125

Senfe, fpeech, and meafure, living tongues and dead, Blockheads with reafon wicked wits abher,
Let all give way,-and Morris may be read.
Flow, Welfted, flow? like thine infpirer, Beer;
Though itale, not ipe; though thin, yet never clear;
So fweetly mawkish, and so smoothly dull;
Heady, not strong; o'erflowing,, though not full.
Ah Dennis! Gildon ah! what ill-starr'd rage
Divides a friendship long confirm'd by age?

But fool with fool is barbarous civil war.
Embrace, embrace, my fons be foes no more!
Nor glaa vile Poets with true Critics gore.
Behold yon Pair, in strict embraces join'd;
How like in manners, and how like in mind; 180
Equal in wit, and equally polite,

REMARKS.

171

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 dramatic poetry before he began a play, he smiled and re plied, "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 small pittance for pay.

Ver. 168. Morris,] Fefleel. 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 :'

Shall this a Paquin, that a Grumbler write;

REMARKS.

Whereas had they followed the Example of those microfcopes of wit, Kufter, Burman, and their fol owers, in verbal criticism on the learned Languages, their acuteness and industry might have raised them a name equal to the most famous of the Scholiafts. We cannot therefore but lament the late Apoftafy of the Prebendary of Rochester, 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, Gu don, 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

ARIST.

Mr. Welfted had, in his youth, raised fo great expectations of his future genius, that there was a kind of struggle between the most eminent of the two Universities, which fhould have the honour of his education. To compound this he (civilly) be-learning. came 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 thefe notes, what a 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 acknowledg d 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 generoufly than all the reft) Works, that he was happy in the patronage of the fet his name to fuch writings. He was alfo a very moft illuftrious 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 published a book of poems, fame in the Ovidian, fome in the Horatian manner; in both which the moft Exquifite Judges pronounce he even rivalled His mafters-His love-verfes have rescued that way of writing from contempt-In his tranflations, he has given us the very foul and fpirit of his author. His Ode-his Epiftle-his Verfes-his Love-taleall, are the most perfect things in all poetry. WLL- Buckingham, and Bishop of Rochefter. They allo STED of himself, Char. of the Times, 8vo, 1728 Joined in a piece against his firft undertaking to tranpage 23, 24. It should not be forgot for his ho-te the Iliad, intituled, Homerides, by Sir Iliad nour, that he received at one time the fum of five Doggrel, printed 1715. hundred pounds for fecret fervice, among the other excellent au hors hired to write anonymoufly for the ministry. 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 (juits Ariftotle and Longinus did of theirs), and difcourfe upon the beauties and defects of composition:

How parts relate to parts, and they to whole;
The Body's harmony, the beaming Soul.

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 Pets 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 abufed with the Duke of as the other was concerned in another called Pafquin,

his 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 alw y the leaft prefuming) had there been always fuch champions to stifle them in their concepion? And were it not better for the public, that a which are fure to die as foon as born, than that million of moniters should come into the world, the ferpents fhould ftrangle one Hercules in his Cradle?

Of the other works of thefe Gentlemen the world

The union of thefe two authors gave occafion to this Epigram:

Like all their merits, like rewards they share,
That shines a Conful, this Commiffioner.

185

"But who is he, in clofet clofe y-pent,
"Of fober face, with learned duft befprent?"
Right well mine eyes arede the myster wight,
On parchment fcraps. y-fed, and Wormius hight.
To future ages may thy dulnefs laft,
As thou preferv'ft the dulneis of the paft!
There, dim in clouds, the poring Scholiafts mark,
Wits, who, like owls, fee only in the dark,
A Lumberhoufe of books in every head,
For ever reading, never to be read!

190

But, where each Science lifts its modern type, 195
Hiftory her Pot, Divinity her Pipe,
While proud Philofophy repines to fhow,
Di honeft night! his breeches rent below;
Imbrown'd with native bronze, lo! Henley ftands,
Tuning his voice, and balancing his hands.

REMARKS.

"Burnet and Ducket, friends in fpite,
"Came hiffing out in verse;
"Both were fo forward, each would write,
"So dull, each hang an A-
"Thus Amphibœna (I have read)

"At either end affails;

"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 these two perfons, whole injury to him was of fo old a date.

Ver. 184 That fhines a Conful. this Commiffoner.] 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!
How fweet the periods, neither faid, nor fung!
Still break the benches, Heniey! with thy ftrain,
While Sherlock, Hare, and Gibson, preach in vain.
Oh great Reftorer of the good old Stage,
205
Preacher at once, and Zany of thy age!
Oh worthy thou of Egypt's wife abodes,
A decent prieft, where monkeys were the gods!
But Fate with Butchers plac'd thy priestly stall,
Meek modern faith to murder, hack, and mawl; 210
And bade thee live, to crown Britannia's praise,
In Toland's, Tindal's, and in Woolfton's days.

REMARKS.

"his genius leading him freely to dispute all propo"fions, and call all points to account, he was impa"tient under thofe fetters of the free-born mind."Being admitted to Priest's orders, he found the "examination very short and superficial, and that it "was not neceffary to conform to the Chriftian reli"gion, in order either to Deaconfhip or Priesthood." He came to town, and, after having for fome years been a writer for Bookfellers, he had an ambition to be fo for Minifters of State. The only reafon he did not rife in the Church, we are told, was the "envy of others, and a difrelish entertained of him, "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 styled himself the Reftorer of ancient Eloquence. He thought" it as "lawful to take a licence from the King and Par"liament in one place as another; at Hickes's Hail, "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; compofed three differtations a week on all fubjects; "undertook to teach in one year what schools and univerfities teach in five; was not terrified by "menaces, infults, or fatires, but ftill proceeded, matured his bold fcheme, and put the Church, and all that in danger." WELSTED, Narrative in Orat. Transact. Ñ. 1.

Ver. 188. Wormius high.] Let not this name, purely fictitious, be conceited to mean the learned Olaus Wormius; much lefs (as it was unwarrantably fuifted 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 perused.

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 these 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 fciences. Each auditor paid one filling. He declaimed fome years against the greatest perfons, and occafionally did our author that honour.

WEL

STED, in Oratory Tranfactions, N. 1. published by Henley himself, gives the following account of him: "He was born at Melton Mowbray in Leicester"fhire. From his own Parish 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 judg-, 4ment in points of Religion, Philofophy, &c. for

1

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 service of a weekly paper of unintelligible nonfenfe, cailed the Hyp-Doctor.

Ver. 204. Sherlock, Hare, Gibfon,] Bishops of Salisbury, Chichester, and London; whofe Sermons and Paftoral Letters did honour to their country as well as ftations.

Ver, 212. Of Toland, and Tindal, fce Book .

Ver. 224,-not to fcorn your God.]" See this fubject pursued in Book iv.

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 shoulder, 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 set of Farces, which lafted in vogue two or three feafons, in which both Playhouses ftrove to outdo each other for fome years. All the extrava gancies 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.

Farces Harlequin is hatched upon the stage, out of a Ver. 248. Lo! one vaft Egg] In another of these large egg.

Yon ftars, yon fans, he rears at pleasure higher,
Illumes their light, and fets their flames on fire. 260
Immortal Rich! how calm he fits at eafe
"Midft fnows of paper, and fierce hail of peafe;
And, proud his Miftrefs' orders to perform,
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the ftorm.
But lol to dark encounter in mid air,
New wizards rife; I fee my Cibber there!
Booth in his cloudy tabernacle fhrin'd

On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind.
Dire is the conflict, dismal is the din,

265

Here shouts all Drury, there all Lincoln's-inn; 270
Contending Theatres our empire raife,
Alike their labours, and alike their praise.

275

And are thefe wonders, Son, to thee unknown?
Unknown to thee? These wonders are thy own.
Thefe Fate referv'd to grace thy reign divine,
Forefeen by me, but ah! withheld from mine.
In Lud's old walls though long I rul'd, renown'd
Far as loud Bow's ftupendous bells refound;
Though my own Aldermen conferr'd the bays,
To me committing their eternal Praise,
Their full-fed Heroes, their pacific Mayors,
Their annual trophies, and their monthly wars:
Though long my Party built on me their hopes,
For writing Pamphlets, and for roafting Popes:

REMARKS.

280

Ver. 261. Immortal Rich!] Mr. John Rich, Mafter of the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, was the first that excelled this way.

285

Yet lo: in me what authors have to brag on!
Reduc'd at laft to hifs in my own dragon.
Avert it, heaven; that thou my Cibber, e'er
Should't wag a ferpent-tail in Smithfield fair!
Like the vile straw that's blown about the streets,
The needy Poet sticks to all he meets,
290
Coach'd, carted, trod upon, now loofe, now faft,
And carried off in fome Dog's tail at laft.
Happier thy fortunes! like a rolling stone,
Thy giddy dulness still shall lumber on,
Safe in its heaviness, shall never ftray,'
But lick up every blockhead in the way.
Thee fhall the Patriot, thee the Courtier tafte,
And every year be duller than the last,
Till rais'd from booths, to Theatre, to Court,
Her feat imperial Dulness shall transport.
Already Opera prepares the way,
The fure fore-runner of her gentle fway;

295

300

Let her thy heart, next Drabs and Dice, engage,
The third mad paffion of thy doting age.
Teach thou the warbling Polypheme to roar,
And scream thyfelf as none e'er fcream'd before!
To aid our caufe, if Heav'n thou can'ft not bend,
Hell thou fhalt move; for Fauftus is our friend:
Pluto with Cato thou for this fhalt join,
And link the Mourning Bride to Proferpine.

REMARKS.

૩૦૬

310

moft Party-writers, was very uncertain in his political principles. He was employed to hold the pen in the character of a popifh 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 Hounslow-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 laft taken into the Charterhoufe, and there died, aged fixty years.

Ver. 266. I fee my Cibber there!] The history of the foregoing abfurdities is verified by himself, in thefe words, (Life, chap. xv.) " Then fprung forth "that fucceffion of monftrous medleys that have fo "long infested the stage, which arefe upon one "another alternately at both house, 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 flood in the first edition with the "IV. of France a better for changing his Religion? blanks, and . Concannen was fure "they "I was still in my heart, as much as he could be," muft needs mean no body but King GEORGE "on the fide of Truth and Senfe; but with this" and Queen CAROLINE; and faid 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 must be confeffed a full anfwer; only the queftion ftill feems to be, 1. How the doing a thing against 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, unless he can produce a certificate that he ever was in it.

Ver. 266, 267. Booth and Cibber were joint managers of the Theatre in Drury-lane.

Ver. 268. On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind. In his Letter to Mr. P. Mr. C. folemnly declares this not to be literally true. We hope therefore the reader will understand it allegorically only.

Ver. 282. Annual trophies on the Lord Mayor's day and monthly wars in the Artillery ground.

Ver. 283. Though long my party] Settle, like

ing up the blanks otherwise, agreeably to the context, and confiftent with his allegiance." Pref. to a Collection of verfes, effays, letters, &c. against Mr. P. printed for A. Moor, 6.

P.

Ver. 305. Polypheme) He tranflated the Italian Opera of Polifemo; but unfortunately loft the whole jeft of the ftory- The Cyclops afks Ulyffes his name, 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 Noman: whereupon they all go away again. Our ingenious Tranflator made Ulyffes anfwer, I take no name; whereby all that followed became unintelligible. 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 Odyfey, or he might have been bettes inftructed in the Greek Punnology.

Ver. 308, 309. Fauftus, Pluto, &c.] Names of

Grubftreet! thy fall should men and Gods confpire,
Thy stage shall stand, enfure it but from Fire.
Another Efchylus appears! prepare
For new abortions, all ye pregnant fair!
In flames, like Semele's, be brought to bed,
While opening Hell fpouts wild-fire at your head.
Now, Bavius, take the poppy from thy brow,
And place it here! here, all ye Heroes, bow!

Thit, this is he, foretold by ancient rhymes:
Th' Auguftus born to bring Saturnian times.
Signs following figns lead on the mighty year,
See! the dull ftars roll round and re-appear.
See, fee, our own true Phœbus wears thy bays!
Our Midas fits Lord Chancellor of Plays!
On Poets' Tombs fee Benfon's titles writ!
Lo! Ambrofe Philips is preferr'd for Wit!

REMARKS.

315

320

miferable Farces, which it was the custom to act at the end of the beft Tragedies, to spoil the digeftion of the audience.

See under Ripley rife a new Whitehall,
While Jones and Boyle's united labours fall!
While Wren with forrow to the grave defcends,
Gay dies unpension'd with a hundred friends; 33
REMARES.

Mr. P. was an enemy to the government; and in
particular he was the avowed anthor of a report very
induftriously spread, that he had a hand in a party
paper called the Examiner: A falsehood well knowa
to thofe yet living, who had the direction and publi-
cation of it.

Ver. 328. While Jones' and Boyle's united la 325 bours fall:] At the time when this poem was writ ten, the banquetting-house of Whitehall, the church and piazza of Covent-garden, and the palace and chapel of Somerset houfe, the works of the famous Inigo Jones, had been for many years so neglected, as to be in danger of ruin. The portico of Covent garden church had been just then restored and beau tified at the expence of the Earl of Burlington: who, Ver. 312. enfure it but from Fire.] In Tibbald's at the fame time, by his publication of the defigna farce of Proferpine, a corn field was fet on fire: of that great Mafter and Palladio, as well as by many whereupon the other playhouse had a barn burnt down noble buildings of his own, revived the true taste of for the recreation of the fpectators. They alfo ri-Architecture in this Kingdom. valled each other in fhewing the burnings of hell-fire, in Dr. Fauftus.

Ver. 313. Another Æfchy!us appears!] It is reported of fchylus, that when his tragedy of the Furies was acted, the audience were fo terrified that the children fell into fits, and the big-bellied women mifcarried.

Ver. 325. On Poets Tombs fee Benfon's titles writ!] W-m Benfon (Surveyor of the Buildings to his Majefty K. George 1.) 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 houfe fhould 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 Benfon, for fuch a mifreprefentation; but the earl of Sunderland, then fecretary, gave them an affurance that his Majesty 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 first ftone of St. Paul's, and lived to finish it, had been displaced 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 fatire which hit all tafter 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 music or tragedy hardly came up to it: Sophocles and Euripides were lefs followed and fs

mous.

It was acted in London fixty-three days, uninterrupted; and renewed the next feafon 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 last acted in Minorca. The fame of it was not confined to the author only; the ladies carried about with them the favourite fongs of it in fans; and houses were furnished with it in fcreens. The perfon who acted Polly, till then obscure, 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.

Ver. 326. Ambrofe Philips]" He was (faith "Mr. JACOB) one of the wits at Button's, and a 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 confeffes, he dares not fet him quite on the fame foot with Virgil, left it should feen flattery, but Furthermore, it drove out of England, for that fea"he is much mistaken if pofterity does not afford fon, the Italian Opera, which had carried all before him a greater efterm than he at prefent enjoys." it for ten years. He endeavoured to create fome mifunderstanding be-ple, which the great Critic Mr. Dennis by the labours That idol of the Nobility and peotween our Author and Mr. Addison, whom alfo foon and outcries of a whole life could not overthrow, was after he abused as much. His constant cry was, that | demolished by a fingle strokę of this gentleman's pea,