If there are Poets now, which don't know so much as the Young Man, of whom _Plato_ speaks, these Rules can be of no Advantage to them; but those who are like him, and in the same Circumstances, need only keep to these Rules, which will teach them what they are Ignorant of, and the fourth time restore _Tragedy_ to its first Lustre and Brightness. This is the most profitable Present, can be made them, if by Meditation and Practice they will endeavour to make a right use of it; for Precepts alone are not sufficient to make us Learned, the Advantage, and Profit of any Rules, depend on our Labour and Pains. If these Rules are not for them, they will be against them, and their Works shall be Judg'd by them. Footnotes: [17] In his Treatise of Ancient Physick. [18] Chap. 18. _Rem._ 8. _&c._ [19] _Chap._ 13. Rem. 25. [20] A Town in _Thessaly_. [21] Called Impious, because he writ against _Homer_. [22] Grandfather to _Alexander_ the Great. Notes on Dacier's Preface _Sig._ [A 3], _recto_, 11. 17-18. "_Horace's Art of Poetry._" Published, Paris, 1689, in Vol. X of Dacier's _Remarques Critiques sur les Oeuvres [d'Horace] Avec une Nouvelle Traduction_. _Sig._ [A 5], _verso_, 1.2, note. "Chap. 18, Rem. 8." In this remark, Dacier explicates Aristotle's injunction that the poet should sketch the general outline of the fable before filling in episodes and naming characters, thus making it general and universal. _Sig._ [A 6], _verso_, 1.7, note. "Chap. 13, Rem. 25." Dacier says in this remark that a regular tragedy submitted to the judgment of the learned and the ignorant will always please best, "_car l'un remarque une chose, l'autre une autre, & tous ensemble ils remarquent tout_." _Sig._ [A 8], _recto_, 1.7. "History is much less grave." "Ch. IX, Rem. 5" (Dacier's note) Dacier adds nothing to the traditional discussion of the superiority of poetry to history and philosophy. _Sig._ [A 8], _verso_, 1.18. "Alexander of Pherea." See Plutarch's oration "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander," II, in _Moralia_ (tr. F.C. Babbitt, Loeb Classical Library), IV, 424. _Sig._ [b 1], _recto_, 1.1. "A Very Grave Historian." Polybius, _Histories_, IV, 20. _Sig._ [b 1], _verso_ 1.20. "Mr. Racine ... his last two pieces..." _Esther_ (1689) and _Athalie_, 1691. _Sig._ [b 2], _recto_, 11. 23-24. "Victorius." Pietro Vettori, _Commentarii in Primum Librum Aristotelis de Arte Poetarum_, Florentiae, 1560. _Ibid._, 1.27. "Castelvetro." Ludovico Castelvetro, _La Poetica d'Aristotele vulgarizzata et sposta_, 1570. This view of Castelvetro, who was remarkable for his independence of Aristotle, was fairly common in France. La Mesnardière, for instance, was extremely hostile to him. _Sig._ [b 2], _verso_, 1.13. "Mesnardière." Jules de La Mesnardière, _La Poëtique_, Paris, 1693. _Ibid._, 1.20. "D'Aubignac." Aubignac (abbé Hédelin d'), _La Pratique du Theatre_, Paris, 1657. English translation, 1684.