And now, at last contented Proserpine Mr. DRYDEN, having received from Rymer his Remarks on the Tragedies of the last Age, wrote observations on the blank leaves; which, having been in the possession of Mr. Garrick, are by his favour communicated to the publick, that no particle of Dryden may be lost. "That we may less wonder why pity and terror "are not now the only springs on which our tra gedies move, and that Shakspeare may be more "excused, Rapin confesses that the French tragedies "now all run on the tendre; and gives the reason, "because love is the passion which most predomi"nates in our souls, and that therefore the passions "represented become insipid, unless they are con"formable to the thoughts of the audience. "it is to be concluded, that this passion works not "now amongst the French so strongly as the other "two did amongst the antients. Amongst us, who 66 But have a stronger genius for writing, the operations "from the writing are much stronger; for the raising of Shakspeare's passions is more from the ex"cellency of the words and thoughts, than the just"ness of the occasion; and if he has been able to pick single occasions, he has never founded the "whole reasonably: yet, by the genius of poetry in writing, he has succeeded. 66 66 Rapin attributes more to the dictio, that is, to "the words and discourse of a tragedy, than Ari"stotle has done, who places them in the last rank "of beauties; perhaps, only last in order, because they are the last product of the design, of the dis 66 position or connection of its parts; of the charac"ters, of the manners of those characters, and of "the thoughts proceeding from those manners. Rapin's words are remarkable: 'Tis not the ad“mirable intrigue, the surprising events and extra"ordinary incidents, that make the beauty of a tra"gedy: 'tis the discourses, when they are natural "and passionate: so are Shakspeare's. "The parts of a poem, tragick or heroick, are, "1. The fable itself. "2. The order or manner of its contrivance, in "relation of the parts to the whole. "3. The manners, or decency, of the characters, "in speaking or acting what is proper for them, "and proper to be shewn by the poet. "4. The thoughts which express the manners. "5. The words which express those thoughts. "In the last of these Homer excels Virgil; Virgil all the other antient poets; and Shakspeare all "modern poets. 66 "For the second of these, the order: the meaning is, that a fable ought to have a beginning, middle, and an end, all just and natural; so that "that part, e. g. which is in the middle, could not "naturally be the beginning or end, and so of the "rest: all depend on one another, like the links of "a curious chain. If terror and pity are only to be "raised, certainly this author follows Aristotle's "rules, and Sophocles' and Euripides' example; but joy may be raised too, and that doubly, either by seeing a wicked man punished, or a 66 good man at last fortunate; or perhaps indig"nation, to see wickedness prosperous, and good"ness depressed; both these may be profitable to "the end of a tragedy, reformation of manners; "but the last improperly, only as it begets pity in "the audience; though Aristotle, I confess, places "tragedies of this kind in the second form. "He who undertakes to answer this excellent "critique of Mr. Rymer, in behalf of our English poets against the Greek, ought to do it in this "manner: either by yielding to him the greatest "part of what he contends for, which consists in "this that the μúbos, i. e. the design and conduct of "it, is more conducing in the Greeks to those ends of "tragedy, which Aristotle and he propose, namely, "to cause terrour and pity; yet the granting this "does not set the Greeks above the English poets. "But the answerer ought to prove two things: "first, that the fable is not the greatest master-piece "of a tragedy, though it be the foundation of it. 66 Secondly, that other ends as suitable to the “nature of tragedy may be found in the English, "which were not in the Greek. "Aristotle places the fable first; not quoad dig"nitatem, sed quoad fundamentum: for a fable, "never so movingly contrived to those ends of his, pity and terrour, will operate nothing on our af"fections, except the characters, manners, thoughts, "and words, are suitable. 66 "So that it remains for Mr. Rymer to prove, "that in all those, or the greatest part of them, we "are inferior to Sophocles and Euripides; and this " he has offered at, in some measure; but, I think, "a little partially to the ancients. 66 "For the fable itself, 'tis in the English more "adorned with episodes, and larger than in the "Greek poets; consequently more diverting. For, "if the action be but one, and that plain, without any counterturn of design or episode, i. e. under"plot, how can it be so pleasing as the English, "which have both underplot and a turned design, "which keeps the audience in expectation of the "catastrophe ? whereas in the Greek poets we see "through the whole design at first. "For the characters, they are neither so many "nor so various in Sophocles and Euripides, as in "Shakspeare and Fletcher; only they are more "adapted to those ends of tragedy which Aristotle "commends to us, pity and terrour. "The manners flow from the characters, and "consequently must partake of their advantages "and disadvantages. "The thoughts and words, which are the fourth "and fifth beauties of tragedy, are certainly more "noble and more poetical in the English than in "the Greek, which must be proved by comparing "them somewhat more equitably than Mr. Rymer has done. "After all, we need not yield that the English way is less conducing to move pity and terrour, "because they often shew virtue oppressed and vice "punished; where they do not both, or either, "they are not to be defended. "And if we should grant that the Greeks per "formed this better, perhaps it may admit of dispute, whether pity and terrour are either the "prime, or at least the only ends of tragedy. ""Tis not enough that Aristotle had said so; for "Aristotle drew his models of tragedy from Sopho"cles and Euripides; and if he had seen ours, might "have changed his mind. And chiefly we have to "say (what I hinted on pity and terrour, in the last "paragraph save one), that the punishment of vice "and reward of virtue are the most adequate ends of "tragedy, because most conducing to good example "of life. Now, pity is not so easily raised for a "criminal (and the ancient tragedy always repre"sents its chief person such) as it is for an innocent "man; and the suffering of innocence and punish"ment of the offender is of the nature of English "tragedy: contrarily, in the Greek, innocence is "unhappy often, and the offender escapes. Then "we are not touched with the sufferings of any sort "of men so much as of lovers; and this was almost "unknown to the ancients: so that they neither ad"ministered poetical justice, of which Mr. Rymer "boasts, so well as we; neither knew they the best "common-place of pity, which is love. "He therefore unjustly blames us for not build"ing on what the ancients left us; for it seems, upon consideration of the premises, that we have wholly finished what they began. 66 66 "My judgment on this piece is this: that it is "extremely learned, but that the author of it is |