In the following passage from Volpone, playwright Ben Jonson satirizes Twitter 400 years avant la lettre. The exchange comes from act four, scene one, during a conversation between an English knight called Sir Politic Would-Be and a "gentleman traveler" called Peregrine.
SIR POLITIC: This is my diary,
Wherein I note my actions of the day.
PEREGRINE: Pray you let's see, sir. What is here?
[He reads.]
"Notandum,
A rat had gnawn my spur leathers; notwithstanding,
I put on new and did go forth; but, first,
I threw three beans over the threshold. Item,
I went and bought two toothpicks, whereof one
I burst, immediately, in a discourse
With a Dutch merchant, 'bout ragion del stato.
From him I went and paid a moccenigo
For piecing my silk stockings; by the way,
I cheapened sprats, and at Saint Mark's I urined."--
Faith, these are politic notes!
SIR POLITIC: Sir, I do slip
No action of my life, thus but I quote it.
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