With arms expanded Bernard rows his state,
And left-legg'd Jacob seems to emulate.
Full in the middle way there stood a lake,
Which Curl's Corinna chanc'd that morn to make:
(Such was her wont, at early dawn to drop

71

Her ev'ning cates before his neighbour's shop);
Here fortun'd Curl to slide; loud shout the band,
And Bernard! Bernard! rings through all the Strand.

REMARKS.

ings; witness innumerable instances; but it shall suffice only to mention the Court Poems, which he meant to publish as the work of the true writer, a lady of quality; but being first threatened, and afterwards punished for it by Mr. Pope, he generously transferred it from her to him, and ever since printed it in his name. The single time that ever he spoke to C. was on that affair, and to that happy incident he owed all the favours since received from him: so true is the saying of Dr. Sydenham, "That any one shall "be, at some time or other, the better or the worse for "having but seen or spoken to a good or bad man.”

v. 70.---Curl's Corinna.] This name, it seems, was taken by one Mrs. T-----, who procured some private

IMITATIONS.

v. 67, 68. With arms expanded, Bernar'd rows bis state, And left-legg'd Jacob seems to emulate.

Milton, of the motion of the swan,

"His state with oary feet."

And Dryden, of another's---With two left legs--v. 73. Here fortun'd Curl to slide.]

Labitur infelix, caesis ut forte juvencis

"Fusus humum, viridesque super madefeceret herbas, "Concidit, immundoque fimo, sacroque cruore.”

v. 74. And Bernard Bernard!]

Virg. Æn. V. of Nisus.

"Ut littus, Hyla! Hyla! omne sonaret."

Virg. Ecl. vi.

Obscene with filth the miscreant lies bewray'd,
Fall'n in the plash his wickedness had laid:

75

Then first (if poets aught of truth declare)

The catiff Vaticide conceiv'd a pray'r.

Hear, Jove! whose name my bards and I adore,
A's much at least as any god's, or more;
And him and his, if more devotion warms,
Down with the Bible, up with the Pope's Arms.

A place there is, betwixt earth, air, and seas,
Where, from Ambrosia, Jove retires for ease.
-There in his seat, two spacious vents appear.

On this he sits, to that he leans his ear,
And hears the various vows of fond mankind;
Some beg an eastern, some a westein wind:
All vain petitions, mounting to the sky,
With reams abundant this abode supply;
Amus'd he reads, and then returns the bills,
Sign'd with that ichor which from gods distils.

In office here fair Cloacina stands,

And ministers to Jove with purest hands.

REMARKS.

85

90

letters of Mr. Pope, while almost a boy, to Mr. Cromwell, and sold them without the consent of either of those gentlemen, to Curl, who printed them in 12m0, 1727. He discovered her to be the publisher, in his Key, p. 11. We only take this opportunity of mentioning the manner in which those letters got abroad, which the author was ashamed of as very trivial things, full not only of levities, but of wrong judgements of men and books, and only excuseable from the youth and inexperience of the writer.

IMITATIONS.

v. 83. A place there is betwixt air, earth, and seas.] "Orbe locus medio est, inter terrasque, fretumque, "Coelestesque plagas.' Ovid. Met. xii

"

96

Forth from the heap she pick'd her vot'ry's pray'r,
And plac'd it next him, a distinction rare!
Oft had the Goddess heard her servants call,
From her black grottoes near the Temple-wall,
List'ning delighted to the jest unclean

Of link-boys vile, and watermen obscene;
Where as he fish'd her nether realms for wit,
She oft had favour'd him, and favours yet.
Renew'd by ordure's sympathetic force,
As oil'd with magic juices for the course,
Vig'rous he rises; from th' effluvia strong
Imbibes new life, and scours and stinks along;
Repasses Lintot, vindicates the race,

Nor heeds the brown dishonours of his face.

And now the victor stretch'd his eager hand'
Where the tall Nothing stood, or seem'd to stand;
A shapeless shade, it melted from his sight,
Like forms in clouds, or visions of the night.
To seize his papers, Curl, was next thy care;
His papers light, fly diverse, toss'din air;

IMITATIONS.

v. 108. Nor heeds the brown dishonours of his face.]

----

"Turpia membra fimo."--

-Faciem ostentabat, et udo

-Effugit imago

.111. A shapeless shade, &c.]

100

Virg. Æn. V.

Virg. Æn. VI.

"Par levibus ventis, volucriqué simillima somno."

v. 114 His papers light, fly diverse, toss'd in air.] Virgil, En. VI. of the Sibyls' leaves:

"Carmina----

"Turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis."

Songs, sonnets, epigrams, the winds uplift,

And whisk 'em back to Evans, Young, and Swift.
Th' embroider'd suit at least he deem'd his prey,
That suit an unpaid tailor snatch'd away.
No rag, no scrap, of all the beau, or wit,
That once so flutter'd, and that once so writ.

115

120

Heav'n rings with laughter: of the laughter vain, .Dulness, good Queen, repeats the jest again. Three wicked imps, of her own Grub-street choir, She deck'd like Congreve, Addison, and Prior; Mears, Warner, Wilkins, run: delusive thought! Breval, Bond, Besaleel, the varlets caught. Curl stretches after Gay, but Gay is gone, He grasps an empty Joseph for a John:

REMARKS.

116

v. 116. Evans, Young, and Swifi. Some of those persons whose writings, epigrams, or jests, he had owned. v. 124-like Congreve, Addison, and Prior. These authors being such whose names will reach posterity, we shall not give any account of them, but proceed to those of whom it is necessary.---Besaleel Morris was author of some satires on the translators of Homer, with many cther things printed in newspapers---" Bond writ a "satire against Mr. P---, Capt. Breval was author of "The Confederates, an ingenious dramatic perform"ance, to expose Mr. P. Mr. Gay, Dr. Arbuthnot, and some ladies of quality," says Curl, Key, p. 11. v. 125. Mears, Warner, Wilkins.] Booksellers, and printers of so much anonymous stuff.

v. 128. Joseph Gay. A ficti ious name, put by Curl before several pamphlets, which made them pass with many for Mr. Gay's---The ambiguity of the word Joseph, which likewise signifies a loose upper coat, gives much pleasantry to the idea.

Volume IV.

M

96

Forth from the heap she pick'd her vot'ry's pray'ı,

And plac'd it next him, a distinction rare!

Oft had the Goddess heard her servants call,
From her black grottoes near the Temple-wall,
List'ning delighted to the jest unclean

Of link-boys vile, and watermen obscene;
Where as he fish'd her nether realms for wit,
She oft had favour'd him, and favours yet.
Renew'd by ordure's sympathetic force,
As oil'd with magic juices for the course,
Vig'rous he rises; from th' effiuvia strong
Imbibes new life, and scours and stinks along;

100

105

Repasses Lintot, vindicates the race,

Nor heeds the brown dishonours of his face.

And now the victor stretch'd his eager hand
Where the tall Nothing stood, or seem'd to stand;
A shapeless shade, it melted from his sight,
Like forms in clouds, or visions of the night.
To seize his papers, Curl, was next thy care;
His papers light, fly diverse, toss'd in air;

IMITATIONS.

v. 108. Nor heeds the brown dishonours of his face.] -Faciem ostentabat, et udo

"Turpia membra fimo."--

Virg. Æn. V.

v. 111. A shapeless shade, &c.]

-----Effugit imago

"Par levibus ventis, volucriqué simillima somno."

Virg. Æn. VI.

v. 114 His papers light, fly diverse, toss'd in air.] Virgil, Æn. VI. of the Sibyls' leaves:

"Carmina--

"Turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis."