The Alchemist | Page 5

famous
play, "The Spanish Tragedy." By the beginning of 1598, Jonson, though still in needy
circumstances, had begun to receive recognition. Francis Meres -- well known for his
"Comparative Discourse of our English Poets with the Greek, Latin, and Italian Poets,"
printed in 1598, and for his mention therein of a dozen plays of Shakespeare by title --
accords to Ben Jonson a place as one of "our best in tragedy," a matter of some surprise,
as no known tragedy of Jonson from so early a date has come down to us. That Jonson
was at work on tragedy, however, is proved by the entries in Henslowe of at least three
tragedies, now lost, in which he had a hand. These are "Page of Plymouth," "King Robert
II. of Scotland," and "Richard Crookback." But all of these came later, on his return to
Henslowe, and range from August 1599 to June 1602.
Returning to the autumn of 1598, an event now happened to sever for a time Jonson's
relations with Henslowe. In a letter to Alleyn, dated September 26 of that year, Henslowe
writes: "I have lost one of my company that hurteth me greatly; that is Gabriel [Spencer],
for he is slain in Hogsden fields by the hands of Benjamin Jonson, bricklayer." The last
word is perhaps Henslowe's thrust at Jonson in his displeasure rather than a designation
of his actual continuance at his trade up to this time. It is fair to Jonson to remark
however, that his adversary appears to have been a notorious fire-eater who had shortly
before killed one Feeke in a similar squabble. Duelling was a frequent occurrence of the

time among gentlemen and the nobility; it was an impudent breach of the peace on the
part of a player. This duel is the one which Jonson described years after to Drummond,
and for it Jonson was duly arraigned at Old Bailey, tried, and convicted. He was sent to
prison and such goods and chattels as he had "were forfeited." It is a thought to give one
pause that, but for the ancient law permitting convicted felons to plead, as it was called,
the benefit of clergy, Jonson might have been hanged for this deed. The circumstance that
the poet could read and write saved him; and he received only a brand of the letter "T,"
for Tyburn, on his left thumb. While in jail Jonson became a Roman Catholic; but he
returned to the faith of the Church of England a dozen years later.
On his release, in disgrace with Henslowe and his former associates, Jonson offered his
services as a playwright to Henslowe's rivals, the Lord Chamberlain's company, in which
Shakespeare was a prominent shareholder. A tradition of long standing, though not
susceptible of proof in a court of law, narrates that Jonson had submitted the manuscript
of "Every Man in His Humour" to the Chamberlain's men and had received from the
company a refusal; that Shakespeare called him back, read the play himself, and at once
accepted it. Whether this story is true or not, certain it is that "Every Man in His
Humour" was accepted by Shakespeare's company and acted for the first time in 1598,
with Shakespeare taking a part. The evidence of this is contained in the list of actors
prefixed to the comedy in the folio of Jonson's works, 1616. But it is a mistake to infer,
because Shakespeare's name stands first in the list of actors and the elder Kno'well first in
the dramatis personae, that Shakespeare took that particular part. The order of a list of
Elizabethan players was generally that of their importance or priority as shareholders in
the company and seldom if ever corresponded to the list of characters.
"Every Man in His Humour" was an immediate success, and with it Jonson's reputation
as one of the leading dramatists of his time was established once and for all. This could
have been by no means Jonson's earliest comedy, and we have just learned that he was
already reputed one of "our best in tragedy." Indeed, one of Jonson's extant comedies,
"The Case is Altered," but one never claimed by him or published as his, must certainly
have preceded "Every Man in His Humour" on the stage. The former play may be
described as a comedy modelled on the Latin plays of Plautus. (It combines, in fact,
situations derived from the "Captivi" and the "Aulularia" of that dramatist). But the pretty
story of the beggar-maiden, Rachel, and her suitors, Jonson found, not among the classics,
but in the ideals of romantic love which Shakespeare had already popularised on the stage.
Jonson never again produced so fresh and lovable a feminine personage as Rachel,
although in other respects "The Case is Altered" is not a conspicuous