The

poor enough for one, I would write a poem on such a subject, in the following manner.” King then stated the plan of the poem. Dryden took the hint, and when the poem was finished, he presented it to his Majesty, who made him a present of a hundred broad pieces for it.

DRYDEN'S FUNERAL.

WARD, in his "London Spy," (1706,) relates that, on the occasion, there was a performance of solemn music at the College, and that, at the procession, which he himself saw, there was a concert of hautboys and trumpets. The day of his interment, he says, was Monday, the 13th of May, twelve days after his decease. Wilson says, that "Dr. Garth pronounced a fine Latin Oration at the College, over the corpse, which was attended to the Abbey by a numerous train of coaches. He was buried among the Poets in Westminster Abbey, where he long lay without distinction, till Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, gave him a tablet, inscribed only with the name of DRYDEN."

POETS LAUREATE.

THE custom of crowning poets is as ancient

as poetry itself: it has, indeed, frequently varied: it existed, however, as late as the reign of Theodosius, when it was abolished as a remains of Paganism.

When the Barbarians overspread Europe, few appeared to merit this honour, and fewer who could have read their works. It was about the time of Petrarch that poetry resumed its ancient lustre; he was publicly honoured with the laurel crown. It was in this century (the thirteenth) that the establishment of Bachelor and Doctor was fixed in the Universities. Those who were found worthy of the honour, obtained the laurel of Bachelor, or the laurel of Doctor; laurea Bacca laureates; laurea Doctoratus. At their reception, they not only assumed this title, but they also had a crown of laurel placed on their heads.

To this ceremony may be attributed the revival of the custom. The poets were not slow in putting in their claims to what they had most a right, and their patrons sought to encourage them by these honourable distinctions.

The following formula is the exact style of those which are yet employed in the Universities to confer the degree of Bachelor or Doctor, and serves to confirm the conjecture of Resnel:

"We, Count and Senator, (Count d'Angillara, who bestowed the laurel on Petrarch,) for us and our College, dear Francis Petrarch, great poet and historian, and for a special mark of his quality of poet, we have placed with our hands on his head a crown of laurel, granting to him, by the tenor of these presents, and by the authority of King Robert, of the Senate, and the people of Rome, in the poetic as well as the historic art, and generally in whatever relates to the said arts, as well in this Holy City as elsewhere, the free and entire power of reading, disputing, and interpreting all ancient books, to make new ones, and compose new poems, which, God assisting, shall endure from age to age."

In Italy, these honours did not flourish, although Tasso dignified the laurel crown, by his acceptance of it. Many got crowned who were unworthy of the distinction. The laurel was even bestowed on Guerno, whose character is given in the "Dunciad," Canto ii.

"Not with more glee, by hands pontific crown'd, With scarlet hats, wide waving, circled round, Rome in her Capitol saw Guerno sit,

Thron'd on seven hills, the Anti-Christ of wit."

This man was made Laureate, for the joke's sake: his poetry was inspired by his cups— a kind of poet who came in with the dessert, and recited twenty thousand verses. He was rather the arch-buffoon than the arch-poet to Leo X., though honoured with the latter title. They invented for him a new kind of laureated honour, and, in the intermixture of the foliage raised to Apollo, slyly inserted the vine and the cabbage leaves, which he evidently deserved, from his extreme dexterity in clearing the pontiff's dishes and emptying his goblets.

Urban VIII. had a juster and more elevated idea of the children of fancy. It appears, that he possessed much poetic sensibility. Of him it is recorded, that he wrote a letter to Chiabrera, to felicitate him on the success of his poetry. Letters written by a Pope were then an honour only paid to crowned heads. One is pleased, also, with another testimony of his elegant dispositions. Charmed with a poem which Bracciolini presented to him, he gave him the surname of Delle Ape, of the bees; which were the arms of this amiable Pope. He, however, never crowned these favourite bards with the

laurel, which, probably, he deemed unworthy of them.

In Germany, the laureate honours flourished under the reign of Maximilian the First. He founded, in 1504, a Poetical College at Vienna, reserving to himself and the Regent, the power of bestowing the laurel. But the institution, notwithstanding this well-concerted scheme, fell into disrepute, owing to a crowd of claimants who were fired with the rage of versifying, and who, though destitute of poetic talents, had the laurel bestowed on them. Thus, it became a prostituted honour; and satires were incessantly levelled against the usurpers of the crown of Apollo. It seems, notwithstanding, always to have had charms in the eyes of the Germans, who did not reflect, as the Abbé Resnel elegantly expresses himself, that it faded when it passed over so many heads.

The Emperor of Germany retains the laureateship in all its splendour. The selected bard is called Il Poeta Cesario. Apostolo Zeno, as celebrated for his erudition as for his poetic powers, was succeeded by that most enchanting poet, Metastasio. The French never had a Poet