From
a plebeian origin, he raised himself, by his virtue and learning.
a plebeian origin, he raised himself, by his virtue and learning.
Dryden - Complete
The State of Dryden’s Reputation at his Death, and
afterwards--The general Character of his Mind--His Merit as a
Dramatist--As a Lyrical Poet--As a Satirist--As a Narrative Poet--As
a Philosophical and Miscellaneous Poet--As a Translator--As a Prose
Author--As a Critic, 470
VOLUME SECOND.
Dedication of Mr Congreve’s edition of Dryden’s Dramatic Works to
the Duke of Newcastle, 5
The Wild Gallant, a Comedy, 13
Preface, 17
The Rival Ladies, a Tragi-comedy, 109
Dedication to the Earl of Orrery, 113
The Indian Queen, a Tragedy, 201
The Indian Emperor, or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, 257
Dedication to the Duchess of Monmouth and Buccleuch, 259
Defence of an Essay of Dramatic Poesy, 265
Connection of the Indian Emperor to the Indian Queen, 293
Secret Love, or the Maiden Queen, 379
Preface, 583
VOLUME THIRD.
Sir Martin Mar-All, or the Feigned Innocence, a Comedy, 1
The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island, a Comedy, 95
Preface, 99
An Evening’s Love, or the Mock Astrologer, a Comedy, 207
Epistle Dedicatory to the Duke of Newcastle, 209
Preface, 218
Tyrannic Love, or the Royal Martyr, a Tragedy, 341
Epistle Dedicatory to the Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch, 346
Preface, 349
VOLUME FOURTH.
Almanzor and Almahide, or the Conquest of Granada by the
Spaniards, a Tragedy, Part First, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to the Duke of York, 9
Of Heroic Plays, an Essay, 16
Part II. 111
Defence of the Epilogue; or an Essay on the Dramatic Poetry
of the last Age, 211
Marriage A-la-Mode, a Comedy, 231
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Rochester, 235
The Assignation, or Love in a Nunnery, a Comedy, 343
Epistle Dedicatory to Sir Charles Sedley, Bart. 348
VOLUME FIFTH.
Amboyna; or the Cruelties of the Dutch to the English Merchants,
a Tragedy, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, 5
The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man, an Opera, 89
Epistle Dedicatory to her Royal Highness the Duchess, 95
Preface. The Author’s Apology for Heroic Poetry, and Poetic
Licence, 105
Aureng-Zebe, a Tragedy, 167
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Mulgrave, 174
All for Love, or the World Well Lost, a Tragedy, 285
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Danby, 296
Preface, 306
VOLUME SIXTH.
Limberham, or the Kind Keeper, a Comedy, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to Lord Vaughan, 373
Œdipus, a Tragedy, 115
Preface, 124
Troilus and Cressida, or Truth found too late, a Tragedy, 227
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Sunderland, 231
Preface, 238
The Spanish Friar, or the Double Discovery, 365
Epistle Dedicatory to Lord Haughton, 373
VOLUME SEVENTH.
The Duke of Guise, a Tragedy, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Rochester, 13
The Vindication of the Duke of Guise, 125
Albion and Albanius, an Opera, 209
Preface, 216
Don Sebastian, a Tragedy, 271
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Leicester, 283
Preface, 291
VOLUME EIGHTH.
Amphitryon, or the Two Socias, a Comedy, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to Sir William Leveson, Gower, Bart. 7
King Arthur, or the British Worthy, a Dramatic Opera, 107
Epistle Dedicatory to the Marquis of Halifax, 113
Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy, 181
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Rochester, 191
Preface, 196
The Life of Cleomenes, translated from Plutarch by Mr
Thomas Creech, 207
Love Triumphant, or Nature will prevail, a Tragi-comedy, 331
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Salisbury, 337
Prologue, Song, Secular Masque, and Epilogue, written for the
Pilgrim, revived for Dryden’s benefit in 1700, 347
VOLUME NINTH.
POEMS, HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL.
Heroic Stanzas to the Memory of Oliver Cromwell, 3
Notes, 15
Astrea Redux, 25
Notes, 41
To his Sacred Majesty, a Panegyric on his Coronation, 53
Notes, 59
To Lord Chancellor Hyde, presented on New-year’s-day, 1662, 63
Satire on the Dutch, 71
To her Royal Highness the Duchess of York, on the Victory gained
by the Duke over the Dutch, &c. 73
Notes, 79
Annus Mirabilis, the Year of Wonders, 1666, an Historical Poem, 81
Dedication to the Metropolis of Great Britain, 89
An Account of Annus Mirabilis, in a Letter to the Hon. Sir
Robert Howard, 92
Notes, 158
Absalom and Achitophel, Part I. 195
To the Reader, 208
Notes on Part I. 249
Part II. 319
Notes on Part II. 354
The Medal, a satire against Sedition, 407
Epistle to the Whigs, 417
Notes, 441
VOLUME TENTH.
Religio Laici, or a Layman’s Faith, an Epistle, 1
Preface, 11
Threnodia Augustalis, a Funeral Pindaric Poem, sacred to the
happy memory of King Charles II. 53
Notes, 79
The Hind and the Panther, a Poem, in Three Parts, 85
Preface, 109
Notes on Part I. 139
Part II. 159
Notes on Part II. 185
Part III. 195
Notes on Part III. 240
Britannia, Rediviva, a Poem on the Birth of the Prince, 283
Notes, 302
Prologues and Epilogues, 309
Mac-Flecknoe, a Satire against Thomas Shadwell, 425
Notes, 441
VOLUME ELEVENTH.
EPISTLES.
Epistle I. To John Hoddeson, 3
II. To Sir Robert Howard, 5
III. To Dr Charleton, 12
IV. To the Lady Castlemain, 18
V. To Mr Lee, 22
VI. To the Earl of Roscommon, 26
VII. To the Duchess of York, 31
VIII. To Mr J. Northleigh, 35
IX. To Sir George Etherege, 38
X. To Mr Southerne, 47
XI. To Henry Higden, Esq. 52
XII. To Mr Congreve, 57
XIII. To Mr Granville, 63
XIV. To Mr Motteux, 67
XV. To Mr John Driden, 71
XVI. To Sir Godfrey Kneller, 84
ELEGIES AND EPITAPHS.
Upon the Death of Lord Hastings, 94
To the Memory of Mr Oldham, 99
To the pious Memory of Mrs Anne Killigrew, 105
Upon the Death of the Viscount of Dundee, 115
Eleonora, a panegyrical Poem, to the Memory of the Countess of
Abingdon, 117
Dedication to the Earl of Abingdon, 121
On the Death of Amyntas, 139
On the Death of a very young Gentleman, 142
Upon young Mr Rogers of Gloucestershire, 144
On the Death of Mr Purcell, 145
Epitaph on the Lady Whitmore, 150
Mrs Margaret Paston, 151
the Monument of the Marquis of Winchester, 152
Sir Palmer Fairbones’ tomb in Westminster Abbey, 155
The Monument of a fair Maiden Lady, 158
Inscription under Milton’s Picture, 160
ODES, SONGS, AND LYRICAL PIECES.
The Fair Stranger, 163
A Song for St Cecilia’s Day, 165
The Tears of Amynta, 171
A Song, 173
The Lady’s Song, 175
A Song, 176
A Song, 177
Rondelay, 178
A Song, 180
A Song to a fair young Lady, 181
Alexander’s Feast, or the power of Music, an Ode, 183
Veni Creator Spiritus, paraphrased, 190
FABLES. --TALES FROM CHAUCER.
Dedication to the Duke of Ormond, 195
Preface prefixed to the Fables, 205
Palamon and Arcite; or the Knight’s Tale, 241
Dedication to the Duchess of Ormond, 245
The Cock and the Fox; or the Tale of the Nun’s Priest, 327
The Flower and the Leaf; or the Lady in the Arbour, 356
The Wife of Bath, her Tale, 377
The Character of a good Parson, 395
FABLES. --TRANSLATIONS FROM BOCCACE.
Sigismonda and Guiscardo, 403
Theodore and Honoria, 433
Cymon and Iphigenia, 452
VOLUME TWELFTH.
Appendix to the Fables, i
The Knightes Tale, by Chaucer, iii
The Nonnes Preestes Tale, liii
The Floure and the Leafe, lxviii
The Wif of Bathes Tale, lxxxii
TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID’S EPISTLES.
Preface, 3
Canace to Macareus, 21
Helen to Paris, 26
Dido to Æneas, 35
TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID’S METAMORPHOSES.
Dedication to Lord Radcliffe, 47
The first Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 63
Meleager and Atalanta, 97
Baucis and Philemon, 109
Iphis and Ianthe, 116
Pygmalion and the Statue, 123
Cinyras and Myrrha, 127
Ceyx and Alcyone, 139
Æsacus transformed into a Cormorant, 154
The Twelfth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 156
The Speeches of Ajax and Ulysses, 181
Acis, Polyphemus, and Galatea, 199
Of the Pythagorean Philosophy, 207
TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID’S ART OF LOVE.
Preface on Translation, prefixed to Dryden’s Second Miscellany, 263
TRANSLATIONS FROM THEOCRITUS.
Amaryllis, 287
The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus, 292
The Despairing Lover, 296
Daphnis and Chloris, 300
TRANSLATIONS FROM LUCRETIUS.
Book I. 311
II. 314
Book III. 317
IV. 327
V. 337
TRANSLATIONS FROM HORACE.
The Third Ode of the First Book of Horace, 341
The Ninth Ode of the First Book, 344
The Twenty-ninth Ode of the First Book, 346
The Second Epode of Horace, 351
TRANSLATIONS FROM HOMER.
The First Book of Homer’s Iliad, 357
The last Parting of Hector and Andromache, 382
VOLUME THIRTEENTH.
TRANSLATIONS FROM JUVENAL.
Essay on Satire; addressed to Charles, Earl of Dorset, and
Middlesex, 3
The First Satire of Juvenal, 119
The Third Satire of Juvenal, 130
The Sixth Satire of Juvenal, 148
The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, 178
The Sixteenth Satire of Juvenal, 198
TRANSLATIONS FROM PERSIUS.
The First Satire of Persius, 205
Notes, 217
The Second Satire of Persius, 221
Notes, 227
The Third Satire of Persius, 230
Notes, 239
The Fourth Satire of Persius, 242
Notes, 239
The Fifth Satire of Persius, inscribed to the Rev. Dr Busby, 251
Notes, 248
The Sixth Satire of Persius, 267
Notes, 274
THE WORKS OF VIRGIL, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE.
Names of Subscribers to the Cuts of Virgil, 283
Recommendatory Poems on the Translation of Virgil, 289
The Life of Publius Virgilius Maro, by Knightly Chetwood, 297
PASTORALS.
Dedication of the Pastorals, to Lord Clifford, Baron of
Chudleigh, 337
Preface to the Pastorals, with a short Defence of Virgil, by
William Walsh, 345
Pastoral I. or Tityrus and Melibœus, 369
II. or Alexis, 374
III. or Palæmon, 378
IV. or Pollio, 386
V. or Daphnis, 391
VI. or Silenus, 397
VII. or Melibœus, 402
VIII. or Pharmaceutria, 407
IX. or Lycidas and Mæris, 413
X. or Gallus, 417
VOLUME FOURTEENTH.
The Georgics, translated from Virgil, 1
Dedication to the Earl of Chesterfield, 3
An Essay on the Georgics, by Mr Addison, 14
Book I. 27
Book II. 49
Book III. 73
Book IV. 98
Notes on Book IV. 123
Æneis, 125
Dedication to the Marquis of Normandy, Earl of Mulgrave, &c. 127
Book I. 231
Notes on Book I. 262
Æneis,
Book II. 264
Book III. 296
Notes on Book III. 323
Book IV. 324
Note on Book IV. 353
Book V. 355
Book VI. 388
Notes on Book VI. 424
Book VII. 429
Notes on Book VII. 461
VOLUME FIFTEENTH.
Æneis, Book VIII. 1
Notes on Book VIII. 29
Book IX. 30
Notes on Book IX. 62
Book X. 64
Notes on Book X. 102
Book XI. 105
Book XII. 143
Notes on Book XII. 182
Postscript to the Reader, 187
POEMS ASCRIBED TO DRYDEN.
An Essay upon Satire, 201
A familiar Epistle to Mr Julian, 218
The Art of Poetry, 227
Tarquin and Tullia, 267
On the young Statesman, 273
Suum Cuique, 276
DRYDEN’S ORIGINAL PROSE WORKS.
Essay of Dramatic Poesy, 283
Dedication to the Earl of Dorset and Middlesex, 286
Heads of an Answer to Mr Rymer’s Remarks on the Tragedies of
the last Age, 383
Preface to Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco, 397
Preface to the Husband his own Cuckold, 414
VOLUME SIXTEENTH.
The Life of St Francis Xavier, of the Society of Jesus, Apostle
of the Indies, and of Japan, 1
Dedication to the Queen, 3
The Author’s Advertisement to the Reader, 8
Book I. 14
Book II. 59
Book III. 116
Book IV. 191
Book V. 288
Book VI. 408
VOLUME SEVENTEENTH.
The Life of Plutarch, 1
Dedication to the Duke of Ormond, &c. 5
Specimen of the Translation of the History of the League, 77
Dedication to the King, 81
The Author’s Advertisement to the Reader, 93
The History of the League, Book III. 101
Postscript to the History of the League, 150
Controversy between Dryden and Stillingfleet concerning
the Duchess of York’s Paper, 185
Copy of a Paper written by the late Duchess of York, &c. 189
An Answer to the Duchess’s Paper by the Rev. Edward
Stillingfleet, 194
A Defence of the Paper written by the Duchess of York,
against the Answer made to it, 208
An Answer to the Defence of the Third Paper, 252
The Art of Painting, by C. A. Du Fresnoy, with Remarks
translated into English; with an original Preface,
containing a Parallel between Painting and Poetry, 279
A Parallel of Poetry and Painting, 286
The Preface of M. de Piles, the French Translator, 333
VOLUME EIGHTEENTH.
Preface to a Dialogue concerning Women; being a Defence
of the Sex, 1
Character of M. St Evremont, 9
The Character of Polybius, 17
The Life of Lucian, 53
Dryden’s Letters, 83
Appendix, 183
Index, i
FINIS.
* * * * *
EDINBURGH:
Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.
DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.
The Binder is requested to pay particular attention to the placing of
the following Cancels in DRYDEN’S WORKS:--
Vol. I. Pages 29, 75.
II. Page 3. (Advert. ), Pages 15, 111, 469, and add pages 471-2.
III. Page 429, to be found in the last sheet of Vol. VI.
VII. Page 317.
IX. Page 435.
XI. Add pages 161-2 after the Title, “Odes, Songs, and Lyrical
Pieces. ”
XII. Contents.
XIII. Pages 97, 297.
The Cancels will be found put up with Vol. II.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Mr Walsh was born in 1663, and in 1691 must have been twenty-eight
years old. Still he was but a youth in the eyes of Dryden, who was now
advanced in life.
[2] Mr Malone observes, that, according to Antony Wood, (_Ath. Oxon. _
ii. 423. ) this was not said _of_ Waller, but _by_ that poet, of Sir
John Denham. --“In the latter end of the year 1641, Sir John published
the tragedy called the ‘Sophy,’ which took extremely much, and was
admired by all ingenious men, particularly by Edmund Waller of
Beaconsfield, who then said of the author, that he broke out, like the
Irish rebellion, threescore thousand strong, before any body was aware,
or the least suspected it. ” Mr Malone adds, that the observation is
more applicable to Denham than to Waller; for Denham, from the age of
sixteen, when he went to Trinity College, in Oxford, November 18, 1631,
to the time of his father’s death, January 6, 1638-9, was considered as
a dull and dissipated young man; whereas Waller distinguished himself,
as a poet, before he was eighteen. Besides, the “Sophy” was published
just when the Irish rebellion broke out.
[3] In one passage of the Dialogue, our author’s version of the sixth
satire of Juvenal is mentioned with commendation; and in another, the
tragedy of “Aureng-Zebe” is quoted.
[4] St Evremont wrote “Observations on Segrais’ Translation of Virgil. ”
[5]
----“He at Philippi kept
His sword even like a dancer;----
----he alone
Dealt on lieutenancy, and no practice had
In the brave squares of war. ”
_Antony and Cleopatra. _
[6] A tragedy by Racine. St Evremont, in a dissertation on this play,
addressed to Madame Borneau, severely reprobates the fault so common in
French tragedy, of making a play, though the scene is laid in ancient
Rome or India, centre and turn upon Parisian manners. He concludes,
that Corneille is the only author of the nation that displays a true
taste for antiquity.
[7] The full title is, “The History of Polybius the Megalopolitan;
containing a general Account of the Transactions of the World, and
principally of the Roman People during the first and second Punic Wars.
Translated by Sir H. S. To which is added a Character of Polybius and
his Writings, by Mr Dryden, 1693. ”
[8] Where he enumerates the translators of Lucian in the Supplement to
his Life.
[9] Vol. VIII. p. 203.
[10] “History of Polybius, the five first bookes entire, with all the
parcels of subsequent bookes unto the eighteenth, according to the
Greeke original. Also, the manner of the Romane encamping. Translated
into English, by Edward Grimestone, sergeant at armes. ” London, 1634.
Folio.
[11] From these expressions, one would suppose Sir Henry Shere to
have been a seaman, which may also be conjectured from his writing an
“Essay on the certainty and causes of the Earth’s Motion on its Axis;”
and a “Discourse concerning the Mediterranean Sea and the Straits of
Gibraltar;” the one published in 1698, the other in 1705. The naval
and military professions were, however, formerly accounted less
absolutely distinct branches of service than at present. Many officers
distinguished themselves in both. Mr Malone may therefore be right in
conjecturing Sir Henry Shere to have been a soldier, though his studies
would argue him a seaman or engineer.
[12] _Polybii Lycortæ F. Megalopolites Historiarum Libri, qui
supersunt, Gr. Lat. Isaacus Casaubonus, ex antiquis libris emendavit,
Lat. vertit et commentariis illustravit. Accessit Æneæ vetustissimi
Tactici commentarius de toleranda obsidione. Isaaeus Casaubonus primus
vulgavit, Latinam interpretationem ac notas adjecit. Parisiis, 1609,
Folio. _
[13] “The fame of Nicholas the Fifth, (who sat in the papal chair
from 1447 to 1455,) has not,” says Mr Gibbon,--_Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire_, vi. 429, 4to. ) “been adequate to his merits.
From
a plebeian origin, he raised himself, by his virtue and learning.
The character of the man prevailed over the interests of the pope;
and he sharpened those weapons, which were soon pointed against the
Roman church. He had been the friend of the most eminent scholars of
the age; he became their patron; and such was the humility of his
manners, that the change was scarcely discernible, either to them or
to himself. If he pressed the acceptance of a liberal gift, it was not
as the measure of desert, but as the proof of benevolence; and when
modest merit declined his bounty, ‘Accept it,’ would he say, with a
consciousness of his own worth; ‘you will not always have a Nicholas
among ye. ’ The influence of the holy see pervaded Christendom; and he
exerted that influence in the search, not of benefices, but of books.
From the ruins of the Byzantine libraries, from the darkest monasteries
of Germany and Britain, he collected the dusty manuscripts of the
writers of antiquity; and wherever the original could not be removed,
a faithful copy was transcribed, and transmitted for his use. The
Vatican, the old repository for bulls and legends, for superstition
and forgery, was daily replenished with more precious furniture; and
such was the industry of Nicholas, that, in a reign of eight years,
he formed a library of five thousand volumes. To his munificence,
the Latin world was indebted for the versions of Xenophon, Diodorus,
Polybius, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Appian; of Strabo’s Geography;
of the Iliad; of the most valuable works of Plato and Aristotle; of
Ptolemy and Theophrastus; and of the fathers of the Greek church. The
example of the Roman pontiff was preceded, or imitated, by a Florentine
merchant, who governed the republic without arms, and without a title.
Cosmo, of Medicis, was the father of a line of princes, whose name and
age are almost synonymous with the restoration of learning. His credit
was ennobled into fame; his riches were dedicated to the service of
mankind; he corresponded at once with Cairo and London, and a cargo
of Indian spices and Greek books was imported in the same vessel. The
genius and education of his grandson, Lorenzo, rendered him not only a
patron, but a judge and candidate in the literary race. In his palace,
distress was entitled to relief, and merit to reward. His leisure
hours were delightfully spent in the Platonic academy; he encouraged
the emulation of Demetrius Chalcocondyles and Angelo Politian; and
his active missionary, Janus Lascaris, returned from the East with a
treasure of two hundred manuscripts, fourscore of which were as yet
unknown in the libraries of Europe. The rest of Italy was animated by
a similar spirit, and the progress of the nation repaid the liberality
of the princes. The Latins held the exclusive property of their
own literature; and these disciples of Greece were soon capable of
transmitting and improving the lessons which they had imbibed. After a
short succession of foreign teachers, the tide of emigration subsided;
but the language of Constantinople was spread beyond the Alps; and the
natives of France, Germany, and England, imparted to their country the
sacred fire which they had kindled in the schools of Florence and Rome. ”
[14] Our author recollected the following panegyric on Pope Nicholas,
in the Dedication of Casaubon’s edition of Polybius, to Henry IV. of
France:
“_Quum enim a pluribus retro sæculis, in principum animis, toto
Occidente, amor politioris literaturæ et Græci sermonis excoluisset;
accidit non sine numine profecto, ut circa illa ipsa tempora
Byzantinæ cladis, et paullo ante, summi in Europa viri et principes
generossissimi hunc veternum ceu virgula divina tacti, opportune
excuterent, et ad bene merendum de studiis politioribus et de linguis,
ardore incredibili accenderentur. Prima terrarum Italia ad hanc
palmam occupandam, è diuturno torpore tunc demum expergefacta, sese
concitavit, et nationibus aliis per Europam, exemplum quod imitarentur
præbuit. In ipsa verò Italia, ad certamen adeo gloriosum, Nicolaus
Quintus Pontifex Maximus, in cujus extrema tempora Byzantini imperii
eversio incidit, princeps, quod equidem sciam, signum sustulit. Nam et
literarum dicitur fuisse intelligentissimus; et,_ _quod res arguit,
earum amore erat flagrantissimus. Primus hic, illa ætate, libros
antiquorum scriptorum sedulo conquirere curæ habuit; magnamque earum
copiam in Vaticanam intulit; primus cum assiduis hortatibus, tum
ingentibus etiam propositis præmiis, ad meliorem literaturam è tenebris
oblivionis in lucem revocandam, homines Italos stimulavit: primus,
Græcæ linguæ auctores omnis sincerioris doctrinæ esse promos condos qui
uon ignoraret, ut Latino sermone exprimerentur, vehementissime optavit,
et efficere contendit_. ”
[15] That is, the first five books.
[16] Polybius, the historian, was born at Megalopolis, in Arcadia,
in the fourth year of the 143d Olympiad, about 205 years before the
Christian æra. Being carried to Rome as an hostage, he became the
companion and friend of the younger Scipio Africanus; accompanied him
in his campaigns; and is said to have witnessed the destruction of
Carthage, in the 158th Olympiad. Having returned to his native country,
he died in the 164th Olympiad, 124 years before Christ, in consequence
of a fall from his horse.
The history of Polybius embraced the space from the first year of the
140th to the first of the 153d Olympiad, being fifty-three years.
[17] Nicolo Peretti published a Latin version of the first five books
of Polybius, at Rome, in 1473, folio. The first Greek edition appeared
in 1530; the second at Basle, in 1549. The last is most esteemed.
[18] “Plutarch tells us, that Brutus was thus employed the day before
the battle of Pharsalia. ‘It was the middle of summer; the heats
were intense, the marshy situation of the camp disagreeable, and his
tent-bearers were long in coming. Nevertheless, though extremely
harassed and fatigued, he did not anoint himself till noon; and then
taking a morsel of bread, while others were at rest, or musing on the
event of the ensuing day, he employed himself till the evening in
writing an epitome of Polybius. ”--MALONE.
[19] With a thousand of his countrymen, whom the Romans ordered thither
as hostages, after the conquest of Macedonia.
[20] A. U. C. 608.
[21] A. U. C. 607.
[22] The word _and_ renders this passage ungrammatical. --MALONE.
[23] Mr Malone justly conjectures, that Dryden here thought of his old
master James II. , whose economy bordered on penury, and whose claims of
prerogative approached to tyranny.
[24] Philip de Commines, author of the excellent Memoirs of his
own time. He was born in Flanders, and was for several years a
distinguished ornament of the court of Charles the Bold, Duke of
Burgundy, his native sovereign; but was tempted to divert his service
for that of Louis XI. by whom he was employed in several negociations.
After the death of that monarch, Commines fell into disgrace with his
successor, and was long detained in prison: he died in 1509. It was of
this historian Catherine de Medicis was wont to say, “that he made as
many heretics in the state, as Luther in the Church. ”
[25] In the year of Rome 568.
[26] I believe the most enthusiastic admirers of Livy must tire of
these unvaried prodigies. _Et bos locutus_ occurs as often, and is
mentioned with as much indifference, as a nomination of sheriffs in
Hall, Stowe, or Speed.
[27] See Vol. XIII. p. 68. where our author, in his “Essay on Satire,”
controverts keenly the position of Casaubon.
[28] In his thirty-eight year, forty-three being the legal age.
[29] The elegant translator, however, gives us no information on
that subject; his preface being principally a panegyric upon good
discipline, which, without much risque of contradiction, he affirms to
be the “substance and sum total of military science. ”
[30] Thomas Stanley’s “History of Philosophy,” &c. was published in
folio, in detached parts, between 1655 and 1660; and reprinted entire
in 1687.
[31] A. D. 375. Rufinus was chief prefect of the East. The person here
alluded to was only count of fifteen provinces. Dryden, writing from
memory, confounded the offices of the murderer and murdered. See the
next note.
[32] Gibbon thus narrates the catastrophe:--“The extreme parsimony
of Rufinus left him only the reproach and envy of ill-gotten wealth.
His dependents served him without attachment; the universal hatred of
mankind was repressed only by the influence of servile fear. The fate
of Lucian proclaimed to the East, that the prefect, whose industry
was much abated in the dispatch of ordinary business, was active and
indefatigable in the pursuit of revenge. Lucian, (the son of the
prefect Florentius, the oppressor of Gaul, and the enemy of Julian,)
had employed a considerable part of his inheritance, the fruit of
rapine and corruption, to purchase the friendship of Rufinus, and the
high office of Count of the East. But the new magistrate imprudently
departed from the maxims of the court and of the times; disgraced his
benefactor, by the contrast of a virtuous and temperate administration;
and presumed to refuse an act of injustice, which might have tended to
the profit of the emperor’s uncle. Arcadius was easily persuaded to
resent the supposed insult; and the prefect of the East resolved to
execute in person the cruel vengeance which he meditated against this
ungrateful delegate of his power. He performed, with incessant speed,
the journey of seven or eight hundred miles, from Constantinople to
Antioch, entered the capital of Syria at the dead of night, and spread
universal consternation among a people ignorant of his design, but not
ignorant of his character. The count of the fifteen provinces of the
East was dragged, like the vilest malefactor, before the arbitrary
tribunal of Rufinus. Notwithstanding the clearest evidence of his
integrity, which was not impeached even by the voice of an accuser,
Lucian was condemned, almost without a trial, to suffer a cruel and
ignominious punishment. The ministers of the tyrant, by the order, and
in the presence, of their master, beat him on the neck with leather
thongs, armed at the extremities with lead; and when he fainted under
the violence of the pain, he was removed in a close litter to conceal
his dying agonies from the eyes of the indignant city. No sooner
had Rufinus perpetrated this inhuman act, the sole object of his
expedition, than he returned amidst the deep and silent curses of a
trembling people, from Antioch to Constantinople; and his diligence was
accelerated by the hope of accomplishing, without delay, the nuptials
of his daughter with the emperor of the East. ”--GIBBON’S _Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. iii. p. 209.
The punctuation throughout this piece is so inaccurate, and the
paragraphs so strangely divided, that it must have been printed from
a copy very carelessly written. In the present passage, we find
_Rafiany_, instead of _Rufinus_. MALONE.
[33] A. D. 312. He suffered for favouring the Arians. MALONE.
[34] A. D. 415. He was minister of Caphargamala, and pretended to have
been instructed by a dream of the burial place of the proto-martyr
Stephen, Gamaliel, and other saints. See GIBBON’S _History_, vol. iii.
p. 97.
Several other persons of this name, besides those here mentioned, are
enumerated by Fabricius. _Bibl. Græc. _ iv. 508.
[35] Dr Franklin seems disposed to fix on the year 90.
[36] _Procurator principis_. Under Marcus Aurelius.
[37] See _Juv. _ sat. i. 44. ; vii. 148. ; xv. 111. _Quintil. _ lib. x.
cap. 3.
[38] Dr Jasper Mayne, who published a translation of some select
dialogues of Lucian, in folio, in 1664.
[39] I follow Mr Malone in reading _might_; the printed copy has _must_.
[40] This is a gross mistake, 180 years intervening between the death
of Aurelius and the reign of Julian.
[41] Nicolas Perrot, Sieur d’Ablancourt, whose translation of the
Dialogues of Lucian into French was first published at Paris in 1634.
His continuation of the true history of Lucian is very much in the tone
of the original.
[42] This observation had been made by Gilbertas Cognatus, and by
Thomas Hickes, in his Life of Lucian, printed in 1634. MALONE.
[43] Entitled “Philopatris. ” The Christian religion, and its mysteries,
are ridiculed in this piece with very little ceremony.
[44] Gesner has written a long Latin essay upon this point, which is
subjoined to the third volume of Lucian’s works, in the 4to edition of
Hemsterhucius.
[45] I follow Mr Malone in reading _eclectic_ for _elective_.
[46] The best judges have condemned Εταιρικοι Διαλογοι, or
“Dialogues of the Harlots,” as not being genuine. They are at any rate
gross and devoid of humour.
[47] I presume a cant phrase for a graft from that garden of knowledge.
[48] The work alluded to, which was written by the Rev. Dr John
Eachard, (Master of Catharine Hall, in Cambridge, and author of the
“Grounds of the Contempt of the Clergy,”) was published in 1671, and
was entitled “Mr Hobbes’s State of Nature considered; in a Dialogue
between Philautus and Timothy. ” MALONE.
[49] This gentleman, whom our author has again mentioned with esteem,
in the “Parallel of Poetry and Painting,” (Vol. XVII. p. 312. ) was
the son of Sir Walter Moyle, and was born in the year 1672. He was
educated to the study of law, and became a member of Parliament in
1695. He composed a variety of treatises, on various subjects, which
are comprised in a collection of three volumes 8vo, the last being
posthumous. Mr Moyle died in 1721.
[50] Charles Blount, the son of Sir Henry, and brother to Sir Edward
Pope Blount. He early appeared as a defender and admirer of Dryden, by
publishing an answer to Leigh’s “Censure of the Rota in the Conquest
of Granada. ” It was entitled, “Mr Dryden vindicated, in Reply to the
Friendly Vindication of Mr Dryden, with Reflections on the Rota. ”
Mr Blount distinguished himself as a friend to civil liberty during
the crisis preceding the Revolution; but was still better known by
the deistical tracts entitled “_Anima Mundi_,” “Life of Appolonius
Tyaneus,” “Diana of the Ephesians,” and the “_Religio Laici_,” which
last he published anonymously in 1683, and inscribed to our author.
The death of Blount was voluntary. Having lost his wife, the daughter
of Sir Timothy Tyrrel of Shotover, he fell in love with her sister, and
being unable to remove her scruples upon the lawfulness of their union,
shot himself in a fit of despair, in August 1693. His miscellaneous
works were published by Galden in 1695.
He was a man of deep and extensive reading, and probably better
qualified, in point of learning, to translate Lucian, than most of his
coadjutors.
[51] This and two or three other passages shew, that this life was
written hastily, and that it had not been carefully revised by the
author. MALONE.
[52] Ferrand Spence, who published a translation of Lucian’s Dialogues
in four volumes, 8vo, in 1684.
[53] Francis Hickes published a translation of Select Dialogues from
Lucian, 4to, 1634.
[54] Vol XVII. p. 1.
[55] Mr Malone substitutes _lost_ for _left_.
[56] The lady to whom this letter is addressed was our author’s first
cousin, one of the daughters of his uncle, Sir John Dryden. She
probably was born, (says Mr Malone,) about the year 1637, and died,
unmarried, some time after 1707.
The seal, (he adds,) under which runs a piece of blue ribband, is a
crest of a demi-lion, on a wreath, holding in his paws an armillary
sphere at the end of a stand. The letter seems in reply to one from the
fair lady, with a present of writing materials. It is a woeful sample
of the gallantry of the time, alternately coarse and pedantic.
[57] Person _quasi_ parson, which word was originally so spelled. The
custom of preaching by an hour-glass has been before noticed.
[58] A copy of this letter is in the Museum, MSS. Harl. 7003. The
Dedication alluded to, must have been that of “Marriage A-la-Mode,” to
which Rochester had replied by a letter of thanks; and we have here
Dryden’s reply. (See Vol. I. p. 181, and Vol. IV. p. 235. ) The date is
supplied by Mr Malone from internal evidence.
[59] Lord Rochester translated some part of Lucretius.
[60] In the year 1672, Monsieur Schomberg was invited into England to
command the army raised for the Dutch war, then encamped on Blackheath.
He was to be joined in this command with Villiers, Duke of Buckingham,
who held a commission of lieutenant-general only. But when Schomberg
arrived, he refused to serve equally with Buckingham, and was made
general; on which the other resigned his commission in disgust. (See
Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham’s _Memoirs_, p. 5. ) Dryden, still
smarting under the “Rehearsal,” just then come out, was probably not
sorry to take this opportunity to turn the author’s pretensions into
ridicule.
[61] Eight thousand land forces were embarked on board the English
fleet to make a descent in Zealand.
[62] Sir John Eaton was a noted writer of songs at the time.
[63] Mr Malone conjectures Tregonwell Frampton, keeper of the royal
stud at Newmarket; who was born in 1641, and died in 1727. Brother John
must remain in obscurity.
[64] Probably the grandson of Sir George Hume, created Earl of Dunbar
by James the First, in 1605.
[65] Henry Brouncker, younger brother of William, Viscount Brouncker.
He was a gentleman of the Duke of York’s bed-chamber, and carried the
false order to slacken sail, after the great battle in 1665, when
the Duke was asleep, by which the advantage gained in the victory
was entirely lost. There is a great cloud over the story; but that
Brouncker was an infamous character, must be concluded on all hands. He
was expelled the House of Commons; and countenanced by the king more
than he deserved, being “never notorious for any thing but the highest
degree of impudence, and stooping to the most infamous offices. ”
--Continuation of Clarendon’s Life, quoted by Malone.
afterwards--The general Character of his Mind--His Merit as a
Dramatist--As a Lyrical Poet--As a Satirist--As a Narrative Poet--As
a Philosophical and Miscellaneous Poet--As a Translator--As a Prose
Author--As a Critic, 470
VOLUME SECOND.
Dedication of Mr Congreve’s edition of Dryden’s Dramatic Works to
the Duke of Newcastle, 5
The Wild Gallant, a Comedy, 13
Preface, 17
The Rival Ladies, a Tragi-comedy, 109
Dedication to the Earl of Orrery, 113
The Indian Queen, a Tragedy, 201
The Indian Emperor, or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, 257
Dedication to the Duchess of Monmouth and Buccleuch, 259
Defence of an Essay of Dramatic Poesy, 265
Connection of the Indian Emperor to the Indian Queen, 293
Secret Love, or the Maiden Queen, 379
Preface, 583
VOLUME THIRD.
Sir Martin Mar-All, or the Feigned Innocence, a Comedy, 1
The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island, a Comedy, 95
Preface, 99
An Evening’s Love, or the Mock Astrologer, a Comedy, 207
Epistle Dedicatory to the Duke of Newcastle, 209
Preface, 218
Tyrannic Love, or the Royal Martyr, a Tragedy, 341
Epistle Dedicatory to the Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch, 346
Preface, 349
VOLUME FOURTH.
Almanzor and Almahide, or the Conquest of Granada by the
Spaniards, a Tragedy, Part First, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to the Duke of York, 9
Of Heroic Plays, an Essay, 16
Part II. 111
Defence of the Epilogue; or an Essay on the Dramatic Poetry
of the last Age, 211
Marriage A-la-Mode, a Comedy, 231
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Rochester, 235
The Assignation, or Love in a Nunnery, a Comedy, 343
Epistle Dedicatory to Sir Charles Sedley, Bart. 348
VOLUME FIFTH.
Amboyna; or the Cruelties of the Dutch to the English Merchants,
a Tragedy, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, 5
The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man, an Opera, 89
Epistle Dedicatory to her Royal Highness the Duchess, 95
Preface. The Author’s Apology for Heroic Poetry, and Poetic
Licence, 105
Aureng-Zebe, a Tragedy, 167
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Mulgrave, 174
All for Love, or the World Well Lost, a Tragedy, 285
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Danby, 296
Preface, 306
VOLUME SIXTH.
Limberham, or the Kind Keeper, a Comedy, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to Lord Vaughan, 373
Œdipus, a Tragedy, 115
Preface, 124
Troilus and Cressida, or Truth found too late, a Tragedy, 227
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Sunderland, 231
Preface, 238
The Spanish Friar, or the Double Discovery, 365
Epistle Dedicatory to Lord Haughton, 373
VOLUME SEVENTH.
The Duke of Guise, a Tragedy, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Rochester, 13
The Vindication of the Duke of Guise, 125
Albion and Albanius, an Opera, 209
Preface, 216
Don Sebastian, a Tragedy, 271
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Leicester, 283
Preface, 291
VOLUME EIGHTH.
Amphitryon, or the Two Socias, a Comedy, 1
Epistle Dedicatory to Sir William Leveson, Gower, Bart. 7
King Arthur, or the British Worthy, a Dramatic Opera, 107
Epistle Dedicatory to the Marquis of Halifax, 113
Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy, 181
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Rochester, 191
Preface, 196
The Life of Cleomenes, translated from Plutarch by Mr
Thomas Creech, 207
Love Triumphant, or Nature will prevail, a Tragi-comedy, 331
Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Salisbury, 337
Prologue, Song, Secular Masque, and Epilogue, written for the
Pilgrim, revived for Dryden’s benefit in 1700, 347
VOLUME NINTH.
POEMS, HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL.
Heroic Stanzas to the Memory of Oliver Cromwell, 3
Notes, 15
Astrea Redux, 25
Notes, 41
To his Sacred Majesty, a Panegyric on his Coronation, 53
Notes, 59
To Lord Chancellor Hyde, presented on New-year’s-day, 1662, 63
Satire on the Dutch, 71
To her Royal Highness the Duchess of York, on the Victory gained
by the Duke over the Dutch, &c. 73
Notes, 79
Annus Mirabilis, the Year of Wonders, 1666, an Historical Poem, 81
Dedication to the Metropolis of Great Britain, 89
An Account of Annus Mirabilis, in a Letter to the Hon. Sir
Robert Howard, 92
Notes, 158
Absalom and Achitophel, Part I. 195
To the Reader, 208
Notes on Part I. 249
Part II. 319
Notes on Part II. 354
The Medal, a satire against Sedition, 407
Epistle to the Whigs, 417
Notes, 441
VOLUME TENTH.
Religio Laici, or a Layman’s Faith, an Epistle, 1
Preface, 11
Threnodia Augustalis, a Funeral Pindaric Poem, sacred to the
happy memory of King Charles II. 53
Notes, 79
The Hind and the Panther, a Poem, in Three Parts, 85
Preface, 109
Notes on Part I. 139
Part II. 159
Notes on Part II. 185
Part III. 195
Notes on Part III. 240
Britannia, Rediviva, a Poem on the Birth of the Prince, 283
Notes, 302
Prologues and Epilogues, 309
Mac-Flecknoe, a Satire against Thomas Shadwell, 425
Notes, 441
VOLUME ELEVENTH.
EPISTLES.
Epistle I. To John Hoddeson, 3
II. To Sir Robert Howard, 5
III. To Dr Charleton, 12
IV. To the Lady Castlemain, 18
V. To Mr Lee, 22
VI. To the Earl of Roscommon, 26
VII. To the Duchess of York, 31
VIII. To Mr J. Northleigh, 35
IX. To Sir George Etherege, 38
X. To Mr Southerne, 47
XI. To Henry Higden, Esq. 52
XII. To Mr Congreve, 57
XIII. To Mr Granville, 63
XIV. To Mr Motteux, 67
XV. To Mr John Driden, 71
XVI. To Sir Godfrey Kneller, 84
ELEGIES AND EPITAPHS.
Upon the Death of Lord Hastings, 94
To the Memory of Mr Oldham, 99
To the pious Memory of Mrs Anne Killigrew, 105
Upon the Death of the Viscount of Dundee, 115
Eleonora, a panegyrical Poem, to the Memory of the Countess of
Abingdon, 117
Dedication to the Earl of Abingdon, 121
On the Death of Amyntas, 139
On the Death of a very young Gentleman, 142
Upon young Mr Rogers of Gloucestershire, 144
On the Death of Mr Purcell, 145
Epitaph on the Lady Whitmore, 150
Mrs Margaret Paston, 151
the Monument of the Marquis of Winchester, 152
Sir Palmer Fairbones’ tomb in Westminster Abbey, 155
The Monument of a fair Maiden Lady, 158
Inscription under Milton’s Picture, 160
ODES, SONGS, AND LYRICAL PIECES.
The Fair Stranger, 163
A Song for St Cecilia’s Day, 165
The Tears of Amynta, 171
A Song, 173
The Lady’s Song, 175
A Song, 176
A Song, 177
Rondelay, 178
A Song, 180
A Song to a fair young Lady, 181
Alexander’s Feast, or the power of Music, an Ode, 183
Veni Creator Spiritus, paraphrased, 190
FABLES. --TALES FROM CHAUCER.
Dedication to the Duke of Ormond, 195
Preface prefixed to the Fables, 205
Palamon and Arcite; or the Knight’s Tale, 241
Dedication to the Duchess of Ormond, 245
The Cock and the Fox; or the Tale of the Nun’s Priest, 327
The Flower and the Leaf; or the Lady in the Arbour, 356
The Wife of Bath, her Tale, 377
The Character of a good Parson, 395
FABLES. --TRANSLATIONS FROM BOCCACE.
Sigismonda and Guiscardo, 403
Theodore and Honoria, 433
Cymon and Iphigenia, 452
VOLUME TWELFTH.
Appendix to the Fables, i
The Knightes Tale, by Chaucer, iii
The Nonnes Preestes Tale, liii
The Floure and the Leafe, lxviii
The Wif of Bathes Tale, lxxxii
TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID’S EPISTLES.
Preface, 3
Canace to Macareus, 21
Helen to Paris, 26
Dido to Æneas, 35
TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID’S METAMORPHOSES.
Dedication to Lord Radcliffe, 47
The first Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 63
Meleager and Atalanta, 97
Baucis and Philemon, 109
Iphis and Ianthe, 116
Pygmalion and the Statue, 123
Cinyras and Myrrha, 127
Ceyx and Alcyone, 139
Æsacus transformed into a Cormorant, 154
The Twelfth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 156
The Speeches of Ajax and Ulysses, 181
Acis, Polyphemus, and Galatea, 199
Of the Pythagorean Philosophy, 207
TRANSLATIONS FROM OVID’S ART OF LOVE.
Preface on Translation, prefixed to Dryden’s Second Miscellany, 263
TRANSLATIONS FROM THEOCRITUS.
Amaryllis, 287
The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus, 292
The Despairing Lover, 296
Daphnis and Chloris, 300
TRANSLATIONS FROM LUCRETIUS.
Book I. 311
II. 314
Book III. 317
IV. 327
V. 337
TRANSLATIONS FROM HORACE.
The Third Ode of the First Book of Horace, 341
The Ninth Ode of the First Book, 344
The Twenty-ninth Ode of the First Book, 346
The Second Epode of Horace, 351
TRANSLATIONS FROM HOMER.
The First Book of Homer’s Iliad, 357
The last Parting of Hector and Andromache, 382
VOLUME THIRTEENTH.
TRANSLATIONS FROM JUVENAL.
Essay on Satire; addressed to Charles, Earl of Dorset, and
Middlesex, 3
The First Satire of Juvenal, 119
The Third Satire of Juvenal, 130
The Sixth Satire of Juvenal, 148
The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, 178
The Sixteenth Satire of Juvenal, 198
TRANSLATIONS FROM PERSIUS.
The First Satire of Persius, 205
Notes, 217
The Second Satire of Persius, 221
Notes, 227
The Third Satire of Persius, 230
Notes, 239
The Fourth Satire of Persius, 242
Notes, 239
The Fifth Satire of Persius, inscribed to the Rev. Dr Busby, 251
Notes, 248
The Sixth Satire of Persius, 267
Notes, 274
THE WORKS OF VIRGIL, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE.
Names of Subscribers to the Cuts of Virgil, 283
Recommendatory Poems on the Translation of Virgil, 289
The Life of Publius Virgilius Maro, by Knightly Chetwood, 297
PASTORALS.
Dedication of the Pastorals, to Lord Clifford, Baron of
Chudleigh, 337
Preface to the Pastorals, with a short Defence of Virgil, by
William Walsh, 345
Pastoral I. or Tityrus and Melibœus, 369
II. or Alexis, 374
III. or Palæmon, 378
IV. or Pollio, 386
V. or Daphnis, 391
VI. or Silenus, 397
VII. or Melibœus, 402
VIII. or Pharmaceutria, 407
IX. or Lycidas and Mæris, 413
X. or Gallus, 417
VOLUME FOURTEENTH.
The Georgics, translated from Virgil, 1
Dedication to the Earl of Chesterfield, 3
An Essay on the Georgics, by Mr Addison, 14
Book I. 27
Book II. 49
Book III. 73
Book IV. 98
Notes on Book IV. 123
Æneis, 125
Dedication to the Marquis of Normandy, Earl of Mulgrave, &c. 127
Book I. 231
Notes on Book I. 262
Æneis,
Book II. 264
Book III. 296
Notes on Book III. 323
Book IV. 324
Note on Book IV. 353
Book V. 355
Book VI. 388
Notes on Book VI. 424
Book VII. 429
Notes on Book VII. 461
VOLUME FIFTEENTH.
Æneis, Book VIII. 1
Notes on Book VIII. 29
Book IX. 30
Notes on Book IX. 62
Book X. 64
Notes on Book X. 102
Book XI. 105
Book XII. 143
Notes on Book XII. 182
Postscript to the Reader, 187
POEMS ASCRIBED TO DRYDEN.
An Essay upon Satire, 201
A familiar Epistle to Mr Julian, 218
The Art of Poetry, 227
Tarquin and Tullia, 267
On the young Statesman, 273
Suum Cuique, 276
DRYDEN’S ORIGINAL PROSE WORKS.
Essay of Dramatic Poesy, 283
Dedication to the Earl of Dorset and Middlesex, 286
Heads of an Answer to Mr Rymer’s Remarks on the Tragedies of
the last Age, 383
Preface to Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco, 397
Preface to the Husband his own Cuckold, 414
VOLUME SIXTEENTH.
The Life of St Francis Xavier, of the Society of Jesus, Apostle
of the Indies, and of Japan, 1
Dedication to the Queen, 3
The Author’s Advertisement to the Reader, 8
Book I. 14
Book II. 59
Book III. 116
Book IV. 191
Book V. 288
Book VI. 408
VOLUME SEVENTEENTH.
The Life of Plutarch, 1
Dedication to the Duke of Ormond, &c. 5
Specimen of the Translation of the History of the League, 77
Dedication to the King, 81
The Author’s Advertisement to the Reader, 93
The History of the League, Book III. 101
Postscript to the History of the League, 150
Controversy between Dryden and Stillingfleet concerning
the Duchess of York’s Paper, 185
Copy of a Paper written by the late Duchess of York, &c. 189
An Answer to the Duchess’s Paper by the Rev. Edward
Stillingfleet, 194
A Defence of the Paper written by the Duchess of York,
against the Answer made to it, 208
An Answer to the Defence of the Third Paper, 252
The Art of Painting, by C. A. Du Fresnoy, with Remarks
translated into English; with an original Preface,
containing a Parallel between Painting and Poetry, 279
A Parallel of Poetry and Painting, 286
The Preface of M. de Piles, the French Translator, 333
VOLUME EIGHTEENTH.
Preface to a Dialogue concerning Women; being a Defence
of the Sex, 1
Character of M. St Evremont, 9
The Character of Polybius, 17
The Life of Lucian, 53
Dryden’s Letters, 83
Appendix, 183
Index, i
FINIS.
* * * * *
EDINBURGH:
Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.
DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.
The Binder is requested to pay particular attention to the placing of
the following Cancels in DRYDEN’S WORKS:--
Vol. I. Pages 29, 75.
II. Page 3. (Advert. ), Pages 15, 111, 469, and add pages 471-2.
III. Page 429, to be found in the last sheet of Vol. VI.
VII. Page 317.
IX. Page 435.
XI. Add pages 161-2 after the Title, “Odes, Songs, and Lyrical
Pieces. ”
XII. Contents.
XIII. Pages 97, 297.
The Cancels will be found put up with Vol. II.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Mr Walsh was born in 1663, and in 1691 must have been twenty-eight
years old. Still he was but a youth in the eyes of Dryden, who was now
advanced in life.
[2] Mr Malone observes, that, according to Antony Wood, (_Ath. Oxon. _
ii. 423. ) this was not said _of_ Waller, but _by_ that poet, of Sir
John Denham. --“In the latter end of the year 1641, Sir John published
the tragedy called the ‘Sophy,’ which took extremely much, and was
admired by all ingenious men, particularly by Edmund Waller of
Beaconsfield, who then said of the author, that he broke out, like the
Irish rebellion, threescore thousand strong, before any body was aware,
or the least suspected it. ” Mr Malone adds, that the observation is
more applicable to Denham than to Waller; for Denham, from the age of
sixteen, when he went to Trinity College, in Oxford, November 18, 1631,
to the time of his father’s death, January 6, 1638-9, was considered as
a dull and dissipated young man; whereas Waller distinguished himself,
as a poet, before he was eighteen. Besides, the “Sophy” was published
just when the Irish rebellion broke out.
[3] In one passage of the Dialogue, our author’s version of the sixth
satire of Juvenal is mentioned with commendation; and in another, the
tragedy of “Aureng-Zebe” is quoted.
[4] St Evremont wrote “Observations on Segrais’ Translation of Virgil. ”
[5]
----“He at Philippi kept
His sword even like a dancer;----
----he alone
Dealt on lieutenancy, and no practice had
In the brave squares of war. ”
_Antony and Cleopatra. _
[6] A tragedy by Racine. St Evremont, in a dissertation on this play,
addressed to Madame Borneau, severely reprobates the fault so common in
French tragedy, of making a play, though the scene is laid in ancient
Rome or India, centre and turn upon Parisian manners. He concludes,
that Corneille is the only author of the nation that displays a true
taste for antiquity.
[7] The full title is, “The History of Polybius the Megalopolitan;
containing a general Account of the Transactions of the World, and
principally of the Roman People during the first and second Punic Wars.
Translated by Sir H. S. To which is added a Character of Polybius and
his Writings, by Mr Dryden, 1693. ”
[8] Where he enumerates the translators of Lucian in the Supplement to
his Life.
[9] Vol. VIII. p. 203.
[10] “History of Polybius, the five first bookes entire, with all the
parcels of subsequent bookes unto the eighteenth, according to the
Greeke original. Also, the manner of the Romane encamping. Translated
into English, by Edward Grimestone, sergeant at armes. ” London, 1634.
Folio.
[11] From these expressions, one would suppose Sir Henry Shere to
have been a seaman, which may also be conjectured from his writing an
“Essay on the certainty and causes of the Earth’s Motion on its Axis;”
and a “Discourse concerning the Mediterranean Sea and the Straits of
Gibraltar;” the one published in 1698, the other in 1705. The naval
and military professions were, however, formerly accounted less
absolutely distinct branches of service than at present. Many officers
distinguished themselves in both. Mr Malone may therefore be right in
conjecturing Sir Henry Shere to have been a soldier, though his studies
would argue him a seaman or engineer.
[12] _Polybii Lycortæ F. Megalopolites Historiarum Libri, qui
supersunt, Gr. Lat. Isaacus Casaubonus, ex antiquis libris emendavit,
Lat. vertit et commentariis illustravit. Accessit Æneæ vetustissimi
Tactici commentarius de toleranda obsidione. Isaaeus Casaubonus primus
vulgavit, Latinam interpretationem ac notas adjecit. Parisiis, 1609,
Folio. _
[13] “The fame of Nicholas the Fifth, (who sat in the papal chair
from 1447 to 1455,) has not,” says Mr Gibbon,--_Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire_, vi. 429, 4to. ) “been adequate to his merits.
From
a plebeian origin, he raised himself, by his virtue and learning.
The character of the man prevailed over the interests of the pope;
and he sharpened those weapons, which were soon pointed against the
Roman church. He had been the friend of the most eminent scholars of
the age; he became their patron; and such was the humility of his
manners, that the change was scarcely discernible, either to them or
to himself. If he pressed the acceptance of a liberal gift, it was not
as the measure of desert, but as the proof of benevolence; and when
modest merit declined his bounty, ‘Accept it,’ would he say, with a
consciousness of his own worth; ‘you will not always have a Nicholas
among ye. ’ The influence of the holy see pervaded Christendom; and he
exerted that influence in the search, not of benefices, but of books.
From the ruins of the Byzantine libraries, from the darkest monasteries
of Germany and Britain, he collected the dusty manuscripts of the
writers of antiquity; and wherever the original could not be removed,
a faithful copy was transcribed, and transmitted for his use. The
Vatican, the old repository for bulls and legends, for superstition
and forgery, was daily replenished with more precious furniture; and
such was the industry of Nicholas, that, in a reign of eight years,
he formed a library of five thousand volumes. To his munificence,
the Latin world was indebted for the versions of Xenophon, Diodorus,
Polybius, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Appian; of Strabo’s Geography;
of the Iliad; of the most valuable works of Plato and Aristotle; of
Ptolemy and Theophrastus; and of the fathers of the Greek church. The
example of the Roman pontiff was preceded, or imitated, by a Florentine
merchant, who governed the republic without arms, and without a title.
Cosmo, of Medicis, was the father of a line of princes, whose name and
age are almost synonymous with the restoration of learning. His credit
was ennobled into fame; his riches were dedicated to the service of
mankind; he corresponded at once with Cairo and London, and a cargo
of Indian spices and Greek books was imported in the same vessel. The
genius and education of his grandson, Lorenzo, rendered him not only a
patron, but a judge and candidate in the literary race. In his palace,
distress was entitled to relief, and merit to reward. His leisure
hours were delightfully spent in the Platonic academy; he encouraged
the emulation of Demetrius Chalcocondyles and Angelo Politian; and
his active missionary, Janus Lascaris, returned from the East with a
treasure of two hundred manuscripts, fourscore of which were as yet
unknown in the libraries of Europe. The rest of Italy was animated by
a similar spirit, and the progress of the nation repaid the liberality
of the princes. The Latins held the exclusive property of their
own literature; and these disciples of Greece were soon capable of
transmitting and improving the lessons which they had imbibed. After a
short succession of foreign teachers, the tide of emigration subsided;
but the language of Constantinople was spread beyond the Alps; and the
natives of France, Germany, and England, imparted to their country the
sacred fire which they had kindled in the schools of Florence and Rome. ”
[14] Our author recollected the following panegyric on Pope Nicholas,
in the Dedication of Casaubon’s edition of Polybius, to Henry IV. of
France:
“_Quum enim a pluribus retro sæculis, in principum animis, toto
Occidente, amor politioris literaturæ et Græci sermonis excoluisset;
accidit non sine numine profecto, ut circa illa ipsa tempora
Byzantinæ cladis, et paullo ante, summi in Europa viri et principes
generossissimi hunc veternum ceu virgula divina tacti, opportune
excuterent, et ad bene merendum de studiis politioribus et de linguis,
ardore incredibili accenderentur. Prima terrarum Italia ad hanc
palmam occupandam, è diuturno torpore tunc demum expergefacta, sese
concitavit, et nationibus aliis per Europam, exemplum quod imitarentur
præbuit. In ipsa verò Italia, ad certamen adeo gloriosum, Nicolaus
Quintus Pontifex Maximus, in cujus extrema tempora Byzantini imperii
eversio incidit, princeps, quod equidem sciam, signum sustulit. Nam et
literarum dicitur fuisse intelligentissimus; et,_ _quod res arguit,
earum amore erat flagrantissimus. Primus hic, illa ætate, libros
antiquorum scriptorum sedulo conquirere curæ habuit; magnamque earum
copiam in Vaticanam intulit; primus cum assiduis hortatibus, tum
ingentibus etiam propositis præmiis, ad meliorem literaturam è tenebris
oblivionis in lucem revocandam, homines Italos stimulavit: primus,
Græcæ linguæ auctores omnis sincerioris doctrinæ esse promos condos qui
uon ignoraret, ut Latino sermone exprimerentur, vehementissime optavit,
et efficere contendit_. ”
[15] That is, the first five books.
[16] Polybius, the historian, was born at Megalopolis, in Arcadia,
in the fourth year of the 143d Olympiad, about 205 years before the
Christian æra. Being carried to Rome as an hostage, he became the
companion and friend of the younger Scipio Africanus; accompanied him
in his campaigns; and is said to have witnessed the destruction of
Carthage, in the 158th Olympiad. Having returned to his native country,
he died in the 164th Olympiad, 124 years before Christ, in consequence
of a fall from his horse.
The history of Polybius embraced the space from the first year of the
140th to the first of the 153d Olympiad, being fifty-three years.
[17] Nicolo Peretti published a Latin version of the first five books
of Polybius, at Rome, in 1473, folio. The first Greek edition appeared
in 1530; the second at Basle, in 1549. The last is most esteemed.
[18] “Plutarch tells us, that Brutus was thus employed the day before
the battle of Pharsalia. ‘It was the middle of summer; the heats
were intense, the marshy situation of the camp disagreeable, and his
tent-bearers were long in coming. Nevertheless, though extremely
harassed and fatigued, he did not anoint himself till noon; and then
taking a morsel of bread, while others were at rest, or musing on the
event of the ensuing day, he employed himself till the evening in
writing an epitome of Polybius. ”--MALONE.
[19] With a thousand of his countrymen, whom the Romans ordered thither
as hostages, after the conquest of Macedonia.
[20] A. U. C. 608.
[21] A. U. C. 607.
[22] The word _and_ renders this passage ungrammatical. --MALONE.
[23] Mr Malone justly conjectures, that Dryden here thought of his old
master James II. , whose economy bordered on penury, and whose claims of
prerogative approached to tyranny.
[24] Philip de Commines, author of the excellent Memoirs of his
own time. He was born in Flanders, and was for several years a
distinguished ornament of the court of Charles the Bold, Duke of
Burgundy, his native sovereign; but was tempted to divert his service
for that of Louis XI. by whom he was employed in several negociations.
After the death of that monarch, Commines fell into disgrace with his
successor, and was long detained in prison: he died in 1509. It was of
this historian Catherine de Medicis was wont to say, “that he made as
many heretics in the state, as Luther in the Church. ”
[25] In the year of Rome 568.
[26] I believe the most enthusiastic admirers of Livy must tire of
these unvaried prodigies. _Et bos locutus_ occurs as often, and is
mentioned with as much indifference, as a nomination of sheriffs in
Hall, Stowe, or Speed.
[27] See Vol. XIII. p. 68. where our author, in his “Essay on Satire,”
controverts keenly the position of Casaubon.
[28] In his thirty-eight year, forty-three being the legal age.
[29] The elegant translator, however, gives us no information on
that subject; his preface being principally a panegyric upon good
discipline, which, without much risque of contradiction, he affirms to
be the “substance and sum total of military science. ”
[30] Thomas Stanley’s “History of Philosophy,” &c. was published in
folio, in detached parts, between 1655 and 1660; and reprinted entire
in 1687.
[31] A. D. 375. Rufinus was chief prefect of the East. The person here
alluded to was only count of fifteen provinces. Dryden, writing from
memory, confounded the offices of the murderer and murdered. See the
next note.
[32] Gibbon thus narrates the catastrophe:--“The extreme parsimony
of Rufinus left him only the reproach and envy of ill-gotten wealth.
His dependents served him without attachment; the universal hatred of
mankind was repressed only by the influence of servile fear. The fate
of Lucian proclaimed to the East, that the prefect, whose industry
was much abated in the dispatch of ordinary business, was active and
indefatigable in the pursuit of revenge. Lucian, (the son of the
prefect Florentius, the oppressor of Gaul, and the enemy of Julian,)
had employed a considerable part of his inheritance, the fruit of
rapine and corruption, to purchase the friendship of Rufinus, and the
high office of Count of the East. But the new magistrate imprudently
departed from the maxims of the court and of the times; disgraced his
benefactor, by the contrast of a virtuous and temperate administration;
and presumed to refuse an act of injustice, which might have tended to
the profit of the emperor’s uncle. Arcadius was easily persuaded to
resent the supposed insult; and the prefect of the East resolved to
execute in person the cruel vengeance which he meditated against this
ungrateful delegate of his power. He performed, with incessant speed,
the journey of seven or eight hundred miles, from Constantinople to
Antioch, entered the capital of Syria at the dead of night, and spread
universal consternation among a people ignorant of his design, but not
ignorant of his character. The count of the fifteen provinces of the
East was dragged, like the vilest malefactor, before the arbitrary
tribunal of Rufinus. Notwithstanding the clearest evidence of his
integrity, which was not impeached even by the voice of an accuser,
Lucian was condemned, almost without a trial, to suffer a cruel and
ignominious punishment. The ministers of the tyrant, by the order, and
in the presence, of their master, beat him on the neck with leather
thongs, armed at the extremities with lead; and when he fainted under
the violence of the pain, he was removed in a close litter to conceal
his dying agonies from the eyes of the indignant city. No sooner
had Rufinus perpetrated this inhuman act, the sole object of his
expedition, than he returned amidst the deep and silent curses of a
trembling people, from Antioch to Constantinople; and his diligence was
accelerated by the hope of accomplishing, without delay, the nuptials
of his daughter with the emperor of the East. ”--GIBBON’S _Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. iii. p. 209.
The punctuation throughout this piece is so inaccurate, and the
paragraphs so strangely divided, that it must have been printed from
a copy very carelessly written. In the present passage, we find
_Rafiany_, instead of _Rufinus_. MALONE.
[33] A. D. 312. He suffered for favouring the Arians. MALONE.
[34] A. D. 415. He was minister of Caphargamala, and pretended to have
been instructed by a dream of the burial place of the proto-martyr
Stephen, Gamaliel, and other saints. See GIBBON’S _History_, vol. iii.
p. 97.
Several other persons of this name, besides those here mentioned, are
enumerated by Fabricius. _Bibl. Græc. _ iv. 508.
[35] Dr Franklin seems disposed to fix on the year 90.
[36] _Procurator principis_. Under Marcus Aurelius.
[37] See _Juv. _ sat. i. 44. ; vii. 148. ; xv. 111. _Quintil. _ lib. x.
cap. 3.
[38] Dr Jasper Mayne, who published a translation of some select
dialogues of Lucian, in folio, in 1664.
[39] I follow Mr Malone in reading _might_; the printed copy has _must_.
[40] This is a gross mistake, 180 years intervening between the death
of Aurelius and the reign of Julian.
[41] Nicolas Perrot, Sieur d’Ablancourt, whose translation of the
Dialogues of Lucian into French was first published at Paris in 1634.
His continuation of the true history of Lucian is very much in the tone
of the original.
[42] This observation had been made by Gilbertas Cognatus, and by
Thomas Hickes, in his Life of Lucian, printed in 1634. MALONE.
[43] Entitled “Philopatris. ” The Christian religion, and its mysteries,
are ridiculed in this piece with very little ceremony.
[44] Gesner has written a long Latin essay upon this point, which is
subjoined to the third volume of Lucian’s works, in the 4to edition of
Hemsterhucius.
[45] I follow Mr Malone in reading _eclectic_ for _elective_.
[46] The best judges have condemned Εταιρικοι Διαλογοι, or
“Dialogues of the Harlots,” as not being genuine. They are at any rate
gross and devoid of humour.
[47] I presume a cant phrase for a graft from that garden of knowledge.
[48] The work alluded to, which was written by the Rev. Dr John
Eachard, (Master of Catharine Hall, in Cambridge, and author of the
“Grounds of the Contempt of the Clergy,”) was published in 1671, and
was entitled “Mr Hobbes’s State of Nature considered; in a Dialogue
between Philautus and Timothy. ” MALONE.
[49] This gentleman, whom our author has again mentioned with esteem,
in the “Parallel of Poetry and Painting,” (Vol. XVII. p. 312. ) was
the son of Sir Walter Moyle, and was born in the year 1672. He was
educated to the study of law, and became a member of Parliament in
1695. He composed a variety of treatises, on various subjects, which
are comprised in a collection of three volumes 8vo, the last being
posthumous. Mr Moyle died in 1721.
[50] Charles Blount, the son of Sir Henry, and brother to Sir Edward
Pope Blount. He early appeared as a defender and admirer of Dryden, by
publishing an answer to Leigh’s “Censure of the Rota in the Conquest
of Granada. ” It was entitled, “Mr Dryden vindicated, in Reply to the
Friendly Vindication of Mr Dryden, with Reflections on the Rota. ”
Mr Blount distinguished himself as a friend to civil liberty during
the crisis preceding the Revolution; but was still better known by
the deistical tracts entitled “_Anima Mundi_,” “Life of Appolonius
Tyaneus,” “Diana of the Ephesians,” and the “_Religio Laici_,” which
last he published anonymously in 1683, and inscribed to our author.
The death of Blount was voluntary. Having lost his wife, the daughter
of Sir Timothy Tyrrel of Shotover, he fell in love with her sister, and
being unable to remove her scruples upon the lawfulness of their union,
shot himself in a fit of despair, in August 1693. His miscellaneous
works were published by Galden in 1695.
He was a man of deep and extensive reading, and probably better
qualified, in point of learning, to translate Lucian, than most of his
coadjutors.
[51] This and two or three other passages shew, that this life was
written hastily, and that it had not been carefully revised by the
author. MALONE.
[52] Ferrand Spence, who published a translation of Lucian’s Dialogues
in four volumes, 8vo, in 1684.
[53] Francis Hickes published a translation of Select Dialogues from
Lucian, 4to, 1634.
[54] Vol XVII. p. 1.
[55] Mr Malone substitutes _lost_ for _left_.
[56] The lady to whom this letter is addressed was our author’s first
cousin, one of the daughters of his uncle, Sir John Dryden. She
probably was born, (says Mr Malone,) about the year 1637, and died,
unmarried, some time after 1707.
The seal, (he adds,) under which runs a piece of blue ribband, is a
crest of a demi-lion, on a wreath, holding in his paws an armillary
sphere at the end of a stand. The letter seems in reply to one from the
fair lady, with a present of writing materials. It is a woeful sample
of the gallantry of the time, alternately coarse and pedantic.
[57] Person _quasi_ parson, which word was originally so spelled. The
custom of preaching by an hour-glass has been before noticed.
[58] A copy of this letter is in the Museum, MSS. Harl. 7003. The
Dedication alluded to, must have been that of “Marriage A-la-Mode,” to
which Rochester had replied by a letter of thanks; and we have here
Dryden’s reply. (See Vol. I. p. 181, and Vol. IV. p. 235. ) The date is
supplied by Mr Malone from internal evidence.
[59] Lord Rochester translated some part of Lucretius.
[60] In the year 1672, Monsieur Schomberg was invited into England to
command the army raised for the Dutch war, then encamped on Blackheath.
He was to be joined in this command with Villiers, Duke of Buckingham,
who held a commission of lieutenant-general only. But when Schomberg
arrived, he refused to serve equally with Buckingham, and was made
general; on which the other resigned his commission in disgust. (See
Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham’s _Memoirs_, p. 5. ) Dryden, still
smarting under the “Rehearsal,” just then come out, was probably not
sorry to take this opportunity to turn the author’s pretensions into
ridicule.
[61] Eight thousand land forces were embarked on board the English
fleet to make a descent in Zealand.
[62] Sir John Eaton was a noted writer of songs at the time.
[63] Mr Malone conjectures Tregonwell Frampton, keeper of the royal
stud at Newmarket; who was born in 1641, and died in 1727. Brother John
must remain in obscurity.
[64] Probably the grandson of Sir George Hume, created Earl of Dunbar
by James the First, in 1605.
[65] Henry Brouncker, younger brother of William, Viscount Brouncker.
He was a gentleman of the Duke of York’s bed-chamber, and carried the
false order to slacken sail, after the great battle in 1665, when
the Duke was asleep, by which the advantage gained in the victory
was entirely lost. There is a great cloud over the story; but that
Brouncker was an infamous character, must be concluded on all hands. He
was expelled the House of Commons; and countenanced by the king more
than he deserved, being “never notorious for any thing but the highest
degree of impudence, and stooping to the most infamous offices. ”
--Continuation of Clarendon’s Life, quoted by Malone.
