For this reason I must distinguish one of our best Comick-Writers,[57] from the =common Herd= of =Translators=; since though proportionate to his Writings, none of our =modern= Poets have borrow'd leß; yet has he dealt ingenuously with the World, and if I mistake not, has =publickly= own'd, either in his =Prefaces=, or =Prologues=, =all= that he has borrow'd; which I the rather take notice of, because it is so =little= practised in =this= Age. 'Tis true indeed, what is borrow'd from =Shakspeare= or =Fletcher=, is usually own'd by our Poets, because every one would be able to convict them of Theft, should they endeavour to conceal it. But in what has been stolen from Authors not so generally known, as =Murston=, =Middleton=, =Massenger=, &c. we find our Poets playing the parts of =Bathyllus= to =Virgil=, and robbing them of that Fame, which is as justly their due, as the Reward the Emperour =Augustus= had promised to the Author of that known =Distich= affixed on the Court Gate, was to =Virgil=. Neither can this Imputation be laid at the doors of such who are onely Imitators of the Works of others, amongst which, are admired Sir =Charles Sidley=, and the inimitable M. =Wytcherley=: The last of which, if I mistake not, has Copied =Mollieres le Misanthrope=, in his Character of the =Plain Dealer=; and his =Celimene=, in that of =Olivia=: but =so well=, that though the Character of the =Misanthrope= be accounted by =Rapin=,[58] =Te Caractere le plus achevee=; The compleatest Character, and the most singular that ever appeared on the Stage: yet certainly =our Poet= has equaled, if not exceeded his Copy. Imitation which =Longinus= commends in =Stesichorus=, =Archilochus=, and =Herodotus=, all of them being imitators of =Homer=; but particularly he says of =Plato=: #Pantôn de toutôn malista ho Platôn, apo tou homêrikou ekeinou namatos eis hauton myrias hosas paratropas apocheteusamenos#[59] =Sed omnium hujus Poetæ studiosissimus imitator suit Plato, ab illis Homericis Laticibus ad se seductos vivos quam-plurimos transferens.=