Maggots, half-form'd, in rhyme exactly meet, She faw, with joy, the line immortal run, 70 700 And Eufden eke out blackmore's endless line; REMARKS. Ver. 103. Old Pryn in restless Daniel,] The first edition had it, She law in Norton all his father shine: a great Mistake! for Daniel de oe had parts, but 75 Norton de Foe was a wretched winter, and never attempted Poetry. Much more juttly is Daniel himself made fucceffor to W. Pryn, both of whom wrote Verfes as well as Politics; as appears by the Poem de Jure Divino, &c. of De Foe, and by Soome lines in Cowley's Mifcellanies on the other. All thefe, and more, the cloud-compelling Queen Beholds through fogs, that magnify the fcene. She, tinfel'd o'er in robes f varying hues, With felf-applaufe her wild creation views; Sees momentary monsters rise and fall, And with her own fools-colours gilds them all. 'Twas on the day, when rich and grave, Like Cimon triumph'd both on land and wave: (Pomps without guilt, of bloodlefs (words and maces, Glad chains, warm furs, broad banners, and broad faces) 85 90 Now Night defcending, the proud scene was o'er, REMARKS. And both thefe authors had a refemble ❤ce in their fates as well as their writings, having been alike fentenced to the Pillory. Ver. 104. And Eufden eke out, &c.] Laurence Eufden, Poet Laureate. Mr. Jacob gives a catalogue of fome few only of his works, which were very numerous. Mr. Cook, in his Battle of Poets, faith of him, "Eufden, a laurell'd Bard, by fortune rais'd, "By very few was read, by fewer prais'd." Mr. Oldmixon, in his Arts of Logic and Rhetoric, p. 413, 414. affirms, "That all the Galimatia's "he ever met with, none comes up to fome verfes 95" of this poet, which have as much of the Ridi culum and the Fuitian in them as can well be jumbled together, and are of that fort of non"fenfe, which fo perfectly confounds all ideas, that there is no diftinct one left in the mind." Farther he fays of him, "That he prophefied his "own poetry fhall be fweeter than Catullus, Ovid, Ver. 85, 86. 'T was on the day, when *** and Tibullus; but we have little hope of the acrich and grave-Like Cimon triumph'd] Viz. a Lord Mayor's Day; his name the author had left in "complishment of it, from what he hath lately "published." Upon which Mr. Oldmixon has not blanks, but most certainly could never be that which the Editor foifted in formerly, and which no wayfpared a reflexion, "That the putting the laurel on agrees with the chronology of the poem. BENTL The proceffion of a Lord Mayor is made partly by land, and partly by water-Cimon, the famous Athenian General, obtained a victory by fea, and another by land, on the fame day, over the Perfians and Barbarians. Ver. 9o. But liv'd, in Settle's numbers, one day more.] A beautiful manner of speaking, ufual with poets in praife of poetry. Ibid But liv'd, in Settle's numbers, one day more.] Settle was poet to the City of London. His office was to compofe yearly panegyrics upon the Lord Mayors, and verfes to be Tpoken in the Pageants: But that part of the shows being at length frugally abolished, the employment of City poet cealed; fo that upon Settle's demife, there was no fucceffor to that place. Ver. 98. John Heywood, whofe Interludes were printed in the time of Henry VIII. the head of one who writ fuch verfes, will give futurity a very lively idea of the judgment and "justice of those who bestowed it." ibid. p. 417.. But the well known learning of that noble Perfon, who was then Lord Chamberlain, might have fcreened him from this unmannerly reflexion. Nor ought Mr. Oldmixon to complain, fo long after, that the laurel would have better become his own brows, or any other's: It were more decent to acquiefce in the opinion of the Duke of Buckingham, upon this matter. In each the marks her Image full exprest, REMARKS. 110 Dulness with transport eyes the lively Duncej REMARKS. gard him (faith he) as an Enemy, not fo much to The fame ples might alfo ferve for his Succeffor, Mr. Cibber; and is further ftrengthened in the fol-me, as to my King, to my Country, to my Re wing Epigram made on that occafion : "ligion, and to that Liberty which has been the "fole felicity of my life. A vagary of Forture, "who is fometimes pleafed to be frolickfome, and "the epidemic Madness of the times, have givea In merry Old England it once was a rule, him Reputation, and Reputation (as Hobbes says) "is Power, and that has made him dangerous. Therefore I look on it as my duty to King "George, whofe faithful fubject I am; to my "Country, of which I have appeared a conftant lover; to the Laws, under whole protection I have fo long lived; and to the Liberty of my "Country, more dear to me than life, of which I have now for forty years been a conftant affertor, &c. I look upon it as my duty, I fay, to do you shall fee what to pull the lion's kia from this little Afs, which pepular error bas "thrown round him; and to fhew that this Author, who has been lately fo much in vogue, "has neither fenfe in his thoughts, nor Engliha hs expreffions." DENNIS, Rem. on Hom, Pref. p, 2. 91, &c. He was even in bodily fear of his life from the ma chinations of the faid Mr. P. The story (fays he) "is too long to be told, but who would be ac "quainted with it, may hear it from Mr. Carl, my Bookfeller. However, what my reafon hai fuggefted to me, that I have with a juft confidence faid. in defiance of his two clandeftine Ver. 106. And all the mighty Mad in Dennis rage.] Mr. Theobald, in the Cenfor, vol. ii. N. 33. calls Mr. Dennis by the name of Furius. The ❝ modern Furius is to be looked upon more as an "object of pity, then of that which he daily pro Befides thefe public-fpirited reafons, Mr. D. bad vokes, laughter and contempt. Did we really a private one; which, by his manner of exprel "know how much this poor man" [ with that re-ing it in p. 92, appears to have been equally trong fection on poverty might be spared]" fuffers by being contradicted, or, which is the fame thing in effect, by hearing another praifed; we should, in compaffion, fometimes attend to, him with a << filent nod, and let him go away with the triumphs" of his ill-nature-Poor Furius (again) when any of his contemporaries are fpoken well of, quit❝ting the ground of the prefent difpute, steps back weapons, his Slander and his Poifon," Which a thousand years to call. in the fuccour of the laft words of his book plainly discover Mr. D.'s * ancients, His very panegyric is spiteful, and he fufpicion was that of being poisoned, in like manufes it for the fame reafon as fome Ladies do ner as Mr. Curll had been before him: of which "their commendations of a dead beauty, who would fact fee A full and true account of the horrid and "never have had their good word, but that a living barbarous revenge, by poifon, on the body of Edone happened to be mentioned in their company.mund Curll, printed 1716, the year antecedent to "His applaufe is not the tribute of his Heart, but that wherein thefe Remarks of Mr. Dennis were the facrifice of his Revenge, &c." Indeed his published. But what puts it beyond all queftion, pieces against our poet are fomewhat of an angry is a paffage in a very warm treatife, in which Mr. character, and as they are now fcarce extant, a taite D. was alfo concerned, price two pence, called of his ftyle may be fatisfactory to the curious. "AA true Character of Mr. Pope and his Writings, 46 young, fquab, fhort gentleman, whofe outward printed for S. Pooping, 1716; in the tenth page form, though it should be that of downright, whereof he is faid to have infulted people on monkey, would not differ fo much from human thape as his unthinking immaterial part does 44 from human understanding,-He is as ftupid and 46 as venomous as a hunch back'd foad. A book < through which Folly and. Ignorance, thofe brethren fo lame and impotent, do ridiculously look big and very dull, and ftrut and hobble, cheek by jowl, with their arms on kimbo, being led and fupported, and bully-back'd by that 4 blind Hector, Impudence." Refle&, on the Effay on Criticism, p. 26. 29, 39.. It would be unjust not to add his reafons for this Fury, they are fo ftrong and to coercive, re ་་ thofe calamities and difeafes which he himself gave them, by adminiftering Poifon to them" and is called (p. 4.) a lurking waylaying coward, and a stabber in the dark." Which (with mapy other things moft lively fet forth in that piece) must have rendered him a terror, not to Mr. Dennis only, but to all Chriftian people. This charitable warning only provoked our incorrigible Poet to write the following Epigram: Should Dennis publish you had ftabb'd your 2 Yet wrote and flounder'd on, in mere defpair. 120 How here he fip'd, how there he plunder'd fnug, REMARKS. For the reft; Mr. John Dennis was the fon of a the former commentators, who most idly fuppofe it Sadler in London, born in 1657. He paid court to to imply that the Hero of the poem wanted a fupper. Mr. Dryden; and having obtained fome corref- In truth a great abfurdity! Not that we are ignorant pondence with Mr. Wycherley and Mr. Congreve, that the Hero of Homer's Odyfley is frequently in he immediately obliged the Public with their Let- that circumstance, and therefore it can no way desers. He made himfelf known to the Government rogate from the grandeur of Epic Poem to represent by many admirable schemes and projects; which fuch Hero under a calamity, to which the greatest not the Miniftry, for reasons best known to themselves, only of Critics and Poets, but of Kings and Warriors, Conftantly kept private, For his character, as a have been fubject. But much more refined, I will venwriter, it is given us as follows: "Mr Dennis isture to fay, is the meaning of our author: It was to give "excellent at Pindaric writings, perfectly regular us obliquely a curious precept, or what Boffu calls "in all his performances, and a perfon of found a difgu:fed fentence, that Temperance is the life "Learning. That he is matter of a great deal of of Study" The language of poefy brings all "Penetration and Judgment, his criticisms (par- nto action; and to represent a Critic encompaffed with "ticularly on Prince Arthur) do fufficiently de-books but without a fupper, is a picture which lively "monftrate" From the fame account it alfo ap-expreffeth how much the true Critic prefers the diet pears that he writ Plays "more to get Reputatio of the mind to that of the body, one of which he than Money." DENNIS of himself See Giles always caftigates, and often totally neglects, for the Jacob's Lives of Dram. Poets, p. 68, 69, com- greater improvement of the orher. pared with P. 286. Ver. 109. Bays, form'd by nature, &c.] It is hoped the poet here hath done full justice to his Hero's character, which it were a great miake to imagine was wholly funk in ftupidity: he is allowed to have fupported it with a wonderful mixture of Vivacity. This character is heightened according to his own defire, in a Letter he wrote to our author. "Pert and dull at least you might have allowed me "What! am I only to be dull, and dull ftill, and ❝ again, and for ever?" He then folemnly appealed to his own confcience, that he could not "think himself fo, nor believe that our Poet did; "but that he spake worse of him than he could "poffibly think; and concluded it must be merely "to fhew his Wit, or for fome Profit or Lucre to "himielf." Life of C. C. chap. vii. and Lette to Mr. P. page 15 40. 53 And to fhew his claim to what the Poet was fo unwilling to allow him, of being pert as well as dull, he declares he will have the last word; which occafioned the folloving Epigram: 66 SCRIBL But fince the difcovery of the true Hero of the poem, may we not add, that nothing was fo natural, after fo great a lofs of money at dice, or of Reputation by his Play, as that the Poet should have no great ftomach to eat a fupper? Bendes, how well has the Poet confulted his Heroic Character, in adding that he wore all the time? BENTL. Ver. 131. poor Fletcher's half-eat fcenes,] A great number of them taken out to patch up his Plays. Ver. 132. The Frippery] "When I fitted up an old play, it was as a good housewife will mend old linen, when the has no better employment.” Life, p 217, Octavo. Ver. 133. hapless Shakespeare, &c. It is not to be doubted but Bays was a fubfcriber to Tibe bald's Shakespeare. He was frequently liberal in this way; and, as he tells us, "fubfcribed to "Mr. Pope's Homer, out of pure Gencrofity and "Civility; but when Mr. Pope did fo to his Non"juror, he concluded it could be nothing but a Quoth Cibber to Pope, "Tho' in verfe you fore-" joke." Letter to Mr. P. p. 24. clofe, I'll have the laft word: for, by G-, I'll write Poor Colly, thy reafoning is none of the strongest, Ver. 115. fupperlefs the Hero fate ] It is amazing how the fenfe of this hath been mistaken by all This Tibbald or Theobald, published an edition of Shakespeare, of which he was fo proud himself as to fay, in one of Mift's Journals, June 8, That to expofe any errors in it was impracticable." And in anothers April 27, That whatever care "might for the future be taken by any other Edi"tor, he would fill give above five hundred emen« dations, that fall elcape them all." There hapless Shakespeare, yet of Tibbald fore, Here all his fuffering brotherhood retire, REMARKS. 135 140 com 145 But, high above, more folid Learning fhone, De Lyra there a dreadiul front extends, And here the groaning shelves Philemon bends, 155 Infpir'd he feizes: Thefe an aitar raile: An hecaton.b of pure untully'd lays 160 That altar crowns: A folio Common-place Ver. 134. With'd he had blotted] It was a ridiculous praife which the Players gave to Shakespeare, "that he never blotted a line." Ben Jonton honeftly wished he had blotted a thousand; and Shakef-To the last honours of the Butt and Bays. peare would certainly have wifhed the fame, if he had lived to fee thofe alterations in his works, which, not the Actors only (and efpecially the dar-Anna Boleyn, the Queen of Scots, and Cyrus the ling Hero of this Poem) have made on the Stage, but the prefumptuous Critics of our days in their Editions. REMARKS. Great, are dead and gone. Thefe he dreft in a fort of Beggar's Velvet, or a happy mixture of the thick fuftian and thin Profaic; exactly imitated in Ver. 135. The reft on Outfide merit, &c.] This Perolla and Ifidora, Cæfar in Ægypt, and the HeLibrary is divided into three parts: The first con-roic Daughter. 3. Broome was a ferving-man of fifts of thofe authors from whom he stole, and Ben Jonion, who once picked up a Comedy from whofe works he mangled; the fecond of fuch as his Betters, or from fome caft fcenes of his Mafter, fitted the shelves, or were gilded for show, or not entirely contemptible. adorned with pictures: the third clafs our author Ver. 147. More folid Learning] Some have obcalls folid learning, old bodies of Divinity, old Com-jected, that books of this fort fuit not fo well the mentaries, old English Printers, or old English library of our Bays, which they imagined confifted Tranflations: all very voluminous, and fit to erect of Novels, Plays, and obfcene books; but they altare to Dulness. are to confider, that he furnished his fhelves only Ver. 141. Ogilby the great ;] "John Ogilby for ornament, and read thefe books no more than "was one, who from a late initiation into litera-the Dry bodies of Divinity, which, no doubt, were ❝ture, made such a progrefs as might well style purchafed by his Father when he defigned him for "him the prodigy of his time! His tranflations of the Gown. See the note on ver. 200. Homer and Virgil done to the life, and with fuch excellent fculptures: And (what added "great grace to his works) he printed them all on fpecial good paper, and in a very good letter." WINSTANLY, Lives of Poets. Ver. 142. There, stamp'd with arms, Newcastle fhines complete:] "The Duchefs of Newcastle "was one who bufied herself in the ravishing de"lights of Poetry; leaving to Pofterity in print "three ample volumes of her ftudious endeavours." WINSTANLY, ibid. Langbaine reckons up eight Folios of her Grace's; which were usually adorned with gilded covers, and had her coat of arms upon them. Ver. 146. Worthy Settle, Banks, and Broome.] The Poet has mentioned these three authors in particular, as they are parallel to our Hero in his three capacities; 1. Settle was his Brother Laureat; only indeed upon half-pay, for the City instead of the Court; but equally famous for unintelligible flights in his poems en public occafions, fuch as fhows, Birth-days, &c. 2. Banks was his rival in Tragedy (though more fuccefsful) in one of his Tragedies, the Earl of Effex, which is yet alive: Ver. 149. Caxton] A Printer in the time of Edw. IV. Rich. III. and Hen. VII. Wynkyn de Word, his fucceffor, in that of Henry VII. and VIII. The former tranflated into profe Virgil's Æneis, as a history; of which he speaks, in his proeme, in a very fingular manner, as of a book hardly known. Tibbald quotes a rate paffage from him in Mitt's Journal of March 16, 1728, concerning a ftraunge and marvaylloufe beafte called Sagittarye, which he would have Shakespeare to mean rather than Teucer, the Archer celebrated by Homer Ver. 153. Nich. de Lyra, or Harpsfield, a very voluminous commentator, whofe works, in five valt folios, were printed in 1472. Ver. 154. Philemon Holland, Doctor in Phyfic. "He tranflated fo many books, that a man would "think he had done nothing else; infomuch that "he might be called Tranflator general of his ❝ age. The books alone of his turning into Englith are fufficient to make a Country Gentleman a compleat Library." WINS PANLY. Ver. 167. E'er fince Sir Fopling's Periwig] The firft vifible caufe of the paffion of the Town for our Hero, was a fair flaxen full-bottom'd Periwig, O thou of Bufinefs the directing fou!! 170 What can I now ? my Fletcher caft aside, Which, as more ponderous, made its aim more true, Or tread the path by venturous Heroes trod, my 200 God? This Box my Thunder, this right hand Obliquely waddling to the mark in view: Some Dæmon ftole my pen (forgive th' offence) 180 185 Elfe all my Profe and Verse were much the fame; REMARKS. 205 (A friend to Party thou, and all her race; REMARKS. which was fletched with the feathers of the greygoofe. IMITATION. Ver. 197, 198. Could Troy be fav'd-This grey-goofe weanon] which, he tells us, he wore in his first play of the Fool in Fashion. It attracted, in a particular manner, the Friendship of Col. Brett, who wanted to Ver. 200. Take up the Bible, once my better purchase it. Whatever contempt (fays he) Phi- guide?] When, according to his Father's intention, lofophers may have for a fine Periwig, my friend, he had been a Clergyman, or (as he thinks himself) "who was not to defpife the world but live in it, a Bishop of the Church of England. Hear his own "knew very well that fo material an article of drefs words: "At the time that the fate of K. James, upon the head of a man of fenfe, if it became him," the Prince of Orange, and myself, were on the "could never fail of drawing to him a more partial anvil, Providence thought fit to poftpore mine, Regard and Benevolence, than could poffibly be "till theirs were determined: But had my father "hoped for in an ill-made one. This, perhaps, may "carried me a month fooner to the University, who "foften the grave cenfare, which so youthful "knows but that purer fountain might have wathed "purchafe might otherwife have laid upon him. my Imperfections into a capacity of writing, in"In a word, he made his attack upon this Peri- "tead of Plays and annual Odes, Sermons, and "wig, as your young fellows generally do upon a "Paftoral Letters? Apology for his Life, chap. lady of pleasure, Sirft by a few familiar praises of iii. "her perfon, and then a civil inquiry into the price "of it, and we finished our bargain that night over a bottle." See Life, octavo, p. 303. This remarkable Periwig ufually made its entrance upon the ftage in a fedan, brought in by two chairmen, with infinite approbation of the audience. Ver. 178, 179. Guard the fure barrier-Or quite unravel, &c.] For Wit or Reafoning are never greatly hurtful to Dulnefs, but when the first is founded in Truth, and the other in Ufefulness. Ver. 181. As, forc'd from wind-guns, &c.] The thought of these four verfes is founded in a poem of our Author's of a very early date (namely written at fourteen years old, and foon after printed) to the Author of a poem called Succeffio. Ver. 198.-grey-goose weapon] Alluding to the old English weapon, the arrow of the long bow, |