-but he deals out to every person, as it were by lot,
such words as come next to his hand, and you would scarce discern
whether he be a son a father, a peasant, a god, an old woman, or a hero
that is talking.

But now Menander's phrase is so well turned and contempered with itself,
and so everywhere conspiring, that, while it traverses many passions and
humors and is accommodated to all sorts of persons, it still shows the
same, and retains its semblance even in trite, familiar, and everyday
expressions. And if his master do now and then require something of rant
and noise, he doth but (like a skilful flutist) set open all the holes
of his pipe, and their presently stop them again with good decorum
and restore the tune to its natural state. And though there be a great
number of excellent artists of all professions, yet never did any
shoemaker make the same sort of shoe, or tireman the same sort of visor,
or tailor the same sort of garment, to fit a man, a woman, a child, an
old man, and a slave. But Menander hath so addressed his style, as to
proportion it to every sex, condition, and age; and this, though he took
the business in hand when he was very young, and died in the vigor of
his composition and action, when, as Aristotle tells us, authors receive
most and greatest improvement in their styles. If a man shall then
compare the middle and last with the first of Menander's plays, he will
by them easily conceive what others he would have added to them, had he
had but longer life.

He adds further, that of dramatic exhibitors, some address themselves
to the crowd and populace, and others again to a few; but it is a hard
matter to say which of them all knew what was befitting in both the
kinds. But Aristophanes is neither grateful to the vulgar, nor tolerable
to the wise; but it fares with his poesy as it doth with a courtesan
who, when she finds she is now stricken and past her prime, counterfeits
a sober matron, and then the vulgar cannot endure her affectation, and
the better sort abominate her lewdness and wicked nature. But
Menander hath with his charms shown himself every way sufficient for
satisfaction, being the sole lecture, argument, and dispute at theatres,
schools, and at tables; hereby rendering his poesy the most universal
ornament that was ever produced by Greece, and showing what and how
extraordinary his ability in language was, while he passes every
way with an irresistible persuasion, and gains every