upon merely by a partially and unseasonably celebrated name.22 Poëtis quidlibet audendi shall be Mr. Dryden's motto, though it should extend to picking of pockets.23 NAMES BESTOWED ON MR DRYDEN. An APE.] A crafty ape drest up in a gaudy gown-Whips put into an ape's paw to play pranks with--None but apish and Papish brats will heed him.24 An Ass.] A camel will take upon him no more burden than is sufficient for his strength, but there is another beast that crouches under all.25 A FROG.] Poet Squab, endued with poet Maro's spirit! an ugly, croaking kind of vermin, which would swell to the bulk of an ox.26 A COWARD.] A Clinias, or a Damœtas, or a man of Mr. Dryden's own courage.27 A KNAVE.] Mr. Dryden has heard of Paul, the knave of Jesus Christ: and, if I mistake not, I have read somewhere of John Dryden, servant to his Majesty. 28 A FOOL.] Had he not been such a self-conceited fool. 29-Some great poets are positive blockheads.30 A THING.] So little a thing as Mr. Dryden.31 22 Milbourn, p. 192. 24 Whip and Key, pref. Milbourn, p. 34. 23 Ib. p. 125. 25 Milbourn, p. 105. 29 Whip and Key, pref. work but it is too late to dissuade, by demonstrating the madness of the project. The subscribers' expectations have been raised in proportion to what their pockets have been drained of.20 Pope has been concerned in jobs, and hired out his name to booksellers.21 NAMES BESTOWED ON MR. POPE. An APE.] Let us take the initial letter of his christian name, and the initial and final letters of his surname, viz. A. P. E. and they give you the same idea of an ape as his face,22 &c. An Ass.] It is my duty to pull off the lion's skin from this little ass.23 A FROG.] A squab, short gentleman—a little creature that, like the frog in the fable, swells, and is angry that it is not allowed to be as big as an ox.24 A COWARD.] A lurking, way-laying coward.25 A KNAVE.] He is one whom God and Nature have marked for want of common honesty.26 A FOOL.] Great fools will be christened by the names of great poets, and Pope will be called Homer.27 A THING.] A little abject thing.28 20 Homerides, p. 1, &c. 21 British Journal, Nov. 25, 1727. 22 Dennis's Daily Journal, May 11, 1728. 23 Dennis's Rem. on Hom. pref. 24 Dennis's Rem. on the Rape of the Lock, pref. p. 9. 25 Char. of Mr. P. p. 3. Dennis's Rem. on Homer, p. 37. 26 Ib. 28 Ib. p. 8. BY AUTHORITY. By virtue of the authority in us vested by the act for subjecting poets to the power of a licenser, we have revised this piece; where finding the style and appellation of king to have been given to a certain pretender, pseudo-poet, or phantom, of the name of Tibbald; and apprehending the same may be deemed in some sort a reflection on majesty, or at least an insult on that legal authority which has bestowed on another person the crown of poesy: we have ordered the said pretender, pseudo-poet, or phantom, utterly to vanish and evaporate out of this work; and do declare the said throne of poesy from henceforth to be abdicated and vacant, unless duly and lawfully supplied by the Laureate himself. And it is hereby enacted that no other person do presume to fill the same. 247 BY THE AUTHOR, A DECLARATION. WHEREAS certain haberdashers of points and particles, being instigated by the spirit of pride, and assuming to themselves the name of critics and restorers, have taken upon them to adulterate the common and current sense of our glorious ancestors, poets of this realm, by clipping, coining, defacing the images, mixing their own base allay, or otherwise falsifying the same; which they publish, utter, and vend as genuine; the said haberdashers having no right thereto, as neither heirs, executors, administrators, assigns, or in any sort related to such poets, to all or any of them: Now we, having carefully revised this our Dunciad, beginning with the words 'The mighty Mother,' and ending with the words "buries all,' containing the entire sum of one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four verses, declare every word, figure, point, and comma, of this impression to be authentic and do therefore strictly enjoin and forbid any person or persons whatsoever to erase, reverse, put between hooks, or by any other means, directly or indirectly, change or mangle any of them. And we do hereby earnestly exhort all our brethren to follow this our example, which we heartily wish our great predecessors had heretofore set, as a remedy and prevention of all such abuses. Provided always, that nothing in this Declaration shall be construed to limit the lawful and undoubted right of every subject of this realm to judge, censure, or condemn, in the whole, or in part, any poem or poet whatsoever. Given under our hand at London, this third day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred thirty and two. Declarat' cor' me, JOHN BARBER, Mayor, THE DUNCIAD.1 TO DR. JONATHAN SWIFT. BOOK I. ARGUMENT. The Proposition, the Invocation, and the Inscription. Then the original of the great Empire of Dulness, and cause of the continuance thereof. The College of the Goddess in the city, with her private academy for poets in particular; the governors of it, and the four cardinal virtues. Then the poem hastes into the midst of things, presenting her, on the evening of a Lord Mayor's day, revolving the long succession of her sons, and the glories past and to come. She fixes her eye on Bayes, to be the instrument of that great event which is the subject of the poem. He is described pensive among his books, giving up the cause, and apprehending the period of her empire. After debating whether to betake himself to the church, or to gaming, or to party-writing, he raises an altar of proper books, and (making first his solemn prayer and declaration) purposes thereon to sacrifice all his unsuccessful writings. As the REMARKS. This poem was written in the year 1726. In the next year an imperfect edition was published at Dublin, and reprinted at London in twelves; another at Dublin, and another at London in octavo; and three others in twelves the same year but there was no perfect edition before that of London in quarto, which was attended with notes. We are willing to acquaint posterity, that this poem was presented to King George II. and his Queen, by the hands of Sir Robert Walpole, on the 12th of March, 1728-9.-Schol. vet. It was expressly confessed in the preface to the first edition, that this poem was not published by the author himself. |