else, till I had unburthened my heart. We
have great consolations from the sources you allude to; but, alas! we
have much yet to endure. Time only can give us regular tranquillity. We
neither murmur nor repine, but sorrow we must; we should be senseless
else.[54]

[54] _Memoirs_, i. 288-98.

30. _Of Dryden_.

LETTER TO SIR WALTER SCOTT.[55]

[55] From Lockhart's _Life of Scott_, vol. ii. pp. 287-9 (edit. 1856).

Paterdale, Nov. 7. 1803.

MY DEAR SCOTT,

I was much pleased to hear of your engagement with Dryden: not that he
is, as a poet, any great favourite of mine. I admire his talents and
genius highly, but his is not a poetical genius. The only qualities I
can find in Dryden that are _essentially_ poetical, are a certain ardour
and impetuosity of mind, with an excellent ear. It may seem strange that
I do not add to this, great command of language. _That_ he certainly
has, and of such language too, as it is most desirable that a poet
should possess, or rather, that he should not be without. But it is not
language that is, in the highest sense of the word, poetical, being
neither of the imagination nor of the passions; I mean the amiable, the
ennobling, or the intense passions. I do not mean to say that there is
nothing of this in Dryden, but as little, I think, as is possible,
considering how much he has written. You will easily understand my
meaning, when I refer to his versification of 'Palamon and Arcite,' as
contrasted with the language of Chaucer. Dryden had neither a tender
heart nor a lofty sense of moral dignity. Whenever his language is
poetically impassioned, it is mostly upon unpleasing subjects, such as
the follies, vices, and crimes of classes of men, or of individuals.
That his cannot be the language of imagination, must have necessarily
followed from this,--that there is not a single image from Nature in the
whole body of his works; and in his translation from Virgil, whenever
Virgil can be fairly said to have his _eye_ upon his object, Dryden
always spoils the passage.

But too much of this; I am glad that you are to be his editor. His
political and satirical pieces may be greatly benefited by illustration,
and even absolutely require it. A correct text is the first object of an
editor; then such notes as explain difficult or obscure passages; and
lastly, which is much less important, notes pointing out authors to whom
the Poet has been indebted, not in the fiddli