BEN JONSON.--This monument is of fine marble, and is very neatly ornamented with emblematical figures, alluding, perhaps, to the malice and envy of his contemporaries. His epitaph--"_O Rare Ben Jonson!_"--is cut in the pavement where he is buried in the North Aisle. He was Poet Laureate to James I., and contemporary with Shakspeare, to whose writings, when living, he was no friend, though, when dead, he wrote a Poem prefixed to his Plays, which does him the amplest justice. His father was a clergyman, and he was educated at Westminster School while Mr. Carden was Master; but after his father's death, his mother marrying a bricklayer, he was forced from school, and made to lay bricks. There is a story told of him, that at the building of Lincoln's Inn, he worked with his trowel in one hand, and Horace in the other; but Mr. Carden, regarding his parts, recommended him to Sir Walter Raleigh, whose son he attended in his travels, and upon his return entered himself at Cambridge. He died the 16th of August, 1637, aged sixty-three.--_Rysbrack, sculptor._ [Illustration: POETS CORNER WESTMINSTER ABBEY] On the left is a monument to MICHAEL DRAITON. The inscription and epitaph were formerly in letters of gold, but now almost obliterated, and therefore are here preserved:--"Michael Draiton, Esq., a memorable Poet of his age, exchanged his laurel for a Crown of Glory, anno 1631. "Do, pious marble, let thy readers know What they, and what their children, owe To _Draiton's_ name, whose sacred dust We recommend unto thy trust: Protect his mem'ry, and preserve his story; Remain a lasting monument of his glory; And when thy ruins shall disclaim To be the treasure of his name, His name, that cannot fade, shall be An everlasting monument to thee." This gentleman was both an excellent poet and a learned antiquarian. Over the monument to Ben Jonson is a window given by Dr. Rogers; it represents David and St. John, the poets of the Old and New Testaments.--_Clayton and Bell._ BARTON BOOTH, Esq., elegantly designed and well executed. His bust is placed between two cherubs, one holding a wreath over his head in the act of crowning him: the other in a very pensive attitude, holding a scroll, on which is inscribed his descent from an ancient family in Lancashire, his admission into Westminster School, under Dr. Busby, his qualifications as an actor, which procured him both the royal patronage and the public applause. He died in 1733, in the fifty-fourth year of his age; and this monument was erected by his surviving widow in 1772.--_W. Tyler, sculptor._