Ian Donaldson begins his marvellous new biography of Ben Jonson quoting John Aubrey’s much earlier, much briefer Life of the poet and playwright deemed by his contemporaries to have overshadowed ...

The year 1616 was a momentous one for the reputation of the theatrical profession in England. In March, Francis Beaumont, not long turned 30, became the first playwright to be buried in Westminster ...

AUTHORS are apt to be popularly considered as physically a feeble folk, — as timid, nervous, dyspeptic rhymers or prosers, unfitted to grapple with the rough realities of life. We shall endeavor, in ...