SOURCE: Enck, John J. “The Streame of Humour.” In Jonson and the Comic Truth, pp. 44-69. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1957.

In the following essay, Enck claims that the Jonsonian concept of humors has been misinterpreted and misapplied, and maintains that the humors are less prevalent in Jonson's plays than critics have claimed.

With Every Man out of His Humour Jonson unveiled his decisive exercise in what a play with a singleness of purpose throughout ought to be. As such, it remains one of those focal points which reinforce all an author's undertakings. Its strengths, further refined, run as supports through most later achievements; its weaknesses may account for collapses where undue weight burdens a slight prop. The danger of taking the crucial work itself as a mere elevation from which to trace forth designs or of judging all ensuing plays by this single standard can be...