No More Learning

Now whilst Pasimunda was making preparation for his
nuptials, fortune, as if she had repented the injury done to Cymon,
produced a new circumstance for his deliverance. Pasimunda had a
brother, beneath him in years, but not in virtue, called Ormisda, who
had been long talked of as about to marry a beautiful lady of that city,
called Cassandra, whom Lysimachus was also in love with, and had for
some time been prevented marrying her, by diverse unlucky accidents. Now
as Pasimunda was to celebrate his own nuptials with great state and
feasting, he supposed it would save a great deal of expence and trouble,
if his brother was to marry at the same time. He consequently proposed
the thing again to Cassandra's friends, and soon brought it to a
conclusion; when it was agreed by all parties, that the same day that
Pasimunda brought home Ephigenia, Ormisda should bring home Cassandra.
This was very grating to Lysimachus, who saw himself now deprived of the
hope which he had hitherto entertained of marrying her himself; but he
was wise enough to conceal it, contriving a way to prevent its taking
effect if possible; none however appeared, but that of taking her away
by force. This seemed easy enough on account of his office; still he
thought it not so reputable as if he had borne no office at all at that
time; but in short, after a long debate with himself, honour gave way to
love, and he resolved, happen what would, to bear away Cassandra.
Thinking then what companions he should make choice of for this
enterprise, as well as the means that were to be taken, he soon called
Cymon to mind, whom he had in custody, as also his companions; and
thinking he could have nobody better to assist him, nor one more trusty
and faithful on that occasion than Cymon, the next night he had him
privately into his chamber, where he spoke to him in this
manner:--"Cymon, as the gods are the best and most liberal givers of all
things to mankind, so are they also the ablest judges of our several
virtues and merits: such then as they find to be firm and constant in
every respect, them do they make worthy of the greatest things. Now
concerning your worth and valour, they are willing to have a more
certain trial of both, than it was possible for you to shew within the
scanty limits of your father's house, whom I know to be a person of the
greatest distinction; for first then, by the pungent force of love, as I
am informed, have they, from a mere insensible creature, made a man of
you; and afterwards by adverse fortune, and now by a miserable
imprisonment, are they willing to see if your soul be changed from what
it was, when you appeared flushed so lately with the prize you had won.
If that continues the same, I can propose nothing so agreeable to you,
as what I am now going to offer; which, that you may resume your former
might and valour, I shall immediately disclose. Pasimunda, overjoyed
with your disappointment, and a zealous promoter, as far as in him lay,
of your being put to death, is now about to celebrate his marriage with
your Ephigenia, that he may enjoy that blessing, which fortune, when she
was favourable, first put into your power, and afterwards snatched away
from you; but how this must afflict you, I can easily suppose by myself,
who am like to undergo the same injury, and at the same time, with
regard to my mistress Cassandra, who is to be married then to his
brother Ormisda. Now I see no remedy for either of us, but what consists
in our own resolution, and the strength of our arms: it will be
necessary, therefore, to make our way with our swords, for each of us to
gain his lady: if then you value (I will not say your liberty, because
that without her would be of little weight with you; but, I say, if you
value) your mistress, you need only follow me, and fortune has put her
into your hands. " These words spoke comfort to the drooping soul of
Cymon, who immediately replied, "Lysimachus, you could never have a more
stout, nor a more trusty friend for such an enterprize than myself, if
it be as you seem to promise: tell me then what you would have me do,
and you shall see me put it nobly into execution. " Lysimachus made
answer, "Three days hence the ladies are to be brought home to their
espoused husbands, when you, with your friends and myself, with some
people whom I can confide in, will go armed in the evening, and enter
their house whilst they are in the midst of their mirth, where we will
seize on the two brides, and carry them away to a ship which I have
secretly provided, killing all that shall presume to oppose us. " This
scheme was entirely to Cymon's good liking, and he waited quietly till
the time appointed. The wedding-day being now come, and every part of
their house full of mirth and feasting, Lysimachus, after giving the
necessary orders at the time fixed, divided Cymon and his companions
with his own friends into three parties, and putting arms under their
several cloaks, and animating them boldly to pursue what they had
undertaken, he sent one party to the haven to secure their escape, and
with the other two they went to Pasimunda's house; one they stationed at
the gate, to prevent any persons shutting them up in the house; whilst
he, along with Cymon, went up stairs with the remaining part. --Coming
then into the dining-room, where the two brides, with many other ladies,
were seated orderly at supper, they advanced up to them, and throwing
down all the tables, each seized his lady, and giving them into the arms
of their followers, ordered them to carry them away to their ship. The
brides, as well as the other ladies and the servants, cried out so
much, that immediately there was a great tumult. In the mean time, Cymon
and Lysimachus, with their followers, all drew their swords, and came
down stairs again without any opposition, till they met with Pasimunda,
having in his hand a great club, whom the noise had drawn thither, when
Cymon, at one stroke, laid him dead at his feet, and whilst Ormisda was
running to his assistance, he was likewise killed by Cymon; many others
also of their friends, who came to their relief, were wounded and beaten
back. Leaving the house then all full of blood and confusion, they
joined parties, and went directly on to their ship with their booty,
without the least hindrance whatever; when putting the ladies on board,
and they with all their friends following them, the shore was soon
filled with crowds of people, who came to rescue them, upon which they
plied their oars, and sailed joyfully away for Crete. There they were
cheerfully received by all their friends and relations, when they
espoused their ladies, and were well pleased with their several prizes.
This occasioned great quarrels afterwards between the two islands of
Cyprus and Rhodes. At length, by the interposition of friends, every
thing was amicably adjusted, and then Cymon returned along with
Ephigenia to Cyprus, and Lysimachus in like manner carried Cassandra
back to Rhodes, where they lived very happily to the end of their days.


END OF THE ELEVENTH VOLUME.

* * * * *

EDINBURGH:

Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Transcriber's notes: |
| |
| P. 36. 'Hoddesden' changed to 'Hoddesdon'. |
| P. 119. 'Eleanora' changed to 'Eleonora'. |
| P. 120. 'Eleanora' changed to 'Eleonora'. |
| P. 152. 'copartment' changed to 'compartment'. |
| P. 232. In footnote 130 'reason to thing' changed to 'reason to think'. |
| P. 260. 'musk ask' changed to 'must ask'. |
| P. 279. 'profered' is 'proffer'd' in another volume, changed. |
| P. 301. 'atchievements' changed to 'achievements'. |
| P. 436. 'mein' changed to 'mien'. |
| P. 453. 'criti- objections' changed to 'critical objections'. |
| P. 475. 'disagreeble' changed to 'disagreeable'. |
| Various punctuation fixed. |
| Note: text surrounded by _this_ indicates italics. |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+





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Project Gutenberg's The Works of John Dryden, Vol. 10 (of 18), by John Dryden

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
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Title: The Works of John Dryden, Vol. 10 (of 18)

Author: John Dryden

Editor: Walter Scott

Release Date: April 3, 2016 [EBook #51652]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN ***




Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jane Robins and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www. pgdp. net










THE

WORKS

OF

JOHN DRYDEN,

NOW FIRST COLLECTED

_IN EIGHTEEN VOLUMES_.

* * * * *

ILLUSTRATED

WITH NOTES,

HISTORICAL, CRITICAL, AND EXPLANATORY,

AND

A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,

BY

WALTER SCOTT, ESQ.

* * * * *

VOL. X.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, ALBEMARLE STREET,
BY JAMES BALLANTYNE AND CO. EDINBURGH.

1808.




CONTENTS

OF

VOLUME TENTH.


PAGE.

Religio Laici, or a Layman's Faith, an Epistle, 1
Preface, 11

Threnodia Augustalis, a Funeral Pindaric Poem, sacred
to the happy Memory of King Charles II. 53
Notes, 79

The Hind and the Panther, a Poem, in Three Parts, 85
Preface, 109
Notes on Part I. 139
Part II. 159
Notes on Part II. 185
Part III. 195
Notes on Part III. 240

Britannia Rediviva, a Poem on the Birth of the
Prince, 283
Notes, 302

Prologues and Epilogues, 309

Mack-Flecknoe, a Satire against Thomas Shadwell, 425
Notes, 441




RELIGIO LAICI:

OR,

A LAYMAN'S FAITH.

AN EPISTLE.

_Ornari res ipsa negat; contenta doceri. _




ARGUMENT.

TAKEN FROM THE AUTHOR'S MARGINAL NOTES.


Opinions of the several Sects of Philosophers concerning the
_Summum bonum_. --System of Deism. --Of Revealed Religion. --Objection
of the Deist. --Objection answered. --Digression to the Translator
of Father Simon's Critical Edition of the Old Testament. --Of the
Infallibility of Tradition in general. --Objection in behalf of
Tradition, urged by Father Simon. --The Second Objection. --Answered.




RELIGIO LAICI.


The _Religio Laici_, according to Johnson, is almost the only work of
Dryden which can be considered as a voluntary effusion. I do not see
much ground for this assertion. Dryden was indeed obliged to write by
the necessity of his circumstances; but the choice of the mode in which
he was to labour was his own, as well in his Fables and other poems,
as in that which follows. Nay, upon examination, the _Religio Laici_
appears, in a great measure, a controversial, and almost a political
poem; and, being such, cannot be termed, with propriety, a voluntary
effusion, any more than "The Medal," or "Absalom and Achitophel. "
It is evident, Dryden had his own times in consideration, and the
effect which the poem was likely to produce upon them. Religious
controversy had mingled deeply with the party politics of the reign
of Charles II. Divided, as the nation was, into the three great sects
of Churchmen, Papists, and Dissenters, their several creeds were
examined by their antagonists with scrupulous malignity, and every
hint extracted from them which could be turned to the disadvantage of
those who professed them. To the Catholics, the dissenters objected
their cruel intolerance and jesuitical practices; to the church of
England, their servile dependence on the crown, and slavish doctrine
of non-resistance. The Catholics, on the other hand, charged the
reformed church of England with desertion from the original doctrines
of Christianity, with denying the infallibility of general councils,
and destroying the unity of the church; and against the fanatics,
they objected their anti-monarchical tenets, the wild visions of
their independent preachers, and their seditious cabals against the
church and state. While the church of England was thus assailed by
two foes, who did not at the same time spare each other, it probably
occurred to Dryden, that he, who could explain her tenets by a plain
and philosophical commentary, had a chance, not only of contributing
to fix and regulate the faith of her professors, but of reconciling to
her, as the middle course, the Catholics and the fanatics. The Duke
of York and the Papists, on the one hand, were urging the king to the
most desperate measures; on the other, the popular faction were just
not in arms. The king, with the assistance and advice of Halifax, was
trimming his course betwixt these outrageous and furious torrents.
Whatever, therefore, at this important crisis, might act as a sedative
on the inflamed spirits of all parties, and encourage them to abide
with patience the events of futurity, was a main point in favour of
the crown. A rational and philosophical view of the tenets of the
national church, liberally expressed, and decorated with the ornaments
of poetry, seemed calculated to produce this effect; and as I have
no doubt, as well from the preface, as from passages in the poem,
that Dryden had such a purpose in view, I have ventured to place the
_Religio Laici_ among his historical and political poems. [1]

I would not, from what is above stated, be understood to mean, that
Dryden wrote this poem merely with a view to politics, and that he
was himself sceptical in the matters of which it treats. --On the
contrary, I have no doubt, that it expresses, without disguise or
reservation, what was then the author's serious and firm, though, as
it unfortunately proved, not his unalterable religious opinion. The
remarkable line in the "Hind and Panther," seems to refer to the state
of his mind at this period; and this system of divinity was among the
"new sparkles which his pride had struck forth," after he had abandoned
the fanatical doctrines in which he was doubtless educated. [2] It is
therefore probable, that, having formed for himself, on grounds which
seemed to warrant it, a rational exposition of the national creed,
he was willing to communicate it to the public at a period, when
moderation of religious zeal was so essentially necessary to the repose
of the nation.

Considered in this point of view, the _Religio Laici_ is one of the
most admirable poems in the language. The argumentative part is
conducted with singular skill, upon those topics which occasioned the
principal animosity between the religious sects; and the deductions
are drawn in favour of the church of England with so much apparent
impartiality, that those who could not assent, had at least no title
to be angry. The opinions of the various classes of free-thinkers
are combated by an appeal to those feelings of the human mind, which
always acknowledge an offended Deity, and to the various modes in
which all ages and nations have shewn their sense of the necessity
of an atonement by sacrifice and penance. Dryden, however, differs
from most philosophers, who suppose this consciousness of guilt to be
originally implanted in our bosoms: he, somewhat fantastically, argues,
as if it were some remnants of the original faith revealed to Noah,
and preserved by the posterity of Shem. The inadequacy of sacrifices
and oblations, when compared with the crimes of those by whom they are
made, and with the grandeur of the omnipotent Being, to whom they are
offered, paves the way for the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ,
the fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion. The fitness of
this vicarious sacrifice to accomplish the redemption of man, and
vindicate the justice and mercy of God; the obvious impossibility that
the writings, or authors, by which it has been conveyed to us, should
be less than inspired; the progress of the Christian faith itself,
though militating against the corrupt dispositions of humanity, and
graced with none of those attractions by which Mahomet, and other
false prophets, bribed their followers, are then successively urged
as evidences of the Christian religion. The poet then recurs to an
objection, at which he had hinted in his preface. If the Christian
religion is necessary to salvation, why is it not extended to all
nations of the earth? And suppose we grant that the circumstance of
the revealed religion having been formerly preached and embraced in
great part of the world where it is now unknown, shall be sufficient
to subject those regions to be judged by its laws, what is to become
of the generations who have lived before the coming of the Messiah?
what of the inhabitants of those countries on which the beams of the
gospel have never shone? To these doubts, I hope most Christians will
think our author returns a liberal, and not a presumptuous answer,
in supposing that the heathen will be judged according to the light
which it has pleased God to afford them; and that, infinitely less
fortunate than us in the extent of their spiritual knowledge, they will
only be called upon to answer for their conformity with the dictates
of their own conscience. The authority of St Athanasius our author
here sets aside, either because in the ardour of his dispute with
Arius he carried his doctrine too far, or because his creed only has
reference to the decision of a doctrinal question in the Christian
church; and the anathema annexed applies not to the heathen world,
but to those, who, having heard the orthodox faith preached, have
wilfully chosen the heresy. Dryden next takes under review the work
of Father Simon; and, after an eulogy on the author and translator,
pronounces, that the former was not a bigotted Catholic, since he
did not hesitate to challenge some of the traditions of the church
of Rome. To these traditions, these "brushwood helps," with which
the Catholics endeavoured to fence the doctrines of their church,
our author proceeds, and throws them aside as liable to error and
corruption. The pretensions of the church of Rome, by her pope and
general councils, infallibly to determine the authenticity of church
tradition, is the next proposition. To this the poet answers, that
if they possess infallibility at all, it ought to go the length of
restoring the canon, or correcting the corrupt copies of scripture; a
reply which seems to concede to the Romans; as, without denying the
grounds of their claim, it only asserts, that it is not sufficiently
extended. Upon, the ground, however, that the plea of infallibility, by
which the poet is obviously somewhat embarrassed, must be dismissed,
as proving too much, the holy scriptures are referred to as the sole
rule of faith; admitting such explanations as the church of England
has given to the contested doctrines of Christianity. The unlettered
Christian, we are told, does well to pursue, in simplicity, his path to
heaven; the learned divine is to study well the sacred scriptures, with
such assistance as the most early traditions of the church, especially
those which are written, may, in doubtful points, afford him. It is in
this argument chiefly, that there may be traced a sort of vacillation
and uncertainty in our author's opinion, boding what afterwards took
place--his acquiescence in the church authority of Rome. Nevertheless,
having vaguely pronounced, that some traditions are to be received,
and others rejected, he gives his opinion against the Roman see, which
dictated to the laity the explications of doctrine as adopted by the
church, and prohibited them to form their own opinion upon the text,
or even to peruse the sacred volume which contains it. This Dryden
contrasts with the opposite evil, of vulgar enthusiasts debasing
scripture by their own absurd commentaries, and dividing into as many
sects, as there are wayward opinions formed upon speculative doctrine.
He concludes, that both extremes are to be avoided; that saving faith
does not depend on nice disquisitions; yet, if inquisitive minds are
hurried into such, the scripture, and the commentary of the fathers,
are their only safe guides:

And after hearing what our church can say,
If still our reason runs another way,
That private reason 'tis more just to curb,
Than by disputes the public peace disturb;
For points obscure are of small use to learn,
But common quiet is mankind's concern.

In considering Dryden's creed thus analyzed, I think it will appear,
that the author, though still holding the doctrines of the church
of England, had been biassed, in the course of his enquiry, by those
of Rome. His wish for the possibility of an infallible guide,[3]
expressed with almost indecent ardour, the difficulty, nay, it would
seem, in his estimation, almost the impossibility, of discriminating
between corrupted and authentic traditions, while the necessity of the
latter to the interpretation of scripture is plainly admitted, appear,
upon the whole, to have left the poet's mind in an unpleasing state
of doubt, from which he rather escapes than is relieved. He who only
acquiesces in the doctrines of his church, because the exercise of his
private judgement may disturb the tranquillity of the state, can hardly
be said to be in a state to give a reason for the faith that is in him.

The doctrine of the _Religio Laici_ is admirably adapted to
the subject: though treating of the most abstruse doctrines of
Christianity, it is as clear and perspicuous as the most humble prose,
while it has all the elegance and effect which argument is capable
of receiving from poetry. Johnson, usually sufficiently niggard of
praise, has allowed, that this "is a composition of great excellence
in its kind, in which the familiar is very properly diversified with
the solemn, and the grave with the humorous; in which metre has
neither weakened the force, nor clouded the perspicuity of argument;
nor will it be easy to find another example, equally happy, of this
middle kind of writing, which, though prosaic in some parts, rises to
high poetry in others, and neither towers to the skies, nor creeps
along the ground. "[4] I cannot help remarking, that the style of the
_Religio Laici_ has been imitated successfully by the late Mr Cowper
in some of his pieces. Yet he has not been always able to maintain
the resemblance, but often crawls where Dryden would have walked. The
natural dignity of our author may be discovered in the lamest lines of
the poem, whereas his imitator is often harsh and embarrassed. Both are
occasionally prosaic; but in such passages Dryden's verse resembles
good prose, and Cowper's that which is feeble and involved.

The name which Dryden has thought proper to affix to this declaration
of his faith, seems to have been rather fashionable about that time.
There is a treatise _de Religione Laici_, attached to the work of
Lord Herbert of Cherburg, _De Veritate_, first published in 1633. But
the most famous work, with a similar title, was the _Religio Medici_
of Thomas Browne, which was translated into Latin by Meryweather,
and afterwards into French, Italian, Dutch, German, and most of the
languages of Europe. In 1683, Charles Blount, of Staffordshire, son
to Sir Henry Blount, published a short treatise, entitled, _Religio
Laici_, which he inscribed to his "much honoured friend, John Dryden,
Esq. ;" whom he informed, in the epistle-dedicatory, "I have endeavoured
that my discourse should only be a continuance of yours; and that, as
you taught men how to believe, so I might instruct them how to live. "[5]

It has been suggested, that the purpose of the _Religio Laici_ of
Dryden was to bring the contending factions to sober and philosophical
reflection on their differences in points of faith, and to abate, if
possible, the acrimony with which they contended upon the most obscure
subjects of polemical divinity. But to attempt, by an abstracted
disquisition on the original cause of quarrel, to stop a controversy,
in which all the angry passions had been roused, and which indeed was
fast verging towards blows, is as vain an attempt, as it would be to
turn the course of a river, swoln with a thousand tributary streams,
by draining the original spring-head. From the cold reception of
this poem, compared to those political and personal satires which
preceded it, Dryden might learn the difference of interest, excited by
productions which tended to fan party rage, and one which was designed
to mitigate its ferocity. The _Religio Laici_, which first appeared
in November 1682, neither attracted admiration nor censure; it was
neither hailed by the acclamations of the one party, nor attacked
by the indignant answers of the other. The public were, however,
sufficiently interested in it to call for a renewal of the impression
in the following year. This second edition, which had escaped even the
researches of Mr Malone, is in the collection of my friend Mr Heber.
It might probably have been again reprinted with advantage, but our
author's change of faith must necessarily have rendered him unwilling
to give a third edition. The same circumstance called the attention of
his enemies towards this neglected poem, who, in many libels, upbraided
him with the versatility of his religious opinions. The author of a
pamphlet, called "The Revolter," was at the pains to print the tenets
of the _Religio Laici_ concerning the Catholic controversy, in contrast
with those which our author had adopted and expressed in the "Hind and
Panther. "[6] Another turned our author's own title against him, and
published "_Religio Laici_, or a Layman's Faith touching the Supream
and Infallible Guide of the Church, by J. R. a Convert of Mr Bayes.
In Two Letters to a Friend in the Country. Licenced June the 1st,
1688. " In both these pamphlets our author is treated with the grossest
insolence and brutality. [7] Excepting these malignant criticisms, the
_Religio Laici_ slept in obscurity after the second edition, and was
not again published till after the author's death. Neither has it been
since popular, although its pure spirit of Christianity should be
acceptable to the religious, its moderation to the philosopher, and the
excellence of the composition to all admirers of argumentative poetry.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: It was intimated by Dryden's enemies, that he chose this
religious and grave subject with a view to smooth the way to his taking
orders, and obtaining church preferment--See a quotation from the
_Religio Laici_, by J. R. subjoined to these introductory remarks. But
our author, in the preface to the "Fables," declares, that going into
the church was never in his thoughts. ]

[Footnote 2: The reader will find this opinion more fully expressed in
the observations on Dryden's conversion to the Roman Catholic faith,
given in the Life. ]

[Footnote 3:

Such an omniscient church we wish indeed;
'Twere worth both Testaments, cast in the creed.
]

[Footnote 4: Johnson's Life of Dryden. ]

[Footnote 5: Malone, Vol. III. p. 310. ]

[Footnote 6: "The Revolter, a Tragi-Comedy, acted between the Hind and
Panther and _Religio Laici_. London. 1687. "]

[Footnote 7: As will appear from the following extracts:--"While he
sat thus in his poetical throne, or rather acting upon the stage of
fable and pagan mythology, and transfiguring into beasts almost all
mankind, but Turks and infidels, that were out of his road, he never
considered what a monster he was himself; a second Gorgon with three
heads, for each of which he had a particular employment; with the one,
to fawn upon the most infamous usurpers; with the other, at one time
to lick the beneficent hands of his Protestant mother, and, bye and
bye, to court the charity of his Catholic mamma; while, with the third,
he barked and snarled, not only at his first deserted female parent,
but also at all other differing sentiments and opinions, which his
sovereign had so graciously and generously indulged.