The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

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For the Honour of Wales (1618)

FOR THE HONOUR OF WALES

The scene standing

 

as before, a mountain, but now the name changed from Atlas to

   

Craig

Eryri.

Enter

 

[three]

Gentlemen, GRIFFITH, JENKIN, [and] EVAN, a Welsh attorney.

GRIFFITH

Cossin, I know what belongs to this place symwhat  petter than you,

and therefore give me leave to be  pold to advise you.  ’Is not a small matter to 5

offer yourself into presence of a king and aull his court! Be not too byssy and

forward til you be caulled, I  tauk reason to you.

JENKIN

 Cym, never tauk any tauks. If the king of Gread Pritain keep  it  assizes

here, I will cym into court,  loog yow, do you see now, an please Got.

GRIFFITH

 Taw, dyn ynfyd!  Ydd wyt ti’n abl i anafu pob peth o’th ffolineb,  ac i dynnu 10

gwatwar ar dy  wlad.

JENKIN

 Gad fi’n llonydd! I say I will appear in court.

EVAN

Appear as yow s’ud do then,   Dav Jenkin, in good sort. Do not discredit the

nation and pyt wrong upon us aull by your  rassness.

JENKIN

What do yow caull rassness,  Evan y  Gyrn? Is not aull the  cyntry, and 15

aull Welse, and the Prince of Wales, too abused in  him? By this hand, I will

tell it the king’s own ears every  ’oord, do you see him now?  [To the King.] Bless

Your Ursip,  pray God is in heaven bless  every ince of Your Ursip; and Wales

 is commend it to Your Ursip from top to toe, with aull his hearts aull over, by

Got  ’utch me, and would be glad as a  silling to see yow  in him. Come it down 20

 once a day and try; I tell yow now, yow s’all be as welcomely there as where

you were in  your own cyntries  last two symmers, and pershance we’ll  made

yow as good  s’eer too; we’ll promise Your Ursip as good a piece of  seeze as yow

need pit in your head, and pleas’ yow s’all be toasted too. Go to, see  him once

upon a time your own   selive;  is more good mean you than is aware of. By Got, 25

’is very hard, but s’all make yow a shestice of peace the first days yow come,

and pershance – say nothing –  knight o’the s’ire too; ’is not Worcesters, nor

Pembrokes, nor Mongymeries s’all carry him from yow. But aull this while

s’all I tell you  a liddle now? ’Is a great huge deal of anger upon yow from aull

Wales and the  nation, that Your Ursip would suffer our young Master Sarles, 30

Your Ursip’s son and heir and Prince of Wales, the first time he ever play

dance, to be  pit up in a mountain, Got knows where, by a  palterly poet – how

do you  say him, Evan?

EVAN

Libya.

JENKIN

 Felly! Libya. And how do you caull him the mountain? His name is – 35

EVAN

Adlas.

JENKIN

  Hynny, hynny, Adlas!   Ay, please Your Ursip,  ’is a Welse attorney, and a

 preddily scholars,  a wear him his  long coat line with seepskin, as yow see,

every days o’the week.  A very sufficient litigious fellows in the  terms, and

a finely poets out o’the terms; he has a sprig of laurel already towards his 40

  girlands. He was get in here at  Twelfth Night and see aull, what do you call

it,  your matters, and says is naught, naught, stark naught.

EVAN

I do say, an’t please His Madesty, I do not like him with aull his heart;

 he’s  plugged in by the ears, without all  piddies, or mercies of propriedies

or decorums. I will do injuries to no man before His Madesty, but ’is a very 45

vile and absurd as a man would wiss, that I do say, to pyt the Prince of Wales

in an outlandis mountain, when he is known His Highness has as goodly

mountains and as tawll a hills of his own, look yow, do you see now, and of

as good standing and as good descent as the proudest Adlas christened.

JENKIN

Ay, good Evan, I pray you  reckon His Madesty some of the Welse hills, 50

the mountains.

EVAN

Why, there is   Talgar.

JENKIN

Well said.

EVAN

 Eliennieth.

JENKIN

Well said, Evan. 55

EVAN

 Cadier Arthur.

JENKIN

Toudge him, toudge him!

EVAN

 Penmaen-mawr.

JENKIN

Is good boys, Evan.

EVAN

And Craig Eryri. 60

JENKIN

Aw, fellhy! Why  law you now, is not Penmaen-maur and Craig Eryri as

good sound as Adlas every whit of him?

EVAN

’Is caulled the  British Aulps, Craig  Eryri, a very sufficient hills.

JENKIN

By Got, we will  play with him hills for hills, for sixteen and forty

s’illings, when he dares. 65

EVAN

I pray you let it alone your  wachers a liddle while, cossin Davy ap Jenkin,

and give it leave I may give His Madesty and the court informations toudging

now the  reformations.

JENKIN

Why, cannot yow and I tauk too, cossin? The haull, God bless it, is big

enough to hold both our tauks, an we were twice as much as we are. 70

EVAN

Why, tauk it aull then, if you think is reason in you.

JENKIN

No,  I know is no reason, Evan, I confess him; but every man would show

himselve a good subject as he can  to his means. I am a subject by my place,

and two heads is better than one, I imagine,  under correction.

EVAN

 Got’s owns, here is no corrections, man; imagine what yow please, do 75

in Got’s name, imagine, imagine, why do you not imagine? Here is no

penny’rths of corrections.

GRIFFITH

  Aw, gad in, taw sôn.

EVAN

 ’Is so invincibles, so  inmercifullys ignorant, a man knows not upon what

 inces of ground to stand to him;   does conceive it no more, as I am a true Welse 80

Christian, than –  sir-reverence o’the cympany –  the hilts of his dagger.

JENKIN

Go to, I will make the hilts conceive a knock upon your pate, and

pershance a bump too, if yow tauk.

EVAN

How! Upon my pate?

JENKIN

[beating Evan]  Yes, upon your pate; your poetly pate, and your law pate 85

too.

GRIFFITH

[pulling Jenkin away]  Taw sôn, taw sôn! ’Fore Got, yow will go near to

 hazard a thumb and a forefinger of your best hand, if you knock him here.

You may knock him  better s’eap at  Ludlow a great deal. Do you know the

lace where it is? 90

EVAN

Well, I can be patient, I trust, I  trust. It is in a  presence, I presume, that

loves no quarrels, nor replies, nor the lies, nor the shallenge, nor the  duels;

but – I will do my  bysiness now, and make this a bysiness for another days

hereafter. Pleas’ Your Madesty – by Got, I am out of my tempers terribly well,

Got forgive me and pyt me in my  selive again. How does Your Highness? – I 95

know not a ’oord or a syllable what I say;  ’is do me that vexations.

GRIFFITH

Oh, Evan, for the honour of Wales!

EVAN

I remember him now, ’is  enough – blessings upon me, ’is out o’my head

again; lost, quite lost; this knock o’my pate has knock aull my wits out o’my

brains, I think, and turn my reasons out of doors. Believe it, I will rub and 100

break your  s’ins for this. I  will not come so high as your head, but I will take

your nose in my way, very sufficiently.

JENKIN

Hang your sufficiency!

EVAN

’Tis well, very well; ’tis better, better, exceedingly well.

[Enter] HOWELL and

 

RHYS to them.

105

HOWELL

  What do you mean,  ho, to make us so long tarry here, ha?

GRIFFITH

Marry, here is aull undone with distempers, methinks, and angers

and passions.

RHYS

Who is angry?

EVAN

Why, it is I is  angry, and hungry too, if you mark me. I could eat his 110

 Flintseer face now. Offer to knock my pate in the hearing of aull these, and

more too! Well, before His Madesty I do yet forgive him now with aull my

heart, and will be revenged another time.

HOWELL

Why, that is good Evan, honest brave Evan.

RHYS

Ha’ yow told the King’s Madesty of the alterations? 115

EVAN

I am now once again about him; peace. – Please Your Madesty, the Welse

nation, hearing that the Prince of Wales was to come into the hills again,

afore your Madesty have a desire of His Highness, for the honour of Wales,

to make him a Welse hills, which is done without any manner of  sharshes

to Your Madesty, only shanging his name. He is caull now Craig Eryri, a 120

mountain in Caernarvonseer; has as grey beard, and as much snow upon his

head aull the yeare long –

JENKIN

As Adlas for his guts.

EVAN

He tells Your Madesty true, for aull he is a liddle  out of season; but cym,

every man tell as much as he can  now. My  quality is, I hope, sufficiently 125

known to His Madesty; that I am  rector chori is aull my ambitions, and that I

would have  it aull Welse; that is the s’ort and the long of the requests. The

Prince of Wales, we know, is aull over Welse.

JENKIN

And then my lord marquis.

EVAN

 Both my lord marquis is as good, noble, true  Briton, as any ever is come 130

out of Wales.

JENKIN

My Lord  Mongymery is as sound Welse too as fless and blood can make

him.

HOWELL

And  the Howards, by Got, is Welse as straight as any arrow.

EVAN

 Houghton is a town bear his name there by   Pebidiauc. 135

HOWELL

And   Irwin, his name is Wyn, but the Dutsmen come here in Wales and

caull him  Heer-win.

RHEESE

Then  Carr is plain Welse:   Caerleon, Carmarthen, Cardiff.

JENKIN

And  Palmer, his ancestors was call him  Penmaur.

RHEESE

And   Auchmouty is Ap Mouthwye of  Llanmouthwye. 140

JENKIN

And   Abercromby is aull one as  Abermarlys.

EVAN

Or  Abertawe.

HOWELL

Or  Aberdugledhaw.

RHEESE

Or   Aberhodney.

JENKIN

Or  Abergavenny. 145

HOWELL

Or  Aberconway.

EVAN

Aberconway is very like Abercromby. A liddle hard  s’ift has pit ’em aull

into Wales; but our desires and petitions is that the musics be aull Welse, and

the dances, and no  ’Ercules brought in now with a gread staff and a  pudding

upon him. 150

JENKIN

Aw, was his  distaff, was not his club.

EVAN

What need of ’Ercules, when  Cadwallader –

JENKIN

Or  Lluellin, or   Rhys ap Gryffyth, or   Caradoc, or  Owen Glendower, with

a  Welse hook and a  goatskin on his back, had done very better and twice as

well? 155

EVAN

Nay, and to pyt apparel on a  pottle of hay, and caull him  Lantaeus!

GRIFFITH

The belly-gods, too, was as proper a monster as the best of ’em.

EVAN

  I stand to it, there was neither poetries nor  architectures nor designs

in that belly-god, nor a note of musics about him. Come, bring forth our

musics. Yow s’all hear the true Pritan strains now, the ancient Welse  harp – 160

yow tauk of their pygmies, too, here is a pygmies of Wales now; set forth

another pygmies by him!

[Enter] two WOMEN

 

[and HILLYN, a boy]

,

and music to them.

FIRST WOMAN

  Aw  Diesus! What a bravely company is here! This’s a finely haull

indeed! 165

SECOND WOMAN

 What a deal of fine  candle it is!

JENKIN

Ay, peace; let His Madesty hear the music.

SECOND WOMAN

 Ble mae’r brenin?

JENKIN

 Dacw fe.

FIRST WOMAN

 Diesus  bless him; Saint  Davy bless him. I bring my boy o’my 170

back ten mile here to loog upon him. Loog Hillyn, loog  Hillyn,   ste’wch yma

f’enaid, dyma braveries! Yow s’all hear him play too.

EVAN

Peace, no more praddling; begin, set him down.

 

Song

EVAN

   I’s not come here to tauk of  Brut, 175

From whence the Welse does take his root,

Nor tell long pedigree of Prince  Camber,

Whose lineage would  fill aull this chamber,

Nor sing the deeds of old Saint Davy,

The ursip of which would fill a navy; 180

But hark yow me now, for a liddle tales

S’all make a gread deal to the credit of Wales,

CHORUS

In which we’ll toudge your ears

With the praise of her thirteen  s’eeres,

And make yow as glad and merry 185

As fourteen pot of  perry.

Still, still we’ll toudge your ears

With the praise, etc.

HOWELL

’Tis true,  was wear him sherkin frieze,

But what is that? We have store of  s’eese, 190

And Got his plenty of goat’s milk

That  sell him well, will buy him silk

Enough to make him fine to quarrel

At  Hereford  ’sizes in new apparel,

And get him as much green   welwet perhap, 195

S’all give it a  face to his  Monmouth cap.

But then the ore of  Lemster,

By Got, is never a  sempster

That, when he is spun,  e’er did

Yet match him with hir thrid. 200

CHORUS

  Still, still, etc.

RHYS

Aull this’s the  back’s now; let us tell ye

Of some provisions for the belly,

As  cid, and goat, and great goat’s mother,

And  runt, and cow, and good cow’s  uther; 205

And once but taste o’the Welse mutton,

Your Englis s’eep’s not worth a button;

And then for your  fiss,  s’all shoose it your diss.

Look but about, and there is a trout,

A salmon,  cor, or  chevin 210

Will feed you six or seven

As taull man as ever swagger

With Welse hook or long dagger.

CHORUS

Still, still, etc.

EVAN

 But aull this while was never think 215

A word in praise of our Welse drink;

Yet for aull that is a cup of   bragget,

All England s’eere may cast his  cab at.

And what you say to ale of  Webley,

Toudge him as well, you’ll praise him trebly, 220

As well as  metheglin, or  cider, or  meath,

S’all s’ake it your dagger quite out o’the  seath.

And oat-cake of  Guarthenion,

With a goodly leek or onion,

To give as sweet a rellis 225

As ere did  harper Ellis.

CHORUS

Still, still, etc.

HOWELL

And yet is nothing now, aull this,

If of our musics we do miss;

Both harps and pipes too, and the  crowd, 230

Must aull come in and tauk aloud,

As loud as  Bangu, Davy’s bell,

Of which is no doubt yow have  hear tell,

As well as our louder  Wrexham organ,

And  rumbling rocks in s’eere Glamorgan; 235

Where look but in the ground there,

And you s’all see a sound there,

That, put him aull togedder,

Is sweet as   measure-pedder.

CHORUS

Still, still, etc. 240

RHYS

 Aw, but what say yow should it shance too

That we should leap it in a dance too,

And make it you as great a pleasure,

If but your eyes be now at leisure,

As in your ears s’all leave a laughter, 245

To last upon you six days after?

Ha! well-a-go too, let us try to do,

As your old Briton, things to be writ on.

Come put on other looks now,

And lay away your  hooks too, 250

And though yet you ha’ no  pump, sirs,

Let ’em hear that yow can jump, sirs.

CHORUS

Still, still, etc.

JENKIN

Speak it your conscience now, did Your Ursip ever see such a song in

your days? ’Is not as finely a tunes as a man would wiss to put in his ears? 255

EVAN

Come, His Madesty s’all hear better to your dance.

Here a dance of men.

EVAN

Haw, well danced, very well danced.

JENKIN

Well played, Howell, well played, Rhys!  Da  whare, felly, well danced,

i’faith! 260

EVAN

Good boys, good boys; pold and Priton, pold and Priton.

After the dance.

JENKIN

Is not better this now than pygmies? This is men, this is  no monsters,

and you mark him. Well, caull forth  your goats now; Your Ursip s’all see

a properly natural device come from the Welse mountains. ’Is no tuns, nor 265

no  bottles – [To the dancers] stand by there,  s’ow His Ursip the hills – was

drunkenry in his eyes that make that device in my mind. But now,  marg,

marg Your Ursip, I pray yow now, and yow s’all see natures and propriedies;

the very beasts of Wales s’all do more than your men pyt in bottles and barrels.

There was a  tale of a tub, i’faith! ’Is the goatherd and his dog and his son and 270

his wife make musics to the goats as  they come from the hills; give ’em rooms,

give ’em rooms, now they cym. The elderly goats is indifferently grave at first

because of his beard, and only tread it the  measures, byt yow will see him

pyt off his gravities by and by well enough, and frisk it as fine as e’er a kid

 on ’em aull. The Welse goat is an excellent dancer by birth, that is written of 275

him, and of as wisely carriage and comely behaviours a beast, for his footing

especially, as some one or two man, God bless him.

EVAN

 A haull, a haull! Come, a haull,  aw felly!

Here the dance of goats. After the dance:

FIRST WOMAN

Nay, an Your Madesty bid the Welse 280

goats welcome, the Welse  wences s’all sing your praises, and dance your healths too.

Song

FIRST WOMAN

 Aw, God bless it our good King S’ames,

His wife, and his s’ildren, and aull his  rea’ms,

SECOND WOMAN

 And aull his ’ursipful  s’istice of peace about him, 285

FIRST WOMAN

And send that his court be never without him.

SECOND WOMAN

Ow, that her would come down into Wales,

FIRST WOMAN

Her s’ud be very welcome to Welse  Ales.

SECOND WOMAN

I have a cow,

FIRST WOMAN

And I have a hen,

SECOND WOMAN

S’all give it milk,

FIRST WOMAN

And eggs for aull his men. 290

CHORUS

Itself s’all have venison and other  s’eer,

And may it be starved that steal him his deer,

There, there, and everywhere.

JENKIN

Cym, dance now, let us hear your dance, dance!

EVAN

Ha! Well played, Ales. 295

HOWELL

For the honour of Wales!

Here was the dance of men and women. After the dance:

JENKIN

 Digon, enough, enough, digon! Well, now aull the absurdities is removed

and cleared. The rest, an please Your Grace, s’all tarry still, and go on as it

was; Virtue and Pleasure was well enough, indifferently well enough. Only 300

we will entreat Pleasure to cym out of   Driffindore, that is the Gilden Valley,

or  Gelthleedore, that is the Golden Grove, and is in  Carmarthen, the Welse

Garden. ’Is a thousand place in Wales as finely places as the  ’Esperides every

crumb of him.  Merlin was born there too, put we would not make him rise

now and wake him, because we have his prophecies already of Your Madesty’s 305

name to as good purpose as if he were here in presence,  p’odd y geller, Evan?

EVAN

You will still pyt yourselve to these  plunses. You mean His Madesty’s

anagrams of  Charles James Stuart.

JENKIN

Ay, that is Claimes Arthur’s Seat, which is as much as to say, Your Madesty

s’ud be the first king of Gread Pritain, and sit in  Cadier Arthur, which is 310

Arthur’s Chair, as by God’s blessing you do. And then your son Master  Sharles

his – how do you caull him? – is Charles Stuart,  Cals True Hearts, that is us, he

calls us, the Welse nation, to be ever at your service and love you and honour

you, which we pray you understand it his meaning. And that the musicians

yonder are so many Britis bards that  sing  open the hills to let out the Prince 315

of Wales and his Welse friends to you, and all is done.

GRIFFITH

 Very homely done it is, I am well assured, if not very rudely; but

it is hoped Your Madesty will not interpret the honour, merits, love, and

affection of so noble a portion of your people by the poverty of these who

have so imperfectly uttered it. Yow will rather for their  sakes, who are to 320

come in the name of Wales, my lord the prince and the others, pardon what

is past, and remember the cyntry has always been fruitful of loyal hearts to

Your Majesty, a very garden and  seed-plot of honest minds and men. What

lights of learning hath Wales sent forth for your schools? What industrious

 students of your laws? What able ministers of your justice? Whence hath the 325

crown in all times better servitors, more liberal of their lives and fortunes?

Where hath your court or council, for the present, more noble ornaments

or better aids? I am glad to see it and to speak it, and though the nation be

said to be  unconquered and most loving liberty, yet it was never mutinous,

an please Your Majesty, but stout, valiant, courteous, hospitable, temperate, 330

ingenious, capable of all good arts, most lovingly constant, charitable, great

antiquaries, religious preservers of their gentry and genealogy, as they are

zealous and knowing in religion.

In a word, it is a nation bettered by prosperity so far, as to the present

happiness it enjoys under Your most sacred Majesty, it wishes nothing to be 335

added but to see it perpetual in you and your issue.

 God of his great goodness grant it, and show he is an errant knave and no

true Briton, does not say Amen too with his heart. 

1 as before as it had been for Pleasure Rec.
1–2 Craig Eryri] F2 (Craig-Eriri)
1–2 Craig Eryri Snowdon (Welsh): the highest mountain in Wales.
3 three] H&S (subst.); not in F2, which leaves a large space, thus: ‘Enter Gentlemen’
4 petter better.
5 pold bold.
5 ’Is ’Tis. H&S note that Griffith begins the sentence with the verb, as would be the case in Welsh grammar. Cf. also 29, 63, 255, 303.
7 tauk talk, speak.
8 Cym Come.
8 it his (a dialect usage repeated throughout the masque).
8 assizes legal sessions.
9 loog yow see here. This idiomatic imperative was already established in English at this time (cf. 2H4, 2.2.84: ‘look you how he writes’), but Jonson uses it as a recurring marker of Welsh idiom, which indeed it has subsequently become.
10–11 Taw . . . wlad ‘Silence, foolish man! You may spoil everything with your folly and make your country a laughing-stock.’ Jerry Hunter notes (privately) that although ‘o’th’ is viable Middle Welsh, it could be a misprint for ‘a’th’, in which case one should read ‘with your foolishness’.
10 Ydd wyt ti’n] this edn; y, dhwyti-n F2; ydhwyt yn H&S
10 ac] this edn; ag F2
11 wlad] H&S; wlac F2
12 Gad . . . llonydd ‘Leave me alone.’
13 Dav] H&S; Dab F2
13 Dav F2 prints ‘Dab’, but the character’s name is ‘Davy ap Jenkin’ (see 66). H&S suggest that the compositor misread the curled upstroke of the scribe’s ‘v’.
14 rassness rashness.
15 Evan y Gyrn Literally, Evan of the Mound. F2 prints ‘Evan y Gynrn’, which is meaningless as well as unpronounceable. Jerry Hunter (private communication) suggests that ‘Gynrn’ is a misprinted place name, ‘based on the word curn or cyrn, meaning “lump”, “mound”, “(hay) rick”. It is a feminine noun, so it would be mutated with the definite article, giving y gyrn. There are place names like Gyrn Goch from Y Gyrn Goch, and given the Welsh tendency to refer to people by their place, especially farm, of origin, it is very easy to imagine a farm or dwelling known as Y Gyrn and a member of that family then being known as “Evan Y Gyrn”. Moreover, as the plural would have -nn- (cyrnni, cyrnnau, or curnydd), one could easily find somebody writing “cyrnn” in the early modern period, which would allow for this misprint “Gynrn”.’ Alternatively, the name might be Evan y Gwyrn, Evan the Lice; Evan y Gwyrni, Evan the Perversity; or Evan y Gyrr, Evan the Thrust.
15 Gyrn] this edn, conj. J. Hunter; Gynrn F2
15 cyntry country.
16 him it (also frequently repeated through the masque).
17 ’oord word.
17 SD] this edn; not in F2
18 pray . . . bless may God in heaven bless.
18 every] F3; ever F2
19 is commend commends.
20 ’utch judge. H&S compare the Welsh knight in Dekker and Chettle’s Patient Grissill: ‘By Cods udge me’ (Dekker, Dramatic Works, ed. Bowers, 1953–61, 1.228).
20 silling shilling.
20 in him in Wales.
21 once a day one day.
22 your own cyntries Scotland.
22 last two symmers two summers ago. James revisited Scotland in 1617, making a progress to Edinburgh by way of York and Newcastle, returning on the west coast route through Lancashire. Jenkin talks as though the journey had been made a year earlier.
22 made Dialect, but possibly a misprint for ‘make’.
23 s’eer cheer.
23 seeze A predilection for toasted cheese (later known as Welsh rabbit) was an established part of the Welsh national stereotype.
24 him it; i.e. Wales.
25 selive;] Orgel; sellive, F2
25 selive self.
25 is more . . . of more good is meant for you than you are aware of.
27 knight . . . s’ire member of parliament. In fact, the nomination of Welsh MPs was controlled by the patronage of the great county families, led by the Earls of Worcester, Pembroke, and Montgomery, as Jenkin immediately admits. Montgomery danced in the masque, and the other two would have been present in their capacity as officers of the crown. The idea that the King might be honoured by being made into a Welsh JP or MP testifies to Jenkin’s naïve pride in his country.
29 a liddle a little (item of news).
30 nation people (of Wales); cf. 117 below. An idiom also used by the Welshman Llewellyn in H5, 3.3.60.
32 pit put.
32 palterly paltry.
33 say call.
35 Felly ‘So’.
37 Hynny, hynny] this edn; Hynno, hynno F2
37 Hynny ‘That’.
37 Ay,] G; I F2; I, Orgel
37 Ay F2 prints ‘I’, which printers commonly used as a short form of ‘Ay’. Orgel’s edition retains ‘I’, so that Jenkin seems to be saying, in an English idiom, that he is a lawyer; but Evan is the lawyer, so F2’s ‘is’ must be a contraction of ‘he is’.
37 ’is] G; is F2
38 preddily pretty.
38 a wear him he wears.
38 long . . . seepskin his lawyer’s gown.
39 A very sufficient ‘He is a very sufficient’ is implied.
39 terms law term, when the courts are in session.
41 girlands] F2 (girlonds)
41 girlands the laurel garland worn by poets, especially a poet laureate.
41 Twelfth Night] F2 (Twelfe-night)
42 your matters i.e. the performance of Pleasure Rec., which the other spectators so disliked. Perhaps ‘matters’ is a malapropism for ‘masques’.
44 he’s plugged] F2 (h’is plugd)
44 plugged plucked; dragged.
44 piddies pities.
50 reckon detail a list for.
52 Talgar] F2; Talgarth G
52 Talgar Talgarth; the Black Mountains, in Breconshire (now part of Powys). Listed as one of Brecon’s highest mountains, with this incorrect spelling, in Camden’s Britannia (trans. Holland, 1610), 627. Camden’s description of it is quoted from the Itinerarium Cambriae (‘Journey through Wales’) of the medieval historian Giraldus Cambrensis (see Gerald, 1978, 96).
54 Eliennieth Mount Plynlimon (in modern Welsh, Punlumon), in mid-Wales, where the Severn and the Wye rise. In his Descriptio Cambriae, Giraldus calls it Elenydd (Gerald, 1978, 224); Camden (1610), 658, uses only the English name, so Jonson must have used some source beyond Britannia.
56 Cadier Arthur Arthur’s Chair; a mountain hollow between Corn du and Pen-y-Fan, two peaks in the Brecon Beacons. Described in detail by Giraldus (Gerald, 1978, 96), and repeated by Camden (1610), 627. Cf. 310 below, and Barriers, 21.
58 Penmaen-mawr a precipitous hill on the north Wales coast between Bangor and Conway; Camden (1610), 669, explains the name as ‘the great stony head’.
61 law la, look.
63 British Aulps Jonson draws the comparison from Camden’s account of the Snowdon massif in Britannia: ‘A man may truly, if he please, term these mountains the British Alps: for, besides that they are the greatest of the whole island, they are no less steep also with cragged and rent rocks on every side than the Alps of Italy, yea and all of them compass one mountain round about, which over-topping the rest so towereth up with his head aloft in the air, as he may seem not to threaten the sky, but to thrust his head up into heaven. And yet harbour they the snow, for all the year long they be hoary with snow, or rather with an hardened crust of many snows felted together. Whence it is that all these hills are in British [i.e. Welsh] by one name termed Craig Eryri, in English Snow-don, which in both languages sound as much as Snowy Mountains’ (Camden, 1610, 667).
63 Eryri] F3 (eriri); Eririri F2
64 play wager.
66 wachers wagers; or, perhaps, vouchers.
68 reformations the changes that had been made in the masque for the second performance.
72 I . . . reason In trying to affirm the superiority of his judgment, Jenkin gets into a muddle similar to that of Wasp in Bart. Fair, 4.4.34–5.
73 to according to.
74 under correction if you don’t mind my saying so.
75 Got’s owns God’s wounds (an oath).
78 Aw, gadu i’u, Tawson H&S] this edn; Aw dgwin Tawson F2; Aw, gadu i’n, tawson H&S
78 Aw . . . sôn ‘Oh, leave us alone, shut up.’
79 ’Is . . . ignorant He is so invincibly, so excessively ignorant that.
79 inmercifullys] Wh; in mercifullys F2
80 inces inches.
80 does] F2 (doe’s)
81 sir-reverence . . . cympany with apologies to the company. ‘Sir-reverence’ was a phrase normally used to apologise for an indecent remark. Compare Tub, 1.6.25.
81 the hilts . . . dagger i.e. something inert and insensible.
85, 87 SD] this edn; not in F2
87 Taw sôn ‘Shut up.’
88 hazard a thumb Brawling in court was an offence that carried severe penalties. In the statute of 33 Henry Ⅷ c.12, the punishment for striking someone in court was the loss of the right hand (Harrison, Description of England, ed. Edelen, 1968, 231–2). Still, Evan’s speech at 98–102 indicates that in performance Jenkin struck him before Griffith managed to intervene, and this edition adds SDs to take account of the implied action.
89 better s’eap more cheaply.
89 Ludlow In Shropshire, the seat of the lord president of the Council of the Marches (and where the punishment for brawling would not be so severe). Through the Council, the crown exercised judicial and administrative authority over Wales.
91 trust. It] this edn, after Orgel; trust it F2
91 presence (1) assembly; (2) royal presence.
92 duels Besides the requirements of court protocol, James regarded duelling as contrary to the rule of a pacific prince, and issued an edict and a Star Chamber decree against it in 1614.
93 bysiness ‘Business’ was a duelling term. Compare Merc. Vind., 115–17.
95 selive self.
96 ’is . . . vexations he has made me so vexed.
98 enough –] G (subst.); inough, F2
101 s’ins shins.
101 will not may not.
105 rhys] Rheese F2 (and throughout)
106 What do you] this edn; What? — you F2; What you Orgel
106 What do you My emendation to F2 assumes that a word was illegible in the manuscript from which the compositor was working. See the discussion in the Textual Essay.
106 ho] F2 (hough)
110 angry, and hungry Compare Epigr. 107.31.
111 Flintseer Flintshire.
119 sharshes charges.
124 out of season Referring to Jenkin’s impolite phrase.
125 now. My] this edn, after G; now, my F2
125 quality (1) abilities; (2) profession.
126 rector chori leader of the chorus.
127–48 The Prince . . . into Wales In this dialogue the Welshmen try to find Welsh-language equivalents for the names of the eleven courtiers who were dancing in the masque, thereby establishing that they have Welsh roots. However, their project is an elaborate, self-deconstructing joke, for, with the partial exception of Montgomery, all the masquers were either Englishmen or Scots, and Jonson pokes fun at the difficulties the Welshmen have in finding non-existent Welsh connections for them. Their linguistic contortions express the complex differences of national identity that lurked beneath the seemingly unitary British iconography of James’s state (see Butler, 1996, 65–7). For the sake of the jokes here, brief details of the masquers’ names are supplied in these notes. Fuller information is given in the complete listing of masquers in volume 1 (cxliii–clxiii).
130 Both . . . marquis George Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, the royal favourite; and James Stewart, Marquis of Hamilton (1589–1625). Hamilton was lord steward of the household, a privy councillor, and a gentleman of the bedchamber. A cousin of the King, he was one of James’s closest Scottish friends.
130 Briton] F2; Priton H&S
132 Mongymery Philip Herbert (1584–1650), Earl of Montgomery, and (after the death of his brother William) fourth Earl of Pembroke. The Herberts were originally Welsh and held large estates in Wales, though by this time the family was entirely Anglicized. The Welsh title Montgomery was created for Philip Herbert as a mark of James’s favour in 1605.
134 the Howards Sir Thomas Howard (1580?–1669) and Sir Charles Howard (d. 1622), respectively the second and fourth sons of the Lord Treasurer (Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk).
135 Houghton Sir Gilbert Houghton (1591?–1647), son of Sir Richard Houghton, who fought in the Barriers after Hymenaei. In summer 1617, he had entertained the King at his family home, Houghton Hall in Lancashire, during the homeward leg of James’s progress to Scotland.
135 Pebidiauc] this edn; Pipidiauke F2
135 Pebidiauc St David’s Land, the promontory that forms the north-western corner of Pembrokeshire (now part of Dyfed). Pebidiauc is the spelling as it appears in Camden (1610), 653. The Welsh village Houghton lies to the south, four miles from Milford Haven, but has no connection with Houghton Hall in Lancashire.
136 Irwin] F2 (Erwin)
136 Irwin Sir William Irwin, who became a gentleman usher of the prince’s privy chamber in 1613 (Birch, 1849, 1.257); described by John Chamberlain (Letters, ed. McClure, 1939, 2.220–1) as ‘a kind of dancing schoolmaster to Prince Henry’.
137 Heer-win Howell explains ‘Irwin’ as the Welsh name ‘Wyn’ to which the syllable ‘heer’ (= ‘master’ in Dutch) has been added by Flemish incomers (a sizeable Dutch community was settled in Pembrokeshire by Henry I. See Gerald, 1978, 121–2; Camden, 1610, 652). But as the court would have known, Sir William Irwin was a Scot. H&S note that Glamorganshire has a village called Hirwaun, but this misses the point of the joke: Howell’s argument is not geographical but etymological.
138 Carr Sir Robert Carr or Ker (1578–1654), a Scot and a close favourite of the Prince.
138 Caerleon] G; Caerlton F2
138 Caerleon ‘The city of the legions’, an ancient Roman settlement in Monmouthshire (Gwent). Camden (1610), 204, discusses the etymology of Welsh place names beginning with ‘caer’ (= ‘city’).
139 Palmer Roger Palmer (1577–1657), second son of Sir Thomas Palmer; cupbearer to Prince Henry and Prince Charles, and later master of Charles’s household.
139 Penmaur See 58n.; a double joke, for the literal meaning is ‘big head’. Camden (1610), 18–19, discusses Welsh place names with the syllable ‘pen’, meaning ‘mountain top’.
140 Auchmouty] Orgel; Acmooty F2
140 Auchmouty John Auchmouty, a minor Scottish courtier who became groom of the bedchamber and received substantial monetary rewards from James.
140 Llanmouthwye Probably Llanymaddwy in Merionethshire (now part of Gwynedd). The name means ‘town on the river Mawddwy’; Welsh ‘ap’ is equivalent to ‘son of’.
141, 147 Abercromby] Orgel (subst.); Abercromy F2
141 Abercromby Abraham Abercromby, described as ‘a Scottish dancing courtier’ by John Chamberlain (1939), 2.69.
141 Abermarlys Abermarlais in Caernarvonshire (now part of Gwynedd).
142 Abertawe Swansea (‘the mouth of the River Tawe’).
143 Aberdugledhaw Milford Haven, in Pembrokeshire; Aberdaugleddyf in modern Welsh. Camden (1610), 652, spells it as ‘Aberdugledhau’ and glosses it as ‘the outlet of two swords’, i.e. two rivers, meeting at their point of discharge. He also discusses the persistence of ‘aber’ (= ‘a haven’) in the Welsh and Pictish tongues (21, 117).
144 Aberhodney] H&S; Abes hodney F2
144 Aberhodney Brecon. The correct Welsh form should be Aberhonddu, ‘mouth of the River Honddu’, but Jonson follows the spelling in Camden (1610), 628.
145 Abergavenny Town in Monmouthshire.
146 Aberconway ‘that is, the mouth of Conway’; Camden (1610), 669.
147 s’ift shift, effort.
149 ’Ercules] F3; ’Erculus F2
149 pudding sausage; a dismissive term for Hercules’ club. H&S compare The Wisdom of Dr Dodipoll (1600), sig. B1: ‘You bring stuff for her? You bring pudding.’
151 distaff stick used for spinning wool; an emblem of femininity. A reference to the story that Hercules fell so deeply in love with Omphale that he became effeminized, and wore her dress and carried her distaff in place of his lion’s skin and club.
152 Cadwallader Cadwaladr, Welsh king (d. 689). According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, he was the last king of the Britons; forced into exile by plague and civil war, he was granted a divine promise that one day the Britons would regain the island (Geoffrey, 1966, 280–4).
153 Lluellin Llywelyn ap Gryffyth (d. 1282); Welsh hero, who fought against Edward I. Like the other names in this passage, the spelling is anglicized.
153 Rhys ap Gryffyth] G (subst.); Reese ap Griphin F2
153 Rhys ap Gryffyth Prince of south Wales, who fought the Normans in the time of Henry Ⅱ; the Welsh form of his name is Gruffudd.
153 Caradoc] Orgel; Cradock F2
153 Caradoc Caradog, who fought the Romans in the time of Claudius; known to them as Caractacus.
153 Owen Glendower Owain Glyndwr (1359?–1416?) led a Welsh rebellion against Henry IV.
154 Welse hook Billhook; a rustic scythe or weapon with a hook on the end. In Marlowe’s Edward Ⅱ, 4.7, the King is captured by men carrying Welsh hooks.
154 goatskin Hercules was always depicted wearing a lion’s skin. The goatskin alludes to the impoverished background of these Welsh heroes. Cf. H5, 5.1.28, ‘Not for Cadwallader and all his goats’.
156 pottle bottle; a common term for a bundle of hay (compare New Inn, 1.5.31; and Marlowe’s Dr Faustus (1604 text), 4.1.154), though perhaps Evan means that the men dressed as bottles who danced the first antimasque in Pleasure Rec. were encased in wicker flasks.
156 Lantaeus The giant Antaeus. See Pleasure Rec., 69n.
158 I stand] Wh; I, stand F2
158 I stand F2 has ‘I, stand’. Conceivably ‘I’ could be meant to mean ‘Ay’, and ‘stand’ would then be imperative.
158 architectures Pointedly, Jonson emphasizes that the Welshmen disliked Inigo Jones’s part of the masque, as well as the poet’s fable. ‘Architecture’ and ‘design’ are terms that foreground Jones’s contribution. Compare Pleasure Rec., 239.
160 harp The traditional instrument of the Welsh bardic singer.
163 HILLYN literally ‘ugly one’ or ‘fool’, and the name of a fourteenth-century Welsh poet. See Owen (1996), 95.
164 first woman] 1 Wo. F2
164 Aw Diesus Ah, Jesus.
164, 170 Diesus] F2; Desus Orgel
166, 168 second woman] 2 F2
166 candle For a masque, the Banqueting House would have been brilliantly illuminated by scores of candles.
168 Ble . . . brenin? ‘Where’s the King?’
169 Dacw fe ‘There he is.’
170 SH] 1 F2
170 bless him1,2] blesse’him F2
170 Davy David, the patron saint of Wales.
171 Hillyn1,2] this edn; Hullin F2
171 ste’wch] this edn; spewch F2; stewch G; eistewch H&S (10.593); eistewdwch Orgel
171–2 ste’wch . . . braveries ‘Sit here, my dear, here are braveries.’ F2’s spewch, which puzzled H&S, is probably an error for for ste’wch, a spoken form of the plural imperative eisteddwch = ‘sit!’ (N. A. Jones, personal communication). For ‘bravery’ meaning ‘splendour’, or possibly ‘the collective body of gallants in the audience’, see Epicene, 1.3.21–2.
174 Song] this edn; Song. / EVAN. 1 Song F2
175–253 stanzas unnumbered, this edn; stanzas headed ‘1 Song’, ‘2 Song’, ‘3 Song’ etc., F2 (see Textual Essay)
175 I’s] Recreation for Ingenious Headpieces, 1645; I’Is F2 (the first ‘I’ is a large capital, decorating the start of the stanza); ’Is H&S
175 I’s I am.
175 Brut Brutus, the grandson (or, in some versions, great grandson) of Aeneas; a hero who, in the myth transmitted by Geoffrey of Monmouth, led a group of Trojan colonists to Britain and gave his name to the island and the people who descended from him. Jerry Hunter points out that the name was also used to refer to Welsh historiographical texts, such as Brut y Brenhinedd, ‘the Brut of the Kings’, and Brut y Tywysogion, ‘The Brut of the Princes’ (the titles of the Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and its supplement dealing with medieval Wales until the end of Welsh rule).
177 Camber Brutus’s third son, to whom Wales was given on his father’s death. Giraldus said that Cambria was so named after him (Gerald, 1978, 231).
178 fill . . . chamber i.e. if painted or written out.
184 s’eeres shires. Wales’s six medieval counties were expanded to thirteen under Henry Ⅷ.
186 perry pear cider.
189 was . . . frieze he is wearing a frieze jerkin (coarse wool jacket).
190 s’eese cheese.
192 sell him well if they sell well.
194 Hereford County town near the border with Wales.
194 ’sizes legal sessions; where Evan would ‘quarrel’.
195 welwet] H&S (subst.); Melmet F2; velvet G
195 welwet velvet.
196 face trim, ornament.
196 Monmouth Town in the Wye valley, known for the caps originally manufactured there.
197 Lemster Leominster, in Herefordshire. ‘Ore of Lemster’ is high-grade wool, as explained by Camden (1610), 620: ‘The greatest name and fame that [Leominster] hath at this day is of the wool in the territories round about it (Lemster Ore they call it), which setting aside that of Apulia and Tarentum all Europe counteth to be the very best.’ Drayton’s Poly-Olbion has a lengthy eulogy of the wool: ‘To whom did never sound the name of Lemster Ore? / That with the silkworm’s web for smallness doth compare’ (Drayton, Works, ed. Hebel, 1961, 4.131).
198 sempster seamstress.
199 e’er] Wh; ore F2
201, 214, 227, 240, 253 SH] this edn; not in F2; added at 197, 210, 223, 236, 249 H&S, Orgel
201 No chorus is marked here in F2, or in subsequent verses, but it seems likely that the repeated refrain was sung by the group. H&S and Orgel add in directions for the chorus to sing all the short lines in each verse, on the model provided by the first stanza, but this breaks each verse up very awkwardly. It is more likely that the whole of each stanza belongs to its individual singer, with the chorus joining only for the repeated lines. And perhaps the first chorus marked in F2 at 183 should really be placed at 187.
202–3 back’s . . . belly Back and belly are often associated terms in contemporary idiom: compare Pleasure Rec., 22–3, and Tilley, B288.
204 cid kid.
205 runt Welsh breed of ox, of small size; sufficiently well-known to be the basis of jokes about the Welsh in Middleton’s Chaste Maid in Cheapside (ed. A. Brissenden, 1968), 4.1.119, 5.4.121.
205 uther udder.
208 fiss fish.
208 s’all . . . diss ‘you’ll choose it for your dish’.
210 cor salt cod.
210 chevin chub. Camden (1610), 633, praises the River Wye for its fish.
215 ‘But all this time we have not considered.’
217 bragget] F2 (Bragat)
217 bragget In Welsh, bragawd; a drink fermented from honey and ale.
218 cab cap. ‘Cast his cap at’ = ‘despair of overtaking’.
219 Webley Town in Herefordshire, near Leominster, famous for its ale. See Camden (1610), 620: ‘So renowned also is [Leominster] for wheat and bread of the finest flour, that Lemster bread and Webley ale . . . are grown unto a common proverb’ (i.e. implying ‘the best in their kinds’).
221 metheglin meddyglyn; spiced mead, originating in Wales.
221 cider] F2 (Sidar)
221 meath mead; spelled by Jonson to suggest a dialect pronunciation (unlike the other words of Welsh origin in the ballad).
222 seath sheath.
223 Guarthenion The old name for Radnorshire (now part of Powys). According to Camden (1610), 624, it derives from the evil British king Vortigern, who was struck down here by the hand of God.
226 harper Ellis unidentified; presumably a Welsh minstrel.
230 crowd Welsh crwth; an ancient Celtic fiddle. Discussed in Giraldus’s Descriptio Cambriae (Gerald, 1978, 239).
232 Bangu The name of a handbell preserved at Glascwm, Radnorshire, supposed to have belonged to St David and to have miraculous powers. Giraldus’s Itinerarium Cambriae, 1.1, describes how God punished the men of Rhaiadr Gwy, who treated the bell disrespectfully (Gerald, 1978, 79).
233 hear] F3; here F2
234 Wrexham Town in Denbighshire (Clwyd). Camden (1610), 677, praises the church and its organs.
235 rumbling rocks A famous natural wonder at Barry Island, Glamorganshire; a rock cleft through which could be heard an underground sound that was supposed to resemble mines or factories perpetually at work. Giraldus’s colourful description (Gerald, 1978, 125) is repeated verbatim in Camden (1610), 643. Spenser uses the place for Merlin’s marvellous abode in The Faerie Queene, 3.3.8–9, explaining that the sounds are spirits compelled to labour by Merlin’s magic: leaving his house one day, Merlin commanded the spirits to work until he returned, but he shortly after died, and they are now condemned to work for all eternity.
239 measure-pedder] Orgel; measure pedder F2
239 measure-pedder The fourth of the twenty-four bardic musical measures, called Rhiniart; ‘pedder’ is Welsh pedair, meaning ‘four’ (Orgel, citing Jones, 1794, 28–9; and W. S. G. Williams, 1933, 32).
241 Aw] Orgel; Av F2
250 hooks Welsh billhooks (cf. 154 and 213).
251 pump light shoe, for dancing.
259 Da . . . felly ‘Well played, yes!’ Welsh whare is a dialect form of chwarae, ‘to play’ (N. A. Jones, personal communication).
259 whare] this edn; wharry F2; chware H&S
263 no monsters Jonson harks back to the critical principles expounded in the prol. to EMI (F), which insists that audiences should be given images of real rather than fanciful human behaviour (‘You that have so graced monsters may like men’), and the Ind. to Bart. Fair, with its implied censure of Shakespeare’s aesthetic lapse in including a ‘servant-monster’ in The Tempest. Jonson ironically turns his arguments against his own ‘monsters’, the pygmies.
264 your goats] Gifford/C; you Goates F2
266 bottles – stand . . . hills – was] this edn; Bottils: Stand . . . Hills, was F2
266 s’ow His Ursip let the King see.
267 marg mark.
270 tale of a tub cock and bull story. See note to the title-page of Tub.
272 they] Wh; the F2
273 measures slow dances.
275 on of.
278 A haull Make room. Compare Tub, 5.9.11.
278 aw felly ‘ah, yes!’
281 wences wenches.
283, 286, 288, 289, 290 first woman] 1 F2
284 rea’ms realms (‘Reames’ in F2, for the sake of the rhyme).
285, 287, 289, 290 second woman] 2 F2
285 s’istice justices.
288 Ales Alice; the first woman’s name.
291 s’eer cheer.
298 Digon ‘Enough’.
301 Driffindore] Nichols; Driffimdore F2
301 Driffindore Dryffryn Aur, in Herefordshire, the valley of the Dor (a tributary of the Wye). Camden (1610), 617, says the Welsh call it Diffrin Dore, after the river, and that ‘the Gilden Vale’ is its English name – which name it still carries today.
302 Gelthleedore Gelli Aur, the Golden Grove, near Llandilo, in Carmarthenshire. In Britannia, the English name appears on Saxton’s map, but the Welsh name is not mentioned. As Orgel notes, Jonson’s spelling ‘Gelthlee’ is an attempt to reproduce the Welsh pronunciation of ‘Gelli’.
302 Carmarthen] F2 (Care Marden)
303 ’Esperides The Garden of the Hesperides: the earthly paradise discussed in Pleasure Rec., 142, 175.
304 Merlin Camden (1610), 649, says Merlin was born in Carmarthen, and ‘devised for our Britons prophecies, nay rather mere fantastical dreams; whereby in this island he hath been accounted among the credulous and unskilful people a most renowned prophet.’ His prophecies, including the prediction that one day the island would again be named after Brutus, were anthologized in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s British history (Geoffrey, History, trans. Thorpe, 1966, 175). Those that Jonson cites are not Galfridian, but are modern anagrams made on the names of the king and prince, mystically pointing to their symbolic connections with their empire. The first example was cited in the chapter on anagrams in Camden’s Remains Concerning Britain (1605); see Camden, Remains, ed. Dunn, 1984, 145. Jonson had already used it in Barriers, 20, where he also considers the idea that James’s Britain is a modern reawakening of a sleeping Arthurian past.
306 p’odd y geller ‘How could that be?’ The first word is a compressed spoken form of pa fodd = ‘how’ (N. A. Jones, personal communication).
307 plunses plunges; difficulties.
308 Charles James Stuart James’s full name.
310 Cadier Arthur See 56n.
311 Sharles] F2 (S’harles)
312 Cals True Hearts An anagram borrowed from John Taylor’s The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses (1614), sig. C1v – though ‘true’ has to be spelled ‘tru’ for it to work.
315 sing . . . hills This implies that the performance was to continue with the main masque from Pleasure Rec., commencing at 180 where the mountain opens to reveal the masquers. However, some of the earlier action may also have been repeated, for at 299–300 Jenkin envisages an entry by Virtue and Pleasure.
315 open] Morley; o’pen F2
317–38 It is notable that, for this closing peroration, Griffith modulates into standard English speech far removed from his dialect earlier in the masque.
320 sakes] F3; saks F2
323–6 seed-plot . . . fortunes This passage is quoted, with slight adjustments, in John Hacket’s Scrinia Reserata (1693), 5, a biography of one prominent Jacobean Welshman, the bishop and politician John Williams (see Und. 61).
325 students] F2 (Studients)
329 unconquered The traditional term for the parts of Wales beyond the marches, which remained outside English rule until the thirteenth century.
337–8 God . . . heart.] three lines, centred and italicized, F2
a note on the masquers The identities of the masquers are discussed in the notes to 130–41 on pp. 334–5 above.