in nature that no man can think of two things much less two such contraries as Ioy and Grief at onâ— and the same Moment and words being the discription of thoughts to speak e'm so as is impâ—ssible If then they cannot Iump but by turns Tarbox Muly Labas is not the Fool this bouâ— But now for the most unintelligible pieâ—e of Non-sense has been meâ— with yet Heaven fits our swelling passions to our souls If every word had been Sphears Orbs Infection White Forms c. the sense had been as good But now for this Gordian Heaven predestâ—ns nothing for any man that should raise him to an excess of joy or grief or any other passion more than what he can bear which I think is fitting passions to our Souls The Soul being the seat of Passions But though it be not Non-sense yet unintelligible I 'le grant it is viz. with Mr. Commentatour Sense and Understanding I confess have been formerly of his acquaintance but he has long since shook hand with them I assure you And indeed I commend him for it he consults his own ease in it as a man ought to do at his Years and why should he burdâ—n himself more than his occasion requires When some great fortune to Mankind's convey'd Such blessings are by Providence allay'd Thus Nature to the World a Sun creates But with cold Winds his pointed rays rebates Cool winds allay the blessing of the scorching Sun Why the scorching Sun O yes the blessing of the scorching Sun looks like a Contradiction and therefore scorching is the word for thy turne Well to humour the Child scorching shall be the word But then sure the heat of the Sun that scorches men produces Plants and Fruits c. and though it offends their Bodies it maintains their Lives and if this be not a blessing Notes is infallible Nay where the heat of the Sun is so excessive that it makes the Earth barren as to the production of plants yet there it operates another way and produces Gold Aâ—d there are those who say Bays what he can will think that a blessing too Thy early growth we in thy Chains had crusht And mix'd thy Ashes with thy Fathers dust A strange Engine it must be that can crush a man to Ashes and as strange a Poyson that can turn a man to Dust in two howres time for it could be no longer since the Emperour dyed Bear up briskly Laureat there you have him For the Poet lyes Divellishly if he tells you that his Emperour can be really Dust and Ashes in so little a time But if Mr. Dryden had ever had a friend worth following to the Grave he would have heard e're this time of Dust to Dust and Ashes to Ashes said of those that had been neither of them How common a Figure is this in Discourse Does his Montezuma when he says of Cortez Grant only he who has such honour shown When I am dust may fill my empty throne Desire that Cortez may not enjoy his Throne immediately after his Death but stay till he is Dust first See what mistakes his malice makes though to his own disadvantage He has two more observations of the same kind in the Fifth Act. page 55. His Blood shall pay what to your Brothers dust I owe He turn'd Dust very quickly in a Country which preserves Mummy 3000. years Page 57. So may my Body rot when I am dead 'Till my rank Dust has such contagion bred My Grave may dart forth Plagues as may strike Death Through the infected Air where thou drawst Breath By that time it is Dust it will cease to be rank and consequently breed no contagion if it bred none before Well but to make it sense in Bays his Style let it run thus So may my Body rot when I am dead 'Till my rank Putrifaction or rank Corruption or Filth Nastiness or the like How delicately this would run in Heroick Verse and how proper and pleasant would it be for a Gentleman to speak and an Audience to hear If the Author had used Dust in a strict sense as Bays to make it Non-sense would have you believe he does he should nor have said so may my body rot when I am dead till my rank Dust c. but thus After my Body has done rotting may my rank Dust c. for I take it the Rotting must be over before it be really Dust. This Positive Critick sure would find infinite fault with such an expression as the Turkish Crown and to bring it to his sense alter it and say Turkish Turbant for they wear no Crowns Poison'd my Husband Sir and if there need Examples to instruct you in the deed I 'll make my actions plainer understood Copying his Death on all the Royal Blood She will instruct him by an Example to do a deed that 's done and by an Example that must be copyed after his Example which he again is to copy c. A great deal more pudder he makes about a Copy and a Copy and a Copy c. This Objection has a little of the Polish in it for he talks of a Copy much at the rate of the Cloak-bag But now to the Argument she will instruct him to do a deed that 's done c. Here hee 's at his old way of Begging the meaning but a wiser Body would have guest her meaning to have been that for his better understanding what she had already done she would give him more examples of the same kind for his instruction I am a Convert Madam for kind Heaven Has to Mankind immortal Spirits given And Courage is their Life but when that sinks And to tame Fears and Coward faintness shrinks Which he writes into tame Fears c. which quite alters the sense We the great work of that bright frame destroy And shew the world that even our Souls can dy The Poet is at his Mock Reasons But I am afraid the Commentatour is Crimalhaz is converted to Villany for the very Reasons he should be honest If Crimalhaz be beyond the fear of damnation and is possest that in being Ambitious Villanous and Bloody he does well and nobly 't is Non-sense for him to call himself otherwise then a convert to Villany for Conversion and Aâ—ostacy are sense only as they respect the Opinion or Faith of him that speaks ' em A Roman Catholick shall tell you of such Protestants made Converts to his Religion and a Protestant of such Converts of Catholicks to his and so with Turks and Christians c. And yet they all speak sense If any good Character in the Play that believed Crimalhaz his Tenents ill had said he had been converted to Villany it had been Non-sense But hang consideration Mr. Dryden's above it But for his next Objection Riddle my riddle can Courage become Cowardise or Immortality mortal What pretty Sophistry is this A Couragious man it is possible may turn a Coward which is the sense of the very
Play keep the Rules of Heroick and Prance in Spanish Or should I count how many times he uses that damn'd canting abso ' ere word Host for Army in one Play Granada p. 73. A Braver man I had not in my Host Had we not too â—n Host of Lovers here c. page 75. You would not think him that man of high conversation he pretends to he 〈◊〉 such are his fashionable English words I confess the Incomparable Cowley a friend that Mr. Drydâ—n makes bold with very often uses the word in his Davideis but then 't is on a Iewish story where the subject and the Translation of the Scripture has naturalized the word Her gentle Breath already from just fame Has kindly entertain'd your glorious name Here Breath hears But how the words mean so he would have done well to have inform'd us I should have guest that her gentle â—eath kindly entertaining his name had signified she had spoke kindly of him Sure entertain is a strange word in thy Nomenclature If all maâ—ner of entertainments with thee can gratifie only the Ear If a Miss Bottle and Fidle can please none of thy senses but Hearing take my word old friend the best of thy senses are impair'd and thy best dayes done Dear Heart She gave him Breath by which he does command Spoke to in the Third Act. Whose Couragious Breath Can set such glorious Characters on Death This being the only Breath in the next Page as thou saidst before after And the same jealousie that made his Breath c. Must Guild Paint Print Write c. To set a good or ill Character on a thing would be construed to speak in praise or dispraise of a thing by any body but him but with him it signifies to Paint Write Guild Print c. Nay he makes Breath transmigrate like Souls and subsist after a mans death in Parchment and Paper Act. Third For this Guilt our Prophets Breath Has in his sacred Laws pronounc'd your Death Take my advice and if thy Book be worth reprinting leave out transmigrate like Souls They are hard words thou dost not understand If the Pâ—ophets Breath did transmigrate like souls as thou saist it could â—e're have subsisted in Paper nor Parchment unlese Parchment and Paper are sensitive crtatures in thy Philosophy But where is the fault in saying the Prophets Breath in his Sacred Laws pronounces death on such or such an offender Why may not the Mahumetans have as great a veneration for their Faith as the Christians and Iews for theirs who for thousands of Years have call'd that the Word which was but the Insâ—iration of a Divinity And hâ— will is it if they believe their Prophet fâ—om his own mouth 〈◊〉 his Law â—hen he lived upon Earth and allow it still to have the same poweâ— to say what his Breath utter'd once it does still When e're she bleeds He no severer a Damnation needs That dares pronoâ—nce the Sentence of her Death Than the infection that attends that Breath This Fellow that world speak sence if he could when he would make an objection and say The Queen must die first and be condemned afterwards puts his meaning down in these words The Sentence is not to be pronounc'd till the condemned party bleeds that is she must be â—xecuted first and sentenced after which is in other words The party must not be condemned till the condemned party bleeds that is the party must bleed first and be condemned after Did ever man make so many stumbles in so little a way In the first part he says the sentence is not to be pronounced till the condemned party which is that has been sentenced bleeds there being confounded between two words sentence and condemned he makes as great a blunder as if a man should say the five Vowels are not five yet but shall be But leaving out condemned and saying the sentence is not to be pronounced till the party bleeds then he means it must be pronounced when the party bleeds which he to illustrate says that is after the party has bled viz. she must be Executed first and sentenced after Was ever such a Disputant But granâ—ing what he would say if he had sense How is the sentence past after the Execution At worst he can but argue that the sentence is given at the same time she bleeds not after it For dares pronounce bleeds and needs are all one tense But now for the blind-side of this great Master in English He who dares pronounce her Sentence which may as well be given this Minute as any other time when ever she bleeds which is when she shall bleed for when ever makes a present tense have a future signification and implyes the bleeding is to come otherwise it must have been now she bleeds Then the sense is he who dares pronounce her death when she shall bleed shall need no greater torment c. For needs is of a future signification as well as bleeds for wherever when is exprest then must be either exprest or understood and so the principle Verb needs must necessarily be of the same tense with bleeds But now for the liberal Mess of Nonsense which to prepare your Stomachs for hâ— tells you is a coming For when we 're dead and our freed Souls enlarg'd Of natures grosser burdens we 're discharg'd Then gentle as a happy Lovers Sigh Like wandring Meteors through the Air we 'l fly And in our Airy Walk as subtle Guests We 'l steal into our cruel Fathers Breasts There read their Souls and track each Passions Sphear See how revenge moves there Ambition here And in their Orbs view the dark Characters Of Seiges Ruins Murders Blood and Wars We 'l blot out all those Hideous Draughts and write Pure and white forms we 'l with a radiant light Their Breasts incircle till their Passions be Gentle as Nature in its Infancy 'Till softn'd by our Charms their Furies ccase And their Revenge dissolves into a Peace Thus by our Death 's appeas'd their Quarrel ends Whom living we made Foes Dead we 'l make Friends The dâ—sign of which is an Airy Discourse of what their Souls shall do when they are dead by stealing into their cruel Fathers breasts and reconciling the Emnities between ' em Now if she says more than she can do that is not the matter But wandring Meteors hideous Draughts dark Characters radâ—ant Lights white Forms and a great deal of such insignificant stuff is damn'd Non-sense This is the first time Mr. Dryden has been i' th right Such a parcel of confused words put together without ever a word between e'm to make e'm sense would indeed be very insignificant However sense or Non-sense the Reâ—der is obliged to this Speech for its being occasion of so Poetical a fancy as his Will in a Wisp Madge with a Candle Iack in a Lanthorn c. A Discourse so jauntée that 't is the first you have met with yet that has been all clear wit and
could no other Verb have followed Breast The Queen does not talk of Ravishing 'till twelve Lines after this and sure Muly Hamet was not so hot but he might stay a thinking while before the Sport began and so Muly Hamets Cruel Breast might be first supposed to have harboured some thoughts to her dishonour and some desires to be doing before he fell to it His alter'd Brow Wore such fierce looks as had more proper been To lead an Army with than Court a Queen He places a mans looks on his Brow and says his Brow wore looks c. In the last act the Queen says I should meet Death with Smiles upon my Brow This is so notorious an Errour that 't is not a sufferer in the common Crowd but is Arraigned amongst the Capital sins of the Epistle This Common Barrater in Poetry is resolved to jar and quarrel with every thing Surely he has lived long enough to understand better one would think Has not he heard Brow used for the whole Face or Aspect of a man oftner than in a stricter sense Nay has he not in Granada said I cannot clear my mind but must my Brow If the Brow be taken strictly then Boabdelin has liberty to make mouths at Almanzor provided his Brow be clear still I wonder how fronti nulla fides would scape with him if the Latine Authourâ— had the honour to be examined by him But for Mr. Drydens sake for once I 'le alter these two Lines and express their design'd sense in words at large and no Synecdoche 1. His alter'd Countenance wore such fierce looks c. 2. I should meet Death with Dimples in my Cheâ—k or with wrinckles in my Chin for that is smiling This would be almost as good as the incomparable Line of Almerias Kil'd in my Limbs reviving in my mind And as a Ravisher I abhorr'd him more In that black form than I admir'd before She abhorrd him as a Ravisher in a black form c. this no body can make any thing of Let it be in that black form still and any body will tell you what to make of it by what the word that points to Our â—oly Prophet dares not see him fall I 'm sure had he my Eyes As if changing of Eyâ—s would alter ones mind What says thy Lyndaraxa to this Page 93. Fortune at last has chosen with my Eyes And where I would have given it placed the Prize How often do expressions of this kind signify Eyes and inclination too Sure this Coffee-House Oracle thinks all Mankind his Cullies If he expects to be cry'd up for such stuff as this The Powers above would shrink at what he felt He has felt nothing yet as I know but her c. Sure the King had told him that for his offence the Law required his death and what means the Queen Mothers pleading for him but that supposing that Law were executed on him the powers above would shrink at what he felt Here bind the Traytour and convey him strait To Prison there to linger out his Fate Till his hard Lodging and his slender Food Allay the Fury of his Lustful Blood That is here take this Letcherous fellow away carry him to Prison mortifie him and take down his Mettle that my Mother and my Women may live in quiet for him Since he'â— so good at Burlesquing I may as properly apply it to Mr. Commentatour Heâ—e take this wretched Scribler away carry him to School agen lash him and mortisy his Letchery of writing Nonsense that the Town and the Press may be at quiet for him My Soul Dull Man what has my Soul to do In such mean Acts as my betraying you Murder and Tâ—eason Without the help of Souls when I think good Such Toys I act as I 'm but flesh and blood This is written like one that thinks without a Soul as his Queen Mother does Such Villanies I act and think as I 'm but flesh and blood c. She says indeed she will act Villanies without the help of her Soul as she is but flesh and blood but for thinking without her Soul I cannot find any thing like it For when I think good which indeed is no more than when I please reflects not at all upon the designing or managing of her Treasons or the acting of her Villanies but only upon the time when she resolves to be Vilâ—anous As if she had said let me but once resolve to be Treacherous and the acting of Treason is so customary to me that it comes easie and unstudied Hell No of that I scorn to be afraid Betray and kill and damn to that degree I 'le crowd up Hell till there 's no Room for me This is the principal huff of the Play and by consequence thickest of Nonsense c. But you shall see how he proves it The Queen Mother says she scorns to be afraid of Hell yet she plainly confesses she is afraid of it for she will kill and damn to a horrible degree to avoid it At this rate every man that draws his Sword to defend himself and offend his enemy must be afraid of him For her killing and damning to fill Hell till there 's no room for her is her Guard against the Power of Hell as a mans sword is his against an enemy And so why the is not afraid of Hell she proves in the following Lines for she shews that she need not fear it but then this mighty man of morals disputes the dimensions of Hell and the cause of damnation and says she is the liker to come to Hell her self than send others thither Oh! then the Queen Mother tells a lye and threatens to do what she cannot do and therefore the Poet writes Nonsense O thou Great Master of little wit if all were Nonsense that persons in plays say more than they can do I am afraid thy Granada must suffer a great Lop to be squared into sense Thy beloved Almanzors rants would dwindle much to come within the compass of possibility nay his large actions too which the Poet will force the audience to beâ—ieve performed would suffer much correction to be brought to standard measure And so his Picture of Achilles would be much defaced by it But 't were no great matter Achilles would be but a little sufferer for the execution that was done him in effigie for like the piece of painting with the superscription of this is the Dog and this is the Hare had he not told us he meant Achilles the features and lineaments he has made of him like Hugh Clod pates representing the King would never have discovered the original without a marginal note As I take it I have heard that Tamberlane and Bajazet at the Red Bull the four London Prentices and the seven Champions of England Club'd their Talents to make up an Almanzor But I rather think he had a more modern Original and that Sir Arthur Addles Masty Dog was his sire for hee 's very
cutting his Throat as well as this Line I 'le with my Army take a walk that way may signify he intends to fight him Just at this rate he finds fault with the last Lines of the Fourth Act. Moren Then with a gentle gale of dying sighs I 'le breath my flying soul into the Skies Wing'd by my Love I will my passage steer Nor can I miss my way when you shine there And says His reason why he cannot miss his way is excellent and undeniable Nor is his observation on six lines in the latter end of the act after Crimalhaz his execution spoken by Abdâ—lcador much unlike See the reward of Treason Death 's the thing Distinguishes the Usurper from the King Kings are immortal and from life remove From their low'r Thrones to wear new Crowns above But Heav'n for him has scarce that bliss in store When an Usurper dies he raigns no more Here the Poet describes the difference of Kings from Usurpers by their reward after death and Mr. Impertinent tells us 't is nonsense for death makes all men equal I may as well say that Mr. Drydens Notes upon Morocco and Mr. Cowleys Davideis are equal pardon the profanation for neither the Authors nor their writings are to be named ' â—'th the same breath and prove it thus they are both but paper and Ink and therefore not different If the Poets discourse tended to nothing but the corruption of their bodies I am of his opinion that Death makes a King and an Usurper equal But this worthy Gentleman keeps constant to his Notions of Kings and as he has not only made so great a Fool of a King in his Boabdâ—lin but by his sense of them through his Notes made out his opinion of them in general to be the same or worse then he has character'd there I wonder not at all at a Tenent that has been so long cherisht by him Another sentence Kings are immortal and yet dye The Poet is so far from such a contradiction that he calls it only removing from Life Yet if he had used Sir Positives own words the sense had been entire considering how the whole Speech affirms that Kings leave this Temporal Life for an immortal one But for a more glorious sentence when a man dyes he raigns no more Certainly a King 's a man and yet the Authour had said they raignd agen after they dye But I grow tired and wonder for what cause he could crowd such a Rabble of Iingles and Blunders together unless he courted the favour to be ridiculous which he of all mankind might have had without this trouble though perhaps not so Plentifully But I perceive our Laureat has done writing of Plays and though impotent yet desirous to be fumbling still like Old sinners worn from their delight as one of this Prologues has it he desires to be whâ—pt to appetite It had been much more to his purpose if he had design'd to render the Authours Play little to have searc'd for some such Pedantry as this Lyndaraxa page 17. Two ifs scarce make one Possibility Zulema p. 19. If Iustice will take all and nothing give Iustice methinks is not Distributive Benzayd p. 48. To dye on kill you is ah ' Alternative Rather than take your Live I will not live Observe how prettily our Authour chops Logick in Heroick Veâ—se Three such sustian canting words as Distributive Alternative and two â—fs No man but â—imself would have come within the noise of But he 's a man of general Learning and all comes into his Plays 'T would have done well too if he could have met with a rant or two worth the observation Such as Alman page 156. Move swiftly Sun and fly a Lovers pace Leave Months and Weeks behind thee in thy race \ But surely the Sun whether he flyes a Lovers or not a Lovers pace leaves Weeks and Moneths nay Years too behind him in his race Poor Robin or any other of the Philomathematicks would have given him satisfaction in the point Almanz. page 56. to Abdalla If I would kill thee now thy Fate 's so low That I must stoop e're I can give the blow But mine is sixt so far above thy Crown That all thy men Pil'd on thy Back can never pull it down Now where that is Almanzors saâ—e is fixt I cannot guess But wherever 't is I believe Almanzor and think that all Abdaâ—las Subjects piled upon one another might not â—ull down his Fate so well as without piling besides I thiâ—k Abdalla so wise a man that if Almanzor had to â—d him piling his men upon his back might do the feat he would scarce bear such a weight for the pleasure of the exploit But 't is a huff and let Abdalla do it if he dare But though your hand did of his murder miss Howe're his Exile has restrain'd his pow'r But though and howe're signifie both one thing Sir I kiss your hand 't is the first time I ever heard so much before He fiâ—ls a Verse as Masons do Brick walls with broken pieces in the middle Pardon me Sir if I quible with your Similitude But though and However are not in the middle but the beginning of the Verse In common Murders blood for blood may pay But when a Martyrd Monarch dyes we may His Murderers Condemne but that 's not all A vengeance hangs o're Nations where they fall What does a vengeance hang o're Nations where Murderers of Kings are punisht where they fall to what does they relate if to martyrd Monarchs 't is false Grammar If they may not relate to martyrd Kings in general the last Line being a distinct sentence from the rest Mr. Bays has reason No Prologues to her Death let it be done Let what be done Let her Death be done No let her Execution be done Thy poysond Husband and thy murdered Son This injur'd Empress and Morocco's Throne Which thy accursed hand so oft has shook Deserves A blow more fierce than Iustice ever strook Deserves is false Grammar for deserve And afterwards Whose Fortune and whose Sword has wonders done There he finds the same fault has for have And in another place And though your hand and hers no Scepter bears Bears for bear Here our Old Friend has met with Grammar again but he keeps his old humour and treats it as uncivilly as before A Boy that had never arrived beyond the construing Qui mihi discipulus c. Would tell him that the Verb after more Nominative Cases than one may agree with them all or only with the last at pleasure What does he think of this expression in Ovid. Quum mare quum Tellus correptaque Regia Coeli Ardeat But how does her poyson'd Husband deserve a blow and why does her murdered Son deserve another I can tell him how the Poysoning of her Husband and the Murdering of her Son deserves one But if the Poet has taken too much Liberty in the exprâ—ssing of it he begs his