XII 



THfc LIFE* AND WRITINGS OF 



8. " Burlesque upon Burlesque ; or, The Scoffer Scoft, being 

 some (twenty-seven) of Lucian's Dialogues (of the Gods) newly 

 put into English Fustian, for the consolation of those who had 

 rather laugh and be merry than be merry and wise," 1675. 



9. " The Planter's Manual, very useful for such as are cu- 

 rious in planting and grafting," 1676. 



10. Tiic Second Part of the Complete Angler, " with Instruc- 

 tions how to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream," 

 1676. 



11. "The Wonders of the Peake ;" a poor poem descriptive 

 of the wild, gloomy scenery near the Peak in Derbyshire, 1681. 



12. A translation of Montaigne's Essays, in three volumes, 

 1685. 



He was engaged, at the time of his death, in translating Me- 

 moirs of the Sieur de Pontis, which was afterwards pub- 

 lished. 



Besides these, he published many smaller poems, poetical epis- 

 tles, translations from the classics and the French, &c. " The 

 Retirement, a Poem, with Annotations, printed for C. C, 1679," 

 has been also thought to be his. 



With the exception of his second part to the Complete Angler, 

 Cotton is better known from his burlesque of Virgil than any 

 other of his writings. It is written in the style brought into 

 France by St. Amant, improved upon by Scarron, who translated 

 eight booksof Virgil in that manner, and used it with much success 

 during the political disputes under Mazarine's ministry. A nota- 

 ble example had been given of it in England by the Hudibras of 

 Butler, which was published a year before Cotton's Travesty. 

 The Scarronides has very little of wit, nothing, indeed, beyond 

 drollery, and that of the lowest kind. Of this i)roduction and its 

 kin, the exaggeration of Lucian's Dialogues, Sir John Hawkins 

 says, not too severely : " In all of them we meet such foul ima- 

 gery, such obscene allusions, such offensive descriptions, such 

 odious comparisons, such coarse sentiment, and sueii filthy ex- 

 pressions, as could only proceed from a polluted imagination, and 

 lend to excite loathing and disgust." The later editions of the 

 Virgil Travestie abound more in gross allusions than the first, 

 wiiich shows the reverse of compunction, and the excuse he 



