Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
Samuel Butler (1612–1680)Extracts from Hudibras: The Muse of Doggerel
[From Part I.]
T
Didst inspire Withers, Prynne, and Vickars,
And force them, though it was in spite
Of nature and their stars, to write;
Who (as we find in sullen writs
And cross-grained works of modern wits)
With vanity, opinion, want,
The wonder of the ignorant,
The praises of the author, penned
By himself or wit-ensuring friend,
The itch of picture in the front
With bays and wicked rhymes upon ’t
(All that is left o’ the Forkèd Hill
To make men scribble without skill),
Canst make a poet, spite of Fate,
And teach all people to translate
Though out of languages in which
They understand no part of speech….