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Against the Globe, the glory of the Bank.] The Globe playhouse, situated on the Bank-side, burnt down about this time.-WHAL.

About what time? The only notice which we have of this poem is found in a letter by Howell "to his father, Master Ben Jonson," dated 27th June, 1629. Desiring you to look better hereafter to your charcoal fire and chimney, which I am glad to be one that preserved from burning, this being the second time that Vulcan hath threatened you;-it may be because you have spoken ill of his wife, and been too busy with his horns; I rest your son, &c." Here the allusion is evidently to the first ten lines of the "Execration:" but this decides nothing with respect to the period of its first appearance.

The date of the fire at the Globe can be distinctly ascertained from a letter of Mr. Chamberlaine to Sir Ralph Winwood, among the State papers.

"The burning of the Globe, or Playhouse on the Bankside, on St. Peter's day, cannot escape you; which fell out by a peale of chambers, that I know not upon what occasion were to be used in the play-the tompin or stopple of one of them lighting in the thatch that covered the house, burned it down to the ground in less than two hours, with a dwelling-house adjoining; and it was a great marvaile and fair grace of God that the people had so little harm, having but two narrow doors to get out." July 8th, 1613. It is useless to inquire why Jonson, whose memory, though less retentive than formerly; was yet perhaps sufficiently strong, remained inactive; but with the exception of the two fragments just mentioned, he apparently made no effort to repair his loss.

The Journey into Scotland was the ever memorable visit to Drummond, 66 that false friend," as Chetwood calls him, "who treats the memory of Ben as if he were an idle madman." Drummond could not appear more base than he now does-but, such was the honest warmth and affection of Jonson-had this poem survived, his admirers would not have dared to insult the common sense and feeling of mankind by terming the splenetic hypocrite the friend of Jonson.

The Rape of Proserpine may not perhaps be

That was raked up in the Winchestrian

goose,

Bred on the Bank in time of Popery,
When Venus there maintained the mystery.3
But others fell, with that conceit, by the ears,
And cried it was a threatning to the bears,
And that accursed ground, the Paris-gar
den :

Nay, sighed a sister, Venus' nun, Kate
Arden, 4

Kindled the fire!--but then, did one return, No fool would his own harvest spoil or burn!

If that were so, thou rather wouldst advance
The place that was thy wife's inheritance.
O no, cried all, Fortune, for being a whore,
Scaped not his justice any jot the more :5

much regretted: but the destruction of the History of Henry V., which was so nearly completed, must ever be considered as a serious misfortune. The vigour and masculine elegance of Jonson's style, the clearness of his judgment, the precision of his intelligence, aided by the intimate knowledge of domestic and general history possessed by Carew (George, Lord Carew), Cotton, and Selden, three of the most learned men of that or any other age, could not have been exerted without producing a work of which, if spared to us, we might be justly proud.

Of the value of the philological collections of twenty-four years, some idea may be formed from what remains of the Discoveries or notes on the Poetics of Aristotle and Horace; and the gleanings in Divinity, if they had not answered a nobler and better purpose, would at least serve to bring additional shame on those who, in defiance of so many proofs to the contrary, spitefully persist in accusing the poet of a marked indifference to religion, or, yet worse, of a restless tendency to ridicule and profane it.

2 I saw with two poor chambers taken in.] i.c. destroyed with two small pieces of ordnance. 3 And this a sparkle of that fire let loose, That was raked up in the Winchestrian goose, Bred on the Bank in time of Popery,

When Venus there maintained the mystery.1 Anciently the Bank-side was a continued row of in the time of Henry VIII. As this place was brothels, which were put down by proclamation within the limits of the Bishop of Winchester's jurisdiction, a person who had suffered in venereal combats, was opprobriously called a Winchester goose.-WHAL.

4 [Venus' nun, Kate Arden. This is taken from Marlowe

"So lovely fair was Hero, Venus' nun,

As Nature wept, thinking she was outdone." Kate Arden is mentioned before, in the Epigram cxxxiii. p. 261 a.--F. C.]

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He burnt that idol of the Revels too.
Nay, let Whitehall with revels have to do,
Though but in dances, it shall know his
power;

There was a judgment shewn too in an hour.
He is right Vulcan still! he did not spare
Troy, though it were so much his Venus'

care.

Fool, wilt thou let that in example come?
Did not she save from thence to build a
Rome?

And what hast thou done in these petty
spites,

To live in sea-coal, and go forth in smoke;
Or, lest that vapour might the city choke,
Condemn him to the brick-kills, or some
hill.

Foot (out in Sussex), tó an iron mill;
Or in small faggots have him blaze about
Vile taverns, and the drunkards piss him
out;

Or in the Bellman's lanthorn, like a spy,
Burn to a snuff, and then stink out and die;
I could invent a sentence yet were worse;
But I'll conclude all in a civil curse.
Pox on your flameship, Vulcan! if it be

More than advanced the houses and their To all as fatal as't hath been to me,
rites?

I will not argue thee, from those, of guilt, For they were burnt but to be better built: 'Tis true that in thy wish they were destroyed,

Which thou hast only vented, not enjoyed. So wouldst thou've run upon the Rolls by stealth,1

And didst invade part of the commonwealth,

In those records, which, were all chronicles
gone,

Would be remembered by Six Clerks to one.
But say, all six good men, what answer ye?
Lies there no writ out of the Chancery
Against this Vulcan? no injunction ?
No order? no decree?—though we be gone
At Common-Law; methinks, in his despite,
A Court of Equity should do us right.
But to confine him to the brewhouses,
The glass-house, dye-fats, and their fur-

naces;

play-house, which likewise suffered by fire about this time.--WHAL.

Again! about this time. This is a very convenient mode of fixing events. But the Fortune was not burnt down till more than eight years after the Globe, that is, not till 1621.

It appears from Heywood's English Travellers, that this theatre took its name from a figure of Fortune :

"Old Lio. Sirrah, come down.
Reig. Not till my pardon's sealed: I'll rather
stand here,

Like a statue, in the full front of your house
For ever; like the picture of Dame Fortune,
Before the Fortune play-house."

In the preface to this comedy, Heywood says,
"that modesty prevents him from exposing his
plays to the public view in numerous sheets,
and a large volume, under the title of works, as
others." Here, says the Biographia Drama-
tica, a stroke was probably aimed at Ben Jon-
son,
who gave his plays the pompous title of
"Works.'
This stupid falsehood has been
repeated a thousand times. Jonson no more

And to Pauls steeple; which was unto us
'Bove all your fireworks had at Ephesus,
Or Alexandria ; and, though a divine
Loss, remains yet as unrepaired as mine.
Would you had kept your forge at Ætna
still!

And there made swords, bills, glaves, and
arms your fill:

Maintained the trade at Bilboa, or elsewhere,

Strook in at Milan with the cutlers there; Or stayed but where the friar and you first met,

Who from the devil's arse did guns beget;
Or fixt in the Low Countries, where you
might

On both sides do your mischiefs with delight:
Blow up and ruin, mine and countermine,
Make your petards and granades, all your
fine

Engines of murder, and enjoy the praise
Of massacring mankind so many ways!

gave his plays the title of Works, than Shakspeare, Fletcher, Shirley, or any other writer; nor is there a single instance of such a fact in existence. The whole matter is, that, when he collected his various pieces, consisting of Comedies, Tragedies, Masques, Entertainments, Epigrams, and a selection of Poetry, under the name of Forest, with equal taste and judgment, and with a classical contempt of the mountebank titles of his time, he called the multifarious assemblage simply "The works of Ben Jonson." For this proof of his good sense, he was slandered even in his own time; and the charge of arrogance and vanity is, in ours, still repeated from fool to fool.

This alludes to a fire which took place in the Six 1 So wouldst thou've run upon the rolls, &c.] Clerks' Office; but I cannot specify the date of it: nor of that at Whitehall [Jan. 12, 1619-see ante, p. 212 a), mentioned in the preceding page. 'Bove all your fireworks had at Ephesus And Alexandria.] The burning of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, and the library at Alex andria.-WHAL

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A SPEECH, ACCORDING TO HORACE.

Why yet, my noble hearts, they cannot say But we have powder still for the King's Day, And ordnance too: so much as from the Tower,

T' have waked, if sleeping, Spain's ambassadour,

Old Æsop Gundomar : the French can tell, For they did see it the last tilting well, That we have trumpets, armour, and great horse,

Lances and men, and some a breaking force. They saw too store of feathers, and more may,

If they stay here but till St. George's day.
All ensigns of a war are not yet dead,
Nor marks of wealth so from our nation fled,
But they may see gold chains and pearl
worn then,

Lent by the London dames to the Lords'

men:

With all the dirty pains those citizens take, To see the pride at Court, their wives do make;

And the return those thankful courtiers yield,

To have their husbands drawn forth to the field,

And coming home to tell what acts were

done

Under the auspice of young Swinnerton."

Old Æsop Gundomar.] Gundomar appears not to have owed many obligations to nature: he was however a shrewd politician, and a bold and able negociator. He was dreaded by the court, and disliked by the people, of which we have sufficient proof in the repeated attacks made upon him by the dramatic poets, the true mirrors of their times.

[My friend Senor Pascual de Gayangos informs me that some few years ago he had an opportunity of examining the library of Count Gondomar. There were several English books, and among them a tall and well-preserved copy

What a strong fort old Pimblicae had been! How it held out! how, last, 'twas taken in !

Well, I say, thrive, thrive, brave Artilleryyard,

Thou seed-plot of the war! that hast not spared

Powder or paper to bring up the youth
Of London, in the military truth,
These ten years day; as all may swear that
look

But on thy practice and the posture book. He that but saw thy curious captain's drill,

Would think no more of Flushing or the
Brill,

But give them over to the common ear,
For that unnecessary charge they were.
Well did thy crafty clerk and knight, Sir
Hugh

Supplant bold Panton, and brought there to view

Translated Ælian's tactics to be read,
And the Greek discipline, with the modern,
shed

So in that ground, as soon it grew to be
The city-question, whether Tilly or he
Were now the greater captain? for they saw
The Berghen siege, and taking in Bredau,
So acted to the life, as Maurice might,
And Spinola have blushed at the sight.

O happy art! and wise epitome
Of bearing arms! most civil soldiery !
Thou canst draw forth thy forces, and
fight dry

The battles of thy Aldermanity;
Without the hazard of a drop of blood;
More than the surfeits in thee that day
stood.

Go on, increased in virtue and in fame,
And keep the glory of the English name
Up among nations. In the stead of bold
Beauchamps and Nevills, Cliffords, Aud-
leys old,

Insert thy Hodges, and those newer men, As Stiles, Dike, Ditchfield, Millar, Crips, and Fen:

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From the tempestuous grandlings, who'll
inform

Us, in our bearing, that are thus and thus,
Born, bred, allied? what's he dare tutor us?
Are we by book-worms to be awed? must we
Live by their scale, that dare do nothing
free?

Why are we rich or great, except to show
All licence in our lives? what need we know
More than to praise a dog, or horse? or
speak

The hawking language? or our day to
break

With citizens? let clowns and tradesmen breed

Their sons to study arts, the laws, the
creed:

We will believe like men of our own rank,
In so much land a year, or such a bank,
That turns us so much monies, at which

rate

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That could but claim a kindred from the purse,

Those are poor ties depend on those false
ends,

'Tis virtue alone, or nothing, that knits
friends.
And as within

your office! you do take

Inquiry of the worth; so must we do,
First weigh a friend, then touch and try
him too:

For there are many slips and counterfeits.2
Deceit is fruitful. Men have masks and

Our ancestors imposed on prince and state. No piece of money, but you know, or make
Let poor nobility be virtuous: we,
Descended in a rope of titles, be
From Guy, or Bevis, Arthur, or from whom
The herald will: our blood is now become
Past any need of virtue. Let them care,
That in the cradle of their gentrie are,
To serve the state by councils and by arms:
We neither love the troubles nor the harms.
What love you then? your whore; what
study? gait,

Carriage, and dressing. There is up of late
The Academy, where the gallants meet—
What! to make legs? yes, and to smell

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nets;

But these with wearing will themselves unfold,

They cannot last. No lie grew ever old. Turn him, and see his threads; look if he be

Friend to himself that would be friend to thee.

For that is first required, a man be his

own:

But he that's too much that, is friend of

none.

Then rest, and a friend's value understand,
It is a richer purchase than of land.

name, in succession, in the books of that office. 2 For there are many slips and counterfeits.] For these terms, see vol. ii. p. 420 a.

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Whom Fortune aided less or virtue more.

Such, Coke, were thy beginnings, when thy good

In others evil best was understood:

And that thy strong and manly eloquence Stood up thy nation's fame, her crown's defence;

And now such is thy stand, while thou
dost deal

Like Solon's self, explat'st the knotty laws
Desired justice to the public weal,
With endless labours, whilst thy learning
draws

No less of praise, than readers, in all kinds
Of worthiest knowledge that can take
men's minds,

None Fortune aided less, or virtue more.
Such is thy All, that, as I sung before,

Or if chance must to each man that doth
rise,

When, being the stranger's help, the poor Needs lend an aid, to thine she had her

man's aid,

Thy just defences made th' oppressor
afraid.

Such was thy process, when integrity,
And skill in thee now grew authority,
That clients strove in question of the laws,
More for thy patronage than for their

cause,

eyes.

LXVI.

AN EPISTLE, ANSWERING TO ONE THAT
ASKED TO BE SEALED OF THE TRIBE
OF BEN,3

Men that are safe and sure in all they do,
Care not what trials they are put unto :

Ad-lowed himself of coining an expressive word, I am tempted to think this proceeded from the same poetic mint.-WHAL.

1 An Epigram on Sir Edward Coke.] dressed to him probably when he was created Lord Chief Justice, in the year 1606.-WHAL. Whalley assigns too early a date to this Epigram; Coke was, as he says, created Lord Chief Justice in 1606; but it was of the Common Pleas : he did not take the style of Lord Chief Justice of England, till he was advanced to the King's Bench in 1613, when he was in his sixty-fifth year. Jonson follows the style of Sir Edward in giving him this title, which he appears to have affected, and which James objected to his assuming-"He calls himself in his books," the king says, "Lord Chief Justice of England, whereas he can challenge no more but Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench."

submisssion.

This great lawyer did not bear his faculties meekly. His proud and overbearing spirit involved him in various prosecutions; his office was taken from him in 1616, and the residue of his life was spent in a strange and rapid alter nation of favour and disgrace, of turbulence and He died in 1634 at the age of eighty-six: had it been his good fortune to follow his royal mistress to the grave, he would have come down to us not only as one of the most eminent lawyers this country ever produced, but as one of the most dignified and respectable characters of his age.

As a composition, this Epigram boasts considerable merit. It is vigorous and manly; has

truth for its basis, and characterizes both the author and his works with discrimination and judgment. I suppose it to be written in 1613.

Like Solon's self, explat'st the knotty laws With endless labour, &c.] I never yet met with the word explat'st, but do not take upon

Whalley is wrong. Jonson sometimes uses a Latin word, but then he prints it in a different character: his latinisms are those of his contemporaries. All our old writers use pleat, plight, for wreath, curl, fold, &c. from plico: expleat is as correctly formed from explico, to open, smooth, display, &c. Explation, a kindred word, is in Cole, and displeat and unpleat are sufficiently common in our old poets. Explica frontem is rendered by Jo. Davies, in his eclogue, 1620, "Unpleat thy brow."

[The adjective explete is in the Manipulus Vocabulorum of Peter Levins, a curious old Rhyming Dictionary of 1570, which has been reprinted and most carefully edited by Mr. H. B. Wheatley.-F. C.]

evidence to have been written not long before 3 An Epistle, &c.] This appears from internal the death of James. It was the practice of the older poets, upon request, to adopt young men of talents in whose reputation, or success in life, by a species of patronage or filiation, they sons of this kind, and to an aspirant for the became warmly interested. Jonson had many honour of becoming such (probably to Randolph or Cleveland) he addresses the above Epistle. The number of his adopted progeny is alluded to in the foolish expression of one that asked," &c.

which do the poet great credit. The sentiments There is a spirit and vigour in this Epistle higher philosophy. It wants the smoothness and are manly, and some of them drawn from the the artificial rhythm of these times; but what

me to pronounce it a corruption. When I con- poem of equal length, of these times, possesses sider the licence which Jonson sometimes al- such depth of thought and force of expression?

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