Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/145

 BEN JONSON 129 from which I have already quoted : he is speaking of himself in the third person : — " And had he lived the care of king and queen, His art in something more yet had been seen." Charles was touched, and replied promptly and royally to the oblique remonstrance, as we learn from " Underwoods," Ixxx. : " An Epigram to King Charles, for an Hundred Pounds he sent me in my Sickness, MDCXXIX.," beginning— " Great Charles, among the holy gifts of grace, Annexed to thy person and thy place, 'Tis not enough (thy piety is such) To cure the called ' king's-evil ' with thy touch ; But thou wilt yet a kinglier mastery try, To cure the ' poet's-evil,' poverty." In March of the following year, in response to — " The humble petition of Poor Ben ; To the best of monarchs, masters, men, King Charles " ("Underwoods," xcv.), his annuity was raised from a hundred marks to a hundred pounds, with the voluntary addition by the king of a yearly tierce of Canary, Jonson's favourite wine, from the royal cellars at Whitehall. From "Underwoods," Ixxiv., "To Master John Burges," and Ixxxvi., "To the Household," 1630, we learn that both pension and wine were sometimes in arrear.