You by whose care, in vain decry'd and curst, 5 Still Dunce the second reigns like Dunce the first; Say, how the Goddess bade Britannia sleep, And pour'd her spirit o'er the land and deep. In eldest time, ere mortals writ or read, Ere Pallass issu'd from the Thund’rer's head, 10 15 George II. Now the Author directly tells us, his Hero is the man -who brings The Smithfield Muses to the ear of kings. And it is notorious who was the person on whom this Prince conferred the honor of the laurel. It appears as plainly from the apostrophe to the Great in the third verse, that Tibbald could not be the person, who was n ver an author in fashion, or caressed by the great: whereas this single characteristic is sufficient to point out the true Ilers; who, above all other poets of the time, was the peculiar delight and chosen companion of the nobility of England, and wrote, as he himself tells us, certain of his works at the earnest desire of persons of quality. Lastly, The sixth verse affords full proof; this poet being the Orly one who was universally known to have had a son so er actly like him, in his poetical, theatrical, political, and moral cacapacities, that it could justly be said of him Still Dunce the Second reigns like Dunce the First. IMITATIONS. Bently. 6.] Alluding to a verse of Mr. Dryden, not in Mac Fleck so, (as is said ignorantly in the Key to the Dunciad, p. 1., bet in his verses to Mr. Congreve, And Tom the second reigns like Tom the first.' Still her old empire to restore she tries, For, born a goddess, Dulness never dies. 20 ✪ Thou! whatever title please thine ear, Dean, Drapier, Bickerstaff, or Gulliver! Whether thou chuse Cervantes' serious air, Or laugh and shake in Rab'lais' easy chair, Or praise the Court, or magnify mankind, Or thy griev'd country's copper chains unbind ; From thy Baotia though her pow'r retires, 25 Mourn not, my Swift! at ought our realm acquires. Here pleas'd behold her mighty wings outspread To hatch a new Saturnian age of Lead. Close to those walls, where Folly holds her throne, And laughs to think Monroe would take her down, Where o'er the gates, by his fam'd father's hand, 31 Great Cibber's brazen, brainless brothers stand; REMARKS. v. 31...by his fam'd father's hand.] Mr. Caius Gabriel Cibber, father of the Poet-laureate. The two statues of the lunatics over the gates of Bedlam-hospital were done by him, and (as the son justly says of them) are no ill monuments of his fame as an artist. VARIATIONS. After ver. 22. in the MSS. Or in the graver gown instruct mankind, Or silent let thy morals tell thy mind. But this was to be understood, as the Poet says, ironice, like the 23d verse. v. 29. Close to those walls, &c.] In the former edit. thus: Where wave the tatter'd ensigns of Rag-fair, A yawning ruin hangs and nods in air; Keen hollow winds howl thro' the bleak recess, Here, in one bed, two shiv'ring sisters lie, POPE. VOL. IV. G One cell there is, conceal'd from vulgar eye, Keen hollow winds howl thro' the bleak recess, 35 Hence bards, like Proteus long in vain ty'd down, VARIATIONS. .41. In the former edit, Hence hymning Tyburn's elegiac lay, 45 . 42. Alludes to the annual songs composed to music on St. Cecilia's feast. IMITATIONS. 2.41, 42. Hence hymning Tyburn's.........Hence, &c.] ....Genus unde Latinum, Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae,' . 48.....that knows no fears Virg. Æo. I. Milton, B. IV. Of hisses, blows, or want, or loss of ears.] Quem neque pauperies, neque mors, neque vincula torrent.' Calm Temperance, whose blessings those partake Who hunger, and who thirst for scribbling sake: 50 Prudence, whose glass presents th' approaching jail; Poetic Justice, with her lifted scale, Where, in nice balance, truth with gold she weighs, And solid pudding against empty praise. Here she beholds the Chaos dark and deep, 55 Where nameless Somethings in their causes sleep, 'Till genial Jacob, or a warm third day, Call forth each mass, a poem, or a play: How hints, like spawn, scarce quick in embryo lie; How new-born Nonsense first is taught to cry; 60 Maggots half-form'd in rhyme exactly meet, And learn to crawl upon poetic feet. 65 Here one poor word an hundred clenches makes, dance; IMITATIONS. v. 55. Here she beholds the Chaos dark and deep, Where nameless Something, &c] That is to say, unformed things, which are either made into po ems or plays, as the booksellers or the players bid most. These lines allude to the following in Garth's Dispensary, canto vi. Within the chambers of the globe they spy 'The beds where sleeping vegetables lie, v. 64. And ductile dullness, &c.] A parody on a verse in Garth, canto i. 'How ductile matter new meanders takes.' 70 How Tragedy and Comedy embrace; All these, and more, the cloud-compelling Queen Beholds through fogs that magnify the scene. 80 She, tinsel'd o'er in robes of varying hues, With self-applause her wild creation views ; Sees momentary monsters rise and fall, And with her own fools-colors gilds them all. Twas on the day when***rich and grave, 85 Like Cimon, triumph'd both on land and wave: (Pomps without guilt, of bloodless swords and maces, Glad chains, warm furs, broad banners, and broad faces.) VARIATIONS. v. 85. In the former editions: " "Twas on the day when Thorold, rich and grave. Sir Ge. Thorold, Lord Mayor of London, in the year 1720. IMITATIONS. v. 79.......the loud compelling queen.] From Homer's epi thet of Jupiter, νεφεληγερτα Ζεύς. |