1

Who he is I cannot fay, and (which is a great pity) there is certainly f nothing in his style and manner of writing, which can distinguish or difcover him: For if it bears any resemblance to that of Mr. Pope, it is not improbable but it might be done on purpose, with a view to have it pafs for his. But by the frequency of his allufions to Virgil, and a laboured (not to fay affected) fhortnefs in imitation of him, I should think him more an admirer of the Roman poet than of the Grecian, and in that not of the fame tafte with his friend.

I have been well informed, that this work was the labour of full 3 fix years of his life, and that he wholly

retired

f There is certainly nothing in his ftyle, &c.] This irony had fmall effect in concealing the author. The Dunciad, imperfect as it was, had not been published two days, but the whole Town gave it to Mr. Pope.

g 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 compliment "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 plea"fures 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 prepoffefs the reader with a good opinion of it."

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

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 would feem by this verfe of Statius, which was cited at the head of his manufcript.

“O mihi biffenos multum vigilata per annos,

"Duncia! h”

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 Æneid, of Camoens the Lufiad, we may pronounce, could have been, and can be, no

other than

The DUNCIAD.

It is styled Heroic, as being doubly so; not only with respect to its nature, which according to the beft rules of the ancients, and strictest ideas of the moderns, is critically fuch; but also with regard to the heroical difpofition and high courage of the writer, who dared to ftir up fuch a formidable, irritable, and implacable race of mortals.

There may arife fome obfcurity in chronology from the Names in the poem, by the inevitable removal of fome authors, and infertion of others in their niches. For whoever will confider-the unity of the whole defign, will be fenfible, that the poem was not made for

thefe

h The prefacer to Curll's key, p. 3. took this word to be really in Statius: "By a quibble on the word Dun"cia, the Dunciad is formed." Mr. Ward alfo fellows him in the fame opinion.

thefe authors, but these 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 preserve 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 inftance, 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 saved by calling him by a name, which by good luck happens to be that of a real person.

II.

A LIST of

BOOKS, PAPERS, and VERSES,

In which our Author was abufed, before the Publication of the DUNCIAD; with the true Names of the Authors.

R

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

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 1 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 9 d.

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

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

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

A com

A complete Key to the What-d'ye-call-it. Anon. [by Griffin a player, fupervifed 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 3 d.

The Confederates, a Farce. By Jofeph Gay, [J. D. Breval] printed for R. Burleigh, 1717, price 1 s.

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. Curll, 1717, price 1 s. 6 d.

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

The Triumvirate or a Letter from Palæmon to Celia at Bath. Anon. [Leonard Welfted] 1711, Folio, price 1 s.

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

Memoirs of Lilliput. Anon. [Eliz. 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 of the Times; or an account of the writings, characters, &c. of feveral gentlemen libelled, by S― and P—, in a late Mifcellany, octavo, 1728.