The Way of the World | Page 3

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ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
The Way of the World
Audire est operae pretium, prcedere recte
Qui maechis non
vultis.--HOR. Sat. i. 2, 37.
- Metuat doti deprensa.--Ibid.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE RALPH, EARL OF
MOUNTAGUE, ETC.
My Lord,--Whether the world will arraign me of vanity or not, that I
have presumed to dedicate this comedy to your lordship, I am yet in
doubt; though, it may be, it is some degree of vanity even to doubt of it.
One who has at any time had the honour of your lordship's conversation,
cannot be supposed to think very meanly of that which he would prefer
to your perusal. Yet it were to incur the
imputation of too much
sufficiency to pretend to such a merit as might abide the test of your
lordship's censure.
Whatever value may be wanting to this play while yet it is mine, will
be sufficiently made up to it when it is once become your lordship's;
and it is my security, that I cannot have overrated it more by my
dedication than your lordship will dignify it by your patronage.
That it succeeded on the stage was almost beyond my expectation; for
but little of it was prepared for that general taste which seems now to
be predominant in the palates of our audience.
Those characters which are meant to be ridiculed in most of our
comedies are of fools so gross, that in my humble opinion they should
rather disturb than divert the well-natured and reflecting part of an

audience; they are rather objects of charity than contempt, and instead
of moving our mirth, they ought very often to excite our compassion.
This reflection moved me to design some characters which should
appear ridiculous not so much through a natural folly (which is
incorrigible, and therefore not proper for the stage) as through an
affected wit: a wit which, at the same time that it is affected, is also
false. As there is some difficulty in the formation of a character of this
nature, so there is some hazard which attends the progress of its success
upon the stage: for many come to a play so overcharged with criticism,
that they very often let fly their censure, when through their rashness
they have mistaken their aim. This I had occasion lately to observe: for
this play had been acted two or three days before some of these hasty
judges could find the leisure to distinguish betwixt the character of a
Witwoud and a Truewit.
I must beg your lordship's pardon for this digression from the true
course of this epistle; but that it may not seem altogether impertinent, I
beg that I may plead the occasion of it, in part of that excuse of which I
stand in need, for recommending this comedy to your protection. It is
only by the countenance of your lordship, and the FEW so qualified,
that such who write with care and pains can hope to be distinguished:
for the prostituted name of poet promiscuously levels all that bear it.
Terence, the most correct writer in the world, had a Scipio and a Lelius,
if not to assist him, at least to support him in his reputation. And
notwithstanding his extraordinary merit, it may be their countenance
was not more than necessary.
The purity of his style, the delicacy of his turns, and the justness of his
characters, were all of them beauties which the greater part of his
audience were incapable of tasting. Some of the coarsest strokes of
Plautus, so severely censured by Horace, were more likely to affect the
multitude; such, who come with expectation to laugh at the last act of a
play, and are better entertained with two or three unseasonable jests
than with the artful solution of the fable.
As Terence excelled in his performances, so had he great advantages to

encourage his undertakings, for he built most on the foundations of
Menander: his plots were generally modelled, and his characters ready
drawn to his hand. He copied Menander; and Menander had no less
light in the formation of his characters from the observations of
Theophrastus, of whom he was a disciple; and Theophrastus, it is
known, was not only