Page:The Works of Ben Jonson - Gifford - Volume 6.djvu/316

 did express his indignation at the audience who witnessed the fall of his friend's piece, he was far more likely to brave the censure of what he calls "the many-headed bench," than to be deterred by it from following his example.

I know not, however, why such clamour should be raised against those who disapproved of the Faithful Shepherdess. As a poem it is insufferably tedious, and as a drama of action, its heaviness can only be equalled by its want of art. The lyric part of it indeed, (that which is most easily written) is highly poetical, and there is occasionally great beauty in the language of Clorin; but the genius of the author may be said to come in and go out with the Satyr. The whining and the wanton lovers, who appear, "vent their folly," and vanish in succession, without order, connection, or apparent purpose, would exhaust all the patience of good humour itself. Add to this, that the supernatural parts of the story (the holy well, &c.) are foreign from our native and traditionary superstitions, and can therefore excite little emotion, or interest, in any perceptible degree, the faith and feelings of the spectator.

In the Sad Shepherd, (written, as the judicious Mr. Weber positively assures us, "in emulation of Fletcher's poem, but far short of it,") there is nothing of this. With equal felicity and judgment, Jonson has resorted to the agency of witches, with which all were familiar, and which all were prepared to receive, without hesitation. The thoughts are natural and elegant, the style appropriate, the language inexpressibly beautiful, and, in some detached passages, worthy of the highest praise: the various turns of fortune too, though surprising, are yet probable, and according to the established creed; and the persons of the drama supported with the characteristic discrimination of the author's golden days.

Whalley believes that this drama was left unfinished by the author: I can scarcely think that we should have found a prologue to it, in that case; a prologue, too, which manifestly refers to a piece ready for representation. On the margin of his copy, he observes, from Mr. Waldron, that lord Falkland seems to confirm his opinion in some lines on Jonson's death, first printed in the Jonsonius Virbius.

But this is merely an allusion to the poet's own words, in the prologue: