



Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and the Online
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  To H. T. Swedenberg, Junior
  _founder_, _protector_, _friend_

  _He that delights to_ Plant _and_ Set,
  _Makes_ After-Ages _in his_ Debt.


  Where could they find another formed so fit,
  To poise, with solid sense, a sprightly wit?
  Were these both wanting, as they both abound,
  Where could so firm integrity be found?


The verse and emblem are from George Wither, _A Collection of Emblems,
Ancient and Modern_ (London, 1635), illustration xxxv, page 35.

The lines of poetry (123-126) are from "To My Honoured Kinsman John
Driden," in John Dryden, _The Works of John Dryden_, ed. Sir Walter
Scott, rev. and corr. George Saintsbury (Edinburgh: William Patterson,
1885), xi, 78.




  THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY


  COLLEY CIBBER


  A LETTER FROM Mr. _CIBBER_ TO Mr. _POPE_

  (1742)


  _Introduction by_
  HELENE KOON


  PUBLICATION NUMBER 158
  WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
  UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
  1973




GENERAL EDITORS

  William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
  George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles
  Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
  David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles

ADVISORY EDITORS

  Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan
  James L. Clifford, Columbia University
  Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia
  Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles
  Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago
  Louis A. Landa, Princeton University
  Earl Miner, Princeton University
  Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota
  Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles
  Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
  James Sutherland, University College, London
  H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles
  Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
  Curt A. Zimansky, State University of Iowa

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

  Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

  Jean T. Shebanek, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

Typography by Wm. M. Cheney




INTRODUCTION


In the twentieth century, Colley Cibber's name has become synonymous
with "fool." Pope's _Dunciad_, the culmination of their long quarrel,
has done its work well, and Cibber, now too often regarded merely as a
pretentious dunce, has been relegated to an undeserved obscurity.

The history of this feud is replete with inconsistencies.[1] The image
Cibber presents of himself as a charming, good-natured, thick-skinned
featherbrain is as true as Pope's of himself as a patient, humorous,
objective moralist. Each picture is somewhat manipulated by its creator.
The reasons behind the manipulation are less matters of outright untruth
than of complex personalities disclosing only what they regard as
pertinent. Cibber, the actor, always tries to charm his audience; Pope,
the satirist, proffers those aspects best suited to his moral purpose.

Although the fact of their differences is evident in Pope's writings
after 1730, explanations of the cause, continuation and climax tend to
be muddled. The cause generally cited is Cibber's story in the Letter
concerning _Three Hours after Marriage_ and _The Rehearsal_. This is not
only a one-sided version, it is not even strongly substantiated. As
Norman Ault pointed out, it was not reported in any of the periodicals
at a time when such incidents were seized upon by journalists hungry for
gossip.[2] The only confirmation aside from Cibber is Montagu Bacon's
letter to his cousin James Montagu, which gives a slightly less
vivacious account:

     'I don't know whether you heard, before you went out of town, that
     _The Rehearsal_ was revived... and Cibber interlarded it with
     several things in ridicule of the last play, upon which Pope went
     up to him and told him he was a rascal, and if he were able he
     would cane him; that his friend Gay was a proper fellow, and if he
     went on in his sauciness he might expect such a reception from
     him. The next night Gay came accordingly, and, treating him as Pope
     had done the night