over his Grave, this written:

_O Rare_ Ben Johnson.

Yet were not the Poets then so dull and dry, but that many expressed
their affection to his Memory in Elegies and Epitaphs; amongst which
this following may not be esteemed the worst.

The Muses fairest Light in no dark time,
The Wonder of a learned Age; the line
That none can pass: the most proportion'd Wit
To Nature; the best Judge of what was fit:
The deepest, plainest, highest, clearest Pen:
The Voyce most eccho'd by consenting men;
The Soul which answer'd best to all well said
By others; and which most requital made:
Tun'd to the highest Key of ancient _Rome_;
Returning all her Musick with her own;
In whom with Nature, Study claim'd a part,
And yet who to himself ow'd all his Art;
Here lies _Ben Johnson_, every Age will look
With sorrow here, with Wonder on his Book.

* * * * *

_FRANCIS BEAUMONT_ and _JOHN FLETCHER_.

These two joyned together, made one of the happy _Triumvirate_ (the
other two being _Johnson_ and _Shakespear_) of the chief Dramatick
Poets of our Nation, in the last foregoing Age; among whom there might
be said to be a symmetry of perfection, while each excelled in his
peculiar way: _Ben Johnson_ in his elaborate pains and knowledge of
Authors, _Shakespear_ in his pure vein of wit, and natural Poetick
height; _Fletcher_ in a Courtly Elegance and Gentile Familiarity of
Style, and withal a Wit and Invention so overflowing, that the
luxuriant Branches thereof were frequently thought convenient to be
lopt off by Mr. _Beaumont_; which two joyned together, like _Castor_
and _Pollux_, (most happy when in conjunction) raised the _English_ to
equal the _Athenian_ and _Roman_ Theaters; _Beaumont_ bringing the
Ballast of Judgment, _Fletcher_ the Sail of Phantasie, both compounding
a Poet to admiration.

These two admirable Wits wrote in all two and fifty Plays, whereof
three and forty were Comedies; namely, _Beggars Bush_, _Custom of the
Country_, _Captain Coxcomb_, _Chances_, _Cupid's Revenge_, _Double
Marriage_, _Elder Brother_, _Four Plays in one_, _Fair Maid of the
Inn_, _Honest man's Fortune_, _Humorous Lieutenant_, _Island Princess_,
_King and no King_, _Knight of the burning Pestle_, _Knight of_ Malta,
_Little_ French _Lawyer_, _Loyal Subject_, _Laws of_ Candy, _Lovers
Progress_, _Loves Cure_, _Loves Pilgrimage_, _Mad Lover_, _Maid in the
Mill_, _Monsieur_ Thomas, _Ni