The Works of John Dryden, Volume 4 | Page 3

Almanzor
is in a passion. But, although talking nonsense is a common effect of
passion, it seems hardly one of those consequences adapted to shew
forth the character of a hero in theatrical representation.
It must be owned, however, that although the part of Almanzor
contains these and other bombastic passages, there are many also which
convey what the poet desired to represent--the aspirations of a mind so
heroic as almost to surmount the bonds of society and even the very
laws of the universe, leaving us often in doubt whether the vehemence
of the wish does not even disguise the impossibility of its
accomplishment.
Good heaven! thy book of fate before me lay, But to tear out the journal
of this day. Or, if the order of the world below Will not the gap of one
whole day allow, Give me that minute when she made her vow. That
minute, even the happy from their bliss might give, And those, who
live in grief, a shorter time would live. So small a link, if broke, the
eternal chain Would, like divided waters, join again. It wonnot be; the
fugitive is gone, Pressed by the crowd of following minutes on: That
precious moment's out of nature fled, And in the heap of common

rubbish laid, Of things that once have been, and now decayed.
In the less inflated parts, the ideas are usually as just, as ingenious and
beautiful; for example.
No; there is a necessity in fate. Why still the brave bold man is
fortunate; He keeps his object ever full in sight, And that assurance
holds him firm and right. True, 'tis a narrow path that leads to bliss, }
But right before there is no precipice; } Fear makes men look aside,
and then their footing miss. }
The character of Almanzor is well known as the original of Drawcansir,
in "The Rehearsal," into whose mouth parodies of some of Dryden's
most extravagant flights have been put by the duke of Buckingham.
Shaftesbury also, whose family had smarted under Dryden's satire,
attempts to trace the applause bestowed on the "Conquest of Granada"
to what he calls "the correspondence and relation between our Royal
Theatre and popular Circus, or _Bear-Garden_. For, in the former of
these assemblys, 'tis undeniable that, at least, the two upper regions, or
galleries, contain such spectators as indifferently frequent each place of
sport. So that 'tis no wonder we hear such applause resounded on the
victories of an Almanzor, when the same parties had possibly no later
than the day before bestowed their applause as freely on the victorious
Butcher, the hero of another stage." _Miscellaneous Reflections.
Miscell. 5._
The other personages of the drama sink into Lilliputians, beside the
gigantic Almanzor, although the under plot of the loves of Ozmyn and
Benzayda is beautiful in itself, and ingeniously managed. The virtuous
Almahide is a fit object for the adoration of Almanzor; but her husband
is a poor pageant of royalty. As for Lyndaraxa, her repeated and
unparalleled treachery can only be justified by the extreme imbecility
of her lovers.
The plot of the play is, in part, taken from history. During the last years
of its existence, Granada, the poor remnant of the Moorish empire in
Spain, was torn to pieces with intestine discord, and assailed without by
the sword of the Christians. The history of the civil wars of Granada,

affirmed to be translated into Spanish from the Arabian, gives a
romantic, but not altogether fabulous account of their discord. But a
romance in the French taste, called Almahide, seems to have been the
chief source from which our author drew his plot.
In the conduct of the story there is much brilliancy of event. The reader,
or spectator, is never allowed to repose on the scene before him; and
although the changes of fortune are too rapid to be either probable, or
altogether pleasing, yet they arrest the attention by their splendour and
importance, and interest us in spite of our more sober judgment. The
introduction of the ghost of Almanzor's mother seems to have been
intended to shew how the hero could support even an interview with an
inhabitant of the other world. At least, the professed purpose of her
coming might have been safely trusted to the virtue of Almahide, and
her power over her lover. It afforded an opportunity, however, to throw
in some fine poetry, of which Dryden has not failed to avail himself.
Were it not a peculiar attribute of the heroic drama, it might be
mentioned as a defect, that during the siege of the last possession of the
Spanish Moors, by an enemy hated for his religion, and for his success,
the principle of patriotism is hardly once alluded to through the whole
piece. The