Of the many miscellaneous poems of Dryden, the curious reader will get an idea of his sustained narrative power from the Annus Mirabilis.  The best expression of Dryden’s literary genius, however, is found in “Alexander’s Feast,” which is his most enduring ode, and one of the best in our language.

As a prose writer Dryden had a very marked influence on our literature in shortening his sentences, and especially in writing naturally, without depending on literary ornamentation to give effect to what he is saying.  If we compare his prose with that of Milton, or Browne, or Jeremy Taylor, we note that Dryden cares less for style than any of the others, but takes more pains to state his thought clearly and concisely, as men speak when they wish to be understood.  The classical school, which followed the Restoration, looked to Dryden as a leader, and to him we owe largely that tendency to exactness of expression which marks our subsequent prose writing.  With his prose, Dryden rapidly developed his critical ability, and became the foremost critic[178] of his age.  His criticisms, instead of being published as independent works, were generally used as prefaces or introductions to his poetry.  The best known of these criticisms are the preface to the Fables, “Of Heroic Plays,” “Discourse on Satire,” and especially the “Essay of Dramatic Poesy” (1668), which attempts to lay a foundation for all literary criticism.

DRYDEN’S INFLUENCE ON LITERATURE.  Dryden’s place among authors is due partly to his great influence on the succeeding age of classicism.  Briefly, this influence may be summed up by noting the three new elements which he brought into our literature.  These are:  (1) the establishment of the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and descriptive poetry; (2) his development of a direct, serviceable prose style such as we still cultivate; and (3) his development of the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.  This is certainly a large work for one man to accomplish, and Dryden is worthy of honor, though comparatively little of what he wrote is now found on our bookshelves.

SAMUEL BUTLER (1612-1680).  In marked contrast with Dryden, who devoted his life to literature and won his success by hard work, is Samuel Butler, who jumped into fame by a single, careless work, which represents not any serious intent or effort, but the pastime of an idle hour.  We are to remember that, though the Royalists had triumphed in the Restoration, the Puritan spirit was not dead, nor even sleeping, and that the Puritan held steadfastly to his own principles.  Against these principles of justice, truth, and liberty there was no argument, since they expressed the manhood of England; but many of the Puritan practices were open to ridicule, and the Royalists, in revenge for their defeat, began to use ridicule without mercy.  During the early years of the Restoration doggerel verses ridiculing Puritanism, and burlesque,—­that is, a ridiculous representation of serious subjects, or a serious representation of ridiculous subjects,—­were the most popular form of literature with London society.  Of all this burlesque and doggerel the most famous is Butler’s Hudibras, a work to which we can trace many of the prejudices that still prevail against Puritanism.