It might reasonably have been expected that his death must have changed the whole fabric of the opera, or at least a great part of it. But the design of it originally was so happy, that it needed no alteration, properly so called; for the addition of twenty or thirty lines in the apotheosis of Albion, has made it entirely of a piece, This was the only way which could have been invented, to save it from botched ending; and it fell luckily into my imagination; as if there were a kind of fatality even in the most trivial things concerning the succession: a change was made, and not for the worse, without the least confusion or disturbance; and those very causes, which seemed to threaten us with troubles, conspired to produce our lasting happiness. Footnotes: 1. This definition occurs in the preface to the "State of Innocence;" but although given by Dryden, and sanctioned by Pope, it has a very limited resemblance to that which is defined. Mr Addison has, however, mistaken Dryden, in supposing that he applied this definition exclusively to what we now properly call _wit_. From the context it is plain, that he meant to include all poetical composition.--_Spectator_, No. 62. The word once comprehended human knowledge in general. We still talk of the wit of man, to signify all that man can devise. 2. The first Italian opera is said to have been that of "Dafne," performed at Florence in 1597.--_See_ BURNEY'S _History of Music_, Vol. iv. p. 17. 3. This passage gave great offence, being supposed to contain an oblique reflection on Purcell and the other English composers. 4. Alluding to the disputes betwixt the King and Parliament, on the important point of the command of the militia.] PROLOGUE