MER, or Father of our Dramatic Poets; JOHNSON was the VIRGIL, the
pattern of elaborate writing. I admire him; but I love SHAKESPEARE.

"To conclude of him. As he has given us the most correct Plays; so in the
Precepts which he has laid down in his _Discoveries_, we have as many and
profitable Rules as any wherewith the French can furnish us.

"Having thus spoken of this author; I proceed to the examination of his
Comedy, the _Silent Woman_.

"_Examen of the Silent Woman._

"To begin, first, with the Length of the Action. It is so far from
exceeding the compass of a natural day, that it takes not up an
artificial one. 'Tis all included in the limits of three hours and a
half; which is no more than is required for the presentment
[_representation of it_] on the Stage. A beauty, perhaps, not much
observed. If it had [been]; we should not have looked upon the Spanish
Translation [_i.e., the adaptation from the Spanish_] of _Five Hours_
[pp. 533, 541], with so much wonder.

"The Scene of it is laid in London. The Latitude of Place is almost as
little as you can imagine: for it lies all within the compass of two
houses; and, after the First Act, in one.

"The Continuity of Scenes is observed more than in any of our Plays,
excepting his own _Fox_ and _Alchemist_, They are not broken above twice,
or thrice at the most, in the whole Comedy: and in the two best of
CORNEILLE's Plays, the _CID_ and _CINNA_, they are interrupted once a
piece.

"The Action of the Play is entirely One: the end or aim of which, is the
settling _MQROSE's_ estate on _DAUPHINE_.

"The Intrigue of it is the greatest and most noble of any pure unmixed
Comedy in any language. You see in it, many persons of various Characters
and Humours; and all delightful.

"As first, _MOROSE_, an old man, to whom all noise, but his own talking,
is offensive. Some, who would be thought critics, say, 'This humour of
his is forced.' But, to remove that objection, we may consider him,
first, to be naturally of a delicate hearing, as many are, to whom all
sharp sounds are unpleasant: and, secondly, we may attribute much of it
to the peevishness of his age, or the wayward authority of an old man in
his own house, where he may make himself obeyed; and this the Poet seems
to allude to, in his name _MOROSE_. Besides this, I am assured from
divers persons, that BEN. JOHNSON was actually acquainted with such a
man, one altogether as ridiculous as he is here represented.