£s.d.
12 May, 1713.
Wife of Bath2500
11 Nov. 1714.
Letter to a Lady576
14 Feb. 1714.
The What d’ye call it?1626
22 Dec. 1715.
Trivia4300
Epistle to the Earl of Burlington10150
4 May, 1717.
Battle of the Frogs1626
8 Jan. 1717.
Three Hours after Marriage4326
The Mohocks, a Farce, 2l. 10s.
(Sold the Mohocks to him again.[243])
Revival of the Wife of Bath7500
£234100

331

MR. DENNIS.

£s.d.
Feb. 24, 1703-4.
Liberty Asserted, one half share[245]730
10 Nov. 1708.
Appius and Virginia21100
25 April, 1711.
Essay on Public Spirit2126
6 Jan. 1711.
Remarks on Pope’s Essay2126

Dennis must have sold himself to criticism from ill-nature, and not for pay. One is surprised that his two tragedies should have been worth a great deal more than his criticism. Criticism was then worth no more than too frequently it deserves; Dr. Sewel, for his “Observations on the Tragedy of Jane Shore,” received only a guinea.

I had suggested a doubt whether Theobald attempted to translate from the original Greek: one would suppose he did by the following entry, which has a line drawn through it, as if the agreement had not been executed. Perhaps Lintot submitted to pay Theobald for not doing the Odyssey when Pope undertook it.

MR. THEOBALD.

£s.d.
23 May, 1713.
Plato’s Phædon576
For Æsculus’s Trag.116
being part of Ten Guineas.
12 June, 1714.
La Motte’s Homer346

April 21, 1714. Articles signed by Mr. Theobald, to translate for B. Lintot the 24 books of Homer’s Odyssey into English blank verse. Also the four Tragedies of Sophocles, called Œdipus Tyrannus, Œdipus Coloneus, Trachiniæ, and Philoctetes, into English blank verse, with Explanatory 332 Notes to the twenty-four Books of the Odyssey, and to the four Tragedies. To receive, for translating every 450 Greek verses, with Explanatory Notes thereon, the sum of 2l. 10s.

To translate likewise the Satires and Epistles of Horace into English rhyme. For every 120 Latin lines so translated, the sum of 1l. 1s. 6d.

These Articles to be performed, according to the time specified, under the penalty of fifty pounds, payable by either party’s default in performance.

Paid in hand, 2l. 10s.

It appears that Toland never got above 5l., 10l., or 20l., for his publications. See his article in “Calamities of Authors,” p. [155]. I discovered the humiliating conditions that attended his publications, from an examination of his original papers. All this author seems to have reaped from a life devoted to literary enterprise, and philosophy, and patriotism, appears not to have exceeded 200l.