‘Almanac-making had become an extensive and profitable trade in this country at the beginning of the 17th century, and with the exception of some fifteen or twenty years at the time of the Rebellion continued to flourish until its close. There were three distinct classes of almanacs published during the seventeenth century—the common almanacs, which preceded and followed the period of the Rebellion, and the political and satirical almanacs that were the direct outcome of that event.
‘The common almanacs came out year after year in unbroken uniformity. They were generally of octavo size and consisted of two parts, an almanac and a prognostication. Good and evil days were recorded, and they contained rules as to bathing, purging, etc., descriptions of the four seasons and rules to know the weather, and during the latter half of the century an astrological prediction and “scheme” of the ensuing year.
‘In the preceding century the makers of almanacs were “Physitians and Preests”, but they now adopted many other titles, such as “Student in Astrology”, “Philomath”, “Well Willer to the Mathematics.” The majority of them were doubtless astrologers, but not a few were quack doctors, who only published their almanacs as advertisements.’ (Almanac, a character in The Staple of News, is described as a ‘doctor in physic.’)
Among the more famous almanac-makers the names of William Lilly, John Partridge and Bretnor may be mentioned. For the last see note 2. 1. 1, and B. & Fl., Rollo, Duke of Normandy, where Fiske and Bretnor appear again. Cf. also Alchemist, Wks. 4. 41; Every Man out, Wks. 2. 39-40; Mag. La., Wks. 6. 74, 5. In Sir Thomas Overbury’s Character of The Almanac-Maker (Morley, p. 56) we read: ‘The verses of his book have a worse pace than ever had Rochester hackney; for his prose, ’tis dappled with ink-horn terms, and may serve for an almanac; but for his judging at the uncertainty of weather, any old shepherd shall make a dunce of him.’
ACT II.
2. 1. 1 Sir, money’s a whore, etc. Coleridge, Notes, p. 280. emends: ‘Money, sir, money’s a’, &c. Cunningham, on the other hand, thinks that ‘the 9-syllable arrangement is quite in Jonson’s manner, and that it forces an emphasis upon every word especially effective at the beginning of an act.’ See variants.
Money is again designated as a whore in the Staple of News 4. 1: ‘Saucy Jack, away: Pecunia is a whore.’ In the same play Pennyboy, the usurer, is called a ‘money-bawd.’ Dekker (Non-dram. Wks. 2. 137) speaks of keeping a bawdy-house for Lady Pecunia. The figure is a common one.
2. 1. 3 Via. This exclamation is quite common among the dramatists and is explained by Nares as derived from the Italian exclamation via! ‘away, on!’ with a quibble on the literal of L. via, a way. The Century Dictionary agrees substantially with this derivation. Abundant examples of its use are given by the authorities quoted, to which may be added Merry Devil of Edmonton 1. 2. 5, and Marston, Dutch Courtezan, Wks. 2. 20:
O, yes, come, via!—away, boy—on!