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Show P R E FA C E IHad thought, Reader, in this Preface to have written fomewhat concerning the difference betwixt the Plays of our Age, and thofe ot our Prcdeceffors, on the Englifh Stage : to have'fhown in what parts ot Dramatick Poefie we were excell'd bv Ben. Johnfon,! mean,Humour,and Contrivance of Comedy, and in what we may juftly claim precedence of Shakefpear and Fletcher, namely m Heroick Plays: but this defign I have wav'd on fecond confiderations ; at leaft de-ferr'd it till I publifh the Conqueft of Granada, where, the Difcourfe will be more proper. I had alfo prepar'd to Treat ofthe improvement of our Language fince Fletcher's and Johnfon'% days, and confequently of our refining the Courtfhip, Raillery and Converfation of Plays: but as lam willing to decline that envy which I iy felf from tome old opiniativejudges ofthe Stage; fo likewife I -t I have not leifure, at prefent, to go thorough with lea reputation gain'd from Comedy, fofar as tocon- :than I needs muft in my own defence : for I think „ all forts ofDramatick writing.Low Comedy efpecially requires, on the Writers part, much of converfation with die vulgar,and much of ill nature in the obfervation of their Follies. But let all Men pleafe themfelves ac-ready to imagine that my judgment as from my temper ; wincu istiie rcaiuii wiiy i iu iciuum wim. u , anu that when I fucceed"in it, (I mean fofar as to pleafe the Audience; yet I am nothing fatisfy'd with what I have done; but am often vex'd to hear thc People laugh, and clap,as they perpetually do,where I intended 'em no jeft; while they let pals the verj reopiegivc, equally witn me, tone/.any oia AiouutenjiiK ; or tome appearance of anAntick on theTheatre,without Wit on the Poet's part, or any occafion of laughter from the Actor, befides the ridiculoufnefs of his Habit and his Grimaces. But I have defcended before I was aware, from Comedy to farce ; which con-fifts principally of Grimaces. That I admire not any Comedy equally with 1 ra-gedy, is, perhaps, from thefullennefsofmyhumor; but that 1 der< ft thofe Farces, which are now the molf frequent Entertainments of the Star .•, I m fure I have reafon on my fide. Comedy confifts, though of low Perfons. \ et of natural actions, and Characters; T mean fome humors, adventures, and defigns,ai arc to be found and met with in the World. Farce, on the other fide, confifts of fore'd humors, and unnatural events: Comedy prefents us with the imperfections of humane nature. Farce entertains us with what is monftrous and chimerical: the one caufes laughter in thofe who can judge ofMen andManners;by the lively reprefentation of their folly or corruption; the other produces the fame effect in thole who can nidge of neither, and that only by its extravagances. The firft works on the judgment and fancy; the latter on the fancy only: There is more of fatisfaction in the former kind of laughter, and in the latter more of fcorn.But,how it happens, that an impoftible adventure fhould caufe our mirth, I cannot fo eafily imagine. Something there may be in the oddnefs of it, becaufe on the Stage it is the common effect of things unexpected to furprize us into a delight: and that is to be afcrib'd to the ttrange appetite as I may call it, of the fancy ; which, like that of a longing Woman, often runs out into the moft extravar mt defires; and is better fatisfy'd fometimes with Loam, or with the Rinds ot T rees, than with the wholefome nourifhmentsof life. In fhort there is thefeme difference betwixt Farce and Comedy , as betwixt an Empirick and a truePhyfitian : both of them may attain their ends; but what the one per- T J S I hS-ard' lh\°tCr d^es b^ ski11 A n d as the A rt'ft '» often unfuccefsful while the Mountebank fucceeds; fo Farces more commonly rake the People than ?h°Z 2, / A T * " vftUral thH1gS' is t hc m o f t ?robab!e ™ V of pleafino-them, who underftand not Nature. And a true Poet often miffes ofapplaufe be-caufe he cannot debate himfelf to write fo ill afc ,ns Audience? * After all, it is to be acknowledge, that moft of thofe Comedies which haveh^n lately written have been ally'd too much to Farce : and this muft of necdntvftS out till we forbear the Tranflation of French Plays: for their S S t ^ ^ meat tf * * - ' ' "*r " ' 1 * * ' ' "•• - • • • " - m m • n i > i « M H n .i m PREFACE. • II ! • I I I nil ,| _ ' ment to make, or to maintain true Characters, ftrive to cover their defects with ridiculous Figures and Grimaces. While I fay this, I accufe m y iilf as well as others: and this very Play would rife up in judgment againft me, if I would defend all things I have written to be natural: but I confefs I have given too much to the People in it, and am .afliam'd for them as well as for m y felf, that I have pleas'd them at fo cheap a rate: not that there is any thing here which I would not defend to an ill-natur'd judged/for I defpife their Cenfures, who I am fure wou'd write worfe on the fame fubjett:) but becaufe I love to deal clearly and plainly, and to fpeak of my own faults with more criticifm, than I would of another Poets; Yet I think it no vanity to fay that this Comedy has as much of entertainment in it as many others which have been lately written : and, if I find m y own errors in it, I am able at the fame time, to arraign all my Contemporaries for greater. As I pretend not that 1 can write Humor, fonone of them can rea-fonably pretend to have written it as they ought. Johnfon was the only Man of all Ages and Nations, who has perform'd it well; and that but in three or lour of his Comedies : the reft are but a Crambe bis colt a ; the fame humours a little vary'd and written worfe : neither was it more allowable in him , than it is in our prefent Poets, to reprefent the Follies of particular Perfons; of which many have ac-cus'd him. Parcere perfonis, dicere de vitiis, is the rule of Plays. And Horace tells ou, that the old Comedy amongft the Grecians was filenc'd for the too great li-erties of the Poets. In vitium libertas excidit & vim Dignam lege regi: lex eft accept a chorufque Turpiter obticuit, fublato jure nocendi. Of which he gives you the reafon in another place : where having given thc Precept. Neve immunda crepent; ignominiofaque dicta : He immediately fubjoins, Offenduntur en'vn, quibus eft equus, & pater, C" res. But Ben. Johnfon is to be admir'd for many excellencies; and can be tax'd with fewer failings than zny'Englifb Poet. I know I have been accus'd as an Enemy of his Writings; but without any other reafon than that I do not admire him blindly, and without looking into his imperfections. For why fhould he only be exempted from thofe frailties, from which Homer and Virgil are not free ? Or why fhould there be any tpfe dixit in our Poetry, any more than there is in our Philofophy, I admire and applaud him where I ought: thofe who do more do but value themfelves in their admiration of him : and by telling you they extol Ben.Johnfon's way, would infinuate to you that they can practice it. For my part I declare that I want judgment to imitate him: and fhould think it a great impudence in my felf to attempt it. To make Men appear pleafantly ridiculous on the Stage was, as I have find, his talent: and in this he needed not the acumen of Wit, but that of Judgment. For the Characters and Reprefentations of Folly are only the effects of Obfervation ; and Obfervation is an effect of Judgment. Some ingenious Men, for whom I have a particular efteem, have thought I have much injur'd Ben. Johnfon, when I have not allow'd his Wit to be extraordinary : but they confound the notion of what is witty, with what is pleafant. That Ben. Johnfon's Plays were pleafant, he muft want reafon who denies: But that pleafantnefs was not properly Wit, or the fharpnefs of Conceit; but the natural imitation of Folly : which I confefs to be excellent in its kind, but not to be of that kind which they pretend. Yet if wc will believe Quintilian in his Chapter de Movendo rifu, he gives his opinion of both in thefe following words, Stultareprehenderefacillimum eft ; nam per fe funt ridicula :•& a derifu non proculabefi rifut: fed rem urbanam facit aliqua ex nobis adjectio. And fome perhaps, would be apt to fay of Johnfon, as it was faid of Demofthe-nes; Non difplhuiffe illijocos, fed non conttgiffe, I will not deny but that I approve moft the mixt way of Comedy ; that which is neither all Wit, nor all Humour, but the refult of both. Neither fo little of Humor as FUteher fhews, nor fo littleof Love and Wit,as Johnfon. Neither all cheat,with which the beft Plays ofthe one are fill'd, nor all adventure, which is the common practice ofthe other. I would have the Characters well chofen, and kept diftant from interfaring with each other; which is more than Fletcher or Shakefpear did : but I would have more of the Vrbana, venufia, falfa, facet a, and the reft which Quintilian reckons up as the Ornaments of Wit; and thefe are extremely wanting in Ben. Johnfon. As for re- N n party |