Page:The Works of Ben Jonson - Gifford - Volume 7.djvu/342

 place, to observe that the verses, however "imbecil and rancorous" they may be, were not written at this time, nor on this occasion. They were composed at least fourteen or fifteen years after this period, and refer in the most distinct and express manner to Cloridia, the last of Jonson's Masques. For thirty years nothing but kindness appears on the side of Jonson, (for I give no credit to the story of Inigo's being the Lantern Leatherhead of Bartholomew Fair;) nor do we know that he changed his mode of conduct without sufficient cause. Be this as it may, the charge of Pennant is as false as it is ridiculous, and with this only I am at present concerned.