obliged to pay a certain deference to the public opinion; for he, whose bread depends upon the success of his volume, is compelled to study popularity: but, on the other hand, his better judgment was often directed to improve that of his readers; so that he alternately influenced and stooped to the national taste of the day. If, therefore, we would know the gradual changes which took place in our poetry during the above period, we have only to consult the writings of an author, who produced yearly some new performance, allowed to be most excellent in the particular style which was fashionable for the time. It is the object of this memoir to connect, with the account of Dryden's life and publications, such a general view of the literature of the time, as may enable the reader to estimate how far the age was indebted to the poet, and how far the poet was influenced by the taste and manners of the age.

A few preliminary remarks on the literature of the earlier part of the seventeenth century will form a necessary introduction to this Biographical Memoir.

When James I. ascended the throne of England, he came to rule a court and people, as much distinguished for literature as for commerce and arms. Shakspeare was in the zenith of his reputation, and England

possessed other poets inferior to Shakspeare
alone; or, indeed, the higher order of whose
plays may claim to be ranked above the infe-
rior dramas ascribed to him. Among these
we may reckon Massinger, who approached
to Shakspeare in dignity; Beaumont and
Fletcher, who surpassed him in drawing fe-
male characters, and those of polite and
courtly life; and Jonson, who attempted to
supply, by depth of learning, and laboured
accuracy of character, the want of that flow
of imagination, which nature had denied to
him. Others, who flourished in the reign.
of James and his son, though little known
to the general readers of the present age even
by name, had a just claim to be distinguished
from the common herd of authors. Ford,
Webster, Marston, Brome, Shirley, even Chap-
man and Decker, added lustre to the stage
for which they wrote. The drama, it is true,
was the branch of poetry most successfully
cultivated; for it afforded the most ready
appeal to the public taste. The number of
theatres then open, in all parts of the city,
secured to the adventurous poet the means
of having his performance represented upon
one stage or other; and he was neither tired
nor disgusted by the difficulties, and disa-
greeable observances, which must now be
necessarily undergone by every candidate for

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39

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

1875, March 22.

Halker Bequest. (Vol. I., II.)

ADVERTISEMENT.

AMONG the most eminent of the illustrious names of those whose genius has done honour to English Literature stands that of Dryden, who may claim at least the third place in the honoured list, and who has given proofs of greater versatility of talent than either Shakspeare or Milton, though justly placed inferior to both in their respective provinces. It would be hard to exact that the Editor of these Memoirs should rival the criticism of Johnson, or produce facts which have escaped the accuracy of Malone. While, however, he has availed himself of the labours of both, particularly of the latter, whose industry has removed