Thou couldst anatomife with ready Art, And skilful Hand, Crimes lockt close up i' th' Heart. In Language, how rare Plots, what Strength of Wit To thefe a Virgin-modefty which firft met When his fair Shepherdefs on the guilty Stage, He only, as if unconcerned, fmil'd, Princes 43 Princes have gather'd fince each fcatter'd Grace, 44 John Harris, On Mr. JOHN FLETCHER, and his WORKS, never before Published. T XIX. O flatter living Fools is eafy Slight: But hard, to do the living-dead Men Right. 43 Princes have gather'd fince each scatter'd Grace, Each Line and Beauty of that injur'd Face;] This relates to King Charles the Firft caufing The Faithful Shepherdess to be reviv'd, and acted before him. The Lines are extremely beautiful, and do honour to the King's Tafte in Poetry, which as it comes from an Adverfary (tho certainly a very candid one, and who before condemn'd the Fire-brandScriblers and Meteor-Wits of his Age) is a ftrong Proof of its being a very good one. Queen Elizabeth may be call'd the Mother of the English Poets; James the First was a Pedagogue to them, encourag'd their Literature but debas'd it with Puns and Pedantry: Charles the First reviv'd a good Tafte, but the Troubles of his Reign prevented the great Effects of his Patronage. 44 John Harris was of New-College, Oxford, Greek Profeffor of the University, and fo eminent a Preacher that he was call'd a fecond Chryfoftom. In the Civil Wars he fided with the Presbyterians, and was one of the Affembly of Divines, and is the only Poet in this Collection whom we certainly know to have been for the Parliament against the King. His Poem has great Merit; the fine Break after the mention of the Earl of Effex, and the Simile of the Elm and Clusters of Grapes, deserve a particular Attention. After this Simile I have ftruck out fome Lines that were unequal in Merit to their Brethren, left the Reader, tired with thefe, fhould ftop too fhort; for those which now follow, tho' unjust with regard to Beaumont, are poetically good. / To To praife a landed Lord, is gainful Art: That 'twill be hard, I fear, to prove thy Will: When Scorn, and Want, and Danger, are the Bays 45 Henry Moody, Bart. 45 Sir Henry Moody was of the Number of thofe Gentlemen who had honorary Degrees conferr'd by King Charles the Firft at his Return to Oxford after the Battle of Edgehill. The Poem has fome strong Marks of Genius in it, particularly in these Lines, until thefe fullen Days: When Scorn, and Want, and Danger, are the Bays That crown the Head of Merit. I confess myself a great Admirer of Verfes in Rhime, whofe Paufes run into each other as boldly as blank Verse itself. When our Moderns corrected many Faults in the Measure of our Verfe by making the Accents always fall on right Syllables, and laying afide those harsh Elifions us'd by On the Deceased Author, Mr. JOHN FLETCHER, his Plays; and especially, The Mad Lover. 46 XX. W Hilft bis well-organ'd Body doth retreat To its firft Matter, and the Formal Heat Triumphant fits in Judgment to approve by our ancient Poets, they miftook this Run of the Verfes into each other after the Manner of Virgil, Homer, &c. for a Fault, which depriv'd our Rhime of that Grandeur and Dignity of Numbers which arifes from a perpetual change of Pauses, and turn'd whole Poems into Diftichs, 46 The first four Lines of this Copy of Verfes, I own, are quite above my Comprehenfion. What format Heat can mean, and Heat fitting in Judgment, is a Riddle too intricate for me to guefs at. Then, why any Piece fhould be above our Candour, I am equally at a lofs to understand. If these Verfes are printed among Sir Afton Cokaine's Poems, they may, perhaps, ftand in a more intelligible Plight. But, as I never met with that Gentleman's Writings, I'll venture to fubjoin my Sufpicion how the Text might have originally ftood. Whilft his well-organ'd Body is retir'd To its firft Matter, and the formal Herd The formal Herd I would interpret to be the Croud of Fanatics, that This Note of Mr. Theobald's is ingenious; but there are great Liberties taken, and the Senfe is, I believe, made totally different from the true one, which at beft is very obfcure. Formal Heat, I take to be a metaphyfical and logical Term for the Soul, as the Formal Caufe is that which conftitutes the Effence of any thing. Fletcher's Soul therefore now fits in Judgment, to approve Works deferving of Praise to Cenfure for Candour, it is certainly a very probable Conjecture. Such, Such, as dare boldly venture to appear This Play of Fletcher's braves the envious Light, And there (t' amaze the World) confirm his Seat: Read him, therefore, all that can read; and those, That cannot, learn; if y'are not Learning's Foes And wilfully refolved to refufe The gentle Raptures of this happy Muse. From |