To thee, my way in epigrams seems new,
    When both it is the old way, and the true.
Thou say'st, that cannot be: for thou hast seen
    Davies, and Weever, and the best have been,
And mine come nothing like. I hope so. Yet
    As theirs did with thee, mine might credit get:
If thou'ld'st but use thy faith, as thou didst then,
    When thou wert wont t'admire, not censure men.
    (from 'To My Mere English Censurer')

Ben Jonson (1572-1637) is overshadowed as a dramatist by Shakespeare, his great contemporary. As a poet, however, he stands high. His polished urbanity, direct expression and classicism have been especially valued in modern times. T.S. Eliot says Jonson 'incorporated his erudition into his sensibility', creatively assimilating Horace, Martial and Juvenal into his poetry and hence into English literature. Richard Dutton's introduction illuminates the structure and context of Jonson's Epigrams and The Forest. Dutton shows them to be carefully structured poem sequences that display Jonson's command of poetic forms and involve the reader in evaluating a range of shifting perspectives. Jonson's recurrent theme, the nature of truth and virtue, is as pertinent today as it was in his own time.

Table of Contents

Introduction

A note on the text and punctuation

A note on the Notes

Select bibliography



EPIGRAMS

Dedication to William, Earl of Pembroke

I To the Reader

II To My Book

III To My Bookseller

IV To King James

V On the Union

VI To Alchemists

VII On the New Hot-Houses

VIII On a Robbery

IX To All, To Whom I Write

X To My Lord Ignorant

XI On Something, that Walks Somewhere

XII On Lieutenant Shift

XIII To Doctor Empiric

XIV To William Camden

XV On Court-Worm

XVI To Brain-Hardy

XVII To the Learned Critic

XVIII To My Mere English Censurer

IVIX On Sir Cod the Perfumed

XX To the Same Sir Cod

XXI On Reformed Gamester

XXII On My First Daughter

XXIII To John Donne

XXIV To the Parliament

XXV On Sir Voluptuous Beast

XXVI On the Same Beast

XXVII On Sir John Roe

XXVIII On Don Surly

XXIX To Sir Annual Tilter

XXX To Person Guilty

XXXI On Bank the Usurer

XXXII On Sir John Roe

XXXIII To the Same

XXIV Of Death

XXXV To King James

XXVI To the Ghost of Martial

XXVII On Chev'ril the Lawyer

XXVIII To Person Guilty

XXIX On Old Colt

XL On Margaret Ratcliffe

XLI On Gypsy

XLII On Giles and Joan

XLIII To Robert, Earl of Salisbury

XLIV On Chuff, Banks the Usurer's Kinsman

XLV On My First Son

XLVI To Sir Luckless Woo-All

XLVII To the Same

XLVIII On Mongrel Esquire

XLIX To Playwright

L To Sir Cod

LI The King James. Upon the happy false rumour of his death

LII To Censorious Courtling

LIII To Old-End Gatherer

LIV On Chev'ril

LV To Francis Beaumont

LVI On Poet-Ape

LVII On Bawds, and Usurers

LVIII To Groom Idiot

LIX On Spies

LX To William, Lord Mounteagle

LXI To Fool, or Knave

LXII To Fine Lady Would-Be

LXIII To Robert, Earl of Salisbury

LXIV To the Same

LXV To My Muse

LXVI To Sir Henry Cary

LXVII To Thomas, Earl of Suffolk

LXVIII On Playwright

LXIX To Pertinax Cob

LXX To William Roe

LXXI On Court-Parrot

LXXII To Courtling

LXXIII To Fine Grand

LXXIV To Thomas, Lord Chancellor

LXXV On Lip, the Teacher

LXXVI On Lucy, Countess of Bedford

LXVII To One that Desired Me Not to Name Him

LXXVIII To Hornet

LXXIX To Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland

LXXX Of Life, and Death

LXXXI To Prowl and Plagiary

LXXII On Cashiered Capt(ain) Surly

LXXXIII To a Friend

LXXIV To Lucy, Countess of Bedford

LXXXV to Sir Henry Goodyere

LXXXVI To the Same

LXXXVII On Captain Hazard the Cheater

LXXXVIII on English Monsieur

LXXXIX To Edward Alleyn

XC On Mill, My Lady's Woman

XCI To Sir Horace Vere

XCII The New Cry

XCIII To Sir John Radcliffe

XCIV To Lucy, Countess of Bedford, with Mr Donne's Satires

XCV To Sir Henry Savile

XCVI To John Donne

XCVII On the New Motion

XCVII To Sir Thomas Roe

XCIX To the Same

C On Playwright

CI Inviting a Friend to Supper

CII To William, Earl of Pembroke

CIII To Mary, Lady Wroth

CIV To Susan, Countess of Montgomery

CV To Mary, Lady Wroth

CVI To Sir Edward Herbert

CVII To Captain Hungry

CVIII To True Soldiers

CIX To Sir Henry Nevil

CX To Clement Edmonds

CXI To the Same, on the Same

CXII To a Weak Gamester in Poetry

CXIII To Sir Thomas Overbury

CVIV To Mrs Philip Sidney

CXV On the Town's Honest Man

CXXVI To Sir William Jephson

CXVII On Groin

CXVIII On Gut

CXIX To sir Ra(l)ph Shelton

CXX Epitaph on S.P.

CXXI To Benjamin Rudyerd

CXXII To the Same

CXXIII To the Same

CXXIV Epitaph on Elizabeth, L.H.

CXXV To Sir William Uvedale

CXXVI To His Lady, then Mrs Cary

CXXVII To Esmé, Lord Aubigny

CXXVIII To William Roe

CXXIX To Mime

CXXX To Alphonso Ferrabosco, on his Book

CXXXI To the Same

CXXXII To Mr Joshua Sylvester

CXXXIII On the Famous Voyage

The Voyage Itself



THE FOREST

I Why I write Not of Love

II To Penshurst

III To Sir Robert Wroth

IV To the World

V Song: To Celia

VI To the Same

VII Song: That Women Are But Men's Shadows

VIII To Sickness

IX Song: To Celia

X ('And must I sing? What subject shall I choose?')

XI Epode

XII Epistle to Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland

XIII Epistle to Katherine, Lady Aubigny

XIV Ode to Sir William Sidney, on his Birthday

XV To Heaven

Notes