cenfure; but he leffens the fmart of his wounds by the balm of his own approbation, and endeavours to repel the fhafts of criticism by opposing a shield of adamantine confidence. The perpetual accufation produced against him, was that of plagiarism, against which he never attempted any vigorous defence; for, though he was perhaps fometimes injurioufly cenfured, he would by denying part of the charge have confeffed the reft; and as his adversaries had the proof in their own hands, he, who knew that wit had little power against facts, wifely left in that perplexity which generality produces, a queftion which it was his intereft to fupprefs, and which, unless provoked by vindication, few were likely to examine. Though the life of a writer, from about thirtyfive to fixty-three, may be fuppofed to have been fufficiently bufied by the compofition of eight and twenty pieces for the stage, Dryden found room in the fame space for many other undertakings. But, how much foever he wrote, he was at least once fufpected of writing more; for in 1679 a paper of verses, called an Effay on Satire, was fhewn about in manufcript, by which the earl of Rochefter, the dutchefs of Portsmouth, and others, were fo much provoked, that, as was fuppofed, for the actors were never discovered, they procured Dryden, whom they fufpected as the author, to be waylaid and beaten. This incident is mentioned by the duke of Buckinghamshire, the true writer, in his Art of Poetry: where he fays of Dryden, Though prais'd and beaten for another's rhymes, His reputation in time was fuch, that his name was thought neceffary to the fuccefs of every poetical or literary performance, and therefore he was engaged to contribute fomething, whatever it might be, to many publications. He prefixed the Life of Polybius to the tranflation of Sir Henry Sheers ; and thofe of Lucian and Plutarch to verfions of their works by different hands. Of the English Tacitus he tranflated the first book; and, if Gordon be credited, tranflated it from the French. Such a charge can hardly be mentioned without fome degree of indignation; but it is not, I fuppose, so much to be inferred that Dryden wanted the literature neceffary to the perusal of Tacitus, as that, confidering himself as hidden in a crowd, he had no awe of the publick; and writing merely for money, was contented to get it by the nearest way. In 1680, the Epiftles of Ovid being translated by the poets of the time, among which one was the work of Dryden, and another of Dryden and Lord Mulgrave, it was neceffary to introduce them by a preface; and Dryden, who on fuch occafions was regularly fummoned, prefixed a difcourfe upon tranflation, which was then ftruggling for the liberty that it now enjoys. Why it should find any difficulty in breaking the fhackles of verbal interpretation, which must for ever debar it from elegance, it would be difficult to conjecture, were not the power of prejudice every day obferved. The authority of Jonfon, Sandys, and Holiday, had fixed the judgment of the nation ; and it was not eafily believed that 'a better D 2 better way could be found than they had taken, though Fanfhaw, Denham, Waller, and Cowley, had tried to give examples of a different practice. In 1681, Dryden became yet more confpicuous. by uniting politicks with poetry, in the memorable fatire called Abfalom and Achitophel, written against the faction which, by lord Shaftesbury's incitement, fet the duke of Monmouth at its head. Of this poem, in which personal fatire was applied to the support of publick principles, and in which therefore every mind was interested, the reception was eager, and the sale so large, that my father, an old bookfeller, told me, he had not known it equalled but by Sacheverell's trial. The reafon of this general perufal Addison has attempted to derive from the delight which the mind feels in the investigation of secrets; and thinks that curiofity to decypher the names procured readers to the poem. There is no need to enquire why those verses were read, which, to all the attractions of wit, elegance, and harmony, added the co-operation of all the factious paffions, and filled every mind with triumph or refentment. It could not be fuppofed that all the provocation given by Dryden would be endured without refiftance or reply. Both his perfon and his party were expofed in their turns to the fhafts of fatire, which, though neither fo well pointed nor perhaps fo well aimed, undoubtedly drew blood. One of these poems is called Dryden's Satire on his Mufe; afcribed, though, as Pope fays, falfely, to Somers, who was afterwards Chancellor. The poem, whofe foever it was, has much virulence, and fome fome fpritelinefs. The writer tells all the ill that he can collect both of Dryden and his friends. The poem of Abfalom and Achitophel had two answers, now both forgotten; one called Azaria and Hubai; the other Abfalom fenior. Of these hoftile compofitions, Dryden apparently imputes Abfalom fenior to Settle, by quoting in his verfes againft him the fecond line. Azaria and Hubai was, as Wood fays, imputed to him, though it is fomewhat unlikely that he should write twice on the fame occafion. This is a difficulty which I cannot remove, for want of a minuter knowledge of poetical transactions. The fame year he published the Medal, of which the fubject is a medal struck on lord Shaftesbury's efcape from a profecution, by the ignoramus of a grand jury of Londoners. In both poems he maintains the fame principles, and faw them both attacked by the fame antagonist. Elkanah Settle, who had anfwered Abfalom, appeared with equal courage in oppofition to the Medal, and published an answer called The Medal reverfed, with fo much fuccefs in both encounters, that he left the palm doubtful, and divided the fuffrages of the nation. Such are the revolutions of fame, or fuch is the prevalence of fashion, that the man whose works have not yet been thought to de ferve the care of collecting them; who died forgotten in an hofpital; and whofe latter years were spent in contriving fhows for fairs, and carrying an elegy or epithalamium, of which the beginning and end were occafionally varied, but the intermediate parts were always the fame, to every house where D 3 there there was a funeral or a wedding; might, with truth, have had infcribed upon his stone, Here lies the Rival and Antagonist of Dryden. Settle was, for this rebellion, feverely chastised by Dryden under the name of Doeg, in the fecond part of Abfalom and Achitophel, and was perhaps for his factious audacity made the city poet, whose annual office was to defcribe the glories of the Mayor's day. Of thefe bards he was the laft, and feems not much to have deferved even this degree of regard, if it was paid to his political opinions; for he afterwards wrote a panegyrick on the virtues of Judge Jefferies, and what more could have been done by the meaneft zealot for prerogative? Of tranflated fragments, or occafional poems, to enumerate the titles, or fettle the dates would be tedious, with little ufe. It may be obferved, that as Dryden's genius was commonly excited by fome perfonal regard, he rarely writes upon a general topick. Soon after the acceffion of king James, when the defign of reconciling the nation to the church of Rome became apparent, and the religion of the court gave the only efficacious title to its favours, Dryden declared himself a convert to popery. This at any other time might have paffed with little cenfure. Sir Kenelm Digby embraced popery; the two Rainolds reciprocally converted one another; and Chillingworth himself was a while fo entangled in the wilds of controverfy, as to retire for quiet to an infallible church. If men of argument |