._ 9. 121) translates
‘attagen Ionicus’ by ‘Ionian godwit.’
=3. 3. 26 The Globes, and Mermaides!= Theatres and taverns. Mr.
Halliwell-Phillipps has proved that the Globe Theatre on the
Bankside, Southwark, the summer theatre of Shakespeare and his
fellows, was built in 1599. It was erected from materials brought
by Richard Burbage and Peter Street from the theatre in Shoreditch.
On June 29, 1613, it was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt without
delay in a superior style, and this time with a roof of tile, King
James contributing to the cost. Chamberlaine, writing to Alice
Carleton (June 30, 1614), calls the Globe Playhouse ‘the fairest in
England.’ It was pulled down Apr. 15, 1644.
Only the Lord Chamberlain’s Company (the King’s Men) seems to
have acted here. It was the scene of several of Shakespeare’s
plays and two of Jonson’s, _Every Man out_ and _Every Man in_
(Halliwell-Phillips, _Illustrations_, p. 43). The term ‘summer
theatre’ is applicable only to the rebuilt theatre (_ibid._, p.
44). In _Ev. Man out_ (quarto, _Wks._ 2. 196) Johnson refers to
‘this fair-fitted _Globe_’, and in the _Execration upon Vulcan_
(_Wks._ 8. 404) to the burning of the ‘Globe, the glory of the
Bank.’ In _Poetaster_ (_Wks._ 2. 430) he uses the word again
as a generic term: ‘your Globes, and your Triumphs.’
There seem to have been two Mermaid Taverns, one of which stood
in Bread Street with passage entrances from Cheapside and Friday
Street, and the other in Cornhill. They are often referred to
by the dramatists. Cf. the famous lines written by _Francis
Beaumont to Ben Jonson_, B. & Fl., _Wks._, ed. 1883, 2. 708;
_City Match_, _O. Pl._ 9. 334, etc. Jonson often mentions
the Mermaid. Cf. _Inviting a Friend_, _Wks._ 8. 205:
Is a pure cup of rich Canary Wine,
Which is the Mermaid’s now, but shall be mine.
_On the famous Voyage_, _Wks._ 8. 234:
At Bread-Street’s Mermaid having dined, and merry,
Proposed to go to Holborn in a wherry.
_Bart. Fair_, _Wks._ 4. 356-7: ‘your Three Cranes, Mitre,
and Mermaid-men!’
=3. 3. 28 In veluet!= Velvet was introduced into England in the
fifteenth century, and soon became popular as an article of luxury
(see Hill’s _Hist. of Eng. Dress_ 1. 145 f.).
=3. 3. 30 I’ the Low-countries.= ‘Then went he to the Low Countries;
but returning soone he betook himself to his wonted studies. In his
service in the Low Countries, he had, in the face of both the campes,
killed ane enemie and taken _opima spolia_ from him.’--_Conversations
with William Drummond_, _Wks._ 9. 388.
In the Epigram _To True Soldiers_ Jonson says:
--I love
Your great profession, which I once did prove.
_Wks._ 8. 211.
=3. 3. 32 a wench of a stoter!= See variants. The word is
not perfectly legible in the folios, which I have consulted, but
is undoubtedly as printed. Cunningham believes ‘stoter’ to be a
cheap coin current in the camps. This supplies a satisfactory
sense, corresponding to the ‘_Sutlers_ wife, ... of two blanks’
in the following line.
=3. 3. 33 of two blanks!= ‘Jonson had Horace in his
thoughts, and has, not without some ingenuity, parodied several
loose passages of one of his satires.’--G. Gifford is apparently
referring to the close of Bk. 2. Sat. 3.
=3. 3. 51 vn-to-be-melted.= Cf. _Every Man in_, _Wks._ 1.
36: ‘and in un-in-one-breath-utterable skill, sir.’ _New Inn_,
_Wks._ 5. 404: you shewed a neglect Un-to-be-pardon’d.’
=3. 3. 62 Master of the Dependances!= See Introduction.
pp. lvi, lvii.
=3. 3. 69 the roaring manner.= Gifford defines it as the ‘language
of bullies affecting a quarrel’ (_Wks._ 4. 483). The ‘Roaring Boy’
continued under various designations to infest the streets of London
from the reign of Elizabeth until the beginning of the eighteenth
century. Spark (Somer’s _Tracts_ 2. 266) says that they were persons
prodigall and of great expence, who having runne themselves
into debt, were constrained to run into factions to defend themselves
from danger of the law.’ He adds that divers of the nobility
afforded them maintenance, in return for which ‘they entered into
many desperate enterprises.’
Arthur Wilson (_Life of King James I._, p. 28), writing of the
disorderly state of the city in 1604, says: ‘Divers _Sects_ of
_vitious Persons_ going under the Title of _Roaring Boyes_,
_Bravadoes_, _Roysters_, &c. commit many insolences; the Streets
swarm night and day with bloody quarrels, private _Duels_
fomented,’ etc.
Kastril, the ‘angry boy’ in the _Alchemist_, and Val Cutting and
Knockem in _Bartholomew Fair_ are roarers, and we hear of them
under the title of ‘terrible boys’ in the _Silent Woman_
(_Wks._ 3. 349). Cf. also Sir Thomas Overbury’s _Character of a
Roaring Boy_ (ed. Morley, p. 72): ‘He sleeps with a tobacco-pipe
in his mouth; and his first prayer in the morning is he may
remember whom he fell out with over night.’
=3. 3. 71 the vapours.= This ridiculous practise is
satirized in _Bart. Fair_, _Wks._ 4. 3 (see also stage
directions).
=3. 3. 77 a distast.= The quarrel with Wittipol.
=3. 3. 79 the hand-gout.= Jonson explains the expression in
_Magnetic Lady_, _Wks._ 6. 61.
You cannot but with trouble put your hand
Into your pocket to discharge a reckoning,
And this we sons of physic do call _chiragra_,
A kind of cramp, or hand-gout.
Cf. also Overbury’s _Characters_, ed. Morley, p. 63: ‘his liberality
can never be said to be gouty-handed.’
=3. 3. 81 Mint.= Until its removal to the Royal Mint on Tower
Hill in 1810, the work of coinage was carried on in the Tower of
London. Up to 1640, when banking arose, merchants were in the habit
of depositing their bullion and cash in the Tower Mint, under
guardianship of the Crown (see Wh-C. under _Royal Mint_, and _History
of Banking in all the Leading Nations_, London, 1896, 2. 1).
=3. 3. 86-8 let ... hazard.= Merecraft seems to mean: ‘You are in no
hurry. Pray therefore allow me to defer your business until I have
brought opportune aid to this gentleman’s distresses at a time when
his fortunes are in a hazardous condition.’ The pregnant use of the
verb _timing_ and the unusual use of the word _terms_ for a period of
time render the meaning peculiarly difficult.
=3. 3. 106 a Businesse.= This was recognized as the technical
expression. Sir Thomas Overbury ridicules it in his _Characters_,
ed. Morley, p. 72: ‘If any private quarrel happen among our great
courtiers, he (the Roaring Boy) proclaims the business--that’s the
word, the business--as if the united force of the Roman Catholics
were making up for Germany.’ Jonson ridicules the use of the
word in similar fashion in the Masque of _Mercury Vindicated from
the Alchemists_.
=3. 3. 133 hauings.= Jonson uses the expression again in _Ev. Man
in_, _Wks._ 1. 29, and _Gipsies Met._, _Wks._ 7. 364. It
is also used in _Muse’s Looking Glasse_, _O. Pl._ 9. 175.
=3. 3. 147 such sharks!= Shift in _Ev. Man in_ is described as a
‘threadbare shark.’ Cf. also Earle, _Microcosmography_, ed. Morley,
p. 173.
=3. 3. 148 an old debt of forty.= See 2. 8. 100.
=3. 3. 149 the Bermudas.= See note 2. 1. 144. Nares thinks that
the real Bermudas are referred to here.
=3. 3. 155 You shall ha’ twenty pound on’t.= As Commission on
the two hundred. ‘Ten in the hundred’ was the customary rate at
this period (see _Staple of News_, _Wks._ 5. 189).
=3. 3. 165 St. Georges-tide?= From a very early period the 23d of
April was dedicated to St. George. From the time of Henry V. The
festival had been observed with great splendor at Windsor and other
towns, and bonfires were built (see Shak, _1 Henry VI._ 1. 1). The
festival continued to be celebrated until 1567, when Elizabeth
ordered its discontinuance. James I., however, kept the 23d of April
to some extent, and the revival of the feast in all its glories was
only prevented by the Civil War. So late as 1614 it was the custom
for fashionable gentlemen to wear blue coats on St. George’s Day,
probably in imitation of the blue mantle worn by the Knights of the
Garter, an order created at the feast of St. George in 1344 (see
Chambers’ _Book of Days_ 1. 540).
The passages relating to this custom are _Ram Alley_, _O. Pl._, 2d
ed., 5. 486:
By Dis, I will be knight,
Wear a blue coat on great St. George’s day,
And with my fellows drive you all from Paul’s
For this attempt.
_Runne and a great Cast_, _Epigr._ 33:
With’s coram nomine keeping greater sway
Than a court blew-coat on St. George’s day.
From these passages Nares concludes ‘that some festive ceremony was
carried on at St. Paul’s on St. George’s day annually; that the court
attended; that the _blue-coats_, or attendants, of the courtiers,
were employed and authorised to keep order, and drive out refractory
persons; and that on this occasion it was proper for a knight to
officiate as _blue coat_ to some personage of higher rank’.
In the _Conversations with Drummond_, Jonson’s _Wks._ 9. 393, we
read: ‘Northampton was his mortal enimie for beating, on a St.
George’s day, one of his attenders.’ Pepys speaks of there being
bonfires in honor of St. George’s Day as late as Apr. 23, 1666.
=3. 3. 166 chaines? PLV. Of gold, and pearle.= The gold chain was
formerly a mark of rank and dignity, and a century before this it
had been forbidden for any one under the degree of a gentleman of two
hundred marks a year to wear one (_Statutes of the Realm_, 7 Henry
VIII. c. 6). They were worn by the Lord Mayors (Dekker, _Shomaker’s
Holiday_, _Wks._ 1. 42), rich merchants and aldermen (Glapthorne,
_Wit for a Constable_, _Wks._, ed. 1874, 1. 201-3), and later
became the distinctive mark of the upper servant in a great family,
especially the steward (see Nares and _Ev. Man out_, _Wks._ 2. 31).
Massinger (_City Madam_, _Wks._, p. 334) speaks of wearing a chain
of gold ‘on solemn days.’ With the present passage cf. _Underwoods_
62, _Wks._ 8. 410:
If they stay here but till St. George’s day.
All ensigns of a war are not yet dead,
Nor marks of wealth so from a nation fled,
But they may see gold chains and pearl worn then,
Lent by the London dames to the Lords’ men.
=3. 3. 170 take in Pimlico.= ‘Near Hoxton, a great summer resort in
the early part of the 17th century and famed for its cakes, custards,
and Derby ale. The references to the Hoxton Pimlico are numerous
in our old dramatists.’--Wh--C. It is mentioned among other places
in _Greene’s Tu Quoque, The City Match_, fol. 1639, _News from
Hogsdon_, 1598, and Dekker, _Roaring Girle_, _Wks._ 3. 219, where it
is spoken of as ‘that nappy land of spice-cakes.’ In 1609 a tract
was published, called _Pimlyco or Runne Red-Cap, ’tis a Mad World at
Hogsdon_.
Jonson refers to it repeatedly. Cf. _Alch._, _Wks._ 4. 155:
--Gallants, men and women.
And of all sorts, tag-rag, been seen to flock here,
In threaves, these ten weeks, as to a second Hogsden,
In days of Pimlico and Eye-bright.
Cf. also _Alch._, _Wks._ 4. 151; _Bart. Fair_, _Wks._ 4. 357; and
this play 4. 4. 164. In _Underwoods_ 62 the same expression is used
as in this passage:
What a strong fort old Pimlico had been!
How it held out! how, last, ’twas taken in!--
_Take in_ in the sense of ‘capture’ is used again in _Every Man
in_, _Wks._ 1. 64, and frequently in Shakespeare (see Schmidt).
The reference here, as Cunningham suggests, is to the Finsbury
sham fights. Hogsden was in the neighborhood of Finsbury, and
the battles were doubtless carried into its territory.
=3. 3. 173 Some Bristo-stone or Cornish counterfeit.= Cf.
Heywood, _Wks._ 5. 317: ‘This jewell, a plaine _Bristowe_ stone,
a counterfeit.’ See Gloss.
=3. 3. 184, 5 I know your Equiuocks:=
=You’are growne the better Fathers of ’hem o’ late.= ‘Satirically
reflecting on the Jesuits, the great patrons of _equivocation_.’--W.
‘Or rather on the Puritans, I think; who were sufficiently obnoxious
to this charge. The Jesuits would be out of place here.’--G.
Why the Puritans are any more appropriate Gifford does not vouchsafe
to tell us. So far as I have been able to discover the Puritans
were never called ‘Fathers,’ their regular appellation being ‘the
brethren’ (cf. _Alch._ and _Bart. Fair_). The Puritans were accused
of a distortion of Scriptural texts to suit their own purposes,
instances of which occur in the dramas mentioned above. On the whole,
however, equivocation is more characteristic of the Jesuits. They
were completely out of favor at this time. Under the generalship
of Claudio Acquaviva, 1581-1615, they first began to have a
preponderatingly evil reputation. In 1581 they were banished from
England, and in 1601 the decree of banishment was repeated, this time
for their suspected share in the Gunpowder Plot.
=3. 3. 206, 7 Come, gi’ me Ten pieces more.= The transaction with
Guilthead is perhaps somewhat confusing. Fitzdottrel has offered to
give his bond for two hundred pieces, if necessary. Merecraft’s ‘old
debt of forty’ (3. 3. 149), the fifty pieces for the ring, and the
hundred for Everill’s new office (3. 3. 60 and 83) ‘all but make two
hundred.’ Fitzdottrel furnishes a hundred of this in cash, with the
understanding that he receive it again of the gold-smith when he
signs the bond (3. 3. 194). He returns, however, without the gold,
though he seals the bond (3. 5. 1-3). Of the hundred pieces received
in cash, twenty go to Guilthead as commission (3. 3. 155).
This leaves forty each for Merecraft and Everill.
=3. 3. 213 how th’ Asse made his diuisions.= See _Fab._ cix,
_Fabulae Aesopicae_, Leipzig, 1810, _Leo, Asinus et Vulpes_. Harsnet
(_Declaration_, p. 110) refers to this fable, and Dekker made a
similar application in _Match me in London_, 1631, _Wks._ 4. 145:
_King._ Father Ile tell you a Tale, vpon a time
The Lyon Foxe and silly Asse did jarre.
Grew friends and what they got, agreed to share:
A prey was tane, the bold Asse did diuide it
Into three equall parts, the Lyon spy’d it.
And scorning two such sharers, moody grew,
And pawing the Asse, shooke him as I shake you ...
And in rage tore him peece meale, the Asse thus dead,
The prey was by the Foxe distributed
Into three parts agen; of which the Lyon
Had two for his share, and the Foxe but one:
The Lyon (smiling) of the Foxe would know
Where he had this wit, he the dead Asse did show.
_Valasc._ An excellent Tale.
_King._ Thou art that Asse.
=3. 3. 214 Much good do you.= So in _Sil. Wom._, _Wks._ 3.
398: ‘Much good do him.’
=3. 3. 217 And coozen i’ your bullions.= Massinger’s _Fatal
Dowry_, _Wks._, p. 272, contains the following passage:
‘The other is his dressing-block, upon whom my lord lays all his
clothes and fashions ere he vouchsafes them his own person:
you shall see him ... at noon in the Bullion,’ etc. In a note
on this passage (_Wks._ 3. 390, ed. 1813) Gifford advanced the
theory that the _bullion_ was ‘a piece of finery, which derived
its denomination from the large globular gilt buttons, still in
use on the continent.’ In his note on the present passage, he
adds that it was probably ‘adopted by gamblers and others, as a
mark of wealth, to entrap the unwary.’
Nares was the next man to take up the word. He connected it with
‘_bullion_; Copper-plates set on the Breast-leathers and Bridles
of Horses for ornament’ (Phillips 1706). ‘I suspect that it also
meant, in colloquial use, copper lace, tassels, and ornaments in
imitation of gold. Hence contemptuously attributed to those who
affected a finery above their station.’
Dyce (B. & Fl., _Wks._ 7. 291) was the first to disconnect the
word from _bullion_ meaning uncoined gold or silver. He says:
‘_Bullions_, I apprehend, mean some sort of hose or breeches,
which were _bolled_ or _bulled_, i. e. swelled, puffed out
(cf. _Sad. Shep._, Act 1. Sc. 2, _bulled_ nosegays’).’
The _NED._ gives ‘prob. a. F. _bouillon_ in senses derived from
that of “bubble.”’
Besides the passages already given, the word occurs in B. & Fl.,
_The Chances_, _Wks._ 7. 291:
Why should not bilbo raise him, or a pair of bullions?
_Beggar’s Bush_, _Wks._ 9. 81:
In his French doublet, with his blister’d
(1st fol. _baster’d_) bullions.
Brome, _Sparagus Garden_, _Wks._ 3. 152:
--shaking your
Old Bullion Tronkes over my Trucklebed.
_Gesta Gray_ in Nichols’ _Prog. Q. Eliz._ 3. 341 A, 1594:
‘A bullion-hose is best to go a woeing in; for tis full of
promising promontories.’
=3. 3. 231 too-too-vnsupportable!= This reduplicated
form is common in Shakespeare. See _Merch. of Ven._ 2. 6.
42; _Hamlet_ 1. 2. 129; and Schmidt, _Dict._ Jonson uses it
in _Sejanus_, _Wks._ 3. 54, and elsewhere. It is merely a
strengthened form of _too_. (See Halliwell in _Sh. Soc. Papers_,
1884, 1. 39, and _Hamlet_, ed. Furness, 11th ed., 1. 41.) Jonson
regularly uses the hyphen.
=3. 4. 13 Cioppinos.= Jonson spells the word as if it were
Italian, though he says in the same sentence that the custom of
wearing chopines is Spanish. The _NED._, referring to Skeat,
_Trans. Phil. Soc._, 1885-7, p. 79, derives it from Sp. _chapa_,
a plate of metal, etc. ‘The Eng. writers c 1600 persistently
treated the word as Italian, even spelling it _cioppino_, pl.
_cioppini_, and expressly associated it with Venice, so that,
although not recorded in Italian Dicts. it was app. temporarily
fashionable there.’ The statement of the _NED._ that ‘there is
little or no evidence of their use in England (except on the
stage)’ seems to be contradicted by the quotation from Stephen
Gosson’s _Pleasant Quippes_ (note 1. 1. 128). References to the
chopine are common in the literature of the period (see Nares
and _NED._). I have found no instances of the Italianated form
earlier than Jonson, and it may be original with him. He uses
the plural _cioppini_ in _Cynthia’s Revels_, _Wks._ 2. 241.
See note 4. 4. 69.
=3. 4. 32 your purchase.= Cf. _Alch._, _Wks._ 4. 150, and
_Fox_, _Wks._ 3. 168: ‘the cunning purchase of my wealth.’
Cunningham (_Wks._ 3. 498) says: ‘Purchase, as readers of
Shakespeare know, was a cant term among thieves for the plunder
they acquired, also the act of acquiring it. It is frequently
used by Jonson.’
=3. 4. 35 Pro’uedor.= Gifford’s change to provedoré
is without authority. The word is _provedor_, Port., or
_proveedor_, Sp., and is found in Hakluyt, _Voyages_, 3. 701;
G. Sandys, _Trav._, p. 6 (1632); and elsewhere, with various
orthography, but apparently never with the accent.
=3. 4. 43 Gentleman huisher.= For the gentleman-usher see
note 4. 4. 134. The forms _usher_ and _huisher_ seem to be used
without distinction. The editors’ treatment of the form is
inconsistent. See variants, and compare 2. 7. 33.
=3. 4. 45-8 wee poore Gentlemen ... piece.= Cf. Webster,
_Devil’s Law Case_, _Wks._ 2. 38: ‘You have certain rich city
chuffs, that when they have no acres of their own, they will go
and plough up fools, and turn them into excellent meadow.’ Also
_The Fox_ 2. 1:
--if Italy
Have any glebe more fruitful than these fellows,
I am deceived.
As source of the latter Dr. L. H. Holt (_Mod. Lang. Notes_,
June, 1905) gives Plautus, _Epidicus_ 2. 3. 306-7:
nullum esse opinor ego agrum in agro Attico
aeque feracem quam hic est noster Periphanes.
=3. 5. 2 the row.= Stow (_Survey_, ed. 1633, p. 391) says that
Goldsmith’s Row, ‘betwixt _Breadstreete_ end and the Crosse in
_Cheap_,’ is ‘the most beautifull Frame of faire houses and shops,
that be within the Wals of _London_, or elsewhere in England.’ It
contained ‘ten faire dwelling houses, and fourteene shops’ beautified
with elaborate ornamentation. Howes (ed. 1631, p. 1045) says that
at his time (1630) Goldsmith’s Row ‘was much abated of her wonted
store of Goldsmiths, which was the beauty of that famous streete.’
A similar complaint is made in the _Calendar of State Papers_,
1619-23, p. 457, where Goldsmith’s Row is characterized as the ‘glory
and beauty of Cheapside.’ Paul Hentzner (p. 45) speaks of it as
surpassing all the other London streets. He mentions the presence
there of a ‘gilt tower, with a fountain that plays.’
=3. 5. 29, 30 answering=
=With the French-time, in flexure of your body.= This may mean
bowing in the deliberate and measured fashion of the French, or
perhaps it refers to French musical measure. See Gloss.
=3. 5. 33 the very Academies.= See note 2. 8. 20.
=3. 5. 35 play-time.= Collier says that the usual hour of dining in
the city was twelve o’clock, though the passage in _Case is Altered_,
_Wks._ 6. 331, seems to indicate an earlier hour:
Eat when your stomach serves, saith the physician,
Not at eleven and six.
The performance of plays began at three o’clock.
Cf. _Histriomastix_, 1610:
Come to the Town-house, and see a play:
At three a’clock it shall begin.
See Collier, _Annals_ 3. 377. Sir Humphrey Mildmay, in his Ms.
Diary (quoted _Annals_ 2. 70), speaks several times of going to
the play-house after dinner.
=3. 5. 39 his Damme.= _NED._ gives a use of the phrase ‘the
devil and his dam’ as early as Piers Plowman, 1393. The ‘devil’s
dam’ was later applied opprobriously to a woman. It is used thus
in Shakespeare, _Com. Err._ 4. 3. 51. The expression is common
throughout the literature of the period.
=3. 5. 43 But to be seene to rise, and goe away.= Cf.
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks._ 2. 253: ‘Now sir,
if the writer be a fellow that hath either epigrammd you, or
hath had a flirt at your mistris, ... you shall disgrace him
worse then by tossing him in a blancket ... if, in the middle of
his play, ... you rise with a screwd and discontented face from
your stoole to be gone: no matter whether the Scenes be good or
no; the better they are the worse do you distast them.’
=3. 5. 45, 6 But say, that he be one=,
Wi’ not be aw’d! but laugh at you=. In the Prologue to Massinger’s
_Guardian_ we find:
--nor dares he profess that when
The critics laugh, he’ll laugh at them agen.
(Strange self-love in a writer!)
Gifford says of this passage: ‘This Prologue contains many sarcastick
allusions to Old Ben, who produced, about this time, his _Tale of a
Tub_, and his _Magnetic Lady_, pieces which failed of success, and
which, with his usual arrogance, (_strange self-love in a writer!_)
he attributed to a want of taste in the audience.’--Massinger’s
(_Wks._, ed. 1805, 4. 121.)
The _Guardian_ appeared in 1633, two years after the printing of
_The Devil is an Ass_. It seems certain that the reference is to the
present passage.
=3. 5. 47 pay for his dinner himselfe.= The custom of inviting the
poet to dinner or supper seems to have been a common one. Dekker
refers to it in the _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks._ 2. 249. Cf.
also the Epilogue to the present play.
=3. 5. 47 Perhaps, He would doe that twice, rather then thanke you.=
‘This ill-timed compliment to himself, Jonson might have spared, with
some advantage to his judgment, at least, if not his modesty.’--G.
=3. 5. 53.= See variants. Gifford’s change destroys the
meaning and is palpably ridiculous.
=3. 5. 77 your double cloakes.= ‘I. e., a cloake adapted
for disguises, which might be worn on either side. It was of
different colours, and fashions. This turned cloke with a false
beard (of which the cut and colour varied) and a black or yellow
peruke, furnished a ready and effectual mode of concealment,
which is now lost to the stage. ’--G.
=3. 6. 2 canst thou get ne’r a bird?= Throughout this page
Merecraft and Pug ring the changes on Pitfall’s name.
=3. 6. 15, 16 TRA. You must send, Sir.=
=The Gentleman the ring.= Traines, of course,
is merely carrying out Merecraft’s plot to ‘achieve the ring’ (3. 5.
67). Later (4. 4. 60) Merecraft is obliged to give it up to Wittipol.
=3. 6. 34-6 What’ll you do, Sir?= ...
=Run from my flesh, if I could.= For a similar construction
cf. 1. 3. 21 and note.
=3. 6. 38, 9 Woe to the seuerall cudgells,=
=Must suffer on this backe!= Adapted from Plautus,
_Captivi_ 3. 4. 650:
Vae illis uirgis miseris, quae hodie in tergo morientur meo.
(Gifford mentions the fact that this is adapted from the classics. I
am indebted for the precise reference to Dr. Lucius H. Holt.)
=3. 6. 40 the vse of it is so present.= For other Latinisms cf.
_resume_, 1. 6. 149; _salts_, 2. 6. 75; _confute_, 5. 6. 18, etc.
=3. 6. 61 I’ll= ... See variants. The original reading is undoubtedly
wrong.