For pointed satire I would Buckhurst chuse;
The best good man, with the worst-natured muse.
Allusion to Horace's 10th Satire, Book I.
The satires of Lord Dorset seem to have consisted in short lampoons, if we may judge of those which have been probably lost, from such as are known to us. His mock "Address to Mr Edward Howard, on his incomparable and incomprehensible Poem, called the British Princes;" another to the same on his plays; a lampoon on an Irish lady; and one on Lady Dorchester,—are the only satires of his lordship's which have been handed down to us. He probably wrote other light occasional pieces of the same nature.
[5] Shooting at rovers, in archery, is opposed to shooting at butts: In the former exercise the bowman shoots at random, merely to show how far he can send an arrow.
[6] Probably meaning Sir Robert Howard, with whom our author was now reconciled, and perhaps Sir William D'Avenant.
[7] The First Satire of Persius is doubtless levelled against bad poets; but that author rather engages in the defence of satire, opposed to the silly or bombastic verses of his contemporaries, than in censuring freedoms used with private characters.
[8] The four sceptres were placed saltier-wise upon the reverse of guineas, till the gold coinage of his present majesty.
Sic Maro nec Calabri tentavit carmina Flacci,
Pindaricos posset cum superare modos;
Et Vario cessit Romani laude cothurni,
Cum posset tragico fortius ore loqui.
Mart. lib. VIII. epig. XVIII.