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The Dramatic Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 - With a Life of the Author by Sir Walter Scott
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feel himself entitled to reject any part of his writings; even of those
which reflect little honour on the age, by whose taste they were
dictated. Had a selection been permitted, he would have excluded several
of the Comedies, and some part of the Translations: but this is a
liberty which has not lately been indulged to editors of classical
poetry. Literary history is an important step in that of man himself;
and the unseductive coarseness of Dryden is rather a beacon than a
temptation.

In commencing this task, the Editor had hopes of friendly assistance,
which might have rendered his toil more easy, and the result more
accurate. Deprived of this by a concurrence of unlucky circumstances, he
has both to dread the imperfection of his labours, and the consequence
of perhaps an over-zeal to render his edition complete. In the first
respect, although he has many thanks to return for information readily
afforded, it has sometimes been received after the irrevocable
operations of the printer had taken place.[1] On the second point, he
may have been too lavish in historical notes, and entered too deeply
into the secret history of the persons and times to which Dryden's
satirical poems refer. But he has endeavoured to avail himself of all
information, so soon as communicated, whether corrective or
corroborative of his prior opinions; and the wish, not only to render
intelligible, blanks, allusions, and feigned names, but to present, if
possible, the very spirit and political character of Dryden's
contemporaries, must be the excuse for intruding a few pages of
political history and personal anecdote; which, after all, they, whose
memory does not require such refreshment, may easily dispense with
reading. In this last part of his task, the Editor has been greatly
assisted by free access to a valuable collection of the fugitive pieces
of the reigns of Charles II., James II., William III., and Queen Anne.
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