Cromwell, later another of Charles II, and was told by the latter, "This
is not so good as that on Cromwell," whereupon he replied, "Sire, you
know that poets always succeed better in fiction than in fact." Here was
a man of much wit.

HERBERT; HABINGTON.--Also must be remarked the austere and mystical such
as George Herbert, with his _Temple_, a collection of religious and
melancholy poems, and like Habington, sad and gloomy even as far as the
thirst for dissolution, analogous to the modern Schopenhauer: "My God, if
it be Thy supreme decree, if Thou wilt that this moment be the last
wherein I breathe this air, my heart obeys, happy to retire far from the
false favours of the great, from betrayals where the just are preyed
upon...."

DRAMATIC POETS.--Let the estimable dramatic poets be alluded to.
Davenant, perhaps a son of Shakespeare; Otway, the illustrious author of
_Venice Preserved_ and of many adaptations from the French (_Titus
and Berenice_, the _Tricks of Scapin_, etc.); Dryden, declamatory,
emphatic, but admirably gifted with dramatic genius, author of _The
Virgin Queen_, _All for Love_ (Cleopatra), _Don Sebastian_, was always
hesitating between the influence of Shakespeare and that of the French,
over-inclined, too, to licentious scenes but pathetic and eloquent.

MILTON.--Quite apart arose Milton, the imperishable author of _Paradise
Lost_, the type and model of the religious epic permeated, in fact, with
profound and ardent religious feeling, but also possessing very
remarkable grandeur and philosophical breadth. Milton became a second
Bible to the people to whom the Bible was the inevitable and essential
daily study. To _Paradise Lost_, Milton added the inferior _Paradise
Regained_ and the poem of _Samson_. Apart from his great religious poems,