= 'Nothing was more common, as we learn
from Lilly, than to carry about familiar spirits, shut up in rings,
watches, sword-hilts, and other articles of dress.
from Lilly, than to carry about familiar spirits, shut up in rings,
watches, sword-hilts, and other articles of dress.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
' Sir John Davies makes
a similar allusion _(Epigrams_, ed. Grosart, 2. 10). Jonson makes
frequent reference to the subject. Cf. _Induction_ to _The Staple
of News_, _Every Man out_, _Wks. _ 2. 31; _Prologue_ to _Cynthia's
Revels_, _Wks. _ 2. 210, etc.
=5 a subtill thing. = I. e. , thin, airy, spiritual, and so not
occupying space.
=6 worne in a thumbe-ring.
= 'Nothing was more common, as we learn
from Lilly, than to carry about familiar spirits, shut up in rings,
watches, sword-hilts, and other articles of dress. '--G.
I have been unable to verify Gifford's statement from Lilly,
but the following passage from Harsnet's _Declaration_ (p. 13)
confirms it: 'For compassing of this treasure, there was a
consociation betweene 3 or 4 priests, _deuill-coniurers_, and
4 _discouerers_, or _seers_, reputed to carry about with them,
their familiars in rings, and glasses, by whose suggestion they
came to notice of those golden hoards. '
Gifford says that thumb-rings of Jonson's day were set with jewels
of an extraordinary size, and that they appear to have been 'more
affected by magistrates and grave citizens than necromancers. ' Cf.
_I Henry IV_ 2. 4: 'I could have crept into any alderman's thumb-ring. '
Also _Witts Recreat. _, _Epig. _ 623:
He wears a hoop-ring on his thumb; he has
Of gravidad a dose, full in the face.
Glapthorne, _Wit in a Constable_, 1639, 4. 1: 'An alderman--I may
say to you, he has no more wit than the rest of the bench, and that
lies in his thumb-ring. '
=8 In compasse of a cheese-trencher. = The figure seems forced
to us, but it should be remembered that trenchers were a very
important article of table equipment in Jonson's day. They were
often embellished with 'posies,' and it is possible that Jonson was
thinking of the brevity of such inscriptions.
a similar allusion _(Epigrams_, ed. Grosart, 2. 10). Jonson makes
frequent reference to the subject. Cf. _Induction_ to _The Staple
of News_, _Every Man out_, _Wks. _ 2. 31; _Prologue_ to _Cynthia's
Revels_, _Wks. _ 2. 210, etc.
=5 a subtill thing. = I. e. , thin, airy, spiritual, and so not
occupying space.
=6 worne in a thumbe-ring.
= 'Nothing was more common, as we learn
from Lilly, than to carry about familiar spirits, shut up in rings,
watches, sword-hilts, and other articles of dress. '--G.
I have been unable to verify Gifford's statement from Lilly,
but the following passage from Harsnet's _Declaration_ (p. 13)
confirms it: 'For compassing of this treasure, there was a
consociation betweene 3 or 4 priests, _deuill-coniurers_, and
4 _discouerers_, or _seers_, reputed to carry about with them,
their familiars in rings, and glasses, by whose suggestion they
came to notice of those golden hoards. '
Gifford says that thumb-rings of Jonson's day were set with jewels
of an extraordinary size, and that they appear to have been 'more
affected by magistrates and grave citizens than necromancers. ' Cf.
_I Henry IV_ 2. 4: 'I could have crept into any alderman's thumb-ring. '
Also _Witts Recreat. _, _Epig. _ 623:
He wears a hoop-ring on his thumb; he has
Of gravidad a dose, full in the face.
Glapthorne, _Wit in a Constable_, 1639, 4. 1: 'An alderman--I may
say to you, he has no more wit than the rest of the bench, and that
lies in his thumb-ring. '
=8 In compasse of a cheese-trencher. = The figure seems forced
to us, but it should be remembered that trenchers were a very
important article of table equipment in Jonson's day. They were
often embellished with 'posies,' and it is possible that Jonson was
thinking of the brevity of such inscriptions.
