Great Britain, as represented by the lord mayor and magistrates. A
letter to Sir Robert Howard was prefixed to the poem, in which the
author explains the purpose of the work, and the difficulties which
presented themselves in the execution. And in this epistle, as a
contrast between the smooth and easy style of writing which was proper
in addressing a lady, and the exalted style of heroic, or at least
historical, poetry, he introduces the verses to the Duchess of York,
already mentioned.

The "_Annus Mirabilis_" being the last poetical work of any importance
produced by our author, until "Absalom and Achitophel," the reader may
here pause, and consider, in the progressive improvement of Dryden, the
gradual renovation of public taste. The irregular pindaric ode was now
abandoned to Arwaker, Behn, Durfey, and a few inferior authors; who
either from its tempting facility of execution, or from an affected
admiration of old times and fashions, still pestered the public with
imitations of Cowley. The rough measure of Donne (if it had any
pretension to be called a measure) was no longer tolerated, and it was
expected, even of those who wrote satires, lampoons, and occasional
verses, that their rhymes should be rhymes, both to the ear and eye; and
that they should neither adore their mistresses nor abuse their
neighbours, in lines which differed only from prose in the fashion of
printing. Thus the measure used by Rochester, Buckingham Sheffield,
Sedley, and other satirists, if not polished or harmonized, approaches
more nearly to modern verse, than that of Hall or Donne. In the "Elegy
on Cromwell," and the "_Annus Mirabilis_," Dryden followed Davenant, who
abridged, if he did not explode, the quaintnesses of his predecessors.
In "_Astroea Redux_" and his occasional verses to Dr. Charlton, the
Duchess of York, and others, the poet proposed a separate and simpler
model, more dignified than that of Suckling or Waller; more harmonious