THE DUNCIAD. TO DR. JONATHAN SWIFT. BOOK THE FIRST. ARGUMENT. ne proposition, the invocation, and the inscription. Then the original of the great empire of Dulness, and cause of the continuance thereof. The college of the goddess in the city, with her private academy for poets in particular: the governors of it, and the four cardi nal virtues. Then the poem hastes into the midst of things, presenting her, on the evening of a lord-mayor's day, revolving the long succession of her sons, and the glory past and to come. She tixes her eyes on Bays to be the instrument of that great event which is the subject of the poem. He is described pensive among his books, giving up the cause, and apprehending the period of her empire. After debating whether to betake himself to the church, or to gaming, or to party writing, he raises an altar of proper books, and (mak. ing first his solemn prayer and deciaration) purposes thereon to sacrifice all his unsuccessful writings. As the pile is kindled, the goddess beholding the flame from her seat, flies and puts it out, by casting upon it the poem of Thule. She forthwith reveals herself to him, transports him to her temple, unfolds her arts and initiates him into her mysteries; then announcing the death of Eusden, the poet laureate, anoints him, carries him to court, and proclaims him successor. THE mighty mother, and her son, who brings The Smithfield muses to the ear of kings, I sing Say you, her instruments, the great! Call'd to this work by Dulness, Jove, and Fate; REMARKS The Dunciad, sic MS.] It may well be disputed whe ther this be a right teading. Ought it not rather be spelled Dunciad, as the etymology evidently demande? Dunce - VOL. II. 13 You, by whose care, in vain decried and cursed, Bull Dunce the second reigns like Dunce the first, REMARKS. with an e, therefore Dunceiad with an e. That accurate and punctual man of letters, the restorer of Shakespear constantly observes the preservation of this very letter 0 in spelling the name of his beloved author, and not like his common careless editors, with the omission of one, nay, sometimes of two ee's (as Shakspear,) which is utterly un pardonable. Nor is the neglect of a single letter so trivia as to some it may appear; the alteration whereof in a learn ed language is an achievement that brings honour to the eritic 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 te surely a slip in the learned author of the foregoing note; there having been since produced by an accurate antiquary, an autograph of Shakespeare 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 fotal new Shakespeare 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 Shakespeare was intended to be placed on the marble seroll 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 Shakespeare hath great reason to point at. Anon. Though I have as just a value for the letter E, as any Frammarian living, and the same affection for the naine of this poem as any critic for that of his author; yet evanot it induce me to agree with those who would a id yet ano‘he, e to it, and call it the Dunceinde; which being a French and foreign termination, is no way proper to a word entirely English, and vernicular. One e therefore in this case in right, and two ee's wrong. Yet upon the whole, I shall folow the manuscript, and print it without any e at all; moved Say, how the goddess bade Britannia sleep, REMARKS. thereto by authority (at all times, with critics, equal, i not Euperior to reason.) In which method of proceeding, I can dever enough praise my good friend the exact Mr. Thomas Hlearne; who, if any word occur, which to him and all mankind is evidently wrong, yet keeps he it in the text with Cue reverence, and only remarks in the margin, Sic MS. In Eke manner we shall not amend this error in the title itself but only note it obiter, to evince to the learned that it was not our fault, nor any effect of our ignorance or inattention. Scribl. This poem was written in the year 1726. In the next year an imperfect edition was published at Dublin, and reprinted at London in twelves; another at Dublin, and another at London, in octavo; and three others in twelves the same year. But there was no perfect edition before that of London, in quarto; which was attended with notes. We are willing to acquaint posterity, that this poem was presented to King George the Second and his queen, by the hands of Sir Robert Walpole, on the 12th of March, 1728 9. Schol. Vet. It was expressly confessed in the preface to the first dition, that this poem was not published by the author himBelf. It was printed originally in a foreign country: and what foreign country? Why, one notorious for blunders; where finding blanks only instead of proper names, these blunderers filled them up at their pleasure. The very hero of the poem hath been mistaken to this hour; so that we were obliged to open our notes with a discovery who he really was. We learn from the former editor, hat this piece was presented by the hands of sir Robert Walpole to King George II. Now the author directly tolis us, his hero is the man who brings The Smithfield muses to the ear of kings. And it is notorious who was the person on whom this prince conferred the honour of the laurel. It appears as plainly from the apostrophe to the great in the third verse, that Tibbald could not be the person, who was never an author in fashion, or caressed by the great; whereas this single characteristic is sufficient to post out the true hero; who, above all other poets of his time, was the peculiar del ght and chosen companion of the nobility of England; and wrote, as he himself tells us, certain of his works at the earnest desire of persons of quality. Lastly, the sixth verse affords full proof; this poet being In eldest time, ere mortals writ or read, REMARKS. 10 the only one who was universally known to have had a soa Bo exactly like hum, in his portical, theatrical, political, and moral capacities, that it could justly be said of him, 'Sil Dunce the second reigns like Dunce the first." Bentl. Ver. 1. The mighty mother, and her son, &e.) The reader ought here to be cautioned, that the mother, and not the son, is the principal agent of this poem, the latter of them is only chosen as her colleague (as was anciently the custom in Rome before some great expedition,) the main action of the poem being by no means the coronation of the laureate, which is performed in the very first book, but the restoration of the empire of Dulness in Britain, which is no accomplished till the last. Ver. 2. The Smithfield Muses.] Smithfield is the place where Bartholomew fair was kept, whose shows, machines, and dramatical entertainments, formerly agreeable only to the taste of the rabble, were by the hero of this poem, and others of equal genius, brought to the theatres of Covent garden, Linco'n's in-fields, and the Hay-market, to be the reigning pleasures of the court and town. This happened in the regns of King George I. and 11. See Book . Ver. 4. By Dulness, Jove, and Fate:] i. e. by their judgments, their interests, and their inclinations. Ver. 15. Laborions, heavy, busy, bold, &c.] I wonder the learned Scriblerus has omitted to advertise the reader, at the opening of this poem, that Duluess here is not to be taken contractedly for niere stupidity, but in the enlarged Bense of the word, for all slowness of apprehension, shortness of sight, or imperfect sense of things. It includes (as we see by the poet's own words) labour, industry, and some degrees of activity and boldness; a ruling principle not mert, but turning topsy-turvy the understanding, and inducing an anarchy or confused state of mind. This remark ought to be carried along with the reader throughout the work; and without this caution he will be apt to mistake he importance of many of the characters, as well as of the Still her old empire to restore she tries, For, born a goddess, Dulness never dies. Oh thou! whatever title please thine earDean, Drapier, Bickerstaff, or Gulliver! Whether thou choose Cervantes' serious air, Or laugh and shake in Rabelais' easy chair, Or praise the court, or magnify mankind, Or thy grieved country's copper chains unbind, From thy Boeotia though her power retires, Mourn not, my Swift, at aught our realm acquires. Here pleased behold her mighty wings outspread To hatch a new Saturnian age of lead. 20 Close to those walls where Folly holds her throne And laughs to think Monroe would take her down, 30 Where o'er the gates, by his famed father's hand, Great Cibber's brazen, brainless brothers stand; REMARKS. design of the poet. Hence it is that some have complained he chooses too mean a subject, and imagined he employs himself like Domitian, in killing thes; whereas those who have the true key will find he sports with nobler quarry, and embraces a larger compass; or (as one saith on a like occasion,) Bentl. Will see his work, like Jacob's ladder rise, Its foot in dirt, its head amid the skies.' Ver. 17. Still her old empire to restore.] This restoration makes the completion of the poem. Vide Book iv. Ver. 22. Laugh and shake in Rabelais' easy chair.] The magery is exquisite; and the equivoque in the last words, ves a peculiar elegance to the whole expression. The easy chair suits his age: Rabelais' easy chair marks his character; and he filled and possessed it as the right heir and successor of that original genius. Ver. 23. Or praise the court, or magnify mankind.] Ironice, alluding to Gulliver's representations of both The next line relates to the papers of the Draper against the cur rency of Wood's copper coin in Ireland, which, upon the great discontent of the people, his majesty was most graciously pleased to reca!!." Ver. 26. Mourn not, my Swift, at aught our realm ac quires.] Ironice iterum. The politics of England and Ireand were at this time by some thought to be opposite, ut interfering with each other. Dr. Swift of course was in the nterest of the latter, our author of the former. Ver. 31. By his famed father's hand.] Mr. Caius Gabrie |