THE DUNCIAD. B Book the FIRST. OOKS and the Man I fing, the firft who brings REMARKS on Boox the FIRST The Dunciad, Sic M. S. It may be well difputed whether this be right Reading? Ought it not rather to be fpelled Durceiad, as the Etymology evidently demands? Dunce with an e, therefore Dunceiad with an e. That accurate and punctual Man of Letters, the Reftorer of Shakespeare, conftantly obferves the prefervation of this very Letter e, in fpelling the Name of his beloved Author, and not like his common careless Editors, with the omiffion of one, nay fometimes of Ewo ee's [as Shak'spear) which is utterly unpardonable. Nor is the neglect of a Single Letter fo trivial as to fome it may appear, the alteration whereof in a learned language is an Archivement that brings honour to the Critick who advances it; and Dr. B. will be remembered to pofterity for his performances of this fort, as long as the world hall have any Efteem for the Remains of Menander and Philemon. THEOBALD I have a juft value for the Letter E, and the fame affection for the Name of this Poem, as the forecited Critic for that of his Author yet cannot it induce me to agree with those who would add yet ano aber e to it, and call is the Dunceiade, which being a French and foreign Say great Patricians! (fince your felves infpire REMARKS, Foreign Termination, is no way proper to a word entirely English, and Vernacular. One E therefore in this cafe is right, and two E's wrong; yet upon the whole I fhall follow the Manufcript, and print it without any E at all, mov'd thereto by Authority, at all times with Criticks equal if not fuperior to Reafon. In which method of proceeding, I can never enough praise my very good Friend, the exact Mr. The. Hearne, who, if any word occur which to him and all mankind is evidently wrong, yet keeps he it in the Text with due reverence, and only remarks in the Margin, fic M. S. In like manner we fhall not amend this error in the Title itself, but only note it obiaer, to evince to the learned that it was not our fault, nor any effect of our own Ignorance or Inattention. SCRIBLERUS, VERSE 1. Books and the Man I fing, the first who brings The Smithfield Mufes to the Ear of Kings. Wonderful is the ftupidity of all the former Criticks and Commen tators on this Poem! It breaks forth at the very firft line. The Author of the Critique prefix'd to Sawney, a Poem, P. 5. hath been fo dull as to explain The Man who brings, &c. not of the Hero of the Piece, but of our Poet himself, as if he vaunted that Kings were to be his Readers (an Honour which tho' this Poem hath had, yet knoweth Se how to receive it with more. Modefty.) We remit this Ignorant to the firft lines of the Eneid, affuring him, that Virgil there fpeaketh not of himself, but of Eneas, Arma virumq; cano, Troja qui primus ab oris, Litora: multum ille & terris jactatus et alto, &c. I cite the whole three verfes, that I may by the way offer a Conjectu val Emendation, purely my own, upon each: Firft, oris fhould be read aris, it being as we fee n. 2. 513, from the altar of Jupiter Hercans that Eneas fed as foon as he faw Priam flain. In the fecond line I would read flatu for fato, fince it is moft clear it was by Winds that he arrived at the Shore of Italy; Factatus in the third, is furely as im proper apply'd to terris, as proper to alto: To fay a man is toft on land, is much at one with faying he walks at fea. Rifum teneatis amici? Cor rect it, as I doubt not it ought to be, Vexatus. SCRIBLERUS. VERSE 2 The Smithfield-Mafes.] Smithfield is the place where Bartholomew Fair was kept, whofe Shews, Machines, and Dramatical Entertainments, formerly agreeable only to the Tafte of the Rabble, were, by the Hero of this Poem and others of equal Genius, brought to the Theatres of Covent-Garden, Lincolns-inn-Fields, and the Hay-Market, to be the reigning Pleafures of the Court and Town. This happened in the Year 1725, and continued to the Year 1728 See Book 3. Verf. 191, &c. Say from what caufe, in vain decry'd and curft, In eldest time, e'er mortals writ or read, Still her old empire to confirm, fhe tries, O thou! whatever Title please thine ear, REMARKS. VERSE 1 Daughter of Chaos, &c. The beauty of this whole Allegory being purely of the Poetical kind, we think it not our proper bufinefs as a Scholiaft, to meddle with it, but leave it (as we shall in general all fuch) to the Reader: remarking only, that Chaos (ac ording to Hefied, toyoría) was the Progenitor of all the Gods. IMITATIONS. SCRIBE VERSE. Say great Patricians ( fince your felves infpire Thefe wondrous Works.] Ovid. Met. I. - Dij captis nam vos mutaftis & illas) VERSE 6. Alluding to a verfe of Mr. Dryden's not in Mac Fleen (as it is faid ignorantly in the Key to the Dunsiad, pag. 1.) but in bis verfes to Mr. Congreve, And Tom the Second reigns like Tom the Birfi« |