Note 47 — BEN JONSON AND SHAKESPEARE BEN JONSON AND SHAKESPEARE[44]

The so-called Masque of Owls begins with the stage-direction: “Enter Captain Cox on his Hobby horse,” of which animal the Captain says: “He is the Pegasus that uses to wait on Warwick Muses, and on gaudy days he paces Before the Coventry Graces.” The “Warwick Muses” are generally supposed to be the Morris-dancers of the county, with whom the hobby-horse was usually associated. [Ed.]