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A godlike youth: See Jove's own bolts he flings,
Rolls the loud thunder, and the light'ning wings!
Angel of Dulness, sent to scatter round
Her magic charms on all unclassic ground:
Yon stars, yon suns, he rears at pleasure higher,
Illumes their light, and sets their flames on fire.1
Immortal R-ch! how calm he sits at ease,
Mid snows of paper, and fierce hail of pease?
And proud his mistress' orders to perform,
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.

But lo to dark encounter in mid air 2

New wizards rise: here B-th, and Cr there.
Bth in his cloudy tabernacle shrin'd,

On grinning dragons C

-r mounts the wind:

Dire is the conflict, dismal is the din,

Here shouts all Drury, there all Lincoln's-Inn ;
Contending Theatres our empire raise,
Alike their labours, and alike their praise.

And are these wonders, Son, to thee unknown?
Unknown to thee? These wonders are thy own.
These Fate reserv'd to grace thy reign divine,
Foreseen by me, but ah! withheld from mine.
In Lud's old walls tho' long I rul'd renown'd,
Far as loud Bow's stupendous bells resound;
Tho' my own Aldermen conferr'd my bays,
To me committing their eternal 3 praise,
Their full-fed Heroes, their pacific May'rs,
Their annual trophies, and their monthly wars :
Tho' long my Party built on me their hopes,
For writing Pamphlets, and for roasting Popes
(Different our parties, but with equal grace
Our Goddess smiles on Whig and Tory race,
'Tis the same rope at sev'ral ends they twist,
To Dulness, Ridpath is as dear as Mist.)
Yet lo! in me what Authors have to brag on!
Reduc'd at last to hiss in my own dragon.
Avert it, heav'n! that thou or C—
Should wag two serpent tails in Smithfield fair.
Like the vile straw that's blown about the streets,
The needy Poet sticks to all he meets,

1 After this verse in the MS. :

"His lightnings flash, his mimic thunders roll,

Like Jove's own delegate from bowl to bowl."

In the MS., this and the next three lines stand:

"See opposite, with Cibber at his side,
Booth, in his cloudy tabernacle ride;
On flaming dragons in the fields of air,
Seer wars with seer here, Rich and
Cibber there."

-r e'er

s In the MS. : "Immortal."

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Settle was once famous for party papers, but very uncertain in his political principles. He was employ'd to hold the pen in the Character of a popish successor, but afterwards printed his Narrative on the contrary side.

He managed the ceremony and pageants at the burning of a famous Pope, and was at length employ'd in making the ma chinery at Bartholomew fair, where in his old age he acted in a dragon of leather of his own invention.-POPE.

Coach'd, carted, trod upon, now loose, now fast,
In the Dog's tail his progress ends at last.
Happier thy fortunes! like a rolling stone
Thy giddy dulness still shall lumber on,
Safe in its heaviness, can never stray,
And licks up every blockhead in the way.
Thy dragons** and **1 shall taste,

And from each show rise duller than the last :

"Till rais'd from Booths to Theatre, to Court,
Her seat imperial Dulness shall transport.
(Already, Opera prepares the way,

The sure fore-runner of her gentle sway.)

To aid her cause, if heav'n thou canst not bend,
Hell thou shalt move; for Faustus is thy friend :
Pluto with Cato thou for her shalt join,
And link the Mourning-Bride to Proserpine.
Grubstreet! thy fall should men and Gods conspire,
Thy stage shall stand, ensure it but from Fire.
Another Eschylus appears! prepare

For new2 Abortions, all ye pregnant fair!

245

250

255

260

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In MS. :

Then, when these signs declare the mighty Year,
When the dull Stars roll round, and re-appear;
Let there be darkness! (the dread pow'r shall say)
All shall be darkness, as it ne'er were Day;
To their first Chaos Wit's vain works shall fall,
And universal Dulness cover all !

No more the Monarch could such raptures bear;
He wak'd, and all the Vision mix'd with air.

"Peers and Potentates," or, "Up - and L-."

It is reported of Eschylus that when his Tragedy of the Eumenides was acted,

280

285

the audience were so terrified that the children fell into fits, and the bigbelly'd women miscarry'd. T―d is translating this Author.-POPE.

FINIS.

NOTES ON EDITIONS OF THE DUNCIAD.

From "NOTES AND QUERIES," Nos. 268-270.

We are of opinion that the various issues and editions of The Dunciad appeared in the following order. There are probably copies of other editions in existence, but all those which we have seen belong to one or other of the following classes.

(A.) THE DUNCIAD. AN HEROIC POEM. IN THREE BOOKS. DUBLIN, PRINTED, LONDON REPRINted, for a. DODD. 1728. 12mo.

The Frontispiece. An owl (with a label from the beak inscribed THE DUNCIAD) perched on a pile of books, marked, "P. & K. Arthur. ; Shakesp. Restor'd; Ogilby; Dennis's Works; Newcastle; Cibber's Plays ;" and at the bottom, engraved in one line, the words "Dublin, Printed, London Reprinted, for A. Dodd."

On p. iii. commences "The Publisher to the Reader," which extends to p. viii. This begins, "It will be found a true observation," &c., and ends with the quotation from La Bruyere :

"Voudriez-vous, Theobalde, que je crusse que vous êtes baisse," &c.

and is in short the preface which is printed in the later editions as that "prefixed to the five imperfect editions of The Dunciad," &c.

Then follows bastard title, The Dunciad, in Three Books.
Commences on p. 1, sig. B.

"Book and the man I sing, the first who brings."

And in the word “who," which is at the end of the line, the o has slipped. Page 1. The Dunciad. Book the First. This ends on p. 14, 1. 250 :

"And the loud nation croak'd, God save King Log!"

Page 15. The Dunciad, Book the Second. This ends on p. 35, 1. 382: "(Haunt of the Muses) made their safe retreat."

Page 36. The Dunciad, Book the Third. This ends on p. 51, 1. 285-6: "No more the monarch could such raptures bear;

Finis.

He wak'd, and all the vision mix'd with air."

There is no doubt that this is the first edition, as shown by our correspondent THE WRITER, &c. (antè, p. 198), who there gives, from The Daily Post, the advertisement dated May 18, announcing "This day is published," &c.; and the accuracy of our correspondent's conjecture is borne out by a copy which formerly belonged to Malone (now the property of Mr. Peter Cunningham), and in which is the following note by that diligent antiquary :

"First published at London in May, 1728. See the Monthly Chronicle of that year. The words 'Dublin printed' were merely a disguise. The price of this first edition was only sixpence.-E. M."

(B.) THE DUNCIAD. AN HEROIC POEM. IN THREE BOOKS. DUBLIN: PRINTED, LONDON REPRINTED, FOR A. DODD. 1728. 8vo. Owl Frontispiece.

This, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, is the same precisely as A., but it has been worked in octavo. It is from the identical type, and contains precisely the same errors, misarranged letters, &c., as the preceding. Although there is really no direct proof that B. may not have been first issued, we are inclined to believe that A. was so, because it was obviously composed for a 12mo. page; and, with the exception of the Museum copy of B., all the other issues of this first composition have been in 12mo.

(C.) THE DUNCIAD. AN HEROIC POEM. IN THREE BOOKS. DUBLIN, PRINTED, LONDON REPRINTED, FOR A. dodd. 1728. 12mo. Owl Frontispiece.

This is a third issue or edition from the same types, but with some few corrections, as in the opening line, which here reads correctly" Books," instead of "Book," and in the note respecting John Heywood, on p. 5, where "Interludes" is altered to "Enterludes," which is the orthography of the 4to., 1729.

This edition, which, like A. and B., ends on p. 51, has on the verso of that page the following advertisement:

"Speedily will be Published, The Progress of Dulness, an Historical Poem. By an Eminent Hand. Price 18. 6d."

All three of these impressions show that they have been taken from the same types, as may be seen by a reference to the word "half" in the second line of Book the Second, where the ƒ is misplaced, and in line 56 of the same book, where " spirts" is misprinted spirits."

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Finally, they all three read, Book i. line 94:

"And furious D-n foam in Wh's rage."

(D.) THE DUNCIAD. AN HEROIC POEM. IN THREE BOOKS. THE SECOND EDITION. (Here a woodcut ornament, which differs from that in the titlepages of A., B., C.) DUBLIN, PRinted; London, reprinted for a. dodd. 1728. 12mo., with the Frontispiece of the Owl.

This edition, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, is printed from the same types as A., B., C., but they have been reimposed, and some corrections made.

The Preface commences on p. iii. and ends on p. viii.
Then a bastard title.

Book the First commences on p. 1, and ends on p. 14.

At p. 5, in note*, after "Sir Geo. Tho" is added "Lord Mayor of London."

Page 7. Two notes are inserted: "Old printers," "Philemon Holland." Book the Second commences on p. 15, and ends at p. 35, with a different woodcut ornament from that in the preceding.

Page 22. On line—

"Earless on high stood pillory'd D-,"

there is the following note:

"It appears from hence that Mr. Curl had not himself stood in the pillory when this poem was writ, which happen'd not till March, 1728, at Charing Cross."

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