No More Learning

This most beautiful stanza requires but little illustration. London
Bridge, as early as Shakespeare's time, was a place allotted for
affixing the heads of persons executed for treason. Thus Catesby to
Hastings,

The princes both make high account of you--
--For they account his head upon the _bridge_.

The skulls of the regicides, of the fifth-monarchy insurgents, of
Philips, Gibb, Tongue, and other fanatics executed for a conspiracy
in 1662, were placed on the Bridge, Towerhill, Temple-bar, and other
conspicuous places of elevation; that of the famous Hugh Peters, in
particular, was stationed upon the bridge. The _Sabbath notes_, imputed
to this assembly of fanatic spectres, are the infernal hymns chaunted
at the witches' Sabbath; a meeting, concerning which antiquity told and
believed many strange things.


Note XLVI.

_Old father Thames raised up his reverend head,
But feared the fate of Simois would return. _
St. 232. p. 145.

Dryden, in the hurry of composition, has here made a slight inaccuracy.
It was not Simois, but Xanthus, otherwise called Scamander, who, having
undertaken to drown Achilles, was nearly dried up by the devouring
fires of Vulcan. He called, indeed, upon his brother river to assist
him in his undertaking, but Simois appears to have maintained a prudent
neutrality. See the _Iliad_, Book XXI.


Note XLVII.

_Now day appears, and with the day the king. _
St. 238. p. 146.

The king, by his conduct during this emergency, gained more upon the
hearts of his subjects, than by any action of his life. Completely
awakened, by so dreadful an emergence, from his usual lethargy of
pleasure and indolence, he came into the now half-burned city, with his
brother and the nobility, and gave an admirable specimen of what his
character was capable, when in a state of full exertion. Not contented
with passive expressions of sorrow and sympathy, he issued the most
prudent orders, and animated their execution by his presence. His
anxiety was divided betwixt the task of stopping the conflagration, and
the no less necessary and piteous duty of relieving those thousands,
who, having lost their all by the fire, had neither a morsel of
food, nor a place of shelter. For the one purpose, he spared neither
commands, threats, example, nor liberal rewards, which he lavished
with his own hand; for the other, he opened his naval and military
magazines, and distributed among the miserable and starving sufferers,
the provisions designed for his fleet and army. In fine, such were
his exertions, and so grateful were his people, that they deemed his
presence had an almost supernatural power, and clamourously entreated
not to be deprived of it, when, after the fire was quenched, he was
about to leave London.


Note XLVIII.

_The powder blows up all before the fire. _
St. 245. p. 147.

"So many houses were now burning together, that water could not be had
in sufficient quantities where it was wanted. The only remedy left
was, to blow up houses at convenient distances from those which were
on fire, and to make, by that means, void spaces, at which the fury of
the conflagration should spend itself for want of fuel. But this means
also proved ineffectual; for the fire, in some places, made its way by
means of the combustible part of the rubbish of the ruined houses, not
well cleared, and in others, by flakes of burning matter of different
kinds, which were carried through the air, by the impetuous wind, to
great distances. And the city being at that time almost all built of
very old timber, which had besides been parched and scorched by the sun
the whole preceding summer, one of the hottest and dryest that had been
ever known, it came to pass that, wherever such fiery matter chanced
to light, it seldom wanted fit fuel to work and feed upon. "--_Baker's
Chronicle_, p. 642. Edit. 1730.


Note XLIX.

_The days were all in this lost labour spent;
And, when the weary king gave place to night,
His beams he to his royal brother lent,
And so shone still in his reflective light. _
St. 253. p. 149.

The Duke of York was as active and vigilant as his brother upon this
melancholy occasion. His exertions and seasonable directions, prevented
the fire from breaking out afresh from the Inner Temple, after it had
been got under in other places of the town. Yet the idle calumny, which
stigmatized the Roman Catholics, as the authors of the conflagration,
was often extended to James himself. In that tissue of falsehood and
misrepresentation, which Titus Oates entitled, "A Picture of the Late
King James," he charges him "with beholding the flames with joy, and
the ruins with much rejoicing," p. 30, and says he would have impeached
him, as an accessary to the raising of that fire, had he not promised
to Prince Rupert to bring forward no accusation that could hurt the
king; "for I could not charge you," says he, "but must charge him too. "
In which case, by the way, this able witness would have made the king
accessary to his own murder, which, according to Oates' own evidence,
was to have been perpetrated during the fire, had not the hearts of
the Jesuits failed them, on seeing the zeal with which he laboured to
extinguish it.


Note L.

_The most, in fields, like herded beasts, lie down,
To dews obnoxious on the grassy floor. _
St. 258. p. 149.

In this, and foregoing verses, the miseries of those, whose houses were
consumed, are strikingly painted. Many fled for refuge to the houses
of friends, and lodged there the remnants of their property, which
they had been able to save. These were often forced to abandon their
places of asylum, by a fresh invasion of the devouring element, and
to yield up to its rage all which they had before rescued. At length,
distrusting safety in the city itself, the villages in its vicinity
soon became filled with fugitives, till, in the end, no place of refuge
was left but the open fields, where thousands remained for several
nights, without shelter, watching the progress of the flames, which
were consuming the metropolis.


Note LI.

_O let it be enough what thou hast done,
When spotted deaths ran armed through every street,
With poisoned darts, which not the good could shun,
The speedy could out-fly, or valiant meet. _
St. 267. p. 151.

In 1665, the plague broke out in London with the most dreadful fury. In
one year, upwards of 90,000 inhabitants were cut off by this frightful
visitation. The citizens were driven into the country, and so desolate
was the metropolis, through death and desertion, that the grass is said
actually to have grown in Cheapside.


Note LII.

_Thy threatnings, Lord, as thine, thou mayst revoke;
But, if immutable and fixed they stand,
Continue still thyself to give the stroke,
And let not foreign foes oppress thy land. _--St. 270. p. 151.

The poet puts into the prayer of Charles the solemn and striking choice
of David, when, as a penalty for his presumption in numbering the
children of Israel, he was compelled to make an election between three
years famine, three years subjugation to his enemies, or three days
pestilence. "And David said unto God, I am in a great strait: let me
fall now into the hand of the Lord, for very great are his mercies; but
let me not fall into the hand of man. " Dryden had already, in Stanza
265, paraphrased the patriotic prayer of David: "Let thy hand, I pray
thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father's house, but not on
thy people, that they should be plagued. " Chron. Book I. ch. xxi.


Note LIII.

_Nor could thy fabric, Paul's, defend thee long,
Though thou wert sacred to thy Maker's praise;
Though made immortal by a poet's song,
And poets songs the Theban walls could raise. _
St. 275. p. 152.

Waller had addressed a poem to Charles I. upon his Majesty's repairing
St Paul's. Denham, in the commencement of "Cowper's Hill," alludes both
to the labours of the monarch, and of the poet:

Paul's, the late theme of such a muse, whose flight
Has bravely reached and soared above thy height,
Now shalt thou stand, though sword, or time, or fire,
Or zeal more fierce than they, thy fall conspire;
Secure whilst thee the best of poets sings,
Preserved from ruin by the best of kings.

The fire of London, however, neither respected the labours of Charles,
the song of Waller, nor the prophecy of Sir John Denham. During
the conflagration, as St Paul's was in an insulated situation, and
constructed of strong stone-work, it was long thought to be in no
danger from the fire, and many of the sufferers employed it as a place
of deposit for the wreck of their goods and fortunes. But the whole
adjoining buildings in the churchyard being in a light flame, it became
impossible, even for the massy fabric of the cathedral, to resist the
combustion. The wood arches and supports being consumed, the stone-work
gave way with a most horrible crash, and buried the whole edifice in a
pile of smoking ruins.


Note LIV.

_He saw the town's one half in rubbish lie,
And eager flames drive on to storm the rest. _
St. 280. p. 153.

The inscription on the monument states, that the fire consumed
eighty-nine churches, the city-gates, Guildhall, many public
structures, hospitals, schools, libraries, a vast number of stately
edifices, thirteen thousand two hundred dwelling houses, four hundred
streets. Three hundred and seventy-three acres within the city walls,
and sixty-three acres and three roods without the walls, remained
heaped with the smoking ruins of the houses, which had once occupied
them.


Note LV.

_The vanquished fires withdraw from every place. _--St. 282. p. 153.

About ten o'clock of the evening of Tuesday the 5th of September,
after the fire had raged for three days, the high east wind, which
had been the means of forcing on its ravages, began to abate, and, in
proportion, the efforts used to stop the progress of the flames became
effectual. In some places, houses being opportunely blown up prevented
the further spreading of the fire; in others, the flames, spent for
lack of fuel, seemed to go out of themselves. On the morning of the
6th, the conflagration was totally extinguished.

The prejudices of the times assigned different causes for this tragical
event, according to the political principles of the discordant parties.
Most agreed, that the fire was raised by design; for, although the
multitude are content to allow, that a private person may die suddenly
of a natural disorder, or that a cottage may be consumed by accidental
fire; yet the death of a king, or the conflagration of a metropolis,
must, according to their habits of thinking, arise from some dark and
dismal plot, planned, doubtless, by those, whose religious or political
sentiments are most remote from their own. The royalists accused the
fanatics; the puritans the papists, of being the raisers of this
dreadful fire. Some suspected even the king and duke of York; though
it is somewhat difficult to see any advantage they could derive from
burning a city, which had been just loading them both with treasures.
The Monument, whose inscription adopts one of these rash opinions, is a
more stately, but not a more respectable, record of prejudice, than the
stone figure in Smithfield, whose tablet declares, the fire must have
been specially and exclusively a judgment for the crime of GLUTTONY,
since it began in _Pudding-Lane_, and ended in _Pye-Corner_!

An event so signally calamitous called forth, as may be readily
supposed, the condolence and consolations, such as they were, of
the poets of the day. One author, who designs himself J. A. Fellow
of King's College, Cambridge, poured forth verses "Upon the late
lamentable Fire in London, in an humble imitation of the most
incomparable Mr Cowley his Pindaric strain. " This usurper of the Theban
lyre informs us, that

About those hours which silence keep.
To tempt the froward world to ease;
Just at the time when, clothed with subtile air.
Guilty spirits use to appear;
When the hard students to their pillows creep;
(All but the aged men that wake,
Who in the morn their slumbers take,)
When fires themselves are put to sleep,
(Only the thrifty lights that burn, and melancholy persons please;)
Just then a message came,
Brought by a murmuring wind;
(Not to every obvious flame,
Thousand of those it left behind. )
And chose a treacherous heap of sparks,
Which buried in their ashes lay;
Which, when discovered by some secret marks,
The air fan'd the pale dust away:
What less than Heaven could ere this message send?
The embers glowing, waked, and did attend.

In an unusual tone
The embassy delivered was;
The teeming air itself did groan,
Nor for its burden could it farther pass.
Their dialects, but to themselves unknown,
Only by sad effects we see,
They did agree,
To execute the great decree;
And all with the same secrecy conspire,
That as heaven whispered to the air, the air should to the fire.
The drowsy coals no sooner understand
The purport of their large command,
And that the officious wind did there attend
Its needful aid to lend,
But suddenly they seek out
The work they were to go about;
And sparks, that had before inactive lain,
Each separate had its portion ta'en;
Though scattered for a while, designed to meet again.

Thus far contrived the wary fire,
Thinking how many 'twould undo;
Fearing their just complaint,
And the perpetual restraint;
It winked, as one would think 'twould fain
Have slept again;
Had not the cruel wind rose higher,
Which forced the drooping coals revive,
To save themselves alive.
Thus without fresh supply of food,
Not able to subsist,
Much less resist
A breath by which they were so rudely kist,
They seized a neighbouring stack of wood,
Which straight into one horrid flame did turn,
Not as it stood designed to burn.
Thus, while each other they oppose.
Poor mortals trace the mighty foes,
By the vast desolations each makes where'er he goes.

Besides this choice imitation of Cowley, we have "_Londini quod
reliquum_, or London's Remains," in Latin and English; "_Actio in
Londini Incendiarios_, the Conflagration of London, poetically
delineated;" _Londinenses Lacrymæ_, or "London's tears mingled with her
ashes;" and, doubtless, many other poems on the same memorable event.


Note LVIII.

_Not with more constancy the Jews, of old,
By Cyrus from rewarded exile sent
Their royal city did in dust behold,
Or with more vigour to rebuild it went. _--St. 290. p. 155.

When Cyrus conquered Babylon, he restored the Jewish tribes to their
native land, after seventy years captivity. The mixed feelings,
with which they began to rebuild their ruined temple and city, are
emphatically described in the book of Ezra, chap. iii.

"11. And they sung together by course, praising and giving thanks unto
the Lord, because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever towards
Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised
the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

"12. But many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who
were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of
this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, and many
shouted loud for joy.

"13. So that the people could not discover the noise of the shout of
joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted
with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off. "


Note LIX.

_Now frequent trines the happier lights among,
And high-raised Jove, from his dark prison freed,
Those weights took off that on his planet hung,
Will gloriously the new-laid works succeed. _
St. 292. p. 155.

According to the jargon of astrology, a _trine_, or triangular
conjunction of planets, was supposed to be eminently benign to mankind.
To this Dryden adds the circumstance of the planet Jove being in
his ascension, as a favourable aspect. Our poet was not above being
seriously influenced by these fooleries; and I dare say will be found,
on reference to any almanack of 1666, to have given a very accurate
account of the relative state of the heavenly bodies in that year.


Note LX.

_More great than human now, and more august,
Now deified she from her fires does rise;
Her widening streets on new foundations trust,
And opening into larger parts she flies. _--St. 295. p. 156.

It is here truly stated, that the calamity of the great fire was
ultimately attended with excellent consequences to the city. By a
proclamation from the king, of an arbitrary and dictatorial nature,
but which the emergency seems to have justified, the citizens were
prohibited from rebuilding their houses, except with solid materials,
and upon such plans as should be set forth by a committee appointed
for the purpose. In this manner, the endless disputes about property,
whose boundaries were now undistinguishable, were at once silenced, and
provision was made for the improvements in widening the streets, and
prohibiting the use of lath and timber, of which materials the houses
were formerly composed. "Had the king," says Hume, "been enabled to
carry his power still farther, and made the houses be rebuilt with
perfect regularity, and entirely upon one plan, he had contributed
much to the convenience, as well as embellishment, of the city. Great
advantages, however, have resulted from the alterations, though not
carried to the full length. London became much more healthful after
the fire. The plague, which used to break out with great fury twice
or thrice every century, and indeed which was always lurking in some
corner or other of the city, has scarcely ever appeared since that
calamity. "--Vol. VII. p. 4l6.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 203: "Memoirs of English affairs, chiefly naval, from 1660 to
1673, by his Royal Highness James Duke of York. " Lond. 1729, 8vo. ]

[Footnote 204: While these sheets were going to press, (to use the
approved editorial phraseology,) I have discovered that these abstruse
truths were asserted, not by Lilly himself, but a brother Philo-math,
Richard Kirby, in his _Vates Astrologicus_, or England's Astrological
Prophet. ]

[Footnote 205: Sir Thomas Clifford was the person through whose medium
Tydiman carried on a treaty with the Danish governor Alfeldt, for the
surrender of the Dutch fleet; the sincerity of which, on the part of
the Danes, may be greatly doubted, since their after conduct evinced
an unrighteous desire of securing the whole booty of the unfortunate
Dutchmen for themselves, which they must otherwise have divided with
the English. See RALPH'S _Hist. _ Vol. I. p. 118. ]

[Footnote 206: The wits of that age, who laughed at every thing, made
themselves very merry with this accident. Denham exhorts the painter
thus:

But most with story of his hand and thumb,
Conceal, as honour would, his grace's bum,
When the rude bullet a large collop tore
Out of that buttock never turned before;
Fortune, it seems, would give him by that lash
Gentle correction for his fight so rash;
But should the Rump perceive't, they'd say that Mars
Has thus avenged them upon Aumarle's ----.

The bard elsewhere gives his grace the admonition,

Guard thy posteriours, George, ere all be gone;
Though jury-masts, thou'st jury-buttocks none.

_Instructions to a Painter, part 2d. _
]

[Footnote 207: This is taken from the narrative imputed to Harman
himself. --See _Lives of the Admirals_, Vol. II. p. 262. Its
authenticity is questioned by Ralph, on account of the _lubberly_
phrases, _cordage_ and _crossbeam_ for _slings_ and _yard_. But the
same circumstances occur in a letter from Alborough, dated June 2d,
and published in the London Gazette for June 4th, giving an account of
the crippled state in which the Henry had come into that port, and of
the part she had sustained in the action.
A doggrel poet, on the same
occasion, apostrophises

----Brave Harman now, his fiery ordeals past,
Submits unto his watery trial last;
Whose sober valour shall encrease his glory,
And gain new plumes to enrich a future story.
_On the Declaration of Toleration, and Publication of War. _
]




ABSALOM

AND

ACHITOPHEL.

PART I.

----_Si proprius stes
Te capiet magis_----




ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL.


The following poem has been uniformly and universally admired, not only
as one of Dryden's most excellent performances, but as indisputably
the best and most nervous political satire that ever was written. It
is said to have been undertaken at the command of Charles; and if
so, no king was ever better obeyed. The general state of parties in
England during the last years of the reign of Charles II. has been
often noticed, particularly in the notes on "The Duke of Guise," Vol.
VI. Shaftesbury, dismissed from the administration, had bent his whole
genius for intrigue, to effect the exclusion of the Duke of York from
the crown of England, even at the risque of a civil war. Monmouth
had thrown himself into the arms of the same party, flattered by
the prospect of occupying that place from which his uncle was to be
excluded. Every thing seemed to flatter his ambition. The pretensions
of the Duke's daughters must necessarily have been compromised by the
exclusion of their father. At any rate, they were not likely to be
supported by a powerful party, while Monmouth, by his own personal
influence, and that of Shaftesbury, was at the head of all, whom zeal
for religion, disappointed ambition, restlessness of temper, love of
liberty, or desire of licentiousness, had united in opposition to
the measures of the court. Every engine which judgement or wit could
dictate, was employed by either party to place their cause in the most
favourable light, and prejudice that of their adversaries. Among these,
the poem which follows was the most powerful, and the most successful.
The time of its appearance was chosen with as much art, as the poem
displays genius. Shaftesbury had been committed to the Tower on a
charge of high treason on the 2d July, and the poem was published a
few days before a bill of indictment was presented against him. The
sensation excited by such a poem, at such a time, was intense and
universal.

It has been hitherto generally supposed, that the idea of applying
to Charles and Monmouth the apt characters and story of Absalom and
Achitophel, and indeed the general plan of drawing a poetical parallel
from scriptural history to modern times, was exclusively our author's.
This appears to be a mistake. So far back as 1679, some favourer of
Lord Stafford and of the Catholic cause ventured to paraphrase the
story of Naboth's vineyard, and to apply it to the condemnation of
that unfortunate nobleman for the Catholic plot. In that piece, the
scripture names and characters are given to the objects of the poet's
satire, precisely on the plan adopted by Dryden in "Absalom and
Achitophel,"[208] as the reader will perceive from the extracts in the
note. Not only had the scheme of a similar poem been conceived, but the
very passage of Scripture, adopted by Dryden as the foundation of his
parable, had been already applied to Charles and his undutiful son.
There appeared, in 1680, a small tract, called "Absalom's Conspiracy,
or the Tragedy of Treason," which, as it seems to have furnished the
general argument of Dryden's poem, and has been unnoticed by any former
commentator, I have subjoined to these introductory remarks. (See p.
205. )

In a "Letter also to his grace the duke of Monmouth, this 15 July 1680,
by a true lover of his person and the peace of the kingdom," the same
adaptation is thus warmly urged.

"These are the men (speaking of Monmouth's advisers) that would, with
Joab, send for the wise woman to persuade king David to admit of a
return for Absalom his son; and when they had effected it, leave him
to himself, till anger and passion had set fire to the field of Joab.
These are the men, that would have advised Absalom to make chariots,
and to take fifty men to run before him, and appoint his time and
station beside the way of the gate, to enquire of the tribes of Israel,
that came up to the king for justice, what their controversies and
matters were. These are the men, that would have advised young Absalom,
that since David had appointed no one to hear their grieveances (which
was a political lye), and relieve their oppressions, to wish, "Oh that
I were made judge in the land, that every man that hath any suit or
cause might come to me, and I would do him justice! " In short, these
unprincipled men were they that set on Absalom to steal away the hearts
of the people from the king; these are they, that advised him to go to
Hebron to pay his vow; and these are the men, that led him into actual
rebellion against his father, and to be destroyed by some of the very
hands that had assisted him in those pernicious counsels. " _Somers'
Tracts_, p. 111.

The parallel, from its aptness to the circumstances, appears to have
become popular; for Shaftesbury was distinguished by the nickname of
Achitophel[209] before the appearance of the following poem.

On the merits of Dryden's satire, all critics have been long agreed.
"If it be considered," says Dr Johnson, "as a poem political and
controversial, it will be found to comprise all the excellencies
of which the subject is susceptible; acrimony of censure, elegance
of praise, artful delineation of character, variety and vigour of
sentiment, happy turns of language, and pleasing harmony of numbers;
and all these raised to such a height as can scarcely be found in any
other English composition. " The more deeply we examine the plan of the
piece, the more reason we will find to applaud the exquisite skill
of the author. In the character of Absalom, particularly, he had a
delicate task to perform. He was to draw the misguided and offending
son, but not the hardened reprobate; for Charles, notwithstanding
his just indignation, was to the end of his reign partial to this
unfortunate prince, and anxious to detach him from his desperate
counsellors. Dryden has, accordingly, liberally transferred all the
fouler part of the accusation to the shoulders of Achitophel, while he
is tender of the fame of Absalom. We may suppose, that, in doing so,
the poet indulged his own feelings: the Duchess of Buccleuch had been
his most early patroness, and he had received personal favours from
Monmouth himself,[210] These recollections must have had weight with
him, when engaged in composing this party poem; and we may readily
believe him, when he affirms, that David could not be more tender of
the young man's life, than he would be of his reputation. In many of
the other characters, that of Buckingham in particular, a certain
degree of mercy is preserved, even amid the severity of satire. The
follies of Zimri are exposed to ridicule; but his guilt, (and the age
accused him of most foul crimes,) is left in the shade. Even in drawing
the character of Achitophel, such a degree of justice is rendered to
his acute talents, and to his merits as a judge, that we are gained
by the poet's apparent candour to give him credit for the truth of
the portrait in its harsher features. It is remarkable, that the only
considerable additions made to the poem, after the first edition, have
a tendency rather to mollify than to sharpen the satire. The following
additional passage, in the character of Achitophel, stands in this
predicament:

So easy still it proves in factious times,
With public zeal to cancel private crimes.
How safe is treason, and how sacred ill,
Where none can sin against the people's will?
Where crowds can wink, and no offence be known,
Since in another's guilt they find their own?
Yet fame deserved no enemy can grudge;
The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge.
In Israel's courts ne'er sat an Abethdin
With more discerning eyes, or hands more clean,
Unbribed, unsought, the wretched to redress;
Swift of dispatch, and easy of access.

A report was circulated, and has crept into the "_Biographia
Britannica_," that this addition was made in consequence of
Shaftesbury's having conferred a favour upon Dryden, and his
family,[211] in the interval between the first and second edition of
"Absalom and Achitophel;" but this Mr Malone has refuted in the most
satisfactory manner.

A passage, expressive of kind wishes towards Monmouth, was also added
in the second addition:

But oh that yet he would repent and live!
How easy 'tis for parents to forgive;
With how few tears a pardon might be won,
From nature pleading for a darling son!

These, and other passages, in which Dryden has softened the severity of
his muse, evince not only the poet's taste and judgment, but that tone
of honourable and just feeling, which distinguishes a true satire from
a libellous lampoon.

It was not consistent with Dryden's subject to introduce much imagery
or description into "Absalom and Achitophel;" but, though Dr Johnson
has remarked this as a disadvantage to the poem, it was, I think, amply
compensated by the good effects which the restraint produced on our
author's style of composition. The reader has already seen in how many
instances Dryden gave way to the false taste of his age, which, indeed,
furnished the strongest temptation to a vigorous mind, naturally
delighting to exert itself in working out an ingenious parallel between
remote and dissimilar ideas. A fiery horse is taught his regular paces
by the restraining discipline of the manege; and, in the same way, the
subject of "Absalom and Achitophel," which confined the poet to the
expression of sentiment and character, and left no room for excursions
into the regions of metaphysical poetry, probably had the effect of
restraining his exertions within the bounds of true taste, whose
precincts he would be less likely to overleap, even when again turned
loose upon a more fanciful theme. It is certain that "Absalom and
Achitophel" is as remarkable for correctness of taste, as for fire and
spirit of composition; nor ought the reader, amidst so many appropriate
beauties, to regret those flights of imagination, which could not have
been indulged without impropriety.

Another objection, stated to this poem, has been the abrupt and
unsatisfactory nature of the conclusion. The factions, and their
leaders, are described; and, when our expectation is at the highest,
the danger is at once dispelled by a speech from the throne. "Who,"
says Johnson, "can forbear to think of an enchanted castle, with a
wide moat, and lofty battlements, which vanishes at once into air,
when the destined knight blows his horn before it. " Yet, with great
deference to such authority, it may be considered as somewhat hard to
expect the merit of a well-conducted story in a poem merely intended as
a designation of various living characters. He, who collects a gallery
of portraits, disclaims, by the very act of doing so, any intention
of presenting a series of historical events. Each separate style of
poetry has its merits and disadvantages, but we should not expect a
historical work to contain the poignancy of a satire, or a satire to
exhibit the majestic and interesting story of an epic poem. Besides,
there had actually been an important crisis, and highly favourable
to the court, produced by the king's behaviour at Oxford, and by the
sudden dissolution of that parliament, which, according to Shaftesbury,
was to have rendered the Duke of York as abandoned an exile as the
first murderer Cain. This stroke of power was executed so unexpectedly,
that the Commons had not the slightest suspicion of what was intended,
till they were summoned by the Black Rod to attend the king. Oxford,
so lately crowded with the armed factionaries and partizans of royalty
and democracy, was at once deserted, and left to its usual stillness
and seclusion. The blow was fatal to the country party, as it dispersed
that body in which they had knit up their strength, and which alone
could give their proceedings the sanction of law.

The success of "Absalom and Achitophel" was unexampled. Dr Johnson's
father, a bookseller, told him, it was exceeded by nothing in his
remembrance, excepting that of Sacheverel's Sermon. The allusions
which it contained became universally known; and the allegorical names
seemed to be inalienably entailed upon the persons to whom Dryden had
assigned them. Not only were they in perpetual use amongst the court
poets of the day,[212] but the parable was repeatedly inculcated and
preached upon from the pulpit,[213] and echoed and re-echoed in all the
addresses of the time. [214]

The poem was at first published without a name, a circumstance which
must have added to the curiosity of the public; there were, however,
few writers, save the author, who could be suspected even for a moment,
and it is probable he did not remain long concealed. The poem was
published on the 17th November, 1681,[215] and, as early as the 10th of
December, Dryden is attacked as the author, in a miserable Grubstreet
poem, called "Towser the Second," supposed to be written by Henry
Care. [216] Then came forth, on the 14th, His Grace of Buckingham's
"Poetical Reflections," which are amply analysed in our notes. A
non-conformist clergyman (name unknown) advanced to the charge on
the 25th, with a pamphlet termed, "A Whip for the Fool's Back;" and
followed it up with the "Key with the Whip, to open the mystery and
iniquity of the poem called Absalom and Achitophel. " Then Samuel
Pordage published "Azariah and Hushai;" and, finally, our author's old
antagonist, Elkanah Settle, brought up the heavy rear with a ponderous
pamphlet entitled, "Absalom Senior; or, Achitophel Transposed, a Poem. "
All these laborious and indignant vindications and rebutters served
only to shew how much the faction was hurt by this spirited satire, and
how unable they were to make an effectual retort. Were we to judge of
their strength in other respects, from the efforts of their writers, we
should esteem them very unworthy of Dryden's satire, and exclaim, as
Tybalt does to Benvolio,

What dost thou, drawn, among these heartless hinds?

Accordingly, Dryden takes but slight and contemptuous notice of any
of his antagonists, save Shadwell and Settle, on whom he inflicts
a severe flagellation in the Second Part. On the other hand, Nahum
Tate, and other tory poets, came forth with congratulatory verses,
the inferiority of which served to shew that Dryden's force did not
lie in the principles and subject which he had in common with these
poetasters, but in the incommunicable resources of his own genius.

The first part of "Absalom and Achitophel" is in folio, "Printed for
J. T. (Jacob Tonson) and are to be sold by W. Davis, in Amen corner,
1681. " A second edition was issued before the end of December, which
was followed by many more. Mr Malone believes that the edition which
appeared in the Miscellanies was the sixth; and a quarto copy, now
before me, dated 1692, calls itself "the Seventh Edition, augmented and
revised. " Two Latin versions of "Absalom and Achitophel" were executed;
one by the famous Atterbury, afterwards bishop of Rochester, the other
by Dr Coward.

* * * * *

"Absalom's Conspiracy: or, the Tragedy of Treason. " London, printed in
the year 1680. Folio, containing two pages. Reprinted in the Harleian
Miscellany.

"There is nothing so dangerous either to societies in general, or to
particular persons, as ambition; the temptations of sovereignty, and
the glittering lustre of a crown, have been guilty of all the fearful
consequences that can be within the compass of imagination. For this,
mighty nations have been drowned in blood, populous cities have been
made, desolate, laid in ashes, and left without inhabitants; for
this, parents have lost all the sense and tenderness of nature; and
children, all the sentiments of duty and obedience; the eternal laws of
good and just, the laws of nature and of nations, of God and religion,
have been violated; men have been transformed into the cruelty of
beasts, and into the rage and malice of devils.

"Instances, both modern and ancient, of this, are innumerable; but this
of Absalom is a tragedy, whose antiquity and truth do equally recommend
it as an example to all posterity, and a caution to all mankind, to
take care how they embark in ambitious and unlawful designs; and it is
a particular caveat to all young men, to beware of such counsellors as
the old Achitophel, lest, while they are tempted with the hopes of a
crown, they hasten on their own destiny, and come to an untimely end.

"Absalom was the third son of David by Maachah, the daughter of Talmai,
king of Geshur, who was one of David's concubines; he, seeing his title
to the crown upon the score of lawful succession would not do, resolved
to make good what was defective in it by open force, by dethroning his
father.

"Now the arts he used to accomplish his design were these. First, he
studied popularity; he rose up early, he was industrious and diligent
in his way; he placed himself in the way of the gate; and when any man
came for judgment, he courteously entered into discourse with him. This
feigned condescension was the first step of his ambition. Secondly, he
depraved his father's government: the king was careless, drowned in his
pleasures; the counsellors were evil; no man regarded the petitioners:
Absalom said unto him,--See, thy matters are good and right, it is
but reason that you petition for; but there is no man that will hear
thee from the king; there is no justice to be found, your petitions
are rejected. Thirdly, he insinuates what he would do if he were in
authority; how easy access should be to him; he would do them justice;
he would hear and redress their grievances, receive their petitions,
and give them gracious answers:--Oh that I were made judge in the land,
that every man might come unto me, and I would do him justice! And,
when any man came to do him obeysance, he put forth his hand, and took
him and kissed him; and thus he stole away the hearts of the people
from their lawful king, his father and sovereign.

"But all this would not do; he therefore joins himself to one
Achitophel, an old man of a shrewd head, and discontented heart. This
Achitophel, it seems, had been a great counsellor of David's; but was
now under some disgrace, as appears by Absalom's sending for him from
Gilo, his city, whither he was in discontent retreated, because David
had advanced Hushai into his privy-council; and no doubt can be made,
but he was of the conspiracy before, by his ready joining with Absalom
as soon as the matters were ripe for execution.

"Absalom having thus laid his train, and made secret provision for his
intended rebellion, dispatches his emissaries abroad, to give notice
by his spies, that all the confederates should be ready at the sound
of the trumpet, and say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron; and immediately
a great multitude was gathered to him; for the conspiracy was strong;
some went out of malice, and some in their simplicity followed him, and
knew not any thing.

"David is forced to fly from his son, but still he had a loyal party
that stuck close to him. Achitophel gave devilish counsel, but God
disappointed it strangely; for Hushai, pretending to come over to
their party, put Absalom upon a plausible expedient, which proved his
ruin. So impossible is it for treason to be secure, that no person who
forms a conspiracy, but there may be some, who, under pretence of the
greatest kindness, may insinuate themselves, only to discover their
secrets, and ruin their intentions, either by revealing their treason,
or disappointing it; and certainly, of all men, traitors are least to
be trusted; for they who can be perfidious to one, can never be true to
any.

"The matter comes at last to the decision of the sword. Absalom's
party are defeated, and many slain, and Absalom himself, seeking to
save himself by flight in the wood, is entangled in a tree by his own
hair, which was his pride; and his mule going from under him, there
left him hanging till Joab came, and, with three darts, made at once an
end of his life and the rebellion. Thus ended his youthful and foolish
ambition, making him an eternal monument of infamy, and an instance of
the justice of divine vengeance, and what will be the conclusion of
ambition, treason, and conspiracy, against lawful kings and governors:
A severe admonition to all green heads, to avoid the temptations of
grey Achitophels.

"Achitophel, the engineer of all this mischief, seeing his counsel
despised, and foreseeing the event, prevented the hand of the
executioner, and, in revenge upon himself, went home and hanged
himself; give fair warning to all treacherous counsellors, to see what
their devilish counsels will lead them to at last; mischievous counsel
ever falling in conclusion upon the heads where first it was contrived,
as naturally as dirty kennels fall into the common-sewer.

"Whatsoever was written aforetime, was written for our instruction: for
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. "

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 208: "Naboth's Vineyard, or the Innocent Traitor, copied from
the original Holy Scriptures, in Heroic Verse, printed for C. R. 1679. "

"Since holy scripture itself is not exempt from being tortured and
abused by the strainings and perversions of evil men, no great
wonder were it if this small poem, which is but an illustration of a
single, yet remarkable, passage thereof, be also subject to the like
distortions and misapplications of the over-prying and underwitted of
one side, and of the malicious on the other: But all ingenious and
ingenuous men (to whose divertisement only this poem offers itself)
will be guarantees for the author, that neither any honourable and just
judge can be thought concerned in the character of Arod, nor any honest
and veracious witness in that of Malchus: And as, by the singular care
and royal goodness of his Majesty, whom God long preserve, our benches
in this nation are furnished with persons of such eminent integrity
and ability, that no character of a corrupt judge can, with the least
shadow of resemblance, belong to them; so it is to be wished, that
also, in all our courts of judicature, a proportionable honesty and
veracity were to be found in all witnesses, that so justice and peace
might close in a happy kiss. "

In this piece, Scroggs is described under the character of Arod, an
ambitious judge and statesman:

The chief was Arod, whose corrupted youth
Had made his soul an enemy to truth;
But nature furnished him with parts and wit
For bold attempts, and deep intriguing fit.
Small was his learning, and his eloquence
Did please the rabble, nauseate men of sense;
Bold was his spirit, nimble and loud his tongue,
Which more than law or reason takes the throng,
Him, part by money, partly by her grace,
The covetous queen raised to a judge's place;
And as he bought his place, he justice sold,
Weighing his causes, not by law, but gold.
He made the justice-seat a common mart;
Well skilled was he in the mysterious art
Of finding varnish for an unsound cause,
And for the sound, imaginary flaws.

MALCHUS--OATES.

Malchus, a puny Levite, void of sense
And grace, but stuff'd with noise and impudence,
Was his prime tool; so venomous a brute,
That every place he lived in spued him out.
Lies in his mouth, and malice in his heart,
By nature grew, and were improved by art;
Mischief his pleasure was, and all his joy,
To see his thriving calumny destroy
Those, whom his double heart, and forked tongue,
Surer than vipers' teeth, to death had stung.

NABOTH--STAFFORD.

Naboth, among the tribes, the foremost place,
Did, with his riches, birth, and virtue grace,
A man, whose wealth was the poor's common stock;
The hungry found their market in his flock.
His justice made all law contentions cease;
He was his neighbours' safeguard, and their peace:
The rich by him were in due bounds contained;
The poor, if strong, employed; if weak, maintained.
Well had he served his country and his king,
And the best troops in all their wars did bring;
Nor with less bravery did he lead them on,
Warding his country's danger with his own.
]

[Footnote 209: The following lines occur in "The Badger in the
Fox-trap," published, as appears from Mr Luttrell's jotting, about 9th
July, 1681, four months before the appearance of Dryden's poem:

Besides, my titles are as numerous
As all my actions various, still, and humourous.
Some call me Tory, some _Achitophel_,
Some Jack-a-Dandy, some old Machiavel;
Some call me Devil, some his foster-brother,
And Turncoat rebel all the nation over.

An accidental anticipation of the names imposed on Shaftesbury and the
King occurs, where the author seems to have been inspired with prophecy
at least, if not with poetry; namely, in "Verses on the blessed and
happy Coronation of Charles II. King of England, &c. printed at the
hearty desires of Persons of Quality; by John Rich, Gentleman:"

Preserve thy David; and he that rebells,
Confound his councells, like Achitophell's.
]

[Footnote 210: See the Dedication of "Tyrannic Love," addressed to
Monmouth, Vol. III. p. 346; and the "Vindication of the Duke of Guise,"
where Dryden says, "The obligations I have had to him were those of his
countenance, his favour, his good word, and his esteem, all of which I
have likewise had in a greater measure from his excellent Duchess, the
patroness of my poor unworthy poetry. " Vol. VII. p. 162. ]

[Footnote 211: By recommending, it is said, his son to the
charter-home, of which Shaftesbury is said to have been a governor.
But, from the records of the foundation, it appears that Erasmus Henry
Dryden, the third son of the poet, to whom, if to any, the story
must apply, was not admitted a scholar till more than a year after
the publication of the second edition of the poem, containing the
additional lines above quoted, to which the said admission is stated
to have given occasion. There are, besides, two admirable reasons for
believing that Shaftesbury had no hand in this matter, since, first,
young Dryden was admitted on the recommendation of the king himself;
secondly, Shaftesbury happened to be dead at the time. See _Malone's
Dryden_, Vol. I. p. 148. The following is the note of admissions
referred to by Mr. Malone:

"October 6th, 1681, [six weeks before the publication of 'Absalom and
Achitophel'] Samuel Weaver, admitted for the Lord Shaftesbury.

"Feb. 5th, 1682-3, Erasmus-Henry Dryden, admitted _for his majesty_ (in
the room of Orlando Bagnall); aged 14 years, 2d of May next.

"Nov. 2d, 1685, Erasmus Dryden and Richard Tubb left the house.

"Elected to the University. "]

[Footnote 212: Of this it would be endless to quote proofs: The
following four extracts from the libels of the time are more than
sufficient.

"A Congratulatory Poem upon the Happy Arrival of his Royal Highness
James Duke of York, at London, April 8th, 1682:"

And Absalom, thou piece of ill-placed beauty,
As happy be as fair, and know thy duty;
For somewhat in that noble frame I saw,
Which, or a father, or a king can awe.

"The Norwich Loyal Litany:"

But may the beauteous youth come home,
And do the thing that's fit,
Or I must tell that Absalom,
He has more hair than wit.

May he be wise, and soon expell
The old fox, th' old fawning elf;
The time draws near, Achitophel
Shan't need to hang himself.

"His Royal Highness the Duke of York's Welcome to London, a
congratulatory Poem:"

So let it mourn, and Ignoramus find
How unsuccessfully it spared its kind,
When sneaking, trembling, false Achitophel
Hath refuge to the cunning Hangman's spell;
And by one fatal tie, those numerous knots
Dissolves, of all his rogueries, shams, and plots.

"Good News in Bad Times; or Absalom's Return to David's Bosom. 30th
Nov. 1683. "]

[Footnote 213: Mr Malone quotes two instances of sermons upon this
topic; one entitled, "Achitophel's Policy Defeated;" preached on the
thanksgiving after the Rye-house conspiracy, and another on the same
subject, with nearly the same title, Vol. III. p. 293. ]

[Footnote 214: An address from Liverpool assures Charles, that "the
councils of your faithful Hushais shall ever prevail against the
united force of all-aspiring Absaloms, and the desperate advice of all
pestilent Achitophels. " Another, from Morpeth, denounces "all mutinous
Corahs, rebellious Absaloms, and perfidious Achitophels. "]

[Footnote 215: This appears by a note upon Mr Luttrell's copy, "17th
November, _ex dono amici Jacobi Tonson_. " He has further labelled it
"An excellent Poem against the Duke of Monmouth, Earl of Shaftesbury,
and that party, and in vindication of the king and his friends. "]

[Footnote 216: "Towser the second, a bull-dog, or a short reply to
Absalom and Achitophel;"

In pious times, when poets were well banged
For sawcy satire, and for sham plots hanged,
A learned bard, that long commanded had
The trembling stage in chief, at length ran mad.

* * * * *

For, since he has given o'er to plague the stage
With the effects of his poetic rage,
Like a mad dog he runs about the streets,
Snarling and biting every one he meets:
The other day he met our royal Charles,
And his two mistresses, and at them snarls;
Then falls upon the numbers of state,
Treats them all _a-la-mode de Billinsgate_.
]




TO THE READER.


It is not my intention to make an apology for my poem; some will
think it needs no excuse, and others will receive none. The design
I am sure is honest; but he who draws his pen for one party, must
expect to make enemies of the other. For wit and fool, are consequents
of Whig and Tory;[217] and every man is a knave or an ass to the
contrary side. There is a treasury of merits in the fanatic church,
as well as in the popish; and a pennyworth to be had of saintship,
honesty, and poetry, for the lewd, the factious, and the blockheads;
but the longest chapter in Deuteronomy has not curses enough for an
Anti-Bromingham. [218] My comfort is, their manifest prejudice to my
cause will render their judgment of less authority against me. Yet, if
a poem have genius, it will force its own reception in the world; for
there is a sweetness in good verse, which tickles even while it hurts;
and no man can be heartily angry with him who pleases him against his
will. The commendation of adversaries is the greatest triumph of a
writer, because it never comes unless extorted. But I can be satisfied
on more easy terms; if I happen to please the more moderate sort, I
shall be sure of an honest party, and, in all probability, of the
best judges; for the least concerned are commonly the least corrupt.
And I confess I have laid in for those, by rebating the satire, where
justice would allow it, from carrying too sharp an edge. They who
can criticise so weakly, as to imagine I have done my worst, may be
convinced, at their own cost, that I can write severely, with more
ease than I can gently. I have but laughed at some men's follies, when
I could have declaimed against their vices; and other men's virtues I
have commended, as freely as I have taxed their crimes. And now, if
you are a malicious reader, I expect you should return upon me, that
I affect to be thought more impartial than I am; but if men are not
to be judged by their professions, God forgive you commonwealth's-men
for professing so plausibly for the government! You cannot be so
unconscionable as to charge me for not subscribing my name; for that
would reflect too grossly upon your own party, who never dare, though
they have the advantage of a jury to secure them. If you like not my
poem, the fault may possibly be in my writing; though it is hard for
an author to judge against himself: but more probably it is in your
morals, which cannot bear the truth of it. The violent on both sides
will condemn the character of Absalom, as either too favourably or too
hardly drawn. But they are not the violent whom I desire to please. The
fault on the right hand is to extenuate, palliate, and indulge; and, to
confess freely, I have endeavoured to commit it. Besides the respect
which I owe his birth, I have a greater for his heroic virtues; and
David himself could not be more tender of the young man's life, than I
would be of his reputation. But since the most excellent natures are
always the most easy, and, as being such, are the soonest perverted by
ill counsels, especially when baited with fame and glory, it is no more
a wonder that he withstood not the temptations of Achitophel, than it
was for Adam not to have resisted the two devils, the serpent and the
woman. The conclusion of the story I purposely forbore to prosecute,
because I could not obtain from myself to shew Absalom unfortunate.
The frame of it was cut out but for a picture to the waist; and if the
draught be so far true, it is as much as I designed.

Were I the inventor, who am only the historian, I should certainly
conclude the piece, with the reconcilement of Absalom to David. And
who knows but this may come to pass? Things were not brought to an
extremity where I left the story; there seems yet to be room left for a
composure; hereafter there may be only for pity. I have not so much as
an uncharitable wish against Achitophel, but am content to be accused
of a good-natured error, and to hope with Origen, that the devil
himself may at last be saved. For which reason, in this poem, he is
neither brought to set his house in order, nor to dispose of his person
afterwards as he in wisdom shall think fit.