Before we give an account of the dramatic works of Dryden, it will be proper here to insert a story concerning him, from the life of Congreve by Charles Wilson esquire, which that gentleman received from the lady whom Mr. Dryden celebrates by the name of Corinna, of whom it appears he was very fond; and who had the relation from lady Chudleigh.  Dryden with all his undemanding was weak enough to be fond of Judicial Astrology, and used to calculate the nativity of his children.  When his lady was in labour with his son Charles, he being told it was decent to withdraw, laid his watch on the table, begging one of the ladies then present, in a most solemn manner, to take exact notice of the very minute the child was born, which she did, and acquainted him with it.  About a week after, when his lady was pretty well recovered, Mr. Dryden took occasion to tell her that he had been calculating the child’s nativity, and observed, with grief, that he was born in an evil hour, for Jupiter, Venus, and the sun, were all under the earth, and the lord of his ascendant afflicted with a hateful square of Mars and Saturn.  If he lives to arrive at his 8th year (says he) ’he will go near to die a violent death on his very birth-day, but if he should escape, as I see but small hopes, he will in the 23d year be under the very same evil direction, and if he should escape that also, the 33d or 34th year is, I fear’—­here he was interrupted by the immoderate grief of his lady, who could no longer hear calamity prophecy’d to befall her son.  The time at last came, and August was the inauspicious month in which young Dryden was to enter into the eighth year of his age.  The court being in progress, and Mr. Dryden at leisure, he was invited to the country seat of the earl of Berkshire, his brother-in-law, to keep the long vacation with him in Charlton in Wilts; his lady was invited to her uncle Mordaunt’s, to pass the remainder of the summer.  When they came to divide the children, lady Elizabeth would have him take John, and suffer her to take Charles; but Mr. Dryden was too absolute, and they parted in anger; he took Charles with him, and she was obliged to be content with John.  When the fatal day came, the anxiety of the lady’s spirits occasioned such an effervescence of blood, as threw her into, so violent a fever, that her life was despaired of, till a letter came from Mr. Dryden, reproving her for her womanish credulity, and assuring her, that her child was well, which recovered her spirits, and in six weeks after she received an ecclaircissement-of the whole affair.  Mr. Dryden, either thro’ fear of being reckoned superstitious, or thinking it a science beneath his study, was extremely cautious of letting any one know that he was a dealer in Astrology; therefore could not excuse his absence, on his son’s anniversary, from a general hunting match lord Berkshire had made, to which all the adjacent gentlemen, were invited.  When he went out, he took care to set the boy a double exercise in the Latin tongue, which