SECRET LOVE;
OR, THE
MAIDEN QUEEN.

Vitiis nemo sine nascitur; optimus ille Qui minimis urgetur.  HORAT.

THE MAIDEN QUEEN

The Maiden Queen is said, by Langbaine, to be founded upon certain passages in “The Grand Cyrus,” and in “Ibrahim, the illustrious Bassa.”  Few readers will probably take the trouble of consulting these huge volumes, for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of this charge.  Even our duty, as editors, cannot impel us to the task; satisfied, as we are, that, since these ponderous folios at that time loaded every toilette, Dryden can hardly have taken more from such well-known sources, than the mere outline of the story.  Indeed, to a certain degree, the foundation of the plot, upon a story in the “Cyrus,” is admitted by the author.  The character of the queen is admirably drawn, and the catastrophe is brought very artfully forward; the uncertainty, as to her final decision, continuing till the last moment.  In this, as in all our author’s plays, some passages of beautiful poetry occur in the dialogue; as, for example, the scene in act 3d betwixt Philocles and Candiope.  The characters, excepting that of the Maiden Queen herself, are lame and uninteresting.  Philocles, in particular, has neither enough of love to make him despise ambition, nor enough of ambition to make him break the fetters of love.  We might have admired him, had he been constant; or sympathised with him, had he sinned against his affections, and repented; but there is nothing interesting in the vacillations of his indecision.  The comic part of the play contains much of what was thought wit in the reign of Charles II.; for marriage is railed against, and a male and female rake join in extolling the pleasures of a single life, even while the usage of the theatre compels them, at length, to put on the matrimonial chains.  It is surprising, that no venturous author, in that gay age, concluded, by making such a couple happy in their own way.  The novelty of such a catastrophe would have insured its success; and, unlike to the termination of the loves of Celadon and Florimel, it would have been strictly in character.

The Maiden Queen was first acted in 1667; and printed, as the poet has informed us, by the command of Charles himself, who graced it with the title of HIS play.  Dryden mentions the excellence of the acting, so it was probably received very favourably.

PREFACE

It has been the ordinary practice of the French poets, to dedicate their works of this nature to their king; especially when they have had the least encouragement to it, by his approbation of them on the stage.  But, I confess, I want the confidence to follow their example, though, perhaps, I have as specious pretences to it, for this piece, as any they can boast of; it having been owned in so particular a manner by his