Page:Life of Edmond Malone.djvu/468

448 title-page of a copy of the second part of the Faery Queen, 1596, which the ancient owner appeared to have purchased in 1598, and in a Latin passage marks his death Jan. 16th, 1598.

The unmanly revenge of Lord Rochester in hiring three ruffians to beat Dryden is well known. “In a newspaper of the day,” says Malone, is the following account of the transaction with which I have been furnished by {{wdl|Q5075910|Dr. Charles Burney]], junior:—

“Dec. 19th, 1679.—Last night, Mr. Dryden, the famous poet, coming from a coffee-house in Covent Garden, was set upon by three persons unknown to him; and so rudely by them handled, that it is said his life is in no small danger. It is thought to have been the effect of private grudge rather than upon the too common design of unlawful gain; an unkind trespass by which not only he himself, but the commonwealth of learning may receive injury. His own advertisement, with the reward of 50l. for the apprehension of the parties, did not appear till ten days afterward. {{…|4}}

Pope, who in his earlier years made imitations of Chaucer, Spenser, Waller, Cowley, Rochester, Dorset, and Swift, did not attempt an imitation of Dryden. His own poetry indeed was only Dryden’s versification rendered by incessant care more smooth and musical, but less flowing and less varied.

{{rule|7em}}

The elder Cibber was, I believe, the most celebrated performer of Bayes in the Rehearsal. To him suc-