Sir John Denham (1615-1668) was one who deserved, what he here obtains from Swift, the recognition of a certain true literary gift. By some of the best critics of the day when the Battle of the Books was written, Denham was held to share with Cowley and Waller the merit of having moulded the poetic diction of England: and the distinctive quality ascribed to him is shewn by Pope's lines (Essay on Criticism) —
'And praise the easy vigour of a line
Where Denham's strength and Waller's sweetness join.'
His poem on Cooper's Hill — which has yielded at least the hackneyed quotation, against the currency of which Swift, in one of his poems, feels it needful to protest, 'Oh, could I flow like thee,' etc. — is that by which his name is chiefly remembered. It has no real epic character : and although it contains an occasional foretaste of the vigour of expression which Dryden was to bring to perfection, it has scarcely any other quality which would recommend it to the taste of our own day. A short poem on the death of Cowley (whom Denham outlived only by a year) is more graceful and deft in workmanship. Compared with Gondibert, his work justified the half-divine descent with which Swift credits him.