Although a portion of (Hudibras) was writ ten before the execution of Charles I, even the first part was not published until 1663; a second followed in 1664, and a third and last in 1678. Thus the satire as an attack upon Puritianism lost utterly any militant value. But few works have ever gained such immediate and universal popularity. It became household property among the royalist reading public, not through whatever of permanent truth it contained, but through its partisanship. No poem in English has ever bred so many imitations. Within the century after its publication appeared at least 23 Hudibrastic satires, many of great length and of intolerable dullness and, oftentiines, of obscenity. Its influence was rife even in Amer ica, and it is notable that the only one of these imitations which shows any originality is Fingal,' an able political satire by John Trum bull the American, some of whose couplets are often credited to Butler. That has practically ceased to be read is not altogether to the credit of the public. True, it is verbose; its political significance has passed; many of its allusions are unintelligible to the average reader; but on the other hand, much of its satire will remain perennially applicable as long as society contains absurdities and shams, and much of its wit yet sparkles after the lapse of over two centuries.
There are many editions. That edited by Dr. Zachary Grey (Dublin 1744, rep. London 1869) is the standard; Hogarth's illustrations are in the London edition of 1726, reprinted 1775; Grey's notes are used in the three-vol ume London edition of 1819; the Bohn Library edition (London 1859) contains notes by Grey and Nash. Among other editions are the Aldine (Poetical Works of Samuel Butler' (London 1893), and that by A. R. Waller (Cambridge, England, 1905). was translated by John Townley into French verse (London 1757) and by D. W. Soltau into Ger man (Riga 1787). Among critical studies are 'Butler's Hudibras, ein echte zeit- und sitten gemilde,) Rudolph Boxberger (Leipzig 1876), and 'Die Reime von Butler's Hudibras; eine metrische und lautliche Bruno Harder (Konigsberg 1900).