An Essay on
Dramatick
Poesie.
Cambridge History of English Literature - 1908 - v08
Like all Temple's writings, this
abridgment is very readable, though, unlike most of them, the work
of a dilettante. Of much greater interest is his Essay upon the
Original and Nature of Government (written about 1672), which
is noticeable as arguing, in direct contravention of the theory of
a social contract elaborated by Hobbes and Locke, that state
government arose out of an extension of paternal and patriarchal
authority. It is not too much to say that, in this argument,
Temple was before his times; Locke takes no notice of his
speculations?
Temple’s essays, or, as they were called, Miscellanea, appeared
in three parts; the first in 1680 the second in 1690 and the third,
two years after the author's death, in 1701. The most widely read
1 See Herriott, F. I. , Sir William Temple on the Origin and Nature of Government
(Johns Hopkins University Diss. ), Baltimore, n. d.
## p. 385 (#407) ############################################
Temple's Essays
385
of these essays, Upon Ancient and Modern Learning (1690), was
inspired by that quarrel between the ancients and the moderns
which, for more than two years, had divided the literary world of
Paris, and was, in its turn, the origin of the celebrated contro-
versy on the Letters of Phalaris between Bentley and Charles
Boyle. But neither in this nor in the companion essay, Upon
Poetry, does Temple show to much advantage. His knowledge is
too superficial for his task. He has a bowing acquaintance with
many authors, but he is not on intimate terms with any. He has
sauntered through the outer courts of literature, but he has never
penetrated to the sanctuary. It is interesting, however, to note
his opinions on French literature. In poetry, he only mentions
two names, Ronsard for the past and Boileau for the present.
For prose, he names Rabelais, Montaigne, and, among the moderns,
Voiture, La Rochefoucauld and Bussy-Rabutin, whose Histoire
Amoureuse de Gaule (1665) had a succès de scandale in this country
as well as in France? Of the French language, Temple justly
observes that, as it ‘has much more Finess and Smoothness at
this time, so I take it to have had much more Force, Spirit, and
Compass in Montaigne's Age'; while, of Rabelais, he says that
he seems to have been Father of the Ridicule, a man of uni-
versal learning as well as wit. ' Was it this praise which led to
the publication, in the following year (1693), thirty-three years
after the author's death, of Sir Thomas Urquhart's translation of
the third book of Pantagruel? , followed, in 1708, by that of the
fourth and fifth books from the pen of Pierre-Antonius Motteux,
one of the 84,000 refugees whom the revocation of the edict of
Nantes sent to this country? The most agreeable of Temple's
essays are those Upon the Cure of the Gout (part 1), Upon the
Gardens of Epicurus, or Of Gardening (part II) and Upon Health
and Long Life (part III). The latter is especially interesting for
the light that it throws upon the notions of the age as to health
and longevity, and the specifics in use for the cure of ordinary
ailments. Thus, we learn that alehoof or ground-ivy is ‘most
sovereign for the eyes' and 'admirable in Frenzies' and that the
constant use of alehoof ale is a 'specifick Remedy or Prevention
of the Stone'; that 'the Spirit of Elder is sovereign in Cholicks,
and the use of it in general very beneficial in Scurvies and
2
· Pepys read it in 1666.
2 Urquhart's translation of books I and a was first printed in 1653; it was again
published, with his translation of book II and a life of Rabelais by the editor, Motteux,
in 1693–4, and with books rv and v translated by Motteux, in 1708.
E. L. VIII. CH. XVI.
25
## p. 386 (#408) ############################################
386 The Essay and Modern English Prose
6
Dropsies'; and that 'for Rheums in the Eyes and the Head a leaf
of Tobacco put into the Nostrils for an Hour each Morning is
a Specifick Medicine. '
In the essay Of Gardening, written in 1685, Temple gives an
agreeable account of his own garden at Sheen, which was renowned
for its fruit trees, discoursing of his grapes and figs, his peaches
and apricots, with that complacent sense of superiority which is
the foible of most gardeners. The essay entitled Gout, written in
1677, gives much information as to various cures for that malady
of statesmen, and, incidentally, introduces us to several of Temples
diplomatic colleagues in a new and entertaining light. Temple's
style was highly thought of in his own day. “It is generally
believed,' said Swift, 'that this author has advanced our English
tongue to as great perfection as it can well bear. ' But this is the
exaggerated praise of an editor. Lamb's 'plain, natural, chit-chat'
is nearer the mark. Temple writes like a fine gentleman at his
ease, without any affectation, but with considerable negligence.
His syntax is sometimes faulty, and his expression does not always
fit his thought. Though his sentences are kept, as a rule, within
convenient bounds, they straggle occasionally and leave trailing
ends. To agree wholly with Johnson that ‘Temple was the first
writer who gave cadence to English prose,' is to forget Browne and
Taylor; but Temple has a true feeling for cadence; in this alone
he is Cowley's superior. It is largely through this quality that he
rises at times beyond the level of natural chit-chat,' as in the fine
passage in praise of poetry and music which concludes the essay
Upon Poetry and ends with the often quoted comparison between
human life and a froward child.
Like Cowley, Temple came under the spell of Montaigne. In
the essay Of Gardening, he borrows from him the story of
Heraclitus playing with the boys in the porch of the Temple, and
he refers to him in two later essays, Upon Popular Discontents
and Upon Health and Long Life. Moreover, two essays, heads for
which were found among his papers, Upon the different conditions
of life and fortune and Upon Conversation, suggest, not only in
the titles, but in the subjects themselves, frequent intercourse with
the father of the essay. There were other Englishmen of letters,
too, who kept the same excellent company. Dryden quotes from
Honest Montaigne' in the preface to All for Love', while, accord-
ing to Pope, Montaigne and La Rochefoucauld were among the
livres de chevet with which Wycherley was wont to read himself
1 Of. ante, chap. I, p. 28.
6
## p. 387 (#409) ############################################
Influence of Montaigne. Halifax 387
to sleep. ' In 1685, Montaigne was popular enough in England to
warrant the publication of a new translation of his essays from the
pen of Charles Cotton. Cotton sometimes misses his author's
meaning, but he does not write sheer nonsense, as Florio sometimes
does. On the other hand, his style lacks the glamour and quaint
individuality of the Elizabethan translation, and, though sound
on the whole, is somewhat unequal. His work is dedicated to
George Savile, marquis of Halifax, who, in acknowledging the
dedication, says that it is the book in the world I am best
entertained with. '
Halifax's own Miscellanies, first collected in 1700, are, for the
most part, political pamphlets, but a few words concerning them
may, perhaps not inappropriately, find a place here. – For his finest
piece of writing is his praise of truth in The Character of
Trimmer-a passage worthy of Montaigne, whom Halifax also
resembles in his bold and happy use of metaphor. Although this
famous pamphlet, which, notwithstanding its substantial length,
must have circulated largely between the date of its composition
(early in 1685) and that of its first publication (April 1688), was
then ascribed on the title-page to Sir William Coventry, there can
be no doubt that it was by Halifax, who owned it to his friends? . '
The title was suggested to him by a paper by his subsequent adver-
sary L'Estrange; but the use made of the term 'trimmer,' and the
lesson read to the nation on the ever old and ever new truth that
there are times when the ship of state has to be steadied against
the excesses of each of the two extremes,' must alike be placed
to the credit of Halifax himself. Few publications of the kind,
intended to allay, not to heighten or inflame, the changes of an
important crisis, have exercised a more direct effect.
The death of Charles II put an end to the trimmer's plan of
inducing the king to free himself from an overbearing influence
which had now become sovereign authority. Halifax appears to
have consoled himself by composing his admirable Character of
King Charles the Second, which was not published, with an
appendix of Political, Moral and Miscellaneous Thoughts and
Reflections, till 1750. The literature of characters, which the
circumstances of the times and the art of both historians and
satirists had brought to a great height of perfection, received
a notable addition in this admirable portrait, by a man of the
world, of a prince whom he thoroughly understood and for whom
1 See quotation from Saviliana ap. Foxcroft, H. C. , The Life and Letters of Sir
George Savile, Bart. , first Marquis of Halifax (1898), vol. II, p. 277.
2542
## p. 388 (#410) ############################################
388
The Essay and Modern English Prose
he did not care to conceal a liking which was not all loyalty. "The
thing called Sauntering is a stronger Temptation to Princes than
it is to others. ' In this vein of easy philosophy, he delivered a
judgment far nearer the truth than many more incisive censures?
Halifax's second political pamphlet of importance, A Letter
to a Dissenter Upon Occasion of His Majesties late Gracious
Declaration of Indulgence, was first printed, with the signature
'J. W. ,' in 1687. It is much shorter than the Character of a
Trimmer, but not less notable; for it may unhesitatingly be
described as one of the pithiest and most straightforward pro-
ductions of its kind, abounding in homethrusts and exhibiting
throughout the clear candour of a writer sure of his ground and
convinced of the necessity of his conclusions. It is wholly directed
against the dangerous, indeed suicidal, policy of an alliance between
nonconformity and an unlawful strain of the prerogative, and, on
the face of it, is written by a loyal patriot possessed by complete
distrust of Rome? The Anatomy of an Equivalent (probably
printed without an author's name in 1688, certainly in 1689) is a
tract of considerable subtlety of argument on a cognate subjects.
Of the collection of aphoristic Thoughts and Reflections, pub-
lished with the Character of King Charles the Second, the political
section is characterised by much wit, at times thoroughly cynical,
as is shown by the trimmer's assertion that 'the best Party is but
a kind of a Conspiracy against the rest of the Nation, and by
several of the aphorisms under the head 'Religion. But not a little
wisdom as well as wit is to be found both in these, and in the 'Moral'
and "Miscellaneous' sayings; and, on the whole, there is no un-
fairness, though there is some severity, in the 'reprisals' made by
this shrewd philosopher upon the generation which had grown up
under his observant eye.
More in the nature of an essay than any of his other produc-
tions, was Halifax's A Lady's Gift, or Advice to a Daughter (by
which latter name it is generally known). First printed in 1688, it
went through many editions. This little book, addressed to his own
daughter (mother of lord Chesterfield, author of perhaps the most
a
1 It must be remembered that the Character was written immediately after the
king's decease. "He had Sicknesses before his Death, in which he did not trouble any
Protestant Divines; those who saw him upon his Death, saw a great deal. ' Halifax
possessed in perfection the art of hinting.
? Roger L'Estrange published An Answer to a Letter to a Dissenter, etc. in the same
year, which is clever in its way and rightly makes good use of the ‘Popish plot'frenzy.
3 'Equivalent' was the current political term for a government offer of something
as valuable as the 'Oaths and Tests,' if these were abolished.
## p. 389 (#411) ############################################
Halifax's Advice.
Clarendon's Essays 389
celebrated Letters ever addressed to a son), shows much knowledge
of the human, especially of the feminine, heart, and much of it is still
so appropriate that one may wonder why it has not been reprinted
in modern times. Aphorisms like 'Love is a passion that hath
friends in the garrison,' and 'You may love your children without
living in the nursery,' and, of an 'empty' woman, 'such an one is
seldom serious but with her tailor,' have lost none of their force.
The chapter on vanity and affectation contains a character of
a vain woman quite in the manner of La Bruyère. The chapter
on a husband is full of worldly wisdom, and good sense, and is
based on a frank recognition of the 'inequality in the sexes,' and
the imperfection of husbands. The treatment of religion is just
what you might expect from a man who, in religion as well as in
politics, had ‘his dwelling in the middle between the two extremes. '
If it is a little cold and unspiritual, it is tolerant, cheerful and
reasonable; it breathes the temper of his contemporaries Barrow
and Tillotson. "Halifax's style is thoroughly individual. It is the
style not of an essayist communing with his readers for his own
pleasure in the seclusion of his study, but of a man of the world
who takes up the pen for the practical purpose of convincing
others. He had a great reputation as an orator, and this is easy
to believe, for, in his written speech, he often rises to real
eloquence.
There is no trace of Montaigne in the Reflections upon several
Christian Duties, Divine and Moral, by way of Essays, which
Clarendon wrote, for the most part, at Montpellier, during the
years 1669 and 16701. It is true that, in at least six of them,
notably those Of Contempt of Death, Of Friendship and Of
Repentance, he deals with themes also treated by Montaigne. But
the treatment is quite independent; indeed, the essay Of Repent-
ance, with its definitely Christian doctrine, forms a striking
contrast to Montaigne's famous essay on the same subject. The
style is that of the History, diffuse and unequal—pregnant phrases
of high imaginative beauty alternating with sentences a page long-
but always that of a sincere and serious thinker, of one who is
learned, high-minded and conversant with affairs. Alike in thought
and in style, Clarendon's essays belong to the Caroline age.
Thus, the essay, with its near allies, the literary preface and
the political pamphlet, played a large part in the formation of the
new prose. We have seen that it was in the same year (1665)
that Cowley and Dryden achieved independently the mastery of
1 Cf. ante, vol. vi, chap. IX.
## p. 390 (#412) ############################################
390 The Essay and Modern English Prose
6
their instruments. Cowley only played on his for a brief moment,
but Dryden's mastery became more and more perfect, till, in the
last year of the century, he produced his masterpiece in the
other harmony of prose’; the Preface to the Fables. In its
numerous digressions-'the nature of a Preface,' he says, 'is
rambling'-and in the pleasant intrusion of his own personality,
it reminds one happily of Montaigne? But the style is all
Dryden's own-short and well balanced sentences, restraint, lu-
cidity and precision, a tone of friendly intercourse with the reader,
an ease which never becomes familiarity, and a dignity which
never stiffens into pomposity. When, nine years later, Steele
wrote the first number of The Tatler, he found an instrument
ready to his hand. Steele's style suggests Dryden, just as Addi-
son's model in the first paper which he contributed to the same
journal is, obviously, Cowley. Steele and Addison addressed
themselves to a wider audience than Dryden, not only to scholars
and wits and courtiers, but to ordinary middle-class citizens; they
made the essay lighter, and introduced into it humour and a spice
of malice. But they were not the creators either of the essay or of
modern prose. The foundations of most of the literature of the
first half of the eighteenth century were already laid down in the
seventeenth. Dryden not only dominates his own age, but throws
his shadow over the next.
1 Cf. ante, chap. 1, p. 52.
## p. 391 (#413) ############################################
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
CHAPTER I
DRYDEN
The bibliography of Dryden's works has been much neglected by
bibliographers and the entries under his name in Lowndes's Bibliographer's
Manual are meagre in the extreme. Much has been done to remedy
this defect in some catalogues of great book collectors. Americans have
taken greater interest in the subject than Englishmen, and the important
Catalogue of an Exhibition of First and other editions of the Works of
John Dryden, 1631-1700, published by the Grolier Club of New York, 1900,
is of great value.
COLLECTED EDITIONS OF WORKS AND MISCELLANIES
The Works of Mr John Dryden. 1695.
The First volume. . . containing
Essay on Dramatick Poetry 1693. The Wild Gallant 1694. The
Rival-Ladies 1693. The Indian Emperour 1694. The Maiden Queen
1691. Sir Martin Marr-all 1691. The Tempest 1690. An Evening's
Love 1691. The Royal Martyr 1695. The Conquest of Granada 1695.
The Second volume. . . containing
Marriage À-la-Mode 1691. Love in a Nunnery 1692. Amboyna
1691. The State of Innocence 1695. Aureng-zebe 1694. All for Love
1696. Limberham 1690. Oedipus 1696. Troilus and Cressida 1695.
The Spanish Fryar 1695.
The Third volume. . . containing
The Duke of Guise 1687. Vindication of the Duke of Guise 1683.
Albion and Albanius 1691. Don Sebastian 1692. Amphitryon 1694.
Cleomenes 1692. King Arthur 1695. Love Triumphant 1694.
The Fourth volume. . . containing
A Poem upon the death of 0. Cromwell. Poem on the Return of
K. Charles II. On the Coronation of K. Charles II. A Poem on the
L. Chancellor Hide. Annus Mirabilis. Mack Flecknoe. Absalom and
Achitophel. The Medal. Religio Laici. Elegy on the Death of K.
Charles II. The Hind and the Panther. Poem on the Birth of the
Prince. Eleanora.
The Comedies, Tragedies, and Operas, Written by John Dryden Esq. Now
first collected together, and corrected from the Originals. 2 vols. folio
1701.
Contents:
Vol. 1.
An Essay on Dramatick Poesie. The Wild Gallant. The
Rival Ladies. The Indian Emperor, or The Conquest of Mexico. Secret
Love or The Maiden Queen. Sir Martin Marr-all, or The Feign'd
Innocence. The Tempest or The Inchanted Island. An Evening's
## p. 392 (#414) ############################################
392
Bibliography
Love. Tyrannick Love or The Royal Martyr. Almanzor and Almahide
or The Conquest of Granada. Marriage A-la-Mode. The Assignation
or Love in a Nunnery. Amboyna. State of Innocence or Fall of Man.
Vol. II. Aurenge-Zebe or The Great Mogul. All for Love or The
World well Lost. Limberham or The Kind Keeper. Oedipus. Troilus
and Cressida or Truth found too late. The Spanish Fryar or The Double
Discovery. The Duke of Guise. Albion and Albanius. Don Sebastian,
King of Portugal. Amphitryon or The Two Sosia’s. Cleomenes, the
Spartan Hero. King Arthur or The British Worthy. Love Triumphant
or Nature will prevail.
Copies of Poems on Various Occasions, and Translations from Several
Authors, 1701; and Fables Ancient and Modern, translated into verse, 1700,
were bound together and issued as The Works of Mr John Dryden. The
third Volume. Consisting of the Author's Original Poems and Translations.
Now first Publish'd together, 1701.
The Dramatick Works of John Dryden Esq. Ed. by Congreve, William.
6 vols. (Printed for J. Tonson. ) 1717.
Collected Editions of Poems
Annus Mirabilis: the Year of Wonders, MDCLXVI, an Heroical Poem, Also a
Poem on The Happy Restoration and Return of his late Sacred Majesty
Charles the Second. Likewise a Panegyrick on his Coronation Together
with a Poem to my Lord Chancellor presented on New-Years-day, 1662.
By John Dryden Esq. Printed for Henry Herringman and sold by
Jacob Tonson. 1688.
This is the first collected edition of the poems of Dryden, and
contains those published by Herringman before Tonson's connection
with Dryden, in order that the publisher might have in stock, with his
own name on the title-page, the earlier poems of the author.
1700. Fables Ancient and Modern; translated into verse, from Homer, Ovid,
Boccace and Chaucer: with Original Poems. By Mr Dryden.
1701. Poems on various Occasions and Translations from several Authors
by Mr John Dryden. Now first publish'd together in one volume.
1743. Occasional Poems and Translations, by John Dryden Esq. Now
first collected and publish'd together. (Ed. Broughton, Thomas. ]
2 vols. Vol. 1, Poems on several occasions; vol. 11, Translations, Epistles,
Prologues, Epilogues, Elegies, Epitaphs and Songs.
1760. The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden Esq. containing all his
Original Poems, Tales and Translations. . . . With explanatory Notes and
Observations. Also an account of his Life and Writings. Ed. Derrick, S.
4 vols.
à
Collected Editions of Prose Works
The Critical and Miscellaneous Prose Works of John Dryden, now first
Collected, with Notes and Illustrations; an account of the Life and
Writings of the Author grounded on Original and Authentick Docu-
ments and a Collection of his Letters. By Edmund Malone Esq. 3 vols.
in 4. 1800. Vol. 1, part 1, Life; vol. I, part 2, Letters, Prolegomena,
Dedications, Prefaces and Essays; vols. II, III, Dedications, Prefaces,
Essays, Lives, Discourses, etc.
Essays of John Dryden. Selected and ed. by Ker, W. P. 2 vols. Oxford,
1900.
Contains a useful chronological list of Dryden's Works.
## p. 393 (#415) ############################################
Chapter 1
393
I
Collected Works (Modern Editions)
The Works of John Dryden Now first collected. . . . Illustrated with Notes
historical, critical and explanatory and a Life of the Author by Walter
Scott. 18 vols. 1808. 2nd ed. Edinburgh, 1821. New ed. Revised
and corrected by Saintsbury, George. 18 vols. _Edinburgh, 1882.
Poetical Works, with notes by Joseph Warton, John Warton and others.
4 vols. 1811.
Poetical Works. 4 vols. 1844. Aldine ed. of the British Poets. Frequently
rptd.
Poetical Works. The Globe Edition. Ed. with a memoir, revised text
and notes by Christie, W. D. 1870.
The Poems of John Dryden. Ed. with an Introduction and textual notes by
Sargeaunt, John. 1910.
This ed. contains a complete revision of the text.
Miscellany Poems
Miscellany Poems. Containing a New Translation of Virgil's Eclogues,
Ovid's Love Elegies, Odes of Horace, and other Authors; with several
Original Poems by the most eminent hands. 1684. (Virgils Eclogues.
Translated by several bands. Printed in the year 1684. )
Reissued with a new title-page: Miscellany Poems, In two Parts
containing Virgil's Eclogues, Ovid's Love Elegies, Several parts of
Virgil's Æneids, Lucretius, Theocritus, Horace, etc. with several Original
Poems, never before Printed. By the most eminent Hands. 1685. The
separately-paged Virgil's Eclogues is dated 1684, as in the original issue
noted above.
* The 2nd ed. was published in 1692, and for the first time contains
Dryden's name on the title-page. Miscellany Poems: in two parts,
containing new Translations out of Virgil, Lucretius, Horace, Ovid,
Theocritus and other Authours with several Original Poems, by the
most eminent Hands. Published by Mr Dryden. 2nd ed. 1692.
Sylvæ: or the Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies. 1685.
A 2nd ed. was published in 1692 and was bound with the 2nd ed.
of the Miscellany Poems, 1692. Some copies of the 1st ed. of Sylve
were bound up with the 2nd ed. of the Miscellany Poems.
Examen Poeticum: being the third part of Miscellany Poems, containing
variety of New Translations of the Ancient Poets; together with many
original Copies by the most eminent Hands. 1693.
The Annual Miscellany: for the year 1694, being the fourth part of Mis-
cellany Poems; containing Great Variety of New Translations and
Original Copies by the most eminent Hands. 1694.
Two more volumes were published after Dryden's death:
Poetical Miscellanies: the fifth part; containing a Collection of Original
Poems, with several new Translations, by the most eminent Hands. 1704.
At the foot of the title-page after the imprint there is this note
•Where you may have the four former Parts, published by Mr Dryden. '
This volume contains several poems by Dryden, translations from Ovid,
Elegies and Songs.
Poetical Miscellanies: the sixth part; containing a Collection of Original
Poems. . . . 1709.
This volume does not contain any poem by Dryden, but in the reprint
of the Miscellany Poems (in 6 vols. 12mo), in which the poems are
somewhat differently arranged, the sixth volume contains A familiar
:
## p. 394 (#416) ############################################
394
Bibliography
:
Epistle to Mr Julian, Secretary of the Muses attributed to Dryden, and
the lines Under Mr Milton's Picture.
From Tonson's address To the Reader, it would appear that he
intended to continue the series; for he writes, “I have been forced to omit
several of the Copies sent, upon the publick notice given, otherways this
volume would have swelld beyond the size of any former ones. I shall
reserve those for another volume, which I hope to publish at the beginning
of the next year. '
POEMS
A. Original
1. Separately published
1659. A Poem upon the Death of His late Highness Oliver Lord Protector
of England, Scotland & Ireland. Written by Mr Dryden.
Rpts: An Elegy on the Usurper 0. C. by the author of Absalom and
Achitophel, published to shew the loyalty and integrity of the Poet.
1681. Single sheet with Postscript of 20 lines subscribed J. D.
A Poem upon the Death of the late Usurper Oliver Cromwel. By
the Author of The H. . d and the P. . . . . r. Printed for S. H. 1687.
1659. Three Poems upon the Death of his late Highnesse Oliver Lord
Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland. By Mr Edm. Waller,
Mr Jo. Dryden, Mr Sprat of Oxford.
Rpts: Three Poems upon the Death of the late Usurper Oliver
Cromwel. Written by Mr Jo. Dryden, Mr Sprat of Oxford, Mr Edm.
Waller. Rptd for Baldwin, R. 1682.
abridgment is very readable, though, unlike most of them, the work
of a dilettante. Of much greater interest is his Essay upon the
Original and Nature of Government (written about 1672), which
is noticeable as arguing, in direct contravention of the theory of
a social contract elaborated by Hobbes and Locke, that state
government arose out of an extension of paternal and patriarchal
authority. It is not too much to say that, in this argument,
Temple was before his times; Locke takes no notice of his
speculations?
Temple’s essays, or, as they were called, Miscellanea, appeared
in three parts; the first in 1680 the second in 1690 and the third,
two years after the author's death, in 1701. The most widely read
1 See Herriott, F. I. , Sir William Temple on the Origin and Nature of Government
(Johns Hopkins University Diss. ), Baltimore, n. d.
## p. 385 (#407) ############################################
Temple's Essays
385
of these essays, Upon Ancient and Modern Learning (1690), was
inspired by that quarrel between the ancients and the moderns
which, for more than two years, had divided the literary world of
Paris, and was, in its turn, the origin of the celebrated contro-
versy on the Letters of Phalaris between Bentley and Charles
Boyle. But neither in this nor in the companion essay, Upon
Poetry, does Temple show to much advantage. His knowledge is
too superficial for his task. He has a bowing acquaintance with
many authors, but he is not on intimate terms with any. He has
sauntered through the outer courts of literature, but he has never
penetrated to the sanctuary. It is interesting, however, to note
his opinions on French literature. In poetry, he only mentions
two names, Ronsard for the past and Boileau for the present.
For prose, he names Rabelais, Montaigne, and, among the moderns,
Voiture, La Rochefoucauld and Bussy-Rabutin, whose Histoire
Amoureuse de Gaule (1665) had a succès de scandale in this country
as well as in France? Of the French language, Temple justly
observes that, as it ‘has much more Finess and Smoothness at
this time, so I take it to have had much more Force, Spirit, and
Compass in Montaigne's Age'; while, of Rabelais, he says that
he seems to have been Father of the Ridicule, a man of uni-
versal learning as well as wit. ' Was it this praise which led to
the publication, in the following year (1693), thirty-three years
after the author's death, of Sir Thomas Urquhart's translation of
the third book of Pantagruel? , followed, in 1708, by that of the
fourth and fifth books from the pen of Pierre-Antonius Motteux,
one of the 84,000 refugees whom the revocation of the edict of
Nantes sent to this country? The most agreeable of Temple's
essays are those Upon the Cure of the Gout (part 1), Upon the
Gardens of Epicurus, or Of Gardening (part II) and Upon Health
and Long Life (part III). The latter is especially interesting for
the light that it throws upon the notions of the age as to health
and longevity, and the specifics in use for the cure of ordinary
ailments. Thus, we learn that alehoof or ground-ivy is ‘most
sovereign for the eyes' and 'admirable in Frenzies' and that the
constant use of alehoof ale is a 'specifick Remedy or Prevention
of the Stone'; that 'the Spirit of Elder is sovereign in Cholicks,
and the use of it in general very beneficial in Scurvies and
2
· Pepys read it in 1666.
2 Urquhart's translation of books I and a was first printed in 1653; it was again
published, with his translation of book II and a life of Rabelais by the editor, Motteux,
in 1693–4, and with books rv and v translated by Motteux, in 1708.
E. L. VIII. CH. XVI.
25
## p. 386 (#408) ############################################
386 The Essay and Modern English Prose
6
Dropsies'; and that 'for Rheums in the Eyes and the Head a leaf
of Tobacco put into the Nostrils for an Hour each Morning is
a Specifick Medicine. '
In the essay Of Gardening, written in 1685, Temple gives an
agreeable account of his own garden at Sheen, which was renowned
for its fruit trees, discoursing of his grapes and figs, his peaches
and apricots, with that complacent sense of superiority which is
the foible of most gardeners. The essay entitled Gout, written in
1677, gives much information as to various cures for that malady
of statesmen, and, incidentally, introduces us to several of Temples
diplomatic colleagues in a new and entertaining light. Temple's
style was highly thought of in his own day. “It is generally
believed,' said Swift, 'that this author has advanced our English
tongue to as great perfection as it can well bear. ' But this is the
exaggerated praise of an editor. Lamb's 'plain, natural, chit-chat'
is nearer the mark. Temple writes like a fine gentleman at his
ease, without any affectation, but with considerable negligence.
His syntax is sometimes faulty, and his expression does not always
fit his thought. Though his sentences are kept, as a rule, within
convenient bounds, they straggle occasionally and leave trailing
ends. To agree wholly with Johnson that ‘Temple was the first
writer who gave cadence to English prose,' is to forget Browne and
Taylor; but Temple has a true feeling for cadence; in this alone
he is Cowley's superior. It is largely through this quality that he
rises at times beyond the level of natural chit-chat,' as in the fine
passage in praise of poetry and music which concludes the essay
Upon Poetry and ends with the often quoted comparison between
human life and a froward child.
Like Cowley, Temple came under the spell of Montaigne. In
the essay Of Gardening, he borrows from him the story of
Heraclitus playing with the boys in the porch of the Temple, and
he refers to him in two later essays, Upon Popular Discontents
and Upon Health and Long Life. Moreover, two essays, heads for
which were found among his papers, Upon the different conditions
of life and fortune and Upon Conversation, suggest, not only in
the titles, but in the subjects themselves, frequent intercourse with
the father of the essay. There were other Englishmen of letters,
too, who kept the same excellent company. Dryden quotes from
Honest Montaigne' in the preface to All for Love', while, accord-
ing to Pope, Montaigne and La Rochefoucauld were among the
livres de chevet with which Wycherley was wont to read himself
1 Of. ante, chap. I, p. 28.
6
## p. 387 (#409) ############################################
Influence of Montaigne. Halifax 387
to sleep. ' In 1685, Montaigne was popular enough in England to
warrant the publication of a new translation of his essays from the
pen of Charles Cotton. Cotton sometimes misses his author's
meaning, but he does not write sheer nonsense, as Florio sometimes
does. On the other hand, his style lacks the glamour and quaint
individuality of the Elizabethan translation, and, though sound
on the whole, is somewhat unequal. His work is dedicated to
George Savile, marquis of Halifax, who, in acknowledging the
dedication, says that it is the book in the world I am best
entertained with. '
Halifax's own Miscellanies, first collected in 1700, are, for the
most part, political pamphlets, but a few words concerning them
may, perhaps not inappropriately, find a place here. – For his finest
piece of writing is his praise of truth in The Character of
Trimmer-a passage worthy of Montaigne, whom Halifax also
resembles in his bold and happy use of metaphor. Although this
famous pamphlet, which, notwithstanding its substantial length,
must have circulated largely between the date of its composition
(early in 1685) and that of its first publication (April 1688), was
then ascribed on the title-page to Sir William Coventry, there can
be no doubt that it was by Halifax, who owned it to his friends? . '
The title was suggested to him by a paper by his subsequent adver-
sary L'Estrange; but the use made of the term 'trimmer,' and the
lesson read to the nation on the ever old and ever new truth that
there are times when the ship of state has to be steadied against
the excesses of each of the two extremes,' must alike be placed
to the credit of Halifax himself. Few publications of the kind,
intended to allay, not to heighten or inflame, the changes of an
important crisis, have exercised a more direct effect.
The death of Charles II put an end to the trimmer's plan of
inducing the king to free himself from an overbearing influence
which had now become sovereign authority. Halifax appears to
have consoled himself by composing his admirable Character of
King Charles the Second, which was not published, with an
appendix of Political, Moral and Miscellaneous Thoughts and
Reflections, till 1750. The literature of characters, which the
circumstances of the times and the art of both historians and
satirists had brought to a great height of perfection, received
a notable addition in this admirable portrait, by a man of the
world, of a prince whom he thoroughly understood and for whom
1 See quotation from Saviliana ap. Foxcroft, H. C. , The Life and Letters of Sir
George Savile, Bart. , first Marquis of Halifax (1898), vol. II, p. 277.
2542
## p. 388 (#410) ############################################
388
The Essay and Modern English Prose
he did not care to conceal a liking which was not all loyalty. "The
thing called Sauntering is a stronger Temptation to Princes than
it is to others. ' In this vein of easy philosophy, he delivered a
judgment far nearer the truth than many more incisive censures?
Halifax's second political pamphlet of importance, A Letter
to a Dissenter Upon Occasion of His Majesties late Gracious
Declaration of Indulgence, was first printed, with the signature
'J. W. ,' in 1687. It is much shorter than the Character of a
Trimmer, but not less notable; for it may unhesitatingly be
described as one of the pithiest and most straightforward pro-
ductions of its kind, abounding in homethrusts and exhibiting
throughout the clear candour of a writer sure of his ground and
convinced of the necessity of his conclusions. It is wholly directed
against the dangerous, indeed suicidal, policy of an alliance between
nonconformity and an unlawful strain of the prerogative, and, on
the face of it, is written by a loyal patriot possessed by complete
distrust of Rome? The Anatomy of an Equivalent (probably
printed without an author's name in 1688, certainly in 1689) is a
tract of considerable subtlety of argument on a cognate subjects.
Of the collection of aphoristic Thoughts and Reflections, pub-
lished with the Character of King Charles the Second, the political
section is characterised by much wit, at times thoroughly cynical,
as is shown by the trimmer's assertion that 'the best Party is but
a kind of a Conspiracy against the rest of the Nation, and by
several of the aphorisms under the head 'Religion. But not a little
wisdom as well as wit is to be found both in these, and in the 'Moral'
and "Miscellaneous' sayings; and, on the whole, there is no un-
fairness, though there is some severity, in the 'reprisals' made by
this shrewd philosopher upon the generation which had grown up
under his observant eye.
More in the nature of an essay than any of his other produc-
tions, was Halifax's A Lady's Gift, or Advice to a Daughter (by
which latter name it is generally known). First printed in 1688, it
went through many editions. This little book, addressed to his own
daughter (mother of lord Chesterfield, author of perhaps the most
a
1 It must be remembered that the Character was written immediately after the
king's decease. "He had Sicknesses before his Death, in which he did not trouble any
Protestant Divines; those who saw him upon his Death, saw a great deal. ' Halifax
possessed in perfection the art of hinting.
? Roger L'Estrange published An Answer to a Letter to a Dissenter, etc. in the same
year, which is clever in its way and rightly makes good use of the ‘Popish plot'frenzy.
3 'Equivalent' was the current political term for a government offer of something
as valuable as the 'Oaths and Tests,' if these were abolished.
## p. 389 (#411) ############################################
Halifax's Advice.
Clarendon's Essays 389
celebrated Letters ever addressed to a son), shows much knowledge
of the human, especially of the feminine, heart, and much of it is still
so appropriate that one may wonder why it has not been reprinted
in modern times. Aphorisms like 'Love is a passion that hath
friends in the garrison,' and 'You may love your children without
living in the nursery,' and, of an 'empty' woman, 'such an one is
seldom serious but with her tailor,' have lost none of their force.
The chapter on vanity and affectation contains a character of
a vain woman quite in the manner of La Bruyère. The chapter
on a husband is full of worldly wisdom, and good sense, and is
based on a frank recognition of the 'inequality in the sexes,' and
the imperfection of husbands. The treatment of religion is just
what you might expect from a man who, in religion as well as in
politics, had ‘his dwelling in the middle between the two extremes. '
If it is a little cold and unspiritual, it is tolerant, cheerful and
reasonable; it breathes the temper of his contemporaries Barrow
and Tillotson. "Halifax's style is thoroughly individual. It is the
style not of an essayist communing with his readers for his own
pleasure in the seclusion of his study, but of a man of the world
who takes up the pen for the practical purpose of convincing
others. He had a great reputation as an orator, and this is easy
to believe, for, in his written speech, he often rises to real
eloquence.
There is no trace of Montaigne in the Reflections upon several
Christian Duties, Divine and Moral, by way of Essays, which
Clarendon wrote, for the most part, at Montpellier, during the
years 1669 and 16701. It is true that, in at least six of them,
notably those Of Contempt of Death, Of Friendship and Of
Repentance, he deals with themes also treated by Montaigne. But
the treatment is quite independent; indeed, the essay Of Repent-
ance, with its definitely Christian doctrine, forms a striking
contrast to Montaigne's famous essay on the same subject. The
style is that of the History, diffuse and unequal—pregnant phrases
of high imaginative beauty alternating with sentences a page long-
but always that of a sincere and serious thinker, of one who is
learned, high-minded and conversant with affairs. Alike in thought
and in style, Clarendon's essays belong to the Caroline age.
Thus, the essay, with its near allies, the literary preface and
the political pamphlet, played a large part in the formation of the
new prose. We have seen that it was in the same year (1665)
that Cowley and Dryden achieved independently the mastery of
1 Cf. ante, vol. vi, chap. IX.
## p. 390 (#412) ############################################
390 The Essay and Modern English Prose
6
their instruments. Cowley only played on his for a brief moment,
but Dryden's mastery became more and more perfect, till, in the
last year of the century, he produced his masterpiece in the
other harmony of prose’; the Preface to the Fables. In its
numerous digressions-'the nature of a Preface,' he says, 'is
rambling'-and in the pleasant intrusion of his own personality,
it reminds one happily of Montaigne? But the style is all
Dryden's own-short and well balanced sentences, restraint, lu-
cidity and precision, a tone of friendly intercourse with the reader,
an ease which never becomes familiarity, and a dignity which
never stiffens into pomposity. When, nine years later, Steele
wrote the first number of The Tatler, he found an instrument
ready to his hand. Steele's style suggests Dryden, just as Addi-
son's model in the first paper which he contributed to the same
journal is, obviously, Cowley. Steele and Addison addressed
themselves to a wider audience than Dryden, not only to scholars
and wits and courtiers, but to ordinary middle-class citizens; they
made the essay lighter, and introduced into it humour and a spice
of malice. But they were not the creators either of the essay or of
modern prose. The foundations of most of the literature of the
first half of the eighteenth century were already laid down in the
seventeenth. Dryden not only dominates his own age, but throws
his shadow over the next.
1 Cf. ante, chap. 1, p. 52.
## p. 391 (#413) ############################################
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
CHAPTER I
DRYDEN
The bibliography of Dryden's works has been much neglected by
bibliographers and the entries under his name in Lowndes's Bibliographer's
Manual are meagre in the extreme. Much has been done to remedy
this defect in some catalogues of great book collectors. Americans have
taken greater interest in the subject than Englishmen, and the important
Catalogue of an Exhibition of First and other editions of the Works of
John Dryden, 1631-1700, published by the Grolier Club of New York, 1900,
is of great value.
COLLECTED EDITIONS OF WORKS AND MISCELLANIES
The Works of Mr John Dryden. 1695.
The First volume. . . containing
Essay on Dramatick Poetry 1693. The Wild Gallant 1694. The
Rival-Ladies 1693. The Indian Emperour 1694. The Maiden Queen
1691. Sir Martin Marr-all 1691. The Tempest 1690. An Evening's
Love 1691. The Royal Martyr 1695. The Conquest of Granada 1695.
The Second volume. . . containing
Marriage À-la-Mode 1691. Love in a Nunnery 1692. Amboyna
1691. The State of Innocence 1695. Aureng-zebe 1694. All for Love
1696. Limberham 1690. Oedipus 1696. Troilus and Cressida 1695.
The Spanish Fryar 1695.
The Third volume. . . containing
The Duke of Guise 1687. Vindication of the Duke of Guise 1683.
Albion and Albanius 1691. Don Sebastian 1692. Amphitryon 1694.
Cleomenes 1692. King Arthur 1695. Love Triumphant 1694.
The Fourth volume. . . containing
A Poem upon the death of 0. Cromwell. Poem on the Return of
K. Charles II. On the Coronation of K. Charles II. A Poem on the
L. Chancellor Hide. Annus Mirabilis. Mack Flecknoe. Absalom and
Achitophel. The Medal. Religio Laici. Elegy on the Death of K.
Charles II. The Hind and the Panther. Poem on the Birth of the
Prince. Eleanora.
The Comedies, Tragedies, and Operas, Written by John Dryden Esq. Now
first collected together, and corrected from the Originals. 2 vols. folio
1701.
Contents:
Vol. 1.
An Essay on Dramatick Poesie. The Wild Gallant. The
Rival Ladies. The Indian Emperor, or The Conquest of Mexico. Secret
Love or The Maiden Queen. Sir Martin Marr-all, or The Feign'd
Innocence. The Tempest or The Inchanted Island. An Evening's
## p. 392 (#414) ############################################
392
Bibliography
Love. Tyrannick Love or The Royal Martyr. Almanzor and Almahide
or The Conquest of Granada. Marriage A-la-Mode. The Assignation
or Love in a Nunnery. Amboyna. State of Innocence or Fall of Man.
Vol. II. Aurenge-Zebe or The Great Mogul. All for Love or The
World well Lost. Limberham or The Kind Keeper. Oedipus. Troilus
and Cressida or Truth found too late. The Spanish Fryar or The Double
Discovery. The Duke of Guise. Albion and Albanius. Don Sebastian,
King of Portugal. Amphitryon or The Two Sosia’s. Cleomenes, the
Spartan Hero. King Arthur or The British Worthy. Love Triumphant
or Nature will prevail.
Copies of Poems on Various Occasions, and Translations from Several
Authors, 1701; and Fables Ancient and Modern, translated into verse, 1700,
were bound together and issued as The Works of Mr John Dryden. The
third Volume. Consisting of the Author's Original Poems and Translations.
Now first Publish'd together, 1701.
The Dramatick Works of John Dryden Esq. Ed. by Congreve, William.
6 vols. (Printed for J. Tonson. ) 1717.
Collected Editions of Poems
Annus Mirabilis: the Year of Wonders, MDCLXVI, an Heroical Poem, Also a
Poem on The Happy Restoration and Return of his late Sacred Majesty
Charles the Second. Likewise a Panegyrick on his Coronation Together
with a Poem to my Lord Chancellor presented on New-Years-day, 1662.
By John Dryden Esq. Printed for Henry Herringman and sold by
Jacob Tonson. 1688.
This is the first collected edition of the poems of Dryden, and
contains those published by Herringman before Tonson's connection
with Dryden, in order that the publisher might have in stock, with his
own name on the title-page, the earlier poems of the author.
1700. Fables Ancient and Modern; translated into verse, from Homer, Ovid,
Boccace and Chaucer: with Original Poems. By Mr Dryden.
1701. Poems on various Occasions and Translations from several Authors
by Mr John Dryden. Now first publish'd together in one volume.
1743. Occasional Poems and Translations, by John Dryden Esq. Now
first collected and publish'd together. (Ed. Broughton, Thomas. ]
2 vols. Vol. 1, Poems on several occasions; vol. 11, Translations, Epistles,
Prologues, Epilogues, Elegies, Epitaphs and Songs.
1760. The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden Esq. containing all his
Original Poems, Tales and Translations. . . . With explanatory Notes and
Observations. Also an account of his Life and Writings. Ed. Derrick, S.
4 vols.
à
Collected Editions of Prose Works
The Critical and Miscellaneous Prose Works of John Dryden, now first
Collected, with Notes and Illustrations; an account of the Life and
Writings of the Author grounded on Original and Authentick Docu-
ments and a Collection of his Letters. By Edmund Malone Esq. 3 vols.
in 4. 1800. Vol. 1, part 1, Life; vol. I, part 2, Letters, Prolegomena,
Dedications, Prefaces and Essays; vols. II, III, Dedications, Prefaces,
Essays, Lives, Discourses, etc.
Essays of John Dryden. Selected and ed. by Ker, W. P. 2 vols. Oxford,
1900.
Contains a useful chronological list of Dryden's Works.
## p. 393 (#415) ############################################
Chapter 1
393
I
Collected Works (Modern Editions)
The Works of John Dryden Now first collected. . . . Illustrated with Notes
historical, critical and explanatory and a Life of the Author by Walter
Scott. 18 vols. 1808. 2nd ed. Edinburgh, 1821. New ed. Revised
and corrected by Saintsbury, George. 18 vols. _Edinburgh, 1882.
Poetical Works, with notes by Joseph Warton, John Warton and others.
4 vols. 1811.
Poetical Works. 4 vols. 1844. Aldine ed. of the British Poets. Frequently
rptd.
Poetical Works. The Globe Edition. Ed. with a memoir, revised text
and notes by Christie, W. D. 1870.
The Poems of John Dryden. Ed. with an Introduction and textual notes by
Sargeaunt, John. 1910.
This ed. contains a complete revision of the text.
Miscellany Poems
Miscellany Poems. Containing a New Translation of Virgil's Eclogues,
Ovid's Love Elegies, Odes of Horace, and other Authors; with several
Original Poems by the most eminent hands. 1684. (Virgils Eclogues.
Translated by several bands. Printed in the year 1684. )
Reissued with a new title-page: Miscellany Poems, In two Parts
containing Virgil's Eclogues, Ovid's Love Elegies, Several parts of
Virgil's Æneids, Lucretius, Theocritus, Horace, etc. with several Original
Poems, never before Printed. By the most eminent Hands. 1685. The
separately-paged Virgil's Eclogues is dated 1684, as in the original issue
noted above.
* The 2nd ed. was published in 1692, and for the first time contains
Dryden's name on the title-page. Miscellany Poems: in two parts,
containing new Translations out of Virgil, Lucretius, Horace, Ovid,
Theocritus and other Authours with several Original Poems, by the
most eminent Hands. Published by Mr Dryden. 2nd ed. 1692.
Sylvæ: or the Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies. 1685.
A 2nd ed. was published in 1692 and was bound with the 2nd ed.
of the Miscellany Poems, 1692. Some copies of the 1st ed. of Sylve
were bound up with the 2nd ed. of the Miscellany Poems.
Examen Poeticum: being the third part of Miscellany Poems, containing
variety of New Translations of the Ancient Poets; together with many
original Copies by the most eminent Hands. 1693.
The Annual Miscellany: for the year 1694, being the fourth part of Mis-
cellany Poems; containing Great Variety of New Translations and
Original Copies by the most eminent Hands. 1694.
Two more volumes were published after Dryden's death:
Poetical Miscellanies: the fifth part; containing a Collection of Original
Poems, with several new Translations, by the most eminent Hands. 1704.
At the foot of the title-page after the imprint there is this note
•Where you may have the four former Parts, published by Mr Dryden. '
This volume contains several poems by Dryden, translations from Ovid,
Elegies and Songs.
Poetical Miscellanies: the sixth part; containing a Collection of Original
Poems. . . . 1709.
This volume does not contain any poem by Dryden, but in the reprint
of the Miscellany Poems (in 6 vols. 12mo), in which the poems are
somewhat differently arranged, the sixth volume contains A familiar
:
## p. 394 (#416) ############################################
394
Bibliography
:
Epistle to Mr Julian, Secretary of the Muses attributed to Dryden, and
the lines Under Mr Milton's Picture.
From Tonson's address To the Reader, it would appear that he
intended to continue the series; for he writes, “I have been forced to omit
several of the Copies sent, upon the publick notice given, otherways this
volume would have swelld beyond the size of any former ones. I shall
reserve those for another volume, which I hope to publish at the beginning
of the next year. '
POEMS
A. Original
1. Separately published
1659. A Poem upon the Death of His late Highness Oliver Lord Protector
of England, Scotland & Ireland. Written by Mr Dryden.
Rpts: An Elegy on the Usurper 0. C. by the author of Absalom and
Achitophel, published to shew the loyalty and integrity of the Poet.
1681. Single sheet with Postscript of 20 lines subscribed J. D.
A Poem upon the Death of the late Usurper Oliver Cromwel. By
the Author of The H. . d and the P. . . . . r. Printed for S. H. 1687.
1659. Three Poems upon the Death of his late Highnesse Oliver Lord
Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland. By Mr Edm. Waller,
Mr Jo. Dryden, Mr Sprat of Oxford.
Rpts: Three Poems upon the Death of the late Usurper Oliver
Cromwel. Written by Mr Jo. Dryden, Mr Sprat of Oxford, Mr Edm.
Waller. Rptd for Baldwin, R. 1682.
