But, ere the optic tube was half let down,
Their own eyes cleared the first phenomenon:
For at the upper end, prodigious swarms
Of busy flies and gnats, like men in arms,
Had all passed muster in the glass by chance,
For both the Peri- and the Sub-volvans.

This being discovered, once more put them all
Into a worse and desperater brawl,

Surprised with shame, that men so grave and wise
Should be trepanned by paltry gnats and flies;
And to mistake the feeble insects' swarms
For squadrons, and reserves of men in arms:
As politic as those, who, when the Moon
As bright and glorious in a river shone,
Threw casting-nets, with equal cunning at her,
To catch her with, and pull her out o' th' water.
But when, at last, they had unscrewed the glass,
To find out where the sly impostor was,
And saw 'twas but a mouse, that by mishap
Had caught himself, and them, in th' optic trap,*

tree, where he found the she-wolf; but as he was about to perform the rites, he discovered that he had no consecrated bread. Upon this the male wolf went away, and speedily returned, bringing back a manual [service-book] with several hosts between the leaves. The priest, however, still hesitated. At length the she-wolf, drawing down the wolf's skin to her waist, appeared as an old woman; upon which the priest, having no longer any scruples, consented to communicate her; and was dismissed the next morning with many thanks, but not until the wolf had delivered himself of some very sensible and orthodox opinions on the causes of the English invasion, and its probable issue. A provincial synod was soon afterwards called to consider the question, whether these men-wolves were entitled to the sacrament of Christianity; and Giraldus was invited to assist at the discussion, but excused himself for want of time. Such is the story preserved by the old chronicler. A curious confirmation of the main feature of it is recorded in a different form by Spenser: The Scythians said that they were once a year turned into wolves, and so it is written of the Irish; though Master Camden, in a better sense, doth suppose it was a disease called Lycanthropia, so named of the wolf. And yet some of the Irish do use to make the wolf their gossip.'-View of the State of Ireland.

The long measure has afforded a happy opportunity for heightening the point in this line. In the first draft the mouse alone is caught in the trap.

Amazed, with shame confounded, and afflicted
To find themselves so openly convicted,
Immediately made haste to get them gone,
With none but this discovery alone:-

That learned men, who greedily pursue
Things that are rather wonderful than true,
And, in their nicest speculations, choose
To make their own discoveries strange news,
And natural history rather a gazette
Of rarities stupendous, and far-fet;
Believe no truths are worthy to be known,
That are not strongly vast, and overgrown;
And strive to explicate appearances,
Not as they're probable, but as they please,
In vain endeavour nature to suborn,

And, for their pains, are justly paid with scorn.

*

* Butler,' says Mr. Thyer, 'to compliment his mouse for affording him an opportunity of indulging his satirical turn, and displaying his wit upon this occasion, has, to the end of this poem, subjoined the following epigrammatical note:

'A mouse, whose martial valour has so long
Ago been tried, and by old Homer sung,
And purchased him more everlasting glory
Than all his Grecian and his Trojan story,
Though he appears unequal matched, I grant,
In bulk and stature by the elephant,
Yet frequently has been observed in battle
To have reduced the proud and haughty cattle,
When having boldly entered the redoubt,
And stormed the dreadful outwork of his snout,
The little vermin, like an errant-knight,
Has slain the huge gigantic beast in fight."'

THE ELEPHANT IN THE MOON.

A

A FRAGMENT.*

LEARNED man, whom once a week
A hundred virtuosos seek,†

And like an oracle apply to,

T' ask questions, and admire, and lie to,
Who entertained them all of course,
As men take wives for better or worse,
And passed them all for men of parts,
Though some but sceptics in their hearts;
For when they're cast into a lump,
Their talents equally must jump;
As metals mixed, the rich and base
Do both at equal values pass.

With these the ordinary debate
Was after news, and things of state,

* In this fragment, which Mr. Thyer found amongst Butler's papers, fairly and correctly transcribed, the general subject of the Elephant in the Moon is resumed. It seems to be the commencement of a projected design to treat more at large the problems and experiments of the Royal Society; and the elastic nature of the scheme laid down in the opening justifies the supposition that it would have exceeded the previous satire in magnitude and importance, had Butler lived to complete his intention.

† An allusion, probably, to the meetings held at the house of Sir Kenelm Digby. Great numbers of persons used also to frequent the house of Boyle, who, in the latter part of his life, when his health was failing, and he was desirous of finally collecting and arranging his writings, found so much inconvenience from this kind of celebrity, that he placed a board over his door with an inscription signifying when he did, and did not, receive visits. To make his wishes more generally known he published an advertisement, setting forth the reasons which compelled him to exclude the large concourse of people who were daily in the habit of calling on him. Although it may be assumed that Butler did not contemplate a direct satire upon Boyle in this fragment, there is scarcely a philosophical problem indicated in the piece which Boyle had not investigated, so active and comprehensive was his genius. His works, collected and published after his death, occupy 5 folio volumes, and embrace treatises on Physics, Statics, Pneumatics, Natural History, Chemistry, and Medicine.

III. BUTLER.

4

Which way the dreadful comet went,
In sixty-four, and what it meant;*
What nations yet are to bewail
The operation of its tail;

Or whether France, or Holland yet,
Or Germany, be in its debt?

What wars and plagues in Christendom
Have happened since, and what to come?
What kings are dead, how many queens
And princesses are poisoned since;
And who shall next of all by turn

Make courts wear black, and tradesmen mourn?†
What parties next of foot, or horse,

Will rout, or routed be of course?

What German marches, and retreats
Will furnish the next month's gazettes?

What pestilent contagion next,

And what part of the world infects?
What dreadful meteor, and where,
Shall in the heavens next appear?
And when again shall lay embargo
Upon the Admiral, the good ship Argo?
Why currents turn in seas of ice
Some thrice a day, and some but twice;
And why the tides at night and noon
Court, like Caligula, the Moon?+
What is the natural cause why fish,
That always drink, do never piss;

*This comet appeared on the 24th December, 1664, and furnished a fruitful subject of discussions and predictions to the astrologers.

The cases of poisoning, actual or reputed, were numerous. The instance of the Duchess of Orleans may be mentioned as the most notorious. There were many others, currently reported. Lady Denham, Lady Chesterfield, and Lady Digby, were supposed to have been poisoned; and the Duchess of Portsmouth said that Charles II. was poisoned by a footman, in a dish of chocolate.

The Principia of Newton, in which the theory of the moon and the tides is investigated and explained, was not published till after Butler's death.

Or whether in their home, the deep,
By day or night they ever sleep?
If grass be green, or snow be white,
But only as they take the light?*
Whether possessions of the devil,
Or mere temptations, do most evil?
What is't, that makes all fountains still
Within the earth to run up hill;
But on the outside down again,
As if th' attempt had been in vain?
Or what's the strange magnetic cause,
The steel on loadstone's drawn, or draws,
The star, the needle, which the stone
Has only been but touched upon?
Whether the north-star's influence
With both does hold intelligence,-
For red-hot iron, held t'wards the pole,
Turns of itself to't, when 'tis cool-
Or whether male and female screws
In th' iron and stone th' effect produce?
What makes the body of the sun,
That such a rapid course does run,
To draw no tail behind through th' air,
As comets do, when they appear,
Which other planets cannot do,
Because they do not burn, but glow?
Whether the Moon be sea, or land,
Or charcoal, or a quenched firebrand;
Or if the dark holes that appear,
Are only pores, not cities there?
Whether the atmosphere turn round,
And keep a just pace with the ground;

* Few subjects engross more space in the early proceedings of the Royal Society than the theory of light and colours. Newton contributed several papers relating to it in the Transactions, and exhausted the whole inquiry in his Optics, or a Treatise of the Reflections, Refrac tions, and Inflections, and the Colours of Light, published in 1704.

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