71 With arms expanded, Bernard rows his state, Obscene with filth the miscreant lies bewray'd, 75 80 "Hear, Jove! whose name my bards and I adore, As much at least as any god's, or more; And him and his, if more devotion warms, Down with the Bible, up with the Pope's arms." A place there is betwixt earth, air, and seas, Where, from ambrosia, Jove retires for ease. There in his seat two spacious vents appear; On this he sits, to that he leans his car, And hears the various vows of fond mankind; Some beg an eastern, some a western wind: All vain petitions, mounting to the sky, With reams abundant this abode supply: REMARKS. 85 90 v. 70. Curl's Corinna.] This name, it seems, was taken by one Mrs. Thomas, who procured some private letters of Mr. Pope, while almost a boy, to Mr. Cromwell, and sold them without the consent of either of those gentlemen to Curl, who printed them in 12mo, 1727. He discovered her to be the publisher, in his Key, p. 11. We only take this opportunity of mentioning the manner in which those letters got abroad, which the author was ashamed of as very trivial things, full not only of levities, but of wrong judgments of men and books, and only excusable from the youth and inexperience of the writer. IMITATIONS. v.67, 68. With arms expanded, Bernard rows his stute, And left-legged Jacob seems to emulate.} Milton, of the motion of the swan, -----rows His state with oary feet." And Dryden of another's--- With two left legs... W. Amus'd he reads, and then returns the hills, Nor heeds the brown dishonours of his face. 96 100 105 And now the victor stretch'd his eager hand Where the tall nothing stood, or seem'd to stand; 110 A shapeless shade, it melted from his sight, Like forms in clouds, or visions of the night. To seize his papers, Curl, was next thy care; His papers light, fly diverse, toss'd in air; Songs, sonnets, epigrams, the winds uplift, And whisk 'em back to Evans, Young, and Swift. Th' embroider'd suit at least he deem'd his prey, That suit an unpaid tailor snatch'd away. No rag, no scrap, of all the beau, or wit, That once so flutter'd, and that once so writ. 115 120 Heav'n rings with laughter: of the laughter vain, Dulness, good queen, repeats the jest again. Three wicked imps, of her own Grub-street choir, She deck'd like Congreve, Addison, and Prior: REMARKS. v. 116. Evans, Young, and Swift.] Some of those persons whose writings, epigrams, or jests, he had owned. W. v. 124. like Congreve, Addison, and Prior.] These authors being such whose names will reach posterity, we shall not give any account of them, but proceed to those of whom it is necessary.... Bezaleel Morris was author of some satires on the translators of Mears, Warner, Wilkins, run: delusive thought! 125 130 To him the goddess: "Son! thy grief lay down, With that she gave him (piteous of his case, REMARKS. 136 140 Homer, with many other things printed in newspapers." Bond writ a satire against Mr. P.-Capt. Breval was author of The Confederates, an ingenious dramatic performance, to expose Mr. P. Mr. Gay, Dr. Arbuthnot, and some ladies of quality," says Curl, Key, 11. v. 125. Mears, Warner, Wilkins.] Booksellers, and printers of much anonymous stuff. W. v. 128. Joseph Gay.] A fictitious name put by Curl before several pamphlets, which made them pass with many for Mr. Gay's. The ambiguity of the word Joseph, which likewise signifies a loose upper coat, gives much pleasantry to the idea. v. 138. Cook shall be Prior.] The man here specified writ a thing called The Battle of the Poets, in which Philips and Welsted were the heroes, and Swift and Pope utterly routed. He also published some malevolent things in the British, London, and Daily Journals, and at the same time wrote letters to Mr. Pope, protesting his innocence. His chief work was a translation of Hesiod, to which Theobald wrote notes and half notes, which he carefully owned. W. Ibid. and Concanen, Swift.] In the first edition of this poem there were only asterisks in this place; but the names were since inserted, merely to fill up the verse, and give ease to the ear of the reader. W. v. 144. Dunton's modern bed.] John Dunton was a broken bookseller, and abusive scribbler: he writ Neck or Nothing, a vie lent satire on some ministers of state; a libel on the Duke of Devonshire, and the Bishop of Peterborough, &c. W. Instructive work! whose wry-mouth'd portraiture 146 150 And "Oh!(he cried) what street, what lane but knows And the fresh vomit run for ever green!" Two babes of love close clinging to her waist; REMARKS. 155 v. 148. And Tutchin flagrant from the scourge.] John Tutchin, author of some vile verses, and of a weekly paper called The Observator: he was sentenced to be whipped through several towns in the west of England, upon which he petitioned King James II. to be hanged. When that prince died in exile, he wrote an invective against his memory, occasioned by some humane elegies on his death. He lived to the time of Queen Anne. v. 149. There Ridpath, Roper.] Authors of the Flying Post and Post-Boy, two scandalous papers on different sides, for which they equally and alternately deserved to be cudgelled, and were so. W. v. 151. Himself among the storied chief's he spies.] The history of Curl's being tossed in a blanket, and whipped by the scholars of Westminster, is well known. Of his purging and vomiting, sec a full and true account of a horrid revenge on the body of Edmund Curl, &c. in Swift and Pope's Miscellanies. W. v. 157. See in the circle next Eliza plac'd.] Eliza Haywood: this woman was authoress, of those most scandalous books, called The Court of Carimania, and The New Utopia. For the two Babes of Love, see Curl, Key, p. 22. But whatever reflection he is pleased to throw upon this lady, surely it was what from him she little deserved, who had celebrated Curl's undertakings for reformation of manners, and declared herself" to be so perfectly acquainted with the sweetness of his disposition, and that tenderness with which he considered the errors of his fellow-creatures, that though she should find the little inadvertencies of her own life recorded in his papers, she was certain it would be done in such a manner as she could not but approve." Mrs. Haywood's Hist. of Car. printed in the Female Dunciad, p. 18. IMITATIONS. W. v. 156. And the fresh vomit run for ever green!] A farody of these lines of a late noble author: "His bleeding arm had furnished all the rooms, 159 Fair as before her works she stands confess'd, His be you Juno of majestic size, With cow-like udders, and with ox-like eyes. Osborne and Curl accept the glorious strife; (Though this his son dissuades, and that his wife.) One on his manly confidence relies, One on his vigour and superior size. First Osborne lean'd against his letter'd post; REMARKS. 165 170 .160. Kirkall.] The name of an engraver. Some of this lady's works were printed in four volumes in 12mo, with her picture thus dressed up before them. W. v. 167. Osborne, Thomas.] A bookseller in Gray's-Inn, very well qualified by his impudence to act this part; therefore placed here instead of a less deserving predecessor. This man published advertisements for a year together, pretending to sell Mr. Pope's subscription-books of Homer's Iliad, at half the price: of which books he had none, but cut to the size of them (which was quarto) the common books in folio, without copper-plates, on a worse paper, and never above half the value. Upon this advertisement the Gazetteer harangued thus, July 6, 1739: "How melancholy must it be to a writer to see his works hawked for sale in a manner so fatal to his fame! How, with ho nour to yourself, and justice to your subscribers, can this be done? What an ingratitude to be charged on the only honest poet that lived in 1738! and than whom virtue has not had a shriller trumpeter for many ages! That you were once generally admired and esteemed can be denied by none; but that you and your works are now despised, is verified by this fact:" which being utterly false, did not indeed much humble the author, but drew this just chastisement on the bookseller. v. 163. yon Juno, IMITATIONS. With cow-like udders, and with ox-like eyes. In allusion to Homer's Bownis, &c. v. 165. This China jordan.] W. "Tertius Argolica hac galea contentus abito." Virg. Æn. VI. In the games of Homer, Iliad XXIII. there are set together as prizes, a lady and a kettle, as in this place Mrs. Haywood and a jordan. But there the preference in value is given to the kettle, at which Madam Dacier is justly displeased. Mrs. H. is here treated with distinction, and acknowledged to be the more valuable of the two. |