Poems, chiefly consisting of satyrs and satyrical epistles by Robert Gould.

PREFACE.

I Should say something, methinks, in relation to the Papers I here publish; and truly the first thing I shall say is, that I do not con∣ceive they deserve that trouble: How∣ever, that the Reader may be en∣clin'd to forgive some of the many Faults he will be sure to meet with, I must inform him they were all writ in an Age that has some Pretence to a Pardon; as also without those advan∣tages of Learning, necessary for the management of such studies; the Greek and Latine Poets being, in their Ori∣ginal Tongues, wholly unknown to

me. This is a kind of Confession that wou'd have grated some Men to have publish't, but 'tis Truth, and that takes away a little from the reproach on't, though I hope 'twill be thought none, since the avoidless Circumstan∣ces I have been in deny'd me all access to the bettering my self by Letters, the necessary and daily Provision for an honest subsistence taking up my Time; and no Man can be Disposer of his Fate, a supreme hand governs. Notwithstanding, I must declare I found admittance into the best and most refin'd Conversation; But Con∣versation, 'tis allow'd, is not able to make a Poet, though, indeed, it may improve him: There shou'd be a Foundation laid in the University, which also shou'd be mellow'd and pol∣lisht

by Travel and Correspondence, for that gives us a clearer Inspection into Men, and their variety of Dis∣positions; without this, to speak plain, there will appear some of the Rust of the College in a Man's Manners and Intellect: A Man of general Know∣ledge is not to be made so there; meer∣ly for a Divine it may do indifferent well, yet 'twere better they knew the World more, without which they can∣not truly teach us to despise it. Beside all this, there shou'd be some skill in the Modern as well as Learned Lan∣guages, and a good Study of Books (some of all Authors) to resort to at Pleasure; for nothing but that which makes a truly accomplisht Gentle∣man, can make a good Poet: and to push the Parallel home; as one

born a Gentleman, unless his Edu∣cation illustrate his Extraction, is more contemptible than the vilest Pea∣sant: so a Poet, though so by Nature, will prove himself to be little better, unless Art and Judgment are ready at hand, to give the last touch and gracefulness to his Writings, and make that a finisht Piece, which before was but a Sketch, or Rough-Draught of the Fancy. A Man must have an equal Portion of both, though of dif∣ferent Species they must be made one Individual, like the Hermaphrodite in Ovid, without which nothing can be produced that will bear the Test of Ages.

'Twas this the Ancients meant; Nature and Skill Are the two Tops of their Parnassus Hill.

Thus Sir John Denham (who, indeed, in his Cooper's Hill has reacht those Two Tops he there speaks of; and if the most Excellent things de∣serve most Imitation, certainly no Man ought to write in English without laying down that Poem as his Pattern; there we see of what our Language is capable, Life, Sweet∣ness, Strength and Majesty.) And M^r Waller, whose Works claim the same Veneration, tells us,

Though Poets may of Inspiration boast, Their Rage, ill govern'd, in the Clouds is lost; He that proportion'd Wonders can disclose, At once his Fancy and his Iudgment shows.

And in the late Admirable Essay upon Poetry by the Earl of Mul∣grave.

As all is dullness when the Fancy's bad, So, without Iudgment, Fancy is but mad. — —Reason is that substantial useful part That gains the Head, while tother wins the Heart.

Ben Johnson, too, lets us know in his Elegie upon Divine Shake∣spear,

That, though the Poet's Matter Nature be, His Art must give the Fashion; and that He That means to write a Living Line must sweat, And (without tiring) strike the second Heat Upon the Muses Anvil,— Or for the Lawrel he may purchase scorn; For a good Poet's made as well as born.

And, in short, the difficulty of being a good one is so very great, 'tis scarce attainable ev'n by the well Learned; for an Excellent Scholar may be a bad Poet; how hard is it then for one that is no Scholar to be a Good

Poet? And indeed the Considera∣tion of the Disadvantages I labour'd under, which made it impossible for me to be so, ought, in Discretion, to have made me lain down my Preten∣sions to that Art, as soon as taken up, and not have follow'd the Violence of an Inclination, which though plea∣sing to my self, might make me Ob∣noxious to the just and sharp Rallery of the Criticks; as the late Fa∣mous Earl of Rochester naturally expresses it:

Your Muse diverts you, makes the Reader sad, You fancy y'are inspir'd, he thinks you mad; Consider, too, 'twill be discreetly done To make your self the Fiddle of the Town.

And certainly there is no worse Fate upon Earth than being laught at. — But if the Reader will for∣give

what is amiss, I will never give him any fresh Occasion for that Fa∣vour; for here I renew my Promise (made to two great Men) of yield∣ing up all my Engagements to that Study, together, if the Criticks please, with the very Name of a Poet, which I confess I do not de∣serve; Resolving seriously never more to write a line, unless in command to those I dare not disobey; though ev'n there I am so far secur'd, that no man of sense will think it worth the while to lay such an Injunction upon me, and I pay no observance to Fools. Yet, methinks, I comfort my self with this, that by leaving off scribling be∣times, the most malicious can but say I have thrown away the spare Inter∣vals of five or six youthful years,

which is in some sort aton'd, in that I shew the World 'tis possible for a Poet to lay aside Versifying, and en∣cline to Business. However, thus far I may justly boast, that I am the first that ever, under thirty Years of Age, took a voluntary leave of the Muses.