I have the ordinary excuse of an injured man, who will be telling his tale unseasonably to his betters though at the same time I am certain you are so good a friend, as to take a concern in all things which belong to one who so truly honours you. And besides, being yourself a critick of the genuine sort, who have read the best authors in their own languages, who perfectly distinguish of their several merits, and in general prefer them to the moderns, yet I know you judge for the English tragedies, against the Greek and Latin, as well as against the French, Italian, and Spanish, of these latter ages. Indeed there is a vast difference betwixt arguing like Perault,' in behalf of the French poets, against Homer and Virgil, and betwixt giving the English poets their undoubted due, of excelling schylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. For if we or our greater fathers have not yet brought the drama to an absolute perfection, yet at least we have carried it much farther than those ancient Greeks; who beginning from a chorus, could never totally exclude it, as we have done, who find it an unprofitable incumbrance, without any necessity of entertaining it amongst us; and without the possi

3 At this time the controversy concerning the superior excellency of the ancients or moderns was at its height. Perault, in his PARALLELE, had maintained the cause of the moderns; Sir William Temple, in his ESSAY ON ANCIENT AND MODERN LEARNING, espoused that of the ancients. These works gave rise to Wotton's REFLECTIONS, which appeared in 1694.

bility of establishing it here, unless it were supported by a publick charge. Neither can we accept of those lay-bishops, as some call them, who under pretence of reforming the stage, would intrude themselves upon us, as our superiors; being indeed incompetent judges of what is manners, what religion, and least of all, what is poetry and good sense. I can tell them in behalf of all my fellows, that when they come to exercise a jurisdiction over us, they shall have the stage to themselves, as they have the laurel.

As little can I grant that the French dramatick writers excel the English. Our authors as far surpass them in genius, as our soldiers excel theirs in courage. It is true, in conduct, they surpass us either way; yet that proceeds not so much from their greater knowledge, as from the difference of tastes in the two nations. They content themselves with a thin design, without episodes, and managed by few persons; our audience will not be pleased but with variety of accidents, an underplot, and many actors. They follow the

4 The clamour against the entertainments of the stage was begun in France about this time; and in 1695 Blackman severely censured the dramatick poets of England in the Preface to PRINCE ARTHUR; as Collier did a few years afterwards, with more vigour. But I do not recollect any work published recently before the appearance of this Epistle, the object of which was the reformation of the stage, except Rymer's book, already mentioned ; which probably is here also alluded to.

ancients too servilely in the mechanick rules; and we assume too much licence to ourselves in keeping them only in view, at too great a distance. But if our audience had their tastes, our poets could more easily comply with them, than the French writers could come up to the sublimity of our thoughts, or to the difficult variety of our designs. However it be, I dare establish it for a rule of practice on the stage, that we are bound to please those whom we pretend to entertain; and that at any price, religion and good manners only excepted and I care not much if I give this handle to our bad illiterate poetasters, for the defence of their SCRIPTIONS, as they call them. There is a sort of merit in delighting the spectators, which is a name more proper for them, than that of auditors; or else Horace is in the wrong, when he commends Lucilius for it.

But these commonplaces I mean to treat at greater leisure; in the mean time submitting that little I have said to your Lordship's approbation or your censure, and choosing rather to entertain you this way, as you are a judge of writing, than to oppress your modesty with other commendations, which, though they are your due, yet would not be equally received in this satirical and censorious age. That which cannot without injury be denied to you, is the easiness of your conversation, far from affectation or pride; not denying even to enemies their just praises. And this, if I would dwell on any theme of this nature, is no vulgar

commendation to your Lordship. Without flattery, my Lord, you have it in your nature to be a patron and encourager of good poets, but your fortune has not yet put into your hands the opportunity of expressing it. What you will be hereafter, may be more than guessed by what you are at present. You maintain the character of a nobleman, without that haughtiness which generally attends too many of the nobility; and when you converse with gentlemen, you forget not that you have been of their order. You are married to the daughter of a King, who, amongst her other high perfections, has derived from him a charming behaviour, a winning goodness, and a majestick person. The Muses and the Graces are the ornaments of your family. While the Muse sings, the Grace accompanies her voice; even the servants of the Muses have sometimes had the happiness to hear her, and to receive their inspirations from her..

I will not give myself the liberty of going farther; for it is so sweet to wander in a pleasing way, that I should never arrive at my journey's end. To keep myself from being belated in my letter, and tiring your attention, I must return to the place where I was setting out. I humbly dedicate to your Lordship my own labours in this Miscellany; at the same time, not arrogating to myself the privilege of inscribing to you the works of others who are joined with me in this undertaking, over which I can pretend no right. Your

He is

lady and you have done me the favour to hear me read my translations of Ovid; and you both seemed not to be displeased with them. Whether it be the partiality of an old man to his youngest child, I know not; but they appear to me the best of all my endeavours in this kind. Perhaps this poet is more easy to be translated, than some others whom I have lately attempted; perhaps too, he was more according to my genius. certainly more palatable to the reader than any of the Roman wits, though some of them are more lofty, some more instructive, and others more correct. He had learning enough to make him equal to the best; but as his verse came easily, he wanted the toil of application to amend it. He is often luxuriant, both in his fancy and expressions; and as it has lately been observed, not always natural. If wit be pleasantry, he has it to excess; but if it be propriety,* Lucretius, Horace, and above all, Virgil, are his superiors. I have said so much of him already in my Preface to his Heroical Epistles, that there remains little to be added in this place. For my own part, I have endeavoured to copy his character, what I could, in this translation, even perhaps farther than I should

5 Our author's preference of his last performance, (whatever it may be) to all his former works, is very observable, and has been noticed by Trapp in his PRELECTIONES: 66 illo judice, id plerumque optimum est, quod nunc præ manibus habet, et in quo nunc occupatur."

*See p. 32, n. 9.