Ben Jonson's genius was producing its best work in the earlier years
of the reign of James I. His Volpone, the Silent Woman, and the
Alchemist first appeared side by side with some of the ripest works
of Shakespeare in the years from 1605 to 1610. In the latter part
of James's reign he produced masques for the Court, and turned with
distaste from the public stage. When Charles I. became king, Ben
Jonson was weakened in health by a paralytic stroke. He returned to
the stage for a short time through necessity, but found his best
friends in the best of the young poets of the day. These looked up
to him as their father and their guide. Their own best efforts
seemed best to them when they had won Ben Jonson's praise. They
valued above all passing honours man could give the words, "My son,"
in the old poet's greeting, which, as they said, "sealed them of the
tribe of Ben."

H. M.



SYLVA



Rerum et sententiarum quasi "[Greek text] dicta a multiplici materia et
varietate in iis contenta. Quemadmodum enim vulgo solemus infinitam
arborum nascentium indiscriminatim multitudinem Sylvam dicere: ita
etiam libros suos in quibus variae et diversae materiae opuscula
temere congesta erant, Sylvas appellabant antiqui: Timber-trees.