20

And make them henceforth keep the beaten roads
Of reverend chorufes and epifodes;
Reform and regulate a puppet play,
According to the true and ancient way,
That not an actor thall prefume to fqueak,
Unless he have a licence for 't in Greek;
Nor Whittington henceforward fell his cat in 25
Plain vulgar English, without mewing Latin:
No Pudding fhall be fuffer'd to be witty,
Unless it be in order to raife pity;
vor devil in the puppet-play b' allow'd
Foroar and ipit fire, but to fright the crowd,
Unlefs fome god or dæmon chance t' have piques
Againft an ancient family of Greeks;
That other men may tremble, and take warning,
How fuch a fatal progeny they 're born in;
For none but fuch for tragedy are fitted,
That have been ruin'd only to be pity'd;
And only thofe held proper to deter,
Who've had th' ill luck against their wills to err.
Whence only fuch as are of middling fizes,
Between morality and venial vices,

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And fet down in the rubric at what time
It should be counted legal, when a crime;
Declare when 'twas, and when 'twas not a fin,
And on what days it went out or came in.

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An English poet fhould be try'd b' his peers, And not by pedants and philofophers, Incompetent to jadge poetic fury, As butchers are forbid to b' of a jury: Befides the most into erable wrong To try their matters in a foreign tongue, By foreign jurymen, like Sophocles, Or Tales falfer than Euripides; When not an Englith native dares appear To be a witnefs for the prifoner; When all the laws they ufe 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 fcruples, And, by th' advice of virtuofi Tufcans, Determin'd all the doubts of focks and buskins; Gave judgment on ali paít and future plays, As is apparent by Speroni's cafe, Which Lope Vega firf began to steal, And after him the French flou Corneille; And fince our English plagiaries nim And fleal their far-fet criticifms from him, And, by an action falfely laid of Trover, The lumber for their proper goods recover, Enough to furnish all the lewd impeachers Of witty Beaumont's poetry and Fletcher's; Who, for a few mifprifions of wit,

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Are charg'd by thofe who ten times worfe commit;

And, for misjudging fome unhappy fcenes,
Are cenfur'd for 't with more unlucky fenfe; 100
When all their worft mifcarriages delight,
And please more than the beft that pedants write.

UPON

15

That gave them carneft of fo great a fum
Of glory (from your future acts) to come,
And which you have difcharg'd at fuch a rate,
That all fuccceding times mufi celebrate;
We, that fubfift by your bright influence,
And have no life but what we own from thence,
Come humbly to prefent you, our own way,
With all we have (befide our hearts), a play. 10
But, as devouteft men can pay no more
To deities than what they gave before,
We bring you only what your great commands
Did refcue for us from ingroting hands,
That would have taken out adminiftration
Of all departed poets' goods i' th' naten;
Or, like to lords of manors, feiz'd all plays
That come within their 1:ach, as wefts and itrays,
And claim'd a forfeiture of all paft wit,
But that your juftice put a stop to it.
'Twas well for us, who elfe must have been glad
T'admit of all who now write new and bad;
For, ftill the wickeder fome authors write,
Others to write worfe are encourag'd by 't;
And though thofe fierce inquifitors of wit,
The critics, fpare no fleth that ever writ,
But, just as tooth-drawers, find, among the rout,
Their own teeth work in pulling others out;
So they, decrying all of all that write,
Think to erect a trade of judging by 't.
Small poetry, like other herefies,
By being perfecuted multiplies;
But here they're like to fail of all pretence;
For he that writ this play is dead long fince,
And not within their power; for bears are faid 35
To fpare thofe that lie ftill and feem but dead.

EPILOGUE

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30

TO THE SAME.

M

TO THE DUTCHESS.

6

ADAM, the joys of this great day are due, No lefs than to your royal Lord, to you : And, while three mighty kingdoms pay your part, You have, what's greater than them all, his heart; That heart that, when it was his country's guard, The fury of two elements outdar'd, And made a fubborn haughty enemy The terror of his dreadful conduct Ay; And yet you conquer'd it—and made your charms Appear no lefs victorious than his arms; For which you oft' have triumph'd on this day, And many more to come Heaven grant you may! But, as great princes ufe, in folemn times Of joy, to pardon all but heinous crimes, If we have finn'd without an ill intent, And done below what really we meant, We humbly ask your pardon for 't, and pray You would forgive, in honour of the day.

15

A

NYE'S

THANKSGIVING BEARD*.

BEARD is but the vizard of a face, That Nature orders for no other place; The fringe and taffel of a countenance, That hides his perion from another man's, And, like the Roman habits of their youth, Is never worn until his perfect growth; A privilege no other creature bas, To wear a natural matk upon his face, That thifts its likeness every day he wears, To fit fonie other perfons' characters, And by its own mythology implies, That men were born to live in fome difgule. This fatisfy'd a reverend man, that clear'd His difagr eing confcience by his Beard. He 'ad been preferr'di' th' army, when the church Was taken with a Why not? in the lurch; 16 When primate, metropolitan, and prelates, Were turn'd to officers of horse and zealots, From whom he held the most pluralities Of contributions, donatives, and falaries; Was held the chiefeft of thofe fpiritual trumpes That founded charges to their fierceft combats; But in the defpera eft of defeats Had never blown as opportune retreats, Until the Synod order'd his departure To London, from his caterwauling quarter, To fit among them, as he had been chofen, And pafs or null all things at his own difpofing:

* As our Poet has thought fit to bestow fo m ny verfes upon this trumpeter of fedition, it perhaps, be no thanklefs office to give the read fome further information about him than wat merely relates to his beard.-He was educated Oxford, first in Brazen-nofe College, and afters wards in Magdalen Hall; where, under influence of a Puritanical tutor, he received firft tincture of fedition and disgust to our eccl fiaftical establishment. After taking his degre he went into orders, but foon left England to 2 and refide in Holland, where he was not v likely to leffen thofe prejudices which he already imbibed. In the year 1640 he retained home, hecame a furious Prefbyterian, 2 3 zealous ftickler for the Parliament; and w thought confiderable enough, in his way, to he fent by his party into Scotland, to encourage and spirit-up the cause of the Covenant; in deft of which he wrote fereral pamphlets. Ho ever, as his zeal arofe from felf-intereft pa ambiton, when the Independents began to re the afcendant, and power and profit ran iste channel, he faced about, and became a ftreat preacher on that fide; and in this fituation ‘was when he fell under the lath of Butler's fattre.

Could clap up fouls in limbo with a vote,

And for their fees difcharge and it them out; 30 Which made fome grandees bribe him with the place

Of holding-forth upon Thanksgiving days;
Whither the Members, two and two abreaft,
March'd to take in the fpoils of all--the feaft;
But by the way repeated the oh-hones
Of his will Irish and chromatic tones;
His frequent and pathetic hums and haws,
He practis'd only t' animate the Caufe,
With which the Sifters were fo prepofleft,
They could remember nothing of the reft.
He thought upon it, and refolv'd to put
His Beard into as wonderful a cut,
And, for the further fervice of the women,
T'abate the rigidnefs of his opinion;
And, but a day before, had been to find
The ablett virtuofo of the kind,

With whom he long and ferioutly conferr'd
On all intrigues that might concern his Beard;
By whole advice he fate for a defign

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For fome have doubted if 'twere made of fnips
Of fables, glew'd and fitted to his lips,
And fet in fuch an artificial frame,
As if it had been wrought in filograin,
More fubtly fil'd and polifh'd than the gin
That Vulcan caught himfelf a cuckold in;
That Lachefis, that spins the threads of Fate,
Could not have drawn it out more delicate. 100
But being defign'd and drawn fo regular,

T'a fcrupulous punctilio of a hair,

Who could imagine that it thould be portal
To felfith, inward-unconforming mortal?
And yet it was, and did abominate

The leaft compliance in the Church or State,
And from itfelf did equally diffent,
As from religion and the government *.

SATIRE

105

In lide drawn, exactly to a line,

50

That if the creature chance to have occafion

To undergo a thorough reformation,

It might be borne conveniently about,

And by the meanest artift copy'd cut.
This done, he fent a journeyman fectary
He 'ad brought up to retrieve, and feuch, and carry,
To find out one that had the greatest practice,
Το prune and bleach the beards of all Fanatics,
And fet their moit confus'd diforders right,
No by a new defign, but newer light;
Who us'd to fhave the grandees of their ticklers,
And crop the worthies of their Conventicles;
To whom he fhew'd his new-invented draught,
And told him how 'twas to be copy'd out.

(၁

Qoth he, 'Tis but a falfe and counterfeit, 65 And fcandalous device of human wit, That's abiolutely forbidden in the Scripture, To make of any carnal thing the picture. Quoth th' other faint, You muit leave that to

us,

T'agree what's lawful, or what fcandalous;
For, till it is determin'd by our vote,
'Is either law ful, fcandalous, or not:
Which, fince we have not yet agreed upon,

Is left indifferent to avoid or own.

Quoth he. My confcience Lever fhall agree 75 To do it, til I know what "th, to be; For though I ufe it in a lawful time, What if it after thould be made a crime?

'Tis true we fought for liberty of conscience, Gainft human conftitations, in our own fenfe, So Which I'm refolv'd perpetually t' avow, And make it lawful wh to'er we do; Then do your office with your greatest kill, And let th' event befal us how it will.

This faid, the nice barbarian took his tools, 85
Το
To prune the zealot's tene's and his jowles;
Talk'd on as pertinently as he flipt,

A hundred times for every hair he clipt;
Until the Beard at length began t' appear,
And realfume its antique character,

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Grew more and more itfelf, that art might frive And ftand in competition with the life;

other little fketches upon the fame fubject, but
* I find among Butler's manufcripts feveral
nene worth printing, except the following one
may be thought paffable, by way of note.
This reverend brother, like a goat,
Did wear a tail upon his throat,
The fringe and taffel of a face,
That gives it a becoming grace,
But fet in fuch a curious frame,
As if 'twere wrought in filograin,
And cut fo even, as if 't had been
Drawn with a pen upon his chin.
No topiary hedge of quickfet

Was e'er f) neatly cut or thick fet
That made beholders more admire,
Than China-plate that 's made of wire;
But being wrought fo regular

In every part, and every hair,
Who would believe it thould be portal
To unconforming-inward mortal?
And yet it was, and did diffent
No lefs from its own government,
Than from the Church's, and deteft
That which it held forth and profeft;
Did equally abominate

Conformity fn Church and State;
And, like an hypocritic brother,
Protefs'd one thing and did another;

As all things, where they 're most profeft,
Are found to be regarded leaft.

In this composition the reader will have the pleafare of viewing Tutler in a light in which 31814

he

Make law and equity as dear

As plunder and free-qnter were,
And fierce encounter at the bar
Undo as faft as thofe in war;
Ennch bards, whores, and ufurers,
Pimps, fcriveners, filenc'd miniiters,
That get eftates by being undone
For tender confcience, and have none.
Like thofe that with their credit drive
A trade, without a ftock, and thrive;
Advance men in the church and itate
For being of the meanest rate,
Rais'd for their double-guil'd deferts,
Before integrity and parts;
Produce more grievous complaints
For plenty, than before for wants,
And make a rich and fruitful year
A greater grievance than a dear;
Make jets of greater dang..s far
Then thofe they trembled at in war;
Till, unawares, they've said a train
To blow the public up again;
Rally with horror, and, in fport,
Rebellion and deftruction court,
And make Fanatics in defpight

Of all their madness, reafon right, '
And vouch to all they have forethown,
As other monsters oft have done,
Although from truth and fenfe as far,
As all their other maggots are:

For things faid falfe, and never meant,
Do oft prove true by accident.

That wealth that bounteous Fortune fends

As prefents to her dearest friend,

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Is bufy in finding fcruples out, To languifh in eternal doubt; Sees fpectres in the dark, and ghofts, And starts, as horfes do at posts, And, when his eyes aflift him least, 130 Difcera fuch fubtle objects best. On hypothetic dreams and vifions Grounds everlasting difquifitions, And rifes endless controverfies On vulgar theorems and hearfays; Grows pofitive and confident, In things fo far beyond th' extent Of human fenfe, he does not know

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Whether they be at all or no,

And doubts as much in things that are As plainly evident and clear; Difdains all ufeful fenfe, and plain, T' apply to th' intricate and vain; And cracks his brains in plodding on That which is never to be known; 145 To pofe himfelf with fubtelties,

And hold no other knowledge wife; Although, the fubtler all things are, They 're but to nothing the more near; And, the lefs weight they can sustain, 150 The more he ftill lays on in vain, And hangs his foul upon as nice

And fubtle curiofities,

As one of that vaft multitude

That on a needle's point have flood;

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155 Weighs right and wrong, and true and falfe, Upon as nice and fubtle scales,

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As thofe that turn upon a plane