n in a state of lunacy.--See Appendix, vol. xviii.

The end of Dryden's labours was now fast approaching; and, as his career
began upon the stage, it was in some degree doomed to terminate there.
It is true, he never recalled his resolution to write no more plays; but
Vanbrugh having about this time revised and altered for the Drury-lane
theatre, Fletcher's lively comedy of "The Pilgrim," it was agreed that
Dryden, or, as one account says, his son Charles,[44] should have the
profits of a third night on condition of adding to the piece a Secular
Masque, adapted to the supposed termination of the seventeenth
century;[45] a Dialogue in the Madhouse between two Distracted Lovers;
and a Prologue and Epilogue. The Secular Masque contains a beautiful and
spirited delineation of the reigns of James I., Charles I., and Charles
II., in which the influence of Diana, Mars, and Venus, are supposed to
have respectively predominated. Our author did not venture to assign a
patron to the last years of the century, though the expulsion of Saturn
might have given a hint for it. The music of the Masque is said to have
been good; at least it is admired by the eccentric author of John
Buncle.[46] The Prologue and Epilogue to "The Pilgrim," were written
within twenty days of Dryden's death; [47] and their spirit equals that
of any of his satirical compositions. They afford us the less pleasing
conviction, that even the last fortnight of Dryden's life was occupied
in repelling or retorting the venomed attacks of his literary foes. In
the Prologue, he gives Blackmore a drubbing which would have annihilated
any author of ordinary modesty; but the knight[48] was as remarkable for
his powers of endurance, as some modern pugilists are said to be, for
the quality technically called _bottom_. After having been "brayed in a
mortar," as Solomon expresses it, by every wit of his time, Sir Richard
not only survived to commit new offences against ink and paper, but had
his faction, his admirers, and his panegyrists, among that numerous and
sober class of readers, who think that genius consists in good
intention.[49] In the Epilogue, Dryden attacks Collier, but with more
courteous weapons: it is rather a palliation than a defence of dramatic
immorality, and contains nothing personally offensive to Collier. Thus
so dearly was Dryden's preeminent reputation purchased, that even his
last hours were embittered with controversy; and nature, over-watched
and wor