Chapter XVIII: Appendix: To the Dunciad (1)

I.--PREFACE

PREFIXED TO THE FIVE FIRST IMPERFECT EDITIONS OF THE DUNCIAD, IN THREE BOOKS, PRINTED AT DUBLIN AND LONDON, IN OCTAVO AND DUODECIMO, 1727.

THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.

It will be found a true observation, though somewhat surprising, that when any scandal is vented against a man of the highest distinction and character, either in the state or in literature, the public in general afford it a most quiet reception; and the larger part accept it as favourably as if it were some kindness done to themselves: whereas, if a known scoundrel or blockhead but chance to be touched upon, a whole legion is up in arms, and it becomes the common cause of all scribblers, booksellers, and printers whatsoever.

Not to search too deeply into the reason hereof, I will only observe as a fact, that every week for these two months past, the town has been persecuted with pamphlets, advertisements, letters, and weekly essays, not only against the wit and writings, but against the character and person of Mr Pope. And that of all those men who have received pleasure from his works, which by modest computation may be about a hundred thousand in these kingdoms of England and Ireland (not to mention Jersey, Guernsey, the Orcades, those in the new world, and foreigners who have translated him into their languages), of all this number not a man hath stood up to say one word in his defence.

The only exception is the author of the following poem, who, doubtless, had either a better insight into the grounds of this clamour, or a better opinion of Mr Pope's integrity, joined with a greater personal love for him, than any other of his numerous friends and admirers.

Further, that he was in his peculiar intimacy, appears from the knowledge he manifests of the most private authors of all the anonymous pieces against him, and from his having in this poem attacked no man living, who had not before printed or published some scandal against this gentleman.

How I came possessed of it is no concern to the reader; but it would have been a wrong to him had I detained the publication, since those names which are its chief ornaments die off daily so fast, as must render it too soon unintelligible. If it provoke the author to give us a more perfect edition, I have my end.

Who he is I cannot say, and (which is a great pity) there is certainly nothing in his style and manner of writing which can distinguish or discover him: for if it bears any resemblance to that of Mr Pope, 'tis not improbable but it might be done on purpose, with a view to have it pass for his. But by the frequency of his allusions to Virgil, and a laboured (not to say affected) shortness in imitation of him, I should think him more an admirer of the Roman poet than of the Grecian, and in that not of the same taste with his friend.

I have been well informed, that this work was the labour of full six years of his life, and that he wholly retired himself from all the avocations and pleasures of the world, to attend diligently to its correction and perfection; and six years more he intended to bestow upon it, as it should seem by this verse of Statius, which was cited at the head of his manuscript--

'Oh mihi bissenos multum vigilata per annos, Duncia!'

Hence, also, we learn the true title of the poem; which, with the same certainty as we call that of Homer the Iliad, of Virgil the Aeneid, of Camoens the Lusiad, we may pronounce, could have been, and can be no other than

THE DUNCIAD.

It is styled heroic, as being doubly so: not only with respect to its nature, which, according to the best rules of the ancients, and strictest ideas of the moderns, is critically such; but also with regard to the heroical disposition and high courage of the writer, who dared to stir up such a formidable, irritable, and implacable race of mortals.

There may arise some obscurity in chronology from the names in the poem, by the inevitable removal of some authors, and insertion of others in their niches. For whoever will consider the unity of the whole design, will be sensible that the poem was not made for these authors, but these authors for the poem. I should judge that they were clapped in as they rose, fresh and fresh, and changed from day to day; in like manner as when the old boughs wither, we thrust new ones into a chimney.

I would not have the reader too much troubled or anxious, if he cannot decipher them; since when he shall have found them out, he will probably know no more of the persons than before.

Yet we judged it better to preserve them as they are, than to change them for fictitious names; by which the satire would only be multiplied, and applied to many instead of one. Had the hero, for instance, been called Codrus, how many would have affirmed him to have been Mr T., Mr E., Sir R. B., &c.; but now all that unjust scandal is saved by calling him by a name, which by good luck happens to be that of a real person.

II.--A LIST OF BOOKS, PAPERS, AND VERSES,

IN WHICH OUR AUTHOR WAS ABUSED, BEFORE THE PUBLICATION OF THE DUNCIAD; WITH THE TRUE NAMES OF THE AUTHORS.

Reflections Critical and Satirical on a late Rhapsody, called an Essay on Criticism. By Mr Dennis. Printed by B. Lintot, price 6d.

A New Rehearsal, or Bayes the Younger; containing an Examen of Mr Rowe's plays, and a word or two on Mr Pope's Rape of the Lock. Anon. [By Charles Gildon]. Printed for J. Roberts, 1714, price 1s.

Homerides, or a Letter to Mr Pope, occasioned by his intended translation of Homer. By Sir Iliad Doggrel. [Tho. Burnet and G. Ducket, Esquires]. Printed for W. Wilkins, 1715, price 9d.

Aesop at the Bear Garden; a Vision, in imitation of the Temple of Fame. By Mr Preston. Sold by John Morphew, 1715, price 6d.

The Catholic Poet, or Protestant Barnaby's Sorrowful Lamentations; a Ballad about Homer's Iliad. By Mrs Centlivre and others, 1715, price 1d.

An Epilogue to a Puppet Show at Bath, concerning the said Iliad. By George Ducket, Esq. Printed by E. Curll.

A Complete Key to the What-d'ye-call-it? Anon. [By Griffin, a player, supervised by Mr Th---]. Printed by J. Roberts, 1715.

A True Character of Mr P. and his Writings, in a Letter to a Friend. Anon. [Dennis]. Printed for S. Popping, 1716, price 3d.

The Confederates, a Farce. By Joseph Gay. [J. D. Breval]. Printed for R. Burleigh, 1717, price 1s.

Remarks upon Mr Pope's Translation of Homer; with Two Letters concerning the Windsor Forest, and the Temple of Fame. By Mr Dennis. Printed for E. Curll, 1717, price 1s. 6d.

Satires on the Translators of Homer, Mr P. and Mr T. Anon. [Bez. Morris]. 1717, price 6d.

The Triumvirate; or, a Letter from Palaemon to Celia at Bath. Anon. [Leonard Welsted]. 1711, folio, price 1s.

The Battle of Poets, an Heroic Poem. By Thomas Cooke. Printed for J. Roberts. Folio, 1725.

Memoirs of Lilliput. Anon. [Eliza Haywood]. Octavo, printed in 1727.

An Essay on Criticism, in Prose. By the Author of the Critical History of England [J. Oldmixon]. Octavo, printed 1728.

Gulliveriana and Alexandriana; with an ample Preface and Critique on Swift and Pope's Miscellanies. By Jonathan Smedley. Printed by J. Roberts. Octavo, 1728.

Characters of the Times; or, an Account of the Writings, Characters, &c., of several Gentlemen libelled by S---- and P---, in a late Miscellany. Octavo, 1728.

Remarks on Mr Pope's Rape of the Lock, in Letters to a Friend. By Mr Dennis. Written in 1724, though not printed till 1728. Octavo.

VERSES, LETTERS, ESSAYS, OR ADVERTISEMENTS, IN THE PUBLIC PRINTS.

British Journal, Nov. 25, 1727. A Letter on Swift and Pope's Miscellanies. [Writ by M. Concanen].

Daily Journal, March 18, 1728. A Letter by Philo-mauri. James Moore Smith.

_Ibid_. March 29. A Letter about Thersites; accusing the author of disaffection to the Government. By James Moore Smith.

Mist's Weekly Journal, March 30. An Essay on the Arts of a Poet's Sinking in Reputation; or, a Supplement to the Art of Sinking in Poetry. [Supposed by Mr Theobald].

Daily Journal, April 3. A Letter under the name of Philo-ditto. By James Moore Smith.

Flying Post, April 4. A Letter against Gulliver and Mr P. [By Mr Oldmixon.]

Daily Journal, April 5. An Auction of Goods at Twickenham. By James Moore Smith.

The Flying Post, April 6. A Fragment of a Treatise upon Swift and Pope. By Mr Oldmixon.

The Senator, April 9. On the same. By Edward Roome.

Daily Journal, April 8. Advertisement by James Moore Smith.

Flying Post, April 13. Verses against Dr Swift, and against Mr P---'s Homer. By J. Oldmixon.

Daily Journal, April 23. Letter about the Translation of the Character of Thersites in Homer. By Thomas Cooke, &c.

Mist's Weekly Journal, April 27. A Letter of Lewis Theobald.

Daily Journal, May 11. A Letter against Mr P. at large. Anon. [John Dennis].

All these were afterwards reprinted in a pamphlet, entitled, A Collection of all the Verses, Essays, Letters, and Advertisements, occasioned by Mr Pope and Swift's Miscellanies, prefaced by Concanen, Anonymous, octavo, and printed for A. Moore, 1728, price 1s. Others of an elder date, having lain as waste paper many years, were, upon the publication of the Dunciad, brought out, and their authors betrayed by the mercenary booksellers (in hope of some possibility of vending a few), by advertising them in this manner:--"The Confederates, a Farce. By Captain Breval (for which he was put into the Dunciad). An Epilogue to Powell's Puppet Show. By Colonel Ducket (for which he is put into the Dunciad). Essays, &c. By Sir Richard Blackmore. (N.B.--It was for a passage of this book that Sir Richard was put into the Dunciad)." And so of others.

AFTER THE DUNCIAD, 1728.

An Essay on the Dunciad, octavo. Printed for J. Roberts. [In this book, p. 9, it was formally declared, 'That the complaint of the aforesaid libels and advertisements was forged and untrue; that all mouths had been silent, except in Mr Pope's praise; and nothing against him published, but by Mr Theobald.']

Sawney, in Blank Verse, occasioned by the Dunciad; with a Critique on that Poem. By J. Ralph [a person never mentioned in it at first, but inserted after]. Printed for J. Roberts, octavo.

A Complete Key to the Dunciad. By E. Curll. 12mo, price 6d.

A Second and Third Edition of the same, with Additions, 12mo.

The Popiad. By E. Curll. Extracted from J. Dennis, Sir Richard Blackmore, &c. 12mo, price 6d.

The Curliad. By the same E. Curll.

The Female Dunciad. Collected by the same Mr Curll. 12mo, price 6d. With the Metamorphosis of P. into a Stinging Nettle. By Mr Foxton. 12mo.

The Metamorphosis of Scriblerus into Snarlerus. By J. Smedley. Printed for A. Moore, folio, price 6d.

The Dunciad Dissected. By Curll and Mrs Thomas. 12mo.

An Essay on the Tastes and Writings of the Present Times. Said to be writ by a Gentleman of C. C. C. Oxon. Printed for J. Roberts, octavo.

The Arts of Logic and Rhetoric, partly taken from Bouhours, with New Reflections, &c. By John Oldmixon. Octavo.

Remarks on the Dunciad. By Mr Dennis. Dedicated to Theobald. Octavo.

A Supplement to the Profund. Anon. By Matthew Coucanen. Octavo.

Mist's Weekly Journal, June 8. A long Letter, signed W. A. Writ by some or other of the Club of Theobald, Dennis, Moore, Concanen, Cooke, who for some time held constant weekly meetings for these kind of performances.

Daily Journal, June 11. A Letter signed Philoscriblerus, on the name of Pope. Letter to Mr Theobald, inverse, signed B. M. (Bezaleel Morris) against Mr P---. Many other little Epigrams about this time in the same papers, by James Moore, and others.

Mist's Journal, June 22. A Letter by Lewis Theobald.

Flying Post, August 8. Letter on Pope and Swift.

Daily Journal, August 8. Letter charging the Author of the Dunciad with Treason.

Durgen: A Plain Satire on a Pompous Satirist. By Edward Ward, with a little of James Moore.

Apollo's Maggot in his Cups. By E. Ward.

Gulliveriana Secunda. Being a Collection of many of the Libels in the Newspapers, like the former Volume, under the same title, by Smedley. Advertised in the Craftsman, Nov. 9, 1728, with this remarkable promise, that '_any thing_ which _any body_ should send as Mr Pope's or Dr Swift's should be inserted and published as theirs.'

Pope Alexander's Supremacy and Infallibility Examined, &c. By George Ducket and John Dennis. Quarto.

Dean Jonathan's Paraphrase on the Fourth Chapter of Genesis. Writ by E. Roome. Folio. 1729.

Labeo. A Paper of Verses by Leonard Welsted, which after came into _One Epistle_, and was published by James Moore, quarto, 1730. Another part of it came out in Welsted's own name, under the just title of Dulness and Scandal, folio, 1731.

There have been since published--

Verses on the Imitator of Horace. By a Lady (or between a Lady, a Lord, and a Court-squire). Printed for J. Roberts. Folio.

An Epistle from a Nobleman to a Doctor of Divinity, from Hampton Court (Lord H---y). Printed for J. Roberts. Folio.

A Letter from Mr Cibber to Mr Pope. Printed for W. Lewis in Covent Garden. Octavo.

III.--ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION--WITH NOTES,

IN QUARTO, 1729.

It will be sufficient to say of this edition, that the reader has here a much more correct and complete copy of the Dunciad than has hitherto appeared. I cannot answer but some mistakes may have slipped into it, but a vast number of others will be prevented by the names being now not only set at length, but justified by the authorities and reasons given. I make no doubt the author's own motive to use real rather than feigned names, was his care to preserve the innocent from any false application; whereas, in the former editions, which had no more than the initial letters, he was made, by Keys printed here, to hurt the inoffensive, and (what was worse) to abuse his friends, by an impression at Dublin.

The commentary which attends this poem was sent me from several hands, and consequently must be unequally written; yet will have one advantage over most commentaries, that it is not made upon conjectures, or at a remote distance of time: and the reader cannot but derive one pleasure from the very obscurity of the persons it treats of, that it partakes of the nature of a secret, which most people love to be let into, though the men or the things be ever so inconsiderable or trivial.

Of the persons it was judged proper to give some account; for since it is only in this monument that they must expect to survive (and here survive they will, as long as the English tongue shall remain such as it was in the reigns of Queen Anne and King George), it seemed but humanity to bestow a word or two upon each, just to tell what he was, what he writ, when he lived, and when he died.

If a word or two more are added upon the chief offenders, it is only as a paper pinned upon the breast, to mark the enormities for which they suffered; lest the correction only should be remembered, and the crime forgotten. In some articles it was thought sufficient barely to transcribe from Jacob, Curll, and other writers of their own rank, who were much better acquainted with them than any of the authors of this comment can pretend to be. Most of them had drawn each other's characters on certain occasions; but the few here inserted are all that could be saved from the general destruction of such works.

Of the part of Scriblerus, I need say nothing; his manner is well enough known, and approved by all but those who are too much concerned to be judges.

The Imitations of the Ancients are added, to gratify those who either never read, or may have forgotten them; together with some of the parodies and allusions to the most excellent of the Moderns. If, from the frequency of the former, any man think the poem too much a Cento, our poet will but appear to have done the same thing in jest which Boileau did in earnest; and upon which Vida, Fracastorius, and many of the most eminent Latin poets, professedly valued themselves.

IV.--ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE DUNCIAD,

WHEN PRINTED SEPARATELY IN THE YEAR 1742.

We apprehend it can be deemed no injury to the author of the three first books of the Dunciad that we publish this fourth. It was found merely by accident in taking a survey of the library of a late eminent nobleman; but in so blotted a condition, and in so many detached pieces, as plainly showed it to be not only incorrect, but unfinished. That the author of the three first books had a design to extend and complete his poem in this manner appears from the dissertation prefixed to it, where it is said that the design is more extensive, and that we may expect other episodes to complete it; and from the declaration in the argument to the third book, that the accomplishment of the prophecies therein would be the theme hereafter of a greater Dunciad. But whether or no he be the author of this, we declare ourselves ignorant. If he be, we are no more to be blamed for the publication of it than Tucca and Varius for that of the last six books of the Aeneid, though perhaps inferior to the former.

If any person be possessed of a more perfect copy of this work, or of any other fragments of it, and will communicate them to the publisher, we shall make the next edition more complete: in which we also promise to insert any criticisms that shall be published (if at all to the purpose) with the names of the authors; or any letters sent us (though not to the purpose) shall yet be printed under the title of _Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum_; which, together with some others of the same kind formerly laid by for that end, may make no unpleasant addition to the future impressions of this poem.

V.--ADVERTISEMENT TO THE COMPLETE EDITION of 1743.

I have long had a design of giving some sort of Notes on the works of this poet. Before I had the happiness of his acquaintance, I had written a commentary on his Essay on Man, and have since finished another on the Essay on Criticism. There was one already on the Dunciad, which had met with general approbation; but I still thought some additions were wanting (of a more serious kind) to the humorous notes of Scriblerus, and even to those written by Mr Cleland, Dr Arbuthnot, and others. I had lately the pleasure to pass some months with the author in the country, where I prevailed upon him to do what I had long desired, and favour me with his explanation of several passages in his works. It happened that just at that juncture was published a ridiculous book against him, full of personal reflections, which furnished him with a lucky opportunity of improving this poem, by giving it the only thing it wanted--a more considerable hero. He was always sensible of its defect in that particular, and owned he had let it pass with the hero it had purely for want of a better; not entertaining the least expectation that such an one was reserved for this post as has since obtained the Laurel: but since that had happened, he could no longer deny this justice either to him or the Dunciad.

And yet I will venture to say, there was another motive which had still more weight with our author. This person was one who from every folly (not to say vice) of which another would be ashamed has constantly derived a vanity; and therefore was the man in the world who would least be hurt by it.

W. W.

VI.--ADVERTISEMENT PRINTED IN THE JOURNALS, 1730.

Whereas, upon occasion of certain pieces relating to the gentlemen of the Dunciad, some have been willing to suggest, as if they looked upon them as an abuse: we can do no less than own it is our opinion, that to call these gentlemen bad authors is no sort of abuse, but a great truth. We cannot alter this opinion without some reason; but we promise to do it in respect to every person who thinks it an injury to be represented as no wit, or poet, provided he procures a certificate of his being really such, from any three of his companions in the Dunciad, or from Mr Dennis singly, who is esteemed equal to any three of the number.

VII.--A PARALLEL OF THE CHARACTERS OF MR DRYDEN AND MR POPE,

AS DRAWN BY CERTAIN OF THEIR CONTEMPORARIES.

MR DRYDEN--HIS POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS.

MR DRYDEN is a mere renegado from monarchy, poetry, and good sense[453]--a true republican son of monarchical Church[454]--a republican atheist.[455] Dryden was from the beginning an [Greek: alloprosallos], and I doubt not will continue so to the last.[456]

In the poem called Absalom and Achitophel are notoriously traduced, the King, the Queen, the Lords and Gentlemen, not only their honourable persons exposed, but the whole nation and its representatives notoriously libelled. It is _scandalum magnatum_, yea of majesty itself.[457]

He looks upon God's gospel as a foolish fable, like the Pope, to whom he is a pitiful purveyor.[458] His very Christianity may be questioned.[459] He ought to expect more severity than other men, as he is most unmerciful in his own reflections on others.[460] With as good a right as his holiness, he sets up for poetical infallibility.[461]

MR DRYDEN ONLY A VERSIFIER.

His whole libel is all bad matter, beautified (which is all that can be said of it) with good metre.[462] Mr Dryden's genius did not appear in any thing more than his versification, and whether he is to be ennobled for that only is a question.[463]

MR DRYDEN'S VIRGIL.

Tonson calls it Dryden's Virgil, to show that this is not that Virgil so admired in the Augustaean age; but a Virgil of another stamp, a silly, impertinent, nonsensical writer.[464] None but a Bavius, a Maevius, or a Bathyllus carped at Virgil; and none but such unthinking vermin admire his translator.[465] It is true, soft and easy lines might become Ovid's Epistles or Art of Love; but Virgil, who is all great and majestic, &c., requires strength of lines, weight of words, and closeness of expressions--not an ambling muse running on carpet-ground, and shod as lightly as a Newmarket racer. He has numberless faults in his author's meaning, and in propriety of expression.[466]

MR DRYDEN UNDERSTOOD NO GREEK NOR LATIN.

Mr Dryden was once, I have heard, at Westminster school. Dr Bushby would have whipped him for so childish a paraphrase.[467] The meanest pedant in England would whip a lubber of twelve for construing so absurdly.[468] The translator is mad, every line betrays his stupidity.[469] The faults are innumerable, and convince me that Mr Dryden did not, or would not understand his author.[470] This shows how fit Mr D. may be to translate Homer! A mistake in a single letter might fall on the printer well enough, but [Greek: eichor] for [Greek: ichor] must be the error of the author. Nor had he art enough to correct it at the press.[471] Mr Dryden writes for the court ladies. He writes for the ladies, and not for use.[472]

The translator puts in a little burlesque now and then into Virgil, for a ragout to his cheated subscribers.[473]

MR DRYDEN TRICKED HIS SUBSCRIBERS.

I wonder that any man, who could not but be conscious of his own unfitness for it, should go to amuse the learned world with such an undertaking! A man ought to value his reputation more than money; and not to hope that those who can read for themselves will be imposed upon, merely by a partially and unseasonably celebrated name.[474] _Poetis quidlibei audendi_ shall be Mr Dryden's motto, though it should extend to picking of pockets.[475]

NAMES BESTOWED ON MR DRYDEN.

An Ape.--A crafty ape dressed up in a gaudy gown--whips put into an ape's paw, to play pranks with--none but apish and papish brats will heed him.[476]

An Ass.--A camel will take upon him no more burden than is sufficient for his strength, but there is another beast that crouches under all.[477]

A Frog.--Poet Squab endued with Poet Maro's spirit! an ugly croaking kind of vermin, which would swell to the bulk of an ox.[478]

A Coward.--A Clinias or a Damaetas, or a man of Mr Dryden's own courage.[479]

A Knave.--Mr Dryden has heard of Paul, the knave of Jesus Christ; and, if I mistake not, I've read somewhere of John Dryden, servant to his Majesty.[480]

A Fool.--Had he not been such a self-conceited fool.[481]--Some great poets are positive blockheads.[482]

A Thing.--So little a thing as Mr Dryden.[483]

MR POPE--HIS POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS.

MR POPE is an open and mortal enemy to his country, and the commonwealth of learning.[484] Some call him a Popish Whig, which is directly inconsistent.[485] Pope, as a papist, must be a Tory and High-flyer.[486] He is both a Whig and Tory.[487]

He hath made it his custom to cackle to more than one party in their own sentiments.[488]

In his miscellanies, the persons abused are--the King, the Queen, his late Majesty, both Houses of Parliament, the Privy Council, the Bench of Bishops, the Established Church, the present Ministry, &c. To make sense of some passages, they must be construed into royal scandal.[489]

He is a popish rhymester, bred up with a contempt of the Sacred Writings.[490] His religion allows him to destroy heretics, not only with his pen, but with fire and sword; and such were all those unhappy wits whom he sacrificed to his accursed popish principles.[491] It deserved vengeance to suggest that Mr Pope had less infallibility than his namesake at Rome.[492]

MR POPE ONLY A VERSIFIER.

The smooth numbers of the Dunciad are all that recommend it, nor has it any other merit.[493] It must be owned that he hath got a notable knack of rhyming and writing smooth verse.[494]

MR POPE'S HOMER.

The Homer which Lintot prints does not talk like Homer, but like Pope; and he who translated him, one would swear, had a hill in Tipperary for his Parnassus, and a puddle in some bog for his Hippocrene.[495] He has no admirers among those that can distinguish, discern, and judge.[496] He hath a knack at smooth verse, but without either genius or good sense, or any tolerable knowledge of English. The qualities which distinguish Homer are the beauties of his diction and the harmony of his versification. But this little author, who is so much in vogue, has neither sense in his thoughts nor English in his expressions.[497]

MR POPE UNDERSTOOD NO GREEK.

He hath undertaken to translate Homer from the Greek, of which he knows not one word, into English, of which he understands as little.[498] I wonder how this gentleman would look, should it be discovered that he has not translated ten verses together in any book of Homer with justice to the poet, and yet he dares reproach his fellow-writers with not understanding Greek.[499] He has stuck so little to his original as to have his knowledge in Greek called in question.[500] I should be glad to know which it is of all Homer's excellencies which has so delighted the ladies, and the gentlemen who judge like ladies.[501]

But he has a notable talent at burlesque; his genius slides so naturally into it, that he hath burlesqued Homer without designing it.[502]

MR POPE TRICKED HIS SUBSCRIBERS.

'Tis indeed somewhat bold, and almost prodigious, for a single man to undertake such a work; but 'tis too late to dissuade by demonstrating the madness of the project. The subscribers' expectations have been raised in proportion to what their pockets have been drained of.[503] Pope has been concerned in jobs, and hired out his name to booksellers.[504]

NAMES BESTOWED ON MR POPE.

An Ape.--Let us take the initial letter of his Christian name, and the initial and final letters of his surname, viz., A P E, and they give you the same idea of an ape as his face,[505] &c.

An Ass.--It is my duty to pull off the lion's skin from this little ass.[506]

A Frog.--A squab short gentleman--a little creature that, like the frog in the fable, swells, and is angry that it is not allowed to be as big as an ox.[507]

A Coward.--A lurking, way-laying coward.[508]

A Knave.--He is one whom God and nature have marked for want of common honesty.[509]

A Fool.--Great fools will be christened by the names of great poets, and Pope will be called Homer.[510]

A Thing.--A little abject thing.[511]

INDEX

OF

PERSONS CELEBRATED IN THIS POEM.

THE FIRST NUMBER SHOWS THE BOOK; THE SECOND, THE VERSE.

Ambrose Philips, i. 105; iii. 326. Attila, iii. 92. Alaric, iii. 91. Alma Mater, iii. 388. Annius, an antiquary, iv. 347. Arnall, William, ii. 315. Addison, ii. 124, 140. Atterbury, iv. 246.

Blackmore, Sir Richard, i. 104; ii. 268. Bezaleel Morris, ii. 126; iii. 168. Banks, i. 146. Broome, ibid. Bond, ii. 126. Brown, iii. 28. Bladen, iv. 560. Budgel, Esq., ii. 337. Bentley, Richard, iv. 201. Bentley, Thomas, ii. 205. Boyer, Abel, ii. 413. Bland, a gazetteer, i. 231. Breval, J. Durant, ii. 126, 238. Benlowes, iii. 21. Bavius, ibid. Burmannus, iv. 237. Benson, William, Esq., iii. 325; iv. 110. Burgersdyck, iv. 198. Boeotians, iii. 50. Bruin and Bears, i, 101. Bear and Fiddle, i. 224. Burnet, Thomas, iii. 179. Bacon, iii. 215. Barrow, Dr, iv. 245.

Cibber, Colley, Hero of the Poem, passim. Cibber, sen., i. 31. Cibber, jun., iii. 139, 326. Caxton, William, i. 149. Curll, Edm., i. 40; ii. 3, 58, 167, &c. Cooke, Thomas, ii. 138. Concanen, Matthew, ii. 299, Centlivre, Susannah, ii. 411. Caesar in Aegypt, i. 251. Chi Ho-am-ti, Emperor of China, iii. 75. Crousaz, iv. 198. Codrus, ii. 144. Congreve, ii. 124. Chesterfield, iv. 43.

Defoe, Daniel, i. 103; ii. 147. Defoe, Norton, ii. 415. De Lyra, or Harpsfield, i. 153. Dennis, John, i. 106; ii. 239; iii. 173. Dunton, John, ii. 144. D'Urfey, iii. 146. Dutchmen, ii. 405; iii. 51. Doctors, at White's, i. 203. Douglas, iv. 394. Ducket, iii. 179.

Eusden, Laurence, Poet Laureate, i. 104. Evans, Dr, ii. 116

Flecknoe, Richard, ii. 2. Faustus, Dr, iii. 233. Fleetwood, iv. 326. Freemasons, iv. 576. French Cooks, iv. 553.

Gay, ii. 127; iii. 330. Gildon, Charles, i. 296. Goode, Barn., iii. 153. Goths, iii. 90. Gazetteers, i. 215; ii. 314. Gregorians and Gormogons, iv. 575. Garth, ii. 140. Genseric, iii. 92. Gordon, Thomas, iv. 492.

Holland, Philemon, i. 154. Hearne, Thomas, iii. 185. Horneck, Philip, iii. 152. Haywood, Eliza, ii. 157, &c. Howard, Edward, i. 297. Henley, John, the Orator, ii. 2, 425; iii. 199, &c. Huns, iii. 90. Heywood, John, i. 98. Harpsfield, i. 153. Hays, iv. 560. Heidegger, i. 290.

John, King, i. 252. James I., iv. 176. Jacob, Giles, iii. 149. Janssen, a gamester, iv. 326. Jones, Inigo, iii. 328. Johnston, iv. 112.

Knight, Robert, iv. 561. Kuster, iv. 237. Kirkall, ii. 160.

Lintot, Bernard, i. 40; ii. 53. Laws, William, ii. 413. Log, King, i. lin. ult. Locke, iii. 215.

More, James, ii. 50, &c. Morris, Bezaleel, ii. 126; iii. 168. Mist, Nathaniel, i. 208. Milbourn, Luke, ii. 349. Mahomet, iii. 97. Mears, William, ii. 125; iii. 28. Motteux, Peter, ii. 412. Monks, iii. 52. Mandevil, ii. 414. Morgan, ibid. Montalto, iv. 105. Mummius, an antiquary, iv. 371. Milton, iii. 216. Murray, iv. 169.

Newcastle, Duchess of, i. 141. Nonjuror, i. 253. Newton, iii. 216.

Ogilby, John, i. 141, 328. Oldmixon, John, ii. 283. Ozell, John, i. 285. Ostrogoths, iii. 93. Omar, the Caliph, iii. 81. Owls, i. 271, 290; iii. 54. Owls, Athenian, iv. 362. Osborne, bookseller, ii. 167. Osborne, mother, ii. 312.

Prynne, William, i. 103. Philips, Ambrose, i. 105; iii. 326. Paridel, iv. 341. Prior, ii. 124-138. Popple, iii. 151. Pope, iii. 332. Pulteney, iv. 170.

Quarles, Francis, i. 140. Querno, Camillo, ii. 15.

Ralph, James, i. 216; iii. 165. Roome, Edward, iii. 152. Ripley, Thomas, iii. 327. Ridpath, George, i. 208; ii. 149. Roper, Abel, ii. 149. Rich, iii. 261.

Settle, Elkanah, i. 90, 146; iii. 37. Smedley, Jonathan, ii. 291, &c. Shadwell, Thomas, i. 240; iii. 22. Scholiasts, iv. 231. Silenus, iv. 492. Sooterkins, i. 126. Swift, i. 19; ii. 116, 138; iii. 331. Shaftesbury, iv. 488.

Tate, i. 105, 238. Theobald, or Tibbald, i. 133, 286. Tutchin, John, ii. 148. Toland, John, ii. 399; iii. 212. Tindal, Dr, ii. 399; iii. 212; iv. 492. Taylor, John, the Water-Poet, iii. 19. Thomas, Mrs, ii. 70. Tonson, Jacob, i. 57; ii. 68. Thorold, Sir George, i. 85. Talbot, iv. 168.

Vandals, iii. 86. Visigoths, iii. 94.

Walpole, late Sir Robert, praised by our author, ii. 314 Withers, George, i. 296. Wynkyn de Worde, i. 149 (or 140), Ward, Edw. i. 233; ii. 34. Webster, ii. 258. Whitfield, ibid. Warner, Thomas, ii. 125. Wilkins, ibid. Welsted, Leonard, ii. 207; iii. 170. Woolston, Thomas, iii. 212. Wormius, iii. 188. Wasse, iv. 237. Walker, Hat-bearer to Bentley. iv. 206, 273. Wren, Sir C., iii. 329. Wyndham, iv. 167.

Young, Ed., ii. 116.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] 'Patricio:' Lord Godolphin.

[2] 'Charron:' an imitator of Montaigne.

[3] 'Perjured prince:' Louis XI. of France. See 'Quentin Durward'.

[4] 'Godless regent:' Philip Duke of Orleans, Regent of France in the minority of Louis XV., a believer in judicial astrology, though an unbeliever in all religion.

[5] 'Charles:' Charles V.

[6] 'Philip:' Philip II. in the battle of Quintin.

[7] 'Punk:' Cleopatra.

[8] 'Wilmot:' Earl of Rochester.

[9] 'Noble dame a whore:' the sister of Cato, and mother of Brutus.

[10] 'Lanesborough:' an ancient nobleman, who continued this practice long after his legs were disabled by the gout. Upon the death of Prince George of Denmark, he demanded an audience of the Queen, to advise her to preserve her health and dispel her grief by dancing.--P.

[11] 'Narcissa:' Mrs Oldfield, the actress.

[12] 'Sappho:' Lady M. W. Montague.

[13] 'Narcissa:' Duchess of Hamilton.

[14] 'Philomede:' Henrietta, younger Duchess of Marlborough, to whom Congreve left the greater part of his fortune.

[15] 'Her Grace:' Duchess of Montague.

[16] 'Atossa:' Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.

[17] 'Chloe:' Mrs Howard, afterwards Countess of Suffolk.

[18] 'Mahomet:' servant to the late king, said to be the son of a Turkish pasha, whom he took at the siege of Buda, and constantly kept about his person--P.

[19] 'Parson Hale;' Dr Stephen Hale, not more estimable for his useful discoveries as a natural philosopher, than for his exemplary life and pastoral charity as a parish priest.--P.

[20] 'Epistle III.:' this epistle was written after a violent outcry against our author, on a supposition that he had ridiculed a worthy nobleman merely for his wrong taste. He justified himself upon that article in a letter to the Earl of Burlington; at the end of which are these words: 'I have learnt that there are some who would rather be wicked than ridiculous; and therefore it may be safer to attack vices than follies. I will therefore leave my betters in the quiet possession of their idols, their groves, and their high places; and change my subject from their pride to their meanness, from their vanities to their miseries; and as the only certain way to avoid misconstructions, to lessen offence, and not to multiply ill-natured applications, I may probably, in my next, make use of real names instead of fictitious ones.'--P.

[21] 'Ward:' John Ward of Hackney, Esq., member of Parliament, being prosecuted by the Duchess of Buckingham, and convicted of forgery, was first expelled the House, and then stood in the pillory on the 17th of March 1727.--P.

[22] 'Chartres:' see a former note.

[23] 'The patriot's cloak:' this is a true story, which happened in the reign of William III. to an unsuspected old patriot, who coming out at the back-door from having been closeted by the king, where he had received a large bag of guineas, the bursting of the bag discovered his business there.--P.

[24] 'Ship off senates:' alludes to several ministers, counsellors, and patriots banished in our times to Siberia, and to that more glorious fate of the Parliament of Paris, banished to Pontoise in the year 1720.--P.

[25] 'Coals:' some misers of great wealth, proprietors of the coal-mines, had entered at this time into an association to keep up coals to an extravagant price, whereby the poor were reduced almost to starve, till one of them, taking the advantage of underselling the rest, defeated the design. One of these misers was worth ten thousand, another seven thousand a-year.--P.

[26] 'Colepepper:' Sir William Colepepper, Bart., a person of an ancient family and ample fortune, without one other quality of a gentleman, who, after ruining himself at the gaming table, passed the rest of his days in sitting there to see the ruin of others; preferring to subsist upon borrowing and begging, rather than to enter into any reputable method of life, and refusing a post in the army which was offered him.--P.

[27] 'Turner:' a miser of the day.

[28] 'Hopkins:' a citizen whose rapacity obtained him the name of Vulture Hopkins.--P.

[29] 'Japhet:' Japhet Crook, alias Sir Peter Stranger, was punished with the loss of those parts, for having forged a conveyance of an estate to himself.--P.

[30] 'Endow a college or a cat:' a famous Duchess of Richmond, in her last will, left considerable legacies and annuities to her cats.--P.

[31] 'Bond:' the director of a charitable corporation.

[32] 'To live on venison:' in the extravagance and luxury of the South-sea year, the price of a haunch of venison was from three to five pounds.--P.

[33] 'General excise:' many people, about the year 1733, had a conceit that such a thing was intended, of which it is not improbable this lady might have some intimation.--P.

[34] 'Wise Peter:' an attorney who made a large fortune.

[35] 'Rome's great Didius:' a Roman lawyer, so rich as to purchase the Empire when it was set to sale upon the death of Pertinax.--P.

[36] 'Blunt:' one of the first projectors of the South-sea scheme.

[37] 'Oxford's better part:' Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford--P.

[38] 'The Man of Ross:' the person here celebrated, who, with a small estate, actually performed all these good works, and whose true name was almost lost (partly by the title of the Man of Ross, given him by way of eminence, and partly by being buried without so much as an inscription) was called Mr John Kyrle. He effected many good works, partly by raising contributions from other benevolent persons. He died in the year 1724, aged 90, and lies interred in the chancel of the church of Ross, in Herefordshire.--P.

[39] 'Go search it there:' the parish register.

[40] 'Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone:' the poet ridicules the wretched taste of carving large periwigs on bustos, of which there are several vile examples in the tombs at Westminster and elsewhere.--P.

[41] 'Great Villiers lies:' this lord, yet more famous for his vices than his misfortunes, after having been possessed of about L.50,000 a-year, and passed through many of the highest posts in the kingdom, died in the year 1687, in a remote inn in Yorkshire, reduced to the utmost misery.--P.

[42] 'Shrewsbury:' the Countess of Shrewsbury, a woman abandoned to gallantries. The earl, her husband, was killed by the Duke of Buckingham in a duel; and it has been said, that during the combat she held the duke's horse in the habit of a page.--P.

[43] 'Cutler:' a notorious miser.

[44] 'Where London's column:' the monument, built in memory of the fire of London, with an inscription, importing that city to have been burnt by the Papists.

[45] 'Topham:' a gentleman famous for a judicious collection of drawings.--P.

[46] 'Hearne:' the antiquarian.

[47] 'Ripley:' this man was a carpenter, employed by a first minister, who raised him to an architect, without any genius in the art; and after some wretched proofs of his insufficiency in public buildings, made him comptroller of the Board of Works.--P.

[48] 'Bubo:' Bubb Doddington, who had just finished a mansion at Eastbury.

[49] 'Dr Clarke:' Dr S. Clarke's busto placed by the Queen in the Hermitage, while the doctor duly frequented the court.--P.

[50] 'Timon's villa:' Cannons, the estate of Lord Chandos. See Life.

[51] 'Verrio or Laguerre:' Verrio (Antonio) painted many ceilings, &c., at Windsor, Hampton Court, &c; and Laguerre at Blenheim Castle, and other places.--P.

[52] 'Who never mentions hell:' this is a fact; a reverend Dean, preaching at court, threatened the sinner with punishment in 'a place which he thought it not decent to name in so polite an assembly.'--P.

[53] 'Sancho's dread doctor:' see 'Don Quixote,' chap, xlvii.--P.

[54] This was originally written in the year 1715, when Mr Addison intended to publish his book of medals; it was sometime before he was Secretary of State; but not published till Mr Tickell's edition of his works; at which time the verses on Mr Craggs, which conclude the poem, were added, viz., in 1720.--P.

[55] 'Vadius:' see his history, and that of his shield, in the 'Memoirs of Scriblerus,' ch. ii.

[56] Alemena, mother of Hercules, is after his death here recounting her misfortunes to Iole, who replies by narrating the transformations of her sister Dryope.

[57] Such sons: Eteocles and Polynices.

[58] The Marchantes Tale. Written at sixteen or seventeen years of age.

[59] The first part of this prologue was written by Pope, the conclusion by Mallet.

[60] Shows a cap with ears.

[61] Flings down the cap, and exit.

[62] 'Basset-Table:' only this of all the Town Eclogues was Mr Pope's, and is here printed from a copy corrected by his own hand. The humour of it consists in this, that the one is in love with the game, and the other with the sharper--W.

[63] 'The Lady Frances Shirley:' a lady whose great merit Mr Pope took a real pleasure in celebrating.

[64] 'Bertrand's:' a famous toy-shop at Bath.

[65] 'Fool or ass:' 'The Dunciad.'--P.

[66] 'Flattery or fib:' the 'Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot.'--P.

[67] 'Arms:' such toys being the usual presents from lovers to their mistresses.--P.

[68] 'Print:' when she delivers Aeneas a suit of heavenly armour.--P.

[69] 'Truth nor lies:' if you have neither the courage to write satire, nor the application to attempt an epic poem. He was then meditating on such a work.--P.

[70] 'Algerian grot:' alluding to Numa's projecting his system of politics in this grot, assisted, as he gave out, by the goddess Aegeria.--P.

[71] 'What-d'ye-call-it:' a comedy by Gay.

[72] 'Turk:' Ulrick, the Turk.

[73] 'Pope:' the author.

[74] 'Bellenden, Lepell, and Griffin:' ladies of the Court of the Princess Caroline.

[75] 'Blunderland:' Ireland.

[76] 'Meadows:' see verses to Mrs Howe.

[77] 'God send the king safe landing:' this ballad was written anno 1717.

[78] 'Philips:' Ambrose Philips.

[79] 'Budgell:' Eustace Budgell.

[80] 'Carey:' Henry Carey.

[81] 'Mrs Pulteney:' the daughter of John Gumley of Isleworth, who acquired his fortune by a glass manufactory.

[82] 'Sandys:' George Sandy's, the old, and as yet unequalled, translator of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

[83] 'Jacob's:' old Jacob Tonson, the publisher of the Metamorphoses.

[84] 'P----:' perhaps Pembroke.

[85] 'Umbra:' intended, it is said, for Ambrose Philips.

[86] 'Only Johnson:' Charles Johnson, a second-rate dramatist.

[87] 'The Man Mountain:' this Ode, and the three following pieces, were produced by Pope on reading 'Gulliver's Travels.'

[88] 'Biddel:' name of a sea captain mentioned in Gulliver's Travels.

[89] 'Pannel:' name of a sea captain mentioned in Gulliver's Travels.

[90] 'B----:' Britain.

[91] 'C----:' Cobham.

[92] 'P----'s: Pulteney's.

[93] 'S----:' Sandys.

[94] 'S----:' Shippen.

[95] 'C----:' Perhaps the Earl of Carlisle.

[96] 'Ch---s W----:' Sir Charles Hanbury Williams.

[97] 'Sir Har-y or Sir P----:' Sir Henry Oxenden or Sir Paul Methuen.

[98] 'G---r, C---m, B---t:' Lords Gower, Cobham, and Bathurst.

[99] 'C---d:' Chesterfield.

[100] 'C---t:' Lord Carteret.

[101] 'P----:' William Pulteney, created in 1742 Earl of Bath.

[102] 'W----:' Walpole.

[103] 'H----:' either Sir Robert's brother Horace, who had just quitted his embassy at the Hague, or his son Horace, who was then on his travels.

[104] 'W----:' W. Winnington.

[105] 'Young:' Sir William Young.

[106] 'Bub:' Dodington.

[107] 'H----:' probably Hare, Bishop of Chicester.

[108] 'F----, H---y:' Fox and Henley.

[109] 'H---n:' Hinton.

[110] 'Ebor:' Blackburn, Archbishop of York, and Hoadley, Bishop of Winchester.

[111] 'O---w:' Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons, and the Earl of Delawar, Chairman of the Committees of the House of Lords.

[112] 'N----:' Newcastle.

[113] 'D----'s sager:' Dorset; perhaps the last word should be _sneer_.

[114] 'M----'s:' Duke of Marlborough.

[115] 'J----'s:' Jekyll.

[116] 'H---k's:' Hardwick.

[117] 'C----:' probably Sir John Cummins, Lord Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas.

[118] 'B----:' Britain.

[119] 'S---w:' Earl of Scarborough.

[120] 'M-m-t's:' Marchmont.

[121] 'P---th:' Polwarth, son to Lord Marchmont.

[122] 'W---m:' Wyndham.

[123] 'Sl---s:' slaves.

[124] 'Se---s:' senates.

[125] 'Ad....:' administration.

[126] King's.

[127] 'Religion:' an allusion perhaps to Frederick Prince of Wales.

[128] 'First Book of Horace:' attributed to Pope.

[129] The person here meant was Dr Robert Friend, head master of Westminster School.

[130] The Misses Lisle.

[131] There occurred here originally the following lax stanza:--

Can sins of moment claim the rod
Of everlasting fires?

[132] And that offend great nature's God, Which nature's self inspires.--See Boswell's 'Johnson.'

[133] This gentleman was of Scotland, and bred at the university of Utrecht, with the Earl of Mar. He served in Spain under Earl Rivers. After the peace, he was made one of the Commissioners of the Customs in Scotland, and then of Taxes in England, in which having shewn himself for twenty years diligent, punctual, and incorruptible, though without any other assistance of fortune, he was suddenly displaced by the minister in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and died two months after, in 1741.--P.

[134] Giles Jacob's Lives of Poets, vol. ii. in his Life.

[135] Dennis's Reflections on the Essay on Criticism.

[136] Dunciad Dissected, p. 4.

[137] Guardian, No. 40.

[138] Jacob's Lives, &c. vol. ii.

[139] Dunciad Dissected, p. 4.

[140] Farmer P--- and his Son.

[141] Dunciad Dissected.

[142] Characters of the Times, p. 45.

[143] Female Dunciad, p. ult.

[144] Dunciad Dissected.

[145] Roome, Paraphrase on the 4th of Genesis, printed 1729.

[146] Character of Mr Pope and his Writings, in a Letter to a Friend, printed for S. Popping, 1716, p. 10. Curll, in his Key to the Dunciad (first edition, said to be printed for A. Dodd), in the 10th page, declared Gildon to be author of that libel; though in the subsequent editions of his Key he left out this assertion, and affirmed (in the Curlliad, p. 4 and 8) that it was written by Dennis only.

[147] Reflections, Critical and Satirical, on a Rhapsody called An Essay on Criticism. Printed for Bernard Lintot, 8vo.

[148] Essay on Criticism in prose, 8vo, 1728, by the author of the Critical History of England.

[149] Preface to his Poems, p.18, 53.

[150] Spectator, No. 253.

[151] Letter to B. B. at the end of the Remarks on Pope's Homer, 1717.

[152] Printed 1728, p. 12.

[153] Alma, canto 2.

[154] In his Essays, vol. i., printed for E. Curll.

[155] Censor, vol. ii. n. 33.

[156] _Vide_ preface to Mr Tickel's translation of the first book of the Iliad, 4to. Also _vide_ Life.

[157] Daily Journal, March 18, 1728.

[158] Ibid, April 3, 1728.

[159] Verses to Mr Pope on his translation of Homer.

[160] Poem prefixed to his works.

[161] In his poems, printed for B. Lintot.

[162] Universal Passion, Satire i.

[163] In his Poems, and at the end of the Odyssey.

[164] The names of two weekly papers.

[165] Theobald, Letter in Mist's Journal, June 22, 1728.

[166] Smedley, Preface to Gulliveriana, p. 14, 16.

[167] Gulliveriana, p. 332.

[168] Anno 1723.

[169] Anno 1729.

[170] Preface to Remarks on the Rape of the Lock, p. 12, and in the last page of that treatise.

[171] Pages 6, 7 of the Preface, by Concanen, to a book entitled, A Collection of all the Letters, Essays, Verses, and Advertisements occasioned by Pope and Swift's Miscellanies. Printed for A. Moore, 8vo, 1712.

[172] Key to the Dunciad, third edition, p. 18.

[173] A list of persons, &c., at the end of the forementioned Collection of all the Letters, Essays, &c.

[174] Introduction to his Shakspeare Restored, in 4to, p. 3.

[175] Commentary on the Duke of Buckingham's Essay, 8vo, 1721, p. 97, 98.

[176] In his prose Essay on Criticism.

[177] Printed by J. Roberts, 1742, p. 11.

[178] Battle of Poets, folio, p. 15.

[179] Printed under the title of the Progress of Dulness, duodecimo, 1728.

[180] Cibber's Letter to Mr Pope, p. 9, 12.

[181] In a letter under his hand, dated March 12, 1733.

[182] Dennis's Preface to his Reflections on the Essay on Criticism.

[183] Preface to his Remarks on Homer.

[184] Remarks on Homer, p. 8, 9.

[185] Ibid, p. 8.

[186] Character of Mr Pope, p. 7.

[187] Ibid, p. G.

[188] Gulliver, p. 886.

[189] Cibber's Letter to Mr. Pope, p. 19.

[190] Burnet Homerides, p. 1 of his Translation of the Iliad.

[191] The London and Mist's Journals, on his undertaking of the Odyssey.

[192] Vide Bossu, Du Poeme Epique, ch. viii.

[193] Bossu, chap. vii.

[194] Book i. ver. 32, &c.

[195] Ver. 45 to 54.

[196] Ver. 57 to 77.

[197] Ver. 80.

[198] Ibid, chap, vii., viii.

[199] Bossu, chap. viii. Vide Aristot. Poetic, chap. ix.

[200] Cibber's Letter to Mr Pope, pp. 9, 12, 41.

[201] See his Essays.

[202] Si nil Heros Poetique doit etre un honnete homme. Bossu, du Poeme Epique, lib. v. ch. 5.

[203] Dedication to the Life of C. C.

[204] Life, p. 2, 8vo edition.

[205] Life, ibid.

[206] Life, p. 23, 8vo.

[207] Alluding to these lines in the Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot:

'And has not Colley still his lord and whore, His butchers, Henley, his freemasons, Moore?'

[208] Letter to Mr Pope, p. 46.

[209] P. 31.

[210] Life, p. 23, 24.

[211] Letter, p. 8.

[212] Letter, p. 53.

[213] Letter, p. 1.

[214] Don Quixote, Part ii. book ii. ch. 22.

[215] See Life, p. 148.

[216] Life, p. 149.

[217] p. 424.

[218] p. 366.

[219] p. 457.

[220] p. 18.

[221] p. 425.

[222] pp. 436, 437.

[223] p. 52.

[224] p. 47.

[225] p. 57.

[226] pp. 58, 59.

[227] A statuary.

[228] Life, p. 6.

[229] p. 424.

[230] p. 19.

[231] Life, p. 17.

[232] Ibid. p. 243, 8vo edition.

[233] Ovid, of the serpent biting at Orpheus's head.

[234] 'The Dunciad:' _sic_ MS. It may well be disputed whether this be a right reading. Ought it not rather to be spelled Dunceiad, as the etymology evidently demands? Dunce with an _e_, therefore Dunceiad with an _e_? That accurate and punctual man of letters, the restorer of Shakespeare, constantly observes the preservation of this very letter _e_, in spelling the name of his beloved author, and not like his common careless editors, with the omission of one, nay, sometimes of two _e's_ (as Shakspear), which is utterly unpardonable. 'Nor is the neglect of a single letter so trivial as to some it may appear; the alteration whereof in a learned language is an achievement that brings honour to the critic who advances it; and Dr Bentley will be remembered to posterity for his performances of this sort, as long as the world shall have any esteem for the remains of Menander and Philemon.'--_Theobald_.

This is surely a slip in the learned author of the foregoing note, there having been since produced by an accurate antiquary, an autograph of Shakspeare himself, whereby it appears that he spelled his own name without the first _e_. And upon this authority it was, that those most critical curators of his monument in Westminster Abbey erased the former wrong reading, and restored the true spelling on a new piece of old Egyptian granite. Nor for this only do they deserve our thanks, but for exhibiting on the same monument the first specimen of an edition of an author in marble; where (as may be seen on comparing the tomb with the book), in the space of five lines, two words and a whole verse are changed, and it is to be hoped will there stand, and outlast whatever hath been hitherto done in paper; as for the future, our learned sister University (the other eye of England) is taking care to perpetuate a total new Shakspeare, at the Clarendon press.--_Bentl_.

It is to be noted, that this great critic also has omitted one circumstance: which is, that the inscription with the name of Shakspeare was intended to be placed on the marble scroll to which he points with his hand; instead of which it is now placed behind his back, and that specimen of an edition is put on the scroll, which indeed Shakspeare hath great reason to point at.--_Anon_.