wit
degenerating into clenches, his serious swelling into bombast. But he
is always great when some great occasion is presented to him; no man
can say he ever had a fit subject for his wit, and did not then raise
himself as high above the rest of poets.

Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.

The consideration of this made Mr. Hales of Eton[101] say, that there
was no subject of which any poet ever writ, but he would produce it
much better done in Shakespeare; and however others are now generally
preferred before him, yet the age wherein he lived, which had
contemporaries with him Fletcher and Jonson, never equalled them to
him in their esteem. And in the last king's court, when Ben's
reputation was at highest, Sir John Suckling, and with him the greater
part of the courtiers, set our Shakespeare far above him....

Beaumont and Fletcher, of whom I am next to speak, had with the
advantage of Shakespeare's wit, which was their precedent, great
natural gifts, improved by study; Beaumont especially, being so
accurate a judge of plays, that Ben Jonson, while he lived, submitted
all his writings to his censure, and 'tis thought, used his judgment
in correcting, if not contriving, all his plots. What value he had for
him, appears by the verses he writ to him, and therefore I need speak
no farther of it. The first play that brought Fletcher and him in
esteem was their "Philaster"; for before that they had written two or
three very unsuccessfully: as the like is reported of Ben Jonson,
before he writ "Every Man in his Humor." Their plots were generally
more regular than Shakespeare's, especially those which were made
before Beaumont's death; and they understood and imitated the
conversation of gentlemen much better; whose wild debaucheries, and
quickness of wit in repartees, no poet before them could paint as
they have done. Humor, which Ben Jonson derived from particular
persons, they made it not their business to describe; they represented
all the passions very lively, but above all, love. I am apt to believe
the English language in them arrived to its highest perfection: what
words have since been taken in, are rather superfluous than
ornamental. Their plays are now the most pleasant and frequent
entertainments of the stage; two of theirs being acted through the
year, for one of Shakespeare's or Jonson's: the reason is, because
there is a certain gaiety in their comedies, and pathos in their more
serious plays