The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 10Dryden, John
Religion
The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 10
Dryden, John
English literature
"But our _grim logician_ proceeds from immediate and original to
concomitant causes, which he saith were revenge, ambition, and
covetousness. But the skill of logicians used to lie in proving; but
this is not our author's talent, for not a word is produced to that
purpose. If bold sayings, and confident declarations, will do the
business, he is never unprovided; but if you expect any reason from
him, he begs your pardon. He finds how ill the character of a grim
logician suits with his inclination."[268] Again, "But if I will not
allow his affirmations for proofs for his part, he will act the grim
logician; no, and in truth it becomes him so ill, that he doth well to
give it over."[269] And in the beginning of his "Vindication," alluding
to a term used by the defender of the king's papers, Stillingfleet
says: "But lest I be again thought to have a mind to flourish before I
offer to pass, as the champion speaks in his proper language, I shall
apply myself to the matter before us."[270]
Note VII.
_Thus our eighth Henry's marriage they defame;
Divorcing from the church to wed the dame:
Though largely proved, and by himself professed,
That conscience, conscience would not let him rest._
* * * * *
_For sundry years before he did complain,
And told his ghostly confessor his pain._ P. 204.
This is a continuation of the allusion to Stillingfleet's
"Vindication," who had attempted to place Henry VIII.'s divorce from
Catherine of Arragon to the account of his majesty's tender conscience.
A herculean task! but the readers may take it in the words of the Dean
of St Paul's:
"And now this gentleman sets himself to _ergoteering_;[271] and looks
and talks like any grim logician, of the causes which produced it,
and the effects which it produced. 'The schism led the way to the
Reformation, for breaking the unity of Christ's church, which was the
foundation of it: but the immediate cause of this, which produced the
separation of Henry VIII. from the church of Rome, was the refusal of
the pope to grant him a divorce from his first wife, and to gratify
his desires in a dispensation for a second marriage.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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