who "grants 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 cowar"dice to conquer. A man might as well triumph for

having killed fo many filly flies that offended him. "Could he bave let them alone, by this time, poor "fouls! they had all been buried in oblivion y." Here we see our excellent Laureate allows the justice of the fatire on every man in it, but himself; as the great Mr, Dennis did before him.

The faid

Mr. DENNIS and Mr. GILDON,

in the most furious of all their works (the forecited Character, p. 5.) do in concert z confefs, "That some

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

"" men

z in concert] Hear how Mr. Dennis hath proved our mistake in this place, "As to my writing in concert with "Mr. Gildon, I declare upon the honour and word of ઃઃ a gentleman, that I never wrote fo much as one line "in concert with any one man whatfoever. And thefe "two Letters from Gildon will plainly fhew, that we are 66 not writers in concert with each other.

Sir,

-The height of my Ambition is to please men of the best Judgment; and finding that I have entertained Mafter agreeably, I have the extent of the Reward my Labour.'

my

of

Sir,

I had not the opportunity of hearing of your excellent pamphlet till this day. I am infinitely fatisfied and pleased with it, and hope you will meet with that encouragement your admirable performance deferves,' CH. GILDON.

&c.

"Now

❝ 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 beftowed 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, "All but the selfish, ignorant, and vain ; "I, whom no bribe to fervile flattery drew, "Muft pay the tribute to thy merit due : "Thy Mufe fublime, fignificant, and clear, "Alike informs the Soul, and charms the Ear," &c. And

Mr. LEONARD WELSTED

thus wrote a to the unknown author, on the first publication of the faid Effay; "I must own, after the recep❝tion which the vilest and most immoral ribaldry hath "lately met with, I was furprized to fee what I had "long defpaired, a performance deferving the naine

"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 moft notorious inftance (quoth he) of "the depravity of genius and tafte, the approbation "this Effay meets with b.-I can fafely affirm, that I 66 never attacked any of these writings, unless they had "fuccefs infinitely beyond their merit. This, though "an empty, has been a popular scribbler. 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 66 country, for these last hundred years, I should shift "the scene, and fhew all that penury changed at once "to riot and profuseness; and more squandered away 66 upon one object, than would have satisfied the greater 66 part of thofe extraordinary men; the reader to

b Dennis, Pref. to his Reflect. on the Effay on Criticism.

c 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 course 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 fuccefs 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 jeft in them: and an imitation of Horace, whose 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

d Rem. on Homer, p. 8, 9.

f Character of Mr. Pope, p. 7.

• 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 treatife muft and can only be afcribed to Gul"liver h." [Here, gentle reader! cannot I but smile at the ftrange blindness and pofitiveness of men; knowing the faid treatise to appertain to none other but to me, Martinus Scriblerus.]

We are affured, in Mift 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 abused, 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 himself: "Now let any man h Gulliv. p. 336.

g Character of Mr. Pope, p. 6.

"judge