In all countries enactments have been levelled against the excesses of ejaculation, but the true instruments for keeping them in bounds, assuming there to be an actual necessity for such treatment, has been shown to be the voice of ridicule and the keen banter of satire. Moralists of the pattern of the law-givers of Connecticut would probably be found to take exception to the oaths of Bobadil, and would condemn 'Every Man in his Humour' as a licentious work. It does not however need argument to show that the mere fact of the redoubted Bobadil taking credit to himself for his freaks with the fourth commandment, forms one of the strongest inducements to respect that prohibition. But in view of any latent admiration being lurking in any portion of his auditory, Jonson has contrived a foil in the person of Master Stephen. This is a vain-glorious, empty parasite, whose clumsy imitation of the Captain is certainly calculated to put his hearers out of all sympathy with his model. So captivated is this apt disciple with Bobadil's string of expletives, that he is found anxiously inquiring whether he also may swear _en militaire_. "Certainly," says the sagacious Well-bred, "if, as I remember, your name is entered in the Artillery Garden." Bobadil "swore the legiblest of any man christened." The field, however, has not been suffered to be left without competitors. To see how persistent has been the struggle for reputation in the matter as well as manner of swearing, we have only to turn to the well-known dialogue in Sheridan's comedy: "_Absolute._ But pray, Bob, I observe you have got an odd kind of a new method of swearing. "_Acres._ Ha! ha! you've taken notice of it--'tis genteel, isn't it? I didn't invent it myself though, but a commander in our militia, a great scholar I assure you, says that there is no meaning in the common oaths, and that nothing but their antiquity makes them respectable; because, he says, the ancients would never stick to an oath or two, but would say, By Jove! or by Bacchus!--by Mars! or by Pallas! according to the sentiment, so that to swear with propriety, says my little major, the oath should be an echo of the sense; and this we call the oath referential, or sentimental swearing--ha! ha! 'tis genteel, isn't it? "_Absolute._ Very genteel, and very new, indeed!--and I daresay will supplant all other figures of imprecation. "_Acres._ Ay, ay, the best terms will grow obsolete. Damns have had their day."[49]