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Gasps, as they straiten at each end the cord,
And dies, when Dulness gives her page the word.
Mad Máthesis 1 alone was unconfined,

Too mad for mere material chains to bind,
Now to pure space 2 lifts her ecstatic stare,
Now running round the circle, finds it square.3
But held in tenfold bonds the Muses lie,
Watch'd both by Envy's and by Flattery's eye:
There to her heart sad Tragedy address'd
The dagger wont to pierce the tyrant's breast;
But sober History restrain'd her rage,
And promised vengeance on a barbarous age.
There sunk Thalia, nerveless, cold, and dead,
Had not her sister Satire held her head:

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Nor could'st thou, Chesterfield! 4 a tear refuse,
Thou wept'st, and with thee wept each gentle Muse.
When, lo! a harlot form 5 soft sliding by,

With mincing step, small voice, and languid eye:
Foreign her air, her robe's discordant pride
In patchwork fluttering, and her head aside:

''Mad Mathesis:' alluding to the strange conclusions some mathematicians have deduced from their principles, concerning the real quantity of matter, the reality of space, &c.-P. W.-2 Pure space: i.e. pure and defæcated from mat

ter.

'Ecstatic stare :' the action of men who look about with full assurance of seeing what does not exist, such as those who expect to find space a real being — W.—3 'Running round the circle, finds it square:' regards the wild and fruitless attempts of squaring the circle.-P. W.- 'Nor couldst thou,' &c. : this noble person in the year 1737, when the act aforesaid was brought into the House of Lords, opposed it in an excellent speech (says Mr Cibber), 'with a lively spirit, and uncommon eloquence.' This speech had the honour to be answered by the said Mr Cibber, with a lively spirit also, and in a manner very uncommon, in the 8th chapter of his Life and Manners.-P.-5 Harlot form the attitude given to this phantom represents the nature and genius of the Italian Opera; its affected airs, its effeminate sounds, and the practice of patching up these operas with favourite songs, incoherently put together. These things were supported by the subscriptions of the nobility. This circumstance, that Opera should prepare for the opening of the grand sessions, was prophesied of in book iii. ver. 301,

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By singing peers upheld on either hand,

She tripp'd and laugh'd, too pretty much to stand;
Cast on the prostrate Nine a scornful look,

Then thus in quaint recitativo spoke :

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Joy to great Chaos! let division reign :
Chromatic2 tortures soon shall drive them hence,
Break all their nerves, and fritter all their sense :
One trill shall harmonise joy, grief, and rage,
Wake the dull church, and lull the ranting stage;
To the same notes thy sons shall hum, or snore,
And all thy yawning daughters cry, Encore!
Another Phoebus, thy own Phoebus, reigns,
Joys in my jigs, and dances in my chains.
But soon, ah soon, rebellion will commence,
If music meanly borrows aid from sense :
Strong in new arms, lo! giant Handel stands,
Like bold Briareus, with a hundred hands;
To stir, to rouse, to shake the soul he comes,
And Jove's own thunders follow Mars's drums.
Arrest him, empress; or you sleep no more'-
She heard, and drove him to th' Hibernian shore. 70
And now had Fame's posterior trumpet blown,

And all the nations summon'd to the throne.

'Division reign:' alluding to the false taste of playing tricks in music with numberless divisions, to the neglect of that harmony which conforms to the sense, and applies to the passions. Mr Handel had introduced a great number of hands, and more variety of instruments into the orchestra, and employed even drums and cannon to make a fuller chorus; which proved so much too manly for the fine gentlemen of his age, that he was obliged to remove his music into Ireland. After which they were reduced, for want of composers, to practise the patch-work above mentioned.-P. W.-2 Chromatic' that species of the ancient music called the Chromatic was a variation and embellishment, in odd irregularities, of the diatonic kind. They say it was invented about the time of Alexander, and that the Spartans forbad the use of it, as languid and effeminate.-W.-Wake the dull church, and lull the ranting stage :' i.e. dissipate the devotion of the one by light and wanton airs; and subdue the pathos of the other by recitative and sing-song.—W.

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The young, the old, who feel her inward sway,
One instinct seizes, and transports away.
None need a guide, by sure attraction led,
And strong impulsive gravity of head ;
None want a place, for all their centre found,
Hung to the goddess, and cohered around.
Not closer, orb in orb, conglobed are seen
The buzzing bees about their dusky queen.
The gathering number, as it moves along,
Involves a vast involuntary throng,

Who, gently drawn, and struggling less and less,
Roll in her vortex, and her power confess.
Not those alone who passive own her laws,
But who, weak rebels, more advance her cause.
Whate'er of dunce in college or in town
Sneers at another, in toupée or gown;
Whate'er of mongrel no one class admits,
A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits.

Nor absent they, no members of her state,
Who pay her homage in her sons, the great;
Who, false to Phoebus, bow the knee to Baal;
Or, impious, preach his word without a call.
Patrons, who sneak from living worth to dead,
Withhold the pension, and set up the head;
Or vest dull flattery in the sacred gown;
Or give from fool to fool the laurel crown.
And (last and worst) with all the cant of wit,
Without the soul, the Muse's hypocrite.

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There march'd the bard and blockhead, side by side, Who rhymed for hire, and patronised for pride. Narcissus,1 praised with all a parson's power, Look'd a white lily sunk beneath a shower. There moved Montalto with superior air ; His stretch'd-out arm display'd a volume fair;

1 'Narcissus :' Lord Hervey.

Courtiers and patriots in two ranks divide,

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Through both he pass'd, and bow'd from side to side;
But as in graceful act, with awful eye

Composed he stood, bold Benson1 thrust him by :
On two unequal crutches propp'd he came,
Milton's on this, on that one Johnston's name.
The decent knight2 retired with sober rage,
Withdrew his hand, and closed the pompous page,
But (happy for him as the times went then)
Appear'd Apollo's mayor and aldermen,

On whom three hundred gold-capp'd youths await,
To lug the ponderous volume off in state.

When Dulness, smiling-Thus revive the wits!
But murder first, and mince them all to bits;
As erst Medea (cruel, so to save!)

A new edition of old son gave ;

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Let standard authors, thus, like trophies borne,
Appear more glorious as more hack'd and torn.
And you, my critics! in the chequer'd shade,
Admire new light through holes yourselves have made.
Leave not a foot of verse, a foot of stone,

A page, a grave, that they can call their own;
But spread, my sons, your glory thin or thick,
On passive paper, or on solid brick.

So by each bard an alderman3 shall sit,

A heavy lord shall hang at every wit,

130

Bold Benson :' this man endeavoured to raise himself to fame by erecting monuments, striking coins, setting up heads, and procuring translations of Milton; and afterwards by as great passion for Arthur Johnston, a Scotch physician's version of the Psalms, of which he printed many fine editions. See more of him, book iii. v. 325.-P. W.-2 The decent knight:' Sir Thomas Hanmer, who was about to publish a very pompous edition of a great author, at his own expense.-P. W.-3 So by each bard an alderman,' &c. : alluding to the monument of Butler erected by Alderman Barber.

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VARIATIONS.
VER. 114-

'What! no respect, he cried, for Shakspeare's page?'

And while on Fame's triumphal car they ride, 133 Some slave of mine be pinion'd to their side.'

Now crowds on crowds around the goddess press, Each eager to present the first address.

Dunce scorning dunce beholds the next advance,
But fop shows fop superior complaisance.
When, lo! a spectre rose, whose index-hand
Held forth the virtue of the dreadful wand;
His beaver'd brow a birchen garland wears,
Dropping with infants' blood and mothers' tears.
O'er every vein a shuddering horror runs ;
Eton and Winton shake through all their sons.
All flesh is humbled, Westminster's bold race
Shrink, and confess the genius of the place :
The pale boy-senator yet tingling stands,

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And holds his breeches close with both his hands. Then thus: Since man from beast by words is

known,

Words are man's province, words we teach alone. 150
When reason doubtful, like the Samian letter,1

Points him two ways, the narrower is the better.
Placed at the door of Learning, youth to guide,
We never suffer it to stand too wide.

To ask, to guess, to know, as they commence,
As fancy opens the quick springs of sense,
We ply the memory, we load the brain,
Bind rebel wit, and double chain on chain,
Confine the thought, to exercise the breath,
And keep them in the pale of words till death.
Whate'er the talents, or howe'er design'd,
We hang one jingling padlock on the mind:

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The Samian letter: the letter Y, used by Pythagoras as an emblem of the different roads of Virtue and Vice.

Et tibi quæ Samios diduxit litera ramos.'--Pers. P. W.

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