Alas I they have had a pitiful hard time on’t, A long vacation from their cozening.
3. 2. 22 I bought Plutarch’s liues. T. North’s famous translation first appeared in 1579. New editions followed in 1595, 1603, 1610-12, and 1631.
3. 2. 33 Buy him a Captaines place. The City Train Bands were a constant subject of ridicule for the dramatists. They are especially well caricatured by Fletcher in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Act 5. In addition to the City Train Bands, the Fraternity of Artillery, now called The Honorable Artillery Company, formed a separate organization. The place of practice was the Artillery Garden in Bunhill Fields (see note [3. 2. 41]). In spite of ridicule the Train Bands proved a source of strength during the Civil War (see Clarendon, Hist. of the Rebellion, ed. 1826, 4. 236 and Wh-C., Artillery Ground).
Jonson was fond of poking fun at the Train Bands. Cf. U. 62, Wks. 8. 409; Ev. Man in, Wks. 1. 88; and Alchemist, Wks. 4. 13. Face, it will be remembered, had been ‘translated suburb-captain’ through Subtle’s influence.
The immediate occasion of Jonson’s satire was doubtless the revival of military enthusiasm in 1614, of which Entick (Survey 2. 115) gives the following account:
‘The military genius of the Londoners met with an opportunity, about this time, to convince the world that they still retained the spirit of their forefathers, should they be called out in the cause of their king and country. His majesty having commanded a general muster of the militia throughout the kingdom, the city of London not only mustered 6000 citizens completely armed, who performed their several evolutions with surprizing dexterity; but a martial spirit appeared amongst the rising generation. The children endeavoured to imitate their parents; chose officers, formed themselves into companies, marched often into the fields with colours flying and beat of drums, and there, by frequent practice, grew up expert in the military exercises.’
3. 2. 35 Cheapside. Originally Cheap, or West Cheap, a street between the Poultry and St. Paul’s, a portion of the line from Charing Cross to the Royal Exchange, and from Holborn to the Bank of England.
‘At the west end of this Poultrie and also of Buckles bury, beginneth the large street of West Cheaping, a market-place so called, which street stretcheth west till ye come to the little conduit by Paule’s Gate.’—Stow, ed. Thoms, p. 99.
The glory of Cheapside was Goldsmith’s Row (see note [3. 5. 2]). It was also famous in early times for its ‘Ridings,’ and during Jonson’s period for its ‘Cross,’ its ‘Conduit,’ and its ‘Standard’ (see note [1. 1. 56] and Wh—C.).
3. 2. 35 Scarfes. ‘Much worn by knights and military officers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.’—Planché.