united to the low and technical language of the leger. After an allusion to the bees, drawn from the Æneid very poetically expressed, the following stanza occurs.

CXLIX.

Our careful Monarch stands in person by, His new cast cannons' fineness to explore; The strength of big-corn'd powder loves to try, And ball and cartridge sorts for every bore. and

CXLVIII.

Some the gall'd ropes with dawby marline bind,
Or searcloth masts with strong tarpawling coats;
To try new shrouds, one mounts into the wind,

And one below their ease or stiffness notes."

The Maiden Queen, the play which I before mentioned to have been acted in 1666, is said by Langbaine to be founded on some adventures in the grand Cyrus, and Ibrahim, the illustrious bashaw; indeed, Dryden admits that the foundation of his plot was taken from the former. The character of the queen includes all that is interesting or excellent in the plot; the struggles of unrequited passion, and the final triumph of honour and duty, are finely painted, while the catastrophe is so skilfully delayed, that our interest in the decision is maintained till the last. The character of Philocles is impaired by the vacillations of his affection, in the latter scenes; but the indecision of his judgment, and his struggle between virtue and love, lead to one of those situations of difficulty which, as I have previously observed, formed the delight of the artificial drama. Lysistratus is drawn without any bold or prominent features that can enchain attention; a separate vein of comict dialogue, belonging to an underplot, runs through the play, which the author, in the last

• That monstrous verse, says Scott, in which the

extinction of the fire is described, cannot be too often quoted, both to expose the meanness of the image and the confusion of the metaphor. The flames of London are first, a tallow-candle, second ly, hawks, which, while pouncing on their quarry, are hooded with an extinguisher.

A hollow crystal pyramid he takes,
In firmamental waters dipt above;
Of it a broad extinguisher he makes,

And hoods the flames, that to their quarry drove.

"The comic part of the play contains much of what was thought wit, in the reign of Charles; for marriage is railed against, and a male and female rake join in extolling the pleasures of a single life, even while the usage of the theatre compels them to put on the matrimonial chain. It is surprising that no venturous author, in that gay age, conclud ed by making such a couple happy in their own way. The novelty of such a catastrophe would have ensured its success, and, unlike the termination of the lives of Celadon and Florimel, it would have been strictly in character.' See Scott's Dryden, vol. ii. p. 381.

scene, has attempted to unite with the former, by making Celadon assist Philocles; but there is no real unity in the fable. It was necessary, I suppose, to enliven the grave and pathetic part of the plot with descriptions of a gay airy libertine and a clever self-confident girl, under the characters of a courtier and maid of honour. The ignorance of Philocles of the queen's attachment is perhaps out of nature; but it must be viewed with regard to the artificial system on which these plays are founded. Dryden has observed, that the good taste of Charles discovered a blemish in the last scene, which, indeed, arose, from what I observed before, an attempt, too late, to bring the two actions together, when they had previously no links of connexion. Dryden, I believe, was well acquainted with the Spanish drama, and he borrowed from it its unnatural pomp of language, its unpleasing intricacy of incident, and the inartificial and improbable extrication of the story.

Confident in the resources of his genius, and having successfully tried his dramatic powers, Dryden now entered into an agreement with the King's Theatre,* to supply it with three plays in a year, for one share and a quarter out of twelve shares and three quarters, into which the theatrical stock was divided, and which produced him better than three or four hundred a year, the total profits of the theatre being about four thousand pounds per annum.

An author, who could enter into such an engagement, must, undoubtedly, have great reliance on the fertility of his invention and the copiousness of his resources; but constant practice quickens the power of the intellect, awakens the slumbering associations of the fancy, gives to the taste and judgment an instantaneous selection, and to the hand a surprising facility of execution. Dryden had thought much on the subjects of the drama, had treasured up materials, at least in his imagination, if not assorted them in books. Shakspeare is suppos

The writers for the Duke's House were, Etheredge, Lord Orrery, Otway, Shadwell, Ravenscroft, Crowne, Settle, Behn, Tate; for the King's, Dryden, Sir Robert Howard, Wycherley, Durfey, James Howard, Lacy, Duffet, and Lee, to the year 1678. Edward Howard, Sidley, and Bankes, gave their plays sometimes to one theatre, sometimes to another.

Jacob says, 'I think, the single consideration of Mr. Dryden having produced siz dramatic performances in one year is sufficient to atone for inconsiderable thefts and trivial irregularities.' Lives, p. 82. But this is a mistake, see Reed's note, in Johnson's Life of Dryden, p. 348. Langbaine's authority led Johnson into the same error. Dryden did not produce more than half the plays for which he contracted; see the Memorial to the Lord Chamberlain, by Killigrew, Hart, &c. Malone's Life, p. 73.

egotism, place him at the head of all the heroes of romance. In this heroic kind of drama, the characters pass before us like moving pictures; we no more sympathize with them, than with the allegorical figures of Rubens. Their misfortunes draw no pity, their virtues claim no admiration, their feelings are often scarcely intelligible to us; they move, and think, and act, in a world of their own. Love, with them, is exalted to adoration; argument is sharpened into logic; passion becomes insanity; and valour is placed above the caprice of fortune, or the possibility of defeat. Macbeth, and Othello, and Lear, meet us with passions that we recognise in the mirror of life, with reflections of the forms of history, and the creations of nature; their tears are drawn from the same fountain as our own, their smiles come from feelings familiar to the wildness of their passion, and the majesty of their sorrow is all ours; but the character of Almanzor is altogether an artificial creation; he is a pasteboard hero of the opera stage; a being exorbitating or flying out from the common sphere of humanity, soaring in a region of his own, and never seen beyond the circle of romance. When such a character as this is introduced on the stage, one cannot help reflecting how small a scope is given to fiction in dramatic poetry; because the characters are measured to us, and defined by visible representation; not shaped from ideal models in our own mind, nor elevated by our imaginations in proportion to the magnitude of their actions.

us,

In

such characters as Achilles and Alexander, no power of the poet or the actor could keep pace with the demands of the spectator's imagination, or hope to ascend to the level of our habitual associations. A learned and ingenious writer has expressed the impression which the sight of Achilles on the French stage made on him; a more farcical or ludicrous figure could scarcely present itself to the mind, than a pert, smart, dapper Frenchman, well rouged, curled, and powdered, with the gait of a dancing master, and the accent of a milliner, attempting to personate that tremendous warrior, the nodding of whose crest dismayed armies, and the sound of whose voice made even the war-horse tremble.†

Sir Walter Scott's observations on this play may be read with advantage, his critical opinions, and his acute and excellent observations, are accompanied in his review of the different works of Dryden, with the utmost fairness and generosity, nor does he ever lose an opportunity to praise, where praise can be bestowed with propriety, vol. iv. p. 6, &c. In his multifarious criticisms, and acute observations in his edition of Dryden, he has been but once, and to one writer, unjust. Why was that one, Samuel Johnson?

See P. Knight on Taste, p. 306.

Dryden's great success* and growing reputation now called out the latent jealousy of his rivals into an open attack upon his fame; but Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, certainly took a higher ground, when he brought out his celebrated farce of the Rehearsal, in order to correct the public taste by holding up the rhyming tragedies to ridicule. This, however, was a task to which Buckingham's unassisted talentst were not equal; he therefore called in Butler, a keen and willing adversary, Spratt, M. Clifford and others of lower fame, as contributors to his work. Johnson observes, that Waller is supposed to have added his assistance to that of Cowley, in the original draught of the Rehearsal. No less a period, it is said, than ten years, were employed by them in collecting their stores of ri dicule, and pointing their shafts of wit.

'With transcribing of these, and translating those, With transmuting of rhyme, and transversing

prose,

He hath dress'd up his farce with other men's clothes.'s

The original hero was Davenant, satirized under the name of Bilboa; it is said that at one time he was changed for Sir Robert Howard: but although Dryden's greater reputation and genius placed him at length on the pedestal designed for others; the change of the hero mar

Scott numbers at this time among Dryden's friends, independently of Charles, the Duke of Ormond, Thomas Lord Clifford, Duke of Newcastle, Lord Buckhurst, Sir C. Sedley, Earl of Rochester, in short all the great and gay who wished to maintain some character for literary taste: he enjoyed the affection and esteem of Cowley, Waller, Denham, Davenant (as subtle as Cowley, and more harmoníous than Denham, who with a happier model would probably have excelled both.) Of all the men of genius at this period, whose immortality our age bas admitted, Butler alone seems to have been the adversary of our author's reputation. Life, p. 113.

115.

Of this want of talent, says Scott, the reader may find sufficient proof in the extracts from his Grace's reflections upon Absalom and Achitophel, vol. ix. p. 273.

Leigh and Clifford, and other scribblers of less note, wrote notes and remarks on Dryden's Plays and Poems. Buckingham had early distinguished himself as an opponent of the rhyming plays, and had an active share in damning the United Kingdoms' of the Hon. Ed. Howard.

§ State Poems, vol. ii. p. 216.

'I come to his farce, which must needs well be done,

For Troy was no longer before it was won, Since 'tis more than ten years since the war was begun.'

As the brown-paper patch on the nose, introduced in ridicule of poor Davenant's misfortune, with a black-eyed wench at Westminster, was retained, when the character was transferred to Dryden; Scott thinks that the Poet of the Rehearsal may be considered, in some degree, as a Knight of the shire, representing all the authors of the day, and uniting in his person their several absurd peculiarities

red the consistency of the satire, as it after wards did that of the Dunciad: for the authors were unwilling to lose the strokes more successfully levelled against Davenant, while the poignancy of the satire was lost by diffusion, or rendered harmless by misapplication to its object. This farce was performed on the 7th of December, 1671, and published in the following year. It owed its success as much to the clever mimickry of the actors as to the author's wit. Dryden's dress, manner, and usual expressions, were all copied; and Lacy, the original Bayes, was instructed to speak after the manner of Dryden's recitation. The play met with a stormy reception at first. Lord Orrery, Sir R. Howard, and all the noble authors of heroic sen timents and sounding lines, were furious in their opposition; but the appositeness of its satire, the humour of its burlesque, and the wit of its parody prevailed; and when once received, the success of the Rehearsal was unbounded. Dryden's Play of Marriage-a-la-Mode, was alluded to, though not acted nor printed till the subsequent year, but it probably had been shown about, as was the custom, in manuscript. In the distress of P. Prettyman, Leonidas is alluded to, as the author of the Key to the Rehearsal points out a parallel between them.

To this attack Dryden made no reply; indeed it is difficult to repel wit but with its own keen weapons. He owned, however, the cleverness and ability displayed in it. In the dedication to Juvenal, he says, 'I answered not the Rehearsal, because I knew that the author sate to himself when he drew the picture, and was the very Bayes of his own farce: because, also, I knew

The first sketch of the Rehearsal was written in 1664, but the representation was prevented by the

that my betters were more concerned than I was in that satire; and, lastly, because Mr. Smith and Mr. Johnson, the main pillars of it, were two such languishing gentlemen in their conversation, that I could liken them to nothing but their own relations, those noble characters of men of wit and pleasure about town.' Dryden might have added, that under this appearance of indifference he veiled his resentment for a time; but that at length the character of Zimri in Absalom and Achitophel fully avenged his injured reputation, and he who had began the jest, was laughed at in his turn. These lines, as Dr. Warton observes, were intended as a payment in full for the bitter satire acted nine years before.

Although this clever attack did not effectually banish heroic nonsense in rhyme from the stage, it gave it a very powerful blow;* Dryden was not, perhaps, reluctant to turn from a situation which it was difficult for him to retain; and to avoid either giving way to the clamour of his enemies, or persisting against the opinion of the public, he judiciously directed his attention to Comedy. In 1672, he produced his Marriagea-la-Mode, and the Assignation, or Love in a Nunnery. The former was successful; Sir W. Scott says it is a Tragi-Comedy, or rather a Tragedy and Comedy, the plot and scenes of which are intermingled, for they have no natural connexion with each other. The state intrigue bears evident marks of hurry and inattention, and it is at least possible that Dryden originally intended it for the subject of a proper heroic play, but startled at the effect of Buckingham's satire, hastily added to it some comic scenes, either lying by him or composed on purpose. The higher, or tragic plot, is not only

London; and as Davenant and Dryden were the managers of the two theatres, perhaps there was a difficulty in bringing it forward, till Davenant's death. Scott's Life, p. 137.

It is incredible how much pains Buckingham took with one of the actors to teach him to speak some passages in Bayes's parts in the Rehearsal right. The vulgar notion of that play being hissed off the first night, is a mistake. Spence's Anecdotes, ed. Mal. p. 102. Bayes, when he is to write, is blooded and purged. This, as Lamotte relates himself to have heard, was the real custom of Dryden. Reh. act ii. sc. 1 Bayes, Why I'll tell you what I do. If I am to write familiar things, as Sonnets to Armida, and the like, I use stewed prunes only: but when I have a grand design in hand, I ever take physic and let blood; for when you would have pure swiftness of thought, and fiery flights of fancy, you must have a care of the pensive part. In fine, you must purge the belly.'-Bayes is right, these things are of im portance; one poet, whom I knew, never could write but in leather breeches; another amiable and well known bard, the author of the Sabbath, always when he sat down to compose, put on his spurs. These are idiosyncrasies, belonging to the sons of Apollo.

dents are so perplexed and obscure, that it would have required much more action to detail them intelligibly; even the language has an abridged appearance, and favours the idea that the tragic intrigue was to have been extended into an heroic play, instead of occupying a spare corner in a comedy. But to make amends, the comic scenes are executed with spirit, and in a

The authors whose works were ridiculed were Sir William Barclay, Davenant, Sir William Killi grew, Sir R. Stapleton, James and Henry Howard, T. Porter, and Mrs. A. Behn.

* See Scott's Life of Dryden, p. 143; and vol. iv. p. 233, this play was first acted in 1673, in an old theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, occupied by the king's company, after that in Drury Lane had been burnt, and during its rebuilding.

Is the ingenious editor of the Epistolary Curiosities of the Herbert Family (1818) aware that she has made a slight mistake in giving the character of Zimri to Mulgrave, Duke of Buckinghamshire instead of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham? vol. ii. p 203.