Dacier for, or at least the hint, tho’ some of ’em I cou’d not have miss’d of in the prosecution of those Designs I aim’d at. I have borrow’d little or nothing from any other, for her’s are far the best Notes I ever met with, tho’ many of ’em were done more to shew her Parts and Reading than for any real use, a thing which I shall never aim at. I have been forc’d in most of ’em to be extream nice and curious in penetrating into the bottom of the Author, for I find it far more difficult to discover a Beauty than a Fault. I might have enlarg’d upon ’em, and have made several more, with good grounds, but I thought it dangerous to say all that cou’d be said; but instead of that I was forc’d, much against my will, to dash out several of those upon Amphitryon upon the account of the Printer, but the rest are more full and compleat.
If business wou’d have permitted me, I shou’d have ventur’d upon three more of our Authors Plays; and upon that Account, I have taken somewhat less time than was necessary for the translating such an extraordinary difficult Author; for this requires more than double the time of a Historian or the like, which was as much as I cou’d allow my self. I made choice of these three Plays as well for their Modesty as Regularity, for above all things I wou’d by no means give the least Encouragement to Lewdness or Obscenity, which grow too fast of themselves; and therefore I thought I cou’d not chuse better than after a Lady. Amphitryon had the Name, and never fail’d of a general Approbation; Epidicus was our Author’s Favourite, and truly there is much Art in it, tho’ it
is a little heavy; and Rudens is in several respects a better Play than any of Plautus’s or Terence’s. I’m afraid Amphitryon will bear the worse in our Tongue, upon the Account of Mr. Dryden’s, whose Improvements are very extraordinary; but considering Mr. Dryden’s Management is of such a different Nature, this will still be as useful and as proper for my Design, or at least to School-boys and Learners. I must do that great Man the Justice in saying, that he has not only much improved the Humour, Wit, and Design in many places, but likewise the Thoughts. I’ll mention one, which just now comes into my mind. Alcmena in the Second Act complains thus: How poor and short are this Life’s Pleasures, if once compar’d with the Sorrows we endure? ’Tis Man’s Destiny, and Heaven’s Pleasure, to mix our Joys with bitter Potions; and for some few Hours of Satisfaction, we meet with Ages of Ills and Troubles. Mr. Dryden, by the help of Blank Verse, and a little more room, has better’d it extreamly.
Ye niggard Gods! you make our Lives too long:
You fill ’em with Diseases, Wants, and Woes,
And only dash ’em with a little Love;
Sprinkled by Fits, and with a sparing Hand.
Count all our Joys, from Childhood ev’n to Age,
They wou’d but make a Day of ev’ry Year:
And to carry it on further yet, and to make it appear more fine and clear, he says,