This poet, nevertheless, who, as pointed out by Dr. Johnson and Mr. Gosse, has the critical merit of having given the English Pindaric a regular structure, was capable of much better things. The opening of the ode which yields the above choice _morceau_ (_To Mrs. Arabella Hunt, Singing_) is in a fine strain of poetry: 'Let all be hushed, each softest motion cease, Be every loud tumultuous thought at peace, And every ruder gasp of breath Be calm, as in the arms of death: And then, most fickle, most uneasy part, Thou restless wanderer, my heart, Be still; gently, ah gently, leave, Thou busy, idle thing, to heave: Stir not a pulse; and let my blood, That turbulent unruly flood, Be softly staid: Let me be all, but my attention, dead. Go, rest, unnecessary springs of life, Leave your officious toil and strife; For I would hear her voice, and try If it be possible to die.' FOOTNOTES: [6] It should be noted that this word is not so absurd as it may appear to the modern reader. Chimney (Fr. _cheminée_) here means the fireplace, not the flue. 'The mantle of the _chimney_ in his hall.'--WALTON, _Life of George Herbert_. CHAPTER IV. DRYDEN AND THE RESTORATION DRAMA. Dryden occupies an unique position as by far the most important representative of a department of literature for which, on his own showing, he had little natural qualification, and in which he had little ambition to excel. Only one of his numerous plays, he tells us, was written to please himself. But he wanted reputation, money, and Court favour, and these inducements directed him to the most popular and lucrative department of the Muses' province. Here, as elsewhere, his progress was slow. His first play, _The Wild Gallant_ (1663), has come down to us in an amended version; in its original form it is pronounced by Pepys 'as poor a thing as I ever saw in my life.' Dryden might long have remained an unsuccessful dramatist but for the invention of rhyming tragedy, which, though in itself an objectionable form, suited his talent to perfection. The management of the heroic couplet was and always continued the strongest of all his strong points, and his genius for rhetoric was stimulated to the utmost by the facilities afforded by this sonorous form of metre. Hence _The Indian Emperor_ (1665) was a great success, and determined the main course of Dryden's dramatic activity for some years. It necessarily brought him nearer to the French drama, and gave a French character to the drama of the day, not really in harmony with the taste of the English public, and from which Dryden ultimately freed himself. The opinion of the day was prepared to go in the direction of classicism as far as Jonson, but not as far as Corneille. The French traveller Sorbière having in 1663 censured the irregularity of the English stage, was answered by Sprat, who asserts the superiority of his countrymen, and points out the fundamental