No More Learning

Our reasons for rejecting this theory are as follows: (1) The natural
inference is that Jonson would not deliberately attack the man whom
he had highly praised three years before. I do not understand Fleay's
assertion that Jonson was always ready to attack the fallen. (2) The
compliment paid to Coke in 1613 (_U. 64_) was not the flattery of an
hour of triumph. The appointment to the king's bench was displeasing to
Coke, and made at the suggestion of Bacon with the object of removing
him to a place where he would come less often into contact with the
king. (3) Fitzdottrel is a light-headed man of fashion, who spends his
time in frequenting theatres and public places, and in conjuring evil
spirits. Coke was sixty-four years old, the greatest lawyer of his
time, and a man of the highest gifts and attainments. (4) The attempted
parallel between Fitzdottrel, the pretended demoniac, and Coke, as
judge in the Overbury trial, is patently absurd. (5) If Lady Hatton had
not been selected for identification with Mrs. Fitzdottrel, Coke would
never have been dreamed of as a possible Fitzdottrel.

=Wittipol. = He is a young man just returned from travel, which
apparently has been of considerable duration. He saw Mrs. Fitzdottrel
once before he went, and upon returning immediately seeks her out.
How does this correspond to Jonson's life?
_The Hue and Cry_ was
played February 9, 1608. According to Fleay's interpretation, this was
followed by an intimacy with Lady Hatton. Five years later, in 1613,
Drummond tells us that Jonson went to France with the son of Sir Walter
Raleigh. He returned the same year in time to compose _A Challenge at
Tilt_, December 27. Three years later he wrote _The Devil is an Ass_ at
the age of forty-three.

Wittipol intimates that he is Mrs. Fitzdottrel's equal in years, in
fashion (1. 6. 124-5), and in blood (1. 6. 168). For Jonson to say this
to Lady Hatton would have been preposterous.

=Justice Eitherside. = Only the desire to prove a theory at all costs
could have prevented Fleay from seeing that Coke's counterpart is
not Fitzdottrel, but Justice Eitherside. In obstinacy, bigotry, and
vanity this character represents the class of judges with which
Coke identified himself in the Overbury trial. Nor are these merely
class-traits.