DRYADS DRYDEN. 



737 



sanctioned by Augustus. B. C. 9, he was made 

 consul, but returned soon after to Germany, and pene- 

 trated as far as the Elbe, but was unable to pass the 

 river. He, however, ordered trophies to be erected 

 there, to testify his progress. He died in the same 

 year, while on his return, in the thirtieth year of his 

 age. The canal, uniting the Rhine with the Yssel, 

 was his work ; and the place called Druscnheim, in 

 Alsace, where he encamped for some time, received 

 its name from him. By his wife Antonia, he had a 

 daughter, Livia, and two sons, Germanicus and 

 Claudius, who afterwards became emperors. Rome 

 lost, in Drusus, a man equally distinguished in the 

 field and the council, and one of her most virtuous 

 and noble citizens. See A. Benedict Wilhelm's 

 work, Die Feldzuge des Nero Claudius Drusus in dem 

 nordl. Deutschl. (Halle, 1826.) 



DRYADS; wood-nymphs, in the mythology of 

 the Arcadian Greeks ; supposed to be the tutelar 

 deities of trees in groves, particularly of the oak ; 

 hence their name. 



DRYDEN, JOHN, one of the most eminent English 

 poets, was descended from an ancient family in the 

 north of England. He was born at Aldwinkle All- 

 Saints, Nortliamptonshire, August 9th, 1631 ; and 

 received the rudiments of his education at Tichmarsh, 

 in the same county. He was afterwards admitted a 

 king's scholar at Westminster, under the celebrated 

 DrBushby, whence he was removed to Trinity col- 

 lege, Cambridge. He left the university without 

 giving any proofs of those talents for poetry for 

 which he was afterwards so much distinguished, unless 

 we may consider as such two or three small pieces, 

 disfigured by all the false taste of the age. The fa- 

 mily of Dryden were thoroughly tinctured with puri- 

 tanism, and some of its members held situations of 

 considerable distinction in the Protector's court, and 

 he naturally imbibed the opinions of those around 

 him. The first theme for his muse was the Death of 

 Cromwell, but the times were unfavourable for 

 poetry. It is questionable whether this piece made 

 any impression on the public mind. The Restora- 

 tion brought the downfall of Dryden's friends and 

 patrons. Sir Gilbert Pickering, his cousin-german, 

 one of Charles's judges, with whom Dryden lived in 

 what capacity is not known, it is supposed in that of 

 amanuensis or secretary was too happy to escape 

 into obscurity. The influence of Sir John Dryden, 

 his uncle, ended at the same time. He was, there- 

 fore, left to find his way to distinction by his own 

 exertions. He joined the Royalist party, and has- 

 tened to congratulate the king by publishing, in 1661, 

 the verses, entitled A Panegyric to his Sacred Ma- 

 jesty. In that age it was considered neither indeli- 

 cate nor improper for a poet to receive gratuities 

 from those to whom his pieces were inscribed. 

 These, with the income of his small patrimonial 

 estate, were probably the only means of livelihood 

 Dryden at that time possessed. He became, there- 

 fore, anxious to form some more certain means of 

 support than was afforded by such occasional contri- 

 butions, or by literary drudgery to the booksellers. 

 The theatres, which had been early closed by the 

 puritans, now newly opened, after so long a silence, 

 were resorted to with all the ardour inspired 

 by novelty, and seemed to offer the most promising 

 reward. He accordingly prepared for representation 

 the Wild Gallant, which was acted in 1662-3, but with- 

 out success. Not cast down by his failure, he 

 brought forward the Rival Ladies, in 1663, which 

 was well received. His next production was the 

 Indian Emperor, a piece engrafted on the Indian 

 Queen, written, or at least published by Dryden in 

 connexion with his friend Sir Robert Howard, which 

 had been flatteringly received. The Indian Emperor at 



once raised Dryden to the highest pitch of public esti 

 mation, an elevation which he retained till his death. 



The great fire of London put a stop for some time 

 to theatrical exhibitions. In the interval Dryden 

 published the Annus Mirabilis, an historical account 

 of the events of the year 1666, one of the most elabo- 

 rate of his productions, though not written in his 

 later and more peculiar style of poetry. In 1668, he 

 also published his celebrated Essay of Dramatic 

 Poesy the first attempt to regulate dramatic writ- 

 ing. The publication of this piece involved him in 

 various controversies, particularly with his brother- 

 in-law, Sir Robert Howard, who was by no means 

 flattered by being, under the name of Crites, made, 

 during the whole of the piece, the champion of un- 

 successful opinions. They were, however, soon 

 reconciled. The fame of Dryden was now at its 

 height, and so confident was he of the readiness and 

 ease with which he composed, that he entered into a 

 contract with the king's company of players, by 

 which he became bound to produce to them no less 

 than three plays in the course of the year. This was, 

 however, tasking his muse too highly, as he could 

 only produce about half the number contracted for. 

 In 1667, the Maiden Queen, a tragic comedy, was 

 represented, with what success we are not told, 

 though the -established fame of its author may war- 

 rant us in supposing it to have been well received. 

 This was followed by the Tempest, an alteration from 

 Shakspeare, in which he was assisted by Sir William 

 Davenant. It was received with general applause, 

 notwithstanding the very questionable taste and pro- 

 priety of the added characters. Dryden was shortly 

 afterwards appointed to the offices of royal historio- 

 grapher and poet-laureat, with a salary of 200 a- 

 year. 



From this period till 1780, when political partisan- 

 ship was at its height, and the rival factions of Pro- 

 testants and Catholics, each striving for the ascend- 

 ency, had called all their available forces into action, 

 the life of Dryden was passed in dramatic composi- 

 tion, and in repressing the insolences put upon him 

 by the jealousy of the small wits of the day. In this 

 time, he produced about a dozen of plays, mostly 

 with marked success, which was only interrupted by 

 the witty duke of Buckingham's satirical play of 

 The Rehearsal, in which the heroic style of compo- 

 sition was satirized with a power and effect which 

 has seldom been equalled. Long before the period 

 referred to, Dryden had become tired of the uninter- 

 rupted labours of dramatic writing, and the rivalries 

 of Crowne and Settle, and longed for leisure to 

 engage in an epic poem. He had even gone so far 

 as to select a subject : but the taste of the age was 

 against this species of composition ; the splendid 

 poem of Milton had fallen on the public ear, " a faint 

 unheeded sound," and the necessities of Dryden 

 compelled him to incessant labour. Stimulated to 

 exertion by the state of parties, he produced, in 1681, 

 Absalom and Ahithophel, a piece which for powerful 

 yet delicate satire is perhaps unsurpassed by any 

 poem hi the language. Its success was so great, 

 that the court party had again recourse to his pen on 

 the release of the earl of Shaftesbury from the tower, 

 and notwithstanding Dryden had already in the poem 

 just mentioned drawn his character with unequalled 

 power and felicity, he again sketched with the same 

 masterly hand the leading points of Shaftesbury's 

 history, in a strain in which the beauty of the poetry 

 added additional force to the satire. In retaliation of 

 the slanders and petty impertinences called forth by 

 these vigorous satires, especially those by one Shad- 

 well, Dryden published, in 1682, Mac Flecknoe, a 

 satire superior in point of execution to either of its 

 predecessors, 



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