Some part of this
deviation was, perhaps, owing to the nature of the stanza; for the
structure of the quatrain prohibited the bard, who used it, from
rambling into those digressive similes, which, in the pindaric strophe,
might be pursued through endless ramifications. If the former started an
extravagant thought, or a quaint image, he was compelled to bring it to
a point within his four-lined stanza. The snake was thus scotched,
though not killed; and conciseness being rendered indispensable, a great
step was gained towards concentration of thought, which is necessary to
the simple and to the sublime The manner of Davenant, therefore, though
short-lived, and ungraced by public applause, was an advance towards
true taste, from the unnatural and frantic indulgence of unrestrained
fancy; and, did it claim no other merit, it possesses that of having
been twice sanctioned by the practice of Dryden, upon occasions of
uncommon solemnity.
The "_Annus Mirabilis_" evinces a considerable portion of labour and
attention; the lines and versification are highly polished, and the
expression was probably carefully corrected. Dryden as Johnson remarks,
already exercised the superiority of his genius, by recommending his own
performance, as written upon the plan of Virgil; and as no unsuccessful
effort at producing those well-wrought images and descriptions, which
create admiration, the proper object of heroic poetry.
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