THEODORE AND HONORIA. This story is from the eighth tale of the fifth day of the Decameron. Dryden has altered the names of the characters, changing Nastagio degli Onesti into Theodore, the daughter of Paolo Traversaro into Honoria, and Guido degli Anastagi into Guido Cavalcanti. The last name is found in the tenth canto of Dante's Inferno, but Dryden is more likely to have taken it from the ninth tale of the sixth day of the Decameron. In the plot the English poet makes but one essential change, greatly expanding (ll. 340-409) the description of the inward struggle of Honoria, which Boccaccio treats very summarily, in about ten lines. Byron's praise of this tale is well known: Sweet hour of twilight! - in the solitude Of the pine forest, and the silent shore Which bounds Ravenna's immemorial wood, Rooted where once the Adrian wave flow'd o'er, Making their summer lives one ceaseless song, His hell-dogs, and their chase, and the fair throng 1. Romanian lands. Boccaccio's phrase is, In Ravenna antichissima città di Romagna. 835, 193. Stern. F reads Stern'd. 220. Would. "Used purposely here as expressing desire." [SAINTSBURY.] 836, 228. Destruction. F reads Distruction. 268. Mastiffs'. F reads Mastiffs, which may be either nominative or possessive, since the apostrophe is ordinarily not used in plural possessives. 280. Close. F reads clos'd. 838, 425. Beware. Since Dryden frequently shifts tenses in successive lines (as, for example, in 536, 31, 32; 859, 407, 408), this may be taken as a present tense: cf. 832, 799. CEYX AND ALCYONE. The words out of Metamorphoses do not occur in the heading in F; they are supplied from the table of contents, which, however, has Tenth instead of Eleventh. 839, 51. And present, etc. "And, being present, fear nothing except what I actually suffer." 54. Starlike. Ovid's sidereus; Ceyx was the son of Lucifer, the morning star. 842, 278. Beast of nature. Wild beasts (fera); cf. 251, 2537. 311. Renew. F reads renews, doubtless a misprint. 844, 395, 396. Her nurse, etc. The punctuation follows SS.; F has no stop after cause, and places commas after Cries and Griefs. 845, 495. Sev'n days, etc. These are the "halcyon days" (cf. 7, 144; 10, 236) of winter, when the sea is calm and the kingfisher sits brooding on her nest. Other authors give their number as fourteen. THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF. The words out of Chaucer do not occur in the heading of this poem in F, but are found in the table of contents. Modern students of Chaucer do not regard the original of this poem as one of his works. It probably dates from the middle of the fifteenth century, and seems to have been written by a woman (cf. 851, 471). It is in a seven-line stanza, rhyming a b a b bec (rhyme royal). Dryden is freer in handling this poem than in any other of his adaptations from early English, except of course The Character of a Good Parson; II. 480-501, which identify the companies of knights and ladies with fairies, are his addition to the story. 29. The balmy dew. "That is, sleep." [SAINTSBURY.] 846, 46. The painted birds. Christie notes the borrowing from Virgil: pictæ volucres, Georgics, iii. 243. 53. And wanted, etc. "One prognostic was missing to add to the others that announced the spring." [SAINTSBURY.] 847, 129. Her opposite. SAINTSBURY. The goldfinch." 155. A train, etc. "The mass of the Fathers (Justin, Athenagoras, Irenæus, Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Lactantius, Sulpicius, Ambrose, Nazianzen) hold that, though Satan fell from the beginning, the Angels fell before the deluge, falling in love with the daughters of men." NEWMAN, Apologia, ch. i (London, 1887, p. 29). Cf. Genesis vi. 2. 158. Less. "That is, a comparison less." [SAINTSBURY.] 159. Of a kind. "Of one kind; uniform." [SAINTSBURY.] After kind F has a comma, retained here and in SS.; C. deletes it. 848, 228. Trumpets. "In the sense of trumpeters. These and other warlike musicians long held some part of the character of heralds and of ancient minstrels. They were distinguished by collars and tabards, and often employed on messages, during which their persons were sacred." [SCOTT.] 233. Charge. "Bearings." SAINTSBURY. 257. The rivets, etc. "The joints of the armor were riveted with nails after the warrior had put it on." [SCOTT.] 264. Henchmen. "Personal attendants, who followed the knights in battle, and never quitted their side. Before a battle the henchmen carried, as in the text, the arms of the knight ready for use.' [SCOTT.] 849, 297. Coursers. F reads Courses. 850, 345. On arow. F reads on a-row. 353. Masters'. F reads Master's. 360. Lea. F reads Lay, a spelling which helps to explain rhymes such as sea: way, 27, 42. 851, 493. Demogorgon. "Demogorgon, one of the more apocryphal deities of mythology, has not much propriety here, except as supplying a name of excellent sound." [SAINTSBURY.] 852, 535. Nine worthies. "The common list of the nine worthies comprehends: Hector, Pompey, and Alexander, pagans; Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus, Jews; and 542. Who bear the bows, etc. "This is a mistake of Dryden, who was misled by the spelling of his text of the old English; bowes here, but boughes in line corresponding to 849, 282. The bow, though the youth trained to chivalry were taught to use it, made no part of a knight's proper weapons. But it is curious how Dryden, having fallen into an error, finds out a reason for his false reading, by alleging that the bows were borne as an emblem of strength of arm, valor, and victory." [Scorr.] 853, 606. Sigils. "Planetary or other signs, used as talismans." [SAINTSBURY.] Dryden's addition; cf. 766, 483. 854, 24. Ostent. "Dryden probably took this term (it is not in Ovid) from Chapman (Iliad, ii. 280), which, considering his previous condemnation of that translator (3862, 21-29), was unkind." (SAINTSBURY.] 36. Yet, etc. Yet, despite this prodigy, the navy did not weigh anchor. 44. Iphigenia. Dryden accents incorrectly, Iphigenia instead of Iphigeni'a; cf. 601, 606, n; 730, 7, n; 895, 419. 855, 98. Heroes. Possibly this should be changed to heroes'. 856, 203. The bird. "The swan." SCOTT. 236. These. So SS.; F reads Those. On Caneus, cf. 601, 608; 787, 53. 857, 294. The cloud-begotten race. "The Centaurs, a people of Thessaly, said to be begotten by Ixion, on the cloud which he took for Juno." SCOTT. 307. And little wanted, etc. "The translation is somewhat obscure; it means: 'All wished her joy, and it had nearly happened that all had wished it in vain."" [SCOTT.] 858, 339. Supply. Cf. 400, 1031, n. 861, 578. Strange, etc. Habit and dress are ordi narily synonyms. Scott thinks that here the former applies "to the furniture of the horse," but suggests as an alternative that it "means his mode of life." N. E. D. gives no instance of habit used in any such sense as trappings of a horse. 862, 607. Divin'd. F reads devin'd. 634. Beast. F reads Breast; the emendation was suggested, but not adopted, by Saintsbury. 863, 742. Tow'r'd. F reads tour'd. 864, 811. Warrior. So SS.; F reads Warrious; perhaps warriors' would be a better correction. 868, 254. Phthia. F reads Pthya. 869, 395. The spy. Dolon, whom Diomedes and Ulysses surprised setting out to explore the Greek camp: v. Iliad, x. 299-464; cf. 695, 520-529. 871, 501. Counsels. So SS.; F reads Counsel, probably by a misprint. 872, 609. A flow'r. The hyacinth. This flower was fabled to have sprung from the blood of the beautiful youth Hyacinthus, a favorite of Apollo, and accidentally slain by him. It bore on its petals the Greek letters AI, an exclamation of woe, symbolizing the grief of Apollo for his loss. The same letters begin the name Aias, Ajax. THE WIFE OF BATH, HER TALE. On this poem Professor Lounsbury writes: "This is essentially a fairy story. In Chaucer the heroine is a young and beautiful woman who has by unmentioned, but evidently malignant agency been transformed into a foul, ill-favored crone. It is implied, though not asserted, that in this condition she must remain until some one can be prevailed upon to receive her as a bride with all her deformity, and ignorant of the transformation that is to restore her to her true shape. It is for this end, therefore, that she is laboring solely. But in Dryden's version she is no mere passive sufferer from a wrong inflicted by a malign and hostile influence possessed of preternatural power. She is herself a proficient in magic art. She has the infernal world at her command. When her offer is accepted by the knight, she spreads her mantle on the ground, and transfers him with furious rapidity to King Arthur's court, while his horse is also brought thither by some devil subject to her will [v. 875, 253-265]. The alteration was objectionable because it was false to the original, false to the belief upon which the original was founded, and false to the central idea of the story. The beautiful woman of Chaucer, suffering from the influence of malignant hate, becomes in Dryden a practitioner of the black art, leagued with the powers of the lower world, and sharing in the privileges with which subservience to their will is rewarded." Studies in Chaucer, iii. 176, 177. Though this criticism is just, it merely shows Dryden's lack of knowledge and appreciation of medieval literature. His contemporaries, if they noted his addition to the original, were probably pleased by it. 3. Elfs. On the discrepancy with elves (873, 34), cf. 2631, 31, n. 28. Friars. F reads Fry'rs. 873, 61-68. Then courts, etc. An oblique reply to Collier: v. B. S. xxxvi; n. 734 (MOTTEUX); cf. 899 (Epil.). 73. Geneura. Guinevere. 80. Covering, etc. This line is Dryden's addition, and is very characteristic of him. 84. Speaker. The speaker of the House of Commons was so called because in the old days he was the spokesman of the Commons in their communications with the Crown. The older sense of the word survives here. 104. But, not, etc. The 1700 ed. reads But not to hold our Proffer in Scorn; that of 1713 inserts turn'd after Proffer. Some emendation is necessary, and that suggested in the text seems as likely as any. 874, 156. Witness, etc. "Ovid, indeed, tells the story in the Metamorphoses, lib. xi. But how will the fair reader excuse Chaucer for converting the talkative male domestic of Midas into that king's wife?" SCOTT. 194. Bittor. F reads Bittour. Bumps. The name given to the cry of the bittern. "That a bittern maketh that mugient noise, or as we term it, bumping, by putting its bill into a reed, . . . is not so easily made out. For my own part, though after diligent enquiry, I could never behold them in this motion." SIR THOMAS BROWNE, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, iii. 27, § 4. 875, 245. Kerchief. "I do not remember another example of this synecdoche, though the similar, but much less graceful, petticoat, is of course common." SAINTSBURY. Chaucer has: -the proudeste of hem alle, That wereth on a coverchief or a calle. 876, 340. À la mort. F reads a-la-mort. This phrase was once completely naturalized in English, and felt as all amort; the italics of F show, however, that Dryden regarded it as still French. 877, 374. Ah benedicite, etc. The following passage, through 1. 457, is greatly altered and expanded from Chaucer. Dryden owes much to Lucretius; cf. 191, 208-236. Line 436, however, is from Horace; cf. 4901, 13, n. 387. Earth. "That is, his earthly part, body." [SAINTSBURY.] 424. The will is free. Cf. 829, 523, n. 878, 431. Whichsoever. One of the two. 434. Sodom blue. "That is, the blue flame of sulphur, wherewith Sodom perished." [SAINTSBURY.] 448. Servius Tullius. The sixth king of Rome, the son of a female captive, who was a slave in the family of Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king. F reads Tullus, probably by a misprint. 450. Fabricius. One of the poor and honest heroes of the Roman republic, famous for his exploits in the war against Pyrrhus. (Added to the story by Dryden.) 471. The ragged beggar, etc. From Juvenal, as Chaucer indicates; cf. 348, 33, 34. 879, 534. Pygmalion. Added to the story by Dryden; v. 804-806. 543. Often as they. So SS.; F reads often they. 3. Sate. F reads sat, but cf. rhyme. 16. Alcides. Hercules; cf. 628, 266–270. 881, 160. Cov'tous. F reads covet'ous. 882, 260. Tiphys. The helmsman of the ship Argo; cf. 885, 505. 883, 304. Flow'rets. F reads Flourets. 339. The rolling chair. "The rolling chair, or gocart, and the stick are not in Ovid." SAINTSBURY. Dryden's addition here of concrete detail to Ovid's vague aliquo conamine is in contrast with his general tendency to abstraction. 343. Years. F places a comma after this word; SS., a colon. 884, 434. Hurt by Hercules, etc. Cf. 857, 292 f, and 863, 706-710. 885, 505. Tiphys. Cf. 882, 260, n. 886, 539. But this, etc. Cf. 481-487, 401-806. 541. Hollow. So SS.; F reads hallow, which may be a misprint for either hollow or shallow. 888, 702. Nor purple feathers, etc. "Alluding to the plan of fastening bright feathers to a string to frighten game." SAINTSBURY. THE CHARACTER OF A GOOD PARSON. "This piece may be considered as an amende honorable to the reverend order whom Dryden had often satirized, cf. 734 (MOTTEUX), n; 7342, 18, n; 111, 99; 4922, 46-49, and he himself seems to wish it to be viewed in that light (v. 7452, 26-35). With a freedom which he has frequently employed elsewhere, though to a less extent, Dryden has added the last thirtyfive lines, in which, availing himself of the revolution which in Chaucer's time placed Henry IV on the throne, he represents the political principles of his priest as the same with those of the non-juring clergy of his own day. Indeed the whole piece is greatly enlarged upon Chaucer's sketch." [SCOTT.] As we know from a letter (printed on p. 737), Dryden wrote this poem at the suggestion of Samuel Pepys, the diarist. To the poet's letter Pepys replied as follows: "You truly have obliged mee; and possibly in saying so, I am more in earnest then you can readily think; as verily hopeing from this your copy of one GOOD PARSON, to fancy some amends made mee for the hourly offence I beare with from the sight of soe many lewd originalls. "I shall with great pleasure attend you on this occasion, when ere you'l permit it; unless you would have the kindness to double it to mee, by suffering my coach to wayte on you (and who you can gayne mee ye same favour from) hither, to a cold chicken and a sallade, any noone after Sunday, as being just stepping into the ayre for 2 days. I am most respectfully Your honord and obedat Servant, The writer of the preface to the 1711 edition of Expostulatoria, a work attributed to Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711) applies to Ken Dryden's Character of a Good Parson. (The editor here follows the account of Ken by the Rev. William Hunt in D. N. B., which, however, gives the title of Ken's work as Expostularia.) The age of the parson, his writing of hymns (II. 21-24), and his principles as a nonjuror, all circumstances added to Chaucer by Dryden, favor this view, but external evidence is lacking. 19. For, letting down, etc. Dryden's addition; cf. 782, 1024, 1025. The idea of the chain of love goes back to Boethius; v. Skeat's note on Cant. Tales, A 2991-93. 889, 34. To threats, etc. "A reference to the wellknown fable of The Sun, the Wind, and the Traveler." SAINTSBURY. Cf. 223, 447. 97. Zebedee. v. Mark x. 35-45. 98. Not but, etc. "This passage is obviously introduced by the author to apologize for the splendid establishment of the clergy of his own community. What follows applies, as has been noticed, to the non-juring clergy, who lost their benefices for refusing the oath of allegiance to King William." SCOTT. 103. Reflecting, etc. v. Exodus xxxiv. 29-35; cf. 118, 649, n. 890, 115. An odious name. "How odious, Burnet found when his Pastoral Letter urging it was burnt by order of the Commons, January, 1693. The flattering priest below is, however, pretty certainly William Sherlock, Dean of St. Paul's, whose Case of the Allegiance due to Sovereign Powers, etc., appeared in 1690 or 1691. See Macaulay, ch. xvii, xix." [SAINTSBURY.] CYMON AND IPHIGENIA. This story is from the first tale of the fifth day of the Decameron. Dryden's principal alteration of the plot is that he makes Iphigenia respond to Cymon's love, so that she, as well as her father, regrets the previous contract to Pasimond (v. l. 251). The aim, as Wieruszowski conjectures, is probably to create some moral justification for the hero's acts. Cf. the similar change of Sigismonda and Guiscardo; v. n. 792. This poem was reprinted in the third edition (1702) of Sylva (The Second Miscellany). 1-41. Old, etc. This passage is a reply to Collier's attack: v. B. S. xxxvi, and 734 (MOTTEUX), n, and references given there. Christie justly remarks: "Unable to make a good defense, Dryden resorts to abuse; and, a Roman Catholic convert, he denounces the marriage of Protestant clergymen." 39. Ormond. Cf. 7492 (ORMOND), n. 891, 67. And Cymon, etc. "Era chiamato Cimone, il che nella lor lingua sonava quanto nella nostra bestione." 106. The fanning wind, etc. The fourteen-syllable verse is used purposely to give a suggestion of prolonged repose; cf. 129, 94, n. 892, 132. As barren grounds, etc. Dryden's addition; cf. 445, 122–136. 894, 322. Who now, etc. Cf. 757, 381; 765, 426; 242, 1860, n. 895, 400. The rude militia. "Dryden willingly seizes the opportunity of being witty at the expense of the militia of England." [SCOTT.] 419. Iphigenia. On the accent, cf. 854, 44, n. 424. So passive, etc. A sarcastic allusion to the Church of England, which in time of stress had not adhered to its doctrine of passive obedience; cf. 236, 1428; 237, 1432-1437; 244, 1956-1960. 427. To dismiss, etc. "That is, to shake him off altogether." [SAINTSBURY.] 897, 518. With Love, etc. Repeated from 752, 12. 557. Retir'd. F, followed by SS. and C., places only a comma after this word, and has no pause after troop in the next line. Lines 558, 559, mean clearly: "His soldiers . . . all determined to fight, and all begged for (demanded) their accustomed work (fighting)." (N. E. D., however, does not cite any instance of fix used in the sense of determine earlier than 1788.) 568. These lead, etc. Cf. 129, 94, n. 898, 622. Grind. F reads grin'd, which may possibly mean grinn'd. PROLOGUE. ... FROM THE PILGRIM. "Cibber informs us that Sir John Vanbrugh, who cast the parts, being pleased with the young actor's [Cibber's] moderation in contenting himself with those of the Stuttering Cook and Mad Englishman, assigned him also the creditable task of speaking the epilogue, which, as it was so much above the ordinary strain, highly gratified his vanity. Dryden himself, on hearing Cibber recite it, made him the further compliment of trusting him with the prologue also; an honorable distinction, which drew upon him the jealousy of the other actors (Apology, ch. viii).". [SCOTT.] 8991, 3. Tom Dove. "The savage amusement of bear baiting was much in fashion in England during the seventeenth century. Tom Dove seems to have been a bear of great celebrity." [SCOTT.] Cf. 154, 24. 16. Maurus. Blackmore. Cf. 7482, 27, n: 785, 83. Blackmore took a B.A. from Oxford in 1674 and an M.A. in 1676, but had his medical degree from the University of Padua. He had just published since Dryden wrote his preface to the Fables A Paraphrase on the Book of Job; as likewise on the Songs of Moses, Deborah, David; on four Select Psalms, some Chapters of Isaiah, and the Third Chapter of Habakkuk, mentioned in the Term Catalogue for Trinity Term, 1700. In 1687 he was admitted fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, under the charter of James II; in 1697 he was knighted by William III. (The name is spelled Marus in the 1700 text, but cf. 785, 83.) 8992, 35. Hopkins. Cf. 143, 403, n. 41. At leisure hours, etc. In his preface to King Arthur (1697) Blackmore states that Prince Arthur was written "by such catches and starts, and in such occasional, uncertain hours, as the business of my profession would afford me." He continues: "And therefore for the greatest part that poem was written in coffee-houses, and in passing up and down the streets, because I had little leisure elsewhere to apply to it." Cf. 7412, 33 f. EPILOGUE. This is largely a reply to Collier : v. B. S. xxxvi, and 734 (MOTTEUX), n; cf. 873, 61-68. (Collier in 1699 had published A Defense of the Short View, etc., in answer to attacks on his work by Congreve and Vanbrugh.) 9001, 21. Misses. In italics in 1700 text. 41, 42. For while, etc. Repeated from 172, 55, 56, with the alteration of two words. 9002, 47. Oates. v. 117, 632, n. Dryden here alludes to his continual appendixes to his information concerning the Popish Plot. Haynes. The allusion seems to be partly to Bryan Haines, the Tory evidence against Shaftesbury and College, a fellow almost as infamous as Oates; but chiefly, by way of equivoque, to the wicked wag Joe Haynes [Haines], the comedian, who, amongst other pranks, chose, during the reign of James II, to become Roman Catholic. Whether he took this step from any serious prospect of advantage, or to throw ridicule on the new converts, is somewhat dubious; at least his apostasy was not founded upon conviction, for, after the Revolution, he abjured the errors of Popery, spoke a penitentiary prologue, and reconciled himself to the Church and theater of England." Scorт. Cf. 70, 45, n; 2802, 20, n. 11. St. Hermo. "The electric appearances, sometimes seen on the masts or yards of a ship during stormy nights, called by sailors in the Mediterranean the Lights of St. Elmo. They are supposed to presage the safety of the vessel and the termination of the storm." [SCOTT.] 20. Charms. The 1700 text reads Charm, but cf. rhyme. 901. THE SECULAR MASQUE. "The moral of this emblematical representation is sufficiently intelligible. By the introduction of the deities of the chase, of war, and of love, as governing the various changes of the seventeenth century, the poet alludes to the sylvan sports of James I, the bloody wars of his son, and the licentious gallantry which reigned in the courts of Charles II and James, his successor." [SCOTT.] Janus is introduced here as the god of beginnings; Chronos, as the god of time; and Momus, as the personification of mockery and censure. Cf. 3831, 2, n. 902, 82. But since, etc. "There seems here to be a secret allusion to the exile of the beautiful queen of James II, so much admired by the Tory poets of the time." SCOTT. Cf. 268, The Lady's Song. 903. POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO DRYDEN. The notes on pp. 903-919 have been made as brief as possible. Among the titles on pp. 920, 921, should have been included THE HAPPY SHEPHERD a ballad, the first two verses of which the British Museum Catalogue (under Shepherd, p. 184) ascribes to Dryden. This, as the editor learns from a correspondent at the British Museum, is a broadside (single sheet), undated, but, as is shown by an advertisement on the reverse of the leaf, published in the reign of King William (1689–1702). "There is no evidence from the ballad itself that Dryden is the author, nor indeed does the MS. list of contents at the beginning of the volume in which the ballad is bound, suggest Dryden's name." The ballad contains seven stanzas, of which the first two, and the title, are as follows: On Howard, v. B. S. xvii. The Indian Queen, as might be inferred from the Epilogue, was presented with much magnificence. Pepys writes that it "for show, they say, exceeds Henry the Eighth." 9032, 17. Will. 'T will in original edition. 9041, 3 (A Song). Do. CGD reads do's. 3 (Enjoyment). So o'er-blest. CGD reads so over blest. 9. Whilst. CGD reads While. 9042, 14. His soul. CGD reads His flying Soul. 19, 20. "O now, etc. CGD reads: Oh! now my dear let us go. Dye with me Damon, for now I dye too. 21. Sweet. CGD reads secret. A SONG. The "A" of the heading is not found in CGD. 905. LINES ON SETTLE'S EMPRESS OF MOROCCO. If, as Settle himself asserts (Malone, II, 273), Shadwell had a hand in Notes and Observations on The Empress of Morocco, that pamphlet must have been written before the disagreement between Dryden and Shadwell referred to in nn. 742, 53 (pp. 944 and 1031). AN ESSAY UPON SATIRE. It has seemed needless to give full text variants for this poem. The text printed in Sheffield's Works, 1723 (a collection edited by Pope), differs considerably from that given here. 906, 30. Armstrong. Cf. 74a, 22, n. 56. Monmouth. Cf. 110, 18, n. Sir Carr. Sir Carr Scrope, courtier and minor poet. He contributed a version of Sappho to Phaon to the cooperative translation of Ovid's Epistles in which Dryden had a leading share (cf. pp. 88-101). 61. The royal mistresses. The Duchess of Cleveland (cf. headnote, p. 20) and the Duchess of Portsmouth (cf. headnote, p. 202). 74. Ayles-y. Robert Bruce, Earl of Aylesbury. 76. D-by's. Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby. 907, 89. Nokes. Cf. 602, 1, n. 102. Machiavel. The Earl of Shaftesbury; cf. 111, 150, n. The 1702 text reads Matchiavel, which illustrates the pronunciation of the name in Dryden's time. |