You lay what
imputations
you please
upon me.
upon me.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
_Cyn.
Rev.
_,
_Wks. _ 2. 241: '_Madam, your whole self cannot but be perfectly
wise; for your hands have wit enough to keep themselves warm. _'
Gifford's note on this passage is: 'This proverbial phrase is
found in most (sic) of our ancient dramas. Thus in _The Wise
Woman of Hogsden_: "You are the wise woman, are you? You _have
wit to keep yourself warm enough_, I warrant you"'. Cf. also
_Lusty Juventus_, p. 74: 'Cover your head; For indeed you have
need to keep in your wit. '
=1. 4. 72 You lade me. = 'This is equivalent to the modern
phrase, you do not spare me.
You lay what imputations you please
upon me. '--G.
The phrase occurs again in 1. 6. 161, where Wittipol calls
Fitzdottrel an ass, and says that he cannot 'scape his lading'.
'You lade me', then, seems to mean 'You make an ass of me'.
The same use of the word occurs in Dekker, _Olde Fortunatus_,
_Wks. _ 1. 125: 'I should serue this bearing asse rarely now, if
I should load him'. And again in the works of Taylor, the Water Poet,
p. 311: 'My Lines shall load an Asse, or whippe an Ape. ' Cf.
also _Bart. Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 421: 'Yes, faith, I have my
lading, you see, or shall have anon; you may know whose beast I am
by my burden.
_Wks. _ 2. 241: '_Madam, your whole self cannot but be perfectly
wise; for your hands have wit enough to keep themselves warm. _'
Gifford's note on this passage is: 'This proverbial phrase is
found in most (sic) of our ancient dramas. Thus in _The Wise
Woman of Hogsden_: "You are the wise woman, are you? You _have
wit to keep yourself warm enough_, I warrant you"'. Cf. also
_Lusty Juventus_, p. 74: 'Cover your head; For indeed you have
need to keep in your wit. '
=1. 4. 72 You lade me. = 'This is equivalent to the modern
phrase, you do not spare me.
You lay what imputations you please
upon me. '--G.
The phrase occurs again in 1. 6. 161, where Wittipol calls
Fitzdottrel an ass, and says that he cannot 'scape his lading'.
'You lade me', then, seems to mean 'You make an ass of me'.
The same use of the word occurs in Dekker, _Olde Fortunatus_,
_Wks. _ 1. 125: 'I should serue this bearing asse rarely now, if
I should load him'. And again in the works of Taylor, the Water Poet,
p. 311: 'My Lines shall load an Asse, or whippe an Ape. ' Cf.
also _Bart. Fair_, _Wks. _ 4. 421: 'Yes, faith, I have my
lading, you see, or shall have anon; you may know whose beast I am
by my burden.
