The MSS. generally support the punctuation which I have adopted, which is that of the Grolier Club edition.
Page 40. The Flea.
I have restored this poem to the place it occupied in 1633. In 1635 it was placed first of all the Songs and Sonets. A strange choice to our mind, but apparently the poem was greatly admired as a masterpiece of wit. It is the first of the pieces translated by Huyghens:
De Vloy.
Slaet acht op deze Vloy, en leert wat overleggen,
Hoe slechten ding het is dat ghy my kont ontzeggen, &c.,
and was selected for special commendation by some of his correspondents. Coleridge comments upon it in verse:
Be proud as Spaniards. Leap for pride, ye Fleas!
In natures minim realm ye're now grandees.
Skip-jacks no more, nor civiller skip-johns;