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Show .. •"!• The Epifile Dedicatory. That I may (peak to you in the "cut Poem to the King. it Nature, who gives iivihe flower before the fruit: That T m L'^n'^a^^ithciMulev-which I have taken horn an excel, As Nature, when foe fruit defigns, thinks /fi By beauteous Blojfoms to proceed to it; And while {he does accomplifh all the Spring, Birds to herfecret Operations fing. Iconfefs I have no greater reafon, inaddrefTing this Effay toyourlordtiaip,than that it might awaken in you the defire of Writing fomething, in whatever kind it be, which might be an Honour to our Age and Country. And metlnnks it might have the fame effect upon you, which Homer tells us the fight of the Greeks and Trojans before the Fleet, had on the Spirit of Achilles, who though he had refotved not to ingage, yet found a martial warmth to fteal upon him, at the fight of Blows, the found of Trumpets, and the cries of fighting Men. For m y own part, if in treating of this fubject I fometimes dilfent from the Opinion of better Wits, I declare it is not fo much to combat their Opinions, as to defend m y own, which were firft made publick. Sometimes, like a Scholar in a Fencing-School, I put forth m y felf, and fhow my own ill play, on purpofe to be better taught. Sometimes T ftaacl defperately to m y Arms, like the Foot when deferted by their Horfc, not in hope to overcome, but only to yield on more honourable Terms. And yet, m y Lord, this War of Opinions, you well know, has fallen out among the Writers of all Ages, and fometimes betwixt Friends. Only it has been profecuted by fome, like Pedants, with violence of Words , and manag'd by others like Gentlemen, with Candour and Civility. Even Tully had a Controverfie with his dear Atticus; and in one of his Dialogues makes him fuftain the part of an Enemy in Philofophy,who in his Letters is his confident of State, and made Privy to the mdft weighty Affairs ofthe Roman Senate. And the fame refpect which was paid by Tully to Atticus, we find return'd to him afterwards by Cafar on a like occalion, who anfwering his Book in praife of Cato, made it notfo much his bufmefs to condemni'.ato, as to praife Cicero. But that I may decline fome part of the encounter with m y Adver-faries, whom I am neither willing to combate, nor weil able to refill; I will give your Lordfhip the Relation of a Difpute betwixt fome of our Wits.upon thisfub-je£ t, in which they did not only fpeak of Plays in Verfe, but mingled, in the freedom of Difcourfe, fome things of the Ancient, many of the Modern ways of Writing, comparing thofe with thefe, and the Wits of our Nation with thofeof others: 'Tis true they differ'd in their Opinions, as 'tis probable they would: Neither do I take upon me to reconcile, but to relate them : And that as Tacitus pro-felTes of himfelf, Sineftudwpartium aut ira • Without Paflion orlntereft; leaving your Lordfhip to decide it in favour of which part you fhall judge moft reafonable, and withal, to pardon the many errours of, Your Lordfhip's molt Obedient humble Servant, John Dry den. TO THE READER. T v %$,tf. 6 eiUin&,Dtfcourfe was chiefl) ^ Vindicate the Honour of our tnglf If riters, from the Cenfure of thofe who unjujlly prefer the French be-tore them. This I intimate leaf} any fljould think me jo exceeding -vain as t« teach others an Art whuhthey underftand much better than myfef. But2h7^rX WV, wittentn the Country without the help of Books, or advice of Friends Z//tfj <»y acceptance tn the Word, I promife to mj'felf a bitZt£?JffiJ»iP% nhnetntheVcrtuesand Vaults ofthe Lglifb Poets, who bJeJn^kJ^iJ^ ^ W L ^ ^ mil be more fully treated of, and the,feveralfi£l£. AN I AN E S S A Y O F Dramatick Poefie. I T was thatMemorable day,in the firft Summer of the late War,w hen our Navy ingag'd the Dutch: A day wherein the two moft mighty and beft appointee! Fleets which any Age had ever feen, difputed the Command of the greater half ofthe Globe, the commerce of Nations, and the riches of the Univerfe. While thefe vail: floating Bodies, on either fide, mov'd againif each other in parallel lines, and our Country-Men, under the happy Conduct of his Royal High-nefs, went breaking, by little and little, into the line ofthe Enemies ; the Noife of the Cannon from both Navies reaclfd our Ears about the City : So that all Men, being alarm'd with it, and in a dreadful fufpence of the event, which we knew was then deciding, every one went following the found as his fancy led him; and leaving the T o w n almoft empty, fome took towards the Park, fome crofs the River, others down it; all feeking the noife in the depth ol lilence. Amongft the feft,it was the fortune ofEugeniu-s, Crites, ufideius and iVeander,to be in Company together : Three of them Perfons whom their Wit and Quality nave made known to all the T o w n : And whom I have chofe to hide under tliele borrowed names, that they may not liiffer by lb ill a Relation as I am going to make of their Difcourfe. Taking then a Barge which a Servant of Lifidems had provided for them, they made haft to fhoot the Bridge, and left behind them that great fell of Waters which hundred them from hearing what they defircd : After which, having difin-gagM themfelves from many Veflels which rode at Anchor in the Thames, and almoft block'd up thePaffage towards Greenwich, they orderM the Water-Men to let fall their Oars more gently ; and then every one favouring his own Curiolitv withaftricl filence, it was not long ere they perceiy'd the Air breaking about them like the Noife of diftant Thunder, or of Swallows in a Chimney: Thofe little undulations of found, though almoft vanifhing before they reached them, yet Hill feemingto retain fomewhat of their firft horrour which they had betwixt the Fleet's: After, thev had attentively liftned till fuch time as the found by little and little went from them ; Eugenius lifting uphis head, and taking notice of it, was the firft who Congratulated to the reft that Happy Omen of our Nations Victory: Adding, we had but this to defire in Confirmation of it, that we might hear no more of that noife which was now leaving the Knglifh Coaft. When the reft had con-cur'd in the fime Opinion, Crites, a Pcrfon of a fharp judgment, and fomewhat too delicate a taft in Wit, which the World have miftaken in him for ill Nature, laid, fmiling to us, that if the concernment of this Battel had not been fo exceeding great, he could fcarce have wifh'd the Victory at the price he knew muft pay for it, in being fubject to the reading and hearing of fo many ill Verfes as he was fure would be made upon it; adding, that no Argument could fcape fome of thole EternalRhimes,who watch a Battel with more diligence than theRavens and Birds of Pre} ; and the worft of them fuivft to be firft in upon the quarn ,\\ hile the better able, either out of modefty Writ not not all, orfet that due value upon their Poems, as to let them be often calPd for and long expected ! There are fome of thofe impertinent People you fpeak of,anfwer'd Lifidciii.<,\K\\o to my knowledge, are already (o provided, either way, that they can produce not only a Panegirick up m the Victory, but,if need be, a Funeral Elegy upon the Dyke : And after they have CrownM his Valour with many I.awrels, at laft deplore the odds under which he fell; conduit t his ( deierv'd a better deftiny. All the Company liniPd at: the conceit of Liftd-.ius; but Crites, more eager than before, began to make particular exceptions againft fome Writer-., and laid the publick Magiftrate A 2 ought |