Chapter XLIV: Section X: Misfortunes of Dryden's Old Age

This was one of his last works;[480] brilliant and poetical, it was born amidst the greatest sadness. The king for whom he had written was deposed and in exile; the religion which he had embraced was despised and oppressed; a Roman Catholic and a royalist, he was bound to a conquered party, which the nation resentfully and distrustfully considered as the natural enemy of liberty and reason. He had lost the two places which were his support; he lived wretchedly, burdened with a family, obliged to support his sons abroad; treated as a hireling by a coarse publisher, forced to ask him for money to pay for a watch which he could not get on credit, beseeching Lord Bolingbroke to protect him against Tonson's insults, rated by this shopkeeper when the promised page was not finished on the stated day. His enemies persecuted him with pamphlets; the severe Collier lashed his comedies unfeelingly; he was damned without pity, but conscientiously. He had long been in ill health, crippled, constrained to write much, reduced to exaggerate flattery in order to earn from the great the indispensable money which the publishers would not give him:[481] "What Vergil wrote in the vigor of his age, in plenty and at ease, I have undertaken to translate in my declining years; struggling with wants, oppressed with sickness, curbed in my genius, liable to be misconstrued in all I write; and my judges, if they are not very equitable, already prejudiced against me, by the lying character which has been given them of my morals."[482] Although he looked at his conduct from the most favorable point of view, he knew that it had not always been worthy, and that all his writings would not endure. Born between two epochs, he had oscillated between two forms of life and two forms of thought, having reached the perfection of neither, having kept the faults of both; having discovered in surrounding manners no support worthy of his character, and in surrounding ideas no subject worthy of his talent. If he had founded criticism and good style, this criticism had only its scope in pedantic treatises or unconnected prefaces; this good style continued out of the track in inflated tragedies, dispersed over multiplied translations, scattered in occasional pieces, in odes written to order, in party poems, meeting only here and there an afflatus capable of employing it, and a subject capable of sustaining it. What gigantic efforts to end in such a moderate result! This is the natural condition of man. The end of everything is pain and agony. For a long time gravel and gout left him no peace; erysipelas seized one of his legs. In April, 1700, he tried to go out; "a slight inflammation in one of his toes became, from neglect, a gangrene;" the doctor would have tried amputation, but Dryden decided that what remained to him of health and happiness was not worth the pain. He died at the age of sixty-nine.

[Footnote 376: Dryden's Works, ed. Sir Walter Scott, 2d ed. 18 vols. 1821, XI. 94.]

[Footnote 377: Rapin (1621-1687), a French Jesuit, a modern Latin poet and literary critic. Bossu, or properly Lebossu (1631-1680), wrote a "Traité du Poème épique," which had a great success in its day. Both critics are now completely forgotten.--Tr.]

[Footnote 378: In his "Defence of the Epilogue of the Second Part of the Conquest of Granada," IV. 226, Dryden says: "Now, if they ask me, whence it is that our conversation is so much refined, I must freely, and without flattery, ascribe it to the court."]

[Footnote 379: "Heroic stanzas to the memory of Oliver Cromwell."]

[Footnote 380: "Defence of the Epilogue of the Second Part of the Conquest of Granada," IV. 213.]

[Footnote 381: Preface to "Troilus and Cressida," VI. 239.]

[Footnote 382: "Defence of the Epilogue of the Conquest of Granada," IV. 219.]

[Footnote 383: "Defence of the Epilogue of the Conquest of Granada," IV. 225-228.]

[Footnote 384: Preface to "All for Love," V. 306.]

[Footnote 385: "An Essay of Dramatic Poesy," XV. 337-341.]

[Footnote 386: "An Essay of Dramatic Poesy," XV. 343.]

[Footnote 387: In the preface of "All for Love," V. 308, Dryden says: "In this nicety of manners does the excellency of French poetry consist. Their heroes are the most civil people breathing, but their good breeding seldom extends to a word of sense; all their wit is in their ceremony; they want the genius which animates our stage.... Thus, their Hippolytus is so scrupulous in point of decency, that he will rather expose himself to death than accuse his stepmother to his father; and my critics, I am sure, will commend him for it: But we of grosser apprehensions are apt to think that this excess of generosity is not practicable but with fools and madmen."

"... But take Hippolytus out of his poetic fit, and I suppose he would think it a wiser part to set the saddle on the right horse, and chuse rather to live with the reputation of a plain-spoken honest man, than to die with the infamy of an incestuous villain.... (The poet) has chosen to give him the turn of gallantry, sent him to travel from Athens to Paris, taught him to make love, and transformed the Hippolytus of Euripides into Monsieur Hippolite." This criticism shows in a small compass all the common sense and freedom of thought of Dryden; but, at the same time, all the coarseness of his education and of his age.]

[Footnote 388: Epistle XIV. to Mr. Motteux, XI. 70.]

[Footnote 389: "Tyrannic Love," III. 2, I.]

[Footnote 390: Ibid.]

[Footnote 391: Ibid.]

[Footnote 392: "Tyrannic Love," III. 3, I. This Maximin has a turn for jokes. Porphyrius, to whom he offers his daughter in marriage, says that "the distance was so vast"; whereupon Maximin replies: "Yet heaven and earth, which so remote appear, are by the air, which flows betwixt them, near" (2, 1).]

[Footnote 393: Lulli (1633-1687), a renowned Italian composer. "Armide" is one of his chief works.--Tr.]

[Footnote 394: Christian Priest: "But we by martyrdom our faith avow." Montezuma: "You do no more than I for ours do now. To prove religion true, If either wit or sufferings would suffice, All faiths afford the constant and the wise, And yet even they, by education sway'd, In age defend what infancy obeyed." Christian Priest: "Since age by erring childhood is misled, Refer yourself to our unerring head." Montezuma: "Man, and not err! what reason can you give?" Christian Priest: "Renounce that carnal reason, and believe...." Pizarro: "Increase their pains, the cords are yet too slack." --"The Indian Emperor," V. 2.]

[Footnote 395: "Tyrannic Love," III. 5, 1. When dying Maximin says: "And shoving back this earth on which I sit, I'll mount, and scatter all the Gods I hit."]

[Footnote 396: "Aureng-Zebe," V. 4, 1. Dryden thought he was imitating Racine, when six lines further on he makes Nourmahal say: "I am not changed, I love my husband still; But love him as he was, when youthful grace And the first down began to shade his face: That image does my virgin-flames renew, And all your father shines more bright in you."

Racine's Phèdre (2, 5) thinks her husband Thesus dead, and says to her stepson Hippolytus: "Oui, prince, je languis, je brûle pour Thésée: Je l'aime... Mais fidèle, mais fier, et même un peu farouche, Charmant, jeune, traînant tous les coeurs après soi, Tel qu'on dépeint nos dieux, ou tel que je vous voi. Il avait votre port, vos yeux, votre langage; Cette noble pudeur colorait son visage."

According to a note in Sir Walter Scott's edition of Dryden's works, Langbaine traces this speech also to Seneca's Hippolytus.--Tr.]

[Footnote 397: "The Indian Emperor," I. 2.]

[Footnote 398: "Aureng-Zebe," V. 2, 1.]

[Footnote 399: "Marriage à la Mode," IV. 3, 1.]

[Footnote 400: "The first image I had of him was from the Achilles of Homer, the next from Tasso's Rinaldo, and the third from the Artaban of Monsieur Calpranède."--Preface to "Almanzor."]

[Footnote 401: "The Moors have heaven, and me, to assist their cause" "I'll whistle thy tame fortune after me" (3, 1).

He falls in love, and speaks thus:

"'Tis he; I feel him now in every part; Like a new lord he vaunts about my heart, Surveys in state each corner of my breast, While poor fierce I, that was, am dispossess'd'" (3, 1).]

[Footnote 402: Compare the song of the Zambra dance in the first part of "Almanzor and Almahide."]

[Footnote 403: The first part of "Almanzor and Almahide," IV. 5, 2.]

[Footnote 404: "The Indian Emperor," II. 1, 1.]

[Footnote 405: The first part of "Almanzor and Almahide," IV. 2, 1. This same Lyndaraxa says also to Abdalla (4, 2), "Poor women's thoughts are all extempore." These logical ladies can be very coarse; for example, this same damsel says in Act 2, 1, to the same lover, who entreats her to make him "happy, If I make you so, you shall pay my price."]

[Footnote 406: "He words me, girls; he words me, that I should not Be noble to myself; but hark thee, Charmian.... Now, Iras, what think'st thou? Thou, an Egyptian puppet shalt be shown In Rome, as well as I: mechanic slaves, With greasy aprons, rules and hammers, shall Uplift us to the view.... Saucy lictors Will catch at us, like strumpets; and scald rhymers Ballad us out o' tune; the quick comedians Extemporally will stage us, and present Our Alexandrian revels; Antony Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness I' the posture of a whore.... Husband, I come: Now to that name my courage prove my title! I am fire and air; my other elements I give to baser life. So; have you done? Come, then, and take the last warmth of my lips. Farewell, kind Charmian; Iras, long farewell.... Dost thou not see my baby at my breast, That sucks the nurse asleep?" --Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra," 5, 2.

These two last lines, referring to the asp, are sublime, as the bitter joke of a courtesan and an artist.]

[Footnote 407: Iras: "Call reason to assist you." Cleopatra: "I have none, And none would have: My love's a noble madness Which shews the cause deserved it: Modest sorrow Fits vulgar love, and for a vulgar man; But I have loved with such transcendent passion, I soared, at first, quite out of reason's view, And now am lost above it."--"All for Love," V. 2, 1.]

[Footnote 408: Cleop.: "Come to me, come, my soldier, to my arms! You've been too long away from my embraces; But, when I have you fast, and all my own, With broken murmurs, and with amorous sighs, I'll say, you were unkind, and punish you, And mark you red with many an eager kiss."--Ibid. V. 3, 1.]

[Footnote 409: Ibid. 4, 1.]

[Footnote 410: Dryden's Miranda says, in the "Tempest" (2, 2): "And if I can but escape with life, I had rather be in pain nine months, as my father threatened, than lose my longing." Miranda has a sister; they quarrel, are jealous of each other, and so on. See also in "The State of Innocence," 3, 1, the description which Eve gives of her happiness, and the ideas which her confidences suggest to Satan.]

[Footnote 411: This impotence reminds one of Casimir Delavigne.]

[Footnote 412: See the introductory notice, by Sir Walter Scott, of "All for Love," V. 290.]

[Footnote 413: Ibid. V. 307.]

[Footnote 414: Ibid. V. 319.]

[Footnote 415: "All for Love," V. 3, 1.]

[Footnote 416: "All for Love," V. 3, 1.]

[Footnote 417: Ibid. 4, 1.]

[Footnote 418: "All for Love," I, 1.]

[Footnote 419: Ibid.]

[Footnote 420: "All for Love," V., 1.]

[Footnote 421: Ibid.]

[Footnote 422: "All for Love," I., 1.]

[Footnote 423: Ibid. II., 1, end.]

[Footnote 424: "All for Love," V., 1.]

[Footnote 425: Monimia says, in the "Orphan" (5, end), when dying, "How my head swims! 'Tis very dark; good night."]

[Footnote 426: See the death of Pierre and Jaffier in "Venice Preserved" (5, last scene). Pierre, stabbed once, bursts into a laugh.]

[Footnote 427: Jaffier: "Oh, that my arms were rivetted Thus round thee ever! But my friends, my oath! This, and no more." (Kisses her.) Belvidera: "Another, sure another For that poor little one you've ta'en such care of; I'll giv't him truly." --"Venice Preserved," 5, 1.

There is jealousy in this last word.]

[Footnote 428: "Oh, thou art tender all, Gentle and kind, as sympathizing nature, Dove-like, soft and kind.... I'll ever live your most obedient wife, Nor ever any privilege pretend Beyond your will."--"Orphan," 4, 1.]

[Footnote 429: "Venice Preserved," III, 1. Antonio is meant as a copy of the "celebrated Earl of Shaftesbury, the lewdness of whose latter years," says Mr. Thornton in his edition of Otway's Works, 3 vols. 1815, "was a subject of general notoriety."--Tr.]

[Footnote 430: "The Soldier's Fortune," I, 1.]

[Footnote 431: "The Soldier's Fortune," I, 1.]

[Footnote 432: "Who'd be that sordid foolish thing called man, To cringe thus, fawn, and flatter for a pleasure, Which beasts enjoy so very much above him? The lusty bull ranges thro' all the field, And from the herd singling his female out, Enjoys her, and abandons her at will. It shall be so, I'll yet possess my love, Wait on, and watch her loose unguarded hours: Then, when her roving thoughts have been abroad, And brought in wanton wishes to her heart; I' th' very minute when her virtue nods, I'll rush upon her in a storm of love, Beat down her guard of honour all before me, Surfeit on joys, till ev'n desire grew sick; Then by long absence liberty regain. And quite forget the pleasure and the pain."--"The Orphan," I, 1.

It is impossible to see together more moral roguery and literary correctness.]

[Footnote 433: Page (to Monimia): "In the morning when you call me to you, And by your bed I stand and tell you stories, I am ashamed to see your swelling breasts; It makes me blush, they are so very white." Monimia: "Oh men, for flatt'ry and deceit renown'd!"--Ibid.]

[Footnote 434: Burns said, after his arrival in Edinburgh, "Between the man of rustic life and the polite world, I observed little difference.... But a refined and accomplished woman was a being altogether new to me, and of which I had formed but a very inadequate idea."--(Burns's Works, ed. Cunningham, 1832, 8 vols. I. 207.)]

[Footnote 435: Dryden says, in his "Essay on Satire," XIII. 30, "the staple to which my genius never much inclined me."]

[Footnote 436: "Essay on Satire," dedicated to the Earl of Dorset, XIII. 16.]

[Footnote 437: "Essay on Satire," XIII. 16.]

[Footnote 438: Ibid. 84.]

[Footnote 439: Dedication of the "Æneïs," XIV. 204.]

[Footnote 440: See Book III, chapter first, section IV.]

[Footnote 441: Ibid.]

[Footnote 442: Dedication of "The Indian Emperor," II. 261.]

[Footnote 443: Dedication of "Tyrannic Love," III. 347.]

[Footnote 444: He also says in the same epistle dedicatory: "All men will join me in the adoration which I pay you." To the Earl of Rochester he writes in a letter (XVIII. 90): "I find it is not for me to contend any way with your Lordship, who can write better on the meanest subject than I can on the best.... You are above any incense I can give you." In his dedication of the Fables (XI. 195) he compares the Duke of Ormond to Joseph, Ulysses, Lucullus, etc. In his fourth poetical epistle (XI. 20) he compares Lady Castlemaine to Cato.]

[Footnote 445: Dedication of the "Essay of Dramatic Poesy," XV. 286.]

[Footnote 446: See Andrew Marvell's Works, I. 210.]

[Footnote 447: "Marriage à la Mode," IV. 245.]

[Footnote 448: Scott's "Life of Dryden," I. 447.]

[Footnote 449: Letter 2, "to Mr. John Dennis," XVIII. 114.]

[Footnote 450: Letter 29, "to Mrs. Steward," XVIII. 144.]

[Footnote 451: "Essay of Dramatic Poesy," XV. 302.]

[Footnote 452: Preface to "An Evening's Love," III. 225.]

[Footnote 453: Letter 23, "to his sons at Rome," XVIII. 133.]

[Footnote 454: Scott's "Life of Dryden," I. 449.]

[Footnote 455: "Essay on Satire," XIII. 80.]

[Footnote 456: Preface to the Fables, VI. 238.]

[Footnote 457: Ibid.]

[Footnote 458: Ibid. XI. 209.]

[Footnote 459: Charles II.]

[Footnote 460: The Duke of Monmouth.]

[Footnote 461: The Earl of Shaftesbury: "Of these the false Achitophel was first, A name to all succeeding ages curst: For close designs and crooked counsels fit, Sagacious, bold and turbulent of wit-- Restless, unfixed in principles and place, In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace; A fiery soul, which working out its way, Fretted the pigmy body to decay And o'er-informed the tenement of clay. A daring pilot in extremity, Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high, He sought the storm; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. Great wits are sure to madness near allied And thin partitions do their bounds divide; Else, why should he, with wealth and honour blest, Refuse his age the needful hours of rest? Punish a body which he could not please, Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease? And all to leave what with his toil he won, To that unfeathered two-legged thing, a son, Got, while his soul did huddled notions try, And born a shapeless lump, like anarchy, In friendship false, implacable in hate, Resolved to ruin or to rule the state."]

[Footnote 462: The Duke of Buckingham.]

[Footnote 463: Slingsby Bethel.]

[Footnote 464: Mac Flecknoe.]

[Footnote 465: Mac Flecknoe.]

[Footnote 466: "Strong were our sires, and as they fought they writ, Conquering with force of arms and dint of wit: Theirs was the giant race before the flood, And thus, when Charles return'd, our empire stood. Like Janus, he the stubborn soil manured, With rules of husbandry the rankness cured; Tamed us to manners, when the stage was rude, And boisterous English wit with art endured.... But what we gain'd in skill we lost in strength, Our builders were with want of genius curst; The second temple was not like the first." --"Epistle 12 to Congreve," XI. 59.]

[Footnote 467: "Held up the buckler of the people's cause Against the crown, and skulk'd against the laws.... Desire of power, on earth a vicious weed, Yet, sprung from high, is of celestial seed!" --"Absalom and Achitophel," Part I.]

[Footnote 468: "Why then should I, encouraging the bad, Turn rebel, and run popularly mad?" --Ibid.]

[Footnote 469: "Though Huguenots contemn our ordination. Succession, ministerial vocation," etc. ("The Hind and the Panther," Part. II. 10. 166). Such are the harsh words we often find in his books.]

[Footnote 470: Preface to the "Religio Laid," X. 32.]

[Footnote 471: What Augustus says about Horace is charming, but cannot be quoted, even in Latin.]

[Footnote 472: Epistle 15, XI. 75.]

[Footnote 473: Beginning of "Religio Laici," X. 37.]

[Footnote 474: "The Hind and the Panther," Part I. lines 64-75, X. 121.]

[Footnote 475: "Theodore and Honoria," XI. 435.]

[Footnote 476: "The Hind and the Panther," Part III. lines 553-560, X. 214.]

[Footnote 477: "For her the weeping heavens become serene, For her the ground is clad in cheerful green, For her the nightingales are taught to sing, And nature for her has delayed the Spring."

These charming verses on the Duchess York remind one of those of La Fontaine in "Le Songe," addressed to the Princess of Conti.]

[Footnote 478: For instance, in the "Chant du Cirque."]

[Footnote 479: "Alexander's Feast," XI. 183-188.]

[Footnote 480: "Alexander's Feast" was written in 1697, soon after the publication of the Vergil. In 1699 appeared Dryden's translated tales and original poems, generally known as "The Fables," in which the portrait of the English country gentleman is to be found.--Tr.]

[Footnote 481: He was paid two hundred and fifty guineas for ten thousand lines.]

[Footnote 482: Postscript of Vergil's Works, as translated by Dryden, XV. p. 187.]

CHAPTER THIRD

The Revolution

Section I.--The Moral Revolution

With the constitution of 1688 a new spirit appears in England. Slowly, gradually, the moral revolution accompanies the social: man changes with the state, in the same sense and for the same causes; character moulds itself to the situation; and little by little, in manners and in literature, we see spring up a serious, reflective, moral spirit, capable of discipline and independence, which can alone maintain and give effect to a constitution.