unmerited obligations. Many weighty animadversions on the public affairs and many excellent and diverting pieces on private persons, has he given to his name. If ever he owed two verses to any other, he owed Mr. Curll some thousands. He was every day extending his fame, and enlarging his writings : witness innumerable instances; but it shall suffice only to mention the Court Poems, which he meant to publish as the work of the true writer, a lady of quality; but being first threatened, and afterwards punished for it by Mr. Pope, he generously transferred it from her to him, and ever since printed it in his name. The single time that ever he spoke to Curll was on that affair, and to that happy incident he owed all the favours since received from him. So true is the saying of Dr. Sydenham, "that any one shall be, at some time, or other, the better or the worse, for having but seen or spoken to a good or bad man. [Curll made a characteristic reply to this charge:-"You very well know, sir, that in the year 1717, when the Court Poems (viz. the Basset Table, the Toilet, and the Drawing Room) were published, upon your sending for me to the Swan Tavern, in Fleet Street, in company with Mr. Lintot, and inquiring into the publication of that pamphlet, I then frankly told you that those pieces were by Mr. Joseph Jacobs, a Dissenting teacher, given to Mr. John Oldmixon, who sent the same to be published by Mr. James Roberts, in Warwick Lane, and that my neighbour, Mr. Pemberton, and myself, had each of us a share with Mr. Oldmixon in the said pamphlet. For this you were pleased to treat me with half-a-pint of canary, antimonially prepared; for the emetic effects of which it has been the opinion of all mankind you deserved the stab. My purgation was soon over, but yours will last (without a timely repentance) till, as the ghost says in Hamlet, with all your imperfections on your head, you are called to your account, and your offences purged by fire." Preface to second vol. of Pope's Correspondence. This ludicrous story of the prepared wine and purgation was exactly what the Scriblerus wits wanted, and Pope turned it to good account in his clever, but coarse satire, the "Account of the Poisoning of Edmund Curll." The Court Poems are now included in the works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.] CORINNA-MRS. THOMAS. Ver. 70. Curll's Corinna.] This name, it seems, was taken by one Mrs. T―, who procured some private letters of Mr. Pope's, while almost a boy, to Mr. Cromwell, and sold them without the consent of either of those gentlemen to Curll, who printed them in 12mo, 1727. He discovered her to be the publisher, in his Key, p. 11. We only take this opportunity of mentioning the manner in which those letters got abroad, which the author was ashamed of as very trivial things, full, not only of levities, but of wrong judgments of men and books, and only excusable from the youth and inexperience of the writer. [Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas was first styled Corinna by Dryden. Curll pub lished some poems written by her, and two volumes of letters that passed between her and a Mr. Gwynnet. Pope, in his young and gay days, was intimate with this woman, who certainly possessed some literary talent, and was, at one time, much in favour with wits and nobles. Her history conveys the usual moral. Deserted by all her admirers, Corinna was thrown into prison for debt, and, after lingering there for some time, she obtained her release, and took a small lodging in Fleet Street, where she died Feb. 3, 1730, aged 56.] POVERTY OF POETS-UNPAID TAILORS. Ver. 118. That suit an unpaid tailor snatch'd away.] This line has been loudly complained of in Mist, June 8, Dedic. to Sawney and others, as a most inhuman satire on the poverty of poets; but it is thought our author would be acquitted by a jury of tailors. To me this instance seems unluckily chosen; if it be a satire on any body, it must be on a bad paymaster, since the person to whom they have here applied it was a man of fortune. Not but poets may well be jealous of so great a prerogative as non-payment, which Mr. Dennis so far asserts, as boldly to pronounce that "if Homer himself was not in debt, it was because nobody would trust him."-Pref. to Rem. on the Rape of the Lock, p. 15. OBSCURE POETS AND PUBLISHERS. Ver. 125. Mears, Warner, Wilkins run: delusive thought !1 Curl stretches after Gay,3 but Gay gone, He grasped an empty Joseph for a John. These authors being such whose names will reach posterity, we shall not give any account of them, but proceed to those of whom it is necessary.— Besaleel Morris was author of some satires on the translators of Homer, with many other things printed in newspapers.-" Bond writ a satire against Mr. P-. Captain Breval was author of The Confederates, an ingenious dramatic performance to expose Mr. P., Mr. Gay, Dr. Arb., and some ladies of quality," says Curll, Key, p. 11. 1 Booksellers, and printers of much anonymous stuff. 2 I foresee it will be objected from this line, that we were in an error in our assertion on ver. 50 of this book, that More was a fictitious name, since these persons are equally represented by the poet as phantoms. So at first sight it may seem! but be not deceived, reader, these also are not real persons. 'Tis true, Curll declares Breval, a captain, author of a piece called The Confederates; but the same Curll first said it was written by Joseph Gay. Is his second assertion to be credited any more than his first? He likewise affirms Bond to be one who writ a satire on our poet: but where is such a satire to be found? where was such a writer ever heard of? As for Besaleel, it carries forgery in the very name; nor is it, as the others are, a surname. Thou mayest depend upon it, no such authors ever lived: all phantoms.—SCRIB LERUS. 3 Joseph Gay, a fictitious name, put by Curll before several pamphlets, which made them pass with many for Mr. Gay's. It was a common practice of this bookseller to publish vile pieces of obscure hands under the names of eminent authors. [John Durant Breval, was son of Dr. Breval, prebendary of Westminster, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He wrote a poetical epistle to Addison, a poem on Calpe, or Gibraltar, with several dramatic pieces, and two volumes of travels in folio. Breval had served in Flanders under Marlborough, who gave him his captain's commission, and employed him in several negotiations. He died in 1739. Curll was indignant at the question as to Bond's identity. "Thou askest where was such a writer as Bond ever heard of? Take this answer: he hath published an additional (ninth) volume to the Spectator: a new version of Tasso hath he attempted: an original poem called Buckingham House (after the manner of Cooper's Hill) did he inscribe to the late Duke, who told him that the said poem would last much longer than the building it praised." (Curliad, 1729.) Both house and poem have long since disappeared.] COOKE AND CONCANEN. Ver. 138. Cooke shall be Prior and Concanen Swift.] The man here specified (Cooke) writ a thing called The Battle of Poets, in which Phillips and Welsted were the heroes, and Swift and Pope utterly routed. He also published some malevolent things in the British, London, and Daily Journals; and at the same time wrote letters to Mr. Pope, protesting his innocence. His chief work was a translation of Hesiod, to which Theobald writ notes and halfnotes, which he carefully owned. In the first edition of this poem there were only asterisks in this place, but the names were since inserted, merely to fill up the verse, and give ease to the ear of the reader. [Theobald did not "carefully own" the notes and half-notes which he contributed to Cooke's translation of Hesiod, 1728. Cooke, in his postscript to the work, says he, had distinguished the remarks of his friends from his own; "lest by a general acknowledgment only," he adds, "such errors as I may have possibly committed should, by the wrong guess of some, be unjustly imputed to them." In the early editions, Pope gave in a note this epigram on Theobald: ""Tis generous, Tibbald, in thee and thy brothers, To help us thus to read the works of others. Cooke wrote several dramatic pieces, poems, and translations. He also conducted the weekly journal called the Craftsman, which had previously been under the charge of Amherst. He was a man of considerable talents and learning, much esteemed by his friends, but careless and irregular in his life. He seems, like many of his contemporaries, to have imputed Pope's enmity in part to the ill offices of Savage, whom he calls the "Spy." To Matthew Concanen (who was appointed Attorney-General of Jamaica) Cooke was strongly attached, and honoured his memory with the following lines, which afford a favourable specimen of his versification. The influence of Pope on the poetry of his age is visible in these lines : Friendship, begun in unexperienced youth, In honour founded, and secured by truth, In distant climes and various fortunes tried, Not death, the grand destroyer, can divide. A humour pleasing, and a wit refined, Knowledge and judgment clear, enriched your mind; Nor covetous nor negligent of fame, You've gained a fair-deserved a lasting name." Cooke was born in 1702, at Braintree, in Essex; was some time in the family of the Earl of Pembroke; came to London in 1722; and followed a literary life till his death, in 1756.] GOOD AUTHORS. Ver. 140. And we too boast our Garth and Addison.] Nothing is more remarkable than our author's love of praising good writers. He has in this very poem celebrated Mr. Locke, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Atterbury, Mr. Dryden, Mr. Congreve, Dr. Garth, Mr. Addison-in a word, almost every man of his time that deserved it; even Cibber himself (presuming him to be the author of the Careless Husband). It was very difficult to have that pleasure in a poem on this subject, yet he has found means to insert their panegyric, and has made even Dulness out of her own mouth pronounce it. It must have been particularly agreeable to him to celebrate Dr. Garth, both as his constant friend, and as he was his predecessor in this kind of satire. The Dispensary attacked the whole body of apothecaries, a much more useful one undoubtedly than that of the bad poets; if in truth this can be a body, of which no two members ever agreed. It also did what Mr. Theobald says is unpardonable, drew in parts of private character, and introduced persons independent of his subject. Much more would Boileau have incurred his censure, who left all subjects whatever, on all occasions, to fall upon the bad poets (which, it is to be feared, would have been more immediately his concern). But certainly next to commending good writers, the greatest service to learning is to expose the bad, who can only that way be made of any use to it. This truth is very well set forth in these lines addressed to our author:"The craven rook, and pert jackdaw, Though neither birds of moral kind, Yet serve, if hang'd, or stuff'd with straw, "With Egypt's art thy pen may strive, PERSONAL DEFORMITY. Ver. 142. Yet smiling at his rueful length of face.] The decrepid person or figure of a man are no reflections upon his genius: an honest mind will love and esteem a man of worth, though he be deformed or poor. Yet the author of the Dunciad hath libelled a person for his rueful length of face!"-Mist's Journal, June 8. This genius and man of worth, whom an honest mind should love, is Mr. Curll. True it is, he stood in the pillory, an incident which will lengthen the face of any man, though it were ever so comely, therefore is no reflection on the natural beauty of Mr. Curll. But as to reflections on any man's face or figure, Mr. Dennis saith excellently: "Natural deformity comes not by our fault; 'tis often occasioned by calamities and diseases, which a man can no more help than a monster can his deformity. There is no one misfortune, and no one disease, but what all the rest of mankind are subject to. But the deformity of this author is visible, present, lasting, unalterable, and peculiar to himself. 'Tis the mark of God and Nature upon him, to give us warning that we should hold no society with him, as a creature not of our original, nor of our species; and they who have refused to take this warning which God and Nature have given them, and have in spite of it, by a senseless presumption, ventured to be familiar with him, have severely suffered, &c. 'Tis certain his original is not from Adam, but from the devil," &c.-DENNIS's Charact. of Mr. P. octavo, 1716. Admirably it is observed by Mr. Dennis against Mr. Law, p. 33, "That the language of Billingsgate can never be the language of charity, nor consequently of Christianity." I should else be tempted to use the language of a critic; for what is more provoking to a commentator than to behold his author |