# The Works of Ben Jonson/Volume 6/A Tale of a Tub/Act III/Scene I

ACT III. SCENE I.
Kentish Town.
Enter Turfe, Clench, Medlay, To-Pan, Scriben, and Clay.
* ↑ There is John Clay, who is yvound already,] This play is in the western dialect, as the Sad Shepherd is a specimen of the Lowland Scottish: the letter y is commonly prefixed to participles passive, as well as a poetical augmentation: Quo minus mireris, says Mr. Davis in Junius. B. Jonsonum in fabulâ cui titulus Tale of a Tub, inter alia istius (scil. occidentalis) idiomatis exempla, hæc verba protulisse,There is John Clay, who is yvound already. Etymol. Liter. Y. Whal.The dialect (which is only partially western) was, I believe, once more general than is commonly supposed, and, in any case, it is quite certain that the Saxon prefix was as universal as the language. Aubrey, who is very careless in his gossipping tales, and who seems to have made far more use of his ears than his eyes, tells us, in more than one place, that "Ben Jonson took a catalogue from Mr. Lacy of the Yorkshire dialect, for the clownery to his comedy called The Tale of a Tub."
* ↑ Now by St. Tony, &c] The mention of pigs puts the unfortunate high-constable in mind of St. Anthony, who was always followed by one. This would not be worth notice, had not Whalley mistaken the poet's meaning, and given us a St. Thomas.
* ↑ ———— 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.
* ↑ Faith, neighbour Medlay, I durst be his burrough,] i. e. his pledge or security. Whal. The word, which is pure Saxon, is very common in our old writers.
* ↑ Look to the meat.] Here is a manifest sneer at Shakspeare. "Look to the baked meat, good Angelica." The unworthy subterfuge of roasting this meat instead of baking it, as in Romeo and Juliet would not have screened the author from the just resentment of the variorum critics, had they luckily known of this passage.