of in the preface to the Iliad, printed fome time before his death, and by his own letters of October 26, and November 2, 1713. where he declares it is his opinion, that no other perfon was equal to it.

Next comes his Shakespear on the stage: "Let him (quoth one, whom I take to be

Mr. THEOBAL D, Mift's Journal, June 8, 1728.)

"publish such an author as he has least studied, and forget to discharge even the dull duty of an editor. In "this project let him lend the bookfeller his name (for "a competent fum of money) to promote the credit "of an exorbitant fubfcription." Gentle reader, be pleased to caft thine eye on the Propofal below quoted, and on what follows (fome months after the former affertion) in the fame Journalist of June 8, "The "bookfeller propofed the book by fubfcription, and "raised fome thoufand of pounds for the fame: I be"lieve the gentleman did not fhare in the profits of "this extravagant fubfcription.

"After the Iliad, he undertook (faith

MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8, 1728)

"the fequel of that work, the Odyffey; and having "fecured the fuccefs by a numerous fubfcription, he "employed fome underlings to perform what, accord

66

ing to his propofals, fhould come from his own "hands." To which heavy charge we can in truth oppofe nothing but the words of

Mr. POPE'S PROPOSAL for the ODYSSEY.

(printed by J. Watts, Jan. 10, 1724.)

"I take this occafion to declare that the fubfcription "for Shakespear belongs wholly to Mr. Tonfon: And that the benefit of this Propofal is not folely for my "own use, but for that of two of my friends, who have "affifted me in this work." But thefe very gentlemen are extolled above our poet himfelf in another of

Mift's Journals, March 30, 1728. faying, "That he "would not advife Mr. Pope to try the experiment "again of getting a great part of a book done by af"fiftants, left thofe extraneous parts fhould unhappily "afcend to the fublime, and retard the declenfion of "the whole." Behold! thefe Underlings are become good writers!

If any fay, that before the faid Propofals were printed, the fubfcription was begun without declaration of fuch affiftance; verily those who fet it on foot, or (as their term is) fecured it, to wit, the right honourable the Lord Viscount HARCOURT, were he living, would testify, and the right honourable the Lord BATHURST, now living, doth teftify the fame is a falfhood.

Sorry I am, that perfons profeffing to be learned, or of whatever rank of authors, fhould either falfely tax, or be falfely taxed. Yet let us, who are only reporters, be impartial in our citations, and proceed.

MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8, 1728.

"Mr. Addifon raifed this author from obfcurity, "obtained him the acquaintance and friendfhip of the "whole body of our nobility, and transferred his power

ful interefts with thofe great men to this rifing bard, "who frequently levied by that means unufual contributions on the public." Which furely cannot be, if, as the author of The Dunciad diffected reporteth; "Mr. Wycherly had before introduced him into a familiar acquaintance with the greatest Peers and brightest Wits then living."

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"No fooner (faith the lame Journalist) was his body lifeless, but this author, reviving his refentment, libelled the memory of his departed friend; and, what "was ftill more heinous, made the fcandal public." Grievous the accufation! unknown the accufer! the perfon accufed no witnefs in his own caufe; the perfon, in whofe regard accufed, dead! But if there be living any one nobleman whofe friendflip, yea any one gen

tleman whofe fubfcription Mr. Addifon procured to our author; let him ftand forth, that truth may appear! Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, fed magis amica veritas. In verity, the whole ftory of the libel is a lye; witness those persons of integrity, who feveral years before Mr. Addifon's decease, did fee and approve of the faid verses, in no wife a libel, but a friendly rebuke fent privately in our author's own hand to Mr. Addison himfelf, and never made public, 'till after their own Journals, and Curl had printed the fame. One name alone, which I am here authorised to declare, will fufficiently evince this truth, that of the right honourable the Earl of BURLINGTON.

Next is he taxed with a crime (in the opinion of fome authors, I doubt, more heinous than any in morality) to wit, Plagiarifm, from the inventive and quaintconceited

JAMES-MOORE SMITH Gent.

Upon reading the third volume of Pope's Mif"cellanies, I found five lines which I thought excel"lent; and happening to praise them, a gentleman produced a modern comedy (the Rival Modes) pub"lifhed last year, where were the fame verfes to a "tittle.

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"Thefe gentlemen are undoubtedly the first plagia"ries, that pretend to make a reputation by ftealing "from a man's works in his own life-time, and out of

a public print." Let us join to this what is written by the author of the Rival Modes, the faid Mr. JamesMore Smith, in a letter to our author himself, who had informed him, a month before that play was acted, Jan. 27, 1726-7, that "Thefe verfes, which he had "before given him leave to infert in it, would be known "for his, fome copies being got abroad. He defires, "nevertheless, that fince the lines had been read in his

2 Daily Journal, March 18, 1728.

comedy to feveral, Mr. P. would not deprive it of "them," &c. Surely, if we add the teftimonies of the Lord BOLINGBROKE, of the Lady to whom the faid verses were originally addreffed, of Hugh Bethel Efq; and others, who knew them as our author's, long before the faid gentleman compofed his play; it is hoped, the ingenuous that affect not error, will rectify their opinion by the fuffrage of fo honourable perfonages.

And yet followeth another charge, infinuating no less than his enmity both to Church and State, which could come from no other informer than the faid

Mr. JAMES-MOORE SMITH.

"a The Memoirs of a Parifh clerk was a very dull "and unjust abuse of a person who wrote in defence of "our Religion and Conftitution, and who has been "dead many years." This feemeth alfo moft untrue;

it being known to divers that these Memoirs were written at the feat of the Lord Harcourt in Oxfordshire, before that excellent perfon (bishop Burnet's) death, and many years before the appearance of that hiftory, of which they are pretended to be an abuse. Most true it is, that Mr. Moore had fuch a design, and was himself the man who preft Dr. Arbuthnot and Mr. Pope to affift him therein; and that he borrowed thofe Memoirs of our author, when that hiftory came forth, with intent to turn them to fuch abufe. But being able to obtain from our author but one fingle hint, and either changing his mind, or having more mind than ability, he contented himself to keep the faid Memoirs, and read them as his own to all his acquaintance. A noble perfon there is, into whofe company Mr. Pope once chanced to introduce him, who well remembereth the converfation of Mr. Moore to have turned upon the "Contempt he had for the work of that reverend prelate, and how full he was of a defign he declared

a Daily Journal, April 3, 1728.

"himself to have of expofing it." This noble perfon is the Earl of PETERBOROUGH.

Here in truth should we crave pardon of all the fore faid right honourable and worthy perfonages, for having mentioned them in the fame page with fuch weekly riff-raff railers and rhymers; but that we had their ever-honoured commands for the fame; and that they are introduced not as witneffes in the controverfy, but as witneffes that cannot be controverted; not to dif pute, but to decide.

Certain it is, that dividing our writers into two claffes, of fuch who were acquaintance, and of fuch who were strangers to our author; the former are those who fpeak well, and the other those who speak evil of him. Öf the first class, the most noble

JOHN Duke of BUCKINGHAM

fums up his character in thefe lines:

"And yet fo wond'rous, fo fublime a thing. "As the great Iliad, fcarce could make me fing, "Unless I juftly could at once commend "A good companion, and as firm a friend; "One moral, or a mere well-natur'd deed, "Can all defert in sciences exceed."

So alfo is he decyphered by the honourable

SIMON HARCOURT.

"Say, wondrous youth, what column wilt thou chufe, "What laurel'd arch, for thy triumphant Mufe? "Tho' each great ancient court thee to his fhrine, "Tho' ev'ry laurel thro' the dome be thine, "Go to the good and just, an awful train! "Thy foul's delight.

Recorded in like manner for his virtuous difpofition, and gentle bearing, by the ingenious

b Verses to Mr. P. on his translation of Homer. fix'd to his works.

C Pocm pre