The Works of John Dryden, Volume XI: Plays: The Conquest of Granada, Part I and Part II; Marriage-à-la-Mode and The Assignation: Or, Love in a Nunnery

The Conquest of Granada by the Spaniards - The First Part

THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA BY THE SPANIARDS THE FIRST PART The Conqueft o F GRANADA B Y T H E SPANIARDS: In Two Parts. Adted at the *Tbeater~Ttyall. Writtenb y O H N DRYDEN Servant to His Majefty. . ii Major rerum mihi nafcitur Ordo 5 Majur Opus miveo. Virg:/Eaeid: 7. In the SAro, Printed by T. N forHenry Herringman, and are to be fold at the Anchor in the Lower Walk of the NcIP Exchange. 1672. TITLE PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION (MACDONALD76A) Conquest of Granada, Part I 3 To His ROYAL HIGHNESS The DUKE. SIR, H EROIQUE Poesie has alwayes been sacred to Princes and to Heroes. Thus Virgil inscrib'd his Eneids to Augustus Ccesar; and, of latter Ages, Tasso and Ariosto dedicated their Poems to the house of Est. 'Tis, indeed, but justice, that the most excellent and most profitable kind of writing, should be addressed by Poets to such persons whose Characters have, for the most part, been the guides and patterns of their imitation. And Poets, while they imitate, instruct. The feign'd Heroe in10 flames the true: and the dead vertue animates the living. Since, therefore, the World is govern'd by precept and Example; and both these can onely have influence from those persons who are above us, that kind of Poesy which excites to vertue the greatest men, is of greatest use to humane kind. 'Tis from this consideration, that I have presum'd to dedicate to your Royal Highness these faint representations of your own worth and valour in Heroique Poetry: or, to speak more properly , not to dedicate, but to restore to you those Ideas, which, in the more perfect part of my characters, I have taken from you. 20 Heroes may lawfully be delighted with their own praises, both as they are farther incitements to their vertue, and as they are the highest returns which mankind can make them for it. And certainly, if ever Nation were oblig'd either by the conduct , the personal valour, or the good fortune of a Leader, the English are acknowledging, in all of them, to your Royal Highness . Your whole life has been a continu'd Series of Heroique Actions: which you began so early that you were no sooner nam'd in the world, but it waswith praise and Admiration. Even the first blossomes of your youth paid us all that could be ex30pected from a ripening manhood. While you practis'd but the rudiments of War you out-went all other Captains: and have 2 Heroes] F, D; Heroes Q1-5- [These and other sigla are identified in the Textual Notes.] 4 Conquest of Granada, Part I since found none to surpass, but your self alone. The opening of your glory was like that of light: you shone to us from afar; and disclos'd your first beams on distant Nations: yet so, that the lustre of them was spred abroad, and reflected brightly on your native Country. You were then an honour to it, when it was a reproach to it self: and, when the fortunate Usurper sent his arms to Flanders, many of the adverse party were vanquish'd by your fame, e're they try'd your valour. The report of it drew over to your Ensigns whole Troops and Companies of converted 10 Rebels: and made them forsake successfull wickedness to follow an oppress'd and exil'd vertue. Your reputation wag'd war with the Enemies of your royal family, even within their trenches; and the more obstinate, or more guilty of them, were forc'd to be spyes over those whom they commanded: lest the name of YORK should disband that Army in whose fate it was to defeat the Spaniards, and force Dunkirk to surrender. Yet, those victorious forces of the Rebells were not able to sustain your arms: where you charg'd in person you were a Conqueror: 'tis true they afterwards recover'd Courage; and wrested that Victory 20 from others which they had lost to you. And it was a greater action for them to rally than it was to overcome. Thus, by the presence of your Royal Highness, the English on both sides remain 'd victorious: and that Army, which was broken by your valour, became a terror to those for whom they conquer'd. Then it was that at the cost of other Nations...