The Augustan Reprint Society WALTER HARTE AN ESSAY ON SATIRE, Particularly on the DUNCIAD. (1730) Introduction by THOMAS B. GILMORE Publication Number 132 William Andrews Clark Memorial Library University of California, Los Angeles 1968 * * * * * GENERAL EDITORS George Robert Guffey, _University of California, Los Angeles_ Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_ Robert Vosper, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ ADVISORY EDITORS Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_ James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_ Ralph Cohen, _University of Virginia_ Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_ Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_ Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_ Earl Miner, _University of California, Los Angeles_ Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_ Everett T. Moore, _University of California, Los Angeles_ Lawrence Clark Powell, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ James Sutherland, _University College, London_ H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_ CORRESPONDING SECRETARY Edna C. Davis, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ * * * * * INTRODUCTION Since the first publication of Walter Harte's _An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad_,[1] it has reappeared more than once: the unsold sheets of the first edition were included in _A Collection of Pieces in Verse and Prose, Which Have Been Publish'd on Occasion of the Dunciad_ (1732), and the _Essay_ is also found in at least three late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century collections of poetry.[2] For several reasons, however, it makes sense to reprint the _Essay_ again. The three collections are scarce and have forbiddingly small type; I know of no other twentieth-century reprinting; and, perhaps most important, Aubrey Williams claims that "the critical value for the _Dunciad_ of Harte's poem has not been fully appreciated."[3] Its value can best be substantiated, or disputed, if it is rescued from its typographical limbo in the collections and reprinted from its more attractive first edition. Probably the immediate reason for the _Essay_ was Harte's admiration for Pope, which arose in part from personal gratitude. On 9 February 1727, Harte wrote an unidentified correspondent that "Mr. Pope was pleased to correct every page" of his forthcoming _Poems on Several Occasions_ "with his own hand." Furthermore, Harte may have learned that Pope had petitioned Lady Sarah Cowper, in 1728, to use her influence to obtain him a fellowship in Exeter College, Oxford.[4] But however appealing the _Essay_ may be as an installment on Harte's debt to Pope, there must obviously be better reasons for reprinting it. Harte himself doubtless had additional reasons for writing it. To understand them and the poem, we must also understand, at least in broad outline, the two traditional ways of evaluating satire which Harte and others of his age had inherited. One of them was distinctly at odds with Harte's aims; to the other he gave his support and made his own contribution. One tradition stressed the "lowness" of satire, in itself and compared with other genres. This tradition, moreover, had at least two sources: the practice of Elizabethan satirists and the critical custom of assigning satire to a middle or low position in the hierarchy of genres. From the time of _Piers Plowman_, it was characteristic of English satirists "to taxe the common abuses and vice of the people in rough and bitter speaches."[5] This native character was reenforced by the Elizabethan assumption that there should be similarities between satire and its supposed etymological forebears--the satyrs, legendary half men, half goats of ancient Greece. Believing that the Roman satirists Persius and Juvenal had imitated the uncouth manners and vituperative diction of the satyrs, Elizabethan satirists likewise strove to be as rough, harsh, and licentious as possible.[6] Despite the objections to the satire-satyr etymology stated by Isaac Casaubon,[7] scurrilous satire, especially as a political weapon, was a recognizable subspecies in England at least to 1700. The anonymous author, for instance, of _A Satyr Against Common-Wealths_ (1684) contended in his preface that it is "_as disagreeable to see a Satyr Cloath'd in soft and effeminate Language, as to see a Woman scold and vent her self in_ Billingsgate _Rhetorick in a gentile and advantageous Garb_." But as Harte certainly realized, _The Dunciad_ differed greatly from unvarnished abuse, and thus required different standards of critical judgment. Harte also rejected the critical habit of giving satire a relatively low rank in the scale of literary genres. This habit can be traced to Horace, who belittled the literary status of his own satires,[8] and it was prominent in the Renaissance. The place of satire in a hierarchical list of Julius Caesar Scaliger is perhaps typical: "'And the most noble, of course, are hymns and paeans. In the second place are songs and odes and scolia, which are concerned with the praises of brave men. In the third place the epic, in which there are heroes and other lesser personages. Tragedy together with comedy follows this order; nevertheless comedy will hold the fourth place apart by itself. After these, satires, then exodia, lusus, nuptial songs, elegies, monodia, songs, epigrams.'"[9] Similar rankings of satire frequently recurred in the neo-classical period,[10] as did the Renaissance supposition that each genre has a style and subject matter appropriate to it. This supposition discouraged any "mixing" of the genres: in Richard Blackmore's words, "all comick Manners, witty Conceits and Ridicule" should be barred from heroic poetry.[11] The influence of the genres theories even after Pope's death may be shown by the fact that Pope, for the very reason that he had failed to work in the major genres, was often ranked below such epic or tragic poets as Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton.[12] One senses the foregoing critical assumptions about satire behind much of the early comment on _The Dunciad_. Most of the critics, to be sure, were anything but impartial; in many instances they were smarting from Pope's satire and sought any critical weapons available for retaliation. But it will not do to dismiss these men or their responses to _The Dunciad_ as inconsequential; they had the weight of numbers on their side and, more important, the authority of long-established attitudes toward satire. Although it is frequently impossible to determine exactly which critics Harte was answering in his _Essay_, brief illustration of two prominent types of attack can indicate what he had to vindicate _The Dunciad_ against. One of those types resembled Blackmore's objection to a mixing of genres. If satire should be barred from heroic poetry, the reverse, for some critics, was also true, and Pope should not have used epic allusions and devices in _The Dunciad_. Edward Ward, for one, thought the poem an incongruous mixture "against all rule."[13] Pope's violation of "rule" seemed almost a desecration of epic to Thomas Cooke; of the mock-heroic games in Book II of _The Dunciad_, he complained that "to imitate _Virgil_ is not to have Games, and those beastly and unnatural, because _Virgil_ has noble and reasonable Games, but to preserve a Purity of Manners, Propriety of Conduct founded on Nature, a Beauty and Exactness of Stile, and continued Harmony of Verse concording with the Sense."[14] The other kind of attack accused Pope of wasting his talents in _The Dunciad_, but palliated blame by reminding him of his demonstrated ability in more worthy poetical pursuits. This was one of Ward's resources; perhaps disingenuously, he professed amazement that a poet with Pope's "_sublime Genius_," born for "an Epick Muse," "sacred Hymns," and "heav'nly Anthems," would lower himself to mock at "_trifling Foibles_" or "the Starvlings of _Apollo's_ Train."[15] More concerned with Pope's potentialities than with his recent ignominy, George Lyttelton nevertheless made essentially the same point: Pope could never become the English Virgil if he "let meaner Satire ... stain the Glory" of his "nobler Lays."[16] And Aaron Hill wrote an allegorical poem to show Pope the error of _The Dunciad_ and to suggest means of escape from entombment "in his _own_ PROFUND."[17] In such censure we perhaps glimpse an opinion attributable to the still influential genres theories: a poet of "_sublime Genius_" should work in a more sublime poetic genre than satire. In opposing this low view of satire, Harte drew upon ideas more congenial to his purposes and far more congenial to _The Dunciad_. Originating with the Renaissance commentaries on the formal verse satire of the Romans, their lineage was just as venerable as that of the low view. These critical concepts were probably just as influential too, for they continued to be reiterated by commentaries down to and beyond Pope's time. Whatever their quarrels, the Renaissance commentaries were virtually united in regarding satire as exalted moral instruction and satirists as ethical philosophers. Casaubon's choice for this sort of praise was Persius; Heinsius and Stapylton likened their respective choices, Horace and Juvenal, to Socrates and Plato; and Rigault considered all three satirists to be philosophers, distinguished only by the different styles which their different periods required. The satirist might disguise himself as a jester, but only to make his moral wisdom more easily digestible; peeling away his mask, "we find in him all the Gods together," "_Maxims or Sentences, that like the lawes of nature, are held sacred by all Nations_."[18] Dryden's _Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of Satire_ drew heavily and eclectically upon these commentaries, investing their judgments with a new popularity and authority. Although Dryden condemned Persius for obscurity and other defects, he agreed with Casaubon that Persius excels as a moral philosopher and that "moral doctrine" is more important to satire than wit or urbanity. Dryden knew, moreover, that the satirist's inculcation of "moral doctrine" meant a dual purpose, a pattern of blame and praise--not only "the scourging of vice" but also "exhortation to virtue"--long recognized as a definitive characteristic of formal verse satire.[19] But if Dryden insisted on the moral dignity of satire, he laid equal stress on the dignity attainable through verse and numbers. After complimenting Boileau's _Lutrin_ for its successful imitation of Virgil, its blend of "the majesty of the heroic" with the "venom" of satire, Dryden speaks of "the beautiful turns of words and thoughts, which are as requisite in this [satire], as in heroic poetry itself, of which the satire is undoubtedly a species"; and earlier in the _Discourse_ he had called heroic poetry "certainly the greatest work of human nature."[20] It is clear that Harte's _Essay_ belongs in the tradition of criticism established by the commentaries on classical satire and continued by Dryden. Like these predecessors, Harte believes that satire is moral philosophy, teaching "the noblest Ethicks to reform mankind" (p. 6). Like them again, he believes that to fulfill this purpose satire must not only lash vice but recommend virtue, at least by implication: Blaspheming _Capaneus_ obliquely shows T'adore those Gods _Aeneas_ fears and knows, (p. 10)[21] But perhaps Harte's overriding concern was to do for satire (with _The Dunciad_ as his focus) what Dryden's _Discourse_ had done: to reassert its dignity and majesty. Although Harte is quite careful to distinguish satire from epic poetry, the total effect of his _Essay_ is to blur this distinction and to raise _The Dunciad_ very nearly to the level of genuine epic. The term "_Epic Satire_" (p. 6) certainly seems to refer to the wedding of two disparate genres in _The Dunciad_, lifting it above satire that is merely "rugged" or "mischievously gay" (p. 8). (The epithet is also, perhaps, a thrust at Edward Ward, who had pinned it on _The Dunciad_ with a sneer.)[22] Harte's claim that _Books and the Man_ demands as much, or more, Than _He who wander'd to the Latian shore_ (p. 9) has a similar effect. The greatest epic poets and satirists have always transcended rules to follow "Nature's light"; Pope, over-topping them all, has "still corrected Nature as she stray'd" (pp. 19, 21). But perhaps Harte's most successful attempt to elevate _The Dunciad_ comes in section two of his poem. Unlike Dryden, in whose _Discourse_ the account of the "progress" of satire is confined almost exclusively to a few Roman writers, Harte begins his account of its progress with Homer and brings it down to Pope. Deriving the ancestry of _The Dunciad_ from Homer, the greatest epic poet, obviously enhances Pope's satire. Perhaps less obviously, by extending Dryden's account to the present, Harte makes _The Dunciad_ not only a chronological _terminus ad quem_ but, far more important, the fruit of centuries of slowly accumulating mastery and wisdom. The strategies mentioned thus far constitute one series of answers to critics who charged Pope with debasing true epic. But Harte also addressed himself to such critics more directly. Although Aubrey Williams (p. 54) has clearly demonstrated Harte's awareness that the world of _The Dunciad_ does in one sense sully epic beauties, at the same time, I think, Harte knew that the epic poems to which _The Dunciad_ continually alludes remain fixed, unsullied polestars; otherwise the reader of the poem would lack a way of measuring the meanness of its characters and principles. The "charms of _Parody_" in _The Dunciad_ provide a contrast between its dark, fallen world and the undimmed luster of epic realms (p. 10). By using the ambiguous word _parody_, which in the eighteenth century could mean either ridicule or straight imitation,[23] Harte skillfully suggests the complex purpose of Pope's epic backdrop. The dunces, not Pope, ridicule the epic world by their words and deeds; but in turn, this world ridicules them simply by being "imitated" and incorporated in _The Dunciad_. And its incorporation is by no means equivalent to the pollution of epic. That, Harte hints, is the achievement of scribblers like Blackmore (p. 12). It is they who inadvertently write mock-epics, parodies which degrade their great models; Pope, nominally writing mock-epic, actually approaches epic achievement. Harte's reply to those who believed Pope had wasted his talent in attacking "the Refuse of the Town" centers in the stanza beginning on p. 24 but can be found elsewhere as well. Literary "Refuse," he realized, could not safely be ignored, for he at least came close to understanding that it was "the metaphor by which bigger deteriorations," social and moral, "are revealed" (Williams, p. 14). ... Rules, and Truth, and Order, Dunces strike; Of Arts, and Virtues, enemies alike. (p. 24) Ultimately, then, Harte seemed aware that the dunces pose a colossal threat, a threat which warrants Pope's numerous echoes of _Paradise Lost_. Harte's _Essay_, in fact, contains several echoes of the same poem. Though, like most of Pope's, these Miltonic echoes are given a comic turn which indicates a wide gap between the real satanic host and its London auxiliary, there is little doubt that Harte grasped the underlying seriousness of his mentor's analogies and his own. * * * * * A few words remain to be said about Boileau's _Discourse of Satires Arraigning Persons by Name_, which so far as I know appeared with all early printings of Harte's _Essay_. The _Discourse_ was first published in 1668, with the separately printed edition of Boileau's ninth satire; in the same year it was included in a collected edition of the satires. It was occasioned, evidently, by a critic's complaint that the modern satirist, departing from ancient practice, "offers insults to individuals."[24] The only English translation of the _Discourse_ that I have discovered before 1730 appears in volume two (1711) of a three-volume translation of Boileau's works. This, however, is not the same translation as the one accompanying Harte's _Essay_; it is noticeably less fluent and lacks (as does the French) the subtitle "arraigning persons by name." The 1730 translation is faithful to the original, and the subtitle calls attention to the aptness of the _Discourse_ as a defense of Pope's satiric practice.[25] It is so apt, indeed, that one could almost suspect Pope himself of making the translation and submitting it to Harte or his publisher. Pope had already invoked Boileau's name and precedent in the letter from "William Cleland"; nothing could be more logical than for Pope to turn the esteemed Boileau's self-justification to his own ends. Cornell College NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION [1] Robert W. Rogers, _The Major Satires of Alexander Pope_, Illinois Studies in Language and Literature, XL (Urbana, 1955), p. 140, dates the Essay January 7-14, 1731, N. S., on the evidence of _The Grub-Street Journal_; No. 484 of _The London Evening-Post_ (Saturday, January 9, to Tuesday, January 12, 1731) advertises its publication for the following day. [2] Rogers, p. 141. Thomas Park, _Supplement to the British Poets_ (London, 1809), VIII, 21-36; Alexander Chalmers, _The Works of the English Poets_ (London, 1810), XVI, 348-352; Robert Anderson, _A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain_ (London, 1794), IX, 825-982 [_sic_]. [3] _Pope's "Dunciad": A Study of Its Meaning_ (Baton Rouge, 1955), p. 54n. [4] _The Correspondence of Alexander Pope_, ed. George Sherburn (Oxford, 1956), II, 430 n., 497. [5] George Puttenham, _The Arte of English Poesie_ (1589), in _Elizabethan Critical Essays_, ed. G. Gregory Smith (Oxford, 1904), II, 27. [6] Alvin Kernan, _The Cankered Muse: Satire of the English Renaissance_, Yale Studies in English, CXLII (New Haven, 1959), pp. 55, 58, 62; Oscar James Campbell, _Comicall Satyre and Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida"_ (San Marino, 1959), pp. 24-25, 27, 29-30. [7] _De Satyrica Graecorum Poesi, & Romanorum Satira Libri Duo_ (Paris, 1605). [8] J. F. D'Alton, _Roman Literary Theory and Criticism: A Study in Tendencies_ (London, New York, and Toronto, 1931), pp. 356, 414 and n.; George Converse Fiske, _Lucilius and Horace: A Study in the Classical Theory of Imitation_, University of Wisconsin Studies in Language and Literature, No. 7 (Madison, 1920), p. 443. [9] Bernard Weinberg, _A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance_ (Chicago, 1961), II, 745. For similar appraisals of satire, see also I, 148-149; II, 759, 807; and Puttenham, pp. 26-28. [10] E.g., John Dennis, "The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry" (1704), in _The Critical Works_, ed. Edward Niles Hooker (Baltimore, 1939-1943), I, 338; Joseph Trapp, _Lectures on Poetry Read in the Schools of Natural Philsophy at Oxford_ (London, 1742), p. 153. [11] _Essays upon Several Subjects_ (London, 1716-1717), I, 76. [12] Paul F. Leedy, "Genres Criticism and the Significance of Warton's Essay on Pope," _JEGP_, XLV (1946), 141. [13] _Durgen. Or, A Plain Satyr upon a Pompous Satyrist_ (London, 1729), p. 48. [14] "The Battel of the Poets," in _Tales, Epistles, Odes, Fables, etc._ (London, 1729), p. 138n. Though the poem was first published in 1725, it was revised to attack _The Dunciad_; Cooke claims ("The Preface," p. 107) that not more than eighty lines in the two versions are the same. [15] _Durgen_, pp. [i], 19, 40-41. [16] _An Epistle to Mr. Pope, from a Young Gentleman at Rome_ (London, 1730), pp. 6-7. [17] _The Progress of Wit_ (London, 1730), p. 31. Two months after Harte's Essay appeared Hill's _Advice to the Poets_, which complements the earlier allegory by urging Pope to shun "_vulgar Genii_" and emulate "Thy own _Ulysses_" (pp. 18-19). [18] Daniel Heinsius, "De Satyra Horatiana Liber," in _Q. Horati Flacci Opera_ (1612), pp. 137-138; Sir Robert Stapylton, "The Life and Character of Juvenal," in _Mores Hominum. The Manners of Men, Described in Sixteen Satyrs, by Juvenal_ (London, 1660), p. [v]; Nicolas Rigault, "De Satira Juvenalis Dissertatio" (1615), in _Decii Junii Juvenalis Satirarum Libri Quinque_ (Paris, 1754), p. xxv; and André Dacier, _An Essay upon Satyr_ (London, 1695), p. 273. [19] _Essays of John Dryden_, ed. W. P. Ker (Oxford, 1900), II, 75, 104-105; Howard D. Weinbrot, "The Pattern of Formal Verse Satire in the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century," _PMLA_, LXXX (1965), 394-401; Causaubon, _De Satyrica Graecorum Poesi, & Romanorum Satira Libri Duo_, pp. 291-292; Heinsius, pp. 137-138. [20] _Essays_, II, 43, 107-108. [21] See Weinbrot, p. 399. [22] _Durgen_, p. 3. [23] Howard D. Weinbrot, "Parody as Imitation in the 18th Century," _AN&Q_, II (1964), 131-134. [24] Boileau, _Oeuvres Complètes_, ed. Françoise Escal (Éditions Gallimard, 1966), p. 924. [25] Numerous protests against Pope's use of names made such a defense desirable. See, for example, Ward (p. 9) and "A Letter to a Noble Lord: Occasion'd by the Late Publication of the Dunciad Variorum," in _Pope Alexander's Supremacy and Infallibility Examin'd_ (London, 1729), p. 12. Boileau's _Discourse_ is a particularly apposite reply to the latter, which had contrasted Pope's satiric practice with that of Horace, Juvenal, and Boileau. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The text of this edition is reproduced from a copy in the University of Illinois Library. AN ESSAY, ON SATIRE, Particularly on the DUNCIAD. (Price One Shilling.) Speedily will be Published, The Works of VIRGIL Translated into Blank Verse by _J. Trapp_, D. D. in Three Volumes in 12º with Cuts. AN ESSAY ON SATIRE, Particularly on the DUNCIAD. BY Mr. _WALTER HARTE_ of St. _Mary-Hall_, Oxon. To which is added, A DISCOURSE _on_ SATIRES, _Arraigning Persons by Name_. By Monsieur BOILEAU. _LONDON:_ Printed for LAWTON GILLIVER at _Homer's_ Head against St. _Dunstan's_ Church, in _Fleetstreet_, MDCCXXX. THE CONTENTS. I. _The Origine and Use of_ Satire. _The Excellency of_ Epic Satire _above others, as adding Example to Precept, and animating by_ Fable _and sensible Images. Epic Satire compar'd with Epic Poem, and wherein they differ: Of their_ Extent, Action, Unities, Episodes, _and the Nature of their_ Morals. _Of_ Parody: _Of the_ Style, Figures, _and_ Wit _proper to this Sort of Poem, and the superior Talents requisite to Excel in it._ II. _The_ Characters _of the several Authors of Satire. 1. The Ancients;_ Homer, Simonides, Archilochus, Aristophanes, Menippus, Ennius, Lucilius, Varro, Horace, Persius, Petronius, Juvenal, Lucian, _the Emperor_ Julian. _2. The Moderns;_ Tassone, Coccaius, Rabelais, Regnier, Boileau, Dryden, Garth, Pope. III. _From the Practice of all the best Writers and Men in every Age and Nation, the_ Moral Justice _of_ Satire _in General, and of this Sort in Particular, is Vindicated. The_ Necessity _of it shewn in_ this Age _more especially, and why bad Writers are at present the_ most proper Objects of Satire. _The_ True Causes _of bad Writers._ Characters _of several Sorts of them now abounding; Envious Critics, Furious Pedants, Secret Libellers, Obscene Poetesses, Advocates for Corruption, Scoffers at Religion, Writers for Deism, Deistical and_ Arrian-_Clergymen._ _Application of the Whole Discourse to the_ DUNCIAD _concluding with an Address to the Author of it._ AN ESSAY ON SATIRE. T' Exalt the Soul, or make the Heart sincere, To arm our Lives with honesty severe, To shake the wretch beyond the reach of Law, Deter the young, and touch the bold with awe, To raise the fal'n, to hear the sufferer's cries, And sanctify the virtues of the wife, Old Satire rose from Probity of mind, The noblest Ethicks to reform mankind. As _Cynthia's_ Orb excels the gems of night: So _Epic Satire_ shines distinctly bright. Here Genius lives, and strength in every part, And lights and shades, and fancy fix'd by art. A second beauty in its nature lies, It gives not _Things_, but _Beings_ to our eyes, _Life_, _Substance_, _Spirit_ animate the whole; _Fiction_ and _Fable_ are the Sense and Soul. The _common Dulness_ of mankind, array'd In pomp, here lives and breathes, a _wond'rous Maid_: The Poet decks her with each unknown Grace, Clears her dull brain, and brightens her dark face: See! Father _Chaos_ o'er his First-born nods, And Mother _Night_, in Majesty of Gods! See _Querno's Throne_, by hands Pontific rise, And a _Fool's Pandæmonium_ strike our Eyes! Ev'n what on C----l the Publick bounteous pours, Is sublimated here to _Golden show'rs_. A _Dunciad_ or a _Lutrin_ is compleat, And _one_ in action; ludicrously great. Each wheel rolls round in due degrees of force; E'en _Episodes_ are _needful_, or _of course_: _Of course_, when things are virtually begun E'er the first ends, the Father and the Son: Or else so _needful_, and exactly grac'd, That nothing is _ill-suited_, or _ill-plac'd_. True Epic's a vast World, and this a small; One has its _proper_ beauties, and one _all_. Like _Cynthia_, one in _thirty days_ appears, Like _Saturn_ one, rolls round in _thirty years_. _There_ opens a wide Tract, a length of Floods, A height of Mountains, and a waste of Woods: _Here_ but one Spot; nor Leaf, nor Green depart From Rules, e'en Nature seems the Child of Art. As _Unities_ in Epick works appear, So must they shine in full distinction here. Ev'n the warm _Iliad_ moves with slower pow'rs: That forty days demands, This forty hours. Each other Satire humbler arts has known, Content with meaner Beauties, tho' its own: Enough for that, if rugged in its course The Verse but rolls with Vehemence and Force; Or nicely pointed in th' _Horatian_ way Wounds keen, like _Syrens_ mischievously gay. Here, All has _Wit_, yet must that Wit be _strong_, Beyond the Turns of _Epigram_, or _Song_. The _Thought_ must rise exactly from the vice, _Sudden_, yet _finish'd_, _clear_, and yet _concise_. _One Harmony_ must _first_ with _last_ unite; As all true Paintings have their _Place_ and _Light_. _Transitions_ must be _quick_, and yet _design'd_, Not made to fill, but just retain the mind: And _Similies_, like meteors of the night, Just give one flash of momentary Light. As thinking makes the Soul, low things exprest In high-rais'd terms, define a _Dunciad_ best. _Books and the Man_ demands as much, or more, Than _He_ who _wander'd to the Latian Shore_: For here (eternal Grief to _Duns_'s soul, And _B_----'s thin Ghost!) the _Part_ contains the _Whole_: Since in Mock-Epic none succeeds, but he Who tastes the Whole of Epic Poesy. The _Moral_ must be clear and understood; But finer still, if negatively good: Blaspheming _Capaneus_ obliquely shows T' adore those Gods _Æneas_ fears and knows. A _Fool's_ the _Heroe_; but the _Poet's_ end Is, to be _candid_, _modest_, and a _Friend_. Let _Classic Learning_ sanctify each Part, Not only show your Reading, but your Art. The charms of _Parody_, like those of Wit, If well _contrasted_, never fail to hit; One half in light, and one in darkness drest, (For contraries oppos'd still shine the best.) When a cold Page half breaks the Writer's heart, By this it warms, and brightens into Art. When Rhet'ric glitters with too pompous pride, By this, like _Circe_, 'tis un-deify'd. So _Berecynthia_, while her off-spring vye In homage to the Mother of the sky, (Deck'd in rich robes, of trees, and plants, and flow'rs, And crown'd illustrious with an hundred tow'rs) O'er all _Parnassus_ casts her eyes at once, And sees an hundred Sons--_and each a Dunce_. The _Language_ next: from hence new pleasure springs; For _Styles_ are dignify'd, as well as _Things_. Tho' Sense subsists, distinct from phrase or sound, Yet _Gravity_ conveys a surer wound. The chymic secret which your pains wou'd find, Breaks out, unsought for, in _Cervantes'_ mind; And _Quixot_'s wildness, like that King's of old, Turns all he touches, into _Pomp_ and _Gold_. Yet in this Pomp discretion must be had; Tho' _grave_, not _stiff_; tho' _whimsical_, not _mad_: In Works like these if _Fustian_ might appear, Mock-Epics, _Blackmore_, would not cost thee dear. We grant, that _Butler_ ravishes the Heart, As _Shakespear_ soar'd beyond the reach of Art; (For Nature form'd those Poets without Rules, To fill the world with _imitating Fools_.) What _Burlesque_ could, was by that Genius done; Yet faults it has, impossible to shun: Th' unchanging strain for want of grandeur cloys, And gives too oft the horse-laugh mirth of Boys: The short-legg'd verse, and double-gingling Sound, So quick surprize us, that our heads run round: Yet in this Work peculiar Life presides, And _Wit_, for all the world to glean besides. Here pause, my Muse, too daring and too young! Nor rashly aim at Precepts yet unsung. Can Man the Master of the _Dunciad_ teach? And these new Bays what other hopes to reach? 'Twere better judg'd, to study and explain Each ancient Grace he copies not in vain; To trace thee, Satire, to thy utmost Spring, Thy Form, thy Changes, and thy Authors sing. All Nations with this Liberty dispense, And bid us shock the Man that shocks Good Sense. Great _Homer_ first the Mimic Sketch design'd What grasp'd not _Homer's_ comprehensive mind? By him who _Virtue_ prais'd, was _Folly_ curst, And who _Achilles_ sung, drew _Dunce the First_.[26] Next him _Simonides_, with lighter Air, In Beasts, and Apes, and Vermin, paints the _Fair_: The good _Scriblerus_ in like forms displays The reptile Rhimesters of these later days. More fierce, _Archilochus_! thy vengeful flame; Fools read and _dy'd_: for Blockheads then had _Shame_. The Comic-Satirist[27] attack'd his Age, And found low Arts, and Pride, among the Sage: See learned _Athens_ stand attentive by, And _Stoicks_ learn their Foibles from the Eye. _Latium's fifth Homer_[28] held the _Greeks_ in view; Solid, tho' rough, yet incorrect as new. _Lucilius_, warm'd with more than mortal flame Rose next[29], and held a torch to ev'ry shame. See stern _Menippus_, cynical, unclean; And _Grecian Cento_'s, mannerly obscene. Add the last efforts of _Pacuvius'_ rage, And the chaste decency of _Varro_'s page.[30] See _Horace_ next, in each reflection nice, Learn'd, but not vain, the Foe of Fools nor Vice. Each page instructs, each Sentiment prevails, All shines alike, he rallies, but ne'er rails: With courtly ease conceals a Master's art, And least-expected steals upon the heart. Yet _Cassius_[31] felt the fury of his rage, (_Cassius_, the _We----d_ of a former age) And sad _Alpinus_, ignorantly read, Who murder'd _Memnon_, tho' for ages dead. Then _Persius_ came: whose line tho' roughly wrought, His Sense o'erpaid the stricture of his thought. Here in clear light the _Stoic_-doctrine shines, Truth all subdues, or Patience all resigns. A Mind supreme![32] impartial, yet severe: Pure in each Act, in each Recess sincere! Yet _rich ill_ Poets urg'd the _Stoic_'s Frown, And bade him strike at _Dulness_ and a _Crown_[33]. The Vice and Luxury _Petronius_ drew, In _Nero_ meet: th' imperial point of view: The Roman _Wilmot_, that could Vice chastize, Pleas'd the mad King he serv'd, to satirize. The next[34] in Satire felt a nobler rage, What honest Heart could bear _Domitian_'s age? See his strong Sense, and Numbers masculine! His Soul is kindled, and he kindles mine: Scornful of Vice, and fearless of Offence, He flows a Torrent of impetuous Sense. Lo! Savage Tyrants Who blasphem'd their God Turn Suppliants now, and gaze at _Julian_'s Rod.[35] _Lucian_, severe, but in a gay disguise, Attacks old Faith, or sports in learned Lyes;[36] Sets Heroes and Philosophers at odds; And scourges Mortals, and dethrones the Gods. Then all was Night--But _Satire_ rose once more Where _Medici_ and _Leo_ Arts restore. _Tassonè_ shone fantastic, but sublime: And He, who form'd the _Macaronique_-Rhime: Then _Westward_ too by slow degrees confest, Where boundless _Rabelais_ made the World his Jest; _Marot_ had Nature, _Regnier_ Force and Flame, But swallow'd all in _Boileau_'s matchless Fame! Extensive Soul! who rang'd all learning o'er, Present and past--and yet found room for more. Full of new Sense, exact in every Page, Unbounded, and yet sober in thy Rage. Strange Fate! _Thy solid_ Sterling _of two lines,_ _Drawn to our_ Tinsel, _thro' whole Pages shines!_[37] In _Albion_ then, with equal lustre bright, Great _Dryden_ rose, and steer'd by Nature's light. Two glimmering Orbs he just observ'd from far, The Ocean wide, and dubious either Star, _Donne_ teem'd with Wit, but all was maim'd and bruis'd, The periods endless, and the sense confus'd: _Oldham_ rush'd on, impetuous, and sublime, But lame in Language, Harmony, and Rhyme; These (with new graces) vig'rous nature join'd In one, and center'd 'em in _Dryden_'s mind. How full thy verse? Thy meaning how severe? How dark thy theme? yet made exactly clear. Not mortal is thy accent, nor thy rage, Yet mercy softens, or contracts each Page. Dread Bard! instruct us to revere thy rules, And hate like thee, all Rebels, and all Fools. His Spirit ceas'd not (in strict truth) to be; For dying _Dryden_ breath'd, O _Garth!_ on thee, Bade thee to keep alive his genuine Rage, Half-sunk in want, oppression and old age; Then, when thy pious hands repos'd his head,[38] When vain young Lords and ev'n the Flamen fled. For well thou knew'st his merit and his art, His upright mind, clear head, and friendly heart. Ev'n _Pope_ himself (who sees no Virtue bleed But bears th' affliction) envies thee the deed. O _Pope_! Instructor of my studious days, Who fix'd my steps in virtue's early ways: On whom our labours, and our hopes depend, Thou more than Patron, and ev'n more than Friend! Above all Flattery, all Thirst of Gain, And Mortal but in Sickness, and in Pain! Thou taught'st old Satire nobler fruits to bear, And check'd her Licence with a moral Care: Thou gav'st the Thought new beauties not its own, And touch'd the Verse with Graces yet unknown. Each lawless branch thy level eye survey'd. And still corrected Nature as she stray'd: Warm'd _Boileau_'s Sense with _Britain_'s genuine Fire, And added Softness to _Tassonè_'s Lyre. Yet mark the hideous nonsense of the age, And thou thy self the subject of its rage. So in old times, round godlike _Scæva_ ran _Rome_'s dastard Sons, a _Million_, and a _Man_. Th' exalted merits of the Wise and Good Are seen, far off, and rarely understood. The world's a father to a Dunce unknown, And much he thrives, for Dulness! he's thy own. No hackney brethren e'er condemn him _twice_; He fears no enemies, but dust and mice. If _Pope_ but writes, the Devil _Legion_ raves, And meagre Critics mutter in their caves: (Such Critics of necessity consume All Wit, as Hangmen ravish'd Maids at _Rome_.) Names he a Scribler? all the world's in arms, _Augusta_, _Granta_, _Rhedecyna_ swarms: The guilty reader fancies what he fears, And every _Midas_ trembles for his ears. See all such malice, obloquy, and spite Expire e're morn, the mushroom of a night! Transient as vapours glimm'ring thro' the glades, Half-form'd and idle, as the dreams of maids, Vain as the sick man's vow, or young man's sigh, Third-nights of Bards, or _H_----'s sophistry. These ever hate the Poet's sacred line: These hate whate'er is glorious, or divine. From one Eternal Fountain _Beauty_ springs, The Energy of _Wit_, and _Truth of Things_, That Source is GOD: From _him_ they downwards tend, Flow round--yet in their native center end. Hence Rules, and Truth, and Order, Dunces strike; Of Arts, and Virtues, enemies alike. Some urge, that Poets of supreme renown Judge ill to scourge the Refuse of the Town. How'ere their Casuists hope to turn the scale, These men must smart, or scandal will prevail. By these, the weaker Sex still suffer most: And such are prais'd who rose at Honour's cost: The Learn'd they wound, the Virtuous, and the Fair, No fault they cancel, no reproach they spare: The random Shaft, impetuous in the dark, Sings on unseen, and quivers in the mark. 'Tis Justice, and not Anger, makes us write, Such sons of darkness must be drag'd to light: Long-suff'ring nature must not always hold; In virtue's cause 'tis gen'rous to be bold. To scourge the bad, th' unwary to reclaim, And make light flash upon the face of shame. Others have urg'd (but weigh it, and you'll find 'Tis light as feathers blown before the wind) That Poverty, the Curse of Providence, Attones for a dull Writer's want of Sense: Alas! his Dulness 'twas that made him poor; Not _vice versa_: We infer no more. Of Vice and Folly Poverty's the curse, Heav'n may be rigid, but the Man was worse, By good made bad, by favours more disgrac'd, So dire th' effects of ignorance misplac'd! Of idle Youth, unwatch'd by Parents eyes! Of Zeal for pence, and Dedication Lies! Of conscience model'd by a Great man's looks! And arguings in religion--from No books! No light the darkness of that mind invades, Where _Chaos_ rules, enshrin'd in genuine Shades; Where, in the Dungeon of the Soul inclos'd, True Dulness nods, reclining and repos'd. Sense, Grace, or Harmony, ne'er enter there, Nor human Faith, nor Piety sincere; A mid-night of the Spirits, Soul, and Head, (Suspended all) as Thought it self lay dead. Yet oft a mimic gleam of transient light Breaks thro' this gloom, and then they think they write; From Streets to Streets th' unnumber'd Pamphlets fly, Then tremble _Warner_, _Brown_, and _Billingsly_.[39] O thou most gentle Deity appear, Thou who still hear'st, and yet art prone to hear: Whose eye ne'er closes, and whose brains ne'er rest, (Thy own dear Dulness bawling at thy breast) Attend, O _Patience_, on thy arm reclin'd, And see Wit's endless enemies behind! And ye, _Our Muses_, with a _hundred tongues_, And Thou, O _Henley!_ blest with _brazen lungs_; Fanatic _Withers!_ fam'd for rhimes and sighs, And _Jacob Behmen!_ most obscurely wise; From darkness palpable, on dusky wings Ascend! and shroud him who your Off-spring sings. The first with _Egypt_'s darkness in his head Thinks Wit the devil, and curses books unread. For twice ten winters has he blunder'd on, Thro' heavy comments, yet ne'er lost nor won: Much may be done in twenty winters more, And let him then learn _English_ at threescore. No sacred _Maro_ glitters on his shelf, He wants the mighty _Stagyrite_ himself. See vast _Coimbria_'s comments[40] pil'd on high, In heaps _Soncinas_,[41] _Sotus_, _Sanchez_ lie: For idle hours, _Sa_'s[42] idler casuistry. Yet worse is he, who in one language read, Has one eternal jingling in his head, At night, at morn, in bed, and on the stairs ... Talks flights to grooms, and makes lewd songs at pray'rs His Pride, a Pun: a Guinea his Reward, His Critick _G-ld-n_, _Jemmy M-re_ his Bard. What artful Hand the Wretch's Form can hit, Begot by _Satan_ on a _M----ly_'s Wit: In Parties furious at the great Man's nod, And hating none for nothing, but his God: Foe to the Learn'd, the Virtuous, and the Sage, A Pimp in Youth, an Atheist in old Age: Now plung'd in Bawdry and substantial Lyes, Now dab'ling in ungodly Theories; But so, as Swallows skim the pleasing flood, Grows giddy, but ne'er drinks to do him good: Alike resolv'd to flatter, or to cheat, Nay worship Onions, if they cry, _come eat_: A foe to Faith, in Revelation blind, And impious much, as Dunces are by kind. Next see the Master-piece of Flatt'ry rise, Th' anointed Son of Dulness and of Lies: Whose softest Whisper fills a Patron's Ear, Who smiles unpleas'd, and mourns without a tear.[43] Persuasive, tho' a woful Blockhead he: Truth dies before his shadowy Sophistry. For well he knows[44] the Vices of the Town, The Schemes of State, and Int'rest of the Gown; Immoral Afternoons, indecent Nights, Enflaming Wines, and second Appetites. But most the Theatres with dulness groan, Embrio's half-form'd, a Progeny unknown: Fine things for nothing, transports out of season, Effects un-caus'd, and murders without reason. Here Worlds run round, and Years are taught to stay, Each Scene an Elegy, each Act a Play.[45] Can the same Pow'r such various Passions move? Rejoice, or weep, 'tis ev'ry thing for _Love_. The self-same Cause produces Heav'n and Hell: Things contrary as Buckets in a Well; One up, one down, one empty, and one full: Half high, half low, half witty, and half dull. So on the borders of an ancient Wood, Or where some Poplar trembles o'er the Flood, _Arachnè_ travels on her filmy thread, Now high, now low, or on her feet or head. Yet these love Verse, as Croaking comforts Frogs,[46] And Mire and Ordure are the Heav'n of Hogs. As well might Nothing bind Immensity, Or passive Matter Immaterials see, As these shou'd write by reason, rhime, and rule, Or we turn Wit, whom nature doom'd a Fool. If _Dryden_ err'd, 'twas human frailty once, But blund'ring is the Essence of a Dunce. Some write for Glory, but the Phantom fades; Some write as Party, or as Spleen invades; A third, because his Father was well read, And Murd'rer-like, calls Blushes from the dead. Yet all for Morals and for Arts contend---- They want'em both, who never prais'd a Friend. More ill, than dull; For pure stupidity Was ne'er a crime in honest _Banks_, or me. See next a Croud in damasks, silks, and crapes, Equivocal in dress, half-belles, half-trapes: A length of night-gown rich _Phantasia_ trails, _Olinda_ wears one shift, and pares no nails: Some in _C----l_'s Cabinet each act display, When nature in a transport dies away: Some more refin'd transcribe their Opera-loves On Iv'ry Tablets, or in clean white Gloves: Some of Platonic, some of carnal Taste, Hoop'd, or un-hoop'd, ungarter'd, or unlac'd. Thus thick in Air the wing'd Creation play, When vernal _Phoebus_ rouls the Light away, A motley race, half Insects and half Fowls, Loose-tail'd and dirty, May-flies, Bats, and Owls. Gods, that this native nonsense was our worst! With Crimes more deep, O _Albion!_ art thou curst. No Judgment open Prophanation fears, For who dreads God, that can preserve his Ears? Oh save me Providence, from Vice refin'd, That worst of ills, a _Speculative Mind_![47] Not that I blame divine Philosophy, (Yet much we risque, for Pride and Learning lye.) Heav'n's paths are found by Nature more than Art, The Schoolman's Head misleads the Layman's Heart. What unrepented Deeds has _Albion_ done? Yet spare us Heav'n! return, and spare thy own. Religion vanishes to _Types_, and _Shade_, By Wits, by fools, by her own Sons betray'd! Sure 'twas enough to give the Dev'l his due, Must such Men mingle with the _Priesthood_ too? So stood _Onias_ at th' Almighty's Throne, Profanely cinctur'd in a Harlot's Zone. Some _Rome_, and some the _Reformation_ blame; 'Tis hard to say from whence such License came; From fierce Enthusiasts, or Socinians sad? _C----ns_ the soft, or _Bourignon_ the mad? From wayward Nature, or lewd Poet's Rhimes? From praying, canting, or king-killing times? From all the dregs which _Gallia_ cou'd pour forth, (Those Sons of Schism) landed in the _North_?-- From whence it came, they and the D----l best know, Yet thus much, _Pope_, each Atheist is thy Foe. O Decency, forgive these friendly Rhimes, For raking in the dunghill of their crimes. To name each Monster wou'd make Printing dear, Or tire _Ned Ward_, who writes six Books a-year. Such vicious Nonsense, Impudence, and Spite, Wou'd make a Hermit, or a Father write. Tho' _Julian_ rul'd the World, and held no more Than deist _Gildon_ taught, or _Toland_ swore, Good _Greg'ry_[48] prov'd him execrably bad, And scourg'd his Soul, with drunken Reason mad. Much longer, _Pope_ restrain'd his awful hand, Wept o'er poor _Niniveh_, and her dull band, 'Till Fools like Weeds rose up, and choak'd the Land. Long, long he slumber'd e'er th' avenging hour; For dubious Mercy half o'er-rul'd his pow'r: 'Till the wing'd bolt, red-hissing from above Pierc'd Millions thro'----For such the Wrath of _Jove_. _Hell_, _Chaos_, _Darkness_, tremble at the sound, And prostrate Fools bestrow the vast Profound: No _Charon_ wafts 'em from the farther Shore, Silent they sleep, alas! to rise no more. Oh POPE, and Sacred _Criticism!_ forgive A Youth, who dares approach your Shrine, and live! Far has he wander'd in an unknown Night, No Guide to lead him, but his own dim Light. For him more fit, in vulgar Paths to tread, To shew th' Unlearned what they never read, Youth to improve, or rising Genius tend, To Science much, to Virtue more, a Friend. Footnotes: [26] Margites. [27] Aristophanes. [28] Ennius. [29] ----clarumq; facem præferre pudori, _Juv. S._ 1. [30] _See_ Varro_'s Character in_ Cicero_'s Academics._ [31] _Epode_ 6. [32] _Alludes to this Couplet in his second Satire_, Compositum jus fasq; animi, sanctiq; recessus, Mentis, & incoctum generoso pectus honesto. [33] _See his first Satire of_ Nero_'s Verses,_ &c. [34] Juvenal. [35] _The_ Cæsars _of the Emperor_ Julian. [36] Lucian_'s True History._ [37] Roscommon, _Revers'd._ [38] _Dr_. Garth _took care of Mr._ Dryden_'s Funeral, which some Noblemen, who undertook it, had neglected._ [39] Three Booksellers. [40] Coimbria_'s comments._ Colleg. Conimbricense, _a Society in_ Spain, _which publish'd tedious explanations of_ Aristotle. [41] Soncinas, _a Schoolman._ [42] Sa (Eman. de) _See_ Paschal_'s Mystery of Jesuitism._ [43] Pompeius, tenui jugulos aperire susurro. Juv. S. 4. Flet, si lacrymas aspexit amici, Nec dolet. S. 3. [44] ------Noverat ille Luxuriam Imperii veteris, noctesq; Neronis Jam medias, aliamq; famem. Juv. S. 4. [45] Et chaque Acte en fa pièce & una pièce entière. _Boil._ [46]_'When a poor Genius has labour'd much, he judges well not to expect the Encomiums of the Publick: for these are not his due. Yet for fear his drudgery shou'd have no recompense, God (of his goodness) has given him a personal Satisfaction. To envy him in this wou'd be injustice beyond barbarity itself: Thus the same Deity (who is equally just in all points) has given Frogs the comfort of Croaking, &c.'_ Le Pere Gerasse Sommes Theol. L. 2. [47] Plato _calls this an Ignorance of a dark and dangerous Nature, under appearance of the greatest Wisdom._ [48] Gregory Nazianz: _a Father at the beginning of the Fourth Century. He writ two most bitter Satires (or Invectives) against the Emperor_ Julian. A DISCOURSE OF SATIRES _Arraigning Persons by Name_. By Monsieur BOILEAU. When first I publish'd my Satires, I was thoroughly prepar'd for that Noise and Tumult which the Impression of my Book has rais'd upon _Parnassus_. I knew that the Tribe of Poets, and above all, Bad Poets, are a People ready to take fire; and that Minds so covetous of Praise wou'd not easily digest any Raillery, how gentle soever. I may farther say to my advantage, that I have look'd with the Eyes of a Stoick upon the Defamatory Libels that have been publish'd against me. Whatever Calumnies they have been willing to asperse me with, whatever false Reports they have spread of my Person, I can easily forgive those little Revenges; and ascribe 'em to the Spleen of a provok'd Author, who finds himself attack'd in the most sensible part of a Poet, I mean, in his Writings. But I own I was a little surpriz'd at the whimsical Chagrin of certain _Readers_, who instead of diverting themselves with this Quarrel of _Parnassus_, of which they might have been indifferent Spectators, chose to make themselves Parties, and rather to take pet with Fools, than laugh with Men of Sense. 'Twas to comfort these People, that I compos'd my ninth Satire; where I think I have shewn clearly enough, that without any prejudice either to one's Conscience or the Government, one may think bad Verses bad Verses, and have full right to be tir'd with reading a silly Book. But since these Gentlemen have spoken of the liberty I have taken of _Naming_ them, as an Attempt unheard-of, and without Example, and since Examples can't well be put into Rhyme; 'tis proper to say one word to inform 'em of a thing of which they alone wou'd gladly be ignorant, and to make them know, that in comparison of all my brother Satirists, I have been a Poet of great Moderation. To begin with _Lucilius_ the Inventer of Satire; what liberty, or rather what license did he not indulge in his Works? They were not only Poets and Authors whom he attack'd, they were People of the first Quality in _Rome_, and Consular Persons. However _Scipio_ and _Lælius_ did not judge that Poet (so determin'd a Laugher as he was) unworthy of their Friendship; and probably upon occasion no more refus'd him, than they did _Terence_, their advice on his Writings: They never thought of espousing the part of _Lupus_ and _Metellus_, whom he ridicul'd in his Satires, nor imagin'd they gave up any part of their own Character in leaving to his Mercy all the Coxcombs of the Nation. ----_num_ Lælius, _aut qui_ _Duxit ab oppressa meritum Carthagine nomen,_ _Ingenio offensi, aut læso doluere_ Metello _Famosisve_ Lupo _co-operto versibus?_ In a word, _Lucilius_ spar'd neither the Small nor the Great, and often from the Nobles and the Patricians he stoop'd to the Lees of the People. _Primores populi arripuit populumq; tributim._ It may be said that _Lucilius_ liv'd in a Republick where those sort of liberties might be permitted. Look then upon _Horace_, who liv'd under an Emperor in the beginnings of a Monarchy (the most dangerous time in the world to laugh) who is there whom he has not satiriz'd by name? _Fabius_ the great Talker, _Tigellius_ the Fantastick, _Nasidienus_ the Impertinent, _Nomentanus_ the Debauchee, and whoever came at his Quill's end. They may answer that these are fictitious Names: an excellent Answer indeed! As if those whom he attack'd were no better known; as if we were ignorant that _Fabius_ was a _Roman_ Knight who compos'd a Treatise of Law, that _Tigellius_ was a Musician favour'd by _Augustus_, that _Nasidienus Rufus_ was a famous Coxcomb in _Rome_, that _Cassius Nomentanus_ was one of the most noted Rakes in _Italy_. Certainly those who talk in this manner, are not conversant with ancient Writers, nor extreamly instructed in the affairs of the Court of _Agustus_. _Horace_ is not contented with calling people by their _Names_; he seems so afraid they should be mistaken, that he gives us even their Sir-names; nay tells us the Trade they follow'd, or the Employments they exercis'd. Observe for Example how he speaks of _Aufidius Luscus_ Prætor of _Fundi_. Fundos Aufidio Lusco _Prætore libenter_ _Linquimus, insani ridentes præmia scribæ_ _Prætextam & latum clavum,_ &c. _We were glad to leave_ (says he) _the Town of_ Fundi _of which one_ Aufidius Luscus _was Præator, but it was not without laughing heartily at the folly of this man, who having been a Clerk, took upon him the Airs of a Senator and a Person of Quality._ Could a Man be describ'd more precisely? and would not the Circumstances only be sufficient to make him known? Will they say that _Aufidius_ was then dead? _Horace_ speaks of a Voyage made some time since. And how will my Censors account for this other passage? _Turgidus_ Alpinus _jugulat dum_ Memnona, _dumque_ _Diffingit_ Rheni _luteum caput: hæc ego ludo_. _While that Bombast Poet_ Alpinus, _murders_ Memnon _in his Poem, and bemires himself in his description of the_ Rhine, _I divert my self in these Satires._ 'Tis plain from hence, that _Alpinus_ liv'd in the time when _Horace_ writ these Satires: and suppose _Alpinus_ was an imaginary Name, cou'd the Author of the Poem of _Memnon_ be taken for another? _Horace_, they may say, liv'd under the reign of the most Polite of all the Emperors; but do we live under a Reign less polite? and would they have a Prince who has so many Qualities in common with _Augustus_, either less disgusted than he at bad Books, or more rigorous towards those who blame them? Let us next examine _Persius_, who writ in the time of _Nero_: He not only Raillies the Works of the Poets of his days, but attacks the Verses of the Emperor himself: For all the World knows, and all the Court of _Nero_ well knew, that those four lines, _Torva Mimalloneis_, &c. which _Persius_ so bitterly ridicules in his first Satire, were _Nero_'s own Verses; and yet we have no account that _Nero_ (so much a Tyrant as he was) caus'd _Persius_ to be punish'd; Enemy as he was to Reason, and fond as every one knows of his own Works, he was gallant enough to take this Raillery on his Verses, and did not think that the Emperor on this occasion should assert the Character of the Poet. _Juvenal_, who flourish'd under _Trajan_, shews a little more respect towards the great Men of his age; and was contented to sprinkle the gall of his Satire on those of the precedent reign. But as for the _Writers_, he never look'd for them further than his own time. At the very beginning of his Work you find him in a very bad humor against all his _cotemporary Scriblers_: ask _Juvenal_ what oblig'd him to take up his Pen? he was weary of hearing the _Theseide_ of _Codrus_, the _Orestes_ of this man, and the _Telephus_ of that, and all the Poets (as he elsewhere says) who recited their Verses in the Month of _August_, _----&_ Augusto _recitantes Mense Poetas._ So true it is that the right of blaming bad Authors, is an ancient Right, pass'd into a Custom, among all the Satirists, and allow'd in all ages. * * * * * To come from the Ancients to the Moderns. _Regnier_ who is almost the only Satirical Poet we have, has in truth been a little more discreet than the rest; nevertheless he speaks very freely of _Gallet_ the famous Gamester, who paid his Creditors with _Sept_ and _Quatorze_, and of the _Sieur de Provins_ who chang'd his long Cloak into a Doublet, and of _Cousin_ who run from his house for fear of repairing it, and of _Pierre de Puis_, and many others. What will my Critics say to this? When they are ever so little touch'd, they wou'd drive from the Republick of Letters all the Satirical Poets, as so many disturbers of the Peace of the Nation. But what will they say of _Virgil_; the wise, the discreet _Virgil_? who in an Eclog where he has nothing to do with Satire, has made in one Line two Poets for ever ridiculous. _Qui_ Bavium _non odit, amet tua carmina_ Moevi. Let them not say that _Bavius_ and _Moevius_ in this place are _suppos'd names_, since it would be too plainly to give the Lye to the learned _Servius_, who positively declares the contrary. In a word, what would my Censors do with _Catullus_, _Martial_, and all the Poets of Antiquity, who have made no more scruple in this matter than _Virgil_? What would they think of _Voiture_ who had the conscience to laugh at the expence of the renowned _Neuf Germain_, tho' equally to be admir'd for the Antiquity of his Beard, and the Novelty of his Poetry? Will they banish from _Parnassus_, him, and all the ancient Poets, to establish the reputation of Fools and Coxcombs? If so, I shall be very easy in my banishment, and have the pleasure of very good company. Without Raillery, wou'd these Gentlemen really be more wise than _Scipio_ and _Lelius_, more delicate than _Augustus_, or more cruel than _Nero_? But they who are so angry at the Critics, how comes it that they are so merciful to bad Authors? I see what it is that troubles them; they have no mind to be undeceiv'd. It vexes them to have seriously admir'd those Works, which my Satires have expos'd to universal Contempt; and to see themselves condemn'd, to forget in their old Age, those Verses which they got by heart in their Youth, as Master-pieces of Wit. Truly I am sorry for 'em, but where's the help? Can they expect, that to comply with their particular Taste, we should renounce common Sense? applaud indifferently all the Impertinencies which a Coxcomb shall think fit to throw upon paper? and instead of condemning bad Poets (as they did in certain Countries) to lick out their Writings with their own Tongue, shall Books become for the future inviolable Sanctuaries, where all Blockheads shall be made free Denizens, not to be touch'd without Profanation? I could say much more on this subject; but as I have already treated it in my ninth Satire, I shall thither refer the Reader. _FINIS._ _BOOKS printed for_ LAWTON GILLIVER _at_ HOMER'S HEAD, _against St._ DUNSTAN'S _Church,_ Fleetstreet. Two Epistles to Mr. _POPE_, concerning the Authors of the Age. By the Author of the Universal Passion. _Imperium Pelagi_: A Naval Lyrick; Written in Imitation of _Pindar_'s Spirit. Occasion'd by His Majesty's Return, _Sept. 1729_, and the succeeding Peace. By the same Author. Just publish'd, The SECOND EDITION of the DUNCIAD Variorum, 8º with some additional NOTES and EPIGRAMS. The ART of POLITICKS, in Imitation of _Horace_'s Art of Poetry, with a curious Frontispiece. _Risum Teneatis Amici._ M. HIERONYMI VIDÆ OPERA OMNIA POETICA, quibus adjicitur ejusdem de dignitate Rei-publicæ recensione. Dialogus. R. Russel, A. M. Two Toms, 12º. Quintus Horatius Flaccus. Compedibus Metricorum numerorum solutus: In usum Tyronum. Opera & Studio N. Bailey. The Adventures of Telemachus in twenty-four Books. Done into English from the last Paris Edition, by Mr. Littlebury and Mr. Boyer: Adorn'd with twenty-four Plates, and a Map of Telemachus's Travels; all curiously engraven by very good Hands. The Twelfth Edition, 2 Vols. 8_vo._ A few remaining Copies of Dr. Hickes's Thesaurus Ling. Vett. Septentrionalium. Three Toms, Folio. Printed at Oxford. ARRIAN'S History of ALEXANDER'S Expedition and Battles: To which is added, A Criticism on Q. Curtius, as a fabulous Historian. By M. le Clerc, in two Vols, 8_vo._ The History of the COUNCIL of CONSTANCE. Written in French by James Lenfant. Done into English from the last Edition, printed at Amsterdam 1727. Adorned with twenty Copper Plates, curiously Engraven by the best Hands. Two Vols, 4to. The NURSE'S GUIDE: Or, The right Method of bringing up Young Children: To which is added, An Essay on preserving Health, and prolonging Life. With a Treatise of the Gout, and Receipts for the Cure of that Distemper. By an Eminent Physician, 8_vo._ POMONA: Or, The Fruit-Garden illustrated. Containing sure Methods for improving all the best Kinds of Fruits now extant in England. By Batty Langley, of Twickenham. Thirty-nine Sermons on several Occasions. By the late Reverend Mr. John Cooke, A. M. one of the Six Preachers of the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, in two Vols. 8_vo._ _Where may be had the_ Spectators, Tatlers, Guardians, Freeholder, Lover, _and_ Reader, _&c. Books in the_ LAW, _and other_ SCIENCES; _with great Variety of single_ PLAYS. THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. LOS ANGELES PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT 1948-1949 16. Henry Nevil Payne, _The Fatal Jealousie_ (1673). 18. Anonymous, "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation_ (1720). 1949-1950 19. Susanna Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709). 20. Lewis Theobald, _Preface to the Works of Shakespeare_ (1734). 22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two _Rambler_ papers (1750). 23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681). 1950-1951 26. Charles Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1792). 1951-1952 31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751), and _The Eton College Manuscript_. 1952-1953 41. Bernard Mandeville, _A Letter to Dion_ (1732). 1962-1963 98. _Select Hymns Taken Out of Mr. Herbert's Temple_ (1697). 1963-1964 104. Thomas D'Urfey, _Wonders in the Sun_; or, _The Kingdom of the Birds_ (1706). 1964-1965 110. John Tutchin, _Selected Poems_ (1685-1700). 111. Anonymous, _Political Justice_ (1736). 112. Robert Dodsley, _An Essay on Fable_ (1764). 113. T. R., _An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning_ (1698). 114. _Two Poems Against Pope_: Leonard Welsted, _One Epistle to Mr. A. Pope_ (1730), and Anonymous, _The Blatant Beast_ (1742). 1965-1966 115. Daniel Defoe and others, _Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal_. 116. Charles Macklin, _The Covent Garden Theatre_ (1752). 117. Sir George L'Estrange, _Citt and Bumpkin_ (1680). 118. Henry More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus_ (1662). 119. Thomas Traherne, _Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation_ (1717). 120. Bernard Mandeville, _Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables_ (1704). 1966-1967 122. James MacPherson, _Fragments of Ancient Poetry_ (1760). 123. Edmond Malone, _Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to Mr. Thomas Rowley_ (1782). 124. Anonymous, _The Female Wits_ (1704). 125. Anonymous, _The Scribleriad_ (1742). Lord Hervey, _The Difference Between Verbal and Practical Virtue_ (1742). 126. _Le Lutrin: an Heroick Poem, Written Originally in French by Monsieur Boileau: Made English by N. O._ (1682). Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus. Publications #1 through 90, of the first fifteen years of Augustan Reprint Society, are available in bound units at $14.00 per unit of six from: KRAUS REPRINT CORPORATION 16 East 46th Street New York, N.Y. 10017 Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of $5.00 yearly. Prices of single issues may be obtained upon request. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California, Los Angeles THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY _General Editors_: George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles; Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles; Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. _Corresponding Secretary_: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. The Society's purpose is to publish reprints (usually facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works. All income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and mailing. Correspondence concerning memberships in the United States and Canada should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron St., Los Angeles, California. Correspondence concerning editorial matters may be addressed to any of the general editors at the same address. Manuscripts of introductions should conform to the recommendations of the MLA _Style Sheet_. The membership fee is $5.00 a year in the United States and Canada and 30--in Great Britain and Europe. British and European prospective members should address B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. Copies of back issues in print may be obtained from the Corresponding Secretary. PUBLICATIONS FOR 1967-1968 127-128. Charles Macklin, _A Will and No Will, or a Bone for the Lawyers_ (1746). _The New Play Criticiz'd, or The Plague of Envy_ (1747). Introduction by Jean B. Kern. 129. Lawrence Echard, Prefaces to _Terence's Comedies_ (1694) and _Plautus's Comedies_ (1694). Introduction by John Barnard. 130. Henry More, _Democritus Platonissans_ (1646). Introduction by P. G. Stanwood. 131. John Evelyn, _The History of ... Sabatai Sevi ... The Suppos'd Messiah of the Jews_ (1669). Introduction by Christopher W. Grose. 132. Walter Harte, _An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad_ (1730). Introduction by Thomas B. Gilmore. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Next in the series of special publications by the Society will be a volume including Elkanah Settle's _The Empress of Morocco_ (1673) with five plates; _Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco_ (1674) by John Dryden, John Crowne and Thomas Shadwell; _Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco Revised_ (1674) by Elkanah Settle; and _The Empress of Morocco. A Farce_ (1674) by Thomas Duffet, with an Introduction by Maximillian E. Novak. Already published in this series are reprints of John Ogilby's _The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse_ (1668), with an Introduction by Earl Miner and John Gay's _Fables_ (1727, 1738), with an Introduction by Vinton A. Dearing. Publication is assisted by funds from the Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles. Price to members of the Society, $2.50 for the first copy and $3.25 for additional copies. Price to non-members, $4.00. 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