"that Mr. Dryden,
dissatisfied and envious at the reputation Creech obtained by his
translation of Lucretius, purposely advised him to undertake Horace, to
which he knew him unequal, that he might by his ill performance lose the
fame he had acquired. Mr. Southerne, author of 'Oroonoko,' set me right
as to the conduct of Mr. Dryden in this affair; affirming that, being
one evening at Mr. Dryden's lodgings, in company with Mr. Creech, and
some other ingenious men, Mr. Creech told the company of his design to
translate Horace; from which Mr. Dryden, with many arguments, dissuaded
him, as an attempt which his genius was not adapted to, and which would
risk his losing the good opinion the world had of him, by his successful
translation of Lucretius. I thought it proper to acquaint you with this
circumstance, since it rescues the fame of one of our greatest poets
from the imputation of envy and malevolence." See also, upon this
subject, a note in vol. viii. Yet Jacob Tonson told Spence, "that Dryden
would compliment Crowne when a play of his failed, but was cold to him
if he met with success. He used sometimes to say, that Crowne had some
genius; but then he always added, that his father and Crowne's mother
were very well acquainted."--MALONE, vol. i. p. 500.

[64] His conversation is thus characterised by a contemporary writer:

"O, Sir, there's a medium in all things. Silence and chat are distant
enough, to have a convenient discourse come between them; and thus far I
agree with you, that the company of the author of 'Absalom and
Achitophel' is more valuable, though not so talkative, than that of the
modern men of _banter_; for what he says is like what he writes, much to
the purpose, and full of mighty sense; and if the town were for anything
desirable, it were for the conversation of him, and one or two more of
the same character."--_The Humours and Conversation of the Town exposed,
in two Dialogues_, 1693, p. 73

[65] [This story is probably as old as the first married pair of whom
the husband was studious. It certainly appears without names in the
_Historiettes_ of Tallemant des Reaux, most of which were written five
years before Dryden's marriage.--ED]

[66] "When Dryden, our first great master of verse and harmony, brought
his play of 'Amphitryon' to the stage, I heard him give it his first
reading to the actors; in which, though it is true he delivered the
plain sense of every period, yet the whole was in so cold,