ABSTRACT
Towards the end of Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair, a group of minor characters join together in a spirited game they call “vapours.” The object of this game, according to Jonson’s stage directions, is “Nonsense. Every man to oppose the last man that spoke: whether it concerned him, or no.” The players include Puppy, a wrestler from southwestern England, Northern, a clothier from the northern shires, and Whit, an Irish bawd. The characters compete in their respective dialects:
Puppy: Why, where are you, zurs? doe you vlinch, and leave us i’ the zuds, now?
