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Show 22 An ESS AT " 777 T" .. ..' i ;„m vrtnr Thoughts. But I dare not take upon me way would foonerhave eon d £ ^ T ^ ^ f e M " r f ^ ^ 7 , ^ to commend the Fabrick rfit^becaufc s aKog ^^ unravel every Scene ini it to " ^ ^ h ^ u f e ^ t o i n e d y where the Perfons are vancesft lithe more to be admit d, became tis cumvuy onh of common rank, and their bufinefs private, not elevated by Paffions or high concernment as in ferious Plays, Here every one is a proper Judge of all he fees; n o t h S r " prefented but that with which he daily convertes: So that by confe-quencfall Faults lie open to difcovery, and few are pardonable. 1 is this which Horace has judicoufly obferv'd: Creditur ex medio quia res arcejjit habere Sudoris minimum, fed hahet Comedia tante Plus oner-is, quant ovenU minus. But our Poet, who was not ignorant of thefe difficulties, had prevail d himfeh of all advantages j as he who defigns a large leap takes his rife from the higheft ground. One of thefe advantages is that which Corneillelias laid down as the greateft which can arrive to any Poem, and which he himfelf could never compafsa-bovc thrice in all his Plays, viz. the making choice of fome i.gnal and longexpecV ed day, whereon the Aaion of the Play is to depend. 1 his day was that defign d by Dauphine for the fetling of his Uncles Eftate upon him; which to compafs he contrives to marry him: That the Marriage had been plotted by him long beforehand is made evident by what he tells Trurvit in the fecond Aft, that in one moment he had deftroy'd what he had been raifing many months. Tlvere is another Artifice of the Poet, which I cannot here omit, becaufe by the frequent practice of it in his Comedies, he has left it to us almoft as a Rule,that is, when he has any Charaftcr or Humour wherein he would fhow a Coup de Mat-fire, or his higheft skill; he recommends it to your Obfervation by a pleafant de-fcription of it before the Perfon firft appears. Thus, in Bartholomew-lair he gives you the Pictures of Numpsmd Cokes; and in this thofe ofDaw, Lafoole, Morofe, and the Collegiate Ladies ; all which you hear deferib'd before you fee them. So that before they come upon the Stage you have a longing expectation of them, which prepares you to receive them favourably ; and when they are there,even from their firft appearance you are fo far acquainted with them, that nothing of their H u mour is loft to you. I will obferve yet one thing further of this admirable Plot ; the bufinefs of it rifes, in every A a . The fecond is greater than the firft, the third than the fecond, and fo forward to the fifth. There too you fee, till the very laft Scene, new difficulties arifing to obftruft the Aftion of the Play; and when the Audience is brought into defpair that the bufinefs can naturally be effected , then , and not before, the difcovery is made. But that the Poet might entertain you with more variety all this while, he referves fome new Charafters to fhow you, which he opens not till the fecond ami third A a . In the fecond, Morofe, Daw, the Barber and Otter; in the third the Collegiate Ladies: A11 which he moves afterwards in by-walks, or underplots, as diverfions to the main defign, leait it fhould grow tedious, though they are ftill naturally joyn'd with it, and fomew here or other fubfervient to it. Thus, like a skilful Chefs-player, by little and little he draw's out his Men, and makes his pawns of ufe to his greater Perfons. If this Comedy, and fome others of his, were tranflated into French Profe (which would now be no wonder to them, fince Moliere has lately given them Plays out of Verfe which have not difpleas'd them) I belive the controverfie would foon be decided betwixt the two Nations, even making them the Judges. But we need not call our Hero's to our aid; Beitfpoketo the honour of the Englifh, our Nation can never want in any Age fuch w h o are able to difpute the Empire of Wit with any People in theUniverfe. And though the fury of a Civil W a r , and Power, for twenty Years together, abandon'd to a barbarous race ofMen,Enemies of all good Learning, had buried the Mufes under the ruins of Monarchy ; yet with the reftoration of our Happinefs, we fee reviv'd Poefie lifting up its Head, andal- •eadyfhakingofftherubbifh which lay fo heavy on it. W e have fecn fince His Majefties return, many Dramatick Poems which yield not to thofe of any Foreign Nation, and whichdeferve all Lawrels but the Englifh. I will fet afide Flattery and Envy: It cannot be deny'dbut w e have had fome little blemifli either in die Plot or Writing of all thofe Plays which have been made within thefe feven Years: (and perhaps there is no Nation in the World fo quick to difcern them or icult to pardon them, as ours:) yet if w e can perfuade our felves to ufe the .our ol that Poet, who (thoughthe moft fevere of Criticks; has left us this caution by which to moderate our cenfures; vyt of Dramatick Poefie. ^3 Vhiplura nitent in carmine non ego paucis Offendar maculis.- If in confideration of their many and great Beauties, w e can wink at fome flight, and little imperfections; if we, I fay, tan be thus equal to our felves, I ask no favour from the French. And if I do not venture upon any particular judgment of our late Plays, 'tis out ofthe confideration which an Ancient Writer gives m e ; 1'ivorum, ut magna admiratio it a cenfuradifjialis: Betwixt the extremes ot Admiration and Malice? 't?s hard to judge uprightly of the living. Only I think it may be permitted m e to fay, that as it is no lefs'ning to us to yield to fome Plays, and thofe not many of our own Nation in the laft Age, fo can it be noWldition to pronounce of our prefent Poets that they have far furpafs'd all the Ancients, and the Modern Writers of other Countries. This, my Lord, was the fubftance of what was thenfpokeon that occafion; and Liftdeius, Ithink was going to reply, when he was prevented thus byCritesj I a m confident, faid he, the moft material things that can be laid, have been already urg'd on either fide; if they have not, I muft beg of Liftdeu* that he will defer his Anfwer till another time : For I confefs I have a joint quarrel to you both, becaufe you have concluded, without any reafon given for it, that Rhyme is proper for the Stage. I will not difpute how Ancient it hath been among us to Write this way ; perhaps our Anceftours knew no better till Shakefpear^.time. I will grant it was not altogether left by him, and that Fletcher and Ben. John on us d it frequently in their Paftorals, and fometimes in other Plays, tardier,! WiU not whether w e receiv'd it Originally from our own Country-Men,or from the fcrcne for that is an inquiry of as little benefit, as theirs w h o m the midftot the great Plague were not fo follicitous to provide againft it, as to know whether w e had it from the malignity of our own Air, or by transportation from Holland. 1 nave therefore only to affirm, that it is not allowable in ferious Plays; tor Comedies I find you already concluding with me. To prove this, I might fatisfie m y felt to tell you, how much in vain it is for you to ftrive againft the ttream of the Peoples inclination; the greateft part of which are prepoflefs'd fo much with thofe excellent Plays of Shakefpear, Fletcher, and Ben. Johnfon, (which have been Written out of Rhyme) that except you could bring them fuch as were Written better in it, and thofe too by Perfons of equal reputation with them, itwi 1 be impoffible tor you to gain you? caufe with them, w h o will ftill be judges. Tins it is to which m fine all your reafons mutt fubmir. The unanimous confent of an Audience is o Powerful, That even Julias Cafar ( as Macrobtus reports ° ^ m ) w h e n ™™ perpetual Diftator, was not able to ballance it on the other fide. But wner^Later ius, a Roman Knight, at his requeft contended in the Mime with. f ^ r P ^ he was fore'd to cry out, Etiamfavente me vicTus es Liheri. But I wall not on this occafion, take the advantage of the greater number, but only « T O < t o i « t aa gainft Rhyme, as I find in the Writings o thole w h o have argud ^ h e o t h er way Firft then I a m of Opinion, that Rhyme is unnatural in a Play, bccaule S ^ X r e t p r i L e d T t h e effeft of fudden though, For a Play is the imitation of Nature and fince no Man, without j ^ ^ ^ ^ J ^ i neither ouaht he to do it on the Stage; this hinders not byt the Fancy maybe £ t o e d to an higher pitch of thought then it is in o r d i n a r y j : « ; : re is a probability that M e n of Excellent and quick parts may fpeak nohh. exteZorT; but thofe Thoughts are never fetter'd with the numbers or fo riof VerS free way of fpeaking, in that which is the moft conftrain d. For this Reaion s Ariftotl, 'Tis beft t!'Write Tragedy in thatkind of Verfe which is.the lealr ch or which is neareft Profe: And this among the Ancients ~ * j g J J ^ with us is blank Verfe, or the meafure of Verfe, ^ ^ L ^ ^ J g ^ Thefe numbers therefore are fitteft for-a Play; the others for *J*£^^& a Poem. Blank-verfe being as much below them as R h m e ^^por ye as Drama. Andif itbe Qbje|ed t h ^ n e ^ neareft Nature, they are ftill ^ ^ y ^ ^ ; ^ which i? will appear yet tions which many befides m y felf have had to, V er , ny ounded upon more plainly, how improper it is in Plays. A " ° ^ l ^ e They fay the quick-that very reafon for which fome have c o m m a ded R h ^ i*y y H nefsof repartees in argumentative Scenes receive ^™^f™^\i&t upon what is more unreafonable than to £ W J ^ A the Wit, but the R h y m e too upon the hidden ?i 1g ?M m^atin^g oi him X fpok^e |