The Dunciad: Appendix

I.--PREFACE
PREFIXED TO THE FIVE FIRST IMPERFECT EDITIONS OF THE DUNCIAD, IN THREE
BOOKS, PRINTED AT DUBLIN AND LONDON, IN OCTAVO AND DUODECIMO, 1727.
THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.
It will be found a true observation, though somewhat surprising, that
when any scandal is vented against a man of the highest distinction and
character, either in the state or in literature, the public in general
afford it a most quiet reception; and the larger part accept it as
favourably as if it were some kindness done to themselves: whereas, if a
known scoundrel or blockhead but chance to be touched upon, a whole
legion is up in arms, and it becomes the common cause of all scribblers,
booksellers, and printers whatsoever.
Not to search too deeply into the reason hereof, I will only observe as
a fact, that every week for these two months past, the town has been
persecuted with pamphlets, advertisements, letters, and weekly essays,
not only against the wit and writings, but against the character and
person of Mr Pope. And that of all those men who have received pleasure
from his works, which by modest computation may be about a hundred
thousand in these kingdoms of England and Ireland (not to mention
Jersey, Guernsey, the Orcades, those in the new world, and foreigners
who have translated him into their languages), of all this number not a
man hath stood up to say one word in his defence.
The only exception is the author of the following poem, who, doubtless,
had either a better insight into the grounds of this clamour, or a
better opinion of Mr Pope's integrity, joined with a greater personal
love for him, than any other of his numerous friends and admirers.
Further, that he was in his peculiar intimacy, appears from the
knowledge he manifests of the most private authors of all the anonymous
pieces against him, and from his having in this poem attacked no man
living, who had not before printed or published some scandal against
this gentleman.
How I came possessed of it is no concern to the reader; but it would
have been a wrong to him had I detained the publication, since those
names which are its chief ornaments die off daily so fast, as must
render it too soon unintelligible. If it provoke the author to give us a
more perfect edition, I have my end.
Who he is I cannot say, and (which is a great pity) there is certainly
nothing in his style and manner of writing which can distinguish or
discover him: for if it bears any resemblance to that of Mr Pope, 'tis
not improbable but it might be done on purpose, with a view to have it
pass for his. But by the frequency of his allusions to Virgil, and a
laboured (not to say affected) shortness in imitation of him, I should
think him more an admirer of the Roman poet than of the Grecian, and in
that not of the same taste with his friend.
I have been well informed, that this work was the labour of full six
years of his life, and that he wholly retired himself from all the
avocations and pleasures of the world, to attend diligently to its
correction and perfection; and six years more he intended to bestow upon
it, as it should seem by this verse of Statius, which was cited at the
head of his manuscript--
'Oh mihi bissenos multum vigilata per annos,
Duncia!'
Hence, also, we learn the true title of the poem; which, with the same
certainty as we call that of Homer the Iliad, of Virgil the Aeneid, of
Camoens the Lusiad, we may pronounce, could have been, and can be no
other than
THE DUNCIAD.
It is styled heroic, as being doubly so: not only with respect to its
nature, which, according to the best rules of the ancients, and
strictest ideas of the moderns, is critically such; but also with regard
to the heroical disposition and high courage of the writer, who dared to
stir up such a formidable, irritable, and implacable race of mortals.
There may arise some obscurity in chronology from the names in the poem,
by the inevitable removal of some authors, and insertion of others in
their niches. For whoever will consider the unity of the whole design,
will be sensible that the poem was not made for these authors, but these
authors for the poem. I should judge that they were clapped in as they
rose, fresh and fresh, and changed from day to day; in like manner as
when the old boughs wither, we thrust new ones into a chimney.
I would not have the reader too much troubled or anxious, if he cannot
decipher them; since when he shall have found them out, he will probably
know no more of the persons than before.
Yet we judged it better to preserve them as they are, than to change
them for fictitious names; by which the satire would only be multiplied,
and applied to many instead of one. Had the hero, for instance, been
called Codrus, how many would have affirmed him to have been Mr T., Mr
E., Sir R. B., &c. but now all that unjust scandal is saved by calling
him by a name, which by good luck happens to be that of a real person.
II.--A LIST OF BOOKS, PAPERS, AND VERSES,
IN WHICH OUR AUTHOR WAS ABUSED, BEFORE THE PUBLICATION OF THE DUNCIAD;
WITH THE TRUE NAMES OF THE AUTHORS.
Reflections Critical and Satirical on a late Rhapsody, called an Essay
on Criticism. By Mr Dennis. Printed by B. Lintot, price 6d.
A New Rehearsal, or Bayes the Younger; containing an Examen of Mr Rowe's
plays, and a word or two on Mr Pope's Rape of the Lock. Anon. [By
Charles Gildon]. Printed for J. Roberts, 1714, price 1s.
Homerides, or a Letter to Mr Pope, occasioned by his intended
translation of Homer. By Sir Iliad Doggrel. [Tho. Burnet and G. Ducket,
Esquires]. Printed for W. Wilkins, 1715, price 9d.
Aesop at the Bear Garden; a Vision, in imitation of the Temple of Fame.
By Mr Preston. Sold by John Morphew, 1715, price 6d.
The Catholic Poet, or Protestant Barnaby's Sorrowful Lamentations; a
Ballad about Homer's Iliad. By Mrs Centlivre and others, 1715, price 1d.
An Epilogue to a Puppet Show at Bath, concerning the said Iliad. By
George Ducket, Esq. Printed by E. Curll.
A Complete Key to the What-d'ye-call-it? Anon. [By Griffin, a player,
supervised by Mr Th---]. Printed by J. Roberts, 1715.
A True Character of Mr P. and his Writings, in a Letter to a Friend.
Anon. [Dennis]. Printed for S. Popping, 1716, price 3d.
The Confederates, a Farce. By Joseph Gay. [J. D. Breval]. Printed for R.
Burleigh, 1717, price 1s.
Remarks upon Mr Pope's Translation of Homer; with Two Letters concerning
the Windsor Forest, and the Temple of Fame. By Mr Dennis. Printed for E.
Curll, 1717, price 1s. 6d.
Satires on the Translators of Homer, Mr P. and Mr T. Anon. [Bez.
Morris]. 1717, price 6d.
The Triumvirate; or, a Letter from Palaemon to Celia at Bath. Anon.
[Leonard Welsted]. 1711, folio, price 1s.
The Battle of Poets, an Heroic Poem. By Thomas Cooke. Printed for J.
Roberts. Folio, 1725.
Memoirs of Lilliput. Anon. [Eliza Haywood]. Octavo, printed in 1727.
An Essay on Criticism, in Prose. By the Author of the Critical History
of England [J. Oldmixon]. Octavo, printed 1728.
Gulliveriana and Alexandriana; with an ample Preface and Critique on
Swift and Pope's Miscellanies. By Jonathan Smedley. Printed by J.
Roberts. Octavo, 1728.
Characters of the Times; or, an Account of the Writings, Characters,
&c., of several Gentlemen libelled by S---- and P---, in a late
Miscellany. Octavo, 1728.
Remarks on Mr Pope's Rape of the Lock, in Letters to a Friend. By Mr
Dennis. Written in 1724, though not printed till 1728. Octavo.
VERSES, LETTERS, ESSAYS, OR ADVERTISEMENTS, IN THE PUBLIC PRINTS.
British Journal, Nov. 25, 1727. A Letter on Swift and Pope's
Miscellanies. [Writ by M. Concanen].
Daily Journal, March 18, 1728. A Letter by Philo-mauri. James Moore
Smith.
Ibid. March 29. A Letter about Thersites; accusing the author of
disaffection to the Government. By James Moore Smith.
Mist's Weekly Journal, March 30. An Essay on the Arts of a Poet's
Sinking in Reputation; or, a Supplement to the Art of Sinking in Poetry.
[Supposed by Mr Theobald].
Daily Journal, April 3. A Letter under the name of Philo-ditto. By James
Moore Smith.
Flying Post, April 4. A Letter against Gulliver and Mr P. [By Mr
Oldmixon.]
Daily Journal, April 5. An Auction of Goods at Twickenham. By James
Moore Smith.
The Flying Post, April 6. A Fragment of a Treatise upon Swift and Pope.
By Mr Oldmixon.
The Senator, April 9. On the same. By Edward Roome.
Daily Journal, April 8. Advertisement by James Moore Smith.
Flying Post, April 13. Verses against Dr Swift, and against Mr P---'s
Homer. By J. Oldmixon.
Daily Journal, April 23. Letter about the Translation of the Character
of Thersites in Homer. By Thomas Cooke, &c.
Mist's Weekly Journal, April 27. A Letter of Lewis Theobald.
Daily Journal, May 11. A Letter against Mr P. at large. Anon. [John
Dennis].
All these were afterwards reprinted in a pamphlet, entitled, A
Collection of all the Verses, Essays, Letters, and Advertisements,
occasioned by Mr Pope and Swift's Miscellanies, prefaced by Concanen,
Anonymous, octavo, and printed for A. Moore, 1728, price 1s. Others of
an elder date, having lain as waste paper many years, were, upon the
publication of the Dunciad, brought out, and their authors betrayed by
the mercenary booksellers (in hope of some possibility of vending a
few), by advertising them in this manner:--"The Confederates, a Farce.
By Captain Breval (for which he was put into the Dunciad). An Epilogue
to Powell's Puppet Show. By Colonel Ducket (for which he is put into the
Dunciad). Essays, &c. By Sir Richard Blackmore. (N.B.--It was for a
passage of this book that Sir Richard was put into the Dunciad)." And so
of others.
AFTER THE DUNCIAD, 1728.
An Essay on the Dunciad, octavo. Printed for J. Roberts. [In this book,
p. 9, it was formally declared, 'That the complaint of the aforesaid
libels and advertisements was forged and untrue; that all mouths had
been silent, except in Mr Pope's praise; and nothing against him
published, but by Mr Theobald.']
Sawney, in Blank Verse, occasioned by the Dunciad; with a Critique on
that Poem. By J. Ralph [a person never mentioned in it at first, but
inserted after]. Printed for J. Roberts, octavo.
A Complete Key to the Dunciad. By E. Curll. 12mo, price 6d.
A Second and Third Edition of the same, with Additions, 12mo.
The Popiad. By E. Curll. Extracted from J. Dennis, Sir Richard
Blackmore, &c. 12mo, price 6d.
The Curliad. By the same E. Curll.
The Female Dunciad. Collected by the same Mr Curll. 12mo, price 6d. With
the Metamorphosis of P. into a Stinging Nettle. By Mr Foxton. 12mo.
The Metamorphosis of Scriblerus into Snarlerus. By J. Smedley. Printed
for A. Moore, folio, price 6d.
The Dunciad Dissected. By Curll and Mrs Thomas. 12mo.
An Essay on the Tastes and Writings of the Present Times. Said to be
writ by a Gentleman of C. C. C. Oxon. Printed for J. Roberts, octavo.
The Arts of Logic and Rhetoric, partly taken from Bouhours, with New
Reflections, &c. By John Oldmixon. Octavo.
Remarks on the Dunciad. By Mr Dennis. Dedicated to Theobald. Octavo.
A Supplement to the Profund. Anon. By Matthew Coucanen. Octavo.
Mist's Weekly Journal, June 8. A long Letter, signed W. A. Writ by some
or other of the Club of Theobald, Dennis, Moore, Concanen, Cooke, who
for some time held constant weekly meetings for these kind of
performances.
Daily Journal, June 11. A Letter signed Philoscriblerus, on the name of
Pope. Letter to Mr Theobald, inverse, signed B. M. (Bezaleel Morris)
against Mr P---. Many other little Epigrams about this time in the same
papers, by James Moore, and others.
Mist's Journal, June 22. A Letter by Lewis Theobald.
Flying Post, August 8. Letter on Pope and Swift.
Daily Journal, August 8. Letter charging the Author of the Dunciad with
Treason.
Durgen: A Plain Satire on a Pompous Satirist. By Edward Ward, with a
little of James Moore.
Apollo's Maggot in his Cups. By E. Ward.
Gulliveriana Secunda. Being a Collection of many of the Libels in the
Newspapers, like the former Volume, under the same title, by Smedley.
Advertised in the Craftsman, Nov. 9, 1728, with this remarkable promise,
that 'any thing which any body should send as Mr Pope's or Dr
Swift's should be inserted and published as theirs.'
Pope Alexander's Supremacy and Infallibility Examined, &c. By George
Ducket and John Dennis. Quarto.
Dean Jonathan's Paraphrase on the Fourth Chapter of Genesis. Writ by E.
Roome. Folio. 1729.
Labeo. A Paper of Verses by Leonard Welsted, which after came into One
Epistle, and was published by James Moore, quarto, 1730. Another part
of it came out in Welsted's own name, under the just title of Dulness
and Scandal, folio, 1731.
There have been since published--
Verses on the Imitator of Horace. By a Lady (or between a Lady, a Lord,
and a Court-squire). Printed for J. Roberts. Folio.
An Epistle from a Nobleman to a Doctor of Divinity, from Hampton Court
(Lord H---y). Printed for J. Roberts. Folio.
A Letter from Mr Cibber to Mr Pope. Printed for W. Lewis in Covent
Garden. Octavo.
III.--ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION--WITH NOTES,
IN QUARTO, 1729.
It will be sufficient to say of this edition, that the reader has here a
much more correct and complete copy of the Dunciad than has hitherto
appeared. I cannot answer but some mistakes may have slipped into it,
but a vast number of others will be prevented by the names being now not
only set at length, but justified by the authorities and reasons given.
I make no doubt the author's own motive to use real rather than feigned
names, was his care to preserve the innocent from any false application;
whereas, in the former editions, which had no more than the initial
letters, he was made, by Keys printed here, to hurt the inoffensive, and
(what was worse) to abuse his friends, by an impression at Dublin.
The commentary which attends this poem was sent me from several hands,
and consequently must be unequally written; yet will have one advantage
over most commentaries, that it is not made upon conjectures, or at a
remote distance of time: and the reader cannot but derive one pleasure
from the very obscurity of the persons it treats of, that it partakes of
the nature of a secret, which most people love to be let into, though
the men or the things be ever so inconsiderable or trivial.
Of the persons it was judged proper to give some account; for since it
is only in this monument that they must expect to survive (and here
survive they will, as long as the English tongue shall remain such as it
was in the reigns of Queen Anne and King George), it seemed but humanity
to bestow a word or two upon each, just to tell what he was, what he
writ, when he lived, and when he died.
If a word or two more are added upon the chief offenders, it is only as
a paper pinned upon the breast, to mark the enormities for which they
suffered; lest the correction only should be remembered, and the crime
forgotten. In some articles it was thought sufficient barely to
transcribe from Jacob, Curll, and other writers of their own rank, who
were much better acquainted with them than any of the authors of this
comment can pretend to be. Most of them had drawn each other's
characters on certain occasions; but the few here inserted are all that
could be saved from the general destruction of such works.
Of the part of Scriblerus, I need say nothing; his manner is well enough
known, and approved by all but those who are too much concerned to be
judges.
The Imitations of the Ancients are added, to gratify those who either
never read, or may have forgotten them; together with some of the
parodies and allusions to the most excellent of the Moderns. If, from
the frequency of the former, any man think the poem too much a Cento,
our poet will but appear to have done the same thing in jest which
Boileau did in earnest; and upon which Vida, Fracastorius, and many of
the most eminent Latin poets, professedly valued themselves.
IV.--ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE
DUNCIAD,
WHEN PRINTED SEPARATELY IN THE YEAR 1742.
We apprehend it can be deemed no injury to the author of the three first
books of the Dunciad that we publish this fourth. It was found merely by
accident in taking a survey of the library of a late eminent nobleman;
but in so blotted a condition, and in so many detached pieces, as
plainly showed it to be not only incorrect, but unfinished. That the
author of the three first books had a design to extend and complete his
poem in this manner appears from the dissertation prefixed to it, where
it is said that the design is more extensive, and that we may expect
other episodes to complete it; and from the declaration in the argument
to the third book, that the accomplishment of the prophecies therein
would be the theme hereafter of a greater Dunciad. But whether or no he
be the author of this, we declare ourselves ignorant. If he be, we are
no more to be blamed for the publication of it than Tucca and Varius for
that of the last six books of the Aeneid, though perhaps inferior to the
former.
If any person be possessed of a more perfect copy of this work, or of
any other fragments of it, and will communicate them to the publisher,
we shall make the next edition more complete: in which we also promise
to insert any criticisms that shall be published (if at all to the
purpose) with the names of the authors; or any letters sent us (though
not to the purpose) shall yet be printed under the title of Epistolae
Obscurorum Virorum; which, together with some others of the same kind
formerly laid by for that end, may make no unpleasant addition to the
future impressions of this poem.
V.--ADVERTISEMENT TO THE COMPLETE EDITION of 1743.
I have long had a design of giving some sort of Notes on the works of
this poet. Before I had the happiness of his acquaintance, I had written
a commentary on his Essay on Man, and have since finished another on the
Essay on Criticism. There was one already on the Dunciad, which had met
with general approbation; but I still thought some additions were
wanting (of a more serious kind) to the humorous notes of Scriblerus,
and even to those written by Mr Cleland, Dr Arbuthnot, and others. I had
lately the pleasure to pass some months with the author in the country,
where I prevailed upon him to do what I had long desired, and favour me
with his explanation of several passages in his works. It happened that
just at that juncture was published a ridiculous book against him, full
of personal reflections, which furnished him with a lucky opportunity of
improving this poem, by giving it the only thing it wanted--a more
considerable hero. He was always sensible of its defect in that
particular, and owned he had let it pass with the hero it had purely for
want of a better; not entertaining the least expectation that such an
one was reserved for this post as has since obtained the Laurel: but
since that had happened, he could no longer deny this justice either to
him or the Dunciad.
And yet I will venture to say, there was another motive which had still
more weight with our author. This person was one who from every folly
(not to say vice) of which another would be ashamed has constantly
derived a vanity; and therefore was the man in the world who would least
be hurt by it.
W. W.
VI.--ADVERTISEMENT PRINTED IN THE JOURNALS, 1730.
Whereas, upon occasion of certain pieces relating to the gentlemen of
the Dunciad, some have been willing to suggest, as if they looked upon
them as an abuse: we can do no less than own it is our opinion, that to
call these gentlemen bad authors is no sort of abuse, but a great truth.
We cannot alter this opinion without some reason; but we promise to do
it in respect to every person who thinks it an injury to be represented
as no wit, or poet, provided he procures a certificate of his being
really such, from any three of his companions in the Dunciad, or from Mr
Dennis singly, who is esteemed equal to any three of the number.
VII.--A PARALLEL OF THE CHARACTERS OF MR DRYDEN AND MR POPE,
AS DRAWN BY CERTAIN OF THEIR CONTEMPORARIES.
MR DRYDEN--HIS POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS.
MR DRYDEN is a mere renegado from monarchy, poetry, and good
sense[453]--a true republican son of monarchical Church[454]--a
republican atheist.[455] Dryden was from the beginning an [Greek:
alloprosallos], and I doubt not will continue so to the last.[456]
In the poem called Absalom and Achitophel are notoriously traduced, the
King, the Queen, the Lords and Gentlemen, not only their honourable
persons exposed, but the whole nation and its representatives
notoriously libelled. It is scandalum magnatum, yea of majesty
itself.[457]
He looks upon God's gospel as a foolish fable, like the Pope, to whom he
is a pitiful purveyor.[458] His very Christianity may be
questioned.[459] He ought to expect more severity than other men, as he
is most unmerciful in his own reflections on others.[460] With as good a
right as his holiness, he sets up for poetical infallibility.[461]
MR DRYDEN ONLY A VERSIFIER.
His whole libel is all bad matter, beautified (which is all that can be
said of it) with good metre.[462] Mr Dryden's genius did not appear in
any thing more than his versification, and whether he is to be ennobled
for that only is a question.[463]
MR DRYDEN'S VIRGIL.
Tonson calls it Dryden's Virgil, to show that this is not that Virgil so
admired in the Augustaean age; but a Virgil of another stamp, a silly,
impertinent, nonsensical writer.[464] None but a Bavius, a Maevius, or a
Bathyllus carped at Virgil; and none but such unthinking vermin admire
his translator.[465] It is true, soft and easy lines might become Ovid's
Epistles or Art of Love; but Virgil, who is all great and majestic, &c.,
requires strength of lines, weight of words, and closeness of
expressions--not an ambling muse running on carpet-ground, and shod as
lightly as a Newmarket racer. He has numberless faults in his author's
meaning, and in propriety of expression.[466]
MR DRYDEN UNDERSTOOD NO GREEK NOR LATIN.
Mr Dryden was once, I have heard, at Westminster school. Dr Bushby would
have whipped him for so childish a paraphrase.[467] The meanest pedant
in England would whip a lubber of twelve for construing so
absurdly.[468] The translator is mad, every line betrays his
stupidity.[469] The faults are innumerable, and convince me that Mr
Dryden did not, or would not understand his author.[470] This shows how
fit Mr D. may be to translate Homer! A mistake in a single letter might
fall on the printer well enough, but [Greek: eichor] for [Greek: ichor]
must be the error of the author. Nor had he art enough to correct it at
the press.[471] Mr Dryden writes for the court ladies. He writes for the
ladies, and not for use.[472]
The translator puts in a little burlesque now and then into Virgil, for
a ragout to his cheated subscribers.[473]
MR DRYDEN TRICKED HIS SUBSCRIBERS.
I wonder that any man, who could not but be conscious of his own
unfitness for it, should go to amuse the learned world with such an
undertaking! A man ought to value his reputation more than money; and
not to hope that those who can read for themselves will be imposed upon,
merely by a partially and unseasonably celebrated name.[474] Poetis
quidlibei audendi shall be Mr Dryden's motto, though it should extend
to picking of pockets.[475]
NAMES BESTOWED ON MR DRYDEN.
An Ape.--A crafty ape dressed up in a gaudy gown--whips put into an
ape's paw, to play pranks with--none but apish and papish brats will
heed him.[476]
An Ass.--A camel will take upon him no more burden than is sufficient
for his strength, but there is another beast that crouches under
all.[477]
A Frog.--Poet Squab endued with Poet Maro's spirit! an ugly croaking
kind of vermin, which would swell to the bulk of an ox.[478]
A Coward.--A Clinias or a Damaetas, or a man of Mr Dryden's own
courage.[479]
A Knave.--Mr Dryden has heard of Paul, the knave of Jesus Christ; and,
if I mistake not, I've read somewhere of John Dryden, servant to his
Majesty.[480]
A Fool.--Had he not been such a self-conceited fool.[481]--Some great
poets are positive blockheads.[482]
A Thing.--So little a thing as Mr Dryden.[483]
MR POPE--HIS POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS.
MR POPE is an open and mortal enemy to his country, and the commonwealth
of learning.[484] Some call him a Popish Whig, which is directly
inconsistent.[485] Pope, as a papist, must be a Tory and
High-flyer.[486] He is both a Whig and Tory.[487]
He hath made it his custom to cackle to more than one party in their own
sentiments.[488]
In his miscellanies, the persons abused are--the King, the Queen, his
late Majesty, both Houses of Parliament, the Privy Council, the Bench of
Bishops, the Established Church, the present Ministry, &c. To make sense
of some passages, they must be construed into royal scandal.[489]
He is a popish rhymester, bred up with a contempt of the Sacred
Writings.[490] His religion allows him to destroy heretics, not only
with his pen, but with fire and sword; and such were all those unhappy
wits whom he sacrificed to his accursed popish principles.[491] It
deserved vengeance to suggest that Mr Pope had less infallibility than
his namesake at Rome.[492]
MR POPE ONLY A VERSIFIER.
The smooth numbers of the Dunciad are all that recommend it, nor has it
any other merit.[493] It must be owned that he hath got a notable knack
of rhyming and writing smooth verse.[494]
MR POPE'S HOMER.
The Homer which Lintot prints does not talk like Homer, but like Pope;
and he who translated him, one would swear, had a hill in Tipperary for
his Parnassus, and a puddle in some bog for his Hippocrene.[495] He has
no admirers among those that can distinguish, discern, and judge.[496]
He hath a knack at smooth verse, but without either genius or good
sense, or any tolerable knowledge of English. The qualities which
distinguish Homer are the beauties of his diction and the harmony of his
versification. But this little author, who is so much in vogue, has
neither sense in his thoughts nor English in his expressions.[497]
MR POPE UNDERSTOOD NO GREEK.
He hath undertaken to translate Homer from the Greek, of which he knows
not one word, into English, of which he understands as little.[498] I
wonder how this gentleman would look, should it be discovered that he
has not translated ten verses together in any book of Homer with justice
to the poet, and yet he dares reproach his fellow-writers with not
understanding Greek.[499] He has stuck so little to his original as to
have his knowledge in Greek called in question.[500] I should be glad to
know which it is of all Homer's excellencies which has so delighted the
ladies, and the gentlemen who judge like ladies.[501]
But he has a notable talent at burlesque; his genius slides so naturally
into it, that he hath burlesqued Homer without designing it.[502]
MR POPE TRICKED HIS SUBSCRIBERS.
'Tis indeed somewhat bold, and almost prodigious, for a single man to
undertake such a work; but 'tis too late to dissuade by demonstrating
the madness of the project. The subscribers' expectations have been
raised in proportion to what their pockets have been drained of.[503]
Pope has been concerned in jobs, and hired out his name to
booksellers.[504]
NAMES BESTOWED ON MR POPE.
An Ape.--Let us take the initial letter of his Christian name, and the
initial and final letters of his surname, viz., A P E, and they give you
the same idea of an ape as his face,[505] &c.
An Ass.--It is my duty to pull off the lion's skin from this little
ass.[506]
A Frog.--A squab short gentleman--a little creature that, like the frog
in the fable, swells, and is angry that it is not allowed to be as big
as an ox.[507]
A Coward.--A lurking, way-laying coward.[508]
A Knave.--He is one whom God and nature have marked for want of common
honesty.[509]
A Fool.--Great fools will be christened by the names of great poets, and
Pope will be called Homer.[510]
A Thing.--A little abject thing.[511]
INDEX
OF
PERSONS CELEBRATED IN THIS POEM.
THE FIRST NUMBER SHOWS THE BOOK; THE SECOND, THE VERSE.
Ambrose Philips, i. 105; iii. 326.
Attila, iii. 92.
Alaric, iii. 91.
Alma Mater, iii. 388.
Annius, an antiquary, iv. 347.
Arnall, William, ii. 315.
Addison, ii. 124, 140.
Atterbury, iv. 246.
Blackmore, Sir Richard, i. 104; ii. 268.
Bezaleel Morris, ii. 126; iii. 168.
Banks, i. 146.
Broome, ibid.
Bond, ii. 126.
Brown, iii. 28.
Bladen, iv. 560.
Budgel, Esq., ii. 337.
Bentley, Richard, iv. 201.
Bentley, Thomas, ii. 205.
Boyer, Abel, ii. 413.
Bland, a gazetteer, i. 231.
Breval, J. Durant, ii. 126, 238.
Benlowes, iii. 21.
Bavius, ibid.
Burmannus, iv. 237.
Benson, William, Esq., iii. 325; iv. 110.
Burgersdyck, iv. 198.
Boeotians, iii. 50.
Bruin and Bears, i, 101.
Bear and Fiddle, i. 224.
Burnet, Thomas, iii. 179.
Bacon, iii. 215.
Barrow, Dr, iv. 245.
Cibber, Colley, Hero of the Poem, passim.
Cibber, sen., i. 31.
Cibber, jun., iii. 139, 326.
Caxton, William, i. 149.
Curll, Edm., i. 40; ii. 3, 58, 167, &c.
Cooke, Thomas, ii. 138.
Concanen, Matthew, ii. 299,
Centlivre, Susannah, ii. 411.
Caesar in Aegypt, i. 251.
Chi Ho-am-ti, Emperor of China, iii. 75.
Crousaz, iv. 198.
Codrus, ii. 144.
Congreve, ii. 124.
Chesterfield, iv. 43.
Defoe, Daniel, i. 103; ii. 147.
Defoe, Norton, ii. 415.
De Lyra, or Harpsfield, i. 153.
Dennis, John, i. 106; ii. 239; iii. 173.
Dunton, John, ii. 144.
D'Urfey, iii. 146.
Dutchmen, ii. 405; iii. 51.
Doctors, at White's, i. 203.
Douglas, iv. 394.
Ducket, iii. 179.
Eusden, Laurence, Poet Laureate, i. 104.
Evans, Dr, ii. 116
Flecknoe, Richard, ii. 2.
Faustus, Dr, iii. 233.
Fleetwood, iv. 326.
Freemasons, iv. 576.
French Cooks, iv. 553.
Gay, ii. 127; iii. 330.
Gildon, Charles, i. 296.
Goode, Barn., iii. 153.
Goths, iii. 90.
Gazetteers, i. 215; ii. 314.
Gregorians and Gormogons, iv. 575.
Garth, ii. 140.
Genseric, iii. 92.
Gordon, Thomas, iv. 492.
Holland, Philemon, i. 154.
Hearne, Thomas, iii. 185.
Horneck, Philip, iii. 152.
Haywood, Eliza, ii. 157, &c.
Howard, Edward, i. 297.
Henley, John, the Orator, ii. 2, 425; iii. 199, &c.
Huns, iii. 90.
Heywood, John, i. 98.
Harpsfield, i. 153.
Hays, iv. 560.
Heidegger, i. 290.
John, King, i. 252.
James I., iv. 176.
Jacob, Giles, iii. 149.
Janssen, a gamester, iv. 326.
Jones, Inigo, iii. 328.
Johnston, iv. 112.
Knight, Robert, iv. 561.
Kuster, iv. 237.
Kirkall, ii. 160.
Lintot, Bernard, i. 40; ii. 53.
Laws, William, ii. 413.
Log, King, i. lin. ult.
Locke, iii. 215.
More, James, ii. 50, &c.
Morris, Bezaleel, ii. 126; iii. 168.
Mist, Nathaniel, i. 208.
Milbourn, Luke, ii. 349.
Mahomet, iii. 97.
Mears, William, ii. 125; iii. 28.
Motteux, Peter, ii. 412.
Monks, iii. 52.
Mandevil, ii. 414.
Morgan, ibid.
Montalto, iv. 105.
Mummius, an antiquary, iv. 371.
Milton, iii. 216.
Murray, iv. 169.
Newcastle, Duchess of, i. 141.
Nonjuror, i. 253.
Newton, iii. 216.
Ogilby, John, i. 141, 328.
Oldmixon, John, ii. 283.
Ozell, John, i. 285.
Ostrogoths, iii. 93.
Omar, the Caliph, iii. 81.
Owls, i. 271, 290; iii. 54.
Owls, Athenian, iv. 362.
Osborne, bookseller, ii. 167.
Osborne, mother, ii. 312.
Prynne, William, i. 103.
Philips, Ambrose, i. 105; iii. 326.
Paridel, iv. 341.
Prior, ii. 124-138.
Popple, iii. 151.
Pope, iii. 332.
Pulteney, iv. 170.
Quarles, Francis, i. 140.
Querno, Camillo, ii. 15.
Ralph, James, i. 216; iii. 165.
Roome, Edward, iii. 152.
Ripley, Thomas, iii. 327.
Ridpath, George, i. 208; ii. 149.
Roper, Abel, ii. 149.
Rich, iii. 261.
Settle, Elkanah, i. 90, 146; iii. 37.
Smedley, Jonathan, ii. 291, &c.
Shadwell, Thomas, i. 240; iii. 22.
Scholiasts, iv. 231.
Silenus, iv. 492.
Sooterkins, i. 126.
Swift, i. 19; ii. 116, 138; iii. 331.
Shaftesbury, iv. 488.
Tate, i. 105, 238.
Theobald, or Tibbald, i. 133, 286.
Tutchin, John, ii. 148.
Toland, John, ii. 399; iii. 212.
Tindal, Dr, ii. 399; iii. 212; iv. 492.
Taylor, John, the Water-Poet, iii. 19.
Thomas, Mrs, ii. 70.
Tonson, Jacob, i. 57; ii. 68.
Thorold, Sir George, i. 85.
Talbot, iv. 168.
Vandals, iii. 86.
Visigoths, iii. 94.
Walpole, late Sir Robert, praised by our author, ii. 314
Withers, George, i. 296.
Wynkyn de Worde, i. 149 (or 140),
Ward, Edw. i. 233; ii. 34.
Webster, ii. 258.
Whitfield, ibid.
Warner, Thomas, ii. 125.
Wilkins, ibid.
Welsted, Leonard, ii. 207; iii. 170.
Woolston, Thomas, iii. 212.
Wormius, iii. 188.
Wasse, iv. 237.
Walker, Hat-bearer to Bentley. iv. 206, 273.
Wren, Sir C., iii. 329.
Wyndham, iv. 167.
Young, Ed., ii. 116.