Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/225

BEN JONSON 209 and in the present piece, Act iv., Sc. i, Subtle ex- claims, when Surly first enters disguised — " He looks in that deep ruff like a head in a platter Served in by a short cloak upon two trestles." Surly being at length got rid of for the time, Face and Drugger are left on one side, Subtle and Ananias on the other : — " Face. Drugger, this rogue prevented us, for thee : We had determined that thou should'st have come In a Spanish suit, and have carried her so ; and he, A brokerly slave ! goes, puts it on himself. Hast brought the damask ? Drug. Yes, sir. Face. Thou must borrow A Spanish suit : hast thou no credit with the players ? Drug. Yes, sir ; did you never see me play the Fool ? Face. I know not, Nab ; thou shalt, if I can help it. ^{Aside. Hieronimo's old cloak, ruff, and hat will serve ; I'll tell thee more when thou bringest 'em. _Exit Drugger." Old Hieronimo, or Jeronymo, was the title-hero of a popular play by Kyd, and of its sequel, the " Spanish Tragedy," frequently burlesqued by our poet and his contemporaries, though Jonson himself in his early hack days earned a small sum by writing additions to it. We are now at the close of the Fourth Act, and the beginning of the denouement. Lovewit, the master of the house, suddenly returns, and is descried by Dol, with forty of the neighbours about him talking. Face, the man of action, immediately assumes command in the confederacy : — '■'■ Face. Be silent : not a word, if he call or knock. I'll into mine old shape again and meet him, O