Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/102

86 BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES whose first acquaintance with Ben Jonson is com- monly assigned to this period. This fine comedy estabUshed the author's reputation, and placed him at once, though only twenty-five, among the foremost dramatists of the age. From this period, says Gifford, he perceptibly grew into acquaintance and familiarity with tfie wise and great ; and from this period he was pursued by the envious detraction of some of the less fortunate playwrights with whom he had been accus- tomed to work, particularly Decker and Marston. Poor as he was when the first version was brought out (probably in 1595), the Prologue is remarkable for the high freedom of its strain, commencing — " Though need make many poets, and some such As art and nature have not bettered much ; Yet ours for want hath not so loved the stage, As he dare serve the ill customs of the age, Or purchase your delight at such a rate, As, for it, he himself must justly hate." And near the end was a very lofty passage, not in the current version, but retained by Gifford in a note — - " You see How abjectly your poetry is ranked. In general opinion. . . . I can refell opinion, and approve The state of poesy, such as it is, Blessed, eternal, and most true divine : Indeed, if you will look on poesy, As she appears in many, jioor and lame, Patched up in remnants and old worn-out rags, Half-starved for want of her peculiar food, Sacred invention — then I must confirm Both your conceit and censure of her merit : But view her in her glorious ornaments. Attired in the majesty of art.