Ben Jonson (1572-1637) was the leading dramatist and poet among those a decade younger than Shakespeare. Indeed, Shakespeare was an actor in at least one of Jonson's plays, and Jonson wrote a moving epitaph for the First Folio of Shakepeare's works. Jonson wrote powerful tragedies, but his genius was for comedy, notably Volpone (1606), The Alchemist (1610), and Bartholomew Fair (1614). Jonson also revolutionized the form of the court masque, which were splendid entertainments on mythological themes performed for the Stuart kings.