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SATYR.
71
So Men, who one Extravagance would shun,
Into the contrary Extreme have run;
And all the Difference is, that, as the first
30 Provokes the other Freak to prove the worst;[1]
So, in return, that strives to render less
The laft Delusion, with its own Excess;
And, like two unskill'd Gamesters, use one Way
With bungling t'help out one another's Play.
35 For those, who heretofore sought private Holes,
Securely in the Dark to damn their Souls,
Wore Vizards of Hypocrisy, to steal
And slink away, in Masquerade, to Hell.
Now bring their Crimes into the open Sun,
40 For all Mankind to gaze their worst upon,
As Eagles try their Young against his Rays,
To prove, if they're of generous Breed, or base;
Into the contrary Extreme have run;
And all the Difference is, that, as the first
30 Provokes the other Freak to prove the worst;[1]
So, in return, that strives to render less
The laft Delusion, with its own Excess;
And, like two unskill'd Gamesters, use one Way
With bungling t'help out one another's Play.
35 For those, who heretofore sought private Holes,
Securely in the Dark to damn their Souls,
Wore Vizards of Hypocrisy, to steal
And slink away, in Masquerade, to Hell.
Now bring their Crimes into the open Sun,
40 For all Mankind to gaze their worst upon,
As Eagles try their Young against his Rays,
To prove, if they're of generous Breed, or base;
- ↑ 30. Provokes the other Freak to prove the Worst.] The Word Freak, though it now always signifies some Extravagance of the gay and frolicksome sort, is frequently used by Butler, for one of any Kind.
- ↑ 23. As Sculls that have been crack'd,] It is a common Observation, whether true or false is sufficient for a poetical Allusion, that when a Scull is broke, the Crack is not in the Part which receives the Blow, but on the opposite Side, and is occasioned by the Violence of the Concussion.
53, 54.
