Copy of an original Letter from John Dryden, Efq. to his fons in Italy, from a MS. in the Lambeth Library, marked No. 933, p. 56. 66 Being now at Sir William Bowyer's in the country, I "cannot write at large, because I find myself fomewhat indif punctilious obfervation, and retouched every part with indefatigable diligence, till he had left nothing to be forgiven. "For this reafon he kept his pieces very long in his hands, while he confi dered and reconfidered them. The only poems which can be fuppofed to have been written with fuch regard to the times as might haften their publication, were the fatires of "Thirty-eight;" of which Dodfley told me that they were brought to him by the author, that they might be fairly copied. "Almoft every line," he said, "was then written twice over; I gave him a clean tranfcript, which he fent fome time afterwards to me for the prefs, with almoft every line written twice over a fecond time.” "His declaration, that his care for his works ceafed at their publication, was not strictly true. His parental attention never abandoned them: what he found amifs in the first edition, he filently corrected in thofe that followed. He appears to have revised the "Iliad," and freed it from fome of its imper fections; and the "Effay on Criticffm" received many improvements after its first appearance. It will feldom be found that he altered without adding clearness, elegance, or vigour. Pope had perhaps the judgement of Dryden; but Dryden certainly wanted the diligence of Pope. "In acquired knowledge, the fuperiority must be allowed to Dryden, whofe education was more fcholaftic, and who before he became an author had been allowed more time for study, with better means of information. His mind has a larger range, and he collects his images and illuftrations from a more extensive circumference of science. Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehenfive speculation, and thofe of Pope by minute attention. There is more diguity in the knowledge of Dryden, and more certainty in that of Pope. UPON THE DEATH OF LORD HASTINGS*. MUST noble Haftings immaturely die, There is fome fancy in this Poem, but many of the lines are very bad, and the images too grofs both in defign and expreffion to have efcaped our author in his riper years. However, he was not quite eighteen when he wrote it; and, by reprinting it, the reader may trace the progrefs of that genius which afterwards arrived at fuch fublimity. The nobleman herein lamented, was ftiled Henry Lord Haftings, fon to Ferdinand, Earl of Huntingdon. He died before his father, in 1649, being then in his 20th year. He had, from nature and education a molt amiable difpofition, a strong judgment, and fo refined a tafte, that, according to Collins's Peerage, not less than ninety-eight elegies were compofed on his death. DERRICK. Derrick fhould have added that Collins exprefly mentions thefe elegies as printed in "Lachrymæ Mufurum, the Tears of the Mufes expreffed in elegies written by divers perfons of nobility, and worth, upon the death of the most hopeful Henry, Lord Haftiugs, eldeft [only] fon of the Right Honourable Ferdinando, Earl of Huntingdon, heir-general of the high-born Prince George, Duke of Clarence, brother to King Edward IV." [Col lected and fet forth by R. B.] But as the Lachrymæ Mujarum contains only thirty-fix elegies, it is clear that the figures 98 in Collins are erroneous, and a mere errour of the prefs. MALONE. Ver. 1. Muft noble Haftings] It is a mortifying circumftance to be compelled to begin thefe notes with a cenfure of the very VOL. I. B Beauty and learning thus together meet, first piece of our admired poet. But it is impoffible not to be hurt by the falfe, unnatural thoughts, by the forced and farfought conceits, by the rugged and inharmonious numbers, and the perpetual aim and defire to be witty, with which this Elegy fo much abounds, that we wonder he could ever rife fo high after fo unpromifing a beginning. One well known fentence characterifes his Works: "Ubi bene nemo melius, ubi malè nemo pejus." The perfon he lamented was Henry Lord Haftings, fon to Ferdinand, Earl of Huntingdon, who died before his father, 1649. He was ancestor of the last Earl of Huntingdon, to whom Dr. Akentide addreffed an Ode, of a very different caft from the verfes before us, full of true Grecian spirit and fentiments, and in a tyle of peculiar force and energy. This nobleman will be long lamented by all his friends and acquaintance, of whom I had the honour to be one, for the elegance of his manters, his pleafing affability, his extenfive knowledge of men and things, the variety and vigour of his wit and converfation, enlivened by many curious facts and anecdotes, his accurate tafte in all parts of polite literature, and his univerfal candour and benevolence. The character of Afpafia, written by Congreve, in the Tatler, No. 72, is meant for Lady E. Haftings. She was daughter of Theophilus Haftings, feventh Earl of Huntingdon. Her father came to the honours and cftate of that family in 1655. So that three pocts, Dryden, Congreve, and Akenfide. celebrated the Haftings. Dr. JOSEPH WARTON. Ver. 4. ---a winding for a wedding sheet?] In this line, as alfo in verfe 93, the poet alludes to the melancholy circumftance of Lord Haftings's death having taken place on the day preceding that which, previoufly to his iilnefs, had been appointed for the celebration of his marriage. The lady to whom he was betrothed was the daughter of a very celebrated phyfician, Sir Theodore Mayerne, whofe fkill was in vain exerted to fave his intended fon-in-law from that malignant diforder, the fmall-pox.Pudie fponfalium (proh Hymenæe) funere luit immaturo," fays his epitaph. See alfo the following verfes of Andrew Marvel, in the collection already quoted: "The gods themfelves cannot their joy conceal, "But draw their veils, and their pure beams reveal ; "Who, for fad purple, tears his faffron coat, Muft virtue prove death's harbinger? must she, 5 Is death, fin's wages, grace's now? fhall art To be good, not to be; who'd then bequeath 10 Rare linguift, whofe worth fpeaks itself, whose praise 15 Though not his own, all tongues besides do raise: "And trails his torches th'row the ftarry hall, * "But what could he, good man, although he mix'd "All herbs, and them a thoufand ways intus'd, &c." The elegy in which these verses occur, is by far the beft in the collection, if we except that of our author. MALONE. Ver. 15. Rare linguist,] On this topick Sir Afton Cokayne, in his elegy on Lord Haftings, thus expatiates: "His few, but well-fpent years had mafter'd all "Sacred Judea's ampleft eloquence; "The Latine idiome elegantly true, "And Greek as rich as Athens ever knew: "The Italian and the French do both confefs, "Him perfect in their modern languages." Lachryme Mufarum, &c. 1650. Than whom great Alexander may feem lefs; Who conquer'd men, but not their languages. In his mouth nations fpake; his tongue might be Interpreter to Greece, France, Italy. 20 His native foil was the four parts o' the earth; All thefe attainments were made at an early age; for Lord Haftings died in his nineteenth (not as Derrick has it, his twentieth) year, on the 23d of June, 1649, after an illness of only feven days' duration. MALONE. Ver. 17. Than whom great Alexander may seem less ; Who conquer'd men, but not their languages.] Yet from his letter to his master Ariftotle, recorded by Plutarch and Aulus Gellius, we are led to conclude that the love of conqueft was but the fecond ambition in Alexander's foul. The letter as tranflated by Addison in his Guardian, No. 111, is as follows: "Alexander to Ariftotle Greeting, "You have not done well to publish your books of felect knowledge; for what is there now in which I can furpass others, if thofe things which I have been inftructed in are communicated to every body? For my own part, I declare to you, I would rather excel others in knowledge than power. Farewell." A living author who excels in clear and vigorous compofition will, I truft, forgive me, if I tranfcribe a passage in defence of the Hero of Macedon from a letter addreffed by him to the late Dr. Jofeph Warton. "In truth I am happy in knowing that you think as well of the Macedonian as I do: I am no favourer of paradoxes, nor would I write a Richard III. up into a good character; but surely it is time, that the world should learn to diftinguish between the conquefts of an intelligent being and the ravages of a Tartar, between an Alexander and a Zingis, a Timour or a Buonaparte. Alexander was a builder, and thefe only demolishers. How fmall is the proportion of the former to the latter, in the hiftory of the world!" Rev. JOHN WARTON. |