he poet of luxurious fancy and rich yet delicate
imagination, is seen at his best. Fortunatus with his wishing-hat and
wonderful purse appealed to the romantic spirit of the time, when men
still sailed in search of the Hesperides, compounded the elixir of
youth, and sought for the philosopher's stone. Dekker worked over an old
play of the same name; the subject of both was taken from the old German
_volksbuch_ 'Fortunatus' of 1519. Among the collaborators of Dekker at
this time was Ben Jonson. Both these men were realists, but Jonson
slashed into life with bitter satire, whereas Dekker cloaked over its
frailties with a tender humor. Again, Jonson was a conscientious artist,
aiming at perfection; Dekker, while capable of much higher poetry, was
often careless and slipshod. No wonder that the dictator scorned his
somewhat irresponsible co-worker. The precise nature of their quarrel,
one of the most famous among authors, is not known; it culminated in
1601, when Jonson produced 'The Poetaster,' a play in which Dekker and
Marston were mercilessly ridiculed. Dekker replied shortly in
'Satiromastix, or the Untrussing of the Humorous Poet,' a burlesque full
of good-natured mockery of his antagonist.

Dekker wrote, in conjunction with Webster, 'Westward Ho,' Northward Ho,'
and 'Sir Thomas Wyatt'; with Middleton, 'The Roaring Girl'; with
Massinger, 'The Virgin Martyr'; and with Ford, 'The Sun's Darling' and
'The Witch of Edmonton.' Among the products of Dekker's old age, 'Match
Me in London' is ranked among his half-dozen best plays, and 'The Wonder
of a Kingdom' is fair journeyman's work.

One of the most versatile of the later Elizabethans,--prolonging their
style and ideas into the new world of the Stuarts,--Dekker was also
prominent as pamphleteer. He first appeared as such in 1603, with 'The
Wonderfull Yeare 1603, wherein is showed the picture of London lying
sicke of the Plague,' a vivid description of the pest, which undoubtedly
served Defoe as model in his famous book on the same subject. The best
known of his many pamphlets, however, is 'The Gul's Horne Booke,' a
graphic description of the ways and manners of the gallants of the time.
These various tracts are invaluable for the light they throw on the
social life of Jacobean London.

Lastly, Dekker as song-writer must not be forgotten. He had the genuine
lyric gift, and poured forth his bird-notes, sweet, fresh, and
spontaneous, full of the singer's joy in his song. H