lished some poems written by her, and two volumes of letters that passed between her and a Mr. Gwynnet. Pope, in his young and gay days, was intimate with this woman, who certainly possessed some literary talent, and was, at one time, much in favour with wits and nobles. Her history conveys the usual moral. Deserted by all her admirers, Corinna was thrown into prison for debt, and, after lingering there for some time, she obtained her release, and took a small lodging in Fleet Street, where she died Feb. 3, 1730, aged 56.] POVERTY OF POETS-UNPAID TAILORS. Ver. 118. That suit an unpaid tailor snatch'd away.] This line has been loudly complained of in Mist, June 8, Dedic. to Sawney and others, as a most inhuman satire on the poverty of poets; but it is thought our author would be acquitted by a jury of tailors. To me this instance seems unluckily chosen; if it be a satire on any body, it must be on a bad paymaster, since the person to whom they have here applied it was a man of fortune. Not but poets may well be jealous of so great a prerogative as non-payment, which Mr. Dennis so far asserts, as boldly to pronounce that "if Homer him. self was not in debt, it was because nobody would trust him."-Pref. to Rem. on the Rape of the Lock, p. 15. OBSCURE POETS AND PUBLISHERS. Ver. 125. Mears, Warner, Wilkins run: delusive thought!1 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 other things printed in newspapers.-" Bond writ a satire against Mr. P. Captain Breval was author of The Confederates, an ingenious dramatic performance to expose Mr. P., Mr. Gay, Dr. Arb., and some ladies of quality," says Curll, Key, p. 11. 1 Booksellers, and printers of much anonymous stuff. 2 I foresee it will be objected from this line, that we were in an error in our assertion on ver. 50 of this book, that More was a fictitious name, since these persons are equally represented by the poet as phantoms. So at first sight it may seem! but be not deceived, reader, these also are not real persons. 'Tis true, Curll declares Breval, a captain, author of a piece called The Confederates; but the same Curll first said it was written by Joseph Gay. Is his second assertion to be credited any more than his first? He likewise affirms Bond to be one who writ a satire on our poet: but where is such a satire to be found? where was such a writer ever heard of? As for Besaleel, it carries forgery in the very name; nor is it, as the others are, a surname. Thou mayest depend upon it, no such authors ever lived: all phantoms.-SCRIB LERUS. 8 Joseph Gay, a fictitious name, put by Curll before several pamphlets, which made them pass with many for Mr. Gay's. It was a common practice of this bookseller to publish vile pieces of obscure hands under the names of eminent authors. [John Durant Breval, was son of Dr. Breval, prebendary of Westminster, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He wrote a poetical epistle to Addison, a poem on Calpe, or Gibraltar, with several dramatic pieces, and two volumes of travels in folio. Breval had served in Flanders under Marlborough, who gave him his captain's commission, and employed him in several negotiations. He died in 1739. Curll was indignant at the question as to Bond's identity. "Thou askest where was such a writer as Bond ever heard of? Take this answer: he hath published an additional (ninth) volume to the Spectator: a new version of Tasso hath he attempted: an original poem called Buckingham House (after the manner of Cooper's Hill) did he inscribe to the late Duke, who told him that the said poem would last much longer than the building it praised." (Curliad, 1729.) Both house and poem have long since disappeared.] COOKE AND CONCANEN. Ver. 138. Cooke shall be Prior and Concanen Swift.] The man here specified (Cooke) writ a thing called The Battle of Poets, in which Phillips and Welsted were the heroes, and Swift and Pope utterly routed. He also published some malevolent things in the British, London, and Daily Journals; and at the same time wrote letters to Mr. Pope, protesting his innocence. His chief work was a translation of Hesiod, to which Theobald writ notes and half. notes, which he carefully owned. In the first edition of this poem there were only asterisks in this place, but the names were since inserted, merely to fill up the verse, and give ease to the ear of the reader. [Theobald did not "carefully own the notes and half-notes which he contributed to Cooke's translation of Hesiod, 1728. Cooke, in his postscript to the work, says he, had distinguished the remarks of his friends from his own; "lest by a general acknowledgment only," he adds, "such errors as I may have possibly committed should, by the wrong guess of some, be unjustly imputed to them." In the early editions, Pope gave in a note this epigram on Theobald: ""Tis generous, Tibbald, in thee and thy brothers, He also Cooke wrote several dramatic pieces, poems, and translations. conducted the weekly journal called the Craftsman, which had previously been under the charge of Amherst. He was a man of considerable talents and learning, much esteemed by his friends, but careless and irregular in his life. He seems, like many of his contemporaries, to have imputed Pope's enmity in part to the ill offices of Savage, whom he calls the "Spy." To Matthew Concanen (who was appointed Attorney-General of Jamaica) Cooke was strongly attached, and honoured his memory with the following lines, which afford a favourable specimen of his versification. The influence of Pope on the poetry of his age is visible in these lines: Friendship, begun in unexperienced youth, In honour founded, and secured by truth, In distant climes and various fortunes tried, Not death, the grand destroyer, can divide. Knowledge and judgment clear, enriched your mind; You've gained a fair-deserved a lasting name." Cooke was born in 1702, at Braintree, in Essex; was some time in the family of the Earl of Pembroke; came to London in 1722; and followed a literary life till his death, in 1756.] GOOD AUTHORS. Ver. 140. And we too boast our Garth and Addison.] Nothing is more remarkable than our author's love of praising good writers. He has in this very poem celebrated Mr. Locke, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Atterbury, Mr. Dryden, Mr. Congreve, Dr. Garth, Mr. Addison-in a word, almost every man of his time that deserved it; even Cibber himself (presuming him to be the author of the Careless Husband). It was very difficult to have that pleasure in a poem on this subject, yet he has found means to insert their panegyric, and has made even Dulness out of her own mouth pronounce it. It must have been particularly agreeable to him to celebrate Dr. Garth, both as his constant friend, and as he was his predecessor in this kind of satire. The Dispensary attacked the whole body of apothecaries, a much more useful one undoubtedly than that of the bad poets; if in truth this can be a body, of which no two members ever agreed. It also did what Mr. Theobald says is unpardonable, drew in parts of private character, and introduced persons independent of his subject. Much more would Boileau have incurred his censure, who left all subjects whatever, on all occasions, to fall upon the bad poets (which, it is to be feared, would have been more immediately his concern). But certainly next to commending good writers, the greatest service to learning is to expose the bad, who can only that way be made of any use to it. This truth is very well set forth in these lines addressed to our author:"The craven rook, and pert jackdaw, Though neither birds of moral kind, Yet serve, if hang'd, or stuff'd with straw, "With Egypt's art thy pen may strive, PERSONAL DEFORMITY. Ver. 142. Yet smiling at his rueful length of face.] The decrepid person or figure of a man are no reflections upon his genius: an honest mind will love and esteem a man of worth, though he be deformed or poor. Yet the author of the Dunciad hath libelled a person for his rueful length of face!"-Mist's Journal, June 8. This genius and man of worth, whom an honest mind should love, is Mr. Curll. True it is, he stood in the pillory, an incident which will lengthen the face of any man, though it were ever so comely, therefore is no reflection on the natural beauty of Mr. Curll. But as to reflec tions on any man's face or figure, Mr. Dennis saith excellently: "Natural deformity comes not by our fault; 'tis often occasioned by calamities and diseases, which a man can no more help than a monster can his deformity. There is no one misfortune, and no one disease, but what all the rest of man. kind are subject to. But the deformity of this author is visible, present, lasting, unalterable, and peculiar to himself. 'Tis the mark of God and Nature upon him, to give us warning that we should hold no society with him, as a creature not of our original, nor of our species; and they who have refused to take this warning which God and Nature have given them, and have in spite of it, by a senseless presumption, ventured to be familiar with him, have severely suffered, &c. 'Tis certain his original is not from Adam, but from the devil," &c.—DENNIS's Charact. of Mr. P. octavo, 1716. Admirably it is observed by Mr. Dennis against Mr. Law, p. 33, "That the language of Billingsgate can never be the language of charity, nor consequently of Christianity." I should else be tempted to use the language of a critic; for what is more provoking to a commentator than to behold his author thus portrayed? Yet I consider it really hurts not him; whereas to call some others dull, might do them prejudice with a world too apt to believe it. Therefore, though Mr. D. may call another a little ass, or a young toad, far be it from us to call him a toothless lion or an old serpent. Indeed, had I written these notes (as was once my intent) in the learned language, I might have given him the appellations of balatro, calceatum caput, scurra in triviis, being phrases in good esteem and frequent usage among the best learned. But in our mother-tongue were I to tax any gentleman of the Dunciad, surely it should be in words not to the vulgar intelligible; whereby Christian charity, decency, and good accord among authors, might be preserved. SCRIBLERUS. The good Scriblerus here, as on all occasions, eminently shows his humanity. But it was far otherwise with the gentlemen of the Dunciad, whose scurrilities were always personal, and of that nature which provoked every honest man but Mr. Pope; yet never to be lamented, since they occasioned the following amiable verses : "While malice, Pope, denies thy page Its own celestial fire, While critics, and while bards in rage, "While wayward pens thy worth assail, These times, though many a friend bewail, "But when the world's loud praise is thine, "When none shall rail, and every lay Devote a wreath to thee; That day (for come it will) that day Shall I lament to see." [These verses first appeared in a collection of pieces in prose and verse on occasion of the Dunciad, 1729. They were written by one Lewis, author of 'Philip of Macedon," a tragedy, published in 1727, and dedicated to Pope. In 1730 Lewis published a second volume of miscellaneous poems. See Croker's Boswell, under date of 1784. In the octavo edition of the Dunciad, 1729, Popé has the following passage:-" They went so far as to libel an eminent sculptor for making our author's busts in marble, at the request of Mr. Gibbs the architect; which rhymes had the undeserved honour to be answered in an Impromptu by the Earl of B——: |