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Show - - ThT"^^ ,r[ 'ua ,rj moft difficult enterprize he had to effect, earnest, by not fubmitting toitJe £ « W * J S f i r i t s T a n d he dy'd weary of when he had conquer>d three Nations, was IOJ j that War, and unable to fnijb it. i •/ ;„ *m,rpxile than the other on his Throne: In the mean time you liv'd more ^ ' ' J ™ ' ^ ™ : a„d p u l,v'd plenti-your Loyalty made you Friends ^ f ^ ^ j f f i l i Reputation Th glori-fully without a Fortune ; for you &*»%"]£? Jas a Patrimony which cou'd never eusName of the Valiant and Faithful Newcattle, nas a r j be exhaufted. Thus, my Lord, the Morning of your Life wasclear j*%tffcgm *£ afterwardslvercafl;yet in that generalftorn, you ^^J^h^J0fitWdS Qlo- Lwyou are happily arriv'd to the Evening t ^ % % r ^ •Lfrmmht: 'Tis the nous: But fuch an Evening as, I ope ^ ^ ^ f ^ S the Skies. The Evening of a Summer's ^yj^^'fj^^fieiher does the one fbrink U A ^ ^ MLksl from the iatiegue of Exercije nor tne oini f h j Exercis'd himfelf S^» d^d himfelf from Bufinefs f/%*<*>*> "* °- ploy'dhis Age, amongft the Shades, in the Reading and Imitation of'Virgil. • In which, leaft any thing fhould be wanting to your Happinefs you have by a rareeffefl of Fortune] foundiithePerfonofyour Excellent Lady not only .Lover, butaPartne of your Studies. A Lady whom our Age mayjufily equal with the Sappho ^f heQr^s or the Sulpitia ofthe Romans. Who, by being taken intoyour Bofom, feems to belnfpird with your Genius , And by Writing the Hiftory of your Life, info mafculne a Style, has alreadyplac'dyoum the Number oftlx Heroes. She has Anticipated that Great Portion of Fafne which Envy often hinders a living Vertue from p off effing : Whichwou d, indeed, have been given to your Aflns, but with a latterPayment • And, of which you could have no prefent ufe, except it were by a fecret Prefage of that which was to come, when you were nolonoerin apojftbtiity ofknowingit. So that if that were a Praife, or Satisfaction to the greateft of Emperour s, which the moft Judicious of Poets gives him, Praefenti tibi maturos largimur honores, &t. That the Adoration which was not allowed to Hercules and Romulus till after Death, was given to Auguft us living; then certainly it cannot be deny'd but that your Grace has receiv'd a double Satisfaction: The one, to fee your felt Confecrated to Immortahay while you are yet alive: The other, to have your Praifes Celebrated by fo Dear, fo Juft, and fo Pious an Hifiorian. 'Tis the Confideration of this that flops my Pen : Though I am loath to leave fo fair o Subject, which gives me as much field as Poetry cou'd wiffj, and yet no more than Truth can juftify. But to attempt any thing of a Penegyrick, were to Enterprize on your Lady's Right; and to feem to effect thofe Praifes, which none but the Dutchefs of Newcattle can deferve, whenfbe Writes the Actions of her Lord. Ifijall therefore leave that wider fpace, and contract my felf to thofe narrow bounds which beft become my Fortune and Employment. I am oblig'd, my Lord, to return you not only my own Acknowledgments, but to thank you in the Names of former Poets; the Manes of Johnfon and D'avenant feem to require it from me, that thofe Favours which you plac'd on them, and which they wanted opportunity to own in Publick, yet might not be loft to the knowledge of Pofterity, with a forget - fulnefs unbecoming of the Mufes, who are the Daughters of Memory. And give me leave, my Lord, to avowfo much of Vanity, as to fay, I am Proud to be their Remembrancer: For, by relating how Gracious you have been to them, and are to me, I, in fome meafure, join my Name with Theirs: And the continu'd defcent of your Favours to me is the beft Title which I can plead for my fucceffion. 1 only wifh, that I had as great Reafon to befatis-fy'd with my felf, in the return of our common Acknowledgments, as your Grace may juftly take in the confering Them: For 1 cannot but be very Jenfible that the Prefent of an ill Comedy, which I here make you, is a very unfuit able way of givingThanks for them, who, themfelves, T h e Epiftle Dedicatory. themfelves, have Written fo many better. This pretends lo nothing more than to be a Foyl to thofe Scenes, which are Compos'dby the moft Noble Poet of our <A&e, and Nation : And to be fet as a Water-Mark ofthe loweft Ebb, to which the Wit of my Predeceffor has funk and run down in me : But, though all of them have furpafs'd me in the Scene ; there is one part of Glory in which I will not yield to any of them. I mean, my Lord, that Honour and Veneration which they had for you in their Lives ; and which I preferve after them, more Holily than the Veflat Fires were maintain'd from Age to Age ; but with a greater degree of Heat, and of Devotion than theirs, as being with more Refpect and Paffion than they ever were, Your G R A C E 'S Moft Obliged, moft Humble, and moft Obedient Servant, John Dryden. PRE- |