What company of | Mankind | would owne | they brother: hood,

4. 8. 32. The verse may be scanned as follows:

I know not what | I shall | doe. Come in friends:

4. 8. 38. This apparent alexandrine may be made regular by slurring one of the two extra syllables, see note on 4.8.23. Your vowed friend, | and serv | ant; comes to

sup with you,

4. 8. 40. The is sometimes pronounced in such words as special, partial, &c. (Abbott, § 479).

That speciall | respect, | and fa | vour from | you,

4. 8. 53. For the metre, see note on 2.4. 16.

Restore your Ladi | ships qui | et ? render then
❘

4. 8. 63. Tell-troth. NED. defines this as 'a veracious or candid person'; but the context, as well as several of the examples cited in NED., warrants the definition as 'informer; unscrupulous political news-gatherer.'

Cf. the following from NED.:

' 1580 H. Gifford Gilliflowers (1875) 147:

Is not Tom teltroath everywhere,
A busie cockcombe deem(d)e?

1700. Astray tr. Saavedra-Faxardo, I. 345:

Would these Tell-truths be guided by Prudence . . a Prince would more value Truth.

' 1809-10 Coleridge Friend VI (1865) 27:

Tell-truths in the service of falsehood we find everywhere.'

Also, in The Stationer's Register (Arber), there is this item, dated September 20, 1633: Thomas Lambert. Entred for his Copy a Balled called a Dialogue between Tom Tell Troth and

Robyn Conscience.'

But the strongest evidence that the above meaning was the one Jonson had in mind is the passage, 2. 6. 121-31.

4. 8. 64. For the metre, see note on I. I. 81.

What's she

that Í | call Neice | then? Polish | es Daughter;

4. 8. 72. As true it is, Lady, Lady, i' th' song. As Gifford points out, this is taken from The Ballad of Constant Susanna, a stanza of which is quoted in Percy's Reliques 1. 204:

There dwelt a man in Babylon
Of reputation great by fame;
He took to wife a faire woman,
Susanna she was callde by name:
A woman fair and vertuous;

Sir Toby sings a scrap of this ballad in Twelfth Night 2. 3. 80. 4. 8. 80. For the metre, see notes on I. I. 81; 4. 8. 38.

Ere Í | beleeve | it. For the possibility,

4. 8. 81. For the metre, see note on 4. 8. 40.

I leave | to tri | all. Truth | shall speake | it selfe.

4. Ch. 4. nor is it in your office to be troubled or perplexed with it, but to sit still, and expect. Cf. Every Man Out (Wks. 2. 116) But I wonder, what engine he will use to bring the rest out of their humours! Cor. That will appear anon, never preoccupy your imagination withal. Let your mind keep company with the scene still, which now removes itself from the country to the court.'

5. I. 12. They burnt old shoes, Goose-feathers, Assafoetida, A few horne shavings, with a bone, or two.

The materials burnt were such as would produce a pungent odor, like that of ammonia. I have not found any parallel passages in my reading of the early drama, but I have no doubt that such passages could be found. That this method of reviving persons who swoon was something of a custom

is show nalso by a similar passage in Smollett's Humphrey Clinker, p. 20: By this time the company began to hold their noses; but the doctor, without taking the least notice of this signal, proceeded to show that many fetid substances were not only agreeable but salutary; such as asafoetida, and other medicinal gums, resins, roots, and vegetables, over and aboue burnt feathers, tan-pits, candle-snuffs, &c.'

5. 1. 16. Vrinall-Judgement. Professional judgment. Doctors diagnosed disease by examination of the urine; see Bourne, Scatalogic Rites of all Nations, chap. 40. This chapter is called Urinoscopy, or Diagnosis by Urine.

5. 1. 25. For the metre, see notes on 1. 2.9; I. I. 28.

But in a toy; | Squire Needle, | comes i' | my nodle now. I

5. 2. I.

For the metre, see note on 3. 4. 62.

O! gi' | you joy | Madam | oisell | e Com passe!

5. 2. 2. You are his Whirle-poole now. I find it impossible to give an adequate paraphrase of this metaphor. As Jonson suggests the hospitality and graciousness of the mistress of the house by the name Loadstone, so he insinuates an idea of the fascination which Pleasance exerts over Compass by comparing her to a whirlpool which draws him irresistibly. 5. 2. 2. all to be married. See line 12, the variant to line 12, and the note on 1. Ch. 21.

5. 2. 10. Ember-weeke!

5.2. 18.

See the Glossary.

foure-pound Beaver hat. See the note on 3. 3. 61. 5. 2. 20. Cristall Spectacles. Crystal glass is that which has a very high degree of transparency. Rock crystal was used in magic art.

5. 2. 23. silver Bels to gingle. Golden or silver bells were sometimes given as the prize in races or other contests.

5. 2. 26. For the metre, see note on 1. 2. 47.

She does deserve | as man | y pen | sions,

5.3.3. For the metre, see note on 1. 2. 32.

The ends of a gown'd man.

See 5. 3. 24; also 2. Ch. 4, and note. 5. 3. 26.

And will save charges

Of Coaches, Vellute Gownes, and cut-worke Smocks. The extravagance of the age, and, on account of it, the incommodity of a wife, were often satirized. Stubbes gives three chapters (3-5) to the extravagance of dress in England. For an actual letter sent by a bride to her husband, see Gifford's Massinger, 4. 43-4: Alsoe, I will have 3 horses for my owne saddle, that none shall dare to lend or borrowe; none lend but I, none borrowe but you. Alsoe, I would have two gentlewomen, least one should be sicke, or have some other lett. Alsoe beleeve yt, it is an undecent thing for a gentlewomen to stand mumpinge alone, when God hath blessed their lord and lady wth a greate estate. Alsoe, when I ride a huntinge or a hawkeinge, or travayle from one house to another, I will have them attendinge; soe for either of those said woemen, I must and will have for either of them a horse. Alsoe, I will have 6 or 8 gentlemen ; and I will have my twoe coaches, one lyned with velvett to myselfe, wth 4 very fayre horses, and a coache for my woemen, lyned wth sweete cloth, one laced wth gold, the other wth scarlett, and laced with watched lace and silver, wth 4 good horses. Alsoe, I will have twoe coachmen, one for my own coache, the other for my woemen. Alsoe, att any tyme when I travayle, I will be allowed not only carroches, and spare horses for me and my women, but I will have such carryadgs, as shal be fittinge for all orderly; not pestringe my things wth my woemens, nor theirs wth either chambermayds, or theirs wth wase maids. Alsoe, for laundresses, when I travayle I will have them sent away before wth the carryadgs to see all safe, and the chambermayds I will have goe before wth the groomes, that a chamber may be ready, sweete and cleane. Alsoe, for that yt it unde

cent to croud upp myself wth my gentl. usher in my coache, I will have him to have a convenyent horse to attend me either in city or country. And I must have 2 footemen. And my desire is, that you defray all the chardges for me.'

5.3.33. an Action of Choke-baile. See the Glossary. 5.3.35. The metrical irregularity of this line may be explained by the custom of placing ejaculations out of the regular verse (Abbott, § 512).

5. 4. 14. This verse is irregular, being a tetrameter.

5. 4. 16. For the metre, see note on 1. 3. 16.

But here has a noise | beene since, | she was | delive r'd 5. 4. 21. For metre, see note to 1. 3. 16.

The in❘ firme man, | I was sent | for, Squi | re Need : le ?

5. 5. 2. dousets. This term of venery occurs again in the Sad Shepherd, p. 251, and in the Gipsies Metamorphoses, vol. VII, p. 383.'—C.

5.5.8.

A fine she spirit it is, an Indian Mag-pie. In these scenes (5 and 7), ridiculous from the modern point of view, Jonson takes the opportunity to satirize a number of superstitions; demoniacal possession in the case of Needle; the pretended power of exorcism of the doctor; and the belief that birds could act as the medium of spiritual revelation-a survival, doubtless, of the idea of the transmigration of souls. Preposterous as the situation seems to us, it would not to an age that took seriously astrology, alchemy, witchcraft, and all sorts of magic. For a similar case, take the following account of treasure finding quoted in the Gentleman's Magazine Library, pp. 199-200: "Many attempts have been made by poor workmen, who frequently left their daily employ, to discover money supposed to be hid near this chapel, without success; it was therefore proposed, that some person should lodge in the chapel, for a night, to obtain preternatural direction respecting it. Two farmers, at length, complied with my wishes, and ventured one night, about nine, aided by strong beer, to approach the hallowed walls: they trembled exceedingly at the sudden appearance of a white owl, that