Great Cæfar roars, and hiffes in the fires; VARIATIONS. Then gufh'd the Tears, as from the Trojan's eyes Var. Now flames old Memnon, now Rodrigo burns, Memnon, a hero in the Perfian Princefs, very apt to take fire, as appears by these lines, with which he begins the play, "By heav'n it fires my frozen blood with rage, "And makes it fcald my aged trunk." Rodrigo, the chief personage of the Perfidious Brother (a play written between Tibbald and a Watch-maker.) The Rape of Proferpine, one of the Farces of this Author, in which Ceres fetting fire to a corn-field, endangered the burning of the Play-house. Var. And last, his own cold Efchylus took fire.] He had been (to use an expreffion of our Poet) about fchylus for ten years, and had received fubfcriptions for the fame, but then went about other books. The character of this tragic Poet is Fire and Boldness in a high degree, but our author fuppofes it very much cooled by the tranflation: upon fight of a fpecimen of which was made this Epigram, "Alas! poor Efchylus! unlucky Dog! "Whom once a Lobfter kill'd, and now a Log." But this is a grievous error, for Æfchylus was not flain by the fall of a Lobster on his head, but of a Tortoife, tefte Val. Max. 1. ix. cap. 12. SCRIBL. REMARK S. VER. 253. the dear Nonjuror-Moliere's old stubble] A Comedy threshed out of Moliere's Tartuffe, and fo much the Tears gufh'd again, as from pale Priam's eyes, 255 When the last blaze fent Ilion to the fkies. REMARK S. Tranflator's favourite, that he affures us all our author's diflike to it could only arife from difaffection to the Govern ment: Qui meprise Cotin, n'eftime point fon Roi, "Et n'a, felon Cotin, ni Dieu, ni foi, ni loi. BOIL He affures us, that "when he had the honour to kiss his "Majesty's hand upon prefenting his dedication of it, he "was graciously pleased, out of his Royal bounty, to order "him two hundred pounds for it. And this he doubts not "griev'd Mr. P." VER. 256. When the laft blaze fent Ilion to the skies.] See Virgil, En. ii. where I would advise the reader to perufe the ftory of Troy's deftruction, rather than in Wynkyn. But I caution him alike in both to beware of a moft grievous error, that of thinking it was brought about by I know not what Trojan Horfe: there having never been any fuch thing. For, firft, it was not Trojan, being made by the Greeks; and, fecondly, it was not a horse, but a mare. This is clear from many verfes in Virgil: Uterumque armato milite complent. "Inclufos utero Danaos" Can a horse be faid Utero gerere? Again, "Uteroque recuffo, "Infonuere cavæ Atque utero fonitum quater arma dedere." Nay, is it not exprefly faid "Scandit fatalis machina muros "Foeta armis" How is it poffible the word fata can agree with a horse? And indeed can it be conceived that the chafte and virgin Goddess Rowz'd by the light, old Dulness heav'd the head, Then fnatch'd a sheet of Thulè from her bed; Sudden she flies, and whelms it o'er the pyre; Down fink the flames, and with a hifs expire. 260 Her ample presence fills up all the place; A veil of fogs dilates her awful face : Great in her charms! as when on Shrieves and May'rs She looks, and breathes herself into their airs. REMARK S. Pallas would employ herself in forming and fashioning the VER. 258. Thule] An unfinished poem of that name, of which one sheet was printed many years ago, by Ambrofe Philips, a northern author. It is an ufual method of putting out a fire, to caft wet sheets upon it. Some critics have been of opinion that this fheet was of the nature of the Asbestos, which cannot be confumed by fire: But I rather think it an allegorical allufion to the coldness and heaviness of the writing. VER. 265. facred Dome:] Where he no fooner enters, but he reconnoitres the place of his original; as Plato fays the fpirits fhall, at their entrance into the celeftial regions. IMITATIONS. VER. 263. Great in her charms! as when on Shrieves and She looks, and breathes herself into their airs.] "Alma parens confeffa Deam; qualifque videri "Coelicolis, & quanta folet Et lætos oculis afflavit honores." Virg. Æn. ii. Id. Æn. i. So, Spirits ending their terrestrial race, VARIATIONS. After Ver. 268. in the former Edd. followed these two lines, Raptur'd, he gazes round the dear retreat, And in fweet numbers celebrates the feat. Var. And in fweet numbers celebrates the feat.] Tibbald writ a Poem called the Cave of Poverty, which concludes with a very extraordinary with, "That fome great genius, or man "of diftinguished merit may be ftarved, in order to celebrate "her power, and defcribe her Cave." It was printed in octavo, 1715. REMARK S. VER. 269. Great Mother] Magna mater, here applied to Dubnefs. The Quidnuncs, a name given to the ancient members of certain political clubs, who were conftantly enquiring Quid nunc? What news? IMITATIONS. VER. 269. This the Great Mother, &c.] "Urbs antiqua fuit "Quam Juno fertur terris magis omnibus unam Virg. Æn. 1. How random thoughts now meaning chance to find, 19 Now leave all memory of fense behind: 275 And these to Notes are fritter'd quite away : A past, vamp'd, future, old, reviv'd, new piece, neille, Can make a Cibber, Tibbald, or Ozell. REMARK S. 285 VER. 286. Tibbald,] Lewis Tibbald (as pronounced) or Theobald (as written) was bred an Attorney, and fon to an Attorney (fays Mr. Jacob) of Sittenburn in Kent. He was Author of fome forgotten Plays, Tranflations, and other pieces. He was concerned in a paper called the Cenfor, and a Tranflation of Ovid. "There is a notorious Idiot, one "hight Whachum, who, from an under-fpur-leather to the "law, is become an under-ftrapper to the Play-house, who "hath lately burlesqued the Metamorphofes of Ovid by a "vile Translation, &c. This fellow is concerned in an impertinent paper called the Cenfor." DENNIS, Rem. on Pope's Hom. p. 9, 10. Ibid. Ozell.] "Mr. John Ozell (if we credit Mr. Jacob) "did go to school in Leicestershire, where fomebody left him fomething to live on, when he shall retire from bufinefs. |