Evening star., 1925-06-10
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

On a stone in Westminster Abbey is
the epitaph, 20 rare Ben Jonsonr' It
IL one OF the shortest epitaphs ever
Wfhten, and perhaps one of the tru-
est Ior this contemporary and friend
o. .Snakespeare was one of the literary
lights OF his age.
lie was born in 1873, diving in 1887,
beginring his adult life as a layer
,, OF brick, his mother, after his fathers
oeath. having married bricklayer,
VINO Drought him UP In that trade
from setting brick with trowel and
mortar, he took to placing words in
fair rows, with the following result: :.
Hsss Re, You seem but the bright lily grow
M nstofe raoe hands have toucf,ed it?
HAZE You piar,sed but the fall O. the snow,
before the soil hath emutehed il,
aaye oe s~ you .n teis s tine wool OF bearer'
VI On nays l,s. sn.slt ?, the bud o the brier?
sof nave tasted the bag of the bee?
: ososwhite! o SO softi o soasweet is she !,
thousands of Washington high
SCHOOL children have sung that poem,
IN fine musical setting, during the
past 70 years or 50. Rare Ben Jon,
son wrote It.. Many of his lyrics are
as pretty as the above, and at least
one other of his songs is sung to this
Eyes"
1t was as playwright, however,
that he made his chief mark in Eng.
iSn literature, to be outdone by
shakespeare, 1t is true, but to stand
| yet for much that is best in the drama.
with his Every Man in His HUI
mour was issued in an era of some
common sense in the English drama
Ihis play Was acted by Shakespeare g
company, the lord chamberlain 8
servants"
Before that time, almost ANYTHING
went on the English stage. / do not
mean in the sense of impropriety. but
simply that of improbability. They
did not much observe the so-called
unities OF time, or place, or much of
anything else.
Sir Philip Sidney, In his Defense of
Poesie," said:
You shall have Asia of the one side,
Africke of the other, and so many ,un-
der Kingdoms, that the Plaier when hee
| comes In, must ever begin with telling
where hee Is. or else the tale will not
be conceived.
Now shall you have three ladies
Wake to gather flowers, and then wee
must believe the stage to be garden.
BY and by wee heare newes of ship
wracke in the same place, then wee
are to blame II wee accept II not for
a rookie, while in the meane time two
armies file in, represented with foure
swordes and bucklers, and then what
hard heart will not receive it for a
pitched field?"
| Rare Ben more or less put an end
to such nonsense. He wrote for 40
years and WIS generally accepted in
| his days as one of the biggest writing
| men of England. Writings of that pc
riod are filed with much praise of
| him and his plays.
One interesting point in his life is
| that in 1913, he acted as tutor to the
! son of Sir Walter Raleigh.
At some future time in this column
/ hope to take up for consideration
some Of the plays of this man, whose
genius has been oyershadowed by the
greater fame of the great bard OF
Avon.
| CThe reader will notice that l do not
shy from the hacIneyed phrase. 1.-The
bard of Avon" just because it has
been used .before.)
Sir Philip Sidney, quoted above, was
| the man who, mortally wounded in
battle and suffering from thirst re-
fused to drink when the water was
| brought him, but ordered IT to be Civ
en- to a dying soldier near him, say
| ing:
| His necessity is greater than mine. y
| This Is the sort of thing the English