Epistle to a Friend Concerning Poetry (1700) and the Essay on Heroic Poetry (second edition, 1697) | Page 4

and commonplace--but such was the tradition of the poetical treatise on
verse. Appearing within two years of Collier's first attack upon the
stage, it reinforces some of that worthy's contentions, but we are not
aware of its having had much effect.
The Epistle to a Friend concerning Poetry is here reproduced, with
permission, from the copy at Harvard. The "Essay on Heroic Poetry" is
reproduced, with permission, from a copy of the 1697 edition of The
Life of Our Blessed Lord owned by the Henry E. Huntington Library, at
San Marino, California. Our reproduction of the second item was made
from a typescript because the printing of the original lacks the size and
clarity which are necessary for satisfactory results In lithoprinting. The
typescript follows the original accurately except that italics (crazily
profuse in the 1697 edition) are omitted, the use of quotation marks is
normalized, and three obvious typographical errors are silently
emended.
Edward Niles Hooker

AN EPISTLE TO A FRIEND CONCERNING POETRY.
By SAMUEL WESLEY.
Fungor vice Cotis.
LONDON Printed for CHARLES HARPER, at the Flower de Luce in
Fleetstreet. MDCC. _25. Aprill_.

PREFACE.
_I have not much to say of this Poem, before I leave it to the_ Mercy
_of the Reader. There's no need of looking far into it, to find out that
the direct_ Design _of a great part of it, is to Serve the_ Cause of

Religion and Virtue; _tho' 'twas necessary for that End to dispose the_
whole in such a manner as might be agreeable to the Tast _of the
present Age, and of those who usually give such sort of Books the_
Reading. If there be any Thoughts in it relating to Poetry, that either
are not known to all Persons, or are tolerably ranged and expressed,
_the Reader is welcome to 'em for_ Over-weight: _If there are too few
of these, I yet hope the Pardon of all_ candid Judges, _because I've
done the best I cou'd on this_ Argument. _I can't be angry with any
Person for ranking me amongst the_ Ogylbys; my Quarrel is with these
that rank themselves amongst Atheists, and impudently defend and
propagate that ridiculous Opinion of the Eternity of the World, and a
fatal invincible Chain of Things, _which, it seems, is now most
commonly made use of to destroy the_ Faith, as our lewd Plays are to
corrupt the Morals of the Nation: _An Opinion, big with more_
Absurdities than Transubstantiation _it self, and of far more_ fatal
Consequence, _if receiv'd and believ'd: For besides its extremely
weakening, if not destroying, the_ Belief of the Being and Providence
of God, it utterly takes away any sort of Freedom in Humane Actions,
reduces Mankind beneath the Brute Creation; perfectly excuses the
greatest Villanies in this World, and entirely vacates all Retribution
_hereafter. One wou'd wonder with what Face or Conscience such a_
Sett _of Men shou'd hope to be treated by the Rules of_ Civility, when
they themselves break through those of Society, and common
Humanity: How they can expect any fairer Quarter than Wolves or
Tygers; or what Reason they can give why a Price should not be sett
upon their Heads, as well as on the Others; or at least why they should
not be securely hamper'd and muzzled, and led about for a Sight, like
other Monsters. _'Tis the fatal and spreading_ Poyson of these Mens
Examples and Principles
which has extorted these warm Expressions
_from me; I cannot with_ Patience see my Countrey ruin'd by the
prodigious increase of Infidelity and Immorality, nor forbear crying
out with some Vehemence, when I am giving Warning to all honest
Men to stand up in the Defence _of it, when it is in greater and more
eminent danger than it wou'd have been formerly, if the_ Spanish
Armada _had made a Descent amongst us: I don't speak of these things
by distant_ Hear-say, or only from our publick Prints, but from my own
Knowledg and little Acquaintance _in the World, and therefore others

must have observ'd much more, and cannot but fear, that if things go on
as they now are, without a greater_ Check, and more severe Laws
against these wide and contagious Mischiefs, at least without a more
general united Endeavour to put those Laws already made in strict
Execution, we are in a fair way to become a Nation of Atheists. _'Tis
now no difficult matter to meet with those who pretend to be_ lewd
upon Principles; _They'll talk very_ gravely, _look as if they were in
earnest, and come_ sobrii ad perdendam Rempublicam: _they wou'd
be_ Criticks _too, and_ Philosophers: They attack Religion in Form
and batter it from every Quarter; _they wou'd turn the very_ Scriptures
_against themselves, and labour hard to remove a_ Supreme Being _out
of