Page:Poetical Works of John Oldham.djvu/160

150 Observe what characters your persons fit, Whether the master speak, or Todelet; Whether a man, that's elderly in growth, Or a brisk Hotspur in his boiling youth; A roaring bully, or a shirking cheat, A court-bred lady, or a tawdry cit; A prating gossip, or a jilting whore, A travelled merchant, or a homespun boor; Spaniard or French, Italian, Dutch, or Dane, Native of Turkey, India, or Japan. Either from history your persons take, Or let them nothing inconsistent speak; If you bring great Achilles on the stage, Let him be fierce and brave, all heat and rage, Inflexible, and headstrong to all laws, But those which arms and his own will impose. Cruel Medea must no pity have, Ixion must be treacherous, Juno grieve, Io must wander, and Orestes rave; But if you dare to tread in paths unknown, And boldly start new persons of your own, Be sure to make them in one strain agree, And let the end like the beginning be. 'Tis difficult for writers to succeed On arguments which none before have tried; The Iliad, or the Odyssey, with ease Will better furnish subjects for your plays, Than that you should your own invention trust, And broach unheard of things yourself the first. In copying other works, to make them pass, And seem your own, let these few rules take place: When you some of their story represent, Take care that you new episodes invent; Be not too nice the author's words to trace, But vary all with a fresh air and grace; Nor such strict rules of imitation choose, Which you must still be tied to follow close,