The feelings of contempt ought to have suppressed those of anger; but Dryden, who professedly 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 show the world that he did well in being so. With this view, in conjunction with Shadwell and Crowne, two brotherdramatists, equally jealous of Settle's success, he composed a pamphlet, entitled, "Remarks upon the Empress of Morocco." This piece is written in the same tone of boisterous and vulgar raillery with which Clifford and Leigh had assailed Dryden himself; and little resembles our poet's general style of controversy. He seems to have exchanged his satirical scourge for the clumsy flail of Shadwell, 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 conversation: his being is in a twilight of sense, and some glimmering of thought, which he can never fashion either into wit or English. His style is boisterous and rough-hewn; his rhyme incorrigibly 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 insulting clamour of his three antagonists with clamorous 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 condescend to wrestle with a chimney-sweeper. The feud between them was carried no further, until, after the publication of "Absalom and Achitophel," party animosity added spurs to literary rivalry. We must now return to Rochester; who, observing Settle's rise to this unmerited elevation in the public opinion, became as anxious to lower his presumption as he had formerly been to diminish the reputation of Dryden. 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 laureate, was to compose the pieces designed for such occasions. Crowne, though he was a tolerable comic writer,t had no turn whatever for tragedy, or indeed for poetry of any kind. But the splendour of the scenery and dresses, the quality of the performers, 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 Wentworth.‡ But the influence of his enemy, Rochester, was still predominant, and the epilogue of the laureate was rejected. The author of "Calisto" also lost his credit with Rochester, as soon as he became generally popular; and shortly after the representation of that piece, its fickle patron seems to have recommended to the royal protection, a rival more formidable to Dryden than either Settle or "starch Johnny Crowne." This was no other than Otway, 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 preface 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 ensuring that of his next attempt.§ These effu*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,' 1674." See some quotations from this piece, vol XV. p. 399. His comedy of Sir Courtly Nice," exhibits marks of comic sions of gratitude did not, as Mr. Malone observes, withhold Rochester, shortly after, from lampooning Otway, with circumstances of gross insult, in the "Session of the Poets." In the same preface, Otway, in very intelligible language, bade defiance to Dryden, whom he charges with having spoken slightly of his play.** But although Dryden did net admire the general structure of Otway's poetry, he is said, even at this time, to have borne witness to his power of moving the passions; an acknowledg ment which he long afterwards solemnly repeated. Thus Otway, like many others, mistook the character of a pretended friend, and did injustice to that of a liberal rival. Dryden and he indeed never ap pear to have been personal friends, even when they both wrote in the Tory interest. It was probably about this time that Otway challenged Settle, whose courage appears to have failed him upon the occasion. Rochester was not content with exciting rivals against Dryden in 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 imitating dunces in all their lampoons. The lines are more cutting, because mingled with as much praise as the writer probably thought necessary to gain the credit of a candid crtic.ft Dryden on his part, did not view with indifferknowledge the unspeakable obligations I received from the Earl of R., who, far above what I am ever able to deserve from him, seemed almost to make it his business to establish it in the good opinion of the king and his royal highness; from both of which I encouragement to proceed. And it is to him I must, in all gratihave since received confirmations of their good-liking of it, and tude, 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, That his mange was quite cured, and his lice were all kill'd. The scum of a playhouse for the prop of an age." **"Though 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, Igad he knew not a line in it he would be authour of. But he is a fine facetious witty person, as my friend Sir Formal has it; and to be even with him, I know comedy of his, that has not so much as a quibble in it which I would be author of. And so, reader, I bid him and thee farewell." employing it, ascertains him to be the poet meant. The use of Dryden's interjection, well known through Bayes' a ++"Well, sir, 'tis granted; I said Dryden's rhymes Of clapping fools assembling, a vast crowd, He afterwards mentions Etherege's seductive poetry, and adds Of lewd lines, as he calls them? Shakespeare's style So arrogantly had to these denied? And may not I have leave impartially If those gross faults his choice pen doth commit, ⚫ence these repeated direct and indirect attacks on his literary reputation by Rochester. In the preface to "All for Love," published in 1678, he gives a severe rebuke to those men of rank, who, having acquired the credit 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 exclaims, a wretched affectation, not to be contented with what fortune has done for them, and sit down quietly with their estates, but they must call their wits in question, and 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 glittering in discourse has passed them on us for witty men, where was the necessity of undeceiving the world? Would a man who has an ill title to an estate, but yet is in possession of it, would he bring it of his own accord 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 certainly 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 without their leave. But while they are so eager to destroy the fame of others, their ambition is manifest 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 particular, 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 doggerel of his Latin, misapply his censures, and often contradict their own. It is remarkable, however, that he ascribes this imitation rather to some zany of the great, than to one of their number; and seems to have thought Rochester rather the patron than the author. At the expense of anticipating the order of events, and that we may bring Dryden's dispute with Rochester to a conclusion, we must recall to the reader's recollection our author's friendship with Mulgrave. This appears to have been so intimate, that, in 1675, that nobleman intrusted him with the task of revising his "Essay upon Satire:" a poem which contained dishonourable mention of many courtiers of the time, and was particularly 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 versification of the Or if his lumpish fancy does refuse poem is as flat and inharmonious, as the plan is careless and ill-arranged; and though the imputation was to cost Dryden dear, I cannot think that any part of the "Essay on Satire" received additions from his pen. Probably he might contribute a few hints for revision; but the author of "Absalom and Achitophel" could never completely disguise the powers which were shortly to produce that brilliant satire. Dryden's verses must have shone among Mulgrave's as gold beside copper. The whole essay is a mere staguant 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. Malone 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 manner of elliptical barbarisms are resorted to, for squeezing the words into a measure, "lame and o'erburdened, and screaming its wretchedness?" The "Essay on Satire" was finally subjected by the noble author to the criticisms 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 indifferent 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 character 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 accustomed to see the friendship of wits end in mutual satire; and the goodnatured 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 laureate. The "Essay on Satire," though written, as appears from the title page of the last edition, in 1675, was not made public until 1679, when several 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. Dr[yden], his patron, Lord M[ulgrave,1 having a panegyric in the midst." From hence it is evident, that Dryden obtained the reputation of being the author; in consequence of which, Rochester meditated the base and cowardly revenge which 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; So lewdly dull his idle works appear, The wretched text deserves no comments here; For a whole page of dulness to atone : he afterwards executed; and he thus coolly express-blows ought in justice to have descended, mentions ed chis intention in another of his letters: You the circumstances in his "Art of Poetry," with write me word, that I am out of favour with a cer- cold and self-sufficient complacent sneer: tain poet, whom I have admired for the disproportion of him and his attributes. He is a rarity of which I cannot but be fond of, as one would be of a hog that could fiddle, or a singing owl. If he falls on me at the blunt, which is his very good weapon in wit, I will forgive him if you please; and leave the repartee to black Will with a cudgel." In pursuance of this infamous resolution, Dryden, upon the night of the 18th December 1679, was way laid by hired ruffians, and severely beaten, as he passed through Rose-street, Covent Garden, returning from Will's Coffee-house to his own house in Gerard-street. A reward of 50l. was in vain offered, in the London Gazette and other newspapers, for the discovery of the perpetrators of this outrage.* The town was, however, at no loss to pitch upon Rochester as the employer of the bravoes, with whom the public suspicion joined the Duchess of Portsmouth, equally concerned in the supposed affront thus avenged. In our time, were a nobleman to have recourse to hired bravoes to avenge his personal quarrel against any one, more especially a person holding the rank of a gentleman, he might lay his account with being hunted out of society. But in the age of Charles, the ancient high and chivaltrous sense of honour was esteemed Quixotic, and the Civil War had left traces of ferocity in the manners and sentiments of the people. Rencounters, where the assailants took all advantages of number and weapons, were as frequent, and held as honourable, as regular duels. Some of these approached closely to assassination; as in the famous case of Sir John Coventry, who was waylaid, and -had his nose slit by some young men of high rank, for a reflection upon the king's theatrical amours. This occasioned the famous statute against maiming Land wounding, called the Coventry Act; an act highly necessary, since so far did our ancestors' ideas of manly forbearance differ from ours, that Killigrew introduces the hero of one of his comedies, a cavalier, and the fine gentleman of the piece, lying in wait for, and slashing the face of a poor -courtezan, who had cheated him.t It will certainly be admitted, that a man surprised in the dark and beaten by ruffians, loses no honour by such a misfortune. But if Dryden had received the same discipline from Rochester's own hand without resenting it, his drubbing could not have been more frequently made a matter of reproach to him; a sign surely of the penury of subjects for satire in his life and character, since an accident, which might have happened to the greatest hero who ever lived, was resorted to as an imputation on his honour. The Rose-alley ambuscade became almost proverbial;t and even Mulgrave, the real author of the satire, and upon whose shoulders the "Whereas John Dryden, Esq. was on Monday, the 18th instant, at night, barbarously assaulted, and wounded, in Rosestreet, in Covent-garden, by divers men unknown; if any person shall make discovery of the said offenders to the said Mr. Dryden, or to any justice of the peace, he shall not only receive fifty pounds, which is deposited in the hands of Mr. Blanchard, gold smith, next door to Temple-bar, for the said purpose; but if he be a principal, or an accessary, in the said fact, his majesty is graciously pleased to promise him his pardon for the same."-London Gazette, from December 18th to December 22d, 1679. Mr. Malone mentions the same advertisement in a newspaper, entitled, "Domestic Intelligence, or News from City and Country." 71 might also mention the sentiment of Count Conigsmarck, who allowed, that the barbarous assassination of Mr. Thynne by his bravoes, was a stain on his blood, but such a one as a good action in the wars, or a lodging on a counterscarp, would easily wash out. See his Trial,State Trials," vol. IV. But Conigs marck was a foreigner. 1 For example, a rare broadside in ridicule of Benjamin Harris the Whig publisher, entitled, "The Saint turned Courtezan, or a new Plot discovered by a precious Zealot of an Assault and Battery designed upon the Body of a sanctified Sister, "Though praised and punish'd for another's rhymes, "Poets in honour of the truth should write, From any private cause where malice reigns, Or general pique all blockheads have to brains." It does not appear that Dryden ever thought it worth his while to take revenge on Rochester; and the only allusion to him in his writings may be found in the essay prefixed to the translation of Juvenal, where he is mentioned as a man of quality, whose ashes our author was unwilling to disturb, and who had paid Dorset, to whom that piece is inscribed, the highest compliment which his self-sufficiency could afford to any one. Perhaps Dryden remembered Rochester among others, when, in the same piece, he takes credit for resisting opportunities and temptation to take revenge, even upon those by whom he had been notoriously and wantonly provoked. The detail of these quarrels has interrupted our account of Dryden's writings, which we are now to resume. Aureng-Zebe," was his first performance after the failure of the " Assignation.' It was acted in 1675, with general applause. Aureng-Zebe" is a heroic, or rhyming play, but not cast in a mould quite so romantic as the "Conquest of Granada." There is a grave and moral turn in many of the speeches, which brings it nearer the style of a French tragedy. It is true, the character of Morat borders upon extravagance; but a certain license has been always given to theatrical tyrants, and we excuse bombast in him more readily than in Almanzor. There is perhaps some reason for this indulgence. The possession of unlimited power, vested in active and mercurial characters, naturally drives them to an extravagant indulgence of passion, bordering upon insanity; and it follows, that their language diction in the drama is relative, and to be referred must outstrip the modesty of nature. Propriety of more to individual character than to general rules: to make a tyrant sober-minded, is to make a madman rational. But this discretion must be used with great caution by the writer, lest he should confound the terrible with the burlesque. Two great of playing Morat. The former, who was the origiactors, Kynaston and Booth, differed in their style nal performer, and doubtless had his instructions from the author, gave full force to the sentiments of avowed and barbarous vain-glory, which mark the ""Tis I, in longing passion; Give me a kiss." Quoth Ben, "Take this, A Dryden salutation." "Help Care, Vile, Smith, und Curtes, What wonder the atheist L'Estrange should turn Papist When a zealot turns a ranter." a Vol. XIII. pages 7,80. character. When he is determined to spare Aureng-Zebe, and Nourmahal pleads, "'T will not be safe to let him live an hour," Kynaston gave all the stern and haughty insolence of despotism to his answer, "I'll do 't to show my arbitrary power.”* But Booth, with modest caution, avoided marking and pressing upon the audience a sentiment hovering between the comic and terrible, however consonant to the character by whom it was delivered. The principal incident in "Aureng-Zebe" was suggested by King Charles himself. The tragedy is dedicated to Mulgrave, whose patronage had been so effectual, as to introduce Dryden and his poetical schemes to the peculiar notice of the king and duke. The dedication and the prologue of this piece throw considerable light upon these plans, as well as upon the revolution which had gradually taken place in Dryden's dramatic taste. Awed when he hears his godlike Romans rage, › It is remarkable, as a trait of character, that, though our author admitted his change of opinion on this long disputed point, he would not consent that it should be imputed to any arguments 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 "Essay 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 altered since the writing of it; but whether for the better or the worse, I know not; neither indeed is it much material, in an essay, where all I have said is problematical. For the way of writing 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. During the space which occurred between writing the "Conquest of Granada" and "Aureng-Zebe," our author's researches into the nature and causes of harmony of versification had been unremitted, and he had probably already collected the materials of his intended English Prosodia. Besides this labour, he had been engaged in a closer and more critical But, although the poet had admitted, that with examination of the ancient English poets, than he powers of versification superior to those possessed had before bestowed upon them. These studies by any earlier English author, and a taste corrected seem to have led Dryden to two conclusions; first, by the laborious study, both of the language and that the drama ought to be emancipated from the fet- those who had used it, he found rhyme unfit for the ters of rhyme; and secondly, that he ought to employ use of the drama, he at the same time discovered a the system of versification, which he had now per-province where it might be employed in all its splen-i fected, to the more legitimate purpose of epic poetry. dour. We have the mortification to learn, from the Each of these opinions merits consideration. dedication of Aureng-Zebe," that Dryden only.. However hardly Dryden stood forward in defence wanted encouragement to enter upon the composi of the heroic plays, he confessed, even in the heat tion of an epic poem, and to abandon the thriftless of argument, that Rhyme, though he was brave task of writing for the promiscuous audience of the. and generous, and his dominion pleasing, had still theatre,-a task which, rivalled as he had lately been somewhat of the usurper in him. A more minute by Crowne and Settle, he most justly compares to enquiry seems to have still further demonstrated the labour of Sisyphus. His plot, he elsewhere exthe weakness of this usurped dominion; and our plains, was to be founded either upon the story of author's good taste and practice speedily pointed Arthur, or of Edward the Black Prince; and he out deficiencies and difficulties, which Sir Robert mentions it to Mulgrave in the following remarkaHoward, against whom he defended the use of ble passage, which argues great dissatisfaction with rhyme, could not show, because he never aimed at dramatic labour, arising perhaps from a combined the excellencies which they impeded. The perusal feeling of the bad taste of rhyming plays, the de of Shakespeare, on whom Dryden had now turned grading dispute with Settle, and the failure of the his attention, led him to feel, that something further might be attained in tragedy than the expression of exaggerated sentiment in smooth verse, and that, the scene ought to represent, not a fanciful set of agents exerting their superhuman faculties in a fairy land of the poet's own creation, but human characters, acting from the direct and energetic influence of human passions, with whose emotions the audience might sympathize, because akin to the feelings 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 fantastic honour, he must have found, that rhyme sounded as unnatural in the dialogue of characters, drawn upon the ustial scale of humanity, as the plate and mail of chivalry would have appeared on the persons of the actors. The following lines of the prologue to "Aureng-Zebe," although prefixed to a rhyming play, the last which he ever wrote, expresses Dryden's change of sentiment on these points: "Our author, by experience, finds it true, "T is much more hard to please himself than you; VOL. VIII. Assignation," his last theatrical attempt:-" If I must be condemned to rhyme, I should find some ease in my change of punishment. 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 em'ployment, 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 remaining, (and those too, considering my abilities, may be vain,) that I may make the world some part of amends for many ill plays, by a heroic poem. Your lordship 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 approaching 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 concerned in the action. And your lordship has one particular reason to promote this undertaking, because you were the first who gave me the opportunity 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. + Vol. XV. p. 286. The times of Virgil please me better, because he had | tions can veil mutual dislike and hatred, and the an Augustus for his patron; and, to draw the alle- extreme keenness with which they can arm their gory nearer you, I am sure I shall not want a Mæ- satire, while preserving all the external forms of cenas with him. It is for your lordship to stir up civil demeanour. But Dryden more than redeemed that remembrance in his majesty, which his many this error in the scene between Antony and Ventiavocations of business have caused him, I fear, to dius, which he himself preferred to any that he ever lay aside; and, as himself and his royal brother are wrote, and perhaps with justice, if we except that the heroes of the poem, to represent to them the between Dorax and Sebastian: both are avowedly images of their warlike predecessors; as Achilles written in imitation of the quarrel between Brutus is said to be roused to glory with the sight of the and Cassius. All for Love" was received by the combat before the ships. For my own part, I am public with universal applause. Its success, with satisfied to have offered the design: and it may be that of "Aureng-Zebe," gave fresh lustre to the to the advantage of my reputation to have it refus- author's reputation, which had been somewhat ed me." tarnished by the failure of the "Assignation," and Dr. Johnson and Mr. Malone remark, that Dryden the rise of so many rival dramatists. We learn observes a mystery concerning the subject of his in- from the players' petition to the Lord Chamberlain, tended epic, to prevent the risk of being anticipated, that "All for Love" was of service to the author'e as he finally was by Sir Richard Blackmore on the fortune as well as to his fame, as he was permitted topic of Arthur. This, as well as other passages in the benefit of a third night, in addition to his profits Dryden's life, allows us the pleasing indulgence of as a sharer with the company. The play was praising the decency of our own time. Were an dedicated to the Earl of Danby, then a minister in author of distinguished merit to announce his hay-high power, but who, in the course of a few months, ing made choice of a subject for a large poem, the was disgraced and imprisoned at the suit of the writer would have more than common confidence commons. As Danby was a great advocate for who should venture to forestall his labours. But, prerogative, Dryden fails not to approach him with in the seventeenth century, such an intimation would, an encomium on monarchical government, as reguit seems, have been an instant signal for the herd lated and circumscribed by law. In reprobating of scribblers to souse upon it, like the harpies on the schemes of those innovators, who, surfeiting on the feast of the Trojans, and leave its mangled re- happiness, endeavoured to persuade their fellow lics too polluted for the use of genius;--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. ་་ "Turba sonans prædam pedibus circumvolat uncis; Polluit ore dapes. Semesan prædam et vestigia fæda relinquunt." In 1678 Dryden's next play, a comedy, entitled 'Aureng-Zebe" was followed, in 1678, by "All for "Limberham," was acted at Dorset Garden theatre, Love," the only play Dryden ever wrote for himself; but was endured for three nights only. It was dethe rest, he says, were given to the people. The signed, the author informs us, as a satire on "the habitual study of Shakespeare, which seems lately crying sin of keeping;" and the crime for which it to have occasioned, or at least greatly aided, the suffered was, that "it expressed too much of the revolution in his taste, induced him, among a crowd vice which it decried." Grossly indelicate as this of emulous shooters, to try his strength in this bow play still is, it would seem, from the dedication to of Ulysses. I have, in some preliminary remarks to Lord Vaughan, that much which offended on the the play, endeavoured to point out the difference stage was altered, or omitted, in the press;§ yet between the manner of these great artists in treat- more than enough remains to justify the sentence ing the misfortunes of Antony and Cleopatra. If pronounced against it by the public. Mr. Malone these are just, we must allow Dryden the praise of seems to suppose Shaftesbury's party had some greater regularity of plot, and a happier combination share in its fate, supposing that the character of Limof scene; but in sketching the character of Antony, berham had reference to their leader. Yet surely, he loses the majestic and heroic tone which Shake- although Shaftesbury was ridiculous for aiming at speare has assigned him. There is too much of the gallantry, from which his age and personal infirmilovelorn knight-errant, and too little of the Roman ty should have deterred him, Dryden would never warrior, in Dryden's hero. The passion of Antony, have drawn the witty, artful politician, as a silly, however overpowering and destructive in its effects, hen-pecked cully. Besides, Dryden was about this ought not to have resembled the love of a sighing time supposed even himself to have some leaning to swain of Arcadia. This error in the original con- the popular cause; a supposition irreconcilable with ception of the character must doubtless be ascribed his caricaturing the foibles of Shaftesbury. to Dryden's habit of romantic composition. Mon- The tragedy of "Edipus" was written by Drytezuma and Almanzor were, like the prophet's im- den in conjunction with Lee; the entire first and age, formed of a mixture of iron and clay; of stern third acts were the work of our author, who also and rigid demeanour to all the universe, but un- arranged the general plan, and corrected the whole bounded devotion to the ladies of their affections. piece. Having offered some observations elseIn Antony, the first class of attributes are discarded; where upon this play, and the mode in which its he has none of that tumid and outrageous dignity celebrated theme has been treated by the dramatists which characterized the heroes of the rhyming plays, of different nations, I need not here resume the suband in its stead is gifted with even more than aject. The time of the first representation is fixed usual share of devoted attachment to his mistress. to the beginning of the playing season, in winter, In the preface, Dryden piques himself upon ventur- 1678-9, although it was not printed until 1679.** ing to introduce the quarrelling scene between Octa- Both "Limberham" and "Edipus" were acted at via and Cleopatra, which a French writer would the Duke's theatre; so that it would seem that our have rejected, as contrary to the decorum of the author was relieved from his contract with the theatre. But our author's idea of female character King's house, probably because the shares were so was at all times low; and the coarse, indecent vio- much diminished in value, that his appointment lence, which he has thrown into the expressions of was now no adequate compensation for his labour. a queen and a Roman matron, is misplaced and The managers of the King's Company complained disgusting, and contradicts the general and well- to the lord chamberlain, and endeavoured, as we founded observation on the address and self-com- have seen, by pleading upon the contract, to assert mand, with which even women of ordinary disposi- their right to the play of "Edipus."++ But their + Vol. V. p. 287. * Vol. V. pages 183, 184. "His hero, whom your wits his bully call. See page 20. § Mr. Malone has 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. |