"men of good understanding value him for his rhymes." And (p. 17.)" that he has got, like Mr. Bays in the "Rehearsal, (that is, like Mr. Dryden) a notable "knack at rhyming, and writing smooth verfe." Of his Effay on Man, numerous were the praises be ftowed by his avowed enemies, in the imagination that the fame was not written by him, as it was printed anonymously. Thus fang of it even BEZALEEL MORRIS. "Aufpicious bard! while all admire thy ftrain, "Alike informs the Soul, and charms the Ear," &c. And Mr. LEONARD WELSTED thus wrote a to the unknown author, on the first publi cation of the faid Effay; "I must own, after the recep→ "tion which the vileft and most immoral ribaldry hath "lately met with, I was furprized to see what I had "long defpaired, a performance deferving the name "Now is it not plain, that any one who fends fuch "compliments to another, has not been used to write in "partnership with him to whom he fends them?" Dennis, Remarks on the Dunciad, p. 50. Mr. Dennis is therefore welcome to take this piece to himself. a In a Letter under his own hand, dated March 12, 1733 "of "of a poet. Such, Sir, is your work. It is, indeed, "above all commendation, and ought to have been "published in an age and country more worthy of it. "If my teftimony be of weight any where, you are "fure to have it in the ampleft manner," &c. &c. &c. Thus we fee every one of his works hath been extolled by one or other of his moft inveterate Enemies; and to the fuccefs of them all they do unanimously give teftimony. But it is fufficient, inftar omnium, to behold the great critic, Mr. Dennis, forely lamenting it, even from the Effay on Criticism to this day of the Dunciad! "A most notorious inftance (quoth he) of "the depravity of genius and taste, the approbation "this Effay meets with b.-I can fafely affirm, that I 66 never attacked any of thefe writings, unless they had "fuccefs infinitely beyond their merit. This, though "an empty, has been a popular fcribbler. The epide"mic madness of the times has given him reputation c. "If, after the cruel treatment so many extraordinary "men (Spenfer, Lord Bacon, Ben Jonfon, Milton, "Butler, Otway, and others) have received from this "country, for these laft hundred years, I should shift "the scene, and fhew all that penury changed at once "to riot and profufenefs; and more fquandered away upon one object, than would have satisfied the greater "part of those extraordinary men; the reader to b Dennis, Pref. to his Reflect. on the Effay on Criticifm. Preface to his Remarks on Homer. "whom "whom this one creature fhould be unknown, would fancy him a prodigy of art and nature, would be"lieve that all the great qualities of these persons were "centered in him alone. But if I fhould venture to "affure him, that the PEOPLE OF ENGLAND had made "fuch a choice--the reader would either believe me "a malicious enemy, and flanderer; or that the reign of "the laft (Queen Anne's) Miniftry was defigned by "fate to encourage Fools ." But it happens, that this our Poet never had any Place, Penfion, or Gratuity, in any fhape, from the faid glorious Queen, or any of her Minifters. All he owed, in the whole courfe of his life, to any court, was a fubfcription for his Homer, of 2001. from King George I. and 100 l. from the Prince and Princess. However, left we imagine our Author's success was conftant and univerfal, they acquaint us of certain works in a lefs degree of repute, whereof, although owned by others, yet do they affure us he is the writer. Of this fort Mr. DENNIS e afcribes to him two Farces, whofe names he does not tell, but affures us that there is not one jest in them: and an imitation of Horace, whofe title he does not mention, but affures us it is much more execrable than all his works f. The DAILY JOURNAL, May 11, 1728, affures us, "He is below "Tom Durfey in the Drama, because (as that writer "thinks) the Marriage-Hater matched, and the & Rem. on Homer, p. 8, 9. f Character of Mr. Pope, p. 7. e Ib. p. 8. "Boarding "Boarding-School are better than the Wbat d'ye-call"it;" which is not Mr. P.'s, but Mr. Gay's. Mr. GILDON affures us, in his New Rehearsal, p. 48. "That he was writing a play of the Lady Jane Grey;" but it afterwards proved to be Mr. Rowe's. We are affured by another, "He wrote a pamphlet called Dr. Andrew Tripe ;" which proved to be one Dr. Wagstaff's. Mr. THEOBALD affures us, in Mist of the 27th of April, "That the treatife of the Profound is very dull, and that Mr. Pope is the author of it." The writer of Gulliveriana is of another opinion; and fays, the whole, or greatest part, of the merit of "this treatise muft and can only be ascribed to Gul"liver h." [Here, gentle reader! cannot I but fmile at the ftrange blindness and positiveness of men ; knowing the faid treatise to appertain to none other but to me, Martinus Scriblerus.] We are assured, in Mist of June 8, "That his own "Plays and Farces would better have adorned the Dunciad, than thofe of Mr. Theobald; for he had "neither genius for Tragedy nor Comedy." Which whether true or not, it is not eafy to judge; in as much as he had attempted neither. Unless we will take it for granted, with Mr. Cibber, that his being once very angry at hearing a friend's Play abufed, was an infallible proof the Play was his own; the faid Mr, Cibber thinking it impoffible for a man to be much concerned for any but himfelf: "Now let any man h Gulliv. p. 336. g Character of Mr. Pope, p. 6. "judge "judge (faith he) by his concern, who was the true "mother of the child i?" But from all that hath been faid, the difcerning reader will collect, that it little availed our Author to have any Candour, fince, when he declared he did not write for others, it was not credited; as little to have any Modefty, fince, when he declined writing in any way himself, the prefumption of others was imputed to him. If he fingly enterprized one great work, he was taxed of Boldnefs and Madness to a Prodigy k: If he took affiftants in another, it was complained of, and represented as a great injury to the Public. The loftieft heroics; the loweft ballads, treatifes againft the ftate or church, fatires on lords and ladies, raillery on wits and authors, fquabbles with bookfellers, or even full and true accounts of monsters, poisons, and murders; of any hereof was there nothing fo good, nothing fo bad, which hath not at one or other feafon been to him afcribed. If it bore no author's name, then lay he concealed; if it did, he fathered it upon that author to be yet better concealed: If it refembled any of his ftyles, then was it evident; if it did not, then difguifed he it on fet purpofe. Yea, even direct oppofitions in religion, principles, and politics, have equally been fuppofed in him inherent. Surely a moft i Cibber's Letter to Mr. P. p. 19. k Burnet's Homerides, p. 1. of his tranflation of the Iliad. 1 The London and Mift's Journals, on his undertaking the Odyffey. rare |