—A play of his, upon which he was accused, The Divell is ane Ass; according to 'Comedia Vetus,' in England the Divel was brought in either with one Vice or other: the play done, the Divel carried away the Vice, he brings in the Divel so overcome with the wickedness of this age that thought himself ane Ass. Parergous is discoursed of the Duke of Drounland [Act ii., Sc. 1]: the King desired him to conceal it. -He hath commented and translated Horace Art of Poesie: it is in Dialogue wayes; by Criticus he understandeth Dr. Done.-He had ane intention to have made a play like Plautus Amphitrio, but left it of, for that he could never find two so like others [each other] that he could persuade the spectators they were one.—He said to Prince Charles of Inigo Jones, that when he wanted words to express the greatest villaine in the world, he would call him ane Inigo. Jones having accused him for naming him, behind his back, A foole: he denied it; but, says he, I said, He was ane arrant knave, and I avouch it.Of all his Playes he never gained two hundreth pounds. His Impressa was a compass with one foot in center, the other broken, the word, Deest quod duceret orbem.—He said to me, that I was too good and simple, and that oft a man's modestie made a fool of his witt. His armes were three spindles or rhombi; his own word about them, Percunctabor or Perscrutator. His Epitaph, by a companion written, is

'Here lyes BENJAMIN JOHNSON dead,

And hath no more wit than [a] goose in his head :

That as he was wont, so doth he still,

Live by his wit, and evermore will.'

Ane other :

'Here lyes honest Ben,

That had not a beard on his chen.'

[As Col. Cunningham observes, in the best portrait Jonson has thin black whiskers, and hardly any beard. In compensation, he had a huge fell of jet black hair, which, in his younger days, must have given great dignity to his manly and thoughtful face.] -In his Sejanus he hath translated a whole oration of Tacitus.-J. Selden liveth on his owne, is the Law Book of the Judges of England, the bravest man in all languages. He dissuaded me from Poetrie, for that she had beggered him, when he might have been a rich lawer, physitian, or marchant. [Already cited.] -He was better versed, and knew more in Greek and Latin, than all the Poets in England, and quintessence their brains [meaning, probably, that in his notes and extracts he had the quintessence of the classical authors, as remarked by Lord Falkland in the lines before quoted].-Of all styles he loved most to be named Honest, and hath of that ane hundredth letters so naming him. He went from Lieth homeward the 25 January 1619, in a pair of shoes which, he told, lasted him since he came from Darnton [Darlington ?], which he minded to take back that farr againe: they were appearing like Coriat's the first two dayes he was all excoriate. [In 1611, the "Alchemist" year, in kindly jest Jonson had arranged "that immense farrago of burlesque 'testimonies to the author's merit' which accompanied the first appearance of 'Coryat's Crudities.' In this he seems to have engaged at the desire of Prince Henry, who

found entertainment in laughing at the simple vanity of 'The Odcombian Traveller.'"]—If he died by the way, he promised to send me his papers of this Country, hewen as they were. I have to send him descriptions of Edinborough, Borrow Lawes, of the Lowmond. He sent to me this Madrigal: 'On a Lover's Dust, made Sand for ane Houre Glasse,' and that which is (as he said) a Picture of himselfe.— When his play of a Silent Woman was first acted, ther was found verses after on the stage against him, concluding that that play was well named the Silent Woman ther was never one man to say Plaudite to it." [This follows the character and concludes the notes.] On the tenth of May, 1619, Jonson writes: "To my worthy, honoured, and beloved friend, Mr. W. Drummond. Most loving and beloved sir,—I am arrived safely, with a most catholic welcome, and my reports not unacceptable to his Majesty. He professed (I thank God) some joy to see me, and is pleased to hear of the purpose of my book: to which I most earnestly solicit you for your promise of the inscriptions at Pinky, some things concerning the Loch of Lomond, touching the government of Edinburgh, to urge Mr. James Scot, and what else you can procure for me with all speed (especially I make it my request that you will enquire for me whether the Students method at St. Andrews be the same with that of Edinburgh, and so to assure me, or wherein they differ). . . . Salute the beloved Fentons, the Nisbets, the Scots, the Levingstons, and all the honest and honoured names with you, especially Mr. James Writh, his wife, your sister, &c. And if you forget yourself, you believe not in Your most true

friend and lover, Ben Jonson." Drummond answers in July: "Worthy Friend [a cold-blooded address !], The uncertainty of your abode was a cause of my silence this time past-I have adventured this packet upon hopes that a man so famous cannot be in any place either of the City or Court, where he shall not be found out. In my last (the missing letter) I sent you a description of Loch Lomond, with map of Inchmerionach, which may, by your book, be made most famous," &c. The book was never published, the MS. being destroyed by fire.

As the poem "My Picture left in Scotland" is not only very beautiful, but of special interest for its brave uncompromising self-portraiture, I quote it in Drummond's version, which appears rather superior than inferior to that in the text, "Underwoods," vii.

"I doubt that Love is rather deaf than blind,
For else it could not be

That she

Whom I adore so much should so slight me,
And cast my suit behind :

I'm sure my language to her is as sweet,
And all my closes meet

In numbers of as subtile feet

As makes the youngest he

That sits in shadow of Apollo's tree.

O! but my conscious fears,

That fly my thoughts between,
Prompt me that she hath seen

My hundred of grey hairs,

Told six and forty years,

Read so much waste as she cannot embrace

My mountain belly and my rocky face,

And all these, through her eyes, have stopt her ears."

IV

As already mentioned, during the nine years from 1616 to 1625, Jonson produced nothing for the stage. "It is probable that Jonson spent much of his time at the country seats of the nobility and gentry, as he has allusions to several visits of this kind, and we know that he attended on the court in some of the royal progresses. He was at Burleigh on the Hill, and at Belvoir Castle, and at Windsor when his masque of the 'Gipsies Metamorphosed' was performed at these places respectively, and introduced several little compliments into the piece, as new candidates arrived and claimed admission into the list of the dramatis personæ. He must also have been at Newmarket with the court, where his masques were occasionally represented." In 1618 he had an opportunity of serving his old and firm friend, Selden, who had grievously offended James by the indirect tendency of his arguments on the Divine right of tithes. In the "Life of Selden " it is stated: "The storm was blown over by the interest of his friend Ben Jonson with the king." Fresh offence, however, was taken soon afterwards, and Selden was summoned to Theobalds, where his Majesty then was: "Not being as yet acquainted with the court or with the king, he got Master Ben Jonson, who was then at Theobalds, to introduce him." In the summer of 1619, after his return from Scotland, he went to Oxford at the invitation of Dr. (afterwards Bishop) Corbet, still remembered for some graceful verses, then senior scholar of Christ Church. He remained there some time, and the