738 



DRYDEN. 



The ascension of James II. opened up new sources 

 of hope in the brnivt of ! h yilen ; but before proceed- 

 ing farther, it is proper to advert to a circumstance 

 than which no passage in his life lias called forth 

 more speculation, we mean his conversion to the 

 Roman Catholic faith a well grounded cause for 

 suspicion, when it i* remembered that it occurred 

 -hortly after James, a rigid Catholic, ascended the 

 throne. It will be recollected, that Dryden's family 

 was deeply tinged with puritanism, and that he 

 Ix-gaii life under the patronage of this party. During 

 iiis connexion with the profligate court of Charles, 

 where everything savouring of puritunism was of 

 course detested, his religious opinions, though they 

 Millered a revulsion, it is probable settled into no very 

 (li.-tinct channel. His biographers have, with much 

 ingenuity, attempted to trace the steps by which he 

 was led to the adoption of Roman Catholicism, and 

 to prove that it was the only haven in which, with his 

 views, there was appearance of safety ; and if the 

 sacrifices which his staunch adherence to these doc- 

 trines at the Revolution, when others of higher name 

 changed their principles without reproach, and when 

 adherence to them was a heavy disqualification, may 

 be taken as evidence of his sincerity, it can hardly be 

 questioned that Drjden was from conviction a sincere 

 Roman Catholic. At court the new convert was 

 received with open arms; a considerable addition 

 was made to his pension, and his pen was put in 

 requisition to defend the cause which he had adopted. 

 The Hind and the Panther, a polemical poem, which 

 affords the best specimen of the peculiar beauties of 

 his style and its blemishes, and which raised the 

 voice of the nation against him as the avowed defen- 

 der of James's attempts at establishing arbitrary 

 power, was his first production. It went rapidly 

 through several editions, which is rather to be attri- 

 buted to the fame of the author, and to the adventi- 

 tious circumstances in which it was published, than to 

 any disposition to acquiesce in its arguments. 



The hopes of Dryden were again blasted by the 

 revolution ; he was deprived of the offices of poet- 

 laureat and historiographer, which were bestowed on 

 his despised opponent Shadwell, a wretched poet, 

 with perhaps just sufficient power of rhyme to vindi- 

 cate his claim to the honours of the laurel. Deprived 

 of the certain income which these offices secured 

 him, at least during the reign of James, Dryden 

 again turned his attention to dramatic composition. 

 The unpopularity of the party with which he had 

 connected himself, his unfortunate religious tenets, 

 and the exertions his enemie$ were making for the 

 ruin of his reputation, made him pause ere ne again 

 ventured on the stage, and caused him to bestow 

 more care on his next piece than was usual with 

 him. This was his tragedy of Don Sebastian, which 

 has been regarded as the chef-d'oeuvre of his plays. 

 It was at first coolly received, though brought out with 

 great splendour, and it was not tiTl several retrench- 

 ments and alterations were made, that it rose to that 

 high place in public estimation which it so long 

 maintained. His last play, Love Triumphant, was 

 acted in 1692; it met with a very unfavourable recep- 

 tion, and is in truth the worst of all Dryden's com- 

 positions. In the course of the same year, he pub- 

 lished, in conjunction with Congreve, Creech, and 

 others, a translation of Juvenal and Persius. Dryden 

 translated Persius, and about a third part of Juve- 

 nal, prefixing to the whole an essay on satire. 



We now come to the production on which much 

 of Dryden's fame depends, his translation of Virgil. 

 On the announcement of his purpose of translating 

 the Mantuan bard, the undertaking was hailed as a 

 national . one. Men of learning supplied various 

 editions of the author, and contributed to his assist- 



ance in other ways ; nor was the public backward In 

 lending their aid. The subscription lists contained 

 the names of most of the noble and learned in the 

 land. It appeared in 1697, and so eagerly was it 

 sought after, that a new edition was called for in the 

 course of the first six months. This great work, 

 which was the fruit of about three years' labour, has 

 been pronounced by Pope, a competent judge, " the 

 most noble and splendid in any language." 



As if increase of years brought no abatement of 

 poetic feeling, Dryden, now in his sixty-sixth year, 

 had hardly finished Virgil, when he distinguished 

 himself by his immortal ode to St Cecilia, commonly 

 known by the name of Alexander's Feast. The 

 space of time occupied in the composition of this 

 noble ode, which was written for the stewards of the 

 musical meeting, to celebrate the feast of their patro- 

 ness St Cecilia, has been the source of much dispute, 

 one party insisting that it was a work of time, in 

 support of which they quote Dryden's letters, which 

 seem to give some countenance to the supposition. 

 Dr Birch, indeed, says, that Dryden himself observes 

 in an original letter of his, not now to be found, that 

 he was employed almost a fortnight in composing 

 and correcting it ; while the other, on the authority 

 of lord Bolingbroke, state that it was completed at 

 one sitting. " These accounts are not, however/' 

 says Sir Walter Scott, whose dictum must in a case 

 of this kind have all the force of decision, " so 

 contradictory as they may at first sight appear. It is 

 possible that Dryden may have completed at one sit- 

 ting the whole ode, and yet have employed a fort- 

 night or much more in correction." 



It may be mentioned, in proof of the indomitable 

 spirit of Dryden, that even now, bowed down by age 

 and ill health, he should contemplate a translation of 

 Homer. The first book was even completed as a 

 specimen, by which, says the poet, in a letter to 

 Halifax, in 1699, " I find him a poet more according 

 to my genius than Virgil, and consequently, I hope, I 

 may do him more justice in his fiery way of writing." 

 In the mean time, he employed himself in the compo- 

 sition of his Fables, imitations of Boccaccio and 

 Chaucer, which were published early in 1700. He 

 survived their publication only a few months. He 

 died May 1st, 1700, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. 

 As if to make amends for their neglect during his life, 

 the great and the noble now hastened to show every 

 mark of respect to his memory. His body was removed 

 to the Physicians' Hall, where it lay embalmed for 

 twelve days ; it was then conveyed, with considerable 

 state, to Westminster Abbey, and deposited between 

 the graves of Chaucer and Cowley. 



In 1665, Dryden married lady Elizabeth Howard, 

 eldest daughter of the earl of Berkshire, and sister to 

 his friend Sir Robert Howard. How much this added 

 to his happiness may be questioned. Her ladyship's 

 temper was imperious and haughty ; indeed, her 

 wayward disposition the effect of a disturbed ima- 

 gination shortly after Dryden's death degenerated 

 into absolute insanity, in which state she remained 

 till her death in 1714. By her ladyship he had three 

 sons, none of whom survived him ten years. The 

 personal appearance of Dryden ought not to be 

 omitted. In youth, he was eminently handsome ; 

 but as he advanced in years, he became corpulent 

 and florid, which procured him, from the witty and 

 profligate earl of Rochester, the nickname of Poet 

 Squab. In society he was modest, reserved, and 

 taciturn ; his whole demeanour was characterized by 

 a mildness which was not to be expected from his 

 powers of satire. As a poet, Dryden stands very 

 high second only to Shakspeare and Milton. What 

 was said of Rome, adorned by Augustus, has been 

 applied by Johnson to English poetry, improved by 



