Ben Jonson
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Benjamin Jonson was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone, or The Fox, The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. He is regarded as "the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I."
Portrait by Abraham Blyenberch, c. 1617; oil on canvas painting at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Westminster School master William Camden cultivated the artistic genius of Ben Jonson.
The Scottish poet William Drummond of Hawthornden was friend and confidant to Jonson.
Title page of The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (1616), the first folio publication that included stage plays
Every Man in His Humour
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Every Man in His Humour is a 1598 play by the English playwright Ben Jonson. The play belongs to the subgenre of "humours comedy", in which each major character is dominated by an over-riding humour or obsession.
Title page of 1616 printing of Every Man in His Humour