THE CENSURE OF THE ROTA. On Mr DRIDEN 'S Conquest of GRANADA. OXFORD, Printed by H. H. for Fran. Oxlad junior. An. Dom. 1673. THE CENSURE OF THE ROTA. UPON Mr DRYDEN'S CONQUEST of GRANADA, amongst several other late Exercises of the Athenian Vertuosis in the Coffe-Academy instituted by Apollo for the advancement of Gazeti Philosophy Mercury's, diurnals, &c: this day was wholly taken up in the Examination of the Conquest of Granada; a Gentleman on the reading of the First Part, & therein the Description of the Bull-baiting, said, that Almanzor's playing at the Bull was according to the Standard of the Greek Heroes, who, as Mr. Dryden had learnedly observed (Essay of Dramatic poetry, p. 25.) were great Beef-Eaters. And why might not Almanzor as well as Ajax, or Don Quixot worry Mutton, or take a Bull by the Throat, since the Author had elsewhere explained himself by telling us the Heroes were more noble Beasts of Prey, in his Epistle to his Conquest of Granada, distinguishing them into wild and tame, and in his Play we have Almanzor shaking his Chain, and frighting his Keeper. p. 28. broke loose. p. 64. and tearing those that would reclaim his rage. p. 135. To this he added that his Bulls excelled others Heroes, as far as his own Heroes surpassed his Gods: That the Champion Bull was divested of flesh and blood, and made immortal by the poet, & bellowed after death; that the fantastic Bull seemed fiercer than the true, and the dead bellow in Verse, were louder than the living; concluding with a wish that Mr. Dryden had the good luck to have varied that old Verse quoted in his Dramatic Essay. Atque Vrsum, & Pugiles media inter Carmina pos●unt Tauros, & Pugiles prima inter Carmina posco. and prefixed it to the front of his Play, instead of — Maior rerum mihinascitur Ordo, Majus opus moveo. Another Virtuoso said he could not but take notice how ignorantly some charged Almanzor with transgressing the Rules of the Drama, vainly supposing that Heroes might be confined to the narrow walks of other common Mortals, not considering that those Dramatic Planets were Images of Excentrio Virtue, which was most beautiful, when least regular: that Almanzor was no less maliciously taxed with changing sides, than which charge what could be more unjust, if they looked on him as Achilles and Rinaldos' countryman, and born with them in that Poetical Free-State, (for Poets of late have formed Vtopia's) where all were Monarches (without Subjects) and all swore Allegiance to themselves, (and therefore could be Traitors to none else) where every man might invade another's Right, without trespassing on his own, and make, and execute what Laws himself would consent to, each man having the power of Life and Death so absolutely, that if he killed himself, he was accountable to no body for the murder; that Almanzor was neither Mr Drydens' Subject, nor Boabdelins, but equally exempt from the Poet's Rules, and the Prince's Laws, and in short, if his revolting from the Abencerrages to the Zegries, and from the Zegries to the Abencerrages again, had not equally satisfied both parties, it might admit of the same defence, Mr Drydens' Out-cries, and his Tumults did, that the Poet represented Men in a Hobbian State of War. A third went on and told them that Fight Scenes, and Representations of Battles were as necessary to a Tragedy, as Cudgels, and broken Pates to a Country Wake; that an Heroic Poem never sounded so nobly, as when it was heightened with Shouts, and Clashing of Swords; and that Drums and Trumpets gained an absolute Dominion over the minds of the Audience: (the Ladies, and Female Spirits) Here an Acquaintance of the Authors interposed, and assured the Company, he was very confident, that Mr Dryden would never have had the Courage to have ventured on a Conquest had he not writ with the sound of Drum and Trumpet; and that if there was any thing unintelligible in his rants, 'twas the effect of that horror those Instruments of War with their astonishing noise had precipitated him into, which had so transported him, that he writ beyond himself. But he was interrupted by a grave Gentleman that used to sup in Apollo and could tell many Story of Ben. johnson, who told them, that in his opinion Mr Dryden had given little proof of his Courage, since he for the most part combated the dead; and the dead— send no Challenges; nor indeed need they, since through their sides he had wounded himself; for he ever played the Critic so unluckely, as to discover only his own faults in other men, with the advantage of this aggravation, that the Grammatical Errors or older Poets, were but the Errors of their Age, but being made his, were not the Errors of this Age: since he granted this Age was refined above those Solecisms of the last: thus the Synchoesis, or ill placing of Words, a fault of B. johnsons' time, was an usual Elegancy in Mr. Drydens' writings, as in the Prologue to his Indian Emperor Such easy judges, that our Poet may Himself admire the fortune of his Play. Himself in the second verse, which should have been placed before may in the first. In the Indian Emperor, Guyomar says, I for my Country fought, and would again, Had I yet left a Country to maintain. left should not have preceded Country, but followed it. In Granada, second part. I'll sooner trust th'Hyaena then your smile; Or then your Tears the weeping Crocodile. And again. Yet then to change, ' 'tis nobler to despair. Thus the using be for are the vice of those dull times, when Conversation was so low, that our Fathers were not taught to write and read good English, was frequent with Mr Dryden in this politer Age; In Granada, second part. Allmanzor. Madam, your new commands I come to know, If yet you can have any where I go, If to the Regions of the dead they be. In the Indian Emperor. Things good, or ill, by circumstances be. In Maximin. The Empress knows your worth, but, Sir, there be Those who can value it as high as she. And again; And so obscene their Ceremonies be, As good men loath, and Cato blushed to see. In all these places he observed the Rhyme hid the false English. The placing of the Preposition at the end of a Verse or Sentence, Mr Dryden had confessed was common to him with johnson, but not discovering where, the Gentleman obliged the Company, by pointing at that in Maximin. your Brother made it to secure his Throne, Which this man made a step to mount it on. and more conspicuously in his Elegy on Oliver. (one who was as great a contemner of Kings as Almanzor, and as great a defier of the Gods as Maximin) Fortune (that easy Mistress of the young But to her ancient Servants coy and hard) Him at that Age her Favourites ranked among. When she her best loved Pompey did discard. To all which, he added that ire an obsolete word of B. johnson was antiquated now, but enthral and oph in Mr Dryden were words antiquated in Ben johnsons' time, that johnson only wrote English in good Latin, but Mr Dryden was so accomplished as to write English fluently in all Languages, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and what not; in him he met with Escapade, Mirador, Bizarre, torrents winding in volumes, Trumpets Clangors, Venus' Cestos, besides unthinking Crowd, bladdered Air, and such like Poetical jargon; and to demonstrate that this Age (or Mr Dryden, which is the same) made some improvement in falls English as well as the last (if at least we have not received a newer English Grammar then Ben. johnsons') he desired them to weigh these verses in his Granada. Obeyed as Sovereign by thy subjects be But know that I alone am King of me. me, for myself. again, I for her sake thy Sceptre will maintain, And thou by me, in spite of thee shall reign. Thee, for thyself. As for Mr Drydens cavil at the lines in Catiline. Go on upon the Gods, kiss lightning, wrest The Engine from the Cyclops, and give fire At face of a full Cloud— His mistaken Image of shooting (since the Cyclops Engine was a Thunderbolt) recoiled upon himself in his Maximin, where he supposed Sulphur to rain down in fiery showers on Charinus, a clearer image perhaps of shooting, unknown as much in Maximin's days, as Catalin's. A Critic continuing on the discourse, said, he was sorry that Mr Dryden when he charged every page of Shakespeer, and Fletcher with some Solecism of speech, or notorious flaw in sense, did not read their writings and his own with the same spectacles, for had he, he would never have left so incorrect a line as this in that Epilogue, where he taxes the Ancients so superciliously; Then Comedy was faultless, but 'twas course. 'tis a favour to call this but a flaw; nay, in the threshold of his Granada. Thus in the Triumphs of soft peace Ireign, And from my walls defy the powers of Spain. which two verses agree as ill, as if one were a Moor, and the other a Spaniard. again in the First Part, As some fair Tulip by a storm oppressed, Shrinks up, and folds its silken arms to rest; And bending to the blast, all pale and dead, Hears from within the wind sing round its head. This Tulip that could hear the wind sing its Epicedium, after it was dead; you may be sure grew no where but in a Poet's Garden. in the Second Part, So two kind Turtles, when a Storm is nigh, Look up, and see it gathering in the Sky, Each calls his mate to shelter in the Groves, Leaving in murmurs their unfinished Loves; Parched on some dropping branch, they sit alone, And cooe, and hearken to each others moan. Where because a Turtle was a solitary Bird, he made two of them sit alone. Again, speaking of Almanzor: — a gloomy smile arose From his bend brows, and still the more he heard, A more severe, and sullen joy appeared. Here is a Smile described with so much Art, that the description my serve indifferently either for a Smile, or a Frown, any other Smile, but a gloomy one, rising from bend brows, would have looked too effeminately pleasant in Almanzor's grim face; a clear proof this of the▪ Epistle, that dimples may not misbecome the stern beauty of a Hero: These he found in Annus Mirabilis. So sicken waning Moons too near the Sun, And blunt their Crescents on the edge of day. Compared with these in Maximin. My flaming sword above them to display, Allkeen and ground upon the edge of Day. From which he inferred, that the Edge of Day was capacitated indifferently either to blunt, or Sharpen, according to the Poet's pleasure, as from that verse in his Astraea Redux: A horrid stillness first invades the Ear, he observed that to invade the Ear (in Mr Drydens Dictionary) signified any violence offered to the Ear, either from Noise, or Silence. In another place in Maximin, he seems fully to have answered his Prologue, in not servilely stooping so low as Sense; To bind Porphyrius firmly to the State, I will this day my Caesar him create, And, Daughter, I will give him you for wife. here, in making Porphyrius a Bride, he has reached an excellence, and justified his representation of big-bellyed Men in the Wild Gallant, a greater imposibility, than any Shakespeare can be censured for (for imposybility's in Mr Drydens charge are sense, but in another's nonsense) though he wants not these smaller indecorum's neither; such as his introducing Donna Aurelia in the Mock-Astrologer, retrenching her words, which how consistent'tis with the Spanish Gravity, the great Dons of Wit can best resolve him, and such is that indecency, committed in his Maiden Queen, where the Queen and Courtiers stand still, to hear Celadon and Florimell with a great deal of cold mirth absurdly usurp the Queen's Prerogative in making new Marriage-Laws. That Mr Drydens' wit was as much advanced beyond that of the Ancients, as his sense & Language; was Evident from these Clenches (to omit that of Pulpit-Quibling finding the benefit of its Clergy since he was so mannerly, as to ask leave to cleanch there) in his forecited Elegy on our English Maximin. Though in his Praise, no Arts can liberal be. In his Rival Ladies, a Serving man threatents to beat the Poet with a staff of his own Rhymes. In his Maiden Queen, little Sabina tells Florimell, well my drolling Lady, I may be even with you: to which Florimell wittyly, not this ten years by thy growth yet: and after, tells her taller sister Olinda, she cannot affront her because she is so tall. and to parallel B. Johnson's, Forty things more, dear Grand, which you know true, For which, or pay me quickly, or I'll pay you. Celadon (in the same Play) tells Florimell; I shall grow desperately constant, and all the tempest of my love will fall upon your head: I shall so pay you: to which Florimell makes this reply; Who you, pay me? you are a bankrupt, cast beyond all possibility of recovery. This when repeated by Loveby in that incomparable clenching Comedy, the Wild Gallant, Mr Dryden, and the Tailor's Wife called a Jest, but is far from Wit in all Languages. To be short, that his wit depended often on a ridiculous chiming of words, was evident from such instances as these, Under Almanzor prosperously they fought, Almanzor therefore must with prayer's be sought. Know that as Selin was not won by thee, Neither will I by Selins daughter be. Forbear dear Father, for your Ozmyns sake, Do not such words to Ozmys father speak, But what's the cause that keeps you here with me? Tbat I may know what keeps me here with you. Would you your hand in Selins blood imbrue, Kill him unarmed, who armed shunned killing you? much after the rate of that old Tick-tack A Pie, a Pudding, A Pudding, a Pie, A Pudding-pie. A Pie for me, A Pudding for thee, A Pudding for me, A Pie for thee, A Pudding-pie for me and thee▪ A modern Poet stepped up next, and said, he observed Mr Dryden passed no better a Compliment on the Poets of this Age in his Prologue to his Granada, then on those of the former in his Postscript and Epilogue; for these he taxed as liberally with writing dull sense, as those with writing incorrect; and preferred his own gay nonsense equally to both. That his Play was the best comment on his Prologue, and his Tulip with silken arms, and two verses. But silkworm like, so long within have wrought, That I am lost in my own web of thought. sufficiently displayed his gaiety of nonsense: and 'twas for this reason he supposed that he upbraided Beaumond and Fletcher with meanness of expression in their Scenes of Love, because those dull unthinking men never had their thoughts so well dressed, as to transform their Lovers into such gay things, as Silkwormes and Tulips; but this was the unhappiness of their Education, they were not so well bred, nor kept so good Company as Mr Dryden; nay had johnson (who was more conversant in Courts) conversed (as our Poet) only with Persons of Honour, he had never disgraced the Stage with Tib in her Rags, but attired her more like a modern Comedian in a broad-brimed Hat, and waste Belt: but 'twas plain, his Humour discovered more of the Mechanic & the Clown, than the Gentleman; thus Otters Horse, and his Bear, and his Bull, might be entertaining to a Groom, or a Bearward, but nothing in nature and all that (to english Tom. Otters in rerum naturâ) was more odious to a Man of Garniture and Feathers: in those days they regaled their Audience with the Acorns of Poetry, and no marvel then if Cobs Tankard quenched their thirstno less than pure Helicon: in sine, johnsons' wit had too much Alchemy, and their best too much allay to pass for that of the Golden Age, an honour only due to the Poets of these times, that bring old Iron on the Stage. The honour of the Golden Age (replied another) belongs justly to Mr Dryden, who ever returned home richly fraught from Spain and America; to his Catholic Conquests Poetry owes its Indies, and its Plate-Fleets: and after such Voyages and Discoveries, he could not but wonder a little at his modest excusing his ignorance in Sea Terms in his Annus Mirabilis; since he was very confident that his Muse that had so often crossed the Seas, and endured so many Storms and Shipwrecks could not but be Tarpawlin sufficient enough to make an Heroic Poem on Starboard, and Larboard. His blustering Metaphors would more than acquit him of Horace his Censure, Serpit humi tutus, nimium timidusque procellae. The boldest of the old Poets never raised such Tempests as he, though they laboured to swell their Poetical Sails with all the four winds blowing at once (as Mr Cow ingeniously, on, V●a Furusque; Notusque ruunt, creberque procellis Africus, etc.) He was the man Nature seemed to make choice of to enlarge the Poet's Empire, & to complete those Discovery's others had begun to shadow: that Shakespeare and Fletcher (as some think) erected the Pillars of Poetry is a gross error; this Zany of Columbus has discovered a Poetical World of greater extent than the Natural, peopled with Atlantic Colony's of notional creatures, astral Spirits, Ghosts, & Idols, more various than ever the Indians worshipped, and Heroes, more lawless than their Savages. The-already discovered habitable world (joined with Sir Thomas Moor's, and the Lord Bacon's) was too narrow a Compass for his Geography of Thoughts, which would admit of no unpeopled Solitudes, nor Terra Incognita; this Poetical Coryat would travel beyond the Poles of Nature and Opinion; sometimes we have him mounting his Pegasus, and taking a flight to the Mountains of the Moon, and the Bed of Nile, than (having baited first at Heaven) making his Journey through the lower Fields of Air, to Spencer's Bower of Bliss, and Tasso's Enchanted wood (both lately discovered in Fairy-Land) there visiting such wand'ring Souls▪ as flagging fluttered down from the middle Sky, and dispossessing the Swallows of their Winter Quarters, lay leiger for Mortal frames in Trunks of hollow Trees. Thus has he out travalled the Sun, and made his flights on the wings of his own fancy without the assistance of Ganza's, or Bottles of May-Dew. In short, did Mr Cowley, or any others dislike this Fairy part of Poetry, (though Mr Cow had answered himself by making use of Angels visions in his Davideis, where the Argument required it) the Poet had prettily excused his fantastic Scenes, & Visionary Pageants, in that Apologetic Verse, Ast opere in tanto fas est obrepere Somnum. With him joined a phlegmatic heavy Gown-man, who hoped that that Verse was a frank confession of the Poet, that he composed several of his Raptures in a Dream, of which nature was this in his Maximin. Thou treadest th' Abyss of Light, Abyss is a word so inconsistent with Light, that 'tis scarce Bright enough for its Shadow. In Granada, Heavens Out-cast, and the Dross of every Star. Compare this with another in Maximin, — None, will be so bright, So pure, or with so small allays of light, and you'll say ti's all pure refined nonsense, without the least allay of dull Sense. In another place in Maximin, I reel, and stagger, and am drunk with light. this Verse the Poet made, when he was shut up in a dark room and not suffered to see the light. Again. So mayst thou live thy thousand years in peace, And see thy Airy Progeny increase. Here it may be a Quaere, whether Spirits (since amongst them there's no distinction of Sexes) get all Sons, or all daughters. And following those, So mayst thou still continue fresh and fair, Fed by the blast of pure Etherial Ayr. How the Aether, that yields a nourishment so thin (scarce distinguishable from none at all) that it would starve a Chameleon, should fatten a Spirit, seems a Paradox: now after all this, the World may judge whether the notions of Poets (the Fathers of his Church) concerning spirits and Spectres, were more satisfactory, than those of Philosophers and Divines; and whether Mr Dryden was not stark Inspiration mad, and in one of his Enthusiastic fits, when he objected it as laziness, or dulness to the Clergy, that they did not preach in Verse; That Reformation this Age must not be so happy as to expect, since the Objector had altered his resolution of exchanging the Sock and Buskin for the Canonical Girdle Here a great Patron of Rhyme interposed, and said, he could heartily wish that not only Divines would preach, Lawyers plead, Philosopher's dispute, and Councillors debate, but even our Ladies and Gallants would converse in Rhyme, for besides that this would take off the Argument of the the unnaturalness of Rhyme, It would be a means of exalting our thoughts, and raising Conversation above the vulgar level, for what can be supposed more indecent then for Ladies and Persons of Quality to walk on foot in Prose with the Rabble? Without the sweetness and cadency of Rhyme our quick Repartees in discourse lose much of their Beauty, when as if he that spoke last be nicked by another, both in wit and sound, nothing is left desirable. Nay, Mr Dryden that writ ill in Rhyme, would have writ worse without it, for such Redundancy's as this in Granada, First Part, This is my will, and this I will have done. which is a handsome way of saying this is my will twice such mean Couplets as this in Maximin. O my dear Brother, whom Heaven let us see, And would not longer suffer him to be! and such precipitations from such heights, as, Say but he's dead, that God shall mortal be: See nothing, Eyes, henceforth, but Death and woe, You've have done me the worst Office you can do. would never have been passable, were not many cozened with their sound; in a word, many things were charged upon the Poet, of which the Rhymer was no ways guilty, but there needed no greater Argument for the efficacy of Rhyme above Blank Verse, then that of blowing a Candle out, and blowing in again, in two Verses. Granada. Like Tapers new blown out the fumes remain, To catch the light, and bring it back again. where the snuff expires so sweetly, it cannot be offensive to the most critical Nose. To this a Favourer of Blank verse with some heat replied, that these verses in Granada, Second Part, You see Sir, with what hardship I have kept This precious gage which in my hands you left. These in the Indian Emperor, But I me so far from meriting esteem, That if I judge, I must myself condemn. And these in Maximin, Porphyrius. Too long, as if Eternity were so. Berenice. Rise good Porphyrius (since it must be so.) proclaimed the Rhymer no less faulty than the Poet, and evidently proved that Mr Dryden enslaved his sense as little to Rhyme, as elsewhere to Syllables; and both to sense. Who after this will deny that the way of writing in verse; is the most free and unconstrained? in which the Poet is not tied up to Language, sense, Syllables, or Rhyme, but even, sweet, and flowing numbers, and smart Repartees (in plain English, playing with words) atone for the want of all. With what impudence can the Adversaries of Rhyme object its difficulty? when those that are form neither by Art nor Nature, may write whole plays, such as Mr Dryden's in it, without easing themselves on pace and ●rot. It is but framing the character of a Huff of the Town, one that from breaking Glass-windows, and combating the watch, starts up an Hero: him you must make very saucy to his superiors, to show he is of the same stamp with Achilles and Rinaldo; then tame the savage with the charming sight of the King's Daughter (or wife) whom this St George is to deliver from the Dragon, or greater dangers: to heighten his character the more, bring in a sheepish King with a Guard of poultrons to be kicked by him, as often as he thinks fit his Miss. should be a witness of his Gallantry: if this be not enough, let him play prizes with Armies, still Tumults with one look, and raise Rebellions with another. The Language is no less easy than the characters, 'tis but stuffing five Acts with Fate, Destiny, Charms, Charming fair, Killing fair, heavenly fair, the Fair and Brave, the Lover and the Brave, etc. an allusion to two kind Turtles, foisted in, an impertinent Simile from a Storm, or a Shipwreck, and a senseless Song of Phillis, and the business is done: the descriptions may be borrewed from Statius, and Montaigns' Essays, the Reason and Political Ornaments from Mr Hobbs, and the Astrological (and if need be, the Language too) from Ibrahim, or the Illustrious Bassa. To conclude all, he said, a barren Invention must ever be provided with such necessary helps, as the following Forms, to which he might have recourse on all occusions. Some Forms and Figurative Expressions of solarge an extent, that they are adjusted to all Characters in all Plays, Tragedys, Comedys, and Tragi-Comedys, whether written in Rhyme, Blank Verse, or Prose; suitable to all Prologues, Epilogues, and Dramatic Essays that are, or shall be written. For magnific Sound As when some dreadful Thunderclap is nigh, The winged Fire shoots swiftly through the Sky, Indian Emperor. Strikes, and consumes, e'er scarce it does appear. Or varied thus: — As when Winds and Rain together crowd, They swell till they have burst the bladdered cloud: Granada. 2. part. And first, the Lightning flashing deadly clear, Flies, Falls, Consumes, e'er scarce it does appear. For gentle verses, that do not shake us in the reading. Maiden Queen. — Heaven, which moulding Beauty takes such care, Makes gentle fates on purpose for the fair; And Destiny that sees them so divine, Spins all their fortunes in a silken twine. Translate the Fair to the Brave, it may be thus, If fate weaves common third, he'll change the doom, Granada. 1. part. And with new Purple spread a nobler loom. for a Rant I'll grasp my Sceptre with my dying hand. Indian Emperor. Or thus, higher: — I'll grasp it Even after death. Rival Ladies. Higher yet I'll hold it fast As Life, and when life's gone, I'll hold it last. Granada 2. part. For generous Love: Though to my former vows I must be true, Maximin. I'll ever keep one love entire for you, That love which Brothers with chaste Sisters make. Or with a more poignant brevity: Take friedship, or if that too small appear, Granada. 1. part. Take Love, which Sisters may to Brothers bear. For sharpness of conceit. He esed his half-tired Muse on pace and troth. Epilogue to Mock ginger. That is, Sometimes upon Rhyme, sometimes upon Blank, Verse, Essay of Dramatic Poetry. Like an Horse, who eases himself upon Trot and Amble. For pleasant folly, — in the prime Of Easter Term, in Tart and Cheesecake time. Epilogue to Maximin. Easily resolved thus into prose: In Easter Term, when the Country Gentlewomen come up to Sir Martin marial. the destruction of Tarts and Cheesecakes.