' elevated, graceful tho' bold, and easie tho'
strong. He seems to have been the very Original of our _English_ Tragical
Harmony; that is the Harmony of Blank Verse, diversifyed often by
Dissyllable and Trissyllable Terminations. For that Diversity
distinguishes it from Heroick Harmony, and, bringing it nearer to common
Use, makes it more proper to gain Attention, and more fit for Action and
Dialogue. Such Verse we make when we are writing Prose; we make such Verse
in common Conversation.

If _Shakespear_ had these great Qualities by Nature, what would he not
have been, if he had join'd to so happy a Genius Learning and the Poetical
Art? For want of the latter, our Author has sometimes made gross Mistakes
in the Characters which he has drawn from History, against the Equality
and Conveniency of Manners of his Dramatical Persons. Witness _Menenius_
in the following Tragedy, whom he has made an errant Buffoon, which is a
great Absurdity. For he might as well have imagin'd a grave majestick
_Jack-Pudding_, as a Buffoon in a _Roman_ Senator. _Aufidius_ the General
of the _Volscians_ is shewn a base and a profligate Villain. He has
offended against the Equality of the Manners even in his Hero himself. For
_Coriolanus_ who in the first part of the Tragedy is shewn so open, so
frank, so violent, and so magnanimous, is represented in the latter part
by _Aufidius_, which is contradicted by no one, a flattering, fawning,
cringing, insinuating Traytor.

For want of this Poetical Art, _Shakespear_ has introduced things into his
Tragedies, which are against the Dignity of that noble Poem, as the Rabble
in _Julius Caesar_, and that in _Coriolanus_; tho' that in _Coriolanus_
offends not only against the Dignity of Tragedy, but against the Truth of
History likewise, and the Customs of Ancient _Rome_, and the Majesty of
the _Roman_ People, as we shall have occasion to shew anon.

For want of this Art, he has made his Incidents less moving, less
surprizing, and less wonderful. He has been so far from seeking those fine
Occasions to move with which an Action furnish'd according to Art would
have furnish'd him, that he seems rather to have industriously avoided
them. He makes _Coriolanus_, upon his Sentence of Banishment, take his
leave of his Wife and his Mother out of sight of the Audience, and so has
purposely as it were avoided a great occasion to move.

If we are willing to allow that _Shakespear_, by sticking to the bare
Events of