THE

DRAMATIC WORKS

OF

JOHN DRYDEN

WITH A

LIFE OF THE AUTHOR

BY

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 

EDITED BY GEORGE SAINTSBURY

_VOL. I. _

EDINBURGH: WILLIAM PATERSON

_1882_

[Illustration: _M' John Dryden. _]

THE DRAMATIC WORKS

OF

JOHN DRYDEN

EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

The best-edited book in the English language is, according to Southey, Wilkin's edition of Sir Thomas Browne. If Sir Walter Scott's "Dryden"cannot challenge this highest position, it certainly deserves the creditof being one of the best-edited books on a great scale in English, savein one particular, --the revision of the text. In reading it long ago, with no other object than to make acquaintance with Dryden; again, morerecently and more minutely, for the purpose of a course of lectureswhich I was asked to deliver at the Royal Institution; andagain, more recently and more minutely still, for the purposes of amonograph on the same subject in Mr. Morley's series of _EnglishMen of Letters_, I have had tolerably ample opportunities ofrecognising its merits. It was therefore with pleasure that I found, on being consulted by the publisher of these volumes as to a re-issue ofit, that Mr. Paterson was as averse as I was myself to any attempt toefface or to mutilate Scott's work. Neither the number, the order, northe contents of Scott's eighteen volumes will be altered in any way. Thetask which I propose to myself is a sufficiently modest one, that ofre-editing Scott's "Dryden, " as--putting differences of ability out ofquestion--he might have re-edited it himself had he been alive to-day;that is to say, to set right errors into which he fell either byinadvertence or deficiency of information, to correct the text inaccordance with modern requirements, and to add the results of thestudents of Dryden during the last three quarters of a century in matterof text as well as of comment. 

The first part of the plan requires no further remarks, and the last notmuch. No literary work of Dryden's of any great importance has beendiscovered since Scott's edition appeared. A few letters will have to beadded, though I am sorry to say that I cannot promise my readers thesatisfaction which Dryden students chiefly desire, --the satisfaction ofreading, or at least knowing the contents of, the Knole correspondence. In reply to a request of mine, Lord Sackville has positively, thoughvery courteously, refused to lift the embargo which his predecessorshave placed on this, nor have my inquiries succeeded as yet indiscovering any hitherto unpublished letters, though the presentcollection will for the first time present those which have beenpublished in a complete form. I think that it may not be uninterestingfor readers to have an opportunity of comparing with the undoubted worktwo plays, "The Mistaken Husband, " and "The Modish Lovers, " which goodauthorities have suspected to be possibly Dryden's. These willaccordingly be given in the last volume of the plays. A bibliography ofDryden, and writers on Dryden, and a certain number of _piecesjustificatives_ of various kinds, will also be added, as well asnotes, and where the subject seems to demand them, appendices on pointsof importance. These additional notes and appendices will be bracketedand signed ED. , Dryden's own notes, which are rare, will be indicated bya D. , and Scott's will stand without indication. 

The principles upon which I have proceeded in re-editing the textrequire somewhat fuller explanation. Dryden never superintended anycomplete edition of his works, but on the other hand there is evidencein his letters that he bestowed considerable pains on them when theyfirst passed through the press. The first editions have therefore inevery case been followed, though they have been corrected in case ofneed by the later ones. But the adoption of this standard leavesunsettled the problem of orthography, punctuation, etc. I have adopted asolution of this which will not, I fear, be wholly agreeable to some ofmy friends. Capital letters, apostrophes, and the like, will be lookedfor in vain. It would, I need hardly say, have been much less trouble toput copies of the original editions into the hands of the printers, tobid them "follow copy, " and to content myself with seeing that thereprint was faithful. The result would have been, to a very small numberof professed students of English literature, an interesting example ofthe changes which printers' spelling underwent in the last forty yearsof the seventeenth century. But it would have been a nuisance and astumbling-block to the ordinary reader, in whose way it is certainly notthe business of the editor of a great English classic to throw stones ofoffence. Where a writer has written in a distinctly archaic form oflanguage, as in the case of all English writers before the Renaissance, adherence to the original orthography is necessary and right. Even inthe so-called Elizabethan age, where a certain archaism of phrasesurvives, the appreciation of temporal and local colour may be helped bysuch an adherence. But Dryden is in every sense a modern. His list ofobsolete words is insignificant, of archaic phrases more insignificantstill, of obsolete constructions almost a blank. If any journalist orreviewer were to write his to-morrow's leader or his next week's articlein a style absolutely modelled on Dryden, no one would notice anythingstrange in it, except perhaps that the English was a good deal betterthan usual There can therefore be no possible reason for erecting anartificial barrier between him and his readers of to-day, especially asthat barrier would be not only artificial but entirely arbitrary. Ishall however return to this point in some prefatory remarks to thedramas. 

Another problem which presented itself was the question of retaining theirregular stichometric division in some plays and passages which are notin verse. Scott has in such case generally printed them in prose, andwith some hesitation I have, though not uniformly, followed him. 

I have already received much help from divers persons, and I trust, _dis faventibus_, to acknowledge this and more at the end of myjourney, in (to use a word for which a great writer of French foughthard) a "postface. " In a work of magnitude such as the present, whichcan only be proceeded with _pedetentim_, the proverb about therelations of beginner and finisher is peculiarly applicable. For thepresent I shall confine myself to mentioning with the utmostthankfulness the kindness of Mr. E. W. Gosse, who has placed at mydisposal an almost complete set of first editions of the plays andpoems. One word must be said as to the Life which fills this firstvolume. Except in minor details, there is little to add to it. Anybiographer of Dryden who is not carried away by the desire to magnifyhis office, must admit that Johnson's opening sentence as to the paucityof materials is still applicable. 

In conclusion, I have but to repeat that in this edition it is not myambition to put myself or my own writing forward, even to the extentordinarily possible to an editor. In particular, my plan excludesindulgence in critical disquisitions, however tempting they may be. Forsuch I must refer my readers to the monograph already mentioned. Occasionally where critical opinions of Scott's are advanced which seemdemonstrably erroneous or imperfect, something of this nature will befound, but on the whole my object is to give the reader my author, andnot what I have to say about him. The office of [Greek: neokoros] is acomparatively humble one in itself, but it is honourable enough when theshrine is at once the work and the monument of two such masters ofEnglish as Scott and Dryden. 

GEORGE SAINTSBURY. 

LONDON, _July 8_, 1882. 

ADVERTISEMENT. 

[_Prefaced to Edition issued in_ 1808, _edited by Sir WalterScott_. ]

After the lapse of more than a century since the author's death, theWorks of Dryden are now, for the first time, presented to the public ina complete and uniform edition. In collecting the pieces of one of ourmost eminent English classics, --one who may claim at least the thirdplace in that honoured list, and who has given proofs of greaterversatility of talent than either Shakespeare or Milton, though justlyplaced inferior to them in their peculiar provinces, --the Editor did notfeel himself entitled to reject any part of his writings; even of thosewhich reflect little honour on the age, by whose taste they weredictated. Had a selection been permitted, he would have excluded severalof the Comedies, and some part of the Translations: but this is aliberty which has not lately been indulged to editors of classicalpoetry. Literary history is an important step in that of man himself;and the unseductive coarseness of Dryden is rather a beacon than atemptation. 

In commencing this task, the Editor had hopes of friendly assistance, which might have rendered his toil more easy, and the result moreaccurate. Deprived of this by a concurrence of unlucky circumstances, hehas both to dread the imperfection of his labours, and the consequenceof perhaps an over-zeal to render his edition complete. In the firstrespect, although he has many thanks to return for information readilyafforded, it has sometimes been received after the irrevocableoperations of the printer had taken place. [1] On the second point, hemay have been too lavish in historical notes, and entered too deeplyinto the secret history of the persons and times to which Dryden'ssatirical poems refer. But he has endeavoured to avail himself of allinformation, so soon as communicated, whether corrective orcorroborative of his prior opinions; and the wish, not only to renderintelligible, blanks, allusions, and feigned names, but to present, ifpossible, the very spirit and political character of Dryden'scontemporaries, must be the excuse for intruding a few pages ofpolitical history and personal anecdote; which, after all, they, whosememory does not require such refreshment, may easily dispense withreading. In this last part of his task, the Editor has been greatlyassisted by free access to a valuable collection of the fugitive piecesof the reigns of Charles II. , James II. , William III. , and Queen Anne. This curious collection was made by Narcissus Luttrell, Esq. , underwhose name the Editor usually quotes it The industrious collector seemsto have bought every poetical tract, of whatever merit, which was hawkedthrough the streets in his time, marking carefully the price and date ofthe purchase. His collection contains the earliest editions of many ofour most excellent poems, bound up, according to the order of time, withthe lowest trash of Grub Street. It was dispersed on Mr. Luttrell'sdeath; but a number of the volumes, referring chiefly to the latter partof Charles the Second's reign, have fortunately become the property ofMr. James Bindley of Somerset Place, who, with the utmost urbanity, permitted the Editor the unlimited use of these, and other literarycuriosities in his valuable library. --It is so much a matter of course, with every adventurer in the field of antiquities, to acknowledge theliberality and kindness of Mr. Richard Heber, that the public wouldprobably be surprised had his extensive literary treasures escapedcontribution on this occasion, particularly as it contains severaladditional volumes of the Luttrell collection. To both gentlemen theEditor has to offer his public thanks; nor will he be tempted to dilatefurther on the liberality of the one, and the tried friendship of theother. It is possible, that these researches may, by their very nature, have in some degree warped the Editor's taste, and induced him toconsider that as curious which was only scarce, and to reprintquotations, from the adversaries or contemporaries of Dryden, of alength more than sufficient to satisfy the reader of their unworthiness. But, as the painter places a human figure, to afford the means ofcomputing the elevation of the principal object in his landscape, itseemed that the giant-height of Dryden, above the poets of his day, might be best ascertained by extracts from those who judged themselves, and were sometimes deemed by others, his equals, or his superiors. Forthe same reason, there are thrown into the Appendix a few indifferentverses to the poet's memory; which, while they show how much his losswas felt, point out, at the same time, the impossibility of supplyingit. 

In the Biographical Memoir, it would have been hard to exact, that theEditor should rival the criticism of Johnson, or produce facts which hadescaped the accuracy of Malone. While, however, he has availed himselfof the labours of both, particularly of the latter, whose industry hasremoved the cloud which so long hung over the events of Dryden's life, he has endeavoured to take a different and more enlarged view of thesubject than that which his predecessors have presented. The generalcritical view of Dryden's works being sketched by Johnson withunequalled felicity, and the incidents of his life accurately discussedand ascertained by Malone, something seemed to remain for him who shouldconsider these literary productions in their succession, as actuated by, and operating upon, the taste of an age, where they had so predominantinfluence; and who might, at the same time, connect the life of Drydenwith the history of his publications, without losing sight of the fateand character of the individual. How far this end has been attained, isnot for the Editor to guess, especially when, as usual at the close of awork, he finds he is possessed of double the information he had when hecommenced it. The kindness of Mr. Octavius Gilchrist, who undertook ajourney to Northamptonshire to examine the present state of Rushton, where Dryden often lived, and of Mr. Finlay of Glasgow, who favoured theEditor with the use of some original editions, falls here to begratefully acknowledged. 

In collecting the poetry of Dryden, some hymns translated from theservice of the Catholic Church were recovered, by the favour of CaptainMacDonogh of the Inverness Militia. [2] As the body of the work was thenprinted off, they were inserted in the Life of the Author; but should asecond impression of this edition be required by the public, they shallbe transferred to their proper place. To the Letters of Dryden, published in Mr. Malone's edition of his prose works, the Editor hasbeen enabled to add one article, by the favour of Mrs. White ofBownanhall, Gloucestershire. Those preserved at Knowles were examined atthe request of a noble friend, and the contents appeared unfit forpublication. Dryden's translations of Fresnoy's Art of Painting, and ofthe Life of Xavier, are inserted without abridgment, for reasons whichare elsewhere alleged. [3] From the version of Maimbourg's "History ofthe League, " there is an extract given, which may be advantageously readalong with the Duke of Guise, and the Vindication of that play. Theprefaces and dedications are, of course, prefixed to the pieces to whichthey belong; but those who mean to study them with reference totheatrical criticism, will do well to follow the order recommended byMr. Malone. [4]

Several pieces published in Derrick's edition of Dryden's poetry, beingobviously spurious, are here published separately from his authenticpoetry, and with a suitable note of suspicion prefixed to each. Theymight indeed have been altogether discarded without diminishing thevalue of the work. Some account might be here given of the variouseditions of Dryden's poems; but notices of this kind have been liberallyscattered through the Life and preliminary matter. 

Upon the whole, it is hoped, that as the following is the first completeedition of the Works of Dryden, it will be found, in accuracy of textand copiousness of illustration, not altogether unworthy of the time, labour, and expense which have been ungrudgingly bestowed upon an objectso important to English literature. 

FOOTNOTES

[1] The octavo edition of the "_Annus Mirabilis_" did not fall into myhands till the volume containing it was printed off. It contains twoimportant variations: as, stanza 4, _the year_, read THEIR _year_;stanza 53, _their main_, read MEN; both of which the reader is requestedto correct. Also an _erratum_ in verse 104, line 2, where the word_fortune_ should be VIRTUE. 

[2] By the hands of Mrs. Jackson, who has honoured me with a note, stating, that they are mentioned in Butler's "Tour through Italy;" thatafter Butler's death, the translations passed into the hands of thecelebrated Dr. Alban, whence they were transferred to those of thepresent possessor. 

[3] Vol. I. P. 283; vol. Xvii. 

[4] Which is, the Essay of Dramatic Poesy, the Defence of that Essay, the Preface to the Mock Astrologer, the Essay on Heroic Plays, theDefence of the Epilogue to the Second Part of the Conquest of Granada, the Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy, and the Answer to Rymer. 

CONTENTS

OF

VOLUME FIRST. 

The Life of John Dryden

SECT. I. Preliminary remarks on the Poetry of England before the CivilWars--The Life of Dryden from his Birth till the Restoration--His EarlyPoems, including the Annus Mirabilis

SECT. II. Revival of the Drama at the Restoration--Heroic Plays--Comedies of Intrigue--Commencement of Dryden's Dramatic Career--The WildGallant--Rival Ladies--Indian Queen and Emperor--Dryden's Marriage--Essay on Dramatic Poetry, and subsequent Controversy with Sir RobertHoward--The Maiden Queen--The Tempest--Sir Martin Mar-all--The MockAstrologer--The Royal Martyr--The two Parts of the Conquest of Granada--Dryden's situation at this period

SECT. III. Heroic Plays--The Rehearsal--Marriage à la Mode--TheAssignation--Controversy with Clifford--with Leigh--with Ravenscroft--Massacre of Amboyna--State of Innocence

SECT. IV. Dryden's controversy with Settle--with Rochester--He isassaulted in Rose Street--Aureng-Zebe--Dryden meditates an Epic Poem--All for Love--Limberham--Oedipus--Troilus and Cressida--The SpanishFriar--Dryden supposed to be in opposition to the Court

SECT. V. Dryden engages in Politics--Absalom and Achitophel, Part First--The Medal--MacFlecknoe--Absalom and Achitophel, Part Second--The Dukeof Guise

SECT. VI. Threnodia Augustalis--Albion and Albanius--Dryden becomes aCatholic--The Controversy of Dryden with Stillingfleet--The Hind andPanther--Life of St. Francis Xavier--Consequences of the Revolution toDryden--Don Sebastian--King Arthur--Cleomenes--Love Triumphant

SECT. VII. State of Dryden's Connections in Society after theRevolution--Juvenal and Persius--Smaller Pieces--Eleanora--ThirdMiscellany--Virgil--Ode to St. Cecilia--Dispute with Milbourne--withBlackmore--Fables--The Author's Death and Funeral--His PrivateCharacter--Notices of his Family

SECT. VIII. The State of Dryden's Reputation at his Death, andafterwards--The general Character of his Mind--His Merit as a Dramatist--As a Lyrical Poet--As a Satirist--As a Narrative Poet--As aPhilosophical and Miscellaneous Poet--As a Translator--As a ProseAuthor--As a Critic

THELIFEOFJOHN DRYDEN. 

VOL. I. 

THE LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 

 * * * * *

SECTION I. 

_Preliminary Remarks on the Poetry of England before the Civil Wars--The Life of Dryden from his Birth till the Restoration--His early Poems, including the "Annus Mirabilis. "_

The Life of Dryden may be said to comprehend a history of the Literatureof England, and its changes, during nearly half a century. While hisgreat contemporary Milton was in silence and secrecy laying thefoundation of that immortal fame, which no poet has so highly deservedDryden's labours were ever in the eye of the public; and he maintained, from the time of the Restoration till his death, in 1700, a decided andacknowledged superiority over all the poets of his age. As he wrote fromnecessity, he was obliged to pay a certain deference to the publicopinion; for he, whose bread depends upon the success of his volume, iscompelled to study popularity; but, on the other hand, his betterjudgment was often directed to improve that of his readers; so that healternately influenced and stooped to the national taste of the day. If, therefore, we would know the gradual changes which took place in ourpoetry during the above period, we have only to consult the writings ofan author, who produced yearly some new performance allowed to be mostexcellent in the particular style which was fashionable for the time. Itis the object of this memoir to connect, with the account of Dryden'slife and publications such a general view of the literature of the time, as may enable the reader to estimate how far the age was indebted to thepoet, and how far the poet was influenced by the taste and manners ofthe age. A few preliminary remarks on the literature of the earlier partof the seventeenth century will form a necessary introduction to thisbiographical memoir. 

[1]When James I. Ascended the throne of England he came to rule a courtand people, as much distinguished for literature as for commerce andarms. Shakespeare was in the zenith of his reputation, and Englandpossessed other poets inferior to Shakespeare alone; or, indeed, thehigher order of whose plays may claim to be ranked above the inferiordramas ascribed to him. Among these we may reckon Massinger, whoapproached to Shakespeare in dignity; Beaumont and Fletcher, whosurpassed him in drawing female characters, and those of polite andcourtly life; and Jonson, who attempted to supply, by depth of learning, and laboured accuracy of character, the want of that flow ofimagination, which nature had denied to him. Others, who flourished inthe reign of James and his son, though little known to the generalreaders of the present age even by name, had a just claim to bedistinguished from the common herd of authors. Ford, Webster, Marston, Brome, Shirley, even Chapman and Decker, added lustre to the stage forwhich they wrote. The drama, it is true, was the branch of poetry mostsuccessfully cultivated; for it afforded the most ready appeal to thepublic taste. The number of theatres then open in all parts of the city, secured to the adventurous poet the means of having his performancerepresented upon one stage or other; and he was neither tired nordisgusted by the difficulties, and disagreeable observances, which mustnow be necessarily undergone by every candidate for dramatic laurels. [2]But, although during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James I, thestage seems to have afforded the principal employment of the poets, there wanted not many, who cultivated, with success, the otherdepartments of Parnassus. It is only necessary to name Spenser, whosemagic tale continues to interest us, in despite of the languor of acontinued allegory; Drayton, who, though less known, possesses perhapsequal powers of poetry; Beaumont the elder, whose poem on Bosworth Fieldcarries us back to the days of the Plantagenets; Fairfax, the translatorof Tasso, the melody of whose numbers became the model of Waller;besides many others, who ornamented this era of British literature. 

Notwithstanding the splendour of these great names, it must beconfessed, that one common fault, in a greater or less degree, pervadedthe most admired poetry of Queen Elizabeth's age. This was the fatalpropensity to _false wit_; to substitute, namely, strange andunexpected connections of sound, or of idea, for real humour, and evenfor the effusions of the stronger passions It seems likely that thisfashion arose at court, a sphere in which its denizens never think theymove with due lustre, until they have adopted a form of expression, aswell as a system of manners, different from that which is proper tomankind at large. In Elizabeth's reign, the court language was formed onthe plan of one Lillie, a pedantic courtier, who wrote a book, entitled"Euphues and his England, or the Anatomy of Wit;"[3] which quality hemakes to consist in the indulgence of every monstrous and overstrainedconceit, that can be engendered by a strong memory and a heated brain, applied to the absurd purpose of hatching unnatural conceits. [4] Itappears, that this fantastical person had a considerable share indetermining the false taste of his age, which soon became so general, that the tares which sprung from it are to be found even among thechoicest of the wheat. Shakespeare himself affords us too many instancesof this fashionable heresy in wit; and he, who could create new worldsout of his own imagination descended to low, and often ill-timed punsand quibbles. This was not an evil to be cured by the accession of ourScottish James, whose qualifications as a punster were at least equal tohis boasted _king-craft. _[5] The false taste, which had beengaining ground even in the reign of Elizabeth, now overflowed the wholekingdom with the impetuosity of a land-flood. These outrages uponlanguage were committed without regard to time and place. They were heldgood arguments at the bar, though Bacon sat on the woolsack; andeloquence irresistible by the most hardened sinner, when King or Corbetwere in the pulpit. [6] Where grave and learned professions set theexample, the poets, it will readily be believed, ran headlong into anerror, for which they could plead such respectable example. Theaffectation "of the word" and "of the letter, " for alliteration wasalmost as fashionable as punning, seemed, in some degree, to bring backEnglish composition to the barbarous rules of the ancient Anglo-Saxons, the merit of whose poems consisted, not in the ideas, but in the quaintarrangement of the words, and the regular recurrence of some favouritesound or letter. 

This peculiar taste for twisting and playing upon words, instead ofapplying them to their natural and proper use, was combined with thesimilar extravagance of those whom Dr. Johnson has entitled MetaphysicalPoets. This class of authors used the same violence towards images andideas which had formerly been applied to words; in truth, the two styleswere often combined and, even when separate, had a kindred alliance witheach other. It is the business of the punster to discover and yoketogether two words, which, while they have some resemblance in sound, the more exact the better, convey a totally different signification. Themetaphysical poet, on the other hand, piqued himself in discoveringhidden resemblances between ideas apparently the most dissimilar, and incombining by some violent and compelled association, illustrations andallusions utterly foreign from each other. Thus did the metaphysicalpoet resemble the quibbler exercising precisely the same tyranny overideas, which the latter practised upon sounds only. 

Jonson gave an early example of metaphysical poetry; indeed, it was thenatural resource of a mind amply stored with learning, gifted with atenacious memory and the power of constant labour, but to which wasdenied that vivid perception of what is naturally beautiful, and thathappiness of expression, which at once conveys to the reader the idea ofthe poet These latter qualities unite in many passages of Shakespeare, of which the reader at once acknowledges the beauty, the justice, andthe simplicity. But such Jonson was unequal to produce; and hesubstituted the strange, forced, and most unnatural though ingeniousanalogies, which were afterwards copied by Donne and Cowley. [7] Inreading Shakespeare, we often meet passages so congenial to our natureand feelings, that, beautiful as they are, we can hardly help wonderingthey did not occur to ourselves; in studying Jonson, we have often tomarvel how his conceptions could have occurred to any human being. Theone is like an ancient statue, the beauty of which, springing from theexactness of proportion does not always strike at first sight, but risesupon us as we bestow time in considering it; the other is therepresentation of a monster, which is at first only surprising, andludicrous or disgusting ever after. When the taste for simplicityhowever, is once destroyed, it is long ere a nation recovers it; and themetaphysical poets seem to have retained possession of the public favourfrom the reign of James I. Till the beginning of the Civil Wars silencedthe muses. The universities were perhaps to blame during this period ofusurpation; for which it may be admitted in excuse, that themetaphysical poetry could only be practised by men whose minds weredeeply stored with learning, and who could boldly draw upon a large fundof acquired knowledge for supplying the expenditure of far-fetched andextravagant images, which their compositions required. The book ofNature is before all men; but when her limits are to be overstepped, theacquirement of adventitious knowledge becomes of paramount necessity;and it was but natural that Cambridge and Oxford should prize a style ofpoetry, to which depth of learning was absolutely indispensable. 

I have stated, that the metaphysical poetry was fashionable during theearly part of Charles the First's reign. It is true, that Miltondescended to upbraid that unfortunate prince, that the chosen companionof his private hours was one _William Shakespeare, a player_; butCharles admitted less sacred poets to share his partiality. Ben Jonsonsupplied his court with masques, and his pageants with verses; and, notwithstanding an ill-natured story, shared no inconsiderable portionof his bounty. [8] Donne, a leader among the metaphysical poets, withwhom King James had punned and quibbled in person. [9] shared, in aremarkable degree, the good graces of Charles I. , who may therefore besupposed no enemy to his vein of poetry, although neither his sincerepiety nor his sacred office restrained him from fantastic indulgence inextravagant conceit, even upon the most solemn themes which can beselected for poetry. [10] Cowley, who with the learning and acuteness ofDonne, possessed the more poetical qualities of a fertile imagination, and frequent happiness of expression, and who claims the highest placeof all who ever plied the unprofitable trade of combining dissimilar andrepugnant ideas, was not indeed known to the king during his prosperity;but his talents recommended him at the military court of Oxford, and the[Transcriber's note: word missing here in the original] ingenious poetof the metaphysical class enjoyed the applause of Charles before heshared the exile of his consort Henrietta. Cleveland also was honouredwith the early notice of Charles;[11] one of the most distinguishedmetaphysical bards, who afterwards exerted his talents of wit and satireupon the royal side, and strained his imagination for extravagantinvective against the Scottish army, who sold their king, and theparliament leaders, who bought him. All these, and others unnecessary tomention, were read and respected at court; being esteemed by theircontemporaries, and doubtless believing themselves the wonder of theirown, and the pattern of succeeding ages; and however much they[Transcriber's note: fragment of word only in original, presume "might"]differ from each other in parts and genius, they sought the same road topoetical fame, by starting the most unnatural images which theirimaginations could conceive, or by hunting more common allusions throughthe most minute and circumstantial particulars and ramifications. 

Yet, though during the age of Charles I. The metaphysical poets enjoyedthe larger proportion of public applause, authors were not wanting whosought other modes of distinguishing themselves. Milton, who must not benamed in the same paragraph with others, although he had not yetmeditated the sublime work which was to carry his name to immortality, disdained, even in his lesser compositions, the preposterous conceitsand learned absurdities, by which his contemporaries acquireddistinction. Some of his slighter academic prolusions are, indeed, tinged with the prevailing taste of his age, or, perhaps, were writtenin ridicule of it; but no circumstance in his life is more remarkable, than that "Comus, " the "Monody on Lycidas, " the "Allegro and Penseroso, "and the "Hymn on the Nativity, " are unpolluted by the metaphysicaljargon and affected language which the age esteemed indispensable topoetry. This refusal to bend to an evil so prevailing, and which heldout so many temptations to a youth of learning and genius, can only beascribed to the natural chastity of Milton's taste, improved by anearnest and eager study of the purest models of antiquity. 

But besides Milton, who stood aloof and alone, there was a race oflesser poets, who endeavoured to glean the refuse of the applause reapedby Donne, Cowley, and their followers, by adopting ornaments which thelatter had neglected, perhaps because they could be attained withoutmuch labour or abstruse learning. The metaphysical poets, in theirslip-shod pindarics, had totally despised, not only smoothness andelegance but the common rhythm of versification. Many and long passagesmay be read without perceiving the least difference between them andbarbarous jingling, ill-regulated prose; and in appearance, though thelines be divided into unequal lengths, the eye and ear acknowledgelittle difference between them and the inscription on a tomb-stone. In aword, not only harmony of numbers, but numbers themselves, werealtogether neglected; or if an author so far respected ancient practiceas to make lines which could be scanned like verse, he had done hispart, and was perfectly indifferent, although they sounded likeprose. [12] But as melody will be always acceptable to the ear, somepoets chose this neglected road to fame, and gained a portion of publicfavour, by attending to the laws of harmony, which their rivals haddiscarded. Waller and Denham were the first who thus distinguishedthemselves; but, as Johnson happily remarks, what was acquired byDenham, was inherited by Waller. Something there was in the situation ofboth these authors, which led them to depart from what was then thebeaten path of composition. They were men of rank, wealth, and fashion, and had experienced all the interruptions to deep study, with which suchelevated station is naturally attended. It was in vain for Waller, awit, a courtier, and a politician; or for Denham, who was onlydistinguished at the university as a dreaming, dissipated gambler, toattempt to rival the metaphysical subtleties of Donne and Cowley, whohad spent serious and sequestered lives in acquiring the knowledge andlearning which they squandered in their poetry. Necessity, therefore andperhaps a dawning of more simple taste, impelled these courtly poets toseek another and more natural mode of pleasing. The melody of verse wasa province unoccupied, and Waller, forming his rhythm upon themodulation of Fairfax, and other poets of the maiden reign, exhibited inhis very first poem[13] striking marks of attention to the suavity ofnumbers. Denham, in his dedication to Charles II. , informs us, that theindulgence of his poetical vein had drawn the notice, althoughaccompanied with the gentle censure, of Charles I. , when, in 1647, heobtained access to his person by the intercession of Hugh Peters. Suckling, whom Dryden has termed "a sprightly wit, and a courtlywriter, " may be added to the list of smooth and easy poets of theperiod, and had the same motives as Denham and Waller for attachinghimself to that style of composition. He was allowed to have thepeculiar art of making whatever he did become him; and it cannot bedoubted, that his light and airy style of ballads and sonnets had manyadmirers. Upon the whole, this class of poets, although they hardlydivided the popular favour with the others, were also noticed andapplauded. Thus the poets of the earlier part of the seventeenth centurymay be divided into one class, who sacrificed both sense and sound tothe exercise of extravagant, though ingenious, associations of imagery;and a second, who, aiming to distinguish themselves by melody ofversification, were satisfied with light and trivial subjects, and toooften contented with attaining smoothness of measure, neglected the moreessential qualities of poetry. The intervention of the civil warsgreatly interrupted the study of poetry. The national attention wascalled to other objects, and those who, in the former peaceful reigns, would have perhaps distinguished themselves as poets and dramatists, were now struggling for fame in the field, or declaiming for power inthe senate. The manners of the prevailing party, their fanaticaldetestation of everything like elegant or literary amusement, theiraffected horror at stage representations, which at once silenced thetheatres, and their contempt for profane learning, which degraded theuniversities, all operated, during the civil wars and succeedingusurpation, to check the pursuits of the poet, by withdrawing thatpublic approbation, which is the best, and often the sole, reward of hislabour. There was, at this time, a sort of interregnum in the publictaste, as well as in its government. The same poets were no doubt alivewho had distinguished themselves at the court of Charles: but Cowley andDenham were exiled with their sovereign; Waller was awed into silence, by the rigour of the puritanic spirit; and even the muse of Milton wasscared from him by the clamour of religious and political controversy, and only returned, like a sincere friend, to cheer the adversity of onewho had neglected her during his career of worldly importance. [14]

During this period, the most unfavourable to literature which hadoccurred for at least two centuries, Dryden, the subject of this memoir, was gradually and silently imbibing those stores of learning, andcultivating that fancy which was to do so much to further thereformation of taste and poetry. It is now time to state his descent andparentage. 

The name of Dryden is local, and probably originated in the north ofEngland, where, as well as in the neighbouring counties of Scotland, itfrequently occurs, though it is not now borne by any person ofdistinction. David Driden, or Dryden, married the daughter of WilliamNicholson of Staff-hill, in the county of Cumberland and was thegreat-great-grandfather of our poet. John Dryden, eldest son of David, settled in Northamptonshire, where he acquired the estate ofCanons-Ashby, by marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of SirJohn Cope of that county. Wood says, that John Dryden was by professiona schoolmaster, and honoured with the friendship of the great Erasmus, who stood godfather to one of his sons. [15] He appears, from somepassages in his will, to have entertained the puritanical principles, which, we shall presently find, descended to his family. [16] ErasmusDriden, his eldest son, succeeded to the estate of Canons-Ashby, washigh-sheriff of Northamptonshire in the fortieth year of QueenElizabeth, and was created a knight baronet in the seventeenth of KingJames I. Sir Erasmus married Frances, second daughter and co-heiress ofWilliam Wilkes of Hodnell, in Warwickshire by whom he had three sons, first, Sir John Driden, his successor in the title and estate ofCanons-Ashby; second, William Driden of Farndon, in Northamptonshire;third, Erasmus Driden of Tichmarsh, in the same county. The last ofthese was the father of the poet. 

Erasmus Driden married Mary, the daughter of the reverend HenryPickering, younger son of Sir Gilbert Pickering, a person who, though inconsiderable favour with James I. , was a zealous puritan, and so notedfor opposition to the Catholics that the conspirators in the GunpowderTreason, his own brother-in-law being one of the number, [17] hadresolved upon his individual murder, as an episode to the main plot;determined so to conduct it, as to throw the suspicion of thedestruction of the Parliament upon the puritans. [18] These principles, we shall soon see, became hereditary in the family of Pickering. Mr. Malone's industry has collected little concerning our author's maternalgrandfather, excepting, that he was born in 1584; named minister ofOldwinkle All-Saints in 1647; and died in 1657. From the time when heattained this preferment, it is highly probable, that he had beenrecommended to it by the puritanical tenets which he doubtless held incommon with the rest of his family. 

Of the poet's father, Erasmus, we know even less than of his otherrelations. He acted as a justice of peace during the usurpation, and wasthe father of no less than fourteen children; four sons and tendaughters. The sons were John, Erasmus, Henry, and James; the daughters, Agnes, Rose, Lucy, Mary, Martha, Elizabeth, Hester, Hannah, Abigail, Frances. Such anecdotes concerning them as my predecessors haverecovered, may be found in the note. [19]

JOHN DRYDEN, the subject of this memoir, was born at the parsonage houseof Oldwinkle All-Saints, on or about the 9th day of August 1631. [20] Thevillage then belonged to the family of Exeter, as we are informed by thepoet himself in the postscript to his Virgil. That his family werePuritans may readily be admitted; but that they were Anabaptists, although confidently asserted by some of our author's political orpoetical antagonists, appears altogether improbable. Notwithstanding, therefore, the sarcasm of the Duke of Buckingham, the register ofOldwinkle All-Saints parish, had it been in existence, would probablyhave contained the record of our poet's baptism. [21]

Dryden seems to have received the rudiments of his education atTichmarsh, [22] and was admitted a king's scholar at Westminster, [23]under the tuition of the celebrated Dr. Bushby, [24] for whom he everafterwards entertained the most sincere veneration. One of his lettersto his old master is addressed, "Honoured Sir, " and couched in terms ofrespect, and even humility, fully sufficient for the occasion. Anotherwritten by Dryden, when his feelings were considerably irritated by asupposed injustice done to his son, is nevertheless qualified by greatpersonal deference to his old preceptor. It may be readily supposed, that such a scholar, under so able a teacher, must have made rapidprogress in classical learning. The bent of the juvenile poet, even atthis early period, distinguished itself. He translated the third satireof Persius, as a Thursday night's task, and executed many otherexercises of the same nature, in English verse, none of which are now inexistence. [25] During the last year of his residence at Westminster, thedeath of Henry Lord Hastings, a young nobleman of great learning, andmuch beloved, called forth no less than ninety-eight elegies, one ofwhich was written by our poet, then about eighteen years old. They werepublished in 1650, under the title of "_Lachrymae Musarum. _"

Dryden, having obtained a Westminster scholarship was admitted toTrinity College, Cambridge on the 11th May 1650, his tutor being thereverend John Templer, M. A. , a man of some learning, who wrote a LatinTreatise in confutation of Hobbes, and a few theological tracts andsingle sermons. While at college, our author's conduct seems not to havebeen uniformly regular. He was subjected to slight punishment forcontumacy to the vice-master, [26] and seems, according to the statementof an obscure libeller, to have been engaged in some public andnotorious dispute with a nobleman's son, probably on account of theindulgence of his turn for satire. [27] He took, however, the degree ofBachelor, in January 1653-4, but neither became Master of Arts, [28] nora fellow of the university and certainly never retained for it much ofthat veneration usually paid by an English scholar to his Alma Mater. Heoften celebrates Oxford, but only mentions Cambridge as the contrast ofthe sister university in point of taste and learning:

 "Oxford to him a dearer name shall be Than his own mother-university: Thebes did his green unknowing youth engage, He chooses Athens in his riper age. "[29]

A preference so uncommon, in one who had studied at Cambridge, probablyoriginated in some cause of disgust, which we may now search for invain. 

In June 1654, the death of his father, Erasmus Dryden, proved atemporary interruption to our author's studies. He left the university, on this occasion, to take possession of his inheritance, consisting oftwo-thirds of a small estate near Blakesley, in Northamptonshire, worth, in all, about sixty pounds a year. The other third part of this smallproperty was bequeathed to his mother during her life, and the propertyreverted to the poet after her death in 1676. With this little patrimonyour author returned to Cambridge, where he continued until the middle ofthe year 1657. 

Although Dryden's residence at the university was prolonged to theunusual space of nearly seven years, we do not find that hedistinguished himself during that time by any poetical prolusionsexcepting a few lines prefixed to a work, entitled, "Sion and Parnassus;or Epigrams on several Texts of the Old and New Testament, " published in1650, by John Hoddesdon. [30] Mr. Malone conjectures that our poet wouldhave contributed to the academic collection of verses, entitled, "OlivaPacis, " and published in 1654, on the peace between England and Holland, had not his father's death interfered at that period. It is probable, welose but little by the disappearance of any occasional verses which mayhave been produced by Dryden at this time. The elegy on Lord Hastings, the lines prefixed to "Sion and Parnassus, " and some complimentarystanzas which occur in a letter to his cousin Honor Driden, [31] wouldhave been enough to assure us, even without his own testimony, thatCowley was the darling of his youth; and that he imitated his points ofwit, and quirks of epigram, with a similar contempt for the propriety oftheir application. From these poems, we learn enough to be grateful, that Dryden was born at a later period in his century; for had not theroad to fame been altered in consequence of the Restoration, hisextensive information and acute ingenuity would probably have betrayedthe author of the "Ode to St. Cecilia, " and the father of Englishpoetical harmony, into rivalling the metaphysical pindarics of Donne andCowley. 

The verses, to which we allude, display their sublety [Transcriber'snote: sic] of thought, their puerile extravagance of conceit, and thatstructure of verse, which, as the poet himself says of Holyday'stranslations, has nothing of verse in it except the worst part of it--the rhyme, and that far from being unexceptionable The following lines, in which the poet describes the death of Lord Hastings by the small-pox, will be probably admitted as a justification of this censure:

 "Was there no milder way but the small-pox; The very filthiness of Pandora's box? So many spots, like naeves, our Venus soil? One jewel set off with so many a foil? Blisters with pride swelled, which through 's flesh did sprout, Like rose-buds, stuck i'the lily-skin about. Each little pimple had a tear in it, To wail the fault its rising did commit, Which, rebel-like, with its own lord at strife, Thus made an insurrection 'gainst his life. Or were these gems sent to adorn his skin, The cabinet of a richer soul within? No comet need foretel his change drew on, Whose corpse might seem a constellation. "

This is exactly in the tone of Bishop Corbet's invective against thesame disease:

 "Oh thou deformed unwoman-like disease, Thou plough'st up flesh and blood, and there sow'st pease; And leav'st such prints on beauty that dost come, As clouted shoon do on a floor of loam. Thou that of faces honey-combs dost make, And of two breasts two cullenders, forsake Thy deadly trade; now thou art rich, give o'er, And let our curses call thee forth no more. "[32]

After leaving the university, our author entered the world, supported byfriends, from whose character, principles, and situation, it might havebeen prophesied, with probability, that his success in life, and hisliterary reputation, would have been exactly the reverse of what theyactually proved. Sir Gilbert Pickering was cousin-german to the poet, and also to his mother; thus standing related to Dryden in a doubleconnection. [33] This gentleman was a staunch puritan, and having set outas a reformer, ended by being a regicide, and an abettor of the tyrannyof Cromwell. He was one of the judges of the unfortunate Charles; andthough he did not sit in that bloody court upon the last and fatal day, yet he seems to have concurred in the most violent measures of theunconscientious men who did so. He had been one of the parliamentarycounsellors of state, and hesitated not to be numbered among the godlyand discreet persons who assisted Cromwell as a privy council. Moreoverhe was lord chamberlain of the Protector's court, and received thehonour of his mock peerage. 

The patronage of such a person was more likely to have elevated Drydento the temporal greatness and wealth acquired by the sequestrators andcommittee-men of that oppressive time, than to have aided him inattaining the summits of Parnassus. For, according to the slight recordswhich Mr. Malone has recovered concerning Sir Gilbert Pickering'scharacter, it would seem, that, to the hard, precise, fanatical contemptof every illumination, save the inward light, which he derived from hissect, he added the properties of a fiery temper, and a rude and savageaddress. [34] In what capacity Dryden lived with his kinsman, or to whatline of life circumstances seemed to destine the future poet, we areleft at liberty to conjecture. Shadwell, the virulent antagonist of ourauthor, has called him Sir Gilbert Pickering's clerk; and it is indeedhighly probable that he was employed as his amanuensis, or secretary. 

 The next step of advancement you began Was being clerk to Noll's lord chamberlain, A sequestrator and committee-man. 

_The Medal of John Bayes_. 

But I cannot, with Mr. Malone, interpret the same passage, by supposingthe third line of the triplet to apply to Dryden. Had he been actually amember of a committee of sequestration, that circumstance would neverhave remained in the dubious obscurity of Shadwell's poetry; it wouldhave been as often echoed and re-echoed as every other incident of thepoet's life which was capable of bearing an unfavourable interpretation. I incline therefore to believe, that the terms _sequestrator_ and_committee-man_ apply not to the poet, but to his patron SirGilbert, to whom their propriety cannot be doubted. 

Sir Gilbert Pickering was not our author's only relation at the court ofCromwell. The chief of his family, Sir John Driden, elder brother of thepoet's father, was also a flaming and bigoted puritan, [35] through whosegifts and merits his nephew might reasonably hope to attain prefermentIn a youth entering life under the protection of such relations, whocould have anticipated the future dramatist and poet laureate, much lessthe advocate and martyr of prerogative and of the Stuart family, theconvert and confessor of the Roman Catholic faith? In his after career, his early connections with the puritans, and the principles of hiskinsmen during the civil wars and usurpation, were often made subjectsof reproach, to which he never seems to have deigned an answer. [36]

The death of Cromwell was the first theme of our poet's muse. Averse asthe puritans were to any poetry, save that of Hopkins, of Withers, or ofWisdom, they may be reasonably supposed to have had some sympathy withDryden's sorrow upon the death of Oliver, even although it vented itselfin the profane and unprofitable shape of an elegy. But we have no meansof estimating its reception with the public, if, in truth, the publiclong interested themselves about the memory of Cromwell, while hisrelations and dependants presented to them the more animated andinteresting spectacle of a struggle for his usurped power. Richardperhaps, and the immediate friends of the deceased Protector, with suchof Dryden's relations as were attached to his memory, may have thought, like the tinker at the Taming of the Shrew, that this same elegy was"marvellous good matter. " It did not probably attract much generalattention. The first edition, in 1659, is extremely rare: it wasreprinted, however, along with those of Sprat and Waller, in the courseof the same year. After the Restoration this piece fell into a slate ofoblivion, from which it may be believed that the author, who had seen anew light in politics, was by no means solicitous to recall it. Hispolitical antagonist did not, however, fail to awaken its memory, whenDryden became a decided advocate for the royal prerogative, and thehereditary right of the Stuarts. During the controversies of Charles theSecond's reign, in which Dryden took so decided a share, his eulogy onCromwell was often objected to him, as a proof of inconsistence andapostasy. One passage, which plainly applies to the civil wars ingeneral, was wrested to signify an explicit approbation of the murder ofCharles the First; and the whole piece was reprinted by an incensedantagonist, under the title of "An Elegy on the Usurper O. C. , by theauthor of Absalom and Achitophel, published (it is ironically added) toshow the loyalty and integrity of the poet, "--an odd piece of vengeance, which has perhaps never been paralleled, except in the single case of"Love in a Hollow Tree. "[37] The motives of the Duchess of Marlborough, in reprinting Lord Grimestone's memorable dramatic essay, did not hereapply. The elegy on Cromwell, although doubtless sufficiently faulty, contained symptoms of a regenerating taste; and, politically considered, although a panegyric on an usurper, the topics of praise are selectedwith attention to truth, and are, generally speaking, such as Cromwell'sworst enemies could not have denied to him. Neither had Dryden made theerrors, or misfortunes, of the royal family, and their followers, thesubject of censure or of contrast. With respect to them, it was hardlypossible that a eulogy on such a theme could have less offence in it. This was perhaps a fortunate circumstance for Dryden at the Restoration;and it must be noticed to his honour, that as he spared the exiledmonarch in his panegyric on the usurper, so, after the Restoration, inhis numerous writings on the side of royalty, there is no instance ofhis recalling his former praise of Cromwell. 

After the frequent and rapid changes which the government of Englandunderwent from the death of Cromwell, in the spring of 1660, Charles II. Was restored to the throne of his ancestors. It may be easily imagined, that this event, a subject in itself highly fit for poetry, and whichpromised the revival of poetical pursuits, was hailed with universalacclamation by all whose turn for verse had been suppressed and stifledduring the long reign of fanaticism. The Restoration led the way to therevival of letters, as well as that of legal government. With diaries, as Dryden has expressed it, The officious muses came along, A gay, harmonious quire, like angels ever young. 

It was not, however, to be expected, that an alteration of the tastewhich had prevailed in the days of Charles I. , was to be the immediateconsequence of the new order of things. The muse awoke, like thesleeping beauty of the fairy tale, in the same antiquated and absurdvestments in which she had fallen asleep twenty years before; or, if thereader will pardon another simile, the poets were like those who, afterlong mourning, resume for a time their ordinary dresses, of which thefashion has in the meantime passed away. Other causes contributed to atemporary revival of the metaphysical poetry. Almost all its professors, attached to the house of Stuart, had been martyrs, or confessors atleast, in its cause. Cowley, their leader, was yet alive, and returnedto claim the late reward of his loyalty and his sufferings. Clevelandhad died a victim to the contempt, rather than the persecution, of therepublicans;[38] but this most ardent of cavalier poets was succeeded byWild, whose "_Iter Boreale_" a poem on Monk's march from Scotlandformed upon Cleveland's model, obtained extensive popularity among thecitizens of London. [39] Dryden's good sense and natural taste perceivedthe obvious defects of these, the very coarsest of metaphysical poets;insomuch, that, in his "Essay on Dramatic Poetry, " he calls wresting andtorturing one word into another, a catachresis, or Clevelandism, andcharges Wild with being in poetry what the French call _un mauvaisbuffon_. 

Sprat, and an host of inferior imitators, marched for a time in thefootsteps of Cowley; delighted, probably, to discover in Pindaricwriting, as it was called, a species of poetry which required neithersound nor sense, provided only there was a sufficient stock of floridand extravagant thoughts, expressed in harsh and bombastic language. 

But this style of poetry, although it was for a time revived, and indeedcontinued to be occasionally employed even to the end of the eighteenthcentury, had too slight foundation in truth and nature to maintain theexclusive pre-eminence, which it had been exalted to during the reignsof the two first monarchs of the Stuart race. As Rochester profanelyexpressed it, Cowley's poetry was not of God, and therefore could notstand. An approaching change of public taste was hastened by the mannersof the restored monarch and his courtiers. That pedantry which haddictated the excessive admiration of metaphysical conceits, was not thecharacteristic of the court of Charles II. , as it had been of those ofhis grandfather and father. Lively and witty by nature, with all theacquired habits of an adventurer, whose wanderings, military andpolitical, left him time neither for profound reflection nor for deepstudy, the restored monarch's literary taste, which was by no meanscontemptible, was directed towards a lighter and more pleasing style ofpoetry than the harsh and scholastic productions of Donne and Cowley. The admirers, therefore, of this old school were confined to the ancientcavaliers, and the old courtiers of Charles I. ; men unlikely to lead thefashion in the court of a gay monarch, filled with such men asBuckingham, Rochester, Etherege, Sedley, and Mulgrave, whose time andhabits confined their own essays to occasional verses, and satiricaleffusions, in which they often ridiculed the heights of poetry they wereincapable of attaining. With such men the class of poets, which beforethe civil war held but a secondary rank, began to rise in estimation. Waller, Suckling, and Denham, began to assert a pre-eminence over Cowleyand Donne; the ladies, whose influence in the court of James and CharlesI. Was hardly felt, and who were then obliged to be contented with suchpedantic worship as is contained in the "Mistress" of Cowley, and the"Epithalamion" of Donne, began now, when their voices were listened to, and their taste consulted, to determine that their poetical loversshould address them in strains more musical, if not more intelligible. What is most acceptable to the fair sex will always sway the mode of agay court; and the character of a smooth and easy sonneteer was soonconsidered as an indispensable requisite to a man of wit and fashion, terms which were then usually synonymous. 

To those who still retained a partiality for that exercise of the fancyand memory, afforded by the metaphysical poetry, the style of satirethen prevalent afforded opportunities of applying it. The same depth oflearning, the same extravagant ingenuity in combining the most remoteimages, and in driving casual associations to the verge of absurdity, almost all the remarkable features which characterised the poetry ofCowley, may be successfully traced in the satire of Hudibras. The sublimeitself borders closely on the ludicrous; but the bombast and extravagantcannot be divided from it. The turn of thought, and the peculiar kind ofmental exertion, corresponds in both styles of writing; and althoughButler pursued the ludicrous, and Cowley aimed at the surprising, theleading features of their poetry only differ like those of the same faceconvulsed with laughter, or arrested in astonishment The district ofmetaphysical poetry was thus invaded by the satirists, who soughtweapons there to avenge the misfortunes and oppression which they had solately sustained from the puritans; and as it is difficult in a laughingage to render serious what has been once applied to ludicrous purposes, Butler and his imitators retained quiet possession of the style whichthey had usurped from the grave bards of the earlier age. 

A single poet, Sir William Davenant, [40] made a meritorious, though amisguided and unsuccessful effort, to rescue poetry from becoming themere handmaid of pleasure, or the partisan of political or personaldisputes, and to restore her to her natural rank in society, as anauxiliary of religion, policy, law, and virtue. His heroic poem of"Gondibert" has, no doubt, great imperfections; but it intimateseverywhere a mind above those laborious triflers, who called that poetrywhich was only verse; and very often exhibits a majestic, dignified, andmanly simplicity, equally superior to the metaphysical school, by thedoctrines of which Davenant was occasionally misled. Yet, if that authortoo frequently imitated their quaint affectation of uncommon sentimentand associations, he had at least the merit of couching them in statelyand harmonious verse; a quality of poetry totally neglected by thefollowers of Cowley. I mention Davenant here, and separate from theother poets, who were distinguished about the time of the Restoration, because I think that Dryden, to whom we are about to return, was, atthat period, an admirer and imitator of "Gondibert, " as we are certainthat he was a personal and intimate friend of the author. 

With the return of the king, the fall of Dryden's political patrons wasnecessarily involved. Sir Gilbert Pickering, having been one ofCharles's judges, was too happy to escape into obscurity, under anabsolute disqualification for holding any office, political, civil, orecclesiastical. The influence of Sir John Driden was ended at the sametime; and thus both those relations, under whose protection Drydenentered life, and by whose influence he was probably to have been aidedin some path to wealth or eminence, became at once incapable ofassisting him; and even connection with them was rendered, by the changeof times, disgraceful, if not dangerous. Yet it may be doubted whetherDryden felt this evil in its full extent. Sterne has said of acharacter, that a blessing which closed his mouth, or a misfortune whichopened it with a good grace, were nearly equal to him; nay, thatsometimes the misfortune was the more acceptable of the two. It ispossible, by a parity of reasoning, that Dryden may have felt himselfrather relieved from, than deprived of, his fanatical patrons, underwhose guidance he could never hope to have indulged in that career ofliterary pursuit, which the new order of things presented to theambition of the youthful poet; at least, he lost no time in uselesslamentation, but, now in his thirtieth year, proceeded to exert thatpoetical talent, which had heretofore been repressed by his ownsituation, and that of the country. 

Dryden, left to his own exertions, hastened to testify his joyfulacquiescence in the restoration of monarchy, by publishing "_AstroeaRedux_, " a poem which was probably distinguished among the innumerablecongratulations poured forth upon the occasion; and he added to thosewhich hailed the coronation, in 1661, the verses entitled, "A Panegyricto his Sacred Majesty. " These pieces testify, that the author hadalready made some progress in harmonising his versification. But theyalso contain many of those points of wit, and turns of epigram, which hecondemned in his more advanced judgment. The same description applies, in a yet stronger degree, to the verses addressed to Lord ChancellorHyde (Lord Clarendon) on the new-year's-day of 1662, in which Dryden hasmore closely imitated the metaphysical poetry than in any poem, exceptthe juvenile elegy on Lord Hastings. I cannot but think, that the poetconsulted the taste of his patron, rather than his own, in adopting thispeculiar style. Clarendon was educated in the court of Charles I. , andDryden may have thought it necessary, in addressing him, to imitate the"strong verses, " which were then admired. 

According to the fashion of the times, such copies of occasional verseswere rewarded by a gratuity from the person to whom they were addressed;and poets had not yet learned to think this mode of receiving assistanceincompatible with the feelings of dignity or delicacy. Indeed, in thecommon transactions of that age, one sees something resembling theeastern custom of accompanying with a present, and not always a splendidone, the usual forms of intercourse and civility. Thus we find thewealthy corporation of Hull, backing a polite address to the Duke ofMonmouth, their governor, with a present of _six broad pieces_; and hisgrace deemed it a point of civility to press the acceptance of the samegratuity upon the member of parliament for the city, by whom it wasdelivered to him. [41] We may therefore believe, that Dryden receivedsome compliment from the king and chancellor; and I am afraid the samepremises authorise us to conclude that it was but trifling. Meantime, our author having no settled means of support, except his small landedproperty, and having now no assistance to expect from his more wealthykinsmen, to whom, probably, neither his literary pursuits, nor hiscommencing them by a panegyric on the restoration, were very agreeable, and whom he had also offended by a slight change in spelling hisname, [42] seems to have been reduced to narrow and uncomfortablecircumstances. Without believing, in its full extent, the exaggeratedaccount given by Brown and Shadwell, [43] we may discover from theirreproaches, that, at the commencement of his literary career, Dryden wasconnected, and probably lodged, with Herringman the bookseller, in theNew Exchange, for whom he wrote prefaces, and other occasional pieces. But having, as Mr. Malone has observed, a patrimony, though a small one, of his own, it seems impossible that our author was ever in that stateof mean and abject dependence, which the malice of his enemiesafterwards pretended. The same malice misrepresented, or greatlyexaggerated, the nature of Dryden's obligations to Sir Robert Howard, with whom he became acquainted probably about the time of theRestoration, whose influence was exerted in his favour, and whose goodoffices the poet returned by literary assistance. 

Sir Robert Howard was a younger son of Thomas Earl of Berkshire, [44]and, like all his family, had distinguished himself as a royalist, particularly at the battle of Cropredy[45] Bridge. He had recentlysuffered a long imprisonment in Windsor Castle during the usurpation. His rank and merits made him, after the Restoration, a patron of someconsequence; and upon his publishing a collection of verses very soonafter that period, Dryden prefixed an address "to his honoured friend"on "his excellent poems. " Sir Robert Howard understood the value ofDryden's attachment, introduced him into his family, and probably aidedin procuring his productions that degree of attention from the higherworld, for want of which the most valuable efforts of genius have oftensunk into unmerited obscurity. Such, in short, were his exertions infavour of Dryden, that, though we cannot believe he was indebted toHoward, for those necessaries of life which he had the means to procurefor himself, the poet found ground to acknowledge, that his patron hadnot only been "carefull of his fortune, which was the effect of hisnobleness, but solicitous of his reputation, which was that of hiskindness. "

Thus patronised, our author seems to have advanced in reputation, as hebecame more generally known to the learned and ingenious of his time. Yet we have but few traces of the labour, by which he doubtlessattained, and secured, his place in society. A short satire on theDutch, written to animate the people of England against them, appearedin 1662. [46] It is somewhat in the hard style of invective, whichCleveland applied to the Scottish nation; yet Dryden thought it worthwhile to weave the same verses into the prologue and epilogue of thetragedy of "Amboyna, " a piece written in 1673, with the same kindintentions towards the states-general. 

Science, as well as poetry, began to revive after the iron dominion ofmilitary fanaticism was ended; and Dryden, who through life was attachedto experimental philosophy, speedily associated himself with those whotook interest in its progress. He was chosen a member of the newlyinstituted Royal Society, 26th November 1662; an honour which cementedhis connection with the most learned men of the time, and is an evidenceof the respect in which he was already held. Most of these, and thediscoveries by which they had distinguished themselves, Dryden tookoccasion to celebrate in his "Epistle to Dr. Walter Charleton, " alearned physician, upon his treatise of Stonehenge. Gilbert, Boyle, Harvey, and Ent, are mentioned with enthusiastic applause as treading inthe path pointed out by Bacon, who first broke the fetters of Aristotle, and taught the world to derive knowledge from experiment. In theseelegant verses, the author divests himself of all the flippantextravagance of point and quibble, in which, complying with his age, hehad hitherto indulged, though of late in a limited degree. 

While thus united in friendly communion with men of kindred andcongenial spirits, Dryden seems to have been sensible of the necessityof applying his literary talents to some line, in which he might derivea steadier and more certain recompence, than by writing occasionalverses to the great, or doing literary drudgery for the bookseller. Hisown genius would probably have directed him to the ambitious labours ofan epic poem; but for this the age afforded little encouragement. "Gondibert, " the style of which, Dryden certainly both admired andcopied, became a martyr to the raillery of the critics; and to fill upthe measure of shame, the "Paradise Lost" fell still-born from thepress. This last instance of bad taste had not, it is true, yet takenplace; but the men who were guilty of it, were then living underDryden's observation and their manners and habits could not fail toteach him, to anticipate the little encouragement they were likely toafford to the loftier labours of poetry. One only line remained, inwhich poetical talents might exert themselves, with some chance ofprocuring their possessor's reward, or at least maintenance, and thiswas dramatic composition. To this Dryden sedulously applied himself, with various success, for many years. But before proceeding to trace thehistory of his dramatic career, I proceed to notice such pieces of hispoetry, as exhibit marks of his earlier style of composition. 

The victory gained by the Duke of York over the Dutch fleet on the 3d ofJune 1665, and his Duchess's subsequent journey into the north, furnished Dryden with the subject of a few occasional verses; in whichthe style of Waller (who came forth with a poem on the same subject) issuccessfully imitated. In addressing her grace, the poet suppresses allthe horrors of the battle, and turns her eyes upon the splendour of avictory, for which the kingdom was indebted to her husband's valour, andher "chaste vows. " In these verses, not the least vestige ofmetaphysical wit can be traced; and they were accordingly censured, aswanting height of fancy, and dignity of words. This criticism Drydenrefuted, by alleging, that he had succeeded in what he did attempt, inthe softness of expression and smoothness of the measure (theappropriate ornaments of an address to a lady), and that he was accusedof that only thing which he could well defend. It seems, however, verypossible, that these remarks impelled him to undertake a task, in whichvigour of fancy and expression might, with propriety, be exercised. Accordingly, his next poem was of greater length and importance. This isa historical account of the events of the year 1666, under the title of"_Annus Mirabilis_" to which distinction the incidents which hadoccurred in that space gave it some title. The poem being in the elegiacstanza, Dryden relapsed into an imitation of "Gondibert, " from which hehad departed ever since the "Elegy on Cromwell. " From this it appears, that the author's admiration of Davenant had not decreased. Indeed, he, long afterwards, bore testimony to that author's quick and piercingimagination; which at once produced thoughts remote, new, andsurprising, such as could not easily enter into any other fancy. Drydenat least equalled Davenant in this quality; and certainly excelled himin the powers of composition, which are to embody the conceptions of theimagination; and in the extent of acquired knowledge, by which they wereto be enforced and illustrated. In his preface, he has vindicated thechoice of his stanza, by a reference to the opinion of Davenant, [47]which he sanctions by affirming, that he had always himself thoughtquatrains, or stanzas of verse in alternate rhyme, more noble, and ofgreater dignity, both for sound and number, than any other verse in useamong us. By this attention to sound and rhythm, he improved upon theschool of metaphysical poets, which disclaimed attention to either; butin the thought and expression itself, the style of Davenant more nearlyresembled Cowley's, than that of Denham and Waller. The same ardour forwhat Dryden calls "wit-writing, " the same unceasing exercise of thememory, in search of wonderful thoughts and allusions, and the samecontempt for the subject, except as the medium of displaying theauthor's learning and ingenuity, marks the style of Davenant, though ina less degree than that of the metaphysical poets, and though chequeredwith many examples of a simpler and chaster character. Some part of thisdeviation was, perhaps, owing to the nature of the stanza; for thestructure of the quatrain prohibited the bard, who used it, fromrambling into those digressive similes, which, in the pindaric strophe, might be pursued through endless ramifications. If the former started anextravagant thought, or a quaint image, he was compelled to bring it toa point within his four-lined stanza. The snake was thus scotched, though not killed; and conciseness being rendered indispensable, a greatstep was gained towards concentration of thought, which is necessary tothe simple and to the sublime The manner of Davenant, therefore, thoughshort-lived, and ungraced by public applause, was an advance towardstrue taste, from the unnatural and frantic indulgence of unrestrainedfancy; and, did it claim no other merit, it possesses that of havingbeen twice sanctioned by the practice of Dryden, upon occasions ofuncommon solemnity. 

The "_Annus Mirabilis_" evinces a considerable portion of labour andattention; the lines and versification are highly polished, and theexpression was probably carefully corrected. Dryden as Johnson remarks, already exercised the superiority of his genius, by recommending his ownperformance, as written upon the plan of Virgil; and as no unsuccessfuleffort at producing those well-wrought images and descriptions, whichcreate admiration, the proper object of heroic poetry. The "_AnnusMirabilis_" may indeed be regarded as one of Dryden's most elaboratepieces; although it is not written in his later, better, and mostpeculiar style of poetry. 

The poem first appeared in octavo, in 1667, and was afterwardsfrequently reprinted in quarto. It was dedicated to the metropolis ofGreat Britain, as represented by the lord mayor and magistrates. Aletter to Sir Robert Howard was prefixed to the poem, in which theauthor explains the purpose of the work, and the difficulties whichpresented themselves in the execution. And in this epistle, as acontrast between the smooth and easy style of writing which was properin addressing a lady, and the exalted style of heroic, or at leasthistorical, poetry, he introduces the verses to the Duchess of York, already mentioned. 

The "_Annus Mirabilis_" being the last poetical work of any importanceproduced by our author, until "Absalom and Achitophel, " the reader mayhere pause, and consider, in the progressive improvement of Dryden, thegradual renovation of public taste. The irregular pindaric ode was nowabandoned to Arwaker, Behn, Durfey, and a few inferior authors; whoeither from its tempting facility of execution, or from an affectedadmiration of old times and fashions, still pestered the public withimitations of Cowley. The rough measure of Donne (if it had anypretension to be called a measure) was no longer tolerated, and it wasexpected, even of those who wrote satires, lampoons, and occasionalverses, that their rhymes should be rhymes, both to the ear and eye; andthat they should neither adore their mistresses nor abuse theirneighbours, in lines which differed only from prose in the fashion ofprinting. Thus the measure used by Rochester, Buckingham Sheffield, Sedley, and other satirists, if not polished or harmonized, approachesmore nearly to modern verse, than that of Hall or Donne. In the "Elegyon Cromwell, " and the "_Annus Mirabilis_, " Dryden followed Davenant, whoabridged, if he did not explode, the quaintnesses of his predecessors. In "_Astroea Redux_" and his occasional verses to Dr. Charlton, theDuchess of York, and others, the poet proposed a separate and simplermodel, more dignified than that of Suckling or Waller; more harmoniousin measure, and chaste in expression, than those of Cowley and Crashaw. Much, there doubtless remained, of ancient subtlety, and ingeniousquibbling; but when Dryden declares, that he proposes Virgil, inpreference to Ovid, to be his model in the "_Annus Mirabilis_" itsufficiently implies that the main defect of the poetry of the last agehad been discovered, and was in the way of being amended by gradual andalmost imperceptible degrees. 

In establishing, or refining, the latter style of writing, in coupletverse, our author found great assistance from his dramatic practice; totrace the commencement of which is the purpose of the next Section. 

FOOTNOTES:[1] [The statements in this paragraph are somewhat rhetorical. Massinger, for instance, was still at Oxford when James ascended thethrone, and though he began to write a few years later, his earliestpublished play now extant appeared nearly twenty years afterwards. Butthe general drift is untouched. --ED. ]

[2] I do not pretend to enter into the question of the effect of thedrama upon morals. If this shall be found prejudicial, two theatres aretoo many. But, in the present woful decline of theatrical exhibition, wemay be permitted to remember, that the gardener who wishes to have arare diversity of a common flower, sows whole beds with the species; andthat the monopoly granted to two huge theatres must necessarilydiminish, in a complicated ratio, both the number of play-writers, andthe chance of anything very excellent being brought forward. 

[3] [Scott is here far too harsh. "Euphues" is not a book to bedespatched in a note, but the reader may be requested to suspend hisjudgment until he has read it. --ED. ]

[4] Our deserved idolatry of Shakespeare and Milton was equalled by thatpaid to this pedantic coxcomb in his own time. He is called in thetitle-page of his plays (for, besides "Euphues, " he wrote what he styled"Court Comedies"), "the only rare poet of that time; the witty, comical, facetiously quick, and unparalleled John Lillie. " Moreover, his editor, Mr. Blount, assures us, "that he sate at Apollo's table; that Apollogave him a wreath of his own bays without snatching; and that the lyrehe played on had no broken strings. " Besides which, we are informed, "Our nation are in his debt for a new English, which he taught them;'Euphues and his England' began first that language. All our ladies werethen his scholars; and that beauty in court who could not _parleEuphuism_, was as little regarded, as she which now there speaks notFrench. "

[5] So that learned and sapient monarch was pleased to call his skill inpolitics. 

[6] Witness a sermon preached at St. Mary's before the university ofOxford. It is true the preacher was a layman, and harangued in a goldchain, and girt with a sword, as high sheriff of the county; but hiseloquence was highly applauded by the learned body whom he addressed, although it would have startled a modern audience, at least as much asthe dress of the orator. "Arriving, " said he, "at the Mount of St. Mary's, in the stony stage where I now stand, I have brought you somefine biscuits, baked in the oven of charity, carefully conserved for thechickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and the sweetswallows of salvation. " "Which way of preaching, " says Anthony Wood, thereporter of the homily, "was then mostly in fashion, and commended bythe generality of scholars. "--_Athenae Oxon_. Vol. I. P. 183. 

[7] Look at Ben Jonson's "Ode to the Memory of Sir Lucius Carey and SirH. Morison, " and at most of his Pindarics. But Ben, when he pleased, could assume the garb of classic simplicity; witness many of his lesserpoems. 

[8] In Jonson's last illness, Charles is said to have sent him tenpieces. "He sends me so miserable a donation, " said the expiringsatirist, "because I am poor, and live in an alley; go back and tellhim, his soul lives in an alley. " Whatever be the truth of thistradition, we know from an epigram by Jonson, that the king at one timegave him an hundred pounds; no trifling gift for a poor bard, even inthe present day. 

[9] "About a year after his return out of Germany, Dr. Cary was madebishop of Exeter; and by his removal, the deanery of St. Paul's beingvacant, the king sent to Dr. Donne, and appointed him to attend him atdinner the next day. When his majesty was sate down, before he had eatany meat, he said, after his pleasant manner, 'Dr. Donne, I have invitedyou to dinner; and though you sit not down with me, yet I will carve toyou of a dish that I know you love well; for knowing you love London, Ido therefore make you dean of Paul's; and when I have dined, then do youtake your beloved dish home to your study; say grace there to yourself, and much good may it do you. "--WALTON'S _Life of Donne. _

[10] See his "Verses to Mr. George Herbert, sent him with one of myseals of the anchor and Christ. A sheaf of snakes used heretofore to bemy seal, which is the crest of our poor family. " Upon the subject ofthis change of device he thus quibbles:

 "Adopted in God's family, and so My old coat lost, into new arms I go; The cross my seal, in baptism spread below, Does by that form into an anchor grow: Crosses grow anchors; bear as thou shouldst do Thy cross, and that cross grows an anchor too, " etc. 

[11] See his Life, prefixed to his Poems, 12mo, 1677. 

[12] It is pleasing to see the natural good taste of honest old IsaacWalton struggling against that of his age. He introduces the beautifullines, "Come live with me, and be my love, "

as "that smooth song made by Kit Marlow, now at least fifty years ago. ""The milkmaid's mother, " he adds, "sung an answer to it, which was madeby Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days. They were old-fashionedpoetry, but choicely good. I think much better than _the strong lines_that are in fashion in this critical age. "--_The Complete Angler_, Edit. Vi. P. 65. 

[13] "A Poem on the Danger Charles I. , being Prince, escaped in the Roadat St. Andero. "

[14] [The Jacobean and Caroline poets, especially Donne and Cowley, require considerable allowance to be made on Scott's judgment by thosewho are not familiar with them. --ED. ]

[15] _Fasti Oxon. _ vol. I. P. 115. Considering John Dryden's marriagewith the heiress of a man of knightly rank, it seems unlikely that hefollowed the profession of a schoolmaster. But Wood could hardly bemistaken in the second circumstance some of the family having gloried init in his hearing. 

[16] See Collins' _Baronetage_, vol. Ii. The testator bequeaths his soulto his Creator, with this singular expression of confidence, "the HolyGhost assuring my spirit, that I am the elect of God. "

[17] Robert Keies, executed 31st January 1606, of whom Fuller, in hisChurch History, tells the following anecdote:--"A few days before thefatal blow should have been given, Keies, being at Tichmarsh, inNorthamptonshire, at his brother-in-law's house, Mr. Gilbert Pickering, a Protestant, he suddenly whipped out his sword, and in merriment mademany offers therewith at the heads, necks, and sides, of severalgentlemen and ladies then in his company. It was then taken for a merefrolic, and so passed accordingly; but afterwards, when the treason wasdiscovered, such as remembered his gestures thought he practised what heintended to do when the plot should take effect; that is, to hack andhew, kill and destroy, all eminent persons of a different religion fromhimself. "--CAULFIELD's _History of the Gunpowder Plot. _

[18] The following curious story is told to that effect, in Caulfield's"History of the Gunpowder Plot, " p. 67:--

"There was a Mr. Pickering of Tichmarsh-Grove, in Northamptonshire whowas in great esteem with King James. This Mr. Pickering had a horse ofspecial note for swiftness, on which he used to hunt with the king. Alittle before the blow was to be given, Mr. Keies, one of theconspirators, and brother-in-law to Mr. Pickering, borrowed this horseof him, and conveyed him to London upon a bloody design, which was thuscontrived:--Fawkes, upon the day of the fatal blow, was appointed toretire himself into St. George's Fields, where this horse was to attendhim, to further his escape (as they made him believe) as soon as theParliament should be blown up. It was likewise contrived, that Mr. Pickering, who was noted for a puritan, should that morning be murderedin his bed, and secretly conveyed away; and also that Fawkes, as soon ashe came into St. George's Fields, should be there murdered, and somangled, that he could not be known; upon which, it was to be spreadabroad, that the puritans had blown up the parliament-house; and thebetter to make the world believe it, there was Mr. Pickering, with hischoice horse ready to escape. But that stirred up some, who seeing theheinousness of the fact, and him ready to escape, in detestation of sohorrible a deed, fell upon him, and hewed him to pieces; and to make itmore clear, there was his horse, known to be of special speed andswiftness, ready to carry him away; and upon this rumour, a massacreshould have gone through the whole land upon the puritans. 

"When the contrivance of this plot was discovered by some of theconspirators, and Fawkes, who was now a prisoner in the Tower, madeacquainted with it, whereas before he was made to believe by hiscompanions, that he should be bountifully rewarded for that his goodservice to the Catholic cause, now perceiving, that, on the contrary, his death had been contrived by them, he thereupon freely confessed allthat he knew concerning that horrid conspiracy, which before all thetorments of the rack could not force him to do. 

"The truth of this was attested by Mr. William Perkins, who had it fromMr. Clement Cotton, to whom Mr. Pickering gave the above relation. "

[19] Erasmus, the poet's immediate younger brother, was in trade, andresided in King-street, Westminster. He succeeded to the family titleand estate upon the death of Sir John Dryden, and died at the seat ofCanons-Ashby 3d November 1718, leaving one daughter and five grandsons. Henry, the poet's third brother, went to Jamaica, and died there, leaving a son, Richard. James, the fourth of the sons, was a tobacconistin London, and died there, leaving two daughters. Of the daughters, Mr. Malone, after Oldys, says, that Agnes married Sylvester Emelyn ofStanford, Gent. ; that Rose married ---- Laughton of Calworth, D. D. , inthe county of Huntington; that Lucy became the wife of Stephen Umwell ofLondon, merchant; and Martha of ---- Bletso of Northampton. Another ofthe daughters was married to one Shermardine, a bookseller in LittleBritain; and Frances, the youngest, to Joseph Sandwell, a tobacconist inNewgate-street This last died 10th October 1730, at the advanced age ofninety. She had survived the poet about thirty years. Of the remainingfour sisters, no notices occur. 

[20] [A few facts of a more precise kind about the contents of this andthe foregoing paragraphs may be grouped here. The Rev. H. Pickering wasrector of Aldwinkle (the better form) All-Saints from 1507 to 1637, notfrom 1647 to 1657. This destroys Scott's inference. The error arose froma misreading of his epitaph. "The village" did not strictly belong toLord Exeter: but he had property in Aldwinkle St. Peter's, and the twoparishes are close together, one church being at one end and the otherat the other of the joint village. Erasmus Dryden and Mary Pickeringwere married at the church of Pilton, a very small village betweenAldwinkle and Oundle, on October 21, 1630. Dryden was thereforeindisputably the eldest son. Blakesley, where his father's property wassituated, is not near Aldwinkle or Tichmarsh, which are close togetheron opposite sides of the river Nene, and about two miles from Thrapston, but near Canons-Ashby on the other side of the county. The estate (ofabout two hundred acres) was united to that of Canons-Ashby after thedeath of Dryden's youngest son. But, unlike Canons-Ashby, it does notnow belong to the family, having been sold many years ago. --ED. ]

[21] "And though no wit ran royal blood infuse, No more than melt a mother to a muse, Yet much a certain poet undertook, That men and manners deals in without book; And might not more to gospel truth belong, Than he _(if christened)_ does by name of John. " _Poetical Reflections_, etc. See vol. Ix. 

Another opponent of our author calls him

 "A bristled Baptist bred, and then thy strain Immaculate was free from sinful stain. " _The Laureat_, vol. X. 

[22] Upon a monument, erected by Elizabeth Creed to the poet's memory inthe church at Tichmarsh, are these words:--"We boast that he was bredand had his first learning here. " [A rival tradition favours Oundle, which had and has a grammar school of merit. --ED. ]

[23] The date is not known. That of his admission to Trinity, _infra_, should be May 18. He matriculated on July 16, and was not elected to hisscholarship till October 2. --ED. 

[24] [More usually Busby. --ED. ]

[25] "I remember (says Dryden, in a postscript to the argument of thethird satire of Perseus) I translated this satire when I was a King'sscholar at Westminster school, for Thursday night's exercise; andbelieve, that it, and many other of my exercises of this nature inEnglish verse, are still in the hands of my learned master, the Rev. Dr. Bushby. "

[26] The following order is quoted, by Mr. Malone, from theConclusion-book, in the archives of Trinity College, p. 221. 

 "July 19, 1652. Agreed, then, That Dryden be put out of Comons, for a fortnight at least; and that he goe not out of the colledg, during the time aforesaid, excepting to sermons, without express leave from the master, or vice-master; and that, at the end of the fortnight, he read a confession of his crime in the hall, at dinner time, at the three ... Fellowes table. 

 "His crime was, his disobedience to the vice-master, and his contumacy in taking his punishment inflicted by him. "

[27] Shadwell, in the Medal of John Bayes, "At Cambridge Brat your scurrilous vein began, Where saucily you traduced a nobleman; Who for that crime rebuked you on the head, And you had been expelled, had you not fled. "

[28] He received this degree by dispensation from the Archbishop ofCanterbury. 

[29] Prologue to the University of Oxford. 

[30] Jonathan Dryden, elected a scholar from Westminster into TrinityCollege, Cambridge, in 1656, of which he became fellow in 1662, wasauthor of some verses in the Cambridge Collections in 1661, on the deathof the Duke of Gloucester, and the marriage of the Princess of Orange;and in 1662, on the marriage of Charles II. , which have been imputed toour author. An order, quoted by Mr. Malone, for abatement of thecommencement-money paid at taking the Bachelor's degree, on account ofpoverty, applies to Jonathan, not to John Dryden. --MALONE, vol. I. P. 17, note. 

[31] [This letter will be found in its proper place. It is the solepersonal utterance in prose, and almost the only biographical fact ofimportance that we have for the first thirty years of Dryden's life. Upon it, an entirely baseless romance has been built of disappointedlove and parental unkindness. There is absolutely no evidence thatDryden ever seriously pretended to his cousin's hand, or that he wasrejected, or that this rejection was due to his uncle's influence. --ED. ]

[32] Elegy on Lady Haddington, in Corbet's Poems, p. 121. Gilchrist'sedition. 

[33] Sir John Pickering, father of Sir Gilbert, married Susan, thesister of Erasmus Dryden, the poet's father. But Mary Pickering, thepoet's mother, was niece to Sir John Pickering; and thus his son SirGilbert was _her_ cousin-german also. 

[34] In one lampoon, he is called "fiery Pickering. " Walker, in his"Sufferings of the Clergy, " prints Jeremiah Stevens' account of theNorthamptonshire committee of sequestration in which the character ofPickering, one of the members of that oppressive body, is thus drawn:--"Sir G---- P---- had an uncle, whose ears were cropt for a libel onArchbishop Whitgift; was first a presbyterian, then an independent, thena Brownist, and afterwards an anabaptist. He was a most furious, fiery, implacable man; was the principal agent in casting out most of thelearned clergy; a great oppressor of the country; got a good manor forhis booty of the E. Of R. And a considerable purse of gold by a plunderat Lynn in Norfolk. " He is thus characterized by an angry limb of thecommonwealth, whose republican spirit was incensed by Cromwell creatinga peerage:--"Sir Gilbert Pickering, knight of the old stamp, and ofconsiderable revenue in Northamptonshire; one of the Long Parliament, and a great stickler in the change of the government from kingly to thatof a commonwealth;--helped to make those laws of treason againstkingship; has also changed with all changes that have been since. He wasone of the Little Parliament, and helped to break it, as also of all theparliaments since; is one of the Protector's council (his salary £1000_per annum_, besides other places), and as if he had been pinned to thisslieve, was never to seek; is become high steward of Westminster; andbeing so finical, spruce, and like an old courtier, is madelord-chamberlain of the Protector's household or court; so that he maywell be counted fit and worthy to be taken out of the House to have anegative voice in the other House, though he helped to destroy it in theking and lords. There are more besides him, that make themselvestransgressors by building again the things which they once destroyed. "Quoted by Mr. Malone from a rare pamphlet in his collection entitled "ASecond Narrative of the late Parliament, 1658. "

[35] Like Sir Gilbert Pickering, he was a member of the Northamptonshirecommittee of sequestration, and his deeds are thus commemorated inWalker's "Sufferings of the Clergy:"--"Sir J---- D----n was never notedfor ability or discretion; was a puritan by tenure, his house (CanonsAshby) being an ancient college, where he possessed the church, andabused most part of it to profane uses: the chancel he turned to a barn;the body of it to a corn-chamber and storehouse, reserving one sideaisle of it for the public service of prayers, etc. He was noted forweakness and simplicity, and never put on any business of moment, butwas very furious against the clergy. "

[36] In a satire called "The Protestant Poets, " our author is thuscontrasted with Sir Roger L'Estrange. In levelling his reproaches, thesatirist was not probably very solicitous about genealogical accuracy;as, in the eighth line, I conceive Sir John Dryden to be alluded to, although he is termed our poet's grandfather, when he was in fact hisuncle. Sir Erasmus Dryden was indeed a fanatic, and so was HenryPickering, Dryden's paternal and maternal grandfather; but neither weremen of mark or eminence:

 "But though he spares no waste of words or conscience, He wants the Tory turn of thorough nonsense, That thoughtless air, that makes light Hodge so jolly;-- Void of all weight, _he_ wantons in his folly. No so forced BAYES, whom sharp remorse attends, While his heart loaths the cause his tongue defends; Hourly he acts, hourly repents the sin, And is all over _grandfather_ within: By day that ill-laid spirit checks, --o' nights Old Pickering's ghost, a dreadful spectre, frights. Returns of spleen his slacken'd speed remit, And crump his loose careers with intervals of wit: While, without stop at sense, or ebb of spite, Breaking all bars, bounding o'er wrong and right, Contented Roger gallops out of sight. "

[37] This piece was called in, and destroyed by the noble author; butSarah, Duchess of Marlborough, when opposing Lord Grimestone at anelection, maliciously printed and dispersed a large impression of hissmothered performance, with a frontispiece representing an elephantdancing on the slack rope. 

[38] He was one of the garrison of Newark, which held out so long forCharles I. , and has left a curious specimen of the wit of the time, inhis controversy with a parliamentary officer, whose servant had robbedhim, and taken refuge in Newark. The following is the beginning of hisanswer to a demand that the fugitive should be surrendered:

"Sixthly, Beloved, "Is it so then, that our brother and fellow-labourer in the Gospel isstart aside? then this may serve for an use of instruction, not to trustin man, nor in the son of man. Did not Demas leave Paul? did notOnesimus run from his master Philemon? besides, this should teach us toemploy our talent, and not to lay it up in a napkin. Had it been doneamong the cavaliers, it had been just; then the Israelite had spoiledthe Egyptian; but for Simeon to plunder Levi, that! that! You see, sir, what use I make of the doctrine you sent me; and indeed since you changestyle so far as to nibble at wit, you must pardon me, if, to quitscores, I pretend a little to the gift of preaching, " etc. 

Such was the wit of Cleveland. After the complete subjugation of theroyalists, he was apprehended, having in his possession a bundle ofpoems and satirical songs against the republicans. He appeared beforethe commonwealth-general with the dignified air of one who is preparedto suffer for his principles. He was disappointed; for the militaryjudge, after a contemptuous glance at the papers, exclaimed toCleveland's accusers, "Is this all ye have against him? Go, let the poorknave sell his ballads!" Such an acquittal was more severe than anypunishment. The conscious virtue of the loyalist would have borne thelatter; but the pride of the poet could not sustain his contemptuousdismissal; and Cleveland is said to have broken his heart inconsequence. --_Biographia Britannica_, voce _Cleveland_. 

[39] "He is the very Withers of the city, " says Dryden of Wild; "theyhave bought more editions of his works than would serve to lay under alltheir pies at the lord mayor's Christmas. When his famous poem firstcame out in the year 1660, I have seen them reading it in the midst ofchange time; nay, so vehement they were at it, that they lost theirbargain by the candles' ends; but what will you say, if he has beenreceived amongst great persons? I can assure you he is this day the envyof one who is lord in the art of quibbling, and who does not take itwell, that any man should intrude so far into his province. "--Vol. Xv. 

[40] [It may be well to note that "Gondibert" was published in 1651, tenyears before the Restoration. This does not affect the general accuracyof Scott's remarks as to Davenant's poetical position and his influenceon Dryden, but the reader might draw a mistaken inference from thoseremarks as to the date of the poem. --ED. ]

[41] "The Duke of Monmouth returned on Saturday from New-Market. To-dayI waited on him, and first presented him with your letter, which he readall over very attentively; and then prayed me to assure you, that hewould, upon all occasions, be most ready to give you the marks of hisaffection, and assist you in any affairs you should recommend to him. Ithen delivered him the six broad pieces, telling him, that I was deputedto blush on your behalf for the meanness of the present, etc. ; but hetook me off, and said he thanked you for it, and accepted it as a tokenof your kindness. He had, before I came in, as I was told, consideredwhat to do with the gold; and but that I by all means prevented theoffer, or I had been in danger of being reimbursed with it. "--ANDREWMARVELL'S _Works_, vol. I. P. 210; _Letter to the Mayor of Hull_. 

[42] From Driden to Dryden. 

[43] Shadwell makes Dryden say, that after some years spent at theuniversity, he came to London. "At first I struggled with a great dealof persecution, took up with a lodging which had a window no bigger thana pocket looking-glass, dined at a three-penny ordinary enough to starvea vacation tailor, kept little company, went clad in homely drugget, anddrunk wine as seldom as a rechabite, or the grand seignior's confessor. "The old gentleman, who corresponded with the "Gentleman's Magazine, " andremembered Dryden before the rise of his fortunes, mentions his suit ofplain drugget, being, by the bye, the same garb in which he has clothedFlecnoe, who "coarsely clad in Norwich drugget came. "

[44] [Scott, by an evident slip, "Berkeley. "--ED. ]

[45] [Scott, "Cropley. "--ED. ]

[46] [This is a mistake. See "Amboyna. "--ED. ]

[47] Davenant alleges the advantages of a respite and pause betweenevery stanza, which should be so constructed as to comprehend a period;and adds, "nor doth alternate rhyme, by any lowliness of cadence, makethe sound less heroic, but rather adapt it to a plain and statelycomposing of music; and the brevity of the stanza renders it less subtleto the composer, and more easy to the singer, which, in _stilorecitativo_, when the story is long, is chiefly requisite. "--_Prefaceto Gondibert. _

SECTION II. 

_Revival of the Drama at the Restoration--Heroic Plays--Comedies ofIntrigue--Commencement of Dryden's Dramatic Career--The Wild Gallant--Rival Ladies--Indian Queen and Emperor--Dryden's Marriage--Essay onDramatic Poetry, and subsequent Controversy with Sir Robert Howard--TheMaiden Queen--The Tempest--Sir Martin Mar-all--The Mock Astrologer--TheRoyal Martyr--The Two Parts of the Conquest of Granada--Dryden'sSituation at this Period. _

It would appear that Dryden, at the period of the Restoration, renouncedall views of making his way in life except by exertion of the literarytalents with which he was so eminently endowed. His becoming a writer ofplays was a necessary consequence; for the theatres, newly opened afterso long silence, were resorted to with all the ardour inspired bynovelty; and dramatic composition was the only line which promisedsomething like an adequate reward to the professors of literature. Inour sketch of the taste of the seventeenth century previous to theRestoration, this topic was intentionally postponed. 

In the times of James I. And of his successor, the theatre retained, insome degree, the splendour with which the excellent writers of thevirgin reign had adorned it. It is true, that authors of the latterperiod fell far below those gigantic poets, who flourished in the end ofthe sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries; but what thestage had lost in dramatic composition, was, in some degree, supplied bythe increasing splendour of decoration, and the favour of the court. Aprivate theatre, called the Cockpit, was maintained at Whitehall, inwhich plays were performed before the court; and the king's company ofactors often received command to attend the royal progresses. [1]Masques, a species of representation calculated exclusively for therecreation of the great, in whose halls they were exhibited, were anusual entertainment of Charles and his consort. The machinery anddecorations were often superintended by Inigo Jones, and the poetrycomposed by Ben Jonson the laureate. Even Milton deigned to contributeone of his most fascinating poems to the service of the drama; and, notwithstanding the severity of his puritanic tenets, "Comus" could onlyhave been composed by one who felt the full enchantment of the theatre. But all this splendour vanished at the approach of civil war. The stageand court were almost as closely united in their fate as royalty andepiscopacy, had the same enemies, the same defenders, and shared thesame overwhelming ruin. "No throne no theatre, " seemed as just a dogmaas the famous "No king no bishop. " The puritans indeed commenced theirattack against royalty in this very quarter; and, while they impugnedthe political exertions of prerogative, they assailed the privatecharacter of the monarch and his consort, for the encouragement given tothe profane stage, that rock of offence, and stumbling-block to thegodly. Accordingly, the superiority of the republicans was no soonerdecisive, than the theatres were closed, and the dramatic poetssilenced. No department of poetry was accounted lawful; but the dramabeing altogether unhallowed and abominable, its professors werepersecuted, while others escaped with censure from the pulpit, andcontempt from the rulers. The miserable shifts to which the survivingactors were reduced during the commonwealth, have been often detailed. At times they were connived at by the caprice or indolence of theirpersecutors; but, in general, so soon as they had acquired any slenderstock of properties, they were beaten, imprisoned, and stripped, at thepleasure of the soldiery. [2]

The Restoration naturally brought with it a revived taste for thoseelegant amusements, which, during the usurpation, had been condemned asheathenish, or punished as appertaining especially to the favourers ofroyalty. To frequent them, therefore, became a badge of loyalty, and avirtual disavowal of those puritanic tenets which all now agreed incondemning. The taste of the restored monarch also was decidedly infavour of the drama. At the foreign courts, which it had been his lot tovisit, the theatre was the chief entertainment; and as amusement wasalways his principal pursuit, it cannot be doubted that he often soughtit there. The interest, therefore, which the monarch took in therestoration of the stage, was direct and personal. Had it not been forthis circumstance, it seems probable that the general audience, for atime at least, would have demanded a revival of those pieces which hadbeen most successful before the civil wars; and that Shakespeare, Massinger, and Fletcher, would have resumed their acknowledgedsuperiority upon the English stage. But as the theatres werere-established and cherished by the immediate influence of thesovereign, and of the court which returned with him from exile, a tasteformed during their residence abroad dictated the nature ofentertainments which were to be presented to them. It is worthy ofremark, that Charles took the models of the two grand departments of thedrama from two different countries. 

France afforded the pattern of those tragedies which continued infashion for twenty years after the Restoration, and which were calledRhyming or Heroic Plays. In that country, however, contrary to thegeneral manners of the people, a sort of stately and precise ceremonialearly took possession of the theatre. The French dramatist was under thenecessity of considering less the situation of the persons of the drama, than that of the performers who were to represent it before a monarchand his court. It was not, therefore, sufficient for the author toconsider how human beings would naturally express themselves in thepredicament of the scene; he had the more embarrassing task of somodifying their expressions of passion and feeling, that they might notexceed the decorum necessary in the august presence of the _grandmonarque_. A more effectual mode of freezing the dialogue of the dramacould hardly have been devised, than by introducing into the theatre theetiquette of the drawing-room. That etiquette also, during the reign ofLouis XIV. , was of a kind peculiarly forced and unnatural The romancesof Calprenède and Scudéry, those ponderous and unmerciful folios nowconsigned to utter oblivion, were in that reign not only universallyread and admired, but supposed to furnish the most perfect models ofgallantry and heroism; although, in the words of an elegant femaleauthor, these celebrated writings are justly described as containingonly "unnatural representations of the passions, false sentiments, falseprecepts, false wit, false honour, and false modesty, with a strangeheap of improbable, unnatural incidents, mixed up with true history, andfastened upon some of the great names of antiquity. "[3] Yet upon themodel of such works were framed the court manners of the reign of Louis, and, in imitation of them, the French tragedy, in which every king wasby prescriptive right a hero, every female a goddess, every tyrant afire-breathing chimera, and every soldier an irresistible Amadis; inwhich, when perfected, we find lofty sentiments, splendid imagery, eloquent expression, sound morality, everything but the language ofhuman passion and human character. In the hands of Corneille, and stillmore in those of Racine, much of the absurdity of the original model wascleared away, and much that was valuable substituted in its stead; butthe plan being fundamentally wrong, the high talents of these authorsunfortunately only tended to reconcile their countrymen to a style ofwriting which must otherwise have fallen into contempt. Such as it was, it rose into high favour at the court of Louis XIV. , and was by Charlesintroduced upon the English stage. "The favour which heroic plays havelately found upon our theatres, " says our author himself, "have beenwholly derived to them from the countenance and approbation they havereceived at court. "[4]

The French comedy, although Molière was in the zenith of his reputation, appears not to have possessed equal charms for the English monarch. Thesame restraint of decorum, which prevented the expression of naturalpassion in tragedy, prohibited all indelicate licence in comedy. Charles, probably, was secretly pleased with a system, which cramped theeffusions of the tragic muse, and forbade, as indecorous, those burstsof rapturous enthusiasm, which might sometimes contain matter unpleasingto a royal ear. [5] But the merry monarch saw no good reason why the museof comedy should be compelled to "dwell in decencies for ever, " and didnot feel at all degraded when enjoying a gross pleasantry, or profanewitticism, in company with the mixed mass of a popular audience. Thestage, therefore, resumed more than its original licence under hisauspices. Most of our early plays, being written in a coarse age, anddesigned for the amusement of a promiscuous and vulgar audience, weredishonoured by scenes of coarse and naked indelicacy. The positiveenactments of James, and the grave manners of his son, in some degreerepressed this disgraceful scurrility; and, in the common course ofevents, the English stage would have been gradually delivered from thisreproach by the increasing influence of decency and taste. [6] ButCharles II. , during his exile, had lived upon a footing of equality withhis banished nobles, and partaken freely and promiscuously in thepleasure and frolics by which they had endeavoured to sweeten adversity. To such a court the amusements of the drama would have appeared insipid, unless seasoned with the libertine spirit which governed their lives, and which was encouraged by the example of the monarch. Thus it isacutely argued by Dennis, in reply to Collier, that the depravity of thetheatre, when revived, was owing to that very suppression, which hadprevented its gradual reformation. And just so a muddy stream, ifallowed its free course, will gradually purify itself; but, if dammed upfor a season, and let loose at once, its first torrent cannot fail to beimpregnated with every impurity. The licence of a rude age was thusrevived by a corrupted one; and even those plays which were translatedfrom the French and Spanish, were carefully seasoned with as muchindelicacy, and double entendre, as was necessary to fit them for theear of the wittiest and most profligate of monarchs. 

Another remarkable feature in the comedies which succeeded theRestoration is the structure of their plot, which was not, like that ofthe tragedies, formed upon the Parisian model. The English audience hadnot patience for the regular comedy of their neighbours, depending upondelicate turns of expression, and nicer delineation of character. TheSpanish comedy, with its bustle, machinery, disguise, and complicatedintrigue, was much more agreeable to their taste. This preference didnot arise entirely from what the French term the phlegm of our nationalcharacter, which cannot be affected but by powerful stimulants. It isindeed certain, that an Englishman expects his eye, as well as his ear, to be diverted by theatrical exhibition; but the thirst of novelty wasanother and separate reason which affected the style of the reviveddrama. The number of new plays represented every season was incredible;and the authors were compelled to have recourse to that mode ofcomposition which was most easily executed. Laboured accuracy ofexpression, and fine traits of character, joined to an arrangement ofaction, which should be at once pleasing, interesting, and probable, require sedulous study, deep reflection, and long and repeatedcorrection and revision. But these were not to be expected from aplaywright, by whom three dramas were to be produced in one season; andin their place were substituted adventures surprises, rencounters, mistakes, disguises, and escapes, all easily accomplished by theintervention of sliding panels, closets, veils, masks, large cloaks, anddark lanthorns. If the dramatist was at a loss for employing theseconvenient implements, the fifteen hundred plays of Lope de Vega were athand for his instruction; presenting that rapid succession of events, and those sudden changes in the situation of the personages, which, according to the noble biographer of the Spanish dramatist, are thecharms by which he interests us so forcibly in his plots. [7] TheseSpanish plays had already been resorted to by the authors of the earlierpart of the century. But under the auspices of Charles II. , who mustoften have witnessed the originals while abroad, and in some instancesby his express command, translations were executed of the best and mostlively Spanish comedies. [8]

The favourite comedies therefore, after the Restoration, were such asdepended rather upon the intricacy than the probability of the plot;rather upon the vivacity and liveliness, than on the natural expressionof the dialogue; and, finally, rather upon extravagant and grotesqueconception of character, than upon its being pointedly delineated, andaccurately supported through the representation. These particulars, inwhich the comedies of Charles the Second's reign differ from the exampleset by Shakespeare, Massinger and Beaumont and Fletcher, seem to havebeen derived from the Spanish model. But the taste of the age was toocultivated to follow the stage of Madrid, in introducing, or, to speakmore accurately, in reviving, the character of the _gracioso_, or clown, upon that of London. [9] Something of foreign manners may be traced inthe licence assumed by valets and domestics in the English comedy; afreedom which at no time made a part of our national manners, thoughsomething like it may still be traced upon the Continent. These seem tobe the leading characteristics of the comedies of Charles the Second'sreign, in which the rules of the ancients were totally disregarded. Itwere to be wished that the authors could have been exculpated from anheavier charge, --that of assisting to corrupt the nation, by nourishingand fomenting their evil passions, as well as by indulging and panderingto their vices. 

The theatres, after the Restoration, were limited to two in number; arestriction perhaps necessary, as the exclusive patent expresses it, inregard of the extraordinary licentiousness then used in dramaticrepresentation; but for which no very good reason can be shown, whenthey are at least harmless, if not laudable places of amusement. One ofthese privileged theatres was placed under the direction of Sir WilliamDavenant, whose sufferings in the royal cause merited a provision, andwhose taste and talents had been directed towards the drama even duringits proscription. He is said to have introduced moveable scenes upon theEnglish stage; and, without entering into the dispute of how closelythis is to be interpreted, we are certain that he added much to itssplendour and decoration. His set of performers, which contained thefamous Betterton, and others of great merit, was called the Duke'sCompany. The other licensed theatre was placed under the direction ofThomas Killigrew, much famed by tradition for his colloquial wit, butthe merit of whose good things evaporated so soon as he attempted tointerweave them with comedy. [10] His performers formed what was entitledthe King's Company. With this last theatre Dryden particularly connectedhimself, by a contract to be hereafter mentioned. None of his earlierplays were acted by the Duke's Company, unless those in which he hadreceived assistance from others, whom he might think as well entitled ashimself to prescribe the place of representation. 

Such was the state of the English drama when Dryden became a candidatefor theatrical laurels. So early as the year of the Restoration, he hadmeditated a tragedy upon the fate of the Duke of Guise; but this, he hasinformed us, was suppressed by the advice of some friends, who told him, that it was an excellent subject, but not so artificially managed as torender it fit for the stage. It were to be wished these scenes had beenpreserved, since it may be that the very want of artifice, alleged bythe critics of the day, would have recommended them to our more simpletaste. We might at least have learned from them, whether Dryden, in hisfirst essay, leant to the heroic, or to the ancient English tragedy. Butthe scene of Guise's return to Paris, is the only part of the originalsketch which Dryden thought fit to interweave with the play, as acted in1682; and as that scene is rendered literally from Davila, upon theprinciple that, in so remarkable an action, the poet was not at libertyto change the words actually used by the persons interested, we onlylearn from it, that the piece was composed in blank verse, not rhyme. 

In the course of the year 1661-2, our author composed the "WildGallant, " which was acted about February 1662-3 without success. Thebeautiful Countess of Castlemaine, afterwards Duchess of Cleveland, extended her protection to the unfortunate performance, and received theincense of the author; who boasts, "Posterity will judge by my success, I had the Grecian poet's happiness, Who, waving plots, found out a better way, -- Some god descended, and preserved the play. "

It was probably by the influence of this royal favourite, that the "WildGallant" was more than once performed before Charles by his own command. But the author, his piece, and his poetical compliment, were hardlytreated in a Session of the Poets, which appeared about 1670. Nor didSir Robert Howard, his associate, escape without his share of ridicule:

 "Sir Robert Howard, called for over and over, At length sent in Teague with a packet of news, Wherein the sad knight, to his grief did discover How Dryden had lately robbed him of his Muse. 

 Each man in the court was pleased with the theft, Which made the whole family swear and rant, Desiring, their Robin in the lurch being left, The thief might be punished for his 'Wild Gallant. '

 Dryden, who one would have thought had more wit, The censure of every man did disdain, Pleading some pitiful rhymes he had writ In praise of the Countess of Castlemaine. "

The play itself contained too many of those prize-fights of wit, asBuckingham called them, in which the plot stood absolutely still, whiletwo of the characters were showing the audience their dexterity atrepartee. This error furnishes matter for a lively scene in the"Rehearsal. "

The "Rival Ladies, " acted in 1663, and published in the year following, was our author's next dramatic essay. It is a tragi-comedy; and thetragic scenes are executed in rhyme, --a style which Dryden anxiouslydefended, in a Dedication addressed to the Earl of Orrery, who hadhimself written several heroic plays. He cites against blank verse theuniversal practice of the most polished and civilised nations, theSpanish, the Italian, and the French; enumerates its advantages inrestraining the luxuriance of the poet's imagination, and compelling himto labour long upon his clearest and richest thoughts: but he qualifieshis general assertion by affirming, that heroic verse ought only to beapplied to heroic situations and personages; and shows to most advantagein the scenes of argumentation, on which the doing or forbearing someconsiderable action should depend. Accordingly, in the "Rival Ladies, "those scenes of the play which approach to comedy (for it contains noneproperly comic) are written in blank verse. The Dedication contains tworemarkable errors: The author mistakes the title of "Ferrex and Porrex, "a play written by Sackville Lord Buckhurst, and Norton; and he ascribesto Shakespeare the first introduction of blank verse. The "Rival Ladies"seems to have been well received, and was probably of some advantage tothe author. 

In 1663-4, we find Dryden assisting Sir Robert Howard, who must betermed his friend, if not his patron, in the composition of a rhymingplay, called the "Indian Queen. " The versification of this piece, whichis far more harmonious than that generally used by Howard, showsevidently, that our author had assiduously corrected the whole play, though it may be difficult to say how much of it was written by him. Clifford afterwards upbraided Dryden with having copied his Almanzorfrom the character of Montezuma;[11] and it must be allowed, there is astriking resemblance between these two outrageous heroes, who carryconquest to any side they choose, and are restrained by no humanconsideration, excepting the tears or commands of their mistress. Butwhatever share Dryden had in this piece, Sir Robert Howard retainedpossession of the title-page without acknowledgment, and Dryden nowheregives himself the trouble of reclaiming his property, except in a sketchof the connection between the "Indian Queen, " and "Indian Emperor, "where he simply states, that he wrote a part of the former. The "IndianQueen" was acted with very great applause, to which, doubtless, thescenery and dresses contributed not a little. Moreover, it presentedbattles and sacrifices on the stage, aerial demons singing in the air, and the god of dreams ascending through a trap; the least of which hasoften saved a worse tragedy. 

The "Indian Queen" having been thus successful, Dryden was encouraged toengraft upon it another drama, entitled, the "Indian Emperor. " It isseldom that the continuation of a concluded tale is acceptable to thepublic. The present case was an exception, perhaps because theconnection between the "Indian Emperor" and its predecessor was neitherclose nor necessary. Indeed, the whole persons of the "Indian Queen" aredisposed of by the bowl and dagger, at the conclusion of that tragedy, excepting Montezuma, who, with a second set of characters, the sons anddaughters of those deceased in the first part, occupies the stage in thesecond play. The author might, therefore, have safely left the audienceto discover the plot of the "Indian Emperor, " without embarrassing themwith that of the "Indian Queen. " But to prevent mistakes, andprincipally, I should think, to explain the appearance of three ghosts, the only persons (if they can be termed such) who have any connectionwith the former drama, Dryden took the precaution to print and dispersean argument of the play, in order, as the "Rehearsal" intimated, toinsinuate into the audience some conception of his plot. The "IndianEmperor" was probably the first of Dryden's performances which drew uponhim, in an eminent degree, the attention of the public. It was dedicatedto Anne, Duchess of Monmouth, whom long afterward our author styled hisfirst and best patroness. [12] This lady, in the bloom of youth andbeauty, and married to a nobleman no less the darling of his father thanof the nation, had it in her power effectually to serve Dryden, anddoubtless exerted her influence in procuring him that rank in publicopinion, which is seldom early attained without the sanction of thosewho lead the fashion in literature. The Duchess of Monmouth probablyliked in the "Indian Emperor, " not only the beauty of the numbers, andthe frequently exquisite turn of the description, but also theintroduction of incantations and apparitions, of which romantic style ofwriting she was a professed admirer. The "Indian Emperor" had the mostample success; and from the time of its representation, till the day ofhis death, our author, though often rudely assailed, maintained the verypinnacle of poetical superiority, against all his contemporaries. 

The dreadful fire of London, in 1666, put a temporary stop to theatricalexhibitions, which were not permitted till the following Christmas. Wemay take this opportunity to review the effect which the rise ofDryden's reputation had upon his private fortune and habits of life. 

While our author was the literary assistant of Sir Robert Howard, andthe hired labourer of Herringman the bookseller, we may readily presumethat his pretensions and mode of living were necessarily adapted to thatmode of life, into which he had descended by the unpopularity of hispuritanical connections. Even for some time after his connection withthe theatre, we learn, from a contemporary, that his dress was plain atleast, if not mean, and his pleasures moderate, though notinelegant. [13] But as his reputation advanced, he naturally glided intomore expensive habits, and began to avail himself of the licence, aswell as to partake of the pleasures, of the time. We learn, from a poemof his enemy Milbourne, that Dryden's person was advantageous; and that, in the younger part of his life, he was distinguished by the emulousfavour of the fair sex. [14] And although it would not be edifying, wereit possible, to trace instances of his success in gallantry, we maybarely notice his intrigue with Mrs. Reeve, a beautiful actress, whoperformed in many of his plays. This amour was probably terminatedbefore the fair lady's retreat to a cloister, which seems to have takenplace before the representation of Otway's "Don Carlos, " in 1676. [15]Their connection is alluded to in the "Rehearsal, " which was acted in1671. Bayes, talking of Amarillis, actually represented by Mrs. Reeve, says, "Ay, 'tis a pretty little rogue; she's my mistress: I knew herface would set off armour extremely; and to tell you true, I writ thatpart only for her. " There follows an obscure allusion to some gallantryof our author in another quarter. But Dryden's amours were interrupted, if not terminated, in 1665, by his marriage. 

Our author's friendship with Sir Robert Howard and his increasingreputation, had introduced him to the family of the Earl of Berkshire, father to his friend. In the course of this intimacy, the poet gainedthe affections of Lady Elizabeth Howard, the Earl's eldest daughter, whom he soon afterwards married. [16] The lampoons, by which Dryden'sprivate character was assailed in all points, allege, that this marriagewas formed under circumstances dishonourable to the lady. But of thisthere is no evidence; while the malignity of the reporters is evidentand undisguised. We may however believe, that the match was notaltogether agreeable to the noble family of Berkshire. Dryden, it istrue, might, in point of descent, be admitted to form pretensions toLady Elizabeth Howard; but his family, though honourable, was in a kindof disgrace, from the part which Sir Gilbert Pickering and Sir JohnDriden had taken in the civil wars: while the Berkshire family wereremarkable for their attachment to the royal cause. Besides, many of thepoet's relations were engaged in trade; and the alliance of hisbrothers-in-law, the tobacconist and stationer, if it was then formed, could not sound dignified in the ears of a Howard. Add to this a veryimportant consideration, --Dryden had no chance of sharing the wealth ofhis principal relations, which might otherwise have been received as anatonement for the guilty confiscations by which it was procured. He hadquarrelled with them, or they with him; his present possession was anarrow independence; and his prospects were founded upon literarysuccess, always precarious, and then connected with circumstances ofpersonal abasement, which rendered it almost disreputable. A noblefamily might be allowed to regret, that one of their members was chieflyto rely for the maintenance of her husband, her family, and herself, upon the fees of dedications, and occasional pieces of poetry, and theuncertain profits of the theatre. 

Yet, as Dryden's manners were amiable, his reputation high, and hismoral character unexceptionable the Earl of Berkshire was probably soonreconciled to the match; and Dryden seems to have resided with hisfather-in-law for some time, since it is from the Earl's seat ofCharlton, in Wiltshire, that he dates the introduction to the "_AnnusMirabilis_, " published in the end of 1667. [17]

So honourable a connection might have been expected to have advanced ourauthor's prospects in a degree beyond what he experienced; but hisfather-in-law was poor, considering his rank, and had a large family, sothat the portion of Lady Elizabeth was inconsiderable. Nor was her wantof fortune supplied by patronage, or family influence. Dryden'spreferment, as poet laureate, was due to, and probably obtained by, hisliterary character; nor did he ever receive any boon suitable to hisrank, as son-in-law to an earl. But, what was worst of all, the partiesdid not find mutual happiness in the engagement they had formed. It isdifficult for a woman of a violent temper and weak intellects, and suchthe lady seems to have been, to endure the apparently causelessfluctuation of spirits incident to one doomed to labour incessantly inthe feverish exercise of the imagination. Unintentional neglect, and theinevitable relaxation, or rather sinking of spirit, which followsviolent mental exertion, are easily misconstrued into capriciousrudeness, or intentional offence; and life is embittered by mutualaccusation, not the less intolerable because reciprocally just. The wifeof one who is to gain his livelihood by poetry, or by any labour (if anythere be) equally exhausting, must either have taste enough to relishher husband's performances, or good-nature sufficient to pardon hisinfirmities. It was Dryden's misfortune, that Lady Elizabeth had neitherthe one nor the other; and I dismiss the disagreeable subject byobserving, that on no one occasion, when a sarcasm against matrimonycould be introduced, has our author failed to season it with suchbitterness as spoke an inward consciousness of domestic misery. [18]

During the period when the theatres were closed, Dryden seems to havewritten and published the "_Annus Mirabilis_" of which we spoke at theclose of the last Section. But he was also then labouring upon his"Essay of Dramatic Poesy. " It was a singular trait in the character ofour author, that by whatever motive he was directed in his choice of asubject, and his manner of treating it, he was upon all occasions, alikeanxious to persuade the public, that both the one and the other were theobject of his free choice, founded upon the most rational grounds ofpreference. He had, therefore, no sooner seriously bent his thoughts tothe stage, and distinguished himself as a composer of heroic plays, thanhe wrote his "Essay of Dramatic Poesy, " in which he assumes, that thedrama was the highest department of poetry; and endeavours to prove, that rhyming or heroic tragedies are the most legitimate offspring ofthe drama. 

The subject is agitated in a dialogue between Lord Buckhurst, SirCharles Sedley, Sir Robert Howard, and the author himself, under thefeigned names of Eugenius, Lisideius, Crites, and Neander. Thiscelebrated Essay was first published in the end of 1667, or beginning of1668. The author revised it with an unusual degree of care, andpublished it anew in 1684, with a Dedication to Lord Buckhurst. 

In the introduction of the dialogue, our author artfully solicits theattention of the public to the improved versification, in which hehimself so completely excelled all his contemporaries; and contrasts therugged lines and barbarous conceits of Cleveland with the more modernstyle of composition, where the thoughts were moulded into easy andsignificant words, superfluities of expression retrenched, and the rhymerendered so properly a part of the verse, that it was led and guided bythe sense, which was formerly sacrificed in attaining it. This pointbeing previously settled, a dispute occurs concerning the allegedsuperiority of the ancient classic models of dramatic composition. Thisis resolutely denied by all the speakers, excepting Crites; theregulation of the unities is condemned, as often leading to greaterabsurdities than those they were designed to obviate; and the classicauthors are censured for the cold and trite subjects of their comedies, the bloody and horrible topics of many of their tragedies, and theirdeficiency in painting the passion of love. From all this, it is justlygathered, that the moderns, though with less regularity, possess agreater scope for invention, and have discovered, as it were, a newperfection in writing. This debated point being abandoned by Crites (orHoward), the partisan of the ancients, a comparison between the Frenchand English drama is next introduced. Sedley, the celebrated wit andcourtier, pleads the cause of the French, an opinion which perhaps wasnot singular among the favourites of Charles II. But the rest of thespeakers unite in condemning the extolled simplicity of the Frenchplots, as actual barrenness, compared to the variety and copiousness ofthe English stage; and their authors' limiting the attention of theaudience and interest of the piece to a single principal personage, iscensured as poverty of imagination, when opposed to the diversificationof characters exhibited in the _dramatis personae_ of the English poets. Shakespeare and Jonson are then brought forward, and contrasted with theFrench dramatists, and with each other. The former is extolled, as theman of all modern, and perhaps ancient, poets, who had the largest andmost comprehensive soul, and intuitive knowledge of human nature; andthe latter, as the most learned and judicious writer which any theatreever had. But to Shakespeare, Dryden objects, that his comic sometimesdegenerates into _clenches_, and his serious into bombast; to Jonson, the sullen and saturnine character of his genius, his borrowing from theancients, and the insipidity of his latter plays. The examen leads tothe discussion of a point, in which Dryden had differed with Sir RobertHoward. This was the use of rhyme in tragedy. Our author had, it will beremembered, maintained the superiority of rhyming plays, in theIntroduction to the "Rival Ladies. " Sir Robert Howard, the catalogue ofwhose virtues did not include that of forbearance made a direct answerto the arguments used in that Introduction; and while he studiouslyextolled the plays of Lord Orrery, as affording an exception to hisgeneral sentence against rhyming plays, he does not extend thecompliment to Dryden, whose defence of rhyme was expressly dedicated tothat noble author. Dryden, not much pleased, perhaps, at being leftundistinguished in the general censure passed upon rhyming plays by hisfriend and ally, retaliates in the Essay, by placing in the mouth ofCrites the arguments urged by Sir Robert Howard, and replying to them inthe person of Neander. To the charge, that rhyme is unnatural, inconsequence of the inverted arrangement of the words necessary toproduce it, he replies, that, duly ordered, it may be natural in itself, and therefore not unnatural in a play; and that, if the objection befurther insisted upon, it is equally conclusive against blank verse, ormeasure without rhyme. To the objection founded on the formal anduniform recurrence of the measure, he alleges the facility of varyingit, by throwing the cadence upon different parts of the line, bybreaking it into hemistichs, or by running the sense into another line, so as to make art and order appear as loose and free as nature. [19]Dryden even contends, that, for variety's sake, the pindaric measuremight be admitted, of which Davenant set an example in the "Siege ofRhodes. " But this licence, which was probably borrowed from the Spanishstage, has never succeeded elsewhere, except in operas. Finally, it isurged, that rhyme, the most noble verse, is alone fit for tragedies, themost noble species of composition; that, far from injuring a scene, inwhich quick repartee is necessary, it is the last perfection of wit toput it into numbers; and that, even where a trivial and commonexpression is placed, from necessity, in the mouth of an importantcharacter, it receives, from the melody of versification, a dignitybefitting the person that is to pronounce it. With this keen andanimated defence of a mode of composition, in which he felt his ownexcellence, Dryden concludes the "Essay of Dramatic Poesy. "

The publication of this criticism, the first that contained an expressattempt to regulate dramatic writing, drew general attention, and gavesome offence. Sir Robert Howard felt noways flattered at being made, through the whole dialogue, the champion of unsuccessful opinions: and apartiality to the depreciated blank verse seems to have been hereditaryin his family. [20] He therefore hasted to assert his own opinion againstthat of Dryden, in the preface to one of his plays, called the "Duke ofLerma, " published in the middle of the year 1668. It is difficult fortwo friends to preserve their temper in a dispute of this nature; andthere may be reason to believe, that some dislike to the alliance ofDryden, as a brother-in-law, mingled with the poetical jealousy of SirRobert Howard. [21] The Preface to the "Duke of Lerma" is written in thetone of a man of quality and importance, who is conscious of stoopingbeneath his own dignity, and neglecting his graver avocations, byengaging in a literary dispute. Dryden was not likely, of many men, tobrook this tone of affected superiority. He retorted upon Sir RobertHoward very severely, in a tract, entitled, the "Defence of the Essay onDramatic Poesy, " which he prefixed to the second edition of the "IndianEmperor, " published in 1668. In this piece, the author mentions hisantagonist as master of more than twenty legions of arts and sciences, in ironical allusion to Sir Robert's coxcombical affectation ofuniversal knowledge, which had already exposed him to the satire ofShadwell. [22] He is also described in reference to some foolishappearance in the House of Commons, as having maintained a contradiction_in terminis_, in the face of three hundred persons. Neither does Drydenneglect to hold up to ridicule the slips in Latin and English grammar, which marked the offensive Preface to the "Duke of Lerma. " And althoughhe concludes, that he honoured his adversary's parts and person as muchas any man living, and had so many particular obligations to him, thathe should be very ungrateful not to acknowledge them to the world, yetthe personal and contemptuous severity of the whole piece must have cutto the heart so proud a man as Sir Robert Howard. This quarrel betweenthe baronet and the poet, who was suspected of having crutched-up manyof his lame performances, furnished food for lampoon and amusement tothe indolent wits of the day. But the breach between thebrothers-in-law, though wide, proved fortunately not irreconcilable; andtowards the end of Dryden's literary career, we find him again uponterms of friendship with the person by whom he had been befriended atits commencement. [23] Edward Howard, who, it appears, had entered aswarmly as his brother into the contest with Dryden about rhymingtragedies, also seems to have been reconciled to our poet; at least, hepronounced a panegyric on his translation of Virgil before it left thepress, in a passage which is also curious, from the author ranking inthe same line "the two elaborate poems of Milton and Blackmore. "[24]

In testimony of total amnesty, the "Defence of the Essay" was cancelled;and it must be rare indeed to meet with an original edition of it, sinceMr. Malone had never seen one. [25]

Dryden's fame, as an author, was doubtless exalted by the "Essay ofDramatic Poesy;" which showed, that he could not only write plays, butdefend them when written. His circumstances rendered it necessary, thathe should take the full advantage of his reputation to meet theincreasing expense of a wife and family; and it was probably shortlyafter the Essay appeared, that our author entered into his memorablecontract with the King's Company of players. The precise terms of thisagreement have been settled by Mr. Malone from unquestionable evidence, after being the subject of much doubt and uncertainty. It is nowcertain, that, confiding in the fertility of his genius, and thereadiness of his pen, Dryden undertook to write for the King's house noless than three plays in the course of the year. In consideration ofthis engagement, he was admitted to hold one share and a quarter in theprofits of the theatre, which was stated by the managers to haveproduced him three or four hundred pounds, _communibus annis_. Either, however, the players became sensible, that, by urging their pensioner tocontinued drudgery, they in fact lessened the value of his labour, orDryden felt himself unequal to perform the task he had undertaken; forthe average number of plays which he produced, was only about half thatwhich had been contracted for. The company, though not without grudging, paid the poet the stipulated share of profit; and the curious document, recovered by Mr. Malone, not only establishes the terms of the bargain, but that the players, although they complained of the laziness of theirindented author, were jealous of their right to his works, and anxiousto retain possession of him, and of them. [26] It would have been wellfor Dryden's reputation, and perhaps not less productive to the company, had the number of his plays been still further abridged; for, while weadmire the facility that could produce five or six plays in three years, we lament to find it so often exerted to the sacrifice of the moreessential qualities of originality and correctness. 

Dryden had, however, made his bargain, and was compelled to fulfil itthe best he might. As his last tragic piece, the "Indian Emperor, " hadbeen eminently successful, he was next to show the public, that histalents were not limited to the buskin; and accordingly, late in 1667, was represented the "Maiden Queen, " a tragi-comedy, in which, althoughthere is a comic plot separate from the tragic design, our author boaststo have retained all that regularity and symmetry of parts which thedramatic laws require. The tragic scenes of the "Maiden Queen" weredeservedly censured, as falling beneath the "Indian Emperor. " They haveneither the stately march of the heroic dialogue, nor, what we would bemore pleased to have found in them, the truth of passion, and naturalcolouring, which characterised the old English drama. But the credit ofthe piece was redeemed by the comic part, which is a more light and airyrepresentation of the fashionable and licentious manners of the timethan Dryden could afterwards attain, excepting in "Marriage à la Mode. "The king, whose judgment on this subject was unquestionable graced the"Maiden Queen" with the title of _his play_; and Dryden insinuates thatit would have been dedicated to him, had he had confidence to follow thepractice of the French poets in like cases. At least, he avoided thesolecism of inscribing the king's own play to a subject; and, instead ofa dedication, we have a preface, in which the sovereign's favourableopinion of the piece is studiously insisted upon. Neither was the praiseof Charles conferred without critical consideration; for he justlycensured the concluding scene, in which Celadon and Florimel treat oftheir marriage in very light terms in presence of the Queen, who standsby, an idle spectator. This insult to Melpomene, and preference of hercomic sister, our author acknowledges to be a fault, but seemingly onlyin deference to the royal opinion; for he instantly adds, that, in hisown judgment, the scene was necessary to make the piece go off smartly, and was, in the estimation of good judges, the most diverting of thewhole comedy. 

Encouraged by the success of the "Maiden Queen, " Dryden proceeded torevive the "Wild Gallant;" and, in deference to his reputation, it seemsnow to have been more favourably received than at its firstrepresentation. 

The "Maiden Queen" was followed by the "Tempest, " an alteration ofShakespeare's play of the same name, in which Dryden assisted SirWilliam Davenant. It seems probable that Dryden furnished the language, and Davenant the plan of the new characters introduced. They do butlittle honour to his invention, although Dryden has highly extolled itin his preface. The idea of a counterpart to Shakespeare's plot, byintroducing a man who had never seen a woman, as a contrast to a womanwho had never seen a man, and by furnishing Caliban with a sistermonster, seems hardly worthy of the delight with which Dryden says hefilled up the characters so sketched. In mixing his tints, Dryden didnot omit that peculiar colouring, in which his age delighted. Miranda'ssimplicity is converted into indelicacy, and Dorinda talks the languageof prostitution before she has ever seen a man. But the play seems tohave succeeded to the utmost wish of the authors. It was brought out inthe Duke's house, of which Davenant was manager, with all the splendourof scenic decoration, of which he was inventor. The opening scene isdescribed as being particularly splendid, and the performance of thespirits, "with mops and mows, " excited general applause. Davenant diedbefore the publication of this piece, and his memory is celebrated inthe preface. 

Our author's next play, if it could be properly called his, was "SirMartin Mar-all. " This was originally a translation of "_L'Etourdi_" ofMolière, executed by the Duke of Newcastle, famous for his loyalty, andhis skill of horsemanship. Dryden availed himself of the nobletranslator's permission to improve and bring "Sir Martin Mar-all"forward for his own benefit. It was attended with the most completesuccess, being played four times at court, and above thirty times at thetheatre in Lincoln's-Inn Fields; a run chiefly attributed to theexcellent performance of Nokes, who represented Sir Martin. [27] The"Tempest" and "Sir Martin Mar-all" were both acted by the Duke'sCompany, probably because Dryden was in the one assisted by Sir WilliamDavenant the manager, and because the other was entered in the name ofthe Duke of Newcastle. Of these two plays, "Sir Martin Mar-all" wasprinted anonymously in 1668. It did not appear with Dryden's name until1697. The "Tempest, " though acted before "Sir Martin Mar-all, " was notprinted until 1669-70. They are in the present, as in former editions, arranged according to the date of publication, which gives theprecedence to "Sir Martin Mar-all, " though last acted. 

The "Evening's Love, or the Mock Astrologer, " was Dryden's nextcomposition. It is an imitation of "_Le Feint Astrologue_" of [T. ]Corneille, which is founded upon Calderon's "_El Astrologo Fingido_. "Several of the scenes are closely imitated from Molière's "_DépitAmoureux_. " Having that lively bustle, intricacy of plot, and surprisingsituation, which the taste of the time required, and being enlivened bythe characters of Wildblood and Jacinta, the "Mock Astrologer" seems tohave met a favourable reception in 1668, when it first appeared. It wasprinted in the same, or in the following year, and inscribed to the Dukeof Newcastle, to whom Dryden had been indebted for the sketch of "SirMartin Mar-all. " It would seem, that this gallant and chivalrous peerwas then a protector of Dryden, though he afterwards seems moreespecially to have patronised his enemy Shadwell; upon whose _northern_dedications, inscribed to the duke and his lady, our author isparticularly severe. In the preface to the "Evening's Love, " Drydenanxiously justifies himself from the charge of encouraging libertinism, by crownings rake and coquette with success. But after he has arrayedall the authority of the ancient and modern poets, and has pleaded thatthese licentious characters are only made happy after being reclaimed inthe last scene, we may be permitted to think, that more proper heroesmay be selected than those, who, to merit the reward assigned them, mustannounce a violent and sudden change from the character they havesustained during five acts; and the attempt to shroud himself underauthority of others, is seldom resorted to by Dryden when a cause isotherwise tenable. In this preface also he justified himself from thecharge of plagiarism by showing that the mere story is the least parteither of the labour of the poet, or of the graces of the poem; quotingagainst his critics the expression of the king, who had said, he wishedthose, who charged Dryden with theft, would always steal him plays likeDryden's. 

The "Royal Martyr" was acted in 1668-9, and printed in 1670. It is, inevery respect, a proper heroic tragedy, and had a large share of theapplause with which those pieces were then received. It abounds inbombast, but is not deficient in specimens of the sublime and of thetender. The preface is distinguished by that tone of superiority, whichDryden often assumed over the critics of the time. Their generalobservations he cut short, by observing, that those who make themproduce nothing of their own, or only what is more ridiculous than anything they reprehend. Special objections are refuted, by an appeal toclassical authority. Thus the couplet, "And he, who servilely creeps after sense, Is safe, but ne'er will reach an excellence, "

is justified from the "_serpit humi tutus_" of Horace; and, by astill more forced derivation, the line, "And follow fate which does too fast pursue, "

is said to be borrowed from Virgil, "_Eludit gyro interior sequiturque sequentem_. "

And he concludes by exulting, that, though he might have writtennonsense, none of his critics had been so happy as to discover it. Theseindications of superiority, being thought to savour of vanity, had theirshare in exciting the storm of malevolent criticism, of which Drydenafterwards so heavily complained. "Tyrannic Love" is dedicated to theDuke of Monmouth; but it would seem the compliment was principallydesigned to his duchess. The Duke, whom Dryden was afterwards tocelebrate in very different strains, is however compared to an Achilles, or Rinaldo, who wanted only a Homer, or Tasso, to give him the fame dueto him. 

It was in this period of prosperity, of general reputation, ofconfidence in his genius, and perhaps of presumption, (if that word canbe applied to Dryden, ) that he produced those two very singular plays, the First and Second Parts of the "Conquest of Granada. " In these modelsof the pure heroic drama, the ruling sentiments of love and honour arecarried to the most passionate extravagance. And, to maintain thelegitimacy of this style of composition, our author, ever ready tovindicate with his pen to be right, that which his timid criticsmurmured at as wrong, threw the gauntlet down before the admirers of theancient English school, in the Epilogue to the "Second Part of theConquest of Granada, " and in the Defence of that Epilogue. That theseplays might be introduced to the public with a solemnity correspondingin all respects to models of the rhyming tragedy, they were inscribed tothe Duke of York, and prefaced by an "Essay upon Heroic Plays. " Theywere performed in 1669-70, and received with unbounded applause. Beforewe consider the effect which they, and similar productions, produced onthe public, together with the progress and decay of the taste for heroicdramas, we may first notice the effect which the ascendency of ourauthor's reputation had produced upon his situation and fortunes. 

Whether we judge of the rank which Dryden held in society by thesplendour of his titled and powerful friends, or by his connectionsamong men of genius, we must consider him as occupying at this time, ashigh a station in the very foremost circle as literary reputation couldgain for its owner. Independent of the notice with which he was honouredby Charles himself, the poet numbered among his friends most of thedistinguished nobility. The great Duke of Ormond had already begun thatconnection which subsisted between Dryden and three generations of thehouse of Butler; Thomas Lord Clifford, one of the Cabal ministry, wasuniform in patronising the poet, and appears to have been active inintroducing him to the king's favour; the Duke of Newcastle, as we haveseen, loved him sufficiently to present him with a play for the stage;the witty Earl of Dorset, then Lord Buckhurst, and Sir Charles Sedley, admired in that loose age for the peculiar elegance of his loose poetry, were his intimate associates, as is evident from the turn of the "Essayof Dramatic Poesy, " where they are speakers; Wilmot Earl of Rochester(soon to act a very different part) was then anxious to vindicateDryden's writings, to mediate for him with those who distributed theroyal favour, and was thus careful, not only of his reputation, but hisfortune. In short, the first author of what was then held the firststyle of poetry, was sought for by all among the great and gay whowished to maintain some character for literary taste; a descriptionwhich included all of the court of Charles whom nature had notpositively incapacitated from such pretension. It was then Drydenenjoyed those genial nights described in the dedication of the"Assignation, " when discourse was neither too serious nor too light, butalways pleasant, and for the most part instructive; the raillery neithertoo sharp upon the present, nor too censorious upon the absent; and thecups such only as raised the conversation of the night, withoutdisturbing the business of the morrow. He had not yet experienced thedisadvantages attendant on such society, or learned how soon literaryeminence becomes the object of detraction, of envy, of injury, even fromthose who can best feel its merit, if they are discouraged by dissipatedhabits from emulating its flight, or hardened by perverted feelingagainst loving its possessors. 

But, besides the society of these men of wit and pleasure, Drydenenjoyed the affection and esteem of the ingenious Cowley, who wasted hisbrilliant talents in the unprofitable paths of metaphysical poetry; ofWaller and of Denham, who had done so much for English versification; ofDavenant, as subtle as Cowley, and more harmonious than Denham, who, with a happier model, would probably have excelled both. Dryden was alsoknown to Milton, though it may be doubted whether they justlyappreciated the talents of each other. Of all the men of genius at thisperiod, whose claims to immortality our age has admitted, Butler aloneseems to have been the adversary of our author's reputation. [28]

While Dryden was thus generally known and admired, the advancement ofhis fortune bore no equal progress to the splendour of his literaryfame. Something was, however, done to assist it. The office of royalhistoriographer had become vacant in 1666 by the decease of JamesHowell, and in 1668 the death of Davenant opened the situation ofpoet-laureate. These two offices, with a salary of £200 paid quarterly, and the celebrated annual butt of canary, were conferred upon Dryden18th August 1670. [29] The grant bore a retrospect to the term afterDavenant's demise, and is declared to be to "John Dryden, master ofarts, in consideration of his many acceptable services theretofore doneto his present Majesty, and from an observation of his learning andeminent abilities, and his great skill and elegant style, both in verseand prose. "[30] Thus was our author placed at the head of the literaryclass of his countrymen, so far as that high station could be conferredby the favour of the monarch. 

If we compute Dryden's share in the theatre at £300 annually, which islower than it was rated by the actors in their petition;[31] if we make, at the same time, some allowance for those presents which authors ofthat time received upon presenting dedications, or occasional pieces ofpoetry; if we recollect, that Dryden had a small landed property, andthat his wife, Lady Elizabeth had probably some fortune or allowance, however trifling, from her family, --I think we will fall considerablyunder the mark in computing the poet's income, during this period ofprosperity, at £600 or £700 annually; a sum more adequate to procure allthe comforts, and many of the luxuries of life, than thrice the amountat present. We must, at the same time, recollect that though Dryden isnowhere censured for extravagance, poets are seldom capable of minuteeconomy, and that Lady Elizabeth was by education, and perhaps bynature, unfitted for supplying her husband's deficiencies. These halcyondays, too, were but of short duration. The burning of the theatre, in1670, [32] greatly injured the poet's income from that quarter; hispension, like other appointments of the household establishment ofCharles II. , was very irregularly paid; and thus, if his income wascompetent in amount, it was precarious and uncertain. 

Leaving Dryden for the present in the situation which we have described, and which he occupied during the most fortunate period of his life, thenext Section may open with an account of the public taste at this time, and of the revolution in it which shortly took place. 

 FOOTNOTES:

[1] Malone's "History of the Stage. "

[2] [Although criticism of the purely literary kind has been as much aspossible avoided in these notes, it seems necessary to say a few wordshere to put the reader on his guard. Scott's acquaintance with theEnglish drama was extensive, but he was not equally well acquainted withthe French, and (as almost all persons in France as well as in Englandwere till recently) was all but ignorant of French drama beforeCorneille The attribution of the French classical drama to the Scudéryromance and the influence of Louis XIV. Is entirely erroneous. Thatdrama was introduced by Jodelle, the dramatic poet of the Pléiade in themiddle of the sixteenth century, and was strictly fashioned on the modelof Seneca. Successive improvements, culminating in those of Corneille, were introduced in it, but its main lines continued the same. Scott hasalso left out of sight a very important element in the constitution ofthe English heroic play. When Davenant before the Restoration obtainedCromwell's permission to reintroduce dramatic entertainments, if notplays, music necessarily formed the chief part of the performance. Itwas in fact an opera, and operatic peculiarities remained after allrestriction had been taken off. Scott assigns on the whole far too muchinfluence to the French drama and to the personal predilection ofCharles. The subject is a large one, and has never been fully handled, but readers may be referred to the present editor's _Dryden_, pp. 18-20;and still more to an essay on Sir George Etherege by Mr. E. W. Gosse inthe _Cornhill Magazine_ for March 1881. --ED. ]

[3] _Haud inexperta loquitur. _ "I have, " she continues, "(and yet I amstill alive, ) drudged through Le Grand Cyrus, in twelve huge volumes;Cleopatra, in eight or ten; Polexander, Ibrahim, Clélie, and someothers, whose names, as well as all the rest of them, I haveforgotten. "--_Letter of Mrs. Chapone to Mrs. Carter_. 

[4] Dedication to the "Indian Emperor. "

[5] In this particular a watch was kept over the stage. "The Maid'sTragedy, " which turns upon the seduction of Evadne by a licentious andprofligate king, was prohibited during the reign of Charles II. , asadmitting certain unfavourable applications. The moral was notconsolatory, --

 "on lustful kings, Unlooked-for sudden deaths from heaven are sent. "

See Cibber's _Apology_, p. 199. Waller, in compliment to the court, wrote a 5th Act, in which that admired drama is terminated lesstragically. 

[6] It was a part of the duty of the master of the revels to read overand correct the improprieties of such plays as were to be broughtforward. Several instances occur, in Sir Henry Herbert's Office-book, ofthe exercise of his authority in this point. See Malone's _History ofthe Stage_. 

[7] Lord Holland's "Life of Lope de Vega, " p. 128. 

[8] The "Wild Gallant, " which Charles commanded to be performed beforehim more than once, was of the class of Spanish comedies. The "MaidenQueen, " which the witty monarch honoured with the title of _his play_, is in the same division. Sir Samuel Tuke's "Adventures of Five Hours, "and Crowne's "Sir Courtly Nice, " were both translated from the Spanishby the king's express recommendation. 

[9] The _gracioso_ or buffoon, according to Lord Holland, held anintermediate character between a spectator and a character in the play;interrupting with his remarks, at one time, the performance, of which heforms an essential, but very defective part in another. His part was, Ipresume, partly written, partly extempore. Something of the kind wascertainly known upon our stage. Wilson and Tarleton, in their capacityof clowns, entered freely into a contest of wit with the spectators, which was not at all held inconsistent with their having a share in theperformance. Nor was tragedy exempted from their interference. Hall, after telling us of a tragic representation, informs us, "Now least such frightful showes of fortunes fall, And bloudy tyrants' rage, should chance appall The dead-struck audience, 'midst the silent rout Comes leaping in a selfe-misformed lout, And laughes, and grins, and frames his mimick face, And justles straight into the prince's place: Then doth the theatre echo all aloud With gladsome noyse of that applauding croud. A goodly hoch-poch, when vile russetings Are matcht with monarchs and with mighty kings. "

This extemporal comic part seems to have been held essential to dramaticrepresentation, in most countries in Europe, during the infancy of theart. Something of the same kind is still retained in the lower kinds ofpopular exhibitions; and the clowns to the shows of tumbling andhorsemanship, with my much-respected friend Mr. Punch in a puppet-show, bear a pretty close resemblance to the _gracioso_ of the Spaniards, the_arlequino_ of the Italians, and the clown of the ancient English drama. See Malone's _History of the Stage. _

[10] [This is at least not true of the "Parson's Wedding. "--ED. ]

[11] Notes on Mr. Dryden's Poems, 1687. 

[12] Preface to "King Arthur. "

[13] "I remember, " (says a correspondent of the 'Gentleman's Magazine, 'for 1745), "plain John Dryden, before he paid his court with success tothe great, in one uniform clothing of Norwich drugget. I have eat tartswith him and Madam Reeve at the Mulberry Garden, when our authoradvanced to a sword and a Chadreux wig. "--Page 99 [This letter is afamous _crux_ in the biography of Dryden. It has been suggested that thewriter was Southerne, but it is impossible to make things tally. AsDryden certainly had paid his court to the great by 1670, if not by1665, there is the almost insuperable difficulty of supposing that thewriter could have associated with Dryden in parties of pleasureseventy-five years before date--a difficulty all the more difficult inthat he only claims to be in his eighty-seventh year. It would be worthyof little attention, if the eager assailants of Dryden's moral characterhad not sought to see evidence of the deepest turpitude in thistart-eating with Mrs. Reeve and the anonymous letter-writer. --ED. ]

[14] He describes him as, "Still smooth, as when, adorned with youthful pride, For thy dear sake the blushing virgins died, When the kind gods of wit and love combined, And with large gifts thy yielding soul refined. "

[15] The epilogue has these lines:

 "But now if by my suit you'll not be won, You know what your unkindness oft has done, -- I'll e'en forsake the playhouse, and turn Nun. "

[16] [Scott's account of the marriage is incorrect in one or twoparticulars, and incomplete in others. It took place on the 1st ofDecember 1663, at St. Swithin's, and the licence, dated the day before, removes all idea of a clandestine match or of family disapproval. 

"Ultimo Novembris 1663

[Sidenote: Juratus Hen: Smyth: Jun:]

Which day appeared personally John Driden of St. Clemt. Danes in theCounty of Midd Esqr aged about 30ty yeeres and a Batchelor and alledgedthat hee intendeth to marry with Dame Elizabeth Howard of St. Martin inthe Fields in the County aforesaid aged about 25 yeeres with the consentof her Father Thomas Earle of Berke not knowing nor believing anyimpediment to hinder the intended marriage of the truth of the prmisseshe made faith and prayed Licence for them to bee married in the parishchurch of St. Swithins London. " [Transcriber's note: spelling as in theoriginal. ]

While, however, this entry, discovered since Scott wrote, clears up onepart of the story, another discovery has been thought to darken itagain. The following letter from Lady Elizabeth Howard appears in theletters of Philip, second Earl of Chesterfield:--

"_From the_ Lady Elizabeth Howard _Daughter to the_ Earle of Barksshire. 

"1658. 

"My LORD, --I received yours, though not without great trouble, but amnot guilty of any thing you lay to my charge, nor will I ever alter fromthe expressions I have formerly made, therefore I hope you will not beso unjust as to beleive all that the world sayes of mee, but rathercredit my protestation of never having named you to my friends, beingallwayes carefull of that for my own sake as well as yours; andtherefore let it not be in the power of any, nor of your owninclinations, to make mee less, Your very humble Servant. 

"If you will meet mee in the Old Exchange, about six a clock, I willjustify my selfe. "--_Letters of Philip, second Earl of Chesterfield_, 1829, p. 95. This was the same Earl of Chesterfield to whom Drydendedicated the _Georgics_ thirty years later. 

As Dryden's detractors have been nearly as anxious to blacken his wife'scharacter as his own, they have seized on this letter to confirm thereckless and random assertions of contemporary libellers, that herreputation was questionable. The matter may be left to readers todecide, --I can see nothing in the phrases necessarily implying anyimproper intimacy. 

Perhaps it is not superfluous to observe that Scott has not shown hisaccustomed judgment and knowledge of the seventeenth century in hisremark about the Howards and the tobacconists. The separation betweenclasses, as such, was indeed sharp; but it was probably rather more thanless usual then than now for scions of noble and gentle families to gointo retail trade. It may be added that the evidence of a quarrelbetween Dryden and his own family is far from strong, and that one ofthe causes assigned by Scott for that quarrel, the change of spelling, is very dubious as a matter of fact. It has been seen that "Driden"appears in the licence, and it is not certain that the poet invented the_y_, or first used it. 

Very shortly after the marriage occurs the first mention of Dryden of apersonal kind. Pepys writes, under date February 3d, 1664: "In CoventGarden to-night at the great coffee-house, where Dryden the poet I knewat Cambridge and all the wits of the town. "--ED. ]

[17] [To give exact dates, the preface to Sir R. Howard is datedNovember 10th, 1666. The poem appeared immediately afterwards. Pepysbought it on the 2d of February, and pronounced it "a very good poem. "Some other dates and facts of a more precise kind than those in the textmay be given here. Dryden left London in the summer of 1665, either fromdread of the plague, or because the playhouses were shut. The intervalof eighteen months seems to have been wholly spent at Charlton, andCharles Dryden, his eldest son, was born during this time, though theprecise date is not known. Charlton is near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, andas Dryden afterwards speaks of himself as possessed of some property inthat county, it has been reasonably conjectured that it was in virtue ofa settlement on his wife. But if so, it cannot have been freeholdproperty of Lord Berkshire's, as the poet says that he holds of theHydes. Lady Elizabeth had received a considerable grant (£3000) from theCrown in recognition of her father's services, but it is not certainthat it was ever paid. No London domicile of his is known except thehouse in Gerrard Street, now marked with a plate by the Society of Arts. There is a house--now subdivided--in Fetter Lane which also has a plate(the successor of a stone inscription) stating that Dryden lived there. No biographer takes notice of this, and the topographers who do noticeit do not believe the story. If there be any foundation for it, theperiod of his residence must probably have been before his marriage. --ED. ]

[18] [I venture to think this last remark overstated. Sarcasms onmatrimony were the fashion, and Dryden followed it. The evidence ofmutual unhappiness is almost _nil_. --ED. ]

[19] Sandford, a most judicious actor, is said, by Cibber, cautiously tohave observed this rule, in order to avoid surfeiting the audience bythe continual recurrence of rhyme. 

[20] The Honourable Edward Howard, Sir Robert's brother, expresseshimself in the preface to the "Usurper, " a play Published in 1668, "notinsensible to the disadvantage it may receive passing into the worldupon the naked feet of verse, with other works that have their measuresadorned with the trappings of rhyme, which, however they have succeededin wit or design, is still thought music, as the heroic tone now goes;but whether so natural to a play, that should most nearly imitate, insome cases, our familiar converse, the judicious may easily determine. "

[21] [A dislike which was silent for five years, if it existed. --ED. ]

[22] Who drew Sir Robert in the character of Sir Positive Atall in the"Sullen Lovers;" "a foolish knight, that pretends to understandeverything in the world, and will suffer no man to understand anythingin his company; so foolishly positive, that he will never be convincedof an error, though never so gross. " This character is supported withgreat humour. 

[23] In a letter from Dryden to Tonson, dated 26th May 1696, in which hereckons upon Sir Robert Howard's assistance in a pecuniary transaction. 

[24] "I am informed Mr. Dryden is now translating of Virgil; andalthough I must own it is a fault to forestall or anticipate the praiseof a man in his labours, yet, big with the greatness of the work, andthe vast capacity of the author, I cannot here forbear saying, that Mr. Dryden, in the translating of Virgil, will of a certain make Maro speakbetter than ever Maro thought. Besides those already mentioned, thereare other ingredients and essential parts of poetry, necessary for theforming of a truly great and happy genius, viz. A free air and spirit, avigorous and well governed thought, which are, as it were, the soulwhich inform and animate the whole mass and body of verse. But these aresuch divine excellencies as are peculiar only to the brave and the wise. The first chief in verse, who trode in this sweet and delightful path ofthe Muses, was the renowned Earl of Roscommon, a great worthy, as wellas a great wit; and who is, in all respects, resembled by another greatLord of this present age, viz. My Lord Cutts, a person whom all peoplemust allow to be an accomplished gentleman, a great general, and a finepoet. 

"The two elaborate poems of Blackmore and Milton, the which, for thedignity of them, may very well be looked upon as the two grand exemplarsof poetry, do either of them exceed, and are more to be valued than allthe poets, both of the Romans and the Greeks put together. There are twoother incomparable pieces of poetry, viz. Mr. Dryden's 'Absalom andAchitophel, ' and the epistle of a known and celebrated wit (_Mr. CharlesMontague_) to my Lord of Dorset, the best judge in poetry, as well asthe best poet; the tutelar _numen_ o' the stage, and on whose breath allthe Muses have their dependence. "--_Proem to an Essay on Pastoral, andElegy on Queen Mary, by the Honourable Edward Howard, 21st January_1695. 

[25] That now before me is prefixed to the second edition of the "IndianEmperor, " 1668. 

[26] [It seems to have been a memorial addressed to the Lord Chamberlainfor the time, and was long in the possession of the Killigrew family. Itwas communicated by the learned Mr. Reed to Mr. Malone, and runs asfollows:--

"Whereas, upon Mr. Dryden's binding himself to write _three playes_ ayeere, the said Mr. Dryden, was admitted, and continued as a sharer, inthe King's Playhouse for diverse years, and received for his share and aquarter, three or four hundred pounds, _communibus annis_; but though hereceived the moneys, we received not the playes, not one in a yeare. After which, the House being burnt, the Company, in building another, contracted great debts, so that the shares fell much short of what theywere formerly. Thereupon, Mr. Dryden complaining to the Company of hiswant of proffit, the Company was so kind to him, that they not only didnot presse him for the playes which he so engaged to write for them, andfor which he was paid beforehand, but they did also, at his earnestrequest, give him a third day for his last new play, called 'All forLove;' and at the receipt of the money of the said third day, heacknowledged it as a guift, and a particular kindnesse of the Company. Yet, notwithstanding this kind proceeding, Mr. Dryden has now, jointlywith Mr. Lee (who was in pension with us to the last day of our playing, and shall continue), written a play, called 'Oedipus, ' and given it tothe Duke's Company, contrary to his said agreement, his promise, and allgratitude, to the great prejudice and almost undoing of the Company, they being the only poets remaining to us. Mr. Crowne, being under thelike agreement with the Duke's House, writt a play, called the'Destruction of Jerusalem, ' and being forced, by their refusall of it, to bring it to us, the said Company compelled us, after the studying ofit, and a vast expence in scenes and cloathes, to buy off their clayme, by paying all the pension he had received from them, amounting to onehundred and twelve pounds paid by the King's Company, besides neereforty pounds he, the said Mr. Crowne, paid out of his owne pocket. 

"These things considered, if, notwithstanding Mr. Dryden's saidagreement, promise, and moneys, freely given him for his said last newplay, and the many titles we have to his writings, this play be judgedaway from us, we must submit. 

(Signed) "CHARLES KILLIGREW. CHARLES HART. RICH. BURT. CARDELL GOODMAN. MIC. MOHUN. "

Dryden also appears as a regular partner in the King's Company in anagreement to repay money lent for the purpose of rebuilding the Theatreafter its burning in 1672. --_Shakespeare Society's Papers_, iv. 147. --ED. ]

[27] Cibber, with his usual vivacity, thus describes the comic powers ofNokes in this admired character:

"In the ludicrous distresses, which, by the laws of comedy, folly isoften involved in, he sunk into such a mixture of piteous pusillanimity, and a consternation so ruefully ridiculous and inconsolable, that whenhe had shook you to a fatigue of laughter, it became a moot point, whether you ought not to have pity'd him. When he debated any matter byhimself, he would shut up his mouth with a dumb studious powt, and rollhis full eye into such a vacant amazement, such palpable ignorance ofwhat to think of it, that his silent perplexity (which would sometimeshold him several minutes) gave your imagination as full content, as themost absurd thing he could say upon it. In the character of Sir MartinMar-all, who is always committing blunders to the prejudice of his owninterest, when he had brought himself to a dilemma in his affairs, byvainly proceeding upon his own head, and was afterwards afraid to lookhis governing servant and counsellor in the face; what a copious anddistressful harangue have I seen him make with his looks (while thehouse has been in one continued roar for several minutes) before hecould prevail with his courage to speak a word to him! Then might youhave, at once, read in his face vexation--that his own measures, whichhe had piqued himself upon, had failed; envy of his servant's wit;distress--to retrieve the occasion he had lost; shame--to confess hisfolly; and yet a sullen desire to be reconciled, and better advised forthe future! What tragedy ever showed us such a tumult of passionsrising, at once, in one bosom! or what buskin hero, standing under theload of them, could have more effectually moved his spectators by themost pathetic speech, than poor miserable Nokes did by this silenteloquence, and piteous plight of his features?"--CIBBER'S _Apology_, p. 86. 

[28] [This sentence rests on a rather slender basis of fact. Butler issaid to have had a share in the "Rehearsal, " and certainly wrote acharming parody of the usual heroic-play dialogue, in his scene between"Cat and Puss. " But this of itself can hardly be said to justify thephrase "adversary of our author's reputation. " As for Dryden, he nowhereattacks Butler, and speaks honourably of him after his death in hiscomplaint to Lawrence Hyde. --ED. ]

[29] [This is the correct date of the patent. There is however in theRecord Office an instruction for the preparation of a bill for thepurpose, dated April 13. This was pointed out to me by Mr. W. NoelSainsbury. --ED. ]

[30] Pat. 22 Car. 11. P. 6, ii. 6. Malone, i. P. 88. 

[31] Their account was probably exaggerated. Upon a similar occasion, the master of the revels stated the value of his winter and summerbenefit plays at £50 each; although, in reality, they did not, upon anaverage, produce him £9. See Malone's _Historical Account of the Stage_. 

[32] [1672. --ED. ]

SECTION III. 

_Heroic Plays--The Rehearsal--Marriage à la Mode--The Assignation--Controversy with Clifford--with Leigh--with Ravenscroft--Massacre ofAmboyna--State of Innocence_. 

The rage for imitating the French stage, joined to the successfulefforts of our author, had now carried the heroic or rhyming tragedy toits highest pitch of popularity. The principal requisites of such adrama are summed up by Dryden in the first two lines of the "_OrlandoFurioso_, "

 "_Le Donne, i cavalier, l'arme, gli amori Le cortesie, l'audaci imprese_. "

The story thus partaking of the nature of a romance of chivalry, thewhole interest of the play necessarily turned upon love and honour, those supreme idols of the days of knight-errantry The love introducedwas not of that ordinary sort, which exists between persons of commonmould; it was the love of Amadis and Oriana, of Oroondates and Statira;that love which required a sacrifice of every wish, hope, and feelingunconnected with itself, and which was expressed in the language ofprayer and of adoration. It was that love which was neither to bechilled by absence, nor wasted by time, nor quenched by infidelity. Nocaprice in the object beloved entitled her slave to emancipate himselffrom her fetters; no command, however unreasonable, was to be disobeyed;if required by the fair mistress of his affections, the hero was notonly to sacrifice his interest, but his friend, his honour, his word, his country, even the gratification of his love itself, to maintain thecharacter of a submissive and faithful adorer. Much of this mystery issummed up in the following speech of Almahide to Almanzor, and hisanswer, from which it appears, that a lover of the true heroic veinnever thought himself so happy, as when he had an opportunity of thusshowing the purity and disinterestedness of his passion. Almanzor iscommanded by his mistress to stay to assist his rival, the king, herhusband. The lover very naturally asks, _Almanz_. What recompence attends me, if I stay?

 _Almah_. You know I am from recompence debarred, But I will grant your merit a reward; Your flame's too noble to deserve a cheat, And I too plain to practise a deceit. I no return of love can ever make, But what I ask is for my husband's sake; He, I confess, has been ungrateful too, But he and I are ruined if you go; Your virtue to the hardest proof I bring; Unbribed, preserve a mistress and a king. 

 _Almanz_. I'll stop at nothing that appears so brave: I'll do't, and now I no reward will have. You've given my honour such an ample field, That I may die, but that shall never yield. 

The king, however, not perhaps understanding this nice point of honour, grows jealous, and wishes to dismiss the disinterested ally, whom hisspouse's beauty had enlisted in his service. But this did not dependupon him; for Almanzor exclaims, _Almanz_. I wonnot go; I'll not be forced away: I came not for thy sake; nor do I stay. It was the queen who for my aid did send; And 'tis I only can the queen defend: I, for her sake, thy sceptre will maintain; And thou, by me, in spite of thee, shalt reign. 

The most applauded scenes in these plays turned upon nice discussions ofmetaphysical passion, such as in the days of yore were wont to beagitated in the courts and parliaments of love. Some puzzling dilemma, or metaphysical abstraction, is argued between the personages on thestage, whose dialogue, instead of presenting a scene of natural passion, exhibits a sort of pleading or combat of logic, in which each endeavoursto defend his own opinion by catching up the idea expressed by theformer speaker, and returning him his illustration, or simile, at therebound; and where the lover hopes everything from his ingenuity, andtrusts nothing to his passion. Thus, in the following scene betweenAlmanzor and Almahide, the solicitations of the lover, and the denialsof the queen, are expressed in the very carte and tierce of poeticalargumentation:

 _Almah_. My light will sure discover those who talk. -- Who dares to interrupt my private walk?

 _Almanz_. He, who dares love, and for that love must die. And, knowing this, dares yet love on, am I. 

 _Almah_. That love which you can hope, and I can pay, May be received and given in open day; My praise and my esteem you had before; And you have bound yourself to ask no more. 

 _Almanz_. Yes, I have bound myself; but will you take The forfeit of that bond, which force did make?

 _Almah_. You know you are from recompence debarred; But purest love can live without reward. 

 _Almanz_. Pure love had need be to itself a feast; For, like pure elements, 'twill nourish least. 

 _Almah_. It therefore yields the only pure content; For it, like angels, needs no nourishment. To eat and drink can no perfection be; All appetite implies necessity. 

 _Almanz_. 'Twere well, if I could like a spirit live; But, do not angels food to mortals give? What if some demon should my death foreshow, Or bid me change, and to the Christians go; Will you not think I merit some reward, When I my love above my life regard?

 _Almah_. In such a case your change must be allowed: I would myself dispense with what you vowed. 

 _Almanz_. Were I to die that hour when I possess, This minute shall begin my happiness. 

 _Almah_. The thoughts of death your passion would remove; Death is a cold encouragement to love. 

 _Almanz_. No; from my joys I to my death would run, And think the business of my life well done: But I should walk a discontented ghost, If flesh and blood were to no purpose lost. 

This kind of Amoebaean dialogue was early ridiculed by the ingeniousauthor of "Hudibras. "[1]

It partakes more of the Spanish than of the French tragedy, although itdoes not demand that the parody shall be so very strict, as to re-echonoun for noun, or verb for verb, which Lord Holland gives us as a law ofthe age of Lope de Vega. [2] The English heroic poet did enough if hedisplayed sufficient point in the dialogue, and alertness in adoptingand retorting the image presented by the preceding speech; though, if hecould twist the speaker's own words into an answer to his argument, itseems to have been held the more ingenious mode of confutation. 

While the hero of a rhyming tragedy was thus unboundedly submissive inlove, and dexterous in applying the metaphysical logic of amorousjurisprudence it was essential to his character that he should possessall the irresistible courage, and fortune of a _preux chevalier_. Numbers, however unequal, were to be as chaff before the whirlwind ofhis valour; and nothing was to be so impossible that, at the command ofhis mistress, he could not with ease achieve. When, in the variouschanges of fortune which such tragedies demand, he quarrelled with thosewhom he had before assisted to conquer, "Then to the vanquished part his fate he led, The vanquished triumphed, and the victor fled. "

The language of such a personage, unless when engaged in argumentativedialogue with his mistress, was, in all respects, as magnificent andinflated as might beseem his irresistible prowess. Witness the famousspeech of Almanzor:

 _Almanz_. To live! If from thy hands alone my death can be, I am immortal and a god to thee. If I would kill thee now, thy fate's so low, That I must stoop ere I can give the blow: But mine is fixed so far above thy crown, That all thy men, Piled on thy back, can never pull it down: But, at my ease, thy destiny I send, By ceasing from this hour to be thy friend. Like heaven I need but only to stand still, And, not concurring to thy life, I kill, Thou canst no title to my duty bring; I'm not thy subject, and my soul's thy king. Farewell. When I am gone, There's not a star of thine dare stay with thee: I'll whistle thy tame fortune after me; And whirl fate with me wheresoe'er I fly, As winds drive storms before them in the sky. 

It was expected by the audience, that the pomp of scenery, and bustle ofaction, in which such tremendous heroes were engaged, should in somedegree correspond with their lofty sentiments and superhuman valour. Hence solemn feasts, processions, and battles by sea and land, filledthe theatre. Hence, also, the sudden and violent changes of fortune, bywhich the hero and his antagonists are agitated through the whole piece. Fortune has been often compared to the sea; but in a heroic play, hercourse resembled an absolute Bay of Biscay, or Race of Portland, disturbed by an hundred contending currents and eddies, and nevercontinuing a moment in one steady flow. 

That no engine of romantic surprise might be wanting, Dryden contends, that the dramatist, as he is not confined to the probable in character, so he is not limited by the bounds of nature in the action, but may lethimself loose to visionary objects, and to the representation of suchthings as, not depending upon sense, leave free exercise for theimagination. Indeed, if ghosts, magicians, and demons, might withpropriety claim a place anywhere, it must be in plays which throughoutdisclaim the common rules of nature, both in the incidents narrated, andthe agents interested. [3]

Lastly, the action of the heroic drama was to be laid, not merely in thehigher, but in the very highest walk of life. No one could with decorumaspire to share the sublimities which it annexed to character, exceptthose made of the "porcelain clay of the earth, " dukes, princes, kings, and kaisars. The matters agitated must be of moment, proportioned totheir characters and elevated station, the fate of cities and the fallof kingdoms. 

That the language, as well as actions and character of the _dramatispersonae_, might be raised above the vulgar, their sentiments weredelivered in rhyme, the richest and most ornate kind of verse, and thefarthest removed from ordinary colloquial diction. Dryden has himselfassigned the following reasons:--"The plot, the characters, the wit, thepassions, the descriptions, are all exalted above the level of commonconverse, as high as the imagination of the poet can carry them, withproportion to verisimility. Tragedy, we know, is wont to image to us theminds and fortunes of noble persons, and to portray these exactly;heroic rhyme is nearest nature, as being the noblest kind of modernverse. 

 _Indignatur enim priratis et prope socco Dignis carminibus narrari coena Thyestae_--

says Horace: and in another place, _Effutire leves indigna tragaedia versus_. --

Blank verse is acknowledged to be too low for a poem, nay more, for apaper of verses; but if too low for an ordinary sonnet, how much morefor tragedy, which is by Aristotle, in the dispute betwixt the epicpoesy and the dramatic, for many reasons he there alleges, ranked aboveit. "

When we consider these various essentials of a rhyming play, we mayperhaps, without impropriety define it to be a metrical romance ofchivalry in form of a drama. The hero is a perfect knight-errant, invincible in battle, and devoted to his Dulcinea by a love, subtle, metaphysical and abstracted from all the usual qualities of theinstinctive passion; his adventures diversified by splendid descriptionsof bull-feasts, battles, and tournaments; his fortune undergoing thestrangest, most causeless, and most unexpected varieties; his historychequered by the marvellous interference of ghosts, spectres, and hellitself; his actions effecting the change of empires, and his co-agentsbeing all lords, and dukes, and noble princes, in order that their rankmight, in some slight degree, correspond to the native exultation of thechampion's character. 

The reader may smile at this description, and feel some surprise, howcompositions, involving such gross absurdities, were tolerated by anaudience having pretence to taste and civilisation But something may besaid for the heroic drama. 

Although the manners were preposterous, and the changes of fortune rapidand improbable, yet the former often attained a sublime, though forcedelevation of sentiment; and the latter, by rapidity of transition and ofcontrast, served in no slight degree to interest as well as to surprisethe audience. If the spectators were occasionally stunned with bombast, or hurried and confused by the accumulation of action and intrigue, theyescaped the languor of a creeping dialogue, and the taedium of a barrenplot, of which the termination is descried full three acts before it canbe attained. Besides, if these dramas were sometimes extravagant, beautiful passages often occurred to atone for these sallies of fury. Inothers, ingenuity makes some amends for the absence of natural feeling, and the reader's fancy is pleased at the expense of his taste. Inrepresentation, the beauty of the verse, assisted by the enunciation ofsuch actors as Betterton and Mohun, gilded over the defects of thesense, and afforded a separate gratification. The splendour of sceneryalso, in which these plays claimed a peculiar excellence, afforded adifferent but certain road to popular favour; and thus this drama, withall its faults, was very far from wanting the usual requisites forsuccess. But another reason for its general popularity may be sought ina certain correspondence with the manners of the time. 

Although in Charles the Second's reign the age of chivalry was totallyat an end, yet the sentiments, which had ceased to be motives of action, were not so obsolete as to sound totally strange to the public ear. TheFrench romances of the lower class, such as "Cassandra, " "Cleopatra, "etc. , were the favourite pastime of the ladies, and retained all theextravagancies of chivalrous sentiment, with a double portion of tediousform and metaphysical subtlety. There were occasionally individualsromantic enough to manage their correspondence and amours on thisexploded system. The admired Mrs. Philips carried on an extensivecorrespondence with ingenious persons of both sexes, in which she calledherself _Orinda_, and her husband, Mr. Wogan, by the title of _Antenor_. Shadwell, an acute observer of nature, in one of his comedies describesa formal coxcomb of this class, who courts his mistress out of the"Grand Cyrus, " and rejoices in an opportunity of showing, that hispassion could subsist in despite of her scorn. [4] It is probable he hadmet with such an original in the course of his observation. The_Précieuses_ of Molière, who affected a strange mixture of the romanticheroine and modern fine lady, belong to the same class of oddities, andhad their prototypes under the observation of the satirist. But eventhose who were above such foppery had been early taught to read andadmire the conceits of Donne, and the metaphysical love-poems of Cowley. They could not object to the quaint and argumentative dialogues which wehave described; for the course of their studies had formed their tasteupon a model equally artificial and fantastic: and thus, what betweenreal excellence, and false brilliancy, the age had been accustomed notonly to admit, but to admire heroic plays. 

Perhaps even these favourable circumstances, of taste and opportunity, would hardly have elevated the rhyming drama so high in the publicopinion, had it been supported by less powers than those of Dryden, oreven by equal talents less happily adapted to that style of composition. His versification flowed so easily, as to lessen the bad effects ofrhyme in dialogue; and, at the same time, abounded with such splendidand sonorous passages, as, in the mouth of a Betterton, awed intosilence even those critics, who could distinguish that the tumid andunnatural was sometimes substituted for the heroic and sublime. Thefelicity of his language, the richness of his illustrations, and thedepth of his reflections, often supplied what the scene wanted innatural passion; and, while enjoying the beauty of his declamation, itwas only on cool reflection that the hearer discovered it had passedupon him for the expression of genuine feeling. Even then, the pleasurewhich he actually received from the representation, was accepted as anapology for the more legitimate delight, which the rules of criticismentitled him to have expected. To these considerations, the high rankand consequent influence, which Dryden already held in the fashionableand literary circles of the time, must unquestionably be added. Nor didhe fail to avail himself of his access to the great, whose applause wasoften cheaply secured by a perusal of the piece, previous to its beingpresented to the public; and thus it afterwards came forth with all thesupport of a party eminent for rank and literature, already prepossessedin its favour. [5]

For all these reasons, the heroic drama appears to have gradually risenin reputation, from the return of Charles till about the year 1670-1, when Dryden's "Conquest of Granada" was received with such enthusiasticapplause. The reputation of the poet himself kept pace with that of hisfavourite style of composition; and though posterity has judged morecorrectly, it may be questioned, whether "Tyrannic Love" and the"Conquest of Granada" did not place Dryden higher in public esteem, in1670, than his "Virgil" and "Fables" in 1700. He was, however, now toexperience the inconveniencies of elevation, and to sustain an attackupon the style of writing which he had vindicated and practised, as wellas to repel the efforts of rivals, who boasted of outstripping him inthe very road to distinction, which he had himself pointed out. The Dukeof Buckingham attacked the system of rhyming plays from the foundation;Leigh [Transcriber's note: Print unclear], Clifford, and otherscribblers, wrote criticisms [Transcriber's note: Print unclear] uponthose of our author in particular; and Elkanah Settle was able to form afaction heretical enough to maintain, that he could write suchcompositions better than Dryden. 

The witty farce of the "Rehearsal" is said to have been meditated by itsauthors (for it was the work of several hands) so early as a year or twoafter the Restoration, when Sir William Davenant's operas and tragedieswere the favourite exhibitions. The ostensible author was the wittyGeorge Villiers, Duke of Buckingham whose dissipation was marked withshades of the darkest profligacy. He lived an unprincipled statesman, afickle projector, a wavering friend, a steady enemy; and died abankrupt, an outcast, and a proverb. The Duke was unequal to thatmasculine satire, which depends for edge and vigour upon the conceptionand expression of the author. [6] But he appears to have possessedconsiderable powers of discerning what was ludicrous, and enough ofsubordinate humour to achieve an imitation of colloquial peculiarities, or a parody upon remarkable passages of poetry, --talents differing aswidely from real wit as mimicry does from true comic action. Besides, Buckingham, as a man of fashion and a courtier, was master of the_persiflage_, or jargon, of the day, so essentially useful as the mediumof conveying light humour. He early distinguished himself as an opponentof the rhyming plays. Those of the Howards, of Davenant, and others, thefirst which appeared after the Reformation, experienced his opposition. At the representation of the "United Kingdoms, " by the Honourable EdwardHoward, a brother of Sir Robert, the Duke's active share in damning thepiece was so far resented by the author and his friends that he narrowlyescaped sanguinary proofs of their displeasure. [7] This specimen ofirritation did not prevent his meditating an attack upon the whole bodyof modern dramatists; in which he had the assistance of several wits, who either respected the ancient drama, or condemned the modern style, or were willing to make common cause with a Duke against apoet-laureate. These were, the witty author of Hudibras, who, whilehimself starving, [8] amused his misery by ridiculing his contemporaries;Sprat, afterwards Bishop of Rochester, then Buckingham's chaplain; andMartin Clifford, afterwards Master of the Charter-House the author of avery scurrilous criticism upon some of Dryden's plays, to be mentionedhereafter. By the joint efforts of this coalition, the "Rehearsal" wasproduced; a lively piece, which continues to please, although the playswhich it parodies are no longer read or acted, and although the zest ofthe personal satire which it contains has evaporated in the lapse oftime. This attack on the reigning taste was long threatened ere it wasmade; and the precise quarter to be assailed was varied more than once. Prior says, that Buckingham suspended his attack till he was certainthat the Earl of Dorset would not "rehearse on him again. " The principalcharacter was termed, in the original sketch, Bilboa, a name expressinga traveller and soldier, under which Sir Robert Howard, or Sir WilliamDavenant, was designated The author of the "Key to the Rehearsal"affirms, that Sir Robert was the person meant; but Mr. Malone is ofopinion, that Davenant is clearly pointed out by the brown paper patch, introduced in ridicule of that which Davenant really wore upon his nose. Yet as this circumstance was retained when the character was assigned toDryden, the poet of the "Rehearsal" may be considered as in some degreea knight of the shire, representing all the authors of the day, anduniting in his person their several absurd peculiarities. The firstsketch of the "Rehearsal" was written about 1664, but the representationwas prevented by the theatres being shut upon the plague and fire ofLondon. When they were again opened, the plays of the Howards, ofStapleton, etc. , had fallen into contempt by their own demerit, and wereno longer a well-known or worthy object of ridicule. Perhaps also therewas a difficulty in bringing the piece forward, while, of the personsagainst whom its satire was chiefly directed, Davenant was manager ofthe one theatre, and Dryden a sharer in the other. The death of Davenantprobably removed this difficulty: and the success of Dryden in theheroic drama; the boldness with which he stood forth, not only as apractiser, but as the champion of that peculiar style; a certainprovoking tone of superiority in his critical essays, which, even whenflowing from conscious merit, is not easily tolerated by contemporaries;and perhaps his situation as poet-laureate, a post which has been alwaysconsidered as a fair butt for the shafts of ridicule, --inducedBuckingham to resume the plan of his satire, and to place Dryden in thesituation designed originally for Davenant or Howard. That the publicmight be at no loss to assign the character of Bayes to the laureate, his peculiarities of language were strictly copied. Lacy the actor wasinstructed by Buckingham himself how to mimic his voice and manner; and, in performing the part, he wore a dress exactly resembling Dryden'susual habit. With these ill-natured precautions, the "Rehearsal" was, in1671, brought forward for the first time by the King's Company. As, besides the reputation of Dryden, that of many inferior poets, butgreater men, was assailed by the Duke's satire, it would appear that theplay met a stormy reception on the first night of representation Thefriends of the Earl of Orrery, of Sir Robert Howard and his brothers, and other men of rank, who had produced heroic plays, were loud andfurious in their opposition. But, as usually happens, the party wholaughed, got the advantage over that which was angry, and finally drewthe audience to their side. When once received, the success of the"Rehearsal" was unbounded. The very popularity of the plays ridiculedaided the effect of the satire, since everybody had in theirrecollection the originals of the passages parodied. Besides theattraction of personal severity upon living and distinguished literarycharacters, and the broad humour of the burlesque, the part of Bayes hada claim to superior praise, as drawn with admirable attention to thefoibles of the poetic tribe. His greedy appetite for applause; his testyrepulse of censure or criticism; his inordinate and overwhelming vanity, not unmixed with a vein of flattery to those who he hopes will gratifyhim by returning it in kind; finally, that extreme, anxious, andfidgeting attention to the minute parts of what even in whole is scarceworthy of any, --are, I fear, but too appropriate qualities of the"_genus vatum_"

Almost all Dryden's plays, including those on which he set the highestvalue, and which he had produced, with confidence, as models of theirkind, were parodied in the "Rehearsal. "[9] He alone contributed more tothe farce than all the other poets together. His favourite style ofcomic dialogue, which he had declared to consist rather in a quicksharpness of dialogue than in delineations of humour, [10] is paraphrasedin the scene between Tom Thimble and Prince Prettyman; the lyrics of hisastral spirits are cruelly burlesqued in the song of the two lawfulKings of Brentford, as they descend to repossess their throne; aboveall, Almanzor, his favourite hero, is parodied in the magnanimousDrawcansir; and, to conclude, the whole scope of heroic plays, withtheir combats, feasts, processions, sudden changes of fortune, embarrassments of chivalrous love and honour, splendid verse andunnatural rants, are so held up to ridicule, as usually to fix theresemblance upon some one of his own dramas. The "Wild Gallant, " the"Maiden Queen, " and "Tyrannic Love, " all furnish parodies as do bothparts of the "Conquest of Granada, " which had been frequently actedbefore the representation of the "Rehearsal, " though not printed tillafter. What seems more strange, the play of "Marriage á la Mode" is alsoalluded to, although it was neither acted nor printed till 1673, a yearafter the appearance of the "Rehearsal". But there being no parody ofany particular passage, although the plot and conduct of the piece iscertainly ridiculed, it seems probable, that, as Dryden often showed hisplays in manuscript to those whom he accounted his patrons, the plan of"Marriage à la Mode" may have transpired in the circles which Buckinghamfrequented, who may thus have made it the subject of satire byanticipation. [11]

It is easy to conceive what Dryden must have felt, at beholding hislabours and even his person held up to public derision, on the theatrewhere he had so often triumphed. But he was too prudent to show outwardsigns of resentment; and in conversation allowed, that the farce had agreat many good things in it, though so severe against himself. "Yet Icannot help saying, " he added, in a well-judged tone of contempt, "thatSmith and Johnson are two of the coolest and most insignificant fellowsI ever met with upon the stage. "[12] Many years afterwards he assignednearly the same reason to the public for not replying to the satire. [13]But though he veiled his resentment under this mask of indifference atthe time, he afterwards avowed that the exquisite character of Zimri in"Absalom and Achitophel" was laboured with so much felicitous skill as arequital in kind to the author of the "Rehearsal. "[14]

The ridicule cast upon heroic plays by the "Rehearsal" did not preventtheir being still exhibited. They contained many passages of splendidpoetry, which continued to delight the audience after they had laughedat Buckingham's parody. But the charm began to dissolve; and from thetime of that representation, they seem gradually, but perceptibly, tohave declined in favour. Accordingly, Dryden did not trust to his powersof numbers in his next play, but produced the "Marriage à la Mode, " atragi-comedy or rather a tragedy and comedy, the plots and scenes ofwhich are intermingled, for they have no natural connection with eachother. The state-intrigue bears evident marks of hurry and inattention;and it is at least possible, that Dryden originally intended it for thesubject of a proper heroic play, but, startled at the effect ofBuckingham's satire, hastily added to it some comic scenes, either lyingby him, or composed on purpose. The higher or tragic plot is not onlygrossly inartificial and improbable, but its incidents are so perplexedand obscure, that it would have required much more action to detail themintelligibly. Even the language has an abridged appearance, and favoursthe idea, that the tragic intrigue was to have been extended into aproper heroic play, instead of occupying a spare corner in a comedy. Butto make amends, the comic scenes are executed with spirit, and in astyle resembling those in the "Maiden Queen. "[15] They contained muchwitty and fashionable raillery; and the character of Melantha ispronounced by Cibber to exhibit the most complete system of femalefoppery that could possibly be crowded into the tortured form of a finelady. It was admirably acted by Mrs. Montfort, afterwards Mrs. Verbruggen. The piece thus supported was eminently successful; afortunate circumstance for the King's Company, who were then indistressful circumstances. Their house in Drury-lane had been destroyedby fire, after which disaster they were compelled to occupy the oldtheatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, lately deserted by the rival companyfor a splendid one in Dorset Gardens. From a prologue which our authorfurnished, to be spoken at the opening of this house of refuge, it wouldseem that even the scenes and properties of the actors had beenfurnished by the contributions of the nobility. [16] Perhaps theirpresent reduced situation was an additional reason with Dryden forturning his attention to comedy, which required less splendour ofexhibition and decoration than the heroic plays. 

"Marriage à la Mode" was inscribed to Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, instrains of adulation not very honourable to the dedicator. But as heexpresses his gratitude for Rochester's care, not only of his reputationbut of his fortune; for his solicitude to overcome the fatal modesty ofpoets, which leads them to prefer want to importunity; and, finally, forthe good effects of his mediation in all his concerns at court; it maybe supposed some recent benefit, perhaps an active share in procuringthe appointment of poet-laureate, had warmed the heart of the authortowards the patron. The dedication was well received, and the complimenthandsomely acknowledged as we learn from a letter from Dryden toRochester, where he says, that the shame of being so much overpaid foran ill dedication made him almost repent of his address. But he hadshortly afterwards rather more substantial reasons for regretting hischoice of a patron. 

The same cause for abstaining from tragic composition still remaining inforce, Dryden, in 1672, brought forward a comedy, called "TheAssignation, or Love in a Nunnery. " The plot was after the Spanishmodel. The author seems to have apprehended, and experienced, someopposition on account of this second name; and although he deprecates, in the epilogue, the idea of its being a party play, or written togratify the Puritans with satire at the expense of the Catholics;[17]yet he complains, in the dedication, of the number of its enemies, whocame prepared to damn it on account of the title. The Duke of Yorkhaving just made public profession of the Roman faith, any reflectionsupon it were doubtless watched with a jealous eye. But, though guiltlessin this respect, the "Assignation" had worse faults. The plot is butindifferently conducted and was neither enlivened with gay dialogue, norwith striking character: the play, accordingly, proved unsuccessful inthe representation. Yet although, upon reading the "Assignation, " wecannot greatly wonder at this failure, still, considering the playswhich succeeded about the same time, we may be disposed to admit thatthe weight of a party was thrown into the scale against its reception. Buckingham, who shortly afterwards published a revised edition of the"Rehearsal, " failed not to ridicule the absurd and coarse trick, bywhich the enamoured prince prevents his father from discovering thedomino of his mistress, which had been left in his apartment. [18] AndDryden's rivals and enemies, now a numerous body, hailed with maliciousglee an event which seemed to foretell the decay of his popularity. 

The "Assignation" was published in 1673, and inscribed, by Dryden, tohis much honoured friend Sir Charles Sedley. There are some acrimoniouspassages in this dedication, referring to the controversies in which theauthor had been engaged; and, obscure as these have become, it is thebiographer's duty to detail and illustrate them. 

It cannot be supposed that the authors of the time saw with indifferenceDryden's rapid success, and the measures which he had taken, by hiscritical essays, to guide the public attention and to fix it uponhimself and the heroic plays, in which he felt his full superiority. Butno writer of the time could hope to be listened to by the public, if heentered a claim of personal competition against a poet so celebrated. The defence of the ancient poets afforded a less presumptuous and morefavourable pretext for taking the field, and for assailing Dryden'swritings, and avenging the slight notice he had afforded to hiscontemporaries, under the colour of defending the ancients against hiscriticism. The "Essay of Dramatic Poesy" afforded a pretence forcommencing this sort of warfare. In that piece, Dryden had pointed outthe faults of Shakespeare, Jonson, and Fletcher, with less ceremony thanthe height of their established reputation appeared to demand from ayoung author. But the precedence which he undauntedly claimed for theheroic drama, and, more generally, the superiority of the plays ofDryden's own age, whether tragic or comic, over those of the earlierpart of the seventeenth century, was asserted, not only distinctly, butirreverently, in the Epilogue to the "Conquest of Granada:"

 "They who have best succeeded on the stage, Have still conformed their genius to their age. Thus Jonson did mechanic humour show When men were dull, and conversation low. Then comedy was faultless, but 'twas coarse: Cobb's tankard was a jest, and Otter's horse. And, as their comedy, their love was mean; Except, by chance, in some one laboured scene, Which must atone for an ill-written play, They rose, but at their height could seldom stay. Fame then was cheap, and the first comer sped; And they have kept it since, by being dead. But, were they now to write, when critics weigh Each line, and every word, throughout a play, None of them, no, not Jonson in his height, Could pass, without allowing grains for weight. Think it not envy, that these truths are told; Our poet's not malicious, though he's bold. 'Tis not to brand them that their faults are shown, But by their errors to excuse his own. If love and honour now are higher raised, 'Tis not the poet, but the age is praised. Wit's now arrived to a more high degree; Our native language more refined and free; Our ladies and our men now speak more wit In conversation than those poets writ. Then, one of these is, consequently, true; That what this poet writes comes short of you, And imitates you ill (which most he fears), Or else his writing is not worse than theirs. Yet, though you judge (as sure the critics will), That some before him writ with greater skill, In this one praise he has their fame surpast, To please an age more gallant than the last. "

The daring doctrine laid down in these obnoxious lines, our authorventured to maintain in what he has termed a "Defence of the Epilogue, or an Essay on the Dramatic Poetry of the last age. " It is subjoined tothe "Conquest of Granada;" and, as that play was not printed till afterthe "Rehearsal, " it serves to show how little Dryden's opinions werealtered, or his tone lowered, by the success of that witty satire. Itwas necessary, he says, either not to print the bold epilogue, which wehave quoted, or to show that he could defend it. He censures decidedlythe antiquated language, irregular plots, and anachronisms ofShakespeare and Fletcher; but his main strength seems directed againstJonson. From his works he selects several instances of harsh, inelegant, and even inaccurate diction. In describing manners, he claims for themodern writers a decided superiority over the poets of the earlier age, when there was less gallantry, and when the authors were not admitted tothe best society. The manners of their low, or Dutch school of comedy, in which Jonson led the way, by his "Bartholomew Fair, " and similarpieces, are noticed, and censured, as unfit for a polished audience. Thecharacters in what may be termed genteel comedy are reviewed, andrestricted to the Truewit of Jonson's "Silent Woman, " the Mercutio ofShakespeare, and Fletcher's Don John in the "Chances. " Even this lastcelebrated character, he observes, is better carried on in the modernalteration of the play, than in Fletcher's original; a singular instanceof Dryden's liberality of criticism, since the alteration of the"Chances" was made by that very Duke of Buckingham, from whom he hadjust received a bitter and personal offence. Dryden proceeds to contend, that the living poets, from the example of a gallant king and sprightlycourt, have learned, in their comedies, a tone of light discourse andraillery, in which the solidity of English sense is blended with the airand gaiety of their French neighbours; in short, that those who callJonson's the golden age of poetry, have only this reason, that theaudience were then content with acorns, because they knew not the use ofbread. In all this criticism there was much undeniable truth; butsufficient weight was not given to the excellencies of the old school, while their faults were ostentatiously and invidiously enumerated. Itwould seem that Dryden, perhaps from the rigour of a puritanicaleducation, had not studied the ancient dramatic models in his youth, andhad only begun to read them with attention when it was his object ratherto depreciate than to emulate them. But the time came when he did duehomage to their genius. 

Meanwhile, this avowed preference of his own period excited theresentment of the older critics, who had looked up to the era ofShakespeare as the golden age of poetry; and no less that of theplaywrights of his own standing, who pretended to discover that Drydendesigned to establish less the reputation of his age, than of himselfindividually upon the ruined fame of the ancient poets. They complainedthat, as the wild bull in the Vivarambla of Granada, "monarch-like he ranged the listed field, And some he trampled down, and some he kill'd. "

Many, therefore, advancing, under pretence of vindicating the fame ofthe ancients, gratified their spleen by attacking that of Dryden, andstrove less to combat his criticisms, than to criticise his productions. We shall have too frequent occasion to observe, that there was, duringthe reign of Charles II. , a semi-barbarous virulence of controversy, even upon abstract points of literature, which would be now thoughtinjudicious and unfair, even by the newspaper advocates of contendingfactions. A critic of that time never deemed he had so effectuallyrefuted the reasoning of his adversary, as when he had said somethingdisrespectful of his talents, person, or moral character. Thus, literarycontest was embittered by personal hatred, and truth was so far frombeing the object of the combatants that even victory was tastelessunless obtained by the disgrace and degradation of the antagonist. Thisreflection may serve to introduce a short detail of the abusivecontroversies in which it was Dryden's lot to be engaged. 

One of those who most fiercely attacked our author's system and opinionswas Matthew[19] Clifford, already mentioned as engaged in the"Rehearsal. " At what precise time he began his Notes upon Dryden'sPoems, in Four Letters, or how they were originally published, isuncertain. The last of the letters is dated from the Charter-House 1stJuly 1672, and is signed with his name: probably the others were writtenshortly before. The only edition now known was printed along with some"Reflections on the Hind and Panther, by another Hand" (Tom Brown), in1687. If these letters were not actually printed in 1672, they wereprobably successively made public by transcripts handed about in thecoffee-houses which was an usual mode of circulating lampoons and piecesof satire. Although Clifford was esteemed a man of wit and a scholar, his style is rude, coarse, and ungentlemanlike, and the criticism ischiefly verbal. In the note the reader may peruse an ample specimen ofthe kind of wit, or rather banter, employed by this facetiousperson. [20] The letters were written successively at different periods;for Clifford in the last complains that he cannot extort an answer, andtherefore seems to conceive that his arguments are unanswerable. 

There were several other pamphlets, and fugitive pieces, publishedagainst Dryden at the same time. One of them, entitled "The Censure ofthe Rota on Mr. Dryden's Conquest of Granada, " was printed at Oxford in1673. This was followed by a similar piece, entitled, "A description ofthe Academy of Athenian Virtuosi, with a Discourse held there inVindication of Mr. Dryden's Conquest of Granada against the Author ofthe Censure of the Rota. " And a third, called "A Friendly Vindicationof Mr. Dryden from the Author of the Censure of the Rota, " was printedat Cambridge. All these appeared previous to the publication of the"Assignation. " The first, as Wood informs us, was written by RichardLeigh, educated at Queen's College, Oxford, where he entered in 1665, and was probably resident when this piece was there published. He wasafterwards a player in the Duke's Company, but must be carefullydistinguished from the celebrated comedian of the same name. It seemslikely that he wrote also the second tract, which is a continuation ofthe first. Both are in a frothy, flippant style of raillery, of whichthe reader will find a specimen in the note. [21] The CambridgeVindication seems to have been written by a different hand, though inthe same taste. It is singular in bringing a charge against our authorwhich has been urged by no other antagonist; for he is there upbraidedwith exhibiting in his comedies the persons and follies of livingcharacters. [22]

The friends and admirers of Dryden did not see with indifference theseattacks upon his reputation for he congratulates[23] himself upon havingfound defenders even among strangers alluding probably to a tract by Mr. Charles Blount, entitled, "Mr. Dryden Vindicated, in answer to theFriendly Vindication of Mr. Dryden, with reflections on the Rota. " Thispiece is written with all the honest enthusiasm of youth in defence ofthat genius, which has excited its admiration. In his address to Sedley, Dryden notices these attacks upon him with a supreme degree ofcontempt[24]. In other respects, the dedication is drawn with the easyindifference of one accustomed to the best society, towards theauthority of those who presumed to judge of modern manners, withouthaving access to see those of the higher circles. The picture which itdraws of the elegance of the convivial parties of the wits in that gaytime has been quoted a few pages higher. 

I know not if it be here worth while to mention a pretty warfare betweenDryden and Edward Ravenscroft, [25] an unworthy scribbler, who wroteplays, or rather altered those of Shakespeare, and imitated those ofMolière. This person, whether from a feud which naturally subsistedbetween the two rival theatres, or from envy and dislike to Drydenpersonally, chose, in the Prologue to the "Citizen turned Gentleman, "acted at the Duke's House in 1672, to level some sneers at the heroicdrama, which affected particularly the "Conquest of Granada, " thenacting with great applause. Ravenscroft's play, which is a baldtranslation from the "_Bourgeois Gentilhomme_" of Molière, wassuccessful, chiefly owing to the burlesque procession of Turks employedto dub the Citizen a _Mamamouchi_, or Paladin. Dryden, with moreindignation than the occasion warranted, retorted, in the Prologue tothe "Assignation, " by the following attack on Ravenscroft's jargon andbuffoonery:

 "You must have Mamamouchi, such a fop As would appear a monster in a shop; He'll fill your pit and boxes to the brim, Where, ramm'd in crowds, you see yourselves in him. Sure there's some spell our poet never knew, In _Hullibabilah de_, and _Chu, chu, chu_; But _Marababah sahem_ most did touch you; That is, Oh how we love the Mamamouchi! Grimace and habit sent you pleased away; You damned the poet, and cried up the play. "

About this time, too, the actresses in the King's theatre, to vary theamusements of the house, represented "Marriage à la Mode" in men'sdresses. The Prologue and Epilogue were furnished by Dryden; and in thelatter, mentioning the projected union of the theatres, --

 "all the women most devoutly swear, Each would be rather a poor actress here, Than to be made a Mamamouchi there. "

Ravenscroft, thus satirised, did not fail to exult in the bad success ofthe "Assignation, " and celebrated his triumph in some lines of aPrologue to the "Careless Lovers, " which was acted in the vacationsucceeding the ill fate of Dryden's play. They are thrown into the note, that the reader may judge how very unworthy this scribbler was of theslightest notice from the pen of Dryden. [26]

And with this _Te Deum_, on the part of Ravenscroft ended a pettycontroversy, which gives him his only title to be named in the life ofan English classic. 

From what has been detailed of these disputes we may learn that, even atthis period, the laureate's wreath was not unmingled with thorns; andthat if Dryden still maintained his due ascendancy over the common bandof authors, it was not without being occasionally under the necessity ofdescending into the _arena_ against very inferior antagonists. 

In the course of these controversies, Dryden was not idle, though hecannot be said to have been worthily or fortunately employed; his musebeing lent to the court, who were at this time anxious to awake thepopular indignation against the Dutch. It is a characteristic of theEnglish nation, that their habitual dislike against their neighbours issoon and easily blown into animosity. But, although Dryden chose for histheme the horrid massacre of Amboyna, and fell to the task with suchzeal that he accomplished it in a month, his play was probably of littleservice to the cause in which it was written. The story is toodisgusting to produce the legitimate feelings of pity and terror whichtragedy should excite: the black-hole of Calcutta would be as pleasing asubject. The character of the Hollanders is too grossly vicious anddetestable to give the least pleasure. They are neither men, nor evendevils; but a sort of lubber fiends, compounded of cruelty, avarice, andbrutal debauchery, like Dutch swabbers possessed by demons. But of thisplay the author has himself admitted, that the subject is barren, thepersons low, and the writing not heightened by any laboured scenes: and, without attempting to contradict this modest description, we may dismissthe tragedy of "Amboyna. " It was dedicated to Lord Clifford ofChudleigh, an active member of the Cabal administration of Charles II. ;but who, as a Catholic, on the test act being passed, resigned his postof lord high treasurer, and died shortly afterwards. There is greatreason to think that this nobleman had essentially favoured Dryden'sviews in life. On a former occasion, he had termed Lord Clifford abetter Maecenas than that of Horace;[27] and, in the present dedication, he mentions the numerous favours received through so many years asforming one continued act of his patron's generosity and goodness; sothat the excess of his gratitude had led the poet to receive thosebenefits, as the Jews received their law, with mute wonder, rather thanwith outward and ceremonious acclamation. These sentiments of obligationhe continued, long after Lord Clifford's death, to express in termsequally glowing;[28] so that we may safely do this statesman's memorythe justice to record him as an active and discerning patron of Dryden'sgenius. 

In the course of 1673 our author's pen was engaged in a task, which maybe safely condemned as presumptuous, though that pen was Dryden's. Itwas no other than that of new-modelling the "Paradise Lost" of Miltoninto a dramatic poem, called the "State of Innocence, or the Fall ofMan. " The coldness with which Milton's mighty epic was received upon thefirst publication is almost proverbial. The character of the author, obnoxious for his share in the usurped government; the turn of thelanguage, so different from that of the age; the seriousness of asubject so discordant with its lively frivolities--gave to the author'srenown the slowness of growth with the permanency of the oak. Milton'smerit, however, had not escaped the eye of Dryden. [29] He was acquaintedwith the author, perhaps even before the Restoration; and who can doubtDryden's power of feeling the sublimity of the "Paradise Lost, " even hadhe himself not assured us, in the prefatory essay to his own piece, thathe accounts it, "undoubtedly, one of the greatest, most noble, and mostsublime poems, which either this age or nation has produced"? We are, therefore, to seek for the motive which could have induced him, holdingthis opinion, "to gild pure gold, and set a perfume on the violet. "Dennis has left a curious record upon this subject:--"Dryden, " heobserves, "in his Preface before the 'State of Innocence, ' appears tohave been the first, those gentlemen excepted whose verses are beforeMilton's poem, who discovered in so public a manner an extraordinaryopinion of Milton's extraordinary merit. And yet Mr. Dryden at that timeknew not half the extent of his excellence, as more than twenty yearsafterwards he confessed to me, and is pretty plain from his writing the'State of Innocence. '" Had he known the full extent of Milton'sexcellence, Dennis thought he would not have ventured on thisundertaking, unless he designed to be a foil to him: "but they, " headds, "who knew Mr. Dryden, know very well, that he was not of a temperto design to be a foil to any one. "[30] We are therefore to conclude, that it was only the hope of excelling his original, admirable as heallowed it to be, which impelled Dryden upon this unprofitable andabortive labour; and we are to examine the improvements which Drydenseemed to meditate, or, in other words, the differences between histaste and that of Milton. 

And first we may observe, that the difference in their situationsaffected their habits of thinking upon poetical subjects. Milton hadretired into solitude, if not into obscurity, relieved from everythinglike external agency either influencing his choice of a subject, or hismode of treating it; and in consequence, instead of looking abroad toconsult the opinion of his age, he appealed only to the judge whichheaven had implanted within him, when he was endowed with severity ofjudgment, and profusion of genius. But the taste of Dryden was not soindependent. Placed by his very office at the head of what wasfashionable in literature, he had to write for those around him, ratherthan for posterity; was to support a brilliant reputation in the eye ofthe world; and is frequently found boasting of his intimacy with thosewho led the taste of the age, and frequently quoting the

 "_tamen me Cum magnis vixisse, invita falebitur usque Invidia. _"

It followed, that Dryden could not struggle against the tide into whichhe was launched, and that, although it might be expected from histalents that he should ameliorate the reigning taste, or at least carrythose compositions which it approved to their utmost pitch ofperfection, it could not be hoped that he should altogether escape beingperverted by it, or should soar so superior to all its prejudices as atonce to admit the super-eminent excellence of a poem which ran counterto these in so many particulars. The versification of Milton, accordingto the taste of the times, was ignoble, from its supposed facility. Dryden was, we have seen, so much possessed with this prejudice, as topronounce blank verse unfit even for a fugitive paper of verses. Even inhis later and riper judgment he affirms, that, whatever pretext Miltonmight allege for the use of blank verse, "his own particular reason isplainly this, --that rhyme was not his talent; he had neither the ease ofdoing it, nor the graces of it: which is manifest in his 'Juvenilia, ' orverses written in his youth, where his rhyme is always constrained andforced, and comes hardly from him, at an age when the soul is mostpliant, and the passion of love makes almost every man a rhymer, thoughnot a poet. "

The want of the dignity of rhyme was therefore, according to his idea, an essential deficiency in the "Paradise Lost. " According to Aubrey, Dryden communicated to Milton his intention of adding this grace to hispoem; to which the venerable bard gave a contemptuous consent, in thesewords: "Ay, you may _tag_ my verses if you will. " Perhaps few have readso far into the "State of Innocence" as to discover that Dryden did notuse this licence to the uttermost and that several of the scenes are nottagg'd with rhyme. 

Dryden at this period engaged in a research recommended to him by "anoble wit of Scotland, " as he terms Sir George Mackenzie, the issue ofwhich, in his apprehension, pointed out further room for improving uponthe epic of Milton. This was an inquiry into the "turn of words andthoughts" requisite in heroic poetry. These "turns, " according to thedefinition and examples which Dryden has given us, differ from thepoints of wit, and quirks of epigram, common in the metaphysical poets, and consist in a happy, and at the same time a natural, recurrence ofthe same form of expression, melodiously varied. Having failed in hissearch after these beauties in Cowley, the darling of his youth, "Iconsulted, " says Dryden, "a greater genius (without offence to the manesof that noble author), I mean--Milton; but as he endeavours everywhereto express Homer, whose age had not arrived to that fineness, I found inhim a true sublimity, lofty thoughts, which were clothed with admirableGrecisms, and ancient words, which he had been digging from the mines ofChaucer and Spenser, and which, with all their rusticity, had somewhatof venerable in them. But I found not there neither that for which Ilooked. " This judgment Addison has proved to be erroneous, by quotingfrom Milton the most beautiful example of a turn of words which can befound in English poetry. [31] But Dryden, holding it for just, conceived, doubtless, that in his "State of Innocence" he might exert his skillsuccessfully, by supplying the supposed deficiency, and for relievingthose "flats of thought" which he complains of, where Milton, for ahundred lines together, runs on in a "track of scripture;" but whichDennis more justly ascribes to the humble nature of his subject in thosepassages. The graces, also, which Dryden ventured to interweave with thelofty theme of Milton, were rather those of Ovid than of Virgil, ratherturns of verbal expression than of thought. Such is that conceit whichmet with censure at the time:

 "Seraph and cherub, careless of their charge, And wanton, in full ease now live at large; Unguarded leave the passes of the sky, And all dissolved in hallelujahs lie. "

"I have heard, " said a petulant critic, "of anchovies dissolved insauce; but never of an angel dissolved in hallelujahs. " But thisraillery Dryden rebuffs with a quotation from Virgil:

 "_Invadunt urbem, somno vinoque sepultam_. "

It might have been replied, that Virgil's analogy was familiar andsimple, and that of Dryden was far-fetched, and startling by itsnovelty. The majesty of Milton's verse is strangely degraded in thefollowing speeches, which precede the rising of Pandaemonium. Some ofthe couplets are utterly flat and bald, and, in others, the balance ofpoint and antithesis is substituted for the simple sublimity of theoriginal:

 _Moloch_. Changed as we are, we're yet from homage free; We have, by hell, at least gained liberty: That's worth our fall; thus low though we are driven. Better to rule in hell, than serve in heaven. 

 _Lucifer_. There spoke the better half of Lucifer!

 _Asmoday_. 'Tis fit in frequent senate we confer, And then determine how to steer our course; To wage new war by fraud, or open force. The doom's now past, submission were in vain. 

 _Mol_. And were it not, such baseness I disdain; I would not stoop, to purchase all above, And should contemn a power, whom prayer could move, As one unworthy to have conquered me. 

 _Beelzebub_. Moloch, in that all are resolved, like thee The means are unproposed; but 'tis not fit Our dark divan in public view should sit; Or what we plot against the Thunderer, The ignoble crowd of vulgar devils hear. 

 _Lucif. _ A golden palace let be raised on high; To imitate? No, to outshine the sky! All mines are ours, and gold above the rest: Let this be done; and quick as 'twas exprest. 

I fancy the reader is now nearly satisfied with Dryden's improvements onMilton. Yet some of his alterations have such peculiar reference to thetaste and manners of his age, that I cannot avoid pointing them out. Eveis somewhat of a coquette even in the state of innocence. She exclaims:

 "from each tree The feathered kind press down to look on me; The beasts, with up-cast eyes, forsake their shade, And gaze, as if I were to be obeyed. Sure, I am somewhat which they wish to be, And cannot, --I myself am proud of me. "

Upon receiving Adam's addresses, she expresses, rather unreasonably inthe circumstances, some apprehensions of his infidelity; and, upon thewhole, she is considerably too knowing for the primitive state. The samemay be said of Adam, whose knowledge in school divinity, and use ofsyllogistic argument, Dryden, though he found it in the original, wasunder no necessity to have retained. 

The "State of Innocence, " as it could not be designed for the stage, seems to have been originally intended as a mere poetical prolusion; forDryden, who was above affecting such a circumstance, tells us, that itwas only made public, because, in consequence of several hundred copies, every one gathering new faults, having been dispersed without hisknowledge, it became at length a libel on the author, who was forced toprint a correct edition in his own defence. As the incidents andlanguage were ready composed by Milton, we are not surprised wheninformed, that the composition and revision were completed in a singlemonth. The critics having assailed the poem even before publication, theauthor has prefixed an "Essay upon Heroic Poetry and Poetic Licence;" inwhich he treats chiefly of the use of metaphors, and of the legitimacyof machinery. 

The Dedication of the "State of Innocence, " addressed to Mary of Este, Duchess of York, is a singular specimen of what has been since termedthe _celestial_ style of inscription. It is a strain of flattery in thelanguage of adoration; and the elated station of the princess isdeclared so suited to her excellence, that Providence has only donejustice to its own works in placing the most perfect work of heavenwhere it may be admired by all beholders. Even this flight is surpassedby the following:--"Tis true, you are above all mortal wishes; no mandesires impossibilities, because they are beyond the reach of nature. Tohope to be a god is folly exalted into madness; but, by the laws of ourcreation, we are obliged to adore him, and are permitted to love him tooat human distance. 'Tis the nature of perfection to be attractive; butthe excellency of the object refines the nature of the love. It strikesan impression of awful reverence; 'tis indeed that love which is moreproperly a zeal than passion. 'Tis the rapture which anchorites find inprayer, when a beam of the divinity shines upon them; that which makesthem despise all worldly objects; and yet 'tis all but contemplation. They are seldom visited from above; but a single vision so transportsthem, that it makes up the happiness of their lives. Mortality cannotbear it often: it finds them in the eagerness and height of theirdevotion; they are speechless for the time that it continues, andprostrate and dead when it departs. " Such eulogy was the taste of thedays of Charles, when ladies were deified in dedications and painted asVenus or Diana upon canvas. In our time, the elegance of the languagewould be scarcely held to counterbalance the absurdity of thecompliments. 

Lee, the dramatic writer, an excellent poet, though unfortunate in hishealth and circumstances evinced his friendship for Dryden, rather thanhis judgment, by prefixing to the "State of Innocence" a copy of verses, in which he compliments the author with having refined the ore ofMilton. Dryden repaid this favour by an epistle, in which he beautifullyapologises for the extravagancies of his friend's poetry, and consoleshim for the censure of those cold judges, whose blame became praise whenthey accused the warmth which they were incapable of feeling. [32]

Having thus brought the account of our author's productions down to1674, from which period we date a perceptible change in his taste andmode of composition, I have only to add, that his private situation wasprobably altered to the worse, by the burning of the King's Theatre, andthe debts contracted in rebuilding it. The value of his share in thatcompany must consequently have fallen far short of what it wasoriginally. In other respects, he was probably nearly in the samecondition as in 1672. The critics, who assailed his literary reputation, had hitherto spared his private character; and, excepting Rochester, whose malignity towards Dryden now began to display itself, he probablyhad not lost one person whom he had thought worthy to be called afriend. Lee, who seems first to have distinguished himself about 1672, was probably then added to the number of his intimates. Milton diedshortly before the publication of the "State of Innocence;" and we maywish in vain to know his opinion of that piece; but if tradition can betrusted, he said, perhaps on that undertaking, that Dryden was a goodrhymer, but no poet. Blount, who had signalised himself in Dryden'sdefence, was now added to the number of his friends. This gentlemandedicated his "_Religio Laici_" to Dryden in 1683, as his much-honouredfriend; and the poet speaks of him with kindness and respect in 1696, three years after his unfortunate and violent catastrophe. 

Dryden was, however, soon to experience the mutability of the friendshipof wits and courtiers. A period was speedily approaching, when theviolence of political faction was to effect a breach between our authorand many of those with whom he was now intimately connected; indeed, hewas already entangled in the quarrels of the great, and sustained asevere personal outrage, in consequence of a quarrel with which he hadlittle individual concern. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In "Repartees between Cat and Puss at a caterwauling, in the modernheroic way:"

 "_Cat_. Forbear, foul ravisher, this rude address; Canst thou at once both injure and caress?

 _Puss_. Thou hast bewitched me with thy powerful charms, And I, by drawing blood, would cure my harms. 

 _C_. He that does love would set his heart a tilt, Ere one drop of his lady's should be spilt. 

 _P_. Your wounds are but without, and mine within: You wound my heart, and I but prick your skin; And while your eyes pierce deeper than my claws, You blame the effect of which you are the cause. 

 _C_. How could my guiltless eyes your heart invade, Had it not first been by your own betrayed? Hence 'tis, my greatest crime has only been (Not in mine eyes, but yours) in being seen. 

 _P_. I hurt to love, but do not love to hurt. 

 _C_. That's worse than making cruelty a sport. 

 _P_. Pain is the foil of pleasure and delight, That sets it off to a more noble height. 

 _C_. He buys his pleasure at a rate too vain, That takes it up beforehand of his pain. 

 _P_. Pain is more dear than pleasure when 'tis past. 

 _C_. But grows intolerable if it last, " etc. 

[2] Life of Lope de Vega, p. 208. 

[3] Dryden was severely censured by the critics for his supernaturalpersons, and ironically described as the "man, nature seemed to makechoice of to enlarge the poet's empire and to complete those discoveriesothers had begun to shadow. That Shakespeare and Fletcher (as somethink) erected the pillars of poetry, is a grosse errour; this Zany ofColumbus has discovered a poeticall world of greater extent than thenaturall, peopled with Atlantick colonies of notionall creatures, astrall spirits, ghosts, and idols, more various than ever the Indiansworshipt, and heroes more lawless than their savages. "--_Censure ofthe Rota_. 

[4] His mistress having fallen in love with a disguised barber, a lesspolished rival exclaims, --

 "_Sir Hum_. Nay, for my part, madam, if you must love a cudgelled barber, and take him for a valiant count, make much of him; I shall desist: there are more ladies, heaven be thanked. 

 "_Trim_. Yes, sir, there are more ladies; but if any man affirms that my fair Dorinda has an equal, I thus fling down my glove, and do demand the combat for her honour. --This is a nice point of honour I have hit. "--_Bury Fair_. 

[5] The author of the "Friendly Vindication of Mr. Dryden from theCensure of the Rota" (Cambridge, 1673) mentions, "his humble andsupplicant addresses to men and ladies of honour, to whom he presentedthe most of his plays to be read, and so passing through their families, to comply with their censures before-hand; confessing ingenuously, thathad he ventured his wits upon the tenter-hooks of Fortune (like otherpoets who depended more upon the merits of their pens), he had been moreseverely entangled in his own lines long ago. "--Page 7. 

[6] Of this want of talent the reader may find sufficient proof in theextracts from his Grace's reflections upon "Absalom and Achitophel. "

[7] See "Key to the Rehearsal. " "Our most noble author, to manifest hisjust indignation and hatred of this fulsome new way of writing, used hisutmost interest and endeavours to stifle it at its first appearance onthe stage, by engaging all his friends to explode and run down theseplays; especially the 'United Kingdoms, ' which had like to have broughthis life into danger. 

"The author of it being nobly born, of an ancient and numerous family, had many of his relations and friends in the cock-pit during the actingof it. Some of them perceiving his Grace to head a party, who were veryactive in damning the play, by hissing and laughing immoderately at thestrange conduct thereof, there were persons laid wait for him as he cameout; but there being a great tumult and uproar in the house and thepassages near it, he escaped; but he was threatened hard. However, thebusiness was composed in a short time, though by what means I have notbeen informed. " The trade of criticism was not uniformly safe in thesedays. In the Preface to the "Reformation, " a beau is only directed toventure to abuse a new play, _if he knows, the author is no fighter. _

[8] [Scott has Dryden's authority (in the letter to Hyde alreadyreferred to) for this word, but it is pretty certainly rhetorical. Seearticle on "Butler, " by the present writer, in the _EncyclopaediaBritannica_, ninth edition. --ED. ]

[9] [It may be well to mention that the editions of the "Rehearsal" arevery numerous, and that fresh parodies of fresh plays as they appearedwere incorporated in them. Scott does not seem to have been fully awareof this. --ED. ]

[10] Preface to "An Evening's Love. "

[11] Mr. Malone inclines to think there is no allusion to "Marriage à laMode" in the "Rehearsal. " But surely the whimsical distress of PrincePrettyman, "sometimes a fisher's son, sometimes a prince, " is preciselythat of Leonidas, who is first introduced as the son of a shepherd;secondly, discovered to be the son of an unlawful king called Polydamas;thirdly, proved anew to be the son of the shepherd, and finally provedto be the son of neither of them, but of the lawful king, Theogenes. Besides, the author of the "Key to the Rehearsal" points out a parallelbetween the revolution of state in the farce, and that by whichLeonidas, after being carried off to execution, on a sudden snatches asword from one of the guards, proclaims himself rightful king, and, without more ceremony, deposes the powerful and jealous usurper, who hadsentenced him to death. 

[12] Spence's "Anecdotes, " quoted by Mr. Malone, vol. I. P. 106. 

[13] "I answered not the 'Rehearsal, ' because I knew the author sat tohimself when he drew the picture, and was the very Bayes of his ownfarce; because also I knew, that my betters were more concerned than Iwas in that satire; and, lastly, because Mr. Smith and Mr. Johnson, themain pillars of it, were two such languishing gentlemen in theirconversation, that I could liken them to nothing but to their ownrelations, those noble characters of men of wit and pleasure about thetown. "--_Dedication to Juvenal_. 

[14] The pains which Dryden bestowed on the character of Zimri, and theesteem in which he held it, is evident from his quoting it as themaster-piece of his own satire. "The character of Zimri in my 'Absalom'is, in my opinion, worth the whole poem: it is not bloody, but it isridiculous enough; and he, for him it was intended, was too witty toresent it as an injury. If I had railed, I might have suffered for itjustly; but I managed my own work more happily, perhaps moredexterously. I avoided the mention of great crimes, and applied myselfto the representing of blind-sides, and little extravagancies; to which, the wittier a man is, he is generally the more obnoxious. It succeededas I wished; the jest went round, and he was laughed at in his turn whobegan the frolic. "

[15] In one of Cibber's moods of alteration, he combined the comicscenes of these two plays into a comedy entitled, "The Comical Lovers. "

[16] "You are changed too, and your pretence to see Is but a nobler name for charity; Your own provisions furnish out our feasts, While you, the founders, make yourselves the guests. "--Vol. X. 

[17] "Some have expected, from our bills to-day, To find a satire in our poet's ploy. The zealous route from Coleman street did run. To see the story of the Friar and Nun; Or tales yet more ridiculous to hear, Vouched by their vicar often pounds a-year, -- Nuns who did against temptation pray, And discipline laid on the pleasant way: Or that, to please the malice of the town, Our poet should in some close cell have shown Some sister, playing at content alone. This they did hope; the other side did fear; And both, you see, alike are cozened here. "

[18] "_Bayes. _ I remember once, in a play of mine, I set off a scene, i'gad, beyond expectation, only with a petticoat and the belly-ache. 

 _Smith_. Pray, how was that, sir?

 _Bayes_. Why, sir, I contrived a petticoat to be brought in upon a chair (nobody knew how), into a prince's chamber, whose father was now to see it, that came in by chance. 

 _Johns_. God's-my-life, that was a notable contrivance indeed!

 _Smith_. Ay, but, Mr. Bayes, how could you contrive the belly-ache?

 _Bayes. _ The easiest i' the world, i'gad: I'll tell you how; I made the prince sit down upon the petticoat, no more than so, and pretended to his father that he had just then got the belly-ache; whereupon his father went out to call a physician, and his man ran away with the petticoat. "--_Rehearsal_. 

[19] Not Matthew, but Martin, as it is correctly printed before. --Ed. 

[20] "To begin with your character of Almanzor, which you avow to havetaken from the Achilles in Homer; pray hear what Famianus Strada says ofsuch talkers as Mr. Dryden: _Ridere soleo, cum video homines ab Homerivirtibus strenue declinates, si quid vero irrepsi vitii, id avidearripientes. _ But I might have spared this quotation, and you youravowing; for this character might as well have been borrowed from someof the stalls in Bedlam, or any of your own hair-brained cox-combs whichyou call heroes, and persons of honour. I remember just such anotherfuming Achilles in Shakespeare, one ancient Pistol, whom he avows to bea man of so fiery a temper, and so impatient of an injury, even from SirJohn Falstaff his captain, and a knight, that he not only disobeyed hiscommands about carrying a letter to Mrs. Page, but returned him ananswer as full of contumely, and in as opprobrious terms, as he couldimagine:

 'Let vultures gripe thy guts, for gourd and Fullam holds, And high and low beguiles the rich and poor. Tester I'll have in pouch, when thou shalt lack, Base Phrygian Turk, ' etc. 

"Let's see e'er an Abencerrago fly a higher pitch. Take him at anotherturn, quarrelling with corporal Nym and old Zegri: The difference aroseabout mine hostess Quickly (for I would not give a rush for a man unlesshe be particular in matters of this moment); they both aimed at herbody, but Abencerrago Pistol defies his rival in these words:

 'Fetch from the powdering-tub of infamy That lazar-kite of Cressid's kind, Doll Tearsheet, she by name, and her espouse: I have, and I will hold, The quondam Quickly for the only she. And _pauca_. '

There's enough. Does not quotation sound as well as I[20a]?

"But the four sons of Aminon, the three bold Beachams, the four LondonPrentices, Tamerlain, the Scythian Shepherd, Muleasses, Amurath, andBajazet, or any raging Turk at the Red-bull and Fortune, might as wellhave been urged by you as a pattern of your Almanzor, as the Achilles inHomer; but then our laureate had not passed for so learned a man as hedesires his unlearned admirers should esteem him. 

"But I am strangely mistaken, if I have not seen this very Almanzor ofyour's in some disguise about this town, and passing under another name. Prithee tell me true, was not this huff-cap once the Indian Emperor, and, at another time, did not he call himself Maximme? Was not Lyndaraxaonce called Almeria, I mean under Montezuma the Indian Emperor? Iprotest and vow they are either the same, or so alike, that I can't formy heart distinguish one from the other. You are, therefore, a strangeunconscionable thief, that art not content to steal from others, butdo'st rob thy poor wretched self too. "

[20a] [There is no I in the original where Clifford quotes:

 [Greek: Oinobares, kunos ommat echon kradiaen d elaphoio. Daemoboros basileus. ]

I owe my copy of this curious monument of belated spite to the kindnessof Mr. Austin Dobson. --ED. ]

[21] "Amongst several other late exercises of the Athenian virtuosi inthe Coffee-academy, instituted by Apollo for the advancement of GazettePhilosophy, Mercury's, Diurnalli, etc. , this day was wholly taken up inthe examination of the 'Conquest of Granada. ' A gentleman on the readingof the First Part, and there in the description of the bull-baiting, said, that Almanzor's playing at the bull was according to the standardof the Greek heroes, who, as Mr. Dryden had learnedly observed (Essayof Dramatic Poesy), were great beef-eaters. And why might not Almanzoras well as Ajax, or Don Quixote, worry mutton, or take a bull by thethroat, since the author had elsewhere explained himself, by telling usthe heroes were more noble beasts of prey, in his Epistle to his'Conquest of Granada, ' distinguishing them into wild and tame; and inhis play we have Almanzor shaking his chains, and frighting his keeper, broke loose, and tearing those that would reclaim his rage. To this headded, that his bulls excelled other heroes, as far as his own heroessurpassed his gods; that the champion bull was divested of flesh andblood, and made immortal by the poet, and bellowed after death; thatthe fantastic bull seemed fiercer than the true, and the deadbellowings in verse were louder than the living; concluding with awish, that Mr. Dryden had the good luck to have varied that old versequoted in his dramatic essay:

 '_Atque Ursum, el Pugiles media inter carmina poscunt Tauros, et Pugiles pruna inter carmina posco_;'

and prefixed it to the front of his play, instead of

 '_Major rerum mihi nascitur ordo, Majus ojius moveo_. '"

--_Censure of the Rota_, p. 1. 

[22] "But however, if he were taken for no good comic poet, or satirist, he had found a way of much easier licence (though more remarkable in thesense of some), which was, not only to libel men's persons, but torepresent them on the stage too. That to this purpose he made hisobservations of men, their words, and actions, with so little disguise, that many beheld themselves acted for their half-crown; yet, after all, was unwilling to believe, that this was not both good comedy, and noless good manners. "--_Friendly Vindication of Mr. Dryden_, p. 8. 

[23] Dedication to the "Assignation. "

[24] Dryden either confines himself to two pamphlets, or, more probably, speaks of the three as written by only two authors. Leigh is, I presume, the contemptible pedant, and the Sir Fastidious Brisk of Oxford. TheCambridge author, who imitated his style, is the Fungoso of theDedication:--"As for the errors they pretend to find in me, I couldeasily show them that the greatest part of them are beauties; and forthe rest, I could recriminate upon the best poets of our nation, if Icould resolve to accuse another of little faults, whom at the same timeI admire for greater excellencies. But I have neither concernment enoughupon me to write any thing in my own defence, neither will I gratify theambition of two wretched scribblers, who desire nothing more than to beanswered. I have not wanted friends, even amongst strangers, who havedefended me more strongly than my contemptible pedant could attack me;for the other, he is only like Fungoso in the play, who follows thefashion at a distance, and adores the Fastidious Brisk of Oxford. Youcan bear me witness, that I have not consideration enough for either ofthem to be angry: let Mævius and Bavius admire each other; I wish to behated by them and their fellows, by the same reason for which I desireto be loved by you. "--_Dedication to the Assignation_, vol. Iv. 

[25] A student of law in the Temple, and author of that notablealteration of "Titus Andronicus" mentioned in the commentaries onShakespeare. Besides the "Citizen turned Gentleman, " he wrote the"Careless Lovers, " "Scaramouch, a Philosopher, " the "Wrangling Lovers, ""Edgar and Alfreda, " the "English Lawyer, " the "London Cuckolds, "distinguished by Cibber as the grossest play that ever succeeded, "DameDobson, " the said alteration of "Titus Andronicus, " the "CanterburyGuests, " and the "Italian Husband, "--in all twelve plays, not one ofwhich has the least merit. 

[26] "An author did, to please you, let his wit run, Of late, much on a serving-man and cittern; And yet, you would not like the serenade, -- Nay, and you damned his nuns in masquerade; You did his Spanish sing-song too abhor; _Ah! que locura con tanto rigor!_ In fine, the whole by you so much was blamed, To act their parts, the players were ashamed. Ah, how severe your malice was that day! To damn, at once, the poet and his play: But why was your rage just at that time shown, When what the author writ was all his own? Till then, he borrowed from romance, and did translate; And those plays found a mere indulgent fate. "

[27] "For my own part, I, who am the least among the poets, have yet thefortune to be honoured with the _best patron_, and the best friend; for(to omit some great persons of our court, to whom I am many waysobliged, and who have taken care of me during the exigencies of a war. )I have found a better Maecenas in the person of my Lord TreasurerClifford, and a more elegant Tibullus in that of Sir Charles Sedley. "--_Dedication to the Assignation_. 

[28] In his Dedication of the Pastorals of Virgil to Hugh Lord Clifford, he says: "I have no reason to complain of fortune, since, in the midstof that abundance, I could not have chosen better than the worthy son ofso illustrious a father. He was the patron of my manhood, when Iflourished in the opinion of the world, though with small advantage tomy fortune, till he awakened the remembrance of my royal master. He wasthat Pollio, or that Varus, _who introduced me to Augustus_. "

[29] The elder Richardson has told a story, that Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of Dorset, was the first who introduced the "ParadiseLost, " then lying like waste paper in the bookseller's hands, to thenotice of Dryden. But this tradition has been justly exploded by Mr. Malone, _Life of Dryden_, vol. I. P. 114. Indeed it is by no meanslikely that Dryden could be a stranger to the very existence of a largepoem, written by a man of such political as well as literary eminence, even if he had not happened, as was the case, to be personally known tothe author. [The various legends as to Dryden and "Paradise Lost, "Dorset and "Paradise Lost, " etc. , are well handled by Professor Masson, _Life of Milton_, vol. Vi. Pp. 628-635. --ED. ]

[30] Dennis's Letters, quoted by Malone. 

[31] "With thee conversing, I forget all time, All seasons, and their change; all please alike: Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, With charm of earliest birds: pleasant the sun, When first on this delightful land he spreads His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, Glist'ning with dew: fragrant the fertile earth After soft showers, and sweet the coming on Of grateful evening mild: then, silent night, With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon, And these the gems of heaven, her starry train: But neither breath of morn, when she ascends With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower, Glist'ning with dew; nor fragrance after showers; Nor grateful evening mild; nor silent night, With this her solemn bird; nor walk by moon; Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet. "

"The variety of images in this passage is infinitely pleasing, and therecapitulation of each particular image, with a little varying of theexpression, makes one of the finest turns of words that I have everseen; which I rather mention, because Mr. Dryden has said, in hisPreface to Juvenal, that he could meet with no turn of words inMilton. "--_Tatler_, No. 114. 

[32] See this Epistle. It was prefixed to "Alexander the Great;" a play, the merits and faults of which are both in extreme. 

SECTION IV. 

_Dryden's Controversy with Settle--with Rochester--He is assaulted inRose-street--Aureng-Zebe--Dryden meditates an Epic Poem--All for Love--Limberham--Oedipus--Troilus and Cressida--The Spanish Friar--Drydensupposed to be in opposition to the Court. _

"The State of Innocence" was published in 1674, and "Aureng-Zebe, "Dryden's next tragedy, appeared in 1675. In the interval, he informs us, his ardour for rhyming plays had considerably abated. The course ofstudy which he imposed on himself doubtless led him to this conclusion. But it is also possible, that he found the peculiar facilities of thatdrama had excited the emulation of very inferior poets, who, by dint ofshow, rant, and clamorous hexameters, were likely to divide with him thepublic favour. Before proceeding, therefore, to state the gradualalteration in Dryden's own taste, we must perform the task of detailingthe literary quarrels in which he was at this period engaged. The chiefof his rivals was Elkanah Settle, a person afterwards utterlycontemptible; but who, first by the strength of a party at court, andafterwards by a faction in the state, was, for a time, buoyed up inopposition to Dryden. It is impossible to detail the progress of thecontest for public favour between these two ill-matched rivals, withoutnoticing at the same time Dryden's quarrel with Rochester, who appearsto have played off Settle in opposition to him, as absolutely, andnearly as successfully, as Settle ever played off the literary[literal?] puppets, for which, in the ebb of his fortune, hewrote dramas. 

In the year 1673, Dryden and Rochester were on such friendly terms, thatour poet inscribed to his lordship his favourite play of "Marriage à laMode;" not without acknowledgment of the deepest gratitude for favoursdone to his fortune and reputation. The dedication, we have seen, was sofavourably accepted by Rochester, that the reception called forth asecond tribute of thanks from the poet to the patron. But at this point, the interchange of kindness and of civility received a sudden andirrecoverable check. This was partly owing to Rochester's fickle andjealous temper, which induced him alternately to raise and depress themen of parts whom he loved to patronise; so that no one should everbecome independent of his favour, or so rooted in the public opinion asto be beyond the reach of his satire; but it may also in part beattributed to Dryden's attachment to Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, afterwards Duke of Buckingham, then Rochester's rival in wit andcourt-favour, and from whom he had sustained a deadly affront, on anoccasion, which, as the remote cause of a curious incident in Dryden'slife, I have elsewhere detailed in the words of Sheffield himself. Rochester, who was branded as a coward in consequence of thistransaction, must be reasonably supposed to entertain a sincere hatredagainst Mulgrave; with whom he had once lived on such friendly terms asto inscribe to him an Epistle on their mutual poems. But, as his nerveshad proved unequal to a personal conflict with his brother peer, hismalice prompted the discharge of his spleen upon those men of literaturewhom his antagonist cherished and patronised. Among these Dryden held adistinguished situation; for about 1675 he was, as we shall presentlysee, sufficiently in Sheffield's confidence to correct and revise thatnobleman's poetry;[1] and in 1676 dedicated to him the tragedy of"Aureng-Zebe, " as one who enjoyed not only his favour, but his love andconversation. Thus Dryden was obnoxious to Rochester, both as holding astation among the authors of the period, grievous to the vanity of onewho aimed, by a levelling and dividing system, to be the tyrant, or atleast the dictator, of wit; and also as the friend, and even theconfidant, of Mulgrave, by whom the witty profligate had been baffledand humiliated. Dryden was therefore to be lowered in the publicopinion; and for this purpose, Rochester made use of Elkanah Settle, whom, though he gratified his malice by placing him in opposition toDryden, he must, in his heart, have thoroughly despised. [2]

This playwright, whom the jealous spleen of a favourite courtier, andthe misjudging taste of a promiscuous audience, placed for some time inso high a station, came into notice in 1671, on the representation ofhis first play, "Cambyses, King of Persia, " which was played six nightssuccessively. This run of public favour gave Rochester some pretence tobring Settle to the notice of the king; and, through the efforts of thismischievous wit, joined to the natural disposition of the people to becarried by show, rant, and tumult, Settle's second play, "The Empress ofMorocco, " was acted with unanimous and overpowering applause for a monthtogether. To add to Dryden's mortification, Rochester had interestenough to have this tragedy of one whom he had elevated into the rank ofhis rival, first acted at Whitehall by the lords and ladies of thecourt; an honour which had never been paid to any of Dryden'scompositions, however more justly entitled to it, both from intrinsicmerit, and by the author's situation as poet-laureate. Rochestercontributed a prologue upon this brilliant occasion to add still moregrace to Settle's triumph; but what seems yet more extraordinary, andhas, I think, been unnoticed in all accounts of the controversy, Mulgrave, [3] Rochester's rival and the friend of Dryden, did the samehomage to "The Empress of Morocco. " From the king's private theatre, "The Empress of Morocco" was transferred, in all its honours, to thepublic stage in Dorset Gardens, and received with applause correspondingto the expectation excited by its favour at Whitehall. While the courtand city were thus worshipping the idol which Rochester had set up, itcould hardly be expected of poor Settle, that he should be first todiscern his own want of desert. On the contrary, he grew presumptuous onsuccess; and when he printed his performance, the dedication to the Earlof Norwich was directly levelled against the poet-laureate who termed itthe "most arrogant, calumniatory, ill-mannered, and senseless preface heever saw. "[4] And, to add gall to bitterness, the bookseller thought"The Empress of Morocco" worthy of being decorated with engravings, andsold at the advanced price of two shillings; being the first dramaadvanced to such honourable distinction. [5] Moreover, the play isostentatiously stated in the title to be written by Elkanah Settle, _Servant to His Majesty_;[6] an addition which the laureate had assumedwith greater propriety. 

If we are asked the merit of a performance which made such an impressionat the time, we may borrow an expression applied to a certain orator, [7]and say, that "The Empress of Morocco" must have acted _to the tune_ ofa good heroic play. It had all the outward and visible requisites ofsplendid scenery, prisons, palaces, fleets, combats of desperateduration and uncertain issue, [8] assassinations, a dancing tree, arainbow, a shower of hail, a criminal executed, [9] and hell itselfopening upon the stage. The rhyming dialogue too, in which the play waswritten, had an imperative and tyrannical sound; and to a foreigner, ignorant of the language, might have appeared as magnificent as that ofDryden. But it must raise our admiration, that the witty court ofCharles could patiently listen to a "tale told by an idiot, full ofnoise and fury, signifying nothing, " and give it a preference over thepoetry of Dryden. The following description of a hail-storm willvindicate our wonder:

 "This morning, as our eyes we upward cast, The desert regions of the air lay waste. But straight, as if it had some penance bore, A mourning garb of thick black clouds it wore. But on the sudden, Some aery demon changed its form, and now That which looked black above looked white below; The clouds dishevelled from their crusted locks, Something like gems coined out of crystal rocks. The ground was with this strange bright issue spread, As if heaven in affront to nature had Designed some new-found tillage of its own, And on the earth these unknown seeds had sown. Of these I reached a grain, which to my sense Appeared as cool as virgin-innocence; And like that too (which chiefly I admired), Its ravished whiteness with a touch expired. At the approach of heat, this candid rain Dissolved to its first element again. 

 _Muly-H. _ Though showers of hail Morocco never see, Dull priest, what does all this portend to me?

 _Ham_. It does portend--

 _Muly. _ What?

 _Ham_. That the fates design--

 _Muly_. To tire me with impertinence like thine. "

Such were the strains once preferred to the magnificent verses ofDryden; whose very worst bombast is sublimity compared to them. To provewhich, the reader need only peruse the Indian's account of the Spanishfleet in the "Indian Emperor, " to which the above lines are a parallel;each being the description of an object familiar to the audience, butnew to the describer. The poet felt the disgraceful preference moredeeply than was altogether becoming; but he had levelled his powers, says Johnson, when he levelled his desires to those of Settle, andplaced his happiness in the claps of multitudes. The moral may becarried yet further; for had not Dryden stooped to call to the aid ofhis poetry the auxiliaries of scenery, gilded truncheons, and verse ofmore noise than meaning, it is impossible his plays could have beendrawn into comparison with those of Settle. But the meretriciousornaments which he himself had introduced were within the reach of themeanest capacity; and, having been among the first to debauch the tasteof the public, it was retributive justice that he should experiencetheir inconstancy. Indeed Dryden seems himself to admit, that theprincipal difference between his heroic plays and "The Empress ofMorocco, " was, that the former were good sense, that looked likenonsense, and the latter nonsense, which yet looked very like sense. Anice distinction, and which argued some regret at having opened the wayto such a rival. 

The feelings of contempt ought to have suppressed those of anger; butDryden, who professedly lived to please his own age, had not temper towait till time should do him justice. Angry he was; and unfortunately hedetermined to shew the world that he did well in being so. With thisview, in conjunction with Shadwell and Crowne, two brother-dramatists, equally jealous of Settle's success, he composed a pamphlet, entitled"Remarks upon the Empress of Morocco. " This piece is written in the sametone of boisterous and vulgar raillery with which Clifford and Leigh hadassailed Dryden himself; and little resembles our poet's general styleof controversy. He seems to have exchanged his satirical scourge for theclumsy flail of Shadwell, when he stooped to use such raillery as thefollowing description of Settle: "In short, he is an animal of a mostdeplored understanding, without reading and conversation: his being isin a twilight of sense, and some glimmering of thought, which he cannever fashion either into wit or English. His style is boisterous andrough-hewn; his rhyme incorrigibly lewd, and his numbers perpetuallyharsh and ill-sounding. "

Settle, nothing dismayed with this vehement attack, manfully retortedthe abuse which had been thrown upon him, and answered the insultingclamour of his three antagonists with clamorous insult. [10] It wasobvious that the weaker poet must be the winner by this contest inabuse; and Dryden gained no more by his dispute with Settle, than awell-dressed man who should condescend to wrestle with achimney-sweeper. The feud between them was carried no further, until, after the publication of "Absalom and Achitophel, " party animosity addedspurs to literary rivalry. 

We must now return to Rochester, who, observing Settle's rise to hisunmerited elevation in the public opinion, became as anxious to lowerhis presumption as he had formerly been to diminish the reputation ofDryden. With this view, that tyrannical person of honour availed himselfof his credit to recommend Crowne to write the masque of "Calisto, "which was acted by the lords and ladies of the court of Charles in 1675. Nothing could be more galling towards Dryden, a part of whose duty aspoet-laureate was to compose the pieces designed for such occasions. Crowne, though he was a tolerable comic writer, [11] had no turn whateverfor tragedy, or indeed for poetry of any kind. But the splendour of thescenery and dresses, the quality of the performers, selected from thefirst nobility, and the favour of the sovereign, gave "Calisto" a run ofnearly thirty nights. Dryden, though mortified, tendered his services inthe shape of an epilogue, to be spoken by Lady Henrietta MariaWentworth. [12] But the influence of his enemy, Rochester, was stillpredominant, and the epilogue of the laureate was rejected. [13]

The author of "Calisto" also lost his credit with Rochester, so soon ashe became generally popular; and shortly after the representation ofthat piece, its fickle patron seems to have recommended to the royalprotection, a rival more formidable to Dryden than either Settle or"starch Johnny Crowne. "[14] This was no other than Otway, whose "DonCarlos" appeared in 1676, and was hailed as one of the best heroic playswhich had been written. The author avows in his preface the obligationshe owed to Rochester, who had recommended him to the king and the duke, to whose favour he owed his good success, and on whose indulgence hereckoned as insuring that of his next attempt. [15] These effusions ofgratitude did not, as Mr. Malone observes, withhold Rochester, shortlyafter, from lampooning Otway, with circumstances of gross insult, in the"Session of the Poets. "[16] In the same preface, Otway, in veryintelligible language, bade defiance to Dryden whom he charges withhaving spoken slightly of his play. [17] But although Dryden did notadmire the general structure of Otway's poetry, he is said, even at thistime, to have borne witness to his power of moving the passions; anacknowledgment which he long afterwards solemnly repeated. Thus Otway, like many others, mistook the character of a pretended friend, and didinjustice to that of a liberal rival. Dryden and he indeed never appearto have been personal friends, even when they both wrote in the Toryinterest. It was probably about this time that Otway challenged Settle, whose courage appears to have failed him upon the occasion. 

Rochester was not content with exciting rivals against Dryden in thepublic opinion, but assailed him personally in an imitation of Horace, which he quaintly entitled, "An Allusion to the Tenth Satire. " It cameout anonymously about 1678, but the town was at no loss to guess thatRochester was the patron or author. Much of the satire was bestowed onDryden, whom Rochester for the first time distinguishes by a ridiculousnickname, which was afterwards echoed by imitating dunces in all theirlampoons. The lines are more cutting, because mingled with as muchpraise as the writer probably thought necessary to gain the credit of acandid critic. [18] Dryden, on his part, did not view with indifferencethese repeated direct and indirect attacks on his literary reputation byRochester. In the preface to "All for Love, " published in 1678, he givesa severe rebuke to those men of rank, who, having acquired the credit ofwit, either by virtue of their quality, or by common fame, and findingthemselves possessed of some smattering of Latin, become ambitious todistinguish themselves by their poetry from the herd of gentlemen. "Andis not this, " he exclaims, "a wretched affectation, not to be contentedwith what fortune has done for them, and sit down quietly with theirestates, but they must call their wits in question, and needlesslyexpose their nakedness to public view? Not considering that they arenot to expect the same approbation from sober men, which they have foundfrom their flatterers after the third bottle. If a little glittering indiscourse has passed them on us for witty men, where was the necessityof undeceiving the world? Would a man who has an ill title to an estate, but yet is in possession of it; would he bring it of his own accord tobe tried at Westminster? We who write, if we want the talent, yet havethe excuse, that we do it for a poor subsistence; but what can be urgedin their defence, who, not having the vocation of poverty to scribbleout of mere wantonness, take pains to make themselves ridiculous? Horacewas certainly in the right, where he said, 'That no man is satisfiedwith his own condition. ' A poet is not pleased, because he is not rich;and the rich are discontented, because the poets will not admit them oftheir number. Thus the case is hard with writers: if they succeed not, they must starve; and if they do, some malicious satire is prepared tolevel them, for daring to please without their leave. But while they areso eager to destroy the fame of others, their ambition is manifest intheir concernment; some poem of their own is to be produced, and theslaves are to be laid flat with their faces on the ground, that themonarch may appear in the greater majesty. " This general censure of thepersons of wit and honour about town, is fixed on Rochester inparticular not only by the marked allusion in the last sentence, to thedespotic tyranny which he claimed over the authors of his time, but alsoby a direct attack upon such imitators of Horace, who make doggrel ofhis Latin, misapply his censures, and often contradict their own. It isremarkable, however, that he ascribes this imitation rather to some zanyof the great, than to one of their number; and seems to have thoughtRochester rather the patron than the author. 

At the expense of anticipating the order of events, and that we maybring Dryden's dispute with Rochester to a conclusion, we must recall tothe reader's recollection our author's friendship with Mulgrave. Thisappears to have been so intimate, that, in 1675, that nobleman intrustedhim with the task of revising his "Essay upon Satire:" a poem whichcontained dishonourable mention of many courtiers of the time, and wasparticularly severe on Sir Car Scrope and Rochester. The last of theseis taxed with cowardice, and a thousand odious and mean vices; upbraidedwith the grossness and scurrility of his writings, and with the infamousprofligacy of his life. [19] The versification of the poem is as flat andinharmonious, as the plan is careless and ill-arranged; and though theimputation was to cost Dryden dear, I cannot think that any part of the"Essay on Satire" received additions from his pen. Probably he mightcontribute a few hints for revision; but the author of "Absalom andAchitophel" could never completely disguise the powers which wereshortly to produce that brilliant satire. Dryden's verses must haveshone among Mulgrave's as gold beside copper. The whole Essay is a merestagnant level, no one part of it so far rising above the rest as tobespeak the work of a superior hand. The thoughts, even when conceivedwith some spirit, are clumsily and unhappily brought out; a fault neverto be traced in the beautiful language of Dryden, whose powers ofexpression were at least equal to his force of conception. Besides, asMr. Malone has observed, he had now brought to the highest excellencehis system of versification; and is it possible he could neglect it sofar as to write the rugged lines in the note, where all manner ofelliptical barbarisms are resorted to, for squeezing the words into ameasure "lame and o'erburdened, and screaming its wretchedness"? The"Essay on Satire" was finally subjected by the noble author to thecriticism of Pope, who, less scrupulous than Dryden, appears to havemade large improvements; but after having undergone the revision of twoof the first names in English poetry, it continues to be a veryindifferent performance. 

In another point of view, it seems inconsistent with Dryden's situationto suppose he had any active share in the "Essay on Satire. " Thecharacter of Charles is treated with great severity, as well as those ofthe Duchesses of Portsmouth and Cleveland, the royal mistresses. Thiswas quite consistent with Mulgrave's disposition, who was at this timediscontented with the ministry; but certainly would not have beseemedDryden, who held an office at court. Sedley also, with whom Drydenalways seems to have lived on friendly terms, is harshly treated in the"Essay on Satire. " It may be owned, however, that these reasons were notheld powerful at the time, since they must, in that case, have savedDryden from the inconvenient suspicion which, we will presently see, attached to him. The public were accustomed to see the friendship ofwits end in mutual satire; and the good-natured Charles was so generallythe subject of the ridicule which he loved, that no one seems to havethought there was improbability in a libel being composed on him by hisown laureate. 

The "Essay on Satire, " though written, as appears from the title-page ofthe last edition, in 1675, was not made public until 1679, when severalcopies were handed about in manuscript. Rochester sends one of these tohis friend Henry Saville, on the 21st of November 1679, with thisobservation:--"I have sent you herewith a libel, in which my own shareis not the least. The king, having perused it, is no way dissatisfiedwith his. The author is apparently Mr. Dr[yden], his patron, LordM[ulgrave, ] having a panegyric in the midst. " From hence it is evident, that Dryden obtained the reputation of being the author; in consequenceof which, Rochester meditated the base and cowardly revenge which heafterwards executed; and he thus coolly expressed his intention inanother of his letters:--"You write me word, that I'm out of favour witha certain poet, whom I have admired for the disproportion of him and hisattributes. He is a rarity which I cannot but be fond of, as one wouldbe of a hog that could fiddle, or a singing owl. If he falls on me atthe blunt, which is his very good weapon in wit, I will forgive him ifyou please; and _leave the repartee to black Will with a cudgel_. "

In pursuance of this infamous resolution, Dryden, upon the night of the18th December 1679, was waylaid by hired ruffians, and severely beaten, as he passed through Rose-street, Covent-garden returning from Will'sCoffee-house to his own house in Gerrard-street. A reward of £50 was invain offered, in the London Gazette and other newspapers, for thediscovery of the perpetrators of this outrage. [20] The town was, however, at no loss to pitch upon Rochester as the employer of thebravoes, with whom the public suspicion joined the Duchess ofPortsmouth, equally concerned in the supposed affront thus avenged. Inour time, were a nobleman to have recourse to hired bravoes to avengehis personal quarrel against any one, more especially a person holdingthe rank of a gentleman, he might lay his account with being hunted outof society. But in the age of Charles, the ancient high and chivalroussense of honour was esteemed Quixotic, and the civil war had left tracesof ferocity in the manners and sentiments of the people. Rencounters, where the assailants took all advantages of number and weapons, were asfrequent, and held as honourable, as regular duels. Some of theseapproached closely to assassination; as in the famous case of Sir JohnCoventry, who was waylaid, and had his nose slit by some young men ofhigh rank, for a reflection upon the king's theatrical amours. Thisoccasioned the famous statute against maiming and wounding, called theCoventry Act; an Act highly necessary, since so far did our ancestors'ideas of manly forbearance differ from ours, that Killigrew introducesthe hero of one of his comedies, a cavalier, and the fine gentleman ofthe piece, lying in wait for, and slashing the face of a poor courtezan, who had cheated him. [21] It will certainly be admitted, that a man, surprised in the dark and beaten by ruffians, loses no honour by such amisfortune. But, if Dryden had received the same discipline fromRochester's own hand without resenting it, his drubbing could not havebeen more frequently made a matter of reproach to him;--a sign surely ofthe penury of subjects for satire in his life and character, since anaccident, which might have happened to the greatest hero who ever lived, was resorted to as an imputation on his honour. The Rose-alley ambuscadebecame almost proverbial;[22] and even Mulgrave, the real author of thesatire, and upon whose shoulders the blows ought in justice to havedescended, mentions the circumstance in his "Art of Poetry;" with a coldand self-sufficient complacent sneer:

 "Though praised and punished for another's rhymes, His own deserve as great applause _sometimes_. "

To which is added in a note, "A libel for which he was both applaudedand wounded, though entirely ignorant of the whole matter. " This flatand conceited couplet, and note, the noble author judged it proper toomit in the corrected edition of his poem. Otway alone, no longer thefriend of Rochester, and perhaps no longer the enemy of Dryden, hasspoken of the author of this dastardly outrage with the contempt hiscowardly malice deserved:

 "Poets in honour of the truth should write, With the same spirit brave men for it fight; And though against him causeless hatreds rise, And daily where he goes, of late, he spies The scowls of sullen and revengeful eyes; 'Tis what he knows with much contempt to bear, And serves a cause too good to let him fear: He fears no poison from incensed drab, No ruffian's five-foot sword, nor rascal's stab; Nor any other snares of mischief laid, _Not a Rose-alley cudgel ambuscade_; From any private cause where malice reigns, Or general pique all blockheads have to brains. "

It does not appear that Dryden ever thought it worth his while to takerevenge on Rochester; and the only allusion to him in his writings maybe found in the Essay prefixed to the translation of Juvenal, where heis mentioned as a man of quality, whose ashes our author was unwillingto disturb, and who had paid Dorset, to whom that piece is inscribed, the highest compliment which his self-sufficiency could afford to anyone. Perhaps Dryden remembered Rochester among others, when, in the samepiece, he takes credit for resisting opportunities and temptation totake revenge, even upon those by whom he had been notoriously andwantonly provoked. [23]

The detail of these quarrels has interrupted our account of Dryden'swritings, which we are now to resume. 

"Aureng-Zebe" was his first performance after the failure of the"Assignation. " It was acted in 1675 with general applause. "Aureng-Zebe"is a heroic, or rhyming play, but not cast in a mould quite so romanticas the "Conquest of Granada. " There is a grave and moral turn in many ofthe speeches, which brings it nearer the style of a French tragedy. Itis true, the character of Moral borders upon extravagance; but a certainlicence has been always given to theatrical tyrants, and we excusebombast in him more readily than in Almanzor. There is perhaps somereason for this indulgence. The possession of unlimited power, vested inactive and mercurial characters, naturally drives them to an extravagantindulgence of passion, bordering upon insanity; and it follows, thattheir language must outstrip the modesty of nature. Propriety of dictionin the drama is relative, and to be referred more to individualcharacter than to general rules: to make a tyrant sober-minded is tomake a madman rational. But this discretion must be used with greatcaution by the writer, lest he should confound the terrible with theburlesque. Two great actors, Kynaston and Booth, differed in their styleof playing Morat. 

The former, who was the original performer, and doubtless had hisinstructions from the author, gave full force to the sentiments ofavowed and barbarous vainglory, which mark the character. When he isdetermined to spare Aureng-Zebe, and Nourmahal pleads, "Twill not be safe to let him live an hour, "

Kynaston gave all the stern and haughty insolence of despotism to hisanswer, "I'll do't to show my arbitrary power. "[24]

But Booth, with modest caution, avoided marking and pressing upon theaudience a sentiment hovering between the comic and terrible, howeverconsonant to the character by whom it was delivered. The principalincident in "Aureng-Zebe" was suggested by King Charles himself. Thetragedy is dedicated to Mulgrave, whose patronage had been so effectual, as to introduce Dryden and his poetical schemes to the peculiar noticeof the king and duke. The dedication and the prologue of this piecethrow considerable light upon these plans, as well as upon therevolution which had gradually taken place in Dryden's dramatic taste. 

During the space which occurred between writing the "Conquest ofGranada" and "Aureng-Zebe", our author's researches into the nature andcauses of harmony of versification been unremitted, and he had probablyalready collected the materials of his intended English _Prosodia_. Besides this labour, he had been engaged in a closer and more criticalexamination of the ancient English poets, than he had before bestowedupon them. These studies seem to have led Dryden to two conclusions:first, that the drama ought to be emancipated from the fetters of rhyme;and secondly, that he ought to employ the system of versification, whichhe had now perfected, to the more legitimate purpose of epic poetry. Each of these opinions merits consideration. 

However hardily Dryden stood forward in defence of the heroic plays, heconfessed, even in the heat of argument, that Rhyme, though he was braveand generous, and his dominion pleasing, had still somewhat of theusurper in him. A more minute inquiry seems to have still furtherdemonstrated the weakness of this usurped dominion; and our author'sgood taste and practice speedily pointed out deficiencies anddifficulties, which Sir Robert Howard, against whom he defended the useof rhyme, could not show, because he never aimed at the excellencieswhich they impeded. The perusal of Shakespeare, on whom Dryden had nowturned his attention, led him to feel, that something further might beattained in tragedy than the expression of exaggerated sentiment insmooth verse, and that the scene ought to represent not a fanciful setof agents exerting their superhuman faculties in a fairy-land of thepoet's own creation, but human characters, acting from the direct andenergetic influence of human passions, with whose emotions the audiencemight sympathise, because akin to the feelings of their own hearts. WhenDryden had once discovered, that fear and pity were more likely to beexcited by other causes than the logic of metaphysical love, or thedictates of fantastic honour, he must have found, that rhyme sounded asunnatural in the dialogue of characters drawn upon the usual scale ofhumanity, as the plate and mail of chivalry would have appeared on thepersons of the actors. The following lines of the Prologue to"Aureng-Zebe, " although prefixed to a rhyming play, the last which heever wrote, express Dryden's change of sentiment on these points:

 "Our author, by experience, finds it true, 'Tis much more hard to please himself than you: And, out of no feigned modesty, this day Damns his laborious trifle of a play: Not that it's worse than what before he writ, But he has now another taste of wit; And, to confess a truth, though out of time, Grows weary of his long-loved mistress, Rhyme. Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound, And Nature flies him like enchanted ground: What verse can do, he has performed in this, Which he presumes the most correct of his; But spite of all his pride, a secret shame Invades his breast at Shakespeare's sacred name: Awed when he hears his godlike Romans rage, He, in a just despair, would quit the stage; And to an age less polished, more unskilled, Does, with disdain, the foremost honours yield. "

It is remarkable, as a trait of character, that, though our authoradmitted his change of opinion on this long disputed point, he would notconsent that it should be imputed to any arguments which his opponentshad the wit to bring against him. On this subject he enters a protest inthe Preface to his revised edition of the "Essay of Dramatic Poesy" in1684:--"I confess, I find many things in this discourse which I do notnow approve; my judgment being not a little altered since the writing ofit; but whether for the better or the worse, I know not: neither indeedis it much material, in an essay, where all I have said isproblematical. For the way of writing plays in verse, which I haveseemed to favour, I have, since that time, laid the practice of itaside, till I have more leisure, because I find it troublesome and slow:but I am no way altered from my opinion of it, _at least with anyreasons which have opposed it_; for your lordship may easily observe, that none are very violent against it, but those who either have notattempted it, or who have succeeded ill in their attempt. "[25] Thuscautious was Dryden in not admitting a victory, even in a cause which, he had surrendered. 

But although the poet had admitted, that, with powers of versificationsuperior to those possessed by any earlier English author, and a tastecorrected by the laborious study both of the language and those who hadused it, he found rhyme unfit for the use of the drama, he at the sametime discovered a province where it might be employed in all itssplendour. We have the mortification to learn, from the Dedication of"Aureng-Zebe, " that Dryden only wanted encouragement to enter upon thecomposition of an epic poem, and to abandon the thriftless task ofwriting for the promiscuous audience of the theatre, --a task which, rivalled as he had lately been by Crowne and Settle, he most justlycompares to the labour of Sisyphus. His plot, he elsewhere explains, wasto be founded either upon the story of Arthur, or of Edward the BlackPrince; and he mentions it to Mulgrave in the following remarkablepassage, which argues great dissatisfaction with dramatic labour, arising perhaps from a combined feeling of the bad taste of rhymingplays, the degrading dispute with Settle, and the failure of the"Assignation, " his last theatrical attempt:--"If I must be condemned torhyme, I should find some ease in my change of punishment. I desire tobe no longer the Sisyphus of the stage; to roll up a stone with endlesslabour, which, to follow the proverb, _gathers no moss_; and which isperpetually falling down again. I never thought myself very fit for anemployment, where many of my predecessors have excelled me in all kinds;and some of my contemporaries, even in my own partial judgment, haveoutdone me in comedy. Some little hopes I have yet remaining (and thosetoo, considering my abilities, may be vain), that I may make the worldsome part of amends for my ill plays, by an heroic poem. Your lordshiphas been long acquainted with my design; the subject of which you knowis great, the story English, and neither too far distant from thepresent age, nor too near approaching it. Such it is in my opinion, thatI could not have wished a nobler occasion to do honour by it to my king, my country, and my friends; most of our ancient nobility being concernedin the action. And your lordship has one particular reason to promotethis undertaking because you were the first who gave me the opportunityof discoursing it to his majesty, and his royal highness; they were thenpleased both to commend the design, and to encourage it by theircommands; but the unsettledness of my condition has hitherto put a stopto my thoughts concerning it. As I am no successor to Homer in his wit, so neither do I desire to be in his poverty. I can make no rhapsodies, nor go a begging at the Grecian doors, while I sing the praises of theirancestors. The times of Virgil please me better, because he had anAugustus for his patron; and, to draw the allegory nearer you, I am sureI shall not want a Maecenas with him. It is for your lordship to stir upthat remembrance in his majesty, which his many avocations of businesshave caused him, I fear, to lay aside; and, as himself and his royalbrother are the heroes of the poem, to represent to them the images oftheir warlike predecessors; as Achilles is said to be roused to glorywith the sight of the combat before the ships. For my own part, I amsatisfied to have offered the design; and it may be to the advantage ofmy reputation to have it refused me. "[26]

Dr. Johnson and Mr. Malone remark, that Dryden observes a mysteryconcerning the subject of his intended epic, to prevent the risk ofbeing anticipated, as he finally was by Sir Richard Blackmore on thetopic of Arthur. This, as well as other passages in Dryden's life, allows us the pleasing indulgence of praising the decency of our owntime. Were an author of distinguished merit to announce his having madechoice of a subject for a large poem, the writer would have more thancommon confidence who should venture to forestall his labours. But, inthe seventeenth century, such an intimation would, it seems, have beenan instant signal for the herd of scribblers to souse upon it, like theharpies on the feast of the Trojans, and leave its mangled relics toopolluted for the use of genius:--

 "_Turba sonans praedam pedibus circumvolat uncis; Polluit ore dopes_. 

 _Semesam praedam et vestigia foeda relinquunt. _"

"Aureng-Zebe" was followed, in 1678, by "All for Love, " the only playDryden ever wrote for himself; the rest, he says, were given to thepeople. The habitual study of Shakespeare, which seems lately to haveoccasioned, at least greatly aided, the revolution in his taste, inducedhim, among a crowd of emulous shooters, to try his strength in this bowof Ulysses. I have, in some preliminary remarks to the play, endeavouredto point out the difference between the manner of these great artists intreating the misfortunes of Antony and Cleopatra. [27] If these are just, we must allow Dryden the praise of greater regularity of plot, and ahappier combination of scene; but in sketching the character of Antony, he loses the majestic and heroic tone which Shakespeare has assignedhim. There is too much of the love-lorn knight-errant, and too little ofthe Roman warrior, in Dryden's hero. The love of Antony, howeveroverpowering and destructive in its effects, ought not to have resembledthe love of a sighing swain of Arcadia. This error in the originalconception of the character must doubtless be ascribed to Dryden's habitof romantic composition. Montezuma and Almanzor were, like the prophet'simage, formed of a mixture of iron and clay; of stern and rigiddemeanour to all the universe, but unbounded devotion to the ladies oftheir affections. In Antony, the first class of attributes arediscarded: he has none of that tumid and outrageous dignity whichcharacterised the heroes of the rhyming plays, and in its stead isgifted with even more than an usual share of devoted attachment to hismistress. [28] In the preface, Dryden piques himself upon venturing tointroduce the quarrelling scene between Octavia and Cleopatra, which aFrench writer would have rejected, as contrary to the decorum of thetheatre. But our author's idea of female character was at all times low;and the coarse, indecent violence, which he has thrown into theexpressions of a queen and a Roman matron, is misplaced and disgusting, and contradicts the general and well-founded observation on the addressand self-command with which even women of ordinary dispositions can veilmutual dislike and hatred, and the extreme keenness with which they canarm their satire, while preserving all the external forms of civildemeanour. But Dryden more than redeemed this error in the scene betweenAntony and Ventidius, which he himself preferred to any that he everwrote, and perhaps with justice, if we except that between Dorax andSebastian: both are avowedly written in imitation of the quarrel betweenBrutus and Cassius. "All for Love" was received by the public withuniversal applause. Its success, with that of "Aureng-Zebe, " gave freshlustre to the author's reputation, which had been somewhat tarnished bythe failure of the "Assignation, " and the rise of so many rivaldramatists. We learn from the Players' petition to the Lord Chamberlain, that "All for Love" was of service to the author's fortune as well as tohis fame, as he was permitted the benefit of a third night, in additionto his profits as a sharer with the company. [29] The play was dedicatedto the Earl of Danby, then a minister in high power, but who, in thecourse of a few months, was disgraced and imprisoned at the suit of theCommons. As Danby was a great advocate for prerogative, Dryden fails notto approach him with an encomium on monarchical government, as regulatedand circumscribed by law. In reprobating the schemes of thoseinnovators, who, surfeiting on happiness, endeavoured to persuade theirfellow-subjects to risk a change, he has a pointed allusion to the Earlof Shaftesbury, who, having left the royal councils in disgrace, was nowat the head of the popular faction. 

In 1678 Dryden's next play, a comedy, entitled "Limberham, " was acted atDorset-garden theatre, but was endured for three nights only. It wasdesigned, the author informs us, as a satire on "the crying sin ofkeeping;" and the crime for which it suffered was, that "it expressedtoo much of the vice which it decried. " Grossly indelicate as this playstill is, it would seem, from the Dedication to Lord Vaughan, that muchwhich offended on the stage was altered, or omitted, in the press;[30]yet more than enough remains to justify the sentence pronounced againstit by the public. Mr. Malone seems to suppose Shaftesbury's party hadsome share in its fate, supposing that the character of Limberham hadreference to their leader. Yet surely, although Shaftesbury wasridiculous for aiming at gallantry, from which his age and personalinfirmity should have deterred him, Dryden would never have drawn thewitty, artful politician, as a silly, henpecked cully. Besides, Drydenwas about this time supposed even himself to have some leaning to thepopular cause; a supposition irreconcilable with his caricaturing thefoibles of Shaftesbury. 

The tragedy of "Oedipus" was written by Dryden in conjunction with Lee;the entire first and third acts were the work of our author, who alsoarranged the general plan, and corrected the whole piece. Having offeredsome observations[31] elsewhere upon this play, and the mode in whichits celebrated theme has been treated by the dramatists of differentnations, I need not here resume the subject. The time of the firstrepresentation is fixed to the beginning of the playing season, inwinter 1678-9, although it was not printed until 1679. [32] Both"Limberham" and "Oedipus" were acted at the Duke's theatre; so that itwould seem that our author was relieved from his contract with theKing's house, probably because the shares were so much diminished invalue, that his appointment was now no adequate compensation for hislabour. The managers of the King's company complained to the LordChamberlain, and endeavoured, as we have seen, by pleading upon thecontract, to assert their right to the play of "Oedipus. "[33] But theirclaim to reclaim the poet and the play appears to have been set aside, and Dryden continued to give his performances to the Duke's theatreuntil the union of the two companies. 

Dryden was now to do a new homage to Shakespeare, by refitting for thestage the play of "Troilus and Cressida, " which the author left in astate of strange imperfection, resembling more a chronicle, or legend, than a dramatic piece. Yet it may be disputed whether Dryden has greatlyimproved it even in the particulars which he censures in his original. His plot, though more artificial, is at the same time more trite thanthat of Shakespeare. The device by which Troilus is led to doubt theconstancy of Cressida is much less natural than that she should havebeen actually inconstant; her vindication by suicide is a clumsy, aswell as a hackneyed expedient; and there is too much drum and trumpet inthe grand _finale_, where "Troilus and Diomede fight, and both partiesengage at the same time. The Trojans make the Greeks retire, and Troilusmakes Diomede give ground, and hurts him. Trumpets sound. Achillesenters with his Myrmidons, on the backs of the Trojans, who fight in aring, encompassed round. Troilus, singling Diomede, gets him down, andkills him; and Achilles kills Troilus upon him. All the Trojans die uponthe place, Troilus last. " Such a _bellum internecinum_ can never bewaged to advantage upon the stage. One extravagant passage in this playserves strongly to evince Dryden's rooted dislike to the clergy. Troilusexclaims, --

 "That I should trust the daughter of a priest! Priesthood, that makes a merchandise of heaven! Priesthood, that sells even to their prayers and blessings, And forces us to pay for our own cozenage!

 _Thersites_. Nay, cheats heaven too with entrails and with offals; Gives it the garbage of a sacrifice, And keeps the best for private luxury. 

 Troilus_. Thou hast deserved thy life for cursing priests. Let me embrace thee; thou art beautiful: That back, that nose, those eyes are beautiful: Live; thou art honest, for thou hat'st a priest. "

Dryden prefixed to "Troilus and Cressida" his excellent remarks on theGrounds of Criticism in Tragedy, giving up, with dignified indifferencethe faults even of his own pieces, when they contradict the rules hislater judgment had adopted. How much his taste had altered since his"Essay of Dramatic Poesy, " or at least since his "Remarks on HeroicPlays, " will appear from the following abridgment of his new maxims. Theplot, according to these remarks, ought to be simply and naturallydetailed from its commencement to its conclusion, --a rule which excludedthe crowded incidents of the Spanish drama; and the personages ought tobe dignified and virtuous, that their misfortunes might at once excitepity and terror. The plots of Shakespeare and Fletcher are meted by thisrule, and pronounced inferior in mechanic regularity to those of BenJonson. The character of the agents, or persons, are next to beconsidered; and it is required that their manner shall be at oncemarked, dramatic, consistent, and natural. And here the supereminentpower of Shakespeare, in displaying the manners, bent, and inclinationof his characters, is pointed out to the reader's admiration. Thecopiousness of his invention, and his judgment in sustaining the ideaswhich he started, are illustrated by referring to Caliban, a creature ofthe fancy, begot by an incubus upon a witch, and furnished with aperson, language, and character befitting his pedigree on both sides. The passions are then considered as included in the manners; and Dryden, at once and peremptorily, condemns both the extravagance of language, which substitutes noise for feeling, and those points and turns of wit, which misbecome one actuated by real and deep emotion. He candidly givesan example of the last error from his own Montezuma who, pursued by hisenemies, and excluded from the fort, describes his situation in a longsimile, taken besides from the sea, which he had only heard of for thefirst time in the first act. As a description of natural passion, thefamous procession of King Richard in the train of the fortunate usurperis quoted, in justice to the divine author. From these just and liberalrules of criticism, it is easy to discover that Dryden had alreadyadopted a better taste, and was disgusted with comedies, where theentertainment arose from bustling incident, and tragedies, wheresounding verse was substituted for the delineation of manners andexpression of feeling. These opinions he pointedly expresses in thePrologue to "Troilus and Cressida, " which was spoken by Betterton, representing the ghost of Shakespeare:

 "See, my loved Britons, see your Shakespeare rise, An awful ghost confessed to human eyes! Unnamed, methinks, distinguished I had been, From other shades, by this eternal green, About whose wreaths the vulgar poets strive, And, with a touch, their withered bays revive. Untaught, unpractised, in a barbarous age, I found not, but created first the stage. And if I drained no Greek or Latin store, 'Twas that my own abundance gave me more. On foreign trade I needed not rely, Like fruitful Britain, rich without supply. In this, my rough-drawn play, you shall behold Some master-strokes, so manly and so bold, That he who meant to alter, found 'em such; He shook, and thought it sacrilege to touch. Now, where are the successors to my name? What bring they to fill out a poet's fame? Weak, short-lived issues of a feeble age; Scarce living to be christened on the stage! For humour _farce_, for love they _rhyme_ dispense, That tolls the knell for their departed sense. "

It is impossible to read these lines, remembering Dryden's earlieropinions, without acknowledging the truth of the ancient proverb, _Magnaest veritas, et praevalebit_. 

The "Spanish Friar, " our author's most successful comedy, succeeded"Troilus and Cressida. " Without repeating the remarks which are prefixedto the play in the present edition, [34] we may briefly notice, that inthe tragic scenes our author has attained that better strain of dramaticpoetry which he afterwards evinced in "Sebastian. " In the comic part, the well-known character of Father Dominic, though the conception onlyembodies the abstract idea which the ignorant and prejudiced fanatics ofthe day formed to themselves of a Romish priest, is brought out andillustrated with peculiar spirit. The gluttony, avarice, debauchery, andmeanness of Dominic are qualified with the talent and wit necessary tosave him from being utterly detestable; and, from the beginning to theend of the piece, these qualities are so happily tinged with insolencehypocrisy, and irritability, that they cannot be mistaken for theavarice, debauchery, gluttony, and meanness of any other profession thanthat of a bad churchman. In the tragic plot, we principally admire thegeneral management of the opening, and chiefly censure the cold-bloodedbarbarity and perfidy of the young queen, in instigating the murder ofthe deposed sovereign, and then attempting to turn the guilt on heraccomplice. I fear Dryden here forgot his own general rule, that thetragic hero and heroine should have so much virtue as to entitle theirdistress to the tribute of compassion. Altogether, however, the "SpanishFriar, " in both its parts, is an interesting, and almost a fascinatingplay; although the tendency, even of the tragic scenes, is not laudable, and the comedy, though more decent in language, is not less immoral intendency than was usual in that loose age. 

Dryden attached considerable importance to the art with which the comicand tragic scenes of the "Spanish Friar" are combined; and in doing sohe has received the sanction of Dr. Johnson. Indeed, as the ardour ofhis mind ever led him to prize that task most highly, on which he hadmost lately employed his energy, he has affirmed, in the dedication tothe "Spanish Friar, " that there was an absolute necessity for combiningtwo actions in tragedy, for the sake of variety. "The truth is, " headds, "the audience are grown weary of continued melancholy scenes; andI dare venture to prophesy, that few tragedies, except those in verse, shall succeed in this age, if they are not lightened with a course ofmirth; for the feast is too dull and solemn without the fiddles. " Thenecessity of the relief alluded to may be admitted, without allowingthat we must substitute either the misplaced charms of versification, ora secondary comic plot, to relieve the solemn weight and monotony oftragedy. It is no doubt true, that a highly-buskined tragedy, in whichall the personages maintain the funereal pomp usually required from thevictims of Melpomene, is apt to be intolerably tiresome, after all thepains which a skilful and elegant poet can bestow upon finishing it. Butit is chiefly tiresome, because it is unnatural; and, in respect ofpropriety, ought no more to be relieved by the introduction of a set ofcomic scenes, independent of those of a mournful complexion, than the_sombre_ air of a funeral should be enlivened by a concert of fiddles. There appear to be two legitimate modes of interweaving tragedy withsomething like comedy. The first and most easy, which has often beenresorted to, is to make the lower or less marked characters of thedrama, like the porter in "Macbeth, " or the fool in "King Lear, " speakthe language appropriated to their station, even in the midst of thedistresses of the piece; nay, they may be permitted to have some slightunder-intrigue of their own. This, however, requires the exertion ofmuch taste and discrimination; for if we are once seriously and deeplyinterested in the distress of the play, the intervention of anythinglike buffoonery may unloosen the hold which the author has gained on thefeelings of the audience. If such subordinate comic characters are of arank to intermix in the tragic dialogue, their mirth ought to bechastened, till their language bears a relation to that of the higherpersons. For example, nothing can be more absurd than in "DonSebastian, " and some of Southerne's tragedies, to hear the comiccharacter answer in prose, and with a would-be witticism, to the solemn, unrelaxed blank verse of his tragic companion. [35] Mercutio is, I think, one of the best instances of such a comic person as may be reasonablyand with propriety admitted into tragedy: from which, however, I do notexclude those lower characters, whose conversation appears absurd ifmuch elevated above their rank. There is, however, another mode, yetmore difficult to be used with address, but much more fortunate ineffect when it has been successfully employed. This is, when theprincipal personages themselves do not always remain in the buckram oftragedy, but reserve, as in common life, lofty expressions for greatoccasions, and at other times evince themselves capable of feeling thelighter, as well as the more violent or more deep, affections of themind. The shades of comic humour in Hamlet, in Hotspur, and inFalconbridge, are so far from injuring, that they greatly aid the effectof the tragic scenes, in which these same persons take a deep andtragical share. We grieve with them, when grieved, still more because wehave rejoiced with them when they rejoiced; and, on the whole, weacknowledge a deeper _frater feeling_, as Burns has termed it, in menwho are actuated by the usual changes of human temperament, than inthose who, contrary to the nature of humanity, are eternally actuated byan unvaried strain of tragic feeling. But whether the poet diversifieshis melancholy scenes by the passing gaiety of subordinate characters;or whether he qualifies the tragic state of his heroes by occasionallyassigning lighter tasks to them; or whether he chooses to employ bothmodes of relieving the weight of misery through live long acts; it isobviously unnecessary that he should distract the attention of hisaudience, and destroy the regularity of his play, by introducing a comicplot with personages and interest altogether distinct, and intrigue butslightly connected with that of the tragedy. Dryden himself afterwardsacknowledged that though he was fond of the "Spanish Friar, " he couldnot defend it from the imputation of Gothic and unnatural irregularity;"for mirth and gravity destroy each other, and are no more to be allowedfor decent, than a gay widow laughing in a mourning habit. "[36]

The "Spanish Friar" was brought out in 1681-2, when the nation was in aferment against the Catholics on account of the supposed plot. It isdedicated to John, Lord Haughton, as _protestant play_ inscribed to a_protestant patron_. It was also the last dramatic work, excepting thepolitical play of the "Duke of Guise, " and the masque of "Albion andAlbanius, " brought out by our author before the Revolution. And inpolitical tendency, the "Spanish Friar" has so different colouring fromthese last pieces, that it is worth while to pause to examine theprivate relations of the author when he composed it. 

Previous to 1678, Lord Mulgrave, our author's constant and probablyeffectual patron, had given him an opportunity of discoursing over hisplan of an epic poem to the king and Duke of York; and in the preface to"Aureng-Zebe" in that year, the poet intimates an indirect complaintthat the royal brothers had neglected his plan. [37] About two yearsafterwards, Mulgrave seems himself to have fallen into disgrace, and wasconsidered as in opposition to the court. [38] Dryden was deprived of hisintercession, and seems in some degree to have shared his disgrace. The"Essay on Satire" became public in November 1679, and being generallyimputed to Dryden, it is said distinctly by one libeller, that hispension was for a time interrupted. [39] This does not seem likely; it ismore probable, that Dryden shared the general fate of the household ofCharles II. , whose appointments were but irregularly paid; but perhapshis supposed delinquency made it more difficult for him than others toobtain redress. At this period broke out the pretended discovery of thePopish Plot, in which Dryden, even in "Absalom and Achitophel, " evincesa partial belief. [40] Not encouraged, if not actually discountenanced, at court; sharing in some degree the discontent of his patron Mulgrave;above all, obliged by his situation to please the age in which he lived, Dryden did not probably hold the reverence of the Duke of York sosacred, as to prevent his making the ridicule of the Catholic religionthe means of recommending his play to the passions of the audience. Neither was his situation at court in any danger from his closing onthis occasion with the popular tide. Charles, during the heat of thePopish plot, was so far from being in a situation to incur odium bydismissing a laureate for having written a _Protestant play_, that hewas obliged for a time to throw the reins of government into the handsof those very persons to whom the Papists were most obnoxious. Theinference drawn from Dryden's performance was that he had deserted thecourt; and the Duke of York was so much displeased with the tenor of theplay, that it was the only one of which, on acceding to the crown, heprohibited the representation. The "Spanish Friar" was often objected tothe author by his opponents, after he had embraced the religion theresatirised. Nor was the idea of his apostasy from the court an inventionof his enemies after his conversion, for it prevailed at thecommencement of the party-disputes; and the name of Dryden is, by apartisan of royalty, ranked with that of his bitter foe Shadwell, asfollowers of Shaftesbury in 1680. [41] But whatever cause of coolness ordisgust our author had received from Charles or his brother, wasremoved, as usual, so soon as his services became necessary; and thusthe supposed author of a libel on the king became the ablest defender ofthe cause of monarchy, and the author of the "Spanish Friar" theadvocate and convert of the Catholic religion. 

In his private circumstances Dryden must have been even worse situatedthan at the close of the last Section. His contract with the King'sCompany was now ended, and long before seems to have produced him littleprofit. If Southerne's biographer can be trusted, Dryden never made by asingle play more than one hundred pounds; so that, with all hisfertility, he could not, at his utmost exertion, make more than twohundred a year by his theatrical labours. [42] At the same time, they sototally engrossed his leisure, that he produced no other work ofconsequence after the "_Annus Mirabilis. _"[43] If, therefore, thepayment of his pension was withheld, whether from the resentment of thecourt, or the poverty of the exchequer, he might well complain of the"unsettled state" which doomed him to continue these irksome andill-paid labours. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Malone, vol. I. P. 124. 

[2] Dennis's account of these feuds, though not strictly accurate islively, and too curious to be suppressed. "Nothing, " says Dennis, "ismore certain, than that Mr. Settle, who is now (1717) the city poet, wasformerly a poet of the court. And at what time was he so? Why, in thereign of King Charles the Second, when that court was more gallant andmore polite than ever the English court perhaps had been before; whenthere was at court the present and the late Duke of Buckingham, the lateEarl of Dorset, Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, famous for his wit andpoetry, Sir Charles Sedley, Mr. Saville, Mr. Buckley, and severalothers. 

"Mr. Settle's first tragedy, 'Cambyses, King of Persia, ' was acted forthree weeks together. The second, which was 'The Empress of Morocco, 'was acted for a month together; and was in such high esteem both withthe court and town that it was acted at Whitehall before the king by thegentlemen and ladies of the court; and the prologue, which was spoken bythe Lady Betty Howard, was writ by the famous Lord Rochester. Thebookseller who printed it, depending upon the prepossession of the town, ventured to distinguish it from all the plays that had been everpublished before; for it was the first play that ever was sold inEngland for two shillings, and the first that ever was printed withcuts. The booksellers at that time of day had not discovered so much ofthe weakness of their gentle readers as they have done since, nor soplainly discovered that fools, like children, are to be drawn in bygewgaws. --Well; but what was the event of this great success? Mr. Settlebegan to grow insolent, as any one may see, who reads the epistlededicatory to 'The Empress of Morocco. ' Mr. Dryden, Mr. Shadwell, andMr. Crowne, began to grow jealous; and they three in confederacy wrote'Remarks on the Empress of Morocco. ' Mr. Settle answered them; and, according to the opinion which the town then had of the matter (for Ihave utterly forgot the controversy), had by much the better of themall. In short, Mr. Settle was then a formidable rival to Mr. Dryden; andI remember very well, that not only the town, but the university ofCambridge, was very much divided in their opinions about the preferencethat ought to be given to them; and in both places the younger fryinclined to Elkanah. "

[3] Lord Mulgrave wrote the prologue when Settle's play was first actedat court; Lord Rochester's was written for the second occasion; bothwere spoken by the beautiful Lady Elizabeth Howard. 

[4] See this offensive dedication in the account of Settle's controversywith Dryden. 

[5] A copy of this rare edition (the gift of my learned friend, the Rev. Henry White of Lichfield) is now before me. The engravings aresufficiently paltry; and had the play been published even in the presentday, it would have been accounted dear at two shillings. The name of thepublisher is William Cademan, the date 1673. [See H. Morley, "EnglishPlays, " pp. 351, 352. --ED. ]

[6] This title is omitted in subsequent editions. 

[7] Of whom it was said, that he spoke "to the tune of a good speech. "

[8] As, for example, this stage-direction: "Here a company of villainsin ambush from behind the scenes discharge their guns at Muly-Hamet; atwhich Muly-Hamet starting and turning, Hametalhaz from under hispriest's habit draws a sword and passes at Muly-H. , which pass isintercepted by Abdeleader. They engage in a very fierce fight with thevillains, who also draw and assist Hametalhaz, and go off several waysfighting; after the discharge of other guns heard from within, and theclashing of swords, enter again Muly-Hamet, driving in some of theformer villains, which he kills. "

[9] In the fifth act the scene draws and discovers Crimalhaz cast downon the _guanches_, i. E. Hung on a wall set with spikes, scythe-blades, and hooks of iron; which scene (to judge from the engraving) exhibitedthe mangled limbs and wasted bones of former sufferers, suspended inagreeable confusion. With this pleasing display the piece concluded. 

[10] Settle's pamphlet was contumaciously entitled, "Notes andObservations on the Empress of Morocco revised, with some few erratas;to be printed instead of the Postscript with the next Edition of theConquest of Granada, 1674. " See some quotations from this piece, vol. Xv. 

[11] His comedy of "Sir Courtly Nice" exhibits marks of comic power. [The condemnation of his other work is a little too sweeping. --ED. ]

[12] See vol. X. 

[13] [As is the case with many other circumstances of the life ofDryden, this business of _Calisto_ has been much exaggerated. The amountof positive evidence of Rochester's interference is exceedingly small, and of his ill offices in regard to the epilogue there is no proofwhatever. --ED. ]

[14] So called, according to the communicative old correspondent of theGentleman's Magazine in 1745, from the unalterable stiffness of his longcravat. 

[15] "I am well satisfied I had the greatest party of men of wit andsense on my side: amongst which I can never enough acknowledge theunspeakable obligations I received from the Earl of R. , who, far abovewhat I am ever able to deserve from him, seemed almost to make it hisbusiness to establish it in the good opinion of the king and his royalhighness; from both of which I have since received confirmations oftheir good-liking of it, and encouragement to proceed. And it is to him, I must, in all gratitude, confess, I owe the greatest part of my goodsuccess in this and on whose indulgency I extremely build my hopes of anext. " Accordingly, next year, Otway's play of "Titus and Berenice" isinscribed to Rochester, "his good and generous patron. "

[16] "Tom Otway came next, Tom Shailwell's dear zany, And swears for heroics he writes best of any; 'Don Carlos' his pockets so amply had filled, That his mange was quite cured, and his lice were all killed. But Apollo had seen his face on the stage, And prudently did not think fit to engage The scum of a playhouse for the prop of an age. "

[17] "Though a certain writer, that shall be nameless (but you may guessat him by what follows), being ask'd his opinion of this play, verygravely cock't, and cry'd, _I'gad_ he knew not a line in it he would beauthour of. But he is a fine facetious witty person, as my friend SirFormal has it; and to be even with him, I know a comedy of his, that hasnot so much as a quibble in it which I would be authour of. And so, reader, I bid him and thee farewell. " The use of Dryden's interjection, well known through Bayes's employing it, ascertains him to be the poetmeant. 

[18] "Well, sir, 'tis granted; I said Dryden's rhymes Were stolen, unequal, nay dull many times; What foolish patron is there found of his, So blindly partial to deny me this? But that his plays, embroidered up and down With learning, justly pleased the town, In the same paper I as freely own. Yet, having this allowed, the heavy mass, That stuffs up his loose volumes, must not pass; For by that rule I might as well admit Crowne's tedious scenes for poetry and wit. 'Tis therefore not enough when your false sense Hits the false judgment of an audience Of clapping fools assembling, a vast crowd, Till the thronged playhouse cracked with the dull load; Though even that talent merits, in some sort, That can divert the rabble and the court; Which blundering Settle never could obtain, And puzzling Otway labours at in vain. "

He afterwards mentions Etherege's seductive poetry, and adds:

 "Dryden in vain tried this nice way of wit; For he, to be a tearing blade, thought fit To give the ladies a dry bawdy bob; And thus he got the name of _Poet Squab_. But to be just, 'twill to his praise be found, His excellencies more than faults abound; Nor dare I from his sacred temples tear The laurel, which he best deserves to wear. But does not Dryden find even Jonson dull? Beaumont and Fletcher uncorrect, and full Of lewd lines, as he calls them? Shakespeare's style Stiff and affected? To his own the while Allowing all the justice that his pride So arrogantly had to these denied? And may not I have leave impartially To search and censure Dryden's works, and try If those gross faults his choice pen doth commit, Proceed from want of judgment, or of wit? Or if his lumpish fancy does refuse Spirit and grace, to his loose slattern muse? Five hundred verses every morning writ, Prove him no more a poet than a wit. "

[19] "Rochester I despise for's mere want of wit, Though thought to have a tail and cloven feet; For while he mischief means to all mankind, Himself alone the ill effects does find; And so, like witches, justly suffers shame, Whose harmless malice is so much the same. False are his words, affected is his wit, So often does he aim, so seldom hit. To every face he cringes while he speaks, But when the back is turned, the head he breaks. Mean in each action, lewd in every limb, Manners themselves are mischievous in him; A proof that chance alone makes every creature, -- A very Killigrew, without good-nature. For what a [Transcriber's note: "Bessus?" Print unclear] has he always lived, And his own kickings notably contrived; For (there's the folly that's still mixed with fear) Cowards more blows than any hero bear. Of fighting sparks Fame may her pleasure say, But 'tis a bolder thing to run away. The world may well forgive him all his ill, For every fault does prove his penance still. Falsely he lulls into some dangerous noose, And then as meanly labours to get loose. A life so infamous is better quitting; Spent in base injury and low submitting. -- I'd like to have left out his poetry, Forgot by all almost as well as me. Sometimes he has some humour, never wit, And if it rarely, very rarely hit, 'Tis under such a nasty rubbish laid, To find it out's the cinder-woman's trade; Who for the wretched remnants of a fire, Must toil all day in ashes and in mire. So lewdly dull his idle works appear, The wretched text deserves no comments here; Where one poor thought sometime's left all alone, For a whole page of dulness to atone: 'Mongst forty bad, one tolerable line, Without expression, fancy, or design. "

[20] "Whereas John Dryden, Esq. , was on Monday the 18th instant, atnight, barbarously assaulted, and wounded in Rose-street, inCovent-garden, by divers men unknown; if any person shall makediscovery of the said offenders to the said Mr. Dryden, or to anyjustice of the peace, he shall not only receive fifty pounds, which isdeposited in the hands of Mr. Blanchard, goldsmith, next door toTemple-bar, for the said purpose; but if he be a principal, or anaccessory, in the said fact, his Majesty is graciously pleased topromise him his pardon for the same. "--_London Gazette_, from December18th to December 22d, 1679. Mr. Malone mentions the same advertisementin a newspaper, entitled, "Domestic Intelligence or News from City andCountry. "

[21] I might also mention the sentiment of Count Conigsmarck, whoallowed, that the barbarous assassination of Mr. Thynne by his bravoeswas a slain on his blood, but such a one as a good action in the wars, or a lodging on a counterscarp, would easily wash out. See his Trial, "State Trials, " vol. Iv. But Conigsmarck was a foreigner. 

[22] For example, a rare broadside in ridicule of Benjamin Harris theWhig publisher, entitled, "The Saint turned Courtezan, or a new Plotdiscovered by a precious Zealot of an Assault and Battery designed uponthe Body of a sanctified Sister, "Who, in her husband's absence, with a brother Did often use to comfort one another, Till wide-mouthed Crop, who is an old Italian, Took his mare nappy, and surprised her stallion, Who, steal of entertainment from his mistress, Did meet a cudgelling not matched in histories. "

 "Who's there?" quoth watchful Argus. "Tis I, in longing passion, Give me a kiss. " Quoth Ben, "Take this, _A Dryden salutation_. "

 "Help Care, Vile, Smith, and Curtes, Each zealous covenanter! What wonder the atheist L'Estrange should turn papist, When a zealot turns a ranter. "

[23] Vol. Xiii. 

[24] Cibber's Apology, 4to, p. 74. 

[25] Vol. Xv. 

[26] Vol. V. 

[27] Vol. V. 

[28] This distinction our author himself points out in the Prologue. Thepoet there says, "His hero, whom you wits his bully call, Bates of his mettle, and scarce rants at all; He's somewhat lewd, but a well-meaning mind, Weeps much, fights little, but is wondrous kind. "--Vol. V. 

[29] See Footnote 26, Section II, this volume. 

[30] Mr. Malone has seen a MS. Copy of "Limberham" in its originalstate, found by Bolingbroke in the sweepings of Pope's study. Itcontained several exceptionable passages, afterwards erased or altered. 

[31] Vol. Vi. 

[32] By allusion to the act for burying in woollen. 

[33] [Transcriber's note: "See their Petition, page 88" in original. This is to be found in Footnote 26, Section II. ]

[34] Vol. Vi. 

[35] This is ridiculed in "Chrononhotonthologos. "

[36] Parallel of Poetry and Painting, vol. Xvii. 

[37] [Transcriber's note: "See page 181" in original. This approximatesto paragraphs preceding reference [26] in text, Section IV. ]

[38] He is said to have cast the eyes of ambitious affection on the LadyAnne (afterwards queen), daughter of the Duke of York; at whichpresumption Charles was so much offended, that when Mulgrave went torelieve Tangier in 1680, he is said to have been appointed to a leakyand frail vessel, in hopes that he might perish; an injury which heresented so highly, as not to permit the king's health to be drunk athis table till the voyage was over. On his return from Tangier he wasrefused the regiment of the Earl of Plymouth; and, considering hisservices as neglected, for a time joined those who were discontentedwith the government. He was probably reclaimed by receiving thegovernment of Hull and lieutenancy of Yorkshire. See vol. Ix. 

[39] In a poem called "The Laureat, " the satirist is so ill informed, asstill to make Dryden the author of the "Essay on Satire. " Surely it isunlikely to suppose, that he should have submitted to the loss of apension, which he so much needed, rather than justify himself, wherejustification was so easy. Yet his resentment is said to have been

 "For Pension lost, and justly, without doubt: When servants snarl we ought to kick them out. * * * * * That lost, the visor changed, you turn about, And straight a true-blue Protestant crept out. The _Friar_ now was wrote; and some will say, They smell a malcontent through all the play. "

See the whole passage, vol. Vi. 

[40] See, for this point also, the volume last quoted. 

[41] In "A Modest Vindication of Antony, Earl of Shaftesbury, in aLetter to a Friend concerning his having been elected King of Poland, "Dryden is named poet-laureate to the supposed king-elect, and Shadwellhis deputy. See vol. Ix. 

[42] "Dryden being very desirous of knowing how much Southerne had madeby the profits of one of his plays, the other, conscious of the littlesuccess Dryden had met with in theatrical compositions, declined thequestion, and answered, he was really ashamed to acquaint him. Drydencontinuing to be solicitous to be informed, Southerne owned he hadcleared by his last play £700; which appeared astonishing to Dryden, whowas perhaps ashamed to confess, that he had never been able to acquire, by any of his most successful pieces, more than £100. "--_Life ofSoutherne_ prefixed to his Plays. 

[43] There was published, 1679, a translation of Appian, printed forJohn Amery at the Peacock, against St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet-street. It is inscribed by the translator, J. D. , to the Earl of Ossory; andseems to have been undertaken by his command. This work is usuallytermed in catalogues, Dryden's Appian. I presume it may be the work ofthat Jonathan Dryden who is mentioned in p 26. 

SECTION V. 

_Dryden engages in Politics--Absalom and Achitophel, Part First--TheMedal--MacFlecknoe--Absalom and Achitophel, Part Second--The Duke ofGuise. _

The controversies, in which Dryden had hitherto been engaged, were of aprivate complexion, arising out of literary disputes and rivalry. Butthe country was now deeply agitated by political faction; and sopowerful an auxiliary was not permitted by his party to remain in astate of inactivity. The religion of the Duke of York rendered himobnoxious to a large proportion of the people, still agitated by theterrors of the Popish Plot. The Duke of Monmouth, handsome, young, brave, and courteous, had all the external requisites for a popularidol; and what he wanted in mental qualities was amply supplied by theMachiavel subtlety of Shaftesbury. The life of Charles was the onlyisthmus between these contending tides, "which, mounting, viewed eachother from afar, and strove in vain to meet. " It was already obvious, that the king's death was to be the signal of civil war. His situationwas doubly embarrassing, because, in all probability, Monmouth, whoseclaims were both unjust in themselves and highly derogatory to theauthority of the crown, was personally amiable, and more beloved byCharles than was his inflexible and bigoted brother. But to consent tothe bill for excluding the lawful heir from the crown, would have beenat the same time putting himself in a state of pupillage for the rest ofhis reign, and evincing to his subjects, that they had nothing to expectfrom attachment to his person, or defence of his interest. This was asacrifice not to be thought of so long as the dreadful recollection ofthe wars in the preceding reign determined a large party to support themonarch, while he continued willing to accept of their assistance. Charles accordingly adopted a determined course; and, to the rage ratherthan confusion of his partisans, Monmouth was banished to Holland, fromwhence he boldly returned without the king's licence, and openly assumedthe character of the leader of a party. Estranged from court, he madevarious progresses through the country, and employed every art which thegenius of Shaftesbury could suggest, to stimulate the courage, and toincrease the number, of his partisans. The press, that awful power, sooften and so rashly misused, was not left idle. Numbers of thebooksellers were distinguished as Protestant or fanatical publishers;and their shops teemed with the furious declamations of Ferguson, theinflammatory sermons of Hickeringill, the political disquisitions ofHunt, and the party plays and libellous poems of Settle and Shadwell. Anhost of rhymers, inferior even to those last named, attacked the king, the Duke of York, and the ministry, in songs and libels, which, howeverpaltry, were read, sung, rehearsed, and applauded. It was time that somechampion should appear in behalf of the crown, before the public shouldhave been irrecoverably alienated by the incessant and slanderousclamour of its opponents. Dryden's place, talents, and mode of thinking, qualified him for this task. He was the poet-laureate and householdservant of the king thus tumultuously assailed. His vein of satire waskeen, terse, and powerful, beyond any that has since been displayed. From the time of the Restoration, he had been a favourer of monarchy, perhaps more so, because the opinion divided him from his own family. Ifhe had been for a time neglected, the smiles of a sovereign soon makehis coldness forgotten; and if his narrow fortune was not increased, oreven rendered stable, he had promises of provision, which inclined himto look to the future with hope, and endure the present with patience. If he had shared in the discontent which for a time severed Mulgravefrom the royal party, that cause ceased to operate when his patron wasreconciled to the court, and received a share of the spoils of thedisgraced Monmouth. [1] If there wanted further impulse to induce Dryden, conscious of his strength, to mingle in an affray where it might bedisplayed to advantage, he had the stimulus of personal attachment andpersonal enmity, to sharpen his political animosity. Ormond, Halifax, and Hyde, Earl of Rochester, among the nobles, were his patrons; Lee andSoutherne, among the poets, were his friends. These were partisans ofroyalty. The Duke of York, whom the "Spanish Friar" probably hadoffended, was conciliated by a prologue on his visiting the theatre athis return from Scotland, [2] and it is said, by the omission of certainpeculiarly offensive passages, so soon as the play was reprinted. [3] Theopposite ranks contained Buckingham, author of the "Rehearsal;"Shadwell, with whom our poet now urged open war; and Settle, theinsolence of whose rivalry was neither forgotten nor duly avenged. Therespect due to Monmouth was probably the only consideration to beovercome: but his character was to be handled with peculiar lenity; andhis duchess, who, rather than himself, had patronised Dryden, was sodissatisfied with the politics, as well as the other irregularities, ofher husband, that there was no danger of her taking a gentle correctionof his ambition as any affront to herself. Thus stimulated by everymotive, and withheld by none, Dryden composed, and on the 17th November1681 published, the satire of "Absalom and Achitophel. "

The plan of the satire was not new to the public. A Catholic poet had, in 1679, paraphrased the scriptural story of Naboth's vine-yard andapplied it to the condemnation of Lord Stafford, on account of thePopish Plot. [4] This poem is written in the style of a scripturalallusion; the names and situations of personages in the holy text beingapplied to those contemporaries, to whom the author assigned a place inhis piece. Neither was the obvious application of the story of Absalomand Achitophel to the persons of Monmouth and Shaftesbury first made byour poet. A prose paraphrase, published in 1080, had already beencomposed upon this allusion. [5] But the vigour of the satire, the happyadaptation, not only of the incidents, but of the very names to theindividuals characterised, gave Dryden's poem the full effect ofnovelty. It appeared a very short time after Shaftesbury had beencommitted to the Tower, and only a few days before the grand jury wereto take under consideration the bill preferred against him for hightreason. Its sale was rapid beyond example; and even those who were mostseverely characterised, were compelled to acknowledge the beauty, if notthe justice, of the satire. The character of Monmouth, an easy andgentle temper, inflamed beyond its usual pitch by ambition, and seducedby the arts of a wily and interested associate, is touched withexquisite delicacy. The poet is as careful of the offending Absalom'sfame, as the father in Scripture of the life of his rebel son. Thefairer side of his character is industriously presented, and a veildrawn over all that was worthy of blame. But Shaftesbury pays the lenitywith which Monmouth is dismissed. The traits of praise, and the tributepaid to that statesman's talents, are so qualified and artfully blendedwith censure, that they seem to render his faults even more conspicuous, and more hateful. In this skilful mixture of applause and blame lies thenicest art of satire. There must be an appearance of candour on the partof the poet, and just so much merit allowed, even to the object of hiscensure, as to make his picture natural. It is a child alone who fearsthe aggravated terrors of a Saracen's head; the painter, who would movethe awe of an enlightened spectator, must delineate his tyrant withhuman features. It seems likely, that Dryden considered the portrait ofShaftesbury, in the first edition of "Absalom and Achitophel, " assomewhat deficient in this respect; at least the second edition containstwelve additional lines, the principal tendency of which is to praisethe ability and integrity with which Shaftesbury had discharged theoffice of lord high chancellor. It has been reported, that thismitigation was intended to repay a singular exertion of generosity onShaftesbury's part, who, while smarting under the lash of Dryden'ssatire, and in the short interval between the first and second editionof the poem, had the liberality to procure admission for the poet's sonupon the foundation of the Charterhouse, of which he was then governor. But Mr. Malone has fully confuted this tale, and shown, from the recordsof the seminary, that Dryden's son Erasmus was admitted upon therecommendation of the king himself. [6] The insertion, therefore, of thelines in commemoration of Shaftesbury's judicial character, was avoluntary effusion on the part of Dryden, and a tribute which he seemsto have judged it proper to pay to the merit even of an enemy. Others ofthe party of Monmouth, or rather of the opposition party (for itconsisted, as is commonly the case, of a variety of factions, agreeingin the single principle of opposition to the government), werestigmatised with severity, only inferior to that applied to Achitophel. Among these we distinguish the famous Duke of Buckingham, with whom, under the character of Zimri, our author balanced accounts for his sharein the "Rehearsal;" Bethel, the Whig sheriff, whose scandalous avaricewas only equalled by his factious turbulence; and Titus Oates, thepretended discoverer of the Popish Plot. The account of the Tory chiefs, who retained, in the language of the poem, their friendship for David atthe expense of the popular hatred, included, of course, most of Dryden'spersonal protectors. The aged Duke of Ormond is panegyrised with abeautiful apostrophe to the memory of his son, the gallant Earl ofOssory. The Bishops of London and Rochester; Mulgrave our author'sconstant patron, now reconciled with Charles and his government; theplausible and trimming Halifax; and Hyde, Earl of Rochester, second sonto the great Clarendon, appear in this list. The poet having thusarrayed and mustered the forces on each side, some account of the combatis naturally expected; and Johnson complains, that, after all theinterest excited, the story is but lamely winded up by a speech from thethrone, which produces the instantaneous and even marvellous effect, ofreconciling all parties, and subduing the whole phalanx of opposition. Even thus, says the critic, the walls, towers, and battlements of anenchanted castle disappear, when the destined knight winds his hornbefore it. Spence records in his Anecdotes, that Charles himself imposedon Dryden the task of paraphrasing the speech to his Oxford parliament, at least the most striking passages, as a conclusion to his poem of"Absalom and Achitophel. "

But let us consider whether the nature of the poem admitted of adifferent management in the close. Incident was not to be attempted; forthe poet had described living characters and existing factions, theissue of whose contention was yet in the womb of fate, and could notsafely be anticipated in the satire. Besides, the dissolution of theOxford parliament with that memorable speech, was a remarkable era inthe contention of the factions, after which the Whigs graduallydeclined, both in spirit, in power, and in popularity. Their boldestleaders were for a time appalled;[7] and when they resumed theirmeasures, they gradually approached rather revolution than reform, andthus alienated the more temperate of their own party, till at lengththeir schemes terminated in the Rye-house Conspiracy. The speech havingsuch an effect, was therefore not improperly adopted as a termination tothe poem of "Absalom and Achitophel. "

The success of this wonderful satire was so great, that the court hadagain recourse to the assistance of its author. Shaftesbury was nowliberated from the Tower; for the grand jury, partly influenced bydeficiency of proof, and partly by the principles of the Whig party, outof which the sheriffs had carefully selected them, refused to find thebill of high treason against him. This was a subject of unboundedtriumph to his adherents, who celebrated his acquittal by the mostpublic marks of rejoicing. Amongst others, a medal was struck, bearingthe head and name of Shaftesbury, and on the reverse, a sun, obscuredwith a cloud, rising over the Tower and city of London, with the date ofthe refusal of the bill (24th November 1681), and the motto LAETAMUR. These medals, which his partisans wore ostentatiously at their bosoms, excited the general indignation of the Tories; and the king himself issaid to have suggested it as a theme for the satirical muse of Dryden, and to have rewarded his performance with an hundred broad pieces. To apoet of less fertility, the royal command, to write again upon acharacter which, in a former satire, he had drawn with so much precisionand felicity, might have been as embarrassing at least as honourable. But Dryden was inexhaustible; and easily discovered, that, though he hadgiven the outline of Shaftesbury in "Absalom and Achitophel, " thefinished colouring might merit another canvas. About the sixteenth ofMarch 1681, he published, anonymously "The Medal, a Satire againstSedition, " with the apt motto, "_Per Graium populos, mediaeque per Elidis urbem Ibat ovans; Divumque sibi poscebat honores. _"

In this satire, Shaftesbury's history; his frequent politicalapostasies; his licentious course of life, so contrary to the sternrigour of the fanatics, with whom he had associated; his arts ininstigating the fury of the anti-monarchists; in fine, all the politicaland moral bearings of his character sounded and exposed to contempt andreprobation, the beauty of the poetry adding grace to the severity ofthe satire. What impression these vigorous and well-aimed darts madeupon Shaftesbury, who was so capable of estimating their sharpness andforce, we have no means to ascertain; but long afterwards, his grandson, the author of the "Characteristics, " speaks of Dryden and his works witha bitter affectation of contempt, offensive to every reader of judgment, and obviously formed on prejudice against the man, rather than disliketo the poetry. [8] It is said, that he felt more resentment on account ofthe character of imbecility adjudged to his father in "Absalom andAchitophel, " than for all the pungent satire, there and in the "Medal, "bestowed upon his grandfather; an additional proof, how much more easyit is to bear those reflections which render ourselves or our friendshateful, than those by which they are only made ridiculous andcontemptible. The Whig poets, for many assumed that title, did notbehold these attacks upon their leader and party with patience orforbearance; but they rushed to the combat with more zeal, or ratherfury, than talent or policy. Their efforts are numbered and describedelsewhere;[9] so that we need here only slightly notice those whichDryden thought worthy of his own animadversion. Most of them adopted theclumsy and obvious expedient of writing their answers in the style ofthe successful satire which had provoked them. Thus, in reply to"Absalom and Achitophel, " Pordage and Settle imitated the plan ofbestowing scriptural names on their poem and characters the formerentitling his piece "Azaria and Hushai, " the latter, "Absalom Senior, orAbsalom and Achitophel transposed. " But these attempts to hurl back thesatire at him by whom it was first launched, succeeded butindifferently, and might have convinced the authors that the charm of"Absalom and Achitophel" lay not in the plan, but in the power ofexecution. It was easy to give Jewish titles to their heroes, but thedifficulty lay in drawing their characters with the force and precisionof their prototype. Buckingham himself was rash enough to engage in thisconflict; but, whether his anger blunted his wit, or that his share inthe "Rehearsal" was less even than what is generally supposed, he loses, by his "Reflections on Absalom and Achitophel, " the credit we aredisposed to allow him for talent on the score of that lively piece. [10]A nonconformist clergyman published two pieces, which I have never seen, one entitled, "A Whip for the Fool's Back, who styles honourableMarriage a cursed confinement, in his profane Poem of Absalom andAchitophel;" the other, "A Key, with the Whip, to open the Mystery andIniquity of the Poem called Absalom and Achitophel. " Little was to behoped or feared from poems bearing such absurd titles: I throw, however, into the note, the specimen which Mr. Malone has given of theircontents. [11] The reverend gentleman having announced, that Achitophel, in Hebrew, means "the brother of a fool, " Dryden retorted, with infinitecoolness, that in that case the author of the discovery might pass withhis readers for next akin, and that it was probably the relation whichmade the kindness. 

"The Medal" was answered by the same authors who replied to "Absalom andAchitophel, " as if the Whigs had taken in sober earnest the advice whichDryden bestowed on them in the preface to that satire. And moreover (ashe there expressly recommends) they railed at him abundantly, without aglimmering of wit to enliven their scurrility. Hickeringill, a crazyfanatic, began the attack with a sort of mad poem, called "TheMushroom. " It was written and sent to press the very day on which "TheMedal" appeared; a circumstance on which the author valued himself sohighly, as to ascribe it to divine inspiration. [12] With more labour, and equal issue, Samuel Pordage, a minor poet of the day, produced "TheMedal Reversed;" for which, and his former aggression, Dryden brandshim, in a single line of the Second Part of "Absalom and Achitophel, " as

 "Lame Mephibosheth, the wizard's[13] son. "

There also appeared "The Loyal Medal Vindicated, " and a piece entitled"Dryden's Satire to his Muse, " imputed to Lord Somers, but which, inconversation with Pope, he positively disavowed. All these, and manyother pieces, the fruits of incensed and almost frantic party fury, aremarked by the most coarse and virulent abuse. The events in our author'slife were few, and his morals, generally speaking, irreproachable; sothat the topics for the malevolence of his antagonists were both scantyand strained. But they ceased not, with the true pertinacity of angrydulness, to repeat, in prose and verse, in couplet, ballad, andmadrigal, the same unvaried accusations, amounting in substance to thefollowing: That Dryden had been bred a puritan and republican; that hehad written an elegy on Cromwell (which one wily adversary actuallyreprinted); that he had been in poverty at the Restoration; that LadyElizabeth Dryden's character was tarnished by the circumstancesattending their nuptials; that Dryden had written the "Essay on Satire, "in which the king was libelled; that he had been beaten by three men inRose-alley; finally, that he was a Tory, and a tool of arbitrary power. This cuckoo song, garnished with the burden of _Bayes_ and _PoetSquab_, [14] was rung in the ear of the public again and again, and withan obstinacy which may convince us how little there was to be said, whenthat little was so often repeated. Feeble as these attacks were, theirnumber, like that of the gnats described by Spenser, [15] seems to haveirritated Dryden to exert the power of his satire, and, like the blastof the northern wind, to sweep away at once these clamorous and busy, though ineffectual assailants. Two, in particular, claimed distinctionfrom the nameless crowd; Settle, Dryden's ancient foe, and Shadwell, whohad been originally a dubious friend. 

Of Dryden's controversy with Settle we have already spoken fully; but wemay here add, that, in addition to former offences of a public andprivate nature, Elkanah, in the Prologue to the "Emperor of Morocco, "acted in March 1681-2, had treated Dryden with great irreverence. [16]Shadwell had been for some time in good habits with Dryden; yet an earlydifference of taste and practice in comedy, not only existed betweenthem, but was the subject of reciprocal debate, and somethingapproaching to rivalry. 

Dryden, as we have seen, had avowed his preference of lively dialogue incomedy to delineation of character, or, in other words, of wit andrepartee to what was then called humour. On this subject Shadwell earlydiffered from the laureate. Conscious of considerable powers inobserving nature, while he was deficient in that liveliness of fancywhich is necessary to produce vivacity of dialogue, Shadwell affected, or perhaps entertained, a profound veneration for the memory of BenJonson, and proposed him as his model in the representation of suchcharacters as were to be marked by _humour_, or an affectation ofsingularity of manners, speech, and behaviour. Dryden, on the otherhand, was no great admirer either of Jonson's plays in general, or ofthe low and coarse characters of vice and folly, in describing which layhis chief excellency; and this opinion he had publicly intimated in the"Essay of Dramatic Poesy. " In the preface to the very first ofShadwell's plays, printed in 1668, he takes occasion bitterly, and witha direct application to Dryden, to assail the grounds of this criticismand the comedies of the author who had made it. [17] If this petulanceproduced any animosity, it was not lasting; for in the course of theircontroversy, Dryden appeals to Shadwell, whether he had not rathercountenanced than impeded his first rise in public favour; and, in 1674, they made common cause with Crowne to write those Remarks, which were todemolish Settle's "Empress of Morocco. " Even in 1670, while Shadwellexpresses the same dissent from Dryden's opinion concerning the merit ofJonson's comedy, it is in very respectful terms, and with greatdeference to his respected and admired friend, of whom, though he willnot say his is the best way of writing, he maintains his manner ofwriting it is most excellent[18]. But the irreconcilable difference intheir taste soon after broke out in less seemly terms; for Shadwellpermitted himself to use some very irreverent expressions towardsDryden's play of "Aureng-Zebe, " in the Prologue and Epilogue to hiscomedy of the "Virtuoso;" and in the Preface to the same piece heplainly intimated, that he wanted nothing but a pension to enable him towrite as well as the poet-laureate. [19] This attack was the moreintolerable, as Dryden, in the Preface to that very play of "Aureng-Zebe, "probably meant to include Shadwell among those contemporarieswho, even in his own judgment excelled him in comedy. In 1678 Drydenaccommodated with a prologue Shadwell's play of the "True Widow;" but towrite these occasional pieces was part of his profession, and thecircumstance does not prove that the breach between these rivals forpublic applause was ever thoroughly healed; on the contrary, it seemslikely, that, in the case of Shadwell, as in that of Settle, politicalhatred only gangrened a wound inflicted by literary rivalry. After theirquarrel became desperate, Dryden resumed his prologue, and adapted it toa play by Afra Behn, called the "Widow Ranter, or Bacon inVirginia. "[20] Whatever was the progress of the dispute, it is certainthat Shadwell, as zealously attached to the Whig faction as Dryden tothe Tories, buckled on his armour among their other poetasters toencounter the champion of royalty. His answer to "The Medal" is entitled"The Medal of John Bayes:" it appeared in autumn 1681, and isdistinguished by scurrility, even among the scurrilous lampoons ofSettle, Care, and Pordage. Those, he coolly says, who know Dryden, knowthere is not an untrue word spoke of him in the poem; although he isthere charged with the most gross and infamous crimes. Shadwell alsoseems to have had a share in a lampoon, entitled "The Tory Poets, " inwhich both Dryden and Otway were grossly reviled. [21] On both occasions, his satire was as clumsy as his overgrown person, and as brutally coarseas his conversation: for Shadwell resembled Ben Jonson in his vulgar andintemperate pleasures, as well as in his style of comedy and corpulenceof body. [22] Dryden seems to have thought, that such reiterated attacks, from a contemporary of some eminence, whom he had once called friend, merited a more severe castigation than could be administered in ageneral satire. He therefore composed "Mac-Flecknoe, or a Satire on theTrue Blue Protestant Poet, T. S. , by the Author of Absalom andAchitophel, " which was published 4th October 1682. Richard Flecknoe, from whom the piece takes its title, was so distinguished as a wretchedpoet, that his name had become almost proverbial. Shadwell isrepresented as the adopted son of this venerable monarch, who so long

 "In prose and verse was owned without dispute, Through all the realms of Nonsense absolute. "

The solemn inauguration of Shadwell as his successor in this drowsykingdom, forms the plan of the poem; being the same which Popeafterwards adopted on a broader canvas for his "Dunciad. " The vices andfollies of Shadwell are not concealed, while the awkwardness of hispretensions to poetical fame are held up to the keenest ridicule. In anevil hour, leaving the composition of low comedy, in which he held anhonourable station, he adventured upon the composition of operas andpastorals. On these the satirist falls without mercy; and ridicules, atthe same time, his pretensions to copy Ben Jonson:

 "Nor let false friends seduce thy mind to fame, By arrogating Jonson's hostile name; Let father Flecknoe fire thy mind with praise, And uncle Ogleby thy envy raise. Thou art my blood, where Jonson has no part: What share have we in nature or in art? Where did his wit on learning fix a brand, And rail at arts he did not understand? Where made he love in Prince Nicander's vein, Or swept the dust in Psyche's humble strain?"

This unmerciful satire was sold off in a very short time; and it seemsuncertain whether it was again published until 1084, when it appearedwith the author's name in Tonson's first Miscellany. It would seem thatDryden did not at first avow it, though, as the title-page assigned itto the author of "Absalom and Achitophel, " we cannot believe Shadwell'sassertion, that he had denied it with oaths and imprecations. Dryden, however, omits this satire in the [first [23]] printed list of his playsand poems, along with the Eulogy on Cromwell. But he was so far fromdisowning it, that, in his "Essay on Satire, " he quotes "Mac-Flecknoe"as an instance given by himself of the Varronian satire. Poor Shadwellwas extremely disturbed by this attack upon him; the more so, as heseems hardly to have understood its tendency. He seriously complains, that he is represented by Dryden as an Irishman, "when he knows that Inever saw Ireland till I was three-and-twenty years old, and was therebut for four months. " He had understood Dryden's parable literally; sotrue it is, that a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear. 

"Mac-Flecknoe, " though so cruelly severe, was not the only notice whichShadwell received of Dryden's displeasure at his person and politics. "Absalom and Achitophel, " and "The Medal, " having been so successful, asecond part to the first poem was resolved on, for the purpose ofsketching the minor characters of the contending factions. Drydenprobably conceiving that he had already done his part, only revised thisadditional book, and contributed about two hundred lines. The body ofthe poem was written by Nahum Tate, one of those second-rate bards, who, by dint of pleonasm and expletive can find smooth lines if any one willsupply them with ideas. The Second Part of "Absalom and Achitophel" is, however, much beyond his usual pitch, and exhibits considerable marks ofa careful revision by Dryden, especially in the satirical passages; forthe eulogy on the Tory chiefs is in the flat and feeble strain of Tatehimself, as is obvious when it is compared with the description of theGreen-Dragon Club, the character of Corah, and other passages exhibitingmarks of Dryden's hand. 

But if the Second Part of "Absalom and Achitophel" fell below the firstin its general tone, the celebrated passage inserted by Dryden possessedeven a double portion of the original spirit. The victims whom heselected out of the partisans of Monmouth and Shaftesbury for his ownparticular severity, were Robert Ferguson, afterwards well known by thename of The Plotter; Forbes; Johnson, author of the parallel betweenJames, Duke of York, and Julian the Apostate; but, above all, Settle andShadwell, whom, under the names of Doeg and Og, he has depicted in theliveliest colours his poignant satire could afford. They who havepatience to look into the lampoons which these worthies had publishedagainst Dryden, will, in reading his retort, be reminded of the combatsbetween the giants and knights of romance. His antagonists came on withinfinite zeal and fury, discharged their ill-aimed blows on every side, and exhausted their strength in violent and ineffectual rage. But thekeen and trenchant blade of Dryden never makes a thrust in vain, andnever strikes but at a vulnerable point. This, we have elsewhereremarked, is a peculiar attribute of his satire;[24] and it is difficultfor one assailed on a single ludicrous foible to make good hisrespectability though possessed of a thousand valuable qualities; as itwas impossible for Achilles, invulnerable everywhere else, to survivethe wound which a dexterous archer had aimed at his heel. With regard toSettle, there is a contempt in Dryden's satire which approaches almostto good-humour, and plainly shows how far our poet was now fromentertaining those apprehensions of rivalship, which certainly dictatedhis portion of the "Remarks on the Empress of Morocco. " Settle had nowfound his level, and Dryden no longer regarded him with a mixture ofrage and apprehension, but with more appropriate feelings of uttercontempt. This poor wight had acquired by practice, and perhaps fromnature, more of a poetical ear than most of his contemporaries weregifted with. His "blundering melody, " as Dryden terms it, is far sweeterto the ear than the flat and ineffectual couplets of Tate; nor are hisverses always destitute of something approaching to poetic fancy andspirit. He certainly, in his transposition of "Absalom and Achitophel, "mimicked the harmony of his original with more success than was attainedby Shadwell, Buckingham or Pordage. [25] But in this facility ofversification all his merit began and ended; in our author's phrase, "Doeg, though without knowing how or why, Made still a blundering kind of melody; Spurred boldly on, and dashed though thick and thin, Through sense and nonsense, never out nor in; Free from all meaning, whether good or bad, And, in one word, heroically mad. He was too warm on picking-work to dwell, But faggoted his notions as they fell, And, if they rhymed and rattled, all was well. "

Ere we take leave of Settle, it is impossible to omit mentioning hislamentable conclusion; a tale often told and moralised upon, and intruth a piece of very tragical mirth. Elkanah, we have seen, was at thisperiod a zealous Whig; nay, he was so far in the confidence ofShaftesbury that, under his direction, and with his materials, he hadbeen intrusted to compose a noted libel against the Duke of York, entitled, "The Character of a Popish Successor. " Having a genius formechanics, he was also exalted to be manager of a procession for burningthe Pope; which the Whigs celebrated with great pomp, as one of manyartifices to inflame the minds of the people. [26] To this, and to thefireworks which attended its solemnisation, Dryden alludes in the linesto which Elkanah's subsequent disasters gave an air of prophecy:--

 "In fireworks give him leave to vent his spite, Those are the only servants he can write; The height of his ambition is, we know, But to be master of a puppet-show; On that one stage his works may yet appear, And a month's harvest keeps him all the year. "

Notwithstanding the rank he held among the Whig authors, [27] Settle, perceiving the cause of his patron Shaftesbury was gradually becomingweaker, fairly abandoned him to his fate, and read a solemn recantationof his political errors in a narrative published in 1683. The truthseems to be, that honest Doeg was poet-laureate to the city, and earnedsome emolument by composing verses for pageants and other occasions ofcivic festivity; so that when the Tory interest resumed its ascendencyamong the magistrates, he had probably no alternative but to relinquishhis principles or his post, and Elkanah, like many greater men, held theformer the easier sacrifice. Like all converts, he became outrageous inhis new faith, wrote a libel on Lord Russell a few days after hisexecution; indited a panegyric on Judge Jefferies; and, being _tam Martequam Mercurio_, actually joined as a trooper the army which King Jamesencamped upon Hounslow Heath. After the Revolution, he is enumerated, with our author and Tate, among those poets whose strains had beenstifled by that great event. [28] He continued, however, to be thecity-laureate;[29] but, in despite of that provision, was reduced bywant to write plays, like Ben Jonson's Littlewit, for the profane_motions_, or puppet-shows, of Smithfield and Bartholomew fairs. Nay, having proceeded thus far in exhibiting the truth of Dryden'sprediction, he actually mounted the stage in person among these woodenperformers, and combated St. George for England in a green dragon of hisown proper device. Settle was admitted into the Charterhouse in his oldage, and died there in 1723. The lines of Pope on poor Elkanah's fateare familiar to every poetical reader:--

 "In Lud's old walls though long I ruled, renowned Far as loud Bow's stupendous bells resound; Though my own aldermen conferred the bays, To me committing their eternal praise, Their full-fed heroes, their pacific mayors, Their annual trophies and their monthly wars; Though long my party built on me their hopes, For writing pamphlets, and for roasting popes; Yet lo! in me what authors have to brag on! Reduced at last to hiss in my own dragon. Avert it, heaven! that thou, or Cibber, e'er Should wag a serpent-tail in Smithfield fair! Like the vile straw that's blown about the streets, The needy poet sticks to all he meets; Coached, carted, trod upon, now loose, now fast, And carried off in some dog's tail at last. "

As Dryden was probably more apprehensive of Shadwell, who, though aworse poet than Settle, has excelled even Dryden in the lower walks ofcomedy, he has treated him with sterner severity. His person, hismorals, his manners and his politics, all that had escaped or been butslightly touched upon in "Mac-Flecknoe, " are bitterly reviewed in thecharacter of Og; and there probably never existed another poet, who, atthe distance of a month, which intervened between the publication of thetwo poems, could resume an exhausted theme with an energy which gave itall the charms of novelty. Shadwell did not remain silent beneath thelash; but his clamorous exclamations only tended to make his castigationmore ludicrous. [30]

The Second Part of "Absalom and Achitophel" was followed by the"_Religio Laici_, " a poem which Dryden published in the same month ofNovember 1682. Its tendency, although of a political nature, is sodifferent from that of the satires, that it will be most properlyconsidered when we can place it in contrast to the "Hind and Panther. "It was addressed to Henry Dickinson, a young gentleman, who had justpublished a translation of Simon's "Critical History of the NewTestament. "

As the publication of the two Parts of "Absalom and Achitophel, " "TheMedal, " and "Mac-Flecknoe, " all of a similar tone, and rapidlysucceeding each other, gave to Dryden, hitherto chiefly known as adramatist, the formidable character of an inimitable satirist, we mayhere pause to consider their effect upon English poetry. The wittyBishop Hall had first introduced into our literature that species ofpoetry; which, though its legitimate use be to check vice and exposefolly, is so often applied by spleen or by faction to destroy domestichappiness, by assailing private character. Hall possessed a good ear forharmony; and, living in the reign of Elizabeth, might have studied it inSpenser, Fairfax, and other models. But from system, rather thanignorance or inability, he chose to be "hard of conceit, and harsh ofstyle, " in order that his poetry might correspond with the sharp, sour, and crabbed nature of his theme. [31] Donne, his successor, was stillmore rugged in his versification, as well as more obscure in hisconceptions and allusions. The satires of Cleveland (as we have indeedformerly noticed) are, if possible, still harsher and more strained inexpression than those of Donne. Butler can hardly be quoted as anexample of the sort of satire we are treating of. "Hudibras" is aburlesque tale, in which the measure is intentionally and studiouslyrendered as ludicrous as the characters and incidents. Oldham, whoflourished in Dryden's time, and enjoyed his friendship, wrote hissatires in the crabbed tone of Cleveland and Donne. Dryden, in the copyof verses dedicated to his memory, alludes to this deficiency, and seemsto admit the subject as an apology:--

 "O early ripe! to thy abundant store What could advancing age have added more! It might (what nature never gives the young) Have taught the numbers of thy native tongue. But satire needs not those, and wit will shine Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line. "

Yet the apology which he admitted for Oldham, Dryden disdained to makeuse of himself. He did not, as has been said of Horace, wilfully untunehis harp when he commenced satirist. Aware that a wound may be givenmore deeply with a burnished than with a rusty blade, he bestowed uponthe versification of his satires the same pains which he had given tohis rhyming plays and serious poems. He did not indeed, for that wouldhave been pains misapplied, attempt to smooth his verses into theharmony of those in which he occasionally celebrates female beauty; buthe gave them varied tone, correct rhyme, and masculine energy, all whichhad hitherto been strangers to the English satire. 

Thus, while Dryden's style resembled that of Juvenal rather than Horace, he may claim a superiority, for uniform and undeviating dignity, overthe Roman satirist. The age, whose appetite for scandal had beenprofusely fed by lampoons and libels, now learned, that there was a moreelevated kind of satire, in which poignancy might be united withelegance, and energy of thought with harmony of versification. Theexample seems to have produced a strong effect. No poet, not even Settle(for even the worst artist will improve from beholding a masterpiece), afterwards conceived he had sufficiently accomplished his task bypresenting to the public, thoughts, however witty or caustic he mightdeem them, clothed in the hobbling measure of Donne or Cleveland; andexpression and harmony began to be consulted, in satire, as well assarcastic humour or powerful illustration. 

"Mac-Flecknoe, " in some degree, differs from the other satires whichDryden published at this time. It is not confined to the description ofcharacter, but exhibits an imaginary course of incidents, in which theprincipal personage takes a ludicrous share. In this it resembles"Hudibras;" and both are quoted by Dryden himself as examples of theVarronian satire. But there was this pointed difference, that Butler'spoem is burlesque, and Dryden's mock-heroic. "Mac-Flecknoe" is, I ratherbelieve, the first poem in the English language, in which the dignity ofa harmonised and lofty style is employed, not only to excite pleasure initself, but to increase, by contrast, the comic effect of the sceneswhich it narrates; the subject being ludicrous, while the verse isnoble. The models of satire afforded by Dryden, as they have never beenequalled by any succeeding poet, were in a tone of excellence superiorfar to all that had preceded them. 

These reflections on the nature of Dryden's satires, have, in somedegree, interrupted our account of his political controversies. Not onlydid he pour forth these works, one after another, with a fertility whichseemed to imply delight in his new labour; but, as if the spirit of thetime had taught him speed, he found leisure to oppose the Whigs in thetheatre, where the audience was now nearly as much divided as thekingdom by the contending factions. Settle had produced the tragedy of"Pope Joan, " Shadwell the comedy of the "Lancashire Witches, " to exposeto hatred and ridicule the religion of the successor to the crown. Otwayand D'Urfey, Crowne and Southerne, names unequal in fame, vied inproducing plays against the Whigs, which might counterbalance the effectof these popular dramas. A licence similar to that of Aristophanes wasintroduced on the English stage; and living personages were exhibitedunder very slight disguises. [32] In the prologues and epilogues, whichthen served as a sort of moral to the plays, the veil, thin as it was, was completely raised, and the political analogies pointed out to suchof the audience as might otherwise have been too dull to apprehend them. In this sharp though petty war Dryden bore a considerable share. Hisnecessities obliged him, among other modes of increasing his income, toaccept of a small pecuniary tribute for furnishing prologues onremarkable occasions, or for new plays; and his principles determinedtheir tendency. [33] But this was not all the support which his partyexpected, and which he afforded them on the theatre, even whilelabouring in their service in a different department. 

When Dryden had but just finished his "_Religio Laici_, " Lee, who hadassisted in the play of "Oedipus, " claimed Dryden's promise to requitethe obligation. It has been already noticed, that Dryden had, in theyear succeeding the Restoration, designed a play on the subject of theDuke of Guise; and he has informed us he had preserved one or two of thescenes. These, therefore, were revised, and inserted in the new play, ofwhich Dryden wrote the first scene, the whole fourth act, and great partof the fifth. Lee composed the rest of "The Duke Of Guise. " The generalparallel between the League in France and the Covenant in England, wastoo obvious to escape early notice; but the return of Monmouth toEngland against the king's express command, in order to head theopposition, perhaps the insurrection, of London, presented a stillcloser analogy to the entry of the Duke of Guise into Paris, undersimilar circumstances, on the famous day of the barricades. Of thisremarkable incident, the united authors of "The Duke of Guise" naturallyavailed themselves; though with such precaution, that almost the veryexpressions of the scene are taken from the prose of Davila. Yet theplot, though capable of an application so favourable for the royalparty, contained circumstances of offence to it. If the parallel betweenGuise and Monmouth was on the one hand felicitous, as pointing out thenature of the Duke's designs, the moral was revolting, as seeming torecommend the assassination of Charles's favourite son. The king alsoloved Monmouth to the very last; and was slow and reluctant inpermitting his character to be placed in a criminal or odious point ofview. [34] The play, therefore, though ready for exhibition beforemidsummer 1682, remained in the hands of Arlington the lord-chamberlainfor two months without being licensed for representation. But duringthat time the scene darkened. The king had so far suppressed histenderness for Monmouth, as to authorise his arrest at Stafford; and theinfluence of the Duke of York at court became daily more predominant. Among other evident tokens that no measures were hence-forward to bekept between the king and Monmouth, the representation of "The Duke ofGuise" was at length authorised. 

The two companies of players, after a long and expensive warfare, hadnow united their forces; on which occasion Dryden furnished them with aprologue, full of violent Tory principles. By this united company "TheDuke of Guise" was performed on the 30th December 1682. It was printedwith a dedication to Hyde, Earl of Rochester, subscribed by bothauthors, but evidently the work of Dryden. It is written in a tone ofdefiance to the Whig authors, who had assailed the dedicators, italleges, "like footpads in the dark, " though their blows had done littleharm, and the objects of their malice yet lived to vindicate theirloyalty in open day. The play itself has as determined a politicalcharacter as the dedication. Besides the general parallel between theleaguers and the fanatical sectaries, and the more delicate, though notless striking, connection between the story of Guise and of Monmouth, there are other collateral allusions in the piece to the history of thatunfortunate nobleman, and to the state of parties. The whole characterof Marmoutiere, high-spirited, loyal, and exerting all her influence todeter Guise from the prosecution of his dangerous schemes, correspondsto that of Anne, Duchess of Monmouth. [35] The love too which the kingprofesses to Marmoutiere, and which excites the jealousy of Guise, maybear a remote and delicate allusion to that partiality which the Duke ofYork is said to have entertained for the wife of his nephew. [36] Theamiable colours in which Marmoutiere is painted, were due to the Duchessof Monmouth, Dryden's especial patroness. Another more obvious and moreoffensive parallel existed between the popular party in the city, withthe Whig sheriffs at their head, and that of the _Echevins_, or sheriffsof Paris, violent demagogues and adherents to the League, and who, inthe play, are treated with great contumely by Grillon and the royalguards. The tumults which had taken place at the election of thesemagistrates were warm in the recollection of the city; and thecommitment of the ex-sheriffs, Shute and Pilkington, to the Tower, underpretext of a riot, was considered as the butt of the poet's satire. Under these impressions the Whigs made a violent opposition to therepresentation of the piece, even when the king gave it his personalcountenance. And although, in despite of them, "The Duke of Guise" sofar succeeded, as "to be frequently acted, and never without aconsiderable attendance, " we may conclude from these qualifiedexpressions of the author himself, that the play was never eminentlypopular. He, who writes for a party, can only please at most one half ofhis audience. 

It was not to be expected that, at a time so very critical, a publicrepresentation, including such bold allusions, or rather parallels, should pass without critical censure. "The Duke of Guise" was attackedby Dryden's old foe Shadwell, in some verses, entitled, "A LentenPrologue refused by the Players;"[37] and more formally, in "Reflectionson the pretended Parallel in the Play called the Duke of Guise. " In thispamphlet Shadwell seems to have been assisted by a gentleman of theTemple, so zealous for the popular cause, that Dryden says he wasdetected disguised in a livery-gown, proffering his vote at theCommon-hall. Thomas Hunt, a barrister, [38] likewise stepped forth onthis occasion; and in his "Defence of the Charter of London, " thenchallenged by the famous process of _Quo Warranto_, he accuses Dryden ofhaving prepared the way for that arbitrary step, by the degradingrepresentation of their magistrates executed in effigy upon the stage. Dryden thought these pamphlets of consequence enough to deserve ananswer, and published, soon after, "The Vindication of the Duke ofGuise. " In perusing the controversy, we may admire two circumstances, eminently characteristical of the candour with which such controversiesare usually maintained: First, the anxiety with which the critics labourto fix upon Dryden a disrespectful parallel between Charles II. AndHenry II. [III. ] of France, which certainly our author did not proposeto carry farther than their common point of situation; and secondly, thelabour with which he disavows what he unquestionably did intend, --aparallel between the rebellious conduct of Monmouth and of Guise. TheVindication is written in a tone of sovereign contempt for theadversaries, particularly for Shadwell. Speaking of Thomas Hunt, Drydensays, --"Even this their celebrated writer knows no more of style andEnglish than the Northern dictator; as if dulness and clumsiness werefatal to the name of _Tom_. It is true, he is a fool in three languagesmore than the poet; for, they say, 'he understands Latin, Greek, andHebrew, ' from all which, to my certain knowledge, I acquit the other. Ogmay write against the king, if he pleases, so long as he drinks for him, and his writings will never do the government so much harm, as hisdrinking does it good; for true subjects will not be much perverted byhis libels; but the wine-duties rise considerably by his claret. He hasoften called me an atheist in print; I would believe more charitably ofhim, and that he only goes the broad way, because the other is toonarrow for him. He may see, by this, I do not delight to meddle with hiscourse of life, and his immoralities, though I have a long bead-roll ofthem. I have hitherto contented myself with the ridiculous part of him, which is enough, in all conscience, to employ one man; even without thestory of his late fall at the Old Devil, where he broke no ribs, becausethe hardness of the stairs could reach no bones; and, for my part, I donot wonder how he came to fall, for I have always known him heavy: themiracle is, how he got up again. I have heard of a sea captain as fat ashe, who, to escape arrests, would lay himself flat upon the ground, andlet the bailiffs carry him to prison, if they could. If a messenger ortwo, nay, we may put in three or four, should come, he has friendlyadvertisement how to escape them. But to leave him, who is not worth anyfurther consideration, now I have done laughing at him, --would every manknew his own talent, and that they, who are only born for drinking, would let both poetry and prose alone!" This was the last distinct andprolonged animadversion which our author bestowed upon his corpulentantagonist. 

Soon after this time Dryden wrote a biographical preface to Plutarch'sLives, of which a new translation, by several hands, was in the press. The dedication is addressed to the Duke of Ormond, the Barzillai of"Absalom and Achitophel, " whom Charles, after a long train of cold anddetermined neglect, had in emergency recalled to his favour and hiscouncils. The first volume of Plutarch's Lives, with Dryden's Life ofthe author, appeared in 1683. 

About the same time, the king's express command engaged Dryden in awork, which may be considered as a sort of illustration of the doctrineslaid down in the "Vindication of the Duke of Guise. " It was thetranslation of Maimbourg's "History of the League, " expressly composedto draw a parallel between the Huguenots of France and the Leaguers, asboth equal enemies of the monarchy. This comparison was easilytransferred to the sectaries of England, and the association proposed byShaftesbury. The work was published with unusual solemnity of title-pageand frontispiece; the former declaring that the translation was made byhis Majesty's command; the latter representing Charles on his throne, surrounded by emblems expressive of hereditary and indefeasibleright. [39] The dedication to the king contains sentiments which savourstrongly of party violence, and even ferocity. The forgiving dispositionof the king is, according to the dedicator, the encouragement of theconspirators. Like Antaeus they rise refreshed from a simple overthrow. "These sons of earth are never to be trusted in their mother element;they must be hoisted into the air, and strangled. " Thus exasperated werethe most gentle tempers in these times of doubt and peril. The rigoroustone adopted, confirms the opinion of those historians who observe, that, after the discovery of the Rye-house Plot, Charles was fretted outof his usual debonair ease, and became more morose and severe than hadbeen hitherto thought consistent with his disposition. 

This translation was to be the last service which Dryden was to renderhis good-humoured, selfish, and thoughtless patron. While the laureatewas preparing for the stage the opera of "Albion and Albanius, " intendedto solemnise the triumph of Charles over the Whigs, or, as the authorexpressed it, the double restoration of his sacred Majesty, the kingdied of an apoplexy upon the 6th February 1684-5. His death opened tomany, and to Dryden among others, new hopes, and new prospects, whichwere, in his instance, doomed to terminate in disappointment anddisgrace. We may therefore pause, and review the private life of thepoet during the period which has occupied our last Sections. 

The vigour and rapidity with which Dryden poured forth his animatedsatire, plainly intimates, that his mind was pleased with the exerciseof that formidable power. It was more easy for him, he has himself toldus, to write with severity, than with forbearance; and indeed, where isthe expert swordsman, who does not delight in the flourish of hisweapon? Neither could this self-complacent feeling be much allayed, bythe vague and abusive ribaldry with which his satire was repaid. Thiswas natural to the controversy, was no more than he expected and waseasily retorted with terrible interest. "As for knave, " says he, "andsycophant and rascal, and impudent, and devil, and old serpent, and athousand such good morrows, I take them to be only names of parties; andcould return murderer, and cheat, and whig-napper, and sodomite; and, inshort, the goodly number of the seven deadly sins, with all theirkindred and relations, which are names of parties too; but saints willbe saints in spite of villainy. " With such feelings, we may believeDryden's rest was little disturbed by the litter of libels againsthim:--

 "Sons of a day just buoyant on the flood, Then numbered with the puppies in the mud. "

But he who keenly engages in political controversy must not onlyencounter the vulgar abuse, which he may justly contemn, but the alteredeye of friends, whose regard is chilled, or alienated. That Drydensustained such misfortune we cannot doubt, when he informs us, that, outof the large party in opposition, comprehending, doubtless, many men oftalent and eminence, who were formerly familiar with him, he had, duringthe course of a whole year, only spoken to four, and to those butcasually and cursorily, and only to express a wish, that the times mightcome when the names of Whig and Tory might be abolished, and men livetogether as they had done before they were introduced. 

Neither did the protecting zeal of his party-friends compensate for theloss of those whom Dryden had alienated in their service. True it is, that a host of Tory rhymers came forward with complimentary verses tothe author of "Absalom and Achitophel, " and of "The Medal. " But of allpayment, that in kind is least gratifying to a poverty-struck bard, andthe courtly patrons of Dryden were in no haste to make him moresubstantial requital. A gratuity of an hundred broad pieces is said tohave been paid him by Charles for one of his satires; but no permanentprovision was made for him. He was coolly left to increase his pittanceby writing occasional pieces; and it was probably with this view that hearranged for publication a miscellaneous collection of poetry, which heafterwards continued. It was published for Tonson in 1683-4, andcontained several versions of Epistles from Ovid, and translations ofdetached pieces of Virgil, Horace, and Theocritus, with some smallerpieces by Dryden himself, and a variety of poems by other hands. TheEpistles had appeared in 1680, in a version of the original by severalhands, to which Dryden also contributed an introductory discourse ontranslation. Contrary to our author's custom, the miscellany appearedwithout either preface or dedication. 

The miscellany, among other minor poems of Dryden, contained many of hisoccasional prologues and epilogues, the composition of which hisnecessity had rendered so important a branch of income, that, in themidst of his splendour of satirical reputation, the poet was obliged tochaffer about the scanty recompence which he drew from such pettysources. Such a circumstance attended the commencement of his friendshipwith Southerne. That poet then opening his dramatic career with the playof the "Loyal Brother, " came, as was usual, to request a prologue fromDryden, and to offer him the usual compliment of five guineas. But thelaureate demurred, and insisted upon double the sum, "not out ofdisrespect, " he added, "to you, young man; but the players have had mygoods too cheap. " Hence Southerne, who was peculiarly fortunate in hisdramatic revenue, is designed by Pope as

 "Tom sent down to raise The price of prologues and of plays. "[40]

It may seem surprising that Dryden should be left to make an object ofsuch petty gains, when, labouring for the service of government, he hadin little more than twelve months produced both Parts of "Absalom andAchitophel, " "The Medal, " "Mac-Flecknoe, " "_Religio Laici_" and "TheDuke of Guise. " But this was not the worst; for, although his pension aspoet-laureate was apparently all the encouragement which he receivedfrom the crown, so ill-regulated were the finances of Charles, soexpensive his pleasures, and so greedy his favourites, that our author, shortly after finishing these immortal poems, was compelled to sue formore regular payment of that very pension, and for a more permanentprovision, in the following affecting Memorial, addressed to Hyde, Earlof Rochester:--"I would plead, " says he, "a little merit, and somehazards of my life from the common enemies; my refusing advantagesoffered by them, and neglecting my beneficial studies, for the king'sservice; but I only think I merit not to starve. I never applied myselfto any interest contrary to your lordship's; and, on some occasions, perhaps not known to you, have not been unserviceable to the memory andreputation of my lord, your father. [41] After this, my lord, myconscience assures me, I may write boldly, though I cannot speak to you. I have three sons, growing to man's estate. I breed them all up tolearning, beyond my fortune; but they are too hopeful to be neglected, though I want. Be pleased to look on me with an eye of compassion: somesmall employment would render my condition easy. The king is notunsatisfied of me; the duke has often promised me his assistance; andyour lordship is the conduit through which their favours pass. Either inthe customs, or the appeals of the excise, or some other way, meanscannot be wanting, if you please to have the will. _'Tis enough for oneage to have neglected Mr. Cowley, and starved Mr. Butler_; but neitherof them had the happiness to live till your lordship's ministry. In themeantime, be pleased to give me a gracious and a speedy answer to mypresent request of half a year's pension for my necessities. I am goingto write somewhat by his Majesty's command, [42] and cannot stir into thecountry for my health and studies till I secure my family from want. "

We know that this affecting remonstrance was in part successful; forlong afterwards, he says, in allusion to this period, "Even from a baretreasury, my success has been contrary to that of Mr. Cowley; andGideon's fleece has there been moistened, when all the ground was dry. "But in the admission of this claim to the more regular payment of hispension, was comprehended all Rochester's title to Dryden's gratitude. The poet could not obtain the small employment which he so earnestlysolicited; and such was the recompense of the merry monarch and hiscounsellors, to one whose productions had strengthened the pillars ofhis throne, as well as renovated the literary taste of the nation. [43]

FOOTNOTES:[1] Mulgrave was created lieutenant of Yorkshire and governor of Hull, when Monmouth was deprived of these and other honours. 

[2] See vol. X. 

[3] This is objected to Dryden by one of his antagonists: "Nor couldever Shimei be thought to have cursed David more bitterly, than hepermits his friend to blaspheme the Roman priesthood in his epilogue tothe 'Spanish Friar. ' In which play he has himself acted his own partlike a true younger son of Noah, as may be easily seen in the firstedition of that comedy, which would not pass muster a second timewithout emendations and corrections. "--_The Revolter_, 1687, p. 29. 

[4] See vol. Ix. 

[5] See vol. Ix. This piece, entitled "Absalom's Conspiracy or theTragedy of Treason, " is printed in the same volume. 

[6] See vol. Ix. 

[7] Lord Grey says in his narrative, "After the dissolution of theOxford parliament, we were all very peaceably inclined, and nothingpassed amongst us that summer of importance, which I can call to mind: Ithink my Lord Shaftesbury was sent to the Tower just before the longvacation; and the Duke of Monmouth, Mr. Montague, Sir Thomas Armstrong, and myself, went to Tunbridge immediately after his lordship'simprisonment, where we laid aside the thoughts of disturbing the peaceof the government for those of diverting ourselves. "

[8] He usually distinguishes Dryden by his "Rehearsal" title of Bayes;and, among many other oblique expressions of malevolence, he has thisnote:--

"To see the incorrigibleness of our poets in their pedantic manner, their vanity, defiance of criticism, their rhodomontade, and poeticalbravado, we need only turn to our famous poet-laureat (the very Mr. Bayes himself), in one of his latest and most valued pieces, writ manyyears after the ingenious author of the 'Rehearsal' had drawn hispicture. 'I have been listening (says our poet, in his Preface to 'DonSebastian'), what objections had been made against the conduct of theplay, but found them all so trivial, that if I should name them, a truecritic would imagine that I played booty. Some are pleased to say thewriting is dull; but _aedatum habet de se loquatur. _ Others, that thedouble poison is unnatural; let the common received opinion, andAusonius's famous epigram, answer that. Lastly, a more ignorant sort ofcreatures than either of the former maintain, that the character ofDorax is not only unnatural, but inconsistent with itself; let them readthe play, and think again. A longer reply is what those cavillersdeserve not. But I will give them and their fellows to understand, thatthe Earl of ---- was pleased to read the tragedy twice over before itwas acted and did me the favour to send me word, that I had writtenbeyond any of my former plays, and that he was displeased anythingshould be cut away. If I have not reason to prefer his single judgmentto a whole faction, let the world be judge; for the opposition is thesame with that of Lucan's hero against an army, _concurrere bellum atquevirum_. I think I may modestly conclude, ' etc. 

"Thus he goes on, to the very end, in the self-same strain. Who, afterthis, can ever say of the 'Rehearsal' author, that his picture of ourpoet was overcharged, or the national humour wrong described?"

[9] See vol. Ix. 

[10] See some extracts from this piece, vol. Ix. 

[11] "How well this Hebrew name with sense doth sound, _A fool's my brother_, [11a] though in wit profound! Most wicked wits are the devil's chiefest tools, Which, ever in the issue, God befools. Can they compare, vile varlet, once hold true, Of the loyal lord, and this disloyal Jew? Was e'er our English earl under disgrace, And, unconscionable; put out of place? Hath he laid lurking in his country-house To plot rebellions, as one factious? Thy bog-trot bloodhounds hunted have this stag, Yet cannot fasten their foul fangs, --they flag. Why didst not _thou_ bring in thy evidence With them, to rectify the brave jury's sense, And so prevent the _ignoramus_?--nay, Thou wast cock-sure he wou'd he damned for aye, Without thy presence;--thou wast then employed To brand him 'gainst he came to be destroyed: Forehand preparing for the hangman's axe, Had not the witnesses been found so lax. "

[11a] _Achi_, my brother, and _tophel_, a fool. --_Orig. Note_. 

[12] Vol. Ix. 

[13] He was the son of Dr. John Pordage, minister of Bradfield expelledhis charge for insufficiency in the year 1646. Among other chargesagainst him were the following, which, extraordinary as they are, hedoes not seem to have denied:

"That he hath very frequent and familiar converse with angels. 

"That a great dragon came into his chamber with a tail of eight yardslong, four great teeth, and did spit fire at him; and that he contendedwith the dragon. 

"That his own angel came and stood by him while he was expostulatingwith the dragon; and the angel came in his own shape and fashion, thesame clothes, bands, and cuffs, the same bandstrings; and that his angelstood by him and upheld him. 

"That Mrs. Pordage and Mrs. Flavel had their angels standing by themalso, Mrs. Pordage singing sweetly, and keeping time upon her breast;and that his children saw the spirits coming into the house, and said, Look there, father; and that the spirits did after come into thechamber, and drew the curtains when they were in bed. 

"That the said Mr. Pordage confessed, that a strong enchantment was uponhim, and that the devil did appear to him in the shape of Everard, andin the shape of a fiery dragon; and the whole roof of the house was fullof spirits. "--_State Trials_. 

[14] How little Dryden valued these nicknames appears from a passage inthe "Vindication of the Duke of Guise:"--"Much less am I concerned atthe noble name of Bayes; that is a brat so like his own father, that hecannot be mistaken for anybody else. They might as reasonably havecalled Tom Sternhold Virgil, and the resemblance would have held aswell. " Vol. Vii. 

[15] "As when a swarm of gnats at eventide Out of the fennes of Allan doe arise, Their murmuring small trompetts sownden wide, Whiles in the aire their clustring army flies, That as a cloud doth seeme to dim the skies; No man nor beast may rest or take repast For their sharp wounds and noyous injuries, Till the fierce northern wind with blustring blast Doth blow them quite away, and in the ocean cast. "

[16] "How finely would the sparks be caught to-day, Should a Whig poet write a Tory play, And you, possessed with rage before, should send Your random shot abroad and maul a friend? For you, we find, too often hiss and clap, Just as you live, speak, think, and fight--by hap. And poets, we all know, can change, like you, And are alone to their own interest true; Can write against all sense, nay even their own: The vehicle called _pension_ makes it down. _No fear of cudgels_, where there's hope of bread; A well-filled paunch forgets a _broken head_. "

[17] I quote the passage at length, as evincing the difference betweenDryden's taste in comedy and that of Shadwell:--

"I have endeavoured to represent variety of humours (most of the personsof the play differing in their characters from one another), which wasthe practice of Ben Jonson, whom I think all drammatick poets ought toimitate, though none are like to come near; he being the onely personthat appears to me to have made perfect representation of human life:most other authors that I ever read, either have wilde romantick tales, wherein they strein love and honour to that ridiculous height, that itbecomes burlesque; or in their lower comedies content themselves withone or two humours at most, and those not near so perfect characters asthe admirable Jonson; always made, who never wrote comedy without sevenor eight considerable humours. I never saw one, except that ofFalstaffe, that was, in my judgment, comparable to any of Jonson'sconsiderable humours. You will pardon this digression when I tell you, he is the man, of all the world, I most passionately admire for hisexcellency in drammatick poetry. 

"Though I have known _some of late so insolent to say_, that Ben Jonsonwrote his best playes without wit, imagining, that all the wit playesconsisted in bringing two persons upon the stage to break jest, and tobob one another, which they call repartie, not considering, that thereis more wit and invention required in the finding out good humour andmatter proper for it, then in all their smart reparties; for, in thewriting of a humour, a man is confined not to swerve from the character, and obliged to say nothing but what is proper to it; but in the playeswhich have been wrote of late, there is no such thing as perfectcharacter, but the two chief persons are most commonly a swearing, drinking, whoring ruffian for a lover, and impudent, ill-bred tomrig fora mistress, and these are the fine people of the play; and there is thatlatitude in this, that almost anything is proper for them to say; buttheir chief subject is bawdy, and profaneness, which they call briskwriting, when the most dissolute of men, that relish those things wellenough in private, are choked at 'em in publick: and, methinks, if therewere nothing but the ill manners of it, it should make poets avoid thatindecent way of writing. "--_Preface to the Sullen Lovers_. 

Lest this provocation should be insufficient, the Prologue of the samepiece has a fling at heroic plays. The poet says he has

 "No kind romantic lover in his play To sigh and whine out passion, such as may Charm waiting-women with heroic chime, And still resolve to live and die in rhyme; Such as your ears with love and honour feast, And play at crambo for three hours at least, That fight and wooe in verse in the same breath, And make similitude and love in death. "

Whatever symptoms of reconciliation afterwards took place between thepoets, I greatly doubt if this first offence was ever cordiallyforgiven. 

[18] Vol. Vii. 

[19] See these offensive passages, vol. X. 

[20] Vol. X. 

[21] "The laurel makes a wit, a brave, the sword; And all are wise men at the Council board: Settle's a coward, 'cause fool Otway fought him, And Mulgrave is a wit, because I taught him. "_The Tory Poets_, 4to, 1682. 

[22] Jonson is described as wearing a loose coachman's coat, frequentingthe Mermaid tavern, where he drunk seas of Canary, then reeling home tobed, and, after a profuse perspiration, arising to his dramatic studies. Shadwell appears, from the slight traits which remain concerning him, tohave followed, as closely as possible, the same course of pleasure andof study. He was brutal in his conversation, and much addicted to theuse of opium, to which indeed he is said finally to have fallen avictim. 

[23] [I have inserted the word "first" because Scott's language isambiguous. In the list of the bookseller's collection in _3_ vols. 4to, advertised in _Amphitryon_ (1690), "Mac-Flecknoe" and the Cromwell poemdo not appear. The later plays, however, soon gave material for anothervolume, and in this 4-vol. Edition, advertised in _Love Triumphant_, 1694, both poems figure. --ED. ]

[24] Vol. X. 

[25] See some specimens of these poems, vol. Ix. 

[26] Vol. Vi. ; vol. X

[27] In a satire against Settle, dated April 1682, entitled, "ACharacter of the True-blue Protestant Poet, " the author exclaims, "Onewould believe it almost incredible, that any out of Bedlam should thinkit possible, a yesterday's fool, an errant knave, a despicable coward, and a prophane atheist, should be to-day by the same persons, a Cowley, a man of honour, an hero, and a zealous upholder of the Protestant causeand interest. "

[28] In the "Deliverance, " an address to the Prince of Orange, publishedabout 9th February 1689:--

 "Alas! the famous Settle, Durfey, Tate, That early propped the deep intrigues of state, Dull Whiggish lines the world could ne'er applaud, While your swift genius did appear abroad: And then, great Bayes, whose yet unconquered pen Wrote with strange force as well of beasts as men, Whose noble genius grieved from afar, Because new worlds of Bayes did not appear, Now to contend with the ambitious elf, Begins a civil war against himself, " etc. 

[29] In 1702, probably in the capacity of civic-laureate, he wrote"_Carmen Irenicum_, " upon the union of the two East India companies; andlong afterward, in 1717, he is mentioned by Dennis as still the citypoet. 

[30] He published a translation of the tenth satire of Juvenal, in thepreface to which he rails plentifully against Dryden. 

[31] [The omission of Marston here is remarkable, because no satiristexhibits this extraordinary roughness of versification more glaringly. Scott can hardly have read him. --ED. ]

I infer, that the want of harmony was intentional, from theseexpressions: "It is not for every one to relish a true and naturalsatire; being of itself, besides the nature and inbred bitterness andtartness of particulars, both hard of conceit and harsh of style, andtherefore cannot but be unpleasing both to the unskilful andover-musical ear; the one being affected with only a shallow and easy, the other with a smooth and current, disposition. "--_Postscript toHall's Satires_. 

[32] In "Venice Preserved, " the character of the foolish senatorAntonio, now judiciously omitted in the representation was said to bemeant for Shaftesbury. But Crowne's "City Politics" contained the mostbarefaced exhibition of all the popular leaders, including Shaftesbury, College the Protestant joiner, Titus Oates, and Sir William Jones. Thelast is described under the character of Bartoline, with the samelisping imperfect enunciation which distinguished the original. Let usremark, however, to the honour of Charles II. , that in "Sir CourtlyNice, " another comedy which Crowne, by his express command, imitatedfrom the Spanish, the furious Tory is ridiculed in the character ofHothead, as well as the fanatical Whig under that of Testimony. 

[33] See the Prologues and Epilogues in vol. X. 

[34] The concealed partiality of Charles towards Monmouth survived eventhe discovery of the Rye-house Plot. He could not dissemble hissatisfaction upon seeing him after his surrender, and pressed his handaffectionately. --See Monmouth's Diary in _Wellwood's Memorials_, p. 322. 

[35] Carte, in his "life of the Duke of Ormond, " says, that Monmouth'sresolutions varied from submission to resistance against the king, according to his residence with the Duchess at Moor-park, who schooledhim to the former, or with his associates and partisans in the city, whoinstigated him to more desperate resolutions. 

[36] This Dryden might learn from Mulgrave, who mentions in his Memoirs, as a means of Monmouth's advancement, the "great friendship which theDuke of York had openly professed to his wife, a lady of wit andreputation, who had both the ambition of making her husbandconsiderable, and the address of succeeding in it, by using her interestin so friendly an uncle, whose design I believe was only to convert her. Whether this familiarity of theirs was contrived or only connived at bythe Duke of Monmouth himself, is hard to determine. But I remember, that, after these two princes had become declared enemies, the Duke ofYork one day told me, with some emotion, as conceiving it a new mark ofhis nephew's insolence, that he had forbidden his wife to receive anymore visits from him; at which I could not help frankly replying, thatI, who was not used to excuse him, yet could not hold from doing it inthat case, wishing his highness might have no juster cause to complainof him. Upon which the duke, surprised to find me excuse his and my ownenemy, changed the discourse immediately. "--_Memoirs_, p. 13. 

I have perused letters from Sir Gideon Scott of Highchester to theDuchess of Monmouth, recommending a prudent and proper attention to theDuke of York: and this advice she probably followed; for, after herhusband's execution, James restored to her all her family estates. 

[37] Bought by Mr. Luttrell, 11th April 1683. See it in vol. X. It isexpressly levelled against "The Duke of Guise, " and generally againstDryden as a court poet. I may, however be wrong in ascribing it toShadwell. 

[38] I observe Anthony Wood, as well as Mr. Malone, suppose Hunt and theTemplar associated in the Reflections to be the same person. But in the"Vindication of the Duke of Guise" Shadwell and they are spoke of asthree distinct persons. 

[39] See vol. Xvii. In this edition I have retained a specimen of atranslation which our author probably executed with peculiar care;selecting it from the account of the barricades of Paris, asillustrating the tragedy of "The Duke of Guise. "

[40] [This story is told with great variation of figures. Johnsonmentions two and three guineas as the old and new prices; others givefour and six. --ED. ]

[41] Probably alluding to having defended Clarendon in public company;for nothing of the kind occurs in Dryden's publications. [It is notimpossible that the New Year's Day Poem (1662) to the Lord Chancellor ispartly referred to here. --ED. ]

[42] Probably the translation of "_Religio Laici_. "

[43] [Some important evidence has come to light since Scott wrote, whichshows that the response to Dryden's petitions and the reward of hisservices was not so insignificant as appears from the text, though itwas meagre enough. The facts were not known fully even to Macaulay, andhis ignorance enabled him, in perfect honesty, to make the case againstDryden, for supposed venal apostasy, stronger than it might otherwiseappear. The documents referred to were discovered by Mr. PeterCunningham and by Mr. Charles Beville Dryden, the latter of whomcommunicated his discovery to Mr. Robert Bell. As the facts areundoubted, and Macaulay's ignorance of them equally so, it seems alittle remarkable that a reviewer of the little book on Dryden to whichI am too often obliged to refer my readers, should have announced hisadherence to "Macaulay and fact" rather than "Mr. Bell and sophistry. "It is not obvious how fact can be on the side of a writer who was, owingto no fault of his own, ignorant of the fact, and whose ignorancefurnished him with his premises. The state of the case is this. Dryden'sapplication to Hyde produced the following Treasury warrant:--

 --of the sume of Fifty pounds for one quarter of the said Annuity or Pencon due at Mid-summer 1680. And by Vertue of his Ma'ts Lres of Privy Scale directing an additionall Annuity of One hundred pounds to him the said John Dryden to draw one or more orders for payment of the sume of Twenty five Pounds for one Quarter of the said Annuity due at Lady day 1680. And let both the said sumes making the sume of Seaventy Five Pounds be satisfyed out of any his Ma'ts Treasure now or hereafter being and remaining in the Receipt of Excheq'r not appropriated to particular uses For w'ch this shal be your Warrant. 

 Whitehall Treasury Chambers May the 6th 1684

 To our very Loving friend S'r Robert Rochester howard Kn't Auditor of the Receipt J Ernle'r of his Ma'ts Excheq'r. Ed Dering Int'r. In officio Auditor Ste: ffox Recpt see-ij Dni Regis Int'r in Oficio Clei Pell &c. Mr. Dryden 75_l_. 

It will be seen from this that independently of the appointment of thelaureateship, Dryden had in or before the year 1679 received anadditional pension of £100 a year. Confirmatory of this is a Treasuryorder for the quarter of the same pension, due January 5th, 1679, and asecret service payment of the same year, apparently referring to thesame pension. Moreover, on December 17th, 1683, Dryden was appointedcollector of customs in the port of London. The value of this isunknown, but the sum of £5 for collecting the duties on cloth, which isthe only part of the emoluments as to which there is documentaryevidence, must have been a very small part of it. Now these twoappointments, the laureateship and the collectorship, were byletters-patent, and were, in the usual course, confirmed on theaccession of the new Sovereign, though James characteristically cut outthe butt of sack. But the extra pension, which was merely granted byletters of privy seal, lapsed, and it was absolutely within thediscretion of the new Sovereign to continue or discontinue it. It wasnot formally regranted for a year, and this pension was mistaken byMacaulay for an original one granted in payment of apostasy. That thedifference is very considerable must strike every one, and I for onecannot see that the drawing of the obvious inference can be calledsophistry. If the time between the lapsing and the regranting seemslong, it has to be observed, first, that arrears to the date of thelapse are carefully specified; secondly, that even in the case of thelaureateship patent, four whole months, as has been seen, elapsedbetween the instruction for it and the patent itself. The circumstancesare, of course, consistent with the supposition that apostasy was made acondition of the renewal; but they cannot be said to supply ofthemselves any argument in favour of such a supposition. --ED. ]

SECTION VI. 

_Threnodia Augustalis--Albion and Albanius--Dryden becomes a Catholic--The Controversy of Dryden with Stillingfleet--The Hind and Panther--Lifeof St. Francis Xavier--Consequences of the Revolution to Dryden--DonSebastian--King Arthur--Cleomenes--Love Triumphant. _

The accession of James II. To the British throne excited new hopes inall orders of men. On the accession of a new prince, the loyal looked torewards, the rebellious to amnesty. The Catholics exulted in beholdingone of their persuasion attain the crown after an interval of twocenturies; the Church of England expected the fruits of her unlimiteddevotion to the royal line; even the sectaries might hope indulgencefrom a prince whose religion deviated from that established by law aswidely as their own. All, therefore, hastened, in sugared addresses, tolament the sun which had set, and hail the beams of that which hadarisen. Dryden, among other expectants, chose the more honourable ofthese themes; and in the "_Threnodia Augustalis_, " at once paid atribute to the memory of the deceased monarch, and decently solicitedthe attention of his successor. But although he had enjoyed personalmarks of the favour of Charles, they were of a nature too unsubstantialto demand a deep tone of sorrow. "Little was the muses' hire, and lighttheir gain;" and "the pension of a prince's praise" is stated to havebeen all their encouragement. Dryden, therefore, by no means sorrowed asif he had no hope; but, having said all that was decently mournful overthe bier of Charles, tuned his lyrics to a sounding close in praise ofJames. 

About the same time, Dryden resumed, with new courage, the opera of"Albion and Albanius, " which had been nearly finished before the deathof Charles. This was originally designed as a masque, or emblematicalprelude to the play of "King Arthur;" for Dryden, wearied with theinefficient patronage of Charles, from whom he only "received fairwords, " had renounced in despair the task of an epic poem, and hadconverted one of his themes, that of the tale of Arthur, into thesubject of a romantic drama. As the epic was to have been adapted to thehonour and praise of Charles and his brother, the opera had originallythe same political tendency. "Albion and Albanius" was a sort ofintroductory masque, in which, under a very thin veil of allegory, first, the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne, and, secondly, their recent conquest over their Whig opponents, were successivelyrepresented. The death of Charles made little alteration in this piece:it cost but the addition of an apotheosis; and the opera concluded withthe succession of James to the throne, from which he had been so nearlyexcluded. These topics were however temporary; and, probably from thenecessity of producing it while the allusions were fresh and obvious, "Albion and Albanius" was detached from "King Arthur, " which was not insuch a state of forwardness. Great expense was bestowed in bringingforward this piece, and the scenery seems to have been unusuallyperfect; particularly, the representation of a celestial phenomenon, actually seen by Captain Gunman of the navy, whose evidence is quoted inthe printed copies of the play. [1] The music of "Albion and Albanius"was arranged by Grabut, a Frenchman, whose name does not stand high as acomposer. Yet Dryden pays him some compliments in the preface of thepiece, which were considered as derogatory to Purcel and the Englishschool, and gave great offence to a class of persons at least asirritable as their brethren the poets. This, among other causes, seemsto have injured the success of the piece. But its death-blow was thenews of the Duke of Monmouth's invasion, which reached London onSaturday, 13th June 1685, while "Albion and Albanius" was performing forthe sixth time: the audience broke up in consternation, and the piecewas never again repeated. [2] This opera was prejudicial to the company, who were involved by the expense in a considerable debt, and neverrecovered half the money laid out. Neither was it of service to ourpoet's reputation, who had, on this occasion, to undergo the gibes ofangry musicians, as well as the reproaches of disappointed actors andhostile poets. One went so far as to suggest, with some humour, thatprobably the laureate and Grabut had mistaken their trade; the formingwriting the music, and the latter the verse. 

We have now reached a remarkable incident in our author's life, namely, his conversion to the Catholic faith, which took place shortly after theaccession of James II. To the British throne. The biographer of Drydenmust feel considerable difficulty in discussing the probable causes ofhis change. Although this essay be intended to contain the life, not theapology of the poet, it is the duty of the writer to place suchcircumstances in view, as may qualify the strong prepossession at firstexcited by a change of faith against the individual who makes it. Thisprepossession, powerful in every case, becomes doubly so, if the step betaken at a time when the religion adopted seems more readily to pave theway for the temporal prosperity of the proselyte. Even where the groundsof conviction are ample and undeniable, we have a respect for those whosuffer, rather than renounce a mistaken faith, when it isdiscountenanced or persecuted. A brave man will least of all withdrawhimself from his ancient standard when the tide of battle beats againstit. On the other hand, those who at such a period admit conviction tothe better and predominant doctrine, are viewed with hatred by themembers of the deserted creed, and with doubt by their new brethren infaith. Many who adopted Christianity in the reign of Constantine weredoubtless sincere proselytes, but we do not find that any of them havebeen canonised. These feelings must be allowed powerfully to affect themind, when we reflect that Dryden, a servant of the court and zealouslyattached to the person of James, to whom he looked for the reward oflong and faithful service, did not receive any mark of royal favouruntil he professed himself a member of the religion for which that kingwas all but an actual martyr. There are other considerations, however, greatly qualifying the conclusions which might be drawn from thesesuspicious circumstances, and tending to show, that Dryden's conversionwas at least in a great measure effected by sincere conviction. Theprincipal clew to the progress of his religious principles is to befound in the poet's own lines in "The Hind and the Panther, " and may, bya very simple commentary, be applied to the state of his religiousopinions at different periods of his life:--

 "My thoughtless youth was winged with vain desires; My manhood, long misled by wandering fires, Followed false lights, and, when their glimpse was gone, My pride struck out new sparkles of her own. Such was I, such by nature still I am; Be thine the glory, and be mine the shame!"

The "vain desires" of Dryden's "thoughtless youth" require noexplanation: they obviously mean, that inattention to religious dutieswhich the amusements of youth too frequently occasion. The "falselights" which bewildered the poet's manhood, were, I doubt not, thepuritanical tenets, which, coming into the world under the auspices ofhis fanatical relations, Sir Gilbert Pickering and Sir John Driden, hemust have at least professed, but probably seriously entertained. Itmust be remembered, that the poet was thirty years of age at theRestoration, so that a considerable space of his full-grown manhood hadpassed while the rigid doctrines of the fanatics were still the order ofthe day. But the third state of his opinions, those "sparkles which hispride struck out, " after the delusions of puritanism had vanished; inother words, those sentiments which he imbibed after the Restoration, and which immediately preceded his adoption of the Catholic faith, cannot be ascertained without more minute investigation. We may at theoutset be easily permitted to assume, that the adoption of a fixed creedof religious principles was not the first business of our author, whenthat merry period set him free from the rigorous fetters of fanaticism. Unless he differed more than we can readily believe from the publicfeeling at that time, Dryden was satisfied to give to Caesar the thingsthat were Caesar's, without being in a hurry to fulfil the counterpartof the precept. Foremost in the race of pleasure, engaged in laboursalien from serious reflection, the favourite of the most lively anddissolute nobility whom England ever saw, religious thoughts were not, at this period, likely to intrude frequently upon his mind, or to beencouraged when they did so. The time, therefore, when Dryden beganseriously to compare the doctrines of the contending sects ofChristianity, was probably several years after the Restoration, whenreiterated disappointment, and satiety of pleasure, prompted his mind toretire within itself, and think upon hereafter. The "_Religio Laici_"published in 1682, evinces that, previous to composing that poem, theauthor had bestowed serious consideration upon the important subjects ofwhich it treats: and I have postponed the analysis of it to this place, in order that the reader may be able to form his own conjecture fromwhat faith Dryden changed when he became a Catholic. 

The "_Religio Laici_" has indeed a political tendency, being written todefend the Church of England against the sectaries: it is not therefore, so much from the conclusions of the piece, as from the mode of theauthor's deducing these conclusions, that Dryden's real opinions may hegathered;--as we learn nothing of the bowl's bias from its havingreached its mark, though something may be conjectured by observing thecourse which it described in attaining it. From many minute particulars, I think it almost decisive, that Dryden, when he wrote the "_ReligioLaici_, " was sceptical concerning revealed religion. I do not mean, thathis doubts were of that fixed and permanent nature, which have atdifferent times induced men, of whom better might have been hoped, topronounce themselves freethinkers on principle. On the contrary, Drydenseems to have doubted with such a strong wish to believe, as, accompanied with circumstances of extrinsic influence, led him finallyinto the opposite extreme of credulity. His view of the doctrines ofChristianity, and of its evidence, were such as could not legitimatelyfound him in the conclusions he draws in favour of the Church ofEngland; and accordingly, in adopting them, he evidently stretches hiscomplaisance towards the national religion, while perhaps in his hearthe was even then disposed to think there was no middle course betweennatural religion and the Church of Rome. The first creed which heexamines is that of Deism; which he rejects, because the worship of onesole deity was not known to the philosophers of antiquity, and istherefore obviously to be ascribed to revelation. Revelation thusproved, the puzzling doubt occurs, whether the Scripture, as contendedby Calvinists, was to be the sole rule of faith, or whether the rulesand traditions of the Church are to be admitted in explanation of theholy text. Here Dryden does not hesitate to point out the inconveniencesensuing from making the sacred page the subject of the dubious andcontradictory commentary of the laity at large: when

 "The common rule was made the common prey, And at the mercy of the rabble lay; The tender page with horny fists was galled, And he was gifted most that loudest bawled; The spirit gave the doctoral degree, And every member of a company Was of his trade and of the Bible free. "

This was the rule of the sectaries, --of those whose innovations seemed, in the eyes of the Tories, to be again bursting in upon monarchy andepiscopacy with the strength of a land-flood. Dryden, therefore, atonce, and heartily, reprobates it. But the opposite extreme of admittingthe authority of the Church as omnipotent in deciding all matters offaith, he does not give up with the same readiness. The extremeconvenience, nay almost necessity, for such authority, is admitted inthese remarkable lines:

 "Such an omniscient church we _wish_ indeed; _'Twere worth both Testaments, cast in the Creed. _"

A wish, so forcibly expressed, shows a strong desire on the part of thepoet to be convinced of the existence of what he so ardently desired. And the argument which Dryden considers as conclusive against theexistence of such an omniscient church, is precisely that which a subtleCatholic would find little trouble in repelling. If there be such achurch, says Dryden, why does it not point out the corruption of thecanon, and restore it where lost? The answer is obvious, providing thatthe infallibility of the church be previously assumed; for where can thenecessity of restoring or explaining Scripture, if God has given, toPope and Council, the inspiration necessary to settle all doubts inmatters of faith? Dryden must have perceived where this argument ledhim, and he rather compounds with the difficulty than faces it. TheScripture, he admits, must be the rule on the one hand; but, on theother, it was to be qualified with the traditions of the earlier ages, and the exposition of learned men. And he concludes, boldly enough:

 "Shall I speak plain, and, in a nation free, Assume an honest layman's liberty? I think, according to my little skill, To my own mother-church submitting still, That many have been saved, and many may, Who never heard this question brought in play. The unlettered Christian, who believes in gross, Plods on to heaven, and ne'er is at a loss; For the strait gate would be made straiter yet, Were none admitted there but men of wit. "

This seems to be a plain admission, that the author was involved in aquestion from which he saw no very decided mode of extricating himself;and that the best way was to think as little as possible upon thesubject. But this was a sorry conclusion for affording firm foundationin religious faith. 

Another doubt appears to have puzzled Dryden so much, as to lead himfinally to the Catholic faith for its solution. This was the future fateof those who never heard the gospel preached, supposing belief in itessential to salvation:

 "Because a general law is that alone, Which must to all, and every where, be known. "

Dryden, it is true, founds upon the mercy of the Deity a hope, that thebenefit of the propitiatory sacrifice of our Mediator may be extended tothose who knew not of its power. But the creed of St. Athanasius standsin the poet's road; and though he disposes of it with less reverence tothe patriarch than is quite seemly, there is an indecision, if not inhis conclusion, at least in his mode of deducing it, that shows an aptinclination to cut the knot, and solve the objection of the Deist, byalleging, that belief in the Christian religion is an essentialrequisite to salvation. 

If I am right in these remarks, it will follow, that Dryden never couldbe a firm or steady believer in the Church of England's doctrines. Thearguments, by which he proved them, carried him too far; and when hecommenced a teacher of faith, or when, as he expresses it, "his pridestruck out new sparkles of its own, " at that very time, while in wordshe maintained the doctrines of his mother-church, his conviction reallyhovered between natural religion and the faith of Rome. It is remarkablethat his friends do not seem to have considered the "_Religio Laici_" asexpressive of his decided sentiments; for Charles Blount, a notedfree-thinker, in consequence of that very work, wrote a deisticaltreatise in prose, bearing the same title, and ascribed it with greattestimony of respect to "his much-honoured friend, John Dryden, Esquire. "[3] Mr. Blount, living in close habits with Dryden, must haveknown perfectly well how to understand his polemical poem; and, had hesupposed it was written under a deep belief of the truth of the Englishcreed, can it be thought he would have inscribed to the author a tractagainst all revelation?[4] The inference is, therefore, sufficientlyplain, that the dedicator knew that Dryden was sceptical on the subject, on which he had, out of compliment to Church and State, affected aconviction; and that his "_Religio Laici_" no more inferred a belief inthe doctrines of Christianity, than the sacrifice of a cock toEsculapius proved the heathen philosopher's faith in the existence ofthat divine leech. Thus far Dryden had certainly proceeded. Hisdisposition to believe in Christianity was obvious, but he wasbewildered in the maze of doubt in which he was involved; and it wasalready plain, that the Church, whose promises to illuminate him weremost confident, was likely to have the honour of this distinguishedproselyte. Dryden did not, therefore, except in outward profession, abandon the Church of England for that of Rome, but was converted to theCatholic faith from a state of infidelity, or rather of Pyrrhonism. Thisis made more clear by the words of Dryden, from which it appears that, having once admitted the mysterious doctrines of the Trinity and ofredemption, so incomprehensible to human reason, he felt no right tomake any further appeal to that fallible guide:

 "Good life be now my task; my doubts are done; What more could fright my faith than three in one? Can I believe Eternal God could lie Disguised in mortal mould, and infancy? That the great Maker of the world could die? And after that trust my imperfect sense, Which calls in question his omnipotence?"

From these lines it may be safely inferred, that Dryden's sincereacquiescence in the more abstruse points of Christianity did not longprecede his adoption of the Roman faith. In some preceding verses itappears, how eagerly he received the conviction of the Church'sinfallibility as affording that guide, the want of whom he had in somedegree lamented in the "_Religio Laici_:"

 "What weight of ancient witness can prevail, If private reason hold the public scale? But, gracious God, how well dost thou provide For erring judgments an unerring guide! Thy throne is darkness in the abyss of light, A blaze of glory that forbids the sight. O teach me to believe thee, thus concealed, And search no farther than thyself revealed; But her alone for my director take, Whom thou hast promised never to forsake!"

We find, therefore, that Dryden's conversion was not of that sordid kindwhich is the consequence of a strong temporal interest; for he hadexpressed intelligibly the imagined _desiderata_ which the Church ofRome alone pretends to supply, long before that temporal interest had anexistence. Neither have we to reproach him, that, grounded and rooted ina pure Protestant creed, he was foolish enough to abandon it for themore corrupted doctrines of Rome. He did not unloose from the securehaven to moor in the perilous road; but, being tossed on the billows ofuncertainty, he dropped his anchor in the first moorings to which thewinds, waves, and perhaps an artful pilot, chanced to convey his bark. We may indeed regret, that, having to choose between two religions, heshould have adopted that which our education, reason, and evenprepossessions, combine to point out as foully corrupted from theprimitive simplicity of the Christian Church. But neither the ProtestantChristian, nor the sceptic philosopher, can claim a right to despise thesophistry which bewildered the judgment of Chillingworth, or the toilswhich enveloped the active and suspicious minds of Bayle and of Gibbon. The latter, in his account of his own conversion to the Catholic faith, fixes upon the very arguments pleaded by Dryden, as those which appearedto him irresistible. The early traditions of the Church, the expresswords of the text, are referred to by both as the grounds of theirconversion; and the works of Bossuet, so frequently referred to by thepoet, were the means of influencing the determination of thephilosopher. [5] The victorious argument to which Chillingworth himselfyielded, was, "that there must be somewhere an infallible judge, and theChurch of Rome is the only Christian society, which either does or canpretend to that character. "

It is also to be observed, that towards the end of Charles II. 's reign, the High Churchmen and the Catholics regarded themselves as on the sameside in political questions, and not greatly divided in their temporalinterests. Both were sufferers in the Plot, both were enemies of thesectaries, both were adherents of the Stuarts. 

Alternate conversion had been common between them, so early as sinceMilton made a reproach to the English universities of the converts tothe Roman faith daily made within their colleges; of those sheep, "Whom the grim wolf with privy paw Daily devours apace and nothing said. "

In approaching Dryden, therefore, a Catholic priest had to combat few ofthose personal prejudices which, in other cases, have been impedimentsto their making converts. The poet had, besides, before him the exampleof many persons both of rank and talent, who had adopted the Catholicreligion. 

Such being the disposition of Dryden's mind, and such the peculiarfacilities of the Roman Churchmen in making proselytes, it is by nomeans to be denied, that circumstances in the poet's family andsituation strongly forwarded his taking such a step. His Wife, LadyElizabeth, had for some time been a Catholic; and though she may beacquitted of any share in influencing his determination, yet her newfaith necessarily brought into his family persons both able and disposedto do so. His eldest and best beloved son, Charles, is also said, thoughupon uncertain authority, to have been a Catholic before his father, andto have contributed to his change. [6] Above all, James his master, towhose fortunes he had so closely attached himself, had now become asparsimonious of his favour as his Church is of salvation, and restrictedit to those of his own sect. It is more than probable, though only aconjecture, that Dryden might be made the subject of those privateexhortations, which in that reign were called _closeting_; and, predisposed as he was, he could hardly be supposed capable of resistingthe royal eloquence. For, while pointing out circumstances of proof, that Dryden's conversion was not made by manner of bargain and sale, butproceeded upon a sincere though erroneous conviction, it cannot bedenied, that his situation as poet-laureate, and his expectations fromthe king, must have conduced to his taking his final resolution. All Imean to infer from the above statement is, that his interest andinternal conviction led him to the same conclusion. 

If we are to judge of Dryden's sincerity in his new faith, by thedetermined firmness with which report retained it through good reportand bad report we must allow him to have been a martyr, or at least aconfessor, in the Catholic cause. If after the Revolution, like manygreater men, he had changed his principles with the times, he was not aperson of such mark as to be selected from all the nation, and punishedfor former tenets. Supported by the friendship of Rochester, and most ofthe Tory nobles who were active in the Revolution, of Leicester, andmany Whigs, and especially of the Lord-Chamberlain Dorset, there wouldprobably have been little difficulty in his remaining poet-laureate, ifhe had recanted the errors of Popery. But the Catholic religion, and theconsequent disqualifications, was an insurmountable obstacle to hisholding that or any other office under government; and Dryden'sadherence to it, with all the poverty, reproach, and even persecutionwhich followed the profession, argued a deep and substantial convictionof the truth of the doctrines it inculcated. So late as 1699, when anunion, in opposition to King William, had led the Tories and Whigs tolook on each other with some kindness, Dryden thus expresses himself ina letter to his cousin, Mrs. Steward: "The court rather speaks kindly ofme, than does anything for me, though they promise largely; and perhapsthey think I will advance as they go backward, in which they will bemuch deceived: for I can never go an inch beyond my conscience and myhonour. If they will consider me as a man who has done my best toimprove the language, and especially the poetry, and will be contentwith my acquiescence under the present government, and forbearing satireon it, that I can promise, because I can perform it: but I can neithertake the oaths, nor forsake my religion; because I know not what Churchto go to, if I leave the Catholic: they are all so divided amongstthemselves in matters of faith, necessary to salvation, and yet allassuming the name of Protestants. May God be pleased to open your eyes, as he has opened mine! Truth is but one, and they who have once heard ofit, can plead no excuse if they do not embrace it. But these are thingstoo serious for a trifling letter. "[7] If, therefore, adherence to thecommunion of a falling sect, loaded too at the time with heavydisqualifications, and liable to yet more dangerous suspicions, can beallowed as a proof of sincerity, we can hardly question that Dryden was, from the date of his conviction, a serious and sincere Roman Catholic. 

The conversion of Dryden did not long remain unrewarded, [8] nor was hispen suffered to be idle in the cause which he had adopted. On the 4th ofMarch 1685-6, an hundred pounds a year, payable quarterly, was added tohis pension:[9] and probably he found himself more at ease under theregular and economical government of James, than when his supportdepended on the exhausted exchequer of Charles. Soon after the grantingof this boon, he was employed to defend the reasons of conversion to theCatholic faith, alleged by Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, which, togetherwith two papers on a similar subject, said to be found in Charles II. 'sstrong box. James had with great rashness given to the public. Stillingfleet, now at the head of the champions of the Protestant faith, published some sharp remarks on these papers. Another hand, probablythat of a Jesuit, was employed to vindicate against him the royalgrounds of conversion; while to Dryden was committed the charge ofdefending those alleged by the Duchess. The tone of Dryden's apologywas, to say the least, highly injudicious, and adapted to irritate thefeelings of the clergy of the established church, already sufficientlyexasperated to see the sacrifices which they had made to the royal causeutterly forgotten, the moment that they paused in the extremity of theirdevotion towards the monarch. The name of "Legion, " which the apologistbestows on his adversaries, intimates the committee of the clergy bywhom the Protestant cause was then defended; and the tone of hisarguments is harsh, contemptuous, and insulting. A raker up of the ashesof princes, an hypocrite, a juggler, a latitudinarian, are the bestterms which he affords the advocate of the Church of England, in defenceof which he had so lately been himself a distinguished champion. Stillingfleet returned to the charge; and when he came to the part ofthe Defence written by Dryden, he did not spare the personal invective, to which the acrimonious style of the poet-laureate had indeed given anopening, "Zeal, " says Stillingfleet, "in a new convert, is a terriblething, for it not only burns, but rages like the eruptions of MountEtna; it fills the air with noise and smoke, and throws out such atorrent of living fire, that there is no standing before it. " In anotherpassage, Stillingfleet talks of the "temptation of changing religion forbread;" in another, our author's words, that

 "Priests of all religions are the same, " [10]

are quoted to infer, that he who has no religion may declare for any. Dryden took his revenge both on Stillingfleet the author, and on Burnet, whom he seems to have regarded as the reviser of this answer, in hispolemical poem of "The Hind and the Panther. "

If we can believe an ancient tradition, this poem was chiefly composedin a country retirement at Rushton, near his birth-place in Huntingdon[Northamptonshire]. There was an embowered walk at this place, which, from the pleasure which the poet took in it, retained the name ofDryden's Walk; and here was erected, about the middle of last century, an urn, with the following inscription: "In memory of Dryden, whofrequented these shades, and is here said to have composed his poem of'The Hind and the Panther. '"[11]

"The Hind and the Panther" was written with a view to obviate theobjections of the English clergy and people to the power of dispensingwith the test laws, usurped by James II. A change of political measures, which took place while the poem was composing, has greatly injured itsunity and consistence. In the earlier part of his reign, Jamesendeavoured to gain the Church of England, by fair means and flattery, to submit to the remission which he claimed the liberty of granting tothe Catholics. The first part of Dryden's poem is written upon thissoothing plan; the Panther, or Church of England, is

 "sure the noblest next the Hind, And fairest offspring of the spotted kind. Oh could her inborn stains be washed away, She were too good to be a beast of prey. "

The sects, on the other hand, are characterised, wolves, bears, boars, foxes, --all that is odious and horrible in the brute creation. But erethe poem was published, the king had assumed a different tone with theestablished church. Relying upon the popularity which the suspension ofthe penal laws was calculated to procure among the Dissenters, heendeavoured to strengthen his party by making common cause between themand the Catholics, and bidding open defiance to the Church of England. For a short time, and with the most ignorant of the sectaries, this planseemed to succeed; the pleasure of a triumph over their ancient enemiesrendering them blind to the danger of the common Protestant cause. During this interval the poem was concluded; and the last book seems toconsider the cause of the Hind and Panther as gone to a final issue, andincapable of any amicable adjustment. The Panther is fairly resigned toher fate:

 "Her hour of grace was passed, "

and the downfall of the English hierarchy is foretold in that of theDoves, who, in a subaltern allegory, represent the clergy of theestablished church:

 "Tis said, the Doves repented, though too late, Become the smiths of their own foolish fate: Nor did their owner hasten their ill hour, But, sunk in credit, they decreased in power; Like snows in warmth that mildly pass away, Dissolving in the silence of decay. "

In the preface, as well as in the course of the poem, Dryden frequentlyalludes to his dispute with Stillingfleet; and perhaps none of his poemscontain finer lines than those in which he takes credit for the painfulexertion of Christian forbearance when called by injured feeling toresent personal accusation:--

 "If joys hereafter must be purchased here With loss of all that mortals hold so dear, Then welcome infamy and public shame, And last, a long farewell to worldly fame! 'Tis said with ease; but, oh, how hardly tried By haughty souls to human honour tied! O sharp convulsive pangs of agonising pride! Down then, rebel, never more to rise! And what thou didst, and dost, so dearly prize, That fame, that darling fame, make that thy sacrifice. 'Tis nothing thou hast given; then add thy tears For a long race of unrepenting years: 'Tis nothing yet, yet all thou hast to give; Then add those may-be years thou hast to live: Yet nothing still: then poor and naked come, Thy father will receive his unthrift home, And thy blest Saviour's blood discharge the mighty sum. "

Stillingfleet is, however, left personally undistinguished, but Burnet, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, receives chastisement in his stead. Thecharacter of this prelate, however unjustly exaggerated, preserves manystriking and curious traits of resemblance to the original; and, as wasnatural, gave deep offence to the party for whom it was drawn. For notonly did Burnet at the time express himself with great asperity ofDryden, but long afterwards, when writing his history, he pronounced asevere censure on the immorality of his plays, so inaccurately expressedas to be applicable, by common construction to the author's privatecharacter. From this coarse and inexplicit accusation, the memory ofDryden was indignantly vindicated by his friend Lord Lansdowne. 

It is also worth remarking, that in the allegory of the swallows, introduced in the Third Part of "The Hind and the Panther, " the authorseems to have had in his eye the proposal made at a grand consult of theCatholics, that they should retire from the general and increasinghatred of all ranks, and either remain quiet at home, or settle abroad. This plan, which originated in their despair of James's being able to doanything effectual in their favour, was set aside by the fieryopposition of Father Petre, the martin of the fable told by the Pantherto the Hind. [12]

The appearance of "The Hind and the Panther" excited a clamour againstthe author far more general than the publication of "Absalom andAchitophel. " Upon that occasion the offence was given only to a party, but this open and avowed defence of James's strides towards arbitrarypower, with the unpopular circumstance of its coming from a new convertto the royal faith, involved our poet in the general suspicion withwhich the nation at large now viewed the slightest motions of theirinfatuated monarch. The most noted amongst those who appeared to opposethe triumphant advocate of the Hind, were Montague and Prior, young mennow rising into eminence. They joined to produce a parody entitled the"Town and Country Mouse;" part of which Mr. Bayes is supposed to gratifyhis old friends, Smith and Johnson, by repeating to them. The piece is, therefore, founded upon the twice-told jest of the "Rehearsal. " Of theparody itself, we have given ample specimen in its proper place. Thereis nothing new or original in the idea, which chiefly turns upon theridiculing the poem of Dryden, where religious controversy is made thesubject of dispute and adjustment between a Hind and a Panther, who varybetween their typical character of animals and their real character asthe Catholic and English Church. In this piece, Prior, though theyounger man, seems to have had by far the larger share. LordPeterborough, on being asked whether the satire was not written byMontague in conjunction with Prior, answered, "Yes; as if I, seated inMr. Cheselden's chaise drawn by his fine horse, should say, _Lord!_ howfinely we draw this chaise!" Indeed, although the parody was trite andobvious, the satirists had the public upon their side; and it now seemsastonishing with what acclamations this attack upon the most ablechampion of James's faith was hailed by his discontented subjects. Dryden was considered as totally overcome by his assailants; they deemedthemselves, and were deemed by others, as worthy of very distinguishedand weighty recompence;[13] and what was yet a more decisive mark, thattheir bolt had attained its mark, the aged poet is said to havelamented, even with tears, the usage he had received from two young men, to whom he had been always civil. This last circumstance is probablyexaggerated. Montague and Prior had doubtless been frequenters of Will'scoffee-house, where Dryden held the supreme rule in criticism, and hadthus, among other rising wits, been distinguished by him. That he shouldhave felt their satire is natural, for the arrow flew with the wind, andpopularity amply supplied its deficiency in real vigour; but the readermay probably conclude with Johnson, that Dryden was too much hackneyedin political warfare to suffer so deeply from the parody, as Dr. Lockier's anecdote would lead us to believe. "If we can suppose himvexed, " says that accurate judge of human nature, "we can hardly denyhim sense to conceal his uneasiness. "

Although Prior and Montague were first in place and popularity, therewanted not the usual crowd of inferior satirists and poetasters tofollow them to the charge. "The Hind and the Panther" was assailed by avariety of pamphlets, by Tom Brown and others, of which an account, withspecimens perhaps more than sufficient, is annexed to the notes on thepoem in this edition. It is worth mentioning, that on this, as on aformer occasion, an adversary of Dryden chose to select one of his ownpoems as a contrast to his latter opinions. The "_Religio Laici_" wasreprinted, and carefully opponed to the various passages of "The Hindand the Panther, " which appeared most contradictory to its tenets. Butwhile the Grub-street editor exulted in successfully pointing out theinconsistency between Dryden's earlier and later religious opinions, hewas incapable of observing, that the change was adopted in consequenceof the same unbroken train of reasoning, and that Dryden, when he wrotethe "_Religio Laici_" was under the impulse of the same conviction, which, further prosecuted, led him to acquiesce in the faith of Rome. 

The king appears to have been hardly less anxious to promote thedispersion of "The Hind I and the Panther, " than the Protestant party toridicule the piece and its author. It was printed about the same time atLondon and in Edinburgh, where a printing-press was maintained inHolyrood House, for the dispersion of tracts favouring the Catholicreligion. The poem went rapidly through two or three editions; acircumstance rather to be imputed to the celebrity of the author, and tothe anxiety which foes, as well as friends, entertained to learn hissentiments, than to any disposition to acquiesce in his arguments. 

But Dryden's efforts in favour of the Catholic cause were not limited tothis controversial poem. He is said to have been at first employed bythe court, in translating Varillas's "History of Heresies, " a work heldin considerable estimation by the Catholic divines. Accordingly, anentry to that purpose was made by Tonson in the Stationers' books, ofsuch a translation made by Dryden at his Majesty's command. Thiscircumstance is also mentioned by Burnet, who adds, in very coarse andabusive terms, that the success of his own remarks having destroyed thecharacter of Varillas as an historian, the disappointed translatorrevenged himself by the severe character of the Buzzard, under which thefuture Bishop of Sarum is depicted in "The Hind and the Panther. "[14]The credulity of Burnet, especially where his vanity was concerned wasunbounded; and there seems room to trace Dryden's attack upon him, rather to some real or supposed concern in the controversy about theDuchess of York's papers, so often alluded to in the poem, than to thecommentary on Varillas, which is not once mentioned. Yet it seemscertain that Dryden entertained thoughts of translating "The History ofHeresies;" and, for whatever reason, laid the task aside. He soon afterwas engaged in a task, of a kind as unpromising as remote from hispoetical studies, and connected, in the same close degree, with thereligious views of the unfortunate James II. This was no other than thetranslation of "The Life of St. Francis Xavier, " one of the last adoptedsaints of the Catholic Church, at least whose merits and supposedmiracles were those of a missionary. Xavier is perhaps among the latestalso, whose renown for sanctity, and the powers attending it, appears tohave been extensive even while he was yet alive. [15] Above all, he wasof the order of Jesuits, and the very saint to whom Mary of Este hadaddressed her vows, in hopes to secure a Catholic successor to thethrone of England. [16] It was, therefore, natural enough, that Drydenshould have employed himself in translating the life of a saint, whosevirtues must at that time have appeared so peculiarly meritorious; whosepraises were so acceptable to his patroness; and whose miracles werewrought for the credit of the Catholic Church, within so late a period, besides, the work had been composed by Bartoli, in Portuguese; and byBouhours, in French. With the merits of the latter we are wellacquainted; of the former, Dryden speaks highly in the dedication. Itmay perhaps be more surprising, that the present editor should haveretained this translation, than that Dryden should have undertaken it. But surely the only work of this very particular and enthusiasticnature, which the modern English language has to exhibit, was worthy ofpreservation, were it but as a curiosity. The creed and the character ofCatholic faith are now so much forgotten among us (popularly speaking), that, in reading the "Life of Xavier, " the Protestant finds himself in anew and enchanted land. The motives, and the incidents and thedoctrines, are alike new to him, and, indeed, occasionally form astrange contrast among themselves. There are few who can read, without asentiment of admiration, the heroic devotion with which, from thehighest principle of duty, Xavier exposes himself to hardship, todanger, to death itself, that he may win souls to the Christian faith. The most rigid Protestant, and the most indifferent philosopher, cannotdeny to him the courage and patience of a martyr, with the good sense, resolution, ready wit, and address of the best negotiator, that everwent upon a temporal embassy. It is well that our admiration isqualified by narrations so monstrous, as his actually restoring the deadto life;[17] so profane, as the inference concerning the sweatingcrucifix;[18] so trivial and absurd, as a crab's fishing up the saint'scross, which had fallen into the sea; and, [19] to conclude, so shockingto humanity, as the account of the saint passing by the house of hisancestors, the abode of his aged mother, on his road to leave Europe forever, and conceiving he did God good service in denying himself themelancholy consolation of a last farewell. [20] Altogether, it forms acurious picture of the human mind, strung to a pitch of enthusiasm, which we can only learn from such narratives: and those to whom thisaffords no amusement, may glean some curious particulars from the "Lifeof Xavier, " concerning the state of India and Japan, at the time of hismission, as well as of the internal regulations and singular policyadopted by the society, of which the saint was a member. Besides the"Life of Xavier, " Dryden is said to have translated Bossuet's"Exposition of the Catholic Doctrine;" but for this we have but slightauthority. [21]

Dryden's political and polemic discussions naturally interfered at thisperiod with his more general poetical studies. About the period ofJames's accession, Tonson had indeed published a second volume ofMiscellanies, to which our poet contributed a critical preface, withvarious translations from Virgil, Lucretius, and Theocritus and fourOdes of Horace; of which the third of the First Book is happily appliedto Lord Roscommon, and the twenty-ninth to Lawrence Hyde, Earl ofRochester. Upon these and his other translations Garth has the followingstriking and forcible observations, though expressed in languagesomewhat quaint. "I cannot pass by that admirable English poet, withoutendeavouring to make his country sensible of the obligations they haveto his Muse. Whether they consider the flowing grace of hisversification, the vigorous sallies of his fancy, or the peculiardelicacy of his periods, they all discover excellencies never to beenough admired. If they trace him from the first productions of hisyouth to the last performances of his age, they will find, that as thetyranny of rhyme never imposed on the perspicuity of sense, so a languidsense never wanted to be set off by the harmony of rhyme. And, as hisearly works wanted no maturity, so his latter wanted no force or spirit. The falling off of his hair had no other consequence than to make hislaurels be seen the more. 

"As a translator, he was just; as an inventor, he was rich. His versionsof some parts of Lucretius, Horace, Homer, and Virgil, throughout gavehim a just pretence to that compliment which was made to Monsieurd'Ablancourt, a celebrated French translator. _It is uncertain who havethe greatest obligation to him, the dead or the living. _

"With all these wondrous talents, he was libelled, in his lifetime, bythe very men who had no other excellencies but as they were hisimitators Where he was allowed to have sentiments superior to allothers, they charged him with theft. But how did he steal? no otherwisethan like those who steal beggars' children, only to clothe them thebetter. "

In this reign Dryden wrote the first Ode to St. Cecilia, for herfestival, in 1687. This and the Ode to the Memory of Mrs. AnneKilligrew, a performance much in the manner of Cowley, and which hasbeen admired perhaps fully as much as it merits, were the only pieces ofgeneral poetry which he produced between the accession of James and theRevolution. It was, however, about this time, that the poet becameacquainted with the simple and beautiful hymns of the Catholic ritual, the only pieces of uninspired sacred poetry which are worthy of thepurpose to which they are dedicated. It is impossible to hear the "_DiesIræ_;" or the "_Stabat Mater dolorosa_, " without feeling, that thestately simplicity of the language, differing almost as widely fromclassical poetry as from that of modern nations, awes the congregation, like the architecture of the Gothic cathedrals in which they arechanted. The ornaments which are wanting to these striking effusions ofdevotion, are precisely such as would diminish their grand and solemneffect; and nothing but the cogent and irresistible propriety ofaddressing the Divinity in a language understood by the wholeworshipping assembly, could have justified the discarding thesemagnificent hymns from the reformed worship. We must suppose thatDryden, as a poet, was interested in the poetical part of the religionwhich he had chosen; and his translation of "_Veni, Creator Spiritus_, "which was probably recommended to him as being the favourite hymn of St. Francis Xavier, [22] shows that they did so. But it is less generallyknown, that the English Catholics have preserved two other translationsascribed to Dryden; one of the "_Te Deum_, " the other of the hymn forSt. John's Eve; with which the public are here, for the first time, presented, as the transcripts with which I have been favoured reached metoo late to be inserted in the poet's works. [23] I think most of myreaders will join with me in opinion, that both their beauties andfaults are such as ascertain their authenticity. 

 THE TE DEUM. 

 Thee, Sovereign God, our grateful accents praise; We own thee Lord, and bless thy wondrous ways; To thee, Eternal Father, earth's whole frame With loudest trumpets sounds immortal fame. Lord God of Hosts! for thee the heavenly powers, With sounding anthems, fill the vaulted towers. Thy Cherubims thee Holy, Holy, Holy, cry; Thrice Holy, all the Seraphims reply, And thrice returning echoes endless songs supply. Both heaven and earth thy majesty display; They owe their beauty to thy glorious ray. Thy praises fill the loud apostles' quire: The train of prophets in the song conspire. Legions of martyrs in the chorus shine, And vocal blood with vocal music join. [24] By these thy church, inspired by heavenly art, Around the world maintains a second part, And tunes her sweetest notes, O God, to thee, The Father of unbounded majesty; The Son, adored co-partner of thy seat, And equal everlasting Paraclete. Thou King of Glory, Christ, of the Most High, Thou co-eternal filial Deity; Thou who, to save the world's impending doom, Vouchsafst to dwell within a virgin's womb; Old tyrant Death disarmed, before thee flew The bolts of heaven, and back the foldings drew, To give access, and make thy faithful way; From God's right hand thy filial beams display. Thou art to judge the living and the dead; Then spare those souls for whom thy veins have bled. O take us up amongst thy bless'd above, To share with them thy everlasting love. Preserve, O Lord! thy people, and enhance Thy blessing on thine own inheritance. For ever raise their hearts, and rule their ways, Each day we bless thee, and proclaim thy praise; No age shall fail to celebrate thy name, No hour neglect thy everlasting fame. Preserve our souls, O Lord, this day from ill; Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy still: As we have hoped, do thou reward our pain; We've hoped in thee--let not our hope be vain. 

 HYMN FOR ST. JOHN'S EVE. [25]

 (29th June. )

 O sylvan prophet! whose eternal fame Echoes from Judah's hills and Jordan's stream; The music of our numbers raise, And tune our voices to thy praise. 

 A messenger from high Olympus came To bear the tidings of thy life and name, And told thy sire each prodigy That Heaven designed to work in thee. 

 Hearing the news, and doubting in surprise, His falt'ring speech in fettered accent dies; But Providence, with happy choice, In thee restored thy father's voice. 

 In the recess of Nature's dark abode, Though still enclosed, yet knewest thou thy God; Whilst each glad parent told and blessed The secrets of each other's breast. 

A characteristic of James's administration was rigid economy, not onlyin ordinary matters, but towards his own partisans;--a wretched qualityin a prince, who was attempting a great and unpopular revolution both inreligion and politics, and ought, by his liberality, and even profusion, to have attached the hearts and excited the hopes of those fiery andunsettled spirits, who are ever foremost in times of national tumult. Dryden, one of his most efficient and zealous supporters, and who hadtaken the step which of all others was calculated to please James, received only, as we have seen, after the interval of nearly a year fromthat prince's accession, an addition of £100 to his yearly pension. There may, however, on occasion of "The Hind and the Panther, " thecontroversy with Stillingfleet, and other works undertaken with anexpress view to the royal interest, have been private communications ofJames's favour. But Dryden, always ready to supply with hope thedeficiency of present possession, went on his literary course rejoicing. A lively epistle to his friend Etherege, then envoy for James atRatisbon, shows the lightness and buoyancy of his spirits at thissupposed auspicious period. [26]

An event, deemed of the utmost and most beneficial importance to thefamily of Stuart, but which, according to their usual ill-fortune, helped to precipitate their ruin, next called forth the publicgratulation of the poet-laureate. This was the birth of that "son ofprayers" prophesied in the dedication to Xavier, whom the English, withobstinate incredulity, long chose to consider as an impostor, graftedupon the royal line to the prejudice of the Protestant succession. Dryden's "Britannia Rediviva" hailed, with the enthusiasm of a Catholicand a poet, the very event which, removing all hope of succession in thecourse of nature, precipitated the measures of the Prince of Orange, exhausted the patience of the exasperated people, and led them violentlyto extirpate a hated dynasty, which seemed likely to be protracted by anew reign. The merits of the poem have been considered in theintroductory remarks prefixed in this edition. [27]

Whatever hopes Dryden may have conceived in consequence of "The Hind andthe Panther, " "Britannia Rediviva, " and other works favourable to thecause of James and of his religion, they were suddenly and for everblighted by the REVOLUTION. It cannot be supposed that the poet viewedwithout anxiety the crisis while yet at a distance; and perhaps his owntale of the Swallows may have begun to bear, even to the author, the airof a prophecy. He is said, in an obscure libel, to have been among thosecourtiers who encouraged, by frequent visits, the camp on HounslowHeath, [28] upon which the king had grounded his hopes of subduing thecontumacy of his subjects, and repelling the invasion of the Prince ofOrange. If so, he must there have learned how unwilling the troops wereto second their monarch in his unpopular and unconstitutional attempts;and must have sadly anticipated the event of a struggle between a kingand his whole people. When this memorable catastrophe had taken place, our author found himself at once exposed to all the insult, calumny, andsarcasm with which a successful party in politics never fail tooverwhelm their discomfited adversaries But, what he must have felt yetmore severely, the unpopularity of his religion and principles renderedit not merely unsafe, but absolutely impossible, for him to makeretaliation His powers of satire, at this period, were of no more use toDryden than a sword to a man who cannot draw it; only serving to renderthe pleasure of insulting him more poignant to his enemies, and thenecessity of passive submission more bitter to himself. Of the numeroussatires, libels, songs, parodies, and pasquinades, which solemnised thedownfall of Popery and of James, Dryden had not only some exclusivelydedicated to his case, but engaged a portion, more or less, of almostevery one which appeared. Scarce Father Petre, or the Papal envoy Adda, themselves, were more distinguished, by these lampoons, than thepoet-laureate; the unsparing exertion of whose satirical powers, as wellas his unrivalled literary pre-eminence, had excited a strong partyagainst him among the inferior wits, whose political antipathy wasaggravated by ancient resentment and literary envy. An extract from oneof each kind may serve to show how very little wit was judged necessaryby Dryden's contemporaries to a successful attack upon him. [29] Nor wasthe "pelting of this pitiless storm" of abusive raillery the worst evilto which our author was subjected. The religion which he professedrendered him incapable of holding any office under the new government, even if he could have bended his political principles to take the oathsto William and Mary. We may easily believe that Dryden's old friendDorset, now lord high-chamberlain, felt repugnance to vacate the placesof poet-laureate and royal historiographer by removing the man inEngland most capable of filling them; but the sacrifice was inevitable. Dryden's own feelings, on losing the situation of poet-laureate, musthave been greatly aggravated by the selection of his despised opponentShadwell as his successor; a scribbler whom, in "Mac-Flecknoe, " he hadhimself placed pre-eminent in the regions of dulness, being now, so faras royal mandate can arrange such precedence, raised in his stead aschief among English poets. This very remarkable coincidence has ledseveral of Dryden's biographers, and Dr. Johnson among others, tosuppose, that the satire was actually written to ridicule Shadwell'selevation to the honours of the laurel; though nothing is more certainthan that it was published while Dryden was himself laureate, and couldbe hardly supposed to anticipate the object of his satire becoming hissuccessor. Shadwell, however, possessed merits with King William, whichwere probably deemed by that prince of more importance than all thegenius of Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden if it could have been combinedin one individual. He was a staunch Whig, and had suffered under theformer government, being "silenced as a non-conforming poet;" the doorsof the theatre closed against his plays; and, if he may himself bebelieved, even his life endangered, not only by the slow process ofstarving, but some more active proceeding of his powerful enemies. [30]Shadwell, moreover, had not failed to hail the dawn of the Revolution bya congratulatory poem to the Prince of Orange, and to gratulate itscompletion by another inscribed to Queen Mary on her arrival. In everypoint of view, his principles, fidelity, and alacrity, claimed William'scountenance; he was presented to him by Dorset, not as the best poet, but as the most honest man, politically speaking, among thecompetitors;[31] and accordingly succeeded to Dryden's situation aspoet-laureate and royal historiographer, with the appointment of £300 ayear. Shadwell, as might have been expected, triumphed in his successover his great antagonist; but his triumph was expressed in strainswhich showed he was totally unworthy of it. [32]

Dryden, deprived by the Revolution of present possession and futurehope, was now reduced to the same, or a worse situation, than he hadoccupied in the year of the Restoration, his income resting almostentirely upon his literary exertions, his expenses increased by thenecessity of providing and educating his family, and the advantage ofhis high reputation perhaps more than counterbalanced by the popularprejudice against his religion and party. So situated, he patiently andprudently bent to the storm which he could not resist; and though hemight privately circulate a few light pieces in favour of the exiledfamily, as the "Lady's Song, "[33] and the translation of Pitcairn'sbeautiful Epitaph[34] on the Viscount of Dundee, it seems certain thathe made no formal attack on the government either in verse or prose. Those who imputed to him the satires on the Revolution, called "_SuumCuique_, " and "Tarquin and Tullia, " did injustice both to his prudenceand his poetry. The last, and probably both satires, were written byMainwaring, who lived to be sorry for what he had done. 

The theatre again became Dryden's immediate resource. Indeed, the veryfirst play Queen Mary attended was one of our poet's, which had beenprohibited during the reign of James II. But the revival of the "SpanishFriar" could afford but little gratification to the author, whosenewly-adopted religion is so severely satirised in the person of FatherDominic. Nor was this ill-fated representation doomed to afford morepleasure to the personage by whom it was appointed. For the audienceapplied the numerous passages, concerning the deposing the old king andplanting a female usurper on the throne, to the memorable change whichhad just taken place; and all eyes were fixed upon Queen Mary, with anexpression which threw her into extreme confusion. [35]

Dryden, after the Revolution, began to lay the foundation for a newstructure of fame and popularity in the tragedy of "Don Sebastian. " Thistragedy, which has been justly regarded as the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of hisplays, was not, he has informed us, "huddled up in haste. " The authorknew the circumstances in which he stood, while, as he expresses it, hisungenerous enemies were taking advantage of the times to ruin hisreputation; and was conscious, that the full exertion of his genius wasnecessary to secure a favourable reception from an audience prepossessedagainst him and his tenets. Nor did he neglect to smooth the way, byinscribing the piece to the Earl of Leicester, brother of AlgernonSidney, who had borne arms against Charles in the civil war; and yet, Whig or republican as he was, had taste and feeling enough to patronisethe degraded laureate and proscribed Catholic. The dedication turns uponthe philosophical and moderate use of political victory, the liberalityof considering the friend rather than the cause, the dignity offorgiving and relieving the fallen adversary; themes, upon which theeloquence of the suffering party is usually unbounded although sometimesforgotten when they come again into power. With all this deprecatoryreasoning, Dryden does not recede, or hint at receding, one inch fromhis principles, but concludes his preface with a resolution to adopt thecounsel of the classic:

 "_Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito. _"

The merits of this beautiful tragedy I have attempted to analyse inanother place, [36] and at considerable length. It was brought forward in1690 with great theatrical pomp. [37] But with all these advantages, thefirst reception of "Don Sebastian" was but cool; nor was it untilseveral retrenchments and alterations had been made, that it rose to thehigh pitch in public favour which it maintained for many years, anddeserved to maintain for ever. 

In the same year, "Amphitryon, " in which Dryden displays his comicpowers to more advantage than anywhere, excepting in the "SpanishFriar, " was acted with great applause, calling forth the gratulationseven of Milbourne, who afterwards made so violent an attack upon thetranslation of Virgil. The comedy was inscribed to Sir William LevesonGower, whose name, well known in the history of the Revolution, may besupposed to have been invoked as a talisman against misconstructions, towhich Dryden's situation so peculiarly exposed him, and to which heplainly alludes in the prologue. [38] Our author's choice of this patronwas probably dictated by Sir William Gower's connection with the Earl ofRochester, whose grand-daughter he had married. 

Encouraged by the revival of his popularity, Dryden now ventured tobring forward the opera of "King Arthur, " originally designed as anentertainment to Charles II; "Albion and Albanius" being written as asort of introductory masque upon the occasion. [39] When we consider thestrong and even violent political tendency of that prefatory piece, wemay readily suppose, that the opera was originally written in a strainvery different from the present; and that much must have been softened, altered, and erased, ere a play, designed to gratulate the discovery ofthe Rye-house Plot, could, without hazard, be acted after theRevolution. The odious, though necessary, task of defacing his ownlabours, was sufficiently disgusting to the poet, who complains, that"not to offend the present times, nor a government which has hithertoprotected me, I have been obliged so much to alter the first design, andtake away so many beauties from the writing, that it is now no more whatit was formerly, than the present ship of the Royal Sovereign, after sooften taking down and altering is the vessel it was at the firstbuilding. " Persevering in the prudent system of seeking patrons amongthose whose patronage was rendered effectual by their influence with theprevailing party, Dryden prefixed to "King Arthur" a beautifuldedication to the Marquis of Halifax, to whose cautious and nice policyhe ascribes the nation's escape from the horrors of civil war, whichseemed impending in the latter years of Charles II; and he has notfailed, at the same time, to pay a passing tribute to the merits of hisoriginal and good-humoured master. The music of "King Arthur" beingcomposed by Purcel, gave Dryden occasion to make that eminent musiciansome well-deserved compliments which were probably designed as apeace-offering for the injudicious preference given to Grabut in theintroduction to "Albion and Albanius. "[40] The dances were composed byPriest; and the whole piece was eminently successful. Its good fortune, however, was imputed, by the envious, to a lively song in the lastact, [41] which had little or nothing to do with the business of thepiece. In this opera ended all the hopes which the world might entertainof an epic poem from Dryden on the subject of King Arthur. 

Our author was by no means so fortunate in "Cleomenes, " his nextdramatic effort. The times were something changed since the RevolutionThe Tories, who had originally contributed greatly to that event, hadrepented them of abandoning the Stuart family, and, one after another, were returning to their attachment to James. It is probable that thisgave new courage to Dryden, who although upon the accession of KingWilliam he saw himself a member of an odious and proscribed sect, nowbelonged to a broad political faction, which a variety of events wasdaily increasing. Hence his former caution was diminished, and thesuspicion of his enemies increased in proportion. The choice of thesubject, the history of a Spartan prince exiled from his kingdom, andwaiting the assistance of a foreign monarch to regain it, correspondedtoo nearly with that of the unfortunate James. The scene of a popularinsurrection, where the minds of a whole people were inflamed, wasliable to misinterpretation. In short, the whole story of the SpartanCleomenes was capable of being wrested to political and Jacobiticpurposes; and there wanted not many to aver, that to such purposes ithad been actually applied by Dryden. Neither was the state of our authorsuch at the time as to permit his pleading his own cause. The completionof the piece having been interrupted by indisposition, was devolved uponhis friend Southerne, who revised and concluded the last act. The whispersof the author's enemies in the meantime procured a prohibition, at leasta suspension, of the representation of "Cleomenes" from the lordchamberlain. The exertions of Hyde, Earl of Rochester, who, although aTory, was possessed necessarily of some influence as maternal uncle tothe queen, procured a recall of this award against a play which was inevery respect truly inoffensive. But there was still a more insuperableobstacle to its success. The plot is flat and unsatisfactory involvingno great event, and in truth being only the question, whether Cleomenesshould or should not depart upon an expedition, which appears far morehazardous than remaining where he was. The grave and stoical characterof the hero is more suitable to the French than the English stage; norhad the general conduct of the play that interest, or perhaps bustle, which is necessary to fix the attention of the promiscuous audience ofLondon. In a theatre, where every man may, if he will, express hisdissatisfaction, in defiance of _beaux-esprits, nobles_, or_mousquetaires_, that which is dull will seldom be long fashionable:"Cleomenes" was accordingly coldly received. Dryden published it with adedication to Lord Rochester, and the Life of Cleomenes prefixed, astranslated from Plutarch by Creech, that it might appear how false thosereports were, which imputed to him the composing a Jacobite play. 

Omitting, for the present, Dryden's intermediate employments, I hastento close his dramatic career, by mentioning, that "Love Triumphant, " hislast play, was acted in 1692 with very bad success. Those who look overthis piece, which is in truth one of the worst our author ever wrote, can be at no loss to discover sufficient reason for its condemnation. The comic part approaches to farce, and the tragic unites the wild andunnatural changes and counter-changes of the Spanish tragedy, with theinvolutions of unnatural and incestuous passion, which the Britishaudience has been always averse to admit as a legitimate subject ofdramatic pity or terror. But it cannot be supposed that Dryden receivedthe failure with anything like an admission of its justice. He was aveteran foiled in the last of his theatrical trials of skill, andretreated forever from the stage, with expressions which transferred theblame from himself to his judges; for, in the dedication to James, thefourth Earl of Salisbury, a relation of Lady Elizabeth, and connectedwith the poet by a similarity of religious and political opinions, hedeclares, that the characters of the persons in the drama are trulydrawn, the fable not injudiciously contrived, the changes of fortune notunartfully managed, and the catastrophe happily introduced: thusleaving, were the author's opinion to be admitted as decisive, nogrounds upon which the critics could ground their opposition. Theenemies of Dryden, as usual, triumphed greatly in the fall of thispiece;[42] and thus the dramatic career of Dryden began and closed withbad success. 

This Section cannot be more properly concluded than with the list[43]which Mr. Malone has drawn out of Dryden's plays, with the respectivedates of their being acted and published; which is a correction andenlargement of that subjoined by the author himself to the opera of"Prince Arthur. " Henceforward we are to consider Dryden as unconnectedwith the stage. 

PLAYS. Acted by Entered at Published Stationers' in Hall. 

 1. THE WILD GALLANT. C. The King's Aug. 7, 1667. 1669. Servants

 2. THE RIVAL LADIES. T. C. K. S. June 27, 1661. 1664. 

 3. THE INDIAN EMPEROR. T. K. S. May 26, 1665. 1667. 

 4. SECRET LOVE, OR K. S. Aug. 7, 1667. 1668. THE MAIDEN QUEEN. C. 

 5. SIR MARTIN MAR-ALL. C. The Duke June 24, 1668. 1668. Of York's Servants

 6. THE TEMPEST. C. D. S. Jan. 8, 1669-70. 1670. 1671. 

 7. AN EVENING'S LOVE, OR K. S. Nov. 20, 1668. Q also THE MOCK ASTROLOGER. C. 1668. 

 8. TYRANNIC LOVE, OR K. S. July 14, 1669 1670. THE ROYAL MARTYR, T. 

 9. } THE CONQUEST OF K. S. Feb. 20, 1670-1 1672. 10. } GRANADA, TWO PARTS. T. 

11. MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE. C. K. S. Mar. 18, 1672-3. 1673. 

12. THE ASSIGNATION OR, K. S. Mar. 18, 1672-3. 1673. LOVE IN A NUNNERY. C. 

13. AMBOYNA. T. K. S. June 26, 1673. 1673. 

14. The State of Innocence. O. April 17, 1674. 1674. 

15. Aureng-Zebe T. K. S. Nov. 29, 1675. 1676. 

16. All For Love. T. K. S. Jan. 31, 1677-8. 1678. 

17. The Kind Keeper, or Mr. Limberham. C. D. S. ................ 1678. 

18. Oedipus. T. D. S. ................ 1679. 

19. Troilus and Cressida. T. D. S. April 11, 1679. 1679. 

20. The Spanish Friar. T. C. D. S. ................ 1681. 

21. The Duke of Guise. T. The United ................ 1683. Companies

22. Albion and Albanius. O. U. C. ................ 1685. 

23. Don Sebastian. T. U. C. ................ 1690. 

24. Amphitryon. C. U. C. ................ 1690. 

25. King Arthur. O. U. C. ................ 1691. 

26. Cleomenes. T. U. C. ................ 1692. 

27. Love Triumphant. T. C. U. C. ................ 1694. 

FOOTNOTES

[1] It formed the machine on which Iris appeared (vol. Vii. ). I havebeen favoured by Samuel Egerton Brydges, Esq. , with the following"Extract from the Journal of Captain Christopher Gunman, commander ofhis Royal Highness's yacht the Mary, lying in Calais pier, Tuesday, 18thMarch:

 "1683-4, "March 18th. It was variable cloudy weather: this morning about seven o'clock saw in the firmament three suns, with two demi-rainbows; and all within one whole rainbow, in form and shape as here pourtrayed:

[Illustration]

 The sun towards the left hand bore east, and that on the right hand bore south-east of me. I did sit and draw it as well as the time and place would permit me; for it was seen in its full form about the space of half an hour; but part of the rainbow did see above two hours. It appeared first at three-quarters past six, and was over-clouded at a quarter past seven. The wind north-by-west. "

Mr. Gunman, the descendant of the captain, has lately had a picture onthe subject painted by Serres, the marine painter; which makes aninteresting history-piece. It represents the phenomenon in the heavens--the harbour of Calais--and the yacht lying off it, etc. Etc. 

[2] This tradition is thus critically examined, and proved by Mr. Malone:--

"From a letter written by King James to the Prince of Orange, June 15, 1685, it appears, that though the Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme, inDorsetshire, on Thursday evening, June 11th, an account of his landingdid not reach the King at Whitehall till _Saturday_ morning the 13th. The House of Commons, having met on that day at the usual hour, betweennine and ten o'clock, the news was soon afterwards communicated to themby a Message from the King, delivered by the Earl of Middleton (to whomEtheredge afterwards wrote two poetical Epistles from Ratisbon). Havingvoted and drawn up an Address to his Majesty, desiring him to take careof his royal person, they adjourned to _four o'clock_; in which intervalthey went to Whitehall, presented their Address, and then met again. _Com. Jour. _ vol. Ix. P. 735. About this time, therefore, it may bepresumed, the news transpired, and in an hour afterwards probablyreached the Theatre, where an audience was assembled at therepresentation of the opera of 'Albion and Albanius;' for pays at thattime began at four o'clock. It seems from Mr. Luttrell's MS. Note, thatthe first representation of this opera was on Saturday the 6th of June;and Downes (_Roscius Ang. _ p. 40) says, that in consequence ofMonmouth's invasion, it was only performed _six_ times; so that thesixth representation was, without doubt, on Saturday, the 13th of June. An examination of dates is generally fatal to tales of this kind: here, however, they certainly support the tradition mentioned in the text. "--_Life of Dryden_, page 188. 

[3] The expressions in the dedication are such as to preclude all ideabut of profound respect: "Sir, The value I have ever had for yourwritings, makes me impatient to peruse all treatises that are crownedwith your name; whereof, the last that fell into my hands was your'_Religio Laici_;' which expresses as well your great judgment in, asvalue for, religion: a thing too rarely found in this age amonggentlemen of your parts; and, I am confident (with the blessing of Godupon your endeavours), not unlikely to prove of great advantage to thepublic; since, as Mr. Herbert well observes, "A verse may find him who a sermon flies, And turn delight into a sacrifice. "

[4] Blount preserves indeed that affectation of respect for thedoctrines of the established church which decency imposes; but thetendency of his work is to decry all revelation. It is founded on thenoted work of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, "_De Veritate_. "

[5] "I was unable to resist the weight of historical evidence, thatwithin the same period most of the loading doctrines of Popery werealready introduced in theory and practice; nor was my conclusion absurd, that miracles are the test of truth, and that the Church must beorthodox and pure, which was so often approved by the visibleinterposition of the Deity. The marvellous tales which are so boldlyattested by the Basils and Chrysostoms, the Austins and Jeroms, compelled me to embrace the superior merits of celibacy, the institutionof the monastic life, the use of the sign of the cross, of holy oil, andeven of images, the invocation of saints, the worship of relics, therudiments of purgatory in prayers for the dead, and the tremendousmystery of the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, whichinsensibly swelled into the prodigy of transubstantiation. In thesedispositions, and already more than half a convert, I formed an unluckyintimacy with a young gentleman of our college, whose name I shallspare. With a character less resolute, Mr. ---- had imbibed the samereligious opinions; and some Popish books, I know not through whatchannel, were conveyed into his possession. I read, I applauded, Ibelieved; the English translations of two famous works of Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, the 'Exposition of the Catholic Doctrine, ' and the'History of the Protestant Variations, ' achieved my conversion; and Isurely fell by a noble hand. I have since examined the originals with amore discerning eye, and shall not hesitate to pronounce, that Bossuetis indeed a master of all the weapons of controversy. In the'Exposition, ' a specious apology, the orator assumes, with consummateart, the tone of candour and simplicity; and the ten-horned monster istransformed, at his magic touch, into the milk-white Hind, who must beloved as soon as she is seen. In the 'History, ' a bold and well-aimedattack, he displays, with a happy mixture of narrative and argument, thefaults and follies, the changes and contradictions of our firstreformers: whose variations (as he dexterously contends) are the mark ofhistorical error, while the perpetual unity of the Catholic Church isthe sign and test of infallible truth. To my present feelings, it seemsincredible, that I should ever believe that I believed intransubstantiation. But my conqueror oppressed me with the sacramentalwords, '_Hoc est corpus meum_, ' and dashed against each other thefigurative half-meanings of the Protestant sects; every objection wasresolved into omnipotence; and, after repeating at St. Mary's theAthanasian creed, I humbly acquiesced in the mystery of the realpresence. 

 "To take up half on trust, and half to try, Name it not faith, but bungling bigotry, Both knave and fool, the merchant we may call, To pay great sums, and to compound the small; For who would break with heaven, and would not break for all?" GIBBON'S _Memoirs of his own Life_. 

[6] In a libel in the "State Poems, " vol. Iii. , Dryden is made to say, "One son turned me, I turned the other two, But had not an indulgence, sir, like you"--Page 244

[7] Vol. Xviii. 

[8] [Grounds have already been shown for thinking that Scott is mistakenhere. I owe it to an accomplished critic of my former work in the_Saturday Review_ to take more notice than I did in that work ofEvelyn's entry in his diary, January 19, 1686. "Dryden, the famousplay-writer and his two sons, and Mrs. Nelly, miss to the late king, were said to go to mass. Such proselytes are no great loss to theChurch. " I need only say, first, that it is obviously a mere rumour;secondly, that it is known to be false as to Nell Gwynne, who abode inthat purity of the Protestant faith which had already differentiated herfrom others of Charles's favourites. As Evelyn's anonymous informer waswrong in one part of his evidence, the error vitiates the other. It mayperhaps be noted here that Scott's positive assertion that LadyElizabeth had been converted before her husband is based only on asupposition of Malone's. --ED. ]

[9] The grant bears this honourable consideration, which I extract fromMr. Malone's work: "Pat. 2. Jac. P. 4. N. 1. Know ye, that we, for andin consideration of the many good and acceptable services done by JohnDryden, Master of Arts, to our late dearest brother King Charles theSecond, as also to us done and performed, and taking notice of thelearning and eminent abilities of the said J. D. " etc. 

[10] "Absalom and Achitophel, " Part i. Vol. Ix. 

[11] I am indebted for this anecdote to Mr. Octavius Gilchrist, theeditor of the poems of the witty Bishop Corbet. [No solid foundation forthis tradition is known, though there is a certain circumstantialverisimilitude about it. Rushton was and is in the midst of forestscenery such as the poem describes, and it had been the seat of thepersecuted Roman Catholic family of Tresham, some of whose buildings, covered with emblems of their faith, survive to this day. Here perhapsmaybe mentioned another of the few local traditions respecting Dryden, one too which has, I think, escaped mention as a rule hitherto. It wasbrought to my notice by my friends Mrs. Hubbard and Dr. Sebastian Evansthat there is a "Dryden's Walk" at Croxall near Lichfield. I consultedguide-books and county histories in vain. But Lysons' "Magna Britannia"informed me that Croxall passed from the Curzons to the Sackvilles earlyin the seventeenth century, that the family occasionally lived there, and that Dryden is traditionally said to have visited Dorset there. Croxall is now a station on the Midland Railway between Burton andTamworth. --ED. ]

[12] See a long note upon this subject, vol. X. 

[13] That Prior was discontented with his share of preferment, appearsfrom the verses entitled, "Earl Robert's Mice, " and an angryexpostulation elsewhere:

 "My friend Charles Montague's preferred; Nor would I have it long observed, That one mouse eats while t'other's starved. '

There is a popular tradition, but no farther to be relied on than asshowing the importance attached to the "Town and Country Mouse, " whichsays, that Dorset, in presenting Montague to King William, said, "I havebrought a _Mouse_ to wait on your Majesty. " "I will make a man of him, "said the king; and settled a pension of £500 upon the fortunatesatirist. 

[14] The passage, as quoted at length by Mr. Malone, removes anobscurity which puzzled former biographers, at least as far as anythingcan be made clear, which must ultimately depend upon such clumsy dictionas the following. "It (the answer of Burnet) will perhaps be a littlelonger a digesting to Mons. Varillas, than it was a preparing to me. Oneproof will quickly appear, whether the world is so satisfied with hisAnswer, as upon that to return to any thoughts of his history; for Ihave been informed from England, that a gentleman, who is known both forpoetry and other things, had spent three months in translating M. Varillas's History; but that, as soon as my Reflections appeared, hediscontinued his labour, finding the credit of his author was gone. Now, if he thinks it is recovered by his answer, he will perhaps go on withhis translation; and this may be, for aught I know, as good anentertainment for him as the conversation that he had set on between theHinds and Panthers, and all the rest of animals, for whom M. Varillasmay serve well enough for an author: and this history and that poem aresuch extraordinary things of their kind, that it will be but suitable tosee the author of the worst poem, become likewise the translator of theworst history, that the age has produced. If his grace and his witimprove both proportionably, he will hardly find that he has gained muchby the change he has made, from having no religion to choose one of theworst. It is true, he had something to sink from, in matter of wit; butas for his morals, it is scarce possible for him to grow a worse manthan he was. He has lately wreaked his malice on me for spoiling histhree months' labour; but in it he has done me all the honour that anyman can receive from him, which is to be railed at by him. If I hadill-nature enough to prompt me to wish a very bad wish for him, itshould be, that he would go on and finish his translation. By that itwill appear, whether the English nation, which is the most competentjudge in this matter, has, upon the seeing our debate, pronounced in M. Varillas's favour or in mine. It is true, Mr. D. Will suffer a little byit; but at least it will serve to keep him in from other extravagancies;and if he gains little honour by this work, yet he cannot lose so muchby it, as he has done by his last employment. "

[15] In the "Staple of News, " act iii. Scene 2, Jonson talks of themiracles done by the Jesuits in Japan and China, as current articles ofintelligence. 

[16] In the Dedication to the Queen, this is stated with a gravitysuitable to the occasion. "The reverend author of this Life, in hisdedication to his Most Christian Majesty, affirms, that France was owingfor him to the intercession of St. Francis Xavier. That Anne of Austria, his mother, after twenty years of barrenness, had recourse to heaven, byher fervent prayers, to draw down that blessing, and addressed herdevotions, in a particular manner, to this holy apostle of the Indies. Iknow not, madam, whether I may presume to tell the world, that yourMajesty has chosen this great saint for one of your celestial patrons, though I am sure you will never be ashamed of owning so glorious anintercessor; not even in a country where the doctrine of the holy churchis questioned, and those religious addresses ridiculed. Your Majesty, Idoubt not, has the inward satisfaction of knowing, that such piousprayers have not been unprofitable to you; and the nation may one daycome to understand, how happy it will be for them to have a son ofprayers ruling over them. "

[17] Vol. Xvi. 

[18] _Ibid_. 

[19] _Ibid_. 

[20] _Ibid_. 

[21] "In the Bodleian Catalogue another work is attributed to ourauthor, on very slight grounds: 'An Exposition of the Doctrine of theCatholic Church, ' translated from Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, andpublished at London in 1685. The only authority for attributing thistranslation to Dryden, should seem to have been the following note inBishop Barlow's handwriting, at the bottom of the title-page of the copybelonging to the Bodleian Library:

"'By Mr. Dryden, then only a poet, now a papist too: may be, he was apapist before, but not known till of late. '

"This book had belonged to Bishop Barlow, who died in 1691. "--MALONE. 

[22] "Before the beginning of every canonical hour, he always said thehymn of '_Veni, Creator Spiritus_;' and it was observed that while hesaid it, his countenance was enlightened, as if the Holy Ghost, whom heinvoked, was visibly descended on him. "--Vol. Xvi. 

[23][I have received a valuable communication as to Dryden's Hymns, which will be noticed in its proper place. --ED. ]

[24] This line alone speaks Dryden in every syllable. 

[25] I subjoin the original hymn, which is supposed to have beencomposed by Lactantius. 

 _Ut queant, laxis resonare fibris, Mira gestorum, famuli, tuorum, Solve polluti labii meatum, Sancte Joannes_!

 _Nunciens, celso veniens Olympo, Te, Patri, magnum fore nasciturum, Nomen, et vitæ seriem gerendæ, Ordine promit_. 

 _Ille promissi dubius superni, Perdidit promptæ modulos loquelæ; Sed reformasti gemitus peremptæ Organa vocis_. 

 _Ventris abstruso recubans cubili, Senseras regem, thalamo manentem; Hinc Parens nati meritis uterque Abdita pandit_. 

[26] [Some matter concerning Dryden and Etherege will find, perhaps, most appropriate place in commenting on this Poem, vol. Xi. --ED. ]

[27] Vol. X. 

[28] "Here duly swarm prodigious wights, And strange variety of sights, As ladies lewd, and foppish knights, Priests, poets, pimps, and parasites; Which now we'll spare, and only mention The hungry bard that writes for pension; Old Squib (who's sometimes here, I'm told), That oft has with his prince made bold, Called the late king a saunt'ring cully, To magnify the Gallic bully, Who lately put a senseless banter Upon the world, with Hind and Panther, Making the beasts and birds o'the wood Doubt, what he ne'er understood, Deep secrets in philosophy, And mysteries in theology, All sung in wretched poetry; Which rumbling piece is as much farce all, As his true mirror, the "Rehearsal;" For which he has been soundly banged, But ha'n't his just reward till hanged. "_Poem on the Camp at Hounslow_. 

[29] Extracts from "The Address of John Dryden, Laureat, to his Highnessthe Prince of Orange:"

 "In all the hosannas our whole world's applause, Illustrious champion of our church and laws! Accept, great Nassau! from unworthy me, Amongst the adoring crowd, a bonded knee; Nor scruple, sir, to hear my echoing lyre, Strung, tuned, and joined to the universal choir; From my suspected mouth thy glories told, A known out-lyer from the English fold. "

After renewing the old reproach about Cromwell:

 "If thus all this I could unblushing write, Fear not that pen that shall thy praise indite, When high-born blood my adoration draws, Exalted glory and unblemished cause; A theme so all divine my muse shall wing, What is't for thee, great prince, I will not sing? No bounds shall stop my Pegasean flight, I'll spot my Hind, and make my Panther white. * * * * * But if, great prince, my feeble strength shall fail, Thy theme I'll to my successors entail; My heirs the unfinished subject shall complete: I have a son, and he, by all that's great, That very son (and trust my oaths, I swore As much to my great master James before) Shall, by his sire's example, Rome renounce, For he, young stripling, has turned but once; That Oxford nursling, that sweet hopeful boy, His father's and that once Ignatian joy, Designed for a new Bellarmin Goliah, Under the great Gamaliel, Obadiah! This youth, great sir, shall your fame's trumpets blow, And soar when my dull wings shall flag below. * * * * * Why should I blush to turn, when my defence And plea's so plain?--for if Omnipotence Be the highest attribute that heaven can boast, That's the truest church that heaven resembles most. The tables then are turned: and 'tis confest, The strongest and the mightiest is the best: In all my changes I'm on the right side, And by the same great reason justified. When the bold Crescent late attacked the Cross, Resolved the empire of the world to engross, Had tottering Vienna's walls but failed, And Turkey over Christendom prevailed, Long ere this I had crossed the Dardanello, And reigned the mighty Mahomet's hail fellow; Quitting my duller hopes, the poor renown Of Eton College, or a Dublin gown, And commenced graduate in the grand divan, Had reigned a more immortal Mussulman. "

The lines which follow are taken from "The Deliverance, " a poem to thePrince of Orange, by a Person of Quality. 9th February, 1688-9. 

 "Alas! how cruel is a poet's fate! Or who indeed would be a laureate, That must or fall or turn with every change of state? Poor bard! if thy hot zeal for loyal Wem[29a] Forbids thy tacking, sing his requiem; Sing something, prithee, to ensure thy thumb; Nothing but conscience strikes a poet dumb. Conscience, that dull chimera of the schools, A learned imposition upon fools, Thou, Dryden, art not silenced with such stuff, Egad thy conscience has been large enough. But here are loyal subjects still, and foes, Many to mourn, for many to oppose. Shall thy great master, thy almighty Jove, Whom thou to place above the gods bust strove, Shall be from David's throne so early fall, And laureate Dryden not one tear let fall; Nor sings the bard his exit in one poor pastoral? Thee fear confines, thee, Dryden, fear confines, And grief, not shame, stops thy recanting lines. Our Damon is as generous as great, And well could pardon tears that love create, Shouldst thou, in justice to thy vexed soul, Not sing to him but thy lost lord condole. But silence is a damning error, John; I'd or my master or myself bemoan. "[29a] _Lord Jeffries, Baron of Wem. _

[30] In the dedication of "Bury-Fair" to his patron the Earl of Dorset, he claims the merit due to his political constancy and sufferings: "Inever could recant in the worst of times, when my ruin was designed, andmy life was sought, and for near ten years I was kept from the exerciseof that profession which had afforded me a competent subsistence; andsurely I shall not now do it, when there is a liberty of speaking commonsense, which, though not long since forbidden, is now grown current. "

[31] See Cibber or Shiels's Life of Shadwell. 

[32] "These wretched poëtitos, who got praise For writing most confounded loyal plays, With viler, coarser jests than at Bear-garden, And silly Grub-street songs worse than Tom-farthing. If any noble patriot did excel, His own and country's rights defending well, These yelping curs were straight loo'd on to bark, On the deserving man to set a mark. These abject, fawning parasites and knaves, Since they were such, would have all others slaves. 'Twas precious loyalty that was thought fit To atone for want of honesty and wit. No wonder common-sense was all cried down, And noise and nonsense swaggered through the town. Our author, then opprest, would have you know it, Was silenced for a nonconformist poet; In those hard times he bore the utmost test, And now he swears he's loyal as the best. Now, sirs, since common-sense has won the day, Be kind to this, as to his last year's play. His friends stood firmly to him when distressed; He hopes the number is not now decreased. He found esteem from those he valued most; Proud of his friends, he of his foes could boast. "

_Prologue to Bury-Fair. _

[33] Vol. Xi. 

[34] _Ibid_. 

[35] Introduct. To "Spanish Friar, " vol. Vi. 

[36] Vol. Vii. 

[37] "A play well-dressed, you know, is half in half, as a great writersays. The Morocco dresses when new, formerly for 'Sebastian, ' they say, enlivened the play as much as the 'pudding and dumpling' song didMerlin. "--_The Female Wits_, a comedy by Mountfort. 

[38] "The labouring bee, when his sharp sting is gone, Forgets his golden work, and turns a drone: Such is a satire, when you take away That rage, in which his noble vigour lay. What gain you by not suffering him to tease ye? He neither can offend you now, nor please ye. The honey-bag and venom lay so near, That both together you resolved to tear; And lost your pleasure to secure your fear. How can he show his manhood, if you bind him To box, like boys, with one hand tied behind him? This is plain levelling of wit; in which The poor has all the advantage, not the rich. The blockhead stands excused, for wanting sense; And wits turn blockheads in their own defence. "

[39] [Transcriber's note: "See page 251" in original. This approximatesto paragraphs preceding reference [1] in text, Section VI. ]

[40] [Transcriber's note: "See page 253" in original. This approximatesto paragraphs preceding reference [2] in text, Section VI. ]

[41] [Transcriber's note: "See a preceding note, p. 300" in original. This note is Footnote 37 above. ]

[42] For example, in a Session of the Poets, under the fictitious nameof Matthew Coppinger, Dryden is thus irreverently introduced:

 "A reverend grisly elder first appeared, With solemn pace through the divided herd; Apollo, laughing at his clumsy mien, Pronounced him straight the poets' alderman. His labouring muse did many years excel In ill inventing, and translating well, Till 'Love Triumphant' did the cheat reveal. * * * * * So when appears, midst sprightly births, a sot, Whatever was the other offspring's lot, This we are sure was lawfully begot. "

[43] [This list requires a certain amount of correction and completion. In the Appendix to the present edition (vol. Xviii. ) a separate articlewill be given to it. --ED. ]

SECTION VII. 

_State of Dryden's Connections in Society after the Revolution--Juvenaland Persius--Smaller Pieces--Eleonora--Third Miscellany--Virgil--Ode toSt. Cecilia--Dispute with Milbourne--With Blackmore--Fables--TheAuthor's Death and Funeral--His private Character--Notices of hisFamily. _

The evil consequences of the Revolution upon Dryden's character andfortunes began to abate sensibly within a year or two after that event. It is well known, that King William's popularity was as short-lived asit had been universal. All parties gradually drew off from the king, under their ancient standards. The clergy returned to their maxims ofhereditary right, the Tories to their attachment to the house of Stuart, the Whigs to their jealousy of the royal authority. Dryden, we havealready observed, so lately left in a small and detested party, was nowamong multitudes who, from whatever contradictory motives, were joinedin opposition to the government and some of his kinsmen; particularlywith John Driden of Chesterton, his first cousin; with whom, till hisdeath, he lived upon terms of uninterrupted friendship. The influence ofClarendon and Rochester, the Queen's uncles, were, we have seen, oftenexerted in the poet's favour; and through them, he became connected withthe powerful families with which they were allied. Dorset, by whom hehad been deprived of his office, seems to have softened this harsh, though indispensable, exertion of authority, by a liberal present; andto his bounty Dryden had frequently recourse in cases of emergency. [1]Indeed, upon one occasion it is said to have been administered in a modesavouring more of ostentation than delicacy; for there is a traditionthat Dryden and Tom Brown, being invited to dine with the lordchamberlain, found under their covers, the one a bank-note for £100, theother for £50. I have already noticed, that these pecuniary benefactionswere not held so degrading in that age as at present; and, probably, many of Dryden's opulent and noble friends, took, like Dorset, occasional opportunities of supplying wants, which neither royalmunificence, nor the favour of the public, now enabled the poet fully toprovide for. 

If Dryden's critical empire over literature was at any time interruptedby the mischances of his political party, it was in _abeyance_ for avery short period; since, soon after the Revolution, he appears to haveregained, and maintained till his death, that sort of authority inWill's coffeehouse, to which we have frequently had occasion to allude. His supremacy, indeed, seems to have been so effectually established, that a "pinch out of Dryden's snuff-box"[2] was equal to taking a degreein that academy of wit. Among those by whom it was frequented, Southerneand Congreve were principally distinguished by Dryden's friendship. Hisintimacy with the former, though oddly commenced, seems soon to haveripened into such sincere friendship, that the aged poet selectedSoutherne to finish "Cleomenes, " and addressed to him an epistle ofcondolence on the failure of "The Wives' Excuse, " which, as hedelicately expresses it, "was with a kind civility dismissed" from thescene. This was indeed an occasion in which even Dryden could tell, fromexperience, how much the sympathy of friends was necessary to soothe theinjured feelings of an author. But Congreve seems to have gained yetfurther than Southerne upon Dryden's friendship. He was introduced tohim by his first play, the celebrated "Old Bachelor, " being put into thepoet's hands to be revised. Dryden, after making a few alterations tofit it for the stage, returned it to the author with the high and justcommendation that it was the best first play he had ever seen. In truth, it was impossible that Dryden could be insensible to the brilliancy ofCongreve's comic dialogue, which has never been equalled by any Englishdramatist, unless by Mr. Sheridan. Less can be said for the tragedies ofSoutherne, and for "The Mourning Bride. " Although these pieces containmany passages of great interest, and of beautiful poetry, I know not butthey contributed more than even the subsequent homilies of Rowe, tochase natural and powerful expression of passion from the English stage, and to sink it into that maudlin, and affected, and pedantic style oftragedy, which haunted the stage till Shakespeare awakened at the callof Garrick. "The Fatal Marriage" of Southerne is an exception to thisfalse taste; for no one who has seen Mrs. Siddons in Isabella, can denySoutherne the power of moving the passions, till amusement becomesbitter and almost insupportable distress. But these observations arehere out of place. Addison paid an early tribute to Dryden's fame, bythe verses addressed to him on his translations. Among Dryden's lessdistinguished intimates, we observe Sir Henry Shere, Dennis the critic, Moyle, Motteux, Walsh, who lived to distinguish the youthful merit ofPope, and other men of the second rank in literature. These, as hisworks testify, he frequently assisted with prefaces, occasional verses, or similar contributions. But among our author's followers and admirers, we must not reckon Swift, although related to him, [3] and now cominginto notice. It is said, that Swift had subjected to his cousin'sperusal, some of those performances, entitled _Odes_, which appear inthe seventh volume of the last edition of his works. Even the eye ofDryden was unable to discover the wit and the satirist in the clouds ofincomprehensible pindaric obscurity in which he was enveloped; and theaged bard pronounced the hasty, and never to be pardoned sentence, --"Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet. "[4] A doom which he, on whom itwas passed, attempted to repay, by repeated, although impotent, attacksupon the fame of Dryden, everywhere scattered through his works. Withthe exception of Swift, no author of eminence, whose labours are stillin request, has ventured to assail the poetical fame of Dryden. 

Shortly after the Revolution, Dryden had translated several satires ofJuvenal; and calling in the aid of his two sons, of Congreve, Creech, Tate, and others, he was enabled, in 1692, to give a complete versionboth of that satirist, and of Persius. In this undertaking he himselfbore a large share, translating the whole of Persius, with the first, third, sixth, tenth, and sixteenth satires of Juvenal. To this versionis prefixed the noted Essay on Satire, inscribed to the Earl of Dorsetand Middlesex. In that treatise, our author exhibits a good deal of thatsort of learning which was in fashion among the French critics; and, Isuspect, was contented rather to borrow something from them, than puthimself to the trouble of compiling more valuable materials. Such is thedisquisition concerning the origin of the word _Satire_, which ischiefly extracted from Casaubon, Dacier, and Rigault. But the poet's ownincidental remarks upon the comparative merits of Horace, Juvenal, andPersius, his declamation against the abuse of satire, his incidentalnotices respecting epic poetry, translation, and English literature ingeneral, render this introduction highly valuable. 

Without noticing the short prefaces to Walsh's "Essay upon Woman, " ameagre and stiff composition, and to Sir Henry Shere's wretchedtranslation of Polybius, published in 1691 and 1692, we hasten to theelegy on the Countess of Abingdon, entitled Eleonora. This lady diedsuddenly, 31st May 1691, in a ball-room in her own house, just thenprepared for an entertainment. The disconsolate husband, who seems tohave been a patron of the Muses, [5] not satisfied with the volunteereffusions of some minor poets, employed a mutual friend to engage Drydento compose a more beautiful tribute to his consort's memory. The poet, it would seem, neither knew the lord nor the lady, but was doubtlesspropitiated upon the mournful occasion;[6] nor was the application andfee judged more extraordinary than that probably offered, on the sameoccasion, to the divine who was to preach the Countess's funeral sermon. The leading and most characteristic features of the lady's characterwere doubtless pointed out to our author as subjects for illustration;yet so difficult is it, even for the best poet, to feign a sorrow whichhe feels not, or to describe with appropriate and animated colouring aperson whom he has never seen, that Dryden's poem resembles rather anabstract panegyric on an imaginary being, than an elegy on a realcharacter. The elegy was published early in 1692. 

In 1693, Tonson's Third Miscellany made its appearance, with adedication to Lord Ratcliffe, eldest son of the Earl of Derwentwater, who was himself a pretender to poetry, though our author thought soslightly of his attempts in that way, that he does not even deign tomake them enter into his panegyric, but contents himself with saying, "what you will be hereafter, may be more than guessed by what you are atpresent. " It is probable that the rhyming peer was dissatisfied withDryden's unusual economy of adulation; at least he disappointed someexpectations which the poet and bookseller seem to have entertained ofhis liberality. [7] This dedication indicates, that a quarrel wascommenced between our author and the critic Rymer. It appears from apassage in a letter to Tonson, that Rymer had spoken lightly of him inhis last critique (probably in the short view of tragedy), and that thepoet took this opportunity, as he himself expresses it, to snarl again. He therefore acquaints us roundly, that the corruption of a poet was thegeneration of a critic; exults a little over the memory of Rymer's"Edgar, " a tragedy just reeking from damnation; and hints at thedifference which the public is likely to experience between the presentroyal historiographer and him whose room he occupied. In his epistle toCongreve, alluding to the same circumstance of Rymer's succeeding to theoffice of historiographer, as Tate did to the laurel, on the death ofThomas Shadwell, in 1692, Dryden has these humorous lines:

 "O that your brows my laurel had sustained! Well had I been deposed, if you had reigned: The father had descended for the son; For only you are lineal to the throne. Thus, when the state one Edward did depose, A greater Edward in his room arose: But now not I, but poetry, is cursed; For Tom the second reigns like Tom the first. But let them not mistake my patron's part, Nor call his charity their own desert. "

From the letter to Tonson above referred to, it would seem that thededication of the Third Miscellany gave offence to Queen Mary, beingunderstood to reflect upon her government, and that she had commandedRymer to return to the charge, by a criticism on Dryden's plays. But thebreach does not appear to have become wider; and Dryden has elsewherementioned Rymer with civility. 

The Third Miscellany contained, of Dryden's poetry, a few songs, thefirst book, with part of the ninth and sixteenth books of theMetamorphoses, and the parting of Hector and Andromache, from the Iliad. It was also to have had the poem of Hero and Leander, from the Greek;but none such appeared, nor is it clear whether Dryden ever executed theversion, or only had it in contemplation. The contribution, althoughample, was not satisfactory to old Jacob Tonson, who wrote on thesubject a most mercantile expostulatory letter[8] to Dryden, which isfortunately the minutiae of a literary bargain in the 17th century. Tonson, with reference to Dryden having offered a strange bookseller sixhundred lines for twenty guineas, enters into a question in the rule ofthree, by which he discovers, and proves, that for fifty guineas he hasonly 1446 lines, which he seems to take more unkindly, as he had not_counted_ the lines until he had paid the money; from all which Jacobinfers, that Dryden ought, out of generosity, at least to throw him insomething to the bargain, especially as he had used him more kindly inJuvenal, which, saith the said Jacob, is not reckoned so easy totranslate as Ovid. What weight was given to this supplication does notappear; probably very little, for the translations were not extended, and as to getting back any part of the copy-money, it is not probableTonson's most sanguine expectation ever reached that point. Perhaps thesongs were thrown in as a make-weight. There was a Fourth Miscellanypublished in 1694; but to this Dryden only gave a version of the thirdGeorgic, and his Epistle to Sir Godfrey Kneller, the requital of a copyof the portrait of Shakespeare. [9]

In 1963, Dryden addressed the beautiful lines to Congreve, on the coldreception of his "Double Dealer. " He was himself under a similar cloud, from the failure of "Love Triumphant, " and therefore in a fit mood toadminister consolation to his friend. The epistle contains, among otherstriking passages, the affecting charge of the care of his posthumousfame, which Congreve did not forget when Dryden was no more. 

But, independently of occasional exertions, our author, now retired fromthe stage, had bent his thoughts upon one great literary task, thetranslation of Virgil. This weighty and important undertaking wasprobably suggested by the experience of Tonson, the success of whose"Miscellanies" had taught him the value placed by the public on Dryden'stranslations from the classics. From hints thrown out by contemporaryscheme was meditated, even before 1964; but in that year the poet, in aletter to Dennis, speaks of it as under his immediate contemplation. Thenames of Virgil and Dryden were talismans powerful to arrest the eyes ofall that were literary in England, upon the progress of the work. Mr. Malone has recorded the following particulars concerning it, with piousenthusiasm. 

"Dr. Johnson has justly remarked, that the nation seemed to consider itshonour interested in the event. Mr. Gilbert Dolben gave him the variouseditions of his author: Dr. Knightly Chetwood furnished him with thelife of Virgil, and the Preface to the Pastorals; and Addison suppliedthe arguments of the several books, and an Essay on the Georgics. Thefirst lines of this great poet which he translated, he wrote with adiamond on a pane of glass in one of the windows of Chesterton House, inHuntingdonshire, the residence of his kinsman and namesake, John Driden, Esq. [10] The version of the first Georgic, and a great part of the lastAeneid, was made at Denham Court, in Buckinghamshire, the seat of SirWilliam Bowyer, Baronet; and the seventh Æneid was translated atBurleigh, the noble mansion of the Earl of Exeter. These circumstances, which must be acknowledged to be of no great importance, I yet havethought it proper to record, because they will for ever endear thoseplaces to the votaries of the Muses, and add to them a kind ofcelebrity, which neither the beauties of nature, nor the exertions ofart, can bestow. "

Neither was the liberality of the nation entirely disproportioned to thegeneral importance attached to the translation of Virgil, by so eminenta poet. The researches of Mr. Malone have ascertained, in some degree, the terms. There were two classes of subscribers, the first set of whompaid five guineas apiece to adorn the work with engravings; beneath eachof which, in due and grateful remembrance, was blazoned the arms of asubscriber: this class amounted to one hundred and one persons, a listof whom appears in this edition, in vol. Xiii. , and presents anassemblage of noble names, few of whom are distinguished more to theircredit than by the place they there occupy. The second subscribers weretwo hundred and fifty in number, at two guineas each. But from thesesums was to be deducted the expense of the engravings, though these wereonly the plates used for Ogilby's Virgil, a little retouched. Besidesthe subscriptions, it would seem, that Dryden received from Tonson fiftypounds for each Book of the "Georgics" and "Æneid, " and probably thesame for the Pastorals collectively. [11] On the other hand, it isprobable that Jacob charged a price for the copies delivered to thesubscribers, which, with the expense of the plates, reduced Dryden'sprofit to about twelve or thirteen hundred pounds;--a trifling sum whencompared to what Pope received for the "Iliad, " which was certainlybetween £5, 000 and £6, 000; yet great in proportion to what the age ofDryden had ever afforded, as an encouragement to literature. It mustindeed be confessed, that the Revolution had given a new impulse andsuperior importance to literary pursuits. The semi-barbarous age, whichsucceeded the great civil war, had been civilised by slow degrees. It istrue, the king and courtiers, among their disorderly and dissolutepleasures, enumerated songs and plays, and, in the course of theirpolitical intrigues, held satires in request; but they had neither moneynor time to spare for the encouragement or study of any of the higherand more elaborate departments of poetry. Meanwhile, the bulk of thenation neglected verse, as what they could not understand, or, withpuritanical bigotry, detested as sinful the use, as well as the abuse, of poetical talent. But the lapse of thirty years made a material changein the manners of the English people. Instances began to occur ofindividuals, who, rising at first into notice for their proficience inthe fine arts, were finally promoted for the active and penetratingtalents, which necessarily accompany a turn towards them. An outwardreformation of manners, at least the general abjuration of grosserprofligacy, was also favourable to poetry, --

 Still first to fly where sensual joys invade. 

This was wrought, partly by the religious manners of Mary; partly bythe cold and unsocial temper of William, who shunned excess, notperhaps because it was criminal, but because it was derogatory; partlyby the political fashion of the day, which was to disown the profligacythat marked the partisans of the Stuarts; but, most of all, by thegeneral increase of good taste, and the improvement of education. Allthese contributed to the encouragement of Dryden's great undertaking, which promised to rescue Virgil from the degraded version of Ogilby, andpresent him in a becoming form to a public, now prepared to receive himwith merited admiration. 

While our author was labouring in this great work, and the public werewaiting the issue with impatience and attention, a feud, of which it isnow impossible to trace the cause, arose between the bard and hispublisher. Their union before seems to have been of a nature morefriendly than interest alone could have begotten; for Dryden, in oneletter, talks with gratitude of Tonson's affording him his company downto Northamptonshire; and this friendly intimacy Jacob neglected not tocultivate, by those occasional compliments of fruit and wine, which areoften acknowledged in the course of their correspondence. But a quarrelbroke out between them, when the translation of Virgil had advanced sofar as the completion of the seventh Aeneid; at which period Drydencharges Tonson bitterly, with an intention, from the very beginning, todeprive him of all profit by the second subscriptions; alluding, Ipresume, to the price which the bookseller charged him upon the volumesdelivered to the subscribers. The bibliopolist seems to have bent beforethe storm, and pacified the incensed bard, by verbal submission, thoughprobably without relaxing his exactions and drawbacks in any materialdegree. Another cause of this dissension appears to have been the Notesupon "Virgil, " for which Tonson would allow no additional emolument tothe author, although Dryden says, "that to make them good, would costsix months' labour at least, " and elsewhere tells Tonson ironically, that, since not to be paid, they shall be short, "for the saving of thepaper. " I cannot think that we have sustained any great loss by Tonson'spenurious economy on this occasion. In his prefaces and dedications, Dryden let his own ideas freely forth to the public; but in his Notesupon the Classics, witness those on "Juvenal" and "Persius, " he neitherindulged in critical dissertations on particular beauties and defects, nor in general remarks upon the kind of poetry before him; but contentedhimself with rendering into English the antiquarian dissertations ofDacier and other foreign commentators, with now and then an explanatoryparaphrase of an obscure passage. The parodies of Martin Scriblerus hadnot yet consigned to ridicule the verbal criticism, and solemn trifling, with which the ancient schoolmen pretended to illustrate the classics. But beside the dispute about the notes in particular, and the variousadvantages which Dryden suspected Tonson of attempting in the course ofthe transaction, he seems to have been particularly affronted at apresumptuous plan of that publisher (a keen Whig, and secretary of theKit-cat club) to drive him into inscribing the translation of Virgil toKing William. With this view, Tonson had an especial care to make theengraver aggravate the nose of Aeneas in the plates into a sufficientresemblance of the hooked promontory of the Deliverer's countenance;[12]and, foreseeing Dryden's repugnance to this favourite plan, he hadrecourse, it would seem, to more unjustifiable means to further it; forthe poet expresses himself as convinced that, through Tonson's means, his correspondence with his sons, then at Rome, was intercepted. [13] Isuppose Jacob, having fairly laid siege to his author's conscience, hadno scruple to intercept all foreign supplies, which might have confirmedhim in his pertinacity. But Dryden, although thus closely beleaguered, held fast his integrity; and no prospect of personal advantage, orimportunity on the part of Tonson, could induce him to take a stepinconsistent with his religious and political sentiments. It wasprobably during the course of these bickerings with his publisher, thatDryden, incensed at some refusal of accommodation on the part of Tonson, sent him three well-known coarse and forcible satirical lines, descriptive of his personal appearance:

 "With leering looks, bull-faced, and freckled fair, With two left legs, and Judas-coloured hair, And frowzy pores, that taint the ambient air. "

"Tell the dog, " said the poet to the messenger, "that he who wrote thesecan write more. " But Tonson, perfectly satisfied with this singletriplet, hastened to comply with the author's request, without requiringany further specimen of his poetical powers. It would seem, however, that when Dryden neglected his stipulated labour, Tonson possessedpowers of animadversion, which, though exercised in plain prose, werenot a little dreaded by the poet. Lord Bolingbroke, already a votary ofthe Muses, and admitted to visit their high priest, was wont to relate, that one day he heard another person enter the house. "This, " saidDryden, "is Tonson: you will take care not to depart before he goesaway: for I have not completed the sheet which I promised him; and ifyou leave me unprotected, I shall suffer all the rudeness to which hisresentment can prompt his tongue. "[14] But whatever occasional subjectsof dissension arose between Dryden and his bookseller appears always tohave brought them together, after the first ebullition of displeasurehad subsided. There might, on such occasions, be room for acknowledgingfaults on both sides; for, if we admit that the bookseller was penuriousand churlish, we cannot deny that Dryden seems often to have beenabundantly captious, and irascible. Indeed, as the poet placed, andjustly, more than a mercantile value upon what he sold, the trader, onhis part, was necessarily cautious not to afford a price which hisreturns could not pay; so that while, in one point of view, the authorsold at an inadequate price, the purchaser, in another, really got nomore than value for his money. That literature is ill recompensed, isusually rather the fault of the public than the bookseller, whose tradecan only exist by buying that which can be sold to advantage. Thetrader, who purchased the "Paradise Lost" for ten pounds, had probablyno very good bargain. [15]

However fretted by these teasing and almost humiliating discussions, Dryden continued steadily advancing in his great labour; and about threeyears after it had been undertaken, the translation of Virgil, "the mostnoble and spirited, " said Pope, "which I know in any language, " wasgiven to the public in July 1697. So eager was the general expectation, that the first edition was exhausted in a few months, and a secondpublished early in the next year. "It satisfied, " says Johnson, "hisfriends, and, for the most part, silenced his enemies. " But, althoughthis was generally the case, there wanted not some to exercise theinvidious task of criticism, or rather of malevolent detraction. Amongthose, the highest name is that of Swift; the most distinguished forvenomous and persevering malignity, that of Milbourne. 

In his Epistle to Prince Posterity, prefixed to the "Tale of a Tub, "Swift, in the character of the dedicator, declares, "upon the word of asincere man, that there is now actually in being a certain poet calledJohn Dryden, whose translation of Virgil was lately printed in a largefolio, well-bound, and, if diligent search were made, for aught I know, is yet to be seen. " In his "Battle of the Books, " he tells us, "thatDryden, who encountered Virgil, soothed the good ancient by theendearing title of 'father, ' and, by a large deduction of genealogies, made it appear, that they were nearly related, and humbly proposed anexchange of armour; as a mark of hospitality, Virgil consented, thoughhis was of gold, and cost an hundred beeves, the other's but of rustyiron. However, this glittering armour became the modern still worse thanhis own. Then they agreed to exchange horses; but, when it came to thetrial, Dryden was afraid, and utterly unable to mount. " A yet morebitter reproach is levelled by the wit against the poet, for his triplededication of the Pastorals, Georgics, and Aeneid, to three severalpatrons, Clifford, Chesterfield, and Mulgrave. [16] But, though therecollection of the contemned Odes, like the _spretae injuria formae_ ofJuno, still continued to prompt these overflowings of Swift's satire, hehad too much taste and perception of poetry to attempt, gravely, toundermine, by a formal criticism, the merits of Dryden's Virgil. 

This was reserved for Luke Milbourne, a clergyman, who, by thatassurance, has consigned his name to no very honourable immortality. This person appears to have had a living at Great Yarmouth, [17] which, Dryden hints, he forfeited by writing libels on his parishioners; andfrom another testimony, he seems to have been a person of no very strictmorals. [18] Milbourne was once an admirer of our poet, as appears fromhis letter concerning "Amphitryon, " vol. Viii. But either poeticalrivalry, for he had also thought of translating Virgil himself, [19] orpolitical animosity, for he seems to have held revolution principles, ordeep resentment for Dryden's sarcasms against the clergy, or, mostprobably, all these united, impelled Milbourne to publish a most furiouscriticism, entitled, "Notes on Dryden's Virgil, in a Letter to aFriend. " "And here, " said he, "in the first place, I must needs ownJacob Tonson's ingenuity to be greater than the translator's, who, inthe inscription of his fine gay (title) in the front of the book, callsit very honestly Dryden's Virgil, to let the reader know, that this isnot that Virgil so much admired in the Augustaean age, an author whomMr. Dryden once thought untranslatable, but a Virgil of another stamp, of a coarser allay; a silly, impertinent, nonsensical writer, of avarious and uncertain style, a mere Alexander Ross, or somebody inferiorto him; who could never have been known again in the translation, if thename of Virgil had not been bestowed upon him in large characters in thefrontispiece, and in the running title. Indeed, there is scarce the_magni nominis umbra_ to be met with in this translation, which beingfairly intimated by Jacob, he needs add no more, but _si populus vultdecipi, decipiatur. _"

With an assurance which induced Pope to call him the fairest of critics, not content with criticising the production of Dryden, Milbourne was soill advised as to produce, and place in opposition to it, a ricketytranslation of his own, probably the fragments of that which had beensuppressed by Dryden's version. A short specimen, both of his criticismand poetry, will convince the reader, that the powers of the formerwere, as has been often the case, neutralised by the insipidity of thelatter; for who can rely on the judgment of a critic so ill qualified toillustrate his own precepts? I take the remarks on the tenth Eclogue, asa specimen, at hazard. "This eclogue is translated in a strain tooluscious and effeminate for Virgil, who might bemoan his friend, butdoes it in a noble and a manly style, which Mr. Ogilby answers betterthan Mr. D. , whose paraphrase looks like one of Mrs. Behn's, whensomebody had turned the original into English prose before. 

"Where Virgil says, _Lauri et myricae flevêre_, the figure's beautiful; where Mr. D. Says, the laurel stands in tears, And hung with humid pearls, the lowly shrub appears, the figure is lost, and a foolish and impertinent representation comesin its place; an ordinary dewy morning might fill the laurels and shrubswith Mr. D. 's tears, though Gallus had not been concerned in it. 

 And yet the queen of beauty blest his bed--

"Here Mr. D. Comes with his ugly patch upon a beautiful face: what hadthe queen of beauty to do here? Lycoris did not despise her lover forhis meanness, but because she had a mind to be a Catholic whore. Galluswas of quality, but her spark a poor inferior fellow. And yet the queenof beauty, etc. , would have followed there very well, but not wherewanton Mr. D. Has fixt her. "

 Flushed were his cheeks, and glowing were his eyes. 

"This character is fitter for one that is drunk than one in anamazement, and is a thought unbecoming Virgil. "

 And for thy rival, tempts the raging sea, The forms of horrid war, and heaven's inclemency. 

"Lycoris, doubtless, was a jilting baggage, but why should Mr. D. Belieher? Virgil talks nothing of her going to sea, and perhaps she had amind to be only a camp laundress, which office she might be advanced towithout going to sea: 'the forms of horrid war, ' for _horrida castra_, is incomparable. "

 his brows, a country crown Of fennel, and of nodding lilies drown, "is a very odd figure: Sylvanus had swinging brows to drown such a crownas that, _i. E. _ to make it invisible, to swallow it up; if it be acountry crown, drown his brows, it is false English. "

 The meads are sooner drunk with morning dews. 

"_Rivi_ signifies no such thing; but then, that bees should be drunkwith flowery shrubs, or goats be drunk with brouze, for drunk's theverb, is a very quaint thought. "

After much more to the same purpose, Milbourne thus introduces his ownversion of the first Eclogue, with a confidence worthy of a bettercause:--"That Mr. Dryden might be satisfied that I'd offer no foul play, nor find faults in him, without giving him an opportunity ofretaliation, I have subjoined another metaphrase or translation of thefirst and fourth pastoral, which I desire may be read with his by theoriginal. 

TITYRUS. 

ECLOGUE I. 

 _Mel. _ Beneath a spreading beech you, Tityrus, lie, And country songs to humble reeds apply; We our sweet fields, our native country fly, We leave our country; you in shades may lie, And Amaryllis fair and blythe proclaim, And make the woods repeat her buxom name. 

 _Tit. _ O Melibaeus! 'twas a bounteous God, These peaceful play-days on our muse bestowed; At least, he'st alway be a God to me; My lambs shall oft his grateful offerings be. Thou seest, he lets my herds securely stray, And me at pleasure on my pipe to play. 

 _Mel. _ Your peace I don't with looks of envy view, But I admire your happy state, and you. In all our farms severe distraction reigns, No ancient owner there in peace remains. Sick, I, with much ado, my goats can drive, This Tityrus, I scarce can lead alive; On the bare stones, among yon hazels past, Just now, alas! her hopeful twins she cast. Yet had not all on's dull and senseless been, We'd long agon this coming stroke foreseen. Oft did the blasted oaks our fate unfold, And boding choughs from hollow trees foretold. But say, good Tityrus! tell me who's the God, Who peace, so lost to us, on you bestow'd?"

Some critics there were, though but few, who joined Milbourne in hisabortive attempt to degrade our poet's translation. Oldmixon, celebratedfor his share in the games of the Dunciad, [20] and Samuel Parker, [21] ayet more obscure name, have informed us of this, by volunteering inDryden's defence. But Dryden needed not their assistance. The realexcellencies of his version were before the public, and it was rather toclear himself from the malignant charges against his moral principles, which Melbourne had mingled with his criticism, than for any otherpurpose, that the poet deemed his antagonist worthy of the followinganimadversion:--"Milbourne, who is in orders, pretends amongst the restthis quarrel to me, that I have fallen foul on priesthood: if I have, Iam only to ask pardon of good priests, and am afraid his part of thereparation will come to little. Let him be satisfied, that he shall nothe able to force himself upon me for an adversary. I contemn him toomuch to enter into competition with him. His own translations of Virgilhave answered his criticisms on mine. If (as they say he has declared inprint) he prefers the version of Ogilby to mine, the world has made himthe same compliment; for it is agreed on all hands, that he writes evenbelow Ogilby. That, you will say, is not easily to be done; but whatcannot Milbourne bring about? I am satisfied, however, that while he andI live together, I shall not be thought the worst poet of the age. Itlooks as if I had desired him underhand to write so ill against me; butupon my honest word, I have not bribed him to do me this service, and amwholly guiltless of his pamphlet. It is true, I should be glad if Icould persuade him to continue his good offices, and write such anothercritique on anything of mine; for I find, by experience, he has a greatstroke with the reader, when he condemns any of my poems, to make theworld have a better opinion of them. He has taken some pains with mypoetry; but nobody will be persuaded to take the same with his. If I hadtaken to the Church (as he affirms, but which was never in my thoughts), I should have had more sense, if not more grace, than to have turnedmyself out of my benefice by writing libels on my parishioners. But hisaccount of my manners, and my principles, are of a piece with his cavilsand his poetry; and so I have done with him for ever. "[22]

While Dryden was engaged with his great translation, he found twomonths' leisure to execute a prose version of Fresnoy's "Art ofPainting, " to which he added an ingenious Preface, the work of twelvemornings, containing a parallel between that art and poetry; of whichMason has said, that though too superficial to stand the test of strictcriticism, yet it will always give pleasure to readers of taste, evenwhen it fails to convince their judgment. This version appeared in 1695. Mr. Malone conjectures that our author was engaged in this task by hisfriends Closterman, and Sir Godfrey Kneller, artists, who had beenactive in procuring subscriptions for his Virgil. He also wrote a "Lifeof Lucian, " for a translation of his works, by Mr. Walter Moyle, SirHenry Shere, and other gentlemen of pretension to learning. Thisversion, although it did not appear till after his death, and althoughhe executed no part of the translation, still retains the title of"Dryden's Lucian. "

There was one event of political importance which occurred in December1695, and which the public seem to have expected should have employedthe pen of Dryden;--this was the death of Mary, wife of William theThird. It is difficult to conceive in what manner the poet laureate ofthe unfortunate James could have treated the memory of his daughter. Satire was dangerous, and had indeed been renounced by the poet; andpanegyric was contrary to the principles for which he was suffering. Yet, among the swarm of rhymers who thrust themselves upon the nation onthat mournful occasion, there are few who do not call, with friendly orunfriendly voice, upon our poet to break silence. [23] But the voice ofpraise and censure was heard in vain, and Dryden's only interferencewas, in character of the first judge of his time, to award the prize tothe Duke of Devonshire, as author of the best poem composed on occasionof the Queen's death. [24]

Virgil was hardly finished, when our author distinguished himself by theimmortal Ode to Saint Cecilia, commonly called "Alexander's Feast. "There is some difference of evidence concerning the time occupied inthis splendid task. He had been solicited to undertake it by thestewards of the Musical Meeting, which had for several years met tocelebrate the feast of St. Cecilia, their patroness, and whom he hadformerly gratified by a similar performance. In September 1697, Drydenwrites to his son:--"In the meantime, I am writing a song for St. Cecilia's feast; who, you know, is the patroness of music. This istroublesome, and no way beneficial; but I could not deny the stewards, who came in a body to my house to desire that kindness, one of thembeing Mr. Bridgeman, whose parents are your mother's friends. " Thisaccount seems to imply, that the Ode was a work of some time; which iscountenanced by Dr. Birch's expression, that Dryden himself "observes, in an original letter of his, that he was employed for almost afortnight in composing and correcting it. "[25] On the other hand, thefollowing anecdote is told upon very respectable authority. "Mr. St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, happening to pay a morning visit toDryden, whom he always respected, found him in an unusual agitation ofspirits, even to a trembling. On inquiring the cause, 'I have been upall night, ' replied the old bard: 'my musical friends made me promise towrite them an Ode for their feast of St. Cecilia: I have been so struckwith the subject which occurred to me, that I could not leave it till Ihad _completed_ it; here it is, _finished_ at one sitting. ' Andimmediately he showed him _this_ Ode, which places the British lyricpoetry above that of any other nation. "[26] These accounts are not, however, so contradictory as they may at first sight appear. It ispossible that Dryden may have completed, at one sitting, the whole Ode, and yet have employed a fortnight, or much more, in correction. There isstrong internal evidence to show that the poem was, speaking withreference to its general structure, wrought off at once. A halt orpause, even of a day, would perhaps have injured that continuous flow ofpoetical language and description which argues the whole scene to havearisen at once upon the author's imagination. It seems possible, moreespecially in lyrical poetry, to discover where the author has pausedfor any length of time; for the union of the parts is rarely so perfectas not to show a different strain of thought and feeling. There may besomething fanciful, however, in this reasoning, which I thereforeabandon to the reader's mercy; only begging him to observe, that we haveno mode of estimating the exertions of a quality so capricious as apoetic imagination; so that it is very possible, that the Ode to St. Cecilia may have been the work of twenty-four hours, whilst correctionand emendations, perhaps of no very great consequence, occupied theauthor as many days. Derrick, in his "Life of Dryden, " tells us, uponthe authority of Walter Moyle, that the society paid Dryden £40 for thissublime Ode, which, from the passage in his letter above quoted, seemsto have been more than the bard expected at commencing his labour. Themusic for this celebrated poem was originally composed by JeremiahClarke, [27] one of the stewards of the festival, whose productions wheremore remarkable for deep pathos and delicacy than for fire and energy. It is probable that, with such a turn of mind and taste, he may havefailed in setting the sublime, lofty, and daring flights of the Ode toSt. Cecilia. Indeed his composition was not judged worthy ofpublication. The Ode, after some impertinent alterations, made byHughes, at the request of Sir Richard Steele, was set to music byClayton, who, with Steele, managed a public concert in 1711; but neitherwas this a successful essay to connect the poem with the art itcelebrated. At length, in 1736, "Alexander's Feast" was set by Handel, and performed in the Theatre-Royal, Covent Garden, with the full successwhich the combined talents of the poet and the musician seemed toinsure. [28] Indeed, although the music was at first less successful, thepoetry received, even in the author's time, all the applause which itsunrivalled excellence demanded. "I am glad to hear from all hands, " saysDryden, in a letter to Tonson, "that my Ode is esteemed the best of allmy poetry, by all the town. I thought so myself when I writ it; but, being old, I mistrusted my own judgment. " Mr. Malone has preserved atradition, that the father of Lord Chief-Justice Marlay, then a Templar, and frequenter of Will's coffeehouse, took an opportunity to pay hiscourt to Dryden, on the publication of "Alexander's Feast;" and, happening to sit next him, congratulated him on having produced thefinest and noblest Ode that had ever been written in any language. "Youare right, young gentleman (replied Dryden), a nobler Ode never _was_produced, nor ever _will_. " This singularly strong expression cannot beplaced to the score of vanity. It was an inward consciousness of merit, which burst forth, probably almost involuntarily, and I fear must beadmitted as prophetic. 

The preparation of a new edition of the Virgil, which appeared in 1698, occupied nine days only, after which Dryden began seriously to considerto what he should next address his pen. The state of his circumstancesrendered constant literary labour indispensable to the support of hisfamily, although the exertion, and particularly the confinement, occasioned by his studies, considerably impaired his health. His sonCharles had met with an accident at Rome, which was attended with atrain of consequences perilous to his health; and Dryden, anxious torecall him to Britain, was obliged to make extraordinary exertions toprovide against this additional expense. "If it please God, " he writesto Tonson, "that I must die of over-study, I cannot spend my life betterthan in preserving his. " It is affecting to read such a passage in thelife of such a man; yet the necessities of the poet, like theafflictions of the virtuous, smooth the road to immortality. WhileMilton and Dryden were favoured by the rulers of the day, they wereinvolved in the religious and political controversies which raged aroundthem; it is to hours of seclusion, neglect, and even penury, that we owethe Paradise Lost, the Virgil, and the Fables. 

Among other projects, Dryden seems to have had thoughts of altering andrevising a tragedy called the "Conquest of China by the Tartars, "written by his ancient friend and brother-in-law, Sir Robert Howard. Theunkindness which had arisen between them upon the subject of blank verseand rhyme, seems to have long since passed away; and we observe, withpleasure, that Dryden, in the course of the pecuniary transactions aboutVirgil, reckons upon the assistance of Sir Robert Howard, and consultshis taste also in the revisal of the version. [29] But Dryden neveraltered the "Conquest of China, " being first interrupted by thenecessity of revising Virgil, and afterwards, perhaps, by a sort ofquarrel which took place between him and the players, of whom he speaksmost resentfully in his "Epistle to Granville, " upon his tragedy of"Heroic Love, " acted in the beginning of 1698. [30]

The success of Virgil encouraged Dryden about this time to turn his eyesupon Homer; and the general voice of the literary world called upon himto do the venerable Grecian the same service which the Roman hadreceived from him. It was even believed that he had fixed upon the modeof translation, and that he was, as he elsewhere expresses it, to "fightunarmed, without his rhyme. "[31] A dubious anecdote bears, that he evenregretted he had not rendered Virgil into blank verse, and shows at thesame time, if genuine, how far he must now have disapproved of his ownattempt to turn into rhyme the Paradise Lost. The story is told by theelder Richardson, in his remarks on the tardy progress of Milton's greatwork in the public opinion. [32] When Dryden did translate the First Bookof Homer, which he published with the Fables, he rendered it into rhyme;nor have we sufficient ground to believe that he ever seriouslyintended, in so large a work, to renounce the advantages which hepossessed, by his unequalled command of versification. That in otherrespects the task was consonant to his temper, as well as talents, hehas himself informed us. "My thoughts, " he says, in a letter to Halifax, in 1699, "are at present fixed on Homer; and by my translation of thefirst Iliad, I find him a poet more according to my genius than Virgil, and consequently hope I may do him more justice, in his fiery way ofwriting; which, as it is liable to more faults, so it is capable of morebeauties than the exactness and sobriety of Virgil. Since it is for mycountry's honour, as well as for my own, that I am willing to undertakethis task, I despair not of being encouraged in it by your favour. " Butthis task Dryden was not destined to accomplish, although he had it somuch at heart as to speak of resuming it only three months before hisdeath. [33]

In the meanwhile, our author had engaged himself in making thoseimitations of Boccacio and Chaucer, which have been since called the"Fables;" and in spring 1699, he was in such forwardness, as to put intoTonson's hands "seven thousand five hundred verses, more or less, " asthe contract bears, being a partial delivery to account of ten thousandverses, which by that deed he agreed to furnish, for the sum of twohundred and fifty guineas, to be made up three hundred pounds uponpublication of the second edition. This second payment Dryden lived notto receive. With the contents of this miscellaneous volume we are tosuppose him engaged, from the revisal of the Virgil, in 1697, to thepublication of the Fables, in March 1699-1700. This was the last periodof his labours, and of his life; and, like all the others, it did notpass undisturbed by acrimonious criticism, and controversy. The disputewith Milbourne we noticed, before dismissing the subject of Virgil; butthere were two other persons who, in their zeal for morality andreligion, chose to disturb the last years of the life of Dryden. 

The indelicacy of the stage, being, in its earliest period, merely thecoarse gross raillery of a barbarous age, was probably of no greaterinjury to the morals of the audience, than it is to those of the lowerranks of society, with whom similar language is everywhere admitted aswit and humour. During the reigns of James I. And Charles I. Thislicence was gradually disappearing. In the domination of the fanatics, which succeeded, matters were so much changed, that, far from permittingthe use of indelicate or profane allusions, they wrapped up not onlytheir most common temporal affairs, but even their very crimes andvices, in the language of their spiritual concerns. Luxury was _usingthe creature_; avarice was _seeking experiences_; insurrection was_putting the hand to the plough_; actual rebellion, _fighting the goodfight_; and regicide, _doing the great work of the Lord. _ Thisvocabulary became grievously unfashionable at the Reformation, and wasat once swept away by the torrent of irreligion, blasphemy, andindecency, which were at that period deemed necessary to secureconversation against the imputation of disloyalty and fanaticism. Thecourt of Cromwell, if lampoons can be believed, was not much lessvicious than that of Charles II. , but it was less scandalous; and, asDryden himself expresses it, "The sin was of our native growth, 'tis true; The scandal of the sin was wholly new. Misses there were, but modestly concealed, Whitehall the naked Goddess first revealed; Who standing, as at Cyprus, in her shrine, The strumpet was adored with rites divine. "

This torrent of licentiousness had begun in some degree to abate, evenupon the accession of James II. , whose manners did not encourage thesame general licence as those of Charles. But after the Revolution, whenan affectation of profligacy was no longer deemed a necessary attributeof loyalty, and when it began to be thought possible that a man mighthave some respect for religion without being a republican, or even afanatic, the licence of the stage was generally esteemed a nuisance. Itthen happened, as is not uncommon, that those, most bustling and activeto correct public abuses, were men whose intentions may, without doingthem injury, be estimated more highly than their talents. Thus, SirRichard Blackmore, a grave physician, residing and practising on thesober side of Temple-Bar, was the first who professed to reform thespreading pest of poetical licentiousness, and to correct such men asDryden, Congreve, and Wycherly. This worthy person, compassionating thestate to which poetry was reduced by his contemporaries, who used theirwit "in opposition to religion, and to the destruction of virtue andgood manners in the world, " resolved to rescue the Muses from thisunworthy thraldom, "to restore them to their sweet and chaste mansions, and to engage them in an employment suited to their dignity. " With thislaudable view he wrote "Prince Arthur, an Epic Poem, " published in 1695. The preface contained a furious, though just, diatribe, against the licence of modern comedy, with some personal reflectionsaimed at Dry den directly. [34] This the poet felt more unkindly, as SirRichard had, without acknowledgment, availed himself of the hints he hadthrown out in the "Essay upon Satire, " for the management of an epicpoem on the subject of King Arthur. He bore, however, the attack, without resenting it, until he was again assailed by Sir Richard in his"Satire upon Wit, " written expressly to correct the dissolute andimmoral performances of the writers of his time. With a ponderousattempt at humour, the good knight proposes, that a _bank for wit_should be established, and that all which had hitherto passed ascurrent, should be called in, purified in the mint, re-coined, andissued forth anew, freed from alloy. 

This satire was published in 1700, as the title-page bears; but Mr. Luttrell marks his copy 23rd November 1699. [35] It contains more thanone attack upon our author. Thus, we are told (wit being previouslydescribed as a malady), "Vanine, that looked on all the danger past, Because he 'scaped so long, is seized at last; By p----, by hunger, and by Dryden bit, He grins and snarls, and, in his dogged fit, Froths at the mouth, a certain sign of wit. "

Elsewhere the poet complains, that the universities, "debauched by Dryden and his crew, Turn bawds to vice, and wicked aims pursue. "

Again, p. 14--

 "Dryden condemn, who taught men how to make, Of dunces wits, an angel of a rake. "

But the main offence lies in the following passage:--

 "Set forth your edict; let it be enjoined, That all defective species be recoined; St. E--m--t and R--r both are fit To oversee the coining of our wit. Let these be made the masters of essay, They'll every piece of metal touch and weigh, And tell which is too light, which has too much allay. 'Tis true, that when the coarse and worthless dross Is purged away, there will be mighty loss. E'en Congreve, Southerne, manly Wycherly, When thus refined, will grievous sufferers be. Into the melting-pot when Dryden comes, What horrid stench will rise, what noisome fumes! How will he shrink, when all his lewd allay, And wicked mixture, shall be purged away? When once his boasted heaps are melted down, A chest-full scarce will yield one sterling crown. Those who will D--n--s melt, and think to find A goodly mass of bullion left behind, Do, as the Hibernian wit, who, as 'tis told, Burnt his gilt feather, to collect the gold. * * * * * But what remains will be so pure, 'twill bear The examination of the most severe; 'Twill S--r's scales, and Talbot's test abide, And with their mark please all the world beside. "

These repeated attacks at length called down the vengeance of Dryden. Who thus retorted upon him in the preface to the Fables:--

"As for the City Bard, or Knight Physician, I hear his quarrel to me is, that I was the author of 'Absalom and Achitophel, ' which he thinks, isa little hard on his fanatic patrons in London. 

"But I will deal the more civilly with his two poems, because nothingill is to be spoken of the dead; and, therefore, peace be to the manesof his 'Arthurs. ' I will only say, that it was not for this noble knightthat I drew the plan of an epic poem on King Arthur, in my preface tothe translation of Juvenal. The guardian angels of kingdoms weremachines too ponderous for him to manage; and therefore he rejectedthem, as Dares did the whirl bats of Eryx, when they were thrown beforehim by Entellus: yet from that preface, he plainly took his hint; for hebegan immediately upon the story, though he had the baseness not toacknowledge his benefactor, but, instead of it, to traduce me in alibel. "

Blackmore, who had perhaps thought the praise contained in his two lastcouplets ought to have allayed Dryden's resentment, finding that theyfailed in producing this effect, very unhandsomely omitted them in hisnext edition, and received, as will presently be noticed, anotherflagellation, in the last verses Dryden ever wrote. 

But a more formidable champion than Blackmore had arisen, to scourge theprofligacy of the theatre. This was no other than the celebrated JeremyCollier, a nonjuring clergyman, who published, in 1698, "A Short View ofthe Immorality and Profaneness of the Stage. " His qualities as areformer are described by Dr. Johnson in language never to be amended. "He was formed for a controvertist; with sufficient learning; withdiction vehement and pointed, though often vulgar and incorrect; withunconquerable pertinacity; with wit in the highest degree keen andsarcastic; and with all those powers exalted and invigorated by the justconfidence in his cause. 

"Thus qualified, and thus incited, he walked out to battle, and assailedat once most of the living writers, from Dryden to Durfey. His onset wasviolent: those passages, which while they stood single, had passed withlittle notice, when they were accumulated and exposed together caughtthe alarm, and the nation wondered why it had so long sufferedirreligion and licentiousness charge. "

Notwithstanding the justice of this description, there is a strangemixture of sense and nonsense in Collier's celebrated treatise. Notcontented with resting his objections to dramatic immorality andreligion, Jeremy labours to confute the poets of the 17th century, bydrawing them into comparison with Plautus and Aristophanes, which iscertainly judging of one crooked line by another. Neither does he omit, like his predecessor Prynne, to marshal against the British stage thosefulminations directed by the fathers of the Church against the Pagantheatres; although Collier could not but know, that it was theperformance of the heathen ritual, and not merely the action of thedrama, which rendered it sinful for the early Christians to attend thetheatre. The book was, however, of great service to dramatic poetry, which, from that time, was less degraded by licence and indelicacy. 

Dryden, it may be believed, had, as his comedies well deserved, aliberal share of the general censure; but, however he might have feltthe smart of Collier's severity, he had the magnanimity to acknowledgeits justice. In the preface to the Fables, he makes the _amendehonorable. _ "I shall say the less of Mr. Collier, because in many thingshe has taxed me justly; and I have pleaded guilty to all thoughts andexpressions of mine, which can be truly argued of obscenity, profaneness, or immorality, and retract them. If he be my enemy, let himtriumph; if he be my friend, as I have given him no personal occasion tobe otherwise, he will be glad of my repentance. It becomes me not todraw my pen in the defence of a bad cause, when I have so often drawn itfor a good one. " To this manly and liberal admission, he has indeedtacked a complaint, that Collier had sometimes, by a strainedinterpretation, made the evil sense of which he complained; that he hadtoo much "horse-play in his raillery;" and that, "if the zeal for God'shouse had not eaten him up, it had at least devoured some part of hisgood manners and civility. " Collier seems to have been somewhat pacifiedby this qualified acknowledgment, and, during the rest of thecontroversy, turned his arms chiefly against Congreve, who resisted, andspared, comparatively at least, the sullen submission of Dryden. [36]

While these controversies were raging, Dryden's time was occupied withthe translations or imitations of Chaucer and Boccacio. Among these, the"Character of the Good Parson" is introduced, probably to confuteMilbourne, Blackmore, and Collier, who had severally charged our authorwith the wilful and premeditated contumely thrown upon the clergy inmany passages of his satirical writings. This too seems to have inflamedthe hatred of Swift, who, with all his levities, was strictly attachedto his order, and keenly jealous of its honours. [37] Dryden himselfseems to have been conscious of his propensity to assail churchmen. "Iremember, " he writes to his sons, "the counsel you gave me in yourletter; but dissembling, although lawful in some cases, is not mytalent; yet, for your sake, I will struggle with the plain openness ofmy nature, and keep in my just resentments against that _degenerateorder_. "[38] Milbourne, and other enemies of our author, imputed thisresentment against the clergy, to his being refused orders when hewished to take them, in the reign of Charles, with a view to theProvostship of Eton, or some Irish preferment. [39] But Dryden assuresus, that he never had any thoughts of entering the Church. Indeed, hisoriginal offences of this kind may be safely ascribed to the fashionablepractice, after the Restoration, of laughing at all that was accountedserious before that period. 

And when Dryden became a convert to the Catholic faith, he was, we haveseen, involved in an immediate and furious controversy with the clergyof the Church of England. Thus, an unbeseeming strain of raillery, adopted in wantonness, became aggravated, by controversy, into realdislike and animosity. But Dryden, in the "Character of a Good Parson, "seems determined to show that he could estimate the virtue of theclerical order. He undertook the task at the instigation of Mr. Pepys, the founder of the Library in Magdalen College, which bears hisname;[40] and has accomplished it with equal spirit and elegance; notforgetting, however, to make his pattern of clerical merit of his ownjacobitical principles. 

Another very pleasing performance, which entered [into] the Miscellanycalled "The Fables, " is the epistle to John Driden of Chesterton, thepoet's cousin. The letters to Mrs. Steward show the friendly intimacy inwhich the relations had lived, since the opposition of the Whigs to KingWilliam's government in some degree united that party in conduct, thoughnot in motive, with the favourers of King James. Yet our author's strainof politics, as at first expressed in the epistle, was too severe forhis cousin's digestion. Some reflections upon the Dutch allies, andtheir behaviour in the war, were omitted, as tending to reflect uponKing William; and the whole piece, to avoid the least chance of givingoffence, was subjected to the revision of Montague, with a deprecationof his displeasure, an entreaty of his patronage, and the humiliatingoffer, that, although repeated correction had already purged the spiritout of the poem, nothing should stand in it relating to public affairs. Without Mr. Montague's permission. What answer "full-blown Bufo"returned to Dryden's petition, does not appear; but the author'sopposition principles were so deeply woven in with the piece, that theycould not be obliterated without tearing it to pieces. His model of anEnglish member of parliament votes in opposition, as his Good Parson isa nonjuror, and the Fox in the fable of Old Chaucer is translated into apuritan. [41] The epistle was highly acceptable to Mr. Driden ofChesterton, who acknowledged the immortality conferred on him, by "anoble present, " which family tradition states to have amounted to£500. [42] Neither did Dryden neglect so fair an opportunity to avengehimself on his personal, as well as his political adversaries. Milbourneand Blackmore receive in the epistle severe chastisement for theirassaults upon his poetry and private character:

 "What help from art's endeavours can we have? Guibbons but guesses, nor is sure to save; But Maurus sweeps whole parishes, and peoples every grave, And no more mercy to mankind will use Than when he robbed and murdered Maro's muse. Wouldst thou be soon despatched, and perish whole, Trust Maurus with thy life, and Milbourne with thy soul"

Referring to another place, what occurs upon the style and execution ofthe Fables, I have only to add, that they were published early in spring1700, in a large folio, and with the "Ode to Saint Cecilia. " The epistleto Driden of Chesterton, and a translation of the first Iliad, must havemove than satisfied the mercantile calculations of Tonson, since theycontained seventeen hundred verses above the quantity which Dryden hadcontracted to deliver. In the preface, the author vindicates himselfwith great spirit against his literary adversaries; makes his usualstrong and forcible remarks on the genius of the authors whom he hadimitated; and, in this his last critical work, shows all the acumenwhich had so long distinguished his powers. The Fables were dedicated tothe last Duke of Ormond, the grandson of the Barzillai of "Absalom andAchitophel, " and the son of the heroic Earl of Ossory; friends both, andpatrons of Dryden's earlier essays. There is something affecting in aconnection so honourably maintained; and the sentiment, as touched byDryden, is simply pathetic. "I am not vain enough to boast, that I havedeserved the value of so illustrious a line; but my fortune is thegreater, that for three descents they have been pleased to distinguishmy poems from those of other men; and have accordingly made me theirpeculiar care. May it be permitted me to say, that as your grandfatherand father were cherished monarchs, so I have been esteemed andpatronised by the grandfather, the father, and the son, descended fromone of the most ancient, most conspicuous, and most deserving familiesin Europe. "

There were also prefixed to the "Fables, " those introductory versesaddressed to the beautiful Duchess of Ormond, [43] which have all theeasy, felicitous, and sprightly gallantry, demanded on such occasions. The incense, it is said, was acknowledged by a present of £500; adonation worthy of the splendid house of Ormond. The sale of the"Fables" was surprisingly slow: even the death of the author, which hasoften sped away a lingering impression, does not seem to have increasedthe demand; and the second edition was not printed till 1713, when, Dryden and all his immediate descendants being no more, the sumstipulated upon that event was paid by Tonson to Lady Sylvius, daughterof one of Lady Elizabeth Dryden's brothers, for the benefit of hiswidow, then in a state of lunacy. --See Appendix, vol. Xviii. 

The end of Dryden's labours was now fast approaching; and, as his careerbegan upon the stage, it was in some degree doomed to terminate there. It is true, he never recalled his resolution to write no more plays; butVanbrugh having about this time revised and altered for the Drury-lanetheatre, Fletcher's lively comedy of "The Pilgrim, " it was agreed thatDryden, or, as one account says, his son Charles, [44] should have theprofits of a third night on condition of adding to the piece a SecularMasque, adapted to the supposed termination of the seventeenthcentury;[45] a Dialogue in the Madhouse between two Distracted Lovers;and a Prologue and Epilogue. The Secular Masque contains a beautiful andspirited delineation of the reigns of James I. , Charles I. , and CharlesII. , in which the influence of Diana, Mars, and Venus, are supposed tohave respectively predominated. Our author did not venture to assign apatron to the last years of the century, though the expulsion of Saturnmight have given a hint for it. The music of the Masque is said to havebeen good; at least it is admired by the eccentric author of JohnBuncle. [46] The Prologue and Epilogue to "The Pilgrim, " were writtenwithin twenty days of Dryden's death; [47] and their spirit equals thatof any of his satirical compositions. They afford us the less pleasingconviction, that even the last fortnight of Dryden's life was occupiedin repelling or retorting the venomed attacks of his literary foes. Inthe Prologue, he gives Blackmore a drubbing which would have annihilatedany author of ordinary modesty; but the knight[48] was as remarkable forhis powers of endurance, as some modern pugilists are said to be, forthe quality technically called _bottom_. After having been "brayed in amortar, " as Solomon expresses it, by every wit of his time, Sir Richardnot only survived to commit new offences against ink and paper, but hadhis faction, his admirers, and his panegyrists, among that numerous andsober class of readers, who think that genius consists in goodintention. [49] In the Epilogue, Dryden attacks Collier, but with morecourteous weapons: it is rather a palliation than a defence of dramaticimmorality, and contains nothing personally offensive to Collier. Thusso dearly was Dryden's preeminent reputation purchased, that even hislast hours were embittered with controversy; and nature, over-watchedand worn out, was, like a besieged garrison, forced to obey the call toarms, and defend reputation even with the very last exertion of thevital spirit. 

The approach of death was not, however, so gradual as might have beenexpected from the poet's chronic diseases. He had long suffered both bythe gout and gravel, and more lately the erysipelas seized one of hislegs. To a shattered frame and a corpulent habit, the most triflingaccident is often fatal. A slight inflammation in one of his toes, became, from neglect, a gangrene. Mr. Hobbes, an eminent surgeon, toprevent mortification, proposed to amputate the limb; but Dryden, whohad no reason to be in love with life, refused the chance of prolongingit by a doubtful and painful operation. [50] After a short interval, thecatastrophe expected by Mr. Hobbes took place, and, Dryden not longsurviving the consequences, left life on Wednesday morning, 1st May1700, at three o'clock. He seems to have been sensible till nearly hislast moments, and died in the Roman Catholic faith, with submission andentire resignation to the divine will; "taking of his friends, " saysMrs. Creed, one of the sorrowful number, "so tender and obliging afarewell, as none but he himself could have expressed. "

The death of a man like Dryden, especially in narrow and neglectedcircumstances, is usually an alarum-bell to the public. Unavailing andmutual reproaches, for unthankful and pitiless negligence, wastethemselves in newspaper paragraphs, elegies, and funeral processions;the debt to genius is then deemed discharged, and a new account ofneglect and commemoration is opened between the public and the next whorises to supply his room. It was thus with Dryden: His family werepreparing to bury him with the decency becoming their limitedcircumstances, when Charles Montague, Lord Jefferies, and other men ofquality, made a subscription for a public funeral. The body of the poetwas then removed to the Physicians' Hall, where it was embalmed, and layin state till the 13th day of May, twelve days after the decease. Onthat day, the celebrated Dr. Garth pronounced a Latin oration over theremains of his departed friend; which were then, with considerablestate, preceded by a band of music, and attended by a numerousprocession of carriages, transported to Westminster Abbey, and depositedbetween the graves of Chaucer and Cowley. 

The malice of Dryden's contemporaries, which he had experienced throughlife, attempted to turn into burlesque these funeral honours. Farquhar, the comic dramatist, wrote a letter containing a ludicrous account ofthe funeral;[51] in which, as Mr. Malone most justly remarks, he onlysought to amuse his fair correspondent by an assemblage of ludicrous andantithetical expressions and ideas, which, when accurately examined, express little more than the bustle and confusion which attends everyfuneral procession of uncommon splendour. Upon this ground-work, Mrs. Thomas (the Corinna of Pope and Cromwell) raised, at the distance ofthirty years, the marvellous structure of fable, which has been copiedby all Dryden's biographers, till the industry of Mr. Malone has sentit, with other figments of the same lady, to "the grave of all theCapulets. "[52] She appears to have been something assisted by aburlesque account of the funeral, imputed by Mr. Malone to Tom Brown, who certainly continued to insult Dryden's memory whenever anopportunity offered. [53] Indeed, Mrs. Thomas herself quotes this lastrespectable authority. It must be a well-conducted and uncommon publicceremony, where the philosopher can find nothing to condemn, nor thesatirist to ridicule; yet, to our imagination, what can be morestriking, than the procession of talent and rank, which escorted theremains of DRYDEN to the tomb of CHAUCER!

The private character of the individual, his personal appearance, andrank in society, are the circumstances which generally interest thepublic most immediately upon his decease. 

We are enabled, from the various paintings and engravings of Dryden, aswell as from the less flattering delineations of the satirists of histime, to form a tolerable idea of his face and person. In youth, heappears to have been handsome, [54] and of a pleasing countenance: whenhis age was more advanced, he was corpulent and florid, which procuredhim the nickname attached to him by Rochester. [55] In his latter days, distress and disappointment probably chilled the fire of his eye, andthe advance of age destroyed the animation of his countenance. [56]Still, however, his portraits bespeak the look and features of genius;especially that in which he is drawn with his waving grey hairs. 

In disposition and moral character, Dryden is represented as mostamiable, by all who had access to know him; and his works, as well asletters, bear evidence to the justice of their panegyric. Congreve'scharacter of the poet was drawn doubtless favourably, yet it containspoints which demonstrate its fidelity. 

"Whoever shall censure me, I dare be confident, you, my lord, willexcuse me for anything that I shall say with due regard to a gentleman, for whose person I had as just an affection as I have an admiration ofhis writings. And indeed Mr. Dryden had personal qualities to challengeboth love and esteem from all who were truly acquainted with him. 

"He was of a nature exceedingly humane and compassionate; easilyforgiving injuries, and capable of a prompt and sincere reconciliationwith them who had offended him. 

"Such a temperament is the only solid foundation of all moral virtuesand sociable endowments. His friendship, where he professed it, wentmuch beyond his professions; and I have been told of strong and generousinstances of it by the persons themselves who received them, though hishereditary income was little more than a bare competency. 

"As his reading had been very extensive, so was he very happy in amemory, tenacious of everything that he had read. He was not morepossessed of knowledge, than he was communicative of it. But then hiscommunication of it was by no means pedantic, or imposed upon theconversation; but just such, and went so far, as, by the natural turnsof the discourse in which he was engaged, it was necessarily promoted orrequired. He was extreme ready and gentle in his correction of theerrors of any writer, who thought fit to consult him: and full as readyand patient to admit of the reprehension of others, in respect of hisown oversight or mistakes. He was of very easy, I may say, of verypleasing access; but something slow, and, as it were, diffident in hisadvances to others. He had something in his nature, that abhorredintrusion into any society whatsoever. Indeed, it is to be regretted, that he was rather blameable in the other extreme; for, by that means, he was personally less known, and, consequently, his character mightbecome liable both to misapprehensions and misrepresentations. 

"To the best of my knowledge and observation, he was, of all the menthat I ever knew, one of the most modest, and the most easily to bediscountenanced in his approaches either to his superiors or hisequals. "

This portrait is from the pen of friendship; yet, if we consider all thecircumstances of Dryden's life, we cannot deem it much exaggerated. Forabout forty years, his character, personal and literary, was the objectof assault by every subaltern scribbler, titled or untitled, laureatedor pilloried. "My morals, " he himself has said, "have been sufficientlyaspersed; that only sort of reputation, which ought to be dear to everyhonest man, and is to me. " In such an assault, no weapon would remainunhandled, no charge, true or false, unurged; and what qualities we donot there find excepted against, must surely be admitted to pass to thecredit of Dryden. His change of political opinion, from the time heentered life under the protection of a favourite of Cromwell, might haveargued instability, if he had changed a second time, when the current ofpower and popular opinion set against the doctrines of the Reformation. As it is, we must hold Dryden to have acted from conviction, sincepersonal interest, had that been the ruling motive of his politicalconduct, would have operated as strongly in 1688 as in 1660. The changeof his religion we have elsewhere discussed; and endeavoured to showthat, although Dryden was unfortunate in adopting the more corruptedform of our religion, yet, considered relatively, it was a fortunate andlaudable conviction which led him from the mazes of scepticism to becomea catholic of the communion of Rome. [57] It would be vain to maintain, that in his early career he was free from the follies and vices of adissolute period; but the absence of every positive charge, and thesilence of numerous accusers, may be admitted to prove, that he partookin them more from general example than inclination, and with a moderate, rather than voracious or undistinguishing appetite. It must be admitted, that he sacrificed to the Belial or Asmodeus of the age, in hiswritings; and that he formed his taste upon the licentious and gaysociety with which he mingled. But we have the testimony of one who knewhim well, that, however loose his comedies, the temper of the author wasmodest;[58] his indelicacy was like the forced impudence of a bashfulman; and Rochester has accordingly upbraided him, that hislicentiousness was neither natural nor seductive. Dryden hadunfortunately conformed enough to the taste of his age, to attempt that"nice mode of wit, " as it is termed by the said noble author, whose namehas become inseparably connected with it; but it sate awkwardly upon hisnatural modesty, and in general sounds impertinent, as well asdisgusting. The clumsy phraseology of Burnet, in passing censure on theimmorality of the stage, after the Restoration, terms "Dryden, thegreatest master of dramatic poesy, a monster of immodesty and ofimpurity of all sorts. " The expression called forth the animated defenceof Granville, Lord Lansdowne, our author's noble friend. "All who knewhim, " said Lansdowne, "can testify this was not his character. He was somuch a stranger to immodesty, that modesty in too great a degree was hisfailing: he hurt his fortune by it, he complained of it, and never couldovercome it. He was, " adds he, "esteemed, courted, and admired, by allthe great men of the age in which he lived, who would certainly not havereceived into friendship a monster abandoned to all sorts of vice andimpurity. His writings will do immortal honour to his name and country, and his poems last as long, if I may have leave to say it, as theBishop's sermons, supposing them to be equally excellent in theirkind. "[59]

The Bishop's youngest son, Thomas Burnet, in replying to Lord Lansdowne, explained his father's last expressions as limited to Dryden's plays, and showed, by doing so, that there was no foundation for fixing thisgross and dubious charge upon his private moral character. 

Dryden's conduct as a father, husband, and master of a family, seems tohave been affectionate, faithful, and, so far as his circumstancesadmitted, liberal and benevolent. The whole tenor of his correspondencebears witness to his paternal feelings; and even when he was obliged tohave recourse to Tonson's immediate assistance to pay for the presentshe sent them, his affection vented itself in that manner. As a husband, if Lady Elizabeth's peculiarities of temper precluded the idea of a warmattachment, he is not upbraided with neglect or infidelity by any of histhousand assailants. As a landlord, Mr. Malone has informed us, on theauthority of Lady Dryden, that "his little estate at Blakesley is atthis day occupied by one Harriots, grandson of the tenant who held it inDryden's time; and he relates, that his grandfather was used to takegreat pleasure in talking of our poet. He was, he said, the easiest andthe kindest landlord in the world, and never raised the rent during thewhole time he possessed the estate. "

Some circumstances, however, may seem to degrade so amiable a private, so sublime a poetical character. The licence of his comedy, as we haveseen, had for it only the apology of universal example, and must belamented, though not excused. Let us, however, remember, that if in thehey-day of the merry monarch's reign, Dryden ventured to maintain, that, the prime end of poetry being pleasure, the muses ought not to befettered by the chains of strict decorum; yet in his more advanced andsober mood, he evinced sincere repentance for his trespass, by patientand unresisting submission to the coarse and rigorous chastisement ofCollier. If it is alleged, that, in the fury of his loyal satire, he wasnot always solicitous concerning its justice, let us make allowance forthe prejudice of party, and consider at what advantage, after the lapsof more than a century, and through the medium of impartial history, wenow view characters, who were only known to their contemporaries aszealous partisans of an opposite and detested faction. The moderation ofDryden's reprisals, when provoked by the grossest calumny and personalinsult, ought also to plead in his favour. Of the hundreds who thusassailed, not only his literary, but his moral reputation, he hasdistinguished Settle and Shadwell alone by an elaborate retort. Thosewho look into Mr. Luttrell's collections, will at once see the extent ofDryden's sufferance, and the limited nature of his retaliation. 

The extreme flattery of Dryden's dedications has been objected to him, as a fault of an opposite description; and perhaps no writer hasequalled him in the profusion and elegance of his adulation. "Of thiskind of meanness, " says Johnson, "he never seems to decline thepractice, or lament the necessity. He considers the great as entitled toencomiastic homage, and brings praise rather as a tribute than a gift;more delighted with the fertility of his invention than mortified by theprostitution of his judgment. " It may be noticed, in palliation of thisheavy charge, that the form of address to superiors must be judged of bythe manners of the times; and that the adulation contained indedications was then as much a matter of course, as the words ofsubmissive style which still precede the subscription Dryden consideredhis panegyrics as merely conforming with the fashion of the day, andrendering unto Caesar the things which were Caesar's, --attended with nomore degradation than the payment of any other tribute to the forms ofpoliteness and usage of the world. 

Of Dryden's general habits of life we can form a distinct idea, from theevidence assembled by Mr. Malone. His mornings were spent in study; hedined with his family, probably about two o'clock. After dinner he wentusually to Will's Coffeehouse, the famous rendezvous of the wits of thetime, where he had his established chair by the chimney in winter, andnear the balcony in summer, whence he pronounced, _ex cathedra_, hisopinion upon new publications, and, in general, upon all matters ofdubious criticism. [60] Latterly, all who had occasion to ridicule orattack him, represent him as presiding in this little senate. [61] Hisopinions, however, were not maintained with dogmatism; and we have aninstance, in a pleasing anecdote told by Dr. Lockier, [62] that Drydenreadily listened to criticism, provided it was just, from whateverunexpected and undignified quarter it happened to come. In general, however, it may be supposed, that few ventured to dispute his opinion, or place themselves of his censure. He was most falsely accused ofcarrying literary jealousy to such a length, as feloniously to encourageCreech to venture on a translation of Horace, that he might lose thecharacter he had gained by a version of Lucretius. But this ispositively contradicted, upon the authority of Southerne. [63]

We have so often stopped in our narrative of Dryden's life, to noticethe respectability of his general society, that little need here be saidon the subject. Although no enemy to conviviality, he is pronounced byPope to have been regular in his hours in comparison with Addison, whootherwise lived the same coffee-house course of life. He has himselftold us, that he was "saturnine and reserved, and not one of those whoendeavour to entertain company by lively sallies of merriment and wit;"and an adversary has put into his mouth this couplet--

 "Nor wine nor love could ever see me gay; To writing bred, I knew not what to say. "

_Dryden's Satire to his Muse. _

But the admission of the author, and the censure of the satirist, mustbe received with some limitation. Dryden was thirty years old before hewas freed from the fetters of puritanism; and if the habits of livelyexpression in society are not acquired before that age, they are seldomgained afterward. But this applies only to the deficiency of repartee, in the sharp encounter of wit which was fashionable at the court ofCharles, and cannot be understood to exclude Dryden's possessing themore solid qualities of agreeable conversation, arising from a memoryprofoundly stocked with knowledge, and a fancy which supplied modes ofillustration faster than the author could use them. [64] Some few sayingsof Dryden have been, however, preserved; which, if not witty, are atleast jocose. He is said to have been the original author of therepartee to the Duke of Buckingham, who, in bowling, offered to lay "hissoul to a turnip, " or something still more vile. "Give me the odds, "said Dryden, "and I take the bet. " When his wife wished to be a book, that she might enjoy more of his company, "Be an almanac then, my dear, "said the poet, "that I may change you once a year. "[65] Another time, afriend expressing his astonishment that even D'Urfey could write suchstuff as a play they had just witnessed, "Ah, sir, " replied Dryden, "youdo not know my friend Tom so well as I do; I'll answer for him, he canwrite worse yet. " None of these anecdotes intimate great brilliancy ofrepartee; but that Dryden, possessed of such a fund of imagination, andacquired learning, should be dull in conversation, is impossible. He isknown frequently to have regaled his friends, by communicating to them apart of his labours; but his poetry suffered by his recitation. He readhis productions very ill;[66] owing, perhaps, to the modest reserve of histemper, which prevented his showing an animation in which he feared hisaudience might not participate. The same circumstance may have repressedthe liveliness of his conversation. I know not, however, whether we are, with Mr. Malone, to impute to diffidence his general habit of consultinghis literary friends upon his poems, before they became public, since itmight as well arise from a wish to anticipate and soften criticism. [67]

Of Dryden's learning, his works form the best proof. He had readPolybius before he was ten years of age;[68] and was doubtless wellacquainted with the Greek and Roman classics. But from these studies hecould descend to read romances: and the present editor records withpride, that Dryden was a decided admirer of old ballads and populartales. [69] His researches sometimes extended into the vain province ofjudicial astrology, in which he was a firm believer; and there is reasonto think that he also credited divination by dreams. In the country, hedelighted in the pastime of fishing, and used, says Mr. Malone, to spendsome time with Mr. Jones of Ramsden, in Wiltshire. D'Urfey was sometimesof this party; but Dryden appears to have undervalued his skill infishing, as much as his attempts at poetry. Hence Fenton, in his Epistleto Mr. Lambard:

 "By long experience, D'Urfey may no doubt Ensnare a gudgeon, or sometimes a trout; Yet Dryden once exclaimed, in partial spite, '_He fish_!'--because the man attempts to write. "

I may conclude this notice of Dryden's habits, which I have been enabledto give chiefly by the researches of Mr. Malone, with two notices of aminute nature. Dryden was a great taker of snuff, which he made himself. Moreover, as a preparation to a course of study, he usually tookmedicine, and observed a cooling diet. [70]

Dryden's house, which he appears to have resided in from the period ofhis marriage till his death, was in Gerrard Street, the fifth on theleft hand coming from Little Newport Street. [71] The back windows lookedupon the gardens of Leicester House, of which circumstance our poetavailed himself to pay a handsome compliment to the noble owner. [72] Hisexcursions to the country seem to have been frequent; perhaps the moreso, as Lady Elizabeth always remained in town. In his latter days, thefriendship of his relations, John Driden of Chesterton, and Mrs. Stewardof Cotterstock, rendered their houses agreeable places of abode to theaged poet. They appear also to have had a kind solicitude about hislittle comforts, of value infinitely beyond aiding them. And thusconcludes all that we have learned of the private life of Dryden. 

The fate of Dryden's family must necessarily interest the admirers ofEnglish literature. It consisted of his wife, Lady Elizabeth Dryden, andthree sons, John, Charles, and Erasmus Henry. Upon the poet's death, itmay be believed, they felt themselves slenderly provided for, since allhis efforts, while alive, were necessary to secure them from the gripeof penury. 

Yet their situation was not very distressing. John and Erasmus Henrywere abroad; and each had an office at Rome, in which he was able tosupport himself. Charles had for some time been entirely dependent onhis father, and administered to his effects, as he died without a will. The liberality of the Duchess of Ormond, and of Driden of Chesterton, had been lately received, and probably was not expended. There was, besides, the poet's little patrimonial estate, and a small property inWiltshire, which the Earl of Berkshire settled upon Lady Elizabeth ather marriage, and which yielded £50 or £60 annually. There was thereforean income of about £100 a year, to maintain the poet's widow andchildren; enough in these times to support them in decent frugality. 

Lady Elizabeth Dryden's temper had long disturbed her husband's domestichappiness. "His invectives, " says Mr. Malone, "against the married stateare frequent and bitter, and were continued to the latest period of hislife;" and he adds, from most respectable authority, that the family ofthe poet held no intimacy with his lady, confining their intercourse tomere visits of ceremony. [73] A similar alienation seems to have takenplace between her and her own relations, Sir Robert Howard, perhaps, being excepted; for her brother, the Honourable Edward Howard, talks ofVirgil, as a thing he had learned merely by common report. [74] Herwayward disposition was, however, the effect of a disordered imaginationwhich, shortly after Dryden's death, degenerated into absolute insanity, in which state she remained until her death in summer 1714, probably, says Mr. Malone, in the seventy-ninth year of her life. 

Dryden's three sons, says the inscription by Mrs. Creed, were ingeniousand accomplished gentlemen. Charles, the eldest, and favourite son ofthe poet, was born at Charlton, Wiltshire, in 1666. He received aclassical education under Dr. Busby, his father's preceptor, and waschosen King's Scholar in 1680. Being elected to Trinity College inCambridge, he was admitted a member in 1683. It would have beendifficult to conceive that the son of Dryden should not have attemptedpoetry; but though Charles Dryden escaped the fate of Icarus, he wasvery, very far from emulating his father's soaring flight. Mr. Malonehas furnished a list of his compositions in Latin and English. [75] About1692, he went to Italy, and through the interest of Cardinal Howard, towhom he was related by the mother's side, he became Chamberlain of theHousehold; not, as Corinna pretends, "to that _remarkably finegentleman_, Pope Clement XI. , " but to Pope Innocent XII. His way to thispreferment was smoothed by a pedigree drawn up in Latin by his father, of the families of Dryden and Howard, which is said to have beendeposited in the Vatican. Dryden, whose turn for judicial astrology wehave noticed, had calculated the nativity of his son Charles; and itwould seem that a part of his predictions were fortuitously fulfilled. Charles, however, having suffered, while at Rome, by a fall, and hishealth, in consequence, being much injured, his father prognosticated hewould begin to recover in the month of September 1697. The issue did nogreat credit to the prediction; for young Dryden returned to England in1698 in the same indifferent state of health, as is obvious from theanxious solicitude with which his father always mentions Charles in hiscorrespondence. Upon the poet's death, Charles, we have seen, administered to his effects on 10th June 1700, Lady Elizabeth, hismother, renouncing the succession. In the next year, Granville conferredon him the profits arising from the author's night of an alteration ofShakespeare's "Merchant of Venice;" and his liberality to the son of onegreat bard may be admitted to balance his presumption in manufacturing anew drama out of the labours of another. [76] Upon the 20th August 1704, Charles Dryden was drowned, in an attempt to swim across the Thames, atDatchet, near Windsor. I have degraded into the Appendix, the romanticnarrative of Corinna, concerning his father's prediction, alreadymentioned. It contains, like her account of the funeral of the poet, much positive falsehood, and gross improbability, with some slightscantling of foundation in fact. 

John Dryden, the poet's second son, was born in 1667, or 1668, wasadmitted a King's Scholar in Westminster in 1682, and elected to Oxfordin 1685. Here he became a private pupil of the celebrated ObadiahWalker, Master of University College, a Roman Catholic. It seemsprobable that young Dryden became a convert to that faith before hisfather. His religion making it impossible for him to succeed in England, he followed his brother Charles to Rome, where he officiated as hisdeputy in the Pope's household. John Dryden translated the fourteenthSatire of Juvenal, published in his father's version, and wrote a comedyentitled, "The Husband his own Cuckold, " acted in Lincoln's Inn Fieldsin 1696; Dryden, the father, furnishing a prologue, and Congreve anepilogue. In 1700-1, he made a tour through Sicily and Malta, and hisjournal was published in 1706. It seems odd, that in the whole course ofhis journal, he never mentions his father's name, nor makes the leastallusion to his very recent death. John Dryden, the younger, died atRome soon after this excursion. 

Erasmus Henry, Dryden's third son, was born 2d May 1669, and educated inthe Charterhouse, to which he was nominated by Charles II. , shortlyafter the publication of "Absalom and Achitophel. "[77] He does notappear to have been at any university; probably his religion was theobstacle. Like his brothers, he went to Rome; and as both his father andmother request his prayers, we are to suppose he was originally destinedfor the Church. But he became a Captain in the Pope's guards, andremained at Rome till John Dryden, his elder brother's death. After thisevent, he seems to have returned to England, and in 1708 succeeded tothe title of Baronet, as representative of Sir Erasmus Driden. Theauthor's grandfather. But the estate of Canons-Ashby, which should haveaccompanied the title, had been devised by Sir Robert Driden, the poet'sfirst cousin, to Edward Dryden, the eldest son of Erasmus, the youngerbrother of the poet. Thus, if the author had lived a few years longer, his pecuniary embarrassments would have been embittered by hissucceeding to the honours of his family, without any means of sustainingthe rank they gave him. With this Edward Dryden, Sir Erasmus Henry seemsto have resided until his death, which took place at the family mansionof Canons-Ashby in 1710. Edward acted as a manager of his cousin'saffairs; and Mr. Malone sees reason to think, from their mode ofaccounting, that Sir Erasmus Henry had, like his mother, been visitedwith mental derangement before his death, and had resigned into Edward'shands the whole management of his concerns. Thus ended the poet'sfamily, none of his sons surviving him above ten years. The estate ofCanons-Ashby became again united to the title, in the person of JohnDryden, the surviving brother. [78]

FOOTNOTES

[1] Such, I understand, is the general purport of some letters ofDryden's, in possession of the Dorset family, which contain certainparticulars rendering them unfit for publication. Our author himselfcommemorates Dorset's generosity in the Essay on Satire, in thefollowing affecting passage: "Though I must ever acknowledge to thehonour of your lordship, and the eternal memory of your charity, thatsince this Revolution, wherein I have patiently suffered the ruin of mysmall fortune, and the loss of that poor subsistence which I had fromtwo kings, whom I had served more faithfully than profitably to myself--then your lordship was pleased, out of no other motive but your ownnobleness, without any desert of mine, or the least solicitation fromme, to make me a most bountiful present, which at that time, when I wasmost in want of it, came most seasonably and unexpectedly to my relief. That favour, my lord, is of itself sufficient to bind any grateful manto a perpetual acknowledgment, and to all the future service which oneof my mean condition can be ever able to perform. May the Almighty Godreturn it for me, both in blessing you here, and rewarding youhereafter!"--_Essay on Satire_, vol. Xiii. 

[2] So says Ward, in the London Spy. 

[3] "Dryden, though my near relation, " says Swift, "is one whom I haveoften blamed, as well as pitied. " Mr. Malone traces their consanguinityto Swift's grandmother, Elizabeth Dryden, being the daughter of abrother of Sir Erasmus Driden, the poet's grandfather; so that the Deanof St. Patrick's was the son of Dryden's second cousin, which, inScotland, would even yet be deemed a near relation. The passages inprose and verse, in which Swift reflects on Dryden, are various. Hementions, in his best poem, "The Rhapsody, "

 "The prefaces of Dryden, For these our cities much confide in, Though merely writ at first for filling, To raise the volume's price a shilling. "

He introduces Dryden in "The Battle of the Books, " with a mostirreverent description; and many of the brilliant touches in thefollowing assumed character of a hack author, are directed against ourpoet. The malignant allusions to merits, to sufferings, to changes ofopinion, to political controversies, and a peaceful consciences, cannotbe mistaken. The piece was probably composed _flagrante odio_, for itoccurs in the Introduction to "The Tale of a Tub, " which was writtenabout 1692. "These notices may serve to give the learned reader an idea, as well as taste, of what the whole work is likely to produce, wherein Ihave now altogether circumscribed my thoughts and my studies; and, if Ican bring it to a perfection before I die, I shall reckon I have wellemployed the poor remains of an unfortunate life. This indeed is morethan I can justly expect, from a quill worn to the pith in the serviceof the state, in _pros_ and _cons_ upon popish plots, and meal tubs, andexclusion bills, and passive obedience, and addresses of lives andfortunes, and prerogative, and property and liberty of conscience, andletters to a friend: from an understanding and a conscience, threadbareand ragged with perpetual turning; from a head broken in a hundredplaces by the malignants of the opposite factions; and from a body spentwith poxes ill cured, by trusting to bawds and surgeons, who, as itafterwards appeared, were professed enemies to me and the government, and revenged their party's quarrel upon my nose and shins. Fourscore andeleven pamphlets have I written under three reigns, and for the serviceof six and thirty factions. But finding the state has no fartheroccasion for me and my ink, I retire willingly to draw it out intospeculations more becoming a philosopher; having, to my unspeakablecomfort, passed a long life with a conscience void of offence. " [SeeAppendix, vol. Xviii. , art. "Dryden and Swift. "--ED. ]

[4] [The exact sentence seems to have been "a Pindaric poet. " But asSwift had tried nothing but Pindarics, it was nearly if not quite assevere as the more usually quoted and more sweeping verdict. --ED. ]

[5] Robert Gould, author of that scandalous lampoon against Dryden, entitled "The Laureat, " inscribes his collection of poems, printed1688-9, to the Earl of Abingdon; and it contains some pieces addressedto him and to his lady. He survived also to compose, on the Earl'sdeath, in 1700, "The Mourning Swan, " an eclogue to his memory, in whicha shepherd gives the following account of the proximate cause of thatevent:

 "_Menaleus_. To tell you true (whoe'er it may displease), He died of the _Physician_--a disease That long has reigned, and eager of renown, More than a plague depopulates the town. Inflamed with wine, and blasting at a breath, All its _prescriptions_ are receipts for death. Millions of mischiefs by its rage are wrought, Safe where 'tis fled, but barbarous where 'tis sought; A cursed ingrateful ill, that called to aid, Is still most fatal where it best is paid. "

[6] How far this was necessary, the reader may judge from Mirana, afuneral eclogue; sacred to the memory of that excellent lady, Eleonora, late Countess of Abingdon, 1691, 4th Aug. , which concludes with thefollowing singular _imprecation_:

 "Hear, friend, my sacred imprecation hear, And let both of us kneel, and both be bare. Doom me (ye powers) to misery and shame, Let mine be the most ignominious name, Let me, each day, be with new griefs perplext, Curst in this life, nor blessed in the next, If I believe the like of her survives, Or if I think her not the best of mothers, and of wives. "

[7] 30th August 1693, Dryden writes to Tonson, "I am sure you thought myLord Radclyffe would have done something; I guessed more truly, that hecould not. "--Vol. Xviii. The expression perhaps applies rather to hislordship's want of ability than inclination; and Dryden says indeed, inthe dedication, that it is in his nature to be an encourager of goodpoets, though fortune has not yet put into his hands the power ofexpressing it. In a letter to Mrs. Steward, Dryden speaks of Ratcliffeas a poet, "and none of the best. "--Vol. Xviii. 

[8] Vol. Xviii. 

[9] Copied from the Chandos picture. Kneller's copy is now at WentworthHouse, the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam. 

[10] The antiquary may now search in vain for this frail memorial; forthe house of Chesterton was, 1807, pulled down for the sake of thematerials. 

[11] The exact pecuniary arrangements for the Virgil are a matter ofmuch dispute, almost every biographer taking a different view. It seemsmost probable that the payment was fifty pounds per two books, not fiftyfor each. The point will be more fully discussed on the letters dealingwith the subject. --Ed. 

[12] This gave rise to a good epigram:

 "Old Jacob, by deep judgment swayed, To please the wise beholders, Has placed old Nassau's hook-nosed head On poor Aeneas' shoulders. 

 To make the parallel hold tack, Methinks there's little lacking; One took his father pick-a-pack, And t'other sent his packing. "

[13] "I am of your opinion, " says the poet to his son Charles, "that, byTonson's means, almost all our letters have miscarried for this lastyear. But, however, he has missed of his design in the dedication, though he had prepared the book for it; for, in every figure of Aeneas, he has caused him to be drawn, like King William, with a hooked nose. "Dryden hints to Tonson himself his suspicion of this unworthy device, desiring him to forward a letter to his son Charles, but not by post. "Being satisfied, that Ferrand will do by this as he did by two letterswhich I sent my sons, about my dedicating to the king, of which theyreceived neither. "--Vol. Xviii. 

[14] Johnson's "Life of Dryden. "

[15] [Professor Masson calculates, apparently on good grounds, thatSimmons probably made about five or six times what he paid. This, in notmuch more than a year, cannot be considered a bad trade return; but thesale price of "Paradise Lost" seems to provoke unfounded commonplacesfrom even the most unexpected sources. --ED. ]

[16] "I confess to have been somewhat liberal in the business of titles, having observed the humour of multiplying them, to bear great vogueamong certain writers, whom I exceedingly reverence. And indeed it seemsnot unreasonable that books, the children of the brain, should have thehonour to be christened with variety of names, as well as other infantsof quality. Our famous Dryden has ventured to proceed a point farther, endeavouring to introduce also a multiplicity of godfathers; which is animprovement of much more advantage, upon a very obvious account. It is apity this admirable invention has not been better cultivated, so as togrow by this time into general imitation, when such an authority servesit for a precedent. Nor have my endeavours been wanting to second souseful an example: but, it seems, there is an unhappy expense usuallyannexed to the calling of a godfather, which was clearly out of my head, as it is very reasonable to believe. Where the pinch lay, I cannotcertainly affirm; but, having employed a world of thoughts and pains tosplit my treatise into forty sections, and having entreated forty lordsof my acquaintance, that they would do me the honour to stand, they allmade it a matter of conscience, and sent me their excuses. "

[17] Besides the notes on Virgil, he wrote many single sermons, and ametrical version of the psalms, and died in 1720. 

[18] He is described as a rake in "The Pacificator, " a poem bought byMr. Luttrell, 15th Feb. 1699-1700, which gives an account of a supposedbattle between the men of wit and men of sense, as the poet calls them:

 "M----n, a renegade from wit, came on, And made a false attack, and next to none; The hypocrite, in sense, could not conceal What pride, and want of brains, obliged him to reveal. In him, the critic's ruined by the poet, And Virgil gives his testimony to it. The troops of wit were so enraged to see This priest invade his own fraternity, They sent a party out, by silence led, And, without answer, shot the turn-coat dead. The priest, the rake, the wit, strove all in vain, For there, alas! he lies among the slain. _Memento mori_; see the consequence, When rakes and wits set up for men of sense. "

[19] This, Mr. Malone has proved by the following extract from Motteux's"Gentleman's Journal. " "That best of poets (says Motteux) having so longcontinued a stranger to tolerable English, Mr. Milbourne pitied his hardfate; and seeing that several great men had undertaken some episodes ofhis Aeneis, without any design of Englishing the whole, he gave us thefirst book of it some years ago, with a design to go through the poem. It was the misfortune of that first attempt to appear just about thetime of the late Revolution, when few had leisure to mind such books;yet, though by reason of his absence, it was printed with a world offaults, those that are sufficient judges have done it the justice toesteem it a very successful attempt, and cannot but wish that he wouldcomplete the entire translation. "--_Gent. Journ. _ for August 1692. 

[20] See the Preface to "A Funeral Idyll, sacred to the glorious Memoryof King William III. , " by Mr. Oldmixon. 

"In the Idyll on the peace, I made the first essay to throw off rhymes, and the kind reception that poem met with, has encouraged me to attemptit again. I have not been persuaded by my friends to change the Idyllinto Idyllium; for having an English word set me by Mr. Dryden, which heuses indifferently with the Greek, I thought it might be as proper in anEnglish poem. I shall not be solicitous to justify myself to those whoexcept against his authority, till they produce me a better: I haveheard him blamed for his innovations and coining of words, even bypersons who have already been sufficiently guilty of the fault they layto his charge; and shown us what we are to expect from them, were theirnames as well settled as his. If I had qualifications enough to do itsuccessfully, I should advise them to write more naturally, delicately, and reasonably themselves, before they attack Mr. Dryden's reputation;and to think there is something more necessary to make a man write well, than the favour of the great, or the success of a faction. We have everyyear seen how fickle Fortune has been to her declared favourites; andmen of merit, as well as he who has none, have suffered by herinconstancy, as much as they got by her smiles. This should alarm suchas are eminently indebted to her, and may be of use to them in theirfuture reflections on others' productions, not to assume too much tothemselves from her partiality to them, lest, when they are left liketheir predecessor, it should only serve to render them the moreridiculous. "

[21] "Homer in a Nutshell, " (16th Feb. ) 1700-9, by Samuel Parker, Gent. 

"_Preface_. --Ever since I caught some termagant ones in a club, undervaluing our new translation of Virgil, I've known both what opinionI ought to harbour, and what use to make of them; and since theopportunity of a digression so luckily presents itself, I shall makebold to ask the gentlemen their sentiments of two or three lines (topass over a thousand other instances) which they may meet with in thatwork. The fourth Aeneid says of Dido, after certain effects of hertaking shelter with Aeneas in the cave appear, _Conjuijium vocat, hoc proetexit lomine culpam, _ V. 172, which Mr. Dryden renders thus:

 She called it marriage, by that specious name To veil the crime, and sanctify the shame. 

Nor had he before less happily rendered the 39th verse of the secondAeneid:

 _Scinditur in certum studia in contraria vulgus. _

 The giddy vulgar, as their fancies guide, With noise, say nothing, and in parts divide. 

"If these are the lines which they call flat and spiritless, I wish minecould be flat and spiritless too! And, therefore, to make short work, Ishall only beg Mr. Dryden's leave to congratulate him upon his admirableflatness, and dulness, in a rapture of poetical indignation:

 Then dares the poring critic snarl? And dare The[21a] puny brats of Momus threaten war? And can't the proud perverse Arachne's fate Deter the[21a] mongrels e'er it prove too late? In vain, alas! we warn the[21a] hardened brood; In vain expect they'll ever come to good. No: they'd conceive more venom if they could. But let each[21a] viper at his peril bite, While you defy the most ingenious spite. So Parian columns, raised with costly care, [21a] Vile snails and worms may daub, yet not impair, While the tough titles, and obdurate rhyme, Fatigue the busy grinders of old Time. Not but your Maro justly may complain, Since your translation ends his ancient reign, And but by your officious muse outvied, That vast immortal name had never died. 

"[21a] I desire these appellations may not seem to affect the partiesconcerned, any otherwise than as to their character of critics. "

[22] Preface to the Fables, vol. Xi. 

[23] See several extracts from these poems in the Appendix, vol. Xviii. , which I have thrown together to show how much Dryden was considered assovereign among the poets of the time. 

[24] This I learn from _Honori Sacellum_, a Funeral Poem, to the Memoryof William, Duke of Devonshire, 1707:

 "'Twas so, when the destroyer's dreadful dart Once pierced through ours, to fair Maria's heart. From his state-helm then some short hours he stole, T'indulge his melting eyes, and bleeding soul: Whilst his bent knees, to those remains divine, Paid their last offering to that royal shrine. "

On which lines occurs this explanatory note:--"An Ode, composed by HisGrace, on the death of the late Queen Mary, justly adjudged by theingenious Mr. Dryden to have exceeded all that had been written on thatoccasion. "

[25] Dr. Birch refers to the authority of Richard Graham, junior; but nosuch letter has been recovered. 

[26] The authority, however respectable, has a very long chain of links. Warton heard it from A, who heard it from B, who heard it from Pope, whoheard it from Bolingbroke. --Ed. 

[27] This discovery was made by the researches of Mr. Malone. Dr. Burneydescribes Clarke as excelling in the tender and plaintive, to which hewas prompted by a temperament of natural melancholy. In the agonieswhich arose from an unfortunate attachment, he committed suicide in July1707. See a full account of the catastrophe in Malone's "Life ofDryden, " p. 299. 

[28] It was first performed on February 19, 1735-6, at opera prices. "The public expectations and the effects of this representation (saysDr. Burney) seem to have been correspondent, for the next day we aretold in the public papers [London Daily Post, and General Advertiser, Feb. 20, ] that 'there never was, upon the like occasion, so numerous andsplendid an audience at any theatre in London, there being at leastthirteen hundred persons present; and it is judged that the receipts ofthe house could not amount to less than £450. It met with generalapplause, though attended with the inconvenience of having theperformers placed at too great a distance from the audience, which wehear will be rectified the next time of performance. "--_Hist. Of Music_, iv. 391. 

[29] See vol. Xviii. 

[30] "Thine be the laurel, then; thy blooming age Can best, if any can, support the stage, Which to declines, that shortly we may see Players and plays reduced to second infancy. Sharp to the world, but thoughtless of renown, They plot not on the stage, but on the town; And in despair their empty pit to fill, Set up some foreign monster in a bill: Thus they jog on, still tricking, never thriving, And murth'ring plays, which they miscall--reviving. Our sense is nonsense, through their pipes conveyed; Scarce can a poet know the play he made, 'Tis so disguised in death; nor thinks 'tis he That suffers in the mangled tragedy: Thus Itys first was killed, and after dressed For his own sire, the chief invited guest. "

This gave great offence to the players; one of whom (Powell) made apetulant retort, which the reader will find in a note upon the Epistleitself, vol. Xi. 

[31] Milbourne, in a note on that passage in the dedication to theAeneid--"_He who can write well in rhyme, may write better in blankverse_, " says, --"We shall know that, when we see how much betterDryden's Homer will be than his Virgil. "

[32] "Much the same character he gave of it (_i. E. _ Paradise Lost) toa north-country gentleman, to whom I mentioned the book, he being agreat reader, but not in a right train, coming to town seldom, andkeeping little company. Dryden amazed him with speaking so loftily ofit. 'Why, Mr. Dryden, says he (Sir W. L. Told me the thing himself), 'tisnot in rhyme. ' 'No, [replied Dryden;] _nor would I have done_ Virgil_in rhyme, if I was to begin it again. _'"--This conversation is supposedby Mr. Malone to have been held with Sir Wilfrid Lawson, of Isell inCumberland. 

[33] See a letter to Mrs. Thomas, vol. Xviii. 

[34] "Some of these poets, to excuse their guilt, allege for themselves, that the degeneracy of the age makes their lewd way of writingnecessary: they pretend the auditors will not be pleased, unless theyare thus entertained from the stage; and to please, they say, is thechief business of the poet. But this is by no means a just apology: itis not true, as was said before, that the poet's chief business is toplease. His chief business is to instruct, to make mankind wiser andbetter; and in order to this, his care should be to please and entertainthe audience with all the wit and art he is master of. Aristotle andHorace, and all their critics and commentators all men of wit and senseagree, that this is the end of poetry. But they say, it is theirprofession to write for the stage; and that poets must starve, if theywill not in this way humour the audience: the theatre will be asunfrequented as the churches, and the poet and the parson equallyneglected. Let the poet then abandon his profession, and take up somehonest lawful calling, where, joining industry to his great wit, he maysoon get above the complaints of poverty, so common among theseingenious men, and lie under no necessity of prostituting his wit to anysuch vile purposes as are here censured. This will-be a course of lifemore profitable and honourable to himself, and more useful to others. And there are among these writers _some, who think they might have risento the highest dignities in other professions, had they employed theirwit in those ways. _ It is a mighty dishonour and reproach to any manthat is capable of being useful to the world in any _liberal andvirtuous_ profession, _to lavish out his life and wit in propagatingvice and corruption of manners_, and in battering from the stage thestrongest entrenchments and best works of religion and virtue. Whoevermakes this his choice, when the other was in his power, may he go offthe stage unpitied, _complaining of neglect and poverty, the justpunishments of his irreligion and folly!_"

[35] Mr. Malone conceives, that the Fables were published before the"Satire upon Wit;" but he had not this evidence of the contrary beforehim. It is therefore clear, that Dryden endured a second attack fromBlackmore, before making any reply. 

[36] Since Scott wrote, the Collier-Congreve controversy has been thesubject of well-known essays by Lamb, Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, and Macaulay. Very recently a fresh and excellent account of Collier's book hasappeared in M. A. Beljame's _Le Public et les Hommes de Lettres enAngleterre au xviiième siecle_ (Paris: Hachette, 1881), a remarkablevolume, to which, and to its author, I owe much. --Ed. 

[37] In his apology for "The Tale of a Tub, " he points out to theresentment of the clergy, "those heavy illiterate scribblers, prostitutein their reputations, vicious in their lives, and ruined in theirfortunes, who, to the shame of good sense, as well as piety, aregreedily read, merely upon the strength of bold, false, impiousassertions, mixed with unmannerly reflections on the priesthood. " And, after no great interval, he mentions the passage quoted, p. 375 "inwhich Dryden, L'Estrange, and some others I shall not name, are levelledat; who, having spent their lives in faction, and apostasies, and allmanner of vice, pretended to be sufferers for loyalty and religion. SoDryden tells us, in one of his prefaces, of his merits and sufferings, and thanks God that he possesses his soul in patience. In other placeshe talks at the same rate. "

[38] Vol. Xviii. 

[39] Thus in a lampoon already quoted (footnote 29, Section VI)

 "Quitting my duller hopes, the poor renown Of Eton College, or a Dublin gown. "

 Tom Brown makes the charge more directly. "But, prithee, why so severealways on the priesthood, Mr. Bayes? What have they merited to pull downyour indignation? I thought the ridiculing men of that character uponthe stage, was by this time a topic as much worn out with you, as loveand honour in the play, or good fulsome flattery in the dedication. Butyou, I find, still continue your old humour, to date from the year ofHegira, the loss of Eton, or since orders were refused you. Whateverhangs out, either black or green colours is presently your prize: andyou would, by your good will, be as mortifying a vexation to the wholetribe, as an unbegetting year, a concatenation of briefs, or a voraciousvisitor; so that I am of opinion, you had much better have written inyour title-page, Manet alta mente repostum Judicium _Cleri_, spretaeque injuria _Musoe_. "

The same reproach is urged by Settle. See vol. Ix. 

[40] Vol. Xviii. [The _Diary_ had not been deciphered when Scott wrote. --ED. ]

[41] There was, to be sure, in the provoking scruples of that rigidsect, something peculiarly tempting to a satirist. How is it possible toforgive Baxter, for the affectation with which he records the enormitiesof his childhood?

"Though my conscience, " says he, "would trouble me when I sinned, yetdivers sins I was addicted to, and oft committed against my conscience, which, for the warning of others, I will here confess to my shame. I wasmuch addicted to the _excessive gluttonous eating of apples and pears_, which I think laid the foundation of the imbecility and flatulency of mystomach, which caused the bodily calamities of my life. To this end, andto concur with naughty boys that gloried in evil, I have oft gone intoother men's orchards, and stolen the fruit, when I had enough at home. "There are six other retractions of similar enormities, when heconcludes: "These were my sins in my childhood, as to which, consciencetroubled me for a great while before they were overcome. " Baxter was apious and worthy man; but can any one read this confession withoutthinking of Tartuffe, who subjected himself to penance for killing aflea, with too much anger?

[42] See vol. Xviii. Mr. Malone thinks tradition has confounded apresent made to the poet himself probably of £100, with a legacybequeathed to his son Charles, which last did amount to £500, but whichCharles lived not to receive. 

[43] She is distinguished for beauty and virtue, by the author of "TheCourt at Kensington. " 1699-1700. 

 "So Ormond's graceful mien attracts all eyes, And nature needs not ask from art supplies; An heir of grandeur shines through every part, And in her beauteous form is placed the noblest heart: In vain mankind adore, unless she were By Heaven made less virtuous, or less fair. "

[44] Gildon, in his "Comparison between the Stages. "--"Nay then, " saysthe whole party at Drury-lane, "we'll even put 'The Pilgrim' upon him. ""Ay, 'faith, so we will, " says Dryden: "and if you'll let my son havethe profits of the third night, I'll give you a Secular Masque. " "Done, "says the House; and so the bargain was struck. 

[45] _i. E. _ Upon the 25th March 1700; it being supposed (as by many inour own time) that the century was concluded so soon as the hundredthyear commenced; as if a play was ended at the _beginning of the fifthact. _

[46] It was again set by Dr. Boyce, and in 1749 performed in theDrury-lane theatre, with great success. 

[47] By a letter to Mrs. Steward, dated the 11th April 1700, it appearsthey were then only in his contemplation, and the poet died upon thefirst of the succeeding month. Vol. Xviii. 

[48] "Quick Maurus, though he never took degrees In either of our universities, Yet to be shown by Rome kind wit he looks, Because he played the fool, and writ three books. But if he would be worth a poet's pen, He must be more a fool, and write again: For all the former fustian stuff he wrote Was dead-born doggrel, or is quite forgot; His man of Uz, stript of his Hebrew robe, Is just the proverb, and 'As poor as Job. ' One would have thought he could no longer jog; But Arthur was a level, Job's a bog. _There_ though he crept, yet still he kept in sight; But _here_ he founders in, and sinks downright. Had he prepared us, and been dull by rule, Tobit had first been turned to ridicule; But our bold Briton, without fear or awe, O'erleaps at once the whole Apocrypha; Invades the Psalms with rhymes, and leaves no room For any Vandal Hopkins yet to come. But when, if, after all, this godly gear Is not so senseless as it would appear, Our mountebank has laid a deeper train; His cant, like Merry Andrew's noble vein, Cat-calls the sects to draw them in again. At leisure hours in epic song he deals, Writes to the rumbling of his coach's wheels; Prescribes in haste, and seldom kills by rule, But rides triumphant between stool and stool. Well, let him go, --'tis yet too early day To get himself a place in farce or play; We know not by what name we should arraign him, For no one category can contain him. A pedant, --canting preacher, --and a quack, Are load enough to break an ass's back. At last, grown wanton, he presumed to write, Traduced two kings, their kindness to requite; One made the doctor, and one dubbed the knight. "

[49] One of these well-meaning persons insulted the ashes of Drydenwhile they were still warm, in "An Epistle to Sir Richard Blackmore, occasioned by the New Session of the Poets. " Marked by Mr. Luttrell, 1stNovember 1700. 

 "His mighty Dryden to the shades is gone, And Congreve leaves successor of his throne: Though long before his final exit hence, He was himself an abdicated Prince; Disrobed of all regalities of state, Drawn by a hind and panther from his seat. Heir to his plays, his fables, and his tales, Congreve is the poetic prince of Wales; Not at St. Germains, but at Will's, his court, Whither the subjects of his dad resort; Where plots are hatched, and councils yet unknown, How young Ascanius may ascend the throne, That in despite of all the Muses' laws, He may revenge his injured father's cause, Go, nauseous rhymers, into darkness go, And view your monarch in the shades below, Who takes not now from Helicon his drink, But sips from Styx a liquor black as ink; Like Sisyphus a restless stone he turns, And in a pile of his own labours burns; Whose curling flames most ghastly fiends do raise, Supplied with fuel from his impious plays; And when he fain would puff away the flame, One stops his mouth with bawdy Limberham; There, to augment the terrors of the place, His Hind and Panther stare him in the face; They grin like devils at the cursed toad, Who made [them] draw on earth so vile a load. Could some infernal painter draw the sight, And once transmit it to the realms of light, It might our poets from their sins affright; Or could they hear, how there the sons of verse In dismal yells their tortures do express; How scorched with ballads on the Stygian shore, They horrors in a dismal chorus roar; Or see how the laureate does his grandeur bear, Crowned with a wreath of flaming sulphur there. This, sir, 's your fate, cursed critics you oppose, The most tyrannical and cruel foes; Dryden, their huntsman dead, no more he wounds, But now you must engage his pack of hounds. "

[50] According to Ward, his expressions were, "that he was an old man, and had not long to live by course of nature, and therefore did not careto part with one limb, at such an age, to preserve an uncomfortable lifeon the rest. "--_London Spy_, Part xviii. 

[51] "I come now from Mr. Dryden's funeral, where we had an Ode inHorace sung, instead of David's Psalms; whence you may find, that wedon't think a poet worth Christian burial. The pomp of the ceremony wasa kind of rhapsody, and fitter, I think, for Hudibras, than him; becausethe cavalcade was mostly burlesque: but he was an extraordinary man, andburied after an extraordinary fashion; for I do believe there was neversuch another burial seen. The oration, indeed, was great and ingenious, worthy the subject, and like the author; whose prescriptions can restorethe living, and his pen embalm the dead. And so much for Mr. Dryden;whose burial was the same as his life, --variety, and not of a piece:--the quality and mob, farce and heroics; the sublime and ridicule mixedin a piece;--great Cleopatra in a hackney coach. "

[52] Those who wish to peruse this memorable romance may find it in vol. Xviii. It was first published in Wilson's "Life of Congreve, " 1730. Mr. Malone has successfully shown that it is false in almost all its parts;for, independently of the extreme improbability of the whole story, itis clear, from Ward's account, written at the time, that Lord Jefferies, who it is pretended interrupted the funeral, did, in fact, largelycontribute to it. This also appears from a paragraph, in a letter fromDoctor afterwards Bishop Tanner, dated May 6th, 1700, and thus given byMr. Malone:--"Mr. Dryden died a papist, if at all a Christian. Mr. Montague had given orders to bury him; but some lords (my Lord Dorset, Jefferies, etc. ), thinking it would not be splendid enough, ordered himto be carried to Russel's: there he was embalmed; and now lies in stateat the Physicians' College, and is to be buried with Chaucer, Cowley, etc. , at Westminster Abbey, on Monday next. "--_MSS. Ballard. In Bibl. Bodl. _ vol. Iv. P. 29. 

[53] The following lines are given by Mr. Malone as a specimen:--

 "Before the hearse the mourning hautboys go, And screech a dismal sound of grief and woe: More dismal notes from bog-trotters may fall, More dismal plaints at Irish funeral; But no such floods of tears e'er stopped our tide, Since Charles, the martyr and the monarch, died. The decency and order first describe, Without regard to either sex or tribe. The sable coaches led the dismal van, But by their side, I think, few footmen ran; Nor needed these; the rabble fill the streets, And mob with mob in great disorder meets. See next the coaches, how they are accouter'd, Both in the inside, eke and on the outward: One p----y spark, one sound as any roach, One poet and two fiddlers in a coach: The playhouse drab, that beats the beggar's bush, * * * * * By everybody kissed, good truth, --but such is Now her good fate, to ride with mistress Duchess. Was e'er immortal poet thus buffooned! In a long line of coaches thus lampooned!"

[54] [Transcriber's note: "Page 73" in original. See Footnote 14, Section II. ]

[55] [Transcriber's note: "'Poet Squab, ' p. 215" in original. SeeFootnote 14, Section V. ]

[56] From "Epigrams on the Paintings of the most eminent Masters, " byJ. E. (John Elsum), Esq. , 8vo, 1700, Mr. Malone gives the followinglines:--

 The Effigies of Mr. Dryden, by Closterman, _Epig_. Clxiv. 

 "A sleepy eye he shows, and no sweet feature, Yet was indeed a favourite of nature: Endowed and graced with an exalted mind, With store of wit, and that of every kind. Juvenal's tartness, Horace's sweet air, With Virgil's force, in him concentered were. But though the painter's art can never show it, That his exemplar was so great a poet, Yet are the lines and tints so subtly wrought, You may perceive he was a man of thought. Closterman, 'tis confessed, has drawn him well, But short of Absalom and Achitophel. "

[57] [Transcriber's note: "See pages 258-261" in original. Thiscorresponds to the discussion on Dryden's conversion to Catholicism, Section VI. ]

[58] A correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine, in 1745, alreadyquoted, says of him as a personal acquaintance: "Posterity is absolutelymistaken as to that great man: though forced to be a satirist, he wasthe mildest creature breathing, and the readiest to help the young anddeserving. Though his comedies are horribly full of _double entendre_, yet 'twas owing to a false complaisance. He was, in company, themodestest man that ever conversed. "

[59] Letter to the author of "Reflections Historical and Political. "4to, 1732. 

[60] See vol. Xi. ; vol. Xviii. From the poem in the passage last quoted, it seems that the original sign of Will's Coffee-house had been a _cow. _It was changed however, to a _rose_, in Dryden's time. This wit'scoffeehouse was situated at the end of Bow-street, on the north side ofRussel-street, and frequented by all who made any pretence toliterature, or criticism. Their company, it would seem, was attendedwith more honour than profit; for Dennis describes William Envin, orUrwin, who kept the house, as taking refuge in White-friars, then aplace of asylum, to escape the clutches of his creditors. "For since thelaw, " says the critic, "thought it just to put Will out of itsprotection, Will thought it but prudent to put himself out of itspower. "

[61] See Appendix, vol. Xviii. ; vol. Xi. 

[62] The Dean of Peterborough. "I was, " says he, "about seventeen, whenI first came to town; an odd-looking boy, with short rough hair, andthat sort of awkwardness which one always brings out of the country withone: however, in spite of my bashfulness and appearance, I used now andthen to thrust myself into Will's, to have the pleasure of seeing themost celebrated wits of that time, who used to resort thither. Thesecond time that ever I was there, Mr. Dryden was speaking of his ownthings, as he frequently did, especially of such as had been latelypublished. If anything of mine is good (says he), 'tis my Mac-Flecknoe;and I value myself the more on it, because it is the first piece ofridicule written in heroics. ' Lockier overhearing this, plucked up hisspirit so far, as to say, in a voice just loud enough to be heard, thatMac-Flecknoe was a very fine poem, but that he had not imagined it to bethe first that ever was wrote that way. On this Dryden turned short uponhim, as surprised at his interposing; asked him how long he had been adealer in poetry; and added, with a smile, --'But pray, sir, what is it, that you did imagine to have been writ so before?' Lockier namedBoileau's Lutrin, and Tassoni's Secchia Rapita; which he had read, andknew Dryden had borrowed some strokes from each. ''Tis true, ' saysDryden;--'I had forgot them. ' A little after, Dryden went out, and ingoing spoke to Lockier again, and desired him to come to him the nextday. Lockier was highly delighted with the invitation, and was wellacquainted with him as long as he lived. "--MALONE, vol. I. P. 481. 

[63] "I have often heard, " says Mr. George Russell, "that Mr. Dryden, dissatisfied and envious at the reputation Creech obtained by histranslation of Lucretius, purposely advised him to undertake Horace, towhich he knew him unequal, that he might by his ill performance lose thefame he had acquired. Mr. Southerne, author of 'Oroonoko, ' set me rightas to the conduct of Mr. Dryden in this affair; affirming that, beingone evening at Mr. Dryden's lodgings, in company with Mr. Creech, andsome other ingenious men, Mr. Creech told the company of his design totranslate Horace; from which Mr. Dryden, with many arguments, dissuadedhim, as an attempt which his genius was not adapted to, and which wouldrisk his losing the good opinion the world had of him, by his successfultranslation of Lucretius. I thought it proper to acquaint you with thiscircumstance, since it rescues the fame of one of our greatest poetsfrom the imputation of envy and malevolence. " See also, upon thissubject, a note in vol. Viii. Yet Jacob Tonson told Spence, "that Drydenwould compliment Crowne when a play of his failed, but was cold to himif he met with success. He used sometimes to say, that Crowne had somegenius; but then he always added, that his father and Crowne's motherwere very well acquainted. "--MALONE, vol. I. P. 500. 

[64] His conversation is thus characterised by a contemporary writer:

"O, Sir, there's a medium in all things. Silence and chat are distantenough, to have a convenient discourse come between them; and thus far Iagree with you, that the company of the author of 'Absalom andAchitophel' is more valuable, though not so talkative, than that of themodern men of _banter_; for what he says is like what he writes, much tothe purpose, and full of mighty sense; and if the town were for anythingdesirable, it were for the conversation of him, and one or two more ofthe same character. "--_The Humours and Conversation of the Town exposed, in two Dialogues_, 1693, p. 73

[65] [This story is probably as old as the first married pair of whomthe husband was studious. It certainly appears without names in the_Historiettes_ of Tallemant des Réaux, most of which were written fiveyears before Dryden's marriage. --ED]

[66] "When Dryden, our first great master of verse and harmony, broughthis play of 'Amphitryon' to the stage, I heard him give it his firstreading to the actors; in which, though it is true he delivered theplain sense of every period, yet the whole was in so cold, so flat, andunaffecting a manner, that I am afraid of not being believed, when Iaffirm it. "--_Cibber's Apology_, 4to. 

[67] [Transcriber's note: "See page 112" in original. This is to befound in Section III. ]

[68] Vol. Xviii. 

[69] "I find (says Gildon) Mr. Bayes, the younger [Rowe], has twoqualities, like Mr. Bayes, the elder; his admiration of some odd books, as 'Reynard the Fox, ' and the old ballads of 'Jane Shore, ' etc. "--_Remarks on Mr. Rome's Plays_. "Reynard the Fox" is also mentioned in"The Town and Country Mouse, " as a favourite book of Dryden. AndAddison, in the 85th number of the Spectator, informs us, that Dorsetand Dryden delighted in perusing the collection of old ballads which thelatter possessed. 

[70] Vol. Xviii. 

[71] It is now No. 43. 

[72] Vol. Vii. 

[73] [The unfavourable accounts of Lady Elizabeth's temper aftermarriage are not much better founded than those of her maidenly orunmaidenly conduct before it. Dryden's supposed to almost all hiscontemporaries in _belles-lettres_. There is no sign in his letters ofany conjugal unhappiness, and Malone's "respectable authority" is familygossip a century after date. --ED. ]

[74] [Transcriber's note: "P. 85" in original. This is to be found inSection II. ]

[75] These are--1. Latin verses prefixed to Lord Roscommon's Essay onTranslated Verse. 2. Latin verses on the Death of Charles II. , publishedin the Cambridge collection of Elegies on that occasion. 3. A poem inthe same language, upon Lord Arlington's Gardens, published in theSecond Miscellany. 4. A translation of the seventh Satire of Juvenal, mentioned in the text. 5. An English poem, on the Happiness of a RetiredLife. 6. A pretty song, printed by Mr. Malone, to which Charles Drydenalso composed music. 

[76] The prologue was spoken by the ghosts of Shakespeare and Dryden;from which Mr. Malone selects the following curious quotation:--"Mr. Bevil Higgons, the writer of it, _ventured_ to make the representativeof our great dramatic poet speak these lines!--

 "These scenes in their rough native dress were mine; _But now, improved, with nobler lustre shine_ The first rude sketches Shakespeare's pencil drew, _But all the shining master strokes are new. _ This play, ye critics, shall your fury stand, Adorned and rescued by a faultless hand. "

To which our author replies, "I long endeavoured to support the stage, With the faint copies of thy nobler rage, But toiled in vain for an ungenerous age. They starved me living, nay, denied me fame, And scarce, now dead, do justice to my name. Would you repent? Be to my ashes kind; Indulge the pledges I have left behind. "--MALONE. 

[77] [Transcriber's note: "Page 206, and vol. Ix. " in original. This isto be found in Section V. ]

[78] Mr. Malone says, "Edward Dryden, the eldest son of the last SirErasmus Dryden, left by his wife, Elizabeth Allen, who died in London in1761, five sons; the youngest of whom, Bevil, was father of the presentLady Dryden. Sir John, the eldest, survived all his brothers, and diedwithout issue, at Canons-Ashby, March 20, 1770. " [The subsequent historyof the family is as follows:--Elizabeth Dryden, the "present LadyDryden" referred to by Scott, married Mr. John Turner, to whom shecarried the estates. Mr. Turner assumed the name and arms of Dryden in1791, and was created a baronet four years later. The title and propertypassed successively to his two sons, and then to the son of the younger, the present Sir Henry Dryden, a distinguished archaeologist. --ED. ]

SECTION VIII. 

_The State of Dryden's Reputation at his Death, and afterwards--TheGeneral Character of his Mind--His Merit as a Dramatist--As a LyricalPoet---As a Satirist--As a Narrative Poet--As a Philosophical andMiscellaneous Poet--As a Translator--As a Prose Author--As a Critic. _

If Dryden received but a slender share of the gifts of fortune, it wasamply made up to him in reputation. Even while a poet militant uponearth, he received no ordinary portion of that applause, which is toooften reserved for the "dull cold ear of death. " He combated, it istrue, but he conquered; and, in despite of faction, civil and religious, of penury, and the contempt which follows it, of degrading patronage, and rejected solicitation, from 1666 to the year of his death, the nameof Dryden was first in English literature. Nor was his fame limited toBritain. Of the French literati, although Boileau, [1] with unworthyaffectation, when he heard of the honours paid to the poet's remains, pretended ignorance even of his name, yet Rapin, the famous critic, learned the English language on purpose to read the works of Dryden. [2]Sir John Shadwell, the son of our author's ancient adversary, bore anhonourable and manly testimony to the general regret among the men ofletters at Paris for the death of Dryden. "The men of letters herelament the loss of Mr. Dryden very much. The honours paid to him havedone our countrymen no small service; for, next to having soconsiderable a man of our own growth, 'tis a reputation to have knownhow to value him; as patrons very often pass for wits, by esteemingthose that are so. " And from another authority we learn, that theengraved copies of Dryden's portrait were bought up with avidity on theContinent. [3]

But it was in England where the loss of Dryden was chiefly to be felt. It is seldom the extent of such a deprivation is understood, till it hastaken place; as the size of an object is best estimated, when we see thespace void which it had long occupied. The men of literature, startingas it were from a dream, began to heap commemorations, panegyrics, andelegies: the great were as much astonished at their own neglect of suchan object of bounty, as if the same had never been practised before; andexpressed as much compunction, as it were never to occur again. Thepoets were not silent; but their strains only evinced their wofuldegeneracy from him whom they mourned. Henry Playford, a publisher ofmusic, collected their effusions into a compilation, entitled, "LuctusBritannici, or the Tears of the British Muses, for the death of JohnDryden;" which he published about two months after Dryden's death. [4]Nine ladies, assuming each the character of a Muse, and clubbing afuneral ode, or elegy, produced "The Nine Muses;" of which very rare(and very worthless) collection, I have given a short account in theAppendix; where the reader will also find an ode on the same subject, byOldys, which may serve for ample specimen of the poetical lamentationsover Dryden. 

The more costly, though equally unsubstantial, honour of a monument, wasprojected by Montague; and loud were the acclamations of the poets onhis generous forgiveness of past discords with Dryden, and themunificence of this universal patron. But Montague never accomplishedhis purpose, if he seriously entertained it. Pelham, Duke of Newcastle, announced the same intention; received the panegyric of Congreve forhaving done so; and having thus pocketed the applause, proceeded nofurther than Montague had done. At length Pope, in some lines which wererather an epitaph on Dryden, who lay in the vicinity, than on Rowe, overwhose tomb they were to be placed, [5] roused Dryden's original patron, Sheffield, formerly Earl of Mulgrave, and now Duke of Buckingham, toerect over the grave of his friend the present simple monument whichdistinguishes it. The inscription was comprised in the followingwords:--_J. Dryden. Natus 1632. Mortuus I Maii 1700. Joannes Sheffield, Duxx Buckinghamiensis posuit, 1720_. [6]

In the school of reformed English poetry, of which Dryden must beacknowledged as the founder, there soon arose disciples not unwilling tobe considered as the rivals of their muster. Addison had his partisans, who were desirous to hold him up in this point of view; and he himselfis said to have taken pleasure, with the assistance of Steele, todepreciate Dryden, whose fame was defended by Pope and Congreve. Noserious invasion of Dryden's pre-eminence can be said, however, to havetaken place, till Pope himself, refining upon that structure ofversification which our author had first introduced, and attending withsedulous diligence to improve every passage to the highest pitch ofpoint and harmony, exhibited a new style of composition, and claimed atleast to share with Dryden the sovereignty of Parnassus. I will notattempt to concentrate what Johnson has said upon this interestingcomparison:--

"In acquired knowledge, the superiority must be allowed to Dryden, whoseeducation was more scholastic, and who, before he became an author, hadbeen allowed more time for study, with better means of information. Hismind has a larger range, and he collects his images and illustrationsfrom a more extensive circumference of science. Dryden knew more of manin his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions ofDryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, and those of Pope byminute attention. There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dryden, andmore certainty in that of Pope. 

"Poetry was not the sole praise of either; for both excelled likewise inprose; but Pope did not borrow his prose from his predecessor. The styleof Dryden is capricious and varied, that of Pope is cautious anduniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind, Pope constrains hismind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement andrapid; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. Dryden's page is anatural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the variedexuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven bythe scythe, and levelled by the roller. 

"Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality, withoutwhich judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy, whichcollects, combines, amplifies, and animates; the superiority must, withsome hesitation, be allowed to Dryden. It is not to be inferred, that ofthis poetical vigour Pope had only a little, because Dryden had more;for every other writer, since Milton, must give place to Pope: and evenof Dryden it must be said, that if he has brighter paragraphs, he hasnot better poems. Dryden's performances were always hasty, eitherexcited by some external occasion, or extorted by domestic necessity; hecomposed without consideration, and published without correction. Whathis mind could supply at call, or gather in one excursion, was all thathe sought, and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabledhim to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and toaccumulate all that study might produce, or chance might supply. If theflights of Dryden, therefore, are higher, Pope continues longer on thewing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope the heat ismore regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Popenever falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, andPope with perpetual delight. "[7]

As the eighteenth century advanced, the difference between the styles ofthese celebrated authors became yet more manifest. It was then obvious, that though Pope's felicity of expression, his beautiful polish ofsentiment, and the occasional brilliancy of his wit, were not easilyimitated, yet many authors, by dint of a good ear, and a fluentexpression, learned to command the unaltered sweetness of his melody, which, like a favourite tune, when descended to hawkers andballad-singers, became disgusting as it became common. The admirers ofpoetry then reverted to the brave negligence of Dryden's versification, as, to use Johnson's simile, the eye, fatigued with the uniformity of alawn, seeks variety in the uncultivated glade or swelling mountain. Thepreference for which Dennis, asserting the cause of Dryden, had ravedand thundered in vain, began, by degrees, to be assigned to the elderbard; and many a poet sheltered his harsh verses and inequalities underan assertion that he belonged to the school of Dryden. Churchill--

 "Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind, "--

Churchill was one of the first to seek in the "Mac-Flecknoe, " the"Absalom, " and "The Hind and Panther, " authority for bitter and personalsarcasm, couched in masculine, though irregular versification, dashedfrom the pen without revision, and admitting occasional rude and flatpassages, to afford the author a spring to comparative elevation. Butimitation always approaches to caricature; and the powers of Churchillhave been unable to protect him from the oblivion into which his poemsare daily sinking, owing to the ephemeral interest of politicalsubjects, and his indolent negligence of severe study and regularity. Toimitate Dryden, it were well to study his merits, without venturing toadopt the negligences and harshness, which the hurry of his composition, and the comparative rudeness of his age, rendered in him excusable. Atleast, those who venture to sink as low, should be confident of thepower of soaring as high; for surely it is a rash attempt to dive, unless in one conscious of ability to swim. While the beauties of Drydenmay be fairly pointed out as an object of emulation, it is the lesspleasing, but not less necessary, duty of his biographer and editor, tonotice those deficiencies, which his high and venerable name may excuse, but cannot render proper objects of applause or imitation. 

So much occasional criticism has been scattered in various placesthrough these volumes, that, while attempting the consideration of oneor two of his distinguishing and pre-eminent compositions, which havebeen intentionally reserved to illustrate a few pages of generalcriticism, I feel myself free from the difficult, and almostcontradictory task, of drawing my maxims and examples from the extendedcourse of his literary career. 

My present task is limited to deducing his poetic character from thoseworks which he formed on his last and most approved model. The generaltone of his genius, however, influenced the whole course of hispublications; and upon that, however his taste, a few preliminarynotices may not be misplaced. 

The distinguishing characteristic of Dryden's genius seems to have beenthe power of reasoning, and of expressing the result in appropriatelanguage. [8] This may seem slender praise; yet these were the talentsthat led Bacon into the recesses of philosophy, and conducted Newton tothe cabinet of nature. The prose works of Dryden bear repeated evidenceto his philosophical powers. His philosophy was not indeed of a formedand systematic character; for he is often contented to leave the path ofargument which must have conducted him to the fountain of truth, and toresort with indolence or indifference to the leaky cisterns which hadbeen hewn out by former critics. But where his pride or his taste areinterested, he shows evidently, that it was not want of the power ofsystematising, but of the time and patience necessary to form a system, which occasions the discrepancy that we often notice in his critical andphilological disquisitions. This power of ratiocination, ofinvestigating, discovering, and appreciating that which is reallyexcellent, if accompanied with the necessary command of fancifulillustration, and elegant expression, is the most interesting qualitywhich can be possessed by a poet. It must indeed have a share in thecomposition of everything that is truly estimable in the fine arts, aswell as in philosophy. Nothing is so easily attained as the power ofpresenting the extrinsic qualities of fine painting, fine music, or finepoetry; the beauty of colour and outline, the combination of notes, themelody of versification, may be imitated by artists of mediocrity; andmany will view, hear, or peruse their performances, without being ablepositively to discover why they should not, since composed according toall the rules, afford pleasure equal to those of Raphael, Handel, orDryden. The deficiency lies in the vivifying spirit, which, like_alcohol_, may be reduced to the same principle in all, though itassumes such varied qualities from the mode in which it is exerted orcombined. Of this power of intellect, Dryden seems to have possessedalmost an exuberant share, combined, as usual, with the faculty ofcorrecting his own conceptions, by observing human nature, the practicaland experimental philosophy as well of poetry as of ethics or physics. The early habits of Dryden's education and poetical studies gave hisresearches somewhat too much of a metaphysical character; and it was aconsequence of his mental acuteness, that his dramatic personages oftenphilosophised or reasoned, when they ought only to have felt. The morelofty, the fiercer, the more ambitious feelings, seem also to have beenhis favourite studies. Perhaps the analytical mode in which he exercisedhis studies of human life tended to confine his observation to the moreenergetic feelings of pride, anger, ambition, and other high-tonedpassions. He that mixes in public life must see enough of these stormyconvulsions; but the finer and more imperceptible operations of love, inits sentimental modifications, if the heart of the author does notsupply an example from its own feelings, cannot easily be studied at theexpense of others. Dryden's bosom, it must be owned, seems to haveafforded him no such means of information; the licence of his age, andperhaps the advanced period at which he commenced his literary career, had probably armed him against this more exalted strain of passion. Thelove of the senses he has in many places expressed, in as forcible anddignified colouring as the subject could admit; but of a mere moral andsentimental passion he seems to have had little idea, since hefrequently substitutes in its place the absurd, unnatural, andfictitious refinements of romance. In short, his love is always inindecorous nakedness, or sheathed in the stiff panoply of chivalry. Butif Dryden fails in expressing the milder and more tender passions, notonly did the stronger feelings of the heart, in all its dark or violentworkings, but the face of natural objects, and their operation upon thehuman mind, pass promptly in review at his command. External pictures, and their corresponding influence on the spectator, are equally ready athis summons; and though his poetry, from the nature of his subjects, isin general rather ethic and didactic, than narrative of composition, than his figures and his landscapes are presented to the mind with thesame vivacity as the flow of his reasoning, or the acute metaphysicaldiscrimination of his characters. 

But the powers of observation and of deduction are not the onlyqualities essential to the poetical character. The philosopher mayindeed prosecute his experimental researches into the _arcana_ ofnature, and announce them to the public through the medium of a friendly_rédacteur_, as the legislator of Israel obtained permission to speak tothe people by the voice of Aaron; but the poet has no such privilege;nay, his doom is so far capricious, that, though he may be possessed ofthe primary quality of poetical conception to the highest possibleextent, it is but like a lute without its strings, unless he has thesubordinate, though equally essential, power of expressing what he feelsand conceives, in appropriate and harmonious language. With this powerDryden's poetry was gifted in a degree, surpassing in modulated harmonythat of all who had preceded him, and inferior to none that has sincewritten English verse. He first showed that the English language wascapable of uniting smoothness and strength. The hobbling verses of hispredecessors were abandoned even by the lowest versifiers; and by theforce of his precept and example, the meanest lampooners of the yearseventeen hundred wrote smoother lines than Donne and Cowley, the chiefpoets of the earlier half of the seventeenth century. What was said ofRome adorned by Augustus, has been, by Johnson, applied to Englishpoetry improved by Dryden; that he found it of brick, and left it ofmarble. This reformation was not merely the effect of an excellent ear, and a superlative command of gratifying it by sounding language; it was, we have seen, the effect of close, accurate, and continued study of thepower of the English tongue. Upon what principles he adopted andcontinued his system of versification, he long meditated to communicatein his projected prosody of English poetry. The work, however, mighthave been more curious than useful, as there would have been some dangerof its diverting the attention, and misguiding the efforts of poeticaladventurers; for as it is more easy to be masons than architects, we maydeprecate an art which might teach the world to value those who canbuild rhymes, without attending to the more essential qualities ofpoetry. Strict attention might no doubt discover the principle ofDryden's versification; but it seems no more essential to the analysinghis poetry, than the principles of mathematics to understanding music, although the art necessarily depends on them. The extent in which Drydenreformed our poetry, is most readily proved by an appeal to the ear; andDr. Johnson has forcibly stated, that "he knew how to choose the flowingand the sonorous words; to vary the pauses and adjust the accents; todiversify the cadence, and yet preserve the smoothness of the metre. " Tovary the English hexameter, he established the use of the triplet andAlexandrine. Though ridiculed by Swift, who vainly thought he hadexploded them for ever, their force is still acknowledged in classicalpoetry. 

Of the various kinds of poetry which Dryden occasionally practised, thedrama was that which, until the last six years of his life, he chieflyrelied on for support. His style of tragedy, we have seen, varied withhis improved taste, perhaps with the change of manners. Although theheroic drama, as we have described it at length in the preceding pages, presented the strongest temptation to the exercise of argumentativepoetry in sounding rhyme, Dryden was at length contented to abandon itfor the more pure and chaste style of tragedy, which professes ratherthe representation of human beings, than the creation of idealperfection, or fantastic and anomalous characters. The best of Dryden'sperformances in this latter style, are unquestionably "Don Sebastian, "and "All for Love. " Of these, the former is in the poet's very bestmanner; exhibiting dramatic persons, consisting of such bold andimpetuous characters as he delighted to draw, well contrasted, forciblymarked, and engaged in an interesting succession of events. To manytempers, the scene between Sebastian and Dorax must appear one of themost moving that ever adorned the British stage. Of "All for Love, " wemay say, that it is successful in a softer style of painting; and thatso far as sweet and beautiful versification, elegant language, andoccasional tenderness, can make amends for Dryden's deficiencies indescribing the delicacies of sentimental passion, they are to be foundin abundance in that piece. But on these, and on the poet's othertragedies, we have enlarged in our preliminary notices prefixed to eachpiece. 

Dryden's comedies, besides being stained with the licence of the age (alicence which he seems to use as much from necessity as choice), have, generally speaking, a certain heaviness of character. There are manyflashes of wit; but the author has beaten his flint hard ere he struckthem out. It is almost essential to the success of a jest, that itshould at least seem to be extemporaneous. If we espy the joke at adistance, nay, if without seeing it we have the least reason to suspectwe are travelling towards one, it is astonishing how the perverseobstinacy of our nature delights to refuse it currency. When, therefore, as is often the case in Dryden's comedies, two persons remain on thestage for no obvious purpose but to say good things, it is no wonderthey receive but little thanks from an ungrateful audience. Theincidents, therefore, and the characters, ought to be comic; but actualjests, or _bon mots_, should be rarely introduced, and then naturally, easily, without an appearance of premeditation, and bearing a strictconformity to the character of the person who utters them. Comicsituation Dryden did not greatly study; indeed I hardly recollect any, unless in the closing scene of "The Spanish Friar, " which indicates anypeculiar felicity of invention. For comic character, he is usuallycontented to paint a generic representative of a certain class of men orwomen; a Father Dominic, for example, or a Melantha, with all theattributes of their calling and manners, strongly and divertinglyportrayed, but without any individuality of character. It is probablethat, with these deficiencies, he felt the truth of his ownacknowledgment, and that he was forced upon composing comedies togratify the taste of the age, while the bent of his genius was otherwisedirected. 

In lyrical poetry, Dryden must be allowed to have no equal. "Alexander'sFeast" is sufficient to show his supremacy in that brilliant department. In this exquisite production, he flung from him all the trappings withwhich his contemporaries had embarrassed the ode. The language, loftyand striking as the ideas are, is equally simple and harmonious; withoutfar-fetched allusions, or epithets, or metaphors, the story is told asintelligibly as if it had been in the most humble prose. The change oftone in the harp of Timotheus, regulates the measure and the melody, andthe language of every stanza. The hearer, while he is led on by thesuccessive changes, experiences almost the feelings of the Macedonianand his peers; nor is the splendid poem disgraced by one word or lineunworthy of it, unless we join in the severe criticism of Dr. Johnson, on the concluding stanzas. It is true, that the praise of St. Cecilia israther abruptly introduced as a conclusion to the account of the Feastof Alexander; and it is also true, that the comparison, "He raised a mortal to the sky, She drew an angel down, "

is inaccurate, since the feat of Timotheus was metaphorical, and that ofCecilia literal. But, while we stoop to such criticism, we seek forblots in the sun. 

Of Dryden's other pindarics, some, as the celebrated "Ode to the Memoryof Mrs. Killigrew, " are mixed with the leaven of Cowley; others, likethe "_Threnodia Augustalis_, " are occasionally flat and heavy. Allcontain passages of brilliancy, and all are thrown into a versification, melodious amidst its irregularity. We listen for the completion ofDryden's stanza, as for the explication of a difficult passage in music;and wild and lost as the sound appears, the ear is proportionallygratified by the unexpected ease with which harmony is extracted fromdiscord and confusion. 

The satirical powers of Dryden were of the highest order. He draws hisarrow to the head, and dismisses it straight upon his object of aim. Inthis walk he wrought almost as great a reformation as upon versificationin general; as will plainly appear, if we consider, that the satire, before Dryden's time, bore the same reference to "Absalom andAchitophel, " which an ode of Cowley bears to "Alexander's Feast. " Butlerand his imitators had adopted a metaphysical satire, as the poets in theearlier part of the century had created a metaphysical vein of seriouspoetry. [9] Both required store of learning to supply the perpetualexpenditure of extraordinary and far-fetched illustration; the object ofboth was to combine and hunt down the strangest and most fancifulanalogies; and both held the attention of the reader perpetually on thestretch, to keep up with the meaning of the author. There can be nodoubt, that this metaphysical vein was much better fitted for theburlesque than the sublime. Yet the perpetual scintillation of Butler'swit is too dazzling to be delightful; and we can seldom read far in"Hudibras" without feeling more fatigue than pleasure. His fancy isemployed with the profusion of a spendthrift, by whose eternal round ofbanqueting his guests are at length rather wearied out than regaled. Dryden was destined to correct this, among other errors of his age; toshow the difference between burlesque and satire; and to teach hissuccessors in that species of assault, rather to thrust than to flourishwith their weapon. For this purpose he avoided the unvaried andunrelieved style of grotesque description and combination, which hadbeen fashionable since the satires of Cleveland and Butler. To renderthe objects of his satire hateful and contemptible, he thought itnecessary to preserve the lighter shades of character, if not for thepurpose of softening the portrait, at least for that of preserving thelikeness. While Dryden seized, and dwelt upon, and aggravated, all theevil features of his subject, he carefully retained just as much of itslaudable traits as preserved him from the charge of want of candour, andfixed down the resemblance upon the party. And thus, instead ofunmeaning caricatures, he presents portraits which cannot be mistaken, however unfavourable ideas they may convey of the originals. Thecharacter of Shaftesbury, both as Achitophel, and as drawn in "TheMedal, " bears peculiar witness to this assertion. While other courtpoets endeavoured to turn the obnoxious statesman into ridicule onaccount of his personal infirmities and extravagances, Dryden boldlyconfers upon him all the praise for talent and for genius that hisfriends could have claimed, and trusts to the force of his satiricalexpression for working up even these admirable attributes with such amixture of evil propensities and dangerous qualities, that the wholecharacter shall appear dreadful, and even hateful, but not contemptible. But where a character of less note, a Shadwell or a Settle, crossed hispath, the satirist did not lay himself under these restraints, but wrotein the language of bitter irony and immeasurable contempt: even then, however, we are less called on to admire the wit of the author, than theforce and energy of his poetical philippic. These are the verses whichare made by indignation, and, no more than theatrical scenes of realpassion, admit of refined and protracted turns of wit, or even thelighter sallies of humour. These last ornaments are proper in thatHoratian satire, which rather ridicules the follies of the age, thanstigmatises the vices of individuals; but in this style Dryden has madefew essays. He entered the field as champion of a political party, or asdefender of his own reputation; discriminated his antagonists, andapplied the scourge with all the vehemence of Juvenal. As he has himselfsaid of that satirist, "his provocations were great, and he has revengedthem tragically. " This is the more worthy of notice, as, in the Essayon Satire, Dryden gives a decided preference to those nicer and moredelicate touches of satire, which consist in fine raillery. But whateverwas the opinion of his cooler moments, the poet's practice was dictatedby the furious party-spirit of the times, and the no less keenstimulative of personal resentment. It is perhaps to be regretted, thatso much energy of thought, and so much force of expression, should havebeen wasted in anatomising such criminals as Shadwell and Settle; yet wecannot account the amber less precious, because they are grubs and fliesthat are enclosed within it. 

The "Fables" of Dryden are the best examples of his talents as anarrative poet; those powers of composition, description, and narration, which must have been called into exercise by the Epic Muse, had his fateallowed him to enlist among her votaries. The "Knight's Tale, " thelongest and most laboured of Chaucer's stories, possesses a degree ofregularity which might satisfy the most severe critic. It is true, thatthe honour arising from thence must be assigned to the more ancientbard, who had himself drawn his subject from an Italian model; but thehigh and decided preference which Dryden has given to this story, although somewhat censured by Trapp, enables us to judge how much thepoet held an accurate combination of parts, and coherence of narrative, essentials of epic poetry. [10] That a classic scholar like Trapp shouldthink the plan of the "Knight's Tale" equal to that of the Iliad, is adegree of candour not to be hoped for; but surely to an unprejudicedreader, a story which exhausts in its conclusion all the interest whichit has excited in its progress, which, when terminated, leaves noquestion to be asked, no personage undisposed of, and no curiosityunsatisfied, is, abstractedly considered, more gratifying than thehistory of a few weeks of a ten years' war, commencing long after thesiege had begun, and ending long before the city was taken. Of the othertales, it can hardly be said that their texture is more ingenious orclosely woven than that of ordinary novels or fables: but in each ofthem Dryden has displayed the superiority of his genius, in selectingfor amplification and ornament those passages most susceptible ofpoetical description. The account of the procession of the FairyChivalry in the "Flower and the Leaf;" the splendid description of thechampions who came to assist at the tournament in the "Knight's Tale;"the account of the battle itself, its alternations and issue, --if theycannot be called improvements on Chaucer, are nevertheless so spirited atransfusion of his ideas into modern verse, as almost to claim the meritof originality. Many passages might be shown in which this praise may becarried still higher, and the merit of invention added to that ofimitation. Such is the description of the commencement of the tourney, which is almost entirely original, and most of the ornaments in thetranslations from Boccacio, whose prose fictions demanded more additionsfrom the poet than the exuberant imagery of Chaucer. To select instanceswould be endless; but every reader of poetry has by heart thedescription of Iphigenia asleep, nor are the lines in "Theodore andHonoria, "[11] which describe the approach of the apparition, and itseffects upon animated and inanimated nature even before it becomesvisible, less eminent for beauties of the terrific order:

"While listening to the murmuring leaves he stood, More than a mile immersed within the wood, At once the wind was laid; the whispering soundWas dumb; a rising earthquake rocked the ground;With deeper brown the grove was overspread, A sudden horror seized his giddy head, And his ears tingled, and his colour fled, Nature was in alarm; some danger nighSeemed threatened, though unseen to mortal eye. "

It may be doubted, however, whether the simplicity of Boccacio'snarrative has not sometimes suffered by the additional decorations ofDryden. The retort of Guiscard to Tancred's charge of ingratitude ismore sublime in the Italian original, [12] than as diluted by the Englishpoet into five hexameters. A worse fault occurs in the whole colouringof Sigismonda's passion, to which Dryden has given a coarse andindelicate character, which he did not derive from Boccacio. In likemanner, the plea used by Palamon in his prayer to Venus, is more nakedlyexpressed by Dryden than by Chaucer. The former, indeed, would probablyhave sheltered himself under the mantle of Lucretius; but he should haverecollected, that Palamon speaks the language of chivalry, and oughtnot, to use an expression of Lord Herbert, to have spoken like a_paillard_, but a _cavalier_. Indeed, we have before noticed it as themost obvious and most degrading imperfection of Dryden's poeticalimagination, that he could not refine that passion, which, of allothers, is susceptible either of the purest refinement, or of admittingthe basest alloy. With Chaucer, Dryden's task was more easy than withBoccacio. Barrenness was not the fault of the Father of English poetry;and amid the profusion of images which he presented, his imitator hadonly the task of rejecting or selecting. In the sublime description ofthe temple of Mars, painted around with all the misfortunes ascribed tothe influence of his planet, it would be difficult to point out a singleidea, which is not found in the older poem. But Dryden has judiciouslyomitted or softened some degrading and some disgusting circumstances; asthe "cook scalded in spite of his long ladle, " the "swine devouring thecradled infant, " the "pickpurse, " and other circumstances too grotesqueor ludicrous to harmonise with the dreadful group around them. Somepoints, also, of sublimity, have escaped the modern poet. Such is theappropriate and picturesque accompaniment of the statue of Mars:--

 "A wolf stood before him at his feet, With eyen red, and of a man he eat. "[13]

In the dialogue, or argumentative parts of the poem, Dryden hasfrequently improved on his original, while he falls something short ofhim in simple description, or in pathetic effect. Thus, the quarrelbetween Arcite and Palamon is wrought up with greater energy by Drydenthan Chaucer, particularly by the addition of the following lines, describing the enmity of the captives against each other:--

 "Now friends no more, nor walking hand in hand, But when they met, they made a surly stand, And glared like angry lions as they passed, And wished that every look might be their last. "

But the modern must yield the palm, despite the beauty of hisversification, to the description of Emily by Chaucer; and may be justlyaccused of loading the dying speech of Arcite with conceits for whichhis original gave no authority. [14]

When the story is of a light and ludicrous kind, as the Fable of theCock and Fox, and the Wife of Bath's Tale, Dryden displays all thehumorous expression of his satirical poetry, without its personality. There is indeed a quaint Cervantic gravity in his mode of expressinghimself, that often glances forth, and enlivens what otherwise would bemere dry narrative. Thus, he details certain things which passed, "While Cynion was _endeavouring_ to be wise;"

the force of which single word contains both a ludicrous and appropriatepicture of the revolution which the force of love was gradually creatingin the mind of the poor clown. This tone of expression he perhapsborrowed from Ariosto, and other poets of Italian chivalry, who arewont, ever and anon, to raise the mask, and smile even at the romantictale they are themselves telling. 

Leaving these desultory reflections on Dryden's powers of narrative, Icannot but notice, that, from haste or negligence, he has sometimesmistaken the sense of his author. Into the hands of the champions in"The Flower and the Leaf, " he has placed _bows_ instead of _boughs_, because the word is in the original spelled _bowes_; and, having madethe error, he immediately devises an explanation of the device which hehad mistaken:--

 "For bows the strength of brawny arms imply, Emblems of valour, and of victory. "

He has, in like manner, accused Chaucer of introducing Gallicisms intothe English language; not aware that French was the language of thecourt of England not long before Chaucer's time, and, that, far fromintroducing French phrases into the English tongue, the ancient bard wassuccessfully active in introducing the English as a fashionable dialect, instead of the French, which had, before his time, been the onlylanguage of polite literature in England. Other instances might be givenof similar oversights, which, in the situation of Dryden, aresufficiently pardonable. 

Upon the whole, in introducing these romances of Boccacio and Chaucer tomodern readers, Dryden has necessarily deprived them of some of thecharms which they possess for those who have perused them in theiroriginal state. With a tale or poem, by which we have been sincerelyinterested, we connect many feelings independent of those arising fromactual poetical merit. The delight, arising from the whole, sanctions, nay, sanctifies, the faulty passages; and even actual improvements, likesupplements to a mutilated statue of antiquity, injure our preconceivedassociations, and hurt, by their incongruity with our feelings, morethan they give pleasure by their own excellence. But to antiquariesDryden has sufficiently justified himself, by declaring his version madefor the sake of modern readers, who understand sense and poetry as wellas the old Saxon admirers of Chaucer, when that poetry and sense are putinto words which they can understand. Let us also grant him, that, forthe beauties which are lost, he has substituted many which the originaldid not afford; that, in passages of gorgeous description, he has addedeven to the chivalrous splendour of Chaucer, and has graced withpoetical ornament the simplicity of Boccacio; that, if he has failed intenderness, he is never deficient in majesty; and that if the heart besometimes untouched, the understanding and fancy are always exercisedand delighted. 

The philosophy of Dryden, we have already said, was that of original andpenetrating genius; imperfect only, when, from want of time and ofindustry, he adopted the ideas of others, when he should have communedat leisure with his own mind. The proofs of his philosophical powers arenot to be sought for in any particular poem or disquisition. Even the"Religio Laici, " written expressly as a philosophical poem, only showshow easily the most powerful mind may entangle itself in sophisticaltoils of its own weaving; for the train of argument there pursued wascompleted by Dryden's conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. [15] It istherefore in the discussion of incidental subjects, in his mode oftreating points of controversy, in the new lights which he seldom failsto throw upon a controversial subject, in his talent of argumentivediscussion, that we are to look for the character of Dryden's moralpowers. His opinions, doubtless, are often inconsistent, and sometimesabsolutely contradictory; for, pressed by the necessity of discussingthe object before him, he seldom looked back to what he said formerly, or forward to what he might be obliged to say in future. His solesubject of consideration was to maintain his present point; and that byauthority, by declamation, by argument, by every means. But hisphilosophical powers are not the less to be estimated, because thusirregularly and unphilosophically employed. His arguments, even in theworst cause, bear witness to the energy of his mental conceptions; andthe skill with which they are stated, elucidated, enforced, andexemplified, ever commands our admiration, though, in the result, ourreason may reject their influence. It must be remembered also, toDryden's honour, that he was the first to hail the dawn of experimentalphilosophy in physics; to gratulate his country on possessing Bacon, Harvey, and Boyle; and to exult over the downfall of the Aristoteliantyranny. [16] Had he lived to see a similar revolution commenced inethics, there can be little doubt he would have welcomed it with thesame delight; or had his leisure and situation permitted him to dedicatehis time to investigating moral problems, he might himself have led theway to deliverance from error and uncertainty. But the dawn ofreformation must ever be gradual, and the acquisitions even of thosecalculated to advance it must therefore frequently appear desultory andimperfect. The author of the _Novum Organum_ believed in charms andoccult sympathy; and Dryden in the chimeras of judicial astrology, andprobably in the jargon of alchemy. When these subjects occur in hispoetry, he dwells on them with a pleasure which shows the command theymaintained over his mind. Much of the astrological knowledge displayedin the Knight's Tale is introduced, or at least amplified, by Dryden;and while, in the fable of the Cock and the Fox, he ridicules thedoctrine of prediction from dreams, the inherent qualities of the fourcomplexions, [17] and other abstruse doctrines of Paracelsus and hisfollowers, we have good reason to suspect that, like many otherscoffers, he believed in the efficacy and truth of the subject of hisridicule. However this shade of credulity may injure Dryden's characteras a philosopher, we cannot regret its influence on his poetry. Collinshas thus celebrated Fairfax:--

 "Prevailing poet, whose undoubting mind, Believed the magic wonders which he sung. "

Nor can there be a doubt that, as every work of imagination is tingedwith the author's passions and prejudices, it must be deep and energeticin proportion to the character of these impressions. Those superstitioussciences and pursuits, which would, by mystic rites, doctrines, andinferences, connect us with the invisible world of spirits, or guide ourdaring researches to a knowledge of future events, are indeed usuallyfound to cow, crush, and utterly stupefy, understandings of a lowerrank; but if the mind of a man of acute powers, and of warm fancy, becomes slightly imbued with the visionary feelings excited by suchstudies, their obscure and undefined influence is ever found to aid thesublimity of his ideas, and to give that sombre and serious effect, which he can never produce, who does not himself feel the awe which itis his object to excite. The influence of such a mystic creed is oftenfelt where the cause is concealed; for the habits thus acquired are notconfined to their own sphere of belief, but gradually extend themselvesover every adjacent province: and perhaps we may not go too far inbelieving, that he who has felt their impression, though only in onebranch of faith, becomes fitted to describe, with an air of reality andinterest, not only kindred subjects, but superstitions altogetheropposite to his own. The religion, which Dryden finally adopted, lentits occasional aid to the solemn colouring of some of his laterproductions, Tipon which subject we have elsewhere enlarged at somelength. [18]

The occasional poetry of Dryden is marked strongly by masculinecharacter. The Epistles vary with the subject; and are light, humorous, and satirical, or grave, argumentative, and philosophical, as the caserequired. In his Elegies, although they contain touches of true feeling, especially where the stronger passions are to be illustrated, the poetis often content to substitute reasoning for passion, and rather to showus cause why we ought to grieve, than to set us the example by grievinghimself. The inherent defect in Dryden's composition becomes herepeculiarly conspicuous; yet we should consider, that, in composingelegies for the Countess of Abingdon, whom he never saw, and for CharlesII. , by whom he had been cruelly neglected, and doubtless on manysimilar occasions, Dryden could not even pretend to be interested in themournful subject of his verse; but attended, with his poem, as much inthe way of trade, as the undertaker, on the same occasion, came with hissables and his scutcheon. The poet may interest himself and his reader, even to tears, in the fate of a being altogether the creation of his ownfancy, but hardly by a hired panegyric on a real subject, in whom hisheart acknowledges no other interest than a fee can give him. Few ofDryden's elegiac effusions, therefore, seem prompted by sincere sorrow. That to Oldham may be an exception; but, even there, he rather strivesto do honour to the talents of his departed friend, than to pour outlamentations for his loss. Of the Prologues and Epilogues we have spokenfully elsewhere. [19] Some of them are coarsely satirical, and othersgrossly indelicate. Those spoken at Oxford are the most valuable, andcontain much good criticism and beautiful poetry. But the worst of themwas probably well worth the petty recompence which the poetreceived. [20] The songs and smaller pieces of Dryden have smoothness, wit, and when addressed to ladies, gallantry in profusion, but aredeficient in tenderness. They seem to have been composed with greatease; thrown together hastily and occasionally; nor can we doubt thatmany of them are now irrecoverably lost. Mr. Malone gives us an instanceof Dryden's fluency in extempore composition, which was communicated tohim by Mr. Walcott. "Conversation, one day after dinner, at Mrs. Creed's, running upon the origin of names, Mr. Dryden bowed to the goodold lady, and spoke extempore the following verses:--

 "So much religion in _your_ name doth dwell, Your soul must needs with piety excel. Thus names, like [well-wrought] pictures drawn of old, Their owners' nature and their story told. -- Your name but half expresses; for in you Belief and practice do together go. My prayers shall be, while this short life endures, These may go hand in hand, with you and yours; Till faith hereafter is in vision drowned, And practice is with endless glory crowned. "

The Translations of Dryden form a distinguished part of his poeticallabours. No author, excepting Pope, has done so much to endenizen theeminent poets of antiquity. In this sphere, also, it was the fate ofDryden to become a leading example to future poets, and to abrogate lawswhich had been generally received although they imposed such trammels ontranslation as to render it hardly intelligible. Before hisdistinguished success showed that the object of the translator should beto transfuse the spirit, not to copy servilely the very words of hisoriginal, it had been required, that line should be rendered for line, and, almost, word for word. It may easily be imagined, that, by theconstraint and inversion which this cramping statute required, a poemwas barely rendered _not Latin_, instead of being made English, andthat, to the mere native reader, as the connoisseur complains in "TheCritic", the interpreter was sometimes "the harder to be understood ofthe two. " Those who seek examples, may find them in the jaw-breakingtranslations of Ben Jonson and Holyday. Cowley and Denham had indeedrebelled against this mode of translation, which conveys pretty much thesame idea of an original, as an imitator would do of the gait ofanother, by studiously stepping after him into every trace which hisfeet had left upon the sand. But they assumed a licence equally faulty, and claimed the privilege of writing what might be more properly termedimitations, than versions of the classics. It was reserved to Drydenmanfully to claim and vindicate the freedom of a just translation; morelimited than paraphrase, but free from the metaphrastic severity exactedfrom his predecessors. 

With these free yet unlicentious principles, Dryden brought to the taskof translation a competent knowledge of the language of the originals, with an unbounded command of his own. The latter is, however, by far themost marked characteristic of his Translations. Dryden was not indeeddeficient in Greek and Roman learning; but he paused not to weigh andsift those difficult and obscure passages, at which the most learnedwill doubt and hesitate for the correct meaning. The same rapidity, which marked his own poetry, seems to have attended his study of theclassics. He seldom waited to analyse the sentence he was about torender, far less scrupulously to weigh the precise purport and value ofevery word it contained. If he caught the general spirit and meaning ofthe author, and could express it with equal force in English verse, hecared not if minute elegancies were lost, or the beauties of accurateproportion destroyed, or a dubious interpretation hastily adopted on thecredit of a _scholium_. He used abundantly the licence he has claimedfor a translator, to be deficient rather in the language out of which herenders, than of that into which he translates. If such be but master ofthe sense of his author, Dryden argues, he may express that sense witheloquence in his own tongue, though he understand not the nice turns ofthe original. "But without the latter quality he can never arrive at theuseful and the delightful, without which reading is a penance andfatigue. "[21] With the same spirit of haste, Dryden if often contentedto present to the English reader some modern image, which he may at oncefully comprehend, instead of rendering precisely a classic expression, which might require explanation or paraphrase. Thus the _pulchraSicyonia_, or buskins of Sicyon, are rendered, "Diamond-buckles sparkling in their shoes. "

By a yet more unfortunate adaptation of modern technical phraseology, the simple direction of Helenus, "_Læva tibi tellus, et longo læva pelantur Æquora circuitu: dextrum fage lillus et undas_, "

is translated, "Tack to the larboard, and stand off to sea, Veer starboard sea and land:"

--a counsel which, I shrewdly suspect, would have been unintelligible, not only to Palinurus, but to the best pilot in the British navy. [22] Inthe same tone, but with more intelligibility, if not felicity, Drydentranslates _palatia coeli_ in Ovid, the _Louvre of the sky_; and, in theversion of the first book of Homer, talks of the court of Jupiter in thephrases used at that of Whitehall. These expressions, proper to modernmanners, often produce an unfortunate confusion between the age in whichthe scene is laid, and the date of the translation. No judicious poet iswilling to break the interest of a tale of ancient times, by allusionspeculiar to his own period: but when the translator, instead ofidentifying himself as closely as possible with the original author, pretends to such liberty, he removes us a third step from the time ofaction, and so confounds the manners of no less than three distincteras, --that in which the scene is laid, that in which the poem waswritten, and that, finally, in which the translation was executed. Thereare passages in Dryden's Æneid, which, in the revolution of a few pages, transport our ideas from the time of Troy's siege to that of the courtof Augustus, and thence downward to the reign of William the Third ofBritain. 

It must be owned, at the same time, that when the translator placesbefore you, not the exact words, but the image of the original, as theclassic author would probably have himself expressed it in English, thelicence, when moderately employed, has an infinite charm for thosereaders for whose use translations are properly written. Pope's Homerand Dryden's Virgil can never indeed give exquisite satisfaction toscholars, accustomed to study the Greek and Latin originals. The mindsof such readers have acquired a classic tone; and not merely the ideasand poetical imagery, but the manners and habits of the actors, havebecome intimately familiar to them. They will not, therefore, besatisfied with any translation in which these are violated, whether forthe sake of indolence in the translator, or ease to the unletteredreader; and perhaps they will be more pleased that a favourite bardshould move with less ease and spirit in his new habiliments, than thathis garments should be cut upon the model of the country to which thestranger is introduced. In the former case, they will readily makeallowance for the imperfection of modern language; in the latter, theywill hardly pardon the sophistication of ancient manners. But the mereEnglish reader, who finds rigid adherence to antique costume ratherembarrassing than pleasing, who is prepared to make no sacrifices inorder to preserve the true manners of antiquity, shocking perhaps to hisfeelings and prejudices, is satisfied that the Iliad and Æneid shalllose their antiquarian merit, provided they retain that vital spirit andenergy, which is the soul of poetry in all languages, and countries, andages whatsoever. He who sits down to Dryden's translation of Virgil, with the original text spread before him, will be at no loss to pointout many passages that are faulty, many indifferently understood, manyimperfectly translated, some in which dignity is lost, others in whichbombast is substituted in its stead. But the unabated vigour and spiritof the version more than overbalances these and all its otherdeficiencies. A sedulous scholar might often approach more nearly to thedead letter of Virgil, and give an exact, distinct, sober-minded idea ofthe meaning and scope of particular passages. Trapp, Pitt, and othershave done so. But the essential spirit of poetry is so volatile, that itescapes during such an operation, like the life of the poor criminal, whom the ancient anatomist is said to have dissected alive, in order toascertain the seat of the soul. The carcase indeed is presented to theEnglish reader, but the animating vigour is no more. It is in this art, of communicating the ancient poet's ideas with force and energy equal tohis own, that Dryden has so completely exceeded all who have gonebefore, and all who have succeeded him. The beautiful and unequalledversion of the Tale of Myrrha in the "Metamorphoses, " the whole of theSixth Æneid, and many other parts of Dryden's translations, aresufficient, had he never written one line of original poetry, tovindicate the well-known panegyric of Churchill:--

 "Here let me bend, great Dryden, at thy shrine, Thou dearest name to all the tuneful Nine! What if some dull lines in cold order creep, And with his theme the poet seems to sleep? Still, when his subject rises proud to view, With equal strength the poet rises too: With strong invention, noblest vigour fraught, Thought still springs up, and rises out of thought; Numbers ennobling numbers in their course, In varied sweetness flow, in varied force; The powers of genius and of judgment join, And the whole art of poetry is thine. "

We are in this disquisition naturally tempted to inquire, whether Drydenwould have succeeded in his proposed design to translate Homer, ashappily as in his Virgil? And although he himself more fiery, andtherefore better suited to his own than that of the Roman poet, theremay be room to question, whether in this case he rightly estimated hisown talents, or rather, whether, being fully conscious of their extent, he was aware of labouring under certain deficiencies of taste, whichmust have been more apparent in a version of the Iliad than of theÆneid. If a translator has any characteristic and peculiar foible, it issurely unfortunate to choose an original, who may give peculiarfacilities to exhibit them. Thus, even Dryden's repeated disclamation ofpuns, points, and quibbles, and all the repentance of his more soberhours, was unable, so soon as he began to translate Ovid, to prevent hissliding back into the practice of that false wit with which his earlierproductions are imbued. Hence he has been seduced, by the similarity ofstyle, to add to the offences of his original, and introduce, though itneeded not, points of wit and antithetical prettinesses, for which hecannot plead Ovid's authority. For example, he makes Ajax say ofUlysses, when surrounded by the Trojans, "No wonder if he roared that all might hear, His elocution was increased by fear. "

The Latin only bears, _conclamat socios. _ A little lower, "_Opposui molem clypei, texique jacentem_, "

is amplified by a similar witticism, "My broad buckler hid him from the foe, Even the shield trembled as he lay below. "

If, in translating Ovid, Dryden was tempted by the manner of hisoriginal to relapse into a youthful fault, which he had solemnlyrepented of and abjured, there is surely room to believe, that thesimple and almost rude manners described by Homer, might have seducedhim into coarseness both of ideas and expression, for which the studied, composed, and dignified style of the Aeneid gave neither opening norapology. That this was a fault which Dryden, with all his taste, neverwas able to discard, might easily be proved from various passages in histranslations, where the transgression is on his own part altogethergratuitous. Such is the well-known version of

 "_Ut possessor agelli Diceret, hoec mea sunt, veteres migrate coloni, Nune vidi, " etc. _

 "When the grim captain, with a surly tone, Cries out, Pack up, ye rascals, and be gone! Kicked out, we set the best face on't we could, " etc. 

In translating the most indelicate passage of Lucretius, Dryden hasrather enhanced than veiled its indecency. The story of Iphis in theMetamorphoses is much more bluntly told by the English poet than byOvid. In short, where there was a latitude given for coarseness ofdescription and expression, Dryden has always too readily laid hold ofit. The very specimen which he has given us of a version of Homer, contains many passages in which the antique Grecian simplicity isvulgarly and inelegantly rendered. The Thunderer terms Juno

 "My household curse, my lawful plague, the spy Of Jove's designs, his other squinting eye. "

The ambrosial feast of Olympus concludes like a tavern revel:--

 "Drunken at last, and drowsy, they depart Each to his house, adored with laboured art Of the lame architect. The thundering God, Even he, withdrew to rest, and had his load; His swimming head to needful sleep applied, And Juno lay unheeded by his side. "

There is reason indeed to think, that, after the Revolution, Dryden'staste was improved in this, as in some other respects. In histranslation of Juvenal, for example, the satire against women, coarse asit is, is considerably refined and softened from the grossness of theLatin poet; who has, however, been lately favoured by a still moreelegant, and (excepting perhaps one or two passages) an equally spiritedtranslation, by Mr. Gifford of London. Yet, admitting this apology forDryden as fully as we dare, from the numerous specimens of indelicacyeven in his later translations, we are induced to judge it fortunatethat Homer was reserved for a poet who had not known the age of CharlesII. ; and whose inaccuracies and injudicious decorations may be pardoned, even by the scholar, when he considers the probability, that Drydenmight have slipped into the opposite extreme, by converting rudesimplicity into indecency or vulgarity. The Æneid, on the other hand, ifit restrained Dryden's poetry to a correct, steady, and even flight, ifit damped his energy by its regularity, and fettered his excursiveimagination by the sobriety of its decorum, had the correspondingadvantage of holding forth to the translator no temptation to licence, and no apology for negligence. Where the fervency of genius is required, Dryden has usually equalled his original; where peculiar elegance andexact propriety is demanded, his version may be sometimes found flat andinaccurate, but the mastering spirit of Virgil prevails, and it is neverdisgusting or indelicate. Of all the classical translations we canboast, none is so acceptable to the class of readers, to whom thelearned languages are a clasped book and a sealed fountain. And surelyit is no moderate praise to say, that a work is universally pleasing tothose for whose use it is principally intended, and to whom only it isabsolutely indispensable. 

The prose of Dryden may rank with the best in the English language. Itis no less of his own formation than his versification, is equallyspirited, and equally harmonious. Without the lengthened and pedanticsentences of Clarendon, it is dignified where dignity is becoming, andis lively without the accumulation of strained and absurd allusions andmetaphors, which were unfortunately mistaken for wit by many of theauthor's contemporaries. Dryden has been accused of unnecessarilylarding his style with Gallicisms. It must be owned that, to complyprobably with the humour of Charles, or from an affectation of thefashionable court dialect, the poet-laureate employed such words as_fougue, fraicheur_, etc. , instead of the corresponding expressions inEnglish; an affectation which does not appear in our author's laterwritings. But even the learned and excellent Sir David Dalrymple was ledto carry this idea greatly too far. "Nothing, " says that admirableantiquary, "distinguishes the genius of the English language so much asits general naturalisation of foreigners. Dryden in the reign of CharlesII. , printed the following words as pure French newly imported: _amour, billet-doux, caprice, chagrin, conversation, double-entendre, embarrassed, fatigue, figure, foible, gallant, good graces, grimace, incendiary, levée, maltreated, rallied, repartée, ridicule, tender, tour_; with several others which are now considered as natives. --'Marriage à la Mode. '"[23] But of these words many had been longnaturalised in England, and, with the adjectives derived from them, areused by Shakespeare and the dramatists of his age. [24] By their beingprinted in italics in the play of "Marriage à la Mode, " Dryden onlymeant to mark, that Melantha, the affected coquette in whose mouth theyare placed, was to use the _French_, not the vernacular pronunciation. It will admit of question, whether any single French word has beennaturalised upon the sole authority of Dryden. 

Although Dryden's style has nothing obsolete, we can occasionally tracea reluctance to abandon an old word or idiom; the consequence, doubtlessof his latter studies in ancient poetry. In other respects, nothing canbe more elegant than the diction of the praises heaped upon his patrons, for which he might himself plead the apology he uses for Maimbourg, "who, having enemies, made himself friends by panegyrics. " Of theselively critical prefaces, which, when we commence, we can never layaside till we have finished, Dr. Johnson has said with equal force andbeauty, --"They have not the formality of a settled style, in which thefirst half of the sentence betrays the other. The clauses are neverbalanced, nor the periods modelled; every word seems to drop by chance, though it falls into its proper place. Nothing is cold or languid; thewhole is airy, animated, and vigorous; what is little is gay, what isgreat is splendid. He may be thought to mention himself too frequently;but while he forces himself upon our esteem, we cannot refuse him tostand high in his own. Everything is excused by the play of images andthe sprightliness of expression. Though all is easy, nothing is feeble;though all seems careless, there is nothing harsh; and though, since hisearlier works, more than a century has passed, they have nothing yetuncouth or obsolete. "

"He, who writes much, will not easily escape a manner, such a recurrenceof particular modes as may be easily noted. Dryden is always _anotherand the same. _ He does not exhibit a second time the same elegancies inthe same form, nor appears to have any art other than that of expressingwith clearness what he thinks with vigour. His style could not easily beimitated, either seriously or ludicrously; for, being always equable andalways varied, it has no prominent or discriminative characters. Thebeauty, who is totally free from disproportion of parts and features, cannot be ridiculed by an overcharged resemblance. "

The last paragraph is not to be understood too literally; for althoughDryden never so far copied himself as to fall into what has beenquaintly called _mannerism_; yet accurate observation may trace, in hisworks, the repetition of some sentiments and illustrations from prose toverse, and back again to prose. [24] In his preface to the _Æneid_, hehas enlarged on the difficulty of varying phrases, when the same sensereturned on the author; and surely we must allow full praise to hisfluency and command of language, when, during so long a literary career, and in the course of such a variety of miscellaneous productions, we candetect in his style so few instances of repetition, or self-imitation. 

The prose of Dryden, excepting his translations, and one or twocontroversial tracts, is entirely dedicated to criticism, either generaland didactic, or defensive and exculpatory. There, as in other branchesof polite learning, it was his lot to be a light to his people. Aboutthe time of the Restoration, the cultivation of letters was prosecutedin France with some energy. But the genius of that lively nation beingmore fitted for criticism than poetry; for drawing rules from whatothers have done, than for writing works which might be themselvesstandards; they were sooner able to produce an accurate table of lawsfor those intending to write epic poems and tragedies, according to thebest Greek and Roman authorities, than to exhibit distinguishedspecimens of success in either department; just as they are said topossess the best possible rules for building ships of war, although notequally remarkable for their power of fighting them. When criticismbecomes a pursuit separate from poetry, those who follow it are apt toforget, that the legitimate ends of the art for which they lay downrules, are instruction or delight, and that these points being attained, by what road soever, entitles a poet to claim the prize of successfulmerit. Neither did the learned authors of these disquisitionssufficiently attend to the general disposition of mankind, which cannotbe contented even with the happiest imitations of former excellence, butdemands novelty as a necessary ingredient for amusement. To insist thatevery epic poem shall have the plan of the Iliad and Æneid, and everytragedy be fettered by the rules of Aristotle, resembles the principleof an architect, who should build all his houses with the same number ofwindows, and of stories. It happened too, inevitably, that the critics, in the plenipotential authority which they exercised, often assumed asindispensable requisites of the drama, or epopeia, circumstances, which, in the great authorities they quoted, were altogether accidental andindifferent. These they erected into laws, and handed down as essentialsto be observed by all succeeding poets; although the forms prescribedhave often as little to do with the merit and success of the originalsfrom which they are taken, as the shape of the drinking-glass with theflavour of the wine which it contains. "To these encroachments, " saysFielding, after some observations to the same purpose, "time andignorance, the two great supporters of imposture, gave authority; andthus many rules for good writing have been established, which have notthe least foundation in truth or nature; and which commonly serve for noother purpose than to curb and restrain genius, in the same manner as itwould have restrained the dancing-master, had the many excellenttreatises on that art laid it down as an essential rule, that every manmust dance in chains. "[25] It is probable, that the tyranny of theFrench critics, fashionable as the literature of that country was withCharles and his courtiers, would have extended itself over England atthe Restoration, had not a champion so powerful as Dryden placed himselfin the gap. We have mentioned in its place his "Essay on DramaticPoetry, " the first systematic piece of criticism which our literaturehas to exhibit. In this Essay, he was accused of entertaining privateviews, of defending some of his own pieces, at least of opening the doorof the theatre wider, and rendering its access more easy, for his ownselfish convenience. Allowing this to be true in whole, as it may be inpart, we are as much obliged to Dryden for resisting the domination ofGallic criticism, as we are to the fanatics who repressed the despotismof the crown, although they buckled on their armour against whitesurplices, and the cross in baptism. The character which Dryden hasdrawn of our English dramatists in the Essay, and the various prefacesconnected with it, have unequalled spirit and precision. The contrast ofBen Jonson with Shakespeare is peculiarly and strikingly felicitous. Ofthe latter portrait, Dr. Johnson has said, that the editors and admirersof Shakespeare, in all their emulation of reverence, cannot boast ofmuch more than of having diffused and paraphrased this epitome ofexcellence, of having changed Dryden's gold for baser metal, of lowervalue, though of greater bulk. While Dryden examined, discussed, admitted, or rejected the rules proposed by others, he forbore, fromprudence, indolence, or a regard for the freedom of Parnassus, to erecthimself into a legislator. His doctrines, which chiefly respect theintrinsic qualities necessary in poetry, are scattered, without systemof pretence to it, over the numerous pages of prefatory and didacticessays, with which he enriched his publications. It is impossible toread far in any of them, without finding some maxim for doing orforbearing, which every student of poetry will do well to engrave uponthe tablets of his memory. But the author's mode of instruction isneither harsh nor dictatorial. When his opinion changed, as in the caseof rhyming tragedies, he avows the change with candour, and we areenabled the more courageously to follow his guidance, when we perceivethe readiness with which he retracts his path, if he strays into error. The gleams of philosophical spirit which so frequently illumine thesepages of criticism; the lively and appropriate grace of illustration;the true and correct expression of the general propositions; the simpleand unaffected passages, in which, when led to allude to his personallabours and situation, he mingles the feelings of the man with theinstructions of the critic, --unite to render Dryden's Essays the mostdelightful prose in the English language. 

The didactic criticism of Dryden is necessarily, at least naturally, mingled with that which he was obliged to pour forth in his own defence;and this may be one main cause of its irregular and miscellaneous form. What might otherwise have resembled the extended and elevated front of aregular palace, is deformed by barriers, ramparts, and bastions ofdefence; by cottages, mean additions, and offices necessary for personalaccommodation. The poet, always most in earnest about his immediatetask, used, without ceremony, those arguments, which suited his presentpurpose, and thereby sometimes supplied his foes with weapons to assailanother quarter. It also happens frequently, if the same allusion may becontinued, that Dryden defends with obstinate despair, against theassaults of his foemen, a post which, in his cooler moments, he hascondemned as untenable. However easily he may yield to internalconviction, and to the progress of his own improving taste, even theseconcessions, he sedulously informs us, are not wrung from him by theassault of his enemies; and he often goes out of his road to show, that, though conscious he was in the wrong, he did not stand legally convictedby their arguments. To the chequered and inconsistent appearance whichthese circumstances have given to the criticism of Dryden, it is anadditional objection, that through the same cause his studies werepartial, temporary, and irregular. His mind was amply stored withacquired knowledge, much of it perhaps the fruits of early reading andapplication. But, while engaged in the hurry of composition, or overcomeby the lassitude of continued literary labour, he seems frequently tohave trusted to the tenacity of his memory, and so drawn upon this fundwith injudicious liberality, without being sufficiently anxious as toaccuracy of quotation, or even of assertion. If, on the other hand, hefelt himself obliged to resort to more profound learning than his own, he was at little pains to arrange or digest it, or even to examineminutely the information he acquired, from hasty perusal of the books heconsulted; and thus but too often poured it forth in the crude form inwhich he had himself received it, from the French critic, or Dutchschoolman. The scholarship, for example, displayed in the Essay onSatire, has this raw and ill-arranged appearance; and stuck, as itawkwardly is, among some of Dryden's own beautiful and original writing, gives, like a borrowed and unbecoming garment, a mean and inconsistentappearance to the whole disquisition. But these occasional imperfectionsand inaccuracies are marks of the haste with which Dryden was compelledto give his productions to the world, and cannot deprive him of thepraise due to the earliest and most entertaining of English critics. 

I have thus detailed the life, and offered some remarks on the literarycharacter, of JOHN DRYDEN: who, educated in a pedantic taste, and afanatical religion, was destined, if not to give laws to the stage ofEngland, at least to defend its liberties; to improve burlesque intosatire; to free translation from the fetters of verbal metaphrase, andexclude it from the licence of paraphrase; to teach posterity thepowerful and varied poetical harmony of which their language wascapable; to give an example of the lyric ode of unapproached excellence;and to leave to English literature a name, second only to those ofMilton and of Shakespeare. 

FOOTNOTES[1] Life and Works of Arthur Maynwaring, 1715, p. 17. 

[2] So says Charles Blount, in the dedication to the _Religio Laici_. Heis contradicted by Tom Brown. 

[3] In a poem published on Dryden's death, by Brome, written, as Mr. Malone conjectures, by Captain Gibbon, son of the physician. 

[4] In "The Postboy, " for Tuesday, May 7, 1700, Playford inserted thefollowing advertisement:

"The death of the famous John Dryden, Esq. , Poet-Laureate to their twolate Majesties, King Charles, and King James the Second, being a subjectcapable of employing the best pens; and several persons of quality, andothers, having put a stop to his interment, which is designed to be inChaucer's grave, in Westminster Abbey; this is to desire the gentlemenof the two famous Universities, and others, who have a respect for thememory of the deceased, and are inclinable to such performances, to sendwhat copies they please, as Epigrams, etc. , to Henry Playford, at hisshop at the Temple 'Change, in Fleet Street, and they shall be insertedin a Collection, which is designed after the same nature, and in thesame method (in what language they shall please), as is usual in thecomposures which are printed on solemn occasions, at the twoUniversities aforesaid. "

This advertisement (with some alterations) was continued for a month inthe same paper. 

[5] "Thy reliques, Rowe, to this fair urn we trust, And sacred place by Dryden's awful dust: Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies, To which thy tomb shall guide inquiring eyes: Peace to thy gentle shade, and endless rest! Blest in thy genius, in thy love too, blest! One greatful woman to thy fame supplies, What a whole thankless land to his denies. "

[6] The epitaph at first intended by Pope for this monument was, "This Sheffield raised; the sacred dust below Was Dryden once:--the rest, who does not know?"

Atterbury had thus written to him on this subject, in 1720: "What I saidto you in mine, about the monument, was intended only to quicken, not toalarm you. It is not worth your while to know what I meant by it; butwhen I see you, you shall. I hope you may be at the Deanery towards theend of October, by which time I think of settling there for the winter. What do you think of some such short inscription as this in Latin, whichmay, in a few words, say all that is to be said of Dryden, and yetnothing more than he deserves?

JOHANNI DRYDENO, CUI POESIS ANGICANA VIM SUAM AC VENERES DEBET; ET SI QUA IN POSTERUM AUGEBITUR LAUDE, EST ADHUC DEBITURA. HONORIS ERGO P. ETC. 

"To show you that I am as much in earnest in the affair as you yourself, something I will send you of this kind in English. If your design holds, of fixing Dryden's name only below, and his busto above, may not lineslike these be graved just under the name?

 This Sheffield raised, to Dryden's ashes just; Here fixed his name, and there his laureled bust: What else the Muse in marble might express, Is known already: praise would make him less. 

"Or thus:

 More needs not; when acknowledged merits reign, Praise is impertinent, and censure vain. "

The thought, as Mr. Malone observes, is nearly the same as in thefollowing lines in "Luctus Britannici, " by William Marston, of TrinityCollege, Cambridge:

 "_In_ JOANNEM DRYDEN, _poelarum facile principem. _

 Si quis in has aedes intret fortasse viator, Busta poetarum dum veneranda notet, Cernat et exuvias Drydeni, --plura referre Haud opus: ad laudes _vox ea_ sola satis. "

[7] Life of Pope. 

[8] ["The Bacon of the rhyming tribe, " as Landor has since called him ina vigorous description (_Works_, vol. Viii. P. 137). --ED. ]

[9] [Transcriber's note: "See page 39" in original. This is to be foundin Section I. ]

[10] "_Novimus judicium Drydeni de poemate quodam Chauceri, pulchro saneillo, et admodum laudando, nimirum quod non modo vere epicura sit, sedIliada etiam alque Aeneada aequet, imo superet. Sed novimus eodemtempore viri illius maximi non semper accuratissimas esse censuras, necad severissimam critices normam exactas: illo judice id plerumqueoptimum est, quod nunc prae manibus habet, et in quo nunc occupatur_. "

[11] Dryden was not the first who translated this tale of terror. Thereis in the collection of the late John, Duke of Roxburghe, "A NotableHistory of Nastagio and Traversari, no less pitiful than pleasaunt;translated out of Italian into English verse, by C. T. London, 1569. "

[12] "_Amor puo troppo piu, che ne voi ne io possiamo_. " This sentimentloses its dignity amid the "levelling of mountains and raising plains, "with which Dryden has chosen to illustrate it. 

[13] An emblem of a similar kind is said to have been found in thepalace of Tippoo Sultan. 

[14] As "Near bliss, and yet not blessed. " And this merciless quibble, where Arcite complains of the flames he endures for Emily:--

 "Of such a goddess no time leaves record, Who burnt the temple where she was adored. "--Vol. Xi. 

Yet Dryden, in the preface, declaims against the "_inopem me copiafecit_, " and similar jingles of Ovid. 

[15] [Transcriber's note: "See p. 258" in original. This is to be foundin Section VI. ]

[16] "The longest tyranny that ever swayed, Was that wherein our ancestors betrayed Their free-born reason to the Stagyrite, And made his torch their universal light. So truth, while only one supplied the state, Grew scarce, and dear, and yet sophisticate. Still it was bought, like emp'ric wares, or charms, Hard words sealed up with Aristotle's arms. "

[17] These I found quaintly summed up in an old rhyme: "With a red man read thy rede, With a brown man break thy bread, On a pale man draw thy knife, From a black man keep thy wife. "

[18] See the introduction to Britannia Rediviva, vol. X. 

[19] Vol. X. 

[20] It is twice stated in these volumes (p. 246, and vol. X. ), on theauthority of the "Life of Southerne, " that Dryden had originally fiveguineas for each prologue, and raised the sum to ten guineas on occasionof Southerne's requiring such a favour for his first play. But I amconvinced the sum is exaggerated; and incline now to believe, with Dr. Johnson, that the advance was from _two_ to _three_ guineas only. [Seenote _supra_, l. C. --ED. ]

[21] Life of Lucian, vol. Xviii. 

[22] [Is it possible that in this famous passage "Veer" is a clericalerror or a misprint for "Ware"? This would at once make sense and aliteral version. --ED. ]

[23] Poems from the Bannatyne Manuscript, p. 228. 

[24] Shakespeare has _capricious, conversation_, fatigate(if not _fatigue_), _figure, gallant, good graces; incendiary_ is inMinshew's "Guide to the Tongues, " ed. 1627. _Tender_ often occurs inShakespeare both as a substantive and verb. And many other of the abovewords may be detected by those who have time and inclination to searchfor them, in authors prior to Dryden's time. [See, for a discussion ofDryden's Gallicisms, vol. Xviii. Of the present edition. --ED. ]

[24] The remarkable phrase, "to possess the soul in patience, " occurs in"The Hind and Panther;" and in the Essay on Satire, vol. Xiii. , we havenearly the same expression. The image of a bird's wing flagging in adamp atmosphere occurs in Don Sebastian, and in prose elsewhere, thoughI have lost the reference. The same thought is found in "The Hind andPanther, " but is not there used metaphorically:--

 "Nor need they fear the dampness of the sky Should flag their wings, and hinder them to fly. "

Dryden is ridiculed by an imitator of Rabelais, for the recurrence ofthe phrase by which he usually prefaces his own defensive criticism:"_If it be allowed me to speak so much in my own commendation;--_ seeDryden's preface to his Fables, or to any other of his works that youplease. " The full title of this whimsical tract, from which Sterneborrowed several hints, is "An Essay towards the theory of theintelligible world intuitively considered. Designed for forty-nineparts. Part Third, consisting of a preface, a postscript, and a littlesomething between, by Gabriel Johnson; enriched by a faithful account ofhis ideal voyages, and illustrated with poems by several hands, aslikewise with other strange things not insufferably clever, norfuriously to the purpose; printed in the year 17, " etc. [The phrasementioned first is perhaps less remarkable than Scott's apparentforgetfulness of its Biblical origin. --ED. ]

[25] Introduction to Book Fifth of "Tom Jones. "

END OF VOLUME FIRST.