only in the sight of men, but, as Hall says of the French Revolution, in that of superior beings. We need not dwell on the far-famed absurdities which the poem contains-about God turning a "crystal pyramid into a broad extinguisher" to put out the fire of the ship compared to a sea-wasp floating on the waves-and of men in the fight killed by "aromatic splinters" from the Spice Islands! Criticism has long ago said its best and its worst about these early escapades of a writer whose taste, to the last, was never commensurate with his genius. His Translations we have not included in this edition, as we reserve them, along with other masterpieces of translated verse, for a separate issue afterwards. That of the "Art of Poetry," sometimes included in editions of his works, was not his, but only revised by him. We may say here, in general, however, that although there are more learned and more correct translators than Dryden, there are few who have produced versions so vigorous, so full of exuberant life, and, in those parts of the authors suitable to the peculiarities of the translator's own genius, so faithful to their spirit and soul, if not to their letter and their body, as he. Parts of Virgil he does not translate well; he has no sympathy with Maro's elegance, concinnitas, chaste grandeur, and minute knowledge of nature; but wherever Virgil begins to glow and gallop, Dryden glows and gallops with him; and wherever Virgil is nearest Homer, Dryden is nearest him. We have reserved to the close his Fables, as, on the whole, forming the culmination of Dryden the artist, if not, perhaps, of Dryden the poet. In preparing his poems for publication, how refreshing we found it to pass from a needful although cursory perusal of his plays, and a revision of his prologues, to these comparatively pure, right-manly, and eloquent compositions the fables of Dryden! We do not, because it would be hardly fair, with Wordsworth, seek to compare them with the Chaucerian originals—a comparison under which they would be infallibly crushed. We prefer looking at them as bearing only the relation to Chaucer which Macpherson's, did to the original, Ossian. And regarding them in this light, as adaptations, where the original author furnishes only the ground-work, they are surely masterpieces and models of composition, if not exemplars of creative power and genius. How free and majestic their numbers! How bold and buoyant their language! How interesting the stories they tell! How perfect the preservation, and artful the presentment, of the various characters! What a fine chivalrous spirit breathes in "Palamon and Arcite!" What a soft yet purple, pure yet gorgeous, light of love hovers over the "Flower and the Leaf!"-the only poem of Dryden's in which-thanks perhaps to his master, Chaucer-the poet discovers the slightest perception of that "Love which spirits feel In climes where all is equable and pure." What gay and gallant badinage, exquisite irony, and interesting narrative, in the story of "The Cock and Fox!" And what knowledge of human nature and skilful construction in "The Wife of Bath's Tale!" We are half inclined, with George Ellis, to call these fables the "noblest specimen of versification to be found in any modern language.' We gather, too, from them a notion about Dryden's capabilities, which we may state. It is, that had Dryden lived in a novel and romance-writing age, and turned his great powers in that direction, he might have easily become the best fictionistnext to Cervantes and Scott-that ever lived, possessing, as he did, most of the qualities of a good novelist-vigorous and facile diction; dramatic skill; an eye for character; the power of graphic description, and rapid changeful narrative; the command of the grave and the gay, the severe and the lively; and a sympathy both with the bustling activities and the wild romance of human life, if not with its more solemn aspects, its transcendental references, and its aerial heights and giddy abysses of imagination and poetry. [We have followed the judicious example of Warton and Mitford in excluding several Prologues which appear in some editions, but which reflect no honour on their author. Dryden's Translations will be published in the separate series of "Translations," which it is the intention of the Publisher to issue, independent of the "Poetical Works" of the various authors.] CONTENTS. EPISTLES. PAGE II. To my honoured friend, Dr Charleton, on his learned and useful Works; but more particularly his Treatise of Stone- henge, by him restored to the true founder, . III. To the Lady Castlemain, upon her encouraging his first play, VI. To the Duchess of York, on her return from Scotland in the VII. A Letter to Sir George Etheredge, . VIII. To Mr Southerne, on his Comedy called "The Wives' Excuse," 18 XIV. To Sir Godfrey Kneller, principal painter to his Majesty, 40/ ELEGIES AND EPITAPHS. the late Countess of Abingdon, V. On the Death of Amyntas: a Pastoral Elegy, VI. On the Death of a very Young Gentleman, VII. Upon young Mr Rogers of Gloucestershire, VIII. On the Death of Mr Purcell, . IX. Epitaph on the Lady Whitmore, X. Epitaph on Sir Palmes Fairbone's tomb in Westminster Abbey, XI. Under Mr Milton's picture, before his "Paradise Lost," XII. On the monument of a fair Maiden Lady, who died at Bath, |