But if you pay the great arrears of praise,
So long since due to my much injured plays,
From all past crimes I first will set you free,
And then inspire some one to write like me.
[120] This objection, although stated against Crites the prototype of Howard, occurs in Sir Robert's own preface, who points out an additional advantage attending it. He observes, that the subjects of the ancients were usually the most known stories and fables; a circumstance which led them to compose their plays rather of speeches and chorus's, than of scenic action, and representation: Because, "Seneca making choice of Medea, Hippolytus, and Hercules Œtus, it was impossible to show Medea throwing the mangled limbs of Jason into her age-renewing kettle, or to present the scattered limbs of Hippolytus upon the stage, or show Hercules burning upon his own funeral pile."
[121] Our author has quoted from memory. The lines are—At nostri proavi, &c. and afterwards—Ne dicam stulte, mirati.—Malone.
[122] A mistake for eighth.
[123] This remark is unfounded; for the words are—et longæ visent Capitolia pompæ. Ovid. Met. l. i. In the preceding quotation, for verbo, we should read verbis; and for metuam summi,—timeam magni.—Malone.
[124] The insurrection in Scotland, in Charles I.'s time, inflamed Cleiveland as much as the nation. We have often heard of poetic fire, but he is the only author who calls for a bucket of water to quench it:
Ring the bells backward, I am all on fire;