volume that to Milton, as to other and earlier Renaissance writers, his work was a single whole, whatever the language he employed.

In the preface to volume ii Dr. Grierson traces, with extracts from the lyrical passages in the pamphlets, and from the notes and schemes in the Trinity MS., the stages by which Milton came finally to choose epic instead of dramatic form, and the subject of Paradise Lost' rather than one from national history, for his long-meditated great poem. This poem was published in ten Books in 1667, but it is in the 1674 edition in twelve Books that Dr. Grierson (like Richardson in 1734) sees 'the Finish'd, the Genuine, the Uncorrupted Work of John Milton'. As a proof of Milton's careful revision of the text of the 1674 edition, he points to the fact that 'their' is altered to 'thir' twenty-five times, where it is not rhetorically or metrically stressed, in Book I alone. He also gives a list of more important textual emendations, and contends (as we think, rightly) that Beeching should have based his text of Paradise Lost in his Oxford Milton on the 1674 and not the 1667 volume. But in the matter of spelling Dr. Grierson is himself (as he candidly admits) open to criticism. He has modernized wherever there is no difference of sound between the old form and the new ', but has retained 'Milton's own spelling wherever it does indicate his pronunciation'. Such a principle must involve some arbitrary decisions, and neither his First' nor Second Defence', in his two prefaces, can entirely reconcile us to the compromise. It is the only doubtful feature in an edition which every student of Milton should add to his library.

2762-5

IX

THE RESTORATION

[By ALLARDYCE NICOLL]

IN spite of many and varied studies devoted to almost all aspects of Restoration literature, the stalwart figure of John Dryden stands out pre-eminent; his character and achievements seem to have perennial fascination both for those who may be styled literary psychologists and for detailed researchers.

Mr. Alan Lubbock's essay on The Character of John Dryden is a welcome one.1 Mr. Lubbock does well to call our attention to the fact that, reading Dryden,

one is aware of the presence of a character as solid as Dr. Johnson: but look for him, and he is not there: the lines of the human figure dissolve, as you turn, into those of the literature of his age.

Dealing with his religious, political and critical ideals, Mr. Lubbock endeavours to capture this elusive entity. He discovers above all a liberal scepticism which kept Dryden a Conservative in spite of his rejection of the Divine Right theory, a classicist in spite of a wide appreciation of all literature. Perhaps certain portions of this essay--such as that on the 'poets of the last age’— are rather over-laboured, but as a whole Mr. Lubbock seems to have succeeded in pointing out the salient features of Dryden's nature and in providing a character study which remains true to fact. The treatment of critical ideas, in particular, appears to be excellent.

A collection which is likely to make Dryden rather more popular than he is has been prepared by Mr. D. Nichol Smith and published in the excellent Clarendon Press series. The introduction to this volume is succinct and scholarly, while it

1 The Character of John Dryden, by Alan Lubbock. Hogarth Press. pp. 31. 2s. 6d. net.

2 Dryden: Poetry and Prose, with Essays by Congreve, Johnson, Scott, and others, ed. by David Nichol Smith. O.U.P. pp. xvi+204. 3s. 6d.

was a happy thought to add selections from the criticism of Congreve, Johnson, and Scott. No anthology from Dryden could ever please all his admirers. The present writer, for example, regrets that he does not see here the dreadful verses on Lord Falkland, so useful for comparison with Dryden's maturer work, while among those maturer works opinions may differ concerning inclusion and exclusion. On the whole, however, the choice is a catholic one and well designed to display the breadth and variety of Dryden's poetical charm.

This effort to popularize the works of the Restoration writer goes alongside more detailed research into his life, his literary works, his reading, and his friends. Among contributions of the latter type not the least important are those of Mr. G. ThornDrury (R. E. S., 1. i. Jan.; 1. ii. April; 1. iii. July). A short summary of these Notes on Dryden may be presented here. There are interesting parallels quoted between All for Love and Daniel's Cleopatra; a new record (of the year 1713) of Milton's famous, if not fully substantiated, reply to Dryden's proposal regarding The State of Innocence; a little scrap of information relating to Dryden's pecuniary circumstances; and a few other items of minor interest. In addition to these there are one or two longer and more important studies. Mr. Thorn-Drury thus brings forward evidence to show that the Person of Honour' (what tiresome people they were, to be sure!) who wrote Poetical Reflections on a late Poem Intituled, Absalom and Achitophel was not, as Wood states, the Duke of Buckingham. New points are introduced to show that MacFlecknoe was, in all probability, written and known in manuscript by 1678, and an attempt is made to relieve Shadwell of the responsibility of The Medal of John Bayes. Concerning Absalom and Achitophel Mr. Thorn-Drury draws attention to a previous application of the Biblical theme on the part of Mrs. Cellier as early as 1680. Less satisfactory are the notes on the vexed question of The Tempest. Much of the evidence here is well known, and the passage quoted from The Reasons of Mr. Bays Changing his Religion (1688) merely proves that Dryden was assumed to be the author of the operatic version. This fact certainly cannot be challenged; the point of the controversy is

that, while the operatic Tempest was republished several times with Dryden's preface, Downes asserts that the real author was Shadwell. The fact that the original 1670 non-operatic version was printed in the collected Works of Dryden in 1701 seems to outweigh all the other references.

Among Mr. Thorn-Drury's notes particular attention may be drawn to the presentation of some original and highly valuable MS. material. The Epistle Dedicatory to the satirical Poem to King William is a delightful piece of writing; the letter from Jacob Tonson shows how easy it was to imitate the Dryden and Waller styles; and the note from Lenthall Warcup indicates the interest taken by the Town' in Dryden's political poems. Altogether there has been given here a series of carefully documented and carefully thought-out notes which must prove invaluable to any future critic or biographer of Dryden.

In The Philological Quarterly (IV. i, Jan.) Miss Amanda M. Ellis essays a study of Horace's Influence on Dryden, in which a detailed examination is made of Dryden's general indebtedness to, and particular quotations from, Horace's poems. This essay contains the results of much excellent work, but its form is a trifle dry and tabular. Writing more freshly, Miss Kathleen M. Lynch (Phil. Quarterly, Oct.) discusses D'Urfe's L'Astrée and the 'Proviso' Scenes in Dryden's Comedy. Miss Lynch's thesis-for which she makes out a good case-is that these 'proviso' scenes, which constitute Dryden's most marked contribution to English comedy, are imitated from the courtship of Hylas and Stelle in D'Urfé's romance. Her parallels are well chosen, and serve to throw some fresh light on what was virtually the genesis of the comedy of manners. Mr. D. M. Low in T. L. S. (April 30)

indicates an error of Chassis for Chiassis in Theodore and Honoria.

Mr. Bonamy Dobrée, whose Restoration Comedy was noted in the last issue of The Year's Work (pp. 187-8), has added two more books to the Restoration list during 1925. For the World's Classics series he has edited the comedies of William Congreve,3 and has produced as well a series of Essays in Biography,

3 Comedies by William Congreve, ed. by Bonamy Dobrée. O.U.P. pp. xxviii+ 472. 28. net.

covering the period 1680-1726. The first is a reprint of the collected edition of 1710, with a clever introduction which concerns itself mainly with the Congrevian style. A second volume will complete, what has long been desired, a cheap and trustworthy collected Works of this master of English prose. In Essays in Biography Mr. Dobrée continues his efforts in creative criticism. Singling out Sir George Etherege, the ambassador, Sir John Vanbrugh, the architect of Blenheim, and Joseph Addison, 'the first Victorian', the biographer strives to present pen-pictures of these typical men at typical moments in their careers. Etherege, bored and reckless in his dismal Ratisbon, dreaming of London joys; Vanbrugh, quarrelling with workmen and the Duchess; Addison plodding away industriously at University or continental travel-these figures take life before us and make enjoyment of The Man of Mode, The Provok'd Husband, and Cato at once keener and more intelligent. Mr. Dobrée possesses an observant eye and a pen which, if sometimes a little too vivid and scintillating, making the writer lose balance for the sake of an epigrammatic thrust, is delightful in a world where academic tonelessness seems the inevitable companion of academic research.

Since Mr. Dobrée was the author of Restoration Comedy, it may be fitting here to note another study on this subject, The Comic Spirit in Restoration Drama by Professor Perry.5 This work is both scholarly and illuminating. The author has made an endeavour to analyse the comic styles of the five principal dramatists of the 'manners' school and place them in their historical and philosophical position in the realm of comedy. The careful dissection of individual plays undoubtedly helps Professor Perry in this task, and many good points are made, especially in the section devoted to Vanbrugh, so that his study is a genuine contribution to a subject which has had its critics since the times of Jeremy Collier. Unfortunately, Professor Perry has to a certain extent spoilt the general

Essays in Biography, 1680-1726, by Bonamy Dobrée. O.U.P. pp. xi+ 357. 12s. 6d. net.

The Comic Spirit in Restoration Drama: Studies in the Comedy of Etherege, Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar, by Henry Ten Eyck Perry. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press; London: O.U.P. pp. xii +148. 9s.