The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

Jonson representing Art over Nature - 1604

Literary Record 13

[From John Marston, The Malcontent, 1604.]

From the epilogue. The play is dedicated to Jonson, 'BENIAMINI IONSONIO POETÆ ELEGANTISSIMO GRAVISSIMO AMICO SUO CANDIDO ET CORDATO, IOHANNES MARSTON MUSARUM ALUMNUS ASPERAM HANC SUAM THALIAM D. D.'.  

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Then till an others happier Muse appears,
Till his Thalia feast your learned eares,
To whose desertfull Lampes pleasd Fates impart,
Art above Nature, Judgement above Art,
Receive this peece which hope, nor feare yet daunteth,
He that knows most, knows most how much he wanteth. (sig. I4v)

To Benjamin Jonson the most elegant and eminent poet, his candid and judicious friend, John Marston, alumnus of the muses, dedicated this his bitter comedy.