appear in arms against his father, responded to the appeal of Charles, who was for maintaining inviolate the order of hereditary succession; Shaftesbury was thrown into the tower, and the popular feeling found expression in Dryden's remarkable poem, "Absalom and Achitophel." In this poem, under the transparent disguise of biblical history, he describes the struggle which then agitated the national mind, and in a series of brilliant portraits, which have been justly characterized as typical as well as individual, he graphically portrays the leading characters of the period. Very noteworthy are the moderation and the self-control wherewith his fiery invective and the fervour of his royalistic zeal are subordinated to the main object of his poem, which was to secure the condemnation of Shaftesbury. When we realize the vital interest of the subject, the excited state of public feeling, together with Dryden's transcendent power as a satirist, we can understand the immense effect which it produced and also its immediate popularity. Passing over "The Medal" and "Mac Flecknoe," one of the most striking utterances of Dryden's satirical genius, displaying in an eminent degree his titanic strength, his flexibility, impetuosity, and trenchant wit, his next important work is "Religio Laici," a theological treatise in verse, written to support the claims of the Anglican Church, while in "The Hind and the Panther," by some critics regarded as his master-work, he argues in favour of the Roman Catholic communion, to which, after the accession of James II., he had attached himself. In this remarkable poem, the various sections of the Christian Church are symbolized by various animals, among which "the milk-white Hind," "helpless and persecuted," represents Catholicism, while Prelacy appears under the semblance of the Panther, "externally beautiful, yet ferocious when aroused." The Presbyterian, the Anabaptist, the Independent, the Socinian, the Quaker, and the Atheist figure respectively as the wolf, the boar, the bear, the fox, the hare, and the monkey, while James appears as "the generous royal lion,' trying to protect the various animals under his rule." 1 Unlike the “Absalom and Achitophel," which gave expression to the popular sentiment of the period, "The Hind and the Panther" was out of harmony with the Anti-Catholic spirit then prevalent in England, and may have tended to produce that union of the protestant sects against James which resulted in his deposition. In addition to his political and controversial poems, his numerous satires, odes, dramas, translations, and fables, together with his prefaces, and other proge works, bear witness to Dryden's indefatigable literary industry during a period of forty years. The prevailing tone, alike in morality and religion, in political and social life, during the epoch of English history of which, under some of its aspects, Dryden was the representative, was decidedly low; while amid the virulence of party and personal hatred which characterized the age, the higher and nobler elements in human nature, seldom found occasion to assert themselves. Accordingly, in Dryden's works we look in vain for the highest order of poetry. He appeals to reason rather than to imagination, and to the head rather than to the heart; by him poetry was made subservient to politics and to religious polemics, and, addressing himself with his varied intellectual gifts to the leading topics of the day, literature, under his auspices, became for the first time a great political power. How fully this power was recognized in the succeeding generation, is shown by the liberal patronage and high social position assigned to men of letters by the ministers of Queen Anne. As the author of our greatest political satire, and of his two famous odes, Dryden occupies a distinguished place among the poets of England; it is, however, as a 'Literary Influence in British History." Hon. A. S. G. Canning. 1 66 great artificer in language that he has rendered special service to English literature. 66 In a letter addressed to Mrs. Steward, written shortly before his death, he speaks of himself as a man who has done his best to improve the language, especially in poetry," and for his achievement in this direction, he deserves the gratitude of posterity. While cordially accepting Mr. Swinburne's verdict, the "he (Dryden) has added a new and a majestic note, if not one of the sweeter or profounder, to the harmonies of English verse," I cannot recognize the justice of Dr. Johnson's celebrated dictum, that "he (Dryden) found English brick and left it marble." The stately periods of Hooker, of Milton, and of Jeremy Taylor, may be compared, not inappropriately, to a material, noble and beautiful indeed, but too costly for ordinary use; an image totally inapplicable to the language which, principally through Dryden's agency, had acquired that clearness, flexibility and precision which rendered it an instrument admirably adapted to meet the requirements of popular literature. The transformation thus wrought in English prose, which formed so striking a characteristic of the age, was doubtless greatly accelerated by the colloquial use of the French language by the upper classes, consequent upon the Restoration. When we remember the important part about to be played in national education, by the essayist, the journalist, and the pamphleteer, the services rendered by Dryden, in this direction, cannot easily be overestimated. ALEXANDER POPE. 1688-1744. DRYDEN was succeeded by Pope, who, in his twelfth year, was taken to see the elder poet, to whom he looked up with reverence, as his master in the art of versification. Born in the year of the Revolution, and with a genius singularly precocious, he became the poetical representative of the reign of Queen Anne, a period distinguished by its intellectual activity, and remarkable for the sudden outburst of literary ability, which has stamped it as the Augustine age of English literature. It was, nevertheless, an age essentially prosaic; conventional in its morality; colourless in its theology; materialistic in its philosophy; and in manners polished and artificial; while from Addison, and other contemporary writers, we learn that society had not yet emerged from the moral corruption introduced at the Restoration. In such an age the higher flights of imagination would have been out of place, and accordingly Pope, the wit, the critic, and the man of the world, though destitute of the higher attributes of genius, was, by his peculiar gifts and aptitudes, especially fitted to be its representative. By him poetry was employed as the vehicle for translation, for moral disquisition, for the solution of philosophical problems, and more especially for satire, of which he was a consummate master. Accordingly, his pictures of the social life and manners of the age, together with his portraits of contemporary celebrities, which are invested with historical interest, are justly regarded as his most valuable contribution to our national literature. His "Pastorals," published in 1709, and his "Essay on Criticism," in 1711, established his reputation as a poet. To these productions may be applied the words of 66 Leslie Stephen, describing in general terms the character of Pope's writing; as "polished prose, with occasional gleams of genuine poetry." They were followed by "The Rape of the Lock," regarded by some critics as the most characteristic expression of his genius. Fancy and imagination, which are essential elements in the poet's nature, even when that nature is not of the highest order, can invest with a certain charm even the most unpromising subject, and accordingly The Rape of the Lock," pronounced by De Quincey to be "the most exquisite monument of playful fancy that universal literature offers," is by many critics regarded as the poet's master-work. It is undoubtedly the work of a consummate artist, in which, as in a polished mirror, we see reflected the artificial society of the period; its beaux, with their periwigs and sword-knots; its belles, with their flounces and furbelows; puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billets-doux; a period which, notwithstanding the outward polish and brilliant wit by which it was distinguished, is there represented in its true character, as heartless, frivolous and corrupt. The contempt for women, which, like a tainted atmosphere, pervades the entire poem, aptly characterized as "the apotheosis of foppery and folly," is a sure indication of a low moral tone, alike in the poet himself, and in the society which he depicts. Wonderful indeed is the contrast between the artificial manners depicted in "The Rape of the Lock," and the simple, though semi-barbarous customs of the Homeric times, as reflected in the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," Pope's translation of which, though superseded by more faithful versions of the original, cannot but be regarded as a most important contribution to the literature of his own day. The familiar heroic couplet in which they were reproduced would doubtless be more acceptable to his contemporaries than the more ponderous verse of Chapman, while the poems themselves, appealing as they do to the |