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diff --git a/33080.txt b/33080.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f86df84 --- /dev/null +++ b/33080.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2389 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope, by Colley Cibber + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope + +Author: Colley Cibber + +Release Date: July 5, 2010 [EBook #33080] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTER--MR. CIBBER TO MR. POPE *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + + + To H. T. Swedenberg, Junior + _founder_, _protector_, _friend_ + + _He that delights to_ Plant _and_ Set, + _Makes_ After-Ages _in his_ Debt. + + + Where could they find another formed so fit, + To poise, with solid sense, a sprightly wit? + Were these both wanting, as they both abound, + Where could so firm integrity be found? + + +The verse and emblem are from George Wither, _A Collection of Emblems, +Ancient and Modern_ (London, 1635), illustration xxxv, page 35. + +The lines of poetry (123-126) are from "To My Honoured Kinsman John +Driden," in John Dryden, _The Works of John Dryden_, ed. Sir Walter +Scott, rev. and corr. George Saintsbury (Edinburgh: William Patterson, +1885), xi, 78. + + + + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + + COLLEY CIBBER + + + A LETTER FROM Mr. _CIBBER_ TO Mr. _POPE_ + + (1742) + + + _Introduction by_ + HELENE KOON + + + PUBLICATION NUMBER 158 + WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + 1973 + + + + +GENERAL EDITORS + + William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles + Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles + David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles + +ADVISORY EDITORS + + Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan + James L. Clifford, Columbia University + Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia + Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles + Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago + Louis A. Landa, Princeton University + Earl Miner, Princeton University + Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota + Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles + Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + James Sutherland, University College, London + H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles + Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + Curt A. Zimansky, State University of Iowa + +CORRESPONDING SECRETARY + + Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + +EDITORIAL ASSISTANT + + Jean T. Shebanek, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + +Typography by Wm. M. Cheney + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +In the twentieth century, Colley Cibber's name has become synonymous +with "fool." Pope's _Dunciad_, the culmination of their long quarrel, +has done its work well, and Cibber, now too often regarded merely as a +pretentious dunce, has been relegated to an undeserved obscurity. + +The history of this feud is replete with inconsistencies.[1] The image +Cibber presents of himself as a charming, good-natured, thick-skinned +featherbrain is as true as Pope's of himself as a patient, humorous, +objective moralist. Each picture is somewhat manipulated by its creator. +The reasons behind the manipulation are less matters of outright untruth +than of complex personalities disclosing only what they regard as +pertinent. Cibber, the actor, always tries to charm his audience; Pope, +the satirist, proffers those aspects best suited to his moral purpose. + +Although the fact of their differences is evident in Pope's writings +after 1730, explanations of the cause, continuation and climax tend to +be muddled. The cause generally cited is Cibber's story in the Letter +concerning _Three Hours after Marriage_ and _The Rehearsal_. This is not +only a one-sided version, it is not even strongly substantiated. As +Norman Ault pointed out, it was not reported in any of the periodicals +at a time when such incidents were seized upon by journalists hungry for +gossip.[2] The only confirmation aside from Cibber is Montagu Bacon's +letter to his cousin James Montagu, which gives a slightly less +vivacious account: + + 'I don't know whether you heard, before you went out of town, that + _The Rehearsal_ was revived ... and Cibber interlarded it with + several things in ridicule of the last play, upon which Pope went + up to him and told him he was a rascal, and if he were able he + would cane him; that his friend Gay was a proper fellow, and if he + went on in his sauciness he might expect such a reception from + him. The next night Gay came accordingly, and, treating him as Pope + had done the night before, Cibber very fairly gave him a fillip on + the nose, which made them both roar. The Guards came and parted + them, and carried away Gay, and so ended this poetical scuffle.'[3] + +A more likely cause is the second story in the _Letter_, the visit to +the bawdy house. If, as Ault goes on to suggest, there is even a shadow +of truth in it, Pope's attitude, as well as his reluctance to reveal its +cause, is understandable. The question then becomes: why did he +continually provoke Cibber, knowing the latter had such a story at hand? +This, however, might not be so illogical as it appears. Pope's work in +the thirties abounds in sneers at the actor, but none of them is equal +in scale to the full attack launched against Theobald. In comparison +with the 1735 portraits of Atticus and Sporus, the comments on Cibber +are minor barbs that could be ignored by a man whose reputation was +secure in its own right. Cibber evidently believed he was in such a +position, for he offered no defense before 1740, and took no offensive +action before 1742. + +The "wicked wasp of Twickenham" is supposed to have meditated long and +fiendishly before bursting forth against his enemies, yet the _Dunciad_ +of 1728 reveals no evidence of long fermentation. The choice of Theobald +as king of the Dunces obviously derives from _Shakespeare Restored; or a +Specimen of the many errors as well committed as unamended by Mr. Pope, +in his late edition of that Poet_ (1726). Theobald's remarks on Pope's +slipshod editing of Shakespeare are not couched in diplomatic terms, and +would be especially galling if Warburton's note is true: + + During two whole years while Mr. Pope was preparing his Edition of + Shakespear, he publish'd Advertisements, requesting assistance, and + promising satisfaction to any who could contribute to its greater + perfection. But this Restorer, who was at that time solliciting + favours of him by letters, did wholly conceal his design, till + after its publication: (which he was since not asham'd to own, in a + _Daily Journal_, of Nov. 26, 1728.)[4] + +Pedantic, unimaginative and presumptuous, Theobald was the logical +choice for a Dunce King in 1728. Dennis, Ducket, Burnet, Gildon _et +cie._, had assailed him for years, and the prompt responses by +Scriblerus merely increased their fury. Pope bore as many undeserved +blows as Cibber, and he was no model of patience; the intense +hostilities waged against him in the twenties were ample cause for an +epic answer.[5] + +Pope claimed he attacked only those who had attacked him. It seems +strange that, among the inimical host who had indulged in verbal +violence, he should have revised his satire against the one man who had +not contributed to the paper war, and who had, in his _Apology_, made +humble acknowledgment of Pope's gifts: "How terrible a Weapon is Satyr +in the hands of a great Genius?" Cibber asks, remarking on Pope's acid +portrait of Addison, and adds: + + But the Pain which the Acrimony of those Verses gave me is, in some + measure, allay'd in finding that this inimitable Writer, as he + advances in Years, has since had Candour enough to celebrate the + same Person for his visible Merit. Happy Genius! whose Verse, like + the Eye of Beauty, can heal the deepest Wounds with the least + Glance of Favour.[6] + +Even stranger is that with such eminent and vocal enemies as Lord Hervey +and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, he should have been concerned with a +seventy-year-old semi-retired player who was too ineffectual, it would +appear, to be a proper target for his great satire, and whose words in +print could never have been a real threat. + +The words "in print" are important, especially with reference to Cibber. +As far as direct attack in the form of broadsides, pamphlets and the +like, Cibber is clearly innocent; however, like many actors, he was an +expert improvisator of stage dialogue, and this in itself is a reason to +believe that his side of the feud was kept up from the theater platform. +A more potent and public method of ridicule would be difficult to +devise. + +Stage warfare was as prevalent as paper warfare, as Cibber's mockery of +_Three Hours after Marriage_ suggests, and as the prologues and +epilogues amply demonstrate. _The Non-Juror_ (1719) with its +anti-Catholic remarks and its Jesuit villain played by Cibber himself, +has several barbs directed at Pope.[7] + +If Pope's wounds had been festering since 1715, he had a perfect +opportunity to avenge them in the _Dunciad Variorum_ of 1729. When Gay's +_Polly_ was suppressed that year, Cibber was accused of being +responsible (though it was never proved),[8] since he had first refused +_The Beggar's Opera_, and then failed miserably to imitate its success +with his own _Love in a Riddle_. He was at this time more widely known +than Theobald, and had been a favorite target for anti-Hanoverians since +_The Non-Juror_.[9] It is very odd that Pope should have ignored this +chance, particularly when so many of his dunces are playwrights, only to +take it up fourteen years later under much less favorable +circumstances--when he himself was mortally ill and Cibber out of the +public eye--unless something else had provoked him. + +One view is that the laureateship triggered the alteration, but while it +is true that Cibber was one of the worst versifiers ever to wear the +bays, that honor had been conferred in 1730, thirteen years before the +last _Dunciad_. The flood of burlesque Odes that followed each of +Cibber's Birth-Day and New-Year efforts had ebbed by the mid-thirties, +and in 1743 the laureate was a stale joke. + +The _Apology_'s praise of Pope did not benefit Cibber; years before the +_Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot_ had stated: + + A Fool quite angry is quite innocent; + Alas! 'tis ten times worse when they repent (108-109). + +and the minor slap on the wrist was misquoted by Pope, as the _Letter_ +points out. The exchange is interesting, for it is an indication that +the man behind the actor's mask might have been less thick-skinned than +he liked to seem, that he was genuinely hurt by Pope's shafts. + +Cibber did not mind being portrayed as a fool. That, after all was the +character he had created as Sir Novelty Fashion in _Love's Last Shift_ +(1696), and which he continued to play in public throughout his life. +But a charge of immorality did bother him, for he was anxious to be +considered a moral man. Apparently he was--his enemies charged him with +gambling, highhandedness and plagiarism, but his life seems to have +been surprisingly free of the kind of scandal that plagued most +theatrical personalities. His plays embody the materialistic +middle-class values which he champions in his later prose writings, and +of all Pope's arrows, "And has not Colley still his lord and whore?"[10] +seems to have struck deepest. It may be significant that the bawdy house +story follows close upon Cibber's plaintive remonstrance against this +line. + +As long as Cibber was in his own territory, he could answer Pope orally, +but when he at last decided to reply in print, he was at a distinct +disadvantage. The actor has a notorious disregard for the written word; +his own experience on stage tells him that what is being said has less +impact than the manner in which it is delivered. Cibber's lack of +concern for language had been well publicized. His comment that Anne +Oldfield "Out-did her usual Out-doing"[11] was never allowed to rest, +and Fielding rarely missed an opportunity to use Cibber's "paraphonalia" +against him; that the most merciless parody of his Odes could scarcely +sink to the depths of the originals, did not deter the efforts of the +parodists.[12] + +He was not entirely insensible of his weaknesses. The second edition of +_The Provoked Husband_ was silently changed to "Out-did her usual +Excellence," and the spelling of paraphernalia corrected. Dr. Johnson's +testimony supports this view of Cibber's seriousness: + + His friends gave out that he _intended_ his birth-day Odes should + be bad: but that was not the case, Sir; for he kept them many + months by him, and a few years before he died he shewed me one of + them, with great solicitude to render it as perfect as might be, + and I made some corrections, to which he was not very willing to + submit.[13] + +His unwillingness to take Johnson's advice might be more than mere +egotism, if the Ode was the same one mentioned elsewhere in the _Life_, +"I remember when he brought me one of his Odes to have my opinion of it, +I could not bear such nonsense, and would not let him read it to the +end; so little respect had I for _that great man_! (laughing.)."[14] + +The laureateship marked only one of several changes in Cibber's life. In +1730, the triumvirate of actor-managers and their leading lady, a +quartet which had supported Drury Lane through its most prosperous +years, was broken by the death of Anne Oldfield; Wilks followed in 1732, +and Booth, too ill to perform for two years, in 1733. Cibber's royal +appointment meant a sure annual income of L100 (plus a butt of sack +worth L26), his children were grown, and he could afford some freedom +from the demands of the theater at last. He continued to act, but with +lessening frequency, until 1746, when as Cardinal Pandulph in his own +_Papal Tyranny in the Reign of King John_, he played the last role of a +career spanning more than half a century. + +By 1740, he was far enough removed from the theater to have a slightly +different perspective on language. The _Apology_ betrays a concern for +his reputation beyond the immediate audience, and the need to leave a +written record other than his plays. Cibber had written prefaces and +dedications, but from this point on, he was to pursue his nondramatic +writing with _The egoist; or, Colley upon Cibber Being His Own Picture +retouch'd, to so plain a Likeness, that no One, now, would have the Face +to own it, but Himself_ (1743); _The lady's lecture, a theatrical +dialogue, between Sir Charles Easy and his marriageable daughter. Being +an attempt to engage obedience by filial liberty, and to given the +maiden conduct of virtue, chearfulness_ (1748); and _The Character and +Conduct of Cicero_ (1749), which Davies defends: + + A player daring to write upon a known subject without a college + permission, was a shocking offense; and yet Dr. Middleton, to whom + the conduct of Cicero was addressed, spoke of it with respect; and + Mr. Hooke, the writer of the best Roman History in our language, + has quoted Cibber's arguments in this [his?] pamphlet against the + murderers of Julius Caesar, and speaks of them, not only with + honour, but insists upon them as cogent and unanswerable.[15] + +Cibber seems to have become more and more aware of the written word as a +powerful legacy, and Pope's attacks began to hold a menace they had not +had during the years of lighthearted stage warfare. On 20 March 1742, +the _New Dunciad_ struck him with enough force to cause him to reply +with this open _Letter_ of 7 July, which attracted a great deal of +attention.[16] Four engravings and at least six pamphlets, all focusing +on the bawdy house story, were shortly in circulation. Whether or not +the story is true, or whether it was even believed, is immaterial. Its +importance lies in that it allowed Pope's enemies to have at him in the +most devastating way. The _Letter_ may well have been as painful as +Jonathan Richardson, Jr. claimed when he told Dr. Johnson that + + he attended his father, the painter, on a visit to Twickenham when + one of Cibber's pamphlets had just come into Pope's hands. 'These + things are my diversion,' said Pope. They sat by him while he read + it, and saw his features writhing with anguish. After the visitors + had taken their leave, young Richardson said to his father that he + 'hoped to be preserved from such diversion as had been that day the + lot of Pope.'[17] + +If so, the other attacks must have been shattering, since they lacked +even the surface good humor of Cibber's _Letter_. Pope, at any rate, was +concerned enough to tell Spence: + + The story published by Cibber, as to the main point, is an absolute + lie. I do remember that I was invited by Lord Warwick to pass an + evening with him. He carried me and Cibber in his coach to a + bawdy-house. There was a woman there, but I had nothing to do with + her of the kind that Cibber mentions, to the best of my memory--and + I had so few things of that kind ever on my hands that I could + scarce have forgot it, especially so circumstanced as he + pretends.[18] + +An answer to the _Letter_ was demanded, and it was not long in coming. +In August/September, Pope wrote his friend Hugh Bethel concerning a copy +of the _New Dunciad_ he had sent him: + + That poem has not done me, or my Quiet, the least harm; only it + provokd Cibber to write a very foolish & impudent Letter, which I + have no cause to be sorry for, & perhaps next Winter I shall be + thought to be glad of: But I lay in my Claim to you, to Testify for + me, that if he should chance to die before a New & Improved Edition + of the Dunciad comes out, I have already, actually written (before, + & not after his death) all I shall ever say about him.[19] + +A Cibber-baiting campaign was undertaken by the poet's friends, and the +actor responded with _The egoist_, in which he defended himself, as in +his _Apology_, by freely admitting his flaws with infuriating +complacency. Then a false leaf of the last _Dunciad_ came into his hands +(though certainly not directly from Pope), and he published a second, +very brief, letter which indicated some stress. Pope knew, and at least +tacitly approved, of these tactics, for in February of 1743, he wrote +Lord Marchmont: + + I won't publish the fourth _Dunciad_ as 'tis newset till + Michaelmas, that we may have time to play Cibber all the while.... + He will be stuck, like the man in the almanac, not deep, but all + over. He won't know which way to turn himself to. Exhausted at the + first stroke, and reduced to passion and calling names, so that he + won't be able to write more, and won't be able to bear living + without writing.[20] + +Copyright difficulties not mentioned by Pope prevented the Michaelmas +publication date, but on 29 October 1743, the final _Dunciad_ appeared +with its new hero, for all the world to see. + +Cibber kept his promise to "have the last word." _Another Letter from +Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope_ followed the publication of this _Dunciad_, +stating his grievances with somewhat less humor, a number of +scatological references, and an accusation against Warburton for +instigating the change. Included was a twenty-page aside on the +offending Bishop, revealing a startlingly thorough knowledge of his +writings. This was the end. Cibber's friends were eager for him to keep +up his side of the battle, but he, having had his say, resumed his +good-humor and refused to speak out again. + +It has been suggested that Pope may have planned the change in hero +earlier, and aimed the _New Dunciad_ with the express purpose of goading +Cibber into just such a reply as the _Letter_. This is, of course, +possible, but it cannot be more than speculation; the final _Dunciad_ +does show evidence of hasty revision. Pope was severely ill when his +last variation on the dunce theme appeared, and the seven months of life +remaining to him were clearly not enough to permit him to polish it to +the level of perfection customary in his work. But, as Warburton once +noted, quality and posterity have awarded Pope the final say: + + Quoth Cibber to Pope, Tho' in Verse you foreclose, + I'll have the last Word; for by G--, I'll write prose. + Poor Colly, thy Reas'ning is none of the strongest, + For know, the last Word is the Word that lasts longest.[21] + +Cibber's words have not been reprinted since the eighteenth century, and +his reputation has become so distorted it is sometimes difficult to find +the man who, for so many years, amused and delighted London audiences. +Yet, if one looks closely, under the froth and foppery, some of the +charm and perception of the man still shines through. And, of more +importance to the world of literature, it seems fairly clear that, +whatever the original offense, the _Dunciad_ as we know it today was a +direct result of this _Letter_. + + + California State College + San Bernardino + + + + +NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION + +[1] Not even the winner of the contest has been beyond dispute. 150 +years afterward, Robert W. Lowe, "Supplementary Chapter to Colley +Cibber's Apology" in his edition of _An Apology for the Life of Colley +Cibber, Comedian, and Late Patentee of the Theatre-Royal_ (London: J. C. +Nimmo, 1889), II, 270, remarks on Cibber's later years: "His [Cibber's] +state of mind was probably the more 'chearful and contented' because of +his unquestionable success in his tilt with the formidable author of +'The Dunciad;' a success none the less certain at the time, that the +enduring fame of Pope has caused Cibber's triumph over him to be lost +sight of now." + +[2] Norman Ault, _New Light on Pope_ (London: Methuen, 1949), pp. +298-307. + +[3] George Paston [Emily Morse Symmonds], _Mr. Pope His Life and Times_ +(London: Hutchinson & Co., 1909), I, 197. + +[4] Alexander Pope, _Works_, ed. William Warburton (London: J. and P. +Knapton, 1751), V, 86 (Book I, line 108). Griffith 643. This is a note +to the variations on lines 108ff: "But chief in BAYS'S monster-breeding +breast" and the wording is slightly altered from the earlier note quoted +in the Twickenham edition, V, 75, _Dunciad_ (A), Book I, line 106n. + +[5] J. V. Guerinot, _Pamphlet Attacks on Alexander Pope 1711-1744_ (New +York: New York University Press, 1969), lists 15 pamphlets between 1724 +and the publication of the first _Dunciad_, but he does not include the +frequent newspaper comments. + +[6] Cibber, I, 38-39. + +[7] William H. Peterson, "Pope and Cibber's _The Non-Juror_" MLN, LXX +(May, 1955), 332-335. Three instances are given: + + 1. Maria, the coquette, quotes _The Rape of the Lock_ with great + relish. The praise is in the wrong mouth. + + 2. Maria speaks slightingly of her English version of Homer. Pope's + last volume had just come out. + + 3. Dr. Wolf refers to "Eloisa and Abelard" in his second attempt to + seduce Lady Woodvil. The argument is twisted out of context. + +These elements, combined with the strong anti-Catholic sentiment, would +certainly point attention toward Pope, and, in any case, were not +calculated to please him. + +[8] See R. H. Barker, _Mr. Cibber of Drury Lane_ (New York: Columbia +University Press, 1939), p. 151. + +[9] Cibber's supposition that Pope wrote the _Clue to the Non-Juror_ has +subsequently been established as correct. See Ault, pp. 303-313. + +[10] _Epistle to Arbuthnot_, 97. It should be noted here that Cibber +misquotes the line, a failing habitual to him. The anonymous pamphlet, +_A Blast upon Bays; or, a New Lick at the Laureat_, which appeared +shortly after the Letter, points out rather severely the difference in +meaning between Cibber's "too" and Pope's "still", maintaining a +mistress twenty years after the events, _A Blast_ is as heated in +defense of Pope as it is in attack against Cibber, but it offers no +evidence; aside from Pope's original line, it is the only charge of this +kind among contemporary attacks. + +[11] Colley Cibber, _The Provoked Husband_ (London, 1728), Preface. + +[12] Two examples from the Birth-day Odes will give some idea of the +Cibberian quality: + + Her Fleets, that now the Seas command, + Were late upon her Forests growing; + Her wholesome Stores, for every Band, + As late within her Fields were sowing. (1741) + + Behold! in clouds of fire serene, + The royal hero heads his pow'rs: + Alike to fame, with raptures seen, + His younger hope, the eaglet soars. + Fortune, to grace her fav'rite son, + Stamps on his bleeding form renown. (1743) + +[13] James Boswell, _Life of Johnson_, ed. George Birkbeck Hill, rev. L. +F. Powell (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934), I, 402. + +[14] Boswell, II, 92-93. + +[15] Thomas Davies, _Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick, Esq._ +(London, 1780), II, 202. + +[16] In the Twickenham Edition of _The Dunciad_ (London: Methuen, 2nd +ed. rev., 1953, pp. xxxiii-xxxiv and (B) 341), James Sutherland refers +to line 20 ("Soft on her lap her Laureat son reclines") and holds that +Cibber's answer may have been less a protest than a warning. In _The New +Dunciad_ (1742), however, the footnote to this line expands the satire, +quotes from the _Apology_ and is a sharper attack than the line itself. + +[17] Paston, I, 687. + +[18] Joseph Spence, _Observations, Anecdotes and Characters of Books and +Men_, ed. James M. Osborn (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), I, 110 (no. +251). + +[19] Alexander Pope, Correspondence, ed. George Sherburn (Oxford: Oxford +University Press, 1956), IV, 415. + +[20] Spence, I, 148-149 (no. 331). + +[21] Pope, _Works_, V. 89 (Book I, line 109n). This verse appears in +the Twickenham edition, V, 276, as a note to _Dunciad_ (B) Book I, line +104. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +The facsimile of _A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope_ (1742) is +reproduced by permission from a copy of the first edition (Shelf Mark: +114527) in _The Huntington Library, San Marino, California_. The total +type-page (p. 47) measures 165 x 85 mm. + + + + +A LETTER FROM Mr. _CIBBER_, TO Mr. _POPE_. + +Price One Shilling. + + + + + A LETTER FROM Mr. _CIBBER_, TO Mr. _POPE_, + + + Inquiring into the MOTIVES that might + induce him in his SATYRICAL WORKS, + to be so frequently fond of + Mr. CIBBER'S Name. + + + _Out of thy own Mouth will I judge thee._ + Pref. to the _Dunciad_. + + + _LONDON_, + Printed: And Sold by W. LEWIS in + _Russel-Street, Covent-Garden_. + M DCC XLII. + Price 1s. + + + + +A LETTER TO Mr. _POPE_, &c. + + +_SIR_, + +As you have for several Years past (particularly in your Poetical Works) +mentioned my Name, without my desiring it; give me leave, at last, to +make my due Compliments to _Yours_ in Prose, which I should not choose +to do, but that I am really driven to it (as the Puff in the Play-Bills +says) _At the Desire of several Persons of Quality_. + +If I have lain so long stoically silent, or unmindful of your satyrical +Favours, it was not so much for want of a proper Reply, as that I +thought they never needed a Publick one: For all People of Sense would +know, what Truth or Falshood there was in what you have said of me, +without my wisely pointing it out to them. Nor did I choose to follow +your Example of being so much a Self-Tormentor, as to be concern'd at +whatever Opinion of me any publish'd Invective might infuse into People +unknown to me: Even the Malicious, though they may like the Libel, don't +always believe it. But since the Publication of your last new _Dunciad_ +(where you still seem to enjoy your so often repeated Glory of being +bright upon my Dulness) my Friends now insist, that it will be thought +Dulness indeed, or a plain Confession of my being a Bankrupt in Wit, if +I don't immediately answer those Bills of Discredit you have drawn upon +me: For, say they, your dealing with him, like a Gentleman, in your +_Apology for your own Life_, &c. you see, has had no sensible Effect +upon him, as appears by the wrong-headed Reply his Notes upon the new +_Dunciad_ have made to it: For though, in that _Apology_ you seem to +have offer'd him a friendly release of all Damages, yet as it is plain +he scorns to accept it, by his still holding you at Defiance with fresh +Abuses, you have an indisputable Right to resume that Discharge, and may +now, as justly as ever, call him to account for his many bygone Years of +Defamation. But pray, Gentlemen, said I, if, as you seem to believe, his +Defamation has more of Malice than Truth in it, does he not blacken +himself by it? Why then should I give myself the trouble to prove, what +you, and the World are already convinc'd of? and since after near twenty +Years having been libell'd by our Daily-paper Scriblers, I never was so +hurt, as to give them one single Answer, why would you have me seem to +be more sore now, than at any other time? + +As to those dull Fellows, they granted my Silence was right; yet they +could not but think Mr. _Pope_ was too eminent an Author to justify my +equal Contempt of him; and that a Disgrace, from such a Pen, might stick +upon me to Posterity: In fine, that though I could not be rouz'd from my +Indifference, in regard to myself, yet for the particular Amusement of +my Acquaintance, they desired I would enter the Lists with you; +notwithstanding I am under the Disadvantage of having only the blunt +and weak weapon of Prose, to oppose you, or defend myself, against the +Sharpness of Verse, and that in the Hand of so redoubted an Author as +Mr. _Pope_. + +Their spiriting me up to this unequal Engagement, I doubt is but an ill +Compliment to my Skill, or my Discretion; or, at best, seems but to put +me upon a level with a famous Boxer at the _Bear-Garden_, called _Rugged +and Tough_, who would stand being drubb'd for Hours together, 'till +wearying out his Antagonist by the repeated Labour of laying him on, and +by keeping his own Wind (like the _Roman_ Combatant of old, who +conquer'd by seeming to fly) honest _Rugged_ sometimes came off +victorious. All I can promise therefore, since I am stript for the +Combat, is, that I will so far imitate this Iron-headed Hero (as the +_Turks_ called the late King of _Sweden_) as always to keep my Temper, +as he did his Wind, and that while I have Life, or am able to set Pen to +Paper, I will now, Sir, have the last Word with you: For let the Odds of +your Wit be never so great, or its Pen dipt in whatever Venom it may, +while I am conscious you can say nothing truly of me, that ought to put +an honest Man to the Blush, what, in God's Name, can I have to fear +from you? As to the Reputation of my Attempts, in Poetry, that has taken +its Ply long ago, and can now no more be lessened by your coldest +Contempt, than it can be raised by your warmest Commendation, were you +inclin'd to give it any: Every Man's Work must and will always speak +_For_, or _Against_ itself, whilst it has a remaining Reader in the +World. All I shall say then as to that Point, is, that I wrote more to +be Fed, than be Famous, and since my Writings still give me a Dinner, do +you rhyme me out of my Stomach if you can. And I own myself so contented +a Dunce, that I would not have even your merited Fame in Poetry, if it +were to be attended with half the fretful Solicitude you seem to have +lain under to maintain it; of which the laborious Rout you make about +it, in those Loads of Prose Rubbish, wherewith you have almost smother'd +your _Dunciad_, is so sore a Proof: And though I grant it a better Poem +of its Kind, than ever was writ; yet when I read it, with those +vain-glorious encumbrances of Notes, and Remarks, upon almost every Line +of it, I find myself in the uneasy Condition I was once in at an Opera, +where sitting with a silent Desire to hear a favourite Air, by a famous +Performer, a Coxcombly Connoisseur, at my Elbow, was so fond of shewing +his own Taste, that by his continual Remarks, and prating in Praise of +every Grace and Cadence, my Attention and Pleasure in the Song was quite +lost and confounded. + +It is almost amazing, that you, who have writ with such masterly Spirit, +upon the _Ruling Passion_, should be so blind a Slave to your own, as +not to have seen, how far a low Avarice of Praise might prejudice, or +debase that valuable Character, which your Works, without your own +commendatory Notes upon them, might have maintained. _Laus propria +sordet_, is a Line we learn in our Infancy. How applicable to your self +then is what you say of another Person, _viz._ + + _Whose Ruling Passion is the lust of Praise; + Born, with whate'er could win it from the Wise, + Women and Fools must like him, or he dies._ + Epist. to Ld. _Cobham_ Vers. 183. + +How easily now can you see the Folly in another, which you yourself are +so fond of? Why, Sir, the very Jealousy of Fame, which (in the best +cruel Verses that ever fell from your Pen) you have with so much +Asperity reproved in _Addison_ (_Atticus_ I mean) falls still short of +yours, for though you impute it to him as a Crime, That he could---- + + _Bear, like the_ Turk, _no Brother near the Throne._ + Vers. 190 of the same Epist. + +Yet you, like outragious _Nero_, are for whipping and branding every +poor Dunce in your Dominions, that had the stupid Insolence not to like +you, or your Musick! If this is not a greater Tyranny than that of your +_Atticus_, at least you must allow it more ridiculous: For what have you +gain'd by it? a mighty Matter! a Victory over a parcel of poor Wretches, +that were not able to hurt or resist you, so weak, it was almost +Cowardice to conquer them; or if they actually _did_ hurt you, how much +weaker have you shewn yourself in so openly owning it? Besides, your +Conduct seems hardly reconcileable to your own Opinion: For after you +have lash'd them (in your Epistle to Dr. _Arburthnot_, ver. 84.) you +excuse the Cruelty of it in the following Line. + + ------_Take it for a Rule, + No Creature smarts so little as a Fool._ + +Now if this be true, to what purpose did you correct them? For wise Men, +without your taking such Pains to tell them, knew what they were +before. And that publick-spirited Pretence of your only chastising them, +_in terrorem_ to others of the same malicious Disposition, I doubt is +but too thin a Disguise of the many restless Hours they have given you. +If your Revenge upon them was necessary, we must own you have amply +enjoy'd it: But to make that Revenge the chief Motive of writing your +_Dunciad_, seems to me a Weakness, that an Author of your Abilities +should rather have chosen to conceal. A Man might as well triumph for +his having kill'd so many silly Flies that offended him. Could you have +let them alone, by this time, poor Souls, they had been all peaceably +buried in Oblivion! But the very Lines, you have so sharply pointed to +destroy them, will now remain but so many of their Epitaphs, to transmit +their Names to Posterity: Which probably too they may think a more +eligible Fate than that of being totally forgotten. Hear what an Author +of great Merit, though of less Anxiety for Fame, says upon this +Weakness, + + _Fame is a Bubble, the Reserv'd enjoy, + Who strive to grasp it, as they touch, destroy._ + Y-- Univers. Passion. + +In a word, you seem in your _Dunciad_, to have been angry at the rain +for wetting you, why then would you go into it? You could not but know, +that an Author, when he publishes a Work, exposes himself to all +Weathers. He then that cannot bear the worst, should stay at home, and +not write at all. + +But Sir--That _Cibber_ ever murmured at your Fame, or endeavoured to +blast it, or that he was not always, to the best of his Judgment, as +warm an Admirer of your Writings as any of your nearest Friends could +be, is what you cannot, by any one Fact or Instance, disprove. How comes +it then, that in your Works you have so often treated him as a Dunce or +an Enemy? Did he at all intrench upon your Sovereignty in Verse, because +he had now and then written a Comedy that succeeded? Or could not you +bear, that any kind of Poetry, but that, to which you chiefly pretended, +should meet with Applause? Or was it, that he had an equal Reputation +for Acting his own Characters as for Writing them, or that with such +inferior Talents he was admitted to as good Company as you, with your +superior, could get into; or what other offensive Merit had he, that has +so often made him the Object of your Contempt or Envy? It could not be, +sure, simple Ill-nature, that incited you, because in the Preface to +your _Dunciad_ you declare that you have------ + + "In this Poem attacked no Man living, who had not before printed, + or published some Scandal against you." + +How comes it, I say, that you have so often fallen foul upon _Cibber_ +then, against whom you have no Complaint, nor whose Name is so much as +mentioned in the printed List you have given us of all those high +Offenders, you so imperiously have proscribed and punish'd. Under this +Class at least, you acquit him of having ever provoked you? + +But in your Notes, to this Preface (that is, in your Notes upon Notes) +from this general Declaration, you make an Exception,--"Of two, or three +Persons only, whose Dulness or Scurrility all Mankind agreed, to have +justly intitled them to a Place in the _Dunciad_." Here then, or no +where, you ground your Pretence of taking Me into it! Now let us enquire +into the Justness of this Pretence, and whether Dulness in one Author +gives another any right to abuse him for it? No sure! Dulness can be no +Vice or Crime, or is at worst but a Misfortune, and you ought no more +to censure or revile him for it, than for his being blind or lame; the +Cruelty or Injustice will be evidently equal either way. But if you +please I will wave this part of my Argument, and for once take no +advantage of it; but will suppose Dulness to be actually Criminal, and +then will leave it to your own Conscience, to declare, whether you +really think I am generally so guilty of it, as to deserve the Name of +the Dull Fellow you make of me. Now if the Reader will call upon My +Conscience to speak to the Question, I do from my Heart solemnly +declare, that I don't believe you _do_ think so of me. This I grant may +be Vanity in me to say: But if what I believe is true, what a slovenly +Conscience do you shew your Face with? + +Now, Sir, as for my Scurrility, when ever a Proof can be produced, that +I have been guilty of it to you, or any one Man living, I will +shamefully unsay all I have said, and confess I have deserv'd the +various Names you have call'd me. + +Having therefore said enough to clear my self of any Ill-will or Enmity +to Mr. _Pope_, I should be glad he were able equally to acquit himself +to Me, that I might not suppose the satyrical Arrows he has shot at me, +to have flown from that Malignity of Mind, which the talking World is so +apt to accuse him of. In the mean while, it may be worth the trouble to +weigh the Truth, or Validity of the Wit he has bestow'd upon me, that it +may appear, which of us is the worse Man for it; He, for his unprovoked +Endeavour to vilify and expose me, or--I, for my having or having not +deserv'd it. + +I could wish it might be observed then, by those who have read the Works +of Mr. _Pope_, that the contemptuous Things he there says of me, are +generally bare positive Assertions, without his any sort of Evidence to +ground them upon: Why then, till the Truth of them is better prov'd, +should they stand for any more, than so many _gratis Dictums_? But I +hope I have given him fairer Play, in what I have said of him, and which +I intend to give him, in what I shall farther say of him; that is, by +saying nothing to his Disadvantage that has not a known Fact to support +it. This will bring our Cause to a fair Issue; and no impartial Reader, +then, can be at a loss on which side Equity should incline him to give +Judgment. But as in this Dispute I shall be oblig'd, sometimes to be +_Witness_, as well as _Accuser_, I am bound, in Conscience, not to +conceal any Fact, that may possibly mitigate, or excuse the resentful +manner, in which Mr. _Pope_ has publickly treated me. Now I am afraid, +that I once as publickly offended him, before a thousand Spectators; to +the many of them, therefore, who might be Witnesses of the Fact, I +submit, as to the most competent Judges, how far it ought, or ought not, +to have provoked him. + +The Play of the _Rehearsal_, which had lain some few Years dormant, +being by his present Majesty (then Prince of _Wales_) commanded to be +revived, the Part of _Bays_ fell to my share. To this Character there +had always been allow'd such ludicrous Liberties of Observation, upon +any thing new, or remarkable, in the state of the Stage, as Mr. _Bays_ +might think proper to take. Much about this time, then, _The Three Hours +after Marriage_ had been acted without Success; when Mr. _Bays_, as +usual, had a fling at it, which, in itself, was no Jest, unless the +Audience would please to make it one: But however, flat as it was, Mr. +_Pope_ was mortally sore upon it. This was the Offence. In this Play, +two Coxcombs, being in love with a learned Virtuoso's Wife, to get +unsuspected Access to her, ingeniously send themselves, as two +presented Rarities, to the Husband, the one curiously swath'd up like an +_Egyptian_ Mummy, and the other slily cover'd in the Paste-board Skin of +a Crocodile: upon which poetical Expedient, I, Mr. _Bays_, when the two +Kings of _Brentford_ came from the Clouds into the Throne again, instead +of what my Part directed me to say, made use of these Words, viz. "Now, +Sir, this Revolution, I had some Thoughts of introducing, by a quite +different Contrivance; but my Design taking air, some of your sharp +Wits, I found, had made use of it before me; otherwise I intended to +have stolen one of them in, in the Shape of a _Mummy_, and t'other, in +that of a _Crocodile_." Upon which, I doubt, the Audience by the Roar of +their Applause shew'd their proportionable Contempt of the Play they +belong'd to. But why am I answerable for that? I did not lead them, by +any Reflection of my own, into that Contempt: Surely to have used the +bare Word _Mummy_, and _Crocodile_, was neither unjust, or unmannerly; +Where then was the Crime of simply saying there had been two such things +in a former Play? But this, it seems, was so heinously taken by Mr. +_Pope_, that, in the swelling of his Heart, after the Play was over, he +came behind the Scenes, with his Lips pale and his Voice trembling, to +call me to account for the Insult: And accordingly fell upon me with all +the foul Language, that a Wit out of his Senses could be capable +of------How durst I have the Impudence to treat any Gentleman in that +manner? _&c. &c. &c._ Now let the Reader judge by this Concern, who was +the true Mother of the Child! When he was almost choked with the foam of +his Passion, I was enough recover'd from my Amazement to make him (as +near as I can remember) this Reply, _viz._ "Mr. _Pope_----You are so +particular a Man, that I must be asham'd to return your Language as I +ought to do: but since you have attacked me in so monstrous a Manner; +This you may depend upon, that as long as the Play continues to be +acted, I will never fail to repeat the same Words over and over again." +Now, as he accordingly found I kept my Word, for several Days following, +I am afraid he has since thought, that his Pen was a sharper Weapon than +his Tongue to trust his Revenge with. And however just Cause this may be +for his so doing, it is, at least, the only Cause my Conscience can +charge me with. Now, as I might have concealed this Fact, if my +Conscience would have suffered me, may we not suppose, Mr. _Pope_ would +certainly have mention'd it in his _Dunciad_, had he thought it could +have been of service to him? But as he seems, notwithstanding, to have +taken Offence from it, how well does this Soreness of Temper agree with +what he elsewhere says of himself? + + _But touch me, and no Minister so sore._ + 1 Sat. 2 B. of Hor. ver. 76. + +Since then, even his Admirers allow, that Spleen has a great share in +his Composition, and as Thirst of Revenge, in full Possession of a +conscious Power to execute it, is a Temptation, which we see the +Depravity of Human Nature is so little able to resist, why then should +we wonder, that a Man so easily hurt, as Mr. _Pope_ seems to be, should +be so frequently delighted in his inflicting those Pains upon others, +which he feels he is not himself able to bear? This is the only way I +can account for his having sometimes carried his satyrical Strokes +farther, than, I doubt, a true and laudable Satyrist would have thought +justifiable. But it is now time to open, what on my own part I have to +charge him with. + +In turning over his Works of the smaller Edition, the eldest Date I +find, in print, of my being out of his Favour, is from an odd Objection +he makes to a, then, new Play of mine, _The Non-Juror_. In one of his +Letters to Mr. _Jervas_, p. 85. he writes thus---- + + "Your Acquaintance, on this side the Water, are under terrible + Apprehensions, from your long stay in _Ireland_, that you may grow + too polite for them; for we think (since the great Success of _such + a Play as the Non-Juror_) that Politeness is gone over the Water, + _&c._ + +(By the way, was not his Wit a little stiff and weary, when he strained +so hard to bring in this costive Reflection upon the _Non-Juror_? Dear +Soul! What terrible Apprehensions it gave him!) And some few Lines after +he cries out---- + + "Poor Poetry! the little that's left of thee, longs to cross the + Seas---- + +Modestly meaning, I suppose, he had a mind to have gone over himself! If +he had gone, and had carried with him those polite Pieces, _The What +d'ye call it_, and _The Three Hours after Marriage_ (both which he had +a hand in) how effectually had those elaborate Examples of the true +Genius given, to the _Dublin_ Theatre, the Glory of Dramatick Poetry +restor'd? But _Drury-Lane_ was not so favourable to him; for there alas! +(where the last of them was unfortunately acted) he had so sore a Rap o' +the Fingers, that he never more took up his Pen for the Stage. But this +is not fair, you will say: My shewing Mr. _Pope_'s want of Skill in +Comedy, is no excuse for the want of it in myself; which his Satyr +sometimes charges me with: at least, it must be owned, it is not an easy +thing to hit by his missing it. And indeed I have had some doubt, as +there is no personal Reflection in it, whether I ought to have mention'd +his Objection to _The Non-Juror_ at all; but as the Particularity of it +may let one a good deal into the Sentiments of Mr. _Pope_, I could not +refrain from bestowing some farther Notes upon it. + +Well then! upon the great Success of this enormous Play, _The +Non-Juror_, poor Mr. _Pope_ laments the Decay of Poetry; though the +Impoliteness of the Piece is his only insinuated Objection against it. +How nice are the Nostrils of this delicate Critick! This indeed is a +Scent, that those wide-mouth'd Hounds the Daily-Paper Criticks could +never hit off! though they pursued it with the Imputation of every +Offence that could run down a Play: Yet Impoliteness at least they +oversaw. No! they did not disguise their real dislike, as the prudent +Mr. _Pope_ did; They all fairly spoke out, and in full Cry open'd +against it, only for its so audaciously exposing the sacred Character of +a lurking, treason-hatching Jesuit, and for inhumanly ridiculing the +conscientious Cause of an honest deluded Jacobite Gentleman. Now may we +not as well say to Mr. Pope, _Hinc illae lachrymae_! Here was his real +Disgust to the Play! For if Impoliteness could have so offended him, he +would never have bestowed such Encomiums upon the _Beggars Opera_, which +whatever Beauties it might boast, Politeness certainly was not one of +its most striking Features. No, no! if the Play had not so impudently +fallen upon the poor Enemies of the Government, Mr. _Pope_, possibly, +might have been less an Enemy to the Play: But he has a charitable +Heart, and cannot bear to see his Friends derided in their Distress: +Therefore you may have observed, whenever the Government censures a Man +of Consequence for any extraordinary Disaffection to it; then is Mr. +_Pope_'s time generously to brighten and lift him up with Virtues, +which never had been so conspicuous in him before. Now though he may be +led into all this, by his thinking it a Religious Duty; yet those who +are of a different Religion may sure be equally excused, if they should +notwithstanding look upon him as their Enemy. But to my Purpose. + +Whatever might be his real Objections to it, Mr. _Pope_ is, at least, so +just to the Play, as to own it had great Success, though it grieved him +to see it; perhaps too he would have been more grieved, had he then +known, that his late Majesty, when I had the Honour to kiss his Hand, +upon my presenting my Dedication of it, was graciously pleased, out of +his Royal Bounty, to order me two hundred Pounds for it. Yes, Sir! 'tis +true--such was the Depravity of the Time, you will say, and so enormous +was the Reward of _such a Play as The Non-Juror_! + +This brings to my Memory (what I cannot help smiling at) the bountiful +Banter, you at this time endeavoured to put upon me. This was the Fact I +had, not long before, been a Subscriber to your _Homer_: And now, to +make up our Poetical Accounts, as you call'd it, you sent me a Note, +with four Guineas inclosed, for four Tickets, for the Author's Day of +_such a Play as The Non-Juror_. So unexpected a Favour made me conclude, +there must be something at the bottom of it, which an indifferent Eye +might have overlooked: However I sent you the Tickets with a written +Acknowledgment; for I was willing you should think the kind Appearance +had passed upon me; though every Gentleman I told it to laugh'd at my +Credulity, wondering I should not see, you had plainly done this, in +scorn of my Subscription to your _Homer_. Which, to say the Truth, I +never had the least doubt of, but did not think myself so far obliged to +gratify your Pride, as to shew any sign of my feeling the Hurt you +intended me. Though, as this was in the Infancy of your Disinclination +to me, I confess, I might have been better pleased, would your Temper +have suffered me to have been upon better Terms with you: But so it is! +of such insensible Stuff am I made, that I have been rated by my +Friends, for not being surprized, or grieved at Disappointments. This I +only offer as an early Instance of our different Dispositions. My +Subscription had no Disguise, I thought it due to the Merit of Mr. +_Pope_: But that his Bounty to me rose from the same Motive, I am +afraid would be Vanity in me to suppose. + +There is another whimsical Fact relating to this Play, which common +Fame, just after the Run of it, charged to Mr. _Pope_: Had I his +Sagacity in detecting concealed Authors, or his laborious Curiosity to +know them, I do not doubt but I might bring my Fact to a Proof upon him; +but let my Suspicion speak for itself. At this time then there came out +a Pamphlet (the Title I have forgot) but the given Name of the Author +was _Barnevelt_, which every body believed to be fictitious. The Purport +of this odd Piece of Wit was to prove, that _The Non-Juror_ in its +Design, its Characters, and almost every Scene of it, was a closely +couched Jacobite Libel against the Government: And, in troth, the Charge +was in some places so shrewdly maintained, that I almost liked the Jest +myself; at least, it was so much above the Spirit, and Invention of the +Daily-Paper Satyrists, that all the sensible Readers I met with, without +Hesitation gave it to Mr. _Pope_. And what afterwards left me no doubt +of it was, that he published the same Charge against his own _Rape of +the Lock_, proving even the Design of that too, by the same sort of +merry Innuendos, to have been as audacious a Libel, as the other +Pamphlet had made _The Non-Juror_. In a word, there is so much +Similitude of Stile, and Thought, in these two Pieces, that it is scarce +possible to give them to different Authors. 'Tis true, at first Sight, +there appears no great Motive for Mr. _Pope_ to have written either of +them, more than to exercise the Wantonness of his Fancy: But some People +thought, he might have farther Views in this Frolick. He might hope, +that the honest Vulgar would take literally, his making a Libel of _The +Non-Juror_, and from thence have a good Chance of his turning the Stream +of their Favour against it. As for his playing the same game with his +_Rape of the Lock_, that he was, at least, sure could do him no harm; +but on the contrary he might hope, that such a ludicrous Self-accusation +might soften, or wipe off any severe Imputation that had lain upon other +parts of his Writings, which had not been thought equally Innocent of a +real Disaffection. This way of owning Guilt in a wrong Place, is a +common Artifice to hide it in a right one. Now though every Reader is +not obliged to take all I have said for Evidence in this Case; yet there +may be others, that are not obliged to refuse it. Let it therefore +avail no more, than in reality it ought to do. + +Since, as you say, in one of your Letters to Mr. _Addison_, "_To be +uncensured and to be obscure is the same thing_;" I hope then to appear +in a better Light, by quoting some of your farther Flirts at _The +Non-Juror_. + +In your Correspondence with Mr. _Digby_ p. 150. complaining of People's +Insensibility to good Writing, you say (with your usual sneer upon the +same Play) + + "The Stage is the only Place we seem alive at: There indeed we + stare, and roar, and clap Hands for King _George_ and the + Government. + +This could be meant of no Play, but _The Non-Juror_, because no other +had made the Enemies of the King and Government so ridiculous; and +therefore, it seems, you think the Town as ridiculous to roar and clap +at it. But, Sir, as so many of the Government's Friends were willing to +excuse its Faults for the Honesty of its Intention; so, if you were not +of that Number, I do not wonder you had so strong a Reason to dislike +it. In the same Letter too, this wicked Play runs so much in your Head, +that in the favourable Character you there give of the Lady _Scudamore_, +you make it a particular Merit in her, that she had not then even + + _Seen_ Cibber_'s Play of the_ Non-juror. + +I presume, at least, she had heard Mr. _Pope_'s Opinion of it, and then +indeed the Lady might be in the right. + +I suppose by this time you will say, I have tir'd your Patience; but I +do assure you I have not said so much upon this Head, merely to +commemorate the Applauses of _The Non-juror_, as to shew the World one +of your best Reasons for having so often publish'd your Contempt of the +Author. And yet, methinks, the Good-nature which you so frequently +labour to have thought a part of your Character, might have inclin'd you +to a little more Mercy for an old Acquaintance: Nay, in your Epistle to +Dr. _Arbuthnot_, ver. 373, you are so good as to say, you have been so +humble as to _drink with Cibber_. Sure then, such Humility might at +least have given the Devil his Due: for, black as I am, I have still +some Merit to you, in the profess'd Pleasure I always took in your +Writings? But alas! if the Friendship between yourself and Mr. +_Addison_, (which with such mutual Warmth you have profess'd in your +publish'd Letters) could not protect him from that insatiable Rage of +Satyr that so often runs away with you, how could so frivolous a Fellow +as I am (whose Friendship you never cared for) hope to escape it? +However, I still comfort myself in one Advantage I have over you, that +of never having deserved your being my Enemy. + +You see, Sir, with what passive Submission I have hitherto complained to +you: but now give me leave to speak an honest Truth, without caring how +far it may displease you. If I thought, then, that your Ill-nature were +half as hurtful to me, as I believe it is to yourself, I am not sure I +could be half so easy under it. I am told, there is a Serpent in some of +the _Indies_, that never stings a Man without leaving its own Life in +the Wound: I have forgot the Name of it, and therefore cannot give it +you. Or if this be too hard upon you, permit me at least to say, your +Spleen is sometimes like that of the little angry Bee, which, in doing +less Mischief than the Serpent, yet (as _Virgil_ says) meets with the +same Fate.----_Animasque in vulnere ponunt._ Why then may I not wish you +would be advis'd by a Fact which actually happen'd at the _Tower_ +Guard? An honest lusty Grenadier, while a little creeping Creature of an +Ensign, for some trifling Fault, was impotently laying him on with his +Cane, quietly folded his Arms across, and shaking his Head, only reply'd +to this valiant Officer, "Have a care, dear Captain! don't strike so +hard! upon my Soul you will hurt yourself!" + +Now, Sir, give me leave to open your _Dunciad_, that we may see what +Work your Wit has made with my Name there. + +When the Goddess of _Dulness_ is shewing her Works to her chosen Son, +she closes the Variety with letting him see, _ver._ 235. + + _How, with less Reading than makes Felons 'scape + Less human Genius than God gives an Ape, + Small Thanks to_ France, _and none to_ Rome, _or_ Greece, + _A patch'd, vamp'd, future, old, reviv'd, new Piece, + 'Twixt_ Plautus, Fletcher, Congreve _and_ Corneille, + _Can make a_ Cibber, Johnson, _or_ Ozell. + +And pray, Sir, why my Name, under this scurvy Picture? I flatter myself, +that if you had not put it there, no body else would have thought it +like me, nor can I easily believe that you yourself do: but perhaps you +imagin'd it would be a laughing Ornament to your Verse, and had a mind +to divert other Peoples Spleen with it, as well as your own. Now let me +hold up my Head a little, and then we shall see how far the Features hit +me! If indeed I had never produc'd any Plays, but those I alter'd of +other Authors, your Reflexion then might have had something nearer an +Excuse for it: But yet, if many of those Plays have liv'd the longer for +my meddling with them, the Sting of your Satyr only wounds the Air, or +at best debases it to impotent Railing. For you know very well that +_Richard the Third_, _The Fop's Fortune_, _The Double Gallant_, and some +others, that had been dead to the Stage out of all Memory, have since +been in a constant course of Acting above these thirty or forty Years. +Nor did even _Dryden_ think it any Diminution of his Fame to take the +same liberty with _The Tempest_, and the _Troilus and Cressida_ of +_Shakespear_; and tho' his Skill might be superior to mine, yet while my +Success has been equal to his, why then will you have me so +ill-favouredly like the Dunce you have drawn for me? Or do those alter'd +Plays at all take from the Merit of those more successful Pieces, which +were entirely my own? Is a Tailor, that can make a new Coat well, the +worse Workman, because he can mend an old one? When a Man is abus'd, he +has a right to speak even laudable Truths of himself, to confront his +Slanderer. Let me therefore add, that my first Comedy of _The Fool in +Fashion_ was as much (though not so valuable) an Original, as any one +Work Mr. _Pope_ himself has produc'd. It is now forty-seven Years since +its first Appearance upon the Stage, where it has kept its Station, to +this very Day, without ever lying one Winter dormant. And what Part of +this Play, Sir, can you charge with a Theft either from any _French_ +Author, from _Plautus_, _Fletcher_, _Congreve_, or _Corneille_? Nine +Years after this I brought on _The Careless Husband_, with still greater +Success; and was that too + + _A patch'd, vamp'd, future, old, reviv'd, new Piece?_ + +Let the many living Spectators of these Plays then judge between us, +whether the above Verses, you have so unmercifully besmear'd me with, +were fit to come from the _honest Heart_ of a Satyrist, who would be +thought, like you, the upright Censor of Mankind. Indeed, indeed, Sir, +this Libel was below you! How could you be so wanting to yourself as not +to consider, that Satyr, without Truth, tho' flowing in the finest +Numbers, recoils upon its Author, and must, at other times, render him +suspected of Prejudice, even where he may be just; as Frauds, in +Religion, make more Atheists than Converts? And the bad Heart, Mr. +_Pope_, that points an Injury with Verse, makes it the more +unpardonable, as it is not the Result of sudden Passion, but of an +indulg'd and slowly meditating Ill-nature; and I am afraid yours, in +this Article, is so palpable, that I am almost asham'd to have made it +so serious a Reply. + +What a merry mixt Mortal has Nature made you? that can thus debase that +Strength and Excellence of Genius she has endow'd you with, to the +lowest human Weakness, that of offering unprovok'd Injuries; nay, at the +Hazard of your being ridiculous too, as you must be, when the Venom you +spit falls short of your Aim! For I shall never believe your Verses have +done me the Harm you intended, or lost me one Friend, or added a single +Soul to the number of my Enemies, though so many thousands that know me, +may have read them. How then could your blind Impatience in your +_Dunciad_ thunder out such poetical _Anathemas_ on your own Enemies, for +doing you no worse Injuries than what you think it no Crime in yourself +to offer to another? + +In your Remarks upon the above Verses, your Wit, unwilling to have done +with me, throws out an ironical Sneer at my Attempts in Tragedy: Let us +see how far it disgraces me. + +After your quoting the following Paragraph from _Jacob's Lives of the +Dramatick Poets_, viz. + + "Mr. _Colley Cibber_, an Author, and an Actor, of a good share of + Wit and uncommon Vivacity, which are much improv'd by the + Conversation he enjoys, which is of the best," _&c._ + +Then say you, + + "Mr. _Jacob_ omitted to remark, that he is particularly admirable + in Tragedy." + +Ay, Sir, and your Remark has omitted too, that (with all his +Commendations) I can't dance upon the Rope, or make a Saddle, nor play +upon the Organ.--Augh! my dear, dear Mr. _Pope_! how could a Man of your +stinging Capacity let so tame, so low a Reflexion escape him? Why this +hardly rises above the pretty Malice of Miss _Molly_--_Ay, ay, you may +think my Sister as handsome as you please, but if you were to see her +Legs--I know what I know_! And so, with all these Imperfections upon me, +the Triumph of your Observation amounts to this: That tho' you should +allow, by what _Jacob_ says of me, that I am good for something, yet you +notwithstanding have cunningly discover'd, that I am not good for _every +thing_. Well, Sir, and am not I very well off, if you have nothing worse +to say of me? But if I have made so many crowded Theatres laugh, and in +the right Place too, for above forty Years together, am I to make up the +Number of your Dunces, because I have not the equal Talent of making +them cry too? Make it your own Case: Is what you have excell'd in at all +the worse, for your having so dismally dabbled (as I before observ'd) in +the Farce of _Three Hours after Marriage_? _Non omnia possumus omnes_, +is an allow'd Excuse for the Insufficiencies of all Mankind; and if, as +you see, you too must sometimes be forc'd to take shelter under it, as +well as myself, what mighty Reason will the World have to laugh at my +Weakness in Tragedy, more than at yours in Comedy? Or, to make us Both +still easier in the matter, if you will say, you are not asham'd of your +Weakness, I will promise you not to be asham'd of mine. Or if you don't +like this Advice, let me give you some from the wiser _Spanish_ Proverb, +which says, _That a Man should never throw Stones, that has glass +Windows in his Head_. + +Upon the whole, your languid Ill-will in this Remark, makes so sickly a +Figure, that one would think it were quite exhausted; for it must run +low indeed, when you are reduc'd to impute the want of an Excellence, as +a Shame to me. But in _ver._ 261, your whole Barrel of Spleen seems not +to have a Drop more in it, though you have tilted it to the highest: For +there you are forc'd to tell a downright Fib, and hang me up in a Light +where no body ever saw me: As for Example, speaking of the Absurdity of +Theatrical Pantomimes, you say + + _When lo! to dark Encounter in mid Air + New Wizards rise: Here_ Booth, _and_ Cibber _there:_ + Booth, _in his cloudy Tabernacle shrin'd, + On grinning Dragons_ Cibber _mounts the Wind._ + +If you, figuratively, mean by this, that I was an Encourager of those +Fooleries, you are mistaken; for it is not true: If you intend it +literally, that I was Dunce enough to mount a Machine, there is as +little Truth in that too: But if you meant it only as a pleasant Abuse, +you have done it with infinite Drollery indeed! Beside, the Name of +_Cibber_, you know, always implies Satyr in the Sound, and never fails +to keep the Flatness or Modesty of a Verse in countenance. + +Some Pages after, indeed, in pretty near the same Light, you seem to +have a little negative Kindness for me, _ver._ 287, where you make poor +_Settle_, lamenting his own Fate, say, + + _But lo! in me, what Authors have to brag on, + Reduc'd at last to hiss, in my own Dragon, + Avert it, Heav'n, that thou, or_ Cibber _e'er + Should wag two Serpent-Tails in_ Smithfield _Fair._ + +If this does not imply, that you think me fit for little else, it is +only another barren Verse with my Name in it: If it does mean so; +why----I wish you may never be toss'd in a Blanket, and so the Kindness +is even on both Sides. But again you are at me, _ver._ 320, speaking of +the King of Dunces Reign, you have these Lines: + + _Beneath whose Reign,_ Eusden _shall wear the Bays,_ + Cibber _preside Lord-Chancellor of Plays._ + +This I presume you offer as one of the heavy Enormities of the +Stage-Government, when I had a Share in it. But as you have not given +an Instance in which this Enormity appear'd, how is it possible (unless +I had your Talent of Self-Commendation) to bring any Proofs in my +Favour? I must therefore submit it to Publick Judgment how full your +Reflexion hits, or is wide of me, and can only say to it in the mean +time,--_Valeat quantum valere potest_. + +In your Remark upon the same Lines you say, + + "_Eusden_ no sooner died, but his Place of Laureat was supply'd by + _Cibber_, in the Year 1730, on which was made the following + Epigram." (May I not believe by yourself?) + + _In merry_ Old England, _it once was a Rule, + The King had his Poet, and also his Fool. + But now we're so frugal, I'd have you to know it, + That_ Cibber _can serve both for Fool and for Poet._ + +Ay, marry Sir! here you souse me with a Witness! This is a Triumph +indeed! I can hardly help laughing at this myself; for, _Se non e vero, +ben Trovato_! A good Jest is a good Thing, let it fall upon who it will: +I dare say _Cibber_ would never have complain'd of Mr. _Pope_, + + ----_Si sic_ + ----_Omnia dixisset_------ Juv. + +If he had never said any worse of him. But hold, Master _Cibber_! why +may not you as well turn this pleasant Epigram into an involuntary +Compliment? for a King's Fool was no body's Fool but his Master's, and +had not his Name for nothing; as for Example, + + _Those Fools of old, if Fame says true, + Were chiefly chosen for their Wit; + Why then, call'd Fools? because, like you + Dear_ Pope, _too Bold in shewing it._ + +And so, if I am the King's Fool; now, Sir, pray whose Fool are you? 'Tis +pity, methinks, you should be out of Employment: for, if a satyrical +Intrepidity, or, as you somewhere call it, a _High Courage of Wit_, is +the fairest Pretence to be the _King's Fool_, I don't know a Wit in the +World so fit to fill up the Post as yourself. + +Thus, Sir, I have endeavour'd to shake off all the Dirt in your +_Dunciad_, unless of here and there some little Spots of your Ill-will, +that were not worth tiring the Reader's Patience with my Notice of them. +But I have some more foul way to trot through still, in your Epistles +and Satyrs, _&c._ Now whether I shall come home the filthy Fellow, or +the clean contrary Man to what you make me, I will venture to leave to +your own _Conscience_, though I dare not make the same Trust to your +_Wit_: For that you have often _spoke_ worse (merely to shew your Wit) +than you could possibly _think_ of me, almost all your Readers, that +observe your Good-nature _will easily_ believe. + +However, to shew I am not blind to your Merit, I own your Epistle to Dr. +_Arbuthnot_ (though I there find myself contemptibly spoken of) gives me +more Delight in the whole, than any one Poem of the kind I ever read. +The only Prejudice or wrong Bias of Judgment, I am afraid I may be +guilty of is, when I cannot help thinking, that your Wit is more +remarkably bare and barren, whenever it would fall foul upon _Cibber_, +than upon any other Person or Occasion whatsoever: I therefore could +wish the Reader may have sometimes considered those Passages, that if I +do you Injustice, he may as justly condemn me for it. + +In this Epistle ver. 59. of your Folio Edition, you seem to bless +yourself, that you are not my Friend! no wonder then, you rail at me! +but let us see upon what Occasion you own this Felicity. Speaking of an +impertinent Author, who teized you to recommend his _Virgin Tragedy_ to +the Stage, you at last happily got rid of him with this Excuse---- + + _There (thank my Stars) my whole Commission ends,_ + Cibber _and I, are luckily no Friends._ + +If you chose not to be mine, Sir, it does not follow, that it was +equally my Choice not to be yours: But perhaps you thought me your +Enemy, because you were conscious you had injur'd me, and therefore were +resolv'd never to forgive _Me_, because I had it in my Power to forgive +_You_: For, as _Dryden_ says, + + _Forgiveness, to the Injur'd does belong; + But they ne'er pardon who have done the Wrong._ + +This, Sir, is the only natural Excuse, I can form, for your being my +Enemy. As to your blunt Assertion of my certain Prejudice to any thing, +that had your Recommendation to the Stage, which your above Lines would +insinuate; I gave you a late Instance in _The Miller of Mansfield_, that +your manner of treating Me had in no sort any Influence upon my +Judgment. For you may remember, sometime before that Piece was acted, I +accidentally met you, in a Visit to the late General _Dormer_, who, +though he might be your good Friend, was not for that Reason the less a +Friend to Me: There you join'd with that Gentleman, in asking my Advice +and Assistance in that Author's behalf; which as I had read the Piece, +though I had then never seen the Man, I gave, in such manner, as I +thought might best serve him: And if I don't over-rate my +Recommendation, I believe its way to the Stage was made the more easy by +it. This Fact, then, does in no kind make good your Insinuation, that my +Enmity to you would not suffer me to like any thing that you liked; +which though you call your good Fortune in Verse, yet in Prose, you see, +it happens not to be true. But I am glad to find, in your smaller +Edition, that your Conscience has since given this Line some Correction; +for there you have taken off a little of its Edge; it there runs only +thus---- + + The Play'rs _and I, are luckily no Friends._ + +This is so uncommon an Instance, of your checking your Temper and taking +a little Shame to yourself, that I could not in Justice omit my Notice +of it. I am of opinion too, that the Indecency of the next Verse, you +spill upon me, would admit of an equal Correction. In excusing the +Freedom of your Satyr, you urge that it galls no body, because nobody +minds it enough to be mended by it. This is your Plea---- + + _Whom have I hurt! has Poet yet, or Peer, + Lost the arched Eye-brow, or_ Parnassian _Sneer? + And has not_ Colley _too his Lord, and Whore?_ &c. + +If I thought the Christian Name of _Colley_ could belong to any other +Man than myself, I would insist upon my Right of not supposing you meant +this last Line to Me; because it is equally applicable to five thousand +other People: But as your Good-will to me is a little too well known, to +pass it as imaginable that you could intend it for any one else, I am +afraid I must abide it. + +Well then! _Colley has his Lord and Whore!_ Now suppose, Sir, upon the +same Occasion, that _Colley_ as happily inspired as Mr. _Pope_, had +turned the same Verse upon _Him_, and with only the Name changed had +made it run thus-- + + _And has not_ Sawney _too his Lord and Whore?_ + +Would not the Satyr have been equally just? Or would any sober Reader +have seen more in the Line, than a wide mouthful of Ill-Manners? Or +would my professing myself a Satyrist give me a Title to wipe my foul +Pen upon the Face of every Man I did not like? Or would my Impudence be +less Impudence in Verse than in Prose? or in private Company? What ought +I to expect less, than that you would knock me down for it? unless the +happy Weakness of my Person might be my Protection? Why then may I not +insist that _Colley_ or _Sawney_ in the Verse would make no Difference +in the Satyr! Now let us examine how far there would be Truth in it on +either Side. + +As to the first Part of the Charge, the _Lord_; Why--we have both had +him, and sometimes the _same_ Lord; but as there is neither Vice nor +Folly in keeping our Betters Company; the Wit or Satyr of the Verse! can +only point at my Lord for keeping such _ordinary_ Company. Well, but if +so! then _why_ so, good Mr. _Pope_? If either of us could be _good_ +Company, our being professed Poets, I hope would be no Objection to my +Lord's sometimes making one with us? and though I don't pretend to write +like you, yet all the Requisites to make a good Companion are not +confined to Poetry! No, Sir, even a Man's inoffensive Follies and +Blunders may sometimes have their Merits at the best Table; and in +those, I am sure, you won't pretend to vie with me: Why then may not my +Lord be as much in the Right, in his sometimes choosing _Colley_ to +laugh at, as at other times in his picking up _Sawney_, whom he can only +admire? + +Thus far, then, I hope we are upon a par; for the Lord, you see, will +fit either of us. + +As to the latter Charge, the _Whore_, there indeed, I doubt you will +have the better of me; for I must own, that I believe I know more of +_your_ whoring than you do of _mine_; because I don't recollect that +ever I made you the least Confidence of _my_ Amours, though I have been +very near an Eye-Witness of _Yours_----By the way, gentle Reader, don't +you think, to say only, _a Man has his Whore_, without some particular +Circumstances to aggravate the Vice, is the flattest Piece of Satyr that +ever fell from the formidable Pen of Mr. _Pope_? because (_defendit +numerus_) take the first ten thousand Men you meet, and I believe, you +would be no Loser, if you betted ten to one that every single Sinner of +them, one with another, had been guilty of the same Frailty. But as Mr. +_Pope_ has so particularly picked me out of the Number to make an +Example of: Why may I not take the same Liberty, and even single him out +for another to keep me in Countenance? He must excuse me, then, if in +what I am going to relate, I am reduced to make bold with a little +private Conversation: But as he has shewn no Mercy to _Colley_, why +should so unprovok'd an Aggressor expect any for himself? And if Truth +hurts him, I can't help it. He may remember, then (or if he won't I +will) when _Button_'s Coffee-house was in vogue, and so long ago, as +when he had not translated above two or three Books of _Homer_; there +was a late young Nobleman (as much his _Lord_ as mine) who had a good +deal of wicked Humour, and who, though he was fond of having Wits in his +Company, was not so restrained by his Conscience, but that he lov'd to +laugh at any merry Mischief he could do them: This noble Wag, I say, in +his usual _Gayete de Coeur_, with another Gentleman still in Being, +one Evening slily seduced the celebrated Mr. _Pope_ as a Wit, and myself +as a Laugher, to a certain House of Carnal Recreation, near the +_Hay-Market_; where his Lordship's Frolick propos'd was to slip his +little _Homer_, as he call'd him, at a Girl of the Game, that he might +see what sort of Figure a Man of his Size, Sobriety, and Vigour (in +Verse) would make, when the frail Fit of Love had got into him; in which +he so far succeeded, that the smirking Damsel, who serv'd us with Tea, +happen'd to have Charms sufficient to tempt the little-tiny Manhood of +Mr. _Pope_ into the next Room with her: at which you may imagine, his +Lordship was in as much Joy, at what might happen within, as our small +Friend could probably be in Possession of it: But I (forgive me all ye +mortified Mortals whom his fell Satyr has since fallen upon) observing +he had staid as long as without hazard of his Health he might, I, + + _Prick'd to it by foolish Honesty and Love,_ + +As _Shakespear_ says, without Ceremony, threw open the Door upon him, +where I found this little hasty Hero, like a terrible _Tom Tit_, pertly +perching upon the Mount of Love! But such was my Surprize, that I fairly +laid hold of his Heels, and actually drew him down safe and sound from +his Danger. My Lord, who staid tittering without, in hopes the sweet +Mischief he came for would have been compleated, upon my giving an +Account of the Action within, began to curse, and call me an hundred +silly Puppies, for my impertinently spoiling the Sport; to which with +great Gravity I reply'd; pray, my Lord, consider what I have done was, +in regard to the Honour of our Nation! For would you have had so +glorious a Work as that of making _Homer_ speak elegant _English_, cut +short by laying up our little Gentleman of a Malady, which his thin Body +might never have been cured of? No, my Lord! _Homer_ would have been too +serious a Sacrifice to our Evening Merriment. Now as his _Homer_ has +since been so happily compleated, who can say, that the World may not +have been obliged to the kindly Care of _Colley_ that so great a Work +ever came to Perfection? + +And now again, gentle Reader, let it be judged, whether the _Lord_ and +the _Whore_ above-mention'd might not, with equal Justice, have been +apply'd to sober _Sawney_ the Satyrist, as to _Colley_ the Criminal? + +Though I confess Recrimination to be but a poor Defence for one's own +Faults; yet when the Guilty are Accusers, it seems but just, to make use +of any Truth, that may invalidate their Evidence: I therefore hope, +whatever the serious Reader may think amiss in this Story, will be +excused, by my being so hardly driven to tell it. + +I could wish too, it might be observed, that whatever Faults I find with +the Morals of Mr. _Pope_, I charge none to his Poetical Capacity, but +chiefly to his _Ruling Passion_, which is so much his Master, that we +must allow, his inimitable Verse is generally warmest, where his too +fond Indulgence of that Passion inspires it. How much brighter still +might that Genius shine, could it be equally inspired by Good-nature! + +Now though I may have less Reason to complain of his Severity, than many +others, who may have less deserv'd it: Yet by his crowding me into so +many of his Satyrs, it is plain his Ill-will is oftner at Work upon +_Cibber_, than upon any Mortal he has had a mind to make a Dunce, or a +Devil of: And as there are about half a Score remaining Verses, where +_Cibber_ still fills up the Numbers, and which I have not yet produced, +I think it will pretty near make good my Observation: Most of them, 'tis +true, are so slight Marks of his Disfavour, that I can charge them with +little more, than a mere idle Liberty with my Name; I shall therefore +leave the greater part of them without farther Observation to make the +most of their Meaning. Some few of them however (perhaps from my want +of Judgment) seem so ambiguous, as to want a little Explanation. + +In his First Epistle of the Second Book of _Horace_, ver. 86, speaking +of the Uncertainty of the publick Judgment upon Dramatick Authors, after +naming the best, he concludes his List of them thus: + + _But for the Passions,_ Southern _sure, and_ Rowe. + _These, only these support the crouded Stage, + From eldest_ Heywood _down to_ Cibber_'s Age_. + +Here he positively excludes _Cibber_ from any Share in supporting the +Stage as an Author; and yet, in the Lines immediately following, he +seems to allow it him, by something so like a Commendation, that if it +be one, it is at the same time a Contradiction to _Cibber_'s being the +Dunce, which the _Dunciad_ has made of him. But I appeal to the Verses; +here they are--_ver._ 87. + + _All this may be; the Peoples Voice is odd, + It is, and it is not the Voice of God. + To_ Gammer Gurton _if it give the Bays, + And yet deny_ The Careless Husband _Praise._ + +Now if _The Careless Husband_ deserv'd Praise, and had it, must it not +(without comparing it with the Works of the above-cited Authors) have +had its Share in supporting the Stage? which Mr. _Pope_ might as well +have allow'd it to have had, as to have given it the Commendation he +seems to do: I say (_seems_) because is saying (_if_) the People deny'd +it Praise, seems to imply they _had_ deny'd it; or if they had _not_ +deny'd it, (which is true) then his Censure upon the People is false. +Upon the whole, the Meaning of these Verses stands in so confus'd a +Light, that I confess I don't clearly discern it. 'Tis true, the late +General _Dormer_ intimated to me, that he believ'd Mr. _Pope_ intended +them as a Compliment to _The Careless Husband_; but if it be a +Compliment, I rather believe it was a Compliment to that Gentleman's +Good-nature, who told me a little before this Epistle was publish'd, +that he had been making Interest for a little Mercy to his Friend +_Colley_ in it. But this, it seems, was all he could get for him: +However, had his Wit stopt here, and said no more of me, for that +Gentleman's sake, I might have thank'd him: But whatever Restraint he +might be under then, after this Gentleman's Decease we shall see he had +none upon him: For now out comes a new _Dunciad_, where, in the first +twenty Lines he takes a fresh _Lick at the Laureat_; as Fidlers and +Prize-fighters always give us a Flourish before they come to the Tune +or the Battle in earnest. Come then, let us see what your mighty +Mountain is in Labour of? Oh! here we have it! _New Dun. ver._ 20. +Dulness mounts the Throne, _&c._ and---- + + _Soft in her Lap her Laureat Son reclines._ + +Hah! fast asleep it seems! No, that's a little too strong. _Pert_ and +_Dull_ at least you might have allow'd me; but as seldom asleep as any +Fool.----Sure your own Eyes could not be open, when so lame and solemn a +Conceit came from you: What, am I only to be Dull, and Dull still, and +again, and for ever? But this, I suppose, is one of your _Decies +repetita placebit_'s. For, in other Words, you have really said this of +me ten times before--No, it must be written in a Dream, and according to +_Dryden_'s Description of dead Midnight too, where, among other strong +Images, he gives us this-- + + _Even Lust and_ Envy _sleep._ + +Now, Sir, had not _Your_ Envy been as fast as a fat Alderman in +Sermon-time, you would certainly have thrown out something more spirited +than so trite a Repetition could come up to. But it is the Nature of +Malevolence, it seems, when it gets a spiteful Saying by the end, not to +be tired of it so soon as its Hearers are.----Well, and what then? you +will say; it lets the World see at least, that you are resolv'd to write +_About me_, and _About me_, to the last. In fine, Mr. _Pope_, this +yawning Wit would make one think you had got into the Laureat's Place, +and were taking a Nap yourself. + +But, perhaps, there may be a concealed Brightness in this Verse, which +your Notes may more plainly illustrate: let us see then what your +fictitious Friend and Flatterer _Scriblerus_ says to it. Why, first he +mangles a Paragraph which he quotes from my _Apology_ for my own Life, +_Chap._ 2. and then makes his particular Use of it. But as I have my +Uses to make of it as well as himself, I shall beg leave to give it the +Reader without his Castrations. He begins it thus, + + "When I find my Name in the Satyrical Works of this Poet," _&c._ + +But I say,---- + + "When I, therefore, find my Name, _at length_, in the Satyrical + Works _of our most celebrated living Author_"---- + +Now, Sir, I must beg your Pardon, but I cannot think it was your meer +Modesty that left out the Title I have given you, because you have so +often suffer'd your Friend _Scriblerus_ (that is yourself) in your Notes +to make you Compliments of a much higher Nature. But, perhaps, you were +unwilling to let the Reader observe, that though you had so often +befoul'd my Name in your Satyrs, I could still give you the Language due +to a Gentleman, which, perhaps, at the same time too, might have put him +in mind of the poor and pitiful Return you have made to it. But to go on +with our Paragraph----He again continues it thus---- + + "I never look upon it as any Malice meant to me, but Profit to + himself"---- + +But where is my Parenthesis, Mr. _Filch_? If you are asham'd of it, I +have no reason to be so, and therefore the Reader shall have it: My +Sentence then runs thus---- + + "I never look upon those Lines as Malice meant to me (for he knows + I never provok'd it) _&c._ + +These last Words indeed might have star'd you too full in the Face, not +to have put your Conscience out of countenance. But a Wit of your +Intrepidity, I see, is above that vulgar Weakness. + +After this sneaking Omission, you have still the same Scruple against +some other Lines in the Text to come: But as you serve _your_ Purposes +by leaving them out, you must give me leave to serve _mine_ by supplying +them. I shall therefore give the Reader the rest entire, and only mark +what you don't choose should be known in _Italicks_, viz. + + "_One of his Points must be to have many Readers_: He considers, + that my Face and Name are more known than _those of_ many + _Thousands of more Consequence_ in the Kingdom, that, therefore, + _right or wrong_, a Lick at the Laureat will always be a sure Bait, + _ad captandum vulgus_, to catch him little Readers: _And that to + gratify the unlearned, by now and then interspersing those merry + Sacrifices of an old Acquaintance to their Taste, in a Piece of + quite right Poetical Craft_." + +Now, Sir, is there any thing in this Paragraph (which you have so maim'd +and sneer'd at) that, taken all together, could merit the injurious +Reception you have given it? Ought I, for this, to have had the stale +Affront of _Dull_, and _Impudent_, repeated upon me? or could it have +lessen'd the Honour of your Understanding, to have taken this quiet +Resentment of your frequent ill Usage in good part? Or had it not rather +been a Mark of your Justice and Generosity, not to have pursued me with +fresh Instances of your Ill-will upon it? or, on the contrary, could you +be so weak as to Envy me the Patience I was master of, and therefore +could not bear to be, in any light, upon amicable Terms with me? I hope +your Temper is not so unhappy as to be offended, or in pain, when your +Insults are return'd with Civilities? or so vainly uncharitable as to +value yourself for laughing at my Folly, in supposing you never had any +real malicious Intention against me? No, you could not, sure, believe, +the World would take it for granted, that _every_ low, vile Thing you +had said of me, was evidently _true_? How then can you hold me in such +Derision, for finding your Freedom with my Name, a better Excuse than +you yourself are able to give, or are willing to accept of? or, +admitting, that my deceived Opinion of your Goodness was so much real +Simplicity and Ignorance, was not even That, at least, pardonable? +Might it not have been taken in a more favourable Sense by any Man of +the least Candour or Humanity? But--I am afraid, Mr. _Pope_, the +severely different Returns you have made to it, are Indications of a +Heart I want a Name for. + +Upon the whole, while you are capable of giving such a trifling Turn to +my Patience, I see but very little Hopes of my ever removing your +Prejudice: for in your Notes upon the above Paragraph (to which I refer +the Reader) you treat me more like a rejected Flatterer, than a Critick: +But, I hope, you now find that I have at least taken off that +Imputation, by my using no Reserve in shewing the World from what you +have said of _Me_, what I think of _You_. Had not therefore this last +Usage of me been so particular, I scarce believe the Importunity of my +Friends, or the Inclination I have to gratify them, would have prevailed +with me to have taken this publick Notice of whatever Names you had +formerly call'd me. + +I have but one Article more of your high-spirited Wit to examine, and +then I shall close our Account. In _ver._ 524 of the same Poem, you have +this Expression, _viz._ + + Cibberian _Forehead_------ + +By which I find you modestly mean _Cibber_'s Impudence; And, by the +Place it stands in, you offer it as a Sample of the _strongest_ +Impudence.----Sir, your humble Servant----But pray, Sir, in your Epistle +to Dr. _Arbuthnot_, (where, by the way, in your ample Description of a +Great Poet, you slily hook in a whole Hat-full of Virtues to your own +Character) have not you this particular Line among them? _viz._ + + _And thought a_ Lye, _in Verse or Prose the same._ + +Now, Sir, if you can get all your Readers to believe me as Impudent as +you make me, your Verse, with the Lye in it, may have a good Chance to +be thought true: if _not_, the Lye in your Verse will never get out of +it. + +This, I confess, is only arguing with the same Confidence that you +sometimes write; that is, we both flatly affirm, and equally expect to +be believ'd. But here, indeed, your Talent has something the better of +me; for any Accusation, in smooth Verse, will always sound well, though +it is not tied down to have a Tittle of Truth in it; when the strongest +Defence in poor humble Prose, not having that harmonious Advantage, +takes no body by the Ear: And yet every one must allow this may be very +hard upon an innocent Man: For suppose, in Prose now, I were as +confidently to insist, that you were an _Honest, Good-natur'd, +Inoffensive Creature_, would my barely saying so be any Proof of it? No, +sure! Why then might it not be suppos'd an equal Truth, that Both our +Assertions were equally false? _Yours_, when you call me _Impudent_; +_Mine_, when I call you _Modest_, &c. If, indeed, you could say, that +with a remarkable Shyness, I had avoided any Places of publick Resort, +or that I had there met with Coldness, Reproof, Insult, or any of the +usual Rebuffs that Impudence is liable to, or had been reduced to retire +from that part of the World I had impudently offended, your _Cibberian +Forehead_ then might have been as just and as sore a Brand as the +Hangman could have apply'd to me. But as I am not yet under that +Misfortune, and while the general Benevolence of my Superiors still +suffers me to stand my ground, or occasionally to sit down with them, I +hope it will be thought that rather the _Papal_, than the _Cibberian_ +Forehead, ought to be out of Countenance. But it is time to have done +with you. + +In your Advertisement to your first Satyr of your second Book of +_Horace_, you have this just Observation. + + _To a true Satyrist, nothing is so odious, as a Libeller._ + +Now, that you are often an admirable Satyrist, no Man of true Taste can +deny: But, that you are always a _True_ (that is a _just_) one, is a +Question not yet decided in your Favour. I shall not take upon me to +prove the Injuries of your Pen, which many candid Readers, in the behalf +of others, complain of: But if the gross things you have said of so +inconsiderable a Man as myself, have exceeded the limited Province of a +_true_ Satyrist, they are sufficient to have forfeited your Claim to +that Title. For if a Man, from his being admitted the best Poet, +imagines himself so much lifted above the World, that he has a Right to +run a muck, and make sport with the Characters of all Ranks of People, +to soil and begrime every Face that is obnoxious to his ungovernable +Spleen or Envy: Can so vain, so inconsiderate, so elated an Insolence, +amongst all the Follies he has lash'd, and laugh'd at, find a Subject +fitter for Satyr than Himself? How many other different good Qualities +ought such a Temper to have in Balance of this One bad one, this abuse +of his Genius, by so injurious a Pride and Self-sufficiency? And though +it must be granted, that a true Genius never grows in a barren Soil, and +therefore implies, that great Parts and Knowledge only could have +produced it; Yet it must be allow'd too, that the fairest Fruits of the +Mind may lose a great deal of their naturally delicious Taste, when +blighted by Ill-nature. How strict a Guard then ought the _true_ +Satyrist to set upon his private Passions! How clear a Head! a Heart how +candid, how impartial, how incapable of Injustice! What Integrity of +Life, what general Benevolence, what exemplary Virtues ought that happy +Man to be master of, who, from such ample Merit, raises himself to an +Office of that Trust and Dignity, as that of our Universal Censor? A Man +so qualified, indeed, might be a truly publick Benefit, such a one, and +only such a one, might have an uncontested Right---- + + --------_To point the Pen, + Brand the bold Front of shameless, guilty Men; + Dash the proud Gamester, in his gilded Car, + Bare the mean Heart that lurks beneath a Star._ + +But should another (though of equal Genius) whose Mind were either +sour'd by Ill-nature, personal Prejudice, or the Lust of Railing, usurp +that Province to the Abuse of it. Not all his pompous Power of Verse +could shield him from as odious a Censure, as such, his guilty Pen could +throw upon the Innocent, or undeserving to be slander'd. What then must +be the Consequence? Why naturally this: That such an Indulgence of his +Passions, so let loose upon the World, would, at last, reduce him to fly +from it! For sure the Avoidance, the Slights, the scouling Eyes of every +mixt Company he might fall into, would be a Mortification no +vain-glorious Man would stand, that had a Retreat from it. Here then, +let us suppose him an involuntary Philosopher, affecting to +be----_Nunquam minus solus, quam cum solus_----never in better Company +than when alone: But as you have well observed in your Essay---- + + _Not always_ Actions _shew the Man-- + Not therefore humble He, who seeks Retreat, + Guilt guides his Steps, and makes him shun the Great._ + +(I beg your Pardon, I have made a Mistake; Your Verse says _Pride_ +guides his Steps, _&c._ which, indeed, makes the Antithesis to _Humble_ +much stronger, and more to your Purpose; but it will serve mine as it +is, so the Error is scarce worth a Correction.) But to return to our +Satyrical Exile,----Whom though we have supposed to be oftner alone, +than an inoffensive Man need wish to be; yet we must imagine that the +Fame of his Wit would sometimes bring him Company: For Wits, like +handsome Women, though they wish one another at the Devil, are my Dear, +and my Dear! whenever they meet: Nay some Men are so fond of Wit, that +they would mix with the Devil himself if they could laugh with him: If +therefore any of this careless Cast came to kill an Hour with him, how +would his smiling Verse gloss over the Curse of his Confinement, and +with a flowing animated Vanity commemorate the peculiar Honours they had +paid him? + +But alas! would his high Heart be contented, in his having the Choice of +his Acquaintance so limited? How many for their Friends, others for +themselves, and some too in the Dread of being the future Objects of his +Spleen, would he feel had undesired the Knowledge or the Sight of him! +But what's all this to you, Mr. _Pope_? For, as _Shakespear_ says, _Let +the gall'd Horse wince, our Withers are unwrung_! But however, if it be +not too late, it can do you no harm to look about you: For if this is +not as yet your Condition, I remember many Years ago, to have seen you, +though in a less Degree, in a Scrape, that then did not look, as if you +would be long out of another. When you used to pass your Hours at +_Button_'s, you were even there remarkable for your satyrical Itch of +Provocation; scarce was there a Gentleman of any Pretension to Wit, whom +your unguarded Temper had not fallen upon, in some biting Epigram; among +which you once caught a Pastoral Tartar, whose Resentment, that your +Punishment might be proportion'd to the Smart of your Poetry, had stuck +up a Birchen Rod in the Room, to be ready, whenever you might come +within reach of it; and at this rate you writ and rallied, and writ on, +till you rhym'd yourself quite out of the Coffee-house. But if Solitude +pleases you, who shall say you are not in the right to enjoy it? Perhaps +too, by this time you may be upon a par with Mankind, and care as little +for their Company as they do for Yours: Though I rather hope you have +chosen to be so shut up, in order to make yourself a better Man. If you +succeed in _that_, you will indeed be, what no body else, in haste will +be, A better Poet, than you _Are_. And so, Sir, I am, just as much as +you believe me to be, + + _Your Humble Servant_, + + COLLEY CIBBER. + + _July_ the 7th 1742. + + + + + WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK + MEMORIAL LIBRARY + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT + + + + +The Augustan Reprint Society + +PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT + + +1948-1949 + +16. Henry Nevil Payne, _The Fatal Jealousie_ (1673). + +17. Nicholas Rowe, _Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear_ +(1709). + +18. Anonymous, "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 +(1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation_ (1720). + + +1949-1950 + +19. Susanna Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709). + +20. Lewis Theobald, _Preface to the Works of Shakespeare_ (1734). + +22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two +_Rambler_ papers (1750). + +23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681). + + +1951-1952 + +26. Charles Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1792). + +31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751), and +_The Eton College Manuscript_. + + +1952-1953 + +41. Bernard Mandeville, _A Letter to Dion_ (1732). + + +1962-1963 + +98. Selected Hymns Taken Out of Mr. Herbert's _Temple ..._ (1697). + + +1964-1965 + +109. Sir William Temple, _An Essay Upon the Original and Nature of +Government_ (1680). + +110. John Tutchin, _Selected Poems_ (1685-1700). + +111. Anonymous, _Political Justice_ (1736). + +112. Robert Dodsley, _An Essay on Fable_ (1764). + +113. T. R., _An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning_ (1698). + +114. Two Poems Against Pope: Leonard Welsted, _One Epistle to Mr. A. +Pope_ (1730), and Anonymous, _The Blatant Beast_ (1742). + + +1965-1966 + +115. Daniel Defoe and others, _Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal_. + +116. Charles Macklin, _The Covent Garden Theatre_ (1752). + +117. Sir Roger L'Estrange, _Citt and Bumpkin_ (1680). + +118. Henry More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus_ (1662). + +119. Thomas Traherne, _Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation_ +(1717). + +120. Bernard Mandeville, _Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables_ +(1740). + + +1966-1967 + +123. Edmond Malone, _Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to Mr. +Thomas Rowley_ (1782). + +124. Anonymous, _The Female Wits_ (1704). + +125. Anonymous, _The Scribleriad_ (1742). Lord Hervey, _The Difference +Between Verbal and Practical Virtue_ (1742). + + +1967-1968 + +129. Lawrence Echard, _Prefaces to Terence's Comedies_ (1694) and +_Plautus's Comedies_ (1694). + + +1968-1969 + +133. John Courtenay, _A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral +Character of the Late Samuel Johnson_ (1786). + +134. John Downes, _Roscius Anglicanus_ (1708). + +135. Sir John Hill, _Hypochondriasis, a Practical Treatise_ (1766). + +136. Thomas Sheridan, _Discourse ... Being Introductory to His Course of +Lectures on Elocution and the English Language_ (1759). + +137. Arthur Murphy, _The Englishman From Paris_ (1736). + + +1969-1970 + +138. [Catherine Trotter], _Olinda's Adventures_ (1718). + +139. John Ogilvie, _An Essay on the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients_ +(1762). + +140. _A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling_ (1726) and _Pudding Burnt to +Pot or a Compleat Key to the Dissertation on Dumpling_ (1727). + +141. Selections from Sir Roger L'Estrange's _Observator_ (1681-1687). + +142. Anthony Collins, _A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in +Writing_ (1729). + +143. _A Letter From A Clergyman to His Friend, With An Account of the +Travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver_ (1726). + +144. _The Art of Architecture, A Poem. In Imitation of Horace's Art of +Poetry_ (1742). + + +1970-1971 + +145-146. Thomas Shelton, _A Tutor to Tachygraphy, or Short-writing_ +(1642) and _Tachygraphy_ (1647). + +147-148. _Deformities of Dr. Samuel Johnson_ (1782). + +149. _Poeta de Tristibus: or the Poet's Complaint_ (1682). + +150. Gerard Langbaine. _Momus Triumphans: or the Plagiaries of the +English Stage_ (1687). + + +1971-1972 + +151-152. Evan Lloyd, _The Methodist._ A Poem (1766). + +153. _Are these Things So?_ (1740), and _The Great Man's Answer to Are +these Things So?_ (1740). + +154. Arbuthnotiana: _The Story of the St. Albans Ghost_ (1712), and _A +Catalogue of Dr. Arbuthnot's Library_ (1779). + +155-156. A Selection of Emblems from Herman Hugo's _Pia Desideria_ +(1624), with English Adaptations by Francis Quarles and Edmund Arwaker. + + + + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + 2520 Cimarron Street (at West Adams), Los Angeles, California 90018 + + +Publications of the first fifteen years of the Society (numbers 1-90) +are available in paperbound units of six issues at $16.00 per unit, from +the Kraus Reprint Company, 16 East 46th Street, New York, N. Y. 10017. + +Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of +$5.00 for individuals and $8.00 for institutions per year. Prices of +single issues may be obtained upon request. Subsequent publications may +be checked in the annual prospectus. + + + _Make check or money order payable to_ + THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "geniunely" corrected to "genuinely" (page iv) + "Copywright" corrected to "Copyright" (page viii) + "severly" corrected to "severely" (page ix) + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope, by +Colley Cibber + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTER--MR. CIBBER TO MR. 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