From the Literary Cyclopædia, p. 83.

VI. In estimating the poem of Hudibras, we should consider that genius takes every variety of form, adapts itself to every change of circumstance, and out of every object selects, according to its purpose, what is most essential to the view of truth, the exhibition of beauty, or the chastisement of folly. There are conventional notions on the subject which would restrict the honours of genius to the few master minds which have led to the discovery of some great laws of nature, or displayed the highest forms of creative imagination. But it is sometimes as great proof of genius to draw pictures from daily and familiar life, and to work upon its elements, as it is to soar above them; and it is still a question for the philosophical critic to decide, whether to raise a gorgeous pyramid of dreams out of the abstractions of thought, be a higher task than to master the fallacies of existence, and paint reality in all its strange and grotesque combinations. The author of Hudibras might alone afford scope to a controversy of this nature, for while he presents few, if any, of those characteristics which belong to the loftier class of minds, he so wonderfully adopts whatever is to be found in the actual world, or learnt from books, as to make his memorable lesson against bigotry one of the most remarkable productions of human ingenuity. But whatever may be the class to which Butler belongs in the Temple of Fame, there can only be one opinion respecting the value of his works, as a rich collection of lively sarcasms, often intermingled with wit, on those errors and foibles of human nature, which at once verge upon extravagance and mischief. A practical observer of the world, and an active sharer in its concerns, Butler never forgets the

pleasant and every day character of mankind. His mind was thoroughly impressed with the subject on which he wrote, and that subject embraced the whole circle of motives, which set society in action at the period when he lived. His wit is consequently often spent upon follies which are no longer conspicuous, and his experience made lessons which it would now be unprofitable to study. There is yet so much imperishable wisdom in his writings—so many warnings against evil tempers and absurdities, of which the seeds have never to this hour been eradicated from human nature, that Butler may still be estimated as one of the noblest writers of sententious maxims to be found in the English language.

VII. From Retrospective Review, vol. iii. 307.

LIST OF THE IMITATIONS OF HUDIBRAS.

1 Hudibras, second part

London 1663

2 Butler's Ghost; or, Hudibras, the fourth part
3 Hogan Moganides; or, the Dutch Hudibras
4 The Irish Hudibras; or, Fingallian Prince, &c.
5 The Whig's Supplication, by S. Colvil

6 Pendragon; or, the Carpet Knight, his Kalendar
7 The Dissenting Hypocrite; or, Occasional Con-
formist

1698

1704

8 Vulgus Britannicus; or, the British Hudibras, in fifteen cantos, &c. by the Author of the London Spy, second edition

1710

9 Hudibras Redivivus, &c. by E. Ward, no date.
10 The Republican Procession; or, the Tumultuous
Cavalcade, second edition

1714

11 The Hudibrastic Brewer, a satire on the former

(No. 10)

1714

12 Four Hudibrastic Cantos, being poems on four of

the greatest heroes

1715

13 Posthumous Works in Prose and Verse of Mr. S. Butler, 3 vols. 12mo. 1720, and in 1 vol.

14 England's Reformation, &c., a Poem, by Thomas Ward

15 The Irish Hudibras, Hesperi-neso-graphia, by William Moffet, 1755, a reprint of No. 4.

16 The Poetical Works of William Meston.

17 The Alma of Matthew Prior.

1754

1747

1767

For a very judicious and elegant criticism on the merits and defects of these various poems, the reader is advised to consult the article in the work from which our list is taken. The present editor, who has carefully read most of the above poems, bears his testimony to the truth and justice of the observations upon them.

"Pope, in classing the English poets for his projected discourse on the rise and progress of English Poetry, has considered Sir John Mennis and Thomas Baynal as the original of Hudibras. See Dr. Warton's Essays. Some of these pieces certainly partake of the wit, raillery, and playful versification of Butler; and this collection, it is just to remember, made its appearance eight years before the publication of Hudibras. Dr Farmer has traced much of Butler in Cleveland. Musarum Deliciæ, first printed, 1655.

VIII. An Epitaph on James Duke of Hamilton.

He that three kingdoms made one flame,
Blasted their beauty, burnt the frame,
Himself now here in ashes lies,

A part of this great Sacrifice :
Here all of HAMILTON remains,

Save what the other world contains.

But (Reader) it is hard to tell
Whether that world be Heav'n, or Hell.
A Scotch man enters Hell at 's birth,
And 'scapes it when he goes to earth,
Assur'd no worse a Hell can come
Than that which he enjoyed at home.
Now did the Royall Workman botch
This Duke, halfe-English and halfe-Scotch!
A Scot an English Earldom fits,

As Purple doth your Marmuzets;
Suits like Nol Cromwell with the Crown,
Or Bradshaw in his Scarlet-gown.
Yet might he thus disguis'd (no lesse)
Have slipt to Heav'n in 's English dresse,
But that he'in hope of life became
This mystick Proteus too as well
Might cheat the Devill 'scape his Hell,
Since to those pranks he pleas'd to play
Religion ever pav'd the way;

Which he did to a Faction tie,

Not to reforme but crucifie.

"Twas he that first alarm'd the Kirke
To this prepost'rous bloody worke,
Upon the King's to place Christ's throne,
A step and foot-stoole to his owne ;
Taught Zeal a hundred tumbling tricks,
And Scriptures twin'd with Politicks;
The Pulpit made a Jugler's Box,
Set Law and Gospell in the Stocks,

As did old Buchanan and Knox,

In those daies when (at once*) the Por

*The Pox, Presbytery, and Jesuitisme, are of the same standing.

And Presbyters a way did find
Into the world to plague mankind.
'Twas he patch'd up the new Divine,
Part Calvin and part Catiline,

Could too transforme (without a spell)
Satan into a Gabriel;

Just like those pictures which we paint
On this side Fiend, on that side Saint.
Both this, and that, and every thing
He was; for and against the King :
Rather than he his ends would misse,
Betray'd his master with a kisse,
And buri'd in one common Fate
The glory of our Church and State:
The Crown too levell'd on the ground;
And having rook't all parties round,
'Faith it was time then to be gone,
Since he had all his business done.
Next on the fatall Block expir'd,
He to this Marble-Cell retir'd;
Where all of HAMILTON remains
But what Eternity contains.

Digitus Dei, or God's Justice upon Treachery and Treason, exemplified in the Life and Death of the late James Duke of Hamilton, whereto is added an Epitaph upon him. 4to. London, 1649.

This poem is ascribed to Marchamont Needham. It is curious as being much in the style of Butler, and being published fourteen years before Hudibras appeared.

VOL I.