Extracts
This section of the web project presents commentary on specific extracts, which can be accessed through the links provided in the Source Index. The commentary includes transcripts of various extracts deemed noteworthy for this study, such as ones from lost printed or manuscript fragments of plays, content from unidentified sources, and extracts from unusual or unclear origins, such as Cotgrave’s single extract that appears to be from a commendatory verse.
Additionally, the commentary serves to guide readers to relevant secondary criticism and to delve into the interrelation between different extracts as part of the book’s structure.
Notably, this commentary follows an essentialist approach, providing concise observations without extensive interpretation. Instead, it focuses on highlighting specific extracts of the book, which will be subjected to in-depth analysis in the forthcoming edition of Cotgrave’s English Treasury.
Please find below the list of abbreviations frequently used in the entries of this section.
ABBREVIATIONS
COMMENTARY
6.3.
This passage transposes connected couplets within the same play. Specifically, lines 1 to 2 in this extract appear after lines 3 to 4 in Cotgrave’s source.
18.4–.
The source of this 13-line passage remains unidentified. Wiggins, in “Where to Find,” speculates that it may have been derived from a lost play (p. 266). His speculation seems justified, as the passage contains several striking expressions that one would expect later readers to cite or echo, had the play been in print. Notably, this is one of two fragments potentially from a lost source divided across multiple pages of English Treasury (cf. 84.8–). Lines 1 to 4 of this passage are on page 18, and lines 5 to 13 on page 19. Given that the final lines of page 18 end with a comma, and the tone of the lines seems similar, we can reasonably suppose that both fragments comprise an extract from the same lost source.
Thou art a singing, rayling, scoffing Rogue,
One that nere knew any Religion so far as
To read of it; one that will speak ill of any man
Behind his back, and forswear it to his face,
Where thou dost make thy praise the greater calumny,
Thou wilt abuse thy Father, though he were one
Of the States, but lest thou shouldst be so unnaturall,
Fate provided him a Broom-man, and made
Thy patrimony an old pair of shooes.
Thou art a small Vessell full of villany, pure
And strong, and laid up for the Devills own drinking.
Thy end will be blaspheming, a Tapster thy
Executioner, and a double Jugge the Instrument.
—ET, 18.4–.
19.4.
This 7-line extract appears to be sourced from a lost play. While there are echoes of the connection between “Covetousnesse” and “Idolatry” from Colossians 3:5 (“Mortifie therefore your members which are vpon the earth: fornication, vncleannesse, inordinate affection, euill concupiscence, and couetousnesse, which is idolatrie,” KJV, 1611), the poetic quality of the passage is striking and memorable, making it likely to have been quoted had the source play been published. Wiggins includes the extract in his chapter “Where to Find” (p. 267), and it is also included, without further commentary, in the entry “Cotgrave’s Extracts” from Lost Plays Database.
Covetousnesse,
Thou art the heart of every deadly sin,
There’s no Adulterer, but is covetous
Of other mens wives, and he puts them to use.
No drunkard, but is covetous of wine,
And covetous men are drunk adulterers,
They still commit Idolatry to their Chests.
—ET, 19.4.
41.5.
While this extract appears to have originated from a lost play, as noted in Wiggins’s “Where to Find” (pp. 267), its brevity raises the possibility that it could be a fragment from an undigitized play. Regardless of its origin, these lines have a captivating afterlife, as they were later included in the “Garden of Tulips” section of Edward Phillips’s Mysteries of Love and Eloquence (1658) and eventually found their way into the Oxford English Dictionary, defining the verb “to truckle.” The verses possess a song-like quality fitting the trope of the “Knight” and his lady “in the high Bed,” as presented in several ballads of the later seventeenth century (e.g. “SONG CXXXVII” from the “Eigth Edition” of Wits Academy, published in 1702, which includes “To the Truckle-Bed”, p. 250).
To say
A Waiting-woman is handsome, and yet chaste,
Is, to affirm all Pages gelt, or that
The Knight keeps to his Lady in the high Bed,
And never Truckles.
—ET, 41.5.
41.6.
Wiggins, in “Where to Find” (p. 267), includes this extract among the passages that could possibly be derived from the lost plays Cotgrave consulted. However, it is more likely that the second line is from a lost version of Jasper Mayne’s The City Match (1639), with the remainder of the passage also found in the printed text. Mayne’s passage reads: “Mr Seath. Indeed J heard / She was a Chamber-maid. Ms Holl. And they by their place, / Doe wait upon the Lady, but belong / Unto the Lord.” In contrast, Cotgrave’s alternative follows: “She was a Chamber-maid, and they by their place / Scarce come clear off from service; such creatures / Wait on the Lady, but belong to the Lord” (differences underlined). The present study infers Cotgrave’s access to a lost version of the play based on these differences and similar differences between his other excerpts and the printed text.
Mr Seath. Indeed J heard
She was a Chamber-maid. Ms Holl. And they by their
place,
Doe wait upon the Lady, but belong
Unto the Lord.
—CityM, sig. Q2r–v, 5.5.33–35.
She was a Chamber-maid, and they by their place
Scarce come clear off from service; such creatures
Wait on the Lady, but belong to the Lord.
—ET, 41.6.
45.2.
Wiggins, in “Where to Find,” speculates that this passage is from a lost play (p. 271). However, it is more likely from a lost version of Jasper Mayne’s The City Match (1639). Cotgrave’s text of the passage reads as follows: “Thou lookst as gravely in this weed, as if / Thou stoodst for a Lecture shortly, and wer’t / For thirty pounds a year, once a week, / To preach the parish asleep.” Mayne’s version differs mainly in the first line and the order of the elements presented to the reader or listener: “Aur. Well, Sir, I must then accept him / With all his imperfections, J have / Procur’d a Sir Iohn yonder. / Plotw. Who ist? / Aur. One / That preaches the next parish once a week / Asleep for thirty pounds a yeare” (similarities underlined).
Aur. Well, Sir, I must then accept him
With all his imperfections, J have
Procur’d a Sir Iohn yonder.
Plotw. Who ist?
Aur. One
That preaches the next parish once a week
Asleep for thirty pounds a yeare.
—CityM, sig. M1r, 4.2.49–53.
Thou lookst as gravely in this weed, as if
Thou stoodst for a Lecture shortly, and wer’t
For thirty pounds a year, once a week,
To preach the parish asleep.
—ET, 45.2.
47.5.
Cotgrave’s English Treasury includes 1,701 extracts. Each extract is typically separated from its neighbours by a printers’ rule. However, in this case, the printer has omitted the insertion of a rule. This study treats the first five lines within the extract box, which are from Shirley’s play The Wedding (2nd ed, 1633), as 47.5, and the next 12 lines, which are from Shirley’s The Gamester (1637), as 47.6–. It recognizes that the spacing of these lines at the point of division implies that the typesetter unintentionally neglected to include a printers’ rule.
City wives
Are fortunes Darlings, govern all, their Husbands,
Variety of pleasure, and Apparell,
When some of higher titles, oft are faine
To pawn a Ladyship.
—ET, 47.5.
We that had
Our breeding from a Trade, Cits, as you call us,
Though we hate Gentlemen our selves, yet are
Ambitious to make all our children Gentlemen:
In three Generations they return again:
We for our children purchase Land, they brave it
In the Country, beget children, and they sell,
Grow poor, and send their Sons up to be Prentices.
There is a whirl in Fate, the Courtiers make
Us Cuckolds, mark, we wriggle into their
Estates, poverty makes their children Citizens,
And our Sons Cuckold them, a circular justice.
—ET, 47.6–.
47.6–.
Please refer to the note for 47.5.
48.4.
This extract is likely from a lost play, as noted by Wiggins in his chapter “Where to Find” (p. 267). Notably, the expression “simple clown” in line 3 is a common descriptor but specifically used to identify the character named “Buffonie” from William Chamberlaine’s play Love’s Victory (1658), where the “Catalogue of the Actors” presents “Buffonie” as “a simple Clown” (sig. A4v). While Love’s Victory was written before the closing of the theatres in 1642, it is highly improbable that Cotgrave, whose book was printed in 1655, copied the passage from that play. Instead, it is more likely that the extract originates from an entirely different lost play.
City, was in our primitive language craft,
And that implies it is a Net to catch
The simple clown, he was born to be cozen’d.
And when you do want such, for exercise
You may cheat one another.
—ET, 48.4.
51.2.
This is one of twelve extracts from a lost manuscript or printed edition of Middleton’s The Mayor of Quinborough. Interestingly, the play has survived in a printed edition from 1661 and two manuscript texts titled Hengist, King of Kent. Upon collation of the copies, the following differences were found: “comes it” in the printed edition versus “it comes” in P20 and F78; “for that” in Cotgrave’s extract versus “for some that’s” in Σ. The version from the printed text is provided below.
Conceit’s a powerful thing, and is indeed
Plac’d as a palate to taste grief, or love,
And as that relishes so we approve:
Hence comes it that our taste is so beguil’d,
Changing pure bloud for some that’s mix’d and
soil’d.
—MayorQ, sig. E3r, 3.2.105–109.
COnceit’s a powerfull thing, and is indeed
Plac’d as a palat to taste griefe, or love,
And as that relishes, so we approve;
Hence comes it, that our tast is so beguil’d,
Changing pure blood for that is mix’d and soyl’d.
—ET, 51.2.
55.3.
This is one of several extracts from a ‘lost version’ of Richard Brome’s play The City Wit. The printed version of the passage, from Brome’s 1653 edition, differs in the use of “quickly” instead of “soon”, as copied below.
He that is poor in Appetite, may quickly be rich in Purse. Desire little; covet little; no not your own: And you shall have enough.
— CityO, sig. B2r, 1.2, ll. 416–18.
He that is poor in appetite, may soon
Be rich in purse, desire little, covet little,
No, not your own, and you shall have enough.
—ET, 55.3.
56.2.
The final six lines of Cotgrave’s version seem to originate from an early draft of the play, which underwent revisions before its only edition was published. For a detailed analysis of this extract, please refer to the introduction of the forthcoming edition of English Treasury. Below, both Cotgrave’s passage and the version of the speech from Beaumont and Fletcher’s 1647 folio are provided for comparison.
What true contented happiness dwels here,
More then in Cities? would to God my Father
Had been like one of theirs, and brought me up
To milk, and do as they doe: Methinks it is
A life that I would chuse: if I were now
To tell my time again, above a Princes.
What pleasure, joy, and infinite contentment,
Rises each morning with these blessed people,
And shuts their eyes at night with peace again?
They know no pinching griefe, nor weariness,
But of their travell, all their thoughts are free
And harmless as their state is, love to them
Is open-ey’d and innocent as truth,
They fear not, nor they wish not one day sooner
The fruits of love, because their faiths are certaine,
And stranger ’tis among these honest people,
To find a false friend, then a murtherer.
—ET, 56.2.
What true contented happinesse dwels here,
More than in Cities? wood to God my father
Had liv’d like one of these, and bred me up
To milke: and doe as they doe : me thinks
Tis a life that I wood choose, if I were now
To tell my time agen, above a princes; maids, for charity
Give a poor wench one draught of Milke
That wearinesse and hunger have nigh famisht.
—CoxF, p. 108, 3.3.121–27.
62.3.
This extract seems to be from a lost version of Brome’s City Wit, with a passage that is nearly identical to Cotgrave’s version. Below, the version from the 1653 printed text of Brome’s play is provided.
How easie a thing it is to be undone,
When credulous Man will trust his ’state to others!
—CityO, sig. A4v, 1.1, ll. 64–65.
How easie a thing it is to be undone,
When credulous man will trust his state to others?
—ET, 62.3.
62.4.
This extract appears to be from a lost version of Brome’s City Wit. The identical passage can be found in prose in the 1653 edition of Brome’s play, which is provided here for comparison.
What should Citizens do with kind hearts; or trusting in any thing but God, and ready money?
—CityO, sig. A6v, 1.1, ll. 199–201.
What should Citizens
Do with kind hearts, or trusting in any thing
But God and ready money?
—ET, 62.4.
64.4–.
This extract seems to be from a lost version of Brome’s City Wit. The extent of difference between Cotgrave’s version and the one found in the 1653 edition is considerable. These differences will be compared in the forthcoming edition of English Treasury. Below, the 1653 version of the passage is presented for your comparison.
I will maintain it. He only, that knows it, permits, and procures it, is truly a Cuckold. Some fellow would be divorc’d now. Crasie, speak; wilt be divorc’d? why, what and I were? why then thou art an Asse, Crasie. Why Sir? why Sir! why prithee tell me, what would thy Divorce hurt her? It would but give her more liberty. Shee should have bounteous Customers; Gallants, that would hoist her tires, bestow deep on her. And she should be paid for’t. You speak somewhat to the matter Sir. Nay Crasie, believe it, though she be not a very modest woman for a Wife, thou mayst force her to be a reasonable private wench for a Whore. Say you so? Birlady, and I’le take your Counsell. ’Tis a pretty Drabb. I know not where to compasse such another? troth Sir, I’le follow your advice.
—CityO, sig. B7v, 2.2, ll. 734–49.
Ile maintain, he onely that knows it, permits it,
And procures it, is truly a Cuckold.
Some fellow would be divorc’d now; speak, Crazy,
Wilt thou be divorc’d? Why, what if I be?
Why then thou art an Asse: but why, sir, why?
It would but give her more liberty, she would have
Bounteous customers, Gallants that would hoyst her,
Bestow deep on her, she would be paid for it,
Whilst thou, a poor protested Cuckold, shouldst
Be forc’d to seek out dirty common flesh,
Serv’d in beastly Linnen to thee, and pay for it.
You speak somewhat to the purpose now, sir:
For, believe it, though she be not a very modest woman,
For a wife, yet thou maist enforce her to be
A reasonable private Wench for a Whore.
’Tis a pretty drab, I know not where to compass
Such another, therefore i’l e’n follow your advice.
—ET, 64.4–.
73.5.
Notably, this extract is the final one on page 73, ending with a comma instead of a period. Page 74 begins with a quotation from a different play.
God nought fore-sees, but sees; for to his eyes
Nought is to come, or past: nor are you vile,
Because God does fore-see, for God (not we),
Sees as things are, things are not as we see[.]
—ET, 73.5
Though all the doors be sure, and all our servants
As sure bound with their sleeps; yet there is one
That sits above, whose eye no sleep can bind,
He sees through doors and darkness, and our thoughts,
And therefore as we should avoid with fear,
To think amiss our selves before his search;
So should we be as curious to shun,
All cause that others think not ill of us.
—ET, 74.1
74.1.
Please refer to the note for 73.5.
82.3.
As explored in greater detail in the forthcoming scholarly edition, this extract, seemingly from a lost play, bears some similarities to a passage from Robert Greene’s pamphlet Never too Late; or a Powder of Experience (1590). The specific passage that resembles it both thematically and with the shared phrase “ripened now” is as follows: “When age at last his chiefe dominion keepes, / And leades me on to see my vanities; / What loue and scant foresight did make me sowe / In youthfull yeares, is ripened now in woe” (sig. L1r). Wiggins includes the passage without commentary in his chapter “Where to Find” (p. 268), and it is included in the entry “Cotgrave’s Extracts” from Lost Plays Database. Cotgrave’s extract, which remains unidentified and seemingly unidentifiable, reads as follows:
Many of these smooth fac’d lives
Are led in policy, onely to cloak
Some one sound villany, growing seven yeares since,
And perhaps ripened now.
—ET, 82.3.
83.6.
This extract is one of twelve that appear to be from a lost manuscript of Middleton’s The Mayor of Quinborough, as discussed by Bentley in his essay “John Cotgrave’s” (pp. 192–93). Notably, Cotgrave omits lines 3 to 7 from the 1661 printed text of Middleton’s play, and the most noticeable difference between his version and that text, in addition to the two manuscript witnesses of the play, is the change from “guile” to “guilt” in the opening line. Since Cotgrave classifies the extract under the subject heading “Of Dissimulation, Hypocrisie”, Middleton’s original choice of words, paired with “subtilty”, would seem preferable in view of the given context. There are other minor differences between Cotgrave’s version and the manuscript versions, such as “the strange nooks” (Cotgrave, 1661 ed.) versus “you strange nooks” (F78, P20) and the expression “in a man” in the penultimate line versus “in man”. The printed text of the passage from 1661 is reproduced below, with the text of Cotgrave’s extract.
Oh the strange nooks of guil or subtilty,
When man so cunningly lyes hid from man!
Who could expect such treason from thy breast,
Such thunder from thy voice? Or takest thou pride
To imitate the fair uncertainty
Of a bright day, that teemes a sudden storm,
When the world least expects one? but of all
I’le ne’re
trust fair skie in a man again,
There’s the deceitful weather.
—MayorQ, sig. H1r, 4.4.63–71.
Oh the strange nooks of guilt or subtilty!
When man so cunningly lies hid from man:
I’l nere trust fair skie in a man again,
There’s the deceitfull weather.
—ET, 83.6.
84.8–.
The last two lines of page 84 and the first 3 lines from page 85 seem to constitute a single extract from a lost play. Wiggins, in his chapter “Where to Find,” identifies the passage as such (p. 268), and the editors of the Lost Plays Database, who include the passage in their entry on “Cotgrave’s Extracts,” appear to concur with him. While no passage of the EEBO corpus closely resembles this extract, there is a similarity between it and an anonymous news report about Germany from the pamphlet Sir Thomas Ouerburie his Wife, which contains anonymous additions added to the 1615 edition. The news identified as coming “From Germany” begins with the observation that “the infectious vice of Drunken-good-fellowship, is like to sticke by that Nation as long as the multitude of Offenders so benums the senses of offending, as that a common blot is held no staine” (sig. P4r). Cotgrave’s extract resembles this off-hand comment with the opening statement, “That slender vice” versus “the infectious vice”, and the idea of drunkenness (i.e., “drink, in us”) paired with the phrase “good fellowship”. Thematically, both passages capture the idea that in drunkenness men do things they would not do while sober, and, as such, their offensive behaviour in that state should be excused. Cotgrave’s extract is reproduced below for comparison.
THat slender vice,
Reputed but good fellowship, drink, in us,
I alwaies have avoided, since I knew
It took us from our selves, and made us do
Things that were its, not ours.
—ET, 84.8–.
92.3.
This is the fifth of nine quotations that appear to be from a lost printed or manuscript version of Richard Brome’s play The City Wit, which underwent revisions before its first and only printed edition of 1653, contained in Brome’s collection Five New Playes (H. Moseley, et al). While it is impossible to determine exactly what Cotgrave may have changed or added from his source of the passage, compared to the edition of 1653, this version of the passage is in verse, while the other is in prose. There are minor differences in the texts, such as the omission of “but” from line 1 in the 1653 edition and the use of the archaic “hath”, whereas Cotgrave’s text contains the modern form “has”. The most significant difference lies in the final line, where Cotgrave includes additional content, with the fleshed-out expression “to my glory, and his comfort” versus “his Worship” from the 1653 edition. This difference would seem to add a motive of personal status and intention behind the character Pyanett’s domineering behaviour towards her husband in the play. Brome’s version of the passage from the 1653 edition is included below for comparison.
My Husband is a man of few words, and hath committed his tongue to me: And I hope I shall use it to his Worship.
—CityO, sig. A7v, 1.1, ll. 257–60.
My husband is a man, but of few words,
And has committed his tongue to me and I
Shall use it to my glory, and his comfort.
—ET, 92.3.
92.9–.
There is significant evidence to suggest that Cotgrave borrowed his extract at 56.2 from a lost fragment of Beaumont and Fletcher’s play The Coxcomb. His source for that passage, which includes lines omitted from the printed edition of the play in their 1647 folio (which he used for other quotations), was likely a manuscript. Keeping this context in mind, it is notable that this second of two extracts with text from the play differs hardly at all from the printed text, perhaps implying that the 56.2 extract is from a partial fragment copy rather than a complete lost version. This second closely matching passage, copied below, differs from Cotgrave’s extract only in including “a base” instead of Cotgrave’s “base” and “the” instead of “his” as the penultimate word. Both these changes appear to be part of a pattern to render a specific speech from a play suitable for inclusion as a generic comment on a topic from Cotgrave’s commonplace book, albeit part of a passage that seems poorly classified under the subject heading “Of Enjoying,” beyond the content of its opening lines.
Now what am I the better for enjoying
This woman that I lov’d? so all I finde,
That I before imagin’d to be happy:
Now I have done, it turns to nothing else
But a poore pittied, and a base repentance,
Udsfoot, I am monstrous angry with my selfe:
Why should a man that has discourse and reason,
And knows how neere he looses all in these things,
Covet to have his wishes satisfied;
Which when they are, are nothing but the shame.
—CoxF, p. 111, 4.8.1–10.
Now, what am I the better for enjoying
This woman that I lov’d so? all I find,
That I before imagin’d to be happy,
Now I have done it, turns to nothing else,
But a poor pittied and base repentance:
Uds foot, I am monstrous angry with my selfe;
Why should a man, that has discourse and reason,
And knows how neer he loses all in these things,
Covet to have his wishes satisfied,
Which, when they are, are nothing but his shame?
—ET, 92.9–.
101.3.
This is the third of twelve extracts that appear to be from a lost manuscript of Thomas Middleton’s play The Mayor of Quinborough, which was first printed six years after Cotgrave’s English Treasury. While the text of the extract is almost identical to the 1661 edition, there are two differences between the printed text and Cotgrave’s extract compared to the two extant manuscripts of the play. Cotgrave’s archaic “tane” is most similar to “ta’ne” from the printed text, versus the expanded “taken” of the manuscripts. Additionally, both Cotgrave and the printed text include the expressions “are as soon” versus “as soon” and “for in the warmth” versus “for in warmth”. The Portland Manuscript, whose version of the extract is offered below, also repeats the phrase “true fame” in the final line, potentially for emphasis, as emphatic repetition.
the fame that a Man wins himselfe is best,
that he may call his owne, honours put to him
make him noe more a Man then his Cloths doe
and as soone taken off, for as in warmth
the heate Comes from the bodye, not the weedes
soe mans true fame true fame must strike from
his owne deedes
—P20, Fol. 11a, ll. 696–702 [p. 21].
The fame that a man wins himself is best,
That he may call his own; honours put to him
Make him no more a man than his clothes do,
And are as soon ta’ne off; for in the warmth
The heat comes from the body, not the weeds;
So mans true fame must strike from his own deeds.
—MayorQ, sig. C3v, 2.4.19–24.
The fame that a man wins himselfe is best,
That he may call his own: honours put to him,
Make him no more a man, then his clothes do,
And are as soon tane off: for in the warmth,
The heat comes from the body, not the weeds,
So mans true fame must strike from his own deeds.
—ET, 101.3.
114.5.
This extract appears very likely to be from a lost play, and indeed is presented as such by Wiggins in his chapter “Where to Find” (p. 268). Nevertheless, as first noted by Laura Estill in her additions to Lost Plays Database, an unknown annotator has attributed the extract in the Northwestern copy to “Beaumont + Fletcher’s Honest Man’s Fortune.” Evidently, the annotator intended that title to be beside the next extract, 114.6, but copied the title above the text to which it refers. Adding greater significance to this mistake, the D’Israeli copy, recently discovered as a “potential duplicate” at the Folger Shakespeare Library (now copy 3), has the same error (digitized ). The extract, which does not appear in Honest Man’s Fortune and has no known source, reads as follows:
He is wise enough
To keep his state, and give me such an Ass,
Let others purchase wisdome by expence.
And prate and do brave things a single saving
Will out-reach all, that they shall reach unto.
—ET, 114.5.
115.3.
This passage appears to be a transformation from prose into verse taken from a lost copy or fragment of Richard Brome’s The City Wit. The play was first printed in 1653, but Cotgrave potentially had a different source. It differs from the printed text of 1653 with the additional phrase “between thee and I” in line 2, and the adjustment of “made up” to “made” in line 4. While these differences seem to reflect Cotgrave’s preference for versification, the final edit or difference may be more meaningful and perhaps of authorial origin: the penultimate line ends with “he keeps”, in reference to servants, whereas the 1653 text has “that serve him”. Perhaps this reflects an adjustment to the extract for Cotgrave’s subject heading, “Of Gallants”, with the implication that the servant of a gallant is as lazy as his master. However, this difference defies an easily rationalized explanation. The passage as it appears in the 1653 edition is reproduced below.
Dost thou know what a Gallant of fashion is? I’ll tell thee. It is a thing that but once in three Moneths has money in his Purse; A creature made up of Promise and Protestation: A thing that foules other mens Napkins: towseth other Mens Sheets, flatters all he feares, contemns all he needs not, sterves all that serve him, and undoes all that trust him.
—CityO, sig. B2r, 1.2, ll. 441–48.
Dost thou know what a gallant of fashon is?
I’l tell thee between thee and I; It is a thing
That but once in three moneths has money in his purse,
A Creature made of promise and protestation,
A thing that fouls other mens Napkins,
Touzeth other mens sheets, flatters all he fears,
Contemns all he needs not, starves all he keeps,
And undoes all that trust him.
—ET, 115.3.
118.3.
While this passage may be from a lost play, as described by Wiggins in “Where to Find” (p. 268), a case could be made for its evolution from a passage in Beaumont and Fletcher’s play The Queen of Corinth. First, The Queen of Corinth, like The Coxcomb (cf. 56.2), was published in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Comedies and Tragedies (1647), and similarly stands out among the plays of Cotgrave’s extracts: Cotgrave appears to quote from it nine times, compared to four quotations from the second most quoted play of their folio, Honest Man’s Fortune (tied with Four Plays or Moral Representations in One, Mad Lover, and The Sea Voyage). Second, this passage, seemingly from a lost play, includes three key words also found in a passage from The Queen of Corinth. The Queen of Corinth passage, cited below, includes “importune’d”, like the extract, and “businesse”, like the extract. It seems reasonable to suppose that Cotgrave’s “Great men” from the first line could be an attempt to create a superior transition for the critical end line given the plot of the play and the original statement “Here you must challenge him”. At a textual level, the extract’s “otherwise” resembles the similarly situated word “other” from Cotgrave’s extract.
Great men (you know)
Must be importun’d to do any good,
For they have other bussiness, [sic]
—ET, 118.3.
Here you must challenge him: Durst he ever shun
To drink two pots of Ale wi’ ye? or to wench,
Though weighty businesse otherwise importun’d?
—Beaumont & Fletcher, Queen of Corinth, 1647, p. 15, 4.1.93–95.
123.1.
It appears probable that Cotgrave had access to a lost version of Mayne’s The City Match due to significant differences observed between his extracts and the printed text of 1639. While the specific variations in this extract might not be extraordinary, discrepancies in other excerpts, such as 41.6 and 45.2, suggest either substantial and unusual content additions or, more plausibly, his reliance on a lost manuscript. Among these differences is his adaptation of the first line from “But see that cheating Rogue” to “That I could see thee (sirra),” a change potentially justified by the inference that “Rogue” might underpin the described punishments in the passage, thus categorized under his subject heading “Of Hatred, Malice.” Other alterations include: “pounds” to “pound”; “thee” to “the Rogue”; “thy” to “his”; “thee” to “him”; “broken” to “broking”; “thee” to “him”; “Thy” to “His”; “thee, Rascall” to “the Rascall”; “In” to “a”; and “thy” to “his.”
O that I could
But see that cheating Rogue upon the rack now:
I'de give a thousand pound for every stretch,
That should enlarge the Rogue through all his joints,
And but just show him hell, and then recall
His broking soule, and give him strength to suffer
His torture often; J would have the Rascall
Think hanging a reliefe, and be as long
A dying as a chopt Eele, that the Divell
Might have his soule by peeces.
— CityM, sig. Q1r, 5.3.44–52
That I could see thee (sirra) upon the rack now,
I’ld give a thousand pounds for every stretch,
That should enlarge thee thorough all thy joynts,
And but just shew thee Hell, and bring thee to
The edge of the next world, and then recall
Thy broken soul, and give thee strength to suffer
Thy torture often: I would have thee, Rascall,
Think hanging a reliefe and be as long
In dying, as a chopp’d Eele, that the Devill
Might have thy soul by pieces.
—ET, 123.1.
129.2.
This extract appears to be one of nine extracts from a lost version or fragment of Richard Brome’s The City Wit. It is evident that Cotgrave changed his source from prose into verse, as the passage from 1653 is in prose for all but the final couplet, where both Cotgrave’s extract and Brome’s text use a rhyme to signal the end of a scene. Interestingly, while Cotgrave classifies the extract under the subject heading “Of Honesty”, he omits more than the equivalent of one line of verse where the 1653 text includes the word “honesty”. Due to Cotgrave’s potential omission and other differences, both passages are presented below for comparison, with certain key distinctions indicated through editorial underlining.
But he with the rest shall feele, that modest Simplicity is not alwayes
a defect of wit, but will: What my willing honesty hath seem’d
to loose, my affected deceits shall recover. I’le ride
’em one after another, like Guts, till they shall stink worse then
Jewes.
And they shall find with most ashamed eyes,
The honest Breast lives only rich and wise.
—CityO, sig. B5v, 2.1, ll. 637–43.
Modest simplicity is not alwayes defect of wit,
I’l ride all my abusers one after another,
Like Guts, till they shall stink worse then the Jews,
And they shall find with most ashamed eyes,
The honest breast lives onely rich and wise.
—ET, 129.2.
134.4.
This extract is among those Bentley identified as originating from a lost manuscript of Middleton’s Mayor of Quinborough (“John Cotgrave’s,” pp. 192–93). A comparison of Cotgrave’s version with the extant print and manuscript sources of the play reveals the following variations, presented in standard notation form: “him” (1) as “you” in Σ; “him” (2) as “you” in Σ; and “which” as “and” in P20, F78; “Many” as “Hengist” in Σ. The passage’s text from the Folger manuscript of the play is reproduced below for comparison.
Ile follow you through ye world, to Cuckold
you
Thats my way now; euery one has his toye
While he liues here: some men delight in Building,
A tricke of Babell & will nere be left
Some in Consuming what was raysd wth toyleing
Hengist in getting honor, I in spoyleing —
—F78, Fol. 35r, 4.3.159–164 [p. 76].
I’l follow him through the world, to Cuckold him.
That’s my way now: every one has his Toy
While he lives here; some men delight in building,
(A trick of Babel, which will nere be left)
Some in consuming what was rais’d with toyling,
Many in getting honour, I in spoiling.
—ET, 134.4.
147.5.
This extract is one of twelve taken from a lost manuscript of Middleton’s The Mayor of Quinborough, as discussed by Bentley in his essay “John Cotgrave’s” (pp. 192–93). The primary divergence between Cotgrave’s version and all other witnesses of the play lies in his inclusion of the word “Shame” in line 1. The passage, as it appears in the 1661 edition, is reproduced below.
It ever sticks close to the ribs of honour;
Great men are never sound men after it,
It leaves some ache or other in their names still,
Which their posterity feels at every weather.
—MayorQ, sig. F4v–G1r, 4.2.20–23.
Shame ever sticks close to the Ribs of honour,
Great men are never sound men after it,
It leaves some Ach or other in their names still
Which their posterity feels at every weather.
—ET, 147.5.
147.6.
This extract is one of twelve taken from a lost manuscript of Middleton’s The Mayor of Quinborough, as discussed by Bentley in his essay “John Cotgrave’s” (pp. 192–93). Notably, there are no substantive differences between Cotgrave’s extract and the versions of this passage found in the 1661 edition and two manuscript sources. The lines are reproduced below from the 1661 edition, for comparison.
he breathes most accurst
That lives so long to see his name dye first.
—MayorQ, sig. G3r, 4.2.165–66.
He breathes most accurst,
That lives so long to see his name dye first.
—ET, 147.6.
148.6.
This extract is among those Bentley identified as originating from a lost manuscript of Middleton’s Mayor of Quinborough (“John Cotgrave’s,” pp. 192–93). A comparison of Cotgrave’s version with the extant print and manuscript sources of the play reveals the following variations, presented in standard notation form: ’Tis] There’s (MayorQ), theirs (P20, F78); a] the honours (P20, F78); Kingdom] Kingdomes (P20, F78). The passage is reproduced below as it appears in the Portland Manuscript.
theirs euen the generall thanks of all aspirers
when they haue all the honours Kingdomes
Can impart
they write about it still, there owne desart
—P20, Fol. 31a, ll. 2155–2158 [p. 61].
’Tis even the generall thanks of all aspirers,
When they have all a Kingdom can impart,
They write above it still their own desert.
—ET, 148.6.
150.6.
Contrary to Wiggins’s implication in his essay “Where to Find” (pp. 270, 278n32), this is not a passage from a lost version of Thomas May’s The Old Couple (1658). Instead, it is adapted from Sir John Suckling’s Goblins (1646), where the corresponding passage reads: “Gently my Joyes distill, / Least you should breake the Vessell you should fill.” The only basis for preferring Old Couple, the change from “do” to “should,” is insufficient to support such a large conjecture. Bentley remarks on these lines and their relevance to the date of composition of Old Couple in the Jacobean and Caroline Stage (4.840), which supports his observation in “John Cotgrave’s,” where he writes “it seems likely that the fifth passage attributed to The Old Couple also is to be found in some earlier play which has not been located” (p. 192). The versions of this passage from Cotgrave’s English Treasury, Suckling’s Goblins, and May’s Old Couple are included here for comparison.
Gently my joys distill,
Lest you do break the Vessell you should fill.
—ET, 150.6.
Gently my Joyes distill,
Least you should breake the Vessell you should fill.
—Suckling, Goblins, in Fragmenta Aurea, 1646, sig. D8r, 5.2.286–87.
gently my joys distil,
Lest you do break the vessel you should fill[.]
—May, Old Couple, 1658, sig. G1v, 5.1, ll. 2055–56.
154.4.
Wiggins in “Where to Find” incorrectly identifies this passage as being from a lost play (p. 268). Its evident source, as originally discovered by William Oldys or one of the annotators of his copies of English Treasury, and additionally referenced in the Folger 1 copy of English Treasury, is Fulke Greville’s Mustapha (1633). The Bodleian 1 and British Library 1 copies include the annotation “Lord Brooke’s Mustapha /o/”, while the Folger 1 copy includes “Mustapha V.1.” These annotations refer to the comparable lines that read:
Kings must looke vpwards still,
And from these Powers they know not, choose a will.
—Greville, Mustapha, in Certaine Learned and Elegant Workes, sig. V1r, 4.1.39–40.
Kings should look upward still,
And from those powers they know not, chuse a will.
—ET, 154.4.
163.5.
This extract is one of the passages Bentley identified as originating from a lost manuscript of Middleton’s Mayor of Quinborough (“John Cotgrave’s,” pp. 192–93). The passage, reproduced below, is from the 1661 edition, and the only substantive variant is “afflictor” (versus Cotgrave’s “affliction”).
There’s nothing makes man feel his miseries
But knowledge only; reason, that is plac’d
For mans director is his chief afflictor;
—MayorQ, sig. B1r, 1.1.144–46.
THere’s nothing makes man feel his miseries,—ET, 163.5.
180.7.
There are only two minor discrepancies between this extract and Cotgrave’s most likely source of the passage, Jasper Mayne’s The City Match (1639). Specifically, the differences of “Litters” for “Pictures” in line 2 and “in virtue” for “with vertue” in line 3 are typical considering Cotgrave’s approach to adaptation. However, other excerpts that bear resemblance to passages from the same play—particularly 41.6 and 45.2—suggest a deeper connection. The additional content they contain may have originated from a lost manuscript or an alternate printed edition. For this reason, both Cotgrave’s extract and its potential source in the 1639 edition of the play are provided here.
Now J conceive what is Platonick Love,
Tis to have men like Pictures brought disguised,
To Cuckold us with vertue.
—CityM, sig. R1v, 5.7.36–38
Now I conceive what is Platonick love,
’Tis to have men in Litters brought disguiz’d,
To cuckold us in virtue.
—ET, 180.7.
186.6.
This is one of nine extracts seemingly from a lost version or fragment of Richard Brome’s The City Wit, which was published in 1653. While Cotgrave’s version is in verse and the 1653 edition presents the passage in prose, the differences between the texts are extremely minimal. In the 1653 text, reproduced below, Cotgrave’s “some women” serves to refine the vast generalization “women” (implying all women), while there is a subtle shift from Cotgrave’s “Man onely” to the alternative “Only man”. The latter may be an edit intended to enhance the relevance of the extract to its subject heading, “Of Man”, by placing the word “Man” at the beginning of the final line.
Horses get their living by their Backs, Oxen by their necks, Swine and Women by their Flesh, Only man by his Braine.
—CityO, sig. B3v, 1.2, ll. 525–27.
Horses get their livings by their backs, Oxen by
Their necks, Swine, and some women by their flesh,
Man onely by his brain.
—ET, 186.6.
192.3.
In this ninth quotation, apparently from a lost manuscript version of Middleton’s The Mayor of Quinborough, as discussed by Bentley (“John Cotgrave’s,” pp. 192–93), there are several variants in Cotgrave’s extract that align with the 1661 edition of the play, differing from the two known extant manuscript witnesses. Cotgrave’s extract resembles the 1661 edition of the play with “most pleasing” instead of “pleasingst” (P20, F78), “do spring up” instead of “rises up” (P20, F78), and “forget whence” rather than the fuller expression “forget from whence” (P20, F78). For comparison, the text of the same passage is provided from the Portland Manuscript below, with the key differences common to both manuscript copies underlined in the transcript.
forgetfullness tis the pleasingst vertue anyone
Can haue;
that rises vp from nothing, for by the same
forgetting all, they forgett from whence they came,
—P20, Fol. 15b, ll. 1021–1024 [p. 30].
Forgetfulnesse
Is the most pleasing virtue they can have,
That do spring up from nothing, for by the same
Forgetting all, they forget whence they came.
—ET, 192.3.
199.2.
This extract appears to be from a lost version or fragment of a play to which Cotgrave had access, potentially through his connection to the stationer Humphrey Moseley. Wiggins includes it among the passages in his essay “Where to Find” (p. 268), and the editors of Lost Plays Database concur with him in their entry on “Cotgrave’s Extracts.” The additional connection to Moseley may be inferred from the phrase “The great Creators Image,” similarly found in Henry Glapthorne’s play The Ladies Privilege (1640). Specifically, Glapthorne uses this rare expression in the dialogue lines “Severest tortures on them, who deface / The stamps of Princes in their coyne, can they appeare, / As guiltlesse whose rude hands disgrace / The great Creators Image, and commit / Treason ’gainst awfull nature.” Within this context, the passage may potentially be thought of as originating in one of Glapthorne’s lost plays known only by the titles “The Dutches of Fernandina,” “The Vestall,” and “The Noble Tryall.” Moseley secured a licence to print these plays on 29 June 1660, and the same titles appear in the collection of manuscript plays later owned by the collector John Warburton (1682–1759). One could loosely infer, based on style and this phrase, the potential history behind the passage. However, it is impossible to know for sure if any relationship exists, since, as W. W. Greg has recounted eloquently in his article “The Bakings of Betsy”, these plays were infamously destroyed by being used as scrap paper to line pie tins by Warburton’s cook (The Library, 3rd ser., 7.11 [July, 1911]: 225–59).
Blame me not
To shake, this murtherous work has weight in it,
Whole nature groans at it, a man must dye,
The great Creators Image, from whose loyns
Yet might come fifteen Children, and all those
Praysers of heaven, some fruitfull Common-wealths men,
Some divine soul-savers, and from their seed
Ten times as many more shall we do’t yet?
—ET, 199.2.
Severest tortures on them, who deface
The stamps of Princes in their coyne, can they appeare,
As guiltlesse whose rude hands disgrace
The great Creators Image, and commit
Treason ’gainst awfull nature.
—Glapthorne, Ladies Privilege, 1640, sig. G2r, 4.1.239–43.
203.4.
This extract appears to preserve a passage from a lost play, as noted by Wiggins in “Where to Find” (pp. 268–69) and in the entry on “Cotgrave’s Extracts” for Lost Plays Database. While several expressions within the passage resemble parallel statements from known plays, the similarities are too numerous and vague for adequate discussion as part of this web project. Additional discussion of this passage is pending publication in a forthcoming edition derived from this study.
THe boldest villain yet that ever liv’d,
Durst not commit his bloody deeds by day,
To see what he did do he ever stay’d
Till night, whose face (kin to his conscience)
Would hide it best, for their allyance sake.
—ET, 203.4.
210.2.
This extract appears to be from a lost play or a lost fragment of a play. It stands out among Cotgrave’s unidentified extracts in that it is the only extract cast in dialogue, with an exchange between multiple numbered speakers (i.e., speaker “1”, speaker “2”). It is included in Wiggins’s “Where to Find” (p. 269) and also listed in Lost Plays Database under the entry “Cotgrave’s Extracts.”
1. He looks on her picture, and sayes, she is faire;
She must needs be fair there, for I am sure
She is abominably painted.
2. She may be more her self, I have seen a Lady
And her Picture set together,
And (by this hand) you could not distinguish them.
1. He was an admirable workman, that painted so like her.
2. Or she was a rare work-woman, that painted her self so like it.
—ET, 210.2.
223.8–.
This is the second of nine extracts seemingly from a lost version of Brome’s The City Wit that significantly diverges from the 1653 edition of the play (cf. 64.4–). While some differences may be stylistic, possibly intended to convert the original prose passage into verse, like the use of “Italia” in line 14 instead of “Italian,” which reduces the number of beats in the line, other variations appear more intricate and multifaceted, such as the inclusion of the expression “Clarifie your blood, surfle your cheeks,” omitted from the 1653 edition, while the published text contains “Superficies of your face” (1653 ed.; my underlining) and “superficies” (Cotgrave). These complexities, along with an unusually higher number of edits compared to most other passages originally in prose, suggest that Cotgrave’s usual approach as an editor of his sources may not fully account for the differences. Further analysis and exploration of other factors beyond the scope of this web project are pending publication in the forthcoming critical edition of the book.
My name is Pulse-feel: A poor Doctor of Physick, that weares three-pile velvet in his Cap; has paid a quarters rent of his house afore-hand; and as meanly as he stands here, was made Doctor beyond the Seas. I vow (as I am right Worshipfull) the taking of my Degree cost me twelve French crowns, and five and thirty pound of salt Butter in upper Germany. I can make your beauty, and preserve it; Rectifie your Body, and maintain it; perfume your skin; tinct your haire; enliven your Eye; Heighten your Appetite. As for Gellies, Dentifrices, Diets, Minerall Fucusses, Pomatums, Fumes, Italian Masks to sleep in, either to moysten, or dry the Superficies of your face; paugh, Gallen was a Goose, and Paracelsus a Patch to Doctor Pulse-feel.
—CityO, sig. B6v–B7r, 2.2, ll. 689–702.
Wy name is Pulse-feel, a poor Doctor of Physick,
That does wear three pile Velvet in his Hat,
Has paid a quarters Rent of his house before-hand,
And (simple as he stands here) was made Doctor be-|yond
sea.
I vow, as I am Right worshipful, the taking
Of my Degree, cost me twelve French Crowns, and
Thirty five pounds of Butter in upper Germany.
I can make your beauty, and preserve it,
Rectifie your body and maintaine it,
Clarifie your blood, surfle your cheeks, perfume
Your skin, tinct your hair, enliven your eye,
Heighten your Appetite: And as for Jellies,
Dentifrizes, Dyets, Minerals, Fucusses,
Pomatums, Fumes, Italia Masks to sleep in,
Either to moisten or dry the superficies, Paugh, Galen,
Was a Goose, and Paracelsus a patch,
To Doctor Pulse-feel.
—ET, 223.8–.
234.4.
It is reasonable to classify this extract as unidentified or from a ‘lost play,’ even though a potential source for it has recently emerged. Wiggins includes this relatively short three-line extract in his “Where to Find” (p. 269), and the Lost Plays Database also lists it among the extracts from ‘lost plays’ in the entry “Cotgrave’s Extracts.” Nevertheless, a very similar passage, with the same rhyme scheme, can be found in a playbook containing a play from the 1640s first printed with the re-opening of the theatres at the start of the Restoration. Specifically, the play printed under the title Andronicus: a Tragedy, Impieties Long Successe, or Heavens Late Revenge, in 1661, suggests the possibility that Cotgrave has adapted the extract from a line of that play, which he may have consulted as a manuscript or witnessed in performance. Introduced in its epistle by the pseudonymous “Philanax,” a name devised to recall Basilius’s loyal friend from the Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia (1593), the alleged “Pedigree and Progress (not to say Pilgrimage) of this Tragedy” (to echo the words of its editor) was “born some eighteen years / since in Oxford, thence carried by a Casualty to York”. This “only Copy,” he remarks, has since recently traveled “some moneths” to London for publication. Relatedly, it contains a passage similar to Cotgrave’s extract in the comparable phrasing “these men” for “those men,” the rhyme of “state” and “fortunate,” and the comparable “Are they most honest” versus “Are never honest,” with the quibble over “most” and “never” potentially effected by Cotgrave to adjust for the repetition of the word “most” in the final line. Both passages are presented below for comparison.
Those men that have desires above their state,
Are never honest, seldome fortunate.
—ET, 234.4.
What are these men the wisest in the State?
Are they most honest, or most fortunate?
—Anon., Andronicus, 1661, sig. C7r, 2.5.
251.8.
This extract, seemingly from a lost play, is listed by Wiggins in “Where to Find” (p. 269) and shares some striking similarities with a passage from Thomas Goffe’s famous tragedy The Raging Turk, first printed in 1631 but reprinted as part of the collection Three Excellent Tragœdies in 1656. It is worth noting that Goffe’s play has survived not only through print but also through a manuscript transcribed by several early seventeenth century hands (Aubury Hall, Warwickshire, MS A.415, fols. 1–56).
Cotgrave has quoted from The Raging Turk for four identifiable passages and eight quotations from its sister play The Courageous Turk, with which it was published. In both the Goffe passage and this extract from an unidentifiable play, there appears the uncommon expression “murmur” or “murmurs” paired with the equally unusual phrase “dolefull song.” In each instance, the expression “dolefull song” is rhymed with “wrong.” While for Cotgrave to have based the extract on the Goffe passage would require him to modify his source more than he usually does, the parallels are striking and potentially indicative of a shared source. Although, as noted, this extract remains an analogue to the Goffe passage, both passages merit attention together and are therefore presented below for comparison.
Let fools murmur,
The much they suffer in some dolefull song,
While, like a wise man, I revenge my wrong.
—ET, 251.8.
The pleasing murmurers of the ayre,
that gently fanne each mouing thing,
I being heard, straight doe repayre,
and beare a burden whilst I sing,
An heauy burden dolefull song,
The fathers griefe the subiects wrong,
O let me sigh, and sighing weepe,
Till night beguiles my woes with sleepe.
—Goffe, Raging Turk, 1631, sig. M3r, 5.7, ll. 3121–26.
252.7.
This extract appears almost certainly to have originated from a lost play, possessing many features that justify its inclusion in Wiggins’s “Where to Find” (p. 269) and Lost Plays Database (“Cotgrave’s Extracts”). At 17 lines in length, it not only stands as potentially the longest extract from a lost play but also holds the distinction of being one of the longer extracts from English Treasury. Among the 1,701 extracts within the book, about ¾ are under 7 lines (2 lines = 432; 3 = 254; 4 = 269; 5 = 166; 6 = 157; 7 = 84), while it belongs to the group of 15 extracts with 17 lines (51 are longer).
Additionally, numerous expressions within the extract are striking and memorable, such as “Unblotted with the dash of destiny.” In particular, the phrase “distressed wights” echoes the timeless pledge of Don Quixote, “to defend damzels, protect widows, and assist Orphans and distressed wights” (The history of the valorous and wittie knight-errant, Don-Quixote of the Mancha, 1612, p. 78, sig. F8r). Moreover, other linguistic features appear fitting for a lost early version of Beaumont and Fletcher’s Coxcomb, a play based on one storyline from the Quixote books, for which Cotgrave might have had access to lost manuscript materials (see 56.2, above).
The extract is transcribed below.
Where the faults of wretched folks
Are Catalogu’d, as causes of their sufferings,
The pitty of the pious is denyed,
The holy sighes of the religious Beadesman that invokes
The angry power for the distressed wights,
Are turn’d to rough disdaines, and hard contempts,
Th’ unusuall effects of his soft life and practice:
But where, for some conceal’d purpose to heaven,
The innocent and good one is oppress’d,
With all the violence of need and wrong:
There every holy teare will wash the filth,
By the polluter that is thrown on us.
And whilst our vertue, and our honour stand
Unblotted with the dash of destiny,
The ruines that can happen else are mean,
And fate must leave its triumph unto us,
That have (in spight of injury) been just.
—ET, 252.7.
254.2.
This extract appears to be from a lost manuscript of Middleton’s The Mayor of Quinborough, as convincingly argued by Bentley in his essay “John Cotgrave’s” (pp. 192–93). The following textual notations highlight the differences between this text and the versions of the play preserved in its 1661 edition and the two extant manuscripts noted under the abbreviations above: “Those” becomes “That” (Σ); “are” becomes “is” Σ; “best” becomes “blest” (P20, F78); “they” becomes “it” (Σ); “Are” becomes “That’s” (Σ); “by the ruine” becomes “with the spoyle” (P20, F78); and “another” becomes “any man” (P20, F78). Due to the brevity of the passage, the texts of all versions are copied below for the purposes of comparison, with the similarities to the printed text underlined.
Those Riches are not best, though they be mighty,
Are purchas’d by the ruine of another.
—ET, 254.2.
That riches is not best, though it be mighty,
That’s purchas’d by the ruine of another;
—MayorQ, sig. A4v, 1.1.112–13.
that riches is not blest though it be mightye
thats purchasd with the spoyle of any man,
—P20, Fol. 4a, ll. 174–75 [p. 7].
That riches is not blest though it be mightye
Thats purchasd wth the spoyle of any man,
—F78, Fol. 4r, 1.1.124–25 [p. 9].
272.3.
This extract contains a quotation seemingly from a commendatory verse by William Strachey, which originally appeared in the 1605 edition of Ben Jonson’s Sejanus his Fall and is not reprinted in Jonson’s Workes (1616). It stands out in English Treasury as it is not taken from the main body of an early modern play. Strachey’s version of the couplet reads, “If men will shun swolne Fortunes ruinous blastes, / Let them vse Temperance. Nothing violent lasts” (sig. A3r), which bears a striking resemblance to Cotgrave’s “IF men will shun swoln fortunes ruinous blasts, / Let them use Temperance, nothing violent lasts.” However, it is possible that these lines were used in a play that is now lost, since the lines in fact echo Seneca’s Troades (William Dinsmore Briggs, “Source-Material for Jonson’s Plays Part II”, Modern Language Notes, 31, no. 6, 1916, pp. 328–29). The expression “swoln Fortune” also appears in the play, with the lines “Where I will naile your pride, at breadth, and length, / And crack those sinewes, which are yet but stretch’d / With your swolne Fortunes rage” (sig. C4v; 1.1.572–74).
If men will shun swolne Fortunes ruinous blastes,
Let them vse Temperance. Nothing violent lasts.
—Strachey, “Vpon SEIANVS”, in Seianvs His Fall, 1605, sig. A3r.
IF men will shun swoln fortunes ruinous blasts,
Let them use Temperance, nothing violent lasts.
—ET, 272.3.
287.7–.
This extract contains one of twelve passages that Bentley argued originated in a lost manuscript version of Middleton’s Mayor of Quinborough (“John Cotgrave’s,” pp. 192–93). While similar to the other passages apparently from that play, Cotgrave’s extract here shows relatively minor differences. He omits the equivalent of a line of verse and makes additional edits, which are underlined in the text transcribed from the Portland manuscript, as presented below: l.1, omit] Cast: neuer yet my Lord knowne to the will of Man. Cons: (Σ); in (4)] omit (P20, F78); hath] has (P20, F78).
Cons: are yow a virgin
Cast : neuer yet my Lord knowne to the will of
Man.
Cons : oh blessed Creature;
and does to much felicitye make yow surfeyt,
are yow in soule assured there is a state
prepared for yow, for yow; a glorious one
in midst of Heauen now in the state yow stand
and had yow rather after much knowne miserye
Cares and hard labours mingled with a Curse,
throng but to the doore and hardly gett a place there?
think has the world a folly like your madness;
keepe still that holy and immaculate fire
yow Chaste Lampe of eternitye, tis a treasure
too pretious for deaths moment to pertake,
this twinkeling of short life; disdaine as much
to lett mortalitye know yow, as starrs to kiss the pauemts:
y’haue a substance as excellent as theirs, holding your | pureness.
they looke vpon Corruptions as yow doe,
but are stars still be yow a virgin too.
—P20, Fol. 8a, ll. 456–75 [pp. 14–15].
You say, you are a Virgin, (oh bless’d Creature)
And does too much felicity make you surfeit?
Are you in soul assur’d, there is a state
Prepar’d for you, for you, a glorious one,
In midst of heaven now, in the state you stand in:
And had you rather (after much known misery,
Cares and hard labours, mingled with a curse)
Throng but to th’dore, and hardly get a place there?
Think, hath the world a folly like this madnesse?
Keep still that holy and immaculate fire,
You chast lump of eternity: ’tis a treasure
Too precious for deaths moment to partake
This Twinkling of short life, disdain as much
To let mortality know you, as the stars
To kisse the pavement: You have a substance
As excellent as theirs, (holding your pureness)
They look upon Corruption as you do,
But are stars still; be you a Virgin too.
—ET, 287.7.
291.4.
The content of this extract, apparently from a lost play, will receive further discussion in the forthcoming edition of Cotgrave’s English Treasury. It is listed among the extracts from lost plays in Wiggins, “Where to Find” (p. 270), and is also mentioned in the entry on “Cotgrave’s Extracts” from Lost Plays Database. Moreover, its later history in the seventeenth century is noteworthy, as it was included among the Cotgrave extracts adapted into the “Garden of Tulips” section of Edward Phillips’s Mysteries of Love and Eloquence (1658).
She is as modest
As one can be, that left to blush at twelve,
Felt motions at eleven, hath been hard’ned
Before three Congregations, and done pennance.
—ET, 291.4.
294.5.
This extract preserves a passage from Middleton’s Mayor of Quinborough that appears to be from a lost manuscript, as argued by Bentley in “John Cotgrave’s” (pp. 192–93). It is the final extract of twelve from the play and differs as follows from the 1653 edition and extant sources in the two surviving manuscripts: “Mistresse? ’tis” becomes “So beyond” (MayorQ, F78) and “So ill beyond” (P20); “shame” changes to “shames” (P20); “is” (3) changes to “that” (MayorQ) and “thats” (F78, P20); and “hours” changes to “ours” (F78). The same passage is reproduced below from the copy alternatively titled “Hengist King of Kent” in the Folger Shakespeare Library (i.e. F78).
So beyond detestabell,
To be an honest vassaile in som Calling,
Poore is ye worst off that, shame Comes not toot,
But Mrs, thats ye only Com~on bayte:
Fortune sitts at all ours Catching whores wth it,
And plucks em vp by Clusters:
—F78, Fol. 15v, 1.3.236–41 [pp. 34–35].
Mistresse? ’tis detestable,
To be an honest Vassall is some calling,
Poor is the worst of that, shame comes not to it,
But Mistress is the onely common bait
Fortune sets at all hours, catching whore with it.
And plucks them up by clusters.
—ET, 294.5.
300.5.
Among the five extracts potentially from Jasper Mayne’s The City Match, this particular excerpt, following extracts 41.6 and 45.2, stands out significantly. These extracts collectively suggest Cotgrave’s use of a source other than the 1639 printed edition. Specifically, his lines, “and I must make large joynture / To her Arms and Ancestors,” differ notably from Mayne’s 1639 printed text, which reads more expansively: “She’l still be naming of her Ancestors, / Aske Jointure by the Heralds booke, and I / That have no Coat, nor can show azure Lions, / In Fields of Argent, shall be scornd”. This looser adaptation, combined with discrepancies observed in the other extracts, bolsters the likelihood that Cotgrave’s source material might have been a lost manuscript or an alternative printed version of the play.
As for her birth
I could wish it were meaner. As many Knights
And Justices of peace as have been of
The Family are reckoned into th' portion;
She'l still be naming of her Ancestors,
Aske Jointure by the Heralds booke, and I
That have no Coat, nor can show azure Lions,
In Fields of Argent, shall be scornd[.]
—CityM, sig. M2v, 4.5.3–7.
For her birth,
If it were meaner, I should like it better,
As many Knights and justices of Peace,
As have been of the family, are reckon’d
Into the portion, and I must make large joynture
To her Arms and Ancestors.
—ET, 300.5.