1G4 



D II Y D E N. 



nrjdrn. admitted of King's ColW>g, Cambridge, on tin- llth of 

 *"^".'^' May 1(>.")0, ami alter three years standing, took the de- 



b.icheW of art-, but never rose U> th.it of n 

 IV. nil ilu- university lie was called away for a 

 timr l>v hi- lather's death in ir.M. to take possession of 

 his inheritance, . of tun-thirds of a small 



estate near BLikesly in Northamptonshire, worth in all 

 about sixty pounds a year. The other third part of 

 the small projMTty was bequeathed to his mother during 

 her life, and reverted to Dry den at her death. After 

 his leaving the university, his first patrons were his 

 kinsmen, Sir Gilbert Pickering and Sir John Dryden, 

 both zealous puritHns, and adherents of the common- 

 wealth and, consistently with this patronage, he wrote 

 his Elegy on the Death of the Protector. But at the 

 restoration, being now in his 30th year, without an a- 

 dequate provision or regular profession, and without 

 the smallest hopes of any promotion, by the aid of his 

 puritanical friends, he seems to have lost no time in 

 adapting his praises and principles to the changed as- 

 pect of affairs. He accordingly testified his joy at the 

 restoration of Charles, by his poem, entitled " Astrtea 

 Uedux," and added another, entitled, " A Panegyric on 

 his Sacred Majesty." At this commencement of his lite- 

 rary career, he was connected and probably lodged with 

 llerringinan the bookseller, near the New Exchange, 

 and wrote prefaces and occasional pieces for him. Nei- 

 ther panegyrics nor occasional verses were, however, 

 adequate resources for one who had now to subsist 

 principally by his pen ; and as the re-toration hud 

 thrown open the long shut theatres, he betook himself 

 to writing for the stage. His first piece, " The Wild 

 Gallant," a comedy, came out in 1 (>(>:>, without success. 

 In lb'64-, he brought out the " Rival Ladies," which 

 was more fortunate, and he prefixed to it his Ess.iy 

 on Dramatic Rh\ me ;" ar.d, in the. same year, he join- 

 ed with Sir Robert Howard in " The Indian Queen," 

 to which there is all reason to suppose that he contri- 

 bute.! the most poetical part of the ver-e--. The poet's 

 connection and friendship with Sir Ro'.x-rt Howard, 

 introduced him to the family of the Earl of Berkshire, 

 father to his friend ; and in the course of this intimacy, 

 having gained the affections of the Lady Elizabeth 

 Howard, the Earl's elde-t daughter, he soon after- 

 wards married her. " The Indian Queen" having been 

 .successful, Dryden was encouraged to follow it up 

 with his " Indian Emperor," which had a still more 

 favourable reception. For some months after the 

 dreadful lire in London in 1666, the theatres were 

 shut, and he appears to have employed his leisure in 

 producing his " Ammo Mirabilis," which was pub- 

 lished the following year ; the first poern not dramatic 

 in which the power of his imagination came considera- 

 bly forth. Nearly coeval with this was his prose Es- 

 iy on Dramatic Poetry, in which lie vindicates the 

 drama as the highest species of poetry, and rhyme as 

 the most becoming dre-s in which it can be arrayed. 

 The essay is conducted in the form of a dialogue, in 

 which Crites, the champion of blank verse, was meant 

 to designate his brother-in-law, Sir Robert Howard. 

 The cause of rhyming plays, Dryden had already < 

 poused in his introduction to the " Rival Ladies." Sir 

 Rol>ert had made a direct answer to those arguments, 

 and Dryden, in his dramatic essay, retaliate'. v\i?h -ome 

 severity. The other reasserted his opinion in the pre- 

 uce to one of his plays, called " The Duke of Lenna," 

 published in 1668, ami Dryden retorted in a defence 

 of the Es*ay on Dramatic Poetry. The acrimony pro- 



duced by this dispute between the poet and the baronet, 

 certainly occasioned a breach of their personal friend- s 

 ship; but the quarrel fortunately did not prove irre- 

 concileable. Confiding in the fertility of his pen, our 

 poet now undertook to write, for the king's theatre, no 

 less than three plays in the course of the year. In 

 consideration of this engagement, he was admitted to 

 hold one share and a quarter in the profits of the 

 house, which was stated bv the managers to have pro- 

 duced him three or four hundred pounds ct,i>i>nniiif>us 

 aiinis. He seems, however, to have felt himself, M 

 we might well expect, incapable of performing the 

 task he had undertaken, for the average number of hi- 

 pieces did not exceed one half of that number, 'flu- 

 players, however, though they complained of his de- 

 falcation, were still anxious to retain him. 



In the year 1667, was represented his " Maiden 

 Queen," a tr.-igi-comedy, which was so far favoured by 

 Charles II. that he gave it the title of his play. It was 

 followed (in l(5u'8) by " The Tem)e-t," an alteration 

 from Shakespeare's play of the same name, in which he 

 co-operated with Sir William Davenant. His next play, 

 ' Sir Martin Mar.ill," which was originally a trans- 

 lation, by the Duke of Newcastle, from Moliere's 

 " Eloiinli," was brought on the stage for his ow n bene- 

 fit, and, aided by the excellent performance of the come- 

 dian Nokes, was played thirty times at the theatre in 

 Lincoln's Inn. ' An Evening's Love, or the Mock 

 Astrologer," was his next composition : it is an imita- 

 tion of - /.< Feint AstroiosHs" of Thomas Corncille, a 

 piece levelled at the prevailing folly of belief in astro- 

 logy; a belief, however, from which the mind of Dry - 

 den was not itself exempt. " The Royal Martyr 

 acted in ItXi.S, and printed in 1C70. It is in every respect 

 an heroic tragedy, and had a large .-hare of the ap- 

 plause with which tho-e pieces were theu received. It 

 was at tlii.s period. ;:!sn, that he produced his first and 

 second parts of his " Conquest of Granada," written, 

 says Dr Johnson, w: -Ing determination to glut 



the public -with dramatic wonders to exhibit, in its 

 highest elevation, a theatrical meteor of incredible love 

 and impossible valour, and to leave 10 room for a wilder 

 flight to the extravagance of post*-;-:*} . They were act- 

 ed in 1 <}()'<) and lt>70 with unlxninded applause. While 

 Dryden was thus generally known and admired, the 

 advancement of his fortune bore no equal prog, - 

 the splendour of his literary fame. Something, how- 

 ever, was done to assist it. The office of royr.t histo- 

 riographer had become vacant in !(>(>(>, by the decease 

 of James How ell ; and, in 1WJ.S, the death of Dave- 

 nant opened the situation of jxx-t latin M two 

 offices, with a salary of L.'JOO paid quarterly, and the 

 annual butt of Canary, were conferred upon Dryden 

 on the IMli of August lli^'i: the grant bearing a re- 

 trospect of two years to the demise of Davenant. Dry- 

 den was now in the zenith of his reputation as a writer 

 of rhyming, or what was called heroic tragedy. (MMK! 

 ta-te mill-lit to have been the first antagonist of this bom- 

 bastic spreic-> of poetry ; but it was reserved for the >e- 

 coitd rate talents, of mimickry and parody to turn it in- 

 to contempt. Yillier-, Duke of Buckingham, in con- 

 junction with other wits, wrote, in 1(>7!. the celebra- 

 ted burlesque drama, entitled the " Rehearsal." of 

 which Dryden, under the title of Baye-. w.i- made the 

 hero. Drvdcndid not answer the" Rehearsal;" but 

 he took a subsequent vengeance on Buckingham, when, 

 in " Absalom ami Achitophel," lie delineated the charac- 

 ter of Ximri. His " Marri.ijre a la Mode," a comedy. 



