No merit now the dear Nonjuror claims, Moliere's old stubble in a moment flames. 66 NOTES. 255 larly excellent at Tragedy. "This (fays he) is as unjust as to fay I could not dance on a Rope." But certain it is that he had attempted to dance on this Rope, and fell moft fhamefully, having produced no lefs than four Tragedies (the names of which the Poet preferves in these few lines) the three first of them were fairly printed, acted, and damned; the fourth fuppreffed in fear of the like treatment. VER. 253. the dear Nonjuror-Moliere's old ftubble] A Comedy threshed out of Moliere's Tartuffe, and so much the Tranflator's favourite, that he affures us all our author's diflike to it could only arise from difaffection to the Government: 66 Qui meprife Cotin, n'eftime point fon Roi, Boil. He affures us, that "when he had the honour to kiss his Majesty's hand upon presenting his dedication of it, he "was graciously pleafed, out of his Royal bounty, to "order him two hundred pounds for it. And this, he "doubts not, grieved Mr. P." VER. 256. When the last blaze fent Ilion to the skies.] See Virgil, Æn. ii. where I would advise the reader to perufe the ftory of Troy's deftruction, rather than in Wynkyn. But I caution him alike in both to beware of a moft grievous error, that of thinking it was brought about by I know not what Trojan Horfe; there never having been any fuch thing. For, firft, it was not Trojan, being made by the Greeks; and, fecondly, it was not a horfe, but a mare. This is clear from many verfes in Virgil: -Uterumque armato milite complent. Inclufos utero Danaos Rowz'd by the light, old Dulness heav'd the head,” ́ Then fnatch'd a sheet of Thulè from her bed, Sudden fhe flies, and whelms it o'er the pyre; Down fink the flames, and with a hiss expire. Her ample prefence fills up all the place; A veil of fogs dilates her awful face: 260 Great in her charms! as when on Shrieves and May'rs She looks, and breathes herself into their airs. IMITATIONS. V. 263. Great in her charms! as when on Shrieves and May'rs She looks and breathes herself into their airs.] Alma parens confeffa Deam; qualifque videri Et lætos oculis afflavit honores. NOTES. Can a horse be faid Utero gerere? Again, Infonuere cava Virg. Æn. ii. Id. En. i. · Atque utero fonitum quater arma dedere. Nay, is it not exprefly faid Scandit fatalis machina muros Fæta armis How is it poffible the word fata can agree with a horse? And indeed can it be conceived that the chaste and virgin Goddefs Pallas would employ herfelf in forming and fashioning the Male of that fpecies? But this shall be proved to a demonftration in our Virgil reftored. SCRIBL. VER. 258. Thulèj An unfinished poem of that name, of which one sheet was printed many years ago, by Amb. Philips, a northern author. It is an ufual method of putting out a fire, to caft wet fheets upon it. Some critics have been of opinion that this fheet was of the nature of the 265 She bids him wait her to her facred Dome: Well pleas'd he enter'd, and confefs'd his home. So Spirits ending their terrestrial race, Afcend, and recognize their Native Place. The clubs of Quidnuncs, or her own Guildhall : VARIATION S. 269 After 268. in the former Edd. followed thefe two lines, Var. And in fweet numbers celebrates the feat.] Tibbald writ a poem call'd the Cave of Poverty, which concludes with a very extraordinary wish, "That fome great genius, "or man of diftinguish'd merit may be ftarved, in order "to celebrate her power, and describe her Cave." It was printed in octavo 1715. IMITATIONS. VER. 269. This the Great Mother, &c.] Quam Juno fertur terris magis omnibus unam NOTES. Asbestos, which cannot be confumed by fire: But I ra ther think it an allegorical allufion to the coldness and heaviness of the writing. VER. 265 facred Dome :] Where he no fooner enters, but he reconnoitres the place of his original; as Plato fays the fpirits fhall, at their entrance into the celestial regions. VER. 269. Great Mother] Magna mater, here applied to Dulness. The Quidnuncs, a name given to the ancient Here ftood her Opium, here fhe nurs❜d her Owls, Here to her Chofen all her works fhe fhews; Profe fwell'd to verfe, verfe loit'ring into profe: How random thoughts now meaning chance to find, Now leave all memory of fense behind : 276 How Prologues into Prefaces decay, And these to Notes are fritter'd quite away: How Index-learning turns no ftudent pale, Yet holds the eel of fcience by the tail: 280 How, with lefs reading than makes felons scape, The Goddess then, o'er his anointed head, NOTES. 286 members of certain political clubs, who were constantly enquiring quid nunc ? what news? VER. 286. Tibbald,] Lewis Tibbald (as pronounced) or Theobald (as written) was bred an Attorney, and fon to an Attorney (fays Mr. Jacob) of Sittenburn in Kent. He was Author of fome forgotten Plays, Tranflations, and other pieces. He was concerned in a Paper called the Cenfor, and a Tranflation of Ovid. "There is a noto"rious Idiot, one hight Whachum, who, from an under"fpur-leather to the Law, is become an under-ftrapper to "the Play-houfe, who hath lately burlefqued the Metamorphofes of Ovid by a vile Tranflation, &c. This 66 "fellow And lo! her bird, (a monster of a fowl, Something betwixt a Heideggre and ow!) 290 NOTES. *fellow is concerned in an impertinent paper called the **Cenfor." DENNIS Rem. on Pope's Hom. p. 9, 10, Ibid. Ozell." Mr. John Ozell (if we credit Mr. Jacob) did go to fchool in Leicefte-fhire, where fomebody "left him fomething to live on, when he shall retire from bufinefs. He was defigned to be fent to Cambridge, "in order for priesthood; but he chofe rather to be "placed in an office of accounts, in the City, being qua"Îified for the fame by his fkill in arithmetick, and writeing the neceffary hands. He has obliged the world "with many tranflations of French Plays." JACOB, Lives of Dram. Poets, p. 198. cr Mr. Jacob's character of Mr. Ozell seems vastly short of his merits, and he ought to have further juftice done him, having fince fully confuted all Sarcafms on his learning and genius by an advertisement of Sept. 20, 1729. in a paper called the Weekly Medley, &c. "As to my learn ing, this envious Wretch knew, and every body knows, "that the whole bench of Bishops, not long ago, were pleased to give me a purfe of guineas, for discovering "the erroneous tranflations of the Common-prayer in "Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, &c. As for my "genius, let Mr. Cleland fhew better verses in all Pope's "works, than Ozell's verfion of Boileau's Lutrin, which "the late Lord Halifax was so pleased with, that he com "plimented him with leave to dedicate it to him, &c. &c. "Let him fhew better and truer Poetry in the Rape of the Lock, than in Ozell's Rape of the Bucket (la Secchia rapita.) And M. Toland, and Mr. Gildon publicly "declared Ozell's tranflation of Homer to be, as it was "prior, fo likewife fuperior to Pope's.--Surely, furely, every man is free to deferve well of his country !” JOHN ÖZELL. We cannot but subscribe to such reverend teftimonies, VOL. V. D |