All vain petitions mounting to the sky, Sign'd with that ichor which from gods distills. And ministers to Jove with purest hands. Forth from the heap she pick'd her votary's prayer, Oft had the goddess heard her servant's call, Nor heeds the brown dishonours of his face. 100 And now the victor stretch'd his eager hand Where the tall nothing stood or seem'd to stand 110 A shapeless shade, it melted from his sight, Like forms in clouds, or visions of the night. And whisk them back to Evans, Young, and Swift. REMARKS. Ver. 101. Where, as he fish'd, &c.] See the preface to Swift's and Pope's Miscellanies. Ver. 116. Evans, Young, and Swift.] Some of those persons, whose writings, epigrams, or jests he had owned. See note on ver. 50. Ver. 118. An unpaid tailor] This line has been loudly complained of in Mist, June 8, Dedicated to Sawney, and others, as a most inhuman satire on the poverty of poets No rag, no scrap, of all the beau or wit, 12 Heaven rings with laughter: of the laughter vain Dulness, good queen, repeats the jest again. Three wicked imps, of her own Grub-street choir, She deck'd like Congreve, Addison and Prior; Mears, Warner, Wilkins, run! delusive thought! Breval, Bond, Besaleel, the varlets caught. Curll stretches after Gay, but Gay is gone, He grasps an empty Joseph for a John: REMARKS. out it is thought our author will be acquitted by a jury of ailors To me this instance seems unluckily chosen; if it be a satire on any body, it must be on a bad pay-master since the person to whom they have here applied it, was a man of fortune. Not but poets may well be jealous of so great a prerogative as non-payment; which Mr. Dennis sc far asserts, as boldly to pronounce, that, if Homer himself was not in debt, it was because nobody would trust him.'Pref. to Rem. on the Rape of the Lock, p. 15. Ver. 124. Like Congreve, Addison, and Prior;] These authors being such whose names will reach posterity, we ball not give any account of them, but proceed to those of whom it is necessary.-Besaleel Morris was author of some satires on the translators of Honier, with many other things printed in newspapers- Bond writ a satire against Mr. P. Capt. Breval was author of the Confederates, an ingenious dramatic performance, to expose Mr. P., Mr. Gay, Dr. Arbuthnot, and some ladies of quality,' says Curl, Key, 11 Ver. 125. Mears, Warner, Wilkins] Booksellers and Printers of much anonymous stuff. "Tis Ver. 126. Breval, Bond, Besaleel,] I foresee it will be objected from this line, that we were in an error in our asBertion on ver. 50 of this book, that More was a fictitious name, since those persons are equally represented by th poet as phantoms. So at first sight it may be seen; but b not deceived, reader; these also are not real persons true, Curll declares Breval a captain, author of a piece ca led The Confederates; but the same Curll first said it was written by Joseph Gay. Is his second assertion to be credit ed any more than his first? He likewise affirms Bond to be one who writ a satire on our poet: but where is such a gatire to be found? where was such a writer ever heard of? As for Besшieti, i ca... in the very name; nor is 't, as the others are, a surname. Thou mayest uepend upon t no such authors ever lived: all phantoms. Scribl. Ver 128. Joseph Gay a fictitious name put by Cuill So Proteus, hunted in a nobler shape, To him the goddess: Son! thy grief lay down, And turn this whole illusion on the town: As the sage dame, experienced in her trade, 130 (Whence hapless Monsieur much complains at Paris REMARKS. 140 before several pamphlets, which made them pass with many for Mr. Gay's. The ambiguity of the word Joseph, which likewise signifies a loose upper coat, gives much pleasantry to the idea. Ver. 132. And turn this whole illusion on the town:] It was a common practice of this bookseller to publish vile pieces of obscure hands under the names of eminent authors. Ver. 138. Cook shall be Prior,] The man here specified writ a thing called The Battle of the Poets, in which Phillips. and Welsted were the heroes, and Swift and Pope utterly routed. He also published some malevolent things in the British, London, and Daily Journals; and at the same time wrote letters to Mr. Pope, protesting his innocence. His chief work was a translation of Hesiod, in which Theobald writ notes and half notes, which he carefully owned. Ver. 138. And Concanen, Swift:" In the first edition of this poem there were only asterisks in this place, but the names were since inserted, merely to fill up the verse, a id give case to the ear of the reader. Ver. 140. And we too boast our Garth and Addison.} Nothing is more remarkable than our author's love of prais ing good writers. He has in this very poem celebrated Mr. Locke, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Atterbury, Mr Dryden, Mr. Congreve, Dr. Garth, Mr. Addison; in a word, almost every man of his time that deserved it; even Cibber himself, (presuming him to be the author of the Careless Husband.) It was very difficult to have that pleasure in a poem on this subject, yet he has found means to insert their panegyric, and has made even Dulness out of her own mouth pronounce it. It must have been particularly agreeable to him to celebrate Dr Garth bo'l friend and a was mis predecessor in this kind of satire. The Dispensary attacked the whole body of apothecarios, With that she gave him (piteous of his case, Yet smiling at his rueful length of face) REMARKS. much more useful one undoubtedly than that of the had poets; if in truth this can be a body, of which no two members ever agreed. It also did, what Mr. Theobald says is unpardonable, draw in parts of private character, and intro duce persons independent of his subject. Much more would Boileau have incurred his censure, who left all subjects whatever, on all occasions, to fall upon the bad poeta (which, it is to be feared, would have been more immediately his concern.) But certainly next to commending good writers, the greatest service to learning is to expose the ad, who can only that way be made of any use to it. This truth is very well set forth in these lines, addressed to our author: The craven rook, and pert jackdaw (Though neither birds of moral kind,) 'With Egypt's art thy pen may strive: Becomes a precious mummy dead. An Ver. 142. Rueful length of face.] The decrepit persen or figure of a man are no reflections upon his genius honest mind will love and esteem a man of worth, though he be deformed or poor. Yet the author of the Dunciad hath libelled a person for his rueful length of face! Mist's Journal, June 8. This genius and man of worth, whom an honest mind should love, is Mr. Curll. True it is, he stood in the pillory, an incident which will lengthen the face of any man, though it were ever so comely, therefore is no reflection on the natural beauty of Mr. Curll. But as to reflections on any man's face or figure, Mr. Dennis saith excellently; Natural deformity comes not by our faul; it is often occasioned by calamities and diseases, which a man can no more help than a monster can his deformity. There is no one misfortune, and no one disease, but what all the rest of mankind are subject to.-But the deformity of this author is visible, present, lasting, unalterable, and peculiar himself 'Tis the mark of God and nature upon him, te A shaggy tapestry, worthy to be spread REMARKS. give us warning that we should hold no society with him. as a creature not of our original, nor of our species: and they who have refused to take this warning which God and nature has given them, and have, in spite of it, by a senseless presumption ventured to be familiar with him, have severely suffered, &c. 'Tis certain his original is not from Adam, but from the devil,' &c.-Dennis, Character of Mr. P. octavo, 1716. Admirably it is observed by Mr. Dennis against Mr Law, p. 33. That the language of Billingsgate can never be the language of charity, nor consequently of christianity.' I should else be tempted to use the language of a critic; for what is more provoking to a commentator, than to behold his author thus portrayed? Yet I consider it really hurts not him! whereas to call some others dull, might do them prejudice with a world too apt to believe it. Therefore, though Mr. D. may call another a little ass, or a young toad, far be it from us to call him a toothless lion, or an old serpent. Indeed, had I written these notes (as was once my intent) in the learned language, I might have given him the appellations balatro, calceatum caput, scurra in triviis, being phrases in good esteem and frequent usage among the best learned: but in our mother-tongue, were I to tax any gentleman of the Dunciad, surely it would be in words not to the vulgar intelligible; whereby christian charity, decency, and good accord among authors, might be preserved. Scribl. The good Scriblerus here, as on all occasions, eminently shows his humanity. But it was far otherwise with the gentlemen of the Dunciad, whose scurrilities were always personal, and of that nature which provoked every honest man but Mr. Pope; yet never to be lamented, since they occasioned the following amiable verses: While malice, Pope, denies thy 'page Its own celestial fire; While critics, and while bards in rage, While wayward pens thy worth assail, And envious tongues decry; These times, though many a friend bewail, These times bewail not I. But when the world's loud praise is thine, |