1 "in saying there are several of Shakespear's "dramas, which could not live upon our present stage at any rate, and few, if any, "that would pass without just cenfure in 66 many parts, were they represented in their original state, we must acknowledge it is "with reason that our living authors, stand"ing in awe of their audiences, dare not "aim at those bold and irregular flights of imagination, which carried our bard to "fuch a height of fame; and therefore it 66 was that I ventured awhile ago to fay, there can be no poet in a polished and cri"tical age like this, who can be brought "into any fair comparison with fo bold and "eccentric a genius as Shakespear, of whom "we may fay with Horace Tentavit quoque rem, fi digne vertere poffet, "When I bring to my recollection the feve"ral periods of our English drama fince the age of Shakespear, I could name many "dates, when it has been in hands far infe"rior to the prefent, and were it my purN 5 "pofe 66 pose to enter into particulars, I fhould not fcruple to appeal to feveral dramatic pro"ductions within the compafs of our own times, but as the task of feparating and felecting one from another amongst our "own contemporaries can never be a plea"fant task, nor one I would willingly engage in, I will content myself with referring to "our stock of modern acting plays; many "of which having paffed the ordeal of critics, (who speak the fame language with what I "have just now heard, and are continually crying down those they live with) may perhaps take their turn with pofterity, and "be hereafter as partially over-rated upon a comparison with the productions of the age to come, as they are now undervalued when compared with those of the ages "past. "With regard to Milton, if we could not name any one epic poet of our nation fince "his time, it would be faying no more of 16 us than may be faid of the world in gene"ral, from the æra of Homer to that of Vir 66 gil. Greece had one ftandard epic poet; "Rome had no more; England has her "Milton. If Dryden pronounced that the "force force of nature could no further go, he was "at once a good authority and a strong ex ample of the truth of the affertion: If his genius fhrunk from the undertaking, can "we wonder that fo few have taken it up? "Yet we will not forget Leonidas; nor speak 'flightly of it's merit; and as death has " removed the worthy author where he "cannot hear our praises, the world may now, as in the cafe of Milton heretofore, "be fo much the more forward to beftow "them. If the Sampfon Agonistes is nearer "to the fimplicity of it's Grecian original "than either our own Elfrida or Caractacus, "thofe dramas have a tender intereft, a pa"thetic delicacy, which in that are want 66 ing; and though Comus has every charm "of language, it has a vein of allegory that 'impoverishes the mine. "The variety of Dryden's genius was fuch "as to preclude comparison; were I disposed "to attempt it. Of his dramatic produc"tions he himself declares, that he never "wrote any thing in that way to please himself "but his All for Love. For ever under arms, " he lived in a continual ftate of poetic war"fare with his contemporaries, galling and galled N 6 galled by turns; he fubfifted alfo by expe"dients, and neceffity, which forced his genius into quicker growth than was na"tural to it, made a rich harvest but slovenly "husbandry; it drove him alfo into a du plicity of character that is painful to re"flect upon; it put him ill at ease within "himself, and verified the fable of the nightingale, finging with a thorn at it's "breast. "Pope's verfification gave the laft and finishing polish to our English poetry: "His lyre more fweet than Dryden's was "lefs fonorous; his touch more correct, but "not fo bold; his ftrain more musical in it's tones, but not fo ftriking in it's effect: "Review him as a critic, and review him "throughout, you will pronounce him the "moft perfect poet in our language; read "him as an enthusiast and examine him in "detail, you cannot refuse him your approbation, but your rapture you will referve " for Dryden. "But you will tell me this does not apply to the question in dispute, and that, "inftead of fettling precedency between your poets, it is time for me to produce my own: For this I fhall beg your excufe; my zeal for my contemporaries "shall not hurry them into comparisons, "which their own modesty would revolt "from; it hath prompted me to intrude 66 upon your patience, whilft I fubmitted a "few mitigating confiderations in their be"half; not as an answer to your challenge, " but as an effort to foften your contempt. "I confefs to you I have sometimes flatter"ed myself I have found the strength of Dryden in our late Churchill, and the "sweetness of Pope in our lamented Gold"fmith; Enraptured as I am with the lyre "of Timotheus in the Feaft of Alexander, "I contemplate with awful delight Gray's "enthufiaftic bard On a rock, whofe haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, (Loofe his beard and hoary hair Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air,) "Let the living muses speak for themselves; "I have all the warmth of a friend, but not "the |