Poetic License," a defense of his method, prefixed to the State of Innocence; and critics were expressing unfavorable opinions. "Among those critics of the opera," claims Mr. Masson, "as it was to be read in the copies that had got about early in 1674, were Milton himself and his friend Marvell. The fact has escaped notice hitherto, but it is certain, nevertheless." For proof of the fact Mr. Masson relies upon the date of the entry, with Dryden's statement as to the surreptitious copies; and the verses of Andrew Marvell, prefixed to the second edition of Paradise Lost; the peculiarity of which, says Masson, "consists in their being a studied combination of eulogium on Milton for his Paradise Lost with rebuke to Dryden for his impudence in attempting a dramatic and rhymed transversion of such an epic.' 992 There is another literary relation of interest connected with The State of Innocence. In the "Apology" Dryden refers to the dramatist Wycherley. "The author of the 'Plain Dealer,' whom I am proud to call my friend, has," he says, "obliged all honest and virtuous men, by one of the most bold, most general, and most useful satires, which has ever been presented on the English Theatre." Now The Plain Dealer, here referred to, was not published till 1677, but Dryden's words show that when he wrote the "Apology" it was already on the stage, and as The State of Innocence with the prefaced "Apology" has been dated 1674, it follows that Wycherley's play was produced as early as that year. And this has been the general assumption of the editors and critics of Wycherley. The date is of special importance because there has been much controversy as to Wycherley's method of work. Rochester characterized him as "slow" and says: Wycherley earns hard whater'e he gains, He wants no judgment, nor he spares no pains.* Lansdowne objected that the adjective "slow" was due merely to the demands of Rochester's verse. To judge by what Wycherley accomplished one would think it could be no other than the work of extraordinary diligence, labour and application. But, in truth, we owe the pleasure and advantage of having 1 Life of Milton, VI, 710. 3 Works of Dryden, V, 115. 2 Life of Milton, VI, 715. 4"An Allusion to Horace," in Poems on Several Occasions, ed. of 1685, p. 36. been so well entertain'd and instructed by him, to his facility of doing it.... The club which a man of an ordinary size could not lift, was but a walking-staff for Hercules.' And Pope declared: Lord Rochester's character of Wycherley is quite wrong. He was far from being slow in general, and in particular, wrote the Plain Dealer in three weeks." Now, if The Plain Dealer was produced in 1674, we have good evidence that Wycherley carefully worked over and revised his plays; for the first edition, of 1677, contains allusions to events and productions subsequent to 1674. Thus the conclusions that Milton knew the State of Innocence, except for the evidence of Marvell's verses, and that Wycherley's Plain Dealer was produced in 1674, both depend upon the acceptance of 1674 as the date of the publication of The State of Innocence. A careful examination of the data on which the authorities above named relied, together with data that have since become available, leads to the belief that The State of Innocence was not published in 1674, nor in 1676, the date ascribed by W. C. Hazlitt,' Halliwell, and others, but first in 1677. It will be seen that there is no direct testimony to the 1674 date, and only one piece of apparently direct testimony, and, so far as I have been able to discover, no testimony at all for the 1676 date; while there is evidence of considerable value that the 1677 edition is the first. The verses of Marvell-all that are important for this discussion are these: ON PARADISE LOST When I beheld the poet blind, yet bold, The argument Held me awhile misdoubting his intent, 1 Genuine Works of George Granville, Lord Lansdowne, ed. of 1732, I, 432. 2 Spence's Anecdotes, ed. Singer, p. 201. 3 Manual for the Collector and Amateur of Old English Plays. 4 Dictionary of Plays. Yet as I read, soon growing less severe, I liked his project, the success did fear Lest he perplexed the things he would explain, Jealous I was that some less skillful hand Might hence presume the whole Creation's day My causeless, yet not impious surmise. Thou hast not missed one thought that could be fit, So that no room is here for writers left, But to detect their ignorance or theft. Well might'st thou scorn thy readers to allure With tinkling rime, of thy own sense secure; While the Town-Bayes writes all the while and spells, And, like a pack-horse, tires without his bells. The poets tag them, we for fashion wear. I too, transported by the mode, offend, And, while I meant to praise thee, must commend. Thy verse, created, like thy theme sublime, In number, weight, and measure, needs not rime. These latter lines are sufficient to prove Masson's claim that Milton and Marvell had talked over Dryden's request and Milton's answer; but they afford no evidence that they had seen The State of Innocence, or even that they knew it was to be published. After stating that he had been fearful lest someone might show Milton's work in a play, Marvell calls his surmise "causeless." The lines that follow-somewhat significantly, not quoted by Masson-appear to mean that he is now convinced that no one will dare to turn Paradise Lost into a play, because to do so would clearly manifest him a fool or a thief; they may mean that he no longer fears, because, if anyone does turn Milton's work into a play, it can only redound to Milton's honor, through the manifest ignorance or plagiarism of the dramatist; but they certainly do not indicate that Marvell has seen any such play. Dryden's project he evidently knows; had he known Dryden's production, he could hardly have failed to attack it more directly. That Milton and Marvell had seen The State of Innocence appears less likely in view of the date when the second edition of Paradise Lost was published. Professor Arber's invaluable reprint of the Term Catalogues' now enables us to state approximately the time of year when it appeared. It is advertised in the Catalogue of Books published in Trinity Term, 1674. This catalogue was licensed for publication on July 6, so the second edition of Milton's work had either been published between May 26, or thereabout-the date of the preceding catalogue-and July 6, or on July 6 was about to appear. Thus, even if Marvell's verses were written and printed after the second edition was otherwise ready, we have at the most barely three months after its entry in the Stationers' Register for a surreptitious copy of The State of Innocence to come into Milton's hands. These copies were evidently written, not printed. Dryden speaks of "everyone gathering new faults," and Masson calls them "transcripts." In view of all the circumstances it appears highly improbable that Milton had seen The State of Innocence: it clearly is not "certain." But even if Milton saw such a copy, and even if that copy were printed, this is no evidence that the authorized edition was published in 1674. Scott's statement that it was so published, "shortly after the death of Milton" on November 8, adopted by Masson and others, appears to rest on no better foundation than the natural belief that it would be published not long after the entry in the Stationers' Register, and the fact that Dryden in the prefaced "Apology" speaks of Milton as deceased. It is a not unnatural surmise that Dryden might have delayed the publication of his work out of regard for the aged poet merely until his death. 1 The Term Catalogues, 1668-1709. Edited by Professor Edward Arber; Vol. I, 1903; Vol. II, 1905. By this vast and difficult undertaking, of which he bears all the financial as well as editorial responsibility, Professor Arber has again placed students of English literature deeply in his debt. Two things declare strongly against the acceptance of this surmise. The first is that a copy of a 1674 edition is not to be found! First editions of Dryden's other plays are not rare. Dryden's popularity and prominence, together with the connection of this book with Milton, would lead one to expect a specially large first edition. The edition of 1677 is today a fairly common book; yet the supposed first edition is not to be found. It is not in the British Museum, the Bodleian, or the Cambridge University Library, and diligent search in the other large British libraries has failed to reveal it. No private collection has been discovered that contains it. Mr. Edmund Gosse has been collecting for thirty years, has in his possession the first edition of every other play of Dryden; but this he has never seen or heard of. The great London booksellers have never seen it, though they have been commissioned hundreds of times to procure a copy. Nor has the edition apparently ever been described. Why should this one first edition be so entirely missing? Corroborative evidence is furnished by the Term Catalogues. From November, 1668, to November, 1682, but one play of Dryden-All for Love-is missing from the catalogues. All the others, fourteen in number, leaving out The State of Innocence, are advertised in what are demonstrably the first editions. And the one new play, Don Sebastian, which appears in the catalogues after this time is also in the first edition. For books not in the first edition the catalogues have a special heading—"Reprinted Books." Now, The State of Innocence appears first in the Term Catalogue for Hilary Term (licensed for publication February 12), 1676-7. This is the edition which bears on the title-page the date 1677. Like all the other plays, this entry of The State of Innocence does not appear under the heading "Reprinted Books,” but under that of "Poetry and Plays." Professor Arber informs me that he has never yet [August, 1904] discovered a case where a book not entered under the head of "Reprinted Books" is not a first edition. The third edition of The State of Innocence appears in the catalogue of November, 1684, in its proper place, under the head of "Reprinted." Why should it be supposed that the edition of The State of Innocence entered in February, |