Crowne, two other jealous dramatists, came out with a virulent denunciation of Settle, to which the object of their attack replied with a counterblast of insult. This did Dryden little injury, save the self-degradation in deigning to contend; but the trouble with Rochester was more serious. That nobleman, having seen Settle grow large enough, elevated and then depressed Crowne; and later did the same with Otway, the only playwright of that time, save Dryden, who has left anything of account. Rochester had continued his attacks upon Dryden, who rebuked him severely in the preface of All for Love, his greatest play. He was also suspected of having written a severe assault upon Rochester and other courtiers, called an Essay on Satire, though it belonged to Lord Mulgrave, for whom Dryden merely revised it, as the poorness of the work shows. Rochester wrote that he would "leave repartée to black Will with a cudgel;" and Dryden was waylaid by hired roughs in December, 1679, as he was returning from his haunt at Will's coffee-house, and severely beaten. There was no doubt that Rochester was the principal; but society was so constituted that, though a reward of £50 was offered in the London Gazette, the perpetrators were never brought to justice, nor did Dryden appear to have public sympathy in spite of the cowardly nature of the assault.

Dryden's logical and argumentative mind, true British spirit, and fluency in verse, gained from many dramas, fitted him for the field of satire; and we next see him going from personal wrangling to political controversy. The successor to Charles II. would be the Catholic Duke of York; and his religion was obnoxious to the mass of the people, still further inflamed by belief in the pretended Popish plot of Titus Oates. The Duke of Monmouth, claiming a natural right to the throne,

had the right combination of personal attractiveness, brilliancy, and fickleness to make a temporary popular idol, and was looked to as a champion by a large element in the Protestant party. The crafty Lord Shaftesbury acted for Monmouth in the capacity of a modern political manager; and Charles II. was forced to determined action, which took the form of the banishment of Monmouth to Holland. Monmouth returned with the self-assumed title of king; and civil war, soon to be determined by the disastrous ditches at Sedgemoor, was upon the country. Matters now looked very serious. Shaftesbury was arousing every Protestant element possible, and the press of course was prominently employed. Fiery sermons were circulated; and Settle and Shadwell, with a host of small fry, were attacking the king and ministry, as well as the Duke of York, with their plays and poems, and catching the public ear. It was Dryden's place, as the representative poet of government, to meet these; and his own tastes and connections inspired him. The Duke of Ormond, Lord Halifax, and Hyde, Earl of Rochester, were his patrons, and the poets Lee and Southerne his friends, all supporters of Charles. On the other side were the Duke of Buckingham, with whom there was a score to settle for the Rehearsal, Shadwell, never a real friend, and now an avowed foe, and Settle, with whom Dryden had not yet done. Monmouth's beautiful duchess had patronized Dryden, to be sure, but was not much in sympathy with her husband's political schemes and allies; and Monmouth could be lightly treated, while lashing Shaftesbury as the real instigator. So, in 1681, our poet rose to the occasion with his masterly Absalom and Achitophel, whose success was immediate and enormous. So great a production naturally aroused a swarm of attacks in return, and the opposition was strength

ened by the failure to overthrow Shaftesbury. He had been lodged in the Tower, and tried for high treason, but was acquitted; and his friends had struck a medal with the inscription LAETAMUR (we rejoice). Ilence Dryden produced his second great satirical poem, the Medal, it is said at the suggestion of Charles himself. This called out another chorus of attempts to reply, each more absurd than the other in its frantic efforts to express hatred; but Dryden concerned himself with none of these until Shadwell joined their ranks. He was prominent and offensive enough to be worth a shot, and received a more thoroughly artistic literary drubbing in MacFlecknoe than any man before or since. By way of finishing matters, he then aided an alleged poet, Nahum Tate, in a second part to Absalom and Achitophel. Here were four great satirical poems in something more than a year; and Dryden's literary position, already lofty, was raised above all possible rivalry. He showed his versatility by following, in 1682, with Religio Laici.

He was now prominent, but poor. The uncertainty of his income has already been referred to; and in 1684 his salary was four years in arrears, and the expense of educating his three sons bore heavily upon him. In 1683 he sent a letter to Hyde, Earl of Rochester, stating his needs, and saying, "It is enough for one age to have neglected Mr. Cowley and starved Mr. Butler." The appeal seems to have been partially successful. He received some of his dues, and was appointed collector of customs for the port of London. The salary was only five pounds annually, but there were many incidental fees.

His last work for Charles II. was a Vindication of the Duke of Guise, done at the express command of the monarch, just before the latter's death, in 1685. Dryden hastened to honor

the departed ruler by a poem, Threnodia Augustalis, in which he pays a decent tribute, though he cannot forbear remark ing:

"Little was the muses' hire, and light their gain."

In this poem he also modestly solicits the attention of the successor. As his services richly deserved, he was retained as laureate to James II., at the same compensation, although this more frugal king retrenched somewhat by cutting off the yearly cask of wine.

In 1686 Dryden adopted Roman Catholicism. This has been much discussed by writers; and it is little wonder that such a step on the part of a man who had but lately written a poem in defence of the Anglican church, but was now in the service of a king who, as Scott says, was "all but an actual martyr for the cause of the Pope," should be stamped by writers like Macaulay as insincere and time-serving. But the matter is not one for a hasty judgment. There is reason for regarding this act as the adoption of a fixed religious belief by a man who had hitherto been without such, rather than the abjuring of one faith for another. His Religio Laici does not show a firm belief in the doctrines of the Church of England, but rather a compliance with it proper for one who was the servant of his king, and who never tried to do other than please his age. It implies doubts which the firm assumption of infallibility on the part of the Romish church. would more readily allay than could any other means. There need be little wonder that, having arrived at an age when he felt the need of religious stay more than when younger, and being of a temperament to adhere to monarchical power rather than democracy in the state, he should turn towards

the same kind of power in the church after his mind had taken a serious religious turn. Certain it is that he never showed any wavering after once fixing his choice, even when suffering by the Revolution, and that he trained his sons to a devotion for Rome that marked the lives of all three. This does not look like a change merely for self-advancement.

His conversion obtained substantial recognition from James II. in the shape of one hundred pounds added to his pension; and he was soon employed on the Catholic side in an answer to Stillingfleet, the leading Protestant writer. This man was no mean antagonist, and did not fail to make use of his opportunities. His stinging taunts upon the proverbial zeal of new converts, and the "changing of religion for bread," provoked Dryden to write the Hind and the Panther, which not only defended Catholicism, but also James's arbitrary attempts to turn the nation.

The birth of James Edward, the "Old Pretender," that event which brought the fortunes of the House of Stuart to a crisis once for all, was the occasion for Britannia Rediviva, whose glittering promises sadly failed of fulfilment.

The Revolution of 1688 brought a total change for our poet. His religion rendered him ineligible for office under William and Mary; and to make matters worse, the hated Shadwell was rewarded for his non-conforming loyalty under James II., by being given the royal posts vacated by his great opponent, and at once proceeded to exult in coarse strains over his triumph.

Dryden was now reduced to dependence upon his small patrimony and the uncertain earnings of his craft. He renewed his dramatic writings, and placed five more pieces upon the