314 DRYDEN. 



only personages, in any except that. That is, in many 

 respects, a noble play, and there are few finer scenes, 

 whether in the conception or the carrying out, than that 

 between Antony and Ventidius in the first act.* 



As usual, Dryden s good sense was not blind to the 

 extravagances of his dramatic style. In &quot;Mac Flecknoe &quot; 

 he makes his own Maximin the type of childish rant, 



&quot; And little Maximins the gods defy ; &quot; 



but, as usual also, he could give a plausible reason for his 

 own mistakes by means of that most fallacious of all 

 fallacies which is true so far as it goes. In his Prologue to 

 the &quot; Royal Martyr &quot; he says : 



&quot; And he who servilely creeps after sense 

 Is safe, but ne er will reach an excellence. 







But, when a tyrant for his theme he had, 

 He loosed the reins and let his muse run mad, 

 And, though he stumbles in a full career, 

 Yet rashness is a better fault than fear ; 



They then, who of each trip advantage take, 



Find out those faults which they want wit to make. 



And in the Preface to the same play he tells us : &quot;I have 

 not everywhere observed the equality of numbers in my 

 verse, partly by reason of my haste, but more especially 

 because I would not have my sense a slave to syllables&quot; 

 Dryden, when he had not a bad case to argue, would have 

 had small respect for the wit whose skill lay in the making 

 of faults, and has himself, where his self-love was not 

 engaged, admirably defined the boundary which divides 

 boldness from rashness. What Quintilian says of Seneca 

 applies very aptly to Dryden : &quot; Yelles eum suo ingenio 

 dixisse, alieno judicio.&quot;t He was thinking of himself, I 

 fancy, when he makes Ventidius say of Antony, 



* &quot;II y a seulement la scene de Ventidius et d Antoine qui est 

 digne de Corneille. C est la le sentiment de milord Bolingbroke et de 

 tous les bons auteurs ; c est ainsi que pensait Addisson.&quot; VOLTAIRE 

 to M. DE FHOMONT, 15th November 1735. 



t Inst. X., i. 129. 



