it were, the soul which inform and animate the whole mass and body of verse.  But these are such divine excellencies as are peculiar only to the brave and the wise.  The first chief in verse, who trode in this sweet and delightful path of the Muses, was the renowned Earl of Roscommon, a great worthy, as well as a great wit; and who is, in all respects, resembled by another great Lord of this present age, viz. my Lord Cutts, a person whom all people must allow to be an accomplished gentleman, a great general, and a fine poet.

“The two elaborate poems of Blackmore and Milton, the which, for the dignity of them, may very well be looked upon as the two grand exemplars of poetry, do either of them exceed, and are more to be valued than all the poets, both of the Romans and the Greeks put together.  There are two other incomparable pieces of poetry, viz.  Mr. Dryden’s ’Absalom and Achitophel,’ and the epistle of a known and celebrated wit (Mr. Charles Montague) to my Lord of Dorset, the best judge in poetry, as well as the best poet; the tutelar numen o’ the stage, and on whose breath all the Muses have their dependence.”—­Proem to an Essay on Pastoral, and Elegy on Queen Mary, by the Honourable Edward Howard, 21st January 1695.

[25] That now before me is prefixed to the second edition of the “Indian Emperor,” 1668.

[26] [It seems to have been a memorial addressed to the Lord Chamberlain for the time, and was long in the possession of the Killigrew family.  It was communicated by the learned Mr. Reed to Mr. Malone, and runs as follows:—­

“Whereas, upon Mr. Dryden’s binding himself to write three playes a yeere, the said Mr. Dryden, was admitted, and continued as a sharer, in the King’s Playhouse for diverse years, and received for his share and a quarter, three or four hundred pounds, communibus annis; but though he received the moneys, we received not the playes, not one in a yeare.  After which, the House being burnt, the Company, in building another, contracted great debts, so that the shares fell much short of what they were formerly.  Thereupon, Mr. Dryden complaining to the Company of his want of proffit, the Company was so kind to him, that they not only did not presse him for the playes which he so engaged to write for them, and for which he was paid beforehand, but they did also, at his earnest request, give him a third day for his last new play, called ’All for Love;’ and at the receipt of the money of the said third day, he acknowledged it as a guift, and a particular kindnesse of the Company.  Yet, notwithstanding this kind proceeding, Mr. Dryden has now, jointly with Mr. Lee (who was in pension with us to the last day of our playing, and shall continue), written a play, called ‘Oedipus,’ and given it to the Duke’s Company, contrary to his said agreement, his promise, and all gratitude, to the great prejudice and almost undoing of the Company, they being the only poets