ception or birth; else we would never set it down. But the safest is to return to our judgment, and handle over again those things, the easiness of which might make them justly suspected. So did the best writers in their beginnings; they imposed upon themselves care and industry. They did nothing rashly. They obtained first to write well, and then custom made it easy and a habit. By little and little, their matter shewed itself to them more plentifully; their words answered, their composition followed; and all, as in a well-ordered family, presented itself in the place *."

Between the publication of the Discoveries of Jonson in 1640, and the appearance of Dryden's Essay of Dramatic Poesy in 1667, no progress seems to have been made in English criticism. This Essay by our great poet, and which forms a remarkable era in our national literature, was his first effort in the art of criticism, and written "to vindicate the honour of the English Poets from the censures of those who unjustly preferred the French before them." It is in the form of dialogue, one of the most difficult modes of

This tract by Ben Jonson, with Sidney's Defence of Poetry, were republished by Robinson in 1787, 8vo. and form the two best pieces which, previous to the Prefaces of Dryden, our ancient school of Criticism has afforded,

composition; yet is it conducted with singular felicity, and with much attention to preservation of character.

To the Essays, Prefaces, and Dedications of DRYDEN, English criticism is greatly indebted. Though making no pretensions to method or system, he has delivered, in a style extremely rich and copious, and, for the most part, with great taste and judgment, a vast variety of precepts on almost every branch of poetry. He taught his adversaries, in fact, to discover the defects of his own compositions, many of which were framed rather with the view of pleasing an ignorant audience than with the ambition of exemplifying the rules which he had himself promulgated. The attempt, likewise, to justify the numerous aberrations that he had been guilty of, especially in dramatic poetry, introduced into his critical doctrines frequent inconsistencies and contradictions.

While Dryden continued to favour the world with his very interesting dissertations, the last of which, his preface to the Fables, Ancient and Modern, and written probably in December, 1699, is the most lively and pleasing of the collection, several of his contemporaries, stimulated by his example, entered the same path to fame. Among these, the elegant and accomplished SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE claims a decided superiority. His Mis

cellanea, the first part of which was published in 1672, include two Essays on Ancient and Modern Learning and on Poetry, which exhibit the critical acumen of the author to great advantage, being written in a popular manner, and with the accompanymént of a most fascinating style. The treatises too in the same volume on Heroic Virtue and Gardening, are full of research, and combine a great portion of entertainment, with innumerable instances of the author's goodness of heart, and general refinement of taste.

In 1675, EDWARD PHILLIPS published his " Theatrum Poetarum, or a complete Collection of the Poets, especially the most eminent of all Ages, the Ancients distinguish't from the Moderns in their several Alphabets. With some Observations and Reflections upon many of them, particularly those of our own nation. Together with a Prefatory Discourse of the Poets and Poetry in general."

It has generally been supposed, and upon no slight foundation, that Milton gave Phillips, who was his nephew, much assistance on this occasion. The internal evidence arising from the book is certainly in favour of the idea, as many of the criticisms exactly correspond with what we know to have been the peculiar opinions of the great poet. "There is good reason to suppose," says

a very learned and competent judge, "that Milton threw many additions and corrections into the THEATRUM POETARUM.-It contains criticisms far above the taste of that period: among these is the following judgment on Shakspeare, which was not then, I believe, the general opinion, and which perfectly coincides both with the sentiments and words of Milton in L'Allegro,

"Or sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's child,
Warble his native wood-notes wild."

"In tragedy, never any expressed a more lofty and tragic height; never any represented nature more purely to the life: and where the polishments of art are most wanting, as probably his learning was not extraordinary, he pleases with a certain wild and native elegance *."

And in the History of English Poetry, speaking of the same book, he further remarks, "Such criticisms were not common after the national taste had been just corrupted by the false and capricious refinements of the court of Charles the Second +."

The Preface of Phillips more particularly seems to breathe the spirit and sentiments of Milton, and is written in a strain of peculiar eloquence and taste.

* Warton's Milton, 2d edition, p. 64.

Vol. iii. p. 440.

Of the critic whom we have next to produce, though the learning and research may be praised, the want of candour and of judgment is so notorious, that few now can consult his works on elegant literature without absolute disgust. RYMER, though a good antiquary, and well acquainted with the history and progress of poetry, both in this and other nations, seems to have been utterly deficient in sensibility and taste; and his abuse of Beaumont, Fletcher, and Shakspeare, is unqualified, unjust, and gross in the extreme. Through his pieces, however, are dispersed some acute observations, and much historical information. They are entitled "The Tragedies of the last Age, considered and examined by the Practice of the Ancients, and by the common Sense of all Ages. In a letter to Fleetwood Shepherd, Esq. London, 1678," and "A short View of Tragedy; its original Excellency and Corruption. With some Reflections on Shakspeare, and other Practitioners for the Stage. London, 1693."

It is not denied, that these productions were of service to the art which they professed to improve. They familiarized, in some degree, the opinions of the ancient critics, and they excited the attention of superior minds. Dryden wrote some very valuable remarks on Rymer's first Essay; and the "Short View of Tragedy" merits notice