Page:The Story of Nell Gwyn.djvu/85

Rh was studying the part of Almahide in Dryden's new tragedy, "The Conquest of Granada." Before, however, the play could be produced Nelly was near giving birth to the future Duke of St. Alban's, and therefore unable to appear, so that Dryden was obliged to postpone the production of his piece till another season. The poet alludes to this postponement in his epilogue,—

The allusion is to Miss Davis at the Duke's, and to Nelly at the King's; but the poet's meaning has escaped his editors.

The "Conquest of Granada" was first performed in the autumn of 1670,—Hart playing Almanzor to Nelly's Almahide. With what manliness and grace of elocution must Hart have delivered the well-known lines,—

The attraction, however, of the play rested mainly