[***]
This one must bee the best and stand alone
without comparison (disgracing none)
I know that am the Genius of the stage
& here pronounce it spight of Crettique rage
Who fill'd the Theaters, with knowing men
& made them soe, but hee, (renowned Ben)
Whose workes deservd, but his, and Cost?
and then [sic] were happye when thay payd for[']t most.
Thay came desciples to attend his preachers
but went a way confirmd Juditious teachers
Who satt at others workes like Judges sterne
At Johnsons actes were pupills sett to learne
Who read him true must know, read knowe much more
Then his wise Tutor ever taught before
Lay by his looser Poemes (though each one
wolde not disgrace Apollo to have done[)]
and reade his sceans; seeme but to love strong sence
& it shall ravish thyn intelligence.
Marke wheare hee courts Thalia you will bee
Translated with his Ingenuity
But when hee Cloathes his Buskind muse with horror
Gules her with blood, bedeckes her face with terror
Your flesh shall num, Heare tremble to rehearse
The soule-affrighting numbers of his verse
This made Ben Johnson soe admir'd att Courte
That could create their sadnes & their sporte
This made hym favourd of two mightye kings
Lov'd of the nobles, feard of the meaner things
This makes mee weep (though hee hath left behinde
The stocke of witt, and that the Age shall find)
weep and pray like an Indulgent Mother
That my Sonns soule may flie into some other,
And what the stage must want, now hee is gon
It may regayne by Transmygration.

(lines 41-74, pp. 97-8)