Page:The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets.djvu/197

Rh himself the Conviction of his Reason in the Points of Religion, yet he did what is said of Medea, by Ovid:

I have heard him say, that the first Book that gave him the greatest Conviction was, the Discourse of the late pious and ingenious Dr. Tillotson, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, against Transubstantiation, lent him by a Lawyer, that at the same time cheated him of about Four Hundred Pounds, tho' he made way for that Peace of Mind that this Book first opened the Door to.

If I shou'd do with our Author, what some other writers of Lives have done, I might here tell you of his Inclinations to Poetry from his Childhood, and talk of his Performances; but he being my Friend, I shall forbear all things that may argue me guilty of Partiality; and shall only say, as he tells us in a Letter of his Essays, that Necessity was the first Motive of his venturing to be an Author. His first attempt in the Drammatick way, was not till he was was past Thirty Two Years of Age; and then in about a Month's time, he gave us a Tragedy, call'd, The Roman Bride's Revenge; but of that in its Order: for we must first speak of a Play of the late famous Mrs. Behn's, which he introduc'd by the Importunity of a Friend of hers and his, on the Stage: It was called, The Younger Brother; or, the Amorous Jilt; out of the Respect to her Memory, and a Deference, which was too nice, to her Judgment, he durst not make any Alterations in it, but what were absolutely necessary, and those only in the first and second Acts, which reflected on the Whigs; when if he had alter'd the jejune Stile of the three last Acts, betwixt Prince Frederick and Mirtilla, which was too heavy, in all Probability it would have been more to the Advantage of his Purse. But now I shall proceed to his own Plays, which are two in Number; the first in our Alphabetical Order, is,

Phæton; or, The Fatal Divorce; a Tragedy, acted at the Theatre Royal, written in Imitation of the Ancients, &c. 1698. 4to. and dedicated to the Right Honourable, Charles Montague, Esq; &c. the most Noble and Generous Patron of the Muses that our Nation has Produc'd. Tho' it was a very bold Undertaking of a Young Author, to attempt to bring so very different a way of Writing on so corrupt a Stage as ours; yet the Success justified his Opinion, that the Irregular, Prophane, and Obscene Plays took only because our Audience saw no other, through the Poets Fault. The Plot, and a great many of the Beauties of the Play, the Author fairly owns that he has taken from the Medea of Euripides; and