Editing Ben Jonson (section)

==Royal patronage==
At the beginning of the English reign of [[James VI and I]] in 1603 Jonson joined other poets and playwrights in welcoming the new king. Jonson quickly adapted himself to the additional demand for [[masque]]s and entertainments introduced with the new reign and fostered by both the king and his consort{{sfn|Ward|1911}} [[Anne of Denmark]]. In addition to his popularity on the public stage and in the royal hall, he enjoyed the patronage of aristocrats such as [[Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland|Elizabeth Sidney]] (daughter of [[Philip Sidney|Sir Philip Sidney]]) and [[Lady Mary Wroth]]. This connection with the Sidney family provided the impetus for one of Jonson's most famous lyrics, the [[country house poems|country house poem]] ''To [[Penshurst Place|Penshurst]]''.

In February 1603 [[John Manningham]] reported that Jonson was living on Robert Townsend, son of [[Roger Townshend (died 1590)|Sir Roger Townshend]], and "scorns the world."<ref name=":0">{{Harvnb|Donaldson|2011|p=428}}</ref> Perhaps this explains why his trouble with English authorities continued. That same year he was questioned by the [[Privy Council of England|Privy Council]] about ''[[Sejanus His Fall|Sejanus]]'', a politically themed play about corruption in the Roman Empire. He was again in trouble for topical allusions in a play, now lost, in which he took part. Shortly after his release from a brief spell of imprisonment imposed to mark the authorities' displeasure at the work, in the second week of October 1605, he was present at a supper party attended by most of the [[Gunpowder Plot]] conspirators. After the plot's discovery, he appears to have avoided further imprisonment; he volunteered what he knew of the affair to the investigator [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Robert Cecil]] and the Privy Council. Father Thomas Wright, who heard Fawkes's confession, was known to Jonson from prison in 1598 and Cecil may have directed him to bring the priest before the council, as a witness.<ref name="ID2008"/>

[[File:Jonson 1616 folio Workes title page.jpg|thumb|Title page of ''The Workes of Beniamin Ionson'' (1616), the first [[Folio (printing)|folio]] publication that included stage plays]]
At the same time, Jonson pursued a more prestigious career, writing masques for James's court. ''[[The Entertainment at Althorp|The Satyr]]'' (1603) and ''[[The Masque of Blackness]]'' (1605) are two of about two dozen masques which Jonson wrote for James or for Queen Anne, some of them performed at [[Apethorpe Palace]] when the King was in residence. ''The Masque of Blackness'' was praised by [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]] as the consummate example of this now-extinct genre, which mingled speech, dancing and spectacle.

On many of these projects, he collaborated, not always peacefully, with designer [[Inigo Jones]]. For example, Jones designed the scenery for Jonson's masque ''[[Oberon, the Faery Prince]]'' performed at [[Whitehall]] on 1 January 1611 in which [[Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales|Prince Henry]], eldest son of James I, appeared in the title role. Perhaps partly as a result of this new career, Jonson gave up writing plays for the public theatres for a decade. He later told Drummond that he had made less than two hundred pounds on all his plays together.

In 1616 Jonson received a yearly pension of 100 [[Mark (money)|marks]] (about £60), leading some to identify him as England's first [[Poet Laureate]]. This sign of royal favour may have encouraged him to publish the first volume of the folio-collected edition of his works that year.{{sfn|Ward|1911}} Other volumes followed in 1640–41 and 1692. (See: [[Ben Jonson folios]])

On 8 July 1618 Jonson set out from Bishopsgate in London to walk to Edinburgh, arriving in Scotland's capital on 17 September. For the most part he followed the [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]], and was treated to lavish and enthusiastic welcomes in both towns and country houses.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Loxley |first1=James |title=Ben Jonson's walk to Scotland: an annotated edition of the 'foot voyage' |last2=Groundwater |first2=Anna |last3=Sanders |first3=Julie |date=4 December 2014 |others=Loxley, James, 1968–, Groundwater, Anna, Sanders, Julie, 1968– |isbn=978-1-107-00333-0 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |pages=94, 96 |oclc=884139272}}</ref> On his arrival he lodged initially with John Stuart, a cousin of King James, in Leith, and was made an honorary [[Burgess (title)|burgess]] of Edinburgh at a dinner laid on by the city on 26 September.<ref name=":1" /> He stayed in Scotland until late January 1619, and the best-remembered hospitality he enjoyed was that of the Scottish poet, [[William Drummond of Hawthornden]],{{sfn|Ward|1911}} sited on the [[River Esk, Lothian|River Esk]]. Drummond undertook to record as much of Jonson's conversation as he could in his diary, and thus recorded aspects of Jonson's personality that would otherwise have been less clearly seen. Jonson delivers his opinions, in Drummond's terse reporting, in an expansive and even magisterial mood. Drummond noted he was "a great lover and praiser of himself, a contemner and scorner of others".{{sfn|Ward|1911}}

On returning to England, he was awarded an [[honorary degree|honorary]] [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] [[academic degree|degree]] from Oxford University.

The period between 1605 and 1620 may be viewed as Jonson's heyday. By 1616 he had produced all the plays on which his present reputation as a dramatist is based, including the tragedy ''[[Catiline His Conspiracy|Catiline]]'' (acted and printed 1611), which achieved limited success{{sfn|Ward|1911}} and the comedies ''[[Volpone]]'' (acted 1605 and printed in 1607), ''[[Epicoene, or the Silent Woman]]'' (1609), ''[[The Alchemist (play)|The Alchemist]]'' (1610), ''[[Bartholomew Fayre: A Comedy|Bartholomew Fair]]'' (1614) and ''[[The Devil Is an Ass]]'' (1616).{{sfn|Ward|1911}} ''The Alchemist'' and ''Volpone'' were immediately successful. Of ''Epicoene'', Jonson told Drummond of a satirical verse which reported that the play's subtitle was appropriate since its audience had refused to applaud the play (i.e., remained silent). Yet ''Epicoene'', along with ''Bartholomew Fair'' and (to a lesser extent) ''The Devil is an Ass'' have in modern times achieved a certain degree of recognition. While his life during this period was apparently more settled than it had been in the 1590s, his financial security was still not assured.