Loves or such like concernments, yet under that umbrage treats oft times of higher matters, thought convenient to be spoken of rather mysteriously and obscurely then in plain tearms; the Elegiac seems intended at first for com5 plaint of crosses in Love or other calamitous accidents, but became applicable afterwards to all manner of subjects and various occasions; the Lyric consists of Songs or Airs of Love, or other the most soft and delightfull subject, in verse most apt for Musical Composition, such as the 10 Italian Sonnet, but most especially Canzon and Madrigal before mentioned, and the English Ode heretofore much after the same manner; the Dramatic comprehends Satyr and her two Daughters, Tragedy and Comedy; the Epic is of the largest extent, and includes all that is narrative 15 either of things or Persons, the hig(he)st degree whereof is the Heroic, as Tragedy of the Dramatic, both which consist in the greatness of the Argument and this is that which makes up the Perfection of a Poet; in other Arguments a Man may appear a good Poet, in the right 20 management of this alone a great Poet; for if Invention be the grand part of a Poet or Maker, and Verse the least, then certainly the more sublime the Argument, the nobler the Invention, and by consequence the greater the Poet; and therefore it is not a meer Historical relation, spic't 25 over with a little slight fiction, now and then a personated vertue or vice rising out of the ground and uttering a speech, which makes a Heroic Poem; but it must be rather a brief, obscure, or remote Tradition, but of some remarkable piece of story, in which the Poet hath an ample 30 feild to inlarge by feigning of probable circumstances, in which, and in proper Allegorie, Invention (the well management whereof is indeed no other then decorum) principally consisteth, and wherein there is a kind of truth even in the midst of Fiction; for what ever is pertinently 35 said by way of Allegorie is Morally though not Historically

true; and circumstances, the more they have of verisimility, the more they keep up the reputation of the Poet, whose business it is to deliver feign'd things as like to truth as may be, that is to say, not too much exceeding apprehension or the beleif of what is possible or likely, or 5 positively contradictory to the truth of History. So that it would be absurd in a Poet to set his Hero upon Romantic actions (let his courage be what it will) exceeding Human strength and power, as to fight singly against whole Armies and come off unhurt, at least if a mortal Man, and 10 not a Deity or armed with Power Divine; in like manner to transgress so far the compute of time as to bring together those that liv'd several Ages asunder, as if Alexander the Great should be brought to fight a single Duel with Julius Cæsar, would either argue a shamefull 15 ignorance in Chronologie or an irregular and boundless licence in Poetical fiction, which I reckon is allow'd the Poet chiefly upon this consideration, because being supposed as he ought to understand the ways of Heroic vertue & Magnanimity from better principles then those of 2 common and implicite opinion, he hath the advantage of representing and setting forth greater Idea's and more noble Examples then probably can be drawn from known History; and indeed there is no ingenuous or excellent quality, either native or acquired, wherewith he should 25 not be fully acquainted, no part of Learning in which he ought not to be exactly instructed; since, as a curious piece of History-painting, which is the highest perfection in the Art of Picture, is the result of several other Arts, as Perspective, Proportion, the knowledge of 30 History, Morality, the passions of the mind, &c., so Heroic Poesie ought to be the result of all that can be contrived of profit, delight, or ornament, either from experience in human affairs or from the knowledge of all Arts and Sciences, it being but requisite that the same 35

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Work which sets forth the highest Acts of Kings and Heroes should be made fit to allure the inclinations of such like Persons to a studious delight in reading of those things which they are desired to imitate.

They likewise very much erre from probability of circumstance who go about to describe antient things after a modern Model, which is an untruth even in Poetry it self, and so against all Decorum that it shows no otherwise then as if a Man should read the Antient History of the 10 Persians or Egyptians to inform himself of the customs and manners of the modern Italians and Spaniards; besides that our Author should avoid, as much as might be, the making such descriptions as should any way betray his ignorance in antient customs, or any other 15 knowledge in which he ought industriously to shew himself accomplish't.

There is also a Decorum to be observ'd in the style of the H. Poem, that is, that it be not inflate or gingling with an empty noise of Words, nor creepingly low and 20 insipid, but of a Majesty suitable to the Grandeur of the subject, not nice or ashamed of vulgarly unknown or unusual words, if either tearms of Art well chosen or proper to the occasion, for fear of frighting the Ladies from reading, as if it were not more reasonable that Ladies 25 who will read Heroic Poem should be qualified accordingly, then that the Poet should check his fancy for such, either Men or Ladys, whose capacities will not ascend above Argalus and Parthenia. Next to the Heroic Poem (if not, as some think, equal) is Tragedy, in conduct very 30 different,in heighth of Argument alike, as treating only of the actions and concernments of the most Illustrious Persons, whereas Comedy sets before us the humours, converse, and designs of the more ordinary sort of People: the chief parts thereof are the 0os & πálos, by which latter 35 is meant that moving and Pathetical manner of expression,

which in some respect is to exceed the highest that can be delivered in Heroic Poesie, as being occasioned upon representing to the very life the unbridled passions of Love, Rage, and Ambition, the violent ends or down falls of great Princes, the subversion of Kingdoms and Estates, 5 or what ever else can (be) imagined of funest or Tragical, all which will require a style not ramping, but passionately sedate & moving; as for the Ethos, waving farther large Discourses, as intending a Preface only, not Poetical System, I shall only leave it to consideration whether the 10 use of the Chorus and the observation of the ancient Law of Tragedy, particularly as to limitation of time, would not rather, by reviving the pristine glory of the Tragicall, advance then diminish the present, adding moreover this caution that the same Indecorums are to be avoided in 15 Tragedy as have already been intimated in Heroic Poem, besides one incident to Tragedy alone, as namely that Linsie-woolsie intermixture of Comic mirth with Tragic seriousness, which being so frequently in use, no wonder if the name of Play be apply'd without distinction as well 20 to Tragedy as Comedy; and for the Verse, if it must needs be Rime, I am clearly of opinion that way of Versifying, which bears the name of Pindaric, and which hath no necessity of being divided into Strophs or Stanzas, would be much more suitable for Tragedy then the continued 25 Rhapsodie of Riming Couplets, which whoever shall mark it well will find it appear too stiff and of too much constraint for the liberty of conversation and the interlocution of several Persons: and now before (I) conclude, I cannot but call to mind something that may be yet alledged 30 against some very noted Writers, either Philosophers, Historians, Mathematicians, or the like, here mentioned, who for what they are said to have written in Poetry, being perhaps but small or inconsiderable, will scarce be thought worthy a place among the Poets; It is true, indeed, they 35

do not shine here as in their proper Sphear of Fame; nevertheless, since it is not ungrateful to many to know all that hath been written by famous Men, as well in the Arts they least as those they most profess, and since the 5 Register of one Science only may well take the greater Scope within that circuit, I judged it not impertinent to mention, as well those Famous men in other Faculties who have also writ Poetically, as the most Famous of Poetical Writers, considering especially how largely the Name of 10 Poet is generally taken; for if it were once brought to a strict Scrutinie who are the right genuine and true born Poets, I fear me our number would fall short, and there are many that have a Fame deservedly for what they have writ even in Poetry it self, who, if they came to the test, 15 I question how well they would endure to hold open their Eagle eys against the Sun: Wit, Ingenuity, and Learning in Verse, even Elegancy it self, though that comes neerest, are one thing, true Native Poetry is another; in which there is a certain Air and Spirit which perhaps the most 20 Learned and judicious in other Arts do not perfectly

apprehend, much less is it attainable by any Study or Industry; nay, though all the Laws of Heroic Poem, all the Laws of Tragedy were exactly observed, yet still this tour entrejeant, this Poetic Energie, if I may so call it, 25 would be required to give life to all the rest, which shines through the roughest, most unpolish't, and antiquated Language, and may happly be wanting in the most polite and reformed; let us observe Spencer, with all his Rustie, obsolete words, with all his rough-hewn, clowterly Verses, 30 yet take him throughout, and we shall find in him a gracefull and Poetic Majesty; in like manner Shakespear, in spight of all his unfiled expressions, his rambling and indigested Fancys, the laughter of the Critical, yet must be confess't a Poet above many that go beyond him in 35 Literature some degrees. All this while it would be very