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In this distress Dr. Garth, who had been Mr. Dryden's intimate friend, sent for the corpse to the College of physicians, and proposed a subscription; which succeeding, about three weeks after Mr. Dryden's decease Dr. Garth pronounced a fine Latin oration over the body, which was conveyed from the College, attended by a numerous train of coaches to Westminster-Abbey, but in very great disorder. At last the corpse arrived at the Abbey, which was all unlighted. No organ played, no Anthem sung; only two of the singing boys preceded the corpse, who sung an ode of Horace, with each a small candle in their hand. When the funeral was over, Mr. Charles Dryden sent a challenge to Lord Jeffreys, who refusing to answer it, he sent several others, and went often himself; but could neither get a letter delivered, nor admittance to speak to him; which so incensed him, that finding his Lordship refused to answer him like a gentleman, he resolved to watch an opportunity, and brave him to fight, though with all the rules of honour; which his Lordship hearing, quitted the Town, and Mr. Charles never had an opportunity to meet him, though he sought it to his death with the utmost application.

The character of Mr. Dryden has been drawn by various hands; some have done it in a favourable, others in an opposite manner. The Bishop of Sarum, in the History of his own Times, says, that the stage was defiled beyond all example; "Dryden, the great "master of dramatic poetry, being a monster of im

modesty and impurities of all sorts."* The late Lord Landsdowne took upon himself to vindicate Mr. Dryden's character from this severe imputation, which was again answered, and apologies for it, by Mr. Burnet, the Bishop's son. But not to dwell on these controversies about his character, let us hear what Mr. Congreve says, in the Dedication of Dryden's works to the Duke of Newcastle. Congreve knew him intimately; and as he could have no motive to deceive the world in that particular, and being a man of untainted morals, none can suspect his authority. By his account it appears that Dryden was indeed as amiable in private life as a Man, as he was illustrious in the eye of the public as a Poet.

"Mr. Dryden (says Congreve) had personal qua"lities to challenge love and esteem from all who "were truly acquainted with him. He was of a na66 ture exceeding humane and compassionate, easily "forgiving injuries, and capable of a prompt and "sincere reconciliation with those who had offended

him.---His friendship, where he professed it, went "much beyond his professions.---As his reading had "been very extensive, so was he very happy in a me

*In Millar's edition of the Bishop's work we have the following note upon this passage. "This (says the editor) must be understood of his "performances for the stage; for as to his personal character, there was "nothing remarkably vicious in it: but his plays are, some of them, the fullest of obscenity of any now extant."

"mory tenacious of every thing he had read. He was "not more possessed of knowledge than he was com"municative of it; but then his communication of "it was by no means pedantic, or imposed upon the "conversation, but just such, and went so far as, by "the natural turns of the discourse in which he was "engaged, it was necessarily prompted or required. "He was extremely ready and gentle in the correc❝tion of the errors of any writer who thought fit to "consult him, and full as ready and patient to admit "of the reprehension of others in respect of his own "oversights or mistakes. He was of a very easy, I may 66 say, of very pleasing access; but something slow, "and, as it were, diffident in his advances to others. "He had something in his nature that abhorred in"trusion in any society whatsoever; and indeed it is "to be regretted that he was rather blameable on the "other extreme. He was of all men I ever knew the "most modest, and the most easy to be discounte"nanced in his approaches either to his superiors or "his equals. As to his writings---I may venture to I say in general terms, that no man hath written in 66 our language so much, and so various matter, and in "so various manners, so well. Another thing I may

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say was very peculiar to him, which is, that his parts did not decline with his years, but that he "was an improving writer to the last, even to near "seventy years of age, improving even in fire and ina"gination as well as in judgment: witness his Ode

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on St Cecilia's Day, and his Fables, his latest per

66

"formances. He was equally excellent in verse and 66 prose: his prose had all the clearness imaginable, "without deviating to the language or diction of poetry; and I have frequently heard him own with "pleasure, that if he had any talent for writing prose, "it was owing to his frequently having read the "writings of the great Archbishop Tillotson. In his "Poems his diction is, whatever the subject requires "it, so sublimely and so truly poetical, that its essence, "like that of pure gold, cannot be destroyed. Take "his verses, and divest them of their rhymes, disjoint "them of their numbers, transpose their expressions, "make what arrangement to disposition you please in "his words, yet shall there eternally be poetry, and "something which will be found incapable of being "reduced to absolute prose. What he has done in r any one species, or distinct kind of writing, would "have been sufficient to have acquired him a very "great name. if he had written nothing but his Pre "faces, or nothing but his Songs, or his Prologues, "each of them would have entitled him to the pre"ference and distinction of excelling in its kind."

Besides Mr. Dryden's numerous other performances, we find him Author of the twenty-six dramatic pieces following, viz.

1. The Wild Gallant, a Comedy, 1669.

2. The Indian Emperor; or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards.

3. An Evening's Love; or, The Mock Astrologer, a Comedy, 1671.

4. Marriage à-la-Mode, a Comedy, 1673.

5. Amboyna, a Tragedy, 1673.

6. The Mistaken Husband, a Comedy, 1675.

7. Aurenge-zebe; or, The Great Mogul, a Tragedy, 1676.

8. The Tempest; or, The Enchanted Island, a Comedy, 1676.

9. Feigned Innocence; or, Sir Martin Mar-all, a Comedy, 1678.

10. The Assignation; or, Love in a Nunnery, a Comedy, 1678.

11. The state of Innocence; or, The Fall of Man, an Opera, 1678.

12. The Conquest of Granada by the Spaniards, in two parts, two Tragi-Comedies, 1678.

13. All for Love; or, The World well Lost, a Tragedy, 1678.

14. Tyrannic Love; or, The Royal Martyr, a Tragedy, 1679.

15. Troilus and Cressida; or, Truth found too late, a Tragedy, 1679.

16. Secret Love; or, The Maiden Queen, a TragiComedy, 1679.

17. The Rival Ladies, a Tragi-Comedy, 1679.

18. The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham, a Comedy, 1680.

19. The Spanish Friar; or, The Double Discovery, a Tragi-Comedy, 1681.

20. Duke of Guise, a Tragedy, 1688.

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