95. Athens, etc. The Athenians put to death Phocion on a charge of treason (B. c. 317) and Socrates on a charge of impiety (B. C. 399). In both cases they later repented of their acts, and raised statues to the memory of their victims. 119. Jehu. v. 2 Kings ix. 20. 131. We loathe, etc. v. Numbers xi. 135. That kings, etc. A Tory maxim, still maintained as an English legal fiction. 145. The man, etc. Dryden is probably indebted, as Saintsbury shows, to Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, vii. 16. 2. The story goes back ultimately to an anecdote concerning Marcus Licinius Crassus Agelastus (the never-laughing), the grandfather of the triumvir: v. C. Lucilii Carminum Reliquia, ed. F. Marx, Leipzig, 1904, vol. i, p. 89; vol. ii, pp. 412-414. 130, 149. The witnesses, etc. See note on Irish witnesses, 128, 10 (prose). Other witnesses also had changed sides. The Whigs were loth to admit that they had been the dupes of men who lived by perjury, and yet could make no other tenable defense against the accusations brought against them. 156. They rack, etc. Referring to the dissenters' plea that each individual should interpret the Scriptures for himself; and to some extremists' claim of an immediate inspiration, which authorized them to preach in public, all laws to the contrary notwithstanding. Cf. 1592, 9-22; 167, 398-426; 223, 224, 452-496; 227, 676-708. 173. Yet monsters, etc. A reminiscence of Ovid: cf. 394, 565-572. 174. Engender'd on. So ed. 1 (without Latin motto) and eds. 2, 3; ed. 1 (with Latin motto) reads Enlivend by. 179-182. Thy hands. So ed. 1 (without Latin motto), and eds. 2, 3; ed. 1 (with Latin motto) transposes the couplets 179, 180 and 181, 182, and in 182 reads, But what's the Head. 181. The head, etc. "As matters carried more and more the appearance of actual insurrection and civil war, the more wealthy of the citizens of London began to draw to the royal party. By means of this party Sir John Moore, a man favorable to the court, was elected Lord Mayor." [SCOTT.] He could, however, accomplish little while hampered by his two gouty hands, the Whig sheriffs, Shute and Pilkington. v. 152, 1131-1140, and note on 1135. 201. Whether, etc. Cf. 1271, 159–161. 205. Their trait'rous combination. The Association: v. n. 1262, 10. 217. Thus, etc. v. Matthew xxi. 33-39. 131, 226. Cyclop-like. A reference to the story of the Cyclops Polyphemus, who ate the flesh of men: v. Odyssey, ix. 229. Clip ring. Until 1662, most of the money coined in England was hammered, not milled, and the hammered money continued in circulation after that date: cf. 5181, 45, n. Such coins were liable to be clipped on the edge: if the clipping extended within the ring inside which the sovereign's head wa placed, the piece would not pass current. v. Hamlet, ii. 2. 447: "Pray God, your voice. like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not crack'd within the ring." 237. Their crime. Eds. 2 and 3 read the Crim 240. Whet like a Croatian band. Taken meek as a symbol of lawless ferocity, probably with an allusion to the wars between Austria and Turkey. 270. Stum. "New wine used to freshen up staz and cause a second fermentation." [SAINTS BURY.] Cf. n. 7411, 50. 272. The formidable cripple. For further satire on Shaftesbury's bodily infirmities, v. 907, 100-114. 285. Bedlam. The popular term for a famou lunatic asylum, the Hospital of St. Mary á Bethlehem, in London: cf. 375, 212. 287. Without, etc. Compare the conclusion te The Hind and the Panther (252, 2567 I) which similarly prophesies discord among the poet's opponents. 293. Thy decrepit age. "Shaftesbury was at this period little above sixty years old. But be was in a state of premature decrepitude: partly owing to natural feebleness of bogs. and partly to an injury which he received by an overturn in a Dutch carriage when he w in Holland, in 1660, as one of the Parliamen tary Committee." [SCOTT.] 132, 317. Collatine. Lucius Tarquinius Colle tinus took a prominent part in the dethronement of the last king of Rome, his kinsmaa Tarquinius Superbus, and was elected one d the first two consuls. He was later compelled to withdraw himself, owing to his bearing the name of Tarquin. Thus, Dryden predicts. Monmouth, if he ever became king, would be compelled to withdraw, owing to his kinship with the royal line. 323. Pudet, etc. OVID, Metamorphoses, i. 757. 758, with a change of nobis to vobis to suit the context. "Shameful is it that these insults could be spoken to you, and could not be refuted." Cf. 400, 1063, 1064. 20. Once, when, etc. v. Job i. 6. 21. Whitehall. Cf. 390, 227, n. 1331, 29. The father, etc. Cf. 121, 957-960. TO THE DUCHESS. Dryden had already (1677) dedicated The State of Innocence to this lady. Scott writes of her: "She was at this time in all the splendor of beauty; tall, and admirably formed in her person; dignified and graceful in her deportment, her complexion very fair, and her hair and eyebrows of the purest black. Her personal charms fully merited the encomiastic strains of the following epistle." 1332, 22. Three gloomy years. The Duke of York's continuous residence in Scotland, as high commissioner, had begun only in October, 1680. But Dryden apparently counts the time since his withdrawal to the Low Countries, in March, 1679, during the excite ment over the Popish Plot. 1 24. Joseph's dream. The dream of Pharaoh interpreted by Joseph: v. Genesis xli. 38. The people's, etc. Cf. 112, 238, 239. 134. MAC FLECKNOE. For further details on the occasion of this poem, v. B. S. xxviii, xxix. - Dr. Johnson was probably led into his misstatement in regard to it by a passage in Cibber's life of Dryden. On True-Blue-Protestant, cf. 1241, 40, n. 3. Flecknoe. Flecknoe was, it is said, by birth an Irishman, and by profession a Catholic priest. Marvell saw him in Rome about 1645, and describes the meeting in a rough-hewn satire, Flecknoe, an English Priest at Rome. Dryden, who apparently had no personal quarrel with him, selected him for his purpose simply as a man who for a generation had been a notoriously bad poet. The verses in which Flecknoe complimented Dryden are as follows: Dreyden the Muses darling and delight, No farther than to th' Fount of Helicon: Whilst thou, with thine, dost seem to have mounted Then he who feteht [sic] from Heaven Celestial fire: FLECKNOE, Epigrams, 1670, p. 70. For a passage in which Dryden seems indebted to Flecknoe, v. 143, 418-420, n. 11. Was fit. Ed. 1 reads were fit. 12. War. Ed. 1 reads wars. "Thomas Shadwell (1642?-92) made several essays in verse, all of which are deplorably bad. But in comedy he was much more successful; and, in that capacity, Dryden does him great injustice in pronouncing him a dunce. On the contrary, I think most of Shadwell's comedies may be read with great pleasure. They do not, indeed, exhibit any brilliancy of wit, or ingenuity of intrigue; but the characters are truly dramatic, original, and well drawn, and the picture of manners which they exhibit gives us a lively idea of those of the author's age. As Shadwell proposed Jonson for his model, peculiarity of character, or what was then technically called humor, was what he chiefly wished to exhibit; and in this it cannot be denied that he has often succeeded admirably. "In his Epistle Dedicatory to Bury Fair (1689) Shadwell complains of the hardships he suffered owing to his Whig principles: 'I never could recant in the worst of times, when my ruin was designed, and my life was sought, and for near ten years I was kept from the exercise of that profession which had afforded me a competent subsistence.' It is no wonder, therefore, he was among the first to hail the dawn of the Revolution, and that King William distinguished him by the laurel, of which Dryden was deprived. Shadwell did not long enjoy this triumph over his great enemy. His death is said to have been hastened by his taking an overdose of opium, to the use of which he was inordinately addicted. In person, Shadwell was large, corpulent, and unwieldy, a circumstance which our author generally keeps in the eye of the reader." [SCOTT.] Cf. 153, 33, n. 29. Heywood and Shirley. Thomas Heywood (d. 1650?) was probably the most prolific of the Elizabethan dramatists; he claims to have had a hand in the writing of two hundred and twenty plays, of which, however, only twenty-four are preserved. James Shirley (1596-1666) the last of the Elizabethan dramatists, was also a prolific writer; thirty-six plays by him survive. These authors do not deserve the contempt here shown them by Dryden, who probably was ill acquainted with their writings. Heywood wrote a play called The Late Lancashire Witches, the title of which reappears in The Lancashire Witches of Shadwell; and in his Love's Mistress he treated the story of Psyche, which Shadwell took for the subject of an opera. But it may be doubted whether Dryden had these facts in mind when he made Heywood a type of Shadwell. 33. And, coarsely, etc. Ed. 1 reads: I coursly Cloath'd in Drugget Russet, came. Norwich drugget. "This stuff (a coarse woolen fabric) appears to have been sacred to the use of the poorer votaries of Parnassus; and it is somewhat odd that it seems to have been the dress of our poet himself in the earlier stage of his fortunes. An old gentleman who corresponded with the Gentleman's Magazine says he remembers our author in this dress." [SCOTT.] "I remember plain John Dryden (before he paid his court with success to the great) in one uniform clothing of Norwich drugget. I have eat tarts with him and Madam Reeve at the Mulberry Gardea, when our author advanced to a sword and chadreux wig." GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, xv. 99 (February, 1745). 36. King John of Portugal. Flecknoe had visited Portugal, and boasts of being patronized by the king. 37. The prelude. Ed. 1 reads a prelude. 135, 41. Commander. Ed. 1 reads commanders. 42. Epsom blankets, etc. Tossing in a blanket is the punishment visited upon Sir Samuel Hearty (v. n. 136, 181) in The Virtuoso : see act ii of that play. There is also a reference to the title of Shadwell's play Epsom Wells. 43. The new Arion. Arion was an ancient Greek musician, who lived about B. c. 700. Once, when he was returning to Corinth from Sicily, where he had won the prize in a musical contest, his life was threatened by the rude sailors, who were greedy for his property. He gained permission once more to delight himself with his music, placed himself in the prow of the ship, sang and played upon his lyre, and threw himself into the sea. The song-loving dolphins that had crowded about his ship carried him safe to land. — Dryden in these lines apparently refers to some actual festival, now lost to memory, in which Shadwell took part. Shadwell in his preface to Psyche boasts of his skill in music. 44. Trembling. Ed. 1 reads trembles. 47. Echoes. Ed. 1 reads Eccho. Pissing Alley is shown on a map in Stow's Survey of London, 1720 (book iv, between pp. 108 and 109), as a passage between the Strand and Hollowell St. 48. Aston Hall. So ed. 1; ed. 2 reads A Hall. This allusion has never been explained. 50. As at, etc. Ed. 1 reads: And gently waft the over all along. 52. Papers, etc. Ed. 1 reads, Paper in thy Thrashing-Hand. 53. St. André's. Ed. 1 reads St. Andrew's. "St. André was an eminent dancing master of the period." [SCOTT.] 54. Psyche. "This unfortunate opera was imitated from the French of Molière, and finished, as Shadwell assures us, in the space of five weeks. The author having no talents for poetry and no ear for versification, Psyche is one of the most contemptible of the frivolous dramatic class to which it belongs. It was, however, got up with extreme magnificence, and received much applause on its first appearance in 1674." [SCOTT.] Some expressions in Shadwell's preface might be interpreted as a sneer at the heroic plays of Dryden, with whom, however, he was apparently still on good terms: "Though I expect more candor from the best writers in rhyme, the more moderate of them are very much offended with me for leaving my own province of comedy, to invade their dominion of rhyme. But methinks they might be satisfied, since I have made but a small incursion, and am resolved to retire. And were I never so powerful, they should escape me, as the northern people did the Romans, their craggy barren territories being not worth the conquering." 57. Singleton. "Singleton was a musical performer of some eminence, and is mentioned as such in Shadwell's Bury Fair, act iii, sc. 1. Villerius, the Grand Master of Rhodes, is a principal character in Davenant's Siege of Rhodes, where a great part of the dialogue is in a sort of lyrical recitative. - -The combination of the lute and sword is taken from The Rehearsal (act v), where Bayes informs his critical friends that his whole battle is to be represented by two persons: for I make 'em both come out in armor, cap-a-pie, with their swords drawn, and hung with a scarlet ribbon at their wrists, (which, you know, represents fighting enough,) each of 'em holding a lute in his hand. I make 'em, sir, play the battle in recitativo.' The adverse generals enter accordingly, and perform a sort of duet, in parody of passages in The Siege of Rhodes." [SCOTT.] 58. Bore. Ed. 1 reads wore. 64. Close to. Ed. 1 reads Close by. Augusta. v. 50, 1177, n. The following line alludes to the fears, especially rife in the City, of Popish intrigues: cf. 141, 306–309. Professor Saintsbury points out that the phrase, "Augusta is inclin'd to fears," is found in [the prologue of] Crowne's Caliss (1675). It is there also applied to London. 69. Of all, etc. Ed. 1 reads: An Empty name of all the Pile Remains. 71. Loves. Ed. 1 reads Love. 72, 73. Where . . . sleep. A parody of a couplet in the first book of Cowley's Davideis: Where their vast court the mother waters keep, And, undisturb'd by moons, in silence sleep. Another couplet in the same passage: Beneath the dens where unfletcht tempests lie, And infant winds their tender voices try,— is parodied in lines 76, 77. 74. Nursery. This was a theater erected under a patent issued by Charles II in 1664: "for the makeing upp and supplying of a company for acting of playes, and instructing boyes and gyrles in the art of playing, to bee in the nature of a Nursery, from time to time to be removed to the said two severall theatres abovementioned [that is, those of the King's Company and of the Duke's Company], which said company shall bee called by the name of a Nursery" (Shakespeare Society's PaperS, vol. iii, 1847, p. 167). The patent adds: "We doe expressly hereby prohibite that any obscene, scandalous, or offensive passages be brought upon the stage, but such onely shalbe there had and used, as may consist with harmeless and inoffensive delights and recreations." The Nursery stood in Golding (later Golden) Lane, which adjoins the Barbican, a street which took its name in the manner described by Dryden. It was much ridiculed by the wits of the time. In Buckingham's Rehearsal (act ii, sc. 2), Bayes, representing Dryden, makes the following magnificent threat: "I vow to gad, I have been so highly disoblig'd by the peremptoriness of these fellows, that I am resolv'd hereafter to bend all my thoughts for the service of the Nursery, and mump your proud players, i' gad." 78. Maximins. Dryden here ridicules the rant ing hero of his own early play Tyrannic Love. 81. Simkin. Professor Collins states that a piece entitled The Humors of Simpkin is found in "a collection of drolls and farces, compiled by Francis Kirkman in 1673." Simpkin, he tells us, is "a stupid clown who is represented as intriguing with an old man's wife." 82. Amidst, etc. Ed. 1 reads: Amidst these Monuments of Varnisht Minds. Professor Collins points out that Dryden is here indebted to Davenant: This to a structure led, long known to fame, And call'd the monument of vanish'd minds. Gondibert, book ii, canto v, st. 36. 83. Suburbian. So ed. 2; ed. 1 reads Suburbane. 84. Panton. "A celebrated punster, according to Derrick." SCOTT. 87. Dekker. "Dekker, who did not altogether deserve the disgraceful classification which Dryden has here assigned to him, was a writer of the reign of James I, and the antagonist of Jonson. I suspect Dryden knew, or at least recollected, little more of him than that he was ridiculed by his more renowned adversary, under the character of Crispinus in The Poetaster." [SCOTT.] v. Additions and Corrections. Later critics are emphatic in their praise of Dekker. In The Poetaster Demetrius, not Crispinus, is his real representative. 88. Pile. Ed. 1 reads Isle. " 91. Misers, etc. Shadwell wrote an adaptation of Molière's L'Avare under the title of The Miser. Raymond is a gentleman of wit and honor" in his Humorists, and Bruce and Longvil (v. 1. 212) are "gentlemen of wit and sense in his Virtuoso. No special application of hypocrites is now known, unless Scott is right in his conjecture: "Perhaps Dryden means the characters of the Irish priest and Tory chaplain in The Lancashire Witches." 92. It should. Ed. 1 reads, his Pen should. 94. Empress Fame. For the reference to Virgil, v. 567, 251-281. 96. Fame. Ed. 1 reads Pomp. 97. And distant. Ed. 1 reads to distant. 98. Carpets. Ed. 1 reads Carpet. 102. Ogleby. John Ogleby (Ogilby), 1600-76. "This gentleman, whose name, thanks to our author and Pope, has become almost proverbial for a bad poet, was originally a Scottish dancing master. He translated the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Eneid, and Esop's Fables into verse; and his versions were splendidly adorned with sculpture. He also wrote three epic poems, one of which was fortunately burned in the fire of London." [SCOTT.] For further comments on him by Dryden, v. 1762, 3-9; 7482, 40-46. - 105. Herringman. So ed. 1; ed. 2 reads H-— 107. Throne. Ed. 1 reads State. 108. Our young Ascanius, etc. Dryden here adapts Virgil to his satiric purpose: cf. 548, 926-932; 692, 253, 254. Sate. So ed. 1; ed. 2 reads sat. 111. Around. Ed. 1 reads about. 112. As Hannibal, etc. Hannibal, according to 136, 117. Ne'er to, etc. Ed. 1 reads: Wou'd bid defiance unto Wit and Sense. 121. He plac'd. Ed. 1 reads Was plac'd. 122. Love's Kingdom. A "pastoral tragi comedy" by Flecknoe, the only one of his plays ever acted. 124. Lore. Ed. 1 reads Love. 126. Poppies. Ed. 1 reads Poppey. "Perhaps in allusion to Shadwell's frequent use of opium, as well as to his dullness." SCOTT. 132. Th' admiring. Ed. 1 reads Th' advancing. 133. His. Ed. 1 reads the. 134. Of his. Ed. 1 reads on his. 135, 136. Shed Full on the. Ed. 1 reads, Shed: Full of the. 139. Heavens. Ed. 1 reads Heaven. 143. Kingdom let him. Ed. 1 reads Kingdoms may he. 148. And fruitless. Ed. 1 reads a fruitless. 149. Let Virtuosos, etc. "Shadwell's comedy The Virtuoso was first acted in 1676, with great applause. As the whole piece seems intended as a satire on the Royal Society, its scope could not be very pleasing to Dryden, even if he could have forgiven some hits leveled against him personally in the preface, prologue, and epilogue." [SCOTT.] In the Epistle Dedicatory to The Virtuoso Shadwell complains of having scant time for writing, and in the preface to another comedy, The Libertine, he boasts of the speed with which he finished his work. Rochester, in his Allusion to the Tenth Satire of the First Book of Horace, terms him "hasty Shadwell." Dryden evidently knew the contrary to be the case: in his preface to All for Love (1678), written before his quarrel with Shadwell, he censures Rochester for calling". a slow man hasty." Cf. n. 135, 54; 7412, 33-43. 150. Toil. Ed. 1 reads Soul. 151. Gentle George. v. headnote, p. 78. In The Man of Mode; or, Sir Fopling Flutter, Dorimant is the betrayer of Mrs. Loveit. Cully is found in The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub, and Cockwood in She Would if She Could, other comedies by the same writer. In. Ed. 1 reads with. 157. Let 'em be all by thy. Ed. 1 reads: Let them be all of thy. 159. Future. Ed. 1 reads after. 160. Issue of thy own. Ed. 1 reads issues of thine own. 162. Full of thee. Ed. 1 reads like to thee. 163. S-dl-y. Ed. 1 reads Sydney.-Sir Charles Sedley was a noted wit and a minor poet and dramatist; a patron and friend of Dryden, who dedicated to him The Assignation, and introduced him, under the name of Lisideius, as one of the speakers in An Essay of Dramatic Poesy. He wrote a prologue for Shadwell's Epsom Wells, and was apparently suspected of aiding him in the comedy itself. Shadwell acknowledges receiving aid from him in another comedy, A True Widow. 167. And top. Ed. 1 reads on th' top. 168. Sir Formal. Sir Formal Trifle is a character in The Virtuoso, whom Shadwell justly terms well's frequent dedication of his plays to the Duke of Newcastle and his family. In his Vindication of the Duke of Guise, 1683, Dryden terms Shadwell "the northern dedicator." 172. Jonson's hostile name. Shadwell praises Jonson and professes himself his disciple with such fervor that he seems to claim kinship with him. In his Epistle Dedicatory to The Virtuoso he writes: "Nor do I hear of any professed enemies to the play, but some women, and some men of feminine understandings, who like slight plays only, that represent a little tattle-sort of conversation, like their own. But true humor is not liked or understood by them, and therefore even my attempt towards it is condemned by them. But the same people, to my great comfort, damn all Mr. Jonson's plays, who was incomparably the best dramatic poet that ever was, or, I believe, ever will be; and I had rather be author of one scene in his best comedies than of any play this age has produced." 175. Has. Ed. 1 reads hath. 177. On. Ed. 1 reads or. This line and the following probably refer to Shadwell's satire on the Royal Society in The Virtuoso. 178. And. Ed. 1 reads Or. 179. Prince Nicander's vein. Prince Nicander is a character in Shadwell's Psyche. 181. Where sold he bargains. Selling bargains consisted in answering innocent questions with coarse phrases like that quoted in the text: cf. 261, 46. 182. Promis'd, etc. This apparently refers to the Epistle Dedicatory of The Virtuoso. Here Shadwell writes, for example: "I say nothing of impossible, unnatural farce fools, which some intend for comical, who think it the easiest thing in the world to write a comedy, and yet will sooner grow rich upon their ill plays than write a good one.' 183. When... Fletcher. Ed. 1 reads, Where Fletchers. 184. As thou, etc. No commentator has investigated this charge of wholesale plagiarism, which is probably based mainly on Shadwell's Epsom Wells. Raines and Bevil, "men of wit and pleasure" in that play, and their ladyloves Lucia and Carolina, suggest the corresponding pairs Courtal and Freeman and Gatty and Ariana, in Etherege's She Would if She Could; and Shadwell's Mrs. Woodly has many traits of Etherege's Lady Cockwood. In each play the young men first meet the young women wearing vizards, and persuade them to unmask in somewhat the same fashion. Mrs. Woodly, who is carrying on an intrigue with Bevil, discovers his passion for Carolina, and entraps him by a forged letter, just as Lady Cockwood endeavors to trick Courtal and Freeman by the same device Mrs. Woodly again copies Lady Cockwood's behavior when she hides Bevil in her bedchamber; when she slanders Bevil and Raines to their sweethearts, saying that they have boasted of the favor accorded them; and when, near the close of the play, she discards the faithless Bevil and tries to gain the affection of Raines. Lucia and Carolina be have towards their slandered lovers in much the same way as do Gatty and Ariana — Furthermore, Kick and Cuff, two cheating bullies in Epsom Wells, resemble Wheedle and Palmer in Etherege's Comical Revenge, and trick Clodpate as their predecessors do Sir Nicholas Cully. At the end of the play Clodpate marries Mrs Jilt just as Sir Nicholas marries Mrs. Lucy. Yet no fair-minded reader can deny the essential originality of Epsom Wells, inferior though its vulgar humor may be to the sprightly dialogue of the better scenes in Etherege. Other dramatists than these two have created pairs of rakish lovers, wanton damsels, and cowardly sharpers; and Etherege would have no good ground of complaint if Shadwell adopted the same familiar devices as himself. Shadwell probably took suggestions for some situations from Etherege, but he made these situations his own by his treatment of them. In another statement, however, Dryden is quite correct: certain scenes in Epsom Wells that Shadwell cannot even be accused of purloining, distinctly sink below those that remind one of Etherege. Langbaine, who to be sure is always friendly to Shadwell, writes of Epsom Wells: "Tis true that some endeavored to fix a calumny upon our author, alleging that this play was not ingenious; but this stain was quickly wiped off by the plea he makes for himself in the prologue spoken to the king and queen at Whitehall, where he says: If this for him had been by others done, After this honor sure they'd claim their own.” 185. Oil, etc. Ed. 1 reads, Oyls on Water Flow; ed. 2 reads Oyl on Waters flow. Flow is cer tainly a noun; it is not clear whether one should read water's or waters'. 187. This is, etc. "Four of the humors are entirely new; and (without vanity) I may say I ne'er produced a comedy that had not some natural humor in it not represented before, nor I hope ever shall." SHADWELL, Epistle Dedicatory to The Virtuoso. Province. Ed. 1 reads Promise. 189. This is that, etc. The passage is a parody of four lines in the epilogue to Shadwell's The Humorists: A humor is the bias of the mind, By which with violence 't is one way inclin’d: Thy. Ed. 1 reads the. |