sensation throughout the town, and
though surmises arose in many minds as to who had hired the bravoes, it
was found impossible to prove them. In hope of gaining some clue to the
instigator of the attack, Dryden caused the following advertisement to
be inserted in the LONDON GAZETTE AND DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE for three
consecutive days: "Whereas John Dryden, Esq., was on Monday, the 18th
instant, at night, barbarously assaulted and wounded in Rose Street, in
Covent Garden, by divers men unknown; if any person shall make discovery
of the said offenders to the said Mr. Dryden, or to any justice of the
peace, he shall not only receive fifty pounds, which is deposited in the
hands of Mr. Blanchard Goldsmith, next door to Temple Bar, for the said
purpose; but if he be a principal or an accessory in the said fact, his
majesty is graciously pleased to promise him his pardon for the same."

Dryden sought no opportunity for revenge; for which restraint, outliving
Rochester, and having a noble mind and generous disposition, he was no
doubt glad at heart. Not only did he survive the earl, but likewise the
king. To the company and conversation of that gracious sovereign the
poet was frequently admitted, a privilege which resulted in satisfaction
and pleasure to both. One pleasant day towards the end of his majesty's
reign, whilst they walked in the Mall, Charles said to him, "If I were
a poet, and indeed I think I am poor enough to be one, I would write a
satire on sedition." Taking this hint, Dryden speedily set himself to
work, and brought a poem on such a subject to his royal master, who
rewarded him with a hundred broad pieces.

Amongst Dryden's friends was the excellent and ingenious Abraham Cowley,
whose youth had given the promise of distinction his manhood fulfilled.
It is related that when quite a lad, he found in the window recess of
his mother's apartment a copy of Spencer's "Faerie Queene." Opening the
book, he read it with delight, and his receptive mind reflecting the
poet's fire, he resolved likewise to exercise the art of poesy. In 1628,
when at the age of ten, he wrote "The Tragic History of Pyramus and
Thisbe;" five years later he published a volume of poems; and whilst yet
a schoolboy wrote his pastoral comedy, "Love's Riddle."

When at St. John's College, Oxford, he gave proof of his loyalty by
writing a poem entitled the "Puritan and the Papist," which gained him
the friendship of courtiers. On the Queen of Cha