Sect. I V-] Satirical Foetry. 25 



unnatural fondness which he manifests for coarse 

 indelicacy, and for images drawn from every 

 source of physical impurity, cannot but fill with 

 disgust the mind of every virtuous reader *. 



The satires of Churchill display great vigour 

 both of thought and language ; and though the 

 boldness of their abuse, and the nature of their 

 subjects, were, in some measure, the ground of 

 their popularity, while the author lived ; yet they 

 have certainly great strength, and possess no 

 inconsiderable merit in their way. Vicious as 

 was the character of the man, he knew how to ex- 

 pose and correct vice. The Rosciad, and the 

 Prophecy of Famine, may be regarded as the best 

 of his poems. London, a poem in imitation of the 

 third satire of Juvenal, by Dr. Johnson, was one 

 of the early displa3"s of that genius which after- 

 wards shone with such distinguished lustre, and 

 filled so large a space in the literature of the age. 

 The Faust, of the celebrated Goethe, of Germany, 

 occupies a high place in the list of modern sati- 

 rical writings. The Table Talk, the Progress of 

 Err our, and some other satirical pieces, by Cow- 

 per, in purity, humour, dignity, and force, have 

 seldom been exceeded in any language. The 

 Baviad and Mccviad of Mr. Gilford have receiv- 

 ed much applause from some of the critics of 



faneness of this author I impute to his passion for ridicule, and 

 rage of witticism ; which, when they settle into a habit, and ven- 

 ture on liberties with what is sacred, never fail to pervert the 

 mind, and harden the heart." 



* Instances of this fault are so numerous and offensive in Swift's 

 writings, that no further remarks are necessary either to explain 

 or enforce the criticism. 



