Let what thou feign'st for pleasure's sake, be near
The truth.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
275) tells us the jest of a citizen
who was told that the 'Lawyers get the Diuell and all: What an
Asse, replied the Citizen is the diuell? If I were as he I would
get some of them.'
=HIS MAIESTIES SERVANTS.= Otherwise known as the
_King's Company_, and popularly spoken of as the _King's Men_. For
an account of this company see Winter, ed. _Staple of News_, p. 121;
and Fleay, _Biog. Chron._ 1. 356-7; 2. 403-4.
=Ficta voluptatis=, etc. The quotation is from Horace,
_De Art. Poet._, line 338.
Jonson's
translation
is:
Let what thou feign'st for pleasure's sake, be near
The truth.
Jonson makes use of this quotation again in his note 'To the
Reader' prefixed to Act 3 of _The Staple of News_.
=I. B.= Fleay speaks of this printer as J. Benson (_Biog. Chron_. 1.
354). Benson did not 'take up freedom' until June 30, 1631 (_Sta.
Reg._ 3. 686). Later he became a publisher (1635-40; _Sta. Reg._ 5.
