To sound or sink in cano, O or A, Let Freind affect to speak as Terence spoke, REMARKS. 225 Ver. 220. Dispute of Me or Te, of aut or at,] It is remarkable that there is an old Greek epigram of Herodicus, quoted by Athenæus in his fifth book, page 112. Basileæ, apud J. Valderum, 1635, folio; ridiculing verbal criticism, in a manner exactly resembling these lines of Pope, which it is not at all probable he had ever read. The two second lines follow: 66 Warton. · Γωνιοβόμυκες, μονοσύλλαβοι. ὅισι μέμηλε, Τὸ σφῖν, καὶ σφωῖν, καὶ τὸ μὲν, ἤδε τὸ νὶν.” Ver. 222. Or give up Cicero to C. or K.] Grammatical disputes about the manner of pronouncing Cicero's name in Greek. It is a dispute, too, whether in Latin the name of Hermagoras should end in as or a. Quintilian quotes Cicero as writing it Hermagora, which Bentley rejects, and says Quintilian must be mistaken, Cicero could not write it so, and that in this case he would not believe Cicero himself. These are his very words: Ego vero Ciceronem ita scripsisse ne Ciceroni quidem affirmanti crediderim.— Epist. ad Mill. in fin. Frag. Menand. et Phil. W. Ver. 223, 224. Freind-Alsop] Dr. Robert Freind, master of Westminster-school, and canon of Christ-church- -Dr. Anthony Alsop, a happy imitator of the Horatian style. P. W. Ver. 226. Manilius or Solinus] Some critics having had it in their choice to comment either on Virgil or Manilius, Pliny or Solinus, have chosen the worse author, the more freely to display their critical talents. P. W. Ver. 228. &c. Suidas, Gellius, Stobaus] The first a dictionarywriter of impertinent facts and barbarous words; the second a minute critic; the third a collector, who gave his common-place book In ancient sense if any needs will deal, Or chew'd by blind old Scholiasts o'er and o'er. Sees hairs and pores, examines bit by bit: 230 How parts relate to parts, or they to whole, 235 The body's harmony, the beaming soul, REMARKS. book to the public, where we happen to find much mince-meat of good old authors. P. W. All these three writers abound in useful and elegant remarks, and in facts, which, but for their collections, would have been lost and unknown; and therefore deserved not this ridicule, especially from a poet, who, as Dr. Jortin observes, knew very little of their works. Burman, Kuster, and Wasse, mentioned verse 237, were men of real and useful erudition. Warton. Ver. 228. 231. I poach on Suidas for unlicens'd Greek— On which verses thus Pope and Warburton; "The first a dictionary writer, of impertinent facts and barbarous words, &c."Now, if we should deduct from the compilation of Suidas all his chronological, historical, and biographical communications, which are very copious and important, as they consist of extracts from the best authors of antiquity; and should leave only his philological information with its concomitant examples; a mass of literature would remain, of much the same value as Johnson's dictionary, if a general wreck of English authors should be produced by casualty and time: but how inestimably valuable such a repository would then be, it is easy for any man to discover. Considering, therefore, this strange and ignorant decision of Warburton, what can possibly be conceived more unseasonable and out of place, than Toup's critical epistle, as addressed to this prelate? Wakefield. Ver. 232. Or chew'd by blind old Scholiasts o'er and o'er.] These men taking the same things eternally from the mouth of one ano ther. P. W. Are things which Kuster, Burman, Wasse shall see, When man's whole frame is obvious to a Flea. "Ah, think not, Mistress! more true dulness lies In Folly's cap, than Wisdom's grave disguise. 240 Like buoys that never sink into the flood, On Learning's surface we but lie and nod. Thine is the genuine head of many a house, And much divinity without a Noũs. REMARKS. Ver. 239, 240. "Ah, think not, Mistress! &c.-In Folly's cap, &c.] By this it appears, that the Dunces and Fops mentioned ver. 139, 140, had a contention for the Goddess's favour on this great day. Those got the start; but these make it up by their Spokesman in the next speech. It seems as if Aristarchus here first saw him advancing with his fair Pupil. P.W. Ver. 241, 242. Like buoys, &c.-On Learning's surface, &c.] So that the station of a Professor is only a kind of legal Noticer to inform us where the shattered hulk of Learning lies sunk and foundered; which after so long unhappy navigation, and now without either Master or Patron, we may wish, with Horace, may lie there still. Nonne vides, ut Nudum remigio latus? non tibi sunt integra lintea; Non Dî, quos iterum pressa voces malo. Quamvis pontica pinus, Sylvæ filia nobilis, Jactes et genus, et nomen inutile. Hor. W. Ver. 243. Thine is the genuine]. It has been suggested that Dr. Warburton inserted some lines of his own composition in this fourth book of the Dunciad, which the poet wrote at his earnest request; and these two verses, as containing some common cant words peculiar to the university, are mentioned as some of them; as also the following, "As erst Medea, cruel so to save, A new edition of old Æson gave.” 66 Apollo's May'r and Aldermen," is Nor could a BARROW work on ev'ry block, REMARKS. 245 is said to be one of Dr, Warburton's witticisms. For the truth of this assertion I cannot vouch. Warton. Ver. 244. And much divinity without a Nous.] A word much affected by the learned Aristarchus in common conversation, to signify genius or natural acumen. But this passage has a farther view: Nos was the Platonic term for Mind, or the first cause; and that system of Divinity is here hinted at which terminates in blind Nature, without a Nos: such as the Poet afterwards describes, speaking of the dream of one of these later Platonists, Or that bright image to our fancy draw, Which Theocles in raptur'd Vision saw, That Nature &c. P. W. Ver. 245, 246. Burrow, Atterbury] Isaac Barrow, Master of Trinity; Francis Atterbury, Dean of Christ-church; both great geniuses and eloquent preachers; one more conversant in the sublime geometry; the other, in classical learning; but who equally made it their care to advance the polite arts in their several societies. P. W. No compositions can be more different than the sermons of these two eminent divines. If there be more eloquence and taste in the discourses of Atterbury, there is certainly more matter, more penetration, more knowledge of human nature, in those of Barrow. Warton. Ver. 245. Nor could a Barrow work on ev'ry block,] An allusion to the Latin proverb: "Non ex quovis ligno fit Mercurius." Wakefield. Ver. 247. the heavy Canon] Canon here, if spoken of Artillery, is in the plural number; if of the Canons of the House, in the singular, and meant only of one: in which case I suspect the Pole to be a false reading, and that it should be the Poll, or Head of that Canon. It may be objected, that this is a mere Paranomasia or Pun. But what of that? Is any figure of speech more apposite to our gentle Goddess, or more frequently used by her and her Children, especially of the University? Doubtless it better suits the For thee we dim the eyes, and stuff the head 250 "What tho' we let some better sort of fool 255 Thrid ev'ry science, run through ev'ry school? REMARKS. the character of Dulness, yea, of a Doctor, than that of an Angel; yet Milton feared not to put a considerable quantity into the mouths of his. It hath indeed been observed, that they were the Devil's Angels, as if he did it to suggest that the Devil was the author, as well of false wit, as of false religion, and that the father of lies was also the father of puns. But this is idle; it must be owned to be a Christian practice; used in the primitive times by some of the Fathers, and in the latter by most of the Sons of the Church; till the debauched reign of Charles the Second, when the shameful passion for wit overthrew every thing; and even then the best writers admitted it, provided it was obscene, under the name of the Double entendre. SCRIBLERUS. P. W. Here the learned Arisharangue in behalf of Ver. 248. And metaphysic smokes, &c.] tarchus ending the first member of his Words, and entering on the other half, which regards the teaching of Things, very artfully connects the two parts in an encomium on METAPHYSICS, a kind of Middle nature between words and things: communicating, in its obscurity, with Substance, and, in its emptiness, with Names. SCRIBL. W. Ver. 255 to 271. "What tho' we let some better sort of fool, &c.] Hitherto Aristarchus hath displayed the art of teaching his pupils words, without things. He shews greater skill in what follows, which is to teach things without profit. For with the better sort of fool the first expedient is, ver. 254 to 258, to run him so swiftly through the circle of the sciences that he shall stick at nothing, nor nothing stick with him; and though some little, both of words and things, should by chance be gathered up in his passage, yet he shews, ver. 259 to 261, that it is never more of the one than just to enable him to persecute with rhyme, or of the other than |