NOTES himself with his music, placed himself in the 44. Trembling. Ed. 1 reads trembles. And gently waft the over all along. 52. Papers, etc. Ed. 1 reads, Paper in thy 53. St. André's. Ed. 1 reads St. Andrew's. was "This unfortunate opera imitated from the French of Molière, and finished, as Shadwell assures us, in the space of five weeks. The author having no talents for poetry and no ear for versification, Psyche is one of the most contemptible of the frivolous dramatic class to which it belongs. It was, however, got up with extreme magnificence, and received much applause on its first appearance in 1674." [SCOTT.] Some expressions in Shadwell's preface might be interpreted as a sneer at the heroic plays of Dryden, with whom, however, he was apparently still on good terms: "Though I expect more candor from the best writers in rhyme, the more moderate of them are very much offended with me for leaving my own province of comedy, to invade their dominion of rhyme. But methinks they might be satisfied, since I have made but a small incursion, and am resolved to retire. And were I never so powerful, they should escape me, as the northern people did the Romans, their craggy barren territories being not worth the conquering." 57. Singleton. Singleton was a musical performer of some eminence, and is mentioned as such in Shadwell's Bury Fair, act iii, sc. 1. Villerius, the Grand Master of Rhodes, is a principal character in Davenant's Siege of Rhodes, where a great part of the dialogue is in a sort of lyrical recitative. tion of the lute and sword is taken from The. The combinaRehearsal (act v), where Bayes informs his critical friends that his whole battle is to be represented by two persons: 'for I make 'em both come out in armor, cap-a-pie, with their swords drawn, and hung with a scarlet ribbon at their wrists, (which, you know, represents fighting enough,) each of 'em holding a lute in his hand. I make 'em. sir, play the battle in recitativo.' a sort of duet, in parody of passages in The Siege of Rhodes." [SCOTT.] The following 58. Bore. Ed. 1 reads wore. An Empty name of all the Pile Remains. let in the first book of Cowley's Davideis: Beneath the dens where unfletcht tempests lie, 74. Nursery. This was a theater erected under a 82. Amidst, etc. Ed. 1 reads: a Amidst these Monuments of Varnisht Minds. Professor Collins points out that Dryden is here indebted to Davenant: This to a structure led, long known to fame, And call'd the inonument of vanush'd minds. Gondibert, book ii, canto v, st. 36. 83. Suburbian. So ed. 2; ed. 1 reads Suburbane. 84. Panton. "A celebrated punster, according to Derrick." SCOTT. 87. Dekker. "Dekker, who did not altogether deserve the disgraceful classification which Dryden has here assigned to him, was a writer of the reign of James I, and the antagonist of Jonson. I suspect Dryden knew, or at least recollected, little more of him than that he was ridiculed by his more renowned adversary, under the character of Crispinus in The Poetaster." [SCOTT.] v. Additions and Corrections. Later critics are emphatic in their praise of Dekker. In The Poetaster Demetrius, not Crispinus, is his real representative. 88. Pile. Ed. 1 reads Isle. 91. Misers, etc. Shadwell wrote an adaptation of Molière's L'Arare under the title of The Miser. Raymond is "a gentleman of wit and honor" in his Humorists, and Bruce and Longvil (v. 1. 212) are "gentlemen of wit and sense" in his Virtuoso. No special application of hypocrites is now known, unless Scott is right in his conjecture: "Perhaps Dryden means the characters of the Irish priest and Tory chaplain in The Lancashire Witches." 92. It should. Ed. 1 reads, his Pen should. 94. Empress Fame. For the reference to Virgil, v. 567, 251-281. 96. Fame. Ed. 1 reads Pomp. 97. And distant. Ed. 1 reads to distant. 98. Carpets. Ed. 1 reads Carpet. 102. Ogleby. John Ogleby (Ogilby), 1600-76. "This gentleman, whose name, thanks to our author and Pope, has become almost proverbial for a bad poet, was originally a Scottish dancing master. He translated the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Eneid, and Esop's Fables into verse; and his versions were splendidly adorned with sculpture. He also wrote three epic poems, one of which was fortunately burned in the fire of London." [SCOTT.] For further comments on him by Dryden, v. 1762, 3-9; 7482, 40-46. 105. Herringman. So ed. 1; ed. 2 reads H—— -. On Herringman, v. B. S. xvii, xviii; xxv. He had published for Shadwell as well as for Dryden. 107. Throne. Ed. 1 reads State. 108. Our young Ascanius, etc. Dryden here adapts Virgil to his satiric purpose: cf. 548, 926-932; 692, 253, 254. Sate. So ed. 1; ed. 2 reads sat. 111. Around. Ed. 1 reads about. 112. As Hannibal, etc. Hannibal, according to a story told by Livy, is said to have been forced by his father, when only nine years old, to swear eternal hatred to Rome. 115. Till. Ed. 1 reads to. 136, 117. Ne'er to, etc. Ed. 1 reads: Wou'd bid defiance unto Wit and Sense. 121. He plac'd. Ed. 1 reads Was plac'd. 122. Love's Kingdom. A "pastoral tragi comedy" by Flecknoe, the only one of his plays ever acted. 124. Lore. Ed. 1 reads Love. 126. Poppies. Ed. 1 reads Poppey. "Perhaps in allusion to Shadwell's frequent use of opium, as well as to his dullness." SCOTT. 132. Th' admiring. Ed. 1 reads Th' advancing. 133. His. Ed. 1 reads the. 134. Of his. Ed. 1 reads on his. 135, 136. Shed Full on the. Ed. 1 reads, Shed : Full of the. 139. Heavens. Ed. 1 reads Heaven. 143. Kingdom let him. Ed. 1 reads Kingdoms may he. 148. And fruitless. Ed. 1 reads a fruitless. 149. Let Virtuosos, etc. "Shadwell's comedy The Virtuoso was first acted in 1676, with great applause. As the whole piece seems intended as a satire on the Royal Society, its scope could not be very pleasing to Dryden, even if he could have forgiven some hits leveled against him personally in the preface, prologue, and epilogue." [SCOTT.] In the Epistle Dedicatory to The Virtuos0 Shadwell complains of having scant time for writing, and in the preface to another comedy, The Libertine, he boasts of the speed with which he finished his work. Rochester, in his Allusion to the Tenth Satire of the First Book of Horace, terms him "hasty Shadwell." Dryden evidently knew the contrary to be the case: in his preface to All for Love (1678), written before his quarrel with Shadwell, he censures Rochester for calling "a slow man hasty." Cf. n. 135, 54; 7412, 33-43. 150. Toil. Ed. 1 reads Soul. 151. Gentle George. v. headnote, p. 78. In The Man of Mode; or, Sir Fopling Flutter, Dorimant is the betrayer of Mrs. Loveit. Cully is found in The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub, and Cockwood in She Would if She Could, other comedies by the same writer. In. Ed. 1 reads with. 157. Let 'em be all by thy. Ed. 1 reads: Let them be all of thy. 159. Future. Ed. 1 reads after. 160. Issue of thy own. Ed. 1 reads issues of thine own. 162. Full of thee. Ed. 1 reads like to thee. 163. S-dl-y. Ed. 1 reads Sydney. - Sir Charles Sedley was a noted wit and a minor poet and dramatist; a patron and friend of Dryden, who dedicated to him The Assignation, and introduced him, under the name of Lisideius, as one of the speakers in An Essay of Dramatic Poesy. He wrote a prologue for Shadwell's Epsom Wells, and was apparently suspected of aiding him in the comedy itself. Shadwell acknowledges receiving aid from him in another comedy, A True Widow. 167. And top. Ed. 1 reads on th' top. 168. Sir Formal. Sir Formal Trifle is a character in The Virtuoso, whom Shadwell justly terms the orator, a florid coxcomb." In this line ed. 1 reads Wit instead of will. 170. Does. Ed. 1 reads doth. Northern dedications. An allusion to Shad NOTES well's frequent dedication of his plays to 172. Jonson's hostile name. Shadwell praises 175. Has. Ed. 1 reads hath. 177. On. Ed. 1 reads or. This line and the 179. Prince Nicander's vein. Prince Nicander Whip-stitch, etc. A similar phrase is a favorite with Sir Samuel Hearty in The Virtuoso, one that by the help of humorous, nonsensical by-words, takes himself to be a great wit." In this line ed. 1 reads mine instead of my. 182. Promis'd, etc. This apparently refers to the Epistle Dedicatory of The Virtuoso. Shadwell writes, for example: "I say nothing Here of impossible, unnatural farce fools, which some intend for comical, who think it the easiest thing in the world to write a comedy, and yet will sooner grow rich upon their ill plays than write a good one." 183. When . . . Fletcher. Ed. Fletchers. reads, Where 184. As thou, etc. No commentator has investigated this charge of wholesale plagiarism, which is probably based mainly on Shadwell's Epsom Wells. Raines and Bevil, "men of wit and pleasure" in that play, and their ladyloves Lucia and Carolina, suggest the corresponding pairs Courtal and Freeman and Gatty and Ariana, in Etherege's She Would if She Could; and Shadwell's Mrs. Woodly has many traits of Etherege's Lady Cockwood. In each play the young men first meet the young women wearing vizards, and persuade them to unmask in somewhat the same fashion. Mrs. Woodly, who is carrying on an intrigue with Bevil, discovers his passion for Carolina, and entraps him by a forged letter, just as Lady Cockwood endeavors to trick Courtal and Freeman by the same device. Mrs. Woodly again copies Lady Cockwood's behavior when she hides Bevil in her bedchamber; when she slanders Bevil and Raines to their sweethearts, saying that they have boasted of the favor accorded them; and when, near the close of the play, she discards the faithless Bevil and tries to gain the affection of Raines. Lucia and Carolina behave towards their slandered lovers in much the same way as do Gatty and Ariana. Furthermore, Kick and Cuff, two cheating bullies in Epsom Wells, resemble Wheedle and Palmer in Etherege's Comical Revenge, and trick Clodpate as their predecessors do Sir Nicholas Cully. At the end of the play Clodpate marries Mrs Jilt just as Sir Nicholas marries Mrs. Lucy. Yet no fair-minded reader can deny the essential originality of Epsom Wells, inferior though its vulgar humor may be to the sprightly dialogue of the better scenes in Etherege. Other dramatists than these two have created pairs of rakish lovers, wanton damsels, and cowardly sharpers; and Etherege would have no good ground of complaint if Shadwell adopted the same familiar devices as himself. suggestions for some situations from EtherShadwell probably took ege, but he made these situations his own by his treatment of them. In another statement, however, Dryden is quite correct: certain scenes in Epsom Wells that Shadwell cannot even be accused of purloining, distinctly sink below those that remind one of Etherege. Langbaine, who to be sure is always friendly If this for him had been by others done, 187. This is, etc. "Four of the humors are Province. Ed. 1 reads Promise. 189. This is that, etc. The passage is a parody A humor is the bias of the mind, By which with violence 't is one way inclin'd: Thy. Ed. 1 reads the. 191. Lean. Ed. 1 reads lame. 192. Changes. Ed. 1 reads Charges. 194. Of likeness. That is, to Ben Jonson. 196. Thou 'rt but a. Ed. 1 reads, thou art a. 199. Sett'st. Ed. 1 reads sets. 202. Does. Ed. 1 reads doth. Thy Irish pen. In the Epistle Dedicatory to his translation of The Tenth Satyr of Juvenal (1687) Shadwell retorts indignantly: Sure he goes a little too far in calling me the dullest, and has no more reason for that than for giving me the Irish name of Mack, when he knows I never saw Ireland till I was three-and-twenty years old, and was there but four months." 137, 204. Iambics. Since the iambic was the appropriate meter for Greek satire, the name iambics has become equivalent to satire, even in languages like English, where it has no special fitness. In this line ed. 1 misprints wild instead of mild. 207. There thou may'st wings display, etc. "Among other efforts of gentle dulness may be noticed the singular fashion which prevailed during the earlier period of the seventeenth century, of writing in such changes of measure that by the different length and arrangement of the lines the poem was made to resemble an egg, an altar, a pair of wings, a cross, or some other fanciful figure." [ScoTT.] Dryden may possibly intend a specific reference to George Herbert's poems An Altar and Easter Wings. 209. Diff'rent talents. Ed. 1 reads different Talent. 212. Bruce, etc. v. n. 135, 91. The two gentlemen are present at a scene in which their ladyloves, Clarinda and Miranda, entice Sir Formal to stand upon a secret trapdoor while he delivers a speech, and then dispose of him by releasing the trap. v. The Virtuoso, act. iii. 213. Declaiming. Ed. 1 reads declining. 214. His drugget robe. Ed. 1 reads the Drugget Robes. 216. The mantle, etc. v. 2 Kings ii. 12-15, where "Elisha, dividing Jordan with Elijah's mantle, is acknowledged his successor." 217. Double. Ed. 1 reads doubled. THE SECOND PART OF ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL. Nahum Tate (1652-1715) was a young Tory poet, for whose tragedy, The Loyal General, Dryden had written a prologue in 1679 (v. 87). His best known works are an adaptation of King Lear, which held the stage until about 1840, and a version of the Psalms, which he made in conjunction with Nicholas Brady. He seems later to have changed his politics, for in 1692 he succeeded Shadwell as poet laureate. The Grolier Club's Catalogue of Original and Early Editions of English Writers from Wither to Prior, New York, 1905, states that two issues of the first edition of this poem were printed in 1682. The editor has seen only that reading Fleet-Street (not Fleetstreet) on the title-page. The notes on Tate's portion of the poem are made as brief as possible. Explanations of names that occur also in Dryden's poem are not repeated here. 138, 9. Clemency was. Ed. 1 reads, Goodness was e'en. 20. Flattering. Ed. 1 reads Flatterie's. 33. As all. Ed. 1 reads since all. 38. Guilty Jebusites, etc. Charles II was ambitious for power, and was well inclined to the Catholic religion. During the excitement caused by the Popish Plot, however, he did not deem it prudent to protect such Catholics as were accused, or to pardon those convicted. He refused, for example, to interfere, as he might well have done, in behalf of Lord Stafford. 40. Nay, etc. Christie glosses this line: "Some of those employed for sham plots whereby to sacrifice opponents have been executed." One Fitzharris, who swore that he had been bribed to concoct a sham plot and ascribe it to the Whigs, was later condemned and executed. But may not sacrificers here mean simply priests? 48. Pamper'd Corah, etc. "The Salamanca doctor [Oates] . . . robed like a bishop and puffed with insolence. .. became the darling of the Whig party. Each morning there waited at his lodgings to dress him two or three gentlemen who vied for the honor of holding his basin." JOHN POLLOCK, The Popish Plot, 1903, p. 227. 51. Such was, etc. On November 25, 1678, Oates accused Queen Catherine, before the king and council, of plotting against her husband's life. 58. The Hermon, etc. Cf. Song of Solomon ii. 1. 69. The pest, etc. The references are to the Great Plague of 1665, the Fire of London in 1666, and the wars with Holland (Tyre) in 1665-67 and 1672-74. 139, 95. And now. Ed. 1 reads For now. 96. 'T was worse, etc. "The very breath of him was pestilential; and, if it brought not imprisonment or death over such on whom it fell, it surely poisoned reputation." NORTH, Examen, p. 205. 109. These raise the Plot, etc. The charge that Shaftesbury was the real author of the Popish Plot, and Oates merely his tool, is supported by no evidence, and is wholly incredible. Shaftesbury was, however, quick to take advantage of a situation that he did not create. 142. O rather. Ed. 2 reads Oh! rather; ed. 1, Or rather. 140, 165-170. The crown's . . . hour. Imitated from 115, 441-446. 181. "The factious tribes-" "And this reproof from thee?" As there are no quotation marks in the early editions, it is hard to tell where one speech ends and the other begins. The text follows C.; SS. makes Achitophel's speech extend through from thee. 189. Who reach, etc. Those who reach for the crown, but miss that prize, receive death. 190-195. Did you . . . afar. Imitated from 118, 119, 688, 689, 729-734. 203. My removal. NOTES President of the Council: v. n. 121, 971. 220. Ev'n property, etc. At the opening of 1672, 226. Recount, etc. Cf. 112, 175, n. 141, 255. Debar, etc. The Commons had desired to make the passage of the Exclusion Bill the condition of their votes of supply: v. 1072, 8, n. 268. Subtile. Ed. 1 reads subtle. 269. Till peace, etc. Cf. 119, 752. 270. Associations. v. n. 1262, 10. 280. Ishban. Sir Robert Clayton, alderman, and representative of the City in parliament. Other writers make the same charges against him as those in the text. 298. Rabsheka. "Sir Thomas Player, Chamberlain of the City of London, and one of the city members of parliament. When the Duke of York unexpectedly returned from Brussels, Player made his appearance before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, and gravely demanded that the city guards should be doubled. In the vehemence of his oratory a remarkable expression chanced to escape him, that he durst hardly go to sleep, for fear of awaking with his throat cut.' [SCOTT.] For the name, v. 2 Kings xviii. 17-xix. 4. 310. Next these, etc. Cf. 599, 461. 315. Streams. Ed. 1 reads Waves. 142, 321. Judas. Robert Ferguson (d. 1714), the "Plotter." He was a Nonconformist preacher, who, being ejected from his living by the Act of Uniformity in 1662, supported himself by teaching boys at Islington, near London. He aided Shaftesbury by his pamphlets (cf. n. 126', 34), and fled with him to Holland. He became famous as a plotter against the governments of Charles, James, and William. 340. Phaleg. "James Forbes (1629?-1712), a Scotch dissenting clergyman of some distinction. He was placed by the Duke of Ormond as traveling tutor to the young Earl of Derby, who had married [SCOTT.] The statements of the text seem his granddaughter.' to lack corroboration, especially as regards Forbes's relations with Ormond. Carte terms him "a gentleman of parts, virtue, and prudence, but of too mild a nature to manage his pupil," and tells how he was maltreated by the young earl and his riotous companions. (Life of Ormond, Oxford, 1851, vol. iv, pp. 488, 489.) 353. Ben-Jochanan. "The Reverend Samuel Johnson (1649-1703), a party writer of considerable merit. He was a native of Warwickshire, and took orders after a regular course of study at Cambridge. He obtained a small living of eighty pounds a year, the only church preferment he ever enjoyed. He later became chaplain to Lord Russell, the Whig leader in the House of Commons. During the dependence of the Bill of Exclusion, he endeavored at once to show the danger to a national religion from a sovereign who held opposite tenets, and to explode the doctrine of passive obedience, in a work entitled Julian the Apostate: being a Short Account of his Life; the Sense of the Primitive Christians about his Succession; and their Behaviour towards him: together with a Comparison of Popery and Paganism (London, 1682). There can be little doubt that, so far as the argument from the example of the primitive Christians is sound, Johnson has fairly made out his case. Indeed Dryden has little left to say, except that if they did resist Julian, which he seems to admit, they were very wrong in so doing, and the less that is said about it, the more will be the credit of the ancient Church. "For this and subsequent writings, Johnson was fined, imprisoned, degraded from ecclesiastical orders, pilloried, and whipped. After the Revolution the proceedings against him were declared illegal, and he received a pension of £300 yearly, with £1000 in money, and a post for his son. "The reader may contrast the character which Dryden has given of Johnson with that of John Hampden, who, in an account of him to the Duchess of Mazarin, says: 'Being two years with him in the same prison, I had the opportunity to know him perfectly well; and, to speak my thoughts of him in one word, I can assure your Grace that I never knew a man of better sense, of a more innocent life, nor of greater virtue, which was proof against all temptation, than Mr. Johnson.' Memorials of his life prefixed to his Works See in folio." [SCOTT.] The name Ben-Jochanan is taken as an equivalent of Johnson. 384. But, tell me, etc. v. Genesis ix. 18-27. 388, 389. Made? trade. Eds. 1 and 2 read . made, p. 63.) Dryden rightly thinks that Gregory showed sectarian fury rather than Christian charity. He may have taken his cue from Johnson himself, who writes: "And yet how do the Christians treat this emperor! One would take them to be the apostates; one while reproaching him, ruffling with him, and |