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No rag, no scrap, of all the beau, or wit,

That once so flutter'd, and that once so writ. 190
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.

REMARKS.

which Mr. Dennis so 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 shall 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 Homer, with many other things printed in news-papers. Bond writ a satire against Mr. PCapt. Breval was author of The Confederates, an ingenious dramatic performance to expose Mr. P., Mr. Gay, Dr. Arbuthnot, and some ladies of quali ty,' says Curll, Key, p. 11.

Ver. 125. Mears, Warner, Wilkins] Booksellers and printers of much anonymous stuff

Ver. 126. Breval, Bond, Besaleel,] I foresee it will be objected from this line, that we were in an error in our assertion on ver. 50 of this book, that More was a fictitious name, since those persons are equally represented by the poet as phantoms. So at first sight it may be seen; but be not deceived, reader; these also are not real persons. 'Tis true, Curll declares Breval a captain, author of a piece called The Confederates; but Curll first said it was written by Joseph Gay. Is his second assertion to be credited any more than his first? He likewise affirms Bond to be one who writ a satire on our

Curll stretches after Gay, but Gay is gone,
He grasps an empty Joseph for a John:
So Proteus, hunted in a nobler shape,
Became, when seiz'd, a puppy, or an ape.

130

To him the goddess: Son! thy grief lay down And turn this whole illusion on the town: As the sage dame, experienc'd in her trade, By names of toasts retails each batter'd jade (When hapless Monsieur much complains at Paris Of wrongs from duchesses and lady Maries); Be thine, my stationer! this magic gift; Cook shall be Prior; and Concanen, Swift:

REMARKS.

poet: but where is such a satire to be found? where was such a writer ever heard of? As for Besaleel, it carries forgery in the very name; nor is it, as the others are, a surname. Thou mayst depend upon it, no such authors ever liv'd; all phantoms.

SCRIBL.

Ver. 128. Joseph Gay, a fictitious name put by Curll before several pamphlets, which made them pass with many for Mr. Gay's-The ambiguity of the word Joseph, which likewise signifies a loose uppercoat, 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 Philips 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, to which Theobald writ notes and half notes, which he carefully owned.

So shall each hostile name become our own,
And we too boast our Garth and Addison.'

REMARKS.

140

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, and give ease 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 praising 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 him. self (presuming him to be the author of the Careless Husband). It was very difficult to have that plea sure 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 ce lebrate Dr. Garth; both as his constant friend, and as he was his predecessor in this kind of satire. The Dispensary attacked the whole body of apothecaries, a much more useful one undoubtedly than that of the bad 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 introduced 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 poets (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 bad, 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;

With that she gave him (piteous of his case, Yet smiling at his rueful length of face)

REMARKS.

The craven rook, and pert jackdaw
(Though neither birds of moral kind),
Yet serve, if hang'd, or stuff'd with straw,
To show us which way blows the wind.
Thus dirty knaves, or chatt'ring fools,
Strung up by dozens in thy lay,
Teach more by half than Dennis' rules,
And point instruction ev'ry way.
With Egypt's art thy pen may strive:
One potent drop let this but shed,
And every rogue that stunk alive,

Becomes a precious mummy dead.

Ver. 142. rueful length of face] The decrepid person or figure of a man are no reflections upon his genius. An 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. Curil. 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 fault; 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 to himself. 'Tis the mark of God and nature upon him, to give us warning that we should hold no society with him,

A shaggy tapestry, worthy to be spread,
On Codrus' old, or Dunton's modern bed;

REMARKS.

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 in tent) in the learned language, I might have given him the appellations of 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 should be in words not to the vulgar intelligible; whereby Christian charity, de cency, 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;

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