The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

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From William Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals (1616), To My Truly-Beloved Friend’

[From Britannia’s Pastorals, 1616 ]

 To my Truly-Beloved Friend,
Master  Browne
On His Pastorals

Some men, of books or friends not speaking right,

May hurt them more with praise, than foes with spite.

But I have seen thy work, and I know thee:

And, if thou list thyself, what thou canst be.

For, though but early in these paths thou tread, 5

I find thee write  most worthy to be read.

It must be thine own judgement, yet, that sends

This thy work forth: that judgement mine commends.

And where the most read books on authors’ fames,

Or, like our money-brokers, take up names 10

On credit, and are cozened, see, that thou

By offering  not more sureties than enow,

Hold thine own worth  unbroke: which is so good

Upon th’ Exchange of Letters, as I would

More of our writers would, like thee, not swell 15

With the how much they  set forth, but th’how well.

To Master Browne The second book of William Browne’s Britannia’s Pastorals was dedicated in 1616 to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, to whom Jonson had dedicated his Epigrams in the same year. Jonson’s was the last of the thirteen dedicatory verses. His judgement is praised on p. 37 of Browne’s volume. Browne (1590/1–?1645) was a member of the Inner Temple, with which Jonson had strong links, and became closely associated with the Herbert family. The title of his volume recalls the Britannia of Jonson’s former schoolmaster, William Camden (see Epigr. 14). [Editor: Colin Burrow]
Title 3 Master Browne] Browne (Mr. BROVVNE:)
6 most worthy things which are most worthy.
12 not . . . enow This may allude to the fact that Browne had twelve other men write dedicatory verses for the volume. ‘Enow’ is an archaic form of ‘enough’.
13 unbroke without going bankrupt.
14 Exchange of Letters The Royal Exchange was the financial centre of London, here applied metaphorically to the literary marketplace.
16 set forth publish.