Lordship a plan for an epic poem. He observes, that his genius never much inclined him to the stage, and that he wrote for it rather from necessity than inclination. He complains that his circumstances are such as not to suffer him to pursue the bent of his own genius, and then lays down a plan upon which an epic poem might be written; to which, says he, I am more inclined. Whether the plan proposed is faulty or no we are not at present to consider: one thing is certain, a man of Mr. Dryden's genius would have covered, by the rapidity of the action, the art of the design, and the beauty of the poetry, whatever might have been defective in the plan, and produced a work which might have been the boast of the nation: and we cannot help regretting on this occasion, that Dryden's fortune was not easy enough to enable him, with convenience and leisure, to pursue a work that might have proved an honour to himself, and reflected a portion thereof on all who should have appeared his encouragers on this occasion.

In 1695 Mr. Dryden published a translation in prose of Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting, with a preface containing a parallel between painting and poetry; and Mr. Pope has addressed a copy of verses to Mr. Jervas in praise of this translation. In 1697 his translation of Virgil's works came out. This translation has passed through many editions, and, of all the attempts which have been made to render Virgil into English,

the critics, I think, have allowed that Dryden best succeeded; notwithstanding, as he himself says, when he began it, he was past the grand climacteric ! so little influence it seems age had over him, that he retained his judgment and fire in full force to the last. Mr. Pope, in his Preface to Homer, says, if Dryden had lived to finish what he began of Homer, he (Mr. Pope) would not have attempted it after him, "no "more (says he) than I would his Virgil, his version " of whom (notwithstanding some human errors) is "the most noble and spirited translation I know in "any language."

Besides the original pieces and translations hitherto mentioned, Mr. Dryden wrote many others. They consist of translations from the Greek and Latin poets, Epistles to several persons, Prologues and Epilogues to several plays, Elegies, Epitaphs, and Songs. His last work was his Fables, ancient and modern, translated into verse from Homer, Ovid, Boccace, and Chaucer. To this work is prefixed, by way of preface, a critical account of the authors from whom the fables are translated.

As to our Author's performances in prose, besides his Dedications and Prefaces, and controversial writings, they consist of the Lives of Plutarch and Lucian, prefixed to the translation of those authors by several hands; the Life of Polybius, before the translation of that historian by Sir Henry Sheers, and the

Preface to the Dialogue concerning Women, by William Walsh, Esq.

Mr. Dryden died the first of May 1701, and was interred in Westminster-Abbey. On the 19th of April he had been very bad with the gout and erisipelas in one leg; but he was then somewhat recovered, and designed to go abroad. On the Friday following he ate a partridge for his supper, and going to take a turn in the little garden behind his house in Gerardstreet, he was seized with a violent pain under the ball of the great toe of his right foot. Unable to stand, he cried out for help, and was carried in by his servants, when, upon sending for surgeons, they found a small black spot in the place affected. He submitted to their present applications, and, when gone, called his son Charles to him, using these words: "I "know this black spot is a mortification; I know also "that it will seize my head, and that they will at"tempt to cut off my leg; but I command you, my "son, by your filial duty, that you do not suffer me 66 to be dismembered." As he foretold, the event proved, and his son was too dutiful to disobey his father's commands.

He married the Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Earl of Berkshire, who survived him about eight years, and by whom he had three sons, Charles, John, and Henry. Charles became usher of the palace to Pope Clement XI. and, returning to England, was

drowned in the Thames near Windsor in 1704. He was the author of several things, and translated the sixth satire of Juvenal. John translated the fourteenth satire of Juvenal; was the author of a comedy called The Husband his own Cuckold, printed in 1696, and died of a fever at Rome. Henry entered into religious orders.

The day after Mr. Dryden's death, the Dean of Westminster sent word to Mr. Dryden's widow, that he would make a present of the ground, and all other Abbey-fees, for the funeral. The Lord Halifax likewise sent to the Lady Elizabeth, and to Mr. Charles Dryden, offering to defray the expences of our Poet's funeral, and afterwards to bestow 5ool, on a monument in the Abbey, which generous offer was accepted. Accordingly, on Sunday following, the company being assembled, the corpse was put into a velvet hearse, attended by eighteen mourning coaches. When they were just ready to move, Lord Jeffreys, son of Lord Chancellor Jeffreys, a name dedicated to infamy, with some of his rakish companions, riding by, asked whose funeral it was? and being told it was Mr. Dryden's, he pro ested he should not be buried in that private manner; that he would himself, with the Lady Elizabeth's leave, have the honour of the interment, and would bestow a thousand pounds on a monument in the Abbey for him. This put a stop to their procession; and the Lord Jeffreys, with seVolume 1.

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veral of the gentlemen, who had alighted from their coaches, went up stairs to the lady, who was sick in bed. His Lordship repeated the purport of what he had said below; but the lady Elizabeth refusing her consent, he fell on his knees, vowing never to rise till his request was granted. The lady, under a sudden surprise, fainted away, and Lord Jeffreys, pretending to have obtained her consent, ordered the body to be carried to Mr. Russel's, an undertaker in Cheapside, and to be left there till further orders. In the meantime the Abbey was lighted up, the ground opened, the choir attending, and the Bishop waiting some hours to no purpose for the corpse. The next day Mr. Charles Dryden waited on my Lord Halifax and the Bishop, and endeavoured to excuse his mother by relating the truth. Three days after, the undertaker, having received no orders, waited on the Lord Jeffreys, who pretended it was a drunken frolick: that he remembered nothing of the matter, and he might do what he pleased with the body. Upon this the undertaker waited on the Lady Elizabeth, who desired a day's respite, which was granted. Mr. Charles Dryden immediately wrote to the Lord Jeffreys, who returned for answer, that he knew nothing of the matter, and would be troubled no more about it. Mr. Dryden hereupon applied again to the Lord Halifax and the Bishop of Rochester, who absolutely refused to do any thing in the affair.