though some of the colour has of course faded out of the picture, enough remains to enable us to form a very distinct conception of a highly dramatic period in our literary and social history. Pope has fortunately supplemented his text with a large commentary, and even where his notes are intentionally ambiguous, his statement of circumstances is sufficiently explicit to discover his real meaning. Here and there he purposely leaves his allusions unexplained, and the sense of the satire can only be inferred constructively from the current literature of the period or from his own MS. In one characteristic passage, Curll's Key to the Dunciad,' taken in connection with the MS., has enabled me to identify the winner of the tickling match, and to explain the meaning of an episode, which is interesting from the light it throws both on Pope's methods of personal satire and on the social history of the time. Our appreciation of the Fourth Book depends largely upon the discovery of the particular allusions which are carefully concealed behind generalities of expression, and which have been passed over in silence by the commentators. And speaking broadly, if the reader seeks to enter fully into the spirit of the 'Dunciad,' and endeavours to approach the poem as nearly as possible with the eyes of Pope's own contemporaries, he will be repaid for his trouble. Such illustration of the details of the text, as seems to be required over and above Pope's commentary, is given in the Editorial Notes; but for the better understanding of the general character of the Satire, the following remarks may perhaps be found worthy of consideration. First, as regards place and time. So vast have been the changes in the face of London, that we do not at first perceive the significance which the supposed action of the 'Dunciad 'the removal of Dulness from the City to the polite worldwould have had for the men of the early part of the eighteenth century. The City was then clearly separated from the rest of London by its ancient wall, the seven gates of which were still standing. Within the City the Whigs found their stronghold, and here were the headquarters of the moneyed interest, so obnoxious to the Tory party, and, as we see from the third Moral Essay, to Pope himself. Political, as well as literary reasons made the Poet regard the City as the chosen abode of Dulness, Just beyond the western and northern sides of the wall lay a district in which most of the Dunces themselves found their homes and their amusements. It lay within a circle drawn from Bedlam, through Moorfields, by the Artillery-ground, to Grub Street, and thence bending west to the Bear-garden at Hockley-in-the-Hole, and south-west through Smithfield Market (still famous for Bartholomew Fair), along the Fleet Ditch to the Fleet Prison. Proceeding westward, the centre of enlightenment, or, as Pope sarcastically called it, of "Pertness," was to be found among the Templars, who met for the discussion of all questions of taste and learning in the Grecian Coffee-house, not far from Temple Bar. The Strand, as the long thoroughfare between the City and the West End, was the chosen home of the booksellers; and at its western extremity, in a district exhibiting strange contrasts of wealth and squalor, Leicester Fields, Soho Square, and St. James's Square contained the houses of the principal nobility. This fashionable region was bounded on the north by the modern Oxford Street, or as it was then called, Tyburn Road, beyond which was open country, where the "brethren " of Tottenham Fields found ample pasture. To the extreme south-west, the Court of St. James's and Whitehall-where there was still some talk of completing the beautiful designs of Inigo Jones, and where Ripley was then building the new Admiralty-marked the limits of the polite world, over which, according to the Poet, the Goddess of Dulness was preparing to extend her empire. The favourite temple of the Goddess was represented in the early editions as being in the neighbourhood of Rag Fair, a poverty-stricken spot near the Tower of London, where old clothes were sold. When Theobald, however, was dethroned in favour of Cibber, Pope, with great judgment, removed her seat to Bedlam, which at that time stood in Moorfields, just outside the City wall, and the gates of which were adorned with the famous statues made by Cibber's father. Here the coronation of the hero takes place. The games in honour of the event, which are begun by the booksellers, are fittingly held in the Strand, the racers starting from the church of St. Mary-le-Strand, which had been then only recently completed. With equal propriety, the assembly next passes on through Temple Bar, and turns down between Bridewell and the right bank of Fleet Ditch, where the diving-match between the party writers and Grub Street libellers is decided. The aspect of London in the neighbourhood of this famous sewer at the period of the 'Dunciad,' may be imagined from the following description : "At the bottom of the hill, which, without. Ludgate, is called Ludgate Hill, and, without Newgate, Snow Hill, formerly ran the rivulet Fleet, lately termed Fleet Ditch. This Ditch after the fire of London, was made navigable for barges to come up, by the assistance of the tide, as far as Holborn Bridge, where Turnmill Brook fell into this channel. The sides were built of stone and brick, with warehouses on each side, which ran under the street, and were designed to be used for coals and other commodities. It had five feet of water at the lowest tide at Holborn Bridge: the wharfs on each side of the channel were thirty feet broad, and were rendered secure from danger in the night by rails of oak being placed along the sides of the ditch. Over this canal were four bridges of Portland stone, viz., at Bridewell, Fleet Street, Fleet Lane, and Holborn." 1 An illustration in Warburton's edition of 1751, represents the competitors leaping into the Ditch from a bridge, so that we may conclude the scene of the match to have been the bridge opposite Bridewell. To blacken the Dunces more effectually, Pope shows by the introduction of the "stranded lighter," that the contest took place at low water. The prize for this game 1 Noorthouck's History of London, (1773), p. 641. having been awarded, the assembly in the early editions of the satire (and, indeed, in the existing note to Book ii., ver. 270) are made to pass through Lud Gate to the Temple of the Goddess. In the final version, however, after passing through the gate, they turn back, for some unexplained reason—probably, forgetfulness of the locality on the part of the poetinto Fleet Street, where the sports are brought to a conclusion. The time of the action is as significant as the place. Lord Mayor's Day, as late as the beginning of the eighteenth century, was celebrated with something of its ancient splendour. The procession, coming to Westminster by water, returned by land, and the invention of the City bards was tasked to invest it with due magnificence of pageantry and poetry. But when the 'Dunciad' was composed, the familiar masque had been abandoned, and the occupation of the City Poet was gone. Elkanah Settle was the last of the race. The Goddess, therefore, is fitly represented as revolving the glories of the past, and seeking a worthy successor for the vacant throne. The selection of the original hero of the poem was in itself judicious. Lewis Theobald was a type of the class whom Pope was resolved to crush. He was pedantic, poor, and somewhat malignant. He had attempted with equal ill-success original poetry, translation, and play-writing; and had, indeed, no disqualification for the throne of Dulness except his insignificance. Pope, as we have seen, admits this drawback, and candidly avows that the sole reason for Theobald's sudden elevation to the unwelcome dignity was the attack which the latter had made on his edition of Shakespeare.' At first sight, even this personal reason seems inadequate, for Theobald, in his preface to 'Shakespeare Restored,' speaks of the poet with studied respect. There was, however, a sting in his title, Shakespeare Restored, or an Exposure of the Blunders Committed and Unamended in Mr. Pope's late edition,'-which might not unfairly be cited by the poet as a proof of wanton malignity. To this we must add that it was malignity triumphant. Theobald was by nature better qualified than Pope for the task which both had undertaken; and he had exhibited Pope to the world in a position of somewhat ridiculous inferiority. The sensitive poet naturally had course to his own weapon, satire, and viewed apart from its justice, nothing could have been more admirably effective than his retaliation. The vivid picture, on the one hand, of the exultation of Dulness, as she contemplates the thoughts of the various Dunces, and recognises the superiority of Theobald; and on the other, of the hero's despondency, as, unaware of his approaching greatness, he broods over his sunken fortunes; the description of his library; the agony with which he resolves to burn his works; the sudden intervention of the Goddess; the pompous coronation of the new monarch; all this is truly poetical, and the vivacity and humour of the satire are best measured by the fact that it inspired Hogarth's picture of the 'Distressed Poet.' Warton and Bowles have blamed Pope for replacing Theobald by Cibber, on the ground that the character of the latter disqualified him for the throne of Dulness. This objection is not very well founded. It is true that Cibber, as his lively 'Apology' shows, was not a Dunce of the same kind as Theobald. But in the word "Dulness," Pope meant to include every sort of rebellion against right reason and good taste: the pert Templars are as much the subjects of the Goddess as the pedantic critics : Laborious, heavy, busy, bold, and blind, Cibber is chosen as the type of pertness and impudence, and Pope's judgment on him was not simply arbitrary. As a writer he had openly proclaimed his slender acquaintance with literature; as a theatrical manager he had sanctioned exhibitions which lowered the character of the stage; and, as a laureate, he was allowed to be the worst that ever wrote a birthday ode. Besides, the notoriety of his character, and his public position, qualified him better than Theobald to be hero of a poem which had been considerably increased in moral |