15 As your commiffioners our poets go, began, Studies with care the anatomy of man ; 25 Sees virtue, vice, and paffions in their cause, And fame from fcience, not from fortune, draws. So Poetry, which is in Oxford made There haughty dunces, whofe unlearned pen 30 men. Ver. 25. Studies with care the anatomy of man ;]" Créer un fujet; inventer un nœud et un dénouement; donner a chaque perfonnage fon charactere, et le foutenir; faire en forte qu' aucun d'eux ne paraiffe et ne forte fans une raifon fentie de tous les fpectateurs; ne laiffer jamais le theatre vuide; faire dire a chacun ce qu'il doit dire; avec nobleffe fans enflure, avec fimplicitè fans baffeffe; faire de beaux vers qui ne fentent point le poete, et tels que le perfonnage aurait dû en faire, s'il parlait en vers; c'eft-là une partie des devoirs que tout auteur d'une tragedie doit remplir." Dr. J. WARTON. 35 Such build their poems the Lucretian way; fit, But 'tis your fuffrage makes authentic wit. } 45 EPILOGUE, SPOKEN BY THE SAME. No poor Dutch peafant, wing'd with all his fear, Flies with more hafte, when the French arms draw near, Than we with our poetic train come down, To vifit us with all the plagues of wit. 5 way; A French troop first swept all things in its But those hot Monfieurs were too quick to ftay: Yet, to our coft, in that short time, we find They left their itch of novelty behind. 10 In a very old French mystery acted at Paris, 1490, in order to render the character of Judas more deteftable, the author affirms, that before he became acquainted with Chrift, he had affaffinated the fon of his king, had afterwards murdered his father, and married his mother. Dr. J. WARTON. The Italian merry-andrews took their place, And quite debauch'd the stage with lewd gri mace: Instead of wit, and humours, your delight For love you heard how amorous affes bray'd, Nature was out of countenance, and each day Some new-born monster fhewn you for a play. But when all fail'd, to strike the ftage quite dumb, 21 Those wicked engines call'd machines are come. Thunder and lightning now for wit are play'd, And shortly scenes in Lapland will be laid : Art magic is for poetry profest; 25 And cats and dogs, and each obscener beast, To which Ægyptian dotards once did bow, Upon our English stage are worshipp'd now. Witchcraft reigns there, and raises to renown Macbeth and Simon Magus of the town, 30 Ver. 11. The Italian] Apoftolo Zeno had made a collection of four thousand old Italian tragedies and comedies. I Simillimi of Triffino, wrote in his old age, is an imitation of the Menæchmi of Plautus. See Triffino's fine letter in blank verfe prefixed to Sophonifba addrefied to Leo X. Dr J. WARTON. Fletcher's defpis'd, your Jonfon's out of fafhion, And wit the only drug in all the nation. 35 When you, who only can, their fcenes have prais'd, We'll boldly back, and say, their price is rais'd. |