2

diction in the terms of nobleman and scholar; but as the world goes now, it is very hard to predicate one upon the other; and it is yet more difficult to prove that a nobleman can be a friend to poetry.' Were it not for two or three instances in Whitehall, and in the town, the poets of this age would find so little encouragement for their labours, and so few understanders, that they might have leisure to turn pamphleteers, and augment the number of those abominable scribblers, who in this time of licence abuse the press almost every day with nonsense and railing against the govern

ment.

It remains, my Lord, that I should give you some account of this comedy, which you have

This complaint of the illiteracy of noblemen seems to have originated in our author's rupture with Lord Rochester, which gave birth to the ESSAY ON SATIRE, written in 1675, as Lord Mulgrave informs us in his Works, but not published till November, 1679. The time of the publication of that Satire is ascertained by the following passage in a letter of Rochester's to Henry Saville, which from a circumstance mentioned in it must have been written on the 21st of November, 1679: "I have sent you herewith a libel, in which my own share is not the least. The King, having perused it, is no way dissatisfied with it. The author is apparent, Mr. D-[ryden], his patron, L-M-, [Lord Mulgrave] having a panegyrick in the midst.'

2

Many noblemen who possessed high offices of state, had at this time apartments at Whitehall, which was then

the residence of the court.

never seen, because it was written and acted in your absence at your government of Jamaica. It was intended for an honest satire against our crying sin of keeping; how it would have succeeded I can but guess, for it was permitted to be acted only thrice. The crime for which it suffered was that which is objected against the Satires of Juvenal, and the Epigrams of Catullus,-that it expressed too much of the vice which it decried. Your Lordship knows what answer was returned by the elder of those poets whom I last mentioned, to his accusers:

castum esse decet pium poetam

Ipsum versiculos nihil necesse est ;
Qui tum denique habent salem ac leporem,
Si sunt molliculi, et parum pudici.

But I dare not make that apology for myself, and
therefore have taken a becoming care that those
things which offended on the stage might be
either altered or omitted in the press; for their
authority is and shall be ever sacred to me, (as
much absent as present, and in all alterations of
their fortune,) who for those reasons have stopped
its farther appearance on the theatre; and what-
soever hindrance it has been to me in point of
profit, many of my f
friends can bear me witness
that I have not once murmured against that decree.
The same fortune once happened to Moliere, on
the occasion of his TARTUFFE, which notwith-
standing afterwards has seen the light in a country
more bigot than ours, and is accounted amongst

the best pieces of that poet. I will be bold enough to say that this comedy is of the first rank of those which I have written, and that posterity will be of my opinion. It has nothing of particular satire in it; for whatsoever may have been pretended by some criticks in the town, I may safely and solemnly affirm that no one character has been drawn from any single man; and that I have known so many of the same humour in every folly which is here exposed, as may serve to warrant it from a particular reflection. It was printed in my absence from the town this summer, much against my expectation, otherwise I had overlooked the press, and been yet more careful that neither my friends should have had the least occasion of unkindness against me, nor my enemies of upbraiding me; but if it live to a second impression, I will faithfully perform what has been wanting in this. In the mean time, my Lord, I recommend it to your protection, and beg I may keep still that place in your favour which I have hitherto enjoyed, and which I shall reckon as one of the greatest blessings which can befall,

My LORD,

Your Lordship's most obedient,

faithful servant,

JOHN DRYDEN.

PREFACE

TO

OEDIPU S. 3

THOUGH HOUGH it be dangerous to raise too great an expectation, especially in works of this nature, where we are to please an unsatiable audience, yet it is reasonable to prepossess them in favour of an author, and therefore both the Prologue and Epilogue informed you, that OEDIPUS was the most celebrated piece of all antiquity: that Sophocles, not only the greatest wit, but one of the greatest men, in Athens, made it for the stage at the publick cost; and that it had the reputation of being his masterpiece, not only amongst the seven of his which are still remaining, but of the greater number which are perished. Aristotle

3 The tragedy of OEDIPUS, written jointly by our author and Nat. Lee, was acted at the Duke's Theatre in Dorset Garden, and first printed in 1679. It has no Dedication.

4 Sophocles, according to Fabricius, (Bibl. Græc. i. 623,) wrote one hundred and seventy-four plays, of which seven only have been preserved.