King George II as an Ass: The <i>Dunciad Variorum</i> Engravings and Their Consequences

Abstract This essay explores the significance of the Dunciad Variorum engravings (1729) and their role in the antagonism between Pope and the court in the years 1729 to 1735. It argues that the images of a burdened ass and of asses’ ears have been correctly interpreted by J. Paul Hunter as representations of the king, and that recognition of that insult (planned with William Kent and the Earl and Countess of Burlington) lay behind the attacks on Pope in subsequent years. The motto engraved alongside the title-page ass should be interpreted as a reference to Horace’s warning of the power of poor writing to degrade the poet and the ruler, while Leonard Welsted, prominent in that engraving, should be identified as a flatterer of the king and Robert Walpole. The subsequent attacks on Pope’s friend, Charles Jervas, on the imitation of Horace Satire 2.1, and on Pope’s To Burlington (led by Welsted), are shown to be disproportionate and motivated by resentment of the engravings. Pope’s attempted replies to the court and to Lord Hervey (identified as his leading opponent) in two prose pieces were hampered by his inability to identify his offence. Instead he moved into attack and outed his engravings in To Arbuthnot.