A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Part 26

INNES, COSMO (1798-1874).--Historian and antiquary, was called to the Scottish Bar in 1822, and was appointed Prof. of Const.i.tutional Law and History in the Univ. of Edin. in 1846. He was the author of _Scotland in the Middle Ages_ (1860), and _Sketches of Early Scottish History_ (1861).

He also ed. many historical MSS. for the Bannatyne and other antiquarian clubs. Much learning is displayed in his works.

INNES, THOMAS (1662-1744).--Historian, was descended from an old Roman Catholic family in Aberdeens.h.i.+re. He studied in Paris at the Scots Coll., of which he became Princ.i.p.al. He was the author of two learned works, _Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of the Northern Parts of Britain_ (1729), and _Civil and Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, 80 to 818_ (_pub._ by the Spalding Club, 1853).

IRELAND, WILLIAM HENRY (1777-1835).--Forger of Shakespeare ma.n.u.scripts, _s._ of an antiquarian bookseller in London. He claimed to have discovered the MSS. in the house of a gentleman of fortune. The forgeries included various deeds, a Protestant confession of faith by Shakespeare, letters to Ann Hathaway, Southampton, and others, a new version of _King Lear_, and a complete drama, _Vortigern and Rowena_. He completely deceived his _f._ and various men of letters and experts, but was detected by Malone, and the representation of _Vortigern_ on the stage completed the exposure. I. then tried novel-writing, in which he failed.

He _pub._ a confession in regard to the forgeries, in which he a.s.serted that his _f._ had no part in the imposture, but had been completely deceived by it.

IRVING, EDWARD (1792-1834).--Theologian and orator, _b._ at Annan, Dumfriess.h.i.+re, and _ed._ at Edin. Univ., for some years thereafter was engaged in teaching at Kirkcaldy. Ordained to the ministry of the Church of Scotland he became, in 1819, a.s.sistant to Dr. Chalmers in Glasgow, after which he went to the Scotch Church in Hatton Gardens, London, where he had an almost unprecedented popularity, his admirers including De Quincey, Coleridge, Canning, Scott, and others. The effect of his spoken oratory is not preserved in his writings, and was no doubt in a considerable degree due to his striking appearance and fine voice. He is described as "a tall, athletic man, with dark, sallow complexion and commanding features; long, glossy black hair, and an obvious squint."

Soon after removing to a new church in Regent Square he began to develop his views relative to the near approach of the Second Advent; and his _Homilies on the Sacraments_ involved him in a charge of heretical views on the person of Christ, which resulted in his ejection from his church, and ultimately in his deposition from the ministry. Thereafter his views as to the revival, as in the early Church, of the gifts of healing and of tongues, to which, however, he made no personal claim, underwent rapid development, and resulted in the founding of a new communion, the Catholic Apostolic Church, the adherents of which are commonly known as "Irvingites." Whether right or mistaken in his views there can be no doubt of the personal sincerity and n.o.bility of the man. His _pub._ writings include _For the Oracles of G.o.d_, _For Judgment to Come_, and _The Last Days_, and contain many pa.s.sages of majestic eloquence.

IRVING, WAs.h.i.+NGTON (1783-1859).--Essayist and historian, _b._ in New York, _s._ of William I. who had emigrated from Scotland. He was in his youth delicate, and his education was somewhat desultory, but his _f._ had a fine library, of which he had the run, and he was an omnivorous reader. In 1799 he entered a law office, but a threatening of consumption led to his going, in 1804, on a European tour in search of health. On his return in 1806 he was admitted to the Bar. He did not, however, prosecute law, but joined his brothers in business as a sleeping partner, while he devoted himself to literature. In 1807 he conducted _Salmagundi_, an amusing miscellany, and in 1809 appeared _A History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker_, a burlesque upon the old Dutch settlers, which has become a cla.s.sic in America. He made in 1815 a second visit to Europe, from which he did not return for 17 years. In England he was welcomed by Thomas Campbell, the poet, who introduced him to Scott, whom he visited at Abbotsford in 1817. The following year the firm with which he was connected failed, and he had to look to literature for a livelihood. He produced _The Sketch-Book_ (1819), which was, through the influence of Scott, accepted by Murray, and had a great success on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1822 he went to Paris, where he began _Bracebridge Hall_, followed in 1824 by _Tales of a Traveller_. In 1826 Everett, the American minister at Madrid, invited him to come and a.s.sist him by making translations relative to Columbus, which opened up to him a new field hitherto little cultivated. The result was a series of fascinating historical and romantic works, beginning with _History of the Life and Voyages of Columbus_ (1828), and including _The Conquest of Granada_ (1829), _Voyages of the Companions of Columbus_ (1831), _The Alhambra_ (1832), _Legends of the Conquest of Spain_ (1835), and _Mahomet and his Successors_ (1849). Meanwhile he had returned to England in 1829, and to America in 1832. In 1842 he was appointed Minister to Spain, and in 1846 he finally returned to America. In the same year he _pub._ a _Life of Goldsmith_, and his great work, the _Life of Was.h.i.+ngton_, came out 1855-59, _Wolfert's Roost_, a collection of tales and essays, appeared in 1855. I. was never _m._: in his youth he had been engaged to a girl who _d._, and whose memory he faithfully cherished. His last years were spent at Sunnyside, an old Dutch house near his "sleepy hollow," and there he _d._ suddenly on Nov. 28, 1859. Though not, perhaps, a writer of commanding power or originality, I., especially in his earlier works, imparted by his style and treatment a singular charm to every subject he touched, and holds a high place among American men of letters, among whom he is the first who has produced what has, on its own merits, living interest in literature. He was a man of high character and amiable disposition.

JAMES I., KING of SCOTLAND (1394-1437).--Poet, the third _s._ of Robert III., was _b._ at Dunfermline. In 1406 he was sent for safety and education to France, but on the voyage was taken prisoner by an English s.h.i.+p, and conveyed to England, where until 1824 he remained confined in various places, but chiefly in the Tower of London. He was then ransomed and, after his marriage to Lady Jane or Joan Beaufort, _dau._ of the Duke of Somerset, and the heroine of _The King's Quhair_ (or Book), crowned at Scone. While in England he had been carefully _ed._, and on his return to his native country endeavoured to reduce its turbulent n.o.bility to due subjection, and to introduce various reforms. His efforts, however, which do not appear to have been always marked by prudence, ended disastrously in his a.s.sa.s.sination in the monastery of the Black Friars, Perth, in February, 1437. J. was a man of great natural capacity both intellectual and practical--an ardent student and a poet of no mean order. In addition to _The King's Quhair_, one of the finest love poems in existence, and _A Ballad of Good Counsel_, which are very generally attributed to him, he has been more doubtfully credited with _Peeblis to the Play_ and _Christis Kirke on the Greene_.

JAMES, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFORD (1801-1860).--Novelist and historical writer, _s._ of a physician in London, was for many years British Consul at various places in the United States and on the Continent. At an early age he began to write romances, and continued his production with such industry that his works reach to 100 vols. This excessive rapidity was fatal to his permanent reputation; but his books had considerable immediate popularity. Among them are _Richelieu_ (1829), _Philip Augustus_ (1831), _The Man at Arms_ (1840), _The Huguenot_ (1838), _The Robber_, _Henry of Guise_ (1839), _Agincourt_ (1844), _The King's Highway_ (1840). In addition to his novels he wrote _Memoirs of Great Commanders_, a _Life of the Black Prince_, and other historical and biographical works. He held the honorary office of Historiographer Royal.

JAMESON, MRS. ANNA BROWNELL (MURPHY) (1794-1860).--Writer on art, _dau._ of Denis B.M., a distinguished miniature painter, _m._ Robert Jameson, a barrister (afterwards Attorney-General of Ontario). The union, however, did not turn out happily: a separation took place, and Mrs. J. turned her attention to literature, and specially to subjects connected with art.

Among many other works she produced _Loves of the Poets_ (1829), _Celebrated Female Sovereigns_ (1831), _Beauties of the Court of Charles II._ (1833), _Rubens_ (translated from the German), _Hand Book to the Galleries of Art_, _Early Italian Painters_, _Sacred and Legendary Art_ (1848), etc. Her works show knowledge and discrimination and, though now in many respects superseded, still retain interest and value.

JEBB, SIR RICHARD CLAVERHOUSE (1841-1905).--_B._ at Dundee, and _ed._ at St. Columba's Coll., Dublin, Charterhouse, and Camb., at the last of which he lectured on the cla.s.sics, and was in 1869 elected Public Orator.

After being Prof. of Greek at Glasgow, he held from 1889 the corresponding chair at Camb., and for a time represented the Univ. in Parliament. He was one of the founders of the British School of Archaeology at Athens. Among his works are _The Attic Orators_, _An Introduction to Homer_, _Lectures on Greek Poetry_, _Life of Richard Bentley_ (English Men of Letters Series), and he ed. the works of Sophocles, and the Poems and Fragments of Bacchylides, discovered in 1896. J. was one of the most brilliant of modern scholars.

JEFFERIES, RICHARD (1848-1887).--Naturalist and novelist, _s._ of a farmer, was _b._ at Swindon, Wilts. He began his literary career on the staff of a local newspaper, and first attracted attention by a letter in the _Times_ on the Wilts.h.i.+re labourer. Thereafter he wrote for the _Pall Mall Gazette_, in which appeared his _Gamekeeper at Home_, and _Wild Life in a Southern County_ (1879), both afterwards _repub._ Both these works are full of minute observation and vivid description of country life.

They were followed by _The Amateur Poacher_ (1880), _Wood Magic_ (1881), _Round about a Great Estate_ (1881), _The Open Air_ (1885), and others on similar subjects. Among his novels are _Bevis_, in which he draws on his own childish memories, and _After London, or Wild England_ (1885), a romance of the future, when London has ceased to exist. _The Story of My Heart_ (1883) is an idealised picture of his inner life. J. _d._ after a painful illness, which lasted for six years. In his own line, that of depicting with an intense sense for nature all the elements of country and wild life, vegetable and animal, surviving in the face of modern civilisation, he has had few equals. Life by E. Thomas.

JEFFREY, FRANCIS (1773-1850).--Critic and political writer, _s._ of a legal official, _b._ in Edinburgh, _ed._ at the High School there, and at Glasgow and Oxf., where, however, he remained for a few months only.

Returning to Edinburgh he studied law, and was called to the Bar in 1794.

Brought up as a Tory, he early imbibed Whig principles, and this, in the then political state of Scotland, together with his strong literary tendencies, long hindered his professional advancement. Gradually, however, his ability, acuteness, and eloquence carried him to the front of his profession. He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates in 1829 and, on the accession to power of the Whigs in 1830, became Lord Advocate, and had a large share in pa.s.sing the Reform Bill, in so far as it related to Scotland. In 1832 he was elected M.P. for Edinburgh, and was raised to the Bench as Lord Jeffrey in 1834. His literary fame rests on his work in connection with the _Edinburgh Review_, which he edited from its commencement in 1802 until 1829, and to which he was a constant contributor. The founding of this periodical by a group of young men of brilliant talents and liberal sympathies, among whom were Brougham, Sydney Smith, and F. Horner, const.i.tuted the opening of a new epoch in the literary and political progress of the country. J.'s contributions ranged over literary criticism, biography, politics, and ethics and, especially in respect of the first, exercised a profound influence; he was, in fact, regarded as the greatest literary critic of his age, and although his judgments have been far from universally supported either by the event or by later critics, it remains true that he probably did more than any of his contemporaries to diffuse a love of literature, and to raise the standard of public taste in such matters. A selection of his papers, made by himself, was _pub._ in 4 vols. in 1844 and 1853. J. was a man of brilliant conversational powers, of vast information and sparkling wit, and was universally admired and beloved for the uprightness and amiability of his character.

JERROLD, DOUGLAS WILLIAM (1803-1857).--Dramatist and miscellaneous writer, _s._ of an actor, himself appeared as a child upon the stage.

From his 10th to his 12th year he was at sea. He then became apprentice to a printer, devoting all his spare time to self-education. He early began to contribute to periodicals, and in his 18th year he was engaged by the Coburg Theatre as a writer of short dramatic pieces. In 1829 he made a great success by his drama of _Black-eyed Susan_, which he followed up by _The Rent Day_, _Bubbles of the Day_, _Time works Wonders_, etc. In 1840 he became ed. of a publication, _Heads of the People_, to which Thackeray was a contributor, and in which some of the best of his own work appeared. He was one of the leading contributors to _Punch_, in which _Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures_ came out, and from 1852 he ed. _Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper_. Among his novels are _St. Giles and St. James_, and _The Story of a Feather_. J. had a great reputation as a wit, was a genial and kindly man, and a favourite with his fellow _litterateurs_, who raised a fund of 2000 for his family on his death.

JESSE, JOHN HENEAGE (1815-1874).--Historical writer, _ed._ at Eton, was a clerk in the Admiralty. He wrote _Memoirs_ of the Court of England, of G. Selwyn and his contemporaries (1843), of the Pretender (1845), etc., and _Celebrated Etonians_ (1875).

JEVONS, WILLIAM STANLEY (1835-1882).--Logician and economist, _b._ in Liverpool, _s._ of an iron merchant, his mother was the _dau._ of W.

Roscoe (_q.v._). He was _ed._ at the Mechanics Inst.i.tute High School, Liverpool, and at University Coll., London. After studying chemistry for some time he received in 1853 the appointment of a.s.sayer to the mint at Sydney, where he remained until 1859, when he resigned his appointment, and came home to study mathematics and economics. While in Australia he had been a contributor to the _Empire_ newspaper, and soon after his return home he _pub._ _Remarks on the Australian Goldfields_, wrote in various scientific periodicals, and from time to time _pub._ important papers on economical subjects. The position which he had attained as a scientific thinker and writer was recognised by his being appointed in 1863 tutor, and in 1866, Prof. of Logic, Political Economy, and Mental and Moral Philosophy in Owen's Coll., Manchester. In 1864 he _pub._ _Pure Logic_ and _The Coal Question_; other works were _Elementary Lessons in Logic_ (1870), _Principles of Science_ (1874), and _Investigations in Currency and Finance_ (1884), posthumously. His valuable and promising life was brought to a premature close by his being drowned while bathing.

His great object in his writings was to place logic and economics in the position of exact sciences, and in all his work he showed great industry and care combined with unusual a.n.a.lytical power.

JEWSBURY, GERALDINE ENDSOR (1812-1880).--Novelist, wrote several novels, of which _Zoe_, _The Half-Sisters_, and _Constance Herbert_ may be mentioned. She also wrote stories for children, and was a contributor to various magazines.

JOHN of SALISBURY (1120?-1180?).--_B._ at Salisbury, studied at Paris. He became sec. to Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury, and retained the office under Becket. In 1176 he was made Bishop of Chartres. He wrote in Latin, in 8 books, _Polycraticus, seu De Nugis Curialium et Vestigiis Philosophorum_ (on the Trifles of the Courtiers, and the Footsteps of the Philosophers). In it he treats of pastimes, flatterers, tyrannicide, the duties of kings and knights, virtue and vice, glory, and the right of the Church to remove kings if in its opinion they failed in their duty. He also wrote a Life of Anselm. He was one of the greatest scholars of the Middle Ages.

JOHNSON, LIONEL (1867-1902).--Poet and critic. _Ireland and other Poems_ (2 vols.) (1897), _The Art of Thomas Hardy_, and miscellaneous critical works.

JOHNSON, SAMUEL (1649-1703).--Political writer, sometimes called "the Whig" to distinguish him from his great namesake. Of humble extraction, he was _ed._ at St. Paul's School and Camb., and took orders. He attacked James II. in _Julian the Apostate_ (1682), and was imprisoned. He continued, however, his attacks on the Government by pamphlets, and did much to influence the public mind in favour of the Revolution. Dryden gave him a place in _Absalom and Achitophel_ as "Benjochanan." After the Revolution he received a pension, but considered himself insufficiently rewarded by a Deanery, which he declined.

JOHNSON, SAMUEL (1709-1784).--Moralist, essayist, and lexicographer, _s._ of a bookseller at Lichfield, received his early education at his native town, and went in 1728 to Oxf., but had, owing to poverty, to leave without taking a degree. For a short time he was usher in a school at Market Bosworth, but found the position so irksome that he threw it up, and gained a meagre livelihood by working for a publisher in Birmingham.

In 1735, being then 26, he _m._ Mrs. Porter, a widow of over 40, who brought him 800, and to whom he was sincerely attached. He started an academy at Ediol, near Lichfield, which, however, had no success, only three boys, one of whom was David Garrick (_q.v._), attending it.

Accordingly, this venture was given up, and J. in 1737 went to London accompanied by Garrick. Here he had a hard struggle with poverty, humiliation, and every kind of evil, always, however, quitting himself like the true man he was. He contributed to the _Gentleman's Magazine_, furnis.h.i.+ng the parliamentary debates in very free and generally much improved form, under the t.i.tle of "Debates of the Senate of Lilliput." In 1738 appeared _London_, a satire imitated from Juvenal which, _pub._ anonymously, attracted immediate attention, and the notice of Pope. His next work was the life of his unfortunate friend Savage (_q.v._) (1744); and in 1747 he began his great _English Dictionary_. Another satire, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_, appeared in 1749, and in the same year _Irene_, a tragedy. His next venture was the starting of the _Rambler_, a paper somewhat on the lines of the _Spectator_; but, sententious and grave, it had none of the lightness and grace of its model, and likewise lacked its popularity. It was almost solely the work of J. himself, and was carried on twice a week for two years. In 1752 his wife, "his dear Tetty" _d._, and was sincerely mourned; and in 1755 his _Dictionary_ appeared. The patronage of Lord Chesterfield (_q.v._), which he had vainly sought, was then offered, but proudly rejected in a letter which has become a cla.s.sic. The work made him famous, and Oxf. conferred upon him the degree of M.A. He had become the friend of Reynolds and Goldsmith; Burke and others were soon added. The _Idler_, a somewhat less ponderous successor of the _Rambler_, appeared in 1758-60, and _Ra.s.selas_, his most popular work, was written in 1759 to meet the funeral expenses of his mother, who then _d._ at the age of 90. At last the tide of his fortunes turned. A pension of 300 was conferred upon him in 1762, and the rest of his days were spent in honour, and such comfort as the melancholy to which he was subject permitted. In 1763 he made the acquaintance, so important for posterity, of James Boswell; and it was probably in the same year that he founded his famous "literary club." In 1764 he was introduced to Mr.

Thrale, a wealthy brewer, and for many years spent much of his time, an honoured guest, in his family. The kindness and attentions of Mrs. T., described by Carlyle as "a bright papilionaceous creature, whom the elephant loved to play with, and wave to and fro upon his trunk," were a refreshment and solace to him. In 1765 his ed. of Shakespeare came out, and his last great work was the _Lives of the Poets_, in 10 vols.

(1779-81). He had in 1775 _pub._ his _Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland_, an account of a tour made in the company of Boswell. His last years were darkened by the loss of friends such as Goldsmith and Thrale, and by an estrangement from Mrs. T., on her marriage with Piozzi, an Italian musician. Notwithstanding a lifelong and morbid fear of death, his last illness was borne with fort.i.tude and calmness, soothed by the pious attentions of Reynolds and Burke, and he _d._ peacefully on December 13, 1784. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and a monument in St. Paul's was erected by the "club." Statues of him were also erected in Lichfield and Uttoxeter. He had received from Oxf. and Dublin the degree of LL.D.

Though of rough and domineering manners, J. had the tenderest of hearts, and his house was for years the home of several persons, such as Mrs.

Williams and Levett, the surgeon, who had no claim upon him but their helplessness and friendlessness. As Goldsmith aptly said, he "had nothing of the bear but his skin." His outstanding qualities were honesty and courage, and these characterise all his works. Though disfigured by prejudice and, as regards matters of fact, in many parts superseded, they remain, as has been said, "some excellent, all worthy and genuine works;"

and he will ever stand one of the greatest and most honourable figures in the history of English literature. Boswell's marvellous _Life_ has made J.'s bodily appearance, dress, and manners more familiar to posterity than those of any other man--the large, unwieldy form, the face seamed with scrofula, the purblind eyes, the spasmodic movements, the sonorous voice, even the brown suit, metal b.u.t.tons, black worsted stockings, and bushy wig, the conversation so full of matter, strength, sense, wit, and prejudice, superior in force and sparkle to the sounding, but often wearisome periods of his written style. Of his works the two most important are the _Dictionary_, which, long superseded from a philological point of view, made an epoch in the history of the language, and the _Lives of the Poets_, many of them deformed by prejudice and singularly inadequate criticism, others, almost perfect in their kind, and the whole written in a style less pompous and more natural and lively than his earlier works.

SUMMARY.--_B._ 1709, _ed._ Oxf., usher and hack writer, starts academy at Ediol, goes to London 1737, reports parliamentary debates, _pub._ _London_ 1738, _Life of Savage_ 1744, began _Dictionary_ 1747, _pub._ _Vanity of Human Wishes_ and _Irene_ 1749, conducts _Rambler_ 1750-52, _pub._ _Dictionary_ 1755, _Idler_ appears 1758-60, _pub._ _Ra.s.selas_ 1759, receives pension 1762, became acquainted with Boswell 1763, _pub._ ed. of _Shakespeare_ 1765, and _Lives of Poets_ 1779-81, _d._ 1784.

Recollections, etc., by Mrs. Piozzi, Reynolds, and others, also _Johnsoniana_ (Mrs. Napier, 1884), Boswell's _Life_, various ed., including that of Napier, 1884, and Birkbeck Hill, 1889.

JOHNSTON, ARTHUR (_c._ 1587-1641).--Poet in Latin, _b._ near Aberdeen, studied medicine at Padua, where he graduated. After living for about 20 years in France, he returned to England, became physician to Charles I., and was afterwards Rector of King's Coll., Aberdeen. He attained a European reputation as a writer of Latin poetry. Among his works are _Musae Aulicae_ (1637), and a complete translation of the Psalms, and he ed. _Deliciae Poetarum Scotorum_, a collection of Latin poetry by Scottish authors.

JOHNSTONE, CHARLES (1719?-1800).--Novelist. Prevented by deafness from practising at the Irish Bar, he went to India, where he was proprietor of a newspaper. He wrote one successful book, _Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea_, a somewhat sombre satire, and some others now utterly forgotten.

JONES, EBENEZER (1820-1860).--Poet, wrote a good deal of poetry of very unequal merit, but at his best shows a true poetic vein. He was befriended by Browning and Rossetti. His chief work was _Studies of Sensation and Event_ (1843). His most widely appreciated poems were "To the Snow," "To Death," and "When the World is Burning." He made an unhappy marriage, which ended in a separation.

JONES, ERNEST CHARLES (1819-1869).--Poet, novelist, and Chartist, _s._ of Major J., equerry to the Duke of c.u.mberland, afterwards King of Hanover, was _b._ at Berlin. He adopted the views of the Chartists in an extreme form, and was imprisoned for two years for seditious speeches, and on his release conducted a Chartist newspaper. Afterwards, when the agitation had died down, he returned to his practice as a barrister, which he had deserted, and also wrote largely. He produced a number of novels, including _The Maid of Warsaw_, _Woman's Wrongs_, and _The Painter of Florence_, also some poems, _The Battle Day_ (1855), _The Revolt of Hindostan_ (1857), and _Corayda_ (1859). Some of his lyrics, such as _The Song of the Poor_, _The Song of the Day Labourers_, and _The Factory Slave_, were well known.

JONES, SIR WILLIAM (1746-1794).--Orientalist and jurist, was _b._ in London, and _ed._ at Harrow and Oxf. He lost his _f._, an eminent mathematician, at 3 years of age. He early showed extraordinary apt.i.tude for acquiring languages, specially those of the East, and learned 28.

Devoting himself to the study of law he became one of the most profound jurists of his time. He was appointed one of the Judges in the Supreme Court of Bengal, knighted in 1783, and started for India, whence he never returned. While there, in addition to his judicial duties, he pursued his studies in Oriental languages, from which he made various translations.

Among his original works are _The Enchanted Fruit_, and _A Treatise on the G.o.ds of Greece, Italy, and India_. He founded the Bengal Asiatic Society. He left various works unfinished which, with his other writings, were _coll._ and ed. by Lord Teignmouth. He _d._ universally beloved and honoured at the early age of 48. His chief legal work was _The Inst.i.tutes of Hindu Law or the Ordinances of Manu_.

JONSON, BEN or BENJAMIN (1573-1637).--Poet and dramatist, was probably _b._ in Westminster. His _f._, who _d._ before Ben was four, seems to have come from Carlisle, and the family to have originally belonged to Annandale. He was sent to Westminster School, for which he seems to have been indebted to the kindness of W. Camden (_q.v._), who was one of the masters. His mother, meanwhile, had _m._ a bricklayer, and he was for a time put to that trade, but disliking it, he ran away and joined the army, fighting against the Spaniards in the Low Countries. Returning to England about 1592 he took to the stage, both as an actor and as a playwright. In the former capacity he was unsuccessful. In 1598, having killed a fellow-actor in a duel, he was tried for murder, but escaped by benefit of clergy. About the same time he joined the Roman Catholic Church, in which he remained for 12 years. It was in 1598 also that his first successful play, _Every Man in his Humour_, was produced, with Shakespeare as one of the players. _Every Man out of his Humour_ (1599), _Cynthia's Revels_ (1600), and _The Poetaster_ (1601), satirising the citizens, the courtiers, and the poets respectively, followed. The last called forth several replies, the most notable of which was the _Satiromastix_ (Whip for the Satirist) of Dekker (_q.v._), a severe, though not altogether unfriendly, retort, which J. took in good part, announcing his intention of leaving off satire and trying tragedy. His first work in this kind was _Seja.n.u.s_ (1603), which was not very favourably received. It was followed by _Eastward Ho_, in which he collaborated with Marston and Chapman. Certain reflections on Scotland gave offence to James I., and the authors were imprisoned, but soon released. From the beginning of the new reign J. devoted himself largely to the writing of Court masques, in which he excelled all his contemporaries, and about the same time entered upon the production of the three great plays in which his full strength is shown. The first of these, _Volpone, or the Fox_, appeared in 1605; _Epicaene, or the Silent Woman_ in 1609, and _The Alchemist_ in 1610. His second and last tragedy, _Catiline_, was produced in 1611. Two years later he was in France as companion to the son of Sir W. Raleigh, and on his return he held up hypocritical Puritanism to scorn in _Bartholomew Fair_, which was followed in 1616 by a comedy, _The Devil is an a.s.s_. In the same year he _coll._ his writings--plays, poems, and epigrams--in a folio ent.i.tled his _Works_. In 1618 he journeyed on foot to Scotland, where he was received with much honour, and paid his famous visit to Drummond (_q.v._) at Hawthornden. His last successful play, _The Staple of Newes_, was produced in 1625, and in the same year he had his first stroke of palsy, from which he never entirely recovered. His next play, _The New Inn_, was driven from the stage, for which in its rapid degeneracy he had become too learned and too moral. A quarrel with Inigo Jones, the architect, who furnished the machinery for the Court masques, lost him Court favour, and he was obliged, with failing powers, to turn again to the stage, for which his last plays, _The Magnetic Lady_ and _The Tale of a Tub_, were written in 1632 and 1633. Town and Court favour, however, turned again, and he received a pension of 100; that of the best poets and lovers of literature he had always kept. The older poets were his friends, the younger were proud to call themselves, and be called by him, his sons. In 1637, after some years of gradually failing health, he _d._, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. An admirer caused a mason to cut on the slab over his grave the well-known inscription, "O Rare Ben Jonson." He left a fragment, _The Sad Shepherd_. His works include a number of epigrams and translations, collections of poems (_Underwoods_ and _The Forest_); in prose a book of short essays and notes on various subjects, _Discoveries_.

J. was the founder of a new style of English comedy, original, powerful, and interesting, but lacking in spontaneity and nature. His characters tend to become mere impersonations of some one quality or "humour," as he called it. Thus he is the herald, though a magnificent one, of decadence.