him the rashness, weakness, and iniquity of his intended enterprize, in a council assembled in St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, Nelan, a bard who waited in his train, interrupted the exhortation, by chanting forth, in his country rhymes, the praises of Lord Thomas, extolling his greatness, chiding his delay, and calling upon him to take immediate revenge in the field for the injuries of his family. "The effusions of this ignorant and heated rhapsodist, (continue the authors of the Modern Universal History,' from which this anecdote is derived) had, unhappily, a greater influence than the sage counsels of the Prelate, and the young Geraldine rushed forth at the head of his Irish train."

DRYDEN.

DRYDEN happening to pass an evening with the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Rochester, Lord Dorset, and some others of the first distinction and reputation for genius, the conversation turned upon literary subjects, such as the fineness of composition, the harmony of numbers, the smoothness and elegance of style, &c. &c. After some debate, it was finally agreed, that each person present should write

something upon whatever subject chanced to strike the imagination, and place it under the candlestick. Dryden was excepted; but the office of judging of their productions was assigned to him.

The

Some of the company were at more than ordinary pains to out-rival each other. person most tranquil and unconcerned was Lord Dorset; who, with much ease and composure, very coolly wrote two or three lines, and carelessly threw them into the place agreed upon; and, when the rest had done so with theirs, the arbiter opened the leaves of their destiny. In going through the whole, he discovered the most violent raptures.

"I must acknowledge," says Dryden, "that there are abundance of fine things in my hands, and such as do honour to the personages who wrote them; but I am under the indispensable necessity of giving the preference to Lord Dorset. I must request you will hear it yourselves, gentlemen, and I believe each, and all of you, will approve my judgment. I promise to pay to John Dryden, Esq. or order, on demand, the sum of five hundred pounds.-DORSET.'

"I must confess," continued Dryden, "that

I am equally charmed with the style and the subject; and I flatter myself, gentlemen, that I stand in need of no argument, to induce you to join with me in opinion against yourselves. This kind of writing exceeds any other, whether ancient or modern. It is not the essence, but the quintessence of language, and is, in fact, reason, and argument, surpassing every thing.” The company all concurred with the bard, and each person expressed a due admiration of his Lordship's penetration, solid judgment, and superior abilities, with which, it is probable, Dryden was more thoroughly satisfied than any of the party.

CONGREVE.

THE Comedy of the "Old Bachelor," was Congreve's first introduction to the stage.Dryden, to whom the author was recommended by Southern, was pleased to say of it, " that he never saw such a first play in his life, and that it would be a pity to have it miscarry for a few things which proceeded not from the author's want of genius or art, but from his not being acquainted with the stage and the town." Dryden revised and corrected it, and it was

acted in 1693. The prologue intended to be spoken, was written by Lord Falkland: the play was admirably performed, and received with such general applause, that Congreve was thenceforth considered as the prop of the declining stage, and as the rising genius in dramatic poetry. It was this play, and the very singular success which attended it upon the stage, and after it came from the press, which recommended its author to the patronage of Lord Halifax, who, being desirous to place so eminent a wit in a state of ease and tranquillity, made him immediately one of the Commissioners for Licensing Hackney Coaches; which was soon followed by a place in the Pipe Office, the office of a Commissioner of Wine Licences, and the Secretaryship of Jamaica, the whole yielding upwards of £1200 per annum.

Voltaire says of Congreve, "He raised the glory of comedy to a greater height than any English writer before or since his time. He wrote only a few plays, but they are excellent in their kind. He was infirm,” he adds, " and come to the verge of life, when I knew him. Mr. Congreve had one defect, which was, his entertaining too mean an idea of his first pro

fession, that of a writer, though it was to this that he owed his fame and fortune. He spoke of his works as of trifles that were beneath him, and hinted to me, in our first conversation, that I should visit him upon no other footing than that of a gentleman who led a life of plainness and simplicity. I answered, that, had he been so unfortunate as to be a mere gentleman, I should never have come to see him, and I was very much disgusted at so unseasonable a piece of vanity."

Dennis, speaking of Congreve's resolution not to write plays after Jeremy Collier's attack, says, " he quitted the stage early, and Comedy left it with him."