Wash Bladen white, and expiate Hays's stain1. 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. 570 Some, deep Free-Masons, join the silent race Some Botanists, or Florists at the least, Or issue Members of an Annual feast. 66 Theory repair. All my commands are easy, short, and full: '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 War burton. 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 575 580 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. 4 a 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; 585 Or draw to silk Arachne's subtile line1; 590 An hundred Souls of Turkeys in a pie ; 595 Teach Kings to fiddle 3, and make Senates dance. 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, Wide, and more wide, it spread o'er all the realm; 615 The Vapour mild o'er each Committee crept; 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.] 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, 620 'Till drown'd was Sense, and Shame, and Right, and Wrong 626 O sing, and hush the Nations with thy Song! She comes! she comes! the sable Throne behold 2 630 3 Of Night primæval and of Chaos old! 635 640 645 And Metaphysic calls for aid on Sense! In vain! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die. Religion blushing veils her sacred fires, And unawares Morality expires. 650 For public Flame, nor private, dares to shine; Nor human Spark is left, nor Glimpse divine! Lo! thy dread Empire, CHAOS! is restor'd; 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, E. v11. [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 655 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. 3 [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. IMITATIONS. Book. I. Ver. 140. in the former Edd. The page adSay, great Patricians ! since your mires new beauties not it's own.] Ver. 1. 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 MacFleckno (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.] Hence hymning Tyburn's Ver. 41, 42. Hence, &c.] 'Genus unde Latinum, Albanique patres, atque altæ monia Romæ.' Ver. 45. In clouded Majesty] 'the Moon Rising in clouded Majesty' Defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent.' '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.' Var. And visit Alehouse,] Waller [to the 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, Cœpta 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. II. [vv. 310-2.] Ver. 263. Great in her charms! as when on Shrieves and May'rs She looks and breathes herself into their airs.] Ver. 1. High on a gorgeous seat] Parody of Milton [Par. Lost], Book 11. [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!) 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.] Ver. 60. So take the hindmost, Hell.] 'Occupet extremum scabies; mihi turpe relinqui est.' Hor. de Arte [v. 417]. 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 Homer1. 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 11. [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.]. Ver. 74. And Bernard! Bernard!] '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, Coelestesque plagas.' Ovid. Met. XII. [xv. 39, 40.] Ver. 108. Nor heeds the brown dishonours of his face.] 'faciem ostentabat, et udo Turpia membra fimo.' Ver. 111. Virg. Æn. v. [vv. 357, 8.] Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno.' 1 [After a diligent search I am disposed to doubt this. Perhaps the allusion is to Iliad XXIII. v. 479.] |