nto unmerited obscurity. Such, in short, were his exertions in
favour of Dryden, that, though we cannot believe he was indebted to
Howard, for those necessaries of life which he had the means to procure
for himself, the poet found ground to acknowledge, that his patron had
not only been "carefull of his fortune, which was the effect of his
nobleness, but solicitous of his reputation, which was that of his
kindness."

Thus patronised, our author seems to have advanced in reputation, as he
became more generally known to the learned and ingenious of his time.
Yet we have but few traces of the labour, by which he doubtless
attained, and secured, his place in society. A short satire on the
Dutch, written to animate the people of England against them, appeared
in 1662.[46] It is somewhat in the hard style of invective, which
Cleveland applied to the Scottish nation; yet Dryden thought it worth
while to weave the same verses into the prologue and epilogue of the
tragedy of "Amboyna," a piece written in 1673, with the same kind
intentions towards the states-general.

Science, as well as poetry, began to revive after the iron dominion of
military fanaticism was ended; and Dryden, who through life was attached
to experimental philosophy, speedily associated himself with those who
took interest in its progress. He was chosen a member of the newly
instituted Royal Society, 26th November 1662; an honour which cemented
his connection with the most learned men of the time, and is an evidence
of the respect in which he was already held. Most of these, and the
discoveries by which they had distinguished themselves, Dryden took
occasion to celebrate in his "Epistle to Dr. Walter Charleton," a
learned physician, upon his treatise of Stonehenge. Gilbert, Boyle,
Harvey, and Ent, are mentioned with enthusiastic applause as treading in
the path pointed out by Bacon, who first broke the fetters of Aristotle,
and taught the world to derive knowledge from experiment. In these
elegant verses, the author divests himself of all the flippant
extravagance of point and quibble, in which, complying with his age, he
had hitherto indulged, though of late in a limited degree.

While thus united in friendly communion with men of kindred and
congenial spirits, Dryden seems to have been sensible of the necessity
of applying his literary talents to some line, in which he might derive
a steadier and more certain recompence, than by writing occasional
verses