ole,
Trust Maurus with thy life, and Milbourne with thy soul"

Referring to another place, what occurs upon the style and execution of
the Fables, I have only to add, that they were published early in spring
1700, in a large folio, and with the "Ode to Saint Cecilia." The epistle
to Driden of Chesterton, and a translation of the first Iliad, must have
move than satisfied the mercantile calculations of Tonson, since they
contained seventeen hundred verses above the quantity which Dryden had
contracted to deliver. In the preface, the author vindicates himself
with great spirit against his literary adversaries; makes his usual
strong and forcible remarks on the genius of the authors whom he had
imitated; and, in this his last critical work, shows all the acumen
which had so long distinguished his powers. The Fables were dedicated to
the last Duke of Ormond, the grandson of the Barzillai of "Absalom and
Achitophel," and the son of the heroic Earl of Ossory; friends both, and
patrons of Dryden's earlier essays. There is something affecting in a
connection so honourably maintained; and the sentiment, as touched by
Dryden, is simply pathetic. "I am not vain enough to boast, that I have
deserved the value of so illustrious a line; but my fortune is the
greater, that for three descents they have been pleased to distinguish
my poems from those of other men; and have accordingly made me their
peculiar care. May it be permitted me to say, that as your grandfather
and father were cherished monarchs, so I have been esteemed and
patronised by the grandfather, the father, and the son, descended from
one of the most ancient, most conspicuous, and most deserving families
in Europe."

There were also prefixed to the "Fables," those introductory verses
addressed to the beautiful Duchess of Ormond,[43] which have all the
easy, felicitous, and sprightly gallantry, demanded on such occasions.
The incense, it is said, was acknowledged by a present of L500; a
donation worthy of the splendid house of Ormond. The sale of the
"Fables" was surprisingly slow: even the death of the author, which has
often sped away a lingering impression, does not seem to have increased
the demand; and the second edition was not printed till 1713, when,
Dryden and all his immediate descendants being no more, the sum
stipulated upon that event was paid by Tonson to Lady Sylvius, daughter
of one of Lady Elizabeth Dryden's brothers, for the benefit of his
widow, the