Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-11-21

One night there i a fearful quarrel. IL
i late when Benjamin returns home.
In silence and darkness, the son and
mother meet. She is resolved. BEN
Iamin, my son, my dear son, we will
endure this hfe no longer. There 10 :
sword; it was your grandtathers. A
grntlemSf wore il; a gentleman shall
still wear It. Go 10 the Low Countries.
Volunteers ere called for. There is an
expedition to Ostend. Take WITH 700
these few crowns, and God prosper
yOu."
Another wear, and Bedjamin's cam
paign is ended. AZ the hearth in Harts-
horn-lane sits Margaret Fowler--in
solitude. There viii be no more strife
about her son. Death has settled the
controversy. Margaret is very poor
Her trade is unprosperous, for the wi
dow is deGrauded BY her servants
'Mother, there is my grandfather's
sword-it has done service; and now,
will work for yon." "How, my son y
"I will be a bricklayer again" We
see the Shadow Of the Mother, as she
strives TO make her son content. lie
has no longer the slime and mortar
hands with which il was his after-fate
TO be reproached; but he bestows the
masters eve upon his mothers work
men. Yet he has hours Of leisure
There is chamber in the old house now
filed with learned books. He reads,
and he writes, as his own pleasure dic-
tates. Mother" he one day SAYS, 81
wish to marry" "Do so, my son; bring
your wife home; we will dwell togeth-
err" So a few years roll on. He and
his wife weep
'STary, the daughter Of their YOUTH
But there is an event approaching
which sets aside sorrow. Daughter,
says the ancient lady. Eve must TO the
Rose Playhouse TO night. There is
new play to be acted, and that play II
BenjamIn's." "Yes, mother, he has had
divers moneys already. Not much. ]
wot, seeing The labor he has given to
this Comedy OF H6mors'-fve shillings,
and ten shIllings, and, once pound"
"No matter, daughter, he will be fa-
nous; ] always knew he would be fa-
NOUS" A caIamity clouds that fame.
The play-W ritter has quarrcls on every
side. In the autumn OF 1893, Philip
Tienslowe, the manager Of ''the Lord
Admirars men, writes thus to his SON
in-law, Alleyn: "Since you were with
me, have lost one Of my company,
which hurteth me greatly-that Is, Ca
DrIeTs EUI ETc s-EsTssssS
by the hands y Benjamin JonsCn, brick
layer" Twenty years after, the great tdra-
matist, the laureat. thus relates the sto.
nv 10 Drummond: "Being appealed TO
the fields, he had killed his adversary,
which had hurt him in the arm, and whose
sword was ten inches longer than his;
for which he was imprisoned and al
most at gallows." There is the proud
Shadow Of Roman Matron lowering
about his cell, in those hours when the
gaIlows loomed darkly in future.
The scholar and the poet has won his
fame. BrIcklaycr no longer, Ben is the
companion of the illustrious. Shaks-
peare hath "wit-combats" with him;
Camden and Selden try his metal, in
learned controversies; Raleigh, and
Beaumont, and Donne, and Fletcher,
exchange with him words OF subtle
fame at "The Mermaid" But a new
trouble arises-James is come 10 the
throne. Hear Jonson's account OF a re-
markable transaction; "He was debated
by Sir James Murray 10 the King, for
writing something against the Scots, in
a pIav, Eastward Ilo,' and voluntarily
imprisoned himself, with Chapman and
Marston, who had written il among
them. The report was, that they should
then have had their ears cut, and noses" "
They are at length released. We see
the shadow OF banquet which the poet
gave to his friends in commemoraiion
Of his deIiversnce. There is a joyous
company Of immortals at that feast
There, too, is that loving and faithful
mother. The wine-cups are flowing:
there are song and Jest, eloquence, and
the passionate esrnestness with which
such friends speak when the heart Is
opened. But there is one. whose Shad-
ow we now see, more passionate end
more earnest than any of,that company.
She rises, with full goblet in her hand;
"Son, drink 10 thee. Benjamin, my
beloved son, thrice I drink TO thee. Sc
We this paper; one grain Of the subtle
drug which il holds is death. Even as
we now pledged each other in rich can
airy, would have pledged thee in lusty
strong poison, had thy sentence taken
execution. Thy shame would have
been my shame, and neither Of Us should
/ have lived after IT,"