VII. A PARALLEL OF THE CHARACTERS OF Mr. DRYDEN and Mr. POPE, As drawn by certain of their Contemporaries. Mr. DRYDEN, HIS POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS. MR. DRYDEN is a mere renegado from monarchy, poetry, and good sense3. A true Republican son of monarchical Church. A Republican Atheist. Dryden was from the beginning an αλλοπρόσαλλος, and I doubt not will continue so to the last. In the poem called Absalom and Achitophel are notoriously traduced, The KING, the QUEEN, the LORds, and GENTLEMEN, not only their honourable persons VII. A PARALLEL OF THE CHARACTERS OF Mr. POPE and Mr. DRYDEN, As drawn by certain of their Contemporaries. Mr. POPE, HIS POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS. MR. POPE is an open and mortal enemy to his country, and the commonwealth of learning. Some call him a popish whig, which is directly inconsistents. Pope, as a papist, must be a tory and high flyer. He is both a whig and tory1. He hath made it his custom to cackle to more than one party in their own sentiments. 7 Dennis Rem. on the Rape of the Lock, pref. p. xii. 8 Dunciad dissected. 1 Dennis, Character of Mr. P. 9 Pref. to Gulliveriana. 2 Theobald, Letter in Mist's Journal, June 22, 1728. exposed, but the whole NATION and its REPRESENTATIVES notoriously libelled. It is scandalum magnatum, yea of MAJESTY itself3. He looks upon God's gospel as a foolish fable, like the Pope, to whom he is a pitiful purveyor. His very Christianity may be questioned". He ought to expect more severity than other men, as he is most unmerciful in his reflections on others. With as good a right as his Holiness, he sets up for poetical infallibility". Mr. DRYDEN only a Versifier. His whole Libel is all bad matter, beautified (which is all that can be said of it) with good metreR. Mr. Dryden's genius did not appear in any thing more than his Versification, and whether he is to be ennobled for that only, is a question9. Mr. DRYDEN'S VIRGIL. Tonson calls it Dryden's Virgil, to shew that this is not that Virgil so admired in the Augustean age; but a Virgil of another stamp, a silly, impertinent, 3 Whip and Key, 4to. printed for R. Janeway, 1682. Preface. 4 Ibid. 6 Ibid. p. 175. 7 Page 39. Milbourn, p. 9. 8 • Whip and Key, Pref. Oldmixon, Essay on Criticism, p. 84. In his Miscellanies the Persons abused are, The KING, the QUEEN, his late MAJESTY, both Houses of PARLIAMENT, the Privy-Council, the Bench of BISHOPS, the Established CHURCH, the present MINISTRY, &c. To make Sense of some passages, they must be construed into ROYAL SCANDAL1. He is a Popish Rhymester, bred up with a contempt of the Sacred Writings. His Religion allows him to destroy Heretics, not only with his pen, but with fire and sword; and such were all those unhappy Wits whom he sacrificed to his accursed Popish Principles. It deserved Vengeance to suggest that Mr. Pope had less infallibility than his Namesake at Rome*. Mr. POPE only a Versifier. The smooth numbers of the Dunciad are all that recommend it, nor has it any other merits. It must be owned that he hath got a notable knack of rhyming and writing smooth verse. Mr. POPE's HOMER. The Homer which Lintot prints, does not talk like Homer, but like Pope; and he who translated him, 1 List at the end of a Collection of Verses, Letters, Advertisements, 8vo. Printed for A. More, 1728, and the Preface to it, p. 6. 2 Dennis's Rem. on Homer, p. 27. 3 Preface to Gul liveriana, p. 11. Letters, &c. p. 9. * Dedication to the Collection of Verses, 5 Mist's Journal of June 8, 1728. 6 Character of Mr. P. and Dennis on Hom. |