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VII.

A

PARALLEL

OF THE

CHARACTERS

O F

Mr. DRYDEN and Mr. POPE,

As drawn by certain of their Contemporaries.

M

Mr. DRYDEN,

His POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS.

·R. Dryden is a mere renegado from Monarchy, poetry, and good fenfe 2. A true republican fon of monarchical Church b. A republican Atheist ‹. Dryden was from the beginning an αλλοπρόσαλλος, and I doubt not will continue fo to the last d.

In the Poem called Abfalom and Achitophel are notoriously traduced, The KING, the QUEEN, the LORDS and GENTLEMEN, not only their honourable perfons exposed, but the whole NATION and its REPRESENTA

TIVES

a Milbourn on Dryden's Virgil, 8vo, 1698, p. 6.

Pag. 38.

c

Pag. 192.

d

Pag. 8.

VII.

A

PARALLEL

OF THE

CHARACTERS

O F

Mr. POPE and Mr. DRYDEN,

As drawn by certain of their Contemporaries.

Mr. POPE,

His POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS.

MR. Pope is an open and mortal enemy to his

country and the commonwealth of learning. Some call him a Popish whig, which is directly inconfiftent b. Pope, as a Papist, must be a tory and high flyer c. He is both whig and tory d.

He hath made it his cuftom to cackle to more than one party in their own sentiments e.

In his Mifcellanies, the Perfo is abused are, The KING, the QUEEN, His late MAJESTY, both Houses of

a Dennis, Rem. on the Rape of the Lock, Pref. p. xii. b Dunciad diffected. < Pref. to Gulliveriana.

d Dennis, Character of Mr. P.

e

Theobald, Letter in Mift's Journals, June 22, 1728,

TIVES notoriously libelled. It is scandalum magnatum, yea of MAJESTY itself e.

He looks upon God's Gospel as a foolish fable, like the Pope, to whom he is a pitiful purveyor f. His very christianity may be queftioned 8. He ought to expect more severity than other men, as he is moft unmerciful in his own reflections on others b: With as good a right as his Holiness, he fets up for poetical infallibility i.

Mr. DRYDEN only a Verfifier.

His whole Libel is all bad matter, beautified (which is all that can be faid of it) with good metre k. Mr. Dryden's genius did not appear in any thing more than his Versification, and whether he is to be ennobled for that only, is a queftion1.

Mr. DRYDEN'S VIRGIL.

Tonfon calls it Dryden's Virgil, to fhew that this is not that Virgil fo admired in the Augustan age; but a Virgil of another stamp, a filly, impertinent, nonfenfical writer. None but a Bavius, a Mævius, or a Bathyllus, carped at Virgil m; and none but fuch unthinking Vermin admire his Translator a. It is true, foft and eafy lines might become Ovid's Epiftles or Art of Love-But Virgil, who is all great and majestic, &c. requires ftrength of lines, weight of words, and clofe

• Whip and Key, 4to, printed for R. Pref. f Ibid. g Milbourn, p.9. i Pag. 39. * Whip and Key, Pref. Effay on Criticism, p. 84. A Pag. 35.

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Janeway, 1682. ▲ Ibid. p. 175. 1 Oldmixon, Milbourn, P. 2.

of PARLIAMENT, the Privy-Council, the Bench of BISHOPS, the established CHURCH, the present MINISTRY, &c. To make Senfe of fome paffages, they must be conftrued into ROYAL SCANDAL f.

He is a Popish Rhymefter, bred up with a contempt of the facred Writings. His Religion allows him to deftroy Hereticks, not only with his pen, but with fire and fword; and fuch were all those unhappy Wits whom he facrificed to his accurfed Popish Principles h. It deserved vengeance to fuggeft, that Mr. Pope had lefs Infallibility, than his Namefake at Rome i.

Mr. POPE only a Verfifier.

The fmooth numbers of the Dunciad are all that recommend it, nor has it any other merit k. It must be owned that he hath got a notable knack of rhyming and writing smooth verse 1.

Mr. POP E's HOMER.

The Homer which Lintot prints, does not talk like Homer, but like Pope; and he who translated him, one would swear, had a hill in Tipperary for his Parnaffus, and a puddle in fome Bog for his Hippocrene. He has no Admirers among thofe that can distinguish, difcern, and judge n.

He

f Lift, at the end of a Collection of Verfes, Letters, Advertisments, 8vo. printed for A. Moore, 1728, and the Preface to it, p. 6. g Dennis's Remarks on Homer, p. 27. h Preface to Gulliveriana, p. 11. i Dedication to the Collection of Verfes, Letters, &c. P. 9. * Mift's Journal of June 8, 1728. 1 Cha

racter of Mr. P. and Dennis on Hom. Remarks on Pope's Homer, p. 12.

m Dennis's ■ Ib. p. 14.

clofeness of expreffion; not an ambling Muse running on Carpet ground, and fhod as lightly as a Newmarket racer. He has numberlefs faults in his Author's meaning, and in propriety of expreffion o.

Mr. DRYDEN understood no Greek nor Latin.

Mr. Dryden was once, I have heard, at Westminster fchool: Dr. Busby would have whipt him for fo childish a Paraphrafe P. The meaneft Pedant in England would whip a Lubber of twelve for conftruing fo abfurdly 9. The Translator is mad : every line betrays his Stupidity ". The faults are innumerable, and convince me that Mr. Dryden did not, or would not understand his Authors. This fhews how fit Mr. D. may be to translate Homer! A mistake in a fingle letter might fall on the Printer well enough, but xg for xg must be the error of the Author: Nor had he art enough to correct it at the Prefs. Mr. Dryden writes for the Court Ladies -He writes for the Ladies, and not for use ".

The Tranflator puts in a little Burlesque now and then into Virgil, for a ragout to his cheated Subfcribers w.

Mr. DRYDEN tricked his Subfcribers.

I wonder that any man, who could not but be confcious of his own unfitness for it, fhould go to amuse. the learned world with fuch an undertaking! A man ought to value his Reputation more than Money; and

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