Cibber’s words have not been reprinted since the eighteenth century, and his reputation has become so distorted it is sometimes difficult to find the man who, for so many years, amused and delighted London audiences. Yet, if one looks closely, under the froth and foppery, some of the charm and perception of the man still shines through. And, of more importance to the world of literature, it seems fairly clear that, whatever the original offense, the Dunciad as we know it today was a direct result of this Letter.
California State College
San Bernardino
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
[1] Not even the winner of the contest has been beyond dispute. 150 years afterward, Robert W. Lowe, “Supplementary Chapter to Colley Cibber’s Apology” in his edition of An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber, Comedian, and Late Patentee of the Theatre-Royal (London: J. C. Nimmo, 1889), II, 270, remarks on Cibber’s later years: “His [Cibber’s] state of mind was probably the more ‘chearful and contented’ because of his unquestionable success in his tilt with the formidable author of ‘The Dunciad;’ a success none the less certain at the time, that the enduring fame of Pope has caused Cibber’s triumph over him to be lost sight of now.”
[2] Norman Ault, New Light on Pope (London: Methuen, 1949), pp. 298-307.
[3] George Paston [Emily Morse Symmonds], Mr. Pope His Life and Times (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1909), I, 197.
[4] Alexander Pope, Works, ed. William Warburton (London: J. and P. Knapton, 1751), V, 86 (Book I, line 108). Griffith 643. This is a note to the variations on lines 108ff: “But chief in BAYS’S monster-breeding breast” and the wording is slightly altered from the earlier note quoted in the Twickenham edition, V, 75, Dunciad (A), Book I, line 106n.
[5] J. V. Guerinot, Pamphlet Attacks on Alexander Pope 1711-1744 (New York: New York University Press, 1969), lists 15 pamphlets between 1724 and the publication of the first Dunciad, but he does not include the frequent newspaper comments.