[7] 30th August 1693, Dryden writes to Tonson, “I am sure you thought my Lord Radclyffe would have done something; I guessed more truly, that he could not.”—­Vol. xviii.  The expression perhaps applies rather to his lordship’s want of ability than inclination; and Dryden says indeed, in the dedication, that it is in his nature to be an encourager of good poets, though fortune has not yet put into his hands the power of expressing it.  In a letter to Mrs. Steward, Dryden speaks of Ratcliffe as a poet, “and none of the best.”—­Vol. xviii.

[8] Vol. xviii.

[9] Copied from the Chandos picture.  Kneller’s copy is now at Wentworth House, the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam.

[10] The antiquary may now search in vain for this frail memorial; for the house of Chesterton was, 1807, pulled down for the sake of the materials.

[11] The exact pecuniary arrangements for the Virgil are a matter of much dispute, almost every biographer taking a different view.  It seems most probable that the payment was fifty pounds per two books, not fifty for each.  The point will be more fully discussed on the letters dealing with the subject.—­Ed.

[12] This gave rise to a good epigram: 

   “Old Jacob, by deep judgment swayed,
     To please the wise beholders,
   Has placed old Nassau’s hook-nosed head
    On poor Aeneas’ shoulders.

   To make the parallel hold tack,
     Methinks there’s little lacking;
   One took his father pick-a-pack,
     And t’other sent his packing.”

[13] “I am of your opinion,” says the poet to his son Charles, “that, by Tonson’s means, almost all our letters have miscarried for this last year.  But, however, he has missed of his design in the dedication, though he had prepared the book for it; for, in every figure of Aeneas, he has caused him to be drawn, like King William, with a hooked nose.”  Dryden hints to Tonson himself his suspicion of this unworthy device, desiring him to forward a letter to his son Charles, but not by post.  “Being satisfied, that Ferrand will do by this as he did by two letters which I sent my sons, about my dedicating to the king, of which they received neither.”—­Vol. xviii.

[14] Johnson’s “Life of Dryden.”

[15] [Professor Masson calculates, apparently on good grounds, that Simmons probably made about five or six times what he paid.  This, in not much more than a year, cannot be considered a bad trade return; but the sale price of “Paradise Lost” seems to provoke unfounded commonplaces from even the most unexpected sources.—­ED.]