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She feared no danger, for she knew no sin.

Yet hath she oft been chased with horns and hounds
And Scythian shafts, and many winged wounds
Aimed at her heart; was often forced to fly,

And doomed to death, though fated not to die."

205. "Mac Flecknoe."— At the Revolution Dryden did not abjure his faith, and, as a consequence, lost his office as poet laureate. In addition to the loss of his position, which he could ill afford to suffer, he had the chagrin of seeing his rival, Shadwell, elevated to his place. Against him he wrote at this time one of his keenest satires, entitled "Mac Flecknoe." Flecknoe, who had governed long, and

"In prose and verse was owned, without dispute,

Through all the realms of Nonsense, absolute,"

at length decides to settle the succession of the state,

“And, pondering, which of all his sons was fit
To reign, and wage immortal war with wit,
Cried, 'Tis resolved; for nature pleads, that he
Should only rule, who most resembles me.
Shadwell alone my perfect image bears,
Mature in dulness from his tender years:
Shadwell alone, of all my sons, is he,
Who stands confirmed in full stupidity.
The rest to some faint meaning make pretence,
But Shadwell never deviates into sense.'

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206. Translations.-Once more thrown upon his pen for support, Dryden turned to the stage, but chiefly to translation. In 1693 he published a volume of miscellanies, which contained translations from Homer and Ovid; and a little later appeared the satires of Juvenal and Persius. His theory of translation, as set forth in his prefaces is better than his practice. He takes liberties with his author; and, as was the case with him in all his writings, he is far from painstaking. Besides, instead of mitigating, he magnified their obscenity. But, upon the whole, the translations are of high excellence. The

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most important of his translations was that of Virgil's “ Æneid,” on which he labored three years. The public expectation was great, and it was not disappointed. Pope pronounced it "the most noble and spirited translation that I know in any language."

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207. Admiration of Chaucer.- Dryden, without understanding the versification of Chaucer, admired his poetic beauties and translated several of the "Canterbury Tales into current English. As he is the father of English poetry," he says, so I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer or the Romans Virgil. He is a perpetual fountain of good sense, learned in all sciences, and therefore speaks properly on all subjects." It is to Dryden's credit that he chose those tales that do not savor of immodesty "Palamon and Arcite," The Cock and the Fox," and the "Wife of Bath's Tale," the prologue of which is omitted. Though his renderings into modern English are excellent, Chaucer's charm is somehow largely lost. To be convinced of this fact, it is only necessary to compare his rendering of the "Good Parson" with the original of the "Prologue."

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208. "Alexander's Feast."- Among his songs and odes, the best known is "Alexander's Feast." He wrote it at a single sitting and afterward spent a fortnight in polishing it. It is justly considered one of the finest odes in our language. Dryden himself declared that it would never be surpassed. It was, perhaps, the last effort of his poetic genius, composed amid the pressing infirmities of age. It was fitting, to use the beautiful words of one of his heroes, that

"A setting sun

Should leave a track of glory in the skies."

He died May 1, 1700, and was buried with imposing pomp in Westminster Abbey.

209. Excellent Prose.- Dryden's prose is scarcely less excellent than his verse. He wrote much on criticism in the form of prefaces in his various works. He avoided, as a rule, the common mistakes in the prose of his time—inordinately long sentences and tedious parenthetic clauses. He says he formed

his prose style on Tillotson but Tillotson never had the ease, point, and brilliancy of Dryden. He was a clear, strong thinker, with a great deal to say; and often compressing his thought into a few well-chosen words, he sent them forth like shots from a rifle. He delighted in argument, and on either side of a question he could marshal his points with almost matchless skill. Whether attacking or defending the Roman Church, he showed equal power.

210. Poetic Shortcomings.- Dryden did not attain to the highest regions of poetry. He could not portray what is deepest and finest in human experience. His strong, masculine hands were too clumsy. He has no charm of pathos; he does not touch that part of our nature where "thoughts do often lie too deep for tears." But he was a virile thinker and a master of the English tongue. He had the gift of using the right word; and in the words of Lowell he " sometimes carried common-sense to a height where it catches the light of a diviner air, and warmed reason till it had well-nigh the illuminating property of intuition."

211. Mode of Writing.- He made literature a trade. He wrote rapidly, and having once finished a piece, he did not, year after year, patiently retouch it into perfection. Perhaps he wrote too much. Voltaire said that he “would have a glory without a blemish, if he had only written the tenth part of his works." Yet, in spite of his faults, we recognize and admire his extraordinary intellectual force and the indisputable greatness of his literary work. At Will's Coffee-house, where his chair had in winter a prescriptive place by the fire, and in summer a choice spot on the balcony, he was fitted, beyond all others of his time, to reign as literary dictator.

FOR FURTHER READING AND STUDY.

Mitford, "Dryden's Works," Saintsbury, "Life of Dryden " (English Men of Letters), Johnson, "Lives of the Poets," Macaulay, "Essay on Dryden," Lowell, "Among My Books," vol. I. A comparison of "Heroic Stanzas" and "Astrea Redux." The

Earl of Shaftesbury in history and in Dryden's satire. Is the poet just to the character of the Duke of Buckingham? (For both studies, consult the index of Macaulay's "History of England" and Green's "History of the English People"). Rules for writing in Boileau's “Art of Poetry” and Horace's Art of Poetry" in Dryden's translations. The character of the good parson in Chaucer's "Prologue” and Dryden's translation.

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"A Song for St. Cecilia's Day" and "Alexander's Feast" are given in the selections of Part II.

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