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TO THE READER.

POETA nascitur, non fit, is a sentence of as great truth as antiquity; it being most certain that all the acquired learning imaginable is insufficient to complete a poet, without a natural genius and propensity to so noble and sublime an art. And we may, without offence, observe, that many very learned men, who have been ambitious to be thought poets, have only rendered themselves obnoxious to that satirical inspiration our author wittily invokes;

Which made them, though it were in spite
Of Nature and their stars, to write.

On the other side, some who have had very little human learning, but were endued with a large share of natural wit and parts, have become the most celebrated poets of the age they lived in. But as these last are rare aves in terris; so when the Muses have not disdained the assistances of other arts and sciences, we are then blessed with those lasting monuments of wit and learning which may justly claim a kind of eternity upon earth: and our au

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thor, had his modesty permitted him, might, with Horace, have said,

Exegi monumentum ore perennius ;

or with Ovid,

Jamque opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira nec ignis,
Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas.

;

The author of this celebrated Poem was of this last composition ; for although he had not the happiness of an academical education, as some affirm, it

may be perceived, throughout his whole Poem, that he had read much, and was very well accomplished in the most useful parts of human learning.

Rapin, in his Reflections, speaking of the necessary qualities belonging to a poet, tells us, 'He must have a genius extraordinary: great natural gifts; a wit just, fruitful, piercing, solid, and universal ; an understanding clear and distinct; an imagination neat and pleasant; an elevation of soul that depends not only on art or study, but is purely a gift of Heaven, which must be sustained by a lively sense and vivacity; judgment to consider wisely of things, and vivacity for the beautiful expression of them ;' &c.

Now, how justly this character is due to our author, I leave to the impartial reader, and those of nicer judgments, who had the happiness to be more intimately acquainted with him.

When civil dudgeon* first grew high,
And men fell out they knew not why it
When hard words, jealousies and fears,
Set folks together by the ears,
And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For dame Religion, as for punk;

* To take in dudgeon, is inwardly to resent some injury or affront, and what is previous to actual fury.

+ It may be justly said They knew not why; since, as Lord Cla. rendon observes, “The like peace and plenty, and universal tran. quillity, was never enjoyed by any nation for ten years together, before those unhappy troubles began.'

| By hard words, he probably means the cant words used by the Presbyterians and sectaries of those times; such as Gospel-walk. ing, Gospel-preaching, Soul-saving, Elect, Saints. The Godly, the Predestinate, and the like ; which they applied to their own preachers and themselves.

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Whose honesty they all durst swear for,
Though not a man of them knew wherefore :
When gospel-trumpeter, surrounded
With long-ear'd rout, to battle sounded;
And pulpit, drum, ecclesiastic,
Was beat with fist instead of a stick ;*
Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling,
And out he rode a colonelling:f
A wight he was, whose very sight would
Entitle him Mirror of Knighthood,
That never bow'd his stubborn knee
To any thing but Chivalry ;!
Nor put up blow, but that which laid
Right Worshipful on shoulder-blade;
Chief of domestic knights and errant,
Either for chartel or for warrant;
Great on the bench, great in the saddle, $
That could as well bind o'er as swaddle ;
Mighty he was at both of these,
And styld of war as well as peace :
(So some rats, of amphibious nature,
Are either for the land or water)

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But here our authors make a doubt
Whether he were more wise or stout:
Some hold the one, and some the other,
But, howsoe'er they make a pother,
The difference was so small, his brain
Outweigh'd his rage but half a grain;
Which made some take him for a tool
*That knaves do work with, calld a fool.
Fort has been held by many, that
As Montaigne, playing with his cat,
Complains she thought him but an ass,
Much more she would Sir Hudibras;
(For that's the name our valiant Knight
To all his challenges did write)
But they're mistaken very much;
'Tis plain enough he was not such.
We grant, although he had much wit,
He was very shy of using it,
As being loth to wear it out,
And therefore bore it not about;
Unless on holy-days, or so,
As men their best apparel do.
Beside 'tis known he could speak Greek
As naturally as pigs squeak;
That Latin was no more difficile,
Than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle :
Being rich in both, he never scanted
His bounty unto such as wanted;
But much of either would afford
To many that had not one word.
For Hebrew roots, although they're found
To flourish most in barren ground,
He had such plenty, as suffic'd
To make some think him circumcis'd;