Jonson
BENJAMIN, commonly called BEN JONSON, a celebrated English of Shakespeare; born in Westminster, dramatist the contemporary and friend England , in 1573. When young, he ran away from home and entered the army, he went to Cambridge, but poverty serving first in Flanders. On his return obliged him to leave the university and take to the stage. either as an actor or an author, and At first he was not very successful, having killed another actor in a duel, he was imprisoned and narrowly escaped the favor Ender of 1 favor as f the cou pointed po $500, JOPLIN with life. On being released from confinement he married, and recommenced writing for the stage, to which he was encouraged by Shakespeare, who performed in one of his pieces. In 1598 he produced his comedy of "Every Man in His Humor," which was followed by a new play every year, till the reign of James I., when he was employed in the masques and entertainments at court.
He joined Chapman and Marston in writing the comedy of "Eastward Hoe," which SO grossly libelled the Scotch nation that the authors were committed to prison. He soon regained the favor of the king, and for the remainder of that reign he continued in high favor as a kind of superintendent of the court revels. In 1619 he was appointed poetlaureate, with a salary of $500, and a butt of canary wine yearly from the king's cellars. Want of economy, however, kept him constantly poor, though he had a pension from the city. His principal plays are "Sejanus," "Volpone," "Epicæne," and "The Alchemist ."
He died Aug. 16, 1637, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a tablet has been erected to his memory in Poet's Corner, with the inscription, "O Rare Ben Jonson." $500 JORDAN