Chapter 14

He also Translated the Fifth and Sixth Books of _Virgils Æniedes_ into English _Burlesque_; of which that we may give you a Draught of his Method, take these few lines.

While _Dido_ in a Bed of Fire, A new-found way to cool desire, Lay wrapt in Smoke, half Cole, half _Dido_, Too late repenting Crime _Libido_, _Monsieur Æneas_ went his waies; For which I con him little praise, To leave a Lady, not i'th'Mire, But which was worser, in the Fire. He Neuter-like, had no great aim, To kindle or put out the flame. He had what he would have, the Wind; More than ten _Dido's_ to his mind. The merry gale was all in Poop, Which made the _Trojans_ all cry Hoop!

He it was who wrote that Jovial Almanack of _Montelion_; besides several other things in a serious Vein of Poetry. Nor must we forget his Song made on the Tombs at _Westminster_; which for a witty drolling Invention, I hold it to be past Compare, being Printed in a Book called _The Miseries of Love and Eloquence_.

You may reckon among these his Elegy upon our late Soveraign, and his Anniversary to His Majesty; Composed all by Dr. _Blow_.

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Mr. _JOHN OLDHAM_.

Mr. _John Oldham_, the delight of the Muses, and glory of those last Times; a Man utterly unknown to me but only by Works, which none can read but with Wonder and Admiration; So Pithy his Strains, so Sententious his Expressions, so Elegant his Oratory, so Swimming his Language, so Smooth his Lines, in Translating out-doing the Original, and in Invention matchless; whose praise my rude Pen is not able to Comprehend: Take therefore a small Draught of his Perfections in a Funeral Elegy, made by the Laureat of our Nation, Mr. _John Dryden_.

Farewel, too little and too lately known, Whom I began to think and call my own; For sure our Souls were near ally'd; and thine Cast in the same Poetick Mould with mine. One common note on either Lyre did strike, And Knaves and Fools we both abhorr'd alike: To the same Goal did both our Studies drive, The last set out the soonest did arrive. Thus _Nisus_ fell upon the Slippery place, While his young Friend perform'd and won the race. O early ripe! to thy abundant store, What could advancing age have added more? It might (what Nature never gives the young) Have taught the numbers of thy Native Tongue. But Satyr needs not those, and wit will shine Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line, A noble error, and but seldom made, When Poets are by too much force betray'd. Thy generous Fruits, though gather'd e're their Prime, Still shew'd a quickness; and maturing time; But Mellows what we write to the dull sweets of Rhime. Once more, hail and farwel, farwel thou young, But all too short _Marcellus_ of our Tongue; Thy brows with Ivy, and with Lawrels bound; But flat and gloomy Night encompass thee around.

This wittily learned Gentleman was of _Edmund-Hall_ in _Oxford_, and dyed in the Earl of _Kingston's_ Family in the prime of his Years; whose life had it been lengthened, might have produced as large a Volume of learned Works, as any this latter Age have brought forth.

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And thus have we given you an Account of all the most Eminent _English_ Poets that have come to our knowledge; although we question not but many and those well deserving have slipped our Pen; which if these our Labours shall come to a Second Impression, as we question nothing to the contrary, we shall endeavour to do them right. In the mean time we shall give you a short Account of some of the most eminent that are now (or at least thought by us so to be) living at this time, and so conclude, beginning first with

_Mr. JOHN DRIDEN._

Poet Laureat and Historiographer to his Royal Majesty; whose Poetry hath passed the World with the greatest Approbation and acceptance that may be, especially what he hath written of Dramatick, _viz._ _The Maiden Queen_; _The Wild Gallant_; _The Mock Astrologer_; _Marriage Ala-mode_; _The Amorous Old Woman_; and _The Assignation_, Comedies; _Tyranick Love_; and _Amboyna_, Tragedies; and _The Indian Emperor_; and two Parts of the Conquests of _Granada_; Historical Drama's. Besides several other Pieces, which speak their own worth, more than any Commendations my Pen can bestow upon them.

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Mr. _ELKUNAH SETTLE_.

An Ingenious Person, who besides his other Works hath contributed to the Stage two Tragedies, _viz._ _Cambises_, and _The Empress of Morrocco_, which notwithstanding the severe censure of some, may deservedly pass with good Approbation.

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Sir _GEORGE ETHERIDGE_.

The Author of Two Comedies, _viz. Love in a Tub_; and _She Would if she Could_; which for pleasant Wit, and no bad Oeconemy, are judged not unworthy the applause they have met with.

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Mr. _JOHN WILSON_.

The noted Author of that so Celebrated a Comedy entituled _The Cheats_; which hath passed the Stage and Press with so general an applause, also another Comedy called _The Projectors_ and the Tragedy of _Andronicus Commenius_.

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Mr. _THOMAS SHADWELL_.

One whose Pen hath deserved well of the Stage, not only for the number of the Plays which he hath writ; but also for the sweet Language and Contrivance of them. His Comedies are, _The Humorist_; _The Sullen Lovers_; _Epsom Wells_, &c. Besides his _Royal Shepherdess_, a Pastoral Tragi-Comedy; and his Tragedy of _Psyche_, or rather Tragical _Opera_, as vying with the _Opera's_ of _Italy_, in the Pomp of Scenes, Marchinry and Musical performance.

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_THOMAS STANLEY_.

_Thomas Stanley_ Esquire, of _Cumberlo Green_ in _Hartfordshire_; a general Scholar, one well known both in Philosophy, History, and Poetry. Witness his learned Edition of _Æschylus_, and his lives of the Philosophers; But for that which we take the most notice of him here, his smooth Air and gentile Spirit in Poetry; which appears not only in his own Genuine Poems, but also from what he hath so well Translated out of Ancient Greek, and Modern Italian, Spanish, and French Poets; So that we may well conclude him to be both the Glory and Admiration of his time.

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_EDWARD PHILLIPS_.

_Edward Phillips_ Brother to _John Phillips_ aforesaid, the Judicious Continuator of Sir _Richard Bakers_ Chronicle; which will make his name Famous to Posterity, no less than his Genuine Poems upon several occasions, in which he comes not far short of his Spritely Brother.

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Mr. _THOMAS SPRAT_.

Mr. _Thomas Sprat_, whose judicious History of the _Royal Society_, for the Smoothness of the Stile, and exactness of the Method, deserveth high Commendations; He hath also writ in Verse a very applauded, tho little Poem, entitled _The Plague of_ Athens.

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_WILLIAM SMITH_.

_William Smith_ the Author of a Tragedy entituled _Hieronymo_; as also _The Hector of Germany_.

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Mr. _JOHN LACEY_.

Mr. _John Lacy_, one of the noted'st Wits of these Times, who as _William Shakespeare_ and _Christopher Marlow_ before him, rose from an Actor to be an Author to the Stage, having written two ingenious Comical Pieces, _viz._ _Monsieur Ragou_, and _the Dumb Lady_.

* * * * *

Mr. _WILLIAM WHICHERLY_.

Mr. _William Whicherly_, a Gentleman of the Inner _Temple_, who besides his other learned Works, hath contributed largely to the Stage, in his Comedies of _Love in a Wood_, _The Gentleman Dancing-Master_, _The Country Wife_, &c.

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Sir _ROGER L'ESTRANGE_.

And so we have reckoned up all the most Eminent Poets which have come to our knowledge, craving pardon for those we have omitted. We shall conclude all with Sir _Roger L'Strange_, one whose Pen was never idle in asserting the Royal Cause, as well before the King's Restoration, against his open Enemies, as since that time against his Feigned Friends. Those who shall consider the Number and Greatness of his Books, will admire he should ever write so many, and those who have Read them, considering the Stile and Method they are writ in, will more admire he should Write so well. And because some people may imagine his Works not to be so many as he hath written, we will give you a Catalogue of as many as we can remember of them.

_Collections In Defence of the King._ _Tolleration Discussed._ _Relapsed Apostate._ _Apology for Protestants._ Richard _against_ Baxter. _Tyranny and Popery._ _Growth of Knavery._ _Reformed Catholique._ _Free-born Subjects._ _The Case Put_. _Seasonable Memorials._ _Answer to the Appeal._ _No Papist._ _The Shammer Shamm'd._ _Account Cleared._ _Reformation Reformed._ _Dissenters Sayings in Two Parts._ _Notes on_ Colledge. _Citizen and Bumkin in Two Parts._ _Further Discovery of the Plot._ _Discovery on Discovery._ _Narrative of the Plot._ Zekiel _and_ Ephraim. _Appeal to the King and Parliament._ _Papist in Masquerade._ _Answer to the Second Character of a Popish Successor._

These Twenty Six, with divers others, he writ in Quarto; Besides which he wrote divers others, _viz._

_The History of the Plot, in_ Folio. Quevedo's _Visions Englished_, Octavo. Erasmus's _Coloquies Eng._. Oct. Seneca's _Morals_, Oct. Cicero's _Offices in English_. _The Guide to Eternity_, _in_ Twelves. _Five Love Letters from a Nun to a Cave_, &c. _The Holy Cheat._ _Caveat to the Cavaliers._ _Plea for the Caveat and the Author._

Besides his indefatigable pains taken in writing the _Observator_, a Work, which for Vindicating the Royal Interest, and undeceiving the People, considering the corruption of the Times, of as great use and behoof as may be, mens minds having been before so poysoned by Fanatical Principles, that it is almost an _Herculean_ Work to reduce them again by Reason, or as we may more properly say, to Reason. Of which useful Work he hath done already Two large Volumes, and a Third almost compleated, his Pen being never weary in Service of his Country.

But should I go about to enumerate all the Works of this worthy Gentleman, I should run my self into an irrecoverable Labyrinth. Nor is he less happy in his Verse than Prose, which for Elegancy of Language, and quickness of Invention, deservedly entitles him to the honour of a Poet; and therefore I shall forbear to write more of him, since what I can do upon that account, comes infinitely far short of his deservings.

_FINIS._