BEN JONSON IN SCOTLAND

Hokitika Guardian, 6 October 1923, Page 3

BEN JONSON IN SCOTLAND

■■Ben .I.,use's Conversations with Drummond ot 11 aw tliortlen, toil'll y |li* I! F. Patterson, recalls a hall-tor-giillcn episode ill literary hi-lury. In 1 1 ,|< Ben Johnson visi.-d Ecotlami. Why he ton* bim-.*ll from t! "' lii'esitle tb,. Mermaid Tavern can only he '•niiiecturcd. 'liter:* is some i *\ itlt t'i * thu, he may have made tb. i'.moey at the instance oi King James in order j to collect material lor a 'took about. I Scotland. However that mav be. j covered the lour hundred odd miles between London Mini Kdiuburgh ~11 foot | m notable achievement for one who weighed Id-t I‘-Mb. Perhaps the molive of his pilgrimage may have been K> ••-■•I ri<l of soim* <>t liis llt.'sli. !„ Scot la ml be -pent some 'lays at I law ihormleM in the house of William Drummoiiil. a young reelu-e. a student Mini an amateur of letters who-e hni*;try eoiitailieil —<s7 Lalin f:,*/.,d; II Hebrew, til Italian, eight Soan'sb. 1”D French, and *''ll English, •/remarkable colic-lion for that time. Drummond kept a reecrd 1 f Ins guests’ epuv M'sal ion, and vt ry interesting it is. .Ions;,11 talked ol many thing'. There j. eo-sip about the Court and its habit ties, interspersed wilh remim--~f Ids soldering and bricklaying days and not a few scandalous anecdote-. But most of the conversations I, date to literary matters. Drummond is tun urally eager to hear al ale. ut the treat men in l.omlon. Jo»--on gralilt"' hi- coiio-ity and deals fait lift til v bv hi- eotttemperarie®. i Thomas Del;lo r i- a ,; *' : "" I m -m "lov-d to- much hinis.*!;' and hts*• \e Xl to Jolison bim-cll •‘only I'Tetelief and Uhapman < "uUI make a itta-k." Samuel Daniel is “a

00.! honour man iml no pool. .-'hii'k!'- • uant.nl nrt" ■ |koloml.n lair M-itiri.iM n V... iill i:t ml 'ln- torn, in

Slink ■s|>“:\ i’”* - fcMTitric noli.ms ni K 1 ° giapliv in endow mg Hibernia with f seat-oast . .L.lm Donne "for not keep j,,,, „f accent deserved hanging.' Nevertheless .Liu-mi admired Doline • lie e-iccmcih -lolnt Domic, the lirs poet in the world, in some tilings. And .lon-oil's judgment' were ollei

acme. Tlnis be -ays; ••Done himself, for i,..t being understood, will peri-h. 1 1 i~ a fact Hint Do line’s obscurity lias been a bar to hi- appreciation by posteriiv. 11c is seldom read nowaday-. Again: "For a beroii k poem, he said, there was no such ground a- King Arthur'- fiction." Subsciiuciit writers have recognised the possibilities ol the Arthurian legend. In conclusion we

niu-l mention .lonsoii - story of a certain Eiigli-li Lord who when playing tennis 10-t all his games because "d be -aw a face in the gallery that liked him not h - struck all his balls at it. It is harllv surprising that ho did not win.