How Shakespeare gave Ben Jonson the Infamous Purge.

In This Series:

• How Shakespeare gave Ben Jonson the Infamous Purge.

• How Ben Jonson Outed Edward de Vere as Shakespeare.

In my Edward de Vere was Shakespeare[1]I showed powerful evidence that Ben Jonson’s play The Poetaster outed Edward de Vere as the author behind the works of Shakespeare in the character of Ovid. I returned to add more to the explanation in my recent Authorship In-Progress Journal Capulet, Capulet and Parolles[2].

In the first mentioned book I also asserted what the infamous “pill” referred to in the anonymous 1602 play The Returne from Parnassus:

Shakespeare is said to have been furious about how he was portrayed in the Poetaster.  No doubt he was: he had been portrayed as Edward de Vere during the most infamous period of his life. Surely it was he who arranged to have Jonson arraigned for libel — the “pill” that a contemporary play says Shakespeare gave to Jonson.

[Note. Anonymous. The Returne from Parnassus: or the Scourge of Simony (1602). IV.iii. “O that Ben Jonson is a pestilent fellow, he brought up Horace giving the Poets a pill, but our fellow Shakespeare hath given him a purge that made him bewray his credit…”][3]

Several months ago now, I was challenged to show my evidence as to that particular.

At the end of the 1602 First Quarto of The Poetaster, Jonson writes of being prohibited acting a portion of the play.

Here, reader, in place of the epilogue, was meant to thee an apology from the author, with his reasons for the publishing of this book: but, since he is no less restrained, than thou deprived of it by authority, he prays thee to think charitably of what thou hast read, till thou mayest hear him speak what he hath written.

In the 1616 Folio edition of the play, he curiously dedicates the play to “TO THE VIRTUOUS, AND MY WORTHY FRIEND, MR. RICHARD MARTIN.

A THANKFUL man owes a courtesy ever; the unthankful but when he needs it. To make mine own mark appear, and shew by which of these seals I am known, I send you this piece of what may live of mine; for whose innocence, as for the author's, you were once a noble and timely undertaker to the greatest justice of this kingdom.

We learn from Peter Whalley’s 1756 edition of the play that Martin was “a lawyer… who was recorder of the city of London”[4]. Jonson had been called before the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Christopher Wray, on a charge of libel, and Martin ably stood to his defense thus keeping him out of prison.

Also in the Folio edition appeared the extended epilogue An Apologetical Dialogue,[5] the text Jonson had been restrained from publishing in 1602.  It is in the form of a dialogue between Nasutus and Polyposus. The author appears as a third character in order to speak his part.

Pol. No! why, they say you taxd

The law and lawyers, captains and the players,

By their particular names.

Aut. It is not so.

I used no name. My books have still been taught

To spare the persons, and to speak the vices

While this may seem to have nothing to do with the Ovid character of De Vere,  the description of the libel with which he was charged looks like quite a different matter when the description becomes more precise.

            indeed I brought in Ovid

Chid by his angry father for neglecting

The study of their laws for poetry :

And I am warranted by his own words :

Saepe pater dixit, studium quid inutile tentas?

Maeonides nullas ipse reliquit opes.[6]

Of course, De Vere could not openly accuse Jonson of having outed him as Shakesepare. The general charge was libel against the honorable professions of law and captaincy. Jonson adds players but it is highly unlikely that a charge of libel could be brought before the bar on the complaint of mere players.

But the specific matter of the libel was against the “lawyer” (“player”) portrayed as Ovid. He had been depicted as dismissive of the law, lascivious, and much more. By way of subtext, the original of the character was a nobleman and such things were simply not said about noblemen. The quote from The Returne from Parnassus, referencing a particularly arrogant  line in The Poetaster, informs us that some considerable part of literary London knew that Shakespeare was the man who had preferred the charges. The trial was a cause celebre.

Just who Shakespeare actually was, and what was the infamous pill, has escaped the many participants in the fascinating and otherwise highly informative research around the “War of the Theaters” of which Jonson’s play was a part. Ovid has been considered, rather, the only character in the play who didn’t represent a member of the London literati or related identifiable figure. It seemed that no member of literary London corresponded to Licentious Naso.

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[1] Purdy, Gilbert Wesley. Edward de Vere was Shakespeare: at long last the proof (2013, 2015). https://www.amazon.com/dp/1543136257/

[2] Purdy, Gilbert Wesley. Capulet, Capulet and Parolles (2021). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LLDM91P. 

[3] Purdy, the proof . 46.

[4] The Works of Ben Jonson. Volume the Second (1756). Peter Whalley, ed. 3.

[5] The quotes that follow, and the note, are from Gifford, William The Works of Ben Jonson (1875). II.511 ff.

[6] Gifford (1875). translates:

Renounce this thriftless trade, my father cried :

Maeonides himself—a beggar died. Trist. Lib. 4. Eleg. 10.

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• Where Edward de Vere Lived: 1550-1570. July 25, 2021. “It is unclear just when Edward took rooms at court. It is clear, however, that he did and that the closer he came to his legal majority the more time he spent at Court.”
• More on Thomas North as Shakespeare and author of Arden of Feversham. June 14, 2021. “This is also the reason why the title pages included the address of the shop that was selling the book.”
• On Shakespeare and Drinking Smoke. January 4, 2021. “The debate raged for some time: Had Shakespeare smoked pot? Tobacco? Both?”
• Gutenberg, proto-Hack Writers and Shakespeare. May 26, 2020. “A less well known effect of the Reformation was that many young Catholic men who had taken religious orders in order to receive an education began to lead lives at large from monastic discipline.  Like Erasmus and Rabelais they took up the pen.”
• Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
• Check out the Letters Index: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.