The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). Volume VIII. The Age of Dryden. I. Dryden. § 37. The Eminence of his Genius. Yet, even so, it were unjust as well as ungrateful to think of Dryden as a craftsman who, by dint of taking infinite pains, learnt the secret of simulating that which in the chosen few is inborn. What he was not, he at no time made any pretence of being. What he did, he did with the whole strength of one of the most vigorous intellects given to any poet ancient or modern, with constant generosity of effort, and, at the same time, with masculine directness and clear simplicity of purpose. And, though the work of his life is not marble without a flaw, yet the whole structure overtops the expanse of contemporary English literature like the temple shining from the Sunian height over the sea.   87