1730
The Censoriad: a poem. Written originally by Martin Gulliver.
The
second edition. London printed, and Dublin re-printed, and sold by James
Hoey and George Faulkner. 1730.
pp. 5-17. h.c.
Mock-heroic.
"The Commentator's Proeme Unto the Courteous Reader," in
Spenserian
prose. A libel referring to a fracas in Trinity College, Dublin, the details
of
which are obscure. (At this period there were many student riots.)
Back'd by one Vassal, thro' the mazy Gloom
He boldly stagger'd to a Scholar's Room;
Thrice knock'd with pond'rous Feet and Mutton Fists,
And thrice the bolted Door his Rage resists:
At length he tries the Prowess of his Pate,
And open flies the barricado'd Gate;
For what is Oak or Iron, but a Sham,
Against the Force of such a batt'ring Ram?
The Censor enters — and about he flings
The injur'd Glasses, and the Chamber rings.
See Locke and Clarke in Floods of Liquor
swim,
He seiz'd the Scholar, and the Scholar him. [pp. 11-12]
The mock-pedantic Annotations are more bulky than the poem itself.
They are in the manner of the Dunciad Variorum, and are
signed with
such names as Vossius, Heinsius and Bentleius.
A third edition appeared in 1730 in Dublin: The Censoriad .
. . third
edition . . . [imprint as above]; and in London: The
Censoriad . . .
London, Re-printed from the Dublin Third Edition, for Weaver Bickerton.
MDCCXXX. This third edition has additional matter, with an
Advertisement for 'a curious Collection of Notes, which we promise
faithfully to insert in the next Edition.' I have not traced any later editions
— or the first edition.
