Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/150

134 BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES of any kind, cannot now be told : perhaps into those of the woman who resided with him as his nurse, or some of her kin ; but they were evidently careless or ignorant, and put his manuscripts together in a very disorderly manner, losing some and misplacing others. Had they handed down to us * The Sad Shepherd ' in its complete state, we should have possessed a poem which might have been confidently opposed to the proudest effort of dramatic genius that time has yet bequeathed us." It is a pastoral drama; the scene in Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood and his band among the dratnatis personce. It is indeed very beau- tiful in parts, and one gladly welcomes such a sunset succeeding the overcast afternoon, as showing that the great light which had been clouded was by no means extinguished, that the genius of the brave old poet could still triumph ere it sank into the night of death; but I can hardly concur in the measureless praise of Gifford, who was perhaps less qualified to judge a purely poetical drama than one abounding in keen observation, satirical humour, and masculine eloquence. I think the Prologue clearly proves that it was completed, and seems to fix the date at 1635-6, the latter the year before Jonson's death. The theatres were shut up this year; otherwise the whole piece might have been preserved to us. That Jonson him- self was proud of it is evident from the opening lines of this Prologue : — " He that hath feasted you these forty years, And fitted fables for your finer ears, Although at first he scarce could hit the bore ; Yet you, with patience harkening more and more, At length have grown up to him, and made known The working of his pen is now your own :