become a paſſionate lover, and tender ſentiments require the ſofteſt colouring.
The theme muſt govern the ſtyle; every thought, every character, every ſubject of a different nature, muſt ſpeak a different language. An humble lover’s gentle addreſs to his mistreſs would rumble ſtrangely in the Miltonic dialect; and the ſoft harmony of Mr. Waller’s numbers would as ill become the mouths of Lucifer and Belzebub. The terrible and the tender muſt be ſet to different notes of muſic.
To conclude: this Dramatic attempt was the firſt eſſay of a very infant Muſe, rather as a taſk at ſuch hours as were free from other exerciſes, than any way meant for public entertainment: but Mr. Betterton, having had a caſual ſight of it many years after it was written, begged it for the ſtage, where it found ſo favourable a reception as to have an uninterrupted run of at leaſt forty days. The ſeparation of the principal actors, which ſoon followed, and the introduction of the Italian opera, put a ſtop to its farther appearance.
Had it been compoſed at a riper time of life the faults might have been fewer: however, upon reviſing it now, at ſo great a diſtance of time, with a cooler judgment than the firſt conception of youth will allows, I cannot abſolutely ſay Scripſiſſe pudet.
