Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/100

 xcvi INTRODUCTION ���translate. Probably the whole drama proved a task to which she was unequal, but the published fragment has real merit. The heroic couplet necessitated some padding; at any rate she regarded her material with the freedom inculcated by Dryden, and so did not hesitate to introduce fresh details suggested by her knowledge of the Bible story. There is inevitable a loss of vigor, a slight blurring of clear-cut out- lines, but in general the imperious dignity, the superstitious terror of the beautiful and wicked daughter of the painted Jezebel is well maintained. Doubtless the scriptural theme and the elevated tone of the drama made it especially con- genial to Lady Winchilsea. �" Our most vertuous Orinda " translated plays, hence Ardelia feels that her own dramatic attempts cannot be alto- gether reprehensible. Her two plays can be dated with some exactness. Her account of the writing of Aristomenes as given in the Preface definitely puts the composition of this play very soon after 1688. In the Epilogue she adds that it was written at "lonely God- meersham." The Prologue commemorates the first reading of the play to Lord Winchilsea. If this were the second earl, the tragedy was completed before September 1689, the date of his death. If the reference is to Charles, the young earl and it almost certainly is the reading of the com- pleted work was somewhat later, but in either case the actual composition belongs in 1688-91. Of Love and Innocence Ardelia says that it was written as an experiment to see whether she could carry through such an attempt; hence this play probably was written before Aristomenes. �The fable of Love and Innocence consists of a main plot and a sub-plot organically interwoven. The inter- Love and es ^ ^ suspense is well maintained, the double innocence denouement not occuring till within a page or two of the end of the play. The minor crises of each ��� �