Diodati, his 'guide-fish'
to capture the 'whale' in the 'rocke rough ocean.'
Florio's way of translating the Latin classic writers into
indifferent English rhymes is also repeatedly ridiculed. The
latter (Florio, p. 574.) once gives a passage from Plautus
(_The Captives_, Prologue, v. 22) correctly enough: 'The Gods,
perdye (_pardieu_), doe reckon and racket us men as their
tennis balls.' Furor Poeticus, in one of his fits of fine frenzy,
accuses Phoebus:--
The heavens' promoter that doth peep and prey
Into the acts of mortal tennis balls.
This he says after having, in the same highly comic speech,
travestied Florio's Dedication of the third book, in which that
gallant compares himself to 'Mercury between the radiant orbs of
Venus and the Moon'--that is, the two ladies to whom he dedicates
the book in question, and before whom he alleges he 'leads a
dance.' A further sneer is directed by Furor Poeticus against the
lazy manner with which Florio's Muse rises from her nest.
Additional allusions to dramatic publications from the years
1603-4 will be found on pp. 201, 202. Another proof that the play
(_The Return from Parnassus_) cannot be of a uniform cast,
is this: In act i. sc. 2 a list of the poets is given, that are to
be criticised. The list is kept up in proper succession as far as
'John Davis.
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