What then remains? Ourself. Still, still remain 1 So indeed all the MSS. read; but I make no scruple to pronounce them all wrong, the laureate being elsewhere celebrated by our poet for his great modesty-modest CibberRead, therefore, at my peril, Cerberian forehead. This is perfectly classical, and, what is more, Homerical; the dog was the ancient, as the bitch is the modern, symbol of impudence: (Κυνὸς ὄμματ ̓ ἔχων, says Achilles to Aga memnon) which, when in a superlative degree, may well be denominated from Cerberus, the Dog with three heads. But as to the latter part of this verse, Cibberian brain, that is certainly the genuine reading.-BENTLEY. * This is a tender and passionate apostrophe to his own works, which he is going to sacrifice, agreeable to the nature of man in great affliction; and reflecting like a parent on the many miserable fates to which they would otherwise be subject. In the former editions thus: Adieu, my children! better thus expire Or wafting ginger, round the streets to run, And visit alehouse, where ye first begun. "It may be observable, that my muse and my spouse were equally prolific; that the one was seldom the mother of a child, but in the same year the other made me the father of a play. I think we had a dozen of each sort between us; of both which kinds some died in their infancy," &c.-Life of C. C. p. 217. 8vo. edit. 4 Felix Priamëia virgo! Jussa mori: quæ sortitus non pertulit ullos, Nos, patria incensa, diversa per æquora vectæ, &c. VIRG. En. iii. 5 It was a practice so to give the Daily Gazetteer and ministerial pamphlets (in which this B. was a writer) and to send them post-free to all the towns in the kingdom. 6 "Edward Ward, a very voluminous poet in Hudibrastic verse, but best known by the London Spy, în prose. He has of late years kept a public-house in the City, (but in a genteel way) and with his wit, humour, and good liquor (ale) afforded his guests a pleasurable entertainment, especially those of the high-church party."-JACOB, Lives of Poets, vol. ii. p. 225. Great numbers of his works were yearly sold into the Plantations. Ward, in a book called Apollo's Maggot, declared this account to be a great falsity, protesting that his public-house was not in the City, but in Moorfields. 7 Two of his predecessors in the Laurel, Or peaceably forgot, at once be blest 8 It is to be observed that our poet hath made his hero, in imitation of Virgil's, obnoxious to the tender passions. He was indeed so given to weeping, that he tells us, when Goodman the player swore, if he did not make a good actor, he'd be damn'd; “the surprise of being commended by one who had been himself so eminent on the stage, and in so positive a manner, was more than he could support. In a word (says he) it almost took away my breath, and fairly drew tears from my eyes."-P. 149 of his Life, 8vo. Ovid of Althea on a like occasion, burning her offspring: 10 Jam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinam In the first notes on the Dunciad it was said, that this author was particularly excellent at tragedy. This (says he) is as unjust as to say I could not dance on a rope." But certain it is that he had attempted to dance on this rope, and fell most shamefully, having produced no less than four tragedies (the names of which the poet preserves in these few lines) the three first of them were fairly printed, acted, and damned; the fourth suppressed, in fear of the like treatment. In the former editions thus: Now flames old Memnon, now Rodrigo burns, In one quick flash see Proserpine expire, And last, his own cold Eschylus took fire. Then gush'd the tears, as from the Trojan's eyes, 11 A comedy threshed out of Moliere's Tartuffe, and so much the translator's favourite, that he assures us all our author's dislike to it could only arise from disaffection to the government: Qui méprise Cotin, n'estime point son roi, Et n'a, selon Cotin, ni Dieu, ni foi, ni loi.—BOIL He assures us, that "when he had the honour to kiss his Majesty's hand upon presenting his dedication of it, he was graciously pleased, out of his royal bounty, to order him two hundred pounds for it. And this he doubts not grieved Mr. P." 12 See Virgil, Æn. ii. where I would advise the reader to peruse the story of Troy's destruction, rather than in Wynkyn. But I caution him alike in both to beware of a most grievous error, that of thinking it was brought about by I know not what Trojan horse; there never having been any such thing. For, first, it was not Trojan, being made by the Greeks; and, secondly, it was not a horse, but a mare. This is clear from many verses in Virgil: Uterumque armato milite complent. Inclusos utero Danaos— Can a horse be said Utero gerere? Again, Insonuêre cavæ Atque utero sonitum quater arma dedêre. Roused by the light, old Dulness heaved the Then snatch'd a sheet of Thule 1 from her bed, [head; Sudden she flies, and whelms it o'er the pyre; Down sink the flames, and with a hiss expire. Her ample presence fills up all the place; A veil of fogs dilates her awful face: [mayors Great in her charms2! as when on shrieves and She looks, and breathes herself into their airs. She bids him wait her to her sacred dome 3: Well pleased he enter'd, and confess'd his home. So spirits, ending their terrestrial race, Ascend, and recognize their native place 4. This the great mothers dearer held than all The clubs of quidnunes, or her own Guild-hall: Here stood her opium, here she nursed her owls, And here she plann'd the imperial seat of fools. Here to her chosen all her works she shows; Prose swell'd to verse, verse loitering into prose: How random thoughts now meaning chance to find, Now leave all memory of sense behind: How prologues into prefaces decay, And these to notes are fritter'd quite away: How index-learning turns no student pale, Yet holds the eel of science by the tail; How, with less reading than makes felons 'scape, Less human genius than God gives an ape, [Greece, Small thanks to France, and none to Rome or A past, vamp'd, future, old, revived, new piece, "Twixt Plautus, Fletcher, Shakspeare, and Corneille, Can make a Cibber, Tibbald, or Ozell. Nay, is it not expressly said Scandit fatalis machina muros How is it possible the word fata can agree with a horse ? And indeed can it be conceived that the chaste and virgin Goddess Pallas would employ herself in forming and fashioning the male of that species? But this shall be proved to a demonstration in our Virgil Restored.-SCRIB LERUS. 1 An unfinished poem of that name, of which one sheet was printed many years ago, by Amb. Phillips, a northern author. It is a usual method of putting out a fire, to cast wet sheets upon it. Some critics have been of opinion that this sheet was of the nature of the asbestos, which cannot be consumed by fire: but I rather think it an allegorical allusion to the coldness and heaviness of the writing. 2 Alma parens confessa Deam; qualisque videri 3 Where he no sooner enters, but he reconnoitres the place of his original; as Plato says the spirits shall, at their entrance into the celestial regions. ♦ In the former editions followed these two lines: Raptured, he gazes round the dear retreat, And in sweet numbers celebrates the seat. 5 Magna mater, here applied to Dulness. The Quidnunca, a name given to the ancient members of certain political clubs, who were constantly enquiring quid nunc ? what news? Urbs antiqua fuit Quam Juno fertur terris magis omnibus unam Posthabita coluisse Samo: hic illius arma, Hic currus fuit: hic regnum Deo gentibus esse (Si qua fata sinant) jam tum tenditque fovetque. VIRG. En. i. • Lewis Tibbald (as pronounced) or Theobald (as written) was bred an attorney, and son to an attorney (says Mr. Jacob) of Sittenburn in Kent. He was author of some forgotten plays, translations, and other pieces. He was concerned in a paper called the Censor, and a translation The goddess then, o'er his anointed head, With mystic words, the sacred opium shed. And lo! her bird, (a monster of a fowl, Something betwixt a Heideggre 7 and owl) Perch'd on his crown. "All hail! and hail again, My son! the promised land expects thy reign. Know, Eusden thirsts no more for sack or praise8; He sleeps among the dull of ancient days; Safe, where no critics damn, no duns molest, Where wretched Withers, Ward, and Gildon rest 9, of Ovid. "There is a notorious idiot, one hight Whachum, who, from an under-spur-leather to the law, is become an under-strapper to the play-house, who hath lately burlesqued the Metamorphoses of Ovid by a vile translation, &c. This fellow is concerned in an impertinent paper called the Censor."-DENNIS Rem. on Pope's Hom., p. 9, 10. "Mr. John Ozell (if we may credit Mr. Jacob) did go to school in Leicestershire, where somebody left him something to live on, when he shall retire from business. He was designed to be sent to Cambridge, in order for priesthood; but he chose rather to be placed in an office of accounts, in the City, being qualified for the same by his skill in arithmetic, and writing the necessary hands. He has obliged the world with many translations of French plays."-JACOB, Lives of Dram. Poets, p. 198. Mr. Jacob's character of Mr. Ozell seems vastly short of his merits, and he ought to have further justice done him, having since fully confuted all sarcasms on his learning and genius, by an advertisement of Sept. 20, 1729, in a paper called the Weekly Medley, &c. "As to my learning, every body knows that the whole bench of bishops, not long ago, were pleased to give me a purse of guineas, for discovering the erroneous translations of the Commonprayer in Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, &c. As for my genius, let Mr. Cleland shew better verses in all Pope's works, than Ozell's version of Boileau's Lutrin, which the late Lord Halifax was so pleased with, that he complimented him with leave to dedicate it to him, &c., &c. Let him shew better and truer poetry in the Rape of the Lock, than in Ozell's Rape of the Bucket (la Secchia Rapita). And Mr. Toland and Mr. Gildon publicly declared Ozell's translation of Homer to be, as it was prior, so likewise superior to Pope's.-Surely, surely, every man is free to deserve well of his country!"-JOHN ÖZELL. We cannot but subscribe to such reverend testimonies as those of the bench of bishops, Mr. Toland, and Mr. Gildon. 7 A strange bird from Switzerland, and not (as some have supposed) the name of an eminent person who was a man of parts, and, as was said of Petronius, Arbiter Elegantiarum. 8 In the former editions thus: Know, Settle, cloy'd with custard and with praise, To lands that flow with clenches and with puns: I see! I see !—Then rapt she spoke no more, 9"George Withers was a great pretender to poetical zeal, and abused the greatest personages in power, which brought upon him frequent correction. The Marshalsca and Newgate were no strangers to him."-WINSTANLY, Lives of Poets. Charles Gildon, a writer of criticisms and libels of the last age, bred at St. Omer's with the Jesuits; but renouncing popery, he published Blount's books against the divinity of Christ, the Oracles of Reason, &c. He signalized himself as a critic, having written some very bad plays; abused Mr. P. very scandalously in an anonymous And high-born Howard', more majestic sire, And thou! his aide-de-camp, lead on my sons, She ceased. Then swells the chapel-royal throat4: God save king Cibber! mounts in every note. Familiar White's, God save king Colley! cries; God save king Colley! Drury-lane replies: To Needham's quick the voice triumphal rode, But pious Needham 5 dropt the name of God; Back to the Devil the last echoes roll, And Coll! each butcher roars at Hockley-hole. pamphlet of the Life of Mr. Wycherley, printed by Curl; in another, called the New Rehearsal, printed in 1714; in a third, intituled the Complete Art of English Poetry, in two volumes; and others. 1 Hon. Edward Howard, author of the British Princes, and a great number of wonderful pieces, celebrated by the late Earls of Dorset and Rochester, Duke of Buckingham, Mr. Waller, &c. 2 When the statute against gaming was drawn up, it was represented, that the king, by ancient custom, plays at hazard one night in the year; and therefore a clause was inserted, with an exception as to that particular. Under this pretence, the groom-porter had a room appropriated to gaming all the summer the Court was at Kensington, which his Majesty accidentally being acquainted of, with a just indignation prohibited. It is reported, the same practice is yet continued wherever the Court resides, and the hazard table there open to all the professed gamesters in town. Greatest and justest SOVEREIGN! know you this? 3 BOILEAU, LUTRIN, Chant. ii. Hélas! qu'est devenu ce tems, cet heureux tems, comte: Aucun soin n'approchoit de leur paisible cour, 4 The voices and instruments used in the service of the Chapel-royal being also employed in the performance of the Birth-day and New-year Odes. 5 A matron of great fame, and very religious in her way; whose constant prayer it was, that she might "get enough by her profession to leave it off in time, and make her peace with God." But her fate was not so happy; for being convicted, and set in the pillory, she was (to the lasting shame of all her great friends and votaries) so ill used by the populace, that it put an end to her days. So when Jove's block descended from on high (As sings thy great forefather Ogilby 7) Loud thunder to its bottom shook the bog, And the hoarse nation croak'd, God save king Log! BOOK THE SECOND. ARGUMENT. The king being proclaimed, the solemnity is graced with public games and sports of various kinds: not instituted by the hero, as by Æneas in Virgil, but for greater honour by the Goddess in person (in like manner as the games Pythia, Isthmia, &c., were anciently said to be ordained by the gods, and as Thetis herself appearing, according to Homer, Odyss. 24, proposed the prizes in honour of her son Achilles.) Hither flock the poets and critics, attended, as is but just, with their patrons and booksellers. The Goddess is first pleased, for her disport, to propose games to the booksellers, and setteth up the phantom of a poet, which they contend to overtake. The races described, with their divers accidents. Next, the game for a poetess. Then follow the exercises for the poets, of tickling, vociferating, diving: the first holds forth the arts and practices of dedicators; the second of disputants and fustian poets; the third of profound, dark, and dirty party-writers. Lastly, for the critics, the 6 The Devil Tavern in Fleet-street, where these odes are usually rehearsed before they are performed at Court. 7 See Ogilby's Æsop's Fables, where, in the story of the Frogs and their King, this excellent hemistich is to be found. Our author manifests here, and elsewhere, a prodigious tenderness for the bad writers. We see he selects the only good passage, perhaps, in all that ever Ogilby writ; which shows how candid and patient a reader he must have been. What can be more kind and affectionate than these words in the preface to his Poems, where he labours to call up all our humanity and forgiveness towards these unlucky men, by the most moderate representation of their case that has ever been given by any author? "Much may be said to extenuate the fault of bad poets: What we call a genius is hard to be distinguished, by a man himself, from a prevalent inclination. And if it be never so great, he can at first discover it no other way than by that strong propensity which renders him the more liable to be mistaken. He has no other method but to make the experiment, by writing, and so appealing to the judgment of others. And if he happens to write ill (which is certainly no sin in itself) he is immediately made the object of ridicule! I wish we had the humanity to reflect, that even the worst authors might endeavour to please us, and, in that endeavour, deserve something at our hands. We have no cause to quarrel with them, but for their obstinacy in persisting, and even that may admit of alleviating circumstances. For their particular friends may be either ignorant, or insincere; and the rest of the world too well bred to shock them with a truth which generally their booksellers are the first that inform them of." But how much all indulgence is lost upon these people may appear from the just reflection made on their constant conduct, and constant fate, in the following epigram:Ye little wits, that gleam'd awhile, When Pope vouchsafed a ray, Alas! deprived of his kind smile, How soon ye fade away! To compass Phœbus' car about, Weep, weep, and fall! for earth ye were, Goddess proposes (with great propriety) an exercise, not of their parts, but their patience, in hearing the works of two voluminous authors, one in verse and the other in prose, deliberately read, without sleeping; the various effects of which, with the several degrees and manners of their operation, are here set forth, till the whole number, not of critics only, but of spectators, actors, and all present, fall fast asleep, which naturally and necessarily ends the games. HIGH on a gorgeous seat, that far out-shone Henley's gilt tub, or Fleckno's Irish throne, Or that where on her Curls 3 the public pours, All-bounteous, fragrant grains and golden showers, Great Cibber sate: the proud Parnassian sneer, The conscious simper, and the jealous leer, Two things there are, upon the supposition of which the very basis of all verbal criticism is founded and supported: the first, that an author could never fail to use the best word on every occasion; the second, that a critic cannot choose but know which that is. This being granted, whenever any word doth not fully content us we take upon us to conclude, first, that the author could never have used it; and, secondly, that he must have used that very one which we conjecture in its stead. We cannot, therefore, enough admire the learned Scriblerus for his alteration of the text in the two last verses of the preceding book, which in all the former editions stood thus: Hoarse thunder to its bottom shook the bog, And the loud nation croak'd, God save King Log. He has, with great judgment, transposed these two epithets, putting hoarse to the nation, and loud to the thunder; and this being evidently the true reading, he vouchsafed not so much as to mention the former; for which assertion of the just right of a critic he merits the acknowledgment of all sound commentators. 1 Parody of Milton, book ii. High on a throne of royal state, that far 2 The pulpit of a dissenter is usually called a tub; but that of Mr. Orator Henley was covered with velvet, and adorned with gold. He had also a fair altar, and over it is this extraordinary inscription, The Primitive Eucharist. See the history of this person, book iii. Richard Fleckno was an Irish priest, but had laid aside (as himself expressed it) the mechanic part of priesthood. He printed some plays, poems, letters, and travels. I doubt not our author took occasion to mention him in respect to the poem of Mr. Dryden, to which this bears some resemblance, though of a character more different from it than that of the Eneid from the Iliad, or the Lutrin of Boileau from the Défaite des Bouts Rimés of Sarazin. It may be just worth mentioning, that the eminence from whence the ancient sophists entertained their auditors was called by the pompous name of a throne;ἐπὶ θρόνον τινὸς ὑψηλοῦ μάλα σοφιστικῶς καὶ σοβαρῶς. -THEMISTIUS, Orat. i. 3 Edmund Curl stood in the pillory at Charing-cross, in March, 1727-8. Mr. Curl loudly complained of this note as an untruth, protesting "that he stood in the pillory, not in March, but in February." And of another on ver. 152, saying "he was not tossed in a blanket, but a rug." CURLIAD, duodecimo, 1729, p. 19. 25. Much in the same manner Mr. Cibber remonstrated that his brothers at Bedlam, mentioned book i. were not brazen, but blocks; yet our author let it pass unaltered, as a trifle that no way lessened the relationship. Mix on his look: all eyes direct their rays So from the sun's broad beam, in shallow urns Heaven's twinkling sparks draw light and point their horns. Not with more glee, by hands Pontific crown'd, With scarlet hats wide-waving circled round, Rome in her capitol saw Querno sit1, Throned on seven hills, the antichrist of wit. And now the Queen, to glad her sons, proclaims By herald hawkers, high heroic games. They summon all her race: an endless band Pours forth, and leaves unpeopled half the land. A motley mixture! in long wigs, in bags, In silks, in crapes, in garters, and in rags; From drawing-rooms, from colleges, from garrets, On horse, on foot, in hacks, and gilded chariots: All who true Dunces in her cause appear'd, And all who knew those Dunces to reward. Amid that area wide they took their stand, Where the tall May-pole once o'er-look'd the Strand; But now (so Anne and Piety ordain) A church collects the saints of Drury-lane. 4 Camillo Querno was of Apulia, who hearing the great encouragement which Leo X. gave to poets, travelled to Rome with a harp in his hand, and sung to it twenty thousand verses of a poem called Alexias. He was introduced as a buffoon to Leo, and promoted to the honour of the laurel; a jest which the court of Rome and the Pope himself entered into so far, as to cause him to ride on an elephant to the Capitol, and to hold a solemn festival on his coronation, at which it is recorded the poet himself was so transported as to weep for joy*. He was ever after a constant frequenter of the Pope's table, drank abundantly, and poured forth verses without number. PAULUS Jovius, Elog. Vir. Doct. chap. lxxxii. Some idea of his poetry is given by Fam. Strada, in his Prolusions. 5 This is what Juno does to deceive Turnus, Æn. x. With pert flat eyes she window'd well its head; So like, that critics said, and courtiers swore, : Fear held them mute. Alone, untaught to fear, Stood dauntless Curl"; "Behold that rival here! 1 i. e. A trifling head, and a contracted heart, as the poet, book iv., describes the accomplished sons of Dulness, of whom this is only an image or scarecrow, and so stuffed out with these corresponding materials.-SCRIBL. 2 Our author here seems willing to give some account of the possibility of Dulness making a wit (which could be done no other way than by chance). The fiction is the more reconciled to probability, by the known story of Apelles, who being at a loss to express the foam of Alexander's horse, dashed his pencil in despair at the picture, and happened to do it by that fortunate stroke. 3 Curl, in his Key to the Dunciad, affirmed this to be James More Smith, Esq., and it is probable (considering what is said of him in the Testimonies) that some might fancy our author obliged to represent this gentleman as a plagiary, or to pass for one himself. His case, indeed, was like that of a man I have heard of, who, as he was sitting in company, perceived his next neighbour had stolen his handkerchief. "Sir," (said the thief, finding himself detected), "do not expose me, I did it for mere want; be so good but to take it privately out of my pocket again, and say nothing." The honest man did so, but the other cried out, "See, gentlemen, what a thief we have among us! look, he is stealing my handkerchief!" The plagiarisms of this person gave occasion to the following epigram: More always smiles whenever he recites; He smiles (you think) approving what he writes. A modest man may like what's not his own. His only work was a comedy called the Rival Modes; the town condemned it in the action, but he printed it in 1726-7, with this modest motto, Hic cæstus artemque repono. It appears from hence, that this is not the name of a real person, but fictitious. More from @pos, stultus, popía, stultitia, to represent the folly of a plagiary. Thus Erasmus, Admonuit me Mori cognomen tibi, quod tam ad Moriæ vocabulum accedit quam es ipse a re alienus. Dedication of Moriæ Encomium to Sir Tho. More, the farewell of which may be our author's to his plagiary, Vale, More et moriam tuam gnaviter defende. Adieu, More! and be sure strongly to defend thy own folly.-SCRIBLERUS. 4 We enter here upon the episode of the booksellers; persons whose names being more known and famous in the learned world than those of the authors in this poem, do therefore need less explanation. The action of Mr. Lintot here imitates that of Dares in Virgil, rising just in this manner to lay hold on a bull. This eminent bookseller printed the Rival Modes before-mentioned. 5 We come now to a character of much respect, that of Mr. Edmund Curl. As a plain repetition of great actions is the best praise of them, we shall only say of this eminent man, that he carried the trade many lengths beyond what it ever before had arrived at, and that he was the envy and admiration of all his profession. He possessed The race by vigour, not by vaunts, is won; himself of a command over all authors whatever; he caused them to write what he pleased; they could not call their very names their own. He was not only famous among these: he was taken notice of by the state, the church, and the law, and received particular marks of distinction from each. It will be owned that he is here introduced with all possible dignity he speaks like the intrepid Diomed; he runs like the swift-footed Achilles; if he falls, 'tis like the beloved Nisus; and (what Homer makes to be the chief of all praises) he is favoured of the gods; he says but three words, and his prayer is heard; a goddess conveys it to the seat of Jupiter: though he loses the prize, he gains the victory; the great mother herself comforts him, she inspires him with expedients, she honours him with an immortal present (such as Achilles receives from Thetis, and Eneas from Venus) at once instructive and prophetical: after this he is unrivaled and triumphant. The tribute our author here pays him is a grateful return for several unmerited obligations. Many weighty animadversions on the public affairs, and many excellent and diverting pieces on private persons, has he given to his name. If ever he owed two verses to any other, he owed Mr. Curl some thousands. He was every day extending his fame, and enlarging his writings: witness innumerable instances; but it shall suffice only to mention the Court Poems, which he meant to publish as the work of the true writer, a lady of quality; but being first threatened, and afterwards punished for it by Mr. Pope, he generously transferred it from her to him, and ever since printed it in his name. The single time that ever he spoke to C. was on that affair, and to that happy incident he owed all the favours since received from him. So true is the saying of Dr. Sydenham, "that any one shall be, at some time or other, the better or the worse, for having but seen or spoken to a good or bad man." 6 Occupet extremum scabies; mihi turpe relinqui est. Horat. de Arte. 7 Something like this is in Homer, Il. x. v. 220, of Diomed. Two different manners of the same author in his similes are also imitated in the two following; the first, of the bailiff, is short, unadorned, and (as the critics well know) from familiar life; the second, of the waterfowl, more extended, picturesque, and from rural life. The 59th verse is likewise a literal translation of one in Homer. His state with oary feet. And Dryden, of another's,-With two left legs— 10 This name, it seems, was taken by one Mrs. T—, who procured some private letters of Mr. Pope's, 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, |