DENNIS' REMARKS ON PRINCE ARTHUR. I CANNOT but think it the most reafonable thing in the world, to diftinguish good writers, by difcouraging the bad. Nor is it an ill-natured thing, in relation even to the very perfons upon whom the reflections are made. It is true, it may deprive them, a little the fooner, of a short profit and a tranfitory reputation; but then it may have a good effect, and oblige them (before it be too late) to decline that for which they are so very unfit, and to have recourse to fomething in which they may be more fuccefsful. CHARACTER OF MR. P. 1716. The perfons whom Boileau has attacked in his writings, have been for the most part authors, and moft of thofe authors, poets: and the cenfures he hath paffed upon them have been confirmed by all Europe. GILDON, Pref. to his NEW REHEARSAL. town, and their fautors, that it is an ill-natured thing to expofe the pretenders to wit and poetry. The judges and magiftrates may with full as good reafon be reproached with ill-nature for putting the laws in execution against a thief or impoftor.The same will hold in the republic of letters, if the critics and judges will let every ignorant pretender to fcribbling pafs on the world. THEOBALD, Letter to Mist, June 22, 1728. Attacks may be levelled, either against failures in genius, or against the pretenfions of writing without one. CONCANEN, Ded. to the Author of the DUNCIAE. A Satire upon dulness is a thing that has been ufed and allowed in all ages. Out of thine own mouth will I judge thees wicked scribbles! TESTIMONIES OF AUTHORS CONCERNING OUR POET AND HIS WORKS. M. SCRIBLERUS LECTORI bad at St. Omer's, by Jefuits; a third (ë) not at St. Omer's, but at Oxford! a fourth (4) that he had no univerfity education at all. Thofe who allow him to be bred at home, differ as much concerning his tutor: one faith (e) he was kept by his father on purpose; a fecond(ƒ), that he was an itinerant prieft; a third (g), that he was a parfon; one(b) calleth him a fecular clergyman of the church of Rome; another (i), a monk. As little do they agree about his father, whom one (4) fupposeth, like the father of Hefiod, a tradesman or merchant; another (?), a husbandman; another (,) BEFORE we prefent thee with defertations on this most delectable poena (dew the many volumes of our adverfaria on modern authors) we shall here, according to the laudable ufage of editors, collect the various judgments of the learned concerning our poet: various indeed, not only of different authors, but of the fame author at different feafons. Nor fhall we gather only the teftimonies of such eminent wits, as would of course defcend to pofterity, and confequently be read without our collection; but we shall like-a hatter, &c. Nor has an author been wanting to wife with incredible labour feek out for divers others, which, but for this our diligence, could never, at the distance of a few months, appear to the eye of the most curious. Hereby thou mayeft not only receive the delectation of variety, but alfo arrive at a more certain judgment, by a grave and circumfpect comparison of the witneffes with each other, or of each with himself. Hence alfo thou wilt be enabled to draw reflections, not only of a critical, but a moral nature, by being let into many particulars of the perfon as well as genius, and of the fortune as well as merit, of our author: in which, if I relate fome things of little concern peradventure to thee, and fome of as little even to Proceed we to what is more certain, his works, him; I entreat thee to confider how minutely all though not lefs uncertain the judgments concerntrue critics and commentators are wont to infifting them; beginning with his Effay on Criticism, upon fuch, and how material they seem to them- of which hear first the most ancient of critics, felves, if to none other. Forgive me, gentle reader, if (following learned example) I ever and anon become tedious: allow me to take the fame pains to find whether my author were good or bad, well or ill-natured, modeft or arrogant; as another, whether his author was fair or brown, fhort or tall, or whether he wore a coat or a caffock. We proposed to begin with his life, parentage, and education: but as to thefe, even his contemporaries do exceedingly differ. One faith, (a) he | was educated at home; another (6) that he was (a) Giles Jacob's Lives of the Poets, vol. ii. in Lis | give our poet fuch a father as Apuleius hath to Plato, Jamblichus to Pythagoras, and divers to Homer, namely a dæmon: for thus Mr. Gildon (7) : "Certain it is, that his original is not from Adam, "but the devil; and that he wanteth nothing but "horns and tail to be the exact refemblance of his "infernal father." Finding, therefore, fuch contrariety of opinions, and (whatever be ours of this fort of generation) not being fond to enter into controverfy, we fhall defer writing the life of our poet, till authors can determine among themselves what parents or education he had, or whether he had any education or parents at all. (c) Dunciad diffected, p. 4. (d) Guardian, No. 40. (e) Jacob's Lives, Te, vol. ii. (ƒ) Dunciad diffected p. 4. (g) Farmer P. and bis fon. (b) Dunciad diffected. (1) Characters of the Times, p. 45. │(k) Female Dunciad, p. ult. (1) Dunciad diffected. (m) Roome, Paraphrafe on the ivth of Genefis printed 1749 (n) Charaner of Mr. P. and bis Writings, in a letter to a friend, printed for S. Popping, 1716, p. 10. Curll, in his Key to the Dunciad ( first edit. fais to be printed for A. Dodd) in the 10th page, declared Gildon to be the author of that libel; though, in the fubfequent editions of his key, be left out this affertion, and affirmed (in the MR. JOHN DENNIS. "His precepts are falfe or trivial, or both; his "thoughts are crude and abortive, his expreffions " abfurd, his numbers harfh and unmufical, his "rhymes trivial and common-inftead of majesty, we have fomething that is very mean; inftead of "gravity, fomething that is very boyish; and in"tead of perfpicuity and lucid order, we have but "too often obfcurity and confufion," And in another place: "What rare numbers are here! "Would not one fwear that this youngfter had "efpoused some antiquated mufe, who had sued "out a divorce from fome fuperannuated finner, "upon account of impotence; and who, being "poxed by the former spouse, has got the gout in "her decrepid age, which makes her hobble fo "damnably (a).” No lefs peremptory is the cenfure of our hypercritical hiftorian, He is followed (as in fame, so in udgment) by the modest and fimple-minded MR. LEONARD WELSTED. Who, out of great respect to our poet, not naming him, doth yet glance at his effay, together with the Duke of Buckingham's, and the criticisms of Dryden, and of Horace, which he more openly taxeth: (9) "As to the numerous treatifes, eflays, "arts, &c. both in verse and prose, that have been "written by the moderns on this ground-work, "they do but hackney the fame thoughts over "again, making them ftill more trite. Moft of "their pieces are nothing but a pert, infipid heap " of common-place. Horace has, even in his "Art of Poetry, thrown out feveral things which "plainly fhew, he thought an Art of Poetry was "of no use, even while he was writing one.' To all which great authorities, we can only oppole that of MR. ADDISON, "(r) The Art of Criticism (faith he) which "was published fome months fince, is a mafter"piece in its kind. The obfervations follow one another like thofe in Horace's Art of Poetry, without that methodical regularity which would "have been requifite in a profe writer. They "are fome of them uncommon, but fuch as the "reader muft affent to, when he fees them ex"plained with that cafe and perfpicuity in which "they are delivered. As for those which are the "moft known and the most received, they are "placed in fo beautiful a light, and illustrated "with fuch apt illufions, that they have in them "all the graces of novelty; and make the reader, "who was before acquainted with them, ftill more convinced of their truth and folidity. "And here give me leave to mention what Mon"fieur Boileau has fo well enlarged upon in the "preface to his works: that wit and fine writing "doth not confit fo much in advancing things that "are new, as in giving things that are known an a"agreeable turn. It is impoflibe for us, who live in "the latter ages of the world, to make obfervations "in criticism, morality, or any art or fcience, "which have not been touched upon by others; we have litttle ehe left us, but to represent the "common fense of mankind in more ftrong, more beautiful, or more uncommon lights. If a "reader examines Horace's Art of Poetry, he will "find but few precepts in it which he may not meet with in Ariftotle, and which were not "commonly known by all the poets of the Auguf tan age His way of exprefling, and applying "them, not his invention of them, is what we are chiefly to admire. Longinus, in his Reflections, has given us "the fame kind of fublime, which he obferves in "the feveral paffages that occafioned them: I cannot but take notice that our English author "has, after the fame manner, exemplified feveral "of the precepts in the very precepts themfelves." He then produces fome inftances of a particular beauty in the numbers, and concludes with faying, that there are three poems in our tongue of the "fame nature, and each a master-piece in its "kind! The Effay on Tranilated Verfe; the Effay on the Art of Poetry; and the Effay on "Criticism." Of Windfor Foreft, pofitive is the judgment of the affirmative MR. JOHN DENNIS, "(s) That it is a wretched rhapsody, impudent"ly writ in emulation of the Cooper's Hill of Sir John Denham: the author of it is obfcure, ią ambiguous, is affected, is temerarious, is barba 66 66 rous. But the author of the Difpenfary (?), . in the preface to his poem of Claremont, differs from this opinion: "Those who have feen these "two excellent poems of Cooper's Hill, and "Windfor Foreft, the one written by Sir John "Denham, the other by Mr. Pope, will fhew a "great deal of candor if they approve of this." Of the epiftle to Eloifa, we are told by the obfcure writer of a poem called Sawney, "That "because Prior's Henry and Emma charmed the "finest tastes, our author writ his Eloifa in op pofition to it but forgot innocence and virtue : "if you take away her tender thoughts, and her "fierce defires, all the reft is of no value." In (0) Reflections critical and fatirical on a << Rhapsody, talled, An Efay on Criticism. Printed for Bernard Lintot, octave. (p) Efay on Criticifm in profe, oclave, 1728, by the author of the Critical Hiflory of England. (g) Preface to bis Poems, p. 18, 53 (s) Letter to B. B. at the end of the Remarks on Popes Homer, 1717. which, methinks, his judgment resembleth that of himself, faying in his Alma («), O Abelard? ill-fated youth, Its colours: gently has he laid And Venus fhall the texture blefs, &c. Come we now to his tranflation of the Iliad, celebrated by numerous pens, yet fhall it fuffice to mention the indefatigable SIR RICHARD BLACKMORE, Knight, Who (though otherwise a severe cenfurer of our author) yet ftyleth this a "laudable tranflation (v)." That ready writer MR. OLDMIXON, MR. ADDISON'S FREEHOLDER, No 40. "When I confider myself as a British freeholder, "I am in a particular manner pleased with the la"bours of those who have improved our language "with the translations of old Greek and Latin "authors. We have already most of their histo"rians in our own tongue, and, what is more for "the honour of our language, it has been taught to express with elegance the greatest of their poets in each nation. The illiterate among our own countrymen may learn to judge from Dry"den's Virgil of the most perfect epic performance. "And those parts of Homer which have been pub"lifhed already by Mr. Pope, give us reafon to "think that the Iliad will appear in English with " as little difadvantage to that immortal poem." As to the reft there is a flight mistake, for this younger mufe was an elder: nor was the gentleman (who is a friend of our author) employed by Mr. Addison to tranflate it after him, fince he faith himself that he did it before (y). Contrariwife, that Mr. Addifon engaged our author in this work appeareth by declaration thereof in the preface to the Iliad, printed some time before his death, and by his own letters of October 26, and November 2, 1713, where he declares it is his opi in his forementioned effay, frequently commends nion that no other perfon was equal to it. the fame. And the painful MR. LEWIS THEOBALD Next comes his Shakspeare on the stage : "Let "him" (quoth one, whom I take to be MR. THEOBALD, Mif's Journal, June 8, 1728). "and forget to discharge even the dull duty of an "editor. In this project let him lend the bookfel"ler his name (for a competent fum of money) to promote the credit of an exorbitant subscription.” Gentle reader, be pleased to caft thine eye on the propofal below quoted, and on what follows (fome months after the former affertion) in the fame Journalist of June 8, "The bookfeller proposed "the book by fubfcription, and raised fome thou"fand of pounds for the fame: I believe the gen-" "tleman did not fhare in the profits of this extravagant subscription." thus extolls it (x)," The fpirit of Homer breathes "all through this translation.—I am in doubt," publish such an author as he has least studied, "whether I fhould not admire the juftness to the "original, or the force and beauty of the language, "or the founding variety of the numbers: but "when I find all thefe meet, it puts me in mind "of what the poet fays of one of his heroes, "That he alone raised and flung with ease a "weighty ftone, that two common men could "to lift from the ground; just so, one fingle per"fon has performed in this tranflation, what I once defpaired to have feen done by the force "of feveral mafterly hands." Indeed the fame gentleman appears to have changed his fentiments in his Effay on the Art of Sinking in Reputation (printed in Mift's Journal, March 30, 1728), where he lays thus: "In order to fink in repu"tation, let him take it into his head to defcend "into Homer (let the world wonder, as it will, "how the devil he got there), and pretend to do "him into English, fo his verfion denote his ne"glect of the manner how." Strange variation! We are told in (v) In bis Effays, vol. I. printed for E. Curll. "After the Iliad, he undertook" (faith MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8, 1728.) "the fequel of that work, the Odyffey; and having "fecured the fuccefs by a numerous fubfcription, "he employed fome underlings to perform what, "according to his proposals, fhould come from his own hands." To which heavy charge we can in truth oppofe nothing but the words of MR.POPE'S PROPOSAL FOR THE ODYSSEY (printed by J. Watts, Jan. 10, 1724.), "I take this occafion to declare that the fubfcrip"tion for Shakspeare belongs wholly to Mr. Ton"fon and that the benefit of this propofal is not "folely for my own use, but for that of two of my "friends, who have affifted me in this work." But thefe very gentlenen are extolled above our Poet himself in another of Mist's journals, March 30, 1728, faying, "That he would not advife Mr. Pope to try the experiment again of getting a (y) Vid. prof. to Mr. Tickel's tranflation of the "plagiaries, that pretend to make a reputation by "stealing from a man's works in his own life-time, "and out of a public print." Let us join to this what is written by the author of the Rival Modes, the faid Mr. James-Moore Smith, in a letter to our author himself, who had informed him a month before that play was acted, Jan. 27, 1726-7, that "Thefe verfes, which he had before given him #great part of a book done by assistants, left those extraneous parts fhould unhappily afcend to the "fublime, and retard the declenfion of the whole." Behold! these underlings are become good writers! If any fay, that before the faid proposals were printed, the fubfcription was begun without declaration of fuch affistance; verily those who fet it on foot, or (as the term is) fecured it, to wit, the right honourable the Lord Viscount Harcourt," leave to infert in it, would be known for his, were he living, would teftify; and the right honourable the Lord Bathurst, now living, doth teftify, the fame is a falfehood. Sorry I am, that perfons profeffing to be learned, or of whatever rank of authors, fhould either falfely tax, or be falfely taxed. Yet let us, who are only reporters, be impartial in our citations, and proceed. MISI'S JOURNAL, June 8, 1728. « Mr. Addison raised this author from obfcu"rity, obtained him the acquaintance and friend"fhip of the whole body of our nobility, and trans"ferred his powerful interests with those great men to this rifing bard, who frequently levied "by that means unufual contributions on the "public." Which furely cannot be, if, as the author of the Dunciad Diffected reporteth, Mr. Wycherly had before" introduced him into a * familiar acquaintance with the greatest peers and "brightest wits then living." "No fooner (faith the fame journalist) was his " body lifelefs, but this author, reviving his refent"ment, libelled the memory of his departed friend; and what was ftill more heinous, made the scan"dal public." Grievous the accufation! unknown the accufer! the perfon accused, no witness in his own caufe; the perfon, in whofe regard accused, dead! But if there be living any one nobleman whofe friendship, yea any one gentleman whofe fubfcription Mr. Addison procured to our author, let him ftand forth, that truth may appear! Amitus Plato, amicus Socrates, fed magis amica veritas. In verity, the whole ftory of the libel is a lie; witnefs those persons of integrity, who, several years before Mr. Addison's decease, did fee and approve of the faid verses, in no wife a libel, but a friendly rebuke fent privately in our euthor's own hand to Mr. Addison himself, and never made public, till after their own journals, and Curll had printed the fame. One name alone, which I am here authorised to declare, will fufficiently evince this truth, that of the right honourable the Earl of Burlington. Next is he taxed with a crime (in the opinion of fome authors, I doubt, more heinous than any in morality), to wit, Plagiarism, from the inventive and quaint-conceited JAMES-MOORE SMITH, Gent. "(z) Upon reading the third volume of Pope's "mifcellanies, I found five lines which I thought "excellent; and happening to praise them, a gen"tleman produced a modern comedy (the Rival "Modes) published laft year, where were the fame verfes to a tittle. "Thefe gentlemen are undoubtedly the first "fome copies being got abroad. He defires, ne"vertheless, that fince the lines had been read in "his comedy to feveral, Mr. P. would not deprive "it of them," &c. Surely, if we add the teftimonies of the Lord Bolingbroke, of the Lady to whom the faid verses were originally addreffed, of Hugh Bethel, Efq; and others, who knew them as our author's, long before the faid gentleman compofed his play; it is hoped, the ingenious, that affect not error, will rectify their opinion by the fuffrage of fo honourable perfonages. And yet followeth another charge, infinuating no lefs than hisfenmity both to church and state, which could come from no other informer than the faid MR. JAMES-MOORE SHITH. 66 (a) The Memoirs of a Parish Clerk was a very "dull and unjuft abuse of a person who wrote in "defence of our religion and conftitution, and "who has been dead many years." This feemeth alfo moft untrue; it being known to divers that thefe memoirs were written at the feat of the Lord Harcourt in Oxfordshire, before that excellent per fon (Bishop Burnet's) death, and many years before. the appearance of that hiftory, of which they are pretended to be an abuse. Most true it is, that Mr. Moore had fuch a design, and was himself the man who preft Dr. Arbuthnot and Mr. Pope to affift him therein; and that he borrowed thofe memoirs of our author, when that history came forth, with intent to turn them to fuch abufe. But being able to obtain from our author but one fingle hint, and either changing his mind, or having more mind than ability, he contented him. felf to keep the faid memoirs, and read them as his own to all his acquaintance. A noble perfon there is, into whofe company Mr. Pope once chanced to introduce him, who well remembereth the converfation of Mr. Moore to have turned upon the " contempt he had for the work of that reverend "prelate, and how full he was of a defign he de"clared himself to have of expofing it." This noble perfon is the Earl of Peterborough. Here in truth fhould we crave pardon of all the forefaid right honourable and worthy personages, for having mentioned them in the fame page with fuch weekly riff-raff railers and rhymers; but that we had their ever-honoured commands for the fame; and that they are introduced not as witnesses in the controversy, but as witnesses that cannot be controverted: not to dispute, but to decide. Certain it is, that dividing our writers into two claffes, of fuch who were acquaintance, and of such who were ftrangers to our author; the former are those who speak well, and the other those who |