That maker and breaker of literary reputations, T. S. Eliot, began an essay on Ben Jonson (1572-1637) this way: "The reputation of Jonson has been of the most deadly kind that can be compelled upon the memory of a great poet. To be universally accepted; to be damned by the praise that quenches all desire to read the book; to be afflicted by the imputation of the virtues which excite the least pleasure; and to be read only by historians and antiquaries-this is the most per- fect conspiracy...