Acknowledgment is due, and is gratefully rendered, to Mrs. C.S. Calverley for permission to print the verses which close this book; and to Messrs. Macmillan & Co. for permission to print A.H. Clough's "Spectator ab Extra".
To Professor C.H. Herford my warmest thanks are due for his careful revision of the Introduction, and for many valuable hints which have been adopted in the course of the work; also to Mr. W. Keith Leask, M.A.(Oxon.), and the librarians of the Edinburgh University and Advocates' Libraries.
OLIPHANT SMEATON.
CONTENTS.
| Page | ||
| INTRODUCTION | [xiii] | |
| WILLIAM LANGLAND | ||
| [I.] | Pilgrimage in Search of Do-well | [1] |
| GEOFFREY CHAUCER | ||
| [II.] [III.] | The Monk and the Friar | [6] |
| JOHN LYDGATE | ||
| [IV.] | The London Lackpenny | [10] |
| WILLIAM DUNBAR | ||
| [V.] | The Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins | [14] |
| SIR DAVID LYNDSAY | ||
| [VI.] | Satire on the Syde Taillis—Ane Supplicatioun directit to the Kingis Grace—1538 | [19] |
| BISHOP JOSEPH HALL | ||
| [VII.] | On Simony | [22] |
| [VIII.] | The Domestic Tutor's Position | [23] |
| [IX.] | The Impecunious Fop | [24] |
| GEORGE CHAPMAN | ||
| [X.] | An Invective written by Mr. George Chapman against Mr. Ben Jonson | [26] |
| JOHN DONNE | ||
| [XI.] | The Character of the Bore | [29] |
| BEN JONSON | ||
| [XII.] | The New Cry | [34] |
| [XIII.] | On Don Surly | [35] |
| SAMUEL BUTLER | ||
| [XIV.] | The Character of Hudibras | [36] |
| [XV.] | The Character of a Small Poet | [43] |
| ANDREW MARVELL | ||
| [XVI.] | Nostradamus's Prophecy | [45] |
| JOHN CLEIVELAND | ||
| [XVII.] | The Scots Apostasie | [47] |
| JOHN DRYDEN | ||
| [XVIII.] | Satire on the Dutch | [49] |
| [XIX.] | MacFlecknoe | [50] |
| [XX.] | Epistle to the Whigs | [57] |
| DANIEL DEFOE | ||
| [XXI.] | Introduction to the True born Englishman | [63] |
| THE EARL OF DORSET | ||
| [XXII.] | Satire on a Conceited Playwright | [65] |
| JOHN ARBUTHNOT | ||
| [XXIII.] | Preface to John Bull and his Law suit | [66] |
| [XXIV.] | The History of John Bull | [70] |
| [XXV.] | Epitaph upon Colonel Chartres | [76] |
| JONATHAN SWIFT | ||
| [XXVI.] | Mrs Frances Harris' Petition | [77] |
| [XXVII.] | Elegy on Partridge | [81] |
| [XXVIII.] | A Meditation upon a Broom stick | [85] |
| [XXIX.] | The Relations of Booksellers and Authors | [86] |
| [XXX.] | The Epistle Dedicatory to His Royal Highness Prince Posterity | [91] |
| SIR RICHARD STEELE | ||
| [XXXI.] | The Commonwealth of Lunatics | [97] |
| JOSEPH ADDISON | ||
| [XXXII.] | Sir Roger de Coverley's Sunday | [101] |
| EDWARD YOUNG | ||
| [XXXIII.] | To the Right Hon. Mr. Dodington | [105] |
| JOHN GAY | ||
| [XXXIV.] | The Quidnunckis | [112] |
| ALEXANDER POPE | ||
| [XXXV.] | The Dunciad—The Description of Dulness | [114] |
| [XXXVI.] | Sandys' Ghost; or, a proper new ballad of the New Ovid's Metamorphoses, as it was intended to be translated by persons of quality | [120] |
| [XXXVII.] | Satire on the Whig Poets | [122] |
| [XXXVIII.] | Epilogue to the Satires | [131] |
| SAMUEL JOHNSON | ||
| [XXXIX.] | The Vanity of Human Wishes | [136] |
| [XL.] | Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield | [147] |
| OLIVER GOLDSMITH | ||
| [XLI.] | The Retaliation | [149] |
| [XLII.] | The Logicians Refuted | [154] |
| [XLIII.] | Beau Tibbs, his Character and Family | [156] |
| CHARLES CHURCHILL | ||
| [XLIV.] | The Journey | [160] |
| JUNIUS | ||
| [XLV.] | To the King | [164] |
| ROBERT BURNS | ||
| [XLVI.] | Address to the Unco Guid, or the Rigidly Righteous | [180] |
| [XLVII.] | Holy Willie's Prayer | [182] |
| CHARLES LAMB | ||
| [XLVIII.] | A Farewell to Tobacco | [186] |
| THOMAS MOORE | ||
| [XLIX.] | Lines on Leigh Hunt | [191] |
| GEORGE CANNING | ||
| [L.] | Epistle from Lord Boringdon to Lord Granville | [192] |
| [LI.] | Reformation of the Knave of Hearts | [194] |
| POETRY OF THE ANTI JACOBIN | ||
| [LII.] | The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-grinder | [203] |
| [LIII.] | Song by Rogero the Captive | [205] |
| COLERIDGE AND SOUTHEY | ||
| [LIV.] | The Devil's Walk | [206] |
| SYDNEY SMITH | ||
| [LV.] | The Letters of Peter Plymley—on "No Popery" | [208] |
| JAMES SMITH | ||
| [LVI.] | The Poet of Fashion | [216] |
| WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR | ||
| [LVII.] | Bossuet and the Duchess of Fontanges | [218] |
| LORD BYRON | ||
| [LVIII.] | The Vision of Judgment | [226] |
| [LIX.] | The Waltz | [236] |
| [LX.] | "The Dedication" in Don Juan | [243] |
| THOMAS HOOD | ||
| [LXI.] | Cockle v. Cackle | [249] |
| LORD MACAULAY | ||
| [LXII.] | The Country Clergyman's Trip to Cambridge | [253] |
| WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED | ||
| [LXIII.] | The Red Fisherman; or, The Devil's Decoy | [257] |
| [LXIV.] | Mad—Quite Mad | [264] |
| BENJAMIN DISRAELI (LORD BEACONSFIELD) | ||
| [LXV.] | Popanilla on Man | [270] |
| ROBERT BROWNING | ||
| [LXVI.] | Cristina | [277] |
| [LXVII.] | The Lost Leader | [280] |
| WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY | ||
| [LXVIII.] | Piscator and Piscatrix | [281] |
| [LXIX.] | On a Hundred Years Hence | [283] |
| ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH | ||
| [LXX.] | Spectator Ab Extra | [292] |
| C.S. CALVERLEY | ||
| [LXXI.] | "Hic Vir, Hic Est" | [296] |