Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	council_n	majesty_n	privy_a	1,209	5	9.6979	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36704	Troilus and Cressida, or, Truth found too late a tragedy, as it is acted at the Dukes Theatre : to which is prefix'd, a preface containing the grounds of criticism in tragedy / written by John Dryden ...	Dryden, John, 1631-1700.; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Troilus and Cressida.	1679 (1679)	Wing D2389; ESTC R4152	72,712	95

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA OR TRVTH Found too Late A TRAGEDY As it is Acted at the Dukes Theatre To which is Prefix'd A Preface Containing the Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy Written By JOHN DRYDEN Servant to his Majesty Rectius Iliacum carmen deducis in actus Quam si proferres ignota indictaque primus Hor. London Printed for Abel Swall at the Unicorn at the West-end of S. Pauls and Jacob Tonson at the Judges Head in Chancery lane near Fleet street 1679. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ROBERT EARL OF Sunderland Principall Secretary of State One of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council c. My Lord SInce I cannot promise you much of Poetry in my Play 't is but reasonable that I shou'd secure you from any part of it in my Dedication And indeed I cannot better distinguish the exactness of your taste from that of other men than by the plainness and sincerity of my Address I must keep my Hyperboles in reserve for men of other understandings An hungry Appetite after praise and a strong digestion of it will bear the grossnesse of that diet But one of so criticall a judgement as your Lordship who can set the bounds of just and proper in every subject would give me small encouragement for so bold an undertaking I more than suspect my Lord that you wou'd not do common Justice to your self and therefore were I to give that Character of you which I think you truly merit I wou'd make my appeal from your Lordship to the Reader and wou'd justify my self from flattery by the publique voice whatever protestation you might enter to the contrary But ● find I am to take other measures with your Lordship I am to stand upon my guard with you and to approach you as warily as Horace did Augustus Cui male si palpere recalcitrat undique tutus An ill tim'd or an extravagant commendation wou'd not pass upon you but you wou'd keep off such a Dedicator at arms end and send him back with his Encomiums to this Lord or that Lady who stood in need of such triffling merchandise You see my Lord what an awe you have upon me when I dare not offer you that incense which wou'd be acceptable to other Patrons but am forc'd to curb my self from ascribing to you those honours which even an Enemy cou'd not deny you Yet I must confess I never practis'd that virtue of moderation which is properly your Character with so much reluctancy as now For it hinders me from being true to my own knowledge in not witnessing your worth and deprives me of the only means which I had left to shew the world that true honour and uninteressed respect which I have always payed you I would say somewhat if it were possible which might distinguish that veneration have for you from the flatteries of those who adore your fortune But the eminence of your condition in this particular is my unhappiness for it renders whatever I would say suspected Professions of Service submissions and attendance are the practise of all men to the great and commonly they who have the least sincerity perform them best as they who are least ingag'd in love have their tongues the freest to counterfeit a passion for my own part I never cou'd shake off the rustique bashfulness which hangs upon my nature but valluing my self at as little as I am worth have been affraid to render even the common duties of respect to those who are in power The Ceremonious visits which are generally payed on such occasions are not my tallent They may be real even in Courtiers but they appear with such a face of interest that a modest man wou'd think himself in danger of having his sincerity mistaken for his design My congratulations keep their distance and pass no farther than my heart There it is that I have all the joy imaginable when I see true worth rewarded and virtue uppermost in the world If therefore there were one to whom I had the honour to be known and to know him so perfectly that I could say without flattery he had all the depth of understanding that was requisite in any able Statesman and all that honesty which commonly is wanting that he was brave without vanity and knowing without positiveness that he was loyall to his Prince and a lover of his Country that his principles were full of moderation and all his Councils such as tended to heal and not to widen the breaches of the Nation that in all his conversation there appear'd a native candour and a desire of doing good in all his actions if such an one whom I have describ'd were at the helm if he had risen by his merits and were chosen out in the necessity and pressure of affairs to remedy our confusions by the seasonableness of his advice and to put a stop to our ruine when we were just rowling downward to the precipice I shou'd then congratulate the Age in which I liv'd for the common safety I should not despair of the Republique though Hannibal were at the gates I should send up my vows for the success of such an action as Virgil did on the like occasion for his Patron when he was raising up his country from the desolations of a civill war Hunc saltem everso juvenem succurrere seclo Ne superi prohibete I know not whether I am running in this extasy which is now upon me I am almost ready to reassume the ancient rights of Poetry to point out and Prophecy the man who was born for no lesse an undertaking and whom posterity shall bless for its accomplishment Methinks I am already taking fire from such a Character and making room for him under a borrow'd name amongst the Heroes of an Epique Poem Neither could mine or some more happy Genius want encouragement under such a Patron Pollio amat nostram quamvis sit rustica Musam But these are considerations afar off my Lord the former part of the Prophecy must be first accomplish'd the quiet of the ●ation must be secur'd and a mutuall trust betwixt Prince and people be renew'd and then this great and good man will have leisure for the ornaments of peace and make our language as much indebted to his care as the French is to the memorie of their famous Richelieu You know My Lord how low he lay'd the foundations of so great a work That he began it with a Grammar and a Dictionary without which all those Remarques and Observations which have since been made had been perform'd to as little purpose as it wou'd be to consider the furniture of the Rooms before the contrivance of the House Propriety must first be stated ere any measures of elegance can be taken Neither is one Vaugelas sufficient for such a work 'T was the employment of the whole Academy for many years for the perfect knowledge of a Tongue was never attain'd by any single person The Court the Colledge and the Town must be