In Tot'nam fields, the brethren with amaze, All hail him victor in both gifts of song, REMARKS. Ver. 268. Who sings so loudly, and who sings so long.] A just character of Sir Richard Blackmore, knight, who (as Mr. Dryden expresseth it) "Writ to the rumbling of his coach's wheels;" and whose indefatigable Muse produced no less than six Epic IMITATIONS. Ver. 260. bray back to him again] A figure of speech taken from Virgil: "Et vox assensu nemorum ingeminata remugit." Georg. iii. "He hears his num'rous herds low o'er the plain, While neighb'ring hills low back to them again.” Cowley. The poet here celebrated, Sir R. B. delighted much in the word bray, which he endeavoured to ennoble by applying it to the sound of Armour, War, &c. In imitation of him, and strengthened by his authority, our author has here admitted it into Heroic poetry. W. Ver. 262. Prick all their ears up, and forget to graze ;] "Immemor herbarum quos est mirata juvenca.” The progress of the sound from place to place, and the scenery here of the bordering regions, Tottenham-fields, Chancerylane, the Thames, Westminster-Hall, and Hungerford-stairs, are imitated from Virgil, Æneid vii. on the sounding the horn of Alecto: "Audiit et Triviæ longe lacus, audiit amnis Sulphurea Nar albus aqua, fontesque Velini." W. This labour past, by Bridewell all descend, (As morning pray'r, and flagellation end) 270 REMARKS. poems: Prince and King Arthur, twenty books; Eliza, ten; Alfred, twelve; the Redeemer, six; besides Job, in folio; the whole Book of Psalms; the Creation, seven books; Nature of Man, three books; and many more. 'Tis in this sense he is styled afterward the everlasting Blackmore. Notwithstanding all which, Mr. Gildon seems assured, that "this admirable author did not think himself upon the same foot with Homer." Comp. Art of Poetry, vol. i. p. 108. But how different is the judgment of the author of Characters of the Times! p. 25, who says, Sir Richard Blackmore is unfortunate in happening to mistake his proper talents; and that he has not for many years been so much as named, or even thought of, among writers." Even Mr. Dennis differs greatly from his friend Mr. Gildon: "Blackmore's Action (saith he) has neither unity, nor integrity, nor morality, nor universality; and consequently he can have no Fable, and no Heroic Poem: his Narration is neither probable, delightful, nor wonderful; his characters have none of the necessary qualifications; the things contained in his Narration are neither in their own nature delightful, nor numerous enough, nor rightly disposed, nor surprising, nor pathetic." --Nay he proceeds so far as to say Sir Richard has no Genius ; first laying down, "that Genius is caused by a furious joy and pride of soul, on the conception of an extraordinary Hint. Many men (says he) have their Hints, without these motions of fury and pride of soul, because they want fire enough to agitate their spirits; and these we call cold writers. Others who have a great deal of fire, but have not excellent organs, feel the forementioned emotions without the extraordinary hints; and these we call fustian writers. But he declares that Sir Richard had neither the Hints, nor the Motions." Remarks on Prince Arthur, octavo, 1696. Preface. This gentleman, in his first works, abused the character of Mr. Dryden; and in his last, of Mr. Pope, accusing him in very high and sober terms of profaneness and immorality (Essay on Polite Writing, vol. ii. p. 270.) on a mere report from Edm. Curl, that he was author of a Travestie on the first Psalm. Mr. Dennis took up the same report, but with the addition of what Sir Rich To where Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streams REMARKS. ard had neglected, an Argument to prove it; which being very curious, we shall here transcribe. "It was he who burlesqued the Psalm of David. It is apparent to me that Psalm was burlesqued by a Popish rhymster. Let rhyming persons who have been brought up Protestants be otherwise what they will, let them be rakes, let them be scoundrels, let them be Atheists, yet education has made an invincible impression on them in behalf of the sacred writings. But a Popish rhymster has been brought up with a contempt for those sacred writings; now shew me another Popish rhymster but he." This manner of argumentation is usual with Mr. Dennis; he has employed the same against Sir Richard himself, in a like charge of Impiety and Irreligion. "All Mr. Blackmore's celestial Machines, as they cannot be defended so much as by common received opinion, so are they directly contrary to the doctrine of the church of England; for the visible descent of an angel must be a miracle. Now it is the doctrine of the church of England, that miracles had ceased a long time before Prince Arthur came into the world. Now if the doctrine of the church of England be true, as we are obliged to believe, then are all the celestial machines in Prince Arthur insufferable, as wanting not only human, but divine probability. But if the machines are sufferable, that is, if they have so much as divine probability, then it follows of necessity that the doctrine of the Church is false. So I leave it to every impartial Clergyman to consider," etc. Preface to the Remarks on Prince Arthur. W. Ver. 270. As morning pray'r, and flagellation end.] It is between eleven and twelve in the morning, after church-service, that the criminals are whipped in Bridewell. This is to mark punctually the time of the day: Homer does it by the circumstance of the Judges rising from court, or of the Labourers' dinner: our author by one very proper both to the Persons and the scene of his poem, which we may remember commenced in the evening of the Lord-mayor's day: The first book passed in that night; the next morning the games begin in the Strand, thence along Fleet-street (places inhabited by Booksellers), then they proceed by Bridewell towards Fleet ditch, and lastly through Ludgate to the City and the Temple of the Goddess. W, The King of dykes! than whom no sluice of mud With deeper sable blots the silver flood. 274 "Here strip, my children! here at once leap in, Here prove who best can dash through thick and thin, And who the most in love of dirt excel, Or dark dexterity of groping well. Who flings most filth, and wide pollutes around The stream, be his the Weekly Journals bound; 280 A pig of lead to him who dives the best; A peck of coals apiece shall glad the rest." REMARKS. Ver. 276, 277, 278.-Dash through thick and thin-love of dirt -dark dexterity] The chief qualifications of Party-writers to stick at nothing, to delight in flinging dirt, and to slander in the dark by guess. W. Ver. 280. the Weekly Journals] Papers of news and scandal intermixed, on different sides and parties, and frequently shifting from one side to the other, called the London Journal, British Journal, Daily Journal, etc. the concealed writers of which for some time were Oldmixon, Roome, Arnall, Concanen, and others persons never seen by our author. W. Ver. 280. Who dives the best ;] The idea of this Game is evidently taken from Lord Dorset's fine verses on Howard. I wonder Swift in his Rhapsody on Poetry would venture on the same subject and idea of diving, after Pope had succeeded so well: "For instance; when you rashly think No Rhymer can like Welsted sink, His merits balanc'd you shall find, That Fielding leaves him far behind.' Folio, Ver. 392. 1733. IMITATIONS. Ver. 273. The king of Dykes, etc.] "Fluviorum rex Eridanus, quo non alius, per pinguia culta, In mare purpureum violentior influit amnis." Virg. W. In naked majesty Oldmixon stands, And Milo-like surveys his arms and hands; REMARKS. Little did Swift imagine that this very Fielding would hereafter equal him in works of humour, and excel him in drawing and supporting characters, and in the artful conduct and plan of a Comic Epopée. Ver. 282. A peck of coals apiece] Our indulgent Poet, whenever he has spoken of any dirty or low work, constantly puts us in mind of the Poverty of the offenders, as the only extenuation of such practices. Let any one but remark, when a Thief, a Pickpocket, a Highwayman, or a Knight of the post, is spoken of, how much our hate to those characters is lessened, if they add a needy Thief, a poor Pockpocket, a hungry Highwayman, a starving Knight of the post, etc. W. Here again has Swift borrowed from his friend, on the great number of our Scribblers who, he says, "Computing by their Pecks of Coals, Amount to just nine thousand souls." This Rhapsody, and the verses on his own death, are the best of Swift's poetical productions, though they cannot be called true Poetry. Ver. 283. In naked majesty Oldmixon stands,] Mr. JOHN OLDMIXON, next to Mr. Dennis, the most ancient Critic of our Nation; an unjust censurer of Mr. Addison in his prose Essay on Criticism, whom also in his imitation of Bouhours (called the Arts of Logic and Rhetoric) he misrepresents in plain matter of fact; for in p. 45, he cites the Spectator as abusing Dr. Swift by name, where there is not the least hint of it; and in p. 304, is so injurious as to suggest that Mr. Addison himself writ that Tatler, No. 43, which says of his own Simile, that ""Tis as great as ever entered into the mind of man." "In Poetry he was not so happy as laborious, and therefore characterized by the Tatler, No. 62, by the name of Omicron the Unborn Poet." Curl, Key, p. 13. “He writ Dramatic works, and a volume of Poetry consisting of heroic Epistles, etc. some whereof are very well done," said that great Judge Mr. Jacob, in his Lives of Poets, vol. ii. p. 303. |
