issue afterwards. That of the "Art of Poetry," sometimes included in
editions of his works, was not his, but only revised by him. We may say
here, in general, however, that although there are more learned and more
correct translators than Dryden, there are few who have produced
versions so vigorous, so full of exuberant life, and, in those parts of
the authors suitable to the peculiarities of the translator's own
genius, so faithful to their spirit and soul, if not to their letter and
their body, as he. Parts of Virgil he does not translate well; he has no
sympathy with Maro's elegance, _concinnitas_, chaste grandeur, and
minute knowledge of nature; but wherever Virgil begins to glow and
gallop, Dryden glows and gallops with him; and wherever Virgil is
nearest Homer, Dryden is nearest him.

We have reserved to the close his Fables, as, on the whole, forming the
culmination of Dryden the artist, if not, perhaps, of Dryden the poet.
In preparing his poems for publication, how refreshing we found it to
pass from a needful although cursory perusal of his plays, and a
revision of his prologues, to these comparatively pure, right-manly, and
eloquent compositions--the fables of Dryden! We do not, because it would
be hardly fair, with Wordsworth, seek to compare them with the
Chaucerian originals--a comparison under which they would be infallibly
crushed. We prefer looking at them as bearing only the relation to
Chaucer which Macpherson's, did to the original, Ossian. And regarding
them in this light, as adaptations, where the original author furnishes
only the ground-work, they are surely masterpieces and models of
composition, if not exemplars of creative power and genius. How free and
majestic their numbers! How bold and buoyant their language! How
interesting the stories they tell! How perfect the preservation, and
artful the presentment, of the various characters! What a fine
chivalrous spirit breathes in "Palamon and Arcite!" What a soft yet