Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III), Samuel Johnson [good summer reads .TXT] 📗
- Author: Samuel Johnson
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Remarked, By Racine, To Afford The Same Conveniencies To A Poet As Length
Of Time.
This Play Is Written In rhyme; And Has The Appearance Of Being the
Most Elaborate Of All The Dramas. The Personages Are Imperial; But The
Dialogue Is Often Domestick, And, Therefore, Susceptible Of Sentiments
Accommodated to Familiar Incidents. The Complaint Of Life Is Celebrated;
And There Are Many Other Passages That May Be Read With Pleasure.
This Play Is Addressed to The Earl Of Mulgrave, Afterwards Duke Of
Buckingham, Himself, If Not A Poet, Yet A Writer Of Verses, And A
Critick. In this Address Dryden Gave The First Hints Of His Intention To
Write An Epick Poem. He Mentions His Design In terms So Obscure, That He
Seems Afraid Lest His Plan Should Be Purloined, As, He Says, Happened to
Him When He Told It More Plainly In his Preface To Juvenal. "The Design,"
Says He, "You Know Is Great, The Story English, And Neither Too Near The
Present Times, Nor Too Distant From Them."
All For Love, Or The World Well Lost, 1678, A Tragedy, Founded upon The
Story Of Antony And Cleopatra, He Tells Us, "Is The Only Play Which
He Wrote For Himself:" The Rest Were Given To The People. It Is, By
Universal Consent, Accounted the Work In which He Has Admitted the Fewest
Improprieties Of Style Or Character; But It Has One Fault Equal To Many,
Though Rather Moral Than Critical, That, By Admitting the Romantick
Omnipotence Of Love, He Has Recommended as Laudable, And Worthy Of
Imitation, That Conduct Which, Through All Ages, The Good Have Censured
As Vitious, And The Bad Despised as Foolish.
Of This Play The Prologue And The Epilogue, Though Written Upon The
Common Topicks Of Malicious And Ignorant Criticism, And Without Any
Particular Relation To The Characters Or Incidents Of The Drama, Are
Deservedly Celebrated for Their Elegance And Sprightliness.
Limberham, Or The Kind Keeper, 1680, Is A Comedy, Which, After The Third
Night, Was Prohibited as Too Indecent For The Stage. What Gave Offence,
Was In the Printing, As The Author Says, Altered or Omitted. Dryden
Confesses That Its Indecency Was Objected to; But Langbaine, Who Yet
Seldom Favours Him, Imputes Its Expulsion To Resentment, Because It "So
Much Exposed the Keeping part Of The Town."
Oedipus, 1679, Is A Tragedy Formed by Dryden And Lee, In conjunction,
From The Works Of Sophocles, Seneca, And Corneille. Dryden Planned the
Scenes, And Composed the First And Third Acts.
Don Sebastian, 1690, Is Commonly Esteemed either The First Or Second Of
His Dramatick Performances. It Is Too Long To Be All Acted, And Has Many
Characters And Many Incidents; And Though It Is Not Without Sallies
Of Frantick Dignity, And More Noise Than Meaning, Yet, As It Makes
Approaches To The Possibilities Of Real Life, And Has Some Sentiments
Which Leave A Strong Impression, It Continued long To Attract Attention.
Amidst The Distresses Of Princes, And The Vicissitudes Of Empire, Are
Inserted several Scenes Which The Writer Intended for Comick; But Which,
I Suppose, That Age Did Not Much Commend, And This Would Not Endure.
There Are, However, Passages Of Excellence Universally Acknowledged; The
Dispute And The Reconciliation Of Dorax And Sebastian Has Always Been
Admired.
This Play Was First Acted in 1690, After Dryden Had For Some Years
Discontinued dramatick Poetry.
Amphitryon Is A Comedy Derived from Plautus And Moliere. The Dedication
Is Dated oct. 1690. This Play Seems To Have Succeeded at Its First
Appearance; And Was, I Think, Long Considered as A Very Diverting
Entertainment.
Cleomenes, 1692, Is A Tragedy, Only Remarkable As It Occasioned an
Incident Related in the Guardian, And Allusively Mentioned by Dryden In
His Preface. As He Came Out From The Representation, He Was Accosted thus
By Some Airy Stripling: "Had I Been Left Alone With A Young Beauty, I
Would Not Have Spent My Time Like Your Spartan." "That Sir," Said Dryden,
"Perhaps, Is True; But Give Me Leave To Tell You, That You Are No Hero."
King arthur, 1691, Is Another Opera. It Was The Last Work That Dryden
Performed for King charles, Who Did Not Live To See It Exhibited; And
It Does Not Seem To Have Been Ever Brought Upon The Stage[104]. In the
Dedication To The Marquis Of Halifax, There Is A Very Elegant Character
Of Charles, And A Pleasing account Of His Latter Life. When This Was
First Brought Upon The Stage, News That The Duke Of Monmouth Had Landed
Was Told In the Theatre; Upon Which The Company Departed, And Arthur Was
Exhibited no More.
His Last Drama Was Love Triumphant, A Tragicomedy. In his Dedication To
The Earl Of Salisbury He Mentions "The Lowness Of Fortune To Which He
Has Voluntarily Reduced himself, And Of Which He Has No Reason To Be
Ashamed."
This Play Appeared in 1694. It Is Said To Have Been Unsuccessful. The
Catastrophe, Proceeding merely From A Change Of Mind, Is Confessed by The
Author To Be Defective. Thus He Began And Ended his Dramatick Labours
With Ill Success.
From Such A Number Of Theatrical Pieces, It Will Be Supposed, By Most
Readers, That He Must Have Improved his Fortune; At Least, That Such
Diligence, With Such Abilities, Must Have Set Penury At Defiance. But
In Dryden'S Time The Drama Was Very Far From That Universal Approbation
Which It Has Now Obtained. The Playhouse Was Abhorred by The Puritans,
And Avoided by Those Who Desired the Character Of Seriousness Or Decency.
A Grave Lawyer Would Have Debased his Dignity, And A Young Trader Would
Have Impaired his Credit, By Appearing in those Mansions Of Dissolute
Licentiousness. The Profits Of The Theatre, When So Many Classes Of The
People Were Deducted from The Audience, Were Not Great; And The Poet Had,
For A Long Time, But A Single Night. The First That Had Two Nights Was
Southern; And The First That Had Three Was Howe. There Were, However, In
Those Days, Arts Of Improving a Poet'S Profit, Which Dryden Forbore To
Practise; And A Play, Therefore, Seldom Produced him More Than A Hundred
Pounds, By The Accumulated gain Of The Third Night, The Dedication, And
The Copy.
Almost Every Piece Had A Dedication, Written With Such Elegance And
Luxuriance Of Praise, As Neither Haughtiness Nor Avarice Could Be
Imagined able To Resist. But He Seems To Have Made Flattery Too Cheap.
That Praise Is Worth Nothing of Which The Price Is Known.
To Increase The Value Of His Copies, He Often Accompanied his Work With A
Preface Of Criticism; A Kind Of Learning then Almost New In the English
Language, And Which He, Who Had Considered, With Great Accuracy, The
Principles Of Writing, Was Able To Distribute Copiously As Occasions
Arose. By These Dissertations The Publick Judgment Must Have Been Much
Improved; And Swift, Who Conversed with Dryden, Relates That He Regretted
The Success Of His Own Instructions, And Found His Readers Made Suddenly
Too Skilful To Be Easily Satisfied.
His Prologues Had Such Reputation, That For Some Time A Play Was
Considered as Less Likely To Be Well Received, If Some Of His Verses Did
Not Introduce It. The Price Of A Prologue Was Two Guineas, Till, Being
Asked to Write One For Mr. Southern, He Demanded three: "Not," Said He,
"Young Man, Out Of Disrespect To You; But The Players Have Had My Goods
Too Cheap[105]."
Though He Declares, That In his Own Opinion, His Genius Was Not
Dramatick, He Had Great Confidence In his Own Fertility; For He Is Said
To Have Engaged, By Contract, To Furnish Four Plays A Year.
It Is Certain, That In one Year, 1678[106], He Published all For Love,
Assignation, Two Parts Of The Conquest Of Granada, Sir Martin Mar-All,
And The State Of Innocence, Six Complete Plays; With A Celerity Of
Performance, Which, Though All Langbaine'S Charges Of Plagiarism Should
Be Allowed, Shows Such Facility Of Composition, Such Readiness Of
Language, And Such Copiousness Of Sentiment, As, Since The Time Of Lopez
De Vega, Perhaps No Other Author Has Possessed.
He Did Not Enjoy His Reputation, However Great, Nor His Profits, However
Small, Without Molestation. He Had Criticks To Endure, And Rivals To
Oppose. The Two Most Distinguished wits Of The Nobility, The Duke Of
Buckingham And Earl Of Rochester, Declared themselves His Enemies.
Buckingham Characterized him, In 1671, By The Name Of Bayes, In the
Rehearsal; A Farce Which He Is Said To Have Written With The Assistance
Of Butler, The Author Of Hudibras; Martin Clifford, Of The Charter-House;
And Dr. Sprat, The Friend Of Cowley, Then His Chaplain. Dryden And His
Friends Laughed at The Length Of Time, And The Number Of Hands, Employed
Upon This Performance; In which, Though By Some Artifice Of Action It Yet
Keeps Possession Of The Stage, It Is Not Possible Now To Find Any Thing
That Might Not Have Been Written Without So Long Delay, Or A Confederacy
So Numerous.
To Adjust The Minute Events Of Literary History, Is Tedious And
Troublesome; It Requires, Indeed, No Great Force Of Understanding, But
Often Depends Upon Inquiries Which There Is No Opportunity Of Making, Or
Is To Be Fetched from Books And Pamphlets Not Always At Hand.
The Rehearsal Was Played in 1671[107], And Yet Is Represented as
Ridiculing passages In the Conquest Of Granada And Assignation, Which
Were Not Published till 1678; In marriage A-La-Mode, Published in 1673;
And In tyrannick Love, In 1677. These Contradictions Show How Rashly
Satire Is Applied[108].
It Is Said That This Farce Was Originally Intended against Davenant, Who,
In The First Draught, Was Characterized by The Name Of Bilboa. Davenant
Had Been A Soldier And An Adventurer.
There Is One Passage In the Rehearsal Still Remaining, Which Seems To
Have Related originally To Davenant. Bayes Hurts His Nose, And Comes In
With Brown Paper Applied to The Bruise; How This Affected dryden, Does
Not Appear. Davenant'S Nose Had Suffered such Diminution By Mishaps Among
The Women, That A Patch Upon That Part Evidently Denoted him.
It Is Said, Likewise, That Sir Robert Howard Was Once Meant. The Design
Was, Probably, To Ridicule The Reigning poet, Whoever He Might Be.
Much Of The Personal Satire, To Which It Might Owe Its First Reception,
Is Now Lost Or Obscured. Bayes, Probably, Imitated the Dress, And
Mimicked the Manner, Of Dryden: The Cant Words Which Are So Often In
His Mouth May Be Supposed to Have Been Dryden'S Habitual Phrases, Or
Customary Exclamations. Bayes, When He Is To Write, Is Blooded and
Purged: This, As Lamotte Relates Himself To Have Heard, Was The Real
Practice Of The Poet.
There Were Other Strokes In the Rehearsal By Which Malice Was Gratified:
The Debate Between Love And Honour, Which Keeps Prince Volscius In a
Single Boot, Is Said To Have Alluded to The Misconduct Of The Duke
Of Ormond, Who Lost Dublin To The Rebels, While He Was Toying with A
Mistress.
The Earl Of Rochester, To Suppress The Reputation Of Dryden, Took Settle
Into His Protection, And Endeavoured to Persuade The Publick That Its
Approbation Had Been To That Time Misplaced. Settle Was Awhile In high
Reputation: His Empress Of Morocco, Having first Delighted the Town, Was
Carried in triumph To Whitehall, And Played by The Ladies Of The Court.
Now Was The Poetical Meteor At The Highest; The Next Moment Began Its
Fall. Rochester Withdrew His Patronage; Seeming resolved, Says One Of His
Biographers, "To Have A Judgment Contrary To That Of The Town;" Perhaps
Being unable To Endure Any Reputation Beyond A Certain Height, Even When
He Had Himself Contributed to Raise It.
Neither Criticks Nor Rivals Did Dryden Much Mischief, Unless They Gained
From His Own Temper The Power Of Vexing him, Which His Frequent Bursts Of
Resentment Give Reason To Suspect. He Is Always Angry At Some Past, Or
Afraid Of Some Future Censure; But He Lessens The Smart Of His Wounds By
The Balm Of His Own Approbation, And Endeavours To Repel The Shafts Of
Criticism By Opposing a Shield Of Adamantine Confidence.
The Perpetual Accusation Produced against Him, Was That Of Plagiarism,
Against Which He Never Attempted any Vigorous Defence; For, Though He
Was, Perhaps, Sometimes Injuriously Censured, He Would, By Denying part
Of The Charge, Have Confessed the Rest; And, As His Adversaries Had The
Proof In their Own Hands, He, Who Knew That Wit Had Little Power Against
Facts, Wisely Left In that Perplexity Which Generality Produces A
Question Which It Was His Interest To Suppress, And Which, Unless
Provoked by Vindication, Few Were Likely To Examine.
Though The Life Of A Writer, From About Thirty-Five To Sixty-Three,
May Be Supposed to Have Been Sufficiently Busied by The Composition Of
Eight-And-Twenty Pieces For The Stage, Dryden Found Room In the Same
Space For Many Other Undertakings. But, How Much Soever He Wrote, He Was
At Least Once Suspected of Writing more; For, In 1679, A Paper Of Verses,
Called an Essay On Satire, Was Shown About In manuscript; By Which The
Earl Of Rochester, The Dutchess Of Portsmouth, And Others, Were So Much
Provoked, That, As Was Supposed, (For The Actors Were
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