n order
to give the Sublime to many modern Tragedies. I was there last Winter at
the first Rehearsal of the new Thunder [1], which is much more deep and
sonorous than any hitherto made use of. They have a _Salmoneus_ behind
the Scenes, who plays it off with great Success. Their Lightnings are
made to flash more briskly than heretofore; their Clouds are also better
furbelow'd, and more voluminous; not to mention a violent Storm locked
up in a great Chest that is designed for the _Tempest_. They are also
provided with above a Dozen Showers of Snow, which, as I am informed,
are the Plays of many unsuccessful Poets artificially cut and shreaded
for that Use. Mr. _Rimer's Edgar_ is to fall in Snow at the next acting
of King _Lear_, in order to heighten, or rather to alleviate, the
Distress of that unfortunate Prince; and to serve by way of Decoration
to a Piece which that great Critick has written against.

I do not indeed wonder that the Actors should be such professed Enemies
to those among our Nation who are commonly known by the Name of
Criticks, since it is a Rule among these Gentlemen to fall upon a Play,
not because it is ill written, but because it takes. Several of them lay
it down as a Maxim, That whatever Dramatick Performance has a long Run,
must of Necessity be good for nothing; as though the first Precept in
Poetry were _not to please_. Whether this Rule holds good or not, I
shall leave to the Determination of those who are better Judges than my
self: If it does, I am sure it tends very much to the Honour of those
Gentlemen who have established it; few of their Pieces having been
disgraced by a Run of three Days, and most of them being so exquisitely
written, that the Town would never give them more than one Night's
Hearing.

I have a great Esteem for a true Critick, such as _Aristotle_ and
_Longinus_ among the _Greeks_, _Horace_ and _Quintilian_ among the
_Romans_, _Boileau_ and _Dacier_ among the _French_. But it is our
Misfortune, that some who set up for professed Criticks among us are so
stupid, that they do not know how to put ten Words together with
Elegance or common Propriety, and withal so illiterate, that they have
no Taste of the learned Languages, and therefore criticise upon old
Authors only at second-hand. They judge of them by what others have
written, and not by any Notions they have of the Authors themselves. The
Words Unity, Action, Sentiment, and Diction, pronounced with an Air of
Authorit