302 DRYDEfo 



my life almost, and so little answering the name, that, from 

 the beginning to the end, I could not, nor can at this 

 time, tell certainly which was the Wild Gallant. The 

 king did not seem pleased at all the whole play, nor 

 anybody else.&quot; After some alteration, it was revived with 

 more success. On its publication in 1669 Dryden honestly 

 admitted its former failure, though with a kind of salvo for 

 his self-love. &quot; I made the town my judges, and the greater 

 part condemned it. After which I do not think it my 

 concernment to defend it with the ordinary zeal of a poet 

 for his decried poem, though Oorneille is more resolute in 

 his preface before Pertharite, * which was condemned more 

 universally than this. . . . Yet it was received at Court, 

 and was more than once the divertisement of his Majesty 

 by his own command.&quot; Pepys lets us amusingly behind the 

 scenes in the matter of His Majesty s divertisement. 

 Dryden does not seem to see that in the condemnation of 

 something meant to amuse the public there can be no 

 question of degree. To fail at all is to fail utterly. 



11 Touf 7 genres sontpe nnis, hws k genre entiuycux. - 

 In the reading, at least, all Dryden s comic writing for the 

 stage must be ranked with the latter class. He himself 

 would fain make an exception of the &quot; Spanish Friar,&quot; but 

 I confess that I rather wonder at than envy those who can 

 be amused by it. His comedies lack everything that a 

 comedy should have, lightness, quickness of transition, 

 unexpectedness of incident, easy cleverness of dialogue, 

 and humorous contrast of character brought out by 

 identity of situation. The comic parts of the &quot;Maiden 

 Queen &quot; seem to me Dryden s best, but the merit even of 

 these is Shakespeare s, and there is little choice where even 

 the best is only tolerable. The common quality, however, 

 of all Dryden s comedies is their nastiness, the more 

 remarkable because we have ample evidence that he was 

 a man of modest conversation. Pepys, who was by no 

 * Corneillo s tragedy of 4I Pertharite &quot; was acted unsuccessfully in 

 lbf&amp;gt;9. Racine made free use of it in Lis more fortunate &quot;Audro 

 mantle.&quot; 



