I have been well informed, that this work was the labour of full fix years of his life, and that he wholly retired himself from all the avocations and pleasures of the world, to attend diligently to its correction and perfection; and fix years more he intended to bestow upon it, as it fhould feem by this verfe of Statius, which was cited at the head of his manufcript,

Ob mihi biffenos multum vigilata per annos,
Duncia1!

Hence alfo we learn the true title of the poem; which with the fame certainty as we call that of Homer the Iliad, of Virgil the Aeneid, of Camoens the Lufiad, we may pronounce, could have been, and can be no other than

The DUNCIAD.

It

• The labour of full fix years, &c.] This alfo was honestly and seriously believed by divers gentlemen of the Dunciad. J. Ralph, pref. to Sawney: "We are told it was the labour of fix years, with the utmost affiduity and application: It is no great compli ment to the author's fenfe, to have employed fo large a part of his life," &c. So alfo Ward, pref. to Durgen: "The Dunciad, as the publisher very wifely confeffes, coft the author fix years. retirement from all the pleasures of life; though it is fomewhat difficult to conceive, from either its bulk or beauty, that it could be fo long in hatching, &c. But the length of time and clofenefs of application were mentioned to prepossess the reader with a good opinion of it."

They just as well understood what Scriblerus faid of the Poem.

W.

The prefacer to Curl's Key, p. 3. took this word to be really in Statius: "By a quibble on the word Duncia, the Dunciad is formed." Mr. Ward alfo follows him in the fame opinion." W.

It is ftyled Heroic, as being doubly fo; not only with respect to its nature, which, according to the best rules of the ancients, and ftrictest ideas of the moderns, is critically fuch; but also with regard to the heroical disposition and high courage of the writer, who dared to stir up fuch a formidable, irritable, and implacable race of mortals.

There may arise fome obfcurity in chronology from the Names in the poem, by the inevitable removal of fome authors, and insertion of others, in their niches. For whoever will confider the unity of the whole defign, will be sensible, that the poem was not made for thefe authors, but thefe authors for the poem. I fhould judge that they were clapped in as they rofe, fresh and fresh, and changed from day to day; in like manner as when the old boughs wither, we thrust new ones into a chimney.

I would not have the reader too much troubled or anxious, if he cannot decypher them; fince when he fhall have found them out, he will probably know no more of the perfons than before.

Yet we judged it better to preferve them as they are, than to change them for fictitious names; by which the fatire would only be multiplied, and applied to many instead of one. Had the Hero, for instance, been called Codrus, how many would have affirmed him to have been Mr. T. Mr. E. Sir R. B. &c. but now all that unjust scandal is faved by calling him by a name, which by good luck happens to be that of a real perfon.

II.

A LIST of BOOKS, PAPERS, and VERSES, in which our Author was abused, before the Publication of the DUNCIAD; with the true Names of the Authors.

R

EFLECTIONS critical and fatyrical on a late Rhapfody, called, An Effay on Criticism. By Mr. Dennis, printed by B. Lintot, price 6d.

A new Rehearsal, or Bays the younger; containing an Examen of Mr. Rowe's plays, and a word or two on Mr. Pope's Rape of the Lock. Anon. [By Charles Gildon] printed for J. Roberts, 1714, price

I S.

Homerides, or a Letter to Mr. Pope, occafioned by his intended tranflation of Homer. By Sir Iliad Dogrel [Tho. Burnet and G.Ducket, efquires] printed for W. Wilkins, 1715, price 9d.

Æfop at the Bear-garden; a vifion, in imitation of the Temple of Fame, by Mr. Prefton. Sold by John Morphew, 1715, price 6d.

The Catholic Poet, or Protestant Barnaby's Sorrowful Lamentation; a Ballad about Homer's Iliad. By Mrs. Centlivre, and others, 1715, price 1d.

An Epilogue to a Puppet-shew at Bath, concerning the faid Iliad. By George Ducket, efq; printed by E. Curl.

A complete Key to the What d'ye call it. Anon. [By Griffin a player, fupervised by Mr. Th-] printed by J. Roberts, 1715.

A true character of Mr. P. and his writings, in a letter to a friend. Anon. [Dennis] printed for S. Popping, 1716, price 3d.

The Confederates, a Farce. By Jofeph Gay [J. D. Breval] printed for R. Burleigh, 1717, price 18.

Remarks upon Mr. Pope's tranflation of Homer; with two letters concerning the Windfor Forest, and the Temple of Fame. By Mr. Dennis, printed for E. Curl, 1717, price is. 6d.

Satires on the tranflators of Homer, Mr. P. and Mr. T. Anon. [Bez. Morris] 1717, price 6d.

The Triumvirate; or, a Letter from Palaemon to Celia at Bath. Anon. [Leonard Welfted] 1711, folio, price is.

The Battle of Poets; an heroic poem. By Tho. Cooke, printed for J. Roberts, folio, 1725.

Memoirs of Lilliput. Anon. [Eliza Haywood] octavo, printed in 1727.

An Effay on Criticism, in profe. By the Author of the Critical Hiftory of England [J. Oldmixon] octavo, printed 1728.

Gulliveriana and Alexandriana; with an ample preface and critique on Swift and Pope's Mifcellanies. By Jonathan Smedley, printed by J. Roberts, octavo, 1728.

Characters

Characters of the Times; or, an account of the writings, characters, &c. of feveral gentlemen libelled by S― and P—, in a late Miscellany, octavo, 1728.

Remarks on Mr. Pope's Rape of the Lock, in letters to a friend. By Mr. Dennis; written in 1724, though not printed till 1728, octavo.

VERSES, LETTERS, ESSAYS, or ADVERTISEMENTS, in the PUBLIC PRINTS.

British Journal, Nov. 25, 1727. A Letter on Swift and Pope's Mifcellanies. [Writ by M. Concanen.] Daily Journal, March 18, 1728. A Letter by Philomauri. James-Moore Smith.

Id. March 29. A Letter about Therfites; accufing the author of difaffection to the Government. By James-Moore Smith.

Mift's Weekly Journal, March 30. An Effay on the Arts of a Poet's finking in reputation; or, a Supplement to the Art of Sinking in Poetry. [Supposed by Mr. Theobald.]

Daily Journal, April 3. A Letter under the name of Philo-ditto. By James-Moore Smith.

Flying Poft, April 4. A Letter against Gulliver and Mr. P. [By Mr. Oldmixon.]

Daily Journal, April 5. An Auction of Goods at Twickenham. By James-Moore Smith.

The Flying Post, April 6. A Fragment of a Treatife upon Swift and Pope. By Mr. Oldmixon.