CHAPTER XXI.
In facing the formidable array of the Duchess of Newcastle’s plays, it may be well to begin with their Prologue, or rather with part of that Prologue. It is not the happiest of her poetical efforts, but as we have already mentioned even Dryden failing in a Prologue, we may well make excuses for the Duchess.
But noble readers, do not think my plays
Are such as have been writ in former days:
As Johnson,[175] Shakespeare, Beaumount, Fletcher writ,
Mine want their learning, reading, language, wit.
The Latin phrases, I could never tell,
But Johnson could, which made him write so well.
Greek, Latin poets, I could never read,
Nor their historians, but our English Speed:[176]