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"Oh!" said my father, "if they will publish it at all, and at their own risk, I should not stand out for any other terms. 'Nothing great, said Dryden, 'ever came from a venal pen!" "An uncommonly foolish observation of Dryden's," returned Uncle Jack; "he ought to have known better." "So he did," said I, "for he used his pen to fill his pockets, poor man!"
Now these two lines consist in a senseless plagiarism from the counterfeited madness of Edgar in Lear, who, in imitation of the gypsy incantations, puns on the old word mair, a hag; and the no less senseless adoption of Dryden's forest fiend, and the wisard stream by which Milton, in his Lycidas, so finely characterizes the spreading Deva, fabulosus amnis.
It may be expected, since I am upon this Subject, that I should take notice of Mr. Dryden's Definition of Wit; which, with all the Deference that is due to the Judgment of so great a Man, is not so properly a Definition of Wit, as of good writing in general. I shall only appeal to my Reader, if this Definition agrees with any Notion he has of Wit: If it be a true one I am sure Mr.
Gray says petulantly enough that "Dryden was as disgraceful to the office, from his character, as the poorest scribbler could have been from his verses." Gray to Mason, 19th December, 1757. Essay on the Origin and Progress of Satire. Dedication of the Georgics. Dryden's penetration is always remarkable. His general judgment of Polybius coincides remarkably with that of Mommsen. Gesch.
Thus wrote Pope, using for the nonce the triplet and alexandrine by which Dryden frequently varied the couplet. Pope himself added a greater neatness and polish to Dryden's verse and brought the system to such monotonous perfection that he "made poetry a mere mechanic art." The lyrical poetry of this generation was almost entirely worthless.
By a mere turn of the hand, by the substitution of rhyme for prose or for blank verse, which is on more than "measured" or harmonious prose the baldest presentment of life could be converted into a dramatic poem. From the grosser forms of this fallacy Dryden's fine sense was enough to save him.
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.
The Dean began his literary career by Pindaric odes to Athenian Societies and the like, perhaps the greatest mistake as to his own powers of which an author was ever guilty. It was very likely that he would send these to his relative, already distinguished, for his opinion upon them. If this was so, the justice of Dryden's judgment must have added to the smart.
"Where's the Johnnie?" he asked, reluctantly dropping into the chair. She laid Dryden's translation of the Aeneid on his side of the table. They always read the poetical version before they began to translate for the class-room Dryden was near enough to the original to give them its spirit, far enough to quiet their consciences. "Find the place yourself," said she.
Dryden's poem naturally falls into ridicule, and that in this burlesque, nothing is represented monstrous and unnatural, that is not equally so in the original. They afterwards remark, that they have this comfort under the severity of Mr.
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