No More Learning

' (Almanac, a
character in _The Staple of News_, is described as a 'doctor in
physic. ')

Among the more famous almanac-makers the names of William Lilly, John
Partridge and Bretnor may be mentioned. For the last see note 2. 1.
1, and B. & Fl. , _Rollo, Duke of Normandy_, where Fiske and Bretnor
appear again. Cf. also _Alchemist_, _Wks. _ 4. 41; _Every Man out_,
_Wks. _ 2. 39-40; _Mag. La. _, _Wks. _ 6. 74, 5. In Sir Thomas Overbury's
_Character_ of _The Almanac-Maker_ (Morley, p. 56) we read: 'The verses
of his book have a worse pace than ever had Rochester hackney; for his
prose, 'tis dappled with ink-horn terms, and may serve for an almanac;
but for his judging at the uncertainty of weather, any old shepherd
shall make a dunce of him. '


ACT II.

=2. 1. 1 Sir, money's a whore=, etc. Coleridge, _Notes_,
p. 280. emends: 'Money, sir, money's a', &c. Cunningham, on the
other hand, thinks that 'the 9-syllable arrangement is quite in
Jonson's manner, and that it forces an emphasis upon every word
especially effective at the beginning of an act. ' See variants.

Money is again designated as a whore in the _Staple of News_
4. 1: 'Saucy Jack, away: Pecunia is a whore. ' In the same
play Pennyboy, the usurer, is called a 'money-bawd. ' Dekker
(_Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 137) speaks of keeping a bawdy-house for
Lady Pecunia. The figure is a common one.

=2. 1 . 3 Via. = This exclamation is quite common among the dramatists
and is explained by Nares as derived from the Italian exclamation
_via! _ 'away, on! ' with a quibble on the literal of L. _via_, a way.
The _Century Dictionary_ agrees substantially with this derivation.
Abundant examples of its use are given by the authorities quoted, to
which may be added _Merry Devil of Edmonton_ 1. 2. 5, and Marston,
_Dutch Courtezan_, _Wks. _ 2. 20:

O, yes, come, _via_! --away, boy--on!

=2. 1. 5 With Aqua-vitae. = Perhaps used with especial reference to
line 1, where he has just called money a bawd Compare:

O, ay, as a bawd with aqua-vitae.
--Marston, _The Malcontent_, _Wks_. 1. 294.

'Her face is full of those red pimples with drinking Aquauite,
the common drinke of all bawdes. '--Dekker, _Whore of Babylon_,
_Wks. _ 2. 246.

=2. 1. 17. See variants. = Line 15 shows that the original
reading is correct.

=2. 1. 19 it shall be good in law. = See note 1. 2. 22.

=2. 1. 20 Wood-cock. = A cant term for a simpleton or dupe.

=2. 1. 21 th' Exchange. = This was the first Royal Exchange,
founded by Sir Thomas Gresham in 1566, opened by Queen Elizabeth
in 1570-1, and destroyed in the great fire of 1666 (Wh-C. ).
Howes (1631) says that it was 'plenteously stored with all kinds
of rich wares and fine commodities,' and Paul Hentzner (p. 40)
speaks of it with enthusiasm.

It was a favorite lounging-place, especially in the evening.
Wheatley quotes Hayman, _Quodlibet_, 1628, p. 6:

Though little coin thy purseless pockets line,
Yet with great company thou'rt taken up;
For often with Duke Humfray thou dost dine,
And often with Sir Thomas Gresham sup.

'We are told in _London_ and _Country Carbonadoed_, 1632, that at the
exchange there were usually more coaches attendant than at church
doors. ' Cf. also _Bart. Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 357: 'I challenge all
Cheapside to shew such another: Moor-fields, Pimlico-path, Or the
Exchange, in a summer evening. ' Also _Ev. Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 39.

=2. 1. 30 do you doubt his eares? = Ingine's speech is capable of a
double interpretation. Pug has already spoken of the 'liberal ears' of
his asinine master.

=2. 1. 41 a string of's purse. = Purses, of course, used to
be hung at the girdle. A thief was called a cut-purse. See the
amusing scene in _Bart. Fair_, _Wks. _ 5. 406.

=2. 1. 53, 4 at the Pan, Not, at the skirts. = '_Pan_ is not
easily distinguished from _skirt_. Both words seem to refer to
the outer parts, or extremities. Possibly Meercraft means--on
a broader scale, on a more extended front. '--G.

'The pan is evidently the deepest part of the swamp, which
continues to hold water when the _skirts_ dry up, like the hole
in the middle of the tray under a joint when roasting, which
collects all the dripping. Meercraft proposed to grapple with
the main difficulty at once. '--C.

I had already arrived at the same conclusion before reading
Cunningham's note. The _NED. _ gives: 'Pan. A hollow or depression in
the ground, esp. one in which water stands.

1594 Plat, _Jewell-ho_ 1. 32 Of all Channels, Pondes, Pooles,
Riuers, and Ditches, and of all other pannes and bottomes
whatsoeuer. '

_Pan_, however, is also an obsolete form of _pane_, a cloth
or skirt. The use is evidently a quibble. The word _pan_ suggested
to Jonson the word _skirt_, which he accordingly employed not
unaptly.

=2. 1. 63 his black bag of papers, there, in Buckram. = The
buckram bag was the usual sign of the pettifogger. Cf. Marston,
_Malcontent_, _Wks. _ 1. 235:

_Pass. _ Ay, as a pettifogger by his buckram bag.

Dekker, _If this be not a good Play_, _Wks. _ 3. 274: 'We must all
turn pettifoggers and in stead of gilt rapiers, hang buckram bags at
our girdles. ' Nash refers to the same thing in _Pierce Pennilesse_,
_Wks. _ 2. 17.

=2. 1. 64 th' Earledome of Pancridge. = Pancridge is a corruption
of Pancras. The Earl of Pancridge was 'one of the "Worthies" who
annually rode to Mile End, or the Artillery Ground, in the ridiculous
procession called _Arthurs Shew_' (G. ). Cf. _To Inigo Marquis
Would-be_, _Wks. _ 8. 115:

Content thee to be Pancridge earl the while.

_Tale Tub_, _Wks. _ 6. 175:

--next our St. George,
Who rescued the king's daughter, I will ride;
Above Prince Arthur.
_Clench. _ Or our own Shoreditch duke.
_Med. _. Or Pancridge earl.
_Pan. _ Or Bevis or Sir Guy.

For _Arthur's Show_ see Entick's _Survey_ 1. 497; Wh-C. 1. 65;
and Nares 1. 36. Cf. note 4. 7. 65?

=2. 1. 71, 2 Your Borachio Of Spaine. = '"_Borachio_ (says
Min-shieu) is a bottle commonly of a pigges skin, with the hair
inward, dressed inwardly with rozen, to keep wine or liquor
sweet:"--Wines preserved in these bottles contract a peculiar
flavour, and are then said _to taste of the borachio_. '--G.

Florio says: 'a boracho, or a bottle made of a goates skin such
as they vse in Spaine. ' The word occurs somewhat frequently
(see _NED. _) and apparently always with this meaning, or in the
figurative sense of 'drunkard'. It is evident, however, from
Engine's question, 'Of the King's glouer? ' either that it is
used here in a slightly different sense, or more probably that
Merecraft is relying on Fitzdottrel's ignorance of the subject.
Spanish leather for wearing apparel was at this time held in
high esteem. See note 4. 4. 71, 2.

=2. 1. 83 a Harrington. = 'In 1613, a patent was granted to John
Stanhope, lord Harrington, Treasurer of the Chambers, for the
coinage of royal farthing tokens, of which he seems to have availed
himself with sufficient liberality. Some clamour was excited on the
occasion: but it speedily subsided; for the Star Chamber kept a
watchful eye on the first symptoms of discontent at these pernicious
indulgences. From this nobleman they took the name of Harrington
in common conversation. '--G.

'Now (1613) my lord Harrington obtained a patent from the
King for the making of Brasse Farthings, a thing that brought with
it some contempt through lawfull. '--Sparke, _Hist. Narration_,
Somer's _Tracts_ 2. 294.
A reference to this coin is made in _Drunken Barnaby's Journal_
in the _Oxoniana_ (quoted by Gifford) and in Sir Henry Wotton's
Letters (p. 558, quoted by Whalley). Cf. also _Mag. La. _, _Wks. _
6. 89: 'I will note bate you a single Harrington,' and _ibid. _,
_Wks. _ 6. 43.

=2. 1. 102 muscatell. = The grape was usually called
_muscat_. So in Pepys' _Diary_, 1662: 'He hath also sent each of
us some anchovies, olives and muscatt. ' The wine was variously
written _muscatel_, _muscadel_, and _muscadine_. Muscadine and
eggs are often mentioned together (cf. Text, 2. 2. 95-96; _New
Inn_ 3. 1; Middleton, _Wks. _ 2. 290; 3. 94; and 8. 36), and were
used as an aphrodisiac (Bullen). Nares quotes Minsheu: 'Vinum
muscatum, quod moschi odorem referat; for the sweetnesse and
smell it resembles muske. '

=2. 1. 116, 7 the receiu'd heresie, That England beares no Dukes. =
'I know not when this _heresy_ crept in. There was apparently some
unwillingness to create dukes, as a title of honour, in the Norman
race; probably because the Conqueror and his immediate successors were
dukes of Normandy, and did not choose that a subject should enjoy
similar dignities with themselves. The first of the English who bore
the title was Edward the black prince, (son of Edward III. ) who was
created duke of Cornwall, by charter, as Collins says, in 1337. The
dignity being subsequently conferred on several of the blood-royal,
and of the nobility, who came to untimely ends, an idea seems to have
been entertained by the vulgar, that the title itself was ominous. At
the accession of James I. to the crown of this country, there was, I
believe, no English peer of ducal dignity. '--G.

The last duke had been created in the reign of Henry VIII. , who made
his illegitimate son the Duke of Richmond, and Charles Brandon, who
married his sister Mary, Duke of Suffolk. After the attainder and
execution of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, in 1572, there was no duke
in England except the king's sons, until the creation of the Duke of
Richmond in 1623. (See _New Int. Cyc. _ 6. 349. )

=2. 1. 144 Bermudas. = 'This was a cant term for some places in
the town with the same kind of privilege as the mint of old, or the
purlieus of the Fleet. '--W.

'These _streights_ consisted of a nest of obscure courts,
alleys, and avenues, running between the bottom of St. Martin's
Lane, Half-moon, and Chandos-street. In Justice Overdo's time,
they were the receptacles of fraudulent debtors, thieves and
prostitutes. '--G. (Note on _Bart. Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 407. )

'On Wednesday at the Bermudas Court, Sir Edwin Sandys fell foul
of the Earl of Warwick. The Lord Cavendish seconded Sandys and
the Earl told the Lord, "By his favour he believed he lied. "
Hereupon, it is said, they rode out yesterday, and, as it is
thought, gone beyond sea to fight. --_Leigh to Rev. Joseph Mede_,
July 18, 1623. ' (Quoted Wh-C. 1. 169. ) So in _Underwoods_,
_Wks. _ 8. 348:

turn pirates here at land,
Have their Bermudas and their Streights i' the Strand.

_Bart. Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 407: "The Streights, or the Bermudas,
where the quarrelling lesson is read. "

It is evident from the present passage and the above quotations that
ruffians like Everill kept regular quarters in the 'Bermudas', where
they might be consulted with reference to the settlement of affairs
of honor.

=2. 1. 151 puts off man, and kinde. = 'I. e. , human nature. '--G. Cf.
_Catiline_, _Wks. _ 4. 212:

--so much, that kind
May seek itself there, and not find.

=2. 1. 162 French-masques. = 'Masks do not appear as ordinary
articles of female costume in England previous to the reign of
Queen Elizabeth. . . . French masks are alluded to by Ben Jonson
in _The Devil is an Ass_. They were probably the half masks
called in France 'loups,' whence the English term 'loo masks. '

Loo masks and whole as wind do blow,
And Miss abroad's disposed to go.
_Mundus Muliebris_, 1690.
--Planche _Cycl. of Costume_ 1. 365.

'Black masks were frequently worn by ladies in public in the
time of Shakespeare, particularly, and perhaps universally at
the theatres. '--Nares.

=2. 1. 163 Cut-works. = A very early sort of lace deriving
its name from the mode of its manufacture, the fine cloth on
which the pattern was worked being cut away, leaving the design
perfect. It is supposed to have been identical with what was
known as Greek work, and made by the nuns of Italy in the
twelfth century. It was introduced into England during the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, and continued in fashion during those
of James I. and Charles I. Later it fell under the ban of the
Puritans, and after that period is rarely heard of. (Abridged
from Planche, _Cycl. _)

=2. 1. 168 ff. nor turne the key=, etc. Gifford points out that the
source of this passage is Plautus, _Aulularia_ [ll. 90-100]:

Caue quemquam alienum in aedis intromiseris.
Quod quispiam ignem quaerat, extingui uolo,
Ne causae quid sit quod te quispiam quaeritet.
Nam si ignis uiuet, tu extinguere extempulo,
Tum aquam aufugisse dicito, si quis petet.
Cultrum, securim, pistillum, mortarium,
Quae utenda uasa semper uicini rogant,
Fures uenisse atque abstulisse dicito.
Profecto in aedis meas me absente neminem
Volo intromitti, atque etiam hoc praedico tibi,
Si Bona Fortuna ueniat, ne intromiseris.

Jonson had already made use of a part of this passage:

Put out the fire, kill the chimney's heart,
That it may breathe no more than a dead man.
_Case is Altered_ 2. 1, _Wks. _ 6. 328.

Wilson imitated the same passage in his _Projectors_, Act 2, Sc.
1: 'Shut the door after me, bolt it and bar it, and see you let
no one in in my absence. Put out the fire, if there be any, for
fear somebody, seeing the smoke, may come to borrow some! If
any one come for water, say the pipe's cut off; or to borrow a
pot, knife, pestle and mortar, or the like, say they were stole
last night! But harke ye! I charge ye not to open the door to
give them an answer, but whisper't through the keyhole! For, I
tell you again, I wilt have nobody come into my house while I'm
abroad! No; no living soul! Nay, though Good Fortune herself
knock at a door, don't let her in! '

=2. 2. 1 I haue no singular seruice=, etc. I. e. , This is
the sort of thing I must become accustomed to, if I am to
remain on earth.

=2. 2. 49, 50 Though they take Master Fitz-dottrell, I am no
such foule. = Gifford points out that the punning allusion of
_foul_ to _fowl_ is a play upon the word dottrel. 'The dotterel
(Fuller tells us) is avis ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? a mirth-making bird,
so ridiculously mimical, that he is easily caught, or rather
catcheth himself by his over-active imitation. As the fowler
stretcheth forth his arms and legs, stalking towards the bird,
so the bird extendeth his legs and wings, approaching the fowler
till he is surprised in the net. '--G.

This is what is alluded to in 4. 6. 42. The use of the metaphor is
common. Gifford quotes Beaumont & Fletcher. _Bonduca_ and _Sea Voyage_.
Many examples are given in Nares and the _NED. _, to which may be added
_Damon and Pithias_, _O. Pl. _ 4. 68; Nash, _Wks. _ 3. 171; and Butler's
_Character of a Fantastic_ (ed. Morley, p. 401): 'He alters his gait
with the times, and has not a motion of his body that (like a dottrel)
he does not borrow from somebody else. ' Nares quotes _Old Couple_ (_O.
Pl. _, 4th ed. , 12. 41):

_E. _ Our Dotterel then is caught?
_B. _ He is and just
As Dotterels use to be: the lady first
Advanc'd toward him, stretch'd forth her wing, and he
Met her with all expressions.

It is uncertain whether the sense of 'bird' or 'simpleton' is
the original. _Dottrel_ seems to be connected with _dote_ and
_dotard_. The bird is a species of plover, and Cunningham says
that 'Selby ridicules the notion of its being more stupid than
other birds. ' In _Bart. Fair_ (_Wks. _ 4. 445) we hear of the
'sport call'd Dorring the Dotterel. '

=2. 2. 51 Nor faire one. = The dramatists were fond of
punning on _foul_ and _fair_. Cf. _Bart. Fair_ passim.

=2. 2. 77 a Nupson. = Jonson uses the word again in _Every
Man in_, _Wks. _ 1. 111: 'O that I were so happy as to light on
a nupson now.