As many quit the streams that murm'ring fall REMARK S. 200 man and Dutch extraction may manifeft; and very famous we may conclude, being honour'd with Names, as were the horfes Pegafus and Bucephalus. SCRIBL. Tho' I have the greateft deference to the penetration of this eminent fcholiaft, and muft own that nothing can be more natural than his interpretation, or jufter than that rule of criticifm, which directs us to keep to the literal sense, when no apparent abfurdity accompanies it (and fure there is no abfurdity in fuppofing a Logician on horseback) yet Aill I muft needs think the Hackneys here celebrated were not real Horses, nor even Centaurs, which, for the fake of the learned Chiron, I should rather be inclined to think, if I were forced to find them four legs, but downright plain men, tho' Logicians: and only thus metamorphofed by a rule of rhetoric, of which Cardinal Perron gives us an example, where he calls Clavius, "Un Efprit pefant, lourd, fans fubtilité, ni gentillesse “UN GROSS CHEVAL "D'ALLEMAGNE." Here I profefs to go oppofite to the whole stream of commentators. I think the poet only aimed, tho' aukwardly, at an elegant Grecifm in this reprefentation; for in that language the wore is [Horfe] was often prefixed to others, to denote greatnefs or ftrength; as ἱππολάπαθον, ἱππόγλωσσον, ἱππομάραθρον, and particularly ΙΠΠΟΓΝΩΜΩΝ, a great connoiffeur, which comes nearest to the cafe in hand. SCIP. MAFF. VER. 199. the freams.] The River Cam, running by the walls of thefe Colleges, which are particularly famous for their fkill in Difputation. VER. 202. fleeps in Port.] viz. "New retired into harbour, "after the tempefts that had long agitated his fociety." So Scriblerus. But the learned Scipio Maffei underfands it of a ceitain Wing called Port, from Oporto a city of Portugal, of Before them march'd that awful Ariftarch; Plow'd was his front with many a deep Remark: REMARK S. 210 which this Profeffor invited him to drink abundantly. SCIP. MArr. De Compotationibus Academicis. VER. 205. His Hat, &c.-So upright Quakers please both Man and God,] The Hat-worship, as the Quakers call it, is an abomination to that fect: yet, where it is neceffary to pay that refpect to man (as in the Courts of Juftice and Houses of Parlia ment) they have, to avoid offence, and yet not violate their confcience, permitted other people to uncover them. VER. 210. Ariftarchus.] A famous Commentator and Corrector of Homer, whose name has been frequently used to fignify a complete Critic. The Compliment paid by our author to this eminent Profeffor, in applying to him fo great a Name, was the reafon that he hath omitted to comment on this part which contains his own praises. We fhall therefore fupply that lofs to our best ability. SCRIBL. IMITATIONS. VER. 207. He, kingly, did but nod ;] Milton. -He, kingly, from bis State Declin'd not VER. 210.—is Ariftarchus yet unknown? -Sic notus Ulyffes? Doft thou not feel me, Rome? VIRG. Ben. Johnson. 214 Better : Turn what they will to Verfe, their toil is vain, REMARK S. VER. 214. Critics like me-] Alluding to two famous Editionsof Horace and Milton; whofe richest veins of Poetry he had prodigally reduced to the poorest and most beggarly profe.-Verily the learned fcholiaft is grievously mistaken. Ariftarchus, in not boafting here of the wonders of his art in annihilating the fublime; but of the usefulness of it, in reducing the turgid to its proper clafs; the words make it profe again, plainly fhewing that profe it was, tho' afhamed of its original, and therefore to profe it fhould return. Indeed, much is it to be lamented that Dulnefs doth not confine her critics to this useful task; and commiffion them to difmount what Ariftophanes calls Pnual irroßaμove, all profe on borse-back. SCRIBL. VER. 216. Author of something yet more great than Letter ;] Alluding to those Grammarians, fuch as Palamedes and Simonides, who invented fingle letters. But Ariftarchus, who had found out a double one, was therefore worthy of double honour. SCRIEL. VER. 217, 218. While tow'ring o'er your Alphabes, like Saul, -Stands our Digamma,] Alludes to the boafted restoration of the Æolic Digamma, in his long projected Edition of Homer. He calls it fomething more than Letter, from the enormous figure it would make among the other letters, being one Gamma fet upon the fhoulders of another. IMITATIONS. VER. 215. Roman and Greek Grammarians, &c.] Imitated from Propertius speaking of the Æneid. Cedite. Romani fcriptores, cedite Graii! 'Tis true, on Words is ftill our whole debate, To found or fink in cano, O or A, Let Freind affect to fpeak as Terence spoke, REMARK S. 220 225 VER. 220. of Me or Te,] It was a ferious difpute, about which the learned were much divided, and some treatises written : Had it been about Meum and Tuum it could not be more contefted, than whether at the end of the first Ode of Horace, to read, Me doctarum bederæ præmia frontium, or, Te doftarum bedera-By this the learned fcholiaft would seem to infinuate that the difpute was not about Meum and Tuum, which is a Miftake: For, as a venerable fage obferveth, Words are the counters of Wife-men, but the money of fools; so that we fee their SCRIBL. property was indeed concerned, VER. 222. Or give up Cicero to C or K.] Grammatical dif putes about the manner of pronouncing Cicero's name in Greek. It is a difpute whether in Latin the name of Hermagoras should end in as or a. Quintilian quotes Cicero as writing it Hermagora, which Bentley rejects, and fays Quintilian must be mistaken, Cicero could not write it fo, and that in this cafe he would not believe Cicero himself. These are his very words: Ego vero Ciceronem ita fcripfiffe ne Ciceroni quidem affirmanti crediderimEpift. ad Mill. in fin. Frag. Menand. et Phil. VER. 223, 224. Friend-Alfop] Dr. Robert Freind, master of Westminster-school, and canon of Chrift church-Dr. Anthony Alfop, a happy imitator of the Horatian style. VER. 226. Manilius or Solinus] Some Critics having had it in their choice to comment either on Virgil or Manilius, Pliny or Solinus, have chofen the worfe author, the more freely to difplay their critical capacity. For Attic Phrase in Plato let them feek, Or chew'd by blind old Scholiasts o'er and o'er. 230 235 Sees hairs and pores, examines bit by bit : Ah, think not, Miftrefs! more true Dulnefs lies REMARKS. VER. 228. &c. Suidas, Gellius, Stobæus] The firft a Dictionary-writer, a collector of impertinent facts and barbarous words; the fecond a minute Critic; the third an author, who gave his Common-place book to the public, where we happen to find much Mince-meat of old books. VER. 232. Or chew'd by blind old Scholiafts o'er and o'er.]+ These taking the fame things eternally from the mouth of one another. VER. 239, 240. Ah, think not, Miftrefs, &c.-In Folly's Cap, &c.] By this it appears the Dunces and Fops, mentioned ver. 139, 140. had a contention of rivalfhip 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 Ariftarchus here first saw him advancing with his fair Pupil. SCRIBL. VER. 241, 242. Like buoys, &c.-On Learning's furface, &c.] VOL. VI. C |