In Riley's portrait,' painted in 1683, he wears a very large wig: so also in that by Closterman, done at a later period. By Tom Brown he is

Probably, however, he had not devested himself of his wig, when these lines were written.

The earliest portrait of Dryden hitherto discovered is that in the Picture Gallery at Oxford; which, together with the portraits of Buchanan, Ben Jonson, Dr. Aldrich, and Laurence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, was presented by George Clarke, Esq., Fellow of All-Souls College, who represented the University of Oxford in parliament from 1715 to 1735. He was contemporary with Dryden, for he was born probably about the time of the Restoration; having taken the degree of M. A. in 1683; of B. C. L. in 1686, and in 1708 that of D. C. L. Dr. Clarke had travelled into Italy, and was well acquainted with ancient and modern pictures. From this portrait, which is dated in 1655, but appears from the dress to have been painted soon after the Restoration, the Engraving, No. 1, prefixed to this volume, was made. The painter is not known.

The Portrait of Dryden painted by Riley in 1683, from which an engraving was made by Peter Van-Gunst, for the first octavo edition of his Virgil, published in 1709. is in the possession of William Davenport Bromley, of Baginton Hall, in Warwickshire, Esq., the representative of the Right Hon. William Bromley, Speaker of the House of Commons in the reign of Queen Anne; from whom it descended to the above-mentioned gentleman. The poet here holds a sprig of laurel in his hand; is dressed in a loose gown of a yellow-brown colour, and wears a large wig. This pic:ure, I am informed, is still in perfect preservation.

In "THE LAUREL, a poem on the Poet Laureate," which was published in 4to. in January, 1684-5, are the

always called "little Bayes ;" and by Rochester, when he quarrelled with him and wished to de

following lines relative to this portrait, from which it should seem that our author was never painted by Lely:

"But O, for some immortal hand, that can

"Make thee live too, even in thy outward man! Thy pen, which only could, has drawn thy mind: "But where for this shall we a pencil find? "Famed Vandyck's dead, and Lely is no more; "And Fate for this has left but one in store. "The matchless Riley is for this design'd; "For this, kind Fates, ye Riley left behind. "See the bold piece with its own object strive; "It strives for verse, and would be more alive. "See all the Muses drawn within his face, "Or features that would all the Muses grace. "It grieves me, that there any thing should be, "Beside thyself, to give such life to thee. "Then only give to him that makes thee live, "What my poor mortal pen can never give: "Give him the life that triumphs o'er the grave, "The life that Cowley to his Vandyck gave. "Weak artless hands can postures, dresses draw; · "From their loose strokes those looser figures flow: "Give me that master's hand, that art divine, "That shews my face, and shews it to be mine. "All that proud Athens boasts, or stately Rome, "Does from their poets or their painters come: "Here both conspire to make one masterpiece, "The pride and shame of Italy and Greece."

From Closterman's portrait of Dryden, (see p. 437) a mezzotinto was made by William Faithorne, jun. which has been copied for the present work. See No. 2. I know not where the original picture now.is.

i

preciate him, he was nick-named-Poet Squab. From an epigram written soon after his death, we

Sir Godfrey Kneller appears to have painted several portraits of Dryden. That which was presented by our author to his kinsman of Chesterton, was a half-length, and finely painted. In this portrait the poet wears a wig, and holds a sprig of laurel in his hand. It is not known where it now is. See p. 326, n. 2. In p. 327, I have supposed that this picture was presented by our author to his kinsman, in consequence of the present made by Mr. John Driden in return for the poem addressed to him; but a letter which has since come to my hands, shews, that could hardly have been the case; for his kinsman's donation appears to have been made only about a month before the poet's death.

From another portrait, also in a wig, an engraving was made immediately after Dryden's death; and prefixed to LUCTUS BRITANNICI. Neither the painter, nor engraver, is known. Here the poet holds the laurel in his right hand in the two following portraits in his left. It was copied for Nichols's Select Collection of Poems, in eight volumes. I know not where this picture now is.

The portrait of him painted by Kneller, in his gray hair, from which Edelinck made an engraving at Paris in 1700, belonged to Jacob Tonson, and is now in the Collection of William Baker, Esq. Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire. It was painted, I believe, in 1698. Edelinck's print, from which No. 3, prefixed to this vo lume, is copied, is unquestionably the finest engraving of Dryden that has hitherto appeared. A bad copy of it was made in 1702, by S. Coignard. Either the portrait from which Edelinck's print was done, or that above mentioned, (which also may have been painted by Kneller,) is highly commended for its spirit and truth, by B. Buck

learn, that he wanted that vivid eye for which Pope was distinguished.'

eridge, the Continuator of De Piles: see LUCTUS BRITANNICI, p. 48.

From another portrait also by Kneller, formerly in the possession of Edward, Earl of Oxford, an engraving was made by Vertue in 1730; and Houbraken, in 1743, made another engraving from the same picture, which is among the ILLUSTRIOUS HEADS. The picture which Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, saw in the possession of the late James West, Esq., (See p. 431,) was, I suspect, that which had belonged to Lord Oxford; which probably fell into Mr. West's hands, on the sale of that nobleman's fine collection of books and pictures in the year 1742.

A writer in the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for April, 1792, vol. 62, part i. p. 293, says, that "there is an original portrait of Dryden, by Kneller, in the possession of Ralph Sneyd, Esq. of Kiel, in Staffordshire, one of whose ancestors [William Sneyd] married Frances, daughter of Sir John Driden, in the year 1666; and that this picture was brought by her from Canons-Ashby at the time of her marriage, and has been in Mr. Sneyd's family ever since."-That there is a portrait of Dryden at Kiel-Hall is very probable; but if it was brought from Canons. Ashby in 1666, it unquestionably was not painted by Kneller, who came into England in 1674.-It is not likely that Sir Robert Driden, the brother of Frances, should have been possessed of a portrait of the poet. If the picture at Kiel-Hall be Kneller's, it was probably painted at a much later period, and given to Mrs. Frances Sneyd by her brother, John Driden, of Chesterton.

There is another original portrait of Dryden at Bilton, ncar Rugby, in Warwickshire, which belonged to Addison, and, together with a large estate, was possessed by his only child, Mrs. Charlotte Addison, for near seventy years;

A very erroneous notion has prevailed concerning Dryden's want of property, and uniform distress

who in that long period, though extremely affluent, did not erect any memorial to her father in WestminsterAbbey, where he was buried, and yet remains without a tomb. This portrait, on her death in March, 1797, with the estate of Bilton, became the property of the Hon. John Bridgeman Simpson, second son of Lord Bradford.

A crayons drawing of Dryden, which long remained in the mansion-house of Sir Gilbert Pickering, Bart. at Tich. marsh, was purchased about twenty years ago, when all the furniture of that house was sold. This drawing, which appears to have been made when he was about fifty, was esteemed by the Pickering family a very strong likeness. It is now in the possession of William Walcot, Jun. of Oundle, Esq. The initial letters of the artist's name by whom it was done, arc, J. P.

The late Horace, Earl of Orford, was possessed of a small whole-length portrait of our author, sitting, by Maubert, who died in 1746, and is said to have painted Wycherley, Congreve, and Pope, from the life. A duplicate of this portrait is in the possession of Charles Bedford, of Brixton Causeway, Esq. It is extraordinary, that Lord Orford (Description of Strawberry-Hill, p. 7.) should have supposed that his mother was great niece to Dryden. The truth is, his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Philipps, the wife of John Shorter, Esq., was second cousin to the poet's sons. Dryden's great grandson and Lord Orford would have been fourth cousins. The origin of his crrour was, the supposing Elizabeth Dryden, the wife of Sir Richard Philipps, to have been sister, when in fact she was aunt, to the poet.

A head of Dryden drawn by Fab. Steele, (I know not whether an original or a copy,) was formerly in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Bilston, Chaplain of All-Souls