THE Grecian wits, who Satire firft began,
Were pleasant Pafquins on the life of man;

*This gentleman brought a comedy on the stage in 1693, called the Wary Widow, or Sir Noify Parrot, which was damned, and he complains hardly of the ill ufage; for the Bear-Garden critics treated it with cat-calls. It is printed, and dedicated to the courtly Earl of Dorfet: Sir Charles Sedley wrote the prologue, and it was ushered into the world with feveral copies of verfes. The audience were difmiffed at the end of the third act, the author having contrived fo much drinking of puuch in the play, that the actors all got drunk, and were unable to finish it. See G. Jacob's Lives of the Poets. DERRICK.

Ver. 1. The Grecian wits,] The first edition of this imitation, dedicated to Lord Lumley, in quarto, 1690, is a very defpicable performance, in fhort, eight fyllable verfes, with an affectation of Hudibraftic humour and diction, directly oppofite to the ftatelinefs and majefty of the original. It was a difgrace to Dryden to prefix to it thefe commendatory verfes in conjunction with Afra Behn and Elkanah Settle.

Curru fervus portatur eodem.

Dr. J. WARTON.'

At mighty villains, who the state oppreft, They durft not rail, perhaps; they lash'd, at

leaft,

And turn'd them out of office with a jeft. 5
No fool could peep abroad, but ready stand
The drolls to clap a bauble in his hand,
Wife legislators never yet could draw
A fop within the reach of common law;
For posture, dress, grimace and affectation,
Though foes to fense, are harmless to the na
tion.

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15

Our laft redress is dint of verfe to try,
And Satire is our court of Chancery.
This way took Horace to reform an age,
Not bad enough to need an author's rage.
But your's, who liv'd in more degenerate times,
Was forc'd to faften deep, and worry crimes.
Yet you, my friend, have temper'd him fo well,
You make him fmile in fpite of all his zeal ;
An art peculiar to yourself alone,
To join the virtues of two ftyles in one,

Oh! were your author's principle receiv'd,
Half of the lab'ring world would be reliev'd :
For not to wifh is not to be deceiv'd,
Revenge would into charity be chang'd,
Because it cofts too dear to be reveng'd:
It costs our quiet and content of mind,

And when 'tis compafs'd leaves a fting behind.

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S

25

Suppose I had the better end o'th' staff,
Why should I help the ill-natur'd world to
laugh?

"Tis all alike to them, who get the day;
They love the fpite and mifchief of the fray.
No; I have cur'd, myself of that disease ;
Nor will I be provok'd, but when I please ;
But let me half that cure to you reftore;
You give the falve, I laid it to the fore.
Our kind relief against a rainy day,
Beyond a tavern, or a tedious play,
We take your book, and laugh our fpleen

away.

spleen

If all your tribe, too ftudious of debate,
Would ceafe falfe hopes and titles to create,
Led by the rare example you begun,
Clients would fail, and lawyers be undone,

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35

40

EPISTLE THE TENTH.

TO MY DEAR FRIEND,

Mr. CONGREVE,

ON HIS COMEDY CALLED,

THE DOUBLE DEALER.

WELL then, the promis'd hour is come at laft,

The prefent age of wit obfcures the past :

Ver. 1. Well then,] To be able to write a good comedy evidently implies and pre-fuppofes an acquaintance with real life and living manners, a long commerce with the world, with much experience and obfervation. To produce therefore fuch a comedy as the Old Batchelor, at only one and twenty years, was an extraordinary phenomenon. Dryden on its perufal expreffed great aftonishment at feeing fuch a first play. Dr. Johnfon thinks the idea of the comic characters might have been caught from a diligent perufal of former writers. The chief fault afcribed to it, as to all his other pieces, is a fuperabundance and affectation of wit on all fubjects and occasions, and the univerfal confeffion, that his fools are not fools indeed. In the next year, 1694, he brought out his "Double Dealer," which did not meet with the expected applaufe; and the year after his fertile pen produced Love for Love, in my humble opinion the most pleasing of all his comedies. His laft play, the Way of the World, was fo ill received, that in deep difguft he determined to write no more for the theatre. The paucity of

Strong were our fires, and as they fought they

writ,

Conquering with force of arms, and dint of wit: Theirs was the giant race, before the flood: 5 And thus, when Charles return'd, our empire ftood.

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Like Janus he the ftubborn foil manur'd,
With rules of hufbandry the ranknefs cur'd;
Tam'd us to manners, when the ftage was rude;
And boiftrous English wit with art indu’d.
Our age was cultivated thus at length;
But what we gain'd in fkill we loft in ftrength.
Our builders were with want of genius curft;
The fecond temple was not like the firft:

Till
you, the best Vitruvius, come at length; 15
Our beauties equal, but excel aur ftrength.
Firm Doric pillars found your folid base:
The fair Corinthian crowns the higher space :
Thus all below is strength, and all above is

grace.

In eafy dialogue is Fletcher's praise ;

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He mov'd the mind, but had not power to raife.

Congreve's plays cannot but remind one of the multitude produced by the mott celebrated ancients. Menander wrote one hundred comedies; Philemon ninety-feven; and Sophocles, according to Suidas, one hundred and twenty three tragedies. There is fomething very affecting in our old poet entreating his young friend at verfo 72, to be kind to his remains. He earneftly complied with his requeft, and with equal affection and eloquence placed his character in a very amiable light. Dr. J. WARTON,