In The Author he asks, "Lives there a man whom Satire cannot reach?" And the author of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers declares that vice and folly will—
"More darkly sin, by Satire kept in awe, And shrink from ridicule, though not from law."
But Marston and Defoe, already quoted on the other side, have their dubious moments. Says the former,[1]
"Now, Satire, cease to rub our galled skins, And to unmask the world's detested sins; Thou shalt as soon draw Nilus river dry As cleanse the world from foul impiety."
And the latter[2] would be sanguine if he could: "If my countrymen would take the hint and grow better-natured from my ill-natured poem, as some call it, I would say this of it, that though it is far from the best satire that ever was written, it would do the most good that ever satire did." Gifford[3] also, though a believer in the mission of satire, admits that "to laugh at fools is superfluous, and at the vicious unwise." Cowper[4] allows minor accomplishments:
- ↑ Scourge of Villainy, Satire II.
- ↑ Preface to The Trueborn Englishmen.
- ↑ Preface to his translation of Aristophanes.
- ↑ The Task: The Time-Piece.
His object is to point out the superiority of the preacher, who steps in
"* * * when the sat'rist has at last
Strutting and vaporing in an empty school,
Spent all his force and made no proselyte."Later, however, he inadvertently admits even clerical insufficiency:
"Since pulpits fail, and sounding boards reflect
Most part an empty ineffectual sound,
What chance that I, to fame so little known,
Nor conversant with men or manners much,
Should speak to purpose, or with better hope
Crack the satiric thong?" (From The Garden).
