Jonson, Ben · published 1616 · first performed or written 1599 (Annals) comedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men T9 Theatre talk: prologues, poets and playe typicality 0.73 · 471 words · other edition — not in the analysis
Marked words are the most distinguishing words of T9: play, stage, poet, prologue, author, wit, plays, muse, scene, players.
Only vouchsafe me your attentions, And I will give you music worth your ears. O, how I hate the monstrousness of time, Where every servile imitating spirit, (Plagued with an itching leprosy of wit) In a mere halting fury, strives to fling His ulcerous body in the Thespian spring, And straight leaps forth a Poet! but as lame As VULCAN, or the founder of Cripplegate. In faith, this Humour will come ill to some, You will be thought to be too peremptory. This Humour? good; and why this Humour, MITIS? Nay do not turn, but answer. Answer? what? I will not stir your patience, pardon me, I urged it for some reasons, and the rather To give these ignorant wellspoken days, Some taste of their abuse of this word Humour. O do not let your purpose fall, good ASPER, It cannot but arrive most acceptable, Chiefly to such, as have the happiness, Daily to see how the poor innocent word Is racked, and tortured. I; I pray you proceed. Ha? what? what is't? For the abuse of Humour. O, I crave pardon, I had lost my thoughts. Why Humour (as 'tis ens) we thus define it To be a quality of air or water, And in itself holds these two properties, Moisture and fluxure: As, for demonstration, power water on this floor, 'twill wet and run: Likewise the air (forced through a horn or trumpet) Flows instantly away, and leaves behind A kind of dew; and hence we do conclude, That what soe'er hath fluxure, and humidity, As wanting power to contain itself, Is Humour: so in every human body The choler, melancholy, phlegm, and blood, By reason that they flow continually In some one part, and are not continent, Receive the name of Humours. Now thus far It may, by Metaphor, apply itself Unto the general disposition: As when some one peculiar quality Doth so possess a man, that it doth draw All his affects, his spirits, and his powers, In their confluctions, all to run one way, This may be truly said to be a Humour. But that a Rook, in wearing a pied feather, The cable hatband, or the three-piled ruff, A yard of shoe-tie, or the Swissers knot On his French garters, should affect a Humour! O, 'tis more than most ridiculous. He speaks pure truth: now if an Idiot Have but an apish, or fantastic strain, It is his Humour. Well I will scourge those Apes; And to these courteous eyes oppose a mirror, As large as is the stage, whereon we act: Where they shall see the times deformity Anatomized in every nerve, and sinew, With constant courage, and contempt of fear. ASPER (I urge it as your friend) take heed, The days are dangerous, full of exception, And men are grown impatient of reproof.
Other edition — placed after the fit, excluded from the main statistics
Position
nodes 66–131 (positions in the processed text, not lines of the printed book) · chunk 2 of 74 in this edition
Length
471 words · 658 tokens
Topic (seed 42)
T9 — Theatre talk: prologues, poets and playerscross-work theme (confirmed, in the genre comparison) · typicality 0.727 (cosine to the topic centroid) · placed after the fit (approximate_predict), not counted in the topic statistics
Other seeds
seed 43: unassigned · seed 44: T15 — topic numbers are assigned independently in each run; equal or different numbers say nothing by themselves
Original spelling (EEBO-TCP, unregularized)
Onely vouchsafe me your attentions, And I will giue you musicke worth your eares. O, how I hate the monstrousnesse of time, Where euery seruile imitating spirit, (Plagu'd with an itching leprosie of wit) In a meere halting fury, striues to fling His lc'rous body in the Thespian spring, And streight leap's forth a Poet! but as lame As VULCAN, or the founder of Cripple-gate. In faith, this Humour will come ill to some, You will be thought to be too peremptory. This Humour? good; and why this Humour, MITIS? Nay doe not turne, but answere. Answere? what? I will not stirre your patience, pardon me, I vrg'd it for some reasons, and the rather To giue these ignorant well-spoken dayes, Some taste of their abuse of this word Humour. O doe not let your purpose fall, good ASPER, It cannot but arriue most acceptable, Chiefly to such, as haue the happinesse, Daily to see how the poore innocent word Is rackt, and tortur'd. I; I pray you proceede. Ha? what? what is't? For the abuse of Humour. O, I craue pardon, I had lost my thoughts. Why Humour (as 'tis ens) we thus define it To be a quality of aire or water, And in it selfe holds these two properties, Moisture and fluxure: As, for demonstration, Powre water on this floore, 'twill wet and runne: Likewise the aire (forc't through a horne or trumpet) Flowes instantly away, and leaues behind A kind of dew; and hence we doe conclude, That what soe're hath fluxure, and humiditie, As wanting power to containe it selfe, Is Humour: so in euery humane body The choller, melancholy, flegme, and bloud, By reason that they flow continually In some one part, and are not continent, Receiue the name of Humours. Now thus farre It may, by Metaphore, apply it selfe Vnto the generall disposition: As when some one peculiar quality Doth so possesse a man, that it doth draw All his affects, his spirits, and his powers, In their conflctions, all to runne one way, This may be truly said to be a Humour. But that a Rooke, in wearing a pyed feather, The cable hat-band, or the three-pild ruffe, A yard of shoe-tie, or the Switzers knot On his French garters, should affect a Humour! O, 'tis more then most ridiculous. He speakes pure truth: now if an Idiot Haue but an apish, or phantasticke straine, It is his Humour. Well I will scourge those Apes; And to these courteous eyes oppose a mirrour, As large as is the stage, whereon we act: Where they shall see the times deformity Anatomiz'd in euery nerue, and sinnew, With constant courage, and contempt of feare. ASPER (I vrge it as your friend) take heed, The dayes are dangerous, full of exception, And men are growne impatient of reproofe.