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Wash Bladen white, and expiate Hays's stain'.

560

KNIGHT lifts the head, for what are crowds undone, To three essential Partridges in one?

Gone ev'ry blush, and silent all reproach,

Contending Princes mount them in their Coach.

Next, bidding all draw near on bended knees,

565

The Queen confers her Titles and Degrees.
Her children first of more distinguish'd sort,
Who study Shakespeare at the Inns of Court 2,
Impale a Glow-worm, or Vertú profess,
Shine in the dignity of F.R.S.3

570

Some, deep Free-Masons, join the silent race
Worthy to fill Pythagoras's place:

Some Botanists, or Florists at the least,

Or issue Members of an Annual feast.
Nor past the meanest unregarded, one
Rose a Gregorian, one a Gormogon.

The last, not least in honour or applause,
Isis and Cam made DoCTORS of her LAWS 5.
Then, blessing all, 'Go, Children of my care!
To Practice now from

66

Theory repair.

All my commands are easy, short, and full:
My Sons! be proud, be selfish, and be dull.
Guard my Prerogative, assert my Throne :
This Nod confirms each Privilege your own 6.

Bladen-Hays] Names of Gamesters. Bladen is a black man. ROBERT KNIGHT, Cashier of the South-sea Company, who fled from England in 1720 (afterwards pardoned in 1742)These lived with the utmost magnificence at Paris, and kept open Tables frequented by persons of the first Quality of England, and even by Princes of the Blood of France. P. and Warburton. Colonel Martin Bladen was a man of some literature and translated Cæsar's Comment aries. I never could learn that he had offended Pope. He was uncle to Wm. Collins, the poet, whom he left an estate. Warton.

2 Her Children first of more distinguish'd sort, Who study Shakespeare at the Inns of Court.] Mr THOMAS EDWARDS, a Gentleman, as he is pleased to call himself, of Lincoln's Inn; but, in reality, a Gentleman only of the Dunciad; or, to speak him better, in the plain language of our honest Ancestors to such Mushrooms, A Gentleman of the last Edition: who, nobly eluding the solicitude of his careful Father, very early retained himself in the cause of Dulness against Shakespear, and with the wit and learning of his Ancestor Tom Thimble in the Rehearsal, and with the air of good nature and politeness of Caliban in the Tempest, hath now happily finished the Dunce's progress in personal abuse. SCRIBL. [Part om.] P. This attack

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on Mr Edwards is not of weight sufficient to weaken the effects of his excellent Canons of Criticism. Warton.

3 A line taken from Bramston's Men of Taste. Warton.

4a Gregorian, one a Gormogon.] A sort of Lay-brothers, Slips from the Root of the FreeMasons. P. and Warburton. [Gregorians' are mentioned as 'a convivial sect,' and 'a kind of Masons, but without their sign,' in Crabbe's Borough, Letter x.]

5 Pope refused this degree when offered to him on a visit undertaken to Oxford with Warburton, because the University would not confer the degree of D.D. upon Warburton, to whom some of its members had proposed it. Roscoe. 6 each Privilege your own, &c.] This speech of Dulness to her Sons at parting may possibly fall short of the Reader's expectation; who may imagine the Goddess might give them a charge of more consequence, and, from such a Theory as is before delivered, incite them to the practice of something more extraordinary, than to personate Running-Footmen, Jockeys, Stage Coachmen, &c.

But if it be well considered, that whatever inclination they might have to do mischief, her sons are generally rendered harmless by their Inability; and that it is the common effect of Dulness (even in her greatest efforts) to defeat

The Cap and Switch be sacred to his Grace;
With Staff and Pumps the Marquis lead the Race;
From Stage to Stage the licens'd Earl may run,
Pair'd with his Fellow-Charioteer the Sun;

585

The learned Baron Butterflies design,

Or draw to silk Arachne's subtile line 1;

590

The Judge to dance his brother Sergeant call2;
The Senator at Cricket urge the Ball;

The Bishop stow (Pontific Luxury !)

An hundred Souls of Turkeys in a pie;
The sturdy Squire to Gallic masters stoop,
And drown his Lands and Manors in a Soupe.
Others import yet nobler arts from France,

595

Teach Kings to fiddle 3, and make Senates dance.
Perhaps more high some daring son may soar,
Proud to my list to add one Monarch more!
And nobly conscious, Princes are but things
Born for First Ministers, as Slaves for Kings,
Tyrant supreme! shall three Estates command,

600

And MAKE ONE MIGHTY DUNCIAD OF THE LAND!"

More she had spoke, but yawn'd-All Nature nods:

605

What Mortal can resist the Yawn of Gods 4?

Churches and Chapels instantly it reach'd;

(St James's first, for leaden G- preach'd) 5

Then catch'd the Schools; the Hall scarce kept awake;

The Convocation gap'd, but could not speak:

610

Lost was the Nation's Sense, nor could be found,
While the long solemn Unison went round:

Wide, and more wide, it spread o'er all the realm;
Ev'n Palinurus nodded at the Helm 6:

615

The Vapour mild o'er each Committee crept;
Unfinish'd Treaties in each Office slept;
And Chiefless Armies doz'd out the Campaign;
And Navies yawn'd for Orders on the Main 7.

her own design; the Poet, I am persuaded, will be justified, and it will be allowed that these worthy persons, in their several ranks, do as much as can be expected from them. P. and Warburton.

Arachne's subtile line;] This is one of the most ingenious employments assigned, and therefore recommended only to Peers of Learning. Of weaving Stockings of the Webs of Spiders, see the Philosophical Transactions. P. and Warburton.

2 The Fudge to dance his brother Sergeant call;] Alluding perhaps to that ancient and solemn Dance, intituled, A Call of Sergeants. P. and Warburton.

3 Teach Kings to fiddle] An ancient amusement of Sovereign Princes, (viz.) Achilles, Alexander, Nero; tho' despised by Themistocles, who was a Republican-Make Senates dance, either after their Prince, or to Pontoise, or Siberia. P. and Warburton. [The Parliament of Paris

was in 1720 relegated en masse to Pontoise, for having resisted the last desperate financial measures of Law, the author of the Mississippi scheme, and then director of the Bank of France.]

4 What Mortal can resist the Yawn of Gods?] This verse is truly Homerical; as is the conclusion of the Action, where the great Mother composes all, in the same manner as Minerva at the period of the Odyssey. P. [Part om.]

5 Dr Gilbert Archbishop of York, who had attacked Dr King of Oxford whom Pope much respected. Warton. [Bowles was informed that this prelate was a most eloquent preacher.] 6 Young's Sat. VII. v. 215:

'What felt thy Walpole, pilot of the realm? Our Palinurus slept not at the helm.-' Wakefield.

7 These verses were written many years ago, and may be found in the State Poems of that time. P. and Warburton. V. 616 is from a poem by Halifax. Wakefield.

O Muse! relate (for you can tell alone,
Wits have short Memories1, and Dunces none),
Relate, who first, who last resign'd to rest;
Whose Heads she partly, whose completely, blest;
What Charms could Faction, what Ambition lull,
The Venal quiet, and entrance the Dull;

620

'Till drown'd was Sense, and Shame, and Right, and WrongO sing, and hush the Nations with thy Song!

626

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She comes! she comes! the sable Throne behold 2

630

Of Night primæval and of Chaos old!
Before her, Fancy's gilded clouds decay,
And all its varying Rain-bows die away.
Wit shoots in vain its momentary fires,
The meteor drops, and in a flash expires.
As one by one, at dread Medea's strain 3,
The sick'ning stars fade off th' ethereal plain;
As Argus' eyes by Hermes' wand opprest,
Clos'd one by one to everlasting rest;
Thus at her felt approach, and secret might,
Art after Art goes out, and all is Night.
See skulking Truth to her old cavern fled,
Mountains of Casuistry heap'd o'er her head!
Philosophy, that lean'd on Heav'n before,
Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more.
Physic of Metaphysic begs defence,
And Metaphysic calls for aid on Sense!
See Mystery to Mathematics fly!

635

640

645

Religion blushing veils her sacred fires,

In vain they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die.

And unawares Morality expires.

For public Flame, nor private, dares to shine;

Nor human Spark is left, nor Glimpse divine!
Lo! thy dread Empire, CHAOS! is restor❜d;
Light dies before thy uncreating word;
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall,
And universal Darkness buries All.

1 Wits have short Memories,] This seems to be the reason why the Poets, whenever they give us a Catalogue, constantly call for help on the Muses, who, as the Daughters of Memory, are obliged not to forget any thing. So Homer, Iliad 11. vv. 788 ff. And Virgil, Æa. vii. [vv. 645-6.] SCRIBL. P.

2 She comes! she comes! &c.] Here the Muse, like Jove's Eagle, after a sudden stoop at ignoble game, soareth again to the skies. As Prophecy hath ever been one of the chief provinces of Poesy, our Poet here foretels from what we feel, what we are to fear; and, in the style of other prophets, hath used the future tense for the preterite: since what he says shall be, is already

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to be seen, in the writings of some even of our most adored authors, in Divinity, Philosophy, Physics, Metaphysics, &c. who are too good indeed to be named in such company. P.

[Cf. Ov. Met. VII. v. 209.]

4 Truth to her old Cavern fled,] Alluding to the saying of Democritus, That Truth lay at the bottom of a deep well, from whence he had drawn her: Though Butler says, He first put her in, before he drew her out. Warburton.

5 Ver 643, in the former Edd. stood thus, Philosophy, that reach'd the Heav'ns before, Shrinks to her hidden cause, and is no more. And this was intended as a censure of the Newtonian philosophy. Warburton.

Book. I.

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 140. in the former Edd. The page ad

Ver. 1. Say, great Patricians! since your mires new beauties not it's own.] selves inspire These wondrous works]

'Dii cœptis (nam vos mutastis et illas).' Ovid, Met. 1. [v. 2.] Ver. 6. Alluding to a verse of Mr Dryden, not in Mac Fleckno (as is said ignorantly in the Key to the Dunciad, p. 1), but in his verses to Mr Congreve,

'And Tom the second reigns like Tom the first.' [Epistle XII. v. 48.]

Ver. 41, 42. Hence hymning Tyburn's

Hence, &c.]

'Genus unde Latinum,

Albanique patres, atque altæ monia Romæ.'
Virg. Æn. 1. [vv. 6, 7.]
Ver. 45. In clouded Majesty]

'the Moon

Rising in clouded Majesty'
Milton [Par. Lost], Book iv. [vv. 606, 7.]
Ver. 48. that knows no fears Of hisses,
blows, or want, or loss of ears:]

'Miraturque novas frondes et non sua poma.' Virg. Geor. 11. [v. 82.] Ver. 166. With whom my Muse began, with whom shall end.]

'A te principium, tibi desinet.'

Virg. Ecl. vIII. [v. 11.]

Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, καὶ εἰς Δία λήγετε, Μοῦσαι.
Theoc. [Id. XVII. v. 1.]

'Prima dicte mihi, summa dicende Camoena.'
Hor. [Lib. 1. Epist. I. v. 1.]

Ver. 195. Had Heav'n decreed, &c.] 'Me si cœlicolæ voluissent ducere vitam, Has mihi servassent sedes.'

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'Quem neque pauperies, neque mors, neque hand my God.] vincula terrent.'

Hor. [Lib. 11. Sat. vII. v. 84.] Ver. 55. Here she beholds the Chaos dark and deep, Where nameless Somethings, &c.] That is to say, unformed things, which are either made into Poems or Plays, as the Booksellers or the Players bid most. These lines allude to the following in Garth's Dispensary, Cant. vi. 'Within the chambers of the globe they spy The beds where sleeping vegetables lie, 'Till the glad summons of a genial ray Unbinds the glebe, and calls them out to day.' Ver. 64. And ductile Dulness, &c.] A parody on a verse in Garth, Cant. I.

'How ductile matter new meanders takes.' Ver. 79. The cloud-compelling Queen] From Homer's Epithet of Jupiter, vedeλnyepéta Zeús. Var. He rolled his eyes that witness'd huge dismay.

'round he throws his [baleful] eyes, That witness'd huge affliction and dismay.' Milt. [Par. Lost], Bk. 1. [vv. 56, 7.] The progress of a bad poet in his thoughts, being (like the progress of the Devil in Milton) through a Chaos, might probably suggest this imitation.

'Dextra mihi Deus, et telum quod missile libro.'
Virgil, of the Gods of Mezentius.
[Æn. x. v. 773-]

Var. And visit Alehouse,] Waller [to the
King] on his Navy,
'Those tow'rs of Oak o'er fertile plains might go,
And visit mountains where they once did grow.'
Ver. 229. Unstain'd, untouch'd, &c.]
'Felix Priamëia virgo!
Jussa mori: quæ sortitus non pertulit ullos,
Nec victoris heri tetigit captiva cubile!
Nos, patria incensa, diversa per æquora vectæ, &c.'
Virg. Æn. III. [v. 320 ff.]

Ver. 245. And thrice he lifted high the Birthday brand,] Ovid, of Althea on a like occasion, burning her offspring :

'Tum conata quater flammis imponere torrem, Coepta quater tenuit.'

[Metam. VIII. vv. 462, 3.] Ver. 250. Now flames the Cid, &c.] 'Jam Deïphobi dedit ampla ruinam, Vulcano superante domus; jam proximus ardet Ucalegon.'En. 11. [vv. 310-2.] Ver. 263. Great in her charms! as when on Shrieves and May'rs She looks and breathes herself into their airs.]

'Alma parens confessa Deam; qualisque videri Coelicolis, et quanta solet'

Virg. Æn. II. [vv. 591, 2.] 'Et lætos oculis afflavit honores.' Id. Æn. I. [v. 591.] Ver. 269. This the Great Mother, &c.] 'Urbs antiqua fuit

Quam Juno fertur terris magis omnibus unam Posthabita coluisse Samo: hic illius arma, Hic currus fuit: hic regnum Dea gentibus

esse

(Si qua fata sinant) jam tum tenditque fovet. que.' Virg. Æn. 1. [vv. 12 ff.] Ver. 304. join.]

The creeping, dirty, courtly Ivy

'Quorum Imagines lambunt,
Hederæ sequaces.'

Pers. [Prol. vv. 5, 6.] Ver. 311. O! when shall rise a Monarch, &c.] Boileau, Lutrin, Chant. II. [vv. 123, 4.] 'Hélas! qu'est devenu ce temps, cet heureux temps,

Où les Rois s'honoraient du nom de Fainéans: &c.'

Book II.

Ver. 1. High on a gorgeous seat] Parody of Milton [Par. Lost], Book II. [vv. 1. ff.] 'High on a throne of royal state, that far Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Show'rs on her Kings Barbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sate.'

Ver. 35. A Poet's form she plac'd before their eyes,] This is what Juno does to deceive Turnus, Æn. x. [vv. 636—40.]

"Tum Dea nube cava, tenuem sine viribus umbram

In faciem Æneæ (visu mirabile monstrum!)
Dardaniis ornat telis, clypeumque jubasque
Divini assimilat capitis-

Dat inania verba,

Dat sine mente sonum

The reader will observe how exactly some of these verses suit with their allegorical application here to a Plagiary: There seems to me a great propriety in this Episode, where such an one is imagined by a phantom that deludes the grasp of the expecting Bookseller.

Ver. 39. But such a bulk as no twelve bards could raise,]

'Vix illud lecti bis sex [cervice subirent,] Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus.' Virg. Æn. XII. [vv. 899, 900.]

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Ver. 61, &c. Something like this is in Homer, Il. x. v. 220, of Diomed. Two different manners of the same author in his similes are also imitated in the two following; the first, of the Bailiff, is short, unadorned, and (as the Critics well know) from familiar life; the second, of the Water-fowl, more extended, picturesque, and from rural life. The 59th verse is likewise a literal translation of one in Homer 1.

Ver. 64, 65. On feet and wings, and flies, and wades, and hops; So lab'ring on, with shoulders, hands, and head,]

'So eagerly the Fiend O'er bog, o'er steep, thro' streight, rough, dense, or rare,

With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his

way,

And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.'

Milton [Par. Lost], Book II. [v. 947 ff.] Ver. 67, 68. With arms expanded, Bernard rows his state, And left-legg'd Jacob seems to emulate.] Milton, of the motion of the Swan, 'rows

His state with oary feet.'

Par. Lost [Book VII.] v. 440.

And Dryden, of another's,-With two left legs. Ver. 73. Here fortun'd Curl to slide;] 'Labitur infelix, cæsis ut forte juvencis Fusus humum viridesque super madefecerat herbas

Concidit, immundoque fimo, sacroque cruore.' Virg. Æn. v. of Nisus [v. 329 ff.]. And Bernard! Bernard!]

Ver. 74.

'Ut littus, Hyla, Hyla, omne sonaret.' Virg. Ecl. vi. [v. 44.] Ver. 83. A place there is, betwixt earth, air, and seas,]

'Orbe locus medio est, inter terrasque, fretumque,

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Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno.'
Virg. Æn. vi. (vv. 701, 2.]

1 [After a diligent search I am disposed to doubt this. Perhaps the allusion is to Iliad xxIII.

v. 479.]

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