The author of a Letter to Mr. Cibber fays, "Pope was fo good a verfifier [once] that his predeceffor Mr. Dryden, and his cotemporary Mr. Prior excepted, the harmony of his numbers is equal to any body's. And, that he had all the merit that a man can have that way." And

Mr. THOMAS COOKE,

after much blemishing our author's Homer, crieth Qut,

"But in his other works what beauties fhine, While sweetest mufic dwells in ev'ry line! These he admir'd, on these he ftamp'd his praise, And bade them live to brighten future days w.". So alfo one who takes the name of

H. STANHOPE,

the maker of certain verfes to Duncan Campbell*, in that poem, which is wholly a fatire on Mr. Pope, confeffeth,

"'Tis true, if finest notes alone could fhow

(Tun'd justly high, or regularly low).

That we fhould fame to thefe mere vocals give;
Pope more than we can offer fhould receive:

For when some gliding river is his theme,

His lines run fmoother than the fmootheft ftream," &c.

MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8, 1728.

Although

"Printed by J. Roberts, 1742, p. 11.

w Battle of Poets, folio, p. 15.

* Printed under the title of the Progress of Dulness, duodecimo,

1728.

Although he fays, "The fmooth numbers of the Dunciad are all that recommend it, nor has it any other merit;" yet that fame paper hath these words: "The author is allowed to be a perfect mafter of an eafy and elegant verfification. In all his works we find the most happy turns and natural families, wonderfully short and thick fown."

The Effay on the Dunciad alfo owns, p. 25. it is very full of beautiful images. But the panegyric, which crowns all that can be faid on this poem, is bestowed by our laureate,

---

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 fo many filly flies that offended him. Could he have let them alone, by this time, poor fouls! they had been buried in oblivion." Here we see our excellent Laureate allows the juftice of the fatire on every man in it, but himself; as the great Mr. Dennis did before him.

The faid

Mr. DENNIS and GILDON,

in the most furious of all their works the forecited character (p. 5.) do in concert confefs, "That fome

men

y Cibber's Letter to Mr. Pope, p. 9, 12.

in concert] Hear how Mr. Dennis hath proved our mistake in this place. "As to my writing in concert with Mr. Gildon,

I declare

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 fmooth verse.”

Of his Effay on Man, numerous were the praifes bestowed by his avowed enemies, in the imagination that the fame was not written by him, as it was printed anonymously.

Thus fang of it even

BEZALEEL MORRIS.

"Auspicious bard! while all admire thy ftrain, All but the selfish, ignorant, and vain;

whom no bribe to fervile flatt'ry drew,

Muft

pay the tribute to thy merit due:

Thy

I declare upon the honour and word of a gentleman, that I never wrote fo much as one line in concert with any one man whatsoever. And these two Letters from Gildon will plainly fhew 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 mafter 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 deferves, &c.

"CH. GILDON."

"Now is it not plain, that any one who fends fuch compliments to another, has not been used to write in partnership with him to whom he fends them?" Dennis, Rem. on the Dunc. p. 50. Mr. Dennis is therefore welcome to take this piece to himself.

And

Thy mufe fublime, fignificant, and clear,

Alike informs the Soul, and charms the Ear."

a

Mr. LEONARD WELSTED

thus wrote to the unknown author on the first publication of the faid Effay: "I muft own, after the reception which the vileft and most immoral ribaldry hath lately met with, I was furprized to fee what I had long defpaired, a performance deferving the name of a poet. Such, Sir, is your work. It is, indeed, above all commendation, and ought to have been publifhed in an age and country more worthy of it. If my testimony be of weight any where, you are fure to have it in the amplest manner," &c. &c. &c.

Thus we fee every one of his works hath been extolled by one or other of his most inveterate enemies; and to the fuccefs of them all they do unanimously give teftimony. But it is fufficient, inftar omnium, to behold the great critic, Mr. Dennis, forely lamenting it, even from the Effay on Criticifm to this day of the Dunciad! "A most notorious inftance (quoth he) of the depravity of genius and tafte, the approbation this Effay meets with '.-I can fafely affirm, that I never attacked any of these writings, unless they had fuccefs infinitely beyond their merit.-This, though an empty, has

a In a letter under his hand, dated March 12, 1733. Dennis, Pref. to his Reflect. on the Effay on Criticism.

been

been a popular fcribler. The epidemic madness of the times has given him reputation .-If, after the the cruel treatment fo many extraordinary men (Spencer, Lord Bacon, Ben. Johnson, Milton, Butler, Otway, and others) have received from this country, for these last hundred years, I fhould fhift the fcene, and shew all that penury changed at once to riot and profuseness; and more fquandered away upon one object, than would have satisfied the greater part of thofe 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 perfons were centered in him alone:-But if I fhould venture to affure him, that the PEOPLE of ENGLAND had made fuch a choice-the reader would either believe me a malicious enemy, and flanderer; or that the reign of the laft (Queen Anne's) Miniftry was defigned by fate to encourage Fools "."

But it happens, that this our poet never had any place, penfion, or gratuity, in any shape, from the faid glorious Queen, or any of her Minifters. All he owed, in the whole courfe of his life, to any court, was a fubfcription for his Homer of 2001. from King George I, and 100l. from the Prince and Princefs.

However, left we imagine our author's Succefs was conftant and univerfal, they acquaint us of certain

Préf, to his Rem. on Homer.

Rem. on Hom. p. 8, 9.