l, and his renaming of the masquerade a
decade old.

This mixture is confusing, but certainly intentional, since it would
have made the _Man of Taste_ more ridiculous to a contemporary
audience. There is also a vertical mixture of the tastes of different
levels of society; the writer in the _Weekly Register_ for February
1731, already quoted above, makes this distinction: "The gaming-table,
and the royal diversion at _Newmarket_, are the ambition of the
majority; and the rest prefer _Senesino_ to _Shakespear_, as the
highest proof of modern politeness."[8] Bramston's Man of Taste is a
concertina-brow, enjoying Senesino, gaming, and Newmarket (pp. 13, 15,
17).

The usefulness of notes for a full understanding of Bramston's satire
was recognized as early as 1733, when a few were added to Faulkner's
Dublin reprint. Faulkner's notes are remarkable for their xenophobic
bias, for apart from those on Mrs. Oldfield ("_Ophelia_," p. 9), they
mostly call attention to evils of continental origin: Pasaran's
recommendation of suicide (p. 9); Heidegger's role as corrupting
entertainer (p. 13); the imposter Count D'Ughi (the "_Di'mond Count_,"
p. 16); and Misaubin (p. 17), "famous for curing the venereal
Disorders." These men were Italian, Swiss, Italian, and French
respectively. This xenophobia is a remarkably constant feature of
eighteenth-century satire on "taste."

_The Man of Taste_ (together with _The Art of Politicks_) was included
in Dodsley's _Collection_; in the 1782 edition, notes (unsigned, but by
Isaac Reed) were added, identifying many allusions which no longer
passed current. These are often helpful, but sometimes miss the
point--as they do with the Budgell-Roberts joke, discussed above. But
although notes are useful for a complete understanding of all
Bramston's satiric points, a familiarity with the world of Pope and his
victims removes most of the difficulties for a modern reader. Only
occasionally does Bramston sound a more personal note, as in the list
of doctors (p. 17), where he includes two of his contemporaries at
Christ Church; and even here, Arbuthnot is a sufficient signpost.

Bramston is a minor poet, but there is no need to apologize for
_The Man of Taste_. It is a lively and amusing poem in its own right,
and its association with Pope and its place in the corpus of
eighteenth-century satire on "taste" raise its claim to the attention
of students of the period.

University of Queensland
Brisbane