" be after another manner than this; and " I will bestow a thousand pounds on a " monument in the Abbey for him." The gentlemen in the coaches, not knowing of "the bishop of Rochester's favour, nor of "the lord Halifax's generous design (they " both having, out of respect to the family, enjoined the lady Elizabeth and her fon to 66 keep their favour concealed to the world, " and let it pass for their own expence) readily came out of the coaches, and attended "lord Jefferies up to the lady's bedside, who was then fick; he repeated the purport " of what he had before faid; but she ab solutely refusing, he fell on his knees, vowing never to rise till his request was granted. The rest of the company by his " defire kneeled also; and the lady, being " under a sudden surprize, fainted away. As foon as the recovered her speech, she cried, No, no. Enough, gentlemen, replied he; my lady is very good, she says, Go, go. She repeated her former words " with all her strength, but in vain; for "her feeble voice was lost in their accla"mations of joy, and the lord Jefferies or"dered the hearsemen to carry the corpfe to Mr. Russel's, an undertaker's in Cheap " fide, and leave it there till he should fend " orders for the embalment, which, he add"ed, should be after the royal manner. "His directions were obeyed, the company " dispersed, and lady Elizabeth and her fon “ remained inconfolable. The next day " Mr. Charles Dryden waited on the lord "Halifax and the bishop, to excuse his mo"ther and himself, by relating the real truth. "But neither his lordship nor the bishop " would admit of any plea; especially the " latter, who had the Abbey lighted, the " ground opened, the choir attending, an " anthem ready fet, and himself waiting for " some time without any corpse to bury. "The undertaker, after three days expec tance of orders for embalment without re"ceiving any, waited on the lord Jefferies; " who pretending ignorance of the matter, " turned it off with an ill-natured jest, say ing, That those who observed the orders " of a drunken frolick deserved no better, " that he remembered nothing at all of it; " and that he might do what he pleased with "the corpse. Upon this, the undertaker " waited upon the lady Elizabeth and her "fon, and threatened to bring the corpfe home, and fet it before the door. They " defired " desired a day's respite, which was granted. "Mr. Charles Dryden wrote a handfome "letter to the lord Jefferies, who returned it " with this cool answer, "That he knew nothing of the matter, and would be trou"bled no more about it." He then addreff"ed the lord Halifax and the bishop of Rochester, who absolutely refused to do any thing in it. In this distress Dr. Garth fent " for the corpse to the College of Physicians, " and proposed a funeral by subscription, to " which himself fet a most noble example. At last a day, about three weeks after Mr. Dryden's decease, was appointed for the " interment: Dr. Garth pronounced a fine "Latin oration, at the College, over the corpse; which was attended to the Abbey by a numerous train of coaches. When " the funeral was over, Mr. Charles Dryden "sent a challenge to the lord Jefferies, who refusing to answer it, hesent several others, " and went often himself; but could neis "ther get a letter delivered, nor admittance to speak to him: which so incenfed him, " that he refolved, since his lordship refused " to answer him like a gentleman, that he " would watch an opportunity to meet, and " fight off-hand, though with all the rules "of 3 " of honour; which his lordship hearing, " left the town: and Mr. Charles Dryden "could never have the fatisfaction of meet ing him, though he fought it till his death " with the utmost application." This story I once intended to omit, as it appears with no great evidence; nor have I met with any confirmation, but in a letter of Farquhar, and he only relates that the funeral of Dryden was tumultuary and confused. Supposing the story true, we may remark that the gradual change of manners, though imperceptible in the process, appears great when different times, and those not very diftant, are compared. If at this time a young drunken Lord should interrupt the pompous regularity of a magnificent funeral, what would be the event, but that he would be justled out of the way, and compelled to be quiet? If he should thrust himself into a house, he would be fent roughly away; and what is yet more to the honour of the present time, I believe, that those who had fubscribed to the funeral of a man like Dryden, would not, for fuch an accident, have withdrawn their contributions. He He was buried among the poets in Westminster Abbey, where, though the duke of Newcastle had, in a general dedication prefixed by Congreve to his dramatick works, accepted thanks for his intention of erecting him a monument, he lay long without distinction, till the duke of Buckinghamshire gave him a tablet, inscribed only with the name of DRYDEN. He married the lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the earl of Berkshire, with circumstances, according to the fatire imputed to lord Somers, not very honourable to either party: by her he had three fons, Charles, John, and Henry. Charles was usher of the palace to pope Clement the XIth, and vifiting England in 1704, was drowned in an attempt to swim cross the Thames at Windfor. John was author of a comedy called The Husband his own Cuckold. He is faid to have died at Rome. Henry entered into some religious order. It is some proof of Dryden's fincerity in his second religion, that he taught it to his fons. A man confcious of hypocritical profeffion in himself, is not likely to convert others; and as his fons VOL. II. were |