XVIII. TO MY TRULY Beloved Friend, master Browne: ON HIS PASTORALS.2 OME men, of books or friends not speaking right, May hurt them more with praise, than foes But I have seen thy work, and I know thee: It must be thine own judgment, yet, that sends 2 These lines are prefixed to "Britannia's Pastorals, the second Book," by William Browne, fol. 1616, and 8vo. 1625. They are now added, for the first time, to these volumes. Browne was but a young man when he published his pastorals; they exhibit, among many pretty passages, some of the characteristics of youth, a gaudy taste, and an undisciplined judgment. There was more than enough, however, to justify the expectations of Jonson, and had he found leisure or inclination to cultivate his natural talents for poetry, his success could scarcely have been matter of doubt. His literary acquirements were considerable, and these, together with his amiable qualities, powerfully recommended him to our author's great friend and patron, the earl of Pembroke, under whom he is said to have acquired considerable property. The "envious" Ben appears to have felt no jealousy at this; which I notice as a phenomenon that calls for grave inquiry. XIX. TO HIS MUCH AND WORTHILY ESTEEMED FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. HO takes thy volume to his virtuous hand, W Who bluntly doth but look upon the same, name? Who reads may rove, and call the passage dark, 3 XX. TO MY WORTHY AND HONOURED FRIEND, HOSE work, could this be, Chapman, to Old Hesiod's ore, and give it thus! but thine, Who hadst before wrought in rich Homer's mine. 3 Who takes thy volume, &c.] This little piece stands with Jonson's name, before "Cynthia's Revenge, or Menander's Extasie," 4to. 1613. This tragedy was written by John Stephens, of whom I only know that he was a learned man, and a member of the honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn. Langbaine, who mentions him, merely tells us that he lived in the reign of James I. "His play (he says) is one of the longest that ever was written, and withal the most tedious." Whether Langbaine, when he made this remark, "read or roved," as I never saw the tragedy, I cannot determine. 4 These lines are prefixed to the "Translation of Hesiod's Works What treasure hast thou brought us! and what store and Days, 4to. 1618." There had always been an extraordinary degree of friendship between Chapman and our author. They united their talents in Eastward Hoe, and when the former was thrown into prison for the political reflections in that piece, Jonson voluntarily accompanied him. He told Drummond in 1619, that "he loved Chapman ;" and we have just seen how he had complimented him in the preceding year. All this signifies nothing, and the old calumny of " envy," "jealousy," and I know not what, is again served up to the nauseated reader. "Jonson," says the editor of the Theatrum Poetarum of Phillips, 8vo. 1800,"being delivered from Shakspeare, (in 1616,) began unexpectedly to be disturbed at the rising reputation of a new theatrical rival." p. 252. Chapman was born in 1557, (about twenty years before our author,) he was therefore threescore, at the death of Shakspeare, and the new theatrical rival at whose rising reputation Jonson began unexpectedly to be disturbed, was one with whom he had lived all his life in strict intimacy, as appears by their mutual correspondence, and who had composed almost the whole of his dramatic works, many years before the period in question. Το Can the reader discover any trace of "jealousy" in the heartfelt and elegant compliment which Jonson here pays his "worthy and honoured friend?" Shame on it! The common decencies of character are overlooked where this great poet is concerned. belie him is all that is thought necessary; and when ignorance, or impudence, or both together, have put forth a clumsy falsehood against him, the slander is greedily hailed by the public as an additional triumph on the side of Shakspeare. I have yet a word to say to the anonymous Editor of this volume, (the Theatrum Poetarum.) That he is actuated by a spirit of hostility towards Jonson, is manifest; but even this will scarcely be admitted as a sufficient apology for quoting a scurrilous attack upon him from a work where it is not to be found. Drummond of Hawthornden, he says, has represented the character of Jonson in "no very unjust light." We are then regaled with the ribaldry of that splenetic hypocrite, in a tissue of malicious charges, concluding with this sentence: "In short, Jonson was in his personal character the very reverse of Shakspeare, as surly, ill-natured, proud and disagreeable, as Shakspeare, with ten times his merit, was gentle, goodnatured, easy and amiable." p. 249. How has the editor the boldness to father this rancorous language upon Drummond, who has not a syllable of it! "See Drum If all the vulgar tongues that speak this day Such passage hast thou found, such returns made, M At XXI. TO MY CHOSEN FRIEND, THE LEARNED TRANSLATOR OF LUCAN, HEN, Rome, I read thee in thy mighty pair, every Cæsar's ambition, Cato's liberty, Calm Brutus' tenor start, but all along It makes me, ravish'd with just wonder, cry mond's Works," he coolly says, at the bottom of page 244: but has he seen them? The fact is, that the passage in question is a wicked fabrication, put into Drummond's mouth by Shiels, the Scotchman, the author of the Lives of the Poets which pass under the name of Theophilus Cibber. "Now this is worshipful authority"!-but it does very well in Jonson's case, and is, indeed, quite as worthy of notice, and quite as authentic, as most of the matter brought against him. Taught Lucan these true modes! replies my sense, 5 i. e. Hermes. This complimentary poem, which is signed "Your true friend in judgment and choice, Ben Jonson," is prefixed to May's Translation of Lucan, 1627. May, with whom our author appears to have always lived on terms of the strictest friendship, is selected by Macklin, with his usual good fortune, to father one of his scurrilous attacks upon Jonson; much to the satisfaction of Mr. Steevens, who exults in the clumsy forgery as a decisive proof of " old Ben's malignity to Shakspeare." May published a continuation of Lucan in 1630, which was reprinted in Holland, 1640, with this title: Supplementum Lucanı authore Tho. May, Anglo. The first edition has never fallen in my way; the second is prefaced by the following lines, written, as I conjecture, by our author, though the foreign press has copied his name incorrectly. Dignissimo Amico suo summè honorando. Terge parentales oculos, post funera mundi Auctior, et damnis stat veneranda magis |