That will fubmit to his oraculous Doom,

And rev'rence what they ought to scorn;
Admire his sturdy confidence

For folid Judgment, and deep Serse; And credit purchas'd without Pains or Wit, Like stolen Pleasures, ought to be most sweet.

III.

Two Self-admirers, that combine
Against the World, may pass a Fine
Upon all Judgment, Senfe, and Wit,
And settle it, as they think fit,

On one another, like the Choice
Of Perfian Princes by one Horfe's Voice.
For those fine Pageants, which fome raife,
Of falfe and difproportion'd Praise,
T'enable whom they please t'appear,
And pass for what they never were,
In private only b'ing but nam'd,
Their Modefty, must be asham'd,
And not endure to hear;

And yet may be divulg'd and fam'd,
And own'd in public every where :

For thofe fine Pageants, which feme raise,-Of falfe and disproportion'd praife, &c.] This alludes to the foolish Cuftom, which prevail'd in thofe Times, of ufhering Books of Poetry to the Public with recommendatory Verfes from their learned Friends to the ingenious Authors; which were generally ftuft with fuch vain and fulfome Compliments, as, according to out Poet's Words, must have put their Modesty to the Blufh, if they had been prefented to them in private only.

So vain fome Authors are to boast

Their want of Ingenuity, and club
Their affidavit Wits, to dub

Each other but a Knight o'th' Poft,
As falfe as fuborn'd Perjurers,

That vouch away all right, they have to their

own Ears.

IV.

But when all other Courfes fail,
There is one eafy Artifice,

That feldom has been known to mifs,
To cry all Mankind down, and rail:

For he, whom all Men do contemn,
May be allow'd to rail again at them,
And in his own Defence

To outface Reafon, Wit, and Senfe, And all, that makes against himself, condemn ; To fnarle at all Things right or wrong, Like a mad Dog, that has a Worm in's Tongue; Reduce all Knowledge back of Good and Evil, T'its firft Original the Devil;

And, like a fierce Inquifitor of Wit,

To spare no Flesh, that ever spoke, or writ;
Tho' to perform his Tafk as dull,

As if he had a Toad-ftone in his Scull,

As if he had a Toad-flone in bis Scull.] What was call'd the ToadAlone, was fuppos'd or pretended to be a ftony Concretion found in the Heads of Toads, and was recommended by Quacks and Empi

And could produce a greater Stock Of Maggots than a paftoral Poet's Flock.

V.

The feeblest Vermin can destroy, As fure as ftouteft Beafts of Prey; And only with their Eyes and Breath Infect, and poyfon Men to death; But that more impotent Buffoon, That makes it both his Bus'nefs, and his Sport To rail at all, is but a Drone,

That spends his Sting on what he cannot hurt, Enjoys a kind of Letchery in Spight,

Like o'ergrown Sinners, that in whipping take
Delight,

Invades the Reputation of all those,
That have, or have it not to lofe;
And if he chance to make a Difference,
'Tis always in the wrongest Sense:
As rooking Gamesters never lay
Upon thofe Hands, that use fair Play ;
But venture all their Bets

Upon the Slurs, and cunning Tricks of ableft
Cheats.

rics as of great medicinal Ufe.-See Brown's Vulgar Errors. Butler only adopts the Whim, to hint that his Critic's Brains were become petrified.

VI.

Nor does he vex himself much less Than all the World befide, Falls fick of other Mens Excefs, Is humbled only at their Pride, And wretched at their Happiness; Revenges on himself the Wrong, Which his vain Malice and loose Tongue To thofe, that feel it not, have done; And whips and fpurs himfelf, because he is outgone;

Makes idle Characters and Tales,

As counterfeit, unlike, and falfe,

As Witches Pictures are of Wax and Clay
To thofe, whom they would in Effigie flay.
And as the Devil, that has no Shape of's own,
Affects to put the ugliest on,

And leaves a Stink behind him, when he's gone :
So he, that's worse than nothing, strives t'appear
I'th' likeness of a Wolf or Bear,

To fright the weak; but, when Men dare Encounter with him, ftinks, and vanishes to air.

To

TO THE

HAPPY MEMORY

Of the moft Renown'd

DUVA L.

A PINDARIC ODE. *

Τ

I.

'Tis as impertinent and vain,

IS true, to compliment the Dead
Is

As 'twas of old to call them back again,

Or, like the Tartars, give them Wives
With Settlements, for After-lives:
For all that can be done, or faid,

• This Ode, which is the only genuine Poem of Butler's, among the many fpurious ones father'd upon him in what is call'd his Re mains, was published by the Author himself, under his own Name, in the Year 1671, in Three Sheets 4to; and agreeable to this I find it in his own Hand-writing among his Manufcripts, with fome little Addition, and a few verbal Alterations, as the Reader may observe, in comparing it with the Copy already printed. That pains-taking Critic Mr. Antony Wood, has however, in his Athena, acquainted us "that though it is faid in the Title to have been written by the Au"thor of Hudibras, yet some curious Perfons, at that Time, thought " otherwise."—And upon this hypothetical nameless Authority ven tures to rob our Poet of his Property, and bestows it upon Dr. Walter Pepe, Aftronomy profeffor of Gram College, who happened, it. feems, to be a Wit as well as an Aftronomer. What led to the Sufpicion of its being Dr. Pope's was a Pamphlet published by him the Year before upon the fame Occafion, call'd-The Memoirs of Mr. DuVal, with his laft Speech and Epitaph.

VOL. I.

L