Imatges de pàgina
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moft commodious method for use and ap plication; a perfon, void of all prejudice, who would take no author's character upon truft, but would deliberately review fach of our poets as had feemed to expire in fame, rather through length of time, and the variation of our language, than want of merit; one, who had not only intelligence to know what compofitions of value our country had produced, but leifure, patience and attention to go through a vaft diverfity of reading; with judgment to difcern peculiar beauties amidst the obfcurity of antiquated modes of fpeech, and the great fuperfluity of matter that furrounds them, like ftars in winter nights, with gloom and void: In fine, fagacity to difcover the grofs and innumerable errors of the prefs; fidelity, not to obtrude the officious alterations of an editor, under the pretence of restoreing the fenfe of an author; and capacity, to difpofe a great variety of select readings under their proper heads: All which attributes, as they rarely meet in the fame perfon, feem to account for our not having had one collection of this kind of any great merit and utility.

It is, however, by the idea of these qualifications, the compiler of this work hath endeavoured to conduct himself. How well he has fucceeded, will appear from the fol

lowing fheets. Though his perfonal capacity, and the treasures of his own library, might have enabled him to furpass whatever has appeared of this kind before, he did not omit to use the affiftance of his friends occafionally. As to the choice of his fubjects, he has not, like his predeceffors, abandoned himself to fiction and fancy, but has rather preferred what concerns the improvement of real life, in the moft confiderable characters, defcriptions, conditions, manners and events of it. In his choice of authors, he has not used the noted poets of later date, as Milton, Cowley, Waller, Dryden, Otway, Lee, Prior, Congreve, and fuch of their fucceffors as adorn our own times; he has chofen rather to devote himself to neglected and expiring merit; conceiving it more useful and meritorious to revive and preferve the excellencies, which time and oblivion were upon the point of cancelling for ever, than to repeat what others had extracted before, and incur the cenfure of borrowing their collections to impofe upon his readers. As to his ufe therefore of authors, he has made this work a kind of fupplement to the others of the fame kind before extant; and has began to extract from the poets, where the generality of them began to write with any degree of perfection, as to matter, method, numbers, diction and elegance. Though

Though he had fufficient temptation to have called in auxiliaries of a more ancient date, he was afraid to venture them in this refined æra of our language, till his readers might be prepared by the poetry of an intermediate age to relish the wholfome force and native beauties of older times, notwithftanding their antiquated garb and manners. The religious heats that fubfifted during the reformation, were fo averfe to the mufes, that no poetical compofitions, of any merit, appeared till the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign (though two or three Holyday Writers, as Mr. Dryden calls them, had given the world a few imitations from the Italian upon the subject of love.) At that time came out the fine collection, called, *The Mirror for Magiftrates. This piece was done by feveral hands. It reprefents pathetically the falls of many great and unfortunate men of our nation, and beautifully advises others to avoid following their example. Befides the particular praises given this work by Sir Philip Sidney, and (*) Mr. Edmund Bolton, another judicious critick, who writes not long after him, that it received the general approbation, appears from its having been three or four times reprinted.

* London, 4to, 1559. + Defence of Poefie.

(*) Hypocritica, lately published,

reprinted. Every impreffion had new additions from other eminent hands, amongst whom the Earl of Dorfet is not the leaft confpicuous. Our compiler has fcarce cited any poet antecedent to the authors of this collection, for the reafons we have given above; and what he has extracted from others better known, as from Spenser,&c. appears almost entirely new, having never been quoted in this manner, and perhaps, little obferved before. He has not only endeavoured to fupply the omiffion of the authors, from whom this collection is taken, whofe works might eafily have been had, as they are extant in volumes; but as there are many other ingenious dramatick poets, whofe writings were never printed together in editions, and confequently were little likely to fall in the way of other compilers, our author, to make his work as complete as poffible, has fpared no pains in confulting as great a number as he could procure. This might not have been so easy to others; loofe pamphlets being very liable to be loft, of not recovered without long fearch and great expence; of which one volume, containing ten of Massenger's plays, is a proof, that was fold lately at an auction for between three and four pounds. But happily between his own ftores, and the large fupplies of whatever was fcarce and valuable

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from those of his acquaintance, he has had the opportunity of ufing, in the present.collection, between four and five hundred plays, both tragedies and comedies; for which latter fpecies of poem, no other compiler feems to have had any relish. He has, however, admitted paffages from ancient comedies; not being of their opinion,, who confine inftruction and poetry to verse only And to avoid the offence that the measure of profe might give the eye in print, when mingled with verfe, he has confined the profe lines to the fame extent with thofe of the verfes. He has admitted no profeffed tranflations, that this collection, according to its title, might be entirely English: And as to the difpofition of the paffages, they are more regular than in any other book of this kind; the quotations not only being placed under their proper topicks, but ranged according to the order of time, in which they were wrote, that every chapter might fhew the progreffive alterations and improvement of our style and language. And that the work might be the more authentick, nothing is tranfcribed at fecond hand, but all the paffages are copied from the authors themselves; an advantage, as we have observed before, not in the power of every compiler. Great care has also been taken in pointing and print

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