pitch of good fellowship, desired the waiter to take to the
gentleman "a quart of _raw_ wine; and tell him," he added, "I
_sacrifice_ my service to him."--"Friend," replied Corbet, "I
thank him for his love; but tell him, from me, that he is
mistaken; for _sacrifices are always burned_." This pleasant
allusion to the mulled wine of the time by the young wit could
not fail to win the affection of the master-wit himself. Harl.
MSS. 6395.

Ben is not viewed so advantageously, in an unlucky fit of
ebriety recorded by Oldys, in his MS. notes on Langbaine; but
his authority is not to me of a suspicious nature: he had
drawn it from a MS. collection of Oldisworth's, who appears to
have been a curious collector of the history of his times. He
was secretary to that strange character, Philip, Earl of
Pembroke. It was the custom of those times to form collections
of little traditional stories and other good things; we have
had lately given to us by the Camden Society an amusing one,
from the L'Estrange family, and the MS. already quoted is one
of them. There could be no bad motive in recording a tale,
quite innocent in itself, and which is further confirmed by
Isaac Walton, who, without alluding to the tale, notices that
Jonson parted from Sir Walter Raleigh and his son "not in cold
blood." Mr. Gifford, in a MS. note on this work, does not
credit this story, it not being accordant with dates. Such
stories may not accord with dates or persons, and yet may be
founded on some substantial fact. I know of no injury to Ben's
poetical character, in showing that he was, like other men,
quite incapable of taking care of himself, when he was sunk in
the heavy sleep of drunkenness. It was an age when kings, as
our James I. and his majesty of Denmark, were as often laid
under the table as their subjects. My motive for preserving
the story is the incident respecting _carrying men in
baskets_: it was evidently a custom, which perhaps may have
suggested the memorable adventure of Falstaff. It was a
convenient mode of conveyance for those who were incapable of
taking care of themselves before the invention of hackney
coaches, which was of later date, in Charles t