ENGLISH 313: AUGUSTAN WRITERS I
(English Literature, 1660-1700)
Fall 1999

Below is an excerpt from The Medal of John Bayes: A Satyr Against Folly and Knavery (1682), probably by Thomas Shadwell.  It exemplifies the kind of splenetic attacks directed at Dryden after the publication of Absalom and Achitophel (1681).   Dryden's reputation as the author of heroic drama, which was ridiculed for its bombast and hyperbole in the early 1670s, is referred to in the term "Heroick Clown" and in the awkwardly theatrical lines Dryden is given below.  As the probable author, Thomas Shadwell also hoped to get some revenge for MacFlecknoe, which had circulated in manuscript since 1676 and which would be printed in 1684. 

As far from Satyr does thy Talent lye,

As from being cheerful, or good company.

For thou art Saturnine, thou dost confess;

A civil word thy Dulness to express.

An old gelt Mastiff has more mirth than thou,

When thou a kind of paltry Mirth would'st show.

Good humour thou so awkwardly put'st on,

It sits like Modish Clothes upon a Clown;

While that of Gentlemen is brisk and high,

When Wine and Wit about the room does flie.

Thou never mak'st, but art a standing Jest;

Thy Mirth by foolish Bawdry is exprest;

And so debauch'd, so fulsome, and so odd,

As---

Let's Bugger one another now by G--d.

(When ask'd how they should spend the Afternoon)

This was the smart reply of the Heroick Clown.

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