Note 57 — EPISTLE THE TWELFTH.
Reading edition
It was augured by Southerne and by Higgons, that Congreve would succeed to the literary empire exercised by Dryden. The former has these lines addressed to the future monarch:
Dryden has long extended his command, By right divine, quite through the Muses' land, Absolute lord; and holding now from none But great Apollo his undoubted crown,— That empire settled, and grown old in power,— Can wish for nothing but a successor; Not to enlarge his limits, but maintain Those provinces, which he alone could gain. His eldest, Wycherley, in wise retreat, Thought it not worth his quiet to be great; Loose wandering Etherege, in wild pleasure tost, And foreign interests, to his hopes long lost; Poor Lee and Otway dead; Congreve appears The darling and last comfort of his years. May'st thou live long in thy great master's smiles, And, growing under him, adorn these isles! But when—when part of him, (but that be late!) His body yielding, must submit to fate; Leaving his deathless works, and thee, behind. The natural successor of his mind, Then may'st thou finish what he has begun; Heir to his merit, be in fame his son!
In the same strain, Bevill Higgons:
What may'n't we then, great youth, of thee presage Whose art and wit so much transcend thy age! How wilt thou shine in thy meridian light, Who, at thy rising, give so vast a light! When Dryden, dying, shall the world deceive, Whom we immortal as his works believe, Thou shalt succeed, the glory of the stage, Adorn and entertain the coming age.