Too nicely Jonson knew the critic's part, Nature in him was almost lost in Art.

-Collins,William
  'Verses addressed to Sir Thomas Hanmer'.

Old Mother Wit, and Nature gave Shakespeare and Fletcher all they have; In Spenser, and in Jonson, Art Of slower Nature got the start.

-Denham, SirJohn
  'On Mr  Abraham Cowley'.

Shakespeare was the Homer, or father of our dramatic poets;Jonson was theVirgil, the pattern of elaborate writing; I admire him, but I love Shakespeare.

-Dryden,John
  An Essay of Dramatic Poesy,'Shakespeare and Ben  Jonson Compared'.

Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.

-Jonson, Ben
  'On My First Son'.

O rare Ben Jonson.

-Jonson, Ben
  His epitaph in Westminster  Abbey. It is thought that the words were inscribed on his gravestone at the order of a certain Sir JohnYoung, possibly in error for 'OrareBen Jonson' ('Pray for Ben  Jonson').