Their praise grew swiftly; so thy life declines.
Thy Muse, the hearer’s Queen, the reader’s Love,
All ears, all hearts (but Death’s) could please and move.’
Beaumont’s verses addressed to Ben Jonson at the Mermaid, are a pleasing record of their friendship, and of the way in which they ‘fleeted the time carelessly’ as well as studiously ‘in the golden age’ of our poetry.
[Lines sent from the Country with two unfinished Comedies, which deferred their merry meetings at the Mermaid.]
‘The sun which doth the greatest comfort bring
To absent friends, because the self-same thing
They know they see, however absent is,
(Here our best hay-maker, forgive me this,
It is our country style) in this warm shine