A Seffions of the Poets

Sir John Suckling.

A poem with the above title was written by Suckling and circulated in MS. form early in 1637, according to Seccombe, in the Dictionary of National Biography. Stanzas 5-8, here printed, are from the first collected edition of his poems, which bears the following title-page: 'FRAGMENTA AVREA. A Collection of all THE INCOMPARABLE

PEECES WRITTEN By Sir JOHN SUCKLING Ảnd published by a Friend to perpetuate his memory. London, 1648.'

The first that broke filence was good old Ben,
Prepar'd before with Canary wine,

And he told them plainly he deserv'd the Bayes,
For his were calld Works, where others were but plaies.

And

Bid them remember how he had purg'd the Stage
Of errors that had lafted many an age,
And he hoped they did not think the filent-Woman,
The Fox, and the Alchymist out done by no man.

Apollo ftopt him there, and bade him not go on,
'Twas merit, he said, and not presumption
Must carry'r; at which Ben turned about,
And in great choler offer'd to go out:

But

5

10

Those that were there thought it not fit
To discontent so antient a wit;

15

And therefore Apollo call'd him back agen,

And made him mine Hoft of his own new Inne.

The following lines occur in Witt's Recreations, 1640, as reprinted in Vol. 2 of Facetiae, 1874, p. 124. The idea expressed is akin to that of the first stanza of Suckling's:

To Mr. Ben Johnson, demanding the reason why he call'd his plays works.

Pray tell me Ben, where doth the mystery lurk,
What others call a play, you call a work.

Thus answer'd by a friend in Ben Johnsons defence. The Authors friend thus for the Author sayes, Bens playes are works, when others works are plays.

An Ode. To himselfe.

These stanzas are included here for the reason that they afford a significant prototype for the indignant Ode so inseparably connected with this play, and show in an unmistakable manner that the damning of The New Inn did nothing but fan to a flame a rage that had long been smoldering in Jonson's brain. Gifford points out that part of the last stanza occurs in the 'Apologetical Dialogue' at the conclusion of Poetaster, and conjectures that the whole may have been written about the period of the appearance of that drama. The present copy is from the Underwoods in the 1631-40 Folio.

Where do'st thou carelesse lie

Buried in eafe and floth :
Knowledge, that fleepes, doth die;
And this Securitie,

It is the common Moath,

That eats on wits, and Arts, and deftroyes them both.

Are all th' Aonian fprings

Dri'd up? lyes Thefpia waft?
Doth Clarius Harp want ftrings,
That not a Nymph now fings!
Or droop they as difgrac't,

To see their Seats and Bowers by chattring Pies defac't.

If hence thy filence be,

As 'tis too just a cause;
Let this thought quicken thee,
Minds that are great and free,

Should not on fortune pause,

'Tis crowne enough to vertue still, her owne applause.

5

ΤΟ

15

What though the greedie Frie
Be taken with false Baytes
Of worded Balladrie,

And thinke it Poëfie?

They die with their conceits,

And only pitious fcorne, upon their folly waites.

Then take in hand thy Lyre,

Strike in thy proper straine.
With Japhets lyne, aspire

Sols Chariot for new fire,

To give the world againe :

Who aided him, will thee, the iffue of Joves braine.

And fince our Daintie age,
Cannot indure reproofe,
Make not thy felfe a Page,

To that ftrumpet the Stage,

But fing high and aloofe,

Safe from the wolves black jaw, and the dull Affes hoofe.

NOTES

The present edition includes whatever has been considered of value in the notes of preceding editions. It has been the intention in all cases to acknowledge facts and suggestions borrowed from such sources, whether quoted verbatim, abridged, or developed. Notes signed W. are from Whalley, G. from Gifford, C. from Cunningham. For other abbreviations the Bibliography should be consulted. References to this play are by act, scene, and line of the Text; other plays of Jonson are cited from the Gifford-Cunningham edition of 1875. The references are to play, volume, and page.

TITLE-PAGE.

Gifford did not print a separate title-page for the play, but gave that of Whalley in his introductory note. Cunningham remarks on this: 'In the concluding lines, "Now at last set at liberty to the Readers, his Majesty's servants and Subjects to be judg'd of." The [sic] word of is unmeaningly added by the editors. Every word in this title was most carefully studied, and the little volume watched through the press, with more even than Jonson's usual vigilance.' It will be sufficient to state here that this was not the only variation from the original title-page: see Introduction, pp. v-vii.

COMOEDY. This form of the word is used regularly throughout the 1616 folio; in the title-pages of the three plays in the 1640 folio we find comedie.

Moft negligently play'd. Jonson in his disappointment and rage includes the players with the spectators as deserving reproach. We have had no record left us, to tell in what way or for what reasons the King's Company made a particular failure in the performance of their parts.

The Kings Seruants. This company of actors was licensed in 1586 as Leicester's Company, and underwent various changes