The character of the Court Beggar is given in
these words: 'He is a Knight that hanckers about the court ambitious
to make himselfe a Lord by begging.
these words: 'He is a Knight that hanckers about the court ambitious
to make himselfe a Lord by begging.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
He flatters Fitzdottrel, who
is persuaded by the mere display of projects in a buckram bag, by
demanding of him 'his count'nance, t'appeare in't to great men'
(2. 1. 39). Lady Tailbush is not so easily fooled, and Merecraft has
some difficulty in persuading her of the power of his friends at Court
(Act 4. Sc. 1).
Merecraft's chief project, the recovery of the drowned lands, is also
satirized by Randolph:
I have a rare device to set Dutch windmills
Upon Newmarket Heath, and Salisbury Plain,
To drain the fens. [80]
and in _Holland's Leaguer_, Act 1. Sc. 5 (cited by Gifford):
Our projector
Will undertake the making of bay salt,
For a penny a bushel, to serve all the state;
Another dreams of building waterworkes,
Drying of fenns and marshes, like the Dutchmen.
In the later drama the figure of the projector appears several times,
but it lacks the timeliness of Jonson's satire, and the conception
must have been largely derived from literary sources. Jonson's
influence is often apparent. In Brome's _Court Beggar_ the patentee is
Mendicant, a country gentleman who has left his rustic life and sold
his property, in order to raise his state by court-suits. The projects
which he presents at court are the invention of three projectors. Like
Merecraft, they promise to make Mendicant a lord, and succeed only in
reducing him to poverty.
The character of the Court Beggar is given in
these words: 'He is a Knight that hanckers about the court ambitious
to make himselfe a Lord by begging. His braine is all Projects, and
his soule nothing but Court-suits. He has begun more Knavish suits at
Court, then ever the Kings Taylor honestly finish'd, but never thriv'd
by any: so that now hee's almost fallen from a Palace Begger to a
Spittle one'.
In the _Antipodes_ Brome introduces 'a States-man studious for the
Commonwealth, solicited by Projectors of the Country'. Brome's list of
projects (quoted in Gifford's edition) is a broad caricature. Wilson,
in the Restoration drama, produced a play called _The Projectors_, in
which Jonson's influence is apparent (see Introduction, p. lxxv).
Among the _characters_, of which the seventeenth century writers were
so fond, the projector is a favorite figure. John Taylor,[81] the
water-poet, furnishes us with a cartoon entitled 'The complaint of M.
Tenterhooke the _Projector_ and Sir _T_homas Dodger the Patentee'. In
the rimes beneath the picture the distinction between the projector,
who 'had the Art to cheat the Common-weale', and the patentee, who
was possessed of 'tricks and slights to pass the seale', is brought
out with especial distinctness. Samuel Butler's character[82] of the
projector is of less importance, since it was not published until
1759. The real importance of Jonson's satire lies in the fact that it
appeared in the midst of the most active discussion on the subject of
monopolies. Drummond says that he was 'accused upon' the play, and that
the King 'desired him to conceal it'. [83] Whether the subject which
gave offense was the one which we have been considering or that of
witchcraft, it is, however, impossible to determine.
[73] Letters to John Kempe, 1331, Rymer's _Foedera_; Hulme, _Law
Quarterly Rev.
is persuaded by the mere display of projects in a buckram bag, by
demanding of him 'his count'nance, t'appeare in't to great men'
(2. 1. 39). Lady Tailbush is not so easily fooled, and Merecraft has
some difficulty in persuading her of the power of his friends at Court
(Act 4. Sc. 1).
Merecraft's chief project, the recovery of the drowned lands, is also
satirized by Randolph:
I have a rare device to set Dutch windmills
Upon Newmarket Heath, and Salisbury Plain,
To drain the fens. [80]
and in _Holland's Leaguer_, Act 1. Sc. 5 (cited by Gifford):
Our projector
Will undertake the making of bay salt,
For a penny a bushel, to serve all the state;
Another dreams of building waterworkes,
Drying of fenns and marshes, like the Dutchmen.
In the later drama the figure of the projector appears several times,
but it lacks the timeliness of Jonson's satire, and the conception
must have been largely derived from literary sources. Jonson's
influence is often apparent. In Brome's _Court Beggar_ the patentee is
Mendicant, a country gentleman who has left his rustic life and sold
his property, in order to raise his state by court-suits. The projects
which he presents at court are the invention of three projectors. Like
Merecraft, they promise to make Mendicant a lord, and succeed only in
reducing him to poverty.
The character of the Court Beggar is given in
these words: 'He is a Knight that hanckers about the court ambitious
to make himselfe a Lord by begging. His braine is all Projects, and
his soule nothing but Court-suits. He has begun more Knavish suits at
Court, then ever the Kings Taylor honestly finish'd, but never thriv'd
by any: so that now hee's almost fallen from a Palace Begger to a
Spittle one'.
In the _Antipodes_ Brome introduces 'a States-man studious for the
Commonwealth, solicited by Projectors of the Country'. Brome's list of
projects (quoted in Gifford's edition) is a broad caricature. Wilson,
in the Restoration drama, produced a play called _The Projectors_, in
which Jonson's influence is apparent (see Introduction, p. lxxv).
Among the _characters_, of which the seventeenth century writers were
so fond, the projector is a favorite figure. John Taylor,[81] the
water-poet, furnishes us with a cartoon entitled 'The complaint of M.
Tenterhooke the _Projector_ and Sir _T_homas Dodger the Patentee'. In
the rimes beneath the picture the distinction between the projector,
who 'had the Art to cheat the Common-weale', and the patentee, who
was possessed of 'tricks and slights to pass the seale', is brought
out with especial distinctness. Samuel Butler's character[82] of the
projector is of less importance, since it was not published until
1759. The real importance of Jonson's satire lies in the fact that it
appeared in the midst of the most active discussion on the subject of
monopolies. Drummond says that he was 'accused upon' the play, and that
the King 'desired him to conceal it'. [83] Whether the subject which
gave offense was the one which we have been considering or that of
witchcraft, it is, however, impossible to determine.
[73] Letters to John Kempe, 1331, Rymer's _Foedera_; Hulme, _Law
Quarterly Rev.
