Jonson
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2026
The chapter suggests that Ben Jonson, lover of the permanence of print, may have authored in-play ballads that he then had published as broadsides. The first part one is on his potential publication of a broadsheet, Caveat for Cutpurses, from his play Bartholomew Fair, the seond part is on a ballad from the masque For the Honour of Wales, the third part is on several ballads for the masque Gypsies Metamorphosed, and part four is on a ballad for the Masque of Augurs. Through ballads, it suggests, Jonson was able to give masques that were themselves not performed more than a handful of times, an alternative and much longer life in paper and song form.
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