And we, dull souls, admire, but cannot see Great Hercules himself could ne'er do more, Of moral knowledge poesy was queen, And still she might, had wanton wits not been; * Rete Mirabile.-DRYDEN. This is not all; your art the way has found Your kindness great Achilles doth confess; That wealth, which his your bounty only makes. More for their dressing than their substance prized. * Sir Robert Howard's collection contains a translation of the Fourth Book of the Æneid, under the title of "The Loves of Dido and Æneas." + Sir Robert also translated the Achilleis of Statius, an author whom Dryden seldom mentions without censuring his turgid and bombastic style of poetry. The story of this neglected epic turns on the juvenile adventures of Achilles. Your curious notes* so search into that age, Ere our weak eyes discern'd the doubtful streak With Monk you end,‡ whose name preserved shall be, As Rome recorded Rufus' memory; Who thought it greater honour to obey His country's interest, than the world to sway.§ Yet let me take your mantle up, and I * The annotations on the Achilleis. + Sir Robert Howard's poems contain a Panegyric to the King," concerning which he says, in the preliminary address to the reader, "I should be a little dissatisfied with myself to appear public in his praise just when he was visibly restoring to power, did not the reading of the Panegyric vindicate the writing of it, and, besides my affirmation, assure the reader, it was written when the king deserved the praise as much as now, but was separated farther from the power; which was about three years since, when I was prisoner in Windsor Castle, being the best diversion I could then find for my own condition, to think how great his virtues were for whom I suffered, though in so small a measure compared to his own, that I rather blush at it, than believe it meritorious." The volume begins with the " Poem to the King," and ends with a " Panegyric to General Monk." § Hic situs est Rufus qui pulso vindice quondam, Imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriæ. DRYDEN. "This work, by merit first of fame secure, Is likewise happy in its geniture ;* For since 'tis born when Charles ascends the throne, It shares at once his fortune and its own." * The author speaks the language of astrology, in which geniture signifies nativity. EPISTLE THE THIRD. TO MY HONOURED friend, DR CHARLETON, ON HIS LEARNED AND USEFUL WORKS, BUT MORE PARTICULARLY HIS TREATISE OF STONE- FOUNDER. WALTER CHARLETON, M. D. was born in 1619, and educated at Oxford to the profession of physic, in which he became very eminent. During the residence of King Charles I. at Oxford, in the Civil Wars, Charleton became one of the physicians in ordinary to his majesty. He afterwards settled in London; and, having a strong bent towards philosophical and historical investigation, became intimate with the most learned and liberal of his profession, particularly with Ent and Harvey. He wrote several treatises in the dark period preceding the Restoration, when, the government being in the hands of swordsmen equally ignorant and fanatical, a less ardent mind would have been discouraged from investigations, attended neither by fame nor profit. These essays were upon physical, philosophical, and moral subjects. After the Restoration, Charleton published the work upon which he is here congratulated by our author. Its full title is, " CHorea GiganTUM, or the most famous antiquity of Great Britain, STONEHENGE, standing on Salisbury Plain, restored to the Danes. By Walter Charleton, M.D., and Physician in Ordinary to his Majesty. |