VI. ADVERTISEMENT Printed in the JOURNALS, 1730. Whereas, upon occafion of certain Pieces rela ting to the Gentlemen of the Dunciad, fome have been willing to fuggeft, as if they looked upon them as an abufe: we can do no less than own, it is our opinion, that to call thefe Gentlemen bad authors is no fort of abuse, but a great truth. We cannot alter this opinion without fome reafon; but we promise to do it in refpect to every person who thinks it an injury to be represented as no Wit, or Poet, provided he procures a Certificate of his being really fuch, from any three of his companions in the Dunciad, or from Mr Dennis fingly, who is esteemed equal to any three of the number. VII. A PARALLEL OF THE CHARACTERS O F Mr DRYDEN and Mr POPE. As drawn by certain of their Contemporaries. His POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS. M R Dryden is a mere renegado from monarchy, poetry, and good sense 2. A true republican fon of monarchical Church b. A republican Atheist c. Dryden was from the beginning an àλλozpóσaλλos, and I doubt not will continue fo the last d. In the Poem called Abfalom and Achitophel are notoriously traduced, The KING, the QUEEN, the LORDS and GENTLEMEN, not only their honourable persons expos'd, but the whole NATION and its REPRESENTATIVES notorioufly libell'd. It is fcandalum magnatum, yea of MAJESTY itself e He looks upon God's Gospel as a foollsh fable, like a Milbourn on Dryden's Virgil, 8vo. 1698. p. 6. b Pag. 38. c Pag. 192. d Pag. 8. e Whip and Key, 4to. printed for R. Janeway, 1682. Preface. VII. A PARALLEL OF THE CHARACTERS O F Mr POPE and Mr DRYDEN. As drawn by certain of their Contemporaries. Mr POPE, His POLITICS, RELIGION, MORALS. M R Pope is an open and mortal enemy to his country, and the commonwealth of learninga. Some call him a popish whig, which is directly inconfiftent. Pope, as a Papift, muft be a tory and high flyer. He is both a whig and toryd. He hath made it his cuftom to cackle to more than one party in their own fentiments e. In his Mifcellanies, the Perfons abused are, The KING, the QUEEN, His late MAJESTY, both Houses of PARLIAMENT, the Privy Council, the Bench of BISHOPS, the Eftablish'd CHURCH, the prefent MI a Dennis's Rem. on the the Rape of the Lock, Pref. P. xii. b Dunciad diffected. c Preface to Gulliveriana. d Dennis, Character of MrP. e Theobald, Letter in Mift's Journal, June 22. 1728. the Pope, to whom he is a pitiful purveyor f. His very christianity may be queftioned 8. He ought to expect more severity than other men, as he is most unmerciful in his own reflections on others h. With as good a right as his Holiness, he fets up for poetical infallibility i. Mr DRYDEN only a Verfifier. His whole Libel is all bad matter, beautified (which is all that can be faid of it) with good metre k. Mr Dryden's genius did not appear in any thing more than his Verfification, and whether he is to be ennobled for that only, is a question 1. Mr DRYDEN'S VIRGIL. Tonfon calls it Dryden's Virgil, to shew that this is not that Virgil fo admir'd in the Auguftean age; but a Virgil of another stamp, a filly impertinent, nonsenfical writer. None but a Bavius, a Mævius, or a Bathyllus carp'd at Virgil m; and none but fuch unthink. ing Vermin admire his Tranflator ". It is true, foft and eafy lines might become Ovid's Epiftles or Art or Love-But Virgil, who is all great and majestic, &c. requires ftrength of lines, weight of words, and clofenefs of expreffions; not an ambling Mufe running on Carpet-ground, and fhod as lightly as a Newmarket f Ibid. g Milbourn, p. 9. Ibid. p. 175. i Pag. 39. 1 Oldmixon, Effay on Criticiím, p. 84. m Milbourn, p 2. n Pag. 35. NISTRY, &c. To make Sense of some paffages, they must be construed into ROYAL SCANDALF. He is a Popish Rhymefter, bred up with a contempt of the Sacred Writings 8. His Religion allows him to deftroy Herteicks, not only with his pen, but with fire and fword; and fuch were all those unhappy Wits whom he facrificed to his accurfed Popish Principles h. It deferved Vengeance to fuggeft, that Mr Pope had lefs Infallibity than his Namefake at Rome i. Mr POPE only a Verfifier. The fmooth numbers of the Dunciad are all that recommend it, nor has it any other merit k. It must be owned that he hath got a notable knack of rhyming and writing fmooth verfe 1. Mr POPE's HOMER. The Homer which Lintot prints, does not talk like Homer, but like Pope; and he who tranflated him, one would fwear, had a Hill in Tipperary for his Parnaffus, and a puddle in fome Bog for his Hippocrene m. He has no Admirers among thofe that can distinguish, discern, and judge ". |