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date: 16 May 2025

Ben Jonson c.1573–1637
English dramatist and poet 

  1. Queen and huntress, chaste and fair.
     
    Cynthia's Revels (1600) act 5, sc. 3
  2. Hesperus entreats thy light,
    Goddess, excellently bright.
     
    Cynthia's Revels (1600) act 5, sc. 3
  3. I do hold it, and will affirm it (before any prince in Europe) to be the most sovereign and precious weed that ever the earth tendered to the use of man.
    of tobacco
    Every Man in His Humour (1598) act 3, sc. 5
  4. I glory
    More in the cunning purchase of my wealth
    Than in the glad possession.
     
    Volpone (1606) act 1, sc. 1
  5. Come, my Celia, let us prove,
    While we can, the sports of love.
     
    Volpone (1606) act 3, sc. 5; see Catullus
  6. Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie
    Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.
     
    ‘On My First Son’ (1616)
  7. Drink to me only with thine eyes,
    And I will pledge with mine;
    Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
    And I'll not look for wine.
     
    ‘To Celia’ (1616)
  8. In small proportions we just beauty see,
    And in short measures life may perfect be.
     
    ‘To the Immortal Memory…of…Sir Lucius Carey and Sir H. Morison’ (1640)
  9. Soul of the Age!
    The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!
     
    ‘To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author, Mr William Shakespeare’ (1623)
  10. How far thou didst our Lyly outshine,
    Or sporting Kyd, or Marlowe's mighty line.
     
    ‘To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author, Mr William Shakespeare’ (1623)
  11. Thou hadst small Latin, and less Greek.
     
    ‘To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author, Mr William Shakespeare’ (1623)
  12. He was not of an age, but for all time!
     
    ‘To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author, Mr William Shakespeare’ (1623)
  13. Sweet Swan of Avon!
     
    ‘To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author, Mr William Shakespeare’ (1623)
  14. Whatsoever he [Shakespeare] penned, he never blotted out a line. My answer hath been ‘Would he had blotted a thousand’.
    Timber, or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter (1641) l. 658 ‘De Shakespeare Nostrati’
  15. Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak, and to speak well, are two things.
    Timber, or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter (1641) l. 1882 ‘Praecept[a] Element[aria]’