Produced by Brownfox and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) HANDBOOKS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE EDITED BY PROFESSOR HALES THE AGE OF DRYDEN GEORGE BELL & SONS LONDON: YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN AND NEW YORK: 66, FIFTH AVENUE CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. THE AGE OF DRYDEN BY R. GARNETT, LL.D. [Illustration] LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS 1895 CHISWICK PRESS:--CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. PREFACE. The plan of a general history of English literature in a series of introductory manuals, each dealing with a well-defined period and individually complete, as set forth in the preface to Mr. Dennis's _Age of Pope_, is advanced a stage further by the present volume. The period described, from its chief literary figure, as _The Age of Dryden_, and which might with equal propriety have been entitled _The Age of the Restoration_, extends from 1660 to 1700. Some very important writers, such as Milton and Clarendon, the composition or publication of whose principal works falls within this epoch, have been passed over as belonging in style and spirit to the preceding age; and in a few instances this procedure has been reversed. In the main, however, the last forty years of the seventeenth century constitute the period of literary activity represented, and will be found to be demarcated with unusual precision from both the preceding and the ensuing era. The writer of a literary history embracing works on a great variety of topics will soon discover that he is expected to impart more information than he possesses. If in any measure endowed with the grace of modesty, he will frequently feel compelled to acknowledge with Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, when, after having overcome every other difficulty in the foundation of his colony, he came to provide it with a bishop: 'I fear I do not very well understand this part of the subject myself.' Trusty guides, however, fortunately are not wanting. The author's warmest acknowledgments are due for the assistance he has derived from personal communication with Professor Hales, and from the writings of Macaulay, Matthew Arnold, Mr. Gosse, Professor Saintsbury, Mr. Churton Collins, and Dr. Fowler. He is indebted for the Index to Mr. J. P. Anderson, of the Reading Room of the British Museum. R. G. _October, 1895._ CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 I. JOHN DRYDEN AS A POET 7 II. POETS CONTEMPORARY WITH DRYDEN 42 III. LYRIC POETRY 67 IV. DRYDEN AND THE RESTORATION DRAMA 76 V. DRAMATIC POETS AND PLAYWRIGHTS 101