Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join
The varying verse, the full resounding line,
The long majestic march, and energy divine.
[83] He alludes to Cowley, who was forced abroad by the ill fate of the royal party in the civil wars.
[84] Our author has, however, availed himself of this licence in his earlier poetry.
[85] The confusion occasioned by the rules of the mint, then recently adopted, created great inconvenience and distress to individuals. It is often mentioned in the correspondence between Tonson and Dryden.
[86] Nevertheless, our author, long before undertaking the translation of Virgil, had given a noble paraphrase of these lines in the Hind's address to the Panther:
This mean retreat did mighty Pan contain; }
Be emulous of him, and pomp disdain, }
And dare not to debase your soul to gain. }
Vol. X. p. 184.
[87] Richard, fourth earl of Lauderdale, nephew of that respectable minister the Duke of Lauderdale. "He had a fine genius for poetry," says Sir Robert Douglas, in his Peerage of Scotland; "witness his elegant translation of Virgil."
[88] Dr Knightly Chetwood and Mr Addison. The former wrote the "Life of Virgil," and the "Preface to the Pastorals;" the latter, the "Essay on the Georgics." See Introductory Notes on these Pieces.