Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Samuel Butler (1612–1680)

Extracts from Miscellanies: An Apology for Plagiaries

AS none but kings have power to raise

A levy which the subject pays,

And though they call that tax a loan

Yet when ’tis gathered ’tis their own;

So he that ’s able to impose

A wit-excise on verse or prose,

And still the abler authors are,

Can make them pay the greater share,

Is prince of poets of his time

And they his vassals that supply him;

Can judge more justly of what he takes

Than any of the best he makes,

And more impartially conceive

What ’s fit to choose and what to leave.

For men reflect more strictly on

The wit of others than their own;

And wit that ’s made of wit and sleight

Is richer than the plain downright:

As salt that ’s made of salt ’s more fine

Than when it first came from the brine,

And spirit ’s of a nobler nature

Drawn from the dull ingredient matter.