Dean Swift was the
professed antagonist both of Addison and him. He perceived that there
was a spirit of romance mixed with all the works of the poets who
preceded him; or, in other words, that they had drawn nature on the most
pleasing side. There still therefore was a place left for him, who,
careless of censure, should describe it just as it was, with all its
deformities; he therefore owes much of his fame, not so much to the
greatness of his genius, as to the boldness of it. He was dry,
sarcastic, and severe; and suited his style exactly to the turn of his
thought, being concise and nervous. In this period also flourished many
of subordinate fame. Prior was the first who adopted the French elegant
easy manner of telling a story; but if what he has borrowed from that
nation be taken from him, scarce anything will be left upon which he can
lay any claim to applause in poetry. Rowe was only outdone by
Shakespeare and Otway as a tragic writer; he has fewer absurdities than
either; and is, perhaps, as pathetic as they; but his flights are not so
bold, nor his characters so strongly marked.
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