the Manners, the Characters, and the
Fable. But this Poem could only affect Customes, and was not moving
enough to Correct the Passions, there wanted a Poem, which by imitating
our Actions, might work in our Spirits a more ready and sensible effect.
'Twas this, which gave occasion for _Tragedy_, and banished all Satyrs,
by this means Poetry was entirely purg'd from all the disorders its
Corruption had brought it into.

This is no proper place to shew, that Men who are quickly weary of
regulated Pleasures, took pains to plunge themselves again into their
former Licentiousness by the invention of _Comedy_. I shall keep my self
to _Tragedy_, which is the most noble Imitation, and principal Subject
of this Treatise, all the Parts of an Epick Poem are comprized in a
_Tragedy_.

However short this account may be, it suffices to let you see that
Poesie is an Art, for since it has a certain End, there must necessarily
be some way to arrive there: No body doubts of this constant Truth, that
in all concerns where you may be in the right, or the wrong, there is an
Art and sure Rules to lead you to the one, and direct you, how to avoid
the other.

The question then is, whether the Rules of this Art are known, and
whether they are those which _Aristotle_ gives us here? This question is
no less doubtful, than the former, I must also confess that this cannot
be determined, but by the unlearned; who because they are the greater
number, I shall make my Examination in their favour. To do this with
some sort of Method, there are four Things to be consider'd, who gives
the Rules, the time when he gives them; the manner in which he gives
them, and the effects they have in divers times wrought on different
People: For I believe from these four Circumstances, I can draw such
Conclusions, that the most obstinate shall not be able to gainsay.

He who gives these Rules, is one of the greatest Philosophers that ever
was, his Genius was large, and of vast extent, the great Discoveries he
made in all Sciences, and particularly in the Knowledge of Man, are
certain Signs, that he had a sufficient insight into our Passions, to
discover the Rules of the Art of Poetry, which is founded on them. But I
shall suspend my Judgment, and pass on to the time in which he gave
these Rules.

I find that he was born in the Age in which _Tragedy_ first appear'd,
for he lived with the Disciples of _AEschylus_, who brought it out of
Confusion; and he had the sa