The second part of "Absalom and Achitophel" shared the fate of most continuations, and did not attain the popularity of the original. This was not entirely owing to the general inferiority of the poetry; for there was enough of personal satire, and that immediately flowing from the keen pen of Dryden, to secure the attention both of friends and foes; but the parallel between the heroes of Scripture and the characters of the day, however striking at first, did not bear to be too long protracted. When the original comparison was made, its aptness at once pleased the imagination, and arrested the attention; but when prolonged in a second part, readers began to see there was little wit in continuing to draw out the allusion, till it consisted in nothing more than the invention of a Jewish name for a British author or statesman; the attempt at finding prototypes in Scripture for every modern character being necessarily abandoned. Besides, those who took it upon them to answer Dryden, had in general made use of the vehicle of satire which he had invented; and as, in the eyes of the public, the theme became stale and tarnished by repetition, his antagonists did him that injury by their stupidity, which their wit was unequal to accomplish. Add to all this, that whole lines, and even longer passages, not to mention images and sentiments, are by Tate, in his poverty of ideas, transferred from the first part of the satire to the second;[350] and we must allow, that the latter is deficient in the captivating grace of novelty. The second part of "Absalom and Achitophel" appeared about November 10th, 1682, in folio. Tonson is the publisher. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 349: The ridicule attached to the translation by Sternhold and Hopkins is proverbial; yet there is at least little pretension in that despised version, and it gives us, in a homely old-fashioned metre and diction, the sense of the Hebrew authors. But, in Tate and Brady, there is a vain attempt to grace the inspired songs with the incongruous ornaments of modern taste. On the whole, it is perhaps impossible to transfuse the beauties of oriental poetry into a metrical translation. It is remarkable, that, in this very poem, Dryden uses these translations to express nearly the lowest of all poetry. He calls the Whig poets, Poor slaves, in metre dull and addle-pated, Who rhyme below even David's psalms translated. This was an odd prophetic denunciation, concerning what was doomed to be the principal work of his assistant. Tate and Brady, however, did not undertake their task till after the Revolution.] [Footnote 350: Part of Achitophel's speech to Absalom, beginning, The crown's true heir, a prince severe and wise, is copied verbatim from the first part; and whole lines in many other places.] ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL. PART SECOND.