THERE are no Entertainments in themselves more innocent, or to the Publick more instructive than those of the Theatre. I wou’d not be thought to mean the Grotesque Pantomime, or the Harlequin Productions of the present Age, but the noble Force of Tragedy, which can excite in us an Ambition to be virtuous, or the pleasing Strokes in Comedy, which with Humour, can lash our Vices, and with Satire drive away our Follies: Comedy carries with it such a Vein of Mirth, mix’d with Morality, that I am not surpriz’d at the common Opinion of my Countrymen, of chusing to read Tragedy, but to have Comedy exhibited to their View. Whatever Indulgence of Mirth may be claim’d from the Nature of Comedy, yet that Writer, who studies only to raise a Laugh, tho’ he perhaps may meet with Success, will, in the Judgment of all Men of Sense, be esteemed but a wretched Poet. Those humorous Productions which are distinguish’d by the Name of Farce, tho’ they may have something entertaining, and be heigthen’d by some Strokes of Satire, cannot raise in us that Pleasure which true Comedy will always afford. It is not the smart Jest, the odd Drollery, or the lively Repartee, but the natural View of Life; the Manners, the Vices, the Singularity and Humours of Mankind, pleasantly represented to our Sight, which are alone worthy to be call’d the Entertainments of Comedy. Among all the Comic Writers of our Nation, there is none which has drawn Nature stronger, or put the Follies or Vices of Mankind in a clearer Light than the judicious Ben Johnson, who in all his Plays has not only exhibited Nature, but Nature of the most beautiful Kind, as he not only excites Men to be good, but wou’d make good Men better.