The race by vigour, nor by vaunts, is won; He left huge Lintot, and outstript the wind. REMARKS. of much respect, that of Mr. Edmund Curl. We shall only say of this eminent man, that he carried the trade many lengths beyond what it ever before had arrived at; and that he was the envy and admiration of his profession. He possessed himself of a command over all authors whatever; he caused them to write what he pleased; they could not call their very names their own. He was not only famous among these; he was noticed by the State, the Church, and the Law, and received particular marks of distinction from each. The tribute our author here pays him is a grateful return for several unmerited obligations: if ever he owed two verses to any other, he owed Mr. Curl some thousands. He was every day extending his fame, and enlarging his writings; but it shall suffice only to mention the Court Poems, which he meant to publish as the work of the true writer, a lady of quality; but being first threatened, and afterwards punished for it by Mr. Pope, he transferred it from her to him, and ever since printed it in his name. + Curl's Corinna.] This name was taken by a Mrs. Thomas, who procured some private letters of Mr. Pope, while almost a boy, to Mr. Cromwell, and sold them without the consent of either of those gentlemen to Curl, who printed them in 12mo. 1727. IMITATIONS. So take the hindmost, hell.] "Occupet extremum scabies; mihi turpe relinqui est." Hor, de Arte. (Such was her wont, at early dawn to drop Obscene with filth the miscreant lies bewray'd, "Hear, Jove! whose name my bards and I adore, And ministers to Jove with purest hands. REMARKS. The Bible, Curl's sign: the Cross Keys, Lintot's. IMITATIONS. A place there is betwixt earth, air, and seas.] Where as he fish'd her nether realms for wit, Nor heeds the brown dishonours of his face. And now the victor stretch'd his eager hand Where the tall nothing stood, or seem'd to stand; A shapeless shade, it melted from his sight,* Like forms in clouds, or visions of the night. To seize his papers, Curl, was next thy care; His papers light, fly diverse, toss'd in air; t Songs, sonnets, epigrams, the winds uplift, And whisk 'em back to Evans, Young, and Swift.t The' embroider'd suit at least he deem'd his prey; That suit an unpaid tailor snatch'd away. No rag, no scrap, of all the beau, or wit, That once so flutter'd, and that once so writ. Heav'n rings with laughter: of the laughter vain, Dulness, good queen, repeats the jest again, Three wicked imps, of her own Grub-street choir, She deck'd like Congreve, Addison, and Prior; } REMARKS. Evans, Young, and Swift.] Some of those persons whose writings, epigrams, or jests, he had owned. Like Congreve, Addison, and Prior.] These authors, whose names will reach posterity, we shall not give any account of them, but proceed to those of whom it is necessary.Bezaleel Morris was author of some satires Virg. En. vi, His papers light, fly diverse, toss'd in air.] Virgil, En. vi. of the Sibyl's leaves: "Carmina Turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis," Mears, Warner, Wilkins, run: delusive thought! REMARKS. on the translators of Homer, with many other things printed in newspapers-Bond wrote a satire against Mr. P. Capt. Breval was author of The Confederates, a dramatic performance, to expose Mr. P. Mr. Gay, Dr. Arbuthnot, and some ladies of quality. Mears, Warner, Wilkins.] Booksellers, and printers of much anonymous stuff. +Joseph Gay.] A fictitious name put by Curl before several pamphlets, which made them pass with many for Mr. Gay's. Cook shall be Prior.] The man here specified wrote a thing called the Battle of Poets, in which Philips and Welsted were the heroes, and Swift and Pope utterly routed. His chief work was a translation of Hesiod, to which Theobald wrote notes, and half notes, which be carefully owned. IMITATIONS. (piteous of his case, Yet smiling at his rueful length of face)] Risit pater optimus olli. Me liceat casus miserari insontis amici, A shaggy tap'stry, worthy to be spread REMARKS, -Dunton's modern bed.] John Dunton was a broken bookseller, and abusive scribbler: he wrote Neck or Nothing, a violent satire on some ministers of state; a libel on the Duke of Devonshire and the Bishop of Fe terborough, &c. +And Tutchin flagrant from the scourge.] John Tutehin, author of some vile verses, and of a weekly paper called The Observator: he was sentenced to be whipped through several towns in the west of England, upon which he petitioned King James II. to be hanged. He lived to the time of Queen Anne. There Ridpath, Roper.] Authors of the Flying-Post, and Post-Boy, two scandalous papers on different sides, for which they equally and alternately deserved to be cudgelled, and were so. of his Himself among the storied chiefs he spies.] The history of Curl's being tossed in a blanket, and whipped by the scholars of Westminster, is well known. purging and vomiting, see a full and true account of a horrid revenge on the body of Edmund Curl, &c. in Swift and Pope's Miscellanies. IMITATIONS. And the fresh vomit run for ever green] A parody of these lines of a late noble author: His bleeding arm had furnish'd all their rooms, |