the words of Robin
Goodfellow
in _Wily Beguiled_
(_O.
(_O.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
4.
219, where Pug, on being catechized as to what
he should consider 'the height of his employment', stumbles upon the
unfortunate suggestion: 'To find out a good _Corne-cutter_'. His
receiving blows at the hand of his master further distinguishes him
as a clown. The investing of Pug with such attributes was, as we have
seen, no startling innovation on Jonson's part. Moreover, it fell
into line with his purpose in this play, and was the more acceptable
since it allowed him to make use of the methods of realism instead
of forcing him to draw a purely conventional figure. Pug, of course,
even in his character of clown, is not the unrelated stock-figure,
introduced merely for the sake of inconsequent comic dialogue and rough
horse-play. His part is important and definite, though not sufficiently
developed.
[18] In the Digby group of miracle-plays roaring by the devil is a
prominent feature. Stage directions in _Paul_ provide for 'cryeing
and rorying' and Belial enters with the cry, 'Ho, ho, behold me'.
Among the moralities _The Disobedient Child_ may be mentioned.
[19] So in _Gammer Gurton's Needle_, c 1562, we read: 'But
Diccon, Diccon, did not the devil cry ho, ho, ho? ' Cf. also the
translation of Goulart's Histories, 1607 (quoted by Sharp, p. 59):
'The fellow--coming to the stove--sawe the Diuills in horrible
formes, some sitting, some standing, others walking, some ramping
against the walles, but al of them, assoone as they beheld him,
crying Hoh, hoh, what makest thou here? '
[20] Cf.
the words of Robin Goodfellow in _Wily Beguiled_
(_O. Pl. _, 4th ed. , 9. 268): 'I'll put me on my great carnation-nose,
and wrap me in a rowsing calf-skin suit and come like some hobgoblin,
or some devil ascended from the grisly pit of hell'.
[21] Cushman points out that it occurs in only one drama,
that of _Like will to Like_. He attributes the currency of the notion
that this mode of exit was the regular one to the famous passage in
Harsnet's _Declaration of Popish Impostures_ (p. 114, 1603): 'It was
a pretty part in the old church-playes, when the nimble Vice would
skip up nimbly like a jackanapes into the devil's necke, and ride the
devil a course, and belabour him with his wooden dagger, till he made
him roare, whereat the people would laugh to see the devil so
vice-haunted'. The moralities and tragedies give no indication of
hostility between Vice and devil. Cushman believes therefore that
Harsnet refers either to some lost morality or to 'Punch and Judy'.
It is significant, however, that in 'Punch and Judy', which gives
indications of being a debased descendant of the morality, the devil
enters with the evident intention of carrying the hero off to hell.
The joke consists as in the present play in a reversal of the usual
proceeding. Eckhardt (p. 85 n. ) points out that the Vice's cudgeling
of the devil was probably a mere mirth-provoking device, and
indicated no enmity between the two. Moreover the motive of the
devil as an animal for riding is not infrequent.
he should consider 'the height of his employment', stumbles upon the
unfortunate suggestion: 'To find out a good _Corne-cutter_'. His
receiving blows at the hand of his master further distinguishes him
as a clown. The investing of Pug with such attributes was, as we have
seen, no startling innovation on Jonson's part. Moreover, it fell
into line with his purpose in this play, and was the more acceptable
since it allowed him to make use of the methods of realism instead
of forcing him to draw a purely conventional figure. Pug, of course,
even in his character of clown, is not the unrelated stock-figure,
introduced merely for the sake of inconsequent comic dialogue and rough
horse-play. His part is important and definite, though not sufficiently
developed.
[18] In the Digby group of miracle-plays roaring by the devil is a
prominent feature. Stage directions in _Paul_ provide for 'cryeing
and rorying' and Belial enters with the cry, 'Ho, ho, behold me'.
Among the moralities _The Disobedient Child_ may be mentioned.
[19] So in _Gammer Gurton's Needle_, c 1562, we read: 'But
Diccon, Diccon, did not the devil cry ho, ho, ho? ' Cf. also the
translation of Goulart's Histories, 1607 (quoted by Sharp, p. 59):
'The fellow--coming to the stove--sawe the Diuills in horrible
formes, some sitting, some standing, others walking, some ramping
against the walles, but al of them, assoone as they beheld him,
crying Hoh, hoh, what makest thou here? '
[20] Cf.
the words of Robin Goodfellow in _Wily Beguiled_
(_O. Pl. _, 4th ed. , 9. 268): 'I'll put me on my great carnation-nose,
and wrap me in a rowsing calf-skin suit and come like some hobgoblin,
or some devil ascended from the grisly pit of hell'.
[21] Cushman points out that it occurs in only one drama,
that of _Like will to Like_. He attributes the currency of the notion
that this mode of exit was the regular one to the famous passage in
Harsnet's _Declaration of Popish Impostures_ (p. 114, 1603): 'It was
a pretty part in the old church-playes, when the nimble Vice would
skip up nimbly like a jackanapes into the devil's necke, and ride the
devil a course, and belabour him with his wooden dagger, till he made
him roare, whereat the people would laugh to see the devil so
vice-haunted'. The moralities and tragedies give no indication of
hostility between Vice and devil. Cushman believes therefore that
Harsnet refers either to some lost morality or to 'Punch and Judy'.
It is significant, however, that in 'Punch and Judy', which gives
indications of being a debased descendant of the morality, the devil
enters with the evident intention of carrying the hero off to hell.
The joke consists as in the present play in a reversal of the usual
proceeding. Eckhardt (p. 85 n. ) points out that the Vice's cudgeling
of the devil was probably a mere mirth-provoking device, and
indicated no enmity between the two. Moreover the motive of the
devil as an animal for riding is not infrequent.
