Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/163

 BEN JONSON 147 "It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be ; Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear : A lily of a day, Is fairer far, in May, Although it fall and die that night ; It was the plant and flower of light. In small proportions we just beauties see ; And in short measures life may perfect be." Whence the antistrophe swells triumphant over grief :— " Call, noble Lucius, then for wine, And let thy looks with gladness shine : Accept this Garland, place it on thy head, And think, nay know, thy Morison's not dead. He leaped the present age, Possest with holy rage, To see that bright eternal day ; Of which we priests and poets say Such truths as we expect for happy men." Many features of Ben's character have been inci- dentally illustrated in the course of these articles, but now some special attention must be given to it. Let us commence with Drummond's sketch in exceed- ingly black chalk, "the portrait composed almost entirely of shadows," already referred to (p. 112), and try whether we can work up from this something like an accurate likeness. " He is a great lover and praiser of himself; a con- temner and scorner of others ; given rather to lose a friend than a jest ; jealous of every word and action of those about him (especiallie after drink, which is one of the elements in which he liveth) ; a dissembler