William Collins, 1743 (1721-1759)
Too nicely Jonson knew the critic’s part;
Nature in him was almost lost in art.
Of softer mould the gentle Fletcher came,
The next in order, as the next in name:
With pleas’d attention ’midst his scenes we find
Each glowing thought that warms the female mind;
Each melting sigh and every tender tear,
The lover’s wishes, and the virgin’s fear.
His every strain the smiles and graces own,
But stronger Shakespeare felt for man alone:
Drawn by his pen, our ruder passions stand
Th’ unrival’d picture of his early hand.
Verses humbly address’d to Sir Thomas Hanmer on his Edition of Shakespeare’s Works. 1743, p. 7.
Hanmer’s edition of Shakespeare appeared in 1744. See p. 93.