The Dunciad Book II
Notes
12 May-pole A maypole stood on the site where the Church of St. Mary-le-Strand was built.
13 ANNE St. Mary-le-Strand was the first of fifty churches ordered to be built by the Act of Queen Anne. [TE]
14 saints of Drury-lane Drury Lane, once fashionable, had become the haunt of prostitutes.
34 M— James Moore Smythe, SEE Vol IV
52 Jacob Jacob Tonson was known for his ungainly gait.
54 C—l's Corinna Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas had sold to Curll some letter’s of Pope’s. She was first called Corinna by Dryden. [TE and EC]
62 Vaticide a poet-killer, from the Latin vates, poet. Curll murdered poets “either by paying them to little, or by producing inaccurate editions of their works.” [TE]
68 note See Lucian’s Icaro Menippus This can be found at <a href=”http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10430">Project Gutenberg</a>.
76 Ichor
77 Cloacina The Roman goddess of the Common-shores. [P] The name of the Goddess was borrowed from Gay’s Trivia. [EC]
96 G–, to Y–, to S– Gay, Young, Swift [1728 Marginalia]
104 Congreve, Addison, and Prior These Authors being such whose names will reach posterity, we shall not give any account of them, but proceed to those of whom it is necessary. [P]
105 Mears, Warner, Wilkins Booksellers and Printers of much anonymous stuff. [P]
106 **, ** and ** It is not possible to determine what names, if any, Pope originally had in mind. In variant B of the Third edition the asterisks were replaced by B—B—B [TE] (or B—B—B— [VanderMeulen].) The Dunciad Variorum has “Breval, Besaleel, Bond” who are the writers John Durant Breval, William Bond, and Besaleel Morrice.
108 Joseph The ambiguity of the word Joseph, which likewise signifies a loose uppergarment, gives much pleasantry to the idea. – WARBURTON [EC]
118 C— Thomas Cooke, a poet who had attacked Pope.
118 C—n Matthew Concanen, an Irish poet
124 Codrus Of Codrus the Poet’s bed see Juvenal, describing his poverty very copiuously. Sat. 3 v. 203 &c.
Codrus had but one bed, so short to boot,
That his short Wife’s short legs hung dangling out:
Dryd. [P]
124 ** Variant B of the Third Edition has D—. John Dunton, a bookseller.
127 D— Daniel Defoe was put in the pillory in 1703. He never lost his ears. [EC]
128 T— John Tutchin, a pamphleteer. “He was sentenc’d to be whipped thro’ several towns.” [P]
129 R— George Ridpath, Whig journalist.
130a Line 131 is misnumbered 130. I follow the numbering in the printed copy
136 Eliza Eliza Haywood, playwright and novelist. See Wikipedia.
139 Kirkall Elisha Kirkall, engraver
148 Ch–d William Rufus Chetwood, a bookseller and the publisher of Mrs. Haywood.
163 Eridanus A mythical river. See Virgil, Georgic IV http://www.piney.com/Georgics.IV.html and find Eridanus
184 R— Paolo Antonio Rolli, an Italian Poet, and writer of many Operas in that language, which, partly by the help of his genius, prevail’d in England near twenty years. He taught Italian to some fine Gentlemen who affected to direct the Operas. [P]
186 ** Variant B of the Third Edition had T—. The 1728 marginalia has both B—y and Bentley. The Dunciad Variorum had Welsted, but this was changed to bentley in 1735, at which point Pope inserted a note that this is “not sspoken of the famous Dr. Richard Bentley, but of one Thom. Bentley, a small critic, who aped his uncle in a little Horace.” [P] Sutherland (TE, 306) thinks Richard Bentley was the original target, but does not try to account for the T— in the final 1728 edition.
188 O— John Oldmixon, a writer
205a This is the second misnumbered line in Book II. I continue to use the numbering in the printed copy.
218 R— I do not know whse name Pope intended.
218 B— John Durant Breval, poet/ See line 106
229 Sir G—t Sir Gilbert Heathcote, known for his wealth and parsimonious habits.
235 Bl— Sir Richard Blackmore, poet
237 Tot'nham Sutherland (TE, 130) notes that at this time Tottenham fields was open country. The Dunciad Variorum and The Dunciad in Four Books has the spelling “Tot’nam,” and Stherland does not note the spelling here with an “h.” EC has the “h” both in the 1728 and the 1743 texts. Davis has the “h” in the 1728 text, but not in the 1743 text.
241 Rufus' roaring hall Westminster Hall, part of the Palace of Westminster, and built by William Rufus in 1097-1099
242 H—d Hungerford. The blank makes it look like a surname is intended, and indeed there was a lawyer named John Hungerford. But Pope’s note to v. 238 refers to Hungerford-stairs and TE identifies the reference as Hungerford Maarket. [Adapted from TE]
245 Bridewell The House of Correction for Women. [TE] It is between eleven and twelve in the morning, after church service, the the criminals are whipp’d in Bridewell. [P]
247 Fleetditch Actually a confined river, the Fleet Ditch was at this time a large open sewer.
256 * * * Journals Weekly Journals: Papers of news and scandal intermix’d, on different sides and parties and frequemtly shifting from one side to the other, call’d the London Journal, British Journal, Daily journal, &. [P] The 1736 marginalia show that Pope at one time considered naming a specific journal. The 1728 marginalia has “Weekly.”
259 D— John Dennis, critic and dranatist.
260 Milo of Croton, famous athlete. In Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XV, is found the lines:
This age dooth undermyne the strength of former yeares, and throwes ...
It downe. Which thing old Milo by example playnely showes.
For when he sawe those armes of his (which heeretofore had beene
As strong as ever Hercules in woorking deadly teene
Of biggest beastes) hang flapping downe, and nought but empty skin,
He wept.
From the first English translation, 1567, found at http://www.elizabethanauthors.com/ovid15.htm
267 E— Laurence Eusden, the poet laureate. See Wikipedia
271 H— Aaron Hill, a dramatist and poet
275 D—r William Diaper, a minor poet, and friend of Swift. He disappeared from the Dunciad starting with the Dunciad Variorum in 1729.
277 * * * and * * * In 1728f, R— and Wh—y. Edward Roome, poet; Stephen Whatley, Whig journalist.
295 Lutetia The classical name for modern Paris, thought to be derived from “its dirty situation.” Lutum = clay, mud. [TE]
298 Hylas Who was ravish’d by the water-nymphs and drawn into the river. [P] The story is told in the Argonautica and referrered to in Virgil’s Eclogue 6.
300 Styx The river which formed the boundary between Earth and Hades. The description of a branch of Styx flowing into another river is from the Iliad, II, 751-5. The Land of Dreams is from the Odyssey, XXIV, 12. For the waters of the river Alpheus flowing secretly under the sea of Pisa to mix with those of Arethuse in Sicily, Pope cites Moschus, Idyll *, but see also Ovid, Metamorphosis, Book V.
301 Lethe One of the rivers of Hades. Those who drank from it forgot everything.
304 Pisa A region in ancient Greece, also called Pisatis. Olympia, the site of the Olympic Games, was there.
309 Taylor John Taylor, a poet of the time of James I and Charles I.
310 Sh— Thomas Shadwell, poet and the target of Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe. Shadwell died from an overdose of opium, which he took partly to relieve the pain of gout. [?]
311 M–n Luke Milbourn, a critic
312 surcingle the girdle or cincture (belt) of a cassock [Webster’s Second]
316 Flamen In Roman religion, a priest devoted to a particular god
318 Lud Ludgate (named after King Lud, a legendary King of Britain and founder of Lud-town – London) was the western gate in the London City Wall.
324 H— John “Orator” Henley wikipedia, and vol IV
328 Ulysses, Argus See Homer, Odyssey 12 [192], Ovid Metamorphoses 1 [625] [P]
333 Soph Short for Sophister, a second or third year student at Cambridge
333 Templar A law student at the Inns of Court who resided in the Inner or Outer Temple
339 Mum a kind of strong beer made in Brunswick [EC]
351 B—l Eustace Budgell. Famous for his speeches [P]
352 Arthur Blackmore’s long heroic poems, Prince Arthur and King Arthur.
353 C—s Anthony Collins, a philospher WIKIPEDIA
354 Christ’s No kingdom here A sermon entitled “The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ” based on the text John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world,”preached in 1717 before George I by Boadly, Bishop of Bangor. Hoadley’s argument that there is no biblical justification for any church government of any sort and that Christ had not delegated his authority to any worldy representatives provoked the “Bangor controversy.”
365 C—re Susanna Centlivre, a comic dramatist
366 * * * Bruce. Mack, in The Last and Greatest Art, offers a tentative identification as the Honorable Robert Bruce
367 T–s TE suggests that Travers was a coffee house pundit, but gives no further identification.
367 T– Rev. Joseph Trapp, see TE
368 S— Sutherland identifies him as “no doube, Charles Douglas, Earl of Selkirk.” [TE] Neither the marginalia, nor any commentator I have seen, offers a conclusive candidate for a name to replace the asterisks.
369 N—n [Benjamin] Norton de Foe, said to be the offspring of the famous Daniel. [P]
370 Wapping An oyster-woman (seller of oysters) at Wapping was said to be the mother of Norton Defoe. Oyster women were known for being loud and foul-mouthed.
379 E— see v 267 ff. “Eusden’s intemperate habits were well-known.” [TE]