discovers the tail of the peacock, which is so large that it almost fills the opening of the stage between scene and scene" (act 1). More pointedly, political allegorizing of the Tory message includes a figure representing Shaftesbury "with Fiend's Wings, and snakes twisted round his body; he is encompassed by several fanatical rebellious heads, who suck poison from him, which runs out of a tap in his side". Dryden on opera When Albion and Albanius came to be printed, Dryden's "Preface" was the first explication of opera in the English language. "An opera is a poetical tale, or fiction, represented by vocal and instrumental music, adorned with scenes, machines and dancing", Dryden informed his readers. The "machines" were required to effect the dramatic changes of scenery the action required. Pointing out that the persons were supernatural or heroic, Dryden linked his work with the genre we would call Romance: "The subject, therefore, being extended beyond the limits of human nature, admits of that sort of marvellous and surprising conduct, which is rejected in other plays... it would follow of necessity, that the expressions should be lofty, figurative, and majestical." In this way, at the very birth of opera in London, Dryden gives the character that opera seria retained for a century, as long as the librettos of Metastasio were being set, into the age of Mozart. In the 17th-century, Italian operas that Dryden admitted were his general models – and the French ones that he did not mention – the recitative drove the action, and the arias – "which for want of a proper English word, I must call the songish part" – were meant to please the ear rather than gratify the understanding. References Further reading Downes, John, (1708). Roscius Anglicanus. Dryden, John, (1808) The Works of John Dryden, 18 Volumes, Sir Walter Scott (editor). Vol. 7. Hume, Robert D. (1976). The Development of English Drama in the Late Seventeenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Reprint edition (July 1, 1990). . McCollum Jr, John I. (1961). The Restoration Stage (in Houghton Mifflin Research Series, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Riverside Press) Price, Curtis (1992), "Grabu, Luis" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) External links Libretto (1691), including Dryden's "Preface"; section 3 from Dryden's Plays, vol. 4 Operas English-language operas Semi-operas 1680 operas Operas by Louis Grabu Works by John Dryden