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surname, viz. A. PE and they give you the same idea of an ape as his face* &c.

An Ass.] It is my duty to pull off the lion's skin from this little asst.

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 ex‡.

A COWARD.] A lurking, way-laying coward§. A KNAVE.] He is one whom God and Nature have marked for want of common honesty.

A FOOL. Great fools will be christened by the names of great poets, and Pope will be called Homer**.

A THING. A little abject thing++.

*Dennis's Daily Journal, nis's Rem. on Hom. pref. Rape of the Lock. pref. p. 9. Ibid. **Dennis's Rem. on

p. 8.

May 1, 1728. DenDennis's Rem. on the §Char. of Mr. P. p. 3. Homer, p: 37. Ibid..

BY AUTHORITY.

By virtue of the Authority in Us vested, by the Act for subjecting Poets to the Power of a Licenser, We bave revised this Piece; where, finding the style and appellation of KING to have been given to a certain Pretender, Psuedo-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, Psuedo-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.

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 alloy, 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 im

*

*Read thus confidently, instead of " beginning "with the words books and ending with the word flies,' as formerly it stood: read also, containing the en"tire sum of one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four "verses," instead of one thousand and twelve lines;" such being the initial and final words, and such the true and entire contents of this Poem.

Volume IV.

I

pression to be authentic: and do therefore strictly enjois 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 bereby earnestly exbort all our brethren to follow this our example, which we heartily wish our great Predecessors bad beretofore 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.

Thou art to know, Reader! that the first edition thereof, like that of Milton, was never seen by the Author, (though living and not blind:) the editor himself confessed as much in his preface, and no two poems were ever published in so arbitrary a manner. The editor of this had as boldly suppressed whole passages, yea the entire last book, as the editor of Paradise Lost added and augmented. Milton himself gave but in books, his editor twelve; this Author gave four books, his editor only three. But we have happily done justice to both; and presume we shall live, in this our last labour, as long as any of our others. Bentley.

TO DR. JONATHAN SWIFT.

BOOK I.

The 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 vayor'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 instru ament 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 pile is kindled, the Goddess, beholding the flame from her seat, fies and puts it out, by casting upon it the poem of Thule. She forthwith reveals herself to him, transports him to her Temple, unfolds her arts, and initiates him into her mysteries; then announcing the death of Eusden, the Poet-Laureate, anoints him, carries him into Court, and proclaims him successor.

THE mighty Mother, and her Son, who brings
The Smithfield Muses to the ear of kings,

REMARKS.

The Dunciad.] It is an inconvenience to which writers of reputation are subject, that the justice of their resentment is not always rightly understood: for the calumnies of dull authors being soon forgotten, and those whom they aimed to injure not caring to recall to memory the particulars of false and scandalous abuse, their necessary correction is suspected of severity unprovoked. But in this case it would be but candid to estimate the chastisement on the general' character of the offender, compared with that of the

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