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Show \f-i---ements againft them afterwards, tho* we of foabfolute a Defeat. Or, ^^ouid^ employ his utrnoft Vigour tor a lefs important And fince that memorable Day,, you hve n ^ Courage, for that car, ne-ous Reputation; £ « < * ^ ^ ^ ftill incites you toHeroick Act.ons: Ann the ingtoOccafm J ^ ^ ' o u r King and Brother, continue to give you reft. „cen„ent lor all the tawdta ot y o y e ftlU med.tat.ng on new and a generous Etnulauonjory and when our former Enemies your Ldf, and new Ir u mphs to tne ^ ^ Njyy ove ^ e U S ' - r T"din"1 You will hen fea'd forth a Nation eager to Revenge their A f ,r1 ^ the ^ T n e x o b,e t0 Peace, till they have fully vanqu.fhU : And, like &e &»»«'> T • as the s„»,if«haveof afuccefsful ttratagem: m k s make their boaft ot a Su p ^ u , ^ al obIsiVd . ,(, C^JM.will never be ^ n i n en fo^ che Honour of your Country : 'Tis a in ,,i Highnefs, an cxtrean Cor.cerrrn ^ rf ; ^ ^ T W Q ^_ Paffion common to you with a Brotne*^n Heroick y imje . J h e Comraand. fons are eminent the C h a r a ^ r s j f ^ ^ S S L And 1 doubt not, from both your ing Part in Agamemnon andthe!WW {$ Q{ a Glorious R e i g n . a n d to per. fofm $ ^ o U )ufntoln to my Royal Mafter, without intermixing wi:h it any thing oi the Poet. . ujphnefs is preparing frefh Imploymenrs for our Pens, In the mean time, while your Ro> al^HighneU ,s pr p j g , { ^ ^ , , h,lVe been curiumj my; own Forces^ and maku* ^ ^ abfo|utd kabnt to Tranfmit you to Poltciay. * have » o m a ^ a'nd r < # are m y precedents. Both of ancicefliveandoverbo. ng ^ " W j * " ^ „ f i H ^ , U mvtr tr.»/^/w ^ ^ 2 * S S ' : l r L 2//Lt Ettf Pom; the ftridnefi of thofe Rules *£i*L%i « ^ ieadcr, but "would a/mini.ter little of occafion to the W n - S ? B« a6Charafter of an excentrique Virtue is the more exact Image of Humane Life becaufe he s not wholly exempted from its frailties: Such a Perfon is *™™?\ whom I Pre-fent with all Humility to the Patronage of your Royal Highnefs. I defign d in him a rough- „cf 7charaSer, impatient of Injuries, and aconfidenceof himfelf almoft approaching to an Arrogance But thefe Errors are incident only to great Spirits; they are Moles and Dimples whkh hinder not a Face from being Beautiful, tho that Beauty be not regular; they are of the number of thofe amiable Impcriections which we fee in Miftreffes, and which we nafs over, without a ftrid Examination, when they arc accompanied with greater Graces. And fuch in Almonxsn, are a Frank and Noble Opennefs of Nature ; and Ealinefs to forgive his Conquer'd Enemies-, and to protect them in Diftrefs; and above all, an inviolable Faith in his Affection, in,. This Sir I have briefly fhadow'd to your Royal Highnefs, that you may not be afham d of that Heroe, whofe Protection you undertake. Neither would 1 Dedicate him to fo Illuftrious a Name, if I were confeiousto my felf that he did or faid any thing which was wholly unworthy cf it'. However, fince it is not juft that your Royal Highnefs fhould defend, or o wn what, poffibly, may be my Error; I bring before you this accus'd Almanzor in the nature of a fufpeded Criminal. By the Suffrage of the moft and beft he is already Acquitted; and by the Sentence of fome, Condemn'd. But, as I have no reafon to ftand to the Award of m y Ene-mie, fo neither dare I truft the Partiality of my Friends. I make m y laft Appeal to your Royal Highnefs, as to a Sovereign Tribunal. Heroes fhou'd only be judg'd by Heroes; becaufe they oniy are capable of meafuring Great and Heroick Actions, by the Rule and Standard of their own. \{ Almanxjar has faiPd in any point of Honour, I enuft therein acknowledge that he deviates from your Royal Highnefs, who are the Pattern of it. But, if at any time he fulfils the parts of Pertbnal Valour and of Conduct, of a Soldier and of a General; or, if I could yet give him a Character more advantageous than what he has, of the moft unlhaken Friend, the greateft of Subjects, and the beft of Mafters; 1 fhou'd then draw all the World a true Refemblance of your Worth and Virtues \ at leaft as far as they aie capable of being Cor ied by the mean Abilities of, S I R, Tour Royal Highnefs's Moft Humble, and moft Obedient Servant, J- D ItllS, ' O F HEROICK P.L A Y S-* An ESSAY. WILth.r ILroick Verfe ought to be admitted into ferious Plays, i, not non> to be difpu ted -us already tn paffion of the Stage, and I dare confidently affirm, That very few Tragedies tn this Age full be receiv'd without it. M tbt Arguments wticb art form dag eon amount to no mo*e than this, That it i, „9t f0 near Conv, u Trofe, and then; But it is -very clear to ill wbi nd Poetry be raised above Latitude, that , and defcrib''d dy fofar onward of your-way, that you'have forfaken the imitation cf ordinary ""clnverfe "ibm *7e gone beyond it ; and to continue where you are, is to Lodge in the open Field, betwixt two Inns. 21, on without Rhime, therefore Rhime was not capable of dfcribing it. But time has now convinc'J mofi Men of that Error. ^Tts indeed fo difficult to write Verfe, that the Advgrfariu <f it have a good Flea againft many who undertake that task, without being formed by Art or Nature for it. Yet even they who have written worft tn it, would have written worfe without it. They have comm\l many with their Sound, who never took the pains to examine their Senfe. In fine, they have fucceed. ed- tho, 'tis true, they have more dijhnnour'd Rhime by their good fuccefs, , have du?ie L their ill. But I am willing to let fall this Argument : "Tis free for every Man to write er not to •write, in Verfe, as he judges it to be, or not to be, his Talent; or as he imagines the Audience will receive it. For Heroick plays, (in which I have only us'd it without the mixture of Profe ) the firft liarht we had of them on the Englifh Theatre, wu from the late Sir William D'Avenant: It beino- forbid. m in the Rebellious times to AH Tragedies and Comedies, becaufe tbty contain mutter cf 'al to thofe good People, who could more eafily difpofjifs their lawful endure a den him Scandt f Kofd his Char.. Hers (as I may probably imagine) from the Example of Corneiile and feme French Petti. In condition did this part of Poetry remain at His M.ij.fty's Return When irrawino- bolder as being- now cwn'd by a Publick Authority, he review'd bis Siege of Rhodes, and caufd it to be A:. .--:' D r a m a . But as few Men have the Happinefs to begin and fin fh any new I • did he live to make his Defign perfect': There wanted thefulnefs of a Plot,and the Va • lers to form it as it ought; and perhaps, fomething might have been added to the Beauty of the Stile. Ail which he would have perform'd with more exailnefs, had he pleased to have given us another. Work of the fame nature. For my felf, and others who come after him, wc are bound, with < ,11 Veneration to his Memory, to acknowledge what advantage we receiv'd from that enctBtnt grcund-wci\ which he laid: And fince it is an eafe thing to add to what already is invented, we ought all of us, witl Envy to him, or Partiality to our felves, to yield him the precedence . wh the f deration, by meer accident, I opined the next Ji r me, which was an Ariollo in hi fian ; and the very fir (I two lines of that Poem gave me lit I,e Donne, 11 Cavalier,L'aime, g!i amor.. Le Cortefie, Paudaci imprefe jo canto, ( For the very firft Reflation which I made, was this, That an Hetoick Play ought to be an imitation ( In Little ) of an Heroick Pjcm, and confequently, 7hat Love and Valour ought to be the fub. feci of it. Both thefe, Sir William D'Avenant had began to jhadow j but it was ft, as fft Vifcoverers draw their Mar, with Headlands, and Prcmor.t aria, and fimt fw Out-liei offomj-what taken at a diftance, and which the Defgner faw not clea • common Drama obltg.. to a Plot well Form'd and Pleafant, or as the Ancients call'd it, O n e entire and great Action. Bit this he afforded not himfelf, in a Story, which be neither fiWi with Perfons, mr beautified with Characters, nor varied with Accidents. The Laws of an Heroick l\ nee with thofe cf the other, but ran'd them to a greater height; and mdulf fait her liberty ofFancy, and of drawing all things as far above the ordinary proportion of the Stage, as that is beyond tbe cot Wordi and Ac i '£"> : ply'd not enough with the Grepfnefi and M tat Heroick P m |