easy, I may say, of very pleasing access; but something slow, and, as it were, diffident in his advances to others. He had something in his nature, that abhorred 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 misrepresentations. To the best of my knowledge and observation, he was of all men that ever I knew, one of the most modest, and the most easy to be discountenanced in his approaches either to his superiors or his equals.'

This extreme modesty, however, must be confined exclusively to his personal intercourse with society; for his public performances too unequivocally show, that, in all literary matters, he was a good deal vain, and not a little envious. He is always talking of himself in his dedications and prefaces; and, besides the exertions, which he constantly made to pluck down aspiring rivals, the renowned 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 he always added, that his father and Crowne's mother were very well acquainted.'

That Dryden was not forward and talkative, on all occasions, may easily be believed; but that he was taciturn to any thing like stupidity, we have no sufficient proof. There are those, who can be as loquacious as swallows among their own particular friends; but whom the presence of a stranger will strike dumb. Dryden knew his own worth; and we admire the frankness with which he so often

tells us so. He was too generous to grudge his

with the invitation, and was well acquainted with him as long as he lived.' Malone's Dryden, vol. i. p. 481.

conversation to his intimate acquaintances; but, for a stranger, he deemed it worth solicitation, if it were worth having. Silence and chat (says a cotemporary*) are distant enough, to have a convenient discourse come between them; and thus far 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 for the conversation of him, and one or two more of the same character.' Dryden justly boasts, that he enjoyed the society of the first men in the kingdom; and such society was, in those days, to be purchased by something besides silence.

It is not unlikely, indeed, that Dryden frequently with eld a thought, in conversation, which, he imagined, might be turned to better account in his writings. At all events, there was not always by his side an honest chronicler to record his wise or witty sayings; and, of the few, which chance or friendship has preserved, two are of doubtful authority, and the other is scarcely worth claiming. 'He is said (says Mr. Scott) to have been the original 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 (who had unfortunately rendered him no friend to matrimony) wished to be a book, that she might enjoy more of his company, 'Be an almanack, then, my dear,' said the poet, that I may change you once a year.' A friend was astonished, that even D'Ufrey could write such stuff as a play they had just witnessed. Ah, Sir,' replied Dryden, 'you do not

* Quoted by Mr. Scott, vol. i. p. 458, note.

+ Mr. Scott expresses no doubts, as to the originality of this anecdote. We have heard it of some one else.

know my friend Tom as well as I do; I'll answer for him, he can write worse yet.'

We have no particular account of Dryden's moral habits; but, if they had been exceptionable, he had enemies enough to make it known; and, with the exception of an amour with Mrs. Reeves, an actress, before his marriage, they have not recorded a single instance of his immorality. But, though he might not have been immoral himself, no person can doubt, that he contributed to make others so.

The man, who writes for bread, must write for popularity; and, in Dryden's time, no writings were popular, but such as were indecent. This was an easy condition; and Dryden was punctual in his compliance. It was equally the fashion of the times to ply the great with dedications: outrageous flattery, in a dedication, says Mr. Scott, was then as much a matter of course, as the words 'your obedient, humble servant,' in a modern epistle; and, what contributed to increase the extravagance of such performances, the amount of the recompence was proportionate to the fulsomeness of the adulation. For Dryden, this was another easy condition; and, so determined was he to reap its advantages, that, when he had finished Virgil, he dedicated the Pastorals to one lord, the Georgies to another, and the Eneid to a third. But we have been speaking rather the language of apology, than of truth. Dryden never seems to regret the necessity of complying with the vices of his age; and, while it is certain, that he got little by the alacrity of his prostitution, we can scarcely doubt, that he, who could preserve his popularity, in remodulating the numbers of English poetry, could hardly have lost it, in attempting to reform its immorality. If, however, a tardy repentance can atone for a life of transgression, it should be mentioned, in exculpation of Dryden, that, when, towards the end of his days, he was arraigned for licentiousness and profanity, by Col

lier, he pleaded guilty to the charge, and cast him. self upon the mercy of his accuser.

His religious tergiversation has been another theme of reproach. His biographers are not agreed, as to the religion, which he inherited from his parents. Dr. Johnson says, it was that of the anabaptists; and Mr. Scott has rendered it extremely probable, that it was puritanism. It is not likely, that he would have become a martyr for either: we have it from his own testimony, that, in his riper years, he was little better than an infidel;* and nothing is clearer, than that, at the accession of James, he turned an ardent catholic. Mr. Scott labours to prove, that this conversion was the result of our author's own unassisted reflection; and, though he confesses, that interest very strongly coincided with conviction, he is persuaded, that interest only served to confirm, what reasoning had already atchieved. The Religio Laici is thought to contain the process of logic, by which he effected his conversion; and the firmness, with which he adhered to his new religion, after it had not only ceased to correspond with his interest,-but was become one of its most serious obstacles,-is considered as a decisive proof of his original sincerity, and thorough persuasion. Persons, less charitable than Mr. Scott, would answer, that the Religio Laici, must have been written to please King James; and that the obstinacy of his conviction was the result of his pride.

We know little of Dryden's domestic habits. His mornings were spent in study: he dined with his family about two o'clock; and, after dinner, repaired to Will's Coffee House, the rendezvous of all the cotemporary wits. He had a particular chair, which was placed by the chimney, in winter, and near the

My thoughtless youth was winged with vain desires;
My manhood long misled by wandering fires,
Followed false lights; and, when their glimpse was gone,
My pride struck out new sparkles of her own.
Hind and Panther.

balcony, in summer; and from which, as the vicegerent of Apollo, he pronounced his oracular sentences, upon all matters of literature and criticism. He was a great taker of snuff; and a pinch from Dryden's box' was considered as a distinguished honour. Mr. Scott, himself an editor of old ballads, very properly 'records with pride,' that he was a lover of such poetry;* and we learn from various parts of his writings, that he was a believer in judicial astrology. His son Charles was taken sick at Rome; and Dryden had the happiness to persuade himself, that he had ascertained precisely the time, when he would begin to convalesce. Towards the latter end of this month, September, (says he, in a letter to his sons, then at Rome,) Charles will begin to recover his perfect health, according to his nativity, which, casting it myself, I am sure is true; and all things hitherto have happened accordingly to the very time that I predicted them.'t

It is natural to ask, what became of these sons, and the rest of Dryden's family? He married Lady Elizabeth Howard; and slander did not fail to insinuate, that there were very precious reasons for it, too.' That the union was displeasing to the friends of the lady, we can readily believe; but that

Vol. i. p. 460,

It must not be concluded, that Dryden was peculiar in this superstition. It was the fashion of the times; and so much immportance, indeed, was attached to the predictions of astrologers, that, in 1647, General Fairfax sent a coach and four to bring the two rival worthies, William Lilly and John Booker, to his head. quarters. Nor was the rage confined to England. In 1659, the same William Lilly received from the king of Sweden a gold chain, for the many fine things which he had foretold of that monarch But, in 1666, his pretensions to divination had nearly plunged him into a fatal scrape. He had published, fifteen years before, a book, called Monarchy or no Monarchy; at the end of which there was an appendix of thirty two wood-cuts, representing the future destinies of England. The thirteenth was a city in flames; and, when the great fire took place in London in 1666, a committee of parliament, suspecting, that Lilly might have undertaken to fulfil his own pro. phesy, summoned the innocent astrologer before them. He explained his intention; and they let him go. Godw. Phh pp. 97-99.