Here again we have a punning allusion to the
uncovered
head of
the gentleman-usher.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
22; 2. 7. 33; and
Dekker, _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks._ 2. 238: 'Walke
vp and downe by the rest as scornfully and as carelesly as a
Gentleman-Usher.'
=4. 4. 202 a barren head, Sir.= Cf. 2. 3. 36, 7 and 4. 2. 12.
Here again we have a punning allusion to the
uncovered
head of
the gentleman-usher.
'It was a piece of state, that the servants
of the nobility, particularly the gentleman-usher, should attend
bare-headed.' Nares, _Gloss._ For numerous passages illustrating the
practice both in regard to the gentleman-usher and to the coachman,
see the quotations in Nares, and Ford, _Lover's Melancholy_, _Wks._
1. 19; Chapman, _Gentleman-Usher_, _Wks._ 1. 263; and the following
passage, _ibid._ 1. 273:
_Vin._ I thanke you sir.
Nay pray be couerd; O I crie you mercie,
You must be bare.
_Bas._ Euer to you my Lord.
_Vin._ Nay, not to me sir,
But to the faire right of your worshipfull place.
