form, and set in gold, then we cannot but acknowledge, that it is the perfect work of art and nature; and every one will be so vain, to think he himself could have performed the like, until he attempts it. It is just the description that Horace makes of such a finished piece: it appears so easy,

ut sibi quivis

Speret idem, sudet multum, frustraque laboret,
Ausus idem.

And besides all this, it is your lordship's particular talent to lay your thoughts so close together, that, were they closer, they would be crowded, and even a due connexion would be wanting. We are not kept in expectation of two good lines, which are to come after a long parenthesis of twenty bad; which is the April poetry of other writers, a mixture of rain and sunshine by fits: you are always bright, even almost to a fault, by reason of the excess. There is continual abundance, a magazine of thought, and yet a perpetual variety of entertainment; which creates such an appetite in your reader, that he is not cloyed with any thing, but satisfied with all. It is that which the Romans call cœna dubia; where there is such plenty, yet withal so much diversity, and so good order, that the choice is difficult betwixt one excellency and another; and yet the conclusion, by a due climax, is evermore the best; that is, as a conclusion ought to be, ever the most proper for its place. See, my lord, whether I have not studied your lordship

with some application: and since you are so modest, 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, though it is but in miniature, and that some of the best features are yet wanting. Yet what I have done, is enough to distinguish you from any other, which is the proposition that I took upon me to de

monstrate.

And now, my lord, to apply what I have said to my present business: the Satires of Juvenal and Persius, appearing in this new English dress, cannot so properly be inscribed 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 permission for this address; and you have particularly encouraged me by your perusal and approbation of the Sixth and Tenth Satires of Juvenal, as I have translated them. My fellow labourers have likewise commissioned me, to perform in their behalf this office of a dedication to you; and will acknowledge, with all possible respect 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, desire it now. Be pleased to receive our common endeavours with your wonted candour, without entitling you to the protection of our common failings, in so difficult an undertaking. And allow me your patience, if it be not already tired with this long epistle, to

give you from the best authors, the origin, the antiquity, the growth, the change, and the completement of SATIRE among the Romans: to describe, if not define, the nature of that poem, with its several qualifications and virtues, together with the several sorts of it; to compare the excellencies of Horace, Persius, and Juvenal, and shew the particular manners of their satires; and lastly, to give an account of this new way of version, which is attempted in our performance: all which, according to the weakness of my ability, and the best lights which I can get from others, shall be the subject of my following discourse.

The most perfect work of poetry, says our master, Aristotle, is tragedy. His reason is, because it is the most united; being more severely confined 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 circumscribed at least within the compass of one town or city. Being exactly proportioned 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 heroick poem is certainly the greatest work of human nature.

2

In the Essay on Dramatick Poesy, our author has given the preference to tragedy, that being the topick on which he was employed. His custom was, as has often been observed, to place his present subject, whatever it might be, in the fairest and most captivating point of view.

3

The beauties and perfections of the other are but mechanical; those of the epick are more noble. Though Homer has limited his place to Troy, and the fields about it; his actions to forty-eight natural days, whereof twelve are holydays, or cessation from business, during the funeral of Patroclus. To proceed; the action of the epick is greater; the extention of time enlarges the pleasure of the reader, and the episodes give it more ornament, and more variety. The instruction is equal; but the first is only instructive, the latter forms a hero, and a prince.

If it signifies any thing, which of them is of the more ancient family, the best and most absolute heroick poem was written by Homer, long before tragedy was invented. But if we consider the natural endowments, and acquired parts, which are necessary to make an accomplished writer in either kind, tragedy requires a less and more confined knowledge: moderate learning, and observation of the rules is sufficient, if a genius be not wanting. But in an epick poet, one who is worthy of that name, besides an universal genius, is required universal learning, together with all those qualities

Here, therefore, and in the Dedication of the Æneid, we find the palm given to heroick poesy, and the second place allotted to tragedy.

3 The meaning, I conceive is-" Homer, however, in his Iliad, has made some approaches to the strict rules of the drama, for he has limited his place," &c.; but it is not well expressed.

and acquisitions which I have named above, and as many more as I have through haste or negligence omitted. And after all, he must have exactly studied Homer and Virgil, as his patterns, Aristotle and Horace, as his guides, and Vida and Bossu, as their commentators, with many others both Italian and French criticks, which I want leisure here to recommend.

In a word, what I have to say in relation to this subject, which does not particularly concern satire, is, that the greatness of an heroick poem, beyond that of a tragedy, may easily be discovered by observing how few have attempted that work, in comparison to those who have written dramas and of those few, how small a number have succeeded. But leaving the criticks on either side to contend about the preference due to this or that sort of poetry, I will hasten to my present business, which is the antiquity and origin of satire, according to those informations which I have received from the learned Casaubon, Heinsius, Rigaltius, Dacier, and the Dauphin's Juvenal; to which I shall add some observations of my own.

There has been a long dispute among the modern criticks, whether the Romans derived their satire from the Grecians, or first invented it themselves. Julius Scaliger and Heinsius, are of the first opinion; Casaubon, Rigaltius, Dacier, and the publisher of the Dauphin's Juvenal, maintain the latter. If we take satire in the general signification of the word, as it is used in all modern languages,