fatire on every man in it, but himself; as the great Mr. Dennis did before him.

The faid

Mr. DENNIS and Mr. GILDON,

Ꮓ

in the most furious of all their works (the forecited Character, p. 5.) do in concert 2 confess, "That fome "men of good understanding value him for his rhymes." And (p 17.) "That he has got, like Mr. Bays in the "Rehearsal, (that is, like Mr. Dryden) a notable knack "at rhyming, and writing smooth verfe."

Of his Effay on Man, numerous were the praises bestowed by his avowed enemies, in the imagination that the fame was not written by him, as in was printed anonymously.

Thus fang of it even

BEZALEEL MORRIS.

"Aufpicious bard! while all admire thy ftrain,
"All but the selfish, ignorant, and vain;
"I, whom no bribe to fervile flatt'ry drew,
"Muft pay the tribute to thy merit due :

z in concert] Hear how Mr. Dennis hath proved our mistake in this place, "As to my writing in concert with Mr. Gildon, I declare upon the honour and word of a gentleman, that I never wrote fo "much as one line in concert with any one man whatsoever. And "these two Letters from Gildon will plainly fhew, that we are not "writers in concert with each other.

Sir,

-The height of my Ambition is to please Men of the best Judgment; and finding that I have entertained my Mafter agreeably, Į ' have the extent of the Reward of my Labour.'

• Sir,

I had not the opportunity of hearing of your excellent pamphlet 'till this day. I am infinitely fatisfied and pleased with it, and hope you will meet with that encouragement your admirable per'formance deferves,' &c. CH. GILDON..

Now is it not plain, that any one who fends fuch compliments to another, has not been used to write in partnership with him to whom he fends them?" Dennis, Rem. on the Dunc. p. 50. Mr. Dennis is therefore welcome to take this piece to himself.

Thy Mufe fublime, fignificant, and clear, "Alike informs the Soul, and charms the Ear," &c.

And

Mr. LEONARD WELSTED

thus wrote to the unknown author, on the first publication of the faid Effay: "I muft own, after the re"ception which the vileft and most immoral ribaldry "hath lately met with, I was furprised to see what I "had long defpaired, a performance deferving the name "of a poet. Such, Sir, is your work. It is, indeed, "above all commendation, and ought to have been "published in an age and country more worthy of it. "If my teftimony be of weight any where, you are fure to have it in the ampleft manner," &c. &c. &c.

Thus we fee every one of his works hath been extolled by one or other of his moft inveterate Enemies; and to the fuccefs of them all they do unanimously give teftimony. But it is fufficient, inftar omnium, to behold the great critic, Mr. Dennis, forely lamenting it, even from the Effay on Criticism to this day of the Dunciad! "A moft notorious inftance (quoth he) of "the depravity of genius and tafte, the approbation this

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Effay meets with-I can fafely affirm, that I never "attacked any of these writings, unless they had fuccefs infinitely beyond their merit.-This, though an empty, has been a popular scribler. The epidemic "madness of the times has given him reputation .. "If, after the cruel treatment fo many extraordinary "men (Spencer, Lord Bacon, Ben. Johnson, Milton, "Butler, Otway, and others) have received from this "country, for these last hundred years, I fhould shift "the scene, and fhew all that penury changed at once to "riot and profufenefs; and more fquandered away up" on one object, than would have fatisfied the greater a In a Letter under his hand, dated March 12, 1733. Pref. to his Reflect, on the Effay on Criticism. on Homer.

b Dennis, C Pref, to his Rem.

"part of those extraordinary men; the reader to whom "this one creature fhould be unknown, would fancy "him a prodigy of art and nature, would believe that "all the great qualities of thefe perfons were centered "in him alone. But if I fhould venture to affure him, "that the PEOPLE of ENGLAND had made fuch a choice the reader would either believe me a mali❝cious enemy, and flanderer; or that the reign of the "laft (Queen Anne's) Miniftry was defigned by fate to encourage Fools &."

But it happens, that this our Poet never had any Place, Penfion, or Gratuity, in any fhape, from the faid glorious Queen, or any of her Minifters. All hẹ owed, in the whole courfe of his life, to any court, was a fubfcription, for his Homer, of 200 l. from King George I, and 100 l. from the prince and princefs.

e

However, left we imagine our Author's Success was conftant and univerfal, they acquaint us of certain works in a lefs degree of repute, whereof, although owned by others, yet do they affure us he is the writer. Of this fort Mr. DENNIS afcribes to him two Farces, whofe names he does not tell, but affures us that there is not one jest in them: And an imitation of Horace, whofe title he does not mention, but affures us it is much more execrable than all his works. The DAILY JOURNAL, May 11, 1728. affures us, "He is below Tom. Durfey in the Drama, becaufe (as that writer thinks) the Marriage Hater matched, and the Boarding School "are better than the What-d'-ye-call-it," which is not Mr. P.'s, but Mr. Gay's. Mr. GILDON aflures us, in his New Rehearfal, p. 48. "That he was writing at "play of the Lady Jane Grey," but it afterwards proved to be Mr. Row's. We are affured by another, "He "wrote a pamphlet called Dr. Andrew Tripe &;" which proved to be one Dr. Wagftaff's. Mr. THEOBALD afd Rem. on Homer, p. 8, 9. e lbid, p. 8. f Character of Mr. Pope, p. 7. Ibid. p. 6.

fures us, in Mist of the 27th of April, "That the "treatise of the Profound is very dull, and that Mr.

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Pope is the author of it." The writer of Gulliveriana is of another opinion; and fays, "the whole, or greatest part, of the merit of this treatise must and can only be ascribed to Gulliver h" [Here, gentle reader! cannot I but smile at the strange blindness and pofitiveness of men; knowing the faid treatise to appertain to none other but to me, Martinus Scriblerus.]

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We are affured, in Mift of June 8, "That his own Plays and Farces would better have adorned the Dun-* "ciad, than thofe of Mr. Theobald; for he had nei"ther genius for Tragedy nor Comedy." Which whether true or not, it is not eafy to judge; in as much as he had attempted neither. Unlefs we will take it for granted, with Mr. Cibber, that his being once very angry at hearing a friend's Play abused, was an infallible proof the Play was his own; the faid Mr. Cibber thinking it impoffible for a man to be much concerned for any but himself: "Now let any man judge (faith he) by this concern, who was the true mother of "the child?"

But from all that hath been faid, the difcerning reader will collect, that it little availed our author to have any Candour, fince, when he declared he did not write for others, it was not credited; as little to have any Modefty, fince, when he declined writing in any way himself, the prefumption of others was imputed to him. If he fingly enterprised one great work, he was taxed of Boldness and Madness to a prodigy: If he took affiftants in another, it was complained of, and reprefented as a great injury to the public'. The loftieft heroics, the lowest ballads, treatises against the state or church, fatires on lords and ladies, raillery on wits and

h Gulliv. p. 336. i Cibber's Letter to Mr. P. P. 19. net's Homerides, p. 1. of his tranflation of the Iliad. don and Mift's Journals, on his undertaking the Odyffey.

k Bur

The Lon

authors, fquabbles with booksellers, or even full and true accounts of monsters, poisons, and murders; of any hereof was there nothing fo good, nothing fo bad, which hath not at one or other feafon been to him afcribed. If it bore no author's name, then lay he concealed; if he did, he fathered it upon that author to be yet better concealed: If it refembled any of his ftyles, then was it evident; if it did not, then disguised he it on fet purpose. Yea, even direct oppofitions in religion, principles, and politics, have equally been fuppofed in him inherent. Surely a most rare and singular character! Of which let the reader make what

he can.

Doubtless most Commentators would hence take occafion to turn all to their Author's advantage, and from the teftimony of his very Enemies would affirm, That his Capacity was boundless, as well as his Imagination; that he was a perfect master of all Styles; and all Arguments; and that there was in those times no other Writer, in any kind, of any degree of excellence, fave he himself. But as this is not our own fentiment, we fhall determine on nothing; but leave thee, gentle reader, to steer thy judgment equally between various opinions, and to chufe whether thou wilt incline to the Teftimonies of Authors avowed, or of Authors concealed; of those who knew him, or of those who knew him not.

P.