mander of the English forces in Scotland. He took a prominent part in the restoration of Charles II. 154. Did, etc. Cf. 774, 442. 162. It shuns, etc. "It is said, believe who list, that the ingenious Mr. Robert Boyle invented a metal which had all the properties of gold except malleability." SCOTT. 163. How hard, etc. The passage is far from clear: Dryden's style is not yet fully developed. Monk's task is explained in ll. 167, 168. In the natural body this is the charge of three distinct organs, muscles, nerves, and brain. The 1660 edition has no pause after see (1. 164); the 1688 edition has a semi-colon. Christie rightly restored the original punctuation. 182. Whence Legion twice before was dispossess'd. This alludes to Cromwell's dispersing the Rump Parliament, April, 1653, and Lambert's similar act, October, 1659. 195. Th' incensed, etc. v. 604, 788-803. 201. Sforza. Lodovico Sforza (1451-1508) made himself Duke of Milan by the murder of his nephew. After a series of successful intrigues, he was finally captured by the French, and died in captivity. 205. Suffer'd to live, etc. Many prominent Puritans were deprived of the right to hold any public office. Thus disqualified, the poet compares these republicans to the Spartan slaves, made drunk to excite the contempt of the youth for that degrading vice. By the bye, Dryden's kinsman, Sir Gilbert Pickering, was among the persons so incapacitated." [SCOTT.] 10, 211-214. Like. renew. This construction is supported by the authority of some good writers both before and after Dryden. 219. Scheveline's. "A small village near the Hague, at which Charles embarked on his joyful voyage." SCOTT. Now called Scheveningen. " 230. The Naseby. "After dinner the king and duke altered the name of some of the ships, viz., the Naseby into Charles." Pepys' Diary, May 23, 1660. 235. Gloc'ster's. Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1639-60), fourth son of Charles I. 236. Secure, etc. Cf. 7, 144; 845, 495, n. 249. Submitted fasces. The fasces, a bundle of rods surrounding an ax, were the symbol of office of the highest Roman magistrates, showing their power both to flog and to put to death. Valerius Poplicola, consul in the first year of the city, when accused of ambition, defended himself before the people, Livy relates, with lowered fasces (submissis fascibus, whence Dryden's submitted), as a sign of submission to their superior power. Cf. 31, 199, n: 3121, 27–30; 7382, 1 f. 251. Th' approaching cliffs. "The civility of such inanimate objects, according to the poets of this reign, was truly wonderful, considering their present insensibility." [SCOTT.] 262. Thus, when, etc. v. Exodus xxxiii. 20-23; xxxiv. 5-7. 267. Your goodness only is above the laws. Charles II pressed the Act of Indemnity upon the House of Lords in the most earnest terms. 284. How shall I speak, etc. "Charles II was born on May 29, 1630; and upon the same day of the same month, 1660, made his triumphal entry into London." [SCOTT.] 11, 288. That star, etc. "There was a star visible on Charles's birthday, May 29, 1630, a circumstance much dwelt on by his party during the civil wars. Lilly, the astrologer, assures us it was nothing more than the planet Venus, which is sometimes visible in the daytime." [SCOTT.] Cf. 29, 69–72. 292. Time's whiter series. The use of white in the sense of fortunate is, as Christie indicates, a Latinism. On the line, cf. 29, 71, n; 122, 1028. 305. Our merchants, etc. The reference is to the commercial rivalry of England and Holland in the East: cf. 28, 1-4; 71, Prol. and Epil. 310. France. In June, 1654, owing to negotiations for an alliance between Louis XIV and Cromwell, Charles II left France. His presence there was dangerous only because it might be displeasing to Cromwell. 316. Your edicts, etc. This refers, as Professor Firth shows, to a proclamation by the king against vicious persons, including Cavaliers who by their riotous lives disgraced the cause they defended, issued on May 30, 1660, the day after his entrance into London. See Somers Tracts, vii. 423-425. 16. Samson's riddle. v. Judges xiv. 5-18. 26. Rete mirabile. "A network of blood vessels in the basis of the brain of quadrupeds." R. HOOPER, Medical Dictionary. 12, 31. No atoms, etc. A reference to the atomic theory, as set forth by Lucretius. 37. Carry weight. To be handicapped by carrying an extra burden. 68. Achilles. According to Statius, Thetis, the mother of Achilles, disguised her son as a maiden, hoping that in this way he might escape being sent to the Trojan War, where she knew he was fated to be slain. - Statius's bad poetry was a favorite object of attack for the critics of Dryden's time. 96. Rufus'. Verginius Rufus, who, in the reign of Nero, put down the rebellion of Vindex in Gaul, and later more than once resisted the attempts of his soldiers to make him emperor. He is said to have composed for himself the epitaph quoted in the margin: "Here lies Rufus, who once, defeating Vindex, upheld the empire, not for his own sake, but for his country's." 104. Geniture. "The author speaks the language of astrology, in which geniture signifies nativity, horoscope." [SCOTT.] According to Malone (I, 1, 45) Howard's book was entered on the Stationers' Register April 16, 1660, so that it must have appeared at about the time of the king's return. 13, 18. Some guilty months. In Dryden's time the year was reckoned as beginning March 25. Had Charles II been crowned before March 25, 1661, the two months (March 25-May 25, 1660) immediately preceding his return from exile would have been included in the year of his coronation. 14, 70. Fruition. For the rhyme, cf. 2, 66, n. 79. Sedition's. The 1688 edition reads seditious, probably a mere misprint. 81. The jealous sects, etc. "The conferences held at Savoy House, in April, 1661, betwixt the Presbyterians and the bishops, excited hopes that these two powerful divisions of the Protestant Church might be reconciled to each other. The Quakers, Anabaptists, and other inferior sects, applied, by petitions and humble addresses, to the king, to be permitted to worship God according to their consciences. Thus the whole modeling of ecclesiastical matters seemed to be in the hands of the king." [SCOTT.] The Nonconformists relied on the king's promises in his Declaration from Breda, which he proved unable to fulfil. 104. With Caesar's heart. Plutarch relates that Cæsar encouraged a timorous ship captain with the words: "Go on, my friend, and fear nothing: you carry Cæsar and his fortune in your boat." 107. In stately frigates, etc. Charles II had an amateur's interest and delight in shipbuilding and seamanship. 111. Beyond your court, etc. "By the improvements made by Charles II on St. James's Park there was a connection made with the river." [SCOTT.] 115. The mistrustful fowl. "The canal in St. James's Park formed a decoy for water-fowl, with which it was stocked." [SCOTT.] 127. Two kingdoms, etc. Portugal had revolted from Spain in 1640, but its independence was not secure. It received valuable aid from an alliance with England, confirmed by the marriage of Charles II to Catharine of Braganza, daughter to the King of Portugal. This marriage had been favored by France, but opposed by Spain. Spain and Portugal are then the two nations to which Dryden refers. 129. Your Royal Oak. "This is in allusion to a device exhibited over the triumphal arch through which the king passed on the day of his coronation. Behind a picture of the king appeared the Royal Oak, bearing crowns and scepters, instead of acorns, . . . as designing its reward for the shelter it afforded his Majesty after the fight at Worcester.' [SCOTT.] The Royal Oak was that in which Charles once concealed himself, thereby escaping capture, after the battle of Worcester in 1651. 15, 5. The Muses, etc. In his youth Hyde was intimate with the most famous literary men of his time, but he was apparently never himself a writer of verse. 14. As those that see, etc. The Cardinals. 53. Young David, etc. v. 1 Samuel xvii. 38, 39. 16, 81. Their subjects'. Their subjects in 1688 edition; the 1662 text reads the instead of their. 106. War's. Wars in editions of 1662 and 1688. 119. Envy, etc. Clarendon's enemies finally triumphed, and secured his banishment in 1667. He died in exile at Rouen in 1674. 139. Sometimes the hill, etc. Christie calls attention to the following passage in Denham's Cooper's Hill, which was probably in Dryden's mind: Windsor the next... above the valley swells A pleasure and a rev'rence from the sight. 17, 151. Without a weight. Cf. 5, 57, n. TO MY HONOR'D FRIEND, DR. CHARLETON. This poem is signed John Driden in both issues of 1663. 3. The Stagirite. Aristotle. 7. Until 't was bought. So both issues of 1663; the 1704 text reads Till it was bought. 181, 13. Men, who. So 1663 text, without imprimatur, and 1704 text; the 1663 text, with imprimatur, reads men, that. 22. Th' English are not the least. The 1663 text, with imprimatur, reads, The English are not least; the 1704 text reads, Our nation 's not the least. 25. Gilbert. William Gilbert (1540-1603), physician to Queen Elizabeth, wrote a treatise on the magnet, the first great physical book published in England. 27. Boyle. "The Hon. Robert Boyle (1627-91), who so laudably distinguished his name by his experimental researches, was a son of the great Earl of Cork. He was about this time actively engaged in the formation of the Royal Society. His great brother was Roger, Lord Broghill (1621-79), poet and politician, created upon the Restoration Earl of Orrery, to whom Dryden dedicated The Rival Ladies." [SCOTT.] Cf. B. S. xix. 31. Harvey. "William Harvey (1578-1657), the famous discoverer of the circulation of the blood. His last treatise was published in 1651, at the request of Dr. George Ent, a learned physician, mentioned by Dryden in the next line." [SCOTT.] 182, 50. Joy'd with. So the 1663 text, without imprimatur, and the 1704 text; the 1663 text, with imprimatur, reads Chose by. 52. Rule. So the 1663 text, without imprimatur, and the 1704 text: the 1663 text, with imprimatur, reads sway. 53. These ruins, etc. Charleton, in his dedication of Chorea Gigantum to Charles II. alludes to a visit which the king paid to Stonehenge immediately after the defeat of his army at Worcester in 1651. 54. Then when from Wor'ster's fatal field he fled. So both issues of 1663; the 1704 text reads, When he from Wor'ster's fatal battle fled. 55. Royal. So the 1663 text, without imprimatur, and the 1704 text; the 1663 text, with imprimatur, reads kingly. 13. First Astrol. Dryden by his frequent refer ences to astrology shows his interest in the science. A passage in one of his letters shows that he had faith in it: v. Malone, I, 2, 57; SS. xviii. 134; cf. 50, 1165, n; 758, 500, n. 191, 15. Half an hour after three, etc. This indicates the hour at which plays began at the time this comedy was first acted. 26. The ascendant's. The heavens were divided, by six great circles passing through the north and south poles of the horizon, into twelve houses, of which the first, or ascendant, lay just above the eastern horizon. As the houses were numbered downwards, the twelfth lay just above the first. In 1. 36 Dryden puns on the double meaning of house. 28. Denote. The form of the verb is affected by the plural idea in the preceding clauses. 37. Peregrine. "Situated in a part of the zodiac where it has none of its essential dignities." N. E. D. 38. One continued song. This is probably, as Malone says, a reference to Davenant's Siege of Rhodes, a semi-operatic play, which had been acted with great success at the Duke's Theater in 1661. The Wild Gallant was presented at the rival house, the Theater Royal. 43. A Spanish plot. v. B. S. xviii, xix. 192, 55. Mistakes. A reference, as Malone points out, to the mistakes of Teg, an Irish servant in The Committee, a comedy by Sir Robert Howard, Dryden's brother-in-law. 23. Leander. The lover of Hero, drowned in swimming the Hellespont. 20, 9. Cato's virtue, etc. Lucan's famous line: The reference is to Victrix causa deis placuit sed victa Catoni. (Pharsalia, i. 128.) 'The conquering cause pleased the gods; but the conquered cause, Cato." As Scott remarks, there is little propriety in comparing the influence of the royal mistress to the virtue of Cato." PROLOGUE TO THE RIVAL LADIES. The two editions of 1664 may be distinguished by the fact that one, "printed by W. W.," lacks the prose preface and has no author's name on the title-page. The other, "printed by T. N.," includes the prose preface, and is said to be by John Driden, Esquire. 211, 11. Habits, dances, etc. This is probably a reference to The Siege of Rhodes: cf. n. 19, 38. 34. All slighted maids. There is a possible refer ence to The Slighted Maid, a comedy by Sir Robert Stapylton, acted and published in 1663. PROLOGUE, ... TO THE INDIAN EMPEROR. In A Defense of an Essay of Dramatic Poesy, printed with the second edition of The Indian Emperor in 1668, Dryden tells us that he has carefully corrected the text of the play since the first edition was published. The text of the second edition is therefore followed in the present volume. 212, 6. Before the Spaniards came. The Spaniards do not appear in The Indian Queen. 7-9. Our prologue... beast. These lines are found only in the first edition. 2 (Epil.). Sends me. So all editions from 1667 to 1686; editions from 1692 to 1701 read sends you. 221, 8. Who write. So all editions except the first, which reads, That write. 20. To damn the Dutch. Hostilities had broken out between England and Holland in 1664. 222, 5. Which would too fast. So all editions except the first, which reads, that does too fast. 22. ANNUS MIRABILIS. The first Latin motto is taken (with a change of order) from Pliny, Epist. x. 33, and means: "It matters much whether the occasion demands, or whether men wish to extend their power." The second is Eneid, ii. 363; cf. 542, 490. In the 1667 edition occurs a note To the Readers: "Notwithstanding the diligence which has been us'd in my absence, some faults have escap'd the press: and I have so many of my own to answer for, that I am not willing to be charg'd with those of the printer. I have only noted the grossest of them, not such as by false stops have confounded the sense, but such as by mistaken words have corrupted it." This is followed by a list of errata. In the following notes the readings of the 1667 edition (in octavo) are marked O, due account being taken of the list of errata; those of the 1688 edition (in quarto) are marked Q. Insignificant variations are not recorded: in general O has the spellings then, show, latter; Q has than, shew, later. 23, 3. It is. O reads is it. 232. Sir Robert Howard. v. B. S. xvii. This letter is dated from Charlton in Wiltshire, the residence of the Earl of Berkshire, Sir Robert Howard's father. The play to which Dryden refers (1. 9 of Account) is probably Secret Love. 24, 12. Nobless. That is, the nobility. O reads noblesse, which perhaps should have been retained in the text. 34. Lucan. Lucan (39?-65) wrote his Pharsalia on the war between Cæsar and Pompey: Silius Italicus, of about the same date, wrote his Punica on the second Punic war. 242, 9. Female rhymes. Rhymes in which an unaccented syllable follows the rhyming syllable, as twenty plenty. 13. Alarique... Pucelle. By Georges de Scudéry (1601-67), on the conquest of Rome by Alaric; and by Chapelain (1595-1674), on Joan of Arc. Cf. 4912, 5-9. 17. Chapman. Chapman's Iliad is really in verses of seven feet and his Odyssey in verses of five feet. 22. Gondibert. An epic poem by Sir William Davenant, in the same stanza as Annus Mirabilis, published in 1651. In the present essay Dryden draws some material from Davenant's preface to Gondibert, and from the Answer to it by Thomas Hobbes, the philosopher. What he borrows he improves, by expressing it in his own terse and elegant style. 30. Art. O reads arts. 36. In general terms. "Dryden changed his mind about terms of art, and in the Dedication of the Eneis has given the opposite view. The Annus Mirabilis is an Elizabethan poem, reckless in the use of minute particulars." (KER.) v. 5192, 52, n. 40. Descriptas, etc. HORACE, Ars Poet. 86, 87. "Settled are the various forms and shades of style in poetry: if I lack the ability and knowledge to maintain these, how can I have the honored name of poet?" (Lonsdale and Lee's translation.) 251, 5. Omnia, etc. "The earth, with perfect justice, gives back all things of its own free will." The line seems like one from a schoolboy's exercise, compounded of Virgil's Georgics, ii, 460 and Eclogues, iv. 39 and Ovid's Metamorphoses, i. 416, 417 and Fasti, iv. 370. 15. It is. O reads is it. 28. Wit. Dryden in the following passage is indebted to Davenant and Hobbes. 39. Of imagination. O reads, of that imagination. 47. Paronomasia. A pun: spelled paranomasia in O and Q. 57. Deriving. O reads driving. 25, 27. Tho' he describes, etc. Contrast Dryden's later comparison of Virgil and Ovid: v. 502, 503; 744, 4-10. 40. Represents us with in. So O and Q: Christie reads within. It seems better to retain the text as printed, and construe represent as re-present. Compare: Thy truth, Like a transparent mirror, represents FORD, Love's Sacrifice, Act v. sc. 3. 41. So we. O reads we so. 47. Totamque, etc. VIRGIL, Æneid, vi. 726, 727: cf. 606, 982, 983. 52. Lumenque, etc. Ibid. i. 590-93: cf. 532, 826-831. 261, 5. Materiam, etc. "The workmanship surpassed the material." Metamorphoses, ii. 5. 15. Dixeris, etc. "You will express yourself excellently, if a skilful combination makes a well-known word seem a new one." Ars Poet. 47, 48. 41. Et nova, etc. "And new and newly coined words will have credit, if they are only derived from a Greek source, a little altered in form." Ars Poet. 52, 53. 55. Tediousness. O reads the tediousness. 262, 7. Antic. Spelled antique in O and Q. 14. Stantes, etc. "Emiliani standing in their chariots." Juvenal, viii. 3. 17. Spirantia, etc. "Bronze statues that breathe more tenderly." Eneid, vi. 847, torn from its context. 24. They said. O reads, they have said. Humi serpere. "Crawl on the ground." Cf. Horace, Ars Poet. 28. 27. Nunc non erat his locus. "This was not the place for such things." HORACE, Ars Poet. 19. O and Q both read hic instead of his. VERSES TO HER HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS. "The victory of June 3, 1665, was gained by the British fleet, commanded by the Duke of York, over the Dutch, under the famous Opdam. - The duchess came down to Harwich to see her husband embark, and afterwards made the triumphant progress to the North which is here commemorated. The poem itself is adapted to the capacity and taste of a lady." [SCOTT.] 27, 18. As when, etc. v. Exodus xiv. 21, 22. 28. New vigor, etc. v. Exodus xvii. 11-13. 30. We heard the cannon play. The battle was off the coast of Suffolk, near Lowestoft; the noise of the cannon could be heard even at London. 45. The stubborn North. After returning from this battle, the Duke of York was sent into Yorkshire, where a rising was apprehended, and whither the duchess accompanied him. 52. The newborn Phoenix. v. 886, 887, 578-611; cf. 208, 364–369. 10 (prose). Nec sunt, etc. "There are a good many people, who think they show critical ability by picking flaws in their friends." PLINY, Epist. vii. 28. 24 (prose). The children. So 0; Q by an evident misprint omits the. 28, 1. In thriving arts, etc. Cf. n. 11, 305. 5. Trade, etc. There is an implied reference to Harvey's discovery: v. n. 181, 31. 11. The Idumæan balm. An imitation of Virgil: cf. 455, 165, 166. 13. Their year. So O; Q reads the year, probably by a mere misprint. 20. Second Punic war. The first English war against the Dutch (1652-54) had been carried on with great vigor by Cromwell. This second war, which Dryden trusted would result in a victory as complete as that of Rome over Hannibal, ended with the disgrace of England by the entrance of a Dutch fleet into the Thames in 1667. The comparison of Holland to Carthage later became famous by Shaftesbury's repetition of Cato's phrase, Delenda est Carthago, "Carthage must be destroyed: " cf. 712, 19, n. 32. The babe of Spain. Louis XIV was plotting to seize the Spanish Netherlands in the right of his wife, the elder half-sister of King Charles II of Spain, who was a sickly child. He sought, however, to conceal his designs, thus rocking the cradle of the Spanish king. He at first made a treaty to aid the Dutch against England; later, in 1667, when the English government agreed not to oppose his projects, he abandoned the cause of Holland. 69. Or one, etc. v. 11, 288, n. 71. A round, etc. A Virgilian imitation: cf. 11, 292, 293; 428, 5-8. 73. Victorious York. v. 26, VERSES TO... THE DUCHESS, and note. 81. Lawson. Sir John Lawson, vice admiral to the Duke of York, who died from a wound received in this battle. Lawson had won distinction under the Commonwealth, and had later helped to bring about the Restoration. His death is compared with that of Protesilaus, who was the first of the Greeks to leap on the Trojan shore, where he was killed by Hector: v. 855, 94. 85. Their chief, etc. "Admiral Opdam blew up while alongside the Duke of York." [SCOTT.] 94. The attempt at Berghen. Two rich Dutch merchant fleets had taken refuge in the Norwegian harbor of Bergen. The King of Denmark, on a promise of a share in the profits connived at their capture by the English. The English, however, began the attack before his orders reached the governor of Bergen, and on August 3, 1665, were repulsed by the combined force of the Danes and the Dutch, and by a contrary wind. But when the Dutch fleet was proceeding on its way, it was shattered by a storm, and several vessels fell into the hands of the English (II. 117-120). 95. Southern climates, etc. The war had opened with hostilities off the coast of Guinea. 30, 137. Si bene, etc. "If you reckon up things well, there is shipwreck everywhere." Sat. 115, with a change of est to fit. Christie points out that the three previous stanzas are suggested by the same chapter in Petronius. 145. Munster's prelate. The Bishop of Münster, on the payment of a subsidy by Charles, attacked Holland; later, when Louis XIV joined the Dutch, he retired. 146. Nullos, etc. No men excel the Germans in fighting or in keeping their word." Tacitus (Annals, xiii. 54) reports these words (in a slightly different order) as the boast of two Frisian chiefs on an embassy to Nero. The Bishop of Münster had promised Sir William Temple, the English envoy, that he would keep his word fide sincera et Germanica, "with a sincere and German faith." (TEMPLE, Works, 1814, vol. i, p. 213.) 31, 165. With France, etc. Early in 1666 France and Denmark both joined Holland against England. 169. Lewis, etc. On the declaration of war, Louis XIV required all English subjects to leave France; Charles II, on the other hand, promised protection and religious toleration to any French or Dutch subjects who should come to England. [Scorr.] 171. Solomon. v. 1 Kings iii. 16-28. 181. The doubled charge, etc. This refers to the enormous grants of money made to the king by parliament. 186. Prince Rupert, etc. Prince Rupert of Bavaria, the nephew of Charles I, had served with distinction in the civil wars. George Monk (v. 9, 151, n) had on the Restoration been created Duke of Albemarle. He had commanded the English fleet in a great victory over the Dutch in 1653: v. l. 198. 199. Fasces. v. n. 10, 249. According to a story told by Herodotus (History, iv. 3, 4) the Scythians, being unable to suppress by arms a revolt of their slaves, laid aside their spears and bows, and went forth with only their horsewhips. "The slaves were so astounded that they forgot to fight, and immediately ran away.' 32, 204. Examina, etc. "Swarms of children, and the future people." PLINY, Panegyricus, xxvi. 213. Our fleet divides, etc. "When Prince Rupert and Albemarle were about to sail from the Downs, they received advice from the king that the French had fitted out a strong squadron to join with the Dutch fleet, accompanied by a positive order that Prince Rupert, with seventy men-of-war, should sail in quest of the French, and fight them before the intended junction. This order occasioned the separation of the fleet, a circumstance which, as the intelligence concerning the supposed French squadron was totally false, occasioned a heavy, and, but for the bravery of Albemarle, an overwhelming disaster. On June 1 the duke descried the Dutch fleet, consisting of seventy-six sail, under the famous de Ruyter, whereas he himself had not above fifty. After a council of war, the duke began the battle, which was continued with incredible fury during that whole day." [SCOTT.] 228. Lands unfix'd, etc. Eneid, viii. 691, 692; cf. 637, 915, 916. 231. In its eye. Against it. 33, 251. With such respect. "The Gauls, when they first entered the Roman senate, were so much struck with the solemn appearance of the venerable senators on their chairs of state, that for a time their fury was absorbed in veneration." SCOTT. 253. Patroclus' body, etc. v. Iliad, xvii. 267. Berkeley alone, who nearest danger lay. Christie states that the 1667 edition here reads, not making equal way, for the last half of this line; but the British Museum, Harvard, and Yale copies all read, who neerest Danger lay. If Christie is correct, there must have been two issues of the book. Vice Admiral Sir William Berkeley was killed in this battle, after fighting bravely against heavy odds. 268. Lost Creûsa. v. 519, 1002-1005. 287. Of ships, etc. "The Dutch, in the morning of June 2, were reinforced by a fresh squadron of sixteen men-of-war." [SCOTT.] 292. Spem, etc. Eneid, i. 209; alto should be allum: cf. 525, 292. |