It may, therefore, have been written
in the meantime. It is supposed that it was so in 1606. (See
_Shakspere's Century of Praise_, 1879, pp. 118, 119.)
19: Only a few of the earliest productions of Jonson have come
down to us. Some of them are: _Every Man in His Humour_
(1598); _Every Man out of His Humour_ (1599); and _Cynthia's
Revels_ (1600), all of them full of personal allusions. Many of
these are meant against Shakspere. We cannot, however, enter more
fully upon that, as we have to confine ourselves to the chief
controversy out of which _Hamlet_ arose. Neither on Jonson's
nor on Shakspere's part did the controversy cease after the
appearance of _Hamlet_. It was still carried on through several
dramas, which, however, we leave untouched, as not belonging
to our theme.
20: See _note_ 25.
21: In _Satiromastix_ this reproach is made to Ben Jonson:--'Horace
did not screw and wriggle himselfe into great Mens famyliarity,
impudentlie as thou doost.'
22: Gifford, in his nervous anxiety to parry every reproach
against his much-admired, and, in his eyes, blameless Jonson whose
quarrelsomeness had from so many parts been properly charged, and
particularly desirous of shielding him against the accusation of
having taken up an attitude hostile to Shakspere, declares, in
contradiction to the opinion of all previous commentators, that
_Crispinus_ is to represent John Marston.
Pages:
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170