money bid for argument, unless the poet and the
player went to cuffs in the question.'"

This certainly does not reflect a very belligerent attitude since it
merely puts in a word for the grown-up actors rather than casting any
slurs upon the children. Further indications of Shakespeare's mildness
in regard to the whole matter are given in the Prologue to "Troylus and
Cressida," where, as Mr. Lee says, he made specific reference to the
strife between Ben Jonson and the players in the lines

"And hither am I come
A Prologue arm'd, but not in confidence,
Of Authors' pen, or Actors' voyce."

The most interesting bit of evidence to show that Shakespeare and Jonson
remained friends, even in the heat of the conflict, may be gained from
the "Poetaster" itself if we admit that the Virgil of the play, who is
chosen peacemaker stands for Shakespeare; and who so fit to be
peacemaker as Shakespeare for his amiable qualities seem to have
impressed themselves upon all who knew him.

Following Mr. Lee's lead, "Jonson figures personally in the 'Poetaster'
under the name of Horace. Episodically Horace and his friends, Tibullus
and Gallus, eulogize the work and genius of another character, Virgil,
in terms so closely resembling those which Jonson is known to have
applied to Shakespeare that they may be regarded as intended to apply to
him (Act V, Scene I). Jonson points out that Virgil, by his penetrating
intuition, achieved the great effects which others laboriously sought to
reach through rules of art.

'His learning labors not the school-like gloss
That most consists of echoing words and terms ...
Nor any long or far-fetched circumstance--
Wrapt in the curious generalities of arts--
But a direct and analytic sum
Of all the worth and first effects of art.
And for his poesy, 'tis so rammed with life
That it shall gather strength of life with being,
And live hereafter, more admired than now.'

Tibullus gives Virgil equal credit for having in his writings touched
with telling truth upon every vicissitude of human existence:

'That which he hath writ
Is with such judgment labored and distilled
Through all the needful uses of our lives
That, could a man remember but his lines,
He should not touch at any serious point
But he might breathe his spirit out of him.'

"Finally, Virgil in the play is nominated by Caesar to act as judge
between Horace and h