An Epitaph on S.P.

By Ben Jonson 1572–1637 Ben Jonson

A Child of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel

Weep with me, all you that read

This little story:

And know, for whom a tear you shed

Death's self is sorry.

'Twas a child, that so did thrive

In grace and feature,

As heaven and nature seem'd to strive

Which own'd the creature.

Years he number'd scarce thirteen

When fates turn'd cruel,

Yet three fill'd zodiacs had he been

The stage's jewel;

And did act (what now we moan)

Old men so duly,

As, sooth, the Parcæ thought him one,

He play'd so truly.

So, by error, to his fate

They all consented;

But viewing him since (alas, too late)

They have repented;

And have sought (to give new birth)

In baths to steep him;

But being so much too good for earth,

Heaven vows to keep him.

Biography

Ben Jonson’s “Song to Celia” is known to millions as “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes.” Jonson was educated at the prestigious Westminster School in London. He took up acting, and by 1597 he was writing original plays. Jonson’s first widely acclaimed play, Every Man in His Humour, included William Shakespeare in its cast.

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