-ultima semper Expectanda dies homini: dicique beatus 'Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet: That no man could be called happy till his death, surely much less can any one, till then, ⚫ be pronounced a hero; this species of men being far more subject than others to the caprices of • Fortune and Humor.' But to this also we have an answer, that will (we hope) be deemed decisive. It cometh from himself, who, to cut this matter short, hath solemnly protested that he will never change or amend, With regard to his Vanity, he declareth that nothing shall ever part them. • Nature (saith he) hath amply supplied me in vanity; a pleasure which neither the pertness of wit, nor the gravity of wisdom, will ever persuade me to part with *. Our Poet had charitably endeavored to administer a cure to it; but he telleth us plainly, 'My superiors, perhaps, may be mended by him; but, for · my part, I own myself incorrigible. I look upon my follies as the best part of my fortune t.' And with good reason; we see to what they have brought him! 6 Secondly, as to Buffoonery, Is it (saith he) a time of day for me to leave off these fooleries, and set up a new character? I can no more 'put off my follies than my skin: I have often tried, but they stick too close to me; nor am I C. Cibber's Life, p. 424. + Ib. p. 19. ⚫ sure my friends are displeased with them, for in ⚫ this light I afford them frequent matter of mirth,' &c. &c. *. Having then so publicly declared himself incorrigible he is become dead in law, (I mean the law Epopacian and devolveth upon the Poet, is now his property; and may be taken and dealt with like an old Egyptian hero, that is to say, emboweled and embalmed for posterity. Nothing therefore (we conceive) remaineth to hinder his own prophecy of himself from taking immediate effect. A rare felicity! and what few prophets have had the satisfaction to see alive! Nor can we conclude better than with that extraordinary one of his, which he conceived in these oraculous words, My Dullness will find somebody • to do it right .' "Tandem Phœbus adest, morsusque inferre parentem Cibber's Life, p. 17. 1b. p. 243, octavo edit. BY AUTHORITY. By virtue of the Authority in Us vested, by the Act * for subjecting Poets to the power of a Licenser, We have revised this Piece; where, finding the style and appellation of KING to have been given to a certain Pretender, Psuedo-Poet, or Phantom of the name of TIBBALD; and apprehending the same may be deemed in some sort a reflection on Majesty, or, at least, an insult on that Legal Authority, which has bestowed on another Person the Crown of Poesy: We have ordered the said Pretender, Psuedo-Poet, or Phantom, utterly to vanish and evaporate out of this Work; and do declare the said Throne of Poesy from henceforth to be abdicated and vacant unless duly and lawfully supplyed by the LAUREATE himself. And it is hereby enacted, that no other person do presume to fill the same. A stroke of Satire against the act for licensing plays. TO DR. JONATHAN SWIFT. BOOK I. The Argument. The proposition, the invocation, and the inscription. Then the original of the great Empire of Dullness, and cause of the continuance thereof. The college of the Goddess in the city with her private academy for poets in particular; the gover nors of it, and the four cardinal virtues. Then the poem hastes in to the midst of things, presenting her, on the even ing of a Lord Mayor's day, revolving the long succession of her sons, and the glories past and to come. She fixes her eye on Bayes, to be the instrument of that great event which is the subject of the poem. He is described pensive among his books, giving up the cause, and apprehending the period of her empire. After debating whether to betake himself to the church, or to gaming, or to party writing, he raises an altar of proper books, and (making first his solemn prayer and declaration) purposes thereon to sacrifice all his unsuccessful writings. As the pile is kindled, the Goddess, beholding the flame from her seat, flies and puts it out, by casting upon it the poem of Thule. She forthwith reveals herself to him, transporis him to her Temple, unfolds her arts, and initiates him into her mysteries; then announcing the death of Eusden, the Poet Laureate, anoints him, carries him into court, and proclaims -him successor. THE mighty Mother, and her Son, who brings The Smithfield Muses to the ear of kings, REMARKS. The Dunciad.] It is an inconvenience to which writers of reputation are subject, that the justice of their resentment is not always rightly understood: for the calumnies of dull authors being soon forgotten, and those whom they aimed to injure not caring to recall to memory the particulars of false and scanda I sing. Say you, her instruments, the great; Call'd to this work by Dullness, Jove and Fate; REMARKS. lous abuse, their necessary correction is suspected of severity unprovoked. But in this case it would be but candid to esti mate the chastisement on the general character of the offender, compared with that of the person injured. Let this serve with the candid reader in justification of the Poet, and, on occasion, of the Editor. This Poem was written in the year 1736. In the next year an imperfect edition was published at Dublin, and re-printed at London in twelves; another at Dublin, and another at London in octavo; and three others in twelves the same year: but there was no perfect edition before that of London in quarto, which was attended with notes. We are willing to acquaint posterity, that this poem was presented to King George II. and his Queen, by the hands of Sir Robert Walpole, on the 12th of March, 1728-9. Schol. Vet. It was expressly confessed in the preface to the first edition, that this Poem was not published by the Author himself. It was printed originally in a foreign country. And what foreign coun try? Why, one notorious for blunders; where finding blanks only instead of proper names, these blunderers filled them up at their pleasure. The very Hero of the poem hath been mistaken to this hour; so that we are obliged to open our Notes with a discovery who he really was. We learn from the former editor, that this piece was presented by the hands of Sir Robert Walpole to King VARIATIONS. v. 1. The mighty Mother, &c.] In the first edition it was thus: Books and the man I sing, the first who brings The Smithfield Muses to the ear of kings. Say, great Patricians! since yourselves inspire These wond'rous works (so Jove and Fate require) Still IMITATIONS. Say, great Patricians ! since yourselves inspire -Dii coeptis (nam vos mutastis, et illas.) Ovid. Met. I, |