Page:The Works of Ben Jonson - Gifford - Volume 6.djvu/195

 Lady T. Dido shall make that good, or I will for her.
Here, Dido Wispe, there's for your Hannibal;
He is your countryman as well as valentine.

 Wispe. Here, master Hannibal, my lady's bounty
For her poor woman, Wispe.

 Pup. Brave Carthage queen!
And such was Dido: I will ever be
Champion to her, who Juno is to thee.

 Dame T. Your ladyship is very welcome here.
Please you, good madam, to go near the house.

 Lady T. Turfe's wife, I come thus far to seek thy husband,
Having some business to impart unto him;
Is he at home?

 Dame T. O no, an it shall please you:
He is posted hence to Pancridge, with a witness.
Young justice Bramble has kept level coyl^[1]
Here in our quarters, stole away our daughter,
And master Turfe's run after, as he can,
To stop the marriage, if it will be stopp'd.

 Pol. Madam, these tidings are not much amiss:
For if the justice have the maid in keep,
You need not fear the marriage of your son.

 Lady T. That somewhat easeth my suspicious breast.

corrupt, and that we should read, Hold, there is an old noble; but I have changed nothing. The quibble between noble and mark, (the latter being double the value of the former) is a favourite with our old writers. Thus, in The Puritan: "A man of mark, quoth-a! I do not think he can shew a beggar's noble. A. I. Sc. 3. See p. 89.

1. Young justice Bramble has kept level coyl.] i. e. (in our old dramatists) riot or disturbance. But, properly, level coil is a game in which each of the parties strives to supplant and win the place of the other. The childish play of catch-corner comes something near it. Coles derives it from the Italian (levar il culo,) and calls it pitch-buttock. If there be two plays of the name, it is well; this may then be one of them.