essions of the scene are taken from the prose of Davila. Yet the
plot, though capable of an application so favourable for the royal
party, contained circumstances of offence to it. If the parallel between
Guise and Monmouth was on the one hand felicitous, as pointing out the
nature of the Duke's designs, the moral was revolting, as seeming to
recommend the assassination of Charles's favourite son. The king also
loved Monmouth to the very last; and was slow and reluctant in
permitting his character to be placed in a criminal or odious point of
view.[34] The play, therefore, though ready for exhibition before
midsummer 1682, remained in the hands of Arlington the lord-chamberlain
for two months without being licensed for representation. But during
that time the scene darkened. The king had so far suppressed his
tenderness for Monmouth, as to authorise his arrest at Stafford; and the
influence of the Duke of York at court became daily more predominant.
Among other evident tokens that no measures were hence-forward to be
kept between the king and Monmouth, the representation of "The Duke of
Guise" was at length authorised.

The two companies of players, after a long and expensive warfare, had
now united their forces; on which occasion Dryden furnished them with a
prologue, full of violent Tory principles. By this united company "The
Duke of Guise" was performed on the 30th December 1682. It was printed
with a dedication to Hyde, Earl of Rochester, subscribed by both
authors, but evidently the work of Dryden. It is written in a tone of
defiance to the Whig authors, who had assailed the dedicators, it
alleges, "like footpads in the dark," though their blows had done little
harm, and the objects of their malice yet lived to vindicate their
loyalty in open day. The play itself has as determined a political
character as the dedication. Besides the general parallel between the
leaguers and the fanatical sectaries, and the more delicate, though not
less striking, connection between the story of Guise and of Monmouth,
there are other collateral allusions in the piece to the history of that
unfortunate nobleman, and to the state of parties. The whole character
of Marmoutiere, high-spirited, loyal, and exerting all her influence to
deter Guise from the prosecution of his dangerous schemes, corresponds
to that of Anne, Duchess of Monmouth.[35] The love too which the king
professes to Marmoutiere, and which excites the jealousy of Guise