SYMPOSIUM 5 



and Drummond, Beaumont and Fletcher, Dekker and 

 Overbury, swathed in clouds of vapour as if comforting 

 themselves with the old delectable pastime. A little to the 

 rear, pale in the majesty of thought, are Shakespeare and 

 Bacon, Spenser and Newton. Leaning to his friend 

 Shakespeare, Bacon whispers, ' No doubt the weed hath 

 power to lighten the body of mortals and enable them to 

 shake off uneasiness. But where is Raleigh ? He paid 

 devotion to his divinity most constantly, and ought to be 

 able to speak of what return he got for all his worship.' 



' You know, Drummond, as well as I do, that I always 

 did love the weed, in spite of all that King James said 

 against it. Did I not make my prince of swaggerers, 

 Captain Bobadil (who was to me what Falstaff was to Will 

 Shakespeare) descant on the fragrant theme, thus : 



' " I have been in the Indies where neither myself nor a 

 dozen gentlemen more of my knowledge have received the 

 taste of any other nutriment in the world for over a space 

 of one-and-twenty weeks, but the juice of this simple only. 

 Therefore it cannot be but 'tis divine especially your 

 Trinadado ; your Nicotian is good also. By Hercules ! I 

 do hold it before any prince in Europe to be the most 

 sovereign and precious herb that ever the earth tendered 

 for the use of man.' " 



' But, O worthy Ben, did not the master over-charge his 

 'prentice when he allowed the braggart to lay on the tinsel 

 with so heavy a hand ? ' 



Listen to me, my masters, let Ben Jonson read the 

 Untvussing of the Humorous Poet without blenching if 

 he can, for that might advance him in merit; he would 

 acknowledge that Thomas Dekker can kick.' 



' Hist ! feather-brained gossip ; proclaim not so loudly 

 thy kinship with the asinine family.' 



