THE
WORKS
OF
JOHN DRYDEN,

NOW FIRST COLLECTED

IN EIGHTEEN VOLUMES.

ILLUSTRATED

WITH NOTES,

HISTORICAL, CRITICAL, AND EXPLANATORY,

AND

A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,

BY

WALTER SCOTT, Esq.

VOL. XI.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, ALBEMARLE STREET,

BY JAMES BALLANTYNE AND CO. EDINBURGH.

1808.

CONTENTS
OF
VOLUME ELEVENTH.

PAGE.
[Epistles.]
[Epistle I.] To John Hoddeson,[3]
[II.] To Sir Robert Howard,[5]
[III.] To Dr Charleton,[12]
[IV.] To the Lady Castlemain,[18]
[V.] To Mr Lee,[22]
[VI.] To the Earl of Roscommon,[26]
[VII.] To the Duchess of York,[31]
[VIII.] To Mr J. Northleigh,[35]
[IX.] To Sir George Etherege,[38]
[X.] To Mr Southerne,[47]
[XI.] To Henry Higden, Esq.[52]
[XII.] To Mr Congreve,[57]
[XIII.] To Mr Granville,[63]
[XIV.] To Mr Motteux,[67]
[XV.] To Mr John Driden,[71]
[XVI.] To Sir Godfrey Kneller,[84]
[Elegies and Epitaphs.]
Upon the Death of Lord Hastings,[94]
To the Memory of Mr Oldham,[99]
To the pious Memory of Mrs Anne Killigrew,[105]
Upon the Death of the Viscount of Dundee,[115]
Eleonora, a panegyrical Poem, to the Memory of
the Countess of Abingdon,[117]
Dedication to the Earl of Abingdon,[121]
On the Death of Amyntas,[139]
On the Death of a very young Gentleman,[142]
Upon young Mr Rogers of Gloucestershire,[144]
On the Death of Mr Purcell,[145]
Epitaph on the Lady Whitmore,[150]
Mrs Margaret Paston,[151]
the Monument of the Marquis of Winchester,[152]
Sir Palmer Fairbones' tomb in Westminster Abbey[155]
The Monument of a fair Maiden Lady,[158]
Inscription under Milton's Picture,[160]
[Odes, Songs, and Lyrical Pieces.]
The Fair Stranger,[163]
A Song for St Cecilia's Day,[165]
The Tears of Amynta,[171]
A Song,[173]
The Lady's Song,[175]
A Song,[176]
A Song,[177]
Rondelay,[178]
A Song,[180]
A Song to a fair young Lady,[181]
Alexander's Feast, or the power of Music, an Ode,[183]
Veni Creator Spiritus, paraphrased,[190]
[Fables.—Tales from Chaucer.]
Dedication to the Duke of Ormond,[195]
Preface prefixed to the Fables,[205]
Palamon and Arcite; or the Knight's Tale,[241]
Dedication to the Duchess of Ormond,[245]
The Cock and the Fox; or the Tale of the Nun's Priest,[327]
The Flower and the Leaf; or the Lady in the Arbour,[356]
The Wife of Bath, her Tale,[377]
The Character of a good Parson,[395]
[Fables.—Translations from Boccace.]
Sigismonda and Guiscardo,[403]
Theodore and Honoria,[433]
Cymon and Iphigenia,[452]

[EPISTLES.]

[EPISTLE THE FIRST,]

TO HIS FRIEND

JOHN HODDESDON,

ON HIS

DIVINE EPIGRAMS.

These verses were rescued from oblivion by Mr Malone, having escaped the notice of Dryden's former editors. I have disposed them among the Epistles, that being the title which the author seems usually to have given to those copies of verses, which he sent to his friends upon their publications, and which, according to the custom of the time, were prefixed to the works to which they related. They form the second of our author's attempts at poetry hitherto discovered, the "Elegy upon Lord Hastings" being the first. The lines are distinguished by the hard and rugged versification, and strained conceit, which characterised English poetry before the Restoration. The title of Hoddesdon's book is a sufficiently odd one: "Sion and Parnassus, or Epigrams on several Texts of the Old and New Testaments," 8vo, 1650. Dryden was then a student in Trinity College, Cambridge, and about eighteen years old. The nature of the volume which called forth his poetical approbation, may lead us to suppose, that, at this time, he retained the puritanical principles in which he was doubtless educated. The verses are subscribed, J. Dryden of Trin. C.