Our immediate object is to compare the two writers as dramatists. It is at once clear that they work on different lines. Massinger is a follower of Shakspere and Fletcher, though we can trace in some of his tragedies the influence of Webster and Tourneur. In his comedies, we see some approximation to Ben Jonson; it is instructive to compare _Eastward Ho!_ with _The City Madam_. A fundamental difference of method is at once seen; Massinger deliberately eschews the use of prose. It must at once be conceded that he has left nothing on so colossal a scale as _Every Man in his Humour_, _Volpone_, _Epicoene_, _The Alchemist_, and _Bartholomew Fair_. Here we find skilful plot, masterly characterization, and ludicrous combinations. How heartily we laugh over the Plautine scene before Cob’s house in _Every Man in his Humour_,(416) or at the intrusion of unbidden guests at Morose’s wedding, or at the deception practised on the two knights in the gallery.(417) How dazzled we are with the kaleidoscopic “vapours” of the great Fair. On the other hand, in what Dryden calls the “dotages,” we find a great falling off. Ben Jonson can be very dull. Still even in _The Devil is an Ass_ and _The Staple of News_ there is a vein of original fancy, which reminds us that we are dealing with no imitator, but with an original and poetical mind. Nor must we forget the splendid series of Masques, into which Ben Jonson put some of his best work; to this Massinger has but little to oppose. And then, as we all know, Ben Jonson bursts out from time to time with a great lyric, whereas Massinger’s songs are commonplace. Lastly, in _The Case is Altered_, we have a plot in the manner of Fletcher which is so successful as to make us regret that Jonson did not try this type of play again. Though it has not the atmosphere of Massinger, it has something of the mellow graciousness at which he, like Fletcher, aimed.