He seems, however, to have been rather an
improviser
like
Vennor, or a mountebank with a gift of riming.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
Overbury, _Characters_, p. 72:
'He loves his friend as a counsellor at law loves the velvet
breeches he was first made barrister in.'
=1. 1. 85 In his long coat, shaking his wooden dagger.=
See Introduction, pp. xxxviii f.
=1. 1. 93 Cokeley.= Whalley says that he was the master of
a puppet show, and this has been accepted by all authorities
(Gifford, ed.; Nares, _Gloss_.; Alden, ed. of _Bart. Fair_).
He seems, however, to have been rather an
improviser
like
Vennor, or a mountebank with a gift of riming.
He is mentioned
several times by Jonson: _Bart. Fair_, _Wks._ 4. 422, 3: 'He has
not been sent for, and sought out for nothing, at your great
city-suppers, to put down Coriat and Cokely.' _Epigr._129; _To
Mime_, _Wks._ 8. 229:
Or, mounted on a stool, thy face doth hit
On some new gesture, that's imputed wit?
--Thou dost out-zany Cokely, Pod; nay Gue:
And thine own Coryat too.
=1. 1. 94 Vennor.= Gifford first took Vennor to be a juggler, but
corrected his statement in the _Masque of Augurs_, _Wks._ 7. 414.
