Ben Jonson. On the Portrait of Shakspeare. (Shakespeare)

Ben Jonson

U N D E R W O O D S .

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.

XI. — ON THE PORTRAIT OF SHAKESPEARE.

TO THE READER.

This figure that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle SHAKSPEARE cut,
Wherein the graver had a strife
With nature, to out-do the life :
O could he but have drawn his wit
As well in brass, as he has hit
His face ; the print would then surpass
All that was ever writ in brass :
But since he cannot, reader, look
Not on his picture, but his book.

Source:
Jonson, Ben. The Works of Ben Jonson.
Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co., 1853. 814.

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