Then gnaw'd his pen, then dash'd it on the ground, The rest on outside merit but presume, That slipp'd through crags and zig-zags of the head; There, stamp'd with arms, Newcastle shines com All that on Folly Frenzy could beget, In pleasing memory of all he stole, How here he sipp'd, how there he plunder'd of epic poem to represent such hero under a calamity, to which the greatest not only of critics and poets, but of kings and warriors, have been subject. But much more refined, I will venture to say, is the meaning of our anthor: it was to give us obliquely a curious precept, or what Bossu calls a disguised sentence, that " Temperance is the life of study." The language of poesy brings all into action; and to represent a critic encompassed with books but without a supper, is a picture which lively expresseth how much the true critic prefers the diet of the mind to that of the body, one of which he always castigates, and often totally neglects, for the greater improvement of the other.Scribl. But since the discovery of the true hero of the poem, may we not add, that nothing was so natural, after so great a loss of money at dice, or of reputation by his play, as that the poet should have no great stomach to eat a supper? Besides, how well has the poet consulted his heroic character, in adding that he swore all the time — Bentl. Ver. 131. poor Fletcher's half-eat scenes,] A great number of them taken out to patch up his plays. " Ver. 132. The frippery] "When I fitted up an old play, it was as a good housewife will mend old linen, when she has not better employment." -Life, p. 217, octavo. Ver. 133. hapless Shakespeare, &c.] It is not to be doubted but Bays was a subscriber to Tibbald's Shakespeare. He was frequently liberal in this way; and, as he tells us, "subscribed to Mr. Pope's Homer, out of pure generosity and civility; but when Mr. Pope did so to his Nonjuror, he concluded it could be nothing but a joke."-Letter to Mr. P. p. 24. This Tibbald, or Theobald, published an edi tion of Shakespeare, of which he was so proud him. self as to say, in one of Mist's Journals, June 8, "That to expose any errours in it was impracticable." And in another, April 27, "That whatever care might for the future be taken by any other editor, he would still give above five hundred emendations, that shall escape them all." Ver. 134. Wish'd he had blotted] It was a ridiculous praise which the players gave to Shakespeare, "that he never blotted a line." Ben Jonson honestly wished he had blotted a thousand; and Shakespeare would certainly have wished the same, if he had lived to see those alterations in his works, which, not the actors only (and especially the daring hero of this cm) have made on the stage, but the presumptuous critics of our days in their editions. Ver. 135. The rest on outside merit, &c.] This library is divided into three parts: The first consists of those authors from whom he stole, and whose works he mangled; the second of such as fitted the shelves, or were gilded for show, or adorned with pictures: the third class our author calls solid learning, old bodies of divinity, old commentaries, old English printers, or old Eng lish translations: all very voluminous, and fit to erect altars to Dulness. Ver. 141. Ogilby the great;] "John Ogilby was one, who from a late initiation into literature, made such a progress as might well style him the prodigy of his time! sending into the world so many large volumes! His translations of Homer and Virgil done to the life, and with such excellent sculptures: And (what added great grace to his works) he printed them all on special good Lives of Poets. paper, and in a very good letter."-Winstanly, Ver. 142. There, stamp'd with arms, Newcastle shines complete:] "The dutchess of Newcastle lights of poetry; leaving to posterity in print was one who busied herself in the ravishing de three ample volumes of her studious endeavours." Winstanly, ibid. Langbane reckons up eight folios of her grace's: which were usually adorned with gilded covers, and had her coat of arms upon them. VARIATIONS. Ver 145. in the first edit. it was A Gothic vatican! of Greece and Romne Well purg'd, and worthy W-y, W— and [BI-. And in the following altered to Withers, Quarles, and Blome, on which was the following note. It was printed in the surreptitious editions, Wly, WS, who were persons eminent But, high above, more solid learning shone, VARIATIONS. for good life; the one writ the Life of Christ in verse, the other some valuable pieces in the lyric kind on pious subjects. The line is here restored according to its original. [160 De Lyra there a dreadful front extends, George Withers was a great pretender to for their cuts. REMARKS. Ver. 146. worthy Settle, Banks and Broome.] The poet has mentioned these three authors in particular, as they are parallel to our hero in his three capacities; 1. Settle was his brother laureate; only indeed upon half-pay, for the city instead of the court; but equally famous for unintelligible flights in his poems on public occasions, such as shows, birth-days, &c. 2. Banks was his rival in tragedy (though more successful) in one of his tragedies, the Earl of Essex, which is yet alive: Anna Boleyn, the Queen of Scots, and Cyrus the Great, are dead and gone. These he drest in a sort of beggar's velvet, or a happy mixture of the thick fustian and thin prosaic; exactly imitated in Perolla and Isidora, Cæsar in Egypt, and the Heroic Daughter. 3. Broome was a serving-man of Ben Jonson, who once picked up a comedy from his betters, or from some cast scenes of his master, not entirely contemptible. Ver. 147. more solid learning] Some have objected, that books of this sort suit not so well the library of our Bays, which they imagined consisted of novels, plays, and obscene books; but they are to consider, that he furnished his shelves only for ornament, and read these books no more than the dry bodies of divinity, which, no doubt, were purchased by his father when he designed him for the gown. Sec the note on ver. 200. Ver. 149. Caxton] A printer in the time of Edw. IV. Rich. III. and Hen. VII.; Wynkyn de Word, his successor, in that of Hen. VII. and VIII. The former translated into prose Virgil's Eneis, as a history; of which he speaks, in his proeme, in a very singular manner, as of a book hardly known. Tibbald quotes a rare passage from him in Mist's Journal of March 16, 1728, concerning a straunge and marvayllouse beaste called Sagittarye, which he would have Shakespeare to mean rather than Teucer, the archer celebrated by Homer. VARIATION. Ver. 152. Old bodies of philosophy appear. Still spread a healing mist before the mind; VARIATIONS. 170 Ver, 162. A twisted, &c.] In the former edit. from Sophocles by Tibbald. Ver. 167, 168. Not in the first editions. REMARKS. voluminous commentator, whose works in five Ver. 153. Nich. de Lyra, or Harpsfield, a very vast folios, were printed in 1472. Ver. 154. Philemon Holland, doctor in physic. "He translated 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 compleat library."-Winstanly. 66 ་་ 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-bottom'd periwig, which, he tells us, he wore in his first play of the Fool in Fashion. It attracted, in a particnlar manner, the friendship of Col. Brett, who wanted to purchase it. Whatever contempt" (says he) friend, who was not to despise the world but live philosophers may have for a fine periwig, my in it, knew very well that so material an article became him, could never fail of drawing to him of dress upon the head of a man of sense, if it 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 upon him. In a word, he made his attack upon this periwig, as your young fellows generally do upon á lady of pleasure, first by a few familiar praises of her person, and then a civil inquiry that night over a bottle." into the price of it; and we finished our bargain 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. And, lest we err by wit's wild dancing light, VARIATIONS. As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly, Ver. 177. Or, if to wit, &c.] In the former edit. Some demon stole my pen (forgive th' offence) REMARKS. 200 Ver. 181. As, fore'd from wind-guns, &c.] The thought of these four verses is founded 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. 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 greygoose. author. Bays might as justly speak this of VARIATIONS. Ver. 195. Yet sure had Heaven &c.] In the former edit. Var. Nor sleeps one error-Old puns restore, Ver. 199. my Fletcher] A familiar manner of lost blunders, &c.] As where he [Tibbald la-speaking, used by modern critics, of a favourite boured to prove Shakespeare guilty of terrible anachronisms, or low conundrums, which time had covered; and conversant in such authors as Caxton and Wynkyn, rather than in Homer or Chaucer. Nay, so far had he lost his reverence to this incomparable author, as to say in print "He deserved to be whipt." An insolence which nothing sure can parallel! but that of Dennis, who can be proved to have declared before company, that Shakespeare was a rascal. O tempora! O mores! Var. And crucify poor Shakespeare 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 Shakespeare, either in his own name, or in letters to himself, as from others, without name. Upon these somebody made this epigram: 'Tis generous, Tibbald ! in thee and thy brothers, To help us thus to read the works of others: 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. REMARKS. Ver. 178, 179. Guard the sure barrier-Or quite unravel, &c.] For wit or reasoning are never greatly hurtful to dulness, but when the first is founded in truth, and the other in usefulness. Had Heaven deereed such works a longer date, Instead of ver. 200-246. in the former editions. Or ship'd with Ward to Ape-and-monkey lands, IMITATION. Ver. 197, 198. Could Troy be sav'd-This greygoose weapon] Si Pergama dextra Or tread the path by venturous heroes trod, REMARKS. 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. 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 his own words: "At the time that the fate of king James, the prince of Orange, and myself, were on the anvil, Providence thought fit to postpone mine, till theirs were determined: but had my father carried me a month sooner to the university, who knows but that purer fountain might have washed my imperfections into a capacity of writing, instead of plays and annual odes, sermons, and pastoral letters ?" Apology for his Life, chap. iii. Ver 203. at White's amidst the doctors] These doctors had a modest and upright appearance, no air of over-bearing; but, like true masters of arts, were only habited in black and white: They were justly styled subtiles and graves, but not always irrefragabiles, being sometimes examined, and, by a nice distinction, divided and laid open. Scribl This learned critic is to be understood allegorically. The doctors in this place mean no more than false dice, a cant phrase used among gamesters. So the meaning of these four sonorous lines is only this, "Shall I play fair or foul ?” Ver. 208. Ridpath-Mist.] George Ridpath, author of a Whig paper, called the Flying-post; Nathaniel Mist, of a famous Tory journal. Ver. 211. Or rob Rome's ancient geese of all their glories,] Relates to the well-known story of geese that sav'd the Capitol; of which Virgil, En. viii. the Atque hic auratis volitans argenteus anser Porticibus, Galios in limine adesse canebat. A passage I have always suspected. Who sees not the antithesis of auratis and argenteus to be unworthy the Virgilian majesty? And what absurdity to say a goose sings? canebat. Virgil gives a contrary character of the voice of this silly bird, in Ecl. ix. argutos inter strepere anser olores. Read it, therefore, adesse strepebat. And why Hold-to the minister I more incline; To serve his cause, O queen! is serving thine. And to say that walls have ears is common even to a proverb.-Scribl. Ver. 212. And cackling save the monarchy of Tories? Not out of any preference or affection to the Tories. For what Hobbes so ingenuously confesses of himself, is true of all ministerial writers whatsoever: "That he defends the supreme powers, as the geese by their cackling de fended the Romans, who held the Capitol; for they favoured them no more than the Ganls, their enemies, but were as ready to have defended the Gauls, if they had been possessed of the Capitol."-Epist. Dedic. to the Leviathan. Ver. 215. Gazetteers] A band of ministerial writers, hired at the price mentioned in the note on book ii. ver. 316. who, on the very day their patron quitted his post, laid down their paper, and declared they would never more meddle in politics. Ver. 218. Cibberian forehead] So indeed all the MSS. read, but I make no scruple to pronounce them all wrong, the Laureate being eisewhere celebrated by our poet for his great modesty modest Cibber-Read, therefore, at my peril, Cerberian forehead. This is perfectly classical, and, what is more, Homerical; the dog was the ancient, as the bitch is the modern, symbol of impudence: (Κυνὸς ὄμματ ̓ ἔχων, says Achilles to Agamemnon) which, when in a superlative degree, may well be denominated from Cerberus, the dog with three heads.-But as to the latter part of this verse, Cibberian brain, that is certainly the genuine reading —Bentl Ver. 225. O born in sin, &c.] This is a tender and passionate apostrophe to his own works, which he is going to sacrifice, agreeable to the nature of man in great affliction; and reflecting like a parent on the many miserable fates to which Ver. 202. This box my thunder, this right hand they would otherwise be subject. my god.] IMITATIONS. Dextra mihi Deus, & telum quod missile Virgil of the Gods of Mezentius. Ver. 228. My better and more Christian prolibro.geny!]" It may be observable, that my muse and my spouse were equally prolific; that the one Unstain'd, untouch'd, and yet in maiden sheets; | REMARKS. 240 [born. 250 I was seldom the mother of a child, but in the same year the other made me the father of a play. think we had a dozen of each sort between us; of both which kinds some died in their infancy," &c. Life of C. C. p. 217. 8vo edit. Ver. 231. gratis-given Bland,-Sent with a pass,] It was a practice so to give the Daily Gazetteer and ministerial pamphlets (in which this B. was a writer) and to send them post free to all the towns in the kingdom. Ver. 233 with Ward, to ape and monkey climes,]"Edward Ward, a very voluminous poet in Hudibrastic verse, but best known by the London Spy, in prose. He has of late years kept a public house in the city (but in a genteel way), and with his wit, humour, and good liquor (ale), afforded his guests a pleasurable entertainment, especially those of the high church party." Jacob, Lives of Poets, vol. ii. p. 225. Great number of his works were yearly sold into the Plantations.Ward, in a book called Apollo's Maggot, declared this account to be a great falsity, protesting that his public house was not in the city, but in Moorfields. Ver. 238, 240. Tate-Shadwell] Two of his predecessors in the laurel. VARIATIONS. Ver. 250. Now flames the Cid, &c.] In the former Ed. Now flames old Memnon, now Rodrigo burns, Var. Now flames old Memnon, now Rodrigo burns, In one quick flash see Proserpine expire,] Memnon, a hero in the Persian Princess, very apt to take fire, as appears by thse lines, with which he begins the play, By heaven it fires my frozen blood with rage, And makes it scald my aged trunk.Rodrigo, the chief personage of the Perfidious Brother (a play written between Theobald and a watch-maker). The Rape of Proserpine, one of Great Cæsar roars, and hisses in the fires; VARIATIONS. the farces of this author, in which Ceres setting fire to a corn-field, endangered the burning of the play-house. Var And last, his own cold Eschylus took fire.] He had been (to use an expression of our poet) about Eschylus for ten years, and had received subscriptions for the same, but then went about other books. The character of this tragic poet is fire and boldness in a high degree, but our author supposes it very much cooled by the translation: upon sight of a specimen of which was made this epigram, Alas! poor Eschylus unlucky dog! Whom once a lobster kill'd, and now a log. But this is a grievous errour, for Eschylus was not slain by the fall of a lobster on his head, but of a tortoise, teste Val. Max. 1. ix. cap. xii Scribl. After ver. 268. in the former edit. followed these two lines, Raptur'd, he gazes round the dear retreat, And in sweet numbers celebrates the seat. Var. And in sweet numbers celebrates the seat.] Tibbald writ a poem called the Cave of Poverty, which concludes with a very extraordinary wish, "That some great genius, or man of distinguished merit, may be starved, in order to celebrate her power, and describe her cave." It was printed in octavo, 1715. REMARKS. Ver. 250. Now flames the Cid, &c.] In the first notes on the Dunciad it was said, that this author was particularly excellent at tragedy. "This" (says he)" is as unjust as to say I could not dance on a rope." But certain it is that he had attempted to dance on this rope, and fell most shamefully, having produced no less than four tragedies (the names of which the poet preserves in these few lines), the three first of them were fairly printed, acted, and damned; the fourth suppressed in fear of the like treatment. Ver. 253. the dear Nonjuror-Moliere's old stubble] A comedy threshed out of Moliere's Tartuffe, and so much the translator's favourite, that he assures us all our author's dislike to it could only arise from disaffection to the government. He assures us, that "when he had the honour to kiss his majesty's hand upon presenting his |