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The Preface.
Orator. If Horace had not been an excellent Poet, he had never been an admirable Critic. The best Performers are the best Judges in every Art, and the ingenious Author of the Essay upon Criticism, demonstrates the Justness of his Remarks, by the Goodness of his Writing. The true Spirit of Criticism seems to revive. Lord Roscommon, and the present, with the late Duke of Bucks, opened the Scene in King Charles the Second's Time, but it soon closed again. And nothing was done but in a dry, formal Way, except by Dryden, who at once gave the best Rules, and broke them in spight of his own Knowledge, and the Rehearsal. His
Prefaces
