ABSTRACT
The fragment of the Sad Shepherd of Ben Jonson, like the Faithful Shepherdess of Fletcher, is a stronger proof of the poetical genius, than of the dramatic art of its author. Fletcher’s Pastoral Dialogue was condemned on its first representation; and, though afterwards revived by royal sunshine, soon languished again, and fell into decay upon the stage. Contemporary poets, and succeeding critics, have reprobated the tasteless age, that listened, with the ears of Midas, to the work of Apollo; yet the continued neglect of that pastoral, which no one has attempted to restore to the theatre, seems to have ratified the original sentence of its inefficience as a drama, however excellent it may appear as a poem. Had Jonson ever put the last hand to the Sad Shepherd its fate would most probably be similar; for that it was destined to the stage, we cannot, with the present editor, consider as doubtful. The prologue testifies its intended representation.
