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Show PRE FA C E. &S rf^^^J^-.'SKSetS^f^ck reply5. jfa* «* acutenefs in a thing well laid , out trrcr ^ am f 1 ^ ^ * ^ ^ ^ ^ W ^ X X ^ of it himfeltl and who that no Man ever ™ ? ^ ^ * S f ^ ^ ^ to the Grapes. Yet, as Mr. has no other quarrel to it ^^Z^r^^XannmJ) tells us in his S ^ ^ ^ I th.k^ljere, noFolly Lharotter oj n ir,iauK f,,nerfhiirv and wafte of Wit was in SI Pre^^ «- £ *y%>. what was faid ofOt*, Uomni ejus ingento, faciliusquodrejici, qu am quod adjtci potel InZnles. The contrary of which was true m Virgil, and our incomparable ^Scfme Enemies of Repartee have obferv'd to us, that there is a great latitude in their Charaaers, which are made to fpeak it: And that it is eafier to write Wit han Humour ; becaufe in the Characters of Humor, the Poet is confin'd to make the Perfon fpeak what is only proper to it.Whereas all kind of Wit:»-proper-in the Ch iracfer of a Witty Perfon. But by their favour, there are as different Charaaers in Wit as in Folly. Neither is all kind of Wit proper in the Mouth of every ingenious Perfon. A witty Coward, and a witty Brave, muft fpeak differently. Falftaffe and the Lyar, fpeak not like Don John in the Chances, .and Falenttne m If it without Money, and JohnfonS Truwit in the Silent Woman , is a Character different from all of them. Yet it appears that this one Character ot Wit was more difficult to the Author, than all his Images of Humor in the Play : For thofe he could defcribe and manage from his obfervation of M e n ; this he has taken, at leaft a part of it, from Books : witnefs the Speeches in the Firft A a , tranflated verbatim out of Ovid de Arte Amandi. To omit what afterwards he borrowed from the fixth Satyr of Juvenal againft Women. However, if I fhould grant, that there were a greater latitude in Charaaers of Wit, than in thofe of Humour; yet that latitude would be of fmall advantage to fuch Poets who have too narrow an imagination to write it. And to enter, tain an Audience perpetually with Humour, is to carry them from the converfation of Gentlemen, and treat them with the Follies and Extravagances of Bedlam. I find I have launch'd out farther than I intended in the beginning of this Preface. And that in the heat of Writing, I liave touch'd at fomething, which I thought to have avoided. 'Tis time now to draw homeward: and to think rather of defending m y felf, .than affaulting others. I have already acknowledg'd that this Play is far from perfoa: but I do not think m y felf oblig'd to difcover the im-perfeaions of it to m y Adverfaries, any more than a guilty Perfon is bound to accufe himfelf before his Judges. 'Tis charg'd upon m e that I make debauch'd Perfons (fuch as they fay m y Altrologer and Gamefter arej m y Protagonifts, or the chief Perfons of the Drama; and that I make them happy in the conclufion of m y Flay ; againft the Law of Comedy, which is to reward Virtue, and punifh Vice. I anfwer firft, that I know no fuch Law to have been conftantly obferv'd in Comedy , either by the antient or Modern Poets. Chcerae is made happy in the Eunuch, after having deffour'd a Virgin : and Terence generally does the fame through all his Plays ; where you perpetually fee, not only debauch'd young Men enjoy their MiftrelTes, but even the Courtezans themfelves rewarded and honour'd in the Cataftrophe. The fame may be obferv'd in Plau-tus almoft every where. Ben. Johnfon himfelf, after w h o m I mav be proud to err, has given me more than once the Example of it. That it the Alcbimifl is notorious, where Face, after having contriv'd and carried on the great Cozenage ofthe Play , and continued in it, without repentance , to the laft, is not onfy forgiven by his Mafter, but inrich'd by his content, with the fpoils of thole whom he had cheated. And, which is more, his Mafter himfelf, a grave Man and a Widower is introdue'd taking his Man's Counfel , debauching the Widow firft in hope to marry her afterward. In the Silent Woman, Dauphine • 1° W £ * l £ther t W 0 G e n t , e m e n > is ofthe. fame Charader with m y Celadon Z?tJl r^6"' fl W k h midhl00d in this) Profeffes himfelf7 in love with all the Collegiate Ladies: and they likewife are all ofthe fame Charafter ' Z*ht„ u" '^xcePdng°nly M a d a m 0 n e r > w h o has fomething Angular :) & M ' t ? Uncle s Eftate, and with' th eu h Copre(s TofM e nijno ytihneg e naldl w hiitsh Mi'fthrce fFfoesd.f lAinodn MhVri s.h FiTr riue-nd PREFACE. Mr. Truwit (the beft Character of a Gentleman which. Ben. Johnfon ever made") not afham'd to pimp for him. Asfor Beaumont and Fletcher, I need not alledgeei amples out of them; for that were to quote almoft all their Comedies. B now it will be objeaed that I patronize Vice by the Authority of former Po.. and extenuate m y own faults by recrimination. I anfwer, that as I defend my felf by their example ; fo that example I defend by reafon, and by the end of all Dramatick Poefie. In the fkft place therefore give m e leave to fhew you their miftake w h o have accus'd me. They have not diftinguifh'd as they ought, betwixt the rules of Tragedy and Comedy. In Tragedy, where the Aaions and Perfons are great, and the Crimes horrid, the Laws of Juftice are more ftriatyto be obferv'd : and examples of punifhment to be made to deter Mankind from the purfuit of Vice. Faults of this kind have been rare amongft the antient Poets: for they have punifh'd in Oedipus, and in his pofterity, the fin which he knew not he had committed. Medea is the only example I remember, at prefent, who efcapes from punifhment after murder. Thus Tragedy fulfils one great part of its inftituti-on; which is by example to inftrua. But in Comedy it is not fo; for the chief end of it is divertifement and delight: and that fo much, that it is difputed, I think, 1 Hetnfius, before Horace his Art of Poetry, whether inftruaion be any part of its employment. At leaft I am fure it can be but its fecondary end : for the bufinefs ofthe Poet is to make you laugh: when he writes Humor, he makes Folly ridiculous; when Wit, he moves you, if not always to Laughter, yet to a Pleafure that is more noble. And if he works a cure on Folly, and the fmall imperfoaions in Mankind^ by expofing them to publick view, that cure is not perform'd by an immediate ope-ration. For it works firft on the ill nature ofthe Audience; they are mov'd to laugh by the reprefentation of deformity ; and the fhame of that laughter, teaches us to amend what is ridiculous in our manners. This being then eftablilh'd, That the firft end of Comedy is delight, and inftruaion only the fecond; it may reafonably beinferr'd, that Comedy is notfo much oblig'd to the punifhment ofthe faults which it reprefents, as tragedy. For the Perfons in Comedy are of a lower quality, the Aaion is little, and the faults and vices are but the tallies of Youth, and the frailties of Humane Nature, and not premeditated Crimes: fuch to which all M e n are obnoxious, not fuch as are attempted only by few, and thofe a-bandon'd to all fenfe of Virtue: fuch as move pity and commiferation; not deteftation and horror; fuch, in fhort, as may be forgiven, not fuch as muft of neceffity bepunifh'd. But, left any man fhould think that I write this to make libertinifm amiable; or that I car'd not to debate the end and inftitution of Comedy, fo I might thereby maintain m y own errors, and thofe of better Poets , I muft farther declare, both for them and for m y felf, that we make not vicious Perfons happy, but only as Heaven makes finners fo: that is, by reclaiming them firft from Vice ; for fo 'tis to be fuppos'd they are, when they refolve to marry; for then enjoying what they defire in one, they ceale to purfue the' love of many. So Charea is made happy by Terence, in marrying her w h o m he had deffour'd: and fo are Wtldblood, and the Aftrologer in this Play. There is another crime with which 1 am charg'd, at which I am yet much lefs concern'd, becaufe it does not relate to m y manners, as thc former did, but only to m y reputation as a Poet: A name of which I affure the Reader I amnothing proud; and therefore cannot be very folhcitous to Offend it I am tax'd with ftealing all m y Plays, and that by fome who fhould be the laft men from w h o m I would fteal any part of 'em. 'I here is one arifWeV which I will not make; but it has been made for me by Him to whofe Grace and Patronage I owe all things, Et (pes & ratio ft udiorum, in Caefare tantum. Jo And without whofe command they fhou'd no longer be troubl'd with any thing of minei that he only defir'd that they w h o accus'd m c of Theft, would always fteal him Plays like mine. But though I have reafon to he proud of this defence, vet I fhould wave it, becaufe I have a worfe opinion ot my own Comedies than any of m y Enemies can have. 'Tis true, that where ever I have hk d any ftory coffme fo much trouble to heighten it; for our Theatre (which is incomparably more curious in all the-ornaments of Dramatick Poefie t i ^ n t e W S K that when I had finifiYd m y Play, it was like the hulk ot S f f r W 1 N 11 2 uiake, |