(_a_) _The Heroic Play._ This is a new type of the tragedy that became prominent after the Restoration, and of which Dryden is one of the earliest and most skillful exponents. The chief features of the new growth are the choice of a great heroic figure for the central personage; a succession of stage incidents of an exalted character, which often, through the inexpertness of the dramatist, became ridiculous; a loud and ranting style; and the rhymed couplet. Dryden’s _Rival Ladies_ (1663) is a hybrid between the comic and heroic species of play; _The Indian Emperor_ (1665), _Tyrannic Love_ (1669), _The Conquest of Granada_ (1670), and _Aurengzebe_ (1675) show the heroic kind at its best and worst. Though Dryden is heavily weighted with the ponderous mechanism of the heroic play, his gigantic literary strength is often sufficient to give it an attraction and a kind of heavy-footed animation. (_b_) _His Blank-verse Tragedies._ The heroic play was so easily parodied and made ridiculous, that the wits of the Restoration were not slow to make a butt of it. Their onslaughts were not without their effect on Dryden, for already in _Aurengzebe_ a shamefaced weakening of the heroic mannerisms is apparent. In the prologue to this play Dryden fairly admits it, saying that he Grows weary of his long-loved mistress, Rime. Passion’s too fierce to be in fetters bound, And Nature flies him like enchanted ground. His next play, _All for Love, or The World well Lost_ (1678), is in blank verse, and is considered to be his dramatic masterpiece. For subject he chose that of Shakespeare’s _Antony and Cleopatra_. It was a daring thing to attempt what Shakespeare had already done; but Dryden, while following the earlier play somewhat closely, never actually copies it. He produces a play of a distinctly different nature, and of a high merit. The characters are well drawn and animated, and the style, though lacking the daimonic force of Shakespeare’s at his best, is noble and restrained. We give Dryden’s handling of the death of Cleopatra, a passage which should be compared with that of Shakespeare given on p. 121. (_Antony is lying dead on the stage; Charmion and Iras, the Queen’s two handmaidens, are in attendance on her._) _Charmion._ To what end These ensigns of your pomp and royalty? _Cleopatra._ Dull that thou art! Why, ’tis to meet my love; As when I saw him first, on Cydnos’ bank, All sparkling, like a goddess.... Haste, haste, both, And dress the bride of Antony. _Charmion._ ’Tis done. _Cleopatra._ Now seat me by my lord; I claim this place.... Reach me the casket. _Iras._ Underneath the fruit The aspic lies. _Cleopatra._ Welcome, thou kind deceiver! [_Putting aside the leaves._