174
GEORGE GRANVILLE,
written by idleness, and published by vanity:” but the same stern critic admits that his lordship's
- "Prologues and Epilogues"
have a just claim to praise; that his
is not deficient in splendour and gaiety; that his
is neither inelegant nor injudicious; and that his
has many passages which are at least pretty, though they do not rise to any high degree of excellence.
His lordship's dramatic pieces were six in number; the titles of which and dates of publication may be seen in Biog. Dramatica, vol. i. p. 196. The following will serve to denote his poetic style:
"So calm and so serene but now;
What means this change on Myra's brow?
Her aguish love now glows and burns,
Then chills and shakes, and the cold fit returns.
- ↑ Myra was Mrs. Frances Brudenell, daughter of lord B. first married to the earl of Newburgh, in Scotland; and secondly to lord Bellew, an Irish peer. Dr. King, of Oxford, who had some dispute with her concerning property in Ireland, wrote a severe poem entitled "The Toast," of which this lady is the heroine. See Malone's Dryden, vol. i. part ii. p. 114. Dr. Anderson thinks it probable that most of the verses addressed to Myra, however disguised by their application, were originally designed for Mary d'Esté of Modena, whose charms had fascinated him at college. In this case Myra will become a poetic anagram.
