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Show An ESS A T 2 3 S 3 S T o wellfat leaft I * ^ » ^ J ^ ^ t£tStordid one of their . ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ l o fidjec^, vf & (faysTully fpeaking of him) cum«?"™™£s r lo~imtis, £***>* ex ils rd r US ^1 £ ^ ^ Icould Lcvendebatjubere ei prtnnumtnbnifub ea^on ^ ^ ^ ^ boun. wilti with all m y Heart replied C «, ^ ^ * o u l d never trouble us again. tifolly thank'dupon the fame condi ion, that t ^ p u.hom tlnsViclo- For a^ongft others I have a moit1 apprehenhon 0 ^ , ry,with the help of both her Wings, will " f ^ ^min<T them, I ask you if one of whom you intend, f V i d ^ themd^snotperrxjtuallypayuswiriiCtalKsu^ Catecrefis or Clevelan-kind of Raillery ? If now and thenhedoes ^ r m c a n i . In fine, if he be not difm, wrefting and tortunne*W™™fl™™V M k h ufon?one that is fo much a one of thofe whom the French would call«»™au* a r/t h o ugh he cannot ftnke a Well-wilier to the Satire, that he fpares no M * £ « * £ §f the Action; as our blow to hurt any, yet ought to be P ^ ^ f ^ ^ fo. and fuf&r defervedly Witches are juftly hang d becaufe they ^ J ^ ^ y i have defcribed him, for believing they did mifchief, becaufe tl«Y mcant^t. io other extre-faid Crites, fo exaaiy £ J & ^ £ g J £ f f i I advantaged Education mity ol Poetry : He is one or tnoie w iu B b a_ a„dconverfe>ows better * ^ ^ j & £ £ £ S t cv n where alike ; he Sice more unluckily than any Man ; his (We and matterw is themoft «?»*-^W lSa^«ii a"e "n a tender as I found you; with the lead concernment, hut mil leaves j, ou m ^ he is a very Leveller in Poetry he " W ^ J * * ™ ^ ™ g ^ £ and helps out his Numbers with Fo,•'»> «"»*£JVJ? ^ ^Senfe is left tir'd him in Martial: , n Pauper vtderi Cinna vult, W cltpauper : He effects nlainnefs to cover his want of imagination: When he Writes the f e r f o u s ^ y f i ^ CoSiction ; and in th/Comick he is ftill reaching at fome thin concert, the Ghoft of a left,' and that too flies before him never to be caught thefefallow which we fee before us on the Thames, are the run refemblance of his Wit You may obferve how near the Water they ftoop, how many proffers they make to dip, and.yet how feldom they touch it: And when they do,'tis but the furface : They skim over it but to catch a gnat,and then mount into the A ir and leave it W ell Gentlemen, faAEugenius, you may fpeak vourplcafure of thefe Autnors ; but though 1 and fome few more about the T o w n may give you a peaceable hearing, yet al-furevourfelves, there are multitudes who would think you malicious and them iniur'd: Efpecially him von firft defcrib'd ; he is the very Withers ol the City: They have bought more'Editions of his Works than would ferve to lay under all their Pies at the Lord Mayor's Chri'slmafs. When his famous Poem firft came our in the Year i66o.Ihave feen them reading it in the midft of Change-time; nayfo vehement they were at it, that they loft their Bargain by the Candles-ends: but whatwillyoufay, if he has been received amongft the great Ones? I can affure you he is, this day, the envy of a great Perfon, who is Lord in the Art of Quibling; and who does not take it well, that, any M a n fhould intrude fo far into his Province. All I would wifh , replied Crites , is, that they who love his Waitings, may ftill admire him, and his Fellow Poet: Qui Bavium non odit, &c. is curfefufficient.And farther, added Lifideius,! believe there is no M a n who Writes well, but would think himfelf very hardly dealt with , if their Admirers fhould praife any thing of his: Nam quos contemnimus eorum quocf, laudes contemnimm. There are fo few who Write well in this Age,faid Crites, that methinks any praifes fhould be welcome; they neither rife to the dignity ofthe laft Age, nor to any of the Ancients ; and we may cry out ofthe Writers of this time, with more reafon than Petronius of his, Pace veltra liceat dixiffe, primi omnium eloquYeonut iam perdidiftis • of Dramatic!^ Foe fie. g You have debauched the true old Poetry fo far, that Nature, which is the Soul of it, is not in any of your Writings. If your quarrel (faid Eugenius) to thofe who now Write, be grounded only upon your reverence to Antiquity , there is no M a n more ready to adore thofe great Greeks and Romans than lam : But on the other fide, I cannot think fo contemptibly ofthe Age I live in, or fo dishonourably of m y own Country, as not to judge we equal the Ancients in moft kinds of Poefie, and in fome furpafsthem ; neither know I any reafon why I may not be as zealous for the Reputation of our Age, as we find the Ancients themfelves in reference to thofe who lived before them. For you hear your Horace faying, Indignor quidquam reprehendi, non quia craffe Compofitumy illepideveputetur, fed quia nuper. And after, Si meliora dies, ttt vina, poemata reddit, Scire velim pretium chart is quotus arroget annus ? But I fee I am ingaging in a wide difpute, where the arguments are not like to reach clofe on either fide; lor Poefie is of fo large extent, and fo many both of the Ancients and Moderns have done well in all kinds of it, that, in citing one againft the other, w e fhall take up more time thisEvcning, than each Man's occafions will allow him : Therefore I would askCrites to what part of Poefie he would confine his Arguments, and whether he would defend the general Caufe of theAncients againft the Moderns, or oppofe any Age ofthe Moderns againft this of ours ? Crites a little while confidering upon this Demand, told Eugenius he approv'd his Propofitions, and, if he pleafed he would limit their Difpute to Dramatuk Poefie; in which he thought it not difficult to prove,^ either that tjie Ancients were fuperi-our to the Moderns, or the laft Age to this of ours. Eugenius was fomewhat LM, when he heard Crites make choice of that Subject; For ought T fee,faid he, I have undertaken a harder Province than I imagined ; for though I never judg'd t! ofthe Greek or Roman Poets comparable to ours; yet on the other fi . we now fee acted, come fhort ol many which were written in the laft / t m y comfort is if we are overcome, it will be only by our own Country-Men : And if we yield to them irt this one part of Poefie; w e more furpafs them in all the other; for in the Epick or Lynck way it will be hard for them to fhew us one fuch amongft them, as we have many now living, or who lately were fo. They can produce nothing fo Courtly ."J rit, or which exprclTes fomuch the Convention of a Gentleman, as Sir John Suckling ; nothing fo even, fwcet, and flowing as M r .Waller ; nothing fo Maieft.ck, fo correct: as Sir John Dcnham; nothing fo elevated, fo copious, and hill or Spirit, as Mr. Covley;.as for the Italian, French, and Spanifh Plays, lean make it evident, that thofe who now Write, furpafs them ; and that the Drama is wholly ours All of them were thus far of Eugenim his Opinion, that the fwectnefs of Fnghfh Verfe was never undcrftood or praftisM by our Fathers; excnCntes himfelf did not much oppofe it: And everyone was willing to acknowledge how much our Poefie isimnrov'd, bv the happinefs of fome Writers yet living ; who firft taught us to mould our Thoughts into ealie and figniiicant Words; to retrench the fuperflui-ties of Expreffioft, and to make our Rhime fo properly a part of the Verfe, that it fhould never m.f-lcad the fenfe, but it felf be led and govern d by it £ K M * » was going to continue this Difcourfe, when Lifideius told him it was necefTary, before they proceeded further, to take a Handing meafure of then-Con-tmverfie for how wa itpoffible to be decided who Writ the heft Plays, before 'lelmowwhataPlavlhouldbei' But, this once agreed on by both Parties, each might have recourfe to it, either to prove hisown advantages, or chfeover the fail- " lie had no^n^iaid this, but all defirM the fivour of him to give the definition of aPhy- and they were the more importunate, becaule: neither Anjlotle, nor U1: :,e De^l 'ig ht _*..».d.. :In f.t.nt(S.a.* ^<fj ^MMtihU^ C n l w ^ hid ever done it. 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