298 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 259. 



before I goe into Essex. Goinge to M"' Goughes 

 howse to-day, I found M' Rogers and hi together, 

 who both very kindly reniebred you. Thus, w*'' 

 my verie heartie salutacons, and my wire's, and 

 o' pray" to God for his blessinge upo you and y", 

 I rest 



" Yo"" loving friend in the Lord 

 much bounden, 



" J. Egerton. 

 " 7° Julii. 



" To the right wor" and 



my appved frend, 



M' Richard Browne, 



at Great Charte, 



nere 



Ashford." 



" The Dunciad." — As I have no faith in the 

 existence of the alleged_/?re, or rather seven, "im- 

 perfect editions" of The Dunciad, and do not be- 

 lieve that it was first printed in Dublin, I have 

 no doubt the following advertisements refer really 

 to the first publication of that poem. If I am cor- 

 rect in my views, that this, though styled the second 

 edition (as, if the book was a London reprint of a 

 Dublin edition, second it must have been), was in 

 reality only the first, the following advertisements 

 confirm me in what I have already shown (ante, 

 p. 257.), that the first publication of The Dunciad 

 took place between May 11 and June 8, 1728. 



In the Craftsman of May 25, 1728, appeared 

 the following advertisement : 



"This Day is published, The Dunciad; an Heroic 

 Poem. The Second Edition. Dublin, printed; London, 

 reprinted for A. Dodd ; price One Shilling. — N. B. Next 

 week will be published, The Pkogress of Dulness, by 

 an Eminent Hand." 



This same advertisement was inserted in Mist's 

 Weekly Journal of May 25, 1728. 



In the Craftsman of June 1, 1728, the adver- 

 tisement was repeated, with a motto and other 

 additions, as follows : 



"This Day is publislied, the Second Edition of The 

 DuKCiAD ; an Heroic Poem. In Three Books. 

 He, as an herd 

 Of goats, or tim'rous flocks together tlirong'd. 

 Drove them before him, thunderstruck pursu'd 

 Into the vast profund.' — Milton. 

 Dublin, printed ; London, reprinted for A. Dodd, without 

 Temple Bar ; price One Shilling. 



" And speedily will be published, which will serve for 

 an Explanation of the Poem, The Progress of Dul- 

 ness, by an Eminent Hand." 



The same advertisement is repeated, but altered 

 to fAirrf edition, in Mist's Weekly Journal of June 8, 

 1728 ; and refers, therefore, to what I believe to 

 have been actually the second edition^ although, in 



accordance with the original mystification, it is 

 styled the third. 



Perhaps I may not be occupying the pages of 

 " N. & Q." unprofitably, if I take this opportunity 

 of reprinting the following specimens of the mode 

 in which the warfare between Pope and his adver- 

 saries was carried on. The first is an announce- 

 ment which is appended to the long Letter, signed 

 W. A. (Dennis, Theobald, and others), in Mist's 

 Weekly Journal of June 8, 1728, to which allusion 

 has already been made (ante, p. 257.) : 



" To be published weekly in this Paper. • 



« May 27, 1728. 

 " By AuTiiORiTr, 



" This day, at a General Court of the Knights of the 

 Bathos, Esquires, Gentlemen, and others, of the same 

 Society, and of all the Worshipful and weighty Members 

 of this ancient and solid body, it was resolved : 



"That our Sessions, hitherto held at Mr. C I's, in 



the Strand, be henceforth removed to the Blue Posts at 

 Charing Cross, in regard to the President of this Societj', 

 who is too aged to walk farther from his lodgings. 



" And that for the greater tranquillity of this our Ses- 

 sions, and better security of the Members thereof, it be 

 held for the future only on Stmdays [as has been prac- 

 tised on great emergencies]. 



" Resolved, nemine contradicente, that a Committee of 

 this whole Lower House do consult on ways and means 

 for reducing the current sense of this kingdom, and the 

 exorbitant power of the Pope. 



" Ordered, That all papers, pamphlets, letters, adver- 

 tisements, &c., relating to the said Fope, which have 

 passed since the 1st of April last, be laid on the table, in 

 order to be revised and published in one volume, not 

 exceeding the value of one shilling one pennj- half-penny. 



" Ordered, That a Committee of Secrecy be appointed 

 to draw up a Report against the said Pope : and that Mr. 

 M., Mr. A. H., Mr. W., Mr. D., and the Rev. Mr. W., do 

 prepare and bring in the same. 



" Mr. A. H. petitioned to be excused, on account of 

 some business he hath to do in Muscovy. 



" The Rev. ilr. 'W. did the same, on account of an 

 ancient friendsliip between his best patron and the Pope. 



" Ordered, That a Key to The Dunciad be composed ; 

 and that Mr. C 1 attend next Saturday to receive in- 

 structions for the same. 



"A message from Mr. C 1, by Mr. C k, that 



Mr. C 1 humbly craves to be excused from coming to 



Charing Cross, sosoon after his standing in the pillory 

 there ! 



" Ordered, That Mr. C k do compose the said Key 



to The Dunciad, 



" And then this House adjourned till after the holidays. 



"I do appoint Edm. C 1 to print all the votes, 



resolutions, orders, and reports of this most dishonourable 

 House, and that no other person presume to print the 

 same. 



"J. M. S., Speaker." 



The following, which appeared in next number 

 of Mist's Weekly Journal (June 15, 1728), may be 

 read as showing that some suspicion then existed 

 whether Curl was not a tool in the hands of Pope : 



" Sir, — I send you a piece of news concerning the pre- 

 sent unnatural war betwixt the sons of Parnassus, which 

 perhaps is not yet come to your notice. 



" There have been several hot skirmishes of late betwixt 

 the parties concerned in the political war, to which both 



