Their heroes are the most civil people breathing; but their
good breeding seldom extends to a word of sense; all their wit is in
their ceremony; they want the genius which animates our stage; and
therefore it is but necessary, when they cannot please, that they
should take care not to offend. But as the civilest man in the
company is commonly the dullest, so these authors, while they are
afraid to make you laugh or cry, out of pure good manners make you
sleep. They are so careful not to exasperate a critic, that they
never leave him any work; so busy with the broom, and make so clean
a riddance that there is little left either for censure or for
praise: For no part of a poem is worth our discommending, where the
whole is insipid; as when we have once tasted of palled wine, we stay
not to examine it glass by glass. But while they affect to shine in
trifles, they are often careless in essentials. Thus, their
Hippolytus is so scrupulous in point of decency, that he will rather
expose himself to death, than accuse his stepmother to his father;
and my critics I am sure will commend him for it.
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