DEDICATION PREFIXED TO THE TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID'S METAMORPHOSES. THIS Dedication contains abundance of literary and political controversy. The first heat of the Revolution had been long over, and the losers began to assume the privilege of talking, without fear that an established Government would think their complaints worthy of much notice. Dryden, whom the evils of degradation and poverty pressed severely, was not of a temper to remain silent under them, as soon as he conceived it safe to utter his grievances. In losing his places of laureate and historiographer, there was not only dishonour, but great pecuniary loss; nor was it at all a soothing addition, that his old enemy Shadwell had obtained the one, and his equivocal friend Rymer the other, of his appointments. He sets out in extremely bad humour with the Government, under which he had suffered this deprivation; with those who had risen by his fall; and with himself, for having cultivated the barren field of poetry, instead of aspiring to the honours of the gown. At length, after having ventured probably as far as he thought safe, certainly as far as to excite displeasure, in flourishes of declamation, which, though expressed against ministers in general, are obviously levelled against those of the day, he turns short, and falls with great vehemence upon the whole body of critics, ancient and modern, as the natural enemies of poets and poetry. Descending to those of his own day, he singles out Rymer, who, in a piece called "A short View of Tragedy," published in 1692, had depreciated the modern drama in his deep admiration of the ancients. The controversy concerning the comparative merits of the ancients and moderns was now raging in the literary world. Perrault had written his Parallel," and Sir William Temple his "Essay on Ancient and Modern Learning." Wotton's "Reflections" were pub 66 lished in 1694, and these led the way to Swift's "Battle of the Books," in which our author is treated with great severity. Rymer had not only espoused the cause of the ancient tragedians in the general dispute, but, as Dryden complains, had treated him slightly; and our bard was not famous for patience under such offences. He therefore retorts in this Dedication, maliciously upbraids Rymer with the fate of his fallen tragedy Edgar," and artfully divides the comparison between the Grecian and British dramatists, from that which Perrault had instituted between the ancient poets in general and those of modern France. Our author's good taste, as well as policy, led him to take a distinction so necessary for the maintenance of his cause. Having bestowed what he thought an adequate chastisement upon Rymer, he employs the small remainder of the Preface in discussing a few miscellaneous points of criticism, chiefly relating to translation. The tone of this Dedication excited, as Dryden himself informs us, the resentment of the Court, who employed Rymer to attack our author's dramatic reputation,—a task which he never accomplished.* [The Dedication is certainly ill-tempered, and no wonder, but it is brilliantly written; the occasional irregularity of construction (though it may seem to bear out Coleridge's demand for " a stricter and purer grammar "), expressing not unhappily the contemptuous indignation of the writer. To note only one thing, "the corruption of a poet is the generation of a critic," is certainly the best statement extant of a frequently restated idea. Compare with this piece the heads of an "Answer to Rymer," vol. xv.-ED.] See his letter to Tonson, in which he thus expresses himself: "About a fortnight ago, I had an intimation from a friend, by letter, that one of the secretaries, I suppose Trenchard, had informed the Queen that I had abused her Government, (these were his words,) in my epistle to Lord Radcliffe ; and that thereupon she had commanded her historiographer to fall upon my plays, which he assures me he is now doing. I doubt not his malice, from a former hint you gave me; and if he be employed, I am confident 'tis of his own seeking, who, you know, has spoken slightly of me in his last critique, and that gave me occasion to snarl again." |