Note 672 — THE BLACK BOOK.

The Merry Devil of Edmonton] This comedy, which was, and deserved to be, extremely popular, may be found in Dodsley’s Old Plays, vol. v. last ed. Mr. J. P. Collier (Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet.) ascribes it unhesitatingly to Drayton, probably on some authority (besides that of Oldys) which I do not recollect.

The following passage of The Merry Devil of Edmonton has puzzled the editors (who, by the by, choose to print it as verse): “How now, my old Jenerts bank, my horse, my castle; lie in Waltham all night, and not under the canopy of your host Blague’s house?” Steevens (Dodsley’s Old Plays, vol. v. p. 267, last ed.) says, “I once suspected this passage of corruption, but have found reason to change my opinion. The merry Host seems willing to assemble ideas expressive of trust and confidence. The old quartos begin the word jenert with a capital letter; and, therefore, we may suppose ‘Jenert’s bank’ to have been the shop of some banker, in whose possession money could be deposited with security. The Irish still say—as sure as Burton’s Bank; and our countrymen—as safe as the Bank of England. We might read ‘my house’ instead of ‘my horse,’ as the former agrees better with ‘castle.’ The services of a horse are of all things the most uncertain.” Nares (Gloss. in v. Jenert’s Bank) observes, “It has been conjectured that there was a bank called Jenert’s, so famous as to be proverbial for security; but it remains to be shewn that any country-bank existed in the seventeenth century, much more that they were so common as for one to be famous above the rest.... Can it be a misprint for ‘Ermen’s bank,’ or the old Roman road passing through Edmonton, which might have been written ‘Irmint’s?’”—I believe we ought to read; “How now, my old jennets [i. e. cavaliers, for so the word is sometimes used], bauk [i. e. balk] my house, my castle! lie in Waltham,” &c.