for the stage, Dryden found room in the fame space for many other undertakings.

But, how much foever he wrote, he was at least once fufpected of writing more; for in 1679 a paper of verses, called an Effay on Satire, was fhewn about in manufcript, by which the earl of Rochester, the dutchefs of Portsmouth, and others, were fo much provoked, that, as was fuppofed, for the actors were never discovered, they procured Dryden, whom they fufpected as the author, to be waylaid and beaten. This incident is mentioned by the duke of Buckinghamshire, the true writer, in his Art of Poetry; where he fays of Dryden,

Though prais'd and beaten for another's rhymes,

His own deferves as great applaufe fometimes.

His reputation in time was fuch, that his name was thought neceffary to the fuccefs of every poetical or literary performance, and therefore he was engaged to contribute fomething, whatever it might be, to many publications. He prefixed the Life of Polybius to the tranflation of Sir Henry Sheers; and those of Lucian and Plutarch to verfions of their works by different hands. Of the English Tacitus he tranflated the first book; and, if Gordon be credited, tranflated it from the French. Such a charge can hardly be mentioned without fome degree of indignation; but it is not, I fuppofe, fo much to be inferred, that Dryden wanted the literature neceffary to the perufal of Tacitus, as that, confidering himself as hidden in a crowd, he had no awe of the publick; and writing merely for money, was contented to get it by the nearest way.

In 1680, the Epiftles of Ovid being tranflated by the poets of the time, among which one was the work

work of Dryden, and another of Dryden and Lord Mulgrave, it was neceffary to introduce them by a preface; and Dryden, who on fuch occafions was regularly fummoned, prefixed a difcourfe upon tranflation, which was then ftruggling for the liberty that it now enjoys. Why it should find any difficulty in breaking the shackles of verbal interpretation, which must for ever debar it from elegance, it would be difficult to conjecture, were not the power of prejudice every day obferved. The authority of Jonfon, Sandys, and Holiday, had fixed the judgement of the nation; and it was not eafily believed that a better way could be found than they had taken, though Fanfhaw, Denham, Waller, and Cowley, had tried to give examples of a different practice.

In 1681, Dryden became yet more confpicuous by uniting politicks with poetry, in the memorable fatire called Abfalom and Achitophel, written against the faction which, by Lord Shaftesbury's incitement, fet the duke of Monmouth at its head.

Of this poem, in which perfonal fatire was applied to the fupport of publick principles, and in which therefore every mind was interested, the reception was cager, and the fale fo large, that my father, an old bookfeller, told me, he had not known it equalled but by Sacheverell's trial.

The reafon of this general perufal Addison has attempted to derive from the delight which the mind feels in the investigation of fecrets; and thinks that curiofity to decypher the names procured readers to the poem. There is no need to enquire why thofe verfes were read, which to all the attractions of wit, elegance, and harmony, added the co-operation of all

the

the factious paffions, and filled every mind with triumph or refentment.

It could not be fuppofed that all the provocation given by Dryden would be endured without resistance or reply. Both his perfon and his party were expofed in their turns to the fhafts of fatire, which, though neither fo well pointed nor perhaps fo well aimed, undoubtedly drew blood,

One of these poems is called Dryden's Satire on his Mufe; afcribed, though, as Pope fays, falfely, to Somers, who was afterwards Chancellor. The poem, whose foever it was, has much virulence, and fome fpritelinefs. The writer tells all the ill that he can collect both of Dryden and his friends.

The poem of Abfalom and Achitophel had two anfwers, now both forgotten; one called Azaria and Hubai; the other Abfalom fenior. Of these hoftile compofitions, Dryden apparently imputes Abfalom fenior to Settle, by quoting in his verses against him the fecond line. Azaria and Hufbai was, as Wood fays, imputed to him, though it is fomewhat unlikely that he should write twice on the fame occafion. This is a difficulty which I cannot remove, for want of a minuter knowledge of poetical tranfactions.

The same year he published the Medal, of which the fubject is a medal ftruck on lord Shaftesbury's escape from a profecution, by the ignoramus of a grand jury of Londoners.

In both poems he maintains the fame principles, and faw them both attacked by the fame antagonist. Elkanah Settle, who had answered Abfalom, appeared with equal courage in oppofition to the Medal, and pub-.

lished an answer called The Medal reverfed, with fo much fuccefs in both encounters, that he left the palm doubtful, and divided the fuffrages of the nation. Such are the revolutions of fame, or fuch is the prevalence of fashion, that the man whofe works have not yet been thought to deferve the care of collecting them; who died forgotten in an hofpital; and whose latter years were spent in contriving fhows for fairs, and carrying an elegy or epithalamium, of which the beginning and end were occafionally varied, but the intermediate parts were always the fame, to every houfe where there was a funeral or a wedding; might, with truth, have had infcribed upon his ftone,

Here lies the Rival and Antagonist of Dryden.

Settle was, for this rebellion, feverely chaftifed by Dryden under the name of Doeg, in the fecond part of Abfalom and Achitophel, and was perhaps for his factious audacity made the city poet, whofe annual office was to defcribe the glories of the Mayor's day. Of thefe bards he was the laft, and feems not much to have deserved even this degree of regard, if it was paid to his political opinions; for he afterwards wrote a panegyrick on the virtues of judge Jefferies; and what more could have been done by the meanest zealot for prerogative?

Of tranflated fragments, or occafional poems, to enumerate the titles, or fettle the dates, would be tedious, with little ufe. It may be obferved, that as Dryden's genius was commonly excited by fome perfonal regard, he rarely writes upon a general topick.

Soon after the acceffion of king James, when the defign of reconciling the nation to the church of Rome became apparent, and the religion of the court gave the only efficacious title to its favours, Dryden declared himself a convert to popery. This at any

other

other time might have paffed with little cenfure. Sir Kenelm Digby embraced popery; the two Rainolds reci-: procally converted one another; and Chillingworth himself was a while fo entangled in the wilds of controversy, as to retire for quiet to an infallible church. If men of argument and study can find fuch difficulties, or fuch motives, as may either unite them to the church of Rome, or detain them in uncertainty, there can be no wonder that a man, who perhaps never enquired why he was a proteftant, fhould by an artful and experienced disputant be made a papist, overborn by the sudden violence of new and unexpected arguments, or deceived by a representation which fhews only the doubts on one part, and only the evidence on the other.

That converfion will always be fufpected that apparently concurs with intereft. He that never finds his error till it hinders his progrefs towards wealth or honour, will not be thought to love Truth only for herself. Yet it may eafily happen that information may come at a commodious time; and as truth and intereft are not by any fatal neceffity at variance, that one may by accident introduce the other. When opinions are ftruggling into popularity, the arguments by which they are oppofed or defended become more known; and he that changes his profeffion would perhaps have changed it before, with the like opportunities of inftruction. This was the then state of popery; every artifice was used to fhew it in its fairest form; and it must be owned to be a

* Dr. John Reynolds, who lived temp. Jac. I. was at first a zealous Papist, and his brother William as earneit a Proteftant," but by mu tual difputation each converted the other. Vide Fuller's Church Hiftory, book X. p. 47.

religion