Thus he, for then a ray of Reason stole 225 Half thro' the folid darkness of his foul; But foon the cloud return'd---and thus the Sire: See now, what Dulness and her fons admire ? See what the charms, that smite the fimple heart Not touch'd by Nature, and not reach'd by Art. His never-blushing head he turn'd afide, 231 (Not half fo pleas'd when Goodman prophefy'd) REMARKS. to the Right Honourable the Earl of Harrington. Lond. 1744, SCRIBL. octavo. VER. 224. But," Learn, ye Dunces! not to fcorn your God."] The hardest leffon a Dunce can learn. For being bred to forn what he does not understand, that which he underftands leaft he will be apt to fcorn moft. Of which, to the difgrace of all Government, and (in the Poet's opinion) even of that of DULNESS herself, we have had a late example in a book intitled, Philofophical Effays concerning human Under ftanding. W. VER. 224. not to fcorn your God."] See this fubject purfued in Book iv. W. VER. 232. (Not half fo pleas'd when Goodman prophefy'd)] Mr. Cibber tells us, in his Life, p. 149. that Goodman being at the rehearsal of a play, in which he had a part, clapped him on the fhoulder, and cried, "If he does not make a good ac"tor, I'll be d-d.-And (fays Mr. Cibber) I make it a "queftion, whether Alexander himself, or Charles the twelfth "of Sweden, when at the head of their firft victorious armies, "could feel a greater transport in their bofoms than I did in "mine." IMITATIONS. VER. 224.-Learn, ye Dunces! not to fcorn your God.] Virg And look'd, and faw a fable Sorc'rer rife, "Till one wide conflagration fwallows all. 240 Thence a new world to Nature's laws unknown, Breaks out refulgent, with a heav'n its own: And other planets circle other funs. The forefts dance, the rivers upward rife, 245 Whales fport in woods, and dolphins in the skies; REMARKS. VER. 233. a fable Sorc'rer] Dr. Fauftus, the subject of a fet of Farces, which lafted in vogue two or three seasons, in which both Playhouses ftrove to outdo each other for fome years. All the extravagancies in the fixteen lines following were introduced on the Stage, and frequented by perfons of the first quality in England, to the twentieth and thirtieth time. VER. 237. Hell rifes, Heav'n defcends, and dance on Earth :] This monftrous abfurdity was actually reprefented in Tibbald's Rape of Proferpine. IMITATIONS. VER. 244. And other planets] · følemque fuum, fua fidera norunt Virg. Æn. vi. VER. 246. Whales sport in woods, and dolphins in the skies ;] Hor. And last, to give the whole creation grace, Joy fills his foul, joy innocent of thought; What pow'r, he cries, what pow'r these wonders wrought? 250 Son; what thou feek'ft is in thee! Look, and find Her magic charms o'er all unclaffic ground: REMARK S. VER. 248. Lo! one vaft Egg] In another of these Farces Harlequin is hatch'd upon the stage, out of a large Egg. IMITATIONS. VER. 251. Son; what thou feek'ft is in thee:] Quod petis in te eft Ne te quafiveris extra. Perf. VER. 256. Wings the red lightning, &c.] Like Salmoneus in Æn. vi. Dum flammas Jovis, & fonitus imitatur Olympi. nimbos, & non imitabile fulmen, Ere & cornipedum curfu fimularat equorum. Immortal Rich! how calm he fits at ease 'Mid fnows of paper, and fierce hail of pease; And proud his Mistress' orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm. But lo! to dark encounter in mid air New wizards rife; I fee my Cibber there! REMARK S. 261 265 VER. 261. Immortal Rich!] Mr. John Rich, Mafter of the Theatre Royal in Covent-garden, was the firft that excelled this way. VER. 266. I fee my Cibber there!] The hiftory of the foregoing abfurdities is verified by himfelf, in thefe words (Life, chap. xv.)" Then fprung forth that fucceflion of monstrous "medleys that have fo long infefted the ftage, which arose up"on one another alternately at both houfes, out-vying each "other in expence." He then proceeds to excufe his own part in them, as follows: " If I am afked why I affented? "I have no better excufe for my error than to confefs I did it against my confcience, and had not virtue enough to ftarve. "Had Henry IV. of France a better for changing his Reli"gion? I was ftill in my heart, as much as he could be, on "the fide of Truth and Senfe; but with this difference, that I "had their leave to quit them when they could not fupport me. "But let the question go which way it will, Harry IVth has "always been allowed a great man." This must be confeffed a full answer, only the queftion ftill feems to be, 1. How the doing a thing against one's confcience is an excuse for it? and, 2dly, It will be hard to prove how he got the leave of Truth and Senfe to quit their fervice, unless he can produce a Certificate that he ever was in it. IMITATIONS. VER. 258. o'er all unclaffic ground:] Alludes to Mr. Addifon's verfe, in the praises of Italy: Poetic fields encompass me around, And ftill I feem to tread on claffic ground. As ver. 264. is a parody on a noble one of the fame author in The Campaign; and ver. 259, 260. on two fublime verses of Dr. Y. VOL. V. Booth in his cloudy tabernacle shrin'd, On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind. Dire is the conflict, dismal is the dinn, Here shouts all Drury, there all Lincoln's-inn ; Contending Theatres our empire raise, Alike their labours, and alike their praise. 271 And are these wonders, Son, to thee unknown? Unknown to thee? These wonders are thy own. VARIATIONS. After ver. 274. in the former Edd. followed, For works like these let deathless Journals tell "None but thyfelf can be thy parallel.” Var. None but thyself can be thy parallel.] A marvellous line of Theobald; unless the Play call'd the Double Falfhood be (as he would have it believed) Shakespear's: But whether this line be his or not, he proves Shakespear to have written as bad, (which, methinks in an author, for whom he has a Veneration almost rifing to idolatry, might have been concealed) as for example, Try what Repentance can: what can it not? For Cogitation Refides not in the man who does not think, &c. MIST'S JOURN. It is granted they are all of a piece, and no man doubts but herein he is able to imitate Shakespear. Var. id. The former Annotator feeming to be of opinion that the Double Falfhood is not Shakespear's; it is but juftice to give Mr. Theobald's Arguments to the contrary: Firft, that the MS. was above fixty years old: Secondly, that once Mr. Betterton had it, or he hath heard fo: Thirdly, that fome-body told him the author gave it to a baftard-daughter of his: but Fourthly, and above all, That he has a great mind every thing that is "good in our tongue should be Shakespear's." I allow these |