Roused at his name up rose the bowzy sire, And shook from out his pipe the seeds of fire; Then snapp'd his box, and stroked his belly down, Rosy and reverend, though without a gown. Bland and familiar to the throne he came, Led up the youth, and call'd the goddess dame. Then thus: From priestcraft happily set free, Lo! every finish'd son returns to thee: First, slave to words, then, vassal to a name, Then, dupe to party; child and man the same;

REMARKS.

500

atheism was well intended. But how must the reader smile at our author's officious zeal, when he is told, that at the time this was written, you might as soon have found a wolf in England as an atheist? The truth is, the whole species was exterminated. There is a trifling difference, indeed, concerning the author of the achievement. Some, as Dr. Ashenhurst, gave it to Bentley's Boylean Lectures. And he so well convinced that great man of the truth, that wherever afterwards he found atheist, he always read it A theist. But, in spite of a claim so well made out, others gave the honour of this exploit to a later Boylean lecturer A judicious apologist for Dr. Clarke against Mr. Whiston, says, with no less elegance than positiveness of expression, It is a most certain truth, that the Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, has extirpated and banished atheism out of the Christian world,' p. 18. It is much to be lamented, that the clearest truths have still their dark side. Here we see it becomes a doubt which of the two Hercules' was the monster-queller. But what of that? Since the thing is done, and the proof of it so certain, there is no oc casion for so nice a canvassing of circumstances. Scribl.

Ver. 492. Silenus.] Silenus was an Epicurean philoso pher, as appears from Virgil, Eclog. vi. where he sings the principles of that philosophy in his drink.

Ver. 501. First slave to words, &c.] A recapitulation of the whole course of modern education described in this book, which confines youth to the study of words only in schools; subjects them to the authority of systems in the universities; and deludes them with the names of party dis tinctions in the world; all equally concurring to narrow the understanding, and establish slavery and error in literature, philosophy, and politics. The whole finished in moders ree-thinking, the completion of whatever is vain, wrong and destructive to the happiness of mankind; as it esta glishes self-love for the sole principle of action.

Bounded by nature, narrow'd still by art,
A trifling head, and a contracted heart.

Thus bred, thus taught, how many have I seen,
Smiling on all, and smiled on by a queen!
Mark'd out for honours, honour'd for their birth
To thee the most rebellious things on earth.
Now to thy gentle shadow all are shrunk,
All melted down in pension, or in punk!
So K*, so B**, sneak'd into the grave,
A monarch's half, and half a harlot's slave.
Poor W**, nipp'd in folly's broadest bloom,
Who praises now? his chaplain on his tomb.
Then take them all, oh take them to thy breast,
Thy Magus, goddess! shall perform the rest.'
With that, a wizard old his cup extends;
Which whoso tastes, forgets his former friends.
Sire, ancestors, himself. One casts his eyes
Up to a star, and like Endymion dies:
A feather, shooting from another's head,
Extracts his brain; and principle is fled;
Lost is his God, his country, every thing;
And nothing left but homage to a king!

REMARKS.

Ver. 506. Smiled on by a queen!] i. e. This queen of goddess of Dulness.

Ver. 517. With that, a wizard old, &c.] Here beginneth the celebration of the greater mysteries of the goddess, which the poet, in his invocation, ver. 5, promised to sing

Ver. 518. forgets his former friends.] Surely there little needed the force of charms or magic to set aside a useless friendship. For of all the accommodations of fashionable life, as there are none more reputable, so there are none of so little charge as friendship. It fills up the void of life with a name of dignity and respect: and at the same time is ready to give place to every passion that offers to dispute possession with it.

Scribl.

Ver. 523, 524. Lost is his God, his country-and nothing eft but homage to a king!] So strange as this must seem to mere English reader, the famous Mons. de la Bruyere de clares it to be the character of every good subject in a mo Barchy: Where,' says he, there is no such thing as love

The vulgar nerd turn off to roll with hogs,
To run with horses, or to hunt with dogs;
But, sad example! never to escape
Their infamy, still keep the human shape.
But she, good goddess, sent .o every child
Firm impudence, or stupefaction mild;
And straight succeeded, leaving shade no room,
Cibberian forehead, or Cimmerian gloom.

Kind self-conceit to some her glass applics,

Which no one looks in with another's eyes;
But, as the flatterer or dependant paint,
Beholds himself a patriot, chief, or saint.
On others, interest her gay livery flings,
Interest, that waves on party-colour'd wings:

REMARKS.

530

of our country, the interest, the glory, and service of the prince, supply its place.' De la Republique, chap. x.

Of this duty another celebrated French author speaks indeed a little more disrespectfully; which for that reason we shall not translate, but give in his own words: ‘L'amour de la patrie, le grand motif des prémiers heros, n'est plus regardé que comme une chimère; l'idée du service du roi etendue jusqu'à l'oubli de tout autre principe, tient lieu de ce qu'on appelloit autrefois grandeur d'ame et fidélitéBoulainvilliers Hist. des Anciens Parlements de France, & c Ver. 528. Still keep the human shape.] The effects of the Magus's cup, by which is allegorized a total corruption of heart, are just contrary to that of Circe, which only repre ents the sudden plunging into pleasures. Hiers, thereforo, ook away the shape, and left the human mind; his takes away the mind, and leaves the human shape.

Ver. 529. But she, good goddess, &c.] The only comfort people can receive, must be owing in some shape or other to Dulness; which makes some stupid, others impudent, gives self-conceit to some, upon the farteries of their dependants, presents the faise colours of interest to others, and busies, or amuses the rest with idle pleasures or sensuality, till they become easy under any infamy. Each of which species is here shadowed under allegorical persons.

Ver. 532. Cibberian forehead, or Cimmerian gloom.] i. v, she communicates to them of her own virtue, or of her royal colleagues. The Cibberian forehead being to fit them for self-conceit, self-interest, &c. and the Cimmerian gloom, for the pleasures of opera and the table. Scribl

Turn'd to the sun, she casts a thousand dyes,
And, as she turns, the colours fall or rise.

Others the syren sisters warble round,
And empty heads console with empty sound.
No more, alas! the voice of fame they hear,
The balm of Dulness trickling in their ear.
Great C**, II**, P**, R**, K*,

544

Why all your toils? your sons have learn'd to sing.
How quick ambition hastes to ridicule!
The sire is made a peer, the son a fool.

On some, a priest succinct in amice white
Attends; all flesh is nothing in his sight!
Beeves, at his touch, at once to jelly turn,
And the huge boar is shrunk into an urn
The board with specious miracles he loads,
Turns hares to larks, and pigeons into toads.
Another (for in all what one can shine ?)
Explains the seve and verdeur of the vine.

REMARKS.

550

Ver. 553. The board with specious miracles he loads, &c.] Scriblerus seems at a loss in this place. Speciosa miracula (says he) according to Horace, were the monstrous fables of the Cyclops, Læstrygons, Scylla, &c. What relation have these to the transformation of bares into larks, or of pigeons into toads? I shall tell thee. The Lastry gons spitted men upon spears as we do larks upon skewers; and the fair pigeon turned to a toad, is similar to the fair virgin Scytla ending in a filthy beast. But here is the dithculty, why pigeons in so shocking a shape should be brought to a table. Hares, indeed, might be cut into larks, at a se cond dressing, out of frugality: yet that seems no probabla motive, when we consider the extravagance before mentioned, of dissolving whole oxen and boars into a small vial of jelly; nay, it is expressiy said; that all flesh is nothing in his sight. I have searched in Appicus, Pliny, and the feast of Trimalchio, in vain; I can only resolve it into some mysterious superstitious rite, as it is said to be done by a priest, and soon after called a sacrifice, attended (as all ancient Bacrifices were) with libation and song. Scribl.

This good scholiast, not being acquainted with modern Luxury, was ignorant that these were only the miracles of French cookery, and that particularly pigeons en crapeau were a common dish.

Ver. 556.

Seve and verdeur] French terms relating to wines, which signify their flavour and poignancy.

What cannot copious sacrifice atone!
Thy trutiles, Perigord thy hams, Bayonne!
With French libation, and Italian strain,

560

Wash Bladen white, and expiate Hay's stain.
Knight lifts the head: for what are crowds undone,
To three essential partridges in one?
Gone every blush, and silent all reproach,
Cortending princes mount them in their coach.
Next, bidding all draw near on bended knees,
The queen confers her titles and degrees.
Her children first of more distinguish'd sort,
Who study Shakspeare at the inns of court,

REMARKS.

Et je gagerois que chez le commandeur,
Villandri priseroit sa seve et sa verdeur.

Despreaux.

St. Evremont has a very pathetic letter to a nobleman in disgrace, advising him to seek comfort in a good table, and particularly to be attentive to these qualities in his champaigne.

Ver. 560. 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 in England, and even by princes of the blood of France.

Ibid. Bladen, &c.] The former note of 'Bladen is a black man,' is very absurd. The manuscript here is partly obliterated, and doubtless could only have been, Wash black. moors white, alluding to a known proverb. Scribl.

Ver. 567.

Her children first of more distinguis.'d sort,
Who study Shakspeare at the inns of court,]

Ill would that scholiast discharge his duty, who should neglect to honour those whom Dulness has distinguished; or suffer them to lie forgotten, when their rare modesty would have left them nameless. Let us not, therefore, overlook the services which have been done her cause, by one Mr Thomas Edwards, a gentleman, as he is pleased to call hi self, of Lincoln's-inn; but in reality, a gentleman only 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 hi careful father, very early retained himself in the cause ●