Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

Johnfon. But now, my Lord, I am fenfible, perhaps too late, that I have gone too far: for I remember fome verfes of my own, Maximin and Almanzor, which cry vengeance upon me for their extravagance, and which I with heartily in the fame fire with Statius and Chapman : all can fay for those paffages, which are, I hope, not many, is, that I know they were bad enough to pleafe, even when I writ them but I repent of them amongst my fins; and if any of their fellows intrude by chance into my prefent writings, I draw a ftroke over all thofe Dalilahs of the theatre; and am refolved I will fettle myself no reputation by the applaufe of fools. 'Tis not that I am mor tified to all ambition, but I fcorn as much to take it from half-witted judges, as I fhould to raise an estate by cheating of bubbles. Neither do I difcommend the lofty ftile in tragedy, which is naturally pompous and magnificent :. but nothing is truly fublime that is not just and proper. If the ancients had judged by the fame measures which a common reader takes, they had concluded Statius to have written higher than Virgil; for,

Qua fuperimpofito moles geminata coloffo,

carries a more thundering kind of found than,

Tityre, tu patula recubans fub tegmine fagi.

Yet Virgil had all the majefty of a lawful prince; and Statius only the bluftering of a tyrant. But when men. affect a virtue which they cannot reach, they fall into a. vice, which bears the nearest resemblance to it. Thus an injudicious poet who aims at loftinefs, runs easily into. the fwelling puffy ftile, because it looks like greatnefs. I remember, when I was a boy, I thought inimitable Spencer a mean poet in comparifon of Sylvefter's Dubartius; and was rapt into an ecftafy when I read these lines:

Now, when the winter's keener breath began.
To chrystallize the Baltic ocean;

To glaze the lakes, to bridle up the floods,
And periwig with fnow the bald-pate woods..

[blocks in formation]

I am much deceived if this be not abominable fuftian, that is, thoughts and words ill forted, and without the leaft relation to each other: yet I dare not anfwer for an audience, that they would not clap it on the ftage: fo little value there is to be given to the common cry, that nothing but madnefs can pleafe madmen, and a poet muft be of a piece with the fpectators, to gain a reputation with them. But, as in a room contrived for ftate, the height of the roof fhould bear a proportion to the area; fo, in the heightenings of poetry, the ftrength and vehemence of figures fhould be fuited to the occafion, the fubject, and the perfons. All beyond this is monitrous; 'tis out of nature, 'tis an excrefcence, and not a living part of poetry. I had not faid thus much, if fome young gallants, who pretend to criticism, had not told me that this tragi-comedy wanted the dignity of ftyle: but as a man who is charged with a crime of which he thinks himfelf innocent, is apt to be eager in his own defence, fo perhaps I have vindicated my play with more partiality than I ought, or than fuch a trifle can deserve. Yet, whatever beauties it may want, 'tis free at least from the groffness of thofe faults I mentioned: what credit it has gained upon the stage, I value no farther than in reference to my profit, and the fatisfaction I had in feeing it reprefented with all the juftnefs and gracefulness of action. But as it is my intereft to pleafe my audience, fo it is my ambition to be read; that I am fure is the more lafting and the nobler defign: for the propriety of thoughts and words, which are the hidden beauties of a play, are but confufedly judged in the vehemence of action all things are there beheld, as in a hafty motion, where the objects only glide before the eye and difappear. The most difcerning critic can judge no more of these filent graces in the action, than he who rides poft through an unknown country can diftinguish the fituation of places, and the nature of the foil. The purity of phrafe, the clearness of conception and expreffion, the boldness maintained to majefty, the fignificancy and found of words, not strained into bombaft, but justly elevated; in fhort, thofe very words and thoughts which cannot be changed but for the worse, muft of neceffity efcape our tranfient view upon the theatre; and yet, without all these, a play

may

:

may take. For if either the ftory move us, or the actor help the lamenefs of it with his performance, or now and then a glittering beam of wit or pallion ftrike through the obfcurity of the poem, any of thofe are fufficient to effect a prefent liking, but not to fix a lasting admiration ; for nothing but truth can long continue; and time is the fureft judge of truth. I am not vain enough to think I have left no faults in this, which that touchstone will not discover; neither indeed is it poffible to avoid them in a play of this nature. There are evidently two actions in it: but it will be clear to any judicious man, that with half the pains, I could have raised a play from either of them for this time I fatisfied my own humour, which was to tack two plays together; and to break a ule for the pleasure of variety. The truth is, the audience are grown weary of continued melancholy fcenes: And I dare venture to prophefy, that few tragedies, except those in verfe, fhall fucceed in this age, if they are not enlightened with a course of mirth. For the feaft is too dull and folemn without the fiddles. But how difficult a task this is, will foon be tried: for a feveral genius is required to either way; and without both of them, a man, in my opinion, is but half a poet for the stage. Neither is it fo trivial an undertaking, to make a tragedy end happily; for 'tis more difficult to fave than it is to kill. The dagger and the cup of poifon are always in a readinefs; but to bring the action to the last extremity, and then by probable means to recover all, will require the art and judgment of a writer; and coft him many a pang in the performance.

And now, my Lord, I must confefs that what I have written, looks more like a preface than a dedication; and truly it was thus far my defign, that I might entertain you with fomewhat in my own art, which might be more worthy of a noble mind, than the ftale exploded trick of fulfome panegyricks. 'Tis difficult to write juftly on any thing, but almost impoffible in praife. I fhall therefore wave so nice a fubject; and only tell you, that in recommending a Proteftant play to a Proteftant patron, as I do myself an honour, fo I do your noble family a right, who have been always eminent in the fupport and favour of our religion and liberties. And if the promises of your

your youth, your education at home, and your experience abroad, deceive me not, the principles you have embraced are fuch as will no way degenerate from your ancestors, but refresh their memory in the minds of all true, Englishmen, and renew their luftre in your perfon; which, my Lord, is not more the wifh, than is it the conftant expectation of your Lordship's

Moft obedient, faithful fervant,

JOHN DRYDEN.

PRO.

Now

PROLOGUE.

luck for us,
and a kind hearty pit ;
For he who pleafes, never fails of wit:
Honour is yours;

And you, like kings at city-treats beflow it ;
The writer kneels, and is bid rife a poet:
But you are fickle fovereigns, to our forrow,
You dubb to-day, and hang a man to-morrow;
You cry the fame fenfe up, and down again,
Fuft like brass-money once a year in Spain:
Take you i'th mood, whate'er base metal come,
You coin as fast as groats at Birmingham:
Though 'tis no more like fenfe in ancient plays,
Than Rome's religion's like St. Peter's days.
In short, fo fawift your judgments turn and wind,
You caft our fleeteft wits a mile behind.
"Twere well your judgments but in plays did range,
But ev'n your follies and debauches change
With fuch a whirl, the poets of your age
Are tir'd, and cannot fore them on the stage,
Unless each vice in fhort-hand they endite,
Ev'n as notcht 'prentices whole sermons write.
The heavy Hollander's no vices know,
But what they us'd a hundred years ago,

Like honeft plants, where they were fluck, they grow.
They cheat, but ftill from cheating fires they come;
They drink, but they were chrift'ned firft in mum.
Their patrimonial floth the Spaniards keep,
And Philip firft taught Philip how to fleep.
The French and we ftill change, but here's the curfe,
They change for better, and we change for worse;
They take up our old trade of conquering,
And we are taking theirs, to dance and fing:
Our fathers did, for change, to France repair,
And they, for change, will try our English air;
As children, when they throw one toy away,
Strait a more foolish gergar comes in play:
So we, grown penitent, on ferious thinking,
Leave whoring, and devoutly fall to drinking.

4

}

Scow'ring

« VorigeDoorgaan »