English elements in Jonson's early comedy : a dissertation

. V .

tr

BULLETIN

OF

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

NO. 178

ISSUED FOUR TIMES A MONTH

HUMANISTIC SERIES, NO. 12 APRIL 8, 1911

STUDIES IN ENGLISH, NO. 1

English Elements in Jonson's Early
Comedy

BY

CHARLES READ BASKERVILL

PUBLISHED BY

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

AUSTIN, TEXAS

Entered as second-class matter at the postoffice at Austin

PREFACE

Several years ago I conceived the theory that Jonson was a
much more sympathetic student of English literature than has
commonly been supposed. In studying the problem, however, I
have become convinced that his indebtedness was less to specific
works used as sources than to certain specific trends in English
literature with which he was thoroughly in accord. The present
study is an attempt to follow out that idea. In view of the mul-
titudinous phases of Jonson's work, as of all Elizabethan litera-
ture, it has proved convenient, even necessary, to limit my field,
and the period of early comedies seems to furnish the best basis for
the study. Not only do these plays form a fairly isolated group in
Jonson's work, a group significant in the development of his pecu-
liar literary powers and of his characteristic type of comedy, but
they belong to a decade in English literature so decided and revo-
lutionary in its trends that Jonson's relation to contemporary let-
ters can be more easily tested in them than at any other period of
his work. The closing decade of the sixteenth century, with its
varied tendencies, its literary revolution, its plasticity, and its nice
balance between free criticism and easy creation, offered a chance
for the development of individual force such as perhaps no other
like period of the drama offered, and yet scarcely allowed any
writer to escape the impress of the time.

Jonson's relation to the movements of English literature at the
end of the sixteenth century is the primary problem of this study,
though at the same time I have attempted to trace the trends in
his work as far back as they are discernible. The general point
seems fairly clear that Jonson actually studied English literature
and used the work of predecessors according to the Renaissance
formulae for imitation somewhat as he imitated Latin literature
but less closely of course. Assuredly he was observant of the
trends and conventions in English literature and readily utilized
its types so far as they were suitable for comedy. It is my hope
that I have presented enough evidence to throw some light on the
relation of Jonson to his fellows and on the significance of literary
trends for his work.

IV

Preface

The Publication Committee of the University of Texas, who
have been kind enough to publish this volume as a Bulletin of the
University, have already waited patiently a year beyond the time
when the work was to have been ready for the press, and, keenly
as I realize the shortcomings and imperfections of the study, it
seems imperative to close it. Indeed, under the conditions of my
work, it is scarcely profitable to pursue the subject further. I
particularly regret that much material which promised to be of
interest for Jonson has been inaccessible to me, especially a num-
ber of works not yet reprinted which are satirical in nature or
deal with manners. Even in the case of a few writers like Lodge
and Guilpin, I have been forced to quote from copies of the most
interesting portions of their work made when the books were tem-
porarily accessible to me. Moreover, in the literature at hand I
have undoubtedly missed much that would add to the roundedness
of this treatment; but the nature of the work, I feel, makes the
omissions less significant than they would otherwise be, for with-
out any hope of exhausting the subject, I have merely attempted
to gather together sufficient material to illustrate the point of
view. The possible influence, also, of classical and continental
Renaissance literature upon the types and conventions of English
literature which led to Jonson, I have tried to weigh fairly, but,
as I have naturally not been able to study this phase of the sub-
ject closely, there must be many non-English parallels to Jonson's
work with which I am unacquainted. In the main, however, even
Jonson' s classicism seems to me to be strongly colored by contem-
porary attitudes, though I am aware that such a claim is, in many
cases, not readily susceptible of proof.

It has been difficult in handling the material to give due credit
for all that has been borrowed. The volume is already so cum-
bered with references and notes that I have deliberately avoided a
multitude of references for such ideas as are generally current now.
In the matter, also, of parallels to Jonson's treatment, though I
have attempted to give credit whenever I have been aware that the
material has been pointed out by others, the discovery of parallels
has seemed to me so much less significant than the massing and the
interpretation of them that I candidly confess I have not made
any exhaustive search to learn whether each parallel which I have
used is to be credited to some previous student.

Preface v

The fact that my material has been gathered from modern edi-
tions of Elizabethan works has led to many inconsistencies. In
titles and quotations I have tried to follow the various editors,, and
the result, which seems unavoidable, has been that the Elizabethan
and the modern form jostle each other on the same line. There is
much inconsistency, also, in the method of citing the sources of
material. In the case of works accessible in only one edition or
those easily referred to by the number of the satires, epigrams,
sonnets, etc., I have not always been careful to indicate the edition
from which I quote. Such are the satires of Marston and Middle-
ton edited by Bullen, and STcialetlieia and the works of Davies
edited by Grosart. But, when the reference is by volume and
page, my practice has of course been to give the edition, especially
with the first reference. For Jonson's works, unless it is other-
wise stated, I have referred to the three volume Gifford- Cunning-
ham edition; and, as reference to this edition by act and scene is
often hardly explicit enough, I have adopted the plan of giving
also the page of the volume in which the play under consideration
occurs. Eeferences to the quartos of the early plays are by line to
Professor Bang's reprints in Materialien zur Kunde des alteren
Englischen Dramas.

In closing this study I wish to express my thanks to two persons
to whom I am principally indebted. Prof. J. M. Manly has made
a number of suggestions, which have proved of value to me ; and my
wife, Catharine Q. Baskervill, has not only borne a great part of
the burden of copying, verifying, indexing, etc., but has also of-
fered innumerable suggestions that have entered into the body of
the work. Without her criticism the volume would have gone forth
in a far cruder form.

C. E. BASKERVILL.

University of Texas.
March, 1911.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

JONSON'S LITERARY IDEALS

Jonson and the new movement in comedy, 1. — Usual view of his
classicism, 1. — Point of view of present treatment, 2. — Scope of
treatment, 2. — Jonson's personality, 3. — Absence of realism in
his work, 5. — His statement of the requisites of the poet, 5. —
Demand that poetry shall conform to the conditions of the time,
7. — Eelation to his contemporaries, 8. — Variety in his work,
9. — Influence of contemporary modes on his choice of material,
9. — Illustrations from the tragedies and masques, 10. — From
the comedies, 12. — Conclusion, 15.

CHAPTER II

THE ENGLISH TEMPER OF JONSON'S WORK

Jonson in relation to the broader movements in contemporary lit-
erature, 17. — The humour comedies as one phase of the popular
satiric movement, 17. — Classicism and the school of satire, 18. —
Conditions of English life that gave rise to the new satire, 18. —
Jonson expressive of the English temper, 21. — His lack of sym-
pathy with romantic and courtly literature, 22. — His accord
with the spirit of English didacticism, 24. — Effect of English
literature on his classicism, 24. — The fusion of classic and me-
dieval English influences in his art, 26. — Aspects of his work that
are peculiarly medieval, 29. — His technique that of the didactic
school, 31. — Classical and medieval tendencies that made for
formalism in art, 32. — Jonson's fundamental Anglicism, 33.

CHAPTER III

A STUDY OF HUMOURS

The meaning of humour as used by Jonson, 34. — Jonson's imme-
diate predecessors in the use of the term, 37. — The development
of the use of humour in a figurative sense, 37. — Causes that re-

viii Contents

tarded this development, 39. — Connection of the humour com-
edy and the morality, 40. — The prominence of the humour con-
ception an expression of the increasing interest in the physio-
logical sciences, 41. — Use of humour in its derived sense a native
development, 45. — Humour as used by Fenton, 46. — The influ-
ence of the Eenaissance idea of decorum on the native idea of
humours in character portrayal, 55. — Wilson's conception of
character treatment, 56. — Sidney's, 57. — Lyly and the treatment
of humours, 59. — Gabriel Harvey, 60. — Greene, 62. — Nashe,
63. — Lodge, 67. — The part of the character sketch in humour
comedy, 68. — Jonson's immediate forerunners in the drama,
72.— The "comical satires," 75.

CHAPTER IV

A TALE OF A TUB

Date of A Tale of a Tub, 76. — Changes made in revision, 77.—
Type of drama to which the play belongs, 80. — Characters, 80.—
Type of plot, 80.— Plays similar in method of plotting, 82.— A
non-dramatic use of the same type of incidents, 85. — Minor
parallels between A Tale of a Tub and other plays of the period,
86.— The title, 88.— Primitive character of the play, 89.

CHAPTER V

THE CASE IS ALTERED

Date of The Case is Altered, 90.— Indebtedness to Plautus, 91.--
English influence, 93.— The character of Juniper, 94.— Onion,
100.— Valentine, 101 — Jaques, 102.— Romantic elements, 102.—
Variety of elements in the play, 105.

CHAPTER VI

EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR

Jonson's first comedy of manners, 107.— Classic affiliations 107.—
Neglect of incident, 107.— The gulls, 108.— Question of per-
sonal satire in Jonson's work as illustrated by the treatment of
the gulls, 120.-Bobadill, 122.— Cob, 130.— Brainworm, 132 —
Young Knowell and Wellbred, 135.— Kitely, 136.— Downright

Contents ix

138.— Justice Clement, 139.— The Elder Knowell, 139.— Criti-
cal utterances of the prologue, 14.2.

CHAPTER VII

EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR

Every Man out in relation to formal satire, 144. — Kinship to
Every Man in, 144. — The induction and chorus, 146. — The part
of Asper, 149. — Cordatus and Mitis, 157. — Macilente, 158.—
Carlo Buffone, 170.— Shift, 180.— Clove and Orange, 184.—
Brisk, 185.— Puntarvolo, 194.— Saviolina, 200.— Sordido, 203.—
Fungoso, 205.— Sogliardo, 207.— Deliro and Fallace, 210.— The
English tone of the play, 212.

CHAPTER VIII

CYNTHIA'S REVELS

Allegorical and satiric character of Cynthia's Revels, 214. — The
induction, 214. — Complex nature of the play, 217. — The four
main lines of treatment, 218. — The court of love element, 218. —
Parody of the duello, 233. — Influence of the mythological com-
edy, 234. — The Arraignment of Paris, 236. — The Rare Triumphs
of Love and Fortune, 237. — Lyly's mythological comedies,
237. — Other mythological plays, 242. — The use of echo, 245.—
Cynthia's Revels as a study of ethics, 246. — The influence of
Aristotelian conceptions,, 246. — Kinship between Jonson's play
and the morality as illustrated in Magnificence, 249. — In Three
Lords and Three Ladies of London, 253. — Jonson's grouping by
fours, 258. — Kinship between the characters of Cynthia's Revels
and those of the preceding play, 258. — Crites, 259. — Amorphus,
264.— Asotus, 267.— Hedon, 272.— Anaides, 276.— The pages,
278.— Moria, 279.— Argurion, 279.— Philautia and Phantaste,
280.— The nymphs as a group, 281.— The palinode, 282.— The
play expressive of Jonson's peculiar literary bent, 282.

CHAPTER IX

POETASTER

The preponderating classic element in Poetaster, 284. — English
elements, 285.— The induction, 286.— The prologue, 289.— The
plot largely classic, 289. — Classification of characters, 289. —

Contents

? 290.— Albius and Chloe, 291.— The literary significance of
Ovid's group, 293— Tucca, .294.— Satire on players, 297.—
Treatment of informers, 299.— Proportion of personal satire and
literary allegory involved in the treatment of the intrigue
against Horace, 303.— Demetrius, 305.— Crispinus, 306.—
Horace, 308. — Virgil, 310. — Critical material in Poetaster,

311. Kelation to critical ideas of Chapman, 312. — Of Nashe,

314. — Conventionality in Jonson's work and his tendency to
symbolism, 315.

ENGLISH ELEMENTS IN JONSON'S EARLY COMEDY

CHAPTEE I
JONSON'S LITERARY IDEALS

When Jonson's Every Man in his Humour and Every Man out
of his Humour appeared upon the stage in 1598 and 1599, a new
era in the Elizabethan drama opened. Chapman, Dekker, Marston,
Middleton, and Webster joined with Jonson in producing pure
comedy. Even Shakespeare's work was influenced by the new
movement. This change in dramatic mode and ideals we are justi-
fied in associating with Jonson not only because his work was the
strongest but because it was the most distinctive of the new school.
His thoroughgoing reformation in the theme and the technique of
the drama, his close approach to unity of mood and structure, give
his plays the appearance of complete detachment from the hybrid
forms of the drama that were struggling toward a more realistic
comedy in which the study of manners should be more than a
mere series of scenes in mystery, morality, chronicle, or romantic
comedy.

The source of the inspiration and power which gave Jonson this
commanding place in the reform of the drama has justly been
sought in his knowledge and love of classic literature. His work
is larded with phrases and sentences drawn from the classics;
many details of his plots have been traced to classic sources; and,
most important of all, his intimate acquaintance with classic
modes of thought and expression has resulted in intellectual clarity
and restraint as dominant characteristics of his work. But this
has usually been interpreted to mean that Jonson owes everything
to classicism, and it would not greatly overstate what has been a
fairly common estimate of his place in the development of the
Elizabethan drama to say that this classical training along with
the originality of the man is responsible for the Jonsonian comedy.
Such a view, of course, recognizes the fact that material for Eng-
lish comedy must be furnished largely by English life, but it rates
the influence of English literature upon Jonson as decidedly weak.

2 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

Though this view of Jonson as deriving his inspiration, power,
and literary material almost solely from the classics has been
greatly modified in the last decade, we have not yet come to a full
realization of his indebtedness to English literary men and English
literary trends. It is only recently that Professor Spingarn's study
of Eenaissance criticism has shown how greatly the classical stand-
ards of literary excellence were modified in passing through the
hands of various theorists, — modified by the very literature that
the theorists were attempting to bring into conformity with classic
ideals, — and how greatly indebted Jonson was for his critical stand-
ards to the men who preceded him in the Eenaissance.1 Eecently,
also, various English sources for Jon son's plays and masques have
been suggested.2 Undoubtedly many passages and incidents in his
work are borrowed directly from English literature, and their
value in understanding his development is great enough. But to
my mind they are secondary in importance to the presence of
a greater mass of conventional material showing the influence
of English literary ideals and tendencies. In other words,
there is something more English in Jonson's work than these
isolated loans. It is accordingly the purpose of this study to
• indicate the value of English literature rather than Eng-
lish life in the development of Jonson's comedy, to point out
wherever possible the actual English sources of his work, but
especially to show how conventional in the literature at the end
of the sixteenth century was much of his material. Such a study
will, I believe, reveal an influence of English literature on Jonson
not so obvious as that of Latin literature but perhaps more per-
vasive and universal.

The period chosen as the basis of this study covers the years
1597 to 1601. The plays which I have regarded as falling within
the period are A Tale of a Tub, The Case is Altered, Every Man
in his Humour, Every Man out of his Humour, Cynthia's Revels,
and Poetast&r. The choice scarcely calls for defence. These

xFor Prof. Spingarn's views, cf. his Literary Criticism in the Renais-
sance and the introduction to Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century.
The very decided English tradition in criticism, which is of supreme im-
portance for Jonson's early comedy, is discussed excellently in the intro-
duction to Gregory Smith's Elizabethan Critical Essays.

rn,2CfoHart' Works °f Ben Jonson; the editions of The Devil is an Ass and
e Staple of News in Yale Studies in English; two papers by me in
Modern Philology, Vol. VI, pp. 109 ff. and 267 ff.; etc.

,

^;j4o,h Jt Vv'
fti tX/uu

Jonson's Literary Ideals 3

comedies represent the formative period in Jonson's career, the
time during which he evolved and perfected his conception of the
humour types. They stand, then, on the whole, not necessarily
for what is most enjoyable or artistically greatest in Jonson's
work, but for what is most distinctive. Even A Tale of a Tub
and The Case is Altered, if I am right in regarding them as the
earliest of Jonson's comedies, are extremely interesting as showing
the influences to which he was susceptible at the opening of his
career, when, before he had found his own field in satiric comedy
dealing with the follies of the higher social classes, he was trying
his hand, as Shakespeare had done earlier, in different types of
comedy popular with Elizabethan audiences. What I hope to
show is that in developing his characteristic type of play Jonson
seized upon ideas and methods which had run through English
literature almost unconsciously and yet with increasing strength,
and that after his own fashion he brought them to consciousness
and to the dignity of a type and formulated the laws of that type.
Before proceeding to a minute study of these plays, however, or of
the fashions and trends that molded Jonson's comedy in this early
period, it seems to me advisable to take up at some length Jonson's
relation to his age, his attitude to contemporary literature, and hip
general method of work, for we have to do with plays which,
though they have fewest direct English sources, yet show the most
pervasive flavor of English literary treatment.

On the personal side, Jonson's broad experience of life, his dom-
inant individuality, and his eagerness to give expression to self
mark him as a typical man of the Renaissance. In early life he
served as common bricklayer, common soldier, and possibly com-
mon strolling player. As a soldier we know that he displayed his
aggressiveness, courage, and love of prominence. We know, too,
from the tributes of Beaumont and various other literary men that
at an early date Jonson's learning and spirit of dominance had
made him a leader in the tavern gatherings of wits. Dekker in
Satiromastix twits Jonson with his eagerness to be recognized as a
literary dictator in tavern and playhouse, and with his willingness
to fawn upon knights for favor. From a knowledge of Jonson's
life and works we realize the measure of truth in these charges;
but whatever excess of tact the tactless Jonson may have been
guilty of, he actually did make his way into the most exclusive

4 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

circles, come into contact with men of social and political promi-
nence, and at the same time win a position of leadership in the
world of letters. We are forced to recognize the strength amid all
of his limitations to understand why the hostility of those whom
he fought and scorned, the coarseness of his features and the un-
gainliness of his figure, the lifelong poverty and the probable social
crudeness of the man, the envy, pride, arrogance, or even im-
pudence that he could not always restrain, did not prevent his
winning recognition and disciples among the most envied of Eng-
land's scholars and noblemen. The bricklayer ultimately found
himself an important figure at the court. Insatiable in his thirst
for knowledge, independent in his literary and social standards,
stubbornly insistent upon his own ideals, sternly rational in his
judgment of life, direct and matter-of-fact in his gluttonous taste
as in his ambition, undisturbed by qualms in his sensual enjoy-
ment of wine and women, Jonson drove doggedly to the front, a
master of life in all its phases, as were few other Elizabethans
even.

I have stressed the nature of the man to show not only that he
will pretty certainly lead in whatever he undertakes, as he clearly
does lead in the classicism of the Elizabethan or Stuart period, but
that he will never stand aloof from the literary movements of his
day. Jonson was first of all a student of books, and however dis-
dainful might be his attitude toward the average man of letters in
his time, however much he might stress his mission as a teacher of
classic art, he was in the closest touch with all contemporary lit-
erature. It was the life of the man to be in the midst of things.
Let a type like the drama or the masque become popular, and he
is almost certain to adopt it and exert all his powers to excel
in it. In fact, the popularity of the classics among the cultured
people of England in Elizabethan times largely explains Jonson
and his connection with the classics, while his pride, his ambition,
and his scorn of what is commonplace led him into an avowed in-
dependence of English authors. But as a practical playwright
eager to appeal to the men of his time, as an intimate of the
greatest living English writers, and as a critic who claimed con-
formity to local conditions as the prerogative of the poet and
dramatist, Jonson was likely in every phase of his work to be re-
sponsive to the literary movements of his day. This is entirely

Jonson's Literary Ideals 5-

consistent with his recognized position as leader in a new form of
drama; it is even consistent with his desire to improve English
literary art by an appeal to the art of the great classic masters.,
for such an appeal was but part of the Eenaissance.

Jonson's rich knowledge of life undoubtedly at times served to
furnish him with material, as in much of Bartholomew} Fair, and
his belief in the value of English life for the work of the literary
man is clear from many utterances. In the prologue to The
Alchemist he says :

Our scene is London, 'cause we would make known,
No country's mirth is better than our own:

No clime breeds better matter for your whore,
Bawd, squire, impostor, many persons more,

Whose manners, now called humours, feed the stage.

This is not to be interpreted, however, I think, as involving the
question of a realistic treatment of life based on direct observa-
tion. Such a thing was not a part of the Eenaissance literary
creed. In the second prologue to The Silent Woman Jonson gives
this warning:

Then in this play ....

. . . think nothing true:

Lest so you make the maker to judge you.

For he knows, poet never credit gained

By writing truths, but things, like truths, well feigned.

The principle is repeated in the court prologue to The Staple of
News. In Timber, also, Jonson follows the old definition of a
poet as one who "feigneth and formeth a fable, and writes things
like the truth" (Schelling's edition, p. 73). The very definition
indicates the absence of any ideal of realism; things like truth do
not involve an exact imitation of life. Professor Spingarn has
pointed out that this idea of the poet's function is as old as Plata
and Aristotle, and was thoroughly fixed in the Eenaissance (Lit-
erary Criticism in the Renaissance, pp. 4 and 18). Sidney saw a
weakness in history in that it cannot present the consummate type
of vice or virtue but must be realistic, and Jonson told Drummond
that he "thought not Bartas a Poet, but a Yerser, because he wrote
not fiction."

What, then, is to be the source of the poet's material? The

6 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

four requisites of a poet that Jonson adopts in Timber are: in-
genium, or "goodness of natural wit"; exerciiatio, or practice;
imitatio, by which Jonson means, not imitation of life, but of
those writers who have shown an understanding of life ; and lastly
lectio, which he translates "exactness of study and multiplicity of
reading." Finally, "art must be added to make all these perfect"
(pp. 75-78). There can be little doubt, I think, that whether or
not this discussion of the requisites of a poet is merely a transla-
tion of some undiscovered author, it represents Jonson's own views.
The ideas were generally accepted.1 It is noteworthy that after
endowment and practice, or training, Jonson finds the requisites
of a poet to be a vast knowledge of books and a free borrowing
from them. The poet may seek material anywhere so long as he
unifies it, thus making it his own by his art. This is the essence
of originality for Jonson. Of imitation Jonson says : "The third
requisite in our poet or maker is imitation, imitatio, to be able to
convert the substance or riches of another poet to his own use.
. . . Not to imitate servilely, as Horace saith, and catch at
vices for virtue, but to draw forth out of the best and choicest
flowers, with the bee, and turn all into honey, work it into one
relish and savor."2 Of course imitation for Jonson as well as
for other Renaissance writers means a coming into harmony with
the literary instinct, the refined taste, the mode of thought, and the

Professor Spingarn has shown that much of what Jonson has to say of
poets and poetry is borrowed from Buchler and Heinsius, and he suggests
Buchler as the source of some details in the discussion of these requisites
(Modern Philology, Vol. II, p. 452, n.). Miss Woodbridge points to Sid-
ney, who would entrust the "highest-flying wit" of the poet to the guid-
ance of "art, imitation, and exercise" (Defense of Poesy, ed. Cook, p. 46).
The points correspond to Jonson's except that Sidney omits lectio, or study.
Miss Woodbridge suggests that both writers are indebted to Longinus
(Studies in Jonson's Comedy, pp. 9, 10). These requisites for the literary
man, however, were known in English criticism before Sidney. Wilson in
The Arte of Rhetorique, 1560, (ed. Mair, pp. 4, 5) in telling "By what
meanes Eloquence is attained", stresses "a wit, and an aptnesse"; the
store of knowledge derived from books; exercise, or practice, in addition

rt; and finally imitation, which is defined much as Jonson defines it.
*0f the requisites which Jonson mentions, imitation was the most
iely treated in literature. Ascham's discussion of imitation in The
kcholemaster is the most important in English, and the references that
am makes to other treatises furnish an excellent bibliography of the
subject. Cf. Smith's notes to Ascham's discussion, Eliz. Critical Essays,
ol. I In Cicero's De Oratore, Bk. II, chaps, xxi-xxiii, the same points
iftde m regard to imitation that Jonson makes, and the requisites of
5 m literary work appear incidentally.

Jonson's Literary Ideals 7

art generally of the master imitated. One sentence that I omitted
from Jonson's discussion of imitation demands that the poet "make
choice of one excellent man above the rest, and so . . follow
him till he grow very he, or so like him as the copy may be mis-
taken for the principal." But, if the phraseology of the passage
on imitation does not clearly imply borrowing,, that of the one on
reading does. Jonson says that it is necessary for the poet in
studying any poem "so to master the matter and style, as to show
he knows how to handle, place, or dispose of either with elegancy
when need shall be." Here Jonson stresses material and the
handling of it as much as he does art.1

Nevertheless, Jonson is careful to protest against a slavish ad-
herence to the art of the masters. Of Every Man out of Ms
Humour he says in the induction that " 'tis strange, and of a par-
ticular kind by itself, somewhat like Vetus Comcedia"2 Then he
proceeds to a defense of innovation in poetry. Classic laws of
comedy as we now have them, he says, are the result of a growth
and an accommodation, and the later comic writers who came
after Aristophanes, himself a model, "altered the property of the
persons, their names, and natures, and augmented it [comedy]
with all liberty, according to the elegancy and disposition of those
times wherein they wrote. I see not then, but we should enjoy the
same licence, or free power to illustrate and heighten our inven-
tion, as they did ; and not be tied to those strict and regular forms
which the niceness of a few, who are nothing but form, would
thrust upon us."3 That this conception of Jonson's in regard to

^scham's exhaustive discussion of imitation scarcely considers the imi-
tation of the master's art so much as the borrowing of material. Ascham
gives six ways in which one can imitate an author, and all imply the bor-
rowing of material. One sentence of his may well stand for what seems
to be Jonson's method of borrowing from English literature: "Imitatio
is dissimilis materiel similis tractatio; and, also, similis materiel dis-
similis tractatio" ( The Scholemaster, Book II ; quoted from Smith, Eliz.
Grit. Essays, Vol. I, p. 8). Often I shall have occasion to point out that
Jonson either uses the style or art of a contemporary, varying the matter,
or handles the same material with some new device or fresh expression.

2See pp. 212 f. infra for a possible meaning of Vetus Comcedia in this
passage.

3In Timber Jonson frequently returns to this matter of independence in
the poet. See Schilling's edition, pp. 7, 66, and 79, 80. These passages
have been traced to Vives and Heinsius. Cf. Simpson, Mod. Lang. Review,
Vol. II, pp. 209, 210, and Spingarn, Mod. Phil, Vol. II, pp. 453, 454. In
this case again, however, they must represent Jonson's own ideas. Indeed,

8 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

the conformity of poetry to the disposition of the time was not a
passing one is clear from a remark to Drummond made twenty
years later. Drummond's note reads :

HIS CENSURE OF MY VERSES WAS:

That they were all good, especiallie my Epitaphe of the Prince, save
that they smelled too much of the Schooles, and were not after the fancie
of the tyme: for a child (sayes he) may writte after the fashion of the
Greeks and Latine verses in running; yett that he wished, to please the
King, that piece of Forth Feasting had been his owne.

Two things stand out in these expressions of Jonson's : first,, his
dependence upon the work of his predecessors in literature, and
second, his insistence upon conformity in literature to "the fancie
of the tyme." If Jonson's ideals are not inconsistent, then, we
may expect to find, first, that though his knowledge of life will
color all of his writings and his independence will make his treat-
ment of themes fresh, he will look to other writers for his models
and for the bulk of his material; and, second, that in spite of an
exceedingly strong classical influence, his work will be English in
spirit and tone, and will follow pretty closely the currents of Eng-
lish literature. It is easy to point out cases where Jonson derived
plot motives or ideas and phrases bodily from classic literature,
but the English elements are often elusive. Jonson had a differ-
ent attitude to borrowing from the classics and from native sources.
To translate a fine classic phrase aptly he regarded almost as orig-
inal work, while he scorned to steal phrases from the Arcadia.
The one enriched the language; the other did not. This large
and obvious indebtedness to classical literature, along with the
possibility that Jonson derived his comic material directly from
observation of life, has so blinded scholars that they have failed
to study minutely his relation to his contemporaries. To my
mind, he not only goes to them for a large number of suggestions
as to what will be practical or appealing on the stage, 'but he brings
his great skill and constructive power to bear upon a mass of hints

the principle of free invention was one of the earliest critical conventions
to be introduced into English literature. Wilson in his Arte of Rhetorique
emphasizes the fact that all the principles of literary art are derived
from the inventions of literary men and that "a wiseman . . . will
not be bound to any precise rules . . . being master ouer arte," etc.
(pp. 159, 160; cf. also p. 5). Wilson may have followed Quintilian, Insti-
tutiones Oratoriae, Bk. X, Chap. ii.

J onsen's Literary Ideals 9

and treatments of types and situations scattered through contem-
porary literature, crude and unfinished as they often are,, and makes
of these an original product. The pages immediately following,
far afield as they apparently carry one from the humour plays, are
merely to furnish illustrations of this idea from Jonson's other
works, and to prepare for the study of the comedy of humours as a
native development.

The studiousness of Jonson is indicated by the variety of themes
in his work. Tamquam explorator, his motto, suggests the constant
intellectual curiosity of the man. His dramas alone show how
large a number of fields he explored, for always the central theme
is entirely fresh in Jorisonian comedy. Most frequently it is an
expansion of a hint in an earlier play, but the new play has en-
tered another region of the complex life of the London and Eng-
land that Jonson knew. Even the typical classes and the typical
vices that Jonson repeats are viewed nearly always from a fresh
angle. Perhaps nothing shows the variety of Jonson's work better
than the fact that the object of an intrigue is never the same in
any two plays and only once or twice does he repeat an intriguer.
In A Tale of a Tub we have Chanon Hugh manipulating plots to
control the marriage of a rustic maid; in Every Man in his
Humour the crafty servingman acting as intriguer through mere
exuberance of roguery; in Every Man out of his Humour the
envious Macilente giving reins to his mischievous malcontent; in
Cynthia's Revels the noble Crites tilting against wrongs in the
court; in Poetaster the maligned Horace defending the dignity of
his art; in Volpone the avaricious old Fox and his parasite Mosca
overreaching themselves. The "cotes of clowns" of A Tale of a
Tub, the inn life of The New Inn, the pastoral life of The Sad
Shepherd, the allegory of news and money in The Staple of News
and of the compass in The Magnetic Lady need only be mentioned
to set one thinking of the variety of fields that Jonson entered.

This constant entering of fresh fields is an indication of Jon-
son's work as a student rather than as an observer, for in nearly
every case the general plan of the play can be traced to certain
types or motives popular in contemporary literature. That is to
say, the influences that guided Jonson in his choice of fields and
themes were nearly always English. In the two tragedies and in
some of the masques, classic material is used with only the slightest

10 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

admixture of English material, and yet the relation of some of
this most thoroughly classic work to themes of contemporary lit-
erature indicates one side of the influence of the age. Roman
tragedy, especially in Julius Caesar, had made a great success
when Jonson, leaving the field of native tragedy that he had chosen
in Page of Plymouth and Robert II, King of Scots, gave England
in Sejanus what he considered an appropriate treatment of a
classic theme. Here Jonson has taken pains to show that prac-
tically every idea and expression is paralleled in Latin authors.
Yet there was a special reason for this strict classicism following
a period of humour comedies. The references to classic sources
for Sejanus are partly proof, at a time of danger for Jonson, that
he was not satirizing the court or any contemporary in his great
portrait of Pride and Ambition, but chiefly, perhaps, triumphant
evidence that he who had been misunderstood, maligned, and scoffed
at while he was trying to reform abuses and was writing in the
mode of his fellows, could enter higher realms of literary work,
make himself master of the thought and expression of the masters,
and, leaving the treatment of contemporary manners and the mode
of contemporary playwrights, sing

high and aloof,
Safe from the wolf's black jaw, and the dull ass's hoof.

The two tragedies, of course, represent Jonson's most rigid
classicism, but several of the masques approach them closely.
Penates and The Entertainment at Theobalds (1607), though short,
are excellent examples of the mythological masque purely classic in
its figures. And yet no one can doubt that the prominence given to
n^hological figures in pageant and masque from the time of Henry
VIII on determined the form of these earlier masques. Jonson
soon outgrew the purer classic type. In The Masque of Hymen
his own notes reveal his classicism, but Reason, the Humours, and
the Affections, typical abstractions of Elizabethan didacticism,
almost overshadow Hymen, the chief mythological figure. The
Masque of Queens mingles classical and medieval lore. " Doubtless
beth had rendered witches popular before Jonson's work ap-
peared, and at the same time had shown how the mystic rites of
the witches could be turned into fascinating dramatic and operatic
scenes. Jonson in The Masque of Queens has utilized the wild

Jonson's Literary Ideals 11

night scenes, the dances, and the conjurations of Macbeth, treat-
ing them according to the authoritative details that had come
down to the learned in the Latin poets and the medieval masters
of magic art. Perhaps he had boasted of this fact. At any rate,
by the request of Prince Henry he annotated his masque, giving
authority for every rite and every characteristic of the witches.
But, though Jonson's picture of the House of Fame and the queens
enthroned upon it may be referred to Chaucer, and he has indicated
his intention to reconcile "the practice of antiquity to the neoteric"
(Works, Vol. Ill, p. 50), his debt to contemporary literature is
still unduly obscured, perhaps, by his parade of classical sources.
Anders (Jahrbuch, Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 240 f.) has pointed out
some verbal parallels between The Masque of Queens and Scot's
Discovery of Witchcraft. Above all, in spite of the large amount
of borrowing from classic sources, one would never associate The
Masque of Queens with classicism; it echoes too thoroughly what
might be called the romantic attitude to witchcraft in Jonson's
own day.

More decidedly English is The Satyr. Here Jonson has joined
the Latin satyr with the English Mab, and has closed the masque
with a speech modeled on the old play of Nobody and Somebody1
and introducing a morris dance. The presence of the Satyr is

1Cf. Fleay, Biog. Chron. Eng. Drama, Vol. II, p. 1. Not only are the
plays upon words similar, but in Jonson's masque as in Nobody and Some-
body, the dress of Nobody is "a pair of breeches which were made to come
up to his neck, with his arms out at his pockets." In Greene's Quip for
an Upstart Courtier (Works, ed. Grosart, Vol. XI, pp. 220 ff.), Velvet-
breeches and Cloth-breeches are headless and bodiless, having merely legs.
The idea as inherited from the Odyssey is used in Harvey's Pierces Super-
erogation (Works, ed. Grosart, Vol. II, p. 211), where there is a play on
Outis, Nobody, and Somebody. Jonson has the play upon Outis and Nobody
in The Fortunate Isles. Nemo is a character of The Three Ladies of Lon-
don and The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London. Marston's Antonio
and Mellida is dedicated to "Nobody, bounteous Mecsenas of poetry and
Lord Protector of oppressed innocence," and Day's Humour out of Breath
is dedicated to Signior Nobody. Dyer has a poem called "A Praise of
Nothing." In Breton's Wit of Wit (1599) "Scholler and Souldier" opens
with plays upon the word nothing, and in the same year Nashe in his
Lenten Stuff e (Works, ed. McKerrow, Vol. Ill, p. 177) makes a satirical
allusion to the writer who "comes foorth with something in prayse of
nothing." Cf. Ward, Hist. Eng. Dram. Lit., Vol. I, p. 436, and Vol. II, p.
597; and Simpson, School of Shakspere, Vol. I, p. 270. This is an excel-
lent example of how the most conventional or commonplace idea may ap-
peal to Jonson.

12 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

misleading,1 for the masque is purely English in tone and material
and contains the most delicate poetry dealing with English fairy
lore. Indeed it is full of conventional fairy material, and such an

expression as

Faeries, pinch him black and blue,
Now you have him, make him rue,2

is to be found a score of times in English writers. The fairies
and the morris dance again represent a convention in the masque
that reaches back to Tudor times or earlier, when the folk customs
began to furnish material for the first English masques and
pageants. The satyr, in the form of the wild man of the wood
especially, is also at home in the masque.3 It was the taste of
the times that induced Jonson to mingle classic and folk lore.
So for masque after masque parallels could be given showing how
Jonson, often gathering from classic sources, still drifts in his
treatment to what is characteristic of English life and literature;
and some of his masques, The Masque of Christmas, for instance,
are as thoroughly English as is Bartholomew Fair.

Jonson's characteristic method of working, of gathering like the
bee, may be seen at its best in the comedies, and here we naturally

^e is called Pug, or Puck, in one place, and in folk-lore Puck's functions
are confused with those of Mab.

2Cf. Endimion, IV, 3, and Bond, Works of Lyly, Vol. Ill, p. 514, note.
In The Alchemist Dapper is severely pinched while the supposed fairies
cry "Ti, ti." This is closest to the pinching of Falstaff in The Merry
Wives, but a similar incident is mentioned in John a Kent and John a
Cumber.

8In The Princely Pleasures at Kenilworth Castle, there appeared in one
device "one clad like a Sauage man, all in luie" called Silvester, and later
his son called Audax (Poems of Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, Vol. II, pp. 96, 109,
113). Another entertainment was planned, in which Sylvanus was to ap-
pear (ibid., p. 124). In The Entertainment at Cowdray, 1591, "a wilde
man cladde in luie" addressed the Queen (Works of Lyly, ed. Bond, Vol.
., p. 425). In The Entertainment at Elvetham, 1591, the costume of
Sylvanus, who addressed the Queen, is carefully described as that of a
latyr, while "his followers were all couered with luy-leaues" (ibid., p.
4). Speeches Delivered to her Majesty at Bisham, 1592, opens with an
» by "a wilde man," who speaks of "wee Satyres" (ibid., p. 472).
Notices of masques in Feuillerat s Documents relating to the Office of the
Is in the Time of Queen Elizabeth indicate that the wild man was an
earlier favorite. At the Christmas festivities of 1573-4 there was a
usque of foresters and hunters with torchbearers clothed in moss and
lese latter are apparently spoken of later as "wylde Men" and the
.8 the "Mask of Wyldemen" (pp. 193, 199, 457). In July, 1574,
"wvLWa8 8°m» theatrical Performance, perhaps a pastoral, in which
wylde mannes appeared (pp. 227, 458). Cf. Brotanek, Die engl Mas-

Jonson's Literary Ideals 13

have the strongest English influence. Sometimes the basis is
Latin,, as in The Case is Altered and Poetaster; sometimes Italian
furnishes much, as in The Alchemist, if Bruno's II Candelaio is a
source, or in The Devil is an Ass, where two stories of Boccaccio
are utilized; and sometimes the elements are purely English, as in
Bartholomew Fair. Often, however, Jonson's material for any
single play is furnished by many literatures of different ages.
But the whole in each case is Jonson's in organization, in tone,
and in final effect. Gathering from any source, with a wonder-
fully accurate and minute knowledge of literature, Jonson fuses
into a unit and gives fresh life to his borrowed material. This is
scarcely less true of what has been borrowed from classic literature
than of what has been borrowed from English. And, to my mind,
this unity, this consistency, arises largely from the fact that the
whole is English in spirit, as Jonson was English to the core.

As an illustration of the English element in Jonson's comedies,
^Bartholomew Fair is the obvious choice. Here there is of course
no question of classic influence; the question is whether Jonson
drew his picture entirely from English life or was influenced by
English literary treatment. I have elsewhere shown that the old
play of Sir Thomas More offers a probable source for much of
Jonson's cutpurse material in Bartholomeiu Fair (Modern Philol-
ogy, Vol. VI, pp. 109-127). There are a number of similarities
that indicate a direct dependence of the one play on the other. It
is noticeable, however, that Jonson's treatment of the motives com-
mon to both plays is nearer to folk-lore than is his source, and that
Bartholomew Fair shows Jonson's knowledge of other treatments
of similar scenes. In particular Greene's coney-catching pamphlets
seem to have given Jonson some important situations and some
details of characterization. An interesting parallel, also, is the like-
ness of Autolycus of Winter's Tale to Lanthorn Leatherhead. I
myself have little doubt that Jonson got from Shakespeare the
suggestion for the character on the stage, but my belief rests merely
on the nearness of the two plays in time of production and on the
greater similarity of Jonson's rogues to Autolycus than to any
other rogues that I recall. Both Shakespeare and Jonson have a
long line of predecessors, however. In The Blind Beggar of Bed-
nal Green, we have the young simpleton Strowd, who like Cokes
is robbed again and again, and always reappears, full of zest and

14 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

naivete. The rogues here, like Jonson's, change quickly from one
calling to another, from purse-cutting to fortune-telling and
finally to producing puppet-shows, returning always to meet a
foolish victim with new tricks. The rogues of Look About You
and The Dutch Courtezan, too, while not so conventional in their
tricks, perhaps, have the same resourcefulness, buoyancy, and per-
petual success that belong to the imaginative dealing with rogues
in general. Indeed, outside of the fact that Jonson is primarily
the student of books and that many parallels to his treatment of
rogues can actually be found in literature, there is evidence of his
dependence on literature rather than on observation in that the
whole tone of his treatment is in accord with the romantic roguery
of literature and folk-lore.

Even in the puppet-show, where Hero and Leander are con-
nected with the ghost of Dionysius, Jonson may be following the
line of least resistance, for Nashe in his Lenten Stuff e (Works, ed.
McKerrow, Vol. Ill, pp. 194 ff.) has a burlesque treatment of
Dionysius followed immediately by a burlesque of Hero and
Leander. In the treatment of the lovers, both Nashe and Jonson
begin with praise of Marlowe's Hero and Leander, and proceed to
travesty the story, destroying all romance, vulgarizing Hero, and
stressing her unchastity. Both men are doubtless mocking
romance as it is fed to the populace, one utilizing the puppet-shows
and the other the commercial town of Yarmouth, where all senti-
ment is subordinated to the glory of the herring. This connection
between the two works seems all the more probable if Gifford is
right in his conjecture (Works of Jonson, Vol. II, p. 197) that
Jonson's puppet-show "had been exhibited at an early period as a
simple burlesque," and on account of its popularity was later re-
worked and inserted in Bartholomew Fair. In favor of Gifford's
theory is the fact that at the close of the sixteenth century the
parody of classical stories, especially love stories, was a fad of
literary men. It is seen in Love's Labour's Lost, Midsummer
Night's Dream, Histriomastix, and the academic Narcissus. Again,
the Damon and Pithias quarrel in Jonson's show, according to
Gifford (Works of Jonson, Vol. II, p. 203), is a burlesque on the
quarrel between the pages in the play of Damon and Pithias. In
method, at least, the abuse and the pointless echoing and repeti-
tion are alike in the two cases. Such exercises, of which the knave

Jonson' s Literary Ideals 15

song of Twelfth Night (II, 3) is typical., were evidently favorites
with Elizabethan audiences.

The Devil is an Ass furnishes a better basis of study than
Bartholomew Fair., for the devil offers no chance of confusing the
actualities of life with the conventionalities of literature, and, ex-
cept for an element of folk superstition, we may be pretty sure
that Jonson's treatment is derived from books wherever we find it
agreeing with books. Perhaps it is partly in consequence of this
that for The Devil is an Ass, so far as the devil motive is con-
cerned, more sources have been pointed out in English than for
any other play perhaps, though Jonson was probably not influenced
by English literature to a much greater extent here than in a num-
ber of his other comedies. Jonson himself, however, calls attention
in The Devil is an Ass to several of the devil plays and to the work
of Barrel. Mr. W. S. Johnson in his edition of The Devil is an
Ass for the Yale Studies in English has been the latest to con-
sider the sources of this play. He has gathered together the work
of his predecessors, added some new details, and altogether given
one of the best expositions we have had of how Jonson used his
sources. Mr. Johnson makes it clear, for instance, that the most
important treatments of the devil in story and play furnished ele-
ments for Jonson's Pug. The basis of The Devil is an Ass he
takes to be the old prose history of Friar Eush, but he finds Jon-
son's play closer in some respects to Dekker's If this be not a Good
Play, which is itself founded upon the Eush story. Moreover, after
discussing the relation of The Devil is an Ass to Belfagor, the
novella of Machiavelli, Mr. Johnson asserts that "on the whole we
are not warranted in concluding with any certainty that Jonson
knew the novella at all." In Grim, Collier of Croyden, however,
which is built upon the Belfagor legend, Mr. Johnson finds a close
parallel to The Devil is an Ass, and he concludes : "The English
comedy seems, indeed, to account adequately for all traces of the
Belfagor story to be found in Jonson's play." Here, then, we
apparently find Jonson following the line of treatment in contem-
porary dramatists rather than in foreign or remoter English
sources.

This somewhat extended list of examples is sufficient, I believe,
to establish the fact that Jonson, if we make all allowance for his
love of the classics, for his independent attitude to English

16 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

writers, for his professed scorn of borrowing, and for his broad
experience of life as a source of material, still kept in close touch
with the movements of English literature, especially of the drama,
and was ready to adopt any device that fitted his purpose so long
as he could handle it freshly.

CHAPTER II

THE ENGLISH TEMPER OF JONSON^S WORK

Before an attempt is made to trace the development of Jonson's
type of humour comedy out of general English tendencies, some-
thing further should be said of his relation to contemporary liter-
ature in its most general aspects. Inevitably much that is to be
dealt with more specifically later will be anticipated. But for an
understanding of the later treatment a statement is needed of Jon-
son's thorough accord with the spirit of what I shall call English
didacticism.

The humour comedies belong to the general trend toward formal
satire that marks the close of the sixteenth century. Jonson him-
self calls Every Man out of his Humour, Cynthia's Revels, and
Poetaster "comical satires." In 1601, the year in which the last
play of the group was produced, two references to Jonson's work
appeared which pretty definitely indicate the relation of the humour
comedies to the strong contemporary movement toward satire. In
The Whipping of the Satyre by W. I., directed, according to Col-
lier, principally against Marston, Jonson, and Breton, — who are
not mentioned but are clearly indicated, — the section headed In
Epigrammatistam et Humoristam has the following passage:

It seemes your brother Satyre, and ye twayne,
^ Plotted three wayes to put the Divell downe:

One should outrayle him by invective vaine:
One all to flout him like a country clowne;
And one in action on a stage out-face,
And play upon him to his great disgrace.

You Humorist, if it be true I heare,
An action thus against the Divell brought,
Sending your humours to each Theater,
To serve the writ that ye had gotten out.
That Mad-cap yet superiour praise doth win,
Who, out of hope, even casts his cap at sin.1

1Quoted from Collier's Rarest Books, Vol. IV, pp. 253 ff. by Alden in
The Rise of Formal Satire in England under Classical Influence, Publ.
Univ. Penn., Vol. VII, No. 2, pp. 163, 164. The summary of Collier's ac-
count of the book is also from Prof. Alden.

18 English Elements in Jon-son's Early Comedy

The second work referring to the new school of comedy is No
\Ylnppinge, nor trippinge: but a kinde friendly Snippinye. Here
again we have the humour comedies classified along with epigrams
and formal satires as a distinct phase of the new satiric movement :

Tis strange to see the humors of these dales:
How first the Satyre bites at imperfections:
The Epigrammist in his quips displaies
A wicked course in shadowes of corrections:
The Humorist hee strictly makes collections
Of loth'd behaviours both in youthe and age:
And makes them plaie their parts upon a stage.1

The interest in satire at the close of the century marks a renewed
classicism following upon a period of sonnet and romance writing.
More, Erasmus, and others had opened the century with classic
ideals in literature uppermost, and the influence of the Latin classics
is tfye dominant feature in the advance of English literary art for
the first two thirds of the century. Then the prose romances,
romantic dramas, and love poetry, especially the sonnets, of the
Italian period engaged the greatest literary masters from the seven-
ties of the century to the early nineties. Following that, the most
conscious literary movement was the one toward formal satire.
Here the classic satirists and epigrammatists naturally exerted a
strong influence. In the drama, too, there is found a renewed in-
terest in the classics. The most important influence on Jonson's
plays of the period was English satire itself; but The Case is Al-
tered is drawn from Plautus ; Every Man in is influenced by Plau-
tine types; Cynthia's Revels borrows from Lucian and apparently
from Aristotle; and Poetaster owes much to the satires of Horace.

On the surface, then, the new satiric trend readily connects itself
with classicism. But the .conditions that called for a school of
satire are to be found in English life itself, especially in the de-
cadence of Italian culture in England. The picture of English
life presented by the satirists is, of course, overcolored by the pre-
vailing fashion of malcontent and satirical posing, but there can
be little doubt that the elegance of the Italian culture, which in the
beginning had introduced a refining influence into English liter-
ature and manners, in the end brought its train of abuses. Sidney

^Also quoted from Alden, loc. cit., pp. 164, 165. The work has been re-
printed in Isham Reprints, No. 3.

I

The English Temper of Jonson's Work 19

and Spenser followed the courtly fashions of poetry, — of pastoral-
ism and chivalry and courtly love, — but their temper was idealistic,
and a spiritual worth pervaded even their fashionable poetry. The
high critical ideals of the ardent theorists of the early Eenaissance
in Italy were sacred to these two, although Sidney especially seems
often to have caught the passing fad rather than imparted the
great lesson. Undoubtedly, also, there is a moral wholesomeness
underlying the romantic art of Shakespeare, and, even when Jon-
son began his work, the fine spiritualizing power of the Eenaissance
had not passed altogether. But the effect of the Renaissance in
England had been in the end to build up rapidly and artificially a
system essentially un-English. We scarcely realize now how much
the abstract theories of the Renaissance, through the literature that
embodied them, worked their way into the life of the period. The
language of Euphues and Arcadia, the outgrowth of the study of
rhetoric, entered into speech; the manners described by the writers
of the Italian school became the conscious manners of England.
English manners had no doubt been somewhat crude even during
the early sixteenth century, though for such as would heed, a simple
body of instruction had existed. Now the age seems to have waked
to a fervid cultivation of elegance in manners, and the Italian
courtesy books furnished the pattern. Castiglione's Courtier, the
most brilliant of them, was followed by many others — some of
them less worthy. But sane and moral as were Castiglione's in-
structions and those of other early writers, abuse soon followed.
Indeed, the passion for the refinement and elegance of Italian cul-
ture degenerated in almost all its phases into a worship of form
far beyond the worship that had ever been inspired by the ethical
and esthetic qualities, the ease, grace, delicacy, and idealism of
that culture.

The follies of the fashionable had for years been jealously
watched by the Puritan. Now the satirist and the dramatist both
turned to the attack, men whose temper was that of the middle-
class Englishman — Greene, ISTashe, Lodge, Chapman, Hall, Donne,
Marston, and Jon son. Of all these men none was more uricom-
promising in attitude than Jonson and at the same time so honest.
Marston may be bitterer, but the dignity of sincerity is lacking in
his work; affectation runs riot in his satire against affectation.
But grim earnestness drives Jonson on. The disgust at the frivol-

20 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

ities and excesses of Italianate letters and manners finds its fullest
and sternest expression in Jonson's criticism and satire. Every-
thing connected with the courtly ideal he attacks, upholding in
opposition a moral wholesomeness and a literary restraint.

To the sturdier type of Englishmen, the conditions reflected in
the work of these satirists, discount their satire how we may, must
have been well-nigh unbearable. The life of the courtly was ap-
parently largely given over to the ceremony of living. Court of
love conventions, Platonic love, and chivalry were cultivated to add
to the dignity and elaboration of formal manners. Some fantastic
conceit entered into the most ordinary act of the pretentious gal-
lant's life — into smoking, drinking, dressing, bowing, talking, walk-
ing, riding, duelling ; and for large numbers of the new-rich doubt-
less the readiest way to social distinction lay through the affectation
of the forms of gallantry. The cultivation of "singularity," so
often mentioned by the satirists, rendered men oblivious to the
absurdity of their manners, until conceit and affectation became
ends in themselves. With the fashionable the pursuit of letters
also degenerated into a fashion. By a fixed convention every cour-
tier must not only be a lover but he must write poetry in honor
of his mistress. It is not strange, then, that one of the commonest
subjects of satire is the love poetry of the courtly with its immense
volume, its petty themes, its forced passion, and its affected diction.
The most complete picture of all these follies is of course to be
found in Cynthia's Revels. The play is a gigantic satire against
the whole fabric of courtly manners and ideals. It voices Jon-
son's scorn for the conventions and poetry of courtly love, for the
games of gallants, for the duello, for fashions in dress, perfumes,
etc.; it ridicules the courtier, the gallant, the traveler, the upstart,
the shallow woman of wealth. Against the futile and absurd
social ideals of -the day, Jonson sets Crites, the man of sanity and
roundedness, and Arete, the woman guided solely by virtue.

But not alone the decadence of Italian culture brought reaction.
England's holiday spirit was passing. The buoyancy of the gen-
eral temper, the hope and vision of individual accomplishment,
waned. Melancholy and pessimism became fashionable. Sonnet
sequences gave place to series of epigrams and satires. Despite the
fact that the material of the satirical school was conventionalized
as the new type of literature grew in popularity, we feel that in the

The English Temper of Jonsoris Work 21

satire at the end of the sixteenth century there is much truth, to
the feeling of England, a real echo of changing conditions. The
change was more than a reaction in mood. Elizabeth was grow-
ing old, and political conditions were uncertain. Puritanism,
which was becoming more and more insistent, brought greater acer-
bity to life. While the wealth of England was increasing through-
out the century, the masses felt keenly the rise of prices, and the
rich and the new-rich felt perhaps as keenly the clash of social
readjustment. Nearly all of this is to be gathered from Jonson's
satire. Such a study as that of the corn-hoarder Sordido indicates
the attention paid to economic conditions. The numerous gulls
and pretenders reveal the struggle attendant upon social readjust-
ment. In the rather harsh and bitter satire of the end of the cen-
tury with its reaction against the youthful hope and enthusiasm,
the ideals and dreams, of Eenaissance poetry there are thus embod-
ied themes indicating that England had developed too fast for
stability, that she had allowed the same zestful ferment in economic
and civic affairs as in intellectual pursuits and was now being
forced to take reckoning.

The revival of classical satire at the end of the century and the
spirit of excess and disillusionment that called forth this satire are
still not sufficient to explain Jon son's art, his temper, or his themes
and literary material. This reaction against the glamor of the
Eenaissance culture was in fact largely a reassertion of the more
normal English attitude of the century, marked by earnestness and
morality. Steadily English life was tending toward certain moral
and social ideals despite fads of the literary and the noble, the
passing of a ruler, or the outcome of wars and political schemes.
In morality or religion, the trend took the form of Puritanism.
In social life, the trend was toward democracy. This spirit of
democracy expressed itself in the clash of prentices and gentlemen,
in the stern struggle between the London burgesses and the Crown
over the suppression of the theatres, and finally in the Common-
wealth.

It is to this deeper current of English sentiment that Jonson
belongs. Into his work enters the whole mood of middle-class
England. His intellectual and moral temper springs not from
his classical training but from his stubborn English instinct and
genius. Jonson's satire is not a matter of fashion; it is the com-

22 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

pound result of all the forces that made conservative middle-class
English sentiment, with the added force of a greater classical cul-
ture than the average man possessed even in Jonson's day. As a
humanist, Jonson was bitterly opposed to Puritanism with its hos-
tility to the fine arts. Yet the difference is largely a matter of
point of view. The seriousness, the dogged intentness, the in-
stincts and prejudices of the democratic Englishman colored the
mental and moral attitude of Jonson as well as that of the Puritan.
and made at once the strength and the limitation of both. Jonson
and Puritanism are equally expressive of the English genius. Jon-
son was also in accord with the democratic spirit of the average
Englishman. His democracy appears in his jealousy of the regard
paid him by nobles and in his obstinate claim to equality with the
best. It appears still more pervasively in his whole attitude to the
idea of the courtly. To my mind Cynthia's Revels is the most
illuminating of Jonson's plays as an expression of his own feeling.
Presumably his satire is directed against the abuses of the system
which he portrays, but through the play there runs a strong cur-
rent of hostility to the whole idea underlying the system itself. It
is noticeable that whereas Castiglione had presented the ideal type
as the courtier whose nobility rests upon birth and wealth, Jon-
son's ideal, Crites, is poor, seemingly of humble birth, and scorns
the graces of the court.1

This native and bourgeois instinct of Jonson's is apparent in
his lack of sympathy with romantic and courtly literature. In

'For The Courtier itself Jonson seems to have had at a later period at
any rate high regard. In Timber (ed. Schelling, p. 71) he classes it with
Cicero's De Oratore as a valuable source of illustrative material, and he
assuredly borrows from it for Every Man Out. At the end of the six-
teenth century, however, Castiglione's name was employed by the satirists
to designate an obnoxious type of gallant. Marston uses the name Castilio
for the type in both of his collections of satires and in Antonio and Mel-
lida; and Guilpin in Skialetheia uses Castilio as well as Balthazer for
satire on court types. Cf. pp. 195 f. infra for these passages of Marston
Guilpin. The kinship of Puntarvolo with Marston's and especially
with Guilpin's Castilio type, and the tierce satire in Cynthia's Revels on
Curtly ideals raise the question whether Jonson's favorable opinion of
Courtier did not come at a later period when he himself had close
tions with the court and was one of the courtly. Perhaps, however,
like Ascham, in spite of his hostility to Italian manners Jonson recog-
Courtier a high moral influence and a noble idealism. Never-
»s, Jonson's ideal type for the court, Crites, differs from the ideal
rtier of Castiglione in almost all details, in spite of the fact that both
were^pr ibly influenced by Aristotle's conception of the "high-minded

The English Temper of Jonsoris Work 23

The Case is Altered he essayed to follow the prevailing fashion and
even utilized some romantic conventions in addition to those bor-
rowed from Plautus. But the true romantic heroine Eachel is
handled charily and apparently with lack of ease and spirit, while
a number of the other characters fit well the satiric tone of the
play, being little more than studies in clownage or in humours.
Jonson evidently could not abandon himself to the world of ro-
mance. This might be said to indicate a limitation of his genius
rather than of his sympathies, but he really seems to have shared
the bourgeois distaste for the literature of mere enjoyment. The
love poetry of the day was especially distasteful to him. "Songs
and sonnets" he constantly employs as a term of contempt. A
part of his attitude may, of course, be traced to classicism. His
appreciation of the best ideals of classicism would probably account
sufficiently for his fierce satire on Euphuism, Arcadianism, and all
the forms of affected and extravagant diction in the Italianate
school of writers which sprang out of a perverted classicism. In
this he but follows the most English of the fine classicists produced
at the height of the Latin phase of the Eenaissance in England—
Cheke, Ascham, Wilson, and others.1 Jonson's admiration for
classic art would also account for such criticism on the courtly
literature as is based on lack of consistency or on crudeness of
workmanship. But his early lack of sympathy with the whole
spirit of romancing could hardly be attributed to the influence of
a literature that included among its writers Virgil, a master of the
finest spirit of romancing, and Seneca, who contributed largely to
English romantic tragedy, men most highly honored by Jonson.
Much that T have said, however, as to Jonson's attitude to this
lighter body of literature applies more especially to the plays of
the period we are studying. Contact with the courtly in the years
following Cynthia's Revels may have softened his asperity to some
extent. Tn his own later work there is certainly much courtly

Professor Raleigh has stated admirably the hostility of this early group
to excessive Latinity and other forms of word-mongery, and at the same
time to the Italianate influence. Cf. his introduction to Hoby's transla-
tion of The Courtier, pp. xi ff. Devotion to classic learning inspired these
men, but the greatest force is their sturdy English reformation temper.
An interesting instance of the accord of these men with Jonson lies in the
fact that Ascham and Cheke (Scholemaster, ed. Arber, p. 155) as well as
Jonson (dedication to Volpone) insist on the moral life of the writer as
a source of power in literary work.

24: English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

compliment, and Jonson is often guilty of the sins he attacks most
fiercely in Cynthia's Revels. Moreover, some lyrics and The Sad
Shepherd at the close of his career disarm the criticism that his
muse lacked grace and delicacy, that his work was not artistic is
the highest sense of the word. Much of Herrick's perfection is
due to Jonson's lessoning. And yet, when this is said, we readily
recognize the opposition of Jonson's work to all that Shakespeare's
stands for.

But the dominance of Shakespeare in the whole age and the
connection of the greatest names of the period with the Italian
influence hrought by the Renaissance should not cause us to forget
that the close of the sixteenth century and the opening of the seven-
teenth were as profoundly affected by a serious mood as by the
mood represented in romantic and folk literature. The blither
spirit of the courtier with his Italianate romance or love poetry
and of the common man with his medieval ballad or tale produced
the supreme literature of England. But Jonson and his fellows
represent just as great a constituency. In other words, Jonson.
for all his classicism, carries on much of the literary art that had
been fairly consistent in tone and purpose during the century and
that represented the 'democratic masses of England. Didactic is
the word that most aptly describes the general temper of this liter-
ature. Much of the spirit and a great bulk of the thought and
material of the didactic writers seems to me to be jointly an inheri-
tance from the Middle Ages and an outgrowth, determined largely
by the Reformation, of sixteenth century English life. The product
in England was a great mass of serious literature, thoroughly Eng-
lish in spirit although affected from time to time by other litera-
tures. It is here that we must look for the most important elements
of Jonsonian comedy.

First, the effect of this more genuinely English literature in
modifying Jonson's classicism may be mentioned, though an at-
tempt to indicate the amount of adaptation that must take place
in any such transfer from literature to literature would be futile.
Indeed, a considerable amount of modification would be taken for
granted. But certain forces, not accidental, affected first the
intensity of the moral purpose underlying his work and second the
temper and spirit of his satire.

The didacticism of much of Latin literature takes a Christian

The English Temper of Jonson's Work 25

and Anglican turn in Jonson's classicism. The dictum of Horace
that literature must be profitable was hardly so narrowly inter-
preted by him as by Jonson, nor was it so binding. In adapting
classic ideals, the early theorists of the Renaissance, partly, no
doubt, under the influence of medieval Christianity with its hos-
tility to the purely artistic, had laid a strong stress upon the moral
function of poetry. It was chiefly by emphasizing this moral func-
tion that the early critics like Sidney had defended the dignity and
moral worth of their art against the attacks of the Puritans, and
the principles of Sidney and of the school of critics who were called
upon to defend the newly arising imaginative literature, Jonson
adopted as his own with Every Man in. But the deeper serious-
ness that entered into the expression of critical tenets for Jonson
makes itself felt practically as a vital force in his literary work.
The overserious tone and the unimaginative art of a vast body of
medieval literature, in which stories are made exempla and men
and women mere moral abstractions, continued and manifested
itself in Elizabethan literature, even in the case of many writers
who were classic in spirit and belonged heartily to the Renaissance.
Sidney himself uses the didactic nature of this older body of Eng-
lish literature as a defense of the art of "poesie" in England. But
whereas to Sidney, whose genius was more inspired, the principles
of The Defense of Poesy were merely for general guidance, Jonson
accepts them as actual working rules. The spirit of Jonson's liter-
ary work is thus expressive not only of classicism but of certain
aspects of his own character and, even more, of the forces in Eng-
lish literature that made for an exaggerated moral seriousness.

The spirit of Jonson's satiric treatment was perhaps another
heritage from classicism which came to him partly through the
medium of his contemporaries and was colored by his own Eng-
lish intenseness. It is often stated that Juvenal, as most in accord
with the English temper, was the Latin satirist to whom the Eng-
lish school of satire was most indebted. Juvenal clearly exerted
a strong influence on Jonson's portraiture of Asper. But in sus-
tained intensity and acerbity the satiric literature of the sixteenth
century doubtless passes the bounds set by even the bitterest of the
classic satirists. This is the result partly of the English temper,
and partly, no doubt, of the satiric license exhibited in the bitter
personal quarrels of the century, in Skelton's attacks on Wolsey,

26 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

in the Martin-Marprelate controversy, and in the Nashe-Harvey
quarrel. Jonson was scarcely so unrestrained as Hall or Marston
or a number of his fellows, but the reader will look in vain for
any trace of urbanity in his satire.

This influence of native English literature upon borrowed classic-
ism is naturally in large part an influence upon modes of handling
character. For the satirist inevitably turned to English types and
individuals, and already native literature had developed character-
istic attitudes., groupings,, and methods of analysis, from which men
did not readily free themselves. Jonson's primary concern in his
humour plays is with the treatment not of incident but of char-
acter, and with the mirroring of life in his characters. Conse-
quently, he% is very susceptible to native influence,, and many of his
typical figures, much of his method of characterization,, indeed
much of his art in general, reflects native English and even me-
dieval character treatment.

First of all, the whole humour conception owes a great deal to
that body of medieval English literature which I have spoken of
as contributing to English didacticism in the sixteenth century.
Under the Eenaissance rule of decorum, which demanded consis-
tency in the treatment of character, some tendencies of classical
literature would naturally lead to abstractions rather than flesh-
and-blood men and women. The Theophrastan character sketch
with its choice of a single adjective that gave the unifying idea
was one, and such analyses extended into satire and other forms
of literature. Many characters of Latin comedy, also, especially
the boaster, illustrate one quality. The idea of decorum was evi-
dently formulated for and from such cases. But the use of allegory
had made the abstraction the most prominent feature of medieval
literature, and, before the conception of humours became prevalent,
the closer approach of these abstractions of allegory, and especially
of the morality, to real life had been leading directly toward a
treatment of character that was substantially the same thing as Jon-
son's treatment of humours. This greater verisimilitude sprang
of course from a keen desire for artistic excellence in the delinea-
tion of character, — a desire awakened perhaps by the Eenaissance,—
but, in the coming of humanism and the resulting interest in
tlio analysis of individuals from life, men did not altogether lose
touch with medieval art, or revolt from the moral svmbolism to

The English Temper of Jonson's Work 27

which they were accustomed in its character treatment,, or cast
away all of its results in thought, its influence on the attitude to
men and women. The point of view survived in the new humour
types, and an abstract idea or principle, sometimes a social class,
is represented by most of Jonson's characters. Macilente is almost
a pure abstraction, a portrayal of Envy in much of the characteri-
zation. So Carlo Buffone is a representation of Detraction and
Derision combined. Both characters show a similarity to the older
medieval treatment of the abstractions which would indicate the in-
fluence of medieval art in Jonson's characteristic work. Moreover,
outside of the fact that the sixteenth century mind was habituated
to the characters of allegory and readily passed to the humour point
of view, the attention paid to the didactic function of literature
through the century called for a type of symbolism which down to
Jonson's own time encouraged the allegorical method in character
treatment and stressed the single trait, the dominant motive, the
mastering inclination. Thus not only the humour types of Jon-
son, with their forerunners in the drama of Lyly and in prose
fiction, but also the character sketch and the satire of the last
quarter of the sixteenth century never lose the impress of the art
of allegory. In spite of the elements of classical literature that
are fused with the older English elements, we are conscious of the
apparently inevitable English drift toward the moral and the
allegorical.1

The combination of this allegorical point of view with the classi-
cal view of character treatment is easily accounted for. In fact
the serious classicist like Sidney or Jonson was more prone to stress
the analysis of character, the obvious trait, and the technique of
treatment than a free-lance like Shakespeare, who merely catches
the new spirit without being checked by reverence for precept.
There is much in the abstractions of classical literature, in the
principles of its philosophy, in the exaggerated but consistent fol-
lies of its comedy, and in its ratiocinative attitude to literary
standards to suggest kinship with the ideals of allegory. Thus the
medieval conception of character treatment gathered tenaciously
around itself all those tendencies of classic literature that accorded
with its own tendencies ; or, at any rate, it was able to impose itself

*An attempt is made in the chapter below, "A Study of Humours," to
trace with more detail this development of the treatment of character.

28 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

upon many writers who were thoroughly under the influence of
classic models. For example, one of the strongest classic influences
of the period toward a treatment of character in which one trait
is dominant came from the Aristotelian and pseudo-Aristotelian
virtues and vices, which were easily associated with the Christian
virtues and vices. The lists of virtues as given by Plato and
Aristotle had early been absorbed into the medieval point of view,
as in Skelton's Magnificence, or had formed the basis of a truer
Kenaissance treatment, as in Elyot's Governour. Groups of virtues
or vices could scarcely pass into English literature without being
influenced by the typical groups of abstractions — such as the Seven
Deadly Sins and the Four Daughters of God — that were handed
down from medieval writers. Jonson in Cynthia's tfevels has
seemingly used the excesses of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics as
equivalent to his humours, but to my mind there is to be detected
here a stronger influence of Aristotle as already adapted in certain
morality plays, Skelton's Magnificence first of all.

A different phase of this intermixture of the classical and the
medieval is interestingly illustrated in Lodge's Wits Miserie, a
work of some importance for Jonson. Here Lodge has grouped
his devils as sons of the Seven Deadly Sins. The particular types
portrayed, however, and the succinct analyses of them seem ob-
viously influenced by the character sketches of Theophrastus, as
well as b}' those common in the sixteenth century, such as the
sketches of The Ship of Fools, the Fraternity e of Vacabondes,
Cocke Lorelles bote, The Arte of Flatterie, etc. Indeed, it is prob-
able, I think, that these medieval character sketches had their
effect upon the classical sketch which played so prominent a part
in the formal satire of Jonson's period. The typical epigram at
the end of the century was oftenest a mere character sketch, though
occasionally there was a sharp turn at the close. The satires of
the period were also most frequently a mere series of these sketches.
Thus the poetic character sketch exemplified in The Ship of Fools,
The Hye Way to the Spyttel TLous, and many similar works, and
even in Chaucer's Prologue, with their satirical purpose and their
characteristic grouping, probably obtained a hold upon the people
which would account in no small degree for the popularity of the
type of epigram and satire just mentioned.

I have already spoken of the influence of medieval allegory in

The English Temper of Jonson's Work 29

determining Jonson's character treatment in the humour plays.
Jonson's work, indeed, shows a conscious bent toward the symbolic
which connects him more readily with the medieval than with the
classical. Not only are many of his characters abstractions, but
his plays are often really allegorical — that is,, their action is sym-
bolical. Some of this allegory might have been suggested by
classical literature, though even here there seems to me an evident
influence of the sixteenth century morality. The allegory of money
in Cynthia's Revels and The Staple of News may readily be traced
to Aristophanes, as Gilford has traced it; but English allegories
of money are so numerous, some of them, like that of Piers the
Plowman, are so brilliant, and many are so close to Jonson in time,
that we can easily understand how a man of Jonson's English bent
would be attracted to the theme. Other allegorical treatments
show more truly his kinship with Renaissance didacticism or with
the surviving morality. Such a treatment is that of the compass
in The Magnetic Lady, which has some kinship with the pedagogi-
cal allegories of the new learning. In Eastward Hoe, again, Jon-
son, Chapman, and Marston, the masters of satiric comedy, seem
to have been influenced to some extent by one of the most typical
didactic themes of the Renaissance, that of the Prodigal Son. Of
all the moral allegories this is probably most distinctly a part of
humanism and of the Reformation, for it enabled many writers,
like G-ascoigne in his Glass of Government, to treat the ideal in
education and character, setting it in contrast with the imperfec-
tion of the prodigal. Still with Gascoigne and other dramatists
the art and attitude in treating the subject is medieval. In Cyn-
thia's Revels Jonson has made satiric use of another type of sym-
bolism, which is somewhat akin to the allegory. Here the mytho-
logical play is combined with devices of the court of love. The
poetry of the court of love utilized mythological and allegorical
characters as well as characters from life, and exhibited the same
type of fancy that is to be seen in the mythological play of Lyly,
which succeeded the allegorical play. While the great bulk of this
literature belongs, of course, to chivalric and courtly love, many
writers had used the machinery for satire, notably Jean de Meun
in very early 'days.

But, aside from the possible blending of classical and medieval
influences, there are some aspects of Jonson's work that give it a

30 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

flavor peculiarly medieval. There is still evident in his humour
comedies, for instance, the influence of such works as The Ship of
Fools and A Quartern of Knaves in determining the point of
view for character treatment. The kinship lies chiefly in the
method of treatment, in the presentation of fools, rogues, etc., in
groups or companies, to be disposed of wholesale at the end, as it
were. The typical endings for the humour plays seem to me to
show the combined effect of the morality and The Ship of Fools
conception. In the early humour comedies especially, all the char-
acters receive proper punishment in connection with their over-
throw ; but the final solution is not so much a reform as a banish-
ment in shame that is visited on all. The vices at the end of the
moralities are thus driven out of the scenes, and a not dissimilar
conception exists in the ship load of fools setting out on a journey.
At any rate, Marston in The Fawne adds to Jonson's method of
exposing and shaming folly at the end, the device of sentencing
the humour types to the Ship of Fools.

But it is the general spirit with which Jonson handles his char-
acters that most distinctly reflects the medieval attitude and art.
In what may be his first experiment in comedy, A Tale of a Tub,
we find him dealing with clownish characters, and the higher and
the lower social types are characterized alike with broad farce and
burlesque. The point of view and the art in this method of char-
acterization are typical of much of the English drama at the end
of the sixteenth century in its treatment of native types, as I at-
tempt to show later, and these figures naturally disappear in Jon-
son's work, for the time at least, as the conception of humours
takes full hold on him. But the spirit in which the humour types,
and more especially the gulls, are treated connects them with the
medieval fool of the Ship of Fools type, though the gulls present
a more effective approach than the fools since as a class they are
more definite and individual. In such early studies, also, as
Brainworm and Shift there are traces of the picturesque medieval
rogue, in spite of Brainworm's classic affiliations. More typically
medieval is the coarseness with which Jonson's women are drawn.
Classic writers are prone to satirize women lashingly, but Jonson's
satire is different. His women show a coarseness, a vulgarity, a
grossness, which is inherited from the fabliaux and from medieval
realism in general, at a time when the crude form of living de-

The English Temper of Jonson's Work 31

veloped the coarsest types of men and women. Skelton's Elynour
Rummyng is an extreme picture of the type, and the poem is the
best example of the art of treatment. The attitude filtered through
popular thought and lived on in humble life, appearing constantly
in jest-books and folk-tales. This folk attitude to women as
witches, shrews, and alewives, as coarse, vulgar, and sensual, re-
veals itself continually in Jonson's work, and indicates his social
inheritance and sympathies. Ursula of Bartholomeiv Fair is Jon-
son's grossest picture, but the witch of The Sad Shepherd and Tib
of Every Man in his Humour are also folk types, while the nurse
and the midwife of The Magnetic Lady, probably more indebted
to literature, are treated with even more of the brutal realism of
the folk feeling. It is not alone the humbler figures, however, that
are stripped of all feminine charm and grace. Moria, one of the
leading court ladies of Cynthia's Revels, Lady Politick Would-be of
Volpone, the Ladies Collegiates of The Silent Woman, Lady Tail-
bush and Lady Eitherside of The Devil is an Ass are all represented
as sensual, coarse, and strident. In spite of their social leader-
ship Jon son manages to impart to them an atmosphere of moral
and physical foulness. The Neiv Inn, again, shows his character-
istic tendency. Lady Frampul, the mother of one of his most at-
tractive heroines, is presented throughout the play in the disguise
of "a poor chare-woman in the Inn, with one eye." The unneces-
sary addition of a physical deformity even where there is no satire
in the treatment seems to me characteristic of Jonson. There are
exceptions, of course, for he does give us some heroines in all good
faith, but it is noticeable that his women of the most virtuous
type are shallow or at best not strongly characterized. The
romantic figure of Rachel in The Case is Altered furnishes an ex-
ample. Except in The Sad Shepherd Jonson scarcely shows a
trace of the idealizing touch that belongs to the treatment of
women in romance, a touch that the Renaissance made vital.

In matters pertaining more directly to literary technique, also,
Jonson is a product of the English didactic school. The spirit of
the bourgeois English has already been spoken of as bringing the
English satirists nearer to Juvenal than to the more urbane Horace.
This was a natural result of what appears immediately to the most
superficial reader in the English satirical school — its employment
of direct rebuke and preaching, its bluntness and downrightness.

32 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

In other words, English satire of the sixteenth century was didac-
tic rather than literary. In this respect Jonson felt pretty fully
the influence of the age, for the serious message, the polemics of
reform, the direct and angry rebuke of evil, and the uncompromis-
ing bluntness that belong to him as a middle-class Englishman
spoil any lightness and play, any subtle mockery and laughing irony
that we might expect from a genuine literary attitude to the ob-
jects of satire. Invective and arraignment are dominant in Jon-
son's work as in the age.

The failure to use the more subtle instruments of literary satire
is partly due to the slow development of English literary style, but
this lack of development itself is largely a result of English di-
rectness. Certainly the limitations of Jonson, trained classicist as
he was and a follower of the best models, must be traced in no
small part to his temper. A study of the classics would naturally
lead a man of his type toward what is most readily perceived
through the intellect and most readily analyzed. The fine sim-
plicity, the artlessness of the supreme art, the imaginative
spontaneity and grace in the portrayal of life, in short, the finest
esthetic values of classic literature, seem to have escaped him as
often as they did the classicists of the Restoration and Queen
Anne periods, while the rhetoric and mechanics of Latin litera-
ture were readily caught by both. This estimate is perhaps not
altogether fair to Jonson in view of the classic excellence of his
best work in the lyric, in the epigram, in the masque, and in the
drama. And yet I believe that he was influenced more by the ex-
ternals than by the spirit of the best classic literature.

The reasons for this, outside of the limitations of Jonson's own
nature, are probably twofold. First, classic art was interpreted by
Renaissance criticism in terms of set academic rules, which neces-
sarily dealt with externals and tended to make literature formal.
Second, there was a still stronger influence of medievalism toward
directness, formalism, and an intellectual art. The kinship of the
two influences readily made them meet. This mechanical aspect
of literary style in the sixteenth century and the quick recognition
of the obvious rather than the feeling for the subtle are indi-
cated in satire even by some divergences from the direct rebuke,
for in most cases it is the form, the method, the particular de-
vice for indirect satire that has attracted attention. The funda-

The English Temper of Jonsoris Work 33

mental irony in a device like the Ship of Fools laid hold upon the
period, as the numerous imitations of the title and mode of treat-
ment suggest. Erasmus, especially, taught the age its finest lessons
in irony. One of his most famous bits of irony is his Encomium
Moriae. Again in "The False Knight" of his Colloquies advice is
given to the knight to cultivate just what is most foolish and dis-
gusting in life. This last bit of irony Jonson borrows completely
in Every Man out of his Humour. This type of satire became, of
course, most famous through Grobianus. Another popular form of
irony — and possibly a more subtle one — lay in the use of the testa-
ment, or will, on the principle of "like will to like."1 The best
indication of Jonson's attitude to such formal devices for satire is
derived from the fact that he read to Drummond "a Satyre, tell-
ing there was no abuses to writte a satyre of, and [in] which he
repeateth all the abuses in England and the World." That Jon-
son should have taken such interest in the irony of denial, a sim-
ple bit of form, as to employ it in what must have been a long
poem, and to show such evident pride in the work as late as 1619
is indicative enough of his attitude to literary style and art.

Jonson's connection with the native English tradition and the
influence of English didactic literature upon him will be traced in
more detail in the following chapters. It is hoped that here I
have been able, without any real perversion of the many-sided Jon-
son, to indicate the fundamental inclination of the man toward an
intense Anglicism, and the result of this on his type of drama, his
handling of characters, and his literary art in general.

JCf. Eouth, Cambridge Hist. Eng. Lit., Vol. Ill, pp. 95-97.

CHAPTER III

A STUDY OF HUMOURS

Jonson's celebrated definition of humour has fixed the meaning
of the word for us in connection with the comedy of manners. As
Jonson defines the term,, it is fairly inclusive and may represent
almost any decided moral inclination or mental attitude. Begin-
ning with the broadest definition of the term in the physical sense,
he proceeds to the figurative meaning of the word (Every Man out,
Induction, p. 67) :

Whatsoe'er hath fluxure and humidity,
As wanting power to contain itself,
Is humour. So in every human body,
The choler, melancholy, phlegm, and blood,
By reason that they flow continually
In some one part, and are not continent,
Receive the name of humours. Now thus far
It may, by metaphor, apply itself
Unto the general disposition:
As when some one peculiar quality
Doth so possess a man, that it doth draw
All his effects, his spirits, and his powers,
In their confluctions, all to run one way,
This may be truly said to be a humour.

This derived meaning covers the pride and ambition of a
Sejanus, the lust for conquest of a Tamburlaine, the thirst for sen-
suous and forbidden knowledge of a Faust, the idolatry of gold in
a Volpone or a Barabas, as well as the sensuous luxuriousness of
an Epicure Mammon, the envy of a Macilente, the pride of a
Fastidious Brisk, the impatience of a Downright, or the jealousy
of a Kitely. The words "as wanting power to contain itself
imply the essential defect in the character of one possessed of a
humour, and other passages t emphasize the abnormality of the
humorist in the Jonsonian sense. Throughout the humour plays
Jonson sets the balanced man as an ideal in contrast with the
humorist. This contrast is voiced in Every Man in (II, 1, p. 16)
when Kitely says of Wellbred :

A Study of Humours 35

My brother Wellbred, sir, I know not how,

Of late is much declined in what he was,

And greatly altered in his disposition.

When he came first to lodge here in my house,

Ne'er trust me if I were not proud of him:

Methought he bare himself in such a fashion,

So full of man, and sweetness in his carriage,

And what was chief, it shewed not borrowed in him,

But all he did became him as his own,

And seemed as perfect, proper, and possest,

As breath with life, or colour with the blood.

But now his course is so irregular,

So loose, affected, and deprived of grace,

He makes my house here common as a mart,

A theatre, a public receptacle

For giddy humour, and diseased riot.

In Cynthia's Revels, again, Mercury, in characterizing Crites,
calls him "a creature of a most perfect and divine temper: one in
whom the humours and elements are peaceably met, without emu-
lation of precedency" (II, 1, p. 161). Then follows a long list of
his excellences which contrast with the vices and follies of Jon-
son's humorists.

In his study of the so-called humour types, then, Jonson pre-
sents the man whose moral and emotional nature lacks sanity,
whose mental attitude exalts follies. Thus the fundamental con-^
ception of humour with Jonson is of something temperamental,
something more or less permanent in character bent. This is
what I shall call the Jonsonian use of the word humour. But
Jonson has almost spoiled some of his plays by the effort to em-
phasize in a more or less • abstract way the mental and moral
make-up of his characters; for in a drama of action much of the
satire against evil ideas and evil ideals must take the form of
satire against actions, social pursuits, dress, and so forth. In this
definition Jonson excludes the use of humour to cover any such
thing as a fad in dress, and in the mouth of Sogliardo he satirizes
the use constantly, as Shakespeare does in The Merry Wives of
Windsor. But it is the gallant's affectation of a humour through
a fad in dress, etc. that Jonson objects to and satirizes in Sogli-
ardo's spur as the "only humour," or Brisk's "stirring humours"
[of vaulting]. Indeed, the use of the word to cover any fad or

36 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

whimsicality had itself become a humour that called for rebuke
from the satirist. Jonson does not seem entirely to have re-
jected this use of the word until he came to Every Man out, and
the large number of meanings that the term covers at the end of
the century nearly all appear in Jonson's work. Humour is first
of all used to express a trait of the inner man, but that trait itself
is often symbolized by outward peculiarities and fashions that in
their turn naturally come to have the name humour applied to
them. In other words, both the inner and the outer manifesta-
tions of the disposition may be signified by the term.

A passage which Jonson added to the folio edition of Cynthia's
Revels is very interesting in this connection (IV, 1, pp. 173, 174) :

I would prove all manner of suitors, of all humours, and of all com-
plexions, and never have any two of a sort. I would see how love, by
the power of his object, could work inwardly alike, in a choleric man and
a sanguine, in a melancholic and a phlegmatic, in a fool and a wise man,
in a clown and a courtier, in a valiant man and a coward; and how he
could vary outward, by letting this gallant express himself in dumb gaze;
another with sighing and rubbing his fingers; a third, with play-ends and
pitiful verses; a fourth with stabbing himself, and drinking healths, or
writing languishing letters in his blood; a fifth, in coloured ribands and
good clothes; with this lord to smile, and that lord to court, and the
t'other lord to dote, and one lord to hang himself. And, then, I to have
a book made of all this, which I would call the Book of Humours, etc.

This passage, pointing backward to the origin of the word, ex-
emplifies Jonson's idea of the relation of humours to the physical
man,1 and at the same time shows how very general may be the
inward disposition indicated by the word humour and how varied
and specific may be the particular customs or fads that make
manifest a character tendency. It is obvious from this passage,
also, that the use of the term humour for an outward manifesta-
tion of a tendency will readily result in the extension of the term
to the whim, fancy, or momentary inclination of whimsical and
unstable characters, in other words, to just such a use of the term
as Jonson satirizes.

It is evident, then, that Jonson's program of humour study will
be a varied one. It includes the treatment of Envy, Wrath, Drunk-
enness, Avarice— indeed some phase of all the Seven Deadly Sins

'It should be noticed, too, that Jonson here uses complexions as practi-
cally synonymous with humours.

A Study of Humours 37

except perhaps Sloth. It deals with folly and ignorance, with
manners and dress as indicative of character. In fact, all the
vices, the follies, the manias, the fads and fashions of the day as
indicative of mental or moral weakness are satirized, and humour
is the term that Jonson uses to cover them all.

Until recently the idea has been rather general that Jonson's
most characteristic use of the word humour was new in the drama
at any rate, and that the comedy of humours sprang full-grown
from the brain of Jonson in Every Man in. As Fleay has pointed
out, however, it is practically certain that An Humorous Day's
Mirth preceded Every Man in. And yet it would be equally wide
of the mark to give this one play of Chapman the credit for Jon-
son's whole bent in the comedy of manners. The dominance of •
the idea of humours in Jonson's work is rather to be explained
by the prevalence of the idea in the didactic literature belonging
to the last twenty years of the sixteenth century, a body of litera-
ture that exercised a very strong influence on his whole concep-
tion of the function of comedy. Specifically, outside of An /
Humorous Day's Mirth, the influences that determined the use of
the humour idea for Jonson were those of Lyly, Greene, Nashe,
and Lodge, especially in their more serious prose. Here the word
humour occurs with several meanings, as in Jonson, but the most
characteristic meaning is the figurative one of Jonson's definition.
Here, too, the characterization is of the sort typical with Jonson;
one phase of a character, a vice or folly or fad, is stressed till it
becomes dominant. These humours are studied in stories, as in
Greene's numerous treatments of jealousy ; in dramas, as in Lyly's
Woman in the Moon; and in character sketches, as in Lodge's Wits
Miserie and Nashe's Pierce Penilesse. It is especially in the
character sketches of Nashe that the word humour is applied to
an abnormal tendency. The character sketch of Jonson's type,
however, is developed to its greatest perfection in Lodge's Wits]
Miserie. Moreover, just as the character sketch is an accompani-
ment of the study of humours in this group of prose writers, the
crystallization of Jonson's idea of humours comes along with his
highest development of the character sketch; that is, both reach
their zenith in Every Man out and Cynthia's Revels.

But in order to understand the use of the word humour in the
Elizabethan age, it may not be out of place, before discussing in

38 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

greater detail these immediate predecessors of Jonson, to take up
briefly the origin of the use of humour to represent what is tem-
peramental and characteristic, and to suggest the general causes
that led to the prominence of the humour conception in the litera-
ture of the end of the sixteenth century. I am not prepared to
give any exhaustive study of the broadening use of the word,
especially before the middle of the century, but the development of
the Jonsonian use along with the shift from the study of abstract
vices and follies to the study of human types near akin to them
seems to me pretty definitely marked.

In the fourteenth century humour is common enough in Eng-
land as applied to the supposed fluid constituents of man's body.
The conception of humours on the physical side led in medical
science and in popular literature to an association of certain dis-
positions and mental or nervous conditions with the preponderance
of certain humours. We can readily see that humour to represent
the mood or mental state supposedly caused by the preponderance
of some physical humour is an easy extension of the use of the
word as words expand in language. This use of humour in the
transferred sense doubtless came in early, much earlier than I have
been able to trace it. The earliest assured instance of it that is
cited by the New English Dictionary is for the year 15251 from
Thoms's Anecdotes of Early English History (Camden Soc., p.
11), and is given under the definition, "temporary state of mind
or feeling ; mood, temper." The passage reads : "Hacklewitt and
another ... in a madde humour . . . coyted him downe
to the bottome of the stayres." About 1565, we find illustrated the
still more transferred meaning, "a particular disposition, inclina-
tion, or liking, esp. one having no apparent ground or reason ; mere

irThe first example cited by N. E. D. as figurative dates from about 1475,
but it is probably not figurative after all, as Professor Manly pointed out
to me. The passage, which is quoted under the meaning "mental dispo-
sition," is from Quia Amore Langueo, Part II, a poem in Political, Relig-
ious, and Love Poems (E. E. T. S., XV). As given in the 1903 edition
of the E. E. T. S. volume, the passage reads in Lambeth MS. 853, 11. 53-55,
as follows :

fin my loue was neuere desaite,

Alle myn humowrs y haue opened hir to,

There my bodi hath maad hir hertis baite.

The Cambridge Univ. MS. Hh. 4.12 has substituted memlres for humours.
The general sense of the passage and the substitution of membres make
it pretty clear that the word is used in the physical sense.

A Study of Humours 39

fancy, whim, caprice, freak, vagary." The example which the New
English Dictionary cites is from Calf hill's Answer to J. Martial!' s
Treatise of the Cross, 1565, (Parker Soc., p. 94) : "They neded
no more for hallowing of a Church, but a sermon, and prayers, in
which peraduenture (that I may feede your humor)1 they made
the signe of a crosse with their finger." These and other mean-
ings2 that developed later the New English Dictionary distin-
guishes from the strict Jonsonian use, which it defines as "mood
natural to one's temperament; habitual frame of mind." In my
own notes, which begin about the middle of the sixteenth century,
it has not always seemed practical to make these distinctions, for
the uses of the word humour to indicate a fairly permanent or
distinctive quality all contribute to Jonson's conception. The first
work in which I have found humour used freely in its derived
sense dates from 1567; by 1580 the use of the word had become
fairly widespread ; and by 1592 humour seems to be the term most
often chosen by the writers who deal with the follies of the time
to indicate the inclination or moral weakness that leads to evil.
The use of the word, indeed, increases in proportion to the atten-
tion that is paid to the study of manners.

Popular as the word humour was throughout two and a half
centuries to represent a physical state invariably associated with a
corresponding tendency of mind, it is surprising that the use of
the word to represent the appropriate mental state itself developed
as slowly as it did. In fact, as I have said, this use does not
seem to have taken any very firm hold until well into the sixteenth
century, or nearly two centuries after the physical conception of
humour is revealed in Chaucer as a part of the thought of the age,
The cause is probably two-fold. In the first place, as is often
pointed out, the social class dominates over the individual in this

iThis expression had already become stereotyped. The phrase is used
often in Fenton's Tragicall Discourses, 1567, and it occurs frequently in
later writers, at times in the works of writers who do not use humour
in any other combination. Jonson in Ev. M. in (III, 2, p. 31), after speak-
ing of humour as bred by affectation and fed by folly, makes Cash add:
"Oh ay, humour is nothing if it be not fed: didst thou never hear that?
it's a common phrase, feed my humour."

2The N. E. D. gives, no doubt through a misprint, the date 1566 instead
of 1656 for Cox's Acteon and Diana . . . followed ly the several con-
ceited humours of Bumpkin, etc., a work whose title is used as the first
illustration of humours in the plural to mean "moods or fancies exhibited
in action," etc.

40 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

early literature dealing with real life. Chaucer's character sketches
analyze men, through the specific details of manners, on the basis
of social class and trade, and do not generalize according to the
inner nature of the man. Allegory, to be sure, was popular, but
it dealt with abstract virtues and vices rather than with human
types. It is clear, then, that the physical conception will not
prevail in allegory; nor, in the treatment of actual men from the
social point of view of class, will the vices and follies be those of
temperament but of class. Naturally with the coming of the
Eenaissance, especially with the study of Aristotle and Plato, the
emphasis was shifted to quality in the individual. In the
second place, to go a little further in the same process, so long as
the whole individual was the unit, so to speak, there were other
words more suitable to the conception than humour. One humour
predominated and determined the inclination of the man, but one
humour could not be separated from the rest, and temperament
was a compound result. Two words, especially, complexion and
temperament, were suited for this conception of the combination
and regulation of the humours and elements. These words are
common in Chaucer to represent the characteristic tendencies in a
man's nature. Temperament we still retain with its indication
of one's general nature. Complexion is frequent in Shakespeare
to suggest disposition and mood, and Jonson also uses the word,
as in the passage from Cynthia's Revels quoted above in connec-
tion with humour. But, when the individual is subjected to dis-
section, and the typical qualities become more prominent in the
characterization of the moralities and the satiric literature of the
Renaissance, there results the stressing not of the combination of
qualities but of the single dominant quality associated with the
preponderance of one humour in the composition of the body.

This association of the new conception of humour with a new
conception of character treatment, that which combines the study
of a type and the study of an abstract folly or vice, is not at
all new of course. Courthope, in his History of English Poetry,
stresses the connection between the morality and the Jonsonian
comedy. Another statement of this connection is found in Gay-
ley's Plays of our Forefathers. According to Professor Gayley,
the characters in the moralities, though called by abstract names,
are often from life, and each character has a motive of action to

A Study of Humours 41

distinguish it from the rest. "This kind of play is, therefore,, the
forerunner of Ben Jonson's comedy of humours" (p. 298).
Again, Professor Gayley says that Haphazard of Appius and Vir-
ginia is "a Vice of the old type; but he is, also, the representative
. . . of the caprice of the individual and the irony of for-
tune. He is the Vice, efficient for evil, but in process of evolu-
tion into the Inclinations or Humours of a somewhat later period
of dramatic history: conceptions not immoral but unmoral,
artistic impersonations of comic extravagance, where Every Man
is in his Vice and every Vice is but a Humour"1 (pp. 303 f. Of.
also p. 314). What we really see, then, in this new development
in the treatment of types is the bringing of vices and follies home
to men and women by the greater nearness to actual life, by the
concreteness and individualization that the abstractions take on.
It is this side of medieval literature that influenced Jonson most
strongly in his conception of comedy and of the types appropriate
to it.2

The new conception of character treatment, then, as I have in-
dicated above, calls for a constant study of the nature of men and
women. Analysis of character with the fixing upon some domi- ;
nant mental or moral trait is found in Greene, Nashe, Lodge,
Lyly, Spenser, and Marlowe. Along with the philosophical study
of man went the physical, and the two were not dissociated; but,
as the qualities of character were associated with the physical
qualities of man, the physiological side plays, I believe, a greater
part than the psychological in the thought of the age with re-
gard to mankind. In fact, during the latter half of the sixteenth

inclination, almost synonymous with Humour, as Prof. Gayley recog-
nizes, is the Vice of Trial for Treasure. Compare "Inclination the Vise"
of Sir Thomas More. See p. 306 of Prof. Gayley's book for the spirit of
comedy in Trial for Treasure.

2It is very interesting to find Wager in the prologue to The Longer
thou Liuest, the more Foole thou art, just as literature is fastening most
firmly on individual vices and follies, forestalling, much in Jonson's spirit,
any charge of attack on individuals:

By him we shall declare the vnthriftie abuse
Of such as had leuer to Folly and Idlenes fall,
Then to nerken to Sapience when he doth call:
There processe, how their whole life they do spende,

But, truly, we meane no person perticularly,
But only to specific of such generally.

42 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

century, the whole thought of life is colored by the influence of
tHe physical conceptions current at the time and taking a still
greater hold upon men as the range of studies became broader
and interest in the mysteries of life keener. The thought and
language of the age were impregnated with the thought and lan-
guage of the physical sciences, especially the science of medicine,
exactly as the literature of the nineteenth century has been uni-
versally influenced in theory and expression by the scientific con-
ceptions of evolution.

An indication of the interest in medicine is seen in the great
number of medical tracts appearing in English during the six-
teenth century.1 Elyofs Castle of Health and the works of
Boorde, Bullein, Recorde, and Vicar}' were especially well known.
Bullein's Dialogue against the Fever Pestilence reveals a physi-
cian studying the diseases of society along with his study of the
pestilence, and the social evils are of primary interest. The
physician Rabelais in France was one of the great anatomists of
life and its evils, and his influence penetrated to England early.
The ideas and the language of such works were speedily reflected
in the literary treatment of life. As the didactic purpose of
much of the contemporary literature is indicated in the frequent
use of the word mirror, so the analytic tendency finds expression
in the various titles that use anatomy.2 The interesting fact in
connection with the popularity of these titles is that they are
used by the very men who apparently influenced Jonson most
in his early life, and gave him his conception of humour — Lyly,

*Cf. the list in The Cambridge Hist. Eng. Lit., Vol. Ill, pp. 560, 561.
It could probably be greatly extended.

2The most notable works embodying the idea in their titles are given by
Mr. McKerrow (Works of Nashe, Vol. IV, p. 3) : Anthony de Adamo, An
Anatomi, that is to say a parting in peeces of the Mass, 1556; Rogers,
A philosophicall Discourse, entituled, The Anatomie of the Minde, 1576;
Lyly, Euphues. The Anatomy of Wyt, 1579; Stubbes, The Anatomie of
Abuses, 1583; Greene, The Anatomie of Lovers Flatteries, an appendix to
Mamillia, 1583; Greene, A maruelous Anatomie of Saturnistes, a part of
Planetomachia, 1585; Greene, Arbasto, The Anatomie of Fortune, 1584;
Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie, 1589. Compare also Gascoigne, "The
Anatomye of a Louer," 1575, (Poems, ed. Hazlitt, Vol. I, p. 35) ; Valour
Anatomized, doubtfully ascribed to Sidney (cf. D. N. B.) • Harington,
Anatomie of the Metamorphosed Ajax, 1596; Maroccus Extaticus. Or,
Bankes Bay Horse in a Trance . . . Anatomising some abuses and bad
tnckes of this age, 1595; "The Anatomie of Alchymie," Epistle VII of
ixxiges big for Momus, 1595. The word anatomy was equally popular in
?s during the early part, at least, of the seventeenth century.

A Study of Humours 43

Greene, and Nashe. In Asper's statement of his satiric purpose
in the induction to Every Man out, Jonson himself uses both
mirror and anatomy together with scourge, the word most sug-
gestive of the attitude of the formal satirists (cf. p. 151 infra).
Moreover, much of the literature of the time shows an acquaint-
ance with medical lore. Medical writers are quoted; ISTashe and
Greene and other writers draw more or less on medicine for terms
and figures. The physician occurs in Jonson's Magnetic Lady,
and there is much medical jargon in the play, as for instance in
the purge for a purse prescribed for Sir Moth Interest (III, 4).
More to the point is the fact that in the early plays Jonson often
uses figures from medicine in analyzing character. In Every Man
in (II, 1, p. 19) jealousy is discussed as a disease:

Like a pestilence, it doth infect
The houses of the brain. First it begins
Solely to work upon the phantasy,
Filling her seat with such pestiferous air,
As soon corrupts the judgment; and from thence,
Sends like contagion to the memory:
Still each to other giving the infection,
Which as a subtle vapour spreads itself
Confusedly through every sensive part,
Till not a thought or motion in the mind
Be free from the black poison of suspect.

Well, I will once more strive,
In spite of this black cloud, myself to be,
And shake the fever off that thus shakes me.

Here we have a distinct humour in the Jonsonian sense treated
from the point of view of bodily disease. Jonson's analysis is true
to the belief of the time that from the humours certain fumes or
vapours arose, and passing to the brain, affected the mind.1 To
be associated doubtless with this very idea of vapours arising from

humours as determining the sanity of men is the use of vapours

•

»Cf. Ev. M. in, II, 1, p. 17. Astrological conceptions also play their
part in the idea of humours, as in Greene's works. See Englische Studien,
Vol. 40, pp. 332 ff. for the physiological conception of spirits and the con-
tinuance in the drama and in late seventeenth century literature of this
idea. Cf. Dowden, "Elizabethan Psychology" in The Atlantic Monthly,
Vol. 100, pp. 388 ff., for a review of the whole field to which these con-
ceptions belong; see also Greenough and Kittredge, Words and their Ways,
pp. 30 ff.

44 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

in Bartholomeiv Fair and elsewhere to indicate a peculiar form of
quarreling and ranting. The term seems to denote a popular fad
of certain classes, as humours did, and doubtless came from medi-
cal science. Naturally, also, in close connection with the idea of
humours which had taken such a hold upon the age in its study
of man physically and mentally, went the £urge, the recognized
medical treatment for excess of humour. It is needless to quote
examples from Jonson, whose whole treatment is illustrative and
who constantly uses the term, as in "purge of purse" above. The
purging of humours is especially conspicuous, of course, in the
final adjustment at the close of the early humour comedies.

A curious side of this anatomical and humour lore is to be
found in some odd conceits of the sixteenth century. In Crowley's
One and Thirty Epigrams, 1550, "Of Yayne Wryters, Vaine Talk-
ers, and Vaine Hearers" (E. E. T. S., E. S., No. 15, 11. 1389 ff.),
we are told how the writer's head is opened and the talker stirs his
brains with a stick. Examples from Nashe,1 especially from his
controversial works, are numerous, and several of them go to show
that, though Jonson's use of the purge in Poetaster was derived
from Lucian, such concrete representations on the stage were
not without precedent in the English drama. In The Returne of
Pasquill (Works, ed. McKerrow, Vol. I, p. 92), there is mention
of an old play in which Divinity had been "poysoned . .
with a vomit which he [Martin'] ministred vnto her, to make
her cast vppe her dignities and promotions." A passage a few
pages farther on (p. 100) reads: "This [Vetus Comcedia-'} is
she that called in a counsell of Phisitians about Martin, and
found by the sharpnes of his humour, when they had opened the
vaine that feedes his head, that hee would spit out his lunges
within one yere." In A Counter cuff e giuen to Martin lunior
(Works, Vol. I, p. 59), we have a reference to "the Anotamie
latelie taken of him \Martiri], the blood and the humors that
were taken from him, by launcing and worming him at London
vpon the common Stage." In Strange Newes, Nashe says of
Harvey (Works, Vol. I, p. 295) :

'In Vol. V, pp. 34-65 of his Works of Nashe, Mr. McKerrow throws con-
siderable doubt on Nashe's authorship of any of the Martin Marprelate
tracts that are usually ascribed to him.

A Study of Humours 45

The tickling and stirring inuectiue vaine, the puffing and swelling Satiri-
call spirit came vpon him, as it came on Coppinger and Arthington, when
they mounted into the pease-cart in Cheape-side and preacht: needes hee
must cast vp certayne crude humours of English Hexameter Verses that
lay vppon his stomacke; a Noble-man stoode in his way, as he was vomit-
ing, and from top to toe he all to berayd him with Tuscanisme.

The age, then, was full of the ideas of medicine,, and humours
especially struck the fancy of writers. As humour had already
acquired its various figurative meanings, it is easy to see how this
interest in medical lore caused a continually widening use of the
word. I have shown, I think, how naturally the word may have
developed its various meanings in England itself, and how much
a part of the age was the interest in humours; it remains to show
definitely the development of the Jonsonian use at the end of the
sixteenth century through such writers as Fenton, Lyly, Greene,
Nashe, and Lodge.

First, however, it is necessary to note that Professor Spingam
(Literary Criticism in the Renaissance, pp. 88, 89) would trace
this use of the term to Italy, connecting it with the conception of
character treatment which according to him grew largely out of
the Eenaissance idea of decorum. As evidence he cites Salviati's
definition of humour (in Del Trattato della Poetica, a MS. lec-
ture of about 1586) as "a peculiar quality of nature according to
which every one is inclined to some special thing more than to
any other." But the use of the derived meanings of humour in
England much earlier than the manuscript lecture of Salviati, the
presence of forces that would naturally tend to develop such a
use, and finally the great vogue of the idea in England toward
the close of the century render it improbable that Italy is to be
held responsible for the conception. Professor Spingarn's view
neglects these important phenomena. Indeed, both the concep-
tion of humours and the corresponding treatment of character
may well have been independent of foreign influences, though
doubtless Italian and classic ideas had the effect of crystallizing
native tendencies. It must be remembered that, after the first
impulse had been received, the Eenaissance spirit often worked
alike in different countries of Europe without any necessary de-
pendence of one literature upon another, for all Europe was feel-
ing the same impulses and finding in classic literature the same

46 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

sources of inspiration, releavening the medieval thought, which in
itself had been akin throughout Europe. And this may be said
without forgetting the great indebtedness of all Europe to Italy.

My own purpose is to trace the rise of the humour conception
in England, and I have paid rather slight attention to the ulti-
mate source except as it may be English. Since, however, the
first work in which I have found the term humour used freely is
The Tmgicall Discourses of Fenton, a series of stories derived
from Bandello through the French of Belleforest, a word seems
necessary in regard to the possible foreign influence on Fenton's
use of humour. The Italian of Bandello is not accessible to me,
but, as Fenton himself says that he translated from the French
(Tragicall Discourses, Tudor Translations, Vol. I, p. 7), there
is no especial reason to believe that the Italian originals of his
stories influenced him directly. In this work of Fenton, which
appeared in 1567, humour is employed rather constantly in a
sense not differing greatly from Jonson's. Indeed, humour is
such a favorite with Fenton that often he adds to his original a
passage of which it is the central word and conveys the central
idea. B.elleforest in the Histoires Tragiques, from which Fenton
drew his stories, uses humeur occasionally, but too rarely to ac-
count for Fenton's fondness for the word.

In order to compare Fenton's work with Belleforest's in this
respect, I have chosen as typical of Fenton Discourses I, II, IV,
and VII. Jealousy is treated in the fourth discourse, and the
word humour is frequently applied to it. The seventh is the
famous "Countess of Celant" story. In these four discourses of
Fenton, humour is used figuratively about thirty-five times. In
the corresponding stories of Belleforest (numbers 21, 22, 10, and
20 respectively), humeur occurs three times with what approaches
a figurative meaning, but the three uses are practically alike.
The first of these examples is found in the following passage,
which is not translated by Fenton: "Plein de quelque humeur
melancholique, qui luy trouble le cerueau."1 Thus only in two
cases could Belleforest have suggested to Fenton the derived use
of the word humour during the course of these four stories.

Belleforest, Histoires Tragiques, Rouen, 1603, Vol. I, p. 417. Compare
Fenton, Trag. Disc., Vol. I, pp. 177, 178.

A Study of Humours 47

Moreover, in both of those cases Fenton employs the word in a
way that is far more suggestive of the Jonsonian application to
disposition or inclination. Belleforest evidently conceives of the
physical humour as affecting the mental state, but in none of the
three examples does humeur stand for the disposition or inclina-
tion itself. What seems to be with Fenton a constant tendency
to look at character from the point of view of an inclination or a
primary quality of disposition is indicated by the change he has
made in translating the two passages in which both he and Belle-
forest use humour. Belief orest's "Phumeur., qui brouillassoit la
raison" (Vol. I, p. 419) becomes in Fenton "the disposition
overcharged wyth a mad humor of wrong conceites"
(Vol. I, pp. 179, 180), where the word disposition gives the idea
a new significance, and humour becomes much more figurative in
application. Again, in "manie, procedant d'vne humeur trop
melancholique" (Vol. II, p. 204), Belleforest uses humeur in
practically the physical sense, though with a suggestion of the in-
fluence on character; but Fenton' s translation — "humor of mad-
nes, preceding of a vaine braine" (Vol. I, p. 88) — transfers
humour to the phrase indicating mental state and so gives the
word far greater significance for disposition or character bent.

The significance of the word humour in Fenton's interpreta-
tion of character, and his fondness for expanding his original by
the addition of phrases containing the word will appear from the
following parallels between Belleforest and Fenton:

Fenton, Tragicall Discourses Belleforest, Histoires Tragiques

For yf the desyre of thy litle Si tu n'eusse encor ce petit do-

livynge in the countrey, and glister- maine que tu as aux champs &

inge shewe of thy greate house ceste spacieuse maison en ville, per-

. . . had not sturred up the cov- sonne n'eust enuie" ton estat (Vol.

etous humour of that ravenouse II, p. 146).
marchaunte (Vol. I, p. 33).

For how canne a man lay a more Et quelle plus grande gloire peut

sewer foundation of perpetuall acquerir Phomme qu'en vainquant

glorye, then in correctinge the hu- soy mesme, & chastiant ses affec-

moure of hys fowle appetite and tions (p. 157).
conquerynge the unbridled affec-
tions of the wilful mind (p. 40).

48

English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Wherin. I fedd the hongry humor
of mv affection with such alarains
and contraryetie of conceites, that
havinge by tliys meane loste the
necessary appetite of the stomake,
etc. (p. 76).

And he that in the choice of his
wyfe respectes chieflye her beautie
and greatnes of porcion . . . es-
capeth seldom without a sprit of
grudge or cyvill discension disturb-
ynge hys quiet, wyth a continuall
humour of frettynge disposition
feedynge hys mynde (pp. 79, 80).

How can he be acquited from an
humor of a frantike man, who, etc.
(p. 164).

Wherin he suffered himselfe to
be so much subject and overcome
with the rage of this follie, that,
according to the jelowse humor of
th* Ytalyan, he thoughte every man
that loked in her face, etc. (p. 176).

Neyther hath this folyshe humor
of jelowsy so much power to enter

le me consumoy de sorte, que
perdant Pappetit, etc. (p. 195).

II n'echape gueres souuent le
malheur qu'vn esprit de dissention
ne se brouille parmy leur mesnage
(p. 198).

Mais qui seroit ce fol, que vou-
droit, etc. (Vol. I, p. 406).

Fut si estrange sa folie, qu'il luy
sembloit que tous ceux qui la re-
gardent, etc. (p. 406).

Le vertueux & prudent homme ne
soupconnera iamais rien sans vne

into the hart of the vertuous and preuue euidente (p. 417).
wise man; who neyther wyll give
his wife such cause to abuse her-
selfe towardes hym, nor suspect her
wythout great occasyon (p. 177).

Four of Fenton's stories are also translated by Painter in his
Palace of Pleasure, and it is interesting to study the difference
between the two translations in regard to the use of humour. The
stories are Discourses I, VII, XI, and XIII of The Tragicall Dis-
courses, corresponding, according to the original edition, to num-
bers XXX, XXIV, XXVII, and XXIX, respectively, in the Sec-
ond Tome of The Palace of Pleasure. In Fenton's translation
of these stories, humour occurs in the transferred sense at least
twenty-five times; in Painter's, the word does not occur at all ex-

A Study of Humours

cept in the physiological sense.1 Two of these stories I have
already compared with Belleforest's versions and have found that
in the French humour is not used at all except in a physiological
sense. Some parallel passages taken from the "Countess of
Celant" story in Belief orest, Painter,, and Fenton will show the
relation of the three with regard to the interest in humours.

Belleforest Painter Fenton

Cognoissant son in
clination (Vol. II, p
76).

Knowing Mr inclina- Not ignorant of the
tion (Vol. Ill, ed. humor of her inclina-
tion (Vol. II, p. 4).

martel en

83).

teste? (p.

Le Comte

luy dit (p. 86).

De mesme se resolut

bandry to loase his
frute . . . but
beatinge the bushe as
the birde was readie to
go oute, recharged her
with seconde admon-
ishement (p. 14).
Wherefore, he ac-

Whereuppon hee re-
d'y mettre ordre, & luy solued to take order compted it an acte of
fermer le pas auant and stop hir passage wisedom, to take up
qu'elle eust gaigne" la before she had won the the vaine that fedd
campagne (p. 89). field (p. 53). those humours, and

stop her course afore
she gained the plaine
feelde (p. 16).

Toutesfois parloit-il Notwithstandyng, he Saith he
au plus loin de ce qu'il sayde more than he feedyng her humour
en pensoit (p. 107). ment to do (p. 63). wyth franke wordes,

dissimulynge, notwith-
standynge, that which
he thought (p. 34).

*Cf. Jacobs's edition, Vol. Ill, pp. 172, 178, 229, 316 for this use. With
the last passage compare the corresponding one in Fenton (Vol. I, p. 65),
where humour is used in the same sense.

Jacobs, p. 45).

Ces Mantoiians, qui The Mantuanes, The Mantuans, whose

ont tousiours quelque whose suspicious heads heades are the common

are ful of hammers fordge whereupon the

working in the same? humour of frettynge

(pp. 49, 50). jelousye doth alwaies

beate? (p. 11).

The Counte . . . Th'erle . .

batant les buissons, beating the Bushes fedynge the humor of

tawdis que la proye vntill the praye was his fortune, judged yt

estoit preste a sortir, ready to spryng, re- no point of good hus-
plyed (p. 51).

50 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

Ce ieune Comte
. se retira de
ceste emprise, & osta de
sa teste toute 1'affec-
tion amoureuse . . •
Et a fin qu'il n'eust oc-
casion de s'y amuser, &
que la presence ne le
surprist derechef, & ne
le rendist encor pour-
suyuant de celle qui
1'auoit requis & pour-
suyui, il se retire a
Milan (p. 108).

The yong Earle
forbare ap-
proche vnto hir house,
and droue out of his
heade al the Amorous
affection. . . . And
to the ende he might
haue no cause to
thinke vpon hir, or
that his presence
should make hym
slaue againe to hir
that first pursued him,
he retired in good
time to Mill an (p.
64).

The erle

checked the humour of
hys accustomed desyer.
. . . And because he
woulde aswell remove
the cause as take awaye
the disease, ferynge
leaste eyther the viewe
of her presence, or
some force of newe
charme, mighte effee-
sones enchante hym
and sett abroche the
humor of former de-
syers, he retired imme-
diatlye to Myllan (p.
36).

These passages indicate Fenton's predilection for the word
humour and at the same time the number of shaded meanings
that the word has for him.1 The very fact, also, that he has
often wrested the wording of his original in order to bring in
humour, suggests his tendency to interpret character from the
point of view of medieval science. Moreover, his attitude to his
material seems to be more consciously analytic, didactic, and
moral than Belleforest's, despite Belleforest's, or rather, perhaps,
Bandello's, love for pointing a moral. Fenton's especial impor-

(tance for Jonson, indeed, lies not in his use of humour alone,
but in his use of the word along with a seriousness of purpose
and a conception of character that connect him with Jonson.
Fenton's Epistle Dedicatory to Lady Mary Sidney proclaims the
seriousness of his message, and also suggests strongly a program
of humours. After declaring that his purpose in selecting the
stories for translation has been to present examples of virtue to
be followed and of vice to be shunned, Fenton continues (Tragi-
call Discourses, Vol. I, pp. 7-9) :

My seconde endevor was bent to observe the necessitie of the tyme;
chiefly for that, uppon the viewe and examples of oure auncesters lyves,
the fraile ymps of this age maye finde cause of shame in theyr owne

Besides the passages that I quote, these six stories from Fenton show
the use of humour on the following pages: Vol. I, pp. 23, 24, 37, 38, 45,
55 77, 80, 90, 92, 110, 126, 128, 180, 184, 190; Vol. II, pp. 6, 174,
189, 239, 247, 259, 267, 291.

A Study of Humours 51

abuses . . . the Historians of olde tyme (in theyr severall recordes
of the actes, conquestes, and noble attemptes, of Princes and greate men)
have lefte oute nothynge servyng for the ornamente and institution of
mannes lyfe; not forgettynge to sett oute also in naturall coollers theyr
tyrannye, and other vices, wythe contempte of vertue . . . they allure,
by traines of familyaritye, every succession, to embrace and beholde, as
in a glasse, the undoubted meane that is hable, and wyll, brynge theym
to ... perfection in vertue. Whyche, also, moved me to use a
speciall discrecion in coollynge oute suche examples as beste aggreed wyth
the condicion of the tyme,1 and also were of moste freshe and familyar
memorye ; to the ende that, wyth the delyte in readynge my dedication,
I maye also leave, to all degrees, an appetitt and honeste desyere to honor
vertue and holde vice in due detestation. And, albeit, at the firste sighte,
theis discourses maye importe certeyne vanytyes or fonde practises in love,
yet I doubte not to bee absolved of suche intente by the judgement of the
indifferent sorte, seinge I have rather noted diversitie of examples in
sondrye younge men and women, approvynge sufficientlye the inconvenience
happenynge by the pursute of lycenceous desyer, then affected in anye
sorte suche uncerteyne follyes. For heare maye bee scene suche patternes
of chastetye, and maydes so assured and constant in vertue, that they
have not doubted rather to reappose a felicitye in the extreme panges of
death then to fall by anye violent force into the daunger of the fleshelye
ennemye to theyr honour. In lyke sorte appeareth here an experience
of wounderfull vertues in men; who, albeit hadd power to use and com-
mande the thinge they chieflye desyered, yet, bridlynge wythe maine hande,
the humour of theyr inordinate luste, vanquished all mocions of sen-
sualytye, and became maisters of theym selves, by abstaynynge from that
whereunto they felte provocation by nature. Who desyereth to see the
follye of a foolishe lover, passionynge hymselfe uppon creditt, the impu-
dencie of a maide, or other woman, renouncynge the vowe of her fayth
or honor due to virginitie, the sharpp pennance attendynge the rashe
choice of greate ladyes in seekynge to matche in anye sorte wythe degrees
of inferior condicion; or who wisheth to bee privie to th' inconveniences
in love, howe he frieth in the flame of the fyrste affection, and after,
groweth not onelye colde of himselfe, but is easelye converted into a
contrarye shapp and disposition of deadlye hate — maye bee heare assisted
wyth more than double experience touchinge all those evills. . . . And
who takes pleasure to beholde the fyttes and panges of a frantique man,
incensed to synister conceites by the suggestion of frettynge jelouzye,
forcynge hym to effectes of absolute desperation; the due plage of dis-
loyaltye, in both kyndes, with the glorye of hym who marcheth under the
enseigne of a contrarye vertue; a man of the churche, of dissolute lyying,
punished with publike reproche; or the villenie of the greedye usurer,

this expression and the similar one in the first line of this quota-
tion from Fenton compare Jonson's demand that literature be "after the
fancie of the tyme" (p. 8 supra).

52 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

makyng no conscience to preferr oppen perjury in suppressynge th' inno-
cent'cause,— maye fynde here to satisfye his longynge at full. ... I,
with the tormentes that pinched here suche as labored in a passion of
follye and fond desyer, maye worke a terror to all those that hereafter
unhappelye syp of the cupp of suche ragynge infection.

This rather full quotation sets forth Fenton's general plan and
shows his accord with the didactic purpose of literature in his
age. He chooses examples that fit '''the condicion of the tyme,"
and his purpose is to reform men, to bring them out of their evil
humours. To a much greater extent than Jonson he sets the ideal
beside the evil; and both men represent the punishment of vices.
The program for the treatment of life which Fenton here puts
before himself is much like Jonson's, and many evils that would
come under the head of humours are included. The term humour
occurs in the quotation only once, and then is applied to lust as a
provocation of nature, a sense much nearer to the physical meaning
than the ordinary use but agreeing with Jonson's definition. Other
words are also used indicative of the inclination of men to vice
and folly; as, disposition, condition, motion, provocation of nature,
infection.

More significant for Fenton's conscious choice of the word hu-
mour in connection with the treatment of character is the way in
which he has translated the arguments of the stories. These argu-
ments give, not the gist of the story, but the theme and the moral,
and2 as each story is a study of an inclination or a vice, Fenton
has naturally had many opportunities to add the word humour.
Indeed, some of the vices and follies mentioned in the Epistle
Dedicatory are here called humours by Fenton.1 One of the most
interesting of these arguments is that of Discourse II, which con-
tains an elaborate comparison of the bodily humours with the in-
clinations of the mind.2 The comparison suggests that in Jon-

JThe moralizing openings, or sommaires, of the separate stories in the
Histoires Tragiques, which Fenton in translating has called arguments,
often show a close kinship in ideas to the Epistle Dedicatory of The
Tragicall Discourses; so that, even if the original may not explain Fen-
ton's use of humour, the critical opinions of Bandello doubtless did have
an influence on Fenton's ideals.

^ 2Here even Belleforest uses humeur in a more or less figurative sense.
The passage in which the word occurs is one of the two discussed above

(p. 47). The other uses of humour which I quote from the arguments
have been added by Fenton.

A Study of Humours 53

son's definition, and the argument closes with a conception akin to
Jonson's famous conception of the mental state that produces evil.

Meates . . . albeit . . . good of theimselves, yet, being swal-
lowed in glottonous sorte, they do not only procure a surfeyt with un-
savery indisgestion, but also, converting our auncient healthe and force
of nature into humors of debylytie destillinge thorowe all the partes of
the bodye, do corrupte the blodde which of itselfe afore was pure and
without infection. Even suche is the disposition of love, whose effectes,
directed by reason ... be not suche enemies indeede to the quiet
of our lyfe, as necessary meanes to reforme the rudenes of our owne
nature. . . . But who . . . without advise or judgemente, will
throwe himselfe hedlonge into the golphe of a folishe and conning phan-
tasye, escapes hardly without the rewarde whiche that frantike passion
yeldeth ordenarely to suche as are unhappelye partakers of suche infec-
tion.

Then, after mentioning such examples of uncontrolled passions as
ought to teach men "to restraine the humor of their owne madnes/'
Fenton adds:

With what enamel so ever they seke to guild and colour such vices,
yet can they not be excused of an humor of madnes, preceding of
a vaine braine, exposing frutes according to the spirit or guide that
possesseth them.

The following are some additional examples of Fenton's use of
humour in the arguments prefixed to the discourses:

How can he be acquited from an humor of a frantike man, who,
without any cause of offence in the world, committes cruel execution
upon his innocente wife [through jealousy] (Vol. I, p. 164).

I have preferred this example of an Italian countesse, who, so long as
her first husband (not ignorant of the humor of her inclination) [to
lust], etc. (Vol. II, p. 4).

Amongest all tne passions which nature sturreth up to disquiet the
mind of man, there is none of such tyrany or kepes us more in awe then
the detestable humor of covetousnes, and raging appetyt of whoredome
(ibid., p. 130).

Albeit he was younge, ful of wanton humors, and nothing degenerat-
ing from th' Ytalyan inclynacion touching the desier of the fleshe, etc.
(p. 131).

Checked the humor of his former apetit [of lust] (p. 132).

For, albeit the sondrie enormities growing daily amongest us by the
unbridled humour of oure affection, which we commonly cal love, argue
the same to bee a passion of moste daungerous and perverse corrupcion,
etc. (p. 214).

54 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Albeit it [love] be an infection of it selfe, yet it serves also as a con-
trepoison to drive out another venym . . . not meaning for all this
to perswade that it is of necessitie we make ourselves subject altogether
to tliis luimor of good and evill disposicion (p. 214).

Th' experience is not straunge, nowe a clayes, what humor of rage doth
directe our fraile youth, governed by the planet of love (p. 238).

Teuton's use, then, is clearly anticipatory of Jonson's. The fact
that Fenton restricts himself almost entirely to a study of love
narrows his field, but the various phases of the passion — love, lust,
jealousy — are several times spoken of as humours. Jonson calls
love a humour in The Case is Altered (II, 2), and in the passage
quoted above (p. 36) from Cynthia's Revels Phantaste discusses
in detail the phases of the humour love. Lust is handled rather
sparingly in Jonson, hut appears in Volpone and Epicure Mam-
mon. Jealousy Jonson constantly treats as a humour, dealing
with it in Kitely, Corvino, and Fitzdottrel, in Corvino, at least,
with almost tragic force. Not only the narrowness of Fenton's
field but his bent toward the tragic make comparison with Jon-
tjon difficult. Fenton's program of the tendencies to be repre-
hended includes much more serious evils than Jonson's. Humour
with the translator of The Tragicall Discourses carries no comic
significance, the inclination being considered so forceful a passion
as to call for the terms madness, rage, etc. But in intention and
conception Fenton's attitude to character and his treatment of
humours is practically the same as that indicated by Jonson's
definition. There are some distinctions to be made, however, in
the use of the word. Fenton does not give the term humour so
broad a significance as Jonson does, having seemingly the physical
side always closely associated with it. Hence it is that with Fen-
ton disease, infection, and similar terms are more frequently syn-
onyms of humour than in later writers. Fenton, for instance,
certainly thinks of actual bodily humours when he says, "Love is
an humor of infection derived of the corrupte partes in our
selves" (Vol. I, p. 89). The examples which I have quoted show
that he does not wander far from this physical meaning, and they
contain no hint of the use of humour to cover a fad. Further-
more, Fenton apparently does not yet feel that the word carries
s true figurative meaning alone, and he usually adds a reinforc-
ing word, as in "the humor of her inclination," "humor of madnes,"

A Study of Humours 55

"humor of ... disposition/' "humour of oure affection."1
All this suggests a lack of confidence in such a use of the word
and would seem to indicate that humour in the derived sense is
just taking hold on the language in Fenton's time.

Considering the early date, even though there is no evidence that
Fenton's work had great influence, his tendency towards a critical
program is very important as indicative of consciously new trends.
He connects the medieval idea of the moral purpose of character
drawing arid of story telling with the keen analysis of actual life
and the newly developing literary art of the Kenaissance. He has
a program that is clearly perceived, extensive, and definite; it in-
volves a moral application of his stories and characters; accord-
ingly, strict attention is given to a single idea in characterization;
humour is the word used to indicate the phases of character studied ;
and the relation of his work to the condition of the time is stressed.
In much he is indebted to Bandello, but he makes a great advance
himself in the emphasis that he lays through his own employment
of humour upon the critical analysis of character. In all of these
respects he is a clear forerunner of Jonson. Mere translator
though he was, his work was of a kind to be of vital importance
in helping the medieval English attitude to character treatment
to persist without a serious break under new critical conditions
and even in connection with romantic fiction.

Ity the time that the word humour and the conception of char-
acter treatment which it involves had made its beginning in Eng-
lish thought, a very kindred conception of art in characterization
had entered from the classics in the idea of decorum. I have
already expressed my dissent from Professor Spingarn's view that
the humour conception was derived largely from the conception
of decorum. The two ideas are doubtless related, however, and
inevitably interacted on each other. From the very opening of
the Kenaissance, in my opinion, the classics exercised their influ-
ence on the attitude to character treatment and on literary art,, an
influence that gathered force. But until criticism developed con-
scious theory, it worked through the native art rather than became
a substitute for it. The attitude of the Kenaissance that gave

*In some cases this reinforcing word is no doubt due, however, to the
fact that Fenton adds humour to the word that Belleforest had already
used to indicate bent or inclination.

56 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

the name humanism to the study of the classics and under the
principle of decorum emphasized a dominant trait in character
portrayal undoubtedly furnished a powerful stimulus to the trans-
fer from the portrayal of character through abstractions to the
vivid picturing of types of folly drawn from real life. As typical
of the attitude of Renaissance classicists to the art of characteri-
zation, Wilson and Sidney may be chosen, representing a stretch
of about fifteen years of time on either side of Fenton's work.
Wilson belongs to the school of Ascham and Cheke, a school of
men who were thorough classicists and yet English in temper and
ready champions of pure English diction and of native traditions.
Apparently under the influence of this loyalty to English ideals
and traditions. Wilson uses contemporary types rather than classic
to illustrate the classic ideal of characterization. Sidney repre-
sents a more exact adherence to classical and Italian theories of
criticism with far less regard paid to native art, though his atten-
tion to moral symbolism is almost medieval.

Wilson in discussing "description" (The Arte of Rhetorique,
pp. 178, 179) deals with the method of handling characters in
oratory. Under the marginal heading "Diuersitie of natures" he
says:

Men are painted out in their colours. . . . The Englishman for
feeding and chaunging for apparell. The Dutchman for drinking. The
Frenchman for pride & inconstance. The Spanyard for nimblenes of
body, and much disdaine: the Italian for great wit and policie: the
Scots for boldnesse, and the Boeme for stubbornesse.

Many people are described by their degree, as a man of good yeares, is
coumpted sober, wise, and circumspect: a young man wilde and carelesse:
a woman babling, inconstaunt, and readie to beleeue all that is tolde her.

By vocation of life, a Souldier is coumpted a great bragger, and a
vaunter of himself: A Scholer simple: A Russet coate, sad, and some-
times craftie: a Courtier, flattering: a Citizen, gentle.

Then he discusses the conventions even for historical personages,
apparently using "comelinesse" as a synonym for decorum :

In describing of persons, there ought alwaies a comelinesse to bee vsed,
so that nothing be spoken, which may bee thought is not in them. As if
one shall describe Henry the sixth, he might cal him gentle, milde of
nature, led by perswasion, and readie to forgiue, carelesse for wealth,
ispecting none, mercifull to all, fearefull in aduersitie, and without fore-
cast to espie his misfortune. Againe, for Richard the third, I might

A Study of Humours 57

bring him in, cruel of heart, ambicious by nature, enuious of mind, a
deepe dissembler, a close man for weightie matters, hardie to reuenge,
and fearfull to lose his high estate, trustie to none, liberall for a pur-
pose, casting still the worst, and hoping euer the best.

While the emphasis in these passages is on the social type, so
that nationality, class, or vocation is stressed as in medieval art,
or else on the historical individual, the demand so early in the
century for the treatment of character according to a fundamental
trait is significant for the development of humours as well as for
such later kindred studies as Shakespeare's Eichard III or Hot-
spur. In Wilson's connection of the fundamental trait with defi-
nitely marked social types we see every opportunity for the social
types of Chaucer's Prologue and the abstractions of the morality
to fuse, and out of the fusion to gain greater individuality for
the social type through the study of man's inner nature and
greater verisimilitude for the abstraction through its connection
with life.

Sidney's discussion of the problem of character treatment shows
a far better formulation of principles than Wilson's or Fenton's.
Though he has gained this greater definiteness by attention to
classic and Italian criticism and literature rather than English,
his utterances have some significance for the humour conception.1
Indeed, most of Sidney's critical ideas are important for Jonson.
Sidney's defense of the dramatic unities, his arraignment of the
absurdities of romantic plays, his stress on the moral function of
literature, his classic principle that "comedy is an imitation of the "N
common errors of our life" (p. 28), doubtless influenced Jonson's
theories as well as those of other Elizabethan writers. It is ante-
cedently probable, too, that Sidney's principle of emphasizing the
fundamental trait in character in order to convey the moral lesson,
reinforced the tendencies of Jonson's work. The following pas-
sages show Sidney's attitude to the portrayal of character:

1Professor Spingarn's best statement of his view of the connection be-
tween Sidney and Jonson's humour treatment is as follows: "Even the
conception of 'humours' and of their function in comedy, in the induction
to Every Man out of his Humour, is in a measure the adaptation of a
fashionable phrase of the day to Sidney's theory of comedy, though the
genius of Jonson has intensified and individualized the portrayal of char-
acter beyond the limits of mere Horatian and Renaissance decorum."
Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century, Vol. I, p. xv. In this same
connection Professor Spingarn gives references to the passages that I
quote from Sidney.

58 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

This doth the comedy handle so, in our private and domestical matters,
as with hearing it we get, as it were, an experience what is to be looked
for of a niggardly Demea, of a crafty Davus, of a nattering Gnatho, of a
vain-glorious Thraso; and not only to know what effects are to be ex-
pected, but to know who be such, by the signifying badge given them by
the comedian ( The Defense of Poesy, ed. Cook, p. 28 ).

But I speak to this purpose, that all the end of the comical part be
not upon such scornful matters as stir laughter only, but mixed with it
that delightful teaching which is the end of poesy. And the great fault,
even in that point of laughter, and forbidden plainly by Aristotle, is that
they stir laughter in sinful things, which are rather execrable than ridic-
ulous; or in miserable, which are rather to be pitied than scorned. For
what is it to make folks gape at a wretched beggar or a beggarly clown,
or, against law of hospitality, to jest at strangers because they speak
not English so well as we do? what do we learn? . . . But rather a
busy loving courtier; a heartless threatening Thraso; a self -wise-seeming
schoolmaster; a wry-transformed traveller: these if we saw walk in stage-
names, which we play naturally, therein were delightful laughter and
teaching delightfulness (ibid., pu. 51, 52).

The idea is even expressed for tragedy (p. 28) where Sidney
speaks of tragedy as making "tyrants manifest their tyrannical
humours." The use of humour here, though in connection with
tragedy and perhaps unconscious, is still interesting as showing
at least the assimilation of Sidney's conception of character with
the idea of inclination or bent. In another passage (pp. 16, 17),
the abstract moral significance that lies back of the poet's treat-
ment of character is illustrated by a large number of examples,
drawn, with one exception, from the classics.

To my mind, however, Sidney's idea of moral symbolism in the
portrayal of character and of consistency in treatment, or decorum,
is not the same thing as the native idea of humours. It is similar,
but accessory rather than essential to that ideal of character treat-
ment in accordance with which Nashe and Lodge built up realistic
sketches of English follies in the framework of the Seven Deadly
Sins, and Jonson created characters, like Juniper and Brisk, by
following lines of treament conventionalized for English types.
Sidney seems to me not true enough to English art, not sufficiently
imbued with the English spirit. His preference for classic exam-
ples marks a break with native tradition. For men like Fenton
and Nashe with their eyes on actual life, classic types are of sec-
ondary interest. At any rate, in Sidney's discussions there is not

A Study of Humour* 59

the same native color or range of types or definite inclination
toward an intimate study of English life that we find in Fenton,
in Nashe, in Lodge later, and finally in Jonson. It is to these
men with something of Jonson's provincial temper rather than to
men like Sidney with his close attention to classic ideals and char-
acters that we are to look for the development of the word humour
and of the English types portrayed hy Jonson under the concep-
tion of humour.

The first of these predecessors of Jonson to be mentioned is
Lyly, who, though Italianate in many phases of his art, showTs a
strong prejudice for things English. It is in Lyly's Euphues, a
dozen years after Fenton, that I have noted the next free use of
humour in Jonson's sense to denote inclination. In spite of the
fact that Jonson satirized Euphuism1 along with other excesses in
diction, there is reason for believing that Euphues may have at-
tracted his more serious attention. Certainly the story shows the
ordinary seriousness of purpose in treating characters and man-
ners which prepares for Jonson. The ideal elements of character
in Euphues are set over against the follies of Philautus, or self-
love; and other phases of folly than those due to self-love are
satirized and anatomized. In many instances it is follies of the
same type, those arising from self-love, pride, pretension, that
attract Jonson's rebuke; Cynthia's Revels has for its subtitle The
Fountain of Self-Love.

In Euphues (Works of Lyly, ed. Bond, Vol. I, p. 196) there is
a passage in which a number of character tendencies are denomi-
nated humours :

But this I note, that for the most part they [would-be wits] stande so
on their pantuffles, that they be secure of perills, obstinate in their owne
opinions, impatient of labour, apte to conceiue wrong, credulous to be-
leeue the worst, ready to shake off their olde acquaintaunce without
cause, and to condempne them without colour: All which humors are
by somuch the more easier to bee purged, by howe much the lesse they
haue festred the sinnewes.

Some other passages in which humour is used in Euphues with a
kindred meaning are as follows :

^Every Man out, III, 1, gives in the term "anatomy of wit" applied to
Saviolina the subtitle of Euphues. Cf. Koeppel, Ben Jonson's Wirkung,
etc., for a list of echoes of Euphues in Jonson's works.

60 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Althoughe these ensamples be harde to imitate, yet shoulde euery man
do his endeuour to represse that hot and heady humor which he is by
nature subiecte vnto (Works, Vol. I, pp. 278, 279).

My trust is you will deale in the like manner with Euphues, that if he
haue not fead your humor, yet you will excuse him, etc. (Works, Vol.

II, p. 10).

Those that . . . follow their own humour, and refuse the Phisitions

remedy (ibid., p. 33).

I see thy humor is loue, thy quarrell ielousie. . . . There is nothing
that can cure the kings Euill, but a Prince . . . nothing purge thy
humour, but ... libertie (p. 95).

Then as one pleasing thy selfe in thine owne humour . . . thou
rollest all thy wits to sifte Loue from Lust (p. 98).

But to wrest the will of man, or to wreath his heart to our humours, it
is not in the compasse of Arte (p. 114).

If thy humour be such that nothing can feede it but loue, etc. (p. 156).

There can be nothing either more agreeable to nay humour, or these
Gentlewomens desires, then to vse some discourse (p. 163).

So that Nature might be sayd to frame vs for others humours not for
our owne appetites (p. 165).

It is evident that Lyly uses humour with a much more assured
application to character and in a greater number of shaded mean-
ings than does Fenton. In these examples the word is applied to
follies constantly, and has been extended to cover a momentary
desire. There is even a suggestion, in the first passage quoted,
of a list of humours and hence of the extension of the term to
cover a fairly broad field of evils, while the word purge is used
for the cure of these evils.1

Just as Jonson, while satirizing a fashion set by Lyly, may yet
have owed something to Lyly's studies in character, so he may have
been influenced toward his treatment of humours by Gabriel Har-
vey, whose affected diction was very probably satirized in Juniper
of The Case is Altered, as Hart has shown.2 The vocabulary of
Juniper certainly indicates Jonson's familiarity with Harvey's
works. Humour is a favorite word with Harvey. As early as
1579 he uses it several times in letters to Spenser in connection

's dramas will be taken up later under a discussion of the dramatic
treatments of humours.

"See p. 94 infra.. Hart has pointed out the fact that Harvey's use of
capricious is satirized in The Case is Altered. Harvey uses capricious
nature witte, veine, and humour. For this last phrase see Works, ed.
Grosart, Vol. II, p. 54.

A Study of Humours 61

with follies that are indicative of temperament or character. For
example, he writes:

But to let Titles and Tittles passe, and come to the very pointe in
deede, which so neare toucheth my lusty Trauayler to the quicke, and is
one of the predominant humors that raigne in our common Youths ( Works
of Harvey, Vol. I, p. 25).

Credite me, I will neuer linne baityng at you, til I haue rid you quite
of this yonkerly, & womanly humor (ibid., p. 26).

The conception of humour in the physical sense as influencing
mental attitude is set forth in a passage from another of these
letters :

All philosophye saith that the temperature and disposition [and] in-
clination of the mindes followythe the temperature and composition of
the bodye. Galen, &c. (Hid., p. 150).

It is especially in the quarrel with Nashe a dozen years later that 13"
Harvey makes the word humour do valiant duty:

This Martinish and Counter-martinish age: wherein the Spirit of Con-
tradiction reigneth, and euerie one superaboundeth in his owne humor,
euen to the annihilating of any other, without rime, or reason (Foure
Letters, 1592; Works, Vol. I, p. 203).

Fie on grosse scurility, and impudent calumny: that wil rather goe to
Hell in iest, then to heauen in earnest, and seeke not to reforme any vice,
to backebite, and depraue euery person, that feedeth not their humorous
fancy (ibid., p. 204).

No man leather then my self, to contend with desperate | malecontents :
or to ouerthwart obstinate Humoristes (ibid., pp. 214, 215).

Euery Martin Junior, and Puny Pierce, a monarch in the kingdome of
his owne humour (ibid., p. 233).

Indeede what more easie, then to finde the man by his humour, the
Midas by his eares, the Calfe by his tongue, etc. (Pierces Supererogation,
1593; Works, Vol. II, p. 215).

That humorous rake, that affecteth the reputation of supreme Singu-
larity (ibid., p. 277).

With certain phrases in these attacks on Nashe compare Jon-
son's description of Puntarvolo as "wholly consecrated to singular-
ity/' and of Carlo Buffone as a "scurrilous and prophane jester;
that . . . will transform any person into deformity. . .
His religion is railing/' Other phrases scattered throughout
Every Man out and Cynthia's Revels, especially those dealing with
the impudence of Carlo and Anaides, with fierce jesting, with back-

62 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

biting, and so on, remind one of Harvey's characterization of
Nashe.1

These three writers, Fenton, Lyly, and Harvey, represent three
stages in the use of the term humour, covering a period of twenty-
five years. Fenton employs the word to indicate disposition or
characteristic inclination, but keeps near to the literal meaning
and applies the term to seriously vicious tendencies. With Lyly
the word is applied to follies, and Harvey about the same time
shows the same use. By the time of Harvey's attacks on Nashe,
however, humour in the figurative sense has become so common
that the words humorous and humorist have been adopted to de-
scribe persons possessed of a humour, and humour has been ex-
tended to indicate an affectation, as the later examples from Har-
vey show. Both the derivatives appear frequently in Jonson's
work, and humour as an affectation is constantly used by Jonson
for purposes of satire. The last passages from Harvey are con-
temporaneous with the use of the term by Greene, Nashe, and
many others; and by this time the idea of humours had reached a
pretty full expansion in didactic prose.

During the years 1580 to 1592 Greene wrote a large number of
stories in which — especially in those of his middle and late peri-
ods — the word humour occurs from time to time in various senses
approaching Jonson's use. Some of these stories are merely studies
of types embodying characteristic mental attitudes or moral inclina-
tions. In Planetomachia (1585), for instance, Greene studies the
influence of some of the planets upon the individual in develop-
ing one dominant trait that leads to evil. The control of partic-
ular planets over certain of the physical humours is discussed, and
then Greene takes up the relation of these planets and humours to
the "affections" of men. This idea of planetary influence is prom-
inent with Lyly, Nashe, and others in the study of manners through
the emphasis of one dominant humour or inclination in the in-
dividual; but it does not affect Jonson. Equally interesting is
Alcida: Greenes Metamorphosis (1588), where Fiordespine's pride
in beauty, Eriphila's wit and fickleness, and Marpesia's inability
to keep a secret are studied as examples of social vices due to ab

v ,wf,1-defined t^0™8 of the Renaissance on wit, jesting, etc., out
ffon ® ^^ are discussed in connection with Carlo

Buffone of

A Study of Humours 63

normal or unwholesome bent in character. This work shows the
influence of Lyly's Euphues with its study of the evil and the
virtuous qualities of youth. In the slightly earlier Euphues, his
Censure to Philautus (1587), Greene deals with passion, wisdom
(or craft), fortitude, and liberality in a way which shows a greater
indebtedness to Lyly, but the stressing of the qualities of youth
as social is less marked than in Alcida, and so the work is less im-
portant as a force leading to Jonson. The Farewell to Follie
(1591) contains several stories, in each of which is presented one
supreme quality whose effect is ruinous. So this conception of
character study enters into a number of Greene's works, though
it is not always so completely the basis as in the stories mentioned
above. His treatment of the unhealthy tendency in character is
broad and embraces the deadly as well as the foolish or frivolous,
for his stories are often tragic.

In a number of these studies of character, humour is applied to
a quality or mood. In Penelope's Web (1587), Greene speaks of '
the "humorous perswasions" of Penelope's suitors (Works, ed.
Grosart, Vol. V, p. 150) ; of the maid's willingness "to content her
Ladies humour by beguyling the night with prattle" (p. 154) ; of
"the chollericke humour and froward disposition of men" (p. 164) ;
and of Saladyne's being "tickled with an inconstant humour" (p.
170). Philomela (1592) shows a closer approach to Jonson's use,
especially in the treatment of jealousy. There is a rebuke for this
"humor of iealousie" (Vol. XI, p. 120) and for the "disposition
of a gelous man that woulde hazard the honour of his wife to con-
tent his owne suspitious humour" (p. 143). Later we read that
his "lelious humor was satisfied" (p. 183). In the same story
there occur the phrases "amorous humour" (p. 173) and "passion-
ate humour" (p. 142). In the Vision (1592) it is again jealousy
to which the term humour is applied. The phrases "iealious
humor" (Vol. XII, p. 230), "pestilent humor" (p. 239), and
"feede his humour" (p. 247) are all used with reference to jealousy. \^

One of the most important writers of this "humour school" is
Nashe. Some curious concrete representations of humour as
indicative of the interest in the subject have been men-
tioned above. It is noticeable that most of these examples
are quoted from Nashe. There are many uses of the term
in his works, too many to dwell upon in view of the space already

64 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

given to a study of the developing use of the word. It will be
sufficient to quote Nashe's most characteristic passages and give
reference to some of the others. One of his most important pas-
sages occurs in Pierce Penilesse, 1592, (Works, ed. McKerrow,
Vol. I, pp. 219, 220) :

Some men there be that, building too much vpon reason, perswade
themselues that there are no Diuels at all, but that this word Daemon
is such another morall of mischiefe, as the Poets Dame Fortune is of
mishap: ... so vnder the person of this olde Gnathonicall com-
panion, called the Diuell, we shrowd all subtiltie masking vnder the
name of simplicitie, all painted holines deuouring widowes houses, all
gray headed Foxes clad in sheepes garments; so that the Diuell (as they
make it) is onely a pestilent humour in a man, of pleasure, profit, or
policie, that violently carries him away to vanitie, villanie, or monstrous
hypocrisie: vnder vanitie I comprehend not onely all vaine Arts and
studies whatsoeuer, but also dishonourable prodigalitie, vntemperate
venery, and that hatefull sinne of selfe-loue, which is so common amongst
vs: vnder villanie I comprehend murder, treason, theft, cousnage, cut--
throat couetise, and such like: lastly, vnder hypocrisie, all Machiauilisme,
puritanisnie, and outward gloasing with a mans enemie, and protesting
friendship to him that I hate and meane to harme, all vnder-hand cloak-
ing of bad actions with Common-wealth pretences; and, finally, all Ital-
ionate conueyances, as to kill a man, and then mourne for him, quasi vero
it was not by my consent, to be a slaue to him that hath iniur'd me, and
kisse his feete for opportunitie of reuenge, to be seuere in punishing
offenders, that none might haue the benefite of such meanes but my selfe,
to vse men for my purpose and then cast them off, to seeke his destruction 1
that knowes my secrets; and such as I haue imployed in any murther or
stratagem, to set them priuilie together by the eares, to stab each other :
mutually, for feare of bewraying me; or, if that faile, to hire them to
humor one another in such courses as may bring them both to the gal-
lowes. These, and a thousand more such sleights, hath hypocrisie learned
by trauailing strange Countries.

This selection is especially valuable because the word humour is
used for a long series of vices or follies which, as Nashe says, carry
the man away, and these evils are classified under three heads that
might well cover Jonson's program. Of the humours that .Nashe
mentions under vanity, Jonson satirizes especially vain studies, dis-
honorable prodigality, and self-love; of the comic motives men-
tioned under villainy, Jonson deals also with covetise and cozenage;
and of those mentioned under hypocrisy, Jonson satirizes especially
Puritanism. The many phases of Machiavellism which Nashe en-

A Study of Humours 65

larges upon so fully are rather foreign to Jonson's treatment of
hypocritical friendship, but similar studies do occur in Angelo of
The Case is Altered, Carlo of Every Man out, Tucca of Poetaster,
etc. Some of the vices that Nashe enumerates can also be par-
alleled in the tragedies of Jonson.

A second passage of some importance is from The Terrors of the
Night (1593). It is extremely interesting as filling in the list of
humours given in the passage from Pierce Penilesse, and as mak-
ing Nashe's program of humours more nearly equivalent to Jon-
son's. Of course a number of typical social evils that are treated
by Jonson are analyzed elsewhere in Nashe's works, but my interest
here lies in the use of the word humour for these types. The
passage reads (Works, Vol. I, p. 353) :

As for the spirits of the aire, which haue no other visible bodies or
form, but such as by the vnconstant glimmering of our eies is begotten;
they are in truth all show and no substance, deluders of our imagination,
& nought els. Carpet knights, politique statesmen, women & children
they most conuers with. Carpet knights they inspire with a humor of
setting big lookes on it, being the basest cowards vnder heauen, couering
an apes hart with a lions case, and making false alarums when they
mean nothing but a may-game. Politique statesmen they priuily incite to
bleare the worlds eyes with clowdes of common wealth pretences, to broach
any enmitie or ambitious humor of their owne vnder a title of their ^.
cuntries preseruation. To make it faire or fowle when they list to pro-
cure popularity or induce a preamble to some mightie peece of prowling,
to stir vp tempests round about, & replenish heauen with prodigies and
wonders, the more to ratifie their auaritious religion. Women they
vnder-hand instruct to pownce and boulster out theyr brawn-falne deformi-
ties, to new perboile with painting | their rake-leane withered visages, to
set vp flaxe shops on their forheads when all their owne haire is dead
and rotten, to sticke their gums round with Comfets when they haue not
a tooth left in their heads to help them to chide withall.

Children they seduce with garish obiects and toyish babies, abusing
them many yeares with slight vanities. So that you see all their whole
influence is but thin ouercast vapours, flying clouds dispersed with the
least winde of wit or vnderstanding.

A passage occurring a page or two earlier may also be quoted
here (pp. 351, 352) :

Those . spirits of the fire . . . bee by nature ambitious, haughty,
and proud, nor do they loue vertue for it selfe any whit, but because
they would ouerquell and outstrip others with the vaineglorious osten-

66 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

tation of it. A humor of monarchizing and nothing els it is, which makes
them affect rare quallified studies.1

In the passage from Pierce Penilesse general classes of humours
are discussed; in those from The Terrors of the Night Nashe
gives specific types, applying the word humour to them several
times. There is the humour of the cowardly soldier, as in Boba-
dill; the humour of the politic statesman, as in Sir Politick Would-
be; the more general humour of women who paint, pad, and wear
false hair, as in Mistress Otter; and the "humour of monarchizing'
or of "vaineglorious ostentation," as in Brisk and numerous other
Jonsonian characters.

Various other types, tendencies, and follies are spoken of as
humours in Nashe's works. For instance, in Pierce Penilesse
alone there are the following examples, besides those given above,
most of them being pretty nearly akin to Jonson's uses in his anal-
yses of character:

Malecontent humor (Vol. I, p. 157).

Hee will bee humorous, forsoth, and haue a broode of fashions by him-
selfe (p. 169).

A yoong Heyre . . . falles in a quarrelling humor with his fortune
(p. 170).

The Italian is a more cunning proud fellowe, that hides his humour
[of pride] far cleanlier (p. 176).

This [the craze for antiques] is the disease of our newfangled humor-
ists, that know not what to doe with their welth (p. 183).

He hearing me so inquisitiue in matters aboue humane capacity, enter-
tained my greedie humour with this answere (p. 218).

Yet newfangled lust . . . brought him out of loue with this greedy,
bestiall humour (p. 223).

The Foxe . . . grew in league with an old Camelion, that could put
on all shapes, and imitate any colour . . . that with these sundrie

^n this same connection (Vol. I, pp. 354-357) Nashe has a discussion
of physical humours — still considered in relation to the spirits of fire,
air, and earth — and of the influence of these humours on the mind,
especially as conducing to phantasy, dreams, etc. Nashe seems to have
been especially attracted in these years to the science and associated
superstitions of the day; and, consequently, he is constantly connecting
the science and manners of the age by turning from the physical side
to the moral and mental inclinations of men, and especially to social
evils. Nashe expresses the same idea of the influence of an excess of one
physical humour on the mind that Fenton, or Bandello, and Harvey do.
He says, for instance, in one place (p. 370), "No humor in generall in"
our bodies oner-flowing or abounding, but the tips of our thoughts are
dipt in hys tincture."

A Study of Humours 67

formes, (applyde to mens variable humors) he might perswade the world,
etc. (p. 224 ).1

A great number of Jonson's characters might have been sug-
gested by Nashe's studies and especially by Pierce Penilesse. To my
mind, no writer of the sixteenth century before Jonson, not even
Chapman in his Humorous Day's Mirth, formed a more definite
idea of humour as applied to character or organized a more definite
system for the study of various follies than Nashe.2 The one pas-
sage from Pierce Penilesse that was quoted at length alone sug-
gests an extensive and organized comedie humaine of humour types.
There is little doubt, I think, that Nashe was one of the most
potent influences in Jonson's work. When we come to a discussion
of the early plays separately, a number of resemblances between
the work of the two men will give added strength to this idea.

Nashe's plan, as shown in the whole of Pierce Penilesse, of clas-
sifying and studying comprehensively social follies, was continued
by Lodge in Wits Miserie. Lodge's importance for Jonson lies not
so much in his contribution to the conception of humours, for his
use of humour is more or less casual, but in his development of the
character sketch of the Theophrastan type, a matter which calls
for separate notice later. Lodge's use of humour in Wits Miserie,
however, is almost altogether in the characteristic Jonsonian sense.
I have noted the following examples:

This humour [of dicing] must be satisfied (Hunterian Club, p. 41).
As some poetical humor inspires me (p. 55).

In what blindnesse and error that miserable man is, that suffereth him-
selfe to b6e conquered by this cursed humor [of envy] (p. 58).

xThe following are some additional uses of humour in Nashe, apparently
not so important for the development of Jonson's conception and yet show-
ing a variety of meanings; as, essential bent of character, momentary
mood, affectation: Vol. I, pp. 7, 114, 311, 320, 375; Vol. II, pp. 262 and
298; Vol. Ill, pp. 26, 30, 89, 102, 120, 134, 149, 151, 368, etc.

2The interest in the organization and classification of follies evidenced
in Nashe is also seen at times in Jonson's humour plays. At the open-
ing of Every Man out, Asper runs over a list of evil-doers according to pro-
fession, the strumpet, ruffian, broker, usurer, lawyer, courtier, with "their
extortion, pride, or lusts." And in the Palinode at the end of Cynthia's
Revels, the play that practically closes the stricter humour studies, Jon-
son mentions a large number of foolish fashions and customs that he has
attacked most severely, and groups them under certain kinds of humours,
such as swaggering, affected, fantastic, simpering, and self-loving humours.
The various humours of lovers are also analyzed in Cynthia's Revels in
Phantaste's speech, quoted above, about her "Book of Humours."

68 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

If he counsel any man in his owne humor [of malice], he laboreth, etc.

. Flie this fiend and his humor (p. 59).
Humor of impatience (p. 64).
He will not . . . affect anie learning that f6edes not his humor

(p. 72).
Feed him in his humor [of immoderate joy], you shall haue his heart

(p. 84).

Willing that the Ciuill world . . . should be infected with his
humor [of idleness] (p. 94).

The ordinarie seate of this humor [pusillanimity] is in the sensualitie
of the heart (p. 97).1

After 1596, the date of Wits Miserie, or even after The Terrors
of the Night of 1593, it is useless to attempt any record of the
growing use of the word humour, though I shall revert to the mat-
ter in connection with Jonson's forerunners in the drama. Hu-
mour occurs frequently in Dickenson's Arisbas (1594), in Breton's
Wits Trenchmour (1597), etc. It occurs in what seem to be the
earliest formal satires, Donne's (ca. 1593). Indeed, the term is
quite as well suited to a study of folly in satire as in comedy, and
we find Guilpin in Skialetheia (1598) and Eowlands a little later
in his satires stressing the word as much as Jonson does in his
work of the same period. Isolated examples of the use of the word
are met in a great number of the writers, early and late, of the last
quarter of the sixteenth century, but above only those writers could
be considered who used the word humour frequently and to cover,
as it were, a series of follies and evils.2

With the word humour in the Jonsonian sense already in great
vogue, and with Jonson's scheme for the treatment of character
already established in literature, we have in the character sketch
of the so-called Theophrastan type a further contribution to the
development of Jonson's satiric comedies. The character sketch
in some form, of course, exists all the way through English liter-
ature. Chaucer's Prologue consists of character sketches, and its

Outside of Wits Miserie the word humour is rare in Lodge's works.
There are, however, some scattering uses of it, as in Margarite of America,
Hunterian Club, pp. 18 and 50, and in the early Forbonius and Prisceria,

2I have naturally not attempted to find every instance of the use of
the word in any writer. In some, as in Greene, I have left many instances
of the use unrecorded.

A Study of Humours 69

influence must have been fairly extensive. For example, late in
the sixteenth century Greenes Vision and The Cobler of Canter-
burie have a number of character sketches in verse directly imita-
tive of Chaucer. The, Ship of Fools, The Fraternitye of Vaca-
~bondes, Harman's Caueat, The Eye Way to the Spyttel Hous, and
other works of the sixteenth century show the descriptive method
of outlining a character briefly. They often stress the essential
quality of the type that is treated, but in the main the tendency is
to deal with social classes or with individual traits that are exter-
nal. Often, as in The Ship of Fools, the actions of characters
are stressed rather than the qualities. The Theophrastan character
sketch is a different thing, however, different usually in method of
approach but especially in art. It describes a type which repre-
sents, not the social group, but the dominant mental or moral
trait in the individual. This character tendency as applied to the
individual is almost exactly the (tfhumour" of Jpnson's satiric com-
edy,'1 and the character sketch very readily came into use in satire
on humours. Moreover, in its art the Theophrastan character
sketch is preeminently suited to the satiric purpose of the comedy
of humours. It is in prose, succinct, and pointed in analysis;
there is a satirical or ironical turn to it; and the language often
becomes aphoristic, or epigrammatic, or antithetical. In its com-
pression it resembles the poetic epigram, which is a corresponding
growth and contributed largely to the hold that the character sketch
took upon the comedy of humours. Through the two influences
the brief satiric analysis of character became associated with the
study of humours.

Jonson himself has often been considered an innovator in the
use of the Theophrastan character sketch. He was obviously, how-
ever, following in the steps of others, especially of Lodge. Indeed
this type of character sketch was introduced into English literature
much earlier than many have supposed, as early at least as 1576.
In this year was published The Mirror of Mans lyfe, Englisht by
H. K[erton\ (from the Latin of Lotharius, afterwards Innocent

Harris, Mod. Lang. Notes, Vol. X, pp. 44-46, "The Origin of the Seven-
teenth Century Idea of Humours," calls attention to this kinship, but,
failing to recognize the complex nature of the origin, he overstresses the
influence of Aristotle's analyses of character and of the sketches of his
pupil Theophrastus.

70 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

III).'1 The work is chiefly a religious treatise, but there are sev-
eral treatments of character that show the point of view and the
art of the Theophrastan sketch. They occur in Book II, Chapter
13, "The properties of a Couetous man"; Chapter 24, "Of the
Ambitious man"; Chapter 28, "The properties of a proude man,"
continued in Chapters 30-32; and Chapter 34, "Of the properties
of arrogante men." These chapters are really short paragraphs,
terse and direct in treatment of topics. The analysis of character
is just in Jonson's manner, though the influence of the Bible is
often to be detected. Of the proud man it is said : "He is rashe,
bolde, boasting, arrogant, soone moued, and very importunate"
(Chap. 28), and "The proude man . . . thinketh the party
to whom he vseth speeche, thereby to reape profite and great com-
moditie : but if with curtesie hee embrace any man, hee presumeth
his countenance, to gaine hym great credite. He seldome vseth
any friendly affection, but alwayes imperiously clothe shewe his
authoritie. His Pryde, his arrogancie, and hys disdaine, is of more
force wyth hym, than courage, or manhoode" (Chap. 32), Prob-
ably not long after the appearance of The Mirror of Mans lyfe,
Ulpian Fulwell published The First Parte, of the Eyghth lilerall
Science: Entituled, Ars adulandi, the Arte of Flatterie,2 which
contains character sketches exactly in the Theophrastan manner.
The characterizations of Pierce Pickthanke and Drunken Dickon
suggest in some points Carlo Buffone and Shift of Every Man out
and will be taken up later. Even earlier than the work of Kerton
and Fulwell, Bullein's Dialogue against the Fever Pestilence, 1564,
shows one or two close approaches to the same treatment. The
new character sketch appears occasionally, too, in the work of Har-
vey, as the passages quoted above go to show, and Lyly and Greene
in their prose works characterize their personages very nearly at

*Cf. Schelling's Life and Writings of George Gascoigne, Univ. of Penn.
Publ., pp. 96 f., where the statement is made that Gascoigne translated
the same work in the same year and made it a part of his Droome of
Doomes Daye. Gascoigne described his original as "written in an old
kynde of caracters." See the portion of the dedicatory epistle quoted
by Prof. Schelling.

"The work, which is said to have been newly corrected, is assigned by
Corser to the year 1579. My acquaintance with it is only through the
extracts in Corser's Collectanea Anglo-Poetica, Part 6, pp. 389 ff. The
word humour occurs incidentally in these extracts and in The Mirror of
Mam lyfe, but is not used for the folly of the character analyzed.

A Study of Humours 71

times in the epigrammatic way of the Theophrastan sketch. The
character sketches of Pierce Penilesse and The Terrors of the Night
that might be called Theophrastan are not separated from the flu-
ent thread of Nashe's story, but their art is just that of Jonson's
rapid, pointed, and satiric treatment of character. In the drama.,
also, as in the early play of Jack Juggler, the description of char-
acter without portrayal through action supplies similar character
sketches.

Indeed, the Theophrastan type of sketch can be called new in
English literature only as it becomes a consciously cultivated artis-
tic form, and is found complete and detached. As such it is most
fully developed among the writers before Jonson by Lodge, whose
Wits Miserie is composed very largely of brief, distinct delinea-
tions of character. His sketches are no more brilliant or pointed
than those of Pierce Penilesse and of several other works of Nashe,
but the method is more obvious. Taking the most brilliant sketches
of Nashe, Lodge has seemingly built up the whole of Wits Miserie
on the model of them. Both Nashe and Lodge were presumably
influenced by Theophrastus himself. In 1592 Casaubon had
brought out his Theophrasti Characters Ethici, which doubtless
soon became known to English humanists. Indeed, Lodge's knowl-
edge of Theophrastus can hardly be doubted.1

It was Professor Penniman who first noted the fact that Wits
Miserie has a great number of parallels to Jonson's character
sketches. In the introduction to his edition of Poetaster and
Satiromastix, to appear shortly in the Belles-Lettres Series, Pro-
fessor Penniman says : "Wits Miserie with its satirical characteri-
zation of the 'Devils Incarnat' of the age suggests Jonson's early
comedies, in which several of the very 'Devils' described by Lodge
are made to play important parts. . . . Sometimes the same
'Devil' appears in several characters, and sometimes several 'Devils'
inhabit the same character."2 These parallels to Jonson's work will
be taken up in connection with the separate plays; here I am in-
terested in the character sketch only as a part of the study of hu-

irThere is one mention of him in Wits Miserie (p. 20).

2I am under the greatest obligation to Professor Penniman for calling
my attention, through personal correspondence, to this relationship be-
tween Lodge and Jonson, and for the exceptional kindness of allowing me
to see his manuscript before publication.

72 English Elements in Jonson' s Early Comedy

mours, and especially in the fact that Jonson got not only the
method of characterization from Nashe and Lodge primarily, but
also enough details to show us what his models were.

So far I have dealt only with the non-dramatic works that might
have contributed either directly or indirectly to the development
of Jonson's satiric comedy. Before the appearance of Every Man
in, however, there are a number of plays embodying the same con-
ception of character treatment. In the drama as in prose litera-
ture it is not worth while attempting to chronicle all the uses of
the word humour before Jonson. As the term became more pop-
ular, many men utilized it in its various meanings, probably with-
out any consciousness of the fact that they were using it. It is
only in the dramas where the word is employed, on the one hand,
with a certain affectation or consciousness, or, on the other, for a
study of typical character tendencies that the use becomes impor-
tant for the very definite humour program of Jonson.1

In the drama as in fiction, Lyly seems to be one of the very
earliest writers to study the inclinations of individuals systemati-
cally and to apply the word humour to these inclinations. His
plays show transitional phases in the idea of humour. He uses
the word, not as Jonson does, for a folly alone, but at times with
a sense of the physical meaning; again with a view to what is
fundamental and permanent in man's make-up ; often with as much
tragic as comic force, as in Midas; and, in The Woman in the
Moon, with application to varying moods of one character under
the influence of the planets.

In Midas, entered on the Stationers' Eegister 1591 and assigned
to the year 1589 by Bond, three characters at least are studies
exemplifying the supremacy of one passion, besides Midas with his
passion for gold. These are the three councillors of Midas : Eris-
tus, whose bent is toward love; Martius, who is eager for conquest;

'Typical early uses of the word are to be found in The Arraignment of

Paris, III, 1, 1. 22; Two Italian Gentlemen, 1. 181; Orlando Furioso, 1. 120;

James IV, I, 2 (1. 439), II, 2 (1. 1111); Pinner of Wakefield, II, 1

(1.305); Endimion, I, 3, 1. 7, and III, 4, 1. 10; Love's Metamorphosis,

II, 1, 1. 81; CoUers Prophesie, III, 1, 1. 22, and III, 3, 1. 8; Thre&

Lords and Three Ladies of London, Hazlitt's Dodsley, Vol. VI, p. 442;

Leir 11 183, 583, and 742; Taming of a Shrew, Shakespeare's Library,

II, Vol. II, pp. 512 and 520. There are a number of interesting

i of humour in The Spanish Tragedy and Soliman and Perseda: cf.

Crawford's Concordance to the Works of Kyd in Materialien

A Study of Humours 73

and Mellacrites, whose sole desire is gold. The word humour is
used only a few times; but in II, 1, 1. 12, Eristus says of him-
self, "Men change the manner of their loue, not the humor/1'
and in 11. 64 if. Martins, in condemning the neglect of mar-
tial pursuits, says of the other councillors, "Since this vnsatiable
thirst of gold, and vntemperat humor of lust crept into the kings
court, Souldiers haue begged almes of Artificers, and with their
helmet on their head been glad to follow a Louer with a gloue in
his hatte." In the same scene Sophronia, the daughter of Midas,
and like Crites the type of the well-rounded and balanced char-
acter, says of the thirst for gold displayed by Midas and Mella-
crites, "The couetous humor of you both I contemne and wonder
at, being vnfit for a king" (11. 38, 39). The whole scene is a
study of humours, in which each character with a dominant in-
clination urges his own desire in contempt of other interests, and
in which through Sophronia the necessity for temperance and bal-
ance in desire is emphasized.

In The Woman in the Moon, licensed in 1595 and assigned by
Bond to the years 1591-1593, there is a more extensive treatment
of humours, but here the study deals with the influence of the
planets in giving a single character, Pandora, different passions
or humours at different periods. Bond sees in The Woman in the
Moon some influence of Planetomachia, one of the early works in
prose representing Greene's interest in the study of character bent
(cf. Works of Lyly, Vol. Ill, pp. 235 f.). The successive passions
dominating Pandora are called humours, and the whole play is a
study of the follies arising from a lack of balance. First, under
the influence of Saturn, Pandora becomes melancholy and behaves
somewhat like Fallace of Every Man out. Music is proposed to
"sift that humor from her heart" (I, 1, 1. 221). Then Jupiter
fills Pandora with "Ambition and Disdaine," making her display
the humour of Jonson's court ladies. Pandora herself applies
humour to this mood of hers (II, 1, 1. 111). Mars, Sol, Venus,
Mercury, and Luna in turn hold sway over her, and under each
spell she acts as one of Jonson's humour types might act if domi-
nated by the same inclination. In her final choice, Pandora says
to the planets (V, 1, 11. 303 ff.) :

Thou madst me sullen first, and thou /owe, proud;
Thou bloody minded; he a Puritan:

74 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Thou Venus madst me loue all that I saw,
And Hermes to deceiue all that I loue;
But Cynthia made me idle, mutable,
Forgetfull, foolish, fickle, franticke, madde;
These be the humors that content me best,
And therefore will I stay with Cynthia.

Such a list of inclinations or humours, and the detailed study
that Lyly gives each is a long step toward the humour comedy of
Jonson. This treatment corresponds pretty well in time to Nashe's
conception of a definite program of humours,, and, while not so
extensive as Nashe's list, it is equally important because of its
early place in the drama of humours.

Probably before this last comedy of Lyly had been produced,
there had appeared on the stage the old play, Sir Thomas More,
which contains a few scenes very suggestive of the later humour
plays. The overweening justice Suresbie and the perverse and
irascible servingman Faulkner are put out of their humours by
More in exactly Jonson's style. Faulkner twice uses humour with
distinct reference to his follies. He vows to have his hair cut only
"when the humors are purgd, not theis three years" (III, 2, 11.
125f.), and defies consequences "so it bee in my humor, or the
Fates becon to mee" (III, 2, 11. 317 f.).

By this time the idea of humour was general in the drama.
One need only consult Bartlett's Concordance or Schmidt's Shake-
speare-Lexicon to see how common the word is in Shakespeare's
plays of the period. It was also becoming more usual to look at
the character of men from the point of view of a prevailing tend-
ency rather than from that of social cleavage. Marlowe, especially,
carried this attitude into tragedy, and each of his great tragedies
turns upon the overmastering passion of the hero, which leads to
tragic consequences.

Jonson's immediate predecessor in the comedy of humours is
of course Chapman. In his Blind Beggar of Alexandria, 1596,
several of the characters are humour types, and the word humour
occurs frequently in the early part. The Comedy of Humours,
which is supposedly Chapman's Humorous Day's Mirth (cf. Fleay,
Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama, Vol. I, p. 55),
was a favorite on the stage in 1597, and illustrates the use of
humour in the titles of plays to attract attention. The title may

A 8tudy of Humours 75

even have been that of another play and not of Chapman's,, for
the word humour quickly became popular in titles.1 The close
relation of An Humorous Day's Mirth to some of Jonson's plays
will be noticed later. Chapman's Fount of New Fashions, 1598,
which is now lost, may also have been very intimately related to
the satirical humour school that was rising. The title at least sug-
gests Jonson' s Fountain of Self-Love (or Cynthia's Revels).

Meanwhile, possibly in 1597 with The Case is Altered and cer-
tainly by 1598 with Every Man in, Jonson had begun tentative
studies in humour comedy. These plays belong to the period when
Jonson had recognized the field for his genius after the production
of A Tale of a Tub and before Nashe and Lodge, on the one hand,
and the contemporaneous craze for formal satire, on the other,
had definitely turned him toward a formal plan of analysis and
satire. In these experimental plays, especially in Every Man in,
humour is a favorite word, the characters are approaching decidedly
the humour type, and some influence of satire is developing. But
it is only in 1599 that the mode is fully established. Indeed, Jon-
son marks the distinction by giving the name "comical satire" to
Every Man out, Cynthia's Revels, and Poetaster.

xThe reference in The Case is Altered to some play as having "nothing
but humours . . . nothing but kings and princes in it" (I, 1) was
probably added after humour plays became the vogue (see p. 91 infra).
Still the language would not be inappropriate to an early reference to
An Humorous Day's Mirth, for in a general sense "princes" might fit the
characters belonging to the French nobility who appear in the play with
the king and queen.

CHAPTEE IV

A TALE OF A TUB

That A Tale of a Tub was written during Elizabeth's reign is
now pretty generally recognized. The question of the exact date,
however, is still debated. Fleay, followed by Schelling, assigns the
date 1601, seeing in the reference to the constable as Old Blurt
an echo of Blurt, Master Constable.1 Small, in The Stage-Quar-
rel (p. 15), has given about the best argument against connecting
this reference with Middleton's comedy: the expression, he shows,
is proverbial, and A Tale of a Tub could hardly have been writ-
ten by Jonson at a time when he was producing his great comedies.2

Outside of Blurt, the various references or apparent references
in A Tale of a Tub to English works are all to works earlier than
1597, the date suggested by Small. The Pattern of Painful Ad-
ventures is mentioned in III, 5 (p. 465). Turfe's choice of the
clown Clay and cloth-breech in preference to Squire Tub (I, 2, p.
444), and a number of allusions throughout to velvet as distin-
guishing Lady Tub seem to be reminiscent of Greene's Quip for
an Upstart Courtier.3 In II, 1 (p. 453) Bungay's dog is men-
tioned, and in IV, 5 (p. 474) Friar Bacon and Doctor Faustus.
The last line of III, 4 possibly refers to Gascoigne's Supposes,, all
the more as the passage indicates the vague similarity of A Tale of a
Tub to the Supposes and as Jonson got part of the plot of The
Magnetic Lady from that play. There are also references to Sir
Bevis and Guy in III, 3, and to Fabyan in I, 2.

But the strongest reason for assigning A Tale of a Tub to an
early date is found in the nature of the work itself. Unless the
play belongs to the decadence of Jonson's art, it inevitably sug-
gests his apprenticeship. It does not seem appropriate to the year

, Biog. Chron. English Drama, Vol. I, p. 370; Schelling, Eliz.
Drama, Vol. I, p. 326; for the reference to Blurt see A Tale of a Tul,
II, 1, p. 450.

*I might add to his evidence the fact that The Life and Death of
Captain Thomas Stukeley has a Blurt who is a bailiff, and, while the
play seems to have been first printed in 1605, it may have been written
much earlier. Cf. Simpson, School of Shakspere, Vol. I, pp. 153, 154.

8Fleay sees here references to the morality Cloth Breeches and Velvet
Hose of 1600. Cf. Biog. Chron. English Drama, Vol. I, p. 370.

A Tale of a Tub 77

1601, when Jonson's ideals in comedy were altogether opposed to
such work. The stage quarrel,, too, was then at its height, and
yet A Tale of a Tub, in my opinion, takes no part in it. But the j
play is a fairly good antecedent to The Case is Altered and Every •
Man in his Humour; and it shows some motives more fully de-
veloped in Jonson's other plays. Besides, as will be shown later,
it is closely akin to a whole group of plays that went out of fashion
just at the opening of the seventeenth century.

The play in its present form was licensed for the Blackfriars in
1633 and was included by Sir Kenelm Digby in the second folio
of Jonson' s works. Jonson himself would perhaps have withheld
the play from print. Indeed, it must have been due to the poverty
of his old age, to the small success of his attempts at new plays,
and to his fierce desire to put Inigo Jones among clowns that he
revived the play at all. An additional reason for his passing favor-
ably upon this early effort is perhaps to be found in the fact that
his attitude toward what furnished legitimate comic material had
been modified during his later career; and, indeed, as early as
Bartholomew Fair he had turned to a type of play nearer akin to
A Tale of a Tub than were the plays which had been written be-
tween the two, and had, moreover, worked out a critical defense of
Bartholomew Fair, as Drummond tells us. Many antimasques
show Jonson's interest in the clowns and rogues of England, par-
ticularly during the second half of his literary career. The same
interest is to be traced in The Staple of News and The Magnetic
Lady, and the latter play, especially, shows some kinship to A Tale
of a Tub. The Sad Shepherd with its Eobin Hood and Eobin
Goodfellow is a return to themes most popular in the English
drama at the time when A Tale of a Tub must have been first writ-
ten. Indeed, the strongest evidence against an early date for
A Tale of a Tub is the fact that the weakening of Jonson's power
as a dramatist and his growing fondness for treating the peasantry
might well prepare us for just such a play as A Tale of a Tub at
a late period in his life. For instance, the two parts of Love's
Welcome, which are very closely related to this play through char-
acters and scenes, were presented in the years 1633 and 1634, at the
very time of the revival of our play.

Accepting A Tale of a Tub as early work of Jonson that was
later revised, we can determine the changes with comparative ease,

78 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

not only by means of the satire against Inigo Jones, but also by
means of the decided difference of tone and attitude in the handling
of the clowns. Fleay (Bio graphical Chronicle of the English
Drama, Vol. I, pp. 370, 371, and 386) has pointed out the new
material. It consists of the short scene, IV, 2; about fifty lines
inserted in V, 2, from "Can any man make7' to "trust to him
alone" ; and from "I must confer" in V, 3 to the end of the play.
The added material does not have any value for the plot, and
usually fails to harmonize with the rest of the play. In IV, 2,
In-and-in Medlay, the joiner or cooper, is described in such a way
as to be easily identified with Jones; and, though the constable is
elsewhere throughout the play spoken of as the Queen's man, he
is here twice called the King's man. The second addition, — in
y? 2, — which also concerns Medlay as Jones, belongs to the prep-
aration for the puppet-show rather than to the plot of the play.
The first few lines of the scene, with their reference to the Queen,
are evidently a part of the old draft of the play. From the en-
trance of Tub and Hilts to the entrance of Lady Tub with Dame
Turfe and others would mark the inserted matter if we consider
with Small (Stage-Quarrel, p. 176) the use of the word joiner as
indicating the distinction between Medlay as Jones and Medlay as
the cooper. This distinction will not hold, I believe. In I, 2,
Medlay the cooper chooses as his song for the brideale the Jolly
Joiner, "for mine own sake," as he says ; while in V, 2, when Jon-
son, not content with satirizing Jones as In-and-in Medlay, must
also bring in the name of Vitruvius,1 he speaks of Vitruvius as a
London cooper. The insertion in this scene, then, probably does
not begin with the entrance of Tub and Hilts, but, as Fleay asserts,
about twenty lines farther on. After Hilts has introduced Tub to
the clowns, Tub says,

I long, as my man Hilts said, and my governor,

To be adopt in your society.

Can any man make a masque here in this company?

The sudden break at "Can any man make a masque ?" seems to me

The use of the name Vitruvius may have been suggested by a very
complimentary epigram on Inigo Jones in Davies' Scourge of Folly; it
has the title, To my much esteemed Mr. Inego lones, our English Zeuxis
and Vitruuius. Epig. 157. Davies praises Jonson in the preceding epi-
gram.

A Tale of a Tub 79

to be unnatural, and to indicate that Jonson inserted the section
crudely into the play. From this point to the entrance of Lady
Tub the satire on Jones is clear, but upon her entrance the action
of the play is resumed. About fifty lines, then, or at most seventy-
five, were inserted here, and very little more in IV, 2.

The actual plot closes in V, 3, with Tub's graceful acceptance
of the situation and his welcome of the company to a wedding j
supper ; and here the play ended as acted at court. It is uncertain f
whether the remainder of the play in its present form — the part
dealing with the preparation and presentation of the puppet-show-
is an addition cr merely a substitute for some other entertain-
ment in the older version. Small (Stage-Quarrel, p. 176) came
to the conclusion that there was originally a masque presented by
Diogenes Scriben. This does not seem improbable. The conjec-
ture is tempting that Love's Welcome at Welbeck, presented in
1633 and dealing with clownish sports in honor of a marriage, was
an outgrowth of the discarded ending of A Tale of a Tub; but a
number of minor points, as the fact that Awdrey's wedding occurs
in February, a month unfavorable to outdoor sports, discounte-
nance such a theory.

For a play of its type A Tale of a Tub is well plotted, and, out-
side of the additions satirizing Jones, there is almost nothing that
seems useless or inharmonious. On the other hand, the treatment
of Medlay in the inserted matter is inconsistent with his character
as shown in the rest of the play. Elsewhere he is the most incon-
spicuous of the clowns. He speaks only a few lines in the reflec-
tions of the "four wise masters," and only once does he make a
speech of more than a line or two. These few sentences from him,
however, show that he is the least distinctive of the group, and
that he has a faculty for blundering in the use of words. As
Jones, Medlay is described rather fully, occupies the attention of
his group of clowns, arid has pet words, which he uses with affecta-
tion and a pretense at precision. It is possible, of course, that
Jonson revised the play considerably or added scattered passages,
but the indications are against it, for in case of considerable re- 1 f-f rvk .ft
vision the use of the word queen would have been corrected and \ ^ ^ ^
Medlay' s character would have been developed early in the play
in a manner suitable for satire against Inigo Jones.

A Tale of a Tub as a whole, then, may be regarded as an Eliza- ^\J

80 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

bethan product, and a study of its relations to other plays shows
that it belongs to the type of comedy that immediately preceded
the comedy of manners. If the early date of A Tale of a Tub is
accepted, we see Jonson at the very opening of his career studying
and imitating the most thoroughly indigenous types of English
comedy, the country bumpkin, the country squire, the constable,
the sturdy servingman. In plot, too, the play shows the trend
that native English comedy was taking in its strivings for struc-
tural unity and vigorous action. It is true that no direct source
for A Tale of a Tub has been found, so that Jonson was here
exhibiting his independence in literary work, but enough parallels
can be shown to indicate the influence of contemporary literature
and to strengthen the probability that the play was produced before
the close of the sixteenth century. In citing these parallels I hope
it will be clearly understood that I am making no pretense at deal-
ing with sources; my object is merely to suggest literarv conven-
tions or trends that probably influenced Jonson.

The connection of many of the characters in A. Tale of a Tub
with types in the early English drama has been indicated by Eck-
hardt in Die lustige Person im dlteren englischen Drama. The
fact that these types represent conventional modes of treatment
rather than first-hand studies of life is noticeable even in Jonson's
work. The stage type is conventional; color is given by realistic
touches drawn from the observation of life. For Jonson's play
some parallels in character treatment that seem to me worth par-
ticularizing will be noticed in the study of plot motives, and some
independently.

The development of these characters naturally came before the
development of plots suitable for presenting them. In morality
and then in chronicle play, the wit, resourcefulness, and energy of
English rogues and democratic yeomen, the individuality and pic-
turesqueness of men and women of low life, with their characteris-
tic occupations, amusements, and foibles, were early utilized. But
even when Latin comedy began to teach English dramatists how to
handle their characters through organized plot and thus give full
force to the presentation, the tendency remained to give only in
episodic form what was genuinely English or belonged to low life.
The romantic comedy often emphasized this tendency. At the
same time the attempt to write plays dealing with native life and

A Tale of a Tub 81

tradition became more frequent. Methods of plotting, accordingly,
had to be invented or borrowed. The weakness of early efforts is
apparent in such a play as Friar Bacon and Friar Bung ay. An
advance was made when the plots dealt more and more with one
situation and one line of interest; but incident and action were
increasingly demanded in the drama, and it was difficult to sustain
action through a whole play developing only one motive. Compli-
cation, then, along with unity was secured by repeating and vary-
ing one situation again and again, apparently with little idea of
utilizing various events all for one end.

In A Tale of a Tub the intrigue that sets the events into motion
concerns itself with the country girl Awdrey, who is on the point
of being married by her parents to the man of their choice. Other
lovers interfere. The conflict to control the girl is doubtless from
Latin comedy at bottom, but the handling is purely English. The
scenes shift back and forth across the fields of Finsbury, and first
one side and then another seems to win the victory in the ups and
downs of the conflict. The rapidity of action does not depend
upon the multiplicity of elements entering into the final result,
all of which must be shaped to one end as in The Silent Woman,
but upon a kaleidoscopic combination and recombination of the
same elements. As one party gains, the other falls, only to be
thrown into the ascendency in a moment. The girl is merely
tossed back and forth.

This see-saw rather than a steady advance in plot was common
in the drama, especially at the end of the sixteenth century. In
all the plays of this class, whether accidentally or not, the treat-
ment of clowns is prominent, and often folk customs and super-
natural elements from folk-lore enter in. As regards action, the
type of drama seems to have secured its hold through Menaechmi,
further developed by Shakespeare in The Comedy of Errors, where
accident and the confusion of identity result in first one combina-
tion and then another in the tangled maze of incidents. Certain
romantic comedies, also, such as Common Conditions, John a Kent
and John a Cumber, Mucedorus, and Midsummer Night's Dream,
seem to lead definitely toward A Tale of a Tub. Dissimilar as
these plays are, there are some elements common to them and Jon-
son's play. In each, for instance, a girl is the center of the action,
and the scenes shift back and forth in the open.

82 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Common Conditions (1576) shows most clearly the connection
of such plotting with the metrical romances, where the action is
dependent upon the continual formation of situations of adventure
that do not lead toward the denouement and that often close with
results contrary to the final solution. In this play the passing
of the girl from one hand to another as the pursuit sweeps through
a series of confused windings in the open furnishes the adven-
ture and the intrigue. Mucedorus (printed in 1598), itself de-
rived in part from the Arcadia, represents the same wanderings
in field and wood that we have in Common Conditions. Here
again there is a series of adventures akin to the romances, hut
Amadine is the center of all as is Awdrey, fortune favoring first
Segasto, the father's choice, then Mucedorus, then Segasto again
through the banishment of Mucedorus, then the wild man of the
woods, and finally Mucedorus. One notable passage of A Tale of
a Tub (III, 1, p. 45?) has been traced to Mouse of Mucedorus
(I, 4, 11. 128-130) and Bullithrumble of Selimus (11. 1977 ft3.).1
Clay says almost in the exact words of Mouse:

I have kept my hands herehence from evil-speaking,
Lying, and slandering; and my tongue from stealing.

The closest connection, indeed, between Mucedorus and A Tale of
a Tub is in the clowns Mouse and Puppy. Both are prone to fear
and superstition. Mouse fears that the bear is the devil in dis-
guise; Puppy cries out at the terrible apparition of the devil when
he sees Clay in the straw of the barn. Both clowns make non-
sensical answers by giving the most literal and obvious answers.
Both are largely concerned with eating. Bullithrumble, also, with
his fear of devils, his love of eating, etc., belongs to the same sub-
division of the great class, and all three clowns are evidently
related.

The Two Italian Gentlemen2 (1584) shows little similarity to
A Tale of a Tub in the cause and form of the shifting action, but
it sets forth a complicated love intrigue in which ups and downs
and varied combinations succeed each other rapidly. The presence

^ckhardt, Die lustige Person, p. 325. The passage is, of course, de-
rived by perversion of language from the English liturgy.

2Cf. Collections of the Malone Society (Vol. I, pp. 218 ff.) for evidence
that establishes a claim for Chapman's authorship of Two Ital. Gent, that
is stronger than Munday's perhap8. ^

A Tale of a Tub 83

here of two girls,1 who are themselves, unlike Awdrey, active in
the intrigue, renders the action still more complicated, while the
confusion of night scenes adds to the general medley characteristic
of plays of the type. The love affairs of the maid Attilia, also,
who is shifted from pedant to soldier, and the arrest of Crackstone
just when he believes himself about to succeed in his intrigue to
marry Victoria are suggestive of A Tale of a Tub. A second play
of Munday's, John a Kent and John a Cumber (ca. 1595), is
nearer in many respects to A Tale of a Tub. Though it differs
greatly in the types and combinations of the central characters, it
has as the exciting force the plan of fathers to marry off, against
their will, daughters already secretly betrothed. In the conflict
arising for the possession of the girls — here again there are two
girls and both are active intriguers — success falls first to one party
and then another, while the intriguing forces combine, dissolve,
and recombine, shifting the scenes back and forth from castle to
wood and town as in A Tale of a Tub. Here, however, the inter-
est is centered in the contest of two magicians on the opposing
sides. The clowns Tom Tabrer, Turnop, and Sexton Hugh, with
their pageant for Morton and Pembroke, though nearer to the
clowns of Love's Labour's Lost and A Midsummer Night's Dream,
are not unlike those of A Tale of a Tub. Sexton Hugh and
Turnop have names reminding one of Chanon Hugh and Mar-
gery Turn-up in A Tale of a Tub, the last of whom is merely
mentioned (II, 1, p. 454). With Munday's clowns as with Jon-
son's, the drollery arises partly from the respect of others for the
superior wisdom of the chief clown.2 The dramatic and play in-
stinct of the rustics, too, is exhibited. To an extent the same pur-
suit in the open and the same alternation of situation is found in
A Midsummer Night's Dream, which also deals with the love in-
trigues of two girls ; and the drolleries of the clowns are very much

1FThe Italian original of Two Ital. Gent. — Pasqualigo's II Fedele — I have
not seen, but Fraunce's Victoria, which is said to be closer to this Italian
play than is Two Ital. Gent. (cf. Mod. Lang. Rev., Vol. Ill, pp. 177 ff.),
is not so clearly a forerunner of A Tale of a Tub as is the English play,
since the principal intrigue in Victoria, is for a married woman's favors
and not for marriage.

2Cf. A Tale of a Tub, I, 2, p. 444, where Puppy says of Turfe:

He's in the right; he is high-constable,
And who should read above 'un, or avore hun?

84 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

in the tone of Jonson's play. Shakespeare's play is not so close to
the general type, however, for the cross wooings are of a different

sort.

In Mother Bombie (ca. 1590) there are some motives akin to
those of A Tale of a Tub. The plan of fathers for a marriage of
their children is thwarted, and, through the intriguing of the
pages, matches seem on the point of being made, only to be un-
made. The foolish and vulgar girl who plays a part in the mar-
riage intrigue of Mother Bombie is also characterized in many
places like Awdrey of A Tale of a Tub. In Wily Beguiled, again,
we have the exciting force of a father's plan for the marriage of
his daughter, and the intrigue that upsets it. This play, though
not printed till 1606, is by common consent placed much earlier;
by Professor Schelling before 1595, and by Fleay in 1596 or 1597.1
There are three rival suitors, but the alternation is not so marked
as in some other plays of the group. Churms dupes the father of
the girl and both the rival suitors, promising each to work in
his interest and meanwhile trying to marry the girl himself.
In types of character the play is somewhat akin to A Tale of a Tub.
Like Justice Preamble, Churms, the lawyer, while he is plotting
to win the girl, gets possession of the father's money by trickery.
Eobin Goodfellow, the ally of Churms, is the means of revealing
the lawyer's intrigues to the noble suitor, as Miles Metaphor
is in A Tale of a Tub. Similarities in these minor points may be
called accidental, for the detailed treatment of characters and sit-
uations differs widely.

Two plays very dissimilar to A Tale of a Tub and yet showing
something of the same dramatic art are Look About You and Two
Angry Women of Abington. They may have come after A Tale
of a Tub, though some students of the drama have assigned to
both of them dates that would in all probability place them before
Jonson's play. At any rate, they indicate the extension of the type
of study seen in A Tale of a Tub. Look About You is worth
mentioning merely because it shows the same fondness that we

1Cf. Schelling, Eliz. Drama, Vol. I, p. 319; Fleay, Biog. Chron. Eng.
Drama, Vol. II, p. 159; Ward, Hist. Eng. Dram. Lit., Vol. II, p. 612.
The induction certainly seems to contain a number of references to the
satiric comedies of the end of the century, and some echoes of Marston; but
the body of the text was probably early enough to influence Jonson in
A Tale of a Tub.

A Tale of a Tub 85

find in Jonson's play for quick transference of scene from point
to point around London, for surprising complications in the course
of an intrigue, and for the rapid alternations of successes and fail-
ures. The story, however, is a cross between rogue tale and chron-
icle, and has little kinship with A Tale of a Tub. In The Two
Angry Women of Abington, there is again the plotting of a father
for the marriage of a daughter. Here the intrigue is different,
since the mothers are pitted against the fathers, and there are no
rival suitors; but the types of character, the shifting of scenes in
the fields, and the pandemonium of adventure are worth noting.1
The girl, like Awdrey, is vulgar and ready for any marriage.
Nicholas, or Proverbs, and Miles Metaphor are companion studies,
and Dick Coomes is the bold, testy servingman, like "resolute"
Basket Hilts.

Englishmen for my Money (1598) may be mentioned, also, as
belonging to the type. Here the father has three daughters and
plans to marry them all to foreign suitors instead of the English-
men with whom they are in love. The girls, who are active in the
plot against their father, pass first to the foreigners, then to the
lovers, and back to the foreigners, the Englishmen, of course, win-
ning finally. The same miscarriage of plans and preponderance
of accident that is characteristic of A Tale of a Tub occurs here.
As in The Two Italian Gentlemen and The Two Angry Women
of Abington, night scenes add to the confusion.

In "Simon Eyre," one of the tales in the first part of Deloney's
Gentle Craft (1597), there are two chapters (III and V) that give
a story typical of the interest at the time in the comic love in-
trigues of prentices and such underlings of society. The lovers
are treated unromantically as in A Tale of a Tub, and exhibit the
same rough humor and ready craft. The work was probably too
late to affect A Tale of a Tub, but it furnishes a non-dramatic
example of a type somewhat akin to Jonson's play. Haunce, the
Dutchman, by a false tale turns Florence from a meeting with
John, the Frenchman, at Islington, where they are to have a feast ;
and Haunce and Florence go to Hogsden. Having destroyed the
intimacy of John and Florence, Haunce becomes the accepted

1The pastoral play, of course, shows some of this same dramatic see-
saw and base-playing and circuitous love intrigue, as in The Faithful
Shepherdess.

86 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

suitor of the girl. Later, with the help of Nicholas, a new rival,
John gets vengeance by breaking up a little merrymaking on the
part of the two lovers and showing Haunce up in an unfavorable
light. Still Haunce wins the girl, and a time is set for the mar-
riage secretly. Nicholas and John succeed in getting the Dutch-
man so drunk that he can not appear at the wedding, and Nicholas
rushes off to play the bridegroom. John circumvents Nicholas,
however, by having him arrested on a criminal charge, and him-
self meets the girl. It is just at this moment that John's French
wife appears on the scene. Nicholas finally wins because he is
English. In A Tale of a Tub we have the same shifting scenes
in the suburbs of London. Here as in "Simon Eyre," while the
parson presumably waits at the church, the girl passes from suitor
to suitor. In Jonson's play, too, a rival suitor delays the mar-
riage by throwing the bridegroom under suspicion of having com-
mitted a robbery, and finally a pretended legal summons calls Tub
away as he is about to win out. When Tub once more has the
girl in his possession, he is hurried off by his mother, as John is
borne away by his wife. Martin, the dark horse, finally wins the
girl.

Some minor incidents of A Tale of a Tub find parallels in plays
belonging to the end of the sixteenth century.

In A Tale of a Tub Chanon Hugh first offers to secure Awdrey
for Squire Tub, and later accepts a larger bribe from Preamble for
working in his interest. Hugh becomes the intriguer and manip-
ulator of the action, only to be outwitted at last. The part of
Hugh seems commonplace; if it occurred in only one play, it might
be ascribed to accident.1 But it occurs in a number. In Sup-
poses, for instance, there is the most natural use of the motive. A
parasite offers help, for profit of course, to rival lovers in turn.
In Grim, Collier of Croyden2 Shorthose, like Hugh a parson, ac-

1(rhis motive may have come from the parasite or Roman slave. In
Misogonus the slave pretends to be faithful to both father and son. Of
course the treatment of such "two-faced" characters was frequent. Am-
bodexter is a favorite name for them. Cf. Cambises; Bullein's Dialogue
against the Fever Pestilence; Stubbes's Anatomy of Abuses, Part I, p. 141,
and Part II, p. 7, where the name Ambodexter is applied to the Jesuits;
Pierce Penilesse and Haue with you to Saffron-walden, Works of Nashe,
ed. McKerrow, Vol. I, p. 162, and Vol. Ill, p. 105; Quip for an Upstart
Courtier, Works of Greene, Vol. XI, p. 252; etc.

2In this play the Devil says of his wife: "Though she be a shrew, yet
she honest" (Hazlitt's Dodsley, Vol. VIII, p. 429). Drummond's

A Tale of a Tub 87

cepts bribes of two lovers of Joan, the miller and the collier, but
attempts to thwart each and secure the girl for himself. These
characters are clowns of the type found in A Tale of a Tub. In
Satiromastix Tucca takes toll of Prickshaft and Shorthose (who
has the same name as the parson of Grim,) to secure Widow Min-
ever for each, and yet would win her for himself.1 These last two
plays would, of course, come after the date to which I should
assign A Tale of a Tub.

In making the constable Turfe the central dupe of A Tale of a
Tub and grouping around him Medlay, Clench, and To-Pan, as his
headborough, petty constable, and thirdborough, Jonson has given
us our most extensive burlesque of the constable. The interest in
constables began early. A stupid and credulous cobbler who is
constantly being played upon serves as officer in The Famous Vic-
tories of Henry V. In Endimion (IV, 2) there are a head con-
stable and some watchmen who discuss their duty with learned
reasons and whose "wits are all as rustic as their bils." In Leir
(scenes xxvii and xxix of the Malone Society reprint) we have
among watches the same sort of nonsense in the way of formal
reasoning. In A Tale of a Tub the assistants of Turfe, like these
watchmen and the immortal Dogberry and Verres, fall into learned
arguments;2 and, as in Endimion, an appeal is made to the con-
stable as final authority (I, 2).3 Dull of Love's Labour's Lost
(I, 1), who like To-Pan is a tharborough, and whom Holof ernes
describes with the words, "Twice-sod simplicity" (IV, 2), is guilty
of the same misuse and misunderstanding of words that we find
in Much Ado and A Tale of a Tub. In fact, Love's Labour's Lost
and A Tale of a Tub reflect upon the stage the great interest in
diction that possessed the English at the time.4 For Jonson as
yet the satire is humorous; soon it becomes deadly.

account of Jonson's famous remark about his wife has almost the same
wording.

JCf. 1. 1158, etc. In Magnetic Lady Parson Palate is retained by
Practice to help him win Pleasance, but later marries her to Compass,
though not without pretense of objection.

2Much Ado may have been drawn from an old play which possibly
dealt with these types. Cf. Furness, Much Ado, in Variorum Shake-
speare, pp. xx-xxii.

8The discussion of the question whether "verse goes upon veet" may be
a satiric thrust at Gabriel Harvey's ideals of verse.

4Cf. G. Gregory Smith, Eliz. Grit. Essays, Vol. I, pp. Iv-lx.

88 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

In A Tale of a Tub (V, 2), when Turfe comes home to find that
he has been beguiled of his daughter and of his money as well, he
cries out,

I am cozened, robbed, undone: your man's a thief,
And run away with my daughter, Master Bramble,
And with my money.

My money is my daughter, and my daughter
She is my money, madam.

The passage, of course, suggests at once The Merchant of Venice
(II, 7). In Wily Beguiled, also, the father, like Shylock a miser,
when he finds that Churms has tricked him out of money and has
eloped with his daughter, cries out (Hazlitt's Dodsley. Vol. IX,
p. 319), "I am undone, I am robbed! My daughter! my money!
Which way are they gone?" In Greene's Never too Lat& (Works,
Vol. VIII, pp. 56, 57) we have the same situation. Fregoso "cried
out as a man halfe Lunaticke, that he was by Francesco robde of
his onely iewell." Then follows his complaint to the mayor that
he has lost both daughter and plate. The resemblance here, how-
ever, seems to be merely accidental. The Case is Altered (cf.
p. 102 infra) contains a scene of the same kind, which is nearer
The Merchant of Venice than is the situation from A Tale of a
Tub.

Finally, Miles Metaphor's report (III, 4) to his master after the
failure of his first mission to get Awdrey recalls Falstaff s account
to the Prince of how he was robbed of the money which he had
helped to take from the travelers (I Henry IV, II, 4) .

Many parallels to Jonson's title have been traced.1 The best
illustration of its meaning is to be found, I think, in Gascoigne's
Certain Notes of Instruction (1575) : "If you ... neuer
studie for some depth of deuise in the Inuention, and some figures
also in the handlyng thereof, it will appeare to the skilfull Header
but a tale of a tubbe." The title, then, is a confession of the slight-
ness of the work in Jonson's estimation.

KX. 5 N. and Q., Vol. XI, p. 505; Vol. XII, pp. 215 f.; Ward, Hist.
Eng. Dram. Lit., Vol. II, p. 379, note; Harvey, Pierces Supererogation,
Works, Vol. II, p. 213; D. N. B., Vol. 38, p. 436; etc. The meaning is
quite clear in a number of the passages using the term. The best illus-
tration outside of Gascoigne is found, perhaps, in Wilson's Arte of Rhet-
orique, p. 101.

A Tale of a Tub 89

On the whole there is little in common between A Tale of a Tub
and Jonson' s other work, and the play leads forward very little
toward Jonson' s characteristic comedy. It is rather primitive in
most respects. Here arid to a slightly less extent in The Case is
Altered, the interest in incident is dominant, whereas in the four
comedies that followed incident is neglected. Besides the primitive
type of plot in the play, almost all the characters represent in some
details the old conventions of vice, fool, and clown. Jonson, how-
ever, handles these types, not with the spirit of abandon and de-
light that is customary in the older drama, but with obvious satire
and burlesque. The tone of the play, in other words, is often char-
acteristic of Jonson, but in material and type A Tale of a Tub
looks backward.

CHAPTEE V

THE CASE IS ALTERED

The Case is Altered was probably written after A Tale of a Tub.
Certainly in general structure it represents an advance over the
more or less primitive Elizabethan type exemplified in A Tale of
a Tub, although the superior art of moving steadily forward in
plot may have been due to the borrowing from Plautus. Further-
more, as far as the internal evidence of style and thought is con-
cerned, the play seems to stand between A Tale of a Tub and Every
Man in his Humour. Especially is this true of the tentative studies
of humours in The Case is Altered, for in A Tale of a Tub the
treatment of types is in no case from the point of view of humours
and the word humour occurs only once, while in Every Man in
the idea of humours is dominant. Again, the play represents a
point in the development of his satire where Jonson has passed
beyond the unmixed burlesque of A Tale of a Tub and has not
yet reached the broader scope of his satiric treatment that begins
with Every Man in. Clownish figures still furnish a large part of
the humor in The Case is Altered, — indeed this form of humor is
present in all of Jonson's comedies, — but they share the stage with
the more pretentious social types. That finer humour of Jonson's
that springs from a satirical marshaling of the insistent follies of
the higher social types is scarcely felt, however, except in the im-
patience of Ferneze. But here again we need to be cautious in
drawing conclusions, for this play is anomalous to some extent on
account of its romantic tendency and its Plautine influence. The
reliance on Plautus in The Case is Altered is very great, while in
Every Man in Jonson has seemingly learned to handle Plautine ele-
ments with the utmost freedom. In fine,jthe general spirit of the
play is more Jonsonian than that of A Tale of a Tub, but far less
so than that of Every Man in, which represents the maturing of
Jonson's peculiar powers.

A statement in The Case is Altered (I, 1) that Antonio Balla-
dino is "in print already for the best plotter" furnishes the most
perplexing element in assigning the play a date before that of
Every Man in. Anthonv Mundav is of course satirized as An-

The Case is Altered 91

tonio Balladino, and the reference is quite clearly to the passage in
Palladis Tamia (entered on the Stationers' Register September 7,
1598, and published the same year) in which Munday is called
"our best plotter." Yet in Lenten Stuff e (entered on the Station-
ers' Eegister January 11, 1598-9,, and published in 1599), Nashe
asks, "Is it not right of the merry coblers cutte in that witty Play

of the Case is altered?" (Works, ed. McKerrow, Vol. Ill, p. 220) —
a clear reference to Jonson's play and to the character of Jum-
per. Lenten Stuffe was in all probability completed when it was
entered on the Stationers' Register, and it hardly seems possible
that in the four months from September 7 to January 11 Meres's
work was published, Jonson's play written and probably acted, and
Nashe's work prepared, with time for Jonson to make a reference
to Meres and Nashe to Jonson. The hypothesis that the passage
satirizing Munday was added after the first production of The Case
is Altered seems most reasonable. (The play as we know it was
not published till 1609). To the support of this hypothesis Mr.
Crawford has brought some very suggestive evidence recently (10
N and Q., Vol. XI, pp. 41, 42). He shows that four passages
from The Case is Altered are quoted in Bodenham's Belvedere, and
that, while the book represents Bodenham's selections, the editing
of the quotations was undertaken by A. M., who is with little or no
doubt Anthony Munday, seemingly the originator of the plan for
the volume. Mr. Crawford argues that Munday would not have
quoted from The Case is Altered in 1600 if in the form then cur-
rent the play had held him up to ridicule, and, consequently, that
the scene in which Munday is satirized was altered after 1600 or
after the compilation of Belvedere. It is true that the authors'
names are not affixed to the quotations in Belvedere, but, according
to Mr. Crawford's idea, Bodenham probably gave the source with
each selection in handing over the material to A. M., since a list
of authors quoted is given in the preface. Thus Munday probably
did not include quotations from Jonson's play unwittingly. The
fact, also, that Antonio appears only in one scene gives color to the
theory that the part of the "pageant poet" was a later insertion.
It is reasonable to suppose, then, that The Case is Altered was on
the stage by the end of 1597 or early in 1598.

For a study of the English influence on Jonson, the plot of
The Case is Altered apparently offers little that is of interest. Its

92 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

important elements are frankly classic— a combination of incidents
from the Captivi and the Aulularia of Plautus. From the Captivi
Jonson has drawn the story of Ferneze and his two sons, Paulo
and Camillo. The capture of Paulo in war (III, 1) ; the capture
on the other side of the noble Chamont and of Camillo, the long
lost son of Ferneze, who as G asper attends Chamont ; the exchange
of names between the two prisoners of Ferneze (III, 3) ; the dis-
patch of the supposed Gasper, really Chamont, to negotiate for the
exchange of Chamont for Paulo (IV, 2) ; the discovery that the
noble prisoner, through the exchange of names, has been allowed
to depart ; the torture of the remaining prisoner, who is really the
son of Ferneze (IV, 5) ; the return of Chamont with Paulo; and
the discovery of the tortured prisoner's identity — are incidents
taken from the Captivi. From the Aulularia comes the miser
story, though often considerably modified. Here Jonson got the
material or suggestions for the soliloquy of Jaques on the source
of his gold (II, 1) ; for his instructions to Rachel to watch the
house (II, 1) ; for his constant return in anxiety to the hiding
place of his gold; for the scene between Jaques and Christophero,
and Jaques and Ferneze (III, 1) even to the details that Jaques
is suspicious of their motives in greeting him and in suing for his
supposed daughter's hand, that they misinterpret his anxiety, that
Jaques leaves several times to inspect his gold, that he declares his
daughter has no dowry, and that he rejoices at their departure;
for Jaques's removal of his gold to a new place (III, 2) ; for
Onion's hiding in a tree; for Jaques's search of Juniper (IV, 4) ;
and finally for the outcry of Jaques over his loss. The char-
acterization of Jaques, also, is largely derived from the Aulularia,
and Rachel is suggested by Phaedra — whom we only hear of in
Plautus — and as guardian of the home by Staphyla. Besides, some
of the details in the treatment of Onion are drawn from this play.
The two plots are joined first of all by the romantic love of
Paulo and Rachel, though other suitors of the girl, especially
Ferneze himself, serve to unify the action of Jonson's play. A
second link is found in the motive of the stolen child. Instead of
being stolen by a fugitive slave, as in the Captivi, Camillo has been
lost in warfare; but this motive from the Captivi is engrafted on
the miser story, for Jaques — unlike the miser of the Aulularia,
who really has a daughter and whose gold comes to him from his

The Case is Altered 93

grandfather — has stolen his supposed daughter and his gold. The
girl proves to be a sister of Chamont, so that Ferneze's discovery
of his lost son is duplicated by Chamont's discovery of his lost
sister.1

To all this classic material Jonson has added the characters An-
gelo, Francisco, Maximilian, the two daughters of Ferneze, and the
pages. For Strobilus of the Auhilaria and minor figures of the serv-
ant class in Plautus's two plays, Jonson has given us Valentine, the
traveler; Antonio Balladino, the poet; Juniper, the cobbler; Onion,
the groom; Christophero, the steward; and four other servants of
Ferneze. He has also added, along with many minor details, the
treatment of Paulo's love for Rachel; of Angelo's perfidy; of
Aurelia's love affair; of the memory of Ferneze's wife; of Maxi-
milian's responsibility for Paulo; and of the action of the pages
and clowns except in relation to Jaques.

Not only in the additional elements of his plot does Jonson show
evidences of English influence, but also in the treatment of char-
acters drawn from Plautus, not excepting Jaques, who is the most
thoroughly Plautine of the figures. These evidences, be it re-
peated, can not in any case be flatly called proofs of direct bor-
rowing. Their value lies in the indication of conventional lines of
treatment and in the suggestion they give of Jonson's minute study
of the contemporary drama. Conventions of both romantic and
popular drama are to be traced in The Case is Altered, and this
fact is an excellent indication of the experimental nature of the
play. In A Tale of a Tub Jonson had tried his hand with the ordi-
nary comic stage types, and must have been little satisfied with the
results of his burlesque treatment. The comedy of manners had
not yet justified itself by producing pure masterpieces, and Jonson
in The Case is Altered turned to the only dignified or artistic
comedy that the stage afforded, the romantic comedy. He modi-
fied his romanticism considerably, however, and elevated the clown-
ish figures, or rather added potency to the treatment of them. The
whole group of servants gives Jonson his outlet for satire, but
^specially Juniper, who serves for the satire on current follies and
absurdities in 'the affectation of elegant speech. Of the serious

1Most of these details have been pointed out by Gifford in his notes to
the play and by Koeppel in his Quellen-Studien zu den Dramen Ben
Jonson's, etc.

94 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

characters, also, certain ones are more than the conventional fig-
ures in romantic comedy. Ferneze and his two daughters, espe-
cially, have been utilized as essays in the study of humours.

With the object of the satire and the source of the material in-
volved in the treatment of Juniper, the late Mr. H. C. Hart has
dealt rather fully. He has shown1 that most of the words misused
by Juniper in his affectation and pomp may be traced to Gabriel
Harvey's works. Though it can scarcely be doubted that Jonson
had Harvey's vocabulary in mind, the attack is apparently not per-
sonal ; at any rate there seems to be no special malice in the treat-
ment. In attacks on Latinized vocabularies it was seemingly con-
ventional to use Harvey's as the typically bad one. Harvey's train-
ing in rhetoric and logic and his reliance on Eenaissance rules for
style naturally led him into a mechanical formality and pomposity
that furnished a ready point of attack. Supposedly his vocabulary
is ridiculed in The Old Wives' Tale and Pedantius, and his inflated
diction plays a large part in Nashe's several satires against him.
It is noticeable that Jonson does not use the same Harveyisms that
Nashe uses; probably, indeed, he deliberately avoided doing so,
and turned to Harvey's works for a new stock of terms to carry on
the travesty begun by Nashe. Moreover, it must be remembered
not only that many of Harvey's terms had come into pretty general
use by the time of The Case is Altered, but that Harvey's works still
leave a fairly large proportion of Juniper's perversions unaccounted
for, so that Jonson must have drawn also upon the general liter-
ature of his day. In fact, numbers of new terms were doubtless
passed upon and discountenanced by the more conservative writers,
and in all likelihood each student like Jonson had a list of con-
demned neologisms to air. The influence of Nashe on Jonson's
attitude to neologisms, again, was probably considerable.

Aside from the possible element of personal satire involved in
Juniper's diction, his characterization as the cobbler, the most im-
portant comic figure of the play, associates him with a type pop-
ular in contemporary drama and prose literature. From the begin-
ning, the shoemaker in literature seems to represent the sturdier
yeoman class, democratic in spirit, independent in attitude, and
boldly self-reliant. He is never utterly stupid, a purely burlesque

a9 N. and Q., Vol. XI, pp. 501 f., and Vol. XII, pp. 161 f., 263 f ., 342 if.,
and 403 ff.

The Case is Altered 95

figure like the constable.'1 In The Pinner of WaJcefield he drinks
with the English king himself and is granted special privilege by
him, clearly in anticipation of the sturdy characters of The Shoe-
maker's Holiday; in The Cobler of Canterl)urie he becomes a
satirist and an author; in The Coolers Prophesie he acts as mouth-
piece of the gods ; and in the folk romances of Deloney and Dekker
he has equally important roles. The shoemaker of Locrine is a
burlesque type, but not a stupid one ; in fact, his "witty" language,
as will be shown, furnishes our best preparation for Juniper.

The most important phase in the treatment of the shoemaker as
a type is found in this "witty"7 or picturesque language, and here
again the type is quite distinct from the constable or watch, the
second clownish figure in which Jonson and others of the period
deal with perversion of language. There are two sides to the cobA
bier's speech. One has to do with the use of a pretentious and
perverted vocabulary, including picturesque epithets, resounding
proper names, and often words uttered in chaos for mere sound.
The other is concerned with vivacity of speech — quick phrasing,
range of figures, slang, abrupt shifts in construction. In general,
it seems to me that in the plays exalting the yeoman, such as The
Pinner of WaJcefield, there is a tendency to give to his speech as
he faces kings, nobles, or what not a certain boldness and decisive-
ness that result in sweep and terseness. The speech that was de-
veloped in the later drama as appropriate to such characters seems
also to show the influence of the meter which was often used for
comic characters all the way through the early drama. This type
of verse with its short, rapid lines may have had something to do
with the jerky phrasing of Juniper. Vice, fool, artisan, and rustic
employ it, and along with the nonsense of these characters there
often goes a use of ribald speech, homely figures, abusive and odd
epithets, alliterative plays upon words, and a misuse of Latin
words in particular. It is but natural that the doggerel verse
should have its effect upon the prose that succeeded it as the proper
speech for characters of this type. Will Cricket of Wily Beguiled
speaks both doggerel verse and doggerel prose, and the same mix-
ture appears elsewhere in the drama before Jonson. Doggerel

*An exception to this is found in John Cobler of The Famous Victories
of Henry V, who is both cobbler and, as he says, a "bad officer" of the
constable.

96 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

verse, indeed, is utilized in many fairly late plays. Munday used
Skeltonic meter in The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington,
and Jonson used it at a much later period in some of his anti-
masques. Into prose went also the love of slang, abuse, plays upon
words, and varied forms of misuse of words. The characters who
twist the pronunciation of Latin words are numerous, and as early
as Mankind sport seems to be made in the drama of Latinized
vocabularies (cf. Macro Plays, E. E. T. S., p. xviii). In the middle
of the sixteenth century the critical discussion of borrowed terms
and the contradictory opinions held on the subject induced writers
to pay excessive attention to diction both for satiric and for humor-
ous purposes. The influence of this trend is very evident in all
of Jonson's early plays. Two ways of treating Latinized vocab-
ularies are especially marked: one consisted in the burlesque use
by clowns, fools, etc. ; the other, in the pedantic use. Jonson ren-
ders the pedantic use more ludicrous by adding the vocabulary of
Harvey to the clownish diction of Juniper.

Both phases of the shoemaker's language, its perversion and its
raciness, seem to develop naturally from The Coblers Prophesie to
Locrine1 and on to The Case is Altered. Ealph of 'The Coblers
Prophesie, like Juniper, is the chief clownish figure in a play
half satiric in nature, though his part is more important for the
serious plot. The amount of perverted language used by Ealph is
small, for his speech is largely made up of prophecies inspired by
Mercury. But at times he is just in Juniper's vein. When his
wife chides him for singing love songs, his reply is (1, 1, 11. 57, 58) :

Content your selfe, wife, tis my own recantation;

No loue song neither, but a carrol in beauties condemnation.

The Latinized vocabulary, the delicate shift in the form of words,
and the haunting sense of the real meaning all suggest Juniper.
The prophecies which Ralph utters illustrate the other side of his
language. They are written in the short, rapid lines of which I
have spoken, and are full of figures and nonsense verse.

In Locrine the speech of the shoemaker Strumbo shows some of
this tendency to rapid phrasing, though here the gentleman's ele-
gance of diction rather than the clown's vigor is in the ascendency.

'Whatever the relative dates of these two plays, the cobbler part in
Locrine is the more advanced for our purposes.

The Case is Altered 97

At the same time the language reveals just the perversion that
makes it an excellent burlesque or parody and so prepares for
Juniper. In I, 2, Strumbo appears at his best as a pompous
speaker. The language is a lover's jargon that in balancing of
phrases often suggests the rhetorical tricks of the day rather than
Juniper's speech,, as I have indicated, but the scene shows Strumbo,,
to use his own expression, provided with "a capcase full of new
coined wordes":

Either the foure elements, the seuen planets, and all the particuler
starres of the pole Antastick, are aduersatiue against me, or else I was
begotten and borne in the wane of the Moone, when euerie thing as
Lactantius in his fourth booke of Constultations dooth say, goeth asward.1
I, maisters, I, you may laugh, but I must weepe; you may ioy, but I
must sorrow; sheading salt teares from the watrie fountaines of my moste
daintie fairie eies, ... in as great plentie as the water runneth
from the buckingtubbes, or red wine out of the hogs heads: for . . .
the desperate god Cuprit, with one of his vengible birdbolts, hath shot
me vnto the heele: so not onlie, but also, oh fine phrase, I burne, I burne,
and I burne a, in loue, in loue, and in loue a. Ah, Strumbo, what hast
thou seen? not Dina with the Asse Tom? Yea, with these eies thou hast
seene her, and therefore pull them out, for they will worke thy bale.
Ah, Strumbo, hast thou heard? not the voice of the Nightingale, but a
voice sweeter than hers. Yea, with these eares hast thou heard it, and
therefore cut them off, for they haue causde thy sorrow. . . . Oh
my heart! Now, pate, for thy maister! I will dite an aliquant loue-
pistle to her, and then she hearing the grand verbositie of my scripture, will
loue me presently.

The letter follows,, and Strumbo exclaims on it, "Oh wit ! Oh pate !
0 memorie ! 0 hand ! 0 incke ! 0 paper !" Later in the scene, after
Strumbo has addressed Dorothie in a speech with such Juniperian
nonsense as "Oh my sweet and pigsney, the fecunditie of my in-
genie," etc., she complains, "Truly, Mfaister] Strumbo, you speake
too learnedly for mee to vnder stand the drift of your mind, and
therfore tell your tale in plaine termes, and leaue off your darke
ridles." Strumbo answers, "Alasse, mistresse Dorothie, this is my
lucke, that when I most would, I cannot be vnderstood; so that
my great learning is an inconuenience vnto me."

irrhe mixing of a pseudo-scientific jargon with nonsensical learned ref-
erences, as in the opening of this scene from Locrine, is the trick that
makes Clove's first speech in Every Man out, III, 1, distinctive in its
method of perverting speech.

98 English Elements in J orison's Early Comedy

Just such rhetorical tricks of balance, exclamation, interroga-
tion, and figurative language as are used here by Strumbo and are
attacked by Shakespeare in Love's Labour's Lost are treated elab-
orately in Wilflon's Arte of Rhetorique. They occur at times in
Juniper's speech, but are secondary to inkhornism and slang. Jon-
son was doubtless too careful of decorum to make Juniper a
rhetorician. What is of interest for Juniper is the fact that
Strumbo is represented as a shoemaker who pours forth language
tortured with excess of ornament, stilted diction, and torrents of
phrases. A number of similar details, moreover, are to be found
in the two studies; as when Juniper boasts (II, 4), "0 ingle, I
have the phrases, man," etc., or Maximilian asks, after a speech
of Juniper's (I, 2), "Doth any man here understand this fellow?"
and later declares, "Before the Lord, he speaks all riddle I think,"-
all of which is fairly close in thought and even in wording to
phrases of Strumbo's speech just quoted. Juniper himself is not
a lover, though he does undertake to woo Eachel for Onion. Love
is treated in the two plays in much the same tone and spirit.
Indeed, Onion's exclamations as they approach Eachel (IV, 4)
correspond to one phase of Strumbo's speech, but the oh's of love
poetry and prose are frequently satirized in the period.

Jonson's work in Juniper is thoroughly characteristic of him.
The treatment of Ealph and Strumbo which I have indicated is not
sustained, but Juniper is consistent to the end. In fact, he is
practically a new. figure, for only suggestions or faint hints of him
lie in the forerunners of his type. For instance, in neither Ealph
nor Strumbo are Juniper's chaotic phrases, full-sounding proper
names, and unique words of address more than foreshadowed in
the dimmest fashion. Strings of epithets, often chaotic and
usually bound together by alliteration, are common in the drama,
as in the speech of Will Cricket of Wily Beguiled, but they do not
prepare us for Juniper's wealth of phrases, for the whimsical,
fresh, and high-sounding epithets that he applies to his fellows,
or for the buoyancy and good spirit in his application of them.
These characteristics are perhaps best suggested in some of Fal-
staff's good-humored, whimsical speeches in I Henry IV, which
was probably written before The Case is Altered. At any rate,
FalstafFs language here reveals the possibilities that lie in the epi-
thet as a device for the portrayal of comic character. The mixture

The Case is Altered 99

of heartiness and insulting effrontery in FalstafFs addresses to his
social and moral superiors certainly appears in Tucca, whether
there is any influence of the character on Juniper or not.

A minor convention, but perhaps a more obvious one, has to do
with the way in which the shoemaker is introduced on the stage.
He is usually introduced sitting on his stool at work and singing.
In the opening scene of The Case is Altered, Juniper is discovered,
"sitting at work in his shop, and singing." The song gives the
tone of the characterization of Juniper, for it is close enough to
the pretentious ballad to furnish an excellent parody. Scene 3 of
Act IV in The Case is Altered opens similarly. Ealph of The
Collers Prophesie enters during the first scene "with his stoole,
his implements and shooes, and, sitting on his stoole, falls to sing."
His song, with its jingling refrain, suggests a parody of the pop-
ular love ballad. Scene 2 of Act II in Locrine opens with the
stage direction, "Enter Strumbo, Dorothie, Trompart, colling
shooes and swinging" — a song of the cobbler's merry life. In The
Pinner of Wake field (IV, 3) a shoemaker is introduced "sitting
vpon the stage at worke," though there is no mention of his sing-
ing. The singing of cobblers, however, is apparently an accepted
convention in all the literature that utilizes the type during the
period around Jons on. The shoemakers of The Cobler of Canter-
burie, of Deloney's Gentle Craft, and of Dekker's Shoemaker's Hol-
iday are all fond of singing, and in Wily Beguiled (Hazlitt's Dods-
ley, Vol. IX, p. 293) there is mention of "an honest Dutch cobbler,
that will sing I will noe meare to Burgaine go, the best that ever
you heard."

The cobbler was a favorite figure in literature, as has been indi-
cated. Besides the works mentioned, he appears, for instance, in
the early Knaclc to Know a Knave, and The Cooler of Queenhithe
(1597) has been lost. Dekker later, especially in Simon Eyre and
Firk, has carried on the convention of the cobbler's speech. Eyre
uses the rapid phrases, picturesque epithets, and high-sounding
proper names of Juniper.1 With Tucca of Poetaster Jonson re-
turned to the type of speech, and Dekker followed with his Tucca.
Shakespeare had been sufficiently attracted by the vogue to open
Julius Caesar with a shoemaker scene, in which the language takes

^f. Stoll, Mod. Lang. Notes, Vol. XXI, pp. 20-23 for the influence
of Juniper on Simon Eyre.

100 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

the form of puns. The picturesque speech that culminated in
Juniper and Eyre passed to characters other than the shoemaker,
and appears in Murley of Sir John Oldcastle, in the Host of The
Merry Wives of Windsor, and in the Host of The Merry Devil of
Edmonton. Some phases of the type of speech are found in char-
acters of many later plays, as in the leader of the mob in Philaster.
Onion belongs to no such distinct type as Juniper. As a clown-
ish household servant his lines of affiliation are too extensive to be
traced. The characterization of Onion includes a number of dis-
tinct features. He is enamored of Antonio Balladino, being as
right of his "humour as may be, a plain simple rascal, a true
dunce," and loves his type of play (I, 1) ; in language he is an
understudy to Juniper, and his efforts at serious speech result in
illogical juxtapositions ; he plays upon his name (IV, 3 and 4) ;
as a lover, he uses ecstatic nonsense made of phrases beginning
with oh's (IV, 4) ; he seeks others to help him in his love making
(II, 2 and IV, 3) ; he is expert at the cudgels, but is beaten by a
novice (II, 4) ; like Sogliardo, he is instructed in court graces
(IV, 1) ; he has acquired officiousness with his office (I, 1) ; of him
his master says, "He'll bandy with me word for word; nay more,
put me to silence," but he quickly repents (I, 2) ; finally, finding
the gold of Jaques, he turns gentleman and uses it to dress ele-
gantly and to drink (V, 2). Throughout the play he is the foil
to Juniper. The name of Onion is used for a friar in the De-
< cameron, and was borrowed for one in Tarlton's News out of Pur-
gatory. Onion's love-making has already been compared with that
of Strumbo. His overthrow in cudgel play belongs to folk liter-
ature, though I do not know of any exactly similar scene. In the
ballads Eobin Hood unexpectedly meets his match in popular
heroes, and the shoemakers in The Pinner of Wakefield are over-
come by the popular George-a-Greene. A hint of Onion's inde-
pendent attitude toward his master may have been drawn from
the Aulularia, but the characterization is that of an English serv-
ingman. Pride in his office and bullying of his master are the
new turns. In Basket Hilts of A Tale of a Tub Jonson had
already treated a character similar to Onion in this respect, and in
Waspe of Bartholomew Fair he afterwards developed the type fairly
freshly. The scene in The Case is Altered where Onion turns upon
Ferneze and Maximilian in anger, defies them, and accepts his

The Case is Altered

101

dismissal scornfully, only to repent immediately and send Juniper
to intercede (I, 2), is much like an incident in Sir Thomas More,
a play that probably influenced Jonson in other work. Faulkner,
the servant of Morris, is so proud and insistent that he will be tried
before no one but More ; he is almost as bold in speech to More as
Onion is to Maximilian; his speech and manner, like Onion's, are
nonsensical and affected, though Faulkner is a punster; at his last
appearance he bandies words with his master, as Onion does, wel-
comes his dismissal, repents at once, and is restored to favor by
the indulgent Morris. The last episode dealing with Onion, where-
in he uses his new-found wealth to deck himself out and ape a
gentleman, shows a commonplace resemblance to a part of James
IV. In IV, 3 of James IV, Slipper, who like Onion plays upon
his name, and who has all the clown's conventional quips, cranks,
and affectations of speech, having gotten money dishonestly, has
tradesmen to make a gentleman of him, content to spend all for
one fling.

Valentine is a traveler only faintly sketched. He seems to be
one of the earliest examples of his type upon the stage, and is
probably drawn from non-dramatic literature. Later the opening
of a drama with the return of one from his travels became popular,
as in The English Traveller, A Fair Quarrel, The Wild Goose
Chase, etc.,, though the part of the returned traveler is usually
played by tne master rather than by the servant. The conventional
satire on the boasting of the traveler is lightly touched in The Case
is Altered. In V, 2, Valentine starts to tell of the wonders of
Mesapotamia in order to "gull these ganders," but is promptly
side-tracked. In II, 4, he holds the center of the stage for a short
time while he discusses the customs of Utopia, especially in regard
to theatres. The whole manner of this passage is that of the pop-
ular dialogue of the time, such as Stubbes's Anatomy of Abuses.
Under cover of the name Utopia, Jonson satirizes the follies of the
time,1 and praises England as the ideal land, while the questioners
are merely puppets suggesting the line of talk. According to
Hart (Worlcs of Ben Jonson, Vol. I, p. xxx), Valentine "foreshad-
ows, in a transient manner, Asper of Every Man out of his Humour
and Crites of Cynthia's Revels; that is to say, he is Jonson him-

irThe satire which Jonson puts in the mouth of Valentine on the posing
dramatic critic is slightly anticipated in Hall's Virgidemiarum, I, 3.

102 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

self." As evidence he cites the repetition of Valentine's ideas in
Asper. To my mind, however, this means merely that in The Case
is Altered Jonson has expressed some of his ideas on stage condi-
tions through the mouth of one of his characters. Appropriately
enough, it is the traveler, as the scene is laid in Italy.

In the incidents connected with Jaques, The Case is Altered
follows Plautus closely; but the characterization is fresh, and Eng-
lish sources may have contributed to it. The niggardliness of the
Plautine miser, his hoarding of disgusting trifles, etc. are not
found in Jaques. We hear of his threadbare coat, but Eachel is
well dressed. The central point of Jaques' s character is a worship
of his gold, a glorification of it. With Plautus the imagination of
the miser is not fired by his gold, his affection is not awakened so
fully as in the case of Jaques. The spirit of Jonson's treatment is
thus somewhat suggestive of Renaissance influence. Some par-
allels, indeed, exist in English literature. Avarice of Respublica,
for instance, resembles Jaques in the worship of money. This old
play does not seem to have been published and may not have been
known by Jonson. On the other hand, it may be typical of a
treatment found in plays lost to us or in literature that I have not
connected with The Case is Altered. The relation between Jaques
and Avarice could not be very close, and yet the crude characteri-
zation of Avarice has several distinct suggestions of Jonson's miser
as well as a number of details that are found in Plautus also.
Most of all, Avarice's adoration of his gold and his affectionate
address to it suggest Jaques. In Midas, too, the praise of gold
(I, 1) is much in the spirit of Jaques, though there are no note-
worthy parallels. The elopement of Rachel, the discovery on the
part of Jaques that he has lost both daughter and gold at the same
time, and his confused cries over his child and his money (V, 1)
furnish, as has often been noted, a parallel to Shylock and Jessica
in The Merchant of Venice. Parallels to this scene are pointed out
under A Tale of a Tub (p. 88 supra), in which there is a similar
situation.1

The other characters in The Case is Altered represent the ro-
mantic interest of the play, and some of them at the same time

xFor a passage in The Case is Altered that suggests further kinship
with The Merchant of Venice, see the discussion of Every Man out, p. 165
infra.

The Case is Altered 103

furnish a basis for humour studies. Many incidents are drawn
directly from Plautus and yet are changed sufficiently to give them
a romantic cast, while the characterization does not depend notice-
ably on the Latin original. In varying from his classic sources,
Jonson has often approached typical situations of the early roman-
tic English drama. The most noticeable romantic elements are
the treatment of love and friendship. In Rachel, highborn but
occupying a humble position, and courted by clowns and nobles,
we have a romantic situation which may be illustrated from the
early English drama by Faire Em, whose heroine, a lady but
seemingly merely a miller's daughter, is courted by her fathers
servant and by several gentlemen. The number of Rachel's lovers
and their shifts to gain access to the girl represent the same type
of treatment that has already been studied in A Tale of a Tub.
The love of both father and son for the same girl may have been
suggested by the love of uncle and nephew in Aulularia; the type
of rivalry between father and son in Mercator and Casino, is not
suggestive of the romantic device or attitude of Jonson's play.
The situation combined with other romantic entanglements is
found in Menaphon. It became a notable device of the English
drama. The Wisdom of Doctor Dodipoll, in which the love of
Duke Alphonsus clashes with that of his son, is fairly near The
Ca.se is Altered, though the play is probably later than Jonson's
(cf. p. 109 infra). This situation of The Case is Altered was pos-
sibly borrowed by Chapman for The Gentleman Usher, and a num-
ber of later plays have parallels, — The Fawne, The Humorous Lieu-
tenant, Hector of Germanie, etc.

Common in romantic drama is the rivalry in love between two
friends, and especially the falseness of one. In Angelo's betrayal
of Paulo's trust, The Case is Altered is more closely akin to The
Two Gentlemen of Verona than to anything else. Paulo, leaving
for war, entrusts Angelo with the secret of his love for Rachel, and
commends the girl to his protection. Angelo ignores the claims of
friendship and determines to win her for himself. He makes a
tool of the clownish suitor Christophero in effecting the escape of
Rachel, who is led to believe that Paulo has summoned her to join
him. With Rachel at his mercy, Angelo attempts to win her in
spite of former repulses, and, failing, would force his love on her.
Paulo comes in the nick of time, is a witness of his friend's perfidy,

104 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

and spurns him. only to forgive the shamed Angelo forthwith. In
The Two Gentlemen of Verona Valentine reposes the utmost con-
fidence in Proteus. Proteus, enamored of Silvia, Valentine's be-
trothed, betrays him, secures his banishment, and then woos Silvia,
who, like Kachel, scorns him and reproaches him for his disloyalty.
Proteus uses a stupid but wealthy suitor to gain access to Silvia, pre-
tending, like Angelo, to be working in the other suitor's behalf.
When Silvia finally escapes in search of Valentine, Proteus over-
takes her and presses his suit, while Valentine, unknown to both of
them, overhears. At the moment when Proteus becomes dangerous,
Valentine breaks in upon the scene, and Proteus, repenting imme-
diately, is forgiven. There are a few slight resemblances of lan-
guage in the two plays. Angelo says scornfully (III, 1),

True to my friend in cases of affection!
and Proteus asks (V, 4),

In love
Who respects friend?1

For the early part of this particular episode in The Case is Altered,
Julius and Hyppolita, one of the suggested sources of The Two
Gentlemen of Verona, offers a closer parallel than does the Shake-
spearian play. In Julius and Hyppolita a lover who is forced to
take a long journey entrusts his beloved to his "friend and brother"
and is betrayed by him, but for the rest, except in minor details,
the play does not resemble Jonson's.

In contrast with the false friend is the treatment of unblemished
friendship between Camillo and Chamont in The Case is Altered.
Chamont's escape, with Camillo left as a pledge, is from Plautus,
as well as the final return of Chamont. But with Plautus there
is little trace of the equality in love and the perfect confidence
that exists between Chamont and Camillo. In The Case is Altered
Camillo, on the point of execution, is firm in his faith that Cha-
mont will return to redeem him at the appointed time. The
change in tone of treatment makes the situation very similar to
that of the old play of Damon and Pithias. There is the same
sacrificing friendship, the same confidence in the friend's return at

irThe sentiment and some of the situations in both stories are suggestive
of The Knightes Tale.

The Case is Altered 105

the appointed time,, the same readiness to die if need be in the
service of the friend,, and the same fond greeting at return.

Jonson's treatment of Aurelia and Phcenixella, the two daugh-
ters of Ferneze, shows him apparently in advance of the movement
in romantic comedy. Aurelia is sprightly, free-spoken, wayward in
humour, and contemptuous of convention. Phoenixella is sober,
modest, and altogether steadfast in conduct. Such a contrast be-
tween sisters or cousins is frequent in the later drama, as in Much
Ado, The Dutch Courtezan, and The Wild Goose Chase, and some-
thing of the same thing is found in The Taming of the Shrew. If,
as Furness has suggested (Variorum Shakespeare, pp. xx-xxii),
there was an old play with the plot of Much Ado, the play may have
furnished Jonson an early example of this contrasted pair of girls.
The scene (II, 3) in which Aurelia and Angelo bandy words repre-
sents Aurelia as the conventional witty woman of the Renaissance,
a type which is also conspicuous in Shakespearian romantic comedy
(cf. p. 202 infra).

Maximilian, aristocratic, careful of his honor, a leader of expe-
ditions, responsible for younger men, and seemingly of middle age,
is a distinct forerunner of a favorite type in Beaumont and
Fletcher's plays. Ferneze,1 the impatient, imperious father, is also
met later in such plays as Monsieur Thomas. For neither char-
acter can I point out a model. Ferneze, as well as his two daugh-
ters, is distinctly treated as a humour type. The pages of The
Case is Altered, with their rascality and their apish mockery of the
tricks of court — especially with their mastery of compliment — are
also English types, akin to the pages of Lyly, of Damon and Pithias,
etc. The French page Pacue, who speaks a mixture of French and c -/-
English, with words ending in a, reminds one of Jaques in James
IV. There is a similar use of English and French in Englishmen
for my Money.

The wealth of motives and material found in The Case is Altered—
romantic love, romantic friendship, mazes of love entanglement,
Plautine motives of lost and stolen children, clownish fads and folk
points of view, satire on word-mongery and especially on unchecked
follies — exhibits nearly every current that is apparent in the drama
around 1597, when experiments were being made in many lines.

irThe name is common in drama and story. Cf. Farewell to Folly, Law
Tricks, Malcontent, Bashful Lover, Patient Grissell.

106 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Certain of the trends are emphasized so strongly that they become
significant of the future development of Jonson. Word-mongery
Jonson satirizes elaborately, but it is not yet, as in the later plays,
connected with the brilliant social types who gave the folly promi-
nence. The dominant trend of character shown in such studies as
those of the miser, the imperious man, the word-monger, the sober
and the vivacious girl, gives promise of Jonson's later ability to
center attention, with tremendous emphasis, upon the single folly
or foible of a foolish character, and yet to combine satire on the
characteristics of the social type with satire on the individual trait,
thus rendering the newer abstraction for more natural. In the
four comedies that followed, this interest became more and more
absorbing, while structurally the plays weakened through the sub-
mergence of plot in character study.

CHAPTER VI

EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR

Every Man in his Humour marks Jonson' s complete mastery of
the comedy of manners. The satirical tone of his work, the influ-
ence of current forms of literary satire, and above all the scheme
for a definite program of humours and an extensive use of char-
acter sketches reach their apogee in Every Man out of his Humour.
But the dramatis personae of Every Alan in are representatives of
social follies; much of the action results from the indulgence of
the individual character in the particular tendency or humour
absurdity that marks him ; and the saeva indignatio of the satirist
that seems to indicate personal impatience with follies and with
the concrete types representing follies is developing strength. The
play is consequently far in ad\ance of either of the two plays rep-
resenting outgrown tendencies, whatever their dates may be.

Perhaps the closest link between The Case is Altered and Every
Man in lies in Jonson's dependence for both plays upon the con-
ventional situations . of Plautine comedy. Brainworm's espousing
the cause of the son against the father in Every Man in, for in-
stance, his resourcefulness and daring in the intrigue against the
father, and his manipulation of events so that the son gets pos-
session of the girl of whom he is enamored are thoroughly Latin.
In Every Man in, however, Jonson has not used situations and
characters derived immediately from Plautine plots as in The Case
is Altered; the resemblances to the work of Plautus are only very
general and often lie in phases of treatment that had become more
or less conventional in the English drama before Jonson. The
duped father, the gay son, and the equally gay young friend are
only dimly suggestive of Plautus. Bobadill, the boastful, cowardly
soldier, is a type from Latin comedy already common in English
comedy.

There are no direct sources for any large part of Jonson's plot
so far as I have been able to discover. Indeed there is little plot.
With Every Man in, incident becomes of minor importance, and
here, as in the later plays of the group, the stress is on the char-
acters. In handling these characters Jonson was undoubtedly in-

108 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

fluenced by English literature more than by Latin. Not only was
there a strong general tendency in the English drama to conven-
tionality of treatment, but enough parallels can be pointed out
between Every Man in and contemporary works to indicate that
Jonson was a close student of English literature. Indeed, in this
play, as elsewhere, Jonson's ability to treat freshly what is conven-
tional, and to surpass his contemporaries in giving consistency to
interwoven motives marks his measure of independence and orig-
inality.

It is, then, chiefly the origin of Jonson's characters that we are
concerned with. Of these the most interesting for their literary
connections are^the^gulls, and they illustrate admirably the fact
that often what seems newest and most distinctive in Jonson's
work merely resulted from the hardening into form of plastic
material found at hand. In this case, however, scarcely so much
can be claimed as Jonson's share in the work; for, new as was the
term gull apparently, — and newer still its application to the espe-
cial type satirized in Every Man in, — the character of the gull had
already been elaborately analyzed in contemporary literature, as
we shall see.

The Hye Way to the Spyttell Eous (ca. 1550) furnishes the
New English Dictionary with its earliest example of the word gull
in the derived sense (1. 427) :

[The clewners] do but gull, and folow beggery,
Feynyng true doyng by ypocrysy.

Here the verb apparently means merely to deceive. The next
instance of this use that I am able to point out is in the play of
Sir Thomas More, which may have been written as early as 1590
(I, 2, 1. 151) :

But let them gull me, widgen me, rooke me, foppe me!
Yfaith, yfaith, they are too short for me.

ISTashe uses the term both as verb and as noun, with the meaning
to dupe or one easily duped. It occurs in The Terrors of the
Night and The Unfortunate Traveller, both entered on the Station-
ers' Register in 1593, and in the epistle "To the Reader" added to
the 1594 edition of Christs Teares ouer Jerusalem.1 The example

on °f NaSh€' e<L McKerrow> Vol. I, p. 370; Vol. II, pp.
, and ^98.

Every Man in his Humour 109

from The Terrors of the Night and one from Shakespeare's Rich-
ard III are the first uses of the word as a noun that are cited by the
New English Dictionary. Donne also employs the term early
(line 59 of his first satire, ca. 1593), and Lodge uses it in Wits
Miserie, 1596 (p. 4). In A Tale of a Tub, Chanon Hugh assumes
a disguise "to gull the constable" (III, 5), and the word occurs
both an noun and as verb in The Case is Altered (III, 3; IV, 3;
V, 2).1 With the last decade of the sixteenth century, then, the
word gull to mean a simpleton seems to have come into vogue.
Doubtless it was a slang term that suddenly sprang into popularity.
In its early uses the term as a noun has reference merely to one
easily beguiled and led into folly, and as a verb to the duping of
such a one. This first view of the gull connects him very readily
with the fool so popular in all forms of literature throughout the
century; and, like many names for the fool, — dotterel, daw, rook,
etc., — gull may have had its origin in the comparison of a fool to
a silly bird. The early use in Sir Thomas More with the syno-
nyms widgeon and rook would suggest this, as well as a passage in
Wily Beguiled in which goose is associated with gull (Hazlitt's
Dodsley, Vol. IX, p. 249 ).2

True to the temper of the age, the term did not long remain so
general in its application. Presumably before the word had become
widely familiar, it had already begun to be restricted to a special-
ized type of the simpleton. It is to Sir John Davies that we are
indebted for our first full length portrait of the gull as a type.3

*If Wily Beguiled and The Wisdom of Doctor Dodipoll are as early as
some scholars have thought, they are among the first works using the
term freely. In Wily Beguiled it occurs three times (Hazlitt's Dodsley,
Vol. IX, pp. 248, 249, and 276) and as often in Doctor Dodipoll (once in
III, 2 and twice in Act V). The date of both plays is very uncertain.
Doctor Dodipoll in its present form seems certainly as late as the end
of 1599, for in III, 2, Alberdure says:

Then reason's fled to animals, I see,

And I will vanish like Tobaccho smoake —

apparently a satire on the passage in Julius Caesar (III, 2),
0 judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts.

The wording is almost the same as in Jonson's satire on the same passage,
which is put in the mouth of Clove in Ev. M. out (III, 1).

2Cf. N. E. D. for this and another possible derivation.

3The epigrams of Davies were doubtless complete and in circulation by
the end of 1596. Cf. an article by me on "The Custom of Sitting on the
Elizabethan Stage" in a forthcoming number of Modern Philology.

110 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Having used the word in his first epigram, Davies devotes his
second epigram to a definition of it :

Oft in my laughing rimes, I name a Gull:
But this new terme will many questions breed;
Therefore at first I will expresse at full,
Who is a true and perfect Gull indeed:
A Gull is he who feares a veluet gowne,
And, when a wench is braue, dares not speak to her;
A Gull is he which trauerseth the towne,
And is for marriage known a common woer;
A Gull is he which while he proudly weares,
A siluer-hilted rapier by his side;
Indures the lyes and knocks about the eares,
Whilst in his sheath his sleeping sword doth bide:
A Gull is he which weares good handsome cloaths,
And stands, in Presence, stroaking up his haire,
And fills up his unperfect speech with oaths,
But speaks not one wise word throughout the yeare:
But to define a Gull in termes precise, —
A Gull is he whicii seemes, and is not wise.

In Epigram 47, "Meditations of a Gull," Davies reverts to the
subject :

See, yonder melancholy gentleman,

Which, hood-wink'd with his hat, alone doth sit!

Thinke what he thinks, and tell me if you can,

What great affaires troubles his little wit.

He thinks not of the warre 'twixt France and Spaine,

But he doth seriously bethinke him whether

Of the gull'd people he be more esteem'd

For his long cloake or for his great black feather,

By which each gull is now a gallant deem'd;

Or of a journey he deliberates,

To Paris-garden, Cock-pit or the Play;

Or how to steale a dog he meditates,

Or what he shall unto his mistriss say:

Yet with these thoughts he thinks himself most fit

To be of counsell with a king for wit.

In 1598, a second satirist, Guilpin, gives an epigram (number
20) of his Skialetheia to further study of the gull, at the same time
crediting Davies with an earlier definition. Guilpin's elaborate
picture of the gull, almost certainly too late to have any direct

Every Man in his Humour 111

influence on Every Man in, is all the more interesting as showing
the conventionalized conception in a work appearing in the year
of Jonson's play.

TO CANDIDUS

Friend Candidus, thou often doost demaund

What humours men by gulling understand:

Our Englisji^Jlartiall hath full pleasantly,

In his close nips describde a gull to thee:

Fie follow him, and set downe my conceit

What a gull is: oh word of much receit!

He is a gull, whose indiscretion

Cracks his purse strings to be in fashion;

He is a gull, who is long in taking roote

In baraine soyle, where can be but small fruite:

He is a gull, who runnes himselfe in debt,

For twelue dayes wonder, hoping so to get;

He is a gull, whose conscience is a block,

Not to take interest, but wastes his stock:

He is a gull, who cannot haue a whore,

But brags how much he spends upon her score:

He is a gull, that for commoditie

Payes tenne times ten, and sells the same for three:

He is a gull, who passing finicall,

Peiseth each word to be rhetoricall:

And to conclude, who selfe conceitedly,

Thinkes al men guls: ther's none more gull than he.

Thus the gull has come to be not merely a credulous and simple-
minded fool, but an affected and pretentious fool. The second
line of Guilpin's epigram suggests the connection between the gull
and the study of humours. As gull, like humour, became more
specific and restricted in its application, it was associated with
humours to indicate a fool with his particular fads and inclination.
With Jonson, however, the gull represents the folly that comes not
from perversion or lack of breadth of view in a man of possible
worth, as in the humour types, but from shallowness of mind
accompanied by pretensions to gentility, bravery, wisdom, etc.,
where every action of the gull merely serves to emphasize his crude-
ness, cowardice, or stupidity. The gulls are zanies for the humour
types, as Jonson indicates in Cynthia's Revels.1

Mercury says of the gull Asotus in relation to Amorphus, "The other
gallant is his Zany, and doth most of these tricks after him; sweats to
imitate him in everything to a hair" (II, 1). See also Ev. M. out,

112 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Before attempting a comparison of Jonson's gulls with, those of
the epigrams quoted, it will be necessary to take up the relation of
Every Man in to Chapman's An Humorous Day's Mirth (1597),
where we have in Labesha a companion study of the gull. Chap-
man's play probably suggested as much for Every Man in as did any-
thing else in the drama. First of all, it seems to be the earliest play
extant in which a definite program of humours is developed. Chap-
man uses the word humour for his types more consistently in An
Humorous Day's Mirth than Jonson does in The Case is Altered
of about the same date or in Every Man in of later date, to indicate
the fundamental folly of the individual. In fact, the full influence
of Chapman's comedy is not felt till Every Man out. But in both
Every Man in and An Humorous Day's Mirth, it is clear that the
characters are studied from the point of view of humours. The
one typical humour that appears in both of the plays is jealousy, a
form of mental unbalance which, among the prose writers who
develop the use of the word, has the name humour applied to it
oftener than does any other character inclination. Labervele of
Chapman's play represents jealousy in a husband, corresponding
to Kitely of Every Man in but not very similar. In addition Chap-
man deals with the jealous wife in the character of the Countess
Moren.1 A further link between the two plays is found in the
treatment of the gull, as I have just indicated. An Humorous
Day's Mirth first introduces the gull into comedy, and, while Chap-
man does not stress the type so consistently as Jonson does, the
characterization is similar. Indeed, Jonson's advances over Davies
are practically all anticipated by Chapman. One of the few char-
acter sketches in An Humorous Day's Mirth describes "a very fine
gull" (p. 36 ),2 and suggests pretty clearly Fungoso of Every Man
out, who along with Sogliardo represents Jonson's continued inter-

IV, 1, where Brisk as an imitator of courtly types is compared to a zany.
Florio in A Worlde of Wordes, 1598, defines the word Zane as "a gull or
noddie," and also as any "vice, clowne, foole," etc.

JAt the end of both plays, the characters, through the manipulation
of the intriguers, are made to meet at a set place, and adjustments fol-
low the comic embarrassment. For the type of conclusion in Jonson's
play, Look About You, though probably not earlier than Every Man in,
furnishes another parallel.

2The references to Chapman's works are by page to the volume of plays,
edited by R. H. Shepherd, in the Chatto and Windus issue of The Works
of Chapman.

Every Man in his Humour 113

est in the country gull. Stephen, the country gull of Every Man
in, seems especially to have been modeled on Chapman's Labesha,
with some touches of Blanuel, another type of gull in An Humorous
Day's Mirth. Mathew, Jonson's town gull, also shows the same
characteristics, but he is more complex, approaching the popularly
satirized gallant — who really lays the foundation for many of the
gulls but is to be kept distinct. A good test of the kinship between
Stephen and Labesha is furnished by Davies' definition of a gull.
The folly, the cowardice, the "imperfect speech" filled up with
oaths, the melancholy, and other characteristics mentioned by
Davies appear in both Stephen and Labesha, and to an extent in
Mathew and Blanuel also.

Of course the chief stress in every delineation of the gull is on \
his "little wit." The foolish talk of Labesha and Stephen estab- \
lishes the character of each at his very first appearance, and the
attitude of Marti a and the Elder Knowell to them in the early
scenes merely emphasizes the impression. One phase of the gull's \
weak wit comes out in his taking his opinions and often his words
from others. It is the nature of the gull to be a copy. Stephen's
speech is molded out of the words or suggestions of others, and
often it amounts to a mere echo.

Step[hen]. Cousin, how do you like this gentleman's verses?
E. Know[ell'\. 0, admirable! the best that ever I heard, coz.
Step. Body o' Caesar, they are admirable! The best that I ever
heard, as I am a soldier ! ( IV, 1 ) .

Blanuel in An Humorous Day's Mirth is called the "complete ape"
in compliment. To every complimentary salutation of Lemot,
Blanuel replies as an exact echo, and has no words of his own to
offer. Mathew assents fco Stephen's claim that the latter's sword
is a Toledo, and then agrees immediately with Bobadill's contempt-
uous verdict that it is a "poor provant rapier" (III, 1). He also
accepts a Latin phrase, incipere dulce, quoting it without knowledge
of its double meaning (IV, 1), and pretends to understand the
Latin spoken by Wellbred (III, 1). Labesha attempts to quote
Latin and to soliloquize philosophically in the manner of Dowsecer.
He is nonplussed by Lemot's objection to his saying, "No matter
for me," and accepts the statement that it is "'the heinousest word
in the world" (p. 36). Stephen is convinced that he may swear
by his soldiership (III, 2, p. 35), and thus his use of a common-

114 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

place phrase is determined by the approval or disapproval of others.
So the gulls are played upon by thos3 from whom they would take
their cue.

An exaggerated idea of his own importance and powers is another
phase of the gull's simple-mindedness. According to Davies,

He thinks himself most tit
To be of counsell with a king for wit.

Labesha's egoism is pervasive, and comes out in the perfect confi-
dence that he feels in the worth of his foolish talk. Mathew "doth
think himself poet-major of the town" (I, I), and scorns Down-
right as a clown lacking in good manners and speech (I, 4).
Stephen, also, has a good opinion of himself. "By gads-lid I scorn
it." he tells Knowell, "I, so I do, to be a consort for every hum-
drum . . . 'Slid, a gentleman mun show himself like a gen-
tleman. Uncle, I pray you to be not angry; I know what I have
to do, I trow, I am no novice" (I, 1). A part of the gull's egoism
is his love of flattery. Both Labesha and Stephen are readily
played upon by flattery. Labesha is cajoled by praise of his eye,
his nose, his general perfection of feature (p. 29) ; and Brainworm
gulls Stephen with ironical praise of his leg (I, 2). Mathew,
too, is flattered by Bobadill, who tells him that a company of gal-
lants drank to him the night before (I, 4).

The gull's "unperfect speech" filled up with oaths is exemplified
in both Labesha and Stephen. Labesha's first speech begins with
"I protest" (p. 24), and this is one of the oaths of Stephen as well
as of Bobadill and Mathew — naturally, however, for it seems to
have been affected by all gallants. "Forsooth" Labesha uses repeat-
edly in the same scene. The word forsooth is satirized by Jonson
in Poetaster (TV, 1), Penates, and The Masque of Christmas as a
citizen's oath, and is especially appropriate for the gull of clownish
type (cf. also I Henry IV, III, 1). Except for the first scene in
which he appears, however, oaths are not conspicuous in the por-
trayal of Labesha. Stephen's first oaths, also, are crude — "by
gads-lid," "by my fackings/' etc.— until he meets Bobadill and
learns to swear like a gallant. Henceforth the greater part of his
speech is larded with the oaths which ravish him in the mouth of
Bobadill. His use of them is part of the portrayal of his mimicry,

Every Man in his Humour 115

and Jonson lias heightened the absurdity of the situation by mak-
ing Stephen forget them at the crucial moment.

Cowardice covered by swaggering and boasts of valor is another
characteristic stressed by Davies, Chapman, and Jonson, and marks
the gull as an understudy to the braggart soldier. Mathew is a
coward. He protests that he will speak to Bobadill of his mean
lodging, but fawns and flatters when he meets his hero face to
face ; he laughs at Downright's threats, pretends to be eager to meet
him, and then runs away when Downright attacks two at once.
Stephen's boasting and cowardice are treated more ludicrously. In
the opening scenes, he plays the swaggerer, attempts to pick a quar-
rel with a servingman, pretends to be anxious to waylay him, man-
ages to miss him, declares his desire to follow him, and, when a
means of overtaking him is suggested, offers a trivial excuse for
refusing. In many other details Stephen is revealed as a boaster
who backs down at the first suggestion that his boast is called.

Step[hen]. Oh, now I see who he laughed at: he laughed at somebody
in that letter. By this good light, an he had laughed at me —

E[dward~\ Know[ell]. How now, Cousin Stephen, melancholy?

Step. Yes, a little: I thought you had laughed at me, cousin.

E. Know. Why, what an I had, coz? what would you have done?

Step. By this light, I would have told mine uncle.

E. Know. Nay, if you would have told your uncle, I did laugh at
you, coz.

Step. Did you, indeed?

E. Know. Yes, indeed.

Step. Why then—

E. Know. What then?

Step. I am satisfied; it is sufficient (I, 2).

In III, 1, when the disguised Brainworm enters while Stephen is
still breathing out threatenings against him for selling him the
faked Toledo, the dialogue is similar.

Step[hen']. Oh — od's lid! By your leave, do you know me, sir?

Brai[nworm~\ . Ay, sir, I know you by sight.

Step. You sold me a rapier, did you not?

Brai. Yes, marry did I, sir.

Step. You said it was a Toledo, ha?

Brai. True, I did so.

Step. But it is none.

Brai. No, sir, I confess it; it is none.

f

116 English Elements in J orison's Early Comedy

Step. Do you confess it? Gentlemen, bear witness, he has confest it: —
Od's will, an you had not confest it —

In his role of dragon guarding Martia, Labesha shows the same
quality of courage when he is mocked by those who converse with
her in defiance of him.

Mo[ren]. Well, sirrah, get you hence, or by my troth I'll have thee
taken out in a blanket, tossed from forth our hearing.

[La]be[8hal. In a blanket? what, do you make a puppy of me? By
skies and stones, I will go and tell your lady (p. 27 ).2

[Lo]be[s/ia]. ... Go to, mistress Martia, . . . are you not
ashamed to stand talking alone with such a one as he?

Le[mof\. How, sir? with such a one as I, sir?

Be. Yea, sir, with such a one as you, sir.

Le. Why, what am I?

Be. What are you, sir? why, I know you well enough.

Le. Sirrah, tell me what you know me for, or else by heaven, I'll make
thee better thou hadst never known how to speak.

Be. Why, sir, if you will needs know, I know you for an honourable
gentleman and the king's minion, and were it not to you, there's ne'er a
gentleman in Paris should have had her out of my hands (pp. 28, 29).

The melancholy of the gull that is mentioned in the second epi-
gram quoted from Davies characterizes the gulls of both Chapman
and Jonson. Lemot describes Blanuel as retiring, after his first
salutations are over, "to a chimney, or a wall, standing folding his
arms," and affecting silence (p. 23). Labesha, also, has his melan-
choly. On account of Martia's treatment of him, he grows "mar-
vellous malcontent,*' and in imitation of Dowsecer, quotes Latin
and attempts to utter profound soliloquies. By a bait of cream he
is soon tempted out of his pose, and "his melancholy is well eased"
(pp. 39, 40). So Stephen, when his cousin introduces him into

last example is suggestive of an epigram of Sir Thomas More as
given in Kendall's Flowers of Epigrams, pp. 176, 177. It is called "A
lest of a lackbragger." A soldier goes out to avenge himself on a clown.

Shaking his sword the souldier sayd,

You slaue you vsde my wife:
I did so said the clowne, what then?

I loue her as my life.
. / 0 doe you then confesse said he?

(by all the gods I swere)
If thou hadst not confest the fact,

it should haue cost thee dere.

'Later he threatens to tell Martia's father if she mocks him.

Every Man in his Humour 117

the group of gallants and gulls, stands aside in silence, until Well-
bred asks, "But what strange piece of silence is this, the sign of
the dumb man?'"' Stephen explains himself by saying, "I am
somewhat melancholy, but you shall command me, sir, in what-
soever is incident to a gentleman." Mathew's interest is aroused
at once.

Mat. But are you, indeed, sir, so given to it?

Step. Ay, truly, sir, I am mightily given to melancholy.

Mat. Oh, it's your only fine humour, sir; your true melancholy breeds
your perfect fine wit, sir.1 I am melancholy myself, divers times, sir,
etc. (Ill, 1).

The love-making of his gulls and gallants Jonson touches only
lightly in Every Man in, whereas it is a notable point with Davies
and Chapman. Except for Stephen's boast of the jet ring with
its posy that Mistress Mary sent him (II, 2), the treatment of the
gull as a wooer is omitted in Stephen. But Mathew is the lover
studying how he shall approach his mistress, and writing, or rather
stealing, poems in her honor. In the end he is discarded for
Knowell. So Labesha, on account of his money, is betrothed to
Martia by her father, but loses her to Dowsecer in spite of his assi-
duity as a lover.2 The gull in this is again the understudy of the
English braggart. Ralph Roister Doister, Crackstone of Two Ital-
ian Gentlemen, and Basilisco of Soliman and Perseda all fail
in love. Further, the "good handsome cloaths" of the gull are not
conspicuous in An Humorous Day's Mirth or Every Man in. Both
Stephen and Labesha have some wealth — Labesha enough to make
him the suitor favored by Martia's father (p. 23) — but there is no
lavishness about either. Rather, a touch of parsimony belongs to
them. It is not until Every Man out that the finery of the gulls is
stressed.

Mathew shows the folly, the weakness, the egoism, the love of
flattery, the melancholy, and the cowardice of the ordinary gull,
but he also approaches closely the posing gallant of the day. In
fact, the pretentious and make-believe man of fashion became the
best known type of gull from the time of Mathew and Brisk.

'Whalley traces this idea to Aristotle. See his note to the passage.

2There are traces in Labesha of the foolish but wealthy heir desired
for his money, as in Mother Bombie, Wily Beguiled, and numerous other
plays.

118 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Davies' conception of a gull is that of a gallant. Jonson distin-
guishes Stephen and Mathew as the country and the town gull.
The country gull often comes of good family and has wealth back
of him; his follies arise partly from crudeness. The town gull,
however, with no position socially and apparently no money,—
Mathew's father is a "worshipful fishmonger/' and on the day cov-
ered by the play Mathew starts with two shillings in his pocket,—
has still caught some of the veneer of the fashionable without the
individual force that marks a natural man. Jonson keeps the two
types apart also in Every Man out. Brisk belongs to the town and
Sogliardo and Fungoso to the country. Mathew's strongest point
of individuality as a gull lies in his complimenting his mistress
through shallow and stolen verses. Nashe in describing the nature
of an upstart in Pierce Penilesse (Works, ed. McKerrow, Vol. I,
pp. 168, 169). among many details that suggest various characters
of Jonson, gives one detail that is interesting for this phase of
Mathew: "All malcontent sits the greasie son of a Cloathier.
....... . Sometimes (because Loue commonly weares the liuerey

of Wit) hee will be an Inamorato Poeta, & sonnet a whole quire
of paper in praise of Lady Swin-snout, his yeolow fac'd Mistres."
So Mathew, the son of a fishmonger, says, "I am melancholy myself
divers times, sir, and then do I . . . overflow you half a score,
or a dozen of sonnets at a sitting" (III, 1). Satire on the shallow
vein, the plagiarism, and the mawkish sentimentality of the gallant's
verse is, of course, exceedingly common at the end of the century.
The affectation of writing verse as a part of the convention of
courtly love is perhaps the point of such attacks rather than the
banality of the verse. Wooing and witless poetry are emphasized
in Gullio of The Return from Parnassus, Part I, more than in the
gull Mathew. Jonson himself gives fuller attention to these follies
in his satire in Cynthia's Revels on the evils of courtiers.

The exact analysis of character and the tabulation of qualities
were characteristic of medieval literature, with its numbered vices
and virtues, its comparison of the traits of animals with those of
men, and so on. The mode continued in the Eenaissance. Spen-
ser's Faerie Queene exemplifies the classification of qualities, and
Jonson's masques again and again show the same method of literary
treatment. Criticism was academic, and called for fixed standards,
forms, and modes. The stress on decorum in character emphasized

Every Man in his Humour 119

t}rpes rather than individuals. Rhetorical studies took the form of
elaborate classifications. This interest in analysis and classifica-
, tion may well account for the study of types in Elizabethan liter-
ature and for the recurrence of certain details in such types as the
gull., the cobbler., the clown. The tendency would be all the more
natural in a man like Jonson, trained in the school of classicism,
and especially versed in satire, where characters are built up from
a certain number of external follies. The restriction of these types
to a comparatively small number; the constant repetition of even
such specific types as the revenger, the malcontent, the braggart
soldier, and the patient wife ; and the fact that many of these types
were introduced from foreign literature would all indicate not
direct observation of life but literary convention. Accordingly,^
even though there may be only a similarity in generalized qualities
and little resemblance in detail, one feels justified in saying that
Jonson took over the groundwork for his gulls from Davies and
Chapman and drew on life merely for touches here and there that
make the types more concrete. In all ages writers had scored sep-
arately all the follies that unite in the gull, and doubtless all had
existed in single individuals before characters like Mathew were
portrayed : but such a grouping or such a mode of approach had
not been followed. When the gull had once been fixed as a type,
men saw the same character much more frequently. But it was to
literature that they owed the insight, and Jonson could still go to
Erasmus, and Dekker to "Grobianus" for phases of the treatment
of the gull. So there followed a succession of gulls in the satire
on the follies of the time. Jonson dealt with gulls in Every Man
in, Every Man out, and Cynthia's Revels, varying the types only in
details. As late as The Silent Woman he made elaborate studies
of the type in Daw and La-Foole, with their pretensions to learn-
ing, to the favor of women, and to courage, and with their disgrace
in wooing and in fighting. Other writers followed the type as
assiduously. In Gullio of The Return from Parnassus, Part I,
(ca. 1599) many details of Jonson's gulls are repeated, but
wooing, writing of verse, and braggadocio are especially stressed.
Emulo of Patient Grissell (1599) seems close akin to Brisk
in his boasting and cowardice, his notable battle, etc., and to
Mathew in his misfortunes in love and his sonnets in honor of
his mistress, though as in Gullio the last details show the closer

120 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

approach of the gull to the courtier. The Gullinge Sonnets of
Davies, "A doozen of Guiles" at the end of Pasquils Jests, and The
Guls Horne-looke furnish examples of the word as used in titles.

This view of Jonson's gulls gives a point of departure for a
digression on the subject of the personal satire in Jonson's attacks.
In general it seems to me that the importance of his personal hos-
tilities in determining his literary treatment has been greatly over-
stressed. Preconceptions in regard to Jonson' s satire on Marston,
for example, have kept many close students of both writers from
emphasizing sufficiently, I think, the kinship of their early work
before Marston's excesses spoiled the relation. It seems entirely
in keeping with what we know of the man Jonson to suppose that he
would enjoy filling in a type character with details fitting some in-
dividual whom he wished to ridicule. That he undoubtedly did, but
I doubt whether in any case he allowed personal satire to interfere
with the moral purpose of his comedies, — the attack on typical follies
as a means of upholding fundamental social laws. Even the char-
acters who are spokesmen for Jonson embody principles. Indeed,
with respect to various characters of Jonson who have been identi-
fied with this or that prominent London contemporary, the objec-
tion can be raised that they are so evidently types and so closely
approach abstractions as to give one little ground, outside of con-
temporary references, on which to build a surmise as to. identity.

Professor Penniman, for instance, in the introduction to his
forthcoming edition of Poetaster and Satiromastix remarks:
"While the affected courtier, the country gull, and the town gull
were undoubtedly types, the particular example of them found in
the characters of Gullio and Matheo as we have seen, and in Fas-
tidious Brisk in Every Man out, Hedon in Cynthia's Revels, and
Emulo in Patient Grissell, as we shall see, were also Daniel." But
the identification of these characters with Daniel must rest upon
the applicability of minor points in the satire, for every general
point in their characterization is conventional. Professor Penni-
man of course recognizes the type underlying these figures, but he
seems to me to underestimate their conventionality. Though Jon-
son undoubtedly satirizes Daniel frequently, the satire is inciden-
tal, I believe, as in the lines which Mathew plagiarizes, or rather
parodies, from his works. It must be admitted that, if any man
in public life sat for the portrait of these gulls and gallants, it

Every Man in his Humour 121

would naturally be Daniel. He was connected with the court,
wrote court poetry, and seemingly affected courtly or Italianate
manners ; he was a conspicuous figure, the center of intense admira-
tion and even more intense hostility; and finally, on account of his
being so much in the limelight, certain adverse criticisms on his
work became conventionalized, and this itself suggests the pos-
sibility that his personality may have been conventionally satirized.
These are the strongest grounds, however, for seeing Daniel in
these early figures, and, tempting as the identification is, it seems
to me unsafe to make it. I myself have attempted to follow out
only the conventional lines of treatment in these plays of Jonson,
and so have avoided any effort to get at what is personal. It is
not out of keeping with my purpose, however, to point out that,
where Jonson attacks Daniel openly in his incidental satire, the
point of attack is conventional. The satire in The Silent Woman,
II, 1, on those who compare Daniel with Spenser seems to be by
way of reply to a claim of Daniel's admirers. Davison in A Poeti-
cal Rapsody says of Daniel that his "Muse hath surpassed Spenser"
(Cambridge History of English Literature, Vol. IV, p. 160).
Daniel's "silent rhetoric" and "dumb eloquence" are ridiculed both
in Every Man out, III, 1, and in The Staple of News, III, 1. The
same bit of satire is found in Davies' Epigram 45, In Dacum, sup-
posedly Daniel.1 The most notable point in the direct attack on
Daniel lies in the verdict that he was after all not a poet. Jonson,
apparently in a mood of intended fairness, told Drummond, "Samuel
Daniel was a good honest man, had no children: but no poet."
The same point is made in The Forest, where Jonson, in what is
clearly a reference to Daniel, speaks of a rival poet as a "better
verser," or "Poet, in the court-account" ("Epistle to Elizabeth,
Countess of Rutland," Works, Vol. Ill, p. 272). Davies in another
epigram addressed In Dacum, No. 30, satirizes the prosiness of
Dacus, who is numbered among the poets but is none. Drayton in
Of Poets and Poesy later says that Daniel's "maner better fitted
prose." All this, however, seems to me merely an application to
Daniel of a commonplace distinction of Renaissance criticism — that
between the true and the false poet. Ehymer and verser are fre-

JBut see Grosart's edition of Davies, Vol. 1, pp. cxxi 1, for the claim
that Dacus is not Daniel and even that "silent eloquence" is conventional.
Cf. also Small, Stage-Quarrel, pp. 192 ff.

122 English Elements in J orison's Early Comedy

quently applied to the uninspired poet. Elyot in The Governour
(Vol. I, p. 150 of Croft's edition) says: "Semblably they that
make verses, expressynge therhy none other lernynge but the craft
of versifyeng, be nat of auncient writers named poetes, but onely
called vcrsifyers." In connection with this passage Croft refers the
idea back to Quintilian and to ^Eneas Sylvius, and cites Puttenham.
According to Drummond, Jonson "thought not Bartas a Poet, but
a Verser." There is a passage, also, in Cynthia's Revels (II, 1) in
which Mercury says of Hedon. who is the Italianate courtier and
consequently a sonneteer, "Himself is a rhymer, and that's thought
better than a poet/' (See also Timber, ed. Schelling, p. 76). The
expression has been used to connect Hedon with Daniel, but to my
mind it is hardly necessary to read into it more than the general
Renaissance distinction between poets true and false. Even where
Daniel is unquestionably attacked, however, the satire seems to be
expressive not so much of personal hostility to Daniel as of the
critical conventions of the school to which Jonson belongs.

In the Quarto of Every Man in, Prospero, or Wellbred, in writ-
ing of Mathew and Bobadill,1 says, "I can shew thee two of the most
perfect, rare, & absolute true Gulls, that euer tliou saw'st"
(11. 166 f.). In the revised form, however, this has been changed.
Perhaps Jonson consciously refrained from classifying Bobadill
with the gulls on account of his closer approach to the miles glori-
osus type than the ordinary gull or false gallant shows. But the
margin between Bobadill and the gull is a narrow one. On the
one hand, the gulls, especially as they approach, a station of some
dignity, have taken over many traits of the braggart; they
are boasters, swaggerers, cowards, and unsuccessful lovers. On the
other hand, Bobadill verges upon the gull in combining with his
braggadocio a gallantry which is tinsel and which he is put to his
wits' end to maintain. Still Bobadill is the braggart soldier, a
type but not a counterfeit or imitation as are the gulls ; rather he
has his independence and his power of taking the initiative. It is
only when he has been beaten by Downright that he becomes a
weak second to Mathew in the pursuit of vengeance.

As a bragging soldier Bobadill of course has a number of prede-

xFor suggestions as to the origin of the name cf. 4 N. and Q., Vol. VII,
p. 208, and Englische Studien, Vol. 36, pp. 331, 332. Cf. also the British
Museum catalogue for a list of authors who bore the name.

Every Man in his Humour 123

cessors in the English drama and in general literature. Graf in
Der Miles Gloriosus has studied the type in the English drama,
stressing naturally the boastfulness of the soldier. But for Boba-
dill I am concerned chiefly with the development of a more specific
and complex character, one with marks of English gallantry. Per-
haps the best evidence of the conventionality of this type with its
English turn may be found in the braggarts of The Two Italian
Gentlemen and Soliman and Perseda, plays showing forms of the
miles gloriosus as crude as Pyrgopolinices, and yet furnishing a
better preparation for Bobadill, absurd as they are, than do the
Latin prototypes.

In Crackstone of The Two Italian Gentlemen1 there are a few
suggestions of Bobadill. Crackstone "braues it with the best, in
euery company" (1. 22; cf. 1. 63 also),2 as Bobadill pretends to
gallantry and choice of friends. He affects elegant language, but
his speech is really bombastic and perverted, whereas Bobadill's
language is correct and never overdone, but merely the stilted and
affected speech of gallants. Both use Italian terms, and this is
perhaps significant of the new elegance of the times. Comment is
made on Crackstone's language (1. 1377) as on BobadilPs. Of
course each braggart tells of the marvelous deeds he has accom-
plished, of the enemies he has slain, and each seemingly longs to
fight his adversary, makes a show of being formidable, and cringes
at the mere approach of danger. When Crackstone is overthrown
ingloriously after his great pretense of bravery, he accepts the sit-
uation and explains it by saying (1. 1330),

T'is the Fortune of warre, lucke runnes not euer to one side.

So Bobadill explains his cowardice by saying that he was "fasci-
nated/' bewitched (IV, 7). After Crackstone's overthrow Pedante
asks (11. 1308 f.),

1Frangipetra, the soldier of Fraunce's Victoria, — which has for its
source the same Italian play, II Fedele of Pasqualigo, from which the
author of Two Ital. Gent, derived his plot, — is slightly sketched, and the
stress is on the pedant. Probably the braggart was as lightly touched
in the original play as in Fraunce's. Cf. Mod. Lang. Review, Vol. Ill,
pp. 177-181. The English dramatist added to the character and trans-
ferred to the braggart the whole episode of the pedant's love affair, so
that the final result is probably an English study of the boastful soldier.

2The references are by line to Flugge's edition of the play in Archiv
fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, Vol. 123, pp. 45 ff.

124 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Is this my lusty kill Cow, that will eate vp so many men at a bit,
And when he deales with a shadowe will not stand to it?

In Every Man in (V, 1), when Bobadill enters his complaint that
Downright has beaten him, Justice Clement exclaims, "0, God's
precious! is this the soldier?" The interesting thing about this
treatment of Crackstone is that so early in the history of the drama
an English dramatist, either Chapman or Munday, has begun to
develop the peculiar characteristics of the braggadocio gallant.

In the same way Basilisco of Soliman and Perseda, though he is
portrayed in the spirit of nonsensical bombast and burlesque, as
was the Latin soldier, shows some advances toward the English
combined gallant and braggart,1 His affected language and his
oaths are only dimly suggestive of Bobadill.2 More interesting is
Basilisco's pretended gallantry, in which some of the traits of
Bobadill are foreshadowed. Piston in giving a character sketch
of Basilisco says, "He goes many times supperles to bed, and yet
he takes Phisick to make him leaiie. Last night he was bidden to
a gentlewomans to supper," etc. (I, 3, 11. 214 ff.). Bobadill at his
first appearance tells of having been invited to dine with gallants
the night before; but that morning, having no money, he conde-
scends to let Mathew pay for his breakfast and is content to take
the most frugal fare (I, 4). Both Basilisco and Bobadill show the
refinement of braggardism that expresses itself not in boasts of
enemies slain but in pretence to great skill in the use of arms. In
I, 3, Basilisco comments on the tourney: "Their Launces were
coucht too hie, and their steeds ill borne" (1. 183) ; and a little later,

Prettie, prettie, but not famous;

Well for a learner, but not for a warriour.

The same kind of expert criticism is called forth in the fencing
lesson which Bobadill gives Mathew (I, 4). "A well experienced
hand would pass upon you at pleasure," he tells Mathew; and
later, "Why, you do not manage your weapon with any facility or

Winifred Smith, in Modern Philology, Vol. V, p. 562, traces to Ital-
ian comedy the name Basilisco and also the new trend towards inflated
diction in the treatment of the type.

2Basilisco swears "by the marble face of the Welkin" (I, 3, 1. 193 in
Boas's edition) and Bobadill "by this welkin" (IV, 5). Naturally both
swear upon their honor. Compare Two Ital. Gent., 11. 10, 11, for Crack-
stone's oaths.

Every Nan in his Humour 125

grace to invite me. I have no spirit to play with you," etc. This
conies out more strongly in IV, 5, where Bobadill explains on the
ground of jealousy the ill will borne him by professional fencing
masters, and is led on by Knowell to his famous boast of how he
with nineteen others chosen by an instinct peculiar to him would
be a sufficient standing army for the whole realm. The cruder
forms of boasting characterize Basilisco also. When he is warned
that the enemy whom he is seeking has "planted a double cannon
in the doore," Basilisco replies (IT, 2, 11. 58 ff.) :

Thinkes he bare cannon shot can keepe me back?

Why, wherfore semes my targe of proof e but for the bullet?

That once put by, I roughly come vpon him.

So Bobadill instructs Mathew (I, 4). "Should your adversary con-
front you with a pistol, 'twere nothing, by this hand ! you should,
by the same rule, control his bullet, in a line," etc. Later, in his
account of being the first man to enter a breach, he uses the cannon
(III, 1) : "They had planted me three demi-culverins just in the
mouth of the breach ; . . . their master-gunner . . . con-
fronts me with his linstock, ready to give fire; I ... dis-
charged my petronel in his bosom, and . . . put 'em pell-mell
to the sword." Finally there are some similar touches when the
two braggarts begin to trim sail. Basilisco says of the page Piston
(II, 2, 11. 88 ff.) :

Doubtlesse he is a very tall fellow;

And yet it were a disgrace to all my chiualrie

To combate one so base:

He send some Crane to combate with the Pigmew;

Not that I feare, but that I scorne to fight.

When Knowell ironically expresses fear for Downright, Bobadill
answers, "If he were here now, by this welkin, I would not draw
my weapon on him . . . but I will bastinado him, by the bright sun,
wherever I meet him" (IV, 5). A few moments later, when Down-
right descends upon him and orders him to draw his weapon, Boba-
dill protests, "Tall man, I never thought on it till now — Body of
me, I had a warrant of the peace served on me, even now as I came
along," etc., and Downright immediately disarms and beats him.

Falstaff is too strongly individualized to contribute much to the
study of a type. Graf, however, in Der Miles Gloriosus (pp. 45,

126 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

46) has pointed out a number of minor parallels between him and
Bobadill. Besides these, FalstafFs "I will imitate the honourable
Eoman in brevity" (// Henry IV, II, 2) and "I will not use many
words with you" (III, 2) may be worth recalling in connection with
Bobadill's "I love few words" (III, 1). This affectation of brevity
in speech probably arises from the accepted notion that a man of
action is little given to words.1

Bragadino of The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, a brief sketch,
shows the braggart soldier in the role of a Spanish gallant. Hu-
mour is one of his favorite words, used not as Pistol uses it but as
an Elizabethan gallant would use it. His affected language is as
far as Bobadill's from the mere clownish travesty of fine talking
that we find in the ordinary braggart soldier. Braggart and cow-
ard though he is, there is in Bragadino's actions as in Bobadill's
an approach to dignity that is new, and indeed he several times
expresses a dislike of doing what is "ridiculous." Bragadino also
declares, "I love few words" (p. 6). He attempts to parley with
the fiery Count Hermes as Bobadill does with Downright, but will
not fight. "I do not like this humour in thee in pistoling men in
this sort," he tells the count ; "it is a most dangerous and stigmat-
ical humour: . . . otherwise I do hold thee for the most tall,
resolute, and accomplished gentleman on the face of the earth"
(p 7).2 In this brief encounter it also comes out that Bragadino,
like Bobadill, understands the virtues of a friendly pipe of tobacco.

A few minor points in the characterization of Bobadill as a gal-
lant are interesting. In Epigram 22 Davies, after describing a
gallant who strives for the newest fashions and fads, concludes,

Yet this new fangled youth, made for these times,
Doth aboue all praise old George Gascoine's rimes?

So Bobadill and Mathew — in the very scene (I, 4) in which Bob-
adill says of his boot, "It's the fashion gentlemen now use" — are
made ridiculous by their praise of the old-fashioned Spanish Trag-
edy. The cavaliers who admire Harvey's works are also satirized
by Nashe in a passage from Haue with you to Saffron-walden that

xln // Henry IV (III, 2) Bardolph and Shallow play at length with the
word accommodate. This word is used by Bobadill, and Jonson in Timber
(p. 71, ed. Schelling) mentions it as one of "the perfumed terms of the
time."

2Bobadill speaks of himself in contrast with Downright as being "a man
in no sort given to this filthy humour of quarrelling" ("V, 1 ) .

Every Man in his Humour 127

is worth quoting. Importune says of Harvey (Works, Vol. Ill,
p. 41) :

His stile is not easie to be matcht, beeing commended by diuers (of
good iudgement) | for the best that ere they read.

And Piers replies :

Amongst the which number is a red bearded thr id-bare Caualier, who
(in my hearing) at an ordinarie, as he sat fumbling the dice after
supper, fell into these tearmes (no talke before leading him into it) :
There is such a Booke of Harueys . . . as I am a Souldiour and a
Gentleman, I protest, I neuer met with the like contriued pile of pure
English.1 0, it is deuine and most admirable, & so farre beyond all that
euer he published heretofore, as day-light beyond candle-light," etc.

In like manner Bobadill and Mathew praise The Spanish Tragedy,
a subject introduced as inconsequentially as were Harvey's works
by the "thrid-bare Caualier" :

BoJ). Well penned! I would fain see all the poets of these times pen
such another play as that was. . . .

Mat. Indeed here are a number of fine speeches in this book. . . .
Is't not excellent? Is't not simply the best that ever you heard, captain?2

One conspicuous mark of the gallant is not wanting in Bobadill —
he is a devotee of tobacco. In III, 2, we have a notable speech
from him on the subject of its miraculous powers. Arber in his
edition of King James's Count erblaste to Tobacco gives a number
of quotations from various works showing the miracles attributed
to tobacco.3 One of the works cited, Frampton's Joy full newes
(1577), translated from French and Spanish, contains accounts of
the power of tobacco to heal wounds, ulcers, scrofula, etc. (Arber,

1 Compare Bobadill's stricture on Downright immediately after the dis-
cussion of The Spanish Tragedy (I, 4) : "I protest to you, as I am a
gentleman and a soldier, I ne'er changed words with his like. ... He
has not so much as a good phrase in his belly."

2Such extravagant and pointless expressions of praise seem to charac-
terize the "little wits" of the time. Stephen, echoing Knowell's ironic
judgment, seriously declares of Mathew's verses, "They are admirable!
The best that I ever heard, as I am a soldier" (IV, 1). Labervele in An
Humorous Day's Mirth pronounces some of his own verses "wonderful
rare and witty, nay divine!" and "the best that e'er I heard," etc. (p.
25 ) . Labesha says of his prospective father-in-law's speech, "I pro-
test, sir, you speak the best that ever I heard" (p. 24).

8Cf. Nashe's reference in Lenten Stujfe to the custom of writing about
the miracles of tobacco, Works, Vol. Til, p. 177.

128 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

pp. 81-84). The passage which Arber quotes from Harlot's Brief e
and true report of the new found land of Virginia (1588) also
attributes to tobacco the power to cure by purging "superfluous
fleame and other grosse humors.77 For Bobadill's speech the most
interesting detail cited by Arber (p. 85) is from Hakluyt: "The
Floridians when they trauell haue a kinde of herbe dryed, which
with a cane, and an earthen cup in the end,, with fire and the dried
herbs put together, do sucke thorow the cane the smoke thereof,
which smoke satisfieth their hunger,, and therewith they live foure
or flue dayes without meat or drinke, and this all the Frenchmen
vsed for this purpose.'7 Compare with this what Bobadill says of
the power of tobacco to sustain life: "I have been in the Indies,
where this herb grows, where neither myself, nor a dozen gentlemen
more of my knowledge, have received the taste of any other nutri-
ment in the world, for the space of one and twenty weeks, but the
fume of this simple only.77

For the rest of Bobadill's speech, the closest parallel that I have
noted is in Epigram 36 of Davies, "Of Tobacco.77

Jonson

Therefore, it cannot be, but 'tis
most divine. Further, take it in
the nature, in the true kind: so, it
makes an antidote, that had you
taken the most deadly poisonous
plant in all Italy, it should expel it,
and clarify you, with as much ease
as I speak. And for your green
wound, — your Balsamum and your
St. John's wort are all mere guller-
ies and trash to it. . . . I could
say what I know of the virtue of it,
for the expulsion of rheums, raw
humours, crudities, obstructions,
with a thousand of this kind; but
I profess myself no quacksalver.
Only thus much; by Hercules I do
hold it, and will affirm it before any
prince in Europe, to be the most
sovereign and precious weed that
ever the earth tendered to the use
of man.

Davies

Homer, of Moly and Nepenthe

sings :
Moly, the gods' most soueraigne

hearb diuine,

But this our age another world

hath found,
From whence an hearb of heauenly

power is brought;
Moly is not so soueraigne for a

wound,

Nor hath Nepenthe so great won-
ders wrought:
It is Tobacco, whose sweet sub-

stantiall fume
The hellish torment of the teeth

doth ease,
By drawing downe, and drying up

the rheume,

It is Tobacco, which doth cold ex-
pell,

Every Man in his Humour 129

And Knowell adds: And cleares the obstructions of

the arteries,

This speech would have done de- 4^ surfeits, threatning death,
cently in a tobacco-trader's mouth. dijesteth well,

Decocting all the stomack's crudi-
ties :

It is Tobacco, which hath power to

rarifie
The thick grosse humour which

doth stop the hearing;

0, that I were one of those Mounte-

bankes,
Which praise their oyles and

powders which they sell!
My customers would giue me coyne

with thanks; etc.

Finally, Bobadill's purpose to rid the country of enemies (IV, 5)
is noticeably of the nature of the projects and monopolies which
Jonson worked out so fully later in Politick Would-be and Meer-
craft. These were matters of current satire before Every Man in.
See The Merie Tales of Skelton, iv; Mery Tales and Quicke
Answeres, 138; Pleasant Conceites of Old Hobson, 12; and Nashe's
Strange Newes (Vol. I, p. 331). A succinct history of monopolies
during Elizabeth's reign is given in Price's English Patents of
Monopoly.

Thus the Plautine and the traditionary influence in the treat-
ment of the braggart soldier undoubtedly remains in the literature
of Jonson's period, but there is a growing tendency, exemplified in
The Two Italian Gentlemen and Soliman and Perseda, to a treat-
ment of the type more in . accord with new conditions and new
standards of manners. So in Bobadill we have a character who in
certain fundamental traits illustrates the older conventions of the
type,, but one who has more qualities of the would-be gallant.
These very qualities, of course, had quickly become conventionalized
for the braggart in an age prone to borrowing. Much of the repe-
tition in the various treatments of the type may be due to the fads
that held sway in contemporary society, but the fads in literature
are equally strong. When one phase of a character treatment or
one mode of attack on follies had attracted attention, it was freely

130 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

utilized, especially where it added to the realism of the char-
acter.

Perhaps the new type of braggart soldier was a native English
type. Such men as Stukeley, for example, must have lent veri-
similitude to the stage braggart. At any rate, the pretended soldier
and his near kinsman the boasting traveler are especially popular
objects of satire. The marvelous experiences and the marvelous
exploits of men who have never left their native heath are treated
again and again in the literature of the period.1 Though on ac-
count of the sameness of literary treatment it seems quite safe to
say that there is a large influence of literary conventions in these
satirical portraits and sketches, they undoubtedly depicted many
an upstart in England, so that as a generalized picture of man-
ners they are true to life.

Of the other socially inferior characters of the play, Cob and
Brainworm are alone strongly or distinctly characterized. Cash
and Formal are not complex; in fact, they do little more than
serve as foils for Kitely and Brainworm. Cob himself in a sense
furnishes a foil for the comic action. The humblest of clownish
types, he is yet preyed upon by the pretentious Bobadill, who lives
in his house; he prepares us for the appearance of Mathew and
Bobadill by his characterization of them; his clownish notions of
the effect of tobacco present a sharp contrast to Bobadill' s praise of
its virtues; he is the only person whom Bobadill dares to attack;
one scene between him and his wife furnishes an excellent burlesque
of Kitely's fear of being cuckolded; he affords an opportunity for
the expression of Justice Clement's mad humour; he acts as mes-
senger, and at his house assemble the various characters duped by
Brainworm. Altogether he is an effective linking device for the
play. But withal there is an independent interest in his portrayal.
He is more than a mere fool or merrymaker for the groundlings,
representing, as he does in part, the cruder London citizen with a

*For this motive or slight variations on it cf. Hall, Virgidemiarum, Book
III, Satire VII; Nashe, Works, Vol. I, pp. 169 and 205; Lodge, Wits
Miserie, Hunterian Club, p. 4 ; Defence of Conny -catching, Works of Greene,
ed. Grosart, Vol. XI, pp. 72 ff.; Bullein, Dialogue against the Fever Pes-
tilence, p. Ill; Ship of Fools, ed. Jamieson, Vol. II, pp. 66, 67; Merry
Knack to Know a Knave, Hazlitt's Dodsley, Vol. VI, p. 512. But com-
pare Theophrastus's character of the Boastful Man, who, though he has
never been out of Attica, pretends to have served under Alexander, to
have brought home gemmed cups, etc.

Every Man in h-is Humour 131

half whimsical,, half serious and dignified attitude to himself and
his neighbors. Cob is older than the usual clown, a married man.,
a housekeeper, and a water bearer, — a typical poor citizen. The
same type of clown appears in Simplicity of The Three Ladies of
London and The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London. In
the second play, Simplicity is middle-aged, is married to Painful
Penury, and has been a water bearer, as his wife now is. Both
clowns represent the simpler and cruder poor man of London in
contrast with characters who represent the follies or evils of Lon-
don. Both clowns have their affected language, their whimsical
conceits, and their marks of coarseness. Both have a shrewd per-
ception of the follies around them, and are naively satirical in their
attitude to them. Both suffer from the shams and rascalities of
their superiors. In The Three Ladies of London, Simplicity at
the opening characterizes Fraud, who preys upon him, much as
Cob does Bobadill and Mathew; Fraud would beat Simplicity for
expressing his views of evils, as Bobadill does beat Cob in III, 2;
and later Simplicity is beaten through Fraud's rascality. In The
Three Lords and Three Ladies of London Fraud's capture is effected
through Simplicity as Bobadill is to be arrested through Cob ; and,
interestingly enough. Fraud is bound to a post, a type of punish-
ment that Justice Clement in the Quarto promises Bobadill and
Mathew. The kinship of the two characters emphasizes the didac-
tic purpose underlying Jonson's work, with all of his realism and
concreteness.1 Cob seems to be an artistic treatment of the type
represented in Simplicity, in People of Respublica, and in other
clowns of the moralities.

Cob's mock genealogy and his plays upon his name have many
English as well as classic precedents.2 Two passages are given to
his genealogy (I, 3 and III, 2). "Why, sir, an ancient lineage,
and a princely," he tells Mathew. "Mine ance'try came from a
king's belly . . . herring, the king of fish. . . . The first
red herring that was broiled in Adam and Eve's kitchen, do I fetch
rny pedigree from, by the harrot's book. His cob was my great,
great, mighty great grandfather." Later (III, 2) he cries out on
fasting, because his "lineage goes to wrack; poor cobs ! they smoke

xCf . pp. 253 ff. infra for the relation of Cynthia's Revels to Wilson's plays.
2The name of Onion in The Case is Altered and of Peter Tub in A Tale
of a Tub are both played upon.

132 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

for it," etc. Iii James IV (IV, 3) Slipper gives a similar mock
pedigree: "A fine neate calues leather ... is my neer kins-
man, for I am Slipper . . . Guidwife Calf was my grand-
mother, and goodman leather-leather mine Vnckle; but my
mother, good woman, Alas, she was a Spaniard." Gluttony in
Doctor Faustus* also, tells of his ancestry : "My grandfather was
a Gammon of Bacon, my Grandmother a hogshead of Claret wine,"

etc.2

Brainworm, the intriguer of the play, represents the slave of
Latin comedy in his love of intrigue, his resourcefulness and bold-
ness, and his duping of the father through loyalty to the son. At-
tention has also been called to Brainwornr's likeness to the Italian
zany, always intriguing by elaborate ruses and disguises "to humil-
iate his master's enemies and rivals."3 But with the general foun-
dation for the figure already laid, Jonson has filled in the char-
acterization of Brainworm from English sources. In many details
of the treatment Brainworm is the typical English coney-catcher.
His first disguise is that of a common soldier begging for liveli-
hood, and his boasted experiences furnish an interesting counter-
part to Bobadill's. The soldier with the "smoky varnish" on his
face pretends to have served fourteen years by land and sea, to
have been wounded often and severely, to have been made a galley-
slave thrice, to have seen many battles, sieges, and campaigns in
various lands, and finally, coming home, to have been compelled
to beg. This disguise of Brainworm's was a regular device of a
coney-catcher whose line was begging. Honesty of A Knack to
Know a Knave (Hazlitt's Dodsley, Vol. VI, p. 512) describes the
character briefly:

Quoted from the Quarto of 1604.

2Mouse of Mucedorus is the son of Rat, I, 4. Cf. also the kinship of
Sly in The Taming of the Shrew; Pock_of_4JZ Fools, JII, 1; the person-
ified Pint-pot of English Traveller, III, 4; and Ninny of Woman is a
Weathercock, I, 2. Somewhat similar passages occur in Like Will to
Like, Hazlitt's Dodsley, Vol. Ill, p. 335, and Birth of Merlin, III, 4. The
sons and daughters of Christmas in Jonson's Masque of Christmas, and
similar, folk burlesques may be mentioned in this connection. In The
Silent Woman Jonson gives a notable source for the great house of
La-Foole, which much resembles that of Goosecappe in Sir Gyles Goose-
cappe, 11. 97 ff. Pilcher's name in Blurt, Master Constable, I, 2, is played
upon just as Cob's is, and the puns are somewhat similar.

3Cf. the article by Miss Winifred Smith in Modern Philology, Vol. V,
pp. 562 ff.

Every Man in his Humour 133

And cogging Dick was in the crew that swore he came from France :
He swore that in the king's defence he lost his arm by chance.

A

4 M,J>

A fuller description of him is found in The Hye Way to the
Spyttel Hous (11. 279 ff.) :

For they do were souldyers clothyng,
And so beggyng deceyue folke ouer all,

. . . whan a man wold bryng them to thryft,
They wyll hym rob, and fro his good hym lyft.

These be they that dayly walkes and jettes

In theyr hose trussed rounde to theyr dowblettes,
And say: good maysters, of your charyte,

Helpe vs poore men that come from the se;
From Bonauenture we were caste to lande,

God it knowes, as poorly as we stande!
And somtyme they say that they were take in Fraurcce,

And had ben there vii. yeres in duraunce;
In Muttrell, in Brest, in Tourney or Tyrwyn,

In Morlays, in Cleremount or in Hedyn;
And to theyr countrees they haue ferre to gone,

And amonge them all peny haue they none.
Now, good mennes bodyes, wyll they say then,

For Goddes sake helpe to kepe vs true men!1

The list of places suggests Brainworm's campaigns. In many
details this sketch is like Harman's picture of the type in his
Caueat for Common Cursetors, though Harman is slightly closer to
Brainworm :

Eyther he [the Huffier] hath serued in the warres, or els he hath bene
a seruinge man . . . And with stout audacyte, demaundeth where
he thinketh he"e maye be bolde, and circomspecte ynough, as he sethe
cause to aske charitie, rufully and lamentably, that it would make a
flyntey hart to relent, and pytie his miserable estate, howe he hath bene
maymed and broused in the warres (The Rogues and Vagabonds of Shak-
spere's Youth, ed. Viles and Furnivall, New Shakspere Society, p. 29).

[The Upright Man — who is very similar to the Ruffler — will] stoutely
demaund his charytie, eyther shewing how he hath serued in the warres,
and their maymed, eyther that he sekethe seruice, and saythe that he
woulde be glad to take payne for hys lyuinge, althoughe he meaneth
nothinge lease (p. 31).

JSee Hazlitt's note to the passage, Early Popular Poetry, Vol. IV,
pp. 38 ff.

134 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

And if they chaunce to be retained into seruice, through their lament-
able words, with any welthy man, They wyll tary but a smale tyme,
either robbing his maister or som of his fellowes (p. 34).

All this exactly describes Brainworm, with his war record, his
weeping, his proposal to rob the elder Knowell, and his taking of
service.'1

The incident that starts Brainworm on his career as a pretended
officer of the law was possibly taken from the section "How George
serued his Hostis" in The Jests of Peele (Shakespeare Jest-Books,
Vol. II, pp. 302 ff.), which were probably current before Every Man
in was written.2 The story is told of how Peele, having arranged
for his clothes and everything in the room to be pawned by a friend,
is left naked and escapes in old armor. In Every Man in, Brain-
worm makes the justice's clerk Formal drunk, and strips him of
his suit, leaving him to come home later encased in "'rusty armor."3
Disguised as Formal, Brainworm fleeces Mathew and Bobadill, and
then appears in the guise of a sergeant to arrest Downright, intend-
ing, he declares, to "get either more pawns, or more money of
Downright, for the arrest" (IV, 7). In this, however, he is foiled.
In The Blacke Boolces Messenger, Brown calls in a friend, who
takes the guise of a constable in order to arrest the Maltman for
the purpose of fleecing him, but has to resort to a subtle trick to
succeed.4 Brainworm's quick changes in disguise belong, of course,
to the coney-catcher. Compare the rapid shifts of Look About
You. Dutch Courtezan, Blind Beggar of Bednal Green, Bartholo-
mew Fair, etc.

Of the more serious studies, Dame Kitely and Bridget are
scarcely distinct enough to represent any influence. They are well
characterized by Gifford in his edition of Jonson (Vol. I, p. 60).

*In The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality, 1602, probably a
revised play, a Captain Welldone (cf. Wellbred) enters (III, 5) begging
and excusing himself just as Brainworm does. The language is fairly
suggestive of Ev. M. in.

2See p. 180 infra for evidence that the Jests were written early. ^V^WY^
3Cf . also "How George read a Playe-booke to a Gentleman" in The Jests
of Peele (Shakespeare Jest-Books, Vol. II, pp. 293 ff.) for a slightly sim-
ilar episode. See also The Devil is an Ass, V, 1, for Pug's theft of
Ambler's suit, and Blind Beggar of Bednal Green, II, 2, where cutpurses
who shift from disguise to disguise, as does Brainworm, rob Strowd and
leave him naked.

4In Wits Miserie, p. 63, Lodge says of Brawling Contention: You
3 him for a speciall baily if you come off with an angell."

Every Man in his Humour 135

The friends young Knowell and Wellbred, one a scholar and poet
and the other a high-spirited,, gentlemanly gallant,, have no inor-
dinate humours or strong comic individuality; that is, they do not
represent follies, although they lead a gay life. They suggest
Plautine types, but on the whole are rather English. Just this
pair of gentlemanly friends, loving mischief and scorning inordi-
nate folly, became popular later, especially with Beaumont and
Fletcher.1 In Every Man in they play upon the gulls and the
humour types and render their follies more ridiculous, a function
that Lemot of An Humorous Day's Mirth discharges, though he
reminds us more of Macilente. It is a rather new function in
dramatic plotting, and was probably developed by Chapman for
the exposure of the humour types. Of Wellbred, however, Kitely
and Downright do not take so mild a view. In II, 1, Kitely says
of him:

He and his wild associates spend their hours,

In repetition of lascivious jests,

Swear, leap, drink, dance, and revel night by night.

And Downright a little later declares: "I am grieved it should
be said he is my brother, and take these courses." But these two
sober citizens seem to have been oppressed by the gayety of Well-
bred, who is not treated in the play as lacking courage, sense, or
honor.

There remain Kitely, Downright, Justice Clement, and the elder
Knowell, characters with decided humours. These four certainly
do not represent types so strongly as do the other characters. It
is probable that Jonson, who to my mind always engrafts upon his
most original work some details drawn from his vast knowledge
of literature, had a number of suggestions for each of these char-
acters, but it is not obvious here, as in the case of the soldier and
the gulls, that he took over distinct outlines and merely gave new
life and a new turn to what he borrowed. In these more serious
characters, representing in every case a strong individuality and a
rather worthy nature in spite of the predominance of some humour,
we seem to have studies of life with an occasional suggestion from
literature enriching the treatment. In each of the four characters

*The Two Angry Women o\f Aldington, possibly later than Ev. M. in,
has a faint echo of them in Francis and his friend Philip, who offers his
sister to Francis in marriage.

136 English Elements in J orison's Early Comedy

there is something of the more wholesome middle-class life of Eng-
land. There is thorough manliness in Downright and Clement,
and, as opposite as their humours are, both are expressive of the
English spirit of independence and self-assertion. Contrasted with
these two outspoken characters are Kitely and Knowell with their
kindliness of spirit and lack of driving force, in fact with a cer-
tain natural timidity in the expression of self.

Kitely is a notable study of the humour of jealousy, for. in spite
of the innumerable treatments of the theme that fill all literature
and especially all Elizabethan literature preceding and following
Jonson, Kitely seems to be fairly distinct in the details of his
action under the influence of jealousy, and free from the most com-
mon symptoms of the humour. Corvino and Fitzdottrel, Jon-
son's other important studies of jealousy, are really conventional
treatments in comparison. They follow the conception of jealousy
as a dangerous passion, whereas Kitely's diseased attitude is less
weighted with tragic intensity. Under the influence of the word
humour, Jonson has made what might be called a pathological
study of Kitely, stressing the power of mental attitude to stir his
imagination, in spite of Kitely's efforts to check his folly and his
recognition of it as a disease that has taken hold upon him.

In Greenes Vision, there are two stories dealing with jealousy,
which, though in outline very different from Jonson's treatment,
are interesting because jealousy is often called a humour and there
are certain analyses of it as a disease. At the end of the first
story, the jealous husband, who has been drugged, has his sickness
explained to him: "I will tell thee Sonne this disease is a mad
bloud that lies in thy head, which is growne from iealousie, take
heede of it, for if it should continue but sixe dayes, it would make
thee starke mad" (WorTcs of Greene, Vol. XII, p. 234). The sec-
ond story opens with an account of how a merchant of wealth and
position, having married a beautiful woman, grows jealous of the
merchants who resort to his house, as Kitely is jealous of the gal-
lants who frequent his house with his brother Wellbred. The two
husbands soliloquize on woman's frailty at times in somewhat the
same vein, and Vandermast tries to reason himself out of his
humour as Kitely tries to check his. In this second story (p. 254)
jealousy is described as a "canckar, that fretteth the quiet of the
thoughts ... a poyson spetially opposed against the perfec-

Every Man in his Humour

137

tions of lone." Greene adds, "The hart being once infected with
iealousie, the sleepes are broken," etc. With these passages from
Greene compare Kitely's soliloquy on his disease.1

Gifford calls attention to the parallel between Kitely's cautious
approach to Cash in III, 2, and King John's sounding of Hubert
in King John, III, 3. The parallel is striking. Both Kitely and
King John set value upon an oath of loyalty, both start several
times to tell their secrets, both stop and turn to flattery of the
listener and to a discussion of matters not closely related to the
thing in hand, and both finally entrust the close secret — King John
immediately and Kitely later. Gifford speaks of Shakespeare's
greater power, but the power lies in the poetry of Shakespeare.
For the stage device showing caution, hesitation, and drawing back
where one wishes to use another and yet fears to trust him, Jonson
has surpassed the master. Some parallels in language also occur.

Jonson.

Kit[ely]. It shall be so.

Nay, I dare build upon his secrecy,
He knows not to deceive me. —

Thomas !
Cash. Sir.
Kit. Yet now I have bethought

me too, I will not. —
Thomas, is Cob within?

Thomas — you may deceive me, but,

I hope —

Your love to me is more —
Cash. Sir, if a servant's
Duty, with faith, may be called love,

you are
More than in hope, you are possessed

of it.
Kit. I thank you heartily,

Thomas: give me your hand:
With all my heart, good Thomas.

I have, Thomas,

Shakespeare.

K[ing1 John. Come hither, Hu-
bert. O my gentle Hubert,
We owe thee much! . . .

And, my good friend, thy voluntary

oath

Lives in this bosom, dearly cher-
ished.
Give me thy hand. I had a thing

to say, —
But I will fit it with some better

time.
By Heaven, Hubert, I'm almost

ashamed
To say what good respect I have of

thee.
Hub. I am much bounden to

your Majesty.
K. John. Good friend, thou hast

no cause to say so yet:

Quoted on page 43 supra.

In Fenton's Tragicall Discourses, TV, the terms diseases and humour
are applied a number of times to jealousy. The two words are practically
synonymous.

138 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

A secret to impart unto you ... I had a thing to say —but let it go:

The Sun is in the heaven . . .

Think I esteem you, Thomas,

When I will let you in thus to my Then, in despite of brooded watch-
private. ful dav>

I would into thy bosom pour my

I know thy faith to be as firm as thoughts:

rock. But, ah, I will not! yet I love thee

Thomas, come hither, near; we can- well;

not be And, by my troth, I think thou

Too private in this business. So lovest me well.

it ia Hub. So well, that what you bid

— Now he has sworn, I dare the me undertake,

safelier venture. [Aside. Though that my death were adjunct

I have of late, by divers observa- to my act,

tions — By Heaven, I'd do't.

«... K. John. Do not I know thou

Thomas, it will be now too long to wouldst?

stay,
I'll spy some fitter time soon, or

tomorrow.

. . For Downright with his proverbs, his blunt speech, and his im-
J patience there is probably no immediate forerunner. The use of
| proverbs is common in clownish types, but unusual for one of Down-
right's social position. Studies of impatience, anger, bluntness,
are also not uncommon. Jonson himself had already treated the
humour of impatience in Ferneze of The Case is Altered. Lodge
in Wits Miserie gives a whole section to analyzing the various
phases of the deadly sin Wrath, and among many details that fit
neither Ferneze nor Downright there is one passage on Impatience
(p. 72) which describes Downright: "He will not stay to hear
an answere whilest a man may excuse himselfe, nor endure any
reading if it fit not his purpose, nor affect anie learning that
feedes not his humor." Downright impatiently checks Kitely's
explanations, and demands that he come to the point (II, 1) ; and,
when Bobadill attempts to parley (IV, 5), Downright beats him
incontinently. As Mathew is about to read his verses (IV, 1),
Downright cries out, "Hoy-day, here is stuff !" and later, "Death !
I can indure the stocks better/' Wellbred explains Downright's
impatience on the occasion by saying, "A rhime to him is worse
than cheese, or a bagpipe." On the whole, however, the character

Every Man in his Humour 139

of Downright does not seem to carry on definitely any conventional
treatment of wrath or impatience. Certainly there is small ground
for comparing him with Falconbridge or Hotspur, Shakespeare's
studies of the irascible nature. In Shakespeare's characters, espe-
cially Falconbridge, bluntness and impatience are not the control-
ling factors, but merely a mask for a finer nature — secondary fac-
tors derived from spiritual honesty.

Justice Clement, also, with his mad, merry humour, his love of
a jest, his good fellowship and kindly spirit, and withal his keen
commonsense and his justice, is, so far as I know, a unique figure
in the drama. The foolish justice was proverbial. Justice Silence
had rendered him a telling stage figure about the time of Every
Man in, and he appears in How a Man May Choose a Good Wife
from a Bad probably not long after. The type is common in jest
books also. Jonson himself takes up the character later in
Bartholomew Fair and The Devil is an Ass. Clement, however, is
not the foolish justice, but shrewd and whimsical. The portrayal
of Sir Thomas More as a magistrate in the play of Sir Thomas
More illustrates the type in some details very well indeed ; as, for
example, in his surprising use of jests when dealing with characters
representing follies, in his learning and his quick parodies of pre-
tentious language, in his readiness always to meet folly as a chal-
lenge, and in his fundamental justice and leniency.1

The elder Knowell, the country gentleman solicitous about his
son's small follies and in sympathy with the old regime, is also to
a large extent a fresh humour type. One phase of his characteri-
zation, however, shows considerable literary influence and no little
skill on Jonson's part. Knowell is not an allegorical figure, but
he does seem to stand for the older virtues, older morals, and the
conservative tendencies of society — as Cob seems to stand for a
social principle. Knowell, with his old-fashioned manners and
wisdom, is contrasted with the new manners and follies of his son,
and to a certain extent he furnishes a chorus or commentator on

^or a bit of Clement's burlesque poetry given in the Quarto (11. 2853
ff.) Prof. Penniman points out a parallel in Wits Miserie, p. 23. Cf.
introduction to his edition of Poetaster and Satiromastix. Gifford
(Jonson's Works, Vol. I, p. 57, note 2) has suggested the similarity
between another burlesque of Clement's and a passage in Googe's Zodiacke.
For two earlier instances of the Justice's pun (V, 1) on the "whole realm,
a commonwealth of paper" that Mathew carries in his hose, cf. Hart,
9 N. and Q., Vol. XI, p. 501.

140 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

the follies of the central characters in the play. To a certain
extent, also, he is a forerunner of Asper and Crites, though he is
more strongly individualized than Jonson's other conservers of
morals, and he scarcely expresses Jonson's own ideals so consist-
ently as they do. As critic of the follies that Jonson is studying in
Every Man in, Knowell represents the conservative ideals of the
better middle class; Asper is a whipper of social follies, imbued
with the spirit of contemporary satire; and Crites is the critic
whose own ideal character renders him the judge of the types of
ignorance and folly. The significance of these characters is much
more evident, of course, in Asper and Crites than in Knowell, but
to my mind Knowell in one phase of his characterization con-
tinues Jonson's idea of a commentator which had its inception in
Valentine of The Case is Altered. Knowell's function as the con-
serving social force comes out in his numerous soliloquies and in
his rebukes of folly. His tendency to moralizing becomes, like
Macilente's envy and possibly Asper's harshness, a humour, while
Crites represents a contrast to humours. Yet in each case the type
is that of the moralizer.

Knowell soliloquizes on his scholarly son's pursuit of "idle poe-
try" (I, 1) ; on his son's choice of a companion (I, 1) ; on the
method he shall pursue in dealing with his son (I, 1) ; and, in the
Folio, on the evils in the modern system of rearing children (II, 3).
Instead of this last soliloquy, the Quarto has one on the proper
sway of reason over man. In I, 1, Knowell rebukes Stephen for
quarreling and for extravagance, and gives him a moral lecture
embracing well-known maxims of conduct; and in II, 3, the beg-
ging soldier's degenerate, servile type of life falls under his cen-
sure. Otherwise Knowell's participation in the play is slight except
for the trick played upon him by his own son, though the fact that
he follows Edward Knowell to London gives a motive for much
of the action.

A fathers soliloquy on the course of his son, in spirit much like
those of Knowell in the opening scenes, may be found in Lodge's
Alarum against Usurers (Shakespeare Society, pp. 49, 50). In
both cases the fact is mentioned that the son stood high in favor
at the universities. Knowell's conviction in regard to the fruitless-
ness of poetry as a pursuit is very closely paralleled in some lines
which Gifford quotes from the part of Old Hieronimo in The

Every Man in liis Humour 141

Spanish Tragedy (IV. 1, 11. 69 if.). The Folio soliloquy on
fathers' training their children in evil living is drawn almost
wholly from the classics, as Whalley and Clifford point out, but the
ideas had become commonplace in the didactic literature of Eng-
land and consequently fit well into the fatherly humour of Knowell.1
The corresponding Quarto soliloquy (11. 880 ff.) presents an elab-
orate figure of Reason placed by Nature as king over the estate of
man "to haue the marshalling of our affections." The affections
often rebel against

Their liege Lord Reason, and not shame to tread
Vpon his holy and annointed head.

This same figure, about which, however, there is of course nothing
strikingly distinctive, forms the plot of Medwell's Nature, Part I.
Nature endows man with Reason and Sensuality, but Reason is to
be "chyef gyde" and to "gouerne" (11. 99 ff.). Immediately Sen-
suality raises a revolt, and man rebels against Reason, going so
far as to smite him on the head (11. 1155 ff.).2

More interesting for its conventionality than any of these solil-
oquies is the passage in which Knowell lays down five rules of con-
duct for the guidance of Stephen (I, 1). The advice is similar
to that which Polonius later gives to Laertes. Knowell warns
Stephen against spending money on baubles and on foolish com-
panions : against invading every place ; against the use of flashing
bravery; against living beyond his income; and against standing
upon a gentility of birth rather than of deeds. Similar advice,
usually of a father to a son, is to be found frequently in English
literature of this period,8 and to trace such lists of maxims would

1Cf. Babington, Ten Commandments, quoted in the introduction to the
New Shakspere Society edition of Stubbes's Anatomy of Abuses, p. 82*;
Wager, The Longer thou Livest, 11. 114 ff. and 1012 ff. ; Lodge, Fig for
Momus, Hunterian Club, pp. 33 ff.; Lyly, Euphues, Works, ed. Bond, Vol.
I, pp. 185 and 244; Northbrooke, Treatise against Dancing, etc., Shake-
speare Society, pp. 11, 12; etc.

2Cf. pp. 161 f. infra for parallels between the second part of Nature and
Every Man out.

3Cf. Euphues, Works of Lyly, Vol. I, pp. 189 f. (repeated in almost the
same form on p. 286); Vol. II, pp. 161, 149, 187 f.; Lodge, Rosalind,
near the beginning; Lodge, Euphues his Shadow, Hunterian Club, p. 13;
Margarite of America, Hunt. Club, pp. 18, 19; Fig for Momus, Hunt.
Club, p. 59; Alarum against Usurers, Shakespeare Society, p. 75; Greene,
Garde of Fancie, Works, ed. Grosart, Vol. IV, pp. 21, 22; Mourning Gar-
ment, Vol. IX, pp. 137 ff.; Breton, Wits Trenchmour, pp. 14 and 18.

142 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

be a hopeless task. The study of the ultimate sources of these
lists has, so far as I know, been undertaken most fully by Fischer
in his edition of How the Wyse Man Taught hys Sone (Erlanger
Beitrage, Band I, Heft II, pp. 11 if.), where he traces a large
number of such precepts from Cato on through Old and Middle
English.'1 Account must also be taken of the Italian courtesy
books, the name of which was doubtless legion and which extended
to all lengths and covered all phases of conduct. Knowell, for
example, makes gentility a matter of the individual man, an idea
which is rather fully dealt with in EupJiues (Works of Lyly, Vol.
I, pp. 316 ff.). The discussion of nobility of birth along with
rules of conduct is frequent in Italian courtesy books, where some-
times the view of Jonson and Lyly is expressed, and sometimes
that which lays chief stress on birth and wealth, as in Castiglione's
Courtier.2 Doubtless all of KnowelPs wisdom was derived from
the moral and educational treatises of the Renaissance, which were
largely Italian, though much of his moralizing may have been
familiar to Jonson in the classics also.

KnowelPs whole attitude of loyalty to the older standards of
morals and manners is illustrated by Greene's Quip for an Upstart
Courtier (Works, Vol. XI, pp. 233 ff.), where Cloth-breeches
praises the simplicity of the older regime in England in contrast
with the regime of present day upstarts. In Two Angry Women
of Abington, also, Coomes praises the old sword days as opposed to
the modern rapier days (II, 4).

In turning with Every Man in from the recognized types of com-
edy to a serious program of satire on humours, Jonson sets forth
rather definitely in the prologue his critical and moral purpose.
It has frequently been pointed out that the critical ideas expressed

^orster, Engl. Stud., Vol. 36, pp. 1 ff. prints a Middle English version
of Cato's maxims. A large number of texts are printed in The Babees
Book, etc., E. E. T. S., No. 32, and in Queene Elizabethes Achademy, etc.,
E. E. T. S., E. S., No. 8. In this last volume Dr. Furnivall prints one
poem giving a mother's advice to a daughter. The advice of a mother to
her daughter occurs in Phillip's play of Patient Grissell. In James IV,
I, 1, 11. 151 ff., the father advises the daughter.

2Cf. also Rossetti, Essay on Early Italian Courtesy Books, E. E. T. S.,
E. S., No. 8, pp. 12 and 56; Holme, Mod. Lang. Review, Vol. V, pp. 145 ff.;
Stubbes, Anatomy of Abuses, pp. 42, 43 and notes, where classic parallels
are given. Einstein, Italian Renaissance in England, pp. 61 ff. gives what
is perhaps the clearest and best discussion of the conflicting ideals in re-
gard to nobility.

Every Man in his Humour 143

in the prologue were generally current among students of criticism
in the Kenaissance.1 The ideas and even the wording are often
paralleled in Sidney's Defense of Poesy.2 Almost the same objec-
tions, however, to the absurdities of romantic plays were expressed
\)j Sidney's predecessor, Whetstone, in the dedication of Promos
and Cassandra; and about the time that Every Man in was written,
and almost certainly before the prologue was written, these ideas
were dramatized in the notable critical induction of A Warning
for Fair Women, printed in 1599.

lCf. Gifford, Works of Jonson, Vol. I, p. 2; Penniman, The War of the
Theatres, pp. 14 ff.; Smith, Eliz. Crit. Essays, Vol. 1, pp. xxxi ff., and espe-
cially p. xliii; Spingarn, Grit. Essays of the Seventeenth Cent., Vol. I, pp.
xiii ff .

2Cf. especially the parallels cited by Professor Spingarn.

CHAPTEB VII

EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR

The years 1598 and 1599 were notable in the production of
satire. Early in the decade such prose works as Greene's Quip,
Nashe's Pierce Penilesse, and Lodge's Wits Miserie marked a defi-
nite advance in one phase of the satiric movement. At the same
time verse satire was coming into popularity. Donne's satires
seem to have been written about 1593; Campion's Poemata (in
Latin) and Lodge's Fig for Momus date from 1595 ; and Da vies'
Epigrammes were produced about the same time. But the real
satiric outburst began in 1597 with Hall's Virgidemiarum. In
1598 appeared Marston's Metamorphosis of Pygmalion's Image
and Certain Satires, the same author's Scourge of Villainy, Guil-
pin's Skialetheia, Bastard's Chrestoleros, and Kankins' Seaven
Satyr es. Early in 1599 appeared Middleton's Micro-Cynicon*
and during the course of the year Weever's Epigrams in the Oldest
Cut and Newest Fashion. The vogue was met by an order of
June 1, 1599, restraining satires and epigrams, which singled out
as especially obnoxious the works of Hall, Marston, Guilpin, and
Middleton. The satirical poems and the collections of satires and
epigrams that appeared during the next two years, notwithstand-
ing, speak for the strength of the movement. The influence of
this school of formal satire on Jonson is to be felt in Every Man
in of ITjDS, but in K>!)!)2 he produced the first of his comical
satires, Every Man out of his Humour, a play that transfers to
the stage the whole tone, spirit, and range of the popular contem-
porary satire.

The changes from Every Man in to Every Man out are clearly
marked, but not sweeping. In both plays some of the broader
phases of didacticism or of the older forms of satire are blended

*I use Middleton's name for convenience although Middleton's author-
ship has been doubted by some and Moffat's suggested. Cf. Cambridge
Hist. Eng. Lit., Vol. IV, p. 589, for example.

2The Folio states that the play was acted in 1599. For Jonson this
does not mean the beginning of the year 1600. Cf. Thorndike, Influence
of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakespeare, p. 17. Ev. M. out was doubt-
less finished toward the end of 1599, after the production of Julius
Caesar.

Every Man out of his Humour 145

with the new satire. For the quick dissection of follies, Every
Man out has seized upon the character sketch, which goes back
to earlier English prose but connects closely with the popular epi-
gram also. The critical ideas of Jonson have developed into a
definite system, and are expounded. With Every Man out, also,
humour assumes for him a much more exact meaning, and, accord-
ing to the definition which he gives, is more consistently repre-
sentative of inner character. Many of the character types of
Every Man in are carried over into Every Man out, though the
characterization is more completely from the point of view of
humours. Brisk continues the type illustrated in Mathew, but
with a more vigorous personality. He is much more clearly the
gallant and less the gull. His boasts of his prowess and his func-
tion as model for the true gull Fungoso connect him with Bob-
adill of Every Man in. The country gull Stephen has developed
into Fungoso and Sogliardo, both of whom are clearly individual-
ized. Like Stephen, they ape the fashion of gallants, but each
follows in a different way the follies of London life into which
they are plunging. As studies of a citizen and his wife, Deliro
and Fallace stand in definite contrast to Kitely and his wife, while
Fido is a colorless repetition of Cash. In general, the characters
of Every Man out represent more clearly than do those of Every
Man in various phases of the affected gallantry and singularity
which the contemporary satirists were attacking. While the types
are almost as varied as in Every Man in, they all belong to a nar-
rower sphere, the world of the posers and spendthrifts, with those
who heap money for them, like Sordido, or those who are used by
them, like Deliro, or those who prey upon them, like Shift. Con-
sequently, the types are rather more specific than in Every Man in,
representative of more definite follies. So for Knowell, the
respectable, moral gentleman of the suburbs of London, there
appears Puntarvolo, "consecrated to singularity," and as antiquated
in his affectation of the forms of chivalry as Knowell is in his
moralizing. Instead of Bridget with her respectability despite the
fact that Mathew is her servant, appears Saviolina, as foolish as
her servant Brisk. Instead of Brainworm, a mixed type of Roman
slave and English coney-catcher, appears Shift, also a pretended
soldier, a beggar, and a rogue, but one whose path lies close to
that of the gulls and pretended gallants. The clown Cob has been

146 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

dropped, and the rustic Sordido, brother and father of the two
gulls, has been added. Downright with his humour of impatience
has given place to a new type of scourger, Carlo, the "profane
jester," who "will transform any man into deformity." Knowell
and Wellbred, the pair of gallants of a respectable sort, have dis-
appeared in this study of thoroughgoing follies, and their func-
tion of exposing the gulls and the humour types is taken by
Macilente, whose humour of envy makes him an effective agent in
the satiric comedy intended to lash the follies of the day. The
Plautine elements in Jonson's humour plays thus drop out, and
a character more suggestive of the allegorical figure of Envy in
the moralities becomes the intriguer. The whole play is more
English in tone. It is a gigantic burlesque of English manners,
in the spirit and form of the contemporary satire, and yet close
to life, as we must feel.

For a defence of his new type of play Jonson has made use of
the machinery of induction and chorus. The fashion of setting
before the audience in dramatic form whatever the author wished
understood as preliminary to the play had already become rather
widespread in the contemporary English drama. The device took
many forms. A character typical of some period in the past or
one representing a source might be chosen, as in the case of Skel-
ton in Munday's Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington,1 or of
Higden in what is probably an old play, The Mayor of Queen-
borough, In other inductions the characters often represented the
tone or quality of the play. The atmosphere enveloping The Span-
ish Tragedy is typified in the Ghost and Eevenge, who comment
as they sit by. More dramatic is the opening of 8 oilman and
Perseda, where Love, Fortune, and Death contend as to who shall
control. The contest motive for revealing the tone of a play was
popular. Tragedy prevails over Comedy and History in A Warn-
ing for Fair Women, and the tone suggested by the victory of
Tragedy dominates the play as thoroughly as Asper's spirit per-
vades Every Man out. Tragedy, indeed, speaks somewhat in the
manner of Asper; and the criticism of absurd plays suggests the
prologue to Every Man in. An excellent counterpart to A Warn-

has followed in Ev. M. out, in Cynthia's Revels, and elsewhere
Munday's device of introducing into the induction the actors of the play.

Every Man out of his Humour 147

ing for Fair Women is found in Wily Beguiled, where the title
Spectrum is spirited away by Juggler, and fun prevails.1

More closely allied to the special type of induction adopted in
Every Man out is the device of a group of plays in which the atti-
tude of an audience is represented through actors who take the
role of spectators. Indeed, the presenter and the critic were
already established upon the English stage, though the treatment
had usually been humorous and satirical rather than serious and
judicial. In The Old Wives' Tale the clowns are diverting comic
figures, but their importance lies in furnishing for the play a pre-
senter and a chorus of Jonson's type. Madge, who starts the folk-
tale taken up by the play, is presenter, and embodies the spirit of
the play somewhat as Asper does in Every Man out. Peele was
satirizing the hurly-burly of romance as much in the presenter of
his potpourri of folk-lore and romance as in the play itself. Asso-
ciated with Madge are Fantastic and Frolic, two sympathetic spec-
tators, who express their interest by occasional questions and
remarks- — not critical, however. In The Taming of a Shrew, the
part of Sly, less fully developed by Shakespeare in The Taming of
the Shrew, not only introduces a humorous element but again
gives the occasion for some ironical satire .on the tastes of such
spectators as Sly. Undoubtedly, too, the humorous purpose in
presenting a spectator on the stage is uppermost in Summer's
Last Will and Testament, but the humor arises largely, as in the
case of Sly, from the satire on the dramatic taste of the common
clown, to whom neither poetry nor a serious study of character
can appeal2 — for Nashe's use of folk-lore has the interest both of
poetic fancy and of moralizing and philosophizing on the part of
the allegorical characters. Summer, with his mockery of all that
is most serious in the play, typifies the limitations of the audience.
Through the device, Nashe is enabled at once to stress his more
critical purpose and, by paradox, to suggest explanations and
values. Jonson foolishly took the direct method in Every Man

^Cf. the strife of Envy and Comedy in Mucedorus.

Spectrum in Wily Beguiled is suggestive of satiric comedy. Indeed, the
whole spirit of the prologue would seem to indicate that so much of the
play, at least, was written after the rise of strongly satiric comedy.

2Cf. Wilson, Arte of Rhetorique, ed. Mair, p. 198, for a serious discus-
sion of this matter.

148 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

out, but for most of his later inductions he follows Nashe in using
the indirect approach. The gossips of The Staple of News, as
well as the citizen and his wife in Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight
of the Burning Pestle, are to my mind distinctly modeled on
Nashe's device of Will Summer. Even in the enveloping action
of Every Man oui, though the method differs from Nashe's, there
are several details betraying a kinship, — the mockery of prologue
and author, the statement of the principle that satire is aimed not
at individuals but at classes, and the attitude of superiority to
ignorant critics.

The induction of J antes IV, while not so important for Jonson
as that of Summer's Last Will and Testament, offers in its seri-
ousness and greater directness a closer parallel to the spirit of Jon-
son's treatment. In Greene's play, Bohan, a cynic and scorner of
the evils of life, leads Oberon to "the Gallery" to show him a pic-
ture of the follies of the Scottish court, in order that Oberon may
"iudge if any wise man would not leaue the world if he could."
The serious satirical purpose of Bohan as presenter, the malcon-
tent type in him, which suggests Asper-Macilente, and the discus-
sion of the moral between acts all connect Greene's treatment with
Jonson's.

In Every Man out the enveloping machinery of presenter and
chorus is for the purpose of defending Jonson's methods and enun-
ciating his critical opinions. The discussion of the habits of
theatre-goers (II, 4), and the ridicule of Munday's citizen type of
comedy (I, 1) which are to be found in The Case is Altered are
episodic, and satirical rather than constructive. More important
for the development of Jonson's theories is the satire on false
poetry in Every Man in and the defense of true poetry which
appears in the Quarto.1 With Every Man out, the criticism that
before had been scattered is organized and definitely formulated
as throwing light on Jonson's purposes. Asper, the presenter,
stands for the ideals of satiric comedy. He is the scourger, the
embodiment of the satirical spirit abroad. Often, as when he
addresses the "gracious and kind spectators," he may represent the
author, just as Macilente, whose role is taken by the actor playing
Asper, is in many respects the mouthpiece of Jonson. But Asper

irThe prologue of Ev. M. in, stating definitely Jonson's ideal in comedy,
doubtless belongs to a period as late as Ev. M. out, perhaps later, r

Every Man out of his Humour 149

is to my mind a familiar type, the stern and fearless castigator of
evils. As a scourger he contrasts with Macilente, whose hatred of
folly is contaminated by a mixture of unworthy envy ; and the two
men stand for two types of satirists. When Macilente is cured of
his humour of envy, he becomes a worthy figure of the age, —
Asper again, the embodiment of a noble indignation against folly.
But other matters besides the satirical purpose of the play come in
for consideration, also, and questions of stage-craft needed to be
discussed in a critical, judicial spirit not suited to Asper. Corda-
tus and Mitis are accordingly introduced as judicial observers and
critics of the play as a play.

Inevitably, in presenting the ideal satirist and the ideal critic,
Jonson presents his own theories for satire and his own estimate
of his work. The greater egoism, of course, lies in portraying the
ideal critic of his work, for in Asper as scourger Jonson might
readily feel that he embodied the satirical ideals of Chapman, let
us say, as much as his own. In defence of Jonson's whole attitude
to his mission and his art it should be urged that the militant
spirit in literature was stronger at the end of the sixteenth century
than ever before or since, perhaps, though the rigidity of Jonson's
intellectual nature made him carry the spirit through his whole
career when once he came under the dominance of it. The age
was one in which sharp social and religious cleavage made bitter
polemics popular; in which the development of the ideals of in-
dividuality allowed a man to defend confidently his own views and
accomplishments; and in which, paradoxically enough, the follow-
ing of fixed standards and systems by certain groups rendered a
poet's defence of himself a defence of the ideals of his group.
Much of Jonson's egoism is thus a result of a belief in ideals
rather than in self. The struggle of the newly developing classi-
cism was one of the influences that intensified the spirit of aggres-
siveness and dogmatism in Jonson's group, though more potent,
perhaps, was the nature of the men themselves, — Nashe, Marston,
and Jonson in particular. The influence of Nashe is especially
conspicuous. To my . mind, he set the tone for English satire.

For the ideas expounded by Asper and the chorus, much of
Jonson's material was derived from classic or Italian sources, but
he has culled out what was especially applicable to English liter-
ature and had been approved by preceding critics and satirists.

150 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

The literary affiliations of Asper are, of course, to be sought first
of all in formal satire, and, brief as the part is, it is remarkable
how many conventions of the satirical school it illustrates. Even
Asper Js fashion of turning from one point to another without any
organized program for venting his indignation marks him as the
typical satirist. The most conspicuous exception, perhaps, is that he
does not affect harshness and obscurity of language. In portraying
Asper as satirist, however, it is to be remembered that Jonson was
following a type of literature whose lines of treatment were very
definitely marked, more so perhaps than the common influence of
classicism on the writers of the school would naturally explain,
though that was great enough. The satirists followed each other
very closely. Nashe's Pierce Penilesse influenced Lodge's Wits
Miserie. Guilpin seems to have been indebted to Lodge and Davies
as well as to Marston. Donne, Hall, and Marston show clear
traces of kinship. The community of ideas and methods among
all these men is strikingly revealed by a cursory reading; even the
recurrence of certain words, like galled, is noticeable.1

The chief function of the satirist was, of course, to scourge vice
and folly. The evils are naturally much the same in all the satire
of the period — in the satire of all periods, one might well say. I
have already spoken of the classification of vices in the prose
satirists, especially in connection with humours. Asper runs
briefly over a list of evil-doers, — the strumpet, broker, usurer, law-
yer, courtier, with "their extortion, pride, or lusts," — and dis-
misses them as

so innate and popular,

That drunken custom would not shame to laugh,
In scorn, at him, that should but dare to tax 'em.

He pauses long enough, however, to direct a special paragraph
against the Puritan. In the second of the satires included with
Pygmalion's Image. Marston arraigns the Puritans similarly,
though his charges are more concrete and specific. Interestingly
enough, Asper's speech, according to Gifford, goes back in many

Similarly, when once Jonson had achieved notable success in adapting
the methods of satire to the uses of comedy, the dramatists followed him
as quickly as the satirists followed each other. The reaction of the drama
on satire is pretty clear also. Rowlands' Letting of Humour's Blood in
the Head Vein, for instance, seems to me to have been strongly influenced
by Every Man out.

Every Nan out of his Humour

151

details to Juvenal's description of the feigned Stoics, so that we
find Jonson again fitting his classic material into the mold of con-
temporary life. I quote the passages from Jonson and Marston
for the parallelism in method.

Jonson

O, but to such whose faces are all

zeal,
And, with the words of Hercules

invade
Such crimes as these! that will not

smell of sin,
But seem as they were made of

sanctity !
Religion in their garments, and

their hair
Cut shorter than their eyebrows!

when the conscience
Is vaster than the ocean, and de-
vours
More wretches than the counters.

Marston

That same devout meal-mouth'd
precisian,

That cries "Good brother," "Kind
sister," makes a duck

After the antique grace, can always
pluck

A sacred book out of his civil hose,

And at th' op'ning and at our stom-
ach's close,

Says with a turn'd-up eye a solemn
grace

Of half an hour; then with silken

face
Smiles on the holy crew, and then

doth cry,
"O manners! O times of impurity!"

— who thinks that this good

Is a vile, sober, damned politician?
Not I, till with his bait of purity
He bit me sore in deepest usury.
No Jew, no Turk, would use a

Christian
So inhumanely as this Puritan.

It is after his elaborate explanation of the true nature of
humour that Asper reveals his program as presenter of the play.
In reply to the remark of Cordatus that

if an ideot

Have but an apish or fantastic strain,
It is his humour,

Asper declares, —

Well, I will scourge those apes,
And to these courteous eyes oppose a mirror,
As large as is the stage whereon we act;
Where they shall see the time's deformity
Anatomized in every nerve and sinew,
With constant courage, and contempt of fear.

152 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

How far the types of folly attacked in the play coincide with the
types common in satire will be seen when the individual characters
are discussed separately. Much the same pictures are drawn by
satirist after satirist.

As a scourger Asper shows the harsh impatience with evil and
the bold defiance of evil-doers that make him the typical satirist
of the age. His defence of the satirist's uncompromising sharp-
ness which opens the induction is taken from Juvenal (Satire I),
but it echoes the satiric spirit of Marston and Middleton, and even
their impassioned language, more perhaps than it does Juvenal's.
Marston had anticipated Jonson in the use of this satire from
Juvenal, adopting its mood and some of its ideas for the second
satire of his Scourge of Villainy. Marston's satire is, of course,
much fuller than Asper s speech, but it is interesting to compare
the tone of the two. The parallels scarcely illustrate what is evi-
dent enough in a comparison of Asper with the composite satirist
of the age — Jonson's finer literary gift, which he shows especially
in avoiding the inconsistencies and in toning down the absurdities
of his predecessors. Thus Jonson says :

Who is so patient of this impious world,
That he can check his spirit, or rein his tongue?
Or who hath such a dead unfeeling sense,
That heaven's horrid thunders cannot wake?

Who can behold such prodigies as these,
And have his lips sealed up? Not I.

The following lines from the satire of Marston illustrate his use
of these ideas :

Preach not the Stoic's patience to me;
I hate no man, but men's impiety.
My soul is vex'd; what power will resist,
Or dares to stop a sharp-fang'd satirist?
Who'll cool my rage? . . .

What icy Saturnist, what northern pate,
But such gross lewdness would exasperate?

O damn'd !

Who would not shake a satire's knotty rod,
When to defile the sacred seat of God
Is but accounted gentlemen's disport?

Every Man out of his Humour 153

0 what dry brain melts not sharp mustard rhyme,
To purge the snottery of our slimy time!
Hence, idle "Cave" . . .

Who can abstain? What modest brain can hold,
But he must make his shame-faced muse a scold?

Marston's "Hence, idle fCave/ " and the repeated cautions of
Cordatus against Asper's too great boldness1 bring out another
characteristic of the satirist, his declared recklessness of conse-
quences, and his fearlessness of those whom he might offend. It
was common with the satirists to defy the ill will of those whose
folly they exposed.2 The mood is found in the author's prologue
to Micro-Cynicon, a work which was notorious by June 1, 1599,
and which is often suggestive of Asper's .type of satirist. Usually,
however,, the reader or hearer was also reminded aptly that to cry
out was to betray oneself as hurt. Asper's medicine,, he several
times declares, is for the sick. Hall puts the matter very suc-
cinctly in the postscript to his satires : "Art thou guilty ? Com-
plain not, thou art not wronged. Art thou guiltless? Complain
not, thou art not touched." Almost without exception, moreover,
the satirists were careful to defend themselves against the impu-
tation that they attacked individuals. The wording may vary and
even the matter, but the principle holds for all. Bishop HalFs
remark above is in connection with his protest against a personal
interpretation of his attacks on folly. Marston's address "To him
that hath perused me," at the end of The Scourge of Villainy,
deals with the same ideas. Probably about the time of Jonson's
play, Shakespeare put the protest in the mouth of the malcontent and
satiric Jaques (As You Like It, II, 7), and it is the more significant

xln Nashe's Returne of Pasquill, the interlocutor Marforius several
times urges on Pasquill the need of caution. Cf. Works, ed. McKerrow,
Vol. I, pp. 82, 83.

2With Asper's—

I fear no mood stamped in a private brow,
When I am pleased t' unmask a public vice —

compare Marston's —

I dread no bending of an angry brow,

Or rage of fools that I shall purchase now (Scourge of
Villainy, Sat. X, 11. 5, 6).

The connection is different, however.

154 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

here because it is uncalled for.1 Jonson's fullest discussion of the
matter in Every Man out is through Cordatus and Mitis at the
end of Act II.2 I could scarcely point to a better example of the
set themes of satire than the reader will find who takes the trouble
to compare the passages from these four men. Of similar tenor
is the warning in the induction to Summer's Last Will and Tes-
tament: "Moralizers, you that wrest a neuer meant meaning out
of euery thing, applying all things to the present time, keepe your
attention for the common Stage: for here are no quips in Char-
acters for you to reade." The wording, too, is suggestive of Jon-
son's complaint near the end of Act II: "Indeed there are a
sort of these narrow-eyed decypherers, I confess, that will extort
strange and abstruse meanings out of any subject, be it never so
conspicuous and innocently delivered."

But the satirist must be taken into account as literary man as
well as scourger. Part of the material of the satirical school

Shakespeare's so-called gloomy period of tragedies and bitter comedies
probably has no meaning so far as his personal experiences and mood are
concerned. The influence that determined the tone of Shakespeare's plays
during this period was undoubtedly the vogue of satire, though a real
mood of disillusionment, melancholy, and bitterness in the age may have
helped to make satire fashionable. The drama in general came under the
influence of formal satire around the year 1600. With Shakespeare the
ingenuous satire on word-mongery in the early Love's Labour's Lost and
Much Ado gave place about this period to such studies in the malcontent
as Casca, Jaques, and finally Hamlet. Twelfth Night and to a greater
extent The Merry Wives of Windsor are obviously influenced by the
humour trend that was associated with satire. In Troilus and Cressida
we find expressed the bitterer satiric spirit of Marston, who developed
the malcontent. This mood of satiric pessimism reaches the extreme for
Shakespeare in the tragedies. At the same time Jonson had turned from
humour comedy to tragedy in Sejanus and had closed the period with
Volpone, a comedy with the tone of tragedy, which echoes what is per-
haps the age's darkest note of pessimism. Then the reaction against
satire and tragedy set in, and the fashion in plays changed. Beaumont
and Fletcher's type of play took the public fancy. Jonson shifted the
emphasis of his work from satire to the more pleasing elements of plot,
organization, liveliness, etc., producing the farcical Silent Woman and
finally the uproarious Bartholomew Fair. About the same time Shake-
speare turned again to romance, but, as Mr. Thorndike has shown, instead
of following his early manner in comedy, he adopted the newer conven-
tions of the stage.

"The Quarto closes with some lines by Macilente, omitted in the Folio,
which recapitulate parts of the discussion in the induction. Macilente
appeals for applause to those who

are too wise to thinke themselues are taxt
In any generall Figure, or too vertuous
To need that wisdomes imputation.

Every Man out of his Humour 155

which, dealt with literary matters was naturally for the purpose of
scourging follies, but much of it expressed the satirist's attitude
to his own work. Asper's utterances along this line show two
opposing phases. On the one hand, he expresses a complete con-
fidence in his art, and a desire for criticism of his work, a willing-
ness to be censured by the judicious as he is ready to spend him-
self for them. On the other hand, he declares his utter scorn for
literary pretenders and witless critics. I have already spoken of
the fact that the writers of Jonson's day felt no hesitancy in
defending confidently their own work. Jonson's egoism in regard
to his art is by no means unique, though it probably offends more
because it seems more fundamental to the man's nature than in
the case of others. Through Nashe's satires, especially those
against Harvey, there runs a vein of defiant confidence that easily
surpasses Jonson. Again, where Jonson challenges —

Let envious censors, with their broadest eyes,
Look through and through me —

half a score of other writers like Hall, Marston, and Middleton
could be pointed out who fling down the gauntlet in belligerent
poems defying envy or detraction. The literature before Jonson
is also filled with scorn for the ignorant critic and for pretended
poets and poets of other schools. ISTashe in the prologue to Sum-
mer's Last Witt and Testament takes Jonson's blunt attitude to his
critics: "Their censures we wey not, whose sences are not yet
vnswadled." In most of these points, Marston represents the
extreme before Jonson. For line of thought and for mood, the
introductory section to his Scourge of Villainy is often an inter-
esting forerunner of Asper's part. Marston opens with some
defiant and self-confident stanzas in which he presents his "poesy"
to Detraction. His next section is addressed In Lectores prorsus
indignos, and his resentment that ignoramuses and coxcombs
should be allowed to pass judgment on his work is like Jonson's
indignation at the gallant "that has neither art nor brain" and
yet by his presumptuous criticism of a play will infect a whole
audience. Marston then turns from unworthy critics, and ad-
dresses several stanzas to "diviner wits" — the "judicious friends"
of Asper. The introduction closes with a prose section headed
"To those that seem judicial Perusers," in which Marston, prob-

156

English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

ably following Hall (prologue to Book III of- the satires), protests
that English satire should not be bound down by the convention
of roughness and obscurity of language. The spirit of this section
is paralleled in Jonson's discussion, through the chorus, of inno-
vation in the laws of comedy. A few corresponding passages in
the part of Asper and the works of Marston., especially the intro-
duction to The Scourge of Villainy, are added to illustrate the
relation between the two men.

Jonson

Yet here mistake me not, judicious

friends ;

I do not this, to beg your patience,
Or servilely to fawn on your ap-
plause,
Like some dry brain, despairing in

his merit.
Let me be censured by the austerest

brow,
Where I want art or judgment, tax

me freely:
Let envious censors, with their

broadest eyes,
Look through and through me, I

pursue no favour;
Only vouchsafe me your attentions,
And I will give you music worth

your ears.
0, how I hate the monstrousness of

time,

Where every servile imitating spirit,
Plagued with an itching leprosy of

wit,
In a mere halting fury, strives to

fling
His ulcerous body in the Thespian

spring,
And straight leaps forth a poet!

And I will mix with you in industry
To please: but whom? attentive

auditors,
Such as will join their profit with

their pleasure,

Marston

Envy's abhorred child, Detraction,
I here expose, to thy all-tainting

breath,
The issue of my brain: snarl, rail,

bark, bite,

Know that my spirit scorns De-
traction's spite.

Know that the Genius, which at-
tendeth on

And guides my powers intellectual,

Holds in all vile repute Detraction;

My soul an essence metaphysical,
That in the basest sort scorns

critics' rage

Because he knows his sacred par-
entage (Scourge of Villainy,
"To Detraction," etc.).

0 age, when every Scriveners boy

shall dippe
Profaning quills into Thessaliaes

spring (Histriomastix, III, 11.

197 f. Assigned to Marston) .

1. But, ye diviner wits, celestial

souls,

Whose free-born minds no kennel-
thought controlls,

Ye sacred spirits, Maia's eldest
sons —

2. Ye substance of the shadows of

our age,

Every Man out of Ms Humour 157

And come to feed their understand- In whom all graces link in mar-
ing parts: riage,

For these I'll prodigally spend my- To you how cheerfully my poem

self, runs !

And speak away my spirit into air;

For these I'll melt my brain into 3. True- judging eyes, quick-sighted

invention, censurers,

Coin new conceits, and hang my Heaven's best beauties, wisdom's

richest words treasurers,

As polished jewels in their bounte- 0 how my love embraceth your

ous ears. great worth ! ( Scourge of Vil-
lainy, In Lectores, etc.,
11. 81 ff.).

I may repeat here that to my mind the hostility between Jonson
and Marston may often have been overstressed. The connection
of the two men which resulted in the literary partnership of East-
ward Hoe probably began early. Jonson, Chapman,, and Marston
shared very similar impulses and carried on very similar studies,
perhaps exchanging ideas and ideals in social intercourse. Cer-
tainly both Marston and Chapman seem to have given Jonson sug-
gestions for Every Man out. Jonson and Marston, however, were
just the men to quarrel frequently, in spite of all bonds of fellow-
ship. Jonson's statement to Drummond that he had many quar-
rels with Marston seems to me out of keeping with a long continued
enmity between the two men; it suggests, rather, constant inter-
course. Marston's dedication of The Malcontent to Jonson and
the collaboration of the two in Eastward Hoe after Poetaster and
Satiromastix were written indicate that at least they were as ready
for reconciliation as for wrath.

With regard to the part of Cordatus and Mitis in this enveloping
machinery, its art is that of the dialogue so popular in the didactic
literature of the sixteenth century and already utilized in The Case
is Altered for Valentine's discussion of the stage, as it was later
utilized in the Apologetical Dialogue of Poetaster. Cordatus and
Mitis serve as prompters for Asper, and, after he leaves the stage,
Mitis plays the same role for Cordatus in setting forth Jonson's
dramatic purposes. The interlocutor is, of course, a mere figure-
head. He serves to pave the way by suggesting a new idea or an
objection and so furnishing a topic, but he never really offers a
strong debate. The dialogues of Plato, Lucian, Cicero, and
the Latin satirists may have rendered this form of literature

158 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

popular in the Renaissance, but, as I have already said, the vogue
was extensive in England before Jonson's time. Many of the crit-
ical utterances of Cordatus and Mitis are likewise to be traced in
earlier Renaissance literature. Indeed, one is amazed at the
degree to which Jonson conforms in the pettiest details to the
academic rules that were gradually worked out in the Renaissance.
Much of this body of doctrine can be traced to classic sources and
to Italian interpretation of those sources, so that it is difficult to
disentangle the English elements. I judge, however, that there
were some decidedly independent trends in English literature.
They often concerned very petty points, but even the petty point
became fixed. A certain conventionality in the satire on Daniel
comes from the use of Daniel as the stock example of the violation
of principles that were upheld by the most orthodox. In different
connections I have already touched upon a number of the points
discussed by Cordatus and Mitis, especially the claim for inde-
pendence in the form of comedy and for a certain freedom in
adapting its rules. They also apply Jonson's theory of humour,
which is first definitely stated in this play. Their discussion of
what comedy should be — at the end of III, 1 — repeats the ideas
of the prologue to Every Man in. For these ideas Jonson may
have drawn upon Whetstone, Sidney, the author of A Warning for
Fair Women, and various others of his predecessors. Other details
of Jonson's theory of comedy are taken up by the chorus, also, but
usually merely by way of explaining the problems of the play or of
applying the general rules given by the critical writers of the time.
Among the characters in what is properly the play, Macilente is
easily the most important from the point of view of structure. He
is the intriguer of the play and stands in opposition to all the
other characters, observing their humours and plotting to bring
about their overthrow. But, aside from his function in the plot,
his diial nature makes him a complex character. He hates all
follies with a justifiable hatred, and yet at the time of the play he
has given away to the humour of envy.1 It is envy that makes
him a malicious intriguer, and this accounts for the care with
which the Chorus explains his humour (I, 1, p. 79). As a figure

aHis envy is spoken of a number of times. Of. the character sketch
prefixed to the play; I, 1, pp. 76, 78, and 79; IV, 1, p. 112; IV, 3, p. 112;
V, 1, p. 126; epilogue, p. 140.

Every Man out of Ms Humour 159

of envy, he connects clearly with the allegorical character of Envy
in the Seven Deadly Sins. But he is, in addition, a scholar and
given to reflection. In this role his envy takes the form of mal-
content, so that he becomes one of the very earliest studies of the
humour of malcontent, which was soon to attract so much atten-
tion in the drama.

In the characterization of Macilente as Envy, Jonson has fol-
lowed pretty closely the conventional traits of the abstraction.
The description of Envy in Passus V of Piers the Plowman gives
an early example:

So loked he with lene chekes • iourynge foule.

His body was to-bolle for wratthe • that he bote his lippes,
And wryngynge he yede with the fiste • to wreke hym-self he thoughte
With werkes or with wordes • whan he seighe his tyme.
Eche a worde that he warpe • was of an Addres tonge,
Of chydynge and of chalangynge • was his chief lyflode,
With bakbitynge and bismer. . . .

I wolde be gladder, bi god • that gybbe had meschaunce,
Than thoughe I had this woke ywonne • a weye of essex chese.
I haue a neighbore neyghe me • I haue ennuyed hym ofte,

His grace and his good happes • greueth me ful sore.
Bitwene many and many • I make debate ofte,

Awey fro the auter thanne • turne I myn eyghen,
And biholde how Eleyne • hath a newe cote;
I wisshe thanne it were myne • and al the webbe after.

And of mennes lesynge I laughe • that liketh myn herte;

For who-so hath more than I • that angreth me sore.
And thus I lyue louelees • lyke a luther dogge,
That al my body bolneth • for bitter of my galle.

I myghte noughte eet many yeres • as a man oughte, etc.

Almost all of these details fit Macilente. Leanness is one of the
most common characteristics of Envy.1 Macilente means lean,
and the leanness of the character is frequently referred to in the
play.2 Macilente also gives vent to his spleen in both works and

4Cf. Ship of Fools, ed. Jamieson, Vol. I, p. 254; Endimion, V, 1;
Faerie Queene, V, xii, 29.

2Cf. I, 1, p. 76; IV, 2, p. 112; TV, 4, p. 115; V, 4, pp. 130 and 132;
V. 7, p. 139.

160 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

words, and his malice is vengeful. The sharpness of his tongue
leads Carlo to say of him, "He carries oil and fire in his pen, will
scald where it drops" (I, 1, p. 76). Twice in IV, 1, Fallace
accuses him of backbiting. Every fresh instance of worldly pros-
perity calls forth a tirade from him, and the overthrow or mishap
of each separate fool is met with rejoicing. The finery of the cox-
combs, like Eleyne's "newe cote/' several times rouses his resent-
ment. He takes special delight, also, in "setting debate" (IV, 3,
p. 112) between Deliro and Fallace, between Carlo and Puntar-
volo, between Shift and Puntarvolo, etc. Even the fact that Envy
can not eat is suggested in Jonson's character. When Macilente
speaks contemptuously of Carlo's fondness for pork, Carlo replies
(V, 4, p. 132) : "If thou wouldst farce thy lean ribs with it too,
they would not, like ragged laths, rub out so many doublets as
they do; but thou know'st not a good dish, thou."

The passage from Piers the Plowman is only suggestive of how
far back the characterization of Macilente may be traced and how
thoroughly conventional is the groundwork of the treatment. Par-
allels for Macilente as a study of Envy are to be found all the way
through English literature, for the conventional traits of the ab-
straction remained pretty well fixed. Spenser has two treatments
of Envy in The Faerie Queene (I, iv, 30-32, and V, xii, 29-32),
which, with decided differences in detail, portray the same gen-
eral disposition that we find in Envy of Piers the Plowman and
in Macilente. In Book I Spenser says of Envy:

But inwardly he chawed his owne maw

At neighbours welth, that made him ever sad.

Still as he rode he gnasht his teeth to see
Those heapes of gold with griple Covetyse.

In Book V the female Envy is described as eating her own gall
through sheer vexation at goodness. Spenser continues :

For, when she wanteth other thing to eat,

She feedes on her owne maw unnaturall,

And of her owne foule entrayles makes her meat.

In comparing his own lot with Sordido's, Macilente complains
(I, 1, P- 78),

Meantime he surfeits in prosperity,

And thou, in envy of him, gnaw'st thyself;

Every Man out of his Humour 161

and the thought that an arrant gull like Sogliardo should have
"land, houses, and lordships," wrings from Macilente the exclama-
tion, "0, I could eat my entrails." The gnashing of the teeth is
found in a quotation which Cordatus applies to Macilente (I, 1,
p. 72) :

Invidus suspirat, gemit, incutitque dentes.

For Macilente, especially in his malicious activity as the in-
triguer of a drama, the most interesting of the many treatments
of Envy is perhaps to be found in Medwell's Nature. This play
represents a dramatization of the abstract type which, its period
considered, is no mean forerunner of Macilente. Nature furnishes
nothing for Jonson's plot, but it presents in concrete form the
malice of Envy as an intriguer and the same hostility between
Envy and Pride which exists between Macilente and Brisk, Jon-
son's figure of pride.

In cam Pryde garnyshed as yt had be

One of the ryall blode

It greued me to se hym so well be sene

But I haue abated hys corage clene (Pt. II, 11. 912-915).

Whan I se an other man aryse

Or fare better than I

Than must I chafe and fret for yre

and ymagyn wyth all my desyre

To dystroy hym vtterly (Pt. II, 11. 933-937 ) -1

In Medwell's play, Envy, like Macilente, shows his spitefulness
toward all, and lays a special trap for Pride, as Macilente does
for Brisk. Envy complains that Bodily Lust is furnished with
better clothes than his, while Macilente, meanly clad, chafes at
the finery of less worthy men. Pride is exactly the type of gal-
lant seen in Brisk. He is always in advance of Man in fashion
as Brisk is of Fungoso, and Fungoso's mad efforts to keep up
with the style as set by Brisk recall the verdict that Pride passes
on Man's array (Pt. I, 11. 1025 ff.) :

It ys not the fassyon that goth now a day
For now there ys a new guyse.

*Cf. also the character sketch in 11. 1187ff. Here, as in Piers the Plow-
man, Envy is described as a backbiter and detractor. This phase of
Envy Jonson has not stressed in Macilente, though I have mentioned the
fact' that Fallace accuses him of backbiting. Spenser distinguishes Envy
and Detraction (F. Q., V, xii).

162 English Elements in Jonsons Early Cor,

It ys now .ii. dayes a gon

Syth that men bygan thys fassyon

And euery knaue had yt anon

Therfore at thys season

There ys no man that setteth thereby

If he loue hys own honesty.

Like Brisk, Pride mortgages his land for fine clothes. He is also
waited on by his page Garcio, as Brisk is by Cinedo. In all these
points, however, both Pride and Brisk are doubtless merely
typical gallants.

Though Macilente's tirades usually arise from pure envy, there-
are touches of dissatisfaction with society and of scorn for men in
general which tend to make his expressions of envy broaden at
times into satirical reflection on life. He is thus a forerunner of
the malcontent. Many trends of contemporary literature indicate
the growing popularity of the general type. Morosus was known
to the age, and the misanthrope Timon and the cynic Diogenes
were favorite figures.1 A phrase in The Defence of Conny-catching
applies aptly to Macilente : "No other humour left, but satirically
with Diogenes, to snarle at all mens manners." Associated with
malcontent was the melancholy which the age affected, as in the
gulls of Every Nan in.2 Those who come under the influence of
Saturn are often portrayed as gloomy or pessimistic. Envy is
conceived of as a kindred type.3 The satirist's affected scorn of

*For Diogenes see Lyly's Campaspe, Lodge's Diogenes in his Singularitie,
The batynge of Dyogens (cf. Cam. Hist. Eng. Lit., Vol. IV, p. 583), etc.
For Timon see Painter's Palace of Pleasure, I, No. 28, Plutarch's "Life
of Antony," etc.; cf. also Ward's Hist. Eng. Dram. Lit., Vol. II, p. 178.
References to the two, but especially to Diogenes, are very frequent in
Elizabethan literature. Greene (Works, Vol. IX, p. 129) has the fol-
lowing passage combining the two with Morosus: "Yet was he not
Morosus, tyed to austerne humours, neither so cinicall as Diogenes, to
mislike Alexanders royalty, nor such a Timonist, but hee would famil-
iarly conuerse with his friends."

2Cf. "melancholy malcontent" in Wily Beguiled, Hazlitt's Dodsley, VoL
IX, p. 268.

8For the influence of Saturn see Greene's Planetomachia, Works, Vol. V,
pp. 45 ff.; Lyly's Woman in the Moon, I, 1; Rankins' Seaven Satyres,
"Contra Saturnistam." Several of the terms used for this mood are
combined in the following passage from The Cobler of Canter'burie, p. 108
of the Shakespeare Society edition of Tarlton's Jests, etc.: "The enuious
practises that solemne Saturnists ruminate . . . the sundrie schismes
the melancholy michers do publish." Humour is also frequently com-
bined with these terms at an early period. The phrase "melancholy
humour" occurs a number of times in Greene's Planetomachia, 1585; cf.
also The Works of Greene, Vol. XI, p. 213, and The Works of Nashef

Every Man out of his Humour 163

men and manners is, of course, the mainspring of the malcontent,
and he arose with satire. The word malcontent is met frequently
in the literature at the end of the century. ISTashe, for example,
is fond of both malcontent and malevole. Pierce Penilesse begins
with an account of the "malecontent humor" into which Pierce has
fallen because, though a scholar and a poet, he is poor, whereas
cobblers and other clowns are well-to-do. His raging against for-
tune, his comparison of self with others, his envy and discontent,
and even at times the wording, suggest Macilente very strongly.
Greene in Repentance (Works, Vol. XII, p. 172) gives a short pic-
ture of himself as a "Malcontent," in which there are conventional
details. The characterization of the type was quickly taken up
in verse satire. In Shialetheia Guilpin twice deals with the mal-
content (Epigram 52 and Satire V) ; and the second of the satires
included with Pygmalion's Image contains a sketch of Bruto the
traveler, clad in staid colors and exclaiming against the corrupt
age, having learned only vices abroad, — an interesting first sketch
by Marston of the qualities that are associated with many of the
type.

Kindred studies were also appearing in the drama of the period.
Bohan in the induction of James TV , with his scorn for the social
life around him, has already been compared with Macilente.
Diogenes, a related type, appears in Lyly's Campaspe. Two of
the characters in A Masque of the Knights of the Helmet described
in Gesta Grayorum are Envy and Malcontent. Dowsecer of An
Humorous Day's Mirth, reflective and melancholy, belongs to the
same general type. Doubtless some of the cynics and villains of
tragedy also contributed to the vogue. Especially in and around
1599, the central year for satire, there are a number of plays re-
flecting the malcontent spirit of Macilente, though usually the
type presented is nearer a combination of Asper and Macilente,
showing the tendency in both to reflection and cynicism, but with
more of the righteousness of Asper and less of the envy of
Macilente. In the second scene of Julius Caesar, the lean Casca
is portrayed with touches of the malcontent, and his use of prose

Vol. II, p. 262; compare "humorous melancholie" in Greene's Never too
Late, Works, Vol. VIII, p. 127. Lodge uses humour three times in a
short space for describing Envy or various phases of envy, Wits Miserie,
pp. 57-59. Nashe's use of "malecontent humor" and Greene's use of the
term for the moods of Diogenes and Morosus have also been quoted in
this discussion.

164 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

represents a convention of the type. Feliche of Antonio and
Mellida and Malevole of Th& Malcontent followed Macilente prob-
ably in quick succession. Possibly before Marston's contribution
to the type, though probably later than Every Man out, appeared
.45 You Like It, with its cynical and moralizing Jaques,1 who

desires (II, 7)

liberty

Withal, as large a charter as the wind,
To blow on whom I please,

and promises,

Give me leave

To speak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanse the foul body of th' infected world.

The numerous treatments of cynical and soul-poisoned spirits
that follow Asper-Macilente in all the drama of the age, including
a number of Shakespeare's plays, have no value for Jonson' s treat-
ment of Macilente except as illustrating the growth of the type.
In the literature preceding Every Man out there are, however,
scattering expressions of the malcontent spirit which may have
given suggestions to Jonson.

A passage in Macilente's opening soliloquy may be compared
with Shakespeare's twenty-ninth sonnet.

Jonson Shakespeare

When I view myself, When, in disgrace with fortune and
Having before observed this man is men's eyes,

great, I all alone beweep my outcast state,

Mighty, and feared; that loved, and And trouble deaf Heaven with my

highly favoured; bootless cries,

A third thought wise and learned; And look upon myself, and curse

a fourth rich, my fate,

And therefore honoured; a fifth Wishing me like to one more rich

rarely featured; in hope,

A sixth admired for his nuptial for- Featured like him, like him with

tunes: friends possess'd,

When I see these, I say, and view Desiring this man's art, and that

myself, man's scope, etc.

I wish the organs of my sight were

cracked; etc. (I, I).2

Macilente and others of the type, Jaques has just returned from
travel when the play opens.

2Cf. Antonio and MelUda, Pt. I, III, 2, 11. 42 ff. for a passage probably
imitated from Jonson but different in spirit.

Every Man out of Ms Humour 165

In Histriomastix, when Chrisoganus comes under the sway of
Envy, he falls into a soliloquy that is just in Macilente's vein
(IV, 11. 132-158). Simpson, in his edition of the play, has com-
pared the soliloquy with Macilente's opening speech, declaring that
"the general tone and purpose of the two speeches are identical,
though Jonson's is infinitely the better." The passage from
Histriomastix belongs to the portion of the play assigned to Mar-
ston, and the part of Chrisoganus has commonly been accepted as
a compliment to Jonson. I shall have occasion in a later chapter
to revert to the matter of the relation between Histriomastix and
the work of Jonson.

In II, 2, 11. 11 ff., Macilente protests,

I see no reason why that dog called Chance,
Should fawn upon this fellow, more than me:
I am a man, and I have limbs, flesh, blood,
Bones, sinews, and a soul, as well as he:
My parts are every way as good as his;
If I said better, why, I did not lie.

This is repeated from The Case is Altered (III, 1), where Angelo
says:

'Sblood, am not I a man,

Have I not eyes that are as free to look,

And blood to be inflamed as well as his?

And when it is so, shall I not pursue

Mine own love's longings, but prefer my friend's?

Both passages seem inspired by Shylock's speech in The Merchant
of Venice (III, 1): "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew
hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? . . .
and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"1

In the opening pages of Pierce Penilesse, which I have already
spoken of as picturing Pierce's "malecontent humor," there is a
passage that in ideas and turn of expression is somewhat similar
to the one just quoted from Macilente : "Thereby I grew to con-
sider how many base men that wanted those parts which I had,
enioyed content at will, and had wealth at command: . . ...
and haue I more wit than all these (thought I to my selfe) ? am
I better borne? am I better brought vp? yea, and better fauored?

*Cf. The Witch of Edmonton, II, 1, for the same idea.

166 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

and yet am I a begger?" With this passage compare also the
speech in Every Man out (II, 2, p. 93) beginning,

I fain would know of heaven now, why yond fool
Should wear a suit of satin? he? that rook.

Macilente's sharp and satiric vein is brought out in Carlo's
characterization (I, 1, p. 76) : "He carries oil and fire in his
pen, will scald where it drops: his spirit is like powder, quick,
violent; he'll blow a man up with a jest: I fear him worse than
a rotten wall does the cannon; shake an hour after at the report."1
Later (IV, 4, p. 115) Carlo calls him "the pure element of fire, all
spirit, extraction," and adds that he "walks up and down like a
charged musket." Guilpin had already used similar language in
describing the satiric spirit of the age (Skialetheia, Satyra prima) :

How now my Muse ....

Thys leaden-heeled passion is to dull,
To keepe pace with this Satyre-footed gull:
This mad-cap world, this whirlygigging age:
Thou must haue words compact of fire & rage:
Tearms of quick Camphire, & Salt-peeter phrases,
As in a myne to blow vp the worlds graces,
And blast her anticke apish complements.

Clothes have no small share in setting the "seam-rent" Macilente
apart from the more fortunate in his environment. In II, 2, Brisk
discourses to him at length on the virtues of rich apparel, and
offers to take him to court provided he is suitably dressed. When
Macilente, in new attire, finds himself in an apartment at court,
he reflects on the sovereignty of clothes (III, 3, p. 108) :

I was admiring mine own outside here,
To think what privilege and palm it bears
Here in the court! be a man ne'er so vile,
In wit, in judgment, manners, or what else;
If he can purchase but a silken cover,
He shall not only pass, but pass regarded:
Whereas let him be poor and meanly clad,
Though ne'er so richly parted, you shall have
A fellow that knows nothing but his beef,
Or how to rince his clammy guts in beer,

4Cf. Poetaster, IV, 1, p. 239, where Tucca characterizes Horace.

Every Man out of Ms Humour 167

Will take him by the shoulders or the throat,
And kick him down the stairs. Such is the state
Of virtue in bad clothes!

The same theme is proposed for discussion by the interlocutor
Spudeus in Stubbes's Anatomy (p. 39 in Furnivall's edition) :
"Gorgiouse attyre . . . maketh a man to be accepted and
esteemed of in euery place; wheras otherwise they should be noth-
ing lesse." Philoponus answers with a long disquisition on the
reverence due to virtue, wisdom, etc., but not to attire, and often
expresses Jonson' s ideas; as,

Vnder a simple cote many tymes lyeth hid great wisdom & knowledg;
& contrarely, vnder braue attyre somtime is couered great ydiotacy and
folly. . . .

For surely, for my part, I will rather worshippe & accept of a pore
man (in his clowtes & pore raggs) hauing the gifts and ornaments of
the mind, than I will do him that roisteth & flaunteth daylie & howrely
in his silks, veluets, satens, damasks, gold or siluer, what soeuer, without
the induments of vertue, wherto only al reuerence is due (pp. 41, 42).

One of the many examples that Stubbes cites is of a certain philos-
opher, who, rejected at court when basely clad and reverently
accepted in fine raiment, "kneled down, and ceased not to kisse
his garments," saying, "That whiche my vertue and knowledge
could not doe, my Apparell hath brought to passe" (p. 47 ).1
Thoroughly commonplace as are the ideas expressed by Stubbes,
they show how Jonson is affected by the thought of contempo-
raries. Stubbes is a perfect storehouse for illustrating Jonson's
satire on the dress of the age, as may be seen from Furnivall's
notes. Whether Jonson actually utilized Stubbes or not, the prom-
inence of the Anatomy of Abuses and its emphasis on evils in dress
doubtless had their influence on the almost Puritanical spirit
which Jonson shows toward dress.

In some respects, Macilente's immediate forerunner as an in- '
triguer is to be found in Lemot of An Humorous Day's Mirth.
Lemot is not characterized either as envious or as malcontent, but

xDr. Furnivall points out no source for the incident, which is doubtless
classic. In Kerton's Mirror of Mans lyfe, 1576 (translated from the
Latin of Lotharius), among several short chapters dealing with dress,
chapter 37 of the second book has the heading, "That more fauoure is
shewed vnto a man for his apparell sake, than for his vertue," and here
the story is told of the man who kissed his garments because they secured
his admission to court.

168 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

in rounding up all the humour types of the play, laying traps to
overthrow them, taking malicious delight in their embarrassment,
and showing slight sympathy in his dealings with them, he per-
forms exactly the function of Macilente. The chief difference lies
in the fact that Lemot, after having all the humour-ridden char-
acters in his power, lets them off without complete exposure. As
in Every Man out, the foundation for the resolution of the plot in
An Humorous Day's Mirth is laid in an arrangement to meet at
an ordinary and make merry. Though the meeting becomes the
means of grouping the characters and bringing confusion to a
number at once, the details in the two plays differ widely. Lemot's
plan to expose the Puritan Florilla, however, is like Macilente's
scheme for curing Deliro's humour of dotage. Labervele, the
jealous husband of Chapman's play, dotes upon Florilla, as Deliro
does upon Fallace, and surrounds her with ceremonious attentions.
Lemot invites the wife to meet him at an ordinary, and she, though
a Puritan with great pretensions to sanctity, is readily led into
making the assignation.1 When she reaches the ordinary, Lemot
secretly summons the husband, and she is threatened with expos-
ure.2 Macilente uses the feast at the Mitre to have Brisk arrested,
and then carries the news to Fallace, who rushes to Brisk's rescue.
Meanwhile Macilente brings the doting husband to see for himself
the perfidy of his wife.

When Macilente has put all of the other characters out of their
humours and is himself purged of the humour of envy, he appears
again in Asper's mood, "though not his shape," as an epilogue.
The same device is found in the old play of Timon, where Timon,
after scourging all the sycophants from his presence, speaks the
epilogue in a changed mood. Hart has pointed out the fact that
Timon is closely related to Every Man out and the two succeeding
plays of Jonson (The Works of Ben Jonson, Vol. I, pp. xliii ff.), and
has cited a number of parallels to Jonson's work, though by no means
all. His conclusion is that Timon preceded the humour plays, in

1Lemot wins Florilla by tricking her husband with a proposal to court
her in his presence as a test of her constancy. A kindred motive Jonson
uses in The Devil is an Ass, but he has made the incident conform rather
closely to a story of the Decameron (III, 5) that may be the source also
of Chapman's device.

2 A device of the same sort is used to entangle two of the men at the
ordinary and put them in a bad light with their wives, so that the
motive is tripled. The men, however, are guiltless.

Every Man out of his Humour

169

which case we must consider it among the most important of Jon-
son's sources. The matter is uncertain, but the parallels were
worth pointing out if only to show the immediate influence of
Jonson. The parallel between the close of the two plays is not
suggested by Hart. The Quarto, which I quote, is nearer Timon
than is the Folio.

Macilente

Why, here's a change: Now is my

soule at peace,

I am as empty of all Enuie now,
As they of merit to be enuied at,
My Humor (like a flame) no longer

lasts
Than it hath stuffe to feed it. ...

I am so farre from malicing their

states,
That I begin to pittie them. . . .

And now with Aspers tongue
(though not his shape)

. . . [we! entreat
The happier spirits in this faire-
fild Globe,

That with their bounteous Hands

thev would confirme
This, as their pleasures Patient.

Timon

I now am left alone: this rascall

route
Hath left my side. What's this?

I feele throughout
A sodeine change: my fury doth

abate,
My hearte growes milde, and laies

aside its hate.
He not affecte newe titles in my

minde,
Or yet bee call'd the hater of man-

kinde:
Timon doffs Timon, and with bended

knee
Thus craues a fauour, — if our com-

edie

And merry scene deserue a plaudite
Let louing hands, loude sounding in

the ayre,
Cause Timon to the citty to re-

paire.1

*In regard to the date of Timon Hart says: "Since the parallels extend
from the Humour-plays to Poetaster, it [Timon] must have preceded
them all; for if it was intended to mock Ben it would have to succeed
them all, and it could not be devoid of allusions to the 'humours,' or to
the Satiromastix battle." It seems indeed strange that a play which
is so close to Jon son's work should not use humour. On the other hand,
various dramatists took up Jonson's vein immediately, often with
scarcely a mention of humour. Gull is likely to occur, but some fol-
lowers of Jonson pay little attention to either. The borrowing often
consisted not even in the humour point of view, but in material for
satire on the foolish types of London. Dekker in Patient G-rissell, Mar-
ston, the author of the Parnassus plays, and others seem to have imi-
tated Jonson's plays almost immediately and yet to have been but slightly
influenced by the word humour. The crudeness of Timon might argue
for a date before Jonson, except for the fact that other plays which
apparently follow Jonson's — Sir Gyles Goosecappe, for example — are almost
as crude. Moreover, the author of the academic Timon was probably an
amateur. Dyce put the play in 1600. If it was as late as this, it prob-

170 English Elements in Jonson' s Early Comedy

As near as the parasite in Carlo Buffone brings him to the rogue
class, his function in the play places him with Macilente rather
than with Shift. A glutton, whoremonger, coward, sycophant,
and parasite, he is still stressed chiefly for his power of abuse and
railing. Macilente has real courage and some respect for self.
He is called a backbiter by one of his victims, but, in spite of his
malice, he is not pictured as a liar, a hypocrite, or a sycophant.
Detraction and secret malice are represented in Carlo, who is
strictly the backbiter. As an abstraction he is called Mischief and
Wickedness (II, 1, p. 82). 1 As a scourger, the "Grand Scourge*
or Second Untruss of the time" (II, 1, p. 86), he represents a
third type of the satirical spirit abroad, the

open-throated, black-mouthed cur,
That bites at all, but eats on those that feed him (I, 1, p. 76).

He is a buffoon, a low jester, who confounds with similes, and his
satire is of the basest sort, mere detraction, not at all to be com-
pared with the noble rage of Asper or the curable envy of the poor
scholar Macilente.3 The mouth of Detraction must be sealed by
folly itself. Carlo's office in the play thus associates him with

ably came after Poetaster. Cf . pp. 209 f. infra for further discussion of
the date. Jonson could hardly have had any share in Timon. It does not
suggest his style.

*So Anaides of Cynthia's Revels, who resembles Carlo closely, is twice
called Mischief in IV, 1 (pp. 174 and 179). In III, 2 (p. 166) he is
addressed as Detraction.

2The reference in "Grand Scourge" has frequently been taken as a hit
at Marston. It may be, though I believe that Jonson has borrowed from
Marston in this play. Even if the expression refers to Marston's Scourge
of Villainy, it does not mean that Carlo is intended for Marston. "Grand
Scourge," however, may have no reference to Marston's work in particular,
for whip, scourge, and mastix were favorite words expressing the attitude
of satire. Cf. Asper's "whip of steel," and "I will scourge these apes."
Guilpin ( Skialetheia, "Satyre Preludium") uses scourge and also Ches-
ter— the name of the man who was the original of Carlo — as synonyms
for the spirit of satire. Nashe refers to a "ballet of vntrusse," appar-
ently by Munday, in such a way as to indicate that it was scurrilous
enough for the term untruss to be applied aptly to Carlo as a "prophane
jester." Cf. Works of Nashe, Vol. V, p. 195; Vol. I, p. 159; and Vol. IV,
p. 90. See also Hart, 10 N. and Q., Vol. I, pp. 381-383. The title Chil-
dren of the Chapel Stript and Whipt, 1569, combines the two ideas as-
Jonson does.

"Aristotle attempts a similar three-fold classification: "Righteous in-
dignation, again, is a mean state between envy and malice. ... A
person who is righteously indignant is pained at the prosperity of the
undeserving; but the envious person goes further and is pained at any-
body's prosperity, and the malicious person is so far from being pained

Every Man out of his Humour 171

Macilente, whom he understands,, admires, and fears; and he
becomes a second to Macilente in the intrigues of the play.
Macilente, however, utilizes him chiefly to bring about his down-
fall.

Spenser in The Faerie Queene (V, xii) associates Envy with
Detraction, who dwells near Envy. Detraction, however, is femi-
nine, and not suggestive of Carlo. In Wits Miserie, Lodge has
a number of characters that embody traits of Carlo, but none that
shows a very close approach to his assemblage of qualities. Of
Derision, for instance, it is said:

Marry he will run ouer all his varietie of filthie faces, till he light
on yours: heat ouer all the antique conceits he hath gathered, til he
second your defect, and neuer leaue to deride you, till he fall drunke
in a Tauerne while some grow sicke with laughing at him, or consult with
Rash Judgement how to delude others, that at the length he"e prooueth
deformity himself (Hunterian Club, p. 10).

"Scan dale and Detraction" is described as a skulking villain and
malcontent.

In beleife he is an Atheist . . . hating his countrie wherein he"e
was bred, his gratious Prince vnder whom he liueth, those graue coun-
sailors vnder whom the state is directed, not for default either in
gouernement, or policy, but of m6ere innated and corrupt villanie; and
vaine desire of Innouation (p. 17).

This last quotation may be compared with a description of Carlo
at the end of the induction giving him a characteristic of which
we see nothing in the play itself: "He will prefer all countries
before his native, and thinks he can never sufficiently, or with
admiration enough, deliver his affectionate conceit of foreign
atheistical policies.*'

In The Castle of Perseverance there is a character Detraccio,
or Backbiter, who resembles Carlo in a number of points (11. 651-
702). He is a liar and a tutor in evil; he plots against duke and
clown alike; he will "speke fayre be-forn, & fowle be-hynde." It

that he actually rejoices at misfortunes" (Ethics, trans. Welldon, pp.
52, 53). Aristotle's treatment could not have given Jonson more than
the fundamental idea of his three-fold division of scourgers, but it is
possible that Jonson had some other source developed from Aristotle.
Welldon calls attention to the weakness of Aristotle's distinction between
envy and malice (p. xxi). Jonson found much more definite distinctions
in English literature. Cf. p. 172 infra for the filling in from Aristotle
of the abstraction represented in Carlo.

172 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

is through him that the Seven Deadly Sins, including Envy, are
introduced to Man. Cloaked Collusion of Skelton's Magnificence,
who declares himself of one mind with Division, Dissension, and
Derision, is another abstraction of the early drama that is related
to Carlo. In lines 689 ff. he gives a character sketch of himself
which corresponds in many respects to the characterization of
Carlo as intriguer, backbiter, dissembler, and flatterer. In par-
ticular, Carlo is described as "one whose company is desired of
all men, but beloved of none," and Cloaked Collusion says of
himself :

And though I be so odyous a geste,

And euery man gladly my company wolde refuse,

In f aythe, yet am I occupyed with the best ;
Full fewe that can themselfe of me excuse.

Outside of the abstraction Derision, there are to be found dis-
tinct treatments of jesting alone as a folly which prepare for
Carlo as a jester. In Aristotle's Ethics the Buffoon is described
as follows (pp. 130, 131) :

Now they who exceed the proper limit in ridicule seem to be buffoons
and vulgar people, as their heart is set upon exciting ridicule at any
cost, and they aim rather at raising a laugh than at using decorous
language and not giving pain to their butt. . . . There will be some
kinds of jest then that he [the good jester] will not make, for mockery
is a species of reviling, and there are some kinds of reviling which legis-
lators prohibit; they ought perhaps to have prohibited certain kinds of
jesting as well. . . . But the buffoon is the slave of his own sense
of humour; he will spare neither himself nor anybody else, if he can
raise a laugh, and he will use such language as no person of refinement
would use or sometimes even listen to.

This classical idea of the distinction between gentlemanly and
clownish wit is brought over into Eenaissance literature in Wil-
son's Arte of Rhetorique (pp. 137-139). From the point of view
of classic and "Renaissance culture, scurrilous jesting was obnoxious
as inconsistent with the highest ideal of gentlemanly refinement,—
an ideal that was stressed in Italian courtesy books and, for Eng-
land, in the works of Elyot, Ascham, Lyly, etc. Wilson empha-
sizes the difference "betwixt a common iester, and a pleasant wise-
man." Of jesting at the expense of persons, the type of jesting
by which Carlo transforms men into deformity, Wilson says :

Every Man out of his Humour 173

For, he that exceedeth and telleth all: yea, more then is needfull,
without all respect or consideration had: the same shalbe taken for a
common iester, such as knowe not how to make an ende, when they once
begin, being better acquainted with bible bable, then knowing the fruite
of wisedomes lore.

"Witty sayings constitute Wilson's second division of "pleasaunt be-
hauiour." Of word wit he continues :

But euen as in reporting a tale, or counterfeiting a man, to much is
euer naught: So scurrilitie or (to speake in olde plaine English)
knauerie in iesting would not be vsed, where honestie is esteemed. Ther-
fore, though there be some witte in a pretie deuised iest: yet we ought
to take heede that we touche not those, whom we would be most loth
to offende. And yet some had as leue lose their life, as not bestowe
their conceiued iest, and oftentimes they haue as they desire.1

Carlo is described as a "public, scurrilous, and prophane jester;
that , . . with absurd similes will transform any person into
deformity" (p. 62) ; and Cordatus says of him in the induction,
"He will sooner lose his soul than a jest, and profane even the
most holy things, to excite laughter; no honourable or reverend
personage whatsoever can come within the reach of his eye, but is
turned into all manner of variety, by his adulterate similes" (p.
71). Wilson's warning that it is "meet to auoyd . . . ale-
house iesting" gives force to Jonson's characterization of Carlo as
a public jester, one who prostitutes his wit at every tavern and
ordinary (I, 1, p. 76). 2

It is not an accident that these passages from Wilson agree so
well with Jonson's treatment of rude jesting. Criticism early took
jesting into account. Cicero's De Oratore gave classic sanction
for its study as a literary art, and for the Eenaissance Castiglione
in portraying the ideal gentleman takes pains to deal with the
matter of wit. Wilson, we have seen, discusses jesting as a part
of his theory of rhetoric in the first really influential English
rhetoric. Again, Sir Thomas More's ready wit made no small
part of the charm which his personality held for the Eenaissance

1 Wilson's classification of jests and his conception of the "common
jester" were probably drawn from Cicero's De Oratore, Book II, chap-
ters Ivii ff. Cicero, however, does not seem so important for Jonson as
does Aristotle or the Renaissance expression of Cicero's ideas in Wilsojn.

2Cf. p. 61 supra for some phrases of Harvey's characterization of Nashe
that are parallel to Jonson's sketch of Carlo.

174 English Elements in Jonsons Early Comedy .

public, so that no life of More in that age was complete without
its accounts of his happy jests.

In the passages that I have quoted on jesting one commonplace
especially indicates conventionality. Aristotle's test of refinement
in wit is that the buffoon "will spare neither himself nor anybody
else, if he can raise a laugh." According to Wilson, "some had
as leue lose their life, as not bestowe their concerned iest." Cor-
datus says of Carlo that he "will sooner lose his soul than a jest,"
and Tucca in Poetaster (IV, 1, p. 239) says of Horace, "He will
sooner lose his best friend than his least jest." It is a rather
strange nemesis that the cultured Drummond, in summing up
Jonson's character after the latter^ visit to Scotland, should have
applied to him the same touchstone that Jonson applied to Carlo,
and should have found him wanting. Jonson, Drummond says, —
almost in the words that Jonson puts in the mouth of Tucca as
a bit of slander against himself in the role of Horace, — was "given
rather to losse a friend than a jest." It is probable that Drum-
mond had the passage of Poetaster in mind when he wrote.1

Carlo is one of Jonson's most interesting studies, because, al-
though Jonson was naturally led to express in him as a humour
type an abstract principle or trait, there is very little doubt that
the concrete Carlo was drawn to life from a notorious London
character, Charles Chester. He thus furnishes evidence that the
crafty Jonson had the gift of embodying personal satire in his
studies of types, and embodying it so skilfully that it renders the
character more concrete but not a whit less typical. Aubrey in
his Brief Lives declares, on the authority of Dr. John Pell, that
Carlo Buffone is taken from Chester, and that "one time at a
taverne Sir W. E. beates him and scales up his mouth (i. e. his
upper and neather beard) with hard wax." Collier identified
Chester with Charles the Fryer of Chester in Nashe's Pierce Peni-
lesse, and Hart has gathered and quoted five other contemporary
references to Chester as a jester — three from Harington's works
and two from Guilpin's Skialetheia — besides a reference in the
Calendar of State Papers? The statement of Aubrey and the like-

^onson's passage was suggested by Horace; see p. 309 infra.

zThe Works of Ben Jonson, Vol. I, pp. xxxvi ff. Small, Stage-Quarrel,
pp. 35 ff., had already mentioned some of these references, and had stressed
the connection of Carlo and Chester.

Every Man out of his Humour 175

ness of Carlo's character to that of Chester as revealed by these
allusions to him leave no doubt that Jonson portrays Chester in
Carlo's railing and in the sealing of his mouth by Puntarvolo at
the Mitre.1

Nashe's sketch (Works, Vol. I, pp. 190, 191) is the fullest and
the most valuable for the "absurd similes" that Jonson puts in
the mouth of Carlo:

There be those that get their Hiring al the yeere long, by nothing but
rayling.

Not farre from Chester, I knewe an odde foule mouthde knaue, called
Charles the Fryer. . . . Noblemen he would liken to more vgly
things than himself: some to After my hartie commendations, with a
dash ouer the head: others, to guilded chines of beefe, or a shoomaker
sweating, when he puls on a shoo : another to an old verse in Cato, Ad
consilium ne accesseris, antequam voceris: another, to a Spanish Codpisse:
another, that his face was not yet finisht, with such like innumerable
absurd illusions: yea, what was he in the Court but he had a comparison
in stead of a Capcase to put him in. Vpon a time, being chalenged at
his owne weapon in a priuate Chamber, by a great personage (rayling,
I meane), he so far outstript him in vilainous words, and ouerbandied him
in bitter tearmes, that the name of sport could not perswade him patience,
nor- containe his furie in any degrees of ieast, but needs hee must wreake
himself e vppon him: neither would a common reuenge suffice him, his dis-
pleasure was so infinite . . . wherefore he caused his men to take
him, and brickt him vp in a narrow chimney, that was Neque maior
neque minor corpore locato; where he fed him for fifteene dayes with
bread and water through a hole, letting him sleep standing if he would,
for lye or sit he could not, and then he let him out to see if he could
learne to rule his tongue any better.

It is a disparagement to those that haue any true sparke of Gentilitie,
to be noted of the whole world so to delight in detracting, that they
should keepe a venemous toothd Cur, and feed him with the crums that
fall from their table, to do nothing but bite euery one by the shins that
passe by. If they will needes be merry, let them haue a foole and not
a knaue to disport them, and seeke some other to bestow their almes on,
than such an impudent begger.

Nashe gives this portrait as an example of "Wrath, a branch of
Enuie," and his use of "rayling" and "detracting" connects the
character with Detraction. In Carlo, as in the satire on Harvey's

*In the dedication to Volpone Jonson asks: "Where have I been par-
ticular? where personal? except to a mimic, cheater, bawd, or buffoon
. . .?" This is an admission that personal satire enters into his work,
and it was probably written with Carlo, for one, in mind.

176 English Elements in Jonson-'s Early Comedy

vocabulary, Jonson seems to have been following Nashe's trail.
Many of Nashe's phrases suggest Jonson's. Compare "get their
liuing ... by nothing but rayling" with Jonson's "His
religion is railing" (p. 62). The Fryer is given to "absurd illu-
sions" and has a comparison to put each man in; Carlo "with
absurd similes will transform any person into deformity" (p. 62).
Nashe calls the Fryer a "foule mouthde knaue" and rebukes those
who "keepe a venemous toothd Cur, and feed him . . . to do
nothing but bite euery one by the shins that passe by" ; Macilente
speaks of Carlo as a

black-mouthed cur
That bites at all, but eats on those that feed him (I, 1, p. 76).

The "great personage" who is roused to so violent a revenge on the
Fryer is represented in the knight Sir Puntarvolo, who in the end
cures Carlo's humour. The jests that are worked out in Jonson's
play may also be compared with those of Nashe's sketch.1 The
Fryer's comparison of noblemen to "guilded chines of beefe" is
like Carlo's comparison of Puntarvolo to "a shield2 of brawn at
Shrove-tide ... or a dry pole of ling upon Easter-eve, that
has furnished the table all Lent" (IV, 4, p. 116). The simile of
the "Spanish Codpisse" is of a kind with Carlo's comparison of
Puntarvolo's face to "a Dutch purse, with the mouth downward,
his beard the tassels" (V, 4, p. 133). The Fryer's jest of the
face that "was not yet fmisht" is in intent like a score of Carlo's
similes that transform men into deformity. Of Sogliardo Carlo
says, "He looks like a musty bottle new wickered, his head's the
cork" (I, 1, p. 76) ; of Cinedo, "He looks like ... one of
these motions in a great antique clock; he would shew well upon
a haberdasher's stall, at a corner shop, rarely" (II, 1, p. 79) ; of
Puntarvolo, "He looks like the sign of the George" (II, 1, p. 82).
These passages may also be compared with part of two that Hart
quotes as referring to Jonson's original for Carlo. Harington
says parenthetically, "To use Charles Chester's jest, because you

calls attention to the relationship between Carlo and Nashe's
sketch of Charles the Fryer, though he does not go into details. In 10
N. and Q., Vol. I, p. 383, he also points out a remark of Mayne in
Jonsonus Virbius which would indicate that Jonson had a personal "reason
for being hostile to Chester.

'The Quarto has "Chine.

Every Man out of his Humour 177

are faced like Platina/' and Guilpin says of a woman who paints
her face.

Or would not Chester sweare her downe that shee
Lookt . . .

. . . like a new sherifes gate-posts, whose old faces
Are furbisht over to smoothe time's disgraces?

Carlo's jests are much closer to those of Chester as given by
Nashe, Harington, and Guilpin than is justified by their being
merely of the same class, for while Jonson, who wished that "poets
would leave to be promoters of other men's jests" (induction to
Cynthia's Revels), does invent his own, it is interesting to note
that the jests which he would not borrow still furnish close models
for several specific types of jests that are jepeated frequently in
Carlo's mouth. To my mind, Jonson always seeks in literature
the general principle, the fundamental idea, of a character, an
episode, or even a jest, and strives to give it fresh clothing. In
fact, his own notes to some of his work, The Masque of Queens,
for instance, are a sufficient indication of his method of working.
Nashe's portrait of Chester naturally had an influence on Jonson,
for it had already classified Chester as representing a type of evil.
Jonson was not likely to take a character entirely from life. Inn
his practice, the character must stand for a certain evil, must be '
almost an abstraction, and the real poet drew characters only as
true to life as might be consistent with their conformity to a type.

In characterizing Carlo as one that "will swill up more sack at
a sitting than would make all the guard a posset" (p. 62), Jonson
has given a special scene to his drinking. Carlo's manipulation
of the cups is in the manner of a puppet-show, and probably illus-
trates Jonson' s early interest in such performances. At the same
time, the scene burlesques the conventions of drinking bouts.

Setting two cups before him, Carlo goes through the ceremony
of pledging healths as he drinks from first one cup and then the
other (V, 4) :

1 Cup. Now, sir, here's to you; and I present you with so much of
my love.

2 Cup. I take it kindly from you, sir [drinks,} and will return you
the like proportion.

Then the first cup proposes the health of the "honourable countess,
and the sweet lady that sat by her," and the second cup responds,

178 English Elements in J orison's Early Comedy

"I do vail to it with reverence." After that health has been drunk
and one to the "divine mistress" of the first cup, the second cup
proposes : "And now, sir, here is a replenished bowl, which I will
reciprocally turn upon you, to the health of the Count Frugale;"
and they pledge it upon their knees. A quarrel arises, the second
cup exclaiming, "Nay, do me right, sir," and "Mine was fuller,"
and the whole scene ends in the giving of the lie and a threatened
stabbing.

Nashe in Pierce Penilesse says of excessive drinking (Works, Vol.
1, pp. 205-207) :

Now, he is no body that cannot drinke super nagulum, carouse the
Hunters hoop, quaffe vpsey freze crosse, with healthes, gloues, mumpes,
frolickes, and a thousand such dominiering inuentions. He is reputed a
pesaunt and a boore that wil not take his licour profoundly. And you
shall heare a Caualier of the first feather . . . stand vppon termes
with, Gods wounds, you dishonour me sir, you do me the disgrace if you
do not pledge me as much as I drunke to you: and, in the midst of his
cups, stand vaunting his manhood . . . we haue generall rules and
injunctions, as good as printed precepts, or Statutes set downe by Acte
of Parliament, that goe from drunkard to drunkard; as still to keepe
your first man, not to leaue any flockes in the bottome of the cup, to
knock the glasse on your thumbe when you haue done, etc.

In Summer's Last Will and Testament, again, there is a drink-
ing scene (Vol. Ill, pp, 264-269, 11. 962 ff.) that illustrates many
of the details in the passage from Pierce Penilesse :

Bacchus. . . . A vous, monsieur Winter, a frolick vpsy freese,

crosse, ho, super nagulu.

Winter. . . . For this time you must pardon me perforce.
Bacchus. What, giue me the disgrace?

! Then Bacchus forces Summer to drink, on his knees, to the "health
of Captaine Rinocerotry ," and insists that Summer shall "haue
weight and measure" of wine. "Wee'le leaue no flocks be-
hind vs, whatsoeuer wee doe,"1 Bacchus declares as he departs.

XA drinking song that is repeated several times runs:

Mounsieur Mingo for quaffing doth surpasse,
In Cuppe, in Canne, or glasse.
God Bacchus, doe mee right,
And dubbe mee knight Domingo.

Cf. II Henry IV, V, 3; Return from Parnassus, Part I, 1. 1469; Pierce
Penilesse, Works of Nashe, Vol. 1, p. 169. Could the lost play of Mingo
have dealt with drinking scenes?

Every Man out of his Humour 179

After Bacchus leaves the scene with his merry crew, Summer re-
flects :

What a beastly thing is it, to bottle vp ale in a maws belly, when a
man must set his guts on a gallon pot last, only to purchase the alehouse
title of a boone companion! Carowse, pledge me and you dare: S'wounds,
ile drinke with thee for all that euer thou art worth. It is euen as 2.
men should striue who should run furthest into the sea for a wager.

Collier has cited as illustrative of the passage just quoted from
Pierce Penilesse, one from Eiche's Irish Hubbub showing that "the
institution in drinking of a Health, is full of ceremonie, and
obserued by Tradition." Though Biche's work is later than Jen-
sen's, it describes more exactly than Nashe does, the custom of
drinking healths as Jonson put it on the stage :

He that begins the Health, hath his prescribed orders: first vncouering
his head, he takes a full cup in his hand, and setling his countenance
with a graue aspect, he craues for audience: silence being once obtained,
hee begins to breath out the name, peraduenture, of some Honorable Per-
sonage, ... his Health is drunke to, and hee that pledgeth, must
likewise of with his Cap, kisse his fingers, and bowing himselfe in signe
of a reuerent acceptance; when the Leader sees his Follower thus pre-
pared, he soupes vp his broath, turnes the bottome of the Cuppe vpward,
and in ostentation of his dexteritie, giues the cup a phylip, to make it
cry Tynge. And thus the first Scene is acted.

The cup being newly replenished to the breadth of a haire, he that is
the pledger must now begin his part, and thus it goes round throughout
the whole company, . . . till the Health hath had the full passage:
which is no sooner ended, but another begins againe, and he drinkes a
Health, to his Lady of little worth, or peraduenture to his light heel'd
mistris (Quoted from McKerrow's note, Works of Nashe, Vol. IV, p. 130).

A part of Carlo's function throughout the early part of the play
is to instruct the gull Sogliardo in conduct. Carlo's advice is
largely drawn from the Familiar Colloquies of Erasmus, as Whalley
and Gifford have pointed out. Sogliardo is advised to live in the
city; to provide fine clothes at any cost; to play at cards and dice;
to talk of kindred and allies ; to have forged letters from the great
brought to him, and provide that those present shall know the con-
tents while he pretends to be displeased; to keep richly clothed
servants who shall steal for him ; to render his creditors obsequious
by not paying them; to secure a coat of arms; etc. All this is
taken from "The False Knight," practically the whole of the col-
loquy being utilized by Jonson. In addition, Carlo advises
Sogliardo to acquire peculiar oaths; at ordinaries to be melan-

180 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

choly; at plays to be humorous and sit on the stage and flout (all
of this in I, 1) : to pretend to austerity and pride, and yet play the
sycophant and backbite; and to be impudent and affected at ordi-
naries, swearing and offering wagers (III, 1). Carlo also com-
ments on the power of delicate diet to refine the wit, using city
wives as an example. Almost all of these points are treated by
the satirists of the time, and most of them are common. The
oaths and melancholy appear in the gulls of Every Man in as well
as in satire. Da vies in Epigrams 3 and 28 satirizes the behavior
of gallants on the stage; Nashe, Lodge, Davies, Guilpin, and
others give sketches of the upstart who poses as scornful and of
the flatterer who backbites. Many of the principles laid down by
Carlo, which belong to his function as a scoffer and railer and
represent his ironic satire, are made concrete in the action of the
characters, and will be taken up later.

A second parasite in the play, though of an entirely different
class from Carlo, is the "thread-bare shark" Shift, who haunts
Paul's. Shift represents for Every Man out Jonson's interest in
the coney-catcher. Like Brainworm, he plays the begging soldier,
carries a sword, and boasts of his campaigns. He is more pre-
tentious, however, affecting the standards of a gentleman, and, like
Carlo, pressing into the company of would-be gallants. The name
is an old one for rogues. The Fraternity e of Vacdbondes, according
to the title page, deals with "Cousoners and Shifters," and in The
Groundworlce of Conny-catching (1592), shifter is a cant term for
one class of coney-catchers.1 In the early drama, Shift appears
as one of three rogues in Common Conditions, and Subtle Shift in
Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes. There are also some early
sketches in which characters are described as shifters, but, like
many other sketches of their period, they lack that exactness of
classification and that attention to particular details which distin-
guishes Renaissance character delineation in England, especially

irThe story is told here (Rogues and Vagabonds of Shakspere's Youth,
pp. 102, 103) of how a shifter ingratiated himself into a company of
clothiers at an inn, and cozened them of the money for their reckoning.
According to the author of The Oroundworke, the jest is falsely attributed
"to a man of excellent parts about London." As practically the same
jest is attributed to Peele (Jests of Peele, Shakespeare Jest-Books, Vol.
II, pp. 296, 297), we have here a pretty good indication that the Jests
were in circulation early enough to influence Jonson's plavs. Cf. p. 134
supra.

Every Man out of his Humour 181

with the rise of satire. The shifter seems less fixed and developed
than most of the early types taken up by Jonson. Certain more
or less commonplace phases of Jonson' s Shift are also illustrated
in various sketches not connected with the name Shift, or Shifter.
Fulwell in The Arte of Flatterie has several sketches showing
the general characteristics of the type, though they are perhaps
closer to Carlo than to Shift. In the fifth dialogue it is said of
Pierce Pickthanke that "to picke thankes and profit at all mennes
handes hee can frame himselfe to feede all men's humours/' a
characteristic common to Carlo and Shift and all the fraternity
of those who live by their wits, preying upon others. In another
sketch, after describing Drunken Dickon as a "saucye and mala-
perte varlet, who useth very broad iesting," Fulwell continues:
"And because hee noteth that wise men take sporte to see
fooles in a rage, hee will counterfait himselfe to bee in a mad
moode, when hee is nothing at all angry ; — he is a common cosoner,
and a subtle shifter." The counterfeit rage of Fulwell' s character
is worked out very fully by Jonson in III, 1, where Shift appears
"expostulating with his rapier," and Carlo remarks, "Did you ever
in your days observe better passion over a hilt?"1 The suggestion
that he sell the rapier immediately sends Shift of! into another
feigned passion. In this same chapter of The Arte of Flatterie,
Pierce describes "a proper man"2 in terms that often fit Shift :

And now to thy properties, thy use is to counterfaite thy selfe, . . .
and wilt not blush to place thyselfe in euery man's company, and taste
of euery mans pot. And if thou perceiuest the company to bee delighted
with thy ieastes, then art thou in thy ruffe, but if they be so wise as to
mislike of thy saucines, then thou hast this subtile shift. . . . Also
thou canst prate like a pardoner, and for thy facility in lying, thou art
worthy to weare a whetstone in thy hat insteede of a brouch.8

The willingness to place oneself "in euery man's company, and

^untarvolo's rejoinder, "Except . . . that the fellow were nothing
but vapour, I should think it impossible," is interesting for the use of
the word vapour, which later, as in Bartholomew Fair, was often applied
to similar performances of cozeners.

20n Shift's first appearance Sogliardo admiringly calls him "a proper
man" (III, 1, p. 102). The expression is of course common enough in
this sense. At the same time, there is a chance that Jonson was slyly
playing upon the meaning of the words in rogues' cant, a use probably
illustrated in this quotation from Fulwell.

3The quotations are from Corser's Collectanea, Part 6, pp. 389 ff.

182 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

taste of euery man's pot" is common to all of Shift's class. Shift
has recourse to Paul's in order to make acquaintances, and., being
without a groat, is rejoiced to have Sogliardo take him to the ordi-
nary. "He is of that admirable and happy memory, that he will
salute one for an old acquaintance that he never saw in his life
before" (p. 64) — a commonplace trick of the coney-catcher. Shift
also, like "the proper man/7 has the faculty of infinite gab, and
besides the tales of his campaigns, which belong to him as "one
that never was a soldier, yet lives upon lendings," he "usurps
upon cheats, quarrels, and robberies, which he never did, only to
get him a name" (p. 64). He is Jonson's early study of the
boastful liar.

Suggestions of Shift come out in various sketches of Wits Mis-
erie also:

[Vainglory] appeareth in diuers shapes to men, applying himselfe to
all natures and humors. . .

In Fowls hee walketh like a gallant Courtier, where, if hee meet some
rich chuffes worth the gulling, at euery word he speaketh, hee makes a
mouse of an elephant, he telleth them of wonders done in Spaine by his
ancestors: ... if any worthy exploit, rare stratageme, plausible
pollicie, hath euer past his hearing, hee maketh it his owne by an oath
. . . where (poore asse as he is) were hee examined in his owne
nature, his courage is boasting, his learning ignorance, his ability weak-
nesse, and his end beggery: yet is his smooth tongue a fit bait to catch
Gudgeons; and such as saile by the wind of his good fortune, become
Cameleons like ALCIBIADES, feeding on the vanity of his tongue with the
foolish credulity of their eares (pp. 3, 4).

Though some of the omitted parts connect this sketch with Brisk
or Amorphus rather than with Shift, the portion quoted describes
Shift exactly. He is Cavalier Shift, Signior Whiffe, or Squire
Apple-John to fit the occasion. In Paul's he appears as the cava-
lier, and after the manner of Lodge's sketch, succeeds in gulling
Sogliardo by tales of his marvelous exploits. Another sketch of
Wits Miserie showing traits of Shift is that of Adulation (p. 20) :

He can ... court a Harlot for [his friend] ... If he meet
with a wealthy yong heire worth the clawing, Oh rare cries he, doe hee
neuer so filthily. . . . This DAMOCLES amongst the retinue caries
alwaies the Tabacco Pipe, ... he hath an apt and pleasing dis-
course, were it not too often sauced with Hiperboles and lies : and in his

Every Man out of his Humour 183

apparell he is courtly, for what foole would not be braue that may
flourish with begging?1

Here are found Shift's function as bawd and as instructor in the
art of taking tobacco. Under the character of Brocage Lodge
again describes the haunter of Paul's who preys upon the foolish
(p. 31 ), and again the treatment is suggestive of Shift. So
Brawling Contention (p. 63) resembles Shift in a few details.
Jonson's character was of course built upon the follies of contem-
porary life, but those same follies had already received literary
treatment in sketches that exemplify Jonson's method of charac-
terization.

In The Returne of Pasquill, Pasquill, who is humorously called
Caualiero, sets up a bill upon London Stone (Works of Nashe,
Vol. I, p. 101) which in its tone of whimsical burlesque might
have been the forerunner of Shift's two bills (III, 1). Shift's
first bill, however,, more nearly resembles a bill that Slipper of
James IV, himself something of a shifter/ sticks up (I, 2,
11. 453 ff.):

If any gentleman, spirituall or temperall, will entertaine out of his
seruice a young stripling of the age of 30 yeares, that can sleep with
the soundest, eate with the hungriest, work with the sickest, lye with the
lowdest, face with the proudest, etc., that can wait in a gentlemans
chamber when his maister is a myle of, keepe his stable when tis emptie,
and his purse when tis full, and hath many qualities woorse then all
these, let him write his name and goe his way, and attendance shall
be giuen.

Shift's first bill reads (III, 1, p. 98) :

If there be any lady or gentlewoman of good carriage that is desirous
to entertain to her private uses a young, straight, and upright gentleman,
of the age of five or six and twenty at the most; who can . . . hide
his face with her fan, if need require; or sit in the cold at the stairfoot
for her, as well as another gentleman: let her subscribe her name and
place, and diligent respect shall be given.

Greene's burlesque turns on the vices of the would-be servant;

'This passage and one from Wits Miserie quoted later in connection
with Amorphus are used by Prof. Penniman as illustrative of Jonson's
method of characterization (introduction to Satiromastix and Poetaster).

2Cf . the discussion of shifters in 11. 756 ff. of James IV.

184 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Jon son's on the vices of masters, though at the same time it is
made to suggest the rascality of the servant.1 The phrases that
are most nearly parallel in the two bills doubtless give us merely
the usual formula of the bills posted by those seeking service.

In the second bill Shift advertises for a gentleman who wishes
"to know all the delicate sweet forms for the assumption" of
tobacco, and other mysteries of smoking. Sogliardo comes under
his tutorage, and in IV, 4, Carlo tells how Shift is training
Sogliardo in "the patoun, the receipt reciprocal, and a number of
other mysteries not yet extant." There are passages in Nashe's
work which seem to indicate that certain ceremonies were growing
up at this time in connection with smoking, similar perhaps in
spirit to the drinking customs that Jonson burlesques in Every '
Man out. In Haue with you to Saffron-maiden, Nashe says of
Chute (Works, Vol. Ill, p. 107) :

For his Oratorship, it was such that I haue seene him non plus in
giuing the charge at the creating | of a new Knight of Tobacco; though,
to make amends since, he hath kneaded and daub'd vp a Commedie, called
The transformation of the King of Trinidadoes two Daughters, Madame
Panachcea and the Nymphe Tobacco; and, to approue his Heraldrie,
scutchend out the honorable Armes of the smoakie Societie.

It is a pity that Chute's "Commedie," if it ever existed, is not
available to throw some light on this passage and on Jonson's
satire. Trinidado is the favorite tobacco of Bobadill.2

The function of Clove and Orange is merely to fill up the Paul's
group and talk fustian.3 Cordatus says of Clove (III, 1, p. 97) :
"He will sit you a whole afternoon sometimes in a bookseller's
shop, reading the Greek, Italian, and Spanish, when he under-
stands not a word of either; if he had the tongues to his suits, he
were an excellent linguist." Lodge has a good deal of satire on
this type of pretension. For instance, he says of Boasting (p. 9) :
"In the Stationers shop he sits dailie, libing and Hearing ouer

1Collins refers to a scene of Greene's News loth from Heaven and Hell
as illustrating this custom of setting up bills, but he tells nothing of the
nature of it. Cf. The Plays and Poems of Greene, Vol. II, p. 352.

2The Lieutenant Shift of Jonson's Epigram XII is only slightly similar V

'With the character sketches that Jonson gives of the two, compare
the sketches of Daw and La-Foole in The Silent Woman, I, 1.

Every Man out of his Humour 185

euery pamphlet with Ironicall leasts; yet heare him but talke ten
lines, and you may score vp twentie absurdities."1 Hart (Works
of Ben Jonson, p. xlv) traces the pair to Stilpo and Speusippus,
"two lying philosophers" of Timon, who speak a nonsensical phil-
osophical jargon. In Timon the two represent academic satire on
philosophical terms and syllogisms. Clove and Orange may have
been suggested by them, but, except in the association of the pair
and in the fact that they speak nonsense, there is little likeness.
Clove's speech is a hodge-podge, not close enough to any particular
jargon to represent similar satire, though many philosophical
terms do enter it. Gilford points out a parallel use of nonsense
in Eabelais. Jonson, however, had a still better parallel near at
hand in certain passages of Nashe's Haue with you to Saffron-
wdlden (Vol. Ill, pp. 42 ff.), where Nashe represents Harvey's
speech as made up of just such nonsense. Both men are satiriz-
ing the absurd vocabularies of the day, and several speeches put
in Harvey's mouth have the movement and the conglomerate ab-
surdity of Clove's fustian, though not the words. The particular
words of Clove have been studied by Simpson and others, and
traced in part to Marston's works. Orange expresses the opposite
quality of foppery, paucity of vocabulary and the use of a single
phrase for every occasion. A short scene in All's Well (II, 2)
is given to satire on the use of Clove's pet phrase, "0 Lord, sir,"
the clown maintaining that for the court it will serve as an answer
to all questions. The same vacancy of mind is satirized by Guil-
pin in a long epigram (No. 68) on Caius, who says, "Oh rare" to
everything.

So much evidence exists for the fact that the numerous follies
and fads pilloried in the figure of Brisk represent current fashions
of fashionable London that the study of analogous literary treat-
ments may seem to be of little value in throwing light on the
development of Jonson's satire. In the case of Jonson's rogues,
we can feel more confident, for each Elizabethan treatise on rogues
obviously borrows from those that precede it. To a less extent,
the same thing must be true of the gallants also. In Jonson's
work, Mathew is suggestive of Brisk and Brisk of Hedon. More
nearly related, even, than Jonson's own characters are Brisk and

'Other passages on Boasting and his brother Vainglory, who precedes
him, are strongly suggestive of Sir John Daw.

186 English Elements in Jonsons Early Comedy

Gullio of The Return from Parnassus, Part I; and Emulo of
Patient Grissell is akin to both. We must feel either that some
individual was satirized excessively often; or that men were becom-
ing surprisingly similar in an age in which "singularity" was cul-
tivated ; or that a certain type figure developed in literature around
which were grouped a number of extreme fads that naturally
varied very little at a given period. Undoubtedly the types grew
up from observation of life., for the satire was probably directed
against actual evils. Among the ultrafashionable gallants num-
bers of fads in dress, conduct, and speech must have prevailed
generally as fashions prevail now, though in most cases we can
feel that the satire imparted a defensible comic exaggeration,
which was often too extreme to allow reality in character drawing.
But the grouping of characteristics, the comic emphasis, the estab-
lished devices for presenting follies, the names indicative of types
and fundamental abstractions are the most obvious indications of
literary conventions. A type figure based on life began in the
old abstraction of Pride in the moralities. It continued in prose
satire, where in the figures of the upstart and ape kindred follies
were attacked by such men as Greene and Nashe. Later, partic-
ularly in verse satire, the figure became somewhat more specialized,
and several types grew out of the old one. The gull is one of
these special types. He is not very different from the upstart,
but simply represents a narrower convention. The broader line of
development was from the old abstraction of Pride to the preten-
tious gallant or the court dandy. Brisk shows conventions of both
gull and courtier.

The fundamental gull1 in Brisk is set forth by Macilente (IV,
1, p. Ill) :

[Courtiers] he counterfeits,

But sets no such a sightly carriage

Upon their vanities, as they themselves;

And therefore they despise him: for indeed

He's like the zany to a tumbler,

That tries tricks after him, to make men laugh.

is called a gull in II, 1, p. 82, and in IV, 4, p. 118. Among
the other terms applied to him, Catso (II, 1, p. 80) occurs as a char-
acter in Marston's Antonio and Mellida, and Nymphadoro (II, 1, p. 86)
in The Fawne. Brisk is also called a "good empty puff" (II, 1, p. 82).
Cf. the character Puff in Jack Drum's Entertainment. In Cynthia's
Revels (III, 2, p. 167), Anaides is called a "strange arrogating puff."

Every Man out of his Humour 187

As a gull, Brisk is nearer to Guilpin's type than to that of Davies.
In some of the most general aspects of the town gull he continues
the type seen in Mathew; that is, he is an ape and a pretended
gallant, he is scorned of those whom he cultivates, he uses affected
speech and distinctive oaths, and he serves as model for a country
gull. Both borrow from Daniel. Brisk, however, is not a poet,
though he "speaks good remnants" (p. 63). But Mathew and
Brisk are set in different scales. Mathew is a fishmonger's son
and impecunious; he aspires no higher than to appear as a suitor
in the familv of a wealthv merchant. Brisk has lands, which he

. iiCI V £*/*'*•'

consumes, and a merchant who furnishes him money whereby to
change his costume constantly. He is a courtier and the "servant"
of a court lady, so lofty a figure that the rich merchant's wife
dotes upon him as an ideal. He is also a much more composite
portrait than Mathew, with far more extensive follies. With Brisk
it seems to me that the early and more exact meaning of gull as
seen in Davies, Chapman, and Jonson is breaking down. Brisk
follows, rather, a certain type of the upstart that shows the funda-
mental traits of the gull but carries to an extreme the excesses
of the courtier.

The narrowing of the older and more general courtier type
toward Brisk and, at the same time, the growing complexity in the
specific details connected with the character can easily be traced
in the literature of the time. The figure of Pride in Medwell's
Nature, as I have pointed out above, is strongly suggestive of
Brisk. Other old plays, also, began to fix the character of the
courtier as a popular figure for satire. Skelton's Magnificence
has in Courtly Abusion a good example of the type (11. 829 ff.).
Courtly Abusion introduces the fashions from France, follows the
most extreme styles, and is a model for others. "A carlys sonne"
is especially mentioned as one who in order to ape him will

Spende all Ms hyre
That men hym gyue,

until he is brought to ruin. Magnificence is charmed with
Courtly Abusion's speech and manners (11. 1537 ff.) :

He is not lyuynge your maners can amend;

Mary, your speche is as pleasant as though it were pend,

To here your comon, it is my hygh comforte,

Poynt deuyse, all Pleasure is your porte.

188 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

In these and other characteristics Courtly Abusion is the forerun-
ner of Brisk, but the courtier has not yet become the exaggerated
type of folly that Jonson portrays.

The figure that embraces all the obnoxious qualities of the friv-
olous courtier and dandy began to be worked out in the last ten
years of the sixteenth century with much greater concreteness and
a far more telling comic effect. Among the most important of
the various characters who represent the follies of the courtier is
the upstart as characterized by both Greene and Nashe in 1592.
"With the upstart emerges a figure who sums up the follies of the
gallant in one character and carries them all to extravagant
lengths. In A Quip for cm Upstart Courtier, Greene, dealing as
he tells us, with "the abuses that Pride had bred in England e"
(Works, Vol. XI, p. 209), pictures in the person of Velvet-
breeches "an vpstart come out of Italy., begot of Pride, nursed vp
by selfe loue, & brought into this country by his companion N"u-
fanglenesse" (p. 294). The concrete details of the treatment are
almost as true to Brisk as is this general characterization. Nashe's
best description of the upstart is given in Pierce Penilesse (Works,
Vol. I, pp. 168, 169) under the general subject of pride. The por-
trait is a much more composite one than Greene's, and includes
pretensions to ancestry, to individuality in fashions, to poetic gift,
elegance of language, and experience in travel and in war. All
these details of the upstart are found in Jonson but distributed
to narrower types. Portions of the description have already been
quoted as illustrative of Mathew and Bobadill. Brisk is aptly
described in such expressions as, "Hee will bee humorous, forsoth,
and haue a broode of fashions by himselfe," and "Hee will . . .
weare a feather of her rainbeaten fan for a fauor, like a fore-
horse." Compare Brisk's, "This feather grew in her sweet fan
sometimes, though now it be my poor fortune to wear it" (II, 1,
p. 88). In The Terrors of the Night, also, Nashe has a sketch
of "filthie Italionat complement-mungers . . . who would
faine be counted the Courts Gloriosos, and the refined iudges of
wit" (Vol. I, p. 361). Just so much of the sketch applies to
Brisk's boasts of popularity in the court and his praise of Savio-
lina's wit, but it probably fits better the courtiers of Cynthia's
Revels.

In the satire directed against Harvey, Nashe holds Harvey up

Every Man out of his Humour 189

to scorn as an upstart and affected dandy, and the description
often recalls Brisk. In Haue with you to Saffron-walden (Works,
Vol. Ill, pp. 91, 92), there is an account of how a friend of
Nashe's was received by Harvey:

Two howres good by the clocke he attended his pleasure, whiles he
. . . stood acting by the glasse all his gestures he was to vse all the
day after, and currying & smudging and pranking himselfe vnmeasurably.
Post varios casus, his case of tooth-pikes, his combe case, . . . run
ouer, . . . downe he came, and after the bazelos manus, with ampli-
fications and complements hee belaboured him till his eares tingled and
his feet ak'd againe. Neuer was man so surfetted and ouer-gorged with
English. . . . The Gentleman swore to mee that vpon his first appari-
tion ... he tooke him for an Vsher of a dancing Schoole.

N"ashe also tells (p. 109) how Barnes, a consort of Harvey, "get-
ting him a strange payre of Babilonian britches . . . went vp
and downe Towne, and shewd himself in the Presence at Court,
where he was generally laught out by the Noblemen and Ladies."
Again, Nashe says of Harvey (Vol. Ill, p. 116; compare p. 138) :

But afterward, when his ambitious pride and vanitie vnmaskt it selfe
so egregiously, both in his lookes, his gate, his gestures, and speaches,
and hee would do nothing but crake and parret it in Print, in how manie
Noble-mens fauours hee was, and blab euerie light speach they vttred to
him in priuate, cockering & coying himselfe beyond imagination; then Sir
Philip Kidney . . . began to looke askance on him, . . . though
vtterly shake him off | hee could not, hee would so fawne & hang vpon him.

The spirit of these travesties is much like that with which Jonson
treats Brisk. The comparison of Harvey to the usher of a danc-
ing school seems especially happy for Brisk. Brisk, too, according
to the prefatory character sketch, "practises by his glass how to
salute/' and his "neat case of pick-tooths" is one of the things
that calls forth Fallace's admiration (IV, 1, p. 111). His inflated
diction is illustrated at the beginning of IV, 6 (p. 122), where
he falls into a rapt eulogy of court life. Jonson has also developed
with considerable effectiveness the fact that Brisk "cares not what
lady's favour he belies, or great man's familiarity" (p. 63). Brisk
claims to be beloved of great lords (II, 1, p. 88) and graced by
great ladies (II, 2, p. 94 and IV, 4, p. 118), whereas Macilente
reports that the few court ladies who know him "deride and play
upon his amorous humours" (IV, 1, p. 111).

Of the formal satirists, Donne does not give, so far as I know,

190 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

any portrait that combines the various follies of the court gallant.
In his first satire, however, he touches upon some of the absurdities
of shallow men of fashion, and mentions the "brisk perfumed pert
courtier." Hall in Virgidemiarum (Book IV, Satire IV) rebukes
Brisk's type of follies under the figure of Gallio, who is given to
dainty diet, uses perfumes, oils his locks, shields his chalked face
with a plumed fan, and spends his time in gentlemanly diversions
or in courting his "lovely dame." Davies, who is earlier than
Hall, has developed a number of well defined types around which
he groups certain characteristics. Besides the gull, he gives us in
Epigram 22, In Ciprum, the picture of a gallant who, like Brisk,
is "tierse and neate," — compare Jonson's "neat, spruce, affecting
courtier/' — follows the newest fashion with constant changes, takes
tobacco, and "wastes more time in dressing then a wench/'

In the satire of Marston and Guilpin the sketches of gallants
and courtiers assume a still greater definiteness and approach
nearer to Jonson's portrait. Marston, in the first satire of Pygma-
lion's Image and Certain Satires, gives a series of rapid sketches,
nearly all of which have details fairly close to Brisk. One of
them, which has often been pointed out for its likeness to Brisk,
uses the word brisk, here Latinized to Briscus, as the name of the
character. It seems worth while to quote at some length from
this satire.

Tell me, brown Ruscus, hast thou Gyges' ring,
That thou presumest as if thou wert unseen?
If not, why in thy wits half capreal
Lett'st thou a superscribed letter fall?
And from thyself unto thyself dost send,
And in the same thyself thyself commend?
For shame! leave running to some satrapas,
Leave glavering on him in the peopled press;
Holding him on as he through Paul's doth walk,
With nods and legs and odd superfluous talk;
Making men think thee gracious in his sight,
When he esteems thee but a parasite.

Come, Briscus, by the soul of compliment,
I'll not endure that with thine instrument
(Thy gambo-viol placed betwixt thy thighs,
Wherein the best part of thy courtship lies)
Thou entertain the time, thy mistress by.

Every Man out of his Humour 191

Come, now let's hear thy mounting Mercury.
What! mum? Give him his fiddle once again,
Or he's more mute than a Pythagoran.
But oh! the absolute Castilio, —
He that can all the points of courtship show;
He that can trot a courser, break a rush,

Can set his face, and with his eye can speak,
Can dally with his mistress' dangling feak,
And wish that he were it, to kiss her eye
And flare about her beauty's deity: —
Tut! he is famous for his revelling,
For fine set speeches, and for sonnetting;
He scorns the viol and the scraping stick,
And yet's but broker of another's wit.

Yet I can bear with Curio's nimble feet,
Saluting me with capers in the street,
Although in open view and people's face,
He fronts me with some spruce, neat, cinquepace.

The first sketch that I have quoted here is to illustrate the use
of Erasmus's instructions to the False Knight before Jonson util-
ized the same thing in Carlo's advice to Sogliardo and in Brisk's
pretence to familiarity with the great. In the next sketch, Brisk's
courting with the viol is anticipated. In fact, the courting of
Briscus is just that of Brisk, for the best part of Brisk's courtship
lies in filling up with recourse to tobacco and viol the intervals
wherein words fail him for all of his phrases learned by rote.
Like Castilio, Brisk has his fast horse, who runs "with the very
sound of the spur" (II, 1, p. 80). Castilio's wish that he were
his mistress's curl to kiss her eye suggests Brisk's protestation to
Macilente : "I have wished myself to be that instrument, I think,
a thousand times, and not so few, by heaven . . . to be in
use, I assure you" (III, 3, p. 109). A whole series of such lover's
wishes is given in Satire VIII of Marston's Scourge of Villainy
(11. 118-137) — to be a mistress's busk, dog, monkey, flea, verdin-
gal, fan, or necklace. Compare also Watson's Hekatompathia,
No. 28, and Barnes's sixty-third sonnet. The "fine set speeches"
of Castilio and his inability to be more than "broker of another's
wit" are characteristic of Brisk as of the gallant in general. Brisk
"speaks good remnants" according to the sketch that Jonson gives
of him, and his fine speaking is pronounced "not extemporal" (IV,

192 English Elements in Jonsons Early Comedy

6, p. 112). The few lines on Curio deal with a side of gallantry
that appears also in Brisk as well as in Guilpnr's satire on the
gallant quoted below (pp. 193, 194).

In the second satire, again, Marston gives a picture of a courte-
san dressed as a gallant of Brisk's type. The conventional adjec-
tives that Jonson applies to Brisk — neat, spruce, etc. — appear here

also:

In faith, yon is a well-faced gentleman;
See how he paceth like a Cyprian!
Fair amber tresses of the fairest hair
That ere were wav§d by our London air ;
Rich laced suit, all spruce, all neat, in truth.
Ho, Lynceus! what's yonder brisk neat youth?

Fair Briscus, I shall stand in doubt
What sex thou art, since such hermaphrodites,
Such Protean shadows so delude our sights.

The third satire contains three sketches. The first of them
describes a "dapper, rare, complete, sweet nitty youth/' similar to
Brisk except that Brisk's lechery is not so openly stressed. The
word fantastic, which is twice applied to Brisk (pp. 101 and 111),
is used three times in describing this character.1 The gallant is
satirized chiefly for the elaborateness of his dress, — his ruff, his
falling band, his crossed and recrossed lace, his hat with small
crown, great brim, and band filled with feathers, his perfume, etc.2
The wearing of feathers, Marston says, "is a sign of a fantastic
still" (1. 26). The second sketch, which describes the "inamorato
Lucian" in the throes of love, has no value for Brisk unless it be
in the extravagant praise of a mistress (cf. Every Man out, II, 1,
p. 88). Marston continues:

When as thou hear'st me ask spruce Duceus
From whence he comes; and he stranght answers us,
From Lady Lilla; and is going straight

irThe descriptive term fantastic, like the terms brisk or shift, seems to
have stood for a fairly definite type. Nashe speaks of "Senior Fantas-
ticos" (Works, Vol. Ill, p. 31). In The Jests of Peele (Shakespeare
Jest-Books, Vol. II, p. 294) a gull, on account of dress, is called a "Fan-
tasticke whose braine was made of nought but Corke and Spunge."

2His prayer (11. 8, 9) that

The fashion change not (lest he should despair
Of ever hoarding up more fair gay clothes)

suggests Fungoso.

Every Man out of his Humour 193

To the Countess of ( ), for she doth wait

His coming, and will surely send her coach,

Unless he make the speedier approach:

Art not thou ready for to break thy spleen

At laughing at the fondness thou hast seen

In this vain-glorious fool, when thou dost know

He never durst unto these ladies show

His pippin face?

Brisk in II, 2 (p. 94) boasts: "There was a countess gave me
her hand to kiss today,, i' the presence : did me more good by that
light than — and yesternight sent her coach twice to my lodging,
to intreat me accompany her,, and my sweet mistress, with some
two or three nameless ladies more: 0, I have been graced by
them beyond all aim of affection." In the preceding scene, when
Brisk mentions by name a number of lords who contend for his
society when he is at court, Carlo remarks (p. 88) : "There's
ne'er a one of these but might lie a week on the rack, ere they
could bring forth his name; and yet he pours them out as famil-
iarly as if he had seen them stand by the fire in the presence, or
ta'en tobacco with them over the stage, in the lords' room."

Satire VII of The Scourge of Villainy, contains another picture
of the "brisk," "spruce" gallant in "sumptuous clothes," but it is
meagerly sketched. This later work, indeed, is of less interest for
Jonson's types than are the satires included with Pygmalion's
Image. Not only are the portraits in The Scourge of Villainy
less minute, but Marston deals especially with all forms of lechery,
a subject that Jonson is not given to treating. In the dedication
to Volpone Jonson declares: "I have ever trembled to think
toward the least profaneness; have loathed the use of such foul
and unwashed bawdry, as is now made the food of the scene."
The excessive crabbedness of Marston's newer style was also repel-
lent to Jonson.

Guilpin's first picture of the type to which Brisk belongs is in
Epigram 38 of Skialetheia, "To Licus":

He's a fine fellow who is neate and fine,

Whose locks are kem'd & neuer a tangled twine,

Who smels of Musk, Ciuet, and Pomander,

Who spends, and out-spends many a pounde a yeare,

Who piertly iets, can caper, daunce, and sing,

Play with his Mistris fingers, her hand wring,

Who company ing with wenches nere is still :

194 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

But either skips or mowes, or prates his fill,
Who is at euery play, and euery night
Sups with his Ingles, who can well recite
Whatsoeuer rimes are gracious, etc.

In II, 1 (p. 82) Carlo says of Brisk, "He sleeps with a musk-cat
every night, and walks all day hanged in pomander chains for
penance; he has his skin tanned in civet," etc. Here the same
perfumes are mentioned as in the epigram above. The capering
and dancing of Guilpin's character is paralleled in Brisk's court-
ship of Saviolina (III, 3, p. 108), when he wishes for his vaulting
horse in order to display his activity, and the page suggests
that but for the lack of long stockings he might dance a galliard.
In Epigram 14, also "To Licus," Guilpin repeats the satire on
dancing, vaulting, and extreme dress. Epigram 53, "Of Corne-
lius," again describes in detail the dress of the ultrafashionable
gallant, and elsewhere in the epigrams and satires of Skialetheia
there are suggestions of Brisk. In Satire V, a picture is drawn
of Don Fashion which might be taken for Brisk:

But see, see,

Heere comes Don Fashion, spruce formality,
Neat as a Merchants ruffe, that's set in print,
New halfe-penny, skip'd forth his Laundres mint;
Oh braue! what, with a feather in his hat?
He is a dauncer, you may see by that;
Light heeles, light head, light feather well agree.
Salute him, with th' embrace beneath the knee?
I thinke twere better let him passe along,
He will so dawbe vs with his oyly tongue,
For thinking on some of his Mistresses,
We shall be curried with the briske phrases,
And prick-song termes he hath premeditate:
Speake to him, woe to us, for we shall ha'te,
Then farewell he.

With the first two lines quoted from the satire, compare the
opening words of the character sketch of Brisk, "A neat, spruce,
affecting courtier, one that wears clothes well, and in fashion."
The "light head, light feather well agree" may be compared with
Carlo's remark about Brisk, "His brains lighter than his feather
already" (II, 1, p. 82). Brisk's premeditated speeches, his praise
of his mistress, and his dancing have already been mentioned.
Immediately upon the description of Don Fashion there follows

Every Man out of his Humour 195

the picture of another type of the foolish., vainglorious courtier,
but with humours in sharp contrast to those of Don Fashion :

But soft, whom haue we heare?

What braue Saint George, what mounted Caualiere?
He is all court-like, Spanish in's attire.
He hath the righte ducke, pray God he be no Frier:
Thys is the Dictionary of complements,
The Barbers mouth of new-scrapt eloquence,
Synomicke Tully for varietie,
And Madame Conceits gorgeous gallerie,
The exact patterne which Castillo
Tooke for's accomplish Courtier: but soft ho,
What needs that bownd, or that curuet (good sir)
There's some sweet Lady, and tis done to her,
That she may see his lennets nimble force:
Why, would he haue her in loue with his horse?
Or aymes he at popish merrit, to make
Her in loue with him for his horses sake?

The juxtaposition of these two characters is not accidental. The
one satirizes the newer and more degenerate type of the Italianate
courtier; the other, the older, more formal type represented, as
G-uilpin indicates, in the ideal which Castiglione sets forth in The
Courtier. The contrast undoubtedly emphasizes two phases of gal-
lantry to be observed and easily distinguished every day in London,
and the two types readily lent themselves to treatment in satire.
The same contrast is seen in Brisk and Puntarvolo, and is con-
tinued, though less sharply, in Hedon and Amorphus of Cynthia's
Revels.1 In connection with Brisk, I have already discussed the
two corresponding sketches in Marston's work — those of Briscus
and Castilio. Here again the second type is connected with the
author of the most famous of the Italian courtesy books. I quote
the sketch in full, though parts of it have already been quoted as
applicable to Brisk.

But oh! the absolute Castilio, —

He that can all the points of courtship show;

He that can trot a courser, break a rush,

And arm'd in proof, dare dure a straw's strong push;

He, who on his glorious scutcheon

1Cf. the discussion of these types under Cynthia's Revels, pp. 264 f. and
272 f. infra. The pomp of the Puntarvolo type, however, is not so well
developed in Amorphus.

196 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Can quaintly show wit's new invention,

Advancing forth some thirsty Tantalus,

Or else the vulture on Prometheus,

With some short motto of a dozen lines;

He that can purpose it in dainty rhymes,

Can set his face, and with his eye can speak,

Can dally with his mistress' dangling feak,

And wish that he were it, to kiss her eye

And flare about her beauty's deity: —

Tut! he is famous for his revelling,

For fine set speeches, and for sonnetting;

He scorns the viol and the scraping stick,

And yet's but broker of another's wit.

Certes, if all things were well known and view'd,

He doth but champ that which another chew'd.

Come, come, Castilion, skim thy posset curd,

Show thy queer substance, worthless, most absurd.

Take ceremonious compliment from thee!

Alas! I see Castillo's beggary.

With the early part of this sketch compare Carlo's characterization
of Puntarvolo (II, 1, p. 82) : "He has a good riding face, and
he can sit a great horse; he will taint a staff well at tilt . . .
instead of a dragon, he will brandish against a tree, and break
his sword as confidently upon the knotty bark, as the other did
upon the scales of the beast." It is evident, however, that with
Marston the line of demarkation between the two types is not so
clear as with Guilpin or with Jonson in Every Man out.1 Cas-
tilio has many of the characteristics of Brisk, whereas Guilpin's
sketch of the Castilio type shows distinctly the formality and
pompousness of Puntarvolo. In Puntarvolo, with his formality,
his love of compliment, his stilted vocabulary and set speeches,
and his practice of chivalric customs, we have just the follies that
the Elizabethan inspired by the Italian ideal of rounded perfection

*Again in Antonio and Mellida, Marston's treatment of the character
Castilio Balthazar indicates his failure to stress the formality of the
type as Guilpin and Jonson do, for Castilio Balthazar shows many char-
acteristics that ally him with Brisk. It is noticeable that Marston's
machinery for satire in Antonio and Mellida is very similar to Jonson's
in Every Man out, Feliche corresponding to Macilente in his attitude to
the courtier and the gull. It is interesting, also, to find Marston at this
early date apparently distinguishing between the courtier and the gull;
although Castilio and Balurdo have very similar fashions and fads, Bul-
len is clearly right in calling the first a "spruce courtier" and the second
a gull.

Every Man out of his Humour 197

in a nobleman might be guilty of when the formal side of his cul-
ture meant more to him than the spirit underlying the ideal.1

Guilpin's sketch is closest to Jonson's character both in point
of time and. in scope of treatment,, as I have indicated, and the
two may bear a somewhat detailed comparison. For phrasing,
the line —

What braue Saint George, what mounted Caualiere?

may be compared with the description of Puntarvolo in II, 1 (p.
82) : "When he is mounted he looks like the sign of the George."
By "all court-like,, Spanish in's attire," Guilpin probably intends
to indicate a stiffer, more formal dress than Don Fashion's. Jon-
son perhaps made the same distinction in Brisk and Puntarvolo.
Brisk's dress at least allows him to be active. Puntarvolo is
described by Carlo as stiff and formal (II, 1, p. 84) : "Heart,
can any man walk more upright than he does? Look, look; as if
he went in a frame, or had a suit of wainscot on : and the dog
watching him, lest he should leap out on't." Later, in answer to
Macilente's question, "What's he there?" Carlo says, "Who, this
in the starched beard? it's the dull, stiff knight Puntarvolo" (IV,
4, p. 116). Whether the statement in the prefatory character
sketch of Puntarvolo that he "hath lived to see the revolution of
time in most of his apparel" means that his dress is threadbare or
that it is out of fashion is uncertain, but from the remainder of
the characterization I should be inclined to the second interpre-
tation. One of Carlo's "stabbing similes" is to the effect that
Puntarvolo "looks like a shield of brawn at Shrove-tide, out of
date," etc. (IV, 4). The lines of Guilpin's sketch,—

*Hart has worked out an elaborate identification of Puntarvolo with
Raleigh ( Works of Ben Jonson, pp. xl ff . ) , chiefly on account of the fact
that Sir W[alter] R[aleigh] sealed up Chester's mouth. Earlier he iden-
tified the character with Harvey (9 N. and Q., Vol. XII, p. 343). Some
details of Puntarvolo would fit either. But Nashe's satire on the Ital-
ianate manners and dress of Harvey was doubtless based on a certain
element of truth, and Nashe portrays Harvey as of the Brisk type. Har-
vey seems to have admired Castiglione's ideals highly, however (cf.
Works, Vol. I, p. 245). On the other hand, Raleigh undoubtedly had the
manners and ideals- of the Italianate courtier of the "gorgeous" or pom-
pous type. That there should be personal satire in Puntarvolo would not
be at all inconsistent with Jonson's primary treatment of the character
as a type, as we have seen in Carlo, but the type here certainly seems to
dominate over the individual.

198 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Thys is the Dictionary of complements,

The Barbers mouth of new-scrapt eloquence,

Synomicke Tully for varietie,

And Madame Conceits gorgeous gallerie, —

suggest parts of the character sketch of Puntarvolo: "A vain-
glorious knight . . . wholly consecrated to singularity; the
very Jacob's staff of compliment. ... He deals upon . . .
strange performances, resolving, in despite of public derision, to
stick to his own particular fashion, phrase, and gesture. " Guil-
pin's lines, however, are better illustrated by Puntarvolo's strange
and whimsical devices in the play than by the wording of Jonson's
sketch. "Complements," eloquence, variety, and conceits are all
illustrated at Puntarvolo's first appearance, in II, 1. Approach-
ing his own home, he goes through the elaborate ceremony of a
medieval knight approaching a guarded castle, and has trained his
household to engage with him in a well nigh endless rigmarole of
complimentary queries and replies. His affected language in this
scene completely eclipses Brisk's as "new-scrapt" and singular.
Brisk, like Mathew and Bobadill, strives after elegance rather than
singularity. Puntarvolo affects such expressions as "splendidi-
ous,"1 "heavenly pulchritude," "organs to my optic sense," "debo-
nair and luculent lady,"2 and "decline as low as the basis of your
altitude" (all in II, I).3 One of Puntarvolo's conceits, which is
described by Carlo as erecting a "dial of compliment," is expressed
in the following figure: "To the perfection of compliment (which
is the dial of the thought, and guided by the sun of your beauties)
are required these three specials: the gnomon, the puntilios, and
the superficies : the superficies is that we call place ; the puntilios,
circumstance; and the gnomon, ceremony; in either of which, for
a stranger to err, 'tis easy and facile" (II, 1, p. 83 ).4 Every action

is one of the words used in Wilson's inkhorn letter, Arte of
Rhetorique, p. 163. Cf. also Cynthia's Revels, V, 3, p. 200.

2Cf. "organons of sense" in The Scourge of Villainy, Satire VIII, 1. 210,
satirized in Poetaster, V, 1, p. 257. For "luculent" see Hart, Works of
Ben Jonson, Vol. I, p. xlv.

8Cf. Hart, 9 N. and Q., Vol. XII, p. 343, for the fact that some of
Harvey's affected terms are used by Puntarvolo and Brisk.

*The Diall of Princes and the figurative use of dial in Shakespeare's
works illustrate the basis in current speech for the conceit which Jonson
makes Puntarvolo work into his discourse with such elaboration. There
is a figurative use of "diall Gnomon" in Histriomastix, IV, 1. 108. Jon-
son uses the same figure again in Cynthia's Revels (V, 2, p. 194; cf. II,
1, p. 160).

Every Man out of his Humour 199

of the knight, as well, illustrates the phrase "Madame Conceits
gorgeous gallerie," and we may add "of Gallant Inventions."

Puntarvolo's knightly procedure in approaching his home, and
the indentures for his venture, part of which Gilford says fur-
nishes a burlesque upon the oaths taken by the combatants of
romance (Vol. I, p. 113, n. 2), obviously hark back to the chiv-
alric romances. The same thing is true of the account that Brisk
gives of his long battle with Signior Luculento (IV, 4), in which
pieces of rich apparel are substituted for parts of armor that were
slashed away in the long engagements of the romances.1 I have
happened upon nothing similar enough to Puntarvolo's entry or
to Brisk's battle to be suggestive of Jonson, though doubtless good
parallels for both are to be found. Such scenes may have existed
in plays now lost. There is little doubt, however, that Jonson
was satirizing living rather than dead follies. That like echoes
of old knightlv manners were found, at least in the pastimes of
the courtiers of the day, is clear from such sources as the "Chal-
lenges to a Tourney" of the Lansdowne Manuscripts published in
the Collections of the Malone Society (Vol. I, pp. 181 ff.). Con-
ventions of various sorts from the days of chivalry and courtly love
as continued or revived in the Eenaissance are satirized rather ex-
haustively in Cynthia's Revels. In Every Man out, Jonson merely
makes his first essays in the study of follies belonging to the court.

The part of Puntarvolo's indentures that parodies the old oath
of combatants reads (IV, 4, p. 113) :

That, after the receipt of his money, he shall neither, in his own per-
son, nor any other, either by direct or indirect means, as magic, witch-
craft, or other such exotic arts, attempt, practise, or complot anything
to the prejudice of me, my dog, or my cat: neither shall I use the help
of any such sorceries or enchantments, as unctions to make our skins
impenetrable, or to travel invisible by virtue of a powder, or a ring, or
to hang any three-forked charm about my dog's neck, secretly conveyed
into his collar . . . but that all be performed sincerely, without
fraud or imposture.

Mr. Tennant in his edition of The New Inn (pp. lix, Ix) quotes
two forms of the combatant's oath in connection with the court of
love material in his play. The one which he cites from Stow is
as follows :

^ekker's use of the same idea in Patient Grissell seems to me almost
certainly copied from Jonson.

200 English Elements in J onsen's Early Comedy

This hear, you justices, that I have this day neither eat, drunk, nor
yet have upon me either bone, stone, ne glass, or any enchantment, sor-
cery or witchcraft, where through the power of the Word of God might
be inleased or diminished, and the devil's power increased, and that my
appeal is true, so help me God and his saints, and by this Book.

The second, which is from the Black Book of the Admiralty, is
in part to the effect that the combatant neither has nor shall have
"stone of vertue, ne herbe of vertue, ne charme, ne experiment, ne
carocte, ne othir inchauntment by the, ne for thee, by the which
thou trusteth the bettir to ovircome . . . thine adversarie."1
For the remainder of the indentures the "Challenges to a Tourney"
which I have just mentioned is of some interest. The challenger
offers certain "Condicions and ordre," which concern the forfeit,
the equipment, the mode of procedure, and the mode of decision
between the combatants. Puntarvolo's indentures cover practically
the same points.

Such a venture as is satirized in Puntarvolo's trip to Constanti-
nople with his dog and his cat on the condition that he is to receive
five for one if he and his animals return, seems to have been not
unusual at the end of the sixteenth century. There is a well
known passage in The Terrors of the Night (Works, Vol. I, p.
343) in which Nashe speaks of "sucli poore fellow es as I, that can-
not put out money to be paid againe when wee come from Con-
stantinople." In Epigram 42, In Licum, Davies mentions Venice
instead of Constantinople:

Lycus, which lately is to Venice gone,

Shall if he doe returne, gaine three for one.

Saviolina is Jonson's first study in the type of court lady elab-
orated so fully in Cynthia's Revels. Two scenes are given to her, —
one to Brisk's courtship and her affectation of wit, and the other
to her overthrow. Elsewhere, however, she is constantly praised
by Brisk, especially for her wit. One expression which he applies
to her, "anatomy of wit" (III, 1, p. 98), at once suggests Euphues.
In an earlier scene (I, 2, p. 88), Brisk says of her, "She does
observe as pure a phrase, and use as choice figures in her ordinary
conferences, as any be in the Arcadia"; and Carlo adds, "Or rather

*I quote from Tennant in both cases. The example from Stow he cites
from Xeilson's Trial bii Combat.

Every Man out of Ms Humour 201

in Green's works., whence she may steal with more security."
Euphuism and the variations on it for affected speech are thus
satirized in Saviolina as well as in other characters of the play.
Fungoso and Fall ace use expressions from EupJiues, and Brisk's
speech often betrays the trick of Euphuism. Sufficient evidence
exists that many gallants of the day still affected the jargon, and
its use is satirized frequentty. Macilente's remark that Savio-
lina's "jests are of the stamp March was fifteen years ago" again
seems to connect her with the fashion of Lyly and his followers.
In fact, whether she is true to life or not, Saviolina belongs to
the type that Lyly loved to portray and that Greene and other fol-
lowers of Lyly often treated; or, to be more exact, she is a bur-
lesque on the type which these earlier writers treated seriously.
Iffida of Euphues, as she is portrayed in the account which Fidus
gives of his passion for her, is a good example of the type. She is
proud and haughty to the obsequious lover, meets his advances
with rebuffs, and has a quiver of sharp replies or perversions of his
language to return to him. The lover, like Brisk, stands in awe
before his mistress and pours out upon her grandiloquent compli-
ments and addresses. It is chiefly Iffida' s rare wit that is stressed,
however, and some examples of it will best illustrate the point of
Jonson's satire on Saviolina's antiquated jests. "Gentleman,"
says Iffida, "in arguing of wittes, you mistake mine, and call your
owne into question" (Works of Lyly, Vol. II, p. 55). "0, Mon-
sieur Brisk," Saviolina retorts, "be not so tyrannous to confine all
wits within the compass of your own" (V, 2, p. 126). Iffida
tells a number of anecdotes that illustrate wit in women. One of
them turns upon a play on the words son and sun (p. 60). So
Brisk is delighted with Saviolina's wit in playing upon for and
'fore (III, 3, p. 109). A second anecdote told by Iffida is of a
woman's ready reply when a man tells her that he can not judge of
her wit (p. 60) : "No quoth she, I beleue you, for none can judge
of wit, but they that haue it, why then quoth he, doest thou thinke
me a foole, thought is free my Lord quoth she, I wil not take you
at your word. He perceiuing al outward faults to be recompenced
with inward fauour, chose this virgin for his wife." There is not
much choice between this and the witticism with which Saviolina
meets Brisk's question as to whether she will take some tobacco
(III, 3, p. 110) :

202 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Sav. O, peace, I pray you; I love not the breath of a woodcock's head.

Fast[idious Brisk]. Meaning my head, lady?

Sav. Not altogether so, sir; but, as it were fatal to their follies that
think to grace themselves with taking tobacco, when they want better
entertainment, you see your pipe bears the true form of a woodcock's
head.

Fast. O admirable simile!

It is then that Maeilente makes his remark about the age of
Saviolina's jests.

In the second scene given to Saviolina, V, 2, she is put out of
her humour by being deceived into believing that the clown Sogli-
ardo is a gentleman. A device of the same kind, with a different
result, occurs in the play Sir Thomas More, where More dresses
his servant as himself in order to deceive Erasmus, and in Friar
Bacon and Friar Bungay, where Ealph dressed as the Prince fails
to deceive Bacon. Professor Bang, however, has pointed out
(Englische Studien, Vol. 36, pp. 330, 331) in Hoby's translation
of The Courtier (Tudor Translations, pp. 192, 193) what may
well have been the actual source of this scene. Here a country
fellow, well dressed, has been described to certain court ladies as
a perfect courtier who is able to play the perfect countryman. The
ladies are completely duped by the trick, amid the laughter of the
onlookers, and are with difficulty persuaded of their mistake. In
these details the trick is like that played upon Saviolina.

While I have compared Saviolina with Lyly's types, it must be
remembered that wit as an element of courtliness was a part of
the ideal of the age, and that The Courtier and other works of the
kind gave prominence to the witty woman. But the courtly lady
of Castiglione's work is very different from the affected type por-
trayed by Lyly. Castiglione, indeed, condemns affected speech
while praising wit highly. There is little doubt, however, that
Lyly's type is a development of the Italian, and probably as little
doubt that the manners of English women were influenced by Ital-
ian courtesy books.1

The other humorists of Every Man out — Sordido, Sogliardo,
Fungoso, Fallace, and Deliro — all belong to a family group. Of

Raleigh in his introduction to The Courtier claims that the
witty women of The Courtier influenced Shakespeare's witty women. Miss
M. A. Scott has elaborated the idea in Modern Language Publications,
Vol. XVI, pp. 475 ff.

Every Man out of his Humour 203

these the most conventional figure is Sordido, the corn-hoarder.
Allusions to the custom of hoarding corn are frequent from early
times.1 In A Merry Knack to Know a Knave (Hazlitt's Dodsley,
Vol. VI, p. 561) one of the indictments brought against the farmer
is that "he keeps corn in his barn, and suffers his brethren and
neighbours to lie and want ; and thereby makes the market so dear,
that the poor can buy no corn." Stubbes deals with the same evil
in the second part of The Anatomy of Abuses (New Shakspere
Society, pp. 45, 46), commenting on the brutal selfishness of the
corn-hoarder. In Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier, among
the abuses of the grasping farmer, Cloth-breeches describes that
of corn hoarding in terms which fit Sordido perfectly (Works,
Vol. XI, p. 285) :

Besides the base chuffe if he s6es a forward yeare, & that corne is like
to be plenty, then he murmereth against God and swereth and protesteth
he shall be vndoone: respecting more the filling of his owne coffers by a
dearth then the profit of his country by a generall plenty. Beside sir
may it please you when new corne comes into the market, who brings it
in to relieue the state? Not your mastership, but the poore husband-
man, that wants pence. For you k6epe it till the back end of the yeare,
nay you haue your Garners which haue come of two or thre"e yeares old,
vpon hope still of a deare yeare, rather letting the weasels eate it, then
the poore should haue it at any reasonable price.

The hard year of 1594, which is supposedly described in Midsum-
mer Night's Dream, produced in England numbers of regraters,
as they were called, and before the end of the century other hard
years seem to have followed. So great did the abuse of regrating
become that the Queen's Proclamation of November, 1596, insisted
upon the execution of previous orders to the effect that "the lustices
of peace in euery quarter should stay all Ingrossers, Forestalled,
and Eegraters of Corne, and to direct all Owners and Farmers
hauing Corne to furnish the Markets ratably and weekly with such
quantities as vsually they had done before time, or reasonably
might and ought to doe."2 It will be remembered that in Every
Man out (I, 1, pp. 77, 78) an order arrives from the justice charg-

xCf. Ship of Fools, ed. Jamieson, Vol. II, pp. 167-169; and Works of
Nashe, Vol. II, pp. 158 and 286.

2Quoted from FurnivalPs introduction (p. xx) to The Second Part of
the Anatomy of Abuses by Stubbes.

204 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

ing Sordido to market his grain, and that he immediately plans
to hide it in the earth.1

Sordido is hoarding corn in expectation of a dear year because
his almanac has prophesied almost continual bad weather. He
reads aloud from the almanac on the stage, and exults over its
prognostications. Satire on the prophecies of almanacs is as com-
mon as the rest of Jonson's treatment of Sordido. Stubbes in
The Second Part of the Anatomy of Abuses (p. 66) rebukes
directly what Jonson satirizes indirectly — the foretelling of sea-
sons of plenty and dearth. "Therefore prognosticators are herein
much to be blamed, for that they take vpon them to foreshew what
things shall be plentie, and what scarce, what deere, what good
cheape. When shal be faire weather, when foule, and the like,"
etc. The reading from an almanac on the stage is paralleled in
one of the entertainments provided for Queen Elizabeth at Sudeley
(printed in Bond's Works of Lyly, Vol. I, pp. 481 n3.). An alma-
nac is called for, and Cutter produces one, saying: "I euer carrie
it, to knowe the hye waies to euerie good towne, the faires, and the
faire weather." Then Melibaeus reads the prognostication for cer-
tain days, but chooses dates notable in Elizabeth's life or connected
with her visit, thus turning the device to neat compliment of the
Queen.2

The prophecies of Sordido's almanac fail, the crop promises to
be abundant, and Sordido prepares to hang himself (III, 2). His
declaration that all his wealth is hidden so that his children can
not enjoy it belongs to the miser. It will be sufficient to instance
the fact that Plautus in the prologue of Aulularia, which Jonson
had already used, represents Euclio's grandfather as "of such an

xThe scarcity of corn at this period naturally resulted in the produc-
tion of some literature on the subject before Jonson's play. "Newes from
Jack Begger under the Bushe, with the advise of Gregory Gaddesman
his fellow begger touchinge the deare prizes of come and hardnes of this
present yere" was entered on the Stationers' Register Dec. 28, 1594. Cf.
Alden, Rise of Formal Satire, p. 233, n. 3. In 1596, Deloney wrote a
ballad in dialogue "Containing a Complaint of the great want and scar-
citie of corn within this realm." Cf. Sievers, Thomas Deloney, etc.,
Palaestra, No. 36, pp. 2 and 3.

2The similarity between the prophecy "the twelfth the weather inclined
to moisture" and Sordido's "29, inclining to rain" would indicate that
both plays follow the phraseology of current almanacs. Indeed, it does
not seem to me improbable that Jonson was burlesquing some actual
almanac of the time. Cf. his use of Broughton's works in The Alchemist
and of Harsnet's or Barrel's in The Devil is an Ass.

Every Man out of his Humour 205

avaricious disposition, that he would never disclose it [his buried
treasure] to his own son, and preferred rather to leave him in
want than to show that treasure to that son" (Bohn Library).
Sordido's attempt to hang himself is equally conventional. Small
(Stage-Quarrel, p. 54) calls attention to number clxiv of the
Exempla of Jacques de Vitry, where the story is told of one who
hung himself because, on account of continued good harvests, the
grain that he had collected did not rise in price. The most sug-
gestive parallel for the scene in which Sordido attempts suicide
has been pointed out by Professor Raleigh (introduction to The
Courtier, p. Ixxix) in a passage from Hoby's translation of The
Courtier (Tudor Translations, p. 179). 1 The passage reads:

And M. Augustin Bevazzano toulde, that a covetous manne whiche
woulde not sell hys corne while it was at a highe price, whan he sawe
afterwarde it had a great falle, for desperacion he hanged himself upon
a beame in his chamber, and a servaunt of his hearing the noise, made
speede, and seeing his maister hang, furthwith cut in sunder the rope
and so saved him from death: afterwarde whan the covetous man came
to himself e, he woulde have had hys servaunt to have paide him for his
halter that he had cut.

A detail indicating that Jonson took his version of the story from
The Courtier is found in the fact that the peasant who saves Sor-
dido is rebuked for cutting the rope instead of untying it.

The characterization of Fungoso is simple, though fairly effec-
tive. The son of the miserly farmer Sordido, he is put at the
Inns of Court to study law and become a gentleman. He is in-
fected, however, with a passion for dress, attempts to follow Brisk^s
fashions, and in consequence is put to extreme shifts, begging from
his sister, pawning his clothes, going in debt to his tailor, and
writing lying letters to his father. The number of satirical refer-
ences in English literature to sons of peasants who aspire to gal-
lantry and spend their stingy fathers' money in fast living is un-
told. Nashe has a brief sketch of the general type in The Anat-
omie of Absurditie (Vol. I, p. 35) and again in Pierce Penilesse
(Vol. I, p. 160). Prodigal Zodon in the second satire of Middle-

. Bang in Eng. Studien, Vol. 36, p. 331, has later quoted the
passage in connection with Sordido. Cf. also Miss M. A. Scott in Mod.
Lang. Publ., Vol. XVI, p. 488 f. Prof. Raleigh would trace to Castiglione
all Elizabethan references to a farmer's hanging himself, but the parallel
pointed out by Small shows a wider distribution of the anecdote.

206 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

ton's Micro-Cynicon spends in high living the patrimony left
him by his father., Greedy Cron, who, like Sordido, "in a humour
goes and hangs himself on account of certain losses (Satire I).
More suggestive of Fungoso is Hall's satire on the son of "drivel-
ing Lolio" (Book IV, Satire II). Lolio drudges and saves that his
son may be a gentleman, while the son, who is at the Inns of Court,
neglects law and spends everything on dress and gay living. The
seeking of a coat of arms which is mentioned by Nashe and Hall is
found with Jonson in Sogliardo. The word Fungoso is merely a
translation into Italian of a name commonly given to the type.
Nashe calls Harvey "a mushrumpe sprung vp in one night" (Vol.
I, p. 323; cf. also Vol. Ill, p. 109), and in Skialetheia, Satire III,
we have the lines,

How like a Musherom art thou quickly growne,

I knew thee when thou war'dst a thred-bare gowne.1

The special details in the treatment of Fungoso are in general
fairly fresh, however. His heartbreaking efforts to keep pace with
Brisk's suits furnish the most distinctive point in the characteri-
zation, and I recall no dramatic device of the sort except that
already cited from Skelton's Magnificence. The scene in which
Fungoso is surrounded by tradespeople who deliver his finery and
are paid for it (IV, 5) is more commonplace. There is a scene
in Captain Stukeley where Stukeley, who comes from the country
and neglects law for gallantry, pays his furnishers (11. 543 ff.). In
James IV (IV, 3) the clown Slipper orders a fine outfit from
tailor, shoemaker, and cutler, and pays them. The Epistle Dedi-
catory to Nashe's Lenten Stuffe, also, describes the scene in a gal-
lant's chamber when he settles his accounts. In Histriomastix,
again, (III, 1) the ladies and citizens' wives are waited on by

xln Jonson's work the term mushroom becomes almost a synonym for
a gull. Of the two typical gulls in Every Man out, one is named Fungoso,
and the other is called a puck-fist and is classed among

these mushroom gentlemen,
That shoot up in a night to place and worship (I, 1, p. 75).

In the expression "some idle Fungoso" (IV, 1, p. 175) which is applied
to Asotus, the only typical gull in Cynthia's Revels, the word Fungoso
merely means a mushroom, I take it, and involves no identification of
Asotus with Fungoso. The gull Daw of Silent Woman is also called a
mushroom, II, 2, p. 419. According to Gifford, Upton traces this last
passage to Plautus, BaccUdes^ IV, 7, 23. Jonson again uses the term
for an upstart in Catiline, II, 1.

Every Man out of his Humour 207

tradespeople and order marvelous jewels and dresses. Jonson
later opens The Staple of News with a scene in which Pennyboy
Junior receives his various tradesmen and settles with them. In
III, 2, Sordido reads a letter from Fungoso which is signed,
"Yours., if his own" (repeated in Cynthia's Revels, V, 2, p. 194).
The signature is evidently in mockery of a commonly affected
close of euphuistic letters, and is appropriate to Fungoso, who
reads the Arcadia. Koeppel in Ben Jonson' s Wirkung (p. 67)
traces the phrase to EupTiues, but similar signatures are to be found
scattered in Greene's works, in A petite Pallace of Pettie his pleas-
ure, and in Gascoigne's Adventures of Master F. L In The
Woman in the Moon (V, 1, 1. 145), "Yours, as his owne" occurs.
When the party at the Mitre is broken up at the end of the play,
Fungoso, though a guest, is held as a pawn for the score. His
predicament suggests certain jests of Peele which involve leaving
dupes as pawns for the reckoning at ordinaries (Shakespeare Jest-
Books, Vol. II, pp. 293-297). *

Sogliardo embodies Jonson's sharpest satire on those who pre-
tend to gentility merely by reason of wealth. Fungoso, for all his
intellectual weakness, seems at least capable of appreciating the
standards of the gallants whom he apes; but Sogliardo is always
essentially the witless boor. In fact, he is another of the char-
acters in whom Jonson enforces a fundamental principle so
strongly that the character becomes a cross between a pure abstrac-
tion and a type. Sogliardo is almost a personification of igno-
rance. He is described as "an essential clown" (p. 63) ; "a tame
rook," fit to be "a constable for . . wit," and "a transparent
gull" (I, 1, p. 72) ; "one of those that fortune favours" — a favorite
phrase for a fool (p. 75) ; "this hulk of ignorance" and "a shal-
low fool" with "no more brain than a butterfly, a mere stuft suit"
(p. 76). His coat of arms is made to represent his ignorance
chiefly. The variety of colors suggests the fool's motley, and the
headless boar, or boor, is interpreted by Carlo as representing "a
swine without a head, without brain, wit, anything indeed, ramp-
ing to gentility" (III, 1, p. 100). Still another analysis of Sogli-
ardo as Ignorance is put in the mouth of Carlo in IV, 6 (p. 122) :
"He is a man of fair revenue, and his estate will bear the charge

M^f. also Groundworke of Conny -catching, in Rogues and Vagabonds
of Shakspere's Youth, pp. 102, 103.

208 English Elements in J orison's Early Comedy

well. Besides, for his other gifts of the mind,, or so, why, they
are as nature lent him them, pure, simple, without any artificial
drug or mixture of these too threadbare beggarly qualities, learning
and knowledge, and therefore the more accommodate and gen-
uine." Apart from the broad types of fools, personifications of
ignorance are common in the sixteenth century. Ignorance is a
character in The Four Elements, The Longer thou Livest, and
Wyt and Science. A good illustration of the situation from the
opening scene of Every Man out where, on the first appearance of
Sogliardo, the scholar Macilente exclaims (p. 72),

'Sblood, why should such a prick-eared hind as this

Be rich, ha? a fool! such a transparent gull

That may be seen through! wherefore should he have land,

Houses, and lordships? O, I could eat my entrails,

is to be found in a passage of Histriomastix (Act III, 11. 310-
313), where Envy, coming to reign after Pride, declares:

Fat Ignorance, and rammish Barbarisme
Shall spit and drivell in sweete Learnings face:
Whilst he, half starv'd in Envie of their power,
Shall eate his marrow, and him-selfe devoure.1

But Sogliardo, though almost an abstraction, is not so primitive
or simple a type as Ignorance. He is the true gull, mixing with
his clownish love of the hobby-horse and motions a serious deter-
mination to take tobacco like a gentleman. His stupidity, how-
ever, places him with the earlier type of gull like Stephen and
Labesha. In the epigrams of Davies and G-uilpin on the gull, the
climax stresses his witlessness, which evidently sums up the type
for both writers.

A number of points in the characterization of Sogliardo have
already been mentioned, especially those that illustrate his aspira-
tions as a gull. His independent tastes are for the hobby-horse
(II, 1, p. 81) and for news, particularly of the puppet-shows of
London (II, 1, p. 87). It is as a lover of the marvelous that he
is captivated by the tales of Shift's exploits (IV, 4). In all these
respects he represents the English clown. Davies in Epigram 43
satirizes the somewhat similar tastes of the country-bred Publius,
who is more interested in the famous bears of Paris Garden than

*Cf. pp. 160-161 supra.

Every Man out of his Humour 209

in his study of law. Sogliardo's insistence upon getting the news
when he meets Sordido (II, 1, p. 87) is noteworthy as a first indi-
cation of Jonson's interest in a folly to which he later gave so
much emphasis. There are many satirical references to news-
mongers at the end of the sixteenth century., especially in ISTashe's
attack on the Martinists and the Harveys.1 In Sapho and Phao,
II, 3, Molus accosts Criticus with the question, "What newes?"
as Sogliardo does Fungoso. Davies, again, in Epigram 40, In
Afram, has an interesting sketch of the purveyor of news, which
furnishes a forerunner of Sir Politick Would-be as a newsmonger.
A still more striking portrait of the type 'is to be found, however,
so early as Lodge's characterization of "Multiplication of words"
in Wits Miserie (p. 85).

The coat of arms that Sogliardo procures (III, 1) in pursuance
of Carlo's advice has already been spoken of as typical of Sogli-
ardo's character. Such coats of arms are not uncommon in lit-
erature. The one suggested in "The False Knight" of Erasmus,
from which Carlo drew his advice, in a measure represents the
character of the Knight. In Bullein's Dialogue against the Fever
Pestilence (E. E. T. S., p. 96), an appropriate coat of arms is
given for Mendax, and in The Three Ladies of London (Hazlitt's
Dodsley, Vol. VI, pp. 350, 351) the coat of arms of a thief is
described. So the old Timon gives the absurd coat of arms of
Gelasimus (I, 3).2 In regard to a motto for Sogliardo's crest,

H^f. Nashe, Vol. I, pp. 72, 82, 289, 298, 308, 365; Harvey, Vol. I, pp.
68 ff. and Vol. Ill, p. 18; Tell-Trothes New-yeares Gift, p. 3; Crowley,
One and Thirty Epigrams, 11. 1113-1140, "Of Inuenters of Straunge Newes."
Cf. also the following sixteenth century titles: Sack-Full of Newes;
Newes come from Hell of love unto all her welbeloved frendes, by Cop-
land; Newes out of Powles Churchyarde, by Hake; Joy full newes oute of
the new founde ivorlde . . . Englished by John Frampton; Straunge
Newes out of Calabria, etc., by Doleta; Strange Newes of the intercepting
certaine Letters, by Nashe; Greene's News both from Heaven and Hell;
Tarlton's News out of Purgatory; Newes from Jack Begger (already
cited) ; etc.

2Two boars form a part of the coat, along with three asses and three
thistles. Doubtless the pun on boor is implied here as in Sogliardo's
coat. The three thistles may denote f ruitlessness ; they remind one of
the three thorns, or "spinas,"'of Poetaster (II, 1), though the resemblance
is too uncertain to afford any conjecture as to whether Jonson borrowed
from Timon. The possible combination of Jonson's two coats of arms
in Timon is the chief indication I have been able to find, however
slight, that the play may have come after Jonson's plays and combined
details from them. One other indication is that the scene in Timon
(I, 4) where Pseudocheus instructs Gelasimus how to woo successfully

210 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Puntarvolo suggests (p. 100), "Let the word be, Not without mus-
tard.'' This probably goes back to Nashe. In Pierce Penilesse
(Vol. I, p. 171). the story is told of a "Ruffion" who vowed to God
that if he were delivered from a severe storm at sea, he would
never again eat haberdine, but "readie to set foote a Land, cryed
out: not without Mustard, good Lord, not without Mustard."
Beyond a possible implication that Sogliardo was not to be taken
without a sauce, there seems to be no especial point to Jonson's
use of the phrase except that it introduced a bit of nonsense and
recalled a jest that was probably popular.

Deliro and Fallace, the only other characters of any importance
in the play, seem to have fewer conventional traits than is usual
with Jonson. The motive of a husband's obsequiousness to a
proud and peevish wife Jonson treated several times afterwards,
and it became common enough in the drama. Perhaps the best
forerunners of Deliro and Fallace are to be found in Lyly's
Woman in the Moon. There is nothing in the half pastoral, half
mythological figures of Lyly's play to associate them with the Lon-
don citizen and his wife; but under the influence of the various
planets Pandora falls into several moods in which she is strongly
suggestive of Fallace, and the lovers are at times infatuated with
her after the manner of Deliro.

Pandora's first mood is one of melancholy controlled by Saturn,
who wills (I, 1, 11. 148, 149) :

She shalbe sick with passions of the hart,

Selfwild, and toungtide, but full fraught with teares.

And Pandora says of herself (1. 174),

I grudge and grieue, but know not well whereat.

Gunophilus, servant and lover, whose name, like Deliro's, expresses
his infatuation, is the first to present himself, and he is met with
railing. Next, the four shepherds put themselves at her service,
only to be rebuffed in turn. Then Pandora falls to weeping, and
the lovers sing "to sift that humor from her heart" (1. 221). Ac-
would more probably have been borrowed from Amorphus's instructions
to Asotus in Cynthia's Revels than the reverse, for Jonson had, according
to his habit, been developing the motive through several plays. Cf. The
Case is Altered, IV, 3 and 4, and Every Man out, V, 1. the evidence,
however, is too slight to enable us to determine which of the two plays
influenced the other. See pp. 168 ff. supra.

Every Nan out of his Humour 211

cording to a stage direction, "she starteth vp and runs away at
the end of the Song saying,"

What songs? what pipes? & fidling haue we here?
Will you not suffer me to take my rest?

whereupon one of the lovers in despair cries out (1. 227),
What shal we do to vanquish her disease?

In the next mood, which is inspired by Jupiter, Pandora becomes
proud and aspires to place, but her action is consistent with that
of the preceding mood. To Jupiter she says (II, 1, 11. 73, 74),

I tell thee lupiter, Pandoras worth
Is farre exceeding all your goddesses,

and to her lovers (1. 148),

For wot ye well Pandora knowes her worth.

Mars inspires in her a still more vixenish mood, in which she
strikes her lovers. One, however, Stesias, still dotes (II, 1,
1. 230 ff.):

But fondling as I am, why grieue I thus?

Is not Pandora mistris of my life?

Yes, yes, and euery act of hers is iust.

Her hardest words are but a gentle winde.

In the succeeding moods she marries Stesias and then proves
fickle, setting at naught her husband, who continues to adore her.
Ultimately she is betrayed to him. At this point, however, all
similarity between the two plays ends.

Quite dissimilar as Fallace is to Pandora on the whole, a sur-
prising amount of what I have just cited from Lyly's play is par-
alleled in the part of Fallace and Deliro. In II, 2 (p. 91) Deliro
protests to Macilente:

I have such a wife!

So passing fair; so passing-fair-unkind!
But of such worth, and right to be unkind,
Since no man can be worthy of her kindness.

Ay, and she knows so well

Her own deserts, that when I strive t' enjoy them,
She weighs the things I do with what she merits;
And, seeing my worth outweighed so in her graces,

212 English Elements in Jonsons Early Comedy

She is so solemn, so precise, so froward,
That no observance I can do to her
Can make her kind to me.

Deliro goes to the greatest pains to gratify her various whims, and
finds, after all is done, that her humour has changed. In one
scene (IV, 1, p. Ill), he brings in musicians to play for her, say-
ing, "0, begin, begin, some sprightly thing. . . . Heaven
grant it please her." Fallace, however, cries out, "Hey — da! this
is excellent ! I'll lay my life this is my husband's dotage. . . .
I know you do nothing but study how to anger me, sir." Shortly
after, she peevishly leaves his presence, and shuts her door against
him when he attempts to follow.1

As a prosperous London merchant, Deliro is a rather colorless
figure. Independently of Fallace' s attitude to her husband, how-
ever, she is interestingly characterized as a citizen's wife yearning
for attention, especially for the notice of gallants. She desires to
be in fashion and to have friends at court; she regards Brisk as
the perfection of all that is charming, finally becoming desper-
ately enamored of him; she quotes from Euphues, and in other
ways shows her passion for fads of the fashionable (cf. IV, 1,
pp. 110, 111 and V, 7, pp. 137, 138). There is a good deal of
satire on citizens' wives who live in luxury and strive after the
fashions of the courtly, but I do not recall elsewhere just such
satire on the longing of these women for gallant lovers.

Through Cordatus in the induction, Jonson has described Every
Man out as "strange, and of a particular kind by itself, somewhat
like Veins Comcedia." The phrase Vetus Comcedia would nat-
urally be interpreted at once as referring to classic comedy, and
the context seems to support this interpretation. I am tantalized,
however, by the question whether the reference may not, after all,
have been to the older forms of English drama. Nashe in The
Returne of Pasquill twice uses the term in connection with old
English plays (Vol. I, pp. 92 and 100), and Drummond reports

1One unimportant point in the treatment of Deliro and Fallace was
probably suggested by Chaucer's Merchant's Tale and such stories as
Greenes Vision, where the husband is persuaded that he saw his wife
on a lover's knee only in a dream or delirium. When Deliro unexpectedly
finds his wife at the Counter with Brisk, Macilente says (V, 7, p. 138) :
"Nay, why do you not dote now, signior? methinks you should say it
were some enchantment, deceptio visus, or so, ha! If you could persuade
yourself it were a dream now, 'twere excellent."

Every Nan out of his Humour 213

Jonson himself as saying that "according to Comedia Veins, in
England the Divell . . . caried away the Vice/' At any
rate, there is little in the structure, the type of incident, or the
method of characterization to connect Every Man out with classic
comedy. The characters, though undoubtedly finished from life,
follow types from English literature, and the allegorical tone of
the play which results from the emphasis on a mastering humour
associates Every Man out with the morality.

CHAPTER VIII

CYNTHIA'S REVELS

The allegorical tendency shown in Every Man out reaches its
fullest expression for Jonson's early period in Cynthia's Revels.1
The plot of Cynthia's Revels as given in the induction is a pure
allegory, the characters bearing allegorical names and the relations
existing among them having an allegorical significance, so that the
reversion of the humour types to the older abstractions is here al-
most complete. In spite, however, of the fundamental abstraction
in the characters and the comic exaggeration, the play impresses
us as perhaps giving a more searching picture of one segment of
London life than any of Jonson's earlier comedies. The ordinary
gallants of Every Man in give way in Every Man out to types that
belong to a higher social plane, one near that of the court; in
Cynthia's Revels Jonson has laid his scene entirely in the court
itself, even studies of the rogue class being omitted except among
the pages. The characters thus represent fewer walks of life, but
the study of social trivialities within the narrower sphere is ex-
haustive, let us hope.

The induction of Cynthia's Revels, unlike the body of the play,
is more dramatic than that of Every Man out. The parts of Asper
and Grex are omitted here, and with them the effort to set the tone
of the play through a presenter, and the attempt to explain the
author's art. As a substitute Jonson has been careful to give an
analysis of the plot of Cynthia's Revels so as to stress the allegory.
A device similar to that in the most dramatic part of the induc-
tion to Every Man out — the appearance of Carlo and the debate
about the prologue — forms the foundation of the induction to
Cynthia's Revels. In the later play the induction thus has fewer
elements and is more unified as well as more dramatic. The
mimicry of audience and playwright that Jonson indulges in

1 Acted in 1600 according to the Folio, doubtless after the lease of
Blackfriars to Henry Evans on September 2, 1600. That Cynthia's Revels
was performed late in the year is indicated by Jonson's reference in the
induction to the fact that "the umbrce or ghosts of some three or four
plays departed a dozen years since, have been seen walking on your stage
here." Apparently the house opened in the fall with the production of
old plays before Cynthia's Revels and other new plays were secured.

Cynthia's Revels 215

through the children is more appropriate than the expository and
indignant manner of Asper. While this new induction, especially
as it repeats themes of Every Man out, seems to be merely a de-
velopment of earlier devices for inductions,, it nevertheless has
fewer connections than the preceding play with the common de-
vices of playwrights who used the induction before Jonson. The
two fundamental elements, the appearance of certain actors and
the use of the debate, had not before been combined in the induc-
tion so far as I know. The Downfall of Robert Earl of Hunting-
ton uses the appearance of actors beforehand, who discuss their
parts and thus pique the curiosity of the audience by suggesting
the nature of the play,1 but the purpose here, as in most of the
early inductions^ is to set the tone of the piece.2 The device of a
contest in the induction was also for the most part merely a more
dramatic way than the old prologue, chorus, or other such device
furnished of introducing the commanding genius or dominant
tone of the play. But Nashe had used the spectator in the in-
duction for the expression of criticism, and the contest type of in-
duction also became in A Warning for Fair Women a notable
means of allowing the author to give direct expression to his criti-
cal views in regard to the drama. Jonson utilized the induction
almost purely for such criticism after Every Man out, and even
in Every Man out the function of the induction is largely critical.
A further step toward Jonson's induction in Cynthia's Revels is
found in the induction of The True Tragedy of Richard III,
where Truth and Poetry enter upon a discussion that serves not
so much to set the tone of the play as to furnish the ground for
introducing what the author wishes to tell the audience in regard
to the occasion or plot. That at least the critical tendencies if
not the devices of these earlier inductions had attracted Jonson is
shown by the fact that the prologue of Every Man in and in part
the induction of Every Man out echo the critical material of earlier
inductions.3

The material in the induction of Cynthia's Revels is compara-
tively fresh, largely because it is not general but consists in great

JThi8 discussion of parts in Munday's play is more like the induction
of Marston's Antonio and Mellida.

2Cf. pp. 146-148 supra for a discussion of various early inductions.
8Cf. pp. 142, 143, and 146-148 supra.

216 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

part of such direct and specific attacks on the follies of spectators
and pla^ywrights as perhaps no other dramatist dared to utter. Fol-
lowing the quarrel of the children over the speaking of the pro-
logue,, comes the plot of the play. Next one of the children mocks
the gallants who sit upon the stage smoking and flouting actors.
In Every Man out Jonson three tim.es refers to those who sit on
or over the stage, with hits at such abuses as smoking, gay dress-
ing, and mocking of actors (Induction, p. 68; I, 1, p. 73; II, 1,
p. 88). In Cynthia's Revels the satire is more fully elaborated.
The satirists had already begun to attack these abuses before Jon-
son took them up, Davies in Epigrams 3 and 28 and Gruilpin in
Epigram 53 of Skialetheia. Hall also seems to have an allusion
to the custom and to absurd critics in a passage in which he
satirizes the abuses of tragedy, though the tone is entirely unlike
Jonson's (Virgidemiarum, I, 3). Earlier the part of Will Sum-
mer in Summer's Last Will and Testament had given Nashe's in-
direct satire on the custom of flouting actors, and Summer's criti-
cism of Nashe's prologue as "scuruy"' illustrates Jonson's point in
the induction of Cynthia's Revels that "one miscalls all by the
name of fustian, that his grounded capacity cannot aspire to."
Jonson next attacks playwrights for obscenity, for borrowing their
jests, and for boasting of rapidity of work. The charge of im-
modesty and obscenity in plays was common among those who at-
tacked the drama. Whetstone in the dedication of Promos and
Cassandra, for example, criticises the lasciviousness of Italian,
French, and Spanish plays. The attack on old jests was also be-
coming frequent. It occurs in A Warning for Fair Women (11.
33, 34), where Tragedy speaks of Comedy's having

Some odd ends of old jests scrap'd up together,
To tickle shallow unjudicial ears;

and in Histriomastix (III, 11. 206, 207), where Chrisoganus scores
those who

load the stage with stuff
Rakt from the rotten imbers of stall jests.

With these lines compare Jonson's : "Besides, they could wish
your poets would leave to be promoters of other men's jests, and
to way-lay all the stale apothegms, or old books, they can hear of,
in print or otherwise, to farce their scenes withal." Jonson's

Cynthia's Revels 217

criticism of the Children of the Chapel for presenting old plays
echoes a passage on the Children of Paul's from Jack Drum's En-
tertainment (V, 11. lll-lM), cited by Gifford:

I, and they had good Plaies. But they produce
Such mustie fopperies of antiquitie,
And doe not sute the humorous ages backs,
With clothes in fashion.

Finally, Jonson attacks under five classes injudicious critics among
the auditors: the one whose only claim to wit lies in his clothes,
the one who pronounces the old Hieronimo the only "judiciously
penned play in Europe/' etc. Much of this is repeated from
Every Man in and Every Man out, and part of it goes back to
Nashe.1 Marston, also, in the section introducing The Scourge
of Villainy sketches briefly the different types who dare pass judg-
ment on his work.

The general plot of Cynthia's Revels is composed of a large
number of diverse elements, although far more attention is given
to character analysis than to incident, so that the play is even
more devoid of movement than is Every Man out. In the pro-
logue Jonson claims originality for the work:

In this alone, his Muse her sweetness hath,
She shuns the print of any beaten path;
And proves new ways to come to learned ears.

There is something appropriate in the expression "learned ears"
in connection with a play that probably suggested to the well read
many diverse types of literature. Indeed, the passage was perhaps
not intended to mean that Jonson used no literary material but
rather that, in the combination of elements and in the tone of the
whole, the work was new. It may be, also, that Jonson was in-
fluenced by a growing convention of claiming originality on the
part of those who are not always original. Sidney declares in

Sonnet 74,

I am no pick-purse of another's wit.

Drayton, in the opening of his sequence Idea (1594), makes the
same claim, repeating Sidney's line. Nashe in Strange Newes
(Works of Nashe, Vol. I, p. 319) boasts of the vein of his "owne

*Cf. p. 127 supra.

218 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

begetting" which "cals no man father in England but my selfe."
And yet all of these men would have considered skilful adapta-
tion not borrowing but merely the imitation that is the mark of
the well trained writer.

In Cynthia's Revels there are four fairly distinct lines of treat-
ment. First, there is the pastime of courtship with the fancies that
had grown up around it, an element representing in the main Jon-
son's adaptation of court of love conventions to current fashions
in courtly love. It accounts for much of the framework and for a
certain amount of the mythological and allegorical interest in the
play. Second, a still larger part of the mythological element in
Cynthia's Revels is probably to be explained by the influence of
the m}rthological play, which became so prominent in the hands of
Lyly during the latter part of the sixteenth century. Third, there
is the motive of the conflict between virtues and vices, which fur-
nishes the most important part of the allegory, and out of which
grows the grouping and the balancing of the characters, though
Jonson' s interest in humours also seems to have affected the group-
ing. Naturally certain conventions of the morality plays are util-
ized for handling dramatically the conflict between good and evil.
Jonson in addition has made the vices and virtues of Cynthia's
Revels in part Aristotelian. Fourth, there are individual studies
in which the abstractions are made vital by details from contem-
porary fads and fashions that are appropriate to the folly studied
and emphasize the primary inclination, or humour. In adapting
these phases of the play to each other, Jonson would naturally
modify practically everything that he has borrowed. Moreover,
he has enriched the main elements of his work by minor borrow-
ings here and there, the most important of which are the mock
tournament, or duello, as a form of entertainment, the allegory
of money as distributed by Fortune to fools, and especially cer-
tain conventions of older plays, such as the Diana-versus-Cupid
intrigue. An attempt will be made to follow in order the four
chief lines of study and to suggest wherever it is most convenient
the minor elements that enter into this complex drama.

There are distinct traces in Cynthia's Revels of court of love
conventions. Indeed, to my mind, they form the basis of the play.
In them is perhaps to be seen the extension of the popular court of
love ideas into the general literature and the pastimes of the

Cynthia's Revels 219

Renaissance,, and perhaps, also, some of the kinship is to be
attributed to accident. On the other hand, from the time when
Jonson studied the knightly procedure of Puntarvolo, an interest
in medieval conventions of chivalry apparently grew upon him,
and gradually this interest became centered in the court of love
as an excellent device for satirizing women. Certainly throughout
Jon son's work groups of women with social pretensions are treated
under the form of organizations by means of which contemporary
social follies are satirized. In The Silent Woman the Ladies
Collegiates1 with their President (I, 1, p. 406), their pretence
to wit (III, 2, p. 432), their instructions to Epiccene in regard to
what she shall demand of her husband as her privilege (IV, 2),
their rules in amatory pursuits (IV, 2), and the accounts given
Morose of the customs, claims, and privileges of women (II, 1) —
here become vices — seem to indicate the court of love machinery
carried into the social life of women. Again in The Devil is an
Ass, when Wittipol dressed as a Spanish lady comes to Lady Tail-
bush, supposedly from her friends at court (IV, 1, p. 253), in
honor of her projects for an improved fucus in the service of her
sex, the plan to hold a sitting of the "academy" or "school" (III,
1, p. 248; III, 3, p. 250; IV, 1, p. 256), of which the Spanish
lady, described as a "mistress of behaviour" (II, 3, p. 239), is
called "lady-president"; the elaborate discussion of perfumes and
fucuses ; Lady Eitherside's interest in the customs of love and her
scorn of being loved only by her husband ; and finally the opinions
expressed as to proper conduct in woman's gallantry and the
proper messengers in love affairs (IV, 1) represent more clearly
Jonson's saiire on women's vices through the burlesque of court
of love conventions.

Jonson's still more extensive use of the varied machinery tradi-
tionally connected with the academies and courts of love is to

irThe term college is used in English for the group of women at the
court of love as early at least as Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte.
Venus says to the poet in regard to his admittance into the Garden of
Deduit (11. 269 Iff.) :

For thou shalt han a priuelege

For to be of my college,

Amonge folkys amerouse.

De Arte Honeste Amandi of Andreas Capellanus (ca. 1200) has the fic-
tion of a "dominarum collegia" dwelling with Cupid.

220 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

be found later in The New Inn* In this play the court of love is
formally organized with Prudence as "queen-regent" and "sov-
ereign of love" and "of the day's sport" (I, 1, p. 348; II, 2, p.
355; IT, 2, p. 365; etc.). Frances is called before the court on
charge of heresy in love; Level as appellant tells the "infidel"
what love is: the refractory lady follows the usual formula of re-
penting, and suggests the possible penance of a pilgrimage to
Love's image to say penitential verses "out of Chaucer's Troilus
and Cressid" or of making offering at the shrine of Venus; and
finally the Queen commands the culprit to forfeit a kiss (III, 2).
Though the trial before the court of love is usually described as
legal, Jonson in The New Inn has made it conform more closely
to the trial by combat before the ecclesiastical court, and the oaths
taken by Lovel are parodies of the combatant's oaths, as Gifford
and Tennant point out.2 Indeed, the whole trial in The New Inn,
with the talk of heresy, penances, etc., echoes the ecclesiastical, and
is merely an extension of the many court of love parodies of ritual-
istic ceremonies. Moreover, Level's description of his passions
and pains in love (I, 1) and the elaborate analysis of love that
he makes before the court (III, 2) have many points suggestive
of the rules of love as given in court of love poems, though
Level's analysis often follows the tradition not of Ovid but of
Plate.3 The later argument before the "sovereign of Love" (IV,
3, pp. 373 ff.) on Valour is more like the discussion of set themes
engaged in by groups of the courtly in their pastimes. Finally,
in V, 1 (p. 380), Frances promises that, if her love speeds, she
will use her fortunes reverently and religiously, and adds :

Love and his mother,

I'll build them several churches, shrines, and altars,
And over head I'll have, in the glass windows,
The story of this day be painted, round,
For the poor laity of love to read:
I'll make myself their book, nay, their example,
To bid them take occasion by the forelock,
And play no after-games of love hereafter.

1Cf. Prof. Fletcher's discussion in Journal of Comparative Literature,
1903, pp. 131-135, and Mr. Tennant's introduction to his edition of The
New Inn, pp. Ivi-lxii.

2Cf. pp. 199 f. supra for Jonson's preceding use of these oaths.
8Cf. pp. xliv-xlix of Tennant's introduction to The New Inn.

Cynthia's Revels 221

There can be no question that Frances is here describing the usual
temple or palace of Love in the court of love poems, one of the
commonest features of which was the symbolic paintings. In
The Court of Love (11. 229 ff.),

The temple shoon witn windows all of glas,
Bright as the day, with, many a fair image;

and there are depicted the stories of Dido and Aeneas, of Arcite
and Anelida, and of many who suffered martyrdom for love.1

That social groups organized primarily for the discussion of
love existed in essence if not with the formality indicated in Jon-
son's satire,, is not to be doubted. Castiglione's Courtier, Gas-
coigne's Adventures of Master F. I., Lyly's Euphues, Greene's
Tritameron of Love, E uphues, his Censure to Philautus, and
Mourning Garment, Lodge's Margarite of America, and various
other works written between 1580 and 1600 show groups of the
courtly at social gatherings discussing phases of love and of char-
acter, and often organizing with a presiding officer for the purpose.2

1Prof. Fletcher in The Journal of Comparative Literature, 1903, pp.
120 ff., has shown that under Charles I Platonic love became the fad of
the courtly and that The New Inn is one of the early works which voices
the new passion. It is an interesting fact that in this play, along with
conceptions antagonistic to the court of love tradition, Jonson has used
the court of love setting in its clearest form. Prof. Fletcher also points
out the fact that the attitude of James I to women was scornful while
that of Charles I was romantic, and that as a result the idealization of
women under the cult of Platonic love gained prominence in the reign of
Charles. In this connection it may be worth noting that, whereas in
The Silent Woman and The Demi is an Ass, written during the reign of
James, the groups of women organized for social power are used for the
bitterest satire on the vices of the sex, The New Inn, early in the reign
of Charles, comes as near as Jonson could come to idealizing love, — and
that through the conventional organization which even before Elizabeth
died had been used in Cynthia's Revels for satire. It is true that under
Elizabeth an idealization of love through the application of Platonic
ideas is met with in Spenser and Sidney. Cf. Prof. Fletcher's article,
"Did Astrophel Love Stella?" Mod. Phil., Vol. V, pp. 253 if. But by the
time of Cynthia's Revels such an ideal had probably degenerated into a
popular fad which had become the property of the vicious. If the honor
paid to the Virgin Queen had much to do with the vogue of the cult of
chivalric love, doubtless the flippancy of the Queen aided in making the
cult merely a sham.

2Cf. Bond's Works of Lyly, Vol. II, pp. 162 ff. and 522. See also Vol.
I, p. 412 for a challenge at a tilt in which it is maintained that
is worse than hate." A question of love casuistry, "whether riches were
better than loue," formed the theme of an entertainment in^ the tr
Henry VIII, in which "two persones plaied a dialog" and "six kmghtes
fought a fair battail." See Brotanek, Die engl. Maskmspiele, p. 86.

222 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

It is hardly to be questioned, also, that gallants in England af-
fected these debates in their gatherings as they did many other
conventions of medieval love and gallantry. There is scarcely a
phase of Eenaissance love poetry influenced by the Italian and
French that is not steeped in the spirit of the medieval court of
love conceptions, and, if this poetry itself can not be taken as
evidence on the point, the satires and such plays as Cynthia's
Revels leave little doubt that the manners and fads connected with
the court of love were often followed in actual life.

For the beginning of Jonson's interest in the machinery of the
court of love we must go back to Cynthia's Revels. Here are sug-
gested practically all the court of love elements that appear in the
later plays, and even more; but they are mingled with so many
other phases of allegory and are touched so vaguely that one is in
perpetual doubt as to their origin. Cynthia's Revels indicates an
extensive knowledge of the more general literary conventions of
the court of love, though I can point out no single work preceding
the play which might have furnished Jonson his material. So far
as I know, certain English poems, or French poems translated
into English, serve best to illustrate the court of love elements in
Cynthia's Revels. Thus The Romaunt of the Rose, published in
Chaucer's works, and Les Echecs Amoureux, a part of which
makes up Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte, reveal the treatment
of court of love ideas with the addition of new motives and ma-
chinery in the interest of allegory; and they deal with the con-
ventions much in the free way of Jonson. These two poems with
The Court of Love and other pseudo- Chaucerian pieces would fur-
nish a sufficient basis for much of Jonson's allegory. It is not
probable that Jonson knew Lydgate's poem, as it had not been
published in 1600, but much of the pseudo-Chaucerian literature
was of course familiar to him through Thynne's Stew's, or
Speght's edition of Chaucer. Indeed, it is probable enough that
Speght's edition in 1598, with its large number of court of love
poems, influenced Cynthia's Revels directly.

In attempting to point out the kinship between Jon son's play
and court of love conventions, I have chosen to instance, on ac-
count of their cumulative value, many very slight or questionable
parallels as well as some important ones. At the outset I should
like to express my indebtedness to Professor Neilson's Origins and

Cynthia's Revels 223

Sources of the Court of Love. For the material outside of the
works that are readily accessible to the English student, I have
been forced to rely entirely on the analyses which he gives of the
court of love poems.

Cynthia's Revels opens with the coming of Cupid to practice in
disguise in Diana's court, a motive that I shall mention later. He
meets Mercury, who has been sent on an errand quite in keeping
with the spirit of the court of love — to allow Echo to express her
passion for Narcissus. To Mercury Cupid explains the occasion
with the words : "Diana, in regard of some black and envious;
slanders hourly breathed against her, for her divine justice on
Acteon . . . hath here in the vale of Gargaphie, proclaimed a
solemn revels ... in which time it shall be lawful for all sorts
of ingenious persons to visit her palace, to court her nymphs, to'
exercise all variety of generous and noble pastimes." In addition,.
Diana is to justify herself. The Acteon charge, however, plays m>
real part in the plot, and the court is in complete possession of
the amorous gallants and nymphs until Diana's appearance in the-
last act.

Since Cynthia's Revels is a compliment to Elizabeth, the court
is that of Diana, and Jonson has had to modify the situation so as
to allow the court of love group to enter. The association of Diana
with the court of love as in Cynthia's Revels is not unusual, how-
ever. Naturally, in certain of the poems that bring out the con-
trast between love and cold chastity, the court of Diana and that
of Venus or Cupid both appear. The contrast of course is in-
evitable. Thus in Douglas's Police of Honour, the poet — who first
sees Acteon torn by the hounds, suggestive enough of the charges
against Diana mentioned at the opening of Cynthia's Revels—
views the court of Diana and next of Venus as they pass to the
Palace of Honor. In Lydgate's Reson and Sensually te and in its
source, Les Echecs Amoureux, Diana appeals to the poet against
Venus and her court, but the poet proceeds, notwithstanding, to
the "Garden of Deduit." The temples of both Diana and Venus
are described in Chaucer's Knightes Tale, as in Boccaccio. Again
in The Flower and the Leaf, Diana leads the virtuous court, and
the followers of Flora represent types of idleness and folly, a con-
trast of groups which we find in Cynthia's Revels. Very naturally
the tendency to exalt chastity in the figure of Diana, even in

224 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

literature utilizing the court of love machinery, became more strik-
ing during the reign of the Virgin Queen.1

In the opening scene, covering the first act, the setting is ap-
propriate for the court of love. The place is a grove containing
the fountain of Narcissus, or Self -Love. The dream setting that
is so popular in connection with the court of love is always de-
scribed elaborately as a garden with trees, birds, fountains, streams,
etc. In Le Roman de la Rose the court is set in a meadow with
trees and fountains, and the Fountain of Love, fatal to Narcissus,
is described in detail, the story of Narcissus and Echo being re-
hearsed also. Guillaume de Lorris has explained the power of this
fountain to make all who look in it fall in love as fully as Jonson
in Cynthia's Revels has described its power to make all who drink
of it dote upon themselves. In a number of other poems, the
fountain is associated with the court of love, as Narcissus often
is.2 Of the poems that I know, the one most suggestive of con-
ventionality in Jonson's handling of the fountain is Lydgate's
Reson and Sensuallyte. In warning the poet against the Garden
of Deduit, Diana tells of the poisonous fountains (11. 3804 if.).
Some of them are "ful of sorwe and dool" to him who drinks of
them, and others cause one who looks in to be ravished with his
own image (11. 3825-3846). She especially speaks of Narcissus as
a victim of the enchanted wells, and later a long description is
given of the well of Narcissus and of its marvels (11. 5659-5790).
The description is favorable in point of view, the water being
praised for its clearness, its pleasing taste, and its incomparable
sweetness of odor (11. 5735 ff.). So Amorphus first and the other
gallants later praise the water of the Fountain of Self-Love
(Cynthia's Revels, I, 1, p. 153 and IV, 1, p. 181).

At the end of the first scene, the traveler Amorphus appears at
the well, drinks of its water, falls even more inordinately in love
with himself, and then passes on to the court, where later his praise
of the well puts the other courtiers into a fever of impatience till

xCf. Neilson, Origins and Sources of the Court of Love, p. 266.

2Cf. Le Dit de la Fontaine Amoureuse; Deschamp's Le Lay du Desert
d' Amours; L' Hospital d' Amours. Cf. also Prof. Neilson's index under
Narcissus. In 1572 a play called Narcissus was acted before Elizabeth.
Cf. Feuillerat, Documents relating to the Office of the Revels in the Time
of Queen Elizabeth, p. 145. Possibly some details that afterward filtered
into Cynthia's Revels met here. The academic Narcissus of 1601-2 has a
number of conventional details in common with Cynthia's Revels.

Cynthia's Revels 225

they also drink of its water. In the second act, which opens at
the court, Hedon and Anaides enter devising compliments and
oaths for the presence of their mistresses,, an exercise which at
least contains a hint of the lover's duty to study means of honor-
ing and complimenting his lady. Later in this scene somewhat
closer parallels begin. Amorphus leads Asotus into the court,
telling him that he is "now within the regard of the presence,"
and begins to instruct him, among other things, how he must
practice the face of the courtier elementary, "one but newly en-
tered, or as it were in the alphabet, or ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la of court-
ship." Later the four court nymphs appear: Moria, the guar-
dian of the nymphs, whose life has been given to court gallantry
and pretence to wit; Argurion, "of a most wandering and giddy
disposition," who will "run from gallant to gallant"; Philautia,
proud and self-centered; and Phantaste, fickle and wavering. In
another scene (IV, 1), the nymphs' interest in love comes out.
Moria's great wish is to know all secret scandal; Philautia's, to
have sovereignty over many lovers; and Phantaste's, to be all
kinds of creatures and prove all kinds of suitors.1 Act III dis-
covers Amorphus consoling Asotus for his first failure in court-
ship and warning him that audacity is needed. After further in-
structions (III, 1 and 3), Amorphus brings Asotus into the pres-
ence of the ladies, and bids him woo Argurion (IV, 1). Asotus
addresses himself to her immediately. Meanwhile Cupid has shot
his arrows into Argurion's breast, and she becomes enamored of
him, promising to reward him on condition that he be "faithful
and kind" to her. Then follow certain courtly games, and at the
end Hedon sings of the kiss and Amorphus of his mistress's glove.
The details cited from these four acts are all dimly suggestive
of court of love poetry. Amorphus's office as guide and in-
structor of the newly introduced lover is usually held by a woman,
though in Die Minneburg men have the function. In The Court
of Love, the lover at his entrance is met by Philobone, the Queen's
chamberer. A part of Philobone's instruction is that it is "hot

aln some respects Philautia and Phantaste are repeated in Frances,
the central figure of the court of love in The New Inn. Of her it is
said that she "hath an ambitious disposition to be esteemed the mistress
of many servants, but love none" (Argument, p. 337), and that she is
"phantastical : thinks nothing a felicity but to have a multitude of ser-
vants, and be called mistress by them" ( Characterism, p. 339). Frances,
however, is not sensual but Platonic.

226 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

corage" which "spedeth" in the affairs of the court. The lover's
first wooing is a failure, but later Kosial relents, charging him
to keep the statutes. In The Romaunt of the Rose, L'Amant, enter-
ing the garden, is invited by Courtesy to join the revelers, among
whom is the God of Love, though not in disguise ; and Love shoots
L'Amant with his arrows (11. 1714 ff.). The various allegorical
characters are described as in Cynthia's Revels and The Court of
Love. The poem, however, passes into a long account of contest
unlike the simple story of one failure followed by quick accep-
tance of the recruit which we find in Cynthia's Revels. In Reson
and Sensually te, the Garden of Deduit is especially described as
a place where games are played, and the lover's pursuit of his
mistress takes the form of a game of chess. Other slight general
parallels to court of love poetry might be given, but to note any of
them is worth while only on account of the additional indication
of kinship that they furnish.

The four nymphs with their veiled sensuality and their hinted
organization suggestive of later colleges are unlike anything in the
poems just cited. A number of court of love poems show such ele-
ments, however. The Romaricimontis Concilium, in which an
assembly of ladies is held for the discussion of love, suggests this
group.1 "The doorkeeper was that Sibilia who had been a soldier
of Venus from her tender years, and had without reluctance done
whatever Love commanded," a description that fits Moria admir-
ably. The name Sibilia itself seems appropriate to a woman, like
Moria, of somewhat advanced years. Moria' s function as "guar-
dian," however, is nearer that of a presiding officer, and in this
respect she corresponds to the cardin-alis domina of this poem,
In reply to the cardinalis domina, who had been sent by the God
of Love "to inquire into the lives of those who were present,"
"Elisabet de Granges rose and stated that they served Love as well
as they could. 'Nothing that he wishes displeases us, and if we
neglect anything, it is unwittingly. Thus we choose to keep no
regular bond with any man, nor do we know any unless he be of
our order.' "2 The utterances of Philautia and Phantaste suggest
ideals akin to those of Elisabet, The rest of the poem, with its

1Here and elsewhere I quote from Prof. Neilson's analyses of the poems.
2From much of the court of love literature one would gather that the
rules of fidelity applied to lover rather than to mistress.

Cynthia's Revels 227

debate on clerks and knights as lovers, does not concern us except
in the parody of the ritual to be mentioned later.

The long fifth act of Cynthia's Revels introduces the most com-
plicated elements of Jonson's allegory, and especially the mock
duello of the second scene shows interesting traces of court of love
conventions. The Quarto of Cynthia's Revels, published in 1601,
lacks a large part of this last act, so that much of the material
most valuable for our purpose cannot with certainty be ascribed
to the period of Jonson's work with which we are concerned. I
have disregarded this fact, however, for I believe that the longer
form was the original form, or at least was earlier than Poetaster.
In the section omitted from the Quarto occurs the mock duello
with the challenge at the four weapons of courtly ceremony; only
here do Mistress Downfall and her husband appear; and here the
hostility of the courtiers to Crites is treated most fully. This
omitted section has apparently the bitterest personal satire, also,
and the most daring attacks on the pastimes of the court. It is
not inherently probable, I think, that this part was written after
Poetaster, for Mistress Downfall furnishes a first study for the
character of Chloe, and the efforts of the pseudo-gallants and
poetasters to disgrace Crites foreshadow the hostility to Horace.
SaUromastix (11. 1654 f.) also contains a possible hint that the
omitted portion of Cynthia's Revels had appeared on the stage be-
fore Dekker's play was written. Tucca, in bullying Horace's
parasite, Asinius Bubo, asks him if he will fight, and calling for-
ward his own boy, — who apparently has a number of weapons, as
he entered "laden with swords and bucklers," — says to Asinius, "I
challenge thee thou slender Gentleman, at foure sundrie weapons/'
This may be merely a bit of absurdity, but the whole scene is a
burlesque on Jonson, and in this point we may have a hit at Jon-
son's "four choice and principal weapons" of courtship.1

The scene of Cynthia's Revels in which the duello occurs (V, 2)
opens with Amorphus still instructing his novice Asotus prepara-
tory to making him "master in the noble and subtile science of
courtship" (IV, 1, p. 182). Amorphus instructs him in the three
ways of giving the dor by wearing of colors, and in such "im-

xBut cf. Mod. Lang. Pull., Vol. XIII (1898), p. Ill, for a challenge at
ten weapons given by George Silver and narrated in his Paradoxes of
Defence, 1599.

228 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

brocatas in courtship" as the bitter bob in wit. During the dis-
cussion of colors Amorphus lays down for the guidance of Asotus
the general principle that "it is the part of every obsequious ser-
vant, to be sure to have daily about him copy and variety of colours,
to be presently answerable to any hourly or half-hourly change in
his mistress's revolution." Then master and novice pass on to
the assembly where the duello occurs. It will be noticed that the
duello is organized in many respects as a court of love, though
numerous other conventions that enter in obscure the relation.
Morphides acts as doorkeeper, or porter. A citizen and his wife
press for entry, and the wife, Mistress Downfall, is admitted, but
the citizen is told, "Husbands are not allowed here, in truth"
(V, 2, p. 186). Amorphus, grandmaster of the ceremony, then
distributes gloves as "properly accommodate to the nuptials of my
scholar's haviour to the lady Courtship"; the challenge of Asotus
is read, with the announcement of the weapons and the prizes;
and Mori a, who is later succeeded by Philautia and Phan taste, is
throned in state as "lady sentinel." After a slight delay, Crites
enters introducing Mercury, disguised as a Frenchman, to answer
the challenge. Amorphus himself engages the monsieur at the
four chosen weapons of courtly grace. At the end of each contest,
the judges, Hedon and Anaides, give their decision, and the "lady
sentinel" announces the prize. In preparation for the third bout,
a tailor, a barber, a perfumer, etc. are introduced, — and of course
one receives a beating, — and the contestants bedeck themselves
elaborately on the stage as a burlesque on the array of the fash-
ionable gallant. In connection with the perfume, Mercury signifi-
cantly quotes,

May it ascend, like solemn sacrifice,
Into the nostrils of the Queen of Love!

During the closing trial at courtship, Amorphus by changing
colors with the change of mistress attempts to give Mercury the
dor, but, as Mercury is playing without colors, Amorphus himself
is disgraced. Finally Crites and Anaides engage in one test, and
Anaides is flouted.

The whole description in this scene is filled with technical terms
that belong to the art of the duello, as Gifford points out, so that
the most obvious parody is of course that of the duel. The pro-
cedure, however, is a dramatization of the rules of courtship, tak-

Cynthia's Revels 229

ing the form apparently of a burlesque on contemporary customs
of gallants. A possible source for such a combination in satire
will be taken up later.1 The connection of the duello with the
court of love is not conventional so much as natural, and for
Jonson the substitution of a form of trial by combat for the ordi-
nary trial of lovers before the court of love meant no more, per-
haps, than the association of kindred things. Closely related always
to court of love allegory is romance, with its chivalric exalta-
tion of women and with its tiltings, tourneys, and various forms of
combat. In The Flower and the Leaf, there is jousting between
the knights of Diana. In Le Roman de la Rose, romance has en-
tered into the allegory, and battle after battle is described in
terms of chivalry as symbolic of courtship. In Thibaut's Roman
de la Poire (Neilson, pp. 56, 57), after an arming suggestive of
the elaborate dressing and perfuming of Amorphus and Mercury,
there is a tournament between the traitors and those loyal to love.
The last two poems, however, represent the combat as a conflict
between love and other forces rather than as a trial of skill in
courtship. Such also are the battles in Dunbar's Golden Targe,
Huon de Mery's Tornoiement d'Antechrist, etc. But in Florance
et Blanche flor (Neilson, pp. 36, 37) the knight-versus-clerk debate
is settled by a combat between two champions, the nightingale and
the parrot.

With the trouvere jeu parti of the puys d'amour in Northern
France we have a much closer approach in form to the duel scene
of Cynthia's Revels. Professor Neilson describes such a contest in
part as follows (p. 24-6) :

After mass and the singing of sacred music, the crowd entered a hall.
On an elevation sat the president, the judges, and other important per-
sons. Hymns to the Virgin, love songs, and finally jeux partis were
presented to the audience; the subjects of these last being the passion
of love and the duties of marriage. One poet gave the challenge, an-
other took it up, and sometimes three, rarely four, engaged in the contest,
the challenger naming a judge. Sometimes each side named a judge, and
rarely there were three. These gave the decisions, the crowd merely
looking on; and crowns of flowers or of silver were awarded to the win-
ners, who gained thus the privileges of ( 1 ) being called "Sire," etc.

We have in Cynthia's Revels the presiding officer and the judges,
*Cf. pp. 233, 234 infra.

230 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

the awarding of prizes, etc., and Asotus challenges in order to win
the rank of "master." It may be that such courtly procedure as
that of the jeux partis was carried into the fashionable duello.
Undoubtedly the love conventions of the Middle Ages influenced
customs and literature in the Renaissance far more penetratingly
than we can ever determine.

Much of the duel scene in Cynthia's Revels is suggestive of the
rules for behavior in ]ove. The resemblances here, however, are
perhaps no more striking than in the earlier scenes of this play or
in Brisk' s courtship of Saviolina. We can hardly with confidence
say more than that in the worship of woman growing out of
chivalry, an elaboration of dress and manners as suitable for win-
ning her favor became customary in the Renaissance and was
often emphasized by gallants with an affectation that reminds us
of rules of love in the Middle Ages. The statement of Amorphus
that the lover must "be presently answerable to any hourly or half-
hourly change in his mistress's revolution" gives the fundamental
law of a lover's devotion to his mistress in court of love poetry.
In The Court of Love there are such expressions as

Thou mayst no wyse hit taken to disdayn,
To put thee humbly at her ordinaunce (11. 374 f.),
and

Give her sovereintee,
Her appetyt folow in all degree ( 11. 433 f . ) .

Similar expressions occur in Ovid and in most of the medieval
writers on love. The "scholar's haviour" is of course the impor-
tant thing. In The Court of Love, again, the eleventh statute
demands that the lover know signs with eye and finger, soft smiles,
low coughs, and sighs — conventions of flirtation which are empha-
sized in the prizes of Cynthia's Revels. The eighteenth statute of
the same poem urges that the lover

Be jolif, fresh, and fete, with thinges newe,
Courtly with maner, this is all thy due,
Gentill of port, and loving clenlinesse ( 11. 473 ff . ) .

Le Roman de la Rose is more explicit, mentioning good dress,
merriment, riding, pursuit of arms, singing, dancing, playing
musical instruments, making "songes and complayntes," bestowing
gifts, etc. (11. 2254: ff. of the Chaucerian translation), so that we

Cynthia's Revels 231

have here authority for all the devices in the courtship of Brisk
and of the gallants in Cynthia's Revels. But the Italian courtesy
books, which probably influenced Elizabethan customs far more
than did the laws of chivalry, give much the same rules of gal-
lantry. Castiglione, for example, mentions practically all the
points of Le Roman de la Rose, and a great many more, though he
is careful to condemn excesses and affectation.1 It is sufficiently
obvious, however, that Jonsoii needed only to go to life to get the
whole foundation for this part of his satire.

In the weapons and the prizes of the duello we have a type of
symbolism popular in a number of court of love poems. The four
allegorical weapons of Cynthia's Revels — the Bare Accost, the Bet-
ter Eegard, the Solemn Address, and the Perfect Close — as paro-
dies of modes of behavior in courtship recall the personified graces
of manner in the court of love of Le Roman de la Rose, found fre-
quently elsewhere in court of love poetry. They are especially sug-
gestive of Bel Acueil, Dous Kegart, Dous Parler, etc. The prizes
in Cynthia's Revels are "two wall-eyes in a face forced," "a face
favorably simpering, with a fan waving," "two lips wagging, and
never a wise word," "a wring by the hand, with a banquet in a
corner." Besides, members of the court make wagers of a "Dis-
cretion." Like symbolism is found, according to Mr. Neilson's
analyses, in the Chaslel d' Amors, where proverbs serve as arrows,
evasions as bucklers, etc., and less extensively in Li Fablel dou
Dieu a" Amours, where "ditches were of sighs, the water was lov-
ers' tears," and youths in the palace played at chess with kisses for
prizes. In Jean de Conde's La Messe des Oisiaus, also, there is
an account of a banquet at the court of Venus, which is clearly of
the same genre as the prizes in Cynthia's Revels. It is described
in part by Professor Neilson as follows (p. 68) : "The courses
consisted of glances, smiles, and the like. . . . There was an
entremets of sighs and complaints. . . . Next came roasted
ramprones with sauce of jealousy, and prayers with sauce of tears.
Then were given to the ladies vessels filled with fair replies and
sweet favors. . . . Then the servants brought in a course to
appease the fever of love,— embrace and kisses," etc. A very sim-
ilar banquet occurs in Li Dis de la Fontaine d" Amours.

ifiut The Courtier itself, it will be remembered, is cast in the form
of one of the set discussions associated with the court of love customs.

232 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

A few other details from this duello scene that are possibly re-
lated to the court of love may be mentioned. The statement to
the citizen that husbands are not allowed at the assembly is ob-
viously sufficiently true to the spirit of all medieval rules of love,
and the fact that Downfall belongs to the citizen class makes his
exclusion all the more appropriate, as villains were commonly
denied entrance to the court of love.1 The old debate of clerk
versus knight that Professor Neilson calls attention to as occur-
ring so frequently in the early love poetry, also finds an echo, per-
haps, in Jonson's play, where Crites, the scholar, aided by Mer-
cury, the god of wit, is set in opposition to courtiers, or knights,
who attempt to disgrace him. The conflict between the two ideals
is perennial. It is seen in various Italian courtesy books, in
Sapho and Phao (I, 2 and 3), and between scholar and soldier on
the one hand and courtier on the other in The Coblers Prophesie.
The use of color, again, is stressed in court of love poetry, but
colors in medieval times are too general in their significance to
have any especial meaning for the idea of giving the dor by change
of colors.2 This part of Jonson's scene scarcely does more, per-
haps, than point out the elaboration and emphasis given to such
trifles among the courtly in the closing years of the sixteenth cen-
tury.

To the classic conception of Eros and Anteros is due the mask-
ing of Cupid as Anteros before Diana in V, 3. The contrast takes
a different form in the court of love poems but one rather kindred
in spirit. In Le Roman de la Rose Cupid has two types of
arrows in his quiver, one favorable and one unfavorable to true
love. It is a familiar conception, as Professor Neilson points
out (p. 54). A similar treatment is that of the exchange of
arrows between Love and Death and Cupid's amazement at the
result of his shafts.3 Out of such conceptions doubtless springs
the motive in Cynthia's Revels of Cupid's inability to wound with
arrows of love those who have drunk of the Fountain of Self-Love

aCf. The Romaunt of the Rose, 11. 1998 ff. and Neilson, pp. 24 and 36.

2In Love's Labour's Lost (V, 2) the ladies, masked, change favors,
so that each of the lovers, also disguised, courts the wrong lady and is
put to shame.

3Cf. Barnfield's Affectionate Shepherd. Neilson (pp. 261, 262) traces
the idea to Lemaire des Beiges.

Cynthia's Revels 233

and his chagrin at his failure.1 Mercury twits him by saying that
it was ominous for him to assume the name of Anteros, since the
properties of his arrows were apparently changed to suit the char-
acter he personated. In Le Roman de la Rose one of the arrows
unfavorable to love is named Orgueil, or Pride.

Finally, Cynthia's Revels closes with a palinode that is an adap-
tation of the English ritual. Such parodies were usual, of course,
but the parody of all religious rites was especially associated
with the praise of love and the worship of Venus in the court of
love poetry — for example, the matins in The Court of Love. Jon-
son's palinode does not deal with love, however, and the immediate
suggestion for it perhaps did not come from court of love poetry.

In regard to the challenge which Amorphus reads in V, 2, Gif-
ford comments: "This bill is a parody on one of the licences
formerly granted by masters of defence to their pupils, when they
were supposed to be properly qualified for taking either of their
three degrees in the fencing-school, viz., a master's, a provost's, or
a scholar's: indeed, the whole of this scene is a burlesque imita-
tion of these public trials of skill in the 'noble science of defence' "
(p. 186). Toward the close of the sixteenth century several
famous works on fencing were translated into English, especially
Grassi's True Arte of Defence; and Saviolo's Practise appeared in
1595. The seven modes of giving the .lie in As You Like It (V,
4) are usually connected with Saviolo's work. This scene in
Shakespeare's play, with its parody of the procedure of fencing
and its mockery of technical terms, as in the Eetort Courteous,
the Countercheck Quarrelsome, etc., is a forerunner of Jonson's
scene.2 The Old Law, again, in III, 2, makes use of the duello
for satire on rivalry in the gallantries of courtship, and on ac-
count of the probability that the play in some form was acted in
1599 and hence the possibility that this scene preceded Cynthia's
Revels, I shall point out some likenesses. Lysander, the old hus-
band in The Old Law, jealous of his wife's courtly young lovers,

*Cf. p. 242 infra for his inability to wound Crites and Arete.

2Miss Marietta Neff of the University of Chicago, in a paper written
at my suggestion on the court of love influence on Cynthia's Revels,
first called my attention to this. It is noted by Fleay, Biog. Chron.
Eng. Drama, Vol. I, p. 365. Miss Neff pointed out, also, some of the
parallels between Jonson's play and court of love poetry. I make this
general acknowledgment, for at this time it is impossible for me to
tell just what details I may owe to her.

234 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

engages masters for dancing, riding, and fencing, and devotes his
time to the acquirement of gallant accomplishments. While he is
at practice with the dancing-master, his rivals appear, and Ly-
sander challenges them,

Bring forth the weapons, we shall find you play;

And these the weapons, drinking, fencing, dancing.

Lysander plays the three gallants in turn, they choosing their
weapons, and overthrows each. The drinking suggests the drink-
ing bout of Every Man out, and the dancing is nearest to the
duello of Cynthia's Revels in the display of accomplishments. In
these bouts at drinking and dancing, as in Cynthia's Revels, duel-
ling terms are used for the whole procedure, and those who stand
by comment on the antagonists much as the courtiers of Cynthia's
Revels do. There are naturally a number of unimportant verbal
resemblances between the two scenes, but a few parallels are more
significant. For example, when Amorphus is given the dor at
the end, Anaides exclaims, "Heart of my blood, Amorphus, what
have you done? stuck a disgrace upon us all, and at your last
weapon. . . . D — n me, if he have not eternally undone him-
self in court, and discountenanced us" (pp. 193 f.). In The Old
Law, also, the scene concludes with the heaviest disgrace of the
series. When Lysander proffers Simonides the final glass in the
drinking bout, saying "Here's long-sword, your last weapon," and
Simonides is forced to beg off, the First Courtier says, "Why, how
now, Sim? bear up, thou shamest us all, else," and the Second
Courtier cries, "Out ! the disgrace of drinkers I"1

Akin to the court of love influence on Jonson's play is that of
the nrythological comedy which became popular in the last quarter
of the sixteenth century, and which undoubtedly furnished a strong
impulse toward Jonson's use of allegory and mythology in
Cynthia's Revels. The presence of gods interfering in the affairs
of men is a part of the court of love machinery that probably in-

xln The Masque of Flowers, 1614, there is a double antimasque in the
form of a duel between Silenus and Kawasha, "tried at two weapons, at
song and at dance," Silenus maintaining that "wine is more worthy than
tobacco." Cf . Evans, English Masques, pp. 100 ff. Here we meet Jon-
son's duello in a classic form, the contest in song. Similar in spirit, of
course, was the pastoral contest in song. In Midas (IV, 1), a play that
is akin to Cynthia's Revels in a number of features, there is a contest
between Pan and Apollo in singing love songs.

Cynthia's Revels 235

fluenced Jonson, but the convention is even more conspicuous in
this group of mythological plays. The type of play doubtless arose
in part from the popularity of pageant and masque, for in both,
mythological figures early became prominent and readily assumed
symbolic significance through their appropriateness to a special
occasion. A second important element in such pageantry was the
interest in cults of love. Typical instances of how the game of
love became the central theme of disguisings and pageants long
before the romantic drama of love developed may be given. Thus,
as early as 1501, in the "disguisings" in .celebration of the mar-
riage of Prince Arthur, Hope and Desire appear "as Ambassadors
from Knights of the Mount of Love5' unto certain ladies enclosed
in a castle, and are repulsed; the knights themselves appear and
win the ladies by assaulting the castle ; and the eight ladies dance,
four in Spanish and four in English garb.1 The friendly group of
English and Spanish ladies here furnishes an interesting con-
trast to the hostile groups of English and Spanish knights bal-
anced in The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London towards
the end of the century. Again, in a tournament held at the
coronation of Henry VIII, there are knights of Pallas serving the
king, who are challenged by knights of Diana "come to feats of
armes, for the love of ladies."2 In 1527, a masque of eight boys
led by Cupid and Plutus, and eight maidens, or goddesses, with
Mercury as presenter, was shown before the king.3 The presence
of Cupid and Mercury, the latter as messenger of Jupiter and
presenter of the masque, reveal's the conventionality of Jonson's
mythological machinery in the masques of Cynthia's Revels. In-
deed, Mercur}r, Venus, Cupid, Diana, and Pallas, so frequently
met in court of love poems, are met in many sixteenth century
masques as conventional figures symbolizing conceptions of the
cult of love.4 Towards the middle of Elizabeth's reign apparently,

JSee Collier, English Dramatic Poetry, Vol. I, pp. 58 ff. Brotanek, Die
englischen Maskenspiele, pp. 26 ff. and 325 f., points out a number of
parallels in sixteenth century entertainments, and traces the extension
of the idea of the siege.

2See Traill, Social England, Vol. Ill, p. 157.

3The masque is described by Einstein, The Italian Renaissance in Eng-
land, pp. 77, 78. Prof. Einstein draws his account from Brewer s Henry
VIII.

4Cf. Collier, English Dramatic Poetry, Vol. I, pp. 70, 183, etc.;
Brotanek, Die englischen Maskenspiele, pp. 49 if.; Feuillerat, Documents
relating to the Office of the Revels (see index) ; etc.

236 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

when playwrights were seeking far and wide something fresh for
their hybrid plays, and were willing to combine any elements, as
we see in Cambises, the plays written for the court naturally began
to make use of whatever features were popular with the courtiers.
Thus mythological figures, flattery of the Queen or great nobles,
as in the masque, and themes of pastoral love or of the more
formal courtly love, naturally turning often toward conventions of
courts of love, with which classic characters were already associ-
ated, were readily combined to form the mythological comedy.

The real prominence of the mythological comedy is due to Lyly.
Indeed, the indications of an interest in this type of play before
Lyly are slight. The Narcissus of 1572 already mentioned has a
title that would suggest a mythological play dealing primarily,
perhaps, with the fashionable cults of idealized love.1 But there
could scarcely have been many plays of the type before 1580.
Apparently the plays that had the vogue at this period were drawn
from the classics, from the heroic romance, or, according to Gos-
son, from the French and the Italian novel and play. But the
titles that have come down to us from this time, as well as the few
surviving plays, indicate that even the drama dealing with classic
themes was not mythological or symbolic, though doubtless it was
usually romantic.

Two plays, The Arraignment of Paris and The Rare Triumphs
of Love and Fortune, seem to be independent of Lyly if not
earlier. They both represent discord among the gods, naturally
a favorite theme of the mythological plays on account of the in-
fluence of classic epics, and each play also has the trial form, a
device used in Cynthia's Revels. The Arraignment of Paris may be
earlier than any of Lyly's mythological comedies.2 At any rate,
it lacks the satiric element that belongs to most of the later
mythological plays. The symbolic use of mythological characters
in order to flatter Elizabeth — though here, as in Gascoigne's
masque at Kenilworth, she is not Diana but the favorite of Diana;

xThe thunder and lightning and the hunting of the fox, however, — the
only details given in the accounts of the play (Feuillerat, Documents
relating to the Office of the Revels in the Time of Queen Elizabeth, pp.
141, 142), — do not suggest the type of play that we are dealing with.

2According to the latest authorities, Professors Bond and Feuillerat,
only Sapho and Phao among Lyly's mythological comedies could be as
early as The Arraignment of Paris, and of all Lyly's plays this seems to
me least like Peele's.

Cynthia's Revels 237

the presence of Mercury as a messenger; the suggestion of echo in
the song of Thestylis with its "shepherds' echo" (III, 2) ; the
numerous songs, pageants, and other masque-like elements; the
Lucianic quarrels of the goddesses (II, 1) ; and the hint of con-
flicting ideals in love, all mark the vague kinship between Peele's
play and Cynthia's Revels as a type of court drama. The Arraign-
ment of Paris is closer still to Lyly's plays than to Cynthia's
Revels on account of the presence of pastoral elements.

In The Rare Triumphs, where love is the primary theme, the in-
terest in classic and pastoral themes is not so evident. To all
appearances this play has neither symbolic flattery nor strongly
marked allegory, but it is still interesting because of its rather in-
dependent use of mythological elements in a somewhat conven-
tional form. The play combines a romantic love story with astro-
logical motives and a contest of the gods, a combination not unlike
that of Lyly's Woman in the Moon. In The Rare Triumphs, as a
result of the dispute among the gods, Mercury is dispatched to
bring "the ghosts of them that Love and Fortune slew/"' Though
these shades appear only in dumb-show, the function of Mercury
here is the same as in Cynthia's Revels, where he summons Echo
to earth to lament her fate and utter her love. At the end of
The Rare Triumphs Mercury is sent as an agent to effect the
union of the lovers. But the presence of Mercury in both plays of
course has little significance. Jonson in the induction to Cynthia's
Revels comments on the popularity of Mercury as a stage figure.
"Take any of our play-books without a Cupid or a Mercury in it,"
says the Third Child, "and burn it for an heretic in poetry."

The plays of Lyly and the mythological plays that follow him
make use of allegory for a study of manners, and so they become
of vital importance for Jonson. Personally Lyly must have been
inclined to this type of play through his interest in the classics,
through his position as a writer for the court and, consequently, his
attention to pageantry and symbolism, and finally through a bent
toward a combination of courtly elegance with didacticism and satire
as shown in Euphues. For most of his plays Lyly uses mythologi-
cal characters with an allegorical meaning. In Sapho and Phao,
Cupid, Venus, and Vulcan appear; in Gallathea, Cupid, Venus,
Diana, and Neptune; in Endimion, Cynthia and deities of second
rank; in Midas, Apollo, Pan, and Bacchus; in The Woman in'

238 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Cupid, etc.; and in Love's Metamor-
phosis. Cupid and Ceres. Comment has already been made on
The Woman in the Moon as embodying studies in character in-
clination which prepare for the humour types.'1 But in all these
plays there is a tendency to the portrayal of character under a
single abstraction, of which the name is often significant. This is
especially true of Lyly's women. Thus in his plays the mytholog-
ical machinery is used as a setting for a subtle study in manners,
and in spite of their romantic threads and their masque-like fea-
tures, his comedies show a strong satirical vein. It is this com-
bination of mythological elements with satire on manners that is
the notable characteristic of Cynthia's Revels.

The grouping of Lyly's characters, also, suggests Cynthia's
Revels strongly. The studies of detached individuals in Every
Man out are replaced in Cynthia's Revels by studies of fairly com-
pact groups — a group of gallants bound together by their social
aims, tastes, and customs, and a similar group of women who are
complements of each other as representatives of follies. Men had
been grouped in Jonson's earlier plays, though less harmoniously,
but Cynthia's Revels gives us his first satire on sets of fashion-
able women. The suggestion for such grouping Jonson may have
owed to Lyly. Lyly's plays lack the satire on gallants and their
frivolities that Jonson develops in his earlier comedies; the great
part of Lyly's satire is directed against women. In his delineation
of women with cultivated manners but with strong individual in-
clinations to fickleness, scorn, whimsicality, pride in wit, in fact,
all the qualities appropriate to women who give their attention to
the flirtations of courtly love, Lyly's plays stand fairly isolated in
the drama before Cynthia's Revels. His effective device of set-
ting women in contrast through the attention of each to some
particular fancy or inclination, while at the same time they remain
united in aim and in the worship of their common fashions and
frivolities, shows just the art of Jonson's play. The influence of
the medieval imagination thus continues in the two men. Distinc-
tions among the varied abstractions that make up well unified
groups in the allegory of the Middle Ages are clear enough,

*Cf. pp. 73, 74 supra. In some respects, also, Pandora under the in-
.fluence of Luna corresponds to Phantaste, and under the influence of
Jupiter to Philautia.

Cynthia's Revels 2391

whether these groups are the Seven Deadly Sins, the Daughters
of God, personifications with such names as Bel Acueil in court of
love poetry, or the virtues of Spenser's Faerie Queene.

The ladies and gallants of Cynthia's court in Endimion, ca.
1586, are not so consistently grouped in their entries and their
dialogues as are those of Cynthia's Revels. In Endimion the most
obvious division is into pairs of men or women as associates or
friends, the familiar device of the romantic play. There are, how-
ever, five men connected with the court, and a group of five women
balanced against them. The scornful Semele, in particular, is sug-
gestive of the scorn that springs from self-love in Philautia..
Tellus, with her passion and her crafty vengeance, and the wait-
ing women, Scintilla and Favilla, with their jealousy and their
sharpness of tongue, are more in the vein of Jonson's general
satire on women. The men of Endimion show little kinship to-
those of Jonson's play except in the relation of lover to mistress;
as fixed by court of love ideals. Eumenides is obsequious and
flattering in the presence of his lady, Semele, and suffers with true-
lover-like humility from her pert wit and affected scorn. En-
dimion is naturally full of despair in his love for the divine-
Cynthia. The exalted love of Endimion for Cynthia is akin in
spirit to the noble devotion of Crites to Arete, and contrasts with
the more sensual or artificial passion of the other characters in the
two plays. Possibly the allegory of both Lyly and Jonson involves
the distinction between the spiritualizing power of true chivalric
love and the decay of that love among its unworthy followers.1
But perhaps the most interesting link between Endimion and
Cynthia's Revels is the flattery of the Queen through the allegory
connected with Cynthia. Of course such flattery of Elizabeth is
frequent enough in the period, but Lyly's method of treatment is
closest to Jonson's. Both plays contain obvious allusions to the
isolation of the Maiden Queen in rank, wisdom, virtue, etc., and
in both Cynthia appears at the end as a judge and righter of
wrongs. The chief distinction is that Jonson's Cynthia is more
the queen than the goddess, while in Lyly's Cynthia the attributes

aMr. Long in Mod. Lang. Publ., March, 1909, pp. 164 ff., develops prac-
tically this idea. Bond, Works of Lyly, Vol. Ill, pp. 83 and 103, notes
the possibility of such allegory but slights it.

240 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

of the moon goddess prevail. In both plays, also, a magical foun-
tain appears as part of the machinery.1

The pastoral and silvan groups of Midas, Gallathea, Love's
Metamorphosis, and The Woman in the Moon, we may disregard;
only the courtly groups are significant for Jonson's plays. In
Midas the three courtiers who are contrasted as humour types are
grouped as councillors of Midas. They do not, however, like the
gallants of Cynthia's Revels, represent different types of fashion-
able follies; their bents are for gold, for war, and for love. The
court women are more suggestive of the women of Cynthia's
Revels. Sophronia in name and in character is akin to the vir-
tuous Arete. She stands for the higher ideals of the true court
life, though she does not hold aloof from the unworthy members
pi the court as Arete does. There is a group of four shallow court
ladies: Suavia, whose chief interest is love; Amerulla, fond of
stories, and accused of being bitter and spiteful; Camilla, given to
dancing ; and Ca3lia, who loves singing. In the variety of their
inclinations, in the common bent of all except Ca3lia toward court-
ship, and in their frank self-analysis, the group is suggestive of
the four court nymphs in Cynthia's Revels. The scene (III, 3)
given to the pastimes of the women, story telling and discussion
of love, is much in the manner of Cynthia's Revels. In I, 2,
Cilia's page gives a humorous account of his mistress with special
satire on her dress and ornaments, and the discussion here be-
tween the pages of a man and a woman recalls that in Cynthia's
Revels between Mercury and Cupid, one serving a gallant and the
other a lady, though Lyly's treatment is more burlesque. The
meeting of Pipenetta and the two pages is slightly suggestive of
the association of the pages Morus and Prosaites in Cynthia's
Revels with Gelaia, who is disguised as a page.

The whole spirit of the court in Midas is revealed in the stric-
tures of Martius, lover of war, on Eristus, a devotee of courtship
and gallantry, and on Mellacrites, a lover of money (II, 1, 11.
57 ff.) :

*Mr. Long's interpretation of the allegory in Endimion would perhaps
make the play more closely akin to Cynthia's Revels than I have indi-
cated. The characters, according to his interpretation of their allegori-
cal significance as vices and virtues, would in several cases correspond to
those of Jonson's play.

Cynthia's Revels 241

That greedines of Mellacrites, whose heart-stringes are made of Plutus
purse-stringes, hath made Mydas a lumpe of earth, that should be a god
on earth; and thy effeminate minde Eristus, whose eyes are stitcht on
Ccelias face, and thoughts gyude to her beautie, hath bredde in all the
court such a tender wantonnes, that nothing is thoght of but loue, a
passion proceeding of beastly lust, and coloured with a courtlie name of
loue. . . . Captaines . . . must account it more honorable, in the
court to be a cowarde, so rich and amorus, than in a campe to be valiant,
if poore and maimed. He is more fauoured that pricks his finger with
his mistres needle, then hee that breakes his launce on his enemies
face: and he that hath his mouth full of fair words, than he that
hath his bodie ful of deep scarres. If one be olde, & haue siluer haires
on his beard, so he haue golden ruddocks in his bagges, he must be
wise and honourable. If young and haue curled locks on his head, amarous
glaunces with his eyes, smooth speeches in his mouth, euerie Ladies lap
shalbe his pillow, euery Ladies face his glasse, euery Ladies eare a sheath
for his flatteries. . . . Hee is the man, that being let bloud caries
his arme in a scarfe of his mistres fauour, not he that beares his legge
on a stilt for his Countries safetie.

Sophronia, while admitting the charges of Martins, rebukes his
passion for war. and expresses her own ideals thus (II, 1, 11.
104 ff.) :

Let Phrygia be an example of chastitie, not luste; liberalise, not
couetousnes; valor, not tyrannic. I wish not your bodies banisht, but
your mindes, that my father and your king may be our honor, and the
worlds wonder. And thou, Ccelia, and all you Ladies, learn this of
Sophronia, that beautie in a minute is both a blossome and a blast:
Loue, a worme which seeming to Hue in the eye, dies in the hart. You
be all yong, and faire, endeuor all to be wise & vertuous.

In Cynthia's Revels (III, 2) Crites gives an analysis of the types
that haunt the court, while Arete urges patience on the ground that
Cynthia will sweep her court clean of all the follies that prevail.
There are few resemblances of detail between the situations in the
two plays, but the general contrast between the two ideals of
courtly life is similar. The wise Sophronia, the types of frivolous
women, the courtiers with their varied humours, the pages, the
light jests and pastimes, the keen interest in courtship, the coun-
tercurrent of seriousness, and the classic deities determining the
course of the action, furnish a combination of characters and
motives akin to that of Cynthia's Revels.

In Sapho and Phao there is another grouping of characters and
another combination of motives showing a vague kinship to

24:2 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

Cynthia's Revels. The gods controlling human affairs; the pages;
the contrast between scholar and courtier, with its dim foreshadow-
ing of that between Crites and the gallants of Jonson's plays;
courtly love as the central interest; the rules that Sybilla, in-
structress in love, gives Phao for winning the love of women; the
presence of Cupid armed with arrows that inspire love and some
that inspire disdain; and the group of six court ladies, with their
discussions of love and coquetry, their self -analysis, and their af-
fectation, pride, and flippancy, all belong to the conventions of the
narrower group of mythological comedies which includes Cynthia's
Revels.

The last of Lyly's plays to be considered is Gallathea, which
shows a different sort of resemblance to Cynthia's Revels. In
Gallathea Cupid comes to the court of Diana in disguise to prac-
tice on her nympljs, and finally is discovered, rebuked, and pun-
ished. In Cynthia's Revels Cupid's invasion of Diana's court is
treated similarly except that instead of being punished the pre-
sumptuous god is banished. Spenser takes up this motive in The
Faerie Queene (Bk. Ill, Canto vi), but does not carry it to the
same conclusion. When Cupid has been released in Gallathea,
Venus says, "Diana cannot forbid him to wounde," and Diana re-
plies, "Yes, chastitie is not within the leuell of his bowe" (V,
3, 11. 79, 80). In Cynthia's Revels, Cupid, having failed to wound
those who have drunk of the Fountain of Self-Love, tries the
virtue of his arrows on Crites, and again fails. Mercury explains
to the incredulous Cupid, " Arete' s favour makes any one shot-proof
against thee, Cupid" (Y, 3, p. 201). The idea here is very sug-
gestive of the immunity of the virtuous in The Faithful Shep-
herdess and Comus.

Outside of Lyly's work there are a few plays with mythological
elements that continue the study of manners in an allegorical
framework. Such are The C oilers Prophesie, Summer's Last Will
and Testament. Histriomastix, and Old Fortunatus. All four of
these are more or less satirical, and represent the conflict of vice
and virtue. Besides the general theme and plan, each one shows
in some details a slight similarity to Cynthia's Revels. Sum-
mer's Last Will and Testament and Histriomastix need not be
taken up here; a few minor resemblances between these plays and
Cynthia's Revels are discussed later in other connections. Old

Cynthia's Revels 243

Fortunatus shows the following vague resemblances to Jonson's
play, besides the fact that both open with an echo scene. The con-
flict between vice and virtue which underlies Cynthia's Revels is
in Dekker's play added to the Fortunatus legend. At the end of
IV, 1, indeed, Dekker's personified virtue is several times ad-
dressed as Arete, and like Jonson's Arete she is called divine.1
Both are scorned and neglected. The allegory embodied in For-
tunatus of an undeserving man's being endowed by Fortune with
wealth appears with Jonson in Argurion's love of Asotus. Asotus's
distribution of jewels and trinkets among the gallants of the court
(IV, 1) is paralleled in Old Fortunatus by Andelocia's gifts of
jewels and money at the court of England (III, 1). In fact, there
are a few details of Cynthia's Revels in which Jonson seems to be
glancing directly at the Fortunatus story. When Amorphus and
Asotus exchange hats (I, 1), Amorphus tells how his hat, which
Asotus regards ruefully because of its dilapidation, was secured in
Eussia and has marvelous magical powers. The wishing hat of
Fortunatus, which is described as an insignificant looking "coarse
felt hat" (II, 1, p. 319 and II, 2, p. 331), has been stolen out of
Babylon.2 In connection with these details certain general re-
semblances in character types may be mentioned. Fortunatus is
the traveler who delights to visit strange lands, as Amorphus is
the pretended traveler, praising travel and boasting of incredible
experiences. The two characters are quite dissimilar, however.
Agripyne represents the type of court lady that we find in Phi-
lautia and Phantaste. She is interested in discussions of love like
those of the academies (III, 1) and is scornful and pitiless toward
her lovers. In III, 1 (p. 340) she characterizes the typical court
lover much as Jonson does in Cynthia's Revels. Agripyne says
of women (pp. 340 f.) : "Our glory is to hear men sigh whilst
we smile, to kill them with a frown, to strike them dead with a
sharp eye, to make you this day wear a feather, and tomorrow a
sick nightcap. Oh, why this is rare, there's a certain deity in
this, when a lady by the magic of her looks, can change a man into
twenty shapes." Philautia wishes for "a little more command and

JCf. Cynthia's Revels, III, 2, p. 169, and Old Fortunatus, pp. 313, 360 f.
The page references for Dekker's play are to the volume of Dekker in
the Mermaid Series.

2In the older form of the Fortunatus story, waters with magical power,
suggestive of the fountain of Narcissus, play a part.

244 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

sovereignty . . . as if there were no other heaven but in my
smile, nor other hell but in my frown." Phantaste would affect
no lovers, except that she might "take pride in tormenting the poor
wretches/' but she wishes to "prove all manner of suitors, of all
humours, and of all complexions" (IV, 1, p. 173).

The Coolers Prophesie, already mentioned in connection with
The Case is Altered as important in the development of the stage
cobbler, has a few parallels to Cynthia's Revels. At the opening
of The Coolers Prophesie Mercury, on an errand from Jove, meets
Ceres, as he encounters Cupid in Cynthia's Revels. To Ceres he
explains that a synod of the gods has been called to consider the
evils that prevail in Bceotia, for Venus, or Lust, is followed by
all, Mars himself has become a reveler, and Cynthia bewails her
isolation in virtue. The play then proceeds to picture conditions
in Bceotia, presenting certain vicious types in contrast with vir-
tuous types. The treatment of neglected virtue centers around
the neglect of war, and thus the soldier is the principal type of
virtue. The scholar is secondary, but also neglected. Opposed to
the soldier and the scholar is the courtier type. The "little God"
Contempt (I, 2, 1. 216), or Olygoros as the scholar calls him, tak-
ing the name Content, holds sway over the characters who represent
evil. This supremacy of Contempt is similar in spirit to the
prevalence of self-love in the evil court group of Cynthia's Revels
as a result of drinking of the Fountain of Self-Love. Besides the
court of the Duke in The Coblers Prophesie, there is an especial
establishment of Venus, which is entered by the "dore of Dalli-
ance" (III, 1, 1. 41) and where there is a group of attendants,
Follie, Nicenes, Newfangle, Dalliance, and lealozie (III, 3), sim-
ilar in conception to Moria, Phantaste, Hedon, etc. of Cynthia's
Revels. The court of Venus in The Coblers Prophesie is nearer
to the court of love than is the group of Jonson's play, but the
spirit that prevails in the court of Venus is that of the evil court
in Cynthia's Revels. "Wiliness. wrong and wantonnes" are "at
libertie" (III, 3, 11. 651'.). Mars is as trim as a morrjs dancer,
and Venus devotes herself to dress, diet, wantonness, fancifulness,
etc. In the reform of the Duke's court, a priest offers a prayer
(V, 4) pledging the whole court to entertain humility, obedience,
love, and chastity in the place of pride, presumption, contempt,
and lust. The four virtues opposed to the four vices suggest the

Cynthia's Revels 245

balance of four virtues against four vices that is fundamental
throughout Cynthia's Revels. There is in The Coolers Prophesies
also,, an echo scene (IT, 1) in which the cobbler pursues Echo as
Amorphus does in Cynthia's Revels.

The kinship of this whole group of mythological plays includ-
ing Cynthia's Revels does not seem to be accidental, but apparently
shows a recognition on the part of the dramatists of certain rules
and limitations., themes and characters, as appropriate to the type.
Perhaps if we had the bulk of the dramatic work produced in the
last quarter of the sixteenth century, the plays of this type would
shade into each other with less perceptible differences, and the evo-
lution would be more obvious. The plays that have been taken up
also show a development of literary devices — medieval allegory of
courtship, court of love conventions, mythological machinery, etc. —
which led to a more and more successful satire on the special forms
of social evils dealt with. These plays emphasize, moreover, the
fact that, in a period when not all the resources of dramatic satire
had yet been realized, dramatists, even masters like Jonson, fell
back upon the art, the technique, the framework that had already
proved successful.

The meeting of Mercury and Cupid, though it has been com-
pared with the opening of some of the mythological plays, is drawn
from Lucian, as Gifford points out. Its chief function is to allow
Cupid and Mercury to engage in a wit combat over each other's
failings and vices.1 The device of echo, which occurs in a num-
ber of the mythological plays, is of course general. It is found in
The Old Wives' Tale (11. 482 ff.) ; The Wounds of Civil War
(Hazlitt's Dodsley, Vol. VII, p. 148) ; The Maid's Metamorphosis
(IV, 1) ; the second day's entertainment at Kenilworth (Poems of
Gascoigne, Vol. II, pp. 96 ff.) ; The Entertainment at Elvetham,
1591 (Works of Lyly, ed. Bond, Vol. I, pp. 441 ff.) ; Barnfield's
Cynthia. With Certaine Sonn&ts, Sonnet 13 ; Watson's Hekatom-
pathia, 25, and Tears of Fancie, 29; Breton's "A Eeport Song,"
in England's Helicon (p. 243) ; and "Philisides and Echo" in

aOne passage in this dialogue between the two gods had already been
used by Marston in a Lucianic satire of Pygmalion's Image and Certain
Satires. Cupid says to Mercury in Cynthia's Revels (I, 1), "Venus, at
the same time, but stooped to embrace you, and, to speak by metaphor,
you borrowed a girdle of hers, as you did Jove's sceptre," etc. Cf.
Marston, Satire V, 11. 23-28.

246 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Book II of Sidney's Arcadia.1 Jonson's use of echo in Cynthia's
Revels has no connection with the play. It seems to be a masque-
like element introduced on account of the great popularity of echo
songs and scenes at the period. Indeed, he satirizes his own de-
vice as the particular fad of the puppet-show. When Amorphus
pursues Echo, Mercury remark (I, 1), "I guessed it should be
some travelling motion pursued Echo so."

In dealing with the affected graces and accomplishments, the
pastimes and fads, of the courtly, Jonson has naturally utilized the
allegorical machinery that harmonized with the traditions and cus-
toms of fashionable life; but, while the framework of Cynthia's
Revels and the representation of the court are drawn from courtly
literature, Jonson has turned to philosophical ideas for the broad
moral and social phases of his treatment, and the heart of his
play — the grouping of characters and the conflict between vice and
virtue — presents a study of manners organized not for the surface
fancy of poetry but as a formal treatment of ethical and social
qualities. Undoubtedly his grouping and pairing of vices and vir-
tues is based on accepted systems in ethical treatises, though the
narrowing of his field to court life, his conception of humours as
influencing the individual, and his attempt to satirize concrete fol-
lies of his own day, would serve to modify any system.

The ultimate source of Jonson's ethical ideas must have been
Aristotle. Indeed, to a certain extent Jonson was probably influ-
enced directly by the Nicomachean Ethics. The kinship appears
most clearly in the two masques of Cynthia's Revels, where the
vices of the court are disguised as virtues, the basis of Jonson's
treatment being the Aristotelian conception of vice as the excess
of what in the mean state is a virtue. In the long sketch of
Crites, also, (II, 1) there is decided emphasis on the Aristotelian
mean in various phases of the character, in humours, courage, man-
ners, etc. To another conception of Aristotle Jonson may have
been indebted for the general basis of his division into groups. In
the two masques the four court nymphs are grouped as the "four

Erasmus also employed the device in his Colloquies. For further use
of echo cf. Ward, Hist. Eng. Dram. Lit., Vol. I, p. 417; Greg, Pastoral
Poetry, etc., pp. 199, 343, and 344, n. 1. In Mod. Lang. Publ, Vol. X,
69, there is reference to an echo song in Courtlie Controversie of
Cupids Cautels. The use of echo was very frequent in the early part
of the seventeenth century also.

Cynthia's Revels 247

cardinal virtues,, upon which the whole frame of the court doth
move/' and the four gallants as the "four cardinal properties, with-
out which the body of compliment moveth not" (V, 3, p. 199),
the one representing abstract qualities of character and the other
the qualities as exhibited in action. As these virtues and proper-
ties are simply the mean of the vices represented in the nymphs
and courtiers of the play, this division suggests that the same dis-
tinction was intended in the allegory of the general plot. In only
one case, however, do Jonson's male and female characters exactly
correspond. Phronesis, Prudence, one of Cynthia's nymphs, stands
for the abstract quality, while Phronimus, mentioned as belonging
to Cynthia's court (III, 2, p. 167), is the man prudent in action.1
Though Aristotle makes no attempt to distinguish by name the
moral states from the corresponding activities, he shows an obvious
tendency to look at vices and virtues from the dual point of view
of character and activity. Jonson's basis of division is suggested
in the following passages of the Ethics, for example :

There remains what I may call the practical life of the rational part
of Man's being. But the rational part is twofold. . . . The practical
life too may be conceived of in two ways, viz., either as a moral state,
or as a moral activity: but we must understand by it the life of activity,
as this seems to be the truer form of the conception (Ethics, Bk. I, Chap.
6, Welldon's translation, pp. 15, 16).

In a word moral states are the results of activities corresponding to the
moral states themselves. It is our duty therefore to give a certain char-
acter to the activities, as the moral states depend upon the differences of
the activities (II, 1, p. 36).

If then the virtues are neither emotions nor faculties, it remains that
they must be moral states (II, 4, p. 44).

For it would seem that the moral purpose is most closely related to
virtue, and is a better criterion of character than actions themselves are
(III, 4, p. 65).

Again, as the good may be either an activity or a moral state, etc.
(VII, 13, p. 236).

As in the case of the virtues it is sometimes a moral state, and at other
times an activity, which entitles people to be described as good, so is it
also in the case of friendship or love (VIII, 6, p. 255).

*The nomenclature here hints at a reason for Jonson's distribution of
parts to women as well as men, aside from the need of both sexes in his
treatment of courtly love and follies. The Greek names for abstractions
are feminine, and this fact may have suggested the groups of women con-
trasted with groups of men in Cynthia's Revels.

248 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

In the individual abstractions of Cynthia's Revels, the sugges-
tions of Aristotle are to be found in the similarity of conception
rather than in the use of Aristotelian names. Jonson's characters,
though abstractions, are based on living types, and fresh names in
preference to the well known terms of philosophy would appeal to
him as indicating the individuality of the character. Thus, while
Jonson's vices are clearly the excess of qualities that appear as
virtues in the masques, the only exact correspondence between his
characters and Aristotle's ethical qualities is found in Asotus, the
Prodigal, who masques as the liberal man. In the Ethics (II, 7),
prodigality, Asotia, is treated as the excess of liberality. Hedon,
whose name Jonson translates by Voluptuous, bears as a virtue the
name Eupathes, and the description of Eupathes (quoted p. 252
infra) may be compared with what Aristotle says of bodily pleas-
ure (VII, 14, p. 241) : "Now bodily goods admit of excess, and
vice consists in pursuing the excess, not in pursuing the necessary
pleasures; for everybody finds a certain satisfaction in rich meats
or wines or the pleasures of love, but not always the proper satis-
faction." Anaides, the Shameless, corresponds to shamelessness,
one of the excesses treated by Aristotle, though in the Ethics the
mean is modesty, not good audacity as in Jonson's masque. As a
jester Anaides continues Carlo, who has already been discussed in
connection with Aristotle's treatment of buffoonery as excess in the
use of wit (p. 172 supra). Again, the treatment of Philautia, or
Self-Love, who takes the alias Storge, translated by Jonson "Allow-
able Self -Love," shows the same distinction that Aristotle makes
between self-love in the usual sense and that proper love for self
which issues in the worthy pursuit of honor, etc. (IX, 8, pp.
299 ff.). Finally, as the rounded man, judicious and devoted to
virtue, Crites is the broad abstraction representing activity that
corresponds to Arete, Virtue, the most general moral state. In him
are combined all virtues, and his lack of excess in all phases of
normal life is stressed. The probable influence of Aristotle's
"highminded man" on the character of Crites will be taken up
later.

The ethical ideas of Aristotle, however, had early made their
way into the general literature of the English Eenaissance,1 and
there were probably many reworkings of Aristotelian vices and vir-

aCf. p. 28 supra.

Cynthia's Revels 249

tues which might have contributed to Jonson's allegory. Undoubt-
edly the native drama had a large share in determining the dra-
matic form that his abstractions take on. Indeed, many of Jon-
son's Aristotelian ideas as well as much of his art were probably
derived from the morality., to which he would naturally turn in pre-
senting dramatically the essential conflict between opposite ethical
qualities. Two divergent types of the morality showing the influ-
ence of Aristotelian conceptions, Skelton's Magnificence and Wilson's
Three Lords and Three Ladies of London, may be chosen as illus-
trating the kinship between the morality and Cynthia's Revels. It
seems to me altogether probable that Jonson knew both of these
plays, though I would make no claim for them as actual sources
of Cynthia's Revels. His use of Skeltonic meter in his masques
has already been mentioned, and The Fortunate Isles introduces
Skogan and Skelton as characters, Skelton repeating lines from
his own Elynour Rummy ng. The general interest in Skelton in
Jonson's time is evidenced by The Downfall of Robert Earl of
Huntington, in which he is represented as taking the role of Friar
Tuck, and by the play of Scogan and Skelton,, which appeared
shortly after Cynthia's Revels.

Magnificence undoubtedly sets forth contemporary manners at
the English court, as Jonson's play does, though first consideration
is given to the allegory. Skelton's morality depicts groups of cour-
tiers representing allegorically certain evils and complementing
each other ethically, who are arrayed against the principles of good,
and through disguise effect entrance into the court and become
powerful before they are overthrown. In this we have the general
plan of Cynthia's Revels. Measure is the chief virtuous character
of Magnificence, corresponding closely to Crites. The very name
Measure implies the fundamental principle of Aristotle's Ethics,
while other names that are applied to the character — Prudence,
Continence, Judicial Rigor — indicate the comprehensive scope of
the conception. Crites and Measure are thus both ideals of con-
duct and accomplishment set in contrast with evils and virtues of
narrower scope. Both are naturally antagonized by the vices of
the court. In Magnificence the courtiers plot against Measure
(11. 543 ff.) and by "a praty slyght" have him dismissed from the
court (11. 940 if.). It is only at the end of the play that he

250 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

returns to power.1 The courtiers of Cynthia's Revels show the
same hostility to Crites, and plot to -disgrace him. He is also
poor, and is unrecognized in the reign of follies except by Arete,
Virtue; but with the coming of Cynthia he finds himself in royal
favor. Though Crites has impressed most of Jonson's critics as
chiefly echoing a personal quarrel, there is clearly an allegorical
idea underlying the treatment which is similar to the conception of
Measure in Magnificence.

The correspondence between Cynthia's Revels and Magnificence
is much clearer in the evil types, where the grouping and the in-
terrelations in the two plays are very similar. Four courtiers ap-
pear in Magnificence who represent conduct: Counterfeit Counte-
nance, Cloaked Collusion, Crafty Conveyance, and Courtly Abu-
sion; and two vices or fools who represent principles, Fancy and
Folly. Jonson's four courtiers are Amorphus, or the Deformed,
that is, one "made out of the mixture of shreds of forms" ; Hedon,
or the Voluptuous; Anaides, the Impudent or Shameless; and
Asotus, or the Prodigal. These courtiers of Cynthia's Revels are
paired with four court women: Moria, or Folly; Phantaste, Light
Wittiness or Foolish Fancy ; Philautia, or Self-Love ; and Argurion,
or Money. Jonson's explanation of the two masques (pp. 246 f.
supra) makes clear enough the basis of his division of allegorical
figures into male and female, the one representing conduct in life,
the other, abstract quality guiding life. In Skelton's scheme for alle-
gory women do not appear at all, and to my mind Jonson's evident
difficulty in finding female types to balance against the male but
emphasizes the kinship of his groups to Skelton's. Moria and
Phantaste correspond in name to Skelton's Folly and Fancy, and
Philautia, or Self-Love, a familiar abstraction with Lyly and his
contemporaries, makes a good third. Argurion, however, is not so
suitable. The personification of money is very usual in the moral-
ities, but it does not fit into a scheme of moral principles. When
Jonson grouped the women in the masque to be acted before Cyn-
thia, Argurion was replaced by Gelaia, Laughter or Buffoonery, the
daughter of Moria, a combination which is still imperfect, however.

^ven if Jonson derived his conception directly from Skelton. some
variation of treatment was necessary at this point on account of his
effort to natter Elizabeth. Skelton's king Magnificence could go astray
and drive Measure from the court, but Cynthia must be ideal throughout.
The evil types thus appear in Cynthia's Revels only while the Queen is
absent, and at her appearance reform is effected.

Cynthia's Revels 251

Another interesting link between the handling of characters in
the two plays consists in the disguise of the follies as virtues. In
order to deceive Magnificence and gain a foothold in the court, the
gallants of Skelton's play assume the following false names : Coun-
terfeit Countenance becomes Good Demeanance; Cloaked Collusion,
Sober Sadness; Crafty Conveyance, Sure Surveyance; and Courtly
Abusion, Lusty Pleasure. Fancy and Folly appear as Largess and
Conceit. After ruining Magnificence, the false counsellors flee
and leave him to repentance. In Cynthia's Revels the courtiers
and court ladies appear before Cynthia in a masque under the
names of the virtues corresponding to the follies which they repre-
sent— Self-Love as Allowable Self-Love, Prodigality as Liberality,
etc. As soon as they are unmasked, Cynthia recognizes them as
follies, rates them sharply, and banishes them from the court.

This disguise of vices as virtues which is found in both Magnifi-
cence and Cynthia's Revels is, however, an established convention
of the conflict type of morality. In Nature the vices change their
names in order to put themselves in a more favorable light. The
device, which apparently became increasingly popular in the late
moralities, is elaborately employed in Respublica, Lindesay's Ane
Satyre of Three Estates, Albion Knight, Wager's The Longer thou
Livest, and Wilson's Three Lords and Three Ladies of London.
It is even found, also, in the romantic comedy Sir Clyomon and
Sir Clamydes, where Subtle Shift passes as Knowledge. The use
of the name Content by Contempt in The Coolers Prophesie has
already been mentioned.

Beyond these general resemblances between Magnificence and
Cynthia's Revels, the separate characters in the two plays show
some correspondences, though it is evident that Jonson has made
different equations and has developed the characterization to fit his
own scheme. Thus in Skelton's group of four courtiers, Counter-
feit Countenance, who appears first, like a herald of the other evils,
suggests Amorphus, the first to appear in Cynthia's Revels and in
some respects the leader of his group. The treatment of Amor-
phus as the counterfeit traveler, at least, associates him with Skel-
ton's character. In assuming the disguise of a virtue, Amorphus
takes the name Eucosmos, which Jonson translates by "neat and
elegant." Decorous and orderly are common meanings of the word.
Counterfeit Countenance takes the kindred name Good Demean-

252 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

ance. Attention to dress and speech -Skelton treats in the figure
of Courtly Abusion, who represents the elegance of Hedon. Hedon
is a continuation of Brisk in Every Man out, and the similarity of
Brisk to Courtly Abusion has already been mentioned (pp. 187 f.
supra}. The aliases of Courtly Abusion and Hedon indicate
their kinship still better. Courtly Abusion takes the name Lusty
Pleasure. Hedon, whose name could easily be translated by Pleas-
ure, appears in the masque as Eupathes, and Jonson's description
of Eupathes makes his identity with gay or Lusty Pleasure very
convincing. "Eupathes . . . entertains his mind with an
harmless, but not incurious variety : all the objects of his senses
are sumptuous, himself a gallant, that, without excess, can make
use of superfluity, go richly in embroideries, jewels, and what not,
without vanity, and fare delicately without gluttony" (V, 3, p.
199). In name Skelton's third gallant, Cloaked Collusion
(11. 689 ff.), does not suggest Anaides of Cynthia's Revels, but
the two are somewhat akin in character. Cloaked Collusion
is hypocritical and dissentious, delighting in discord (11. 700 if.).
Carlo BufTone of Every Man out, who is continued in Anaides,
is closer to Cloaked Collusion (p. 172 supra) than is Anaides,
except that position at court and pretensions to gallantry place
Anaides in the same social class with Skelton's courtier. In
some respects all three are characterized as Detraction.1 Eelations
between the other characters of the two plays are vaguer and more
confused. The alias of Fancy in Magnificence is Largess, or Liber-
ality; that of Asotus in Cynthia's Revels is Eucolos, or the liberal
man. Fancy, however, is to be associated with Phantaste, not only
in name but in caprice, waywardness, whimsicality of character.
Phantaste's alias, Euphantaste, or "well-conceited Wittiness," is
closest to Conceit, the alias of Skelton's Folly. The conception of
folly is represented in Cynthia's Revels by Moria and her kinsman
Morus, the fool.

The resemblances that have been noted between Magnificence
and Cynthia's Revels by no means make them similar, of course.
The striking kinship between the two plays lies in their similar
modification of ethical conceptions derived ultimately from Aris-

^naides is twice called Mischief, a name associated with Cloaked Col-
lusion (1. 702), and once Detraction, when he has been planning a means
of injuring Crites secretly (III, 2, p. 166; IV, 1, pp. 174 and 179).

Cynthia's Revels 253

totle, and in the similar grouping. The special feature of Jonson's
treatment, the grouping of qualities of character in one class and
of qualities of conduct in another., is found in Magnificence, but
is far less obvious than in Cynthia's Revels and is apparently not
consciously aimed at. In both plays, also, the gallants show traces
of the Seven Deadly Sins diverging from the moral idea toward
the social. Thus Cloaked Collusion and Anaides are influenced by
the conceptions of Detraction and Derision, developments from
Envy ; and Courtly Abusion and Hedon are must like such a figure
of Pride as is found in Nature, where Pride has become a gallant.

The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London is more interest-
ing than the ordinary morality as a preparation for Cynthia's
Revels because of its nearer approach to the portrayal of courtly
pastime and pageantry, which were especially associated with the
game of love, and because of the elaborate symmetry and balance
maintained throughout the play in the system of grouping. The
care with which both Wilson and Jonson balance their characters —
lords or courtiers, ladies, pages, etc. — is no doubt partly the result
of the attention paid in the two plays to love as the primary pur-
suit of the courtier, for each gallant must pursue a lady and be
followed by a page. The ethical idea that vice consists in the
excess of what is permissible gives the clue to much of the nomen-
clature in the contrasted groups of The Three Lords and Three
Ladies of London also. In general, however, Wilson has gathered
a heterogeneous mass of characters, perhaps drawing from any
source and inventing at will so long as the various groups of three
figures balance against each other. This is much Jonson's system
except that he groups his characters in four. But on the whole
Wilson's characters are not so suggestive of Jon son's as are those
in Magnificence.

The opening of Wilson's play, in which the three Lords of Lon-
don hang up their shields and challenge all comers in defence of
their love for the three Ladies of London, may be compared with
the duello scene in Cynthia's Revels, where Asotus formally chal-
lenges to a trial in courtship. The use of chivalric conventions in
both cases would account for some vague resemblances. But it is
in the masques presented by the courtiers and court ladies of Cyn-
thia's Revels that we have the most striking resemblances to the
plot of The Three Lords and Three Ladies. In Cynthia's Revels

254 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

the four ladies representing excess in inclination of character ap-
pear in a masque as the moderate motives for action, and the four
courtiers representing excess in phases of courtly compliment
appear in a second masque as the virtuous and commendable means.
Each character is distinguished by a certain color in costume and
by a device and a motto which are symbolic of the virtue repre-
sented. The pages Cupid and Mercury act as presenters and
explain elaborately the significance of each figure. A similar chiv-
alric feature is found twice in The Three Lords and Three Ladies.
At the opening of the play, the three Lords of London, appropri-
ately attired, enter with their shields borne by pages, who inter-
pret the devices and mottoes as symbols of the virtues represented
in the lords. Later the three Lords of London encounter the three
Lords of Spain, each bearing a shield with a device and motto
and followed by a page bearing a "pendant" on which are a differ-
ent device and motto. The whole Spanish group is composed of
vices who take the names of the corresponding virtues. After
Fealty, the herald of the three London Lords, acting as presenter,
has repeated the interpretation of their character and array,
Shealty, the herald of the opposing group, explains the colors,
devices, and. mottoes of the Spanish lords and pages so as to
interpret their character. Thus with the appearance of the Lords
of Spain we have a type of pageantry very similar to that in the
masques of Cynthia's Revels.

In both Cynthia's Revels and The Three Lords and Three Ladies
the courtiers represent types of action, external aspects of charac-
ter. In Jonson's play the ladies come near to representing the
humours or character inclinations of the courtiers. Amorphus
leans to Phantaste, or court wit; Hedon to Philautia, or Self-Love;
and Anaides to Moria, or Folly; and Asotus pursues Money. In
Wilson's play it is the pages who represent the inclination moving
the courtiers. Wit waits on Policy, Wealth on Pomp, and Will
on Pleasure. The ladies of Wilson's play and the pages of Jon-
son's, whom we might then expect to find corresponding after a
fashion, are inconsistently treated. Wilson pairs Policy with Love,
Pomp with Lucre, — who duplicates the allegory found in the page
Wealth, — and Pleasure with Conscience. No single idea would
indicate the relation between lords and ladies unless it be that the
ladies furnish the necessary saving quality that prevents the type

Cynthia's Revels 255

of action represented in the lords from being evil. The plan herer
as in Cynthia's Revels, is disturbed chiefly by the presence of
Money in the allegory. The ideal type found in Crites, so far as
it occurs at all in Wilson's play, is portrayed negatively in the-
figure of Nemo, who is treated throughout as supreme in authority,,
with power to judge and punish. In him Wilson has embodied
the popular conception of vice as so prevalent that there is no one-
to check it and no one to reward virtue.

Naturally in plays setting forth so elaborate a scheme of alle-
gory a number of similar abstractions occur, but there is no strik-
ing similarity in the treatment. The explanations which the pages
and heralds in the one play and Cupid and Mercury in the other
give of the significance underlying the figures of the London
Lords and of Jonson's masquers are alike in method and are occa-
sionally of similar tenor. A good example is found in the account
of Pleasure given by his page Will (Hazlitt's Dodsley, Vol. VI, p.
384) and in Mercury's description of Eupathes (Hedon, the Volup-
tuous) in Cynthia's Revels (V, 3, p. 199). "And my lord/'
says Will, "is not Pleasure sprung of Voluptuousness, but of such
honourable and kind conceit as heaven and humanity well brooks-
and allows : Pleasure pleasing, not pernicious." Mercury says of
Eupathes: "All the objects of his senses are sumptuous, himself
a gallant, that, without excess, can make use of superfluity, go
richly in embroideries, jewels, and what not, without vanity, and
fare delicately without gluttony." Obviously, however, the value
of Wilson's play for Jonson lies not so much in its individual char-
acters as in its pictures of courtly love and pageantry and in the
symmetry and formality of its groups.

The following tables show at a glance the plan of grouping in
the two plays. Of course a few of the dramatis personae in each
case, the citizen and wife and certain officials, for example, fall
outside of the groups. The Three Lords and Three Ladies with
its exact and mechanical balancing lends itself admirably to tabu-
lation. Jonson's play is more difficult. Two of his pages are not
allegorical figures but the gods Mercury and Cupid, who must be
disposed of while in disguise at Cynthia's court; and Argurion is
omitted from the masque of women, being replaced by Gelaia, mis-
tress and page of Anaides.

256 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

Sincerity
Devotion
Dissimulation1
Fair Semblance

1 s ^^

fl '53 3 3

O O> EC 02

B P P P

Double-Dealing

of London, but when the gallants
s omitted from the grouping.

-"ip

3 S g

•s g a g o

PM ^ <5 H W

N S
2^
SS

H
II

Jai
•g

? |i i^

0 PH *0 PH co

-S b ^ .s 1
S^l^S

H^ H ^ H ^

Ladies of London

Stones upon which

they are seated
Sages

Lords of Lincoln

Gallants

1

.1

JS

s

o

as virtues

Followers of the

02
I

oS

1

*Four gallants ai
in disguise attach

Cynthia's Revels

257

it \t

o o

02 3

<1 W

ii r i

onimu
Prude

i

0)
03 T3

8 g

C PH
O

c
Jq

PH

g

03 e^

l«

4

I1

H

-I

9

.2 a

r

I

=8 g

r

H

P^
03

1

I

.s 2
II

w

us
efu

s

03 O

P

O "*

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2 CT^

§ «

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S .3

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-a

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5-

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258 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

This system of grouping by fours Jonson seems also to have
carried into his character sketch of Crites (II, 1, pp. 161, 162).
Crites is described on the basis of the four humours as "neither
too fantastically melancholy, too slowly phlegmatic, too lightly
sanguine, or too rashly choleric." He is of "a most ingenuous and
sweet spirit, a sharp and seasoned wit, a straight judgment and a
strong mind." Whatever determined Jonson's choice of four for
his first group, the extension of the number to other groups and
elements in the play would seem natural enough to an Elizabethan
audience. Four, moreover, was perhaps a favorite number. Four
court vices appear in Magnificence. Fours are frequent with Lyly>
and they are the basis of the grouping in Love's Labour's Lost, a
study of courtly love. In Harington's preface to Orlando Furioso
there is described a "London Comedie," "the play of the Cards, in
which it is showed how foure Parasiticall knaues robbe the foure
principall vocations of the Eealme, videl. the vocation of Souldiers,
Schoilers, Marchants, and Husbandmen" (Smith, Eliz. Crit.
Essays, Vol. II, p. 210). Greene's Royal Exchange (translated
from the Italian in part) and Breton's Figure of Foure are works
made up of bits of lore and wise saws, in each of which four things
are grouped. There were also four humours, four elements, etc.

In passing on to a study of the separate characters in Cynthia's
Revels it is difficult to avoid repeating something of what has been
said in regard to Every Man out, for Jonson's habit of returning
to previous motives and types is easily traceable in Cynthia's
Revels; not only does the influence of formal satire which is so
marked in Every Man out persist, but many of the characters in
the later play have marked prototypes in the earlier. First of all,
the scholar who appears casually in Every Man in and as satirist
and intriguer in Every Man out becomes in Cynthia's Revels the
ideal social and courtly type and is set in opposition to the forces
of folly and ignorance. Hedon is a variation on Brisk, Amorphus
on Puntarvolo, and Anaides on Carlo. Asotus is in some respects
a recombination of Sogliardo and Fungoso, but is far removed from
the early type seen in Stephen. The father of Asotus, Philargyrus,
who is only mentioned, corresponds to Sordido. In place of one
court lady in Every Man out, a whole group fairly close akin to
her is substituted, -but Philautia is nearest to Saviolina. Phantaste
carries on to some extent the whimsicalities of Fallace. Deliro

Cynthia's Revels 259

and Fallace are dimly echoed in the citizen and wife of Cynthia's
Revels,, but in Mistress Downfall a new character is evolving which
appears more fully elaborated in Chloe of Poetaster. In discuss-
ing the characters of Cynthia's Revels, I shall attempt to deal only
with new characteristics of the recurring types, new devices for
dramatizing the satirical material,, and such details of plot as are
connected with only one or two characters and thus have not been
treated in the discussion of the general plot.

The strong hostility of certain characters to Crites, while alle-
gorical in its significance., almost certainly reflects the hostility of
others toward Jcnson, especially as these characters are chiefly lit-
erary pretenders who attack the literary merit of Crites; and the
strongly individualized portraits of some of the pretenders and
the concreteness of the attack offer additional evidence that Jonson
had contemporary litterateurs in mind. That at least Hedon and
Anaides were taken by contemporaries as personal attacks is shown
by a well known passage from SoMromastix (11. 420 ff.). It is
quite clear, I think, however, that Crites, though at times the
mouthpiece of Jonson, is a type figure, and that the other charac-
ters represent fundamentally typical humours. The types that
offended, indeed, carry on previous studies, and any personal
satire involved is added to the abstractions, as in the case of Carlo
Buffone. It seems to me that even Demetrius and Crispinus of
Poetaster are types in which is embodied a certain amount of per-
sonal satire. Consequently, in studying the growth of Jonson's
humour types, I have felt justified in disregarding the element of
personal satire in Cynthia's Revels and have again dealt with the
characters as literary types.

The function of Crites, like that of Macilente, sets him in oppo-
sition to the characters who represent social follies of the day, but
the two are pretty distinct on the whole in methods and in char-
acter. In the body of Every Man out Macilente seldom speaks
except as the envious man, though envy gives him a chance for
satire. He is also the arch intriguer delighting to bring the hu-
mour characters into disgrace. The attitude of Crites to the fool-
ish social types is supposedly that of indifferent contempt arising
from his own rounded character. In a number of places, however,
Jonson has spoiled the sublime indifference of his Crites by allow-
ing him not only to assist in making the foolish courtiers ridiculous

260 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

but also to express too strongly Jonson's own personal hostility to
poetasters; and thus Crites echoes the personal indignation of
Asper. In the main, however, the satire of Crites is calmer and
more judicial. The most interesting bit of Crites' moralizing on
manners forms a complete satire at the end of III, 2. It is a
description of eight kindred types of foolish or vicious courtiers,
and ends with a short sketch of a group of court women with their
infinite small talk. The whole is exactly in the manner of con-
temporary satires — a series of epigrammatic character sketches
describing a procession of characters who are in the main varia-
tions on one type and are often hardly to be distinguished except
by some particular folly or fad of the day. Such groups are to be
found in Donne's satires; in Guilpin's SJcialetheia, satires III, IV,
and V; and in Marston's Pygmalion's Image and Certain Satires,
satires I, II, and III. All of these satires I have drawn upon to
illustrate the treatment of the gallants in Every Man out, and
they could equally well be used for many of the characters in
Cynthia's Revels as well as for the sketches which Jonson puts in
the mouth of Crites. Indeed, in this miniature satire Jonson
seems to be describing several of his own types. The correspond-
ence, however, is probably due to the fact that the sketches, like the
characters of the plays, conform to certain narrow types that were
evolving in the satire of the period and becoming conventional.

In spite of the fact that Crites is at times the mouthpiece of the
author, it must be borne in mind that for Jonson he represents
the ideal — a thing of which every Renaissance humanist and edu-
cator dreamed.1 Castiglione's Courtier is of course the most
notable example, though there was considerable variation in the
treatment of the supreme type. Jonson himself has presented his
ideal in different lights. Asper in Every Man out is the ideal
satirist in contrast with Macilente and Carlo, while Horace and
Virgil are the ideal satirist and poet in contrast not only with the
poetaster but also with the more dilettante type of real poet. In
Crites we have Jonson's most rounded study of the ideal. The
treatment, however, is not altogether consistent. A satirical bent

*Mr. Woodward, Education during the Renaissance, especially chapters
XII and XIII, has emphasized very effectively the attention paid by Re-
naissance writers to the development of this ideal. I have already pointed
out the fact that the elder Knowell in Every Man in echoes many of the
educational ideals of the Renaissance.

Cynthia's Revels 261

is justifiable in a character hostile to vice; but in spite of the fact
that Jonson has embodied in Crites the medieval ideal of the clerk
as contrasted with the knight or courtier,, and, in opposition to
the ideal of birth and wealth, from which, pride and scorn might be
expected to spring, has made him of humble origin and moderate
means, Crites has all the pride of the knight and the self-sufficiency
and scorn that easily attend high rank. It is not strange, however,
that the personal point of view entered into Jonson' s portrayal of
Crites as into other Eenaissance treatments of the ideal.

The possible influence of Aristotle's portrait of "the highminded
man" on Jonson's treatment of Crites has already been suggested.
Aristotle conceives the highminded man as lofty in station and
highly regarded, but aside from this difference practically every
element of Jonson's ideal type is to be found in Aristotle's. Espe-
cially is this true of the very qualities that have been regarded as
identifying Crites with Jonson. Of his ideal type Aristotle says
(IV, 7 and 8, pp. 113-118) :

It would seem too that the highminded man possesses such greatness as
belongs to every virtue. It would be wholly inconsistent with the char-
acter of the highminded man to run away in hot haste, or to commit a
crime . . . While the highminded man, then, as has been said, is prin-
cipally concerned with honours, he will, at the same time, take a moderate
view of wealth, political power, and good or ill fortune of all kinds, how-
ever it may occur. He will not be excessively elated by good, or exces-
sively depressed by ill fortune . . . The highminded man is justified
in his contempt for others, as he forms a true estimate of them, but ordi-
nary people have no such justification. Again, the highminded man is
not fond of encountering small dangers, nor is he fond of encountering
dangers at all. . . . But he is ready to encounter great dangers, and
in the hour of danger is reckless of his life. ... He will, of course,
be open in his hatreds and his friendships, as secrecy is an indication of
fear. He will care for reality more than reputation, he will be open in
word and deed, as his superciliousness will lead him to speak his mind
boldly. ... He will not be a gossip, he will not talk much about
himself or about anybody else; for he does not care to be praised himself
or to get other people censured. . . . He is the kind of person who
would rather possess what is noble, although it does not bring in profit,
than what is profitable but not noble, as such a preference argues self-
sufficiency.

In II, 1 (pp. 161, 162) Mercury gives the following sketch of
Crites:

262 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

A creature of a most perfect and divine temper: one in whom the
humours and elements are peaceably met, without emulation of precedency ;
he is neither too fantastically melancholy, too slowly phlegmatic, too
lightly sanguine, or too rashly choleric; but in all so composed and
ordered, as it is clear Nature went about some full work, she did more
than make a man when she made him. His discourse is like his behaviour,
uncommon, but not unpleasing; he is prodigal of neither. He strives
rather to be that which men call judicious, than to be thought so; and
is so truly learned, that he affects not to shew it. He will think and
speak his thoughts both freely; but as distant from depraving another
man's merit, as proclaiming his own. For his valour, 'tis such that he
dares as little to offer an injury as receive one. In sum, he hath a most
ingenuous and sweet spirit, a sharp and seasoned wit, a straight judg-
ment and a strong mind. Fortune could never break him, nor make him
less. He counts it his pleasure to despise pleasures, and is more delighted
with good deeds than goods. It is a competency to him that he can be
virtuous. He doth neither covet nor fear; he hath too much reason to do
either; and that commends all things to him.

The great resemblance between the character of Crites and what
we know of Jonson's own mode of behavior in relation to his
enemies is thus found largely in the details which reflect Aris-
totle's ideal. It is not at all improbable that Jonson's arrogance,
frank egoism, and uncompromising attitude to those he scorned
appealed to him as in keeping with the standard of conduct that
Aristotle sets for the highminded man. Unfortunately there was
too strong a tendency in Jonson's nature to insolence and egoism,
but in the light of his unselfish devotion to what he conceived as
the highest literary standards and of his faithfulness, in the face
of poverty, to a type of work that was slow, painstaking, and prob-
ably less remunerative than he was capable of, it is pleasant to
think that even his most repellent characteristics may have been
partly the result of an honest effort not to set too base a value
upon his gifts and his calling. This is the attitude that marks
his famous defence of his blunt claim that Cynthia's Revels is good.
The passage, which occurs in the prologue to Poetaster, suggests
Aristotle's highminded man and mentions the mean:

Here now, put case our author should, once more,
Swear that his play were good; he doth implore,
You would not argue him of arrogance:
Howe'er that common spawn of ignorance,
Our fry of writers, may beslime his fame,
And give his action that adulterate name.

Cynthia's Revels 263

Such full-blown vanity he more doth loathe,
Than base dejection: there's a mean 'twixt both,
Which with a constant firmness he pursues,
As one that knows the strength of his own Muse.
And this he hopes all free souls will allow:
Others that take it with a rugged brow,
Their modes he rather pities than envie"s:
His mind it is above their injuries.

In connection with Jonson's supposed identity with Crites, it is
interesting to read Castiglione's defence against the charge that he
portrays himself in his ideal type, the courtier (Courtier, Tudor
Translations, Epistle of the Author, p. 23) :

Some again say that my meaning was to facion my self, perswading
my self that all suche qualities as I appoint to the Courtier are in me.
Unto these men I will not cleane deny that I have attempted all that my
mynde is the Courtier shoulde have knowleage in. And I thinke who so
hath not the knowleage of the thinges intreated upon in this booke, how
learned so ever he be, he can full il write them.

There is also in the first book of The Courtier (pp. 50, 51) a dis-
cussion of self-praise that probably expresses perfectly Jonson's
attitude to himself and his work.

He that is of skill, whan he seeth that he is not knowen for his woorkes
of the ignoraunte, hath a disdeigne that his connynge should lye buried,
and needes muste he open it one waie, least he should bee defrauded of
the estimation that belongeth to it, whiche is the true rewarde of vertuous
travailes. Therefore among the auncient writers he that muche excelleth
doeth sildome forbeare praisyng hymself. They in deede are not to be
borne withall that havyng no skill in theym, wyll prayse themselves: but
we wyll not take our Courtyer to be suche a one.

Then the COUNT: Yf you have well understoode (quoth he) I blamed
the praysynge of a mans selfe impudently and withoute respecte. And
surelye (as you saye) a man ought not to conceyve an yll oppinion of a
skilfull man that praiseth hymselfe dyscretely, but rather take it for a
more certaine witnes, then yf it came out of an other mans mouth.

For the character of Crites as the rounded man there are one or
two parallels in the earlier drama. For example, the character
sketch of Crites quoted above (p. 262) opens with a sentence that
has often been compared with Antony's tribute to Brutus in Julius
Caesar (V, o) :

His life was gentle; and the elements

So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up

And say to the world, This was a man!

264 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Of the four men opposed to Crites, Amorphus is apparently the
leader. In the plot of the play Asotus is closely associated with
him as an understudy, while Hedoii and Anaides usually appear
together. Amorphus continues Puntarvolo in a number of
respects, both representing extravagance and formality in speech
and behavior. The following are some of the suggestive parallels
between the two characters :

Puntarvolo

"A vainglorious knight."

"So palpably affected to his own
praise . . . that he com-
mends himself" (p. 62).

"Wholly consecrated to singularity."

Sticks "to his own particular fash-
ion, phrase, and gesture" (p.
62).

"Jacob's staff of compliment" (p.
62).

A pompous speaker (II, 1 ) .

Speaks French and Italian (II, 1,

p. 84).
"A sir that hath lived to see the

revolution of time in most of

his apparel" (p. 62).
"Looks like the sign of the George"

(II, 1, p. 82).
Looks "as if he . . . had a suit

of wainscot on" (II, 1, p. 84).
Has his beard starched (IV, 4, p.

116).
"He deals upon returns" (p. 62).

The gull Fungoso is his godchild
(II, 1, p. 85).

But in spite of their common characteristics Amorphus differs
considerably from Puntarvolo. Though both make ventures upon
returns, Amorphus as a traveler is primarily the boaster, the liar.
He is evidently poor, as his intelligence is made to pay for his
travels (I, 1, p. 155), and the wife of the ordinary gives him his
diet for his talk. He is an arbiter of quarrels but a coward (II, 1,

Amorphus

Praises himself extravagantly at
first appearance (I, 1, p. 152).

Is first to drink of the Fountain of
Self-Love.

"He is his own promoter in every
place" (II, 1, p. 161).

Claims that his behavior is not
cheap or customary, his accent
and phrase not vulgar, his gar-
ments not trite (I, 1, p. 152).

"The very mint of compliment" (II,
1, p. 161).

"Cannot speak out of a dictionary
method" (IV, 1, p. 175).

Speaks Italian and Spanish (I, 1,
p. 154).

"No great shifter; once a year his
apparel is ready to revolt" (II,
1, p. 161).

"Looks like a Venetian trumpeter
. . . in the gallery yonder"
(IV, 1, p. 171).

"His beard is an Aristarchus" (II,

1, p. 161).
"Has made the sixth return upon

venture" (I, 1, 152).
The gull Asotus is his protege".

Cynthia's Revels 265

p. 161), whereas Puntarvolo is dangerous. Altogether he is a far
less dignified and honorable figure than Puntarvolo. His skill in
"compliment" lies in the use not of antiquated chivalric customs
like Puntarvolo's but of an exaggerated type of up-to-date court-
ship, no doubt something like the actual courtship of the Ital-
ianate lovers in Elizabeth's court. The sketch of Castilio in the
first satire of Pygmalion's Image and Certain Satires, which has
already been quoted in connection with Puntarvolo, is perhaps still
more appropriate to Amorphus in some details. Amorphus is pre-
eminently the one who "can all the points of courtship show." He
is, indeed, the instructor of the neophyte Asotus in lovers' arts and
is grandmaster in the duello of courtship.

The most interesting new phase in the characterization of Amor-
phus is his lying in regard to his travels. A kindred treatment is
often seen in the braggart soldier. Bobadill, who like Amorphus
is a master of the duello, a coward, and poor, has tales to tell not
only of his exploits in war but of marvelous experiences with
tobacco in strange countries. Amorphus owes nothing to the
boastful soldier, however; his lying is of another type. One of his
clearest forerunners is Mendax of Bullem's Dialogue against the
Fever Pestilence (pp. 94 ff.). Mendax, who resembles Amorphus
in being poor and dressing oddly, sharpens his knife on a whet-
stone when he is summoned to eat with Civis. Amorphus, it will
be remembered, is followed by a page Cos, the whetstone. Mendax
also has his accomplishments; he can play the zittern and dance.
His boasts are of his ancestry and of his marvelous adventures with
strange beasts and strange men, in lands of fabulous wealth, etc.,
while Amorphus has been incredibly honored by potentates wher-
ever he has gone and "sued to, by all ladies and beauties" (IV, 1,
p. 178). Mendax, however, tells a tale of a marvelous beer that he
drank in his travels which matches Amorphus's remark about meth-
eglin, a kind of Greek wine that he once came upon while roam-
ing the earth, the very kind usually drunk by Demosthenes, in fact.

In Wits Miserie, which satirizes, indeed, practically every folly
that the satirists and the satiric dramatists handle, there are a
number of scattered passages suggesting Amorphus. Vainglory
(pp. 3-5), in the "coat of Singularity," boasts of his travels, of
honors paid him by foreign princes, and especially of gifts in the
way of articles of dress. His hat, he claims, was bestowed upon

266 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

him by Henry II of France.1 "All that hee hath of you beleeue
him/' Lodge says, "are but gifts in reward of his vertue."
Vainglory also pretends to learning and to musical skill. "Hee
will prooue EAMUS to be a deeper Philosopher than ARISTOTLE, and
presume to read the Mathematiques to the studious . . . vrge
him in Musike, he will sweare to it, that he is A per se in it, where
hee is skillesse in Proportion, ignorant in Discord," etc. So Amor-
phus arrogantly lays claim to a knowledge of the niceties of verse
and music (IV, 1, pp. 178, 179). Again, Boasting of Wits Miserie
(p. 10), who makes pretensions to literary gifts, declares, "PERSEUS
is a foole in his stile, & an obscure Poet." Lucian, Amorphus pro-
nounces absurd. "I will believe mine own travels before all the
Lucians of Europe" (I, 1, p. 153). Lying (p. 35) is described
by Lodge as "a sonne of MAMMONS that hath of long time ben a
trauailer." His tales are more like those of Mendax than those
of Amorphus, being accounts of strange sights in foreign coun-
tries. Another of Lodge's characters is "Superfluous Inuention or
Nouel -monger or Fashions," who invents new sauces and banquets
and absurd fashions (p. 13). Asotus of Cynthia's Revels "doth
learn to make strange sauces, to eat anchovies, maccaroni, bovoli,
fagioli, and caviare, because he [Amorphus] loves them" (II, 1,
p. 161). Amorphus's garments, too, are not trite (I, 1, p. 152).
In comparing himself with Crites, Amorphus asks (IV, 1, p. 181),
"Have not I invention afore him? learning to better that inven-
tion above him? and inf anted with pleasant travel — " Finally, in
the sketch of Derision, part of which I have quoted in discussing
Carlo (p. 171 supra), there is an expression that is interesting in
connection with the meaning of Amorphus, deformed — "At the
length hee prooueth deformity himself" (p. 10).2

Among the verse satirists, Guilpin in Skialetheia, Satire I, has
a sketch of the boasting traveler who can tell of the remotest
cranny of this world and has discovered some half dozen other
worlds. With him Guilpin associates the antiquary, who displays
souvenirs of various famous personages, including Cupid and
Charlemagne. So the hat which Amorphus gives Asotus is said
to have accompanied Ulysses on his travels (I, 1, p. 155). Hall in

*Cf. the hat of Amorphus, I, 1, p. 155.

2Cf. Penniman, War of the Theatres, p. 94, n. 2, for theories in regard to
the "one Deformed" of Much Ado.

Cynthia's Revels 267

Virgidemiarum, IV, 6, satirizes the "sweet-sauc'd lies of some false
traveller" who has read the "whet-stone leadings of old Mandeville,"
and mentions the same kind of marvels that Bullein and Lodge
mention.

One of the remarkable boasts of Amorphus is that he has been
"fortunate in the amours of three hundred forty and five ladies,
all nobly, if not princely descended" (I, 1, p. 152) and that he
"never yet sojourned or rested in that place or part of the world,
where some high-born, admirable, fair feature died not for my
love" (IV, 1, p. 178). Nashe in Haue with you to Saffron-walden
(Works, III, p. Ill) accuses Harvey of breeding "an opinion in
the world, that he is such a great man in Ladies and Gentlewomens
bookes that they are readie to run out of their wits for him, as in
the Turfces Alchoron it is written that 250. Ladies hanged them-
selues for the loue of Mahomet."1

Asotus, 2 the protege of Amorphus, is in some respects a develop-
ment out of Fungoso in Every Man out. Both are upstarts and
gulls, and both show the youth, fine dress, and eagerness to follow
the fashion which belong to the type. Too much has been made
of the similarity, however, by those who would identify Asotus and
Fungoso with Lodge — Fleay, Penniman, and Hart. Asotus is
rather distinct. Fungoso's chief claim to distinction lies in his
effort to copy Brisk's suits, and that is made amusing largely
through the pitiful shifts to which he is put in order to get the
necessary money. But Asotus is a figure of lavishness. More-
over, he is not a follower afar of the elegant Hedon, as Fungoso is
of Brisk, but associates himself with Amorphus, who corresponds
to Puntarvolo. Again, a prominent feature in the characteriza-
tion of Asotus is his careful training as an amorist and his accep-
tance at court by Argurion, to which nothing in the treatment of
Fungoso corresponds. In his inheritance of wealth and his train-
ing at the hands of Amorphus Asotus corresponds to the wealthy

*In // Henry IV, III, 1, where Justice Shallow is characterized as a
braggart, it is said of him that he "came ever in the rearward of the
fashion." In Cynthia's Revels, IV, 1, pp. 171 f., Philautia declares that
Amorphus "speaks to the tune of a country lady, that comes ever in the
rearward or train of a fashion."

2The full name of Asotus is Acolastus-PolypragmonTAsotus (V, 2, p.
186). "Busie Polypragmon" is mentioned in the sixth satire of Guilpin's
Skialetheia. Gnapheus's famous Latin play on the Prodigal is called
Acolastus; Macropedius's, Asotus.

268 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Sogliardo trained by Shift in the gallant accomplishments of taking
tobacco, and swearing and swaggering at taverns, but the instruc-
tion which Asotus receives is in such courtly accomplishments as
making set speeches. Thus, though a gull and a mere ape as
Sogliardo and Fungoso are, Asotus is a far more brilliant figure.

The characterization of Asotus is largely subordinated to that
of his sponsor Amorphus, and it is chiefly the association between
the two that links Asotus with other literary treatments. Satire
on the infatuation between gallants at first sight, their praise of
each other's dress, their exchange of gifts, etc., which we have in
the meeting between Amorphus and Asotus (I, 1), is not uncom-
mon. Chapman in An Humorous Day's Mirth satirizes frivolous
talk, among gallants, especially the praise of each other's form and
fashion (p. 35). In Histriomastix, during the reign of Pride,
Vainglory, Hypocrisy, and Contempt, four abstractions symbolic
of luxuriousness and excess in social life, and not unlike the four
gallants of Cynthia's Revels, Mavortius and Philarchus comment
on each other's apparel, Philarchus's hat being pronounced of better
block than that of Mavortius (III, 11. 123-132). In Act IV of the
same play (11. 169-173), one of the players praises his ingle's hilt
and has it bestowed upon him. An elaborate dramatization of the
iugling of foolish gallants introduces Amorphus and Asotus to us
in Cynthia's Revels. Amorphus praises various articles of Asotus's
apparel, especially his beaver, which is exceedingly fine, and accepts
the hat as a gift, proffering in exchange his own, which is decidedly
dilapidated.

A striking parallel to the relationship between Amorphus and
Asotus in Cynthia's Revels is to be found in the friendship of
Pseudocheus and Gelasimus in Timon. Hart (Works of Ben Jon-
son, Vol. I, p. xliv) has called attention to a kinship between the
two plays and has pointed out some details. The relationship pos-
sibly deserves further study, for, if Timon is the earlier, as Hart be-
lieves,1 Jonson certainly followed the play very closely. The char-
acterization of Gelasimus and Asotus is much the same. Both are
citizen's heirs, wealthy, and just beginning to taste with extrav-
agance the experiences of gallantry. Asotus is the son of Phil-

*Cf. pp. 168 ff. and 209 f. supra for some discussion of the relative
dates.

Cynthia's Revels 269

argyrus and becomes the accepted lover of Argurion, while the
same allegory is carried out in Timon by the love of Gelasimus
for the daughter of Philargurus.1 The personal appearance of
Gelasimus also tallies with that of Asotus. The beard of Gelasi-
mus is undeveloped; he has small,, gentleman-like ankles; ladies
wish for features like his (I, 3) ; and Pseudocheus calls him "a
spruce, neate youth" (I, 4) .2 Asotus's beard, according to Mercury,
"is not yet extant" (II, 1, p. 161) ; Amorphus pronounces his new
acquaintance "a pretty formal young gallant" (I, 1, p. 153) ; and
Argurion speaks of him as "a most delicate youth ; a sweet face, a
straight body, a well proportioned leg and foot, a white hand, a
tender voice" (IV, 1, p. 172). In the early part of each play
the gull leagues himself with the boasting traveler, and the
two situations are handled alike. In Timon Gelasimus, entering
with his page Psedio, is joined by Pseudocheus, the returning trav-
eler, whose absurd exaggeration and inordinate vainglory suggest
the boaster of Latin comedy. Pseudocheus boasts of his travels in
remote lands and of the honors conferred upon him by foreign
potentates, and he brings home souvenirs of his travels. His chief
concern, like that of Amorphus,, however, is not to rouse wonder
but to glorify himself. In Cynthia's Revels Asotus enters with
Crites, who like the page of Gelasimus comments satirically as the
scene progresses. The boasting of Amorphus is more rational than
that of Pseudocheus, but not a whit less vainglorious. The follow-
ing passages, which describe the meeting between the pair in each
play, will indicate the relation.

1(rhe allegorical use of this name is apparently rather frequent. Accord-
ing to Warton, Skelton's Nigramansir had a character called Philargyria.
A work entitled Philargyrie of greate Britayne, 1551, is mentioned by
Dyce in The Works of Skelton, Vol. I, p. cxxix.

2The page tells Gelasimus in regard to virgins' opinion of him,

This the like eyes, that the like nose desires;
This your cheekes, and that your leggs.

Compare Crites' satire on ladies' talk about gallants (III, 2, p. 168) :

Where you shall hear one talk of this man's eye,
Another of his lip, a third, his nose,
A fourth commend his leg, a fifth, his foot,
A sixth, his hand, and every one a limb.

Cf. also Dowsecer in An Humorous Day's Mirth, p. 33.

270

English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Cynthia's Revels, I, 1
Amo. Ha! a pretty formal young
gallant, in good sooth
Hark you, Crites, you may say to
him what I am, if you please.

Aso. Crites, . . . pray you
make this gentleman and I friends.
. . . In good faith he's a most
excellent rare man, I warrant him.
. . . And withal, you may tell
him what my father was, and how
well he left me, and that I am his
heir. ... 0 gods! I'd give all
the world, if I had it, for abundance
of such acquaintance.

Amo. Since I trod on this side
the Alps, I was not so frozen in my
invention. Let me see. . . .
Feign to have seen him in Venice
or Padua! or some face near his in
similitude! . . . or . . .
come to some special ornament
about himself, as his rapier, or
some other of his accoutrements? I
have it: thanks, gracious Minerva!

Aso. Would I had but once spoke
to him, and then — He comes to me!

Amo. I think I shall affect you,
sir. . . .

Aso. 0 lord, sir! I would there
were anything in me, sir, that
might appear worthy the least
worthiness of your worth. . ;" .'

Awo. . . . Good faith, this
hat hath possest mine eye exceed-
ingly; 'tis so pretty and fantastic:
what! is it a beaver?

Aso. Sir, it is all at your service.

Amo. I take your love, gentle
Asotus; but let me win you to re-
ceive this, in exchange —

Timon, I, 4

Gel. Shall I speake to him,

Psedio? he seemes
A man of greate accompt, that hath

oreveiu'd
Soe many countreyes: what shall I

saye first?

Shall I salute him after our man-
ner?
Pseud. A spruce, neate youth:

what, yf I affront him?
Gel. Good gods, how earnestlie

doe I desire
His ffellowshipp ! was I e're soe

shamef ac't ?
What yf I send and gyue to him

my cloake?
Pseud. What shall I saye? I

saw his face at Thebes
Or Sicilie?

Gel. lie send it. Psedio,
Gyue him this cloake: salute him

in my name;
H'st, thou may'st tell him, yf thou

wilt, how rich
My ffather was.

Pseud. Tell him I will salute

him.
Peed. The strainger, sir, desires

to salute you.
Gel. That's my desire: I will

meete him.

Pseud. I will affront him.
Gel. I wish admittance of so-

cietie.

Pseud. I thee admitt, thou
needst not be ashamed;

Gel. Lord, what a potent friend
haue I obteyned! —

Pseud. This ring he [the king

of the Antipodes] gaue me.
Gel. Prythee, lett me se it.

Cynthia's Revels 271

Amo. Sir, shall I say to you for Wilt thou that wee exchainge, my
that hat? . . . It is a relic I Pylades?

could not so easily have departed Pseud. I am a man; He not

with, but as the hieroglyphic of my denye my ffreind. —

affection . . . and was given By Joue, my ringe is made of
me by a great man in Russia, as an brasse, not gould. [Aside.

especial prized present. . . . Gel. 0 happie me, that weares.

Aso. By Jove, I will not depart the kings owne ringe

withal, whosoever would give me a Of th' Antipodes!
million. Pseud. Soe I blesse my ffriends.

In both plays the traveler immediately takes the citizen's heir
in charge and begins to train him in the art of love making. The
first lesson that Amorphus gives Asotus is a study of the various
kinds of faces, the merchant's, the courtier's, etc. (II, 1, p. 160).
Gelasimus is a master of assumed gravity in countenance before he-
meets Pseudocheus (I, 3).1 The instruction of Pseudocheus as to
how to approach a mistress is of a kind with that of Amorphus but
cruder and less elaborate. Pseudocheus recommends merriment,,
dancing, and pricksong. In Timon, after some preliminary
instruction master and pupil present themselves at the home of
Callimela (II, 1). The final injunction of Pseudocheus is, "It is
a synn to blush : be impudent" ; and Gelasimus replies, "I blush !
I scorne to blush." Once in the presence of his beloved, Gelasimus
pours out the mixture of pricksong and lover's jargon which Pseu-
docheus has taught him; but, as the conversation proceeds, he has
to be prompted again and again, and each time he repeats word
for word the phrases of his tutor. So under the direction of
Amorphus (III, 1 and 3) Asotus practices how to conduct
himself in the presence of a mistress, learning by rote the set
speeches suggested by Amorphus, and later repeating them for the
benefit of the ladies. A part of his exercise consists of dancing
and singing (III, 3, p. 170). According to Amorphus, one advan-
tage of his protege's novitiate at court is that it will teach him

xThe practiced faces of gallants are several times satirized by Guilpin.
In Epigram 30 of Skialetheia he says:

Chrysogonus each morning by his glasse,
Teacheth a wrincled action to his face.

In Satire V, he speaks of one who "wries his face" and of a troop who

look

As if their very countenaunces would sweare,
The Spanyard should conclude a peace for feare.

272 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

"to be careless and impudent" (HI, 1, p. 165), and Asotus so far
profits by his opportunities that he is soon bestowing on Anaides
a ruby ring, with an inscription of his own device, "Let this blush
for me" (IV, 1, p. 182). In Timon the relationship between the
pair leads finally to the complete gulling of the "cittie hey re." In
Cynthia's Revels Amorphus continues to tutor Asotus seriously in
the conduct of courtship, and the whole treatment is greatly
expanded.1

An earlier example of the association between this pair is to be
found in The Defence of Conny- catching (Works of Greene, Vol.
XI, pp. 72 ff.), where the braggart traveler is treated as a type of
coney-catcher. Dressed in extravagant foreign fashion, he haunts
the resorts of gallants with his eye open for "nouvices." He has a
"superficial! insight into certain phrases of euerie language" — com-
pare Amorphus' s "choice remnant of Spanish or Italian" (I, 1,
p. 154) — and speaks glowingly of foreign countries and especially
of the advantages of travel. The interest here centers in his
scheme for gulling the novice, and the account is thus very much
nearer to the treatment of the traveler in Timon than in Cynthia's
Revels. Indeed, this sketch of the pretended traveler in The De-
fence of Conny-catching may well have served as the source for
the denouement of the plot of Timon so far as Pseudocheus and
Gelasimus are concerned.2

Jonson's third courtier, Hedon, is complementary to Amorphus,
the two representing two aspects of the courtier which are often in
contrast. It will be remembered that in discussing Brisk and Pun-
tarvolo, the forerunners of Hedon and Amorphus in Every Man
out, I attempted to show that the same line of cleavage was recog-
nized in other literary treatments of social types, especially in the
satire of Guilpin and Marston, but that the characteristics of the
two types were not always distinct. Marston's sketch of Castilio,
which shows best the confusion of the types, contains some lines

irThe relationship between these two plays is exceedingly tantalizing.
Compare, for example, the speech of Gelasimus (III, 3) when Callimela
casts him off, with the soliloquy of Amorphus (I, 1) when Echo flies from
him. With totally dissimilar wording the passages are. still evidently akin.

2Prof . Penniman ( War of the Theatres, p. 89 ) notes the fact that Asotus
(V, 2, p. 190) quotes from Davies, Epigram 29. This is interesting here
only as another indication of the extensive use which Jonson seems to
have made of the epigrams of Davies.

Cynthia's Revels 273

that fit Hedon better than they do any of the other characters to
whom the sketch has been applied :

Tut! he is famous for his revelling,

For fine set speeches, and for sonnetting;

He scorns the viol and the scraping stick.

Amorphus and Hedon blend chiefly in their absorption in the game
of love, though Amorphus centers his attention largely on the
machinery of courtship. It is clear, however, that Hedon belongs
first of all to the type represented in Brisk, the gallant who is
elegant and dapper and who follows the conventions of courtship.
The type is constantly satirized, and the character sketches given
above as illustrative of Brisk often fit Hedon also. The two are
alike in their love of elegant dress and rich perfume, in having
almost reached the end of their money and their credit as a result
of high living, in their constant attention to courtship, particu-
larly in the effort to win the admiration of ladies by their activity,
and finally in their affectation of euphuistic address, neat or witty
conceits, etc.'1 But these correspondences are in the main general,
and the specific fads of Hedon even in dress and pastimes differ
from those of Brisk. The difference is largely one of social class,
for in spite of his access to court, Brisk is only a mimic courtier,
and the world in which he really shines is that of the citizen.
Indeed, Jonson has represented the characters of Cynthia's Revels
on the whole as of a higher social grade than those of the preced-
ing play, with natural reserve, assurance, pride, etc.

Nashe, whose picture of the upstart has been discussed above
(pp. 188 f.) for its bearing upon the literary treatment of the
Brisk-Hedon type, gives in the Epistle Dedicatory to Lenten Stuffe
(Works of Nashe, Vol. Ill, pp. 148, 149) a character sketch that
tallies surprisingly with the sketch which Mercury gives of Hedon
(I, 1, pp. 157, 158). It is the more interesting because in a num-
ber of points it corresponds to the characterization of Hedon and
yet will not fit the figure of Brisk. Nashe says :

To any other carpetmunger or primerose knight of Primero bring I a
dedication, and the dice ouer night haue not befriended him, hee sleepes
fine dayes and fine nights to new skin his beautie, and will not bee knowne
hce is awakt till his men vppon their owne bondes . . . haue tooke

*For Hedon cf. especially the character sketch II, 1, pp. 157, 158.

274: English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

vp commodities or fresh droppings of the minte for him: and then; what
then? he payes for the ten dozen of balles hee left vppon the score at the
tennis court j hee sendes for his Barber to depure, decurtate, and spunge
him, whome hauing not paide a twelmonth before, he now raines downe
eight quarter angels into his hande, to make his liberalitie seeme greater.
The chamber is not ridde of the smell of his feet, but the greasie
shoomaker . . . enters . . . and after shewes his tally. By S. Loy,
that drawes deepe, and by that time his Tobacco marchant is made euen
with, and hee hath dinde at a tauerne, and slept his vnder-meale at a
bawdy house, his purse is on the heild and only fortie shillings hee hath
behinde, to trie his fortune with at the cardes in the presence; which if
it prosper, \ the court cannot containe him, but to London againe he will,
to reuell it, and haue two playes in one night, inuite all the Poets and
Musitions to his chamber the next morning; where, against theyr com-
ming, a whole heape of money shall bee bespread vppon the boord, and all
his trunkes opened to shewe his rich sutes; but the deuill a whit hee be-
stowes on them, saue bottle ale and Tobacco; and desires a generall meet-
ing.

Compare with this the sketch of Hedon :

Himself is a rhymer, and that's thought better than a poet. He is not
lightly within to his mercer, no, though he come when he takes physic,
which is commonly after his play. He beats a tailor very well, but a
stocking-seller admirably: and so consequently any one he owes money to,
that dares not resist him. He never makes general invitement, but
against the publishing of a new suit; marry, then you shall have more
drawn to his lodging, than come to the launching of some three ships;
especially if he be furnished with supplies for the retiring of his old ward-
robe from pawn: if not, he does hire a stock of apparel, and some forty
or fifty pound in gold, for that forenoon, to shew. He ... some-
times ventures so far upon the virtue of his pomander, that he dares tell
V . . how many shirts he has sweat at tennis that week; but wisely
conceals so many dozen of balls he is on the score.

In the characterization of Hedon, a great deal of attention is
given to the elegant accomplishments which make him a leading
figure in the court circle. He devises set speeches showing wit
of the euphuistic type; invents pretty oaths, wishes, prophecies, and
posies for rings (II, 1, pp. 158, 159) ; and composes both the
"ditty, and the note" to a song on a kiss given him by his lady
(IV, 1, pp. 177, 178). Crites ridicules him for the conceits in
his love poetry (V, 2, p. 194). In other words, he is the typical
courtly lover. Amorphus, too, in rivalry of Hedon, sings a song
on the glove of one of his victims. Of the many satiric references
to the frivolous subjects of current love poetry, it will suffice to

Cynthia's Revels 275

quote one from Nashe, who says in Lenten Stuff e (Works, Vol.
Ill, p. 176) : "The wantonner sort of them [oaten pipers] sing
descant on their mistris gloue, her ring, her fanne, her looking
glasse, her pantofle, and on the same iurie I might impannell
lohannes Secundus, with his booke of the two hundred kinde of
kisses." The poet-lover's hackneyed comparisons in praise of
beauty are satirized by Jonson in Mercury's trial at the "Solemn
Address" (V, 2, pp. 192, 193) and in Crites' burlesque of Hedon
(V, 2, p. 194). Fleay (Biographical Chronicle of the English
Drama, Vol. I, p. 97) cites Sonnet 19 of Daniel's Delia for its
similarity to Hedon's figures. The basis of the compliment which
Crites ascribes to Hedon — that a mistress's "beauty is all composed
of theft" — may be unusual, but the figures which make up the
lovers rhapsodies of both Crites and Mercury are usual enough,
practically all of them occurring, for example, within pages 82 to
89 of England's Helicon according to Bullen's edition of 1899.
In Love's Labour's Lost (IV, 3) the King satirizes the effusions of
lovers who protest of their ladies

One's hairs were gold, crystal the other's eyes.

The use of the names Ambition and Honor by Hedon and Phil-
autia probably represents another convention of courtship. In
Every Man out Sogliardo and Shift call each other Countenance
and Resolution. 'Such names, however, doubtless belong to courtly
love as in Cynthia's Revels, rather than to ingling, as in Every
Man out. In Gascoigne's Adventures of Master F. I. Ferdinando
and Frances give each other the names Trust and Hope, and play
upon them as Hedon and Philautia play upon Ambition and Honor
in Cynthia's Revels. The games at which Hedon is clever are
often mentioned in the period. Lodge in Wits Miserie (p. 47)
says of Fornication, "Put him to a sonnet, Du PORTES cannot
equall him; ... at Eiddles, he is good; at Purposes, better;
but at Tales he hath no equall." Here we have the chief accom-
plishments of the courtly lover. Purposes as a game is mentioned
as early as The Courtier (p. 33). The line,

He that can purpose it in dainty rhymes,

in Marston's sketch of the "absolute Castilio" seems to refer to the
same game. In one of his early works Gascoigne says (Poems,

276 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Vol. I, pp. 47, 48) : "The Aucthor knowing that after supper they
should passe the tyme in propounding of Eyddles and making of
purposes, contriued all this conceipt in a Riddle." Then follow
two riddles. "An excellent dreame of ladies, and their riddles" is
given in the Cambridge History of English Literature (Vol. IV,
p. 135) as the title of a poem by Breton which appears in The
Phoenix Nest. When Philautia suggests riddles or purposes as a
pastime in Cynthia's Revels, Phantaste is in favor of prophecies
because the others are stale (IV, 1, p. 175). Apparently new
games are chosen, and these I have not found mentioned elsewhere.
According to Mercury, Anaides "has two essential parts of the
courtier, pride 'and ignorance; marry, the rest come somewhat after
the ordinary gallant" (II, 1, p. 159). The character is a complex
one. Anaides is first of all a near kinsman of Carlo Buffone.
Both are impudent jesters, railers, detractors, sycophants, and
haunters of ordinaries; both are given to drinking and swearing
and to lewdness.1 The two characters are very distinct, neverthe-
less. Carlo, of whom it is expressly said that he "comes not at
court" (IV, 6, p. 123), is a mere "feast-hound" following the great,
who feed and tolerate him, whereas Anaides is a courtier and "a
man of fair living" (IV, 1, p. 174). The chief difference between
the two to my mind is that in passing on to Anaides Jonson has
shifted his emphasis. Anaides is a jester and railer, but in the
action of the play he is important chiefly in his relation to Crites
and Hedon as literary men. Indeed, nearly all his participation
in the plot may be taken as literary allegory. He is a type of the
vulgar, the untrained, scorning scholarship and refinement. He
associates himself with Hedon, the rhymer, the popular and arti-
ficial love poet, and leads in the hostility against Crites, the scholar
and genuine literary man. He has thus formed a new literary-
alliance, for Carlo, though he fears Macilente, yet seeks to ally
himself with him. There is also the same difference between
Carlo and Anaides that we find between Asper and Crites. Asper
and Carlo represent merely two phases of satire, but the treatment
of Crites and Anaides is much broader in its literary significance.

*Cf . Every Man out, prefatory character sketch of Carlo, p. 62 ; induc-
tion, p. 71; and I, 1, p. 76: Cynthia's Revels, II, I, p 159- HI 2 pp
165-167; IV 1, pp. 172, 174, and 179; and V. 2, pp. 187-189. ' Small,
ktage-Quarrel, p. 34, has tabulated most of the important correspond-
ences.

Cynthia's Revels 277

Anaides is not the buffoon with respect to his satiric vein alone, but
as a literary man in general, and especially as a critic. Anaides
"speaks all that comes in his cheeks"; will absurdly censure any
thing; and "does naturally admire his wit that wears gold lace or
tissue" (II, 1, p. 159). He has put Crites down a thousand times,
he says, though he has talked to him only twice and Crites has
laughed at him for not being able to construe an author quoted by
Anaides himself (IV, 1, p. 181).

Anaides continues so many of the characteristics of Carlo that
the study of Carlo as a buffoon and a type of detraction will serve
for many phases of the character of Anaides. The new phase in
the treatment of the type, the great elaboration of literary jealousy,
is well illustrated by the satirists. Professor Penniman has noted
the fact that the charges of Anaides against Crites as well as those
of Demetrius against Horace echo Lodge's study of literary jeal-
ousy.1 In fact, Anaides, like Carlo, is a figure much in the style
of Lodge, and several passages from Wits Miserie besides those
quoted in connection with Carlo are interesting in connection with
Anaides. After telling how Adulation praises whatever his lord
writes, Lodge continues (pp. 20, 21) : "Of al things he cannot
abide a scholer, and his chiefest delight is to keepe downe a Poet,
as MANTUAN testifieth in these verses . . . There is in Princes
and great mens courts (saith he) a rude, enuious, and rusticke
troupe of men, ieasters, flatterers, bauds, soothers, adulterers, plaiers,
and scoffers, who hating all vertue find a thousand inuentions to
driue Poets thence." Here we have the enemy of the scholar and
poet described in terms that Jonson uses for Anaides. It is almost
exactly the same character in the same situation. The words
"hating all vertue," translated from Mantuan, apparently become
the basis of a later sketch, in which Lodge analyzes more narrowly
literary jealousy (pp. 55 ff.) :

[Hate- Vertue] is a foule lubber, his tongue tipt with lying ... he
is full of infamy & slander, insomuch as if he ease not his stomach in de-
tracting somwhat or some man before noontide, he fals into a feuer that
holds him while supper time: he is alwaies deuising of Epigrams or
scoffes. . . .

^Poetaster and Satiromastix, Belles-Lettres Series, introduction. The
passage from Lodge on Hate-Vertue ( Wits Miserie, pp. 55 ff. ) is also
quoted by Laing in his edition of Lodge's Defence of Poetry, etc., Shake-
speare Society, 1853, pp. xliv, xlv, for its references to various writers.

278 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

The xnischiefe is that by graue demeanure, and newes bearing, hee hath
got some credite with the greater sort, and manie fooles there b6e that
because h6e can pen prettilie, hold it Gospell what euer h6e writes or
speakes: his custome is to preferre a foole to credite, to despight a wise
man, and no Poet Hues by him that hath not a flout of him. Let him
spie a man of wit in a Tauerne, he is an arrant dronckard . . . Let a
scholler write, Tush (saith he) I like not these common fell owes: let him
write well, he hath stollen it out of some note booke: let him translate,
Tut, it is not of his owner let him be named for preferment, he is insuffi-
cient, because poore.

Then follows an appeal to the great English writers to put aside
all petty animosities and stand together for the honor of their
calling. The decision of Anaides to claim that the work of Crites
is stolen, the scorn of Hedon and Anaides that Crites is chosen to
write the masque for Cynthia, and the contempt of the pair for
the poverty of Crites are anticipated by Lodge in this sketch.1 A
few other details from Wits Miserie illustrate phases of Anaides.
Blasphemy, who haunts ordinaries and "accounts it an impeach of
his honour if any outsweare him" (p. 65), represents the profanity
of Anaides, who will "blaspheme in his shirt," and whose oaths
"at one supper would maintain a town of garrison in good swearing
a twelve-month" (II, 1, p. 159). Again, "IMMODERATE and Dis-
ORDINATE IOY . . . incorporate in the bodie of a ieaster" with
his intemperate laughter (p. 84) suggests the jester Anaides with
his page Gelaia, or uncouth laughter.

The pages, except Mercury and Cupid, are little more than names
that help to characterize their masters. Morus had already been
used as a name in Wager's The Longer thou Livest. Prosaites
sings a beggar's song (II, 1? p. 164), the greater part of which is
omitted in the Folio. The omitted portion contains a doggerel
list of humble trades and rogues7 callings which suggests such
works as The Fraternity e of Vacabondes and the accompanying
Quartern of Knaves. Nearer still to Jonson's list is that given in
Coclce Lorelles bete of the various classes of people who throng after
Cock Lorel. In Wager's play, also, (11. 1704-1723) there is a
series of doggerel rhymes forming an alphabet of rogues. Lyd-
gate's Assembly of Gods (11. 666 ff.) has a list not altogether dis-

*The literary quarrels and jealousies of the age and the sharp satire
on pretenders are too common to follow out. Nashe has a good deal to
say of literary jealousy, but his treatment is usually personal rather
than general like Lodge's.

Cynthia's Revels 279

similar to Jensen's.1 Cos, who follows the traveler, has several
times been spoken of as a symbol of lying. The symbolic use of
the whetstone in connection with a liar is frequent in literature of
the time. Small (Stage-Quarrel, p. 50,, n. 2) instances several
examples. Gelaia is one of the most piquant figures in the play,
but I know of no similar treatment in literature. Her slight
resemblance to Pipenetta of Lyly's Midas has already been men-
tioned (p. 240 supra).

In regard to the four women of Cynthia's Revels I can add very
little to what I have already said of them in the study of Jonson's
allegory and of the groups, in the mythological plays. Moria, the
guardian, is apparently of middle age. She is garrulous, devoted
to scandalous gossip, and prurient. The attention which Anaides
pays her is of course allegorical. A passage dealing with her gos-
sip and love of prying (IV, 1, p. 173) is in some points much like
Donne's description of a courtier's interests (Satire I). Certain
traces of Moria as a type are to be found in the court of love
poetry (p. 226 supra), but she shows most clearly perhaps a con-
tinuation of the medieval treatment of old women. Certainly old
women in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were not likely to
be portrayed with sympathy. The ugliness of age was taken as
symbolic of an evil nature, and an old woman was conceived as
malignant or vicious, a conception illustrated in witchcraft. In the
drama the nurse is the usual type, as in Romeo and Juliet, the
old Timon, and Wily Beguiled. The nurse's garrulity, raciness of
speech, and sensuality recur in Moria, and both show traces of the
procuress of the novella. On the whole, however, Moria is a loftier
figure than the vulgar types with which Jonson's treatment allies
her. She is most distinct, perhaps, in her perversion of diction.
Cupid (II, 1, p. 162) likens her to "one of your ignorant poetasters
of the time, who, when they have got acquainted with a strange
word, never rest till they have wrung it in, though it loosen the
whole fabric of their sense." She is thus a forerunner of the
precieuses.

Argurion is so purely an allegorical figure that she is scarcely
to be considered in any other light. Gifford long ago pointed out
(II, 1, p. 162) the kinship of the character to the Plutus of Aris-

*Cf. also Triggs's notes in the E. E. T. S. edition.

280 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

tophanes with the blending of literal and metaphorical meanings
in the characterization. Barn-field's portrait of Lady Pecunia also
indicates the conventionality of Jonson's treatment. Lady Pecunia
and Argurion are both loved and quickly neglected by young men,
though constant love alone will win their faith.

One immediately recognizes, on the other hand, that Philautia
and Phantaste. abstractions as they are, represent pretty well con-
temporary ladies of fashion and position. Hints of them have
already been pointed out in court of love poetry, in Lyly's
plays, in Old Fortunaius, etc. Their manners and pastimes fill
the stories and love poetry of the Renaissance. Philautia and
Phantaste represent two types of courtliness in women, — Philautia,
the hauteur, pride, and exclusiveness of birth and position ; Phan-
taste, the fickleness, sportiveness, restless ingenuity, and fancy of
idleness and fashion. It is useless to point out the conventionality
of hauteur in the woman of Renaissance story. The court of love
convention that humbled the lover in the presence of his lady em-
phasized this quality of haughtiness in the delineation of the court
lady. The name Philautia is met frequently. Philautus in
Euphues, though a man, is of the same type, and earlier still the
name is given to a character in Gascoigne's Glass of Government.
In James IV (11. 1239 f.) there occurs the expression, "Such as
giue themselues to Philautia as you do." Lodge's Catharos.
Diogenes in his Singularitie contains two or three passages in
which the term philaulia is used. In one (Hunterian Club,
p. 5) the idea is personified: <( Damocles lately acquainted with
Philautia in speaking hir faire spendeth hir much." In the sec-
ond (p. 49) "the sinne of Philautia, that is to say selfe-loue" is
discussed as the source of many evils, and the discussion suggests
Jonson's conception of the Fountain of Self -Love. So Nashe in
Pierce Penilesse (Works, Vol. I, p. 220) mentions in his list of
humours the "hatefull sinne of selfe-loue, which is so common
amongst vs." Fenton, also, (Tragicall Discourses, Vol. II, p. 214)
speaks of "the generall evill whiche the Grecians cal Philautia"
Thus the conception and the Greek name for it were commonplaces
in English literature before Jonson's play.1 Phantaste represents

*Cf. also Watson, Poems, ed. Arber, p. 7; Greene, Quip for an Upstart
Courtier, Works, ed. Grosart, Vol. XI, p. 294; Stubbes, Anatomy of
Abuses, ed. Furnivall, p. 29; Harington, Preface to Orlando Furioso
(Smith, Eliz. Crit. Essays, Vol. II, p. 218)

Cynthia's Revels 281

not only fancy and fickleness but light court wit in women. The
questions asked in the old discussions of love often turned on the
qualities of women,, and one of the favorite qualities for discussion
was wit. I have already several times referred to the prominence
given to light wittiness in the delineation of the Eenaissance woman
of the higher social type.

The early part of Act IV is given to the characterization of the
four nymphs as a group. In the Folio, all but Argurion tell at
length their supreme desires in a way that serves for self-charac-
terization, but in the original form the scene was entirely one of
small talk about lovers and dress. Phantaste proposes to run the
gallants over, and then short sketches of them are given by the
group of nymphs. This readily recalls the dramatic device" of The
Merchant of Venice (I, 2) where Portia characterizes her suitors.
A similar device occurs in the Two Gentlemen of Verona (I, 2).
In Love's Labour's Lost, also, (II, 1) the three ladies attending
the Princess characterize briefly the three lords who have caught
their fancy.

Though Jon son's portrayal of the court women in Cynthia's
Revels associates them most clearly with the court of love tradi-
tion, the undercurrent in the portraiture connects the treatment
with the satirists. ISTashe in Pierce Penilesse (Vol. I, p. 216)
makes a veiled attack on the prevalence of sensuality among court
ladies. Among them, he says, there "be many falling starres, and
but one true Diana/' A more pessimistic picture is given earlier
by Lyly in Euphues (Works, ed. Bond, Vol. I, pp. 319 f.), and
here, as in Cynthia's Revels and in the quotation from Nashe, the
contrast between the queen and the women of her court is made.
The passage reads :

The Empresse keepeth hir estate royall and Mr maydens will not leese
an ynch of their honour, shee endeauoureth to settle downe good lawes
and they to breake them, shee warneth them of excesse and they studye to
exceede, she sayth that decent attire is good thoughe it be not costly, and
they sweare vnlesse it bee deere it is not comely. She is heere accompted
a slut that commeth not in hir silkes, and shee that hath not euerye
fashion, hath no mans fauour. They that be most wanton are reputed
most wise, and they that be the idlest liuers are deemed the finest louers.
There is great quarrelling for beautie, but no question of honestie. . . .

The Empresse gyueth ensample of vertue, and the Ladyes haue no
leasure to followe hir . . . yet this I must adde that some there bee

282 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

whiche for their vertue deserue prayse, but they are onely commended
for theire beautie, for this thincke courtiers, that to be honest is a cer-
teine kinde of countrey modestie, but to bee amiable the courtly curtesie.

Cynthia's Revels closes with a palinode that gives a pretty com-
plete list of the follies Jonson is attacking and shows how his pro-
gram corresponds with that of Nashe and other satirists,1
Amorphus and Phantaste in turn name follies and vices in
groups, — affected humours, fantastic humours, swaggering hu-
mours, etc., — and the response is, "Good Mercury defend us." This
use of the litany has already been mentioned in connection with
the court of love elements in the play. The parody suggests the
song at the close of Summer's Last Will and Testament with its
refrain, "From winter, plague, & pestilence, good Lord, deliuer
vs." Earlier in the same play there is a song with the refrain,
"Lord, haue mercy on vs." A similar use of the litany is found
later in Jonson's Gipsies Metamorphosed. A passage in Satire
II of Guilpin's Skialetkeia may be quoted as showing the conven-
tionality of Jonson's lists also. Guilpin says:

Not that I weigh the tributary due,

Of cap and courtship complements, and new

Antike salutes, I care not for th' embrace,

The Spanish shrug, kiss'd-hand nor cheuerell face,

God saue you sir, good sir, and such like phrases,

Pronounc'd with lisping, and affected graces.

The foolish courtiers and nymphs in Cynthia's Revels pray Mer-
cury to defend them from "Spanish shrugs, French faces, smirks,
irpes, and all affected humours," and from "waving fans, coy
glances, glicks, cringes, and all such simpering humours."

If my conclusions in regard to Cynthia's Revels are correct,
the play is the most important of Jonson's early comedies as an
indication of the fundamental nature of his work. The strong
tendency shown toward abstractions even in the type characters
that must have been drawn from life and that had been treated in
Jonson?s preceding plays with slightly different, significance indi-
cates the student of philosophies and systems, the follower of books
rather than the observer of life. Some of the conventions that
Jonson apparently borrows from the court of love could hardly

*Cf. p. 67 supra.

Cynthia's Revels 283

have been drawn from life, and much of the play that is actually
true to the manners of the time is probably likewise indebted to
literary treatments. At least the dramatic handling of the ma-
terial owes much to specific English writers who had already
treated the follies and fashions of the age. The whole play illus-
trates a technical handling of details, a building of systems and
correspondences, a vesting of abstractions with the likeness of men
and women^ which is artificial, and while presenting the illusion
of life, yet does not show the creative imagination of an original
genius.

CHAPTER IX

POETASTER

The last comedy of Jonson's formative period, and also the least
significant as an indication of his intimate acquaintance with Eng-
lish literature, is Poetaster. Indeed, the play is usually consid-
ered triumphant evidence of his perfect classicism, the English ele-
ment being rather generally discounted, for, presumably as a mat-
ter of defence, Jonson seems to have taken the greatest care to
clothe all his satire in classic garb. That he consciously enter-
tained such an idea is clear from his representation of Envy as
falling into despair upon finding that the scene of the play is laid
at Rome. In fact, with Poetaster Jonson entered a period in
which he borrowed the greater part of his material from classic
sources, as in Sejanus, Volpone, and even The Silent Woman
despite its English tone; and it is only with The Alchemist and
Bartholomew Fair that a preponderant interest in English litera-
ture reasserts itself.

A discussion of Poetaster from the point of view of English in-
fluence will of necessity be somewhat brief. First of all, much of
the material of the play, being classic, has only a slight connection
with the humour types, which in their inception and development
were so strongly impregnated with English tradition. Second, the
proportion of obvious personal satire in the part of the play recog-
nized as English is so large that personal portraiture has undoubt-
edly had its effect upon the characterization of the types continued
from Jonson's earlier plays. Finally, so much study has been de-
voted to Poetaster, especially in connection with the stage quarrel,
that there is little one can hope to add even in the way of English
parallels to the play.

The classic sources for Poetaster have been studied by a number
of scholars. They are best indicated, perhaps, in Small's Stage-
Quarrel (pp. 25-27) and in Mallory's edition of the play (Yale
Studies in English, pp. xxxff.). Mr. Mallory, who is the latest
editor of the play, has discussed the subject of sources most fully
and systematically, and, as his edition is easily accessible and is
much more convenient for the purpose than Gilford's, in view of
its line numbering, I shall merely refer the reader to his discus-

Poetaster 285

sion. It will be seen., upon estimate, that considerably less than
half the play has so far been connected with classic material.
This statement, however, hardly represents the truth of the mat-
ter; for there is much in the treatment of the characters and in
the details invented by Jonson that accords with Eoman history or
with the tradition in regard to the characters handled, and from
his rich knowledge of Roman life Jonson has undoubtedly added a
great deal that cannot be traced to direct sources. Moreover, the
classic setting and the classic figures weaken decidedly the em-
phasis on the study of English manners and types even in the
many incidents and scenes which are more suggestive of English
than of classic sources ; and the result is a tendency to break down
the rigidity of the narrower humour idea. Indeed, Jonson' s later
satire and character study are in general less restricted in point
of view than during this early period. The most interesting phase
of Jonson' s classicism in Poetaster is seen in his blending of Eng-
lish and classic elements. The absorption is not a complete suc-
cess, it must be said, for one constantly feels a certain discord as
he becomes aware of allusions to London life and characters or
of bitter attacks on contemporary playwrights and actors. There
are also a number of lapses into savage wrath that are out of
keeping with the urbanity of Horace, whom Jonson has chosen as
his model in a presumably calm and judicial handling of his
enemies. But, allowing for all this, we still acknowledge that he
has done a masterly piece of work in making some of his English
types harmonize with the classic figures from whom they take
their names.

In the more English portion of Poetaster, notwithstanding the
classic atmosphere, there are many indications of the alignment of
the play with the other comedies of Jonson's early period. Albius,
Chloe, Tucca, and Histrio owe practically nothing to classic ma-
terial, and a decided English flavor pervades the treatment of
Crispinus and Demetrius, and of Horace as the representative of
Jonson. A number of the types in Poetaster have been carried on
from preceding plays, and especially in Chloe and Tucca Jonson
has given us fresh studies in humour that show a marked advance
over his preceding studies of very similar types. One of the most
interesting advances in his program of character study lies in his
satire on the typical professional man, the soldier, the lawyer, the

286 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

player. The satire in Poetaster on bombastic style, also, shows a
continuation of preceding tendencies. Closely related to this
phase of the play is the rather elaborate expression of Jonson's
theories of poetry, which are largely classic but are often influ-
enced by English tradition. With this general view of the Eng-
lish elements in Poetaster, we may pass on to a brief consideration
of some English conventions embodied in the play and of a few
characters that are continued from Jonson's earlier comedies.

Jonson's strong tendency to use the induction of his plays for
the double purpose of expounding his ideas and defending himself
is continued in Poetaster, though here the induction is not much
more elaborate than a prologue. In connection with Every Man
out and Cynthia's Revels, I have already tried to show the relation
of the induction as Jonson used it to the inductions of earlier
plays (pp. 146 if. and 214 if. supra] . The introduction of Envy as a
hostile force, her failure to find anything in the play suited to her
purpose of stirring up hostility, her final departure, and the pro-
logue's defence of the author's confidence, carry on the critical aim
of most of the older inductions, to defend the play against oppos-
ing standards and modes. But the conflict between modes and
types of the drama, or between ideals and standards of audience
and dramatist, which was suggested in a broad, dignified or
humorous fashion by many of the older prologues and inductions,
is not felt in this induction of Poetaster so much as is a sort of
personal animosity between author and audience or critics. Envy
is, of course, an appropriate figure for this hostile attitude which
the author is attempting to forestall. She naturally sets the tone
of the attack on Horace, or Jonson, and the answer of the pro-
logue shows the supposedly calmer mood of Jonson's defence.

Jonson's use of Envy arises out of a convention that culminated
in the school of satirists — that of defying envy or detraction. But,
before the convention became closely associated with satire, it be-
gan to fix itself in the general literature of the time. With the
writers of the sixteenth century, envy often meant no more than
spite, ill will, or hostility; and, with a public to whom the concep-
tion of the Seven Deadly Sins had descended as a part of man's
moral legacy, envy and detraction were doubtless felt as rather
real and vivid motives of action. The feeling that an author had
to defend himself against malicious slander or misinterpretation

Poetaster 287

was largely, perhaps, an outgrowth of the many pamphleteering
wars of the century, in which religious, political, or critical disagree-
ment led to an exchange of billingsgate and an obscuring of argu-
ment in personalities. Every writer felt that some critic was likely
to attack him purely from personal malice or envy; and it became
conventional to forestall these attacks by declaring in a dedication
that they would come. In the Epistle Dedicatory of Vicary's
Anatomie of the Bodie of Man (E. E. T. S., p. 6) the envy that
pursues even physicians is mentioned. Stafford, in his Examina-
tion, addressing Elizabeth, complains that envy and reprehension
are usual. Dickenson (Arisbas, ed. Grosart, pp. 76, 77) declares
that ignorance and envy are hostile to poetry, as Jonson in Poetaster
calls his detractors and those envious of him the "spawn of igno-
rance." Reference to envy is made also in some prefatory lines of
the play of Virtuous Octavia; and Grim, the Collier of Croyden
opens with the shade of Dunstan declaring that envy, hostile to the
virtuous, has brought him back to earth. Casual references to the
envy that writers must accept as their portion are too numerous to
catalogue. This contemporary feeling that no merit exempted a
writer from attack, or rather that merit was certain to call forth the
attack, finds expression in Lodge's notable sketch of Hate-Vertue,
a form of Envy (Wits Miserie, pp. 55-57). "Doubtles," Lodge
declares, "it will be as infamous a thing shortly, to present any
book whatsoeuer learned to any MAECENAS in England, as it is to
be headsman in any free citie in Germanie."

However true this remark may be to conditions in England at
the end of the sixteenth century, with the quarrels between authors
and the hostilities of critics, the attitude became a highly fashion-
able pose. Men added to their works addresses to Envy, hurling
defiance or assuming resolute indifference. P[roctor's] Triumph
of Trueth, (Collier, Illustrations of Old English Literature) ends
with "An Inuectiue against Enuie." With the satirists an ad-
dress to Envy or Detraction is usual, as I have said.1 Lodge ex-
plains the title of one of his works by saying, "I entitle my booke A
•fig for Momus, not in contempt of the learned, for I honor them
. . . but in despight of the detractor, who hauing no learning to
iudge, wanteth no libertie to reproue." So at the close of Slciale-

*Cf. p. 155 supra for a discussion of this convention in connection with
the part of Asper.

288 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

theia Guilpin cries, "A Fico for the Criticke Spleene." Hall intro-
duces his Virgidemiarum with a "Defiance to Envy" in verse. Mars-
ton's Scourge of Villainy opens with a poetic address in disdain
of envy entitled "To Detraction I present my Poesy." Micro-
Cynicon, also, greets its readers with a verse "Defiance to Envy."
The introduction of Envy in Poetaster and the author's scorn for
her are thus in accord with contemporary modes of satire. So
much Jonson borrowed, but the compact and vivid picture of Envy
and the powerful denunciation in Jonson's induction are unlike
anything that had gone before. There is a new note of strength
here.

For Jonson's concrete representation of the personified Envy on
the stage, the figure of Envy in the induction and epilogue of
Mucedorns is suggestive. In the older play, the contest between
Envy and Comedy has no bearing on a personal quarrel between
playwright and public, for Envy is represented merely as the op-
ponent of whatever pleases — of comedy in this case. Like Ke-
venge in The Spanish Tragedy or Megaera in Gismond of Salern,
he is a spirit propitious to tragedy. He enters smeared with blood,
and through spite threatens to turn the events to bloodshed and
disaster.1 The snakes clinging around Envy in Jonson's play are a
conventional accompaniment of the abstraction.2 Spenser's two
pictures of Envy in The Faerie Queene (I, iv, 30 ff. and V, xii,
29 ff.) are made vivid in the same manner. The male Envy

did chaw

Between his cankred teeth a venomous tode,
That all the poison ran about his chaw;

And in his bosome secretly there lay
An hatefull Snake, . . .

JIn the Quarto of Mucedorus published in 1610 a new ending of the epi-
logue is found, and in this the plan outlined by Envy for bringing Comedy
into disrepute connects with the plot of Poetaster in two points. The
lean cannibal of a poet battened on malice, who is to be whetted on to
write a comedy full of abuse, is twin brother to the jester Demetrius, who
by reason of his malice and his "overflowing rank" wit is employed to
write a comedy abusing Horace; and Envy as informer, except for his
service as trencher, suggests the part of JEsop in Poetaster.

2The kindred Megsera of Gismond of Salern (Brandl, Quellen des welt-
lichen Dramas in England, p. 569) is represented on the stage accompa-
nied by snakes.

Poetaster 289

And eke the verse of famous Poets witt

He does backbite, and spightfull poison spues

From leprous mouth on all that ever writt.

Jonson's Envy entreats :

Here, take my snakes among you, come and eat,

And while the squeezed juice flows in your black jaws,

Help me to damn the author. Spit it forth

Upon his lines, and shew your rusty teeth

At every word, or accent.

The function of the prologue is to defend Jonson's frank asser-
tion that Cynthia's Revels is good,, and to justify confident but
reasonable self-praise. In connection with the character of Crites
I have already had occasion to refer to the tone of this prologue in
Poetaster, and to cite what Aristotle and Castiglione say in de-
fence of self-praise (pp. 261 ff. supra) ; Jonson may have been influ-
enced by these two writers. The idea, however, was common in
literature. Jonson repeats it in Virgil's defence of Horace (V, 1,
p. 258).

The plot of Poetaster gives very little indication of Jonson's
English bent. There is more action, perhaps, than in the two pre-
ceding plays, but most of the incidents are drawn from classic lit-
erature. Some of the classic incidents and devices in the play had
already been adapted by the skilful Latinists who had learned the
principles of Eenaissance imitation, and Jonson may have been in-
fluenced in some cases by the effectiveness of these adaptations.
But, even in such cases, he has made his treatment conform closely
to the classic model. Indeed, neither incidents of this type nor
the few that are more independent of classic influence deserve
elaborate discussion. Accordingly, the plot will be disregarded,
and incidents of the play will be taken up in connection with the
character for which they are most significant.

On the basis of classic influence the characters of Poetaster fall
roughly into three classes. First, there are the purely classic fig-
ures like Augustus, Maecenas, and Virgil, who, though only dimly
characterized, are of value in giving a setting and tone of classic
dignity to the play. Second, by far the largest group in Poetaster
consists of historical Eoman characters who have become Eliza-
bethan in part by virtue either of their manners or of their identi-
fication with the individuals engaged in the stage quarrel. Many

: - , i.- .-; .-.:.-.:-.-• ;.-: >; ~.:z .:".; :.: • :.".-. :. ;.? : y-f

..:: -:..l-.:s ;.:i~. ?: i;r:iu~. -;-_;. -:-.;-

gallant as portrayed in
Rmls, On the other band; Ovid and his father, with an admix-
tare of rjanfif iMfi*^ represent more dearly aspects of London
fife. Finally, there are pore Kfaabpthan types, like Chloe, who

"i : y.Tf-. f.i.i .v: IHT : f .1:1

::J.r7 _ 7 :v.: -i~ .>-- n :. 11 :. : 11 ^iiirii: .y.~ifi:n :: :iif

is on the basis of their leUtion to the plot Acts I, n, and
of IT depict a group of dilettante poets and women of fashion,
with the social wnnVitingB who gather about them. Part of Act
IH 15 giipM to w*4 jgnt'n* on plavers which reallv "tafMJff outside
of the action of the play. Much of Act HI and aU of Y is con-

_ -. "" ~ - ^ _ _^ _ _ * J_~." _ _ - 1 ~ I ^_H ~" T ' T- ^

fink between the parts of the play is Tncca, who is present in al-
moet all the important seenes from beginning to end.

Ovid as a gallant is an important figure in the play,
through Ms conflict with his father and his love for Julia, he
the tone of the piece at the very opening and introduce
of woddlmgs who are so prominent in the play. His relation to
Julia suggests some aspects of gallantry as treated in Cymtkia's
Jfcudf, but the classic rlmnat that enters into the treatment of

the banquet, which is drawn from TTningr — is so pervasive that a
discussion of •••••••iimilih in the intrigue is scarcely safe.

Ovid's farewell to Julia after MB KaninhmMiL and her imprison-
T, 6) has been compared with a similar farewell between
mmd JmKet (HI, 5). The effort of Ovid
to force Ms son from the pursuit of poetry to the more
of law repeats a motive found in Erery Man in,
where the elder KnoweU rebukes Ms son's absorption in "idle
It has been f«jfriarrd fhat both plays reflect the step-
of Jonfov/s fadii There may well have been
m J onsone circle wno "wrt this opoosioon to noetrv. xor
ft was a heritage from medieval asceticism handed down by the
and the more sninau TCngfahnun in generaL The char-

of Ovid am •aioaoii ly reciting law in Terse has a

parallel in Home wZk you to Sa§r»+wuUcm., where Harvey is re-
ported as planning to turn the law into "KngtiA h^am^Mv
of Jfefe, VoL HI, p. 86). He attack on lawyers, the

'- I ----.'- "r."-: '. /.'. - " : 1 fr.IT.

ably, like tbe Apologetkal Dialogue, at command, is mainlr in-
cidental ID Ovid Senior's preference for law over poetry. Satire

'. L. ".'.-: " 7 - r " - - . r ~.~ - - . - - i~- -~.~. _ r_ ~JL -r

in Stubbed Analogy of Abuses (pp. 117, 118), Hake's J
of P<w2f« C*»rc*yir^, Donne's Selves (H), HalTs
mianim (H, 3), Marion's &MTf» of VUlsmy (Satire VII, B.
81 fi.), James IV (L 2032), etc.; but the usual attack tamed «pon

the ignorance, stupidity, and impudence of the lawyer. In Lenten

Singe, there is a severe arraigmnent of "learae

(TToffe, VoL ID, pp. 214^216), who, Xashe says,

pounded of nothing hot vociferation and clamour, rage & fly

they care not howe' against a mans fife, his person, his

twoo houres hef ore they come to the pojnt." After further

on the way in which lawyers obscure issues in words, Xad

dares: "Latinekse dolts, saturnine heany headed

my inueetine hath relation to, such as count al Aries

piayes, and pretty rattles to please children, in qimparBm of their

confused barbarous la we, winch if it

tian language hut the Getan tongue, it

to stndie it.'"* InterestmclT Hi ashe f<****A** the

statement that Ovid and Ariosto could mil he ptMMdfd hy

parents to pursue the study of law.

The gallants and ladies associated with Ovid are of
for this study. In Aflnus and CUoe,
used as a rendezvous, we have another entertaining ritMdy of the
ritwn and wife. Alhina IB ^•••|ifaiflj subordinated to CMoeT and
their relations suggest •••••mduirljr Defiro and FaHace of Actw
Man oat. There is the same subserviency on the part of the hus-
band and scorn on the part of the wife,
on the courtly. Chioe*s pride in her
est pretender as a poet and cuuitin, recalls FaDaee's
for tiie gilded Brisk. Both haiftiiili accept the
tempt of the wives as a mark of their hehaned
Alhrns, however, is not only dotard hut slavey, and is the
tool of his wife in her vulgar social MiihUiHav Hie

292 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

wife of Cynthia's Revels, briefly as they are introduced, furnish
the germ for much of the treatment of Albius and Chloe. Mistress
Downfall, delighted and unabashed, makes her way into the court
and evidently accepts the effacement of her husband as a matter
of course. Weak compliance in a husband and social ambition
and unscrupulousness in a wife, accompanied by excessive vulgar-
ity, engaged Jonson's attention in Lady Politick Would-be and
Mistress Otter of his next two comedies, Volpone and The Silent
Woman. But the especially interesting feature of the similar
studies in the three plays closing Jonson's early period of comedy
is the satire on the city types that were pressing into the social
life of the courtly, probably an echo of the social upheaval in
England.

In spite of all the contemporary satire on women's control of
their husbands and on their craze for fine dress and luxurious life,
I have not found in previous literary treatments any adequate
preparation for Jonson's types with their definiteness and realism.
The dramatic projection of the figure was apparently slow in com-
ing. In a short paragraph of Pierce Penilesse (Works, Vol. I, p.
173) Nashe succeeds in presenting very concretely the proud
"Mistris Minx, a Mar chants wife," but the figure is not just that
of the city wife with ambitions for a gallant servant. Chloe's
choice of marriage with a citizen on the ground that citizens make
the most tractable and lavish husbands, adds another to the al-
ready long list of parallels between Jonson's work and the old
Timon, a play which has so far proved perplexing in its relation
to Jonson's early comedies. Chloe in one of her tirades to her
husband declares (II, 1, p. 217) : "I was a gentlewoman born,
I; I lost all my friends to be a citizen's wife, because I heard, in-
deed, they kept their wives as fine as ladies; and that we might
rule our husbands like ladies, and do what we listed ; do you think
I would have married you else?" Later in the same scene, when
Chloe is mortified by the bearing of Albius in the presence of the
court ladies, Cytheris assures her, "They all think you politic and
witty; wise -women choose not husbands for the eye, merit, or
birth, but wealth and sovereignty." In Timon Callimela, being
urged to marry the citizen's heir Gelasimus for his wealth, replies
(II, 1) :

Poetaster 293

I'le subject my neck
To noe mans yoake. Is this a cittizen?

Phil. A wealthy one.

CaL I shall the better rule:
The wyfes of cittizens doe beare the sway,
Whose very hands their husbands may not touch
Without a bended knee, and thinck themselves
Happie yf they obteyne but so much grace,
Within theire armes to beare from place to place
Their wyues fyne litle pretty foysting hounds;
They doe adore theire wyues; what ere they say,
They doe extoll; what ere they doe, they prayse,
Though they cornute them. Such a man gyue me!1

Though Callirnela and Chloe by no means have corresponding
parts in the two plays., Callimela, self-centered, unscrupulous, and
vulgar in her sharp replies, is not unlike Jonson's city wife. In
Jack Drum's Entertainment, again, (Act T, 11. 263- if.) a girl is
advised that it is better for her to marry a rich fool in order to
spend his money, enjoy other lovers, and have her own way, than
to marry a wise man and be curbed.

A word in passing seems necessary in regard to the literary
significance of this frivolous group, with its amours ranging from
the poet Ovid and the Emperor's daughter to the poetaster Cris-
pinus and the citizen's wife. Such a group doubtless represents
well enough social conditions in England, and it would be useless

aThis parallel is pointed out by Mr. Mallory in his edition of Poetaster,
p. 159. Mr. Mallory, indeed, is in advance of Hart in recognizing the
kinship between Timon and Poetaster. Fleay, however, (Biog. Chron.
Eng. Drama, Vol. I, p. 369) had already noted the use of asses' ears to
symbolize the folly of Lupus in Jonson's play and of Gelasimus in Timon

(V, 3). There are a number of other parallels between the two plays.
Hart, Works of Ben Jonson, Vol. I, p. xliv, compares the song which
Horace is composing as he enters in III, 1, with a typical Elizabethan
drinking song in Timon (I, 2). Hermogenes is introduced as a singer in
Timon, but refuses to sing before the people on the ground that he is a
noble (III, 5). Hermogenes appears in Poetaster, also, and cannot be
induced to sing until his professional jealousy is aroused (II, 1). It may
be mentioned, too, that Blatte, the nurse in Timon, enumerates among
her former lovers Albius and Demetrius (II, 1). The hostility of
the servant Luscus to the nattering Tucca who attempts to prey upon
Ovid Senior, and the side remarks of Luscus on the Captain's rascality

(I, 1 ) suggest the open hostility of Laches to the sycophants who prey
upon Timon (I, 1, and I, 5). Again, Timon twice releases debtors from
their creditors (I, 2 and II, 4), as Tucca secures the release of Crispinus
at the moment of his arrest (III, 1). Finally, Crispinus's application of
the terms "paranomasie, or agnomination" to the figure he has just used

(III, 1, p. 224) offers a slight parallel to Demeas's application of the
rhetorical names for figures in Timon, II, 5 ; III, 1 ; etc.

294 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

to attempt distinguishing in Jonson's treatment of flirtations,
flippant chatter, interest in love poetry, etc. what may be due to
English influence and what may have been drawn from classic love
poetry as a background. The group not only continues Jonson's
study of the courtly, with their fashions and their frivolities, but
to my mind it has its significance for what Jonson believed to be
the effect of fashionable standards on the work of the literary
man. Even gifted poets who like Ovid and Tibullus give them-
selves up to the banalities of courtship and love poetry, frittering
away time in such entertainments as the banquet of the gods and
neglecting the wisdom which it is the essential purpose of poetry
to teach, are justly doomed to meet finally their condemnation at
the hands of the imperial figure who represents not only the best
civil, social, and intellectual traditions of a people but also the
truest patronage of poetry. But it is not alone the courtly, with
their Roman or their English-Italian stimulus to erotic poetry, who
are drawn into the stream. The citizen's wife, catching the fever,
longs for a poet, and Crispinus arises in answer to her desire.
The influence of the erotic poets thus produces in the end the de-
testable Poetaster. Nashe expresses exactly Jonson's critical atti-
tude to the trivialities of Ovid's disciples in poetry when he de-
clares in The Anatomie of Absurditie (Works, Vol. I, p. 10) :

When as lust is the tractate of so many leaues, and loue passions the
lauish dispence of so much paper, I must needes sende such idle wits to
shrift to the vicar of S. Fooles . . . Might Quids exile admonish such
Idlebies to betake them to a new trade, the Presse should be farre better
employed, Histories of antiquitie not half so much belyed, Minerals,
stones, and herbes, should not haue such cogged natures and names
ascribed to them without cause, Englishmen shoulde not be halfe so much
Italinated as they are, fmallie, loue would obtaine the name of lust, and
vice no longer maske vnder the visard of vertue.

With the ambition of Crispinus to be a poet and his determination
to win recognition from Horace, the center of interest shifts from
Ovid and his associates. Tucca has already been spoken of as the
chief connecting link between the parts of the plot. He is con-
spicuous in one meeting of the gallants at the home of Albius, and
in the banquet of the gods; he is the medium for the satire on
players; he is the patron of the Poetaster, and eggs on Crispinus
and Demetrius in the conspiracy which proves their undoing. The
name Tucca is found in the works of Horace. The character, how-

Poetaster 295

ever,, is strikingly fresh and original, and is the most thoroughly
English of the figures in Poetaster. Guilpin had already dealt
with a Captain Tucca in the "Satyre Preludium" of Skialetheia,
as Small has pointed out (Stage^Quarrel, p. 26) :

A third that falls more roundly to his worke,
Meaning to moue her were she lewe or Turke,
Writes perfect Cat and fidle, wantonly,
Tickling her thoughts with masking bawdry:
Which read to Captaine Tucca, he doth sweare,
And scratch, and sweare, and scratch to heare
His owne discourse discours'd: and ~by the Lord
It's passing good: oh good! at euery word
When his Cock-sparrow thoughts to itch begin,
He with a shrug swearest a most sweet sinne.

Guilpin's sketch may have suggested the name Tucca to Jonson
as suitable for his lascivious captain, who was to approve the poetry
of Crispinus and emphasize the vulgarity of Chloe and the courtly
group.1 Dekker, in the address "To the World" prefixed to Satiro-
mastix, apparently identifies Tucca with a Captain Hannam.
Dekker, however, was defending himself against the charge that
in adopting Jonson' s character he showed barrenness of invention,
and he makes this statement as evidence that his use of Tucca was
as original as Jonson's. No satisfactory conclusion as to how
much truth lies in Dekker's claim seems possible, but it is not
probable, I think, that Tucca has much of Captain Hannam in
him. Men of the type — braggarts, cowards, irrepressible med-
dlers, and buoyant blackguards — were perhaps not uncommon fig-
ures in the age, but Jonson at most only gave his character touches
from life, for the type was well known in the drama before Tucca
was created, and nearly every trait that distinguishes the character
can be accounted for as conventional. The Jonsonian Tucca car-
ries on lines of treatment found in Juniper, Simon Byre, FalstafT,
and Bobadill; in fact, he continues the traditions of a group of
characters to the development of which Jonson himself contrib-
uted much.

Tucca is an interesting variation on the usual type of braggart
soldier, however. In his association with gallants, in his pretence
to bravery, and in the exposure which quickly overtakes him, he

1The name Tucca is met a number of times in the Latin epigrams
of Campion.

296 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

carries on conventions already seen in Bobadill; but these aspects
of the character have less to do with our final impression of Tucca
than the mental and moral traits that distinguish him. He is keen
in mentality, aggressively interested in whatever comes to hand,
irrepressibly zealous in affairs not his own, and calculating in his
effrontery. Penniless, an inferior socially, a coward, and a lecher,
he is yet active enough mentally to win his way in a forbidding
world, and meet all the needs of his nature. It is his ceaseless
scheming, his grasping of every opportunity, his use of every man
he meets for his own purpose, that marks Tucca's effort to gain
for himself prominence. The most conspicuous aspect of his im-
pudence lies in the rushing torrent of his talk, his bold skipping
from one idea to another. It is by this rush of words and ideas
and by his air of patronage that Tucca sweeps inferior men along
and overwhelms them. Juniper's attitude to his fellow servants
suggests this phase of Tucca, but the Captain is not a word-monger,
a poser in speech. Instead of Juniper's words for mere sound,
Tucca's abundance of high-sounding proper names and slang
epithets, often obscene in suggestion, practically always has a defi-
nite bearing. The active mind and the irrepressible zest of life
that often make rapid talkers and ready leaders of men we find
represented in Simon Eyre of The Shoemaker's Holiday, Murley
of Sir John Oldcastle, and the Host of The Merry Wives of
Windsor, but their vigorous and picturesque speech is character-
istic of Elizabethan portrayals of the bourgeois leader. Simon
Eyre and the Host of The Merry Wives of Windsor are suggestive
of Tucca not so much in. the vigor of their speech as in their fond-
ness for proper names. Eyre and Tucca are also both given to a
bluff but kindly use of opprobrious terms for women.

Falstaff, in spite of his greater complexity, is more interesting
for Tucca than are the citizen types just mentioned, not because
both are soldiers who have enrolled ragged companies (III, 1, p.
231), but because they are akin in mind and morals. They have
the same lechery, the same restless mentality prostituted to the
worst uses, the same power to turn all threatened reverses to profit
by their effrontery, and the same pompous and fatherly dignity
made ludicrous by their utter selfishness and moral degeneracy.
They have also something of the same gift of langua'ge. The Chief
Justice rebukes Falstaff by saying (II Henry IV, II, 1), "It is not a
confident brow, nor the throng of words that come with such more

Poetaster 297

than impudent sauciness from you, can thrust me from a level
consideration." Of course, FalstafFs wit combats with the Prince,,
his love of theatrical poses, and his versatility in general render it
difficult to compare him with Tucca, but, on the whole, it seems to
me that in mental and moral contradictions they belong to the
same type.

One of the offices of Tucca is to serve as the means by which
Jonson's satire en players and playwrights is bound to the action
of Poetaster. Some of the most interesting passages in the play
are to be found in Tucca's picture of stage abuses. That Jonson' s
characterization of Histrio and certain actors associated with him
is a fierce bit of satire on some contemporary company I have no
doubt. Jonson, indeed, admits in the Apologetical Dialogue that
he has attacked some players, though he denies the other charges.
An identification of the individuals is of little interest for our pur-
pose, however. The scene between Tucca and Histrio (part of III,
1) sets forth the misfortunes and the vices of the worst class of
actors, and the Puritan's objections to the stage are turned specifi-
cally against Histrio. The actor is prompt with his assurance that
the plays of his company are generously spiced with ribaldry, and
that "all the sinners in the suburbs come and applaud our action
daily" (p. 232). Indirectly, also, Jonson makes even more seri-
ous charges against the players for their unscrupulousness in busi-
ness dealing, their licentiousness, etc. (p. 234). Lack of wit and
love of rant in the commonplace actor are touched upon by Tucca
in his sportive abuse of Histrio (p. 231), but the rodomontade of
the pages develops very fully Jonson's satire on the rant of players
and the bombast of their playwrights. The naive, inartistic, and
excessively explanatory treatment of classic themes was especially
burlesqued by Shakespeare and others in the early period of satire
on stage evils, and, following this burlesque of weak classicism, a
more extensive and formidable satire was developed against rant.
The great advance made by Kyd and Marlowe in the effectiveness
with which human emotions and passions were portrayed was ac-
companied by an excess of effort that often resulted in much
"sound and fury." The weakness of certain passages in The
Spanish Tragedy and Tamburlaine was quickly recognized, and
mockery of them became stereotyped. The passages which Jonson
puts in the mouths of Tucca's pages as typical fustian have been

298 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

studied by various students, and a number of them have been traced
back to their sources.1 Several are taken from The Spanish Tragedy
and The Battle of Alcazar, one from The Blind Beggar of Alexan-
dria, one from Antonio and Mellida, etc. Some of the rant, also, is
parallel to that of Pistol in II Henry IV and The Merry Wives
of Windsor; and it is an interesting fact that Pistol is a follower
of Falstaif as the actor-pages of Poetaster are in the service of
Tucca.

A favorite method of introducing into the drama the conven-
tional satire on lack of art in plays and players was to represent
on the stage a company of actors who are worse than novices. The
device is found in Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labour's
Lost, and, in a more elaborate form, in Histriomastix. This last
play, which is so perplexing in its relation to Jonson, demands a
closer study. In the first place, Histriomastix represents satire
on a company of professional players and their poet Posthaste,
while Chrisoganus, the nobler type of poet, who is commonly iden-
tified with Jonson, is set at naught by the players. The similarity
of this to Jonson's satire on stage matters and to his portrayal
of the poet Horace is obvious. What is supposedly Marston's por-
trait of Jonson in Chrisoganus agrees strikingly with Jonson's
portrait of himself in Horace. In Histriomastix (II, 11. 63 if.)
the retort made to Chrisoganus —

How you translating-scholler? you can make
A stabbing Satir, or an Epigram,
And thinke you carry just Ramnusia's whippe,
To lash the patient —

gives us the principal charges brought against Horace (IV, 1, p.
239 and V, 1, pp. 255, 257). Further, Chrisoganus's condemna-
tion of popular taste (III, 11. 189 if. and IV, 11. 132 if.)2 advances
the same points in regard to the commonplace poet's appeal to
ignorance, the baseness of his ideals, his lack of originality, etc.
that are the grounds for Horace's condemnation of poetasters.
Besides these general resemblances, a number of minor parallels
have been suggested by Fleay (Biog. Chron. Eng. Drama, Vol.
I, p. 368). The actors in Histriomastix are called "politician

'The fullest and latest discussion of the sources will be found in the
notes to Mallory's edition.

2This last passage has already been cited, p. 165, for its similarity to a
speech of Macilente.

Poetaster 299

players" (I, 11. 128 and 146), and of their poet it is said that he
should be employed in matters of state (II, 1. 130). In Poetaster,
the player zEsop is called "your politician" (III, 1, p. 234 and
V, 1, p. 253), while both ^Esop and Histrio meddle in political
affairs as informers. Again, Gulch, one of the picturesque epi-
thets which Tucca applies to Histrio (III, 1, p. 231), is the name
of one of the players in Histriomastix. One line from Histrio-
mastix in regard to the players (II, 1. 251),

Besides we that travel, with pumps full of gravell,

is practically repeated by Tucca (III, 1, p. 231). In the matter
of burlesque on plays, the subplay of "Troilus and Cressida" in
Histriomastix follows the older vein of parody on classic themes,
but the rehearsal scene in Act IV shows that the repertory in-
cluded also "huffing parts."

The rather striking resemblance between Histriomastix and
Poetaster is not easy of interpretation. Jonson may merely have
been strongly under the influence of a play with which he had
every reason to be familiar. It may be, however, that he was
consciously connecting the two plays, and that he wished to present
in Horace of Poetaster his own version of the Chrisoganus who
had apparently given him offence. On the other hand, both treat-
ments of the poetaster and commonplace players in contrast with
the scholarly and serious poet, who is driven to write satires on
the abuses that spring up in an age of plenty, may be in large
part independent reflections of the attention paid in contemporary
literature to the ideal of the poet and to a critical creed which
commended certain definite things in literature and condemned
others just as definite.

In connection with Jonson's treatment of the players, a word
may be said in regard to his attack on informers. The unscrupu-
lous attempt of Histrio to make something serious of even Ovid's
pastimes, and the information of JEsop in regard to the treasonable-
ness of Horace's poetry, though reflecting one phase of the Roman
life that Jonson was depicting, are not altogether due to classic in-
fluence. Elizabethan references to the abuses of the informer
are common. Cloth-breeches in Greene's Quip for an Upstart
Courtier, for example, (Works, ed. Grosart, Vol. XI, p. 257) in-
veighs against the informer, whose bag contains "a hundred & od
writtes," chiefly for people of whom he knows nothing except that

300 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

they are wealthy enough to pay for immunity from disturbance.
In particular, there is much evidence that literary men, especially
playwrights, not infrequently suffered at the hands of those who
were overzealous in discovering treasonable or seditious matter.
There occurs a passage in Lenten Stuff e (Works of Nashe, Vol.
Ill, pp. 213-218) which seems worth quoting in part in connection
with the satire on informers in Poetaster and especially with
Lupus's interpretation of the emblem begun by Horace (V, 1, p.
253) :

For if but carelesly betwixt sleeping and waking I write I knowe not
what against plebeian Publicans and sinners . . . and leaue some
termes in suspence that my post-haste want of argent will not giue mee
elbowe roome enough to explane or examine as I would, out steps me an
infant squib of the Innes of Court . . . and he, to approue hymselfe
an extrauagant statesman, catcheth hold of a rush, and absolutely con-
cludeth, it is meant of the Emperour of Ruscia, and that it will vtterly
marre the traffike into that country if all the Pamphlets bee not called
in and suppressed, wherein that libelling word is mentioned. An other,
if but a head or a tayle of any beast he boasts of in his crest or his
scutcheon be reckoned vp by chaunce in a volume where a man hath iust
occasion to reckon vp all beasts in armory, he strait engageth hymselfe
. . . to thresh downe the hayry roofe of that brayne that so sedi-
tiously mutined against hym, etc.

Nashe then passes on to "a number of Gods f ooles, that for their
wealth might be deep wise men" (p. 214) :

These, I say, out of some discourses of mine, which were a mingle
mangle cum purre, and I knew not what to make of my selfe, haue fisht
out such a deepe politique state meaning as if I had al the secrets of
court or commonwealth at my fingers endes. Talke I of a beare, O, it is
such a man that emblazons him in his armes, or of a woolfe, a fox, or a
camelion, any lording whom they do not affect it is meant by. The great
potentate, stirred vppe with those peruerse applications, not looking into
the text it selfe, but the ridiculous comment, or if hee lookes into it,
followes no other more charitable comment then that, straite thunders out
his displeasure, & showres downe the whole tempest of his indignation
vpon me, etc.

The satire on lawyers already referred to (p. 291 supra) follows.
Then Nashe tells a tale of how the herring wooed the proud Lady
Turbut, and concludes (p. 218) :

0, for a Legion of mice-eyed decipherers and calculators vppon char-
acters, now to augurate what I meane by this: the diuell, if it stood vpon

Poetaster 301

his saluation, cannot do it, much lesse petty diuels and cruell Rhada-
mants vppon earth . . . men that haue no meanes to purchase credit
with theyr Prince, but by putting him still in feare, and beating into his
opinion that they are the onely preseruers of his life, in sitting vp night
and day in sifting out treasons, whew they are the most traytours them-
selues, to his life, health, and quiet, in continual commacerating him with
dread and terror, when but to gette a pension, or bring him in theyr debt,
next to God, for vpholding his vital breath, it is neither so, nor so, but
some foole, some drunken man, some madde man in an intoxicate humour
hath vttered hee knewe not what, and they, beeing starued for intelli-
gence or want of employment, take hold of it with tooth and nayle, and
in spite of all the wayters, will violently breake into the kings chamber,
and awake him at midnight to reueale it.

Nashe's complaint that his talk of a bear, a wolf, a fox, or a
chameleon is perversely applied is a specific reference to his alle-
gory in Pierce Penilesse (Works, Vol. I, pp. 221 if.), the riddle
of which Gabriel Harvey had professed to read. In Poetaster the
tribune Lupus, thrusting himself into the presence of Caesar, plays
the part of interpreter. After declaring that Caesar is repre-
sented in the figure of an eagle in Horace's device, Lupus finds
that the bird is not an eagle but a vulture.

Lup. A vulture! Ay, now, 'tis a vulture. 0 abominable! monstrous!
monstrous! Has not your vulture a beak? has it not legs, and talons,
and wings, and feathers?

Hor. A vulture and a wolf —

Lup. A wolf! good: that's I; I am the wolf: my name's Lupus; I am
meant by the wolf. On, on; a vulture and a wolf.

Hor. Preying upon the carcass of an ass —

Lup. An ass! good still: that's I too; I am the ass. You mean me
by an ass.1

The frequent emphasis on the vice of the "decipherer" and the
informer which is found in the works of both ISTashe and Jonson,2
and particularly the similarity of certain phases of Poetaster to
the satire on informers and lawyers in Lenten Stuffe may be of
some significance. Lenten Stuffe, Nashe tells us, grew out of
his exile in consequence of the uproar following the produc-
tion of The Isle of Dogs in 1597, so that his attitude to the
mischief maker who could ferret some dark meaning out of any

irThis particular trick, however, of making an asinine character call
himself an ass is frequent in the drama. Cf. Much Ado, IV, 2.
2Cf. p. 154 supra and the dedication to Volponc.

302 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

matter is perhaps natural. If the treatment of Lupus and
in Poetaster has any meaning for Jonson personally, as I think
probable, we may have here another echo of the trouble over The
Isle of Dogs. The evidence seems to me pretty convincing1 that
Jonson was the player-poet who was imprisoned in the fall of 1597
for completing The Isle of Dogs begun by Nashe, and that Jon-
son was referring to his part in this play when he declared in his
famous letter to the Earl of Salisbury at the time of his trouble
over Eastward Hoe: "I protest to your honour, and call God to
testimony, (since my first error, which, yet, is punished in me more
with my shame than it was then with my bondage,) I have so
attempered my style, that I have given no cause to any good man
of grief ; and if to any ill, by touching at any general vice, it hath
always been with a regard and sparing of particular persons." The
admissions which Jonson makes to Salisbury hardly apply to any
of his acknowledged work. Though he had trouble about Poet-
aster and told Drummond that he was "called before the Councell
for his Se janus, and accused both of poperie and treason/5 there
is no suggestion that he was imprisoned in either case, and so far
from confessing a fault or feeling shame for the plays that have
come down to us, Jonson strictly maintained his innocence of in-
tentional offence. If it was indeed Jonson who carried on the
work on The Isle of Dogs which Nashe had begun, the bitterness
of both men toward those who were ready to turn any literary
work into an allegory of contemporary politics must have arisen in
part from a common source.

It will be noticed that in the case of both Ovid's banquet and
Horace's poetry, it is a player who carries the information to the
meddling magistrate in Poetaster, and the possible implication is
that Jonson had come in contact with spies among players and
had suffered from the chicanery and sensation to which rival play-
houses resorted in order to injure popular writers. If so, the ex-
perience may again be connected with The Isle of Dogs. There
is, at any rate, a passage in Satiromastix (11. 1523 ff.) which refers
to The Isle of Dogs and at least intimates that Jonson's satirical
plays were an outgrowth of his failure as an actor and of his diffi-
culties with player-folk. "And when/' says Tucca in part, "the

'Of. Chambers, Mod. Lang. Rev., Vol. IV, pp. 410 f. and 511; and Mc-
Kerrow, Works of Nashe, Vol. V, pp. 29-31.

Poetaster 303

Stagerites banisht thee into the He of Dogs, thou turn'dst Bandog-
(villanous Guy) & euer since bitest," etc. Indeed, it does not
seem to me improbable that The Isle of Dogs is responsible for the
beginning of the hostilities which finally had their outcome in the
stage quarrel. Jonson's reference in the Apologetical Dialogue to
having been provoked on every stage for three years would point
to lampooning that grew out of his disgrace in connection with
The Isle of Dogs late in 1597 as a beginning more nearly than to-
the appearance of the revised Histriomastix probably in 1599.
Jonson told Drummond, it will be remembered, that the beginning
of his quarrels with Marston was Marston's representing him on
the stage. While the representation of Jonson as Chrisoganus is
friendly, and while the satire on the players who cannot appreci-
ate the gifts and the standards of Chrisoganus is apparently Mar-
ston's attack on Jonson's enemies, Jonson would naturally resent
being represented on the stage, even in a favorable way, if Histrio-
mastix portrayed in burlesque the war that arose from the unfor-
tunate affair of The Isle of Dogs, for which even in 1605 he ex-
pressed shame. Thus Jonson, when he came to attack Marston as-
Crispinus, may intentionally have made the satire more biting by
representing him (III, 1, p. 234) as the ideal poet for a troop of
players of just the type that Marston had burlesqued. The whole
matter, however, is highly problematical, and after all turns aside
from the purpose of this study.

The most significant satire in connection with the plot against
Horace centers, of course, around Horace, Crispinus, and De-
metrius. These three unquestionably represent in part Jonson,
Marston, and Dekker. How personal the sketches are, we have
no way of determining with any real certainty. In the Apolo-
getical Dialogue Jonson declares that it is his practice to "spare
the persons and to speak the vices," but to accept Jonson' s satire
in Poetaster as having "neither tooth nor gall" would undoubtedly
be a mistake. On the other hand, it would be a greater mistake
to judge him by our standards or by the verdict of his enemies.
He was at least, I believe, unselfishly devoted to his art; and the
principles of that art made personal portraiture altogether second-
ary to symbolism. Even in Poetaster, I regard Jonson's figures as
less individuals than types with personal touches added from time
to time. This view of Jonson's method gains force from a coin-

304 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

parison of Poetaster, with Satiromastix, where the satire is beyond
any question primarily aimed at the peculiarities of the man Jon-
son. Dekker, indeed, in his address to the World by way of
preface to Satiromastix, tries to meet the criticism "that in
vntrussing Horace, I did onely whip his fortunes, and condition of
life, where the more noble Reprehension had bin of his mindes
Deformitie." But Dekker, unlike Jonson, scarcely dared to plead
literary standards as the basis of his attack.

Outside of the arguments I have tried to bring forward in proof
of the fact that in his portrayal of character Jonson was primarily
a follower of Renaissance standards and ideals, the best proof
that there is a large amount of conventionality in the treatment
of Crispinus and Demetrius would be to show that in the similar
pair of Every Man out and Cynthia's Revels there is no satire on
Marston and Dekker. Though I am fully convinced, for my part,
that no character of Every Man out represents either Marston or
Dekker and that the satire on the two in Cynthia's Revels is inci-
dental and decidedly secondary to the treatment of type figures,
it is impossible to speak with certainty. Dekker., at any rate,
(Satiromastix, 11. 420 if.) 'saw fit to consider himself and Marston
attacked in Anaides and Hedon, and even the planning of Satiro-
mastix may have been in reply to Cynthia's Revels. It seems
fairly probable, also, that in What You Will Marston replied to
Cynthia's Revels before Poetaster and Satiromastix appeared on
the stage (Small, Stage-Quarrel, pp. 101-107). But the problem
of how far personal satire on Marston and Dekker determined the
characterization of Hedon and Anaides is one that I cannot attack
fully enough for my own purposes, and I shall have to content my-
self with pointing out what appears to me most conventional in
the figures of Horace, Crispinus, and Demetrius and in their re-
lation to each other, and what suggests most strongly the treat-
ment of types.

Disregarding, then, the personal significance of these three char-
acters, we can say with the utmost confidence that they represent
literary types and that in their motives and ideals, their attitude
and utterances, Jonson has embodied his critical judgments, cor-
rect or incorrect. Though many of the conventional .elements in
the treatment of the three as literary types Jonson derived directly
from Horace, there is an English influence discernible. Some

Poetaster 305

details of this literanr characterization, again, may also have been
decidedly personal; for the treatment turns upon the classification
of poets, and, as skilful portraiture would be more likely to sting
than unrecognizable perversion, Jonson probably put Marston and
Dekker where it was understood that they belonged. There is
nevertheless a certain amount of literary symbolism involved in
the relations of the trio. The hostility against Horace has its root
in literary jealousy. Both Crispinus and Demetrius are declared
envious and are accused of calumny and detraction. But Cris-
pinus represents envy, I think, rather than detraction, and in
slandering Horace merely follows Demetrius. His real folly is
word-mongery. The same relation exists between Hedon and
Anaides in Cynthia's Revels. Hedon is envious but not skilful in
forging slander, and it is the inventive genius of Anaides that
checks Hedon's plan for a direct attack on Crites and points out
the way to wound him by the charge of plagiarism (III, 2).
Crites and Horace also have the same attitude of indifference and
superiority to the pair. The literary allegory is the same in the
two plays, and, on this side at least, the personal hits are probably
the same.

When Demetrius is characterized separately, it is as the base
jester whose vein is envious detraction (III, 1, p. 235 and V, 1,
p. 258). His malice, his gift for slander, and his "overflowing
rank wit"' commend him for the office of abusing Horace. He is
of the company of those who will bite

And gnaw their absent friends, not cure their fame;

Catch at the loosest laughters, and affect

To be thought jesters; such as can devise

Things never seen, or heard, t'impair men's names,

And gratify their credulous adversaries;

Will carry tales, do basest offices, etc.

While much of this passage is taken from one of Horace's satires
(Book I, Sat. IV), Jonson probably adopted it because Renais-
sance thqught in England had adopted the ideas. The Renais-
sance condemnation of the jester as discussed above (pp. 1725.)
in connection with Carlo shows clearly the conventionality in the
contemptuous verdict that Horace and his fellows pass upon
Demetrius. Jonson treats the general type in Carlo, Anaides, and
Demetrius. A base use of gifts of the mind is the foundation for

306 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

the satire in all three cases, but the emphasis varies. Carlo is a
social jester of a scurrilous and insulting type; he is a buffoon
and a sycophant, putting his wit to unworthy uses for his food.
In Anaides jesting is only slightly treated; his perversion of wit
takes the form of vulgar railing. Demetrius is merely a hireling
poet who envies a better poet and is base enough to employ his wit
in slandering him. The association of detraction with rude jest-
ing, as in Carlo, is inevitable, and in the character of Demetrius
detraction has been developed at the expense of purer jesting.
The malice of Demetrius toward Horace as a literary man carries
on, in a more concrete form, the spirit typified in Envy of the
induction,1 and the discussion of literary enmities in that con-
nection (pp. 286 ff. supra) illustrates the prevalence of the vice
satirized in Demetrius and the conventional recognition of just such
hostilities among literary men.

Envy is the ground for the enmity of Crispinus2 toward Horace,
and the immediate occasion for his spite is the fact that Horace
refuses him fellowship. But the real attack on Crispinus in the
play is not for envy or detraction. He is the unworthy courtly
poet, perverted in literary purposes. The satire on him in con-
nection with the group of worldlings in Poetaster has already been
indicated — his admiration for the shallowest of citizen wives and
his pursuit of poetry in order to please a silly mistress. Not even
in Cynthia's Revels has Jonson rendered the "courtly maker" so
contemptible. Though Hedon, like Crispinus, is the conventional
lover, except for his envy of Crites and his association with
Anaides, the character suggests Crispinus only as Anaides suggests
Demetrius3 — in a thoroughly conventional role. On the other
hand, in some traits that do not appear in the elegant courtier
Hedon, Crispinus reverts to Jonson's earlier treatments of the

Demetrius is especially close to Hate-Vertue of Lodge's Wits Miserie.

2His full name is Rufus Laberius Crispinus. The name Crispinus is
used in Juvenal's first satire for a pampered, effeminate gallant, and
while this character is rather dissimilar to Jonson's Crispinus, the use
of the name in Juvenal for a gallant and in Horace for a shallow poet
gives classic precedent for both phases of the characterization in Poetaster.
Penniman, War of the Theatres, p. 110, has pointed out the fact that
the name Laberius was associated with affected diction.

3In opposition to the view that Hedon represents Marston in the sense
that Crispinus does, it is interesting to note that while the exquisite
Hedon resents the fact that Crites is allowed in the presence poorly clad
(III, 2, p. 166), Crispinus, whose shabbiness is several times hinted, is
eager for the recognition of Horace.

Poetaster 307

gull. His facility in rhyming, his plagiarism, his eagerness to be
received among the great, his veneer of fashionableness, and his
real poverty associate him with Mathew. The absurd coat of arms
of which he boasts recalls Sogliardo.

In his encounter with Horace (III, 1), Crispinus characterizes
himself as a literary man. He claims to be a scholar, a Stoic,
a poet newly turned to the art, a satirist in Horace's yein? and a
student of architecture. For the benefit of Horace, he sings a
song of his mistress's cap, applying to a figure in it rhetorical terms
of great pomposity. "Lewd solecisms, and worded trash," Horace
calls his discourse.1 Later (III, 1, p. 231) Tucca recommends
Crispinus to Histrio as one who "pens high, lofty, in a new stalk-
ing vein" for the stage. In the variety of these accomplishments
there is doubtless a personal hit at the restless genius of Marston,
who was not content with efforts in one line. But the real satire
on Crispinus as a litterateur is focused on word-mongery. If ac-
cording to Jonson's critical standards anything was more to be
condemned than frivolous poetry, it was the stilted, affected, and
crabbed vocabularies of the day. When Crispinus is tried for
calumny, a poem by him filled with affected and pompous terms is
produced. On the strength of it, a purge is administered, Cris-
pinus vomiting up the characteristic Marstonian vocabulary. The
device is drawn from Lucian's Lexiphanes, but already attention
has been called (p. 44 supra) to similar dramatizations in con-
nection with the Martinist controversy, which may have gained
Jonson's attention and suggested the possibilities in the use of this
stage device.2 It was also pointed out at the same time that the
idea of the vomit of inflated diction had been used by Nashe with
reference to Harvey. When sentence is finally passed on De-
metrius and Crispinus, Demetrius, apparently considered hopeless,
is condemned to wear the fool's coat and cap. Crispinus, how-

irrhis dialogue between Crispinus and Horace, in which Crispinus pours
forth praise of his own gifts, and Horace struggles vainly to escape, is
based on the Latin Horace, Bk. I, Satire IX, the same order of incidents
being followed by the two writers. Already in Deliro's futile attempts
to escape Brisk (Ev. M. out, II, 2, p. 95) Jonson had suggested the theme.
Donne in Satire IV imitates this scene from Horace, adapting the bore's
talk very skilfully to suggest such phases of London follies as newsmon-
gery and the boastfulness of travelers. In Wyt and Science, the fiend
Tediousness overcomes Wit, but the symbolism is different from that of
Poetaster.

2In All for Money, out of a vomit certain evils are born on the stage.

308 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

ever, is recognized as merely perverted, and a strict literary diet
is prescribed. Virgil charges him in part (V, 1, p. 261) :

You must not hunt for wild outlandish terms,

To stuff out a peculiar dialect;

But let your matter run before your words.

And if at any time you chance to meet

Some Gallo-Belgic phrase, you shall not straight

Rack your poor verse to give it entertainment,

But let it pass; and do not think yourself

Much damnified, if you do leave it out,

When nor your understanding, nor the sense

Could well receive it. This fair abstinence,

In time, will render you more sound and clear.

The treatment of Crispinus as poetaster and word-monger rep-
resents the culmination of the satire on perverted taste and dic-
tion which Jonson had been developing for several years. Every
type of uncouth diction he had already attacked in Juniper, Pun-
tarvolo, Brisk, Amorphus, and others. In The Case is Altered
(I, 1, p. 520) Valentine says of Juniper's phrases, "0 how piti-
fully are these words forced ! as though they were pumpt out on's
belly." In the Quarto of Every Man in, when Clement at the
conclusion is passing judgment on Mathew and Bobadill, — a sit-
uation suggestive in some details of the condemnation of Cris-
pinus and Tucca, — the justice says (11. 2925 f.) in connection with
degenerate taste in poetry, "But she must haue store of Ellebore*
giuen her to purge these grosse obstructions." In Cynthia's
Revels, again, there is a passage (II, 1, p. 162) applied to Moria
which sounds as if it were taken from Virgil's charge to Cris-
pinus : "She is like one of your ignorant poetasters of the time,
who, when they have got acquainted with a strange word, never
rest till they have wrung it in, though it loosen the whole fabric
of their sense." Thus, while the treatment of Crispinus is an
attack specifically on Marston and the Marstonian vocabulary, it
expresses on Jonson's part a rage against perverted diction in gen-
eral which had been waxing at least since the time of The Case is
Altered.

In Horace, the literary program of Every Man out and

"The pills which are administered to Crispinus are "mixt with the
whitest kind of hellebore."

Poetaster 309

Cynthia's Revels is repeated. He is the type of satirist whom
Jon son was ready to defend. It can hardly be said that the au-
thor boldly portrays Horace-Jonson as the ideal, though the im-
plication is unquestionable. As I have already urged, the por-
traits of Asper and Crites seem to me less personal than that of
Horace — not intended primarily for Jonson himself. The simi-
larity of Horace to Asper-Macilente and Crites lies chiefly in the
similar charges brought against the three as satirists, and the dis-
cussion in the preceding chapters of these characters from Every
Man out and Cynthia's Revels serves to indicate how far Jonson in
treating Horace was glancing at Kenaissance and classic ideals of
character. One of the chief charges brought against Horace is
that of railing (V, 1, p. 255). Indeed, under cover of the
character of Horace Jonson seems to have felt it necessary to meet
the very charges which had been made against Demetrius in the
degrading classification of him as a jester. The same satire of
the Latin Horace (Book I, Satire IV) from which is drawn the
chief passage condemning Demetrius for malice, slander, and the
vices of the jester (V, 1, p. 258) furnished Tucca's characteriza-
tion of Horace (IV, 1, p. 239) :

A sharp thorny-toothed satirical rascal, fly him; he carries hay in his
horn; he will sooner lose his best friend than his least jest. What he
once drops upon paper against a man, lives eternally to upbraid him in
the mouth of every slave, tankard-bearer, or water-man; not a bawd, or
a boy that comes from the bakehouse, but shall point at him: 'tis all dog
and scorpion; he carries poison in his teeth, and a sting in his tail.

The similarity of this to Drummond?s judgment on Jonson, which
has already been quoted (p. 174), suggests that there was a meas-
ure of truth in Tucca'"s condemnation. Dekker in Satiromastix
strikes very effectively at the sharpness of Horace's vein when Sir
Vaughan administers to him the oath (11. 2637 ff.) :

In brieflynes, when you- Sup in Tauernes, amongst your betters, you
shall sweare not to dippe your Manners in too much sawce, nor at Table
to fling Epigrams, Embleames, or Play-speeches about you (lyke Hayle-
stones) to keepe you out of the terrible daunger of the Shot, vpon payne
to sit at the vpper ende of the Table, a'th left hand of Carlo Buff on.

The charges which Jonson's Tucca makes against Horace are much
the same as those which Carlo and Anaides make against Maci-

310 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

lente and Crites,1 and were doubtless intended to show the whole-
some fear in which the base hold the satirist's whip.

But Jonson is careful that Horace shall be viewed through other
eyes than those of his victims. Virgil, the supreme poet, gives the
picture of the true satirist, and distinguishes between the two
standards in satire (V, 1, p. 254) :

Tis not the wholesome sharp morality,

Or modest anger of a satiric spirit,

That hurts or wounds the body of the state;

But the sinister application

Of the malicious, ignorant, and base

Interpreter; who will distort, and strain

The general scope and purpose of an author

To his particular and private spleen.

It is Virgil, again, who defends Horace against the further charge
of self-love and arrogance (V, 1, p. 258). The ground of the de-
fence is that perfect merit and high ideals are inconsistent with
humility and justify self-praise. This view is strongly expressed
in the prologue of Poetaster, and connects readily with classic and
Renaissance theory.2

An interesting part of the critical material in Poetaster is that
dealing with the treatment of Virgil as the ideal poet (V, 1, pp.
249 ff . ) . All that represents for Jonson the spirit of humanism,
the newly arising art, and especially purity of diction, is made to
meet in the characterization of Virgil. Not only is he set in con-
trast with Crispinus, the shallow dandy who affects poets and
poetry, but he is even placed on an eminence above Horace, who
is hampered by being the object of envy and malice. The charac-
terization, I take it, is that of the Latin poet, but modified to
accord with Renaissance ideals as interpreted by Jonson; and the
character, in my opinion, is not to be identified with any of Jon-
son's contemporaries, assuredly not with Shakespeare. At the
time when Poetaster was written, Jonson's adherence to a rather

M^f. Ev. M. out, I, 1, p. 76 and IV, 4, p. 115, and Cynthia's Revels,
III, 2, p. 166. The verdict of Demetrius on Horace (IV, 1, p. 239), "He
is a mere sponge; nothing but Humours and observation; he goes up and
down sucking from every society, and when he comes home squeezes him-
self dry again," recalls Carlo's remark (V, 4, p. 130), "Now is that lean,
bald-rib Macilente, that salt villain, plotting some mischievous device,
and lies a soaking in their frothy humours like a dry crust, till he has
drunk 'em all up."

2Cf. pp. 261 ff. supra for illustrative passages from Aristotle and
Castiglione.

Poetaster 311

formal classic art and his tendency to follow models and prin-
ciples were perhaps stronger than at any other period of his life;
and Shakespeare's art was certainly not of a type to arouse Jon-
son's ardor. If Jonson did have any contemporary in mind, it
was Chapman, I should say. The two men diifer in many of
their theories, but Jonson must have recognized Chapman as the
most notable and influential exponent of a scholarly and classical
art. In the introduction to his edition of Poetaster (pp.
Ixxxixfi2.) Mr. Mallory has given an excellent argument against
the identity of Virgil with Shakespeare, but to my mind he under-
estimates the respect that Jonson probably felt for Chapman in
spite of their divergences.1

There is a vast amount of critical material scattered throughout
Poetaster and distributed to many characters. Some of the most
eloquent passages in the play exalt true poetry. In I, 1 (p. 215),
Ovid praises "sacred Poesy" and contrasts with the "jaded wits"
of hirelings the "high raptures of a happy muse." In V, 1 (p.
248), Caesar pays tribute to poetry that is "true-born, and nursed
with all the sciences." Soon after comes the magnificent charac-
terization of Virgil as a poet — his art, his reflection of life, his
creation of beauty. These lyric passages belong with the fine
lines in the Quarto of Every Man in (11. 2889 ff.) in which Jonson
exalts poetry nourished with "sacred inuention" and "sweete phi-
losophic" and clothed in the "maiestie of arte." In these passages
Jonson has repeated and varied a simple text with great feeling
and great freshness. Especially has he stressed with ardent zeal
the sacredness of the poet's calling.2 Throughout Poetaster there
is also fierce emphasis on the need of learning in a poet. Horace
(V, 1, p. 249) makes ignorance the soil in which envy and detrac-
tion take root in the poet's mind. The deep reproach which
ignorance carried with it in the eyes of the humanist is illustrated
in the early humanist allegories Four Elements and Wyt and
Science, where Ignorance is the fool.3 Among the Renaissance
writers who decry ignorance in the poet and the resulting baseness

1Cf. pp. 312-314 infra for the similarity of their critical utterances.

2For various English expressions of poetic ideals, especially in regard to
the high moral mission of poetry, see Smith's Eliz. Grit. Essays, Vol. I,
pp. xxi if. Cf. also Works of Nashe, Vol. 1, pp. 25 f. In Timber Jonson
has given a fuller discussion of poetic principles than in Poetaster, but
it is more largely from a critical than from a moral point of view.

8See also p. 208 supra.

312 English Elements in Jonson s Early Comedy

of ideals, Xashe is conspicuous, especially in The Anatomie of
Absurditie. There is in Poetaster, also, a representation of true
poetry as unappreciated except by the elect, but the idea is not so
prominent with Jonson as with other Eenaissance writers, for
example with Nashe in the opening of Pierce Penilesse and Lodge
in Eclogue III of A Fig for Momus, which is a melancholy com-
plaint of the failure of true poetry through the scorn of the ig-
norant, the greed of the great, and the decline of patronage.
Epistle V of A Fig for Momus, again, with its picture of the lofty
aims of the true poet and the base use of gifts in the poetaster,
echoes the spirit of Jonson's play.

Alas for them that by scurrilitie,
Would purchase fame and immortalitie :
But know this friend, true excellence depends,
On numbers aim'd to good, and happie ends:
What els hath wanton poetrie enioy'd
But this? Alas thy wit was ill imploy'd.
What reason mou'd the golden Augustine,
To name our poetrie, vaine errors wine?

Nought but the misimployment of our guifts,
Ordain'd for arts, but spent in shameles shifts,

So poetrie restrained in errors bounds,

With poisoned words, & sinful sweetnes wounds,

But clothing vertue, and adorning it,

Wit shines in vertue, vertue shines in wit:

True science suted in well couched rimes,

Is nourished for fame in after times.

Not only for idea but for the recurrence of several words the last
two lines may be compared with Caesar's tribute to poetry (V, 1,
p. 248) :

If she be

True-born, and nursed with all the sciences,

She can so mould Rome, and her monuments,

Within the liquid marble of her lines,

That they shall stand fresh and miraculous,

Even when they mix with innovating dust.

The community of critical ideas between Jonson and his con-
temporaries may be illustrated by the utterances of Chapman.
Parallels between the early work of the two men— in the treat-
ment of the gulls and the humour types, for example— are numer-
ous enough to suggest very similar tastes and ideals, and, as I

Poetaster 313

think, an indebtedness on Jonson's part. In some very funda-
mental points of the author's attitude to his art, also, Chapman
almost seems to have been Jonson's mentor. The conception of
poetry as elevated by labor and studious learning to a degree of no-
bility or sacredness and placed above the reach of the vulgar mind, j
is expressed by Chapman in his addresses to Eoydon prefixed to The
Shadow of Night and Ovid's Banquet of Sense and in the poetic
epistle to Harriots appended to Achilles' Shield. It was just this
attitude on Jonson's part which brought about his continual con-
flict with the populace and popular writers. In the preface to
Ovid's Banquet of Sense Chapman declares, "The profane multi-
tude I hate, and only consecrate my strange poems to those search-
ing spirits, whom learning hath made noble, and nobility sacred."
Among Jonson's many avowals that his appeal is only to the elect,
it will be sufficient to point out a passage near the end of the
Quarto of Every Man out, in which occur the lines —

The Gates that you haue tasted were not season'd
For euery vulgar Pallat,1 but prepar'd
To banket pure and apprehensiue eares.

Though actual parallels between the critical expressions of the
two men would be difficult to point out, a comparison of the close
of Chapman's epistle introducing The Shadow of Night with a
passage near the close of the Apologetical Dialogue will illustrate
the relation. Chapman, after declaring that the "high-deserving
virtues" of certain noblemen may cause him "hereafter strike that
fire out of darkness, which the brightest Day shall envy for
beauty," concludes with the expression, "Preferring thy allowance
in this poor and strange trifle, to the passport of a whole City of
others, I rest as resolute as Seneca, satisfying myself if but a few,
if one, or if none like it." In the Apologetical Dialogue Jonson
declares his intention of turning to tragedy,

Where, if I prove the pleasure but of one,

So he judicious be, he shall be alone

A theatre unto me. Once I'll say

To strike the ear of time in those fresh strains,

As shall, beside the cunning of their ground,
Give cause to some of wonder, some despite,

And more despair, to imitate their sound.

Chapman uses the expression "vulgar palates" near the end of the
epistle to Harriots.

314 English Elements in Jonson's Early Comedy

Finally, the tenet that lies back of Jonson's attack on Crisphms
and other word-mongers is succinctly expressed in Chapman's ver-
dict,. "Obscurity in affection of words and indigested conceits, is
pedantical and childish"' (Epistle prefixed to Ovid's Banquet of
Sense).

In a great number of minute points in which Jonson's defence
of his art echoes the Renaissance treatment of narrow and specific
problems, Poetaster is most closely allied with the work of Nashe,
who is akin to Jonson in genius and experience. This com-
munity of experience between Jonson and Nashe — and a num-
ber of other Renaissance writers, indeed — may account for many
of the detailed parallels between them in the defence of their work,
though no little of the similarity must be due to the Renaissance
practice of recognizing a formula for everything. I shall merely
cite one passage from Nashe as illustrative of the relation between
his work and Jonson's. In Pierce Penilesse (Works, Vol. I, p.
154), after crying out against "this moralizing age, wherein euery
one seeks to shew himselfe a Polititian by mis-interpreting,"
Nashe protests:

The Antiquaries are offended without cause, thinking I goe about to
detract from that excellent profession, when (God is my witnesse) I
reuerence it as much as any of them all, and had no manner of allusion
to them that stumble at it. I hope they wil giue me leaue to think there
be f ooles of that Art as well as of al other ; but to say I vtterly condemne
it as an vnfruitfull studie or seeme to despise the excellent qualified
partes of it, is a most false and iniurious surmise. There is nothing that
if a man list he may not wrest or peruert.

The use of "politician" here may be compared with Jonson's use
of the politician player as one who finds some damning signifi-
cance in the most innocent affair. The antiquaries of Pierce
Penilesse correspond to the professions of law and arms which
Jonson attempts to conciliate in the Apologetical Dialogue. Of
law and the ministers of the law, Jonson says, in phraseology
similar to Nashe's, "I reverence both"; and of soldiers, "I love
your great profession." Both writers pay a tribute to the worth
of the offended professions.1 Reference has already been made
(p. 154 supra) to Jonson's complaint in Every Man out (II, 2,
p. 96) against those who come to the theatre "only to pervert and

iNashe, Works, Vol. Ill, p. 215, also pays a tribute to lawyers, some
of whom he attacks in the manner of Jonson.

Poetaster 315

poison the sense of what they hear." Compare Nashe's, "There is
nothing that if a man list he may not wrest or peruert."1 Finally,
immediately following this quotation from Pierce Penilesse Nashe
holds over misinterpreters the threat that his satire has power to
make them smart, as Jonson in the Apologetical Dialogue boasts
of his ability to

write Iambics,
Should make the desperate lashers hang themselves.

These are very minor points indeed, but such correspondences
are rather telling when they increase to large numbers.

The literary life of Elizabethan England as Jonson lived it can
never be reconstructed with entire truth; for it is a difficult thing
at best to revivify the genius of a past age even in regard to let-
ters. Much of the literature of the time is lost, and much of
what remains I have not been able to compass for this study. Still
there are many traces of Jonson's sympathy with the English lit-
erature which came to his hand, and those cited are, I hope, rep-
resentative enough and full enough to indicate the temper of the
man. If I have interpreted them truly, we have not always seen
Jonson from the right point of view. The powerful influence of
his classical training and sympathies is clear, and on it the great-
ness of his literary art depends. But in two respects we need to
regard Jonson's work in a new light. First, a sufficient number
of parallels have been traced here to suggest that Jonson is rarely
altogether original in ideas. In the petty details expressing an
attitude to audiences which I have instanced as repeating Nashe
and other writers, I may seem to be overstressing Jonson's ac-
cord with contemporary literature; but there is so much of just
such minor parallelism to be found in his work that one inevitably
comes to regard him as almost absolutely dependent upon tradi-
tion and precedent, upon the conservative attitude of his fellows.
Wherever he looks, a precedent, a rule, a well denned attitude at-
tracts him and seems sane and judicial. Second, the most inter-
esting phase of Jonson's English prejudice is seen in the moral
symbolism that underlies his treatment of characters and even of
incidents; his vein is only more artistic and subtle but not less
purposeful than that of allegory. This bent in Jonson is evident
in his choice of material from English literature, where the moral.

xCf. also Works, Vol. I, p. 260, and Vol. Ill, p. 235.

316 English Elements in Jonsoris Early Comedy

and the symbolic are so tenacious. The unusual originality of the
man considering his age lies in his creation of classic form to suit
his ideas, in the fresh combination of all the details that he uses,
and in his master}^ of dramatic construction and rhetorical excel-
lence. Herein consists the supreme power out of which grew his
influence.

INDEX

Acolastus, 267 n. 2.

Acteon and Diana, etc., 39 n. 2.

Adventures of Master F. I., 207,

221, 275.

JEneas Sylvius, 122.
Affectionate Shepherd, 232 n. 3.
Alarum against Usurers, 140, 141

n. 3.

Albion Knight, 251.
Alchemist, 5, 12 n. 2, 13, 204 n. 2,

284.

Alcida: Greenes Metamorphosis, 62.
Alden, R. M., 17 n. 1, 18 n. 1, 204

n. 1.

All Fools, 132 n. 2.
All for Money, 307 n. 2.
All's Well that Ends Well, 185.
Amorphus, 264-268, etc.
Anaides, 276-278, 306, etc.
Anatomie of the Bodie of Man, 287.
Anatomie of Absurditie, 42 n. 2,

205, 294, 312.

"Anatomy" in titles, 42 n. 2.
Anatomy of Abuses, Part I, 42 n.

2, 86 n. 1, 101, 141 n. 1, 142 n. 2,

167, 203, 280 n. 1, 291.
Anatomy of Abuses, Part II, 204.
Anders, H., 11.

Andreas Capellanus, 219 n. 1.
Anecdotes of Early English His-
tory, 38.
Answer to J. Martiall's Treatise of

the Cross, 39.
Antonio and Mellida, 11 n. 1, 22

n. 1, 164, 186 n. 1, 196 n. 1, 215

n. 1, 298.

Appius and Virginia, 41.
Arber, E., 127-128.
Arcadia, 8, 19, 82, 207, 246.
Arisbas, 68, 287.
Aristophanes, 29, 279.

Aristotle, 5, 18, 22 n. 1, 28, 40, 69
n. 1, 170 n. 3, on jesting 172,
173 n. 1, 174, ethical conceptions
significant for Cynthia's Revels
246-249, the highminded man 261-
262, 289, 310 n. 2.

Arraignment of Paris, 72 n. 1, 236-
237.

Arte of Flatterie, 28, 70, 181.

Arte of Rhetorique, 6 n. 1, 56-57,
88 n. 1, 98, 147 n. 3, 172-173,
198 n. 1.

Ascham, on imitation 6 n. 2 and
7 n. 1, 23, 56, 172.

Asotus, 267 n. 2.

Asotus, 267-272, etc.

Asper, 149-157, etc.

Assembly of Gods, 278.

As You Like It, 164,' 233.

Aubrey, John, 174.

Aulularia, 92, 93, 100, 103, 204.

Babees Book, 142 n. 1.
Babington, Gervase, 141 n. 1.
Bacchides, 206 n. 1.
Bandello, 46, 50, 52 n. 1, 55, 66

n. 1.

Bang, W., 202, 205 n. 1.
Barnes, Barnabe, 191.
Barnfield, Richard, 232 n. 3, 245,

280.
Bartholomew Fair, 5, 12, 13-15, 31,

44, 77, 100, 134, 139, 154 n. 1,

181 n. 1, 284.
Bartlett's Concordance, 74.
Bashful Lover, 105 n. 1.
Bastard, Thomas, 144.
Battle of Alcazar, 298.
Batynge of Dyogens, 162 n. 1.
Beaumont and Fletcher, 148, 154

n. 1.

318

Index

Belfagor, 15.

Belleforest, use of humour 46-50,

52 n. 2, 55 n. 1.
Belvedere, 91.
Ben Jonson's Wirkung, 59 n. 1,

207.

Biographical Chronicle of the Eng-
lish Drama, 11 n. 1, 74, 76 n. 1

and 3, 78, 84 n. 1, 233 n. 2, 275,

298.

Birth of Merlin, 132 n. 2.
Black Book of the Admiralty, 200.
Blacke Bookes Messenger, 134.
Blind Beggar of Alexandria, 74,

126, 298.
Blind Beggar of Bednal Green, 13,

134.
Blurt, Master Constable, 76, 132

n. 2.

Boccaccio, 13, 223.
Bodenham, John, 91.
Bond, R. W., 73, 236 n. 2, 239 n. 1.
Boorde, Andrew, 42.
Breton, Nicholas, 11 n. 1, 17, 68,

141 n. 3, 245, 258, 276.
Brief Lives, 174.
Brief e and true report of the new

found land of Virginia, 128.
Brisk, 185-194, 273, etc.
Brotanek, R, 12 n. 3, 221 n. 2, 235

n. 1 and 4.

Broughton, Hugh, 204 n. 2.
Bruno, Giordano, 13.
Buchler, J., 6 n. 1.
Bullein, William, 42, 70, 86 n. 1,

130 n. 1, 209, 265.
Bullen, A. H., 196 n. 1.

Calendar of State Papers, 174.
Calfhill, James, 39.
Cambises, 86 n. 1, 236.
Cambridge History Eng. Lit., 33

n. 1, 42 n. 1, 121, 144 n. 1, 162

n. 1, 276.

Campaspe, 162 n. 1, 163.
Campion, 144, 295 n. 1.

Candelaio, II, 13.

Captain Stukeley, 76 n. 2, 206.

Captivi, 92.

Garde of Fancie, 141 n. 3.

Carlo Buffone, 61, 170-180, 277,
306, etc.

Casaubon, Isaac, 71.

Case is Altered, 90-106, etc.

Casina, 103.

Castiglione, 19, 22, 142, 173, 195,
197 n. 1, 202, 205 n. 1, 221, 231,
260, on self-praise 263, 289, 310
n. 2.

Castle of Health, 42.

Castle of Perseverance, 171.

Catiline, 206 n. 1.

Cato, 142.

Caueat for Common Cursetors, 69,
133.

Certain Notes of Instruction, 88.

"Challenges to a Tourney," 199,
200.

Chambers, E. K., 302 n. 1.

Chapman, 1, 19, 29, 37, 67, comedy
of humours 74-75, gulls 112-117,
124, 135, 149, 157, 167-168, 187,
268, as Virgil 311, critical utter-
ances 312-314.

Chastel d'Amors, 231.

Chaucer, 11, 28, 39, 40, 57, 68, 104
n. 1, 212 n. 1, 222, 223.

Cheke, Sir John, 23, 56.

Chester, Charles, 170 n. 2, 174-175,
176-177.

Children of the Chapel Stript and
Whipt, 170 n. 2.

Chloe, 291-293, etc.

Chrestoleros, 144.

Christs Teares ouer lerusalem, 108.

Chute, Anthony, 184.

Cicero, 6 n. 2, 22 n. 1, 157, 173 n. 1.

Cloth Breeches and Velvet Hose, 76
n. 3.

Cobbler, 94-100.

Coibler of Canterburie, 69, 95, 99,
162 n. 3.

Index

319

Cooler of Queenhithe, 99.

Coblers Prophesie, 72 n. 1, 95, 96,

99, 232, 242, 244, 251.
Cocke Lorelles bote, 28, 278.
Collectanea Anglo-Poetica, 70 n. 2,

181 n. 3.
Collections of the Malone Society,

82 n. 2, 199.
Collier, J. P., 17 n. 1, 174, 179,

235 n. 1 and 4.
Collins, J. C., 184 n. 1.
Comedy of Errors, 81.
Comedy of Humours, 74.
Common Conditions, 81, 82, 180.
Complaint of the great want and

scarcitie of corn within this

realm, 204 n. 1.
Comus, 242.
Concordance to the Works of Kyd,

72 n. 1.
Contention between Liberality and

Prodigality, 134 n. 1.
Corser, Thos., 70 n. 2, 181 n. 3.
Counterblaste to Tobacco, 127.
Countercuffe giuen to Martin

lunior, 44.

"Countess of Celant," 46.
Court of love, 218-233.
Court of Love, 221, 222, 225, 226,

230, 233.

Courthope, W. J., 40.
Courtier, 19, 22 n. 1, 142, 195, 202,

205, 221, 231 n. 1, 260, 263,

275.
Courtlie Controversie of Cupid's

Cautels, 246 n. 1.
Cox, Robert, 39 n. 2.
Crawford, Charles, 72 n. 1, 91.
Crispinus, 306-308, etc.
Crites, 22, 259-263, etc.
Critical Essays of the Seventeenth

Century, 2 n. 1, 57 n. 1, 143 n. 1.
Croft, H. H. S., 122.
Crowley, Robert, 44, 209 n. 1.
Cynthia. With Certaine Sonnets,

245.
Cynthia's Revels, 214-218, etc.

Damon and Pithias, 14, 104, 105.

Daniel, Samuel, 120-122, 158, 187r
275.

Barrel, John, 15, 204 n. 2.

Davies, Sir John, on the gulls 109-
110 and 112-117, 120, 121, 126,
128, 144, 150, 180, 187, 190, 200,

208, 209, 216, 272 n. 2.
Davies, John of Hereford, 78 n. 1,
Davison, Francis and Walter, 121.
Day, John, 11 n. 1.

De Arte Honeste Amandi, 219 n. 1.

Decameron, 100, 168 n. 1.

Defence of Conny-catching, 130 n.

1, 272.
Defence of Poetry, Music, and

Stage-Plays, 277 n. 1.
Defense of Poesy, 6 n. 1, 25, 58,

143.
Dekker, 1, 3, 15, 95, 99, 169 n. 1,

199 n. 1, 227, Old Fortunatus

242-243, 295, as Demetrius 303-

304, 305, 309.
Delia, 275.
Deliro, 210, 212, etc.
Deloney, Thomas, 85-86, 95, 99,

204 n. 1.

Demetrius, 305-306, etc.
De Oratore, 6 n. 2, 22 n. 1, 173,

173 n. 1.

Deschamps, Eustache, 224 n. 2.
Detraction, 170-172, 276, 277, 305-

306.
Devil is an Ass, 13, 15, 31, 134 n.

3, 139, 168 n. 1, 204 n. 2, 219,

221 n. 1.

Diall of Princes, 198 n. 4.
Dialogue against the Fever Pesti-
lence, 42, 70, 86 n. 1, 130 n. 1,

209, 265.
Dickenson, John, 68, 287.

"Did Astrophel Love Stella?" 221

n. 1.

Digby, Sir Kenelm, 77.
Diogenes, 162, 162 n. 3, 163.
Diogenes in his Singularitie, 162

n. 1, 280.

320

Index

Dis de la Fontaine d'Amours, 231.

Discovery of Witchcraft, 11.

Dit de la Fontaine Amoureuse, 224

n. 2.

Doctor Faustus, 132.
Documents Relating to the Office of

the Revels, etc., 12 n. 3, 224 n.

2, 235 n. 4, 236 n. 1.
Donne, 19, 68, 109, 144, 189-190,

260, 279, 291, 307 n. 1.
Douglas, Gawin, 223.
Dowden, E., 43 n. 1.
Downfall of Robert Earl of Hunt-

ington, 96, 146, 215, 249.
Drayton, 121, 217.
Droome of Doomes Daye, 70 n. 1.
Drummond of Hawthornden, 5, 8,

33, 77, 86 n. 2, 121, 122, 174,

212, 302, 303, 309.
Duello, Parody of, 228-229, 233-234.
Dunbar, William, 229.
Dutch Courtezan, 14, 105, 134.
Dyce, A., 169 n. 1, 269 n. 1.
Dyer, Sir Edward, 11 n. 1.

Early Popular Poetry, 133 n. 1.
Eastward Hoe, 29, 157, 302.
Echecs Amoureux, 222, 223.
Echo, 245-246, etc.
Eckhardt, E., 80, 82 n. 1.
Education during the Renaissance,

260 n. 1.

Einstein, L., 235 n. 3.
Elizabethan Critical Essays, 2 n. 1,

6 n. 2, 87 n. 4, 143 n. 1,,258, 280

n. 1, 311 n. 2.
Elizabethan Drama, 76 n. 1, 84

n. 1.

"Elizabethan Psychology," 43 n. 1.
Elynour Rummyng, 31, 249.
Elyot, Sir Thomas, 28, 42, 122, 172.
Encomium Moriae, 33.
Endimion, 12 n. 2, 72 n. 1, 87, 237,

239-240.

England's Helicon, 245, 275.
Englischen Maskenspiele, Die, 12

n. 3, 221 n. 2, 235 n. 1 and 4.

English Dramatic Poetry, 235 n. 1

and 4.

English Patents of Monopoly, 129.
English Masques, 234 n. 1.
English Traveller, 101, 132 n. 2.
Englishmen for my Money, 85, 105.
Entertainment at Coivdray, 12 n. 3.
Entertainment at Elvetham, 12 n,

3, 245.

Entertainment at Theobalds, 10.
Envy, 158-162, 286-289, 306, etc.
Epigrams in the Oldest Cut and

Newest Fashion, 144.
Erasmus, 18, 33, 119, 179, 191, 209,

246 n. 1.
Essay on Early Italian Courtesy

Books, 142 n. 2.
Euphues, 19, 42 n. 2, 59-60, 63, 141

n. 1 and 3, 142, 200-201, 207,

212, 237, 280, 281.
Euphues, his Censure to Philautus,

63, 221.

Euphues his Shadow, 141 n. 3.
Evans, H. A., 234 n. 1.
Evans, Henry, 214 n. 1.
Every Man in, 107-143, etc.
Every Man out, 144-213, etc.
Examination of cert ay ne ordinary

Complaints, 287.
Exempla of Jacques de Vitry, 205.

Fablel dou Dieu d'Amours, 231.

Fabyan, 76.

Faerie Queene, 118, 160, 171, 239,

242, 288-289.
Fair Quarrel, 101.
Faire Em, 103.

Faithful Shepherdess, 85 n. 1, 242.
Fallace, 210-212, etc.
"False Knight," 33, 179, 209.
Falstaff, 12 n. 2, 88, 98-99, 125-126,

295, 296-297.
Familiar Colloquies, 33, 179, 209,

246 n. 1.
Famous Victories of Henry V, 87,

95 n. 1.
Farewell to Follie, 63, 105 n. 1.

Index

321

Fawne, 30, 103, 186 n. 1.

Fedele, II, 83 n. 1, 123 n. 1.

Fen ton, Geoffrey, 39 n. 1, 45, on

humours 46-55, 58, 59, 62, 66 n.

1, 137 n. 1, 280.
Feuillerat, A., 12 n. 3, 224 n. 2,

235 n. 4, 236 n. 1.
Fig for Momus, 141 n. 1 and 3,

144, 312.

Figure of Foure, 258.
Fischer, R., 142.
Fleay, F. G., 11 n. 1, 37, 74, 76,

78, 84, 233 n. 2, 267, 275, 293

n. 1, 298.

Fletcher, J. B., 220 n. 1, 221 n. 1.
Florance et Blancheflor, 229.
Florio, John, 111 n. 1.
Flower and the Leaf, 223, 229.
Flowers of Epigrams, 116 n. 1.
Forbonius and Prisceria, 68 n. 1.
Forest, 121.
Forster, M., 142 n. 1.
Fortunate Isles, 11 n. 1, 249.
Fount of New Fashions, 75.
Four Elements, 208, 311.
Frampton, John, 127, 209 n. 1.
Fraternitye of Vacabondes, 28, 69,

180, 278.
Fraunce, Abraham, 83 n. 1, 123

n. 1.
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, 76,

81, 202.

Friar Rush, 15.
Fulwell, Ulpian, 70, 181.
Fungoso, 205-207, etc.
Furness, H. H., 87 n. 2, 105.
Furnivall, F. J., 142 n. 1, 167, 203

n. 2.

Gallant, satire on, 117-118, 185-194,

272-276, 306, etc.
Gallathea, 237, 242.
Gascoigne, 12 n. 3, 29, 42 n. 2, 70

n. 1, 76, 88, 207, 221, 236, 245,

275, 280.

Gayley, C. M., 40, 41.
Gentle Craft, 85-86, 99.

Gentleman Usher, 103.

Gesta Grayorum, 163.

Gifford, W., 14, 137, 139 n. 1, 140,
141, 143 n. 1, 150, 179, 185, 199,
206 n. 1, 217, 220, 228, 233, 245,
279.

Gipsies Metamorphosed, 282.

Gismond of Salern, 288.

Glass of Government, 29, 280.

Gnapheus, William, 267 n. 2.

Golden Targe, 229.

Googe, Barnabe, 139 n. 1.

Gosson, Stephen, 236.

Governour, 28, 122.

Graf, H., 123, 125.

Grassi, Giacomo di, 233.

Greene, 11 n. 1, 13, 19, 37, 41, 42
n. 2, 43, 45, use of humour 62-
63, 68 n. 2, 70, 76, 88, 136-137,
141 n. 3, 142, 144, use of induc-
tion 148, 162 n. 1 and 3, 258, 280
n. 1, 299.

Greene's Neios both from Heaven
and Hell, 184 n. 1, 209 n. 1.

Greenes Vision, 63, 69, 136-137,
212 n. 1.

Greenough and Kittredge, 43 n. 1.

Greg, W. W., 246 n. 1.

Grim, Collier of Croyden, 15, 86,
287.

Grobianus, 33, 119.

Grosart, A. B., 121 n. 1.

Groundworke of Conny -catching,
180, 207 n. 1.

Guilpin, Edward, 22 n. 1, 68, on
the gull 110-111, 144, 150, 163,
166, 170 n. 2, 174, 177, 180, 185,
187, 190, satire on courtly types
193-195, 197-199, 208, 216, 260,
266, 267 n. 2, 271 n. 1, 272, 282,
288, 295.

Gull as a type, 108-120, 186-187,
etc.

Gullinge Sonnets, 120.

Guls Horne-booke, 120.

Hake, Edward, 209 n. 1, 291.

322

Index

Hakluyt, 128.

Hall, Joseph, 19, 26, 101 n. 1, 130

n. 1, 144, 150, 153, 156, 190, 206,

216, 266-267, 288, 291.
Harington, Sir John, 42 n. 2, 174,

176-177, 258, 280 n. 1.
Hariot, Thomas, 128.
Harman, Thomas, 69, 133.
Harriots, M., 313.
Harris, M. A., 69 n. 1.
Harsnet, Samuel, 204 n. 2.
Hart, H. C., 2 n. 2, 60, 94, 101, 139

n. 1, 168-169, 170 n. 2, 174, 176

n. 1, 197 n. 1, 198 n. 2 and 3,

267, 268, 293 n. 1.
Harvey, Gabriel, 11 n. 1, use of

humour 60-62, 66 n. 1, 87 n. 3,

88 n. 1, 94, 126-127, 173 n. 2,

175, 185, 188-189, 198 n. 3, 206,

209 n. 1, 267, 290, 307.
Haue with you to Saffron-walden,

86 n. 1, 126-127, 184, 185, 189,

267, 290.

Hazlitt, W. C., 133 n. 1.
Hector of Germanic, 103.
Hedon, 272-276, 306, etc.
Heinsius, Daniel, 6 n. 1, 7 n. 3.
Hekatompathia, 191, 245.
/ Henry IV, 88, 98, 114.
II Henry IV, 126, 178 n. 1, 267 n.

1, 296, 298.
Hero and Leander, 14.
Herrick, 24.

Highminded man, 22 n. 1, 261-263.
Histoires Tragiques, 46-50, 52 n. 1.
History of Eng. Dram. Lit., 11 n.

1, 84 n. 1, 88 n. 1, 162 n. 1, 246

n. 1.

History of English Poetry, 40.
Histriomastix, 14, 165, 198 n. 4,

206, 208, 216, 242, 268, 291 n. 1,

298-299, 303.

Hoby, Sir Thomas, 202, 205.
Holme, J. W., 142 n. 2.
Horace, 18, 25, 31, 285, 305, 306

n. 2, 309.
Horace of Poetaster, 308-311, etc.

Hospital d'Amours, 224 n. 2.

How a Man May Choose a Good

Wife from a Bad, 139.
How the Wyse Man Taught hys

Sone, 142.
Humorous Day's Mirth, 37, 67, 74-

75, 112-117, 127 n. 2, 135, 163,

167-168, 268, 269 n. 2.
Humorous Lieutenant, 103.
Humour out of Breath, 11 n. 1.
Hye Way to the Spyttel Hous, 28,

69, 108, 133.

Idea, 217.

// this be not a Good Play, 15.

Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher

on Shakespeare, 144 n. 2.
Informers, 299-303.
institutions Oratoriae, 7 n. 3
Irish Hubbub, 179.
Isle of Dogs, 301-303.
Italian Renaissance in England,

235 n. 3.

Jack Drum's Entertainment, 186 n.

1, 217, 293.
Jack Juggler, 71.
James IV, 72 n. 1, 101, 105, 132,

142 n. 1, 148, 163, 183-184, 206,

280, 291.
Jester, 61, 62 n. 1, 172-177, 276-277,

305-306.
Jests of Peele, 134, 180 n. 1, 192

n. 1.

Jeu parti, 229-230.
John a Kent and John a Cumber,

12 n. 2, 81, 83.
Johnson, W. S., 15.
Jones, Inigo, 77, 78, 79.
Jonsonus Virbius, 176 n. 1.
Joy full newes, 127, 209 n. 1.
Julius and Hyppolita, 104.
Julius Caesar, 10, 99, 109 n. 1, 163,

263.

Juniper, 94-100, etc.
Juvenal, 25, 31, 151, 152, 306

n. 2.

Index

323

Kendall, Timothy, 116 n. 1.

Kerton, H., 69, 167 n. 1.

King James, 127.

King John, 137-138.

Kitely, 136-138, etc.

Knack to Know a Knave, 99, 130

n. 1, 132-133, 203.
Knight of the Burning Pestle, 148.
Knightes Tale, 104 n. 1, 223.
Koeppel, E., 59 n. 1, 93 n. 1, 207.
Kyd, 72 n. 1, 126, 127, 141, 146,

288, 297, 298.

Laing, D., 277 n. 1.

Law Tricks, 105 n. 1.

Lawyers, Satire on, 290-291.

Lay du Desert d' Amours, 224 n. 2.

Lenten Stuff e, 11 n. 1, 14, 91, 127
n. 3, 206, 273, 275, 291, 300-301.

Letting of Humour's Blood in the
Head Vein, 150 n. 1.

Lexiphanes, 307.

Life and Writings of G. Gascoigne,
70 n. 1.

"Life of Antony," 162 n. 1.

Like Witt to Like, 132 n. 2.

Lindesay, 251.

Literary Criticism in the Renais-
sance, 2 n. 1, 5, 45.

Locrine, 95, 96-98, 99.

Lodge, 19, 28, 37, 41, 42 n. 2, 45,
58, 59, character sketch 67-68,
69, 71, 72, 75, 109, 130 n. 1, 134
n. 4, 138, 140, 141 n. 1 and 3,
144, 150, 162 n. 1, 171, 180, 182-
183, 184, 20.9, 221, 265-266, 275,
277, 278 n. 1, 280, 287, 306 n. 1,
312.

Long, P. W., 239 n. 1, 240 n. 1.

Longer thou Livest, 41 n. 2, 141 n.
1, 208, 251, 278.

Longinus, 6 n. 1.

Look About You, 14, 84-85, 112 n.
1, 134.

Lorris, Guillaume de, 224.

Lotharius, 69, 167 n. 1.

Love's Labour's Lost, 14, 83, 87,
98, 154 n. 1, 232 n. 2, 258, 275,
281, 298.

Love's Metamorphosis, 72 n. 1, 238,
240.

Love's Welcome at Welbeck, 77, 79.

Lucian, 18, 44, 157, 245, 307.

Lustige Person im dlteren eng-
lischen Drama, 80, 82 n. 1.

Lydgate, 219 n. 1, 222, 223, 224,
278.

Lyly, 27, 29, 37, 41, 42, 42 n. 2,
45, use of humour in fiction 59-
60, 62, 63, 70, use of humour in
plays 72-74, 105, 141 n. 1, 142,
162 n. 1 and 3, 172, 200-201, 202,
210-211, 218, 221, 236, mytholog-
ical plays 237-242, 258, 279, 280,
281.

Macbeth, 10.

Machiavelli, 15.

Macilente, 158-169, etc.

Macropedius, George, 267 n. 2.

Magnetic Lady, 9, 29, 31, 43, 76, 77.

Magnificence, 28, 172, 187, 206, 249-
253, 258.

Maid's Metamorphosis, 245.

Malcontent, 162-166, etc.

Malcontent, 105 n. 1, 157, 164.

Mallory, H. S., 284-285, 291 n. 1,
293 n. 1, 298 n. 1, 311.

Mankind, 96.

Manly, J. M., 38 n. 1.

Margarite of America, 68 n. 1, 141
n. 3, 221.

Marlowe, 14, 41, 74, 297.

Marston, 1, 11 n. 1, 17, 19, 22 n.
1, 29, 84 n. 1, 120, 144, 149, 150-
151, kinship to Asper as a satir-
ist 152-153 and 155-157, 163, 164,
165, 170 n. 2, 185, treatment of
the gallant 190-193 and 195-196,
217, 245 n. 1, 260, 272, 275, 288,
291, 298, as Crispinus 303-305
and 307-308.

324

Index

Martin-Marprelate, 26, 44 n. 1.
Masque of Christmas, 12, 114, 132

n. 2.

Masque of Flowers, 234 n. 1.
Masque of Hymen, 10.
Masque of Queens, 10-11, 177.
Masque of the Knights of the Hel-
met, 163.

Mayne, Jasper, 176 n. 1.
Mayor of Queenborough, 146.
McKerrow, R. B., 42 n. 2, 44 n. 1,

179, 302 n. 1.

Medwell, Henry, 141, 161-162, 187.
Menaechmi, 81.
Menaphon, 103.
Mercator, 103.
Merchant of Venice, 88, 102, 165,

281.

Merchant's Tale, 212 n. 1.
Meres, Francis, 91.
Merie Tales of Skelton, 129.
Merry Devil of Edmonton, 100.
Merry Wives of Windsor, 12 n. 2,

35, 100, 154 n. 1, 296, 298.
Mery, Huon de, 229.
Mery Tales and Quicke Answeres,

129.

Messe des Oisiaus, 231.
Metamorphosis of Pygmalion's

Image and Certain Satires, 144,

150-151, 163, 190-193, 245 n. 1,

260, 265.

Micro-Cynicon, 144, 153, 206, 288.
Midas, 72-73, 102, 234 n. 1, 237,

240-241, 279.

Middleton, 1, 76, 144, 152, 205.
Midsummer Night's Dream, 14, 81,

83, 203, 298.

Miles Gloriosus, 123, 125.
Miles gloriosus as a type, 122-130.
Mingo, 178 n. 1.
Minneburg, Die, 225.
Mirror of Mans lyfe, 69, 167 n. 1.
Misogonus, 86 n. 1.
Moffat, Thomas, 144 n. 1.
Monsieur Thomas, 105.

More, Sir Thomas, 18, 116 n. 1,

139, 173.

Morosus, 162, 162 n. 3.
Mother Bortibie, 84, 117 n. 1.
Mourning Garment, 141 n. 3, 221.
Mucedorus, 81, 82, 132 n. 2, 147 n.

1, 288.
Much Ado, 87 n. 2, 105, 154 n. 1,

301 n. 1.
Munday, 82 n. 2, 90-91, 124, 146,

148, 170 n. 2, 215 n. 1.

Narcissus, 224, etc.

Narcissus (Academic), 14, 224 n. 2.

Narcissus (1572), 224 n. 2, 236.

Nashe, 11 n. 1, 14, 19, 37, 41, 42
n. 2, 43, 44, 45, 58-59, 61, 62,
use of humour 63-67, 71, 72, 74,
75, 91, 108, 118, 126-127, 127 n.
3, 129, 130 n. 1, 144, use of the
induction 147-148, 149, 150, 153
n. 1, 155, 163, 170 n. 2, on scur-
rilous jesting 174-177, on drink-
ing customs 178-179, 180, 183,
184, 185, the upstart 186 and
188-189, 192 n. 1, 197 n. 1, 200,
203 n. 1, 205, 206, 209 n. 1, 210,
212, 215, 217, 267, picture of the
gallant 273-274, 275, 278 n. 1,
280, 281, 282, 291, 292, 294, on
informers 300-303, 307, 311 n. 2,
312, defence of his work, 314-315.

Nature, 141, 161-162, 187, 251, 253.

Neff, Marietta, 233 n. 2.

Neilson, G., 200 n. 1.

Neilson, W. A., 222, 224 n. 1 and 2,
226 n. 1, 231, 232, 232 n. 3.

Never too Late, 88.

New English Dictionary, 38, 39,
108, 109.

New Inn, 9, 31, 199, 220, 221 n. 1,
225 n. 1.

Newes from Jack Begger under the
Bushe, 204 n. 1, 209 n. 1.

Newes out of Powles Churchyarde,
209 n. 1, 291.

Index

325

"News" in titles, 209 n. 1.
Nicomachean Ethics, 28, 170 n. 3,

172, 246-248.
Nigramansir, 269 n. 1.
No Whippinge, nor trippinge: but a

kinde friendly Snippinge, 18.
Nobody and Somebody, 11.
Northbrooke, John, 141 n. 1.

Odyssey, 11 n. 1.

Of Poets and Poesy, 121.

Old Fortunatus, 242-243, 280.

Old Law, 233-234.

Old Wives' Tale, 94, 147, 245.

One and Thirty Epigrams, 44, 209

n. 1.
"Origin of the Seventeenth Century

Idea of Humours," 69 n. 1.
Origins and Sources of the Court

of Love, 222-223, 224 n. 1 and 2,

226 n. 1, 229, 231, 232.
Orlando Furioso (Greene), 72 n. 1,

258, 280 n. 1.
Ovid, 220.
Ovid of Poetaster, 290-291, 293-294,

etc.
Ovid's Banquet of Sense, 313-314.

Page of Plymouth, 10.

Painter, William, 48-50, 162 n. 1.

Palace of Pleasure, 48-50, 162 n. 1.

Police of Honour, 223.

Palladis Tamia, 91.

Paradoxes of Defence, 227 n. 1.

Parnassus Plays, 118, 119, 169 n.

1, 178 n. 1, 186.

Pasqualigo, Luigi, 83 n. 1, 123 n. 1.
Pasquils Jests, 120.
Pastoral Poetry, 246 n. 1.
Patient Grissell (Dekker), 105 n.

1, 119, 120., 169 n. 1, 186, 199

n. 1.

Patient Grissell (Phillip), 142 n. 1.
Pattern of Painful Adventures, 76.
Pedantius, 94.

Peele, 147, 180 n. 1, 207, 236-237.
Pell, John, 174.

Penates, 10, 114.

Penelope's Web, 63.

Penniman, J. H., 71, 120, 139 n. 1,

143 n. 1, 183 n. 1, 266 n. 2, 267,

272 n. 2, 277, 306 n. 2.
Petite Pallace of Pettie his pleas-
ure, 207.
Philargyrie of greate Britayne, 269

n. 1.

Philaster, 100.
Phillip, John, 142 n. 1.
Philomela, 63.
Phoenix Nest, 276.
Pierce Penilesse, 37, 64, 66, 71, 86

n. 1, 118, 144, 150, 163, 165, 174-

177, 178, 188, 205, 210, 280, 281,

292, 301, 312, 314-315.
Pierces Supererogation, 11 n. 1, 88

n. 1.
Piers the Plowman, 29, 159-160,

161 n. 1.
Pinner of Wakefield, 72 n. 1, 95,

99, 100.
Planetomachia, 42 n. 2, 62, 73, 162

n. 3.

Plato, 5, 28, 40, 157, 220.
Platonic love, 221 n. 1.
Plautus, 18, 23, 90, 92, 93, 102, 103,

107, 204, 206 n. 1.
Players, Satire on, 297-299.
Plays of our Forefathers, 40.
Pleasant Conceites of Old Hobson,

129.

Plutarch, 162 n. 1.
Poetaster, 284-316, etc.
Poetical Rapsody, 121.
Political, Religious, and Love

Poems, 38 n. 1.
Practise (Saviolo), 233.
"Praise of Nothing," 11 n. 1.
Price, W. H., 129.
Princely Pleasures at Kenilworth

Castle, 12 n. 3.
Proctor, Thos., 287.
Promos and Cassandra, 143, 216.
Puntarvolo, 194-200, 264-265, etc.
Puttenham, 122.

326

Index

Quartern of Knaves, 30, 278.
Queene Elizabethes Achademy, 142

n. 1.
Quellen-Studien zu den Dramen

Ben Jonson's, etc., 93 n. 1.
Quia Amore Langueo, 38 n. 1.
Quintilian, 7 n. 3, 122.
Quip for an Upstart Courtier, 11

n. 1, 76, 86 n. 1, 142, 144, 188,

203, 280 n. 1, 299.

Rabelais, 42, 185.

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 197 n. 1.

Raleigh, W., 23 n. 1, 202 n. 1,

205.

Rankins, William, 144, 162 n. 3.
Rare Triumphs of Love and For-
tune, 236, 237.
Rarest Books, 17 n. 1.
Recorde, Robert, 42.
Repentance of Robert Greene, 163.
Reson and Sensuallyte, 219 n. 1,

222, 223, 224, 226.
Respullica, 102, 131, 251
Return from Parnassus, Part I,

118, 119, 178 n. 1, 186.
Returne of Pasquil, 44, 153 n. 1,

183, 212.

Riche, Barnabe, 179.
Rise of Formal Satire in England
under Classical Influence, 17 n.
1, 204 n. 1.

Robert II, King of Scots, 10.
Roman de la Poire, 229.
Roman de la Rose, 224, 230, 231,

232, 233.

Romaricimontis Concilium, 226.
Romaunt of the Rose, 222, 226, 232

n. 1.

Romeo and Juliet, 279, 290.
Rosalind, 141 n. 3.
Rossetti, W. M., 142 n. 2.
Routh, H. V., 33 n. 1.
Rowlands, Samuel, 68, 150 n. 1.
Royal Exchange, 258.
Roydon, Matthew, 313.

Sad Shepherd, 9, 24, 31, 77.

Salviati, Lionardo, 45.

Sapho and Phao, 209, 232, 236 n. 2,

237, 241-242.
Satirist, Treatment of, 148-157,

166, 170, 260, 308-310, etc.
Satiromastix, 3, 87, 120, 157, 169

n. 1, 227, 259, 295, 302, 304, 309.
Satyr, 11.

Satyre of Three Estates, 251.
Saviolina, 200-202, etc.
Saviolo, Vincentio, 233.
Schelling, F. E., 70 n. 1, 76, 84.
Schmidt, A., 74.

Scholemaster, 6 n. 2, 7 n. 1, 23 n. 1.
School of Shakspere, 11 n. 1, 76

n. 2.

Scogan and Skelton, 249.
Scot, Reginald, 11.
Scott, M. A., 202 n. 1, 205 n. 1.
Scourge of Villainy, 144, 152-153,

153 n. 2, 155-157, 170 n. 2, 191,

193, 198 n. 2, 217, 288, 291.
Seaven Satyres, 144, 162 n. 3.
Sejanus, 10, 154 n. 1, 284.
Selimus, 82.
Seneca, 23.

Shadow of Night, 313-314.
Shakespeare, 1, 3, 13, 24, 27, 35,

40, 57, 81, 98, 99, 137-138, 139,

147, 154, 164, 198 n. 4, 202 n. 1,

297, 310-311.
Shakespeare-Lexicon, 74.
Shift, 180-184, etc.
Ship of Fools, 28, 30, 33, 69, 130

n. 1, 203 n. 1.

Shoemaker's Holiday, 95, 99, 296.
Sidney, Lady Mary, 50.
Sidney, Sir Philip, 5, 6 n. 1, 18-

19, 25, 42 n. 2, on character

treatment 57-59, 143, 158, 217,

221 n. 1, 246.
Silent Woman, 5, 31, 81, 119, 121,

132 n. 2, 154 n. 1, 184 n. 3, 206

n. 1, 219, 221 n. 1, 284, 292.
Silver. George, 227 n. 1.

Index

327

Simpson, R., 7 n. 3, 11 n. 1, 76 n.

2, 165, 185.
Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes, 180.,

251.
Sir Gyles Goosecappe, 132 n. 2, 169

n. 1.

Sir John Oldcastle, 100, 296.
Sir Thomas More, 13, 41 n. 1, 74,

101, 108, 109, 139, 202.
Skelton, 25, 28, 31, 146, 172, 187,

206, Magnificence 249-253, 269

n. 1.
Skialetheia, 22 n. 1, 68, 110-111,

144, 163, 166, 170 n. 2, 174, 193-

195, 206, 216, 260, 266, 267 n. 2,

271 n. 1, 282, 287, 295.
Small, R. A., 76, 78, 79, 121 n. 1,

174 n. 2, 205, 276 n. 1, 279, 284,

295, 304.
Smith, G. Gregory, 2 n. 1, 6 n. 2,

87 n. 4, 143 n. 1, 258, 280 n. 1,

311 n. 2.

Smith, Winifred, 124 n. 1, 132 n. 3.
Social England, 235 n. 2.
Sogliardo, 207-209, etc.
Soliman and Perseda, 72 n. 1, 117,

123, 124-125, 129, 146.
Sordido, 202-205, etc.
Spanish Tragedy, 72 n. 1, 126, 127,

141, 146, 288, 297, 298.
Speeches Delivered to her Majesty

at Bisham, 12 n. 3.
Speght, Thomas, 222.
Spenser, 19, 41, 60, 118, 160, 161

n. 1, 171, 221 n. 1, 239, 242, 288.
Spingarn, J. E., 2, 5, 6 n. 1, 7 n.

3, 45, 55, 57 n. 1, 143 n. 1 and 2.
Stafford, William, 287.
Stage-Quarrel, 76, 78, 79, 121 n. 1,

174 n. 2, 205, 276 n. 1, 279, 284,

295, 304.
Staple of News, 5, 9, 29, 77, 121,

148, 207.

Stoll, E. E., 99 n. 1.
Stow, John, 199-200, 222.
Strange Newes, 44-45, 129, 209 n.

1, 217.

Stubbes, Philip, 42 n. 2, 86 n. 1,
101, 141 n. 1, 142 n. 2, on dress
167, 203, 204, 280 n. 1, 291.

Studies in Jonson's Comedy, 6 n. 1.

Stukeley, Thomas, 130.

Summer's Last Will and Testa-
ment, 147, 148, 154, 155, 178-
179, 216, 242, 282.

Supposes, 76, 86.

Tale of a Tub, 76-89, etc.
Tamburlaine, 297.
Taming of a Shrew, 72 n. 1, 147.
Taming of the Shrew, 105, 132 n.

2, 147.
Tarlton's News out of Purgatory,

100, 209 n. 1.
Tears of Fancie, 245.
Ten Commandments, 141 n. 1.
Tennant, G. B., 199, 220.
Terrors of the Night, 65-66, 68, 71,

108, 109, 188, 200.
Theophrasti Characteres Ethici, 71.
Theophrastus, 69 n. 1, 71, 130 n. 1.
Thibaut, 229.

Thomas Deloney, etc., 204 n. 1.
Thorns, W. J., 38.
Thorndike, A. H., 144 n. 2, 154 n. 1.
Three Ladies of London, 11 n. 1,

131, 209.
Three Lords and Three Ladies of

London, 11 n. 1, 72 n. 1, 131,

235, 249, 253-256.
Thynne, William, 222.
Timber, 5, requisites of the poet

6-7, 22 n. 1, 311 n. 2.
Timon, 162.
Timon, 168-169, 185, 209, 268-272,

279, 292.

Tornoiement d'Antechrist, 229.
Tragicall Discourses, 39 n. 1, 46-55,

137 n. 1, 280.
Traill, H. D., 235 n. 2.
Trattato della Poetica, 45.
Traveler, 101-102, 265-267, etc.
Treatise against Dancing, 141 n. 1.
Trial by Combat, 200 n. 1.

328

Index

Trial for Treasure, 41 n. 1.

Triggs, 0. L., 279 n. 1.

Triumph of Trueth, 287.

Troilus and Cressida, 154 n. 1.

True Arte of Defence, 233.

True Tragedy of Richard HI, 215.

Tucca, 99, 294-297, etc.

Twelfth Night, 15, 154 n. 1.

Two Angry Women of AUngton,

84, 85, 135 n. 1, 142.
Two Gentlemen of Verona, 103-104,

281.
Two Italian Gentlemen, 72 n. 1,

kinship to Tale of a Tub 82-83,

117, treatment of braggart 123-

124, 124 n. 2, 129.

Unfortunate Traveller, 108.
Upton, J., 20-6 n. 1.

Variorum Shakespeare, 87 n. 2,

105.

Vetus Comcedia, 7, 212.
Vicary, Thomas, 42, 287.
Victoria, S3 n. 1, 123 n. 1.
Virgidemiarum, 101 n. 1, 130 n. 1,

144, 190, 267, 288, 291.
Virgil, 23, 310.

Virgil of Poetaster, 310-311, etc.
Virtuous Octavia, 287.
Vitruvius, 78.
Vitry, Jacques de, 205.
Vives, Johannes Ludovicus, 7 n. 3.
Volpone, 9, 31, 154 n. 1, 175 n. 1,

193, 284, 292.

Wager, William, 41 n. 2, 141 n. 1,

251, 278.
War of the Theatres, 143 n. 1, 266

n. 2, 272 n. 2, 306 n. 2.
Ward, A. W., 11 n. 1, 84 n. 1, 88

n. 1, 162 n. 1, 246 n. 1.
Warning for Fair Women, 143, 146,

158, 215, 216.

Warton, Thomas, 269 n. 1.
Watson, Thomas, 191, 245, 280 n. 1.
\Vebster, 1.
Weever, John, 144.
Welldon, J. E. C., 170 n. 3.
Whalley, P., 117 n. 1, 141, 179.
What you Will, 304.
Whetstone, George, 143, 158, 216.
Whipping of the Satyre, 17.
Wild Goose Chase, 101, 105.
Wilson, Robert, 131, 249, 253-256.
Wilson, Thomas, 6 n. 1, 7 n. 3, 23,

art of characterization 56-57, 88

n. 1, 98, 147 n. 3, on jesting

172-173, 198 n. 1.
Wily Beguiled, 84, 88, 95, 98, 99,

109, 117 n. 2, 147, 162 n. 2,

279.

Winter's Tale, 13.
Wisdom of Doctor Dodipoll, 103,

109 n. 1.

Witch of Edmonton, 165 n. 1.
Wit of Wit, 11 n. 1.
Wits Miserie, 28, 37, 67-68, 71, 109,

130 n. 1, 134 n. 4, 138, 139 n. 1,

144, 150, 171, 182-183, 183 n. 1,

209, 265-266, 275, 277, 287, 306

n. 1.

Wits Trenchmour, 68, 141 n. 3.
Witty woman, 105, 200-202, 280-

281.
Woman in the Moon, 37, 72, 73-74,

162 n. 3, 207, 210-211, 237, 238,

240.

Woman is a Weathercock, 132 n. 2.
Woodbridge, Elizabeth, 6 n. 1.
Woodward, W. H., 260 n. 1.
Words and their Ways, 43 n. 1.
Worlde of Wordes, 111 n. 1.
Wounds of Civil War, 245.
Wyt and Science, 208, 307 n. 1, 311.

Zodiacke, 139 n. 1.

PR 2636 .B22 1911

SMC

BASKERVILL, CHARLES

READ, 1872-1935.
ENGLISH ELEMENTS IN

JONSON'S EARLY COMEDY
AIB-8634 (AWAB)