Runne and a great Cast, Epigr. 33:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
Beggar’s Bush, Wks. 9. 81:
Brome, Sparagus Garden, Wks. 3. 152:
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:
As source of the latter Dr. L. H. Holt (Mod. Lang. Notes, June, 1905) gives Plautus, Epidicus 2. 3. 306-7:
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:
The performance of plays began at three o’clock. Cf. Histriomastix, 1610:
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:
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:
(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.
ACT IV
4. 1. 1 referring to Commissioners. In the lists of patents we frequently read of commissions specially appointed for examination of the patent under consideration. The King’s seal was of course necessary to render the grant valid.
4. 1. 5 Sr. Iohn Monie-man. See Introduction, p. lxxiii.
4. 1. 37 I will haue all piec’d. Cf. Mag. La., Wks. 6. 50:
4. 1. 38 ill solder’d! Cf. The Forest, 12, Epistle to Elizabeth, etc.; ‘Solders cracked friendship.’
4. 2. 11 Haue with ’hem. ‘An idea borrowed from the gaming table, being the opposite of “have at them.”’—C.
4. 2. 11 the great Carroch. See note 1. 6. 214.
4. 2. 12 with my Ambler, bare. See note 4. 4. 202.
4. 2. 22 I not loue this. See note 1. 6. 14.
4. 2. 26 Tooth-picks. This was an object of satire to the dramatists of the period. Nares says that they ‘appear to have been first brought into use in Italy; whence the travellers who had visited that country, particularly wished to exhibit that symbol of gentility.’ It is referred to as the mark of a traveller by Shakespeare, King John, 1. 1 (cited by Gifford):
Overbury (Character of An Affected Traveller, ed. Morley, p. 35) speaks of the pick-tooth as ‘a main part of his behavior.’
It was also a sign of foppery. Overbury (p. 31) describes the courtier as wearing ‘a pick-tooth in his hat,’ and Massinger, Grand Duke of Florence, Act 3 (quoted by Nares), mentions ‘my case of tooth-picks, and my silver fork’ among the articles ‘requisite to the making up of a signior.’ John Earle makes a similar reference in his Character of An Idle Gallant (ed. Morley, p. 179), and Furnivall (Stubbes’ Anatomy, p. 77) quotes from Laugh and lie downe: or The worldes Folly, London, 1605, 4to: ‘The next was a nimble-witted and glib-tongu’d fellow, who, having in his youth spent his wits in the Arte of love, was now become the jest of wit.... The picktooth in the mouth, the flower in the eare, the brush upon the beard; ... and what not that was unneedefull,’ etc.
It is a frequent subject of satire in Jonson. Cf. Ev. Man out, Wks. 2. 124; Cyn. Rev., Wks. 2. 218, 248; Fox, Wks. 3. 266. See also Dekker, Wks. 3. 280.
4. 2. 63 What vile Fucus is this. The abuse of face-painting is a favorite subject of satire with the moralists and dramatists of the period. Stubbes (Anatomy of Abuses, Part 1, pp. 64-8) devotes a long section to the subject. Dr. Furnivall in the notes to this passage, pp. 271-3, should also be consulted. Brome satirizes it in the City Wit, Wks. 2. 300. Lady Politick Would-be in the Fox is of course addicted to the habit, and a good deal is said on the subject in Epicoene. Dekker (West-ward Hoe, Wks. 2. 285) has a passage quite similar in spirit to Jonson’s satire.
4. 2. 71 the very Infanta of the Giants! Cf. Massinger and Field, Fatal Dowry 4. 1: ‘O that I were the infanta queen of Europe!’ Pecunia in the Staple of News is called the ‘Infanta of the mines.’ Spanish terms were fashionable at this time. Cf. the use of Grandees, 1. 3. It is possible that the reference here is to the Infanta Maria. See Introduction, p. xviii.
4. 3. 5, 6 It is the manner of Spaine, to imbrace onely, Neuer to kisse. Cf. Minsheu’s Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues, pp. 51-2: ‘W. I hold that the greatest cause of dissolutenesse in some women in England is this custome of kissing publikely.... G. In Spaine doe not men vse to kisse women? I. Yes the husbands kisse their wiues, but as if it were behinde seuen walls, where the very light cannot see them.’
4. 3. 33 f. Decayes the fore-teeth, that should guard the tongue; etc. Cf. Timber, ed. Schelling, 13. 24: ‘It was excellently said of that philosopher, that there was a wall or parapet of teeth set in our mouth, to restrain the petulancy of our words; that the rashness of talking should not only be retarded by the guard and watch of our heart, but be fenced in and defended by certain strengths placed in the mouth itself, and within the lips.’
Professor Schelling quotes Plutarch, Moralia, de Garrulitate 3, translated by Goodwin: ‘And yet there is no member of human bodies that nature has so strongly enclosed within a double fortification as the tongue, entrenched within a barricade of sharp teeth, to the end that, if it refuses to obey and keep silent when reason “presses the glittering reins” within, we should fix our teeth in it till the blood comes rather than suffer inordinate and unseasonable din’ (4. 223).
4. 3. 39 Mad-dames. See variants. The editors have taken out of the jest whatever salt it possessed, and have supplied meaningless substitutes. Gifford followed the same course in his edition of Ford (see Ford’s Wks. 2. 81), where, however, he changes to Mad-dam. Such gratuitous corruptions are inexplicable. Cf. Tale Tub, Wks. 6. 172:
4. 3. 45 Their seruants. A common term for a lover. Cf. Sil. Wom., Wks. 3. 364.
4. 3. 51. See variants. There are several mistakes in the assignment of speeches throughout this act. Not all of Gifford’s changes, however, are to be accepted without question. Evidently, if the question where? is to be assigned to Wittipol, the first speech must be an aside, as it is inconceivable that Merecraft should introduce Fitzdottrel first under his own name, and then as the ‘Duke of Drown’d-land.’
My conception of the situation is this: Pug is playing the part of gentleman usher. He enters and announces to Merecraft that Fitzdottrel and his wife are coming. Merecraft whispers: ‘Master Fitzdottrel and his wife! where?’ and then, as they enter, turns to Wittipol and introduces them; ‘Madame,’ etc.
4. 4. 30 Your Allum Scagliola, etc. Many of the words in this paragraph are obscure, and a few seem irrecoverable. Doubtless Jonson picked them up from various medical treatises and advertisements of his day. I find no trace of Abezzo, which may of course be a misprint for Arezzo. The meanings assigned to Pol-dipedra and Porcelletto Merino are unsatisfactory. Florio gives ‘Zucca: a gourd; a casting bottle,’ but I have been unable to discover Mugia. The loss of these words is, to be sure, of no moment. Two things illustrative of Jonson’s method are sufficiently clear. (1) The articles mentioned are not, as they seem at first, merely names coined for the occasion. (2) They are a polyglot jumble, intended to make proficiency in the science of cosmetics as ridiculous as possible. It is worth while to notice, however, that this list of drugs is carefully differentiated from the list at 4. 4. 142 f., which contains the names of sweetmeats and perfumes.
4. 4. 32, 3 Soda di leuante, Or your Ferne ashes. Soda-ash is still the common trade name of sodium carbonate. In former times soda was chiefly obtained from natural deposits and from the incineration of various plants growing by the sea-shore. These sources have become of little importance since the invention of artificial soda by Leblanc toward the end of the eighteenth century (see Soda in CD.). Florio’s definition of soda is: ‘a kind of Ferne-ashes whereof they make glasses.’ Cf. also W. Warde, Tr. Alessio’s Secr., Pt. 1 fol. 78[m] 1º: ‘Take an vnce of Soda (which is asshes made of grasse, whereof glassemakers do vse to make their Cristall).’ In Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale (11. 254 f.) the manufacture of glass out of ‘fern-asshen’ is mentioned as a wonder comparable to that of Canacee’s ring.
4. 4. 33 Beniamin di gotta. The Dict. d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 1843, 2. 509, gives: ‘Benjoin. Sa teinture, étendue d’eau, sert à la toilette sous le nom de Lait virginal.’ See 4. 4. 52.
4. 4. 38 With a piece of scarlet. Lady Politick Would-be’s remedies in the Fox are to be ‘applied with a right scarlet cloth.’ Scarlet was supposed to be of great efficacy in disease. See Whalley’s note on the Fox, Wks. 3. 234.
4. 4. 38, 9 makes a Lady of sixty Looke at sixteen. Cunningham thinks this is a reference to the In decimo sexto of line 50.
4. 4. 39, 40 the water Of the white Hen, of the Lady Estifanias! The Lady Estifania seems to have been a dealer in perfumes and cosmetics. In Staple of News, Wks. 5. 166, we read: ‘Right Spanish perfume, the lady Estifania’s.’ Estefania is the name of a Spanish lady in B. & Fl.’s Rule a Wife.
4. 4. 47 galley-pot. Mistresse Gallipot is the name of a tobacconist in Dekker’s and Middleton’s Roaring Girle.
4. 4. 50 In decimo sexto. This is a bookbinder’s or printer’s term, ‘applied to books, etc., a leaf of which is one-sixteenth of a full sheet or signature.’ It is equivalent to ‘16mo.’ and hence metaphorically used to indicate ‘a small compass, miniature’ (see Stanford, p. 312). In Cyn. Rev., Wks. 2. 218, Jonson says: ‘my braggart in decimo sexto!’ Its use is well exemplified in John Taylor’s Works, sig. L1 v0/1: ‘when a mans stomache is in Folio, and knows not where to haue a dinner in Decimo sexto.’ The phrase is fairly common in the dramatic literature. See Massinger, Unnat. Combat 3. 2; Middleton, Father Hubburd’s Tales, Wks. 8 64, etc. In the present passage, however, the meaning evidently required is ‘perfect: ’spotless,’ and no doubt refers to the comparative perfection of a sexto decimo, or perhaps to the perfection naturally to be expected of any work in miniature.
4. 4. 52 Virgins milke for the face. Cf. John French, Art Distill.. Bk. 5. p. 135 (1651): ‘This salt being set in a cold cellar on a marble stone, and dissolved into an oil, is as good as any Lac virginis to clear, and smooth the face.’ Lac Virginis is spoken of twice in the Alchemist, Act 2, but probably in neither case is the cosmetic referred to. See Hathaway’s edition, p. 293. Nash speaks of the cosmetic in Pierce Pennilesse, Wks. 2. 44: ‘She should haue noynted your face ouer night with Lac virginis.’
4. 4. 55 Cataputia. Catapuce is one of the laxatives that Dame Pertelote recommended to Chauntecleer in Chaucer’s Nonne Preestes Tale, l. 145.
4. 4. 63 Doe not you dwindle. The use of dwindle in this sense is very rare. NED. thinks it is ‘probably a misuse owing to two senses of shrink.’ It gives only a single example, Alch., Wks. 4. 163: ‘Did you not hear the coil about the door? Sub. Yes, and I dwindled with it.’ Besides the two instances in Jonson I have noticed only one other, in Ford, Fancies chaste and noble, Wks. 2. 291: ‘Spa. Hum, how’s that? is he there, with a wanion! then do I begin to dwindle.’
4. 4. 69 Cioppino’s. The source of this passage, with the anecdote which follows, seems to be taken from Coryat’s Crudities (ed. 1776, 2. 36, 7): ‘There is one thing vsed of the Venetian women, and some others dwelling in the cities and towns subject to the Signiory of Venice, that is not to be obserued (I thinke) amongst any other women in Christendome: which is so common in Venice, that no woman whatsoeuer goeth without it, either in her house or abroad; a thing made of wood, and couered with leather of sundry colors, some with white, some redde, some yellow. It is called a Chapiney, which they weare vnder their shoes. Many of them are curiously painted; some also I haue seene fairely gilt: so vncomely a thing (in my opinion) that it is pitty this foolish custom is not cleane banished and exterminated out of the citie. There are many of these Chapineys of a great heigth, euen half a yard high, which maketh many of their women that are very short, seeme much taller then the tallest women we haue in England. Also I haue heard that this is obserued amongst them, that by how much the nobler a woman is, by so much the higher are her Chapineys. All their Gentlewomen, and most of their wiues and widowes that are of any wealth, are assisted and supported eyther by men or women when they walke abroad, to the end they may not fall. They are borne vp most commonly by the left arme, otherwise they might quickly take a fall. For I saw a woman fall a very dangerous fall as she was going down the staires of one of the little stony bridges with her high Chapineys alone by her selfe: but I did nothing pitty her, because shee wore such friuolous and (as I may truely term them) ridiculous instruments, which were the occasion of her fall. For both I myselfe, and many other strangers (as I haue obserued in Venice) haue often laughed at them for their vaine Chapineys.’
4. 4. 71, 2 Spanish pumps Of perfum’d leather. Pumps are first mentioned in the sixteenth century (Planché). A reference to them occurs in Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1593-4, 4. 2. They were worn especially by footmen.
Spanish leather was highly esteemed at this time. Stubbes (Anat. of Abuses, Part 1, p. 77) says: ‘They haue korked shooes, pinsnets, pantoffles, and slippers, ... some of spanish leather, and some of English lether.’ Marston (Dutch Courtezan, Wks. 2. 7) speaks of a ‘Spanish leather jerkin,’ and Middleton (Father Hubburd’s Tales, Wks. 8. 70) of ‘a curious pair of boots of King Philip’s leather,’ and a little farther on (Wks. 8. 108) of Spanish leather shoes. Fastidious Brisk’s boots are made of the same material (Ev. Man out, Wks. 2. 147). Cf. also Dekker, Wks. 2. 305.
Perfumes were much in fashion, and Stubbes’ Anatomy has a great deal to say on the subject. We hear of perfumed jerkins in Marston’s Malcontent (Wks. 1. 314) and in Cynthia’s Revels (Wks. 2. 325). Spanish perfume for gloves is spoken of in the latter play (p. 328) and in the Alchemist (Wks. 4. 131) ‘your Spanish titillation in a glove’ is declared to be the best perfume.
4. 4. 77, 8 The Guardo-duennas, such a little old man,
As this. Minsheu gives the definition: ‘Escudero, m.
An Esquire, a Seruingman that waits on a Ladie or Gentlewoman, in
Spaine neuer but old men and gray beards.’
4. 4. 81 flat spred, as an Vmbrella. The umbrella of the seventeenth century seems to have been used exclusively to protect the face from the sun. Blount, Glossographia, 1670, gives: ‘Umbrello (Ital. Ombrella), a fashion of round and broad Fans, wherewith the Indians (and from them our great ones) preserve themselves from the heat of the sun or fire; and hence any little shadow, Fan, or other thing wherewith women guard their faces from the sun.’
It was apparently not in use in England when Coryat published his Crudities, which contains the following description (1. 135): ‘Also many of them doe carry other fine things of a far greater price, that will cost at the least a duckat, which they commonly call in the Italian tongue vmbrellaes, that is, things that minister shadow unto them for shelter against the scorching heate of the sunne. These are made of leather something answerable to the forme of a little cannopy, & hooped in the inside with diuers little wooden hoopes that extend the vmbrella in a pretty large compasse.’
‘As a defense from rain or snow it was not used in western Europe till early in the eighteenth century.’—CD.
4. 4. 82 Her hoope. A form of the farthingale (fr. Sp. Verdugal) was worn in France, Spain, and Italy, and in England as early as 1545. It gradually increased in size, and Elizabeth’s farthingale was enormous. The aptness of the comparison can be appreciated by reading Coryat’s description of the umbrella above.
4. 4. 87 An Escudero. See note 4. 4. 77, 8.
4. 4. 97 If no body should loue mee, but my poore husband. Cf. Poetaster, Wks. 2. 444: ‘Methinks a body’s husband does not so well at court; a body’s friend, or so—but, husband! ’tis like your clog to your marmoset,’ etc.
4. 4. 134 your Gentleman-vsher. ‘Gentleman-Usher. Originally a state-officer, attendant upon queens, and other persons of high rank, as, in Henry VIII, Griffith is gentleman-usher to Queen Catherine; afterwards a private affectation of state, assumed by persons of distinction, or those who pretended to be so, and particularly ladies. He was then only a sort of upper servant, out of livery, whose office was to hand his lady to her coach, and to walk before her bare-headed, though in later times she leaned upon his arm.’—Nares.
Cf. Dekker, West-ward Hoe, Wks. 2. 324: ‘Weare furnisht for attendants as Ladies are, We have our fooles, and our Vshers.’
The sources for a study of the gentleman-usher are the present play, The Tale of a Tub, and Chapman’s Gentleman Usher. In the Staple of News the Lady Pecunia is provided with a gentleman-usher. The principal duties of this office seem to have consisted in being sent on errands, handing the lady to her coach, and preceding her on any occasion where ceremony was demanded. In Chapman’s play Lasso says that the disposition of his house for the reception of guests was placed in the hands of this servant (cf. Chapman, Wks. 1. 263 f.). Innumerable allusions occur in which the requirement of going bare-headed is mentioned (see note on 4. 4. 202). Another necessary quality was a fine pace, which is alluded to in the present character’s name (see also note 4. 4. 201). An excellent description of the gentleman-usher will be found in Nares’ Glossary, quoting from Lenton’s Leasures, a book published in 1631, and now very rare.
4. 4. 142 the Dutchesse of Braganza. Braganza is the ruling house of Portugal. Dom John, Duke of Braganza, became king of Portugal in 1640.
4. 4. 143 Almoiauna. The Stanford Dictionary gives: ‘Almojabana, Sp. fr. Arab. Al-mojabbana: cheese-and-flour cake. Xeres was famed for this dainty, which is named from Arabic jobn = “cheese.”’
4. 4. 147 Marquesse Muja. Apparently a Spanish marquise, occupying a position in society similar to that of Madame Récamier.
4. 4. 156 A Lady of spirit. With this line and lines 165 f. cf. U. 32, Wks. 8. 356:
4. 4. 164 Pimlico. See note 3. 3. 170.
4. 4. 164 daunce the Saraband. The origin of the saraband is in doubt, being variously attributed to Spain and to the Moors. It is found in Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and its immoral character is constantly referred to. Grove (Dict. of Music 3. 226) quotes from chapter 12, ‘Del baile y cantar llamado Zarabanda,’ of the Tratado contra los Juegos Publicos (‘Treatise against Public Amusements’) of Mariana (1536-1623): ‘Entre las otras invenciones ha salido estos años un baile y cantar tan lacivo en las palabras, tan feo en las meneos, que basta para pegar fuego aun á las personas muy honestas’ (‘amongst other inventions there has appeared during late years a dance and song, so lascivious in its words, so ugly in its movements, that it is enough to inflame even very modest people’). ‘This reputation was not confined to Spain, for Marini in his poem “L’Adone” (1623) says:
Padre Mariana, who believed in its Spanish origin, says that its invention was one of the disgraces of the nation, and other authors attribute its invention directly to the devil. The dance was attacked by Cervantes and Guevara, and defended by Lope de Vega, but it seems to have been so bad that at the end of the reign of Philip II. it was for a time suppressed. It was soon, however, revived in a purer form and was introduced at the French court in 1588’ (Grove 3. 226-7).
In England the saraband was soon transformed into an ordinary country-dance. Two examples are to be found in the first edition of Playford’s Dancing Master, and Sir John Hawkins (Hist. of the Science and Practice of Music, 1776) speaks of it several times. ‘Within the memory of persons now living,’ he says, a Saraband danced by a Moor was constantly a part of the entertainment at a puppet-show’ (4. 388). In another place (2. 135), in speaking of the use of castanets at a puppet-show, he says: ‘That particular dance called the Saraband is supposed to require as a thing of necessity, the music, if it may be called so, of this artless instrument.’
In the Staple of News, Wks. 5. 256, Jonson speaks of ‘a light air! the bawdy Saraband!’
4. 4. 165 Heare, and talke bawdy; laugh as loud, as a larum. Jonson satirizes these vices again in U. 67 (see note 4. 4. 156) and Epigrams 48 and 115. Dekker (Guls Horne-booke, Non-dram. Wks. 2. 238) advises the young gallant to ‘discourse as lowd as you can, no matter to what purpose, ... and laugh in fashion, ... you shall be much obserued.’
4. 4. 172 Shee must not lose a looke on stuffes, or cloth. It being the fashion to ‘swim in choice of silks and tissues,’ plain woolen cloth was despised.
4. 4. 187 Blesse vs from him! Preserve us. A precaution against any evil that might result from pronouncing the devil’s name. Cf. Knight of the Burning Pestle 2. 1: Sure the devil (God bless us!) is in this springald!’ and Wilson, The Cheats, Prologue: