The Slave that from her Wit or Beauty flies,
If she but reach him with her Voice, he dies.

In such noble Company, I imagin Mr. _Addison_ will not be ashamed to
appear, thus speaking of Mr. _Cowley_;

His Turns too closely on the Reader press;
He more had pleas'd us, had he pleas'd us less.

And of Mr. _Waller_,

Oh had thy Muse not come an Age too soon.

And of Mr. _Dryden_'s Muse,

Whether in Comick Sounds or Tragick Airs
She forms her Voice, she moves our Smiles or Tears.

And to his Friend Dr. _Sacheverell_,

I've done at length, and now, dear Friend, receive
The last poor Present that my Muse can give.
And so at once, dear Friend and Muse, fare well.

To these let me add the Testimony of that Darling of the Muses, Mr.
_Prior_, with whom all the Poets of ancient and modern Times of other
Nations, or our own, might seem to have intrusted the chief Secrets, and
greatest Treasures of their Art. I shall speak only concerning our own
Island, where his Imitation of _Chaucer_, of _Spencer_, and of the old