Author: Salvian, of Marseilles, ca. 400-ca. 480.
Title: A second and third blast of retrait from plaies
and theaters the one whereof was sounded by a reuerend byshop dead long
since; the other by a worshipful and zealous gentleman now aliue: one
showing the filthines of plaies in times past; the other the
abhomination of theaters in the time present: both expresly prouing that
that common-weale is nigh vnto the cursse of God, wherein either
plaiers be made of, or theaters maintained. Set forth by Anglo-phile
Eutheo.
Date: 1580
A third blast of retrait
from plaies
and Theaters,
showing
the abhomination
of them
in the time present.
(snip)
...The Magistrate is
therefore to prouide
in time a remedie
to re|dresse
the mischiefes
that are like to ensue by this common plague.
They which gouerne
the state are to trie,
and decerne
each cause, that they appeare
not to deale
vnadui|sedlie.
They are to be diligent to finde
out the truth of things;
and when a matter is
knowen
of them
to be euil,
it is
their part to re|forme
it; otherwise by negligence they
shal
run into the displeasure of God.
The Magistrates
hart must be as the hart of a Lion.
He is
not to shrinke
in the Lordes
cause, or to stand in feare
to reforme
abuses
of the Common-weale,
because of some particular men
of auctoritie.
He must haue
both stoutnes,
and constancie
to represse
euil.
And then doubtles
the Lord wil
blesse
them
in their enterprises.
Let not therefore the intercession of the
mightie
mooue
the Magistrate to staic his sworde
from doing
iustice
on the wicked.
The parcialitie
which is
vsed
in these daies
for fauor,
makes
these yonkers
to become bolder
by rea|son of those
liberties
which are granted
them.
They vphold
them|selues
by the countenance of their maisters:
as if their auctoritie
were
a warrant sufficient for them
to do euil,
and to beare
them
out against good orders.
Let not the abuse of the Sab|both
proceede
further and further, and in the
meane
while the iudge
be a looker on, daring
not for feare
to reforme
their disorder til
al be
out of order.
Alas, that priuate
af|fection
should so raigne
in the NOBILITIE,
that to pleasure, as they thinke,
their seruants,
and to vp|hold
them
in their vanitie,
they should restraine
the Magistrates
from executing
their office! what credite
can returne
to the NOBLE, to countenance his
men
to exercise that qualitie
which is
not suffer|able
in anie
Common-weale? wher|as
it was
an
ancient custome,
that no man of Honor
should reteine
anie
man, but such as was
excel|lent in
some one good qualitie
or other, whereby if occasion so
ser|ued,
he might get his owneliuing? Then
was
euerie
noble mans house a Common-weale
in it selfe:
but since the reteining
of these Cater|pillers,
the credite
of NOBLE MEN
hath
decaied, and; they are thought to be couetous
by permitting
their
seruants,
which cannot liue
of themselues,
and whome
for neerenes
they wil
not maintaine,
to liue
at the deuotion
or almes
of other men,
passing
from countrie
to countrie,
from one Gentlemans
house to another, offering
their seruice,
which is
a kind of begge|rie.
Who in deede,
to speake
more trulie,
are become beggers
for their seruants.
For commonlie the good|wil
men
beare
to their Lordes,
makes
them
drawe
the stringes
of their purses
to extend their libera|litie
to them;
where otherwise they would not.
By such infamous persons
much time is
lost;
and manie
daies
of ho|nest
trauel
are turned
into vaine
exercises.
Wherein is
learned
no|thing but
abuse; poore
men
liuing
on their handie
labor,
are by them
trained
vnto
vnthriftines;
scholers
by their gaudes are allured
from their studies.
Thus the people are robbed;
youth corrupted;
the Sabboth
pro|phaned;
and of al these euils,
who are counted
the vpholders
but the NOBLE, who of right should
esta|blish the
lawe
of the
Roman Tra|iane,
who commanded
that no plaier,
iester,
nor iugler
should be admitted
in his Common-weale
to pick the purses
of his subiects,
but that they should either learne
some occupation to mainteine
themselues
in their owne
houses,
or otherwise be banished
out of
Rome. But now such like
men,
vn|der
the title of their maisters
or as reteiners,
are priuiledged
to roaue abroad, and permitted
to publish their mametree in euerie
Temple of God,
and that throughout En|gland,
vnto
the horrible contempt
of praier.
So that now the San|ctuarie
is
become a plaiers
stage, and a den of theeues
and adulte|rers.
(snip)
The writers
of our time are so led
awaie
with vaineglorie,
that their onlie
endeuor
is
to pleasure the humor of men; and; rather with vanitie
to content their mindes,
than to profit them
with good en|sample.
The NOTABLEST LIER is
be|come the best
Poet; he that can make the most NOTORIOUS LIE, and disguise
falshood
in such sort, that he maie
passe
vnperceaued,
is
held
the best writer. For the strangest
Comedie
brings
greatest
delecta|tion,
and pleasure. Our nature is
led
awaie
with vanitie,
which the auctor perceauing
frames
himself with nouelties
and strange trifles
to content the vaine
humors
of his rude auditors,
faining
coun|tries
neuer
heard
of; monsters
and prodigious creatures
that are not: as of the Arimaspie, of the
Grips,
the Pigmeies, the Cranes,
& other such notorious lies.
And if they write of histories
that are knowen,
as the life of
Pompeie;
the martial affaires
of
Caesar, and other wor|thies,
they giue
them
a newe
face, and turne
them
out like counter|feites
to showe
themselues
on the stage. It was
therefore aptlie
ap|plied
of him,
who likened
the wri|ters
of our daies
vnto
TAILORS,
who hauing
their sheers
in their hand, can alter the facion
of anie
thing into another forme, and; with a new face make that
seeme
new which is
old. The shreds
of whose curio|sitie
our Historians
haue
now sto|len
from them,
being
by practise
become as cunning as the TAILOR to set a new
vpper
bodie
to an
old coate;
and a patch of their owne
to a peece
of anothers.
So that yee
shal
find in al their writings
three differences,
manie
things
good, manie
things
indiffe|rent,
and manie
strake
naught: but by reason that thing which
is
good is
applied
vnto
il purpose, and; mixed
with euil,
the good hath
changed
propertie,
and is
become of the nature of the bad.
Other|wise
goodnes
& badnes,
being
two co~traries, cannot be made
to agree together. And therefore there can be no difference of
choice, but al must be euil:
because it is
general|lie
il applied,
and by altering
pro|pertie,
hath
changed
his nature. Yet neuertheles
that it keepeth
his virtue, of being
good, and reduced
to his proper substance.
*********************************
Carlyle,
Sartor Resartus - The Tailor Re-tailored
Carlyle -- All visible things are emblems; what thou seest is not there on its own
account; strictly taken, is not there at all: Matter exists only
spiritually, and to represent some Idea, and body it forth.
Hence Clothes, as despicable as we think them, are so unspeakably
significant. Clothes, from the King's mantle downwards, are emblematic,
not of want only, but of a manifold cunning Victory over Want. On the
other hand, all Emblematic things are properly Clothes, thought-woven or
hand-woven: must not the Imagination weave Garments, visible Bodies,
wherein the else invisible creations and inspirations of our Reason are,
like Spirits, revealed, and first become all-powerful; the rather if,
as we often see, the Hand too aid her, and (by wool Clothes or
otherwise) reveal such even to the outward eye? "Men are properly said
to be clothed with Authority, clothed with Beauty, with Curses, and the
like. Nay, if you consider it, what is Man himself, and his whole
terrestrial Life, but an Emblem; a Clothing or visible Garment for that
divine ME of his, cast hither, like a light-particle, down from Heaven?
Thus is he said also to be clothed with a Body.
Language is called the Garment of Thought: however, it should rather be,
Language is the Flesh-Garment, the Body, of Thought. I said that
Imagination wove this Flesh-Garment; and does not she? Metaphors are her
stuff: examine Language; what, if you except some few primitive
elements (of natural sound), what is it all but Metaphors, recognized as
such, or no longer recognized; still fluid and florid, or now
solid-grown and colorless? If those same primitive elements are the
osseous fixtures in the Flesh-Garment, Language, — then are Metaphors
its muscles and tissues and living integuments. An unmetaphorical style
you shall in vain seek for: is not your very Attention a Stretching-to?
The difference lies here: some styles are lean, adust, wiry, the muscle
itself seems osseous; some are even quite pallid, hunger-bitten and
dead-looking; while others again glow in the flush of health and
vigorous self-growth, sometimes (as in my own case) not without an
apoplectic tendency. Moreover, there are sham Metaphors, which
overhanging that same Thought's-Body (best naked), and deceptively
bedizening, or bolstering it out, may be called its false stuffings,
superfluous show-cloaks (Putz-Mante), and tawdry woollen rags:
whereof he that runs and reads may gather whole hampers,—and burn them.
["Prospective, Book I, Chapter 11, 56-57]
**********************************
Jonson, Timber
Mali choragi fuere.
257 It is an Art to have so much judgement, as to apparell a Lye well, to
258 give it a good dressing; that though the nakednesse would shew deform'd
259 and odious, the suiting of it might draw their Readers. Some love any
260 Strumpet (be shee never so shop-like, or meritorious) in good clothes.
261 But these nature could not have form'd them better, to destroy their
262 owne testimony; and over-throw their calumny.
***********************************
The Disease of the Age:
Jonson, Timber
am litteræ sordent. Pastus hodier. Ingen.
229 The time was, when men would learne, and study good things; not
230 envie those that had them. Then men were had in price for learning:
231 now, letters onely make men vile. Hee is upbraydingly call'd a Poet,
232 as if it were a most contemptible Nick-name. But the Professors (indeed)
233 have made the learning cheape. Rayling, and tinckling Rimers, whose
234 Writings the vulgar more greedily reade; as being taken with the scur-
235 rility, and petulancie of such wits. Hee shall not have a Reader now,
236 unlesse hee jeere and lye. It is the food of mens natures: the diet of the
237 times! Gallants cannot sleepe else. The Writer must lye, and the gen-
238 tle Reader rests happy, to heare the worthiest workes mis-interpreted;
239 the clearest actions obscured: the innocent'st life traduc'd; And in such
240 a licence of lying, a field so fruit-full of slanders, how can there be matter
241 wanting to his laughter? Hence comes the Epidemicall Infection. For
{{Page 92}}
242 how can they escape the contagion of the Writings, whom the virulen-
243 cy of the calumnies hath not stav'd off from reading.
{{Topic 47}}
{{Subject: the disease of the age}}
Sed seculi morbus.
244 Nothing doth more invite a greedy Reader, then an unlook'd for subject.
245 And what more unlook'd for, then to see a person of an unblam'd life,
246 made ridiculous, or odious, by the Artifice of lying? but it is the disease
247 of the Age: and no wonder if the world, growing old, begin to be in-
248 firme: Old age it selfe is a disease. It is long since the sick world be-
249 gan to doate, and talke idly: Would she had but doated still; but her
250 dotage is now broke forth into a madnesse, and become a meere phrency.
****************************************
Francis Beaumont.
To my dear Friend,
M. BEN. JOHNSON,
Upon his FOX.
IF it might stand with Justice, to allow
the swift conversion of all follies; now,
Such is my Mercy, that I could admit
All sorts should equally approve the wit
Of this thy even work: whose growing fame
Shall raise thee high, and thou it, with thy name.
And did not manners, and my love command
Me to forbear to make those understand,
Whom thou, perhaps, hast in thy wiser doom
Long since, firmly resolv'd, shall never come
To know more than they do; I would have shown
To all the World, the Art, which thou alone
Hast taught our Tongue, the rules of time, of place,
And other rites, deliver'd, with the grace
Of Comick stile, which only, is far more,
than any English Stage hath known before.
But, since our subtile Gallants think it good
To like of nought, that may be understood,
Lest they should be disprov'd; or have, at best,
Stomachs so raw, that nothing can digest
But what's obscene, or barks: Let us desire
They may continue, simply, to admire
FINE CLOTHS, and STRANGE WORDS; and may live, in Age,
To see themselves ill brought upon the Stage,
And like it. Whilst thy bold, and knowing Muse
Contemns all praise, but such as thou wouldst chuse.
************************************
Third Blast con't.,
(snip)
I do not denie,
but that writers
inal their workes
maie
be plea|sant, so
far forth as they be profi|table,
and swarue
not from hone|stie,
and therein deserue
commen|dation.
But what praise maie
they deserue
who set forth those works
which are vaine
and naught, and conteine
in them
no matter of good example, who write of those
things,
which may corrupt the life of men,
thereby making
them
worse by ten to one, than they were
before they heard
them?
What doe they leaue
behind them?
monumentes
of wanton wicked life, and doting
things
for men
of these latter daies.
O Lord, how do those· wanton
wordes
of theirs intice
vnto
wicked life, and with a poisoned
baite
allure men
to sinne!
Their wanton speeches
do pearse
our secret thoughts,
and
moue
vs
thereby vnto
mischiefe,
and prouoke
our members
to vn|cleannes.
But some perhaps wil
saie,
The NOBLE MAN delighteth
in such things,
whose humors
must be contented,
partlie
for feare, and; part|lie
for commoditie:
and if they write matters
pleasant, they are best preferred
in court among the cunning heads.
Cunning heads,
whose wits
are neuer
wel
exercised,
but in the pra|ctise
of such exploits!
But are those things
to be suffered
and praised,
because they please the rich, and content the NOBLE MAN, that
al|waies
liues
in ease? not so. A two legged
Asse
maie
be clothed
in gold, a man of honor
maie
be cor|rupt of
iudgement,
though by his auctoritie
he maie
seeme
wiser
than
Socrates, whome
Phoebus for
wisedome
iudged
to beare
the bel. Those goodlie
persons,
if they be voide
of virtue, maie
wel
be coun|ted
like
faire
clothes
ouer
a foule
wal;
big bladers
ful
of wind, yet of no waight.
Where wealth is
abun|dant,
pleasure is
present: pleasure bringeth folie
into estimation; and thereby the light of reason
is
vt|terlie
extinguished.
Who writeth
for reward,
nei|ther
regardeth
virtue, nor truth; but runs
vnto
falshood,
because he flattereth
for commoditie.
Neede
and flatterie
are two brothers,
and the eldest
seruitors
in the Court: they were
both scholers
vnto
Ari|stippus,
and learned
both of them
to applie
themselues
to the time, amd; their matter to the disposition? No
maruel
then though none can please
Dionysius but
Aristippus, nor anie
the courtier but the flatterer.
The rich that followeth
the plea|sures
of this life,
maie
not abide to be reformed,
or to be drawen
away from his desires,
be they neuer
so wicked and vnseemelie.
Talke
to him
of amendement,
he wil
saie,
he is
not dieng.
He that repre|hends
him,
is
a Preacher; he that sooths
him,
is
a Saint. Who med|dels
with nettles
cannot passe
vn|stinged:
and he that deales
with men
of auctoritie
otherwise than maie
like them,
cannot scape from his danger without hurt.
I
maie
not staie
longer
on this point.
************************************
Transcendental Buffoonery: Jacob Dousterswivel and the Romantic Irony of Blackwood's
|
Author:
|
Scalia, Christopher
|
(snip)
2. Dousterswivel's Theory
of Imposture
A testament to
the slipperiness
of the Dousterswivel hoax is that
the most comprehensive bibliography
of Blackwood's, Alan Strout's A Bibliography
of Articles in "Blackwood's Magazine, " conjectures that its author is Lockhart, based on
the fact that he "would logically review German works" - a valid statement that unfortunately assumes
the piece is a legitimate review
of an actual German work.1'' Strout was so convinced
of the review's authenticity that he cites it in a 1954 study
of
German literature in British periodicals. Moreover, Brian Murray's two
supplements to Strout's Bibliography correct three entries from
the 1822 volume
of Blackwood's, but not
the entry for
the Dousterswivel review.2" Since then,
the piece has escaped scholarly attention despite
the recent emergence
of critical interest in Blackwood's.21
The Dousterswivel hoax merits attention because, while incorporating
the ironic features
of preceding Blackwood's self-defenses, it functions as a mature apologia for
the intellectual merits
of the journal's slippery
and unorthodox style.
The "review" has two major purposes, purposes that are not necessarily contradictory but are certainly disparate. On
the one hand, Dousterswivel's writing - particularly his inept use
of metaphorical language - satirizes abstract German philosophy, a fairly common practice in
the early decades
of the nineteenth century; David Simpson notes that during
the 1820S, criticisms
of German culture often "took
the form
of complaints against confusion
and difficulty. "" Yet Blackwood's more typically treated German literature seriously; Bayard Quincy Morgan
and A. R. Hohlfeld call it "
the most helpful
of all British magazines in
the introduction
of German literature."23 Perhaps this frequently serious treatment
of German literature contributed to
the humor
and deception
of the Dousterswivel hoax: even familiar readers would not have been expecting
the magazine to satirize German thought. (But then, as its critics were happy to point out, consistency was never high on
the list
of editorial priorities at Blackwood's.)
The mock review, comprising observations from
the reviewer
and excerpts from Dousterswivel's supposed work, begins with
the reviewer's acknowledgement that
the book has drawn controversy: "We are well enough aware
of what has been said
of the harshness
of style in this publication - but really, after all that has been complained
of, we do not see reason why any person should view
the matter with exasperated feelings." This reference to an existing conversation about Dousterswivel's work helps create
the illusion
of the book's reality; but
the defense
of Dousterswivel's "harshness
of style" could just as easily apply to Blackwood's itself a double-meaning underscored by
the vague reference to "this publication," thus intimating a correspondence between
the fake philosophical text
and Maga that becomes more evident as
the review develops.
The reviewer defends Dousterswivel's thinking by praising his sharp application
of the abstract to
the
concrete. Acknowledging that Dousterswivel's later chapters "may give
offence," he argues that they are nonetheless valuable because they
apply "metaphysical ideas to particular instances";
the reviewer also praises
Dousterswivel "for
the closeness
and firmness
of apprehension with which he retains an abstract idea, which he has once understood,
and goes on pursuing it through different instances."24 Yet as becomes clear through
the excerpts, Dousterswivel's application
of the abstract to
the particular merely amounts to a litany
of disconnected metaphors.
Dousterswivel's clumsiness with metaphors is clear in
the large excerpt from
the book's first chapter, titled "On
the Original Idea
of Imposture."
Dousterswivel uses figurative language to illustrate
the useful claim that "
The original idea
of imposture ... is, that
the interior object is not
the same with
the exterior, but is covered
and concealed by it,
and from hence comes deception to
the spectator" (68 1). Few
of his metaphors are inherently absurd;
the humor relies on their sheer volume
and frequent inconsistency. For example,
Dousterswivel calls imposture's act
of concealment "
the origin
of hypocrisy, which wears a mask, separate from that which is within," then abruptly shifts to a more pungent image:
The outer parts
of an onion, concealing
the inner part, present a good image
of hypocrisy.
And the onion, when cut across, to shew what is within, exemplifies
the detection
of imposture. Such are
the forms
of imposture, when external appearances are used as
the means
of deceiving
the spectator.25 (681)
The metaphors
of the mask
and the onion elucidate
the function
of imposture because in both cases
the exterior hides a distinctly different interior. Yet
Dousterswivel soon obscures these figures with a new comparison: "
the person who is imposed on is like
the interior object which is overreached
and taken in; while
the imposter is like
the serpent called
the Constricter, which gets round about
the animal it wants to kill" (68 1). Whereas at
the outset
of his explanation,
the "interior object" was
the true character
of the imposture or hypocrite,
Dousterswivel now has it represent
the person being imposed upon
and deceived.
The same metaphorical vehicle thus stands for sharply opposed tenors, both
the impostor
and the victim
of imposture.
Readers tempted to admire this maneuver as a nuanced use
of metaphor are quickly dissuaded when, over
the next half page,
Dousterswivel also likens imposture to (in order
of appearance): "
the act
of wearing a mask" (again), "ivy,
and other climbing plants," "
The Pharisees," "death," "man . . . completely overgrown with ivy" (a second time), "
the onion" (again), "
the Pharisees [again] or Round-heads," "
The whirlpool
of the ocean," "
The hog" (which only "appears a large animal; but when cut across, it presents a form like that
of the onion" - again), "death" (again), "
The pileus, or hat
of Mercury,"
and "
the skull" (681). Although none
of these examples is an inaccurate or unhelpful illustration
of the definition
of imposture (perhaps with
the exception
of the hog), one gets
the sense that
Dousterswivel could make anything represent imposture. (It is surprising, then, that he omits
the clear connection between imposture
and metaphor itself,
a device that imposes one object upon another.) When
Dousterswivel proclaims that "
the conceptions I have here brought together are for
the purpose
of making
the abstract form
of imposture clearly intelligible,"
and when
the reviewer praises Dousterswivel's "laborious simplicity
and faithfulness
of expression,"
the
joke should be clear: Dousterswivel's conceptions confuse rather than
clarify; his metaphors are laborious, not simple; his expressions are
promiscuous, not faithful (681-82).
Yet
the phony philosopher also articulates a coherent defense
of Blackwood's' style, arguing that its jokes are not dangerous impostures but valuable exercises that train readers to recognize
and protect themselves against hypocrisy
and fraud;
the magazine's mystifications, hoaxes,
and quizzes develop
the ability
of its audience to think critically
and act appropriately. In
the excerpts from a chapter titled "On
the Relation
of Jesting to Imposture,"
Dousterswivel claims that what he alternately calls "jesting"
and "ridicule" is an important
and practical act because it "has most frequently been used in detecting imposture." What makes this detection possible is
the similarity between ridicule
and imposture. Just as imposture involves a false exterior covering a distinct interior,
the "ridiculous" is often "the discovery of dissimilar things continued under one form." Similarly, a pun "contains two dissimilar meanings,
and the word by which they are expressed implies both." Yet an imposture
and a pun imply different levels
of awareness:
the former requires
the ignorance
of the one imposed upon, while a pun is funny only if
the double meaning is understood,
and is thus "not an imposition on
the hearer. . . . [J]esting is
the same thing as imposture perceived
and understood; or, in other words,
it is the knowledge of different things contained under one outward form." To underscore
the similarity between jesting
and imposture,
Dousterswivel deploys
the by-now familiar metaphor
of the onion, which "becomes, when cut across,
the symbol
of jesting,
and of imposture detected" (682).
Theoretically, then,
the liberties taken by Blackwood's are not deceptions but exercises that require
and develop valuable intellectual skills.
The ability to recognize distinct forms in a joke trains people to recognize imposture, "
and, therefore, persons who have a taste for
the ludicrous are
the best for dealing with impostors." On
the other hand, if "
the intellectual character
of jesting is
the perpetual detection
of difference," its opposite is a dull consistency, or "
the contemplation
of species passing unchanged from one object to another, [which) tranquilizes
the mind,
and sooths its anxiety, by
the assurance
of a permanent sameness" (682).
Dousterswivel warns that this "perpetual renewal
of the same thing causes a drowsiness, which is easily over-reached" (682). By this logic,
the astute reader
of Blackwood's,
the reader who gets
the magazine's jokes, develops a sharp mind capable
of detecting imposture
and hypocrisy in
the real world, while a mind sedated by sameness
and continuity is vulnerable to imposture. If these excerpts do not adequately establish
the connection between
the theories
of Dousterswivel and the methods
of Blackwood's,
the reviewer draws it to our attention when he explains why he was "delighted in perusing"
the chapter's defense
of ridicule
and jesting: "We remembered how much we have victoriously effected in
the manner here described; as many a one as now vainly attempting to patch up again
the pieces
of his broken mask can testify" (682). As this praise suggests, Dousterswivel's supposed Theory
of Imposture aptly expresses
the purpose behind
the magazine's jesting, which is to shatter hypocrisy
and unmask dangerous imposture. This argument for
the value
of jesting
and ridicule echoes Giles Middlestitch's concession, quoted above, that rhetorical
irony can flush out "dullness
and pedantry . . . folly or presumption," but where Middlestitch functioned to make John Scott's arguments sound foolish,
Dousterswivel represents a cosmopolitan source
of credibility for
the magazine's methods.2''
******************************************
...In
the excerpts from a chapter titled "On
the Relation
of Jesting to Imposture,"
Dousterswivel claims that what he alternately calls "jesting"
and "ridicule" is an important
and practical act because it "has most frequently been used in detecting imposture." What makes this detection possible is
the similarity between ridicule
and imposture. Just as imposture involves a false exterior covering a distinct interior,
the "ridiculous" is often "the discovery of dissimilar things continued under one form."-- Christopher Scalia
Droeshout - figuring Shakespearean abuses/Cutting a ridiculous figure/discovery of dissimilar things continued under one form/figure.
Punishing Irregular Wit:
...So extream
was
the folly of those Irre|gular
Heads,
who deserved
not only to be pointed
at for their insufferable Vanity, but likewise to be
severely
punish't for daring
to thrust upon the World at this rate these flat
un|truths...
I conceive then the Art of Translating
to be like unto that of Portraying.
He is
a very mean Painter, who can but represent the
meer
Lineaments,
and external Shape of a Mans
Face. The chief Secret of this Art
consists
in draw|ing
to life the very Soul it self; I mean, in
representing
the very Air, Temper, Humour and Complection.
For a Man
is
not drawn
to Life, un|less
the most habitual indisposition of his Soul shine in the
Piece. (A Discourse of Wit, David Abercromby, 1678)
********************************************
Jonson
, Timber
Veritas proprium hominis.
436
Truth is mans proper good; and the onely
immortall thing, was given
437 to our mortality to use. No good
Christian, or
Ethnick, if he be honest,
438 can misse it: no
States-man, or
Patriot should. For without truth all the
439 Actions of man-kind, are craft, malice, or what you will, rather
440 then Wisdome.
Homer sayes, hee hates him worse then hell-mouth,
441 that utters one thing with his tongue, and keepes another in his brest.
442 Which high expression was grounded on divine
Reason. For a lying mouth
443 is a stinking pit, and murthers with the contagion it venteth. Beside, no-
444 thing is lasting that is fain'd; it will have ANOTHER FACE then it had, ere
445 long: As
Euripides saith,
No lye ever growes old.
************************************************
Bolton, Hypercritica
Among the greatest wants in our ancient Authours, are the wants of Art
and Style, which as they add to the lustre of the Works and Delights of
the Reader; yet add they nothing to the Truth; which they so esteemed,
as they seem to have regarded nothing else. For without Truth, Art and
Style come into the Nature of Crimes by IMPOSTURE. It is an act of high
Wisdom, and not of Eloquence only, to write the History of so great, and
noble a People as the Englsih. for the Causes of things are not only
wonderfully wrapt one within the other, but place oftentimes far above
the ordinary Reach's of human Wit; and he who relates Events, without
their Premisses and Circumstances, deserves not the name of an
Historian; as being like to him who numbers the Bones of a Man
anatomized, or presenteth unto us the Bare Skeleton, without declaring
the Nature of the Fabrick or teaching the Use of Parts. (Bolton,
Hypercritica)
*******************************************
Antoine Berman
A.W. Schlegel and Tieck, for example, translate Shakespeare faithfully
but, as Rudolf Pannwitz has said, without going far enough 'to render
the majestic barbarism of Shaekspearean verse' [Pannwitz 1947:192]. This
barbarism in Shakespeare that refers to things obscene, scatalogical,
bloody, overblown...in short, to a series of verbal abuses...are aspects
that the classical romantic German translation attempts to attenuate.
It backs down, so to speak, before the Gorgon's face that is hidden in
every great work. (Berman 1985: 93)
*******************************************
TOTEM AND TABOO IN THE TRIBE OF BEN: THE DUPLICITY OF GENDER AND JONSON'S SATIRES
BY VICTORIA SILVER
Thus
the epigram "On Something, that Walks Somewhere" (Epigrams XI)equates
"brave" or ostentatious dress with the activity of "SEEMING" good,
substantial and duly paternal -- namely, "a statesman" (1-2).This
configuration of effects or signs typifies the presumptive courtier and
fashionable man-about-town in such satires as "On the New Motion," "On
Don Surly," "To Mime," or supremely "On the Town's Honest Man," one of
Jonson's attacks on Inigo Jones, the author of "shows, shows, mighty
shows" ("An Expostulation with Inigo Jones" [39]). And because they
commit this fraud to acquire illegitimate status and power (an argument
usually taken up in the verse epistles like "To a Friend, to Persuade
Him to the Wars" [Underwoods XV]), the effeminate invariably break the
grand taboo of insurgency against the status quo, in the process
becoming prodigious and deformed. Accordingly, to the moral imposture of
statesmanship manufactured from clothes, title and grave looks,
Jonson's little epigram adds the concomitance of sexual disfigurement
and monstrosity, simultaneously neutering and denaturing the courtier
with his choice of pronoun and the command to "walk dead still" (8). If
one may return again to Epicoene, the synergy of moral imposture and
artificial display is the argument made by Clerimont's song ("Still to
be neat, still to be dressed"): the presumption that especially where
"art's hid causes are not found, / All is not sweet, all is not sound"
(4-6). Every vice in Jonson's satires involves a similar practice of
deceit, especially of the EYE, and is exposed to the shrewd observer by
the sort of excessive display put on by the lady here: "Still to be
neat, still to be dressed, / As you were going to a feast; / Still to be
powdered, still perfumed" (1-3). The iteration of "still" conveys a
further quality of the semblances of vice, which is that they involve an
immense activity merely to "appear" like virtue. The vicious are thus
singularly mobile in Jonson, an image of their seditious and epidemic
pictorial energy. And the shrubs, the courtlings, the Captains Hungry
and Surly, the Guts and Groins, my Lords Ignorant, the plagiarists and
censors, the spies, the Fine Lady Would-be's, Court Pucell's, all in one
way or another follow this same pattern. They each undertake to create
an illusion that Jonson detects in the very excess or ostentation, the
virulent energy of its display, whether this illusion is created by
speech, by dress, by title, by profession, or in the case of Sir
Voluptuous Beast, by panoramic sex.
**********************************************
Judging Spectators
Peter Carlson
“It was well noted by the late L. St. Alban, that the study of words is
the first distempter of Learning’, Vaine matter the second: And a third
distemper is deceit, or the likenesse of truth: Imposture held up by
credulity. All these are the Cobwebs of learning, and to let them grow
in us, is either sluttish or foolish.” (Jonson, Discoveries)
In Bacon’s catalogue, Jonson sees and confirms his own distrust of
linguistic masks. “Imposture held up by credulity” – which could serve
as an abstract for the action of any of his plays – describes the
process of mistaking a fiction for a reality” it is seeing what we wish
to see rather than analyzing and judging. “imposture,” for Jonson, is
the vice of theatricality, but if we can temporarily neutralize the
negative thrust he has introduced, ‘Bacon’s phrase might describe the
terms under which we enter any theater, that is, a willing suspension of
disbelief. Jonson’s suspicion, then, extends to the most basic premises
of his medium, and the inner antagonism generated by this doubt can
dind release only in the continual and self-contradictory dialectic of
self-justification and self- revelation; “hee is call’s a Poet…that
fayneth and formeth a fable, and writes things like the truth. For, the
Fable and Fiction is (as it were) the forme and Soule of any Poeticall
worke, or Poeme”; but “
nothing is lasting that is fain’d, it will have another face then it had ere long: As Euripides saith, No lye ever growes old.”
*******************************************
Jonson's Epigrams
To the great Example of Honour, and Vertue , the most
Noble William, Earl of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain, &c.
M Y L O R D,
Hile you cannot change your Merit, I dare not change your Title: It was that
made it, and not I. Under which Name, I here offer to your Lordship the ripest of my Studies, my Epigrams;
which, though they carry danger in the sound, do not therefore seek
your shelter: For, when I made them, I had nothing in my Conscience, to
expressing of which I did need a Cypher. But, if I be fallen into those
Times, wherein, for the likeness of Vice, and Facts, every one thinks
anothers ill Deeds objected to him; and that in their ignorant and
guilty Mouths, the common Voice is (for their security) Beware the Poet,
confessing, therein, so much love to their Diseases, as they would
rather make a Party for them, than be either rid, or told of them: I
must expect, at your Lordship's hand, the protection of Truth, and
Liberty, while you are constant to your own Goodness. In thanks whereof,
I return you the Honour of leading forth so many good, and great Names
(as my Verses mention on the better part) to their remembrance with
Posterity. Amongst whom, if I have praised, unfortunately, any one, that
doth not deserve; or, if all answer not, in all Numbers, the Pictures I
have made of them: I hope it will be forgiven me, that they are no ill
Pieces, though they be not like the Persons. But I foresee a nearer Fate
to my Book than this, That the Vices therein will be own'd before the
Vertues, (though, there, I have avoided all Particulars, as I have done
Names) and some will be so ready to discredit me, as they will have the
impudence to bely themselves. For, if I meant them not, it is so. Nor,
can I hope otherwise.
For, why should they remit any thing of their
Riot,
their Pride, their Self-love, and other inherent Graces, to consider
Truth or Vertue; but, with the Trade of the World, lend their long Ears
against Men they love not: And hold their dear Mountebank, or Jester, in
far better Condition than all the Study, or Studiers of Humanity? For
such, I would rather know them by their Visards, still, than they should
publish their Faces, at their peril, in my Theatre, where C A T O, if he liv'd, might enter without scandal.
By your Lordship's most faithfull Honourer,
B E N. J O H N S O N.
Ben Jonson's Epigrams
******************************************
Cynthia's Revels, Jonson
Amorphous:
...For, let your Soul be as-
sur'd of this (in any rank, or profession whatever) the
more general, or major part of Opinion goes with the
Face, and (simply) respects nothing else. Therefore,
if that can be made exactly, curiously, exquisitely,
thorowly, it is enough:
*******************************************
Oxford - Master of Courtship/Master of Manners/Grand Cavalier
Cynthia's Revels, Jonson
MERCURY. Go, Dors, and you, my madam COURTING-STOCKS,
Follow your scorned and derided mates;
Tell to your guilty breasts, what mere GILT BLOCKS
You are, and how unworthy human states.
CRI. Now, sacred God of Wit, if you can make
Those, whom our sports tax in these APISH GRACES,
Kiss, like the fighting snakes, your peaceful rod,
These times shall canonise you for a god.
MER. Why, Crites, think you any noble spirit,
Or any, worth the title of a man,
Will be incensed to see the enchanted veils
Of self-conceit, and SERVILE FLATTERY,
Wrapt in so many folds by time and custom,
Drawn from his wronged and bewitched eyes?
Who sees not now their SHAPE AND NAKEDNESS,
Is blinder than the son of earth, the mole;
Crown'd with no more humanity, nor soul.
CRITES. Though they may see it, yet the huge estate
FANCY, and FORM, and SENSUAL PRIDE have gotten,
Will make them blush for anger, not for shame,
And TURN SHEWN NAKEDNESS TO IMPUDENCE.
Humour is now the test we try things in:
All power is just: nought that delights is sin.
And yet the zeal of every knowing man
Opprest with hills of tyranny, cast on virtue
By the light fancies of fools, thus transported.
Cannot but vent the Aetna of his fires,
T'inflame best bosoms with much worthier love
Than of these outward and effeminate shades;
That these vain joys, in which their wills consume
Such powers of wit and soul as are of force
To raise their beings to eternity,
May be converted on works fitting men:
And, for the practice of a forced look,
An antic gesture, or a fustian phrase,
Study the native frame of a true heart,
An inward comeliness of bounty, knowledge,
And spirit that may conform them actually
To God's high figures, which they have in power;
Which to neglect for a self-loving neatness,
Is sacrilege of an unpardon'd greatness.
MER. Then let the truth of these things strengthen thee,
In thy exempt and only man-like course;
Like it the more, the less it is respected:
Though men fail, virtue is by gods protected. --
See, here comes Arete; I'll withdraw myself. [EXIT.]
***************************************
Jonson, Timber
Scitum Hispanicum
207 It is a quick saying with the Spaniards: Artes inter hæredes non dividi.
208 Yet these have inherited their fathers lying, and they brag of it. Hee is
209 an narrow-minded man, that affects a Triumph in any glorious study:
210 but to triumph in a lye, and a lye themselves have forg'd, is frontlesse.
211 Folly often goes beyond her bounds; but Impudence knowes none.