And tho' in all Translations the Spirit and Beauty of the Original must in a great measure be lost by Transfusion, yet in History especially you are sure to have the Method, the Facts, and the Politicks, tho' you have not the Strength and Ellegance of the Style. _Dryden_ tells the late Duke of _Bucks_, in the Dedication to his _Virgil_; _Impartially Speaking, the_ French _are as much better Criticks, as they are worse Poets._ The Latter is incontestable; and not to mention _Milton_, who is above all Parallel. They have nothing of _Epick_ Poetry so good as our King _Arthur_; neither are their _Corneille_ and _Racine_ a Match for our _Shakespear_ and _Otway_. They have no Body to name against _Wycherley_, _Etherege_, _Shadwel_, _Congreve_, _Vanburgh_, _Steel_. _Moliere_, the best of their Comick Poets, could write _Scapius_, _Dandins_, _Sganarelles_, and all Kinds of Farce perfectly well; but for Wit and Humour, Repartee, Polite Conversation, for what the Criticks call the _Vis Comica_, you must have recourse to the _English_ Comedies, if you would know what it is. A _French Marquis_, as _Moliere_ shew'd him upon his Stage, would only make a very good Taylor upon ours. They have no _Hopkins_ for Elegy, no _Philips_ for Pastoral: _Scarron_ will hardly serve for a _Ralpho_ to our _Hudibras_. In the _Ode_, I think, _Malherbe_ is at least equal to _Cowley_, and _Voiture_ and _Sarazin_ are not behind our _Suckling_ and _Waller_, in the gallant Way: Nor is our _Prior_ behind their _La Fontaine_ for Taletelling. On the other Hand, I am afraid we must allow, that we have no Translation in _English_ equal to _Seagrais_'s _Virgil_ for Intelligence of the Original, and a correct as well as harmonious Diction, especially if the Character given of it by _Ruæus_ is just. Did we look into other Sciences, we should find our selves more than a Match for them; What Names have they to set against our _Newton_ and _Halley_ in the Mathematicks, and our _Sydenham_ and _Willis_ in _Physick_. They have no _Bacon_, no _Boyle_ in Philosophy. In History indeed they have a _Varillas_ and a _Maimbourg_ for our _Nelson_ and _Brady_, and doubtless the Royal Historiographers will, in the History of _Lewis_ XIV, come up to the _Grand Rebellion_, and Mr. _Echard_'s History for Impartiality and Truth. If I were a _Frenchman_ I should make a Start here, and cry out, What is their _Tureune_ and their _Conde_ to our _Marlborough_, and their Great _Monarch_, who took Pleasure in Slaughter and Devastation, to our Glorious King _George_, whose only Care and Delight is to maintain Liberty and Peace.