The _Guardian_ and _Spectator_ would not do the Poets the Honour to name them; but we know who are the Criticks which are _thrown aside_ by them; for no Body but Mr. _D----_ and Mr. _G----_ made Remarks upon their Writings, and both of them did. I do not say with that Politeness and Elegance, which the _Spectator_ and _Guardian_ have laid down, as the sole Characteristicks of good Talk and Judgement; though one may almost as well say, that a Man cannot have good Sense and Wit, without good Cloaths and a genteel Air. I must needs own, that I think most of their Criticisms very just, though had they been still juster than they are, I would not nave been the Author of them, without taking Notice of Beauties, as well as finding of Faults, there being much more Room for the former than the latter. It is very plain, the _Spectator_ highly stomached the Remarks which were made on his Writings, and is not very candid in his Reasoning, to render his Opponents contemptible, which was the surest Way of disarming them. _These Criticks fall upon a Play, not because it is ill written, but because it takes_: This is not the whole Truth. It is not because it _takes_, but because it takes for those very Things which should have damned it _Durfey_'s _Boarding-School_, and his _Marriage-Hater match'd_, took with a Vengeance, though the two greatest Pieces of Wit in them, were _Miss's Bread and Butter_, and _Mynheer's Muff_. _Settle_'s Tragedies took for the Noise, the Show, and the Rhime. No Play, that was not supported by poetical or political Party, which most _taking_ Plays have been, ever took more than _Settle_'s _Heir of Morocco_, in which there is not one good Thought or Expression. Again, _several of these Criticks have laid it down as a Maxim, that whatever Dramatick Poem has a long Run, must of Necessity be good for nothing_, which is a Misrepresentation. The _Orphan_, _Venice Preserv'd_, _Tamerlane_, _&c._ had _long Runs_, and _run_ still; yet no Critick has dared to say they did not deserve it: But whoever will owe his Reputation to _taking_ only, must be contented to roll with _Settle_, _Durfey_, and many other Poets, that _took_ in their Turn. Could any thing be more monstrous, than to determine the Merit of _Nixon's Prophecy_, and the _Spectator_, by the Run of the Papers. The former, a Maggot given to the Rabble, bore more Editions in Ten Weeks, than the latter has done in Ten Years.