Ben Jonson was born around June 11, 1572 near London. He was the son of a Protestant clergyman that was persecuted for being Protestant during the Catholic Tudor reign. Ben's father was imprisoned and died a month before his son was born. His mother was left without money and she married a bricklayer for support. When Ben started school at Westminister, William Camden noticed the young boy's brilliance and Camden became his official tutor. Jonson never received an education from a university but "he became one of the most learned men of the Elizabethan times and eventually received honorary degrees from [two] universities" (imagi-nations.com). His life being unfulfilled as a bricklayer, he joined the army in Flanders in the Netherlands. In memory of his father, he fought for the Protestant liberties against Catholicism and Spanish rule. In 1592, he went back to London. Sources disagree about...