s Dryden's
aversion. Dryden was often heard to say, that Otway was a barren
illiterate man, but 'I confess, says he, he has a power which I have
not;' and when it was asked him, what power that was? he answered,
'moving the passions.' This truth was, no doubt, extorted from Dryden,
for he seems not to be very ready in acknowledging the merits of his
cotemporaries. In his preface to Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting, which
he translated, he mentions Otway with respect, but not till after he
was dead; and even then he speaks but coldly of him. The passage is as
follows, 'To express the passions which are seated on the heart by
outward signs, is one great precept of the painters, and very
difficult to perform. In poetry the very same passions, and motions of
the mind are to be expressed, and in this consists the principal
difficulty, as well as the excellency of that art. This (says my
author) is the gift of Jupiter, and to speak in the same Heathen
language, is the gift of our Apollo, not to be obtained by pains or
study, if we are not born to it; for the motions which are studied,
are never so natural, as those which break out in the heighth of a
real passion. Mr. Otway possessed this part as thoroughly as any of
either the ancients or moderns. I will not defend every thing in his
Venice Preserved, but I must bear this testimony to his memory, that
the passions are truly touched in it, though, perhaps, there is
somewhat to be desired, both in the grounds of them, and the heighth
and elegance of expression; but nature is there, which is the greatest
beauty.' Notwithstanding our admiration of Dryden, we cannot, without
some indignation, observe, how sparing he is in the praises of Otway,
who, considered as a tragic writer, was surely superior to himself.
Dryden enchants us indeed with flow'ry descriptions, and charms us
with (what is called) the magic of poetry; but he has seldom drawn a
tear, and millions of radiant eyes have been witnesses for Otway, by
those drops of pity which they have shed. Otway might be no scholar,
but that, methinks, does not detract from the merit of a dramatist,
nor much assist him in succeeding. For the truth of this we may appeal
to experience. No poets in our language, who were what we call
scholars, have ever written plays which delight or affect the
audience. Shakespear, Otway and Southern were no scholars; Ben
Johnson, Dryden and Addison were: and while few audiences admire the
plays of the lat