tter Play than any of
+Plautus+'s or +Terence+'s. I'm afraid +Amphitryon+ will bear the
worse in our Tongue, upon the Account of Mr. +Dryden+'s, whose
Improvements are very extraordinary; but considering Mr. +Dryden+'s
Management is of such a different Nature, this will still be as
useful and as proper for my +Design+, or at least to School-boys and
Learners. I must do that great Man the Justice in saying, that he
has not only much improved the +Humour+, +Wit+, and +Design+ in many
places, but likewise the +Thoughts+. I'll mention one, which just
now comes into my mind. +Alcmena+ in the Second Act complains thus:
+How poor and short are this Life's Pleasures, if once compar'd with
the Sorrows we endure? 'Tis Man's Destiny, and Heaven's Pleasure, to
mix our Joys with bitter Potions; and for some few Hours of
Satisfaction, we meet with Ages of Ills and Troubles.+ Mr. +Dryden+,
by the help of Blank Verse, and a little more room, has better'd it
extreamly.

Ye niggard Gods! you make our Lives too long:
You fill 'em with Diseases, Wants, and Woes,
And only dash 'em with a little Love;
Sprinkled by Fits, and with a sparing Hand.
Count all our Joys, from Childhood ev'n to Age,
They wou'd but make a Day of ev'ry Year:

And to carry it on further yet, and to make it appear more fine and
clear, he says,

Take back your Sev'nty Years, (the stint of Life)
Or else be kind, and cram the Quintessence
Of Sev'nty Years into sweet Sev'nty Days:
For all the rest is flat, insipid Being.

I mention this the rather, because it may serve for one Instance of
what Improvements our Modern Poets have made on the Ancients, when
they built upon their Foundations. For we find that many of the fine
things of the Ancients are like Seeds, that, when planted on
+English+ Ground by a Skilful Poet's Hand, thrive, and produce
excellent Fruit.

But I'm afraid this +Preface+ has been too long and tedious for this
small Piece; but the Press stays, and the hast I'm in will not
permit me to make it shorter, or so much as review it; yet before I
conclude, I must inform the Reader, that I had the Advantage of
another's doing their +P+lays before me; from whose Translation I
had very considerable Helps, especially in the +Jests+ and
+Quibbles+.

The Augustan Reprint Society

WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK
MEMORIAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

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