It seems certain that the
reference
is to the
present passage.
present passage.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
.
you rise with a screwd and discontented face from
your stoole to be gone: no matter whether the Scenes be good or
no; the better they are the worse do you distast them. '
=3. 5. 45, 6 But say, that he be one=,
Wi' not be aw'd! but laugh at you=. In the Prologue to Massinger's
_Guardian_ we find:
--nor dares he profess that when
The critics laugh, he'll laugh at them agen.
(Strange self-love in a writer! )
Gifford says of this passage: 'This Prologue contains many sarcastick
allusions to Old Ben, who produced, about this time, his _Tale of a
Tub_, and his _Magnetic Lady_, pieces which failed of success, and
which, with his usual arrogance, (_strange self-love in a writer! _)
he attributed to a want of taste in the audience. '--Massinger's
(_Wks. _, ed. 1805, 4. 121. )
The _Guardian_ appeared in 1633, two years after the printing of
_The Devil is an Ass_.
It seems certain that the reference is to the
present passage.
=3. 5. 47 pay for his dinner himselfe. = The custom of inviting the
poet to dinner or supper seems to have been a common one. Dekker
refers to it in the _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 249. Cf.
also the Epilogue to the present play.
=3. 5. 47 Perhaps, He would doe that twice, rather then thanke you. =
'This ill-timed compliment to himself, Jonson might have spared, with
some advantage to his judgment, at least, if not his modesty. '--G.
your stoole to be gone: no matter whether the Scenes be good or
no; the better they are the worse do you distast them. '
=3. 5. 45, 6 But say, that he be one=,
Wi' not be aw'd! but laugh at you=. In the Prologue to Massinger's
_Guardian_ we find:
--nor dares he profess that when
The critics laugh, he'll laugh at them agen.
(Strange self-love in a writer! )
Gifford says of this passage: 'This Prologue contains many sarcastick
allusions to Old Ben, who produced, about this time, his _Tale of a
Tub_, and his _Magnetic Lady_, pieces which failed of success, and
which, with his usual arrogance, (_strange self-love in a writer! _)
he attributed to a want of taste in the audience. '--Massinger's
(_Wks. _, ed. 1805, 4. 121. )
The _Guardian_ appeared in 1633, two years after the printing of
_The Devil is an Ass_.
It seems certain that the reference is to the
present passage.
=3. 5. 47 pay for his dinner himselfe. = The custom of inviting the
poet to dinner or supper seems to have been a common one. Dekker
refers to it in the _Guls Horne-booke_, _Non-dram. Wks. _ 2. 249. Cf.
also the Epilogue to the present play.
=3. 5. 47 Perhaps, He would doe that twice, rather then thanke you. =
'This ill-timed compliment to himself, Jonson might have spared, with
some advantage to his judgment, at least, if not his modesty. '--G.
