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Volpone

Volpone

by Ben Jonson

First published 1709 · 209 pages · about 3 hours to read

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About this book

A wealthy Venetian man attracts several would-be heirs.

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Quotes

  • “The greatest of English dramatists except Shakespeare, the first literary dictator and poet-laureate, a writer of verse, prose, satire, and criticism who most potently of all the men of his time affected the subsequent course of English letters: such was Ben Jonson, and as such his strong personality assumes an interest to us almost unparalleled, at least in his age.”
More quotes
  • “In "The Alchemist," again, we have the utmost cleverness in construction, the whole fabric building climax on climax, witty, ingenious, and so plausibly presented that we forget its departures from the possibilities of life.”
  • “Each knew the London of his time as few men knew it; and each represented it intimately and in elaborate detail.”
  • “MOS: When will you have your inventory brought, sir? Or see a coppy of the will?--Anon!-- I will bring them to you, sir. Away, be gone, Put business in your face.”
  • “MOS: Contain Your flux of laughter, sir: you know this hope Is such a bait, it covers any hook.”

Passages from the book's public-domain text on Project Gutenberg.

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