NOTES
The present edition includes whatever has been considered of value in the notes of preceding editions. It has been the intention in all cases to acknowledge facts and suggestions borrowed from such sources, whether quoted verbatim, abridged, or developed. Notes signed W. are from Whalley, G. from Gifford, C. from Cunningham. For other abbreviations the Bibliography should be consulted. Explanations of words and phrases are usually found only in the Glossary. References to this play are by act, scene, and line of the Text; other plays of Jonson are cited from the Gifford-Cunningham edition of 1875. The references are to play, volume and page.
TITLE-PAGE.
THE DIUELL IS AN ASSE. ‘Schlegel, seizing with great felicity upon an untranslateable German idiom, called the play Der dumme Teufel [Schlegel’s Werke, ed. Böcking, 6. 340]—a title which must be allowed to be twice as good as that of the English original. The phrase ‘the Devil is an ass’ appears to have been proverbial. See Fletcher’s The Chances, Act 5. Sc. 2:
A still more important passage occurs in Dekker’s If this be not a good Play, a partial source of Jonson’s drama:
Jonson uses it again in The Staple of News, Wks. 5. 188:
The conjurer cozened him with a candle’s end; he was an ass.
Dekker (Non-dram. Wks. 2. 275) tells us the jest of a citizen who was told that the ‘Lawyers get the Diuell and all: What an Asse, replied the Citizen is the diuell? If I were as he I would get some of them.’
HIS MAIESTIES SERVANTS. Otherwise known as the King’s Company, and popularly spoken of as the King’s Men. For an account of this company see Winter, ed. Staple of News, p. 121; and Fleay, Biog. Chron. 1. 356-7; 2. 403-4.
Ficta voluptatis, etc. The quotation is from Horace, De Art. Poet., line 338. Jonson’s translation is:
Jonson makes use of this quotation again in his note ‘To the Reader’ prefixed to Act 3 of The Staple of News.
I. B. Fleay speaks of this printer as J. Benson (Biog. Chron. 1. 354). Benson did not ‘take up freedom’ until June 30, 1631 (Sta. Reg. 3. 686). Later he became a publisher (1635-40; Sta. Reg. 5. lxxxiv). I. B. was also the printer of Bartholomew Fair and Staple of News. J. Benson published a volume of Jonson’s, containing The Masque of the Gypsies and other poems, in 1640 (Brit. Museum Cat. and Yale Library). In the same year he printed the Art of Poetry, 12mo, and the Execration against Vulcan, 4to (cf. Pub. of Grolier Club, N. Y. 1893, pp. 130, 132). The evidence that I. B. was Benson is strong, but not absolutely conclusive.
ROBERT ALLOT. We find by Arber’s reprint of the Stationer’s Register that Robert Allot ‘took up freedom’ Nov. 7, 1625. He must have begun publishing shortly after, for under the date of Jan. 25, 1625-6 we find that Mistris Hodgettes ‘assigned over unto him all her estate,’ consisting of the copies of certain books, for the ‘some of forty-five pounds.’ The first entry of a book to Allot is made May 7, 1626. In 1630 Master Blount ‘assigned over unto him all his estate and right in the copies’ of sixteen of Shakespeare’s plays. In 1632 Allot brought out the Second Folio of Shakespeare’s works. On Sept. 7, 1631 The Staple of News was assigned to him. The last entry of a book in his name is on Sept. 12, 1635. The first mention of ‘Mistris Allott’ is under the date of Dec. 30, 1635. Under date of July 1, 1637 is the record of the assignment by Mistris Allott of certain books, formerly the estate of ‘Master Roberte Allotts deceased.’ Among these books are ‘37. Shakespeares Workes their part. 39. Staple of Newes a Play. 40. Bartholomew fayre a Play.’ I have been able to find no record of The Devil is an Ass in the Stationer’s Register.
the Beare. In the Shakespeare folio of 1632 Allot’s sign reads ‘the Black Beare.’ The first mention of the shop in the London Street Directory is in 1575, among the ‘Houses round the Churchyard.’
Pauls Church-yard. ‘Before the Fire, which destroyed the old Cathedral, St. Paul’s Churchyard was chiefly inhabited by stationers, whose shops were then, and until the year 1760, distinguished by signs.’—Wh-C.
THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY.
GVILT-HEAD, A Gold-smith. The goldsmiths seem to have been a prosperous guild. (See Stow, Survey, ed. Thoms, p. 114.) At this time they performed the office of banking, constituting the intermediate stage between the usurer and the modern banker. ‘The goldsmiths began to borrow at interest in order to lend out to traders at a higher rate. In other words they became the connecting link between those who had money to lend and those who wished to borrow for trading purposes, or it might be to improve their estates. No doubt at first the goldsmiths merely acted as guardians of their clients’ hoards, but they soon began to utilize those hoards much as bankers now make use of the money deposited with them.’—Social England 3. 544.
AMBLER. Jonson uses this name again in Neptune’s Triumph, Wks. 8. 32:
It reappears in The Staple of News.
Her Gentlemanvsher. For an exposition of the character and duties of the gentleman-usher see the notes to 4. 4. 134. 201, 215.
Newgate. ‘This gate hath of long time been a gaol, or prison for felons and trespassers, as appeareth by records in the reign of King John, and of other kings.’—Stow, Survey, ed. Thoms, p. 14.
THE PROLOGUE.
1 The DIVELL is an Asse. ‘This is said by the prologue pointing to the title of the play, which as was then the custom, was painted in large letters and placed in some conspicuous part of the stage.’—G.
Cf. Poetaster, After the second sounding: ‘What’s here? THE ARRAIGNMENT!’ Also Wily Beguiled: Prol. How now, my honest rogue? What play shall we have here to-night?
Jonson often, but not invariably, announces the title of the play in the prologue or induction. Cf. Every Man out, Cynthia’s Revels, Poetaster, and all plays subsequent to Bart. Fair except Sad Shep.
3 Grandee’s. Jonson uses this affected form of address again in Timber, ed. Schelling. 22. 27
4 allowing vs no place. As Gifford points out, the prologue is a protest against the habit prevalent at the time of crowding the stage with stools for the accommodation of the spectators.
Dekker in Chapter 6 of The Guls Horne-booke gives the gallant full instructions as to the behavior proper to the play-house. The youth is advised to wait until ‘the quaking prologue hath (by rubbing) got culor into his cheekes’, and then ‘to creepe from behind the Arras,’ and plant himself ‘on the very Rushes where the Commedy is to daunce, yea, and vnder the state of Cambises himselfe.’ Sir John Davies makes a similar allusion (Epigrams, ed. Grosart, 2. 10). Jonson makes frequent reference to the subject. Cf. Induction to The Staple of News, Every Man out, Wks. 2. 31; Prologue to Cynthia’s Revels, Wks. 2. 210, etc.
5 a subtill thing. I. e., thin, airy, spiritual, and so not occupying space.
6 worne in a thumbe-ring. ‘Nothing was more common, as we learn from Lilly, than to carry about familiar spirits, shut up in rings, watches, sword-hilts, and other articles of dress.’—G.
I have been unable to verify Gifford’s statement from Lilly, but the following passage from Harsnet’s Declaration (p. 13) confirms it: ‘For compassing of this treasure, there was a consociation betweene 3 or 4 priests, deuill-coniurers, and 4 discouerers, or seers, reputed to carry about with them, their familiars in rings, and glasses, by whose suggestion they came to notice of those golden hoards.’
Gifford says that thumb-rings of Jonson’s day were set with jewels of an extraordinary size, and that they appear to have been ‘more affected by magistrates and grave citizens than necromancers.’ Cf. I Henry IV 2. 4: ‘I could have crept into any alderman’s thumb-ring.’ Also Witts Recreat., Epig. 623:
Glapthorne, Wit in a Constable, 1639, 4. 1: ‘An alderman—I may say to you, he has no more wit than the rest of the bench, and that lies in his thumb-ring.’
8 In compasse of a cheese-trencher. The figure seems forced to us, but it should be remembered that trenchers were a very important article of table equipment in Jonson’s day. They were often embellished with ‘posies,’ and it is possible that Jonson was thinking of the brevity of such inscriptions. Cf. Dekker, North-Ward Hoe 3. 1 (Wks. 3. 38): ‘Ile have you make 12. poesies for a dozen of cheese trenchers.’ Also Honest Whore, Part I, Sc. 13; and Middleton, Old Law 2. 1 (Wks. 2. 149); No Wit, no Help like a Woman’s 2. 1 (Wks. 4. 322).
15 Like the young adders. It is said that young adders, when frightened, run into their mother’s mouth for protection.
16 Would wee could stand due North. I. e., be as infallible as the compass.
17 Muscouy glasse. Cf. Marston, Malcontent, Wks. 1. 234: ‘She were an excellent lady, but that her face peeleth like Muscovy glass.’ Reed (Old Plays 4. 38) quotes from Giles Fletcher’s Russe Commonwealth, 1591, p. 10: ‘In the province of Corelia, and about the river Duyna towards the North-sea, there groweth a soft rock which they call Slude. This they cut into pieces, and so tear it into thin flakes, which naturally it is apt for, and so use it for glasse lanthorns and such like. It giveth both inwards and outwards a clearer light then glasse, and for this respect is better than either glasse or horne; for that it neither breaketh like glasse, nor yet will burne like the lanthorne.’ Dekker (Non-dram. Wks. 2. 135) speaks of a ‘Muscouie Lanthorne.’ See Gloss.
22 the Diuell of Edmunton. The Merry Devil of Edmunton was acted by the King’s Men at the Globe before Oct. 22, 1607. It has been conjecturally assigned to Shakespeare and to Drayton. Hazlitt describes it as ‘perhaps the first example of sentimental comedy we have’ (see O. Pl., 4th ed., 10. 203 f.). Fleay, who believes Drayton to be the author, thinks that the ‘Merry devil’ of The Merchant of Venice 2. 3, alludes to this play (Biog. Chron. 1. 151 and 2. 213). There were six editions in the 17th century, all in quarto—1608, 1612, 1617, 1626, 1631, 1655. Middleton, The Black Book, Wks. 8. 36, alludes to it pleasantly in connection with A Woman kill’d with Kindness. Genest mentions it as being revived in 1682. Cf. also Staple of News, 1st Int.
26 If this Play doe not like, etc. Jonson refers to Dekker’s play of 1612 (see Introduction, p. xxix). On the title-page of this play we find If it be not good, The Diuel is in it. At the head of Act. 1, however, the title reads If this be not a good play, etc.
ACT I.
1. 1. 1 Hoh, hoh, etc. ‘Whalley is right in saying that this is the conventional way for the devil to make his appearance in the old morality-plays. Gifford objects on the ground that ‘it is not the roar of terror; but the boisterous expression of sarcastic merriment at the absurd petition of Pug;’ an objection, the truth of which does not necessarily invalidate Whalley’s statement. Jonson of course adapts the old conventions to his own ends. See Introduction, p. xxiii.
1. 1. 9 Entring a Sow, to make her cast her farrow? Cf. Dekker, etc., Witch of Edmonton (Wks. 4. 423): ‘Countr. I’ll be sworn, Mr. Carter, she bewitched Gammer Washbowls sow, to cast her Pigs a day before she would have farried.’
1. 1. 11 Totnam. ‘The first notice of Tottenham Court, as a place of public entertainment, contained in the books of the parish of St. Gile’s-in-the-Fields, occurs under the year 1645 (Wh-C.). Jonson, however, as early as 1614 speaks of ‘courting it to Totnam to eat cream’ (Bart. Fair, Act 1. Sc. 1, Wks. 4. 362). George Wither, in the Britain’s Remembrancer, 1628, refers to the same thing:
Tottenham Fields were until a comparatively recent date a favorite place of entertainment.
1. 1. 13 a tonning of Ale, etc. Cf. Sad Shep., Wks. 6. 276:
1. 1. 15 Spight o’ the housewiues cord, or her hot spit. ‘There be twentie severall waies to make your butter come, which for brevitie I omit; as to bind your cherne with a rope, to thrust thereinto a red hot spit, &c.’—Scot, Discovery, p. 229.
1. 1. 16, 17 Or some good Ribibe ... witch. This seems to be an allusion, as Fleay suggests, to Heywood’s Wise-Woman of Hogsdon. The witch of that play declares her dwelling to be in ‘Kentstreet’ (Heywood’s Wks. 5. 294). A ribibe meant originally a musical instrument, and was synonymous with rebec. By analogy, perhaps, it was applied to a shrill-voiced old woman. This is Gifford’s explanation. The word occurs again in Skelton’s Elynour Rummyng, l. 492, and in Chaucer, The Freres Tale, l. 1377: ‘a widwe, an old ribybe.’ Skeat offers the following explanation: ‘I suspect that this old joke, for such it clearly is, arose in a very different way [from that suggested by Gifford], viz. from a pun upon rebekke, a fiddle, and Rebekke, a married woman, from the mention of Rebecca in the marriage-service. Chaucer himself notices the latter in E. 1704.’
1. 1. 16 Kentish Towne. Kentish Town, Cantelows, or Cantelupe town is the most ancient district in the parish of Pancras. It was originally a small village, and as late as the eighteenth century a lonely and somewhat dangerous spot. In later years it became noted for its Assembly Rooms. In 1809 Hughson (London 6. 369) called it ‘the most romantic hamlet in the parish of Pancras.’ It is now a part of the metropolis. See Samuel Palmer’s St. Pancras, London, 1870.
1. 1. 17 Hogsden. Stow (Survey, ed. Thoms, p. 158) describes Hogsden as a ‘large street with houses on both sides.’ It was a prebend belonging to St. Paul’s. In Hogsden fields Jonson killed Gabriel Spenser in a duel in 1598. These fields were a great resort for the citizens on a holiday. The eating of cream there is frequently mentioned. See the quotation from Wither under note 1. 1. 11, and Alchemist, Wks. 4. 155 and 175:
Stephen in Every Man in dwelt here, and so was forced to associate with ‘the archers of Finsbury, or the citizens that come a-ducking to Islington ponds.’ Hogsden or Hoxton, as it is now called, is to-day a populous district of the metropolis.
1. 1. 18 shee will not let you play round Robbin. The expression is obscure, and the dictionaries afford little help. Round-robin is a common enough phrase, but none of the meanings recorded is applicable in this connection. Some child’s game, played in a circle, seems to be referred to, or the expression may be a cant term for ‘play the deuce.’ Robin is a name of many associations, and its connection with Robin Hood, Robin Goodfellow, and ‘Robert’s Men’ (‘The third old rank of the Canting crew.’—Grose.) makes such an interpretation more or less probable.
M. N. G. in N. & Q. 9th Ser. 10. 394 says that ‘when a man does a thing in a circuitous, involved manner he is sometimes said “to go all round Robin Hood’s barn to do it.”’ ‘Round Robin Hood’s barn’ may possibly have been the name of a game which has been shortened to ‘round Robin.’
1. 1. 21 By a Middlesex Iury. ‘A reproof no less severe than merited. It appears from the records of those times, that many unfortunate creatures were condemned and executed on charges of the rediculous nature here enumerated. In many instances, the judge was well convinced of the innocence of the accused, and laboured to save them; but such were the gross and barbarous prejudices of the juries, that they would seldom listen to his recommendations; and he was deterred from shewing mercy, in the last place by the brutal ferociousness of the people, whose teeth were set on edge with’t, and who clamoured tumultuously for the murder of the accused.’—G.
1. 1. 32 Lancashire. This, as Gifford says, ‘was the very hot-bed of witches.’ Fifteen were brought to trial on Aug. 19, 1612, twelve of whom were convicted and burnt on the day after their trial ‘at the common place of execution near to Lancaster.’ The term ‘Lancashire Witches’ is now applied to the beautiful women for which the country is famed. The details of the Lancaster trial are contained in Potts’ Discoverie (Lond. 1613), and a satisfactory account is given by Wright in his Sorcery and Magic.
1. 1. 33 or some parts of Northumberland. The first witch-trial in Northumberland, so far as I have been able to ascertain, occurred in 1628. This was the trial of the Witch of Leeplish.
1. 1. 37 a Vice. See Introduction, pp. xxxiv f.
1. 1. 38 To practice there-with any play-fellow. See variants. The editors by dropping the hyphen have completely changed the sense of the passage. Pug wants a vice in order that he may corrupt his play-fellows there-with.
1. 1. 41 ff. Why, any Fraud;
Or Couetousnesse; or Lady Vanity;
Or old Iniquity. Fraud is a character in Robert Wilson’s
The Three Ladies of London, printed 1584, and The Three Lords
and Three Ladies of London, c 1588, printed 1590. Covetousness
appears in Robin Conscience, c 1530, and is applied to one of the
characters in The Staple of News, Wks. 5. 216. Vanity is one
of the characters in Lusty Juventus (see note 1. 1. 50)
and in Contention between Liberality and Prodigality, printed 1602
(O. Pl. 4th ed., 8. 328). She seems to have been a favorite with the
later dramatists, and is frequently mentioned (I Henry IV. 2. 4;
Lear 2. 2; Jew of Malta 2. 3, Marlowe’s Wks. 2. 45). Jonson
speaks of her again in The Fox, Wks. 3. 218. For Iniquity see
Introduction, p. xxxviii.
The change in punctuation (see variants), as well as that two lines below, was first suggested by Upton in a note appended to his Critical Observations on Shakespeare. Whalley silently adopted the reading in both cases.
1. 1. 43 I’ll call him hither. See variants. Coleridge, Notes, p. 280, says: ‘That is, against all probability, and with a (for Jonson) impossible violation of character. The words plainly belong to Pug, and mark at once his simpleness and his impatience.’ Cunningham says that he arrived independently at the same conclusion, and points out that it is plain from Iniquity’s opening speech that he understood the words to be Pug’s.
1. 1. 49 thy dagger. See note 1. 1. 85.
1. 1. 50 lusty Iuuentus. The morality-play of Lusty Juventus was written by R. Wever about 1550. It ‘breathes the spirit of the dogmatic reformation of the Protector Somerset,’ but ‘in spite of its abundant theology it is neither ill written, nor ill constructed’ (Ward, Eng. Drama 1. 125). It seems to have been very popular, and the expression ‘a lusty Juventus’ became proverbial. It is used as early as 1582 by Stanyhurst, Aeneis 2 (Arber). 64 and as late as Heywood’s Wise Woman of Hogsdon (c 1638), where a gallant is apostrophised as Lusty Juventus (Act 4). (See Nares and NED.) Portions of the play had been revived not many years before this within the tragedy of Thomas More (1590, acc. to Fleay 1596) under the title of The Mariage of Witt and Wisedome. ‘By dogs precyous woundes’ is one of the oaths used by Lusty Juventus in the old play, and may be the ‘Gogs-nownes’ referred to here (O. Pl., 4th ed., 2. 84). ‘Gogs nowns’ is used several times in Like will to Like (O. Pl., 4th ed., 3. 327, 331, etc.).
1. 1. 51 In a cloake to thy heele. See note 1. 1. 85.
1. 1. 51 a hat like a pent-house. ‘When they haue walkt thorow the streetes, weare their hats ore their eye-browes, like pollitick penthouses, which commonly make the shop of a Mercer, or a Linnen Draper, as dark as a roome in Bedlam.’ Dekker, West-ward Hoe, Wks. 2. 286.
Halliwell says (L. L. L., ed. Furness, p. 85): ‘An open shed or shop, forming a protection against the weather. The house in which Shakespeare was born had a penthouse along a portion of it.’ In Hollyband’s Dictionarie, 1593, it is spelled ‘pentice,’ which shows that the rime to ‘Juventus’ is probably not a distorted one.
1. 1. 52 thy doublet all belly. ‘Certaine I am there was neuer any kinde of apparell euer inuented that could more disproportion the body of man then these Dublets with great bellies, ... stuffed with foure, fiue or six pound of Bombast at the least.’—Stubbes, Anat., Part 1, p. 55.
1. 1. 54 how nimble he is! ‘A perfect idea of his activity may be formed from the incessant skipping of the modern Harlequin.’—G.
1. 1. 56 the top of Pauls-steeple. As Gifford points out, Iniquity is boasting of an impossible feat. St. Paul’s steeple had been destroyed by fire in 1561, and was not yet restored. Several attempts were made and money collected. ‘James I. countenanced a sermon at Paul’s Cross in favor of so pious an undertaking, but nothing was done till 1633 when reparations commenced with some activity, and Inigo Jones designed, at the expense of Charles I., a classic portico to a Gothic church.’—Wh-C.
Lupton, London Carbonadoed, 1632, writes: ‘The head of St. Paul’s hath twice been troubled with a burning fever, and so the city, to keep it from a third danger, lets it stand without a head.’ Gifford says that ‘the Puritans took a malignant pleasure in this mutilated state of the cathedral.’ Jonson refers to the disaster in his Execration upon Vulcan, U. 61, Wks. 8. 408. See also Dekker, Paules Steeples complaint, Non-dram. Wks. 4. 2.
1. 1. 56 Standard in Cheepe. This was a water-stand or conduit in the midst of the street of West Cheaping, where executions were formerly held. It was in a ruinous condition in 1442, when it was repaired by a patent from Henry VI. Stow (Survey, ed. Thoms, p. 100) gives a list of famous executions at this place, and says that ‘in the year 1399, Henry IV. caused the blanch charters made by Richard II. to be burnt there.’
1. 1. 58 a needle of Spaine. Gifford, referring to Randolph’s Amyntos and Ford’s Sun’s Darling, points out that ‘the best needles, as well as other sharp instruments, were, in that age, and indeed long before and after it, imported from Spain.’ The tailor’s needle was in cant language commonly termed a Spanish pike.
References to the Spanish needle are frequent. It is mentioned by Jonson in Chloridia, Wks. 8. 99; by Dekker, Wks. 4. 308; and by Greene, Wks. 11. 241. Howes (p. 1038) says: ‘The making of Spanish Needles, was first taught in England by Elias Crowse, a Germane, about the eight yeare of Queene Elizabeth, and in Queen Maries time, there was a Negro made fine Spanish Needles in Cheape-side, but would neuer teach his Art to any.’
1. 1. 59 the Suburbs. The suburbs were the outlying districts without the walls of the city. Cf. Stow, Survey, ed. Thoms, p. 156 f. They were for the most part the resort of disorderly persons. Cf. B. & Fl., Humorous Lieut. 1. 1.; Massinger, Emperor of the East 1. 2.; Shak., Jul. Caes. 2. 1; and Nares, Gloss. Wheatley (ed. Ev. Man in, p. 1) quotes Chettle’s Kind Harts Dreame, 1592: ‘The suburbs of the citie are in many places no other but dark dennes for adulterers, thieves, murderers, and every mischief worker; daily experience before the magistrates confirms this for truth.’ Cf. also Glapthorne, Wit in a Constable, Wks., ed. 1874, 1. 219:
In Every Man in, Wks. 1. 25, a ‘suburb humour’ is spoken of.
1. 1. 60 Petticoate-lane. This is the present Middlesex Street, Whitechapel. It was formerly called Hog Lane and was beautified with ‘fair hedge-rows,’ but by Stow’s time it had been made ‘a continual building throughout of garden houses and small cottages’ (Survey, ed. 1633, p. 120 b). Strype tells us that the house of the Spanish Ambassador, supposedly the famous Gondomar, was situated there (Survey 2. 28). In his day the inhabitants were French Protestant weavers, and later Jews of a disreputable sort. That its reputation was somewhat unsavory as early as Nash’s time we learn from his Prognostication (Wks. 2. 149):
‘If the Beadelles of Bridewell be carefull this Summer, it may be hoped that Peticote lane may be lesse pestered with ill aires than it was woont: and the houses there so cleere clensed, that honest women may dwell there without any dread of the whip and the carte.’ Cf. also Penniless Parliament, Old Book Collector’s Misc. 2. 16: ‘Many men shall be so venturously given, as they shall go into Petticoat Lane, and yet come out again as honestly as they went first in.’
1. 1. 60 the Smock-allies. Petticoat Lane led from the high street, Whitechapel, to Smock Alley or Gravel Lane. See Hughson 2. 387.
1. 1. 61 Shoreditch. Shoreditch was formerly notorious for the disreputable character of its women. ‘To die in Shoreditch’ seems to have been a proverbial phrase, and is so used by Dryden in The Kind Keeper, 4to, 1680. Cf. Nash, Pierce Pennilesse, Wks. 2. 94: ‘Call a Leete at Byshopsgate, & examine how euery second house in Shorditch is mayntayned; make a priuie search in Southwarke, and tell mee how many Shee-Inmates you fin de: nay, goe where you will in the Suburbes, and bring me two Virgins that haue vowd Chastity and Ile builde a Nunnery.’ Also ibid., p. 95; Gabriel Harvey, Prose Wks., ed. Grosart. 2. 169; and Dekker, Wks. 3. 352.
1. 1. 61 Whitechappell. ‘Till within memory the district north of the High Street was one of the very worst localities in London; a region of narrow and filthy streets, yards and alleys, many of them wholly occupied by thieves’ dens, the receptacles of stolen property, gin-spinning dog-holes, low brothels, and putrescent lodging-houses,—a district unwholesome to approach and unsafe for a decent person to traverse even in the day-time.’—Wh-C.
Saint Kathernes was the name of a hospital and precinct without London. The hospital was said to have been founded by Queen Matilda, wife of King Stephen. In The Alchemist (Wks. 4. 161), Jonson speaks of its having been used ‘to keep the better sort of mad-folks.’ It was also employed as a reformatory for fallen women, and it is here that Winifred in Eastward Ho (ed. Schelling, p. 84) finds an appropriate landing-place.
From this hospital there was ‘a continual street, or filthy strait passage, with alleys of small tenements, or cottages, built, inhabited by sailors’ victuallers, along by the river of Thames, almost to Radcliff, a good mile from the Tower.’—Stow, ed. Thoms, p. 157.
The precinct was noted for its brew-houses and low drinking places. In The Staple of News Jonson speaks of ‘an ale-wife in Saint Katherine’s, At the Sign of the Dancing Bears’ (Wks. 5. 226). The same tavern is referred to in the Masque of Augurs as well as ‘the brew-houses in St. Katherine’s.’ The sights of the place are enumerated in the same masque.
The present passage seems to indicate that the precinct was largely inhabited by Dutch. In the Masque of Augurs Vangoose speaks a sort of Dutch jargon, and we know that a Flemish cemetery was located here (see Wh-C). Cf. also Sir Thomas Overbury’s Character of A drunken Dutchman resident in England, ed. Morley, p. 72: ‘Let him come over never so lean, and plant him but one month near the brew-houses of St. Catherine’s and he will be puffed up to your hand like a bloat herring.’ Dutch weavers had been imported into England as early as the reign of Edward III. (see Howes, p. 870 a), and in the year 1563 great numbers of Netherlanders with their wives and children fled into England owing to the civil dissension in Flanders (Howes, p. 868 a). They bore a reputation for hard drinking (cf. Like will to Like, O. Pl. 3. 325; Dekker, Non-dram. Wks. 3. 12; Nash, Wks. 2. 81, etc.).
The phrase ‘to take forth their patternes’ is somewhat obscure, and seems to have been forced by the necessity for a rhyme. Halliwell says that ‘take forth’ is equivalent to ‘learn,’ and the phrase seems therefore to mean ‘take their measure,’ ‘size them up,’ with a view to following their example. It is possible, of course, that actual patterns of the Dutch weavers or tailors are referred to.
1. 1. 63 Custome-house key. This was in Tower Street on the Thames side. Stow (ed. Thoms, pp. 51. 2) says that the custom-house was built in the sixth year of Richard II. Jonson mentions the place again in Every Man in, Wks. 1. 69.
1. 1. 66 the Dagger, and the Wool-sacke. These were two ordinaries or public houses of low repute, especially famous for their pies. There were two taverns called the ‘Dagger,’ one in Holborn and one in Cheapside. It is probably to the former of these that Jonson refers. It is mentioned again in the Alchemist (Wks. 4. 24 and 165) and in Dekker’s Satiromastix (Wks. 1. 200). Hotten says that the sign of a dagger was common, and arose from its being a charge in the city arms.
The Woolsack was without Aldgate. It was originally a wool-maker’s sign. Machyn mentions the tavern in 1555; and it is alluded to in Dekker, Shoemaker’s Holiday, Wks. 1. 61. See Wh-C. and Hotten’s History of Signboards, pp. 325 and 362.
1. 1. 69 Belins-gate. Stow (ed. Thoms, p. 78) describes Belins-gate as ‘a large water-gate, port or harborough.’ He mentions the tradition that the name was derived from that of Belin, King of the Britons, but discredits it. Billingsgate is on the Thames, a little below London Bridge, and is still the great fish-market of London.
1. 1. 70 shoot the Bridge. The waterway under the old London Bridge was obstructed by the narrowness of the arches, by cornmills built in some of the openings, and by the great waterworks at its southern end. ‘Of the arches left open some were too narrow for the passage of boats of any kind. The widest was only 36 feet, and the resistance caused to so large a body of water on the rise and fall of the tide by this contraction of its channel produced a fall or rapid under the bridge, so that it was necessary to “ship oars” to shoot the bridge, as it was called,—an undertaking, to amateur watermen especially, not unattended with danger. “With the flood-tide it was impossible, and with the ebb-tide dangerous to pass through or shoot the arches of the bridge.” In the latter case prudent passengers landed above the bridge, generally at the Old Swan Stairs, and walked to some wharf, generally Billingsgate, below it.’—Wh-C.
1. 1. 70 the Cranes i’ the Vintry. These were ‘three strong cranes of timber placed on the Vintry wharf by the Thames to crane up wine there (Stow, ed. Thoms, p. 00). They were situated in Three Cranes’ lane, and near by was the famous tavern mentioned as one of the author’s favorite resorts (Bart. Fair 1. 1, Wks. 4. 356). Jonson speaks of it again in The Silent Woman, Wks. 3. 376, and in the Masque of Augurs. Pepys visited the place on January 23, 1662, and describes the best room as ‘a narrow dogg-hole’ in which he and his friends were crammed so close ‘that it made me loath my company and victuals, and a sorry dinner it was too.’ Cf. also Dekker, (Non-dram. Wks. 8. 77).
1. 1. 72 the Strand. This famous street was formerly the road between the cities of Westminster and London. That many lawyers lived in this vicinity we learn from Middleton (Father Hubburd’s Tales, Wks. 8. 77).
1. 1. 73 Westminster-hall. It was once the hall of the King’s palace at Westminster, originally built by William Rufus. The present hall was formed 1397-99. Here the early parliaments were held. ‘This great hall hath been the usual place of pleadings, and ministration of justice.’—Stow, ed. Thoms, p. 174.
1. 1. 75 so Veluet to Leather. Velvet seems to have been much worn by lawyers. Cf. Overbury, Characters, p. 72: ‘He loves his friend as a counsellor at law loves the velvet breeches he was first made barrister in.’
1. 1. 85 In his long coat, shaking his wooden dagger. See Introduction, pp. xxxviii f.
1. 1. 93 Cokeley. Whalley says that he was the master of a puppet show, and this has been accepted by all authorities (Gifford, ed.; Nares, Gloss.; Alden, ed. of Bart. Fair). He seems, however, to have been rather an improviser like Vennor, or a mountebank with a gift of riming. He is mentioned several times by Jonson: Bart. Fair, Wks. 4. 422, 3: ‘He has not been sent for, and sought out for nothing, at your great city-suppers, to put down Coriat and Cokely.’ Epigr.129; To Mime, Wks. 8. 229:
1. 1. 94 Vennor. Gifford first took Vennor to be a juggler, but corrected his statement in the Masque of Augurs, Wks. 7. 414. He says: ‘Fenner, whom I supposed to be a juggler, was a rude kind of improvisatore. He was altogether ignorant; but possessed a wonderful facility in pouring out doggrel verse. He says of himself,
He seems to have made a wretched livelihood by frequenting city feasts, &c., where, at the end of the entertainment, he was called in to mount a stool and amuse the company by stringing together a number of vile rhymes upon any given subject. To this the quotation alludes. Fenner is noticed by the duchess of Newcastle: “For the numbers every schoolboy can make them on his fingers, and for the rime, Fenner would put down Ben Jonson, and yet neither boy nor Fenner so good poets.” This, too, is the person meant in the Cambridge answer to Corbet’s satire:
Fenner was so famed for his faculty of rhyming, that James, who, like Bartholomew Cokes, would willingly let no raree-show escape him, sent for him to court. Upon which Fenner added to his other titles that of his “Majesty’s Riming Poet.” This gave offense to Taylor, the Water poet, and helped to produce that miserable squabble printed among his works, and from which I have principally derived the substance of this note.’—G.
‘In Richard Brome’s Covent Garden Weeded (circ. 1638), we have: “Sure ’tis Fenner or his ghost. He was a riming souldier.” (p. 42.)’—C.
The controversy referred to may be found in the Spenser Society’s reprint of the 1630 folio of Taylor’s Works, 1869, pp. 304-325. Here may be gathered a few more facts regarding the life of Fenner (or Fennor as it should be spelled), among them that he was apprenticed when a boy to a blind harper. In the quarrel, it must be confessed, Fennor does not appear markedly inferior to his derider either in powers of versification or in common decency. The quarrel between the poets took place in October, 1614, and Fennor’s admittance to court seems to be referred to in the present passage.
1. 1. 95 a Sheriffes dinner. This was an occasion of considerable extravagance. Entick (Survey 1. 499) tells us that in 1543 a sumptuary law was passed ‘to prevent luxurious eating or feasting in a time of scarcity; whereby it was ordained, that the lord-mayor should not have more than seven dishes at dinner or supper,’ and ‘an alderman and sheriff no more than six.’
1. 1. 96 Skip with a rime o’ the Table, from New-nothing. What is meant by New-nothing I do not know. From the construction it would seem to indicate the place from which the fool was accustomed to take his leap, but it is possible that the word should be connected with rime, and may perhaps be the translation of a Greek or Latin title for some book of facetiae published about this time. Such wits as Fennor and Taylor doubtless produced many pamphlets, the titles of which have not been recorded. In 1622 Taylor brought out a collection of verse called ‘Sir Gregory Non-sense His Newes from no place,’ and it may have been this very book in manuscript that suggested Jonson’s title. In the play of King Darius, 1106, one of the actors says: ‘I had rather then my new nothing, I were gon.’
1. 1. 97 his Almaine-leape into a custard. ‘In the earlier days, when the city kept a fool it was customary for him at public entertainments, to leap into a large bowl of custard set on purpose.’—W. Whalley refers also to All’s well that Ends Well 2. 5: ‘You have made a shift to run into it, boots and all, like him that leapt into the custard.’
Gifford quotes Glapthorne, Wit in a Const.:
He continues: ‘Indeed, no common supply was required; for, besides what the Corporation (great devourers of custard) consumed on the spot, it appears that it was thought no breach of city manners to send, or take some of it home with them for the use of their ladies.’ In the excellent old play quoted above, Clara twits her uncle with this practise:
Cunningham says: ‘Poets of a comparatively recent date continue to associate mayors and custards.’ He Quotes Prior (Alma, Cant. 1) and a letter from Bishop Warburton to Hurd (Apr. 1766): ‘I told him (the Lord Mayor) in what I thought he was defective—that I was greatly disappointed to see no custard at table. He said that they had been so ridiculed for their custard that none had ventured to make its appearance for some years.’ Jonson mentions the ‘quaking custards’ again in The Fox, Wks. 3. 164., and in The Staple of News, Wks. 5. 196, 7.
An Almain-leap was a dancing leap. ‘Allemands were danced here a few years back’ (Nares). Cunningham quotes from Dyce: ‘Rabelais tells us that Gargantua “wrestled, ran, jumped, not at three steps and a leap, ... nor yet at the Almane’s, for, said Gymnast, these jumps are for the wars altogether unprofitable and of no use.” Rabelais, Book 1, C. 23.’
Bishop Barlow, Answer to a Catholike Englishman, p. 231, Lond. 1607, says: ‘Now heere the Censurer makes an Almaine leape, skipping 3 whole pages together’ (quoted in N. & Q. 1st Ser. 10. 157).
1. 1. 97 their hoods. The French hood was still worn by citizens’ wives. Thus in the London Prodigal, ed. 1709: