" Few readers will probably take the trouble of consulting
these huge volumes, for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of
this charge. Even our duty, as editors, cannot impel us to the task;
satisfied, as we are, that, since these ponderous folios at that time
loaded every toilette, Dryden can hardly have taken more from such
well-known sources, than the mere outline of the story. Indeed, to
a certain degree, the foundation of the plot, upon a story in the
"Cyrus," is admitted by the author. The character of the queen is
admirably drawn, and the catastrophe is brought very artfully forward;
the uncertainty, as to her final decision, continuing till the last
moment. In this, as in all our author's plays, some passages of
beautiful poetry occur in the dialogue; as, for example, the scene in
act 3d betwixt Philocles and Candiope. The characters, excepting that
of the Maiden Queen herself, are lame and uninteresting. Philocles, in
particular, has neither enough of love to make him despise ambition,
nor enough of ambition to make him break the fetters of love. We might
have admired him, had he been constant; or sympathised with him, had
he sinned against his affections, and repented; but there is nothing
interesting in the vacillations of his indecision.
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