ho is
already,

MY LORD,

Your Lordship's most obedient,
And most faithful servant,
JOHN DRYDEN.

Footnotes:
1. The patron, whom Dryden here addresses, was the famous John Wilmot,
Earl of Rochester, the wittiest, perhaps, and most dissolute, among
the witty and dissolute courtiers of Charles II. It is somewhat
remarkable, and may be considered as a just judgment upon the poet,
that he was, a few years afterwards, way-laid and severely beaten
by bravoes, whom Lord Rochester employed to revenge the share which
Dryden is supposed to have had in the Essay on Satire. The reader
is referred to the life of the author for the particulars of this
occurrence, which is here recalled to his recollection, as a
striking illustration of the inutility, as well as meanness, of ill
applied praise; since even the eulogy of Dryden, however liberally
bestowed and beautifully expressed, failed to save him from the
most unmanly treatment at the hands of the worthless and heartless
object, on whom it was wasted. It is melancholy to see Dryden, as
may be fairly inferred from his motto, piqueing himself on being
admitted into the society of such men as Rochester, and enjoying
their precarious favour. Mr Malone has remarked, that even in the
course of the year 1673, when this dedication came forth, Rochester
entertained the perverse ambition of directing the public favour,
not according to merit, but to his own caprice. Accordingly, he
countenanced Settle in his impudent rivalry of Dryden, and wrote a
prologue to the "Empress of Morocco," when it was exhibited at
Whitehall. Perhaps, joined to a certain envy of Dryden's talents,
the poet's intimacy with Sheffield Earl of Mulgrave gave offence to
Rochester. It is certain they were never afterwards reconciled; and
even after Rochester's death, Dryden only mentions his once valued
patron, as "a man of quality whose ashes he will not
disturb."--_Essay on the Origin and Progress of Satire_, prefixed
to Juvenal. It would seem, however, that this dedication was very
favourably received by Rochester, since a letter of Dryden's to
that nobleman is still extant, in which he acknowledges a
flattering return of compliment from his Lordship in exchange for
it.

2. When this play was acted for the first time in 1673. But about
1675, Rochester contrived to give such offence as even the