She faw, with joy, the line immortal run, REMARKS. 100 Ver. 103. Old Pryn in restless Daniel] The firft edition had it, She faw in Norton all his father shine: a great Mistake! for Daniel de Foe had parts, but Norton de Foe was a wretched writer, and never attempted Poetry. Much more juftly is Daniel himself made fucceffor to W. Pryn, both of whom wrote Verfes as well as Politics; as appears by the Poem de Jure Divino, &c. of De Foe, and by fome lines in Cowley's Miscellanies on the other. And both these authors had a resemblance in their fates as well as their writings, having been alike fentenced to the Pillory. Ver. 104. And Eufden eke out, &c.] Laurence Eufden, Poet Laureate. Mr. Jacob gives a catalogue of fome few only of his works, which were very numerous. Mr. Cook, in his Battle of Poets, faith of him, 66 "Eufden, a laurell'd Bard, by fortune rais'd, "By very few was read, by fewer prais'd." Mr. Oldmixon, in his Arts of Logic and Rhetoric, P. 413, 414. affirms, "That of all the Galimatia's he ever met with, none comes up to fome verfes of this "" poet, which have as much of the Ridiculum and the "Fuftian in them as can well be jumbled together, and are of that fort of nonfenfe, which fo perfectly con"founds all ideas, that there is no diftinct one left in the "mind." Farther he fays of him, "That he hath pro"phefied his own poetry fhall be sweeter than Catullus, "Ovid, and Tibullus; but we have little hope of the She faw flow Philips creep like Tate's poor page, 105 And all the mighty Mad in Dennis rage. REMARKS. "accomplishment of it, from what he hath lately pub"lifhed." Upon which Mr. Oldmixon has not spared a reflexion, “ That the putting the laurel on the head of one "who writ fuch verfes, will give futurity a very lively idea "of the judgment and justice of those who bestowed it.' Ibid. p. 417. But the well known learning of that noble Perfon, who was then Lord Chamberlain, might have fcreened him from this unmannerly reflection. Nor ought Mr. Oldmixon to complain, so long after, that the laurel would have better become his own brows, or any other's: It were more decent to acquiefce in the opinion of the Duke of Buckingham upon this matter: "In rush'd Eufden, and cry'd, Who fhall have it, "But I, the true Laureate, to whom the King gave it? "Apollo begg'd pardon, and granted his claim, "But vow'd that till then he ne'er heard of his name." Seffion of Poets. The fame plea might also serve for his Succeffor, Mr. Cibber; and is further strengthened in the following Epigram made on that occafion : In merry Old England it once was a rule, The King had his Poet, and alfo his Fool; But now we're fo frugal, I'd have you to know it, That Cibber can ferve both for Fool and for Poet. Of Blackmore, fee Book ii. Of Philips, Book i. ver. 262. and Book iii. prope fin. Nahum Tate was Poet Laureat, a cold writer, of no invention; but fometimes tranflated tolerably when befriended by Mr. Dryden. In his fecond part of Abfalom and Achitophel are above two hundred admirable lines together of that great hand, which strongly shine through the infipidity of the reft. Something parallel may be obferved of another author here mentioned. In each fhe marks her Image full exprest, But chief in Bays's monfter-breeding breast; VARIATIONS. Ver. 108. But chief in Bays's, &c.] In the former Ed. thus, But chief in Tibbald's monster-breeding breast; Var. Tibbald] Author of a pamphlet intituled, Shakefpeare restored. During two whole years, while Mr. Pope was preparing his edition of Shakespeare, he published Advertisements, requesting affiftance, and promifing fatisfaction to any who could contribute to its greater perfection. But this Reftorer, who was at that time foliciting favours of him by letters, did wholly conceal his defign, till after its publication (which he was fince not ashamed to own, in a Daily Journal of Nov. 26, 1728) And then an outcry was made in the prints, that our author had joined with the Bookfeller to raise an extravagant fubfcription; in which he had no share, of which he had no knowledge, and against which he had publicly advertised his own proposals for Homer. Probably that proceeding elevated Tibbald to the dignity he holds in this Poem, which he feems to deserve no other way better than his brethren; unless we impute it to the share he had in the Journals, cited among the Teltimonies of Authors prefixed to this work. REMARKS. Ver. 106. And all the mighty Mad in Dennis rage.] Mr. Theobald, in the Cenfor, vol. ii. N. 33. calls Mr. Dennis by the name of Furius. "The modern Furius "is to be looked upon more as an object of pity, than Bays, form'd by nature Stage and Town to blefs, REMARKS. "of that which he daily provokes, laughter and con"tempt. Did we really know how much this poor "man" [I wish that reflection on poverty had been fpared]" fuffers by being contradicted, or, which is the fame thing in effect, by hearing another praised; we should, in compassion, sometimes attend to him "with a filent nod, and let him go away with the triumphs of his ill-nature.-Poor Furius (again) when any of his contemporaries are spoken well of, quit. "ting the ground of the prefent difpute, steps back a "thousand years to call in the fuccour of the ancients. "His very panegyric is fpiteful, and he ufes it for the "fame reafon as fome Ladies do their commendations "of a dead beauty, who would never have had their good word, but that a living one happened to be men❝tioned in their company. His applaufe is not the tri"bute of his Heart, but the facrifice of his Revenge," &c. Indeed his pieces against our poet are fomewhat of an angry character, and as they are now fcarce extant, a taste of his ftyle may be fatisfactory to the curi ous. "A young, fquab, fhort gentleman, whofe out"ward form, though it fhould be that of downright "monkey, would not differ fo much from human shape "as his unthinking immaterial part does from human "understanding. He is as ftupid and as venomous as a "hunch-back'd toad. A book through which Folly and "Ignorance, thofe brethren fo lame and impotent, do "ridiculously look big and very dull, and strut and "hobble, cheek by jowl, with their arms on kimbo, be ing led and fupported, and bully-back'd by that "blind Hector, Impudence." Reflect. on the Effay on Criticifin, p. 26. 29, 30. It would be unjust not to add his reafons for this Fury, they are fo ftrong and fo coercive. "I regard "him (faith he) as an Enemy, not fo much to me, as "to my King, to my Country, to my Religion, and Dulness with transport eyes the lively Dunce, REMARKS. "to that Liberty which has been the fole felicity of my "life. A vagary of Fortune, who is fometimes pleased "to be frolickfome, and the epidemic Madness of the "times, have given him Reputation, and Reputation (as "Hobbes fays) is Power, and that has made him dan"gerous. Therefore I look on it as my duty to King "George, whofe faithful fubje&t I am; to my Country, "of which I have appeared a conftant lover; to the "Laws, under whofe protection I have fo long lived; " and to the Liberty of my Country, more dear to me "than life, of which I have now for forty years been "a conftant affertor, &c. I look upon it as my duty, "I fay, to do-you fhall fee what to pull the lion's fkin from this little Afs, which popular error has "thrown round him; and to fhew that this Author, "who has been lately fo much in vogue, has neither "fenfe in his thoughts, nor English in his expreffions." DENNIS, Rem. on Hom. Pref. p. 2. 91, &c. Befides thefe public-fpirited reafons, Mr. D. had a private one; which, by his manner of expreffing it in p. 92, appears to have been equally ftrong. He was even in bodily fear of his life from the machinations of the faid Mr. P. "The ftory (fays he) is too long to be "told, but who would be acquainted with it, may hear "it from Mr. Curll, my Bookfeller. However, what "my reafon has fuggefted to me, that I have with a "just confidence faid, in defiance of his two clandeftine "weapons, his Slander and his Poifon." Which laft words of his book plainly discover Mr. D.'s fufpicion was that of being poifoned, in like manner as Mr. Curl had been before him; of which fact fee A full and true account of the horrid and barbarous revenge, by poison, on the body of Edmund Curll, printed in 1716, the year antecedent to that wherein thefe Remarks of Mr. Dennis were published. But what puts it beyond all question, is a paffage in a very warm trea 5 |