" "Tis true, if finest notes alone could show (Tun'd justly high, or regularly low) That we should fame to these mere vocals give; MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8, 1728. Although he says, "The smooth numbers of the Dunciad are all that recommend it, nor has it any other merit ;" yet that same paper hath these words: "The author is allowed to be a perfect master of an easy and elegant versification. In all his works we find the most happy turns and natural similes, wonderfully short and thick sown." The Essay on the Dunciad also owns, p. 25, it is very full of beautiful images. But the panegyric, which crowns all that can be said on this poem, is bestowed by our laureat, Mr. COLLEY CIBBER, who "grants it to be a better poem of its kind than ever was writ:" but adds, "it was a victory over a parcel of poor wretches, whom it was almost cowardice to conquer.-A man might as well triumph for having killed so many silly flies that offended him. Could he have let them alone, by this time, poor souls! they had been buried in oblivion." Here we see our excellent Laureat allows the justice of the satire on every man in it, but himself; as the great Mr. Dennis did before him. Cibber's Letter to Mr. Pope, p. 9. 12. The said Mr. DENNIS and GILDON, in the most furious of all their works the forecited character (p. 5) do in concert confess, "That some men of good understanding value him for his rhymes." And (p. 17), "That he has got, like Mr. Bays in the Rehearsal (that is, like Mr. Dryden) a notable knack at rhyming, and writing smooth verse." Of his Essay on Man, numerous were the praises bestowed by his avowed enemies, in the imagination that the same was not written by him, as it was printed anonymously. Thus sang of it even BEZALEEL MORRIS. "Auspicious bard! while all admire thy strain, All but the selfish, ignorant, and vain; 7 in concert] Hear how Mr. Dennis hath proved our mistake in this place. "As to my writing in concert with Mr. Gildon, I declare upon the honour and word of a gentleman, that I never wrote so much as one line in concert with any one man whatsoever. And these two Letters from Gildon will plainly shew that we are not writers in concert with each other. "Sir, "The height of my ambition is to please men of the best judgment; and finding that I have entertained my master agreeably, I have the extent of the reward of my labour." “Sir, "I had not the opportunity of hearing of your excellent pamphlet till this day. I am infinitely satisfied and pleased with it, and hope you will meet with that encouragement your admirable performance deserves, &c. "CH. GILDON." "Now is it not plain, that any one who sends such compliments to another, has not been used to write in partnership with him to whom he sends them?" Dennis, Rem. on the Dunc. p. 50. Mr. Dennis is therefore welcome to take this piece to himself. I, whom no bribe to servile flatt'ry drew, And 8 Mr. LEONARD WELSTED thus wrote to the unknown author on the first publication of the said Essay: "I must own, after the reception which the vilest and most immoral ribaldry hath lately met with, I was surprised to see what I had long despaired, a performance deserving the name of a poet. Such, Sir, is your work. It is, indeed, above all commendation, and ought to have been published in an age and country more worthy of it. If my testimony be of weight any where, you are sure to have it in the amplest manner," &c. &c. &c. Thus we see every one of his works hath been extolled by one or other of his most inveterate enemies; and to the success of them all they do unanimously give testimony. But it is sufficient, instar omnium, to behold the great critic, Mr. Dennis, solely lamenting it, even from the Essay on Criticism to this day of the Dunciad! "A most notorious instance (quoth he) of the depravity of genius and taste, the approbation this Essay meets with 9.I can safely affirm, that I never attacked any of these writings, unless they had success infinitely beyond their merit.-This, though an empty, has been In a letter under his hand, dated March 12, 1733. ' Dennis, Pref. to his Reflect. on the Essay on Criticism. a popular scribbler. The epidemic madness of the times has given him reputation1.-If, after the cruel treatment so many extraordinary men (Spenser, Lord Bacon, Ben. Jonson, Milton, Butler, Otway, and others) have received from this country, for these last hundred years, I shall shift the scene, and shew all that penury changed at once to riot and profuseness; and more squandered away upon one object, than would have satisfied the greater part of those extraordinary men; the reader to whom this one creature should be unknown, would fancy him a prodigy of art and nature, would believe that all the great qualities of these persons were centred in him alone:-But if I should venture to assure him, that the PEOPLE of ENGLAND had made such a choice the reader would either believe me a malicious enemy, and slanderer; or that the reign of the last (Queen Anne's) Ministry was designed by fate to encourage Fools." But it happens, that this our poet never had any place, pension, or gratuity, in any shape, from the said glorious Queen, or any of her Ministers. All he owed, in the whole course of his life, to any court, was a subscription for his Homer of 2001. from King George I, and 1007. from the Prince and Princess. However, lest we imagine our author's Success was constant and universal, they acquaint us of certain works in a less degree of repute, whereof, although owned by others, yet do they assure us he is ' Pref. to his Rem. on Homer. 2 Rem. on Hom. p. 8, 9. the writer. Of this sort Mr. DENNIS3 ascribes to him two farces, whose names he does not tell, but assures us that there is not one jest in them: and an imitation of Horace, whose title he does not mention, but assures us it is much more execrable than all his works. The DAILY JOURNAL, May 11, 1728, assures us, "He is below Tom Durfey in the Drama, because (as that writer thinks) the MarriageHater matched, and the Boarding-School, are better than the What-d'ye-call-it;" which is not Mr. P's, but Mr. Gay's. Mr. GILDON assures us, in his New Rehearsal, p. 48, "That he was writing a play of the Lady Jane Grey;" but it afterward proved to be Mr. Rowe's. We are assured by another, "He wrote a pamphlet called Dr. Andrew Tripe";" which proved to be one Dr. Wagstaff's. Mr. THEOBALD assures, in Mist of the 27th of April, "That the treatise of the Profund is very dull, and that Mr. Pope is the author of it." The writer of Gulliveriana is of another opinion; and says, "the whole, or greatest part, of the merit of this treatise must and can only be ascribed to Gulliver." [Here, gentle reader! cannot I but smile at the strange blindness and positiveness of men; knowing the said treatise to appertain to none other but to me Martinus Scriblerus.] We are assured in Mist of June 8, "That his own plays and farces would better have adorned the Dunciad, than those of Mr. Theobald; for he had neither genius for tragedy nor comedy." Which, |