PREFACE

то

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

ON

THE EMPRESS OF MOROCCO.2

WHEN I first saw THE EMPRESS OF MoROCCO, though I found it then to be a rhapsody of nonsense, I was very well contented to have let

2 Of the Notes and Observations on THE EMPRESS OF MOROCCO, which were first published in quarto in 1674, Dennis gives the following account in the Preface to his Remarks on Pope's Translation of Homer, 8vo. 1717:

"Mr. Settle's first tragedy, CAMBYSES, KING OF PERSIA, was acted for three weeks together. The second, which was THE EMPRESS OF MOROCCO, was acted for a month together, and was in such high esteem both with the court and town, that it was acted at Whitehall before the King, by the gentlemen and ladies of the court; and the Prologue, which was spoke by the Lady Betty Howard, was writ by the famous Lord Rochester. The booksellers, who printed it, depending upon the prepossession of the town, ventured to distinguish it from all the plays that had been ever published before; for it was the first play that ever was sold in England for two shillings, and the first that ever was printed with cuts. The booksellers at that time of day had not discerned so

it pass, that the reputation of a new author might not be wholly damned; but that he might be

much of the weakness of their gentle readers, as they have done since, nor so plainly discovered that fools, like children, are to be drawn in by gewgaws. Well! but what was the event of this great success? Mr. Settle began to grow insolent, as any one may see who reads the Epistle Dedicatory to THE EMPRESS OF MOROCCO. Mr. Dryden, Mr. Shadwell, and Mr. Crown, began to grow jealous; and they three in confederacy wrote REMARKS on THE EMPRESS OF MOROCCO. Mr. Settle answered them, and according to the opinion which the town then had of the matter, (for I have utterly forgot the controversy,) had by much the better of them all. In short, Mr. Settle was then a fordimable rival to Mr. Dryden; and I remember very well, that not only the town, but the University of Cambridge, was very much divided in their opinions about the preference that ought to be given to them, and in both places the younger fry in

clined to Elkanah."

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About this time, (in 1673,)" says Dr. Johnson, "Dryden seems to have had his quiet much disturbed by the success of THE EMPRESS OF MOROCCO, a tragedy written in rhyme by Elkanah Settle, which was so much applauded as to make him think his supremacy of reputation in some danger. Settle had not only been prosperous on the stage, but, in the confidence of success, had published his play with sculptures, and a Preface of defiance. Here was one offence added to another; and, for the last blast of inflammation, it was acted at Whitehall by the courtladies. Dryden could not now repress those emotions which he called indignation; but wrote upon the play and the dedication such criticism as malignant impatience could pour out in haste."

encouraged to make his audience some part of amends another time. In order to this, I strained

Dr. Johnson, we see, ascribes the whole of this piece to Dryden, and does not seem to have been apprized that a great part of it was written by others. That Dennis's account, however, is correct, is ascertained by the following passage of Settle's Answer:

"Thereupon, with very little conjuration, by those three remarkable qualities of railing, boasting, and thieving, I found a Dryden in the frontispiece; then going through the preface I observed the drawing of a fool's picture to be the design of the whole piece; and reflecting on the painter, I considered that probably the pamphlet might be like his plays, not to be written without help: and according to expectation, I discovered the author of EPSOM WELLS, and the author of PANDION AND AMPHIGENIA, lent their assistance. How! Three to one, thought I! and three gentlemen of such disagreeing qualifications in one club! The first, a man that has had wit, but is past it; the second, that has it, if he can keep it; and the third, that neither has, nor is ever like to have it. Then boldly on I went, and fortified with patience (as I found it required,) for a full perusal, I wondered the less at the deformity of the piece, when such different heads went to the composure. The first of these is the only person that pretends an injury, received from a satyrick line or two in the Epistle to MOROCCO, ---- and consequently I conclude him the promoter of so ill-natured a retort. The second, I suppose only putting his comical hand, to help forward with the mirth of so ridiculous a libel; and the third, perhaps out of a vain-glory of being in print, knowing himself to be such a reptile in poetry, that he's beholding to a lampoon for giving the world to know that there is such a writer in being."

a point of conscience to cry up some passages of the play, which I hoped would recommend it to

Our author appears to me to have had very little share in the composition of these Remarks; and as it is acknowledged that a great part of them was written by Shadwell and Crown, I have not thought it proper to give them a place in this collection of his prose works. But the Preface, I think, from internal evidence, is ascertained to be his composition; and one passage in the body of the piece, and the Postscript, may also with some probability be ascribed to him; and therefore these I have admitted, though I have some doubts conce ning the latter. Our author, like a skilful general, placed his weakest force in the centre, and made his front, and per haps his rear, as strong as he could.

as

Elkanah Settle was born about the year 1647. He was admitted a member of Trinity College, in Oxford, appears from their Register, in 1665; but he probably made a short stay there, for he commenced author in 1667, if not before. According to Gildon, he was originally possessed of a good fortune, which he soon dissipated. The final degradation of this once admired rival of Dryden, is well known to most readers of poetry.-"He once, (says Oldys, in his Manuscript Notes on Langbaine,) managed the Pageant at the burning a famous Pope; and was at length employed in making the machinery at Bartholomew-Fair, where in his old age he acted in the droll of ST. GEORGE, in a dragon of green leather of his own invention. At last, whether for his services or his poverty, he was admitted into the CharterHouse; and maintained there as one of the decayed gentlemen.

Poor Elkanah was for many years City-Poet; and in the latter part of his life appears, from some verses of