ΤΟ THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE CANNING, PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF CONTROL FOR INDIA, &c. &c. THIS EDITION OF THE WORKS OF BEN JONSON, IN TESTIMONY OF THE SINCEREST ADMIRATION OF HIS OF THE HIGHEST RESPECT FOR HIS PUBLIC PRINCIPLES AND PRIVATE VIRTUES, AND IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE FRIENDSHIP WITH WHICH, FOR A LONG SERIES OF YEARS, HE HAS HONOURED THE EDITOR, IS, WITH PRIDE AND PLEASURE MOST AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. July 3d, 1816. MEMOIRS OF BEN JONSON. To 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 captious 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 grand 2 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. 2 The year 1574.] The writers of the Bio. Brit. are |