Who, in his Reflections on the Essay on Criticism, thus defcribeth him: "A little affected hypocrite, who has "nothing in his mouth but candour, truth, friendship, "good-nature, humanity, and magnanimity. He is "fo great a lover of falsehood, that, whenever he has "a mind to calumniate his contemporaries, he brands "them with fome defect which was juft contrary to fome "good quality, for which all their friends and acquaint"ance commend them. He feems to have a particular "pique to People of quality, and authors of that rank. "He must derive his religion from St. Omer's.”— But in the Character of Mr. P. and his writings, (printed by S. Popping, 1716) he faith, “Though "he is a profeffor of the worst religion, yet he laughs "at it ;" but that, "nevertheless, he is a virulent Pa"pift; and yet a Pillar for the Church of England." Of both which opinions Mr. LEWIS THEOBALD seems alfo to be; declaring, in Mift's Journal of June 22, 1718, "That, if he is not fhrewdly abused, he "made it his practice to cackle to both parties in their "own fentiments." But, as to his pique against People of Quality, the fame Journalist doth not agree, but faith (May 8, 1728) "He had, by fome means or "other, the acquaintance and friendship of the whole "body of our nobility.” However contradictory this may appear, Mr. Dennis and Gildon, in the character laft cited, make it all plain, by affuring us, "That he is a creature that re"conciles all contradictions: he is a beaft, and a man ; "a Whig, D 3 "a Whig, and a Tory; a writer (at one and the fame "time) of Guardians and Examiners; an Affertor "of liberty, and of the dispensing power of Kings; a "Jefuitical profeffor of truth; a base and a foul pre"tender to candour." So that, upon the whole account, we muft conclude him either to have been a great hypocrite, or a very honeft man; a terrible impofer upon both parties, or very moderate to either. Be it as the judicious reader fhall feem good. Sure it is, he is little favoured of certain authors, whose wrath is perilous: For one declares he ought to have a price fet on his head, and to be hunted down as a wild beast h. Another protests that he does not know what may happen; advises him to ensure his perfon; fays he has bitter enemies, and exprefsly declares it will be well if he escapes with his life i. One defires he would cut his own throat, or hang himself k. But Pafquin feemed rather inclined it should be done by the Government, reprefenting him engaged in grievous defigns with a Lord of Parliament, then under profecution. Mr. Dennis himself hath written to a Minifter, that he is one of the most dangerous perfons in this kingdom; and affureth the Public, that he is an open and mortal enemy to his country; a monster, that will, one day, fhew as daring a foul as a mad Indian, who runs a muck to kill g The Names of two weekly Papers. h Theobald, Letter in Mift's Journal, June 22, 1728. i Smedley, Pref. to Gulliveriana, p. 14. 16. k Gulliveriana, p. 332. I Anno 1723. m Anno 1729: the the first Chriftian he meets ". Another gives information of Treafon discovered in his poem o. Mr. Curll boldly supplies an imperfect verfe with Kings and Princeffes P. And one Matthew Concanen, yet more impudent, publishes at length the Two moft SACRED NAMES in this Nation, as members of the Dunciad q ! This is prodigious! yet it is almost as strange, that in the midft of these invectives his greatest Enemies have (I know not how) borne testimony to some merit in him. Mr. THEOBALD, in cenfuring his Shakespeare, declares, "He has fo great "an esteem for Mr. Pope, and so high an opinion of ❝ his genius and excellencies; that, notwithstanding he "profeffes a veneration almost rifing to Idolatry for the "writings of this inimitable poet, he would be very "loth even to do him juftice, at the expence of that "other gentleman's character "." Mr. CHARLES GILDON, after having violently attacked him in many pieces, at laft came to wish from his heart, "That Mr. Pope n Preface to Rem. on the Rape of the Lock, p. 12. and in the last page of that treatise. • Page 6, 7. of the Preface, by Concanen, to a book intitled, A Collection of all the Letters, Effays, Verses, and Advertisements, occafioned by Pope and Swift's Mifcellanies. Printed for A. Moore, octavo, 1712. P Key to the Dunciad, 3d edit. p. 18. ¶ A Lift of Perfons, &c. at the end of the forementioned Collection of all the Letters, Effays, &c. P. 3. Introduction to his Shakespeare Restored, in quarto, "would be 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 verfion, than in that of Sir Car Scrope. And "this (he adds) is the more to be wished, because in "the English tongue we have scarcely any thing truly "and naturally written upon Loves." He also, in taxing Sir Richard Blackmore for his heterodox opinions of Homer, challengeth him to answer what Mr. Pope hath faid in his preface to that Poet. Mr. OLDMIXON calls him a great master of our tongue; declares "the "purity and perfection of the English language to be "found in his Homer; and, faying there are more 66 good verfes in Dryden's Virgil than in any other "work, except this of our author only'." The Author of a Letter to Mr. CIBBER, fays, "u Pope was fo good a verfifier [once] that, his "predeceffor Mr. Dryden, and his 'contemporary Mr. "Prior excepted, the harmony of his numbers is equal "to any body's. And, that he had all the merit, that ❝ a man can have that way." And Mr. THOMAS COOKE, after much blemishing our author's Homer, crieth out, "But in his other works what beauties fhine, "While sweetest Mufic dwells in every line! • Commentary on the Duke of Buckingham's Effay, octavo, 1721, p. 97, 98. In his profe Essay on Criticism. "Thefe "These he admir'd, on these he stamp'd his praise, "And bade them live to brighten future days w." So alfo one who takes the name of H. STANHOPE, the maker of certain verses to Duncan Campbell x, in that poem, which is wholly a fatire upon Mr. Pope, confeffeth, 'Tis true, if fineft notes alone could fhow " (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 fome gliding river is his theme, "His lines run fmoother than the fmootheft stream," &c. MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8, 1728. Although he fays, "The fmooth numbers of the Dun"ciad are all that recommend it, nor has it any other "merit;" yet that fame paper hath these words : "The author is allowed to be a perfect master of an "eafy and elegant verfification. In all his works we "find the most happy turns, and natural fimilies, won"derfully fhort and thick fown." The Effay on the Dunciad alfo owns, p. 25. it is very full of beautiful images. But the panegyric, which crowns all that can be faid on this Poem, is bestowed by our Laureate, Mr. COLLEY CIBBER, w Battle of the Poets, folio, p. 15. * Printed under the title of the Progress of Dulness, duodecimo, 1728. who |