rare and fingular character; Of which let the reader make what he can.

Doubtless moft Commentators would hence take occafion to turn all to their Author's advantage, and from the testimony of his very Enemies would affirm, That his Capacity was boundless, as well as his Imagination; that he was a perfect master of all Styles, and all Arguments; and that there was in thofe times no other Writer, in any kind, of any degree of excellence, fave he himself. But as this is not our own sentiment, we shall determine on nothing; but leave thee, gentle reader, to fteer thy judgment equally between various opinions, and to chufe whether thou wilt incline to the Teftimonies of Authors avowed, or of Authors concealed; of those who knew him, or of those who knew him not.

P.

MARTINUS

MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS

T

OF THE POEM.

HIS poem, as it celebrateth the most grave and ancient of things, Chaos, Night, and Dulness; fo is it of the most grave and ancient kind. Homer (faith Aristotle) was the first who gave the Form, and (faith Horace) who adapted the Measure, to heroic poefy. But even before this, may be rationally prefumed from what the Ancients have left written, was a piece by Homer compofed, of like nature and matter with this of our Poet. For of Epic fort it appeareth to have been, yet of matter furely not unpleasant, witness what is reported of it by the learned archbishop Euftathius, in Odyss. x. And accordingly Ariftotle, in his Poetics, chap. iv. doth further fet forth, that as the Iliad and Odyssey gave example to Tragedy, fo did this poem to Comedy its first idea.

From thefe authors alfo it fhould feem, that the Hero, or chief perfonage of it was no lefs obfcure, and his understanding and fentiments no lefs quaint and ftrange (if indeed not more fo) than any of the actors of our poem. MARGITES was the name of this perfonage, whom Antiquity recordeth to have been Dunce the first; and furely from what we hear of him, not unworthy to be the root of fo fpreading a tree, and fo numerous a posterity. The poem therefore celebrating him was properly and abfolutely a Dunciad; which VOL. III. though

E

though now unhappily loft, yet is its nature fufficiently known by the infallible tokens aforefaid. And thus it doth appear, that the first Dunciad was the first Epic poem, written by Homer himself, and anterior even to the Iliad or Odyssey.

Now, forafmuch as our poet hath translated those two famous works of Homer which are yet left, he did conceive it in fome fort his duty to imitate that also which was loft: and was therefore induced to bestow on it the fame form which Homer's is reported to have had, namely that of Epic poem; with a title alfo framed after the ancient Greek manner, to wit, that of Dunciad.

Wonderful it is, that fo few of the moderns have been stimulated to attempt fome Dunciad! fince, in the opinion of the multitude, it might cost less pain and toil than an imitation of the greater Epic. But poffible it is alfo, that, on due reflection, the maker might find it easier to paint a Charlemagne, a Brute, or a Godfrey, with just pomp and dignity heroic, than a Margites, a Codrus, or a Fleckno.

We fhall next declare the occafion and the caufe which moved our poet to this particular work. He lived in those days, when (after Providence had permitted the invention of Printing as a fcourge for the fins of the learned) Paper alfo became fo cheap, and Printers fo numerous, that a deluge of authors covered the land: Whereby not only the Peace of the honest unwriting fubject was daily molefted, but unmerciful demands were made of his applaufe, yea of his money,

by:

by fuch as would neither earn the one, nor deferve the other. At the fame time, the licence of the Prefs was fuch, that it grew dangerous to refufe them either: for they would forthwith publish flanders unpunished, the authors being anonymous, and skulking under the wings of publishers, a fet of men who neither scrupled to vend either Calumny or Blafphemy, as long as the Town would call for it.

a Now our author, living in those times, did conceive it an endeavour well worthy an honeft Satirift, to dif fuade the dull, and punish the wicked, the only way that was left. In that public-fpirited view he laid the plan of this poem, as the greatest service he was capable (without much hurt, or being flain) to render his dear country. First, taking things from their original, he confidereth the caufes creative of fuch Authors, namely Dulness and Poverty; the one born with them, the other contracted by neglect of their proper talents, through felf-conceit of greater abilities. This truth he wrappeth in an Allegory b (as the conftruction of Epic poefy requireth) and feigns that one of these Goddesses had taken up her abode with the other, and that they jointly inspired all fuch writers and fuch works. c He proceedeth to fhew the qualities they beftow on these authors, and the effects they produced: then the materials, or stock, with which they furnish theme; and

a Vide Boffu, Du Poeme Epique, chap. viii.

b Boffu, chap. vii. d Ver. 45 to 54.

c Book I. ver. 32, &c. e Ver. 57 to 77.

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(above

(above all) that self-opinion f which causeth it to feem to themselves vaftly greater than it is, and is the prime motive of their fetting up in this fad and forry merchandise. The great power of thefe Goddeffes acting in alliance (whereof as the one is the mother of Induftry, fo is the other of Plodding) was to be exemplified in fome one great and remarkable Action: g And none could be more fo than that which our poet hath chofen; viz. the restoration of the reign of Chaos and Night, by the miniftry of Dulness their daughter, in the removal of her imperial feat from the City to the polite World; as the Action of the Æneid is the restoration of the empire of Troy, by the removal of the race from thence to Latium. But as Homer fingeth only the Wrath of Achilles, yet includes in his Poem the whole hiftory of the Trojan war, in like manner our author hath drawn into this single Action the whole hiftory of Dulness and her children.

A Perfon must next be fixed upon to fupport this Action. This Phantom in the Poet's mind must have a Name : He finds it to be --: and he becomes of courfe the Hero of the poem.

The Fable being thus, according to the best example, one and entire, as contained in the Propofition; the Machinery is a continued chain of Allegories, setting forth the whole Power, Miniftry, and Empire of

f Book I. ver. 8o. g Ibid. chap. vii, viii. h Boflu, chap. viii. Vide Ariftot. Poetic. cap. ix.

Dulnefs,