4. No Man that writes well but would think he bad very hard Measure, if Baber's Admirers should praise any Thing of bis. Nam quos contemnimus, eorum quoque Laudes contemnimus. 5. Rhime fhould be fo properly a Part of the Verfe, that it should never mislead the Senfe, but itself be led and governed by it. 6. A Play ought to be a just and lively Image of bumane Nature, reprefenting its Paffions and Humours, and the Changes of Fortune, to which it is Subject, for the Delight and Inftruction of Mankind. 7. Horace's Art of Poetry, I believe, restores to us the 2d B. of Arift. 5. concerning Comedy, which is wanting in Him. 8. The Unity of Time is comprehended in twenty four Hours, because the feigned Action or Fable of the Play, fhould be proportioned as near as can be, to the Duration of that Time in which it is represented on the Theater, which being in a Space of Time, much within the Compass of twenty four Hours, that Play is to be thought the nearest Imitation of Nature, whofe Plot or Action is confin'd within that Time. And by the fame Rule which concludes this General Proportion of Time, it follows, that all the Parts of it, are as near as may be, to be equally Subdivided, namely, that one Act take not up the fuppofed Time of half a Day, which is out of Proportion to the reft: Since the other four are then to be ftreightned within the Compafs of the remaining Half; for it is unnatural that one Act, which being Spoke or Written, is not longer than the reft, fhould be fuppofed longer by the Audience: 'Tis therefore the Poet's Duty, to take Care, that no Ait should be imagined to exceed the Time in which which it is reprefented, and that the Intervals and Inequalities, be fuppofed to fall out between the Acts. These Observations of his, intended only for his private Use, and taken in this Method, will give us a lively Image of his private Judgment, fo rare to be met with in the Writings of the moft impartial and able Authors, who fometimes Sacrifice or Disguise their Sentiments in Complacency to thofe of other Men. The following Pages of his Common Place, are collected Characters out of Rapin, and other French Criticks, on the following Poets and Hiftorians, in this Method, Curtius, Plutarch, Xenophon, 'Tis eafy to fee he 'copy'd Rapin in this Method, but he has added what others of the French Criticks have faid good or bad of the Characters of each of these Authors: And from his Studying them fo Carefully, one may perceive, that Hiftory and Poetry were equally his Delight, and that having form'd himself by the Rules and Practice of fuch great Originals, his Genius muft have perform'd in Hiftory, as well as Poetry with equal Succefs. In his latter Days, he apply'd himself chiefly to the former, as will be fhewn hereafter. Before the Poets and Hiftorians, are his General Remarks on Hiftory and Poetry. But as they are Collections only out of others, and not his own Obfervations; I fhall not enter upon a further Account of this his Common Place, which has many Marks of Youth, as well as of a Ripe Judg ment. When he came to London, he took to the Study of the Law, and liv'd with his Father at his Houfe in Effex-street, where it was thought he would follow it better under the Eye of his Parents, than in Chambers in the Temple. I have feen his Common Place for Law, and, as lit tle as I am a Judge of fuch Things, I can perceive a great Difference between his Manner and that of fome Lawyers, who have acquir'd great Fame and Wealth by their Practice. The late Mr. How's Common Place, confifted of 12 or 15 Folio's, Mr. Maynwaring's of not the Twentieth Part, and yet I believe, the Latter omitted few Things of ufe in the Compafs of that Study as long as he continu'd it. He follow'd it fo clofely, that that he said himself, it prejudic'd his Conftitution, and that he found he was much better when he fell into the Company of Men of the firft Character for Rank and Wit; Into whofe Acquaintance he was brought by his Kinsman the Lord Cholmondeley and the Earl of Burlington. Before he took to this Gay Converfation, his Application to Study was fo Strenuous, that it affected his Health and himfelf, and his Relations were apprehenfive, it wou'd bring him in Danger of a Confumption. He diverted himself while he ftudy'd the Law, with Poetry and Mufick. In the Former he gave himself moftly to Satyr, and the Humour running very much upon Lampoons Political and Gallant, He meddled in both as well as Others. One of the Severeft Pieces of the Political Kind came from him; He then having not confider'd the Matter fo much as to throw off the Prejudices of Education, which he foon got rid of, when he made ufe of his good Senfe in that as he did in Other Things. While he was yet in a State of Political Darkness, he wrote feveral Poems in favour of the Jacobite Caufe, and one among the reft in which is this Panegyrick on King James. A King whofe Right his Foes could ne'er So Mild, that Mercy was his Attribute; Lib'ral Lib'ral and Splendid, but without Excess; When we compare these rash and inconfiderate Rhapsodies of his to the Mature and Serious Reflections which we fhall find, when he became enlighten'd and a Convert in the Doctrine of Politicks, one cannot but recommend to all Young Gentlemen, not to depend much on the ftrength of their own Judgments in Affairs of fuch Moment, nor give into the Fury of Party, purely because they were bred in it. For I am fatisfy'd Mr. Maynwaring never fo heartily repented of any thing, as the Injury his Wit did in his Youth to the best Cause in the World, that of Liberty, to which one may fay with very good Reason he dy'd a Confeffor. I fhall not however Sink his Juvenile Sentiments, but fhew in the next Place what a true Facobite he was, with Refpect to King William's Miniftry, English and Dutch, as well as King James in the fame Poem. Men who renounc'd their God for Dearer Were then the Guardians of Religion made. No Native knew their Features, nor their Birth; Taxes |