Instructive work! whose wry-mouth'd portraiture
Display'd the fates her confessors endure.
Earless on high, stood unabash'd De Foe,
And Tutchin flagrant from the scourge below.
There Ridpath, Roper, cudgell'd might ye view,
The very worsted still look'd black and blue.
Himself among the storied chiefs he spies,
As, from the blanket, high in air he flies,

15C

'And, oh!' he cried, 'what street, what lane, but knows Our purgings, pumpings, blanketings, and blows!

In every loom our labours shall be seen,

And the fresh vomit run for ever green!'

REMARKS.

When none shall rail, and every lay
Devote a wreath to thee;

That day (for come it will,) that day
Shall I lament to see.'

Ver. 143. A shaggy tapestry;] A sorry kind of tapestry frequent in old inns, made of worsted or some coarser stuff; like that which is spoken of by Donne.-Faces as frightful as theirs who whip Christ in old hangings. This imagery woven in it alludes to the mantle of Cloanthus, in En. v.

Ver. 144. John Dunton was a broken bookseller, and abusive scribbler; he writ Neck or Nothing, a violent satire en some ministers of state; a libel on the duke of Devonshire, and the bishop of Peterborough, &c.

Ver. 148. And Tutchin flagrant from the scourge.] John futchin, author of some vile verses, and of a weekly paper called the Observator. He was sentenced to be whipped through several towns in the west of England, upon which he petitioned king Jaines II. to be hanged. When that prince died in exile, he wrote an invective against his me mory, occasioned by some humane elegies on his death. Ilo lived to the time of queen Anne.

Ver. 149. There Ridpath, Roper,] Authors of the Flying-post and Post-boy, two scandalous papers on different sides, for which they equally and alternately deserved to be cudgelled, and were so.

Ver. 151. Himself among the storied chiefs he spies, The history of Curll's being tossed in a blanket, and whip ped by the scholars of Westminster, is well known. Of his ourging and vomiting, see A full and true Acconzi of a hot id Revenge on the Body of Edmund Curll, c. in Swift ad Pope's Miscellanies.

See in the circle next Eliza placed,

Two babes of love close clinging to her waist;
Fair as before her works she stands confess'd,

In flowers and pearls by bounteous Kirkall dress'd. The goddess then: Who best can send on high 201 The salient spout, far streaming to the sky;

His be yon Juno of majestic size,

With cow-like udders, and with ox-like eyes.
This China jordan let the chief o'ercome
Replenish, not ingloriously, at home.

Osborne and Curll accept the glorious strife:
(Though this his son dissuades, and that his wife,)

REMARKS.

Ver. 157. See in the circle next, Eliza placed,] In this name is exposed, in the most contemptuous manner, the profligate licentiousness of those shameless scribblers (for the most part of that sex which ought least to be capablo of such malice or impudence) who, in libellous memoirs and novels, reveal the faults or misfortunes of both sexes, to the ruin of public fame, or disturbance of private happiness. Our good poet (by the whole cast of his work being obliged not to take off the irony) where he could not show his indignation, hath shown his contempt, as much as possible; having here drawn as vile a picture as could be represented in the colours of epic poesy. Scribl.

Ibid. Eliza Haywood; this woman was authoress of those most scandalous books called the Court of Carimania and the New Utopia. For the two babes of love, see Curll, Key, p. 22. But whatever reflection he is pleased to throw upon this lady, surely it was what from him she little doserved, who had celebrated Curll's undertakings for refor mation of manners, and declared herself to be so perfectly acquainted with the sweetness of his disposition, and that tenderness with which he considered the errors of his fellow creatures, that, though she should find the little inadvertencies of her own life recorded in his papers, she was certain it would be done in such a manner as she could not but ap prove. Mrs. Haywood, Hist of Clar. printed in the Female Dunciad, p. 18.

Ver. 160. Kirkall] The name of an engraver. Some of this lady's works were printed in four volumes in 12mo, with her picture thus dressed up before them.

Ver. 167. Osborne, Thomas] A bookseller in Gray'sEnn, very well qualified by his impudence to act this part therefore placed here instead of a less deserving predeces tor. [Chapman, the publisher of Mrs. Haywood's New

170

Doe on his manly confidence relies,
One on his vigour and superior size.
First Osborne lean'd against his letter'd post:
It rose, and labour'd to a curve at most.
So Jove's bright bow displays its watery round
(Sure sign that no spectator shall be drown'd.)
A second effort brought but new disgrace,
The wild meander wash'd the artist's face:
Thus the small jet, which hasty hands unlock,
Spirts in the gardener's eyes who turns the cock.
Not so from shameless Curll; impetuous spread
The stream, and smoking flourish'd o'er his head.
So (famed like thee for turbulence and horns) 181
Eridanus his humble fountain scorns;
Through half the heavens he pours the exalted urn;
His rapid waters in their passage burn.

Swift as it mounts, all follow with their eyes:

Still happy impudence obtains the prize.

Thou triumph'st victor of the high-wrought day,
And the pleased dame, soft smiling, lead'st away.

REMARKS.

Utopia, &c.] This man published advertisements for a year together, pretending to sell Mr. Pope's subscription books of Homer's Iliad at half the price: of which book he had none, but cut to the size of them (which was quarto) the common books in folio, without copper-plates, on a worse paper, and never above half the value.

Upon this advertisement the Gazetteer harangued thus, July 6, 1739; 'How melancholy must it be to a writer to be Bo unhappy as to see his works hawked for sale in a manner so fatal to his fame! How, with honour to yourself, and justice to your subscribers, can this be done? What an ingratitude to be charged on the only honest poet that lived in Ï738! and than whom virtue has not had a shriller trumpeter for many ages! That you were once generally admired and esteemed, can be denied by none; but that you and your works are now despised, is verified by this fact;' which being utterly false, did not much indeed humble the author, but drew this just chastisement on the bookseller.

Ver. 183. Through half the heavens he pours the exalted arn:] In a manuscript Dunciad (where are some margina. corrections of some gentlemen some time deceased) I have bound another reading of these lines: thus,

Osborne, through perfect modesty o'ercome,
Crown'd with the jordan, walks contented home.

But now for authors nobler palms remain ;
Room for my lord! three jockeys in his train;
Six huntsmen with a shout precede his chair:
He grins, and looks broad nonsense with a stare.
Ilis honour's meaning Dulness thus express'd,
He wins his patron who can tickle best.'

He chinks his purse, and takes his seat of state:
With ready quills the dedicators wait;
Now at his head the dexterous task commence,
And, instant, fancy feels the imputed sense;
Now gentle touches wanton o'er his face,
He struts Adonis, and affects grimace:

REMARKS.

And lifts his urn, through half the heavens to flow; His rapid waters in their passage glow.'

191

200

This I cannot but think the right: for, first, though the dit ference between burn and glow may seem not very material to others, to me I confess the latter has an elegance, a je ne scay quoy, which is much easier to be conceived than explained. Secondly, every reader of our poet must have observed how frequently he uses this word, glow, in other parts of his works: to instance only in his Homer:

(1.) Iliad ix. ver. 726.-With one resentment glows. (2.) Iliad xi. ver. 626.--There the battle glows.

(3.) Ibid. ver. 985.--The closing flesh that instant ceased

to glow.

4) Iliad xii. ver. 45.-Encompass'd Hector glows. (5.) Ibid. ver. 475.--His beating breast with generous ar dour glows.

(6.) Iliad xviii. ver. 591.-Another part glow'd with refulgent arms.

(7.) Ibid. ver. 654.-And curl'd on silver props in order

glow.

I am afraid of growing too luxuriant in examples, or could stretch this catalogue to a great extent; but these are enough to prove his fondness for this beautiful word, which therefore, let all future editions replace here.

I am aware, after all, that burn is the proper word te convey an idea of what was said to be Mr. Curll's condition at this time; but from that very reason I infer the direct contrary. For surely every lover of our author will conclude he had more humanity than to insult a man on such a misfortune or calamity, which could never befall him purely

Rolli the feather to his ear conveys,
Then his nice taste directs our operas:

Bentley his mouth with classic flattery opes,
And the puff'd orator bursts out in tropes.
But Welsted most the poet's healing balın
Strives to extract from his soft, giving palm

REMARKS.

by his own fault, but from an unhappy communication with another. This note is half Mr. Theobald, half' Scrill.

Ver. 203. Paolo Antonio Rolli,] An Italian poet and writer of many operas in that language, which, partly by the help of his genius, prevailed in England near twenty years. He taught Italian to some fine gentlemen, who affected to direct the operas.

Ver. 205. Bentley his mouth, &c.] Not spoken of the famous Dr. Richard Bentley, but of one Tho. Bentley, a small critic, who aped his uncle in a little Horace. The great one was intended to be dedicated to the lord Halifax, but (on a change of the ministry) was given to the earl of Oxford for which reason the little one was dedicated to his Bon-the lord Harley.

Ver. 207. Welsted.] Leonard Welsted, author of the Triumvirate, or a Letter in Verse from Palamon to Celia at Bath, which was meant for a satire on Mr. P. and some of his friends about the year 1718. He writ other things which we cannot remember. Smedley, in his Metamorphosis of Scriblerus, mentions one, the Hymn of a Gentleman to his Creator: and there was another, in praise either of a Cellar or a Gairet. L. W. characterized in the 1¡ip. Bu‡ous, ɔr the Art of Sinking, as a didapper, and after as an eel, is sed to be this person, by Dennis, Daily Journal of May 11, 1726. He was also characterized under another animal, a mole, by the author of the ensuing simile, which was handed about at the same time:

'Dear Welsted, mark, in dirty holo
That painful animal, a mole:
Above ground never born to grow;
What ighty stir it keeps below!
To ma
e a mole-hill all his strife!
It digs pokes, undermiues for life.
How oud a little dirt to spread;
I
Conscious of nothing o'er its head!
Till, labouring on, for want of eyes,
It blunders into light and dies.'

You have him again in book iii. ver. 160.