lively and choleric than her elder fifter, whofe bulk and complexion incline her to the flegmatic) and for this 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 of Epic poem himself affordeth us. From him the practice defcended to the Greek Dramatic-poets, his offspring; who in the compofition of their Tetralogy, or fet of four pieces, were wont to make the laft 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 obfervation, the unequal Contention of an old, dull, debauched buffoon Cyclops, with the heaven-directed Fa vourite of Minerva; who, after having quietly born 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 excufed, 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 ftation of the fatiric piece?

Proceed we therefore in our fubject. It hath been long, and, alas for pity! ftill remaineth a question, whether the Hero of the greater Epic should be an honeft Man? or, as the French critics express it, un honnéte homme a; but it never admitted of any doubt, but that the Hero of the little Epic should be just the con

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

trary. 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 queftion is previ oufly decided.

But then it is not every Knave, nor (let me add) every Fool, that is a fit fubject for a Dunciad. There must still exist some Analogy, if not Refemblance of Qualities between the Heroes of the two Poems; and and this in order to admit what Neoteric critics call the Parody, one of the liveliest 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 thofe of the leffer Epic Hero, fhould be Vanity, Impudence and Debauchery, from which happy affemblage refulteth Heroic Dulness, the never-dying fubject of this our Poem,

This being confeffed, come we now to particulars. It is the character of true Wisdom, to seek its chief fupport and confidence within itself; and to place that fupport in the resources which proceed from a conscious 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 Wif.

dom can give me something that will make me more "heartily happy, I am content to be GAZED AT "." This, we fee, is Vanity according to the heroic gage

Ded. to the Life of C. C.

or measure; not that low and ignoble fpecies which pretendeth to Virtues we have not, but the laudable ambition of being gazed at for glorying in thofe Vices, "The world may

which every body knows we have. "afk (fays he) why I make my follies public? Why "not? I have paffed my time 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 shame 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, must 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 braveft character in all the Æneis: But how? His bravery, we know, was an high courage of blafphemy. And can we say lefs 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 likewife glory in," adds, "If I "am mifguided, 'TIS NATURE'S FAULT, and I follow "< HERE." Nor can we be mistaken in making this happy quality a fpecies of Courage, when we confider d Life, ibid.

c Life, p. 2. oct. edit. e Life, p. 23. octavo.

thofe illuftrious marks of it, which made his FACE more known (as he justly boasteth) than most in the "kingdom," and his Language to confift of what we must allow to be the most 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 meer bird of paffage, or (as Shakefpear calls it) fummer-teeming Luft, and evaporates in the heat of Youth; doubtless by that refinement it fuffers in paffing through thofe certain ftrainers which our Poet somewhere fpeaketh of. But when it is let alone to work upon the Lees, it acquireth ftrength by Old age; and becometh a lafting ornament to the little Epic. It is true indeed, there is one objection to its fitness for fuch an use: 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 "(argueth he) to say only a man has his Whore f, ought to go for little or nothing? Because defendit "numerus, take the first ten thousand men you meet, "and, I believe, you would be no lofer if you betted "ten to one, that every single finner of them, one "with another, had been guilty of the fame frailty ." But here he feemeth not to have done juftice to him. felf: The man is fure enough a Hero, who hath his Lady at four core. How doth his Modesty herein lef

f Alluding to thefe lines in the Epift, to Dr Arbuthnot:
"And has not Colly fill his Lord and Whore,
"His Butchers Henly, his Free Mafons Moore?
g Letter to Mr P. p. 46.

fen the merit of a whole well-spent Life: not taking to himself the commendation (which Horace accounted the greatest in a theatrical character) of continuing to the very dregs, the fame he was from the begin ning,

-Servetur ad IMUM

Qualis ab incepto processerat.

But here, in justice both to the Poet and the Hero, let us farther remark, that the calling her his whore, implieth fhe 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 exerted not to covet his Neighbour's whore and what disorders muft 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 conftituent Qualities of either Hero. But it is not in any, or in all of thefe, that Heroism properly or effentially refideth. It is a lucky result 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, Impudence and Debauchery, fpringeth Buffoonry, the fource of Ridicule that "laughing orna66 ment," as he well termeth it ", of the little Epic.

h Letter to Mr P. p. 31.