Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

and that he was the Envy and Admiration of all his Profeffion*. He poffeffed himself of a Command over all Authors whatever; he caused them to write what he pleased t; they could not call their very Names their own ‡. He was not only famous among thefe; He was taken Notice of by the State, the Church, and the Law, and received particular Marks of Diftinction from each .

:

It will be owned, that he is here (i. e. in the Dunciad) introduced with all poffible Dignity ** He fpeaks like the intrepid Diomed; he runs like the fwift-footed Achilles; if he falls, it is like the beloved Nifus; and (what Homer makes to be the Chief of all Praises) he is favoured of the Gods He fays but three Words, and his Prayer is heard ++; a Goddess conveys it to the Seat of Jupiter; tho' he lofes the Prize, he gains the Victory; the great Mother herself comforts him, fhe infpires him with Expedients, fhe honours him with an immortal Present (such as Achilles receives from Thetis, and Eneas from Venus) at once inftructive and prophetical: After this, he is unrivaled and triumphant ‡‡.

* In this Inftance alfo do the Characters of Mr. Curll and Mr. Pope exactly Tally.

So will every Body, who pays for what he befpeaks.

Mr. Pope has ofteiff denied his own very Name, and wrote under thofe of Barnivelt, Dr. Norris, &c.

Thefe Favours Mr. Curll has enjoyed, and Mr. Pope can only expect them in Reversion.

*** And in Return, Mr. Curll, in his Dedication of the Second Volume of Literary Correspondence, has introduced Mr. Pope with all poffible Ignominy.

tt Homer -Therfites fings and Pope a Curll.

As to the Claffical Mimicries herein alluded to, I refer the Reader to that Colluvy: or, Sink of Scandal, the Dunciad, to encounter which, would be like a Gentleman's boxing with a Chimney-Sweeper in the Habit of his Vocation.

The

A. Pope's Character of E. Curll.

117

The Tribute our Author here pays him, was a grateful Return for several unmerited Obligations: Many weighty Animadverfions on the Public Affairs, and many excellent and diverting Pieces of Private Perfons, had he given to his Name*. If ever he owed two Verses to any other, he owed Mr. Curll fome thousands †. He was every Day extending his Fame, and enlarging his Writings: Witnefs innumerable Inftances! but it fhall fuffice only to mention the Court Poems, which he meant to publish as the Work of the true Writer, à Lady of Quality; but being firft || threatned, and afterwards punished for it by Mr. Pope, he generously transferred it from Her to Him, and has now printed it above Eighteen Years in his Name **. The fingle Time that ever he spoke to Curll was on that Affair, and to that happy Incident he owed all the Favours fince received from him. So true

This is falfe. Mr. Pope is defied to produce any one Inftance of his Affertion.

This Debt (of Mr. Pope's to Mr. Curll) acknowledged by Scriblerus, will be discharged like those promised by Mr. Pope in Advertisements, by adding one Falfhood to another. Crying came our Bard into the World, but Lying, it is greatly to be feared, will he go out of it. One Monument will fuffice for the Re mains of him and his Relatives; Ananias, Saphyra, Scriblerus, and Will, Cleland.

How can Mr. Pope tell what Mr. Curll meant? The Preface to the Court Poems only mentions the Public Voice; that they were attributed to a Lady, Mr. Gay, and Mr. Pope, but here, utrum horum, is left to every one's Choice. Why does not Mr. Pope name the true Writer?

As to Mr. Pope's first threatning, and afterwards punishing Mr. Curll, it is our Opinion he has met with a Rowland for an Oliver.

Fas eft vel ab hofte doceri.

** And will continue fo to do, till Mr. Pope thinks fit to tell the Truth. Mr. Gay has inferted one of them (the Toilette) among his Poems, which is a full Detection of Mr. Pope's Falfhood in affirming, that they were, All of them, the Perfor mance of a Lady of Quality.

F 3

is the Saying of Dr. Sydenham, "That any "One fhall be, at fome Time or other, the better

or the worse, for having but feen or spoken to a "good, or a bad Man.”

* We allow the Verity of Dr. Sydenham's Saying: For Mr. Curl has certainly been the better for Mr. Pope's Bad Qualifications, but not his Good Ones.

Probatum eft.

Court Poems to this Work are join'd,
That All the World may fee;

Pope's Falfhoods manifefted here,
Hinc ille Lacrymæ.

LETTERS

WRITTEN BY

King HENRY VIII.

то

ANNE BOLEYN, 1528.

« ZurückWeiter »