What various voices do mine ears invade And have a concert of confusion made? The shriller trumpet and tempestuous drum, The deafening clamour from the cannon's womb. --Part i. First _Entry_. The following lines from part ii. (published in 1662) might have been signed by Dryden:-- No arguments by forms of senate made Can magisterial jealousy persuade; It takes no counsel, nor will be in awe Of reason's force, necessity, or law. Or, again, Honour's the soul which nought but guilt can wound, Fame is the trumpet which the people sound.] The above dates are enough to disprove the common belief that the heroic drama, rhymed couplet and all, was imported from France. _Albovine_, as we have seen, has every mark of the heroic drama, except the couplet; and _Albovine_ was written seven years before the first masterpiece of Corneille, one year before his first attempt at tragedy. A superficial likeness to the drama of Corneille and, subsequently, of Racine may doubtless have given wings to the popularity of the new style both with Davenant and his admirers. But the heroic drama is, in truth, a native growth: for good or for evil, to England alone must be given the credit of its birth. Dryden, no doubt, more than once claims French descent for the literary form with which his fame was then bound up. [Footnote: He is, however, as explicit as could be wished in tracing the descent _through_ Davenant. "For Heroick Plays ... the first light we had of them on the English theatre was from the late Sir W. Davenant. He heightened his characters, as I may probably imagine, from the example of Corneille and some French Poets."--_Of Heroic Plays_, printed as preface to _The Conquest of Granada, Dramatic Works_ (fol.), i. 381. It was for this reason that Davenant was taken as the original hero of that burlesque masterpiece, _The Rehearsal_ (1671); and even when the part of Bayes was transferred to Dryden, the make-up still remained largely that of Davenant.] In a well-known prologue he describes his tragic-comedy, _The Maiden Queen_, as a mingled chime Of Jonson's humour and Corneille's rhyme. [Footnote: The greater part of _The Maiden Queen_, however, is written either in prose or in blank verse.] But the fact is that of Corneille there is no more trace in Dryden's tragedy than there is of Jonson in his comedy; that is, just none at all. The heroic temper, which was at once the essence of Corneille's plays and true to the very soul of the man, was mere affectation and _mise-en-scene_ with Dryden. The heroes of Corneille reflect that nobility of spirit which never entirely forsook France till the days of the Regency; those of Dryden give utterance to nothing better than the insolent swagger of the Restoration.