unshaken friend, the greatest of subjects, and the best of
masters; I should then draw all the world a true resemblance of your
worth and virtues; at least as far as they are capable of being copied
by the mean abilities of,

'Sir,

'Your Royal Highness's

'Most humble, and most

'Obedient servant,

'J. DRYDEN.'

[659] On the day of his coronation he was asked to pardon four young men
who had broken the law against carrying arms. 'So long as I live,' he
replied, 'every criminal must die.' 'He was inexorable in individual
cases; he adhered to his laws with a rigour that amounted to cruelty,
while in the framing of general rules we find him mild, yielding, and
placable.' Ranke's _Popes_, ed. 1866, i. 307, 311.

[660] See _ante_, iii. 239, where he discusses the question of shooting
a highwayman.

[661] In _The Rambler_, No. 78, he says:--'I believe men may be
generally observed to grow less tender as they advance in age.'

[662] He passed over his own _Life of Savage_.

[663] 'When I was a young fellow, I wanted to write the _Life of Dryden'
Ante_, iii. 71.

[664] See _ante_, p. 117.

[665] 'I asked a very learned minister in Sky, who had used all arts to
make me believe the genuineness of the book, whether at last he believed
it himself; but he would not answer. He wished me to be deceived for the
honour of his country; but would not directly and formally deceive me.
Yet has this man's testimony been publickly produced, as of one that
held _Fingal_ to be the work of Ossian.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 115.

[666] A young lady had sung to him an Erse song. He asked her, 'What is
that about? I question if she conceived that I did not understand it.
For the entertainment of the company, said she. But, Madam, what is the
meaning of it? It is a love song. This was all the intelligence that I
could obtain; nor have I been able to procure the translation of a
single line of Erse.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 146. See _post_, Oct. 16

[667] This droll quotation, I have since found, was from a song in
honour of the Earl of Essex, called _Queen Elisabeth's Champion_, which
is preserved in a collection of Old Ballads, in three volumes, published
in London in different years, between 1720 and 1730. The full verse is
as follows:--

'Oh! then bespoke the prentices all,
Living in London, both proper and tall,
In a kind letter sent straight to the Queen,
For Essex's sake they would fight all.