THE WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN. Janet JOHN DllYDE X .'"./>,..'-.' lie thanks ; nor will he be tempted to dir late farther on the liberality of the one, and the tried friendship of the other. It Vi ADVERTISEMENT. is possible, that these researches Inay, by their very nature, have in some degree warped the Editor's taste, and induced him to consider that as curious which was only scarce, and to reprint quotations, from the adversaries or contemporaries of Dryden, of a length more than sufficient to satisfy the reader of their un worthiness. But, as the painter places a human figure, to afford the means of computing the elevation of the principal object in his landscape, it seemed 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 supe- riors. For the same reason, there are thrown into the Appendix a few indiffei> ent verses to the poet's memory; which, while they show how much his loss was felt, point out, at the same time, the im- possibility of supplying it. AD VERT IS KM EXT. Vll In the Biographical Memoir, it would have been hard to exact, that the editor should rival the criticism of Johnson, or produce facts which had escaped the ac- curacy of Malone. While, however, he has availed himself of the labours of both, par- ticularly of the latter, whose industry has removed the cloud which so long hung over the events of Dryden's life, he has endea- voured to take a different and more enlar- ged view of the subject than that which his predecessors have presented. The general critical view of Dryden's works being sketch- ed by Johnson with unequalled felicity, and the incidents of his life accurately dis- cussed and ascertained by Malone, some- thing seemed to remain for him who should consider these literary productions in their succession, as actuated by, and operating upon, the taste of an age, where they had so predominant influence ; and who might, at the same time, connect the life of Dryden ADVERTISEMENT. with the history of his publications, with- out losing sight of the fate and character of the individual. How far this end has been attained, is not for the editor to guess, especially when, as usual at the close of a work, he finds he is possessed of double the information he had when he commenced it. The kindness of Mr Octavius Gilchrist, who undertook a journey to Northampton- shire to examine the present state of Rush- ton, where Dryden often lived, and of Mr JFinlay of Glasgow, who favoured the Edi- tor with the use of some original editions, falls here to be gratefully acknowleged. In collecting the poetry of Dryden, some hymns translated from the service of the Catholic church were recovered, by the fa- vour of Captain MacDonogh of the Inver- ness Militia. * As the body of the work * By the hands of Mrs Jackson, who has honoured me with a note, stating, that they are mentioned in Butler's " Tour ADVERTISEMENT. IX \vas then printed off, they were inserted in the Life of the Author ; but should a se- cond impression of this edition be required by the public, they shall be transferred to their proper place. To the Letters of Dry- den, published in Mr Malone's edition of his prose works, the Editor has been en- abled to add one article, by the favour of Mrs White of Bownanhall, Glocester- shire. Those preserved at Knowles were examined at the request of a noble friend, and the contents appeared unfit for publi- cation. Dryden's translations of Fresnoy's Art of Painting, and of the Life of Xavier, are inserted without abridgment, for rea- sons which are elsewhere alleged. -j* From through Italy ;" that after Butler's death, the translations pass- ed into the hands of the celebrated Dr Alban, whence they were transferred to those of the present possessor. t Vol. I. p. 336, Vol. XVII. p. 281. X ADVERTISEMENT. the version of Maimbourg's " History of the League," there is an extract given, which may be advantageously read along with the Duke of Guise, and the Vindica- tion of that play. The prefaces and dedica- tions are, of course, prefixed to the pieces to which they belong ; but those who mean to study them with reference to thea- trical criticism, will do well to follow the order recommended by Mr Malone. *. Several pieces published in Derrick's edition of Dry den's poetry, being obviously spurious, are here published separately from his authentic poetry, and with a suitable note of suspicion prefixed to each. They might indeed have been altogether dis- * Which is, the Essay of Dramatic Poesy, the Defence of that Essay, the Preface to the Mock Astrologer, the Essay on Heroic Plays, the Defence of the Epilogue to the Second Part of the Conquest of Granada, the Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy, and the Answer to Rymer. ADVERTISEMENT. XI carded without diminishing the value of the work. Some account might be here given of the various editions of Dry den's poems ; but notices of this kind have been liberal- ly scattered through the Life and prelimi- nary matter. Upon the whole, it is hoped, that as the following is the first complete edition of the Works of Dryden, it will be found, in accu- racy of text and copiousness of illustration, not altogether unworthy of the time, la- bour, and expence which have been un- grudgingly bestowed upon an object, so im- portant to English literature. CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST. PAGE. The Life of John Dryden ^ 1 SECT. I. Preliminary remarks on the Poetry of England before the Civil Wars The Life of Dryden from his Birth till the Re- storation His Early Poems, including the Annus M irabilis, SECT. II. Revival of the Drama at the Re- storation Heroic Plays Comedies of In- trigue Commencement of Dryden's Dra- matic Career The Wild Gallant Rival Ladies Indian Queen and Emperor Dryden's Marriage Essay on Dramatic Poetry, and subsequent Controversy with Sir Robert Howard The Maiden Queen The Tempest Sir Martin Mar-all The Mock Astrologer The Royal Martyr The two Parts of the Conquest of Grana- da Dryden's situation at this period ... XIV CONTENTS. FACE. SECT. III. Heroic Plays The Rehearsal Marriage A-la-mode The Assignation Controversy with Clifford with Leigh- with Ravenscroft Massacre of Amboyna State of Innocence 118 SECT. IV. Dryden's controversy with Settle with Rochester he is assaulted in Rose- street Aureng-Zebe Dry den meditates an Epic Poem All for Love Limberham (Edipus TroilusandCressida The Spa- nish Friar Dryden supposed to be in op- position to the Court 180 SECT. V. Dryden engages in Politics Absa- lom and Achitophel, Part First The Me- dal Mac-Flecknoe Absalom and Achi- tophel, Part Second The Duke of Guise, 239 SECT. VI. Threnodia Augustalis Albion and Albanius Dryden becomes a Catholic The Controversy of Dryden with Stilling- fleet The Hind and Panther Life of St Francis Xavier Consequences of the Re- volution to Dryden Don Sebastian King Arthur Cieomenes Love Triumphant, . . 298 SECT. VII. State of Dryden's Connections in Society after the Revolution Juvenal and Persius Smaller Pieces Eleanora Third Miscellany Virgil Ode to St Cecilia Dispute with Milbourne With Black- more Fables The Author's Death and Funeral His Private Character Notices of his Family, 36<) SECT. VIII. The State of Dryden's Reputa- tion at his Death, and afterwards The ge- CONTENTS. XV PAGE. ncral Character of his Mind His Merit as a Dramatist As a Lyrical Poet As a Sa- tirist As a Narrative Poet As a Philoso- phical and Miscellaneous Poet As a Trans- lator As a Prose Author As a Critic, . . 470 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 " Annm Mirabilis" 1 HE Life of Dryden may be said to comprehend a history of the literature of England, and its changes, during nearly half a century. While his great contemporary Milton was in silence- and secrecy laying the foundation of that im- mortal fame, which no poet has so highly de- served, Dryden's labours were ever in the eye of 4 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. the public ; and he maintained, from the time of the Restoration till his death, in 1700, a decided and acknowledged superiority over all the poets of his age. As he wrote from necessity, he was obliged to pay a certain deference to the public opinion ; for he, whose bread depends upon the success of his volume, is compelled to study po- pularity : but, on the other hand, his better judgment was often directed to improve that of his readers ; so that he alternately influenced and stooped to the national taste of the day. If, therefore, we would know the gradual changes which took place in our poetry during the above period, we have only to consult the writings of an author, who produced yearly some new per- formance, allowed to be most excellent in the particular style which was fashionable for the time. It is the object of this memoir to connect, with the account of Dryden's life and publica- tions, such a general view of the literature of the time, as may enable the reader to estimate how far the age was indebted to the poet, and how far the poet was influenced by the taste * and manners of the age. A few preliminary re- marks on the literature of the earlier part of the seventeenth century will form a necessary intro- duction to this biographical memoir. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 5 When James I. ascended the throne of Eng- land, he came to rule a court and people, as much distinguished for literature as for commerce and arms. Shakespeare was in the zenith of his reputation, and England possessed other poets inferior to Shakespeare alone ; or, indeed, the higher order of whose plays may claim to be ranked above the inferior dramas ascribed to him. Among these we may reckon Massinger, who approached to Shakespeare in dignity ; Beaumont and Fletcher, who surpassed him in drawing fe- male characters, and those of polite and courtly life ; and Jonson, who attempted to supply, by depth of learning, and laboured accuracy of cha- racter, the want of that flow of imagination, which nature had denied to him. Others, who flourished in the reign of James and his son, though little known to the general readers of the present age even by name, had a just claim to be distinguished from the common herd of authors. Ford, Webster, Marston, Brome, Shir- ley, even Chapman and Decker, added lustre to the stage for which they wrote. The drama, it is true, was the branch of poetry most success- fully cultivated; for it afforded the most ready appeal to the public taste. The number of thea- tres then open in all parts of the city, secured to (T LIFE OF JOHN 'DllYDEN. the adventurous poet the means of having his performance represented upon one stage or other ; and he was neither tired nor disgusted by the difficulties, and disagreeable observances, which must now be necessarily undergone by every candidate for dramatic laurels. * But, although during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James I. the stage seems to have afforded the principal employment of the poets, there wanted not many who cultivated, with success, the other depart- ments of Parnassus. It is only necessary to name Spenser, whose magic tale continues to in- terest us, in despite of the languor of a continued allegory ; Dray ton, who, though less known, possesses perhaps equal powers of poetry ; Beau- mont the elder, whose poem on Bosworth Field carries us back to the days of the Plantagenets ; * I do not pretend to enter into the question of the effect of the drama upon morals. If this shall be found prejudicial, two theatres are too many. But, in the present woeful decline of theatrical exhibition, we may be permitted to remember, that the gardener who wishes to have a rare diversity of a common flower, sows whole beds with the species; and that the monopoly granted to two huge theatres must necessarily diminish, in a compli- cated ratio, both the number of play writers, and the chance of any thiug very excellent being brought forward. LIFE OF JOHN DIIYDEN, / Fairfax, the translator of Tasso, the melody of whose numbers became the model of Waller ; besides many others, who ornamented this aera of British literature. Notwithstanding the splendour of these great names, it must be confessed, that one common fault, in a greater or less degree, pervaded the most admired poetry of Queen Elizabeth's age. This was the fatal propensity to false uit ; to substitute, namely, strange and unexpected con- nections of sound, or of idea, for real humour, and even for the effusions of the stronger pas- sions. It seems likely that this fashion arose at court, a sphere in which its denizens never think they move with due lustre, until they have adopt- ed a form of expression, as well as a system of manners, different from that which is proper to mankind at large. In Elizabeth's reign, the court language was formed on the plan of one Lillie, a pedantic courtier, who wrote a book, entitled " Euphues and his England, or the Anatomy of Wit ;" which quality he makes to consist in the indulgence of every monstrous and over- strained conceit, that can be engendered by a strong memory and a heated brain, applied to the absurd purpose of hatching unnatural con- $ LIFZ OF JOHN DRYDEtf. ceits. * It appears, that this fantastical person had a considerable share in determining the false taste of his age, which soon became so general, that the tares which sprung from it are to be found even among the choicest of the wheat. Shakespeare himself affords us too many instances of this fashionable heresy in wit; and he, who could create new worlds out of his own imagina- tion, descended to low, and often ill-timed puns and quibbles. This was not an evil to be cured by the accession of our Scottish James, whose qualifications as a punster were at least equal to his boasted king-craft, f The false taste, which * Our deserved idolatry of Shakespeare and Milton was equal- led by that paid to this pedantic coxcomb in his own time. He is called, in the title 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 unparalulled John Lillie." Moreover, his editor, Mr Blount, assures us, " that he sate at Apollo's table ; that Apollo gave him a wreath of his own bays without snatching; and that the lyre he 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 were then his scholars ; and that beauty iti court who could notparlc Euphuism, was as little re- garded, as she which now there speaks not French." f So that learned and sapient monarch was pleased to call his skill in politics. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 9 had been gaining ground even in the reign of Elizabeth, now overflowed the whole kingdom with the impetuosity of a land-flood. These outrages upon language were committed with- out regard to time and place. They were held good arguments at the bar, though Bacon sat on the woolsack; and eloquence irresistible by the most hardened sinner, when King or Corbet were in the pulpit. * Where grave and learned professions set the example, the poets, it will readily be believed, ran headlong into an error, for which they could plead such respectable ex- ample. The affectation "of the word" and " of the letter," for alliteration was almost as fashion- * Witness a sermon preached at St Mary's before the uni- versity of Oxford. It is true the preacher was a layman, and harangued in a gold chain, and girt with a sword, as high she- rift' of the county ; but his eloquence was highly applauded by the learned body whom he addressed, although it would have startled a modern audience, at least as much as the 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 some fine biscuits, baked in the oven of charity, carefully conserved for the chickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet swallows of salvation." " Which way of preaching," says Anthony Wood, the reporter of the homily, " was then mostly in fashit n, and commended by the generality of scLo- lars." AthoiK Oron. Vol. I. p. l&3. 10 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEJT. able as punning, seemed, in some degree, to bring back English composition to the barbarous rules of the ancient Anglo-Saxons, the merit of whose poems consisted, not in the ideas, but in the quaint arrangement of the words, and the regular recurrence of some favourite sound or letter. This peculiar taste for twisting and playing upon words, instead of applying them to their natural and proper use, was combined with the similar extravagance of those whom Dr Johnson has entitled Metaphysical Poets. This class of au- thors used the same violence towards images and ideas which had formerly been applied to words; in truth, the two styles were often .combined, and, even when separate, had a kindred alliance with each other. It is the business of the punster to discover and yoke together two words, which, while they have some resemblance in sound, the more exact the better, convey a totally different signification. The metaphysical poet, on the other hand, piqued himself in discovering hidden resemblances between ideas apparently the most dissimilar, and in combining, by some violent and compelled association, illustrations and allusions utterly foreign from each other. Thus did the metaphysical poet resemble the quibbler, exer- LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. 1 1 cising precisely the same tyranny over ideas, which the latter practised upon sounds only. Jonson gave an early example of metaphysical poetry ; indeed, it was the natural resource of a mind amply stored with learning, gifted with a tenacious memory and the power of constant la- bour, but to which was denied that vivid per- ception of what is naturally beautiful, and that happiness of expression, which at once conveys to the reader the idea of the poet. These latter qualities unite in many passages of Shakespeare, of which the reader at once acknowledges the beauty, the justice, and the simplicity. But such Jonson was unequal to produce; and he substituted the strange, forced, and most unna- tural, though ingenious analogies, which were afterwards copied by Donne and Cowley. * In reading Shakespeare, we often meet passages so congenial to our nature and feelings, that, beau- tiful as they are, we can hardly help wondering they did not occur to ourselves; in studying Jonson, we have often to marvel how his concep- * Look at Ben Jonson's " Ode to the Memory of Sir Lucius Carey and Sir H. Morison," and at most of his Pindarics. But Ben, when he pleased, could assume the garb of classic simpli- city ; witness many of his lesser poem?. i 1* LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. tions could have 'occurred to any human being. The one is like an ancient statue, the beauty of which, springing from the exactness of propor- tion, does not always strike at first sight, but rises upon us as we bestow time in considering it ; the other is the representation of a monster, which is at first only surprising, and ludicrous or disgusting ever after. When the taste for sim- o o plicity, however, is once destroyed, it is long ere a nation recovers it ; and the metaphysical poets seem to have retained possession of the public favour from the reign of James I. till the begin- ning of the Civil Wars silenced the muses. The universities were perhaps to blame during this period of usurpation ; for which it may be ad- mitted in excuse, that the metaphysical poetry could only be practised by men whose minds were deeply stored with learning, and who could boldly draw upon a large fund of acquired knowledge for supplying the expenditure of far-fetched and extravagant images, which their compositions required. The book of Nature is before all men ; but when her limits are to be overstepped, the acquirement of adventitious knowledge becomes of paramount necessity ; and it was but natural that Cambridge and Oxford should prize a style LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 13 of poetry, to which depth of learning was abso- lutely indispensible. I have stated, that the metaphysical poetry was fashionable during the early part of Charles the First's reign. It is true, that Milton descended to upbraid that unfortunate prince, that the chosen companion of his private hours was one JVilliam Shakespeare, a player ; but Charles ad- mitted less sacred poets to share his partiality. Ben Jonson supplied his court with masques, and his pageants with verses ; and, notwithstanding an ill-natured story, shared no inconsiderable por- tion of his bounty.* Donne, a leader among the metaphysical poets, with whom King James had punned and quibbled in person, f shared, in a * In Jonson's last illness, Charles is said to have sent him ten pieces. " He sends me so miserable a donation," said the ex- piring satirist, "because I am poor, and live in an alley; go back and tell him, his soul lives in an alley." Whatever be the truth of this tradition, we know, from an epigram by Jonson, that the king at one time gave him an hundred pounds; no trifling gift for a poor bard, even in the present day. t " About a year after his return out of Germany, Dr Gary was made bishop of Exeter; and by his removal, the deanry of St Paul's being vacant, the king sent to Dr Donne, and ap- pointed him to attend him at dinner the next day. When his majesty was sate down, before he had cat any meat, he said, after his pleasant manner, ' Dr Donne, I have invited you to 14 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. remarkable degree, the good graces of Charles I., who may therefore be supposed no enemy to his vein of poetry, although neither his sincere piety nor his sacred office restrained him from fantastic indulgence in extravagant conceit, even upon the most solemn themes which can be selected for poetry. * Cowley, who, with the learning and acuteness of Donne, possessed the more poetical qualities of a fertile imagination, and frequent happiness of expression, and who claims the highest place of all who ever plied the unprofit- able trade of combining dissimilar and repugnant ideas, was not indeed known to the king during his prosperity ; but his talents recommended him dinner ; and though you sit not down with me, yet I will carve to you of a dish that I know you love well ; for knowing you Jove London, I do therefore make you dean of Paul's ; and when I have dined, then do you take your beloved dish home to your study; say grace there to yourself, and much good may it do you." WALLON'S Life oj Donne. * See his " Verses to Mr George Herbert, sent him with one pf my seals of the anchor and Christ. A sheaf of snakes used heretofore to be my seal, which is the crest of our poor family." Upon the subject of this 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, Dors by that form into an anchor grow : Crosses grow anchors ; bear as tliou shouldst do Thy cross, and that cross grows an anchor too, &o- LIFE OP JOI1K DRYDEN. 15 at the military court of Oxford, and the most ingenious poet of the metaphysical class enjoyed the applause of Charles before he shared the exile of his consort Henrietta. Cleveland also was honoured with the early notice of Charles ; f one of the most distinguished metaphysical bards, who afterwards exerted his talents of wit and satire upon the royal side, and strained his ima- gination for extravagant invective against the Scottish army, who sold their king, and the par- liament leaders, who bought him. All these, and others unnecessary to mention, were read and respected at court ; being esteemed by their contemporaries, and doubtless believing them' selves, the wonder of their own, and the pattern of succeeding ages ; and however much they might differ from each other in parts and genius, they sought the same road to poetical fame, by start- ing the most unnatural images which their ima- ginations could conceive, or by hunting more common allusions through the most minute and circumstantial particulars and ramifications. Yet, though during the age of Charles I. the metaphysical poets enjoyed the larger proportion of public applause, authors were not wanting who sought other modes of distinguishing them- } See his Life, prefixed to h>s Poems, 12mo. 1677- 16 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. selves. Milton, who must not be named in the same paragraph with others, although he had not yet meditated the sublime work which was to cany his name to immortality, disdained, even in his lesser compositions, the preposterous con- ceits and learned absurdities, by which his con- temporaries acquired distinction. Some of his slighter academic prolusions are, indeed, tinged with the prevailing taste of his age, or, perhaps, were written in ridicule of it ; but no circum- stance in his life is more remarkable, than that " Comws," the " Monody on Lyeidas," the "Allegro and Penseroso," and the " Hymn to the Nativity," are unpolluted by the metaphysical jargon and af- fected language which the age esteemed indispen- sible to poetry. This refusal to bend to an evil so prevailing, and which held out so many temp- tations to a youth of learning and genius, can only be ascribed to the natural chastity of Mil- ton's taste, improved by an earnest and eager study of the purest models of antiquity. But besides Milton, who stood aloof and alone, there was a race of lesser poets, who endeavour- ed to glean ^the refuse of the applause reaped by Donne, Cowley, and their followers, by adopting ornaments which the latter had neglected, per- haps, because they could be attained without LIFE OF JOHN DUTDEN*. 17 much labour or abstruse learning. The metaphy- sical poets, in their slip shod pinclarics, had to- tally despised, not only smoothness and elegance, but the common rythm of versification. Many and long passages may be read without perceiving the least difference between them and barbarous jingling, ill-regulated prose; and in appearance, though the lines be divided into unequal lengths, the eye and ear acknowledge little difference be- tween them and the inscription on a tomb-stone. In a word, not only harmony of numbers, but numbers themselves, were altogether neglected ; or if an author so far respected ancient practice as to make lines which could be scanned like verse, he had done his part, and was perfectly in- different, although they sounded like prose.* But * It is pleasing to see the natural good taste of honest old Isaac Walton struggling against that of his age. He introduces the beautiful lines, " Come live with me, and be my love," as " that smooth song made by Kit Marlow, n6\v at least fifty years ago." " The milkmaid's mother," he adds, " sung an an- swer to it, which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days. They were old-fashioned poetry, 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. VOL. I. B 18 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. as melody will be always acceptable to the ear, some poets chose this neglected road to fame, and gained a portion of public favour, by at- tending to the laws of harmony, which their ri- vals had discarded. Waller and Denham were the first who thus distinguished themselves ; but, as Johnson happily remarks, what was acquired by Denham, was inherited by Waller. Some- thing there was in the situation of both these au- thors, which led them to depart from what was then the beaten path of composition. They were men of rank, wealth, and fashion, and had ex^ perienced all the interruptions to deep study, with which such elevated station is naturally at- tended. It was in vain for Waller, a wit, a cour- tier, and a politician ; or for Denham, who was only distinguished at the university as a dream- ing, dissipated gambler, to attempt to rival the metaphysical subtleties of Donne and Cowley, who had spent serious and sequestered lives in acquiring the knowledge and learning which they squandered in their poetry. Necessity, therefore, and perhaps a dawning of more simple taste, im- pelled these courtly poets to seek another and more natural mode of pleasing. The melody of verse was a province unoccupied, and Waller, forming his rythm upon the modulation of Fair* LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 19 fax, and other poets of the maiden reign, exhibit- ed in his very first poem* striking marks of at- tention to the suavity of numbers Denham, in his dedication to Charles II., informs us, that the indulgence of his poetical vein had drawn the notice, although accompanied with the gentle censure, of Charles I., when, in 1647, he obtained access to his person by the intercession of Hugh Peters. Suckling, whom Dryden has termed " a sprightly wit, and a courtly writer,' may be add- ed to the list of smooth and easy poets of the pe- riod, and had the same motives as Denham and Waller for attaching himself to that style of composition. He was allowed to have the pecu- liar art of making whatever he did become him ; and it cannot be doubted, that his light and airy style of ballads and sonnets had many admirers. Upon the whole, this class of poets, although they hardly divided the popular favour with the others, were also noticed and applauded. Thus the poets of the earlier part of the seventeenth cen- tury may be divided into one class, who sacrificed both sense and sound to the exercise of extrava- " A Poem on the Danger Charles I., being Prince, escaped in the Road at St Andero." LIFE OF JOHN DHYDEN. galit, though ingenious, associations of imagery ; and a second, who, aiming to distinguish them- selves by melody of versification, were satisfied with light and trivial subjects, and too often contented with attaining smoothness of measure, neglected the more essential qualities of poetry. The intervention of the civil wars greatly inter- rupted the study of poetry. The national atten- tion was called to other objects, and those who, in the former peaceful reigns, would have per- haps distinguished themselves as poets and dra- matists, were now struggling for fame in the field, or declaiming for power in the senate. The manners of the prevailing party, their fanatical detestation of every thing like elegant or literary amusement, their affected horror at stage repre- sentations, which at once silenced the theatres, and their contempt for profane learning, which degraded the universities, all operated, during the civil wars and succeeding usurpation, to check the pursuits of the poet, by withdrawing that public approbation, which is the best, and often the sole, reward of his labour. There was, at this time, a sort of interregnum in the public taste, as well as in its government. The same poets were no doubt alive who had distinguished themselves at the court of Charles : but Cowley LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. 21 and Denham were exiled with their sovereign; Waller was awed into silence, by the rigour of the puritanic spirit ; and even the muse of Milton was scared from him by the clamour of religious and political controversy, and only returned, like a sincere friend, to cheer the adversity of one who had neglected her during his career of worldly importance. During this period, the most unfavourable to literature which had occurred for at least two centuries, Dryden, the subject of this memoir, was gradually and silently imbibing those stores of learning, and cultivating that fancy which was to do so much to further the reformation of taste and poetry. It is now time to state his de- scent and parentage. The name of Dryden is local, and probably ori- ginated in the north of England, where, as well as in the neighbouring counties of Scotland, it frequently occurs, though it is not now borne by any person of distinction. David Driden, or Dry- den, married the daughter of William Nicholson of Staff-hill, in the county of Cumberland, and was the great-great-grandfather of our poet. John Dryden, eldest son of David, settled in North- amptonshire, where he acquired the estate of Ca- nons- Ashby, by marriage with Elizabeth, daughter 22 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. and heiress of Sir John Cope of that county. Wood says, that John Dryden was by profession a schoolmaster, and honoured with the friendship of the great Erasmus, who stood godfather to one of his sons.* He appears, from some passages in his will, to have entertained the puritanical principles, which, we shall presently find, descend- ed to his family-t Erasmus Driden, his eldest son, succeeded to the estate of Canons-Ashby, was high-sheriff of Northamptonshire in the for- tieth year of Queen Elizabeth, and was created a knight baronet in the seventeenth of King James I. Sir Erasmus married Frances, second daughter and co- heiress of William Wilkes of Hodnell, in War- wickshire, by whom he had three sons, first, Sir John Driden, his successor in the title and estate of Canons Ashby ; second, William Driden of Farndon, in Northamptonshire ; third, Erasmus * Fttsti Oxon. vol. i. p. 115. Considering John Dryden's marriage with the heiress of a man of knightly rank, it seems unlikely that he followed the profession of a schoolmaster. But Wood could hardly be mistaken in the second circumstance, some of the family having gloried in it in his hearing. f See Collins' Baronetage, vol. ii. The testator bequeaths his soul to his Creator, with this singular expression of confidence, " the Holy Ghost assuring my spirit, that I am the elect of God." LIFE OF JOHN DKYDEJT. 23 Driclen of Tichmarsh, in the same county. The last of these was the father of the poet. Erasmus Driclen married Mary, the daughter of the reverend Henry Pickering, younger son of Sir Gilbert Pickering, a person who, though in considerable favour with James I., was a zealous puritan, and so noted for opposition to the Ca- tholics, that the conspirators in the Gunpowder Treason, his own brother-in-law being one of the number,* had resolved upon his individual murder, as an episode to the main plot ; determi- ned so to conduct it, as to throw the suspicion of the destruction of the Parliament upon the pu- ritans, f These principles, we shall soon see, be- * Robert Keies, executed 31st January 1606, of whom Ful- ler, in his Church History, tells the following anecdote: " A few days before the fatal blow should have been given, Keies, being at Tichmarsh, in Northamptonshire, at his brother-in- law's house, Mr Gilbert Pickering, a Protestant, he suddenly whipped out his sword, and in merriment made many offers therewith at the heads, necks, and sides, of several gentlemen and ladies then in his company. It was then taken for a mere frolic, and so passed accordingly; but afterwards, when the treason was discovered, such as remembered his gestures thought he practised what he intended to do when the plot should take effect ; that is, to hack and hew, kill and destroy, all eminent persons of a different religion from himself." Caulfield's History of the Gunpowder Plot. t The following curious story is told to that effect, in Caul- field's History of the Gunpowder Plot, p. 67 : 24 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. came hereditary in the family of Pickering. Mr Malone's industry has collected little concerning our author's maternal grandfather, excepting, that " There was a Mr Pickering of Tich marsh-Grove, in North- amptonshire, who was in great esteem with King James. This . ]\lr Pickering had a horse of special note for swiftness, on which he used to hunt with the king. A little before the blow was to be given, Mr Keies, one of the conspirators, and brother-in-law to Mr Pickering, borrowed this horse of him, and conveyed him to London upon a bloody design, which was thus contrived : Fawkes, upon the day of the fatal blow, was appointed to retire himself into St George's Fields, where this horse was to attend him, to further his escape (as they made him believe,) as soon as the Parliament should be blown up. It was likewise contri- ved, that Mr Pickering, who was noted for a puritan, should that morning be murdered in his bed, and secretly conveyed away ; and also that Fawkes, as soon as he came into St George's Fields, should be there murdered, and so mangled, that he could not be known ; upon which, it was to be spread abroad, that the puritans had blown up the parliament-house ; and the bet- ter to make the world believe it, there was Mr Pickering, with his choice horse ready to escape. But that stirred up some, who seeing the heinousness of the fact, and him ready to escape, in detestation of so horrible a deed, fell upon him, and hewed him to pieces; and to make it more clear, there was his horse, knewn to be of special speed and swiftness, ready to carry him away ; and upon this rumour, a massacre should have gone through the whole land upon the puritans. " When the contrivance of this plot was discovered by some of the conspirators, and Fawkes, who was now a prisoner in the Tower, made acquainted with it, whereas before he was made to believe by hii companions, that he should be bountifully re- warded for that his good service to the Catholic cause, now per- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEJT. 25 he was born in 1384; named minister of Old- winkle All-Saints in 164-7; and died in 1657. From the time when he attained this preferment, it is highly prohable, that he had been recom- mended to it by the puritanical tenets which he doubtless held in common with the rest of his family. Of the poet's father, Erasmus, we know even less than of his other relations. He acted as a jus- tice of peace during the usurpation, and was the father of no less than fourteen children ; four sons and ten daughters. The sons were John, Erasmus, Henry, and James ; the daughters, Ag- nes, Rose, Lucy, Mary, Martha, Elizabeth, Hes- ter, Hannah, Abigail, Frances. Such anecdotes concerning them as my predecessors have reco- vered, may be found in the note.* ceiving, that, on the contrary, his death had been contrived by them, he thereupon freely confessed all that he knew con- cerning that horrid conspiracy, which before all the torments of the rack could not force him to do. " The truth of this was attested by Mr William Perkins, who had it from Mr Clement Cotton, to whom Mr Pickering gave the above relation." * Erasmus, the poet's immediate younger brother, was in trade, and resided in King-street, Westminster. He succeeded to the family title and estate upon the death of Sir John Dry- den, and died at the seat of Canons-Ashby 3d November, 1718, gr> LIJE OF JOHN DRYDEff. JOHN DRYDEN, the subject of this memoir, was born at the parsonage house of Oldwinkle All-Saints, on or about the yth day of August 1631. The village then belonged to the family of Exeter, as we are informed by the poet him- self in the postscript to his Virgil. That his fa- mily were Puritans may readily be admitted; but that they were Anabaptists, although confidently asserted by some of our author's political or poeti- cal antagonists, appears altogether improbable. Notwithstanding, therefore, the sarcasm of the Duke of Buckingham, the register of Oldwinkle All-Saints parish, had it been in existence, would leaving one daughter and five grandsons- Henry, the poet* third brother, went to Jamaica, and died there, leaving a son, Richard. James, the fourth of the sons, was a tobacconist in London, and died there, leaving two daughters. Of the daughter, Mr Malone, after Oldys, says, that Agnes married Sylvester Emeiyn of Stanford, Gent. ; that Rose married Laughton of Calworth, D.D., in the county of Huntington ; that Lucy be- came the wife of Stephen Umwell of London, merchant ; and Martha of Bletso of Northampton. Another of the daughters was married to one Shermardine, a bookseller in Little Britain ; and Frances, the youngest, to Joseph Sandwell, a tobacconist in Newgate street. This last died 10th October 1730, at the advanced age of ninety. She had survived the poet about thirty years. Of the remaining four sisters, no notices occur. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. S7 probably have contained the record of our poet's baptism.* Dryden seems to have received the rudiments of his education at Tichmarsh,| and was admit- ted a king's scholar at Westminster, under the tuition of the celebrated Dr Bushby, for whom he ever afterwards entertained the most sincere veneration. One of his letters to his old master is addressed, " Honoured Sir," and couched in terms of respect, and even humility, fully suffi- cient for the occasion. Another written by Dry- den, when his feelings were considerably irritated by a supposed injustice done to his son, is neverthe* less qualified by great personal deference to his old * " And though no wit can 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 chriitened) does by name of John. Poetical Reflections, $c. See vol. it. p. *72, Another opponent of our author calls him " A bristled Baptist bred, and then thy strain Immaculate was free from sinful stain." The Laureat, Tol. x. p. 105. t Upon a monument, erected by Elizabeth Creed to the poet's memory in the church at Tichmarsh, are these words : " W boast that he was bred and had his first learning here." 28 LIFE OF JOHif DRYDEKV preceptor. It may be readily supposed, that such a scholar, under so able a teacher, must have made rapid progress in classical learning. The bent of the juvenile poet, even at this early pe- riod, distinguished itself. He translated the third satire of Persius, as a Thursday night's task, and executed many other exercises of the same nature, in English verse, none of which are now in exist- ence.* During the last year of his residence at Westminster, the death of Henry Lord Has- tings, a young nobleman of great learning, and much beloved, called forth no less than ninety- eight elegies, one of which was written by our poet, then about eighteen years old. They were published in 1650, under the title of " Lachrym& Musarumr Dryden, having obtained a Westminster scho- larship, was admitted to Trinity College, Cam- bridge, on the llth May, 1650, his tutor being the reverend John Templer, M.A., a man of some * " I remember (says Dryden, in a postscript to the argu- ment of the third satire of Perseus) I translated this satire when I was a King's scholar at Westminster school, for Thursday night's exercise; and believe, that it, and many other of my ex- ercises of this nature in English verse, are still in the hands of jny learned master, the Rev. Dr Bushby." LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 29 learning, who wrote a Latin Treatise in confuta- tion of Hobbes, and a few theological tracts and single sermons. While at college, our author's con- duct seems not to have been uniformly regular. He was subjected to slight punishment for contu- macy to the vice-master, * and seems, according to the statement of an obscure libeller, to have been engaged in some public and notorious dis- pute with a nobleman's son, probably on account of the indulgence of his turn for satire, f He took, however, the degree of. Bachelor, in Janu- ary 1653-4, but neither became Master of Arts, J * The following order is quoted, by Mr Malone, from the Conclusion-book, in the archives of Trinity College, p. 221. " July ip, 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, with- out 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." f Shadwell, in the Medal of John Bayes, " At Cambridge firsl your scurrilous vein began, Where saucily you traduced a nobleman; Who far that crime rebuked you on the head, And you had been expelled, had you not fled." t lie received this degree by dispensation from the Arch- bishop of Canterbury. 30 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. or a fellow of the university, and certainly never retained for it much of that veneration usually paid by an English scholar to his Alma Mater. He often celebrates Oxford, but only mentions Cambridge as the contrast of the 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/' * A preference so uncommon, in one who had studied at Cambridge, probably originated in some cause of disgust, which we may now search for in vain. In June 1654, the death of his father, Erasmus Dry den, proved a temporary interruption to our author's studies. He left the university, on this occasion, to take possession of his inheritance, consisting of two-thirds of a small estate near Blakesley, in Northamptonshire, worth, in all, about sixty pounds a-year. The other third part of this small property was bequeathed to his mo- ther during her life, and the property reverted to the poet after her death in 1676. With this little Prologue to the University of Oxford, Vol. X. p. 385. LIFE OF JOHN DKYDEN. patrimony our author returned to Cambridge, where he continued until the middle of the year Although Dryden's residence at the university was prolonged to the unusual space of nearly se- ven years, we do not find, that he distinguished himself, during that time, by any poetical prolu- sions, excepting a few lines prefixed to a work, entitled, " Sion and Parnassus ; or Epigrams on several Texts of the Old and New Testaments,** published in 1650, by John Hoddesden.* Mr Ma- lone conjectures, that our poet would have con- tributed to the academic collection of verses, en- titled, ct Oliva Pacis," and published in 1654, on the peace between England and Holland, had not his father's death interfered at that period. It is probable, we lose but little by the disappearance * Jonathan Dryden, elected a scholar from Westminster into Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1656, of which he became fel- low in l6t)2, was author of some verses in the Cambridge Col- lections in l66l, on the death of the Duke of Gloucester, and the marriage of the Princess of Orange; and in l66'2, on the marriage of Charles II., which have been imputed to our author. An order, quoted by Mr Malone, for abatement of the com- mencement-money paid at taking the Bachelor's degree, on ac- count of poverty, applies to Jonathan, not to John Dryden, e, vol. i. p. 17. note. 52 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. of any occasional verses which may have been produced by Dryden at this time. The elegy on Lord Hastings, the lines prefixed to " Sion and Par- nassus," and some complimentary stanzas which occur in a letter to his cousin Honor Driden, would have been enough to assure us, even with- out his own testimony, that Cowiey was the dar- ling of his youth; and that he imitated his points of wit, and quirks of epigram, with a similar con- tempt for the propriety of their application. From these poems, we learn enough to be grateful, that Dryden was born at a later period in his cen- tury ; for had not the road to fame been altered in consequence of the Restoration, his extensive information and acute ingenuity would probably have betrayed the author of the " Ode to St Ce- cilia," and the father of English poetical harmony, into rivalling the metaphysical pindarics of Donne and Cowiey. The verses, to which we allude, dis- play their subtlety of thought, their puerile ex- travagance of conceit, and that structure of verse, which, as the poet himself says of Holydays trans- lations, has nothing of verse in it except the worst part of it the rhime, and that far from being unexceptionable. The following lines, in which the poet describes the death of Lord Has- LIFE OF JOHN DIIYDEN. 33 lings 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 naves on Venus' soil, One jewel set off with so many a foil ; Blisters with pride swelled, which th rough'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 iorctel his change drew on, Whose corpse might seem a constellation." This is exactly in the tone of Bishop Corbett's invective against the same disease: " Oh thou deformed unwoman-like disease, Thou plough's t up flesh and blood, and there sow'st pea"se; 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."* * Elegy on Lady Haddington, in Corbett's Poems, p. 121, Gilchrist's edition. VOL. I. C 34 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. After leaving the university, our author en- tered the world, supported by friends, from whose character, principles, and situation, it might have been prophesied, with probability, that his suc- cess in life, and his literary reputation, would have been exactly the reverse of what they ac- tually proved. Sir Gilbert Pickering was cousin- german to the poet, and also to his mother; thus standing related to Dryden in a double con- nection. * This gentleman was a staunch puri- tan, and having set out as a reformer, ended by being a regicide, and an abettor of the tyranny of Cromwell. He was one of the judges of the unfortunate Charles; and though he did not sit in that bloody court upon the last and fatal day, yet he seems to have concurred in the most vio- lent measures of the uneonscientious men who did so; He had been one of the parliamentary counsellors of state, and hesitated not to be num- bered among the godly and discreet persons who assisted Cromwell as a privy council. More- over, he was lord chamberlain of the Protector's * Sir John Pickering, father of Sir Gilbert, married Susan, ths sister of Erasmus Dryden, the poet's father. But Mary Pick- ering, the poet's mother, was niece to Sir John Pickering ; and thus bis son Sir Gilbert was her cousin-german also- 11 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEIT. 35 court, and received the honour of his mock peer- age. The patronage of such a person was more likely to have elevated Dry den to the temporal greatness and wealth acquired hy the sequestra- tors and committee-men of that oppressive time, than to have aided him in attaining the summits of Parnassus. For, according to the slight re- cords Which Mr Malone has recovered concern- ing Sir Gilbert Pickering's character, it would seem, that, to the hard, precise, fanatical con- tempt of every illumination, save the inward light, which he derived from his sect, he added the properties of a fiery temper, and a rude and savage address. * In what capacity Dryden lived * In one lampoon, he is called " fiery Pickering." Walker, in his " Sufferings of the Clergy," prints Jeremiah Steven's ac- count of the Northamptonshire committee of sequestration, in which the character of Pickering, one of the members of that oppressive body, is thus drawn : " Sir G : P had an uncle, whose ears were cropt for a libel on Archbishop Whitgifl ; was first a presbyterian, then an independent, then a Brownist, and afterwards an anabaptist. He was a most fu- rious, fiery, implacable man; was the principal agent in casting out most of the learned clergy ; a great oppressor of the coun- try > got a good manor for his booty of the E. of R. and a considerable purse of gold by a plunder at Lynn in Norfolk." He is thus characterized by an angry limb of the common- 36 LIFE OF JOHX DRY DEN. with his kinsman, or to what line of life circum- stances seemed to destine the future poet, we are left at liberty to conjecture. Shadwell, the virulent antagonist of our author, has called him Sir Gilbert Pickering's clerk; and it is indeed highly probable, that he was employed as his ama- nuensis, 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. wealth, whose republican spirit was incensed by Cromwell cre- ating a peerage : " Sir Gilbert Pickering, knight of the old stamp, and of considerable revenue in Northamptonshire ; one of the Long Parliament, and a great stickler in the change of the government from kingly to that of a commonwealth; helped to make those laws of treason against kingship ; has also changed with all changes that have been since. He was one of the Little Parliament, and helped to break it, as also of all the parliaments since ; is one of the Protector's council, (his salary L. 1000 per annum, besides other places,) and as if he had been pinned to this slieve, was never to seek ; is become high steward of Westminster ; and being so finical, spruce, and like an old courtier, is made lord-chamberlain of the Protector's household or court ; so that he may well be counted lit and worthy to be taken out of the House to have a negative voice in the other House, though he helped to destroy it in the king and lords. There are more besides him, that make themselves transgres- sors by building again the things which they once destroyed." Quoted by Mr Malone from a rare pamphlet in his collection, entitled " A Second Narrative of the lute Parliament, l65S." LIFE *F JOHN DRYDEN. 37 But I cannot, with Mr Malone, interpret the same passage, by supposing the third line of the triplet to apply to Dryden. Had he been ac- tually a member of a committee of sequestra- tion, that circumstance would never have remain- ed in the dubious obscurity of Shadwell's po- etry; it would have been as often echoed and re-echoed, as every other incident of the poet's life, which was capable of bearing an unfavour- able interpretation. I incline therefore to be- lieve, that the terms sequestrator and committee- man apply not to the poet, but to his patron Sir Gilbert, to whom their propriety cannot be doubt- ed. Sir Gilbert Pickering was not our author's only relation at the court of Cromwell. The chief of his family, Sir John Driden, elder brother of the poet's father, was also a flaming and bigotted puritan, * through whose gifts and merits his * Like Sir Gilbert Pickering, he was a member of the Nor- thamptonshire committee of sequestration, and his deeds are thus commemorated in Walker's " Sufferings of the Clergy :" " Sir J D- n was never noted for ability or dis- cretion ; was a puritan by tenure, his house (Canons Ashby) being an ancient college, where he possessed the church, and abused most part of it to profane uses : the chancel be turned 38 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. nephew might reasonably hope to attain prefer- ment. In a youth entering life under the pro- tection of such relations, who could have antici- pated the future dramatist and poet laureat, much less the advocate and martyr of prerogative and of the Stuart family, the convert and confessor of the Roman Catholic faith ? In his after career, his early connections with the puritans, and the principles of his kinsmen during the civil wars and usurpation, were often made subjects of re- proach, to which he never seems to have deigned an answer. * The death of Cromwell was the first theme of our poet's muse. Averse as the puritans were to any poetry, save that of Hopkins, of Withers, or of Wisdom, they may be reasonably supposed to a barn ; the body of it to a corn-chamber and storehouse, reserving one side aisle of it for the public service of prayers, c. He was noted for weakness and simplicity, and never put on any business of moment, but was very furious against the clergy." * In a satire called " The Protestant Poets," our author is thus contrasted with Sir Roger L'Estrange. In levelling his reproaches, the satirist was not probably very solicitous about genealogical accuracy; as, in the eighth line, I conceive Sir John Drydcn to be alluded to, although he is termed our poet's grandfather, when he was in fact his uncle. Sir Erasmus Dry- den was indeed a fanatic, and so was Henry Pickering, Dryden's LIFE OF JOHN DHYDEIC. 3JJ to have had some sympathy with Dryden's sor- row upon the death of Oliver, even although it vented itself in the profane and unprofitable shape of an elegy. But we. have no means of esti- mating its reception with the public, if, in truth, the public long interested themselves about the memory of Cromwell, while his relations and de- pendants presented to them the more animated and interesting spectacle of a struggle for his usurped power. Richard perhaps, and the im- mediate friends of the deceased Protector, with such of Dryden's relations as were attached to his memory, may have thought, like the the tin- ker at the Taming of the Shrew, that this same paternal and maternal grandfather ; but neither were men 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. Not so forced BAYF.S, 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 slaeken'd speed remit, And cramp 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." 40 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. elegy was "marvellous good matter." It did not probably attract much general attention. The first edition, in 1&>9, is extremely rare : it was reprint- ed, however, along with those of Sprat and Waller, in the course of the same year. After the Re- storation this piece fell into a state of oblivion, from which it may be believed that the author, who had seen a new light in politics, was by no means solicitous to recal it. His political anta- gonist did not, however, fail to awaken its me- mory, when Dryden became a decided advocate for the royal prerogative, and the hereditary righi of the Stuarts. During the controversies of Charles the Second's reign, in which Dryden took so decided a share, his eulogy on Cromwell was often* objected to him, as a proof of inconsistence and apostacy. One passage, which plainly ap- plies to the civil wars in general, was wrested to signify an explicit approbation of the murder of Charles the First;* and the whole piece was reprinted by an incensed antagonist, under the title of "An Elegy on the Usurper O. C., by the author of Absalom and Achitophel, published (it is ironically added) to show the loyalty and inte- Sce Vol. IX, p. 16.. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN". 41 grity of the poet," an odd piece of vengeance, which has perhaps never been paralelled, except in the single case of " Love in a Hollow Tree." * The motives of the Duchess of Marl borough, in reprinting Lord G limestone's memorable dra- matic essay, did not here apply. 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 selected with attention to truth, and are, generally speak- ing, such as Cromwell's worst enemies could not have denied to him. Neither had Dryden made the errors, or misfortunes, of the royal family, and their followers, the subject of censure or of contrast. With respect to them, it was hardly possible that a eulogy on such a theme could have less offence in it. This was perhaps a for- tunate circumstance for Dryden at the Restora- tion ; and it must be noticed to his honour, that * This piece was called in, and destroyed by the noble au- thor ; but Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, when opposing Lord Grimestone at an election, maliciously printed and dispersed a large impression of his smothered performance, with a frontis- piece representing an elephant dancing on the slack ropo. 42 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. as he spared the exiled monarch in his panegyric on the usurper, so, after the Restoration, in his numerous writings on the side of royalty, there is no instance of his recalling his former praise of Cromwell. After the frequent and rapid changes which the government of England underwent 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 sub- ject in itself highly fit for poetry, and which pro- mised the revival of poetical pursuits, was hailed with universal acclamation by all whose turn for verse had been suppressed and stifled during the long reign of fanaticism. The Restoration led the way to the revival of letters, as well as that of legal government. With Charles, 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 al- teration of the taste which had prevailed in the days of Charles I., was to be the immediate con- sequence of the new order of things. The muse awoke, like the sleeping beauty of the fairy tale, in the same antiquated and absurd vestments in which LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 43 she had fallen asleep twenty years before ; or, if the reader will pardon another simile, the poets were like those who, after long mourning, resume for a time their ordinary dresses, of which the fashion has in the mean time passed away. Other causes contributed to a temporary revival of the meta- physical poetry. Almost all its professors, at- tached to the house of Stuart, had been martyrs, or confessors at least, in its cause. Cowley, their leader, was yet alive, and returned to claim the late reward of his loyalty and his sufferings. Cleveland had died a victim to the contempt, rather than the persecution, of the republicans ;* * He was one of the garrison of Newark, which held out so long for Charles I., and has left a curious specimen of the wit of the time, in his controversy with a parliamentary officer, whose servant had robbed him, and taken refuge in Newark. The following is the beginning of his answer to a demand that the fugitive should be surrendered : " Sixthly, Beloved, " Is it so then, that our brother and fellow-labourer in the Gos- pel is start aside ? then this may serve for an use of instruction, not to trust i.i man, nor in the son of man. Did not Demas leave Paul ? did not Onesimus run from his master Philemon ? besides, this should teach us to employ our talent, and not to laj r it up in a napkin. Had it been done among the cavaliers, it had been just; then the Israelite had spoiled the Egyptian ; but for Simeon to plunder Levi, that! that! You see, sir, what use I make of the doctrine you sent me ; and indeed sinc 44 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. but this most ardent of cavalier poets, was suc- ceeded by Wild, whose " Iter Boreale," a poem on Monk's march from Scotland, formed upon Cleveland's model, obtained extensive popularity among the citizens of London, f Dryden's good you change style so far as to nibble at wit, you must pardon me, if, to quit scores, I pretend a little to the gift of preaching," &c. Such was the wit of Cleveland. After the complete sub- jugation of the royalists, he was apprehended, having in his possession a bundle of poems and satirical songs against the re- publicans. He appeared before the commonwealth-general with the dignified air of one who is prepared to suffer for his principles. He was disappointed; for the military judge, after a contemp- tuous glance at the papers, exclaimed to Cleveland's accusers, " Is this all ye have against him ? Go, let the poor knave sell his ballads !" Such an acquittal was more severe than any pu- nishment. The conscious virtue of the loyalist would have borne the latter; but the pride of the poet could not sustain his contemptuous dismissal ; and Cleveland is said to have broken his heart in consequence. Biographia Britannica, voce Cleveland. f " He is the very Withers of the city," says Dryden of Wild ; " they have bought more editions of his works than would serve to lay under all their pies at the lord mayor's Christmas. When his famous poem first came out in the year 1660, I have seen them reading it in the midst of change time ; nay, so vehe- ment they were at it, that they lost their bargain by the can- tiles' ends : but what will you say, if he has been received amongst great persons ? I can assure you he is this day the envy of one who is lord in the art of quibbljng, and who does not take it well, that any man should intrude so far into his province." Vol. XV. p. 2X). LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 45 sense and natural taste perceived the obvious de- fects of these, the very coarsest of metaphysical poets ; insomuch, that, in his " Essay on Drama- tic Poetry,*' he calls wresting and torturing one word into another, a catachresis, or Cleveland ism, and charges Wild with being in poetry what the French call un mattvais buff on. Sprat, and an host of inferior imitators, marched for a time in the footsteps of Cow ley ; delighted, probably, to discover in Pindaric writing, as it was called, a species of poetry which required neither sound nor sense, provided only there was a sufficient stock of florid and extravagant thoughts, expressed in harsh and bombastic language. But this style of poetry, although it' was for a time revived, and indeed continued to be occa- sionally employed even to the end of the eigh- teenth century, had too slight foundation in truth and nature to maintain the exclusive pre-emi- nence, which it had been exalted to during the reigns of the two first monarchs of the Stuart race. As Rochester profanely expressed it, Cow* ley's poetry was not of God, and therefore could not stand. An approaching change of public taste was hastened by the manners of the re- stored monarch and his courtiers. That pedantry which had dictated the excessive admiration of metaphysical conceits, was not the characteristic of the court of Charles II., as it had been of those of his grandfather and father. Lively and witty by nature, with all the acquired habits of an adven- turer, whose wanderings, military and political, left him time neither for profound reflection, nor for deep study, the restored monarch's literary taste, which was by no means contemptible, was directed towards a lighter and more pleasing style of poetry than the harsh and scholastic produc- tions of Donne and Cowley. The admirers, there- fore, of this old school were confined to the an- cient cavaliers, and the old courtiers of Charles I. ; men unlikely to lead the fashion in the court of a gay monarch, filled with such men as Bucking- ham, Rochester, Etherege, Sedley, and Mulgrave, whose time and habits confined their own essays to occasional verses, and satirical effusions, in which they often ridiculed the heights of poetry they were incapable of attaining. With such men the class of poets, which before the civil war held but a secondary rank, began to rise in estimation. Waller, Suckling, and Denham, be- gan to assert a pre-eminence over Cowley and Donne ; the ladies, whose influence in the court of James and Charles I. was hardly felt, and who were then obliged to be contented with such pe~ LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 47 dantic worship as is contained in the "Mistress" of Cow ley, and the " Epithilamion" of Donne, began now, when their voices were listened to, and their taste consulted, to determine that their poetical lovers should address them in strains more musical, if not more intelligible. What is most acceptable to the fair sex will always sway the mode of a gay court ; and the character of a smooth and easy sonneteer was soon considered as an indispensible requisite to a man of wit and fashion, terms which were then usually synoni- mous. To those who still retained a partiality for that exercise of the fancy and memory, afforded by the metaphysical poetry, the style of satire then prevalent afforded opportunities of applying it. The same depth of learning, the same extra- vagant ingenuity in combining the most remote images, and in driving casual associations to the verge of absurdity, almost all the remarkable fea- tures which characterized the poetry of Cowley, may be successfully traced in the satire of Hudi- bras. The sublime itself borders closely on the ludicrous ; but the bombast and extravagant can- not be divided from it. The turn of thought, and the peculiar kind of mental exertion, cor- responds in both styles of writing; and although 48 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Butler pursued the ludicrous, and Cowley aimed at the surprizing-, the leading features of their poetry only differ like those of the same face convulsed with laughter, or arrested in astonish- ment. The**' district of metaphysical poetry was thus invaded by the satirists, who sought wea- pons there to avenge the misfortunes and oppres- sion which they had so lately sustained from the puritans; and as it is difficult in a laughing age to render serious what has been once applied to ludicrous purposes, Butler and his imitators re- tained quiet possession of the style which they had usurped from the grave bards of the earlier age. A single poet, Sir William Davenant, made a meritorious, though a misguided and unsuccess- ful effort, to rescue poetry from becoming the mere handmaid of pleasure, or the partizan of political or personal disputes, and to restore her to her na- tural rank in society, as an auxiliary of religion, %j ' / O ' policy, law, and virtue. His heroic poem of " Gon- dibert" has, no doubt, great imperfections; but it intimates every where a mind above those la- borious triflers, who called that poetry which was only verse ; and very often exhibits a majestic, dignified, and manly simplicity, equally superior to the metaphysical school, by the doctrines of LIFE OF JOHN DIlYDEN. 4^ which Davenant was occasionally misled. Yet, if that author too frequently imitated their quaint affectation of uncommon sentiment and associa- tions, he had at least the merit of couching them in stately and harmonious verse ; a quality of poe- try totally neglected by the followers of Cowley. I mention Davenant here, and separate from the other poets, who were distinguished about the time of the Restoration, because I think that Dryclen, to whom we are about to return, was, at that pe- riod, an admirer and imitator of " Gondibert," as we are certain that he was a personal and inti- mate friend of the author. With the return of the king, the fall of Dry- den's political patrons was necessarily involved. Sir Gilbert Pickering, having been one of Charles's judges, was too happy to escape into obscurity, under an absolute disqualification for holding any office, political, civil, or ecclesiastical. The influ- ence of Sir John Driden was ended at the same time ; and thus both those relations, under whose protection Dryden entered life, and by whose influence he was probably to have been aided in some path to wealth or eminence, became at once incapable of assisting him ; and even connection with them was rendered, by the change of times, VOL. I. D 60 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN'. disgraceful, if not dangerous. Yet it may be doubted whether Dryden felt this evil in its full extent. Sterne has said of a character, that a blessing which closed his mouth, or a misfortune which opened it with a good grace, were nearly equal to him; nay, that sometimes the misfor- tune was the more acceptable of the two. It is possible, by a parity of reasoning, that Dryden may have felt himself rather relieved from, than deprived of, his fanatical patrons, under whose guidance he could never hope to have indulged in that career of literary pursuit, which the new order of things presented to the ambition of the youthful poet; at least, he lost no time in use- less lamentation, but, now in his thirtieth year, proceeded to exert that poetical talent, which had heretofore been repressed by his own situation, and that of the country. Dryden, left to his own exertions, hastened to testify his joyful acquiescence in the restoration of monarchy, by publishing " Astrcea Redux" a poem which was probably distinguished among the innumerable congratulations poured forth up- on the occasion ; and he added to those which hailed the coronation, in \66l, the verses entitled, " A Panegyric to his Sacred Majesty." These pie- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 51 ces testify, that the author had already made some progress in harmonizing his versification. Cut they also contain many of those points of wit, and turns of epigram, which he condemned in his more ad- vanced judgment. The same description applies, in a yet stronger degree, to the verses addressed to Lord Chancellor Hyde (Lord Clarendon) on the new-year's-day of 1662, in whicrTDryden has more closely imitated the metaphysical poetry than in any poem, except the juvenile elegy on Lord Has- tings. I cannot hut think, that the poet consult- ed the taste of his patron, rather than his own, in adopting this peculiar style. Clarendon was edu- cated in the court of Charles I., and Dryden may have thought it necessary, in addressing him, to imitate the " strong verses," which were then ad- mired. According to the fashion of the times, such copies of occasional verses were rewarded by a gratuity from the person to whom they were ad- dressed ; and poets had not yet learned to think this mode of receiving assistance incompatible with the feelings of dignity or delicacy. Indeed, in the common transactions of that age, one sees something resembling the eastern custom of ac- companying with a present, and not always a splendid one, the usual forms of intercourse and 52 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. civility. Thus we find the wealthy corporation of Hull, backing a polite address to the Duke of Morimouth, their governor, with a present of sir broad pieces ; and his grace deemed it a point of civility to press the acceptance of the same gra- tuity upon the member of parliament for the city, by whom it was delivered to him.* We may therefore believe, that Dryden received some compliment from the king and chancellor; and I am afraid the same premises authorise us to conclude that it was but trifling. Meantime, our author having no settled means of support, ex- cept his small landed property, and having now no assistance to expect from his more wealthy kins- men, to whom, probably, neither his literary pur- * " The Duke of Monmouth returned on Saturday frora New-Market. To-day I waited on him, and first presented him \v\th your letter, which he read all over very attentively ; and then prayed me to assure you, that he would, upon all occa- sions, be most ready to give you the marks of his affection, and assist you in any affairs you should recommend to him. I thea delivered him the six broad pieces, telling him, that I was de- puted to blush on your behalf for the meanness of the present, &c. ; but he took me off, and said he thanked you for it, and accepted it as a token of your kindness. He had,' before I came in, as I was told, considered what to do with the gold ; and but that I by all means prevented the offer, or I had been in danger of being reimbursed with it." ANDREW MAR- VELL'S Works, Vol. I. p. 210. Letter to the Mayor of Hull* LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. 53 .suits, nor his commencing them by a panegyric on the Restoration, were very agreeable, and whom he had also offended by a slight change in spelling his name,* seems to have been re- duced to narrow and uncomfortable circumstan- ces. Without believing, in its full extent, the ex- aggerated account given by Brown and Shadwell,f we may discover from their reproaches, that, at the commencement of his literary career, Dryden was connected, and probably lodged, with Her- ringman the bookseller, in the New 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 * From Driden to Dryden. f Shadwell makes Dryden say, that after some years spent at the university, he came to London. " At first I struggled with a great deal of persecution, took up with a lodging which had a window no bigger than a pocket looking-glass, dined at a three-penny ordinary enough to starve a vacation tailor, kept little company, went clad in homely drugget, and drunk wine as seldom a* a rechabite, or the grand seignior's confessor." The old gentleman, who corresponded with the " Gentleman's Magazine," and remembered Dryden before the rise of his for- tunes, mentions his suit of plain drugget, being, by the bye, the same garb in which he has clothed Fiecnoe, who " coarsely clad in Norwich drugget came." 54 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. state of mean and abject dependance, which the malice of his enemies afterwards pretended. The same malice misrepresented, or greatly exaggera- ted, the nature of Dryden's obligations to Sir Ro- bert Howard, with whom he became acquainted probably about the time of the Restoration, whose influence was exerted in his favour, and whose good offices the poet returned by literary assist- ance. Sir Robert Howard was a younger son of Tho- mas Earl of Berkeley, and, like all his family, had distinguished himself as a royalist, particularly at the battle of Cropley Bridge. He had recently suffered a long imprisonment in Windsor Castle during the usurpation. His rank and merits made him, after the Restoration, a patron of some consequence ; and upon his publishing a collec- tion of verses very soon after that period, Dryclen prefixed an address " to his honoured friend " on "his excellent poems." Sir Robert Howard un- derstood the value of Dryden's attachment, intro- duced him into his family, and probably aided in procuring his productions that degree of attention from the higher world, for want of which the most valuable efforts of genius have often sunk into unmerited obscurity. Such, in short, were his exertions in favour of Dryden, that, though LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 55 we cannot believe he was indebted to Howard, for those necessaries of life which he had the means to procure for himself, the poet found ground to acknowledge, that his patron had not only been " careful of his fortune, which was the effect of his nobleness, but solicitous of his reputation, which was that of his kindness." Thus patronized, our author seems to have ad- vanced in reputation, as he became more gene- rally known to the learned and ingenious of his time. Yet we have but few traces of the labour, by which he doubtless attained, and secured, his place in society. A short satire on the Dutch, written to animate the people of England against them, appeared in 1662. It is somewhat in the hard style of invective, which Cleveland applied to the Scottish nation; yet Dryden thought it worth while to weave the same verses into the prologue and epilogue of the tragedy of "Am- boyna," a piece written in 1673, with the same kind intentions towards the states-general. Science, as well as poetry, began to revive after the iron dominion of military fanaticism was ended ; and Dryden, who through life was at- tached to experimental philosophy, speedily asso-. ciated himself with those who took interest in 36 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN, its progress. He was chosen a member of the newly instituted Royal Society, 26th November, 1662; an honour which cemented his connection with the most learned men of the time, and is an evidence of the respect in which he was already held. Most of these, and the discoveries by which they had distinguished themselves, Dry den took occasion to celebrate in his " Epistle to Dr Wal- ter Charleton,"a learned physician, upon his trea- tise of Stonhenge. Gilbert, Boyle, Harvey, and Ent, are mentioned with enthusiastic applause, as treading in the path pointed out by Bacon, who first broke the fetters of Aristotle, and taught the world to derive knowledge from ex- periment. In these elegant verses, the author divests himself of all the flippant extravagance of point and quibble, in which, complying with his age, he had hitherto indulged, though of late in a limited degree. While thus united in friendly communiori with men of kindred and congenial spirits, Dryden seems to have been sensible of the necessity of applying his literary talents to some line, in which he might derive a steadier and more cer- tain recompense, than by writing occasional verses to the great, or doing literary drudgery for the LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN, 57 bookseller. His own genius would probably bave directed him to the ambitious labours of an epic poem ; but for this the age afforded little en- couragement. " Gondibert," the style of which, Dryden certainly both admired and copied, be- came a martyr to the raillery of the critics ; and to fill up the measure of shame, the " Paradise Lost" fell still-born from the press. This last in- stance of bad taste had not, it is true, yet taken place ; but the men who were guilty of it, were then living under Dryden's observation, and their manners and habits could not fail to teach him, to anticipate the little encouragement they were like- ly to afford to the loftier labours of poetry. One only line remained, in which poetical talents might exert themselves, with some chance of procuring their possessor's reward, or at least maintenance, and this was dramatic composition. To this Dry- den sedulously applied himself, with various suc- cess, for many years. But before proceeding to trace the history of his dramatic career, I proceed to notice such pieces of his poetry, as exhibit marks of his earlier style of composition. The victory gained by the Duke of York over the Dutch fleet on the 3d of June, 1665, and his Duchess's subsequent journey into the north, fur- nished Dryden with the subject of a few occa- 58 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. sional verses; in which the style of Waller (who came forth with a poem on the same subject) is successfully imitated. In addressing her grace, the poet suppresses all the horrors of the battle, and turns her eyes upon the splendour of a vic- tory, for which the kingdom was indebted to her husband's valour, and her " chaste vows." In these verses, not the least vestige of metaphysi- cal wit can be traced; and they were accord- ingly censured, as wanting height of fancy, and dignity of words. This criticism Dryden refuted, by alleging, that he had succeeded in what he did attempt, in the softness of expression and smooth- ness of the measure, (the appropriate ornaments of an address to a lady,) and that he was accused of that only thing which he could well defend. It seems, however, very possible, that these remarks impelled him to undertake a task, in which vigour of fancy and expression might, with propriety, be exercised. Accordingly, his next poem was of greater length and importance. This is a historical account of the events of the year 1666, under the title of " Annus Mirabilis" to which distinction the incidents which had occurred in that space gave it some title. The poem being in the elegiac stan- za, Dryden relapsed into an imitation of " Gon- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 59 clibert," from which he had 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 tes- timony to that author's quick and piercing ima- gination; which at once produced thoughts re- mote, new, and surprising, such as could not easily enter into any other fancy.* Dry den at least equalled Davenant in this quality ; and cer- tainly excelled him in the powers of composi- tion, which are to embody the conceptions of the imagination; and in the extent of acquired knowledge, by which they were to be enforced and illustrated. In his preface, he has vindicated the choice of his stanza, by a reference to the opinion of Davenant,'}" which he sanctions by af- firming, that he had always, himself, thought qua- trains, or stanzas of verse in alternate rhyme, more noble, and of greater dignity, both for Vol. III. p. 10!. f Davenant alleges the advantages of a respite and pause be- tween every stanza, which should be so constructed as to com- prehend a period; and adds, " nor doth alternate rhirae, by any lowliness of cadence, make the sound less heroic, but rather adapt it to a plain and stately composing of music; and the bre- vity of the stanza renders it less subtle to the composer, and more easy to the singer, which, in stilo recitative), when the story is long, is chiefly requisite." Preface to Gondibcrt. 60 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN". sound and number, than any other verse in use among us. * By this attention to sound and rythm, he improved upon the school of metaphy- sical poets, which disclaimed attention to either; but in the thought and expression itself, the style of Davenant, more nearly resembled Cowley s, than that of Denham and Waller. The same ardour for what Dry den calls " wit-writing," the same unceasing exercise of the memorv, in search of 4_7 v / wonderful thoughts and allusions, and the same contempt for the subject, except as the medium of displaying the author's learning and ingenuity, marks the style of Davenant, though in a less de- gree, than that of the metaphysical poets, and though chequered with many examples of a sim- pler and chaster character. Some part of this deviation was, perhaps, owing to the nature of the stanza; for the structure of the quatrain pro- hibited the bard, who used it, from rambling into those digressive similes, which, in the pindaric strophe, might be pursued through endless rami- fications. If the former started an extravagant thought, or a quaint image, he was compelled to bring it to a point within his four-lined stanza. The snake was thus scotched, though not killed ; * Vol. IX. p. 95. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 6l and conciseness being rendered indispensible, a great step was gained towards concentration of thought, which is necessary to the simple and to the sublime. The manner of Davenant, therefore, though short-lived, and ungraced by public ap- plause, was an advance towards true taste, from the unnatural and frantic indulgence of unre- strained fancy ; and, did it claim no other merit, it possesses that of having been twice sanctioned by the practice of Dryden, upon occasions of un- common solemnity. The " Annus Mirabitis" evinces a considerable portion of labour and attention; the lines and versification are highly polished, and the ex- pression was probably carefully corrected. Dry- den, as Johnson remarks, already exercised the superiority of his genius, by recommending his own performance, as written upon the plan of Virgil; and as no unsuccessful effort at producing those well-wrought images and descriptions, which create admiration, the proper object of heroic poetry. The " Annus Mirabilis" may indeed be regarded as one of Dryden's most elaborate pieces; although it is not written in his later, better, and most peculiar style of poetry. The poem first appeared in octavo, in 1657, and and was afterwards frequently reprinted in quarto. 62 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. It was dedicated to the metropolis of Great Bri- tain, as represented by the lord mayor and ma- gistrates. A letter to Sir Robert Howard was prefixed to the poem, in which the author ex- plains the purpose of the work, and the difficul- ties which presented themselves in the execution. And in this epistle, as a contrast between the smooth and easy style of writing which was pro- per in addressing a lady, and the exalted style of heroic, or at least historical, poetry, he introdu- ces the verses to the Duchess of York, already mentioned. The " Annus Mirabilis" being the last poetical work of any importance produced by our author, until " Absalom and Achitophel," the reader may here pause, and consider, in the progressive improvement of Dryden, the gradual renovation of public taste. The irregular pindaric ode was now abandoned to Arwaker, Behn, Durfey, and a few inferior authors; who, either from its tempting fa- cility of execution, or from an affected admira- tion of old times and fashions, still pestered the public with imitations of Cowley. The rough measure of Donne (if it had any pretension to be called a measure) was no longer tolerated, and it was expected, even of those who wrote satires, lampoons, and occasional verses, that their rhimes LIFE OF JOHN DIIYDEV. 6*3 should be rhimes, both to the ear and eye ; and that they should neither adore their mistresses, nor abuse their neighbours, in lines which differ- ed only from prose in the fashion of printing. Thus the measure used by Rochester, Bucking- ham, Sheffield, Sedley, and other satirists, if not polished or harmonized, approaches more nearly to modern verse, than that of Hall or Donne. In the " Elegy on Cromwell," and the " Annus Mirabilis" Dryden followed Davenant, who abridged, if he did not explode, the quaintnesses of his predecessors. In " Astrcea Redux" and his occasional verses, to Dr Charlton, the Duchess of York, and others, the poet proposed a separate and simpler model, more dignified than that of Suck- ling or Waller ; more harmonious in measure, and chaste in expression, than those of Cowley and Crashaw. Much, there doubtless remained, of ancient subtlety, and ingenious quibbling; but when Dryden declares, that he proposes Vir- gil, in preference to Ovid, to be his model in the " Annus MirabUis? 1 it sufficiently implies, that the main defect of the poetry of the last age had been discovered, and was in the way of being amended by gradual, and almost imperceptible, degrees. In establishing, or refining, the latter style of 6'4 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. writing, in couplet verse, our author found great assistance from his dramatic practice ; to trace the commencement of which, is the purpose of the next Section. SECTION II. Revival of the Drama at the Restoration Heroic Plays Comedies of Intrigue Commencement of Dryden's Dramatic Career The Wild Gallant Rival Ladies- Indian Queen and Emperor Dryden's Marriage Es- say on Dramatic Poetry, and subsequent Controversy with Sir Robert Howard The Maiden Queen The Tempest Sir Martin Mar-all The Mock Astrologer The Royal Martyr The Two Parts of the Conquest of Granada Dryden's Situation at this Period. IT would appear, that Dry den, at the period of the Restoration, renounced all views of making his way in life except by exertion of the lite- rary talents with which he was so eminently en- dowed. His becoming a writer of plays was a necessary consequence; for the theatres, newly opened after so long silence, were resorted to with all the ardour inspired by novelty ; and dra- matic composition was the only line which pro- mised something like an adequate reward to the professors of literature. In our sketch of the taste of the seventeenth century previous to the VOL. I. 66 1IFE OF JOHN DRYDEN 1 . Restoration, this topic was intentionally post- poned. In the times of James I. and of his successor, the theatre retained, in some degree, the splen- dour with which the excellent writers of the virgin reign had adorned it. It is true, that au- thors of the latter period fell far helow those gi- gantic poets, who flourished in the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth cen- turies ; but what the stage had lost in dramatic composition, was, in some degree, supplied by the increasing splendour of decoration, and the fa- vour of the court. A private theatre, called the Cockpit, was maintained at Whitehall, in which plays were performed before the court ; and the king's company of actors often received com- mand to attend the royal progresses. * Masques, a species of representation calculated exclusively for the recreation of the great, in whose halls they were exhibited, were an usual entertain- ment of Charles and his consort. The machine- ry and decorations were often superintended by Inigo Jones, and the poetry composed by Ben Jonson the laureat. E\ 7 en Milton deigned to contribute one of his most fascinating poems to * Malone's " History of the Stage." 8 /LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. 67 the service of the drama; and, notwithstanding the severity of his puritanic tenets, " Comus " could only have been composed by one who felt the full enchantment of the theatre. But all this splendour vanished at the approach of civil war. The stage and court were almost as closely united in their fate as royalty and episcopacy, had the same enemies, the same defenders, and shared the same overwhelming ruin. " No throne no theatre," seemed as just a dogma as the famous " No king no bishop." The puritans indeed commenced their attack against royalty in this very quarter; and, while they impugned the po- litical exertions of prerogative, they assailed the private character of the monarch and his consort, for the encouragement given to the profane stage, that rock of offence, and stumbling block to the godly. Accordingly, the superiority of the re- publicans was no sooner decisive, than the thea- tres were closed, and the dramatic poets silenced. No department of poetry was accounted lawful ; but the drama being altogether unhallowed and abominable, its professors were persecuted, while others escaped with censure from the pulpit, and contempt from the rulers. The miserable shifts to which the surviving actors were reduced du- ring the commonwealth, have been often detailed 6S LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN, At times they were connived at by the caprice or indolence of their persecutors ; but, in general, so soon as they had acquired any slender stock of properties, they were beaten, imprisoned, and stripped, at the pleasure of the soldiery. The Restoration naturally brought with it a re- vived taste for those elegant amusements, which, during the usurpation, had been condemned as heathenish, or punished as appertaining especially to the favourers of royalty. To frequent them, therefore, became a badge of loyalty, and a vir- tual disavowal of those puritanic tenets, which all now agreed in condemning. The taste of the restored monarch also was decidedly in favour of the drama. At the foreign courts, which it had been his lot to visit, the theatre was the chief entertainment; and as amusement was al- ways his principal pursuit, it cannot be doubted that he often sought it there. The interest, therefore, which the monarch took in the restora- tion of the stage, was direct and personal. Had it not been for this circumstance, it seems pro- bable that the general audience, for a time at least, would have demanded a revival of those pieces which had been most successful before the civil wars ; and that Shakespeare, Massin- ger, and Fletcher, would have resumed their ac- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. $9 knowledged superiority upon the English stage. But as the theatres were re- established and che- rished by the immediate influence of the sove- reign, and of the court which returned with him from exile, a taste formed during their residence abroad dictated the nature of entertainments which were to be presented to them. It is worthy of remark, that Charles took the models of the two grand departments of the drama from two different countries. France afforded the pattern of those tragedies which continued in fashion for twenty years after the Restoration, and which were called Rhyming or Heroic Plays. In that country, however, con- trary to the general manners of the people, a sort of stately and precise ceremonial early took pos- session of the theatre. The French dramatist was under the necessity of considering less the situation of the persons of the drama, than that of the performers, who were to represent it be- fore a monarch and his court. It was not, there- fore, sufficient for the author to consider how human beings would naturally express themselves in the predicament of the scene ; he had the more embarrassing task of so modifying their expres- sions of passion and feeling, that they might not exceed the decorum necessary in the august pre- 70 LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. sence of the grand monarque. A more effectual mode of freezing the dialogue of the drama could hardly have been devised, than by introducing into the theatre the etiquette of the drawing-room. That etiquette also, during the reign of Louis XIV., was of a kind peculiarly forced and unnatural. The romances of Calprenede and Scuderi, those ponder- ous and unmerciful folios now consigned to utter oblivion, were in that reign not only universally read and admired, but supposed to furnish the most perfect models of gallantry and heroism ; although, in the words of an elegant female au- thor, these celebrated writings are justly described as containing only " unnatural representations of the passions, false sentiments, false precepts, false wit, false honour, and false modesty, with a strange heap of improbable, unnatural incidents, mixed up with true history, and fastened upon some of the great names of antiquity."* Yet upon the mo- del of such works was framed the court manners of the reign of Louis, and, in imitation of them, * Hand incxperta loquitur. " I have," she conlinues, " (and yet I am still alive,) drudged through Le Grand Cyrus, in twelve huge volumes ; Cleopatra, in eight or ten ; Polexander, Ibrahim, Clelie, and some others, whose names, as well as all the rest of them, I have forgotten." Letter of Mrs Chapone to Mrs Carter. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN, 7J the French tragedy, in which every king was by prescriptive right a hero, every female a god- dess, every tyrant a fire-breathing chimera, and every soldier an irresistible Amadis ; in which, when perfected, we find lofty sentiments, splen- did imagery, eloquent expression, sound mora- lity, every thing but the language of human pas- sion and human character. In the hands of Cor- neille, and still more in those of Racine, much of the absurdity of the original model was cleared away, and much that was valuable substituted in its stead ; but the plan being fundamentally wrong, the high talents of these authors unfor- tunately only tended to reconcile their country- men to a style of writing, 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 Charles introduced upon the English stage. " The favour which heroic plays have lately found upon our theatres," says our author himself, " have been wholly derived to them from the countenance and approbation they have received at court." * The French comedy, although Moliere was in the zenith of his reputation, appears not to have * Dedication to the " Indian Emperor," Vol. III. p. 250. 72 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEW. possessed equal charms for the English monarch. The same restraint of decorum, which prevented the expression of natural passion in tragedy, pro- hibited all indelicate license in comedy. Charles, probably, was secretly pleased with a system, which cramped the effusions of the tragic muse, and forbade, as indecorous, those bursts of raptu- rous enthusiasm, which might sometimes contain matter unpleasing to a royal ear. I But the merry monarch saw no good reason why the muse of comedy should be compelled to " dwell in de- cencies for ever," and did not feel at all degraded when enjoying a gross pleasantry, or profane wit- ticism, in company with the mixed mass of a popular audience. The stage, therefore, resumed more than its original license under his auspices. Most of our early plays, being written in a coarse age, and designed for the amusement of a pro- t In this particular, a watch was kept over the stage. The " Maid's Tragedy," which turns upon the seduction of Evadne by a licentious and profligate king, was prohibited during the reign of Charles II., as admitting certain unfavourable applications. The moral was not consolatory, " on lustful kings, Unlocked for sadden deaths from heaven are sent." Set? Cibber's Apology, p. ipp. Waller, in compliment to the court, wrote a 5th Act, in which that admired drama is termi- nated less tragically. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 73 miscuous and vulgar audience, were dishonoured by scenes of coarse and naked indelicacy. The positive enactments of James, and the grave man- ners of his son, in some degree repressed this disgraceful scurrility; and, in the common course of events, the English stage would have heen gradually delivered from this reproach, by the increasing influence of decency and taste. * But Charles II., during his exile, had lived upon a foot- ing of equality with his banished nobles, and par- taken freely and promiscuously in the pleasure and frolics by which they had endeavoured to sweet- en 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 is acutely ar- gued by Dennis, in reply to Collier, that the de- pravity of the theatre, when revived, was owing to that very suppression, which had prevented its gradual reformation. And just so a muddy stream, if allowed its free course, will gradually purify * It was a part of the duty of the master of the revels to read over, and correct the improprieties of such plays as were to be brought forward. Several instances occur, in Sir Henry Her- bert's Office-book, of the exercise of his authority in this point. See Malone's History 76.t Their connection is alluded to in the " Rehearsal," which was acted in 1671. Bayes, * 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. Vol. VIII. p. 5. f The epilogue has these lines : But now if by niy suit you'll not be won, You know what your unkindncss oft has done, . I'll e'en forsake the playhouse, and turn Nun. 8S LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. talking of Amarillis, actually represented by Mrs Reeves, says, "Aye, 'tis a pretty little rogue; she's my mistress : I knew her face would set oft' armour extremely ; and to tell you true, I writ that part only for her.'' There follows an obscure allusion to some, gallantry of 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 How- ward, and his increasing reputation, had introdu- ced him to the family of the Earl of Berkshire, father to his friend. In the course of this inti- macy, the poet gained the affections of Lady Eli- zabeth Howard, the Earl's eldest daughter, whom he soon afterwards married. The lampoons, by which Dryden ? s private character was assailed in all points, allege, that this marriage was formed under circumstances dishonourable to the lady. But of this there is no evidence ; while the ma- lignity of the reporters is evident and undis- guised. We may however believe, that the match was not altogether agreeable to the noble family of Berkshire. Dryden, it is true, might, in point of descent, be admitted to form pretensions to Lady Elizabeth Howard; but his family, though ho- nourable, was in a kind of disgrace, from the part which Sir Gilbert Pickering and Sir John Driden LIFE OF JOHN PUYDEX. S<) had taken in the civil wars : while the Berkshire family were remarkable for their attachment to the royal cause. Besides, many of the poet's relations were engaged in trade; and the alliance of his bro- thers-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 very important consideration, Dryden had no chance of sharing the wealth of his principal relations, which might otherwise have been received as an atonement for the guilty confiscations by which it was procu- red. He had quarrelled with them, or they with him ; his present possession was a narrow inde- pendence ; and his prospects were founded upon literary success, always precarious, and then con- nected with circumstances of personal abasement, which rendered it almost disreputable. A noble family might be allowed to regret, that one of their members was chiefly to rely for the main- tenance of her husband, her family, and herself, upon the fees of dedications, and occasional pieces of poetry, and the uncertain profits of the theatre. Yet, as Dryden's manners were amiable, his repu- tation high, and his moral character unexception- able, the Earl of Berkshire was probably soon re- conciled to the match ; and Dryden seems to have resided with his father-in-law for some time, since 90 IIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. it is from the Earl's seat of Charlton, in Wiltshire, that he dates the Introduction to the " Annus Mirabilis? published in the end of 1 667. So honourable a connection might have been expected to have advanced our author's prospects in a degree beyond what he experienced ; but his father-in-law was poor, considering his rank, and had a large family, so that the portion of Lady Elizabeth was inconsiderable. Nor was her want of fortune supplied by patronage, or family in- fluence. Dryden's preferment, as poet laureat, was due to, and probably obtained by, his literary character; nor did he ever receive any boon suit- able to his rank, as son-in-law to an earl. But, what was worst of all, the parties did not find mutual happiness in the engagement they had formed. It is difficult for a woman of a vio- lent temper and weak intellects, and such the lady seems to have been, to endure the apparent- ly causeless fluctuation of spirits incident to one doomed to labour incessantly in the feverish ex- ercise of the imagination. Unintentional neglect, and the inevitable relaxation, or rather sinking of spirit, which follows violent mental exertion, are easily misconstrued into capricious rudeness, or intentional offence ; and life is embittered by mutual accusation, not the less intolerable because LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 91 reciprocally just. The wife of one who is to gain his livelihood by poetry, or by any labour (if any there be) equally exhausting, must cither have taste enough to relish her husband's performances, or good-nature sufficient to pardon his infirmities. It was Dry den's misfortune, that Lady Eliza- beth had neither the one nor the .other; and I dis- miss the disagreeable subject by observing, that on no one occasion, when a sarcasm against ma- 7 O trimony could be introduced, has our author failed to season it with such bitterness as spoke an in- ward consciousness of domesti cmisery. During the period when the theatres were closed, Dry den seems to have written and published the "Annns Mirabilis? of which we spoke at the close of the last Section. But he was also then labouring O upon his " Essay of Dramatic Poesy." It was a singular trait in the character of our author, that by whatever motive he was directed in his choice of a subject, and his manner of treating it, he was, upon all occasions, alike anxious to persuade the public, that both the one and the other were the object of his free choice, founded upon the/ most rational grounds of preference. He had, therefore, no sooner seriously bent his thoughts to the stage, and distinguished himself as a com- 92 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. poser of heroic plays, than he wrote his " Essay of Dramatic Poesy " in which he asumes, that the drama was the highest department of poetry; and endeavours to prove, that rhyming or heroic trage- dies are the most legitimate offspring of the drama. The subject is agitated in a dialogue between Lord Buckhurst, Sir Charles Sedley, Sir Robert Howard, and the author himself, under the feign- ed names of Eugenius, Lisideius, Crites, and Ne- ander. This celebrated Essay was first published in the end of 1667, or beginning of 1668. The author revised it with an unusual degree of care, and published it anew in 1684, with a Dedica- tion to Lord Buckhurst. In the introduction of the dialogue, our author artfully solicits the attention of the public to the improved versification, in which he himself so completely excelled all his contemporaries; and contrasts the rugged lines and barbarous conceits of Cleveland with the more modern style of com- position, where the thoughts were moulded into easy and significant words, superfluities of ex- pression retrenched, and the rhyme rendered so properly a part of the verse, that it was led and guided by the sense, which was formerly sacrifi- ced in attaining it. This point being previously settled, a dispute occurs concerning the alleged LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 93 superiority of the ancient classic models of dra- matic composition. This is resolutely denied by all the speakers, excepting Crites ; the regulation of the unities is condemned, as often leading to greater absurdities than those they were design- ed to obviate; and the classic authors are cen- sured for the cold and trite subjects of their co- medies, the bloody and horrible topics of many of their tragedies, and their deficiency in paint- ing the passion of love. From all this, it is justly gathered, that the moderns, though with less re- gularity, possess a greater scope for invention, and have discovered, as it were, a new perfection in writing. This debated point being abandoned by Crites, (or Howard,) the partizan of the an- cients, a comparison between the French and English drama is next introduced. Sedley, the celebrated wit and courtier, pleads the cause of the French, an opinion which perhaps was not singular among the favourites of Charles II. But the rest of the speakers unite in condemning the extolled simplicity of the French plots, as actual barrenness, compared to the variety and copious- ness of the English stage; and their authors' limit- ing the attention of the audience and interest of the piece to a single principal personage, is censured as poverty of imagination, when opposed to the di- 94 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. versification of characters exhibited in the drama- tis persona of the English poets. Shakespeare and Jonson are then brought forward, and contrasted with the French dramatists, and with each other. The former is extolled, as the man of all modern, and perhaps ancient, poets, who had the largest and most comprehensive soul, and intuitive know- ledge, of human nature ; and the latter, as the most learned and judicious writer which any theatre ever had. But to Shakespeare, Dryden objects, that his comic sometimes degenerates in- to clenches, and his serious into bombast; to Jon- son, t?fe sullen and saturnine character of his ge- nius, his borrowing from the ancients, and the insipidity of his latter plays. The examen leads to the discussion of a point, in which Dryden had differed with Sir Robert Howard. This was the use of rhyme in tragedy. Our author had, it will be remembered, maintained the superiority of rhyming plays, in the Introduction to the " Rival Ladies." Sir Robert Howard, the catalogue of* whose virtues did not include that of forbearance, made a direct answer to the arguments used in that Introduction ; * and while he studiously ex- See the passage, Vol. XV. p. 362, note, LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. 95 tolled the plays of Lord Orrery, as affording an exception to his general sentence against rhy- ming plays, he does not extend the compliment to Dryden, whose defence of rhyme was expressly de- dicated to that noble author. Dryden, not much pleased, perhaps, at being left undistinguished in the general censure passed upon rhyming plays by his friend and ally, retaliates in the Essay, by pla- cing in the mouth of Crites the arguments urged by Sir Robert Howard, and replying to them in the person of Neander. To the charge, that rhyme is unnatural, in consequence of the invert- ed arrangement of the words necessary to pro- duce it, he replies, that, duly ordered, it may be natural in itself, and therefore not unnatural in a play; and that, if the objection be further insist- ed upon, it is equally conclusive against blank verse, or measure without rhyme. To the objec- tion founded on the formal and uniform recur- rence of the measure, he alleges the facility of varying it, by throwing the cadence upon diffe- rent parts of the line, by breaking it into hemis- tiches, or by running the sense into another line, so as to make art and order appear as loose and free as nature.* Dryden even contends, that, for * Sandford, a most judicious actor, is said, by Gibber, cau- 0,6 LIFE OF JOHX DRYDEtf. variety's sake, the pindaric measure might be ad- mitted, 'of which Davenant set an example in the " Siege of Rhodes." But this license, which was probably borrowed from the Spanish stage, has never succeeded elsewhere, except in operas. Finally, it is urged, that rhyme, the most noble verse, is alone fit for tragedies, the most noble species of composition; that, far from injuring a scene, in which quick repartee is necessary, it is the last perfection of wit to put it into numbers; and that, even where a trivial and common ex- pression is placed, from necessity, in the mouth of an important character, it receives, from the melody of versification, a dignity befitting the person that is to pronounce it. With this keen and animated defence of a mode of composition, in which he felt his own excellence, Dryden con- cludes the " Essay of Dramatic Poesy.'' The publication of this criticism, the first that contained an express attempt to regulate drama- tic writing, drew general attention, and gave some offence. Sir Robert Howard felt noways flattered at being made, through the whole dia- logue, the champion of unsuccessful opinions: tiously to have observed this rule, in order to avoid surfeiting the audience by the continual recurrence of rhyme. 1] LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 7 a partiality to the depreciated blank verse seems to have been hereditary in his family.* He therefore hasted to assert his own opinion,against that of Dryden, in the preface to one of his plays, called the " Duke of Lerma," published in the middle of the year \66S. It is difficult for two friends to preserve their temper in a dispute of this nature; and there may be reason to believe, that some dislike to the alliance of Dryden, as a brother-in-law, mingled with the poetical jealousy of Sir Robert Howard. The Preface to the " Duke of Lerma" is written in the tone of a man of qua- lity and importance, who is conscious of stooping beneath his own dignity, and neglecting his graver avocations, by engaging in a literary dispute. Dry- den was not likely, of many men, to brook this tone of affected superiority. He retorted upon Sir Ro- bert Howard very severely, in a tract, entitled, the * The honourable Edward Howard, Sir Robert's brother, ex- presses himself in the preface to the " Usurper," a play publish- ed in 1663, " not insensible to the disadvantage it may receive passing into the world upon the naked feet of verse, with other works that have their measures adorned with the trappings of rhime, which, however they have succeeded in wit or design, is still thought music, as the heroic tone now goes ; but whe- ther so natural to a play, that should most nearly imitate, in some cases, our familiar converse, the judicious mny easily de termine." VOL. I. Q 98 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEft. " Defence of the Essay on Dramatic Poesy," which he prefixed to the second edition of the " Indian Emperor," published in 1678. In this piece, the author mentions his antagonist as mas- ter of more than twenty legions of arts and sci- ences, in ironical allusion to Sir Robert's coxcomi- cal affectation of universal knowledge, which had already exposed him to the satire of Shadwcll.* He is also described in reference to some foolish appearance in the House of Commons, as having maintained a contradiction in terminis, in the face of three hundred persons. Neither does Dryden? neglect to hold up to ridicule the slips in Latinf and English grammar, which marked the offensive Preface to the " Duke of Lerma." And although he concludes, that he honoured his adversary's parts and person as much as any man living, and had so many particular obligations to him, that he should be very ungrateful not to acknowledge them to the world, yet the personal and contemptu- ous severity of the whcle piece must have cut to * Who drew Sir Robert in the character of Sir Positive Atall in the " Sullen Lovers;" " a foolish knight, that pretends to un- derstand every thing in the world, and will suffer no man to understand any thing in his company ; so foolishly positive, that he will never be convinced of an error, though never so gross." This character is supported with great hunvOur. 1 ii *E or JOHN DRYDEIT. 99 the heart so proud a man as Sir Robert Howard. This quarrel between the baronet and the poet, who was suspected of having crutched-up many of his lame performances, furnished food for lampoon and amusement to the indolent wits of the day. But the breach between the brothers-in-law, though wide, proved fortunately not irreconcile- able ; and towards the end of Dryden's literary career, we find him again upon terms of friend- ship with the person by whom he had been be- friended at its commencement.* Edward How- ard, who, it appears, had entered as warmly as his brother into the contest with Dryden about rhyming tragedies, also seems to have been re- conciled to our poet ; at least, he pronounced a panegyric on his translation of Virgil before it left the press, in a passage which is also curious, from the author ranking in the same line " the two elaborate poems of Milton and Blackmore."f * In a letter from Dryden to Tonson, dated 26th May, 1696, in which he reckons upon Sir Robert Howard's assistance in a pecuniary transaction. f " I am informed Mr Dryden is now translating of Virgil; and although I must own it is a fault to forestall or anti- cipate the praise of a man io his labours, yet, big with the greatness of the work, and the vast capacity of the author, I can- not here forbear saying, that Mr Dryden, in the translating of 100 ilFE Of JOHN DRY DEN. In testimony of total amnesty, the " Defence of the Essay" was cancelled ; and it must be rare in- deed to meet with an original edition of it, since Mr Maloue had never seen one.* Virgil, will of a certain make Maro speak better than ever Ma- ro thought. Besides those already mentioned, there are other ingredients and essential parts of poetry, necessary for the form- ing of a truly great and happy genius, viz. a free air and spirit, a vigorous and well governed thought, which are, as it were, the soul which inform and animate the whole mass and body of verse. But these are such 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 of the Muses, was the re- nowned Earl of Roscommon, a great worthy, as well as a great wit; and who is, in all rtspects, resembled by another great Lord of this present age, \\x. my Lord Cutt?, a person whom all people must allow to be an accomplished gentleman, a great general, and a fine poet. " The two elaborate poems of Blackmore and Milton, the which, for the dignity of them, may very well be looked upon as the two grand exemplars of poetry, do either of them exceed, nnd are more to be valued than all the poels, both of the Ro- mans and the Greeks put together. There are two other incom- parable pieces of poetry, viz. Mr Dryden's 'Absalom and Achi- tophel,' and the epistle of a known and celebrated wit (Mr Charles Montague) to my Lord of Dorset, the best judge in poetry, as well as the best poet; the tutelar nuincn o'the stage, and on whose breath all the Muses have their dependence." Proem to cm Essay on Pastoral, and Elegy on Queen Mary, by the Honourable Edvard Howard, l.lst January, l6p5. * That now before me is prefixed to the second edition of the " Indian Emperor," 1(J6"8. LIFK OF JOHN DfcVDEk. 101 mu4 jxfc!"*' "tlw ii'fh liirhjf >/Lr' r Dryden's fame, as an author, was doubtless ex- alted by the "Essay of Dramatic Poesy;" which shewed, that he could not only write plays, hut defend them when written. His circumstances rendered it necessary, that he should take the full advantage of his reputation to meet the iucfea- sing expence of a wife and family; and it was probably shortly after the Essay appeared, that our author entered into his memorable contract with - i . i ',,..' l-j the King's Company of players. The precise terms of this agreement have been settled by Mr Ma- lone from unquestionable evidence, after being the subject of much doubt and uncertainty. It is now certain, that, confiding in the, fertility of his genius, and the readiness of his pen* Dryden un- dertook to write for the King's house -no less than, three plays in the course of the year. In consi- deration of this engagement, he was admitted to hold one share and a quarter in the profits of the theatre, which was stated by the managers to have produced him three or four hundred pounds, communibus amris. Either, however, the players became sensible, that, by urging their pensioner to continued drudgery, they in fact lessened the value of his labour, or Dryden felt himself un- equal to perform the task he had undertaken ; for the average number of plays which he produced, 102 LIFE OF JOHX DRYDEN. was only about half thai which had been con- tracted for. The company, though not without grudging, paid the poet the stipulated share of profit; and the curious document, recovered by MY Malone, not only establishes the terms of the bargain, but that the players, although they complained of the laziness of their indented au- thor, were jealous of their right to his works, and anxious to retain possession of him, and of them.* It would have been well for Dryden's *hlt seems" t0;h,aye been a memorial addressed to the Lord Chamberlain for. the time, and was long in the possession of the Killigrew family. It was communicated by the learned Mr Reed to Mr Malone, and runs as follows : . ,." Whereas, upon Mr Dryden's binding himself to write three playes a-yeere, he, the said Mr Dryden, was admitted, and con- tinued as a sharer, in the King's Playhouse for diverse years, and received for his share and a quarter, three or four hundred pounds, communibus annis; but though he received the moneys, we received not the playes, not one in a yeare. After which, the House being burnt, the Company, in building another, con- tracted great debts, so that the shares fell much short of what they were formerly. Thereupon, Mr Dryden complaining to the Company of his want of proffit, the Company was so kind to him, that they not only did : not presse him for the playes which he so engaged to write for them, and for which he was paid be- forehand, but they did also, at his earnest request, give him a third day for his last new play, called " All for Love;" and at the receipt of tlie money of the said third day, he acknowledged it as a guift, and a particular kindnesse of the Company. Yet, LIFE OF JOHN DIIYDEN. 105 reputation, and perhaps not less productive to the company, had the number of his plays been still further abridged ; for, while we admire the faci- lity that could produce five or six plays in three years, we lament to find it so often exerted to the sacrifice of the more essential qualities of origin- ality and correctness. notwithstanding this kind proceeding, Mr Dryden has now, joint- ly with Mr Lee, (who was in pension with us to the last day of our playing, and shall continue,) written a play, called * (Edi- pus,' and given it to the Duke's Company, contrary to his said agreement, his promise, and all gratitude, to the great prejudice and almost undoing of the Company, they being the only poets remaining to us. Mr Crowne, being under the like 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 of it, 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 one hundred and twelve pounrk paid by the King's Company, besides neere forty pounds he, the said Mr Crowne, paid out of his owne pocket. " These things considered, if, notwithstanding Mr Dryden's said agreement, promise, and moneys, freely given him for his said last new play, and .the many titles we have to his writings, this play be judged away from us, we must submit. (Signed) " CHARLES KILLIGREW. CUAHLES HART. RICH. BURT. CARDELL GOODMAN. MIC. MOUUN." 104 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Dryden had, however, made his bargain, and was compelled to fulfil it the best he might As his last tragic piece, the " Indian Emperor," had been eminently successful, he was next to show the public, that his talents were not limited to the buskin; and accordingly, late in 1667, was represented the " Maiden Queen," a tragi-come- dy, in which, although there is a comic plot separate from the tragic design, our author boasts to have retained all that regularity and symme- try of parts which the dramatic laws require. The tragic scenes of the " Maiden Queen " were deservedly censured, as falling beneath the " In- dian Emperor." They have neither the stately march of the heroic dialogue, nor, what we would be more pleased to have found in them, the truth of passion, and natural colouring, which charac- terized the old English drama. But the credit of the piece was redeemed by the comic part, which is a more light and airy representation of the fashionable and licentious manners of the time than Dryden could afterwards attain, ex- cepting in " Marriage a-la-Mode." The king, whose judgment on this subject was unquestion- able, graced the " Maiden Queen" with the title of his play ; and Dryden insinuates that it would have been dedicated to him, had he had confi- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDKN. 105 dence to follow the practice of the French poets in like cases. At least, he avoided the solecism of inscribing the king's own play to a subject; and, instead of a dedication, we have a preface, in which the sovereign's favourable opinion of the piece is studiously insisted upon. Neither was the praise of Charles conferred without critical consideration ; for he justly censured the con- cluding scene, in which Celadon and Florimel treat of their marriage in very light terms in presence of the Queen, who stands by, an idle spectator. This insult to Melpomene, and pre- ference of her comic sister, our author acknow- ledges to be a fault, but seemingly only in de- ference to the royal opinion ; for he instantly adds, that, in his own judgment, the scene was necessary to make the piece go off smartly, and was, in the estimation of good judges, the most diverting of the whole comedy. Encouraged by the success of the " Maiden Queen," Dryden proceeded to revive the " Wild Gallant ;" and, in deference to his reputation, it seems now to have been more favourably re- ceived than at its first representation. The " Maiden Queen" was followed by the " Tempest," an alteration of Shakespeare's play of the same name, in which Dryden assisted Sir 106 I-IFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. D'Avenant It seems probable that Dry- clen , furnished the language, a,nd, D'Avenant the plan of the new characters introduced. They do but little honour to his invention, although Dry- den has highly extolled it in his preface. The idea of a counter-part to Shakespeare s plot, by introducing a man, who had never, seen a woman, as a contrast to a woman who had never seen a man, and by furnishing Caliban with a sister monster, seems hardly worthy of the delight with which Dryden says he filled up the characters so sketched. In mixing his tints, Dryden did not omit that peculiar colouring, in which his age delighted. Miranda's simplicity is converted into indelicacy, and Dorinda talks the language of prostitution before she has ever seen a man. But the play seems to have succeeded to the utmost wish of the authors. It was brought out in the. Duke's house, of which D'Avenant was manager, with all the splendour of scenic decoration, of which he was inventor. The opening scene is described as being particularly splendid, and the performance of the spirits, " with mops and mows," excited general applause. D'Avenant died be- fore the publication of this piece, and his me- mory is celebrated in the preface. Our authors next play, if it could be properly LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 107 called his, was " Sir Martin Mar-all." This was originally a translation of " LEtourdi " of Mo- liere, executed by the Duke of Newcastle, fa- mous for his loyalty, and his skill of horseman- ship. Dryden availed himself of the noble transla- tor's permission to improve and bring "Sir Mar- tin Mar-all " forward for his own benefit. It was attended with the most complete success, being played four times at court, and above thirty times at the theatre in Lincoln's-Inn Fields ; a run chiefly attributed to the excellent performance of Nokes, who represented Sir Martin.* The * Gibber, with his usual vivacity, thus describes the comic powers of Nokes in this admired character : " In the ludicrous distresses, which, by the laws of comedy, folly is often involved in, he sunk into such a mixture of piteous pusillanimity, and a consternation so ruefully ridiculous and in- consolable, that when he 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 by himself, he would shut up his mouth with a dumb studious powt, and roll his full eye into such a vacant amazement, such palpable ignorance of what to think of it, that his silent perplexity (which would sometimes hold him several minutes) gave your imagination as full con- tent, as the most absurd thing he could say upon it. In the character of Sir Martin Mar-all, who 'is always committing blunders to the prejudice of his own interest, when he had brought himself to a dilemma in his affairs, by vainly proceed- ing upon his own head, and was afterwards afraid to look his 108 tlFE OF JOHN DUVDfff. " Tempest" and " Sir Martin Mar-all" were both acted by the Duke'fc Company, probably because Dryden was in the one assisted by Sir William D'Avenant the manager, and because the other was entered in the name of the Duke of New- castle. Of these two plays, "Sir Martin Mar-all" was printed anonymously in 1668. It did not appear with Dryden *s name until 1697. The " Tempest," though acted before " Sir Martin Mar-all," was not printed until 1669-70. They are in the present, as in former editions, arranged according to the date of publication, which gives the precedence to " Sir Martin Mar-all/' though last acted. governing servant and counsellor in the face ; what a copious and distressful harangue have I seen him make with his looks (while the house has been in one continued roar for several mi- nutes) before he could prevail with his courage to speak a word to him ! Then might you have, at once, read in his face vexa- tion that his own measures, which he had piqued himself upon, had failed; envy of his servant's wit; distress to retrieve the occasion he had lost ; shame to confess his folly ; and yet a sullen desire to be reconciled, and better advised for the future ! What tragedy ever shewed us such a tumult of passions rising, at once, in one bosom ! or what buskin hero, standing under the load of them, could have more effectually moved his spec- tators by the most pathetic speech, than poor miserable Nokes lid by this silent eloquence, and piteous plight of his features.?'* t'j BEER'S Apology p, 86. WFE OF JOHN DRYDEK. The " Evening's Love, or the Mock Astrologer,'* \vas Dryden's next composition. It is an imita- tion of " Le Feint Astrologus" of Corneille, whicli is founded upon Calderon's " El Astrolngo Fin- gido" Several of the scenes are closely imita- ted from Moliere's " Depit Amoureuj.'." Having that lively bustle, intricacy of plot, and sur- prising situation, which the taste of the time required, and being enlivened by the characters of Wildblood and Jacinta, the " Mock Astrolo- ger" seems to have met a favourable reception in 1668, when it first appeared. It was printed in, the same, or in the following year, and inscribed to the Duke of Newcastle, to whom Dryden had been indebted for the sketch of " Sir Martin Mar-all." It would seem, that this gallant and chivalrous peer was then a protector of Dryden, though he afterwards seems more especially to have patronized his enemy Shadwell ; upon whose northern dedications, inscribed to the duke and his lady, our author is particularly severe. In the preface to the " Evening's Love," Dryden anxiously justifies himself from the charge of en- couraging libertinism, byjcrowning his rake and coquette with success. Cut after he lias arrayed all the authority of the ancient and modern poets-, and has pleaded that these licentious characters. 110 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN* are only made happy after being reclaimed in the last scene, we may be permitted to think, that more proper heroes may be selected than those, who, to merit the reward assigned them, must announce a violent and sudden change from the character they have sustained during five acts; and the attempt to shroud himself under autho- rity of others, is seldom resorted to by Dryden when a cause is otherwise tenable. In this pre- face also he justified himself from the charge of plagiarism, by shewing that the mere story is the least part either of the labour of the poet, or of the graces of the poem ; quoting against his cri- tics the expression of the king, who had said, he wished those, who charged Dryden with theft, would always steal him plays like Dryden's. The "Royal Martyr" was acted in 1668-9, and printed in 1670. It is, in every respect, a proper heroic tragedy, and had a large share of the ap- plause with which those pieces were then received. It abounds in bombast, but is not deficient in spe- cimens of the sublime and of the tender. The preface is distinguished by that tone of superio- rity, which Dryden often assumed over the critics of the time. Their general observations he cuts short, by observing, that those who make them produce nothing of their own, or only what is OF JOHN DRYDtX. 1 1 1 more ridiculous than .any thing thdy reprehend. Special objections are refuted, by an appeal to classical authority. Thus the couplet, " And he, who servilely creeps after sense, Is safe, but ne'er will reach an excellence," is justified from the " serplt humi tutus" of Ho- race ; and, by a still more forced derivation, the line, " And follow fate, which does too fast pursue," is said to Lc' borrowed from Virgil, " Eludit gyro interior sequiturque sequentem" And he concludes by exulting, that, though he might have written nonsense, none of his critics had been so happy as to discover it. These in- dications of superiority, being thought to savour of vanity, had their share in exciting the storm of malevolent criticism, of which Dryden after- wards so heavily complained. "Tyrannic Love" is dedicated to the Duke of Monmouth ; but it would seem the compliment was principally de- signed to his duchess. The duke, whom Dryden was afterwards to celebrate in very different strains, is however compared to an Achilles, or Rinaldo, who wanted only a Homer, or Tasso, to give him the fame due to him. 1 12 J.IFE OF JOHN DRYDEN* It was in this period of prosperity, of general reputation, of confidence in his genius, and per- haps of presumption, (if that word can be applied to Dryden,) that he produced those two very singular plays, the First and Second Parts of the " Conquest of Granada." In these models of the pure heroic drama, the ruling sentiments of love and honour are carried to the most passionate extravagance. And, to maintain the legitimacy of this style of composition, our author, ever ready to vindicate with his pen to be right, that which his timid critics murmured at as wrong, threw the gauntlet down before the admirers of the ancient English school, in the Epilogue to the " Second Part of the Conquest of Granada," and in the Defence of that Epilogue. That these plays might be introduced to the public with a solemnity corresponding in all respects to mo- dels of the rhyming tragedy, they were inscribed to the Duke of York, and prefaced by an *' Es- say upon Heroic Plays.". They were performed in 1669-70, and received with unbounded ap- plause. Before we consider the effect which they, and similar productions, produced on the public, together with the progress and decay of the taste for heroic dramas, we may first notice the effect which the ascendency of our author^ reputation Imd produced upon his situation and fortunes. LIFE O^ JOHN DUYDEN. 118 Whether we judge of the rank which Dryden held in society by the splendour of his titled and powerful friends, or by his connections among men of genius, we must consider him as occupy- ing, at this time, as high a station, in the very foremost circle, as literary reputation could gain for its owner. Independant of the notice with which he was honoured by Charles himself, the poet numbered among his friends most of the distinguished nobility. The great Duke of Or- mond had already begun that connection, which subsisted between Dryden and three generations of the house of Butler ; Thomas Lord Clifford, one of the Cabal ministry, was uniform in patro- nizing the poet, and appears to have been active in introducing him to the king's favour ; the Duke of Newcastle, as we have seen, loved him sufficiently to present him with a play for the stage ; the witty Earl of Dorset, then Lord Buck- hurst, and Sir Charles Sedley, admired in that loose age for the peculiar elegance of his loose poetry, were his intimate associates, as is evi- dent from the turn of the " Essay of Dramatic Poesy," where they are speakers; Wilmot Earl of Rochester (soon to act a very different part) was then anxious to vindicate Dryden's writings, to mediate for him with those who distributed VOL. I. H 114 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. the royal favour, and was thus careful, not only of his reputation^ but his fortune. * In short, the first author of what was then held the first style of poetry, was sought for hy all among the great and gay who wished to maintain some cha- racter for literary taste ; a description which in- cluded all of the court of Charles whom nature had not positively incapacitated from such pre- tension. It was then Dryden enjoyed those genial nights described in the dedication of the " As- o signation," when discourse was neither too se- O ' rious nor too light, but always pleasant, and for the most part instructive; the raillery neither too sharp upon the present, nor too censorious upon the absent ; and the cups such only as raised the conversation of the night, without disturbing the business of the morrow, f He had not yet experienced the disadvantages attendant on such society, or learned how soon literary emi- nence becomes the object of detraction, of envy, of injury, even from those who can best feel its merit, if they are discouraged by dissipated habits from emulating its flight, or hardened by per- verted feeling against loving its possessors. * Vol. IV. p. 238. I Vol. IV. p. 351. 3 LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN* 115 But, besides the society of these men of wit and pleasure, Dry den enjoyed the affection and esteem of the ingenious Cowley, who wasted his brilliant talents in the unprofitable paths of meta- physical poetry; of Waller and of Denham, who had done so much for English versification; of Davenant, as subtle as Cowley, and more harmo- nious than Denham, who, with a happier mo- del, would probably have excelled both. Dry- den M r as also known to Milton, though it may be doubted whether they justly appreciated the ta- lents of each other. Of all the men of genius at this period, whose claims to immortality our age has admitted, Butler alone seems to have been the adversary of our author's reputation. While Dryden was thus generally known and admired, the advancement of his fortune bore no equal progress to the splendour of his literary fame. Something was, however, done to assist it. The office of royal historiographer had become vacant in 1666 by the decease of James Howell, and in 1668 the death of D'Avenant opened the situation of poet laureat. These two offices, with a salary of L. 200 paid quarterly, and the celebrated annual butt of canary, were conferred upon Dryden 18th August, 1670. The grant bore a retrospect to the term after D'Avenant's demise, and is declared to be 116 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. to "John Dryden, master of arts, in consideration of his many acceptable services theretofore done to his present Majesty, and from an observation of his learning and eminent abilities, and his great skill and elegant style, both in verse and prose." * Thus was our author placed at the head of the literary class of his countrymen, so far as that high station could be conferred by the favour of the monarch. If we compute Dryden's share in the theatre at L. 300 annually, which is lower than it was ra- ted by the actors in their petition;! if we make, at the same time, some allowance for those pre- sents which authors of that time received upon presenting dedications, or occasional pieces of poetry ; if we recollect, that Dryden had a small landed property, and that his wife, Lady Eliza- beth, had probably some fortune, or allowance, however trifling, from her family, I think we will fall considerably under the mark in compu- * Pat. 22 Car. II. p. 6. n. 6. Malonc, I. p. 88. t Their account was probably exaggerated. Upon a similar occasion, the master of the revels stated the value of his winter and summer benefit plays at L. 50 each ; although, in reality, they did not, upon an average, produce him L. 9. See Malone's Historical Account of the Stage. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 117 ting the poet's income, during this period of pros- perity, at L. 600 or L. 700 annually ; a sum more adequate to procure all the comforts, and many of the luxuries, of life, than thrice the amount at present. We must, at the same time, recollect, that, though Dryden is no where censured for extravagance, poets are seldom capable of minute economy, and that Lady Elizabeth was by edu- cation, and perhaps by nature, unfitted for sup- plying her husband's deficiencies. These halcyon days, too, were but of short duration. The burn- ing of the theatre, in 1670, greatly injured the poet's income from that quarter; his pension, like other appointments of the household establish- ment of Charles II., was very irregularly paid; and thus, if his income was competent in amount, it was precarious and uncertain. Leaving Dryden for the present in the situa- tion which we have described, and which he oc- cupied during the most fortunate period of his life, the next Section may open with an account of the public taste at this time, and of the revo- lution in it which shortly took place. SECTION III. Heroic Plays The Rehearsal Marriage A-la-Mode* The Assignation Controversy with Clifford with Leigh with Ravenscroft Massacre of Amboyna State of Innocence. THE rage for imitating the French stage, joined to the successful efforts of our author, had now carried the heroic or rhyming tragedy to its high- est pitch of popularity. The principal requisites of such a drama are summed up by Dryden in the two first lines of the " Orlando Furiosoj* " Le Donne, i cavalier, I'arme, gli ampri Le cortesie, I'audaci imprese." The story thus partaking of the nature of a ro- mance of chivalry, the whole interest of the play necessarily turned upon love and honour, those supreme idols of the days of knight-errantry. The love introduced was not of that ordinary sort, which exists between persons of common mould; it was the love of Amadis and Oriana, LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. 1 1 to iheir 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, Th*y 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. 150 LIFE OF JOHN TRYDEN. 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 ob- noxious lines, our author ventured to maintain, in what he has termed a " Defence of the Epi- logue, or an Essay on the Dramatic Poetry of the last age." It is subjoined to the " Conquest of Granada ;" and, as that play was not printed till after the " Rehearsal," it serves to shew how little Dryden's opinions were altered, or his tone low- ered, by the success of that witty satire. It was necessary, he says, either not to print the bold LIFE OF JOHN DBYDEN. epilogue, which we have quoted, or to shew that he could defend it. He censures decidedly the antiquated language, irregular plots, and anachro- nisms of Shakespeare and Fletcher ; but his main strength seems directed against Jonson. From his works he selects several instances of harsh, inelegant, and even inaccurate diction. In de- scribing manners, he claims for the modern writers a decided superiority over the poets of the earlier age, when there was less gallantry, and when the authors were not admitted to the best society. The manners of their low, or Dutch school of comedy, in which Jonson led the way, by his " Bartholomew Fair," and similar pieces, are no- ticed, and censured, as unfit for a polished au- dience. The characters in what may be termed genteel comedy are reviewed, and restricted to the Truewit of Jonson's " Silent Woman," the Mer- cutio of Shakespeare, and Fletcher's Don John in the " Chances." Even this last celebrated cha- racter, he observes, is better carried on in the modern alteration of the play, than in Fletcher's original; a singular instance of Dryden's liberality of criticism, since the alteration of the " Chances" was made by that very Duke of Buckingham, from whom he had just received a bitter and personal offence. Dry den proceeds to contend, 1,52 HFE OF JOHN DRYDN> that the living poets, from the example of a gal- lant king and sprightly court, have learned, in their comedies, a tone of light discourse and raillery, in which the solidity of English sense is blended with the air and gaiety of their French neigh- bours ; in short, that those who call Jonson's the golden age of poetry, have only this reason, that the audience were then content with acorns, be- cause they knew not the use of bread. In all this criticism there was much undeniable truth ; but sufficient weight was not given to the ex- cellencies of the old school, while their faults were ostentatiously and invidiously enumerated. It would seem that Dryden, perhaps from the ri- gour of a puritanical education, had not studied the ancient dramatic models in his youth, and had only begun to read them with attention when it was his object rather to depreciate than to emu- late them But the time came when he did due homage to their genius. Meanwhile, this avowed preference of his own period excited the resentment of the older critics, who had looked up to the era of Shakespeare as the golden age of poetry ; and no less that of the play-wrights of his own standing, who pretended to discover, that Dryden designed to establish less the reputation of his age, than of himself indivi- OF JOHN DRY DEN. 153 dually, upon the ruined fame of the ancient poets. They complained, that, 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 of the ancients, gratified their spleen by attacking that of Dryclen, and strove less to combat his criticisms, than to cri- ticise his productions. We shall have too fre- quent occasion to observe, that there was, during the reign of Charles II., a semi- barbarous viru- lence of controversy, even upon abstract points of literature, which would be now thought inju- dicious and unfair, even by the newspaper advo- cates of contending factions. A critic of that time never deemed he had so effectually refuted the reasoning of his adversary, as whn he had said something disrespectful of his talents, per- son, or moral character. Thus, literary contest was embittered by personal hatred, and truth was so far from being the object of the combatants, that even victory was tasteless unless obtained by the disgrace and degradation of the antago- nist. This reflection may serve to introduce a short detail of the abusive controversies in which it was Dryden's lot to be engaged. 154 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. One of those, who most fiercely attacked our author's system and opinions, was Matthew Clif- ford, already mentioned as engaged in the " Re- hearsal." At what precise time he began his Notes upon Dryden's Poems, in Four Letters, or how they were originally published, is uncertain. The last of the letters is dated from the C'harter- House, 1st July, 1672, and is signed with his name : probably the others were written shortly before. The only edition now known was printed along M'ith some " Reflections on the Hind and Panther, by another Hand," (Tom Brown,) in 1687. If these letters were not actually printed in 1672, they were probably successively made public by transcripts handed about in the coffee- houses, which was an usual mode of circulating lampoons and pieces of satire. Although Clifford was esteemed a man of wit and a scholar, his style is rude, coarse, and ungentlemanlike, and the criticism is chiefly verbal. In the note the reader may peruse an ample specimen of the kind of wit, or rather banter, employed by this face- tious person. * The letters were written succes- *' " To begin with your character of Almanzor, which you avow to have taken from the Achilles in Homer; pray hear what Famianus Strada says of such talkers as Mr Dry-den; LIFE OP JOHN DRYDE1T. 155 sively, at different periods; for Clifford, in the last, complains, thjit he cannot extort an answer; and therefore seems to conceive, that his argu* meats are unanswerable. There were several other pamphlets, and fugi- tive pieces, published against Dryden at the same time. One of them, entitled " The Censure of the Rota on Mr Dry den's Conquest of Granada," was printed at Oxford in 1673. This was fol- Ridere soleo, cum video homines ab Homeri virtutibus strenue de- clinantcs, si quid tero irrepsit Titii, id avidc arripientes. But I might have spared this quotation, and you your avowing ; for this character might as well have been borrowed from some of the stalls in Bedlam, or any of your own hair-brained coxcombs, which you call heroes, and persons of honour. I remember just such another fuming Achilles in Shakespeare, one ancient Pistol, whom he avows to be a man of so fiery a temper, and so impatient of an injury, even from Sir John Falslaff his captain, and a knight, that he not only disobeyed his commands about carrying a letter to Mrs Page, but returned him an answer as full of contumely, and in as opprobrious terms, as he could imagine : " Let vultures gripe thy (guts, for gourd and Fullam hold. And high and low beguiles the rich and poor. Tester I'll have in pouch, when thou shalt lack, Base Phrygian Turk," &c. " Let's see e'er an Abencerrago fly a higher pitch. Take hinj at another turn, quarrelling with corporal Nyra and old Zegri : The difference arose about mine hostess Quickly, (for I would not give a rush for a man unless he be particular in matters of 156" tIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. lowed by a similar piece, entitled, " A Descrip- tion of the Academy of Athenian Virtuosi, with jf Discourse held there in Vindication of Mr Dry* den's Conquest of Granada against the Author of the Censure of the Rota." And a third, called this moment;) they both aimed at her body, 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 ? " But the four sons of Ammon, the three bold Beachams, the four London Prentices, Famerlain, the Scythian Shepherd, Muleasses, Amurath, and Bajazet, or any raging Turk at the Red-bull and Fortune, might as well have been urged by you as a pattern of your Almanzor, as the Achilles in Homer ; but then our laureat had not passed for so learned a man as he de- sires his unlearned admirers should esteem him. " But I am strangely mistaken, if I have not seen this very Almanzor of your's in some disguise about this town, and pas- sing 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 Maximine? Was not Lyndaraxa once called Almeria, I mean under Montezuma the Indian Emperor ? I protest and vow they are either the same, or so alike, that I can't for my heart distinguish one from the other. You are, therefore, a strange unconscionable thief, that art not content to steal from others, but do'st rob thy poor wretched self too." LIFE OF JOHN DRTDKST. 15? " A Friendly Vindication of Mr Dryden from the Author of the Censure of the Rota/' was printed at Cambridge. All these appeared pre- vious to the publication of the " Assignation." The first, as Wood informs us, was written by Richard Leigh, educated at Queen's College, Ox- ford, where he entered in 1665, and was probably resident when this piece wa there published. He was afterwards a player in the Duke's Com- pany, but must be carefully distinguished from the celebrated comedian of the same name. It seems likely that he wrote also the second tract, which is a continuation of the first. Both are in a frothy, flippant style of raillery, of which the reader will find a specimen in the note.* The * " Amongst several other late exercises of the Athenian vir- tuosi iu the Coffee-academy, instituted by Apollo for the ad- vancement of Gazette Philosophy, Mercury's, Diurnalli, &c. this day was wholly taken up in the examination of the 'Con- quest of Granada.' A gentleman on the reading of the First Part, and there in the description of the bull-baiting, said, that Almanzor's playing at the bull was according to the standard of the Greek heroes, who, as Mr Dryden had learnedly ob>erved, (Essay of Dramatic Poesy,) were great beef-eaters. And why might, hot Almanzor as well as Ajax, or Don Quixote, worry mutton, or take a bull by the throat, since the author had else- where explained himself, by telling us the heroes were more noble beasts of prey, in his Epistle to his ' Conquest of Gra- nada,' distinguishing them into wild and tame ; and in his pi*/ 158 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Cambridge Vindication seems to have been writ- ten by a different hand, though in the same taste. It is singular in bringing a charge against our author, which has been urged by no other anta- gonist; for he is there upbraided with exhibiting in his comedies the persons and follies of living characters, f \ve have Almanzor shaking his chains, and frighting his keeper, broke loose, and tearing those that would reclaim his rage. To this he added, that his bulls excelled others heroes, as far as his own heroes surpassed his gods ; that the champion bull was divested of flesh and blood, and made immortal by the poet, and bellowed after death ; that the fantastic bull seemed fiercer than the true, and the dead bellowings in verse were louder than the living ; concluding with a wish, that Mr Dryden had the good luck to have Taried that old verse quoted in his Dra- matic Essay : " Atque Ursum, et Pugiles media inter carmina poscunt Tauros, et Pugiles prima inter carmina posco ;" and prefixed it to the front of his play, instead of " " Major rerum mihi uascitur ordo, Majus opus moveo." Censure of the Rota, p. I. t " But, however, if he were taken for no good comic poet, er satirist, he had found a way of much easier license, (though more remarkable in the sense of some,) which was, not only to libel men's persons, but to represent them on the stage too : That to this purpose he made his observations 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 be- lieve, that this was not both good comedy, and no less good manners."! "riendly Vindication of Mr Dryden, p. 8. JLIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 159 The friends and admirers of Dry den did not see with indifference these attacks upou his repu- tation ; for he congratulates* himself upon having found defenders even among strangers, alluding probably to a tract by Mr Charles Blount, entitled, " Mr Dryden Vindicated, in answer to the Friendly Vindication of Mr Dryden, with Reflections on the Rota.'* This piece is written with all the honest enthusiasm of youth in defence of that genius, which has excited its admiration. In his address to Sedley, Dryden notices these attacks upon him with a supreme degree of contempt. | * Dedication to the " Assignation." f- Drydea 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 Fas- tidious Brisk of Oxford. The Cambridge author, who imitated his style, is the Fungoso of the Dedication : " As for the er- rors they pretend to find in me, I could easily shew them that the greatest part of them are beauties ; and for the rest, I could recriminate upon the best poets of our nation, if I could resolve to accuse another of little faults, whom at the same time I admire for greater excellencies. But I have neither con- cernment enough upon me to write any thing in my own de- fence, neither will I gratify the ambition of two wretched scrib- blers, who desire nothing more than to be answered. I have not wanted friends, even amongst strangers, who have defended me more strongly than my contemptible pedant could attack me; for the other, he is only like Fungoso in the play, who follows the fashion at a distance, and adores the Fastidious Bri r JOHN DRYDEN. In other respects, the dedication is drawn with the easy inditierence of one accustomed to the best society, towards the authority of those who presumed to judge of modern manners, without having access to see those of the higher circles. The picture which it draws of the elegance 1 of the convivial parties of the wits in that gay time, has been quoted a. few pages higher. I know not if it be here worth while to men- tion a petty warfare between Dry den arid Ed- ward Ravenscroft,* an unworthy scribbler, who wrote plays, or rather altered those of Shake- speare, and imitated those of Moliere. This per- of Oxford. You can bear me witness, that I have not consi- deration enough for either of them to be angry, let Maevius and Bavius admire each other; I Wish to be hated by them and their fellows, by the samv reason for wmeh I desire to be loVed by you/' Dedication to the Assignation, Voh IV. p. 354. * A student of law in the Temple, and author of that notable alteration of " Titus Andronicus " mentioned in the commen- taries on Shakespeare. Besides the " Citizen turned Gentle- man," he wrote the 1 " Careless Lovers,'- " Scaramouch, a Phi- losopher," the "Wrangling Lovers," " Edgar and Alfre^a," the " English Lawyer," the " London Cuckolds,'' distinguished by Gibber as the grossest play that ever succeeded, " Dame Dobson," thi- said alteration of " Titus Andronicus," the" Can- terbury Guests," and the " Italian Husband," in all twelve plays, not one of which has the least merit. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 161 son, whether from a feud which naturally sub- sisted between the two rival theatres, or from envy and dislike to Dryden personally, chose, in the Prologue to the " Citizen turned Gentleman," acted at the Duke's house in 16/2, to level some sneers at the heroic drama, which affected parti- cularly the " Conquest of Granada," then act- ing with great applause. * Ravenscroft's play, which is a bald translation from the " Bourgeois Gentilhomme" of Moliere, was successful, chiefly owing to the burlesque procession of Turks em- ployed to dub the Citizen a Mamamouchi, or Pa- ladin. Dryden, with more indignation than the occasion warranted, retorted, in the Prologue to the " Assignation," by the following attack on KavenscrofYs jargon and buffoonery : " You must have Mamamouchi, such a fop As would appear a monster in a shop j He'll fill your pit and boxes to the brim, Where, ram'd in crowds, you see yourselves in him. Sure there's some spell, our poet never knew, In liullibabilah de, and Chu, chu, chu ; But Marababah sahem most did touch you ; That is, Oh how we love the Maraamouchi ! 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 * See the offensive lines in Vol. IV. p. 347. VOL. I. L 162 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEK. theatre, to vary the amusements of the house, re- presented " Marriage A-la-Mode" in men's dresses. The Prologue and Epilogue were furnished by Dryden ; and in the latter, mentioning the pro- jected 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 satirized, did not fail to ex- ult in the bad success of the " Assignation," and celebrated his triumph in some lines of a Prologue to the " Careless Lovers," which was acted in the vacation succeeding 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 the slightest notice from the pen of Dryden. * * " 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 lucura con tnnto 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 thos^ plays found a more indulgent fate." LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 163 And with this Te Deum, on the part of Ravens- croft, ended a petty controversy, which gives him his only title to be named in the life of an Eng- lish classic. From what has been detailed of these disputes we may learn, that, even at this period, the lau- reat's wreath was not unmingled with thorns; and that if Dryden still maintained his due as- cendancy over the common band of authors, it was not without being occasionally under the ne- cessity of descending into the arena against very inferior antagonists. In the course of these controversies, Dryden was not idle, though he cannot be said to have been worthily or fortunately employed ; his muse being lent to the court, who were at this time anxious to awake the popular indignation against the Dutch. It is a characteristic of the Eng- lish nation, that their habitual dislike against their neighbours is soon and easily blown into animosity. But, although Dryden chose for his theme the horrid massacre of Amboyna, and fell to the task with such zeal, that he accom- plished it in a month, his play was probably of little service to the cause in which it was written. The story is too disgusting to produce the legitimate feelings of pity and terror, which 164 LIFE OF JOHN DHYDEX. tragedy should excite : the black-hole of Cal- cutta would be as pleasing a subject. The cha- racter of the Hollanders is too grossly vicious and detestable to give the least pleasure. They are neither men, nor even devils ; but a sort of lubbar fiends, compounded of cruelty, avarice, and brutal debauchery, like Dutch swabbers pos- sessed by demons. But of this play the author has himself admitted, that the subject is barren, the persons low, and the writing not heightened by any laboured scenes : and, without attempting to contradict this modest description, we may dismiss the tragedy of " Amboyna." It was de- dicated to Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, an active member of the Cabal administration of Charles II.; but who, as a catholic, on the test act being passed, resigned his post of lord high treasurer, and died shortly afterwards. There is great reason to think, that this nobleman had essentially favoured Dry- den's views in life. On a former occasion, he had termed Lord Clifford a better Maecenas than that of Horace ; * and, in the present dedication, * " For my own part, I, who am the least among the poets, have yet the fortune 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 ways obliged, and have taken care of me LIFE OF.JOHN DRYDEN. 165 he mentions the numerous favours received through so many years, as forming one continued act of his patron's generosity and goodness ; so that the excess of his gratitude had led the poet to receive those benefits, as the Jews received their law, with mute wonder, rather than with outward and ceremonious acclamation. These sentiments of obligation he continued, long after Lord Clifford's death, to express in terms equally glowing ; f so that we may safely do this stasesman's memory the justice to record him as an active and dis- cerning patron of Dryden's genius. In the course of 1673, our author's pen was engaged in a task, which may be safely con- demned as presumptuous, though that pen was during the exigencies of a war,) I have found a better Maecenas in the person of my Lord Treasurer Clifford, and a more elegant Tibullus in that of Sir Charles Sidley." Dedication to the As- signation, Vol. IV. p. 350. f In his Dedication of the Pastorals of Virgil to Hugh Lord Clifford, he says, " J have no reason to complain of for- tune, since, in the midst of that abundance, I could not have chosen better than the worthy son of so illustrious a father. He was the patron of my manhood, when I flourished in the opinion of the world, thuug% with small advantage to my for- tune, till he awakened the remembrance of my royal master. He was that Pollio, or that Varus, vho introduced me to Au- gustus" Vol. XIII. p. 338. 166 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Dryden's. It was no other than that of new-mo- delling the " Paradise Lost" of Milton into a dra- matic poem, called the " State of Innocence, or the Fall of Man." The coldness with which Milton's mighty epic was received upon the first publication is almost proverbial. The character of the author, obnoxious for his share in the usurped government; the turn of the language, so different from that of the age ; the seriousness of a subject, so discordant with its lively frivoli- ties gave to the author's renown the slowness of growth with the permanency of the oak. Mil- ton's merit, however, had not escaped the eye of Dry den.* He was acquainted with the author, perhaps even before the Restoration ; and who can doubt Dryden's power of feeling the sub- limity of the " Paradise Lost," even had he him- * The elder Richardson has told a story, that Lord Buck- hurst, afterwards Earl of Dorset, was the first who introduced the " Paradise Lost," then lying like waste paper in the book- seller's hands, to the notice of Dryden. But this tradition has been justly exploded by Mr Malone. Life of Dryden, Vol. I. p. 114. Indeed, it is by no means likely, that Dryden could be a stranger to the very existence of a large poem, 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 to the author. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDJN. 167 self not assured us, in the prefatory essay to his own piece, that he accounts it, " undoubtedly, one of the greatest, most noble, and most sublime poems, which either this age or nation has pro- duced ?" We are, therefore, to seek for the mo- tive which could have induced him, holding this opinion, " to gild pure gold, and set a perfume on the violet.'' Dennis has left a curious record upon this subject : " Dryden," he observes, " in his Preface before the ' State of Innocence,' ap- pears to have been the first, those gentlemen ex- cepted whose verses are before Milton's poem, who discovered in so public a manner an extra- ordinary opinion of Milton's extraordinary merit. And yet Mr Dryden at that time knew not half the extent of his excellence, as more than twenty years afterwards he confessed to me, and is pretty plain from his writing the ' State of Innocence." Had he known the full extent of Milton's excel- lence, Dennis thought he would not have ven- tured on this undertaking, unless he designed to be a foil to him : " but they,'' he adds, " who knew Mr Dryden, know very well, that he was not of a temper to design to be a foil to any one." * We are therefore to conclude, that it was * Dennis' Letters, quoted by Malone. 168 "FE OF JOHN DRYDEN. only the hope of excelling his original, admirable as he allowed it to be, which impelled Dryden upon this unprofitable and abortive labour; and we are to examine the improvements which Dryden seemed to meditate, or, in other words, the dif- ferences between his taste and that of Milton, And first we may observe, that the difference in their situations affected their habits of think- ing upon poetical subjects. Milton had retired into solitude, if not into obscurity, relieved from every thing like external agency either influen- cing his choice of a subject, or his mode of treat- ing it; and in consequence, instead of looking abroad to consult the opinion of his age, he ap- pealed only to the judge which Heaven had im- planted within him, when he was endowed with severity of judgment, and profusion of genius. But the taste of Dryden was not so independent. Placed by his very office at the head of what was fashionable in literature, he had to write for those around him, rather than for posterity ; was to support a brilliant reputation in the eye of the world ; apd is frequently found boasting of his intimacy with those who led the taste of the age, and frequently quoting the " tamen me Cum magnis vixisse, inyita fatebitur usque Invidia" I.IFE OF JOHN DKYDEJJ. l6<) It followed, that Dryden could not struggle against the tide into which he was launched, and that, although it might be expected from his talents that he should ameliorate the reigning taste, or at least carry those compositions which it ap- proved, to their utmost pitch of perfection, it could not be hoped that he should altogether escape being perverted by it, or should soar so superior to all its prejudices, as at once to admit the super-eminent excellence of a poem, which ran counter to these in so many particulars. The versification of Milton, according to the taste of the times, was ignoble, from its supposed facility. Dryden was, we have seen, so much possessed with this prejudice, as to pronounce blank verse unfit even for a fugitive paper of verses, Even in his later and riper judgment he affirms, that, whatever pretext Milton might al- lege for the use of blank verse, " his own parti- cular reason is plainly this, that rhyme was not his talent ; he had neither the ease of doing it, nor the graces of it: which is manifest in his "Juvenilia," or verses written in his youth, where his rhyme is always constrained and forced, and comes hardly from him, at an age when the soul is most pliant, and the passion of love makes 170 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. almost every man a rhymer, though not a poet."f The want of the dignity of rhyme was therefore, according to his idea, an essential deficiency in the " Paradise Lost." According to Aubrey, Dry- den communicated to Milton his intention of adding this grace to his poem ; to which the ve- nerable bard gave a contemptuous consent, in these words : " Aye, you may tag my verses if you will." Perhaps few have read so far into the " State of Innocence" as to discover that Dry- den did not use this licence to the uttermost, and that several of the scenes are not tagg'd with rhyme. Dry den at this period engaged in a research re- commended to him by " a noble wit of Scotland," as he terms Sir George Mackenzie, the issue of which, in his apprehension, pointed out farther room for improving upon the epic of Milton. This was an enquiry into the " turn of words and thoughts" requisite in heroic poetry. These "turns," according to the definition and exam- ples which Dryden has given us, differ from the points of wit, and quirks of epigrarn, common in the metaphysical poets, and consist in a happy, and * Essay on Satire, Vol. XIII. p. 21. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDES. 171 at the same time a natural recurrence of the same form of expression, melodiously varied. Having failed in his search after these beauties in Cow- ley, the darling of his youth, " I consulted," says Dryden, " a greater genius, (without ofience to the manes of that noble author,) I mean Mil- ton ; but as he endeavours every where t to ex- press Homer, whose age had not arrived to that fineness, I found in him a true sublimity, lofty thoughts, which were clothed with admirable Grecisms, and ancient words, which he had been digging from the mines of Chaucer and Spenser, and which, with all their rusticity, had some- what of venerable in them. But I found not there neither that for which I looked." This judgment Addison has proved to be erroneous, by quoting from Milton the most beautiful ex- ample of a turn of words which can be, found in English poetry. * But Dryden, holding it for * " 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'ring with dew : fragrant the fertile earth After soft show'rs, and sweet the coming on 172 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. just, conceived, doubtless, that, in his " State of Innocence," he might exert his skill successfully, by supplying the supposed deficiency, and for relieving those " flats of thought" which he com- plains of, where Milton, for a hundred lines to- gether, runs on in a " track of scripture ;" but which Dennis more justly ascribes to the hum- ble nature of his subject in those passages. The graces, also, which Dryden ventured to inter- weave with the lofty theme of Milton, were ra- ther those of Ovid than of Virgil, rather turns of verbal expression than of thought. Such 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'ring with dew ; nor fragrance after show'rs ; 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 the recapitulation of each particular image, with a little varying of the expression, makes one of the finest turns of words that I have ever seen ; which I rather mention, because Mr Dry- den has said, in his Preface to Juvenal, that he could meet with no turn of words in Milton." Tatler, Nos. 114-, 115. I L!F2 OF JOHN DHYDEtf. is that conceit which met 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 diss&lved in hallelujahs lie." "I have heard," said a petulant critic, "of ancho- vies dissolved in sauce ; hut never of an angel dissolved in hallelujahs." But this raillery Drydeu rebuffs with a quotation from Virgil : " Invadunt urlem, somno -cinoque sepultam." It might have heen replied, that Virgil's analogy was familiar and simple, and that of Dryden was far-fetched, and startling by its novelty. The majesty of Milton's verse is strangely de- graded in the following speeches, which precede the rising of Pandremonium. Some of the couplets are utterly flat and bald, and, in others, the ba- lance of point and antithesis is substituted for the simple sublimity of the original : " 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 ! Asmodatj, 'Tis fit in frequent senate we confer, 174 LIFE OF j6lIN DRYDElf* '4 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. Lvcif. 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 on Milton. Yet some of his alterations have such peculiar reference to the taste and manners of his age, that I cannot avoid pointing them out. Eve is 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, 1 am somewhat which they wish to be, And cannot, I myself am proud of me." Upon receiving Adam's addresses, she expresses, rather unreasonably in the circumstances, some LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 175 apprehensions of his infidelity; and, upon the whole, she is considerably too knowing for the primitive state. The same may be said of Adam, whose knowledge in school divinity, and use of syllogistic argument, Dry den, though he found it in the original, was under no necessity to have retained. The " State of Innocence," as it could not be designed for the stage, seems to have been ori- ginally intended as a mere poetical prolusion ; for Dryden, who was above affecting such a cir- cumstance, tells us, that it was only made public, because, in consequence of several hundred co- pies, every one gathering new faults, having been dispersed without his knowledge, it became at length a libel on the author, who was forced to print a correct edition in his own defence. As the incidents and language were ready composed by Milton, we are not surprised when informed, that the composition and revision were completed in a single month. The ciitics having assailed the poem even before publication, the author has prefixed an " Essay upon Heroic Poetry and Poetic License ;" in which he treats chiefly of the use of metaphors, and of the legitimacy of machinery. 176 LIFE OF JOHN' DRYDEN. The Dedication of the "State of Innocence," addressed to Mary of Este, Duchess of York, is a singular specimen of what has been since termed the celestial style of inscription. It is a strain of flattery in the language of adoration; and the elevated station of the princess is declared so suited to her excellence, that Providence has only done justice to its own works in placing the most perfect work of heaven where it may be admired by all beholders. Even this flight is surpassed by the following: " 'Tis true, you are above all mortal wishes; no man desires impossibilities, be- cause they are beyond the reach of nature. To hope to be a god, is folly exalted into madness ; but, by the laws of our creation, we are obliged to adore him, and are permitted to love him too at human distance. Tis the nature of perfection to be attractive ; but the excellency of the ob- ject refines the nature of the love. It strikes an impression of awful reverence; 'tis indeed that love which is more properly a zeal than passion. Tis the rapture which anchorites find in prayer, when a beam of the divinity shines upon them ; that which makes them despise all worldly ob- jects; and yet 'tis all but contemplation. They are seldom visited from above ; but a single vi- sion so transports them, that it makes up the 1IFE OF JOHN DRYDEK. 177 ' '.* happiness of their lives. Mortality cannft bear it often : it finds them in the eagerness and height of their devotion ; they are speechless for the time that it continues, and prostrate and dead when it departs." Such eulogy was the taste of the days of Charles, when ladies were deified in de- dications, and painted as Venus or Diana upon canvas. In our time, the elegance of the Ian* guage would be scarcely held to counterbalance the absurdity of the compliments. Lee the dramatic writer, an excellent poet, though unfortunate in his health and circum- stances, evinced his friendship for Dryclen, ra- ther than his judgment, by prefixing to the " State of Innocence " a copy of verses, in which he com- pliments the author with having refined the ore of Milton. Dryden repaid this favour by an epistle, in which he beautifully apologizes for the extravagancies of his friend's poetry, and consoles him for the censure of those cold judges, whose blame became praise when they accused the ^warmth which they were incapable of feeling. * * See this Epistle, Vol. XI. p. 22. It was prefixed to " Alex- ander the Great;" a play, the merits and fauits of which ar both in extreme, VOL. J, M 178 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Haflng thus brought the account of our au- thor's productions clown to 1674, from which period we date a perceptible change in his taste and mode of composition, I have only to add, that his private situation was probably altered to the worse, by the burning of the King's Theatre, and the debts contracted in rebuilding it. The %alue of his share in that company must conse- quently have fallen far short of what it was ori- ginally. In other respects, he was probably near- ly in the same condition as in 1672. The critics, who assailed his literary reputation, had hitherto spared his private character; and, excepting Ro- chester, whose malignity towards Dry den now began to display itself, he probably had not lost one person whom he had thought worthy to be called a friend. Lee, who seems first to have dis- tinguished himself about 1672, was probably then added to the number of his intimates. Milton died shortly before the publication of the " State of Innocence ;" and we may wish in vain to know his opinion of that piece ; but if tradition can be trusted, he said perhaps on that undertaking, that Dryden was a good rhymer, but no poet. Blount, who had signalized himself in Dryden's defence, was now added to the number of his friends. This gentleman dedicated his " Rdigio Laid" to Dry- LIFE OF JOHN DRYEN. 179 t den in 1683, as his much-honoured friend; and the poet speaks of him with kindness and re- spect in 1696, three years after his unfortunate and violent catastrophe. Dryden was, however, soon to experience the mutability of the friendship of wits and courtiers. A period was speedily approaching, when the vio- lence of political faction was to effect a breafll between our author and many of those with whom he was now intimately connected ; indeed, he was already entangled in the quarrels of the great, and sustained a severe personal outrage, in con- sequence of a quarrel with which he had little individual concern. SECTION IV. Dry dens Controversy with Settle with Rochester He i assaulted in Rose-street Aureng-Zebe Dry den medi- Qtates an Epic Poem All for Love Limberham CEdi- p us Troilus and Cressida The Spanish Friar Dry- den supposed to be in opposition to the Court. 'THE State of Innocence" 'was published in 1674, and " Aureng-Zebe," Dryden's next tra- gedy, appeared in 1675. In the interval, he in- forms us, his ardour for rhyming plays had consi- derably abated. The course of study which he imposed on himself, doubtless led him to this conclusion. But it is also possible, that he found the peculiar facilities of that drama had excit- ed the emulation of very inferior poets, who, by dint of show, rant, and clamorous hexameters, were likely to divide with him the public favour. Before proceeding, therefore, to state the gradual alteration in Dryden's own taste, we must per- form the task of detailing the literary quarrels in which he was at this period engaged. The chief of his rivals was Elkanah Settle, a person afterwards LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 181 utterly contem ptible ; but who, first by the strength of a party at court, and afterwards by a faction in the state, was, for a time, buoyed up in oppo- sition to Dryden. It is impossible to detail the progress of the contest for public favour between these two ill-matched rivals, without noticing at the same time Dryden's quarrel with Rochester, who appears to have played off Settle in oppositi4^ to him, as absolutely, and nearly as successfully, as Settle ever played off the literal puppets, for which, in the ebb of his fortune, he wrote dramas. In the year 1673, Dryden and Rochester were on such friendly terms, that our poet inscribed to his lordship his favourite play of " Marriage A- la-Mode;" not without acknowledgment of the deepest gratitude for favours done to his fortune and reputation. The dedication, we have seen, was so favourably accepted by Rochester, that the reception called forth a second tribute of thanks from the poet to the patron. But at this point, the interchange of kindness and of civility received a sudden and irrecoverable check. This was partly owing to Rochester's fickle and jealous temper, which induced him alternately to raise and de- press the men of parts whom he loved to patron- ize ; so that no one should ever become indepen- dent of his favour, or so rooted in the public opi- 182 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. nion, as to be beyond the reach of his satire; but it may also in part be attributed to Dryden's attachment to Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, after- wards Duke of Buckingham, then' Rochester's rival in wit and court-favour, and from whom he had sustained a deadly affront, on an occasion, which, as the remote cause of a curious incident fy Dryden's life, I have elsewhere detailed in the words of Sheffield himself. * Rochester, who was branded as a coward in consequence of this trans- action, must be reasonably supposed to entertain a sincere hatred against Mulgrave; with whom he had once lived on such friendly terms, as to inscribe to him an Epistle on their mutual poems. But, as his nerves had proved unequal to a per- sonal conflict with his brother peer, his malice prompted the discharge of his spleen upon those men of literature whom his antagonist cherished and patronized. Among these Dryden held a dis- tinguished situation; for, about 16/5 he was, as we shall presently see, sufficiently in Sheffield's confidence to correct and revise that nobleman's poetry ;t and in 1676 dedicated to him the tra- * See Vol. XV. p. 215. t Malone, Vol. I. p. 124- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 183 gedy of " Aureng-Zebe," as one who enjoyed not only his favour, but his love and conversation. Thus Dryden was obnoxious to Rochester, both as holding a station among the authors of the pe- riod, grievous to the vanity of one, who aimed, by a levelling and dividing system, to be the ty- rant, or at least the dictator, of wit; and also as the friend, and even the confident, of Mulgravf by whom the witty profligate had been baflled and humiliated. Dryden was therefore to be low- ered in the public opinion ; and for this purpose, Rochester made use of Elkanah Settle, whom, though he gratified his malice by placing him in opposition to Dryden, he must, in his heart, have thoroughly despised. * * Dennis's account of these feuds, though not strictly accu- rate, is lively, and too curious to be suppressed. " Nothing," says Dennis, " ii more certain, than that Mr Settle, who is now (1717) the city poet, was formerly a poet of the court. And at what time was he so ? Why, in the reign of King Charles the Second, when that court was more gallant and more polite than ever the English court perhaps had been before; when there was at court the present and the late Duke of Bucking- ham, the late Earl of Dorset, Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, famous for his wit and poetry, Sir Charles Sedley, Mr Saville, Mr Buckley, and several others. " Mr Settle's first tragedy, ' Cambyses, King of Persia,' was .acted for three weeks together. The second, which was ' TJi* LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. This play-wright, whom the jealous spleen of a favourite courtier, and the misjudging taste of a promiscuous audience, placed for some time in so high a station, came into notice in 16/1, on the representation of his first play, " Cambyses, King of Persia," which was played six nights suc- Empress of Morocco,' was acted for a month together ; and was in such high esteem both with the court and town, that it was acted at Whitehall before the king by the gentlemen and ladies of the court ; and the prologue, which was spoken by the Lady Betty Howard, was writ by the famous Lord Rochester. The bookseller who "printed it, depending upon the prepossession of the town, ventured to distinguish it from all the plays that had been ever published before; for it was the first play that ever was sold in England for two shillings, and the first that ever was printed with cuts. The booksellers at that time of day had not discovered so much of the weakness of their gentle readers as they have done since, nor so plainly discovered that fools, like children, are to be drawn in by gewgaws. Well ; but what was the event of this great success ? Mr Settle began to grow insolent, as any one may see, who reads the epistle dedi- catory to ' The Empress of Morocco.' Mr Dryden, Mr Shadwell, and Mr Crowne, began to grow jealous ; and they three in confederacy wrote ' Remarks on the Empress of Mo- rocco/ Mr Settle answered them ; and, according to the opi- nion which the town then had of the matter, (for I have utterly forgot the controversy,) had by much the better of them all. In short, Mr Settle was then a formidable rival to Mr Dryden ; and I remember very well, that not only the town, but the uni- versity of Cambridge, was very much divided in their opinions about the preference that ought to be given to them ; and in both places the younger fry inclined to Elkanah." LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. 185 cessively. This run of public favour gave Roches- ter some pretence to bring Settle to the notice of the king; and, through the efforts of this mis- chievous wit, joined to the natural disposition of the people, to he carried by show, rant, and tu- mult, Settle's second play, " The Empress of Mo- rocco," was acted with unanimous and overpower- ing applause for a month together. To add td* Dryclen's mortification, Rochester had interest enough to have this tragedy of one whom he had elevated into the rank of his rival, first acted at Whitehall by the lords and ladies of the court; an honour which had never been paid to any of Dryden's compositions, however more justly en- titled to it, both from intrinsic merit, and by the author's situation as poet-laureat. Rochester con- tributed a prologue upon this brilliant occasion, to add still more grace to Settle's triumph ; but what seems yet more extraordinary, and has, I think, been unnoticed in all accounts of the con- troversy, Mulgrave, * Rochester's rival and the friend of Dryden, did the same homage to " The * Lord Mulgrave wrote the prologue when Settle's play was first acted at court ; Lord Rochester's was written for the se- cond occasion; both were spoken by the beautiful Lady Eliza* beth Howard. 186 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Empress of Morocco." From the king's private theatre, " The Empress of Morocco" was trans- ferred, in all its honours, to the public stage in Dorset Garden, and received with applause cor- responding to the expectation excited by its fa- vour at Whitehall. While the court and city were thus worshipping the idol which Rochester bad set up, it could hardly be expected of poor Settle^that he should be first to discern his own want of desert. On the contrary, he grew pre- sumptuous on success ; and when he printed his performance, the dedication to the Earl of Nor- wich was directly levelled against the poet-laureat, who termed it the " most arrogant, calumniatory, ill-mannered, and senseless preface he ever saw.'"* And, to add gall to bitterness, the bookseller thought " The Empress of Morocco" worthy of being decorated with engravings, and sold at the advanced price of two shillings; being the first drama advanced to such honourable distinction.^ * See this offensive dedication in the account of Settle's con- troversy with Dryden, Vol. XV. p. 398. f A copy of this rare edition (the gift of my learned friend, the Rev. Henry White of Lichfield) is now before me. The en- gravings are sufficiently paltry ; and had the play been publish- ed even in the present day, it would have been accounted dear at two shillings. The name of the publisher is William Cade- man, the date l6?3. LIFE OF JOHX DRYDEN. 187 Moreover, the play is ostentatiously stated in the title to be written by Klkanah Settle, Servant to his Majesty ;* an addition which the laureat had assumed with greater propriety. If we are asked the merit of a performance which made such an impression at the time, we may borrow an expression applied to a certain orator, t and say, that "The Empress of Moroc- co" must have acted to the tune of a good heroic play. It had all the outward and visible requi- sites of splendid scenery, prisons, palaces, fleets, combats of desperate duration and uncertain is- sue,;}; assassinations, a dancing tree, a rainbow, a shower of hail, a criminal executed, and hell it- * This title is omitted in subsequent editions. f Of whom it was said, that he spoke " to the tune of a good speech." J As for example, this stage-direction: " Here a company of villains in ambush from behind the scenes discharge their guns at Muly-Hamet; at which Muly-IIamet starting and turning, Hametalhaz from under his priest's habit draws a sword, and passes at Muly-II. which pass is intercepted by Abdelcadcr. They engage in a very fierce fight with the villains, who also draw and assist Hametalhaz, and go off several ways lighting; after the discharge of other guns heard from within, and the clashing of swords, enter again Muly-llamet, driving in some of the former villains, which he kills." In the fifth act the scene draws and discovers Crimalhaz cast down on the guanches, i. e. hung on a wall set wilh spikes, ecythe-blades, and hooks of iron ; which scene (to judge frora 188 LIVE OF JOHN DRYDEN. self opening upon the stage. The rhyming dia- logue too, in which the play was written, had an imperative and tyrannical sound ; and to a foreign- er, ignorant of the language, might have appear- ed as magnificent as that of Dryden. But it must raise our admiration, that the witty court of Charles could patiently listen to a " tale told by an idiot, full of noise and fury, signifying no- thing," and give it a preference over the poetry of Dryden. The following description of a hail- storm will vindicate our wonder : " This morning, as our eyes we upward cast, The desart 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 ; the engraving) exhibited the mangled limbs and wasted bones of former sufferers, suspended in agreeable confusion. With this pleasing display the piece concluded. LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEH. 189 And like that too, (which chiefly I admired) Its ravished whiteness with a touch expired. At the approach of heat, this candid rain Dwsolved to its first element again. Mnly-H. Though showers of hail Morocco never see, Dull priest, what does all this portend to me ? Ham. It does portend Mtily. What? .Ham. That the fates design Muly. To tire me with impertinence like thine." Such were the strains once preferred to the magnificent verses of Dryden ; whose very worst bombast is sublimity compared to them. To prove which, the reader need only peruse the Indian's account of the Spanish fleet in the " Indian Em- peror," to which the above lines are a parallel ; each being the description of an object familiar to the audience, but new to the describes The poet felt the disgraceful preference more deeply than was altogether becoming ; but he had level- led his powers, says Johnson, when he levelled his desires to those of Settle, and placed his hap- piness in the claps of multitudes. The moral may be carried yet farther; for had not Dryden stooped to call to the aid of his poetry the aux- iliaries of scenery, gilded truncheons, and verse of more noise than meaning, it is impossible his plays could have been drawn into comparison with those of Settle. But the meretricious orna- 190 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEIf. ments which he himself had introduced were with- in the reach of the meanest capacity ; and, having been among the first to debauch the taste of the public, it was retributive justice that he should experience their inconstancy. Indeed Dryden seems himself to admit, that the principal diffe- rence between his heroic plays and " The Em- press of Morocco," was, that the former were good sense, that looked like nonsense, and the latter nonsense, which yet looked very like sense. A nice distinction, and which argued some regret at having opened the way to such a rival. The feelings of contempt ought to have sup- pressed those of anger ; but Dryden, who pro- fessedly lived to please his own age, had not temper to wait till time should do him justice. Angry he was ; and unfortunately he determined to shew the world that he did well in being so. With this view, in conjunction with Shadwell and Crowne, two brother-dramatists, equally jealous of Settle's success, he composed a pamphlet, en- titled, " Remarks upon the Empress of Morocco." This piece is written in the same tone of boiste- rous and vulgar raillery with which Clifford and Leigh had assailed Dryden himself; and little resembles our poet's general style of controversy. He sceuis to have exchanged his satirical scourge LIFE OF JOHN DHYDEN. J<)1 for the clumsy flail of Shad well, when he stooped to use such raillery as the following description of Settle: " In short, he is an animal of a most deplored understanding, without reading and con- versation : his being is in a twilight of sense, and some glimmering of thought, which he can ne- ver fashion either into wit or English. His style is boisterous and rough-hewn ; his rhyme incor- rigibly lewd, and his numbers perpetually harsh and ill-sounding." Settle, nothing dismayed with this vehement attack, manfully retorted the abuse which had been thrown upon him, and answered the insult- ing clamour of his three antagonists with clamor- ous insult. * It was obvious, that the weaker poet must be the winner by this contest in abuse ; and Dryden gained no more by his dispute with Settle, than a well-dressed man who should con- descend to wrestle with a chimney-sweeper. The feud between them was carried no farther, until after the publication of " Absalom and Achito- * Settle's pamphlet was contumaciously entitled, " Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco revised, with some few erratas ; to be printed instead of the Postscript with the next Edition of .the Conquest of Granada, l6"74." See some quotations from this piece, Vol. XV. p. 399- 192 HFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. phel," party animosity added spurs to literary ri- valry. We must now return to Rochester ; who, ob- serving Settle's rise to this unmerited elevation in the public opinion, became as anxious to lower his presumption as he had formerly been to di- minish the reputation of Dry den. With this view, that tyrannical person of honour availed himself of 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 as poet-laureat was to com- pose the pieces designed for such occasions. Crowne, though he was a tolerable comic wri- ter, * had no turn whatever for tragedy, or in- deed for poetry of any kind. But the splendour of the scenery and dresses, the quality of the per- formers, selected from the first nobility, and the favour of the sovereign, gave " Calisto" a run of nearly thirty nights. Dryden, though mortified, tendered his services in the shape of an epilogue, to be spoken by Lady Henrietta Maria Went- * His comedy of " Sir Courtly Nice" exhibits marks of co- mic power. 5 LIFE OP JOHN DRTDEff. worth. * But the influence of his enemy, Ro- chester, was still predominant, and the epilogue of the laureat was rejected. The author of " Calisto" also lost his credit with Rochester, so soon as he became generally popular; and shortly after the representation of that piece, its fickle patron seems to have re- commended to the royal protection, a rival more formidable to Dry den than either Settle or " starch Johnny Crowne."f This was no other than Ot- way, whose " Don Carlos" appeared in 1676, and was hailed as one of the best heroic plays which had been written. The author avows in his pre- face the obligations he 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 he reckoned as insuring that of his next attempt. J These effusions of gratitude * See Vol. X. p. 336. t So called, according to the communicative old correspon- dent of the Gentleman's Magazine in 1745, from the unalter- able stiffness of his long cravat. | "I am well satisfied I had the greatest party of men of wit and sense on my side : amongst which I can never enough acknowledge the unspeakable obligations I received from the Earl ot R., who, far above what I am ever able to deserve from him, seemed almost to make it his business to establish it in tho VOL, I. N OF JOHN DRYDEN. did not, as Mr Mai one observes, withhold Ro- chester, shortly after, from lampooning Otway, with circumstances of gross insult, in the*" Session pf the Poets." * In the same preface, Otway, in very intelligible language, bade defiance to Dry- den, whom he charges with having spoken slight- ly of his play, f But although Dryden did not admire the general structure of Otway's poetry, he is said, even at this time, to have borne wit- ness to his power of moving the passions ; an ac- knowledgment which he long afterwards solemn- good opinion of the king and his royal highness ; from both of which I have since received confirmations of their 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 good success in this, and on whose indulgency I extremely build my hopes of a next." Accordingly, next year, Otway's play of '.' Titus and Berenice" is inscribed to Rochester, " his good and generous patron." * " Tom Otway came next, Tom Shadwell'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." f " Thwugh a certain writer, that shall be nameless, (but you may guess at him by what follows) being ask'd his opinion of this play, very gravely cock't, and cry'd, 1'gad he knew not a line in it he would be authour of. But he is a fine facetious U LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 195 ly repeated. Thus Otway, like many others, mis- took the character of a pretended friend, and did injustice to that of a liberal rival. Drydcu and he indeed never appear to have been perso- nal friends, even when they both wrote in the Tory interest. It was probably about this time that Otway challenged Settle, whose courage ap- pears to have failed him upon the occasion. Rochester was not content with exciting ri- vals against Dryden in the public opinion, but assailed him personally in an imitation of Horace, which he quaintly entitled, " An Allusion to the Tenth Satire." It came* out anonymously about 1678, but the town was at no loss to guess that Rochester was the patron or author. Much of the satire was bestowed on Dryden, whom Rochester for the first time distinguishes by a ridiculous nickname, which was afterwards echoed by imita- ting dunces in all their lampoons. The lines are more cutting, because mingled with as much praise as the writer probably thought necessary to gain witty person, as my friend Sir Formal has it ; and to be even with him, I know a comedy of his, that has not 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 ho the poet meant. ]0,6 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. the credit of a candid critic. * Dryden, on his part, did not view with indifference these repeated di- * " 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 lo 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 >ort, 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 i>\ Poet Squob, But to be just, 'twill to his praise be found, 11 is excellencies more than faults abound; Nor dare I from his sacred temples tear The laurel, which he best deserves lo wear. But (iocs not Dryden find even Jonson dull ? Beaumont and Fletcher uncorrect, and full tIFE OF JOHN DRYDEH. 197 feet and indirect attacks on his literary reputation by Rochester. In the preface to " All for Love,** published in 16?H, he gives a severe rebuke to those men of rank, who, having acquired the cre- dit of wit, either by virtue of their quality, or by common fame, and finding themselves possessed of some smattering of Latin, become ambitious to distinguish themselves by their poetry from the herd of gentlemen. " And is not this,*' he ex- claims, " a wretched affectation, not to be con- tented with what fortune has done for them, and sit down quietly with their estates, but they must call their wits in question, anil needlessly expose their nakedness to public view? Not considering that they are not to expect the same approbation from sober men, which they have found from their flatterers after the third bottle. If a little Of lewd lines, as lie 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 seaich and cen-ure Dr^den'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." I.IFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. glittering in discourse has passed them on us for witty men, where was the necessity of undecei- ving: the world ? Would a man who has an ill o title to an estate, but yet is in possession of it; would he bring it of his own accord to be tried at Westminster ? We who write, if we want the talent, yet have the excuse, that we do it for a poor subsistence ; but what can be urged in their defence, who, not having the vocation of poverty to scribble, out of mere wantonness take pains to make themselves ridiculous ? Horace was certain- ly in the right, where he said, ' -That no man is satisfied with 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 of their number. Thus the case is hard with writers : if they succeed not, they must starve ; and if they do, some malicious satire is prepared to level them, for daring to please with- out their leave. But while they are so eager to destroy the fame of others, their ambition is ma- nifest in their concernment ; some poem of their own is to be produced, and the slaves are to be laid flat with their faces on the ground, that the monarch may appear in the greater majesty/' This general censure of the persons of wit and honour about town, is fixed on Rochester in par- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 10,0 ticular, not only by the marked allusion in the last sentence, to the despotic tyranny which he claimed over the authors of his time, but also by a direct attack upon such imitators of Horace, who make doggrel of his Latin, misapply his censures, and often contradict their own. It is remarkable, however, that he ascribes this imita- tion rather to some zany of the great, than to one of their number ; and seems to have thought Ro- chester rather the patron than the author. At the expence of anticipating the order of events, and that we may bring Dryden's dispute with Rochester to a conclusion, we must recal to the reader's recollection our author's friend- ship with M ulgrave. This appears to have been so intimate, that, in 1675, that nobleman entrusted him with the task of revising his " Essay upon Sa- tire:" a poem which contained dishonourable men- tion of many courtiers of the time, and was par- ticularly severe on Sir Car Scrope and Rochester. The last of these is taxed with cowardice, and a thousand odious and mean vices; upbraided with the grossness and scurrility of his writings, and with the infamous profligacy of his life. * The * Rochester I despise for's mere want of wit, Though thought to have a tail and cloven feet; 200 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEfl. versification of the poem is as flat and inharmo- nious, as the plan is careless and ill-arranged; 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 Bessus 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 falls 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. tIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. 201 and though the imputation was to cost Dry den dear, I cannot think that any part of the " Es- say on Satire" received additions from his pen. Probably he might contribute a few hints for re- vision; but the author of " Absalom and Achi- tophel" could never completely disguise the powers which were shortly to produce that bril- liant satire. Dryden's verses must have shone among Mulgrave's as gold beside copper. The whole Essay is a mere stagnant level, no one part of it so far rising above the rest as to bespeak the work of a superior hand. The thoughts, even when conceived with some spirit, are clumsily and unhappily brought out; a fault-never to be traced in the beautiful language of Dryden, whose powers of expression were at least equal to his force of conception. Besides, as Mr Ma- lone has observed, he had now brought to the highest excellence his system of versification ; and is it possible he could neglect it so far as to write the rugged lines in the note, where all 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." 202 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. manner of elliptical barbarisms are resorted to, for squeezing the words into a measure " lame and overburdened, and screaming its wretched- ness?" The " Essay on Satire'' was finally subject- ed by the noble author to the criticism of Pope, who, less scrupulous than Dryden, appears to have made large improvements ; but after having undergone the revision of two of the first names in English poetry, it continues to be a very indif- ferent performance. In another point of view, it seems inconsistent with Dryden's situation to suppose he had any active share in the " Essay on Satire." The cha- racter of Charles is treated with great severity, as well as those of the Duchesses of Portsmouth and Cleveland, the royal mistresses. This was quite consistent with Mulgrave's disposition, who was at this time discontented with the ministry ; but certainly would not have beseemed Dryden, who held an office at court. Sedley also, with whom Dryden always seems to have lived on friendly terms, is harshly treated in the " Essay on Satire." It may be owned, however, that these reasons were not held powerful at the time, since they must, in that case, have saved Dryden from the inconvenient suspicion, which, we will presently see, attached to him. The public were LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 203 accustomed to see the friendship of wits end in mutual satire; and the good-natured Charles was so generally the subject of the ridicule which he loved, that no one seems to have thought there was improbability in a libel being composed on him by his own laureat. The u Essay on Satire," though written, as ap- pears from the title-page of the last edition, in 167,5, was not made public until 16/9, when se- veral copies were handed about in manuscript. Rochester sends one of these to his friend, Henry Saville, on the 21st of November, 1679, with this observation: " I have sent you herewith a libel, in which my own share is not the least. The king, having perused it, is no way dissatisfied with his. The author is apparently Mr Drfyden], his patron, Lord Mfulgrave,] having a panegyric in the midst." From hence it is evident, that Dryden obtained the reputation of being the au- thor ; in consequence of which, Rochester medi- tated the base and cowardly revenge which he afterwards executed ; e feel- ings of their own hearts. When Dryden had once discovered, that fear and pity were more likely to be excited by other causes than the logic of metaphysical love, or the dictates of fan- tastic honour, he must have found, that rhyme sounded as unnatural in the dialogue of charac- ters drawn upon the usual scale of humanity, as the plate and mail of chivalry would have ap- peared on the persons of the actors. The follow- ing lines of the Prologue to " Aureng-Zebe," al- though prefixed to a rhyming play, the last which LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEAT. f 13 he ever wrote, express Dryclen's change of senti- ment 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 spice 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 loss polished, more unskilled, Does, with disdain, the foremost honours yield." It is remarkable, as a trait of character, that, though our author admitted his change of opi- nion on this long disputed point, he would not consent that it should be imputed to any argu- ments which his opponents had the wit to bring against him. On this subject he enters a protest in the Preface to his revised edition of the " Es- say of Dramatic Poesy" in 1684: " I confess, I find many things in this discourse which I do not now approve ; my judgment being not a little 214 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. altered since the writing of it; but whether for the better or the worse, I know not: neither in- deed is it much material, in an essay, where all I have said is problematical. For the way of wri- ting plays in verse, which I have seemed to favour, I have, since that time, laid the practice of it aside, 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 any reasons which have opposed it ; for your lordship may easily observe, that none are very violent against it, but those who either have not attempted it, or who have succeeded ill in their attempt.''* Thus cautious 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 versification superior to those pos- sessed by any earlier English author, and a taste corrected by the laborious study both of the lan- guage and those who had used it, he found rhyme unfit for the use of the drama, he at the same time discovered a province where it might be employed in all its splendour. We have the mortification to learn, from the Dedication of " Aureng-Zebe," that Bryden only wanted en- * Vol. XV. p. 286. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 215 couragement to enter upon the composition of an epic poem, and to abandon the thriftless task of writing for the promiscuous audience of the theatre, a task which, rivalled as he had lately been by Crowne and Settle, he most justly com* pares to the labour of Sisyphus. His plot, he else- where explains, was to be founded either upon the story of Arthur, or of Edward the Black Prince; and he mentions it to Mulgrave in the following remarkable passage, which argues great dissatis- faction with dramatic labour, arising perhaps from a combined feeling of the bad taste of rhyming plays, the degrading dispute with Settle, and the failure of the " Assignation," his last theatrical attempt : " If I must be condemned to rhyme, I should find some ease in my change of punish- ment. I desire to be no longer the Sisyphus of the stage ; to roll up a stone with endless labour, which, to follow the proverb, gathers no moss, and which is perpetually falling down again. I never thought myself very fit for an employment, where many of my predecessors have excelled me in all kinds ; and some of my contemporaries, even in my own partial judgment, have outdone me in comedy. Some little hopes I have yet re- maining, (and those too, considering my abilities, may be vain,) that I may make the world some 216 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEJf. part of amends for many ill plays, by an heroic poem. Your Jordship has been long acquainted with my design ; the subject of which you know is great, the story English, and neither too far distant from the present age, nor too near ap- proaching it. Such it is in my opinion, that I 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 con- cerned in the action. And your lordship has one particular reason to promote this undertaking, be- cause you were the first who gave me the oppor- tunity of discoursing it to his majesty, and his royal highness ; they were then pleased both to commend the design, and to encourage it by their commands ; but the unsettledness of my condition has hitherto put a stop to 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 their ancestors. The times of Virgil please me better, because he had an Augustus for his patron; and, to draw the allegory nearer you, I am sure I shall not want a Maecenas with him. It is for your lordship to stir up that remembrance in his majesty, which his many avocations of bu- LIFE OF JOHN DllYDEtf. 21? siness have caused him, I fear, to lay aside ; and, as himself and his royal brother are' the heroes of the poem, to represent to them the images of their warlike predecessors; as Achilles is said to be roused to glory with the sight of the combat before the ships. For my own part, I am satis- fied to have offered the design ; and it may be to the advantage of my reputation to have it refused me." * Dr Johnson and Mr Malone remark, that Dry- den observes a mystery concerning the subject of his intended epic, to prevent the risk of being anticipated, as he finally was by Sir Richard Black- more on the topic of Arthur. This, as welt as other passages in Dryden's life, allows us the pleasing indulgence of praising the decency of our own time. Were an author of distinguished merit to announce his having made choice of a subject for a large poem, the writer would have more than common confidence who should ven- ture to forestall his labours. But, in the seven- teenth century, such an intimation would, it seems, have been an instant signal for the herd of scrib- blers to souse upon it, like the harpies on the feast Vol. V. pages 183, 18*. 218 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. of the Trojans, and leave its mangled relics too polluted for the use of genius ; " Turba sonans prxdam pedibus circumvolat uncis ; Polluit ore dopes. Semesam prcedam et vestigia fada relinquunt" " Aureng-Zebe " was followed, in 1678, by "All for Love," the only play Dryden ever wrote for himself; the rest, he says, were given to the people. The habitual study of Shakespeare, which seems lately to have occasioned, at least greatly aided, the revolution in his taste, induced him, among a crowd of emulous shooters, to try his strength in this bow of Ulysses. I have, in some prelimi- nary remarks to the play, endeavoured to point out the difference between the manner of these great artists in treating the misfortunes of An- tony and Cleopatra.* If these are just, we must allow Dryden the praise of greater regularity of plot, and a happier combination of scene ; but in sketching the character of Antony, he loses the majestic and heroic tone which Shakespeare has assigned him. There is too much of the love- lorn knight-errant, and too little of the Roman warrior, in Dryden's hero. The love of Antony, Vol. V. p. 287. OF JOHN DRYDEN. however overpowering and destructive in its ef- fecte, ought not to have resembled the love of a sighing swain of Arcadia. This error in the ori- ginal conception of the character must doubtless be ascribed to Dryden's habit of romantic com- position. Montezuma and Almanzor were, like the prophets image, formed of a mixture of iron and clay ; of stern and rigid demeanour to all the universe, but unbounded devotion to the ladies of their affections. In Antony, the first class of attributes are discarded ; he has none of that tumid and outrageous dignity which character- ized the heroes of the rhyming plays, and in its stead is gifted with even more than an usual share of devoted attachment to his mistress. * In the preface, Dryden piques himself upon venturing to introduce the quarrelling scene between- Oc- tavia and Cleopatra, which a French writer would have rejected, as contrary to the decorum of the theatre. But our author's idea of female charac- ter was at all times low ; and the coarse, indecent * This distinction our author himself points out in the Pro- logue. The poet 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, f eeps much, fights little, but is wondrous kind." Vol. V. p. 32t. 220 LIFE OF JOHN DRVDEN. violence, which he has thrown into the expres- sions of a queen and a Roman matron, is mis- placed and disgusting, and contradicts the general and well-founded ohservation on the address and self-command, with which even women of ordinary dispositions can veil mutual dislike and hatred, and the extreme keenness with which they can arm their satire, while preserving all the external forms of civil demeanour. But Dryden more than redeemed this error in the scene between Antony and Ventidius, which he himself preferred to any that he ever wrote, and perhaps with justice, if we except that between Dorax and Sebastian : both are avowedly written in imitation of the quarrel between Brutus and Cassius. " All for Love'* \vas received by the public with universal ap- plause. Its success, with that of " Aureng-Zebe," gave fresh lustre to the author's reputation, which had been somewhat tarnished by the failure of the " Assignation,'' and the rise of so many rival dramatists. 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 to his fame, as he was permitted the benefit of a third night, in addition to his profits as a sharer with the company. * The play was dedicated to * See page 16" 1. LIFE OF JOHN' DRYDEy. 221 the Earl of Danby, then a minister in high power, but who, in the course of a few months, was disgraced and imprisoned at the suit of the Com- mons. As Dauby was a great advocate for pre- rogative, Dryden fails not to approach him with an encomium on monarchical government, as re- gulated and circumscribed by law. In reprobating the schemes of those innovators, who, surfeiting on happiness, endeavoured to persuade their fel- low subjects to risk a change, he has a pointed allusion to the Earl of Shaftesbury, who, having left the royal councils in disgrace, was now at the head of the popular faction. In 16'78 Dryden's next play, a comedy, en- titled, " Limberham," was acted at Dorset-garden theatre, but was endured for three nights only. It was designed, the author informs us, as a satire on " the crying sin of keeping;" and the crime for which it suffered was, that " it expressed too much of the vice which it decried." Grossly indelicate as this play still is, it would seem, from the Dedication to Lord Vaughan, that much which offended on the stage was altered, or omitted, in the press ; * yet more than enough remains to * Mr Malone lias seen a MS. copy of" Limberham ** in its original state, found by Bolingbroke in the sweepings of Pope's study. It contained several exceptionable passages, afterwards erased or altered. 222 LIFE OF JOHX DRYDEJf. justify the sentence pronounced against it by the public. Mr M alone seems to suppose Shaftes- bury *s party had some share in its fate, supposing that the character of Limberham had reference to their leader. Yet surely, although Shaftesbury was ridiculous for aiming at gallantry, from which his age and personal infirmity should have deterred him, Dryden would never have drawn the witty, artful politician, as a silly, hen-pecked cully. Be- sides, Dryden was about this time supposed even himself to have some leaning to the popular cause ; a supposition irrcconcileable with his caricaturing the foibles of Shaftesbury. The tragedy of " OEdipus " was written by Dry- den in conjunction with Lee; the entire first and third acts were the work of our author, who also arranged the general plan, and corrected the whole piece. Havingoffered some observations* elsewhere upon this play, and the mode in which its cele- brated theme has been treated by the dramatists of different nations, I need not here resume the subject. The time of the first representation is fixed to the beginning of the playing season, in winter 1678-Q, although it was not printed until * Vol. VI. p. 117. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 223 1 6/9.* Both " Limberham " and " CEdipus " were acted at the Duke's theatre; so that it would seem that our author was relieved from his con- tract with the King's house, probably because the shares were so much diminished in value, that his appointment was now no adequate compensation for his labour. The managers of the King's com- pany complained to the lord chamberlain, and endeavoured, as we have seen, by pleading upon the contract, to assert their right to the play of " (Edipus.'' f But their claim to reclaim the poet and the play appears to have been set aside, and Dryden continued to give his performances to the Duke's theatre until the union of the two compa- nies. Dryden was now to do a new homage to Shake- speare, by refitting for the stage the play of " Troi- lus and Cressida/' which the author left in a state of strange imperfection, resembling more a chro- nicle, or legend, than a dramatic piece. Yet it may be disputed whether Dryden has greatly im- proved it even in the particulars which he censures in his original. His plot, though more artificial, is * By allusion to the act for burying in woollen. t See their Petition, page 10?. 24 I-IFE OF JOHN DRYDEX. at the same time more trite than that of Shake- speare. The device by which Troilus is led to doubt the constancy of Cressida is much less na- tural than that she should have been actually in- constant ; her vindication by suicide is a clumsy, as well as a hackneyed expedient ; and there is too much drum and trumpet in the grand finale, where " Troilus and Diomecle fight, and both parties engage at the same time. The Trojans make the Greeks retire, and Troilus makes Dio- mecle give ground, and hurts him. Trumpets sound. Achilles enters with his Myrmidons, on the backs of the Trojans, who fight in a ring, en- compassed round. Troilus, singling Diomede, gets him down, and kills him ; and Achilles kills Troilus upon him. All the Trojans die upon the place, Troilus last." Such a helium interned- num can never be waged to advantage upon the stage. One extravagant passage in this play serves strongly to evince Dryclen's rooted dislike to the clergy. Troilus exclaims, " 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, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. S25 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 the Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy, giving up, with dignified indifference, the faults even of his own pieces, when they con- tradict the rules his later judgment had adopted. How much his taste had altered since his " Es- say of Dramatic Poesy," or at least since his " Re- marks on Heroic Plays,*' will appear from the following abridgment of his new maxims. The plot, according to these remarks, ought to be simply and naturally detailed from its commence- ment to its conclusion, a rule which excluded the crowded incidents of the Spanish drama ; and the personages ought to be dignified and virtuous, that their misfortunes might at once excite pity and terror. The plots of Shakespeare and Fletcher are meted by this rule, and pronounced inferior in mechanic regularity to those of Ben Jonson. The character of the agents, or persons, are next to be considered; and it is required that their manner shall be at once marked, dramatic, con- sistent, and natural. And here the super-eminent powers of Shakespeare, in displaying the manners, VOL. i. p 226 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN* bent, and inclination of his characters, is pointed out to the reader's admiration* The copiousness of his invention, and his judgment in sustaining the ideas which he started, are illustrated by re- ferring to Caliban, a creature of the fancy, begot by an incubus upon a witch, and furnished with a person, language, and character befitting his pedigree on both sides. The passions are then considered as included in the manners; and Dry- den, 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 gives an example of the last error from his own Montezuma, who, pursued by his enemies, and excluded from the fort, describes his situation in a long simile, ta- ken besides from the sa, which he had only heard of for the first time in the first act. As a description of natural passion, the famous pro- cession of King Richard in the train of the for- tunate usurper is quoted, in justice to the divine author. From these just and liberal rules of cri- ticism, it is easy to discover that Dryden had al- ready adopted a better taste, and was disgusted with comedies, where the entertainment arose from bustling incident, and tragedies, where sounding verse was substituted for the delineation of man- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDfiN. 227 ners and expression of feeling. These opinions he pointedly expresses in the Prologue to " Troi- lus and Cressida," which was spoken by Better- ton, 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 f 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^zrce, for love they rhyme dispense, That tolls the knell for their departed sense." It is impossible to read these lines, remember- ing Dry den's earlier opinions, without acknow- ledging the truth of the ancient proverb, Magna est veritas, et prevalebit. The " Spanish Friar," our author's most suc- cessful comedy, succeeded " Troilus and Cressi- 228 11FE OF JOHN DRYDEN. da.* Without repeating the remarks which are prefixed to the play in the present edition,* we may briefly notice, that in the tragic scenes our author has attained that better strain of drama- tic poetry, which he afterwards evinced in " Se- bastian." In the comic part, the well-known character of Father Dominic, though the concep- tion only embodies the abstract idea which the ignorant and prejudiced fanatics of the day form- ed to themselves of a Romish priest, is brought out and illustrated with peculiar spirit. The glut- tony, avarice, debauchery, and meanness of Do- minic, are qualified with the talent and wit neces- sary to save him from being utterly detestable ; and, from the beginning to the end of the piece, these qualities are so happily tinged with inso- lence, hypocrisy, and irritability, that they can- not be mistaken for the avarice, debauchery, glut- tony, and meanness of any ether profession than that of a bad church-man. In the tragic plot, we principally admire the general management of the opening, and chiefly censure the cold-blooded barbarity and perfidy of the young queen, in in- stigating the murder of the deposed sovereign, and then attempting to turn the guilt on her * Vol. Vi; p. 367, &c. LIFE OF JOHN DllYDEN. 22<) accomplice. I fear Dryden here forgot his pwn general rule, that the tragic hero and heroine should have so much virtue as to entitle their distress to the tribute of compassion. Altogether, however, the " Spanish Friar," in both its parts, is an interesting, and almost a fascinating play ; although the tendency, even of the tragic scenes, is not laudable, and the comedy, though more de- cent in language, is not less immoral in tendency than was usual in that loose age. Dryden attached considerable importance to the art with which the comic and tragic scenes of the " Spanish Friar" are combined ; and in do- ing so he has received the sanction of Dr John- son. Indeed, as the ardour of his mind ever led him to prize that task most highly, on which he had most lately employed his energy, he has af- firmed, in the dedication to the " Spanish Friar," that there was an absolute necessity for com- bining two actions in tragedy, for the sake of va- riety. " The truth is," he adds, " the audience are grown weary of continued melancholy scenes ; and I dare venture to prophecy, that fe\v trage- dies, except those in verse, shall succeed in this age, if they are not lightened with a course of mirth ; for the feast is too dull and solemn with- out the fiddles." The necessity of the relief al~ 230 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. ludf d to may be admitted, without allowing that we must substitute either the misplaced charms of versification, or a secondary comic plot, to re- lieve the solemn weight and monotony of tra- gedy. It is no doubt true, that a highly-bus- kined tragedy, in which all the personages main- tain the funereal pomp usually required from the victims of Melpomene, is apt to be intolerably tiresome, after all the pains which a skilful and elegant poet can bestow upon finishing it. But it is chiefly tiresome, because it is unnatural ; and, in respect of propriety, ought no more to be relieved by the introduction of a set of comie scenes, independent of those of a mournful com- plexion, than the sombre air of a funeral should be enlivened by a concert of fiddles. There ap- pear to be two legitimate modes of interweaving tragedy with something like comedy. The first and most easy, which has often been resorted to, is to make the lower or less marked characters of the drama, like the porter in " Macbeth" or the fool in " King Lear," speak the language ap^ propriated to their station, even in the midst of the distresses of the piece ; nay, they may be permitted to have some slight under-intrigue of their own. This, however, requires the exertion of much taste and discrimination ; for if we arc LIFE OP JOHN DllYDEW. 231 ncc seriously and deeply interested in the dis- tress of the play, the intervention of any thing like buffoonery may unloosen the hold which the author has gained on the feelings of the au- dience. If such subordinate comic characters arc of a rank to intermix in the tragic dialogue, their mirth ought to be chastened, till their language bears a relation to that of the higher persons. For example, nothing can be more absurd than in " Don Sebastian," and some of Southerners tra- gedies, to hear the comic character answer in prose, and with a would-be witticism, to the so- lemn, unrelaxed blank verse of his tragic com- panion.* Mercutio is, I think, one of the best in- stances of such a comic person as may be reasonr ably and with propriety admitted into tragedy : From which, however, I do not exclude those lower characters, whose conversation appears ab- surd if much elevated above their rank. There is, however, another mode, yet more difficult to be used with address, but much more fortunate in effect when it has been successfully employed. This is, when the principal personages themselves do not always remain in the buckram of tragedy, but reserve, as in common life, lofty expressions for great occasions, and at other times evince * This is ridiculed in " Chrononhotontholoos." 232 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. themselves capable of feeling the lighter, as well as the more violent or more deep, affections of the mind. The shades of comic humour in Ham- let, in Hotspur, and in Falconbridge, are so far from injuring, that they greatly aid the effect of the tragic scenes, in which these same persons take a deep and tragical share. We grieve with them, when grieved, still more, because we have rejoiced with them when they rejoiced ; and, on the whole, we acknowledge a deeper frater feel- ing, as Burns has termed it, in men who are ac- tuated by the usual changes of human tempera- ment, than in those who, contrary to the nature of humanity, are eternally actuated by an unva- ried strain of tragic feeling. But whether the poet diversifies his melancholy scenes by the pass- ing gaiety of subordinate characters ; or whether he qualifies the tragic state of his heroes by oc- casionally assigning lighter tasks to them ; or whe- ther he chuses to employ both modes of relie- ving the weight of misery through five long acts ; it is obviously unnecessary that he should distract the attention of his audience, and destroy the re- gularity of his play, by introducing a comic plot with personages and interest altogether distinct, and intrigue but slightly connected with that of the tragedy. Dryden himself afterwards acknow- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 233 ledged, that though he was fond of the " Spanish Friar," he could not defend it from the imputa- tion of Gothic and unnatural irregularity ; " for mirth and gravity destroy each other, and are no more to be allowed for decent, than a gay widow laughing in a mourning habit."* The "Spanish Friar" was brought out in 1681-2, when the nation was in a ferment against the Catholics on account of the supposed plot. It is dedicated to John, Lord Haughton, as a pro- testant play inscribed to a protcstant patron. It was also the last dramatic work, excepting the political play of the " Duke of Guise," and the masque of " Albion and Albanius," brought out by our author before the Revolution. And in political tendency, the " Spanish Friar" has so different colouring from these last pieces, that it is worth while to pause to examine the private relations of the author when he composed it. Previous to 1678, Lord Mulgrave, our author's constant and probably effectual patron, had given him an opportunity of discoursing over his plan of an epic poem to the king and Duke of York ; and in the preface to " Aureng-Zebe" in that Parallel of Poetry and Painting, Vol. XVII. p. 325. 234 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. year, the poet intimates an indirect complaint, that the royal brothers had neglected his plan.* About two years afterwards, Mulgrave seems himself to have fallen into disgrace, and was considered as in opposition to the court, f Dryden was de- prived of his intercession, and seems in some de- gree to have shared his disgrace. The " Essay on Satire"' became public in November 1679) and being generally imputed to Dryden, it is said dis- tinctly by one libeller, that his pension was for a time interrupted. J This does not seem like- * See page 2l6. f He is said to have cast the eyes of ambitious affection on the Lady Anne, (afterwards queen,) daughter of the Duke of York ; at which presumption Charles was so much offended, that when Mulgrave went to relieve Tangier in 1680, he is said to have been appointed to a leaky and frail vessel, in hopes that he might perish ; an injury which he resented so highly, as Act to permit the king's health to be drunk at his table till the voy- age was over. On his return from Tangier he was refused the regiment of the Earl of Plymouth ; and, considering his services as neglected, for a time joined those who were discontented with the government. He was probably reclaimed by receiving the government of Hull and lieutenancy of Yorkshire. See Vol. IX. p. 504, 505. t In a poem called " The Laureat," the satirist is so iH informed, as still to make Dryden the author of the " Essay OR Satire." Surely it is unlikely to suppose, that he should have Submitted to the loss of a pension, which he so much needed, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 235 ly ; it is more probable, that Dryden shared the general fate of the household of Charles II., whose appointments were but irregularly paid ; but per- haps his supposed delinquency made it more dif* ficult for him than others to obtain redress. At this period broke out the pretended discovery of the Popish Plot, in which Dryden, even in " Ab- salom and Achitophel," evinces a partial belief. * 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 so sacred, as to prevent his making the ridicule of the Catholic religion the means of recommending his play to the passions of the audience. Neither was his situation at rather than justify himself, where justification 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. 1 The Friar now was wrote ; aud some will say, They smell a malcontent through all the play. See the whole passage, Vol. VI. p. 369. * See, for this point also, the volume and page last quote4> Q36 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. court in any danger from his closing on this oc- casion with the popular tide. Charles, during the heat of the Popish plot, was so far from being in a situation to incur odium by dismissing a lau- reat for having written a Protestant play, that he was obliged for a time to throw the reins of go- vernment into the hands of those very persons to whom the Papists were most obnoxious. The inference drawn from Dry den's performance was, that he had deserted the court; and the Duke of York was so much displeased with the tenor of the play, that it was the only one of which, on acceding to the crown, he prohibited the re- presentation. The " Spanish Friar" was often objected to the author by his opponents, after he had embraced the religion there satirised. Nor was the idea of his apostacy from the court an invention of his enemies after his conversion, for it prevailed at the commencement of the party- disputes; and the name of Dryden is, by a par- tizan of royalty, ranked with that of his bitter foe Shad well, as followers of Shaftesbury in 1680.* But whatever cause of coolness or dis- * In "A Modest Vindication of Antony, Earl of Shaftes- bury, in a Letter to a Friend concerning his having been elect- ed King of Poland," Dryden is named poet-laureat to the sup- posed king-elect, and Shadwell his deputy. See Vol. IX. p. 443. LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. 237 gust our author had received from Charles or his brother, was removed, as usual, so soon as his services became necessary ; and thus the suppo- sed author of a libel on the king became the ablest defender of the cause Of monarchy, and the author of the " Spanish Friar" the advocate and convert of the Catholic religion. In his private circumstances Dryden must have been even worse situated than at the close of the last Section. His contract with the Kind's Com- O pany was now ended, and long before seems to have produced him little profit. If Southerne's biographer can be trusted, Dryden never made by a single play more than one hundred pounds ; so that, with all his fertility, he could not, at his utmost exertion, make more than two hundred a-year by his theatrical labours. * At the same time, they so totally engrossed his leisure, that he * " Dryden being very desirous of knowing how much Southerne had made by the profits of one of his plays, the other, conscious of the little success Dryden had met with in theatri- cal compositions, declined the question, and answered, he was really ashamed to acquaint him. Dryden continuing to be solicitous to be informed, Southerne owned he had cleared by his last play L.700; which appeared astonishing to Dryde% who was perhaps ashamed to confess, that he had never been able to acquire, by any of his most successful pieces, more than L. 100." Life of Southerne prefixed to his Plays. 238 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. produced no other work of consequence after the " Annus Mirabilis." * If, therefore, the payment of his pension was withheld, whether from the resentment of the court, or the poverty of the ex- chequer, he might well complain of the " unset- tled state" which doomed him to continue these irksome and ill-paid labours. * There was published 1679 a translation of Appian, print- ed for John Amery at the Peacock, against St Duristan's Church, Fleet-street. It is inscribed by the translator, J. D., to the Earl of Ossory ; and seems to have been undertaken by his com- mand. This work is usually termed in catalogues, Dryden's Appian. I presume it may be the work of that Jonathan Dry- den who is mentioned p. 31. SECTION V. Dryden engages in Politics Absalom and Achitophel, Part First The Medal Mac-Flecknoe Absalom and Achi- tophel, Part SecondThe Duke of Guise. THE controversies, in which Dryden had hither- to been engaged, were of a private complexion, arising out of literary disputes and rivalry. But the country was now deeply agitated by politi- cal faction ; and so powerful an auxiliary was not permitted by his party to remain in a state of inactivity. The religion of the Duke of York rendered him obnoxious to a large proportion of the people, still agitated by the terrors of the Popish Plot. The Duke of Monmouth, hand- some, young, brave, and courteous, had all the external requisites for a popular idol ; and what he wanted in mental qualities was amply supplied by the Machiavel subtlety of Shaftesbury. The life of Charles was the only isthmus between these contending tides, " which, mounting, view- ed each ether from afar, and strove in vain to 240 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. meet." It was already obvious, that the king's death was to be the signal of civil war. His si- tuation was doubly embarrassing, because, in all probability, Momnouth, whose claims were both unjust in themselves and highly derogatory to the authority of the crown, was personally ami- able, and more beloved by Charles than was his inflexible and bigotted brother. But to consent to the bill for excluding the lawful heir from the crown, would have been at t^ie same time putting himself in a state of pupillage for the rest of his reign, and evincing to his subjects, that they had nothing to expect from attachment to his person, or defence of his interest. This was a sacrifice not to be thought of so long as the dreadful recollection of the wars in the pre- ceding reign determined a large party to support the monarch, while he continued willing to ac- cept of their assistance. Charles accordingly a- dopted a determined course ; and, to the rage ra- ther than confusion of his partisans, Monmouth was banished to Holland, from whence he boldly returned without the king's licence, and openly as- sumed the character of the leader of a party. Es- tranged from court, he made various progresses through the country, and employed every art which the genius of Shaftesbury could suggest, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 241 to stimulate the courage, and to increase the num- ber, of his partisans. The press, that awful power, so often and so rashly misused, was not left idle. Numbers of the booksellers were distinguished as Protestant or fanatical publishers ; and their shops teemed with the furious declamations of Fergu- son, the inflammatory sermons of Hickeringill, the political disquisitions of Hunt, and the party plays and libellous poems of Settle and Shadwell. An host of rhymers, inferior even to those last named, attacked the king, the Duke of York, and the ministry, in songs and libels, which, how- ever paltry, were read, sung, rehearsed, and ap- plauded. It was time that some champion should appear in behalf of the crown, before the public should have been irrecoverably alienated by the incessant and slanderous clamour of its oppo- nents. Dryden's place, talents, and mode of thinking, qualified him for this task. He was the poet-laureat and household servant of the king, thus tumultuously assailed. His vein of satire was keen, 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. If he had been for a time neglected, the smiles of a sove- VOL. i. Q 242 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. reign soon make his coldness forgotten; and if his narrow fortune was not increased, or even rendered stable, he had promises of provision, which inclined him to look to the future with hope, and endure the present with patience. If he had shared in the discontent which for a time severed Mulgrave from the royal party, that cause ceased to operate when his patron was recon- ciled to the court, and received a share of the spoils of the disgraced Monmouth. * If there wanted further impulse to induce Dryden, con- scious of his strength, to mingle in an affray where it might be displayed to advantage, he had the stimulus of personal attachment and per- sonal enmity, to sharpen his political animosity. Ormond, Halifax, and Hyde, Earl of Rochester, among the nobles, were his patrons; Lee and Southerne, among the poets, were his friends. These were partisans of royalty. The Duke of York, whom the " Spanish Friar" probably had offended, was conciliated by a prologue on his visiting the theatre at his return from Scotland, f * Mulgrave was created lieutenant of Yorkshire and gover- nor of Hull, when Monmouth was deprived of these and other honours. f See Vol. X. p. 366. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 243 and, it is said, by the omission of certain peculiarly offensive passages, so soon as the play was reprint- ed. * The opposite ranks contained Buckingham, author of the "Rehearsal;" Shadwell, with whom our poet now urged open war ; and Settle, the in- solence of whose rivalry was neither forgotten, nor duly avenged. The respect due to Mon- mouth was probably the only consideration to be overcome : but his character was to be handled with peculiar lenity ; and his duchess, who, rather than himself, had patronised Dryden, was so dis- satisfied with the politics, as well as the other ir- regularities, of her husband, that there was no danger of her taking a gentle correction of his ambition as any affront to herself. Thus stimu- lated by every motive, and withheld by none, Dryden composed, and on the 17th November 1681 published, the satire of "Absalom and Achi- tophel" * This is objected to Dryden by one of his antagonists : " Nor could ever Shimei be thought to have cursed David more bitterly, than he permits his friend to blaspheme the Roman priesthood in his epilogue to the ' Spanish Friar/ In which play he has himself acted his own [part like a true younger son of Noah, as may be easily seen in the first edition of that co- medy, which would not pass muster a second time without emendations and corrections." The Revolter, 1687, p. 29- 244 LIFE OF JOHN DKYDEJf. The plan of the satire was not new to the public. A catholic poet had, in 167.9, paraphrased the scriptural story of Naboth's vineyard, and applied it to the condemnation of Lord Stafford, on account of the Popish Plot.* This poem is written in the style of a scriptural allusion ; the names and situations of personages in the holy text being applied to those contemporaries, to whom the author assigned a place in his piece. Neither was the obvious application of the story of Absalom and Achitophel to the persons of Monmouth and Shaftesbury first made by our poet. A prose paraphrase,' published in 1680, had already been composed upon this allusion, f . But the vigour of the satire, the happy adapta- tion, not only of the incidents, but of the very names to the individuals characterised, gave Dry- den's poem the full effect of novelty. It appeared a very short time after Shaftesbury had been com- mitted to the Tower, and only a few days be- fore the grand jury were to take under consi- deration the bill preferred against him for high * See Vol. IX. p. 198. t See Vol. IX. p. 199. This piece, entitled " Absalom's Conspiracy, or the Tragedy of Treason," is printed on p. 205 of the same volume. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 245 treason. Its sale was rapid beyond example ; and even those who were most severely characterised, were compelled to acknowledge the beauty, if not the justice, of the satire. The character of Monmouth, an easy and gentle temper, inflamed beyond its usual pitch by ambition, and seduced by the arts of a wily and interested associate, is touched with exquisite delicacy. The poet is as careful of the offending Absalom's fame, as the father in scripture of the life of his rebel son. The fairer side of his character is industriously presented, and a veil drawn over all that was worthy of blame. But Shaftesbury pays the le- nity with which Monmouth is dismissed. The traits of praise, and the tribute paid to that states- man's talents, are so qualified and artfully blended with censure, that they seem to render his faults even more conspicuous, and more hateful. In this skilful mixture of applause and blame lies the nicest art of satire. There must be an ap- pearance of candour on the part of the poet, and just so much merit allowed, even to the object of his censure, as to make his picture natural. It is a child alone who fears the aggravated terrors of a Saracen's head ; the painter, who would move the awe of an enlightened spectator, must deli- neate his tyrant with human features. It seems 246 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. likely, that Dryden considered the portrait of Shaftesbury, in the first edition of " Absalom and Achitophel," as somewhat deficient in this respect; at least the second edition contains twelve addi- tional lines, the principal tendency of which is to praise the ability and integrity with which Shaftes- bury had discharged the office of lord high chan- cellor. It has been reported, that this mitigation was intended to repay a singular exertion of ge- nerosity on Shaftesbury 's part, who, while smart- ing under the lash of Dryden's satire, and in the short interval between the first and second edi- tion of the poem, had the liberality to procure admission for the poet's son upon the foundation of the Charter-house, of which he was then go- vernor. But Mr Malone has fully confuted this tale, and shewn, from the records of the semi- nary, that Dryden's son Erasmus was admitted upon the recommendation of the king himself. * The insertion, therefore, of the lines in comme- moration of Shaftesbury's judicial character, was a voluntary effusion on the part of Dryden, and a tribute which he seems to have judged it pro- per to pay to the merit even of an enemy. Others * See Vol. IX. p. 201. IIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN". 247 of the party of Monmouth, or rather of the op- position party, (for it consisted, as is commonly the case, of a variety of factions, agreeing in the single principle of opposition to the government,) were stigmatised with severity, only inferior to that applied to Achitophel. Among these we dis- tinguish the famous Duke of Buckingham, with whom, under the character of Zimri, our author balanced accounts for his share in the " Rehear- sal;" Bethel, the whig sheriff, whose scandalous avarice was only equalled by his factious turbu- lence ; and Titus Gates, the pretended discoverer of the Popish Plot. The account of the Tory chiefs, who retained, in the language of the poem, their friendship for David at the expence of the popu- lar hatred, included, of course, most of Dryden's personal protectors. The aged Duke of Ormond is panegyrised with a beautiful apostrophe to the memory of his son, the gallant Earl of Ossory. The Bishops of London and Rochester ; Mulgrave, our author's constant patron, now reconciled with Charles and his government; the plausible and trimming Halifax; and Hyde, Earl of Rochester, second son to the great Clarendon, appear in this list. The poet having thus arrayed and mustered the forces on each side, some account of the com- bat is naturally expected; and Johnson complains, 5 248 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. that, after all the interest excited, the story is but lamely winded up by a speech from the throne, which produces the instantaneous and ev r en mar- vellous effect, of reconciling all parties, and sub- duing the whole phalanx of opposition. Eyen thus, says the critic, the walls, towers, and bat- tlements of an enchanted castle disappear, when the destined knight winds his horn before it. Spence records in his Anecdotes, that Charles himself imposed on Dryden the task of para- phrasing the speech to his Oxford parliament, at least the most striking passages, as a conclu- sion to his poem of " Absalom and Achitophel." But let us consider whether the nature of the poem admitted of a different management in the close. Incident was not to be attempted; for the poet had described living characters and ex- isting factions, the issue of whose contention was yet in the womb of fate, and could not safely be anticipated in the satire. Besides, the dissolution of the Oxford parliament with that memorable speech, was a remarkable era in the contention of the factions, after which the Whigs gradually de- clined, both in spirit, in power, and in popularity. Their boldest leaders were for a time appalled ; * * Lord Grey says in his narrative, " After the dissolution of the Oxford parliament, we were all very peaceably inclined, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDF.N. 249 and when they resumed their measures, they gra- dually approached rather revolution than reform, and thus alienated the more temperate of their own party, till at length their schemes terminated in the Rye-house Conspiracy. The speech having such an effect, was therefore not improperly adopt- ed as a termination to the poem of " Absalom and Achitophel." The success of this wonderful satire was so great, that the court had again recourse to the assistance of its author. Shaftesbury was now liberated from the Tower; for the grand jury, partly influenced by deficiency of proof, and partly by the principles of the Whig party, out of which the sheriffs had carefully selected them, refused to find the bill of high treason against him. This was a subject of unbounded triumph to his adhe- rents, who celebrated his acquittal by the most public marks of rejoicing. Amongst others, a medal was struck, bearing the head and name of and nothing passed amongst us that summer of importance, which I can call to mind : I think my Lord Shaftesbury was sent to the Tower just before the long vacation; and the Duke of Monmouth, Mr Montague, Sir Thomas Armstrong, and my- self, went to Tunbridge immediately after his lordship's impri- sonment, where we laid aside the thoughts of disturbing the peace of the government for those of diverting ourselves." 250 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Shaftesbury, and on the reverse, a sun, obscured with a cloud, vising over the Tower and city of London, with the date of the refusal of the bill, (24th November, 1 68 1,) and the motto LXTAMUK. These medals, which his partizans wore ostentatious- ly at their bosoms, excited the general indignation of the Tories ; and the king himself is said 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 a poet of less fertility, the royal command, to write again upon a character which, in a former satire, he had drawn with so much precision and felicity, might have been as embarrassing at least as honourable. But Dryden was inexhaustible; and easily discovered, that, though he had given the outline of Shaftes- bury in "Absalom and Achitophel," the finished colouring might merit another canvas. About the sixteenth of March, 1681, he published, ano- nymously, " The Medal, a Satire against Sedition," with the apt motto, " Per Graium papules, mediceque per Elidis urbem Ibat ovans; Divumque sibi poscebat honores." In this satire, Shaftesbury 's history. ; his frequent political apostacies ; his licentious course of life, so contrary to the stern rigour of the fanatics, LIFE OF JOHN DHYDEN. 251 with whom he had associated; his arts in insti- gating the fury of the anti-monarchists; in fine, all the political and moral hearings of his charac- ter, are sounded and exposed to contempt and reprohation, the beauty of the poetry adding grace to the severity of the satire. What impression these vigorous and well-aimed darts made upon Shaftesbury, who was so capable of estimating their sharpness and force, we have no means to ascertain; but long afterwards, his grandson, the author of the " Characteristics," speaks of Dryden and his works with a bitter affectation of con- tempt, offensive to every reader of judgment, and obviously formed on prejudice against the man, rather than dislike to the poetry. * It is said, * He usually distinguishes Dryden by his " Rehearsal " title of Bayes; and, among many other oblique expressions of male- volence, he has this note : " To see the incorrigibleness of our poets in their pedantic manner, their vanity, defiance of criticism, their rhodomontade, and poetical bravado, we need only turn to our famous poet- laureat, (the very MY Bayes himself,) in one of his latest and most valued pieces, writ many years after the ingenious author of the " Rehearsal " had drawn his picture. ' I have been lis- tening, (says our poet, in his Preface to ' Don Sebastian,') what objections had been made against the conduct of the play, but found them all so trivial, that if I should name them, a true critic would imagine that I played booty. Some are pleased t say the writing is dull j butictatem habet de se loquatur. Others, 252 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. that he felt more resentment on account of the character of imbecility adjudged to his father in ft Absalom and Achitophel," than for all the pun- gent satire, there and in the " Medal," bestowed upon his grandfather; an additional proof, how much more easy it is to bear those reflections which render ourselves or our friends hateful, than those by which they are only made ridicu- lous and contemptible. The Whig poets, for many assumed that title, did not behold these attacks upon their leader and party with patience or forbearance ; but they that the double poison is unnatural ; let the common received opinion, and Ausonius's famous epigram, answer that. Lastly, a more ignorant sort of creatures than either of the former maintain, that the character of Dorax is not only unnatural, but inconsistent with itself; let them read the play, and think again. A longer reply is what those cavillers deserve not. But I will give them and their fellows to understand, that the Earl of was pleased to read the tragedy twice over before it was acted, and did me the favour to send me word, that I had written beyond any of my former plays, and that he was dis- pleased any thing should be cut away. If I have not reason to prefer his single judgment to a whole faction, let the world be judge; for the opposition is the same with that of Lucan's hero against an army, concurrere bellum atque virum. I think I may .modestly conclude,' &c. " Thus he goes on, to the very end, in the self-same strain. Who, after this, can ever say of the ' Rehearsal ' author, that his picture of our poet was over-charged, or the national hu- mour wrong described ?" LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 253 rushed to the combat with more zeal, or rather fury, than talent or policy. Their efforts are numbered and described elsewhere ;f so that we need here only slightly notice those which Dry- den thought worthy of his own animadversion. Most of them adopted the clumsy and obvious expedient of writing their answers in the style of the successful satire which had provoked them. Thus, in reply to " Absalom and Achitophel," Pordage and Settle imitated the plan of bestow- ing scriptural names on their poem and charac- ters ; the former entitling his piece " Azaria and Hushai," the latter, " Absalom Senior, or Ab- salom and Achitophel transprosed." But these attempts to hurl back the satire at him, by whom it was first launched, succeeded but indifferently, and might have convinced the authors, that the charm of " Absalom and Achitophel " lay not in the plan, but in the power of execution. It was easy to give Jewish titles to their heroes, but the difficulty lay in drawing their characters with the force and precision of their prototype. Bucking- ham himself was rash enough to engage in this conflict ; but, whether his anger blunted his wit, f See Vol. IX. pages 372 et seq. also page 415. 2.54 LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. or that his share in the " Rehearsal " was less even than what is generally supposed, he loses, by his " Reflections on Absalom and Achitophel," the credit we are disposed to allow him for talent on the score of that lively piece. * A non- conformist clergyman published two pieces, which I have never seen, one entitled, "A Whip for the Fool's Back, who styles honourable Marriage a cursed confinement,, in his profane Poem of Absalom and Aehitophel ;'' the other, " A Key, with the Whip, to open the Mystery and Iniquity of the Poem called Absalom and Achitophel." Little was to be hoped or feared from poems bearing such ab- surd titles : I throw, however, into the note, the specimen which Mr Malone has given of their contents. J* The reverend gentleman having an- * Sec some extracts from this piece, Vol. IX. p. 172. t " How well this Hebrew name with sense doth sound, A fool's my brother, I though in wit profound ! Most wicked wits are the devil's chiefest tools, Which, ever in the issue, God befools. Can thy compare, vile varlet, once hold true, Of the loyal lord, and this disloyal Jew ? Was e'er our English earl under disgrace, And, as unconscionable, put out of place ? $ Achi, ray brother, and tophel, a fool. Orig. Note. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. 255 Bounced, that Achitophel, in Hebrew, means " the brother of a fool," Dryb3. The truth seems to be, that honest Doeg was poet-laureat to the city, and earned some emolument by com- posing verses for pageants and other occasions of civic festivity ; so that when the Tory interest re- sumed its ascendancy among the magistrates, he had probably no alternative but to relinquish his principles or his post, and Elkanah, like many greater men, held the former the easier sacrifice. Like all converts, he became outrageous in his new faith, wrote a libel on Lord Russell a few days after his execution ; indited a panegyric on Judge Jefferies ; and, being tarn Martc quam Mcrcurio, actually joined as a trooper the army which King James encamped upon Hounsiow * In a satire against Settle, dated April 1682, entitled, " A Character of the True-blue Protestant Poet," the author ex- claims, " One would believe it almost incredible, that any out ot Bedlam should think it possible, a yesterday's fool, an errant fciuuc, a despicable coward, and a prophane atheist, should be to-dav by the same persons, a Cowley, a man of honour, an hero, and a zealous upholder of the Protestant cause and in- terest." LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. Heath. After the Revolution, he is enumerated, with our author and Tate, among those poets whose strains had heen stifled by that great event. * He continued, however, to be the city- laureatjf but, in despite of that provision, was reduced by want to write plays, like Hen Jonson's Littlewit, for the prophane motions, or puppet- shows, of Smithfield and Bartholomew fairs. Nay, having proceeded thus far in exhibiting the truth of Dryden's prediction, he actually mounted the stage in person among these wooden performers, and combated St George for England in a green dragon of his own proper device. Settle was ad- mitted into the Charter-House in his old age, * In the " Deliverance," an address to the Prince of Orange, published about 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 thou, great Hayes, whose yet unconquered pen Wrote with strange force as well of beasts as men, Whose noble genius griered from afar, Because new worlds for Bayes did not appear, Now to contend with the ambitious elf, Begins a civil war against himself," &c. f In 1702, probably in the capacity of civic-laureat, he wrote " (jarmen Irenicum," upon the union of the two East India companies ; and long afterward, in 1717, he is mentioned by Dennis as still the city poet. See p. 183. VOL, I. S 274 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. and died there in 1723. The lines of Pope on poor Elkanah's fate are 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 Gibber, 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 lust." As Dryden was probably more apprehensive of Shad well, who, though a worse poet than Set- tle, has excelled even Dryden in the lower walks of comedy, he has treated him with sterner seve- rity. His person, his morals, his manners, and his politics, all that had escaped or been but slightly touched upon in " Mac-Flecknoe/' are bitterly reviewed in the character of Og; and there probably never existed another poet, who, at the distance of a month, which intervened be- tween the publication of the two poems, could 4 LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. resume an exhausted theme with an energy which gave it all the charms of novelty. Shadwell did not remain silent beneath the lash ; but his cla- morous exclamations only tended to make his castigation more ludicrous. * The Second Part of " Absalom and Achitophel" was followed by the " Rciigio Laid" a poem which Dryden published in the same month of November 1682. Its tendency, although of a political nature, is so different from that of the satires, that it will be most properly considered when we can place it in contrast to the " Hind and Panther." It was addressed to Henry Dick- inson, a young gentleman, who had just publish- ed a translation of Simon's lt Critical History of the New Testament." As the publication of the two Parts of " Absa- lom and Achitophel," " The Medal," and " Mac- Flecknoe," all of a similar tone, and rapidly suc- ceeding each other, gave to Dryden, hitherto chiefly known as a dramatist, the formidable cha- racter of an inimitable satirist, we may here pause to consider their effect upon English poetry. The witty Bishop Hall had first introduced into our li- terature that species of poetry ; which, though its * He published a translation of the tenth satire of Juvenal, in the preface to which he rails plentifully against ^ 276" IFE OF JOHN DRYDEfl. legitimate use be to check vice and expose foil}', is so often applied by spleen or by faction to de- stroy domestic happinesss, by assailing private character. Hall possessed a good ear for harmony ; and, living in the reign of Elizabeth, might have studied it in Spenser, Fairfax, and other models. But from system, rather than ignorance or ina- bility, he chose to be " hard of conceit, and harsh of style," in order that his poetry might corre- spond with the sharp, sour, and crabbed nature of his theme. * Donne, his successor, was still more rugged in his versification, as well as more obscure in his conceptions and allusions. The satires of Cleveland (as we have indeed formerly noticed) are, if possible, still harsher and more strained in expression than those of Donne. But- ler can hardly be quoted as an example of the sort of satire we are treating of. " Hudibras" is a burlesque tale, in which the measure is inten- tionally and studiously rendered as ludicrous as- * I infer, that the want of harmony was intentional, from these expressions : " It is not for every one to relish a true and natural satire; being of itself, besides the nature and inbred bitterness and tartness of particulars, both hard of conceit and harsh of style, and therefore cannot but be unpleasing both to the unskilful and over-musical ear ; the one being affected with only a shallow and easy, the other with a smooth and current, disposition/' Postscript to Hall's Satires, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEK. 277 the characters and incidents. Oldham, who flou- rished in Drydeh's time, and enjoyed his friend- ship, wrote his satires in the crabbed tone of Cleve- land and Donne. Dryden, in the copy of verses dedicated to his memory, alludes to this deficiency, and seems to 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 lie admitted for Old- ham, Dryden disdained to make use of himself. He did not, as has been said of Horace, wilfully untune his harp when he commenced satirist. Aware that a wound may be given more deeply with a burnished than with a rusty blade, he be- stowed upon the versification of his satires the same pains which he had given to his rhyming plays and serious poems. He did not indeed, for that would have been pains misapplied, attempt to smooth his verses into the harmony of those in which he occasionally celebrates female beau- ty ; but he gave them varied tone, correct rhyme, and masculine energy, all which had hitherto been strangers to the English satire. Thus, while 278 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Dryden's style resembled that of Juvenal rather than Horace, he may claim a superiority, for uni- form and undeviating dignity, over the Roman satirist. The age, whose appetite for scandal had been profusely fed by lampoons and libels, now learned, that there was a more elevated kind of satire, in which poignancy might be united with elegance, and energy of thought with harmony of versification. The example seems to have pro- duced a strong effect. No poet, not even Settle, (for even the worst artist will improve from be- holding a masterpiece,) afterwards conceived he had sufficiently accomplished his task by pre- senting to the public, thoughts, however Witty or caustic he might deem them, clothed in the hobbling measure of Donne or Cleveland; and expression and harmony began to be consulted, in satire, as well as sarcastic humour or powerful illustration. " Mac-Flecknoe," in some degree, differs from the other satires which Dryden published at this time. It is not confined to the description of ch aracter, but exhibits an imaginary course of in- ci dents, inwhich the principal personage takes_a_ ludicrous share. In this it resembles " Hudi- "Brasf ancT both are quoted by Dryden himself as examples of the Varronian satire. But there LIFE OF JOHN PRYDEN. 279 was this pointed difference, that Butler's poem is burlesque, and Dryden's mock-heroic. " Mac- Flecknoe" is, I rather believe, the first poem in the English language, in which the dignity of a harmonized and lofty style is employed, not only to excite pleasure in itself, but to increase, by contrast, the comic effect of the scenes which it *" narrates; the subject being ludicrous. whjje_the yerse js noble. The models of satire afforded by Dryden, as they have never been equalled by any succeeding poet, were in a tone of excel- lence superior far to all that had preceded them. These reflections on the nature of Dryden's sa- tires, have, in some degree, interrupted our ac- count of his political controversies. Not only did he pour forth these works, one after another, with a fertility which seemed to imply delight in his new labour ; but, as if the spirit of the time had taught him speed, he found leisure to oppose the Whigs in the theatre, where the audience was now nearly as much divided as the kingdom by the contending factions. Settle had produced the tragedy of " Pope Joan/' Shadwell the co- medy of the " Lancashire Witches," to expose to hatred and ridicule the religion of the successor to the crown. Otway and D'Urfey, Crowne and Southerne, names unequal in fame, vied in pro- 280 lU'E OF JOHN PRYDEN, ducing plays against the Whigs, wjiich might counterbalance the effect of these popular dra-t mas. A licence similar to that of Aristophanes was introduced on the English stage ; and living personages were exhibited under very slight dis- guises. * In the prologues and epilogues, which then served as a sort of moral to the plays, the yejl, thin as it was, was completely raised, and the political analogies pointed out to such of the audience as might otherwise have been top duty to apprehend them. In this sharp though petty war Dryden bore a considerable share. His ne- cessities obliged him, among other modes of in- creasing his income, to accept, of a small pecuni- ary tribute for furnishing prologues on remark- able occasions, or for new plays ; and his princi- * In " Venice Preserved," the character of the foolish sena- tor Antonio, now judiciously omitted in the representation, was said to be meant for Shaftesbury. But Crowne's "City Poli- tics" contained the most barefaced exhibition of all the popu- lar leaders, including Shaftesbury, College the Protestant join- er, Titus Oates, and Sir William Jones. The last is described under the character of Bartoline, with the same lisping imper- fect enunciation which distinguished the original. Let us re- mark, however, to the honour of Charles II., that in " Sir Courtly Nice," another comedy which Crowne, by his express command, imitated from the Spanish, the furious Tory is ri- diculed in the character of Hothead, as well as the fanatical Whig under that of Testimony. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDKN. pies determined their tendency. * But this was not all the support which his party expected, and which he afforded them on the theatre, even while labouring in their service in a different de- partment. When Dryden had hut just finished his 'f Re- liglo Laid," Lee, who had assisted in the play of " GEdipus," claimed Dryden's promise to requite the obligation. It has been already noticed, that Dryden had, in the year succeeding the Restora- tion, designed a play on the subject of the Duke of Guise; and he has informed us he had preser- ved one or two of the scenes. These, therefore, were revised, and inserted in the new play, of which Dryden wrote the first scene, the whole fourth act, and great part of the fifth. Lee com- posed the rest of " The Duke of Guise." The general parallel between the League in France and the Covenant in England, was too obvious to es- cape early notice; but the return of Monmouth to England against the king's express command, in order to head the opposition, perhaps the in- surrection, of London, presented a still closer analogy to the entry of the Duke of Guise into * See the Prologues and Epilogues in Vol. X. ; particularly those on pages 352, 358, 366, 36'8, 3?0. 282 LIFE OF JOHN DBYDEN. % Paris, under similar circumstances, on the famous day of the harricades. Of this remarkable inci- dent, the united authors of " The Duke of Guise'* naturally availed themselves ; though with such precaution, that almost the very expressions of the scene are taken from the prose of Davila. Yet the plot, though capable of an application so favourable for the royal party, contained circum- stances of offence to it. If the parallel between Guise and Monmouth was on the one hand feli- citous, as pointing out the nature of the Duke's designs, the moral was revolting, as seeming to recommend the assassination of Charles's favour- ite son. The king also loved Monmouth to the very last; and was slow and reluctant in permit- ting his character to be placed in a criminal or odious point of view. * The play, therefore, though ready for exhibition before midsummer 1682, remained in the hands of Arlington the lord-chamberlain for two months without being licensed for representation, But during that time * The concealed partiality of Charles towards Monmouth survived even the discovery of the Rye-House plot. He could not dissemble his satisfaction upon seeing him after his surren- der, and pressed his hand affectionately. SeeMonmouth's Diary in U'dlwood' s Memorials, p. 322. LIFE OF JOHV DRYDEN. 283 X , the scene darkened. The king had so far sup- pressed his tenderness for Monmouth, as to au- thorise his arrest at Stafford ; and the influence of the Duke of York at court became daily more predominant. Among other evident tokens that no measures were henceforward to he kept be- tween the king and Monmouth, the representa- tion of " The Duke of Guise" was at length au- thorised. The two companies of players, after a long and expensive warfare, had now united their forces; on which occasion Dry den furnished them with a prologue, full of violent Tory principles. By this united company " The Duke of Guise'' was per- formed on the 30th December, 1682. It was printed with a dedication to Hyde, Earl of Ro- chester, subscribed by both authors, but evident- ly the work of Dryden. It is written in a tone of defiance to the Whig authors, who had assail- ed the dedicators, it alleges, " like footpads in the dark," though their blows had done little harm, and the objects of their malice yet lived to vindicate their loyalty in open day. The play itself has as determined a political character as the dedication. Besides the general parallel between the leaguers and the fanatical sectaries, and the more delicate, though not less striking, connection between the 284 IFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. story of Guise and of Monmouth, there are other collateral allusions in the piece to the history of that unfortunate nobleman, and to the state of parties. The whole character of Marmoutiere, high-spirited, loyal, and exerting all her influence to deter Guise from the prosecution of his dangerous schemes, corresponds to that of Anne, Duchess of Mon- mouth. * The love too which the king professes to Marmoutiere, and which excites the jealousy of Guise, may bear a remote and delicate allusion to that partiality which the Duke of York is said to have entertained for the wife of his nephew, f * Carte, in his " Life of the Duke of Ormond," says, that Monmouth's resolutions varied from submission to resistance against the king, according to his residence with the Duchess at Moor-park, who schooled him to the former, or with his as- sociates and partisans in the city, who instigated him to more desperate resolutions. f This Dryden might learn from Mulgrave, who mentions in his Memoirs, as a means of Monmouth's advancement, the ''great friendship which the Duke of York had openly professed to his wife, a lady of wit and reputation, who had both the ambition of making her husband considerable, and the address of suc- ceeding in it, by using her interest in so friendly an uncle, whose design I believe was only to convert her. Whether this fami- liarity of theirs was contrived or only connived at by the Duke of Monmouth himself, is hard to determine. But I remember, that after these two princes had become declared enemies, the Duke of York one day told me, with some emotion, as concei- ving it a new mark of his nephew's insolence, that he had for- LIFE OF JOHN DRYfiEN. 285 The amiable colours in which Marmoutiere is painted, were due to the Duchess of Monmouth, Dryden's especial patroness. Another more obvi- ous and more offensive parallel existed between the popular party in the city, with the Whig sheriffs at their head, and that of the Echcvitt^ or sheriffs of Paris, violent demagogues and adherents to the League, and who, in the play, are treated with great contumely by Grillon and the royal guards. The tumults which had taken place at the elec- tion of these magistrates, were warm in the re- collection of the city ; and the commitment of the ex-sheriffs, Shute and Pilkington, to the Tower, under pretext of a riot, was considered as the butt of the poet's satire. Under these im- pressions the Whigs made a violent opposition to bidden his wife to receive any more visits from him ; at which I could not help frankly replying, that I, who was not used to excuse him, yet could not hold from doing it In that case, wish- ing his highness might have no juster cause to complain of him. Upon which the duke, surprised to find me excuse his and my own enemy, changed the discourse immediately." Memoirs, p. 13. I have perused letters from Sir Gideon Scott of Manchester to the Duchess of Monraouth, recommending a prudent and proper attention to the Duke of York : and this advice she pro- bably followed ; for, after her husband's execution, James re stored to her all her family estates. 286 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. the representation of the piece, even when the king gave it his personal countenance. And although, in despite of them, " The Duke of Guise" so far succeeded, as "to be frequently acted, and never without a considerable attend- ance,'' we may conclude from these qualified ex- pressions of the author himself, that the play was never eminently popular. He, who writes for a party, can only please at most one half of his au- dience. It was not to be expected that, at a time so very critical, a public representation, including such bold allusions, or rather parallels, should pass without critical censure. " The Duke of Guise" was attacked by Dryden's old foe Shad well, in some verses, entitled, " A Lenten Prologue re- fused by the Players j"^ and more formally, in " Reflections on the pretended Parallel in the Play called the Duke of Guise." In this pamph- let Shad well seems to have been assisted by a gentleman of the Temple, so zealous for the po- pular cause, that Dry den says he was detected t Bought by Mr Luttrell, 1 1th April, l6S3. See it, Vol. X, p. 131. It is expressly levelled against the " Duke of Guise," and generally against Dryden as a court poet. I may, howevery be wrong in ascribing it to Shadwell. LIFE OF JOHN DRYUEN. 287 disguised in a livery-gown, proffering his vote at the Common-hall. Thomas Hunt, a hamster, f likewise stepped forth on this occasion ; and in his "Defence of the Charter of London," then challenged by the famous process of Quo IVar- ranto, he accuses Dryden of having prepared the way for that arbitrary step, by the degrading representation of their magistrates executed in effigy upon the stage. Dryden thought these pamphlets of consequence enough to deserve an answer, and published, soon after, " The Vindi- cation of the Duke of Guise." In perusing the controversy, we may admire two circumstances, eminently characteristical of the candour with which such controversies are usually maintained : First, the anxiety with which the critics labour to fix upon Dryden a disrespectful parallel be- tween Charles II. and Henry II. of France, which certainly our author did not propose to carry far- ther than their common point of situation ; and secondly, the labour with which he disavows what he unquestionably did intend, a parallel between t I observe Anthony Wood, as well as Mr Malone, suppose Hunt and the Templar associated in the Reflections to be the same person. But in the " Vindication of the Duke of Guise," Shadwell and they are spoke of as three distinct persons. 288 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDE&. the rebellious conduct of Monmouth and of Guise. The Vindication is written in a tone of sovereign contempt for the adversaries, particularly for Shad- well. Speaking of Thomas Hunt, Dryden says, " Even this their celebrated writer knows no more of stvle and English than the Northern v ^7 dictator; as if dulness and clumsiness were fatal to the name of Tom. It is true, he is a fool in three languages more than the poet; for, they say, ' fie understands Latin, Greek, and Hebrew,' from all which, to my certain knowledge, I ac- quit the other. Og may 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 his drinking does it good ; for true subjects will not be much perverted by his libels; but the wine-duties rise considerably by his claret. He has often called me an atheist in print; I would believe more charitably of him, and that he only goes the broad way, because the other is too narrow for him. He may see, by this, I do not delight to meddle with his course of life, and his immoralities, though I have a long bead-roll of them. I have hitherto contented myself with the ridiculous part of him, which is enough, in all conscience, to employ one man ; even without the story of his late fall at the Old LIFE OF JOHN DllFDEN. 289 Devil, where he broke no ribs, because the hard- ness of the stairs could reach no bones ; and, for my part, I do not wonder how he came to fall, for I have always known him heavy : the miracle is, how he got up again. I have heard of a sea captain as fat as he, who, to escape arrests, would lay himself flat upon the ground, and let the bai- liffs carry him to prison, if they could. If a mes- senger or two, nay, we may put in three or four, should come, he has friendly advertisement how to escape them. But to leave him, who is not worth any further consideration, now I have done laughing at him, would every man knew his own talent, and that they, who are only born for drinking, would let both poetry and prose atone !" This was the last distinct and prolonged animad- version which our author bestowed upon his cor- pulent antagonist. Soon after this time Dryden wrote a biogra- phical preface to Plutarch's Lives, 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 Achi- tophel," whom Charles, after a long train of cold and determined neglect, had in emergency recal- led to his favour and his councils. The first vo* VOL. i. T 290 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. ]ume of Plutarch's Lives, with Dry den's Life of the author, appeared in 1683. About the same time, the king's express com- mand engaged Dry den in a work, which may be considered as a sort of illustration of the doctrines laid down in the " Vindication of the Duke of Guise." It was the translation of Maimbourg's " History of the League," expressly composed to draw a parallel between the Huguenots of France and the Leaguers, as both equal enemies of the monarchy. This comparison was easily transferred to the sectaries of England, and the association proposed by Shaftesbury. The work was published with unusual solemnity of title- page and frontispiece; the former declaring, that the translation was made by his majesty's com- mand ; the latter representing Charles on his throne, surrounded by emblems expressiv r e of he- reditary and indefeasible right. * The dedica- tion to the king contains sentiments which sa- vour strongly of party violence, and even fero- t See Vol. XVII. p. 80. In this edition I have retained a specimen of a translation, which our author probably executed with peculiar care ; selecting it from the account of the barri-r cades of Paris, as illustrating the tragedy of the " Duke of Guise." 11 LIFE OF JOHN DttYDEN. 291 city. The forgiving disposition of the king is, according to the dedicator, the encouragement of the conspirators. Like Antaeus, they rise refresh- ed from a simple overthrow. " These sons of earth are never to be trusted in their mother ele- ment; they must be hoisted Jnto the air, and strangled." Thus exasperated were the most gentle tempers in these times of doubt and peril. The rigorous tone adopted, confirms the opinion of those historians who observe, that, after the dis- covery of the Rye-house Plot, Charles was fretted out of his usual debonair ease, and became more morose and severe than had been hitherto thought consistent with his disposition. This translation was to be the last service which Dryden was to render his good-humoured, selfish, and thoughtless patron. While the laureat was preparing for the stage the opera of " Albion and Albanius," intended to solemnize the triumph of Charles over the Whigs, or, as the author expres- sed it, the double restoration of his sacred ma- jesty, the king died of an apoplexy upon the 6th February, 1684-5. His death opened to many, and to Dryden among others, new hopes, and new prospects, which were, in his instance, doom- ed to terminate in disappointment and disgrace. We may therefore pause, and review the private 292 LIFE QF JOHN DRYDEX. life of the poet during the period which has oc- cupied our last Sections. The vigour and rapidity with which Dryden poured.forth his animated satire, plainly intimates, that his mind was pleased with the exercise of that formidable power. It was more easy for him,, he has himself told us, to write with severity, than with forbearance; and indeed, where is the ex- pert swordsman, who does not delight in the flou- rish of his weapon ? Neither could this self-com- placent feeling be much allayed, by the vague and abusive ribaldry with which his satire was repaid. This was natural to the controversy, was no more than he expected, and was easily retorted with tre- ble interest. " As for knave," says he, " and sy- cophant, and rascal, and impudent, and devil, and old serpent, and a thousand such good morrows, I take them to be only names of parties; and could return murderer, and cheat," and whig-napper, and sodomite ; and, in short, the goodly number of the seven deadly sins, with all their kindred and re- lations, which are names of parties too; but saints will be saints, in spite of villainy." With such feelings, we may believe Dryden's rest was little disturbed by the litter of libels against him : " Sons of a da}' just buoyant on the flood, Then numbered with the puppies in the mud," LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEX. 93 But he who keenly engages in political contro- versy, must not only encounter the vulgar abuse, which he may justly contemn, but the altered eye of friends, whose regard is chilled, or aliena- ted. That Dryden sustained such misfortune we cannot doubt, when he informs us, that, out of the large party in opposition, comprehending, doubtless, many men of talent and eminence, who were formerly familiar with him, he had, during the course of a whole year, only spoken to four, and to those but casually and cursorily, and only to express a wish, that the times might come when the names of Whig and Tory might be abolished, and men live together as they had done before they were. introduced. Neither did the protecting zeal of his party- friends compensate for the loss of those whom . Dryden had alienated in their service. True it is, that a liost of Tory rhymers came forward with complimentary verses to the author c-f "Absalom and Achitophel," and of u The Medal." But of all payment, that in kind is least gratifying to a pover- ty-struck bard, and the courtly patrons of Dryden were in no haste to make him more substantial requital. A gratuity of an hundred broad pieces is said to have been paid him by Charles for one of his satires; but no permanent provision was 20-4 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. made for him. He was coolly left to increase his pittance by writing occasional pieces ; and it was probably with this view that he arranged for publication a miscellaneous collection of po- etry, which he afterwards continued. It was pub- lished for Ton son in 1683-4, and contained se- veral versions of Epistles from Ovid, and transla- tions of detached pieces of Virgil, Horace, and Theocritus, with some smaller pieces by Dryden himself, and a variety of poems by other hands. The Epistles had appeared in 1680, in a version of the original by several hands, to which Dryden also contributed an introductory discourse on tran- slation. Contrary to our author's custom, the mis- cellany appeared without either preface or dedi- cation. The miscellany, among other minor poems of Dryden, contained many of his occasional pro- logues and epilogues, the composition of which his necessity had rendered so important a branch of income, that, in the midst of his splendour of satirical reputation, the poet was obliged to chaf- fer about the scanty recompence which he drew from such petty sources. Such a circumstance at- tended the commencement of his friendship with Southerne. That poet then opening his dramatic career with the play of the " Loyal Brother/' came, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 295 as was usual, to request a prologue from Dryden, and to offer him the usual compliment of five guineas. But the laureat demurred, and insisted upon double the sum, " not out of disrespect/' he added, " to you, young man ; but the players have had my goods too cheap." Hence Southerne, who was peculiarly fortunate iu his dramatic re- venue, is designed by Pope as -" Tom sent down to raise The price of prologues and of plays." It may seem surprizing, that Dryden should be left to make an object of such petty gains, when, labouring for the service of government, he had in little more than twelve mouths pro- duced both Parts of " Absalom and Achitophel/' " The Medal," " Mac-Flecknoe," " Rdigio Laid* and "The Duke of Guise." But this was not the worst; for, although his pension as poet laureat was apparently all the encouragement which he received from the crown, so ill-regulated were the finances of Charles, so expensive his pleasures, and so greedy his favourites, that our author, shortly after finishing these immortal poems, was compelled to sue for more regular payment of that very pension, and for a more permanent provision, in the following affecting Memorial, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEff. addressed to Hyde, Earl of Rochester : " I would plead/' says he, "a little merit, and some hazards of my life from the common enemies; my re- fusing advantages offered by them, and neglect- ing my beneficial studies, for the king's service ; but I only think I merit not to starve. I never applied myself to any interest contrary to your lordship's; and, on some occasions, perhaps not known to you, have not been unserviceable to the memory and reputation of my lord, your father.* After this, my lord, my conscience as- sures me, I may write boldly, though I cannot speak to you. I have three sons, growing to man's estate. 1 breed them all up to learning, 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 : some small employment would render my condition easy. The king is not unsatisfied of me ; the duke has often promised me his assistance; and your lord- ship is the conduit through which their favours pass. Either in the customs, or the appeals of the excise, or'some other way, means cannot be want- * Probably alluding to having defended Clarendon in public company ; for nothing of the kind occurs in Dryden's publica- tions. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEX. 297 ing, if you please to have the will. 'Tis enough for one age to have neglected J\Ir Coicley, and sttor- vcd Air Butler ; but neither of them had the happiness to live till your lordship's ministry- In the mean time, be pleased to give me a gracious and a speedy answer to my present request of half a year's pension for my necessities. * I am going to write somewhat by his majesty's command,']* and cannot stir into the conntry for my health and studies till I secure my family from want/' We know that this affecting remonstrance was in part successful ; for long afterwards, he says, in, allusion to this period, " Even from a bare trea- sury, my success has been contrary to that of Mr Cowley ; and Gideon'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 his pension, was comprehended all Ro- chester's title to Dryden's gratitude. The poet could not obtain the small employment which he so earnestly solicited ; and such was the recom- pense of the merry monarch and his counsellors, to one whose productions had strengthened the pillars of his throne, as well as renovated the li- terary taste of the nation. f Probably the translation of " Rcligio Laid." SECTION VI. Threnodia Augustalis Albion and Albanius Dryden be- comes a Catholic The Controversy of Dryden n'ith Stil- ling fleet The Hind and Panther Life of St Francis Xavier Consequences of the Revolution to Dryden Don Sebastian King Arthur Cleomenes Love Tri- umphant. 1 HE accession of James II. to the British throne excited new hopes in all orders of men. On the accession of a new prince, the loyal looked to re- wards, the rebellious to amnesty. The catholics exulted in beholding one of their persuasion at- tain the crown after an interval of two centuries; the church of England expected the fruits of her unlimited devotion to the royal line ; even the sectaries might hope indulgence from a prince, whose religion deviated from that established by law as widely as their own. All, therefore, has- tened, in sugared addresses, to lament the sun which had set, and hail the beams of that which had arisen. Dryden, among other expectants, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 299 t chose the more honourable of these themes; and in the " Threnodia August alts" at once paid a tribute to the memory of the deceased monarch, and decently solicited the attention of his suc- cessor. But although he had enjoyed personal marks of the favour of Charles, they were of a nature too unsubstantial to demand a deep tone of sorrow. " Little was the muses hire, and light their gain ;" and "the pension of a prince's praise * is stated to have been all their encouragement. O Dryden, therefore, by no means sorrowed as if he had no hope; but, having said all that was de- cently mournful over the bier of Charles, tuned his lyrics to a sounding close in praise of James. About the same time, Dryden resumed, with new courage, the opera of " Albion and Albanius," which had been nearly finished before the deatli of Charles. This was originally designed as a masque, or emblematical prelude to the play of " King Arthur;" for Dryden, wearied with the inefficient patronage of Charles, from whom he only "received fair words/' had renounced in des- pair the task of an epic poem, and had converted one of his themes, that of the tale of Arthur, into the subject of a romantic drama. As the epic was to have been adapted to the honour and praise of Charles and his brother, the opera had originally 500 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. the same political tendency. " Albion and Al- banius" was a sort of introductory masque, in which, under a very thin veil of allegory, first, the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne, and, se- condly, their recent conquest over their "Whig opponents, were -successively represented. The death of Charles made little alteration in this piece : it cost but the addition of an apotheosis ; and the opera concluded with the succession of James to the throne, from which he had been so nearly excluded. These topics were however teYnpo- rary ; and, probably from the necessity of pro- ducing it while the allusions were fresh and ob- O vious, "Albion and Albanius" was detached from "King Arthur," which was not in such a state of forwardness. Great expence was bestowed in bringing forward this piece, and the scenery seems to have been unusually perfect ; particularly, the representation of a celestial phenomenon, ac- tually seen by Captain Gunman of the navy, whose evidence is quoted in the printed copies of the play. * The music of "Albion and Alba- nius'' was arranged by Grabut, a Frenchman, whose name does not stand high as a composer. * It formed the machine on which Iris appeared, Vol. VII. p. 241. I have been favoured by Samuel Egerton Brydgrs, Esq. LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. 301 Yet Dryden pays him some compliments in the preface of the piece, which were considered as derogatory to Parcel and the English school, and with the following" Extract from the Journal of Captain Chris- topher Gunman, commander of his Royal Highness's yatch the Mary, lying in Calais pier, Tuesday, 18th March : " l6'83-4, " March 18th. It was variable cloudy weather : this morn- ing 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 : " The sun towards the left hand bore east, and that on the right hand bore south-cast 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 on the subject painted by Serres, the marine painter; which makes an interesting history-piece. It represents the phenomenon in the heavens the harbour of Calais and the yacht lying off it, &c. &q. 302 tIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. gave great offence to a class of persons at least as irritable as their brethren the poets. This, among other causes, seems to have injured the success of the piece. But its death-blow was the news of the Duke of Monmouth's invasion, which reached London on Saturday, 1 3th June, 1685, while "Albion and Albanius" was perform- ing for the sixth time: the audience broke up in consternation, and the piece was never again re- peated. * This opera was prejudicial to the com- * 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, in Dorsetshire, on Thursday even- ing, June llth, an account of his landing did not reach the King at Whitehall till Saturday morning the 13th. The House of Commons, having met on that day at the usual hour, be- tween nine and ten o'clock, the news was soon afterwards com- municated to them by a Message from the King, delivered by the Earl of Middleton, (to whom Etheredge afterwards wrote two poetical Epistles from Ratisbon). Having voted and drawn up an Address to his Majesty, desiring him to take care of his royal person, they adjourned to four o'clock ; in which interval they went to Whitehall, presented their Address, and then met again. COOT. Jour. Vol. IX. p. 735. About this time, there- fore, it may be presumed, the news transpired, and in an hour afterwards probably reached the Theatre, where an audience was assembled at the representation of the opera of " Albion and Albanius;" for plays at that time began at four o'clock. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 303 pany, who were involved by the cxpence in a considerable debt, and never recovered half the money laid out. Neither was it of service to our poet's reputation, who had, on this occasion, to undergo the gibes of angry musicians, as well as the reproaches of disappointed actors and hos- tile poets. One went so far as to suggest, with some humour, that probably the laureatand Gra- but had mistaken their trade ; the former writing 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 the accession of James II. to the British throne. The biographer of Dryclen must feel considerable dif- ficulty in discussing the probable causes of his change. Although this essay be intended to contain the life, not the apology of the poet, it is the duty of the writer to place such circum* It seems from Mr Lultrell's MS. note, that the first represent lation of this opera was on Saturday the 6th of June ; and Downes (Ruse. Ang. p. 40.) says, that in consequence of Mon- mouth's invasion, it was only performed six times ; so that the sixth 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. 304 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. stances in view, as may qualify the strong prepos- session at first excited by a change of faith against the individual who makes it. This prepossession, powerful in every case, becomes doubly so, if the step be taken at a time when the religion adop- ted seems more readily to pave the way for the temporal prosperity of the proselyte. Even where the grounds of conviction are ample and unde- niable, we have a respect for those who suffer, rather than renounce a mistaken faith, when it is discountenanced or persecuted. A brave man will least of all withdraw himself from his ancient standard when the tide of battle beats against it. On the other hand, those who at such a period admit conviction to the better and predominant doctrine, are viewed with hatred by the members of the deserted creed, and with doubt by their new brethren, in faith. Many \vho adopted Christianity in the reign of Con- stantine were doubtless sincere proselytes, but \ve do not iind that any of them have been ca- nonized. These feelings must be allowed power- fully to afiect the mind, when we reflect that Dry den, a servant of the court, and zealously attached to the person of James, to whom he looked for the reward of long and faithful ser- vice, did not receive any mark of royal favour LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 307 until he professed himself a member of the reli- gion for which that king was all but an actual martyr. There are other considerations, however, greatly qualifying the conclusions which might be drawn from these suspicious circumstances, and tending to shew, that Dryden's conversion was at least in a great measure effected by sincere conviction. The principal clue to the progress of his religious principles is to be found in the poet's own lines in "The Hind and the Panther,'* and may, by a very simple commentary, be applied to the state of his religious opinions 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 w.as 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 no explanation: they obviously mean, that inattention to religious duties which the amusements of youth too frequently occasion. The ** false lights " which bewildered the poet's manhood, were, I doubt not, the puritanical te- nets, which, coming into the world under the auspices of his fanatical relations, Sir Gilbert VOL. i. u 306 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Pickering and Sir John Driclen, he must have at least professed, but probably seriously entertain^ ed. It must be remembered, that the poet was thirty years of age at the Restoration, so that a considerable space of his full-grown manhood had passed while the rigid doctrines of the fanatics were still the order of the day. But the third state of his opinions, those " sparkles which his pride struck out,'' after the delusions of puritan- ism had vanished ; in other words, those senti- ments which he imbibed after the Restoration, and which immediately preceded his adoption of the catholic faith, cannot be ascertained with- out more minute investigation. We mav at the fj \j outset be easily permitted to assume, that the adoption of a fixed creed of religious principles was not the first business of our author, when that merry period set him free from the rigor- ous fetters of fanaticism. Unless he differed more than we can readily believe from the public feeling <.t that time, Dryden was satisfied to give to Ccesar the things that were Caesar's, without O being in a hurry to fulfil the counterpart of the precept. Foremost in the race of pleasure, en- gaged in labours alien from serious reflection, the favourite of the most lively and dissolute nobi- lity whom England ever saw, religious thoughts 11 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEW. 307 were not, at this period, likely to intrude fre- quently upon his mind, or to be encouraged when they did so. The time, therefore, when Dryden began seriously to compare the doctrines of the contending sects of Christianity, was probably several years after the Restoration, when reiterated disappointment, and satiety of pleasure, prompted his mind to retire within itself, and think upon hereafter. The " Reiigio Laid" published in 1682, evinces, that, previous to composing that poem, the author had bestowed serious consideration upon the important subjects of which 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 from what faith Dryden changed when he became a Catholic. The " Reiigio Laid" has indeed a political ten- dency, being written to defend the church of England against the sectaries : it is not, therefore, so much from the conclusions of the piece, as from the mode of the author's deducing these con- clusions, that Dryden's real opinions may be ga- thered ; as we learn nothing of the bowl's bias from its having reached its mark, though some- thing may be conjectured by observing the course which it described in attaining it. From many minute particulars, I think it almost decisive, that . 308 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Dryden, when he wrote the " Religio Laid" was sceptical concerning revealed religion. I do not mean, that his doubts were of that fixed and per- manent nature, which have at different times indu- ced men, of whom better might have been hoped, to pronounce themselves free- thinkers on principle. On the contrary, Dryden seems to have doubted with such a strong wish to believe, as, accompa^ nied with circumstances of extrinsic influence, led him finally into the opposite extreme of credulity. His view of the doctrines of Christianity, and of its evidence, were such as could not legitimately found him in the conclusions he draws in favour of the church of England ; and accordingly, in adopting them, he evidently stretches his com- plaisance towards the national religion, while perhaps in his heart he was even then disposed to think there was no middle course between natural relioion and the church of Rome. The o first creed which he examines is that of Deism ; which he rejects, because the worship of one sole deity was not known to the philosophers of antiquity, and is therefore obviously to be as- cribed to revelation. Revelation thus proved, the puzzling doubt occurs, whether the scrip- ture, as contended by Calvinists, was to be the sole rule of faith, or whether the rules and tra- ditions of the church are to be admitted in ex- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 309 planation of the holy text. Here Dryden does not hesitate to point out the inconveniencies en- suing from making the sacred page the subject of the dubious and contradictory 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 WES 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 yes of the Tories, to be again bursting in upon monarchy and episcopacy with the strength of a land-flood. Dryden, therefore, at once, and heartily, repro- bates it. But the opposite extreme of admitting the authority of the church as omnipotent in de- ciding all matters of faith, he does not give up with the same readiness. The extreme conve- nience, nay almost necessity, for such authority, is admitted in these remarkable lines : " Such an omniscient church we wish indeed ; 'Twere worth both Testaments, cast in the Creed." A wish, so forcibly expressed, shews a strong desire on the part of the poet to be convinced of 310 I-IFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. the existence of what he so ardently desired. And the argument which Dryden considers as conclusive against the existence of such an omni- scient church, is precisely that which a subtle Catholic would find little trouble in repelling. If there be such a church, says Dryden, why does it not point out the corruption of the canon, and restore it where lost? The answer is obvious, providing that the infallibility of the church be previously assumed ; for where can be the neces- sity of restoring or explaining scripture, if God has given, to Pope and Council, the inspiration necessary to settle all doubts in matters of faith? Dryden must have perceived where this argu- ment led him, and he rather compounds with the difficulty than faces it. The scripture, he ad- mits, must be the rule on the one hand ; but, on the other, it was to be qualified with the tradi- tions 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, \vho 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." LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. 311 'fliis seems to be a plain admission, that the author was involved in a question from which he saw no very decided mode of extricating him- self; and that the hest way was to think as little as possible upon the subject. But this was a sor- ry conclusion for affording firm foundation in re- ligious faith. Another doubt appears to have puzzled Dry- den so much, as to lead him finally to the Catho- lic faith for its solution. This was the future fate of those who never heard the gospel preach- ed, supposing belief in it essential 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 the benefit of the propi- tiatory sacrifice of our Mediator may be extend- ed to those who knew not of its po\ver. But the creed of St Athanasius stands in the poet's road; and though he disposes of it with less reverence to the patriarch than is quite seemly, there is an indecision, if not in his conclusion, at least in his mode of deducing it, that shews an apt inclina- tion to cut the knot, and solve the objection of the Deist, by alleging, that belief in the Christian religion is an essential requisite to salvation. S12 LIFE OF JOHN DRYPEN. If I am right in these remarks, it will follow, that Dryden never could be a firm or steady he- lievcr in the church of England's doctrines The arguments, by which he proved them, carried him too far; and when he commenced a teacher of faith, or when, as he expresses it, " his pride struck out new sparkles of its own," at that very time, while in words he maintained the doc- trines of his mother-church, his conviction really hovered between natural religion and the faith of Rome. It is remarkable, that his friends do not seem to have considered the " Rdigio Laid" as expressive of his decided sentiments ; for Charles Blount, a noted free-thinker, in conse- quence of that very work, wrote a deistical trea- tise in prose, bearing the same title, and ascribed it with great testimony of respect to " his much- honoured friend, John Dryden, Esquire."* Mr * The expressions in the dedication are such as to preclude all idea but of profound respect: " Sir, The value I have ever had for your writings, makes me impatient to peruse all trea- tises that are crowned with your name; whereof, the last that fell into my hands was your ' Rdigio Laid ;' which expresses as well your great judgment in, as value for, religion : a thing too rarely found in this age among gentlemen of your parts ; and, I am confident, (with the blessing of God upon your en- LIFE OF JOHN DItYDEN. 313 Blount, living in close habits with Dryden, must have known perfectly well how to understand his polemical poem ; and, had he supposed it was written under a deep belief of the truth of the English creed, can it be thought he would have inscribed to the author a tract against all revela- tion?! The inference is, therefore, sufficiently plain, that the dedicator knew that Dryden was sceptical on the subject, on which he had, out of compliment to church and state, affected a convic- tion ; and that his " Rellgio Laid" no more infer- red a belief in the doctrines of Christianity, than the sacrifice of a cock to Esculapius proved the heathen philosopher's faith in the existence of that divine leech. Thus far Dryden had certain- ly proceeded. His disposition to believe in Chris- tianity was obvious, but he was bewildered in the maze of doubt in which he was involved ; and it Jeavours,) not unlikely to prove of great advantage to the pub- lic ; since, as Mr Herbert well observes, " A verse may find him who a sermon flies, And turn delight into a sacrifice." t Blount preserves indeed that affectation of respect for the doctrines of the established church which decency imposes; but the tendency of his work is to decry all revelation. It is founded on the noted work of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, " D: f''critnte." 3H LIFE OF JOHN DHYDEX. was already plain, that the church, whose pro- mises to illuminate him were most confident, was likely to have the honour of this distinguished proselyte. Dryden did not, therefore, except in outward profession, abandon the church of Eng* land for that of Rome, but was converted to the Catholic faith from a state of infidelity, or rather of Pyrrhonism. This is made more clear by the words of Dryden, from which it appears, that, having once admitted the mysterious doctrines of d? / the Trinity and of redemption, so incomprehen- sible to human reason, he felt no right to make any further appeal to that fallible guide : a 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 trus-t my imperfect sense, \Vhich calls in question his omnipotence ?" From these lines it may be safely inferred, that Dryden's sincere acquiescence in the more ab- struse points of Christianity did not long precede his adoption of the Roman faith. In some pre- ceding verses it appears, how eagerly he received the conviction of the church's infallibility, as af- LIFE OF JOHN DHYDEN. 315 fording that guide, the want of whom he had in Jiome degree lamented in the " Rcllgio Laid? " 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 kind which is the conse- quence of a strong temporal interest ; for he had expressed intelligibly the imagined desiderata which the church of Rome alone pretends to supply, long before that temporal interest had an existence. Neither have we to reproach him, that, grounded and rooted in a pure Protestatit creed, he was foolish enough to abandon it for the more corrupted doctrines of Rome. He did not unloose from the secure haven to moor in tlwr perilous road; but, being tossed on the billows of uncertainty, he dropped his anchor in the first moorings to which the winds, waves, and per- haps an artful pilot, chanced to convey his baily We may indeed regret, that, having to ehuse be- 316" LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEX. tvveen two religions, he should have adopted that which our education, reason, and even prepos- sessions, combine to point out as foully corrupt- ed from the primitive simplicity of the Christian church. But neither the Protestant Christian, nor the sceptic philosopher, can claim a right to despise the sophistry which bewildered the judge- ment of Chilling-worth, or the toils which en- veloped 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 appeared to him irresistible. The early traditions of the church, the express words of the text, are referred to by both as the grounds of their conversion ; and the works^ of Bossuet, so frequently referred to by the poet, were the means of influencing the determination of the philosopher. * The victorious argument to which * " I was unable to resist the weight of historical evidence, that within the same period most of the leading doctrines of Popery were already introduced in theory and practice; nor was my conclusion absurd, that miracles are the test of truth, and that the church must be orthodox and pure, which was so often approved by the visible interposition of the Deity. The marvellous tales which are so boldly attested by the Basils and Chrysostoms, the Austins and Jeroms, compelled me to embrace LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 517 Chillingworth himself yielded, was, " that there must be somewhere an infallible judge, and the the superior merits of celibacy, the institution of the monastic life, the use of the sign of the cross, of holy oil, and even of images, the invocation of saints, the worship of relics, the rudi- ments of purgatory in prayers for the dead, and the tremendcus mystery of the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, which insensibly swelled into the prodigy of transubstantiation. In these dispositions, and already more than half a convert, I formed an unlucky intimacy with a young gentleman of our college, whose iianu- I shall spare. With a character less resolute, Mr *** had imbibed the same religious opinions ; and some Popish ' books, I know nut through what channel, were conveyed into his possession. I read, I applauded, I believed ; the English translations of two famous works of Bobsuct, Bishop of Mcuux, the ' Exposition of the Catholic Doctrine,' and the ' History of the Protestant Variations,' achieved my conversion ; and I surely fell by a noble hand. I have since examined the origi- nals with a more discerning eye, and shall not hesitate to pro- nounce, that Bossuet is indeed a master of all the weapons of controversy. In the ' Exposition,' a specious apology, the ora- tor assumes, \\ith consummate art, the tone of candour and simplicity; and the ten-horned monster is transformed, at his magic touch, into the milk-white Hind, who must be loved as soon as she is seen. In the ' History,' a bold and well-aimed attack, he displays, with a happy mixture of narrative and ar- gument, the faults and follies, the changes and contradictions of our first reformers; whose variations (as he dexterously con- tends) are the mark of historical error, while the perpetual unity of the Catholic church is the sign and test of infallible truth. To my present feeling?, it seems incredible, that I should ever believe that 1 believed in transubstantiation. But my con- queror oppressed me with the sacramental words, ' Hoc est cor-' pns oleum,' and dashed against each other the figurative haljr 318 LIFE OF JOHX DRYDEX. church of Rome is the only Christian society, which either does or can pretend to that charac- ter." It is also to be observed, that towards the end of Charles II.'s reign, the High-Church-men and the Catholics regarded themselves as on the same side in political questions, and not greatly divided in their temporal interests. Both were sufferers in the Plot, both were enemies of the sectaries, both were adherents of the Stuarts. Alternate conversion had been common between them, so early as since Milton made a reproach to the Eng- lish universities of the converts to the 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 of those personal pre- mcanings of the Protestant sects; every objection was resolved into omnipotence; and, after repeating at St Mary's the Atha- nasian creed, I humbly acquiesced in the mystery of the real presence. " To tale up half on trust, and half to trj. Name it not faith, but bungling bigolry. 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 Iris oicn Life. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 319 judices, which, in other cases, have heen impedi- ments to their making converts. The poet had, besides, before him the example of many persons both of rank and talent, who had adopted the Catholic religion. Such being the disposition of Drydens mind, and such the peculiar facilities of the Roman churchmen in making proselytes, it is by no means to be denied, that circumstances in the poet's family and situation strongly forwarded his taking such a step. His wife, Lady Eliza- beth, had for some time been a Catholic; and though she may be acquitted of any share in in- fluencing his determination, yet her new faith necessarily brought into his family persons both able and disposed to do so. His eldest and best beloved son, Charles, is also said, though upon uncertain authority, to have been a Catholic be- fore his father, and to have contributed to his change. *" Above all, James his master, to whose fortunes he had so closely attached himselrj had * In a libel in the " State Poems," Vol. III., Dryden is rmide say, " One son turned me, I turned the other two, .But Lad liot an indulgence, sir, like jou." Page 24 k 320 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. now become as parsimonious of his favour as his church is of salvation, and restricted it to those of his own sect. It is more than probable, though only a conjecture, that Dryden might be made the subject of those private exhortations, which in that reign were called closeting-, and, predis- posed as he was, he could hardly be supposed ca- pable of resisting the royal eloquence. For, while pointing out circumstances of proof, that Dry- den's conversion was not made by manner of bargain .and sale, but proceeded upon a sincere though erroneous conviction, it cannot be de- nied, that his situation as poet laureat, and his expectations from the king, must have conduced to his taking his final resolution. All I mean to infer from the above statement is, that his inte- rest and internal conviction led him to the same conclusion. If we are to judge of Dryden's sincerity in his new faith, by the determined firmness with which he retained it through good report and bad re- port, we must allow him to have been a martyr, or at least a confessor, in the Catholic cause. If, after the Revolution, like many greater men, he had changed his principles with the times, he was not a person of such mark as to be selected from all the nation, and punished for former te- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 321 nets. Supported by the friendship of Rochester, and most of the Tory nobles who were active in the Revolution, of Leicester, and many Whigs, and especially of the Lord- Chamberlain Dorset, there would probably have been little difficulty in his remaining poet-laureat, if he had recanted the errors of Popery. But the Catholic religion, and the consequent disqualifications, was an in- surmountable obstacle to his holding that or any other office under government; and Dryden's ad- herence to it, with all the poverty, reproach, and even persecution which followed the profession, argued a deep and substantial conviction of the truth of the doctrines it inculcated. So late as 16*99> when an union, in opposition to King Wil- liam, had led the Tories and Whigs to look on each other with some kindness, Dryden thus ex- presses himself in a letter to his cousin, Mrs Steward : " The court rather speaks kindly of me, than does any thing for me, though they promise largely ; and perhaps they think I will advance as they go backward, in which they will be much deceived : for I can never go an inch beyond my conscience and my honour. If they will consider me as a man who has done my best to improve the language, and especially the poe- try, and will be content with my acquiescence VOL, i, x 322 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. under the present government, and forbearing satire on it, that I can promise, because I can perform it : but I can neither take the oaths, nor forsake my religion; because I know not what church to go to, if I leave the Catholic; they are all so divided amongst themselves in matters of faith, necessary to salvation, and yet all assuming 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 of it, can plead no excuse if they do not embrace it. But these are things too serious for a trifling let- ter."' If, therefore, adherence to the commu- nion of a falling sect, loaded too at the time with heavy disqualifications, and liable to yet more dangerous suspicions, can be allowed 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 re- main unrewarded, nor was his pen suffered to be idle in the cause which he had adooted. On the x 4th of March 1685-6, an hundred pounds a-year, payable quarterly, was added to his pension ;f * Vol. XVIII. page 162. f The grant bears this honourable consideration, which I extract from Mr Malone's work : " Pat. 2. Jac. p. 4. IT. 1. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 323. and probably he found himself more at ease un- der the regular and economical government of James, than when his support depended on the exhausted exchequer of Charles. Soon after the granting of this boon, he was employed to defend the reasons of conversion to the Catholic faith, alleged by Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, which, together with two papers on a similar subject, said to be found in Charles II's strong box, James had with great rashness given to the pub- lic. Stillingfleet, now at the head of the cham- pions of the Protestant faith, published some sharp remarks on these papers. Another hand, probably that of a Jesuit, was employed to vin- dicate against him the royal grounds of conver- sion ; white to Dryden was committed the charge of defending those alleged by the Duchess. The tone of Dryden's apology was, to say the least, highly injudicious, and adapted to irritate the feel- ings of the clergy of the established church, al- ready sufficiently exasperated to see the sacrifices which they had made to the royal cause utterly tor- Know ye, that we, for and in consideration of the many good and acceptable services done by John Dryden, Master of Arts, to our late dearest brother King Charles the Second, as ;ilso to us done and performed, ami taking notice of the learning and eminent abilities of the said J. D." &c. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. gotten, the moment that they paused in the extre ' mity of their devotion towards the monarch. The name of " Legion," which the apologist bestows on his adversaries, intimates the committee of the clergy by whom the Protestant cause was then defended and the tone of his arguments is harsh, contemptuous, and insulting. A raker up of the ashes of princes, an hypocrite, a juggler, a lati- tudinarian, are the best terms which he affords the advocate of the church of England, in de- fence of which he had so lately been himself a distinguished champion. Stillingfleet returned to the charge ; and when he came to the part of the Defence written by Dry den, he did not spare the personal invective, to which the acrimonious style of the poet-laureat had indeed given an opening. " Zeal," says Stillingfleet, " in a new convert, is a terrible thing, for it not only burns, but rages like the eruptions of Mount JEtna ; it fills the air with noise and smoke, and throws out such a torrent of living fire, that there is no standing before it '' In another passage, Stilling- flt-et talks of the " temptation of changing reli- gion for bread;'' in another, oar authors words^, that " Priests of all religions are the same,"* * " Absalom and Achitophel," Part I. Vol. IX. p. 220. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 325 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 his polemical poem of " The Hind and the Panther." If we can believe an ancient tradition, this poem was chiefly composed in a country retirement at Rush ton, near his birth-place in Huntingdon. There was an embowered walk at this place, which, from the pleasure which the poet took in it, re- tained the name of Dryden's Walk; and here was erected, about the middle of last century, an urn, with the following inscription: " In memory of Dryden, who frequented these shades, and is here said to have composed his poem of ' The Hind and the Panther."* " The Hind and the Panther" was written with a view to obviate the objections of the English clergy and people to the power of dispensing with the test laws, usurped by James II. A change of political measures, which took place while the poem was composing, has greatly in- jured its unity and consistence. In the earlier * I am indebted for this anecdote to Mr Octavius Gilchrist, the editor of the poems of the witty Bishop Corbett. 326 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN". part of his reign, James endeavoured to gain the church of England, by fair means and flattery, to submit to the remission which he claimed the li- berty of granting to the Catholics. The first part of Dryden's poem is written upon this soothing plan ; the Panther, or church of England, is sure the noblest next the Hind, And fairest offspring of the spotted kind. Oh could her in-born 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 ere the poem was published, the king had assumed a different tone with the established church. Relying upon the popularity which the suspension of the penal laws was calculated to procure among the Dis- senters, he endeavoured to strengthen his party by making common cause between them and the Catholics, and bidding open defiance to the church of England. For a short time, and with the most ignorant of the sectaries, this plan seem- ed to succeed; the pleasure of a triumph over their ancient enemies rendering them blind to the danger of the common Protestant cause. -During this interval the poem was concluded; LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 327 and the last book seems to consider the cause of the Hind and Panther as gone to a final issue, and incapable of any amicable adjustment. The Panther is fairly resigned to her fate. " Her hour of grace was passed," and the downfal of the English hierarchy is fore- told in that of the Doves, who, in a subaltern al- legory, represent the clergy of the established 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 frequently alludes to his dispute with Stillingfleet ; and perhaps none of his poems contain finer lines than those in which he takes credit for the painful exertion of Christian for- bearance, when called by injured feeling to resent 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 ! 328 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDENV 'Tis said with ease; but, oh, how hardly tried By haughty souls to human honour tied ! O sharp convulsive pangs of agonizing pride ! Doxvn then, thou 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 undis- tinguished, but Burnet, afterwards Bishop of Sa- lisbury, receives chastisement in his stead. The character of this prelate, however unjustly exag- gerated, preserves many striking and curious traits of resemblance to the original ; and, as was natural, gave deep offence to the party for whom, it was drawn. For not only did Burnet at the time express himself with great asperity of Dry- den, but long afterwards, when writing his his- tory, he pronounced a severe censure on the im- morality of his plays, so inaccurately expressed as to be applicable, by common construction, to the author's private character. From this coarse and inexplicit accusation, the memory of Drydea LIFE OF JOHN DKYDEN. 329 Was indignantly vindicated by' his friend Lord Lansdowne. It is also worth remarking, that in the alle- gory of the swallows, introduced in the Third Part of " The Hind and the Panther," the author seems to have had in his eye the proposal made at a grand consult of the Catholics, that they should retire from the general and increasing hatred of all ranks, and either remain quiet at home, or settle abroad. This plan, which origi- nated in their despair of James's being able to do any thing effectual in their favour, was set aside by the fiery opposition of Father Petre, the mar- tin of the fable told by the Panther to the Hind * The appearance of " The Hind and the Pan- ther" excited a clamour against the author far more general than the publication of " Absalom and Achitophel." Upon that occasion, the of- fence was given only to a party, but this open and avowed defence of James's strides towards arbitrary power, with the unpopular circumstance of its coming from a new convert to the royal faith, involved our poet in the general suspicion See a long note upon this subject, Vol. X. p. 254. 330 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. with which the nation at large now viewed the .slightest motions of their infatuated monarch. The most noted amongst those who appeared to oppose the triumphant advocate of the Hind, were Montague and Prior, young men now ri- sing into eminence. They joined to produce a parody entitled the " Town and Country Mouse;" part of which Mr Bayes is supposed to gratify his old friends, Smith and Johnson, by re- peating to them. The piece is, therefore, found- ed upon the twice told jest of the " Rehearsal." Of the parody itself, we have given ample speci- men in its proper place. There is nothing new or original in the idea, which chiefly turns upon the ridiculing the poem of Dryden, where reli- gious controversy is made the subject of dispute and adjustment between a Hind and a Panther, who vary between their typical character of ani- mals and their real character as the Catholic and English church. In this piece, Prior, though the younger man, seems to have had by far the larger share. Lord Peterborough, on being ask- ed whether the satire was not written by Mon- tague in conjunction with Prior, answered, " Yes ; as if I, seated in Mr Cheselden's chaise drawn by his fine horse, should say, Lord ! how finely we draw this chaise !'' Indeed, although the parody LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. 331 was trite and obvious, the satirists had the public upon their side; and it now seems astonishing with what acclamations this attack upon the most able champion of James's faith was hailed by his discontented subjects. Dryden was considered as totally overcome by his assailants ; they deem- ed themselves, and were deemed by others, as worthy of very distinguished and weighty re- compence;* and what was yet a more decisive mark, that their bolt had attained its mark, the aged poet is said to have lamented, even with tears, the usage he had received from two young men, to whom he had been always civil. This last circumstance is probably exaggerated. Montague and Prior had doubtless been frequenters of Will's * That Prior was discontented with his share of preferment, appears from the verses entitled, " Earl Robert's Mice," and an angry expostulation 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 as shewing the importance attached to the " Town and Country Mouse," which says, that Dorset, in presenting Mon- tague to King William, said, " I have brought a Mouse to wait on your majesty." " I will make a man of him," >aid the king ; and settled a pension of L. 500 upon the fortunate satirist. 332 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEK. coffee-house, where Dryden held the supreme rule in criticism, and had thus, among other rising wits, been distinguished by him. That he should have felt their satire is natural, for the arrow flew with the wind, and popularity amply supplied its de- ficiency in real vigour ; but the reader may pro- bably conclude with Johnson, that Dryden was too much hackneyed in political warfare to suf- fer so deeply from the parody, as Dr Lockier's anecdote would lead us to believe. " If we can suppose him vexed/' says that accurate judge of human nature, " we can hardly deny him sense to conceal his uneasiness." Although Prior and Montague were first in place and popularity, there wanted not the usual crowd of inferior satirists and poetasters to follow them to the charge. " The Hind and the Pan- ther" was assailed by a variety of pamphlets, by Tom Brown and others, of which an account, with specimens, perhaps more than sufficient, is annexed to the notes on the poem in this edition. It is Worth mentioning, that on this, as on a for- mer occasion, an adversary of Dryden chose to select one of his own poems as a contrast to his latter opinions. The " Religio Laid" was reprint- ed, and carefully opponed to the various passages of " The Hind and the Panther," which appeared LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 533 most contradictory to its tenets. But while the Grub-street editor exulted in successfully point- ing out the inconsistency between Dryden's ear- lier and later religious opinions, he was incapable of observing, that the change was adopted in consequence of the same unbroken tram of rea- soning, and that Dry den, when he wrote the "'Rehgio Laid," 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 the dispersion of" The Hind and the Panther," than the Protestant party to ridicule the piece and its author. It was printed about the same time at London and in Edinburgh, where a printing-press was maintained in Holy- rood- House, for the dispersion of tracts favour- ing the Catholic religion. The poem went ra- pidly through two or three editions ; a circum- stance rather to be imputed to the celebrity of the author, and to the anxiety which foes, as well as friends, entertained to learn his sentiments, than to any disposition to acquiesce in his argu- ments. But Drvden's efforts in favour of the Catholic / cause, were not limited to this controversial poem. He is said to have been at first employed by the court, in translating Varillas's " History of He- 334 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. resies," a work held in considerable estimation by the Catholic divines. Accordingly, an entry to that purpose was made hy Tonson in the Sta- tioners books, of such a translation made by Dry- den at his majesty's command. This circumstance is also mentioned by Burnet, who adds, in very coarse and abusive terms, that the success of his own remarks having destroyed the character of Yarillas as a historian, the disappointed translator revenged himself by the severe character of the Buzzard, under which the future Bishop of Sa- rum is depicted in "The Hind and the Pan- ther."* The credulity of Burnet, especially where * The passage, as quoted at length by Mr Malone, removes an obscurity which puzzled former biographers, at least as far as any thing can be made clear, which ; must ultimately depend up- on such clumsy diction as the following. " It (the answer of Burnet) will perhaps be a little longer a digesting to Mons. Varil- las, than it was a preparing to me. One proof will quickly ap- pear, whether the world is so satisfied with his Answer, as upon that to return to any thoughts of his history ; for I have been in- formed from England, that a gentleman, who is known both for poetry and other things, had spent three months in translating M. Varillas's History ; but that, as soon as my Reflections ap- peared, he discontinued his labour, finding the credit of his au- thor was gone. Now, if he thinks it is recovered by his answer, he will perhaps go on with his translation ; and this may be, for aught I know, as good an entertainment for him as the conver- sation that he had set on between the Hinds and Panthers, and all the rest of animals, for whom M. Varillas may serve well enough for an author: and this history and that poem are such LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN r . 335 his vanity was concerned, was unbounded ; and there seems room' to trace Dryden's attack upon him, rather to some real or supposed concern in the controversy about the Duchess of York's papers, so often alluded to in the poem, than to the commentary on Varillas, which is not once mentioned. Yet it seems certain that Dry den entertained thoughts of translating " The History of Heresies ;'' and, for whatever reason, laid the task aside. He soon after was engaged in a task, of a kind as unpromising as remote from his poe- extraorJinary things of their kind, that it will be but suitable to see the author of the worst poem, become likewise the transla- tor of the worst history, that the age has produced. If his grace and his wit improve both proportionably, he will hardly find that he has gained much by the change he has made, from ha- ving no religion to choose one of the worst. It is true, he hud something to sink from, in matter of wit; but as for his morals, it is scarce possible for him to grow a worse man than he was. He has lately wreaked his malice on me for spoiling his three months' labour; but in it he has done me all the honour that any man can receive from him, which is to be railed at by him. If I hud ill-nature enough to prompt me to wish a very bad wish for him, it should be, that he would go on and finish his trans- lation. By that it will appear, whether the English nation, which is the most competent judge in this matter, has, upon the seeing our debate, pronounced in M. Vari lias's favourer in mine. It is true, Mr D. will suffer a little by it ; 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 much by it, as he has done by his last employment." S36 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEBT. tical studies, and connected, in the same close de- gree, with the religious views of the unfortunate James II. This was no other than the translation of " The Life of St Francis Xavier/' one of the last adopted saints of the Catholic church, at least whose merits and supposed miracles were those of a missionary. Xavier is perhaps among the latest also, whose renown for sanctity, and the powers attending it, appears to have been exten- sive, even while he was yet alive.* Above all, he was of the order of Jesuits, and the very saint to whom Mary of Este had addressed her vows, in hopes to secure a Catholic successor to the throne of England, f It was, therefore, natural enough, * In the " Staple of News," act iii. scene 2. Jonson talks of the miracles done by the Jesuits in Japan and China, as current articles of intelligence. f In the Dedication to the Queen, this is stated with a gra- vity suitable to the occasion. " The reverend author of this Life, in his dedication to his Most Christian Majesty, affirms, that France was owing for him to the intercession of St Francis Xavier. That Anne of Austria, his mother, after twenty years of barrenness, had recourse to heaven, by her fervent prayers, to draw down that blessing, and addressed her devotions, in a particular manner, to tins holy apostle of the Indies. I know pot, madam, whether I may presume to tell the world, that your jnajesty has chosen this great saint for oije of your celestial pa-. f.rons, though I am sure you will never be ashamed of owning BG glorious an intercessor; not even in a country where the do T tlFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 337 that Dryden should have employed himself in translating the life of a saint, whose virtues must at that time have appeared so peculiarly merito- rious; whose praises were so acceptable to his patroness; and whose miracles were wrought for the credit of the Catholic church, within so late a period. Besides, the work had been composed by Bartoli, in Portuguese ; and by Bouhours, in French. With the merits of the latter we are well acquainted ; of the former, Dryden speaks highly in the dedication. It may perhaps be more sur- prising, that the present editor should have re- tained this translation, than that Dryden should have undertaken it. But surely the only work of this very particular and enthusiastic nature, which the modern English language has to exhi- bit, was worthy of preservation, were it but as a curiosity. The creed and the character of Ca- tholic faith, are HOW so much forgotten among us, (popularly speaking,) that, in reading the "Life of Xavier/' the Protestant finds himself in a new trine of the holy church is questioned, and those religious ad- dresses ridiculed. Your majesty, I doubt not, has the inward satisfaction of knowing, that such pious prayers have not been unprofitable to you ; and the nation may one day come to un- derstand, how happy it will be for them to have a son of prayers ruling over them." VOL I. Y 338 HFE OP JOHN DEYDEN. and enchanted land. The motives, and the inci- dents, and the doctrines, are alike new to him, and, indeed, occasionally form a strange contrast among themselves. There are few who can read, without a sentknent of admiration, the heroic de- votion with which, from the highest principle of duty, Xavier exposes himself to hardship, to danger, to death itself, that he may win souls to the Christian faith. The most rigid Protestant, and the most indifferent philosopher, cannot de- ny to him the courage and patience of a martyr, with the good sense, resolution, ready wit, and address of the best negociator, that ever went upon a temporal embassy. It is well that our admiration is qualified by narrations so monstrous, as his actually restoring the dead to life;* so profane, as the inference concerning the sweating crucifix ;f so trivial and absurd, as a crab's fish- ing up the saint's cross, which had fallen into the sea; and, to conclude, so shocking to hu- manity, as the account of the saint passing by the house of his ancestors, the abode of his aged mo- ther, on his road to leave Europe for ever, and conceiving he did God good service in deny- ing himself the melancholy consolation of a last * Vol. XVI. pp. 155, 333, 423. t Ibid. p. 45(>. I Ibid. p. 162. 7 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEW. 339 farewell.* Altogether, it forms a curious picture of the human mind, strung to a pitch of enthu- siasm, which we can only learn from such narra- tives : and those to whom this aftprds no amuse- ment, may glean some curious particulars from the " Life of Xavier," concerning the state of India and Japan, at the time of his mission, as well as of the internal regulations and singular policy adopted by the society, of which the saint was a member. Besides the " Life of Xavier," Dryden is said to have translated Bossuet's " Ex- position of the Catholic Doctrine ;" but for this we have but slight authority, "j* Dryden's political and polemic discussions na- turally interfered at this period with his more general poetical studies. About the period of James's accession, Tonson had indeed published * Vol. XVI. p. 46. f "In the Bodleian Catalogue another work is attributed to our author, on very slight grounds : ' An Exposition of the Doc- trine of the Catholic Church,' translated from Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, and published at London in 1685. The only autho- rity for attributing this translation to Dryden, should seem to have been the following note in Bishop Barlow's hand-writing, at the bottom of the title-page of the copy belonging to the Bod- leian Library: ' By Mr Dryden, then only a poet, now a papist too : may be, he was a papist before, but not known till of late.' " This book had belonged to Bishop Barlow, who died in ." MALONE. 340 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN-. a second volume of Miscellanies, to which our poet contributed a critical preface, with various translations from Virgil, Lucretius, and Theocri- tus, and four Odes of Horace ; of which the third of the First Book is happily applied to Lord Ros- common, and the twenty-ninth to Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester. Upon these and his other translations Garth has the following stri- king and forcible observations, though expressed in language somewhat quaint. " I cannot pass by that admirable English poet, without endea- vouring to make his country sensible of the obli- gations they have to his Muse. Whether they consider the flowing grace of his versification, the vigorous sallies of his fancy, or the peculiar delicacy of his periods, they all discover excel * lencies never to be enough admired. If they trace him from the first productions of his youth to the last performances of his age, they will find, that as the tyranny of rhyme never imposed on the perspi- cuity of sense, so a languid sense never wanted to be set off by the harmony of rhyme. And, as his early 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 his laurels be seen the more. " As a translator, he was just; as an inventor, he LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 341 ^ * was rich. His versions of some parts of Lucre- tius, Horace, Homer, and' Virgil, throughout, gave him a just pretence to that compliment which was made to Monsieur d'Ablancourt, a ce- lebrated French translator. It is uncertain who have the greatest obligation to him, the dead or the living. " With all these wondrous talents, he was libel- led, in his lifetime, by the very men who had no other excellencies but as they were his imitators. Where he was allowed to have sentiments supe- rior to all others, they charged him with theft. But how did he steal? no otherwise than like those who steal beggars' children, only to clothe them the better.'* In this reign Dryden wrote the first Ode to St Cecelia, for her festival, in 1687. This and the Ode to the Memory of Mrs Anne Killegrew, a performance much in the manner of Cowley, and which has been admired perhaps fully as much as it merits, were the only pieces of ge- neral poetry which he produced between the ac- cession of James and the Revolution. It was, however, about this time, that the poet became acquainted with the simple and beautiful hymns of the Catholic ritual, the only pieces of unin- spired sacred poetry which are worthy of the pur- 342 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. * pose to which they are dedicated. It is impos- sible to hear the ttff Dtes Ira? or the " Stabat Mater dolorosa,'' without feeling, that the stately simplicity of the language, differing almost as widely from classical poetry as from that of mo- dern nations, awes the congregation, like the ar- chitecture of the Gothic cathedrals in which they are chaunted. The ornaments which are wanting to these striking effusions of devotion, are pre- cisely such as would diminish their grand and so- lemn effect; and nothing hut the cogent and irre- sistible propriety of addressing the Divinity 4n a language understood by the whole worship- ping assembly, could have justified the discarding these magnificent hymns from the reformed wor- ship. We must suppose that Dryden, as a poet, was interested in the poetical part of the religion which he had chosen; and his translation of" Veni, Crea- tor Spirifus* which was probably recommended to him as being the favourite hymn of St Francis Xavier,* shews that they did so. But it is less generally known, that the English Catholics have * " Before the beginning of every canonical hour, he always said the hymn of ' Veni, Creator Spiritvs ;' and it was observed, that while he said it, his countenance was enlightened, as if the Holy Ghost, whom he invoked, was visibly descended on him." Vol. XVI. p. 473. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 343 preserved two other translations ascribed to Dry- Hen ; one of the *' Tc Deum" the other of the hymn for St John's Eve ; with which the public are here, for the first time, presented, as the tran- scripts with which I have been favoured reached me too late to be inserted in the poet's works. I think most of my readers will join with me in opinion, that both their beauties and faults 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 thrice 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' choir : The train of prophets in the song conspire. Legions of martyrs in the chorus shine, And vocal blood with vocal music join.* 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. * This line alone speaks Dryden in every syllable. 344 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN". Thou King of Glory, Christ, of the most high, Thou co-eternal filial Deity ; Thou who, to save the world's impending doom* Vouchsaf'st 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.* (29. 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. * I subjoin the original hymn, which is supposed to have been Composed by Lactantius. Ut qucant, laxis resonare fibris, Mira gestorum, famuli, tuorum t Solvi polluti labii reatum, Sancte Joannes! LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 345 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 inclosed, yet kneweit thou thy God ! Whilst each glad parent told and blest The secrets of each others breast. A characteristic of James's administration was rigid economy, not only in ordinary matters, but towards his own partizans ; a wretched quality in a prince, who was attempting a great and un- popular revolution both in religion and politics, and ought, by his liberality, and even profusion, Nunciens, celso veniens Olympo, Te, Patri, mugnumfore nosciturum, Komcrir et vita seriem gerendec, Ordine promit. Hie promissi dubius superni, Pcrdidit prompts modulos loquelte ; Sed reformasti genitus peremptx Organa vocis. Ventrit abstruso rccuban$ cubili, Senseras rcgem, thalamo manentem ; Ulnc Pare/is nati, men/is uifrqu; ; Abdita pnndit. 346 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. * i * to have attached the hearts and excited the hopes of those fiery and unsettled spirits, who are ever foremost in times of national tumult. Dryden, one of his most efficient and zealous supporters, and who had taken the step which of all others was calculated to please James, received only, as we have seen, after the interval of nearly a year from that prince's accession, an addition of L. 100 to his yearly pension. There may, however, on oc- casion of " The Hind and the Panther," the Con- troversy with Stillingfleet, and other works un- dertaken with an express view to the royal inte- rest, have been private communications of James's favour. But Dryden, always ready to supply with hope the deficiency of present possession, went on his literary course rejoicing. A lively epistle to his friend Etherege, then envoy for James at Ratisbon, shews the lightness and buoy- ancy of his spirits at this supposed auspicious pe- riod. An event, deemed of the utmost and most be- neficial importance to the family of Stuart, but which, according to their usual ill fortune, helped to precipitate their ruin, next called forth the pub- lic gratulation of the poet-laureat. This was the birth of that " son of prayers" prophesied in the dedication to Xavier, whom the English, with obr XIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN". 347 stinate incredulity, long chose to consider as an impostor, grafted upon the royal line to the pre- judice of the Protestant succession. Dry den's " Bri- tannia Rediviva" hailed, with the enthusiasm of a Catholic and a poet, the very event, which, re- moving all hope of succession in the course of na- ture, precipitated the measures of the Prince of Orange, exhausted the patience of the exasperated people, and led them violently to extirpate a hated dynasty, which seemed likely to be protracted by a new reign. The merits of the poem have been considered in the introductory remarks prefixed in this edition.* Whatever hopes Dryden may have conceived in consequence of " The Hind and the Panther," " Britannia Rediviva," and other works favour- able to the cause of James and of his religion, they were suddenly and for ever blighted by the REVOLUTION. It cannot be supposed that the poet viewed without anxiety the crisis while yet at a distance ; and perhaps his own tale of the Swallows may have begun to bear, even to the author, the air of a prophecy. He is said, in an Vol. X. p. 2S5. 348 LIFE OF JOHN DBYDEtf, obscure libel, to have been among tbose courtiers who encouraged, by frequent visits, the camp on Hounslow Heath, * upon which the king had grounded his hopes of subduing the contumacy of his subjects, and repelling the invasion of the Prince of Orange. If so, he must there have learned how unwilling the troops were to second their monarch in his unpopular and unconstitu- tional attempts ; and must have sadly anticipa- * Here daily 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 Squab, (who's sometimes here, I'm told,) That oft has with his prince made bold, Called the late king a sant'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 Debate, what he ne'er understood, Deep secrets in philosophy, And mysteries in theology, All sung in wretched poetry ; Which rambling 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. I LIFE OF JOHN DRYfcEN. 349 ted the event of a struggle between a king and his whole people. When this memorable catas- trophe had taken place, our author found him- self at once exposed to all the insult, calumny, and sarcasm, with which a successful party in politics never fail to overwhelm their discomfit- ed adversaries. But, what he must have felt yet more severely, the unpopularity of his religion and principles rendered it not merely unsafe, but absolutely impossible, for him to make retaliation. His powers of satire, at this period, were of no more use to Dryden, than a sword to a man who cannot draw it ; only serving to render the plea- sure of insulting him more poignant to his ene- mies, and the necessity of passive submission more bitter to himself. Of the numerous satires, libels, songs, parodies, and pasquinades, which so- lemnized the downfall of Popery and of James, Dryden had not only some exclusively dedicated to his case, but engaged a portion, more or less, of almost every one which appeared. Scarce Father Petre, or the Papal envoy Dada, themselves, were more distinguished, by these lampoons, than the poet-laureat; the unsparing exertion of v.'hose sa- tirical powers, as well as his unrivalled literary pre-eminence, had excited a strong party against him among the inferior wits, whose political auti- 350 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. pathy was aggravated by ancient resentment and literary envy. An extract from one of each kind may serve to shew, how very little wit was judged necessary by Dryden's contemporaries to a suc- cessful attack upon him. * * Extracts from " The Address of John Dryden, Laureat, to Lis Highness the Prince of Orange :" In all the hosanuas our whole world's applause, Illustrious champion of our church and laws ! Accept, great Nassau ! from unworthy me, Amongst the adoring crowd, a bended knee ; Nor scruple, sir, to hear my echoing lyre, Strung, tuned, and joined to the universal choir; From my suspected month thy glories told, A known out-Iyer 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 Pegasian 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, yet has turned but once; That Oxford nursling, that sweet hopeful boy, His father's and that once Ignatian joy, LIFE OF JOHN DlirDEN. 351 Nor was the " pelting of this pitiless storm" of abusive raillery the worst evil to which our 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 pica'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 arc turned : and 'tis coufest, 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 Dardanelio, And reigned the mighty Mahomet's hail fellow ; Quitting ray duller hopes, the poor renown Of Eaton 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 the Prince of Orange, by a Person of Quality, pth February, 1688-9. Alas ! how cruel is a poet's fate ! Or who indeed would be a laureat, That must or fall or turn with every change of state ? Poor bard ! if thy hot zeal for loyal Wem * Forbids thy tacking, sing his requiem ; * Lord Jtffcrift, Baron of Wcm* 352 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. author was subjected. The religion which he professed, rendered him incapable of holding any office under the new government, even if he could have bended his political principles to take the oaths to William and Mary. We may easily be- lieve, that Dryden's old friend Dorset, now lord high- chamberlain, felt repugnance to vacate the places of poet-laureat and royal historiographer, by removing the man in England most capable of filling them ; but the sacrifice was inevitable. Dryden's own feelings, on losing the situation of poet-laureat, must have been greatly aggravated Sing something, prithee, to enure thy thumb; Nothing hut 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 tliy conscience has been large enough. But here are loyal subjects still, and foes, Man}' to mourn, for many to oppose. Shall thy great master, thy almighty Jove, Whom them to place above the gods hast strove, Shall he from David's throne so early fall, And laureat 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, Shnuldst thou, injustice to thy vexed soul, Not sing to him but thy lost lord condole. Hut silence is a damning error, John; i'd or my master or myself bemoaa. 1IFE OF JOHN DRYDEN by the selection of his despised opponent Shad- well as his successor ; a scribbler, whom, in " Mac- Flecknoe," he had himself placed pre-eminent in the regions of dulness, being now, so far as royal mandate can arrange such precedence, raised in his stead as chief among English poets. This very remarkable coincidence has led several of Dryden's biographers, and Dr Johnson among others, to suppose, that the satire was actually writ- ten to ridicule Shadwell's elevation to the honours of the laurel; though nothing is more certain than that it was published while Dryden was himself laureat, and could be hardly supposed to anticipate the object of his satire becoming his successor. Shadwell, however, possessed merits with King William, which were probably deem- ed by that prince of more importance than all the genius of Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden, if it could have been combined in one indivi- dual. He was a staunch Whig, and had suffer- ed under the former government, being " silen- ced as a non-conforming poet ;" the doors of the theatre closed against his plays; and, if he may himself be believed, even his life endangered, not only by the slow process of starving, but some more active proceeding of his powerful ene- VOL. i. z $54 tlFE OF JOHN PRYDETC. mies. * Shadwell, moreover, had not failed to hail the dawn of the Revolution by a congratu- latory poem to the Prince of Orange, and to gratulate its completion by another inscribed to Queen Mary on her arrival. In every point of view, his principles, fidelity, and alacrity, claimed William's countenance ; he was presented to him by Dorset, not as the best poet, but as the most honest man, politically speaking, among the com- petitors ; f and accordingly succeeded to Dry- den's situation as poet-laureat and royal historio- grapher, with the appointment of L. 300 a-year. Shadwell, as might have been expected, triumph- ed in his success over his great antagonist ; but his triumph was expressed in strains which shew- ed he was totally unworthy of it. J * In the dedication of " Bury-Fair" to his patron the Earl of Dorset, he claims the merit due to his political constancy and sufferings : " I never could recant in the worst of times, when my ruin was designed, and my life was sought, and for near ten years I was kept from the exercise of that profession which had afforded me a competent subsistence j and surely I shall not now do it, when there is a liberty of speaking common sense, which, though not long since forbidden, is now grown current." f See Gibber or Shiels's Life of Shadwell. J These wretched poetitos, who got praise For writing most confounded loyal plays, ttFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 35$ Dryden, deprived by the Revolution of present possession and future hope, was now reduced to the same, or a worse situation, than he had oc- cupied in the year of the Restoration, his income resting almost entirely upon his literary exer- tions, his expences increased by the necessity of providing and educating his family, and the ad- vantage of his high reputation perhaps more than 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, 356 MFE OF JOHN DRYDttf. counter-balanced by the'popular prejudice against his religion and party. So situated, he patiently and prudently bent to the storm which he could not resist ; and though he might privately circu- late a few light pieces in favour of the exiled fa- mily, as the " Lady's Song," * and the translation of Pitcairn's beautiful Epitaph -f on the Viscount of Dundee, it seems certain, that he made no for- mal attack on the government, either in verse or prose. Those who imputed to him the satires on the Revolution, called " Suum Cuique^ and " Tarquin and Tuflia," did injustice both to his prudence and his poetry. The last, and probably both satires, were written by Mainwaring, who lived to be sorry for what he had done. The theatre again became Dryden's immediate resource. Indeed, the very first play Queen Mary attended was one of our poet's, which had been prohibited during the reign of James II. But the revival of the " Spanish Friar" could af- ford but little gratification to the author, whose newly-adopted religion is so severely satirized in the person of father Dominic. Nor was this ill- fated representation doomed to afford more plea- sure to the personage by whom it was appointed. * Vol. XI. p. 175. f Ibid. p. 113. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEW.- 357 For the audience applied the numerous passages, concerning the deposing the old king and plant- ing a female usurper on the throne, to the me- morahle change which had just taken place ; and all eyes were fixed upon Queen Mary, with an expression which threw her into extreme confu- sion. * Dryden, after the Revolution, hegan to lay the foundation for a new structure of fame and po- pularity in the tragedy of " Don Sebastian." This tragedy, which has been justly regarded as the chefrtfcstrore of his plays, was not, he has in- formed us, " huddled up in haste." The author knew the circumstances in which he stood, while, as he expresses it, his ungenerous enemies were taking advantage of the times to ruin his repu- tation ; and was conscious, that the full exer- tion of his genius was necessary to secure a fa- vourable reception from an audience prepossessed against him and his tenets. Nor did he neglect to smooth the way, by inscribing the piece to the Earl of Leicester, brother of Algernon Sidney, who had borne arms against Charles in the civil war; and yet, Whig or republican as he was, had taste * Jntroduct. to " Spanish Friar," Vol. VJ. p. 371. 358 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. and feeling enough to patronize the degraded laureat and proscribed Catholic. The dedication turns upon the philosophical and moderate use of political victory, the liberality of considering the friend rather than the cause, the dignity of for- giving and relieving the fallen adversary ; themes, upon which the eloquence of the suffering party is usually unbounded, although sometimes for- gotten when they come again into power. With all this deprecatory reasoning, Dryden does not recede, or hint at receding, one inch from his principles, but concludes his preface with a reso- lution to adopt the counsel of the classic : " Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito" The merits of this beautiful tragedy I have at- tempted to analyse in another place, * and at con- siderable length. It was brought forward in 1 690 with great theatrical pomp, f But with all these advantages, the first reception of " Don Sebastian" was but cool; nor was it until several retrench- Vol. VII. p. 273. f " A play well-dressed, you know, is half in half, as a great writer says. The Morocco dresses when new, formerly for * Sebastian,' they say, enlivened the play as much as the * pud- ding and dumpling' song did Merlin." The Female Wits, a co medy by Mountfort. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. * ments and alterations had been made, that it rose to the high pitcli in public favour which it maintained for many years, and deserved to main- tain for ever. In the same year, " Amphitryon," in which Dryden displays his comic powers to more ad- vantage than anywhere, excepting in the " Spa- nish Friar," was acted with great applause, call- ing forth the gratulations even of Milbourne, who afterwards made so violent an attack upon the translation of Virgil. The comedy was in- scribed to Sir William Leveson Gower, whose name, well known in the history- of the Revolu- tion, may be supposed to have been invoked as a talisman against misconstructions, to which Dryden's situation so peculiarly exposed him, and to which he plainly alludes in the prologue. * * 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. 1( What gain you by not suffering him to teaze 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 shew his manhood, if you bind him TO box, lifce boys, with one hand tied behind him ? 360 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. . .* Our author's choice of this patron was probably dictated by Sir William Gower's connection with the Earl of Rochester, whose grand-daughter he had married. Encouraged by the revival of his popularity, Dryden now ventured to bring forward the opera ot " King Arthur," originally designed as an en- tertainment to Charles II. ; " Albion and Albani- us" being written as a sort of introductory masque upon the occasion, f When we consider the strong and even violent political tendency of that prefa- tory piece, we may readily suppose, that the opera was originally written in a strain very different from the present; and that much must have been softened, altered, and erased, ere a play, designed to gratulate the discoveiy of the Rye-house plot, could, without hazard, be acted after the Revo- lution. The odious, though necessary, task of defacing his own labours, was sufficiently dis- gusting to the poet, who complains, that " not to offend the present times, nor a government This is plain levelling of wit; in which The poor has all the advantage, not the rich. The blockhead stands excused for wanting sense j And wits turn blockheads in their own defence. ee page 299. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 36*1 which has hitherto protected me, I have been ob- liged so much to alter the first design, and take a\vay so many beauties from the writing, that it is now no more what it was formerly, than the present ship of the Royal Sovereign, after so of- ten taking down and altering, js the vessel it was at the first building." Persevering in the pru- dent system of seeking patrons among those whose patronage was rendered effectual by their influence with the prevailing party, Dryden pre- fixed to " King Arthur*' a beautiful dedication to the Marquis of Halifax, to whose cautious and nice policy he ascribes the nation's escape from the horrors of civil war, which seemed impend- ing in the latter years of Charles II. ; and he has not failed, at the same time, to pay a passing tribute to the merits of his original and good- humoured master. The music of " King Arthur" being composed by Purcel, gave Dryden occa- sion to make that eminent musician some well- deserved compliments, which were probably de- signed as a peace-offering for the injudicious pre- ference given to G.rabut in the introduction to " Albion and Albanius." * The dances were com- posed by Priest;, and the whole piece was emi- * See page 301, 362 . LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. nently successful. Its good fortune, however, was imputed, by the envious, to a lively song in the last act, f which had little or nothing to do with the business of the piece. In this opera ended all the hopes which the world might en- tertain of an epic poem from Dry den on the sub- ject of King Arthur. Our author was by no means so fortunate in " Cleomenes," his next dramatic effort. The times were something changed since the Revolu-f tion. The Tories, who had originally contribu- ted greatly to that event, had repented them of abandoning the Stuart family, and, one after ano- ther, were returning to their attachment to James. It is probable that this gave new courage to Dryden, who, although upon the accession of King William he saw himself a member of an odious and proscribed sect, now belonged to a broad political faction, which a variety of events was daily increasing. Hence his former caution was diminished, and the suspicion of his enemies increased in proportion. The choice of the sub- ject, the history of a Spartan prince exiled from his kingdom, and waiting the assistance of a fo- reign monarch to regain it, corresponded too t See a preceding note, p. 258. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 363 nearly with that of the unfortunate James. The scene of a popular insurrection, where the minds of a whole people were inflamed, was liable to misinterpretation. In short, the whole story of the Spartan Cleomenes was capable of being wrested to political and Jacobitic purposes ; and there wanted not many to aver, that to such pur- poses it had been actually applied by Dryden. Neither was the state of our author such at the time as to permit his pleading his own cause. The completion of the piece having been inter- rupted by indisposition, was devolved upon his friend Southerne, who revised and concluded the last act. The whispers of the author's enemies in the meantime procured a prohibition, at least a suspension, of the representation of " Cleome- nes" from the lord-chamberlain. The exertions of Hyde, Earl of Rochester, who, although a Tory, was possessed necessarily of some influence as maternal-uncle to the queen, procured a recal of this award against a play which was in every respect truly inoffensive. But there was still a more insuperable obstacle to its success. The plot is flat and unsatisfactory, involving no great event, and in truth being only the question, whe- ther Cleomenes should or should not depart upon .an expedition, which appears far more hazardous 664 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. than remaining where he was. The grave and stoical character of the hero is more suitable to the French than the English stage ; nor had the general conduct of the play that interest, or per- haps bustle, which is necessary to fix the atten- tion of the promiscuous audience of London. In a theatre, where every man may, if he will, ex- press his dissatisfaction, in defiance of beaux-es- prits, nobles, or mousquetaires, that which is dull will seldom be long fashionable : " Cleomenes" was accordingly coldly received. Dryden pub- lished it with a dedication to Lord Rochester, and the Life of Cleomenes prefixed, as translated from Plutarch by Creech, that it might appear how false those reports were, which imputed to him the composing a Jacobite play. Omitting, for the present, Dry den's interme- diate employments, I hasten to close his drama- tic career, by mentioning, that " Love Triumph- ant," his last play, was acted in l6^a with very bad success. Those who look over this piece, which is in truth one of the worst our author ever wrote, can )be at no loss to discover suffi- cient reason for its condemnation. The comic part approaches to farce, and the tragic unites the wild and unnatural changes and counter- changes of the Spanish tragedy, with the involu? r LIFE OF JOHN DUTDKX. 365 tions of unnatural and incestuous passion, which the British audience lias been always averse to admit as a legitimate subject of dramatic pity or terror. But it cannot be supposed, that Dryden received the failure with any thing like an ad- mission of its justice. He was a veteran foiled in the last of his theatrical trials of skill, and re- treated for ever from the stage, with expressions which transferred the blame from himself to his judges ; for, in the dedication to James, the fourth Earl of Salisbury, a relation of Lady Elizabeth, and connected with the poet by a similarity of religious and political opinions, he declares, that the characters of the persons in the drama are truly drawn, the fable not injudiciously contri- ved, the changes of fortune not unartfully ma- naged, and the catastrophe happily introduced : thus leaving, were the author's opinion to be ad- mitted as decisive, no grounds upon which the critics could ground their opposition. The enemies of Dryden, as usual, triumphed greatly in the fall of this piece ; * and thus the dramatic career of Dryden began and closed with bad success. * For example, in a Session of the Poets, under the fictitious name of Matthew Coppinger, Dryden is thus irreverently in- troduced : A reverend grisly elder first appeared, With solemn pace through the divided herd; 366 LIFE OF JOHN DftYDEN. This Section cannot be more properly conclu- ded than with the list which Mr Malone has drawn out of Dryden's plays, with the respective dates of their being acted and published ; which is a correction and enlargement of that subjoined by the author himself to the opera of " Prince Arthur." Henceforward we are to consider Dry- den as unconnected with the stage. 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, Thi we are sure was lawfully begot. LIFE Of JOHN DRYDEN. 367 oo c ~ QO C l- t-H i I Q^ _, _ crt -S w f n / OO I ssl > oo o > or; oo -r >. r* CO ^ O 00 QD 3 01 ~ ~ S c c s > C/3 C/2 0) CO O H < 2 = u H fc a > f O O ^ M g M ^ < GO O) O 368 LIFE OF JOHX DRYDEK. 3 .S ' fr* i>- o co GO o 00505 61 ^O CO CO *O ' ^ ~ to *> ~ o 0-0 C5 VD <1 C/3 4J ti "c 'I P S, J2 O U a U u O '* H se T. OF BE OYN ST ATE NG-Z -MB HE E A T AUR CO : O> G CH ^ O* O* > LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEJT. 369 SECTION V r IL State of Dryden's Connections in Society after the Revo* lotion Juvenal and Persius Smaller Pieces -fcleano- ra Third Miscellany Virgil Ode to St Cecilia Dis- pute with MilboumeWith Blackrnvre^ Fables The Authors Death and Funeral His private Character Notices of his Family. 1 HE evil consequences of the Revolution upon Dryden's character and fortunes, 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 as it had been universal. All parties gradually drew off from the king, under their ancient standards. The clergv returned to O/ their maxims of hereditary right, the Tories to their attachment to the house of Stuart, the Whigs to their jealousy of the royal authority. Dryden, we have already observed, so lately left in a small and detested party, was now among multitudes, who, from whatever contradictory motives, were joined in opposition to the government. A reconcilia- tion took place betwixt him and some of his kins- men ; particularly with John Drixien of Chester- VOL i. 2 A 370 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEX. ton, his first cousin ; with whom, till his death, he lived upon terms of uninterrupted friendship. The influence of Clarendon and Rochester, the Queen's uncles, were, we have seen, often exert- ed in the poet's favour; and through them, he became connected with the powerful families with which they were allied. Dorset, by whom he had been deprived of his office, seems to have softened this harsh, though indispensible, exerti- on of authority, by a liberal present; and to his bounty Dryden had frequently recourse in cases of emergency.* Indeed, upon one occasion it is * Such, I understand, is the general purport of some letters of Dryden's, in possession of the Dorset family, which contain certain particulars rendering them unfit for publication. Our author himself commemorates Dorset's generosity in the Essay on Satire, in the following affecting passage : " Though I must ever acknowledge to the honour of your lordship, and the eter- nal memory of your charity, that since this Revolution, wherein I have patiently suffered the ruin of my small fortune, and the loss of that poor subsistence which I had from two kings, whom I had served more faithfully than profitably to myself then your lordship was pleased, out of no other motive but your own nobleness, without any desert of mine, or the least solicita- tion from me, to make me a most bountiful present, which at that time, when I was most in want of it, came most seasonably and unexpectedly to my relief. That favour, my lord, is of it- self sufficient to bind any grateful man to a perpetual acknow- ledgment, and to all the future service which one of my mean condition can be ever able to perform. May the Almighty God S LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. S?l said to have been administered in a mode sa- vouring more of ostentation than delicacy ; for there is a tradition, that Dryden and Tom Brown, being invited to dine with the lord chamber- lain, found under their covers, the one a bank note for 1001., the other for 501. I have already noticed, that these pecuniary benefactions were not held so degrading in that age as at present ; and, probably, many of Dryden's opulent and noble friends, took, like Dorset, occasional op- portunities of supplying wants, which neither royal munificence, nor the favour of the public, now enabled the poet fully to provide for. If Dryden's critical empire over literature was at any time interrupted by the mischances of his political party, it was in abeyance for a very short period ; since, soon after the Revolution, he appears to have regained, and maintained till his death, that sort of authority in Will's coffee- house, 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,"* was equal to taking a degree in that academy of wit. Among those return it for me, both in blessing you here, and rewarding you hereafter !" Essay on Satire, Vol. XIII. p. 31. * So says Ward, in the London Spy. 372 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. by whom it was frequented, Southerae and Congreve were principally distinguished by Dry- den's friendship. His intimacy with the former, though oddly commenced, seems soon to have ripened into such sincere friendship, that the aged poet selected Southerne to finish " Cleomenes," and addressed to him an epistle of condolence on the failure of "The Wives Excuse," which, as he delicately expresses it, " was with a kind civi- lity dismissed" from the scene. This was indeed an occasion in which even Dryden could tell, from experience, how much the sympathy of friends was necessary to soothe the injured feel- ings of an author. But Congreve seems to have gained yet farther than Southerne upon Dryden's friendship. He was introduced to him by his first play, the celebrated " Old Bachelor," being put into the poet's hands to be revised. Dry* den, after making a few alterations to fit it for the stage, returned it to the author with the high and just commendation, that it was the best first play he had ever seen. In truth, it was impos- sible that Dryden could be insensible to the bril- liancy of Congreve's comic dialogue, which has never been equalled by any English dramatist, un- less by Mr Sheridan. Less can be said for the tragedies of Southerne, and for "The Mourning- Bride." Although these pieces contain many pas- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. 375 sages of great interest, and of beautiful poetry, I know not but they contributed more than even the subsequent homilies of Rowe, to chase natural and powerful expression of passion from the English stage, and to sink it into that maudlin, and af- fected, and pedantic style of tragedy, which haunted the stage till Shakespeare awakened at the call of Garrick. " The Fatal Marriage" of Southerne is an exception to this false taste ; for no one who has seen Mrs Siddons in Isabella, can deny Southerne the power of moving the passions, till amusement becomes bitter and al- most insupportable distress. But these observa- tions are here out of place. Addison paid an early tribute to Dryden's fame, by the verses ad- dressed to him on his translations. Among Dry- den's less distinguished intimates, we observe Sir Henry Shere, Dennis the critic, Moyle, Mot- teux, Walsh, who lived to distinguish the youth- ful merit of Pope, and other men of the second rank in literature. These, as his works 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, * and now * 'Dryden, though my near relation," says Swift, " is one whom I have often blamed, as well as pitied." Mr Malone traces their 374 LIFE OF JOHN DIIYDEN. coming into notice. It is said, that Swift had subjected to his cousin's perusal, some of those performances, entitled Odes, which appear in the seventh volume of the last edition of his works. Even the eye of Dryden was unable to discover the wit and the satirist in the clouds of incom- prehensible pindaric obscurity in which he was en- veloped ; and the aged bard pronounced the hasty, and never to be pardoned sentence, " Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet." A doom which he, on whom it was passed, attempted to repay, by repeated, although impotent attacks upon the fame of Dryden, every where scattered through his works. With the exception of Swift, no au- thor of eminence, whose labours are still in re- quest, has ventured to assail the poetical fame of Dryden. consanguinity to Swift's grandmother, Elizabeth Dryden, being the daughter of a brother of Sir Erasmus Driden, the poet's grandfather ; so that the Dean of St Patrick's was the son of Dryden's second cousin, which, in Scotland, would even yet be deemed a near relation. The passages in prose and verse, in which Swift reflects on Dryden, are various. He mentions, in his best poem, " The Rhapsody," The prefaces of Dryden, For these our critics 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 most irreverent description ; and many of the brilliant touches LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 3/5 Shortly after the Revolution, Dryden had trans- lated several satires of Juvenal ; and calling in the aid of his two sous, of Congreve, Creech) Tate, and others, he was enabled, in 1692, to give a com- plete version both of that satirist, and of Persius. In this undertaking he himself bore a large share, in the following assumed character of a hack author, are direct- ed against our poet. The malignant allusions to merits, to suf- ferings, to changes of opinion, to political controversies, and a peaceful conscience, cannot be mistaken. The piece was pro* bably composedjlagrante orf/o, for it occurs in the Introduction to " The Talc of a Tub," which was written about 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 I have now altogether circumscribed my thoughts and my studies ; and, if I can bring it to a perfection before I die, I shall reckon I have well employed the poor remains of an un- fortunate life. This indeed is more than I can justly expect, from a quill worn to the pith in the service of the state, in pros and cows upon popish plots, and meal tubs, and exclusion bills, and passive obedience, and addresses of lives and fortunes, and prerogative, and property, and liberty of conscience, and let- ters to a friend : from an understanding and a conscience, thread- bare and ragged with perpetual turning; from a head broken in a hundred places by the malignants of the opposite factions ; and from a body spent with poxes ill cured, by trusting to bawds and, surgeons, \vlio, as it afterwards appeared, wre professed enemies to me and the government, and revenged their party's quarrel upon my nose and shins. Fourscore and eleven pamph- lets have I written under three reigns, and for the service of six and thirty factions. But finding the state has no farther occasion for me and my ink, I retire willingly to draw it out into specula- tions more becoming a philosopher ; having, to my unspeakable comfort, passed along life with a conscience void of oftence," LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. translating the whole of Persius, with the first, third, sixth, tenth, and sixteenth satires of Juve- nal. To this version is prefixed the noted Essay on Satire, inscribed to the Earl of Dorset and Middlesex. In that treatise, our author exhibits a good deal of that sort of learning which was in fashion among the French critics ; and, 1 suspect, was contented rather to borrow something from them, than put himself to the trouble of compiling more valuable materials. Such is the disquisition concerning the origin of the word Satire, which is chiefly extracted from Casaubon, Dacier, and Rigault. But the poet's own incidental remarks upon the comparative merits of Horace, Juvenal, and Persius, his declamation against the abuse of satire, his incidental notices respecting epic poetry, translation, and English literature in general, ren- der this introduction highly valuable. Without noticing the short prefaces to Walsh's "Essay upon Woman," a meagre and stiff composi- tion, and to Sir Henry Shere's wretched translation of Polybius, published in 1691 and 16^2, we hasten to the elegy on the Countess of Abingdon, entitled Eleonora. This lady died suddenly, 3 1st May 1 69 1, in a ball-room in her own house, just then prepared for an entertainment. The disconsolate husband, I LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 377 who seems to have been a patron of the Muses,* not satisfied with the volunteer effusions of some minor poets, employed a mutual friend to engage Dryden to compose a more beautiful tribute to his consort's memory. The poet, it would seem, nei- ther knew the lord nor the lady, but was doubt- less propitiated with a proper and satisfactory offering upon the mournful occasion ; -f nor was Robert Gould, author of that scandalous lampoon against Dryden, entitled " The Laureat," inscribes his collection of poems, printed 1 688-9, to the Earl of Abingdon ; and it con- tains some pieces addressed to him and to his lady. He survi- ved also to compose, on the Earl's death, in 1700, " The Mourn- ing Swan," an eclogue to his memory, in which a shepherd gives the following acpount of the proximate cause of that event : Menalca*. To tell you true, (who e'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 prescription* 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. t How far this was necessary, the reader may judge from Mirana, a funeral eclogue ; sacred to the memory of that ex- cellent lady, Eleonora, late Countess of Abingdon, 1691, 4. Aug. which concludes with the following 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, 378 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. the application and fee judged more extraordinary than that probably offered, on the same occasion, to the divine who was to preach the Countess's fu- neral sermon. The leading and most character- istic features of the lady's character were doubt- less pointed out to our author as subjects for il- lustration ; yet so difficult is it, even for the best poet, to feign a sorrow which he feels not, or to describe with appropriate and animated colouring a person whom he has never seen, that Dryden's poem resembles rather an abstract panegyric on an imaginary being, than an elegy on a real cha- racter. The elegy was published early in 1692. In 1693, Tonson's Third Miscellany made its appearance, with a dedication to Lord Ratcliffe, eldest son of the Earl of Derwentwater, who was himself a pretender to poetry, though our author thought so slightly of his attempts in that way, that he does not even deign to make them enter into his panegyric, but contents himself with say- ing, " what you will be hereafter, may be more than guessed by what you are at present." It is probable that the rhyming peer was dissatisfied 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. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN'. 379 with Dryden's unusual economy of adulation ; at least he disappointed some expectations which the poet and bookseller seem to have entertained of his liberality.* This dedication indicates, that a quarrel was commenced between our author and the critic Rymer. It appears from a passage in a letter to Tonson, that Rymer had spoken light- ly of him in his last critique, (probably in the short view of tragedy,) and that the poet took this op- portunity, as he himself expresses it, to snarl again. He therefore acquaints us roundly, that the corruption of a poet was the generation of a critic; exults a little over the memory of Rymer's " Edgar," a tragedy just reeking from damnation ; and hints at the difference which the public is likely to experience between the present royal historiographer and him whose room he occupied. In his epistle to Congreve, alluding to the same * 30th August, l6p3, Dryden writes to Tonson, " I am sure you thought my Lord Radclyffe would have done something ; I guessed more truly, that he could not." Vol. XVIII. p. 10p. The expression perhaps applies rather to his lordship's want of ability than inclination; and Dryden says indeed, in the dedi- cation, that it is in his nature to be an encourager of good poets, though fortune has not yet put into his hands the power of ex- pressing it. In a letter to Mrs Stewart, Dryden speaks of Rat- cliffe as a poet, " and none of the best." Vol. XVIII. p. 177. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEK. circumstance of Rymer's succeeding to the office of historiographer, as Tate did to the laurel, on the death of Thomas Shadwell, in 1 692, Dryden has these humorous lines : O that your brows my laurel had sustained ! Well had 1 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 the dedication of the Third Mis- cellany gave offence to Queen Mary, being under- stood to reflect upon her government, and that she had commanded Rymer to return to the charge, by a criticism on Dryden's plays. But the breach does not appear to have become wider ; and Dry- den has elsewhere mentioned Rymer with civility. The Third Miscellany contained, of Dryden's poetry, a few songs, the first book, with part of the ninth and sixteenth books of the Metamor- phoses, and the parting of Hector and Andro- mache, 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 LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEN. 381 Drydcn ever executed the version, or only had it in contemplation.* The contribution, although ample, was not satisfactory to old Jacob Tonson, who wrote on the subject a most mercantile ex- postulatory letter to Dryden, which is fortunate- ly still preserved, as a curious specimen of the minutiae of a literary bargain in the 17th century. Tonson, with reference to Dryden having offered a strange bookseller six hundred lines for twenty guineas, enters into a question in the rule of three, by which he discovers, and proves, that for fifty guineas he has only 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 Jacob infers, that Dryden ought, out of generosi- ty, at least to throw him in something to the bargain, especially as he had used him more kind- ly in Juvenal, which, saith the said Jacob, is not reckoned so easy to translate as Ovid. What weight was given to this supplication does not appear ; probably very little, for the translations were not extended, and as to getting back any part of the copy-money, it is not probable Ton- son's most sanguine expectations ever reached that point. Perhaps the songs were thrown in as a * Vol. XVJ1I. p. 107. 382 tlFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. make-weight. There was a Fourth Miscellany published in 1694; hut to this Dry den only gave a version of the third Georgia, and his Epistle to Sir Godfrey Kneller, the requital of a copy of the portrait of Shakespeare.* In 1693, Dryden addressed the beautiful lines to Congreve, on the cold reception of his " Double Dealer." He was himself under a similar cloud, from the failure of " Love Triumphant," and therefore in a fit mood to administer consolation to his friend. The epistle contains, among other striking passages, the affecting charge of the care of his posthumous fame, which Congreve did not forget when Dryden was no more. But, independently of occasional exertions, our author, now retired from the stage, had bent his thoughts upon one great literary task, the trans- lation of Virgil. This weighty and important undertaking was probably suggested by the ex- perience of Tonson, the success of whose " Mis- cellanies" had taught him the value placed by the public on Dryden's translations from the classics. From hints thrown out by contemporary authors, there is reason to think that this scheme was me- * Copied from the Chandos picture. Kneller's copy is now at Wentworth- House, the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 383 dilated, even before 1694; but in that year the poet, in a letter to Dennis, speaks of it as under his immediate contemplation. The names of Vir- gil and of Dry den were talismans powerful to ar- rest the eyes of all that were literary in England, upon the progress of the -work. Mr Malone has recorded the following particulars concerning it, with pious enthusiasm. " Dr Johnson has justly remarked, that the na- tion seemed to consider its honour interested in the event. Mr Gilbert Dolben gave him the va- rious editions of his author : Dr Knightly Chet- wood furnished him with the life of Virgil, and the Preface to the Pastorals ; and Addison sup- plied the arguments of the several books, and an Essay on the Georgics. The first lines of this great poet which he translated, he wrote with a diamond on a pane of glass in one of the windows of Chesterton-house, in Huntingdonshire, the re- sidence of his kinsman and namesake, John Dri- den, Esq.* The version of the first Georgic, and a great part of the last ^Eneid, was made at Denham-Court, in Buckinghamshire, the seat of f The antiquary may now search in vain for this frail memo- rial ; for the house of Chesterton was, 1807, pulled down for the sake of the materials. 384 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Sir William Bowyer, Baronet; and the seventh JEneid was translated at Burleigh, the noble man- sion of the Earl of Exeter. These circumstances, which must be acknowledged to be of no great importance, I yet have thought it proper to re- cord, because they will for ever endear those places to the votaries of the Muses, and add to them a kind of celebrity, which neither the beauties of nature, nor the exertions of art, can bestow." Neither was the liberality of the nation entire- ly disproportioned to the general importance at- tached to the translation of Virgil, by so eminent a poet. The researches of Mr Malone have as- certained, in some degree, the terms. There were two classes of subscribers, the first set of whom paid five guineas a piece to adorn the work with engravings ; beneath each of which, in due and grateful remembrance, was blazoned the arms of a subscriber : this class amounted to one hundred and one persons, a list of whom appears in this edition, in Vol. XIII. p. 283., and presents an assemblage of noble names, few of whom are dis- tinguished more to their credit than by the place they there occupy. The second subscribers were two hundred and fifty in number, at two guineas each. But from these sums was to be deduced the ex pence of the engravings, though these were; 10 1TFE OF JOHN DttYDEtf. 385 only the plates used for Ogilby's Virgil, a little retouched. Besides Uie subscriptions, it would seem, that Dryden received from Tonson fifty pounds for each Book of the " Georgics" and " jEneid," and probably the same for the Pastorals collectively. On the other hand, it is probable, that Jacob charged a price for the copies delivered to the subscribers, which, with the ex pence of the plates, reduced Dryden's profit to about twelve or thirteen hundred pounds ; a trifling sum when compared to \yhat Pope received for the " Iliad," which was certainly between 50001. and 60001.; yet great in proportion to what the age of Dryden had ever afforded, as an encouragement to litera- ture. It must indeed be confessed, that the Re- volution had given a new impulse and superior importance to literary pursuits. The semi-bar- barous age, which succeeded the great civil war, had been civilized but by slow degrees. It is true, the king and courtiers, among their disorderly and dissolute pleasures, enumerated songs and plays, and, in the course of their political intrigues, held satires in request ; but they had neither money nor time to spare for the encouragement or study of any of the higher and more elaborate depart- ments of poetry. Meanwhile, the bulk of the na- tion neglected verse, as what they could not un- VOL. i. 2 B 3Sfj LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. derstancl, or, with puritanical bigotry, detested as sinful the use, as well as the abuse, of poetical ta- lent. But the lapse of thirty years made a ma- terial change in the manners of the English peo- ple. Instances began to occur of individuals, who, rising at first into notice for their proficience in the fine arts, were finally promoted for the active and penetrating talents, which necessarily accom- pany a turn towards them. An outward refor- mation of manners, at least the general abjura- tion of grosser profligacy, was also favourable to poetry, Still first to fly where sensual joys invade. This Was wrought, partly by the religious man- ners of Mary ; partly by the cold and unsocial tem- per of William, who shunned excess, not perhaps because it was criminal, but because it was dero- gatory; partly by the political fashion of the day, w T hich was to disown the profligacy that marked the partizans of the Stuarts ; but, most of all, by the general encrease of good taste, and the improvement of education. All these contri- buted to the encouragement of Dryden's great undertaking, which promised to rescue Virgil from the degraded version of Ogilby, and pre- sent him in a becoming form to a public, now 10 LIFE OF JOHN DRTDKN. 387 prepared to receive him with merited admira- tion. While our author was labouring in this great work, and the public were waiting the issue with impatience and attention, a feud, of which it is now impossible to trace the cause, arose between the bard and his publisher. Their union before seems to have been of a nature more friendly than interest alone could have begotten ; for Dry- den, in one letter, talks with gratitude of Ton- son's affording him his company down to North- amptonshire; and this friendly intimacy Jacob neglected not to cultivate, by those occasional compliments of fruit and wine, which are often acknowledged in the course of their correspond- ence. But a quarrel broke out between them, when the translation of Virgil had advanced so far as the completion of the seventh yEneid ; at which period Dryden charges Tonson bitterly, with an intention, from the very beginning, to de- prive him of all profit by the second subscriptions ; alluding, I presume, to the price which the book- seller charged him upon the volumes delivered to the subscribers. The bibliopolist seems to have bent before the storm, and pacified the in- censed bard, by verbal submission, though pro- bably without relaxing his exactions and draw- 388 LlfE OF JOHN backs in any material degree. Another cause of this? dissension appears to have been the Notes upon " Virgil," for which Tonson would allow no ad- ditional emolument to the author, although Dry- den says, " that to make them good, would cost six months labour at least," and elsewhere tells Tonson ironically, that, since not to be paid for, they shall be short, " for the savmg of the paper." I cannot think that we have sustained any great loss by Tonson's penurious economy on this oc- casion. In his prefaces and dedications, Dryden let his own ideas freely forth to the public ; but in his Notes upon the Classics, witness those on " Juvenal" and " Persius," he neither indulged in critical dissertations on particular beauties and defects, nor in general remarks upon the kind of poetry before him ; but contented himself with rendering into English the antiquarian disserta- tions of Dacier and other foreign commentators-, with now and then an explanatory paraphrase of an obscure passage. The parodies of Martin Scriblerus had not 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 various advantages which Dryden suspected Tonson of attempting in the LIFE OF JOHN DttYDEN. 389 course of the transaction, he seems to have been particularly affronted at a presumptuous plan of that publisher, (a keen Whig, and secretary of the Kit-cat club,) to drive him into inscribing the translation of Virgil to King William. With this view, Tonson had an especial care to make the engraver aggravate the nose of ^Kneas in the plates into a sufficient resemblance of the hook- ed promontory of the Deliverer's countenance ; * and, foreseeing Dry den's repugnance to this fa- vourite plan, he had recourse, it would seem, to more unjustifiable means to further it ; for the poet expresses himself, as convinced, that, through Tonson's means, his correspondence with his sons, then at Rome, was intercepted.! I suppose Jacob, * This gave rise to a good epigram : " Old Jacob, by deep judgment swayed, To please the wise beholden, Has placed old Nassau's hook-nosed head On poor yEneas* 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." f " I am of your opinion," says the poet to his son Charles, " that, by Tonson's means, almost all our letters have miscarried for this last year. But, however, he has missed of his design in the dedication, though he had prepared the book for it ; for, in every figure of Jneas, he has caused him to be drawn, like King William, with a hooked nose." Dryden hints to Tonson himself S90 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. having fairly laid siege to his author's consciencej had no scruple to intercept all foreign supplies, which might have confirmed him in his pertinaci- ty. But Dryden, although thus closely beleaguer- ed, held fast his integrity ; and no prospect of per- sonal advantage, or importunity on the part of Tonson, could induce him to take a step incon- sistent with his religious and political sentiments. It was probably during the course of these bick- erings with his publisher, that Dryden, 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 these can write more." But Tonson, perfectly satisfied with this single triplet, 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- letters which I sent my sons, about my dedicating to the king, of which they received ueither." Vol. XV11I. pp. 132. 140. ,LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 391 hastened to comply with the author's request, without requiring any further specimen of his po- etical powers. It would seem, however, that when Dryden neglected his. stipulated labour, Tonson possessed powers of animadversion, which, though exercised in plain prose, were not a little dreaded by the poet. Lord Bolingbroke, already a votary of the muses, and admitted to visit their high priest, was wont to relate, that one day he heard another person enter the house. " This," said Dryden, " is Tonson : you will take care not to depart before he goes away ; for I have not completed the sheet which I promised him ; and if you leave me unprotected, I shall suffer all the rudeness to which his resentment can prompt his tongue."* But whatever occasional subjects of dissention arose between Dryden and his book- seller, mutual interest, the strongest of ties, ap- pears always to have brought them together, after the first ebullition of displeasure had sub- sided. There might, on such occasions, be room for acknowledging faults on both sides; for, if we admit that the bookseller was penurious and chur- lish, we cannot deny that Dryden seems often to have been abundantly captious, and irascible. In- * Johnson's " Lite of Dryden." 30,2 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. deed, as the poet placed, and justly, more than a mercantile value upon what he sold, the trader, on his part, was necessarily cautious not to afford a price which his returns could not pay ; so that while, in one point of view, the author sold at an inadequate price, the purchaser, in another, really got no more than value for his money. That li- terature is ill recompenced, is usually rather the fault of the public than the bookseller, M'hose trade can only exist by buying that which can be sold to advantage. The trader, who purchased the " Paradise Lost" for ten pounds, had probably no very good bargain. However fretted by these teazing and almost humiliating discussions, Dryden continued stea- dily advancing in his great labour; and about three years after it had been undertaken, the translation of Virgil, "the most noble and spirited," said Pope, " which I know in any language," was given to the public in July 1697- So eager was the general ex- pectation, that the first edition was exhausted in a few months, and a second published early in the next year. " It satisfied," says Johnson, "his friends, and, for the most part, silenced his ene- mies." But, although this was generally the case, there wanted not some to exercise the invidious LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 893 task of criticism, or rather of malevolent detrac- tion. Among those, the highest name is that of Swift; the most distinguished for venomous 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 a sin- cere man, that there is now actually in being a certain poet called John Dryden, whose trans- lation of Virgil was lately printed in a large folio, 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, " that Dry^ den, who encountered Virgil, soothed the good ancient by the endearing title of " father," and, by a large deduction of genealogies, made it appear, that they were nearly related, and humbly proposed an exchange of armour; as a mark of hospitality, Virgil consented, though his was of gold, and cost an hundred beeves, the other's but of rusty iron. However, this glittering armour became the modern still worse than his own. Then they agreed to exchange horses ; but, when it came to the trial, Dryden was afraid, and ut- terly unable to mount." A yet more bitter re- proach is levelled by the wit against the poet, for his triple dedication of the Pastorals, Georgics^ 594 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. and JEneid, to three several patrons, Clifford, Chesterfield, and Mulgrave. * But, though the recollection of the contemned Odes, like the sprc- ta injuria forma of Juno, still continued to prompt these overflowings of Swift's satire, he had too much taste and perception of poetry to at- tempt, gravely, to undermine, by a formal criti- cism, the merits of Dryden's Virgil. This was reserved for Luke Milbourne, a cler- gyman, who, by that assurance, has consigned his * " I confess to have been somewhat liberal in the business of titles, having observed the humour of multiplying them, to bear great vogue among certain writers, whom I exceedingly reverence. And indeed it seems not unreasonable, that books, the children of the brain, should have the honour to be chris- tened with variety of names, as well as other infants of quality. Our famous Dryden has ventured to proceed a point farther, endeavouring to introduce also a multiplicity of god-fathers; which is an improvement of much more advantage, upon a very obvious account. It is a pity this admirable invention has not been better cultivated, so as to grow by this time into general imitation, when such an authority serves it for a precedent. Nor have my endeavours been wanting to second so useful an example : but, it seems, there is an unhappy expence usually annexed to the calling of a god-father, which was clearly out of my head, as it is very reasonable to believe. Where the pinch lay, I cannot certainly affirm ; but, having employed a world of thoughts and pains to split my treatise into forty sections, and having intrcated forty lords of my acquaintance, that they would do me the honour to stand/ they all made it a matter of con- science, and sent me their excuses." LIFE OF JOHN DHYDEW. 395 name to no very honourable immortality. This person appears to have had a living at Great Yar- mouth,* which, Dryclen hints, he forfeited by writing libels on his parishioners; and from ano- ther testimony, he seems to have been a person of no very strict morals. | Milboume was once an admirer of our poet, as appears from his letter concerning ''Amphitryon," Vol. VIII. p. 5. But either poetical rivalry, for he had also thought of translating Virgil himself, J or political animosity, * Besides the notes on Virgil, he wrote many single sermons, and a metrical version of the psalms, and died in 1720. f He is described as a rake, in u The Pacificator," a poem bought by Mr Luttrel, 15. Feb. 1699-1700, which gives an ac- count of a supposed battle 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 vatu, For there, alas '. he lies among the slain. Memento mori; see the consequence, When rakes and wits set up for men of sense. J This Mr Malone has proved by the following extract from Motteux's " Gentleman's Journal." " That best of poets (says LIFE OF JOHN DRYDE1C, for he seems to have held revolution principles, or deep resentment for Dryden's sarcasms against the clergy, or, most probably, all these united, impelled Milbourne to publish a most furious cri- ticism, entitled, " Notes on Dryden's Virgil, in a Letter to a Friend." " And here," said he, "in the first place, I must needs own Jacob Tonson's ingenuity to be greater than the translator's, who, in the inscription of his fine gay (title) in the front pf the book, calls it very honestly Dryden's Virgil, to let the reader know, that this is not that Virgil so much admired in the Augustxan age, an au- thor whom Mr Dryden once thought untrans- latable, but a Virgil of another stamp, of a coar- ser allay ; a silly, impertinent, nonsensical writer, of a various and uncertain style, a mere Alexaiir Motteux) having so long continued a stranger to tolerable Eng- lish, Mr Milbourne pitied his hard fate ; and seeing that seve- ral great men had undertaken some episodes of his jEneis, with- out any design of Englishing the whole, he gave us the first 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 the time 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 of faults, those that are sufficient judges have done it the justice to esteem it a very successful attempt, and cannot but wish that he would complete the entire translatipn." GEJJT. JOURN. for August, 16 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEK. 397 der Ross, or somebody inferior to him ; who could never have been known again in the translation, if the name of Virgil had not been bestowed upon him in large characters in the frontispiece, and in the running title. Indeed, there is scarce the magni nominis umbra to be met with in this trans- lation, which being fairly intimated by Jacob, he needs add no more, but si populus vult decipi, dcci- 'piaturT With an assurance which induced Pope to call him the fairest of critics, not content with criticising the production of Dryden, Milbourne was so ill advised as to produce, and place in op- position to it, a rickety translation of his own, probably the fragments of that which had been suppressed by Dryden's version. A short speci- men, both of his criticism and poetry, will con- vince the reader, that the powers of the former were, as has been often the case, neutralized by the insipidity of the latter; for who can rely on the judgment of a critic, so ill qualified to illus- trate his own precepts? I take the remarks on the tenth Eclogue, as a specimen, at hazard. " This eclogue is translated in a strain too lusci- ous and effeminate for Virgil, who might bemoan his friend, but does it in a noble and a manly style, which MrOgilby answers better than Mr D. whose paraphrase looks like one of Mrs Belm's, \vhen 398 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEX. somebody had turned the original into English prose before. " Where Virgil says, Lauri et myriae ftevtre, 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 re- presentation comes in its place ; an ordinary dewy morning might fill the laurels and shrubs with Mr D's tears, though Gall us had not been con- cerned in it. And yet the queen of beauty blest his bed " Here Mr D. comes with his ugly patch upon a beautiful face : what had the queen of beauty to do here? Lycoris did not despise her lover for his meanness, but because she had a mind to be a Catholic whore. Gallus was of quality, but her spark a poor inferior fellow. And yet the queen of beauty, &c. would have followed there very well, but not where wanton Mr D. has fixt her. Flushed were his cheeks, and glowing were bis eyes. " This character is fitter for one that is drunk, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 399 than one in an amazement, and is a thought un- becoming 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. belie her? Virgil talks nothing of her going to sea, and perhaps she had a mind to be only a camp laundress, which office she might be advanced to without going to sea : the forms of horrid war, for horrida castra, is incom- parable. 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 crown as that, i. e. to make it invisible, to swallow it up ; if it be a country crown, drown his brows, it is false Eng- lish. The meads are sooner drunk with morning dews. " Rivi signifies no such thing; but then, that bees should be drunk with flowery shrubs, or goats be drunk with brouze, for drunk's the verb, is a very quaint thought." After much more to the same purpose, Mil- bourne thus introduces his own version of the first Eclogue, with a confidence worthy of a bet- 400 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. ter cause : " That Mr Dryden might be satisfi- ed that I'd offer no foul play, nor find faults in him, without giving him an opportunity of reta- liation, I have subjoined another metaphrase or translation of the first and fourth pastoral, which I desire may be read with his by the original. 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 Meliba^us ! 'twas a bounteous God, These peaceful play-days on our muse bestowed ; At least, he'st alway be a God to me ; ]Vly 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 forseen. Oft did the blasted oaks our fate unfold, And boding choughs from hollow trees foretold. LIFE OP JOHN DRYDEW. 401 But say, good Tityrus ( tell me who's the God, Who peace, so lost to us, on you bestow "d f " Some critics there were, though but few, who joi ned Milbourne in his abortive attempt to degrade our poet's translation. Oldmixon, celebrated for his share in the games of the Dunciad, * and Samuel * See the Preface to "A Funeral Idyll, sacred to the glori- ous Memory of 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 en- couraged me to attempt it again. I have not been persuaded by my friends to change the title of Idyll into Idyllium ; for having an English word set me by Mr Dryden, which he uses indiffe- rently with the Greek, I thought it might'be as proper in an Eng- lish poem. I shall not be solicitous to justify myself to those who except against his authority, till they produce me a better: I have heard him blamed for his innovations and coining of words, even by persons who have already been sufficiently guilty of the fault they lay to his charge ; and shewn us what we are to ex- pect from them, were their names as well settled as his. If I had qualifications enough to do it successfully, 1 should advise them to write more naturally, delicately, and reasonably them- selves, 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 every year seen how fickle Fortune has been to her de- clared favourites ; and men of merit, as well as he who has none, have suffered by her inconstancy, as much as they got by her smiles. This should alarm such as are eminently indebted to her, and may be of use to them in their future reflections on otheps' productions, not to assume too much to themselves from her partiality to them, lest, when they arc left like their prede- cessor, it should only serve to render them the more ridiculous/* VOL. I, % C 402 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN; Parker, * a yet more obscure name, have informed us of this, by volunteering in Dryden's defence. But Dryden needed not their assistance. The real excellencies of his version were before the public, * "Homer in a Nutshell," (16. 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 opinion I ought to harbour, and what use to make of them ; and since the opportunity of a digression so luckily pre- sents itself, I shall make bold to ask the gentlemen their senti- ments of two or three lines (to pass over a thousand other in- stances) which they may meet with in that work. The fourth yneid says of Dido, after certain effects of her taking shelter with ^Eneas in the cave appear, Conjugium vocat, hoc prcetexit nomine culpam, T. 17%, which Mr Dryden renders thus: She ealled 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 second Scinditur in cerium 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 mine could be flat and spiritless too ! And, therefore, to make short work, I shall only beg Mr Dryden's leave to congra- tulau him upon his admirable flatness, and dulness, in a rap- ture >f poetical indignation : Then dares the poring critic snarl ? And dare The * puny brats of Momus threaten war ? ' LIFE OF JOHN DR7DEN. 405 and it was rather to clear himself from the ma- lignant charges against his moral principles, which Milbourne had mingled with his criticism, than for any other purpose, that the poet deemed his an- tagonist worthy of the following animadversion : " Milbourne, who is in orders, pretends amongst the rest this quarrel to me, that I have fallen foul on priesthood : if I have, I am only to ask par- don of good priests, and am afraid his part of the reparation will come to little. Let him be satisfied, that he shall not be able to force himself upon me for an adversary. I contemn him too much to enter into competition with him. His own translations of Virgil have answered his cri- And can't the proud perverse Arachne's fate Deter the * mungrels e'er it prove too late ? In vain, alas ! we warn the * hardened brood ; In vain expect they'll ever come to good. No : they'd conceive more venom if they could. Hut let each * viper at his peril bite, While you defy the most ingenious spite. So Parian columns, raised with costly care, * 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. * I desire these appellations may not seem to affect the parties concern- any otherwise than as to their character of critics. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. ticisms on mine. If (as they say> he has declared in print) he prefers the version of Ogilby to mine, the world has made him the same compliment; for it is agreed on all hands, that he writes even below Ogilby. That, you will say, is not easily to be done ; but what cannot Milbourne bring about ? J am satisfied, however, that while he and I live together, I shall not be thought the worst poet of the age. It looks as if I had desired him underhand to write so ill against me ; but upon my honest word, I have net bribed him to do me this service, and am wholly guiltless of his pamphlet. It is true, I should be glad if I could persuade him to continue his good offices, and write such another critique on any thing of mine ; for I find, by ex- perience, he has a great stroke with the reader, when he condemns any of my poems, to make the world have a better opinion of them. He has taken some pains with my poetry; but nobody will be persuaded to take the same with his. If I had taken 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 turned my self out of my benefice, by writing libels on my parishioners. But his account of my man- ners, and my principles, are of a piece with his X.IFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. 405 cavils and his poetry; and so I have done with him for ever."* While Dryden was engaged with his great translation, he found two months leisure to exe- cute a prose version of " Fresnoy's Art of Paint- ing," to which he added an ingenious Preface, the work of twelve mornings, containing a parallel between that art and poetry ; of which Mason has said, that though too superficial to stand the test of strict criticism, yet it will always give pleasure to readers of taste, even when it fails to convince their judgment. This version appear- ed in 1695. Mr Malone conjectures, that our au- thor was engaged in this task by his friends Clos- terman, and Sir Godfrey Kneller, artists, who had been active in procuring subscriptions for his Vir- gil. He also wrote a "Life of Lucian," for a translation of his works, by Mr Walter Moyle, Sir Henry Shere, and other gentlemen of preten- sion to learning. This version, although it did not appear till after his death, and although he executed no part of the translation, still retains the title of " Dry den's Lucian." * Preface to the Fables, Vol. XI. p. 235. 406 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. There was one event of political importance which occurred in December 1695, and which the public seem to have expected should have employ- ed the pen of Dryden; this was the death of Mary, wife of William the Third. It is difficult to conceive in what manner the poet-laureat of the unfortunate James could have treated the memo- ry of his daughter. Satire was dangerous, and had indeed been renounced by the poet; and pa- negyric was contrary to the principles for which he was suffering. Yet, among the swarm of rhymers who thrust themselves upon the nation on that mournful occasion, there are few who do not call, with friendly or unfriendly voice, upon our poet to break silence.* But the voice of praise and censure was heard in vain, and Dryden's only in- terference was, in character of the first judge of his time, to award the prize to the Duke of De- vonshire, as author of the best poem composed on occasion of the Queen's death, f * See several extracts from these poems, in the Appendix, Vol. XVIII. p. 222, which I have thrown together to shew how much Dryden was considered as sovereign among the poets of the time. t This I learn from Honori Sacellum, a Funeral Poem, to th<* Memory of William, Duke of Devonshire, 1707 : 'Twas so, when the destroyer's dreadful dart Once pierced through ours, to fair Maria's heart. 407 Virgil was hardly finished, when our author dis- tinguished himself by the immortal Ode to Saint Cecilia, commonly called "Alexander's Feast.'' There is some difference of evidence concern- ing the time occupied in this splendid task. He had been solicited to undertake it by the stewards of the Musical Meeting, which had for several years met to celebrate the feast of St Ce- cilia, their patroness, and whom he had formerly gratified by a similar performance. In Septem- ber 1697, Dry den writes to his son:" Ju the mean time, I am writing a song for St Cecilia's feast; who, you know, is the patroness of music. This is troublesome, 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 them being Mr Bridgeman, whose parents are your mother's friends." This account seems to 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 Odr, composed by His Grace, on the death of the late Queen Mary, justly adjudged by the ingenious Mr Drydcn to have something fanciful, however, in this reasoning, which I therefore abandon to the reader's mercy ; only begging him to observe, that we have no mode of estimating the exertions of a quality so capricious as a poetic imagination ; so that it is very possible, that the Ode to St Cecilia may have been the work of twenty-four hours, whilst corrections and emendations, perhaps of no very great consequence, occupied the author as many days. Derrick, in his " Life of Dryden," tells us, upon the authority of Walter Moyle, that the so- ciety paid Dryden L.40, for this sublime Ode, 410 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. which, from the passage in his letter above ques- ted, seems to have been more than the bard ex- pected at commencing his labour. The music for this celebrated poem was originally composed by Jeremiah Clarke,* one of the stewards of the festival, whose productions were more remark- able for deep pathos, and delicacy, than for fire and energy. It is probable, that, with such a- turn of mind and taste, he may have failed in setting the sublime, lofty, and daring flights of the Ode to St Cecilia. Indeed his composition was not judged worthy of publication. The Ode, after some impertinent alterations, made by Hughes, at the request of Sir Richard Steele, was set to music by Clayton, who, with Steele, ma- naged a public concert in 1711; but neither was this a successful essay to connect the poem with the art it celebrated. At length, in 1736, "Alex- ander's Feast" was set by Handel, and per- formed in the Theatre-Royal, Covent Garden, with the full success which the combined talents * This discovery was made by the researches of Mr Malone. Dr Burney describes Clarke as excelling in the tender and plain- tive, to which he was prompted by a temperament of natural melancholy. In the agonies which arose from an unfortunate attachment, he committed suicide, in July~1707 See a full ac- ^ountof the catastrophe, in Malone's " Life of Dryden," p. 299. LIFE OF JOHX DRYDEW. 411 of the poet and the musician seemed to ensure.* Indeed, although the music was at first less suc- cessful, the poetry received, even in the author's time, all the applause which its unrivalled excel- lence demanded. " I am glad to hear from all hands," says Dryden, in a letter to Tonson, " that my Ode is esteemed the best of all my poetrj, by all the town. I thought so myself when I writ it; but, being old, I mistrusted my own judge- ment." Mr Malone has preserved a tradition, that the father of Lord Chief Justice Marl ay, then a Templar, and frequenter of Will's coffee- house, took an opportunity to pay his court to Dryden, on the publication of " Alexander's * It was first performed on February 19, 1735-6, at opera prices. " The public expectations and the effects of this repre- sentation (says Dr Burney,) seem to have been correspondent, for the next day we are told in the public papers, [London Daily Post, and General Advertiser, Feb. 20,] that ' there never was, upon the like occasion, so numerous and splendid an audience at any theatre in London, there being at least thirteen hundred persons present; and it is judged, that the receipts of the house could not amount to less than L. 450. It met with general applause, though attended with the inconvenience of having the performers placed at too great a distance from the audience, which we hear will be rectified the next time of pei;- jbrrcance." Hist, of Music, iv. 39 1. 412 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Feast;" and, happening to sit next him, congra- tulated him on having produced the finest and noblest Ode that had ever been written in any language. " You are right, young gentleman, (replied Dryden,) a nobler Ode never was produ- ced, nor ever will.'' This singularly strong ex- pression cannot be placed to the score of vanity. It was an inward consciousness of merit, which burst forth, probably almost involuntarily, and I fear must be admitted as prophetic. The preparation of a new edition of the Virgil, \vhich appeared in 1698, occupied nine days only, after which Dryden began seriously to consider to what he should next address his pen. The state of his circumstances rendered constant li- terary labour indispensable to the support of his family, although the exertion, and particularly the confinement, occasioned by his studies, con- siderably impaired his health. His son Charles had met with an accident at Rome, which was at- tended with a train of consequences perilous to his health; and Dryden, anxious to recal him to Britain, was obliged to make extraordinary exer- tions to provide against this additional expence. " If it please God," he writes to Tonson, "that I must die of over-study, I cannot spend my life LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEX. 413 better than in preserving his." It is affecting to read such a passage in the life of such a man ; yet the necessities of the poet, like the afflictions of the virtuous, smooth the road to immortality. While Milton and Dryden were favoured by the rulers of the day, they were involved in the reli- gious and political controversies which raged around them ; it is to hours of seclusion, neglect, and even penury, that we owe the Paradise Lost, the Virgil, and the Fables. Among other projects, Dryden seems to have had thoughts of altering and revising a tragedy called the " Conquest of China by the Tartars," ^yritten by his ancient friend and brother-in-law, Sir Robert Howard. The unkindness which had arisen between them upon the subject of blank verse and rhyme, seems to have been long since past away ; and we observe, with pleasure, that Dryden, in the course of the pecuniary trans- actions about Virgil, reckons upon the assist- ance of Sir Robert Howard, and consults his taste also in therevisal of the version.* But Dry- den never altered the " Conquest of C 'hina," be- ing first interrupted by the necessity of revising Virgil, and afterwards, perhaps, by a sort of * See Vol. XVIII. pp. 123. 126. 414 LIFE OF JOHN 7 BftYDKN. quarrel which took place between him and the players, of whom Jie speaks most resentfully in his ' Epistle to Granville," upon his tragedy of " Heroic Love," acted in the beginning of J698. * The success of Virgil encouraged Dryden about this time to turn his eyes upon Homer; and the general voice of the literary world called upon him to do the venerable Grecian the same service which the Roman had received from him. It was even believed that he had fixed upon the mode of translation, and that he was, as he else- * " Thine be the laurel, then ; thy blooming age Can best, if any can, support the stage ; Which so 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 buffers in the mangled tragedy: Thus Itys first was killed, and after dressed Fur his own sire, the chief invited guest." This gave great offence to the players; one of whom (Powell) made a petulant retort, which the reader will find in a note upon the Epistle itself, Vol. XI. p. 65. -LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEX. 413 where expresses it, to " fight unarmed, without his rhyme."* A dubious anecdote bears, that he even regretted he had not rendered Virgil into blank verse, and shews at the same time, if ge- nuine, how far he must now have disapproved of his own attempt to turn into rhyme the Paradise Lost. The story is told by the elder Richardson, in his remarks on the tardy progress of Milton's great Work in the public opinion. -f When Dry- den did translate the First Book of Homer, which he published with the Fables, he rendered it into rhyme ; nor have we sufficient ground to believe that he ever seriously intended, in so large a work, to renounce the advantages which he pos- sessed, by his unequalled command of versifica- * Milbourne, in a note on that passage in the dedication to the /Eneid " He who can write, well in rhyme, may write better in blank verse," says, " We shall know that, when we see how much better Dryden's Homer will be than his Virgil." f " Much the same character he gave of it (i. e. Paradise Lost,) to a north-Country gentleman, to whom I mentioned the book, he being a great reader, but not in a right train, coming to town seldom, and keeping little company. Dryden amazed him with speaking so loftily of it. ' Why, Mr Dryden, says he, (Sir W. L. told me the thing himself,) 'tis not in rhyme/ " No ; [replied Dryden,] nor would I have done my Virgil / rhyme, if 1 was to begin it again." This conversation is sup- posed by Mr Malone to have been hold with Sir Wilfred Law- ion, of Isell in Cumberland. 416 LIFE OF JOHN DUYDEX. i tion. That in other respects the task was conso- nant to his temper, as well as talents, he has him- self informed us. " My thoughts," he says, in a letter to Halifax, in 1699, " are at present fixed on Homer; and by my translation of the first 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 of writing ; which, as it is liable to more faults, so it is ca- pable of more beauties than the exactness and sobriety of Virgil. Since it is for my country's honour, as well as for my own, that I am willing to undertake this task, I despair not of being encouraged in it by your favour." But this task Dry den was not destined to accomplish, although he had it so much at heart as to speak of resu- ming it only three months before his death. * In the meanwhile, our author had engaged himself in making those imitations of Boccacio and Chaucer, which have been since called the " Fables;'' and in spring I6y9, he was in such forwardness, as to put into Tonson's hands " se- ven thousand five hundred verses, more or less," as the contract bears, being a partial delivery to account of ten thousand verses, which by that * See a letter to Mrs Thomas, Vol. XVIII. p. 173. LtFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 417 deed he agreed to furnish, for the sum of two hundred and fifty guineas, to be made up three hundred pounds upon publication of the second edition. This second payment Dry den lived not to receive. With the contents of this miscella- neous volume we are to suppose him engaged, from the revisal of the Virgil, in 1697, to the publication of the Fables, in March 1699- l^bo. This was the last period of his labours, and of his life ; and, like all the others, it did not pass undisturbed by acrimonious criticism, and bitter controversy. The dispute with Milbourne, we noticed, before dismissing the subject of Virgil ; but there were two other persons who, in their zeal for morality and religion, chose to disturb the last years of the life of Dryden. The indelicacy of the stage, being, in its earli- est period, merely the coarse gross raillery of a barbarous age, was probably of no greater in- jury to the morals of the audience, than it is to those of the lower ranks of society, with whom similar language is everywhere admitted as wit and humour. During the reigns of James I. and Charles I. this licence was gradually disappear- ing:. In the domination of the fanatics, which o succeeded, matters were o much changed, that, far from permitting the use of indelicate or pro- VOL. i. 2 D 418 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. fane allusions, they wrapped up not only their most common temporal affairs, but even their very crimes and vices, in the language of their spiritual concerns. Luxury was using the crea- ture; avarice was seeking experiences; insurrec- tion was putting the hand to the plough ; actual rebellion, Jighting the good jight ; and regicide, doing the great work of the Lord. This vocabulary became grievously unfashionable at the Reforma- tion, and was at once swept away by the torrent of irreligion, blasphemy, and indecency, which were at that period deemed necessary to secure conversation against the imputation of disloyalty and fanaticism. The court of Cromwell, if lam- poons can be believed, was not much less vicious than that of Charles II., but it was less scanda- lous ; and, as Dryden 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, even upon the accession of James II. whose manners did not encourage the same general licence as those of Charles. But after the Revolution, when an affectation of pro- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDKW. 419 fligacy was no longer deemed a necessary attri- bute of loyalty, and when it began to be thought possible that a man might have some respect for religion without being a republican, or even a , fanatic, the license of the stage was generally esteemed a nuisance. It then happened, as is not uncommon, that those, most bustling and active to correct public abuses, were men whose intentions may, without doing them injury, be estimated more highly than their talents. Thus, Sir Rich- ard Blackmore, a grave physician, residing and practising on the sober side of Tern pie- Bar, was tbe first who professed to reform the spreading pest of poetical licentiousness, and to correct such men as Dryden, Congreve, and Wycherly. This worthy person, compassionating the state to which poetry was reduced by his contempora- ries, who used their wit " in opposition to reli- gion, and to the destruction of virtue and good manners in the world," resolved to rescue the Muses from this unworthy thraldom, "to restore them to their sweet and chaste mansions, and to engage them in an employment suittd to their dignity." With this laudable view he wrote " Prince Arthur, an Epic Poem," published in 1695. The preface contained a furious, though just, diatribe, against the license of modern come- 40 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEKT, dy, with some personal reflections aimed at Dry- den directly. * This the poet felt more unkind- ly, as Sir Richard had, without acknowledgment, availed himself of the hints he had thrown out in the " Essay upon Satire," for the management * " Some of these poets, to excuse their guilt, allege for themselves, that the degeneracy of the age makes their lewd way of writing necessary : they pretend the auditors will not be pleased, unless they are thus entertained from the stage ; and to please, they say, is the chief business of the poet. But this is by no means a just apology : it is not true, as was said before, that the poet's chief business is to please. His chief business is to instruct, to make mankind wiser and better; and , in order to this, his care should be to please and entertain the audience with all the wit and art he is master of. Aristotle and Horace, and all their critics and commentators, all men of wit and sense agree, that this is the end of poetry. But they say, it is their profession to write for the stage ; and that poets must starve, if they will not in this way humour the audieiice : the theatre will be as unfrequented as the churches,, and the poet and the parson equally neglected. Let the poet then abandon his profession, and take up some honest lawful calling, where, joining industry to his great wit, he may soon get above the complaints of pover- ty, so common among these ingenious men, and lie under no necessity of prostituting his' wit to any such vile purposes as are here censured. This will be a course of life more profitable and honourable to himself, and more useful to others. And there are among the^e writers some, who think they might hare risen to the highest dignities in other professions, had they employed their u*it in those ways-. It is a mighty dishonour and reproach to any man that is capable of being useful to the world in any liberal and virtuous profession, to lavish out his life and wit in propagating vice and corruption of manners, and in battering LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 421 fcf an epic poem 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 cor- rect the dissolute and immoral performances of the writers of his time. With a ponderous at- tempt at humour, the good knight proposes, that a bank for wit should be established, and that all which had hitherto passed as current, should be called in, purified in the mint, re-coined, and issu- ed forth anew, freed from alloy. This satire was published in 1700, as the title- page bears ; but Mr Luttrell marks his copy 23d November, 1*)99-* It contains more than one attack upon our author. Thus, we are told, (wit being previously described as a malady,) from the stage the strongest entrenchments and best works of religion and virtue. Whoever makes this his choice, when the other was in his power, may he go off the stage unpitied, com- plaining of ru-glect and poverty, the just punishments of his irreli- giun and folly ! " * Mr Malone conceives, that the Fables were published be- fore the " Satire upon Wit ;" but he had not this evidence of the contrary before him. It is therefore clear, that Dryden en- dured a second attack from Blackmore, before making any re- ply. 422 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 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 uni- versities, 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 in 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 v/hich is loo light, which has too much allay 'T'is 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? AVhcn once his boasted heaps are melted down, A client-lull scarce will yield one sterling crown. Those who will D n s melt, and think to fin4 A goodly mass of bullion lelt be-hipd, .1 LIFE OF JOHN DKYDEN. 423 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 1 was the author of ' Absalom and Achitophel,' which, he thinks, is a little hard on his fanatic patrons in London. " But I will deal the more civilly with his two poems, because nothing ill is to be spoken of the dead; and, therefore, peace be to the manes of his 1 Arthurs/ I will only say, that it was not for this noble knight that I drew the plan of an epic poem on King Arthur, in my preface to the translation of Juvenal. The guardian angels of CJ *j kingdoms were machines too ponderous for him to manage ; and therefore he rejected them, as Dares did the whirl- bats of Eryx, when they were thrown before him by Entellus: yet from that preface, he plainly took his hint; for he began immediately upon the story, though he had the 424 UFE OF JOHN DRYDfN. baseness not to acknowledge his benefactor, but, instead of it, to traduce me in a libel." Blackmore, who had perhaps thought the praise contained in his two last couplets ought to have allayed Dryden's resentment, finding that they failed in producing this effect, very unhandsome- ly omitted them in his next edition, and received, as will presently be noticed, another flagellation, in the last verses Dryden ever wrote. But a more formidable champion than Black- more had arisen, to scourge the profligacy of the theatre. This was no other than the celebrated Jeremy Collier, a nonjuring clergyman, who published, in 1698, "A Short View of the Im- morality and Profaneness of the Stage.'' His qua- lities as a reformer are described by Dr Johnson in language never to be amended. " He was formed for a controvertist ; with sufficient learn- ing; with diction vehement and pointed, though often vulgar and incorrect ; with unconquerable pertinacity; with wit in the highest degree keen and sarcastic; and with all those powers exalted and invigorated by the just confidence in his cause. " Thus qualified, and thus incited, he walked out to battle, and assailed at once most of the living writers, from Dryden to Durfey. liis on LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEJf. 425 set was violent : those passages, which while they stood single had passed with little notice, when they were accumulated and exposed together, excited horror; the wise and the pious caught the alarm, and the nation wondered why it had so long suffered irreligion and licentiousness to be openly taught at the public charge." Notwithstanding the justice of this description, there is a strange mixture of sense and nonsense in Collier's celebrated treatise. Not contented with resting his objections to dramatic immorali- ty upon the substantial grounds of virtue and re- ligion, Jeremy labours to confute the poets of the 1/th century, by drawing them into comparison with Plautus and Aristophanes, which is certain- ly judging of one crooked line by another. Nei- ther does he omit, like his predecessor Prynne, to marshal against the British stage those ful- minations directed by the fathers of the church against the Pagan theatres ; although Collier could not but know, that it was the performance of the heathen ritual, and not merely the action of the drama, which rendered it sinful for the early Christians to attend the theatre. The book was, however, of great service to dramatic poetry, which, from that time, was less degraded by li- cence and indelicacv. 426 LIFE OF JOHN DIIYDEN. Dryden, it may be believed, had, as his come- dies well deserved, a liberal share of the general censure; but, however he might have felt the smart of Collier's severity, he had the magnanimi- ty to acknowledge its justice. In the preface to the Fables, he makes the amende honorable. " I shall say the less of Mr Collier, because in many things he has taxed me justly ; and I have plead- ed guilty to all thoughts and expressions of mine, which can be truly argued of obscenity, profane- ness, or immorality, and retract them. If he be my enemy, let him triumph ; if he be my friend, as I have given him no personal occasion to be- otherwise, he will be glad of my repentance., It becomes me not to draw my pen in the defence of a bad cause, when I have so often drawn it for a good one." To this manly and liberal admis- sion, he has indeed tacked a complaint, that Col- lier had sometimes, by a strained interpretation, made the evil sense of which he complained; that he had too much "horse-play in his raillery ;'* and that, " if the zeal for God's house had not eaten him up, it had at least devoured some part of his good manners and civility." Collier seems to have been somewhat pacified by this qualified acknowledgment, and, during the rest of the controversy, turned his arms chiefly against Con- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEJT. 437 greve, who resisted, and spared, comparatively at least, the sullen submission of Dryden. While these controversies were raging, Dry- den's time was occupied with the translations or imitations of Chaucer and Boccacio. Among these, the " Character of the Good Parson" is in- troduced, probably to confute Milbourne, Black- more, and Collier, who had severally charged our author with the wilful and premeditated contume- ly thrown upon the clergy in many passages of his satirical writings. This too seems to have infla- med the hatred of Swift, who, with all his levities, was strictly attached to his order, and keenly jea- lous of its honours. * Dryden himself seems to have been conscious of his propensity to assail * In his apology for " The Tale of a Tub," he points out to the resentment of the clergy, " those heavy illiterate scribblers, prostitute in their reputations, vicious in their lives, and ruined in their fortunes, who, to the shame of good sense, as well as piety, are greedily read, merely upon the strength of bold, false, impious assertions, mixed with unmannerly reflections on the priesthood." And, after no great interval, he mentions the passage quoted p. 375," in which Dryden, L'Estrange, and some others I shall not name, are levelled at ; who, having spent their lives in faction, and apostacies, and all manner of vice, pretend- ed to be sufferers for loyalty and religion. So Dryden tells us, in one of his prefaces, of his merits and sufferings, and thanks God that he possesses his soul in patience. In other places he t#lks at the same rate." 428 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. churchmen. " I remember," he writes to his sons, " the counsel you gave me in your letter; but dissembling, although lawful in some cases, is not my talent; yet, for your sake, I will struggle with the plain openness of my nature, and keep in my just resentments against that degenerate order." * Milbourne, and other enemies of our author, imputed this resentment against the cler- gy, to his being refused orders when he wished to take them, in the reign of Charles, with a view to the Provostship of Eaton, or some Irish pre- ferment, f But Dryden assures us, that he never * Vol. XVIII. p. 133. f Thus, in a lampoon already quoted : Quitting my duller hopes, the poor renown , Of Eaton College, or a Dublin go\vn. P. 351. Tom Brown makes the charge more directly. " But, prithee, why so severe always on the priesthood, Mr Bayes ? What have they merited to pull down your indignation ? I thought the ri- diculing men of that character upon the stage, was by this time a topic as much worn out with you, as love and honour in the play, or good fulsome flattery in the dedication. But you, I find, still continue your old humour, to date from the year of Hegira, the loss of Eaton, or since orders were refused you. Whatever hangs out, either black or green colours is presently your prize : and you would, by your good will, be as mortify- ing a vexation to the whole tribe, as an unbegetting year, a con- catenation of briefs, or a voracious visitor; so that I am of opi- nion, you had much better have written in your title-page, Manet aha mentc repostum Judiciuiu C/cri, sprctaeqtie injuria ATMS Cat-calls the sects to draw them in again. } LIFE or JOHN DRYDEN. powers of endurance, as some modern pugilists are said to be, for the quality technically called bottom. After having been" brayed in a mortar," as Solomon expresses it, by every wit of his time, Sir Richard not only survived to commit new offences against ink and paper, but had his faction, his admirers, and his panegyrists, among that numerous and sober class of readers, who think that genius consists in good intention. * In the Epilogue, Dryden attacks Collier, but with more courteous 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. } * One of these well-meaning persons insulted the ashes of Dryden while they were still warm, in " An Epistle to Sir Rich- ard Blackmore, occasioned by the New Session of the Poets." Marked by Mr Luttrell, 1st November, 1700. His mighty Dryden to the shades is gone, And Congreve leaves successor of his throne t Though long before his final exit hence, He was himself an abdicated Prince; Disrobed of all regalities of state, 438 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEX. weapons : it is rather a palliation than a defence of dramatic immorality, and contains nothing personally offensive to Collier. Thus so dearly was Dryden's pre-eminent reputation purchased, 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, JJow 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 ; W r hose curling flames most ghastly fiends do raise, Supplied with fuel from his impious plays ; And when he fain would puifaway 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 him 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 laureat 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, $nt now you must engage his pack of bounds. I LIFE OF JOHN PRYDEN. 439 that even his last hours were embittered with controversy; and nature, over- watched and worn out, was, like a besieged garrison, forced to obey the call to arms, and defend reputation even with the very last exertion of the vital spirit. The approach of death was not, however, so gradual as might have been expected from the poet's chronic diseases. He had long suffered both by the gout and gravel, and more lately the erysipelas seized one of his legs. To a shat- tered frame and a corpulent habit, the most trifling accident is often fatal. A slight inflam- mation in one of his toes, became, from neglect, a gangrene. Mr Hobbes, an eminent surgeon, to prevent mortification, proposed to amputate the limb ; but Dryden, who had no reason to be in love with life, refused the chance of prolong- ing it by a doubtful and painful operation. ^ After a short interval, the catastrophe expected by Mr Hobbes took place, and Dryden, not long surviving the consequences, left life on t 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 care to part with one limb, at such an age, to preserve an uncomfortable life on the rest." London Spy, Part 440 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Wednesday morning, 1st May, 1700, at three o'clock. He seems to have been sensible till nearly his last moments, and died in the Roman Catholic faith, with submission and entire resig- nation to the divine will ;" taking of his friends," says Mrs Creed, one of the sorrowful number, "so tender and obliging a farewell, as none but he himself could have expressed." The death of a man like Dryden, especially in narrow and neglected circumstances, is usually an alarum -bell to the public. Unavailing and mutual reproaches, for unthankful and pitiless negligence, waste themselves in newspaper paragraphs, ele- gies, and funeral processions ; the debt to genius is then deemed discharged, and a new account of neglect and commemoration is opened between the public and the next who rises to supply his room. It was thus with Dryden : His family were pre- paring to bury him with the decency becom- ing their limited circumstances, when Charles Montague, Lord Jefferies, and other men of qua- lity, made a subscription for a public funeral. The body of the poet was then removed to the Physicians' Hall, where it was embalmed, and lay in state till the 13th day of May, twelve days after the decease. On that day, the celebrated Dr Garth pronounced a Latin oration over the LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEX. 44-1 remains of his departed friend ; which were then, with considerable state, preceded by a band of music, and attended by a numerous proces- sion of carriages, transported to Westminster Abbey, and deposited between the graves of Chaucer and Cowley. The malice of Dryden's contemporaries, which he had experienced through life, attempted to turn into burlesque these funeral honours. Far- quhar, the comic dramatist, wrote a letter con- taining a ludicrous account of the funeral ; * in which, as MrMalone most justly remarks, he only sought to amuse his fair correspondent by an as- semblage of ludicrous and antithetical expressions and ideas, which, when accurately examined, ex- * " 1 come now from Mr Dryden's funeral, where \ve had an Ode in Horace sung, instead of David's Psalms; whence you may find, that we don't think a poet worth Christian burial. The pomp of ihe ceremony was a kind of rhapsody, and fitter, I think, for Iludibras, than him; because the cavalcade was mostly burlesque: but he was an extraordinary man, and buried after an extraordinary fashion ; for I do believe there was never such another burial seen. The oration, indeed, was great and ingenious, worthy the subject, and like the author; whose pre- scriptions can restore the 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 mixed in a piece; great Cleopatra in a hackney coach." 442 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. press little more than the bustle and confusion which attends every funeral procession of un- common splendour. Upon this ground-work, Mrs Thomas (the Corinna of Pope and Crom- well) raised, at the distance of thirty years, the marvellous structure of fable, which has been copied by all Dryden's biographers, till the in- dustry of Mr Malone has sent it, with other fig- ments of the same lady, to "the grave of all the Capulets." * She appears to have been something assisted by a burlesque account of the funeral, im- puted by Mr Malone to Tom Brown, who certainly * Those who wish to peruse this memorable romance, may find it in Vol. XVIII. p. 200. It was first published in " Wil- son's Life of Congreve," 1730. Mr Malone has successfully shewn, that it is false in almost all its parts ; for, independently of the extreme improbability of the whole story, it is clear, from Ward's account, written at the time, that Lord Jefieries, who it is pretended interrupted the funeral, did, in fact, largely contri- bute to it. This also appears from a paragraph, in a letter from Doctor afterwards Bishop Tanner, dated May t 6th, 1700, and thus given by Mr 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, &c.), thinking it would not be splendid enough, ordered him to be carried to Russet's : there he was embalmed ; and now lies in state at the Physicians' College, and is to be buried with Chaucer, Cowley, &c. at West- minster Abbey, on Monday next." MSS. Bollard, in EibL Bodl. Vol. IV. p. 29. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. 443 continued to insult Dryden's memory whenever an opportunity offered. * Indeed, Airs Thomas herself quotes this last respectable authority. It must be a well-conducted and uncommon public ceremony, where the philosopher can find nothing to condemn, nor the satirist to ridicule; yet, to The following lines are given by Mr Malone as a speci- " Before the hearse the mourning hautboys go, And screech a dismal sound of grief and woe: More dismal notes from bogtrotters 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 fidlers in a coach : The playhouse drab, that beats the beggar's bush, By every body 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 ! 444 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEff. our imagination, what can be more striking, than the procession of talent and rank, which escorted the remains of DRYDEN to the tomb of CHAUCER ! The private character of the individual, his personal appearance, and rank in society, are the circumstances which generally interest the public most immediately upon his decease. We are enabled, from the various paintings and engravings of Dryden, as well as from the less flattering delineations of the satirists of his time, to form a tolerable idea of his face and per- son. In youth, he appears to have been handsome, * and of a pleasing countenance ; when his age was more advanced, he was corpu- lent and florid, which procured him the nick- name attached to him by Rochester, f In his latter days, distress and disappointment probably chilled the fire of his eye, and the advance of age destroyed the animation of his countenance. J * Page 87. t " Poet Squab." p. 303. I From " Epigrams on the Paintings of the most eminent Masters," by J. E. (John Elsum), Esq. Svo. 1700, Mr Malone gives the following lines : The Effigies of Mr DRYDEN, by Closterman, Epig. clxiv. " A sleepy eye he shews, and no sweet feature, Yet was indeed a favourite of nature : LIFE OF JOHN DKYDEN. 445 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 most amiable, by all who had access to know him ; and his works, as well as letters, bear evidence to the justice of their pane- gyric. Congreve's character of the poet was drawn doubtless favourably, yet it contains points which demonstrate its fidelity. "Whoever shall censure me, I dare be confident, you, my lord, will excuse me for any thing that I shall say with due regard to a gentleman, for whose person I had as just an affection as I have an ad- miration of his writings. And indeed Mr Dry- den had personal qualities to challenge both love and esteem from all who were truly acquainted with him. 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 shew 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 AcUitophel." 446 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. "He was of a nature exceedingly humane and compassionate; easily forgiving injuries, and capa- ble of a prompt and sincere reconciliation with them who had offended him. "Such a temperament is the only solid foundation of all moral virtues and sociable endowments. His friendship, where he professed it, went much beyond his professions ; and I have been told of strong and generous instances of it by the per- sons themselves who received them, though his hereditary income was little more than a bare competency. " As his reading had been very extensive, so was he very happy in a memory, tenacious of every thing that he had read. He was not more posses- sed of knowledge, than he was communicative of it. But then his communication of it was by no means pedantic, or imposed upon the conversa- tion ; but just such, and went so far, as, by the na- tural turns of the discourse in which he was en- gaged, it was necessarily promoted or required. He was extreme ready and gentle in his correc- tion of the errors of any writer, who thought fit to consult him ; and full as ready and patient to admit of the reprehension of others, in respect of his own oversight or mistakes. He was of very easy, I may say, of very pleasing access; but LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. 447 iomthing slow, and, as it were, diffident in his advances to others. He had something in his nature, that ahhorred intrusion 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 might become liable both to misapprehensions and misrepresen- tations. " To the best of my knowledge and observa- tion, he was, of all the men that ever I knew, one of the most modest, and the most easily to be discountenanced in his approaches either to his superiors or his equals." This portrait is from the pen of friendship ; yet, if we consider all the circumstances of Dryden's life, we cannot deem it much exaggerated. For about forty years, his character, personal and li- terary, was the object of assault by every subal- tern scribbler, titled or untitled, laureated or pilloried. " My morals," he himself has said, " have been sufficiently aspersed ; that only sort of reputation, which ought to be dear to every honest man, and is to me." In such an assault, no weapon would remain unhandled, no charge, true or false, unurged ; and what qualities we do not there find excepted against, must surely be 448 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. admitted to pass to the credit of Dryden. His change of political opinion, from the time he en- tered life under the protection of a favourite of Cromwell, might have argued instability, if he had changed a second time, when the current of power and popular opinion set against the doctrines of the Reformation. As it is, we must hold Dryden to have acted from conviction, since personal inte- rest, had that been the ruling motive of his poli- tical conduct, would have operated as strongly in 1688 as in 1660. The change of his religion we have elsewhere discussed; and endeavoured to show, that, although Dryden was unfortu- nate in adopting the more corrupted form of our religion, yet, considered relatively, it was a fortunate and laudable conviction which led him from the mazes of scepticism to become a catho- lic of the communion of Rome. * It would be vain to maintain, that in his early career he was free from the follies and vices of a disso- lute period ; but the absence of every positive charge, and the silence of numerous accusers, may be admitted to prove, that he partook in them more from general example than inclina- tion, and with a moderate, rather than voracious * See page 303. 7 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 449 or undistinguishingappetite. It must be admitted, that he sacrificed to the Belial or Asmodeus of the age, in his writings; and that he formed his taste upon the licentious and gay society with which he mingled. But we have the testimony of one who knew him well, that, however loose his co- medies, the temper of the author was modest;* his indelicacy was like the forced impudence of a bashful man ; and Rochester has accordingly upbraided him, that his licentiousness was neither natural nor seductive. Drydetf had unfortunately conformed enough to the taste of his age, to attempt that "nice mode of wit," as it is term- ed by the said noble author, whose name has become inseparably connected with it; but it sate awkwardly upon his natural modesty, and m general sounds impertinent, as well as dis- gusting. The clumsy phraseology of Burnet, in passing censure on the immorality of the * A correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine, in 1 7 45 al- rea plucked up his spirit so far, as to say, in a voice; just loud enough to be heard, that Mac-Flecknoe was a very fine poem, but that he had not imagined it to be the first that ever was wrote that way. On this Dryden turned short upon him, as surprised at his interposing; asked him how long he had been a dealer in poetry; and added, with a smile, ' Rut prav, sir, what is it, that you did imagine to have been writ so before ?' Lockier named Boileau's Lutrin, and Tassoni's Secchia Rapi- taj which he had read, and knew Dryden had borrowed some strokes from each. ' 'Tis true,' says Dryden ; ' I had forgot them.' A little after, Dryden went out, and in going spoke to Lockier again, and desired him to come to him the next day. Lockier was highly delighted with the invitation, and was well acquainted with him as long as he lived." MA LONE, Vol. I. p. 4S1. 6 456 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. dispute his opinion, or place themselves m the gap between him and the object of his censure. He was most falsely accused of carrying literary jealousy to such a length, as feloniously to en- courage Creech to venture on a translation of Horace, that he might lose the character he had gained by a version of Lucretius. But this is positively contradicted, upon the authority of Southerne. * * " I have often heard," says Mr George Russell, "that Mr Dryden, dissatisfied and envious at the reputation Creech ob- tained by his translation of Lucretius, purposely advised him to undertake Horace, to which he knew him unequal, that he might by his ill performance lose the fame he had acquired. Mr Southerne, author of ' Oroonoko/ set me right as to the conduct of Mr Dryden in this affair; affirming, that, being one evening at Mr Dryden's lodgings, in company with Mr Creech, and some other ingenious men, Mr Creech told the company of his design to translate Horace; from which Mr Dryden, with many arguments, dissuaded him, as an attempt which his genius was not adapted to, and which would risk his losing the good opi- nion the world had of him, by his successful translation of Lu- cretius. I thought it proper to acquaint you with this circum- stance, since it rescues the fame of one of our greatest pools from the imputation of envy and malevolence." See also, upon this subject, a note on page 200 of Vol. VII f. Yet Jacob Tonson told Spence, " that Dryden would compliment Crowne when a play of his failed, but was cold to him if he met with success. He used sometimes to say, that Crowne had some genius; but then he always added, that his father and Crowne's mother were very well acquainted." MA LONE, Vol. I. p. 500. LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. 457 We have so often stopped in our narrative of Dryden's life, to notice the respectability of his general society, that little need here he said on the subject. Although no enemy to conviviality, he is pronounced by Pope to have been regular in his hours, in comparison with Addison, who, otherwise, lived the same coffeehouse course of life. He has himself told us, that he was "sa- turnine and reserved, and not one of those who endeavour 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 is his Muse. But the admission of the author, and the cen- sure of the satirist, must be received with some limitation. Dry den was thirty years old before he was freed from the fetters of puritanism ; and if the habits of lively expression in society are not acquired before that age, they are seldom gained afterward. But this applies only to the deficiency of repartee, in the sharp encounter of wit which was fashionable at the court of Charles, and cannot be understood to exclude Dryden's possessing the more solid qualities of agreeable conversation, arising from a memory profoundly stocked with 458 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEW. knowledge, and a fancy which supplied modes of illustration faster than the author'could use them.* Some few sayings of Dry den have been, however, preserved; which, if not witty, are at least jo- cose. He is said to have been the original author of the repartee to the Duke of Buckingham, who, in bowling, offered to lay " his soul 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 en- joy more of his company, " Be an almanack then, my dear," said the poet, "that I may change you once a year." Another time, a friend expressing his astonishment that even D'Urfey could write such stuff as a play they had just witnessed, " Ah, sir/' replied Dryden, " You do not know * His conversation is thus characterised by a contemporary writer : " O, Sir, there's a medium in all things. Silence and chat are distant enough, to have a convenient discourse come between them ; and thus tar I agree with you, that the company of the author of ' Absalom and Achitophel' is more valuable, though not so talkative, than that of the modern men of banter; for what he says is like what he writes, much to the purpose, and full of mighty sense ; and if the town were for any thing desirable, it were fur the conversation of him, and one or two more of the same character.'' The Humours and Conversation of the Town exposed, in tuo Dialogues, l6y3, p. 73. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDF.N. 459 my friend Tom so well as I do ; I'll answer for him, he can write worse yet." None of these anecdotes intimate great brilliancy of repartee; but that Dryden, possessed of such a fund of ima ginatiou, and acquired learning, should be dull in conversation, is impossible, lit is known fre- quently to have regaled his friends, by communi- cating to them a part of his labours ; but his poetry suffered by his recitation. He read his productions very ill;* owing, perhaps, to the mo- dest reserve of his temper, which prevented his shewing an animation in which he feared his au- dience might not participate. The same circum- stance may have repressed the liveliness of his conversation. I know not, however, whether we are, with Mr Malone, to impute to diffidence his general habit of consulting his literary friends upon his poems, before they became public, since it might as well arise from a wish to anticipate and soften criticism, * " When Dryden, our first ^rcat master of verse and harmony, brought his play of ' Amphitryon' to the stage, I heard him give it his first reading to the actors; in which, though it is true he delivered tLe plain sense of every period, yet the whole was in so cold, so flaf, and unarfecting a manner, that I m afraid of not being believed, when I affirm it." Cibbcr's Apology, 4to. -j- See page 132. 460 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Of Dryden's learning, his works form the best proof. He had read Polybius before he was ten years of age ;* and was doubtless well acquainted with the Greek and Roman classics. But from these studies he could descend to read romances ; and the present editor records with pride, that Dryden was a decided admirer of old ballads, and popular tales, f His researches sometimes ex- tended into the vain province of judicial astrolo- gy, in which he was a firm believer ; and there is reason to think that he also credited divination by dreams. In the country, he delighted in the pastime of fishing, and used, says Mr Malone, to spend some time with Mr Jones of Ramsden, in Wiltshire. D'Urfey was sometimes of this party ; but Dryden appears to have undervalued his skill in fishing, as much as his attempts at poetry. Hence Fenton, in his Epistle to Mr Lambard : * Vol. XVIII. p. 31. f " I find, (says Gildon,) Mr Bayes, the younger, [Rowe,] has two qualities, like Mr Bayes, the elder; his admiration of some odd books, as ' Reynard the Fox/ and the old ballads of * Jane Shore/ &c. Remarks on Mr Rome's Plays. ' Reynard the Fox' is also mentioned in ' The Town and Country Mouse/ as a favourite book of Dryden. And Addison, in the 85th number of the Spectator, informs us, that Dorset and Dryden delighted in perusing the collection of old ballads which the latter possessed. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN". 46 1 " By long experience, D'Urfey may no doubt Ensnare a gudgeon, or sometimes a trout; Yet Dryden once exclaimed, in partial spite, * He Jish !' because the man attempts to write." I may conclude this notice of Dryden's habits, which I have been enabled to give chiefly by the researches of Mr Malone, with two notices of a minute nature. Dryden was a great taker of snuff, which he made himself. Moreover, as a preparation to a course of study, he usually took medicine, and observed a cooling diet. J Dryden's house, which he appears to have re- sided in from the period of his marriage till his death, was in Gerrard- street, the fifth on the left hand coming from Little Newport-street. * The back windows looked upon the gardens of Lei- cester-House, of which circumstance our poet availed himself to pay a handsome compliment to the noble owner, f His excursions to the country seem to have been frequent; perhaps the more so, as Lady Elizabeth always remained in town. In his latter days, the friendship of his relations, John Driden of Chesterton, and Mrs Steward of Cotterstock, rendered their houses agreeable places of abode to the aged poet. They appear j Vol. XVIII. P . no. * It is now No. 43. f Vol. VII. p. 288. 462 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. also to have had a kind solicitude about his little comforts, of value infinitely beyond the contribu- tions which they made towards aiding them. And thus concludes all that we have learned of the private life of Dryden. The fate of Dryden's family must necessarily interest the admirers of English literature. It con- sisted of his wife, Lady Elizabeth Dryden, and three sons, John, Charles, and Erasmus-Henry. Upon the poet's death, it may be believed, they felt themselves slenderly provided for, since all liis efforts, while alive, were necessary to secure them from the gripe of penury. Yet their situa- tion was not very distressing. John and Eras- mus-Henry were abroad ; and each had an office at Rome, in which he was able to support him- self. Charles had for some time been entirely dependent on his father, and administered to his effects, as he died without a will. The libe- rality of the Duchess of Ormond, and of Dri- den of Chesterton, had been lately received, and probably was not expended. There was, besides, the poet's little patrimonial estate, and a small property in Wiltshire, which the Earl of Berkshire settled upon Lady Elizabeth at her marriage, and which yielded L. 50 or L. 60 annu- ally. There was therefore an income of about L. 100 a-year, to maintain the poet's widow and LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 463 children; enougli in these times to support them in decent frugality. Lady Elizabeth Dryden's temper had long dis- turbed her husband's domestic happiness. " His invectives," says Mr Malone, " against the mar- ried state, are frequent and bitter, and were continued to the latest period of his life ;" and he adds, from most respectable authority, that the family of the poet held no intimacy with his lady, confining their intercourse to mere visits of ceremony. A similar alienation seems to have taken place between her and her own relations* Sir Robert Howard, perhaps, being cxcepted ; for her brother, the Honourable Edward Howard, talks of Dryden's being engaged in a translation of Virgil, as a thing he had learned merely by common report. * Her wayward disposition was, however, the effect of a disordered imagination, which, shortly after Dryden's death, degenerated into absolute insanity, in which state she remain- ed 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 ingenious and accomplished P. 9.9. 464 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEJf. gentlemen. Charles, the eldest, and favourite son of the poet, was born at Charlton, Wiltshire, in 1666. He received a classical education un- der Dr Busby, his father's preceptor, and was chosen King's Scholar in 1680. Being elected to Trinity College in Cambridge, he was admitted a member in 1683. It would have been difficult to conceive, that the son of Dry den should not have attempted poetry ; but though Charles Dryden escaped the fate of Icarus, he was very, very far from emulating his father's soaring flight. Mr Malone has furnished a list of his compositions in Latin and English.* About 1692, he went to Italy, and through the interest of Cardinal Howard, to whom he was related by the mother's side, he became Chamberlain of the Household; not, as Corinna pretends, " to that remarkably fine gentleman, Pope Clement XI." but to Pope * These are, 1. Latin verses, prefixed to Lord Roscommon's Essay on Translated Verse. 2. Latin verses or. the Death of Charles II., published in the Cambridge collection of Elegies on that occasion. 3. A poem in the same language, upon Lord Arlington's Gardens, published in the Second Miscellany. 4. A translation of the seventh Satire of Juvenal, mentioned in the text. 5. An English poem, on the Happiness of a Retired Life. 6. A pretty song, printed by Mr Malone, to which Charles Drydeu also composed music. 7 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 46\5 Innocent XII. His way to this preferment was smoothed by a pedigree drawn up in Latin by his father, of the families of Dryden and Howard, which is said to have been deposited in the Va- tican. Dryden, whose turn for judicial astrology we have noticed, had calculated the nativity of his son Charles ; and it would seem, that a part of his predictions were fortuitously fulfilled. Charles, however, having suffered, while at Rome, by a fall, and his health, in consequence, being much injured, his father prognosticated he would begin to recover in the month of Septem- ber 1 697. The issue did no great credit to the pre- diction ; for young Dryden returned to England in 1698 in the same indifferent state of health, as is obvious from the anxious solicitude v/ith which his father always mentions Charles in his corre- spondence. Upon the poet's death, Charles, we have seen, administered to his effects on 10th June, 1700, Lady Elizabeth, his mother, renoun- cing the succession. In the next year, Granville conferred on him the profits arising from the au- thor's night of an alteration of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice;" and his liberality to the son of one great bard may be admitted to balance his presumption, in manufacturing a new drama VOL, i. 2 u 466 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. out of the labours of another.* Upon the 20th August, 1704, Charles Dry den was drowned, in an attempt to swim across the Thames, at Dat- chet, near Windsor. I have degraded into the Appendix, the romantic narrative of Corinna, concerning his father's prediction, already men- tioned. It contains, like her account of the fu- neral of the poet, much positive falsehood, and gross improbability, with some slight scantling of foundation in fact. John Dryden, the poet's second son, was born * 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 representative of our great dramatic poet speak these Jines ! " These scenes in their rough native dress were mine ; But now, improved, u-ith nobltr lustre shine : The first rude sketches Shakespeare's pencil drew, But all the shining master-strokes are new* This play, ye critics, thail your fury stand, Adorned and rescued by a faultless hand." To which our author replies, " I Jong endeavoured to support the stage, With the faint copies of thy nohler rage, 13ut 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." MALONK, LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 467 in 1667, or 1668, was admitted a King's Scholar in Westminster in 1682, and elected to Oxford in 1685. Here he became a private pupil of the celebrated Obadiah Walker, Master of University College, a Roman Catholic. It seems probable that young Dryden became a convert to that faith before his father. His religion making it impos- sible for him to succeed in England, he followed his brother Charles to Rome, where he officiated as his deputy in the Pope's household. John Dry- den translated the fourteenth Satire of Juvenal, published in his father's version, and wrote a comedy entitled, " The Husband his own Cuck- old," acted in Lincoln's-Inn- Fields in 1(596; Dry- den, the father, furnishing a prologue, and Con- greve an epilogue. In 1700-1, he made a tour through Sicily and Malta, and his journal was published in 1706. It seems odd, that in the whole course of his journal, he never mentions his father's name, nor makes the least allusion to his very recent death. John Dryden, the younger, died at Rome soon after this excursion. Erasmus-Henry, Dryden's third son, was born 2d May, 1669, and educated in the Charter- House, to which he was nominated by Charles II., shortly after the publication of " Absalom and LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. Achitophel."* He does not appear to have been at any university ; probably his religion was the obstacle. Like his brothers, he went to Rome; and as both his father and mother request his prayers, we are to suppose he was originally des- tined for the church. But he became a Captain in the Pope's guards, and remained at Rome till John Dryden, his elder brother's death. After this event, he seems to have returned to England, and in 1708 succeeded to the title of Baronet, as representative of Sir Erasmus Driden, the au- thor's grandfather. But the estate of Canons- Ashby, which should have accompanied the title, had been devised by Sir Robert Driden, the poet's first cousin, to Edward Dryden, the eldest son of Erasmus, the younger brother of the poet. Thus, if the author had lived a few years longer, his pecuniary embarrassments would have been embittered by his succeeding to the honours of his family, without any means of sustaining the rank they gave him. With this Edward Dryden, Sir Erasmus-Henry seems to have resided until his death, which took place at the family mansion of anons-Ashby in 1710. Edward acted as a manar * Page 246, and Vol. IX. p. 201. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. 46*9 ger of his cousin's affairs ; and Mr Malone sees reason to think, from their mode of accounting, that Sir Erasmus-Henry had, like his mother^ been visited with mental derangement before his death, and had resigned into Edward's hands the whole management of his concerns. Thus ended the poet's family, none of his sons surviving him above ten years. The estate of Canons-Ashby became again united to the title, in the person of John Dryden, the surviving brother. * * Mr Malone says, " Edward Dryden, the eldest son of the last Sir Erasmus Dryden, left by his wife, Elizabeth Allen, who died in London in 176 1 , five sons; the youngest of whom, Bevil, was father of the present Lady Dryden. Sir John, the eldest, survived all his brothers, and died without issue, at Canons- Ashby, March 20, 1770/' LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. SECTION VIII. The State of Dryden's Reputation at his Death, and after- wards The general Character of his Mind His Merit as a Draffatist As a Lyrical Poet A& a Satirist As a Narrative Poet As a Philosophical and Miscella- neous Poet As a Translator As a Prose Author As a Critic. IF Dry den received but a slender share of the gifts of fortune, it was amply made up to him in reputation. Even while a poet militant upon earth, he received no ordinary portion of that applause, which is too often reserved for the "dull cold ear of death." He combated, it is true, but he conquered ; and, in despite of faction, civil and religious, of penury, and the contempt which fol- lows it, of degrading patronage, and rejected so- licitation, from 1666 to the year of his death, the name of Dryden was first in English literature. Nor was his fame limited to Britain. Of the French literati, although Boileau,* with unwor- * Life and Works of Arthur Maynwaring, 1715, p. 17- LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. thy affectation, 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. * Sir John Shadwell, the son of our author's ancient adversary, bore an honourable and manly testimony to the general regret among the men of letters at Paris for the deatli of Dry- den. " The men of letters here lament the loss of Mr Dryden very much. The honours paid to him have done our countrymen no small service ; for, next to having so considerable a man of our own growth, 'tis a reputation to have known how to value him; as patrons very often pass for wits, by esteeming those that are so " And from an- other authority we learn, that the engraved copies of Dryden's portrait were bought up with avidity on the Continent, f But it was in England where the loss of Dry- den was chiefly to be felt. It is seldom the ex- tent of such a deprivation is understood, till it has taken place ; as the size of an object is best * So says Charles Blount, in the dedication to the Religio Laid. He is contradicted by Tom Brown. f In a poem published on Dryden's death, by Brome, writ- ten, as Mr Malone conjectures, I>y Captain Gibbon, son of the physician. 472 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEff. estimated, when we see the space void which it had long occupied. The men of literature, start- ing as it were from a dream, began to heap com- memorations, panegyrics, and elegies: the great were as much astonished at their own neglect of such an object of bounty, as if the same had never been practised before; and expressed as much com- punction, as it were never to occur again. The poets were not silent; but their strains only evinced their woeful degeneracy from him whom they mourned. Henry Play ford, a publisher of music, collected their effusions into a compilation, entitled, "Luctus Britannici, or the Tears of the British Muses, for the death of John Dryden ;" which he published about two months after Dry- den's death. * Nine ladies, assuming each the , e n St0y ferTues <%>May7, 1700, Playford inserted the following advertisement : "The death of the famous John Dryden, Esq., Foet Laureat therr two. late Majesties, King Charles, and King James the Second, be.ng a subject capable of employing the best pens, and several persons of quality, and others, having put a stop to his mterment, which is designed to be in Chaucer's -rave i Westminster-Abbey ; this is to desire the gentlemen of the [wo famous Universities, and others, who have a respect for the- memory of the deceased, and are inclinable to such perform- ances, to send what copies they please, as Epigrams, &c. to lenry Playford, at his shop at the Temple , Qh ^ ^^ LIFE OF JOHN DRYDESN 473 character of a Muse, and clubbing a funeral ode, or elegy, produced " The Nine Muses ;" of which very rare (and very worthless) collection, I have given a short account in the Appendix ; where the reader will also find an ode on the same sub- ject, by Oldys, which may serve for ample speci- men of the poetical lamentations over Dryden. The more costly, though equally unsubstantial, honour of a monument, was projected by Mon- tague; and loud were the acclamations of the poets on his generous forgiveness of past discords with Dryden, and the munificence of this uni- versal patron. But Montague never accomplish- ed his purpose, if he seriously entertained it. Pelham, Duke of Newcastle, announced the same intention; received the panegyric of Congreve for having done so ; and, having thus pocketed the applause, proceeded no further than Montague had done. At length Pope, in some lines which were rather an epitaph on Dryden, who lay in the vicinity, than on Howe, over whose tomb they street, and they shall be inserted in a Collection, which is de- signed after the same nature, and in the same method, (in what language they shall please,) as is usual in the composures which are printed on solemn occasions, at the two Universities afore- said." This advertisement, (with some alterations^ was continued for a month in the same paper. 474 LIFE OF JOHN DIIYDEN. were to be placed,* roused Dryden's original pa- tron, Sheffield, formerly Earl of Mulgrave, and now Duke of Buckingham, to erect over the grave of his friend the present simple monument which distinguishes it. The inscription was comprized in the following words: J. Dryden. Natus 1632. Mortuus 1 Mali 1700. Joannes Sheffield, Dux Buckinghamiensis posuit, 1720. f In the school of reformed English poetry, of * " Thy rcliques, 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 grateful woman to thy fame supplies. What a whole thankless land to his denies." f The epitaph at first intended by Pope for this monument, was, " This Sheffield rais'd ; 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 said to you in mine, about the monument, was in- tended only to quicken, not to alarm you. It is not worth your while to know what I meant by it ; but when I see you, you shall. I hope you may be at the Deanery towards the end 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 La- tin, which may, in a few words, say all that is to be said of Dryden, and yet nothing more than he dfeserves ? LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. 475 which Dryden must be acknowledged as the founder, there soon arose disciples not unwilling to be considered as the rivals of their master. Addison had his partizans, who were desirous to hold him up in this point of view; and he him- " JOHANNl DRYDENO, CUI POES1S ANGLICANA VIM SUAM AC VENERES DEBET; ET SI QUA IN POSTERUM AUGEBITUR LAUDE, EST ADHUC DEBITURA. HONORIS ERGO P. ETC. " To shew you that I am as much in earnest in the affair aa 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 lines like 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 Tain." The thought, as Mr Malone observes, is nearly the same as in the following lines in " Luctus Britannic!/' by William Man- ton, of Trinity College, Cambridge : " / Jo AN HEM DHYDEN, poctarum facile principcm. Si quis in has aides intret fortasse viator, Busta poetarum dum veneranda notet, Cernat et exuvias Drydeni, plura referre Haud opus : ad laudes vox ea sola satis." 476 LIFE OF JOHN DBYDEN. self is said to have taken pleasure, with the assist- ance of Steele, to depreciate Dryden, whose fame was defended by Pope and Congreve. No serious invasion of Dryden's pre-eminence can be said, however, to have taken place, till Pope himself, refining upon that structure of versification which our author had first introduced, and attending with sedulous diligence to improve every passage to the highest pitch of point and harmony, exhibited a new style of composition, and claimed at least to share with Dryden the sovereignty of Parnassus. I will not attempt to concentrate what Johnson has said upon this interesting comparison : " In acquired knowledge, the superiority must be allowed to Dryden, whose education was more scholastic, and who, before he became an author, had been allowed more time for study, with bet- ter means of information. His mind has a larger range, and he collects his images and illustrations from a more extensive circumference of science. Dryden knew more of man in his general na- ture, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive spe- culation, and those of Pope by minute attention. There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dry- den, and more certainty in that of Pope. " Poetry was not the sole praise of either; for LIFE OF JOHN DKYDEN. 477 both excelled likewise in prose ; but Pope did not borrow his prose from his predecessor. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied, that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the mo- tions of his own mind, Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid ; Pope is always smooth, uniform, arid gentle. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diver- sified by the varied exuberance of abundant ve- getation ; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by tha scythe, and levelled by the roller. " Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality, without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert ; that energy, which collects, combines, amplifies, and anir mates; the superiority must, with some hesitar tion, be allowed to Dryden. It is not to be in- ferred, that of this poetical vigour Pope had only a little, because Dryden had more; for every other writer, since Milton, must give place tp Pope : and even of Dryden it must be said, that if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. Dryden's performances were al- ways hasty, either excited by some external oc- casion, or extorted by domestic necessity ; he composed without consideration, and published LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. without correction. What his mind could supply at call, or gather in one excursion, was all that he sought, and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accu- mulate all that study might produce, or chance might supply. If the flights of Dryden, there- fore, are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dry den's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with fre- quent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual de- light."* As the eighteenth century advanced, the diffe- rence between the styles of these celebrated au- thors became yet more manifest. It was then obvious, that though Pope's felicity of expression, his beautiful polish of sentiment, and the occa- sional brilliancy of his wit, were not easily imi- tated, yet many authors, by dint of a good ear, and a fluent expression, learned to command the unaltered sweetness of his melody, which, like a favourite tune, when descended to hawkers and * Life of Pope. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 479 ballad-singers, became disgusting as it became common. The admirers of poetry then reverted to the brave negligence of Dryden's versification, as, to use Johnson's simile, the eye, fatigued with the uniformity of a lawn, seeks variety in the un- cultivated glade or swelling mountain. The pre- ference for which Dennis, asserting the cause of Dryden, had raved and thundered in vain, began, by degrees, to be assigned to the elder bard ; and many a poet sheltered his harsh verses and ine- qualities under an assertion that he belonged to the school of Dryden. Churchill Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mine], 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 personal sarcasm, couched in masculine, though irregular versification, dashed from the pen without revision, and admitting occasional rude and flat passages, to afford the author a spring to comparative ele- vation. But imitation always approaches to cari- cature; and the powers of Churchill have been unable to protect him from the oblivion into which his poems are daily sinking, owing to the ephemeral interest of political subjects, and his indolent negligence of severe study and regular!- 480 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. ty. To imitate Dryden, it were well to study hi* merits, without venturing to adopt the negli- gencies and harshness, which the hurry of his composition, and the comparative rudeness of his age, rendered in him excusable. At least, those who venture to sink as low, should be confident of the power 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 Dryden, may be fairly pointed out as an object of emula- tion, it is the less pleasing, but not less necessary, duty of his biographer a.nd editor, to notice 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 scatter- ed in various places through these volumes, that, while attempting the consideration of one or two of his distinguishing and pre-eminent composi- tions, which have been intentionally reserved to. illustrate a few pages of general criticism, I feel myself free from the difficult, and almost contra- dictory task, of drawing my maxims and examples from the extended course of his literary career. My present task is limited to deducing his poetic character from those works which he formed on his last and most approved model. The general LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 481 tone of his genius, however, influenced the whole course of his publications ; and upon that, how- ever modified and varied by the improvement of his taste, a few preliminary notices may not be misplaced. The distinguishing characteristic of Dryden's genius seems to have been, the power of reasoning, and of expressing the result in appropriate lan- guage. This may seem slender praise ; yet these were the talents that led Bacon into the recesses of philosophy, and conducted Newton to the ca- binet of nature. The prose works of Drydcn bear repeated evidence to his philosophical powers. His philosophy was not indeed of a formed and systematic character ; for he is often contented to leave the path of argument which must have conducted him to the fountain of truth, and to resort with indolence or indifference to the leaky cisterns which had been hewn out by former critics. But where his pride or his taste are in- terested, he shews evidently, that it was not want of the power of systematizing, but of the time and patience necessary to form a system, which occasions the discrepancy that we often notice in his critical and philological disquisi- tions. This power of ratiocination, of investiga- ting, discovering, and appreciating that which is VOL. i. $ M 482 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. really excellent, if accompanied with the neces- sary command of fanciful illustration, and elegant expression, is the most interesting quality which can be possessed by a poet. It must indeed have a share in the composition of every thing that is truly estimable in the fine arts, as well as in phi- losophy. Nothing is so easily attained as the power of presenting the extrinsic qualities of fine painting, fine music, or fine poetry; the beauty of colour and outline, the combination of notes, the melody of versification, may be imitated by art- ists of mediocrity ; and many will view, hear, or peruse their performances, without being able positively to discover why they should not, since composed according to all the rules, afford plea- sure equal to those of Raphael, Handel, or Dry- den. The deficiency lies in the vivifying spirit, which, like alcohol, may be reduced to the same principle in all, though it assumes such varied qualities from the mode in which it is exerted or combined. Of this power of intellect, Dryden seems to have possessed almost an exuberant share, combined, as usual, with the faculty of correcting his own conceptions, by observing human nature, the practical and experimental philosophy as well of poetry as of ethics or phy- sics. The early habits of Dryden's education i LIFE OF JOHN DKYDEtf. 483 and poetical studies gave bis researches some- what too much of a metaphysical character; and it was a consequence of his mental acutcness, that his dramatic personages often philosophized or rea- soned, when they ought only to have felt. The more lofty, the fiercer, the more ainhitious feel- ings, seem also to have heen his favourite studies. Perhaps the analytical mode in which he exer- cised his studies of human life, tended to confine his observation to the more energetic feeiings of pride, anger, ambition, and other high-toned passions. lie, that mixes in public life, must see enough of these stormy convulsions ; but the finer and more imperceptible operations of love, in its sentimental modifications, if the heart of the author does not supply an example from its own feelings, cannot easily be studied at the expence of others. Dryden's bosom, it must be owned, seems to have afforded him no such means of information; the licence of his age, and perhaps the advanced period at which he commenced his literary ca- reer, had probably armed him against this more exalted strain of passion. The love of the senses he has in many places expressed, in as forcible and dignified colouring as the subject could ad- mit; but of a mere moral and sentimental passion he seems to have had little idea, since he fre- 484- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEBT. quently substitutes in its place the absurd, unna- tural, and fictitious refinements of romance. In short, his love is always in indecorous nakedness, or sheathed in the stiff panoply of chivalry. But if Dryden fails in expressing the milder and more tender passions, not only did the stronger feel- ings of the heart, in all its dark or violent work- ings, but the face of natural objects, and their ope- ration upon the human mind, pass promptly in review at his command. External pictures, and their corresponding influence on the spectator, are equally ready at his summons; and though his poetry, from the nature of his subjects, is in general rather ethic and didactic, than narrative, yet no sooner does he adopt the latter style of composition, than his figures and his landscapes are presented to the mind with the same viva- city as the flow of his reasoning, or the acute me- taphysical discrimination of his characters. But the powers of observation and of deduc- tion are not the only qualities essential to the po- etical character. The philosopher may indeed prosecute his experimental researches into the arcana of nature, and announce them to the pub- lic through the medium of a friendly redacteur, as the legislator of Israel obtained permission to speak to the people by the voice of Aaron ; but LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 485 the poet lias no such privilege ; nay, his doom is so far capricious, that, though he may be posses- sed of the primary quality of poetical concep- tion to the highest possible extent, it is but like a lute without its strings, unless he has the subordi- nate, though equally essential, power of expressing what he feels and conceives, in appropriate and harmonious language. With this power Dryden's poetry was gifted in a degree, surpassing in modu- lated harmony that of all who had preceded him, and inferior to none that has since written Eng- lish verse. lie first shewed that the English lan- guage was capable of uniting smoothness and strength. The hobbling verses of his predeces- sors were abandoned even by the lowest versi- fiers ; and by the force of his precept and example, the meanest lampooners of the year seventeen hundred wrote smoother lines than Donne and Cowley, the chief poets of the earlier half of the seventeenth century. What was said of Rome adorned by Augustus, has been, by Johnson, ap- plied to English poetry improved by Dryden ; that he found it of brick, and left it of marble. This reformation was not merely the effect of an excellent ear, and a superlative command of grati- fying it by sounding language ; it was, we have seen, the effect of close, accurate, and continued study of tht power o^ the English tongue. Upon 486 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. what principles he adopted and continued his sys- tem of versification, he Jong meditated to commu- nicate in his projected prosody of English poetry. The work, however, might have heen more curi- ous than useful, as there would have been some danger of its diverting the attention, and misgui- ding the efforts of poetical adventurers; for as it is more easy to be masons than architects, we may deprecate an art which might teach the world to value those who can build rhymes, without at- tending to the more essential qualities of poetry. Strict attention might no doubt discover the principle of Dryden's versification ; but it seems no more essential to the analysing his poetry, than the principles of mathematics to under- standing music, although the art necessarily de- pends on them. The extent in which Dryden reformed our poetry, is most readily proved by an appeal to the ear ; and Dr Johnson has forcibly stated, that " he knew how to choose the flowing and the sonorous words ; to vary the pauses and adjust the accents; to diversify the cadence, and yet preserve th^ smoothness of the metre." To vary the English hexameter, he established the use of the triplet and Alexandrine. Though ri- diculed by Swift, who vainly thought he had ex- ploded them for ever, their force is still acknovy- ledged in classical poetry. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 487 Of the various kinds of poetry which Dryden occasionally practised, the drama was that which, until the last six years of his life; he chiefly re- lied on for support. His style of tragedy, we have seen, varied with his improving taste, per- haps with the change of manners. Although the heroic drama, as we have described it at length in he preceding i pages, presented the strongest temptation to the exercise of argumen- tative poetry in sounding rhyme, Dryden was at length contented to ahaudon it for the more pure and chaste style of tragedy, which profes- ses rather the representation of human heings, than the creation of ideal perfection, or fantas- tic and anomalous characters. The best of Dry- den's performances in this latter style, are un- questionably " Don Sebastian," and " All for Love." Of these, the former is in the poet's very best manner ; exhibiting dramatic persons, con- sisting of such bold and impetuous characters as lie delighted to draw, well contrasted, forcibly marked, and engaged in an interesting succession of events. To many tempers, the scene betM-een Sebastian and Dorax must appear one of the most moving that ever adorned the British stage. Of " All for Love," we may say, that it is suc- cessful in a softer style of painting; and that so far as sweet and beautiful versification, elegant * * * 488 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. language, and occasional tenderness, can make amends for Dryden's deficiencies in describing the delicacies of sentimental passion, they are to be found in abundance in that piece. But on these, and on the poet's other tragedies, we have enlarged in our preliminary notices prefixed to each piece. Dryden's comedies, besides being stained with the license of the age, (a license which he seems to use as much from necessity as choice), have, generally speaking, a certain heaviness of charac- ter. There are many flashes of wit ; but the author has beaten his flint hard ere he struck them out. It is almost essential to the success of a jest, that it should at least seem to be extemporaneous. If we espy the joke ata distance, nay, if without see- ing it we have the least reason to suspect we are travelling towards one, it is astonishing how the perverse obstinacy of our nature delights to re- fuse it currency. When, therefore, as is often the case in Dryden's comedies, two persons re- main on the stage for no obvious purpose but to say good things, it is no wonder they receive but little thanks from an ungrateful audience. The incidents, therefore, and the characters, ought to be comic; but actual jests, or bon mots, should be rarely introduced, and then naturally, easily, with- out an appearance of premeditation, and bearing a 4 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 489 strict conformity to the character of the person who utters them. Comic situation Dryclen did not greatly study ; indeed I hardly recollect any, un- less in the closing scene of " The Spanish Friar," which indicates any peculiar felicity of inven- tion. For comic character, he is usually content- ed to paint a generic representative of a certain class of men or women ; a Father Dominic, for example, or a Melantha, with all the attrihutes of their calling and manners, strongly and divert- ingly pourtrayed, but without any individuality of character. It is prohable that, with these deficiencies, he felt the truth of his own ac- knowledgment, and that he was forced upon com- posing comedies to gratify the taste of the age, while the bent of his genius was otherwise di- rected. In lyrical poetry, Dryden must be allowed to have no equal. " Alexander's Feast" is sufficient to shew his supremacy in that brilliant department. In this exquisite production, he flung from him all the trappings with which his contemporaries had embarrassed the ode. The language, lofty and striking as the ideas are, is equally simple and harmonious ; without far-fetched allusions, or epi- thets, or metaphors, the story is told as intelli- gibly as if it had been in the most humble prose. The change of tone in the harp of Timotheus, re- * " LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. gulates the measure and the melody, and the lan- guage of eveiy stanza. The hearer, while he is led on by the successive changes, experiences al- most the feelings of the Macedonian and his peers; nor is the splendid poem disgraced by one word or line unworthy of it, unless we join in the severe criticism of Dr Johnson, on the conclu- ding stanzas. It is true, that the praise of St Ce- cilia is rather abruptly introduced as a conclusion to the account of the Feast of 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 of Cecilia literal. But, while we stoop to such criticism, \ve seek for blots in the sun. Of Dryden's other pindarics, some, as the ce- lebrated " Ode to the Memory of Mrs Killigrew," are mixed with the leaven of Cowley ; others, like the " Threnodia Augustalis" are occasion- ally fiat and heavy. All contain passages of brilliancy, and all are thrown into a versifica- tion, melodious amidst its irregularity. We listen for the completion of Dryden's stanza, as for the explication of a difficult passage in music ; and wild and lost as the sound appears, the ear is LIFE 0V JOHN DRYDEtf. 491 proportionally gratified by the unexpected ease with which harmony is extracted from discord and confusion. The satirical powers of Dryden were of the highest order. He draws his arrow to the head, and dismisses it straight upon his ohject of aim. In this \\ ? alk he wrought almost as great a re- formation as upon versification in general ; as will plainly appear, it' we consider, that the sa- tire, before Dryden's time, bore the same refe- rence to " Absalom and Achitophel," which an ode of Cowiey bears to " Alexander's Feast." Butler, and his imitators, had adopted a meta- physical satire, as the poets in the earlier part of the century had created a metaphysical vein of serious poetry. * Both required store of learn- ing to supply the perpetual expenditure of ex- traordinary and far-fetched illustration ; the ob- ject of both was to combine and hunt down the strangest and most fanciful analogies ; and both held the attention of the reader perpetually on the stretch, to keep up with the meaning of the author. There can be no doubt, that this metaphysical vein was much better fitted for the burlesque than the sublime. Yet the perpetual LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. scintillation of Butler's wit is too dazzling to be delightful; and we can seldom read far in " Hudibras" without feeling more fatigue than pleasure. His fancy is employed with the pro- fusion of a spendthrift, by whose eternal round of banquettinghis guests are at length rather wea- ried out than regaled. Dry den was destined to correct this among other errors of his age; to shew the difference between burlesque and satire; and to teach his successors in that species of as- sault, rather to thrust than to flourish with their weapon. For this purpose he avoided the unva- ried and unrelieved style of grotesque description and combination, which had been fashionable since the satires of Cleveland and Butler. To ren- der the objects of his satire hateful and con- temptible, he thought it necessary to preserve the lighter shades of character, if not for ^he purpose of softening the portrait, at least for that of pre- serving the likeness. While Dryden seized, and dwelt upon, and aggravated, all the evil features of his subject, he carefully retained just as much of its laudable traits as preserved him from the charge of want of candour, and fixed down the resemblance upon the party. And thus, instead of unmeaning caricatures, he presents portraits which cannot be mistaken, however unfavourable ideas they may convey of the originals. The cha- LIFE OF JOHN DHYDEN. 493 racter of Shaftesbury, both as Achitophel, and as drawn in *' The Medal, ' bears peculiar witness to this assertion. While other court poets endea- voured to turn the obnoxious statesman into ri- dicule on account of his personal infirmities and extravagancies, Dry den boldly confers upon him all the praise for talent and for genius that his friends could have claimed, and trusts to the force of his satirical expression for working up even these admirable attributes with such a mix- ture of evil propensities and dangerous qualities, that the whole character shall appear dreadful, and even hateful, but not contemptible. But where a character of less note, a Shad well or a Settle, cross- ed his path, the satirist did not lay himself under these restraints, but wrote in the language of bit- ter irony and unmeasurable contempt : even then, however, we are less called on to admire the wit of the author, than the force and energy of his poeti- cal philippic. These are the verses which are made by indignation, and, no more than theatrical scenes of real passion, admit of refined and protracted turns of wit, or even the lighter sallies of humour. These last ornaments are proper in that Horatian satire, which rather ridicules the follies of the age, than stigmatises the vices of individuals ; but in this style Dryden has made few essays. He enter- ed the field as champion of a political party, or as 494 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtt, defender of his own reputation ; discriminated his antagonists, and applied the scourge with all the vehemence of Juvenal. As lie has himself said of that satirist, " his provocations \\ ere great, and he has revenged them tragically." This is the more worthy of notice, as, in the Essay on Satire, Dryden gives a decided preference to those nicer and more delicate touches of satire, which consist in fine raillery. But \vhatever was the opinion of his cooler moments, the poet's prac- tice was dictated by the furious party-spirit of the times, and the no less keen stimulative of personal resentment. It is perhaps to be regret- ted, that so much energy of thought, and so much force of expression, should have been wasted in anatomising such criminals as Shad well and Settle ; yet we cannot account the amber less precious, because they are grubs and flies that are inclosed within it. The " Fables"' of Dryden are the best exam- ples of his talents as a nanative poet; those powers of composition, description, and narra- tion, which must have been called into exercise by the Epic Muse, had his fate allowed him to enlist among her votaries. The " Knight's Tale/' the longest and most laboured of Chaucer's stories, possesses a degree of regularity which might satis- LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. 495 fy the most severe critic. It is true, that the ho- nour arising from thence must be assigned to the more ancient bard, who had himself drawn his subject from an Italian model; but the high and decided preference which Dryden has given to this story, although somewhat censured byTrapp, enables us to judge how much the poet held an accurate combination of parts, and coherence of narrative, essentials of epic poetry. * That a classic scholar like Trapp should think the plan of the " Knight's Tale" equal to that of the Iliad, is a degree of candour not to be hoped for; but surely to an unprejudiced reader, a story which exhausts in its conclusion all the interest which it has ex- cited in its progress, which, when terminated, leaves no question to be asked, no personage un- disposed of, and no curiosity unsatisfied, is, ab- stractedly considered, more gratifying than the his- tory of a few weeks of a ten years war, commen- cing long after the siege had begun, and ending * " Norimus judidutn Drydeni de poemafc quodam Chauceri, pulcfiro sane illo, ct admodum laudando, nimirnm quod non modo rerc epiaim sit, sed Jhada etiam atque JEneada aquet, into supe- ret. Sed norimus codem temporc liri illius maximi non semper accuratissimas esse censuras, nee ad sei-erissimam critices normam cxactas : illojudicc id plerumque optimum cst, quod nunc prcc manibits habet, et in quo nunc occvpatur." 496 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. long before the city was taken. Of the other tales, it can hardly be said that their texture is more in- genious or closely woven than that of ordinary no- vels or fables : but in each of them Dry den has dis- played the superiority of his genius, in selecting for amplification and ornament those passages most susceptible of poetical description. The account of the procession of the Fairy Chivalry in the " Flower and the Leaf;" the splendid description of the champions who came to assist at the tour- nament in the " Knight's Tale;" the account of the battle itself, its alternations and issue, if they can- not be called improvements on Chaucer, are never- theless so spirited a transfusion of his ideas into modern verse, as almost to claim the merit of ori- ginality. Many passages might be shewn in which this praise may be carried still higher, and the merit of invention added to that of imitation. Such is the description of the commencement of the tourney, which is almost entirely original, and most of the ornaments in the translations from Boccacio, whose prose fictions demanded more additions from the poet than the exuberant imagery of Chaucer. To select instances would be endless ; but every reader of poetry has by heart the description of Iphigenia asleep, nor are LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 497 the lines in "Theodore and Honoria," " whicli describe the approach of the apparition, and its effects upon animated and inanimated nature, even before it becomes visible, 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 sound Was 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 nigh Seemed threatened, though unseen to mortal eye." It may be doubted, however, whether the sim- plicity of Boccacio's narrative has not sometimes suffered by the additional decorations of Dryden. The retort of Guiscard to Tancred's charge of in- gratitude is more sublime in the Italian original, f than as diluted by the English poet into five hexa- * Dryden was not the first who translated this tale of terror. There is in the collection of the late John, Duke of Roxburghe, " A Notable History of Nastagio and Traversari, no less piti- ful than pleasaunt; translated out of Italian into English verse, byC.T. London, 1569." f " Amor pno troppo piu, che ne vui ne iopossiamo." This sen- timent loses its dignity amid the " levelling of mountains ami raising plains," with which Dryden has chosen to illustrate it. VOL. I. 2 I 498 LIFE OF JOHN meters. A worse fault occurs in the whole co- louring of Sigismonda's passion, to which Dry- den has given a coarse and indelicate character, which he did not derive from Boccacio. In like manner, the plea used by Palamon in his prayer to Venus, is more nakedly expressed by Dryden than by Chaucer. The former, indeed, would probably have sheltered himself under the mantle of Lucretius ; but he should have recollected, that Palamon speaks the language of chivalry, and ought not, to use an expression of Lord Herbert, to have spoken like apaillard, but a cavalier. Indeed, we have before noticed it as^the most obvious and most degrading imperfection of Dryden's poetical imagination, that he could not refine that passion, which, of all others, is susceptible either of the pu- rest refinement, or of admitting the basest alloy. With Chaucer, Dryden's task was more easy than with Boccacio. Barrenness was not the fault of the Father of English poetry ; and amid the pro- fusion of images which he presented, his imita- tor had only the task of rejecting or selecting. In the sublime description of the temple of Mars, painted around with all the misfortunes ascribed to the influence of his planet, it would be difficult to point out a single idea, which is not found in the older poem. But Dryden has judiciously LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 499 omitted or softened some degrading and some disgusting circumstances ; as the " cook scalded in spite of his long ladle," the " swine devouring the cradled infant," the " pick purse," and other circumstances too grotesque or ludicrous, to har- monize with the dreadful group around them. Some points, also, of sublimity, have escaped the modern poet. Such is the appropriate and pic- turesque accompaniment of the statue of Mars : A wolf stood before him at his feet, With eyen red, and of a man he eat. * In the dialogue, or argumentative parts of the poem, Dryden has frequently improved on his original, while he falls something short of him in simple description, or in pathetic effect. Thus, the quarrel between Arcite and Palamon is wrought up with greater energy by Dryden than 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. * An emblem of a similar kind is said to have been found in the palace of Tippoo Sultan. 500 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. But the modern must yield the palm, despite the beauty of his versification, to 'the description of Emily by Chaucer; and may be justly accused of loading the dying speech of Arcite with con- ceits for which his original gave no authority. * When the story is of a light and ludicrous kind, as the Fable of the Cock and Fox, and the Wife of Bath's Tale, Dryden displays all the hu- mourous expression of his satirical poetry, with- out its personality. There is indeed a quaint Cervantic gravity in his mode of expressing him- self, that often glances forth, and enlivens whab otherwise would be mere dry narrative. Thus, he details certain things which past, While Cymon was endeavouring to be wise ; the force of which single word contains both a ludicrous and appropriate picture of the revolu- tion which the force of love was gradually crea- * As " Near bliss, and yet not blessed." Vol. XI. p. 315. and this merciless quibble, p. 272. 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. Yet Dryden, in the preface, declaims against the " inopem mt copia fecit," and similar jingles of Ovid, p. 217- 12 LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEN. 501 ting in the mind of the poor clown. This tone of expression he perhaps borrowed from Ariosto, and other poets of Italian chivalry, who are wont, ever and anon, to raise the mask, and smile even at the romantic tale they are themselves telling. Leaving these desultory reflections on Dryden's powers of narrative, I cannot but notice, that, from haste or negligence, he has sometimes mis- taken 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 bonces ; and, having made the error, he immediately devises an explanation of the device which he had mis- taken: For bows the strength of brawny arms imply, Emblems of valour, and of victory. lie has, in like manner, accused Chaucer of introducing Gallicisms into the English lan- guage; not aware that French was the language of the court of England not long before Chaucer's time, and that, far from introducing French phra- ses into the English tongue, the ancient bard was successfully active in introducing the English as a fashionable dialect, instead of the French, which had, before his time, been the only lan- guage of polite literature in England. Other in- 502 LIFE Or JOHN DRYDEN. stances might be given of similar oversights, which, in the situation of Dryden, are sufficiently- pardonable. Upon the whole, in introducing these romances of Boccacio and Chaucer to modern readers, Dry- den has necessarily deprived them of some of the charms which they possess for those who have perused them in their original state. With a tale or poem, by which we have been sincerely in- terested, we connect many feelings independent of those arising from actual poetical merit. The delight, arising from the whole, sanctions, nay sanctifies, the faulty passages; and even actual improvements, like supplements to a mutila- ted statue of antiquity, injure our preconceived associations, and hurt, by their incongruity with our feelings, more than they give pleasure by their own excellence. But to antiquaries Dryden has sufficiently justified himself, by declaring his ver- sion made for the sake of modern readers, who un- derstand sense and poetry as well as the old Saxon admirers of Chaucer, when that poetry and sense are put into words which they can understand. Let us also grant him, that, for the beauties which are lost, he has substituted many which the original did not afford ; that, in passages of gorgeous des- cription, he has added even to the chivalrous splen- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 503 dour of Chaucer, and has graced with poetical or- nament the simplicity of Boccacio; that, if he has failed in tenderness, he is never deficient in majes- ty; and that if the heart he sometimes untouched, the understanding and fancy are always exercised and delighted. The philosophy of Dryden, we have already said, was that of original and penetrating genius; imper- fect only, when, from want of time and of industry, he adopted the ideas of others, when he should have communed at leisure with his own mind. The proofs of his philosophical powers are notto he sought for in any particular poem or disquisition. Even the " Religio Laici," written expressly as a philosophical poem, only shews how easily themost powerful mind may entangle itself in sophistical toils of its own weaving; for the train of argument there pursued was completed by Dry den's con- version to the Roman Catholic faith. * It is there- fore in the discussion of incidental subjects, in his mode of treating points of controversy, in the new lights which he seldom fails to throw upon a controversial subject, in his talent of argumen- tative discussion, that we are to look for the cha- racter of Dry den's moral powers. His opinions, doubtless, are often inconsistent, and sometimes absolutely contradictory ; for, pressed by the ne- * See p. 307. 504 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. cessity of discussing the 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 sole subject of consideration was to maintain his present point ; and that by authority, by declamation, by argument, by every means. But his philosophical powers are not the less to be estimated, because thus irregularly and un- philosophically employed.* His arguments, even in the worst cause, bear witness to the energy of his mental conceptions ; and the skill with which they are stated, elucidated, enforced, and exem- plified, ever commands our admiration, though, in the result, our reason may reject their influence. It must be remembered also, to Dryden's honour, that he was the first to hail the dawn of experimen- tal philosophy in physics ; to gratulate his country on possessing Bacon, Harvey, and Boyle ; and to exult over the downfal of the Aristotelian tyran- ny. * Had he lived to see a similar revolution * " The longest tyranny that ever swayed, Was that wherein our ancestors betrayed Their free-born reason to the Stagy rite, 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." LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 505 commenced in ethics, there can be little doubt he would have welcomed it with the same de- light; or had his leisure and situation permitted him to dedicate his time to investigating moral problems, he might himself have led the way to deliverance from error and uncertainty. But the dawn of reformation must ever be gradual, and the acquisitions even of those calculated to ad- vance it must therefore frequently appear desul- tory and imperfect. The author of the Norum Organum believed in charms and occult sympathy; and Dryden in the chimeras of judicial astrology, and probably in the jargon of alchemy. When these subjects occur in his poetry, he dwells on them with a pleasure, which shows the command they maintained over his mind. Much of the as- trological knowledge displayed in the Knight's Tale is introduced, or at least amplified, by Dry- den ; and while, in the fable of the Cock and the Fox, he ridicules the doctrine of prediction from dreams, the inherent qualities of the four com- plexions, * and other abstruse doctrines of Para- * 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. 506 LIFE OF JOHN DllTDEN. celsus and his followers, we have good reason to suspect, that, like many other scoffers, he believed in the efficacy and truth of the suhject of his ri- dicule. However this shade of credulity may injure Dry den's character as a philosopher, we cannot regret its influence on his poetry. Col- lins has thus celebrated Fairfax : Prevailing poet, whose undoubting mind, Believed the magic Bonders which he sung. Nor can there be a doubt, that, as every work of imagination is tinged with the author's pas- sions and prejudices, it must be deep and ener- getic in proportion to the character of these im- pressions. Those superstitious sciences and pur- suits, which would, by mystic rites, doctrines, and inferences, connect us with the invisible world of spirits, or guide our daring researches to a know- ledge of future events, are indeed usually found to cow, crush, and utterly stupify, understandings of a lower rank ; but if the mind of a man of acute powers, and of warm fancy, becomes slightly im- bued with the visionary feelings excited by such studies, their obscure and undefined influence is ever found to aid the sublimity of his ideas, and to give that sombre and serious effect, which he can never produce, who does not him- self feel the awe which it is his object to excite. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 607 The influence of such a mystic creed is often felt where the cause is concealed ; for the hahits thus acquired are not confined to their own sphere of belief, hut gradually extend themselves over every adjacent province: and perhaps we may not go too far in believing, that lie who has felt their impression, though only in one branch of faith, becomes fitted to describe, with an air of reality and interest, not only kindred subjects, but superstitions altogether opposite to his own. The religion, which Drydcn finally adopted, lent its occasional aid to the solemn colouring of some of his later productions, upon which subject we have elsewhere enlarged at some length. * The occasional poetry of Dryden is marked strongly by masculine character. The Epistles vary with the subject; and are light, humourous, and satirical, or grave, argumentative, and philo- sophical, as the case required. In his Elegies, al- though they contain touches of true feeling, es- pecially where the stronger passions are to be il- lustrated, the poet is often content to substitute reasoning for passion, and rather to shew us cause why we ought to grieve, than to set us the * See the introduction to Britannia Rediviva, Vol. X. p. 287. ,508 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. example by grieving himself. The inherent de- fect in Dryclen's composition becomes here pecu- liarly conspicuous ; yet we should consider, that, in composing elegies for the Countess of Abing- don, whom he never saw, and for Charles II., by whom he had been cruelly neglected, and doubt- less on many similar occasions, Dryden could not even pretend to be interested in the mournful subject of his verse ; but attended, with his poem, as much in the way of trade, as the undertaker, on the same occasion, came with his sables 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 own fancy, but hardly by a hired panegyric on a real subject, in whom his heart acknowledges no other interest than a fee can give him. Few of Dryden's ele- giac effusions, therefore, seem prompted by sin- cere sorrow. That to Oldham may be an excep- tion ; but, even there, he rather strives to do ho- nour to the talents of his departed friend, than to pour out lamentations for his loss. Of the Pro- logues and Epilogues we have spoken fully else- where.* Some of them are coarsely satirical, and others grossly indelicate. Those spoken at Ox- * Vol. X. page 311. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 509 ford are the most valuable, and contain much good criticism and heautiful poetry. But the worst of them was probably well worth the petty recompense which the poet received. * The songs and smaller pieces of Dryden have smoothness, wit, and, when addressed to ladies, gallantry in profusion, but are deficient in tenderness. They seem to have been composed with great ease ; thrown together hastily and occasionally ; nor can we doubt, that many of them are now irreco- verably lost. Mr Malone gives us an instance of Dryden's fluency in extempore composition, which was communicated to him by Mr Walcott. " Conversation, one day after dinner, at Mrs Creed's, running upon the origin of names, Mr Dryden bowed to the good old lady, and spoke extempore the following verses : " So much religion in your name doth dwell, Your soul musl needs with piety excel). * It is twice stated in these volumes, (p. 295, and Vol. X. p. 371.) on the authority of the " Lite of Southerne," that Dry- den had originally five guineas for each prologue, and raised the sum to ten guineas on occasion of Southerne's requiring such a favour for his first play. But I am convinced the sum is exag- gerated ; and incline now to believe, with Ur Johnson, that the advance was from two to three guineas only. 510 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 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 Drydenform a distinguish- ed part of his poetical labours. No author, ex- cepting Pope, has done so much to endenizen the eminent poets of antiquity. In this sphere, also, it was the fate of Dryden to become a leading example to future poets, and to abrogate laws which had been generally received, although they imposed such trammels on translation as to ren- der it hardly intelligible. Before his distinguish- ed success showed that the object of the transla- tor should be to transfuse the spirit, not to copy servilely the very words of his original, it had been required, that line should be rendered for line, and, almost, word for word. It may easily be imagined, that, by the constraint and inver- sion which this cramping statute required, a poem was barely rendered not Latin, instead of being made English, and that, to the mere native reader, as the connoisseur complains in " The Critic," the interpreter was sometimes " the hard- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDF.ST. 511 cr to be understood of the two/' Those who seek examples, may find them in the jaw- breaking translations of Ben Jonson and Holyday. Cowley and Denham had indeed rebelled against this mode of translation, which conveys pretty much the same idea of an original, as an imitator would do of the gait of another, by studiously stepping after him into every trace which his feet had left upon the sand. But they assumed a license equally faulty, and claimed the privilege of wri- ting what might be more properly termed imita- tions, than versions of the classics. It was re- served to Dryden manfully to claim and vindicate the freedom of a just translation ; more limited than paraphrase, but free from the metaphrastic severity exacted from his predecessors. With these free yet unlicentious principles, Dryden brought to the task of translation a com- petent knowledge of the language of the origi- nals, with an unbounded command of his own. The latter is however by far the most marked cha- racteristic of his Translations. Dryden was not indeed deficient in Greek and Roman learning ; but he paused not to weigh and sift those diffi- cult and obscure passages, at which the most learned will doubt and hesitate for the correct meaning. The same rapidity, which marked his 512 LIFE OF JOHN DRTDEW. own poetry, seems to have attended his study of the classics. He seldom waited to analyze the sentence he was about to render, far less scru- pulously to weigh the precise purport and va- lue of every word it contained. If he caught the general spirit and meaning of the author, and could express it with equal force in Eng- lish verse, he cared not if minute elegancies were lost, or the beauties of accurate propor- tion destroyed, or a dubious interpretation hastily adopted on the credit of a scholium. He used abundantly the licence he has claimed for a trans- lator, to be deficient rather in the language out of which he renders, than of that into which he trans- lates. If such be but master of the sense of his author, Dryden argues, he may express that sense with eloquence in his own tongue, though he un- derstand not the nice turns of the original. " But without the latter quality he can never arrive at the useful and the delightful, without which reading is a penance and fatigue." * With the same spirit of haste, Dryden is often contented to present to the English reader some modern image, which he may at once fully comprehend, * Life of Lucian, Vol. XVIII. p. 81. LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 513 instead of rendering precisely a classic expression, which might require explanation or paraphrase. Thus the pulchra Sicyonia, 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, " Lena tibi tellus, et longo fava petantur JEquora circuitu : dextrumfuge littus et ttndas," 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. In the same tone, but with more intelligibility, if not felicity, Dryden translates palatia cceli in Ovid, the Louvre of the sky ; and, in the version of the first book of Homer, talks of the court of Jupiter in the phrases used at that of Whitehall. These expres- sions, proper to modern manners, often produce an unfortunate confusion between the age in which the scene is laid, and the date of the trans- lation. No judicious poet is willing to break the VOL. i. 2 & 514 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEtf. interest of a tale of ancient times, by allusions peculiar to his own period ; but when the transla- tor, instead of identifying himself as closely as pos- sible with the original author, pretends to such liberty, he removes us a third step from the time of action, and so confounds the manners of no less than three distinct asras, that in which the scene is laid, that in which the poem was written, and that, finally, in which the translation was ex- ecuted. There are passages in Dryden's yEneid, which, in the revolution of a few pages, transport our ideas from the time of Troy's siege to that of the court of Augustus, and thence downward to the reign of William the Third of Britain. It must be owned, at the same time, that when the translator places before you, not the exact words, but the image of the original, as the clas- sic author would probably have himself expressed it in English, the licence, when moderately em- ployed, has an infinite charm for those readers for whose use translations are properly written. Pope's Homer and Dryden's Virgil can never indeed give exquisite satisfaction to scholars, accustom- ed to study the Greek and Latin originals. The minds of such readers have acquired a classic tone ; and not merely the ideas and poetical ima- gery, but the manners and habits of the actors LIFE OF JOHJf DRTDEN. 515 have become intimately familiar to them. They will not, therefore, be satisfied with any transla- tion in which these are violated, whether for the sake of indolence in the translator, or ease to the unlettered reader; and perhaps they will be more pleased that a favourite bard should move with less ease and spirit in his new habiliments, than that his garments should be cut upon .the model of the country to which the stranger is in- troduced. In the former case, they will readily make allowance for the imperfection of modern language ; in the latter, they will hardly pardon the sophistication of ancient manners. But the mere English reader, who finds rigid adherence to antique costume rather embarrassing than plea- sing, who is prepared to make no sacrifices in or- der to preserve the true manners of antiquity, shocking perhaps to his feelings and prejudices, is satisfied that the Iliad and ./Eneid shall lose their antiquarian merit, provided they retain that vital spirit and energy, which is the soul of poetry in all languages, and countries, and ages whatsoever. He who sits down to Dryden's translation of Virgil, with the original text spread before him, will be at no loss to point out many- passages that are faulty, many indifferently un- derstood, many imperfectly translated, some in 516 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. which dignity is lost, others in which bombast is substituted in its stead. But the unabated vi- gour and spirit of the version more than overba- lances these and all its other deficiences. A se- dulous scholar might often approach more nearly to the dead letter of Virgil, and give an exact, distinct, sober-minded idea of the meaning and scope of particular passages. Trapp, Pitt, and others have done so. But the essential spirit of poetry is so volatile, that it escapes during such an operation, like the life of the poor criminal, whom the ancient anatomist is said to have dis- sected alive, in order to ascertain the seat of the soul. The carcase indeed is presented to the English reader, but the animating vigour is no more. It is in this art, of communicating the an- cient poet's ideas with force and energy equal to his own, that Dry den has so completely exceed- ed all who have gone before, and all who have succeeded him. The beautiful and unequalled version of the Tale of Myrrha in the " Metamor- phoses," the whole of the Sixth ^neid, and many other parts of Dryden's translations, are sufficient, had he never written one line of original poetry, to vindicate the well-known panegyric of Chur- chill : LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 517 " 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 Dryden would have succeed- ed in his proposed design to translate Homer, as happily as in his Virgil ? And although he him- self has declared the genius of the Grecian to be more fiery, and therefore better suited to his own than that of the Roman poet, there may be room to question, whether in this case he rightly esti- mated his own talents, or rather, whether, being fully conscious of their extent, he was aware of labouring under certain deficiencies pf taste, which must have been more apparent in a version of the Iliad than of the lEneid. If a transla- tor has any characteristic and peculiar foible, it is surely unfortunate to choose an original, who may give peculiar facilities to exhibit them. Thus, 518 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. even Dryden's repeated disclamation of puns, points, and quibbles, and all the repentance of his more sober hours, was unable, so soon as he began to translate Ovid, to prevent his sliding back into the practice of that false wit with which his ear- lier productions are imbued. Hence he has been seduced, by the similarity of style, to add to the offences of his original, and introduce, though it needed not, points of wit and antithetical pretti- nesses, for which he cannot plead Ovid's autho- rity. For example, he makes Ajax say of Ulys- ses, 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, texiquejacentem," 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 his original to relapse into a youth- ful fault, which he had solemnly repented of and abjured, there is surely room to believe, that the LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEK. 519 simple and almost rude manners described by Homer, might have seduced him into coarseness both of'ideasand expression, for which the studied, composed, and dignified style of the JEneid gave neither opening nor apology. That this was a fault which Dryden, with all his taste, never was able to discard, might easily be proved from va- rious passages in his translations, where the trans- gression is on his own part altogether gratuitous. Such is the well-known version of " Ut postessor agelli Dicerct, hccc mea sunt, vcteres migrate coloni, Nunc ticti," &fc. " 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," &c. In translating the most indelicate passage of Lucretius. Dryden has rather enhanced than veil- ed its indecency. The story of I phis in the Me- tamorphoses is much more bluntly told by the English poet than by Ovid. In short, where there was a latitude given for coarseness of de- scription and expression, Dryden has always too readily laid hold of it. The very specimen which he has given us of a version of Homer, contains many passages in which the antique Grecian 520 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEIf. simplicity is vulgarly 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, adorned 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's taste was improved in this, as in some other respects. In his translation of Juvenal, for example, the satire against women, coarse as it is, is considerably refined and soften- ed from the grossness of the Latin poet; wjio has, however, been lately favoured by a still more elegant, and (excepting perhaps one or two pas- sages) an equally spirited translation, by Mr Gif- ford of London. Yet, admitting this apology for Dryden as fully as we dare, from the numerous specimens of indelicacy even in his later transla- tions, we are induced to judge it fortunate that Homer was reserved for a poet who had not known LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 521 the age of Charles II. ; and whose inaccuracies and injudicious decorations may be pardoned, even by the scholar, when he considers the probability, that Dryden might have slipped into the opposite extreme, by converting rude simplicity into inde- cency or vulgarity. The TEneid, on the other hand, if it restrained Dryden's poetry to a cor- rect, steady, and even flight, if it damped his energy by its regularity, and fettered his excur- sive imagination by the sobriety of its decorum, had the corresponding advantage of holding forth to the translator no temptation to license, and no apology for negligence. Where the fervency of genius is required, Dryden has usually equalled his original ; where peculiar elegance and exact propriety is demanded, his version may be some- times found flat and inaccurate, but the master- ing spirit of Virgil prevails, and it is never dis- gusting or indelicate. Of all the classical trans- lations we can boast, none is so acceptable to the class of readers, to whom the learned languages are a clasped book and a sealed fountain. And surely it is no moderate praise to say, that a work is universally pleasing to those for whose use it is principally intended, and to whom only it is absolutely indispensable. The prose of Dryden may rank with the best LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. in the English language. It is no less of his own formation than his versification, is equally spirited, and equally harmonious. Without the lengthened and pedantic sentences of Clarendon, it is dignified where dignity is becoming, and is lively without the accumulation of strained and "absurd allusions and metaphors, which were un- fortunately mistaken for wit by many of the au- thor's contemporaries. Dryden has been accused of unnecessarily larding his style with Gallicisms. It must be owned, that, to comply probably with the humour of Charles, or from an affectation of the fashionable court dialect, the poet-laureat em- ployed such words as fougue, fraicheur, &c. in- stead of the corresponding expressions in Eng- lish ; an affectation which does not appear in our author's later writings. But even the learned and excellent Sir David Dalrymple was led to carry this idea greatly too far. " Nothing," says that admirable antiquary, " distinguishes the ge- nius of the English language so much as its ge- neral naturalization of foreigners. Dryden, in the reign of Charles II., printed the following words as pure French newly imported : amour, billet-doux, caprice, chagrin, conversation, doubk- cntendre, embarrassed, fatigue, Jigure, foible, gal- lant, good graces, grimace, incendiary, lei'ce, mal- LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 523 treated, rallied, repartee, ridicule, .tender, tour; with several others which are now considered as natives. ' Marriage- A-la-mode." * But of these words many had been long naturalized in Eng- land, and, with the adjectives derived from them, are used by Shakespeare and the dramatists of his age. | By their being printed in italicks in the play of " Marriage- A-la-mode," Dryden only meant to mark, that Melantha, the affected co- quette in whose mouth they are placed, was to use the French, not the vernacular pronuncia- tion. It will admit of question, whether any single French word has been naturalized upon the sole authority of Dryden. Although Dryden's style has nothing obsolete, we can occasionally trace a reluctance to abandon an old word or idiom ; the consequence, doubtless, of his latter studies in ancient poetry. In other re- spects, nothing can be more elegant than the dic- * Poems from the Bannatyne Manuscript, p. 228. f Shakespeare has capricious, conversation, fatigate, (if not fatigue, ) figure, gallant, good graces; incendiary is in Min- shew's " Guide to the Tongues," ed. l6'27- Tender often oc- curs in Shakespeare both as a substantive and verb. And many other of the above words may be detected by those who have time and inclination to search for them, iu authors prior to Drydeu's time. 524 LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. tion of the praises heaped upon his patrons, for which he might himself plead the apology he uses for Maimbourg, " who, having enemies, made him- self friends by panegyrics/' Of these lively criti- cal prefaces, which, when we commence, we can never lay aside till we have finished, Dr Johnson has said with equal force and beauty, " They have not the formality of a settled style, in which the first half of the sentence betrays the other. The clauses are never balanced, nor the periods modelled ; every word seems to drop by chance, though it falls into its proper place. Nothing is cold or languid ; the whole is airy, animated, and vigorous ; what is little is gay, what is great, is splendid. He may be thought to mention him- self too frequently ; but while he forces himself upon our esteem, we cannot refuse him to stand high in his own. Every thing is excused by the play of images and the sprightliness of expression. Though all is easy, nothing is feeble ; though all seems careless, there is nothing harsh ; and though, since his earlier works, more than a century has passed, they have nothing yet uncouth or obso- lete." " He, who writes much, will not easily escape a manner, such a recurrence of particular modes as may be easily noted. Dryden is always another and the same. He does not exhibit a second time LIFE OF JOHN DRYDEN. 525 the same elegancies in the same form, nor ap- pears to have any art other than that of expres- sing with clearness what he thinks with vigour. His style could not easily be imitated, either seriously or ludicrously ; for, being always equable and always varied, it has no prominent or discri- minative characters. The beauty, who is totally free from disproportion of parts and features, can- not be ridiculed by an overcharged resemblance." The last paragraph is not to be understood too literally; for although Dryden never so far copied himself as to fall into what has been quaintly called mannerism ; yet accurate observation may trace in his works, the repetition of some senti- ments and illustrations from prose to verse, and back again to prose. * In his preface to the * The remarkable phrase, " to possess the soul in patience," occurs in the " Hind and Panther ;" and in the Essay on Satire, Vol. XIII. p. 80, we have nearly the same expression. The image of a bird's wing flagging in a damp atmosphere, occurs in Don Sebastian, and in prose elsewhere, though I have lost the reference. The same thought is found in the " Hind and Panther," 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 of the phrase by which he usually prefaces his own defensive criticism. " If it be allowed me to speak so much in my own com- LIFE Of JOHN DRYDEtf. JEneid, he lias enlarged on the difficulty of vary- ing phrases, when the same sense returned on the author; and surely we must allow full praise to his fluency and command of language, when, du- ring so long a literary career, and in the course of such a variety of miscellaneous productions, we can detect in his style so few instances of re- petition, or self-imitation. The prose of Dryden, excepting his transla- tions, and one or two controversial tracts, is en- tirely dedicated to criticism, either general and didactic, or defensive and exculpatory. There, as in other branches of polite learning, it was his lot to be a light to his people. About the time of the Restoration, the cultivation of letters was prosecuted in France with some energy. But the genius of that lively nation being more fitted for criticism than poetry; for drawing rules from mendation ; see Dryden's preface to his Fables, or to any other of his works that you please." The full title of this whimsical tract, from which Sterne borrowed several hints, is " an Essay towards the^theory of the intelligible world intuitively consi- dered. Designed for forty-nine parts. Part JThird, consisting of a preface, a postscript, and a little something between, by Gabriel Johnson ; emiched by a faithful account of his ideal voyages, and illustrated with poems by several hands, as like- wise with other strange things not insufferably clever, nor furi- ously to the purpose; printed in the year 17, &c." .LIFF OF JOHN DRYDEK. 527 what others have done, than for writing works which might be themselves standards; they were sooner able to produce an accurate table of laws for those intending to write epic poems and tra- gedies, according to the best Greek and Roman authorities, than to exhibit distinguished speci- mens of success in either department; just as they are said to possess the best possible rules for building ships of war, although not equally remarkable for their power of fighting them. When criticism becomes a pursuit separate from poetry, those who follow it are apt to forget, that the legitimate ends of the art for which they lay down rules, are instruction or delight, and that these points being attained, by what road soever, entitles a poet to claim the prize of successful merit. Neither did the learned authors of these disquisitions sufficiently attend to the general