In addition to the City Train Bands,
the Fraternity of Artillery, now called The
Honorable
Artillery
Company, formed a separate organization.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
23. In _Staple of News_, _Wks._ 5. 170, he makes a similar
thrust at the shop-keepers:
Alas I they have had a pitiful hard time on't,
A long vacation from their cozening.
=3. 2. 22 I bought Plutarch's liues.= T. North's famous
translation first appeared in 1579. New editions followed in
1595, 1603, 1610-12, and 1631.
=3. 2. 33 Buy him a Captaines place.= The City Train Bands
were a constant subject of ridicule for the dramatists. They are
especially well caricatured by Fletcher in _The Knight of the
Burning Pestle_, Act 5.
In addition to the City Train Bands,
the Fraternity of Artillery, now called The
Honorable
Artillery
Company, formed a separate organization.
The place of practice
was the Artillery Garden in Bunhill Fields (see note 3. 2. 41).
In spite of ridicule the Train Bands proved a source of strength
during the Civil War (see Clarendon, _Hist. of the Rebellion_,
ed. 1826, 4. 236 and Wh-C., _Artillery Ground_).
Jonson was fond of poking fun at the Train Bands. Cf. _U._ 62,
_Wks._ 8. 409; _Ev. Man in_, _Wks.
