which the first, third, sixth, tenth, and fifteenth satires of Juvenal,
and Persius entire, were done by Mr. Dryden, who prefixed a long and
ingenious discourse, by way of dedication, to the earl of Dorset. In
this address our author takes occasion a while to drop his reflexions
on Juvenal; and to lay before his lordship a plan for an epic poem: he
observes, that his genius never much inclined him to the stage; and that
he wrote for it rather from necessity than inclination. He complains,
that his circumstances are such as not to suffer him to pursue the bent
of his own genius, and then lays down a plan upon which an epic poem
might be written: to which, says he, I am more inclined. Whether the
plan proposed is faulty or no, we are not at present to consider; one
thing is certain, a man of Mr. Dryden's genius would have covered by the
rapidity of the action, the art of the design, and the beauty of the
poetry, whatever might have been defective in the plan, and produced a
work which have been the boast of the nation.

We cannot help regretting on this occasion, that Dryden's fortune was
not easy enough to enable him, with convenience and leisure, to pursue
a work that might have proved an honour to himself, and reflected a
portion thereof on all, who should have appeared his encouragers on this
occasion.

In 1695 Mr. Dryden published a translation in prose of Du Fresnoy's Art
of Painting, with a preface containing a parallel between painting and
poetry. Mr. Pope has addressed a copy of verses to Mr. Jervas in praise
of Dryden's translation. In 1697 his translation of Virgil's works came
out. This translation has passed thro' many editions, and of all the
attempts which have been made to render Virgil into English. The
critics, I think, have allowed that Dryden[5] best succeeded:
notwithstanding as he himself says, when he began it, he was past the