The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical EditionVol. 2: The Perfect Critic, 1919-1926

Ben Jonson. To the Editor of The Nation and The Athenaeum

The Nation and the Athenaeum, 33 (30 June 1923) 426

Sir – In some interesting remarks on Ben Jonson in The Nation and Athenaeumof June 23 ^rd– with which I am otherwise in accord – I observe that you refer to me as seeming to have praised Jonson “apologetically.” ² My article was intended as a “defence” only in so far as I believed Jonson’s reputation – as evidenced by manuals of literates, such as you yourself quote ³ – was a misrepresentation; and in this belief, I should imagine, you concur. And theoretically I agree that the only “defence” necessary for Jonson is to “tell people to read him.” But this is equally the only defence necessary for a number of other writers; and a great deal depends on the persuasiveness of the way in which one tells people to read them. But if any defence, further than an oracular invitation to the public to read an author, implies that the author defended is weak or vulnerable, then my paper on Jonson was by no means intended as a defence or an apology. On the contrary, Jonson seems to me to have a particularly strong position.

Yours, etc., 9 Clarence Gate Gardens, N. W. 1 t. s. eliot