Dryden, John, 1631-1700; English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism
though very rightly, lauding his brother Dudley for refusing, under the
strongest pressure from James, to mortgage his vote in Parliament; and
the whole tenor of his memoirs shows that, although his principles would
not allow him to acquiesce openly in the Revolution, he was at the
bottom of his heart by no means sorry for it. His antipathy to Jeffreys,
who had enacted towards his brother the part which Laud had formerly
performed towards Abbot, may have had something to do with this
attitude. His portraits of eminent lawyers, such as Hale, Saunders, and
Maynard, though sometimes disfigured by party feeling, have signal
value. The anecdotic part of the memoirs, on the other hand, is
delightful reading, being full of good-natured fun, shrewd observation,
and interesting glimpses of the manners of the times, sometimes well
worth noting, as, for example, this testimony to the popularity of the
Church of England in Wales in Charles II.'s time: 'I remember the
doctor' (Roger's brother John, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge)
'told us that when he came to his parish, he found the humour of the
people very different from what, on like occasions, was often found in
England. For, instead of grumbling at and affronting a new tithe-monger
came down amongst them, too often known in English villages, the
parishioners came about him and hugged him, calling him their pastor,
and telling him they were his sheep.' There are two especial
repositories of anecdotes in North's volumes, that of stories of
circuits and eminent lawyers in his memoir of the Lord Keeper and his
own autobiography, and the Turkish and Levantine sketches in the life of
his brother Dudley. The latter gives a most curious picture of the
relations of Mussulmans and Christians in the days when this was the
fashion in which unbelievers were noticed by sultans:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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