ABSTRACT
The biographical material for Ben Jonson differs enormously both in kind and in extent from the material about William Shakespeare. In 1619, Ben Jonson visited Scotland and spent some time over Christmas with William Drummond at Hawthornden Castle near Edinburgh. Ben Jonson appears to refer to Shakespeare in Every Man in his Humour a version of which was performed in 1598 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on 14 August 1600 and published in 1601. The first stationer to include commendatory verses to promote a play in print was Edward Blount for Jonson's Sejanus in 1605. Jonson himself became the most prolific writer of literary puffs in the Jacobean period, writing commendations for thirty printed works. Jonson expressed more opinions about Shakespeare than any other contemporary did, but these comments concern the works and offer little indication of direct personal acquaintance.
