fpite of the obligations of juftice, of rejection by his mistress, and of prohibition from the dead. Yet the scenes are, for the moft part, delightful; they exhibit a kind of illuftrious depravity, and majeftick madness, such as, if it is fometimes defpifed, is often reverenced, and in which the ridiculous is mingled with the astonishing. In the Epilogue to the fecond part of the Conqueft of Granada, Dryden indulges his favourite pleasure of difcrediting his predeceffors; and this Epilogue he has defended by a long poftfcript. He had promised a second dialogue, in which he should more fully treat of the virtues and faults of the English poets, who have written in the dramatick, epick, or lyrick way. This promife was never formally performed; but, with respect to the dramatick writers, he has given us in his prefaces, and in this poftfcript, fomething equivalent; but his purpose being to exalt himself by the comparison, he fhews faults diftinctly, and only praises excellence in general terms. A play thus written, in profeffed defiance of probability, naturally drew upon itfelf the vultures of the theatre. One of the criticks that attacked it was Martin Clifford, to whom Sprat addreffed the Life of Cowley, with fuch veneration of his critical powers as might naturally excite great expectations of inftruction from his remarks. But let honeft credulity beware of receiving characters from contemporary writers. Clifford's remarks, by the favour of Dr. Percy, were at last obtained; and, that no man may ever want them more, I will extract enough to fatisfy all reasonable defire. In the first Letter his obfervation is only general: "You do live," fays he, "in as much ignorance "and darkness as you did in the womb: your "writings are like a Jack-of-all trade's fhop; they "have a variety, but nothing of value; and if "thou art not the dulleft plant-animal that ever the "earth produced, all that I have converfed with "are ftrangely mistaken in thee." In the fecond he tells him that Almanzor is not more copied from Achilles than from Ancient Piftol. "But I am," fays he, "ftrangely mif"taken if I have not feen this very Almanzor of 66 yours in some disguise about this town, and paffing under another name. Pr'ythee tell me true, was not this Huffcap once the Indian Emperor? " and at another time did he not call himself Max"imin? Was not Lyndaraxa once called Almeria? "I mean under Montezuma the Indian Emperor. "I proteft and vow they are either the fame, or 66. fo alike, that I cannot, for my heart, diftinguish 66 one from the other. You are therefore a strange "unconscionable thief; thou art not content to "steal from others, but doft rob thy poor wretched "felf too." He Now was Settle's time to take his revenge. wrote a vindication of his own lines; and, if he is forced to yield any thing, makes his reprisals upon his enemy. To fay that his anfwer is equal to the cenfure, is no high commendation. To expofe Dryden's method of analyfing his expreffions, he tries the fame experiment upon the fame defcrip. tion of the thips in the Indian Emperor, of which, however, he does not deny the excellence; but intends to fhew, that by ftudied mifconftruction every thing may be equally reprefented as ridiculous. After After fo much of Dryden's elegant animadverfions, juftice requires that fomething of Settle's should be exhibited. The following obfervations are therefore extracted from a quarto pamphlet of ninety five pages. "Fate after him below with pain did move, "These two lines,; if he can fhew me any fenfe "or thought in, or any thing but bombaft and "noife, he fhall make me believe every word in his obfervations on Morocco fenfe. "In the Empress of Morocco were thefe lines: I'll travel then to fome remoter fphere, "Till I find out new worlds, and crown you there." On which Dryden made this remark : "I believe our learned author takes a fphere for "a country; the fphere of Morocco, as if Mo-> rocco were the globe of earth and water; but a "globe is no fphere neither, by his leave," &c. "So fpb.re muft not be fenfe, unless it relates to a "circular motion about a globe, in which fenfe "the aftronomers ufe it. I would defire him to "expound thofe lines in Granada: "I'll to the turrets of the palace go, "And add new fire to those that fight below. 66 (Far be the omen tho') my Love I'll guide. σε No, like his better fortune, I'll appear "With open arms, loofe veil, and flowing hair, Juft flying forward from my rowling sphere. I wonder, if he be fo ftrict, how he dares make"fo bold with phere himself, and be fo critical in "other men's writings. Fortune is fancied ftand "ing on a globe, not on a sphere, as he told us in "the first act. "Becaufe Elkanah's Similies are the most unlike "things to what they are compared in the world, I'll "venture to start a fimile in his Annus Mirabilis: "he gives this poetical description of the ship "called the London : "The goodly London in her gallant trim, "The Phenix-daughter of the vanquifht old, "Like a rich bride does to the ocean fwim, "And on her fhadow rides in floating gold. "Her flag aloft fpread ruffling in the wind, "And fanguine ftreamers feem'd the flood to fire; "The weaver, charm'd with what his loom defign'd, "Goes on to fea, and knows not to retire. "With roomy decks her guns of mighty ftrength, "Whofe low-laid mouths each mounting billow laves, " Deep in her draught, and warlike in her length, "She seems a fea-wafp flying on the waves. 66 "What a wonderful pother is here, to make all "these poetical beautifications of a ship! that is, a phenix in the first stanza, and but a wasp in the "laft: nay, to make his humble comparison of a wafp more ridiculous, he does not fay it flies upon the waves as nimbly as a wasp, or the like, "but it seemed a wasp. But our author, at the "writing of this, was not in his altitudes, to compare fhips to floating palaces; a comparison "to the purpofe, was a perfection he did not "arrive to till the Indian Emperor's days: But perhaps his fimilitude has more in it than we imagine; this hip had a great many guns in her, "and they, put all together, made the fting in the "wafp's tail: for this is all the reafon I can guefs, why it feem'd a wafp. But, because we will al "low "low him all we can to help out, let it be a phenix fea-wafp, and the rarity of fuch an animal may "do much towards heightening the fancy. . "It had been much more to his purpose, if he "had defigned to render the fenfelefs play little, to "have searched for fome fuch pedantry as this: "Two ifs fcarce make one poffibility. "Obferve how prettily our author chops logick "in heroick verfe. Three fuch fuftian canting "words as diftributive, alternative, and two ifs, no 66 man but himfelf would have come within the "noife of. But he's a man of general learning, "and all comes into his play. "Twould have done well too if he could have "met with a rant or two, worth the obfervation : ❝ fuch as, "Move fwiftly, Sun, and fly a lover's pace, "Leave months and weeks behind thee in thy race, "But furely the Sun, whether he flies a lover's 66 or not a lover's pace, leaves weeks and months, 66 nay years too, behind him in his race. "Poor Robin, or any other of the Philo-mathe"maticks, would have given him fatisfaction in "the point. "If I could kill thee now, thy fate's fo low, "Piled on thy back, can never pull it down. "Now |