The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-30

i'fco' eho"S a ootroh OVS'h' w
anticipate Button az he later does Words
worth and Coleridge. by insisting that
style is not merely the dress, but the body
of thought Elsewhere Ben Jonson gives
| to poetry the stock definition of making"
! and draws the corollary that a poet IL not
| one who writes in measure. but one. who
fcigns. All this is familiar to the readers
OF Sir Philip Sidney. According toJoHson.
the first requisite Of the poet II inoenirm-
goodness Of natural wit; the next. exercise
of hi- parts bringing all to the forge and
file; the third. imitation. a word to " hich
Johnson gives its modern meaning, under
standing by it the following Of the classics.
B,r that which we especially require IN
him 1.-THE poet il an exactnoss Of study
and multiplicity Of reading" Yet the poet =
liberty Is not to be 80 narrowly circum-
scribed as some would have it. With re-
gard 10 tragedy and comedy, however. Ben
Jonson Is strictly regular. The fable. he
says. must he the init alton Of one entire
and perfect acton.
"" pa>s To Dryden, the second great
English critic in order of time. His quail
fca,ioLs are thus summed up in the book
l"iore Us. DRYDEN started with every
advantage, excep, those Of body Of Eng
fsh crit nisn lehnd him. and OF a thorough
ki-o"ledge of IL. whole Of English litera-
tui" He was a poet carly. If not quite
"i tn" first class. ard, though his poetry
had strong romantic spirit. IN virtue Of
its perennial quality. it took the form ard
pressure Of the time 80 thoroughly ard SO
kindly that thar. Va M iptart a Hi1f
Further, lie had what by no meaIs all
poets of the first class have had, a strong.
clear. common -aei 80 judgment ard very
remarkable faculty of arguing the point.
Ard. fit ally. if he had few predeo cssors in
Fir gish. ard. rerhars, did not know much
of these few exCep, of Jonson, he was
fairly, II not exactly a. a scholar, acquainted
with the ancients. ard lie had profited.
and was TO profit by the best doctrine Of
, the modcrns" Mr. Sar,sbury also recog-
ri2cs that from a certain point OF view
Drvden occupied position which IN only
shared III the history of criticism 10y Dnrte
and by ethe-the position Of the Creates,
man of letters in his own country, If not also
in Europe, who was AZ the same time the
greatest critic. ard was favored by
fortune with concentration of advantage
a. 10 time and circumstance. His critical
excellence has, irGeed. never leen wholly
overlooked. and. except by the unjust or
parlisanshp of the early romantic move
m.nt i'll England l. generally admitted with
cheerfulress The want. however. OF that
syuoptic study of the subject which II Ii
the humble purpose Of this book to facili-
tate has too often prevented hH whole
prcemiucnce from being recognized. II
may even | q said that il il in criticism that
ID 'ytien best shows that original faculty
which has often teen denied him else
where. He lorrows. indeed as freely
a. everywhere He copies with half
ludicrous Difference the stock opinions of
the critics ard the critcGsters in vogue;
he gives Us pages on pages of their redartic
trivialities instead of his own shrewd ard
racy Judgments. But, despite Of all this,
there il in him vein ard style in Judging
of author which goes straight back to
Longir.us, if il is not even ir dependent
Of that great ancestry" Where does the
resemblance to Longinus come iI' Just
here: tina, Dryden, although he accepts the
current theories and verdicts OF the French
ard Italian critics. can never help con-
siClering the individual works of literature
almost wit bout regard To these principles.
and simply on the broad sound and un-
shakahle ground 81 the impression they
make or him, the reader A resemblance
to Dante IL also traced. because Dryden if
perfectly aware that questions Of diction,
metre and the lik" are not mere CATCH
penny or claptrap afterhoughts, as ancient
cri, icism was too apt TO think them, but
al the root Of the pleasure which literature
gives. Moreover-an this is where. AZ
it is the aim of this work To prove. the whole
criticism of antiquity. except that OF Longi-
NUS and most Of the criticism Of modern
times, swerves from the truth-Dryden
knows that this delight. this transport
counts first a. a criterion. Literature in
general, poetry in particular, should, Of
ooursc. instruct: hut il mrS delight.
Th..Essay Of Dramatic Poesy'was written
in 1895, and published three years later
when Dryden had more than thirty years
of life before him. When he wrote this
essay he was. a. he told correspondent
a quarter Of a century later. seeking his
way in a vast ocean OF criticism. without
other help than the pole star of he ancients
and the rules of the French stage amongst
the moderns" II is the more remarkable
that he snDulu nave gwen 30 early IHe
proofs of a close approach to emancipation
In the essay named he admits that the
French dramatists are more regular than
the English. and that the irreg ularitiee
of the latter are, in some cases, justly taxed
Never, heless. he is Of the opinion that
neither our faults nor their virtues are
sufficient to place tho French above us
For. accepting the definition Of a play
as a lively imitation Of nature. Dryden
submits that the beauties of the French
stage are beauties, not natural but thor
! ouehly artificial Before Moliere, where
h. asks, are the humors Of French comedy
save. perhaps, in lie Menteur and a few
others? Elsewhere he says. the French
| work in comedy only by the old way Of
auarrels and reconciliations. or by the
conventions of the Spanish intrigue drama
-On which lines thcre is not above one
play TO he writ they are too much alike
! to please often A to tragi-comedy
DRYDEN inquiries, "What liz the hlrm Of
ths?" Why should "the soul of man be
imagined more heavy than his senses?
The eve can pass, we are reminded, and
pass with relief. from an unpleasant to a
pleasant object in far less time than IL
required on tho stage. We must have
stronger arguments, he says, before We
conclude that compassion and mirth de-
stroy each other in the meantime he will
hold that trngi-comedy ia a more pleasant