The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

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A Cavendish Christening Entertainment (1619)

Edited by James Knowles

INTRODUCTION

This is among the most problematic of Jonson’s entertainments as its date and auspices are uncertain. The text was first transcribed, anonymously, as ‘The Christening; A Masque by Ben Jonson; Not in his Works’, in the Monthly Magazine (1816) from BL MS Harleian 4955, folios 48–52v (hereafter JnB 574), a familial memorial volume scribed by John Rolleston for William Cavendish, Viscount Mansfield (1620–8) and later Earl of Newcastle (1628–43). For ease of reference he is, anachronistically, referred to as Newcastle here.

The undated Cavendish Entertainment appears in the first and earliest group of Jonson texts in the MS, including Gypsies Metamorphosed (1621), beside a group of Cavendish-related poems, dating c. 1617–29 (‘Charles Cavendish to His Posterity’, ‘To the Memory of that Most Honoured Lady Jane, Eldest Daughter to Cuthbert, Lord Ogle, And Countess of Shrewsbury’, ‘Epitaph on Catherine, Lady Ogle’, and two epigrams to William, Earl of Newcastle (Und. 53 and 59)). This context, which locates the Cavendish Entertainment among works associated with his family rather than with that of his cousins, the Cavendishes (later Earls of Devonshire) of Chatsworth, is highly significant.

Herford and Simpson, following The Dictionary of National Biography, determined the occasion as the birth of Charles Cavendish, second son of another William Cavendish, second Earl of Devonshire, and dated the entertainment as staged on or near 20 May 1620. Initially, they argued that the performance happened at Newcastle’s Blackfriars residence (H&S, 2.311), titling the piece ‘An Entertainment at the Blackfriars’, although later volumes (H&S, 7.767 and 10.698) are silent on its precise venue. Gifford claimed that the entertainment was written for one of Newcastle’s sons (Gifford, 1816, 9.19), but this alternative suggestion has never been developed. Neither case can be demonstrated with certainty.

The Cavendish–Devonshire case centres on Charles Cavendish, second son of ‘Lord Cavendish and Christian his lady’, who was baptized on 15 June 1619, not 1620 (London Guildhall, MS 4508/1). The parents, William, Lord Cavendish (1590–1628), and his wife, Christian (née Bruce) (d. 1675), became second Earl and Countess of Devonshire in 1626 (GEC, Complete Peerage, 4.340–1). Family tradition claims that Prince Charles stood godfather to Charles Cavendish (White, 1708, 8), and he was certainly present at the baptism (Duchy of Cornwall Record Office, Treasurer and Receiver General, 1618–19, June 1619).

In contrast, William Cavendish–Newcastle’s family history is shrouded in mystery. The date of his marriage to Elizabeth Bassett is unknown, but probably took place in 1617 (Goulding, 1936, 363) or 1618 (ODNB), and he is thought to have had at least eight and possibly ten children. His first son died in April 1620 (Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock, MS 46, Bolsover parish registers; Pembroke to Cavendish, 21 April 1620, HMC Portland, 2.118). The Cavendish vault at Bolsover contains the remains of two of Newcastle’s infant sons, Charles and William (J. B. Burke, 1855, 2.199–202). This Charles must have been born sometime before Charles (Ⅱ) Cavendish, Viscount Mansfield (1626?–58), whose birth date is also uncertain, and according to some sources this first son called Charles died aged three years (A. Collins, 1752, 45). These parameters would give a potential birth date of either c. 1620–1 (that is, before the birth of the first daughter, Jane, in 1622), or c. 1623–5 (before the birth of Charles, Ⅱ). We have no knowledge of Prince Charles standing godfather to any of William’s children.

Neither case is entirely satisfactory. Although a Cavendish–Devonshire christening in the Blackfriars within the dates is well attested, the placing of the text among Newcastle’s collection about his immediate family must cause some concern. In particular, nothing in either Jonson’s career or the patronage history of the Cavendish–Devonshire family suggests any obvious connection, and the only links found in Harleian MS 4955 date to the late 1620s, occurring within a distinct, and later, collection of Cavendish (Devonshire and Newcastle) material in the manuscript. The most likely point of contact, between Jonson and the Cavendish–Devonshires, William Cavendish–Newcastle, who knew Jonson at least as early as 1617, was embroiled in a difficult relationship with his Cavendish–Devonshire cousins after 1616 due to tensions occasioned by his executorship of the seventh Earl of Shrewsbury’s will. These disputes only eased in the late 1620s. Finally, while Herford and Simpson discounted the possibility of the occasion being the birth of one of William’s sons, they used the survival of the text in Harleian MS 4955 to posit that the venue belonged to Newcastle, which suggests they perceived, at the very least, some connection to Newcastle. It is worth pointing out, too, that an entertainment marking the birth of a second son would be unlikely to require a major celebration, while Newcastle, highly dynastically conscious, had cause to mark the birth of a potential heir, especially one named for his father.

In the absence of clear external evidence the text provides some meagre facts. The location and ownership of the venue are unspecified but could have belonged to the unnamed countess (20), as well as to the parents, the ‘honourable lord’ (19) and ‘glad lady within’ (41). The relationship of this countess to the parents is never explained. Indeed, the only certainties are that the entertainment dates from before 1625; that it celebrates a child called Charles (23); and, that Prince Charles was present. It seems reasonable to deduce that the Prince stood as godparent to the child (16), and that the celebration took place in the Blackfriars (235).

Beyond the inference that this text was staged somewhere in Blackfriars, Herford and Simpson’s supposition about the venue is unproven. If the entertainment originates with the Cavendish–Devonshires, their residence in Aldersgate would have served. A Cavendish–Devonshire christening requires that, for some unknown reason, they borrowed a house for the occasion, hence the suggestion of a property belonging to William Cavendish–Newcastle. Unfortunately, the evidence for Newcastle’s ownership of a house in the Blackfriars at this date is slim. Lucy Worsley (2001), 2.71–2 has argued that the house may be that near the Blackfriars Stairs, occupied by Van Dyck after 1632, which possibly belonged to Cavendish. She notes that the registers of St Anne’s contain the names of various servant families associated with the Cavendish–Newcastles (see also 235n.). In the absence of convincing external evidence the venue is, probably, unidentifiable.

The surviving manuscript text is also problematic, especially as the division and location of the sections of the entertainment remain unclear. The opening Forester’s speech (3–7) appears to belong to a different text, a situation which Herford and Simpson explain through the most metaphorical of associations between the ‘battle’ (3) and ‘hunting’ (4) and the ante-supper. Equally, the exact articulation between both the end of the first song (45–61) and the subsequent dialogue (especially 62), and also the end of the Mathematician’s speech (169) and the ‘battle’ song (195–221) is uncertain. This is not unusual in transcripts of multi-sectional entertainments which often lack the necessary link-passages, although the missing speech between 13 and 15 may suggest the manuscript represents neither an accurate nor complete text. Nothing is known of the performers of this text, although the significant role played by music echoes Newcastle’s later entertainments and may reflect his extensive musical patronage (ODNB).

The text presented here follows the manuscript. Although it is tempting to add stage directions to clarify some of the awkward transitions within the text (such as an entrance for the nurses at 11, or exits at 17 and 167), editorial stage directions have been kept to a minimum, to avoid fixing the action in ways for which there is no supporting evidence. For other changes and emendations, see collation, commentary, and Textual Essay.

 

 A CAVENDISH CHRISTENING ENTERTAINMENT

At the  entrance to the  banquet.

  [Enter] a FORESTER.

FORESTER

 Sir, you’re welcome to the  forest. You have seen a  battle upon a table,

now you see a hunting. I know not what the game will prove, but the ground

is well clothed with trees. The most of these deer will  come to hand if they 5

 take  covert, sir, down with the woods, for the hunting is meant to be so  royal

as trees, dogs, deer, all, mean to be a part of the quarry.

In the   passage.

 [Enter] DUGS, KECKS, [and] HOLDBACK.

DUGS

Are  they coming? Where? Which, which are the  gossips? 10

KECKS

Peace,  here they come all.

DUGS

 I’ll up and   get me a standing behind the  arras.

HOLDBACK

You’ll be  thrust there, i’faith, nurse.

  KECKS

 […]

HOLDBACK

No, he with the  blue ribbon. Peace! 15

KECKS

 Oh, sweet gentleman. He, a gossip? He were fitter to be a  father, i’faith.

HOLDBACK

   So they were both, an ’twere Fortune’s good   pleasure to send it.

At the banquet.

HOLDBACK

 Now God  multiply Your Highness and my honorable lord, too, and

my good lady,  the countess! I have one  word for you all, ‘Welcome!’ — which 20

is enough to the wise and as good as a hundred, you know. This is my day!

My lords, and my lady, how like you my boy? Is’t not a goodly boy? I said

his name would be Charles when I looked upon  Charles’s Wain t’other night,

he’s born under that star. I ha’  given measure, i’faith. He’ll prove a  pricker,

an God will, by one privy mark that I found about him. Would you had such 25

another,  my lord gossips, every one of you, and as like the father! Oh, what a

glad woman, and a proud, should I be to be seen at home with you upon the

same occasion!

DUGS

Come, come, never  put for it, woman. I know my  place: it is before, and I

would not have you mistake it. 30

KECKS

Then belike my place is  behind?

DUGS

Be it where it   wull, that will appear.

HOLDBACK

How now, what’s the matter with you two?

DUGS

Why, Mistress Kecks, the dry nurse, strives to have place of me.

KECKS

Yes, Mistress Dugs, I do indeed. 35

HOLDBACK

What, afore the prince? Are you so  unrude and uncivil?

KECKS

Why not afore the prince, worshipped might he be. I desire no better a

judge.

HOLDBACK

No? An my  Lord Chancery hear, do you know what you say? Go to,

Nurse, ha’ done, let the music ha’ their play.You have made a joyful house 40

here, i’faith!   The glad lady  within  i’th’ straw I hope has thanked you for her

little  carl, the little  christian. Such a comfortable day as this will e’en make

the father ready to make adventure  f’another, in my conscience.  Sing sweetly,

I pray you. An you have a good  breast, out with’t for my lord’s credit.

Song 45

If now as merry you could be

As you are welcome here,

Who wait would have no time to see

The  meanness of the cheer.

But you that deign the place and lord 50

So much of  bounty and grace,

Read not the  banquet on his board,

But that within his face;

Where, if by engaging of his heart,

He yet could set forth more, 55

The world would scarce afford a part

Of such imagined store.

All had been had that could be wished,

Upon so rich a pawn,

Were it  ambrosia to be dished 60

Or nectar to be drawn.

DUGS

  How, dame? A dry nurse better than a wet nurse?

KECKS

Ay, is not summer better than winter?

DUGS

Oh,   your dream of a dry summer!

KECKS

And you are so wet you are the worse again! Do you remember my Lady 65

Kicking-up’s child that you gave such a  bleach to, was never clear since?

DUGS

That was my Lady Kicking-up’s own doing, you  dry chip you, and not

mine.

KECKS

 ’Twas yours, Mistress Wetter, and you shrunk i’th’ wetting for it, if you

be remembered, for she turned you away I am sure. Wet moons,  you know, 70

were ever good weed-springers.

DUGS

My moon’s no wetter than thine,  goody  caudle-maker! You, for making of

costly caudles, as good a nurse as I?

HOLDBACK

 Why, can I  carry no sway, no stroke among you? Will you open

yourselves thus and let everyone enter into your secrets? Shall they take it up 75

between you, a God’s name, proffer it to ’em? I am nobody, I. I know nothing.

I am a midwife  of this month, I. I never held a lady’s back till now, you think?

DUGS

We never thought so, Mistress Holdback.

HOLDBACK

Go to, you do think so upon the point, and say as much i’your

behaviour! Who, I pray you, provided your places for you? Was’t not I?  When 80

upon the first view of my lady’s breasts and an inspection of what passed from

her, with the white wine and the  opal cloud, and my  sufumigation, I told

Her Ladyship at first she was  sped? And then upon her  pain, after drinking

the mead and hydromel, I assured her it was so without all peradventure. I

know nothing? After this, when my lord was  deportunate with me to know 85

my opinion whether it was a boy or a girl that Her Ladyship went withal,

I had not my  signs and my  prognostics about me: as the goodness of Her

Ladyship’s  complexion, the   coppedness of her belly on the  right side, the

lying of it so high in the  cabinet, to pronounce it a boy? Nor I could not

say, and assure, upon the difference of the paps, when the right  breast grew 90

harder, the nipple red, rising like a strawberry, the  milk white and thick and

standing in pearls upon my nail,  the glass, and the  slickstone — a boy for my

money. Nor when the milk dissolved not in water, nor scattered, but sunk: a

boy still. No, upon the very day of my lady’s labour, when the wives came in,

I offered no wagers, not the odds I? Three to one, having observed the moon 95

the night before, and Her Ladyship set her right foot foremost, the right

pulse beat quicker and  stronger, and her right eye grown and sparkling, I

assure Your Lordship, I offered to hold Master Doctor a   discretion it was a

boy. And if His Doctorship had  laid with me, and ventured, His Worship had

lost his discretion. 100

KECKS

 Why, mistress, here’s nobody calls your skill in question. We know that

you can tell when a woman goes with a  timpany, the  mole, or the moon-calf.

HOLDBACK

Ay, and whether it be the  flesh mole or the wind mole or the water

mole. I thank God, and our mistress, Nature — she is God’s chambermaid and

the midwife is hers — we can examine virginity and frigidity, the   sufficiency, 105

and capability of the persons. By our places, we try all the conclusions. Many

 a good thing passes through the midwife’s hand, many a merry tale by her

mouth, many a glad cup through her lips. She is a leader of wives, the lady of

light hearts, and the queen of the gossips.

KECKS

But what is this to us, Mistress Holdback? The which is the better nurse, 110

the wet or the dry?

HOLDBACK

Nay,  that make an end of between yourselves. I am sure I am dry with

talking to you! Give me a cup of  hippocras.

DUGS

 Why, see there now whether dryness be not a defect, out of her own mouth,

that she is fain to call for moisture to wet her. Does not the infant do so, when 115

it would suck? What  stills the child when it’s dry but the teat?

KECKS

But when it is wet i’th’ blankets with your superfluities, what quiets it

then? It is not the two bottles at the breasts, that when you have emptied

you do nothing but drink to fill again, will do’t? It is the  opening of him

and bathing of him and the washing and the cleansing and, especially, the 120

drying that nourishes the child; cleansing his eyes and nostrils, wiping his

ears, fashioning his head with stroking it between the hands, clapping a piece

of  scarlet on his mole, forming his mouth for kissing  again’ he come at age,

careful laying his legs and arms straight, and swathing ’em so justly as his

mother’s maids may leap at him when he bounces out on his blankets. These 125

are the offices of a nurse, a true nurse. What beauty would ever behold him

hereafter if I now by negligence of binding should either make him  crump-

shouldered, crook’d-legged, splay-footed, or, by  careless placing the candle

in a light, should send him forth into the world with a pair of false eyes? No,

’tis the nurse, and by excellence, the dry nurse, that gives him fashionable 130

feet, legs, hands, mouth, eyes, nose, or whatever in  member else is acceptable

to ladies.

DUGS

  Nay, there you wrong Mistress Holdback, for it is she that gives him

measure , I’m sure.

HOLDBACK

 Ay, and I’ll  justify his measure. 135

DUGS

And what increases that  measure but his milk, his sucking, and his

 battening?

KECKS

Yes, and your eating and drinking to get more? Your  decoctions and

 caudles,  spurging, bathing, and  boxing your breasts, thou  misproud

creature. I am ashamed on ye! 140

DUGS

How enviously she talks, as if any nearer or nobler office could be done the

child than to feed him, or any more necessary and careful than to increase

that which is his nutriment, from both which I am truly, and principally,

named his nurse.

KECKS

 Principally? Oh, the pride o’thy paps! Would I were the  ague i’thy breasts, 145

for thy sake, to bore ’em as full of holes as a colander: as if there were no

nutriment but thy milk or nothing could nurse a child but sucking. Why,

if there were no milk in nature, is there no other food?  How were my lady

provided else against your going to men, if the  toy should take you, and the

corruption of your milk that way? 150

DUGS

How? I go to man and corrupt my milk? Thou  dried eel’s skin!

KECKS

Yet, Mistress  Wet-eel-by-the-tail, if you have a mind to it, such a thing has

been done.

DUGS

  I defy thee, I. Thou onion-eater! And now I think on’t, my lady shall know

of your  close diet, your   cheer and  chibbols, with your fresh  tripe, and garlic 155

in private. It makes a sweet perfume i’th’ nursery, as if you had swallowed

  sir-reverence. Ah, ’tis pity such a one should ever come about any good body’s

child. Thou’lt stifle it with thy breath one of these mornings!

KECKS

Indeed, you had like to have  overlaid it the other night and prevented its

 christendom, if I had not looked unto you, when you came so  bedewed out of 160

the wine cellar and so watered your couch that, to save your credit with my

lady next morning, you were glad to lay it upon your innocent bedfellow,

and slander him to his mother how plentifully he had sucked. This was none

o’your dry jests now, this was a  soaker.

HOLDBACK

Ay, by faith, was’t. An  you overflow so, it’s even time to stop the 165

breach and pack you both hence.  Get you in! Here comes a wise man will tell

us another tale.

 [Enter] a MATHEMATICIAN.

MATHEMATICIAN

  ’Tis clear, in heaven all good aspects agree

To bless with wonder this  nativity. 170

But what need this, so far our star extend,

When here a star shines that doth far transcend

In all benevolence and sways more power

To rule his whole life than the star his hour?

For in a prince are all things, since they all 175

To him, as to their end in nature, fall;

As from him, being their fount, all are produced,

  Heaven’s right through his,  where’er he rules,  diffused.

This child, then, from his bounty shall receive

Judgement in all things, what to take or leave, 180

Matter to speak, and sharpness to dispute

Of every action both the root and fruit,

Truly foreseeing, in his each fit deed,

Wisdom t’attempt and spirit to proceed.

In mirth  ingenious he shall be; in game 185

He shall gain favour, in things serious, fame.

Dissentions shall he shun and peace pursue;

Friendships, by frailties broke, he shall renew.

Virtue by him shall gain again her youth,

And joy as much therein as in her truth. 190

All helpless chances he shall free endure,

And perils passed, at length survive secure.

This is the song wherewith his  Fates are full,

That spin his thread out of their  whitest wool.

  Song 195

A battle, a battle, oh, that you had  been,

To ha’ seen but the delicate sport is within,

And how the two nurses do roar!

The dry nurse she swears

To have the wet by the ears, 200

And in fellowship calleth her whore,

And sayeth she will pay her her score.

Now the wet nurse doth water the place,

And while they do jangle,

The midwife doth wrangle 205

And is very near in the same case!

She   purgeth,

She urgeth,

And lays them the law.

They fight, 210

And they bite,

And not weigh her a straw.

Then off goeth her grave velvet hat

 And  up comes her tail.

Ay, and rather than fail, 215

She lets fly at them both with that,

And her drum it goes, twiddle-dum-twat.

But they heat her with many a thump,

And now, to assuage

The height of her rage, 220

They are cooling her down at the pump!

 In the hall by WATERMEN.

Song

 They say it is merry when gossips do meet,

 And more to confirm it  in us you may see’t, 225

For we have well tasted your wine in the street,

And yet we make shift to stand on our feet.

As soon as we heard the Prince would be here,

We knew by his coming we should have good cheer;

A boy for my lady, then, every year 230

 Cry we, for a girl will afford us but beer!

Now luck we beseech thee, that all things may stand

With my lady’s good liking that my lord takes in hand,

That still there come gossips the best in the land,

To make the  Blackfriars compare with  the Strand. 235

 That we may say

Another day,

My lord be thankèd,

We had such a banquet,

At  Charles his christ’ning 240

Was worth the list’ning.

After a year,

And a day for I fear,

We shall not see

The like will be, 245

 To sample he

While we know the Thames

Unless’t be a James.

Title ] this edn; untitled JnB 574; The Christening; A Masque, Monthly Mag.; not titled but called ‘an Interlude’ G; <An Entertainment at the Blackfriars> H&S
1 entrance the act of entry. The headings describe a movement through the house from somewhere, perhaps the hall, through the passage (8); to the banquet (18), perhaps in the great chamber; and finally, a return to the hall (222). The ‘battle’ song (195–221) clearly describes actions that are supposed to have happened in the outer courtyard, and the entry to the hall brings the audience back to a less socially exclusive zone for which the watermen are suitable inhabitants. The entertainment adapts the form of Elizabethan progress entertainments, marking the guests’ arrival, a main celebratory banquet and masque, and a short dialogue on departure.
1 banquet A dessert course of sweetmeats, fruit, and wine; often served in a separate room from the main feast.
2 FORESTER Royal entertainments at country houses often began with an elaborate welcome in the park or at the gates to the courtyard, sometimes offered by foresters or porters (who controlled access to the house). Gilbert Talbot, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, had entertained James I at Worksop in 1603 with ‘a woodman’s speech’, ‘a number of huntsmen’, and music after the hunting (J. Nichols, 1823, 1.86–7; Batho, 1975, 29). Interestingly, Shrewsbury, a close friend of William Cavendish’s father Charles, had wittily described the inhabitants of Welbeck Abbey as ‘poor foresters’ living ‘privately’ in rural solitude (Shrewsbury to Cecil, 12 March 1605, in HMC Salisbury, 17.93).
3 SH] this edn; not in JnB 574
3 forest Possibly an allusion to an artificial indoor forest. The Cavendish–Devonshire family owned several examples, notably the Forest Great Chamber at Hardwick Old Hall and the forest frieze in the Great Chamber at Hardwick New Hall; possibly a similar effect was produced in one of their London homes (Girouard, 1989, 15 and 56; Wells-Cole, 1997, 269–71 and plates 461 and 463). Theobalds, in Hertfordshire, also had a famous artificial forest, and the architect John Smythson had recorded details of the panelling and ceiling there for William Cavendish in 1618. As James I hunted at Welbeck with Cavendish in 1619, it is also possible that the ‘forest’ alludes to Cavendish’s attempts to construct himself as a landed magnate, although his major purchases of land in Sherwood Forest did not commence until 1625.
3 battle . . . table Uncertain; possibly the guests were offered some spectacular edible landscape, such as a forest and hunt scene. Such fantasies were made of marchpane or cast sugar (Brears, 1986, 61) and landscapes with life-size trees and animals (Strong, 2003, 188–99). H&S regard this as an allusion to the ante-supper with the ‘battle’ for a good viewing position and the ‘hunting’ for food.
5 to hand within reach (OED, Hand 37a); a term from hunting.
6–7 Presumably, if the forest and hunt is edible, they are all ‘quarry’ (prey) to be eaten.
6 covert thicket, a place where game hides.
6 royal rich; with a pun on belonging to, or suitable for the King.
8 passage Possibly the screens passage from the hall?
9 dugs . . . holdback Suitable names for the nurses and midwife. Dugs (= ‘breasts’) is the wet nurse, Kecks (= ‘a dry stick’) the dry nurse, and Mistress Holdback the midwife (one of her functions was to support the back of the woman in labour). Dugs and Kecks are probably comically fat and thin (151n.) respectively. The nurses’ names suggest their humoural complexion (see 66n., and 207n.). The entertainment deviates from normal christening practice in that the midwife usually carried the child to the font (Cressy, 1997, 62).
10–17 ]one paragraph in JnB 574
10 gossips godparents.
11 here . . . all The nurses would appear to enter at this point.
12 SH] Monthly Mag. (Dugges); Drugges: JnB 574
12 get . . . standing (1) obtain a place to stand (OED, Standing vbl. sb., 4a), (2) find something erect = a penis (cf. ‘stand’, G. Williams, 1994, 3.1305–9).
12 get] JnB 574; H&S collate JnB 574 as got
12 arras hangings of tapestry, often hung at a slight distance from the walls, allowing someone to be concealed in the space (OED). Here the privacy afforded by the space allows illicit sex (cf. preceding n.) (G. Williams, 1994, 1.40).
13 thrust (1) pushed (by the crowd); (2) given ‘a genital thrust’ (G. Williams, 1994, 3.1386), but perhaps also a joking reference to Ham., 3.4.
14 KECKS Not in MS. In JnB 574 lines 13 and 15 follow each other giving Holdback two sequential speeches; clearly an intervening short speech has been dropped as Holdback answers a question by identifying Prince Charles.
14 ]G (subst.); not in JnB 574; Monthly Mag. prints 13–17 as one speech by Holdback
15 blue ribbon Symbol of the order of the garter. From later references it is clear that this is Prince Charles (see 19).
16 SH] G; Kecks. JnB 574, Monthly Mag.
16 father Possibly an allusion to the marriage negotiations for Charles which had commenced in 1617.
17 SH] G; Hold: JnB 574 (colon heavily inked); hold; Monthly Mag.
17 So . . . both Possibly Prince Charles and the Earl of Buckingham.
17 pleasure] G; pleasures JnB 574, Monthly Mag.; pleasure[s] H&S
19–44 ]one paragraph in JnB 574
19 multiply prosper; with a bawdy implication (‘multiply’ = to increase by sexual procreation: OED, Multiply I, 2a).
20 the countess Either Elizabeth (Wortley) Cavendish (d. 1642?), married William Cavendish of Chatsworth (1552–1618) in 1604, created first Countess of Devonshire (GEC, Complete Peerage, 4.339–40); or Jane (Ogle) Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (d. 1625), married Edward Talbot, eighth Earl of Shrewsbury (1561–1618) (GEC, Complete Peerage, 11.716–7). The Countess of Shrewsbury was William Cavendish–Newcastle’s aunt, and Cavendish acted as her husband’s executor (see Introduction, and ‘Jane Ogle’, 5.715).
20–1 word . . . wise A variation on the proverb ‘A word to the wise is enough’, from Lat. tag ‘verbum sat sapienti’.
23 Charles’s Wain The Plough or Great Bear constellation.
24 given measure ‘given him a full measure’, referring to the length of umbilical cord left attached by the midwife before it was cut. There was much debate as to where the cord should be severed, and midwives were to ‘allow more measure to the males because this length doth make their tongue and privy members longer, whereby they may both speak the plainer, and be more serviceable to ladies’ (Guillemeau, Child-Birth, 1612, N2; cf. Cressy, 1997, 80). ‘Measure’ = penis (cf. yard = penis: G. Williams, 1994, 2.867–8, 3.1555–7), suggesting that Holdback has tied the cord so as to give the potential heir sexual prowess and potency. There may be an underlying allusion to the ‘London measure’, the generous measure afforded by London drapers (cf. Tilley, M798).
24 pricker mounted huntsman; a term sometimes applied to the ‘yeoman prickers’, officers of the royal forest (OED, 2 and 3); with a bawdy quibble.
26 my lord gossips Holdback acknowledges the aristocratic status of the godparents.
29 put for strive for, attempt to obtain (OED, Put v.1, 32).
29, 34 place occupation, status, precedence.
31 behind in the rear (the position of lower status); but with a scatological pun.
32 wull will. In JnB 574 ‘wooll’, but H&S compare this form to Epigr. 90.
32 wull] this edn; wooll JnB 574, H&S; will Monthly Mag., G
36 unrude unmannerly (OED).
39 Lord Chancery Lord Chancellor.
41–3 The . . . another It has been suggested that these lines refer to Christian, Lady Cavendish (later Countess of Devonshire), and her son Charles. Jonson puns in the same way in Und. 67.
41 within In the lying-in chamber. Women were supposed to lie in for a least a month after childbirth, including three days immediately post-partum, in bed in a darkened room: see A. Wilson (1990), 75. They rarely took part in the christening (Cressy, 1997, 147).
41 i’th’ straw lying in (OED, Straw I.2b). The mother was often referred to as ‘the woman in the straw’ (Cressy, 1997, 83).
42 carl churl, fellow; possibly ‘little chap’ (with a pun on ‘Charles’).
42 christian One who has been admitted to the Christian faith through the rite of baptism just undergone by this baby. Perhaps a jocular term for a ‘little soul’.
43 f’another] JnB 574, Monthly Mag.; for another G; f<or> another H&S
43–4 Sing . . . credit Addressed to the musicians.
44 breast breath, voice in singing (OED, 6). Although addressed to the musicians, the line continues the bawdy punning on breasts and breastfeeding.
49 meanness] G; meannes JnB 574, H&S (meannes); merits Monthly Mag.
51 bounty] bounty’ JnB 574, H&S
52–3 banquet . . . face The contrast established between the sensory and sensual pleasures of the food and nature’s banquet and the intellectual and spiritual pleasures offered in the host’s welcoming face implicitly leads the guests away from base pleasures to more spiritual values, such as friendship and convivial conversation. The lines are an elegant variation on the interrelated motifs of the philosophical symposium, the banquet of the senses and the banquet of love, ideas that reappear in several Cavendish-related texts (Bolsover, Welbeck, and New Inn, esp. 3.2.123–31, which parallel this point exactly). These tropes may have had a particular, personal significance as they also inform the decorative schema of Bolsover Castle. See F. Kermode (1971), 84–115, and Raylor (1999a), 402–39.
60–1 ambrosia . . . nectar The food and drink of the gods.
62 SH] <Hold> Duggs JnB 574
62–73 ]one paragraph in JnB 574
64 your . . . summer Based on the proverb ‘You dream of a dry summer’ (Tilley, S966). H&S emend to ‘you’ arguing that the final ‘r’ has been smudged in an attempt at deletion. This is not clear from JnB 574, and the emendation is unnecessary. The line as it stands suggests Kecks has harped on the possibility of a dry summer.
64 your] JnB 574; you G, G/C, H&S (see Textual Essay)
66 bleach . . . clear ‘To give a bleach’ = to blacken (OED, Bleach sb. 2, ‘a substance used for blackening’); ‘clear’ refers to the freshness of the skin’s complexion (OED, Clear 4d). As the humoural balance of the wet-nurse’s milk was believed to influence the child’s nature, contemporary manuals advised upon the careful choice of a nurse and the regulation of her diet. See also 155–6n.
67 dry chip Proverbial: ‘As dry as a chip’ (Tilley, C351). Cf. New Inn, 4.1.3.
69 SH] in margin in JnB 574, placing marked by heavy colon in JnB 574 after myne (68)
70–2 you know . . . My] interlineated in JnB 574, with caret
72 goody Shortened form of ‘goodwife’ (a courteous form of address to a woman of low social status).
72 caudle-maker Maker of caudle, a drink of wine or ale mixed with sugar and spices: usually given to women in childbirth.
74–100 ]one paragraph in JnB 574
74 carry . . . stroke wield great influence (OED Carry, v., Ⅱ, 35)
77 of this month Recently qualified, new. See Gypsies (Burley), 430–1.
80–3 When . . . sped A major function of midwives was the diagnosis of pregnancy and the determination of the child’s sex through physical symptoms or medical prognostications such as uromancy.
82 opal cloud A sign of pregnancy according to Guillemeau: ‘some judge of their being with child by the urine, as if that be white, and clearly mingled with little motes, and that at the top there is perceived as it were a little cloud like to the rainbow or of an opal colour’ (1612, A3r–v).
82 sufumigation The action of fumigating from below using fumes generated by burning herbs (OED).
83 sped pregnant. ‘To speed’ = to prosper (as in the phrase ‘God speed me’) or thrive (OED, Speed v., I.1, I.4a and 7 (pa. ppl)).
83–4 pain . . . hydromel Tests for pregnancy used hydromel (fermented honey and water) or mead administered at night. If the woman felt pain she was deemed to be with child (Guillemeau, 1612, A3v).
85 deportunate importunate. Not in OED, so perhaps a comic malapropism displaying the midwife’s pretensions to learning.
87 signs] JnB 574 (sighnes)
87 prognostics omens, symptoms. ‘Prognostic’ can have either a supernatural, prophetic sense in this period, or a medical association (OED, Prognostic 1 and 3).
88 complexion bodily constitution; the combination of humours (hot or cold, moist or dry) that made up the nature of the body in humoural theory (OED, I.1 and 2a).
88 coppedness Rising to a head or peak (OED, Copped 2), a sign of pregnancy with a male child. Cf. Guillemeau’s Child-Birth: ‘she that goeth with a boy, hath the right side of her belly bigger, and more copped, and there the child stirreth ofteneth’ (1612, B1r).
88 coppedness] JnB 574 (Coppidness)
88 right side Another symptom of pregnancy with a male child.
89 cabinet womb. This sense is not in OED but ‘cabinet’ was variously used for a small room, repository, or secret place. The child is ‘high in the cabinet’ because ‘The male child lieth high above the navel by reason of his heat’ (Guillemeau, 1612, B1v).
90–1 breast . . . strawberry Further signs of a male child drawn from Child-Birth: ‘if the right breast be harder and firmer, the nipple hard, red, and more eminent’ (Guillemeau, 1612, B1r).
91–2 milk . . . slickstone ‘Slickstone’ is a form of the dialect word ‘sleekstone’, a smooth stone used for polishing or smoothing (OED, Slickstone), although it also evidently confused the scribe who hesitated between ‘slide’ and ‘slicke’ (see Textual Essay). The whole passage (91–4) is drawn from Child-Birth which outlines other tests for male children: ‘if the milk [is] white and thick, which being milked or spurted against a sleek-stone, or some such smooth thing, continues in a round form like a pearl and being cast even into water it dissolveth not’, then the child will be male (Guillemeau, 1612, B1r).
92 the glass . . . slickstone] not in G
92 slickstone] sli<d>ke stone JnB 574; slicke stone Monthly Mag.; not in G; slide-stone Gifford/C; slike-stone H&S
97 stronger] stronger <to ho> JnB 574
98–100 discretion . . . discretion A series of bawdy puns (‘laid’, ‘ventured’) suggesting a loss of self-control (‘discretion’ = circumspection, sound judgement: OED, Ⅲ, 6).
98 discretion judgement, decision, or discrimination (from Lat. discretio) (OED, Ⅱ, 2).
99 laid bet; a bawdy quibble.
101–11 ]one paragraph in JnB 574
102 timpany morbid swelling or tumour (OED, 1a).
102 mole . . . moon-calf False conceptions (OED, Mole sb. 5; Moon-calf 1a).
103–4 flesh . . . water mole Guillemeau’s Child-Birth describes the ‘mole we commonly call the moon-calf’ in his chapter ‘Of False Conception’ (1612, B3r). He lists three types: ‘the windy being a collection of gross winds, the waterish or a heaping together of waters, the humoural or a meeting of many humours’ and describes their diagnosis (B3v, B4r–v).
105 sufficiency competence (the sense is clearly sexual in this instance). JnB 574 spells ‘suffitien<i>ce’ with a correction altering ‘i’ to ‘c’. See Textual Essay.
105 sufficiency] Monthly Mag. (sufficiency), G; suffitien<i>ce JnB 574; suffitienc<i>e H&S
107 a good thing A bawdy remark (‘thing’ = penis).
112 that . . . yourselves settle that between the two of you.
113 hippocras A cordial drink of wine and spices.
114–32 ]one paragraph in JnB 574
116 stills quiets.
119 opening exposing to the air, presumably to dry the child (cf. 120–1). This continues the contrast between wet and dry nursing.
123 scarlet . . . mole Red cloth bandages were used to cure skin diseases and blemishes.
123 again’ anticipating when.
127–8 crump-shouldered hunchback.
128–9 careless . . . eyes It was common practice after birth to cover the child’s head ‘not exposing him suddenly either to firelight, daylight or candle-light, lest by this sudden change his sight be hurt’ (Guillemeau, 1612, M4v).
131 member (1) limb; (2) penis.
133–50 ]one paragraph in JnB 574
134, 135 measure see 24n.
135 SH] in margin in JnB 574, placing marked by heavy colon after sure (134)
135 justify Another pun with bawdy possibilities: to justify is ‘to make exact; to fit or arrange exactly’ (OED, 9), but also to show something (or someone) is adequate or sufficient (also a legal term: OED, 7).
136 measure size (but still with a bawdy quibble).
137 battening To ‘batten’ is to improve the child’s condition by feeding, to thrive (OED, 2).
138 decoctions medicines, cordials.
139 caudles see 72n.
139 spurging purgation, purging (OED). Jonson used ‘spurging’ in Queens, 136.
139 boxing your breasts applying cupping glasses to the breasts (OED, Boxing vbl. sb., 2).
139 misproud arrogant, wickedly proud (arch.) (OED).
145 Principally?] this edn; Principallis? JnB 574; Principallie, Monthly Mag., H&S
145 ague A flu-like fever characterized by hot and cold fits of shivering and sweating.
148–50 How . . . way Early modern wet nurses were instructed to abjure from sex, as intercourse was thought to cause menstruation and this would taint the blood (Fildes, 1986, 181).
149 toy Whim (OED, 4).
151 dried eel’s skin Used by Shakespeare to suggest comically exaggerated thinness (1H4, 2.4.237); also an empty, flimsy, or worthless thing; perhaps a proverbial phrase (cf. ‘merchant of eel-skins’ = rag and bone man: OED, Eel-skin).
152 Wet-eel-by-the-tail An impossible task. A proverbial phrase (‘He holds a wet eel by the tail’, Tilley, E61); also a bawdy pun as ‘tail’ = female sexual organs (G. Williams, 1994, 3.1355–8).
154–67 ]one paragraph in JnB 574
155–6 close diet . . . private As the wet-nurse’s milk would influence the child’s humoural complexion advice manuals often outlined the correct diet: ‘she ought to avoid all salt meats, garlic, leeks, onions and mustard, excessive drinking of wine, strong beer or ale, for they trouble the child’s body with choler’ (Culpepper, 1668, K6v). Garlic, leeks, and onions were all seen as ‘hot and dry’ substances that could damage the sight (Gerard, 1636, O5v–6, P2, P3).
155 cheer Gifford and H&S emend to ‘cheese’, but this is unnecessary. ‘Cheer’ = food (OED, 6a) which would produce choler.
155 cheer] JnB 574, Monthly Mag.; cheese G, H&S
155 chibbols Onions (a variety between the modern leek and onion) that ‘hath no distinct head at all but only a long neck and, therefore, it runs in manner all to a green blade’ (Pliny, History of the World, 1635, vol. 2, C4v).
155 tripe Cow or ox stomach prepared as food; regarded as a delicacy.
157 sir-reverence ‘with apologies to’ (OED); often used apologetically when using an indecent or indecorous word; also a synonym for excrement. In Tub, 1.6.25, it is used to point the innuendo in Martin Polecat’s name and perhaps suggest his smell (his name cannot be pronounced without an apology or ‘reverence’). The implication is that the nurse’s breath smells due to her unsuitable diet. Cf. Welbeck, 80.
157 sir-reverence.] G (subst.); Sir reverence JnB 574
159 overlaid i.e. suffocated. The suffocation of the child when crushed by the nurse who shared its bed. OED lists both ‘overlie’ and ‘to overlay’ as smothering a child by lying upon it, and contemporary midwifery manuals warned about the danger (Fildes, 1986, 195).
160 christendom christening (OED, 4).
160 bedewed Wetted, or moistened, usually a poetic term (OED, 2); here = drunk. Cf. ‘soaker’ (164).
164 soaker An immoderate drinker (OED, 2), with an allusion to bed-wetting (161). Also, the joke (‘dry jest’) makes the listener piss herself with laughing.
165 you] you<r> JnB 574
166 Get you in Presumably Kecks exits at this point.
168 MATHEMATICIAN astrologer (Lat. mathematicus) (OED, b). Some commentators have suggested this may recall William Cavendish’s brother, the mathematician, Sir Charles Cavendish (1595?–1654) (ODNB), and although there are no direct links, it may be that the mathematical references appealed to the Cavendish circle with its scientific interests. H&S associate this figure with Mr Lukin who wrote the verse on Charles Cavendish (d. 1617) in the Newcastle manuscript (Harleian MS 4955) and inscribed on his monument in Bolsover church (along with Cavendish Inscription). Henry Lukin (1586–1630), estate surveyor and buildings advisor to the Cavendish family, also wrote verses on the death of Lady Katherine Cavendish (d. 1629) (Harleian MS 4955, folios 54–5). However, the identification is improbable: his discription as ‘mathematician’ on the Bolsover tomb means ‘surveyor’ rather than ‘astrologer’ (Worsley, 2001, 1.72). See also the poem ‘Charles Cavendish’ in this volume, p. 350, where Mr. Lukin is discussed.
169 SH] not in JnB 574
170 nativity (1) horoscope (cf. ‘mathematicien . . . a caster of nativities’, in Cotgrave, 1611, 3F2v); (2) birth (OED, 4).
178 Heaven’s . . . where’er JnB 574’s ‘Heaues . . . where’ leaves the line metrically deficient. Gifford emended to ‘Heaven’s’ and ‘where’er’, and H&S read ‘Heaue<n>s’ (see Textual Essay). Lines 169–71 celebrate the power of the stars, 172–4 argue that princely power transcends them, and 175–8 synthesize the two ideas, so that at 178 ‘Heaven’s right’ is transmitted through the prince (‘diffused’). The idea is that the prince’s divine right fulfils the future predicted by the ‘nativity’ (169–70).
178 Heaven’s] G, G/C; Heaues JnB 574; Heaves Monthly Mag.; Heaue<n>s H&S
178 where’er] G, G/C; where JnB 574, Monthly Mag.; where<’ere> H&S
178 diffused] JnB 574 (defused)
185 ingenious intelligent, discerning.
193 Fates The three sisters who determined man’s length of life and destinty: Clotho holds the distaff, Lachesis the spindle, and Atropos the shears with which life is woven, measured, and cut off. They are usually depicted in white garments bordered with purple, sometimes as representing youth, middle age, and old age, and with a book of adamant placed before them (A. H. Gilbert, 1948, 184–5).
194 whitest wool A symbol of good luck but also suitable for a noble life (A. H. Gilbert, 1948, 185). Cf. Haddington, 182 and Bolsover, 146.
195–221 ]not in G; lines supplied in G/C
196 been] JnB 574 (bin)
207 purgeth Gifford emends to ‘spurgeth’ and H&S partially accept this reading ‘<s>purgeth’ but the change is unnecessary. Mistress Holdback is clearly ‘purging’ the nurses of their imbalanced humours, but she becomes overheated and has to be cooled in the pump (221).
207 purgeth] JnB 574, Monthly Mag.; spurgeth G; <s>purgeth H&S
214–17 ]lines omitted (marked by asterisks) in G/C
214 up . . . tail The midwife is being described like an angry cat, but there is also a bawdy quibble (cf. 152n.), which is continued in lines 214–17.
222 WATERMEN Boatmen for hire on the River Thames; an early modern river-taxi service. Boatmen were associated with ‘evermore telling strange news, most commonly lies’ (Webster, Works, 4.37–8), and with noise, aspects which fit well with 237–48. There may also be some allusion to the location of the entertainment in the watermen’s role, perhaps because the house was close to the river. If the occasion is associated with one of William Cavendish–Newcastle’s children, it may be significant that he collected ballads and songs, for example, Nottingham University Library, MS PwV25/124, is a waterman’s ‘catch’ (possibly c. 1660).
224 A proverb (‘It is merry when gossips meet’: Tilley, G382). Cf. Staple, Ind., 10–11.
225–7 The suggestion of tipsy jollity, developed from ‘merry’ = tipsy (OED, 2d) in 224, is reinforced by the appearance of the watermen who have been drinking in the street and who ‘make shift’ (manage) to remain standing. It was customary to hand out free drink to passers-by at times of celebration.
225 in us you] H&S (in vs you); <you> in vs you JnB 574
231 ]G breaks at this point and adds verses from JnB 574, fol. 52v (‘Fresh as the day, and new as are the hours’)
235 Blackfriars A fashionable residential precinct within the city of London, south-west of St Paul’s Cathedral, on the site of the former Dominican priory. The King’s Men’s playhouse was located here, and Jonson signed the 1607 epistle to Volpone ‘from my house in the Blackfriars’. The precise location of William Cavendish’s house is unknown, but he may have taken over the house that Arbella Stuart had purchased in 1608, and although little is known of her property or its history after 1615 (Durant, 1978, 162; Gristwood, 2003, 252), it is possible that her Cavendish cousins, either Devonshire or Newcastle, had access to this property. It may be significant, however, given the role of the watermen which suggests a location close to the river, that the house rented to Van Dyck by Cavendish after 1632 was on Blackfriars’ Stairs (Edmond, 1980, 125).
235 the Strand A major thoroughfare running from Temple Bar to Charing Cross, noted for its grand aristocratic residences and for prestigious new buildings such as Britain’s Burse. Parts of Epicene are set in this district.
236–47 ]these two stanzas placed side by side in columns, 248 centred beneath in JnB 574
240 Charles See Introduction.
246 To sample To be (or to find) a match to something or someone (OED, Sample 1).
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my good lady, See more
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here, i’faith! See more
his name would be Charles when I looked upon See more
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To make the See more
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now you see a hunting. I know not what the game will prove, but the ground See more
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You’ll be See more
No, he with the See more
us another tale. See more
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You’ll be See more
No, he with the See more
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behaviour! Who, I pray you, provided your places for you? Was’t not I? See more
nutriment but thy milk or nothing could nurse a child but sucking. Why, See more
Her Ladyship at first she was See more
the mead and hydromel, I assured her it was so without all peradventure. I See more
harder, the nipple red, rising like a strawberry, the See more
and bathing of him and the washing and the cleansing and, especially, the See more
the wine cellar and so watered your couch that, to save your credit with my See more
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For in a prince are all things, since they all See more
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Wisdom t’attempt and spirit to proceed. See more
In mirth See more
They are cooling her down at the pump! See more
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Another day, See more
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