E'er fince Sir Fopling's Periwig was Praise,
To the last honours of the Butt and Bays :
O thou! of Business the directing foul!
To this our head like byafs to the bowl,
Which, as more ponderous, made its aim more true,
Obliquely waddling to the mark in view:

O ever gracious to perplex'd mankind,
Still fpread a healing mist before the mind;

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 167, 168. Not in the first editions.
Ver. 170. To human heads, &c.
Ver. 171. Makes their aim.

REMARKS.

170

And,

Ver. 167. E'er fince Sir Fopling's Periwig] The first vifible caufe of the paffion of the Town for our Hero, was a fair flaxen full-bottomed Periwig, which, he tells us, he wore in his firft play of the Fool in Fashion. It attracted, in a particular manner, the Friendship of Col. Brett, who wanted to purchase it. "Whatever con

tempt (fays he) Philofophers may have for a fine Periwig, my friend, who was not to defpife the world "but live in it, knew very well that fo material an ar"ticle of drefs upon the head of a man of sense, if it "became him, could never fail of drawing to him a "more partial Regard and Benevolence, than could pof"fibly be hoped for in an ill-made one. This, perhaps, 66 may foften the grave cenfure, which so youthful a pur"chafe might otherwife have laid upon him. În a "word, he made his attack upon this Periwig, as your

young fellows generally do upon a lady of pleasure, " first by a few familiar praises of her person, and then a "civil inquiry into the price of it; and we finished our "bargain that night over a bottle." See Life, octavo, p. 303. This remarkable Periwig usually made its entrance upon the stage in a fedan, brought in by two chairmen, with infinite approbation of the audience.

And, left we err by Wit's wild dancing light,
Secure us kindly in our native night.

Or, if to Wit a Coxcomb make pretence,
Guard the fure barrier between that and Sense;

VARIATIONS.

175

Ver. 177. Or, if to Wit, &c.] In the former Ed.
Ah! ftill o'er Britain ftretch that peaceful wand,
Which lulls th' Helvetian and Batavian land;
Where rebel to thy throne if Science rife,
She does but show her coward face and dies:
There thy good Scholiafts with unwearied pains
Make Horace flat, and humble Maro's ftrains :
Here ftudious I unlucky moderns fave,
Nor fleeps one error in its father's grave,
Old puns restore, loft blunders nicely feek,
And crucify poor Shakespeare once a week.
For thee I dim these eyes, and stuff this head,
With all fuch reading as was never read;
For thee fupplying, in the worst of days,
Notes to dull books, and prologues to dull plays;
For thee explain a thing till all men doubt it,
And write about it, Goddess, and about it,
So fpins the Silkworm small its flender store,
And labours, till it clouds itself all o'er.
Not that my quill to critiques was confin'd,
My verfe gave ampler leffons to mankind;
So graveft precepts may fuccefslefs prove,
But fad examples never fail to move.
As, forc'd from wind-guns, &c.

Or

Var. Nor fleeps one error-Old puns restore, loft blunders, &c.] As where he [Tibbald] laboured to prove Shakespeare guilty of terrible Anachronifms, or low Conundrums, which Time had covered; and converfant in fuch authors as Caxton and Wynkyn, rather than in Homer or Chaucer.. Nay fo far had he loft his reve

H 3

rence

Or quite unravel all the reas'ning thread,

And hang fome curious cobweb in its ftead!
As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly,
And ponderous flugs cut fwiftly through the sky;

VARIATIONS.

189

As

rence to this incomparable author, as to fay in print, He deferved to be whipt. An infolence which nothing fure can parallel! but that of Dennis, who can be proved to have declared before company, that Shakespeare was a Rafcal. O Tempora! O Mores!

Var. And crucify poor Shakespeare once a week.] For fome time, once a week or fortnight he printed in Mift's Journal a fingle remark or poor conjecture on fome word or pointing of Shakespeare, either in his own name, or in letters to himself, as from others, without name. Upon these fomebody made this Epigram:

"'Tis generous, Tibbald! in thee and thy brothers, "To help us thus to read the works of others: "Never for this can just returns be shown; "For who will help us e'er to read thy own?"

Var. Notes to dull books, and prologues to dull plays;] As to Cook's Hefiod, where fometimes a note, and fometimes even half a note, are carefully owned by him: And to Moore's Comedy of the Rival Modes, and other authors of the fame rank: These were people who writ about the year 1726.

REMARKS.

Ver. 178, 179. Guard the fure barrier-Or quite unravel, &c.] For Wit or Reafoning are never greatly hurtful to Dulness, but when the first is founded in Truth, and the other in Ufefulness.

Ver. 181. As, forc'd from wind-guns, &c.] The thought of thefe four verfes is founded in a poem of our Author's of a very early date (namely written at fourteen years old, and foon after printed) to the Author of a poem called Succeffio.

As clocks to weight their nimble motion owe,

The wheels above urg'd by the load below:

Me Emptiness and Dulness could inspire,

And were my Elasticity and Fire.

Some Dæmon ftole my pen (forgive th' offence)
And once betray'd me into common fense:

Elfe all my Profe and Verse were much the fame;
This, profe on ftilts; that, poetry fall'n lame.
Did on the stage my Fops appear confin'd?
My Life gave ampler lessons to mankind.
Did the dead Letter unsuccessful prove?
The brisk Example never fail'd to move.

185

190

Yet fure, had Heaven decreed to fave the State,
Heaven had decreed these works a longer date.
Could Troy be fav'd by any fingle hand,

195

This grey-goose weapon must have made her stand.

VARIATIONS.

What

Ver. 195. Yet fure, had Heaven, &c.] In the former Ed.

Had Heaven decreed fuch works a longer date,

Heaven had decreed to fpare the Grub-street state.
But fee great Settle to the duft defcend,

And all thy cause and empire at an end!
Could Troy be fav'd, &c.

REMARKS.

Ver. 198.-grey-goofe weapon] Alluding to the old English weapon, the arrow of the long bow, which was fletched with the feathers of the grey-goofe,

IMITATION.

Ver. 197, 198. Could Troy be fav'd-This greygoofe weapon]

66

-Si Pergama dextra

"Defendi poffent, etiam hac defenfa fuiffent." Virg. ib.

What can I now? my Fletcher cast aside,

Take up the Bible, once my better guide?

200

VARIATIONS.

Inftead of ver. 200-246. in the former Editions.
Take up th' Attorney's (once my better) guide?
Or rob the Roman geefe of all their glories,
And save the State by cackling to the Tories.
Yes, to my Country I my pen confign,
Yes, from this moment, mighty Mist! am thine.
And rival, Curtius! of thy fame and zeal,
O'er head and ears plunge for the public weal.
Adieu, my Children! better thus expire

Unftall'd, unfold; thus glorious mount in fire,
Fair without fpot; than greas'd by grocers hands,
Or fhip'd with Ward to Ape-and-monkey lands,
Or wafting ginger, round the streets to run,
And vifit Ale-houfe, where ye first begun.
With that he lifted thrice the fparkling brand,
And thrice he dropp'd it, &c.-

REMARKS.

Or

Ver. 199. my Fletcher] A familiar manner of fpeaking, ufed by modern Critics, of a favourite author. Bays might as juftly fpeak this of Fletcher, as a French Wit did of Tully, feeing his works in a library, "Ah! mon "cher Ciceron! je le connois bien; c'eft le même que "Marc Tulle." But he had a better title to call Fletcher his own, having made fo free with him.

Ver. 200. Take up the Bible, once my better guide?] When, according to his Father's intention, he had been a Clergyman, or (as he thinks himself) a Bishop of the Church of England. Hear his own words: "At the "time that the fate of K. James, the Prince of Orange, "and myself were on the anvil, Providence thought fit "to poftpone mine, till theirs were determined: Buthad

"my