PAGE =106=, l. 6. _I touch no fat sowes grease._ Probably 'I say
nothing libellous as to the way in which this or that rich man has
acquired his wealth'. I cannot find the proverb accurately explained,
or given in quite this form, in any collection.
l. 10. _will redd or pale._ The reading of _1669_ and the two MSS. is
doubtless correct, 'looke' being an editorial insertion as the use
of 'red' as a verb was growing rare. If 'looke' had belonged to the
original text 'counsellor' would probably have had the second syllable
elided. Compare:
Roses out-red their [i.e. women's] lips and cheeks,
Lillies their whiteness stain.
Brome, _The Resolve_.
l. 21. _the number of the Plaguy Bill_: i.e. the weekly bill of deaths
by the plague. By a Privy Council order of April 9, 1604, the theatres
were permitted to be open 'except ther shall happen weeklie to die of
the Plague above the number of thirtie'. The number was later raised
to forty. The theatres were repeatedly closed for this reason between
July 10, 1606, and 1610. In 1609 especially the fear of infection made
it difficult for the companies, driven from London, to gain permission
to act anywhere. There were no performances at Court during the winter
1609-10. Murray, _English Dramatic Companies_.
l. 22. _the Custome Farmers._ The Privy Council registers abound in
references to the farmers of the customs and their conflicts with the
merchants. As they had to pay dearly for their farm, they were tempted
to press the law against the merchants in exacting dues.
l. 23. _Of the Virginian plot._ Two expeditions were sent to Virginia
in 1609, in May under Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, and Captain
Newport, and at the end of the year under Lord de la Warr, 'who by
free election of the Treasurer and counsell of Virginia, and with the
full consent of the generality of that company was constituted and
authorized, during his natural life to be Lord Governor and Captaine
Generall of all the English Collonies planted, or to be planted in
Virginia, according to the tenor of his Majesties letters patents
granted that yeare 1609.' Stow. Speculation in Virginia stock was
encouraged: 'Besides many noblemen, knights, gentlemen, merchants,
and wealthy tradesmen, most of the incorporated trades of London were
induced to take shares in the stock.' Hildreth, _History of the United
States_, i. 108, quoted by Norton.
The meaning of 'plot' here is 'device, design, scheme' (O.E.D.), as
'There have beene divers good plottes devised, and wise counsells
cast allready about reformation of that realme': Spenser, _State of
Ireland_. Donne uses the word also in the more original sense of 'a
piece of ground, a spot'. See p. 132, l. 34.
l. 23-4. _whether Ward ... the I(n)land Seas._ I have taken 'Iland'
_1635-54_ as intended for 'Inland', perhaps written 'ĩland', not
for 'Island'. The edition of 1669 reads 'midland', and there is no
doubt that the Mediterranean was the scene of the career and exploits
of the notorious Ward, whose head-quarters were at Tunis. The
Mediterranean is called the Inland sea in Holland's translation of
Pliny (_Hist. of the World_, III. _The Proeme_); and Donne uses
the phrase (with a different application but one borrowed from this
meaning) in the _Progresse of the Soule_, p. 308, ll. 317-8:
as if his vast wombe were
Some Inland sea.
Previous editors read 'Island seas' but do not explain the reference,
except Grosart, who declares that the 'Iland seas are those around the
West Indian and other islands. The Midland seas (as in _1669_)
were probably the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Seas'. He cites no
authority; nor have we proof that Ward was ever in these seas. Writing
to Salisbury on the 7th of March, 1607-8, Wotton says: 'The voice is
here newly arrived that Warde hath taken another Venetian vessel of
good value, so as the hatred of him increaseth among them and fully
as fast as the fear of him. These are his effects. Now to give your
Lordship some taste of his language. One Moore, captain of an English
ship that tradeth this way ... was hailed by him not long since a
little without the Gulf, and answering that he was bound for Venice,
"Tell those flat caps" (said he) "who have been the occasion that I
am banished out of my country that before I have done with them I will
make them sue for pardon." In this style he speaketh.' Pearsall Smith,
_Life and Letters of ... Wotton_, ii. 415. Mr. Pearsall Smith adds in
a note that Ward hoped to 'buy or threaten the English Government into
pardoning him', and that some attempt was also made by the Venetian
Government to procure his assassination.
If 'Island' be the right reading the sea referred to must be the
Adriatic. The Islands of the Illyrian coast were at various times the
haunt of pirates. But I have found no instance of the phrase in this
sense.
l. 25. _the Brittaine Burse._ This was built by the Earl of Salisbury
on the site of an 'olde long stable' in the Strand on the north side
of Durham House: 'And upon Tuesday the tenth of Aprill this yeere, one
thousand sixe hundred and nine, many of the upper shoppes were richly
furnished with wares, and the next day after that, the King, Queene,
and Prince, the Lady Elizabeth and the Duke of Yorke, with many great
Lords, and chiefe Ladies, came thither, and were there entertained
with pleasant speeches, giftes, and ingenious devices, and then
the king gave it a name, and called it Brittaines Burse.' Stow,
_Chronicle_, p. 894.
l. 27. _Of new built Algate, and the More-field crosses._ Aldgate, one
of the four principal gates in the City wall, was taken down in 1606
and rebuilt by 1609: Stow, _Survey_. Norton refers to Jonson's _Silent
Woman_, I. i: 'How long did the canvas hang afore Aldgate? Were the
people suffered to see the city's Love and Charity while they were
rude stone, before they were painted and burnished?'
'The More-field crosses' are apparently the walks at Moor-field.
Speaking of the embellishment of London which ensued from the long
duration of peace, Stow says, 'And lastly, whereof there is a more
generall, and particular notice taken by all persons resorting and
residing in London, the new and pleasant walks on the north side of
the city, anciently called More fields, which field (untill the third
yeare of King James) was a most noysome and offensive place, being a
generall laystall, a rotten morish ground, whereof it tooke first the
name.' Stow, _Chronicle_. For the ditches which crossed the field were
substituted 'most faire and royall walkes'.
PAGE =107=, l. 41. The '(_quoth Hee_)' of the 1669 edition is
obviously correct. 'Hee' is required both by rhyme and reason. Mr.
Chambers has ingeniously put '"True" quoth I' into a parenthesis, as
a remark interjected by the poet. But apart from the rhyme the 'quoth
Hee' is needed to explain the transition to direct speech. Without it
the long speech of the citizen begins very awkwardly.
ll. 42-44. These lines seem to echo the Royal Proclamation of 1609,
though the reference is different: 'in this speciall Proclamation his
Majestic declared how grievously, the people of this latter age and
times are fallen into verball profession, as well of religion, as of
all commendable morall vertues, but wanting the actions and deeds of
so specious a profession, and the insatiable and immeasurable itching
boldnesse of the spirits, tongues and pens of most men.' Stow,
_Chronicle_.
l. 46. _Bawd, Tavern-keeper, Whore and Scrivener_; The singular number
of the MS. gives as good a sense as the plural and a better rhyme.
l. 47. _The much of Privileg'd kingsmen, and the store
Of fresh protections, &c._
'We have many bankrupts daily, and as many protections, which doth
marvellously hinder all manner of commerce.' Chamberlain to Carleton,
Dec. 31, 1612. By 'kingsmen' I understand noblemen holding monopolies
from the King. I do not understand the 'kinsmen' of the editions.
By 'protections' is meant 'exemptions from suits in law', especially
suits for debt. The London tradesmen were much cheated by the
protections granted to the servants and followers of members of
Parliament.
l. 65. _found nothing but a Rope._ I cannot identify this Rope. In the
_Aulularia_ of Plautus, when Euclio finds his treasure gone he laments
in the usual manner. At l. 721 he says, 'Heu me miserum, misere perii,
male perditu', _pessume ornatus eo_.' The last words may have been
taken as meaning 'I have the rope round my neck'.