DAVP. Yes, miftris EPICOENE. TRV. Well, DAVPHINE, you haue lurch'd your friends of the better halfe of the garland, by concealing this part of the plot! but much good doe it thee, thou deferu'ft it, lad. 230 And CLERIMONT, for thy vnexpected bringing in these two to confeffion, weare my part of it freely. Nay, fir DAW, and fir LA-FOOLE, you see the gentlewoman that has done you the fauours! we are all thankefull to you, and fo fhould the woman-kind here, fpecially for lying on her, 235 though not with her! You meant fo, I am fure? But, that we haue ftuck it vpon you to day, in your own imagin'd persons, and so lately; this Amazon, the champion of the fexe, should beate you now thriftily, for the common flanders, which ladies receiue from fuch cuckowes, as you 240 are. You are they, that when no merit or fortune can make you hope to enioy their bodies, will yet lie with their reputations, and make their fame fuffer. Away you common moths of these, and all ladies honors. Goe, trauaile to make legs and faces, and come home with some 245 new matter to be laught at: you deferue to liue in an aire as corrupted, as that wherewith you feed rumor. Madames, you are mute, vpon this new metamorphofis! but here stands fhee, that has vindicated your fames. Take heed of fuch infecta hereafter. And let it not trouble you that you 250 haue difcouer'd any mysteries to this yong gentleman. He is (a'moft) of yeeres, & will make a good vifitant within this twelue-month. In the meane time, wee'll all vndertake for his fecrecie, that can speake so well of his filence. Spectators, if you like this comœdie, rise cheerefully, and 255 now MOROSE is gone in, clap your hands. It may be, that noyse will cure him, at least please him. THE END. 230 bringing in] bringing 1640... cuckoos G 244 trauaile] travel 1692... 239 cuckowes] cuckows W; 240 merit or fortune] merit of fortune 1640...1717 251 (a'most)] almost G NOTES REFERENCES to the text of Epicone are to act, scene, and line of this edition. Other references to Jonson are to the CunninghamGifford edition, act, scene, page, and in the case of minor works to the volume also; references to Shakespeare are to Globe ed., act, scene, and line: in the plays of these two dramatists the author's name is omitted. Abbreviations require no explanation beyond that furnished by the Bibliography, unless it be Wh.-C. for Wheatley-Cunningham's London Past and Present; Stow, for Survey of London; Abbott, for Abbott's Shakespearean Grammar. TITLE-PAGE. Epicone, Gr. Tíkovos 'of either gender', 'promiscuous'. Not uncommon in Jonson: News from the New World, vol. 7. 344: 'The isle of the Epicones because there under one article both kinds are signified'; Neptune's Triumph, vol. 8. 31: 'Of the epicone gender, hees and shees: Amphibion Archy is the chief'; Underwoods 47, vol. 8. 421: The Court Pucelle In an epicoene fury can write news Equal with that which for the best news goes. From the first the comedy has been popularly called by its subtitle, The filent Woman. Both are suggestive of the plot, and taken together make an unusually significant name. Comœdie. Jonson always used the Latin form of the word. For other examples of Latin spelling in this play, note: aemulation, 3. 3. 91, 4. 6. 65; aequivocate, 4. 2. 36; faesible, 3. 3. 100, 4. 4. 109; suspition, 4. 6. 50; pretious, 4. 1. 115; insectae, 5. 4. 249. the Children of her Maiesties Revells. A company of boy actors organized from the choristers of the Chapel Royal. First recorded play, Misogonus, Dec. 31, 1559, which aroused Elizabeth's displeasure, caused the dismissal of Cawarden, Master of Revels; second recorded play, Damon and Pythias, the winter of 1563-4 (Fleay, Stage, pp. 40, 58, 60). Their playhouse was the Bell Savage, destroyed 1583 (Prynne, Histriomastix, p. 492). They were inhibited from acting until 1591 (Fleay, Stage, p. 81). Eliza beth's warrant for the impressment of choir-boys, Apr. 25, 1585, brought Nathaniel Field among them (Athenæum, Aug. 10, 1889, vol. 2. 203-4). From 1597-1603 they acted at Blackfriars, under the management of Nathaniel Gyles (Fleay, Stage, p. 127 ff.). Just subsequent to the Queen's death, Jan. 30, 1603-4, they were reorganized as The Children of her Majesty's Revels, with Samuel Daniel as censor (Fleay, Stage, p. 184; Hazlitt, Drama and Stage 40). On Jan. 4, 1609-10, Field became their manager, under a new patent granted to Philip Rossiter and others, establishing the company at Whitefriars (Collier, Hist. of Eng. Dram. 1. 352; Stage, p. 185). They brought out, in all, three plays for Jonson: Cynthia's Revels, 1600; Poetaster, 1601; Epicæne, 1610 (Fleay, Drama 1. 348-9). Jonson's patronage was probably pointed at in Ham. 2. 2 (Fleay, Queen Eliz., Croydon, and the Drama, p. 12). The Revels Boys were again organized into the Lady Elizabeth's Servants, 1613-25; and into Queen Henrietta's Servants, 1625–42. With the closing of the theatres the company ended its long life of four-fifths of a century. ut sis tu similis &c. Hor. Satires 1. 4. 69 ff. William Stansby. Stansby started in business as a bookseller. In 1609 he appears as a printer, and from that date until 1638 he printed 154 books. Other important works from his press, besides the 1616 folio of Ben Jonson, are Certayne Masques at the Court never yet printed, written by Ben Jonson, Jan. 20, 1614-15, the 1620 quarto of Epicone, the 1635 quarto of Hamlet, and the second quarto of Love's Labour's Lost. DEDICATION. Sir Francis Stuart. 'He was a learned gentleman, was one of Sir Walter Raleigh's club at the Mermaid-Tavern in Friday-street, London, and much venerated by Ben Jonson, who dedicated to him his comedy, call'd The Silent Woman: he was a person also well seen in marine affairs, was a captain of a ship, and bore the office for some time of a vice- or rear-admiral.' Anthony Wood, Athen. Oxon. Fast. vol. 1. 203.-W. Line 8. by cause. This phrase shows the original form of because: a prep. by sb. cause; later the cause or purpose was expressed by a subst. governed by of, a dat. infinitive, or a subord. clause introduced by that or why. Such subordinate clauses fell into two |