She is not rigg'd, sir; setting forth some lady
Will cost as much as
furnishing
a fleet.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
58 sweet Pinnace.= Cf. 2. 2. 111 f. A woman is often compared
to a ship. Nares cites B. & Fl., _Woman's Pr._ 2. 6:
This pinck, this painted foist, this cockle-boat.
Cf. also _Stap. of News_, _Wks._ 5.
210:
She is not rigg'd, sir; setting forth some lady
Will cost as much as
furnishing
a fleet.
--
Here she is come at last, and like a galley
Gilt in the prow.
Jonson plays on the names of Pinnacia in the _New Inn_, _Wks._ 5. 384:
'_Host._ Pillage the Pinnace....
_Lord B._ Blow off her upper deck.
_Lord L._ Tear all her tackle.'
Pinnace, when thus applied to a woman, was almost always used with a
conscious retention of the metaphor. Dekker is especially fond of the
word. _Match me in London_, _Wks.