sion. Dryden has the more commanding eloquence, and Pope the more polished and brilliant wit. In Pope the cadences are inore nicely modulated, and the rhythm more equally balanced. There is more glitter of antithesis, more refinement of expression, more finish of execution, and a greater love of alliteration. In Dryden there is an ease, a negligence, a confidence in his powers, that overlooks petty inequalities, and does not stoop to minuter beauties; he has fewer marks of patient and assiduous toil; he never appears to aspire to the highest excellence; or to direct the eye of emulative genius towards an imaginary perfection.* Yet it would be difficult to distinguish many passages of one poet from the other, from any decided difference of execution. Dryden is often equally vigorous in conception, compact in expression, and musical in the flow of his verse. In the character of Zimri, for instance, I do not recognise any verse which the exactness of Pope's ear would have wished him to remodel, or any part of the portrait, which he would not have been proud to own; and I think that Johnson in his well known and eloquent parallel, has, for the sake of contrast, placed the peculiarities of the respective poets in too strong opposition. When Pope drew the portrait of Buckingham, Dryden had anticipated him in nice discrimination of character, in the exhibition of the follies, inconsistencies, and contradictions of that eccentric person. These were given with a truth, a spirit, and a pleasantry not easily to be surpassed. Pope therefore touched another string and painted the lord of useless thousands,' in the hour of his deserted and miserable decline, in his solitary retreat, his ruined fortune, and his faded fame; but while Dryden in his masterly analysis has adhered to nature and truth, Pope, for the sake of a stronger contrast, has been led, I believe, considerably to exaggerate the severity of the circumstances, under which Buckingham expired. The phrase of Mimicked Statesman' does not seem correct and surely Victor of his Health,' and 'Victor of his friends' is a mode of expression unusual, inelegant, and harsh.

Tate relates that this poem was undertaken at the desire of Charles II., in 1680, and Malone thinks that Dryden was employed on it about nine months. On the 28th March, 1681, the parliament was dissolved, and the 2d of July following, Shaftesbury was committed to the tower. The first edition was sold in a

'Dryden did not come far short, but he wanted study and honest principles, and that love of his art which is always requisite to make a complete attist. Upton on Shakspeare, p. 106.

month, a second appeared before December, two, if not three, editions were called for in the following year, and a sixth in 1684; the famous Atterbury* translated it into Latin verse. It appears that Dryden paid little attention to his works after they were once made public; he was too indolent, or too busy to correct mistakes, or suggest improvements. He felt himself superior to the other writers of the age, and he could afford to be negligent, without injury to his fame. He had not that anxious desire for excellence, that tenderness for his own fame, that respect to the opinion of others, which could make him submit to the patient correction, the delicate and repeated attention, and those minute finishings, without which perfection is not to be attained, or approbation permanently secured. But in the poem now before us he added some lines to his character of Shaftesbury, for which his enemies† said he was paid by the nomination of a scholarship in the charter house being given to his son. Malone has spared no pains in the detection of this among other errors; indeed, deprived of the result of his patient and praiseworthy labours, a life of Dryden would be little better than a romance. He has found that the whole is a pure and unsophisticated falsehood.'. Young Dryden was admitted on the recommendation of Charles II. as one of the governors of the institution.

A

In November, 1681, the grand jury at the Old Bailey returned ignoramus on the bil presented against Shaftesbury, and he was taken from the court-house with shouts of applause. To perpetuate his triumph, a medal was engraved, which gave rise to Dryden's poem, Medal, or a Satire against Sedition.' Spence has mentioned, in his Anecdotes, on the authority of a catholic priest whom he met at Paris, that Charles suggested the subject (as he seems to have done others) to the poet. One day the king was walking in the Mall, and talking with

The poem was so popular that another Latin translation was published, 4to. 1682, at Oxford, by Dr. William Coward, a physician of Merton college. The poetical Reflections on a late poem, entitled Absalom and Achitophel, by a person of honour folio, 1682, is ascribed by Malone and Scott to the Duke of Buckingham; but see Godwin's Lives of the Philipses, p. 186.

This error has crept into the Biographia Britannica, but see Malone's Dryden, vol. I. p. 148.

I There seems to have been some uncertainty both among tories and whigs, concerning the author of the Medal. Settle himself did not recog. nise the hand of Dryden, and thought that the author of the Medal, and of Absalom and Achitophel is not one person, since the style and painting is far different, and the satires of a different bue, the one being a much more slovenly beast than the other. Scott's ed. vol. ix. p. 428.

the poet; he said, 'If I was a poet, and I think I am poor enough to be one, I would write a poem on such a subject, in the following manner.' He then gave him the plan of the Medal. Dryden took the hint, carried the poem as soon as it was finished to the king, and had a present of a hundred broad pieces for it. This anecdote Pope seemed to confirm, and added, that Charles obliged Dryden to put his Oxford speech into verse, and to insert it towards the close of his Absalom and Achitophel.

On the merits of this poem, I have nothing to add to what has been said by Johnson and by Scott; the latter of whom thinks it does not greatly suffer from being placed, as the subject naturally invites, in comparison with Absalom and Achitophel. The latter, as a group of figures, presents greater scope and variety, and may therefore be more interesting than the portrait of an individual; but it does not more fully display the abilities of the artist. As might be expected, to his former poems many answers were quickly published; there was plenty of vulgar and virulent abuse in them, and but little poetry. Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, contributed his poetical reflections, which could add nothing to his fame. Sam. Pordage published an answed, under the name of Azariah and Hushai, (Monmouth and Shaftesbury,) and Dryden's old antagonist, Settle, appeared, under the name of Absalom senior, or Achitophel transposed, in about fifteen hundred lines. J. Warton suggested that he was assisted by Mr. Clifford, but that was not the case. Spratt, how ever, and some other of the party, publicly joined with him in the production. It is mentioned in this poem, that Dryden once intended to gof in

⚫See Works, vol. ix. by Scott, p. 413.

It was intimated by Dryden's enemies, that he chose the subject of Religio Laici to smooth the way to his taking orders. See the Revolter, a Iragi-comedy, acted between the Hind and Panther and Religio Laici, in 1687.

But 't was his wrath, because his native church Left his high expectations in the lurch; He saw the playwright laureate debauch'd By the times, vices which himself reproach'd; And by his grand reform of stage pit fools, Judg'd his ability to manage souls, &c. And Langbaine says, 'ever since a certain worthy bishop refused orders to a certain poet, Mr. Dry. den has declared open defiance against the whole clergy; and since the church began the war, he has thought it but justice to make reprisals on the church. Dram. Poet p. 171.

In the Trial of the Poets (Buckingham's Works, 1. p. 152.) are these lines:

'In the head of the gang, John Dryden appear'd, That ancient grave wit, so long lov'd and fear'd; But Apollo had heard a story i' th' town

Of his quitting the muses to wear the black gown,
And so gave him leave. now his poetry's done,
To let him turn priest, since Reeve is turn'd nun.'

to holy orders. Against the Medal we find Pordage again writing, in a poem called The Me dal reversed, wrongly ascribed to Settle. The medal of John Bayes was given to Shadwell; as also The Tory Poets' published in the same year. The author of Dryden's Satire to his Muse has not been discovered; I think that Malone is not unwilling to have it believed that Somers was the author, though he disavowed it in a conversation with Pope. Friendships and enmities were now formed according to political opinions. Dryden and Shadwell were of opposite parties, and though they had been on good terms, (for Dryden wrote a prologue to Shadwell's True Widow, in 1678.) yet political discussion as it grew more virulent, after the dissolution of the second parliament in 1679, destroyed all private friendship; the playhouses were applied to political purposes. Settle's Pope Joan, and Shadwell's Lancashire Witches, were applauded by the whigs; while Durfey, Otway, Crowne, and Dryden supported the party of the tories.

During the year 1682, a shower of lampoons from wretched and despicable scribblers appeared against our poet, as full of abuse as they were empty of wit, none of which he condescended to answer; at length, as their infamous charges grew bolder by impunity, he was rous ed to revenge, and punished them by his Mac Flecknoe. In this poem, as Malone observes, ample vengeance is taken on his corpulent* antagonist; a torrent of wit and satire, mixed with contempt, indignation, and derision, overwhelmed in one gigantic effort, and by a well directed blow, the wretched poet against whom it was levelled. The most cutting sarcasm was conveyed in skilful versification, which gave point and keenness to the edge of its wit, and which has been emulated and copied, but not exceeded even on the broader canvass of the Dunciad. It passed through several editions, and received some slight alterations. Shadwell, in the Dedication to his Translation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, some years after, asserted that Dryden, when he was taxed with being the author of Mac Flecknoe denied it, with as solemn im

See also a poem, in defence of the Church of England, in opposition to the Hind and Panther, folio, 1638. He is also said to have asked for the provostship of Eaton College.

In the vindication of the Duke of Guise, Dryden gave a severe flagellation to Shadwell, in which he says, although Shadwell has often called him an atheist in print, he believes more charitably of his antagonist, and that he only goes the broad way, because the other is too narrow for him.' In Cib ber's Lives of the Poets, vol. iti. p. 76, a singular mistake is made. Mr. Richard Flecknoe, the new laureate, with whose name the satire is inscribed, was a very indifferent poet, &c.

Dryden's readiness and fertility of satire was surprising: instead of being exhausted by the brilliant efforts he had made, in a month after Mac Flecknoe was published, appeared the second part of Absalom and Achitophel, in which his two hundred lines appeared refulgent,* amidst the flatness and cold mediocrity of Tate's verses. Besides those of other scribblers of inferior note, the characters of Shadwell and Settle appeared drawn with a terrible sagacity, and finished with such a felicity of touch, as is unequalled among satirical portraits.

In the same month he published his Religio Laici: it is addressed to a young friend, the initials of whose name alone are known, and who translated Simon's Critical History of the Old Testament; the purpose of it was to explain the tenets of the Church of England in a plain and philosophical manner; and to defend it against the attacks of the Catholics and the fanatical dissenters.§ Johnson allowed, 'that

Scott has observed, 'that had Dryden limited his assistance to this fragment, he would have injured rather than assisted his coadjutor. Since it would have shone like a lamp in a dungeon, only to show the dreary waste in which it was inclosed; but he has obviously contributed much to the poem at large Much of the character of Corah is Dry. den's, so probably is that of Arod, and the verses descriptive of the green ribbon club. The charac ter of Michal, of Dryden as Asaph, and some of the encomiastic passages seem to show the extent of Tate's powers, when unsupported by his powerful auxiliary. They are just decently versified, but flat, commonplace, and uninteresting. The second part did not attain the popularity of the original.

Settle was a dunce, but Shadwell was a man of talent; Rochester said of him, that if he had burnt all he wrote, and printed all he spoke, he would have had more wit and humour than any other poet. In comedy, he as much excelled Dry den in observation of nature, and delineation of character, as Dryden surpassed him in lively dialogue and witty repartee. See Shadwell's Preface to his Sullen Lovers, where he says, that Jonson is the man of all the world, he most passionately admires for his excellence in dramatic poetry.

To H. D. See verses prefixed to E. Howard's British Princes. Scott conjectures that the person meant by these initials was Henry Dickenson, probably son of Edm. Dickenson, the well known author of Delphi Phonecizantes, 12m. &c.

§ Sir W. Scott has given an analysis of this poem, vol. x. p. 4-8, he observes (p. 7.) that the style of this poem has been imitated successfully by Cowper in some of his pieces. Yet he has not always been able to maintain the resemblance; but often crawls where Dryden would have walked. The natural dignity of our author may be discovered in the lamest lines of the poem, whereas his imitator is often harsh and embarrassed. Both are occasionally prosaic, but in such passages Dryden's verse resembles good prose, and Cowper's, that which is feeble and involved. The second edition of this poem appears to be exceedingly rare, and escaped he researches of Malone.

kind, in which the familiar is very properly diversified with the solemn, and the grave with the humourous; in which metre has neither weakened the force, nor clouded the perspicuity of argument; nor will it be easy to find another example equally happy of this middle kind of writing, which, though pr saic in some parts, rises to high poetry in others, and neither hovers to the skies, nor creeps along the ground.' Although the object of his poem was to explain the tenets and defend the character of the Reformed Church;* and although it must have represented Dryden's serious attachment to it, yet some not ambiguous marks have been discovered in the argument, in which such an uncertainty of opinion is expressed, and such a bias to Catholic doctrines evinced, as foreboded the changes in his religious sentiments which he was soon openly to avow. He furnished Southerne, then young, with a Prologue and Epilogue to the Legal Brother, and contributed a Prologue to his second piece, the Disappointment, in 1684, and he consoled him in a copy of verses at the ill success of his Wives' Excuse in 1692. Southerne in return, on account of Dryden's illness, wrote one half of the fifth act of Cleomenes. For 'Honest Nat Lee' Dryden had a great regard, and wrote several Prologues for him.

In 1663, he discontinued writing for the stage, though he was much straitened in his pecuniary resources, particularly by the uncerfain payment of his salary. His letter to I.ord Rochester for half a year's pension is most urgent. Yet though his wants were pressing, it is written without any meanness of solicitation, and his claims are modestly and fairly advanced the manner in which he spoke of his sons is honourable and just. It is enough, he adds, for one age to have neglected Cowley, and starved Butler.' Let us hope that his petition was granted, and his uneasiness removed.

He assisted a new translation of the Lives of Plutarch with a preface, and life of the au

• As Dryden wrote 'Religio Laici,' so Mason wrote Religio Clerici' in imitation. See his works, i. p. 427, he says of the poem,

How few like him could write a layman's creed, Make logic's rules to metre's laws submit, Blend truth with fancy, argument with wit Yet this he did! and in so smooth a lay, It satisfied the nicer ear of Gray. Who always held it as the guide supreme, Of bards employed on a didactic theme.'

In a note he says, I have often heard my friend give this culogy te the 'Religio Laici' in nearly the same words. My friend who admired Dryden even to excess, said that he attained his excellence in versification by study and practice.

thor. The first volume was published in 1683; it has long become obsolete, and been superseded by Langhorne's. The illustrious name of Somers appears as one of the writers. Having translated some years before 'A few of the epistles of Ovid,' Dryden now added detached portions of Horace, Theocritus, Virgil; and uniting them to some smaller pieces, prologues, epilogues, &c., he produced, in 1683, the first volume of his Miscellany. The last poem, Virgil's Tenth Eclogue, is by Sir W. Temple. Milton's Allegro and Penseroso, with the Lycidas, are inserted, and Marvell's beautiful little poem of the Dead Fawn is not overlooked.

Some months after, at the king's command, he translated the history of the League, from the French of Maimbourg. It was written, Malone says, to show that the sectarics and the long parliament in their solemn covenant had the French leaguers in view, and that all the disciples of Calvin must continue to hate monarchy, and love democratic constitutions.

Early in the following year, 1685, the second volume of the Miscellanies appeared. Dryden contributed several pieces, and two poems by Evelyn are inserted.

Charles II. departed this life on the 5th of February, 1684; in consequence, the political opera of Albion and Albanius, which Dryden had composed to celebrate the new restoration of his majesty on Shaftesbury's discomfiture, was not exhibited till the following June; owing to Monmouth's invasion, it was performed only six times; the expenses of preparing it for the stage were great, and the loss to the managers considerable. This Opera was written, as I

The first volume, called Dryden's Miscellany, published in 1684, the second, entitled Sylva, in 1685, the third, Examen Poeticum, in 1693, the fourth, called the Annual Miscellany, 1694, after • Dryden's death two more volumes were issued out in 1703, and 1709. Tonson published, in 1716, a new and altered edition, the common one now in

use.

The music of the piece was entrusted to Louis Grabut or Grabu, the master of the king's band, whom Charles preferred to the celebrated Paule. It was generally admitted that the music was very indifferent. Scott has printed a satirical ballad on the subject written against the poet and musician, the following is a specimen :

Each actor on the stage his luck bewailing,
Finds that his loss is infallibly true,
Smith, Nokes, and Leigh, in a fever with railing,
Curse poet, painter, and Monsieur Grabu.
Betterton, Betterton, thy decorations

And the machines, were well written we knew, But all the words were such stuff, we want patience,

And little better is Monsieur Grabu.

Bayes, thou wouldst have thy skill thought universal,

To' thy dull ear be to music untrue;

have said, for a political purpose, to celebrate the triumph of loyalty over sedition and dissension: it was at first composed in one act, and was designed as an introduction to the drama of King Arthur. Although the king had died while the opera was in rehearsal, a slight addition adapted it to the new fortunes of James, but there was a fatality against its success. There is nothing ingenious in the plot, or interesting in the story, but the versification is flowing, easy, and melodious. Scott has pointed out the desolation of London at the opening of the piece, and the speech of Augusta, as specimens of real poetry, and has mentioned the lyrical diction as most beautifully sweet and flowing.

Soon after the accession of James to the throne, Dryden became a convert to popery. Malone suspects that his wife, Lady Elizabeth, had long been a Papist, as her brother, the second Earl of Berkshire certainly was, and of Dryden's sincerity in this great and serious change, he entertains no doubt. He bred his children Papists, and he maintained his new faith during the reign of William, when his adherence to the religion of the abdicated monarch would prove an insurmountable obstacle to favoar or preferment. I presume that no one would have questioned his sincerity, had his conversion not taken place at a juncture, when it would be peculiarly grateful to the new king: for James's sentiments had long been known to all. At the same time, the integrity of such a man as Dryden is not to be sullied by suspicions, that rest on what after all might prove a fortuitous coincidence of circumstances, the only favour which he ever received from James was an addition to his pension of 1001. a year.*

To the memory of the old king, his respect was testified by the publication of his Threnodia

Then whilst we strive to confute the rehearsal, Pr'ythee leave thrashing of Monsieur Grabu, &c.

With thy dull prefaces still thou wouldst treat us,
Striving to make thy dull bauble look fair,
So the horned herd of the city do cheat us,
Still most commending the worst of their ware,
&c.

See also an epigram in Langbaine's Dram. Poets, p. 152, on the same subject.

Dr. Johnson's sentiments on Dryden's conver sion are expressed with soundness of argument, and with a candid and charitable interpretation of his motives, such as are not always to be found in the Doctor's writings nur often in his conversa tion Dryden's eldest son, Charles, is said to have been a catholic previous to his father's change. and to have contributed to it.

A host of Pindaric odes appeared on this occasion, by Mrs. Behn, E. Arwaker, Duke, and many nameless poetasters. Otway bagan a pastoral,