The Devil is an Ass

by Ben Jonson

To use the present, then, is not abuse.

1. 6. 138 Nay, then, I taste a tricke in’t. Cf. ‘I do taste this as a trick put on me.’ Ev. Man in, Wks. 1. 133. See Introduction, [p. xlvii].

1. 6. 142 cautelous. For similar uses of the word cf. Massinger, City Madam, Wks., p. 321, and B. & Fl., Elder Brother, Wks. 10. 275. Gifford gives an example from Knolles, Hist. of the Turks, p. 904.

1. 6. 149 MAN. Sir, what doe you meane?
153 MAN. You must play faire, S^r. ‘I am not certain about the latter of these two speeches, but it is perfectly unquestionable that the former must have been spoken by the husband Fitzdottrel.’—C.

Cunningham may be right, but the change is unnecessary if we consider Manly’s reproof as occasioned by Fitzdottrel’s interruption.

1. 6. 158, 9         No wit of man
Or roses can redeeme from being an Asse. ‘Here is an allusion to the metamorphosis of Lucian into an ass; who being brought into the theatre to shew tricks, recovered his human shape by eating some roses which he found there. See the conclusion of the treatise, Lucius, sive Asinus.’—W.

See Lehman’s edition, Leipzig, 1826, 6. 215. As Gifford says, the allusion was doubtless more familiar in Jonson’s day than in our own. The story is retold in Harsnet’s Declaration (p. 102), and Lucian’s work seems to have played a rather important part in the discussion of witchcraft.

1. 6. 161 To scape his lading. Cf. note 1. 4. 72.

1. 6. 180 To other ensignes. ‘I. e., to horns, the Insignia of a cuckold.’—G.

1. 6. 187 For the meere names sake. ‘I. e. the name of the play.’—W.