e tradition of the poetical treatise on verse.
Appearing within two years of Collier's first attack upon the stage, it
reinforces some of that worthy's contentions, but we are not aware of its
having had much effect.

The _Epistle to a Friend concerning Poetry_ is here reproduced, with
permission, from the copy at Harvard. The "Essay on Heroic Poetry" is
reproduced, with permission, from a copy of the 1697 edition of _The
Life of Our Blessed Lord_ owned by the Henry E. Huntington Library, at
San Marino, California. Our reproduction of the second item was made from
a typescript because the printing of the original lacks the size and
clarity which are necessary for satisfactory results In lithoprinting. The
typescript follows the original accurately except that italics (crazily
profuse in the 1697 edition) are omitted, the use of quotation marks is
normalized, and three obvious typographical errors are silently emended.

Edward Niles Hooker

AN
EPISTLE
TO A
FRIEND
CONCERNING
POETRY.

By SAMUEL WESLEY.

_Fungor vice Cotis._

_LONDON_

Printed for CHARLES HARPER, at the _Flower de Luce_
in _Fleetstreet_. MDCC.
_25. Aprill_.

PREFACE.

_I have not much to say of this Poem, before I leave it to the_ Mercy _of
the Reader. There's no need of looking far into it, to find out that the
direct_ Design _of a great part of it, is to Serve the_ Cause of Religion
_and_ Virtue; _tho' 'twas necessary for that End to dispose the_ whole _in
such a manner as might be agreeable to the_ Tast _of the present Age, and
of those who usually give such sort of Books the_ Reading. _If there be
any Thoughts in it relating to_ Poetry, _that either are not known to_ all
Persons, _or are tolerably_ ranged _and_ expressed, _the Reader is welcome
to 'em for_ Over-weight: _If there are too few of these, I yet hope the
Pardon of all_ candid Judges, _because I've done the best I cou'd on this_
Argument. _I can't be angry with any Person for ranking me amongst the_
Ogylbys; _my Quarrel is with these that rank themselves amongst_ Atheists,
_and impudently defend and propagate that_ ridiculous _Opinion of the_
Eternity of the World, _and a fatal_ invincible Chain of Things, _which,
it seems, is now most commonly made use of to destroy the_ Faith, _as our_
lewd Plays _are to corrupt the_ Morals _of the_ Nation: _An Opinion, big
with more_ Absurdities _than_ Transubstantiation _it self, and of far
more_ fatal Consequence, _if receiv