A Newly Discovered Account of Ben Jonson's Walk to Scotland: an Annotated Edition, Contextual Essays and Resources for Heritage Interpretation

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In February 2009 James Loxley discovered a manuscript containing an account of Ben Jonson's celebrated 1618 walk to Edinburgh among papers deposited in Chester Archives. Although this walk was one of the most eye-catching episodes in Jonson's life, we have had little knowledge of exactly when it was undertaken, why, and what might have transpired along the way. The 7,500 word account promises to change this situation profoundly. Entitled 'My Gossip Joh[n]son his foot voyage and mine into Scotland', it appears to have been written by a hitherto unsuspected companion. Furthermore, it provides a day-by-day narrative of the travellers' adventures, including crucial information on where and with whom they dined and stayed, and their adventures along the way. Given the rarity and academic value of such a source, and it is of the utmost importance that a fully annotated text is made available to all those to whom it might be relevant as quickly as possible. For this reason, Loxley and Julie Sanders have undertaken to collaborate on the production of such an edition.But the account presents substantial challenges. For a start, the manuscript's provenance is uncertain, and in form and content it is quite unlike the items that make up the rest of the collection in which it was found. The account is unsigned, and there is no internal evidence that would allow us easily to determine its authorship. It is also not certain that the hand in which it is written is that of the traveller himself. So significant archival and palaeographic work is necessary to explore these questions. The profusion of names in the account presents a further challenge: more than 240 separate individuals are mentioned, many of whom are neither well known or well documented in secondary sources. Full investigation of these people will allow the editors and future researchers to draw out potentially significant patterns of association and affiliation. Our research will therefore require substantial work on archival sources in order to allow us to annotate these names as thoroughly as possible.The project will also seek to set the account in a series of relevant contexts, in order to establish its significance for an academic audience that includes not only Jonson scholars, or specialists in early modern literature, but also those with interests in cultural geography and the history of the people and places visited. The critical edition will therefore be published with contextual essays, addressing the cultural significance of walking in early modern England, the influence of this journey on Jonson's work, the light it shines on non-metropolitan social networks, and early modern literary celebrity. In undertaking this contextual work, the team will take due account of recent interdisciplinary developments in the study of early modern travel, and in particular in their theoretical and methodological implications; we will also ensure that our work is informed by the extensive research undertaken for the new Cambridge edition of Jonson.But we also want to ensure that such an engaging account is made available to a wider range of beneficiaries. The narrative identifies the places visited by Jonson and his companion, and gives intriguing details of their activities at many of them. A large proportion of these places are now in the care of heritage bodies, or are the object of historical interpretation for modern visitors by owners and custodians. This account illuminates the history of those sites in themselves and as places to visit, and could add colour and detail to their interpretation. Working with a specialist consultant, we will convene a presentation and workshop to disseminate our discoveries to custodians and interpreters, to discuss with them the relevance and usefulness of such sources to their interpretative work, and to feed into resource packs which we will provide to participants and others for use in developing their own materials.