the exception of
composing a masque called the 'Judgment of Paris,' and an opera
'Gemele,' which was never performed, he kept this resolution very
honestly; and so Mr. William Congreve's career as a playwright ends at
the early age of thirty.

But though he abandoned the drama, he was not allowed to retire in
peace. There was a certain worthy, but peppery little man, who, though a
Jacobite and a clergyman, was stanch and true, and as superior in
character--even, indeed, in vigour of writing--to Congreve, as Somers
was to every man of his age. This very Jeremy Collier, to whom we owe it
that there is any English drama fit to be acted before our sisters and
wives in the present day. Jeremy, the peppery, purged the stage in a
succession of Jeremiads.

Born in 1650, educated at Cambridge as a poor scholar, ordained at the
age of twenty-six, presented three years later with the living of
Ampton, near Bury St. Edmunds, Jeremy had two qualities to recommend him
to Englishmen--respectability and pluck. In an age when the clergy were
as bad as the blackest sheep in their flocks, Jeremy was distinguished
by purity of life; in an age when the only safety lay in adopting the
principles of the Vicar of Bray, Jeremy was a Nonjuror, and of this
nothing could cure him. The Revolution of 1688 was scarcely effected,
when the fiery little partizan published a pamphlet, which was rewarded
by a residence of some months in Newgate, _not_ in capacity of chaplain.
But he was scarcely let out, when again went his furious pen, and for
four years he continued to assail the new government, till his hands
were shackled and his mouth closed in the prison of 'The Gate-house.'
Now, see the character of the man. He was liberated upon giving bail,
but had no sooner reflected on this liberation than he came to the
conclusion that it was wrong, by offering security, to recognize the
authority of magistrates appointed by a usurper, as he held William to
be, and voluntarily surrendered himself to his judges. Of course he was
again committed, but this time to the King's Bench, and would doubtless
in a few years have made the tour of the London prisons, if his enemies
had not been tired of trying him. Once more at liberty, he passed the
next three years in retirement.

After 1693, Jeremy Collier's name was not brought before the public till
1696, when he publicly absolved Sir John Friend and Sir William Perkins,
at their execution, for being concerned in