SOURCE: "Neoclassicim and the Scientific Frame of Mind: Ben Jonson and Mystick Symboles," in Renaissance Magic and the Return of the Golden Age: The Occult Tradition and Marlowe, Jonson, and Shakespeare, University of Nebraska Press, 1989, pp. 156-73.

In the following essay, Mebane explores an apparent contradiction between Jonson's conservative neoclassicism, as outlined in Discoveries, and his frequent use of "occult philosophy, " allegory, and symbolism in the masques. Mebane sees Jonson negotiating between prior occult traditions and the growing restraint and rationalism of Baconian science.

Ben Jonson's neoclassicism is grounded firmly upon the moderate Christian humanism which was cultivated in England by scholars and educators such as Thomas More, Erasmus, Roger Ascham, John Cheke, and William Camden. Jonson's art is typical of this tradition in that he is concerned primarily with social and ethical problems, and his sense of civic duty and propriety is derived in large part from...