(According to his declaration in the
'Apologetical Dialogue,' there is nothing personal in the whole
_Poetaster!_ 'I can profess I never writt that piece more innocent
or empty of offence.') However, we form our judgment in this
matter from the clear, well-marked, and indubitably characteristic
traits of the play, as well as from the results of modern criticism,
which are fully in harmony with those traits. Everything points
to the figure of Ovid being a mask for Marston. Jonson perhaps
chose the name of Ovid for him because he, too, had written
_Metamorphoses_. Besides the before-mentioned _Metamorphosis
of Pigmalion's Image_, it is not improbable that Marston is the
author of the manuscript preserved in the British Museum:--_The
New Metamorphosis; or, A Feaste or Fancie of Poeticall Legendes.
The first parte divided into twelve books. Written by I. M.,
gent._, 1600. Ovid--Marston--in the _Poetaster_, is described as the
younger son of a gentleman of considerable position. He is
dependent on a stipend allowed to him by his father. After having
absolved his studies, he is to become an advocate, but secretly he
devotes his time to poetry. The father warns him that poverty will
be his lot if he does not renounce poetry. Ovid senior makes the
following reproach to his son (which probably has reference to
Marston's first tragedy, _Antonio and Mellida_):--'I hear of a
tragedy of yours coming forth for the common players there, called
_Medea_.
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