The pond'rous books two gentle readers bring; The heroes fit, the vulgar form a ring. The clam'rous crowd is hush'd with mugs of mum, Till all tun'd equal send a gen'ral hum. 386 Then mount the clerks, and in one lazy tone 395 REMARKS. 400 Who v. 397. Thrice Budgel aim'd to speak.] Famous for his speeches on many occafions about the South-fea scheme, &c. "He is a very ingenious gen tleman, and hath written fome excellent Epilogues to plays, and one " fimall piece on Love, which is very pretty." Jacob, Lives of Poets, Vol. II. p. 289. But this gentleman fince made himself much more eminent, and perfonally well known to the greatest statefmen of all parties, as well as to all the courts of law in this nation. v. 399. Toland and Tindal. Two perfons, not fo happy as to be obfcure, who writ against the religion of their country. Toland, the author of the Atheist's Liturgy, called Pantheificon, was a spy in pay to Lord Oxford. Tindal was author of The Rights of the Chriftian Church, and Chriftianity as old as the Creation. He also wrote an abusive pamphlet against Earl S---, which was fuppreffed while yet in MS. by an eminent perion, then out of the ministry, to whom he shewed it, expecting his approbation. This Doctor afterwards published the fame piece, mutatis mu tandis, against that very perfon. VARIATIONS. v. 399. In the first edition it was, IMITATIONS. v. 382. And Smit with love of poesy and prate.] Confedere duces, et vulgi tante corona." Milton. Ovid. Met. XIII. Who fat the nearest, by the words o'ercome, Then down are roll'd the books; stretch'd o'er 'em lies Each gentle clerk, and mutt'ring feals his eyes. As what a Dutchman plumps into the lakes, What Dulness dropt ainong her fons imprest So from the midmost the nutation spreads 405 Round and more round, o'er all the fea of heads. 410 At last Centlivre felt her voice to fail, Motteux himself unfinish'd left his tale. Boyer the state, and Law the stage gave o'er, Bless'd with his father's front and mother's tongue, 415 Hung REMARKS. 2. 411. Centlivre.] Mrs. Sufanna Centlivre, wife to Mr. Centlivre, Yeoman of the Mouth to his Majesty. She writ many plays, and a tong (fays Mr. Jacob, Vol. I. p. 32.) berore she was feven years old. She alfo writ a ballad against Mr. Pope's Homer before he began it. v. 413. Boyer the flate, and Law the flage gave o'er.] A. Boyer, a voluminous compiler of annals, political collections, &c.---William Law, A. M. wrote with great zeal against the stage; Mr. Dennis aniwered with as great. Their books were printed in 1726. v. 414. Morgan.] A writer against religion, diftinguished no otherwise from the rabble of his tribe than by the pompoufnefs of his title; for having stolen his morality from Tindal, and his philofophy from Spinoza, he calls himself, by the courtesy of England, a Moral Philofopher. Ibid.---Mandeville.] This writer, who prided himself as much in the reputation of an immoral philofopher, was author of a famous book called The Fable of the Bees: written to prove, That imoral virtue is the invention of knaves, and Chriftian virtue the impofition of fools; and that vice is neceffary, and alone fufficient, to render fociety flourishing and happy. v. 415. Norton.] Norton de Foe, offspring of the famous Daniel; Fortes creantur fortibus: one of the authors of the Flying Post, in which wellbred work Mr. P. had fometime the honour to be abused with his betters, and of many hired scurrilities, and daily papers, to which he never fet his name. VARIATIONS. v. 413.] In the first edition it was, T---s and T--- the church and state gave o'erг, IMITATIONS. . 410. O'er all the fea of heads.] "A waving fea of heads was round me spread, Blackm. Job, Hung filent down his never-blushing head, Thus the foft gifts of Sleep conclude the day, And ftretch'd on bulks, as usual, poets lay. 420 425 How Henley lay inspir'd befide a fink, IMITATIONS. v. 418. And all washusn'd, as Folly's self lay dead.] Alludes to Dryden's verfe in the Indian Emperor: "All things are hush'd, as Nature's felf lay dead." TO DR. JONATHAN SWIFT. The Argument. AFTER the other perfons are difposed in their proper places of reft, the Goddess transports the King to her Temple, and there lays him to flomber with his head on her lap; a pofition of inarvellous virtue, which caufes all the vifions of wild enthusiasts, projectors, politicians, inamoratoes, castle-builders, chemists, and poets. He is immediately carried on the wings of Fancy, and led by a mad poetical fibyl to the Elyfion thade; where, on the banks of Lethe, the fouls of the dull are dipped by Bavius, before their entrance into this world. There he is met by the ghost of Settle, and by him made acquainted with the wonders of the place, and with those which he himself is de tined to perforin. He takes him to a Mount of Vifion, from whence he thews him the pait triumphs of the Empire of Dulness, then the prefent, and lastly the future: how small a part of the world was ever conquered by Science, how foon thofe conquests were stopped, and those very nations again reduced to her dominion. T en diftinguishing the ifland of Great Britain, shews by what aids, by what perfons, and by what degrees, it shall be brought to her empire. Some of the perfons he causes to pafs in review before his eyes, defcribing each by his proper figure, character, and qualifications. On a fudden the scene shifts, and a vast number of miracles and prodigies appear, utterly furprising and unknown to the King himself, till they are explained to be the wonders of his own reign now commencing. On this fubject Settle breaks into a congratulation, yet not unmixed with concern, that his own tines were but the types of these. He prophecies how first the nation shall be over-run with Farces, Operas, and Shows; how the throne of Duineis thall be advanced over the Theatres, and fet up even at Court: then how her fons shall prefide in the feats feats of Arts and Sciences; giving a glimpfe, or Pisgah fight, of the future fulness of her glory, the accomplishment whereof is the fubject of the Fourth and laft Book. BUT in her Temple's last recess inclos'd, On Dulness' lap th' Anointed head repos'd. Him close she curtains round with vapours blue, And foft besprinkles with Cimmerian dew : Then raptures high the feat of sense o'erflow, Which only heads refin'd from reason know. Hence from the straw where Bedlam's prophet nods, He hears loud oracles, and talks with gods: Hence the fool's paradise, the statesman's scheme, The air-built castle, and the golden dream, The maid's romantic wish, the chemist's flame, And poet's vifion of eternal fame. And now, on Fancy's easy wing convey'd, The king defcending, views th' Elysian shade. 5 A flip IMITATIONS. v. 7, 8. Hence from the straw where Bedlam's prophet nods, He hears loud oracles, and talks with gods.] "Et varias audit voces, fruiturque deorum "Colloquio."-- Virg. Æn. VUI. 15 A flip-fhod Sibyl led his steps along, Old Bavius fits to dip poetic fouls, And blunt the sense, and fit it for a skull Of folid proof, impenetrably dull: REMARKS. 21 25 v. 19. Taylor.] John Taylor, the Water-poet; an honest man, who owns he learned not fo much as the Accidence; a rare example of mo dety in a poet! "I must confefs I do want eloquence, "I there wasgravell'd, could no farther get." He wrote fourfcore books in the reign of James I. and Charles I. and afterwards (like Edward Ward) kept an alehouse in Long-Acre. He died in 1654. v. 21. Benlowes.] A country gentleman, famous for his own bad poetry, and for patronizing bad poets, as may be feen from many Dedications of Quarles and others to him. Some of these anagram'd his name Benlowes into Benevolus: to verify which he spent his whole estate upon them. v. 22. And Shadwell nods, the poppy, &c.] Shadwell took opium for many years, and died of too large a dose, in the year 1692. v. 24. Old Bavius fits. Bavius was an ancient poet, celebrated by Virgil for the like caufe as Bayes by our Author, though not in fo Chriftian-like a manner for heathenishly it is declared by Virgil of Bavius, that he ought to be hated and detested for his evil works: Qui Bavium non odit? whereas we have often had occafion to obferve our Poet's great good nature and mercifulness through the whole course of this Poem. Scribl. v. 28. Brown and Mears.] Booksellers, printers for any body.--The allegory of the fouls of the dull coming forth in the form of books dreffed in calf's leather, and being let abroad in vast numbers by bookfellers, is fufficiently intelligible. 2. 15. A lip-shod Sibyl, &c. "Conclamat vates. IMITATIONS. "---Furens antro se immifit aperto." v. 23. Here in a dusky vale, &c.] "---Vidit Æneas in vale reducta "Seclufum nemus Virg. "Lethæumque domos placidas qui prænatat amnem, &c. "Hunc circum innumeræ gentes," &c. Virg. Æn. VI. v. 24. Old Bavius fits to dip poetic fouls.] Alluding to the story of Thetis dipping Achilles to render him impenetrable. At |