Title gentlemen . . . servants A warrant from the Earl of Suffolk
to Sir Thomas Lake authorized payment for ‘a Masque this Christmas
performed by some gentlemen of [the King’s] own servants that are good
dancers’ (Masque Archive, Irish, 12), making it
clear that this title refers principally to the dancers (as also it does
in Love Rest.). It might, however, also indicate
that the speaking parts were taken by members of the theatrical company,
the King’s Men.
1–2 out . . .
patrick The form of
this SD is puzzling. It is not obvious why, given that the speakers are
named, there should be the imprecision of ‘three or four footmen’.
Presumably Dennis, as a costermonger, is the ‘citizen’, distinguished
from the other three as footmen. It may be that the names of the
characters were added by whoever actually prepared the text for
publication (see Textual Analysis). The Irish population was
conventionally divided into three groups: the Native Irish; the Old
English, who had been settled since the middle ages, were Catholic, and
often accused of having ‘gone native’; and the Protestant New Irish
planted there under Elizabeth and James. The names of the footmen,
speaking English, but with an occasional use of Gaelic words, represent
them as ‘native’ Irishmen, or else as representatives of the Old English
who have ‘degenerated’ (Smith,
1998, 302). They parallel (and parody)
the four squires who, in Campion’s
Somerset
Masque, similarly account for the failure of their masters to
arrive at court.
2 footmen; . . . patrick.] this edn;
foote-men. / Dennise. Donnell. Dermock. /
Patricke. F1
2 footmen An ‘attendant or foot-servant. In early use, a runner
in attendance upon a rider of rank’ (
OED, 3). ‘Much the commonest employment of Irishmen in England was
as footmen, grooms, or body-servants’ (Bliss,
1979, 178).
3 For Creesh’s
sayk For Christ’s sake. The use of Christ’s name would have
been forbidden in the public theatre. Camden noted of the Irish: ‘At
every third word it is ordinary with them to lash out an oath’ (
Britain,
1610, 145).
3 an’t be
Literally ‘if it be’, used throughout as a ‘filler’ phrase and dialectal
marker (as ‘so it is’ is still used in theatrical representations of
Irish characters).
4, 7 An] Orgel; Ant F1
4 An
if.
5 cashtermonger costermonger, seller of apples and fruit.
Compare
Alch., 4.1.57. H&S cite Dekker,
The Honest Whore, Part 2, 1.1 ‘In England . . .
why Sir, there all coster-mongers are Irishmen.’
6 trote
troth.
6 cry . . .
pomwatersh advertise pippins and large, juicy apples. Street
traders literally ‘cried’ their wares, often in conventional patterns of
intonation that were picked up by musicians in songs and instrumental
pieces. In Weelkes’s
Cries of London, for
example, is a sequence ‘Apples fine, pears fine, medlars fine, pippins
fine’, and Gibbons has ‘apples fine, pips fine, medlars fine’ (Brett,
Consort Songs,
1967). In both cases a rising third is
set to the rhythm ♪♪♩. For a further clue to the style of the cry, cf.
Marston: ‘he whose throat squeaks like a treble organ, and speaks as
small and shrill as the Irishmen cry “Pip, fine pip”’ (Brabant, in
Jack
Drum’s Entertainment, in
Plays, ed. Wood,
1934, 3.191.)
6 peepsh
pips, pippins.
6 pomwatersh large, juicy apples.
7 clark o’ty
kitchin The official who recorded purchases of food.
7–8 be ant
be (by and by) immediately; or, possibly, ‘be an’t be’, a
filler expression like ‘an’t be’ in line
3.
8 hish
book his ledger of accounts. A comic version of swearing on
the Bible.
9 imbasheters ambassadors. Donnell refers either to the
gentlemen masquers, waiting outside, or to himself and his colleagues as
having been disciplined by attendants. Real ‘ambassadors’ from the Irish
Parliament had made representations to the King during the previous
months, and were awaiting his response.
10 phoit
stick white staff of the lord chamberlain and his ushers. They
were responsible for maintaining order, and in 1604 had ejected Jonson
himself, with Sir John Roe, from a masque. The difficulty of gaining
entry to a masque is the subject of the antimasque of Love Rest.
19 Phat . . .
tat Why should I have to be careful about saying that? (Since
it is a sentiment entirely acceptable to the King.)
20 my
mistresh Queen Anne.
21 Pretee] F1 (Pre tee)
23–47 The long argument about who should speak may well
be intended as a comic version of the disorderly Irish Parliament of
1613, where the Old English (natives of Ireland of English descent, but
Catholic faith) objected to the appointment of the Protestant Sir John
Davies as speaker, and, electing Sir John Everard instead, ‘ignored
parliamentary procedures
[and
] disrupted speeches’ (Smith,
1998, 303).
23 ty] F1 (ti); te Orgel
27 Pretee] F (Pre dee) (also 28, 29, 69)
29 neder noder
on neither of.
30 tan] F1 (ten)
30 eder oder
on either of.
31 besht] Bliss; vesht F1
31 besht
F1’s ‘vesht’ is probably a printer’s error, since there is no evidence
that ‘v’ is anywhere used as a dialectal representation of ‘b’.
36 goship’s godparent’s. Camden lists as a characteristic Irish
oath ‘by my God-fathers hand’ (
Britain,
1610, 145), which
Bliss (
1979),
258, says was ‘particularly sacred’.
39 shamrocks . . . vayter-creshes Supposed to be a
characteristic Irish diet. Camden (
1610, 147) notes: ‘they feed willingly
upon herbs and watercresses especially; upon mushrooms, shamroots and
roots’. Similar references are to be found in Spenser,
A View of the Present State of Ireland (ed. Hadfield and
Maley,
1997,
102), and the play,
The Life and Death of Thomas
Stukeley (1605) sig. D3.
43 an’t] H&S; and F1 (also 45, 46, 48)
43 Ty good
shubshects The emphasis falls on ‘good’.
44 Connough . . . Munster The four principal provinces of
Ireland (the fifth, Meath, though mentioned by Camden and Moryson, is
omitted). The spelling of Connaught varied a good deal; ‘Leimster’ was
usually spelt, as now, ‘Leinster’, though Moryson’s consistent spelling
in his
Itinerary (
1617) is ‘Lemster’.
44 own] G (conj.); one F1
45 English
pale That part of Ireland historically subject to English
rule. Less a geographical area than a political concept.
49 an’t be] Orgel; ant be
F1
46–7 an’t . . .
tree and it be all three of you. The irritated Patrick,
interrupted by the others, tells them all to tell their own tale.
50 Robin
Robert Carr, created Earl of Somerset at the time of his marriage.
51 hish
daughter Frances Howard.
52 Toumaish
o’Shuffolk Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, lord chamberlain.
53 He . . .
pate He knocked us over the head. (The lord chamberlain was
responsible for such discipline.)
53 by . . .
token The meaning is not obvious. (1) Donnell might point to
some ‘token’ or sign of having been beaten about the head – a crushed
hat, perhaps; (2) it might mean ‘as a fair warning’.
54 phoit
stick See .
58 pretee] Orgel (pre tee); perht tee F1
58 fading
Irish dance, mentioned in Beaumont and Fletcher,
Knight of the Burning Pestle, 3. Interlude, 8–9 ‘Fading is a
fine jig, I’ll assure you, gentlemen’ (
Dramatic
Works, ed. Bowers,
1966–96).
60 leek to
like to.
61 vild
wild.
62 cows
Camden (
1610),
145: ‘cows are their only wealth and of greatest esteem’.
62 garrans] H&S
(garranes); garraues F1
62 garrans
horses; a Gaelic word.
63 And wearing garments that cost the price of a
castle or two. Masquing apparel was indeed costly, and the observation
that lands and property were sold to maintain appearance at court is a
staple of anti-court satire during the period.
64–5 fish . . .
moynshter Referring to Samuel Daniel’s
Tethys’ Festival (
1610), where the masquers had appeared
in an elaborate setting of dolphins and sea-creatures.
64–5 nor . . .
now nor is there now a live sea-monster to save their
clothes.
66 devoish . . .
cloud scenic device in the form of a cloud. In Campion’s Somerset Masque six of the lords descended in a
cloud.
67 daunsh] F1 (daunch)
67 mantles
The long Irish mantle was a national characteristic, and in anti-Irish
propaganda symbolized their ‘incivility’. Spenser called it ‘a fit house
for an outlaw, a meet bed for a rebel, and an apt cloak for a thief’
(
A View,
1997, 57).
68 fadow
Presumably a dance, though the word is not recorded in OED. In the etymology of ‘fading’ OED gives the Irish word ‘feadán’ as a
possible etymology. Perhaps then this is a misprint of an Irish
word.
68 Phip-a-Dunboyne] Orgel; phip adunboyne F1
68 Phip-a-Dunboyne Fynes Moryson says of the Irish: ‘They
delight much in dancing, using no arts of slow measures or lofty
galliards, whereof they have some pleasant to behold, as Balrudery, and
the Whip of Dunboyne’ (Falkiner, 1904, 322).
69–70 Donnell hopes the ladies will not refuse to dance
with the lords in the revels because of their mean dress. The remark is
particularly pointed as Frances Howard and her sister had, the year
before, refused to dance with the masquers of Love
Restored, who were similarly of less than the highest
status.
71 bonny-clabber] Orgel;
bonny clabbe F1
71 bonny-clabber Gaelic word for clotted or curdled milk.
OED cites
New Inn,
1.2.25, as the first instance in English. ‘Probably the most
frequently used Irish word in English writings of the seventeenth
century . . . though its origin in Irish is doubtful’ (Bliss,
1979, 271)
72 usquebaugh Gaelic form of the word whiskey. ‘The Irish
aquavitae, vulgarly called usquebaugh, is held the best in the world of
that kind’ (Moryson, 1908, 4.197).
76 feather
Common element of fashionable wear, and of masque costumes (see
Love
Rest., 19n.).
77–9 vindsh . . .
elemensh . . . four cornersh o’te world A representation of
the four winds, four elements, and four continents figured in Campion’s
Somerset Masque.
77 heter
hither.
83–97 The insistent reassurance of Irish loyalty is
precisely what the King wished to hear, and the message that the ‘real’
ambassadors had been attempting to convey in the months preceding the
masque.
86 bannoke] F1 (Bannoke); bank H&S (E. K.
Chambers, conj.)
86 bannoke
An Anglicization of the Irish bánóg, ‘an enclosed
field’.
89 my little
mayshter Prince Charles.
90 ter frow] this edn; te
vfrow F1
90 frow
lady. (Usually used of Dutch or German women.)
90 Tuchland Germany (Deutschland).
Princess Elizabeth had married Frederick, Elector Palatine, earlier in
1613.
91 spend
expend, sacrifice.
91 ter belly] F2; rer belly F1
93 make . . .
tem make much of them. Elsewhere in the masque the usual form
is ‘’hem’, though at 118 we find ‘t’em’. There seems no good reason to
emend here; the variation may be Jonsonian or compositorial.
95 The request was all the more pointed because of
James’s current imprisonment of two of the Irish representatives.
95 honesht] H&S; honesh
F1
98 rish for
tee rich, as they deserve for being your loyal subjects.
99 make . . .
honesht behave honourably.
102 Justish
Dillon The Dillons were a family of distinguished Irish
jurists, though, according to Nichols (2, 722n.) only Sir Lucas was
alive at the time. The comment may refer to his father Sir Robert Dillon
of Newton, chief justice of the common pleas in 1558 and afterwards
speaker of the Irish House of Commons. This would accord with the fact
that a principal dispute in the Irish Parliament of 1613 was precisely
over who should be the speaker.
102 Dillon’s] F1 (Delounes)
103 Lord
Deputy Sir Arthur Chichester, created Lord Chichester of
Belfast in February 1613, and the man at the centre of the current
disputes.
103 Deputy’sh] F1 (deputish)
105 porsh
porch.
106 peep
pipe, bagpipe; an instrument associated with popular, rather than
courtly, festivity.
108 sa’ me
save me.
110–11 The past tense indicates that this direction was
added or emended from the present tense after the performance. The
additional footmen presumably entered here with the piper.
111 a
song No indication of the nature of the song is given. While
the absence of texts for songs is not uncommon in plays it is virtually
unknown in masque texts. This suggests, perhaps, that the song was in
Irish (see next note).
112 SH] this edn; not in F1
113 solemn . . . harps The solemn music contrasts with the
popular dance of the footmen. The harp was specifically associated with
Ireland and Wales, and underwent something of a revival in the early
Stuart period, both at court and in great houses. Peter Holman (
1987) has
established that an Irishman, Cormac MacDermott, was, in 1605, the first
harper to be employed at the English court since 1555. He probably
played in this masque, along with his pupil Philip Squire. He was also a
composer, and might well have been responsible for some at least of the
music, including the ‘missing’ song.
114–15 civil
GENTLEMAN The word ‘civil’ is
particularly loaded, since the colonization of Ireland was customarily
justified on the grounds that it brought civility to a barbarous nation,
and distinction was frequently made between the Old English who had
lapsed into Irish habits and the New English settlers who maintained
‘civil’ behaviour.
115 bard The figure of the bard, here co-opted in the King’s
interests, was at the time a contentious one. Barnaby Rich, for example,
claimed: ‘there is nothing that hath more led the Irish into error, than
lying historiographers, their chroniclers, their bards’ (
Room for a Gentleman,
1609, 3); Spenser, though apparently
appreciating their verses, saw them as abusing their poetic vocation in
the praising of ‘wickedness and vice’ (
A View,
1997, 77).
Thomas Smyth stated ‘these people be very hurtful to the commonweal, for
they chiefly maintain the rebels’ (Smith,
1998, 311).
117 an’t be] Orgel; and bee
F1
118 rugs
mantles made of rough woollen cloth.
118 tem] F1 (t’em)
118 tem F1
has ‘t’em’, with the apostrophe presumably indicating the omission of
‘h’, as with ‘t’rough’ at 84.
122–4 The dismissing of the antimasquers is,
principally, on the grounds of their social inferiority and
disorderliness, but it is difficult not to feel that their Irish speech
is also here being put firmly in its place.
122 He i.e.
the King.
127 gladding that makes glad.
127 gladding] F1 (glad,
ding)
128 prophecies In addition to Merlin’s prophecies, important in
Barriers, and deployed by Sir John Davies in
his treatise on Ireland (
A Discovery,
1612), Jonson
alludes, as Smith has shown (
1998, 308), to an Irish tradition that
the kings of Scotland traced their descent from an Irish chief, and that
James was the fulfilment of the prophecy of the return of a Gaelic king.
James himself alluded to this tradition in 1614 when giving his verdict
to the Irish delegation (
CSPD,
Carew
MSS, 1873, 291).
130 broils
disturbances, turmoils.
132 stoop
bow down.
133 The harmoniousness of Ireland herself would mean
that she need not look to the harmony of the spheres for a model.
137 barbarism The ‘barbarism’ of the native Irish was frequently
invoked as the justification for English, ‘civilized’ rule.
139 charm
In the original sense, ‘the chanting or recitation of a verse supposed
to possess magic power or occult influence’ (OED Charm n.1 1).
140 assure
confirm.
146 two
harps See . It is possible that MacDermott himself sang as the
bard.
147 First Song] F1 (Song. 1.)
148–9 These lines insist that obedience must be total,
and allude indirectly to the central problem in extracting obedience
from the Old English – their Catholicism. Smith (
1998, 306) cites
James’s 1614 adjudication: ‘The Pope is your father
in
spiritualibus and I
in temporalibus, and
so have your bodies turn one way and your souls drawn another’ (
CSPD,
Carew
MSS, 1873, 290).
150–1 It . . .
by The fiction is that the king’s presence itself has the
capacity to change the masquers, a variation on a standard topos of the
genre.
154 by this
(1) by this time, now (OED, By prep., adv. 21b); (2) by the effect of the king’s
presence.
154 slough
outer covering (the mantles).
158 sings] F2; sing F1
159 Second Song] F1 (Song. 2.)
162 source of
price spring of value.
164 crispèd
Normally ‘curled’, but
OED, 4 gives
‘Applied to trees: sense uncertain’ citing Milton’s
Comus as first instance. It presumably refers to the new buds
of leaves (see also
Vision, 177).
166 sprite
spirit.
A Note on the Masquers John Chamberlain (
Letters,
ed. McClure,
1939), 1.498 records that the dancers were ‘five English and five
Scots’. Three names are known: Andrew Boyd, Abraham Abercrombie, and
John Auchmouty.