If you wonder at this, you will wonder more ere we pass, For know, here is inclosed the soul of Pythagoras, panied, as it was, with an adequate portion of judgment) frequently betrayed him into absurdities; published, in 1749, "Remarks " on this, and the two following plays; of which, Mr. Whalley occasionally availed himself It seems to have been Upton's chief object to point out Jonson's allusions to the classics; in this he is generally successful; indeed, he seldom ventures beyond such as are sufficiently trite and obvious. When he attempts to correct the text, he fails; whilst his explanations, which are given in a tone of formal gravity highly ludicrous, when contrasted with the subject, usually aim beyond the poet, and perplex where they do not mislead. Jonson apologizes for the false pace of his doggrel. But of this Upton will not hear: "We must not understand," he says, "that he errs against the laws of metre; but that the pace of his verse may sometimes offend the too delicate ear." Those who recollect, that, when Shakspeare produced a few words of prose, such as "Where hast thou been, sister?" Upton pronounced that he meant to afford a beautiful example of the "trochaicdimeter-brachy-catalectic, commonly called the ithyphallic measure," (Observ. p. 381,) will not be surprised to hear, that the hobbling lines above are all good metre: they are, it seems, of "the anapestic kind, consisting of anapests, spondees, dactyls, and sometimes the pes proceleusmaticus," and are to be scanned in this manner, And therefore do intreat you] that whatsoever they rehearse, 1 May not fare a whit the worse | for the false pace of the verse. ❝ the "To this measure," exclaims Upton with great glee, reader may reduce them all." There is no doubt of it; and so he may all the lines in the daily papers, if he pleases. Surely unlettered sense is far more valuable than learning thus ridiculously abused. For know here is inclosed the soul of Pythagoras,] DEIXTINUS, in Androgyno the hermaphrodite, of whose various transformations the dwarf gives an account. That juggler divine, as hereafter shall follow;' Which soul, fast and loose, sir, came first from Apollo, 1 2 And was breath'd into Ethalides, Mercurius his son, Where it had the gift to remember all that ever was done. From thence it fled forth, and made quick transmigration To goldy-lock'd Euphorbus,' who was killed in good fashion, At the siege of old Troy, by the cuckold of Sparta. Hermotimus was next (I find it in my charta) To whom it did pass, where no sooner it was missing, But with one Pyrrhus of Delos it learn'd to go a fishing; And thence did it enter the sophist of Greece. From Pythagore, she went into a beautiful piece," Hight Aspasia, the meretrix; and the next toss of her Was again of a whore, she became a philosopher, Crates the cynick, as it self doth relate it: Since kings, knights, and beggars, knaves, lords, and fools gat it, 9 That juggler divine, that hereafter shall follow ;] That juggler divine, as Upton observes, is from Lucian, yoŋra xai Terparepyor, as indeed is much of the rest. * Which soulcame first from Apollo,] Ὡς μεν εξ Απόλλωνος το προτον ἡ ψυχη μοι καταπλαμενη εις την γην ενεδν ες άνθρωπο σωμα, &c. Luc. Gall. 2 And was breath'd into Ethalides, Mercurius his son, Ερμειας, Σφωίτεροι τοκηος, ὃς δι μνηστιν πορε παίων 3 To goldy-lock'd Euphorbus, &c.] In adα ETTELTED_Eupophos εγενόμην, εμαχομην εν Ιλιῳ και αποθανων ὑπο Μενελαῳ κ.τ. α. Luc. ibid. 4 From Pythagore, she went into a beautiful piece,] Amodvoaμsros δε τον Πυθαγοραν, τινα μέλημφιασω μετ' αυτον ;-Ασπασίαν την εκ Μίλητε ἑταίραν. κ. τ. α. Besides or and ass, camel, mule, goat, and brock, QUATER! His musics, his trigon, his golden thigh," Or his telling how elements shift; but I Would ask, how of late thou hast suffered translation, And shifted thy coat in these days of reformation. And. Like one of the reformed, a fool, as you see, Counting all old doctrine heresie." 5 Nan. But not on thine own forbid meats hast thou ventured? And. On fish, when first a Carthusian I enter'd. Nan. Why, then thy dogmatical silence hath left thee? And. Of that an obstreperous lawyer bereft me. Nan. O wonderful change, when sir lawyer forsook thee! For Pythagore's sake, what body then took thee? 5 The cobler.] Mycillus, with whom the cock carries on the dialogue, here abridged. 6 His one, two, or three, or his great oath, by quater, His musics, his trigon, his golden thigh,] It would perhaps have puzzled Pythagoras himself, "juggler" as he was, to explain this empty jargon. His scholars have written innumerable volumes upon it, more to their own satisfaction, I believe, than the edification of their readers; for, while it was thought worth contending about, no two of them were agreed upon any part of the subject. The "great oath " or tetractys, as Upton ob serves, "is mentioned in the Golden Verses;" a little poem written by one of Pythagoras's scholars, and containing more wisdom, perhaps, than his master taught. 7 Counting all old doctrine heresie.] By old doctrine, he means the doctrines commonly received before the reformation; which was at first opprobriously called the new learning. It is not improbable that Jonson, when he wrote this, was a convert to the church of Rome; and might design to sneer at the zealots of the establishment, as he does soon after at the puritans. WHAL And. A good dull mule. Nan. And how! by that means Thou wert brought to allow of the eating of beans? And. Yes. Nan. But from the mule into whom didst thou pass ? And. Into a very strange beast, by some writers call'd an ass; By others, a precise, pure, illuminate brother, Of those devour flesh, and sometimes one another; And will drop you forth a libel, or a sanctified lie, Betwixt every spoonful of a nativity-pie.' Nan. Now quit thee, for heaven, of that profane 8 nation, And gently report thy next transmigration. Of those devour flesh and sometimes one another ;] Wonderful is the advantage of scansion, aided by the occasional admission of the pes proceleusmaticus, in detecting the errors of copyists and printers. Upton, who measured the harmonious line Counting all old | doctrine | heresie, and found it perfect in all its members, immediately discovered the unmetrical pace of that above. There is plainly," says he, a word wanting which spoils both the measure and the sense; we must read, 66 Of those that devour flesh | and sometimes | one another." Whalley subscribes to this assertion; and the verse thus happily restored to 66 sense and and measure," is accordingly placed in his text. It is singular that neither of these critics should have adverted to the peculiarity of Jonson's style. • Betwixt every spoonful of a nativity pie.] i. e. of a Christmaspie. The puritans, who are here ridiculed, affected to shrink with horror, from the mention of the popish word mass, though in conjunction with the most sacred names. Jonson alludes to this again, with exquisite humour, in the Alchemist, where the Saints are about to cozen with the philosopher's stone: "Subtle. And then the turning of this lawyer's pewter To plate at Christmas Ananias. Christ-tide, I pray you." And. To the same that I am. Nan. A creature of delight, And, what is more than a fool, an hermaphrodite! Now, prithee, sweet soul, in all thy variation, Which body would'st thou choose, to keep up thy station? And. Troth, this I am in: even here would I tarry. Nan. 'Cause here the delight of each sex thou canst vary? And. Alas, those pleasures be stale and forsaken; For all other forms I have proved most distressed. Nan. Spoke true, as thou wert in Pythagoras still. This learned opinion we celebrate will, Fellow eunuch, as behoves us, with all our wit and art, To dignify that whereof ourselves are so great and special a part. Vol. Now, very, very pretty! Mosca, this Was thy invention? Mos. If it please my patron, Not else. Volp. It doth, good Mosca. NANO and CASTRONE sing. Fools, they are the only nation And you Tongue and bauble are his treasure. |