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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42746	Miscellaneous letters and essays on several subjects philosophical, moral, historical, critical, amorous, &c., in prose and verse : directed to John Dryden, Esq., the Honourable Geo. Granvill, Esq., Walter Moile, Esq., Mr. Dennis, Mr. Congreve, and other eminent men of th' age / by several gentlemen and ladies.	Gildon, Charles, 1665-1724.; Moyle, Walter, 1672-1721.; Dryden, John, 1631-1700.	1694 (1694)	Wing G732; ESTC R14504	119,130	250

Subject or Book when we meet I 'll give you more of my Sentiments which nothing cou'd make me so free of imparting but the Pleasure I have to please such a Friend tho' I shall never yield to you in sincerity or any other Duties that are ●…ow'd to Cloe by Her faithful Friend Urania Some Reflections on Mr. Rymer's Short View of Tragedy and an Attempt at a Vindication of SHAKESPEAR in an Essay directed to JOHN DRYDEN Esq AS soon as Mr. Rymer's Book came to my Hands I resolv'd to make some Reflections upon it tho' more to shew my Will than my Abilities But finding Mr. Dennis had almost promis'd the World a Vindication of the Incomparable Shakespear I quitted the Design since he had got a Champion more equal to his Worth not doubting but Mr. Dennis wou'd as effectually confute our Hypercritic in this as all Men must grant he has in what he attempted in his Impartial Critic But expecting thus long without hearing any farther of it I concluded some other more important or at least more agreeable business had diverted him from it or that he thought it a●… unnecessary Undertaking to perswade the Town o●… a Truth it already receiv'd or to give any farther Answer to a Book that carry'd its own Condemnation in its self However since I find some build an Assurance on this General Silence o●… all the Friends of Shakespear that Mr. Rymer's Objections are unanswerable I resolv'd to besto●… two or three days on an Essay to prove the contrary Which may at least bring this advantage to the Cause to convince the World how very good it is when one of my Inability in so little time have so much to say for it and that without going through the whole Defence I indeed like the most indifferent Counsel make the Motion but leave more able Heads to Plead the Cause One great Satisfaction I have however I succeed is that I speak before a Judge that is the best Qualify'd to decide a Controversie of this Nature that ever England produc'd for in you Sir The Poet and The Critic meet in their highest Perfection and if the Critic discover the Faults of Shakespear The Poet will also see and admire ●…is Beauties and Perfections For as you have Learning and strong Judgment to discern his ●…east Transgressions so have you a Genius that can reach his Noblest Flights and a Justice that ●…ill acknowledge his Deserts And were there no ●…ther Arguments to be brought in his Vindication ●…t wou'd be more than sufficient to destroy all ●…is weak Antagonist has huddl'd together against ●…im that you give him your Approbation This ●…ir is really my Opinion and I 'm sure the most ●…ensible Lovers of Poetry will side with me in it ●…nd secure me from the Imputation of being so ●…oolishly vain to think I Can flatter You when speak of your Poetry your Judgment and ●…our Candor since whatever can be said on that ●…ubject by any one below Mr. Dryden's Abi●…ties wou'd be but a very faint Shadow of the Mighty Panegyric of your Name alone The Method I shall observe in these Reflections for my time will not permit me to bring so confus'd a Chaos into a more regular Form will be first to run over the Pages of his Book as they lye and give you some Animadversions in part of those Absurdities they contain for to examine all wou'd swell my Letter into a Volume and be five hundred times as big as the Text like a certain Reverend Dr. on Job Next I shall attempt a Vindication of Shakespear where he more formerly attaques him In the first I hope you 'll forgive me if I use him with no more Respect than he does Shakespear or You And in the latter I hope you will admit Recriminations on those Patterns h●… proposes to us for the Test of Shakespear's Faults as a sufficient Answer to what he Magisterially lays down as Self-Evident with a Scornful tho' Clumsy Jest without any other Reason to confirm it if not as a Demonstration of that Injur'd Poet's Excellence And that we may from thence conclude with Mr. Rymer as he ha●… it in his Preface to Rapin since his Standards o●… Perfection are equally culpable That the greatest Wits both Modern and Ancient sometimes slip a●… are liable to Cavils And by consequence that all his Pains were needless to bring Shakespear into that Number since his greatest Admirers eve●… confess'd he had Faults Tho' no Man but himself I believe ever Rob'd him of all Excellence and I must say That most that he produces are mee●… Cavils and convict him of being one of those Critics that like Wasps rather annoy the Bee's than terrifie the Drones But indeed the Lovers of Shakespear may well forgive the Author of Edgar and this Short view of Tragedy whatever he can say against his Excellence and Genius since being his Opposité 't is no wonder his Mind 's not capacious enough to Comprehend nor his Tast Poetical enough to relish the Noble Thoughts which the Ingenious have admir'd in Shakespear ever since he Writ It has been the Fate of most Critics on Poetry to Err in those Things they Condemn in others or to discover by their Writing how ill quality'd they are to judge of any thing but the Regularity of the Structure of a Poem which the Known Rules of Art furnish them with the chief formation of a Poet being wanting Nature denying them the Divitem Venam Petronius Arbiter so severe on Lucan and Seneca for on them he reflects in his Satyricen kept not clear of that unnatural Affectation he condemn'd in them Joseph and Julius Scaliger as Rapin observes had the Art but wanted the supply of Nature when they attempted Poetry But Mr. Rymer in any thing he has yet publish'd has not the l●…ast shadow of pretence to the Excellence of either of these Petronius had Wit had Fire a Genius and Language and tho the Scaligers were not Poets yet had they the Merits of pretty good Critics but this Gentleman has scarce produc'd one Criticism that is not borrow'd from Rapin Da●… or Boss●… and mis-apply'd to Shakespear And for his Poetry from the Heroic Tragedy of Edgar to the River zounds he discovers not the least Genius nor Tast of it and therefore must be granted a very incompetent Judge of such a Poet as Shakespear is Some of my Friends whose Authority was very great with me wou'd needs have me examine Edgar but there were two things that obstructed my complyance with them The First That it was so abominably stor'd with Opium that I cou'd not possibly keep my Eyes open to read it attentively The other That 't was such a Banter in it self on Poetry and sense that all the pains I cou'd take about it wou'd be only to give him the vanity of imagining it worth any Man's taking Notice of The Piece now under our Consideration is in a Vein something more merry and uncommon

shall never cause any opinion but what is the natural Result of your Conduct in it that is that you are a Lady of Sense and Honour and I only think you have us'd too much Caution in this tedious delay You have sacrificed abundantly too much time to Formality and Custom for 't is those two that make the Ladies more hard of access than Men. My first Letter had been sufficient to have gain'd me admission to any Man nay to Hobbs himself and where our Esteem for a Lady is of the same nature viz. a Love of her Mind bounded with a just Friendship all delays are but needless Cautions I only urge this Madam to shew you how far I 'm from entertaining any ill thoughts of the dear Favour you bestowed on me in your Last and I 'm abundantly assured that the satisfaction of your Conversation will answer my Expectation for whatever you may think of dull Terrestrial Conversation true in reference to what my Alloy will give it 't is my opinion it cannot be dash'd with much of Earthly Dulness where Urania is to give it Life and Spirit You have reason I must confess to be something cautious in making a new Friendship with one you know not since you have been Deceived so much deceived in one you thought you might so well depend on as Asdrubal whose Name was well suited to his Nature and if of his own choice certainly his Punick Faith made him so fond of a Carthaginian Name But since Experience can't secure you in a Friend I fansie Madam 't would not be Impolitick to try what Chance will do throw your self entirely on that and be absolutely my Friend without any more Caution Mr. Dryden says There 's a necessity in Fate Why still the brave bold Man is Fortunate The Cautious sift things with a too nice and jealous Eye to be easily Happy whereas if we will really be so we must a little contribute to the cheating our selves into an opinion of it for Happiness is nothing but Opinion and tho this sometimes end too soon yet it makes some amends by the Pleasure it gave us whilst we entertain'd the dear Amusement whereas the Cautious are always in pain to avoid Pain which is like dying for fear of Death Let not therefore the perfidious Ingratitude of the faithless Carthaginian influence your Judgment of Viridomar who is not only an irreconcileable Enemy to Ingratitude and Insincerity but a hater of all Common Wealths because they have always signaliz'd their Ingratitude and indeed lie under a necessity of always being so So that the thing you dislike in me ought to be your greatest satisfaction and assurance of my Fidelity and Honour in chusing rather to Suffer than Triumph for I have a Soul ambitious as any Man but Urania 't is a brave Ambition governs me I wou'd be Great and Just but rather Just than Great I wou'd be Great to have it in my power to do Good to destroy those Villains that Influence the Best of Princes and make them act contrary to their Natures for I cou'd shew a Path Princes might tread to Power Wealth and Honour consistent with the Love the Interest and the Glory of their Countries But cou'd I make my Country the Envy of Europe and Mistress of both the Indies and of a lasting Unity at Home I wou'd not part with my Faith my Honour nor my Sincerity to effect it Let not Asdrubal therefore be the Rule of your Judgment of Viridomar but assure your self I wou'd not yield to you in Faith and Sincerity And as you will atone for all the faults I have experienced in your ●…ex so I 'll act with such an emulation of your Vertues that I 'll force you to confess I differ from most Men. Oh! I wou'd Die before I 'd make my Friend and Benefactor my Tool my Step to pass the dirty Plashes of my Fortune and then Regard her no more as Asdrubal has done No let me be Just and Poor rather than thrive by Villainy A Woman qualified like Urania ought to be valued above the World and shall by Viridomar if she admits his Friendship I tell you my whole Soul Urania you see it naked as Heaven and void of all Disguise I 'm weary of this Villainous World and the endless as well as bootless Impertinencies of the Conversations of my own Sex a wretched Circle they move in of Prophaneness Nonsense and Hurry I have had too large a share in this foolish Prize these destructive Baubles of the Town that Men like Fools bedeck themselves withal proud of their very Infamy I Long I Sigh for a dear Refuge from them all and nothing like the Converse of Urania whose Sense as well as Sex affords a more reasonable and calmer Joy the sense of it transports my Mind with such a strange Impetuosity to establish a Friendship with you that I 'm extreamly uneasie till I see you and shall expect Friday with the most impatient desire when according to your appointment I 'll certainly wait on you and with this send you the thanks of the most grateful Mind for this Generous Condescention to the Importunity of Madam Your faithful and sincere Friend and Humble Servant Viridomar An Essay at a Vindication of Love in Tragedies against Rapin and Mr. Rymer Directed to Mr. DENNIS THE short yet just Account you give in your Prefatory Epistle to the Impartial Critic of the Reasons that hindred the Gracians from bringing the tender Scenes of Love on the Stage in their Tragedies makes me wish you had proceeded to a full Vindication of the Practice of our Poets in that particular and indeed this Letter is design'd to provoke you to such an Undertaking which wou'd effectually stop the ●…lamours of some Cynical Critics that will not allow any thoughts of Love agreeable to the Majesty of Tragedy The chief Arguments indeed which these Gentlemen bring are from the Practice of the Ancients the cause of which you have given in the above quoted Epistle whose Authority they are of opinion shou'd out-weigh Reason But since the Ipse dixit has been so long laid aside in Philosophy as an enemy to our Enquiries into Nature I can see no reason why it shou'd be of so much greater force in Poetry since 't is perhaps almost as prejudicial to our imitation of Nature in This as to our discovery of it in the Other As far as the Ancients and the Rules Aristotle draws from them agree with the Character you give these of being nothing but good sense and Nature reduc'd to Method I shall close with them but when they either deviate from this or reach not up to what may be done I must think it but just to withdraw my self from the subjection of the Stagyrite who has had a Reign long enough o'er the Minds of Mankind and an Empire that far exceeded the Extent and Continuance of his Royal Pupil Alexander But to deal fairly with our Opponents I

to be preserv'd by them and by consequence that the Possession of the Stage the Moderns have given it is an Improvement of Tragedy and not a Derogation The end of Tragedy is as Rapin more than once assures us the rectifying the Passions by the Passions themselves in calming by their Emotion the Troubles they wou'd excite in the Heart From hence 't is evident that unless Love betaken in the most predominant and violent of Passions Tragedy cannot perfect its Cure since it must leave the most considerable Distemper for so are all the Passions that are not regulated by Reason without any Remedy But in his 17 th particular Reflection where he mentions the ●…nd of Tragedy he seems to contradict himself when he first says Pride and Hardness of Heart were the most important Fa●…lts not most important to be cur'd if not general by so public a Cure to be regulated and yet a little after he tells us that Man is naturally timorous and compassionate Now he that is naturally compassionate can never be accus'd of Hardness of Heart with any Shew of Reason and Justice But something must be said to reduce the end of Tragedy to their Notions whereas 't is indeed the regulating all the most important Passions and Vices of Mankind which contribute to the Disturbance of his Peace and Happiness and obstruct his Progress in Vertue Now it must be granted that Love as well as other Passions when it has past the Boundaries of Reason becomes destructive to our Happiness and Vertue and ought therefore as much to be Purg'd as Fear or Pity In short if the chief Aim of Tragedy be the moving of Terror and Compassion 't is evident Love is extremely conducive to that end and therefore not ill made use of by our Poets The next Objection that is made against Love in our Tragedy is that it discovers a Weakness of Genius For Rapin tells us that it discovers a Weakness of Genius not to be able to sustain an Action on the Theatre with moving Terror and Pity only But he here supposes that Love does not contribute to the same end as I have made evident already He must be extremely out of Humor with the Moderns else he wou'd never make this an Objection against their Strength of Geni●…s which is an Argument of their Judgment for they evidently saw by the Performances of the Gr●…s that Terror and Pity could not be mov'd always by the barren Repetition of the same Method to it And it were to be wish'd that Sophocles and Euripides had been sensible of this they wou'd then never have fail'd in keeping up the Dignity and Majesty of the Theatre as they have in some of those few Plays we have of theirs For we find a great Sterility in some of those Seven Plays of Sophocles as to the Design and End of Tragedy as well as Noble Thoughts What Terror or Pity can P●…iloctetes move or where are the Great and Noble Thoughts to support it Where is the Majesty of Oedi●…s Coloneus which Rapin himself grants to be low and degenerate Nor can I discover the mighty Pity and Terror that can be mov'd by the bringing in a Madman on the Stage and a company of dead Sheep about him I 'm sure 't wou'd make an Audience here laugh Nay I must declare nor am I troubl'd at what Use the Critics will make of it I think his Master-piece out-done by Mr. Dryden in his All for Love both in the Intrigue and Discovery which are built on an abundantly more probable Foundation and not one jot less surprizing and fine Nor will I yield that the Thought and Expression of Sophocles at all excell our English The last Objection Rapin conjures up against Love is That it is opposite to the Reformation of the Stage I can discover no such matter in any or at least in the best of our English Tragedies and by Corneil's Discourse on his Theod●…a we find the French Theatre more Chast than the Pulpit Nor can I discover any thing in ours that comes short of that Purity that becomes Ladies of the severest Honour to hear I cannot say that for the Comedy of our Stage which as to Tragedy I think needs no Reformation To pass therefore from the Objections against Love to the prejudicial Effects our Plays owe to it I find them too in Number●… 1. That it hinders those admirable Impressions those of the Ancients made on their Audience 2. That it causes the decay of a Tragedy's Reputation in a Year or two The first he builds on a Fallacy viz. The wonderful Impressions the Perseus and Andromeda of Euripides had on the Abderites This is not to be attributed to the Excellence either of the Poet or the People who were so gross to think Democritus Mad when in the most reasonable Employment of his Studies the Dissection of Animals Besides the true cause of this Success of these Poems is not to be granted to the Excellence of the Poet but the Distemper the People of that City were Infected with at that time being all Poetically Mad. As a Witness of the truth of this hear the Account Coelius lib. 3. Cap. 4. as I find it Quoted gives of it 'T is reported that the Abderites in the time of Lysimachus were Infected with a new and strange kind of Distemper the progress of which was in this manner First of all an extream violent burning Fever seiz'd them and ●…ag'd through the whole Town on the Seventh day the Blood in great abundance burst out at their Noses and some of them were affected with violent Sweatings after which the Fever ended but still a very ridiculous Distemper possess'd all their Minds they all ran Mad after Tragedies thundring the Iambics about as loud as they could possibly bawl but what they chiefly Sung was the Andromeda of Euripides and the Words of Perseus This strange and uncommon Madness diffus'd it self very far till the Winter and the severe Cold coming on put an end to this Evil. Thus he And can there be any thing more unfair and absurd than this condemning our Plays for not making such Impressions on the Audience as the Andromeda of Euripides did on the Abderites who were Distracted with a Fever that made them Ravish'd with any Poetry for we find that it was not the Andromeda of Euripides only but chiefly That they Recited But were it true that these Plays of the Ancients made these wondrous Impressions on People in their Wits I 'm sure it is not our Poets fault that ours are less Efficacious the Passions cannot be more finely touch'd than in All ●…or Love and several other Plays of Mr. Dryden Mr. Otway c. We must therefore attribute it to another Cause The Audience at least the Major part of it was compos'd of People not acquainted with the dismal Catastrophe's of Princes which History now so abundantly furnishes us with and so the uncommon Miseries of Princes on their Stage