To this I shall add, the Effects which these Rules have produc'd in all Ages, on different sort of People, and I see, that as they made the Beauty of _Homer's Sophocles_, and _Euripides_ Poems in _Greece_, from which they were drawn; so four or five Hundred Years after, they adorn'd the Poems of _Virgil_ and other famous Latin Poets, and that now after Two Thousand Years they make the best _Tragedies_ we have, in which all that pleases, only does so, as 'tis conformable to these Rules, (and that too without our being aware of it,) and what is displeasing, is such, because it is contrary to them, for good Sense, and right Reason, is of all Countries and Places, the same Subjects which caus'd so many Tears to be shed in the _Roman_ Theatre, produce the same Effects in ours, and those Things which gave distaste then, do the same now, from whence I am convinced, that never any Laws had either so much Force, Authority, or Might. Humane Laws expire or Change very often after the Deaths of their Authors, because Circumstances Change, and the Interests of Men, whom they are made to serve, are different; but these still take new vigor, because they are the Laws of Nature, who always acts uniformly, renews them incessantly, and gives them a perpetual Existence. I won't pretend nevertheless that the Rules of this Art, are so firmly established, that 'tis impossible to add any thing to them, for tho' _Tragedy_ has all its proper Parts, 'tis probable one of those may yet arrive to greater Perfection. I am perswaded, that tho' we have been able to add nothing to the Subject, or Means, yet we have added something to the Manner, as you'l find in the Remarks, and all the new Discoveries are so far from destroying this Establishment, that they do nothing more than confirm it; for Nature is never contrary to herself, and one may apply to the Art of Poetry, what _Hippocrates_ says of Physick,[17] _Physick is of long standing, hath sure Principles, and a certain way by which in the Course of many Ages, an Infinity of Things have been discovered, of which, Experience confirms the Goodness; All that is wanting, for the perfection of this Art, will without doubt be found out, by those Ingenious Men, who will search for it, according to the Instructions and Rules of the Ancients, and endeavour to arrive at what is unknown, by what is already plain: For whoever shall boast that he has obtained this Art by rejecting the ways of the Ancients, and taking a quite different one, deceives others, and is himself deceived; because that's absolutely impossible._ This Truth extends it self to all Arts and Sciences, 'tis no difficult matter to find a proper Example in our Subject, there is no want of _Tragedies_, where the management is altogether opposite to that of the Ancients. According to the Rules of _Aristotle_, a _Tragedy_ is the Imitation of an Allegorical and Universal Action, which by the means of Terror, and Compassion, moderates and corrects our Inclinations.