I dare not advance my opinion against the judgment of so great an author; but I think it fair, however, to leave the decision to the public: Mr.
Cowley was too modest to set up for a dictator; and being shock'd perhaps with his old style, never examin'd into the depth of his good sense.

Chaucer, I confess, is a rough diamond, and must first be polish'd, ere he shines.

I deny not, likewise, that, living in our early days of poetry, he writes not always of a piece, but sometimes mingles trivial things with those of greater moment.

Sometimes also, tho' not often, he runs riot, like Ovid, and knows not when he has said enough.

But there are more great wits, beside Chaucer, whose fault is their excess of conceits, and those ill sorted.