Whereas had they followed the Example of thofe microfcopes of wit, Kufter, Burman, and their fol printed in a London Journal, Sept. 1728. He was wholly illiterate, and knew no language, not even French. Being advised to read the rules of drama-'owers, in verbal criticifm on the learned Languages, tic poetry before he began a play, he smiled and replied, "Shakespeare writ without rules." He ended at laft in the common fink of all fuch writers, a political News-paper, to which he was recommended by his friend Arnal, and received a fmall pittance for pay. Ver. 158. Morris,] Befaleel. See Book ii. Ver. 169. Flow, Welfted, &c.] Of this author fee the Remark on Book ii. v. 209. But (to be impartial) add to it the following different character of him: their acuteness and induftry might have raised them a name equal to the most famous of the Scholiasts. We cannot therefore but lament the late Apoitaly of the Prebendary of Rochefter, who beginning in fo good a train, has now turned fhort to write comments on the FIRE-SIDE, and DREAMS upon Shakefpeare; where we find the fpirit of Oldmixon, Gildon, and Dennis, all revived in his belaboured obfervations. SCRIBL. Here Scriblerus, in this affair of the FIRE-SIDE, I want thy ufual candour. It is true Mr. Upton did write notes upon it, but with all the honour and good faith in the world. He took it to be a Panegyric on his Patron. This it is to have to do with wits; a commerce unworthy a Scholiaft of fo folid learning. ARIST. Mr. Welfted had, in his youth, raised fo great expectations of his future genius, that there was a kind of ftruggle between the moft eminent of the two Universities, which fhould have the honour of his education. To compound this he (civilly) became a member of both, and after having paffed fome Ver. 173. Ah, Dennis, &c.] The reader, who time at the one, he removed to the other. From has feen, through the courfe of these notes, what thence he returned to town, where he became the conftant attendance Mr. Dennis paid to our Author darling Expectation of all the polite Writers, whofe and all his works, may perhaps wonder he should be encouragement he acknowledged in his occafional mentioned but twice, and fo flightly touched, in this poems, in a manner that will make no fmall part of poem. But in truth he looked upon him with fome the Fame of his protectors. It alfo appears from his esteem, for having (more generously than all the rest) Works, that he was happy in the patronage of the fet his name to fuch writings. He was alfo a very moft illustrious characters of the prefent age-En-old man at this time. By his own account of himcouraged by fuch a Combination in his favour, he publifhed a book of poems, fame in the Ovidian, forne in the Horatian manner; in both which the moft Exquifite Judges pronounce he even rivalled his mafters-His love-verfes have refcued that way of writing from contempt-In his tranflations, he has given us the very foul and spirit of his author. His Ode-his Epiftle-his Verfes his Love-taleall, are the most perfect things in all poetry, WEL STED of himself, Char. of the Times, 8vo, 1728, page 23, 24. It should not be forgot for his homour, that he received at one time the fum of five hundred pounds for fecret fervice, among the other Excellent authors hired to write anonymoufly for the miniftry. See Report of the Secret Committee, &c. in 1742. Ver. 173. Ah Dennis! Gildon ah '] Thefe men became the public fcorn by a mere mistake of their talents. They would needs turn critics of their own country writers (juft as Ariftotle and Longinus did of theirs), and difcourfe upon the beauties and defects of compoition; How parts relate to parts, and they to whole; felf in Mr. Jacob's Lives, he must have been above threefcore, and happily lived many years after. So that he was fenior to Mr. D'Urfey, who hitherto of all our Poets enjoyed the longest bodily life. Ver. 179. Behold yon pair, &c.] One of thefe was Author of a weekly paper called The Grumbler, in which Mr. Pope was abused with the Duke of as the other was concerned in another called Pafquin, Buckingham, and Bishop of Rochester. They alfo flate the Iliad, intituled, Homerides, by Sir Iliad joined in a piece against his firft undertaking to tranDoggrel, printed 1715. has heard no more, than it would of Mr. Pope's, had their united laudable endeavours difcouraged him from purfuing his ftudies. How few good works had ever appeared (fince men of true merit are always the leaft prefuming) had there been always fuch champions to ftifle them in their concepmillion of monters fhould come into the world, tion? And were it not better for the public, that a which are fure to die as foon as born, than that the ferpents should ftrangle ene Hercules in his Cradle ? Of the other works of thefe Gentlemen the world The union of these two authors ave occafion to this Epigram: Like all their merits, like rewards they share, 185 "But who is he, in clofet clofe y-pent, 190 But, where each Science lifts its modern type, 195 REMARKS. "Burnet and Ducket, friends in spite, Thus Amphisbona (I have read) "None knows which leads or which is led, "For both heads are but Tails." 200 After many Editions of this poem, the author thought fit to omit the names of thefe two perfons, whofe injury to him was of fo old a date. Ver. 184. That fhines a Conful, this Commiffioner.] Such places were given at this time to fuch fort of Writers. Ver. 187. myfter wight,] Uncouth mortal. How fluent nonfenfe trickles from his tongue! it as because he was not qualified to be a complete "Spaniel." However, he offered the fervice of his pen to two great men, of opinions and interefts directly oppofite; by both of whom being rejected, he fet up a new Project, and ftyled himself the Reftorer of ancient Eloquence. He thought "lawful to take a licence from the King and Par"liament in one place as another; at Hickes's Hall, "as at Doctor's Commons; fo fet up his Oratory in "Newport-market, Butcher-row. There (fays his "friend) he had the affurance to form a plan, which "no mortal ever thought of; he had fuccefs against "all oppofition; challenged his adverfaries to fair difputations, and none would difpute with him; writ, read, and studied twelve hours a day; com"pofed three differtations a week on all subje&s'; "undertook to teach in one year what schools and "univerfities teach in five; was not terrified by "menaces, infults, or fatires, but still proceeded, "matured his bold fcheme, and put the Church, " and all that in danger.' WELSTED, Narrative in Orat. Tranfact. Ñ. 1. Ver. 188. Wormius hight.] Let not this name, purely fictitious, be conceited to mean the learned Olaus Wormius; much lefs (as it was unwarrantably foifted into the furreptitious editions) our own" Antiquary Mr. Thomas Hearne, who had no way aggrieved our Poet, but on the contrary published many curious tracts which he hath to his great contentment perufed. Ver. 192. Wits, who, like owls, &c.] Thefe few lines exactly defcribe the right verbal critic: the darker his author is, the better he is pleafed; like, the famous Quack Doctor, who put up in his bills, he delighted in matters of difficulty. Somebody faid well of thefe men, that their heads were libraries out, of order. Ver. 199. lo! Henley ftands, &c.] J. Henley the Orator; he preached on the Sundays upon Theological matters, and on the Wednesdays upon all other sciences. Each auditor paid one fhilling. He declaimed fome years against the greatest persons, and occafionally did our author that honour. WEL STED, in Oratory Tianfactions, N. 1. published by Henley himself, gives the following account of him "He was born at Melton Mowbray in Leicester"fhire. From his own Parifh fchool he went to "St. John's College in Cambridge. He began "there to be uneafy; for it shocked him to find he was commanded to believe against his own judgÉ ment in points of Religion, Philosophy, &c. for " After having flood fome Profecutions, he turned his rhetoric to buffoonery upon all public and private occurrences. All this paffed in the fame room; where fometimes he broke jefts, and fometimes that bread which he called the Primitive Eucharift This wonderful perfon ftruck Medals, which he difperfed as Tickets to his fubfcribers: the device a ftar rifing to the meridian, with this motto, AD SVMMA; and below, INVENIAM VIAM AVT FACIAM. This man had an hundred pounds a year given him for the fecret fervice of a weekly paper of unintelligible nonfenfe, called the Hyp-Doctor. Ver. 204. Sherlock, Hare, Gibfon,] Bishops of Salibury, Chichester, and London; whofe Sermons and Paftoral Letters did honour to their country as well as stations. Ver. 212. Of Toland, and Tindal, fee Bak ii. 215 Yet oh, my fons, a father's words attend: 225 Thus he, for then a ray of Reafon fole But, "Learn, ye DUNCES! not to fcorn your God," And ten-horn'd fiends and Giants rufh to war. REMARKS. Tho. Woolfton was an impious madman, who wrote in a most infolent ftyle against the Miracles of the Gofpel, in the year 1726, &c. Ver. 213. Yet oh, my fons, &c.] The caution again Blafphemy here given by a departed Son of Dulness to his yet exifting brethren, is, as the Poet rightly intinrates, not out of tenderness to the ears of others, but their own. And fo we fee that when that danger is removed, on the open establishment of the Goddefs in the fourth book, the encourages her fons, and they beg affiftance to pollute the Source of Light itself, with the fame virulence they had before done the pureft emanations from it. Hell rifes, Heaven defcends, and dance on Earth: 240 Joy fills his foul, joy innocent of thought; Wings the red lightning, and the thunder rolls. REMARKS. Ver. 224.-not to scorn your God.]" See this fubject purfued in Book iv. Ver. 215. 'Tis yours, a Bacon or a Locke to blame, A NEWTON's genius, or a Milton's flame;] Thankfully received, and freely used, is this gracious licence by the beloved difciple of that Prince of Cabaliftic dunces, the tremendous Hutchinfon. Hear with what honeft plainness he treateth our great Geometer. "As to mathematical demonftration (faith he) founded upon the proportions of lines ❝ and circles to each other, and the ringing of "changes upon figures, thefe have no more to do with the greatest part of philofophy, than they have with the Man in the Moon. Indeed the Zeal for this fort of Gibberish [mathematical "Principles] is greatly abated of late: and though it is now upwards of twenty years that the Dagon of modern Philofophers, SIR ISAAC NEWTON, has lain with his face upon the ground before the "Ark of God, Scripture philofophy; for fo long MOSES'S PRINCIPIA have been publifhed; and "the Treatife of Power Effential and Mechanical, "in whith Sir Ifaac Newton's Philofophy is treated" with the UTMOST CONTEMPT, has been pub-" "lished a dozen years; yet there is not one of the whole fociety who hath had the COURAGE to attempt to raise him up. And fo let him lie."-The philofophical principles of Mofes afferted, &c. p. 2. by JULIUS BATE, A. M. Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Earl of Harrington. London, 1744, octavo. SCRIBL. Ver. 224. But, Learn ye Dunces! not to fcorn your God."] The hardest leffon a Dunce can learn. For being bred to fcorn what he does not understand, that which he understands leaft he will be apt to fcorn most. Of which, to the difgrace of all Government, and (in the Poet's opinion) even of that of DULNESS herself, we have had a late example in a book intitled Philofophical Effays concerning human Understanding. Ver. 232. (Not half fo pleas'd, when Goodman prophefy'd.)] Mr. Cibber tells us, in his Life, p. 149. that Goodman being at the rehearsal of a play, in which he had a part, clapped him on the fhoulder, and cried, "If he does not make a good actor, I'll be dd.And (fays Mr. Cibber) I make it a question, whether Alexander himself, or Charles the twelfth of Sweden, when at the head of their first victorious armies, could feel a greater tran"fport in their bofoms than I did in mine." Ver 233. a fable Sorcerer.] Dr. Fauftus, the fubject of a fet of Farces, which lafted in vogue two or three feasons, in which both Playhoufes ftrove to outdo each other for fome years. All the extravagancies in the fixteen lines following were introduced on the Stage, and frequented by perfons of the firft quality in England, to the twentieth and thirtieth time. Ver. 237. Hell rifes, Heaven defcends, and dance on Earth: This monftrous abfurdity was actually reprefented in Tibbald's Rape of Proferpine. Ver. 248. Lo! one vaft Egg] In another of these Farces Harlequin is hatched upon the stage, out of a large egg. Yon ftars, yon funs, he rears at pleafure higher, On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind. 265 Here shouts all Drury, there all Lincoln's-inn; 270 275 And are these wonders, Son, to thee unknown? REMARKS. 280 Ver. 261. Immortal Rich!] Mr. John Rich, Mafter of the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, was the first that excelled this way, Yet lo: in me what authors have to brag on! | But lick up every blockhead in the way. The fure fore-runner of her gentle sway; 285. 290 295 300 mot Party-writers, was very uncertain in his political principles. He was employed to hold the pen in the character of a popish fucceffor, but afterwards printed his Narrative on the other fide. He had managed the ceremony of a famous Pope-burning on Nov. 17, 1680; then became a trooper in King James's army, at Hounflow-heath. After the Revolution he kept a booth at Bartholomew-fair, where, in the droll called St. George for England, he acted in his old age in a dragon of green leather of his own invention: he was at last taken into the Charterhoufe, and there died, aged fixty years. Ver. 266. I fee my Cibber there!] The hiftory of the foregoing abfurdities is verified by himself, in thefe words, (Life, chap. xv.) Then fprung forth "that fucceffion of monstrous medleys that have fo "long infefted the stage, which arose upon one "another alternately at both houfe, out vying each "other in expence." He then proceeds to excufe his own part in them, as follows: "If I am afked "why I affented? I have no better excufe for my "error than to confefs I did it against my conscience, Ver. 297. Thee fhall the patriot, thee the Cour" and had not virtue enough to starve. Had Henry tier tafte,] It food in the frit edition with the "IV. of France a better for changing his Religion? blanks, ** and * *. Concannen was fure "they "I was ftill in my heart, as much as he could be," must needs mean no body but King GEORGE "on the fide of Truth and Senfe; but with this" and Queen CAROLINE; and said he would in"difference, that I had their leave to quit them" fift it was fo, till the poet cleared himself by fill"when they could not fupport me. But let the "queftion go which way it will, Harry IVth has "always been allowed a great man." This muft be confeffed a full anfwer; only the question ftill feems to be, 1. How the doing a thing againft one'r confcience is an excufe for it? and 2dly, It will be hard to prove how he got the leave of Truth and Senfe to quit their fervice, unleís he can produce a certificate that he ever was in it. ing up the blanks otherwife, agreeably to the context, and confiftent with his allegiance." Pref. to a Collection of verfes, eflays, letters, &c. against Mr. P. printed for A. Moor, p. 6. name, Ver. 305. Polypheme) He tranflated the Italian Opera of Polifemo; but unfortunately loft the whole jeft of the ftory- The Cyclops afks Ulyffes his who tells him his name is Noman: After his eye is put out, he roars and calls the Brother Cyclops to his aid: They enquire who has hurt him he anfwers Nomant whereupon they all go away again. Our ingenious Tranflator mide Ullyifes anfwer, I take no name; whereby all that followed became un intelligible. Hence it appears that Mr. Cibber (who values himself on fubfcribing to the English Tranflation of Homer's Iliad) had not that merit with refpect to the Odysley, or he might have been bettes inftructed in the Greek Punnology. Ver. 308, 309. Fauftus, Pluto, &c.] Names of Grabftreet! thy fall fhould men and Gods confpire, This, this is he, foretold by ancient rhymes: REMARKS. 315 320 See under Ripley rife a new Whitehall, RIMARKS. Mr. P. was an enemy to the government; and in particular he was the avowed author of a report very induftriously spread, that he had a hand in a party paper called the Examiner: A falfehood well known to thofe yet living, who had the direction and publication of it. Ver. 328. While Jones' and Boyle's united la 325 bours fall:] At the time when this poem was written, the banquetting-houfe of Whitehall, the church and piazza of Covent-garden, and the palace and chapel of Somerset house, the works of the famous Inigo Jones, had been for many years fo neglected, as to be in danger of ruin. The portico of Coventgarden church had been just then restored and beautified at the expence of the Earl of Burlington: who, at the fame time, by his publication of the defigns of that great Master and Palladio, as well as by many noble buildings of his own, revived the true taste of Architecture in this Kingdom. miferable Farces, which it was the custom to act at the end of the beft Tragedies, to spoil the digeftion of the audience. Ver. 312. enfure it but from Fire.] In Tibbald's farce of Proferpine, a corn field was fet on fire: whereupon the other playhouse had a barn burnt down for the recreation of the fpectators. They alfo rivalled each other in fhewing the burnings of hell-fire, in Dr. Fauftus. Ver. 313. Another Æfchylus appears!] It is reported of Efchylus, that when his tragedy of the Furies was acted, the audience were fo terrified that the children fell inte fits, and the big-bellied women mifcarried. Ver. 325. On Poets Tombs fee Benfon's titles writ!] W-mm Benfon (Surveyor of the Buildings to his Majefty K. George I.) gave in a report to the Lords, that their house and the Painted-chamber adjoining were in immediate danger of falling. Whereupon the Lords met in a committee to appoint fome other place to fit in, while the house should be taken down. But it being propofed to caufe fome other builders first to infpect it, they found it in very good condition. The Lords, upon this, were going upon an addrefs to the King against Benson, for fuch a mifreprefentation; but the earl of Sunderland, then fecretary, gave them an affurance that his Majefty would remove him, which was done accordingly. In favour of this man, the famous Sir Chriftopher Wren, who had been Architect to the Crown for above fifty years, who built moft of the Churches in London, laid the firft ftone of St. Paul's, and lived to finish it, had been difplaced from his employment at the age of near ninety years. Ver. 330. Gay dies unpenfion'd, &c.] See Mr. Gay's fable of the Hare and many Friends. This gentleman was early in the friendship of our author, which continued to his death. He wrote feveral works of humour with great fuccefs, the Shepherd's Week, Trivia, the What d'ye call it, Fables; and laftly, the celebrated Beggar's Opera; a piece of fitire which hit all taftes and degrees of men, from thofe of the highest quality to the very rabble: That verfe of Horace : "Primores populi arripuit, populumque tributim," could never be fo juftly applied as to this. The vaft fuccefs of it was unprecedented, and almost incredible: what is related of the wonderful effects of the ancient mufic or tragedy hardly came up to it: Sophocles and Euripides were lefs followed and fa mous. It was acted in London fixty-three days, uninterrupted; and renewed the next season with equal applaufes. It fpread into all the great towns of England, was played in many places to the thirtieth and fortieth time, and at Bath and Bristol fifty, &c. It made its progrefs into Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, where it was performed twenty four days together; it was laft acted in Minorca. The fame of it was not confined to the author only; the ladies carVer. 326. Ambrofe Philips] "He was (faithried about with them the favourite fongs of it in fans; "Mr. JACOB) one of the wits at Button's, and a 64 justice of the peace;" But he hath fince met with higber preferment in Ireland: and a much greater character we have of him in Mr. Gildon's Complete Art of Poetry, vol. i. p. 157. "Indeed he confefies, he dares not fet him quite on the fame foot with Virgil, left it should feen flattery, but he is much mistaken if pofterity does not afford him a greater efterm than he at prefent enjoys." He endeavoured to create fome mifunderstanding between our Author and Mr. Addifon, whom alfo foon after he abused as much. His constant cry was, that and houses were furnished with it in fcreens. The perfon who acted Polly, till then obfcure, became all at once the favourite of the town; her pictures were engraved, and fold in great numbers, her life written, books of letters and verfes to her, published; and pamphlets made even of her fayings and jets. Furthermore, it drove out of England, for that feafon, the Italian Opera, which had carried all before it for ten years. That idol of the Nobility and peo ple, which the great Critic Mr. Dennis by the labours and outcries of a whole life could not overthrow, was demolished by a fingle stroke of this gentleman's pen. |