No More Learning

Von Rapp[61] has mentioned certain other scenes as probably of
Italian origin, but, as he advances no proofs, his suggestions may be
neglected. It seems to me possible that in the scene above referred
to, where the lover occupies a house adjoining that of his mistress,
and their secret amour is discovered by her servant and reported to
his master, Jonson had in mind the same incident in Plautus' _Miles
Gloriosus_, Act. 2. Sc. 1 f.

The trait of jealousy which distinguishes Fitzdottrel was suggested
to some extent by the character of Euclio in the _Aulularia_, and a
passage of considerable length[62] is freely paraphrased from that
play. The play and the passage had already been used in _The Case is
Altered_.

Miss Woodbridge has noticed that the scene in which Lady Tailbush and
her friends entertain Wittipol disguised as a Spanish lady is similar
to Act 3. Sc. 2 of _The Silent Woman_, where the collegiate ladies call
upon Epicoene. The trick of disguising a servant as a woman occurs in
Plautus' _Casina_, Acts 4 and 5.

For the final scene, where Fitzdottrel plays the part of a bewitched
person, Jonson made free use of contemporary books and tracts. The
motive of pretended possession had already appeared in _The Fox_
(_Wks. _ 3. 312), where symptoms identical with or similar to those in
the present passage are mentioned--swelling of the belly, vomiting
crooked pins, staring of the eyes, and foaming at the mouth.
The
immediate suggestion in this place may have come either through the
Rush story or through Machiavelli's novella. That Jonson's materials
can be traced exclusively to any one source is hardly to be expected.
Not only were trials for witchcraft numerous, but they must have formed
a common subject of speculation and discussion. The ordinary evidences
of possession were doubtless familiar to the well-informed man without
the need of reference to particular records. And it is of the ordinary
evidences that the poet chiefly makes use. Nearly all these are found
repeatedly in the literature of the period.

We know, on the other hand, that Jonson often preferred to get his
information through the medium of books. It is not surprising,
therefore, that Merecraft proposes to imitate 'little Darrel's tricks',
and to find that the dramatist has resorted in large measure to this
particular source. [63]

The Darrel controversy was carried on through a number of years between
John Darrel, a clergyman (see note 5. 3. 6), on the one hand, and
Bishop Samuel Harsnet, John Deacon and John Walker, on the other. Of
the tracts produced in this controversy the two most important are
Harsnet's _Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel_,[64]
1599, and Darrel's _True Narration of the Strange and Grevous
Vexation by the Devil of 7 Persons in Lancashire and William Somers
of Nottingham_, . . . 1600. The story is retold in Francis Hutchinson's
_Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft_, London, 1720.