Poetry, observes, that our author's wit is well known, and in the
preface to that poem, there appears some strokes of an extraordinary
judgment; that he is for unbeaten tracts, and new ways of thinking,
but certainly in the untried seas he is no great discoverer. One
design of the Epic poets before him was to adorn their own country,
there finding their heroes and patterns of virtue, where example, as
they thought, would have the greater influence and power over
posterity; "but this poet, says Rymer, steers a different course; his
heroes are all foreigners; he cultivates a country that is nothing
a-kin to him, and Lombardy reaps the honour of all. Other poets chose
some action or hero so illustrious, that the name of the poem prepared
the reader, and made way for its reception; but in this poem none can
divine what great action he intended to celebrate, nor is the reader
obliged to know whether the hero be Turk or Christian; nor do the
first lines give any light or prospect into the design. Altho' a poet
should know all arts and sciences, yet ought he discreetly to manage
his knowledge. He must have a judgment to select what is noble and
beautiful, and proper for the occasion. He must by a particular
chemistry, extract the essence of things; without soiling his wit with
dross or trumpery. The sort of verse Davenant makes choice of in his
Gondibert might contribute much to the vitiating his stile; for
thereby he obliges himself to stretch every period to the end of four
lines: Thus the sense is broken perpetually with parentheses, the
words jumbled in confusion, and darkness spread over all; but it must
be acknowledged, that Davenant had a particular talent for the
manners; his thoughts are great, and there appears something roughly
noble thro' the whole." This is the substance of Rymer's observations
on Gondibert. Rymer was certainly a scholar, and a man of discernment;
and tho' in some parts of the criticisms he is undoubtedly right, yet
in other parts he is demonstrably wrong. He complains that Davenant