There is a distinct plot to it, the situation is extremely ludicrous, and the emphasis is laid upon a single humor or eccentricity, as in some of Moliere's lighter comedies, like _Le Malade Imaginaire_, or _Le Medecin malgre lui_. In spite of his heaviness in drama, Jonson had a light enough touch in lyric poetry. His songs have not the careless sweetness of Shakspere's, but they have a grace of their own. Such pieces as his _Love's Triumph, Hymn to Diana_, the adaptation from Philostratus, Drink to me only with thine eyes, and many others entitle their author to rank among the first of English lyrists. Some of these occur in his two collections of miscellaneous verse, the _Forest_ and _Underwoods_; others in the numerous masques which he composed. These were a species of entertainment, very popular at the court of James I., combining dialogue with music, intricate dances, and costly scenery. Jonson left an unfinished pastoral drama, the _Sad Shepherd_, which contains passages of great beauty; one, especially, descriptive of the shepherdess Earine, Who had her very being and her name With the first buds and breathings of the spring, Born with the primrose and the violet And earliest roses blown. 1. A History of Elizabethan Literature. George Saintsbury. London: Macmillan & Co., 1877. 2. Palgrave's Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics. London: Macmillan & Co., 1877. 3. The Courtly Poets from Raleigh to Montrose. Edited by J. Hannah. London: Bell & Daldy, 1870. 4. The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. London: Sampson Low, Son & Marston, 1867. 5. Bacon's Essays. Edited by W. Aldis Wright. Macmillan & Co. (Golden Treasury Series.) 6. The Cambridge Shakspere. (Clark & Wright.) 7. Charles Lamb's Specimens of English Dramatic Poets. 8. Ben Jonson's Volpone and Silent Woman. Cunningham's Edition. London: J.C. Hotten, (3 vols.) CHAPTER IV. THE AGE OF MILTON. 1608-1674.