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that kind of Poem: The Claufe in the Beginning of it (without a Series of Action) diftinguishes Satyr properly from Stage-Plays, which are all of one Action, and one continued Series of Adion. The End or Scope of Satyr is to purge the Paffions; fo far it is common to the Satyrs of Juvenal and Perfius: The reft which follows, is alfo generally belonging to all three; 'till he comes upon us, with the excluding Claufe (confifting in a low familiar way of Speech) which is the proper Character of Horace; and from which, the other two, for their Honour be it fpoken, are far diftant. But how come Lowness of Style, and the Familiarity of Words to be fo much the Propriety of Satyr, that without them, a Poet can be no more a Satyrist, than without Rifibility he can be a Man? Is the Fault of Horace to be made the Virtue and standing Rule of this Poem? Is the Grande Sophos of Perfius, and the Sublimity of Juvenal to be Circumfcrib'd, with the Meannefs of Words and Vulgarity of Expreffion? If Horace refufed the pains of Numbers, and the loftinefs of Figures, are they bound to follow fo ill a Precedent? Let him walk a-foot with his Pad in his hand, for his own Pleafure; but let not them be accounted no Poets, who chufe to mount, and fhew their Horfemanthip. Holiday is not afraid to fay, that there never was fuch a Fall, as from his Odes to his Satyrs, and that he, injurioufly to himfelf, untun'd his Harp. The Majestique way of Perfius and Juvenal was new when they began it; but 'tis old to us; and what Poems have not, with Time, received an Alteration in their Fafhion? Which Alteration, fays Holiday, is to After-times, as good a Warrant as the firft. Has not Virgil chang'd the Manners of Homer's Heroes in his Aneld? certainly he has, and

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for the better. For Virgil's Age was more Civiliz'd, and better bred; and he writ according to the Politeness of Rome, under the Reign of Augustus Cæfar; not to the Rudeness of Agamemnon's Age, or the Times of Homer. Why should we offer to confine free Spirits to one Form, when we cannot fo much as confine our Bodies to one Fashion of Apparel? Wou'd not Donn's Satyrs, which abound with fo much Wit, appear more charming, if he had taken care of his Words, and of his Numbers? But he followed Horace fo very close, that of Neceffity he muft fall with him: And I may fafely fay it of this prefent Age, That if we are not fo great Wits as Donn, yet, certainly, we are better Poets.

But I have faid enough, and it may be too much, on this Subject. Will your Lordship be pleafed to Prolong my Audience, only fo far, till I tell you my own trivial Thoughts, how a Modern Satyr fhou'd be made. I will not deviate in the least from the Precepts and Examples of the Ancients, who were always our best Masters. I will only illuftrate them, and difcover fome of the hidden Beauties in their Defigns, that we thereby may form our own in imitation of them. Will you please but to obferve, that Perfius, the leaft in Dignity of all the Three, has notwithstanding been the first, who has difcover'd to us this important Secret, in the defigning of a perfe&t Satyr; that it ought only to treat of one Subject; to be confin'd to one particular Theme; or, at leaft, to one principally. If other Vices occur in the Management of the Chief, they fhould only be tranfiently lafh'd, and not be infifted on, fo as to make the Delign double. As in a Play of the English Fashion, which we call a Tragicomedy, there is to be but one main

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Defign: And tho' there be an Underplot, or Se. cond Walk of Comical Characters and Adventures, yet they are fubfervient to the Chief Fable, carry'd along under it, and helping to it; fo that the Drama may not seem a Monfter with two Heads. Thus the Copernican Syftem of the Planets makes the Moon to be mov'd by the Motion of the Earth, and carry'd about her Orb, as a Dependent of hers. Mafcardi in his Difcourfe of the Doppia fa vola, or double Tale in Plays, gives an Inftance of it, in the famous Paftoral of Guarini, call'd Il Paftor Fido; where Corifca and the Satyr are the Under-parts: Yet we may obferve, that Corifca is brought into the Body of the Plot, and made fubfervient to it. 'Tis certain, that the Divine Wit of Horace was not ignorant of this Rule, that a Play, though it confifts of many Parts, muft yet be one in the A&tion, and must drive on the Accomplishment of one Defign; for he gives this very Precept, Sit quodvis fimplex duntaxat & unum; yet he feems not much to mind it in his Satyrs, many of them confifting of more Arguments than one; and the second without dependance on the firft. Cafaubon has obferv'd this before me, in his Preference of Perfius to Horace: and will have his own belov'd Author to be the first, who found out, and introduc'd this Method of confining himfelf to one Subject. I know it may be urg'd-in defence of Horace, that this Unity is not neceffary; because the very Word Satura fignifies a Difh plen tifully ftored with all variety of Fruits and. Grains. Yet Juvenal, who calls his Poems a Farrago, which is a Word of the fame fignification with Satura, has chofen to follow the fame Method of Perfius, and not of Horace. And Boileau, whofe Example alone is a fufficient Authority, has wholly con

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fin'd himself, in all his Satyrs, to this Unity of Defign. That Variety which is not to be found in any one Satyr, is, at leaft, in many, written on feveral Occafions. And if Variety be of abfolute necelfity in every one of them, according to the Ecymology of the Word; yet it may arife naturally from one Subject, as it is diverfly treated, in the feveral Subordinate Branches of it; all relating to the Chief. It may be illuftrated accordingly with variety of Examples in the Subdivifions of it; and with as many Precepts as there are Members of it; which all together may compleat that Olla, or Hotchpotch, which is properly a Satyr.

Under this Unity of Theme, or Subject, is comprehended another Rule for perfecting the Defign of true Satyr. The Poet is bound, and that ex Officio, to give his Reader fome one Precept of moral Virtue; and to caution him against fome one particular Vice or Folly. Other Virtues, fubordinate to the firft, may be recommended, under that Chief Head; and other Vices or Follies may be fcourged, befides that which he principally intends. But he is chiefly to inculcate one Virtue, and infift on that. Thus Juvenal in every Satyr, excepting the firft, ties himself to one Principal Inftructive Point, or to the fhunning of Moral Evil. Even in the fixth, which feems only an Arraignment of the whole Sex of Womankind; there is a latent Admonition to avoid Ill Women, by fhewing how very few, who are Virtuous and Good, are to be found amongst them. But this, tho' the wittiest of all his Satyrs, has yet the leaft of Truth or Inftruction in it. He has run himself into his old declamatory way, and almost forgotten that he was now setting up for a Moral Poet.

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Perfius is never wanting to us in fome profitable Doctrine, and in expofing the opposite Vices to it. His kind of Philofophy is one, which is the Stoique; and every Satyr is a Comment on one particular Dogma of that Sect; unless we will except the first, which is against bad Writers; and yet even there he forgets not the Precepts of the Porch. In general, all Virtues are every where to be praised and recommended to Practice; and all Vices to be reprehended, and made either Odious or Ridiculous; or elfe there is a Fundamental Error in the whole Defign.

I have already declar'd who are the only Perfons that are the Adequate Object of private Satyr, and who they are that may properly be expofed by Name for publick Examples of Vices and Follies; and therefore I will trouble your Lordship no farther with them. Of the best and fineft manner of Satyr, I have faid enough in the Comparison betwixt Juvenal and Horace: 'Tis that sharp, wellmanner'd way, of laughing a Folly out of Countenance, of which your Lordfhip is the best Mafter in this Age. I will proceed to the Verfification, which is most proper for it, and add somewhat to what I have faid already on that Subject. The Sort of Verfe which is call'd Burlesque, confifting of Eight Syllables, or Four Feet, is that which our excellent Hudibras has chofen. I ought to have mentioned him before, when I fpake of Donn; but by a flip of an Old Man's Memory he was forgotten. The Worth of his Poem is too well known to need any Commendation, and he is above my Cenfure: His Satyr is of the Varronian kind, tho' unmix'd with Profe. The Choice of his Numbers is fuitable enough to his Defign, as he has manag'd it: But in any other Hand, the

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