ever mistaken he may be in his opinion, however warm in ftate factions. The particulars of this extraordinary affair are related in the life of Milton.

Sir William Davenant continued at the head of his company of actors, and at laft transferred them to a new and magnificent theatre built in Dorfet-Gardens, where fome of his old plays were revived with very fingular circumftances of royal kindness, and a new one when brought upon the ftage met with great applause.

The laft labour of his pen was in altering a play of Shakespear's, called the Tempeft, fo as to render it agreeable to that age, or rather fufceptible of thofe theatrical improvements he had brought into fashion. The great fucceffor to his laurel, in a preface to this play, in which he was concerned with Davenant, fays, that he was a man of quick and piercing imagination, and foon found that fomewhat might be added to the defign of Shakespear, of which neither Fletcher nor Suckling had ever thought; and therefore to put the laft hand to it, he defign. ed the counterpart to Shakespear's plot, namely, that of a man who had never feen a woman, that by this means, thefe two characters of innocence and love might the more illuftrate ⚫ and commend each other. This excellent contrivance he was pleafed to communicate to me, and to defire my affiftance in it. I confefs that from the firft moment it fo pleafed me, that I never wrote any thing with fo much. delight. I might likewife do him that juftice, to acknowledge that my writing received daily amendments, and that is the reason why it is not fo faulty, as the reft that I have done, without the help or correction of fo judicious a friend. The comical parts of the failers were

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⚫ alfo

alfo of his invention and writing, as may eafily be difcovered from the ftile."

This great man died at his houfe in little Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, April 17, 1668, aged 63, and two days afterwards was interred in WestminsterAbbey. On his gravestone is infcribed, in imitation of Ben Johnson's fhort epitaph,

O RARE SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT!

It may not be amifs to observe, that his remains reft very near the place out of which those of Mr. Thomas May, who had been formerly his rival for the bays, and the Parliament's hiftorian, were removed, by order of the ministry. As to the family our author left behind him, fome account of it will be given in the life of his fon Dr. Charles Davenant, who fucceeded him as manager of the theatre. Sir William's works entire were publifhed by his widow 1673, and dedicated to James Duke of York.

After many forms of adverfity, our author fpent the evening of his days in eafe and ferenity. He had the happiness of being loved by people of all denominations, and died lamented by every worthy good man. As a poet, unnumbered evidences may be produced in his favour. Amongst thefe Mr. Dryden is the foremost, for when his teftimony can be given in fupport of poetical merit, we reckon all other evidence fuperfluous, and without his, all other evidences deficient. In his words then we fhall fum up Davenant's character as a poet, and a man of genius.

I found him, (fays he) in his preface to the Tempeft, of fo quick a fancy, that nothing was propofed to him on which he could not quickly produce a thought extreamly pleafant and furprizing, and these firft thoughts of his, contrary

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trary to the old Latin proverb, were not always the leaft happy, and as his fancy was quick, fo likewise were the products of it remote and 6 new. He borrowed not of any other, and his imaginations were fuch as could not eafily enter into any other man. His corrections were fober and judicious, and he corrected his own writings much more feverely than those of another man, beftowing twice the labour and pain in polishing which he ufed in invention.

Before we enumerate the dramatic works of Sir William Davenant,, it will be but juftice to his merit, to infert fome animadverfions on his Gondibert; a poem which has been the fubject of controversy almost a hundred years; that is, from its first appearance to the prefent time. Perhaps the difpute had been long ago decided, if the aut hor's leifure had permitted him to finish it. At prefent we fee it to great disadvantage; and if notwithstanding this it has any beauties, we may fairly conclude it would have come much nearer perfection, if the ftory, begun with so much spirit, had been brought to an end upon the author's plan.

Mr. Hobbes, the famous philofopher of Malmsbury, in a letter printed in his works, affirms, that he never yet faw a poem that had fo much fhape of art, health of morality and vigour, and beauty of expreffion, as this of our author; and in an epiftle to the honourable Ed'ward Howard, author of the British Princes,

he thus fpeaks. My judgment in poetry has 'been once already cenfured by very good wits for commending Gondibert; but yet have they not difabled my teftimony. For what authority is there in wit? a jefter may have it ; a man in drink may have it, and be fluent over night, and wife and dry in the morning: What is it? and who can tell whether it be better to have

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it or no? I will take the liberty to praise what I like as well as they, and reprehend what they like."-Mr. Rymer in his preface to his tranflation of Rapin's Reflexions on Aristototle's Treatife of Poetry, obferves, that our author's wit is well known, and in the preface to that poem, there appears fome ftrokes of an extraordinary judgment; that he is for unbeat en tracts, and new ways of thinking, but certainly in the untried feas he is no great difcoverer. One defign of the Epic poets before him was to adorn their own country, there finding their heroes and patterns of virtue, where example, as they thought, would have the greater inAluence and power over pofterity; "but this poet,

fays Rymer, fteers a different courfe; his heroes are all foreigners; he cultivates a country that is nothing a-kin to him, and Lombardy ¿ reaps the honour of all. Other poets chofe fome action or hero fo illuftrious, that the name of the poem prepared the reader, and made way for its reception; but in this poem none can divine what great action he intended to celebrate, nor is the reader obliged to know whether the hero be Turk or Chriftian; nor do the first lines give any light or profpect into the defign. Altho' a poet fhould know all arts and fciences, yet ought he difcreetly to manage his knowledge. He must have a judg ment to felect what is noble and beautiful, and proper for the occafion. He muft by a parti cular chemistry, extract the effence of things; without foiling his wit with drofs or trumpery. The fort of verfe Davenant makes choice of in his Gondibert might contribute much to the vitiating his ftile; for thereby he obliges himself to stretch every period to the end of four lines Thus the fenfe is broken perpetually ⚫ with parentheses, the words jumbled in confufion,

and

and darkness spread over all; but it must be acknowledged, that Davenant had a particular talent for the manners; his thoughts are great, and there appears fomething roughly noble thro' the whole." This is the fubftance of Rymer's obfervations on Gondibert. Rymer was certainly a fcholar, and a man of discernment; and tho' in fome parts of the criticisms he is undoubtedly right, yet in other parts he is demonftrably wrong. He complains that Davenant has laid the scene of action in Lombardy, which Rymer calls neglecting his own country; but the critic fhould have confidered, that however well it might have pleafed the poet's countrymen, yet as an epic poem is fuppofed to be read in every nation enlightened by fcience, there can no objections arife from that quarter by any but thofe who were of the fame country with the author. His not making choice of a pompous name, and introducing his poem with an exordium, is rather a beauty than a fault; for by these means he leaves room for furprize, which is the firft excellency in any poem, and to frike out beauties where they are not expected, has a happy influence upon the reader. Who would think from Milton's introduction, that fo ftupendous a work would enfue, and fimple dignity is certainly more noble, than all the efforts and colourings which art and labour can bestow.

The ingenious and learned Mr. Blackwall, Profeffor of Greek in the univerfity of Aberdeen, in his enquiry into the life and writings of Homer, cenfures the ftructure of the poem; but at the fame time pays a compliment to the abilities of the author. It was indeed (fays he) a very ex

traordinary project of our ingenious countryman, to write an epic poem without mixing allegory, or allowing the fmalleft fiction throughout the compofure. It was like lopping off a man's