For women, born to be control'd, While her high pride does scarce descend So the tall stag, upon the brink OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE DWARFS. DESIGN or Chance make others wive, To him, for whom Heav'n seem'd to frame, Thrice happy is that humble pair, As if the world held none but them. To him the fairest nymphs do show Ah! Chloris! that kind Nature thus A PANEGYRIC TO MY LORD PROTECTOR, Of the Present Greatness, and Joint Interest, of his WHILE with a strong, and yet a gentle, hand, Let partial spirits still aloud complain, Above the waves as Neptune show'd his face, Your drooping country, torn with civil hate, Restor'd by you, is made a glorious state; The seat of empire, where the Irish come, And the unwilling Scots, to fetch their doom. The sea's our own: and now, all nations greet, Heaven (that hath plac'd this island to give law, Whether this portion of the world were rent, Hither th' oppress'd shall henceforth resort, Fame, swifter than your winged navy, flies With such a chief the meanest nation blest, Lords of the world's great waste, the ocean, we And every coast may trouble, or relieve: Angels and we have this prerogative, Our little world, the image of the great, As Egypt does not on the clouds rely, But to the Nile owes more than to the sky; The taste of hot Arabia's spice we know, Free from the scorching sun that makes it grow: Without the worm, in Persian silks we shine; And, without planting, drink of every vine. To dig for wealth, we weary not our limbs ; Things of the noblest kind our own soil breeds; Stout are our men, and warlike are our steeds: Rome, though her eagle through the world had flown, Could never make this island all her own. Here the third Edward, and the Black Prince too, When for more worlds the Macedonian cry'd, He safely might old troops to battle lead, A race unconquer'd, by their clime made bold, Whom the old Roman wall, so ill confin'd, They, that henceforth must be content to know Prefer'd by conquest, happily o'erthrown, So kind dictators made, when they came home, Like favour find the Irish, with like fate Holland, to gain your friendship, is content In our late fight, when cannons did diffuse, So, when a lion shakes his dreadful mane, As the vex'd world, to find repose, at last Then let the Muses, with such notes as these, Tell of towns storm'd, of armies over-run, Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse, To crown your head, while you in triumph ride Verse, thus design'd, has no ill fate, If it arrive but at the date Of fading beauty, if it prove But as long-liv'd as present love. THE STORY OF PHOEBUS AND DAPHNE APPLIED. THYRSIS, a youth of the inspired train, Or form some image of his cruel fair. OF ENGLISH VERSE. POETS may boast, as safely vain, Their works shall with the world remain : But who can hope his line should long Poets, that lasting marble seek, We write in sand, our language grows, Chaucer his sense can only boast, The beauties, which adorn'd that age, The shining subjects of his rage, Hoping they should immortal prove, Rewarded with success his love. This was the gen'rous poet's scope; And all an English pen can hope; To make the fair approve his flame, That can so far extend their fame. Beauty like a shadow flies, Or, would youth and beauty stay, Phyllis! to this truth we owe ON A GIRDLE. THAT, which her slender waist confin'd, It was my Heaven's extremest sphere, A narrow compass! and yet there TO ZELINDA. FAIREST piece of well-form'd earth! Nor all appear, among those few, In trees, through all the boughs is spread: 'Tis art, and knowledge, which draw forth A pedigree, which reach'd to heaven: TO A LADY SINGING A SONG OF HIS COMPOSING. CHLORIS, yourself you so excel, When you vouchsafe to breathe my thought, That, like a spirit, with this spell Of my own teaching, I am caught. That eagle's fate and mine are one, Which, on the shaft that made him die, Espy'd a feather of his own, Wherewith he wont to soar so high. Had Echo with so sweet a grace Narcissus' loud complaints return'd Not for reflection of his face, But of his voice, the boy had burn'd. ⚫ Alexander. JOHN DRYDEN. JOHN OHN DRYDEN was born, probably in 1631, in the parish of Aldwincle- Allsaints, in Northamptonshire. His father possessed a small estate, acted as a justice of the peace during the usurpation, and seems to have been a presbyterian. John, at a proper age, was sent to Westminster school, of which Busby was then master; and was thence elected to a scholarship in Trinity college, Cambridge. He took his degrees of bachelor and master of arts in the university; but though he had written two short copies of verses about the time of his admission, his name does not occur among the academical poets of this period. By his father's death, in 1654, he succeeded to the estate, and, re- | moving to the metropolis, he made his entrance into public life, under the auspices of his kinsman, Sir Gilbert Pickering, one of Cromwell's council and house of lords, and staunch to the principles then predominant. On the death of Cromwell, Dryden wrote some "Heroic Stanzas," strongly marked by the loftiness of expression and variety of imagery which characterised his more mature efforts. They were, however, criticised with some severity. post of poet-laureat, to which was added the sinecure place of historiographer royal; the joint salaries of which amounted to 2001. The tragedies composed by Dryden were written in his earlier periods, in rhyme, which circumstance probably contributed to the poetical rant by which they were too much characterised. For the correction of this fault, Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, in conjunction with other wits, wrote the celebrated burlesque drama, entitled "The Rehearsal," of which Dryden, under the name of Bayes, was made the hero; and, in order to point the ridicule, his dress, phraseology, and mode of recitation, were exactly imitated by the actor. It does not, however, appear that his solid reputation as a poet was injured by this attack. He had the candour to acknowledge that several of the strokes were just, and he wisely refrained from making any direct reply. In 1681, and, as it is asserted, at the king's express desire, he wrote his famous political poem, entitled "Absolom and Achitophel;" in which the incidents in the life of David were adapted to those of Charles II. in relation to the Duke of At the Restoration, Dryden lost no time in Monmouth and the Earl of Shaftesbury. Its obliterating former stains; and, as far as it was poetry and its severity caused it to be read with great possible, rendered himself peculiarly distinguished eagerness; and as it raised the author to high fafor the base servility of his strains. He greeted the vour with the court party, so it involved him in irking's return by a poem, entitled "Astræa Redux," reconcilable enmity with its opponents. These which was followed by "A Panegyric on the feelings were rendered more acute by his "Medal, Coronation:" nor did Lord Chancellor Clarendon a Satire on Sedition," written in the same year, on escape his encomiastic lines. His marriage with occasion of a medal struck by the whigs, when a Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Earl of grand jury returned Ignoramus to an indictment Berkshire, is supposed to have taken place in 1665. preferred against Lord Shaftesbury, for high treaAbout this time he first appears as a writer for the son. The rancour of this piece is not easily to be stage, in which quality he composed several pieces; paralleled among party poems. In 1682, he puband though he did not display himself as a prime lished "Mac-Flecknoe," a short piece, throwing favourite of the dramatic muse, his facility of har- ridicule upon his very unequal rival, Shadwell. monious versification, and his splendour of poetic In the same year, one of his most serious poems, diction, gained him admirers. In 1667 he pub- the "Religio Laici," made its appearance. lished a singular poem, entitled "Annus Mira-purpose was to give a compendious view of the arbilis," the subjects of which were, the naval war with the Dutch, and the fire of London. It was written in four-line stanzas, a form which has since gone into disuse in heroic subjects; but the piece abounded in images of genuine poetry, though intermixed with many extravagances. At this period of his life Dryden became professionally a writer for the stage, having entered into a contract with the patentees of the King's Theatre, to supply them with three plays in a year, upon the condition of being allowed the profit of one share and a quarter out of twelve shares and three quarters, into which the theatrical stock was divided. Of the plays written upon the above contract, a small proportion have kept their place on the stage, or in the closet. On the death of Sir W. Davenant, in 1668, Dryden obtained the Its guments for revealed religion, and to ascertain in what the authority of revelation essentially consists. Soon after this time he ceased to write for the stage. His dramatic vein was probably exhausted, and his circumstances were distressed. To this period Mr. Malone refers a letter written by him to Hyde, Earl of Rochester, in which, with modest dignity, he pleads merit enough not to deserve to starve, and requests some small employment in the customs or excise, or, at least, the payment of half a year's pension for the supply of his present necessities. He never obtained any of the requested places, and was doomed to find the booksellers his best patrons. Charles II. died in 1685, and was succeeded by his brother James II., who openly declared his attachment to the religion of Rome. It was not long |