arrived at the Abbey, which was all unlighted. No organ played, no anthem sung; only two of the singing boys preceded the corpse, who sùng an Ode of Horace, with each a small candle in their hand. The butchers and other mob broke in, like deluge, so that only about eight or ten gentlemen could get admission; and those forced to cut the way with their drawn swords. The coffin in this disorder was let down into Chaucer's grave, with as much confusion, and as little ceremony, as was possible; every one glad to save themselves from the gentlemen's swords, or the clubs of the mob. When the funeral was over, Mr. Charles sent a challenge to Lord Jefferies, who refusing to answer it, he sent several others, and went often himself, but could neither get a letter delivered, nor admittance to speak to him; which so justly incensed him, that he resolved, since his Lordship refused to answer him like a gentleman, he would watch an opportunity to meet him, and fight off hand, though with all the rules of honour; which his Lordship hearing, left the town, and Mr. Charles could never have the satisfaction to meet him, though he sought it, till his death, with the utmost application. This is the true state of the case, and surely no reflection to the manes of this great

The audacity of this woman in publishing this false and ridiculous account of Dryden's funeral, at a time when Southerne, and probably many others who had walked at it, were yet living, might, at the distance of

Such is this lady's narrative; which she manifestly formed on a passage in one of Farquhar's letters,"

seventy years, have appeared incredible, if Shakspeare, in our own time, had not, with temporary success, been made the basis of a still more absurd and more auda. cious fiction.

This passage having been much relied on, as a proof of the confusion and irregularity of Dryden's funeral, I shall give it in the writer's own words:

"I come now from Mr. Dryden's funeral, where we had an Ode in Horace sung, instead of David's Psalms : whence you may find, that we don't think a poet worth Christian burial. The pomp of the ceremony was a kind of rhapsody, and fitter, I think, for Hudibras, than him; because the cavalcade was mostly burlesque: but he was an extraordinary man, and buried after an extraordinary fashion; for I do believe there was never such another burial seen. The oration, indeed, was great and ingenious, worthy the subject, and like the author; whose prescriptions can restore the living, and his pen embalm the dead. And so much for Mr. Dryden; whose burial was the same as his life, variety and not of a piece :-the quality and mob, farce and heroicks; the sublime and ridicule mix'd in a piece ;-great Cleopatra in a hackney

coach."

Here again we find truth and just representation sacrificed to the smartness of antitheses and pointed sentences. For, after all, what does this amount to? The only circumstances that distinguished Dryden's funeral from any other splendid funeral, were, an Ode of Horace being sung, a Latin Oration being pronounced, and a band of musicians preceding the procession, and playing mournful musick. Whatever ridicule might belong to the Ode, it was confined to the College of Physicians: in the

and a ludicrous poem, entitled " A Description of Mr. Dryden's Funeral," which was probably

other two circumstances there is surely nothing to excite laughter. From Farquhar's statement, who would not suppose that one of David's Psalms was constantly sung at every funeral? This, however, was only thrown in, to introduce the remark concerning Christian burial; from which the reader is led to another misrepresentation, and to suppose, contrary to the truth, that the usual burial service was not read during his interment.-As to the observation that this funeral was "full of variety and not of a piese, quality and mob," &c. that remark is equally applicable to every other great funeral, where a number of inferior persons generally attend, partly from respect to the deccased, and partly from curiosity.-To finish the picture, we have "great Cleopatra in a hackney coach." The name of Mrs. Barry, the person meant, would not have answered the writer's purpose: but she was here only in her private capacity, and not in the dress of a tragedy Queen; and, when this circumstance is attended to, the ridicule falls pointless to the ground.

The metropolis, we should recollect, was at this time very ill paved; the footways inconvenient and incommoded by sign-posts; and the streets leading to Westminster-Abbey extremely narrow: some confusion, therefore, would doubtless arise, while so large a cavalcade was passing; which was probably increased by the mob. crowding in great numbers to see and join in the procession. To the eye of a philosopher all funeral pomp appears ridiculous; but some of the most distinguished men in a nation attending, with great solemnity and proper respect, the remains of a great poet, to that noble Gothick edifice where the ashes of their Kings and Heroes are deposited, has nothing in itself ridiculous; nor can any

written by his old antagonist, Tom Brown, and published in June, 1700. Men of wit, if they can but amuse the fancy by pleasant images and a lively picturesque relation, it is well known, are seldom very solicitous about truth. The writer of this poem, however, has rarely advanced any direct falsehood; but, with a view of depreciating Dryden, has contented himself with distorting and disfiguring all the honourable circumstances attending the last tribute of respect paid by his countrymen to that great poet, in such a manner as must have completely deceived those at a distance from the metropolis, while those who had been present at the ceremony would not recognize in this ridiculous and sarcastick misrepresentation any kind of resemblance to the truth. In most great funerals, persons of various conditions and ranks of life are assembled, and form a very promiscuous train: in that of an author, who for many years had been esteemed by some of the highest

mixture of mob, or of the various classes and characters who respected the deceased, render it, what Farquhar, for the entertainment of the lady to whom this Epistle is addressed, has in vain endeavoured to represent it.

8 "A Description of Mr. Dn's Funeral, a poem,” was advertised (as then published) in THE POSTMAN, Saturday, June 22, 1700. A second edition of the same poem appeared on the 29th of June. The original edition ended with the words-Fairy Queen. In a third edition enlarged, which was published on the 1st of August, thirty-one new lines were added. b b

VOL. I.

characters in the state, and had long been connected with the stage, and the subordinate agents of literature, the attendants would of course be still more heterogeneous; and nobles and actors, physicians and statesmen, poets and divines, actresses and criticks, musicians and booksellers, town wits and country cousins, would be found blended together. This, therefore, is the chief circumstance, of which the writer of this ludicrous description has availed himself. If you will allow him the advantage of exaggeration and caricature, and permit him only to place a duchess and a chambermaid in the same coach, he asks no more; his work is then easily performed; and if you will but laugh with him, he is sufficiently rewarded. To elevate and sur

The following lines may serve as a specimen of this artifice:

"Before the hearse the mourning hautboys go, "And screech a dismal sound of grief and woe: "More dismal notes from bogtrotters may fall, "More dismal plaints at Irish funeral;

"But no such floods of tears e'er stopp'd our tide, "Since Charles, the Martyr and the Monarch, died."The decency and order first describe,

"Without regard to either sex or tribe. "The sable coaches lead the dismal van,

"But by their side, I think, few footmen ran;

"Nor needed these; the rabble fill the streets,

и

And mob with mob in great disorder meets.

"See next the coaches, how they are accouter'd,

Both in the inside, cke and on the outward :