Coach'd, carted, trod upon, now loose, now fast, And from each show rise duller than the last : "Till rais'd from Booths to Theatre, to Court, The sure fore-runner of her gentle sway.) To aid her cause, if heav'n thou canst not bend, For new 2 Abortions, all ye pregnant fair! 245 250 235 260 265 head. NOTES ON EDITIONS OF THE DUNCIAD. From "NOTES AND QUERIES," Nos. 268-270. We are of opinion that the various issues and editions of The Dunciad appeared in the following order. There are probably copies of other editions in existence, but all those which we have seen belong to one or other of the following classes. (A.) THE DUNCIAD. AN HEROIC POEM. IN THREE BOOKS. DUBLIN, PRINTED, LONDON REPRINTED, FOR A. Dodd. 1728. 12mo. The Frontispiece. An owl (with a label from the beak inscribed THE DUNCIAD) perched on a pile of books, marked, "P. & K. Arthur.; Shakesp. Restor'd; Ogilby; Dennis's Works; Newcastle; Cibber's Plays ;" and at the bottom, engraved in one line, the words "Dublin, Printed, London Reprinted, for A. Dodd." On p. iii. commences "The Publisher to the Reader," which extends to p. viii. This begins, "It will be found a true observation," &c., and ends with the quotation from La Bruyere : "Voudriez-vous, Theobalde, que je crusse que vous êtes baisse," &c. and is in short the preface which is printed in the later editions as that "prefixed to the five imperfect editions of The Dunciad," &c. Then follows bastard title, The Dunciad, in Three Books. Commences on p. 1, sig. B. "Book and the man I sing, the first who brings." And in the word "who," which is at the end of the line, the o has slipped. Page 1. The Dunciad. Book the First. This ends on p. 14, 1. 250 : "And the loud nation croak'd, God save King Log!" Page 15. The Dunciad, Book the Second. This ends on p. 35, l. 382 : "(Haunt of the Muses) made their safe retreat." Page 36. The Dunciad, Book the Third. This ends on p. 51, 1. 285-6: "No more the monarch could such raptures bear; Finis. He wak'd, and all the vision mix'd with air.” There is no doubt that this is the first edition, as shown by our correspondent THE WRITER, &c. (antè, p. 198), who there gives, from The Daily Post, the advertisement dated May 18, announcing "This day is published,” &c.; and the accuracy of our correspondent's conjecture is borne out by a copy which formerly belonged to Malone (now the property of Mr. Peter Cunningham), and in which is the following note by that diligent antiquary : "First published at London in May, 1728. See the Monthly Chronicle of that year. The words Dublin printed' were merely a disguise. The price of this first edition was only sixpence.-E. M." (B.) THE DUNCIAD. AN HEROIC POEM. IN THREE BOOKS. DUBLIN: PRINTED, LONDON REPRinted, for a. DODD. 1728. 8vo. Owl Frontispiece. This, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, is the same precisely as A., but it has been worked in octavo. It is from the identical type, and contains precisely the same errors, misarranged letters, &c., as the preceding. Although there is really no direct proof that B. may not have been first issued, we are inclined to believe that A. was so, because it was obviously composed for a 12mo. page; and, with the exception of the Museum copy of B., all the other issues of this first composition have been in 12mo. (C.) THE DUNCIAD. AN HEROIC POEM. IN THREE BOOKS. DUBLIN, PRINTED, LONDON REPRINTED, For a. dodd. 1728. 12mo. Owl Frontispiece. This is a third issue or edition from the same types, but with some few corrections, as in the opening line, which here reads correctly “Books," instead of "Book," and in the note respecting John Heywood, on p. 5, where "Interludes" is altered to "Enterludes," which is the orthography of the 4to., 1729. This edition, which, like A. and B., ends on p. 51, has on the verso of that page the following advertisement: "Speedily will be Published, The Progress of Dulness, an Historical Poem. By an Eminent Hand. Price 18. 6d." All three of these impressions show that they have been taken from the same types, as may be seen by a reference to the word "half" in the second line of Book the Second, where the ƒ is misplaced, and in line 56 of the same book, where "spirts" is misprinted "spirits." Finally, they all three read, Book i. line 94: "And furious D-n foam in Wh-'s rage." (D.) THE DUNCIAD. AN HEROIC POEM. IN THREE BOOKS. THE SECOND EDITION. (Here a woodcut ornament, which differs from that in the titlepages of A., B., C.) DUBLIN, PRINTED; LONDON, REPRINTED for a. dodd. 1728. 12mo., with the Frontispiece of the Owl. This edition, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, is printed from the same types as A., B., C., but they have been reimposed, and some corrections made. The Preface commences on p. iii. and ends on p. viii. Book the First commences on p. 1, and ends on p. 14. At p. 5, in note *, after "Sir Geo. Tho" is added "Lord Mayor of London." Page 7. Two notes are inserted: "Old printers," ""Philemon Holland." Book the Second commences on p. 15, and ends at p. 35, with a different woodcut ornament from that in the preceding. Page 22. On line "Earless on high stood pillory'd D—," there is the following note: "It appears from hence that Mr. Curl had not himself stood in the pillory when this poem was writ, which happen'd not till March, 1728, at Charing Cross." Page 23, line 159, "spirts." Book the Third commences on p. 36, and concludes on p. 51. This edition has not the advertisement of Progress of Dulness. Lastly, we may notice that in this edition "furious D-n " is altered to "furious D-s." "And furious D-s foam in W's rage." We now come to an edition which probably preceded the one we have just described, it having certainly been printed from a copy of A., B., or C. (E.) THE DUNCIAD. AN HEROIC POEM. IN THREE BOOKS. WRITTEN BY ᎷᎡ. POPE. LONDON PRINTED, AND DUBLIN REPRINTED BY AND FOR G. FAULKNER, J. HOEY, J. LEATHLEY, E. HAMILTON, P. CRAMPTON, AND T. BENSON, MDCCXXVIII., 12mo., or rather very small 8vo., being printed in eights. No frontispiece. Page iii. "The Publisher to the Reader," which extends to p. vi., and is the same as in the preceding Edition A. Page 7. The Dunciad. Book the First, which ends at p. 17, 1. 250 : Page 18. 1. 382: "And the loud nation croak'd, God save King Log!" The Dunciad. Book the Second. This ends on p. 34 with In this edition the names are given at length, and not, as in the preceding, with the initials. Thus Book i. 1. 94, reads, and line 234: "And furious Dryden foam in Wharton's rage;" "Something between a Hungerford and Owl." The editions already noticed are of the date 1728, and, as it will have been observed, are neither of them "Variorum, or with the Prolegomena of Scriblerus." As far as can yet be ascertained, the first in which these additions were made to the poem is the following quarto, which certainly preceded the octavos published in the same year (1729) by A. Dob, Lawton Gilliver, and A. Dod. This is shown by the Addenda in Dob's octavo edition (G.), to which we shall presently refer, and which are not only addenda to that, but also to the Dod's quarto. This we shall now describe. The title-page, which is engraved, is— (F.) THE DUNCIAD, VARIORUM. LONDON, PRINTED FOR A. DOD, 1729. WITH THE PROLEGOMENA OF SCRIBLERUS. In the centre is a vignette of an ass chewing thistles, and laden with a pile of books, on the top of which an owl is perched. The books are marked, Welsted. Po.; Ward's Works; Dennis's Works; Tibbald Plays; Oldmixon ; |