and brought
it to its height in his "Conquest of Granada"; then, becoming
dissatisfied with this form, he cultivated the French classic
tragedy on the model of Racine. This he modified by combining
with the regularity of the French treatment of dramatic action
a richness of characterization in which he showed himself
a disciple of Shakespeare, and of this mixed type his best
example is "All for Love." Here he has the daring to challenge
comparison with his master, and the greatest testimony to his
achievement is the fact that, as Professor Noyes has said,
"fresh from Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra,' we can still
read with intense pleasure Dryden's version of the story."

DEDICATION

To the Right Honourable, Thomas, Earl of Danby, Viscount Latimer,
and Baron Osborne of Kiveton, in Yorkshire; Lord High Treasurer
of England, one of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council,
and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

My Lord,

The gratitude of poets is so troublesome a virtue to great men,
that you are often in danger of your own benefits: for you are
threatened with some epistle, and not suffered to do good in
quiet, or to compound for their silence whom you have obliged.
Yet, I confess, I neither am or ought to be surprised at this
indulgence; for your lordship has the same right to favour
poetry, which the great and noble have ever had--

Carmen amat, quisquis carmine digna gerit.

There is somewhat of a tie in nature betwixt those who are born
for worthy actions, and those who can transmit them to posterity;
and though ours be much the inferior part, it comes at least
within the verge of alliance; nor are we unprofitable members
of the commonwealth, when we animate others to those virtues,
which we copy and describe from you.

It is indeed their interest, who endeavour the subversion of
governments, to discourage poets and historians; for the best
which can happen to them, is to be forgotten. But such who,
under kings, are the fathers of their country, and by a just and
prudent ordering of affairs preserve it, have the same reason
to cherish the chroniclers of their actions, as they have to lay
up in safety the deeds and evidences of their estates; for such
records are their undoubted titles to the love and reverence of
after ages. Your lordship's administration has already taken up
a considerable part of the English annals; and many of its most
happy years are owing to it. His M