179^* CHARACTER OF GEORGE BUCHANAN. 237 



riety, and con-e^Lnels. From the friend of Afcham and 

 Scaliger, from the preceptor of a prince, and the pre- 

 (iileiit of a college, productions more claflical might 

 jiirtly be demanded, than from the playwright of a li- 

 centious llage, the tool of an ufurping priefthood, and 

 the relutlant hireling of a bookfcller. Loth writers 

 were long the poecs of a court ; both have left us an 

 immenfe number of fhort temporary pieces, defigned 

 merely to pleafe, entertain, or vex a few individuals, but 

 forcing themfelves on our applaufe by the merit of com- 

 pofition. The Scottifh poet, at leaft, cannot be flig- 

 matifed as obfcene ; but both were fond of advancing 

 to the utmofl verge of decency. Both were by far the 

 firfl: fatirifcs of their refpeflive periods. Both poflTef- 

 fed fuch inexhauftible talents for panegyric, and both 

 were poetical tranflators of fuch fupreme flcill, that in 

 either capacity they have hardly a fingle rival in the 

 whole records of literature. But the operations of the 

 poet mull always take an impreffion from the manners 

 of hii age, and the temper of the man. Dryden feems 

 to have been weak, indolent, and from levity almoft 

 incapable of principle or attachment. He is therefore 

 often negligent, and whatever be his theme, he is in 

 frequent danger of relapfing into a jeft. On the 

 contrary, his predeceflTor is grave, ardent, intrepid, and 

 implacable. He never attacks by halves. His ridicule 

 darkens into rage. Kc combats not for conqueft, but ex- 

 tirpation. From the pontiff and emperor, to the peda- 

 gogue and the monk, the vi(fl:im of his derifion is held 

 forth not only as the duUeit, but the vilefl of mankind. 

 Evcry-poflible feature of vice and folly feems anxious to 

 ftavt from the canvafs. With the abrupt dexterity of a 

 veteran familiar to victory,he at once clofes upon his ad- 

 verfary, tramples him, and tears him to pieces. The 

 mind bends as it were under the grafp of his eloquence, 

 and our admiration of the artift forbids us to queftion 

 :he juftice of the Hkeuefg — The annals of the fixteenth 



