difcouraged from Writing any more. I complain not of their Lampoons and Libels, tho' I have been the publick Mark for many Years. I am vindictive enough to have repelled Force by Force, if I cou'd imagine that any of them had ever reach'd me; but they either fhot at Rovers, and therefore miffed, or their Powder was fo weak, that I might fafely ftand them, at the nearest Distance. I anfwer'd not the Rehearsal, because I knew the Author fate to himself when he drew the Picture, and was the very Bays of his own Farce. Because also I knew, that my Betters were more concerned than I was in that Satyr: and, laftly, because Mr. Smith and Mr. Johnson, the main Pillars of it, were two fuch languishing Gentlemen in their Converfation, that I cou'd liken them to nothing but to their own Relations, thofe Noble Characters of Men of Wit and Pleasure about the Town. The like Confiderations have hinder'd me from dealing with the lamentable Companions of their Profe and Doggrel; I am fo far from defending my Poetry against them, that I will not fo much as expofe theirs. And for my Morals, if they are not Proof against their Attacks, let me be thought by Pofterity, what those Authors wou'd be thought, if any Memory of them, or of their Writings, cou'd endure fo long, as to another Age. But thefe dull Makers of Lampoons, as harmless as they have been to me, are yet of dangerous Example to the Publick: Some witty Men may perhaps fucceed to their Designs, and mixing Senfe with Malice, blaft the Reputation of the moft Innocent amongst Men, and the moft Virtuous amongft Women.

Heaven be prais'd, our common Libellers are as free from the imputation of Wit, as of Morality; and therefore whatever Mischief they have

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defign'd, they have perform'd but little of it. Yet thefe ill Writers, in all Juftice, ought themselves to be expos'd: As Perfius has given us a fair Example in his Firft Satyr; which is levell'd particularly at them: And none is fo fit to correct their Faults, as he who is not only clear from any in his own Writings, but also so juft, that he will never defame the Good; and is armed with the Power of Verfe, to punish and make Examples of the Bad. But of this I fhall have occafion to speak further, when I come to give the Definition and Character of true Satyrs.

In the mean time, as a Counsellor bred up in the Knowledge of the Municipal and Statute-Laws, may honestly inform a Just Prince how far his Prerogative extends; fo I may be allowed to tell your Lordship, who, by an undifputed Title, are the King of Poets, what an Extent of Power you have, and how lawfully you may exercife it, over the petulant Scriblers of this Age. As Lord Chamberlain, I know, you are abfolute by your Office, in all that belongs to the Decency and Good Manners of the Stage. You can banish from thence Scurrility and Profaneness,and restrain the licencious Infolence of Poets and their Actors in all things that shock the publick Quiet, or the Reputation of Private Perfons, under the Notion of Humour. But I mean not the Authority, which is annex'd to your Office: I fpeak of that only which is inborn and inherent to your Perfon. What is produc'd in you by an excellent Wit, a Mafterly and Commanding Genius over all Writers: Whereby you are impower'd, when you please, to give the final Decifion of Wit; to put your Stamp on all that ought to pass for current; and fet a Brand of Reprobation on clipt Poetry, and falfe Coin. A Shilling dipt in the Bath may go for Gold amongst

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the Ignorant, but the Scepters on the Guineas fhew the Difference. That your Lordship is form'd by Nature for this Supremacy, I could easily prove, (were it not already granted by the World) from the diftinguishing Character of your Writing. Which is fo visible to me, that I never cou'd be impos'd on to receive for yours, what was written by any others; or to miftake your Genuine Poetry, for their Spurious Productions. I can farther add with Truth (tho' not without fome, Vanity in faying it) that in the fame Paper, written by divers Hands, whereof your Lordship's was only part, I cou'd feparate your Gold from their Copper: And tho' I could not give back to every Author his own Brass, (for there is not the fame Rule for diftinguishing betwixt bad and bad, as betwixt ill and excellently good) yet I never fail'd of knowing what was yours, and what was not: And was abfolutely certain, that this, or the other Part, was pofitively yours, and cou'd not poffibly be written by any other.

True it is, that fome bad Poems, tho' not all, carry their Owners Marks about 'em. There is fome peculiar Aukwardness, falfe Grammar, imperfect Senfe, or, at the least, Obfcurity; fome Brand or other on this Buttock, or that Ear, that 'tis notorious who are the Owners of the Cattle, tho' they shou'd not fign it with their Names. But your Lordship, on the contrary, is diftinguish'd, not only by the Excellency of your Thoughts, but by your Style and Manner of expreffing them. A Painter judging of fome admirable Piece, may affirm with certainty, that it was of Holben, or Vandike: But Vulgar Defigns, and Common Draughts, are easily miftaken, and misapply'd. Thus, by my long Study of your Lordship, I am arriv'd at the Knowledge of your particular Man

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ner. In the Good Poems of other Men, like those Artifts, I can only fay, this is like the Draught of fuch a one, or like the Colouring of another. In fhort, I can only be fure, that 'tis the Hand of a good Mafter; But in your Performances, 'tis fcarcely poffible for me to be deceiv'd. If you write in your Strength, you stand reveal'd at the firft view; and fhou'd you write under it, you cannot avoid fome peculiar Graces, which only coft me a fecond Confideration to discover you: For I may fay it, with all the Severity of Truth, that every Line of yours is precious. Your Lordship's only Fault is, that you have not written more; unless I cou'd add another, and that yet greater, but I fear for the Publick, the Accufation wou'd not be true, that you have written, and out of vitious Modesty will not publifh.

Virgil has confin'd his Works within the Compafs of Eighteen Thousand Lines, and has not treated many Subjects; yet he ever had, and ever will have, the Reputation of the beft Poet. Martial fays of him, that he could have excell'd Varius in Tragedy, and Horace in Lyrick Poetry, but out of Deference to his Friends, he attempted neither.

The fame Prevalence of Genius is in Your Lordship, but the World cannot pardon your concealing it on the fame Confideration; because we have neither a living Varius, nor a Horace, in whofe Excellencies both of Poems, Odes, and Satyrs, you had equall'd them, if our Language had not yielded to the Roman Majesty, and length of Time had not added a Reverence to the Works of He race. For good Senfe is the fame in all or most Ages; and course of Time rather improves Nature, than-impairs her. What has been, may be again: Another Homer, and another Virgil, may poffibly

poffibly arise from thofe very Causes which produc'd the firft: Tho' it wou'd be Impudence to affirm that any such have appear❜d.

'Tis manifeft, that fome particular Ages have been more happy than others in the Production of Great Men, in all forts of Arts and Sciences : As that of Euripides, Sophocles, Ariftophanes, and the reft for Stage Poetry amongst the Greeks: That of Auguftus for Heroick, Lyrick, Dramatick, Elegiaque, and indeed all forts of Poetry, in the Perfons of Virgil, Horace, Varius, Ovid, and many others; efpecially if we take into that Century the latter end of the Common-wealth; wherein we find Varro, Lucretius, and Catullus: And at the same time liv'd Cicero, and Saluft, and Cafar. A famous Age in modern Times, for Learning in every kind, was that of Lorenzo de Medici, and his Son Leo X. wherein Painting was reviv'd, and Poetry flourish'd, and the Greek Language was restor❜d.

Examples in all these are obvious: But what I wou'd infer is this; That in fuch an Age, 'tis poffible fome Great Genius may arife, to equal any of the Ancients; abating only for the Language. For great Contemporaries whet and cultivate each other: And mutual Borrowing, and Commerce, makes the common Riches of Learnsing, as it does of the Civil Government.

But fuppofe that Homer and Virgil were the only of their Species, and that Nature was fo much worn out in producing them, that fhe is never able to bear the like again; yet the Example only holds in Heroick Poetry: In Tragedy and Satyr I offer my felf to maintain againft fome of our modern Criticks, that this Age and the laft, particularly in England, have excell'd the Ancients in both those