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Shakspeare was his "closet companion," Jonson his poet, and in conjunction with Inigo Jones, his favoured architect, produced those magnificent entertainments, etc. He then goes on to account for the supposed sudden fall of dramatic art at the Restoration, by the somewhat far-fetched theory that
When the first collected edition of the plays appeared, it purported to contain "All His Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies." According to the postulate of the Baconians it was edited by the Author, or by Jonson acting for him. It contains several plays which, according to many critics, are not the author's.
Well, though I am not blind, I can shut my eyes and follow. Ben Jonson I knew, and could tell thee many a tale of our meetings at the Mermaid, where, if there was much wine, there was much wit also. We did not sit blowing tobacco in each other's faces, and turning up the whites of our eyes as we turned up the bottom of the wine-pot. Old Ben adopted me as one of his sons in the muses.
In Winnipeg I found a friend, who was tired of cities. So was I. In Canada the remedy lies close at hand. We took ancient clothes and I, Ben Jonson and Jane Austen to keep me English and departed northward for a lodge, reported to exist in a region of lakes and hills and forests and caribou and Indians and a few people.
But Jonson certainly sins more in this respect than any of his contemporaries.
Their ancestors were an ancient Welsh family and great friends of their compatriots, the Tudor sovereigns. Here, as constant and welcome guests, came Ben Jonson, Edmund Spencer and Philip Massinger, who was a son of one of the Earl's servants. Here As You Like It is said to have been played before James I, with Shakespeare himself as one of the company.
"I repeat, that you may command me," returned Mr. Jonson, gracefully putting his hand to his heart. "Pray, then," said I, "to come at once to the point, how long have you been acquainted with Mr. Thomas Thornton?" "For some months only," returned Job, without the least embarrassment. "And Mr. Dawson?" said I. A slight change came over Jonson's countenance: he hesitated.
"I have often heard," answered I, "that there is honour among thieves; I am happy to learn from you, that there is also religion: your baptismal sponsors must be proud of so diligent a godson." "They ought to be, Sir," replied Mr. Jonson, "for I gave them the first specimens of my address; the story is long, but if you ever give me an opportunity, I will relate it."
The young hopeful pupil, 'being knavishly inclined, and not less quick in the execution of practical jokes than in spying out human weaknesses, had no difficulty in understanding his tutor's bent, and succeeded in making Jonson 'dead drunk. He then 'laid him on a carr, which he made to be drawen by pioners through the streets, at every corner showing his governour stretched out, and telling them, that was a more lively image of the Crucifix than any they had. The mother of young Raleigh greatly relished this sport.
With what triumph you bore them off! I bid you for I see you in a slippered state, eased and unbuttoned after dinner I bid you turn the pages with a slow thumb, not to miss the slightest tang of their humor. You will of course go first, because of its broad fame, to the page on Shakespeare and Ben Jonson and their wet-combats at the Mermaid.
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