Observe what Characters your persons fit,
Whether the Master speak, or Jodelet :
Whether a man, that's elderly in growth,
Or a brisk Hotspur in his boiling youth:
A roaring Bully, or a shirking Cheat,
A Court-bred Lady, or a tawdry Cit:
A prating Gossip, or a jilting Whore,
A travell'd Merchant, or an homespun Bore:
Spaniard , or French, Italian, Dutch , or Dane ;
Native of Turky, India , or Japan .
Either from History your Persons take,
Or let them nothing inconsistent speak:
If you bring great Achilles on the Stage,
Let him be fierce and brave, all heat and rage,
Inflexible, and head-strong to all Laws,
But those, which Arms and his own will impose.
Cruel Medea must no pity have,
Ixion must be treacherous, Ino grieve,
Io must wander, and Orestes rave.
But if you dare to tread in paths unknown,
And boldly start new persons of your own;
Be sure to make them in one strain agree,
And let the end like the beginning be.