Scope to my Invention: Or that of Edward the Black Prince in fubduing Spain, and reftoring it to the Lawful Prince, tho' a great Tyrant, Don Pedro the Cruel: Which for the compafs of Time, including only the Expedition of one Year; for the Greatness of the Action, and its answerable Event; for the Magnanimity of the Englifh Heroe, oppos'd to the Ingratitude of the Perfon whom he reftor'd; and for the many beautiful Epitodes, which I had interwoven with the principal Defign, together with the Characters of the chiefeft English Perfons; wherein, after Virgil and Spencer, I wou'd have taken occafion to reprefent my living Friends and Patrons of the nobleft Families, and also shadow'd the Events of future Ages, in the Succeffion of our Imperial Line: With thefe Helps, and thofe of the Machines, which I have mention'd; I might perhaps have done as well as fome of my Predeceffors; or at least chalk'd out a way for others to amend my Errors in a like Defign. But being encourag'd only with fair Words by King Charles II. my little Salary ill paid, and no profpect of a future Subfiftence, I was then difcourag'd in the Beginning of my Attempt; and now Age has overtaken me; and Want, a more infufferable Evil, through the Change of the Times, has wholly difenabl'd me. Tho' I must ever acknowledge, to the Honour of your Lordship, and the eternal Memory of your Charity, that fince this Revolution, wherein I have patiently fuffer'd the Ruin of my fmall Fortune, and the lofs of that poor Subfiftence which I had from Two Kings, whom I had ferv'd more faithfully than profitably to myself; then your Lordship was pleas'd, out of no other Motive but your own Noblenefs, without any Desert of mine, or the leaft Sollicitation from me, to make me a moft bountiful Prefent, which at that time, when I was most in want of it, came most feasonably and unexpectedly to my Relief. That Fa

vour, my Lord, is of itself fufficient to bind any 'Grateful Man, to a perpetual Acknowledgment, and to all the future Service, which one of my mean Condition can ever be able to perform. May the Almighty God return it for me, both in Bleffing you here, and Rewarding you hereafter. I must not presume to defend the Caufe for which I now suffer, because your Lordship is engag'd against it: But the more you are fo, the greater is my Obligation to you: For your laying afide all the Confiderations of Factions and Parties, to do an Action of pure difinterested Charity. This is one amongst many of your fhining Qualities, which diftinguish you from others of your Rank: But let me add a farther Truth, That without thefe Ties of Gratitude, and abstracting from them all, I have a most particular Inclination to Honour you; and, if it were not too bold an Expreffion, to fay, I love you. no Shame to be a Poet, tho' 'tis to be a bad one. guftus Cæfar of old, and Cardinal Richlieu of late, wou'd willingly have been such; and David and Solomon were fuch. You, who without Flattery, are the beit of the prefent Age in England, and wou'd have been fó, had you been born in any other Country, will receive more Honour in future Ages, by that one Excellency, than by all those Honours to which your Birth has intitl'd you, or your Merits have acquir'd you.

Ne, forte, pudori

Sit Tibi Mufa Lyra folers, & Cantor Apollo.

"Tis

Au

I have formerly faid in this Epiftle, that I cou'd distinguish your Writings from thofe of any others: Tis now time to clear myself from any Imputation of Selfconceit on that Subject. I affume not to myself any particular Lights in this Discovery; they are fuch only

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as

as are obvious to every Man of Sense and Judgment, who loves Poetry, and understands it. Your Thoughts are always fo remote from the common way of Thinking, that they are, as I may fay, of another Species, than the Conceptions of other Poets; yet you go not out of Nature for any of them: Gold is never bred upon the Surface of the Ground; but lies fo hidden, and sọ deep, that the Mines of it are feldom found; but the force of Waters cafts it out from the Bowels of Mountains, and expofes it amongst the Sands of Rivers: giving us of her Bounty, what we cou'd not hope for by our Search. This Succefs attends your Lordship's Thoughts, which wou'd look like Chance, if it were not perpetual, and always of the fame Tenor. If I grant that there is Care in it, 'tis fuch a Care as wou'd be ineffectual and fruitlefs in other Men. "Tis the Curiofa felicitas which Petronius afcribes to Horace in his Qdes. We have not wherewithal to imagine fo ftrongly, fo juftly, and fo pleafantly: In fhort, if we have the fame Knowledge, we cannot draw out of it the fame Quinteffence; we cannot give it fuch a Term, fuch a Propriety, and fuch a Beauty: Something is deficient in the Manner, or the Words, but more in the Nobleness of our Conception. Yet when you have finish'd all, and it appears in its full Luftre, when the Diamond is not only found, but the Roughnefs fmooth'd, when it is cut into a Form, and fet in Gold, then we cannot but acknowledge, that it is the perfect Work of Art and Nature: And every one will be fo vain, to think he himself cou'd have perform'd the like, 'till he attempts it. 'Tis just the Defcription that Horace makes of fuch a finish'd Piece: It appears so easy, Ut fibi quivis fperet idem; fudet multum, fruftraque laboret, aufus idem. And befides all this, 'tis your Lordship's particular Talent to lay your Thoughts fo chefe together, that were they closer they

wou'd

wou'd be crouded, and even a due Connexion wou'd be wanting. We are not kept in expectation of Two good Lines, which are to come after a long Parenthe. fis of Twenty bad; which is the April-Poetry of other Writers ; a Mixture of Rain and Sun-fhine by Fits: You are always bright, even almost to a Fault, by reafon of the Excefs. There is continual Abundance, a Magazine of Thought, and yet a perpetual Variety of Entertainment; which creates fuch an Appetite in your Reader, that he is not cloy'd with any thing, but fatisfy'd with all. 'Tis that which the Romans call Cana dubia; where there is fuch Plenty, yet withal fo much Diverfity, and fo good Order, that the Choice is difficult betwixt one Excellency and another; and yet the Conclufion, by a due Climax, is evermore the beft; that is, as a Conclufion ought to be, ever the molt proper for its Place. See, my Lord, whether I have not study'd your Lordship with fome Application: And fince You are fo modeft, that you will not be judge and Party, I appeal to the whole World, if I have not drawn your Picture to a great degree of Likeness, tho' 'tis but in Miniature: And that fome of the beft Features are yet wanting. Yet what I have done, is enough to diftinguish You from any other, which is the Propofition that I took upon me to demonstrate.

And now, my Lord, to apply what I have faid to my prefent Bufinefs; the Satyrs of Juvenal and Perfius, appearing in this new English Drefs, cannot fo properly be infcrib'd to any Man as to your Lordship, who are the First of the Age in that Way of Writing. Your Lordship, amongst many other Favours, has given me your Permiffion for this Addrefs; and you have particularly encourag'd me by your Perufal and Approbation of the Sixth and Tenth Satyrs of Juvenal, as I have Tranflated them. My Fellow-Labourers have likewife Commitlion'd me, to perform in their behalf this Office

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Office of a Dedication to you; and will acknowledge with all poffible Refpect and Gratitude, your Acceptance of their Work. Some of them have the Honour to be known to your Lordship already; and they who have not yet that Happiness, defire it now. Be pleas'd to receive our common Endeavours with your wonted Candour, without Intitling you to the Protection of our common Failings, in fo difficult an Undertaking. And allow me your Patience, if it be not already tir'd with this long Epistle, to give you from the beft Authors, the Origin, the Antiquity, the Growth, the, Change, and the Compleatment of Satyr among the Romans. To defcribe, if not define, the Nature of that Poem, with its feveral Qualifications and Virtues, together with the feveral Sorts of it. To compare the Excellencies of Horace, Perfius and Juvenal, and fhew the particular. Manners of their Satyrs. And lastly, to give an Account of this new Way of Verfion which is attempted in our Performance. All which, according to the Weaknefs of my Ability, and the beft Lights which I can get from others, shall be the Subject of my following Difcourfe.

The moft perfect Work of Poetry, fays our Mafter Ariftotle is Tragedy. His Reafon is, becaufe 'tis the moft united; being more feverely confin'd within the Rules of Action, Time, and Place, The Action is entire, of a Piece, and One, without Episodes: The Time limited to a Natural Day; and the Place circumfcrib'd at least within the Compafs of one Town, or City. Being exactly proportion'd thus, and uniform in all its Parts, the Mind is more capable of comprehending the whole Beauty of it without Distraction.

But after all these Advantages, an Heroique Poem is certainly the greatest Work of Human Nature. The Beauties and Perfections of the other are but Mechanical; thofe of the Epique are more Noble. Tho' Ho

mer