Sir Charles Sedley, 1693 (1639?-1701)
But against old as well as new to rage,
Is the peculiar frenzy of this age.
Shakespeare must down, and you must praise no more
Soft Desdemona, nor the jealous Moor:
Shakespeare whose fruitful genius, happy wit
Was fram’d and finish’d at a lucky hit;
The pride of Nature, and the shame of schools,
Born to create, and not to learn from rules;
Must please no more, his bastards now deride,
Their father’s nakedness they ought to hide,
But when on spurs their Pegasus they force,
Their jaded Muse is distanc’d in the course.
The Wary Widdow, or Sir Noisy Parrat. A Comedy. By Henry Higden. Prologue by Sir Charles Sydley. 1693.