written in fomewhat the fame metre; but the latter, upon the whole, must be confidered as an original species of poetry, a compofition fui generis. Unde nil majus generatur ipfo ; Nec viget quidquam fimile aut fecundum. Hudibras has been compared to the Satyre Menippèe de la vertu du Catholicon d'Efpagne, first published in France in the year 1593; the subject indeed is fomewhat fimilar, a violent civil war excited by religious zeal, and many good men made the dupes of ftate politicians. After the death of Henry III. of France, the Duke de Mayenne called together the states of the kingdom, to elect a fucceffor, there being many pretenders to the crown; these intrigues were the foundation of the Satire Menippèe, fo called from Menippus a cynic philofopher, and rough Satirift, introducer of the burlesque fpecies of dialogue. In this work are unveil'd the different views, and interests of the several actors in those busy scenes, who, under the pretence of public good, confulted only their private advantage, passions and prejudices. * The book, which aims particularly at the Spanish party, went through various editions, from its first publication to *It is fometimes called Higuero del infierno, or the fig-tree of Hell, alluding to the violent part the Spaniards took in the civil wars of France, and in allufion to the title of Seneca's Apocolocyntofis. By this fig-tree the author perhaps means the wonderful bir or banian defcribed by Milton. The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renown'd, But fuch as at this day to Indians known In Malabar or Decan, fpreads his arms, Branching 1726, when it was printed at Ratisbone in three volumes, with copious notes and index: it is ftill ftudied by antiquaries with delight, and in its day was as much admired as Hudibras. D'aubignè says of it, il paffe pour un chef d'œuvre en fon gendre, & fut lue avec une egale aviditè, & avec un plaifir marveilleux par les royalistes, par les politiques, par les Huguenots & par les ligueurs de toutes les efpeces.* Mr. de Thou's character of it is equally to its advantage. The principal author is faid to be Monfieur le Roy, sometime chaplain to the Cardinal de Bourbon, whom Thuanus calls vir bonus, & a factione fummè alienus. Branching fo broad and long, that in the ground High over-arch'd, and echoing walks between. Mr. Ines, in his journey from Perfia, thus speaks of this wonderful vegetable: this is the Indian facred tree, it grows to a prodigious height, and its branches spread a great way. The limbs drop down fibrous, which take root, and become another tree, united by its branches to the first, and so continue to do, until the tree cover a great extent of ground; the arches which those different stocks make are Gothick, like those we see in Westminster Abbey, the stocks not being fingle, but appearing as if compofed of many stocks, are of a great circumference. There is a certain folemnity accompanying thefe trees, nor do I remember that I was ever under the cover of any of them, but that my mind was at the time impreffed with a reverential awe. From hence it seems, that both these authors thought Gothic architecture fimilar to embowered rows of trees. The Indian fig-tree is described as of an immenfe fize, capable of shading 800 or 1000 men, and fome of them 3000 perfons. In Mr. Marsden's hiftory of Sumatra, the following is an account of the dimensions of a remarkable banyan tree near Banjer, twenty miles weft of Patna, in Bengal. Diameter 363 to 375 feet, circumference of its fhadow at noon 1116 feet circumference of the several stems (in number 50 or 60) 911 feet. * Henault fays of this work, Peut-etre que la fatire Menippèe ne fut guères moins utile à Henri IV. que la bataille d'Ivri; le ridicule a plus de force qu'on ne croit. This fatire differs widely from our author's: like those of Varro, Seneca and Julian, it is a mixture of verse and profe, and though it contains much wit, and Mr. Butler had certainly read it with attention, yet he cannot be faid to imitate it; the reader will perceive that our poet had in view Don Quixote, Spenser, the Italian poets, together with the Greek and Roman claffics; but very rarely, if ever, alludes to Milton, though Paradise loft was published ten years before the third part of Hudibras. Other forts of burlesque have been published, such as the carmina Macaronica, the epiftolæ obscurorum Virorum, Cotton's travesty, &c. but these are efforts of genius of no great importance. Many burlesque and satirical poems, and prose compofitions, were published in France between the years 1593 and 1660, the authors of which were Rabelais, Scarron and others; the Cardinal is faid to have severely felt the Mazarenade. A popular fong or poem has always had a wonderful effect; the following is an excellent one from Æschylus, fung at the battle of Salamis, at which he was present, and engaged in the Athenian Squadron. Ω παιδες Ελληνων ιτε, ελευθερείε πατριδ', ελευθέρετε δε παιδας, γυναίκας, Θεων τε πατρώων εδη, θηκας τε προγόνων νυν υπερ παντων αγων. The ode of Calliftratus is fuppofed to have done eminent fervice, by commemorating the delivery, and preventing the return of that tyranny in Athens, which was happily terminated by the death of Hipparchus, and expulfion of the Pifistratida; I mean a fong which was fung at their feasts beginning, Εν κλαδί το ξίφος φορήσω, μύξτε Ωςπερ Αρμοδιος κ' Αρισογείτων, Οτε τον τυραννον κτανετήν, And ending, Αει σφων κλεος εσσεται κατ' αιαν, Οτε τον τυραννον κτανετον Ισονομες τ' Αθήνας εποιησατον. Of this fong the learned Lowth fays, Si poft idus illas Martias e Tyrannoctonis quifpiam tale aliquod carmen plebi tradidiffet, inque fuburram, et fori circulos, & in ora vulgi intuliffet, actum profecto fuiffet de partibus deque dominatione Cafarum: plus mehercule valuiffet unum Αρμοδιο μελος quam Ciceronis Philippicæ omnes; and again, Num verendum erat ne quis tyrannidem Pifistratidarum Athenis instaurare auderet, ubi cantitaretur Exoλov illud Callistrati.—See alfo Ifraelitarum ЕTIVIZIO, Ifaiah chapter xiv. 66 "it not. Of this kind was the famous Irish fong called Lilliburlero, which just before the revolution in 1688, had such an effect, that Burnet fays, a foolish ballad was made at that time, "treating the papists, and chiefly the Irish, in a very ridicu"lous manner, which had a burthen faid to be Irish words, "Loro loro lilliburlero, that made an impreffion on the (king's) army that cannot be imagined by those that saw The whole army, and at last the people, both in city and country, were finging it perpetually; and perhaps never had fo flight a thing fo good an effect." Of this kind in modern days was the fong of God fave great George our King, and the Ca ira of Paris. Thus wonderfully did Hudibras operate in beating down the hypocrify, and false patriotism of his time, Mr. Hayley gives a character of him in four lines with great propriety; "Unrival'd Butler! bleft with happy skill By wit's strong flashes reason's light difpenfe, For one great object of our poet's fatire is to unmask the hypocrite, and to exhibit, in a light at once odious and ridi |