It would be silly to deny Jonson’s superiority of intellect, and of attainment when at his best. His faults are, however, very serious. Though he can draw a man of good breeding, his women are very ordinary. He is too fond of incorporating long passages from the classical authors whom he knew so well; he would have been more attractive if he had used Aristophanes and Plautus, Ovid and Libanius, as inspirations rather than as materials. The notes on Sejanus are a liberal education, but after all, “the play’s the thing.” The use of “humour” and “vapours,” though at first brilliant and captivating, even becomes artificial and tedious; no one is the embodiment of one passion or weakness. Let us be thankful that human nature is not so simple or consistent, for in that case it would cease to interest. More serious still, Jonson has no sense of proportion; we read Knowell’s soliloquy in _Every Man in his Humour_,(418) and we say, “Fine! but too long”; and we say this again and again as we read his works. The great length of the fifth act of Sejanus is a good instance of this fault. Indeed, it is impossible that the play was acted in the form which we now have—it would have emptied the house, like Burke’s speeches. When Jonson gets on to some subject of which he knows the technical terms, such as “fucuses”(419) or “alchemy,” he is almost as tedious as Kipling’s Macandrew. His plots are at times too skilful; thus, even Brainworm in time gets on our nerves. His coarseness is that of a common soldier, and his puns are bad. Are there any points of contact between the two authors? I do not wish to suggest that Massinger owed nothing to the older writer, though parallels of diction may mean little but the simultaneous use of the idioms of the day. Thus in _The Staple of News_ we find, “I do write man,”(420) “blacks,”(421) “kiss close,”(422) “nectar,”(423) “magnificent”(424); tossing in a blanket is referred to,(425) and the saints(426) at Amsterdam, while the cook’s fortifications(427) remind us of a passage in _A New Way to pay Old Debts_. In Sejanus we find “passive fortitude” commended.(428) “He puts them to their whisper,”(429) reminds us of _The Roman Actor_. Sejanus’ change of temper to his satellites(430) when he fancies danger is past resembles that of Domitian in the same play. _The City Madam_ has touches of plot and style which recall Volpone.