"A sleepy eye he shows, and no sweet feature, Yet was indeed a favourite of nature: Endowed and graced with an exalted mind, With store of wit, and that of every kind. Juvenal's tartness, Horace's sweet air, With Virgil's force, in him concentered were. But though the painter's art can never show it, That his exemplar was so great a poet, Yet are the lines and tints so subtly wrought, You may perceive he was a man of thought. Closterman, 'tis confessed, has drawn him well, But short of Absalom and Achitophel." [57] [Transcriber's note: "See pages 258-261" in original. This corresponds to the discussion on Dryden's conversion to Catholicism, Section VI.] [58] A correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine, in 1745, already quoted, says of him as a personal acquaintance: "Posterity is absolutely mistaken as to that great man: though forced to be a satirist, he was the mildest creature breathing, and the readiest to help the young and deserving. Though his comedies are horribly full of _double entendre_, yet 'twas owing to a false complaisance. He was, in company, the modestest man that ever conversed." [59] Letter to the author of "Reflections Historical and Political." 4to, 1732. [60] See vol. xi.; vol. xviii. From the poem in the passage last quoted, it seems that the original sign of Will's Coffee-house had been a _cow._ It was changed however, to a _rose_, in Dryden's time. This wit's coffeehouse was situated at the end of Bow-street, on the north side of Russel-street, and frequented by all who made any pretence to literature, or criticism. Their company, it would seem, was attended with more honour than profit; for Dennis describes William Envin, or Urwin, who kept the house, as taking refuge in White-friars, then a place of asylum, to escape the clutches of his creditors. "For since the law," says the critic, "thought it just to put Will out of its protection, Will thought it but prudent to put himself out of its power." [61] See Appendix, vol. xviii.; vol. xi.