THE chiefest motive I have in writing this Epi­stle, is, not that I have any affectation to scrib­ling, but to excuse the permission of the prece­ding Copies of Commendation of my Friends; to whom I must say as the Orator said to Q. Ce­cilius Hortensius, in the case of Verres, That let them take which side they will, they are sure to make it the best, for by their ingenuity they are able to cause that which is deform'd and ugly, to become fair and beautiful; and when I reflect upon my own imperfections (I ingenuously confess) I even blush to read them, and it would be the highest arrogance in the World to acknowledg their Character; like a young coy Maiden, I for a time held out their suit, but their importunities were such, I, like them, at last gave my consent: And lest that any should Tax me with Ambition in the Publication of the Poem, I shall answer in Mr. Drey­dens Words, That it is impossible almost for any Writer to suc­ceed without it. And make the worst of it, as one pleasantly defines it, it is but a gallant madness; and though I do acknowledg it, 'tis only in the Abstract: For I shall not, like Aesops Frog, swell till I burst, or like Lucians Evangelus pipe so long till I fall down dead; nay, this passion is so predominant, that even the Beasts them­selves are brought within the List; the Hound in catching of the Hare from his fellow; the Hawk in pouncing of his Prey; and the Horse in running of his Race. These Examples being consider'd, I am so far from judging it a fault, that I think it almost a sin to be without it; then why should man, that Lordly Creature, be asham'd to acknowledg it, and especially Poets, who are something above the vulgar; nay, so much above them, that they are a medium betwixt God and Man: [Page] For as Plato says— Non possunt canere priusquam Deo ple­ni—i. e. Before they are moved with a Divine rapture.

But here let me make a small digression, for I do not speak this in re­ference to my self, but to the Almighty Apollo's of the last, and this present Age; for I might sleep as many years in Parnassus's Moun­tain as Endymion did in the Cave, before I should reach that Name, though Hesiod and Ennius are reported, but by one nights sleeping therein, to become Poets, and the last, in his sleep, fanci'd he receiv'd into his Body Homers Soul, and thereupon writ in imitation of him: But how like they were to his, Horace excellently well describes.—

But considering this present Age, and the troublesome times therein, what small advantage, reward, or reputation can be gained thereby, there would be but small contending for the Bays; since too, Apollo and the Muses, who have a long time liv'd in Tranquillity, may, we know not how soon, be banish'd by the God of War, and so be forc'd to throw away the Pen, and like that Worthy Hero, of late Memory, Montross (whose Name wants an Epithete) be forc'd to write with the point of the Sword, but I hope not in such a Language as his:

As for the Nature of the Poem, which is Holy, though intermixt with Spirits, yet I have not herein trod in an unknown path, but shall procure Authority for what I do; though Doctor Brown declares, In the multiplicity of Writing, Subjects so often discours'd, confine the imagination, and fix our conceptions unto the Notions of fore-writers, and though it may be allow'd with him, that bye and barren Themes are best fitted for invention, yet that does not in the least excuse imitati­on; for Mr. Dreydon's State of Innocency and Fall of Man, is of the same Nature with this, from whose incomparable Piece I drew this rugged draught; and Milton's Paradise Lost is full of [Page] the same Adornments: Mr. Cowley too in his Divine Davideis, is so far from being exempted from the same, that he makes them to be the chiefest ornaments of his Poem, in which he does not only cause the Devil to make a Speech, but even God himself, and brings David singing a Love Song to his Lyre under Michols Window, with save­ral the like imbellishments, which are no more to be found fault with, than the Stars for spangling Heaven. I shall defend but very little of what I have writ, either in vindication of words or phrases or figures, though it is an easie thing to turn Prophet in this case, and anticipate Critical Observations: For this only reason, being I have had but few, and those friends, that have pass'd their judgments of it, (though I account them the best that find most faults) yet do what one can, their censures will be favourable.

I must desire the Reader to take notice of these few things, that when he meets with any irregular, or as it may seem careless Lines, that they were not over-sights; and likewise in comparisons, where the thing is compar'd to things that never were: So a Friend finds fault with this Line— And shrink like Parchment in the Fire.—because, says he, there was no such thing as Parchment in the World at that time. Whether there was or no, I shall not here dispute, though without doubt there were many excellent Arts that perish'd in the Flood, which since, by the ingenuity of Man, and accidents, have been renewed: He might likewise have as well found fault with these, As the word Hermite, Gally-slave, the comparison of the Vineyard betwixt Ga­briel and Noah, and many more, which last must be counted as a Prolepsis, though in truth Wine might be before the Flood, for in the fifth Act I follow the bare History of the Scripture, and make him igno­rant of the operation of Wine, and Satan himself to teach the Art, though without doubt drunkenness was one of the main sins of that Age, which brought the Deluge, and that too with Wine; yet however I shall authorise it by a few Examples: Thus Mr. Dreyden in his Fall of Man, makes Lucifer compare his Legions, that lay prostrate on the Lake, to scatter'd Leaves in Autumn.

When it is to be suppos'd the World was not created, or without doubt no Autumn, so that in this case (where they make that which ought to [Page] be the comparison the thing compar'd, (though in no other) in my judgment they may be allow'd of: so the Grammar is mistaken in the figure, for it is no Prolepsis to say, Lavina (que) venit littora—be­cause the Poet speaks in his own Person, but if he had brought in Aene­as, saying, Lavina (que) littora veni, the Figure then would have been: And A. Gellius in 10 L. c. 16. is of the same opinion, and instances another of like kind, Aeneid. L. 6. v. 17. and justifies both this way. But Milton, from whom Mr. Dreydon took it, does not make the Fi­gure, being he does not make any of the Devils, but himself speak it.

And truly in my opinion it ought to be accounted a fault in all Poetry, were it not in Poems treating of so high an Antiquity, and rank'd just as Barbarisms; for as there is no reason for the one, so there is a necessity for the other:—But that which fits my turn best are the words of poor Palinurus.

When Velia, the Town that gave name to the Port, was built in the time of Servius Tullus, above 600 years after: so in Seneca's Me­dea, we find the whole business of Matrimony to be transacted accor­ding to the Roman Rites, and all the reflections upon it to be adapted to the Customs and Laws of that place which obtain'd long after; as v. 113. Festa dicax fundat convicia Fescenninus, and many more of that sort, ver. 488.

Alluding to the Roman Law, which restor'd to the divorc'd Woman her Dowry, if the Divorce were not occasion'd by her.—but v. 355. [Page] and v. 794. are plainer: Quid! cùm Ausonium dirae pestes, &c. The Auson that was Author of this Adjective was Son of Ulysses and Calypso, who could not be born at this time.

whereas the Corinthian brass was of much later date. So v. 622, 659, 660. and indeed the whole Chorus of the third Act is full of such Anticipations, so that many good Criticks reject a great part of it as supposititious.

So in the first Scene of Plautus's Amphitryo, we meet Sosia affraid of the Tres Viri Nocturni, who with their Octo Homines, (mentioned there) were a sort of Officers at Rome. as our Consta­ble and Watch with us: So v. 149. He quibbles upon Quintus a Ro­man Name, and v. 252. He swears by Hercules before he is born or hardly got; besides, that those Slavish Names, Sosia and Davus, were younger by many hundred years than Amphitryo. These, I hope, are vindications enough for Anachronisms; as for Hyperboles I shall only speak this, that the bolder they are so much the better, and he shall gain far more reputation that soars high though in danger, than he that follows that plodding Advice; Medio tutissimus, &c.—

And though like the Camelion they can put on almost all colours whatsoever, yet they shall never hit the White. And Horace does as good as incourage this way of Writing, when he says,

for the extravagancy of these Figures, as Hyperboles, Metaphors, Catachreses, &c. are certainly the faults he means, as well as ob­scene Lines and oversights in Poems.

That it may find some excuse for its faults, I shall, as several of our Moderns before me, (whom I believe speak truth) declare the time in which the greatest part was writ, for I do faithfully protest, that the first three parts were thought and writ in lesser time than a week, but being disappointed by the Printer, (for it should have come out near a Twelve-month ago) I since have made a few alterations in it; [Page] the fourth was writ at leisure times that I stole from company; with which I did intend to have ended, being it was so full a period: But was perswaded more for the Number-sake than the Subject, to add the fifth, for I really thought (as indeed it was) I undertook to build a Babel, and conceiv'd it almost impossible to raise so many Lines upon so small a Foundation, especially to Lake it o're with any gloss agreeing with Ho­race.

Thus much I thought convenient to declare, but not as to blow my own Trumpet, for the profoundrespects I bear Her Grace▪ and the almigh­ty innate Love I owe His Highness were the only incentives of my pub­lication of it, for by this and no other means could I find an opportunity to declare my deep Veneration for both: A Prince who like the Genius of this British Isle bears up the Fate thereof: A Prince who wears more Charms than ever Caesar did, for He does not only come, see, and overcome, Towns, Cities and Countreys, but inslaves the very hearts of Men, who are proud too, and triumph in their Chains, accounting it far greator glory to be overcome by Him, than to be Victors themselves of others.