"There is a great reach of Discernment, a deep Knowledge, and abundance of Candor requir'd to qualifie a Man for an _equal Judge_ of the Poetry and ingenious Compositions of two Nations, whose _Tempers,_ _Humours_, _Manners_, _Customs_, and _Tastes_, are so vastly different as the _French_ are from the _English_: _Rapin_, St. _Evremont_, and _Rymer_, are _candid_, _judicious_, and _learned_ Criticks, I own it; but yet neither the two first are sufficiently acquainted with _England_, nor the latter with _France_, to enter equally into the Genius of both Nations; and consequently they cannot pass a just Sentence upon the Performances of their respective Writers. "Tis a great piece of Injustice in us, to charge the _French_ with Fickleness; for, to give them their due, They are ten times more constant in their Judgments, than we; Their _Cid_ and _Iphigenia_ in _Aulis_, are Acted at this very day, with as much Applause as they were thirty Years ago: All _London_ has admir'd the _Mourning Bride_ one Winter, and endeavoured to find fault with it the next. "_Philo_ comes _piping hot_ out of the College, and having his Head full of Poetical Gingles, writes an _Elegy_, a _Panegyrick_ or a _Satyr_ upon the least frivolous Occasion: This brings him acquainted with all the _Second-Rate Wits_; One of these introduces him at _Will's_, and having a Play upon the Stocks, and ready to be Launch'd, he prevails with _Philo_ to write him a _Song_, a _Dialogue_, a _Prologue_ and _Epilogue_, in short, the Trimming of his Comedy. By this time, _Philo_ begins to think himself a great Man, and nothing less than the writing of a Play, can satisfie his towring Ambition; well, the Play is writ, the Players, upon the Recommendation of those that lick'd it over, like their Parts to a Fondness, and the _Comedy_, or _Tragedy_, being supported partly by its real Merit, but most powerfully by a _Toasting_, or _Kit-cat-Club_, comes off with universal Applause. How _slippery_ is _Greatness_! _Philo_ puff'd up with his Success, writes a second Play, scorns to improve it by the Corrections of better Wits, brings it upon the Stage, without securing a Party to protect it, and has the Mortification to hear it _Hist_ to death. Pray how many _Philos_ do we reckon in Town since the Revolution? "The reason we have had so many _ill Plays_ of late, is this; The extraordinary _Success_ of the worst Performances encourages every Pretender to Poetry to Write; Whereas the indifferent Reception some excellent Pieces have met with, discourages our best Poets from Writing.