and was one of the finest Criticks as well as the best Poets of his Age, had a numerous collection of old
English
Ballads, and took a particular Pleasure in the Reading of them. I can affirm the same of Mr.
Dryden
, and know several of the most refined Writers of our present Age who are of the same Humour.
I might likewise refer my Reader to
Moliere's
Thoughts on this Subject, as he has expressed them in the Character of the
Misanthrope
; but those only who are endowed with a true Greatness of Soul and Genius can divest themselves of the little Images of Ridicule, and admire Nature in her Simplicity and Nakedness.