I O N 



223 



JON 



Meantime a new candidate for the sovereignty appear- 

 ed in Ali, the Turkish Pasha of Joanina, who had long 

 cast a wishful eye on the Ionian islands. He had gra- 

 'dually rendered himself roaster of an extensive territo- 

 / ry surrounding his capital ; he had expelled the Vene- 

 tians from four of their continental stations, and nothing 

 was now more essential to his security and aggrandise- 

 ment than the completion of this favourite object, lie 

 besieged Santa Maura, and took an active part against 

 the Russians, whose unfortunate war with France ena- 

 bled the latter to rr.-mne the protection of the Ionian 

 republic in 1807. The maritime superiority of Britain, 

 however, was speedily interposed to intercept supplies 

 and reinforcements : Santa Maura, besides, was regu- 

 larly invested in 1810, and a French garrison captured, 

 though with some lots to the assailant*. The reduction 

 of all the islands successively followed, until nothing 

 remained of the whole republic excepting Corfu alone. 

 On the restoration of general peace in Europe in the 

 year 1814, provision wan made for new arrangements: 

 and by a treaty between Russia and Austria, Prussia and 

 Britain, signed at Paris in 1815, it was agreed that the 

 Ionian Islands should be recognized as an independent 

 state, and put under the protection of Great Britain ; 

 that the custody of the fortresses, and the command of 

 the army, should be committed to his British majesty ; 

 and that a le of civil and political institutions, such 

 as were supposed most beneficial to the interests of the 

 inlanders, should be framed. These terms have been 

 fulfilled; and very recently a deputation from the 

 it?amhnrt has arrived in tlr-. country, in order to attain 

 the final adjustment of all that remained to be carried 

 into execution under the treaty, (c) 



()iinr.R. See CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, Vol. VI. 

 !. and Plate CL IX. 



( or as his name is ""*Timp- 



ly abbreviated, Ben) the dramatic poet, waa born 

 in the early part of the year 1 574. Hii grandfather 

 waa a man of some family and fortune, originally set- 

 tled at Annandale in Scotland, from which place he re- 

 moved to Carlisle, and waa subsequently taken into the 

 servir? of 1 1 run- Mil. His father, who is belie; 

 have been about the court, suffered a long imprison- 

 ment under Queen Mary, probably tor religion, aiul waa 

 deprived of his e*UU- ; but became afterwards (as Wood 

 informs us) " grave minister of the gospel." Our poet 

 tiild, and came into the world about 



a month aAer his father's death. 



His mother, in somewhat less than two years after 

 the death of her Erst husband, married a master brick, 

 layer of the name of Fowler. From this step-father, 

 it could hardly be expected that our poet should have 

 received a liberal education ; but there was happily a 

 gtmuvn friend, (whose name, however, is not record - 

 who sent him at his own espence to Westminster 

 School. At that seminary, Jensen's youthful genius 

 was submitted to the guidance of the illustrious Cam- 

 den; aad we tmd bin 

 writing* alluding with 

 guardian of his I avouril 



Mr. Giford, in his memoir* of this poet, cupposes 

 that he left Westminster about the age of sixteen, and 

 that he went from thence at once to the i. 

 The person who had hitherto befriended him, |.i ... 

 for has, M Aubrey inform* us, an exhibition at 

 bodge ; but whatever might be it* value, it was found 

 iuadatnistf to hie support, and be was obliged too soon 

 '.quit the university, from the inability of hi* parents 

 to assist him. How long he continued at College can. 



than one part of hi* 

 e and affection to the 



not be known. Fuller says a few weeks ; but Mr. Gif- 

 ford reasonably infers, from the expressions of obliga- 

 tion which he uses to the members of the university, 

 that his connection with them must have extended to 

 a much longer period. It seems undeniable, however, 

 that poverty cut short the term of his education, and 

 that he returned from college to follow the vocation of 

 his father-in-law, that of a bricklayer. Several stories 

 tlu.t have been told by his biographers about the man- 

 ner of his leaving this occupation, turn out, when ex- 

 amined, to be perfectly groundless. There is no truth 

 in Fuller's account, of his being found by some gentle- 

 men with the trowel in one hand and Horace in the 

 other, and of his " bring manunuzed by their boun- 

 ty," to follow his ingenuous inclination. Equally ab- 

 surd is the story of his being tutor to the son of Sir 

 Walter Raleigh, and of his being sent home in a basket 

 whilst asleep with intoxication, by the witty contri- 

 vance of young Raleigh, an anecdote which Mr. Mr-- 

 lone himself has been weak enough to repeat. Jon- 

 son's own account of bis early life is, that he could not 

 endure the occupation of a bricklayer ; and having en- 

 listed as a volunteer in the army, went over to Flanders. 

 His stay in the Low Countries did not extend much 

 beyond one campaign ; he had however an opportunity 

 of signalizing hie courage, having (as he told Druni- 

 mond} encountered and killed an enemy, whose spoils 

 he carried off in the sight of both armies. From the 

 Low Countries, he returned with the reputation of a 

 brave man, a smattering of Dutch, and an empty purse. 

 Ho was now about nineteen, and betook hini-iit'tu tin- 

 stage for support, at first as an actor, but undoubtedly 

 at no great distance of time as a writer. In the mean- 

 time, however, he was involved in a second affair of the 

 sword, which was likely to have terminated more fu- 

 tally than the first. Having had a dispute with some 

 person, probably a brother player, he was challenged 

 by his antagonist to the field. Jonson killed his oppo- 

 IK-HI in a duel ; but he was himself severely wounded, 

 and thrown into prison for murder. During his con- 

 finement, he was beset by the artifices of a Popish 

 priest, who penuaded him to embrace the Catholic 

 faith, and it was not till twelve years afterwards, that 

 he was again brought back to the mother church. He- 

 was annoyed also, during his imprisonment, by the vi- 

 sits of spies, who must have been employed about him, 

 no doubt, in consequence of his connection with the 

 Romish priest ; as in those day* the idea of Popery 

 carried that of conspiracy along with it to the minds of 

 all sound and zealous Protestants. He does not appear, 

 however, to have remained long in prison. The pro- 

 secution for murder was probably dropt. 



On his release, he thought proper to marry. He 

 was now only in his 20th year, and his means of sup- 

 port cannot be supposed to have been affluent. It in 

 not indeed perfectly clear, whether he was at this pe- 

 riod merely an actor, or whether he wrote for the stage, 

 in conjunction with other dramatic poets, who li.nl 

 been longer in the employment of the managers. The 

 Utter supposition seems to be very probable. It waa 

 at that tune the custom for theatrical managers to have 

 writers in regular and permanent hire, who frequently 

 united their talents in the fabrication of the same piece, 

 and to whom money waa advanced upon the credit of 

 their abilities, and the progress gf their work as it was 

 shewn or reported. It has been found impossible to 

 ascertain the name* of the dramas, in which Jonson 

 exerted his earliest efforts for the stage, cither singly or 

 in partnersliip. The first piece that can be appropria- 



Jonson, 

 Ben. 



