The Dunciad : with Notes Variorum, and the Prolegomena of Scriblerus
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ii«-^ - ,..imgfMu.£Ji>,jtH- '»ismmwK . V : .»3*i«UMir»i*'. flwu^WMwrawaawo, W' 'iff** ^A 'tUc^. .*%r • '* - r^.> •.I' tt , .* .td^-y ^\i •r, M/ 'f^.'!*'*^ \Vyr, ^' >:>.«^ .*^ H«| |>V l».V ^^iit. •o 'y. ^W,V.-V. /v. / ,r=r. ,'t»'r "*r.^ t :?^ f<-T^-*'i ^^' *V;*Oj y^-* )>yi»;,..a^i|niitsa^fc wn i. .iBequest of IRev, lb. C. Scabbing, 2).2). to tbe Xibrari2 ot tbe 'Ulniverait? of Toronto 1901 DEQUES/ ^f REV. CANON SCADDIMG. 0. D \ TORONTO. WGJ. ,Cmd i V . C , • > V M o w H O o en THE DUNCIAD. With Notes VARIORUM, AND THE PROLEGOMENA O F SCRIBLERUS. 6 >JU-r LONDON: Printed for Lawton Gilliver at Homer's Head, againft St. Dunjian's Church, Fleetjireet, 1729. i(mm^>im< PIECES contained in this BOOK* HE Publisher's Advertisement. A Letter to the Publi/her, occafioned by the prcfent Edition of the D u n c i a d. The Prolegomena of Martikus Scrib- tERUS. Testimonies of Authors concerning our Poet and his Works. A Dissertation of the Poem. DuNciADOs Periocha: Or, Arguments to the Books. The B U N C I A D, in three Books, Notes Variorum^ Being the Scholia of the learned M. Scriblerus and Others, with the Adverfaria of John Dennis, Lewis Thio- bald, Edmund Curl, the Journalists, Index of Persons celebrated in this Poem. Index of Things {including Authors) to be found in the Notes. Appendix. A 2 ADVERTISEMENT. will be fufficieni to fay of this Edition, thnt ihs ITreader has here a much more correSl and compleat £opy of the D u n c i a d, than has hitherto ap- feared : I cannot anfwer but fonie miflakes may have flipt into it, but a vafl number of others will be prevented^ by the Names being nozo not only fet at length, but fufli- fed by the authorities and reafons given. I make no doubt, the Author^s own motive to ufe real rather than feigrCd names, was his care to preferve the Innocentfrom any falfe Applications ; whereas in the former editions which had no ?norc than the Initial letters, he was made^ by Keys printed here, to hurt the inoffenfive ; and (what ttfas worfe) to abufe his friends, by an imprejjion at Publin. The Commentary which attends the Poem was fent me from feveral hands, and confequently mufi be unequally written ', yet will it have one advantage over mofl Com- mentaries, that it is not made upon conjectures, or at a remote difiance of time : and the reader cannot but derive ene pleafure from the very Obfcurity of the perjons it treats of, that it partakes of the nature of a Secret, .which mofl people love to be let into, thd' the Men or the Things be ever fo inconfiderable or trivial. Of the Perfons // was judged proper to give fome ac- count : for ftnce it is only in this monument that they mufi expe5l to furvive, (and here furvive they will, as Ung as the Englifh tongue fhall remain fuch as it was in the reigns of ^een Anne and King George^ 8 Advertisement. itfeeni'd but humanity to bejiow a word or two upon (achp juj} to tell what he wasy what he writy when h^ livdt or when he d^d. If a word or two more are added upon the chief Off^n^ ders t *tis only as as a paper pinrid upon the breaft^ /• mark the Enormities for which they fuffer^J ; lejl thi Corre^ion only Jhould be remember*di and the Critu forgotten. Jn fime Articlest it was thought fufficient barely t$ iranfcribe from Jacob, Curl, and other writers of their own ranky who were much better acquainted with them than any of the Authors of this Comment can pntend to be. Moji of them had drawn each otherh Chafaders on certain occafions j but the few here inferted, are all that could be favedfrom the general deflruRion offuxh Works. Of the part of Scriblerus / need fay tithing : his Manner is well enottgh known, and approt^d by all but ihofe who are too much concerrfd to be juidges. The Imitations of the Ancients are added, to gratify thofe who either never read, or may hg/ve forgotten themi together with fome of the Parodies^ and Allufions to the viojt excellent of the Moderns. If any man from tht frequency of the former, may think the Poem too much a Cento ; our Poet will but appear to have done the famt ihing in jejl^ which Boileau did in earneji ; and upc?i which Vida, Fracallorius, and many of the moji eninenf ^atin Poets profeffedly valued themfehes> J\ 9 LETTERA T O T H E PUBLISHER, Occafioned by the prcfent Edition, of the DUN CI AD. IT is with pleafure I hear that you have procured a corred: Copy of the Du N c I A D, which the many furrep- titioLis ones have rendered fo neceflliry -, and it is yet with more, that I am informed it will be attended with a Co mmentary : a work fo requifite, that I cannot think the Author himfelf would have omitted it, had he approv'd of thefirft appearance of this Poem, Such Notes as have occurr'd to me I herewith fend you : You will oblige me by inff rting them amongfl thole which are, or wi 11 be, tranfmitted to you by others 5 B f Q A L E^ r E R fincc not only the Author's friends, but even ftrangers, appear ingag'd by huma- nity to fome care of an orphan of fo much fpirit genius and ., which its parent feems tp have abandoned from the very beginning, and fufiered to flep into the world naked, unguarded, and unattended. It was upon reading fome of the abufive papers lately publifh'd, that my great re- gard to a perfon whofe frjendfhip I efteem as one of the chief honours pf my life, and a much greater refped to Truth than to hirn pr any man living, ingag'd me in Enquiries, pf which the incjps'd Notes are the fruit. I perceived, that moftof thefe authors had been (doubtlefs very wifely) the firft Ag- grefibiS. They had try-d till they were \ ^eary, )vhat v/as tp be got by railing at each other : no body was either concern^, or furpriz'dj if this or that fcribler was prpv'd a dunce \ but evqry one was curipus \q read \yhat could be faid to prove Mr. P Q p E one, and was ready to pay fpme« thing fpr (iich ^ difcovery : A flratagem, ii^hich wou'd they fairly own, might not pnly reconcile them to me, but fcreen theni from the refentment of their lawful fupe« to the Publisher. it rioVs, whom they daily abufe, only (as I charitably hope) to get that ^3; them, which" they cannot ^tt from them. I found this was not all : ill fuccefs in that had tranlported them to perfonal abufe, ei- ther of himfelf^' or (what I think he coulcf lefs forgive) of his friends. They had call'd men of virtue and honour Bad Men, loner- before he had either leifure or inclination to call them Bad Writers: and fome had been fuch old offenders, that he had quite forgotten their peffons, as well as fheir flan- ders, till they were pleas'd to revive them. Now what had Mr. Pope done before^- to incenfe them ? He had publifh'd thofe Works which are in the hands of every body,' m which not the leafl mention is made of arty of them. And what has he done fince f He has laugh'd arid written the Du nc i a d. What has that faid of them ? a very fe- fious truth which the publick had faid be- fore, that they were dull : And what it had no fobner faid^- but they themfelves were at great pains to procure or even purchaie room in the prints, to teftify under their hands to the truth of it. B 2 12 A L E fT ER I Ihould ftill have been filent, if either I had feen any inclination in my friend to be ferious with fuch accufers, or if they had only meddled with his writings : fince who- ever publifhes, puts himfelf on his tryal by his country. But when his Moral charader was attack'd, and in a manner from which neither truth nor virtue can fecure the mofl Innocent, in a mianner which though it annihilates the credit of the accufation with the juft and impartial, yet aggravates very much the guilt of the accufer, (I mean by authors without na^nes :) Then I thought, fince the danger was common to all, the concern ought to be fo ; and that it was an adl of jullice to detedl the Au- thors, not only on this account, but as many of them are the fame who for fe- veral years paft, have made free with the greateft names in Church and State, ex- pos'd to the world the private misfor- tunes of Families, abus'd all even to Wo- men, and whofe proftituted papers (for one or other party in the unhappy divi- fions of their Country) have infulted the Fallen, the Friendlefs, the Exil'd, and the Dead. to the Publisher. 'tj Befides this, which I take to be a pub- lick concern, I have already confels'd I had a private one. I am one of that num- ber who have long lov'd and efleem'd Mr.