The Embodiment of Style:
Jonson, Discoveries
De vere argutis. - I do hear them say often some men are not witty,
because they are not everywhere witty; than which nothing is more
foolish. If an eye or a nose be an excellent part in the face,
therefore be all eye or nose! I think the eyebrow, the forehead, the
cheek, chin, lip, or any part else are as necessary and natural in the
place. But now nothing is good that is natural; RIGHT and NATURAL
LANGUAGE seems to have least of the WIT in it; that which is writhed
and tortured is counted the more exquisite. Cloth of bodkin or tissue
must be embroidered; as if no face were fair that were not POWDERED or
PAINTED! no beauty to be had but in wresting and writhing our own
tongue! Nothing is fashionable till it be DEFORMED; and this is to
write like a gentleman. All must be affected and preposterous as our
gallants' clothes, sweet-bags, and night-dressings, in which you would
think our men lay in, like ladies, it is so CURIOUS.
because they are not everywhere witty; than which nothing is more
foolish. If an eye or a nose be an excellent part in the face,
therefore be all eye or nose! I think the eyebrow, the forehead, the
cheek, chin, lip, or any part else are as necessary and natural in the
place. But now nothing is good that is natural; RIGHT and NATURAL
LANGUAGE seems to have least of the WIT in it; that which is writhed
and tortured is counted the more exquisite. Cloth of bodkin or tissue
must be embroidered; as if no face were fair that were not POWDERED or
PAINTED! no beauty to be had but in wresting and writhing our own
tongue! Nothing is fashionable till it be DEFORMED; and this is to
write like a gentleman. All must be affected and preposterous as our
gallants' clothes, sweet-bags, and night-dressings, in which you would
think our men lay in, like ladies, it is so CURIOUS.
*****************************************
Author: Prynne, William, 1600-1669.
Title: The vnlouelinesse, of loue-lockes. Or, A summarie discourse, proouing: the wearing, and nourishing of a locke, or loue-locke, to be altogether vnseemely, and vnlawfull vnto Christians In which there are likewise some passages collected out of fathers, councells, and sundry authors, and historians, against face-painting; the wearing of supposititious, poudred, frizled, or extraordinary long haire; the inordinate affectation of corporall beautie: and womens mannish, vnnaturall, imprudent, and vnchristian cutting of their haire; the epidemicall vanities, and vices of our age. By William Prynne, Gent. Hospitij Lincolniensis.
Date: 1628
Date: 1628
****************************************
Much Ado about Nothing
Act V, Scene 1
Dogberry. Moreover, sir, which indeed is not under white and
black, this plaintiff here, the offender, did call
me ass: I beseech you, let it be remembered in his
punishment. And also, the watch heard them talk of
one Deformed: they say be wears a key in his ear and
a lock hanging by it, and borrows money in God's
name, the which he hath used so long and never paid
that now men grow hard-hearted and will lend nothing
for God's sake: pray you, examine him upon that point.
black, this plaintiff here, the offender, did call
me ass: I beseech you, let it be remembered in his
punishment. And also, the watch heard them talk of
one Deformed: they say be wears a key in his ear and
a lock hanging by it, and borrows money in God's
name, the which he hath used so long and never paid
that now men grow hard-hearted and will lend nothing
for God's sake: pray you, examine him upon that point.
****************************************
Author: Prynne, William, 1600-1669.
Title: The vnlouelinesse, of loue-lockes.
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
CHristian Reader, I here present vnto thy view and censure, a rough and briefe discourse: whose subiect, though it bee but course and vile, consisting of Effeminate, Proud, Lasciuious, Exorbitant, and Fantastique Haires, or Lockes, or Loue-lockes, (as they stile them:) which euery Barbar may correct and regulate: Yet the consequence of it may be great, and profitable in these Degenerous, Vnnaturall, and Vnmanly times: wherein as sundry of our Mannish, Impudent, and inconstant Female sexe, are Hermophradited, and transformed into men; not onely in their immodest, shamelesse, and audacious carriage, (which is now the very manners and Courtship of the times;) but euen in the vnnaturall Tonsure, and Odious, if not Whorish Cutting, and Crisping of their Haire, their Naturall vaile, their Feminine glory, and the very badge, and Character of their subiection both to God, and Man: so diuers of our Masculine, and more noble race, are wholy degenerated and metamorphosed into women; not in Manners, Gestures, Recreations, Diet, and Apparell onely; but likewise in the Womanish, Sinfull, and Vnmanly, Crisping, Curling, Frouncing, Powdring, and nourishing of their Lockes, and Hairie excrements, in which they place their corporall Excellencie, and chiefest Glory. Strange it is to see, and lamentable to consider, how farre our Nation is of late degenerated from what it was in former Ages: how farre their Liues, and their Professions differ. We all profess our selues be Heroicall, Generous, and true-bred English-men, yea Zealous, downe-right, and true-hearted Christians, desirous to conforme our selues to Christ in euery thing: and yet wee are quite ashamed of our English Guise, and Tonsure, and by our Out-landish, Womanish, and Vnchristian Lockes and Haire, disclaime our very Nation, Countrey, and Religion too: Alas, may I not truely say of too to many, who would be deemed not onely English-men, but Deuout, and faithfull Christians: that the Barber is their Chaplaine: his Shop, their Chappell: the Looking-glasse, their Bible; and their Haire, and Lockes, their God? that they bestow more cost, more thoughts, more time, and paines vpon their Hairie Lockes, and B
shes, from day to day, then on their peerelesse and immortall Soules? that they consult more seriously, and frequently with the Glasse, and Combe, then with the Scriptures? that they conferre more oftn with their Barbers, about their hairie Excrements; then with their Ministers, about the meanes, and matter of their owne Saluation? Are not most of our young Nobilitie and Gentrie, yea, the Elder too, vnder the Barbers hand from day, to day? Are they not in dayly thraldome, and perpetuall bondge to their curling Irons, which are as so many chaines, and fetters to their Heads, on which they leaue their Stampe, and Impresse? Good God, may I not truely say of our Gentrie, and Nation, as Seneca once did of his: That they are now so vaine and idle, that they hold a Counsell about euery Haire, sometimes Combing it backe, another time Frouncing, and spredding it abroade: a third time Combing it all before: in which, if the Barber be any thing remisse, they will grow exceeding angry, as if they were trimming of the men themselues: doe they not rage excessiuely, if any Haire bee but cut to short, if it lye not to their liking, and fall not readily into its rings, and circles? Would they not rather haue the Common-wealth disturbed, than their Haire disordered? doe they not sit all day betweene the Combe, and the Glasse? are they not more sollicitous of the neatenesse of their Haire, then of their safetie? and more desirous to be neate, and spruce, then Honest? Is it not now held the accomplished Gallantrie of our youth, to Frizle their Haire like Women: and to become Womanish, not onely in exilitie of Voyce, tendernesse of Body, leuitie of Apparell, wantonnesse of Pace, and Gesture, but euen in the very length, and Culture of their Lockes, and Haire?
shes, from day to day, then on their peerelesse and immortall Soules? that they consult more seriously, and frequently with the Glasse, and Combe, then with the Scriptures? that they conferre more oftn with their Barbers, about their hairie Excrements; then with their Ministers, about the meanes, and matter of their owne Saluation? Are not most of our young Nobilitie and Gentrie, yea, the Elder too, vnder the Barbers hand from day, to day? Are they not in dayly thraldome, and perpetuall bondge to their curling Irons, which are as so many chaines, and fetters to their Heads, on which they leaue their Stampe, and Impresse? Good God, may I not truely say of our Gentrie, and Nation, as Seneca once did of his: That they are now so vaine and idle, that they hold a Counsell about euery Haire, sometimes Combing it backe, another time Frouncing, and spredding it abroade: a third time Combing it all before: in which, if the Barber be any thing remisse, they will grow exceeding angry, as if they were trimming of the men themselues: doe they not rage excessiuely, if any Haire bee but cut to short, if it lye not to their liking, and fall not readily into its rings, and circles? Would they not rather haue the Common-wealth disturbed, than their Haire disordered? doe they not sit all day betweene the Combe, and the Glasse? are they not more sollicitous of the neatenesse of their Haire, then of their safetie? and more desirous to be neate, and spruce, then Honest? Is it not now held the accomplished Gallantrie of our youth, to Frizle their Haire like Women: and to become Womanish, not onely in exilitie of Voyce, tendernesse of Body, leuitie of Apparell, wantonnesse of Pace, and Gesture, but euen in the very length, and Culture of their Lockes, and Haire?
(snip)
What, will the bare name of Christians, or the slight, and cold performance of some out-ward dueties of Religion, conuey you safe to Heauen? or will such a cold profession of Religion saue your Soules, which is so farre from changing the in-ward frame, and structure of your Hearts, that it hath not yet so much, as altered your Vaine, and Sinfull guises, and Attires nor differenced you in out-ward appearance, from the most Gracelesse, Vaine, and Sensuall persons that the World affords? *Alas, if we looke vpon the out-sides of men, which would certainely be reformed, if all were right within*:) what outward difference can you finde between many young Gentlemen, who professe Religion, and the deboistest Ruffians? betweene many Graue Religious Matrons, or Virgins, who pretend Devotion, and our common Strumpets? betweene vs Christians and the most Lasciuious Pagans? are they not all alike Vaine, Effeminate, Proud, Fantastique, Prodigall, Immodest, and Vnchristian in their Attires, Fashions, Haire, Apparell, Gesture, Behauiour, Vanitie, and Pride of Life? are they not all so *Irregular*, and *Monstrous* in their antique Tonsures, and Disguises, that men can hardly, distinguish Good, from Bad: Continent, from Incontinent: Gracious, from Gracelesse: Beleeuers, from Infidels?
nor differenced you in out-ward appearance, from the most Gracelesse, Vaine, and Sensuall persons that the World affords? *Alas, if we looke vpon the out-sides of men, which would certainely be reformed, if all were right within*:) what outward difference can you finde between many young Gentlemen, who professe Religion, and the deboistest Ruffians? betweene many Graue Religious Matrons, or Virgins, who pretend Devotion, and our common Strumpets? betweene vs Christians and the most Lasciuious Pagans? are they not all alike Vaine, Effeminate, Proud, Fantastique, Prodigall, Immodest, and Vnchristian in their Attires, Fashions, Haire, Apparell, Gesture, Behauiour, Vanitie, and Pride of Life? are they not all so *Irregular*, and *Monstrous* in their antique Tonsures, and Disguises, that men can hardly, distinguish Good, from Bad: Continent, from Incontinent: Gracious, from Gracelesse: Beleeuers, from Infidels?
(snip)
Let Christians therefore who are now thus strangely carried away, with the Streame, and Torrent of the Times, and the Vanities, Fashions, Pompes, and Sinfull guises of the World; which their owne Hearts, and Consciences condemned at the first, before they were hardned, and inchanted by them, by degrees, and custome:) looke well vnto their Soules, and to their interest, and right in Christ, in these backe-sliding seasons; when many fall off from Religion by degrees, vnto the World, the Flesh, and Satan, whose snares, and grand pollutions they had, (at least in out-ward shew:) escaped heretofore; for feare their Euidence for Heauen, prooue counterfeite at last: And if they finde, their Hearts inclined, or lifted vp to vanitie, or their affections and practise, biassed to these Effeminate guises, Lockes, and Cultures of the World: they haue reason, and cause enough to feare, that their Hearts are yet deuoted to the world, and quite estranged from the Lord: *that all things are not yet sincere, and right within them, because their out-sides are so Vaine, so Proud, Fantastique, and Vnchristian*: and that their claime to Christ, is meerely counterfeite, because his Graces, Stampe, and Image shine not in them, but the Worlds alone.
*********************************************************
Much Ado about Nothing - Shakespeare
·
Act III, Scene 3
·
- Borachio. Seest thou not, I say, what a deformed thief this
fashion is? how GIDDILY a' turns about all the hot 1445
bloods between fourteen and five-and-thirty?
sometimes fashioning them like Pharaoh's soldiers
in the reeky painting, sometime like god Bel's
priests in the old church-window, sometime like the
shaven Hercules in the smirched worm-eaten tapestry, 1450
where his codpiece seems as massy as his club?
- Conrade. All this I see; and I see that the fashion wears
out more apparel than the man. But art not thou
thyself giddy with the fashion too, that thou hast
shifted out of thy tale into telling me of the fashion?
Cynthia's Revels, Jonson
He that is with him is Amorphus, a traveller, one so made out of a
mixture of shreds and forms, that himself is truly DEFORMED. He
walks most commonly with a clove or pick-tooth in his mouth, he is the
very mint of compliment, all his behaviours are printed, his FACE is
another volume of essays, and his beard is an Aristarchus.
mixture of shreds and forms, that himself is truly DEFORMED. He
walks most commonly with a clove or pick-tooth in his mouth, he is the
very mint of compliment, all his behaviours are printed, his FACE is
another volume of essays, and his beard is an Aristarchus.
Jonson, Cynthia's Revels - censuring Amorphus and his crew of courtly
revellers.
revellers.
O vanity,
How are thy painted beauties doted on,
By light, and empty Idiots how pursu'd
With open and extended Appetite!
How they do sweat, and run themselves from breath,
Rais'd on their Toes, to catch thy AIRY FORMS,
Still turning GIDDY, till they reel like Drunkards,
That buy the merry madness of one hour,
With the long irksomness of following time!
O how despis'd and base a thing is a Man,
If he not strive t'erect his groveling Thoughts
Above the strain of Flesh! But how more cheap,
When, even his best and understanding Part,
(The crown and strength of all his Faculties)
Floats like a dead drownd Body, on the Stream
Of vulgar humour, mixt with common'st dregs?
I suffer for their Guilt now, and my Soul
(Like one that looks on ill-affected Eyes)
Is hurt with mere intention on their Follies.
Why will I view them then? my sense might ask me:
Or is't a rarity, or some new object,
That strains my strict observance to this Point?
O would it were, therein I could afford
My Spirit should draw a little neer to theirs,
To gaze on novelties: so Vice were one.
Tut, she is stale, rank, foul, and were it not
That those (that woo her) greet her with lockt Eyes,
(In spight of all the impostures, paintings, drugs,
Which her Bawd custom dawbs her Cheeks withal)
She would betray her loath'd and leprous Face,
And fright th' enamour'd dotards from themselves:
But such is the perverseness of our nature,
That if we once but fancy levity,
(How antick and ridiculous so ere
It sute with us) yet will our muffled thought
Choose rather not to see it, than avoid it:
And if we can but banish our own sense,
We act our mimick tricks with that free license,
That lust, that pleasure, that security,
As if we practis'd in a Paste-boadPaste-board Case,
And no one saw the motion, but the motion.
Well, check thy passion, lest it grow too lowd:
"While fools are pittied, they wax fat and proud
How are thy painted beauties doted on,
By light, and empty Idiots how pursu'd
With open and extended Appetite!
How they do sweat, and run themselves from breath,
Rais'd on their Toes, to catch thy AIRY FORMS,
Still turning GIDDY, till they reel like Drunkards,
That buy the merry madness of one hour,
With the long irksomness of following time!
O how despis'd and base a thing is a Man,
If he not strive t'erect his groveling Thoughts
Above the strain of Flesh! But how more cheap,
When, even his best and understanding Part,
(The crown and strength of all his Faculties)
Floats like a dead drownd Body, on the Stream
Of vulgar humour, mixt with common'st dregs?
I suffer for their Guilt now, and my Soul
(Like one that looks on ill-affected Eyes)
Is hurt with mere intention on their Follies.
Why will I view them then? my sense might ask me:
Or is't a rarity, or some new object,
That strains my strict observance to this Point?
O would it were, therein I could afford
My Spirit should draw a little neer to theirs,
To gaze on novelties: so Vice were one.
Tut, she is stale, rank, foul, and were it not
That those (that woo her) greet her with lockt Eyes,
(In spight of all the impostures, paintings, drugs,
Which her Bawd custom dawbs her Cheeks withal)
She would betray her loath'd and leprous Face,
And fright th' enamour'd dotards from themselves:
But such is the perverseness of our nature,
That if we once but fancy levity,
(How antick and ridiculous so ere
It sute with us) yet will our muffled thought
Choose rather not to see it, than avoid it:
And if we can but banish our own sense,
We act our mimick tricks with that free license,
That lust, that pleasure, that security,
As if we practis'd in a Paste-boadPaste-board Case,
And no one saw the motion, but the motion.
Well, check thy passion, lest it grow too lowd:
"While fools are pittied, they wax fat and proud
Jonson, A Speech according to Horace.
And could (if our great Men would let their Sons
Come to their Schools,) show 'em the use of Guns.
And there instruct the noble English Heirs
In Politick, and Militar Affairs;
But he that should perswade, to have this done
For Education of our Lordings; Soon
Should he hear of Billow, Wind, and Storm,
From the Tempestuous Grandlings, who'll inform
Us, in our bearing, that are thus, and thus,
Born, bred, allied? what's he dare tutor us?
Are we by Book-worms to be aw'd? must we
Live by their Scale, that dare do nothing free?
Why are we Rich, or Great, except to show
All licence in our Lives? What need we know?
More then to praise a Dog? or Horse? or speak
The Hawking Language? or our Day to break
With Citizens? let Clowns, and Tradesmen breed
Their Sons to study Arts, the Laws, the Creed:
We will believe like Men of our own Rank,
In so much Land a year, or such a Bank,
That turns us so much Monies, at which rate
Our Ancestors impos'd on Prince and State.
Let poor Nobility be vertuous: We,
Descended in a Rope of Titles, be
From Guy, or Bevis, Arthur, or from whom
The Herald will. Our Blood is now become,
Past any need of Vertue. Let them care,
That in the Cradle of their Gentry are;
To serve the State by Councels, and by Arms:
We neither love the Troubles, nor the harms.
What love you then? your Whore? what study? Gate,
Carriage, and Dressing. There is up of late
The Academy, where the Gallants meet ——
What to make Legs? yes, and to smell most sweet,
All that they do at Plays. O, but first here
They learn and study; and then practise there.
But why are all these Irons i' the Fire
Of several makings? helps, helps, t' attire
His Lordship. That is for his Band, his Hair
This, and that Box his Beauty to repair;
This other for his Eye-brows; hence, away,
I may no longer on these Pictures stay,
These Carkasses of Honour; Taylors blocks,
Cover'd with Tissue, whose prosperity mocks
The fate of things: whilst totter'd Vertue holds
Her broken Arms up, to their empty Moulds.
Come to their Schools,) show 'em the use of Guns.
And there instruct the noble English Heirs
In Politick, and Militar Affairs;
But he that should perswade, to have this done
For Education of our Lordings; Soon
Should he hear of Billow, Wind, and Storm,
From the Tempestuous Grandlings, who'll inform
Us, in our bearing, that are thus, and thus,
Born, bred, allied? what's he dare tutor us?
Are we by Book-worms to be aw'd? must we
Live by their Scale, that dare do nothing free?
Why are we Rich, or Great, except to show
All licence in our Lives? What need we know?
More then to praise a Dog? or Horse? or speak
The Hawking Language? or our Day to break
With Citizens? let Clowns, and Tradesmen breed
Their Sons to study Arts, the Laws, the Creed:
We will believe like Men of our own Rank,
In so much Land a year, or such a Bank,
That turns us so much Monies, at which rate
Our Ancestors impos'd on Prince and State.
Let poor Nobility be vertuous: We,
Descended in a Rope of Titles, be
From Guy, or Bevis, Arthur, or from whom
The Herald will. Our Blood is now become,
Past any need of Vertue. Let them care,
That in the Cradle of their Gentry are;
To serve the State by Councels, and by Arms:
We neither love the Troubles, nor the harms.
What love you then? your Whore? what study? Gate,
Carriage, and Dressing. There is up of late
The Academy, where the Gallants meet ——
What to make Legs? yes, and to smell most sweet,
All that they do at Plays. O, but first here
They learn and study; and then practise there.
But why are all these Irons i' the Fire
Of several makings? helps, helps, t' attire
His Lordship. That is for his Band, his Hair
This, and that Box his Beauty to repair;
This other for his Eye-brows; hence, away,
I may no longer on these Pictures stay,
These Carkasses of Honour; Taylors blocks,
Cover'd with Tissue, whose prosperity mocks
The fate of things: whilst totter'd Vertue holds
Her broken Arms up, to their empty Moulds.
*************************************
Benedick, Much Ado
I'll tell thee what, prince; a college of
wit-crackers cannot flout me out of my humour. Dost 2655
thou think I care for a satire or an epigram? No:
if a man will be beaten with brains, a' shall wear
nothing handsome about him. In brief, since I do
purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any
purpose that the world can say against it; and 2660
therefore never flout at me for what I have said
against it; for man is a GIDDY thing, and this is my
conclusion.
**************************************
Jonson, _Cynthia's Revels_
AMORPHUS. Can you help my COMPLEXION, here?
PER. O yes, sir, I have an excellent mineral FUCUS for the
purpose. The GLOVES are right, sir; you shall bury them in a
MUCK-HILL, a draught, SEVEN years, and take them out and wash them,
they shall still retain their first scent, true Spanish. There's
ambre in the umbre.
MER. Your price, sweet Fig?
PER. Give me what you will, sir; the signior pays me two crowns a
pair; you shall give me your love, sir.
MER. My love! with a pox to you, goodman Sassafras.
PER. I come, sir. There's an excellent DIAPASM in a chain, too,
if you like it.
AMO. Stay, what are the ingredients to your FUCUS?
PER. Nought but sublimate and crude mercury, sir, well prepared
and dulcified, with the jaw-bones of a sow, burnt, beaten, and
searced.
AMO. I approve it. LAY IT ON.
PER. O yes, sir, I have an excellent mineral FUCUS for the
purpose. The GLOVES are right, sir; you shall bury them in a
MUCK-HILL, a draught, SEVEN years, and take them out and wash them,
they shall still retain their first scent, true Spanish. There's
ambre in the umbre.
MER. Your price, sweet Fig?
PER. Give me what you will, sir; the signior pays me two crowns a
pair; you shall give me your love, sir.
MER. My love! with a pox to you, goodman Sassafras.
PER. I come, sir. There's an excellent DIAPASM in a chain, too,
if you like it.
AMO. Stay, what are the ingredients to your FUCUS?
PER. Nought but sublimate and crude mercury, sir, well prepared
and dulcified, with the jaw-bones of a sow, burnt, beaten, and
searced.
AMO. I approve it. LAY IT ON.
*************************************
- All action is of the MIND and the mirror of the mind is the FACE, its index the eyes.-- Cicero
I can refell [refute] that Paradox‥of those, which hold the face to be the Index of the minde.Cf. [Cicero Orator lx.] ut imago est animi voltus sic indices oculi, *the face is a picture of the mind* as the eyes are its interpreter; L. vultus est index animi (also oculus animi index), the face (also, eye) is the index of the mind.
[1601 Jonson Cynthia's Revels - Amorphus the Deformed]
***********************************
Davies, Scourge of Folly
Of the staid FURIOUS POET FUCUS
Epig. 114
Epig. 114
Fucus, the furious poet writes but Plaies;
So, playing, writes: that’s, idly writeth all:
Yet, idle Plaies, and Players are his Staies;
Which stay him that he can no lower fall:
Which stay him that he can no lower fall:
For, he is fall’n into the deep’st decay,
Where Playes and Players keepe him at a stay.
Where Playes and Players keepe him at a stay.
******************************************
Painted Faces on the Renaissance Stage
By Annette Drew-Bear
<The Devil is an Ass stress the notion of Vices disguising
themselves as Virtues and use ARTIFICIAL COURTLY MANNERS
and beauty rituals to epitomize moral dissimulation. Both
Asotus and Mistress Fitzdottrel are innocents brought into courtly
circles to be instructed, with the difference that it is the depraved
social-climbing husband who forces his virtuous unwilling wife to
visit "an Academy for women" in the later play. Like Mercury and
Crites in Cynthia's Revels, who disguise themselves as a French
gallant and his interpreter in order to expose the courtiers' wooing
of false values, Wittipol, though for amorous reasons of his own,
disguises himself as a Spanish cosmetic expert in order, in part,
as he tells his friend Manly, "To shew you what they are, you so
pursue." In both plays these disguised agents mock the would-be
courtiers by mimicking or parodying their cosmetic rites.
In The Devil is an Ass the courtly "MANNERS" that Mrs. Fitzdottrel is
sent to learn are epitomized by the pursuit of makeup secrets, which
Lady Tailbush and Lady Etherside, aided by Meercraft, are assembling
in order to realize their "PROJECT, for the fact, and venting of a
new kinde of FUCUS (paint, for Ladies)? To serve the kingdome"
(snip)
Another instance where face-paint signals corruption occurs in
Richard III. In his film version of This play, Laurence Olivier's
white-faced Richard carries out the suggestions in the text that
link this consummate villain with the "white devil" -
as in the lines: "And thus I clothe my naked villainy/
With odd old ends stol'n forth of Holy Writ,/
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil." Richard's words
about the executed "traitor" Hastings applay most aptly to "Richard
himself: "So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue" (3.5.29).
The word "daub" had in Old French the meaning of "to whiten over,
whitewash, plaster," and "all the English uses appear to come through
that of 'plaster.'" The passage from Richard III illustrates the
figurative sense, "to cover with a specious exterior; to whitewash,
cloak, gloss" and "to put on a false show; to dissemble so as to give
a favourable impression." The word also means "a patch or smear of
some moist substance, grease, colouring." The medieval and Tudor
convention of expressing moral deformity through physical deformity
is also evident in Richard's "misshapen," "rudely stamped,"
and "deformed" appearance, whether the deformity appears only
in a deformed leg or hunchback or in his face as well. (p.100)
*******************************************
False Semblance:
FUCATE:
Painted; disguised with paint; hence, disguised in any way; dissembling.
In fu*cate, v. t. [L. infucatus painted; pref. in in + fucare to paint, dye. See {Fucate}.] To stain; to paint; to DAUB.
Painted Faces on the Renaissance Stage
By Annette Drew-Bear
<
themselves as Virtues and use ARTIFICIAL COURTLY MANNERS
and beauty rituals to epitomize moral dissimulation. Both
Asotus and Mistress Fitzdottrel are innocents brought into courtly
circles to be instructed, with the difference that it is the depraved
social-climbing husband who forces his virtuous unwilling wife to
visit "an Academy for women" in the later play. Like Mercury and
Crites in Cynthia's Revels, who disguise themselves as a French
gallant and his interpreter in order to expose the courtiers' wooing
of false values, Wittipol, though for amorous reasons of his own,
disguises himself as a Spanish cosmetic expert in order, in part,
as he tells his friend Manly, "To shew you what they are, you so
pursue." In both plays these disguised agents mock the would-be
courtiers by mimicking or parodying their cosmetic rites.
In The Devil is an Ass the courtly "MANNERS" that Mrs. Fitzdottrel is
sent to learn are epitomized by the pursuit of makeup secrets, which
Lady Tailbush and Lady Etherside, aided by Meercraft, are assembling
in order to realize their "PROJECT, for the fact, and venting of a
new kinde of FUCUS (paint, for Ladies)? To serve the kingdome"
(snip)
Another instance where face-paint signals corruption occurs in
Richard III. In his film version of This play, Laurence Olivier's
white-faced Richard carries out the suggestions in the text that
link this consummate villain with the "white devil" -
as in the lines: "And thus I clothe my naked villainy/
With odd old ends stol'n forth of Holy Writ,/
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil." Richard's words
about the executed "traitor" Hastings applay most aptly to "Richard
himself: "So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue" (3.5.29).
The word "daub" had in Old French the meaning of "to whiten over,
whitewash, plaster," and "all the English uses appear to come through
that of 'plaster.'" The passage from Richard III illustrates the
figurative sense, "to cover with a specious exterior; to whitewash,
cloak, gloss" and "to put on a false show; to dissemble so as to give
a favourable impression." The word also means "a patch or smear of
some moist substance, grease, colouring." The medieval and Tudor
convention of expressing moral deformity through physical deformity
is also evident in Richard's "misshapen," "rudely stamped,"
and "deformed" appearance, whether the deformity appears only
in a deformed leg or hunchback or in his face as well. (p.100)
*******************************************
False Semblance:
FUCATE:
Etymology
Artificially coloured; falsified, counterfeit.Painted; disguised with paint, or with false show.Painted; disguised with paint; hence, disguised in any way; dissembling.
In fu*cate, v. t. [L. infucatus painted; pref. in in + fucare to paint, dye. See {Fucate}.] To stain; to paint; to DAUB.
***************************************
Plastered Over in Stratford (Fulke Greville's back-yard)
Stay Passenger, why goest thou by so fast?
Read if thou canst, whom envious Death hath PLAST
Within this monument Shakspeare: with whom
Quick nature died: whose name doth deck this tomb
Far more than cost: sith [since] all that he hath writ
Leaves living art, but page to serve his wit.
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Oxford to Lord Burghley, March 14 1596
And whereas I received a most favourable message from your Lordship by your servant Hicks, these shall be to desire the continuance of so good an intention to further my suit unto her Majesty, who although I find of herself to have oftentimes sundry good motions and dispositions to do me good, yet for want of such a friend as your Lordship that may settle her inclination to a full effect, I perceive all my hopes but FUCATE, and my haps to wither in the herb.
*******************************************
Fucate:
Etymology
Artificially coloured; falsified, counterfeit.Painted; disguised with paint, or with false show.Painted; disguised with paint; hence, disguised in any way; dissembling.
In fu*cate, v. t. [L. infucatus painted; pref. in in + fucare to paint, dye. See {Fucate}.] To stain; to paint; to DAUB.
********************************************
Anatomy of Melancholy, Burton
-
Beauty is the common object of all love, [4542] as jet draws a straw, so doth beauty love: virtue and honesty are great motives, and give as fair a lustre as the rest, especially if they be sincere and right, not FUCATE, but proceeding from true form, and an incorrupt judgment; those two Venus 'twins, Eros and Anteros, are then most firm and fast.*****************************************Author: Andrew, Laurence, fl. 1510-1537
Date: 1527
Cap. li. [Figure: ]
![[H]](/images/hit.gif)
FVcus is a
great bee / but nat of ye kinde of the gentyll bees / for she maketh
nouther hony nor waxe / but sheeteth the hony and labour of other bees / &
they haue no stingue wherfore they be nat of the trewe kynde and the other bees
haue as if it ware a co~mau~+dement ouer them / & if they byde ther amonge
the bees without workynge than the bees ponisshe them to the vtt moste without
any pyte with their sti~+gues / and whan the hony is ful made than the bees
dryue them awaye / and they be nat sene but in maye / & it wor+keth for the
kinge of the bees & maketh him a royal wyde place couered ouer lyke a throne
/ but for all his labour he may nat eate of the hony except he do gete it be
stelthe. *******************************************
Isidore of Seville [7th
century CE] (Etymologies, Book 11, 4:3): Bees are formed by the
transformation through decay of the putrid flesh of calves. (Book 12, 8:1-3):
Bees (apes) have their name either because they bind themselves together
with their feet (pes), or because they are born without feet
(a-pes), only later growing feet and wings. They live in fixed places,
are diligent in producing honey, build their houses with great skill, gather
honey from various flowers, weave wax to fill their homes with many offspring,
have kings and armies with which they wage war, flee from smoke, and are
irritated by noise. Witnesses say that they are born out of the corpses of oxen, because they are created by beating the
flesh of slaughtered calves; this causes worms to form which later become bees.
It is correct to say that bees are born from oxen, just as hornets come from
horses, drone-bees from mules, and wasps from asses. The Greek call the larger
bees found in the farthest part of the hive oestri some say these are the
kings, because they pitch camps (castra). The drone (FUCUS) is
larger than other bees; it is so called because it feeds on (fagus =
phagos) the produce of others, eating what it did not work for.
********************************************
Cecil Papers 181/99: Oxford to Cecil, [January 1602].
In the mean season, I now, at the last (for now is the time), crave this brotherly friendship that, as you began it for me with all kindness, so that you will continue in the same affection to end it. And so I will end, these things only desiring you to remember, that you may know I do not forget how honourably you dealt with her Majesty at what time you first moved her, showing how, out of nothing to her (for so in manner it was found), if by mine industry I could OF THIS NOTHING make something, she should yet give a PROP AND STAY to my house.
******************************************
********************************************
Cecil Papers 181/99: Oxford to Cecil, [January 1602].
In the mean season, I now, at the last (for now is the time), crave this brotherly friendship that, as you began it for me with all kindness, so that you will continue in the same affection to end it. And so I will end, these things only desiring you to remember, that you may know I do not forget how honourably you dealt with her Majesty at what time you first moved her, showing how, out of nothing to her (for so in manner it was found), if by mine industry I could OF THIS NOTHING make something, she should yet give a PROP AND STAY to my house.
******************************************
STILL to be NEAT, still to be drest,
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powder'd, still perfumed:
Lady, it is to be presumed,
Though art's hid causes are not found, 5
All is not sweet, all is not sound.
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powder'd, still perfumed:
Lady, it is to be presumed,
Though art's hid causes are not found, 5
All is not sweet, all is not sound.
Give me a look, give me a face
That makes simplicity a grace;
Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:
Such sweet neglect more taketh me 10
Than all th' adulteries of art;
They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.
That makes simplicity a grace;
Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:
Such sweet neglect more taketh me 10
Than all th' adulteries of art;
They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.
--Jonson
*********************************************
Author: Agrippa von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius, 1486?-1535.Title: The vanity of arts and sciences by Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Knight
Hence it appears, that Rhetorick is nothing else but the Art of moving and stirring the Affections by subtile Lan|guage, exquisite varnishings of neat Phrase and cun|ning insinuation, ravishing the minds of heedless Peo|ple,
leading them into the Captivity of Error, and sub|verting the sense and meaning of Truth. So that if by the benefit of Nature there is nothing but may be express'd in proper Language, what can be more pe|stilent than the FUCUS and varnishes of fallacious words? The Language of Truth is simple, but quick and pe|netrating, a discerner of the intentions of the Heart, and like a Sword easily cuts in sunder the difficult Enthymems and Gordion-knots of Rhetorick.
*********************************************
Author: Agrippa von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius, 1486?-1535.Title: The vanity of arts and sciences by Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Knight
Hence it appears, that Rhetorick is nothing else but the Art of moving and stirring the Affections by subtile Lan|guage, exquisite varnishings of neat Phrase and cun|ning insinuation, ravishing the minds of heedless Peo|ple,
leading them into the Captivity of Error, and sub|verting the sense and meaning of Truth. So that if by the benefit of Nature there is nothing but may be express'd in proper Language, what can be more pe|stilent than the FUCUS and varnishes of fallacious words? The Language of Truth is simple, but quick and pe|netrating, a discerner of the intentions of the Heart, and like a Sword easily cuts in sunder the difficult Enthymems and Gordion-knots of Rhetorick.
Jonson, Timber
{{Topic 40}} {{Subject: imposture}}
Impostorum fucus.
195 Imposture is a specious thing; yet never worse, then when it faines to196 be best, and to none discover'd sooner, then the simplest. For Truth and
197 Goodnesse are plaine, and open: but Imposture is ever asham'd of the light.
******************************************
- Ben Jonson
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels
P A L I N O D E.
Amorphus. From Spanish Shrugs, French Faces, Smirks, Irps,
and all affected Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
and all affected Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Phantaste:. From secret Friends, sweet Servants, Loves Doves,
and such fantastisk Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
and such fantastisk Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Amo. From stabbing of Arms, Flap-dragons, Healths,
Whiffs, and all such swaggering Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Whiffs, and all such swaggering Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Pha. From waving Fans, coy Glances, Glicks, Cringes,
and all such simpring Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
and all such simpring Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Amo. From making Love by Attorney, courting of Pup-
pets, and paying for new Acquaintance,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Pha. From perfum'd Dogs, Monkeys, Sparrows, Dildoes,
and Parachitoes,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
pets, and paying for new Acquaintance,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Pha. From perfum'd Dogs, Monkeys, Sparrows, Dildoes,
and Parachitoes,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Amo. From wearing Bracelets of Hair, Shoe-ties, Gloves,
Garters, and Rings with Poesies,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Garters, and Rings with Poesies,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Pha. From pargetting, painting, slicking, glazing, and
renewing old rivel'd Faces,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
renewing old rivel'd Faces,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Amo. From Squiring to Tilt-yards, Play-houses, Pageants,
and all such Publick Places,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
and all such Publick Places,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Pha. From entertaining one Gallant to gull another, and
making Fools of either,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
making Fools of either,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Amo. From belying Ladys Favours, Noblemens Counte-
nance, coyning counterfeit Employments, vain-glorious taking
to them other Mens Services, and all self-loving Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
nance, coyning counterfeit Employments, vain-glorious taking
to them other Mens Services, and all self-loving Humours,
Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.
Davies, Scourge of Folly
A generall Folly reigneth, and harsh Fate
Hath made the World it selfe insatiate:
It hugges these Monsters and deformed things,
Better than what Johnson or Drayton sings:
As in North-Villages, where every line
Of Plumpton Parke is held a worke divine.
Hath made the World it selfe insatiate:
It hugges these Monsters and deformed things,
Better than what Johnson or Drayton sings:
As in North-Villages, where every line
Of Plumpton Parke is held a worke divine.
Author: Prynne, William, 1600-1669.
Title: The vnlouelinesse, of loue-lockes.
Prynne, con’t
And is it not now high time, yea, haue we not now great cause, to abandon, and renounce these Monstrous, Strange, Ridiculous, and mishapen Fashions, and Attires: which transforme our Heads, and bodies into a thousand Antique, and Outlandish shapes? to disrobe our selues, of all our Proud, and costly Plumes, which bid deiance to the Lord of Hoasts, and cause him to vnsheath his glittering Sword against vs, to our finall ouerthrow, and vtter desolation? and to cut, and cast off all those Lockes, and Emblems of our Vanitie, Pride, Incontinencie, Lasciuiousnesse, and grosse Effeminacy, which Prognosticate some eminent, and fatall iudgement to our Land, and Nation? and hasten to accomplish, and draw it downe vpon vs to the full? Hath not the Lord begunne to smite, and ruine vs for these sinnes already?
iance to the Lord of Hoasts, and cause him to vnsheath his glittering Sword against vs, to our finall ouerthrow, and vtter desolation? and to cut, and cast off all those Lockes, and Emblems of our Vanitie, Pride, Incontinencie, Lasciuiousnesse, and grosse Effeminacy, which Prognosticate some eminent, and fatall iudgement to our Land, and Nation? and hasten to accomplish, and draw it downe vpon vs to the full? Hath not the Lord begunne to smite, and ruine vs for these sinnes already?
English Broadside - "When Charles, hath got the Spanish Gearle"
(Notes. Versions of this detailed poem on politics in the early 1620s
differ considerably in length, and it seems likely that extra verses
were added by different hands in the course of the poem's
circulation. In one source it is dated "March 1621" (Bodleian MS
Eng. Poet. c.50)
differ considerably in length, and it seems likely that extra verses
were added by different hands in the course of the poem's
circulation. In one source it is dated "March 1621" (Bodleian MS
Eng. Poet. c.50)
Greate Edward his is Nowe in print
& thinks to get the divell & all
The Spanish gould come to our minte
then thats the day shall pay for all
Sardanapalian
Jonson, Discoveries
De vere argutis. - I do hear them say often some men are not witty,
because they are not everywhere witty; than which nothing is more
foolish. If an eye or a nose be an excellent part in the face,
therefore be all eye or nose! I think the eyebrow, the forehead, the
cheek, chin, lip, or any part else are as necessary and natural in the
place. But now nothing is good that is natural; RIGHT and NATURAL
LANGUAGE seems to have least of the WIT in it; that which is writhed
and tortured is counted the more exquisite. Cloth of bodkin or tissue
must be embroidered; as if no face were fair that were not POWDERED or
PAINTED! no beauty to be had but in wresting and writhing our own
tongue! Nothing is fashionable till it be DEFORMED; and this is to
write like a gentleman. All must be affected and preposterous as our
gallants' clothes, sweet-bags, and night-dressings, in which you would
think our men lay in, like ladies, it is so CURIOUS.
because they are not everywhere witty; than which nothing is more
foolish. If an eye or a nose be an excellent part in the face,
therefore be all eye or nose! I think the eyebrow, the forehead, the
cheek, chin, lip, or any part else are as necessary and natural in the
place. But now nothing is good that is natural; RIGHT and NATURAL
LANGUAGE seems to have least of the WIT in it; that which is writhed
and tortured is counted the more exquisite. Cloth of bodkin or tissue
must be embroidered; as if no face were fair that were not POWDERED or
PAINTED! no beauty to be had but in wresting and writhing our own
tongue! Nothing is fashionable till it be DEFORMED; and this is to
write like a gentleman. All must be affected and preposterous as our
gallants' clothes, sweet-bags, and night-dressings, in which you would
think our men lay in, like ladies, it is so CURIOUS.
***********************************************
Mercutio:
Mercutio:
If love be rough with you, be rough with love;
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
Give me a case to put my visage in:
A visor for a visor! what care I
What CURIOUS eye doth quote DEFORMITIES?
Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
Give me a case to put my visage in:
A visor for a visor! what care I
What CURIOUS eye doth quote DEFORMITIES?
Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.
**********************************************
TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED
MASTER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE,
AND WHAT HE HATH LEFT US
by Ben Jonson
MASTER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE,
AND WHAT HE HATH LEFT US
by Ben Jonson
Yet must I not give Nature all ; thy art,
My gentle Shakspeare, must enjoy a part.
For though the poet's matter nature be,
His art doth give the FASHION :
My gentle Shakspeare, must enjoy a part.
For though the poet's matter nature be,
His art doth give the FASHION :
Author: Prynne, William, 1600-1669.
Title: The vnlouelinesse, of loue-lockes.
The Minor is most cleare and euident, by its owne light: For is not this a Badge, a Note, or Ensigne of Wilfull, Factious, and Affected Singularitie, (and so of Pride, and Selfe-conceit, which are the Nurse, and Mother of it:) for some few particular, or priuate Guiddy, Braine-sicke, Humourous, Vaine-glorious, and Fantastique Spirits, to introduce a new-fangled Guise and Fashion, of nourishing and wearing Loue-lockes, without any publike warrant, or allowance; contrary to the Manner, Custome, Vse, and Tonsure of our owne, or other Ciuill, Graue, Religious, Wise, and Pudent Naions: that so they may diffrence, distinguish, and diuide themselues from others of the common ranke and Cut, as if they were ashamed of their natiue Countrey:they were descended from some other Nation, or Gouerned by some other Customes, Lawes, or Constitutions, then others of their Countrey-men, Fellowes, Kindred, Neighbours, and Companions are? Certainely, if this bee not Affected, Grosse, and Wilfull Singularitie, there is no such thing as Singularitie, or breach of Ciuill societie in the World. This Martiall, and Tertullian knew: whence, they condemne such for Singular, and Fantastique persons, who varied from the cut and Tonsure of their Countrey, as their authorities in the Margent testifie: It was noted as a point of Shamelesnesse, and Singularitie in Nero, though an Emperour; that hee oftentimes wore his Haire combed backeward into his poll, in an affected, and ouer curious manner, after the Greeke fashion: If this were Effeminacy, and Singularitie in a Roman Emperour, much more are Loue-lockes, in our French-English Subiects. or as if
udent Naions: that so they may diffrence, distinguish, and diuide themselues from others of the common ranke and Cut, as if they were ashamed of their natiue Countrey:they were descended from some other Nation, or Gouerned by some other Customes, Lawes, or Constitutions, then others of their Countrey-men, Fellowes, Kindred, Neighbours, and Companions are? Certainely, if this bee not Affected, Grosse, and Wilfull Singularitie, there is no such thing as Singularitie, or breach of Ciuill societie in the World. This Martiall, and Tertullian knew: whence, they condemne such for Singular, and Fantastique persons, who varied from the cut and Tonsure of their Countrey, as their authorities in the Margent testifie: It was noted as a point of Shamelesnesse, and Singularitie in Nero, though an Emperour; that hee oftentimes wore his Haire combed backeward into his poll, in an affected, and ouer curious manner, after the Greeke fashion: If this were Effeminacy, and Singularitie in a Roman Emperour, much more are Loue-lockes, in our French-English Subiects. or as if
(snip)
But if the persons wee imitate, are onely Idle, Vaine, Effeminate, Lasciuious, Deboist, Vaine-glorious, Proud, Fantastique, Singular, Ruffianly, or Vngodly wretches, who haue no power, nor trueth of Grace within them: who make their WILL, and FANCIE, the onely rule by which they walke: (as I feare me, they will prooue all such at last.) If they are such a make no care, nor Conscience, of following Christ, or such are not likely to beare vs company in Heauen: let vs vtterly renounce their Guise, and Fashion, and withdraw our feete from all their wayes: because the Ecchoing, and imitation of such (which is the principall, and primary end of wearing Loue-lockes,) is meerely Sinfull, Vnlawfull, and Vnseemely, vnto Christians.
make no care, nor Conscience, of following Christ, or such are not likely to beare vs company in Heauen: let vs vtterly renounce their Guise, and Fashion, and withdraw our feete from all their wayes: because the Ecchoing, and imitation of such (which is the principall, and primary end of wearing Loue-lockes,) is meerely Sinfull, Vnlawfull, and Vnseemely, vnto Christians.
The second end, or ground, why many weare, and nourish Loue-lockes, is a Proud, a Singular, Fantastique, and Vaine-glorious Humour: or a Desire, that others should take notice of them, for Ruffians, Rorers, Fantastiques, Humourists, Fashion-mongers, or for Effeminate, Lasciuious, Voluptuous, Singular, or Vaine-glorious persons, or men of Vitious, Riotous, and Licentious liues. Many there are, who nourish them of purpose, to Proclaime, and blaze abroad their Vanitie, Rudnesse, and Deboistnesse, to the World: that so they may be admired among the light and vulger sort, or censured by those of the more Religious, Wise, and Grauer ranke, as Dissolute, Ruffianly, Licentious, Rude, Vaine-glorious, and Fantastique persons, since they haue nothing else to make them noted, or knowne to the World.
(snip)
Now there is not the basest Peasant, Rogue, or Varlet in the World, but may weare as Long, as Great, as Faire, and Rich a Lou-locke, as the greatest Gallant, or the proudest Ruffian: yea, wee see that Foote-boyes, Lacquies, Coach-men, Seruing-men, (yea, Rogues that ride to Tiburne, and the very froth, and scumme of Men,) haue taken vp this Roguish guise, and Fashion, and haue it most in vse, and admiration; and can these Lockes then be any ornament, Grace, or Credit, vnto men of Place, of Birth, and Worth; since such vile, base, and infamous persons weare, and take them vp in vse? and since there is none so meane, so base, or poore, but may as well, and freely nourish, and reserue a Loue-locke, as the very best, and proudest Gallant? (…)Since therefore Loue-lockes, and long Haire, are common vnto beasts, as well as men, since euery Man, or Woman may weare them if they please, as well as any: and since they are so rie and frequent among the baser, looser, and deboister sort of men: I may infallibly conclude; that they adde no ornament, beautie, credit, grace, or luster vnto any, but infamie, deformitie, shame, and disrespect, especially among the better, grauer, and religious ranke of Christians: which should cause all men of worth and credit, for euer to discard them.
-locke, as the greatest Gallant, or the proudest Ruffian: yea, wee see that Foote-boyes, Lacquies, Coach-men, Seruing-men, (yea, Rogues that ride to Tiburne, and the very froth, and scumme of Men,) haue taken vp this Roguish guise, and Fashion, and haue it most in vse, and admiration; and can these Lockes then be any ornament, Grace, or Credit, vnto men of Place, of Birth, and Worth; since such vile, base, and infamous persons weare, and take them vp in vse? and since there is none so meane, so base, or poore, but may as well, and freely nourish, and reserue a Loue-locke, as the very best, and proudest Gallant? (…)Since therefore Loue-lockes, and long Haire, are common vnto beasts, as well as men, since euery Man, or Woman may weare them if they please, as well as any: and since they are so rie and frequent among the baser, looser, and deboister sort of men: I may infallibly conclude; that they adde no ornament, beautie, credit, grace, or luster vnto any, but infamie, deformitie, shame, and disrespect, especially among the better, grauer, and religious ranke of Christians: which should cause all men of worth and credit, for euer to discard them.
(snip)
Beautie is no helpe nor furtherance, but a great impediment vnto chastitie: therefore this studious affectation of it, and inquirie after it, proceeds not from a continent or chast affection, but from a Lasciuious, Lustfull, and Adulterous Heart: and so it cannot but be euill. Secondly, it must needes bee euill, because it flowes as from an Effeminate, and Vnchast, so likewise from a Proud, Vaineglorious, Carnall, Worldly, and selfe-seeking Spirit, which aymes not at Gods glory, nor at its owne, or others good and welfare: There are none who seeke an artificiall Comelinesse, or transcendent Beautie, by altering, Colouring, Crisping, or adorning of their Heads, or Haire, or by any such like meanes, but doe it out of an inward, and secret pride of Heart,of purpose to be proud, and blesse themselues, (as fond Narcissus did of old, and many idle Christians now, who make their Haire, and Face their Idoles:) in their owne Beauties, Skinnes, and Shadowes: and to Deifie, or Adore themselues, their Haire, their Heads, and Faces, like so many pettie Gods: Or else they doe it to winne respect and praise, from Carnall, Gracelesse, and iniudicious persons, by seeming more Beautifull, and Louely to their sensuall eyes, then in themselues they are. Or out of a Worldly, Carnall, and selfe-seeking Heart, to please themselues, & others: to conforme themselues vnto the guise, and sinfull customes of the World, and Times, which Christians haue renounced in their Baptisme: or to pamper, humour, satisfie, and set out their proud, and sinfull flesh, (...)
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C Y N T H I A 'S
R E V E L S,
O R,
The Fountain of Self-Love.
A COMICAL SATYR.
R E V E L S,
O R,
The Fountain of Self-Love.
A COMICAL SATYR.
TO THE
SPECIAL FOUNTAIN of MANNERS,
The Court.
SPECIAL FOUNTAIN of MANNERS,
The Court.
T
|
Hou art a Bountiful and Brave Spring, and waterest all the Noble Plants of this Island. In thee the whole Kingdom dresseth it self, and is ambitious to use thee as her Glass. Beware then thou render Mens Figures truly, and teach them no less to hate their Deformities, than to love their Forms: For, to Grace, there should come Reverence; and no Man can call that Lovely, which is not also Venerable. It is not Powd'ring, Perfuming, and every day smelling of the Taylor, that converteth to a Beautiful Object: but a Mind shining through any Sute, which needs no False Light, either of Riches or Honours, to help it. Such shalt thou find some here, even in the Reign of C Y N T H I A, (a C R I T E S and an A R E T E.) Now, under thy P H œ B U S, it will be thy Province to make more: Except thou desirest to have thy Source mix with the Spring of Self-love, and so wilt draw upon thee as welcom a Discovery of thy Days, as was then made of her Nights.
Thy Servant, but not Slave,
BEN. JOHNSON.
BEN. JOHNSON.
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Upon Ben: Johnson, the most excellent of Comick Poets.
Mirror of Poets! Mirror of our Age!
Which her whole Face beholding on thy stage,
Pleas'd and displeas'd with her owne faults endures,
A remedy, like Those whom Musicke cures,
Thou not alone those various inclinations,
Which Nature gives to Ages, Sexes, Nations,
Hast traced with thy All-resembling Pen,
But all that custome hath impos'd on Men,
Or ill-got Habits, which distort them so,
That scarce the Brother can the Brother know,
Is represented to the wondring Eyes,
Of all that see or read thy Comedies.
Whoever in those Glasses lookes may finde,
The spots return'd, or graces of his minde;
And by the helpe of so divine an Art,
At leisure view, and dresse his nobler part.
*NARCISSUS conzen'd by that flattering Well,
Which nothing could but of his beauty tell,
Had here discovering the DEFORM'D estate
Of his fond minde, preserv'd himselfe with hate*,
But Vertue too, as well as Vice is clad,
In flesh and blood so well, that Plato had
Beheld what his high Fancie once embrac'd,
Vertue with colour, speech and motion grac'd.
The sundry Postures of Thy copious Muse,
Who would expresse a thousand tongues must use,
Whose Fates no lesse peculiar then thy Art,
For as thou couldst all characters impart,
So none can render thine, who still escapes,
Like Proteus in variety of shapes,
Who was nor this nor that, but all we finde,
And all we can imagine in mankind.
E. Waller
Which her whole Face beholding on thy stage,
Pleas'd and displeas'd with her owne faults endures,
A remedy, like Those whom Musicke cures,
Thou not alone those various inclinations,
Which Nature gives to Ages, Sexes, Nations,
Hast traced with thy All-resembling Pen,
But all that custome hath impos'd on Men,
Or ill-got Habits, which distort them so,
That scarce the Brother can the Brother know,
Is represented to the wondring Eyes,
Of all that see or read thy Comedies.
Whoever in those Glasses lookes may finde,
The spots return'd, or graces of his minde;
And by the helpe of so divine an Art,
At leisure view, and dresse his nobler part.
*NARCISSUS conzen'd by that flattering Well,
Which nothing could but of his beauty tell,
Had here discovering the DEFORM'D estate
Of his fond minde, preserv'd himselfe with hate*,
But Vertue too, as well as Vice is clad,
In flesh and blood so well, that Plato had
Beheld what his high Fancie once embrac'd,
Vertue with colour, speech and motion grac'd.
The sundry Postures of Thy copious Muse,
Who would expresse a thousand tongues must use,
Whose Fates no lesse peculiar then thy Art,
For as thou couldst all characters impart,
So none can render thine, who still escapes,
Like Proteus in variety of shapes,
Who was nor this nor that, but all we finde,
And all we can imagine in mankind.
E. Waller
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in Ovid & the Renaissance Body
By Goran V Stanivukovic
Mario Digangi
(snip)
...N this essay I want to pursue such an analysis by focusing on Ben Jonson’s early comedy Cynthia’s Revels (1600), which offers particular insight into the social and political implications of the Narcissus myth for early modern English culture. Originally entered in the Stationer’s Register as Narcissus, or the fountain of self-love, this quirky satire of courtly manners represents Jonson’s ‘only extended use of Ovidian material.: Jonson’s uncharacteristic recourse to Ovidian subjects in Cynthia’s Revels suggests his recognition of the Narcissus myth’s theatrical viability as a vehicle for satire. While Narcissus never appears as a character in the play, the Narcissus myth provides Jonson with vivid material for exposing the transgressive bodily practices of unauthorized courtiers, especially through the character of Amorphous (“the deformed”), whose affected manners violate orthodox prescriptions for male aristocratic comportment. The play’s ridicule of courtly affectation thus accords with early modern interpretations of the Narcissus myth that primarily associate self-love not with homoerotic desire but with EFFEMINATE MANNERS: a clear sign of social, economic and political transgression. By contrast, the virtuously ‘masculine’ comportment of the true gentleman, according to a particular strain of early modern political ideology, justifies his status and exercise of power. Exposing illegitimate courtiers as effeminate narcissists, Cynthia’s Revels reveals the importance of an ideology of ‘civilized’ masculinity to early-seventeenth-century constructions of *political legitimacy*.
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Author: Breton, Nicholas, 1545?-1626?
Title: The good and the badde, or Descriptions of the vvorthies, and vnworthies of this age Where the best may see their graces, and the worst discerne their basenesse.
Date: 1616
An Effeminate Foole.
AN Effeminate foole is the figure of a Baby; he [ 39] loues nothing but gay, to look in a Glasse, to keepe among Wenches, and, to play with trifles: to feed on sweet meats, and to be daunced in Laps, to be imbraced in Armes, and to be kissed onthe Cheeke: To talke Idlely, to looke demurely, to goe Nicely, and to Laugh continually: To be his Mistresse seruant, and her Mayds master, his Fathers Loue, and his Mothers none-Child; to play on a Fiddle, and sing a Loue-song, to weare sweet Gloues, and looke on fine things: To make purposes, and write Verses, deuise Riddles, and tell lies: To fol|low Plaies, and study Daunces, to heare Newes, and buy trifles: To sigh for Loue, and weepe for kindnesse, and mourne for company, and bee sicke for fashion: To ride in a Coach, and gallop a Hack|ney, to watch all Night, and sleepe out the Morning: to lie on a bed, and take Tobacco, and to send his Page of an idle message to his Mistresse: to go vp|pon Gigges, to haue his Ruffes set in print, to picke his Teeth, and play with a Puppet. In summe, hee is a man-Childe, and a Womans man, a gaze of Folly, and Wisedomes griefe.
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BEN JONSON
DISCOVERIES MADE UPON MEN AND MATTER
De corruptela morum. - There cannot be one colour of the MIND, another of the wit. If the MIND be staid, grave, and composed, the wit is so; that vitiated, the other is blown and deflowered. Do we not see, if the MIND languish, the members are dull? Look upon an effeminate person, his very gait confesseth him. If a man be fiery, his motion is so; if angry, it is troubled and violent. So that we may conclude wheresoever MANNERS and FASHIONS are corrupted, language is. It imitates the public riot. The excess of feasts and apparel are the notes of a sick state, and the wantonness of language of a SICK MIND.
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Horace - Aegri Somnia - Sick Men's Dreams
upon
The Art of Poetry.
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Love's Labour's Lost
Biron
Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief;
And by these badges understand the king.
For your fair sakes have we neglected time,
Play'd foul play with our oaths: your beauty, ladies,
Hath much DEFORM'D us, fashioning our humours
Even to the opposed end of our intents:
And what in us hath seem'd ridiculous,—
As love is full of unbefitting strains,
All wanton as a child, skipping and vain,
Form'd by the eye and therefore, like the eye,
Full of strange shapes, of habits and of forms,
Varying in subjects as the eye doth roll
To every varied object in his glance:
Which parti-coated presence of loose love
Put on by us, if, in your heavenly eyes,
Have misbecomed our oaths and gravities,
Those heavenly eyes, that look into these faults,
Suggested us to make. Therefore, ladies,
Our love being yours, the error that love makes
Is likewise yours: we to ourselves prove false,
By being once false for ever to be true
To those that make us both,—fair ladies, you:
And even that falsehood, in itself a sin,
Thus purifies itself and turns to grace.
And by these badges understand the king.
For your fair sakes have we neglected time,
Play'd foul play with our oaths: your beauty, ladies,
Hath much DEFORM'D us, fashioning our humours
Even to the opposed end of our intents:
And what in us hath seem'd ridiculous,—
As love is full of unbefitting strains,
All wanton as a child, skipping and vain,
Form'd by the eye and therefore, like the eye,
Full of strange shapes, of habits and of forms,
Varying in subjects as the eye doth roll
To every varied object in his glance:
Which parti-coated presence of loose love
Put on by us, if, in your heavenly eyes,
Have misbecomed our oaths and gravities,
Those heavenly eyes, that look into these faults,
Suggested us to make. Therefore, ladies,
Our love being yours, the error that love makes
Is likewise yours: we to ourselves prove false,
By being once false for ever to be true
To those that make us both,—fair ladies, you:
And even that falsehood, in itself a sin,
Thus purifies itself and turns to grace.
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Author: Breton, Nicholas, 1545?-1626?
Title: The good and the badde, or Descriptions of the vvorthies, and vnworthies of this age Where the best may see their graces, and the worst discerne their basenesse.
Date: 1616
