Charles Dryden, who was some time usher to pope Clement ii. was a young gentleman of a very promising genius; and in the affair of his father’s funeral, which I am about to relate, shewed himself a man of spirit and resolution.[7]

The day after Mr. Dryden’s death, the dean of Westminster sent word to Mr. Dryden’s widow, that he would make a present of the ground, and all other Abbey-fees for the funeral:  The lord Halifax likewise sent to the lady Elizabeth, and to Mr. Charles Dryden, offering to defray the expences of our poet’s funeral, and afterwards to bestow 500 l. on a monument in the Abbey:  which generous offer was accepted.  Accordingly, on Sunday following, the company being assembled, the corpse was put into a velvet hearse, attended by eighteen mourning coaches.  When they were just ready to move, lord Jefferys, son of lord chancellor Jeffreys, a name dedicated to infamy, with some of his rakish companions riding by, asked whose funeral it was; and being told it was Mr. Dryden’s, he protested he should not be buried in that private manner, that he would himself, with the lady Elizabeth’s leave, have the honour of the interment, and would bestow a thousand pounds on a monument in the Abbey for him.  This put a stop to their procession; and the lord Jefferys, with several of the gentlemen, who had alighted from their coaches, went up stairs to the lady, who was sick in bed.  His lordship repeated the purport of what he had said below; but the lady Elizabeth refusing her consent, he fell on his knees, vowing never to rise till his request was granted.  The lady under a sudden surprise fainted away, and lord Jeffery’s pretending to have obtained her consent, ordered the body to be carried to Mr. Russel’s an undertaker in Cheapside, and to be left there till further orders.  In the mean time the Abbey was lighted up, the ground opened, the choir attending, and the bishop waiting some hours to no purpose for the corpse.  The next day Mr. Charles Dryden waited on my lord Halifax, and the bishop; and endeavoured to excuse his mother, by relating the truth.  Three days after the undertaker having received no orders, waited on the lord Jefferys; who pretended it was a drunken frolic, that he remembered nothing of the matter, and he might do what he pleased with the body.  Upon this, the undertaker waited on the lady Elizabeth, who desired a day’s respite, which was granted.  Mr. Charles Dryden immediately wrote to the lord Jefferys, who returned for answer, that he knew nothing of the matter, and would be troubled no more about it.  Mr. Dryden hereupon applied again to the lord Halifax, and the bishop of Rochester, who absolutely refused to do any thing in the affair.