test act, Lord Clifford resigned his office, retired to the
country, and died in September 1673, shortly after receiving this
dedication.

2. In this case, Dryden's praise, which did not always occur, survived
the temporary occasion. Even in a little satirical effusion, he
tells us,

Clifford was fierce and brave.

Clifford had been comptroller and treasurer of the household, and
one of the commissioners of the treasury; he had served in the
Dutch wars.

3. Alluding to Lord Clifford's resignation of an office he could not
hold without a change of religion.




PROLOGUE.


_This poem was written as far back as 1662, and was then termed a
Satire against the Dutch._

As needy gallants in the scriveners' hands,
Court the rich knave that gripes their mortgaged lands,
The first fat buck of all the season's sent,
And keeper takes no fee in compliment: