for the first time, throughout the whole of this edition; the obsolete orthography, where it was not indispensable to the measure, the rhyme, or the humour (of which it is sometimes an element), has been modernized; and some verbal mistakes which escaped detection in the early text, and were subsequently implicitly copied, have been rectified. The poems comprised in Mr. Thyer's volumes were originally, and have since continued to be, printed without any classification of forms or subjects; they are here placed in the order into which they properly fall, an arrangement which will conduce to a clearer view of their relative interest and importance.

The application of the numerous passages which bear upon the popular superstitions or empiricism of the day, or reflect upon particular individuals, is pointed out in the notes. This kind of annotation was especially necessary in reference to The Elephant in the Moon, a poem which is said to have been withheld from publication during the life-time of the author on account of its personalities, and which abounds in satirical allusions that would lose their force if left unexplained. No material point requiring elucidation has, I trust, been overlooked. Whenever I have made any use of information furnished by Mr. Thyer, or by the edition of 1822, the authority is given.

Warburton's opinion of these pieces is, no doubt, just in the main. They do not satisfy the expectations raised by the wit and learning of Hudibras. They exhibit the same characteristics, but in a lower degree, and only in intermittent gleams. We miss in them the sustained power, the profusion of images, drawn from an infinite variety of recondite sources, the conquests of metrical difficulties, and the unerring felicity in the choice of words. The Satires are seldom witty, and often dull; the Odes, although containing passages of remarkable merit, are generally deficient in vigour and elasticity; and the Ballads hardly soar above the average lampoons collected into the Songs of the Rump. Yet the weakest of these poems vindicates its origin in

scattered figures, and striking views, worthy of the genius of its author. The miscellaneous fragments are full of profound and original reflections, nor has Butler, even in Hudibras, exhibited more effectively, his acute observation of life and intimate knowledge of human nature, than in these aphoristic scraps, many of which have long passed into household words.

Apart from all considerations of intrinsic excellence, these pieces possess a literary speciality which invests them with peculiar interest. They bring Butler before us in the very moment of inspiration, and reveal to us the whole course and action of his poetical labour. We have here the rough drafts of his thoughts, afterwards either fitted into his great work, rejected, re-fashioned, or reserved for a future opportunity. His custom of noting down images or ideas as they occurred to him, in the form in which they first presented themselves, is here exhibited in operation. We find the same ideas recurring in different shapes, expanded or condensed according to circumstances. Sometimes a train of reflections, suggested by one of these crude memoranda, is found fully developed in Hudibras; and sometimes the process is reversed, and a hint suggested in Hudibras, which the structure of the poem did not permit him to pursue, is found worked out to its final results in an independent form. It is in these aspects, as showing the mental combinations and minute details of preparation by which the poem of Hudibras was produced, that the Remains of Butler present the strongest attraction to the student of English literature. Most of the passages which have a relation to each other are indicated in the notes.

I cannot close my labours on these volumes without acknowledging the obligations I owe to the courtesy and kindness of His Excellency, M. Sylvain Van de Weyer, from whose library I derived valuable aid in the progress of the work.

POEMS

OF

SAMUEL BUTLER.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE MOON.

[THE Royal Society originated in an attempt to carry into practical execution the plan of combined systematic exertion for the advancement of science, laid down by Lord Bacon in his Nova Atlantis. A few gentlemen who had associated together for that purpose, about the year 1645, met at intervals, sometimes at Dr. Goddard's lodgings, in Woodstreet, or at the Bull-head tavern in Cheapside, but more frequently in the Lecture Hall of Gresham College, where they finally established themselves, and continued their séances for many years afterwards. A few of the most active members having removed to Oxford, in 1648, a branch was formed there, and weekly meetings were regularly held in London and Oxford, till the two sections were reunited, and incorporated under a charter by Charles II., in 1662. The first number of the Transactions was published on the 6th of March, 1664-5.

This poem is a satire upon the Royal Society, whose early proceedings, however admirable were the ultimate aims of that body, suggested abundant materials for ridicule. Ample information respecting its composition and transactions will be found in Dr. Sprat's History, written expressly to defend the Society against its assailants, and in the recent and more elaborate Memoir by Mr. Weld. Nothing was too extravagant, or too trivial, for inquiry or experiment; and the wide circle of disquisition embraced all the current

delusions and superstitions, amongst the most prominent of which were the cure by royal touch, the transfusion of blood, sympathetic powder, and the divining rod. Nor was the belief in such matters confined to comparatively obscure and ignorant members; even the most enlightened participated in the general taste for the marvellous and fantastical. Some of the Fellows had so implicit a faith in the cosmetic virtues of May-dew, that they were in the habit of going out to collect it before sunrise; and it is certain that Boyle believed in the efficacy of touch.]

A

LEARNED Society of late,
The glory of a foreign state,*
Agreed, upon a summer's night,
To search the Moon by her own light;
To make an inventory of all

Her real estate, and personal;
And make an accurate survey
Of all her lands, and how they lay,t
As true as that of Ireland, where
The sly surveyors stole a shire:‡

* In placing the scene of his learned society' abroad, Butler may have intended to convey a satirical inuendo against certain societies existing on the Continent, where the idea of establishing such institutions took its rise early in the 17th century. About the period of Galileo's discoveries, several small associations were formed, one of the principal of which was the Lyncean Society, established about 1611, under the patronage of the Marchese Frederico Cesi. Galileo himself was a member of the Lyncean; which soon afterwards declining, was succeeded in 1657 by the Academia de Cimento at Florence.

† In May, 1661, Mr. Wren was commissioned by the king, through the agency of the Royal Society, to make a globe of the moon. The globe when completed, says Ward, in his Lives of the Gresham Professors,' represented not only the spots and various degrees of whiteness upon the surface of the moon, but also the hills, eminences, and cavities, moulded in solid work, The king received the globe with peculiar satisfaction, and ordered it to be placed amongst the curiosities of his cabinet.'

Probably an allusion to Sir William Petty, who was employed to take a survey of Ireland in Cromwell's time, and was afterwards impeached for mismanagement in the distribution and allotments of land.-T.

T'observe her country, how 'twas planted,
With what sh' abounded most, or wanted;
And make the proper'st observations
For settling of new plantations,*
If the society should incline
T'attempt so glorious a design.

This was the purpose of their meeting,
For which they chose a time as fitting;
When at the full her radiant light
And influence too were at their height.†
And now the lofty tube, the scale
With which they heaven itself assail,
Was mounted full against the Moon;
And all stood ready to fall on,
Impatient who should have the honour
To plant an ensign first upon her.
When one,§ who for his deep belief
Was virtuoso then in chief,

* It does not appear that the colonization of the moon ever occupied the attention of the Royal Society; although a belief in the supposition that the planet was habitable seems to have been pretty generally entertained. The passage in the text alludes to the doctrines of Kepler. See post, p. 12, note †, and p. 31, note *.

The regular time of the meetings of the Society was in the afternoon. At Oxford the members met at 2 p.m., and in London at 3. A proposition was made to alter the hour to 9 o'clock in the morning; but it was not adopted.

‡ A pleasant exaggeration, if the epithet lofty' must be understood in reference to the telescope, and not to the objects it reflected. When this was written the telescope was in its infancy, and was a very small instrument. The first reflecting telescope, constructed by Newton, was made in 1671. It was only nine inches long; exactly one eightieth part of the length of Lord Rosse's reflector.

§ Lord Brouncker, the first President of the Royal Society under the charter. He was a zealous member, and distinguished himself as a mathematician. He held some high offices under the Restoration; was Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal to the Queen Consort, and one of the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral, which Pepys declares he was unfit for, being wholly ignorant of naval affairs. Lord Brouncker was born in 1620, and died in 1684. He is frequently mentioned by Pepys, who speaks of him as a *moodish civil person,' and finds much fault with him for being so public in his relations with that painted lady,' Mrs. Williams. On one occasion Lord Brouncker took her into Pepys' pew at church, the