34, which the editor explains as 'a
proverbial expression for a fruitless task.
proverbial expression for a fruitless task.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
In _Ev.
Man out_ (_Wks.
_
2. 110) a similar reference is made, and here Gifford explains that
rug was 'the usual dress of mathematicians, astrologers, &c. , when
engaged in their sublime speculations. ' Marston also speaks of rug
gowns as the symbol of a strict life (_What You Will_, _Wks. _ 2. 395):
Lamp-oil, watch-candles, rug-gowns, and small juice,
Thin commons, four o'clock rising,--I renounce you all.
=5. 2. 1 ff. put me To yoaking foxes,= etc. Several at least of
the following employments are derived from proverbial expressions
familiar at the time. Jonson speaks of 'milking he-goats' in
_Timber,_ ed. Schelling, p.
34, which the editor explains as 'a
proverbial expression for a fruitless task. ' The occupation of lines
5-6 is adapted from a popular proverb given by Cotgrave: 'J'aymeroy
autant tirer vn pet d'un Asne mort, que. I would as soone vndertake
to get a fart of a dead man, as &c. ' Under _Asne_ he explains the
same proverb as meaning 'to worke impossibilities. ' This explains
the passage in _Staple of News_ 3. 1. , _Wks. _ 5. 226. The proverb
is quoted again in _Eastward Ho_, Marston, _Wks. _ 3. 90, and in
Wm. Lilly's Observations,' _Hist. _, pp. 269-70. 'Making ropes of
sand' was Iniquity's occupation in 1.
2. 110) a similar reference is made, and here Gifford explains that
rug was 'the usual dress of mathematicians, astrologers, &c. , when
engaged in their sublime speculations. ' Marston also speaks of rug
gowns as the symbol of a strict life (_What You Will_, _Wks. _ 2. 395):
Lamp-oil, watch-candles, rug-gowns, and small juice,
Thin commons, four o'clock rising,--I renounce you all.
=5. 2. 1 ff. put me To yoaking foxes,= etc. Several at least of
the following employments are derived from proverbial expressions
familiar at the time. Jonson speaks of 'milking he-goats' in
_Timber,_ ed. Schelling, p.
34, which the editor explains as 'a
proverbial expression for a fruitless task. ' The occupation of lines
5-6 is adapted from a popular proverb given by Cotgrave: 'J'aymeroy
autant tirer vn pet d'un Asne mort, que. I would as soone vndertake
to get a fart of a dead man, as &c. ' Under _Asne_ he explains the
same proverb as meaning 'to worke impossibilities. ' This explains
the passage in _Staple of News_ 3. 1. , _Wks. _ 5. 226. The proverb
is quoted again in _Eastward Ho_, Marston, _Wks. _ 3. 90, and in
Wm. Lilly's Observations,' _Hist. _, pp. 269-70. 'Making ropes of
sand' was Iniquity's occupation in 1.
