ABSTRACT
MISFORTUNES came not single spies but in battalions. In 1623 Jonson lost his library. In 1625 he lost King James. In 1626 he was struck with the palsy. In 1628 he became somehow involved with the authorities in connection with the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham. From 1626 to 1631, for four years, there was no mask at Court. He returned to the stage in 1628 with The New Inn, but the play was so ill-received that he swore never to write another. In 1629 he was in such straits for money that he was driven to petition his Majesty for a hundred pounds. In 1630 came the final breach with Inigo Jones. In 1631 the City, which in 1628 had appointed him chronologer, an office which brought him in a “ chanderly pension ” of £33 6s. 8d. per annum, withdrew the grant “ until he should have presented to the Court some fruits of his labours in that place ”. The Aldermen evidently regarded the appointment as involving certain obligations towards the City clocks. Jonson had regarded it as a sinecure.
