J OHN MARSTON is fuppofed to have been of a family fettled at Aftcot, in the county of Salop. Wood imagines him to have been the fame John Mariton who was a ftudent of Corpus Chrifti College in Oxford, and was admitted B. A. Feb. 20, 1592. He was a poet who acquired, and very deservedly, a confiderable reputation, and is faid to have died in the former part of King Charles the Firft's time, aged about 60 years. He was the Author of (1.) " The Metamorphofis of Pigmalion's Image and Certaine Satires, 1598." (2.) The Scourge of Villanie. Three Bookes of Satires, 1599. Both thefe works were reprinted in 1764. And Mr. Warton, in his Obfervations on Spenfer's Fairy Queen, vol. I. p. 59. fays of thefe Satires, that they contain many well"drawn characters, and feveral good strokes of fatirical ge"nius; but are not upon the whole fo finished and claffical as "Bishop Hall's, the first part of which were published about 86 year before these." Marfton fometimes affumed the name of Kinfayder; but why he did fo, and from whence he adopted it, do no where appear. Under this fictitious furname, he is fatirized in The Return of Parnaffus, A. 1. S. 2. "What, Monfieur Kinfayder, lifting up your leg, and piffing "against the World? put up, man, put up for fhame." "Methinks, he is a ruffian in his ftyle, "Withouten bands, or garters' ornament: "He quaffs a cup of Frenchman's helicon ; "Then roifter doister, in his oily terms, "Cuts, thrusts, and foins, at whomfoe'er he meets, "And strows about Ram-Alley meditations. "Tut, what cares he for modeft, close-couched terms, "Cleanly to gird our loofer libertines ? * Oldys' Mff. Notes on Langbaine. Athenæ Oxonienfes, vol. I. p. 332. 3 Oldys, "Give him plain-naked words, ftripp'd from their shirts, "That might befeem plain-dealing Aretine, "Ay, there is one, that backs a paper steed, "And manageth a pen-knife gallantly, "Strikes his poinado at a button's breadth, "Brings the great battering ram of terms to towns; "And at first volley of his cannon fhot, "Batters the walls of the old fully world." When The Malcontent was first published, Marston lived in friendship with Ben Jonfon, to whom he dedicated it. He, alfo, wrote fome complimentary verses to that Author, which are printed before the firft Edition of Sejanus in 1605. The good correfpondence between them, however, was afterwards broken; but the cause of it remains unknown. In the next year, 1606, the play of Sophoniíba appeared, and in the Preface is the following paffage plainly levelled at the play he had just before applauded: "Know that I have not labour'd in this Poem to relate any thing as an Hiftorian, "but to enlarge every thing as a Poet. To transcribe Authors, quote Authorities, and tranflate Latin profe Orations "into English Blank Verte, hath in this fubject been the least aim of my studies." Ben alfo many years afterwards fpoke of Marfton with fome degree of acrimony: he faid to Drummond of Hawthornden, that he fought feveral times with Marston, and "that the latter wrote his father-in-law's preachings, and his "father-in-law his comedies." Marton was the Author of the following Plays: (1.) Antonio and Mellida: A History. Acted by the Children of Paul's. 4to, 1602. (2.) Antonio's Revenge: The Second Part. As it hath beene fundry times acted by the Children of Paul's. 4to, 1602. (3.) The Infatiate Countefs: A Tragedy. Acted at White Fryers. 4to, 1603. 4to, 1613 4to, 1631. (4.) The Malcontent. 4to, 1604. Another Edition in 4to. in the fame year. (5.) The Dutch Courtezan. As it was play'd in the Blacke Friars, by the Children of her Majesties Revels. 4to, 1605. (6) l'as J (6.) Parifitafter; or, The Fawne. As it hath bene divers times prefented at the Blacke Friars, by the Children of the Queenes Majefties Revels. 4to, 1606. (7.) The Wonder of Women; or, The Tragedie of Sophonifba. As it hath beene fundry times acted at the Blacke Friers. 4to, 1656. (8.) What you will. 4to, 1607. All thefe, except The Infatiate Countefs and The Malcontent, were printed in 12mo. 1633. He was alfo, the Author of "The Argument of the "Spectacle, prefented to the facred Majeftys of Great Britain "and Denmark as they paffed through London." In MS. in the British Museum, N° 18. A. 31. The following Epigram is printed in The Scourge of Folly, by John Davies, 12mo. N. D. p. 105. To acute Mr. John Marston. Thy Malecontent, or Malecontentedneffe, Hath made thee change thy Mufe as fome do geffe: Thou need it not then her timely change repent. |