[86] See Dedication to _The Fox_, Second
Prologue
to _The Silent
Woman_, Induction to _Bartholomew Fair_, _Staple of News_
(Second Intermean), _Magnetic Lady_ (Second Intermean).
Woman_, Induction to _Bartholomew Fair_, _Staple of News_
(Second Intermean), _Magnetic Lady_ (Second Intermean).
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
).
=The Noble House. = Two proposed identifications of the 'noble house',
which pretends to a duke's title, mentioned at 2. 4. 15-6. have been
made. The expenditure of much energy in the attempt to fix so veiled
an allusion is hardly worth while. Jonson of course depended upon
contemporary rumor, for which we have no data.
Cunningham's suggestion that Buckingham is referred to is not
convincing. Buckingham's father was Sir George Villiers of Brooksby in
Leicestershire. He was not himself raised to the nobility until August
27, 1616, when he was created Viscount Villiers and Baron Waddon. It
was not until January 5, 1617 (not 1616, as Cunningham says), that he
became Earl of Buckingham, and it is unlikely that before this time
any allusion to Villiers' aspiration to a dukedom would have been
intelligible to Jonson's audience.
Fleay's theory that the 'noble house' was that of Stuart may be
accepted provisionally. Lodowick was made Earl of Richmond in 1613, and
Duke in 1623. He was acceptable to king and people, and in this very
year was made steward of the household.
[86] See Dedication to _The Fox_, Second Prologue to _The Silent
Woman_, Induction to _Bartholomew Fair_, _Staple of News_
(Second Intermean), _Magnetic Lady_ (Second Intermean).
[87] See the note prefixed to _Staple of News_, Act 3, and
the second Prologue for _The Silent Woman_.
[88] _Ev. Man in. _
[89] _Case is Altered. _
[90] _Staple of News. _
[91] Dedication to _The Fox_.
[92] The passage from the _Gipsies_ especially finds a close parallel
in the fragment of a song in Marston's _Dutch Courtezan_, 1605, _Wks. _
2. 46:
Purest lips, soft banks of blisses,
Self alone deserving kisses.
Are not these lines from Jonson's hand? This was the year of his
collaboration with Marston in _Eastward Ho_.
D. AFTER-INFLUENCE OF THE DEVIL IS AN ASS
A few instances of the subsequent rehandling of certain motives in
this play are too striking to be completely overlooked. John Wilson,
1627-c 1696, a faithful student and close imitator of Jonson, produced
in 1690 a drama called _Belphegor_, or _The Marriage of the Devil,
a Tragi-comedy_. While it is founded on the English translation of
Machiavelli's novella, which appeared in 1674, and closely adheres
to the lines of the original, it shows clear evidence of Jonson's
influence.
=The Noble House. = Two proposed identifications of the 'noble house',
which pretends to a duke's title, mentioned at 2. 4. 15-6. have been
made. The expenditure of much energy in the attempt to fix so veiled
an allusion is hardly worth while. Jonson of course depended upon
contemporary rumor, for which we have no data.
Cunningham's suggestion that Buckingham is referred to is not
convincing. Buckingham's father was Sir George Villiers of Brooksby in
Leicestershire. He was not himself raised to the nobility until August
27, 1616, when he was created Viscount Villiers and Baron Waddon. It
was not until January 5, 1617 (not 1616, as Cunningham says), that he
became Earl of Buckingham, and it is unlikely that before this time
any allusion to Villiers' aspiration to a dukedom would have been
intelligible to Jonson's audience.
Fleay's theory that the 'noble house' was that of Stuart may be
accepted provisionally. Lodowick was made Earl of Richmond in 1613, and
Duke in 1623. He was acceptable to king and people, and in this very
year was made steward of the household.
[86] See Dedication to _The Fox_, Second Prologue to _The Silent
Woman_, Induction to _Bartholomew Fair_, _Staple of News_
(Second Intermean), _Magnetic Lady_ (Second Intermean).
[87] See the note prefixed to _Staple of News_, Act 3, and
the second Prologue for _The Silent Woman_.
[88] _Ev. Man in. _
[89] _Case is Altered. _
[90] _Staple of News. _
[91] Dedication to _The Fox_.
[92] The passage from the _Gipsies_ especially finds a close parallel
in the fragment of a song in Marston's _Dutch Courtezan_, 1605, _Wks. _
2. 46:
Purest lips, soft banks of blisses,
Self alone deserving kisses.
Are not these lines from Jonson's hand? This was the year of his
collaboration with Marston in _Eastward Ho_.
D. AFTER-INFLUENCE OF THE DEVIL IS AN ASS
A few instances of the subsequent rehandling of certain motives in
this play are too striking to be completely overlooked. John Wilson,
1627-c 1696, a faithful student and close imitator of Jonson, produced
in 1690 a drama called _Belphegor_, or _The Marriage of the Devil,
a Tragi-comedy_. While it is founded on the English translation of
Machiavelli's novella, which appeared in 1674, and closely adheres
to the lines of the original, it shows clear evidence of Jonson's
influence.
