Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/127

Rh them who love you ; " and signing, " Your loving friend, W. D." Yet, as an appendix to the Notes, which are dated only two days after this, we find that bitter character of Ben Jonson which has, naturally enough, given rise to so much controversy and to so much obloquy on one side and the other. Having been long chiefly quoted for detraction of the guest, it is now principally applied to the disgrace of the host ; and I must confess that, all things considered, the latter use seems to me more just than the former. Col. Cunningham attempts to mitigate judgment, but not without faltering : " I have no doubt that Drummond, a valetudinarian and ' minor poet,' was thoroughly borne down by the superior powers, physical and mental, of Jonson, and heartily glad when he saw the last of his somewhat boisterous and somewhat arrogant guest. The picture drawn by one who thus felt himself ' sat upon ' at every turn was not likely to be a flattering one ; and yet there is nothing in the Conversations to lead us to expect that the portrait given at the end of them would be composed entirely of shadows. But may we not suppose that on the 24th of January 16 19, on his way to Leith, Jonson may have passed the night at Hawthornden, and, full of the idea of returning home, and warmed with the generous liquors, for the abundance and quality of which — • The heart of Scotland, Britain's other eye,' has always been famous, have forgotten that he was at the table of a prim Scotch laird, and dreaming himself already in the Apollo or at the Mermaid, given vent to each feeling as it rose ; whether vanity,