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VOL. I. PART II.

LETTERS.

P. 24. n. I had supposed the theatre in Dorset Gardens to have assumed the name of The Queen's Theatre, after the union of the two companies in 1682; but it did not, I believe, take that name till a few months after this letter was written; namely, on the accession of James II. Dryden, therefore, was perfectly correct. P. 88. n. 2. l. 2. In some of the impressions, for two months before, r. not long before.

P. 90. n. 1. There is here a slight errour, in consequence of my having trusted to Beatson's POLITICAL INDEX; which is not always a safe guide. Charles Montague was not First Lord of the Treasury during any part of King William's reign, and was not Chancellor of the Exchequer in October, 1699, having been devested of that office on the 2d of the preceding June; as I have stated in a subsequent page, from an examination in the Chapel of the Rolls. See p. 102. n. 6.

P. 98. 1. 7.
P. 93. 1. 9.

may see.

For Sapho, r. Sappho.

For has, r. have. P. 95. 1. 8. Read-you

P. 101. l. 16. Dele a. P. 103. 1. 3. For having, r. haveing; and ibid. r. done me. P. 104. Lett. xli. I. 2. Dele of. P. 109. I. 11. Read-to be either, &c.

VOL. I. PART II.

ESSAYS.

P. 10. 1. 12. Angli suos, &c.

I have frequently had, occafion to observe that our author generally quoted from memory. The paffage here cited from Barclay's ICON ANIMORUM, c. iv. 8vo. 1614, stands thus in the original: "Anglis ut plurimum gravis animus, et in se velut ad consilium seductus: seipsos, et suæ

gentis mores, ingenia, animos, eximiè mirantur: dum salutant, aut scribunt, descendere ad verba imaginariæ servitutis, quæ istorum seculorum blandities invenit, nisi forte externis moribus imbuti, non sustinent." The sentiment expressed by the words which Dryden has added,—“ cæteras nationes despectui habent,"—is implied in this passage as it stands; but they are not found in any edition of the ICON ANIMORUM that I have seen; and I have consulted several. That piece was afterwards very improperly incorporated with his SATYRICON, of which it makes the Fourth Part. The SATYRICON is mentioned by Dryden in his Preface to Juvenal.

It is a curious circumstance, that Barclay in his ICON, which contains a masterly description of the manners of the several nations of Europe in the beginning of the seventeenth century, should have suggested an expedition against the Turkish empire, similar in the most material circumstances to that undertaken in the year 1798 by the French Republick, (particularly in the number of the troops employed,) though it was proposed to be directed against a different part of the Turkish dominions from that which was assailed by the Corsican Mussulman, who now governs France. See ICON ANIMORUM, c. ix. I do not however suspect him to have read Barclay's book: he merely followed the plan suggested to the ancient French Government.

P. 26. n. 2. Sir Charles Sidley translated another act. P. 33. n. 6. 1. 3. For 1674 r. 1672; and in the next line, for Menardine, (an errour in the book here quoted) r. Menardiere.

P. 34. n. 1. In the conjecture here stated, I was certainly

mistaken, and the errour has been already acknowledged. See the Life of Dryden, vol. i. part i. p. 62. CRITES was unquestionably intended to represent Sir Robert Howard, and LISIDEIUS, Sir Charles Sidley. P. 41. Dele the Note, for the reason assigned above.

P. 61. n. 1. 2. For satirical, r. satyrical.-Our author's inaccuracy here was probably the occasion of Dr. Johnson's falling into the same errour, in the Preface to his edition of Shakspeare.

P. 69. n. 5. l. 2. For about the year 1630, r. in 1625.
P. 92. n. *. After passage, r. in his works.

P. 96. n. l. 9. For comedies, r. plays.

P. 157, l. from the bottom. "-that excuse

3.

the philosopher made to the Emperour," &c.

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The philosopher here alluded to was Favorinus; and the Emperour, Adrian. The story, which was originally related by Ælian, is thus told by Bacon, in his 160th Apophthegm, 16m0, 1625. "There was a philosopher that disputed with Adrian, the Emperour, and did it but weakely. One of his friends that had beene by, afterwards said to him, Meethinkes, you were not like your selfe last day, in argument with the Emperour: I could have answered better my selfe.' Why,' sayd the philosopher, would you have mee contend with him that commands thirtie legions?"

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Our author, by writing-" twenty legions of arts and sciences," in order to accommodate the story to his purpose, has entirely changed the point of it; for Favorinus was not afraid of the knowledge, but the power, of the Emperour. He might, however, urge Barclay's comment on this anecdote in his defence; who gravely contends, that the philosopher mentioned this circumstance as a proof of Adrian's science. See his ICON ANIMORUM, c. x. "Adeo ut non per jocum magis quem ex philosophiæ præcepto, Favorinus scientiam Adriani metitus sit ex magnitudine potestatis. Adrianus imperator famam scientiæ quærebat, et forte in Favorinum philosophum inciderat ; qui ab eo lacessitus argumentis, parcius, et ut victus, agebat, quo princeps impunè exultaret. Objurgantibus amicis, quod tam facilè cessisset, Male,' inquit,' admonetis: nam cur non doctissimum putem, qui habet

viginti legiones?'-Hæc non sine argumento philosophus; cum, ex arte tot legionibus moderari, sit altioris scientiæ, quam quicquid exercito et per contemplationem sublato acumine, in scholis deprehendas.”

P. 170. 1. 6. from the bottom. A great wit's great work is to refuse, as my worthy friend, Sir John Berkenhead, has ingeniously expressed it.

See his Verses prefixed to the Comedies, &c. of William Cartwright, 8vo. 1651:

"For thy imperial Muse at once defines

"Laws, to arraign and brand their weak strong lines; "Unmasks the golden verse that frights a page, "As when old time brought devils on the stage :-"Knew the right mark of things, saw how to choose, "(For the great wit's great work is to refuse,) "And smiled to see, what shouldering there is, "To follow Lucan, where he trod amiss."

P. 231. n. l. 9. After Dublin, add-and now Lord Bishop

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P. 331. n. 7. l. 3.

P. 342. n. *. This

After in, r. or before.

For in 1668 or 1669, r. in 1667. note was founded on a mistake, occasioned by the Catalogue of the printed books in the Museum, in which an edition of Dryden's Mock ASTROLOGER, of the year 1668, is mentioned. But it proves, on inspection, to have been an inaccuracy of the person by whom that Catalogue was made; for no such edition is in that library. The play called THE ASTROLOGER, translated from the French, and published in 1668, which is there, was confounded by him with Dryden's comedy.

P. 354. n. The passage in the Preface to THE TEMPEST,

which led me to think that it was not exhibited on the stage till after the death of D'Avenant, must yield to

superior evidence. Since this note was written, I have observed, that the Epilogue ascertains its first performance to have been in 1667.

P. 359. n. l. penult. For 18th, г. 28th.

P. 365. n. In the country, Lord Rochester lived a blameless life; but he used to say, (as Aubrey tells us,) that when he came to Brentford, the Devil entered into him, and never left him till he returned to the country again, to Adderbury or Woodstock Park," of which he was Ranger.

P. 371. n. l. antepenult. For in the year, &c. r. at the time of his death, Aug. 20, 1701.

P. 374. 1. 5.-" that which one of the ancients callederuditam voluptatem.”

I have not been able to discover the author here referred to. Quintilian, whom Dryden appears to have studied very diligently, has (lib. xi.) ineruditis voluptatibus applied to pleasures derived ex spectaculis, campo, tessera,&c.

P. 378. Add to the note-Perhaps the fastidious Brisk of Oxford, was Sprat.

P. 383. 1. 7 from the bottom.-" what the historian said of a Roman Emperor-."

Otho; whose last words are here cited with a slight variation: “ Ali diutiùs imperium tenuerint; nemo tam fortiter reliquerit." Tacit. HIST. ii. 47.

P. 385. n. For fourteen, r. fifteen.

P. 391. n. For scarce fifteen, 1. little more than sixteen. P. 420. n. Since this note was written, I have met with the passage here referred to by our author. It is in Montagne's ESSAYS, book i. ch. 39. "There are gathered out of Cicero's writings, and from Plinies ---infinite testimonies of a nature; beyond measure ambi. tious. Amongst others, that they openly solicit the historians of their times, not to forget them in their

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