Purcell and Dryden collaborated more than once, and seem to have respected one another. Congreve was Dryden’s protégé then friend, and said he was “exceedingly humane and compassionate”. Addison also became a friend, after addressing a poem to the former poet laureate. Locke was known from schooldays, while Pope as a 12-year-old was taken to see the veteran Dryden, in the coffee-house where he held court and spent his evenings. Shadwell had been on friendly terms, Dryden contributing a prologue to one of his plays; Shadwell then satirised him in print, Dryden responding in kind.