ABSTRACT
JONSON, writing the comedy of humours, proclaimed himself to be a stubborn and systematic realist. He was undertaking to present men and things as he saw them. The things were all about him in the streets, houses and taverns of London. The men he saw as humours walking—this man greedy, that man vain, jealous, proud, artful or fond. He took the world as he found it. But this was a mad world and comedy required that he should discover method in it. His characters were taken from life, but, once they had entered his comedies, they must leave behind them all their human inconsistencies and run true to form. Henceforth they were in the hands of a master logician who would present them as studies in special types of behaviour. There was to be no room for romantic wilfulness or unexpected fun. All was to be hard, clear and persistent. Here was an author who would never wait for an inspiration, never lose or see things in flashes, but look into himself steadily for things noted and remembered.
