The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-26
Jole 4gents tor May Manton
 Patterns.

and so great a favorite at court that he received pension. He knew and valued
 Shakespeare, but, as one of the passages
 in his Discoveries" shows, his admir-
 ation was not undiscriminating. When
 Jonson passed away the court was en- gagged In preparing for the life and death
 struggle which was to come with Crom-
 wells Ironsides. The poet was for the
 while forgotten, after his burial in West
 minister Abbey. until one of his ardent ad- mirers, Sir Young. caused to be inscribed
 upon the tomb the celebrated epitaph,
 70 Rare Ben Jonson.
 | When he died he left behind an un-
 finished work of great beauty, "The Sad Shepherd" in the prologue of which he
 said that for 40 years he had feasted
 the public, that at first he could scarce hit It's taste, but patience had at last
 enabled it to identify itself with the work ing of his pen.
 The parsonage that he 1islil<ed most cordially, and abused the most soundly to It's face, was, unfo~<unately. one with
 many heads and a tongue in each with which to sheer and hiss-no other than the general public which 1t was the greatest mistake of his life to ina zinc he could 'rar into approbation,' be- fore he had effectively secured it's good will It may not be a mistake to say the ardent admiration of few, rather than the favor of the many. has kept green the fame of the most independent among all masters of an ort which, in more than one sense, must please to live.
 The life records of the greatest of these Literary Braces of the Great Age, Will liam Shakespeare, the poet-actor, are not
 less ample than those of his contem- poraries not In the public eye. The place of his birth, and something of his fam fly are known. more, perhaps, than can
 be said of Spencer. Jonson and Chap man. Though of the truly marvellous in- dustry of his pen there are only five signatures of his name to witness, yet not that can be said of Sydenham. whose works are the study of all men that have a care for their health. It is a convincing testimony to the gentle worth and modesty of the man that the earliest notices of his life, except those of purely domestic character. are simply the results of envy and detraction. Had not the poet-player been victim to that hurt of all true and simple-hearted great ones, the sting of poison islander. the admirers of his incomparable genius had not known how to fix with certainty the first lights of his unfading day.
 ssHe was not of an age but for all
 time.' Rare honest Ben Jonson never
 wrote a line that contributed more to his immortality than this in which he
 describes shakespeare's greatness and foretells his everlasting fame. It Is one of the evidences with which true personal character forces itself upon the mind that
 Jonson, who bore such a relation to
 Shakespeare in their everyday affairs that he simply could not help express ing his jealousy during the time the lat
 ter lived. was yet willing. after his death,
 to admit the truth and greatness of the
 gentle-minded man against whom, living,
 he had been willing to practice the art and cunning of court-favor-seeking rival
 This mighty line' of rare, honest Ben is true both of tho man and his work. Drama is not inventive: 1t is innate in the heart of man; 1t hagan under the roof-tree of the first family in that de- lghtful little garden party composed of two. and It's life will last just SO long as little ones prattle. The power of the drama of the Great Age Is never fully understood by tho weak student of mere literature or his- tory Drama is a distinct thing. bear
 ing such . relation to literature as the