Augustalis. It has not much of that spirit of lyric poetry, which he afterwards so eminently possessed. The lines are constantly sliding into the heroic couplet, and the argument de scends into delineation of character, and description of the regal virtues, resembling the style of his didactic poems, more than a pin. daric ode; yet he had studied Milton, and republished Lycidas. Though Scott considers the general effect less impressive than might have been expected, yet he thinks there are some fine passages and striking pictures, as describing the joy of the people, on the fallacious prospect of the king's recovery.

Men met each other with erected look, The steps were higher that they took, Friends to congratulate their friends made haste, And long inveterate foes saluted as they past. He also remarks the judicious choice of topics, his appropriate praise, and his skilful management of the subject, in never having touched on the delicate theme of the queen.

Dryden probably did not take so important and awful a step, as changing his religious faith, without having attentively studied the contro

Yet tender lambs, stray not so fast away,
To weep and mourn, let us together stay;
O'er all the universe let it be spread,
That now the shepherd of the flock is dead.
The royal Pan, that shepherd of the sheep;
He who to leave his flock did dying weep,
Is gone! ah! gone! ne'er to return, &c.

This was fortunately left unfinished: the most remarkable is the Quaker's Elegy,' written by W. P. a sincere lover of Charles and James, 31st March, 1685. Tears wiped off a second part on the coronation (22d April) in the following lines, he nust have been moved by the spirit:

No sooner had this stranger seized my soul, But Rachel (his maidservant!) knock'd to raise me from my bed,

And with a voice of sorrow did condole The loss of Charles!-whom she declared was dead.

Charles dost thou mean, we king of England call, That lived within the mansion of Whitehall? (Rachel) Yes!-'tis too true!

Another more numerous shoal of small fry ap. peared to congratulate James on his accession; among others, Mr. Peter Ker, whose joy exceeds all common bounds, when he advises even the ships to run a ground:

Let subjects sing, bells ring, and cannons roar, And every ship come dancing to the shore.

Johnson said, the title Threnodia Augustalis is not strictly classical, but Dr. Adam of Edinburgh has defended it. Threnodia' is a word purely Greek, used by no Latin author. Augustalis, denotes in honour of Augustus. Thus Ludi Augustales,' games instituted in honour of Augustus. Tac. An. i. 15. 54: so Sacerdotes, Sodales Augustales, ib. and ii. 83. Hist. ii. 95, &c. Scott's Dryden, vol. x. p. 60. A poem called Threnodia Triumphalis, by F. Fisher, was published on Oliver Cromwell's death, 1658. Dryden's Elegy went through two editions in 1685.

versial writings on the question, and weighed the arguments of the respective churches. Consequently he was enabled without difficulty of preparation to undertake the defence of a paper written by Anne Hyde, Dutchess of York, (who had avowed herself a Papist not long before her death) stating the motives which had induced her to change her religion. Some papers also in the writing of the King, though not believed to be his composition, were discovered with them. Stillingfleet published an answer in 1686, and the controversy was prolonged, but with no farther interference of our poet. It appears that he translated Varilla's History of the Revolutions, but did not publish it. Burnet takes the credit to himself of stifling the progress of this work by his reflections, which destroyed the character of the original.

The Hind and Panther, a long and laboured poem of near two thousand lines, employed Dryden's attention during the years 1686 and 1687. It was widely dispersed and eagerly read, and soon went through three or four editions. It brought with it the double attraction of being written by the first poet of the age, and of offering a schject which engrossed all the interests, and agitated the passions of society, under a new form of controversy, conveyed in the artifice of fable, and adorned with the decorations of rhyme. The purpose of Dryden was to detail in poetry the arguments that had conducted him into the profession of popery; and to recommend a union between the Catholics and the Church of England, at least to persuade the latter to throw down the barriers by which the Catholies were kept out of state employments. Dryden's poem appeared about a fortnight after the king's memorable declaration of indulgence was promulgated; and if (says his biographer) the Protestant dissenters ever cast their eyes on profane poetry, the Hind and Panther must have appeared to them a perilous commentary on the king's declaration, since it shows clearly that the Catholic interest alone was what the Catholic king and poet had at heart, and that however the formert might now find himself

This Poem is said to have been written at Rushton, near Huntingdon. There was an embowered walk, called Dryden's walk; an urn was placed there about the middle of the last century, with an inscription to Dryden's memory, and an allusion to the Poem.' MS. Comm. of Oct. Gilchrist.

↑ See Scott's Dryden, vol. x. p. 89.

Dryden has taken pains to have it believed that he was not incited to write this poem by any one and his assertion is worthy of credit. If the poem had been written under the direction of James, the tone adopted to the sectaries would have been more conciliating. In order to procure

obliged to court their favour to strengthen his party against the established church, the deep remembrance of ancient feuds and injuries was still cherished, and the desire of vengeance on the fanatics was neither sated nor subdued. The fable is divided in'o three parts. The first is dedicated to the general description and character of the religious sects, and particularly to the churches of Rome and England; in the second, the general arguments for the controversy between the two churches are agitated n the last part, from discussing the disputed points of theology, the Hind and Panther descend to consider the particulars in which their temporal interests were supposed to interfere with each other. I shall not repeat the well known criticism of Johnson on the plan of this poem, nor the admirable and eloquent observations of Scott, but I shall content myself with observing as regards the form of a parable, or fable in which it appears, that the divided opinions of its propriety relate to one of those questions of degree which are so open to dispute. The form of fables is familiar to us by use, and as it were consecrated by antiquity. We read them before we are aware of the improbability of the events, and the singularity of their structure. The arguments, as well as subjects, arise out of the interests and habits of the animals, or other instruments used by the fabulists. The wolf betrays his gluttony, the daw her vanity, and the fox his artifice. There is no elaborate train of reasoning required, no minute division of argument, no subtle pro cesses of thought. In the pleasing simple fables of Esop and Phedrus, the well known disposition and instinct of the animals merely invests itself with human speech, and the truths, inculcated are familiar and recognised. But Dryden has at once plunged the beasts of the forest into the investigation of the most intricate subjects. in decisions that would have required the erudition of general councils, and arguments that would have called forth the powers of the most dexterous polemics. The Hind enters into the subtlest points of the Nicene creed; and the Panther is engaged in the discussion of the Quinquarticular controversy. But the greatness of this error has in some degree rectified itself, for the length and intricacy of the arguments so take possession of the mind, that we forget the improbable machinery by which it is intro luced, and consider that the poet himself

is reasoning before us. When we have once recovered from the startling absurdity of the plan, the words Hind and Panther, as they occasionally recur in the dialogue, stand merely as signs or symbols of the opposing parties, and lose as it were the force of their original signification. The mind, by its own instinctive love of what is probable and true, rectifies the absur dities of the original plan, and though the subject is perhaps too abstruse and argumentative to be treated in verse, yet we rise from the perusal of it, admiring the skill and talents of the author who could present us a poem of such varied excellence; argumentative without being rugged or obscure, f miliar without being mean and low, pointed in its satire, copious in its illustration, majestic in its language, magnificent in its descriptions, adapting itself to every change of subject, and winding its way with the most graceful ease and flexibility through all the intricate mazes of theological argument. It is but fair to remark, that Pope considered this poem as the most correct specimen of Dryden's versification. The lines beginning' So when of old the Almighty Father sate;' in the second part, Dr. Warton says, are the most splendid and sublime that Dryden ever wrote.*

This poem was not likely to escape the ridicule of the wits accordingly, in the same year, appeared the Hind and Panther transversed, in the story of the Country and City Mouse, a composition in prose and verse, written by two young men, Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax, and Prior, then a student at St. John's, Cambridge. Montagu is said to have written the preface, but it certainly appears that Prior had the largest share in the work. When Spence asked Lord Peterborough whether Halifax did not write the Country Mouse, in conjunction with Prior, Yes,' was the answer, as if I were in a chaise with Mr. Cheselden here drawn by his fine horse, and should say, “Lord, how finely we draw the chaise!" Prior does not seem to have been contented with his share of profit or of fame.

There is a story current on the authority of Spence, that Dryden was much affected at the unkindness of this sa'ire, and feelingly complained of it. Johnson, as usual, disbelieved it; but

•The motto of this poem must not be overlooked. Antiquam exquirite matrem

Et vera incessu patuit dea.

↑ Mr. Todd has noticed a satire, entitled, Ecebolius Britannicus, or a memento to the Jacobites of the higher onder; in which many of Dryden's phrases and sentiments are introduced and printed in the italic character. It occurs in The Loyal and impartial Satyrist, containing Eight Miscellany Poems, 4to. 1694. See Warton's Dryden, vol. IL P. 9

Of

Malone, who was cautious enough upon points like these, thinks that it has been related upon sufficient authority. Dean Lockier told it to Spence on his own knowledge, for his words were (I have heard him say,) For two young fellows that I have always been very civil to, to use an old man in so cruel a manner!' and he wept as he said it. It is possible that the story has not lost as it has come down to us. Dryden might have been vexed at the appearance of such able and unexpected antagonists, who attacked him with his own weapons, and he might have reflected on their conduct with asperity and emotion. In this year he produced his first ode on St. Cecilia's Day.* Some months after he wrote his Britannia Rediviva, on the birth of the young prince, and addressed a familar epistle to his friend, Sir G. Etheredge, on his being appointed envoy to Ratisbon. this poem, Britannia Rediviva, Sir W. Scott thus expresses himself with all the feelings of a poet.- Dryden, who knew how to assume every style that suited the occasion, writes here in the character of a devout and grateful catholic, with much of the unction which marks the hymns of the Romish church. In English poetry, we have hardly another example of the peculiar tone which the invocation of saints and an enthusiastic faith in the mystic doctrines of the catholic faith, can give to poetry. To me, I confess, that communion seems to offer the same facilities to the poet, which it has been long famous for affording to the painter: and the Britannia Rediviva, while it celebrates the mystic influence of the sacred festivals of the Paraclete and Trinity, and introduces the warlike forms - of St. Michael and St. George, has often reminded me of one of the ancient altar-pieces, which it is impossible to regard without reverence, though presenting miracles which never happened, or saints who never existed. These subordinate divinities are something upon which the imagination, dazzled and overwhelmed by the contemplation of a single Omnipotent Being, can fairly rest and expand itself. They approach nearer to humanity, and to comprehension; yet are sufficiently removed from both to have the full effect of sublime obscurity.'

Of this ode, Sir W. Scott says, (vol. xi. p. 166,) 'The first stanza has exquisite merit, and although the power of music is announced in the following, in a manner more abstracted and general, and therefore less striking than when its influence upon Alexander and its chiefs is placed before our eyes, it is, perhaps, only our intimate acquaintance with the second ode that leads us to undervalue the first, although containing the original ideas so exquisitely brought out in Alexander's feast.' Pope said Many people would like my ode to music better if Dryden had never wrote on that subject. It was at the request of Mr. Stecle that I

At the time Milton published his immortal poem, Cowley was in the full possession of the public admiration. He possessed great talen.s and considerable acquirements. He wrote in the style and taste of the age, and his superior genius placed him at the head of his school. Milton's poem was formed on models essentially different; and it demanded a comprehension of mind, an extent of knowledge, a purity of taste, a lofty imagination, in fact, a conception of the power and provinces of poetry so exalted, that it met with admirers, perhaps with readers, only among those of deeper learning and more culti vated minds; but every year shook off something from the fragile blossoms of Cowley's fame, and Paradise Lost slowly made its way by its own excellence, as a purer and better taste gradually revived. Dennis says, it took thirty years, or more, before the great merit of Milton was generally known; and near thirty years certainly elapsed before a second edition of his exquisite early poems, the rich and ripened fruitage of his studious youth, were given to the public. A new edition of Paradise Lost was now called for, and Tonson, with the assistance of Somers and Atterbury, printed a splendid one, in folio. Above five hundred subscribers were obtained, and Dryden contributed his famous hexastich, which Malone thinks was suggested by the couplet of Selvaggi.*

There is some particular year of misfortune in the life of almost every man, in which the adversity that has been invisibly accumulating comes on with unexpected weight and singular combinations. Good fortune in some, and great prudence and foresight in others, may put aside the blow; but the expectation of passing life without feeling this shock is not formed on the lessons of experience. I wish that I could say, in this respect, that Dryden escaped the com❤ mon lot of humanity; but alas! he was to be awakened from his dreams of preferment and wealth, by the abdication of the king, and a change in the succession, most adverse to his interests. In August, 1689, he lost his office of laureate, and with it full three hundred pounds a year. To add to his mortification, both places of poet and historiographer were given to Shad well. Dryden could not hold them as being a catholic, and Shadwell received them as being a whig. Deprived of his certain and official in

wrote it, and not with any thought of rivalling that great man, whose memory I do, and have always reverenced. Spence's Anecd. p. 12.

Gesner, in his notes on Claudian. (vol. i. p. xlii.) says that Dryden's lines are taken from the follow ing Greek Epigram.

Ειν ἐνι, βιργιλιοιο νεον, και μουσαν Όμηρου Κλαυδιανον ρώμη, και βασιλεις έθεσαν.

come, he was obliged to return to the stage for support. In 1690, he produced his tragedy of Don Sebastian, which was acted with applause; and his comedy of Amphitryon was also successful. Dryden prefixed the following motto to his tragedy, proclaiming that seven years, the interval since the production of the Duke of Guise, had not impaired his power of invention, nor dimmed the fire of his genius:

nec tarda senectus

Debilitat vires animi, mutatque vigorem.

The biographers of Dryden have considered the poet to have been particularly happy in the choice of his subjects, the character of Sebastian presenting all that was heroic and dignified, and the history of his fate terminating, as it were, in that awful uncertainty, which is one of the regions in which poetry loves to dwell. The changes of fortune during his life, and the mysterious disappearance after the overthrow of his ambition, was a subject in which the imagination might wander at will, without offending the majesty of truth.

The characters are separated and set off in fine poetical contrast; Sebastian, open, brave, impetuous, full of all regal virtues,—every inch a king. Dorax represents one whose good and generous qualities have been met by injustice and oppression, and driven back into the disappointed and disordered mind. His stern misanthropy, his sullen pride, his high and haughty demeanour, the bitterness of his hatred, that discontent with himself, which, too proud to avow, he is obliged to feel, his long stride and sullen port;' his passions and feelings, have been brought by Dryden into one of the most powerful characters which he ever sketched. Muly Moloch is the old tyrant in tapestry, the fierce Saracen, the hot savage Moor, yet with generosity enough to save him from our hatred. In Benducar is the cool, crafty, fawning villain. Almeyda's violence has too much, I think, of fury in its sentiment, and rant and hyperbole in language.

Johnson says of this play, that some sentiments leave a strong impression, and others are of excellence universally admired. This, his last biographer considers to be but meagre commendation when applied to the chef-d'œuvre*

• Don Sebastian has been weighed, with reference to its tragic merits, against Love for Love,' and one or other is universally allowed to be the first of Dryden's dramatic performances. To the youth of both sexes, the latter presents the most pleasing subject of emotion; but to those whom age has rendered incredulous upon the romantic effects of love, and who do not fear to look into the recesses of the human heart, when agitated by darker and more stubborn passions, Don Sebastian offers a far superior source of gratification. Scott's

of Dryden's dramatic works, in which he had centred in the effort the powers of his mighty genius, and the fruits of his long theatrical ex perience; accordingly, Shakspeare laid aside, it would be difficult, he says, to point out a play containing more animating incident, impassioned language, and beautiful description. Perhaps the truth lies between these two opinions. Although in Dryden we must praise a happy disposition of accidents, and a considerable variety of characters;* though there is execution of his subjects, yet our praise cannot much that is masterly in the conception and be bestowed without some qualification. The incestuous connexion between Sebastian and

Almeyda is a great blemish to the plot; and guilt is discovered, are such as we must conthe expressions of both parties, when their sider with abhorrence. Some previous sentiproved; the manners of the Mahometans are ments of Almeyda are too voluptuous to be apgrossly violated, and the comic scenes are too broad. After all, and with all its merits, the French theatre, with its elevated sentithis declamatory kind of drama, the school of ment, its long-drawn similes, and its majestie and melodious verse, must not be compared to the pliancy, the fire, the vivacity, the truth, the flashes of comic genius, the depth of tragic passion, the genuine representations of life, the boldness, the variety, of our old dramatists, embodying in their noble dramas the passions and follies and virtues of men, shaking us with us forget all their anomalies, and even some terror, or melting us with tears, and making absurdities, in the surpassing splendour of their creations. In the very best of Dryden's plays, which the poet has interposed between use and there is something of an artificial medium

Works, vii. p. 279; yet this play, on the first night of representation, was only endured. The audfence,' says Dryden,' were weary with much good nature and silence: when curtailed and altered, it became a great favourite with the public. Actel and printed in 1690.

• As when Almeyda says,

How can we better die than close embrac'd, Sucking each other's soul, while we expire? The following is objectionable on another accounts. My father's, mother's, brother's death I panion, That's somewhat sure, a mighty sum of murder Of innocent and kindred blood struck off My prayers and penance shall discount for these, And beg of heaven to charge the bill on me.

+ Human sacrifices are offered up to Mahomet, and they are represented as worshipping the image of Jupiter, in the Conquest of Granada. A sole cism, as Langbaine observes, scarcely more par donable than placing a pistol in the hand of Deme trius, which Dryden justly censured. On the impropriety of the classical allusions in the mouth of Mahomedans, Addison had remarked in the Guardian, No. 110.