my former practice of recording such anecdotes as I could collect from those friends with whom I conversed. Of some few, however, I made short notes on loose scraps of paper, and shall begin this volume with a transcript of whatever I collected during that period, i.e. from February 1792, to August 1795.
Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, told me that about forty years ago he was acquainted with a gentleman then very old, who in travelling in the Apennines had met with a retired Jesuit, who acknowledged that about the time of Monmouth’s rebellion he had been sent into Scotland, where he assumed the disguise of a Covenanter, and often preached to the people in fields, &c., to excite them to disturb the Government.
This agrees with the account given by Du Moulin of the conduct of the Jesuits previous to the murder of Charles the First.—(See Kennet’s Register.)
Dryden has himself told us that he was of a grave cast and did not much excel in sallies of humour. One of his bon-mots, however, has been preserved. He does not seem to have lived on very amicable terms with his wife, Lady Elizabeth, whom, if we may believe the lampoons of the time, he was compelled by one of her brothers to marry. Thinking herself neglected by the bard, and that he spent too much time in his study, she one day exclaimed, “Lord, Mr. Dryden, how can you be always poring over those musty books? I wish I were a book, and then I should have more of your company.” “Pray,
