Page:The Works of Ben Jonson - Gifford - Volume 6.djvu/198

 Clench. One of Southampton———

 Med. The t'other of Warwick castle.

 Turfe. You shall work it
Into a story for me, neighbour Medlay,
Over my chimney.

 Scri. I can give you, sir,
A Roman story of a petty-constable,
That had a daughter that was call'd Virginia,
Like mistress Awdrey, and as young as she;
And how her father bare him in the business,
'Gainst justice Appius, a decemvir in Rome,
And justice of assize.

 Turfe. That, that, good D'ogenes!
A learned man is a chronicle.

 Scri. I can tell you
A thousand of great Pompey, Cæsar, Trajan,
All the high constables there.

 Turfe. That was their place;
They were no more.

 Scri. Dictator and high constable
Were both the same.

 Med. High constable was more though:
He laid Dick Tator by the heels.^[1]

 Pan. Dick Toter!
He was one o' the waights o' the city, I have read o' 'un;
He was a fellow would be drunk, debauch'd—
And he did zet 'un in the stocks indeed:
His name was Vadian, and a cunning toter.^[2]

1. He laid Dick Tator by the heels.] Low as the joke is, we find Butler has borrowed it in his speech of Colonel Pride: "They talk indeed of a Roman general, who came from the plough; Dick Talor, I think they call him, who having beat the enemy went home to the country rich, and renowned for a very wise man." Last Speech of Colonel Pride. Whal.
2. His name was Vadian and a cunning toter.] A toter or tooter is a low term for a piper. Who this "cunning toter" was, I cannot inform the reader, unless it be Robert Fabyan. Fabian was parcel poet, and parcel historian, and wrote a rhyming