Page:The Works of Ben Jonson - Gifford - Volume 6.djvu/186

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

176

A TALE OF A TUB.

Zon Clay, zon Clay, for I must call thee so,
Be of good comfort; take my muckinder,^[1]
And dry thine eyes. If thou be’st true and honest,
And if thou find’st thy conscience clear vrom it,
Pluck up a good heart, we’ll do well enough:

↑ ———— take my muckinder.] i. e. (as every child in the kingdom knows) a napkin or handkerchief. Dr. Johnson, who thus explains it by a very pertinent quotation, is set right by Mr. Weber, who with a modesty peculiar to himself, informs us that the Doctor knows nothing of the matter, and that "a muckender is a bavarette or mucketer, according to Cotgrave!" and this he does in direct contradiction of the intent of the speaker, who expressly distinguishes the muckinder from the bib, or bavarette. Beau. and Flet. vol. ix. p. 208.
It may be of some service to the future editors of Beaumont and Fletcher, (for these poets must not be always disgraced with the name of Weber,) to notice another passage, in which the perspicacity of the editor vies with his knowledge.
In the Little Thief, "Toby, after reproaching his lady for marrying her daughter to an old rotten justice "with a thousand heathenish smells," adds,
"And would you mellow my young pretty mistress
In such a misken?

On this Mr. Weber observes: "This obscure phrase has not been noticed by any of the editors, and I am unable to give any satisfactory explanation of it. As a verb it is common in the north of England and Scotland with the sense of—to mistake, to forbear, to disown; but none of these meanings seem applicable to the text. In Skinner's Etymologicon (which, by the bye, Mr. Weber never saw) we have miskin fro, vox quæ mihi apud Higginium solum occurrit et exp. ancilla. But this applies no better to the text than the other." vol. xiv. p. 52. It applies very well; but Mr. Weber, who did not understand a syllable of what he was quoting, spoke at random as usual. This "obscure phrase," misken, or mixen, is a word perfectly plain, and to be found in every dictionary in the language. Mixen, in short, is a dunghill, and the allusion is to the practice of accelerating the ripening or maturing of any thing by burying it in warm dung. Mr. Weber's ignorance is really pitiable, that of his employers wants a name.
Miskin fro, which Skinner found in Higgin, means dunghill drudge, a term of contempt.

[1] ———— take my muckinder.] i. e. (as every child in the kingdom knows) a napkin or handkerchief. Dr. Johnson, who thus explains it by a very pertinent quotation, is set right by Mr. Weber, who with a modesty peculiar to himself, informs us that the Doctor knows nothing of the matter, and that "a muckender is a bavarette or mucketer, according to Cotgrave!" and this he does in direct contradiction of the intent of the speaker, who expressly distinguishes the muckinder from the bib, or bavarette. Beau. and Flet. vol. ix. p. 208.
It may be of some service to the future editors of Beaumont and Fletcher, (for these poets must not be always disgraced with the name of Weber,) to notice another passage, in which the perspicacity of the editor vies with his knowledge.
In the Little Thief, "Toby, after reproaching his lady for marrying her daughter to an old rotten justice "with a thousand heathenish smells," adds,
"And would you mellow my young pretty mistress
In such a misken?

On this Mr. Weber observes: "This obscure phrase has not been noticed by any of the editors, and I am unable to give any satisfactory explanation of it. As a verb it is common in the north of England and Scotland with the sense of—to mistake, to forbear, to disown; but none of these meanings seem applicable to the text. In Skinner's Etymologicon (which, by the bye, Mr. Weber never saw) we have miskin fro, vox quæ mihi apud Higginium solum occurrit et exp. ancilla. But this applies no better to the text than the other." vol. xiv. p. 52. It applies very well; but Mr. Weber, who did not understand a syllable of what he was quoting, spoke at random as usual. This "obscure phrase," misken, or mixen, is a word perfectly plain, and to be found in every dictionary in the language. Mixen, in short, is a dunghill, and the allusion is to the practice of accelerating the ripening or maturing of any thing by burying it in warm dung. Mr. Weber's ignorance is really pitiable, that of his employers wants a name.
Miskin fro, which Skinner found in Higgin, means dunghill drudge, a term of contempt.

[1]