bauchery, from which happy affemblage refulteth berois Dulness, the never-dying fubject of this our Poem.

This being confeffed, come we now to particulars. It is the character of true Wisdom, to feek its chief fupport and confidence within itself, and to place that fupport in the refources which proceed from a conscious rectitude of Will. And are the advantages of Vanity, when arifing to the heroic ftandard, at all fhort of this felf-complacence? Nay, are they not, in the opinion of the enamoured owner, far beyond it? "Let the "world (will fuch an one fay) impute to me what folly "or weakness they pleafe; but till Wifdom can give me "fomething that will make me more heartily happy, "I am content to be GAZED AT ." This, we fee, is Vanity according to the heroic gage or measure; not that low and ignoble fpecies which pretendeth to Virtues we have not, but the laudable ambition of being gazed at for glorying in thofe Vices, which every body knows we have. "The world may afk (fays he) why "I make my follies public? Why not? I have paffed "my time very pleafantly with them." In fhort, there is no fort of Vanity fuch a Hero would fcruple, but that which might go near to degrade him from his high ftation in this our Dunciad; namely, "whether it would "not be Vanity in him, to take fhame to himself for "not being a wife mand?"

Bravery, the fecond attribute of the true Hero, is Courage manifefting itself in every limb; while its correfpondent Virtue in the mock Hero, is, that fame Courage all collected into the Face. And as Power when drawn together, muft needs have more force and fpirit than when difperfed, we generally find this kind of courage in fo high and heroic a degree, that it infults not only Men, but Gods. Mezentius is without doubt

b Dedication to the Life of C. C. Life, p. 2. octavo Edit. A Life, ibid.

the braveft character in all the Æneis: But how? His bravery, we know, was an high courage of blafphemy. And can we fay lefs of this brave man's, who having told us that he placed "his Summum bonum in those "follies, which he was not content barely to poffefs but "would likewife glory in," adds, "If I am mifguided, "'TIS NATURE'S FAULT, and I follow HER." Nor can we be mistaken in making this happy quality a fpecies of Courage, when we confider thofe illuftrious marks of it, which made his FACE "more known (as he justly boasteth) "than moft in the kingdom," and his Language to confift of what we must allow to be the most daring Figure of Speech, that which is taken from the Name of God.

Gentle Love, the next ingredient in the true Hero's compofition, is a mere bird of paffage, or (as Shakefpear calls it) fummer-teeming Luft, and evaporates in the heat of Youth; doubtless by that refinement it fuffers in paffing through thofe certain ftrainers which our Poet fomewhere fpeaketh of. But when it is let alone to work upon the Lees, it acquireth ftrength by Old age; and becometh a lafting ornament to the little Epic. It is true indeed, there is one objection to its fitness for fuch an ufe: For not only the Ignorant may think it common, but it is admitted to be fo, even by Him who best knoweth its value. "Don't you think (argueth he) "to fay only a man has his Whore, ought to go for "little or nothing? Because defendit numerus; take the "firft ten thousand men you meet, and, I believe, you "would be no lofer if you betted ten to one, that every

fingle finner of them, one with another, had been "guilty of the fame frailty ." But here he fecmeth not

Life, p. 23, octavo.

f Alluding to thefe lines in the Epift. to Dr. Arbuthnot:

"And has not Colly fill his Lord and Whore,

"His Butchers Henly, his Free-Mafons Moore ?

6 Letter to Mr. P. p. 46.

to have done justice to himfelf: The man is fure enough a Hero, who hath his Lady at fourfcore. How doth his Modesty herein leffen the merit of a whole wellSpent Life: not taking to himfelf the commendation (which Horace accounted the greatest in a theatrical character) of continuing to the very dregs, the fame he was from the beginning,

Servetur ad IMUM

Qualis ab incepto procefferat.

But here, in juftice both to the Poet and the Hero, let us farther remark, that the calling her bis whore, implieth fhe was his own, and not his neighbour's. Truly a commendable Continence! and fuch as Scipio himself must have applauded. For how much Self-denial was neceffary not to covet his Neighbour's whore? and what diforders must the coveting her have occafioned in that Society, where (according to this Political Calculator) nine in ten of all ages have their concubines?

We have now, as briefly as we could devife, gone through the three conftituent Qualities of either Hero. But it is not in any, or in all of thefe, that Heroifm properly or effentially refideth. It is a lucky refult rather from the collifion of thefe lively Qualities against one another. Thus, as from Wifdom, Bravery, and Love, arifeth Magnanimity, the object of Admiration, which is the aim of the greater Epic; fo from Vanity, Affurance, and Debauchery, fpringeth Buffoonry, the fource of Ridicule, that "laughing ornament," as he well termeth it", of the little Epic.

He is not afhamed (God forbid he ever fhould be afhamed!) of this Character; who deemeth, that not Reafon but Rifibility diftinguifheth the human fpecies from the brutal. "As Nature (faith this profound Phi

lofopher) diftinguifhed our fpecies from the mute creation by our Rifibility, her defign MUST have been

Letter to Mr. P. p. 31.

by that faculty as evidently to raise our HAPPINESS, "as by our os fublime (OUR ERECTED FACES) to lift "the dignity of our FORM above them i." All this confidered, how complete a Hero muft he be, as well as how happy a Man, whofe Rifibility lieth not barely in his muscles, as in the common fort, but (as himself informeth us) in his very fpirits; and whofe Os fublime is not fimply an erect face, but a brazen head, as fhould fcem by his preferring it to one of Iron, faid to belong to the late king of Sweden?

But whatever perfonal qualities a Hero may have, the examples of Achilles and Æneas fhew us, that all thofe are of fmall avail, without the conftant affiftance of the GODS: for the fubverfion and erection of Empires have never been adjudged the work of Man. How greatly foever then we may efteem of his high talents, we can hardly conceive his perfonal prowefs alone fufficient to reftore the decayed empire of Dulnefs. So weighty an atchievement must require the particular favour and protection of the GREAT: who being the natural patrons and supporters of Letters, as the ancient Gods were of Troy, muft firft be drawn off and engaged in another Intereft, before the total fubverfion of them can be acomplished. To furmount, therefore, this laft and greatest difficulty, we have, in this excellent man, a profeffed Favourite and Intimado of the Great. And look, of what force ancient Piety was to draw the Gods into the party of Aneas, that, and much ftronger is modern Incenfe, to engage the Great in the party of Dulness.

Thus have we effayed to pourtray or fhadow out this noble Imp of Fame. But now the impatient reader will be apt to fay, if fo many and various graces go to the making up a Hero, what mortal fhall fuffice to bear his character? Ill hath he read, who feeth not, in every

1

trace of this picture, that individual, ALL-ACCOMPLISHED PERSON, in whom these rare virtues and lucky circumftances have agreed to meet and concentre with the strongest luftre and fulleft harmony.

The good Scriblerus indeed, nay the World itfelf, might be imposed on in the late fpurious editions, by I can't tell what Sham-Hero, or Phantom: But it was not fo eafy to impofe on HIM whom this egregious error most of all concerned. For no fooner had the fourth book laid open the high and fwelling fcene, but he recognized his own heroic Acts: And when he came to the words,

Soft on her lap her Laureat fon reclines,

(though Laureat imply no more than one crowned with laurel, as befitteth any Affociate or Confort in Empire) he loudly refented this indignity to violated Majefty, Indeed not without caufe, he being there reprefented as faft afleep; fo mifbefeeming the eye of empire, which, like that of Providence, fhould never doze nor flumber. "Hah! (faith he) faft afleep, it feems! that's a little "too ftrong. Pert and dull at least you might have al"lowed me, but as feldom afleep as any fool'." However, the injured Hero may comfort himfelf with this reflexion, that tho' it be a fleep, yet it is not the fleep of death, but of immortality. Here he will m live at least, tho' not awake; and in no worfe condition than many an enchanted Warrior before him. The famous Durandarte, for inftance, was, like him, caft into a long flumber by Merlin the British Bard and Necromancer: and his example, for fubmitting to it with a good grace, might be of ufe to our Hero. For that difaftrous knight being forely preffed or driven to make his anfwer by feveral perfons of quality, only replied with a figh, Patience, and shuffle the cards".

1 Letter, p. 53. m Letter, p. 1. n Don Quixotte, Part ii.

Book ii, ch. 22.