greater ease, and a readier flow of verse, than Sir Robert Howard appears to have possessed, when unassisted.  Of this he seems, himself, to have been sensible; and alludes to Dryden’s acknowledged superiority, when maintaining against him the cause of dramatic blank verse, as preferable to rhyme[1].  Besides general hints towards the conception of the characters, and a superintendance of the dialogue, it is probable, that Dryden wrote some entire scenes of the following piece.  In the third act particularly, the passage respecting the incantation, which resembles that in the Indian Emperor, has strong traces of our author’s manner.

[Footnote 1:  “But writing the epistle in so much haste, I had almost forgot one argument, or observation, which that author (Dryden) has most good fortune in.  It is in his Epistle Dedicatory, before his essay of Dramatic Poesie; where, speaking of rhyme in plays, he desires it may be observed, that none are violent against it, but such as have not attempted it, or who have succeeded ill in the attempt:  Which, as to myself, and him, I easily acknowledge;—­for, I confess, none has written in that way better than himself, nor few worse than I.”

Introduction to the Great Favourite, or the Duke of Lerma.]

The Indian Queen was acted in 1664; and received, says Langbaine, with great applause.  It was printed in 1665.

Prologue

As the music plays a soft air, the curtain rises slowly, and discovers an Indian Boy and Girl sleeping under two plantain-trees; and, when the curtain is almost up, the music turns into a tune expressing an alarm, at which the Boy awakes, and speaks;

Boy.  WAKE, wake, Quevira! our soft rest must cease,
And fly together with our country’s peace! 
No more must we sleep under plantain shade,
Which neither heat could pierce, nor cold invade;
Where bounteous nature never feels decay,
And opening buds drive falling fruits away.

Que.  Why should men quarrel here, where all possess
As much as they can hope for by success?—­
None can have most, where nature is so kind,
As to exceed man’s use, though not his mind.

Boy.  By ancient prophecies we have been told, Our world shall be subdued by one more old;—­ And, see, that world already hither come.

Que.  If these be they, we welcome then our doom!  Their looks are Such, that mercy flows from thence, More gentle than our native innocence.

Boy.  Why should we then fear these, our enemies, That rather seem to us like deities?

Que.  By their protection, let us beg to live; They came not here to conquer, but forgive.—­ If so, your goodness may your power express, And we shall judge both best by our success.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE