I have added a new post to the Copy Book, Truth Lies Open to All. It comes from a collection of playwright Ben Jonson’s thoughts published in 1641, shortly after his death, called Timber: or Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter.
Literary critics in the days of James I and his son Charles I were divided over just how strictly, if at all, the principles of drama laid down by classical Greek philosophers such as Aristotle should be adhered to. Some allowed no deviation; the ancients had filed their claim to the truth and nobody may trespass on their domain. Others were pleased to treat the ancients with undisguised scorn, then claim their own title to truth and put up their own No Trespassing notices. Jonson, being a man of very considerable good sense, took a middle course. Nobody owns the truth: it is not private land, he said, but open to all, man and goose, like the village green. It just needs a little clearing.