Quartos, octavos, shape the less'ning pyre;
A twisted Birth-day Ode completes the spire.
Then he Great Tamer of all human art!
First in my care, and ever at my heart;
Dulness! whose good old cause I yet defend, 165
With whom my Muse began, with whom shall end,
E'er since Sir Fopling's periwig was praise,
To the last honours of the Butt and Bays:

REMARKS.

so many books, that a man would think he had done nothing else ; insomuch that he might be called Translator general of his age. The books alone of his turning into English are sufficient to make a Country Gentleman a complete Library.-WINSTANLY. P.

Ver. 167. E'er since Sir Fopling's periwig] The first visible cause of the passion of the Town for our Hero, was a fair flaxen full-bottomed periwig, which, he tells us, he wore in his first play of the Fool in Fashion. It attracted, in a particular manner, the friendship of Col. Brett, who wanted to purchase it. "Whatever contempt (says he) philosophers may have for a fine periwig, my friend, who was not to despise the world, but to live in it, knew very well that so material an article of dress upon the head of a man of sense, if it became him, could never fail of drawing to him a more partial regard and benevolence, than could possibly be hoped for in an ill-made one. This, perhaps, may soften the grave censure, which so youthful a purchase might otherwise have laid

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 162. A twisted, &c.] In the former Edd.

And last a little Ajax tips the Spire.

W.

Var. a little Ajax] In duodecimo, translated from Sophocles by Tibbald.

IMITATIONS.

P.

Ver. 166. With whom my Muse began, with whom shall end,] "A te principium, tibi desinet.-"

Virg. Ecl. viii.

“ Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, και εἰς Δία λήγελε, Μᾶσαι.” Theoc. "Prima dicte mihi, summa dicende Camoena." Hor. P.

O thou! of bus'ness the directing soul!

To this our head like bias to the bowl,

170

Which, as more pond'rous, made its aim more

true,

Obliquely waddling to the mark in view :

O! ever gracious to perplex'd mankind,

Still spread a healing mist before the mind;

And, lest we err by wit's wild dancing light, 175 Secure us kindly in our native night.

Or, if to wit a coxcomb make pretence,

Guard the sure barrier between that and sense;

REMARKS.

laid upon him. In a word, he made his attack upon this periwig, as your young fellows generally do upon a lady of pleasure, first by a few familiar praises of her person, and then a civil inquiry into the price of it; and we finished our bargain that night over a bottle." See Life, octavo, p. 303. This remarkable periwig usually made its entrance upon the stage in a sedan, brought in by two chairmen, with infinite approbation of the audience. P.t Ver. 170. To this our head like bias to the bowl,

Which, as more pond'rous, made its aim more true,
Obliquely waddling to the mark in view.]

An improvement on Dryden's Mac-Flecknoe:
"This is that boasted bias of the mind;
By which, one way, to Dulness 'tis inclin'd;
Which makes thy writings lean on one side still,
And, in all changes, that way bends thy will."

VARIATIONS.

Wakefield.

Ver. 177. Or, if to wit, &c.] In the former Edd.
Ah! still o'er Britain stretch that peaceful wand,
Which lulls th' Helvetian and Batavian land ;
Where rebel to thy throne if Science rise,
She does but shew her coward face and dies:
There thy good Scholiasts, with unwearied pains,
Make Horace flat, and humble Maro's strains :

Or quite unravel all the reas'ning thread,

And hang some curious cobweb in its stead! 180
As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly,
And pond'rous slugs cut swiftly thro' the sky;

REMARKS.

Ver. 181. As forc'd from wind-guns, &c.] The thought of these four verses is found in a poem of our author's of a very early date (namely, written at fourteen years old, and soon after printed) to the author of a poem

called Successio.

VARIATIONS.

Here studious I unlucky moderns save,
Nor sleeps one error in its father's grave;
Old puns restore, lost blunders nicely seek,
And crucify poor Shakespear once a week;
For thee supplying, in the worst of days,
Notes to dull books, and prologues to dull plays.
Not that my quill to critics was confin'd,
My verse gave ampler lessons to mankind :
So gravest precepts may successless prove,
But sad examples never fail to move.
As, forc'd from wind-guns, &c.

W.t

W.

These lines appear to be better than those in the present text. Warton.

Var. And crucify poor Shakespear once a week.] For some time, once a week or fortnight, he printed in Mist's Journal a single remark or poor conjecture on some word or pointing of Shakespear, either in his own name, or in letters to himself as from others, without name. Upon these somebody made this Epigram:

"'Tis gen'rous, Tibbald! in thee and thy brothers,
To help us thus to read the works of others:
Never for this can just returns be shown;

For who will help us e'er to read thy own?"

P.

Var. Notes to dull books, and prologues to dull plays;] As to Cook's Hesiod, where sometimes a note, and sometimes even half a note are carefully owned by him: and to Moore's Comedy of the Rival Modes, and other authors of the same rank. These were people who writ about the year 1726.

P.

185

As clocks to weight their nimble motion owe,
The wheels above urg'd by the load below,
Me, Emptiness, and Dulness could inspire,
And were my Elasticity, and Fire.
Some Demon stole my pen (forgive th' offence)
And once betray'd me into common sense:
Else all my prose and verse were much the same;
This, prose on stilts; that, poetry fall'n lame. 190
Did on the stage my Fops appear confin'd?
My Life gave ampler lessons to mankind.

REMARKS.

Ver. 185. Me, Emptiness,] This first speech of the Hero is full of an impropriety that one could hardly believe our author could fall into; it being contrary to all decorum, character, and probability, that Bays should address the Goddess Dulness, without disguising or mistaking her, as a despicable being; and should even call himself fool and blockhead. It is in truth outrageously unnatural and absurd. And so also is another and even more glaring breach of truth and decorum in Book iv. v. 210, in making Aristarchus, that is, even the great and able Bentley, abuse himself, and laugh at his own labours. Bramstone has fallen into the same absurdity;

"A Footman I would be in outward shew,

In sense and education truly so!"

Man of Taste.
Warton.

The absurdity in this instance is not in Pope, but in his Commentator; who seems to have forgotten that the whole poem is ironical, that the merit of Dulness consists in stupidity, and that to qualify themselves for her favour, her votaries must be fools and blockheads.

Ver. 188. And once betray'd me into common sense.] Alluding, I presume, to the same performance, which he has so handsomely commended in his Imitations, Epist. ii. 1. 92.

"To Gammer Gurton if it gives the bays,
And yet deny the Careless Husband praise."

Wakefield.

Did the dead letter unsuccessful prove?
The brisk example never fail'd to move.

Yet sure, had Heav'n decreed to save the State,
Heav'n had decreed these works a longer date :
Could Troy be sav'd by any single hand,

This
grey-goose weapon must have made her stand.
What can I now ? my Fletcher cast aside,
Take up the Bible, once my better guide?

REMARKS.

200

Ver. 198. Grey-goose weapon] Alluding to the old English weapon, the arrow of the long bow, which was fletched with the feathers of the grey-goose.

w.t

Ver. 199. my Fletcher] A familiar manner of speaking, used by modern critics, of a favourite author. Bays might as justly speak thus of Fletcher, as a French wit did of Tully, seeing his works in a library, "Ah! mon cher Ciceron! je le connois bien; c'est le même que Marc Tulle." But he had a better title to call Fletcher his own, having made so free with him.

P.

Ver. 199, my Fletcher] In the early editions My Flaccus, to whom the above note was originally applied.

Ver. 200. Take up the Bible, once my better guide?] When, according to his Father's intention, he had been a Clergyman, or (as he thinks himself) a Bishop of the Church of England. Hear

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 195. Yet sure, had Heav'n, &c.] In the former Edd.
Had Heav'n decreed such works a longer date,

Heav'n had decreed to spare the Grubstreet-state.
But see great Settle to the dust descend,

And all thy cause and empire at an end!
Could Troy be sav'd, &c.—

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 195. had Heav'n decreed, &c.]

"Me si cœlicolæ voluissent ducere vitam,

Has mihi servâssent sedes."

w.t

his

Virg. Æneid. ii. P.

Ver. 197, 198. Could Troy be sav'd-This grey-goose weapon]

"Si Pergama dextrâ

Defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent." Virg. ibid. P.