In each she marks her Image full expreft, But chief in Bays's monster-breeding breast ;

Bays,
VARIATIONS.
Ver. 108. But chief in Bays's, &c.] In the former
Ed. thus,

But chief in Tibbald's monster-breeding breast;
Sees Gods with Dæmons in strange league engage
And earth, and heaven, and hell her battles wage.

She ey'd the bard, where fupperless he fate; And pin’d, unconscious of his rising fate; Studious he sate, with all his books around, Sinking from thought to thought, &c. Var. Tibbald] Author of a pamphlet intituled, Shakespeare restored. During two whole years while Mr. Pope was preparing his edition of Shakespeare, he published Advertisements, requesting assistance, and promising satisfaction to

any

who could contribute to its greater perfection. But this Restorer, who was at that time loli

citing

REMARKS.

The same plea might also serve for his Successor, Mr.
Cibber; and is further strengthened in the following
Epigram made on that occafion :

In merry Old England it once was a rule,
The King had his Poet, and also his Fool :
But now we're so frugal, I'd have you to know it,

That Cibber can serve both for Fool and for Poet. Of Blackmore, see Book ii. Of Philips, Book i. ver. 262. and Book iii.

prope

fin. Nahum Tate was Poet Laureate, a cold writer, of no invention ;

but sometimes translated tolerably when befriended by Mr. Dryden. In his second part of Abfalom and Achitophel are above two hundred admirable lines together of that great hand, which strongly shine through the infipidity of the rest. Something parallel may be observed of another author here mentioned.

110

:

Bays, form'd by nature Stage and Town to bless,
And act, and be, a Coxcomb with success.

Dulness
VARIATIONS.
citing favours of him by letters, did wholly conceal his
design, till after its publication : (which he was fince
not ashamed 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 raise
an extravagant subscription; in which he had no share,
of which he had no knowledge, and against which he
had publicly advertised his own proposals for Homer.
Probably that proceeding elevated Tibbald to the dig.
nity he holds in this Poem, which he seems to deserve
no other way better than his brethren; unless we im-
pute it to the share he had in the Journals, cited among
the Testimonies of Authors prefixed to this work.

REMARKS. Ver. 106. And all the mighty Mad in Dennis rage.] Mr. Theobald, in the Cenfor, vol. ii. N. 33. calls Mr. Dennis by the name of Furius. The modern Furius “ is to be looked upon more as an object of pity, than “ of that which he daily provokes, laughter and con“ tempt. Did we really know how much this poor “ man" [I wish that reflection on poverty had been spared] “ suffers by being contradicted, or, which is " the same thing in effect, by hearing another praised; “ we should, in compassion, sometimes attend to him “ with a silent nod, and let him go away with the tri“ umphs of his ill-nature.—Poor Furius (again) when « any of his contemporaries are fpoken well of, quite “ ting the ground of the present dispute, steps back a “ thousand years to call in the succour of the ancients, “ His very panegyric is spiteful, and he uses it for the “ same reason as fome Ladies do their commendations “ of a dead beauty, who would never have had their " good word, but that a living one happened to be men,

• tioned

ous.

Dulness with transport eyes the lively Dunce,
Remembering the herfelf was Pertness once.

Now REMARKS. “ tioned in their company. His applause is not the tri“ bute of his Heart, but the facrifice of his Revenge,” &c. Indeed his pieces against our poet are somewhat of an angry character, an as they are now scarce extant, a taste of his style may be satisfactory to the curi

“ A young, squab, Thort gentleman, whose out“ ward form, though it should be that of downright

monkey, would not differ so much from human shape

as his unthinking immaterial part does from human "understanding. - He is as stupid and as venomous as a “ hunch-back'd toad. A book through which Folly and

Ignorance, those brethren so lame and impotent, do “ ridiculously look big and very dull, and strut and “ hobble, cheek by jowl, with their arms on kimbo, be

ing led and supported, and bully-back'd by that “blind Hector, Impudence.” Reflect. on the Essay on Criticism, p. 26. 29, 3o.

It would be unjust not to add his reasons for this Fury, they are so strong and so coercive.

him (faith he) as an Enemy, not so much to me, as a

my King, to my Country, to my Religion, and to that Liberty which has been the sole felicity of my “ life. A vagary of Fortune, who is sometimes pleased “ to be frolickfome, and the epidemic Madness of the "times have given him Reputation, and Reputation (as “ Hobbes says) is Power, and that has made him dan«

gerous. Therefore I look on it as 'my duty to King * George, whose faithful subject I am ; to my Country, " of which I have appeared a constant lover; to the “ Laws, under whose protection I have so long lived ;, " and to the Liberty of my Country, more dear to me « than life, of which I have now for forty years been ita constant assertor, &c. I look upon it as my dury, “ I'fay, to do-you shall see what to pull the lion's

“ I regard

to

Now (shame to Fortune!) an ill Run at Play
Blank'd his bold visage, and a thin Third day :

Swearing

REMARKS.

« skin from this little Ass, which popular error has " thrown round him; and to show that this Author, “ who has been lately so much in vogue, has neither “ sense in his thoughts, nor English in his expressions." DENNIS, Rem. on Hom. Pref. p. 2.91, &c.

Belides these public-spirited reasons, Mr. D. had a private one; which, by his manner of expressing it in p. 92, appears to have been equally strong. He was even in bodily fear of his life from the machinations of the said Mr. P. “ The story (says he) is too long to be “ told, but who would be acquainted with it, may hear “ it from Mr. Curll, my Bookseller.--However, what

my reason has suggested to me, that I have with a “ just confidence said, in defiance of his two clandestine

weapons, his Slander and his Poison.” Which last words of his book plainly discover Mr. D’s fufpicion was that of being poisoned, in like manner as Mr. Curll had been before him : of which fact fee A full and true account of the horrid and barbarous revenge, by poison, on the body of Edmund Curll, printed in 1716, the year antecedent to that wherein these Remarks of Mr. Dennis were published. But what puts it beyond all question, is a passage in a very warm treatise, in which Mr. D. was also concerned, price two pence, called A true Character of Mr. Pope and his Writings, printed for S. Popping, 1716; in the tenth page whereof he is said “ to have insulted people on I those calainities and diseases which he himself gave “ them, by administering Poison to them :” and is called (p. 4.) “a lurking waylaying coward, and a • stabber in the dark.” Which (with many other things most lively set forth in that piece) must have rendered him a terror, not to Mr. Dennis only, but to all chri1

Itian

Swearing and supperless the Hero fate,

IIS Blasphem'd his Gods, the Dice, and damn'd his Fate.

Then REMARKS. ftian people. This charitable warning only provoked our incorrigible Poet to write the following Epigram:

Should Dennis publish, you had stabb'd your Brother,
Lampoon'd your Monarch,or debauch'd your Mother;
Say, what revenge on Dennis can be had ?
Too dull for laughter, for reply too mad:
On one so poor you cannot take the law;
On one fo old your sword you scorn to draw :
Uncag'd then let the harmless monster ragė,
Secure in dulness, madness, want, and age.

For the reft; Mr. John Dennis was the son of a Sadler in London, born in 1657. He paid court to Mr. Dryden ; and having obtained fome correspondence with Mr. Wycherley and Mr. Congreve, he immediately obliged the Public with their Letters. He made himself known to the Government hy many admirable schemes and projects; which the Ministry, for reasons best known to themselves, constantly kept private. For his character, as a writer, it is given us as follows: " Mr. Dennis is excellent at Pindaric writings, per« fectly regular in all his performances, and a person of “ found Learning. That he is master of a great deal of “ Penetration and Judgment, his criticisms (particu“ larly on Prince Arthur) do fufficiently demonstrate.” From the same account it also appears that he writ Plays

more to get Reputation than Money." Dennis of himself. See Giles Jacob's Lives of Dram. Poets, p. 68, 69, compared with p. 286.

Ver. 109. Bays, form’d by nature, &c.]. It is hoped the poet here hath done full juftice to his Hero's character, which it were a great mistake to imagine was wholly funk in stupidity: he is allowed to have fup

ported