APPENDIX.

I.

PREFACE

Prefixed to the five first imperfect Editions of the DUNCIAD, in three books, printed at DUBLIN and LONDON, in octavo and duodecimo, 1727.

a

The PUBLISHER to the READER.

T will be found a true obfervation, tho' fomewhat furprizing,

I

that when any scandal is vented against a man of the high

eft diftinction and character, either in the state or literature, the public in general afford it a moft quiet reception; and the larger part accept it as favourably as if it were fome kindnefs done to themselves: whereas if a known fcoundrel or blockhead but chance to be touch'd upon, a whole legion is up in arms, and it becomes the common cause of all fcriblers, bookfellers, and printers whatsoever.

a The Publisher] Who he was is uncertain; but Edward Ward tells us, in his preface to Durgen, "that most judges are of opi"nion this preface is not of English extraction, but Hiber<6 nian," &c.

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He means it was written by Dr. Swift, who, whether publisher or not, may be faid in a fort to be author of the

poem. For when he, together with Mr. Pope (for reasons speVOL. V.

U

cified in the preface to their Mifcellanies) determined to own the moft trifling pieces in which they had any hand, and to deftroy all that remained in their power; the first sketch of this poem was fnatch'd from the fire by Dr Swift, who perfuaded his friend to proceed in it, and to him it was therefore infcribed. But the occafion of printing it was as follows:

b

Not to fearch too deeply into the reafon hereof, I will only obferve as a fact, that every week for thefe two months past, the town has been perfecuted with pamphlets, advertisements, Jetters, and weekly cflays, not only against the wit and writings, but againft the cha acter and perfon of Mr. Pope. And that of all thofe men who have received pleasure from his works, which by modeft computation may be about a hundred thoufand in thefe kingdoms of England and Ireland; (not to mention Jerfey, Guernfey, the Orcades, thofe in the new world,

There was published in thofe Micellanies, a Treatife of the Pathos, or Art of Sinking in Poetry, in which was a chapter, where the fpecies of bad writers were ranged in claffes,

were the authors of it. He was not without hopes, that by manifeft. ing the dulnefs of those who had only malice to recommend them; either the bookfellers would not find their account in employing

difcovered, want courage to proceed in fo unlawful an occupation This it was that gave birth to the Dunciad; and he thought it an happines, that by the late flood of flander on himself, he had acquired fuch a peculiar right over their Names as was

pamphlets, advertisements,

&c.] See the Lift of those anonymous papers, with their dates and authors annexed, inserted before the Poem.

and initial letters of names pre-them,or the men themselves, when fixed, for the most part at random. But fuch was the Number of Poets eminent in that art, that fome one or other took every letter to himfelf. All fell into fo violent a fury, that for half a year, or more, the common News-papers (in most of which they had fome property,neceffary to his design. as being hired writers) were filled with the moft abufive falfehoods and fcurrilities they could poffibly devife; a liberty no ways to be wondered at in thofe people, and in thofe papers, that, for many years, during the uncontrolled Licence of the prefs, had afperfed almoft all the great characters of the age; and this with impunity, their own perfons and names being utterly fecret and obfcure. This gave Mr. Pope the thought, that he had now fome opportunity of doing good, by detecting and dragging into light thefe common Enemies of mankind; fince to invalidate this univerfal flander, it fufficed to fhew what contemptible men

about a hundred thousand] It is furprizing with what ftupidity this preface, which is almost a continued irony, was taken by thofe authors. All fuch paffages as these were understood by Curl, Cook, Cibber, and others, to be ferious. Hear the Laureate (Letter to Mr. Pope, p. 9) "Tho'

I grant the Dunciad a better poem of its kind than ever was writ; yet, when I read it with thofe vain-glorious en"cumbrances of Notes and Remarks upon it, &c.

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2

it is

and foreigners who have tranflated him into their languages) of all this number not a man hath stood up to fay one word in his defence.

The only exception is the author of the following poem, who doubtlefs had either a better infight into the grounds of this clamour, or a better opinion of Mr. Pope's integrity, join'd with a greater perfonal love for him, than any other of his numerous friends and admirers.

Farther, that he was in his peculiar intimacy, appears from the knowledge he manifefts of the moft private authors of all the anonymous pieces against him, and from his having in this poem. attacked no man living, who had not before printed, or publifhed, fome fcandal against this gentleman.

How I came poffeft of it, is no concern to the reader; but it would have been a wrong to him had I detain'd the publication; fince those names which are its chief ornaments die off daily fo faft, as muft render it too foon unintelligible. If it provoke the author to give us a more perfect edition, I have my

end.

Who he is I cannot fay, and (which is a great pity) there is certainly f nothing in his ftyle and manner of writing, which can diftinguish or difcover him: For if it bears any refemblance to that of Mr. Pope, 'tis not improbable but it might be done on purpose, with a view to have it pafs for his. But by the frequency of his allufions to Virgil, and a labour'd (not to fay affected) Shortness in imitation of him, I should think him more an admirer of the Roman poet than of the Grecian, and in that not of the fame tafte with his friend.

I have been well inform'd, th t this work was the labour of full fix years of his life, and that he wholly retired himself from all the avocations and pleasures of the world, to attend diligently to its correction and perfection; and fix years more he intended to bestow upon it, as it should seem by this verse of Statius, which was cited at the head of his manufcript,

Oh mihi biffenos multum vigilata per annos,

Duncia h

Hence alfo we learn the true title of the poem; which with the fame certainty as we call that of Homer the Iliad, of Virgil the Æneid, of Camoens the Lufiad, we may pronounce, could have been, and can be no other than

The DUNCIA D.

It is ftyled Heroic, as being doubly fo; not only with respect to its nature, which, according to the beft rules of the ancients, and ftrictest ideas of the moderns, is critically fuch; but alio with regard to the heroical difpofition and high courage of the writer, who dar'd to ftir up fuch a formidable, irritable, and implacable race of mortals.

There may arise fome obfcurity in chronology from the Names in the poem, by the inevitable removal of fome authors, and infertion of others, in their niches. For whoever will confider the unity of the whole defign, will be fenfible, that the poem was not made for thefe authors, but thefe authors for the