BEN JONSON appears to have carried his military spirit into
the literary republic--his gross convivialities, with anecdotes
of the prevalent taste in that age for drinking-bouts--his
"Poetaster" a sort of _Dunciad_, besides a personal attack on the
frequenters of the theatres, with anecdotes--his Apologetical
Dialogue, which was not allowed to be repeated--characters of
DECKER and of MARSTON--DECKER'S Satiromastix, a parody on JONSON'S
"Poetaster"--BEN exhibited under the character of "Horace
Junior"--specimens of that literary satire; its dignified
remonstrance, and the honourable applause bestowed on the great
bard--some foibles in the literary habits of BEN, alluded to by
DECKER--JONSON'S noble reply to his detractors and rivals.
This quarrel is a splendid instance how genius of the first order,
lavishing its satirical powers on a number of contemporaries, may
discover, among the crowd, some individual who may return with a right
aim the weapon he has himself used, and who will not want for
encouragement to attack the common assailant: the greater genius is
thus mortified by a victory conceded to the inferior, which he himself
had taught the meaner one to obtain over him.
JONSON, in his earliest productions, "Every Man in his Humour," and
"Every Man out of his Humour," usurped that dictatorship, in the
Literary Republic, which he so sturdily and invariably maintained,
though long and hardily disputed. No bard has more courageously
foretold that posterity would be interested in his labours; and often
with very dignified feelings he casts this declaration into the teeth
of his adversaries: but a bitter contempt for his brothers and his
contemporaries was not less vehement than his affections for those who
crowded under his wing. To his "sons" and his admirers he was warmly
attached, and no poet has left behind him, in MS., so many testimonies
of personal fondness, in the inscriptions and addresses, in the copies
of his works which he presented to friends: of these I have seen more
than one fervent and impressive.
DRUMMOND of Hawthornden, who perhaps carelessly and imperfectly
minuted down the heads of their literary conference on the chief
authors of the age, exposes the severity of criticism which Ben
exercised on some spirits as noble as his own. The genius of Jonson
was rough, hardy, and invincible, of which the frequent excess
degenerated into ferocity; and by some traditional tales, this
ferocity was still inflamed by large potations: for Drummond informs
us, "Drink was the element in which he lived."[388] Old Ben had
given, on two occasions, some remarkable proofs of his personal
intrepidity. When a soldier, in the face of both armies, he had
fought single-handed with his antagonist, had slain him, and carried
off his arms as trophies. Another time he killed his man in a duel.
Jonson appears to have carried the same military spirit into the
Literary Republic.
Such a genius would become more tyrannical by success, and naturally
provoked opposition, from the proneness of mankind to mortify usurped
greatness, when they can securely do it. The man who hissed the poet's
play had no idea that he might himself become one of the dramatic
personages. Ben then produced his "Poetaster," which has been called
the _Dunciad_ of those times; but it is a _Dunciad_ without notes.
The personages themselves are now only known by their general
resemblance to nature, with the exception of two characters, those of
_Crispinus and Demetrius_.[389]
In "The Poetaster," Ben, with flames too long smothered, burst over
the heads of all rivals and detractors. His enemies seem to have been
among all classes; personages recognised on the scene as soon as
viewed; poetical, military, legal, and histrionic. It raised a host in
arms. Jonson wrote an apologetical epilogue, breathing a firm spirit,
worthy of himself; but its dignity was too haughty to be endured by
contemporaries, whom genius must soothe by equality. This apologetical
dialogue was never allowed to be repeated; now we may do it with
pleasure. Writings, like pictures, require a particular light and
distance to be correctly judged and inspected, without any personal
inconvenience.