CONTENTS. PART OF KING JAMES'S ENTERTAINMENT, IN PASSING TO HIS CORONATION . BY WILLIAM GIFFORD. 10 write the Life of Jonson as it has been usually written, would be neither a very long nor a very difficult task; since I should have only to transcribe from former biographers the vague accounts which each, in succession, has taken from his predecessor; and to season the whole with the captions and splenetic insinuations of the critics, and commentators on our dramatic poetry. A due respect for the public seemed to require something more. It was fully time to examine into the authenticity of the charges incessantly urged against this eminent man; and this has been, at least, attempted. The result has not accorded with the general persuasion concerning him. The reader, therefore, who has the courage to follow me through these pages, must be prepared to see many of his prejudices over. thrown, to hear that he has been imposed upon by the grossest fabrications, and, (however mortifying the discovery may prove,) that many of those who have practised on his integrity and surprised his judgment, are weak at once and worthless, with few pretensions to talents and none to honesty. BENJAMIN, or (as the name is usually abbreviated by himself) BEN JONSON*, was born in the early part of the year 1574+. His grandfather was a man of some family and forinne, *JONSON.] The attacks on our author begin at a pretty early period. He knew his own name, it seems, and persisted in writing it correctly, though "some of his best friends" misspelt it! This is produced, in the "Biographia Britannica," as "an instance of that affectation which so strongly marks the poet's character" But this perseverance in the right was a family failing, for his mother (as it appears), wrote it in the same manner. His "singularity" in this respect, (these writers think,) "would have been discovered, had he been more communicative-but it is observable, that though his descent was very far from being a discredit to him, yet we never find him once mentioning his family upon any occasion." From critics so disposed, Jonson must have had unusual good fortune to escape with justice. The fact, however, is that he is once found mentioning his family. He talked of it to Drummond, and had it pleased that worthy gentleman to be less sparing of his malice, and somewhat more liberal of his information, we might have obtained enough on this head, to satisfy the most ardent curiosity. The year 1574.] The writers of the Bio. Brit. are somewhat embarrassed here, by a line in the Poem left in Scotland, in which Jonson says that he had then "Told seven and forty years." Now, this, say they, as the poet was there in 1619, fixes his birth to the year 1572, and makes him two years older than is commonly supposed. But these critics should have looked into Drummond, instead of reasoning upon a fact which is not to be found there. In Drummond the line stands, "Told six and forty years;" and the date subjoined is January 1619-20. Jonson was then in his forty-sixth year: in short, there seems no plea for questioning the received opinion. The second folio is of various dates, and of little authority. That Jonson was born on the eleventh of June, which is also affirmed by those writers, is taken on the credit of another blunder in this volume, where, in the verses on Sir Kenelm Digby, "my birthday," is printed for "his birthday,' &c. In the 12mo. edit., 1640, both the lines stand as here given. [The poem in question was certainly composed in January 3 originally settled at Annandale, in Scotland, from which place he removed to Carlisle, and was subsequently taken into the service of Henry VIII. His father, who was probably about the court, suffered a long imprisonment under Queen Mary, and was finally deprived of his estate*. If religion was the cause, as is universally supposed, persecution only served to increase his zeal; for he entered, some time afterwards, into holy orders, and became, as Antony Wood informs us, a grave minister of the gospel." Jonson was a posthumous child, and “made his first entry (the Oxford Antiquary says,) on the stage of this vain world, about a month after his father's death, within the city of West· minster." Fuller observes, that though he could not, with all his inquiry, find him in his cradle, he could fetch him from his long coats. It would seem from this, that the residence of his father was unknown. Mr. Malone supposes, and on very good grounds, that his mother married again in somewhat less than two years after the death of her first husband, and it was at this period, perhaps, that Fuller's researches found him, “ a little child, in Hartshorn-Lane, near Charing Cross." His father-in-law was a master-bricklayer by profession; and there is no cause for believing that he was either unable or unwilling to bestow on his new charge such a portion of education as then commonly fell to the children of respectable craftsmen; and Jonson was accordingly sent, when of a proper age, to a private school in the church of St. Martin in the Fields. From this school it was natural to suppose that he would be taken to follow the occupation of his step-father; but this was not the case. Respect for the memory of Mr. Jonson, or what is equally probable, a remarkable aptitude in the child for learning, raised him up a friend, who sent him, at his own expense, to Westminster school. Camden, a name dear to literature, was then the second master of this celebrated establishment; young Jonson naturally fell under his care, and he was not slow in discovering, nor negligent in cultivating, the extraordinary talents of his pupil. No record enables us to state how long he continued with this great man. Mr. Malone supposes that he was taken from him, when he had reached his thirteenth year; but "lord Winton," (G. Morley, bishop of Winchester, who, as Izaac Walton tells us, knew Ben Jonson very well,)" says he was in the sixth, i. e. the uppermost form in the school+," when he was removed; and he could scarcely have attained this situation, as schools were then constituted, at thirteen. 1619, not in January 1619-2): it therefore fixes Jonson's birth in 1573. See Mr. D. Laing's remark on Notes of B. Jonson's Conversations with W. Drummond, &c. p. 39, printed for the Shakespeare Society. What Jonson told Drummond concerning his family is as follows:-" His Grandfather came from Carlisle, and, he thought, from Anandale to it: he served King Henry 8, and was a gentleman. His Father losed all his estate under Queen Marie, having been cast in prisson and forfaitted; at last turn'd Minister; so he was a minister's son."-Notes, &c., p. 18. If Jonson's grandfather came from Annandale, he must have written his name Johnstone.-A. DYCE.] *This is our author's own account; it is therefore worse than folly to repeat from book to book, after Aubrey, that "Ben Jonson was a Warwickshire man." Mr. Malone says, that "a collection of poems by Ben Jonson, jun. (the son of our author) was published in 1672, with some lines addressed to all the ancient family of the Lucys, in which the writer describes himself as a 'little stream from their clear spring;' a fact (continues he) which adds support to Dr. Bathurst's account" (the impossible story just quoted from Aubrey)" of his father's birth-place."-Shak., vol. ii. p. 3111. This is a strange passage. Young Jonson died before his father, in 1635, and the collection of which Mr. Malone speaks, contains several pieces written after the Restoration. The very first poem in the book is addressed by the author to John, Earl of Rutland, and his son, Lord Roos, who was not born till both young Jonson and his father were dead! Had Mr. Malone even looked at the title-page of this little volume, he must have seen that the name of Ben Jonson, jun. was a mere catch-word; for the poems are there expressly said to be "composed by W. S. gent." On very good grounds.] "I found, in the Register of St. Martin's, that a Mrs. Margaret Jonson was married in November 1575, to Mr. Thomas Fowler."-MALONE. Shak., vol. i. p. 622. There cannot, I think, be a reasonable doubt on the person here named; unquestionably she was the poet's mother. Letters by Eminent Persons, &c. 1813. vol. iii. p. 416. There is yet a difficulty. Grant was head master from 1572 to 1593, so that if Jonson was in the sixth form, and if the business of the school was conducted then as it is at present (which, however, does not appear,) he must have been under him; yet of Grant he says nothing. It is probable that Camden, who had a great affection for our author, continued to assist his studies. 1 The edition of Shakspeare referred to here, and elsewhere, is uniformly that in fifteen vols. 8vo., published in MDCCXCIII. Jonson, who had a warm and affectionate heart, and ever retained an extraordinary degree of respect for his old master, thus addresses him in his Epigrams: "Camden, most reverend head, to whom I owe All that I am in arts, and all I know and in the dedication of Every Man in his Humour, he tells his "most learned and honoured friend," that he "is not one of those who can suffer the benefit conferred upon his youth to perish with his age;" and he adds that, in accepting the comedy, he will find no occasion to repent of having been his instructor. All this appears to argue greater maturity, and deeper studies than are usually allowed; and I should therefore incline to refer the period of his leaving Westminster tos sixteenth year. From school Jonson seems to have gone, at once, to the University. The person who had hitherto befriended him, and whose name is unfortunately lost, gave a farther proof of kindness, on this occasion, and, if we may trust Aubrey, procured him an exhibition at Cambridge, where, according to Fuller, "he was statutably admitted into St. John's College*" No note of his matriculation is to be found. By some accident there is an omission of names in the University Register, from June 1589, (when Jonson was in his sixteenth year), to June 1602; this may serve to corroborate the opinion given above, that the period fixed upon by Mr. Malone for our author's removal to the University is somewhat too early. The exhibition, whatever might be its value, was found inadequate to his support; and, as his parents were evidently unable to assist him, Jonson was compelled to relinquish his situation at Cambridge, and return to the house of his father +. How long he continued at college cannot be known. Fuller says a few weeks;" it was more probably many months: he had unquestionably a longer connection with Cambridge than is usually supposed; and he speaks of his obligations to the members of that University in terms which cannot be justified by a slight acquaintance. On returning to his parents, he was immediately taken into the business of his father-in-law. These good people have not been kindly treated. Wood terms the mother a silly woman; and the father is perpetually reflected on for calling his son home, to work at his own profes sion. The mother, however, was not "silly;" on the contrary, she was a high-spirited woman, fully sensible of the rank of her first husband, in life, and of the extraordinary merits of her son; but she was not, apparently, in circumstances to maintain him without labour; and as his father-in-law had readily acquiesced, for many years, in a mode of his education, which must have occasioned some expense, there seems little cause for the ill humour with which the mention of their names is sure to be accompanied. Jonson, however, who, both from birth and education, had probably been encouraged to look to the church for an establishment, was exceedingly mortified at this new destination. That he worked with a trowel in one hand, and a Horace or a Homer in the other; that he was admired, pitied, and relieved by Sutton, as Chetwood says, or by Camden, as others say §, and *Aubrey says Trinity College ;" and indeed if Jonson had been on the foundation at Westminster, and went, regularly, to Cambridge, this must have been the College: but his name does not appear among the candidates. In how many circumstances may not a resemblance be traced between Jonson and his great namesake! [ Jonson told Drummond that "he was Master of Arts in both the Universities, by their favour, not his studie." Notes of B. Jonson's Conversations, &c., p. 19; and Mr. D. Laing, in his note on the passage, observes that" there is no evidence that he had ever the benefit of an academical education." Tho probability, I think, is, that Jonson spent a short time at Cambridge as an undergraduate.-A. DYCE.] § Fuller tells us that "some gentlemen, pitying that his parts should be buried under the rubbish of so mean a calling, did by their bounty manumise him freely to follow his own ingenious inclinations."-Worthies of England, vol. ii. p. 112. This, however, is no better founded than the rest. Another story is told by Wood, (probably, on Aubrey's authority) that Jonson was taken from his father's business to accompany young Raleigh in his travels. Young Raleigh was at this time unborn-at any rate, he was "mewling and puking in his nurse's arms :" this, however, signifies nothing-the story is too good to be lost, as it tends to degrade Jonson, and it is therefore served up in every account of his life. "Mr. Camden recommended him to Sir W. Raleigh, who intrusted him with the education of his eldest son, a gay spark, who could not brook Ben's rigorous treatment; but perceiving one foible in his disposition, made use of that to throw off the yoke of his government, and that was an unlucky habit Ben had contracted, through his love of jovial company, of being overtaken with liquor, which Sir Walter did of all vices most abominate."--And yet Sir Walter, who undoubtedly knew Jonson as well as his son, trusted this habitual drunkard with |