By foreign Jurymen, like Sophocles,
Or Tales falfer than Euripides;

When not an English Native dares appear, 80 To be a Witness for the Prisoner;

When all the Laws, they use t' arraign and
try

The innocent and wrong'd Delinquent by,
Were made b'a foreign Lawyer, and his
Pupils,

To put an end to all poetic Scruples, 85 And, by th' Advice of Virtuof-Tuscans, Determin'd all the Doubts of Socks and Buf kins;

Gave Judgment on all past and future Plays,
As is apparent by Speroni's Cafe,

Which Lope Vega first began to steal, 90 And after him the French Filou Corneill; And fince our English Plagiaries nim,

And steal their far-fet Criticisms from him;

78. Or Tales faller than Euripides.] Thofe Jurymen are called Tales, who are chofen in Court from amongst the By-ftanders, to fupply the Places of fuch, as do not appear, or are challenged,

83. Were made b' a foreign Lawyer and his Pupils.] This foreign Lawyer is Ariftotle; and as Butler fuppofes in this Poem the Critics fitting in a Court of Judicature, the Term is very proper and confiftent.

85. And by tb' Advice of Virtuofi-Tufcans.] This refers to that innumerable Tribe of Commentators upon Ariftotle's poefie, which appeared in Italy upon the Revival of Learning, in the 16th Cen

tury.

And, by an Action falsly laid of Trover,
The Lumber for their proper Goods reco

ver;

95 Enough to furnish all the lewd Impeachers Of witty Beaumont's Poetry, and Fletcher's, Who, for a few Mifprifions of Wit,

Are charg❜d by those, who ten times worse commit;

And, for misjudging some unhappy Scenes, 100 Are cenfur'd for't with more unlucky Sense; When all their worst Miscarriages delight,

And please more, than the best that Pedants write.

88. As is apparent from Speroni's Cafe, &c.] As I have not the Opportunity of confulting thefe Authors, I can only in general obferve, that Speroni an Italian Writer of the 16th Century wrote a Tragedy call'd La Canace, which was criticised and defended; that Lope de Vega the Prince of dramatic Poets among the Spaniards in the Beginning of the next Century, wrote a Method of Poesie which he named El arte nuevo; and that P. Corneille, the celebrated French Poet, wrote three Treatifes upon the Art of Poetry; one upon dramatic Poetry, another upon Tragedy, and a third upon the three Unities, of Time, Place, and Action,

M 4

SATY R.

W

HY fhould the World be fo averfe
To Plagiary Privateers,

That all Mens Senfe and Fancy seize,
And make free Prize of what they please?
5 As if, because they huff and fwell,
Like Pilferers full of what they steal,
Others might equal Pow'r affume,
To pay 'em with as hard a Doom;

To shut them up, like Beasts in Pounds,
Jo For breaking into others Grounds;
Mark 'em with Characters and Brands,
Like other Forgers of Mens Hands;
And in Effigie hang and draw

The poor Delinquents by Club-Law;

It is not improbable but that Butler, in this Satyr, or fneering Apology for the Plagiary, obliquely hints at Sir John Denham, whom he has directly attack'd in a preceding Poem-The Charge of Plagiarifm in borrowing the Sophy, and buying the Cooper's Hill, coincides with, and confirms this Suppofition; and I am the rather inclined to think to by many fatirical Flings of the fame Nature against this Gentleman, which I find in our Poet's poetical Common-place.

Butler

15 When no Inditement justly lies,
But where the Theft will bear a Price.

For though Wit never can be learn'd
It may b'affum'd, and own'd, and earn'd;
And, like our nobleft Fruits, improv'd,
20 By b'ing transplanted and remov'd:
And as it bears no certain Rate,
Nor pays one Peny to the State,
With which it turns no more t' account
Than Virtue, Faith, and Merit's wont;
Is neither Moveable, nor Rent,

25

Nor Chattel, Goods, nor Tenement;
Nor was it ever pafs'd b' Entail,
Nor fettled upon Heirs Male;

Or if it were, like ill-got Land,

30

So 'tis no more to be engross'd,

Did never fall t'a fecond Hand:

Than Sun-fhine, or the Air inclos'd;

35

Or to Propriety confin'd,

Than th' uncontrol'd and fcatter'd Wind.

For why should that which Nature meant

To owe its Being to its Vent;

Butler was not pleased with the two first Lines of this Compofition, as appears by his altering them in the Margin, thus:

Why Should the World be jo fevere

To every fmall-wit Privateer?

And indeed the Alteration is much for the better; but as it would not connect grammatically with what follows, I did not think proper to adopt it.

That has no Value of its own,

But as it is divulg'd and known ; Is perishable and destroy'd, 40 As long as it lies unenjoy'd,

Be fcanted of that lib'ral Use, Which all Mankind is free to choose, And idly hoarded, where 'twas bred, Instead of being difpers'd and spread? 45 And the more lavish and profuse, "Tis of the nobler general Ufe; As Riots, though fupply'd by Stealth, Are wholesome to the Commonwealth; And Men spend freelier what they win, 50 Than what th' have freely coming in.

The World's as full of curious Wit, Which thofe, that father, never writ, As 'tis of Bastards, which the Sot And Cuckold owns, that ne'er begot; 55 Yet pafs as well, as if the one

And th' other By-blow were their own. For why fhould he that's impotent To judge, and fancy, and invent, For that Impediment be stopt 60 To own, and challenge, and adopt, At least th' expos'd, and fatherlefs Poor Orphans of the Pen, and Prefs,