styles. It is true that he is hasty, and often falls below his promise, for he was a master of the happy opening. A selection chosen only from the first lines of his poems, such as Religio Laici, MacFlecknoe, the Killigrew Ode, The Hind and the Panther, and the translation of the tenth satire of Juvenal, would give a fair idea of his powers. It was not his habit to work up to great passages, but rather to give us his good things as they came to him; and they came as frequently at once as later. If after a brilliant beginning he trips and stumbles on what he calls a 'flat', he always forces us onwards in expectation of the happy passage that is bound to follow. We think of him as a great craftsman who exercises his craft with careless confidence and unflagging zest. But the impression that remains with us most strongly is that we have been in the company of va mind of rare vigour, sometimes impetuous, and always ready and undaunted. There are many poets who seem to have written to the top of their capacity. When we understand Dryden we say that he was greater than any of his works. DRYDEN'S LIFE 1631. John Dryden born at Aldwinckle, Northamptonshire, August 9. 164?-50. At Westminster School, under Dr. Busby. 1663. The Wild Gallant, his first play, acted; published 1669. Marries Lady Elizabeth Howard, d. of Earl of Berkshire, December I. 1665. The Indian Emperor, published 1667. The Plague; theatres closed from May 1665 to Christmas 1666. 1666. The Fire of London (September); Dryden at Charlton, Wiltshire. 1667. Annus Mirabilis (preface dated November 10, 1666). 1668. Of Dramatic Poesy, an Essay: see p. 199. Dryden appointed Poet Laureate (April), in succession to 1669. Tyrannic Love; published 1670. 1670. The Conquest of Granada (two parts); published 1672. 1673. Marriage à la Mode. 1676. Aureng-zebe. 1678. All for Love. 1680. Ovid's Epistles, Translated by Several Hands (contains Preface and two epistles by Dryden). 1681. The Spanish Friar. (November 17) Absalom and Achitophel. 1682. (March) The Medal. (November 10) Absalom and Achitophel, Second Part. MacFlecknoe printed without authority: see p. 188. 1683. 'Life of Plutarch' prefixed to Plutarch's Lives, Translated by Several Hands. 1684. Miscellany Poems, by the most Eminent Hands (contains the first authorized issue of MacFlecknoe, and translations from Ovid, Theocritus, and Virgil). To the Memory of Mr. Oldham. 1685. (January) Sylvae or the Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies (contains Preface and translations from Virgil, Lucretius, Theocritus, and Horace). Death of Charles II, February 5. (March) Threnodia Augustalis. 1686. Dryden joins the Roman Catholic Church. 1687. (April) The Hind and the Panther. (November) A Song for St. Cecilia's Day. 1688. (June) Britannia Rediviva, a Poem on the Birth of the Prince. William III lands at Torbay November 5, and reaches London December 19; James II escapes to France, December 23. 1689. William and Mary accept the throne, February 13. 1692. (May) Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy. dated 1693 (early, or late in 1692). The Satires of Juvenal and Persius, made English (begun 1690; prefatory Discourse', August 18, 1692). (February) A Character of Polybius and his Writings', prefixed to the translation of Polybius by Sir Henry Sheers. (July) Examen Poeticum: Being the Third Part of Miscellany Poems (contains Preface and translations from Ovid and Homer, and Songs). 1694. To my dear Friend Mr. Congreve. The Annual Miscellany (the fourth part of Miscellany Poems ; contains translation of Virgil's Third Georgic, and the Epistle to Sir Godfrey Kneller). (March) Love Triumphant, his last play. 1695. (June) 'A Parallel betwixt Painting and Poetry', preface to a translation of Du Fresnoy's De Arte Graphica. 1697. (July) The Works of Virgil, translated into English Verse (undertaken 1693). (November) Alexander's Feast. 1700. (March) Fables, Ancient and Modern (begun 1698). The Secular Masque in Vanburgh's version of Fletcher's Dryden dies, May 1. Buried in Westminster Abbey, May 13. CONGREVE'S Character of Dryden From the Dedication to Dryden's Dramatic Works, 1717 MR. DRYDEN had personal qualities to challenge both love and esteem from all who were truly acquainted with him. He was of a nature exceedingly humane and compassionate; easily forgiving injuries, and capable of a prompt and sincere reconciliation with them who had offended him. Such a temperament is the only solid foundation of all moral virtues and sociable endowments. His friendship, where he professed it, went much beyond his professions; and I have been told of strong and generous instances of it ro by the persons themselves who received them, though his hereditary income was little more than a bare competency. As his reading had been very extensive, so was he very happy in a memory tenacious of everything that he had read. He was not more possessed of knowledge than he was communicative of it. But then his communication of it was by no means pedantic, or imposed upon the conversation; but just such, and went so far as, by the natural turns of the discourse in which he was engaged, it was necessarily promoted or required. He was extreme ready 20 and gentle in his correction of the errors of any writer who thought fit to consult him; and full as ready and patient to admit of the reprehension of others in respect of his own oversight or mistakes. He was of very easy, I may say of very pleasing access; but something slow and as it were diffident in his advances to others. He had 2179.21 something in his nature that abhorred intrusion into any society whatsoever. Indeed it is to be regretted that he was rather blameable in the other extreme; for by that means he was personally less known, and consequently his character might become liable both to misapprehensions and misrepresentations. To the best of my knowledge and observation, he was, of all the men that ever I knew, one of the most modest, and the most easily to be discountenanced in his approaches Io either to his superiors or his equals. ... As to his writings, I shall not take upon me to speak of them; for to say little of them, would not be to do them right; and to say all that I ought to say, would be to be very voluminous. But I may venture to say, in general terms, that no man hath written in our language so much, and so various matter, and in so various manners, so well. Another thing I may say very peculiar to him, which is, that his parts did not decline with his years, but that he was an improving writer to his last, even to near seventy 20 years of age, improving even in fire and imagination, as well as in judgment: witness his Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, and his Fables, his latest performances. 30 He was equally excellent in verse and in prose. His prose had all the clearness imaginable, together with all the nobleness of expression; all the graces and ornaments proper and peculiar to it, without deviating into the language or diction of poetry. I make this observation, only to distinguish his style from that of many poetical writers, who, meaning to write harmoniously in prose, do in truth often write mere blank verse. I have heard him frequently own with pleasure, that if he had any talent for English prose, it was owing to his having often read the writings of the great Archbishop Tillotson. His versification and his numbers he could learn of |