Of his Effay on Man, numerous were the praises ber ftowed by his avowed enemies, in the imagination that the fame was not written by him, as it was printed anonymously.

Thus fang of it even

BEZALEEL MORRIS.

"Aufpicious bard! while all admire thy ftrain, "All but the selfish, ignorant, and vain, "I, whom 'no bribe to servile flatt'ry drew, "Muft pay the tribute to thy merit due: "Thy Mufe fublime, fignificant, and clear, "Alike informs the Soul, and charms the Ear," &c.

And

Mr LEONARD WELSTED

thus wrote a to the unknown author, on the first publication of the faid Effay: "I muft own, after the re"ception which the vileft and. most immoral ribaldry "hath lately met with, I was furprised to see what I "had long defpaired, a performance. deferving the name "of a poet. Such, Sir, is your work. It is, indeed, "above all commendation, and ought to have been "published in an age and country more worthy of it. "If my teftimony be of weight any where, you are fure to have it in the ampleft manner," &c. &c. &c.

Thus we fee every one of his works hath been extolled by one or other of his moft inveterate Enemies ; and to the fuccefs of them all they do unanimously

a In a Letter under his hand, dated March 12, 1733.

give teftimony. But it is fufficient, inftar omnium, to behold the great critic, Mr Dennis, forely lamenting it, even from the Effay on criticism to this day of the Dunciad! "A most notorious instance (quoth he) of the "depravity of genius and tafte, the approbation this "Essay meets with b—I can safely affirm, that I never "attacked any of these writings, unless they had fuc"cefs infinitely beyond their merit.-This, though an "empty, has been a popular scribbler. The epidemic "madness of the times has given him réputation c.—If, "after the cruel treatment fo many extraordinary "" men (Spencer, Lord Bacon, Ben Johnson, Milton, "Butler, Otway, and others) have received from this "country, for these last hundred years, I fhould fhift "the scene, and fhew all that penury changed at once "to riot and profufenefs; and more fquandered away "( upon one object, than would have fatisfied the greater

part of those extraordinary men; the reader to "whom this one creature should be unknown, would "fancy him a prodigy of art and nature, would be

lieve that all the great qualities of these persons were "centered in him alone. But if I fhould venture to "affure him, that the People of England had made "fuch a choice the reader would either believe me a "malicious enemy, and flanderer; or that the reign of "the laft (Queen Anne's) Miniftry was defigned by "fate to encourage fools d."

b Dennis, Pref. to his Reflect. on the Essay on Criticism. c Preface to his Remarks on Homer,

d Rem. on Homer, p. 8. 9.

But it happens, that this our Poet never had any Place, Penfion, or Gratuity, in any shape, from the said glorious Queen, or any of her Minifters. All he owed, in the whole course of his life, to any court, was a subscription, for his Homer, of L. 200 from K. George I, and L. 100 from the prince and princess.

However, left we imagine our Author's Success was constant and univerfal, they acquaint us of certain works in a less degree of repute, whereof, although owned by others, yet do they affure us he is the writer. Of this fort Mr DENNIS afcribes to him two Farces, whofe names he does not tell, but affures us that there is not one jeft in them: And an imitation of Horace, whofe title he does not mention, but affures us it is much more execrable than all his works f. The DAILY JOURNAL, May 11, 1728. affures us, "He is below "Tom Durfey in the Drama, because (as that writer "thinks) the Marriage Hater matched, and the Boarding "School are better than the What-d'ye-call-it;" which is not Mr P.'s, but Mr Gay's. Mr GILDON affures us, in his New Rehearsal, p. 48 "That he was "writing a play of the Lady Jane Grey;" but it af terwards proved to be Mr Row's. We are affured by another, "He wrote a pamphlet called Dr Andrew "Tripe ;" which proved to be one Dr Wagstaff's. Mr THEOBALD affures us, in Mist of the 27th of April, "That the treatise of the Profound is "that Mr Pope is the author of it."

e Ibid. p. 8.

f Character of Mr Pope, p. 7.

very dull, and

The writer of

Gulliveriana is of another opinion; and says, "the "whole, or greatest part, of the merit of this treatife "must and can only be ascribed to Gulliver h.” [Here, gentle reader! cannot I but fmile at the ftrange blindness and positiveness of men; knowing the said treatise to appertain to none other but to me, Martinus Scriblerus.]

We are affured, in Mift of June 8, "That his own

Plays and Farces would better have adorned the "Dunciad, than those of Mr Theobald; for he had "neither genius for Tragedy nor Comedy." Which whether true or not, is not eafy to judge; in as much as he hath attempted neither. Unless we will take it for granted, with Mr Cibber, that his being once very angry at hearing a friend's Play abused, was an infallible proof the Play was his own; the faid Mr Cibber thinking it impoffible for a man to be much concerned for any but himself: "Now let any man "judge (faith he) by this concern, who was the true "mother of the child i?

any

But from all that hath been said, the difcerning reader will collect, that it little availed our author to have Candour, fince when he declared he did not write for others, it was not credited; as little to have any Modefty, fince, when he declined writing in any way himself, the prefumption of others was imputed to him. If he fingly enterprised one great work, he was taxed of Boldness aud Madness to a Prodigy k: If he took

h Gulliv. p. 376.

i Cibber's Letter to Mr P. p. 19.

k Burnet's Homerides, p. 1. of his tranflation of the Iliad.

affiftants in another, it was complained of, and reprefented as a great injury to the public. The loftieft heroics, the loweft ballads, treatifes against the ftate or church, fatires on lords and ladies, raillery on wits and authors, fquabbles with book fellers, or even full and true accounts of monsters, poisons, and murders; of any hereof was there nothing fo good, nothing fo bad, which hath not at one or other feafon been to him afcribed. If it bore no author's name, then lay he concealed: if it did, he fathered it upon that author to be yet better concealed: If it refembled any of his ftyles, then was it evident; if it did not, then disguised he it on fet purpose. Yea, even direct oppofitions in religion, principles, and politics, have equally been fuppofed in him inherent. Surely a most rare and fingular character! of which let the reader make what he can.

Doubtless moft Commentators would hence take occafion to turn all to their Author's advantage, and from the teftimony of his very Enemies would affirm, That his Capacity was boundless, as well as his Imagination; that he was a perfect mafter of all Styles; and all Arguments; and that there was in those times no other Writer in any kind, of any degree of excellence, fave he himself. But as this is not our own fentiment, we shall determine on

i The London and Mift's Journals, on his undertaking the Odyffey.