He is not ashamed (God forbid he ever fhould be afhamed!) of this character; who deemeth that not Reafon but Rifibility distinguisheth the human species from the brutal. "As Nature (faith this profound philofopher) diftinguished our fpecies from the mute creation by our Rifibility, her defign must have been by that faculty as evidently to raise our happiness, as by our Os fublime, OUR ERECTED FACES, to lift the dignity of our form above them." All this confidered, how complete a Hero* must he be, as well as how happy a Man, whofe Rifibility lieth not barely in his muscles, as in the common fort, but (as himself informeth us) in his very fpirits? And whofe Os fublime is not fimply an ERECT FACE, but a brazen head; as fhould feem by his preferring it to one of Iron, faid to belong to the late king of Sweden *. But whatever perfonal qualities a Hero may have, the examples of Achilles and Aeneas fhew us, that all these are of small avail, without the conftant affiftance of the GODS: for the fubverfion and erection of Empires have never been adjudged the work of Man. How greatly foever then we may esteem of his high talents, we can hardly conceive his perfonal prowess alone fufficient to restore the decayed empire of i Cibber's Life, p. 23, 24. * Letter, page 8. * In this and many other paffages of this discourse, the attempts of Ariftarchus, at fatire and ridicule, are very frigid and awkward indeed. VOL. V. of DULNESS. So weighty an atchievement must require the particular favour and protection of the GREAT; who being the natural patrons and fupporters of Letters, as the ancient Gods were of Troy, must first be drawn off, and engaged in another Intereft, before the total fubverfion of them can be accomplished. To furmount, therefore, this laft and greatest difficulty, we have, in this excellent man, a profeffed Favourite and Intimado of the GREAT. And look, of what force ancient piety was to draw the Gods into the party of Aeneas, that, and much ftronger is modern incenfe, to engage the Great in the party of Dulness. Thus have we effayed to pourtray or fhadow out this noble Imp of Fame. But now the impatient reader will be apt to fay, if fo many and various graces go to the making up a Hero, what mortal fhall fuffice to bear his character? Ill hath he read, who feeth not, in every trace of this picture, that individual, ALL-ACCOMPLISHED PERSON, in whom thefe rare virtues and lucky circumstances have agreed to meet and concentre, with the strongest luftre and fulleft harmony. The good Scriblerus indeed, nay the World itself, might be imposed on, in the late spurious editions, by I can't tell what Sham Hero, or Phantom But it was not fo eafy to impofe on HIM whom this egregious error most of all concerned. For no fooner had the fourth book laid open the high and fwelling fwelling fcene, but he recognized his own heroic Acts: And when he came to the words, Soft on her lap her Laureat fon reclines, (though Laureat imply no more than one crown'd with laurel, as befitteth any affociate or Confort in Empire) he loudly refented this indignity to violated Majesty. Indeed not without caufe, he being there represented as fast asleep; fo misbeseeming the Eye of Empire, which, like that of Jove, fhould never doze nor flumber. "Hah! (faith he) fast asleep, it seems! that's a little too ftrong, Pert and dull at least you might have allowed me, but as seldom asleep as any fool!." However, the injured Laureat may comfort himself with this reflection, that tho' it be a fleep, yet it is not the fleep of death, but of immortality. Here he will live at least, tho' not m awake; and in no worfe condition than many an enchanted Hero before him. The famous Durandarte, for instance, was, like him, caft into a long flumber by Merlin the British Bard and Necromancer: and his example, for fubmitting to it with a good grace, might be of fervice to our Hero. For that difaftrous knight being forely preffed or driven to make his answer by feveral perfons of quality", only replied with a figh, Patience, and shuffle the cards. 1 Colly Cibber's Letter to Mr. P. p. 53. n See Cibber's Letter to Mr. P. But m Ibid. p. I. But now, as nothing in this world, no not the moft facred or perfect things either of Religion or Government, can efcape the ftings of Envy, methinks I already hear these carpers objecting to the clearness of our Hero's title. It would never (fay they) have been esteemed fufficient to make an Hero for the Iliad or Aeneis, that Achilles was brave enough to overturn one Empire, or Aeneas pious enough to raise another, had they not been Goddess-born, and Princes-bred. What then did this Author mean, by erecting a Player instead of one of his Patrons, (a perfon, "never a Hero even on the ftage "") to this dignity of Colleague in the empire of Dulness; and Atchiever of a work that neither old Omar, Attila, nor John of Leiden, could entirely bring to pass. To all this we have, as we conceive, a fufficient answer from the Roman hiftorian, Fabrum effe fuae quemque fortunae: That every man is the Carver of his own fortune. The politic Florentine, Nicholas Machiavel, goeth ftill further, and affirmeth that a man needeth but to believe himself a Hero to be one of the worthiest that ever breathed. "Let him (faith he) but fancy himself capable of high things, and he will of course be able to atchieve the highest." From this principle it followeth, that nothing can exceed our Hero's prowefs; as nothing ever equalled the P See Cibber's Life, p. 148. the greatness of his conceptions. Hear how he conftantly paragons himself; at one time, to ALEXANDER the Great and CHARLES the XII. of Sweden, for the excess and delicacy of his Ambition; to HENRY the IV. of FRANCE, for honeft Policy'; to the firft BRUTUS, for love of Liberty; to Sir ROBERT WALPOLE, for good Government while in power: At another time, to the godlike SOCRATES, for his Diverfions and Amusements"; to HORACE, MONTAIGNE, and Sir WILLIAM TEMPLE, for an elegant Vanity that maketh them for ever read and admired"; to Two Lord CHANCELLORS, for Law, from whom, when confederate against him at the bar, he carried away the prize of Eloquence; and, to fay all in a word, to the right reverend the Lord BISHOP of LONDON himself, in the art of writing Paftoral letters . Nor did his Actions fall fhort of the fublimity of his Conceit. In his early youth, he met the Revolution face to face in Nottingham; at a time when other Patriots contented themselves to follow her. It was here he got acquainted with Old Battle-array, of whom he hath made fo honourable mention in one of his immortal Odes ". But he q See Cibber's Life, p. 149. ↑ Ibid. p. 457. x Ibid. p. 436, 437. u Ibid. p. 18. y Ibid. p. 52. a "Old BATTLE-ARRAY in confufion is fled; z Ibid. 47. And olive-rob'd Peace is come in his ftead," &c. Colly Cibber's Birth-day Ode, or New-year's Ode, (I don't know which) on the Peace. |