His name, a great example stands, to show
How strangely high endeavors may be blest,
Where piety and valor jointly go.”
A short two years after, you will remember, and Charles II. came to his own and was crowned; and how does this eulogist of Cromwell treat his coronation? In a way that is worth our listening to; for, I think, a comparison of the Cromwellian verses with the Carolan eulogy gives us a key to John Dryden’s character:
“All eyes you draw, and with the eyes, the heart:
Of your own pomp yourself the greatest part:
Next to the sacred temple you are led,
Where waits a crown for your more sacred head:
The grateful choir their harmony employ,
Not to make greater, but more solemn joy.