JOHN DRYDEN.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20316, 15 August 1931, Page 13

JOHN DRYDEN.

| . . ...4, ; j A TERCENTENARY REVIEW, j ! i si'ecia.l I.> vR'.TTi-::* ron ih)■'. prj» i • Bt Dr. HELEN Simpson. | I ' - - I I he tercentenary ot the birth 01 John I Dryden falls this month, and it seems fitting that, sume brief notice should be accorded him. who was regarded as the greatest poet of his time, and was the first to hold officially the position of Poet Laureate. Uryden was born at Aldwinkle All Saints, in Northamptonshire, and attended first the school at ' Tielimarsh, where a memorial to him and his parents was set, up ia 1722. Later he was awarded a King's Scholarship at Westminster, and so came under the rule of the redoubtable Busby, whoso (loggings be is said never to have forgotten, though he so far forgave them as to send his two eldest sons to Westminster. Jtj 1050 he went up to Cambridge (Trinity; with a scholarship, mid took his degree in 1654. Dryden had inherited .Republican sentiments: it; was natural therefore that the aspiring young poet should pay to Cromwell the tribute of the "lleroie Stanzas," composed on the death of the Protector in September, IGOB. The "Stanzas" were published, together with verses on the same subject by Waller and by Sprat, j in 1059; but the following year saw the ! first of Dryden's several volte-face. ' when, changing his mind in company j with the greater part ot the nation, he j followed up the panegyric of Cromwell with the "Astrica Redux," a poem "on the happy restoration and return of his Sacred Majesty Charles the Second." Republican Turned Royalist. H is praise of the Protector had been uncompromising; Ids condemnation of nil who had supported him was now equally decided; but the company in which Dryden was found was so numerous that j he escaped, though not scot, free, with very little censure. And. in. justice to the poet it must be said that, while the verses to Cromwell are in the exaggerated laudatory manner of the day, they do not really reveal any very strong Puritan sympathies, and it may well be possible that the post-Restoration regime was more congenial to his nature than was the tradition in.the atmosphere of which he had grown up. The "Astiica Redux" was followed bv a "Panegyric'' written for the King's coronation, and a poem addressed to the Lord Chancellor Clarendon and "presented on New Year's Day, 1G02" -these by the greater poem of "Annus Mirabilis: tile Year of Wonders, 1666," which, since it is impossible to du more than mention it, may best perhaps bo described by itti title-page: "An Historical Poem; containing the progress and various successes of our naval war with Holland under the conduct of his Highness Prince Rupert and his Gruee the Duke of Albemarle, and describing tho Fire of London"—a poem not without passages of some merit, but marred by the frigid though fashionable "conceits" which served in part to hide tho lack of real poetic inspiration. Thus did Dryden seek to ingratiate himself wth those who had power over place and jiension; and these were tho "many good and acceptable services" for which, in IG7O, the office of .Poet Laureate -was bestowed upon him. The Dramatic Works. Meanwhile, uce.essity (for Bryden j had a wife and family to support) had obliged him to writ for a living; and drama being at thi' l time the most remunerative form *.«f literature, the years between JOo id 168.L saw fourteen plays of varieiis kinds from Dryden's pen, a good many of them being decidedly offensive, and more than one having to bo withdrawn on this account after playing for a night or two. Now, aa ever, Dryden was quick to turn to advantage any public event, any strong public feeling: and "Araboyna, or the Cruelties of the Dutch to the English Merchants," and "The Spanish Friar," a bitter attack on the hypocrisy and licentiousness popularly attributed to the Spanish priesthood, are typical of this regrettable and, despite the conditions of the time, not really inevitable time-serving. The Busy Laureate. It is not necessary to read man}' of these plays to be convinced that Dryden's genius had not yet found its proper medium and expression. But fortunately he took his position as Poet Laureate very seriously: he regarded himself as bound to put into poetic form the feelings and opinions of the court in the various political controversies that raged at the time, in which the court really had, in those days, an active part. All his greatest works were prompted and composed in this way, and, it seems likely, or at the least possible, that without this opportunity which he regarded as an obligation, he might not have discovered where his true genius lay. Tho first great work of this kind was "Absalom and Achitophel" (1681), written (it is said at the suggestion of tho King) 011 the occasion of Shaftesbury's introduction to Parliament of the Exclusion Bill, and his consequent imprisonment in the Tower on a charge of high treason. Dryden's task was not a perfectly simple one. With Shaftesbury (Achitophel) he could be as free as lie liked; but Monmouth, although his rebellion and his ambitions had given offence, was still dear to his royal father, and Dryden could not treat, him as the Absalom of the Scriptures was treated. This makes the ending of the poem a little tame. But it is comparatively unimportant. What is remarkable is that in this first of Dryden's satires he appears to have leapt suddenly from the absurdity of tho "Annus Mirabilis," with its ridiculous conceits and poverty of thought, to complete mastery of his matter and his medium. The play-writing of the years between, as Mr Saintsbury has pointed out, had borne this excellent fruit. The Teud with Shadwell. Dryden had now found himself; and those responsible for his appointment as Poet Laureate perceived that they had chosen better than they knew. Shortly after the publication of "Absalom and Achitophel,'' Shaftesbury was acquitted and released, and his friends and supporters celebrated the occasion by striking a commemorative medal. It was not unnatural, but it could not be allowed to pass without official comment; the King once more whispered in the ear of his Poet Laureate, and "The Medal" was the result. The poem was a virulent attack on tho character and career of Shaftesbury, justified, if at all, by political feeling only, certainly not by facts. It was answered by several poets, among them Thomas Shadwell, who, in "The Medal of John Bayes," wrote •• ■•cry savage and scurrilous attack ou the Laureate, his former frieud. Dryden replied with "MacFlecknoe," in which he may be said at least to get his own back. A month later the "Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel" saw the light, h was written mostly by Nahum Tate, but contained 200 lines"from Dryden's pen, in which, not content with the comparatively mild references to Shadwell *s "mountain belly," and plentiful' lack of wit which he had made in "MacFlecknoe," he subjected his rash opponent, to such a storm of picturesquely foul abuse a-s

must very considerably have Tolievod his own system. At the same time appeared the "Religio laiei." Religious Poems. In his recent satires Dryden had been ■writing against those who were 'working to remove all possibility of Roman Catholic succession to the throne; and ho seems to have felt that sonic public statement of his own Protestant beliefs was necessary to :;llay suspicion. Hence the "Religio laiei": and although theological argument is not, according to our ideas, matter of poetry, tho piece is a really fine example of Drydon at his admirable best —plain, strong, lucid—and it left no room for doubt in the public mind. Little more tlmn two years later, however, the Protestant, Charles IT. was succeeded by tho Roman Catholic, James 11., and within a year of the new King to accession, Drydon, who had so loudly proclaimed himself a Church of England man, and iu such splendid verse explained his reasons for being such, joined the Roman Catholic Church. It is not necessary to suppose that his conversion was insincere (as Dr. Johnson jointed out, he taught his new religion to his sons, which argues sincerity); but it was almost certainly more strongly influenced by the faith of the King, 011 whom ho depended, than 110 might have cared to acknowledge. In any case, tho author of the "Religio laici" now felt that a new poem was demanded, and in "Tho Hind and the Panther" 110 attempted not only to explain his own change of front, but to justify the policy of James 11. and his Court, and the political measures taken to assure the supremacy of tho Roman Catholic Church. And any qvent which should liavo produced this poem, so full of beauties and of beautiful absurdities, is not, now at least, to bo deplored. Unluckily for Drydon, however, it was all in vain. 111 about a year after its publication the Revolution took place, and tho King of England was now not only a Protestant but a Dutchman. This obviously meant the end of Court patronage for Drydon. He was deprived of his oflico (and had, moreover, to see Shadwell appointed in his place), and for the last twelve years of his life he had to struggle once more to keep his family and himself by his writing. To his lasting honour he did struggle, and without complaint; and the remainder of his life was strictly honourable. Dryden as Critic. These last years saw the production of more plays, of translations from the Latin classics (a class (;f work to which he was admirably .well suited), of various "songs, odes, and lyrical pieces", (but, although Dryden is said to have eaten raw meat "for the sake of the splendid dreams it evokes," his genius was not lyrical), and, at the end i>±' his life, of the "Fables," adaptations of Chaucer and of Boccaccio. He is responsible also for some excellent criticism, whether in Essays or in Prefaces —on the whole, a great literary man, if not, according to our iv.cdern ideas, a great poet. Congreve's Praise. As a man it would appear that Drydon had many virtues. Cougreve, who knew him well, speaks of his humanity and his compassionate nature, of his ready forgiveness of injuries, of the strength of his friendship, his modesty and diffidence in society. These do not seem like the qualities of the author of certain passages iu the satires; but the truth seems to be that Dryden had his own considerable virtues, while aia faults were those of his age. In literary and political controversy the poets of the day were not mim-mouthed, and Dryden was th» greatest of them all. He died on .May ]si, 1700, and was buried in the Poet » Coni'M' at !he feel of I.''hp Urpr.