Page:An Essay on the Opera's After the Italian Manner.pdf/22

 ; when thoe Audiences will hardly uffer a Play, that is not interlarded with Singing and Dancing, whereas thee are become Theatrical Entertainments, without any thing of the Drama, when our People of Quality utterly neglecting Englih Comedy and Tragedy, give uch Encouragement to Italian Muick, that if they gave but the like to the proper Entertainments of the Stage, the Englih would infallibly excell both Ancients and Moderns.

That this Alteration in the Writers and Audiences is to be acrib’d to the Progres of Muick, rather than attributed to any unknown Caue, or imputed to Fancy, or the Incontancy of the People, we hall now very clearly hew.

Man is o very Fantatical a Creature, that perhaps he owes his bet and his worthiet Actions to what may be properly called his Weaknes, that is, to his Vanity, or his Love of Glory. For tho’ that depends upon an Opinion of Excellence, which is almot always fale, and is therefore truly a Weaknes, yet it gives the Mind a Force, an Elevation and an Enthuiam, which it has not without it, and which make it capable of quite other things than it was before. Now the greater the Action is that any one deigns, the more is requir’d of o impetuous a Motive to execute it; but the writing a Tragedy, or an Epick Poem, being perhaps the greatet thing that a Man can deign, and it being impoible to ucceed in Poetry without Enthuiam, the Epick, the Tragick, and indeed all Poets who apire to the greater Poetry, have occaion for o enthuiatick a Motive as the Love of Glory; if they write with any other view than to be praied, than to be admired, they mut certainly write contemptibly, nay, they ought to propoe to themelves to raie their Reputations equal to the firt of Men, to place