ABSTRACT
The intellectual and social climate of the 1590s was evidently congenial to the spirit of satire, and in very different ways both Donne and Shakespeare had already accomplished much in the satiric mode by 1600. Chapman's experiment is poor stuff, perhaps; but it has relevance to Jonson's search for a dramatic form in which 'to strip the ragged follies of the time'. Jonson's comedy, by comparison, presents a much restricted range of social types, observes the unities of time and place, excludes history, and underlines his strict concern for classical decorum by setting the play in one city in Italy, not all over England. Tucca's wild aggression frequently modulates into self-congratulation or changes direction to gain the favour of whoever happens to be present at the time. The revolutionary fervour of the enterprise accepts the risk of chilling the comedy and reducing its imaginative and intellectual complexity.
