a province unoccupied, and Waller, forming his rhythm upon the
modulation of Fairfax, and other poets of the maiden reign, exhibited in
his very first poem[13] striking marks of attention to the suavity of
numbers. Denham, in his dedication to Charles II., informs us, that the
indulgence of his poetical vein had drawn the notice, although
accompanied with the gentle censure, of Charles I., when, in 1647, he
obtained access to his person by the intercession of Hugh Peters.
Suckling, whom Dryden has termed "a sprightly wit, and a courtly
writer," may be added to the list of smooth and easy poets of the
period, and had the same motives as Denham and Waller for attaching
himself to that style of composition. He was allowed to have the
peculiar art of making whatever he did become him; and it cannot be
doubted, that his light and airy style of ballads and sonnets had many
admirers. Upon the whole, this class of poets, although they hardly
divided the popular favour with the others, were also noticed and
applauded. Thus the poets of the earlier part of the seventeenth century
may be divided into one class, who sacrificed both sense and sound to
the exercise of extravagant, though ingenious, associations of imagery;
and a second, who, aiming to distinguish themselves by melody of
versification, were satisfied with light and trivial subjects, and too
often contented with attaining smoothness of measure, neglected the more
essential qualities of poetry. The intervention of the civil wars
greatly interrupted the study of poetry. The national attention was
called to other objects, and those who, in the former peaceful reigns,
would have perhaps distinguished themselves as poets and dramatists,
were now struggling for fame in the field, or declaiming for power in
the senate. The manners of the prevailing party, their fanatical
detestation of everything like elegant or literary amusement, their
affected horror at stage representations, which at once silenced the
theatres, and their contempt for profane learning, which degraded the