Nor fees he reafon why he should engage, Plac'd on a rock, vain men he pities, tost But wretched men have found another way. So from our Maker wandering, we stray, Silence, my Muse! make not these jewels cheap I i iii Like new-born babes depending on the breast, v. That he could all our trefpaffes forgive, VI. Guard us from all temptations of the foe; And those we may in feverel ftations know: The rich and poor in flipp'ry places stand, Give us enough, but with a sparing hand! Not ill-perfuading want, nor wanton wealth, But what proportion'd is to life and health: For not the dead but living fing thy praise, Exalt thy kingdom, and thy glory raise. Favete linguis !------- Hor. ON THE FOREGOING DIVINE POEMS. WHEN we for age could neither read nor write, The feas are quiet when the winds give o'er: So calm are we when paffions are no more! For then we know how vain it was to boast Of fleeting things, fo certain to be loft. Clouds of affection from our younger eyes Conceal that emptinefs which age defcries. The foul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light through chinks that time ha made: Stronger by weakness, wifer men become, As they draw near to their eternal home. Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view That ftand upon the threshold of the new. ------Miratur limen Olympi. That all that saw him did but honour.HUD. AT COurt. But fince his worship's dead and gone, And mould'ring lies beneath this stone, The Reader is defir'd to look For his achievements in his Book; Which will preserve of Knight the Talc, HUD's EPITAPH. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY mundell anD SON, PARLIAMENT STAIRS Anno 1792. LIFE OF BUTLER. THE father of Samuel Butler was a country farmer, who, with a small cflate of his own, rented a farm in the parish of Stresham in Worcestershire; at which place, in the year 1612, the poet was born. He was educated at the grammar school of Worcester, under the tuition of Mr. Henry Bright; and, after having pursued his studies for the usual period, removed from thence to Cambridge. At that University he refided for fome time; but the narrowness of his circumstances preventing him from completing an academical education, he never entered a student there. On his return home, he became clerk to Mr. Jeffreys of Earlscroomb, an eminent justice of the peace, in whofe eafy fervice he continued for a number of years, and found fufficient leisure, not only to improve himself in every species of learning, but also to cultivate an acquaintance with the fine arts of mufic and of painting. He was afterwards admitted into the household of the Countess of Kent, a lady celebrated for her encouragement of literature; where he had free access to a noble library, and where he acquired the friendship of the great Selden, who was steward to the Countess, and whose confidence in Butler was so great, that he made use of his affiftance in various literary occupations. But what was the particular nature of his engagements, or how long he continued in that family, could never be learned. The fickleness of his destiny next fixed him in the employment of Sir Samuel Luke, one of Cromwell's principal officers. Here he is said to have first conceived, and to have partly composed his inimitable work; which is the more probable, as here only he could have a fair opportunity of observing the characters of the fectaries, in the confidence of fuccefs, and exulting in the full completion of their machinations, having thrown afide their cloaks of fanaticifm and hypocrify. On the Restoration, he became fecretary to the Earl of Carbery, Prefident of the Principality of Wales, from whom he obtained the stewardship of Ludlow Caftle, when the Court of Marches was revived. At that period he married Mrs. Herbert, a lady of good family and confiderable fortune; from which, however, he reaped but little benefit, as the greater part of it was loft in bad fecurities. In 1663 was published the first part of Hudibras, which was followed the subsequent year by the fecond part. It was quickly introduced to the notice of the polite world, by the taste and influence of that accomplished nobleman, the Earl of Dorfet; and foon became so popular at Court, that it was quoted by the King, ftudied by the courtiers, and admired by all the world. No wonder that the author fhould be elated with hopes of independence, when his writings met with fuch pointed attention; but, alas! independence was not his lot. Baffled in his expectations, and disappointed in his reliance on court promifes, the man whose wit delighted, and whose fatire tended to reform a nation, was fuffered in his old age to struggle with all the calamities of indigence. There is fomething ftrikingly fimilar in the fate of those two great original geniufes, Butler and Cervantes: Both fuccefsfully attempted to free their respective countries from fanaticifm of different kinds, by the united and irrefiftable force of wit, humour and fatire; yet, while their works were aniverfally applauded, the authors themselves were fuffered, the one to perifh with infirmity and |