Act v. sc. 4. Penny-boy, sen., and Porter.

Act v. sc. 4. Penny-boy, sen., and Porter.

I dare not, will not, think that honest Ben had _Lear_ in his mind in this mock mad scene.

“The New Inn.”

Act i. sc. 1. Host’s speech:—

“A heavy purse, and then two turtles, _makes_.”

“Makes,” frequent in old books, and even now used in some counties for mates, or pairs.

_Ib._ sc. 3. Host’s speech:—

... “And for a leap Of the vaulting horse, to _play_ the vaulting _house_.”

Instead of reading with Whalley “ply” for “play,” I would suggest “horse” for “house.” The meaning would then be obvious and pertinent. The punlet, or pun-maggot, or pun intentional, “horse and house,” is below Jonson. The _jeu-de-mots_ just below—

... “Read a lecture Upon _Aquinas_ at St. Thomas à _Water_ings”—

had a learned smack in it to season its insipidity.

_Ib._ sc. 6. Lovel’s speech:—

“Then shower’d his bounties on me, like the Hours, That open-handed sit upon the clouds, And press the liberality of heaven Down to the laps of thankful men!”

Like many other similar passages in Jonson, this is εῖδος χαλεπὸν ἰδεῖν—a sight which it is difficult to make one’s self see,—a picture my fancy cannot copy detached from the words.