epilogue. The music was composed by Dr. Coleman, Capt. Cook, Mr. Henry
Laws, and Mr. George Hudson.

There were several other pieces which Sir William introduced upon this
stage of the same kind, which met with as much success, as could be
expected from the nature of the performances themselves, and the
temper and disposition of the audience. Being thus introduced, he at
last grew a little bolder, and not only ventured to write, but to act
several new plays, which were also somewhat in a new taste; that is,
they were more regular in their structure, and the language generally
speaking, smoother, and more correct than the old tragedies. These
improvements were in a great measure owing to Sir William's long
residence in France, which gave him an opportunity of reading their
best writers, and hearing the sentiments of their ablest critics upon
dramatic entertainments, where they were as much admired and
encouraged, as at that time despised in England. That these were
really improvements, and that the public stood greatly indebted to Sir
William Davenant as a poet, and master of a theatre, we can produce no
less an authority than that of Dryden, who, beyond any of his
predecessors, contemporaries, or those who have succeeded him,
understood poetry as an art. In his essay on heroic plays, he thus
speaks, "The first light we had of them, on the English theatre (says
he) was from Sir William Davenant. It being forbidden him in the
religious times to act tragedies or comedies, because they contained
some matter of scandal to those good people, who could more easily
dispossess their lawful sovereign, than endure a wanton jest, he was
forced to turn his thoughts another way, and to introduce the examples
of moral virtue written in verse, and performed in recitative music.
The original of this music, and of the scenes which adorned his works,
he had from the Italian opera's; but he heightened his characters, as