An
Expostulation Circulated only in manuscript in Jonson’s
lifetime; first printed by Whalley from a manuscript belonging to George
Vertue. Inigo Jones (1573–1652), Royal Surveyor from Oct. 1615, designed
sets and stage machinery for Jonson’s masques from
Blackness (1604) onwards. Relations between these two strong
characters were strained: by 1618–19 Jonson ‘said to Prince Charles of
Inigo Jones, that when he wanted words to express the greatest villainy
in the world, he would call him an Inigo’ (
Informations, 367–9). Jones is the most likely target of
Epigr. 115 and 129 (both certainly composed before
1616), and is pilloried as In-and-In Medley, the joiner in
Tub, and as Colonel Iniquo Vitruvius in
Bolsover. Jones composed an epigram ‘To his false friend Mr
Ben Jonson’ (which survives in British Library, Harley MS 6057, fol. 30;
Literary Record, Electronic Edition) and inserted hostile comments about
Jonson into the margins of his Italian copy of Plutarch (A. V. Johnson,
1986). This
poem suggests there was a deep difference between them on principle over
whether words or scenery were the ‘soul’ of masque (see Gordon,
1975, 77–101), but
pride and ambition for court patronage played its part: Jones is
believed to have objected when his name appeared second on the
title-page of
Love’s Tr. (1631), which would have
shown acute sensitivity, since both his and Jonson’s names are side by
side. His name was then omitted from the title-page of
Chloridia (as was Jonson’s), which is supposed to have enraged
Jones (Gifford,
1875, 1.161). This poem was written some time early in 1631
(see .).
Jonson ceased to compose masques for the court soon after this date.
This and the two following poems may reflect his recognition that his
rival had won — and indeed Aurelian Townshend ends his masque
Albion’s Triumph (Jan. 1632) with a profession that
‘the structure and changes of the scene’ matter more than ‘the invention
and writing of the masque’ (
Townshend, Poems and
Masks, 78). If James Howell’s letter to Jonson (Letter
(j), Electronic Edition) is to be believed, the satires on Jones may
have contributed to Jonson’s fall from favour: ‘If your spirit will not
let you retract, yet you shall do well to repress any more copies of the
satire, for to deal plainly with you, you have lost some ground at court
by it, and as I hear from a good hand, the King who hath so great a
judgement in poetry (as in all other things) is not well pleased
therewith.’ This statement suggests that this and the following two
poems were effectively published in manuscript: MS versions of this poem
show relatively few substantive variants, most of which appear to be
scribal (see full collation in Electronic Edition). There are two
scribal copies on bifolia (a single sheet folded to create two leaves, a
form sometimes used for the manuscript publication of satires). It is
likely that the poems were thrown off in the heat and not significantly
revised (although see collation and note to ‘Inigo, Marquis Would-Be’,
line 12). Their absence from
The Underwood suggests
that Jonson may have heeded the advice offered by Howell and ‘repressed’
further copies. E. T. Jordan (
1991) argues that Jones was ahead of
Jonson as a theorist and practitioner of creative imitation, and Johnson
(
1994), 218
suggests that ‘Jonson’s attack on Jones was launched from the inside of
the Vitruvian tradition’. Orgel (
1971; repr. in Orgel
2002, 49–69)
explicates and defends Jones’s aesthetics. [Editor: Colin Burrow]
1 Surveyor
Jones had been appointed Surveyor of the King’s Works in Oct. 1615.
2 thirty . . .
pipkins Pipkins are pots and pans. Moneylenders often bypassed
strict laws about the maximum rate of interest by making up part of the
total sum lent in worthless commodities such as lute strings;
H&S suggest that
Jonson means Jones began with borrowed money. His father, a clothworker,
was in debt at the end of his life.
2 pound]
JnB 249; poundes JnB 251,
JnB 253,
JnB 255 subst.
4 Euclid
Greek geometrist and mathematician (c. 325–265 bc).
5 Archimede
(Archimedes) Greek mathematician and engineer (c.
287–212 bc).
5 Archytas
(fl. c. 400–350 bc)
Pythagorean philosopher and mathematician, famous as the founder of
mechanics.
7 Control
Find fault with (
OED, 3†b).
7 Ctesibius
(fl. 270 bc), inventor, and innovator in
pneumatics; he designed a water clock and war catapult.
8 Vitruvius
(fl. 40
bc) was author of
De
Architectura, the only surviving Roman manual on architecture.
Book 9 makes use of the geometry of Archytas and Archimedes among
others, so Jonson insinuates that all Jones knows came from this one
book. Jones’s copy of an Italian version of Vitruvius (
1567) is at
Chatsworth; see Gotch (
1928), 247–8. Jonson’s (in Latin) is described in Jonson's
Library, Electronic Edition, and the poet’s knowledge of Vitruvius is
discussed in A. V. Johnson (
1994), 9–35.
9 Drawn
Presumably like a sword; possibly with a play on ‘pervert the sense of’
(
OED, †21c).
10 architectonike Aristotle held that some skills and sciences
were
ἀρχιτ∊κτονικὴ to
others, by which he meant that inferior skills were dependent on the
higher as the work of a labourer is dependent on the skill of the
architect. Although he uses the superiority of architecture as an
example of this hierarchy of skills, he regards virtue (
Nicomachean Ethics, 1.1.4) as the architectonic or final end
of man.
OED misses this usage, which predates its first
cited example.
11 building]
JnB 249; buildings JnB 255
13 Vizors
Masks.
13 antics
grotesque figures (of animals etc.;
OED, n.
B †1a).
14 sirship
honour (sarcastically; Jones was never knighted). Predates first cited
example in
OED by 250 years.
14 sirship]
JnB 249 (Sur-ship)
15 whole]
JnB 249; whose JnB 254
15 style
honorific title.
15 style]
JnB 249; styles JnB 255
16 Tire-man
Assistant in dressing the actors, guardian of properties – as in John
Heath’s ‘In Dominam Membrosam’ from The House of
Correction (1619), sig. B5v, and in Cynthia
(Q), Praeludium, 130).
16 Mountebank
Itinerant quack. Cf. Epigr. 129.13n.
16 Justice
Jones From c. 1630 Jones was Justice of the
Peace for Westminster.
17 fitted
provided with a part; cf.
Kyd, Spanish Tragedy,
4.1.68.
20 asinigo
little ass (from the Spanish asnico or little ass);
found in dramatic texts as a word for a fool; cf. Tro., 2.1.49. The MSS’s ‘Ass-Inigo’ makes the pun transparent.
22 You’ll be]
JnB 249 (You’will be); You will bee
JnB 250,
JnB 250.5,
JnB 252,
JnB 254; You willbee JnB 251,
JnB 255; shalbe JnB 253
22 Langley
Francis Langley (1548–1602) owned the Paris Garden (see Epigr. 113.118) and built the Swan theatre in 1595.
22 Inigo Puns
on the Italian ‘iniquo’, or ‘wicked’.
26 velvet
sheath Velvet scabbards were fashionable (see EMI (F), 2.4.65–7).
27 wooden
dagger Carried by the Vice in interludes (cf.
Devil, 1.1.85 and
2 Henry Ⅳ, 3.2.258);
for the comparison of Jones to the Vice, see
Epigr.
115.5.
28 hafts
handles.
29 pomp it
strut around pompously. (Very rare.)
30 ‘You . . . masque.’]
this edn; you . . . Masque. JnB
249
30 made A
poet might claim to be a ‘maker’ in a higher sense than simply ‘the
builder of a scene’.
32 cry up
declare to be excellent.
32 machine
The term refers to the special effects and changing scenery used in
masques. Jones’s most notable machine was the
machina
versatilis for
Queens; see Orgel and Strong
(
1973),
1.138.
33–9 A swipe at the apparition of the goddesses in Chlor., and the concluding tableau of the masque,
190ff., which it is possible was conceived by Jones rather than
Jonson.
34 shrouds
fly-ropes.
35 Th’ascent]
JnB 248,
JnB 250.5,
JnB 251,
JnB 252, JnB 253,
JnB 255; The ascent JnB 249,
JnB 250,
JnB 254
36 sided
flanked.
38 Goody Used
of humble married women; here deliberately bathetic.
38 brought]
JnB 249; hald in JnB 253
41 sense ‘the
life and soul of language’, Discoveries, 1335–7.
42 spectacles
(1) shows; (2) (ironically) pattern for imitation (
OED,
†5b).
42 ’Tis true]
JnB 249; ’tis true. JnB 250.5
43 Court
hieroglyphics The symbols in masques are symbols of the
superficiality of the Court. The word is mocked in Case, 1.2.5–8.
43–4 And . . .
board You sum up all the arts in nothing more than
illusionistic paintings on inch-thick wood. For ‘perspective’ in
masques, see Blackness, 51–5.
45 than]
JnB 249; but JnB 253
46 can]
JnB 249; will JnB 253
46 mysteries
The word can be used of the secrets of nature; here it suggests that the
mystery is just arcane symbolism and no more.
47 many]
JnB 249; many subtile JnB 252
48 Mythology]
JnB 249; the deepe muthologie JnB
253
48 slit deal
pine board, usually 5/8″ thick; i.e. the inferior timber used in
theatricals.
49 boards
mere wood. (The metonymy ‘the boards’ for ‘the stage’ was not current
until the eighteenth century.)
50 soul
Jonson inverts the argument of
Hym., 1–10 that the
soul of masque lies in the words. For the intellectual background to
this claim, see J. Peacock (
1995), 38–43.
51 Pack Be
off!
52 mechanic
vulgar, engaged in mere manual labour (
OED, †2, 3).
52 mechanic]
JnB 249; inchanting JnB 255
53 can]
JnB 249; will JnB 252
55 they are]
JnB 249; theire are JnB 251
56 ‘design’
OED,
6 does not recognize the use of the word to mean ‘the plan of
the building’ until 1638. In mannerist art theory it could encompass
‘the knowledge according to their proportions of all things that are
visible and of determined size, together with the power to put this to
use’ (Ripa, 1625, 180): Jones was clearly showing off his innovatory
vocabulary and Jonson was teasing him for doing so; see Gordon (
1975), 89–96.
57–8 Presumably if an architect plots a ‘design’ no
other art can hope to play a major part in the masque.
58 beside]
JnB 248,
JnB 250,
JnB 250.5,
JnB 254,
JnB 255; by side JnB 249; besides
JnB 251,
JnB 252 subst., JnB 253; JnB
253.5
60 Σκ∊υοποιός (Skeuopoios) Maker of masks and stage dresses
(used by
Aristotle, Poetics, 1450b20, which is cited in
Stephanus’s entry for the word). Some MSS prefer
Σκηνοποιός, which means ‘maker of stage
properties’ (cf. .). Since the entry in Stephanus’s dictionary for the
latter refers to the former it may be that Jonson changed his mind over
which to use; but he probably favoured the term used in the
Poetics (which is the
difficilior lectio).
It is likely that an intelligent copyist changed the word to the more
etymologically transparent form
Σκηνοποίος.
60 Σκ∊υοποίος]
JnB 249;
Σκονοποίος
JnB 248;
Σκ∊νοποίος
JnB 250;
Σκονοπιος
JnB 250.5, JnB 252;
Σκονοπνιος
JnB 251;
Σκηνοποίος
JnB 253, JnB 255
62 scene, the
engine mere scenery and machinery; although the word ‘scene’
can mean ‘whole play’ (
OED, †3a).
63 music-master Cf.
Cicero, De Oratore,
3.174, which states that originally the same artist was
responsible for music and poetry. Jones is not known to have attempted
to compose music for masques: the dig is that he is claiming expertise
in areas in which he was not competent. Jonson praised his design for
the House of Fame in
Queens, 572–89, and Jones
composed the fable for
Tempe Restored.
63 music-master]
JnB 249; Masque master JnB 251
64–5 Dominus Do-/
All Commander of all, with uncontrolled power (usually in
Latin:
dominus factotum; under
‘Factotum’ in OED).
66 Inigo
Punning as at 22.
66 whistle
mouthpiece (
OED, 1†c
fig.); a type of worthlessness (
OED,
3b), with perhaps some allusion to the use of whistles by
stage-managers to indicate when a scene change needs to be made: see
Tub, 5.7.49.
67 warm on his
feet doing nicely; cf. Volp., 2.2.39–40.
67 warm] MSS;
warne JnB 249
68 Swim without
cork A near-proverbial sign in classical poetry of growing up
(as in
Horace, Satires, 4.1.120); quoted in
Erasmus, Works, 24.681.
68 Queen Anne
Anne of Denmark (1574–1619) played a central role in many court masques,
including the
Masque of Blackness, Jones’s first court
masque, and commissioned Jones to work on the Queen’s House at Greenwich
in 1616 (see Harris and Higgott,
1989, 64–73). He also designed her
hearse. Anne’s brother, Christian Ⅳ of Denmark, is also supposed to have
patronized Jones; see Gotch (
1928), 26–7.
69 too lean
Donaldson notes that Envy is traditionally lean, as Macilente is in
EMO, 1.2.167, and as
Cassius is in JC.
72 lantern-lerry tricks with lanterns to produce dramatic
effects, such as the representation of the ‘
region of fire
with a continual motion . . . seen to whirl circularly’ in
Hym., 195. ‘Lerry’ is a form of ‘lurry’ or
‘confusion’, but
OED records only the form ‘lantern-lerry’
(s.v. ‘Lantern’).
72 fuliginous
sooty. By 1635 there were fears that the Rubens ceiling in Whitehall
would be spoiled by smoke resulting from performances of masques.
73 whimsies
(1) whirligig devices (
OED, †5); (2) freakish ideas (
OED,
Whim n.1 3). Both senses
predate those first cited in
OED by roughly sixty
years; again Jones’s creations prompt neologisms.
75 giving
applying.
75 giving]
JnB 249 (gi’ng)
76 puppet
play Here, an example of a trivializing entertainment, as in
Bart. Fair and Tub.
79 firk frisk
about (
OED, 3†b; usually with a contemptuous overtone, as
here).
79 Adam
Overdo The officious and incompetent justice in
Bart. Fair, who says a justice should dive into cellars at
2.1.14–20. Jonson’s revenge on Jones for having usurped his role in
masques is to turn him into one of his own characters. In 1630 Jones was
employed to inspect houses suspected of being infected with the plague
(Gotch,
1928,
147–8).
83 Under the
moral Under the semblance of morality, or perhaps ‘using a
figure symbolizing authority (to license your absurdities)’. Donaldson’s
gloss as ‘one commissioned by the king’ (OSA) does not seem to be
supported for this period under
OED, Moral 3†b.
83 pate head.
(Contemptuous.)
84 Moulded]
JnB 249 (Moulnded)
84 stroked up
shaped gently; playing on the sense ‘flatter’ (
OED, 1†e).
84 survey
Jones became the King’s Surveyor in 1615; Jonson suggests he also wishes
to be moral arbiter of the state.
87–90 Material from Neptune had been
reused in Fort. Isles in 1625, although this led to
some economies rather than double-charging (see Orgel and Strong,
1.369).
87 sign-posts
i.e. stage materials were painted over and used again.
89 dead
standards Literally ‘erased flags’; metaphorically ‘lost
values’. Cf. ‘Rutter’ (6.698), line 22.
94 lake red
pigment.
94 cinnabar
vermilion. (Jonson alleges that Jones’s colour-schemes are red, red, and
red; this is not reflected in the extant bills for properties for
Jones’s masques.)
96 Aimed at in]
JnB 249; produc’d by JnB 253
97 poesy . . .
wall Implicitly compares lines of verse written on stage-sets
with graffiti.
97 painted on]
JnB 249; writt upon JnB 253
98 might] MSS;
may JnB 249
99 Worthies
The nine worthies were Hector, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,
Joshua, David, Judas Maccabaeus, Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of
Bulloigne.
100 So
Provided that.
100 Purbeck
stone Hard limestone from Purbeck in Dorset, notoriously
durable.
101 Feasting
Room The Banqueting House in Whitehall burnt down on 12 Jan.
1619; a grand new design by Jones was constructed by 1622 (see
Und. 43.155). Purbeck stone was used for paving around
Whitehall at about this time (Thurley,
1999, 92).
103 ten]
JnB 249; fiue JnB 250.5,
JnB 251
104 remonstrance A formal statement of grievances (sometimes from
the House of Commons to the King, as had occurred in 1628). Donaldson
OSA (after Whalley) suggests a connection with Jones’s efforts in
May–July 1631 to prevent the parishioners of St Gregory’s Church from
excavating close to the foundations of St Paul’s (Gotch,
1928, 154–60). It
was not until Dec. 1641, however, that the House of Commons
(‘parliament’, 103) became involved in this case, presenting a
declaration against Jones from the parishioners. This suggests that
Jonson was using parliament as a figure of speech for the highest power
in the land, and hence the traditional belief that the poem was composed
shortly after the performance of
Chlor., 22 Feb. 1631,
remains the most plausible.