Note 258 — QUARRELS OF AUTHORS; (continued 2)
Reading edition
Pope was severe in his last book of the Dunciad on the students of insects, flowers, &c.; and R.O. Cambridge followed out the idea of a mad virtuoso in his “Scribleriad,” which he has made up from the absurd or trifling parts of natural history and philosophy. His hero is—
“A much-enduring man, whose curious soul Bore him with ceaseless toil from pole to pole; Insatiate endless knowledge to obtain, Thro’ woes by land, thro’ dangers on the main.”
He collects curiosities from all parts of the world; studies occult and natural sciences; and is at last beatified by electrical glories at a meeting of hermetical philosophers. This poem is elucidated by notes, which point the allusions to the works or doings of the old philosophers.—Ed.