Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
book_n find_v great_a read_v 2,892 5 5.5522 4 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A70171 Miscellany poems upon several occasions consisting of original poems / by the late Duke of Buckingham, Mr. Cowly, Mr. Milton, Mr. Prior, Mrs. Behn, Mr. Tho. Brown, &c. ; and the translations from Horace, Persius, Petronius Arbiter, &c. ; with an essay upon satyr, by the famous M. Dacier. Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, 1628-1687.; Cowley, Abraham, 1618-1667.; Milton, John, 1608-1674.; Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689.; Congreve, William, 1670-1729.; Dacier, André, 1651-1722.; Gildon, Charles, 1665-1724. 1692 (1692) Wing G733A; ESTC R21564 36,779 146

There are 4 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

whereas we have had respect only to the first and general Use which has been made of it in the beginning to mock and deride yet this Word ought always to be writ in Latin with an u or i Satura or Satira and in English by an i those who have wrote it with a y thought with Scaliger Heinsius and a great many others that the Divinities of the Groves which the Grecians call'd Satyrs the Romans Fawns gave their Names to these Pieces and that of the Word Satyrus they had made Satyra and that these Satyrs had a great affinity with the Satyric Pieces of the Greeks which is absolutely false as Casaubon has very well prov'd it in making it appear That of the Word Satyrus they could never make Satyra but Satyrica And in shewing the Difference betwixt the Satyric Poems of the Greeks and the Roman Satyrs Mr. Spanheim in his fine Preface to the Caesars concerning the Emperor Iulian has added new Reflections to those which this Judicious Critic had advanced and he has establish'd with a great deal of Judgment five or six essential Differences between those two Poems which you may find in his Book The Greeks had never any thing that came near this Roman Satyr but their Silli 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were also biting Poems as they may easily be perceived to be yet by some Fragments of the Silli of Timon There was however this Difference That the Silli of the Greeks were Parodious from one End to the other which cannot be said of the Roman Satyrs where if sometimes you find some Parodia's you may plainly see that the Poet did not design to affect it and by consequence the Parodia's do not make the Essence of a Satyr as they do the Essence of the Silli Having explain'd the Nature Origin and Progress of Satyr I 'll now say a Word or two of Horace in particular There cannot be a more just Idea given of this part of his Works than in comparing them to the Statues of the Sileni to which Alcibiades in the Banquet compares Socrates They were Figures that without had nothing agreeable or beautiful but when you took the Pains to open them you found the Figures of all the Gods In the manner that Horace presents himself to us in his Satyrs we discover nothing of him at first that deserves our Attachment He seems to be fitter to amuse Children than to employ the Thoughts of Men but when we remove that which hides him from our Eyes and view him even to the Bottom we find in him all the Gods together that is to say all those Vertues which ought to be the continual Practice of such as seriously endeavour to forsake their Vices Hitherto we have been content to see only his out-side and 't is a strange thing that Satyrs which have been read so long have been so little understood or explain'd They have made a Halt at the out-side and were wholly busi'd in giving the Interpretation of Words They have commented upon him like Grammarians not Philosophers as if Horace had writ meerly to have his Language understood and rather to divert than instruct us That is not the End of this Work of his The end of any Discourse is the Action for which that Discourse is compos'd when it produces no Action 't is only a vain amusement which idly tickles the Ear without ever reaching the Heart In these two Books of his Satyrs Horace would teach us to conquer our Vices to rule our Passions to follow Nature to limit our Desires to distinguish True from False and Ideas from Things to forsake Prejudice to know throughly the Principles and Motives of all our Actions and to shun that Folly which is in all Men who are bigotted to the Opinions they have imbibed under their Teachers which they keep obstinately without examining whether they are well-grounded In a Word he endeavours to make us happy for our selves agreeable and faithful to our Friends easie discreet and honest to all with whom we are oblig'd to live To make us understand the Terms he uses to explain the Figures he employs and to conduct the Reader safely through the Labyrinth of a difficult Expression or obscure Parenthesis is no great matter to perform And as Epictetus says there is nothing in that Beautiful or truly worthy a wise Man The principal and most important Business is to shew the Rise the Reason and the Proof of his Precepts to demonstrate that those who do not endeavour to correct themselvs by so beautiful a Model are just like sick Men who having a Book full of Receipts proper to their Distempers content themselves to read 'em without comprehending them or so much as knowing the Advantage of them I urge not this because I have my self omitted any thing in these Annotations which was the incumbent Duty of a Grammarian to observe this I hope the World will be sensible of and that there remains no more Difficulty in the Text. But that which has been my chief Care is to give an insight into the very matter that Horace treats of to shew the solidity of his Reasons to discover the Turns he makes use of to prove what he aims at and to refute or illude that which is opposed to him to confirm the Truth of his Decisions to make the Delicacy of his Sentiments perceiv'd to expose to open Day the Folly he finds in what he condemns This is what none have done before me On the contrary as Horace is a true Proteus that takes a thousand different Forms they have often lost him and not knowing where to find him have grapled him as well as they could they have palm'd upon him in several Places not only Opinions which he had not but even those which he directly refutes I don't say this to blame those who have taken Pains before me on the Works of this great Poet I commend their Endeavours they have open'd me the way and if it be granted that I have some little Advantage over them I ow it wholly to the great Men of Antiquity whom I have read with more Care and without doubt with more Leisure I speak of Homer of Plato and Aristotle and of some other Greek and Latin Authors which I study continually that I may form my taste on theirs and draw out of their Writings the justness of Wit good Sense and Reason I know very well that there are now adays some Authors who laugh at these great Names who disallow the Acclamations which they have receiv'd from all Ages and who would deprive them of the Crowns which they have so well deserv'd and which they have got before such August Tribunals But for fear of falling into Admiration which they look upon as the Child of Ignorance they do not perceive that they go from that Admiration which Plato calls the Mother of Wisdom and which was the first that opened Mens Eyes I do not wonder that the Celestial Beauties
Powers think fit A Bear might soon be made a Wit And that for any thing in Nature Pigs might squeak Love-Odes Dogs bark Satyr Memnon tho' Stone was counted Vocal But 't was the God mean while that spoke all Rome oft' has heard a Cross haranguing With prompting Priest behind the Hanging The Wooden Head resolv'd the Question Whilst you and Pettys help'd the Jest on Your crabbed Rogues that read Lucretius Are against Gods you know and teach us The God makes not the Poet but The Thesis vice versa put Should Hebrew-wise be understood And means the Poet makes the God Egyptian Gard'ners thus are said to Have set the Leeks they after pray'd to And Romish Bakers praise the Deity They chip'd whilst yet in it's Paniety That when you Poets Swear and Cry The God Inspires I rave I die If inward Wind does truly swell ye 'T must be the Colick in the Belly That Writing is but just like Dice And lucky Mains make People Wise That jumbled Words If Fortune throw 'em Can well as Dryden form a Poem Or make a Speech correct and witty As you know who at the Committee So Atoms dancing round the Centre They urge form'd all things at a venture But granting Matters should be spoke By Method rather than by Luck This may confine their younger Styles Whom Dr n pedagogues at Wills But never could be meant to tye Authentick Wits like you and I For as young Children who are try'd in Go Carts to keep their Steps from Sliding When Members knit and Legs grow stronger Make use of such Machine no longer But leap pro libitu and scout On Horse call'd Hobby or without So when at School we first declaim Old Busby walks us in a Theme Whose Props support our Infant Vein And help the Rickets in the Brain But when our Souls their Force dilate And Thoughts grow up to Wits Estate In Verse or Prose we Write or Chat Not Six Pence Matter upon what 'T is not how well a Writer says But 't is how much that gathers Praise T n who is himself a Wit Counts Authors Merits by the Sheet Thus each should down with all he thinks As Boys eat Bread to fill up Chinks Kind Sir I should be glad to see you I hope you 're well so God be with y' Was all at first I thought to write But Things since that are alter'd quite Fancies flow in and Muse flies high So God knows when my Clack will lie I must Sir prattle on as afore And beg your Pardon yet this half Hour So where I 've with my Gran'am gone At Sacred Barne of pure Noncon When Lobb has sifted all his Text And I well hop'd the Pudding next The Rogue has cough'd up to'ther Hour And to apply has plagu'd me more Than all his Villain Stuff before For your Religion then I hear A very good Account of her They say she 's honest as your Claret Not sowr'd with Cant nor stum'd with Merit Your Chamber is the sole retreat Of Chaplains ev'ry Sunday-Night Of Grace no Doubt a certain Sign When Lay-Man herds with Man Divine For if their Fame be justly high who Would never treat the Pope's Nuncio That his is higher we must grant Who will treat Nuncio's Protestant In Politicks I hear you 'r stanch Directly bent against the French Deny to have your free-born Toe Dragoon'd into a Wooden Shoe Are in no Plots but fairly drive at The Publick Welfare in your Private And will for England's Glory try Turks Iews and Iesuits to defie And keep your Places till you die For me whom wand'ring Fortune threw From what I lov'd the Town and you Let me just tell you how my Time is Past in a Country-Life Imprimis As soon as Phaebus's Rays inspect Us I rise to Read perhaps to Breakfast So on till ' foresaid God does Set I sometimes Study sometimes Eat Thus of your Heroes and Brave Boys With whom Old Homer makes such Noise The greatest Actions I can find Are that they did their Work and Din'd The Books of which I 'm chiefly fond Are such as you have whilom con'd That Treat of China's Civil-Law And Subjects Rights in Golconda Of High-way Elephants at Ceylan That Rob in Clans like Men o' th' High Land Of Apes that Storm or Keep a Town Better perhaps than Count Lausune Of Unicorns and Alligators Elks Mermaids Mummies Witches Satyrs And Twenty other stranger Matters Which tho' they 'r things I 've no concern in Make all our Grooms admire my Learning Criticks I Read on other Men And Hypers upon them again From whose Remarks I give Opinion On Twenty Books yet ne'r look in One Then all your Wits that fleer and Sham Down from Don Quixot to Tom Tram From whom I Jeasts and Puns Purloin And slily put 'em off for Mine Fond to be thought a Country-Wit The rest when Fate and You think fit Sometimes I climb my Mare and kick her To Bottled Ale and Neighb'ring Vicar Sometimes at Stamford take a Quart ' Squire Sheppard's Health with all my Heart Thus far from Pleasure Sir or Grief I fool away an Idle Life Till Mr. Maidwell cease to Teach Then I 'll Jerk Youth and say Inspeech Or Shadwell from the Town retires Choak'd up with Fame and Sea-Coal-Fires To bless the Woods with Peaceful Lyric Then hey for Praise and Panegyric Justice restord and Nations free'd And Wreaths round William's Glorious Head HORACE Lib. II. Ode 14. Imitated by Mr. Congreve Eheu Fugaces Posthume Posthume Labuntur Anni c. I. AH No 't is all in vain believe me 't is ' This Pious Artifice Not all these Prayers and Alms can Buy One Moment tow'rd Eternity Eternity that boundless Race Which Time himself can never run Swift as he flies with an unweari'd pace Which when Ten Thousand Thousand Years are done Is still the same and still to be begun Fix'd are those Limits which prescribe A short Extent to the most lasting Breath And though thou couldst for Sacrifice lay down Millions of other Lives to save thine own 'T were fruitless all not all would Bribe One Supernumerary Gasp from Death II. In vain 's thy Inexhausted Store Of Wealth in vain thy Pow'r Thy Honours Titles all must fail Where Piety it self does nought avail The Rich the Great the Innocent and Just Must all be huddl'd to the Grave With the most Vile and Ignominious Slave And undistinguish'd lie in Dust. In vain the Fearful flies Alarms In vain he is secure from wounds of Arms In vain avoids the Faithless Seas And is confin'd to Home and Ease Bounding his Knowledg to extend his Days In vain are all those Arts we try All our Evasions and Regret to Die From the Contagion of Mortality No Clime is pure no Air is free And no Retreat Is so Obscure as to be hid from Fate III. Thou must alas thou must my Friend The very Hour thou now dost spend In studying to avoid brings on thine end Thou must forego the
MISCELLANY POEMS UPON Several Occasions Consisting of Original Poems BY The late Duke of Buckingham Mr Cowly Mr. Milton Mr. Prior Mrs. Behn Mr. Tho. Brown c. And the Translations from Horace Persius Petronius Arbiter c. WITH An Essay upon Satyr By the Famous M. DACIER Licens'd May 21. 1692. LONDON Printed for Peter Buck at the Sign of the Temple near Temple-Bar in Fleetstreet 1692. The Epistle Dedicatory TO Mr. CARDELL GOODMAN SIR THere are a sort of Spleenatic Ill naturd Gentlemen in the World who are so very Critical upon Dedications that if they find the Author touching never so lightly on the just Praise of his Patron they presently condemn him of Flattery as if 't were impossible that any Man of THIS Age cou'd deserve a good Word Among this number I am sorry to find the Ingenious Sir George Mackenzie in his Epistle to Mr. Boyle because I am confident if he had consulted Reason the subject of his Book he must at least have mollify'd the severity of his Opinion as I hope will appear from what I have here to say This great Name has serv'd many of the smaller Critics who build their Judgment and Reputation on Authority as a safe Retreat against the Onsets of Reason with which the Majority of them are at mortal odds These Misanthropes are arriv'd to that extremity now that they will not give a Man leave to discover his own private Knowledg of an other if to his Advantage under the unpleasant Penalty of being receiv'd as a servile nauseous Sycophant This Hazard Sir I must run if I will declare in Public what I know of those excellent Accomplishments which render you so dear to all that are acquainted wi●h you Your WIT and your Courage are things not to be mention'd much less your GENEROSITY that being a Vertue that never resides alone There are some Vertues that are Solitary and like Hermits dwell in Deserts over-run with the Wilds of every vicious Deformity in Nature But GENEROSITY is the King of Vertues and never goes unattended which makes me sometimes fancy 't is the Result of all other Vertues when they meet together The Harmony which proceeds from the Active Agreement of all the rest This I am sure 't is the noblest Emotion of the Soul and that which gives the most finishing and visible Stroaks to the Image of our Maker Therefore these morose Gentlemen would never forgive me if I should tell the World that you are Generous almost to a Fault if 't were possible that could be criminal in Man for which alone all the World does and ever has worship'd a Deity tho' I know it to be true to the utmost Extent because that will make the considering part of Mankind conclude you adorn'd with all other Vertues inseparable Companions of this They will never consider the Reasons I have to aver this viz. my own Knowledg and the Experience of several others And tho' I urge that I have found you Generous beyond the extravagance of Hopes when the Bonds of Nature the Laws of Humanity and of God himself could not obtain the least regard from those who had not a little Reputation in the World for better Principles Yet will they cry out I am a FLATTERER if I express my Gratitude to you in Print Strange effects of a profligate Age when ill Nature and profess'd Scandal dress'd in a Politer sort of Bilingsgate shall be sufficient to establish a Man's Fame spite of all the most monstrous absurdities of the contexture as a Wit And the most deserv'd Praise enough to stigmatize the Writer with indeleble Infamy For if any Bold Man dare celebrate the Vertues of any one they gaze upon him and shake their Heads as if it were an impudent Imposture or at best a Prodigy as incredible as a circular Rainbow or any other unusual Phaenomenon that there should be any thing Vertuous and Brave in OUR Age. Not that I am so very fond of this Opinion that Vertues are in being at this time and in the Practice of Men as to take every appearance for a Reality Nor do I admit a great many that pass for mighty Lovers of Vertue into that number in particular none of those that are fam'd for a noisy Zeal in the controverted Points of Religion which prompts an inconsidering Generation to cut one another's Throats because they can't agree in what themselves allow uncertain Nor those who with a Precise Behaviour make an Ostentatious Shew of being the most intimate Friends of God Almighty in Public but shake Hands with the Devil in a corner with no little Ardor Nor shall I grace with the noble Title of VERTVE those sorts of Religious Charities that have not the Equitable good of Mankind for their end but only vain Glory in particular Reputation I could name some that are very forward in contributing largely to the Building any public Structure which may commend their Names to Posterity as well as to the present time but are inexorable to the nearest Relations who seek for a private Assistance tho' a Trifle would save a whole Family That which affects the view of the World is the Child of Pride and is not at all to be valu'd by any considering Man the other is the Off-spring of Vertue having nothing but the good of another for its end and yet it obtains generally a more lasting Fame and especially if it meet with Ability and Gratitude to commend it to Posterity in a nobler way than in dead Piles of Building Tho' I deny all this to be Vertue yet I can never be of their Mind who exclude it intirely from Human Race since I am sensible 't is to be found in a great many at this day particularly in your self I am therefore of a much contrary Opinion to those Man-haters I have mention'd those Devotes to Satyr as they call it for I have always thought it a far nobler Task to be conversant with the Vertues of Mankind than with the Vices and if Fiction must be made use of as 't is every day by our Prose-Satyrists I am sure 't is more reasonable to admire an Angel of our own forming than to combat a Devil of ones own conjuring up one gives us a greater and juster Idea of the noblest of God's Works the other flyes in the face of Providence and wou'd render that Being ridiculous and contemptible that was made by the Power and Wisdom of INFINITY and which God seems more than once to take no small Pleasure in The greatest Patrons of Satyr I am sure cannot prove that it answers the End they pretend 't was design'd for viz. the Reformation of Vice especially that Satyr which names Men and tends to a personal abuse For instead of Reforming Vice it only gratifies the ill-nature of most and that Criminal delight they have in hearing an other abus'd without any influence on the Manners of those it aims to Correct unless it be to return the Author 's
took the liberty of mixing several kinds of Verses together as Hexameters Iambics Trimeters with Tetrimeters Trochaics or Square Verse as it appears from the Fragments which are left us These following Verses are of the Square kind which Aullus Gellius has preserv'd us and which very well merit a place here for the Beauty they contain Hoc erit tibi Argumentum semper in promptu situm Ne quid expectes Amicos quod tute agere possies I attribute also to these Satyrs of Ennius these other kinds of Verses which are of a Beauty and Elegance much above the Age in which they were made nor will the sight of 'em here be unpleasant Non habeo denique nauci Marsum Augurem Non vicanos aruspices non de Cicro Astrologos Non Isiacos Conjectores non Interpretes Hominum Non enim sunt ij aut Scientia aut Arte Divini Sed Superstitiosi vates Impudentesque harioli Aut inertes aut insani aut quibus egestas Imperat Qui sui questus caussa fictas suscitant sententias Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt alteri monstrant viam Quibus devitias pollicentur ab ijs Drachmam petunt De devitijs deducant Drachmam reddant caetera Horace has borrow'd several things from these Satyrs After Ennius came Pacuvius who also writ Satyrs in Imitation of his Uncle Ennius Lucilius was born in the time when Pacuvius was in most Reputation He also wrote Satyrs But he gave 'm a new turn and endeavoured to imitate as near as he could the Character of the old Greek Comedy of which we had but a very imperfect Idea in the ancient Roman Satyr and such as one might find in a Poem which Nature alone had dictated before the Romans had thought of imitating the Grecians and enriching themselves with their Spoils 'T is thus you must understand this Passage of the first Satyr of the second Book of Horace Quid cum est Lucilius ausis Primus in hunc operis componere carmina morem Horace never intended by this to say That there were no Satyrs before Lucilius because Ennius and Pacuvius were before him whose Example he followed He only would have it understood That Lucilius having given a new Turn to this Poem and embellished it ought by way of Excellence to be esteemed the first Author Quintilian had the same Thought when he writ in the first Chapther of the tenth Book Satira quidem tota nostra est in qua primus insignem laudem adeptus est Lucilius You must not therefore be of the Opinion of Casaubon who building on the Judgment of Diomedes thought that the Satyr of Ennius and that of Lucilius were entirely different These are the very Words of this Grammarian which have deceived this Judicious Critick Satira est Carmen apud Romanos non quidem apud Graecos maledicum ad carpenda hominum vitia Archaeae Comoediae charactere compositum quale scripserunt Lucilius Horatius Persius Sed olim Carmen quod ex variis Poematibus constabat Satira dicebatur quale scripserunt Pacuvius Ennius You may see plainly that Diomedes distinguishes the Satyr of Lucilius from that of Ennius and Pacuvius the reason which he gives for this Distinction is ridiculous and absolutely false The good Man had not examin'd the Nature and Origin of these two Satyrs which were entirely like one another both in Matter and Form for Lucilius added to it only a little Politeness and more Salt almost without changing any thing And if he did not put together several Sorts of Verse in the same Piece as Ennius has done yet he made several Pieces of which some were entirely Hexameters others entirely Iambics and others Trochaic's as is evident from his Fragments In short if the Satyrs of Lucilius differ from these of Ennius because the former has added much to the Endeavours of the latter as Casaubon has pretended it will follow from thence that those of Horace and those of Lucilius are also entirely different for Horace has no less refin'd on the Satyrs of Lucilius than he on those of Ennius and Pacuvius This Passage of Diomedes has also deceiv'd Dousa the Son I say not this to expose some Light Faults of these great Men but only to shew with what Exactness and with what Caution their Works must be read when they treat of any thing so Obscure and so ancient I have made appear what was the Ancient Satyr that was made for the Theatre I have shewn That that gave the Idea of the Satyr of Ennius And in fine I have sufficiently prov'd that the Satyrs of Ennius and Pacuvius of Lucilius and Horace are but one kind of Poem which has received its Perfection from the last 'T is Time now to speak of the second kind of Satyr which I promised to explain and which is also derived from the Ancient Satyr 't is that which we call Varronian or the Satyr of Menippus the Cinic Philosopher This Satyr was not only composed of several forts of Verse but Varro added Prose to it and made a Mixture of Greek and Latin Quintilian after he had spoke of the Satyr of Lucilius adds Alterum illud est prius Satirae genus quod non sola Carminum varietate mistum condidit Terentius Varro vir Romanorum Eruditissimus The only Difficulty of this Passage is that Quintilian assures us that this Satyr of Varro was the first for how could that be since Varro was a great while after Lucilius Quintilian meant not that the Satyr of Varro was the first in Order of Time for he knew well enough that in that respect he was the last But he would give us to understand that this kind of Satyr so mixt was more like the Satyr of Ennius and Pacuvius who gave themselves a greater Liberty in this Composition than Lucilius who was more severe and correct We have now only some Fragments left of the Satyr of Varro and those generally very imperfect the Titles which are most commonly double shew the great Variety of Subjects of which Varro treated Seneca's Book on the Death of Claudius Boetius his Consolation of Philosophy and that of Petronius Arbiter are Satyrs entirely like those of Varro This is what I have in general to say on Satyr nor is it necessary I insist any more on this Subject This the Reader may observe that the Name of Satyr in Latin is not less proper for Discourses that recommend Vertue than to those which are design'd against Vice It had nothing so formidable in it as it has now when a bare Mention of Satyr makes them tremble who would fain seem what they are not for Satyr with us signifies the same thing as exposing or lashing of some thing or Person Yet this different Acceptation alters not the Word which is always the same but the Latins in the Titles of their Books have often had regard only to the Word in the extent of its Signification founded on its Etymology