INTRODUCTION.

I. SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF BEN JONSON.

4573-1631

(Compiled chiefly from his Conversations with Drummond, Symond's Life, and Ward's English Dramatic Literature.)

He came of a

(Con

BEN JONSON was born in the year 1573. border family of Anandale, and was the posthumous son of a minister who had "losed all his estate under Queen Marie, having been cast into prison and forfeited." versations with Drummond.) His widow marrying again, Jonson was "brought up poorly," but "put to school" at Westminster, and there befriended by the learned antiquary Camden. Fuller states that from Westminster Jonson went to [St. John's College] Cambridge. If so, he remained but a short time; for he afterwards told Drummond that "he was Master of Arts in both Universities by their favor, not his study." The trade of his step-father, that of a bricklayer, proving distasteful, Jonson enlisted as a soldier, and relates that, "in his service in the Low Countries,” he had, "in the face of both the camps, killed an enemy and taken opima spolia from him." It seems likely that Jonson was again in England in 1592, and married while yet under age. He told Drummond that "his wife was a shrew, yet honest." He had several children by her, none of whom survived him.

The beginning of Jonson's career as a dramatist cannot be fixed with certainty; but the advances of money made to him by Philip Henslow, the manager and stage-broker, in 1597, prove that he was a recognized playwright by that

time, doing 'prentice-work, according to the custom of his age, in the reconstruction and adaptation of earlier plays. The pleasing tradition that Jonson owed his introduction to a dramatic career to the good offices of Shakespeare is not susceptible of proof; although his first dramatic success, Every Man in his Humor, was acted in 1598 by the Lord Chamberlain's Servants, Shakespeare's company, and Shakespeare was himself an actor in it. The notion that Jonson and Shakespeare lived in a state of rivalry and enmity is based upon no evidence worthy of a moment's consideration. (See the notes, especially 23 9 and 23 28.)

In this year Jonson had the misfortune to kill a fellowactor, in a duel, for which he was tried at Old Bailey, convicted on his own confession, and, pleading his clergy, escaped capital punishment with a brand upon the thumb of his left hand and forfeit of goods and chattels. While in prison he became converted to the Roman Church, and remained of that faith for twelve years. The duel severed his connection with Henslow and drew him into writing for Shakespeare's rival company.

In 1599 Queen Elizabeth witnessed Jonson's next play, Every Man out of his Humor, the first of the series of dramatic satires, which were soon to involve their author in internecine warfare with his fellow-craftsmen. During the next three years Jonson was a leading combatant in what is known as "The War of the Theatres," Cynthia's Revels giving the affront, the Poetaster, Marston and Dekker's Satiromastix, and many other plays continuing the battle. Notwithstanding Jonson's "aggressive and egotistic personality," and the gall and venom of both parties, it may be doubted if the terrors of these literary frays were such as the historians of literature would have us believe. At all events the collaboration of Dekker and Jonson in the pageants attending the accession of James, and the fervent dedication of Marston's Malcontent to Jonson in 1604, preclude the possibility of

our believing these enmities to have been either very deep or very lasting.

Sejanus, Jonson's first tragedy, was produced at the Globe Theatre in 1603, Shakespeare again taking a part; but it was not well received. In consequence Jonson turned his attention to a different species of the drama, and, the festivities attending the progress of the new king offering a splendid field for his talents, began with the The Satyre in 1603, that series of stately Masques and Entertainments which alone would be sufficient to render his name remarkable in the history of our literature. He soon gained the royal favor, and with it the patronage of many noble houses; and for years the most notable courtly entertainments and civic feasts were enriched with "the poetry and learning of Master Ben Jonson and the invention and architecture of Master Inigo Jones."

In 1605 Chapman and Marston were imprisoned for certain passages of the comedy, Eastward Ho! which an irritable courtier conceived to be derogatory to the Scotch; and Jonson, who had a hand in the play but not in the offensive passages, "voluntarily imprisoned himself" with them. But both Chapman and Jonson had influence at Court and the playwrights were soon at liberty. Jonson continued for years to furnish entertainments for the Court, and appears to have accompanied many of the royal progresses. In 1616 the Laureateship, with a pension of one hundred marks a year, was conferred upon him; this with his fees and retainers from several noble patrons, and the small earnings of his plays, formed the bulk of his income. Two years later the king granted him the reversion of the office of Master of the Revels, but Jonson did not live to enjoy its perquisites. It is even said that at one time Jonson narrowly escaped the honor of knighthood, which King James was wont to lavish with indiscriminate hand.

Volpone was produced in 1605; The Silent Woman, in