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This page intentionally left blank
Digital Signal Processing using MATLAB£
This page intentionally left blank
 Digital Signal
Processing using
£
MATLAB

André Quinquis
First published in France in 2007 by Hermes Science/Lavoisier entitled “Le traitement du signal sous
Matlab£: pratique et applications”, 2nd edition
First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2008 by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as
permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced,
stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers,
or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA.
Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the
undermentioned address:

ISTE Ltd John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

6 Fitzroy Square 111 River Street
London W1T 5DX Hoboken, NJ 07030
UK USA

www.iste.co.uk www.wiley.com

© ISTE Ltd, 2008

© LAVOISIER, 2007

The rights of André Quinquis to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Quinquis, André.
[Traitement du signal sous MATLAB. English]
Digital signal processing using MATLAB / André Quinquis.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84821-011-0
1. Signal processing--Digital techniques. I. Title.
TK5102.9.Q853 2008
621.382'2--dc22
2007043209

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-84821-011-0

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire.
 Table of Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Chapter 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1. Brief introduction to MATLAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1. MATLAB software presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2. Important MATLAB commands and functions . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.3. Operating modes and programming with MATLAB . . . . . . . . . 8
1.1.4. Example of work session with MATLAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.1.5. MATLAB language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Chapter 2. Discrete-Time Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.1. Theoretical background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1.1. Mathematical model of 1D and 2D discrete-time signals . . . . . . 25
2.1.2. Basic 1D and 2D discrete-time signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.1.3. Periodic 1D and 2D discrete-time signals representation
using the discrete-time Fourier series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.1.4. Representation of non-periodic 1D and 2D discrete-time
signals by discrete-time Fourier transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.1.5. Analytic signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3. Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Chapter 3. Discrete-Time Random Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

3.1. Theoretical background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.1.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.1.2. Real random variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.1.3. Random processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
vi Digital Signal Processing using MATLAB

3.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

3.3. Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Chapter 4. Statistical Tests and High Order Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

4.1. Theoretical background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.1.1. Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.1.2. Cumulants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.1.3. Cumulant properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.1.4. Chi-square (Chi2) tests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.1.5. Normality test using the Henry line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.3. Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Chapter 5. Discrete Fourier Transform of Discrete-Time Signals . . . . . . 103

5.1. Theoretical background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.1.1. Discrete Fourier transform of 1D digital signals. . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.1.2. DFT of 2D digital signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.1.3. Z-transform of 1D digital signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.1.4. Z-transform of 2D digital signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.1.5. Methods and algorithms for the DFT calculation . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.3. Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Chapter 6. Linear and Invariant Discrete-Time Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . 137

6.1. Theoretical background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.1.1. LTI response calculation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.1.2. LTI response to basic signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6.3. Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Chapter 7. Infinite Impulse Response Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

7.1. Theoretical background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
7.1.1. Transfer function and filter specifications for infinite
impulse response (IIR) filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
7.1.2. Design methods for IIR filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
7.1.3. Frequency transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
7.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
7.3. Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
 Preface vii

Chapter 8. Finite Impulse Response Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

8.1. Theoretical background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
8.1.1. Transfer function and properties of FIR filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
8.1.2. Design methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
8.1.3. General conclusion about digital filter design . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
8.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
8.3. Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Chapter 9. Detection and Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

9.1. Theoretical background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
9.1.1. Matched filtering: optimal detection of a known noisy signal. . . . 215
9.1.2. Linear optimal estimates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
9.1.3. Least squares (LS) method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
9.1.4. LS method with forgetting factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
9.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
9.3. Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Chapter 10. Power Spectrum Density Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

10.1. Theoretical background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
10.1.1. Estimate properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
10.1.2. Power spectral density estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
10.1.3. Parametric spectral analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
10.1.4. Superresolution spectral analysis methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
10.1.5. Other spectral analysis methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
10.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
10.3. Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Chapter 11. Time-Frequency Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

11.1. Theoretical background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
11.1.1. Fourier transform shortcomings: interpretation difficulties . . . . 279
11.1.2. Spectrogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
11.1.3. Time-scale analysis – wavelet transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
11.1.4. Wigner-ville distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
11.1.5. Smoothed WVD (SWVD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
11.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
11.3. Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Chapter 12. Parametrical Time-Frequency Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

12.1. Theoretical background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
12.1.1. Fractional Fourier transform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
viii Digital Signal Processing using MATLAB

12.1.2. Phase polynomial analysis concept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

12.1.3. Time-frequency representations based on warping operators . . . 314
12.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
12.3. Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Chapter 13. Supervised Statistical Classification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

13.1. Theoretical background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
13.1.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
13.1.2. Data analysis methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
13.1.3. Supervised classifiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
13.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
13.3. Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Chapter 14. Data Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

14.1. Theoretical background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
14.1.1. Transform-based compression methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
14.1.2. Parametric (predictive) model-based compression methods . . . . 385
14.1.3. Wavelet packet-based compression methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
14.1.4. Vector quantization-based compression methods . . . . . . . . . . 387
14.1.5. Neural network-based compression methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
14.2. Solved exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
14.3. Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
 Preface

Why and How this Book was Written

Sometimes it is easier to say what a book is not than what it exactly represents. It
may be also better to resume the authors’ motivations than to explain the book
content itself.

From this point of view, our book is certainly not a traditional course, although it
recalls many theoretical signal processing concepts. Indeed, we emphasize a limited
number of important ideas instead of making a detailed description of the involved
concepts. Intuitive manners have been used to link these concepts to physical
aspects. Hence, we hope that reading this book will be much more exciting than
studying a traditional signal processing course.

This book is also not a physics course, although a major purpose of most
proposed exercises is to link abstract signal processing concepts to real-life
problems. These connections are illustrated in a simple and comprehensive manner
through MATLAB£ simulations.

The main topics of this book cover the usual program of an undergraduate signal
processing course. It is especially written for language and computer science
students, but also for a much larger scientific community who may wish to have a
comprehensive signal processing overview. Students will certainly find here what
they are looking for, while others will probably find new and interesting knowledge.

This book is also intended to illustrate our pedagogical approach, which is based
on three major reasons:
1. Students need to know how the teaching provided can be useful for them; it is
their customer attitude.
x Digital Signal Processing using MATLAB

2. Students have good potential for doing independent work; their interest and
curiosity should be continuously stimulated by:
– using a diversified pedagogical approach that combines the two sides of a
complete presentation methodology: from components to the system and vice versa;
– encouraging them to take advantage of their creativity through interactive
educational tools; they should be allowed to make changes and even contribute to
their development.
3. Students have to improve and validate their knowledge through written work;
writing is still the best way to focus someone’s concentration.

The role of simulations is becoming more and more important in the framework
of a scientific education because it is an effective way to understand many physical
phenomena, some of them less known or mastered, and to take into account their
complexity. Simulations may be thus very useful for:
− understanding working principles and deriving behavior laws;
− learning about processing methods and systems running using algorithms to
reproduce them off-line;
− evaluating the performance and robustness of various algorithms and
estimating the influence of different parameters.

Simulations in signal processing education enable students to learn faster and

facilitate the comprehension of the involved physical principles. From a teaching
point of view, simulation tools lead to lower costs and time efficiency.

This book is based on a signal processing course, which has been successfully given
for many years in several universities. According to our experience, signal theory
abstract concepts and signal processing practical potentialities can be linked only through
tutorial classes and simulation projects. In this framework, simulations appear to be the
necessary complement for the classical tripod theory – modeling – experimentation.

This book brings together into a clear and concise presentation the main signal
processing methods and the related results, using MATLAB software as a simulation
tool. Why MATLAB? Because it is:
− simple to learn and to use;
− powerful and flexible;
− accurate, robust and fast;
− widespread in both academic and industrial environments;
− continuously updated by professionals.
 Preface xi

The word “signal” stands for a physical entity, most often of an electrical nature,
like that observed at a microphone output. It is submitted to various transformations
when it goes through a system. Thus, in a communication chain, the signal is subject
to some changes (distortion, attenuation, etc.), which can make it unrecognizable.
The aim is to understand this evolution in order to properly recover the initial
message.

In other words, a signal is a physical support of information. It may carry the

orders in a control and command equipment or multimedia (speech and image) over
a network. It is generally very weak and it has to be handled with much caution in
order to reach the signal processing final goal, i.e. information extraction and
understanding.

Signal processing is widely used in many industrial applications such as:

telecommunications, audio and speech signal processing, radar, sonar, non-
destructive control, vibrations, biomedicine, imagery, etc. Standard signal
processing functions include signal analysis, improvement, synthesis, compression,
detection, classification, etc., which depend on and interact with each other in an
integrated information processing chain.

The digital signal processing methods provide noteworthy capabilities: accurate

system design, excellent equipment reproducibility, high stability of their
exploitation characteristics and an outstanding supervision facility.

The digital signal processing boom is related to the development of fast

algorithms to calculate the discrete Fourier transform. Indeed, this is the equivalent
of the Fourier transform in the discrete domain and so it is a basic tool to study
discrete systems. However, related concepts are generally considered highly
theoretical and accessible to scientific researchers rather than to most engineers.
This book aims to overcome this difficulty by putting the most useful results of this
domain within the understanding of the engineer.

Chapter 1 briefly describes essential concepts of MATLAB software, which is an

interactive software tailored for digital signal processing. Language rules,
elementary operations as well as basic functions are presented. Chapter 2 illustrates
the generation of 1D or 2D (image) digital signals as data vectors and matrices
respectively.

Finding the solution of a signal processing problem involves several distinct

phases. The first phase is the modeling: the designer chooses a representation model
for an observed data. When it can be done very accurately the signals are said to be
deterministic. A powerful tool for analyzing them is provided by the Fourier
transform, also called frequency representation, which is presented in Chapter 5. Its
xii Digital Signal Processing using MATLAB

equivalent in the discrete domain is represented by the z-transform, which is

developed in Chapter 6.

There are many other processes, which give different and apparently
unpredictable results, although they are observed using identical experimental
conditions. They are known as random processes, such as the receiver’s thermal
noise. The wide sense stationary random processes, which form a particularly
interesting class of these signals, are presented in Chapter 3. Some useful statistical
tools for testing different hypothesis about their parameters behavior are provided in
Chapter 4.

From a very general point of view, digital signal processing covers all the
operations, arithmetical calculations and number handling performed on the signal
to be processed, defined by a number series, in order to obtain a transformed number
series representing the processed signal. Very different functions can be carried out
in this way, such as classical spectral analysis (Chapter 10), time-frequency analysis
(Chapters 11 and 12), linear filtering (Chapters 7 and 8), detection and estimation
(Chapter 9), and feature extraction for information classification or compression
(Chapters 13 and 14).

Theoretical developments have been reduced to the necessary elements for a

good understanding and an appropriate application of provided results. A lot of
MATLAB programs, solved examples and proposed exercises make it possible to
directly approach many practical applications. The reader interested in some more
complementary information will find this in the references cited at the end of this
book.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge all the members of my team, Emanuel

Radoi, Cornel Ioana, Ali Mansour and Hélène Thomas, for their contributions to this
book.

André QUINQUIS
 Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1. Brief introduction to MATLAB

1.1.1. MATLAB software presentation

MATLAB (MATrix LABoratory) is an interactive software, developed by Math

Works Inc. and intended especially for digital signal processing. It is particularly
effective when the data format is vector or matrix.

MATLAB integrates digital calculus, data visualization and open environment

programming. MATLAB exists under both Windows and UNIX. Many
demonstrations are available using the command demo.

This digital simulation software enables a fast and simple visualization of the
obtained results.

MATLAB was primarily written in FORTRAN and C. However, MATLAB

knows to interpret commands, while a compilation of the source code is required by
FORTRAN and C.

MATLAB is especially designed for digital signal processing and for complex
digital system modeling and simulation. It is also suitable for processing data series,
images or multidimensional data fields.

MATLAB software general structure is provided in Figure 1.1.

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peasants, &c. but to all in general, and in particular to men and
ladies of the first quality, who have been better bred than to be too
nicely knowing in the terms. In such cases, it is enough for a poet to
write so plainly, that he may be understood by his readers; to avoid
impropriety, and not affect to be thought learned in all things.
I have omitted the four preliminary lines of the First Æneïd, because
I think them inferior to any four others in the whole poem, and
consequently believe they are not Virgil's.[89] There is too great a
gap betwixt the adjective vicina in the second line, and the
substantive arva in the latter end of the third, which keeps his
meaning in obscurity too long, and is contrary to the clearness of his
style.

Ut quamvis avido

is too ambitious an ornament to be his; and

Gratum opus agricolis,

are all words unnecessary, and independent of what he had said

before.

———Horrentia Martis
Arma———

is worse than any of the rest. Horrentia is such a flat epithet, as

Tully would have given us in his verses. It is a mere filler, to stop a
vacancy in the hexameter, and connect the preface to the work of
Virgil. Our author seems to sound a charge, and begins like the
clangor of a trumpet:

Arma, virumque cano, Trojæ qui primus ab oris ...

scarce a word without an r, and the vowels, for the greater part,
sonorous. The prefacer began with Ille ego, which he was
constrained to patch up in the fourth line with at nunc, to make the
sense cohere; and, if both those words are not notorious botches, I
am much deceived, though the French translator thinks otherwise.
For my own part, I am rather of the opinion, that they were added
by Tucca and Varius, than retrenched.
I know it may be answered, by such as think Virgil the author of the
four lines, that he asserts his title to the Æneïs in the beginning of
this work, as he did to the two former in the last lines of the Fourth
Georgic. I will not reply otherwise to this, than by desiring them to
compare these four lines with the four others, which we know are
his, because no poet but he alone could write them. If they cannot
distinguish creeping from flying, let them lay down Virgil, and take
up Ovid, de Ponto, in his stead. My master needed not the
assistance of that preliminary poet to prove his claim. His own
majestic mien discovers him to be the king, amidst a thousand
courtiers. It was a superfluous office; and, therefore, I would not set
those verses in the front of Virgil, but have rejected them[90] to my
own preface.

I, who before, with shepherds in the groves,

Sung, to my oaten pipe, their rural loves,
And, issuing thence, compelled the neighbouring field
A plenteous crop of rising corn to yield,
Manured the glebe, and stocked the fruitful plain,
(A poem grateful to the greedy swain,) &c.

If there be not a tolerable line in all these six, the prefacer gave me
no occasion to write better. This is a just apology in this place; but I
have done great wrong to Virgil in the whole translation: want of
time, the inferiority of our language, the inconvenience of rhyme,
and all the other excuses I have made, may alleviate my fault, but
cannot justify the boldness of my undertaking. What avails it me to
acknowledge freely, that I have not been able to do him right in any
line? for even my own confession makes against me; and it will
always be returned upon me, "Why then did you attempt it?" To
which no other answer can be made, than that I have done him less
injury than any of his former libellers.
What they called his picture, had been drawn at length, so many
times, by the daubers of almost all nations, and still so unlike him,
that I snatched up the pencil with disdain; being satisfied before-
hand, that I could make some small resemblance of him, though I
must be content with a worse likeness. A Sixth Pastoral, a
Pharmaceutria, a single Orpheus, and some other features, have
been exactly taken: but those holiday-authors writ for pleasure; and
only showed us what they could have done, if they would have
taken pains to perform the whole.
Be pleased, my lord, to accept, with your wonted goodness, this
unworthy present which I make you. I have taken off one trouble
from you, of defending it, by acknowledging its imperfections: and,
though some part of them are covered in the verse, (as Erichthonius
rode always in a chariot, to hide his lameness,) such of them as
cannot be concealed, you will please to connive at, though, in the
strictness of your judgment, you cannot pardon. If Homer was
allowed to nod sometimes in so long a work, it will be no wonder if I
often fall asleep. You took my "Aureng-Zebe"[91] into your
protection, with all his faults: and I hope here cannot be so many,
because I translate an author who gives me such examples of
correctness. What my jury may be, I know not; but it is good for a
criminal to plead before a favourable judge: if I had said partial,
would your lordship have forgiven me? or will you give me leave to
acquaint the world, that I have many times been obliged to your
bounty since the Revolution? Though I never was reduced to beg a
charity, nor ever had the impudence to ask one, either of your
lordship, or your noble kinsman the Earl of Dorset,[92] much less of
any other; yet, when I least expected it, you have both remembered
me: so inherent it is in your family not to forget an old servant. It
looks rather like ingratitude on my part, that, where I have been so
often obliged, I have appeared so seldom to return my thanks, and
where I was also so sure of being well received. Somewhat of
laziness was in the case, and somewhat too of modesty, but nothing
of disrespect or of unthankfulness. I will not say that your lordship
has encouraged me to this presumption, lest, if my labours meet
with no success in public, I may expose your judgment to be
censured. As for my own enemies, I shall never think them worth an
answer; and, if your lordship has any, they will not dare to arraign
you for want of knowledge in this art, till they can produce
somewhat better of their own, than your "Essay on Poetry." It was
on this consideration, that I have drawn out my preface to so great a
length. Had I not addressed to a poet and a critic of the first
magnitude, I had myself been taxed for want of judgment, and
shamed my patron for want of understanding. But neither will you,
my lord, so soon be tired as any other, because the discourse is on
your art; neither will the learned reader think it tedious, because it
is[93]ad Clerum. At least, when he begins to be weary, the church-
doors are open. That I may pursue the allegory with a short prayer
after a long sermon—
May you live happily and long, for the service of your country, the
encouragement of good letters, and the ornament of poetry; which
cannot be wished more earnestly by any man, than by

Your Lordship's

Most humble,

Most obliged, and

Most obedient servant,

 John Dryden.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] Mulgrave's early and intimate connection with our author has
been often noticed in the course of this edition. In the reign of
William III. he remained in a sort of disgrace, from his
attachment to the exiled king: yet, in 1694, he was created
Marquis of Normanby: in the reign of the queen, he rose still
higher; and it is said, that the dignities, offices, and influence,
which he then enjoyed, were the reward of the ambitious love
which he had dared to entertain for that princess, when she was
only the Lady Anne, second daughter to the Duke of York.—See
Dryden's Life; also Dedication to Aureng-Zebe, Vol. V. p. 174.
[29] The early editions, by an absurd and continued blunder, read
Aristotle. Ariosto, and indeed all the heroic Italian poets, Tasso
excepted, have chequered their romantic fictions with lighter
stories, such as those of Jocondo and of Adonio, in the "Orlando
Furioso." But neither Ariosto, nor his predecessors Boiardo and
Pulci, ever entertained the idea of writing a regular epic poem
after the ancient rules. On the contrary, they often drop the mask
in the middle of the romantic wonders which they relate; and
plainly shew, how very far they are from considering the narrative
as serious. It was, therefore, consistent with their plan, to admit
such light and frivolous narratives, as might relieve the general
gravity of their tale, which resembled an epic poem as little as a
melo-drama does a tragedy.
[30] I quote, from Mr Malone, Mr Harte's vindication of Statius;
premising, however, that it is far from amounting to an
exculpation of that boisterous author, whose works have fallen
into oblivion even among scholars, in due proportion to the
ripening of poetical taste.
"Mr Dryden, in his excellent Preface to the Æneid, takes occasion
to quarrel with Statius, and calls the present book (the Sixth) 'an
ill-timed and injudicious episode.' I wonder so severe a remark
could pass from that gentleman, who was an admirer of our
author, even to superstition. I own I can scarce forgive myself to
contradict so great a poet, and so good a critic: talium enim
virorum ut admiratio maxima, ita censura difficilis. However, the
present case may admit of very alleviating circumstances. It may
be replied, in general, that the design of this book was to give a
respite to the main action, introducing a mournful, but pleasing
variation, from terror to pity. It is also highly probable, that
Statius had an eye to the funeral obsequies of Polydore and
Anchises, mentioned in the third and fifth books of Virgil. We may
also look upon them as a prelude, opening the mind by degrees
to receive the miseries and horror of a future war. This is
intimated in some measure by the derivation of the word
Archemorus."—Note on Mr Walter Harte's Translation of the Sixth
Book of the Thebaid.
Notwithstanding what Mr Harte has stated, our author seldom
mentions Statius, without reprobating his turgid and bombast
stile.
[31] Dryden, as was excellently observed by Sir Samuel Garth, in
his "Funeral Eulogy," always thought that species of composition
most excellent upon which his labour had been more immediately
employed. In the "Essay upon Dramatic Poesy," he had preferred
the tragedy to the epic poem, and here he has reversed their
station and rank. I think the principal distinction is noticed below.
Tragedy is addressed, as it were, to the eye; and the whole scene
to be enjoyed, even in perusal, must be supposed present to the
observation. But epic poetry is, by its nature, narrative; and,
therefore, while it is capable of the beauties of more extended
description, and more copious morality, it is excluded from that
immediate and energetic appeal to the senses manifested in the
drama.
[32] The cant of supposing, that the Iliad contained an obvious
and intentional moral, was at this time so established among the
critics, that even Dryden durst not shake himself free of it. In all
probability, the ancient blind bard only thought of so arranging his
splendid tale of Troy divine, that it should arrest the attention of
his hearers. Doubtless, an admirable moral may be often
extracted from his poem; because it contains an accurate picture
of human nature, which can never be truly presented, without
conveying a lesson of instruction. But it may shrewdly be
suspected, that the moral was as little intended by the author, as
it would have been the object of a historian, whose work is
equally pregnant with morality, though a detail of facts be only
intended. We may be pretty sure, that Homer meant his Achilles,
the favourite of the gods, as a character approaching perfection;
and if he is cruel, proud, disobedient, and vengeful, I am afraid it
was only because these attributes, in a savage state, are deemed
as little derogatory from the character of a hero, as dissipation
and gallantry are blemishes in that of a modern fine gentleman.
[33] The opinion of Horace is a confirmation of what is stated
above. None of the ancients ventured to impute the rudeness of
Homer's characters to the barbarity of the poet's age. The faults
which they could not shut their eyes against, must, they thought,
have been equally apparent to the bard himself; although, in all
probability, he meant, that these very attributes in his heroes
should be considered as virtues.
[34] "Bibliopola Tryphon," a character twice mentioned by Martial,
Epig. Lib. IV. 72. XIII. 3. Dryden probably means Tonson.
[35] A Gallicism for the toilette, at which the ladies of Dryden's
time, in imitation of their neighbours of France, were wont to
receive visits, and hear recitations and readings.
[36] Dryden, in the "Essay on Dramatic Poesy," maintains the
cause of Shakespeare and Jonson against the French dramatists.
[37] It appeared first in 1682, and drew the public attention by
much sound criticism, expressed in pointed language; although
the verse is so untunable and rugged, as to sound very
disagreeably to modern ears. Dryden is mentioned with only a
qualified degree of respect, and that paid solely to his satirical
powers:

The laureat here may justly claim our praise,

Crowned by Mac-Flecnoe with immortal bays;
Yet once his Pegasus has borne dead weight,
Rid by some lumpish minister of state.

The last couplet alludes to the "Hind and Panther."

[38] Our author mentions elsewhere, "The Essay of Poetry, which
I publicly valued before I knew the author of it." Vol. XII. p. 275.
Although his lordship's experiment proved thus successful, I may
be permitted to hint, that most noble authors may find it rather
hazardous.
[39] Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," seems to have been the first
heroic poem attempted upon a classical model, after the revival
of literature.
[40] Pulci wrote the "Movagante Maggiore," Boiardo the "Orlando
Innamorato," and Ariosto the well-known continuation of that
poem, called the "Orlando Furioso." The first two poems, like the
"Amadigi," and a number of others in the same taste, are rather
to be considered as an improvement upon the old metrical
romances, than as attempts at epic poetry. At the same time,
these authors do not always expect their readers to receive with
gravity, the marvels which they narrate; but introduce at every
turn some ludicrous image, to shew how little they are
themselves serious. Although Ariosto is immeasurably
distinguished by brilliancy of imagination, and beauty of
expression, from the rest of those romancers, yet even his
delightful work may be more properly termed a romance of
chivalry than an epic poem; a distinction which the Tuscan bard
can hardly regret, since it has afforded, throughout Europe, more
general delight than all the epics in the world, if we except those
of Homer and Virgil.
[41] "La Pucelle D'Orleans." It will hardly, I hope, be expected,
that an editor of Dryden should be deeply read in the French
epopee, which of all styles of poetry is the most uniformly stiff
and freezing.
[42] That Spenser's twelve champions, each of whom was to
atchieve a distinct and separate adventure, could ever have been
so brought together, as to entitle the "Fairy Queen" to be called a
regular epic, may be justly doubted, I confess I think it probable,
that the difficulty of concluding his work, was one great cause of
its being left unfinished.
Dryden's objection to the "Paradise Lost," is founded on the
unhappy termination, which is contrary to the rules of the
epopee. Even so it has been disputed, whether a tragedy, which
ends happily, is properly and regularly entitled to the name. Yet
the story is more completely winded up in the "Paradise Lost,"
than in the "Iliad," where Troy is left standing, after all the battles
which are fought about it. Our reverence for the ancients, in this
and many other instances, has been driven to superstitious
bigotry.
[43] In the following comparison, our author assumes, that the
"Iliad" was actually written with a view to its moral tendency. But
considering the matter fairly, and without prejudice, there is as
much reason for supposing, that Shakespeare had a great public
purpose to accomplish in every one of his plays; which we know
were only written to fill the Bull or the Fortune theatres, as the
songs of Homer were recited, minstrel-like, for the supply of his
daily wants. But both these gifted men had an intuitive
knowledge of human nature, which cannot be justly described,
without an evident, though undesigned, moral pressing itself on
the hearers. Virgil's poem, however, had certainly a political, if not
a moral purpose; for, while it gratified the nobles of the court of
Augustus, by deducing their descent from the followers of Æneas,
it tamed their republican spirit, by describing the monarchy of the
emperor, not as an usurpation, but a hereditary, though
interrupted succession, from the wandering Prince of Troy.
[44] This is one of our author's unseemly and far too frequent
sneers at the clerical order, for which he is severely reprehended
by Milbourne.
[45] Here again Milbourne is very clamorous for authority, and
exclaims, that it is one of the fundamental laws of Parnassus to
write true history. Dryden probably rested upon the scandalous
tale, that Cæsar intrigued with Servilia, the mother of Brutus;
though it seems more likely, that he applied to his assassin the
endearing epithet of my son, merely as a term of affectionate
friendship.
[46] The sense which our author has put on this line, has been
warmly disputed; many commentators contending, that the elder
Cato, called the Censor, and not Cato of Utica, is the person
therein honoured. Pope held the same opinion with our poet, and
abandoned it; and Spence, quoted by Mr Malone, thus expresses
himself:—"Virgil represents the blessed in Elysium, and Cato
giving laws to them. This agrees best with the character of Cato
the Censor. See Plutarch's account of the Elder Cato; of his strict
judgments and laws; of the statue set up to his honour in the
temple of Salus, and of the inscription under it, in his Life of that
great lawgiver. Seneca speaks as highly of him in that capacity, as
of Scipio in the military way: M. Porcius Censorius, quem tam rei
publicæ profuit nasci, quam Scipionem; alter enim cum hostibus
nostris bellum, alter cum moribus gessit. Epist. lxxxvii. If Cato
Uticensis could have been placed at all in Elysium by Virgil, (who
says, that such as kill themselves are in another part of Hades,)
he would, at least, be a very improper person to be set by him in
so eminent a situation there."
[47] This is disputed by the learned Heyne. "De consilio quod
poeta in Æneide conscribenda sequutus sit, et de fine, quem
propositum habuerit, multa varii comminiscuntur. Nihil quidem
magis alienum esse potest ab epico carmine quam allegoria;
jugulat enim totam ejus vim, rerum et hominum dignitatem
attenuat, gratum animi errorem excutit, et æstum inter legendum
refrigerat, voluptatemque omnem intercipit. Certatim tamen viri
docti argutiis suis Æneæ personam nobis eripere, et Augustum
submittere allaborarunt. Etiam ex parata nova in Latio sede
miseros Trojanos exturbarunt; adumbratum esse a poeta novum
tum Romæ constitutum unius principatum. Simili acumine alii
arcana, nescio quæ, dominationis Augusteæ consilia, in Æneide
condenda deprehendere sibi visi sunt. Ita Spencius, elegantis
ingenii vir, [Polymetis, Dial. iii. p. 17. sqq.] πολιτικόν epos esse
Æneidem sibi persuasum habebat; neque aliud quicquam poetam
spectasse, quam ut animis libertatis ereptæ desiderio ægris
fomenta admoveret, et novum principem approbaret. Nihil tamen
Æneæ personam, fortunam, facta, et fata habere videas, quod ei
consilio respondeat; nullus in Æneide populus est liber, qui
dominum accipiat; nulla regni seu imperii, monarchiam vocamus,
bona videas exposita aut commendata; verbo nihil occurrit, quo
libertatis amore contacti animi adduci aut allici possint, ut a bono
principe malint tuto regnari quam cum libertatis vano nomine
paucorum potentium dominatione vexari. In Juliæ gentis
honorem, quæ ab Iulo Æneæ filio originem ducere videri volebat,
nonnulla passim suaviter memorari, ad Augusti laudes ingeniose
alia inseri, ipsa carminis lectione manifestum sit, et a veteribus
quoque Grammaticis jam monitum est locis pluribus; sed,
quantam vim ea res ad dominationem Augusti commendandam
habere potuerit, mihi non satis constare lubenter fateor. Neque, si
nova Æneæ sedes in Latio divinis humanisque juribus vallata
fuerit, quale inde propugnaculum novo Augusti regno partum sit,
intelligo; ut adeo, si demonstrari hoc possit, poetæ consilium illud
in Æneide condenda propositum fuisse, parum feliciter eum in eo
perficiendo et exsequendo versatum videri dicerem.
"In eandem tamen opinionem jam ante Spencium inciderat vir
doctus inter Francogallos, [L'Abbé Vatry,] qui imprimis
similitudinem inter Æneæ et Augusti personam et fortunam
diserte persequitur. Ingeniose eum ludere non neges; et convenit
ei cum multis aliis doctis viris, qui opinantur, Augustum sub
Æneæ persona esse adumbratum; eo referunt multa alia. Videas
nonnullos tam egregie sibi placere in hoc invento, ut undique
conquirant et venentur ea, quæ ad Augustum accommodari
possint. Sic oris dignitas (lib. i. 589, Os humerosque deos.) cum
assentatione in Augustum memorata est. Ignoscenda hæc putem
alicui ex media assentatorum turba, qui Æneide lecta unam vel
alteram Æneæ laudem ad Augustum traheret, ut Principi palparet.
Sed, ut Maro tam dissimiles personas, fortunas, virtutes et facta
ac res gestas, inter se comparare voluerit, mihi quidem, si ejus
judicium et elegantiam recte teneo, parum probabile videtur.
Sapientior erat poeta, et rei poeticæ intelligentior, quam ut talem
cogitationem in animum admitteret. Nam præterquam quod
Æneæ characterem non invenit, sed ab aliis jam traditum accepit,
circumspiciendæ erant a poeta virtutes Æneæ ejusmodi, quæ in
epico argumento vim et splendorem haberent, et factorum, quæ
enarranda erant, causas idoneas suppeditarent. Quod si ille
studium suum ponere voluisset maxime in hoc, et Æneas Augusto
assimularetur, quam multa et quam parum consentanea epicæ
narrationi, argumento, operis characteri, temporum rationi,
illaturus in carmen suum fuisset!
"Eadem fere via carmen πολιτικόν conditum a poeta visum jam
olim erat R. Patri le Bossu, ut Romanos partim ad amplectendum
et probandum præsentem rerum statum adducere, partim
Augustum ad moderationem ac clementiam adhortari, et a
dominationis libidine et impotentia revocare voluerit. Sed nec huic
consilio ulla ex parte respondet Æneidis sive argumentum sive
tractatio: profugus ex urbe incensa Æneas novam sedem quærit,
armis vim illatam propulsat, et sic porro; quid tandem his inest,
quod ad imperandi artes ac virtutes spectet? Fabulæ tamen
Virgilianæ universe inesse, et in singulis carminis partibus aut
locis ac versibus occurrere talia, quæ principibus pro salubribus
præceptis commendari possint, nemo neget; quin potius inter
utilitates, quæ poetarum carminibus debentur, præcipue hoc
commemorandum est. Verum non propterea dici potest ac debet,
in condendo carmine et in fabula deligenda et ordinanda tale
præceptum propositum poetæ fuisse, cujus explicandi caussa
narrationem institueret. Narrare ille voluit ac debuit rem magnam
et arduam et mirabilem. Quod narratio illa, et delectatio quæ inde
accipitur, cum utilitate ad omnes hominum ordines, inprimisque
ad principum animos conjuncta est, hoc epicæ narrationi per se
consentaneum est; ipsa enim rei natura ita fert, ut magnorum
virorum facta magna et præclara sine summo ad hominum
animos, mores ac virtutem, fructu exponi et narrari nequeant,
multo magis si cum sententiarum splendore et orationis ornatu
instituta sit narratio." Virg. a C. G. Heyne. Disquisit. i. de Carm.
Epico.
[48] I suspect our author spoke from recollection of some of his
own satirical strokes. Even in the "Hind and Panther," Sunderland,
a convert to the religion defended by the poet, and Petre, the
king's own chaplain and bosom counsellor, do not escape.
[49] The prophecy of Juno, in the Third Ode of the Third Book.
[50] Dryden had forgot, what he must certainly have known, that
the fiction of Achilles being invulnerable, bears date long posterior
to the days of Homer. In the Iliad he is actually wounded.
[51] The same compound is used in "Absalom and Achitophel," as
has been noticed by Mr Malone:

Gods they had tried of every shape and size,

That godsmiths could produce, or priests devise.

[52] The Scots, about Dryden's time, had many superstitions

concerning individuals, whom they supposed to be shot-proof, by
virtue of a satanic charm. The famous Viscount of Dundee was
supposed to be invulnerable to bullets of lead; and when
Archbishop Sharpe was murdered, the assassins having missed
him, although very near when they first discharged their pieces,
imputed the scorched marks left by the powder on his skin to
contusions received from their balls. But the word warlock, or
warlough, means a male sorcerer in general; and has not, as
Dryden seems to suppose, any reference to this particular charm.
It seems rather to be derived from wird and laere, a compound
which would imply "skilled in futurity."
[53] The vulgar, to use Gay's account, believe,

How if on Swithin's feast the welkin lowers,

And every pent-house streams with hasty showers;
Twice twenty days shall clouds their fleeces drain,
And wash the pavements with incessant rain.

[54] The son of Sir Walter Moyle, an accomplished scholar, whom

Dryden elsewhere mentions with esteem. He died in 1621.
[55] It is agreeable to see, from this and other passages, that,
notwithstanding an intervening rupture, our author, at the latter
end of his life, was on good terms with his brother-in-law, to
whom he was so much indebted at the commencement of his
poetical career.
[56] Author of the "True Intellectual System of the Universe,"
folio, 1678.
[57] Milbourne is very severe on our author for crediting this
story, of Virgil having condemned the Æneïd to the flames. But it
is sanctioned by the Elder Pliny. "D. Augustus carmina Virgilii
cremari contra testamenti ejus verecundiam, vetuit; majusque ita
vati testimonium contigit, quam si ipse sua probasset."—Hist. Nat.
vii. 30.
[58] I am afraid, this passage, given as a just description of love,
serves to confirm what is elsewhere stated, that Dryden's ideas of
the female sex and of the passion were very gross and malicious.
[59] "Legatus est vir bonus, peregrè missus ad mentiendum
reipublicæ causa;" a sentence which Sir Henry wrote in the Album
of Christopher Flecamore, as he passed through Germany, when
he went as ambassador to Venice. These words, says his
biographer, Isaac Walton, "he could have been content should
have been thus Englished: An ambassador is an honest man, sent
to lie abroad for the good of his country: but the word
mentiendum not admitting of a double meaning, like lie, (which at
that time signified to sojourn, as well as to utter criminal
falshood,) this pleasantry brought my Lord Ambassador into some
trouble; Jasper Scioppius, a Romanist, about eight years
afterwards, asserting in one of his works, that this was an
acknowledged principle of the religion professed by King James,
and those whom he employed as his representatives in foreign
countries." See the Life of Sir Henry Wotton, p. 38. edit. 1670.—
Malone, p. 486. Note.
[60] See the "Translation of Dido's Epistle to Æneas," Vol. xii. p.
34.
[61] The emperor Augustus divorced Scribonia, his second wife,
in order to make room for his marriage with Livia. But the
argument of our author from the Æneïd seems far-fetched.
[62] This original and expressive word for a poet was long
retained in Scotland.—See Dunbar's Lament for the Death of the
Makyrs.
[63] Mr Malone reads—so strong; but strange here seems to
signify alarming, or startling.
[64] Dacier.
[65] I fear there is something in this objection. Virgil, who lived in
a peaceful court, does not draw his battles with the animation
and reality of Homer, who, if he was not himself a warrior, was
the poet of a rude and warlike age.
[66] Unquestionably the description, in the passage quoted, and
the simile, aid each other with great mutual effect.
[67] Commentators on the Scripture, mentioned by our author in
the "Religio Laici," where, speaking of Dickenson's translation of
Pere Simon's "Critical History of the Old Testament," he calls it

A treasure, which, if country curates buy,

They Junius and Tremellius may defy.—Vol. X. p.
44.

[68] This display of learning seems a little out of place.

Undoubtedly it was important, if the accusation had been, that
Virgil had misplaced his seasons. But, as to the mere length of
time employed in his epic, there seems no better reason why it
should be a year than a month, or two years than one, so long as
the interest is effectually maintained.
[69] Our author seems always to have had a view to form the
machinery of an epic poem, upon the principles of the Platonic
philosophy, which he proposed to adapt to the guardian angels of
kingdoms, mentioned by the prophet Daniel. Vol. xii. p. 25.
[70] These lines are inaccurately quoted, for

----Non me tua fervida terrent

Dicta, ferox, &c.

Æneid xii. l. 895.

[71] Misquoted again; for

----non me tua fervida terrent

Dicta, ferox.

I think the passage may easily be interpreted without

disparagement of Æneas's valour, even without adopting Dryden's
construction. Turnus, a brave and proud man, reduced to the
humiliating situation of confessing his fears, naturally imputes
them to the more honourable cause, a dread, namely, of
supernatural interference. To confess his terror to arise from the
force of his mortal adversary, would have been degrading to his
character.
[72] It is singular, that, under this conviction, Dryden should have
complied with the custom of his age, in striking out the vowel
before the end of such words as winged.
[73] This celebrated couplet occurs in Sir John Denham's
"Cooper's Hill," a poem which was praised beyond its merit by the
author's contemporaries. After allowing that the lines are smooth
and sonorous, which indeed were infrequent qualities of the
versification of the period, I fear much of their merit lies in the
skilful antithesis of the attributes of the river.
[74] Louis XIV.; whom Dryden probably in his heart compared
with disadvantage to the needy Charles, who loved literary merit
without rewarding it; the saturnine James, who rewarded without
loving it; and the phlegmatic William, who did neither the one nor
the other.
[75] St John, in his conversation with Astolfo, on the latter's
arrival in the Moon.
[76] This is not expressed with sufficient precision. Undoubtedly
one possessing those true poetic qualities, which consist in the
thought and not in the mere arrangement of expression, will
shine most in the easiest structure of versification. But there is a
very inferior, yet not altogether contemptible kind of poet, whose
merit consists more in melody of versification, and neatness or
even felicity of expression, than in his powers of conception. Such
bards will do well to avail themselves of the melody of rhyme.
[77] A learned physician of Dryden's time.
[78] There can be, I think, little doubt, that in both these
passages the poet has detected the true and poetical sense of the
author, which has escaped the mere commentator.
[79] All of whom had made slight and partial attempts as
translators from Virgil.
[80] This comparison our author has detailed in his preface to
Fresnoy's "Art of Painting."
"I am now come, though with the omission of many likenesses, to
the third part of Painting, which is called cromatic, or colouring.
Expression, and all that belongs to words, is that in a poem which
colouring is in a picture. The colours well chosen in their proper
places, together with the lights and shadows which belong to
them, lighten the design, and make it pleasing to the eye. The
words, the expressions, the tropes and figures, the versification,
and all the other elegancies of sound, as cadences, turns of
words upon the thought, and many other things which are all
parts of expression, perform exactly the same office, both in
dramatic and epic poetry. Our author calls colouring—lena sororis;
in plain English, the bawd of her sister, the design or drawing:
she clothes, she dresses her up, she paints her, she makes her
appear more lovely than naturally she is, she procures for the
design, and makes lovers for her; for the design of itself is only so
many naked lines. Thus in poetry, the expression is that which
charms the reader, and beautifies the design, which is only the
outlines of the fables."
[81] This river, which flows past Madrid, is distinguished by the
splendour of its bridge, and the scantiness of its waters.
[82] Now more commonly called an Alexandrine. Pope had
perhaps this passage in his memory, when he composed the
famous triplet descriptive of Dryden's versification:

Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join

The varying verse, the full resounding line,
The long majestic march, and energy divine.

[83] He alludes to Cowley, who was forced abroad by the ill fate
of the royal party in the civil wars.
[84] Our author has, however, availed himself of this licence in his
earlier poetry.
[85] The confusion occasioned by the rules of the mint, then
recently adopted, created great inconvenience and distress to
individuals. It is often mentioned in the correspondence between
Tonson and Dryden.
[86] Nevertheless, our author, long before undertaking the
translation of Virgil, had given a noble paraphrase of these lines
in the Hind's address to the Panther:

This mean retreat did mighty Pan contain; }

Be emulous of him, and pomp disdain, }
And dare not to debase your soul to gain. }

Vol. X. p. 184.

[87] Richard, fourth earl of Lauderdale, nephew of that

respectable minister the Duke of Lauderdale. "He had a fine
genius for poetry," says Sir Robert Douglas, in his Peerage of
Scotland; "witness his elegant translation of Virgil."
[88] Dr Knightly Chetwood and Mr Addison. The former wrote the
"Life of Virgil," and the "Preface to the Pastorals;" the latter, the
"Essay on the Georgics." See Introductory Notes on these Pieces.
[89]

Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena

Carmen, et, egressus silvis, vicina coegi
Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono,
Gratum opus agricolis; at nunc horrentia Martis...

The characteristic modesty of our author, as well as the rugged

and turgid structure of these lines, have authorised modern critics
to conclude, that neither the sense nor expression of these four
lines resembles the genuine productions of Virgil.
[90] A Latinism for "throwing back."
[91] See Vol. V. p. 174.
[92] Their mothers were half sisters, being both daughters of
Lionel Cranfield, earl of Middlesex.
[93] Concio ad Clerum, a sermon preached before a learned
body.
 ÆNEÏS,

BOOK I.
ARGUMENT.

The Trojans, after a seven years' voyage, set sail for Italy, but are
overtaken by a dreadful storm, which Æolus raises at Juno's
request. The tempest sinks one, and scatters the rest. Neptune
drives off the Winds, and calms the sea. Æneas, with his own
ship, and six more, arrives safe at an African port. Venus
complains to Jupiter of her son's misfortunes. Jupiter comforts
her, and sends Mercury to procure him a kind reception among
the Carthaginians. Æneas, going out to discover the country,
meets his mother, in the shape of a huntress, who conveys him
in a cloud to Carthage, where he sees his friends whom he
thought lost, and receives a kind entertainment from the queen.
Dido, by a device of Venus, begins to have a passion for him,
and, after some discourse with him, desires the history of his
adventures since the siege of Troy, which is the subject of the
two following Books.

Arms, and the man I sing, who, forced by

Fate,
And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate,
Expelled and exiled, left the Trojan shore.
Long labours, both by sea and land, he
bore,
And in the doubtful war, before he won
The Latian realm, and built the destined
town;
His banished gods restored to rites divine,
And settled sure succession in his line,
From whence the race of Alban fathers
come,
And the long glories of majestic Rome.
O Muse! the causes and the crimes
relate;
What goddess was provoked, and whence
her hate;
For what offence the queen of heaven
began
To persecute so brave, so just a man;
Involved his anxious life in endless cares,
Exposed to wants, and hurried into wars!
Can heavenly minds such high resentment
show,
Or exercise their spite in human woe?
Against the Tyber's mouth, but far away,
An ancient town was seated on the sea,
A Tyrian colony; the people made
Stout for the war, and studious of their
trade:
Carthage the name; beloved by Juno more
Than her own Argos, or the Samian shore.
Here stood her chariot; here, if heaven
were kind,
The seat of awful empire she designed.
Yet she had heard an ancient rumour fly,
(Long cited by the people of the sky,)
That times to come should see the Trojan
race
Her Carthage ruin, and her towers deface;
Nor thus confined, the yoke of sovereign
sway
Should on the necks of all the nations lay.
She pondered this, and feared it was in
fate; }
Nor could forget the war she waged of late,
}
For conquering Greece against the Trojan
state. }
Besides, long causes working in her mind,
And secret seeds of envy, lay behind:
Deep graven in her heart, the doom
remained
Of partial Paris, and her form disdained;
The grace bestowed on ravished Ganymed,
Electra's glories, and her injured bed.
Each was a cause alone; and all combined
To kindle vengeance in her haughty mind.
For this, far distant from the Latian coast,
She drove the remnants of the Trojan host:
And seven long years the unhappy
wandering train
Were tossed by storms, and scattered
through the main.
Such time, such toil, required the Roman
name,
Such length of labour for so vast a frame.
Now scarce the Trojan fleet, with sails
and oars,
Had left behind the fair Sicilian shores,
Entering with cheerful shouts the watery
reign,
And ploughing frothy furrows in the main;
When, labouring still with endless
discontent,
The queen of heaven did thus her fury
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