Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/465

 io* s. i. MAY u, low.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

381

LONDON, SATURDAY, UAl' U, 1901..

CONTENTS. -No. 20.

ROTES : Carlo Buffone in ' Every Man out of his Humour,' 381 Proverbs in the Waverley Novels, 383 The Premier Grenadier of France, 38i Hockey Russian Men-of-War, 385 " Peridote," 386 Alexander Pennecuik, Gent. Jowettand Whe well Thieves' Slang : " Joe Gurr " " The present century," 3S6 Walney Island Names, 387.

QUERIES: The Turin National Library " Ashes to ashes," 3S7 Authorship of Lines "Run of his teeth" 'The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington' Coffin House Easter Sunday in 1512 Iberian Inscriptions in Hibernia Armstrong Gun Martyrdom of St. Thomas, 388 Bradley, co. Southampton : Clark Family Huntington : Courteney : Hone Bristow on Eugene Aram Oldest Military Officer " Humanum est errare," 389.

REPLIES : American Loyalists Easter Day by the Julian Reckoning, 390 Kentish Custom on Easter Day Hugo's 'Les Abeilles Imperiales' River Divided, 391 Jacobite Wineglasses "Our Lady of the Snows," 392 Reade "Stat crux dum volvitur orbis," 393 Derivation of "Bridge" Flesh and Shamble Meats " Scole Inn," Norfolk Damage to Corn, 394 Boer War of 1881 Moon Folk-lore Disguised Murderer in Folk-lore Step- brother, 395 German Prophecy " Monkey on the chim- ney" Genealogy: New Sources" A past" Antiquary v. Antiquarian Fettiplace, 396 Leche Family Legend of the Council of Constance Periodicals for Women Indian Sport, 397 Collins Easter Sepulchre, 398.

NOTES ON BOOKS :' Great Masters '' The English Catalogue of Books ' Rogers's ' Reminiscences and Table Talk ' ' Some Letters of St. Bernard ' Foat's ' Semato- graphy of the Greek Papyri' 'Burlington Magazine' 'Quarterly' and 'Edinburgh' Henry Vaughan's Poems Bell's " Miniature Series of Musicians."

Notices to Correspondents.

CARLO BUFFONE IN 'EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR;

I HAVE a few words to say still about the Jonson-Marston war. Gifford, followed by Fleay, Penniman, and other critics, maintains that Carlo Buffone is Marston. Fleay says he " thought that if anything was settled in criticism it was the identity of Crispinus [' Poetaster '] and Carlo Buffone with Marston." With the latter part of this con- clusion I disagree entirely, after much study of the subject.

I will first, as briefly as possible, show why Carlo was supposed to be Marston ; secondly, why he is not Marston ; and thirdly, who he probably really is.

Gifford says in a note to the words (addressed to Carlo): "And how dost thou, thou grand scourge, or second untmisse of the time ?""

" The allusion is here to Marston, whose satires called the ' Scourge of Villanie,' in three books, were printed in the year before the first edition of this comedy, 1599."

The passage is in ' Every Man out of his Humour,' II. i. (Cunningham's 'Gifford,' 86 a). Gifford prints " Grand Scourge," <tc., in italics

and with liberal (four) capital letters. In the folios untrusse is merely in italics. When Gifford's italics and capitals are removed the allusion to Marston becomes quite shadowy. "Scourge," I take it, refers simply to Carlo, as he is introduced to us at the end of the " Induction," and before in the " Character of the Persons " :

"An impudent common jester, a violent railer

will transform any person into deformity

His religion is railing, and his discourse ribaldry."

The expression is more suitable to Carlo than to Marston's poem against " villany." As for " second untruss of the time," if it refers to a literary product, which is doubtful, it should refer to Antony Munday, since Nashe tells us he wrote " a ballet of Untruss " (circa 1592). See Grosart's ' Nashe,' i. Ixii.

Nashe speaks of "a treatise of ye

exployts of Untrusse "in ' Pierce Penilesse ' (ii. 12), which is duly referred to by Harvey. And as Marston does not identify his writings anywhere (to my knowledge) with the term " untruss '' before this date, this allusion seems to me unlikely. He uses the word later: "WhipU that's good, i' faith! untrusse me," 'Eastward Ho,' I. i. (1604), a play partly by Jonson. Hall's 'Virgide- marium ' preceded Marston.

The next argument (?) is that certain words used by Carlo (V. iv.) "gigantomachized," "grumbledories," &c. ("strummel-patched" is a misreading of Gifford's, from folio text) "are in imitation of Marston's language." None of these words are in Marston, so this evidence, given by Penniman, is of no value.

It is advanced by Penniman that Marston attacked Ben Jonson as "Torquatus " in his 'Scourge,' and that therefore Ben retaliates upon him as Carlo Buffone. But I think I have proved that Torquatus has nothing to do with Ben, but refers without a doubt to Gabriel Harvey. This erroneous supposition being removed, the main prop of the Carlo- Marston identification falls to pieces. There is no proof that there was any enmity be- tween Marston and Ben at the date of ' Every Man out of his Humour. 1 Even if Carlo did indulge in a sneer at Marston in the above passage, that is very far from identifying the two characters. There is no doubt, however, that Clove, in III. i. (99b), indulges in some tun at Marston's expense legitimate criticism of his bombastic language. He refers to ' Histriomastix,' a play of Elizabeth's time, and, from this reference, acted in or before 1599. It was not printed till 1610, and in its printed form Marston's hand is obvious when

was a remodelled play. See Simpson's ' School of Shakespeare. ' There is no reason