not medling with the Design nor the Difpofition of it; because the Defign was not their own; and in the difpofing of it they were equal. It remains that I fay fomewhat of Chaucer in particular.

In the first place, As he is the Father of English Poetry, fo I hold him in the fame Degree of Veneration as the Grecians held Homer, or the Romans Virgil: He is a perpetual Fountain of good Senfe, learn'd in all Sciences; and therefore speaks properly on all Subjects: As he knew what to fay, fo he knows alfo when to leave off; a Continence which is practis'd by few Writers, and fcarcely by any of the Ancients, excepting Virgil and Horace. One of our late great Poets is funk in his Reputation, because he cou'd never forgive any Conceit which came in his way; but fwept like a Drag-net, great and fmall. There was plenty enough, but the Dishes were ill forted; whole Pyramids of Sweet-meats, for Boys and Women; but little of folid Meat, for Men: All this proceeded not from any want of Knowledge, but of Judgment; neither did he want that in difcerning the Beauties and Faults of other Poets; but only indulg'd himself in the Luxury of Writing; and perhaps knew it was a Fault, but hop'd the Reader would not find it. For this Reason, though he must always be thought a great Poet, he is no longer esteem'd a good Writer: And for Ten Impreffions, which his Works have had in fo many fucceffive Years, yet at prefent a hundred Books are scarcely purchas'd once a Twelvemonth: For, as my laft Lord Rochefter faid, tho' fomewhat profanely, Not being of God, he could not ftand.

Chaucer follow'd Nature every where; but was never fo bold to go beyond her: And there is a great Difference of being Poeta and nimis Poeta, if we may believe Catullus, as much as betwixt a modeft Behaviour and Affectation. The Verfe of Chaucer, I confefs, is not Harmonious to us; but 'tis like the Eloquence of one whom Tacitus commends, it was auribus iftius temporis accommodata: They who liv'd with him, and fome time after him, thought it Mufical; and it continues fo even in our Judgment, if compar'd with the Numbers of Lidgate and Gower, his Contemporaries :

There is the rude Sweetness of a Scotch Tune in it, which is natural and pleafing, tho' not perfect. 'Tis true, I cannot go fo far as he who publifh'd the laft Edition of him; for he would make us believe the Fault is in our Ears, and that there were really Ten Syllables in a Verse where we find but Nine: But this Opinion is not worth confuting; 'tis fo grofs and obvious an Error, that common Senfe (which is a Rule in every thing but Matters of Faith and Revelation) must convince the Reader, that Equality of Numbers in every Verfe which we call Heroick, was either not known, or not always practis'd in Chaucer's Age. It were an eafie Matter to produce fome thousands of his Verses, which are lame for want of half a Foot, and fometimes a whole one, and which no Pronunciation can make otherwife. We can only fay, that he liv'd in the Infancy of our Poetry, and that nothing is brought to Perfection at the first. We must be Children before we grow Men. There was an Ennius, and in process of Time a Lucilius, and a Lucretius, before Virgil and Horace; even after Chaucer there was a Spencer, a Harrington, a Fairfax, before Waller and Denham were in being: And our Numbers were in their Nonage till these laft appear'd. I need fay little of his Parentage, Life, and Fortunes: They are to be found at large in all the Editions of his Works. He was employ'd abroad, and favour'd by Edward the Third, Richard the Second, and Henry the Fourth, and was Poet, as I fuppofe, to all Three of them. In Richard's Time, I doubt, he was a little dipt in the Rebellion of the Commons; and being Brother-in-law to John of Gaunt, it was no wonder if he follow'd the Fortunes of that Family; and was well with Henry the Fourth when he had depos'd his Predeceffor. Neither is it to be admir'd, that Henry, who was a wife as well as a valiant Prince, who claim'd by Succeffion, and was fenfible that his Title was not found, but was rightfully in Mortimer, who had married the Heir of Tork; it was not to be admir'd, I fay, if that great Politician fhould be pleas'd to have the greatest Wit of those Times in his Interefts, and to be the Trumpet of his Praifes. Auguftus had given him the Example, by the

Advice of Mecanas, who recommended Virgil and Horace to him; whose Praises help'd to make him Popular while he was alive, and after his Death have made him Precious to Pofterity. As for the Religion of our Poet, he feems to have fome little Byas towards the Opinions of Wickliff, after John of Gaunt his Patron; fomewhat of which appears in the Tale of Piers Plowman: Yet I cannot blame him for inveighing fo fharply against the Vices of the Clergy in his Age: Their Pride, their Ambition, their Pomp, their Avarice, their Worldly Intereft, deferv'd the Lashes which he gave them, both in that, and in most of his Canterbury Tales: Neither has his Contemporary Boccace spar'd them. Yet both those Poets liv'd in much efteem, with good and holy Men in Orders: For the Scandal which is given by particular Priests, reflects not on the Sacred Function. Chaucer's Monk, his Chanon, and his Fryar, took not from the Character of his Good Parfon. A Satyrical Poet is the Check of the Laymen, on bad Priests. We are only to take care, that we involve not the Innocent with the Guilty in the fame Condemnation. The Good cannot be too much honour'd, nor the Bad too courfly us'd: For the Corruption of the Beft, becomes the Worft. Whena Clergy-man is whipp'd, his Gown is first taken off, by which the Dignity of his Order is fecur'd: If he be wrongfully accus'd, he has his Action of Slander; and 'tis at the Poet's Peril, if he tranfgrefs the Law. But they will tell us, that all kind of Satire, tho' never fo well deferv'd by particular Priests, yet brings the whole Order into Contempt. Is then the Peerage of England any thing dishonour'd, when a Peer fuffers for his Treafon? If he be libell'd, or any way defam'd, he has his Scandalum Magnatum to punish the Offender. They who use this kind of Argument, feem to be conscious to themselves of fomewhat which has deferv'd the Poet's Lafh; and are less concern'd for their Publick Capacity, than for their Private: At leaft, there is Pride at the bottom of their Reasoning. If the Faults of Men in Orders are only to be judg'd among themselves, they are all in fome fort Parties: For, fince they fay the Honour

of their Order is concern'd in every Member of it, how can we be fure, that they will be impartial Judges? How far I may be allow'd to ipeak my Opinion in this Cafe, I know not: But I am fure a Difpute of this Nature caus'd Mischief in abundance betwixt a King of England and an Archbishop of Canterbury; one ftanding up for the Laws of his Land, and the other for the Honour (as he call'd it) of God's Church; which ended in the Murther of the Prelate, and in the whipping of his Majefty from Poft to Pillar for his Penance. The Learn'd and Ingenious Dr. Drake has fav'd me the Labour of inquiring into the Efteem and Reverence which the Priefts have had of old; and I would rather extend than diminish any part of it : Yet I must needs fay, that when a Prieft provokes me without any Occafion given him, I have no Reason, unlefs it he the Charity of a Chriftian, to forgive him: Prior lefit is Juftification fufficient in the Civil Law. If I anfwer him in his own Language, Self-defence, I am fure, must be allow'd me, and if I carry it farther, even to a sharp Recrimination, fomewhat may be indulg'd to Human Frailty. Yet my Refentment has not wrought fo far, but that I have follow'd Chaucer in his Character of a Holy Man, and have enlarg'd on that Subject with fome Pleasure, referving to my felf the Right, if I fhall think fit hereafter, to defcribe another fort of Priefts, fuch as are more easily to be found than the Good Parfon; fuch as have given the laft Blow to Christianity in this Age, by a Practice fo contrary to their Doctrine. But this will keep cold till another time. In the mean while, I take up Chaucer where I left him. He must have been a Man of a moft wonderful comprehenfive Nature, because as it has been truly obferv'd of him, he has taken into the Compass of his Canterbury Tales the various Manners and Humours (as we now call them) of the whole English Nation, in his Age. Not a fingle Character has escap'd him. All his Pilgrims are feverally diftinguish'd from each other; and not only in their Inclinations, but in their very Phifiognomies and Perfons. Baptifta Porta could not have defcrib'd their Natures better, than by the Marks

which the Poet gives them. The Matter and Manner of their Tales, and of their Telling, are fo fuited to their different Educations, Humours, and Callings, that each of them would be improper in any other Mouth. Even the grave and ferious Characters are diftinguish'd by their feveral forts of Gravity: Their Difcourtes are fuch as belong to their Age, their Calling, and their Breeding; fuch as are becoming of them, and of them only. Some of his Perfons are Vicious, and fome Virtuous; fome are unlearn'd, or (as Chaucer calls them) Lewd, and fome are Learn'd. Even the Ribaldry of the Low Characters is different The Reeve, the Miller, and the Cook, are feveral Men, and diftinguish'd from each other, as much as the mincing Lady Priorefs, and the broad-speaking gaptooth'd Wife of Bathe. But enough of this: There is fuch a Variety of Game fpringing up before me, that I am distracted in my Choice, and know not which to follow. 'Tis fufficient to fay according to the Proverb, that here is God's Plenty. We have our Fore-fathers and Great Grand-dames all before us, as they were in Chaucer's Days; their general Characters are ftill remaining in Mankind, and even in England, tho' they are call'd by other Names than those of Monks, and Fryars, and Chanons, and Lady Abbeffes, and Nuns: For Mankind is ever the fame, and nothing loft out of Nature, tho' every thing is alter'd. May I have leave to do my felf the Juftice, (fince my Enemies will do me none, and are fo far from granting me to be a good Poet, that they will not allow me fo much as to be a Chriftian, or a Moral Man) may I have leave, I fay, to inform my Reader, that I have confin'd my Choice to fuch Tales of Chaucer, as favour nothing of Immodefty. If I had defir'd more to please than to inftruct, the Reeve, the Miller, the shipman, the Merchant, the Sumner, and above all, the Wife of Bathe, in the Prologue to her Tale, would have procur'd me as many Friends and Readers, as there are Beaux and Ladies of Pleasure in the Town. But I will no more offend against Good Manners: I am fenfible as I ought to be of the Scandal I have given by my loofe Writings; and make what Reparation I am able, by