JAMBS THE SECOND.

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most successful was the joint work of two young men who had chap.lately completed their studies at Cambridge, and had beenwelcomed as promising novices in the literary coffee-houses ofLondon, Charles Montague and Matthew Prior. Montaguewas of noble descent: the origin of Prior was so obscure thatno biographer has been able to trace it: hut both the adven-turers were poor and aspiring; both had keen and vigorousminds; both afterwards climbed high; both united in a re-markable degree the love of letters with skill in those depart-ments of business for which men of letters generally have astrong distaste. Of the fifty poets whose lives Johnson haswritten, Montague and Prior were the only two who were dis-tinguished by an intimate knowledge of trade and finance.

Soon their paths diverged widely. Their early friendship wasdissolved. One of them became the chief of the Whig party,and was impeached by the Tories. The other was entrustedwith all the mysteries of Tory diplomacy, and was long keptclose prisoner by the Whigs. At length, after many eventfulyears, the associates, so long parted, were reunited in West-minster Abbey.

Whoever has read the tale of the Hind and Panther with change inattention must have perceived that, while that work was in of e the llcyprogress, a great alteration took place in the views of thosewho used Dryden as their interpreter. At first the Church of Puriians.England is mentioned with tenderness and respect, and is ex-horted to ally herself with the Roman Catholics against thePuritan sects: but at the close of thepoem, and in the preface,which was written after the poem had been finished, the Pro-testant Dissenters are invited to make common cause with theRoman Catholics against the Church of England.

This change in the language of the court poet was indica-tive of a great change in the policy of the court. The originalpurpose of James had been to obtain for the Church of whichhe was a member, not only complete immunity from all penal-ties and from all civil disabilities, but also an ample share ofecclesiastical and academical endowments, and at the sametime to enforce with rigour the laws against the Puritan sects.

All the special dispensations which he had granted had been