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THE

SATYRS

OF

Decimus Junius Juvenalis :

AND OF

AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS.

Tranflated into English VERSE

By Mr. DRY DEN,
And feveral other Hands.

To which is Prefix'd a

DISCOURSE
Concerning the
Original and Progrefs of S AT Y R.

Quicquid agunt Homines, votum, timor, ira, voluptas,
Gaudia, difcurfus, noftri eft farrago libelli.

LONDON:

Printed for J. and R. TONSON and S. DRAPER

in the Strand.

M DCC LIV.

Harvard College Library
Gift of

Morris H. Morgan.
Jan. 1, 1910

8800 55-67

To the Right Honourable CHARLES

Earl of Dorfet and Middlefex,

Lord Chamberlain of His Majefty's Houfhold, Knight of the Moft Noble ORDER of the GARTER, &c.

My LORD,

HE Wishes and Defires of all good Men, which have, attended your Lordship from your First Appearance in the World, are at length accomplish'd in your obtaining thofe Honours and Dignities, which you have fo long deferv'd. There are no Factions, tho' irreconcile able to one another, that are not united in their Affection to you, and the Refpect they pay you. They are equally pleas'd in your Profperity, and wou'd be equally concern'd in your Affliction. Titus Vefpafian was not more the Delight of Humankind. The Univerfal Empire made him only more known, and more powerful, but cou'd not make him more belov'd. He had greater Ability of doing Good,

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but your Inclination to it, is not lefs: And tho' you cou'd not extend your Beneficence to fo many Persons, yet you have loft as few Days as that excellent Emperor, and never had his Complaint to make when you went to Bed, that the Sun had fhone upon you in vain, when you had the Opportunity of relieving fome unhappy Man. This, my Lord, has juftly acquir'd you as many Friends, as there are Perfons who have the Honour to be known to you: Meer Acquaintance you have none; you have drawn them all into a nearer Line: And they who have convers'd with you, are for ever after inviolably yours. This is a Truth fo generally acknowledg'd, that it needs no Proof: 'Tis of the Nature of a first Principle, which is receiv'd as foon as it is propos'd; and needs not the Reformation which Defcartes us'd to his : For we doubt not, neither can we properly fay, we think we admire and love you, above all other Men: There is a Certainty in the Propofition, and we know it. With the fame Affurance can I say, you neither have Enemies, nor can fcarce have any; for they who have never heard of you, can neither Love or Hate you; and they who have, can have no other Notion of you, than that which they receive from the Publick, that you are the best of Men. After this, my Teftimony can be of no farther ufe, than to declare it to be Day-light at Highnoon: And all who have the Benefit of Sight, can look up as well, and fee the Sun.

'Tis true, I have one Privilege which is almoft particular to myfelf, that I faw you in the Eaft at your first arifing above the Hemifphere: I was as foon fenfible as any Man of that Light, when it was but just shooting out, and beginning to travel upward to the Meridian. I made my early Addreffes to your Lordfhip, in my Effay of Dramatick Poetry; and therein befpoke you to the Wrld wherein I have the Right

of

:

of a First Discoverer. When I was myself, in the Rudiments of my Poetry, without Name or Reputation in the World, having rather the Ambition of a Writer, than the Skill; when I was drawing the Out lines of an Art, without any living Mafter to inftruct me in it; an Art which had been better prais'd than study'd here in England, wherein Shakespear, who created the Stage among us, had rather written happily, than knowingly and juftly and Johnson, who by ftudying Horace, had been acquainted with the Rules, yet seemed to envy to Pofterity that Knowledge, and and like an Inventor of fome ufeful Art, to make a Monopoly of his Learning: When thus, as I may fay, before the Ufe of the Loadftone, or Knowledge of the Compass, I was failing in a vaft Ocean, without other help than the Pole-Star of the Ancients, and the Rules of the French Stage amongst the Moderns, which are extremely different from ours, by reafon of their oppolite Tafte; yet even then, I had the Prefumption to Dedicate to your Lordship: A very unfinish'd Piece, I muft confefs, and which only can be excus'd by the little Expe ience of the Author, and the Modefty of the Title, An Essay. Yet I was ftronger in Prophecy than I was in Criticism; I was infpir'd to foretel You to Mankind, as the Reftorer of Poetry, the greatest Genius, the trueft Judge, and the best Patron.

Good Senfe and good Nature are never separated, tho' the ignorant World has thought otherwife. Good Nature, by which I mean Beneficence and Candor, is the Product of right Reafon; which of neceffity will give allowance to the Failings of others, by confidering that there is nothing perfect in Mankind; and by distinguishing that which comes nearest to Excellency, tho' not abfolutely free from Faults, will certainly produce a Candor in the Judge. 'Tis incident to an elevated Understanding, like your Lordship's, to find out

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