Ben Jonson

“ I remember the players have often mentioned it as an honor to Shakespeare, that in his writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out a line. ”

“ His wit was in his own power; would the rule of it had been so too. Many times he fell into those things, could not escape laughter, as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to him: “Cæsar, thou dost me wrong.” He replied: “Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause; [3] and such like, which were ridiculous. But he redeemed his vices with his virtues. There was ever more in him to be praised than to be pardoned.
Footnotes ↑ “Of our countryman, Shakespeare.”↑ “He should have been clogged.”↑ The speech is not found in this form in our version of Shakespeare’s “Julius Cæsar.” ”