and what he teaches, that he practifes himself. There is a fpirit of fincerity in all he fays: you may eafily

and is perfuaded of that In this I am of opinion, is commonly in jeft, and

difcern that he is in earneft, truth which he inculcates. that he excells Horace, who laughs while he inftructs and is equal to Juvenal, who was as honeft and ferio us as Perfius, and more he could not be.

Hitherto I have followed Cafaubon, and enlarged upon him; because I am fatisfied that he says no more than truth; the reft is almost all frivolous. For he fays, that Horace, being the fon of a tax-gatherer, or a collector, as we call it, fmells every where of the meanness of his birth and education: his conceits are vulgar, like the fubjects of his fatires; that he does plebeium fapere; and writes not with that elevation which becomes a fatirift: that Perfius being nobly born, and of an opulent family, had likewife the advantage of a better mafter; Cornutus being the most learned of his time, a man of the most holy life, the chief of the ftoick fect at Rome; and not only a great philofopher, but a poet himfelf; and in probability a coadjutor of Perfius. That, as for Juvenal, he was long a declaimer, came late to poetry, and has not been much converfant in philofophy.

It is granted that the father of Horace was Libertinus, that is, one degree removed from his grandfather, who had been once a flave: but Horace, fpeaking of him, gives him the beft character of a father, which I ever read in hiftory; and I wish a witty friend' of

mine, now living, had fuch another. He bred him in the best school, and with the best company of young noblemen. And Horace, by his gratitude to his memory, gives a certain teftimony that his education was ingenuous. After this, he formed himself abroad, by the conversation of great men. Brutus found him at Athens, and was so pleased with him, that he took him thence into the army, and made him "tribunus "militum," a colonel in a legion, which was the preferment of an old foldier. All this was before his acquaintance with Mecenas, and his introduction into the court of Auguftus, and the familiarity of that great emperor; which, had he not been well-bred before, had been enough to civilize his converfation, and render him accomplished and knowing in all the arts of complacency and good behaviour; and, in fhort, an agreeable companion for the retired hours and privacies of a favourite, who was first minifter. So that, upon the whole matter, Perfius may be acknowledged to be equal with him in those respects, though better born, and Juvenal inferior to both. If the advantage be any where, it is on the fide of Horace; as much as the court of Auguftus Cæfar was fuperior to that of Nero. As for the fubjects which they treated, it will appear hereafter, that Horace writ not vulgarly on vulgar fubjects, nor always chofe them. His ftile is conftantly accommodated to his fubject, either high or low if his fault be too much lownefs, that of Perfius is the fault of the hardness of his metaphors and obfcurity and fo they are equal in the failings of

:

their file; where Juvenal manifeftly triumphs over both of them.

The comparison betwixt Horace and Juvenal is more difficult; because their forces were more equal: a difpute has always been, and ever will continue, betwixt the favourers of the two poets. "Non nof"trum eft tantas componere lites." I fhall only venture to give my opinion, and leave it for better judges to determine. If it be only argued in general, which of them was the better poet, the victory is already gained on the fide of Horace. Virgil himfelf mu yield to him in the delicacy of his turns, his choice of words, and perhaps the perity of his Latin. He who fays that Pindar is inimitable, is himself inimitable in his odes. But the contention betwixt these two great masters, is for the prize of fatire: in which controverfy, all the odes and epodes of Horace are to stand ́ excluded. I fay this, becaufe Horace has written' many of them fatirically, against his private enemies: yet thefe, if justly confidered, are fomewhat of the nature of the Greek Silli, which were invectives a-: gainst particular fects and perfons. But Horace has purged himself of this choler, before he entered on. thofe difcourfes, which are more properly called the Roman fatire: he has not now to do with a Lyce, a Canidia, a Caffius Severus, or a Menas; but is to correct the vices and the follies of his time, and to give the rules of a happy and virtuous life. In a word, that former fort of fatire, which is known in England by the name of lampcon, is a dangerous fort VOL. VII.

N

of

of weapon, and for the most part unlawful.

We have no moral right on the reputation of other men. It is taking from them what we cannot reftore to them. There are only two reafons, for which we may be permitted to write lampoons; and I will not promise that they can always juftify us: the first is revenge, when we have been affronted in the fame nature, or have been any ways notoriously abused, and can make ourselves no other reparation. And yet we know, that, in chriftian charity, all offences are to be forgiven, as we expect the like pardon for those which we daily commit against Almighty God. And this confideration has often made me tremble when I was faying our Saviour's prayer; for the plain condition of the forgiveness which we beg, is the pardoning of others the offences which they have done to us: for which reason I have many times avoided the commiffion. of that fault, even when I have been notoriously provoked. Let not this, my lord, pass for vanity in me ; for it is truth. More libels have been written against me, than almost any man now living: and I had reafon on my fide, to have defended my own innocence: I fpeak not on my poetry, which I have wholly given up to the critics; let them ufe it as they pleafe; pofterity, perhaps, may be more favourable to me: for intereft and paffion will lie buried in another age; and partiality and prejudice be forgotten. I fpeak of my morals, which have been fufficiently afperfed; that any fort of reputation ought to be dear to every honest man, and is to me. But let the world witness

for

for me, that I have been often wanting to myself in that particular; I have feldom answered any scurrilous lampoon, when it was in my power to have expofed my enemies: and, being naturally vindicative, have fuffered in filence, and, poffeffed my foul in quict.

Any thing, though never fo little, which a man fpeaks of himself, in my opinion, is ftill too much; and therefore I will wave this fubject, and proceed to give the second reafon, which may juftify a poet, when he writes against a particular perfon: and that is, when he is become a public nuifance. And thofe, whom Horace in his fatires, and Perfius and Juvenal have mentioned in theirs, with a brand of infamy, are wholly fuch. It is an action of virtue to make ex¬ amples of vicious men. They may and ought to be upbraided with their crimes and follies: both for their own amendment, if they are not yet incorrigible, and for the terror of others, to hinder them from falling into those enormities, which they fee are so severely punished in the perfons of others. The first reafon was only an excufe for revenge; but this fecond is abfolutely of a poet's office to perform: but how few lampooners are there now living, who are capable of this duty! When they come in my way, it is impoffible fometimes to avoid reading them. But, good God! how remote they are, in common juftice, from the choice of fuch perfons as are the proper subject of fatire! and how little wit they bring, for the fupport of their injuftice! The weaker fex is their moft ordinary theme; and the best and fairest are fure