Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

MR. THEOBALD,

in censuring his Shakspeare, declares, He has so 'great an esteem for Mr. Pope, and so high an opinion of his genius and excellencies, that, not'withstanding he professes a veneration almost 'rising to idolatry for the writings of this inimitable Poet, he would be very loath even to do him justice at the expence of that other gentle'man's character *.'

[ocr errors]

MR. CHARLES GILDON,

after having violently attacked him in many pieces, at last came to wish from his heart, 'That Mr. • Pope would he prevailed upon to give us Ovid's Epistles by his hand; for it is certain we see the original of Sappho to Phaon with much more life and likeness in his version than in that of • Sir Car Scrope. And this (he adds) is the more to be wished, because in the English tongue we • have scarce any thing truly and naturally written · upon love t.' He also, in taxing Sir Richard Blackmore for his heterodox opinions of Homer, challenges him to answer what Mr. Pope hath said in his Preface to that poet.

MR. OLDMIXON

calls him a great master of our tongue; declares

Introduction to his Shakspeare Restored, 4to. p. 3.

+ Commentary on the Duke of Buckingham's Essay, 870. 1721 p. 97, 98.

[blocks in formation]

The purity and perfection of the English lan guage to be found in his Homer; and, saying there are more good verses in Dryden's Virgil • than in any other work, except this of our Au ✦thor only *'

The Author of a Letter to MR. CIBBER

says +, Pope was so good a versifier [once] that his p.edecessor Mr. Dryden, and his contemporary • Mr. Prior excepted, the harmony of his num⚫bers is equal to any body's; and that he had all the merit that a man can have that way.' And

[ocr errors]

MR. THOMAS COOKE,

after much blemishing our Author's Homer, cri eth out,

'But in his other works what beauties shine,
While sweetest music dwells in ev'ry line!
"These he admir'd, on these he stamp'd his praise,
And bade them live to brighten future days +."

So also one who takes the name of

H. STANHOPE,

the maker of certain verses to Duncan Campbell, in that poem §, which is wholly a satire on Mr. Pope, confesseth,

In his prose Essay on Criticism.

+ Printed by J. Roberts, 1742, p. 11.

Battle of the Poets, folio, p. 15.

Printed under the title The Progress of Dullness, duode

eimo, 1728,

"Tis true, if finest notes alone could show
*(Tun'd justly high, or regularly low,)

That we should fame to these mere vocals give
Pope more than we can offer should receive
For when some gliding river is his theme,

'His lines run-smoother than the smoothest stream.' &c.

MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8, 1728.

Although he says, 'The smooth numbers of the Dunciad are all that recommend it, nor has it any other merit;' yet that same paper hath these words: The Author is allowed to be a perfect master of an easy and elegant versification, In all his works we find the most happy turns, ' and natural similies, wonderfully short, and thick 'sown.'

is

The Essay on the Dunciad also owns, p. 25, it very full of beautiful images. But the panegy ric, which crowns all that can be said on this Poem is bestowed by our Laureat,

who'

[ocr errors]

grants

MR. COLLEY CIBBER,

[ocr errors]

it to be a better Poem of its kind than • ever was writ:' but adds, it was a victory over a parcel of poor wretches, whom it was almost 'cowardice to conquer. A man might as well 'triumph for having killed so many silly flies that ' offended him. Could he have let them alone, by this time, poor souls! they had all been buried in oblivion*. Here we see our excellent

[ocr errors]

• Cibber's Letter to Mr. Pope, p. 9, 12.

Laureat allows the justice of the satire on every man in it but himself, as the great Mr. Dennis did before him.

The said

MR. DENNIS and MR. GILDON,

[ocr errors]

in the most furious of all their works, (the forecited character, p. 5.) do in concert * confess, That some men of good understanding value him for his rhymes.' And (p. 17.) That he has 'got, like Mr. Bayes in the rehearsal), that is like • Mr. Dryden) a notable knack at rhyming, and ་ writing smooth verse.'

Of his Essay on man numerous were the praises bestowed by his avowed enemies, in the imagination that the same was not written by him, as it was printed anonymously.

In concert.] Hear how Mr. Dennis hath proved our mis take in this place: As to my writing in concert with Mr. Gildon, I declare upon the honor and word of a gentleman, 'that I never wrote so much as one line in concert with any one man whatsover. And these two letters from Gildon will plainly shew that we are not writers in concert with each "other,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

sir, -The heighth of my ambition is to please men of "the best judgment; and finding that I have entertained my "master agreeably, I have the extent of the reward of my la "bour.">

"Sir,

"I had not the opportunity of hearing of your excellent " pamphlet till this day. I am infinitely satisfied and pleased with it, and hope you will meet with that encouragement your "admirable performance deserves," &c. Ch. Gilden."

[ocr errors]

Now is it not plain that any one who send such compļiments to another, has not been used to write in partnership with him to whom he sends them? Dennis, Remarks on the Dunciad, p. 50. Mr. Dennis is therefore welcome to take this piece to himself.

Thus

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

sang of it even

BEZALEEL MORRIS.

Auspicious Bard! while all admire thy strain,
All but the selfish, ignorant, and vain;
I, whom no bribe to servile flatt'ry drew,
Must pay the tribute to thy merit due:

Thy muse sublime, significant, and clear,

Alike informs the soul, and charms the ear, &c.

MR, LEONARD WELSTED

thus wrote * the unknown author, on the first publication of the said essay; I must own, after the reception which the vilest and most immoral ribaldry hath lately met with, I was surprised to see what I had long despaired, a performance deserving the name of a poet. Such, Sir, is your ' work. It is, indeed, above all commendation, ' and ought tohave been published in an age and coun try more worthy of it. If my testimony be of weight " any where, you are sure to have it in the amplest 'manner,' &c. &c. &c.

'

Thus we see every one of his works hath been extolled by one or other of his most inveteratę enemies and to the success of them all they do una nimously give testimony. But it is sufficient, znstar omnium, to behold the great critic, Mr. Dennis, solely lamenting it, even from the Essay on Criti cism to this day of the Dunciad! A most notorious instance (quoth he) of the depravity of genius and taste, the approbation this Essay meets

* In a letter under his own hand, March 12, 1733.

« ZurückWeiter »