Page:Poetical Works of John Oldham.djvu/26

16 'young Marcellus of our tongue,' whatever he might have done to have earned it had he lived, less happily expressed his characteristics than that by which he was better known—the 'English Juvenal;' an appellation which is justified no less by the power and severity of his strictures, than by their animated portraiture of contemporary life and manners. In this latter point of view, his poems possess an obvious historical value.

During Oldham's life his Satires were received with great favour, and several times reprinted A third edition of the Satires on the Jesuits was published in 1685; and in 1686 his works were collected in a single volume by the publisher who had previously issued them separately. In 1710 they reached a seventh edition; and were republished in two volumes in 1722. The last edition, edited by Captain Edward Thompson, appeared in 1770. They have never been included in any general collection of the English Poets; being denied admission as a whole, no doubt very