The Nobleness of the Tragick Stile fhou'd not hinder even Heroes from fpeaking with Simplicity, according to the Nature of the Things they talk of. Et tragicus plerumque dolet fermone pedeftri. §. VII. COMEDY is inferiour to Tragedy; and describes the Manners of Men in a private Condition: therefore it requires a more familiar Strain. But fome Men fhow a haughty Temper in the lowest Circumftances, as well as in the highest. Iratufque Chremes tumido delitigat ore. HOR, del Ar. Poet. I confess that I think the Strokes of . 94 Pleasantry in ARISTOPHANES are very low; and refemble the modern Farce, which is purpofely defign'd to amuse and gratify the Mob. What can be more ridiculous than his Defcription of a Perfian King travelling with Forty thousand Men,to a goldenMountain, inerely to fatisfy the Infirmitys of Nature? There's a great Refpect due to Antiquity; But the Antients themselves allow us to judge freely of their Works. HoRACE teaches me how to judge of PLAUTUS: At noftri proavi Plautinos & numeros, & Ne Ibid. $.270-- TER. A&t. j. Ibid. Ibid Ne dicam fultè, mirati: fi modo ego, & vos : Cou'd it be the low Humour of P LAUTUS that CESAR meant by the vis comica that he wifh't TERENCE to have had? MENANDER had given this latter Poet a juft and delicate Tafte. SCIPIO and LALIUS, TERENCE'S Friends, nicely diftinguifh't in his Favour, between that Humour which HoRACE calls Lepidum : and what is Inurbanum. That Comic Poet has an inimitable Simplicity that charms and moves us by the bare recital of a very common Incident. Sic cogitabam; hic parva confuetudinis Nothing can be more exactly manag'd; fo as not to overdo any Character. What follows is tender: at at, hoc illud eft, Hinc illa lachryme; hæc illa eft mifericordia. Here is another Paffage in which Paffion alone speaks: Memor effem? O Myfis, Myfis, etiam nunc mihi Sev. Scripta illa dicta funt in animo, Chryfidis . De De Glycerio. Jam ferme moriens me vocat; Mi Pamphile, hujus formam atque atatem vides; Quod ego te per hanc dextram oro, & ingenium Per tuum fidem, perque hujus folitudinem Te ifti virum do, amicum, tutorem, patrem: Accepi, acceptam fervabo Whatever Wit cou'd add to thefe fimple moving Expreffions cou'd only weaken them. But here are some others that rife into real Transport. Neque Virgo eft ufquam, neque ego, qui illam e TER. confpectu amifi meo. Eun. Ubi quaram? ubi inveftigem? quem perconter ? Sc. 3. quam infiftam viam? Incertus fum: una hac fpes eft: ubi, ubi eft diu celari non poteft. Paffion speaks here again in the fame lively Manner : ego-ne quid velim ? .: Ibid.Act.j. Sc. 2. Cum milite ifto præfens, abfens ut fies Can one wish for more fimple or more Lively Scenes? It It must be own'd that MOLIERE is a great Comic Poet. F'll even venture to fay that he has enter'd farther into fome particular Characters than TERENCE; and has handled a greater Variety of Subjects. With very mafterly Touches he has drawn and expos'd almost every thing that is diforderly, and ridiculous. TERENCE only describes covetous and fufpicious Fathers; lavish profligate Youths; impudent greedy Curtifans; mean, fawning Parafites; and cheating wicked Slaves. No doubt these Characters deferv'd to be handled agreeably to the Manners of the Greeks and Romans. Befides, we have but fix Plays of this great Author. But MOLIERE has open'd an unbeaten Tract. I own again, that he's a fine Writer. But may I not fpeak of his Faults with Freedom? He oftimes expreffes a good Thought, very ill. He uses ftrain'd and unnatural Expreffions. TERENCE with the most elegant Simplicity, fays in four Words, what our Poet expreffes in a Variety of Metaphors that are little better than Fuftian. I like his Profe much better than his Poetry. For inftance, the MISER has fewer Faults than his Plays that are in Verfe. 'Tis. true the French Verfification crampt his Thoughts. We find likewife that he has fucceeded better in the Poetry of his Amphitryon, Amphitryon, where he took the liberty to make irregular Verfes, than in his other Plays. But in general he does not seem to me, even in his Profe, to speak with Simplicity enough to exprefs all the Paffions. Befides, he has ftrain'd fome Characters. By this Freedom he defign'd to please the Pit; to hit the Taste of the meaneft Spectators; and to render the Ridicule of fuch Characters the more fenfible. But tho' a Poet ought to defcribe the highest Degree of every Paffion, by its moft diftinguishing Marks, the better to fhew its Deformity and Extravagance; yet there's no Occafion to conftrain Nature, and to go beyond all Probability. Thus, notwithstanding the Example of PLAUTUS, who fays, cedo tertiam I affert against MOLIERE, that a Miser in his right Wits will never defire to look into the third Hand of a Man he suspects of having robb'd him. Another Fault of MOLIERE (which fome witty People forgive, tho' I cannot pardon it,) is that he has given Vice an agreeable Turn; and a fhocking ridiculous Austerity to Virtue. I know his Admirers will pretend that he has done Juftice and Honour to true Probity; and only expos'd morofe Virtue and a deteftable Hypocrify. But without entering into a long Difpute on this Point, I main |