In his first, He thus addresses the _Dutches_ of _Ormond_. _'Tis Madam from your Graces Prosperous Influence that I date my Good Fortune._ To _Date_ from time and Place, is vulgar and ordinary, and many a _Letter_ has miscarried with it: But to do it from an _Influence_, is Astrological, and surprizing, and agrees extreamly with the _Hemisphere of the Play-house_.[398] These Flights one would easily imagine were the _Poor Off-spring_ of Mr. _Durfey's Brain_, as he very judiciously phrases it.[399] One Paragraph in his Dedication to Mr. _Montague_ is perfect _Quixotism_; One would almost think him enchanted. I'll give the Reader a Tast. _Had your Eye's shot the haughty Austerity upon me of a right Courtier,----your valued minutes had never been disturb'd with dilatory Trifles of this Nature, but my Heart on dull Consideration of your Merit, had supinely wish'd you prosperity at a Distance._[400] I'm afraid the _Poet_ was under some Apprehensions of the Temper he complains of. For to my thinking, there is a great deal of _Supiness_, and _dull Consideration_ in these Periods. He tells his Patron _his Smiles have embolden'd him_. I confess I can't see how He could forbear smiling at such Entertainment. However Mr. _Durfey_ takes Things by the best Handle, and is resolv'd to be happy in his Interpretation. But to be serious. Were I the Author, I would discharge my Muse unless she prov'd kinder. His way is rather to cultivate his Lungs, and Sing to other Peoples Sense; For to finish him in a word, he is _Vox, & præterea nihil_. I speak this only on Supposition that the rest of his Performances are like These. Which because I have not perused I can judge of no farther than by the Rule of _ex pede Herculem_. I shall conclude with Monsieur _Boileau's Art_ of _Poetry_. This citation may possibly be of some service to Mr. _Durfey_; For if not concern'd in the Application, he may at least be precaution'd by the Advice. The Translation runs thus. _I like an Author that Reforms the Age; And keeps the right Decorum of the Stage: That always pleases by just Reasons Rule: But for a tedious Droll a Quibbling Fool, Who with low nauseous Baudry fills his Plays; Let him begone and on two Tressells raise Some_ Smithfield _Stage, where he may act his Pranks, And make_ Jack-puddings _speak to Mountebanks_.[401] SECT. III. _Remarks upon the_ Relapse. The _Relapse_ shall follow _Don Quixot_; upon the account of some Alliance between them. And because this _Author_ swaggers so much in his _Preface_, and seems to look big upon his Performance, I shall spend a few more thoughts than ordinary upon his _Play_, and examine it briefly in the _Fable_, the _Moral_, the _Characters_, _&c._ The Fable I take to be as follows.