Mildmay Fane. [On Ben Jonson].

from Otia Sacra

[ON BEN JONSON]

by Mildmay Fane

He who began from brick and lime
The Muses' hill to climb,
And whilom busied in laying stone,
Thirsted to drink of Helicon,
Changing his trowel for a pen,
Wrote straight the temper not of dirt, but men.

Now, since that he is turned to clay, and gone,
Let those remain of th' occupation
He honored once, square him a tomb may say
His craft exceeded far a dauber's way;
Then write upon 't: He could no longer tarry,
But was returned again unto the quarry.

Source:
Maclean, Hugh, Ed. Ben Jonson and the Cavalier Poets
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1974. 205.

to Mildmay Fane