Of his Essay on man numerous were the praises bestowed by his avowed enemies, in the imagination that the same was not written by him, as it was printed anonymously. Thus sang of it. even BEZALEEL MORRIS. "Auspicious Bard! while all admire thy strain, "Thy muse sublime, significant, and clear, And MR. LEONARD WELSTED thus wrote * to the unknown Author, on the first publication of the said essay; "I must own, after "the reception which the vilest and most immoral "ribaldry hath lately met with, I was surprised to see what I had long despaired, a performance de"serving the name of a Poet. Such, Sir, is your "work. It is, indeed, above all commendation, and "ought to have been published in an age and coun"try more worthy of it. If my testimony be of I weight any where, you are sure to have it in the "amplest manner," &c. &c. &c. Thus we see every one of his works hath been cxtolled by one or other of his most inveterate enemies; and to the success of them all they do unanimously give testimony. But it is sufficient, in * In a letter under his own hand, March 12, 1733. star omnium, to behold the great critic, Mr. Dennis, sorely lamenting it, even from the Essay on Criticism to this day of the Dunciad! "A most notorious "instance (quoth he) of the depravity of genius "and taste, the approbation this Essay meets with*. "I can safely affirm, that I never attacked any of "these writings, unless they had success infinitely "beyond their merit. This, though an empty, has "been a popular scribbler. The epidemic madness of "the times has given him reputation +.---If, after "the cruel treatment, so many extraordinary men 66 (Spenser, Lord Bacon, Ben Jonson, Milton, "Butler, Otway, and others) have received from "this country for these last hundred years, I should "shift the scene, and shew all that penury changed "at once to riot and profuseness, and more squan"dered away upon one object than would have sa"tisfied the greater part of those extraordinary men; "the reader, to whom this one creature should be "unknown, would fancy him a prodigy of Art and "Nature; would believe that all the great qualities "of these persons were centered in him alone.---But if "I should venture to assure him that the people of "England had made such a choice---the reader "would either believe me a malicious enemy and "slanderer, or that the reign of the last (Queen *Dennis, Preface to his Reflections on the Essay on Cr.ticism. Preface to his Remarks on Homer. "Anne's) ministry was designed by Fate to encou68 rage fools*." But it happens that this our Poet never had any place, pension, or gratuity, in any shape, from the said glorious Queen, or any of her ministers. All he owed, in the whole course of his life, to any court, was a subscription for his Homer of 2001. from King George I. and 1ool. from the Prince and Princess. However, lest we imagine our Author's success was constant and universal, they acquaint us of certain works in a less degree of repute, whereof, although owned by others, yet do they assure us he is the writer. Of this sort Mr. Dennis † ascribes to him two Farces, whose names he does not tell, but assures us that there is not one jest in thein; and an imitation of Horace, whose title he does not mention, but assures us it is much more execrable than all his works. The DAILY JOURNAL, May 11, 1728, assures us, "He is below Tom Durfey in the "drama; because (as that writer thinks) the Mar"riage-Hater Matched, and the Boarding-School, are better than the What-d'ye-call it;" which is not Mr. P's. but Mr. Gay's. Mr. Gilden assures us, in his New Rehearsal, p. 48. "That he was writing a play of the Lady Jane Gray;" but it afterwards proved to be Mr. Rowe's. We are assured by another, "He wrote a pamphlet called Dr. An * Remarks on Homer, p. 8, 9. † Ibid. p. 8. drew Tripe*;" which proved to be one of Dr. Wagstaff's. Mr. Theobald assures, in Mist, of the 27th of April, "That the treatise of the Profound is << very dull, and that Mr. Pope is the author of it." The writer of Gulliveriana is of another opinion, and says, "The whole, or greatest part, of the merit of "this treatise must, and can only be ascribed to "Gullivert." [Here, gentle Reader! cannot I but smile at the strange blindness and positiveness of men, knowing the said treatise to appertain to none other but to me, Martinus Scriblerus.] We are assured, in MIST, of June 8, "That his 66 own plays and farces would better have adorned "the Dunciad than those of Mr. Theobald; for he "had neither genius for tragedy nor comedy."Which, whether true, or not, it is not easy to judge, in as much as he had attempted neither; unless we will take it for granted, with Mr. Cibber, that his being once very angry at hearing a friend's play abused, was an infallible proof the play was his own; the said Mr. Cibber thinking it impossible for a man to be much concerned for any but himself: "Now let any man judge (saith he) by this concern, "who was the true mother of the child †?" But from all that hath been said, the discerning reader will collect, that it little availed our Author to have any candour, since, when he declared he did * Character of Mr. Pope, p. 6. 4 Gulliver, p. 336. Cibber's Letter to Mr. Pope, p. 19. not write for others, it was not credited; as littlè to have any modesty, since, when he declined writ ing in any way himself, the presumption of others was imputed to him. If he singly enterprized one great work, he was taxed of boldness and madness to a prodigy*: if he took assistants in another, it was complained of, and represented as a great injury to the Publict. The loftiest heroics, the lowest ballads, treaties against the state or church; satires on lords and ladies, raillery on wits and authors, squabbles with booksellers, or even full and true accounts of monsters, poisons, and murders; of any hereof was there nothing so good, nothing so bad, which had not, at one or other season been to him ascribed. If it bore no author's name, then lay he concealed; if it did, he father'd it upon that author to be yet better concealed; if it resembled any of his styles, then was it evident: if it did not, then disguised he it on set purpose. Yea, even direct oppositions in religion, principles, and politics, have equally been supposed in him inherent. Surely a most rare and singular character! of which let the reader make what he can. Doubtless most commentators would hence take occasion to turn all to their author's advantage, and, * Burnet's Homerides, p. i. of his translation of the Iliad. †The London, and Mist's Journal, on his undertaking the Odyssey. |