Printed - Redalyc

Wildi ng as "an audacíous and impudent libeller" (19) , allnd ing lo
Shadwell's work as a pamphleleer for the Whig cause." Like
Shadwell, he ta kes pr ide in his musical skills: "This fellow valúes
himself exlremely by playing on the Musick" (10) , a commen t
w hich seerns espec iallv sa rcastic coming fmm the pen o f a mas te r of
song -writing such as Dnrfey." More no lorio usly, Sir Barnaby is
made lo play a song that rid icules his theatrical pro d uction:
Farew ell tny Lov'd Science, my fonuer deligh t,
Moliere is quite rifled, then how sho uld I write?
My fancy's grown sleepy, my quibling is don e;
And design or invention , alas! I have naneo
But still let the Town never d oubt my conditian;
Though r fall a damn 'd Poet, I'le moun t a Musician .
I go l Fam e by fil chin g from"
Poems and Plays,
Bul 111Y Fidlin g an d Drinking has lost me the Bays;
Like a Furv I rail'd, Iike a Satvr 1writ,
Thersites t;W Humour, an d Fleckno mv wu.
But lo m"k~ some amend s for my snarlíng an d lashing,
Idívert all theTown with my Thrummíng and Thrashing. (28)
For all its brevi ty, the song is a thorough bash ing of
Sha dwell as a poe!. Durfey clearlv makes comic capital of Drvden's
infamous lampoon on Shadwell, as he porlray s Sir Bamaby as an
incompetent playwright and associates him with Flecknoe." He
allud es mockingly lo Shadwell's claim lo musical lalen l and lo his
most successfnl comedy, TI/e Virluoso (1676), which Look the rise of
70 n the pronunence acq uired by Shadwell as Whig pamphleteer in the early t680s,
see Borgman (1969: 55).
11 60th Shadwell and Durfey a ttached grea t importance to the use cf songs and muste
in their plays, but Durfey's popularity in thís ñeld was unsurpassed . The DidiOlIllf)1
of Nali01ll11 Biogm" IY allud es to an often quo ted anecdo te that "Charles 11 had leaned
famil iar ly on his shoulder, holding a comer of the same shee t of music from wluch
Dur fey was síngmg t he burlesqu e song.. ' Remember, ye whígs, what was fonnerly
done.:" See aleo McVeagh (2000: 5) and Wheatl ey (2001 : )44).
'1 M lcFlt'ck/Ult' was not published until October 1682, yet the poem had been written
ell. 1678and had circulated in manuscr ipt (Swedenberg & Dean ng lCf72 : 299")00).
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