7 The Dissenting Hypocrite; or, Occasional Con
8 Vulgus Britannicus; or, the British Hudibras, in fifteen cantos, &c. by the Author of the London Spy, second edition
9 Hudibras Redivivus, &c. by E. Ward, no date. 10 The Republican Procession; or, the Tumultuous Cavalcade, second edition
11 The Hudibrastic Brewer, a satire on the former
12 Four Hudibrastic Cantos, being poems on four of the greatest heroes
13 Posthumous Works in Prose and Verse of Mr. S.
Butler, 3 vols. 12mo. 1720, and in 1 vol....... 1754
14 England's Reformation, &c., a Poem, by Thomas
Ward
15 The Irish Hudibras, Hesperi-neso-graphia, by
William Moffet, 1755, a reprint of No. 4.
16 The Poetical Works of William Meston
17 The Alma of Matthew Prior.
For a very judicious and elegant criticism on the merits and defects of these various poems, the reader is advised to consult the article in the work from which our list is taken. The present editor, who has carefully read most of the above poems, bears his testimony to the truth and justice of the observations upon them.
Pope, in classing the English poets for his projected discourse on the rise and progress of English Poetry, has considered Sir John Mennis and Thomas Baynal as the original of Hudibras. See Dr. Warton's Essays. Some of these pieces certainly partake of the wit, raillery, and playful versification of Butler; and this collection, it is just to remember, made its appearance eight years before the publication of Hudibras. Dr. Farmer has traced much of Butler in Cleveland." Musarum Delicia, first printed, 1655.
VIII. An Epitaph on James Duke of Hamilton.
He that three kingdoms made one flame,
Blasted their beauty, burnt the frame,
Himself now here in ashes lies,
A part of this great Sacrifice :
Here all of HAMILTON remains,
Save what the other world contains.
But (Reader) it is hard to tell
Whether that world be Heav'n, or Hell.
A Scotch man enters Hell at 's birth,
And 'scapes it when he goes to earth,
Assur'd no worse a Hell can come
Than that which he enjoy'd at home.
Now did the Royall Workman botch
This Duke, halfe-English, and halfe-Scotch!
A Scot an English Earldom fits,
As Purple doth your Marmuzets;
Suits like Nol Cromwell with the Crown,
Or Bradshaw in his Scarlet-gown.
Yet might he thus disguis'd (no lesse)
Have slipt to Heav'n in's English dresse,
But that he'in hope of life became
This mystick Proteus too as well
Might cheat the Devill 'scape his Hell,
Since to those pranks he pleas'd to play
Religion ever pav'd the way;
Which he did to a Faction tie,
Not to reforme but crucifie.
"Twas he that first alarm'd the Kirke
To this prepost'rous bloody worke,
Upon the King's to place Christ's throne,
A step and foot-stoole to his owne;
Taught Zeal a hundred tumbling tricks,
And Scriptures twin'd with Politicks;
The Pulpit made a Jugler's Box,
Set Law and Gospell in the Stocks,
As did old Buchanan and Knox,
In those daies when (at once1) the Por
And Presbyters a way did find
Into the world to plague mankind.
"Twas he patch'd up the new Divine,
Part Calvin, and part Catiline,
Could too transforme (without a Spell)
Satan into a Gabriel;
Just like those pictures which we paint
On this side Fiend, on that side Saint.
Both this, and that, and every thing
He was; for and against the King:
Rather than he his ends would misse,
Betray'd his Master with a kisse,
And buri'd in one common Fate
The glory of our Church and State:
The Crown too levell'd on the ground;
And having rook't all parties round,
'Faith it was time then to be gone,
Since he had all his businesse done.
Next on the fatall Block expir'd,
He to this Marble-Cell retir'd;
Where all of HAMILTON remains
But what Eternity contains.
Digitus Dei, or God's Justice upon Treachery and
Treason, exemplified in the Life and Death of
the late James Duke of Hamilton, whereto is
added an Epitaph upon him. 4to. London, 1649.
This poem is ascribed to Marchamont Needham. It is curious as being much in the style of Butler, and being published fourteen years before Hudibras appeared.
The Pox, Presbytery, and Jesuitisme, are of the same standing.
As it has been said, on the authority of Pope, that Butler was indebted for the peculiarities of his style to "Musarum Delicia, or Wit's Recreation;" and as that work is not in the possession of any but a few persons who are curious in poetry, it has been thought advisable to afford an extract or two from it. It was first printed
"A letter to Sir John Mennis, when the Parliament denied the King money to pay the army, unless a priest, whom the King had reprieved, might be executed. Sir John at the same time wanting the money for provisions for his troop, desired me by his letter to goe to the priest, and to persuade him to dye for the good of the army, saying,
What is't for him to hang an houre,
To give an army strengthe and power?"
By my last letter, John, thou see'st
What I have done to soften priest,
Yet could not with all I could say
Persuade him hang, to get thee pay.
Thou swad, quoth he, I plainly see
The army wants no food by thee.
Fast oft'ner, friend, or if you'll eate,
Use oaten straw, or straw of wheate;
They'l serve to moderate thy jelly,
And (which it needs) take up thy belly.
As one that in a taverne breakes
A glasse, steales by the barre and sneaks,
At this rebuke, with no less haste, I
Trudg'd from the priest and prison hasty.
The truth is, he gave little credit
To th' armies wants, because I said it;
And if you'll press it further, John,
'Tis fit you send a learned man.
For thou with ease can friends expose,
For thy behoof, to fortune's blows.
Suppose we being found together,
Had pass'd for birds of the same feather,
I had perchance been shrewdly shent,
And maul'd too by the Parliament.
Have you beheld the unlucky ape
For roasted chestnuts mump and gape,
And offering at them with his pawes,
But loath he is to scorch his clawes.
When viewing on the hearth asleep
A puppy, gives him cause to weep,
To spare his own, he takes his helpe,
And rakes out nuts with foot of whelpe;
Which done, as if 'twere all but play,
Your name-sake looks another way.
The cur awakes, and finds his thumbs
In paine, but knows not whence it comes;
He takes it first to be some cramp,
And now he spreads, now licks his vamp.
Both are in vain, no ease appeares ;
What should he doe? he shakes his eares;
And hobling on three legs, he goes
Whining away with aking toes.
Not in much better case perhaps,
I might have been to serve thy chaps,
And have bestrewed my finger's end
For groping so in cause of friend;
Whilst thou wouldst munch like horse in manger,
And reach at nuts with others' danger,
Yet have I ventured far to serve
My friend that says-he's like to starve.
"An Answer to a letter from Sir John Mennis, wherein he jeeres him for falling so quickly to the use of the Directory."
Friend, thou dost lash me with a story,
A long one too, of Directory;
When thou alone deserves the birch,
That brought'st the bondage on the Church.
Didst thou not treat for Bristow City
And yield it up?-the more's the pity.
And saw'st thou not, how right or wrong
The Common Prayer-Book went along?
Didst thou not scource, as if enchanted,
For articles Sir Thomas granted;
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