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If this pretty passage be thought too gentle in its tone for the generally untender Muse of Dryden, I would refer the objector to an equally simple and graceful dialogue in verse between Leonidas and Palmyra in the chaotic tragicomedy of Marriage à la Mode.

A fellow-student whose verdict on such a question carries no light weight with it would assign to Dryden rather this than the scene which I proceed to transcribe at full length, literatè as before and punctatim, having been inclined for my own part to exclaim on a first reading of it, 'either John Dryden or the Devil.'