From his surmise proved false, find peace within, -Paradise Lost. "Immediate in a flame, From those deep-throated engines belched, Chained thunderbolts and hail Of iron globes; which on the victor host That whom they hit none on their feet might stand, -Paradise Lost. DRYDEN, 1631-1700 Biographical Outline.-John Dryden, born August 9, 1631, at Aldwinckle Allsaints, Northamptonshire; his father was a justice of the peace, the third son of a baronet, and his mother the daughter of a clergyman; Dryden gets "his first learning" at Tichmarsh, where a monument was afterward erected to him and to his parents, who were buried there; later he obtains a scholarship at Westminster School, where Busby is his head-master and Locke and South are his school-mates; he enters Trinity College, Cambridge, on a scholarship in July, 1650; he writes a few elegies and commendatory poems before entering Cambridge; in July, 1652, he is "discommuned," and is compelled to apologize to the vice-master for contumacy, but is graduated B.A. in January, 1654; his father dies in June, 1654, leaving to Dryden an estate worth £40 a year, after deducting his mother's life-interest; he does not try for an advanced university degree, probably because of a lack of means; his kinsmen sided with the people against Charles I., and his cousin became chamberlain to Cromwell and was one of Charles's judges; Dryden is said to have begun life as a clerk to this cousin; upon Cromwell's death, in September, 1658, Dryden writes his "Heroic Stanzas," which are published in a volume with poems by Waller and Sprat. After the Restoration, Dryden takes lodgings with one Herringman, a bookseller of the New Exchange, London, for whom he is reported (doubtless incorrectly) to have been hack-writer; Herringman publishes Dryden's books till 1679, when the poet meets Sir Robert Howard, who seems to have aided him; on December 1, 1663, Dryden is married to Lady Elizabeth Howard, sister of his friend; the lady had been the subject of some scandals, and Dryden is said to have been bullied into the marriage by her brothers; her father settles upon them a small estate in Wiltshire, but a difference of prior social standing and apparent mutual infidelity make the marriage an unhappy one, although both Dryden and his wife were warmly attached to their children; in November, 1662, Dryden is elected a member of the Royal Society, where he associates with Bacon, Gilbert, Boyle, and Harvey; about this time the opening of the King's Theatre and the Duke's Theatre in London causes Dryden to begin play-writing; his first acted play, "The Wild Gallant," was performed in February, 1663, and failed; during the same year his second play, "The Wild Ladies," succeeded fairly, at the same theatre; Pepys records seeing Dryden in February, 1664, at Covent Garden coffee-house, " with all the wits of the town; " early in 1665 a third play, "The Indian Emperor," is brought out with marked success. While the theatres are closed, from May, 1665, to December, 1666, because of the Plague and the great London fire, Dryden retires to a seat of his father-in-law at Charlton in Wiltshire, where his son is born; during this retreat he composes his "Annus Mirabilis" and his "Essay on Dramatic Poesy," defending the use of rhyme in the drama; the "Essay" is published in March, 1667; Dryden's fourth drama, "Secret Love," is produced at the King's Theatre, and Nell Gwyn is one of the personæ ; during 1667 he also produces "Sir Martin Mar-all," one of his most successful plays; about this time he makes a contract with the King's Theatre company to provide them with three plays a year, in consideration of receiving one-tenth of the profits of the theatre; he did not provide all the plays stipulated, but received as high as 400 a year, as his share of the profits, until the burning of the theatre in 1672; in 1669 he published an opera called "The State of Innocence," founded, with Milton's permission, on "Paradise Lost"; of his heroic tragedies, "Tyrannic Love" appeared in 1669 and "Almanzar" and "Almahide" in 1670; his "All for Love" is produced in 1672; in 1668 (at the King's request) the Archbishop of Canterbury confers upon Dryden the degree of M.A., and in 1670 he is made poet-laureate and historiographer, offices which, combined, gave him a salary of £200 a year, with a butt of Canary wine; his total annual income between 1670 and 1681, from all sources, averaged from £420 to £577. Between 1668 and 1681 he produced about fourteen plays; the comedies were most licentious, gave offence even then, and have been deservedly lost; in 1673 he produces "Amboyna," a tragedy founded on the existing relation of the English with the Dutch, and in 1681 another called "The Spanish Friar," founded on the Popish plot; his last and finest rhymed tragedy, "Aurengzebe," was produced in 1675, and is said to have been read in manuscript and revised by Charles II.; about this time Dryden proposes to write an epic poem, and asks for a pension on that ground, admitting that he never felt himself very fit for tragedy;" he receives a pension of £100 a year, but writes, instead of an epic, his finest play, "All for Love ;" in 1679 he brings out an alteration of "Troilus and Cressida," in which he pays further homage to Shakespeare. In 1671 his "heroic tragedies" are ridiculed in the famous "Rehearsal," written by the Duke of Buckingham, Butler, Sprat, and others; he has various literary controversies, and is beaten by ruffians, hired by his enemies, in December, 1679; the main cause was the attribution to Dryden of Mulgrave's Essay on Satire," written in 1675 and reflecting severely upon the private life of prominent personages; Dryden was charged by various libellers with sympathy with Shaftesbury in his opposition to the Court, and so, in November, 1681, he demonstrated his loyalty to Charles II. by publishing the first of his great satires, "Absalom and Achitophel;" Tate de clares that the theme of the satire was suggested to Dryden by Charles; it obtained at once an enormous sale, and is still regarded as "the finest satire in our language for masculine insight and for vigor of expression;" his second great satire, "The Medal," appears in March, 1682; partisans of Shaftesbury reply in half a dozen satires upon Dryden, and he rejoins with "Mac Flecknoe," published October 4, 1682, especially directed against Shadwell, who had repudiated his former friendship for Dryden, and had published "The Medal of John Boyes [Dryden];" in November, 1682, appeared a sec-. ond part of "Absalom and Achitophel," in which two hundred lines were written by Dryden and the rest by Nahum Tate; during the same month Dryden publishes his " Religio Laici" (a defence of the Anglican position) and "The Duke of Guise," a satire, of which the greater part was written by Nathaniel Lee; during 1682-84 he writes many prologues, epilogues, and prefaces, and secures as much as three guineas for each. In 1684 he translates Maimbourg's "History of the League," and in that and the following year publishes two volumes of "Miscellaneous Poems," including contributions from other writers; evidence taken from his private letters at this time shows that he was in financial straits, and was writing under the spur of poverty; in December, 1683, after an appeal for aid to the Earl of Rochester, he is appointed collector of customs in the port of London, an office which, through its fees, somewhat relieved him financially; near the close of Charles's life Dryden writes two operas, "Albion and Albanius" and "King Arthur," in honor of the King's political successes; the latter opera was produced in June, 1685, after the accession of James; Dryden's offices and his pension of 100 are continued under James II.; in January, 1686, he is reported to have been seen, with his two sons and Mrs. Nelly (mistress to the late King), "going to Mass; his conversion to Romanism at this time seems to have been |