k that men would pay for. His most successful
work at this time was his translations, which resulted in the complete
_Aeneid_ and many selections from Homer, Ovid, and Juvenal, appearing in
English rimed couplets. His most enduring poem, the splendid ode called
"Alexander's Feast," was written in 1697. Three years later he published
his last work, _Fables_, containing poetical paraphrases of the tales of
Boccaccio and Chaucer, and the miscellaneous poems of his last years. Long
prefaces were the fashion in Dryden's day, and his best critical work is
found in his introductions. The preface to the _Fables_ is generally
admired as an example of the new prose style developed by Dryden and his
followers.

From the literary view point these last troubled years were the best of
Dryden's life, though they were made bitter by obscurity and by the
criticism of his numerous enemies. He died in 1700 and was buried near
Chaucer in Westminster Abbey.

WORKS OF DRYDEN. The numerous dramatic works of Dryden are best left in
that obscurity into which they have fallen. Now and then they contain a bit
of excellent lyric poetry, and in _All for Love_, another version of
_Antony and Cleopatra_, where he leaves his cherished heroic couplet for
the blank verse of Marlowe and Shakespeare, he shows what he might have
done had he not sold his talents to a depraved audience. On the whole,
reading his plays is like nibbling at a rotting apple; even the good spots
are affected by the decay, and one ends by throwing the whole thing into
the garbage can, where most of the dramatic works of this period belong.

The controversial and satirical poems are on a higher plane; though, it
must be confessed, Dryden's satire often strikes us as cutting and
revengeful, rather than witty. The best known of these, and a masterpiece
of its kind, is "Absalom and Achitophel," which is undoubtedly the most
powerful political satire in our language. Taking the Bible story of David
and Absalom, he uses it to ridicule the Whig party and also to revenge
himself upon his enemies. Charles II appeared as King David; his natural
son, the Duke of Monmouth, who was mixed up in the Rye House Plot, paraded
as Absalom; Shaftesbury was Achitophel, the evil Counselor; and the Duke of
Buckingham was satirized as Zimri. The poem had enormous political
influence, and raised Dryden, in the opinion of his contemporaries, to the
front rank of English poets. Two extracts from the powerfu