The Translator of Homer has an Excuse for Mr. Dryden, which is much more generous than just: He says, His Haste in Writing ought not to be imputed to him as a Fault, but to those who suffer'd so noble a Genius to lie under the Necessity of it. Mr. Dryden's Genius did not appear in any Thing more than his Versification; and whether the Criticks will have it ennobled for that Versification only, is a Question. The Translator seems to make a good Genius and a good Ear to be the same Thing. Dryden himself was more sensible of the Difference between them, and when it was in Debate at Will's Coffee-house, what Character he would have with Posterity; he said, with a sullen Modesty, I believe they will allow me to be a good Versifier. If we will believe Mr. Dryden, he did not lie under the Necessity of Haste: In several of his Dedications and Prefaces, he has declared, He never wanted. When he renounced his Allegiance to King William, and disqualified himself for keeping the Laureat's Place with that of Historiographer, he had a Pension from the then Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Dorset, which was an Instance of Generosity that is rarely to be met with in the History of Lewis XIV, who paid more to Poets and Historians than all the Princes of Europe. His Bounty has been extoll'd, even by those whom his Bigotry had banish'd, yet he seldom let it extend to any of the Reformed Religion, let their Merit be ever so great. Mademoiselle le Fevre, afterwards Madam Dacier, dedicated a Book to that Prince, and the Duke de Montausier introduc'd her at Court; but the King would not accept of the Book, nor admit that his Name should be put before the Epistle.
The Duke, whose Character had some Bluntness in it, said, Sir, Is this the Way to encourage Learning: The Lady deserves well of your Majesty and the Publick, and if you will not reward her your self, suffer me to give her 100 Pistoles, I matter not whether I am paid again: or Words to that Effect. This Learned Lady was far from being an Enemy to the Government as Dryden was, and he did not stick to shew it upon all Occasions, even when he was pension'd by my Lord Chamberlain. The Truth is, he was like fond Fathers who can see no Faults in their Children; and as to his hasty Writing, 'tis pretty well known that as easy as his Verses appear to be, he came hard by them: He thought it a good Day's Work if he could finish 40 Verses a Day; and some learned Antiquaries, I suppose from a MSS. of Virgil's Amanuensis, assure us, that Maro wrote as many, and drawing them off the Lee afterwards, in his Poetical Limbeck, reduced them to Ten. Godeau, Bishop of Vence, us'd to write 2 or 300 Verses a-day. I my self paid a Visit once to a Verse-maker in an Afternoon, and saw 200 political Verses on his Table, which he told me he had written since Dinner: By this Dispatch he soon furnish'd out a Folio. Dryden was so far from spying Blemishes in his Works, that he often took them for Beauties, and particularly what the Italians call Concetti. This noted Rant in the Conq. Gran.
I, alone am King of Me.
is happily imitated by him in his State of Innocence:
I my self am proud of Me.
But to criticise on Dryden's Prefaces and Plays is a much greater Labour than to copy them all over, and equally ungenerous and impertinent: If any one will compare his Fall of Man with Milton's Paradise lost, he will quickly perceive to which of them it is that the noble Genius is to be apply'd; and if it belongs to Milton, some other Epithet should be thought of for Dryden.
I have already observ'd, that I did not intend to form a regular Discourse, and I think I have kept pretty well to my Intention: If the Reader misses any Thing of Instruction by it, he will find it made up in Entertainment. The Variety will excuse the Want of Method in a Subject not so capable of it as where the Matter is certain and well known. I wish I were able to give Examples of all Father Bouhour's several Kinds of Thoughts out of English Authors, but Examples are much nicer Work than Precepts. Every one may agree that a Thing ought to be so done, but saw that it is so done. Men's Idea's of the same Things, vary in the Reflection as much as their Views do in Prospect, according to the Light they appear in. Dr. Felton makes a Trifle of it in one Part of his Preface, and an insuperable Difficulty in another. I might, at once, with the Trouble only of Transcribing, have adorn'd the Work, and diverted the Reader. Contrary to this, he says, If any Body is pleas'd to try, he will hardly find it practicable to illustrate these Rules by Examples. The Quotations, which he had before term'd transcribing only, are not so easy as he imagin'd to be done with Beauty and Judgement, was he sure of writing out nothing but what was as much to the Purpose as if it had been made for it, otherwise he might have transcrib'd puffy Thoughts for sublime, trifling Thoughts for pretty, affected Thoughts for agreeable; in short, false Thoughts for fine ones, and I am afraid that would have been his Misfortune, had he attempted it. In his Preface he blames Tully for quoting himself, and Aristotle for being dry; but as he has not gone much beyond the Latter in his Criticisms, nor the Former in his Eloquence, so I believe their Reputation will not be much the worse for him, and it had been better if the Doctor had follow'd the Direction of Quintillian, Modesto tamen & Circumspecto judicio, &c. People should speak with a great deal of Modesty and Circumspection of such great Men, for it may happen, as it very often does, that they condemn what they do not understand.
I am apprehensive enough that this Undertaking will be censur'd as an Effect of Vanity and Arrogance, and I am well enough acquainted with the Spirit of the People I have to deal with,
Genus irritabile Vatum.
But I please my self with the Reflection, that I have not mingled the least Spice of Malice in the Composition, as it relates to Criticism, and am so far from being vain and arrogant, that I frequently and sincerely declare, my chief Design was to excite some more capable Writer to do what I knew my self uncapable of; and if any such Person shall, by exposing my Errours, give the World a true Light, I will not only gratefully follow it, but rejoyce at it, and take hold or the Opportunity to have my Share of the Instruction, if it comes from clean Hands, and is not defil'd with ill Manners and ill Language: Such tutoring I shall despise, and it being very common for Authors to have as good an Opinion of themselves as of any Body else, I shall not think any Name of Authority enough to justify either Insolence or Scurrility. About 40 Years ago there was a Student at Oxford, who acquir'd a good Hand at a Fiddle; but, falling afterwards into Melancholy, he grew averse to Musick, and could not be prevail'd upon by his Friends to touch it: They had but one Way to excite him to it, and that was for some unskilful Hand to take his Violin and scrape upon it; he would then immediately snatch it away from him, and, in a Kind of Resentment, give it the utmost Elegance of Sound and Harmony. I freely own I had this Man's Example in my Head when I began this Essay, and should the Success be the same, the End of it is answer'd.