De Lyra there a dreadful front extends,

156

And here the groaning shelves Philemon bends.
Of these twelve volumes, twelve of ampleft fize,
Redeem'd from tapers and defrauded pies,
Infpir'd he feizes: These an altar raise :
An hecatomb of pure, unfully'd lays
That altar crowns: A folio Common-place
Founds the whole pile, of all his works the base :
Quartos, octavos, shape the less'ning pyre;
A twisted Birth-day Ode completes the fpire.
Then he: Great Tamer of all human art!
First in my care, and ever at my heart;

VARIATIONS.

VER. 162. A twisted &c.] in the former Edd.

And laft, a little Ajax tips the Spire.

161

Var. a little Ajax] in duodecimo, tranflated from Sophocles by

Tibbald.

REMARK S.

Shakespear to mean rather than Teucer, the archer celebrated by Homer.

VER. 153. Nich de Lyra, or Harpsfield, a very voluminous commentator, whose works, in five vaft folios, were printed in 1472.

VER. 154. Philemon Holland Doctor in Phyfic." He tran"flated fo many books, that a man would think he had done no"thing elfe; infomuch that he might be called Tranflator general of his age. The books alone of his turning into English are "fufficient to make a Country Gentleman a complete Library.” WINSTANLY.

66

.

Dulness! whofe good old cause I yet defend, 165
With whom my Mufe began, with whom shall end,
E'er fince Sir Fopling's Periwig was Praise,
To the last honours of the Butt and Bays:
O thou! of Bus'nefs the directing foul!

170

To this our head like byafs to the bowl,
Which, as more pond'rous, made its aim more true,
Obliquely wadling to the mark in view:

REMARKS.

VER. 167. E'er fince Sir Fopling's Periwig] The firft visible caufe of the paffion of the Town for our Hero, was a fair flaxen full-bottom'd Periwig, which, he tells us, he wore in his first play of the Fool in fashion. It attracted, in a particular manner, the Friendship of Col. Brett, who wanted to purchase it. "Whatever contempt (fays he) Philofophers may have for a "fine Periwig, my friend, who was not to defpife the world

but to live in it, knew very well that so material an article of "dress upon the head of a man of fenfe, if it became him, "could never fail of drawing to him a more partial Regard and "Benevolence, than could poffibly be hoped for in an ill-made

one. This, perhaps, may foften the grave cenfure, which fo "youthful a purchafe might otherwife have laid upon him. In st a word, he made his attack upon this Periwig, as your young "fellows generally do on a lady of pleasure, first by a few "familiar praises of her perfon, and then a civil enquiry into "the price of it; and we finifhed our bargain that night over "a bottle." See Life, octavo, p. 303. This remarkable Periwig ufually made its entrarice upon the stage in a fedan, brought in by two chairmen, with infinite approbation of the audience.

'

IMITATIONS.

VER. 166. With whom my Muse began, with whom shall end.]
A te principium, tibi definet.-
Virg. Ecl. viii.

Hor.

Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, καὶ εἰς Δία λήγετε, Μέσαι. Theoc.
Prima dite mihi, fumma dicende Camcena.
Ꮐ

O! ever gracious to perplex'd mankind,

Still spread a healing mist before the mind;
And, left we err by Wit's wild dancing light, 175
Secure us kindly in our native night.

Or, if to Wit a coxcomb make pretence,

Guard the fure barrier between that and Sense;

VARIATIONS.

VER. 177. Or, if to Wit, &c.] In the former Edd.
Ah! ftill o'er Britain ftretch that peaceful wand,
Which lulls th' Helvetian and Batavian land;
Where rebel to thy throne if Science rife,
She does but fhew her coward face and dies:
There thy good Scholiafts with unweary'd pains
Make Horace flat, and humble Maro's strains:
Here ftudious I unlucky moderns fave,
Nor fleeps one error in its father's grave,
Old puns reftore, loft blunders nicely seek,
And crucify poor Shakespear once a week.
For thee fupplying, in the worst of days,
Notes to dull books, and prologues to dull plays;
Not that my quill to critics was confin'd,
My verfe gave ampler leffons to mankind;
So graveft precepts may fuccefslefs prove,
But fad examples never fail to move.
As forc'd from wind-guns, &c.

Var. Nor fleeps one error-Old puns reftore, loft blunders, &c.] As where he [Tibbald] laboured to prove Shakespear guilty of terrible Anachronisms, or low Conundrums, which Time had cover'd ; and converfant in fuch authors as Caxton and Wynkin, rather than in Homer or Chaucer. Nay, fo far had he lost his reverence to this incomparable author, as to fay in print, He deferv'd to be whipt. An infolence which nothing fure can parallel! but that of Dennis,

Or quite unravel all the reas'ning thread,

And hang fome curious cobweb in its stead! 180
As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly,
And pond'rous flugs cut swiftly thro' the sky;
As clocks to weight their nimble motion owe,
The wheels above urg'd by the load below :
Me Emptinefs, and Dulness could infpire,
And were my Elasticity, and Fire.

185

who can be proved to have declared before company, that ShakeSpear was a Rafcal. O tempora! O mores! SCRIBL. Var. And crucify poor Shakespear once a week.] For fome time once a week or fortnight, he printed in Mift's Journal a fingle remark or poor conjecture on fome word or pointing of ShakeSpear, either in his own name, or in letters to himself as from others without name. Upon these fomebody made this Epigram,

" 'Tis gen'rous, Tibbald! in thee and thy brothers,
"To help us thus to read the works of others:
"Never for this can juft returns be shown;
"For who will help us e'er to read thy own?

Var. Notes to dull books, and prologues to dull plays;] As to Cook's Hefiod, where fometimes a note, and fometimes even half a note, are carefully owned by him: And to Moore's Comedy of the Rival Modes, and other authors of the fame rank: These were people who writ about the year 1726.

REMARK S.

VER. 178, 179. Guard the fure barrier-Or quite unravel, &c.] For Wit or Reasoning are never greatly hurtful to Dulnefs, but when the firft is founded in Truth, and the other in Usefulness.

W.

VER. 181. As, forc'd from wind-guns, &c.] The thought of thefe four verfes is found in a poem of our Author's of a very early date (namely written at fourteen years old, and soon after printed) to the Author of a poem call'd Succeffio.

Some Dæmon ftole my pen (forgive th'offence)
And once betray'd me into common sense:
Elfe all my Profe and Verse were much the fame;
This, profe on ftilts; that, poetry fall'n lame. 190
Did on the stage my Fops appear confin'd?
My Life gave ampler leffons to mankind.
Did the dead Letter unsuccessful prove?
The brifk Example never fail'd to move.

Yet fure had Heav'n decreed to fave the State, 195
Heav'n had decreed these works a longer date.
Could Troy be fav'd by any fingle hand,

This grey-goose weapon must have made her stand.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 195. Yet fure had Heav'n &c.] In the former Edd.
Had Heav'n decreed fuch works a longer date,
Heav'n had decreed to fpare the Grubftreet-ftate.
But fee great Settle to the duft defcend,

And all thy cause and empire at an end!
Could Troy be fav'd &c.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 195. Had Heav'n decreed, &c.]

Me fi calicola voluiffent ducere vitam,

Has mihi fervaffent fedes.--

Virg. Æn. ii.

VER. 197, 198. Could Troy be fav'd-This grey-goofe weapon]

Si Pergama dextra

Defendi poffent, etiam hac defenfa fuiffent. Virg. ibid.