_George Chapman_ was one in his time much famed for the Fluency of his Muse; gaining a great repute for his Translation of _Homer_ and _Hesiod_, which in those times passed as Works done without compare; and indeed considering he was one of the first who brake the Ice in the Translation of such learned Authors, reading the highest conception of their Raptures into a neat polite _English_, as gave the true meaning of what they intended, and rendred it a style acceptable to the Reader; considering, I say, what Age he lived in, it was very well worthy praise; though since the Translation of _Homer_ is very far out-done by Mr. _Ogilby_. He also continued that excellent Poem of _Hero_ and _Leander_, begun by _Christopher Marlow_, and added very much to the Stage in those times by his Dramatick Writings; as his _Blind Beggar_ of _Alexandria_, _All Fools_, the _Gentleman Usher_, _Humorous Days Mirth_, _May-Day_, _Mounsieur D'Olive_, _Eastward ho_, _Two wise men, and all the rest Fools_, _Widows Tears_, Comedies; _Bussy D' Amboys_, _Byron's Tragedy_, _Bussy D'Amboys Revenge_, _Cæsar_ and _Pompey_, _Revenge for Honour_, Tragedies; the _Temple_, _Masque of the Middle Temple_ and _Lincolns-Inn_ Masques; and _Byron's Conspiracy_, a History; in all seventeen.
Of this _Robert Baron_, we can recover nothing, save only those Dramatick Pieces which he wrote to the Stage, and which no doubt passed with good applause in those times. Of these are remembred his _Don Quixot_, or _the Knight of the Ill-favoured Countenance_, a Comedy; _Gripus_ and _Hegia_, a Pastoral; _Deorum Dona_, _Dick Scorner_, _Destruction of Jerusalem_, _the Marriage of Wit and Science_, Masques and Interludes; and _Myrza_, a Tragedy.
To Mr. _Robert Baron_ we may add _Lodovic Carlisle_, as much about the same time, and of like equal esteem; having written some not yet totally forgotten Plays, _viz._ _Arviragus_ and _Felicia_, in two parts; _the deserving Favorite_, _the Fool would be a Favorite_, or _the deserving Lover_, Tragi-Comedies; _Marius_ and _Scylla_, and _Osmond the Great Turk_, or _the Noble Servant_, Tragedies; all which shew him (though not a Master) yet a great Retainer to the Muses.
To these we may add _John Ford_, a Dramatick Writer likewise of those times; very beneficial to the _Red-Bull_ and _Fortune_-Play-houses; as may appear by these Plays which he wrote, _viz._ _The Fancies_, _Ladies Tryal_, Comedies; _the broken Heart_; _Lovers Melancholy_, _Loves Sacrifice_, _'tis pity she's a Whore_, Tragedies; _Perkin Warbeck_, a History; and an Associate with _Rowley_ and _Deckar_ in a Tragi-Comedy called _The Witch_ of _Edmonton_.