Lo! sneering Goode, half malice and half whim, Each cygnet sweet, of Bath and Tunbridge race, 155 REMARKS. High German Doctor. Edward Roome was son of an undertaker for funerals in Fleet-street, and wrote some of the papers called Pasquin, where by malicious inuendos he endeavoured to represent our author guilty of malevolent practices with a great man then under the prosecution of Parliament. On this man was made the following Epigram: "You ask why Roome diverts you with his jokes, Yet, if he writes, is dull as other folks; You wonder at it.-This, Sir, is the case; The jest is lost unless he prints his face." P. Is it surprising, shall I say, or mortifying, to see the pains and patience of our author and his friends who compiled these large notes, in tracing out the lives and works of such paltry and forgotten scribblers! It is like walking through the darkest alleys of the dirtiest part of St. Giles's. To pull out these literary Cacuses, incendia vana vomentes, from their dark dungeons and deep retreats, was a truly Herculean (though not very heroic) labour. These, in truth, were Avia Pieridum loca! Warton. Ver. 153. Goode,] An ill-natur'd critic, who wrote a satire on our author, called The mock Esop, and many anonymous libels in newspapers for hire. P. Ver. 155. Each cygnet sweet,] Borrowed from two lines of Young's Universal Passion, S. 6. "Is there a wit who chants the reigning lass, And sweetly whistles as the waters pass!' Warton. Ver. 156. Whose tuneful whistling] There were several successions of these sort of minor poets, at Tunbridge, Bath, &c. singing the praise of the Annuals flourishing for that season; whose names indeed would be nameless, and therefore the poet slurs them over with others, in general. P.t Ver. 157. ev'ry nameless name,] Personal satire, on objects so obscure Some strain in rhyme; the Muses, on their racks, Scream like the winding of ten thousand jacks: Some, free from rhyme or reason, rule or check, Break Priscian's head, and Pegasus's neck: Down, down they larum, with impetuous whirl, The Pindars, and the Miltons of a Curl. 66 Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, 165 And makes Night hideous! Answer him, ye owls! REMARKS. obscure, is unavoidably attended with the inconvenience of accompanying it with large notes and explanations, which, though tedious, are necessary; and without which it would be unintelligible. Brossette has been forced to use this method in his many notes on the Lutrin, and on the Satires of Boileau. Warton. Ver. 165. Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls,] A. Phillips, in his Letters from Copenhagen: "The starving wolves along the main sea prowl, And to the moon in icy valleys howl." Wakefield. Ver. 165. Ralph] James Ralph, a name inserted after the first editions, not known to our author till he writ a swearingpiece called Sawney, very abusive of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and Ver. 157. Each songster, riddler, &c.] In the former Edd. Lo! Bond and Foxton, ev'ry nameless name. Two inoffensive offenders against our poet; persons unknown, but by being mentioned by Curl. P. After ver. 158, in the first Edit. followed, How proud, how pale, how earnest all appear! How rhymes eternal jingle in their ear! w.t Lo! sneering Goode, half malice and half whim, Each cygnet sweet, of Bath and Tunbridge race, 155 REMARKS. High German Doctor. Edward Roome was son of an undertaker for funerals in Fleet-street, and wrote some of the papers called Pasquin, where by malicious inuendos he endeavoured to represent our author guilty of malevolent practices with a great man then under the prosecution of Parliament. On this man was made the following Epigram: "You ask why Roome diverts you with his jokes, Yet, if he writes, is dull as other folks; You wonder at it.-This, Sir, is the case; The jest is lost unless he prints his face." P. Is it surprising, shall I say, or mortifying, to see the pains and patience of our author and his friends who compiled these large notes, in tracing out the lives and works of such paltry and forgotten scribblers! It is like walking through the darkest alleys of the dirtiest part of St. Giles's. To pull out these literary Cacuses, incendia vana vomentes, from their dark dungeons and deep retreats, was a truly Herculean (though not very heroic) labour. These, in truth, were Avia Pieridum loca! Warton. Ver. 153. Goode,] An ill-natur'd critic, who wrote a satire on our author, called The mock Esop, and many anonymous libels in newspapers for hire. P. Ver. 155. Each cygnet sweet,] Borrowed from two lines of Young's Universal Passion, S. 6. "Is there a wit who chants the reigning lass, And sweetly whistles as the waters pass!" Warton. Ver. 156. Whose tuneful whistling] There were several successions of these sort of minor poets, at Tunbridge, Bath, &c. singing the praise of the Annuals flourishing for that season; whose names indeed would be nameless, and therefore the poet slurs them over with others, in general. P.t Ver. 157. ev'ry nameless name,] Personal satire, on objects so obscure Some strain in rhyme; the Muses, on their racks, Scream like the winding of ten thousand jacks: Some, free from rhyme or reason, rule or check, Break Priscian's head, and Pegasus's neck: Down, down they larum, with impetuous whirl, The Pindars, and the Miltons of a Curl. 66 Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, 165 And makes Night hideous! Answer him, ye owls! REMARKS. obscure, is unavoidably attended with the inconvenience of accompanying it with large notes and explanations, which, though tedious, are necessary; and without which it would be unintelligible. Brossette has been forced to use this method in his many notes on the Lutrin, and on the Satires of Boileau. Warton. Ver. 165. Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls,] A. Phillips, in his Letters from Copenhagen: "The starving wolves along the main sea prowl, And to the moon in icy valleys howl." Wakefield. Ver. 165. Ralph] James Ralph, a name inserted after the first editions, not known to our author till he writ a swearingpiece called Sawney, very abusive of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and Ver. 157. Each songster, riddler, &c.] In the former Edd. Lo! Bond and Foxton, ev'ry nameless name. Two inoffensive offenders against our poet; persons unknown, but by being mentioned by Curl. P. After ver. 158, in the first Edit. followed, How proud, how pale, how earnest all appear! How rhymes eternal jingle in their ear! W.t 66 Sense, speech, and measure, living tongues, and dead, Let all give way-and Morris may be read. REMARKS. himself. These lines allude to a thing of his, intitled, Night, a Poem. This low writer attended his own works with panegyrics in the Journals, and once in particular praised himself highly above Mr. Addison, in wretched remarks upon that author's account of English Poets, printed in a London Journal, Sept. 1728. He was wholly illiterate, and knew no language, not even French. Being advised to read the rules of dramatic poetry before he began a play, he smiled and replied, "Shakespear writ without rules." P. He ended at last in the common sink of all such writers, a political newspaper, to which he was recommended by his friend Arnall, and received a small pittance for pay; and being detected in writing on both sides on one and the same day, he publicly justified the morality of his conduct. P.t He was afterwards patronized by Lord Melcombe (Bubb Doddington) who assisted him in compiling a very curious History of England, from the Restoration to the Revolution, and is frequently mentioned in Lord Melcombe's Diary. Warton. Ver. 169. Flow, Welsted, &c.] Of this author see the Remark on VARIATIONS. Ver. 168.] In the first editions it stood: Let all give way-and Durgen may be read. Ver. 168.] Durgen. A ridiculous thing of Ward's. IMITATIONS. P. Ver. 169. Flow, Welsted, flow! &c.] Parody on Denham, Cooper's Hill: "O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme: Tho' deep, yet clear; tho' gentle, yet not dull; Strong without rage; without o'erflowing, full!". P. |