By the Words, Under Colour of that Law, he infinuates that Auguftus caus'd it to be executed, on pretence of thofe Libels, which were written by Caffius Severus, against the Nobility: But, in truth, to fave himself from fuch defamatory Verfes. Suetonius likewife makes mention of it thus: Sparfos de fe in Curia famofos libellos, nec expavit, & magnâ curâ redarguit. Ac ne requifitis quidem Auctoribus, id modo cenfuit, cognofcendum poft hac, de iis qui libellos aut carmina ad infamiam cujufpiam fub alieno nomine edant. Auguftus was not afraid of Libels, fays that Author: Yet he took all care imaginable to have them anfwer'd; and then decreed, that for the time to come, the Authors of them shou'd be punish'd. But Aurelius makes it yet more clear, according to my Senfe, that this Emperor for his own fake durft not permit them: Fecit it Auguftus in fpeciem, & quafi gratificaretur Populo Romano, & Primoribus urbis ; fed revera ut fibi confideret: Nam habuit in animo, comprimere nimiam quorundam procacitatem in loquendo, à quâ nec ipfe exemptus fuit. Nam fuo nomine compefcere erat invidiofum, fub alieno facile & utile. Ergò fpecie legis tractavit, quafi Populi Romani Majeftas infamaretur. This, I think, is a fufficient Comment on that Paffage of Tacitus; I will add only by the way, that the whole Family of the Cafars, and all their Relations, were included in the Law; because the Majefty of the Romans in the time of the Empire was wholly in that House: Omnia Cæfar erat: They were all accounted facred who belong'd to him. As for Caffius Severus, he was contemporary with Horace; and was the fame Poet against whom he writes in his Epodes, under this Title, In Caffium Severum Maledicum Poetam; Perhaps intending to kill two Crows, according to our Proverb, with one Stone; and revenge both himself and his Emperor together.

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From hence I may reasonably conclude, That Auguftus, who was not altogether fo good as he was wife, had fome By-refpect in the enacting of this Law: For to do any thing for nothing, was not his Maxim. race, as he was a Courtier, comply'd with the Interest of his Mafter; and avoiding the lashing of greater Crimes, confin'd himself to the ridiculing of petty Vices and common Follies; excepting only fome referv'd Cafes, in his Odes and Epodes, of his own particular Quarrels, which either with Permiffion of the Magiftrate, or without it, every Man will revenge, tho' I fay not that he fhould; for prior læfit, is a good Excufe in the Civil Law, if Christianity had not taught us to forgive. However, he was not the proper Man to arraign great Vices, at least if the Stories which we hear of him are true, that he practifed fome, which I will not here mention, out of Honour to him. It was not for a Clodius to accufe Adulterers, especially when Auguftus was of that Number: So that tho this Age was not exempted from the worst of Villainies, there was no Freedom left to reprehend them, by reason of the Edict. And our Poet was not fit to represent them in an odious Character, because himfelf was dipt in the fame Actions. Upon this Account, without farther infifting on the different Tempers of Juvenal and Horace, I conclude, that the Subjects which Horace chofe for Satyr, are of a lower Nature than those of which Juvenal has written.

Thus I have treated in a new Method, the Comparifon betwixt Horace, Juvenal, and Perfius; fomewhat of their particular Manner belonging to all of them is yet remaining to be confidered. Perfius was Grave, and particularly opposed his Gravity to Lewdness, which was the predominant Vice in Nero's Court, at the time when he publish'd his Satyrs, which was before that Emperor fell into the Excess of Cruelty. Horace was a mild Admonisher, a Court-Satyrift, fit for the gentle Times of Auguftus, and more fit, for the Reasons which I have al

ready given. Juvenal was as proper for his Times, as they for theirs: His was an Age that deferv'd a more fevere Chastisement; Vices were more grofs and open, more flagitious, more encourag'd by the Example of a Tyrant, and more protected by his Authority. Therefore, wherefoever Juvenal mentions Nero, he means Domitian, whom he dares not attack in his own Perfon, but fcourges him by Proxy. Henifius urges in praise of Horace, that according to the ancient Art and Law of Satyr, it fhou'd be nearer to Comedy than Tragedy; not declaiming against Vice, but only laughing at it. Neither Perfius nor Juvenal were ignorant of this, for they had both ftudied Horace. And the thing it self is plainly true. But as they had read Horace, they had likewife read Lucilius, of whom Perfius fays, fecuit Urbem ; & genuinum fregit in illis; meaning Mutius and Lupus : And Juvenal alfo mentions him in thefe Words: Enfe velut fricto, quoties Lucilius ardens Infremuit, &c. So that they thought the Imitation of Lucilius was more proper to their purpose than that of Horace. They changed Satyr, fays Holiday; but they chang'd it for the better: For the Bufinefs being to reform great Vices, Chaftisement goes farther than Admonition; whereas a perpetual Grinn, like that of Horace, does rather anger than amend a Man.

Thus far that Learned Critick, Barten Holiday, whose Interpretation and Illuftrations of Juvenal are as excellent, as the Verfe of his Tranflation and his English are lame and pitiful. For 'tis not enough to give us the Meaning of a Poet, which I acknowledge him to have performed most faithfully; but he muft alfo imitate his Genius, and his Numbers, as far as the English will come up to the Elegance of the Original. In few words, 'tis only for a Poet to tranflate a Poet. Holiday and Stapylton had not enough confidered this, when they attempted Juvenal: But I forbear Reflections; only I beg leave

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to take notice of this Sentence, where Holiday fays, A perpetual Grinn, like that of Horace, rather angers than amends a Man. I cannot give him up the Manner of Horace in low Satyr so easily: Let the Chaftisement of Juvenal be never so neceffary for his new Kind of Satyr; let him declaim as wittily and sharply as he pleases, yet ftill the nicest and most delicate Touches of Satyr confift in fine Raillery. This, my Lord, is your particular Talent, to which even Juvenal could not arrive. 'Tis not Reading, 'tis not Imitation of an Author, which can produce his Fineness: It must be inborn, it must proceed from a Genius, and particular way of Thinking, which is not to be taught; and therefore not to be imitated by him who has it not from Nature: How eafie is it to call Rogue and Villain, and that wittily! But how hard to make a Man appear a Fool, a Blockhead, or a Knave, without ufing any of thofe opprobrious Terms! To fpare the Groffness of the Names, and to do the thing yet more feverely, is to draw a full Face, and to make the Nose and Cheeks ftand out, and yet not to employ any Depth of Shadowing. This is the Mystery of that Noble Trade; which yet no Mafter can teach to his Apprentice: He may give the Rules, but the Scholar is never the nearer in his Practice. Neither is it true, that this Fineness of Raillery is offenfive. A witty Man is tickled while he is hurt in this Manner; and a Fool feels it not. The Occafion of an Offence may poffibly be given, but he cannot take it. If it be granted, that in effect this way does more Mischief; that a Man is fecretly wounded, and tho' he be not fenfible himself, yet the malicious World will find it out for him: Yet there is ftill a vast difference betwixt the flovenly Butchering of a Man, and the Fineness of a Stroke that feparates the Head from the Body, and leaves it standing in its Place. A Man may be capable, as Jack Ketch's Wife faid of his Servant, of a plain piece of Work, a bare Hanging;

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but to make a Malefactor die fweetly, was only belonging to her Husband. I wish I could apply it to my self; if the Reader would be kind enough to think it belongs The Character of Zimri in my Abfalom, is, in my Opinion, worth the whole Poem: 'Tis not bloody, but 'tis ridiculous enough: And he for whom it was intended, was too witty to refent it as an Injury. If I had rail'd, I might have fuffer'd for it jufly; but I manag'd mine own Works more happily, perhaps more dextrously. I avoided the mention of great Crimes, and apply'd my felf to the reprefenting of Blind-fides, and little Extravagancies: To which, the wittier a Man is, he is ge. nerally the more obnoxious, It fucceeded as I wifhed; the Jeft went round, and he was laugh'd at in his Turn who began the Frolick.

And thus, my Lord, you fee I have preferr'd the Manner of Horace, and of your Lordship, in this kind of Satyr, to that of Juvenal; and I think, reasonably. Holiday ought not to have arraigned fo great an Author, for that which was his Excellency and his Merit: Or if did, on fuch a palpable Miftake, he might expect that fome one might poffibly arife, either in his own time, or after him, to rectify his Error, and refore to Horace that Commendation, of which he has fo unjustly robb'd him. And let the Manes of Juvenal forgive me, if I fay, that this way of Horace was the beft for amending Manners, as it is the moft difficult. His was, an Enfe refcindendum; but that of Horace was a pleafant Cure, with all the Limbs preferv'd entirely; and, as our Mountebanks tell us in their Bills, without keeping the Patient within Doors for a Day. What they promise only, Horace has effectually perform'd: Yet I contradict not the Propofition which I formerly advanc'd: Juvenal's Times requir'd a more painful kind of Operation: But if he had lived in the Age of Horace, I muft needs affirm, that he had it not about him. He took the Method