The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

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Letter 18, to the Earl of Newcastle (1632)

 Letter 18, to William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle

To the Right Honourable the Earl of Newcastle


My noblest Lord, and my patron, by excellence,

I have here obeyed your commands and sent you  a packet of mine own praises,

which I should not have done if I had any stock of modesty in store. But obedience

is better than sacrifice, and you commanded it. I am now like an old bankrupt in 5

wit, that am driven to pay debts on my friends’ credits, and for want of  satisfying

letters, to subscribe  bills of exchange.

Your Lordship’s devoted,

Ben Jonson

4to February 1631 10

Letter 18 Harley MS. 4955, fol. 182. Though this letter is inscribed ‘4to February 1631’ (10), Martin Butler has argued persuasively that Jonson is here using legal rather than calendrical dating, and that 4 February 1632 is intended. The letter is a covering note to Newcastle accompanying several poems including Lucius Cary’s ‘Anniversary’ on the death of Morison, which from internal evidence appears to date from August 1631. Cary refers to the poem as his third ‘farewell’ to Morison; the first was at Morison’s death in 1629, and the second presumably a year later, in 1630 (Butler, 2003, 59). [Editor: Ian Donaldson]
3 a packet . . . praises Tributes from Lucius Cary, Nicholas Oldisworth, and R. Goodwin that follow immediately in the Newcastle MS were evidently included in this ‘packet of mine own praises’. A poem by Thomas Carew that follows later in the MS (fols. 214, 214v) may have been part of the same bundle.
6–7 satisfying letters Letters that enclose full payment (or satisfaction) of a debt.
7 bills of exchange Written orders promising payment by a certain date.