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Next, bidding all draw near on bended Knees,
The Queen confers her Titles and Degrees.
Her Children firft of more diftinguish'd Sort,
Who ftudy Shakespear at the Inns of Court,
Impale a Glow-worm, or Vertú profess,
Shine in the Dignity of F. R. S.

Some, deep Free-Mafons, join the filent Race
Worthy to fill Pythagoras's Place:
Some Botanists, or Florists at the least,
Or iffue Members of an annual Feast.
Nor paft the Meaneft unregarded, one
Rofe a Gregorian, one a Gormogon.
The laft, not leaft in Honour or Applause,
Ifis and Cam made Doctors of her Laws.

Then, bleffing all, Go Children of my Care!
To Practice now from Theory repair.
All my Commands are eafy, fhort, and full:
My Sons; be proud, be felfifh, and be dull.
Guard my Prerogative, affert iny Throne :
This Nod confirms each Privilege your own.
The Cap and Switch be facred to his Grace:
With Staff and Pumps the Marquis leads the Race:
From Stage to Stage the licens'd Earl may run,
Pair'd with his Fellow-Charioteer, the Sun:
The learned Baron Butterflies defign,

Or draw to Silk Arachne's fubtle Line:
The Judge to dance his Brother Serjeant call;
The Senator at Cricket urge the Ball:
The Bishop ftowe (Pontifick Luxury !)
An hundred Souls of Turkies in a Pye:
The fturdy Squire to Gallick Masters stoop,
And drown his Lands and Manors in a Soupe.
Others import yet nobler Arts from France,
Teach Kings to fiddle, and make Senates dance.

Perhaps

Perhaps more high fome daring Son may foar,
Strive to my Lift to add one Monarch more→→
Perhaps

*

-But here fhe ftops, fhe yawns, fhe nods: What Mortal can refift the Yawn of Gods?

The Poet always expreffes a very particular Regard for filent Dunces, and has here provided, that in cafe they will not waken or open to a HummingBird, or a Cockle-fhell, yet, at worft they may be Free Mafons, where Taciturnity is the only effential Qualification.

It must be obferved, that Mr. Pope always kept in Memory his Enmity to Mr. Cibber, for he did not eafily forgive or forget any Injuries done to him, or by him imagin'd to be done, and juft before the Election for the Laureat, he wrote, and made it

T

Appendix to the DUNCIAD.

HE Time of the Election of a Poet Laureat being now at Hand, it may be proper to give fome Account of the Rites and Ceremonies antiently used at that Solemnity, and only discontinued through the Neglect and Degeneracy of later Times. These we have extracted from an Hiftorian of undoubted Credit, a reverend Bishop, the learned Paulus Jovi us; and are the fame that were practised under the Pontificate of Leo X, the great Reftorer of Learning.

As we now see an Age and a Court, that for the Encouragement of Poetry rivals, if not exceeds, that of this famous Pope; we cannot but with a Re

ftoration

ftoration of all its Honours to Poefy; the rather, fince there are fo many parallel Circumftances in thé Perfor who was then honour'd with the Laurel, and in bim, who (in all Probability) is now to wear it.

I shall translate my Author exactly as I find it in the 82d Chapter of his Elogia Vir. Doct. He begins with the Character of the Poet himself, who was the Original and Father of all Laureats, and called Camillo. He was a plain Country-man of Apulia, (whether a Shepherd or Thresher, is not material.)

This Man (fays Jovius) excited by the Fame of "the great Encouragement given to Poets at Court,

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and the high Honour in which they were held, "came to the City, bringing a strange Kind of Lyre " in his Hand, and at least fome twenty thousand Verfes. All the Wits and Criticks of the Court flock'd about him, delighted to fee a Clown, with "a ruddy, hale Complexion, and in his own long " Hair, fo top-full of Poetry; and at the first Sight "of him, all agreed, he was born to be Poet Laur <reat. * He had a moft hearty Welcome, in an

Iland of the River Tyber (an agreeable Place, "not unlike our Richmond) where he was first made "to eat and drink plentifully, and to repeat his Verfes "to every Body. Then they adorn'd him with a new

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and elegant Garland, compofed of Vine-Leaves "Laurel, and Braffica (a Sort of Cabbage) fo compofed, fays my Author emblematically, ut tam "fales, quàm lepidè ejus Temulentia Brafficæ remedio cobibendi notaretur. He was then faluted by com"mon Confent with the Title of Archi-poeta, or Arch-Poet, in the Stile of thofe Days, in ours, Poet Laureat. This Honour the poor Man re"ceiv'd

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* Appulus prepingui vultu alacer, & prolixe comatus, omnino dignus fefta Laurea videretur.

ceiv'd with the moft fenfible Demonftrations of "Joy, his Eyes drunk with Tears of Gladins.+ "Next, the publick Acclamation was exprefs'd in "a Canticle, which is yet tranfmitted to us, as folt: "lows;

Salve, brafficæ virens corona,

"Et Lauro, Archi-poeta, pampinoque,
"Dignus principis auribus Leonis.
All hail, Arch-poet without Peer!
Vine, Bay or Cabbage, fit to wear,
And worthy of thy Prince's Ear.

From hence, he was conducted in Pomp to the Ca-, pitol of Rome, mounted on an Elephant, through the Shouts of the Populace, where the Ceremony ended.

The Hiftorian tells us farther, "That at his In"troduction to Leo, he not only poured forth Ver❝fes innumerable, like a Torrent, but also fung "them open Mouth. Nor was he only once intro"duc'd, or on ftated Days (like our Laureats) but "made a Companion to his Mafter, and entertain'd

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as one of the Inftruments of his most elegant Plea"fures. When the Prince was at Table, the Poet "had his Place at the Window. When the Prince "had half eaten his Meat, he gave with his own "Hands the reft to the Poet. When the Poet "drank, it was out of the Prince's own Flaggon,, "infomuch (fays the Hiftorian) that thro' so great "good Eating and Drinking, he contracted a moft "terrible Gout." Sorry I am to relate what follows, but that I cannot leave my Reader's Curiofity unfatisfied in the Catastrophe of this extraordinary Man. To ufe my Author's Words, which are re-: markable,

+ Manantibus præ gaudio occulis. Semefis opfoniis.

markable, mortuo Leone, profligatifque Poetis, &c.

When Leo dy'd, and Poets were no more" (for I would not understand profligatis literally, as if Poets then were profligate) this unhappy Laureat was forthwith reduced to return to his Country, where oppref fed with old Age and Want, he miferably perifh'd in a common Hofpital.

We fee from this fad Conclufion (which may be of Example to the Poets of our Time) that it were happier to meet with no Encouragement at all, to remain at the Plow, or other lawful Occupation, than to be elected above their Condition, and taken out of the common Means of Life, without a surer Support than the temporary, or at best, mortal Favours of the Great. It was doubtless for this Confideration, that when the Royal Bounty was lately extended to a Rural Genius, Care was taken to fettle it upon him for Life. And it hath been the Practice of our Princes, never to remove from the Station of Poet Laureat any Man who hath once been chofen, tho' never fo much' greater Geniuses might arife in his Time. A noble Inftance, how much the Charity of our Monarchs hath exceeded their Love of Fame.

.

To come now to the Intent of this Paper. We have here the whole antient Ceremonial of the Laureat: In the firft Place, the Crown is to be mix'd with Vine-leaves, as the Vine is the Plant of Bacchus, and full as effential to the Honour, as the Butt of Sack to the Salary.

Secondly, the Braffica must be made ufe of, as a' Qualifier of the former. It feems the Cabbage was antiently accounted a Remedy for Drunkenness, (a Power which the French now afcribe to the Onion, and ftile a Soupe made of it, Soupe d'Ivrogne) I would recommend a large Mixture of the Braffica, if Mr. Dennis be chofen; but if Mr. Tibbald, it is

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