Curl stretches after Gay, but Gay is gone,
He grasps an empty Joseph[R 1] for a John:
So Proteus, hunted in a nobler shape,
Became, when seiz'd, a puppy, or an ape. 130
To him the Goddess: Son! thy grief lay down,
And turn this whole illusion on the town:[R 2]
As the sage dame, experienc'd in her trade,
By names of Toasts retails each batter'd jade;
(Whence hapless Monsieur much complains at Paris 135
Of wrongs from Duchesses and Lady Maries;)
Be thine, my stationer! this magic gift;
Cook shall be Prior,[R 3] and Concanen, Swift:[R 4]
So shall each hostile name become our own,
And we too boast our Garth and Addison.[R 5] 140
Remarks
- ↑ Ver. 128. Joseph Gay, a fictitious name put by Curl before several pamphlets, which made them pass with many for Mr. Gay's.
- ↑ Ver. 132. And turn this whole illusion on the town:] It was a common practice of this bookseller to publish vile pieces of obscure hands under the names of eminent authors.
- ↑ Ver. 138. Cook shall be Prior,). The man here specified writ a thing called The Battle of Poets, in which Philips and Welsted were the Heroes, and Swift and Pope utterly routed. He also published some malevolent things in the British, London, and Daily Journals; and at the same time wrote letters to Mr. Pope, protesting his innocence. His chief work was a translation of Hesiod, to which Theobald writ notes and half-notes, which he carefully owned.
- ↑ Ver. 138. and Concanen, Swift:] In the first edition of this poem, there were only asterisks in this place, but the names were since inserted, merely to fill up the verse, and give ease to the ear of the reader.
- ↑ Ver. 140. And we too boast our Garth and Addison.] Nothing is more remarka-
poet: But where is such a satyr to be found? where was such a writer ever heard of? As for Besaleel, it carries forgery in the very name; nor is it, as the others are, a surname. Thou may'st depend upon it, no such authors ever lived: all phantoms. Scribl.
