[Enter a Servant.] How now, sir! what's the matter? Serv. Sir, there's a gentleman i' the court without, desires to speak with your worship. 50 Clem. A gentleman! what is he? Serv. A soldier, sir, he says. Clem. A soldier! Take down my armour, my sword quickly. A soldier speak with me! Why, when, knaves! Come on, come on. (Arms him- [5 self); hold my cap there, so; give me my gorget,1 my sword: stand by, I will end your matters anon. Let the soldier enter. [Exit Servant.] SCENE II. 2 [CLEMENT, KNOWELL, etc. Enter] BOBADILL, [followed by] MATHEW. Now, sir, what ha' you to say to me? 3 Bob. By your worship's favour Clem. Nay, keep out, sir; I know not your pretence. You send me word, sir, you are a soldier; why, sir, you shall be answer'd here: [s here be them have been amongst soldiers. Sir, your pleasure. Bob. Faith, sir, so it is, this gentleman and myself have been most uncivilly wrong'd and beaten by one Downright, a coarse fellow [10 about the town here; and for mine own part, I protest, being a man in no sort given to this filthy humour of quarrelling, he hath assaulted me in the way of my peace, despoil'd me of mine honour, disarm'd me of my weapons, [15 and rudely laid me along in the open streets, when I not so much as once offer'd to resist him. Clem. O, God's precious! is this the soldier? Here, take my armour off quickly, 't will make him swoon, I fear; he is not fit to look on 't, [20 that will put up a blow. Mat. An't please your worship, he was bound to the peace. Clem. Why, an he were, sir, his hands were not bound, were they? [Re-enter Servant.] 25 Clem. O, God's pity, was it so, sir? He must serve it! Give me my long sword there, and help me off. So, come on, sir varlet, I must cut off your legs, sirrah [BRAINWORM kneels]; nay, stand up, I'll use you kindly; I must cut off your legs, I say. 45 Flourishes over him with his long sword. Brai. O, good sir, I beseech you; nay, good master justice! Clem. I must do it, there is no remedy; I must cut off your legs, sirrah, I must cut off your ears, you rascal, I must do it: I must [0 cut off your nose, I must cut off your head. Brai. O, good your worship! Clem. Well, rise; how dost thou do now? Dost thou feel thyself well? Hast thou no harm? 55 Brai. No, I thank your good worship, sir. Clem. Why so! I said I must cut off thy legs, and I must cut off thy arms, and I must cut off thy head; but I did not do it: so you said you must serve this gentleman with my [60 warrant, but you did not serve him. You knave, you slave, you rogue, do you say you must, sirrah! Away with him to the jail; I'll teach you a trick for your must, sir. Brai. Good sir, I beseech you, be good to [es Clem. How is this? Know. My man Brainworm! Step. O, yes, uncle; Brainworm has been with my cousin Edward and I all this day. 76 Clem. I told you all there was some device. Brai. Nay, excellent justice, since I have laid myself thus open to you, now stand strong for me; both with your sword and your balance. 80 Clem. Body o' me, a merry knave! give me a bowl of sack. If he belong to you, Master Knowell, I bespeak your patience. Brai. That is it I have most need of. Sir, if you'll pardon me only, I'll glory in all the [85 rest of my exploits. Know. Sir, you know I love not to have my favours come hard from me. You have your pardon, though I suspect you shrewdly for being of counsel with my son against me. 90 Brai. Yes, faith, I have, sir, though you retain'd me doubly this morning for yourself: first, as Brainworm; after, as Fitz-Sword. I was your reform'd soldier, sir. 'T was I sent you to Cob's upon the errand without end. 95 Know. Is it possible? or that thou should'st disguise thy language so as I should not know thee? Brai. O, sir, this has been the day of my metamorphosis. It is not that shape alone [100 that I have run through to-day. I brought this gentleman, master Kitely, a message too, in the form of master Justice's man here, to draw him out o' the way, as well as your worship, while master Wellbred might make a convey- [108 ance of mistress Bridget to my young master. Kit. How! my sister stol'n away? Know. My son is not married, I hope. Brai. Faith, sir, they are both as sure as love, a priest, and three thousand pound, which [110 is her portion, can make 'em; and by this time are ready to bespeak their wedding-supper at the Windmill, except some friend here prevent 'em, and invite 'em home. Clem. Marry, that will I; I thank thee for [115 putting me in mind on 't. Sirrah, go you and fetch them hither upon my warrant. [Exit Servant.] Neither's friends have cause to be sorry, if I know the young couple aright. Here, I drink to thee for thy good news. But I pray [120 thee, what hast thou done with my man, Formal? Brai. Faith, sir, after some ceremony past, as making him drunk, first with story, and then with wine, (but all in kindness,) and strip- [125 ping him to his shirt, I left him in that cool vein; departed, sold your worship's warrant to these two, pawn'd his livery for that varlet's gown, to serve it in; and thus have brought myself by my activity to your worship's consideration. 131 Clem. And I will consider thee in another cup of sack. Here's to thee, which having drunk off this my sentence: Pledge me. Thou hast done, or assisted to nothing, in my [135 judgment, but deserves to be pardon'd for the To them [enter] E. KNOWELL, WELLBRED, and BRIDGET. Who be these? O, the young company; welcome, welcome! Gi' you joy. Nay, mistress Bridget, blush not; you are not so fresh a bride, but the news of it is come hither afore you. Master bridegroom, I ha' made your peace, [5 give me your hand: so will I for all the rest ere you forsake my roof.5 E. Know. We are the more bound to your humanity, sir. Clem. Only these two have so little of man in 'em, they are no part of my care. 11 Wel. Yes, sir, let me pray you for this gentleman, he belongs to my sister the bride. Clem. In what place, sir? Wel. Of her delight, sir, below the stairs, [15 and in public: her poet, sir. Clem. A poet! I will challenge him myself presently at extempore, Mount up thy Phlegon, Muse, and testify 20 And through the welkin thund'red all aloud. Wel. He is not for extempore, sir: he is all for the pocket muse; please you command a sight of it. 25 Clem. Is all the rest of this batch? Bring me a torch; lay it together, and give fire. [40 Cleanse the air. [Sets the papers on fire.] Here was enough to have infected the whole city, if it had not been taken in time. See, see, how our poet's glory shines! brighter and brighter! still it increases! O, now it 's at the highest; [45 and now it declines as fast. You may see, sic transit gloria mundi! Know. There's an emblem for you, son, and your studies. 49 Clem. Nay, no speech or act of mine be drawn against such as profess it worthily. They are not born every year, as an alderman. There goes more to the making of a good poet, than a sheriff. Master Kitely, you look upon me! though I live i' the city here, amongst you, 1 [55 will do more reverence to him, when I meet him, than I will to the mayor out of his year. But these paper-pedlars! these ink-dabblers! they cannot expect reprehension or reproach; they have it with the fact. 60 E. Know. Sir, you have sav'd me the labour of a defence.8 1 Punning on ream. 2 Parodied from Daniel, Sonnet to Delia. The following passage occurs in Q, at this point: Giu. Call you this poetry? Lo. ju. Poetry! Nay, then call blasphemy religion, Call devils angels, and sin piety; Let all things be preposterously transchanged. Lo. se. Why, how now, son? What, are you startled now? Hath the brize* prickt you, ha? Go to! You see How abjectly your poetry is rankt In general opinion. Lo. ju. Opinion! O God, let gross opinion The state of poesy, such as it is, As she appears in many, poor and lame, Set high in spirit with the precious taste Oh, then how proud a presence doth she bear! That such keen, ignorant, and blasted wits, Clem. It shall be discourse for supper between your father and me, if he dare undertake me. But to dispatch away these: you sign o' the soldier, and picture o' the poet, (but both so false, I will not ha' you hang'd out at my door till midnight,) while we are at supper, you two shall penitently fast it out in my court without; and, if you will, you may pray there [70 that we may be so merry within as to forgive or forget you when we come out. Here's a third, because we tender your safety, shall watch you, he is provided for the purpose.4- Look to your charge, sir. Step. And what shall I do? 75 Clem. O! I had lost a sheep an he had not bleated: why, sir, you shall give master Downright his cloak; and I will intreat him to take it. A trencher and a napkin you shall [80 have i' the buttery, and keep Cob and his wife company here; whom I will intreat first to be reconcil'd; and you to endeavour with your wit to keep 'em so. Step. I'll do my best. 85 Cob. Why, now I see thou art honest, Tib, I receive thee as my dear and mortal wife again. Tib. And I you, as my loving and obedient husband. 90 105 O, what a plenteous world of this will come! Clem. 'Tis well, 't is well! This night we 'll dedicate to friendship, love, and laughter. 110 Master bridegroom, take your bride and lead; every one, a fellow. Here is my mistress, Brainworm! to whom all my addresses of courtship shall have their reference: whose adventures this day, when our grandchildren shall [118 hear to be made a fable, I doubt not but it shall find both spectators and applause. [Exeunt.] SF, fame. 4 Formal, in his armor. Such brainless gulls, should utter their stolen wares But that this barren and infected age Should set no difference 'twixt these empty spirits And a true poet; than which reverend names Nothing can more adorn humanity. SEJANUS, HIS FALL BY BEN JONSON Non hic Centauros, non Gorgonas, Harpyiasque Invenies: Hominem pagina nostra sapit. MY LORD,-If ever any ruin were so great as to survive, I think this be one I send you, The Fall of Sejanus. It is a poem, that, if I well remember, in your lordship's sight, suffer'd no less violence from our people here, than the subject of it did from the rage of the people of Rome; but with a different fate, as, I hope, merit; for this hath outliv'd their malice, and begot itself a greater favour than he lost, the love of good men. Amongst whom, if I make your lordship the first it thanks, it is not without a just confession of the bond your benefits have, and ever shall hold upon me, Your Lordship's most faithful honourer, TO THE READERS 2 THE following and voluntary labours of my friends, prefixed to my book, have relieved me in much whereat, without them, I should necessarily have touched. Now I will only use three or four short and needful notes, and so rest. First, if it be objected, that what I publish is no true poem, in the strict laws of time, I confess it: as also in the want of a proper chorus; whose habit and moods are such and so difficult, as not any, whom I have seen, since the ancients, no, not they who have most presently affected laws, have yet come in the way of. Nor is it needful, or almost possible in these our times, and to such auditors as commonly things are presented, to observe the old state and splendour of dramatic poems, with preservation of any popular delight. But of this I shall take more seasonable cause to speak, in my observations upon Horace his Art of Poetry, which, with the text translated, I 1 I. e. with a different merit. * Only in Q. • Commendatory verses. BEN JONSON intend shortly to publish. In the meantime, if in truth of argument, dignity of persons, gravity and height of elocution, fulness and frequency of sentence, I have discharged the other offices of a tragic writer, let not the absence of these forms be imputed to me, wherein I shall give you occasion hereafter, and without my boast, to think I could better prescribe, than omit the due use for want of a convenient knowledge. The next is, lest in some nice nostril the quotations might savour affected, I do let you know, that I abhor nothing more; and I have only done it to show my integrity in the story, and save myself in those common torturers that bring all wit to the rack; whose noses are ever like swine spoiling and rooting up the Muses' gardens; and their whole bodies like moles, as blindly working under earth, to cast any, the least, hills upon virtue. Whereas they are in Latin, and the work in English, it was presupposed none but the learned would take the pains to confer them; the authors themselves being all in the learned tongues, save one, with whose English side I have had little to do. To which it may be required, since I have quoted the page, to name what editions I followed: Tacit. Lips. in quarto, Antwerp, edit. 1600. Dio. folio, Hen. Steph. 1592. For the rest, as Sueton. Seneca, &c., the chapter doth sufficiently direct, or the edition is not varied. Lastly, I would inform you, that this book, in all numbers, is not the same with that which was acted on the public stage; wherein a second pen had good share: in place of which, I have rather chosen to put weaker, and, no doubt, less pleasing, of mine own, than to defraud so happy a genius of his right by my loathed usurpation. Fare you well, and if you read farther of me, and like, I shall not be afraid of it, though you praise me out. Neque enim mihi cornea fibra est. But that I should plant my felicity in your general saying, good, or well, &c., were a weakness which the better sort of you might worthily contemn, if not absolutely hate me for. BEN. JONSON; and no such, Quem Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum. THE ARGUMENT 4 AELIUS SEJANUS, son to Seius Strabo, a gentleman of Rome, and born at Vulsinium; after his long service in court, first under Augustus; afterward, Tiberius; grew into that favour with the latter, and won him by those arts, as there wanted nothing but the name to make him a co-partner of the Empire. Which greatness of his, Drusus, the Emperor's son, not brooking; after many smother'd dislikes, it one day breaking out, the prince struck him publicly on the face. To revenge which disgrace, Livia, the wife of Drusus (being before corrupted by him to her dishonour, and the discovery of her husband's counsels) Sejanus practiseth with, together with her physician, called Eudemus, and one Lygdus, an eunuch, to poison Drusus. This their inhuman act having successful and unsuspected passage, it emboldeneth Sejanus to farther and more insolent projects, even the ambition of the Empire; where finding the lets he must encounter to be many and hard, in respect of the issue of Germanicus, who were next in hope for the succession, he deviseth to make Tiberius' self his means; and instils into his ears many doubts and suspicions, both against the princes, and their mother Agrippina; which Caesar jealously heark'ning to, as covetously consenteth to their ruin, and their friends'. In this time, the better to mature and strengthen his design, Sejanus labours to marry Livia, and worketh with all his ingine, to remove Tiberius from the knowledge of public business, with allurements of a quiet and retired life; the latter of which, Tiberius, out of a proneness to lust, and a desire to hide those unnatural pleasures which he could not so publicly practise, embraceth: the former enkindleth his fears, and there gives him first cause of doubt or suspect towards Sejanus: against whom he raiseth in private a new instrument, one Sertorius Macro, and by him underworketh, discovers the other's counsels, his means, his ends, sounds the affections of the senators, divides, distracts them at last, when Sejanus least looketh, and is most secure; with pretext of doing him an unwonted honour in the senate, he trains him from his guards, and with a long doubtful letter, in one day hath him suspected, accused, condemned, and torn in pieces by the rage of the people. [This do we advance, as a mark of terror to all traitors, and treasons; to show how just the heavens are, in pouring and thundering down a weighty vengeance on their unnatural intents, even to the worst princes much more to those, for guard of whose piety and virtue the angels are in continual watch, and God himself miraculously working.] 1 Lost in the burning of his study. : Not identified. Shakespeare and Fletcher have been suggested. 2 Tacitus, translated by Grenaway. 4 Hindrances. 7 Only in Q, in apparent allusion to King James and the Gunpowder Plot. 5 Ingenuity. • Beguiles. |