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more than a century, be thought obfolete, and might, even now, 

 be prefcribed as a model of many of the graces of compofition. 

 Its eafy and natural flow, its gracefulnefs and rich variety, cannot, 

 after all the improvements which in fo long a period have been 

 made in our language, be eafdy exceeded by modern tafte and 

 {k\\\ in writing. Yet even Dryden himfelf, with all his merits, 

 affords fome inftanccs, though certainly they are but thinly fcatter- 

 ed, of mofl of the faults of which his contemporaries are guilty. 

 In his Eflay on Heroic poetry, for inftance, we find fuch a paflage 

 as the following : " For their (the poets) fpeculations on this fub- 

 " je£l are wholly poetical ; they have only fancy for their guide, 

 " and that being Jharper in an excellent poet than in a heavy, 

 " phlegmatic gownfman, will fee farther in its own empire, and pro- 

 " duce more fatisfaSiory motions on thofe dark and doubtful problems." 

 He is fometimes ungrammatical, and fometimes violates propriety, 

 as when he fays " to which I have added fome original, which, 

 " whether they are equal or inferior to my other poems an author 

 " is the moft improper judge, and therefore I leave them wholly 

 " to the mercy of the reader." But it would be invidious to 

 enumerate examples of this kind in fuch an author as Dryden, 

 whofe beauties, both in profe and poetry, fo far out-number his 

 defeds, and whofe fuperiority over his cotemporaries is too evident 

 to the moft ordinary reader to be denied or doubted. 



If the charader of this period for ftyle could be faved by the 

 merits of one or two individuals, Spratt might be adduced with 

 Dryden to vindicate the tafte of his age. In his works may be 

 found paflages nicely corred and of extreme elegance. In general 



he 



