died under that great man, and could not avoid catching some of his divine excellence. "This praise perhaps, by some people, may be thought too much of that the praiser pretends not to be a judge; he only speaks his own feeling, not with an intent to impose, but to recommend a treasure to the public, that, for a century, has been buried in obscurity; which, when they have seen, he flatters himself that they will think as he does; and should that be the case, the following verses, written by Mr Ford's contemporaries, will shew that neither the present public nor the letter-writer are singular in their esteem of The Lover's Melancholy-Your's, 66 B. B." Either from the foregoing letter not having due effect in raising the expectation of the public, and inducing them to engage all the boxes. previous to the representation, or from the real illness of Mr. Barry, who was to act a principal part, the performance was, upon the latter plea, deferred till Thursday the 28th of April, and, in the interim (on the 23d) a second letter was inserted in The General Advertiser, which follows: "It is hoped that the following gleaning of theatrical history will readily obtain a place in * Here follow the recommendatory verses of Donne and Ooos, which may be found amongst the others collected at the end of this introduction. your paper. It is taken from a pamphlet written in the reign of Charles I. with this quaint title: 'Old Ben's Light Heart made heavy by Young John's Melancholy Lover;' and, as it contains some historical anecdotes and altercations concerning Ben Jonson, Ford, Shakspeare, and The Lover's Melancholy, it is imagined that a few extracts from it at this juncture will not be unentertaining to the public. "Those who have any knowledge of the theatre in the reign of James and Charles the First, must know that Ben Jonson, from great critical language, which was then the portion but of very few, his merit as a poet, and his constant association with men of letters, did, for a considerable time, give laws to the stage. "Ben was by nature splenetic and sour; with a share of envy (for every anxious genius has some), more than was warrantable in 30ciety by education rather critically than politely learned; which swelled his mind into an ostentatious pride of his own works, and an overbearing inexorable judgment of his contemporaries. "This raised him enemies, who, towards the close of his life, endeavoured to dethrone this tyrant, as the pamphlet styles him, out of the dominion of the theatre. And what greatly contributed to their design, was the slights and malignancies which the rigid Ben too frequently threw out against the lowly Shakspeare, whose fame, since his death, as appears by the pamphlet, was grown too great for Ben's envy either to bear with or wound. "It would greatly exceed the limits of your paper to set down all the contempts and invectives which were uttered and written by Ben, and are collected and produced in this pamphlet, as unanswerable and shaming evidences, to prove his ill-nature and ingratitude to Shakspeare, who first introduced him to the theatre and fame. "But though the whole of these invectives cannot be set down at present, some few of the heads may not be disagreeable, which are as follow: "That the man had imagination and wit none could deny, but that they were ever guided by true judgment in the rules and conduct of a piece, none could with justice assert; both being ever servile to raise the laughter of fools and the wonder of the ignorant. That he was a good poet only in part,-being ignorant of all dramatic laws, had little Latin,-less Greek, and speaking of plays, &c. "To make a child new swaddled, to proceed Where neither chorus wafts you o'er the seas," &c. This, and such like behaviour, brought Ben at last from being lawgiver of the theatre to be the ridicule of it, being personally introduced there in several pieces, to the satisfaction of the public, who are ever fond of encouraging personal ridicule, when the follies and vices of the object are supposed to deserve it. 66 But what wounded his pride and fame most sensibly, was the preference which the public, and his contemporary wits, gave to Ford's Lover's Melancholy before his New Inn, or Light Heart. They were both brought on in the same week, and on the same stage; where Ben's was damned and Ford's received with uncommon applause: and what made this circumstance still more galling, was, that Ford was at the head of the partisans who supported Shakspeare's fame against Ben Jonson's invectives. 6 "This so incensed old Ben, that, as an everlasting stigma upon his audience, he prefixed this title to his play: The New Inn, or Light Heart. A comedy, as it was never acted, but most negligently play'd by some, the King's idle servants; and more squeamishly beheld and censur'd by others, the King's foolish subjects.' This title is followed by an abusive preface upon the audience and reader. 66 Immediately upon this he wrote his memorable ode against the public, beginning,- Come, leave the loathed stage, "The revenge he took against Ford was, to write an epigram on him as a plagiary. 'Playwright, by chance, hearing toys I had writ, Five of my jests, then stol'n, pass'd him a play.' Alluding to a character in The Lady's Trial, which Ben says Ford stole from him. The next charge against Ford was, that The Lover's Melancholy was not his own, but purloined from Shakspeare's papers, by the connivance of Heminge and Condel, who, in conjunction with Ford, had the revisal of them. The malice of this charge is gravely refuted, and afterwards laughed at in many verses and epigrams, the best of which are those that follow, with which I shall close this theatrical extract: To my worthy friend JOHN FORD. ''Tis said from Shakspeare's mine your play you drew: THOMAS MAY.' Upon BEN JONSON, and his zany TOм Quoth Ben to Tom, the Lover's stole, 'Tis Shakspeare's every word; Indeed, says Tom, upon the whole, 'Tis much too good for Ford. b |