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termed by Dq . Nash " our modest poet , " used language that was not common to the _ age in which he lived . If we take up Montaigne ' s " Essays " —writings , probably , far more popular in the days of Samuel Butler than now—we meet with many allusions and expressions calculated to offend against the modesty of this present day , and some expressions of our grandfathers we should feel unworthy of retailing again in print .
Samuel Butler , magistrate ' s clerk and afterwards secretary , w as born at the village of Strensham , Worcestershire , where his father held a small estate , valued at ten pounds per annum . He was a zealous loyalist , and Charles the Second granted him an annual pension of one hundred pounds , which , from its smallness , disappointed the author of " Hudibras , " and scandalized the public . About the mme time that he was appointed secretary he received the office of steward of Ludlow Castle ; and , upon retiring , he lived in Rosestreet , Coven t-garden , where , in the year 1680 , he died , aged sixtyeight . Mr . W . Nicol , who edited , in 1835 , an edition of " Hudibras , " in 2 vols . 8 vo ., remarked in the preface that " the poem ranks too high in English literature not to be welcomed , if it appear in a correct
text , legible type , and on good paper : ever since its first appearance it has been a mirror , in which an Englishman might have seen his face without becoming , Narcissus-like , enamoured of it ; such an honest looking-glass must ever be valuable , if there be worth in the aphorism of nosce teipsum . " The editor , after asking whether it may not be as useful in the present as in past times ,
continues : " perhaps , even m this enlightened age , a little self-examination may be wholesome ; a man will take a glance of recognition of himself if there be a glass in the room , and it may happen that some indication of the nascent symptoms of the wrinkles of treason , of the crow ' s-feet of fanaticism , of the drawn-down mouth of hypocrisy , or of the superfluous airs of self-conceit , may startle the till then unconscious possessor of such germs of vice , and afford to
his honester qualities an opportunity of stifling them ere they start forth in their hideousness , and so , perchance , help to avert the repetition of the evil times the poet satirizes , which , in whatever point they are viewed , stand a blot in the annals of Britain . " To the antiquary " Hudibras " is interesting , as conveying many a new idea in old words , and showing various customs of the olden time .
" It was a serviceable dudgeon Either for fighting or for drudging . " A dudgeon ( degen ) , a dagger . May not the word dudgeon , in the sense of sulkiness , when combined with anger , bo derived from this ? The idea seems to be borne out by the line of Alexander Smith , to be found in his poems ( D . Bogue , London , 1852 ) , when he says : — " She rose and stabbed him with her angry eyes . " Surely the good lady was in high dudgeon , when she sought to over-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
termed by Dq . Nash " our modest poet , " used language that was not common to the _ age in which he lived . If we take up Montaigne ' s " Essays " —writings , probably , far more popular in the days of Samuel Butler than now—we meet with many allusions and expressions calculated to offend against the modesty of this present day , and some expressions of our grandfathers we should feel unworthy of retailing again in print .
Samuel Butler , magistrate ' s clerk and afterwards secretary , w as born at the village of Strensham , Worcestershire , where his father held a small estate , valued at ten pounds per annum . He was a zealous loyalist , and Charles the Second granted him an annual pension of one hundred pounds , which , from its smallness , disappointed the author of " Hudibras , " and scandalized the public . About the mme time that he was appointed secretary he received the office of steward of Ludlow Castle ; and , upon retiring , he lived in Rosestreet , Coven t-garden , where , in the year 1680 , he died , aged sixtyeight . Mr . W . Nicol , who edited , in 1835 , an edition of " Hudibras , " in 2 vols . 8 vo ., remarked in the preface that " the poem ranks too high in English literature not to be welcomed , if it appear in a correct
text , legible type , and on good paper : ever since its first appearance it has been a mirror , in which an Englishman might have seen his face without becoming , Narcissus-like , enamoured of it ; such an honest looking-glass must ever be valuable , if there be worth in the aphorism of nosce teipsum . " The editor , after asking whether it may not be as useful in the present as in past times ,
continues : " perhaps , even m this enlightened age , a little self-examination may be wholesome ; a man will take a glance of recognition of himself if there be a glass in the room , and it may happen that some indication of the nascent symptoms of the wrinkles of treason , of the crow ' s-feet of fanaticism , of the drawn-down mouth of hypocrisy , or of the superfluous airs of self-conceit , may startle the till then unconscious possessor of such germs of vice , and afford to
his honester qualities an opportunity of stifling them ere they start forth in their hideousness , and so , perchance , help to avert the repetition of the evil times the poet satirizes , which , in whatever point they are viewed , stand a blot in the annals of Britain . " To the antiquary " Hudibras " is interesting , as conveying many a new idea in old words , and showing various customs of the olden time .
" It was a serviceable dudgeon Either for fighting or for drudging . " A dudgeon ( degen ) , a dagger . May not the word dudgeon , in the sense of sulkiness , when combined with anger , bo derived from this ? The idea seems to be borne out by the line of Alexander Smith , to be found in his poems ( D . Bogue , London , 1852 ) , when he says : — " She rose and stabbed him with her angry eyes . " Surely the good lady was in high dudgeon , when she sought to over-