THE DUNCIA D. : BY AUTHORITY. By virtue of the Authority in Us vefted by the A&t for subjecting Poets to the power of a Licenser, zve have revised this Piece; where finding the flyle and appellation of KING to bave been given to a certain Pretender, Pfeudo-Poet, or Phantom, of the name of TIBBALD; and apprehending the same may be deeman infult on that Legal Authority which has beftored on ed in fome fort a Reflection on Majesty, or at least another perfon the Crown of Poely: We have ordered the said Pretender, Pfeudo-Poet, or Phantom, utterly to vanish and evaporate out of this work: And do declare the said Throne of Poefy from henceforth to be abdicated and vacant, unless duly and lawfully fapplied by the Laureate bimself. And it is bereby enacted, · that no other perfon do prefume to fill the fame. BOOK I. TO DR. JONATHAN SWIFT. THE ARGUMENT. THE propofition, the invocation, and the infcrip. tion. Then the original of the great empire of dulnefs, and cause of the continuance thereof. The college of the goddess in the city, with her private academy for pocts in particular; the governors of it, and the four cardinal virtues. Then the poem haftes into the midft of things, prefenting her, on the evening of a Lord Mayor's day, revolving the long fucceffion of her fons, and the glories paft and to come. She fixes her eyes on Bays to be the inftrument 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 OC. Ch. whether to betake himself to the church, or to THE mighty mother, and her fon, who brings VARIATION. Ver. 1. The mighty mother, &c.] In the first edition it was thus, Books and the man I fing, the first who brings I fing. Say you, her instruments the great! Call'd to this work by Dulnefs, Jove, and Fate; You by whofe care, in vain decry'd and curft, Still Dunce the fecond reigns like Dunce the first ; VARIATION. Say, for what caufe, in vain decry'd and curft, Still REMARKS. The Dunciad, fic MS. It may well be difputed whether this be a right reading: Ought it not rather to be spelled Dunceiad, as the etymology evidently demands? Dunce with an e, therefore Dunceiad with an e. That accurate and punctual man of letters, the reftorer of Shakespeare,conftantly obferves the prefervation of this very letter e, in fpelling the name of his beloved author, and not like his common careless editors, with the omiffion of one, nay fometimes of two ee's (as Shakspear), which is utterly unpardonable." Nor "is the neglect of a fingle letter fo trivial as to "fome it may appear; the alteration whereof in "a learned language is an atchievement that "brings honour to the critic who advances it; and Dr. Bentley will be remembered to pofte"rity for his performances of this fort, as long as "the world fhall have any esteem for the remains "of Menander and Philemon." THEOBALD This is furely a flip in the learned author of the foregoing note; there having been fince produced by an accurate antiquary, and autograph of Shakefpeare, whereby it appears that he spelled his own name without the firft e. And upon this authority it was, that those most critical curators of his monument in Westminster Abbey erafed the former wrong reading, and reftored the new fpelling on a new piece of old Egyptian granite. Not for this only do they deferve our thanks, but for exhibiting on the fame monument the first specimen of an edition of an author in marble; where (as may be feen on comparing the tomb with the book) in the space of five lines, two words and a whole verfe are changed, and it is to he hoped will there ftand, and outlast whatever hath been hitherto done in paper; as for the future, our learned fifter univerfity (the other eye of England) is taking care to perpetuate a total new Shakespeare at the Clarendon prefs. BENTL. It is to be noted, that this great critic alfo has omitted one circumftance; which is, that the infcription with the name of Shakespeare was intended to be placed on the marble fcroll to which he points with his hand; inftead of which it is now placed behind his back, and that fpecimen of an edition is put on the feroll, which indeed ShakeSpeare hath great reafon to point at. ANON. Though I have as juft a value for the letter E, as any grammarian living, and the fame affection for the name of this poem as any critic for that of his author; yet cannot it induce me to agree with those who would add yet another e to it, and call it the Dunceiade; which being a French and foreign termination, is no way proper to a word entirely English, and vernacular. One e therefore REMARKS. in this cafe is right, and two ee's wrong. Yet upon the whole I fhall follow the manufcript, and print it without any e at all; moved thereto by authority (at all times, with critics, equal, if not fuperior to reafon). In which method of proceeding, I can never enough praise my good friend, the exact of Mr. Thomas Hearne who, if any word occur, which to him and all mankind is evidently wrong, yet keeps he it in the text with due reverence, and only remarks in the margin, fic MS. In like manner we fhall not amend this error in the title itself, but only note it obiter, to evince to the learned that it was not our fault, nor any effect of our ignorance or inattention. SCRIBL 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 fame 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 prefented 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 exprefsly confeffed in the preface to the first edition, that this poem was not published by the author himself. It was printed originally in a foreign country. And what foreign country? Why, one notorious for blunders; where finding blanks only instead of proper names, these blunderers filled them up at their pleasure. The very hero of the poem hath been mistaken to this hour; fo that we are obliged to open our notes with a discovery who he really was. We learn from the former editor, that this piece was prefented by the hands of Sir Robert Walpole to King George II. Now the author directly tella us, his hero is the man -who brings "The Smithfield mufes to the ear of kings.” And it is notorious who was the perfon on whom this prince conferred the honour of the laurel. It appears as plainly from the apostrophe to the great in the third verse, that Tibbald could not be the perfon, who was never an author in fashion, or careffed by the great; whereas this single cha racteristic is fufficient to point out the true hero : who, above all other poets of his time, was the peculiar delight and chofen companion of the nobility of England; and wrote, as he himself tells us, certain of his works at the earnest defire of perfons of quality. Laftly, the fixth verfe affords full proof: this poet being the only one who was univerfally known to have had a fon fo exactly like him, is Say, how the goddess bade Britannia fleep, In eldest time, ere mortals writ or read, REMARKS. his poetical, theatrical, political, and moral capacities, that it could juftly be faid of him, Still Dunce the fecond reigns like Dunce the BENTL. "first." Ver. 1. The mighty mother and her fon,&c.] The reader ought here to be cautioned, that the mother, and not the fon, is the principal agent of this poems the latter of them is only chofen as her colleague (as was anciently the custom in Rome before fome great expedition), the main action of the poem being by no means the coronation of the laureate, which is performed in the very first book, but the restoration of the empire of Dulness in Britain, which is not accomplished till the last. Ver. 2. The Smithfield mufes.] Smithfield is the place where Bartholomew fair was kept, whofe fhows, machines, and dramatical entertainments, formerly agreeable only to the taste of the rabble, were by the hero of this poem, and others of equal genius, brought to the theatres of Covent Garden, Lincoln's-inn-fields, and the Hay-market, to be the reigning pleasures of the court and town, This happened in the reigns of King George I. and II. See Book ii. Ver. 4. By Dulnefs, Jove, and Fate:] i. e. by their judgments, their interests, and their inclinations. Ver. 15. Laborious, heavy, bufy, bold, &c.] I wonder the learned Scriblerus has omitted to advertise the reader, at the opening of this poem, that Dulness here is not to be taken contractedly for mere ftupidity, but in the enlarged fenfe of the word, for all flowness of apprehension, shortness of fight, or imperfect fense of things. It includes (as we, fee by the poet's own words) labour, industry, and fome degrees of activity and boldness; a ruling principle not inert, but turning topsy-turvy the understanding, and inducing an anarchy or confufed fate of mind. This remark ought to be car ried along with the reader throughout the work; and without this caution he will be apt to mistake the importance of many of the characters, as well as of the defign of the poet. Hence it is, that fome bave complained he chooses too mean a subject, and imagined he employs himself like Domixian, in killing flies; whereas those who have the true key will find he sports with a nobler quarry, and embraces a larger compass; or (as one faith, on a like occafion) "Will fee his work, like Jacob's ladder rife, Ite foot in dirt, its head amidst the skies." BENTL. Still her old empire to restore she tries, 20 Oh thou whatever title please thine ear, Close to thofe walls where Folly holds her throne, And laughs to think Monroe would take her down, 30 Where o'er the gates, by his fam'd father's hand, Great Cibber's brazen, brainless brothers ftand; VARIATION. Ver. 29-39. Close to those walls, &c.] In the former edition thus: Where wave the tatter'd enfigns of Rag-fair, &c, Var. Where wave the tatter'd ensigns of Rag-fair. Rag-fair is a place near the Tower of London, where old clothes and frippery are fold. REMARKS. Ver. 17. Still her old empire to reftore] This reftoration makes the completion of the poem.Vide Book iv. Ver. 22.-laugh and shake in Rabelais' cafy chair.] The imagery is exquifite; and the equivoque in the laft words, gives a peculiar elegance to the whole expreffion. The easy chair fuits his age: Rabelais' eafy chair marks his character; and he filled and poffeffed it as the right heir and fucceffor of that original genius. Ver. 23. Or praise the court, or magnify mankind.] Ironicè, alluding to Gulliver's reprefentations of both. The next line relates to the papers of the Drapier against the currency of Wood's Copper coin in Ireland, which, upon the great difcontent of the people, his Majefly was graciously pleased to recal. Ver. 26. Mourn not, my Swift! at aught our realm acquires] Ironicè iterum. The politics of England and Ireland were at this time by fome thought oppofite, or interfering with each other, Dr. Swift of courfe was in the interest of the lat ter, our author of the former. Ver. 31. By his fam'd father's hand.] Mr. Caius Gabril Cibber, father of the poet-laureate. The One cell there is, conceal'd from vulgar eye, VARIATIONS. Ver. 41. in the former edit. Hence hymning Tyburn's elegiac lay, Hence the foft fing-fong on Cecilia's day. 41 Ver. 42. Alludes to the annual fongs composed to mufic on St. Cecilia's feast. REMARKS. Fierce champion Fortitude, that knows no fears Poetic Juftice, with her lifted scale, Here the beholds the Chaos dark and deep, two ftatues of the lunatics over the gates of Bed-Realms fhift their place, and ocean turns to land lam-hofpital were done by him, and as the fon justly fays of them) are no ill monuments of his fame as an artist. Ver. 34. Poverty and Poetry.] I cannot here omit a remark that will greatly endear our author to every one, who shall attentively obferve that humanity and candour, which every where appears in him towards those unhappy objects of the ridicule of all mankind, the bad poets. He here imputes all fcandalous rhymes, fcurrilous weekly papers, base flatteries, wretched elegies, fongs, and verses (even from those fung at court, to ballads in the streets), not fo much to malice or fervility as dulnefs; and not fo much to dulness as to neceffity. And thus, at the very commencement of his fatire, makes an apology for all that are to be faterized. Ver. 40. Curll's chafte prefs, and Linton's rubric post:] Two bookfellers, of whom see Book ii. The former was fined by the Court of King's Bench for publishing obfcene books; the latter ufually adorned his fhop with titles in red letters. Ver. 41. Hence hymning Tyburn's elegiac lines.] It is an ancient English custom for the malefactors to fing a Pfalm at their execution at Tyburn; and no lefs customary to print elegies on their deaths, at the fame time, or before. Ver. 43. Sepulchral lies] is a juft fatire on the flatteries and falfchoods admitted to be infcribed on the walls of churches, in epitaphs; which occafioned the following epigram: "Friend! in your epitaphs, I'm griev'd, "The other never read." Ver. 44. New-year odes] Made by the poet Jaureate for the time being, to be fung at court on Here gay Defcription Egypt glads with fhowers, All thefe, and more, the cloud-compelling queen grave, Like Cimon triumph'd both on land and wave: REMARKS. pily drowned in the voices and inftruments. The every new-year's day, the words of which are hapnew-year odes of the hero of this work were of a caft diftinguished from all that preceded him, and made a confpicuous part of his character as a writer, which doubtless induced our author to mention them here fo particularly. Ver. 45. In clouded majesty here Dulness shone.] See this cloud removed, or rolled back, or gathered up to her head, book iv. ver. 17, 18. It is worth while to compare this defcription of the majesty of Dulness in a fate of peace and tranquillity, with that more busy scene where the mounts the throne in triumph, and is not so much supported by her own virtues, as by the princely confciousness of having destroyed all other. Ver. 57. genial Jacob] Tonfon. The famous race of bookfellers of that name. Ver. 85, 86. 'Twas on the day, when ** rich and grave-Like Cimon triumph'd] Viz. a Pomps without guilt, of bloodlefs fwords and maces, Glad chains, warm furs, broad banners, and broad faces) 90 Now night defcending, the proud scene was o'er, VARIATIONS. 100 Ver. 85. in the former editions. 'Twas on the day when Thorald rich and grave.] Sir George Thorald, Lord Mayor of London, in the year 1720. REMARKS. Lord Mayor's day; his name the author had left in blanks, but most certainly could never be that which the editor foifted in formerly, and which no way agrees with the chronology of the poem. BENTL. The proceffion of a Lord Mayor is made partly by land, and partly by water-Cimon, the famous Athenian general, obtained a victory by fea, and another by land, on the fame day, over the Perfians and Barbarians. Ver. 90. But liv'd, in Settle's numbers, one day more.] A beautiful manner of speaking, usual with poets in praife of poetry. Ibid. But liv'd, in Settle's numbers, one day more.] Settle was poet to the city of London. His office was to compofe yearly panegyrics upon the Lord Mayors, and verfes to be fpoken in the pageants: But that part of the shows being at length frugally abolished, the employment of city poet cealed; fo that upon Settle's demife, there was no fucceffor to that place. Ver. 98. John Heywood, whofe interludes were printed in the time of Henry VIII. She faw flow Philips creep like Tate's poor page VARIATIONS. Ver. 108. But chief in Bays's, &c.] In the former edition, thus, But chief in Tibbald's monster-breeding breaft; Var. Tibbald.] Author of a pamphlet intituled Shakspeare restored. During two whole years, while Mr. Pope was preparing his edition of Shakfpeare, he published advertisements, requesting affiftance, and promifing fatisfaction to any who could contribute to its greater perfection. But this reftorer, who was at that time foliciting favours of him by letters, did wholly conceal his defign, till after its publication (which he was fince not afhamed to own, in a Daily Journal of Nov. 26. 1728): And then an outcry was made in the prints, that our author had joined with the bookfeller to raife an extravagant fubfcription; in which he had no fhare, of which he had no knowledge, and against which he had publicly advertifed his own propofais for Homer. Probably that proceeding elevated Tibbald to the dignity he now holds in this poem, which he feems to deferve no other way better than his brethren; unless we impute it to the fhare he had in the Journals, cited among the Teftimonies of Authors prefixed to this work. REMARKS. logue of fome few only of his works, which were very numerous. Mr. Cook, in his Battle of Poets, faith of him, "Eufden, a laurell'd bard, by fortune rais'd, "By very few was read, by fewer prais'd." Mr. Oldmixon, in his Arts of Logic and Rhetoric, p. 413, 414 affirms, " That of all the Galamatia's "he ever met with, none comes up to fome verfes "of this poet, which have as much of the ridi ་ Ver. 103. Old Pryn in reftlefs Daniel] The firft" culum and the fuftain in them as can well be edition had it. She faw in Norton all his father fhine : a great mistake! for Daniel de Foe had parts, but Norton de Foe was a wretched writer, and never attempted poetry. Much more justly is Daniel himself made fucceffor to W. Pryn, both of whom wrote verfes as well as politics; as appears by the poem de Jure Divino, &c. of De Foe, and by fome lines in Cowley's Mifcellanies on the other. And both thefe authors had a refemblance in their fates as well as their writings, having been alike fentenced to the pillory. Ver. 104. And Eufden eke out, &c.] Laurence Xufden, poet laureate, Mr. Jacob gives a cata "jumbled together, and are of that fort of non"fenfe, which fo perfectly confounds all ideas, "that there is no diftin&t one left in the mind." Further he fays of him, "That he hath prophe"fied his own poetry fhall be fweeter than Catul"las, Ovid, and Tibullus; but we have little "hopes of the accomplishment of it from what "he hath lately published." Upon which Mr. Oldmixon has not fpared a reflection," That the "putting the laurel on the head of one who writ fuch "verfes, will give futdrity a very lively idea of the "judgment and justice of thofe who bestowed "it." Ibid. p. 417. But the well known learning of that noble perfon, who was then Lord Chamberlain, might have fcreened him from this unmannerly |