John Dryden: An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

Crites praises the Greeks and Romans suggesting that they cannot be surpassed.
Eugenius recognizes their worth but suggests that they have indeed been exceeded and in many instances are not consistent in their adherence to Aristotle's conventions.
Lisideius suggests that the French are superior to the English.
Neander (ostensibly Dryden) counters that, based on their agreed definition of what "a play ought to be," the English are superior.
Two types of "bad" English poets: (p.164)
1.the poets who "perpetually pay us with clenches upon words and a certain clownish kind of raillery;" (b…