fome notorious Vehicle of vice and folly was fought out, to make thereof an Example. An early inftance of which (nor could it escape the accurate Scriblerus) the Father From him the of Epic poem himself affordeth us.

practice defcended to the Greek Dramatic Poets, his Offspring; who, in the composition of their Tetralogy, or fet of four pieces, were wont to make the last a Satiric Tragedy. Happily, one of these ancient Dunciads (as we may well term it) is come down unto us, amongst the Tragedies of the poet Euripides. And what doth the reader fuppofe may be the fubject thereof? Why in truth, and it is worthy observation, the unequal Contest of an old, dull, debauched buffoon Cyclops, with the heaven-directed Favourite of Minerva; who, after having quietly borne all the monster's obfcene and impious ribaldry, endeth the farce in punishing him with the mark of an indelible brand in his forehead. May we not then be excused, if for the future we confider the Epics of Homer, Virgil, and Milton, together with this our poem, as a complete Tetralogy; in which the last worthily holdeth the place or station of the fatiric piece?

Proceed we therefore in our fubject. It hath been long, and alas for pity! still remaineth a question, whether the Hero of the greater Epic should be an honest Man; or, as the French Critics exprefs it, un honnête hommea: but it never admitted of a doubt, but that the Hero of the little Epic fhould be just the contrary.

a Si un Heros Poëtique doit être un honnête homme. Boffu, du Poême Epique, liv. v. ch. 5.

Hence,

Hence, to the advantage of our Dunciad, we may obferve, how much jufter the Moral of that Poem muft needs be, where fo important a question is previously decided.

But then it is not every Knave, nor (let me add) every Fool, that is a fit fubject for a Dunciad. There muft ftill exist fome Analogy, if not Refemblance of Qualities between the Heroes of the two Poems; and this in order to admit what Neoteric critics call the Parody, one of the livelieft graces of the little Epic. Thus it being agreed, that the constituent qualities of the greater Epic Hero, are Wisdom, Bravery, and Love, from whence fpringeth heroic Virtue; it followeth, that those of the leffer Epic Hero fhould be Vanity, Affurance, and Debauchery, from which happy assemblage refulteth heroic Dulnefs, the never-dying fubject of this our Poem.

This being fettled, come we now to particulars. It is the character of true Wisdom, to feek its chief support and confidence within itself; and to place that fupport in the refources which proceed from a confcious rectitude of Will.-And are the advantages of Vanity, when arifing to the heroic ftandard, at all fhort of this felf-complacence? Nay, are they not, in the opinion of the enamoured owner, far beyond it? "Let the world "(will fuch an one fay) impute to me what folly or "weakness they pleafe; but till Wisdom can give me "fomething that will make me more heartily happy, "I am content to be GAZED AT b." This, we fee, is

b Ded. to the Life of C. C.

Vanity according to the heroic gage or meafure; not that low and ignobie fpecies which pretendeth to Virtues we have not; but the laudable ambition of being gazed at for glorying in those Vices, which every body knows we have. "The world may ask (fays he) why I make "my follies public? Why not? I have paffed my life very pleasantly with them." In fhort, there is no fort of Vanity fuch a Hero would fcruple, but that which might go near to degrade him from his high station in this our Dunciad; namely, "whether it would "not be Vanity in him, to take fhame to himself for "not being a wife man d ?”

Bravery, the fecond attribute of the true Hero, is Courage manifefting itself in every limb; while its correfpondent Virtue in the mock Hero, is, that fame Courage all collected into the Face. And as Power, when drawn together, muft needs have more force and spirit than when difperfed, we generally find this kind of courage in fo high and heroic a degree, that it infults not only Men, but Gods. Mezentius is, without doubt, the bravest character in all the Æneis: But how? His bravery, we know, was an high courage of blafphemy. And can we fay less of this brave man's, who having told us that he placed " his Summum bonum in "thofe follies, which he was not content barely to "poffefs, but would likewise glory in," adds, "If I "am mifguided, 'TIS NATURE'S FAULT, and I follow "HER." Nor can we be mistaken in making this e Ibid. p. 23. happy

c Life, p. 2. oct. edit.

d Ibid.

happy quality a fpecies of Courage, when we confider thofe illuftrious marks of it, which made his FACE "more known (as he justly boasteth) than most in the "kingdom;" and his Language to confist of what we must allow to be the moft daring Figure of Speech, that which is taken from the Name of God.

Gentle Love, the next ingredient in the true Hero's compofition, is a mere bird of paffage, or (as Shakefpeare calls it) fummer-teeming Lust, and evaporates in the heat of Youth; doubtless by that refinement it fuffers in paffing through those certain strainers which our Poet fomewhere speaketh of. But when it is let alone to work upon the Lees, it acquireth ftrength by Old Age; and becometh a lasting ornament to the little Epic. It is true, indeed, there is one objection to its fitnefs for fuch an ufe: For not only the ignorant may think it common, but it is admitted to be fo, even by Him who beft knoweth its value. "Don't you think

numerus;

(argueth he) to say only a man has his Whore f,' ought to go for little or nothing? Because defendis take the first ten thousand men you meet, "and, I believe, you would be no lofer if you betted "ten to one, that every fingle finner of them, one "with another, had been guilty of the fame frailty 5." But here he feemeth not to have done juftice to himself : The man is fure enough a Hero, who hath his Lady at

f Alluding to these lines in the Epift. to Dr. Arbuthnot; "And has not Colly ftill his Lord and Whore, "His Butchers Henley, his Free-Mafons Moore ? Letter to Mr. P. p. 46.

four

fourfcore. How doth his Modefty herein leffen the merit of a whole well-fpent life: not taking to himfelf the commendation (which Horace accounted the greatest in a theatrical character) of continuing to the very dregs, the fame he was from the beginning,

But here, in justice both to the Poet and the Hero, let us farther remark, that the calling her his whore, implieth he was his own, and not his neighbour's. Truly a commendable Continence! and fuch as Scipio himself must have applauded. For how much Selfdenial was neceffary not to covet his Neighbour's whore? and what disorders must the coveting her have occafioned in that Society, where (according to this Political Calculator) nine in ten of all ages have their concubines!

We have now, as briefly as we could devife, gone through the three con ituent Qualities of either Hero. But it is not in any, or in all of thefe, that Heroifm properly or effentially refideth. It is a lucky refult rather from the collifion of these lively Qualities against one another. Thus, as from Wisdom, Bravery, and Love, arifeth Magnanimity, the object of Admiration, which is the aim of the greater Epic; fo from Vanity, Affurance, and Debauchery, fpringeth Buffoonry, the fource of Ridicule, that "laughing ornament," as he well termeth it, of the little Epic.

h Letter to Mr. P. P. 31.

He