Part 1

, pp. 64-8) devotes a long section to the subject. Dr. Furnivall in the notes to this passage, pp. 271-3, should also be consulted. Brome satirizes it in the _City Wit_, _Wks._ 2. 300. Lady Politick Would-be in the _Fox_ is of course addicted to the habit, and a good deal is said on the subject in _Epicoene_. Dekker (_West-ward Hoe_, _Wks._ 2. 285) has a passage quite similar in spirit to Jonson’s satire.

=4. 2. 71 the very Infanta of the Giants!= Cf. Massinger and Field, _Fatal Dowry_ 4. 1: ‘O that I were the infanta queen of Europe!’ Pecunia in the _Staple of News_ is called the ‘Infanta of the mines.’ Spanish terms were fashionable at this time. Cf. the use of _Grandees_, 1. 3. It is possible that the reference here is to the Infanta Maria. See Introduction, p. xviii.

=4. 3. 5, 6 It is the manner of Spaine, to imbrace onely, Neuer to kisse.= Cf. Minsheu’s _Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues,_ pp. 51-2: ‘_W._ I hold that the greatest cause of dissolutenesse in some women in England is this custome of kissing publikely.... _G._ In Spaine doe not men vse to kisse women? _I._ Yes the husbands kisse their wiues, but as if it were behinde seuen walls, where the very light cannot see them.’

=4. 3. 33 f. Decayes the fore-teeth, that should guard the tongue;= etc. Cf. _Timber_, ed. Schelling, 13. 24: ‘It was excellently said of that philosopher, that there was a wall or parapet of teeth set in our mouth, to restrain the petulancy of our words; that the rashness of talking should not only be retarded by the guard and watch of our heart, but be fenced in and defended by certain strengths placed in the mouth itself, and within the lips.’

Professor Schelling quotes Plutarch, _Moralia, de Garrulitate_ 3, translated by Goodwin: ‘And yet there is no member of human bodies that nature has so strongly enclosed within a double fortification as the tongue, entrenched within a barricade of sharp teeth, to the end that, if it refuses to obey and keep silent when reason “presses the glittering reins” within, we should fix our teeth in it till the blood comes rather than suffer inordinate and unseasonable din’ (4. 223).

=4. 3. 39 Mad-dames.= See variants. The editors have taken out of the jest whatever salt it possessed, and have supplied meaningless substitutes. Gifford followed the same course in his edition of Ford (see Ford’s _Wks._ 2. 81), where, however, he changes to Mad-dam. Such gratuitous corruptions are inexplicable. Cf. _Tale Tub_, _Wks._ 6. 172:

Here is a strange thing call’d a lady, a mad-dame.

=4. 3. 45 Their seruants.= A common term for a lover. Cf. _Sil. Wom._, _Wks._ 3. 364.

=4. 3. 51.= See variants. There are several mistakes in the assignment of speeches throughout this act. Not all of Gifford’s changes, however, are to be accepted without question. Evidently, if the question _where?_ is to be assigned to Wittipol, the first speech must be an aside, as it is inconceivable that Merecraft should introduce Fitzdottrel first under his own name, and then as the ‘Duke of Drown’d-land.’

My conception of the situation is this: Pug is playing the part of gentleman usher. He enters and announces to Merecraft that Fitzdottrel and his wife are coming. Merecraft whispers: ‘Master Fitzdottrel and his wife! where?’ and then, as they enter, turns to Wittipol and introduces them; ‘Madame,’ etc.

=4. 4. 30 Your Allum Scagliola=, etc. Many of the words in this paragraph are obscure, and a few seem irrecoverable. Doubtless Jonson picked them up from various medical treatises and advertisements of his day. I find no trace of _Abezzo_, which may of course be a misprint for Arezzo. The meanings assigned to _Pol-dipedra_ and _Porcelletto Merino_ are unsatisfactory. Florio gives ‘_Zucca_: a gourd; a casting bottle,’ but I have been unable to discover _Mugia_. The loss of these words is, to be sure, of no moment. Two things illustrative of Jonson’s method are sufficiently clear. (1) The articles mentioned are not, as they seem at first, merely names coined for the occasion. (2) They are a polyglot jumble, intended to make proficiency in the science of cosmetics as ridiculous as possible. It is worth while to notice, however, that this list of drugs is carefully differentiated from the list at 4. 4. 142 f., which contains the names of sweetmeats and perfumes.

=4. 4. 32, 3 Soda di leuante, Or your Ferne ashes.= Soda-ash is still the common trade name of sodium carbonate. In former times soda was chiefly obtained from natural deposits and from the incineration of various plants growing by the sea-shore. These sources have become of little importance since the invention of artificial soda by Leblanc toward the end of the eighteenth century (see _Soda_ in _CD._). Florio’s definition of soda is: ‘a kind of Ferne-ashes whereof they make glasses.’ Cf. also W. Warde, Tr. _Alessio’s Secr._, Pt. 1 fol. 78^{m} 1º: ‘Take an vnce of Soda (which is asshes made of grasse, whereof glassemakers do vse to make their Cristall).’ In Chaucer’s _Squire’s Tale_ (11. 254 f.) the manufacture of glass out of ‘fern-asshen’ is mentioned as a wonder comparable to that of Canacee’s ring.

=4. 4. 33 Beniamin di gotta.= The _Dict. d’Histoire Naturelle_, Paris, 1843, 2. 509, gives: ‘Benjoin. Sa teinture, étendue d’eau, sert à la toilette sous le nom de _Lait virginal_.’ See 4. 4. 52.

=4. 4. 38 With a piece of scarlet.= Lady Politick Would-be’s remedies in the _Fox_ are to be ‘applied with a right scarlet cloth.’ Scarlet was supposed to be of great efficacy in disease. See Whalley’s note on the _Fox_, _Wks._ 3. 234.

=4. 4. 38, 9 makes a Lady of sixty Looke at sixteen.= Cunningham thinks this is a reference to the _In decimo sexto_ of line 50.

=4. 4. 39, 40 the water Of the white Hen, of the Lady Estifanias!= The Lady Estifania seems to have been a dealer in perfumes and cosmetics. In _Staple of News_, _Wks._ 5. 166, we read: ‘Right Spanish perfume, the lady Estifania’s.’ Estefania is the name of a Spanish lady in B. & Fl.’s _Rule a Wife_.

=4. 4. 47 galley-pot.= Mistresse Gallipot is the name of a tobacconist in Dekker’s and Middleton’s _Roaring Girle_.

=4. 4. 50 In decimo sexto.= This is a bookbinder’s or printer’s term, ‘applied to books, etc., a leaf of which is one-sixteenth of a full sheet or signature.’ It is equivalent to ‘16mo.’ and hence metaphorically used to indicate ‘a small compass, miniature’ (see _Stanford_, p. 312). In _Cyn. Rev._, _Wks._ 2. 218, Jonson says: ‘my braggart in decimo sexto!’ Its use is well exemplified in John Taylor’s _Works_, sig. L_1 v^{0/1}: ‘when a mans stomache is in Folio, and knows not where to haue a dinner in Decimo sexto.’ The phrase is fairly common in the dramatic literature. See Massinger, _Unnat. Combat_ 3. 2; Middleton, _Father Hubburd’s Tales_, _Wks._ 8 64, etc. In the present passage, however, the meaning evidently required is ‘perfect: ’spotless,’ and no doubt refers to the comparative perfection of a sexto decimo, or perhaps to the perfection naturally to be expected of any work in miniature.

=4. 4. 52 Virgins milke for the face.= Cf. John French, _Art Distill._. Bk. 5. p. 135 (1651): ‘This salt being set in a cold cellar on a marble stone, and dissolved into an oil, is as good as any _Lac virginis_ to clear, and smooth the face.’ _Lac Virginis_ is spoken of twice in the _Alchemist_, Act 2, but probably in neither case is the cosmetic referred to. See Hathaway’s edition, p. 293. Nash speaks of the cosmetic in _Pierce Pennilesse_, _Wks._ 2. 44: ‘She should haue noynted your face ouer night with _Lac virginis_.’

=4. 4. 55 Cataputia.= Catapuce is one of the laxatives that Dame Pertelote recommended to Chauntecleer in Chaucer’s _Nonne Preestes Tale_, l. 145.

=4. 4. 63 Doe not you dwindle.= The use of _dwindle_ in this sense is very rare. _NED._ thinks it is ‘probably a misuse owing to two senses of _shrink_.’ It gives only a single example, _Alch._, _Wks._ 4. 163: ‘Did you not hear the coil about the door? _Sub._ Yes, and I dwindled with it.’ Besides the two instances in Jonson I have noticed only one other, in Ford, _Fancies chaste and noble_, _Wks._ 2. 291: ‘_Spa._ Hum, how’s that? is he there, with a wanion! then do I begin to dwindle.’

=4. 4. 69 Cioppino’s.= The source of this passage, with the anecdote which follows, seems to be taken from Coryat’s _Crudities_ (ed. 1776, 2. 36, 7): ‘There is one thing vsed of the Venetian women, and some others dwelling in the cities and towns subject to the Signiory of Venice, that is not to be obserued (I thinke) amongst any other women in Christendome: which is so common in Venice, that no woman whatsoeuer goeth without it, either in her house or abroad; a thing made of wood, and couered with leather of sundry colors, some with white, some redde, some yellow. It is called a Chapiney, which they weare vnder their shoes. Many of them are curiously painted; some also I haue seene fairely gilt: so vncomely a thing (in my opinion) that it is pitty this foolish custom is not cleane banished and exterminated out of the citie. There are many of these Chapineys of a great heigth, euen half a yard high, which maketh many of their women that are very short, seeme much taller then the tallest women we haue in England. Also I haue heard that this is obserued amongst them, that by how much the nobler a woman is, by so much the higher are her Chapineys. All their Gentlewomen, and most of their wiues and widowes that are of any wealth, are assisted and supported eyther by men or women when they walke abroad, to the end they may not fall. They are borne vp most commonly by the left arme, otherwise they might quickly take a fall. For I saw a woman fall a very dangerous fall as she was going down the staires of one of the little stony bridges with her high Chapineys alone by her selfe: but I did nothing pitty her, because shee wore such friuolous and (as I may truely term them) ridiculous instruments, which were the occasion of her fall. For both I myselfe, and many other strangers (as I haue obserued in Venice) haue often laughed at them for their vaine Chapineys.’

=4. 4. 71, 2 Spanish pumps Of perfum’d leather.= Pumps are first mentioned in the sixteenth century (Planché). A reference to them occurs in _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, 1593-4, 4. 2. They were worn especially by footmen.

Spanish leather was highly esteemed at this time. Stubbes (_Anat. of Abuses_,