JONSON, BENJAMIN, commonly called BEN JoNsoN, a celebrated English dramatist, the contemporary and friend of Shakespeare; born in Westminster, England, in 1573. When young, he ran away from home and entered the army, serving first in Flanders. On his return he went to Cambridge, but poverty obliged him to leave the university and take to the stage.
At first he was not very successful, either as an actor or an author, and having killed another actor in a duel, he was imprisoned and narrowly escaped with life. On being released from con finement he married, and recommenced writing for the stage, to which he was encouraged by Shakespeare, who per formed in one of his pieces. In 1598 he produced his comedy of "Every Man in His Hurnor," which was followed by a new play every year, till the reign of James I., when he was employed in the masques and entertainments at court.
He joined Chapman and Marston in writing the comedy of "Eastward Hoe," which so grossly libelled the Scotch na tion that the authors were committed to nison. He soon regained the favor of che king, and for the remainder of that reign he continued in high favor as a kind of superintendent of the court revels. In 1619 he was appointed poet :aureate, with a salary of $500, and a butt of canary wine yearly from the king's cellars. Want of economy, how ever, kept him constantly poor, though he had a pension from the city. His principal plays are "Sejanus," "Vol pone," "Epicwne," and "The Alchemist." He died Aug. 16, 1637, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a tablet has been erected to his memory in Poet's Corner, with the inscription, "0 Rare Ben Jonson."