nd the closets of the dead have been broke open and
ransacked;" as if those violences were often committed for papers of
uncertain and accidental value, which are rarely provoked by real
treasures; as if epigrams and essays were in danger, where gold and
diamonds are safe. A cat hunted for his musk is, according to Pope's
account, but the emblem of a wit winded by booksellers.

His complaint, however, received some attestation; for, the same year,
the letters written by him, to Mr. Cromwell, in his youth, were sold by
Mrs. Thomas to Curll, who printed them.

In these Miscellanies was first published the Art of Sinking in Poetry,
which, by such a train of consequences as usually passes in literary
quarrels, gave, in a short time, according to Pope's account, occasion
to the Dunciad.

In the following year, 1728, he began to put Atterbury's advice in
practice; and showed his satirical powers by publishing the Dunciad, one
of his greatest and most elaborate performances, in which he endeavoured
to sink into contempt all the writers by whom he had been attacked, and
some others whom he thought unable to defend themselves.

At the head of the _dunces_ he placed poor Theobald, whom he accused of
ingratitude; but whose real crime was supposed to be that of having
revised Shakespeare more happily than himself. This satire had the
effect which he intended, by blasting the characters which it touched.
Ralph[129], who, unnecessarily interposing in the quarrel, got a place
in a subsequent edition, complained that, for a time, he was in danger
of starving, as the booksellers had no longer any confidence in his
capacity.

The prevalence of this poem was gradual and slow; the plan, if not
wholly new, was little understood by common readers. Many of the
allusions required illustration; the names were often expressed only by
the initial and final letters, and, if they had been printed at length,
were such as few had known or recollected. The subject itself had
nothing generally interesting, for whom did it concern to know that one
or another scribbler was a dunce? If, therefore, it had been possible
for those who were attacked to conceal their pain and their resentment,
the Dunciad might have made its way very slowly in the world.

This, however, was not to be expected: every man is of importance to
himself, and, therefore, in his own opinion, to others; and, supposing
the world already acquainted with all his pleasures and his pa