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the son of the above-mentioned gentleman, publicly contradicted the assertion. In this mist of obscurity passed the life of Butler, a man whose name can only perish with his language. The mode and place of his education are unknown; the events of his life are variously related; and all that can be told with certainty is, that he was poor.

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The Third and Last Part of Hudibras was published some time after the First and Second; and a complete edition of the whole was printed under the author's inspection in 1678. It has since received the highest commendations from foreigners, as well as from his own countrymen. Among the first, Voltaire has done it the highest honour. This great genius thus expresses himself upon the subject: "There is an English poem, the title of which is HUDIBRAS; it is Don Quixote,' and our Satire Menippée,' blended together. I never met with so much wit in one single book as in this; and, at the same time, it is the most difficult to translate. Who would believe, that a work which paints in such lively and natural colours the several foibles of mankind, and where we meet with more sentiments than words, should baffle the endeavours of the ablest translators? But the reason of it is this; almost every part of it alludes to particular incidents." Hudibras has gone through many editions: that published by Zachary Grey, LL. D. with large annotations, and a preface containing some memoirs of the author in 1744, in two volumes octavo,* and subsequently reprinted, was

* The few royal paper copies (six only, according to Mr. Dibdin) sell at an enormous price-even nine guineas, and in some catalogues they are valued at a still higher sum!

It has provoked, as is usually the case with powerful and

long regarded as the standard one; until Dr. Nash, the historian of Worcestershire, in 1794 published a new edition in two volumes quarto, with an Inquiry into the Life of Butler; containing, however, few particulars not previously known. In 1759 were published, The Genuine Remains, in Verse and Prose, of Mr. Samuel Butler, printed from original Manuscripts, formerly in the possession of William Longueville, Esq.; with Notes by Mr. R. Thyer, Keeper of the Public Library at Manchester,' in two volumes octavo. Of these volumes, the first consists chiefly of poetical pieces; the second, of characters drawn with great strength, to which are annexed ingenious thoughts on a variety of subjects.* Some of the

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popular compositions, many inferior imitators; a Second Part,' prior to his own, a 'Dutch,' and a 'Scotch Hudibras,' 'Butler's Ghost,' The Occasional Hypocrite,' &c. Some vain attempts have, likewise, been made to translate parts of it into Latin. Of these, one or two (ascribed to the learned Harmar, once Greek Professor at Oxford) are subjoined for the amusement of the reader:

So learned Taliacotius from, &c.'

Sic adscititios nasos de clune torosi
Vectoris doctâ secuit Taliacotius arte,
Qui potuêre parem durando æquare parentem :
At postquam fato clunis computruit, ipsum
Und sympathioum coepit tabescere rostrum.

So wind i' th' hypochondres pent, &c.'
Sic hypochondriacis inclusa meatibus aura
Desinet in crepitum, si fertur prona per alvum:
Sed si summa petat, montisq; invaserit arcem,
Divinus furor est, et conscia flamma futuri.

* In justice to Butler, we must not omit to mention an old edition of his Posthumous Works, first printed in three and afterward in one volume duodecimo, containing many indecent and immoral pieces, of which Mr. Charles Longueville declared many to be spurious.

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verses printed upon this occasion, as Mr. Chalmers observes, show him to have been among those who ridiculed the institution of the Royal Society, of which the enemies were for some time very numerous and very acrimonious-for what reason, it is hard to conceive; since the philosophers professed not to advance doctrines, but to produce facts, and the most zealous enemy of innovation must admit the gradual progress of experience, however he may oppose hypothetical temerity.

Of Mr. William Longueville it is recorded, on competent authority, that he was a conveyancing lawyer and a Bencher of the Inner Temple, and had raised himself from a low beginning to very great eminence in that profession; that he was eloquent and learned, and of spotless integrity; that he maintained an aged father, who had wasted his fortune by extravagance, and by his industry and application reedified a ruined family; and that having supported Butler (who, but for him, must literally have starved) he received from him, as a recompence, the papers called his Remains. Of these the original copy was, at one time, in the hands of the Rev. Dr. Richard Farmer.

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ANTONY ASHLEY COOPER,

EARL OF SHAFTESBURY.*

[1621-1683.]

ANTONY ASHLEY COOPER was the only son of Sir John Cooper, Bart. of Rockborn in the county of Southampton, by Anne daughter and sole heiress of Sir Antony Ashley, Bart. of Winborne St. Giles in the county of Dorset, where he was born in the year 1621.

By the death of his father he succeeded, before he was ten years of age, to an estate of 8000l. per ann. Being a boy of uncommon parts, he was sent at fifteen to Oxford, where he became a Fellow Commoner of Exeter College under the tuition of Dr. John Prideaux, then Rector of that society. Here he is said to have remained about two years, and fully supported his character of an extraordinary genius. He subsequently removed to Lincoln's Inn, and applied himself with great vigour to the study of the law, especially to that part of it, which

* AUTHORITIES. Biographia Britannica, Wood's Athena Oxonienses, and Hume's History of England.

gave him an insight into the constitution of his native country.

At nineteen, he was elected representative for Tewksbury, in the parliament which met at Westminster in April, 1640.

The outlines of an able politician were discovered very early in his Lordship's character, by an amiable instance of loyalty to his King and of regard for the public tranquillity: for, at the beginning of the civil war, he repaired to Charles I. at Oxford with a project, not for subduing or conquering his country, but for reducing such as had either deserted or mistaken their duty to their allegiance. Being introduced by his friend Lord Falkland, then Secretary of State, as having something to propose worthy of consideration,' he told the King, that he could immediately put an end to the war, if his Majesty would graciously please to assist him in it.' Charles answering, That he was a very young man for so great an undertaking;' "Sire," replied he, "that will not be the worse for your affairs, provided I do the business.” Upon which, the King showing a willingness to hear him, he proceeded as follows:

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"The gentlemen and men of estates who first engaged in this war, seeing now after a year or two that it seems to be no nearer an end than it was at first, and beginning to be weary of it, would be glad to be in quiet at home again, if they could be assured of redress of their grievances, and have their rights and liberties secured to them. This, I am satisfied, is the present temper generally throughout England, and particularly in those parts where my estate and concerns lie. If therefore your Majesty will empower

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