a proof of its superiority to
blank verse, was prefaced by an "Apology for Heroique Poetry and
Poetique Licence," and entered at Stationers' Hall in 1674, but it was
never acted. The redeeming circumstance about the performance is the
admiration professed by the adapter for his original, which he
pronounces "undoubtedly one of the greatest, most noble and most sublime
poems which either this age or nation has produced." Dryden is said to
have had the elder poet's leave "to tag his verses." In _Aurengzebe_,
which was Dryden's last, and also his best, rhymed tragedy, he borrowed
from contemporary history, for the Great Mogul was still living. In the
prologue he confessed that he had grown weary of his long-loved
mistress rhyme and retracted, with characteristic frankness, his
disparaging contrast of the Elizabethan with his own age. But the stings
of _The Rehearsal_ had stimulated him to do his utmost to justify his
devotion to his mistress, and he claims that _Aurengzebe_ is "the most
correct" of his plays. It was entered at Stationers' Hall and probably
acted in 1675, and published in the following year.

After the production of _Aurengzebe_ he seems to have rested for an
interval from writing, enabled to do so, probably by an additional
pension of L100 granted to him by the king. During this interval he
would seem to have reconsidered the principles of dramatic composition,
and to have made a particular study of the works of Shakespeare. The
fruits of this appeared in _All for Love, or the World Well Lost_, a
version of the story of Antony and Cleopatra, produced in 1678, which
must be regarded as a very remarkable departure for a man of his age,
and a wonderful proof of undiminished openness and plasticity of mind.
In his previous writings on dramatic theory, Dryden, while admiring the
rhyme of the French dramatists as an advance in art, did not give
unqualified praise to the regularity of their plots; he was disposed to
allow the irregular structure of the Elizabethan dramatists, as being
more favourable to variety both of action and of character. But now, in
frank imitation of Shakespeare, he abandoned rhyme, and, if we might
judge from _All for Love_, and the precepts laid down in his "Grounds of
Criticism in Tragedy," prefixed to _Troilus and Cressida_ (1679), the
chief point in which he aimed at excelling the Elizabethans was in
giving greater unity to his plot. He upheld still the superiority of
Shakespeare to