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From Stage to Stage the licens'd Earl may run,

Pair'd with his Fellow-Charioteer the Sun;
The learned Baron Butterflies design,

Or draw to filk Arachne's fubtile line;

590

The Judge to dance his brother Sergeant call;
The Senator at Cricket urge the Ball;
The Bishop ftow (Pontific Luxury !)
An hundred Souls of Turkeys in a pye;
The sturdy Squire to Gallic 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.

REMARK S.

595

talents of the Candidates. And thus her great Fore-runner, John of Leiden, King of Munster, entered on his Government, by making his ancient friend and companion, Knipperdolling, General of his Horfe and Hangman. And had but Fortune feconded his great schemes of Reformation, it is said, he would have established his whole Houshold on the fame reasonable footing. SCRIBL.

VER. 590. Arachne's fubtile line ;] This is one of the most ingenious employments affigned, and therefore recommended only to Peers of Learning. Of weaving Stockings of the Webs of Spiders, fee the Phil. Trans.

VER. 591. The Judge to dance his brother Sergeant call ;] Alluding perhaps to that ancient and folemn Dance, intitled A call of Sergeants.

VER. 598. Teach Kings to fiddle.] An ancient amusement of Sovereign Princes, (viz.) Achilles, Alexander, Nero; though defpifed by Themiftocles, who was a Republican-Make Senates dance, either after their Prince, or to Pontoise, or Siberia,

600

Perhaps more high fome daring fon may foar,
Proud to my lift to add one Monarch more :
And nobly confcious, Princes are but things.
Born for First Minifters, as Slaves for Kings,
Tyrant fupreme! fhall three Eftates command,
And MAKE ONE MIGHTY DUNCIAD OF THE LAND!
More she had spoke, but yawn'd--All Nature nods:
What Mortal can refift the Yawn of Gods?
Churches and Chapels inftantly it reach'd;
(St. James's firft, for leaden G- preach'd)

REMARK S.

606

VER. 606. What Mortal can refift the Yawn of Gods?] This verfe is truly Homerical; as is the conclufion of the Action, where the great Mother compofes all, in the fame manner as Minerva at the period of the Odyssey.—It may indeed seem a very fingular Epitafis of a Poem, to end as this does, with a Great Yawn; but we must confider it as the Yawn of a God, and of powerful effects. It is not out of Nature, most long and grave counfels concluding in this very manner: Nor without Authority, the incomparable Spencer having ended one of the moft confiderable of his works with a Roar ; but then it is the Roar of a Lion, the effects whereof are described as the Cataftrophe of the Poem,

VER. 607. Churches and Chapels, &c.] The Progrefs of this Yawn is judicious, natural, and worthy to be noted. First it feizeth the Churches and Chapels; then catcheth the Schools, where, tho' the boys be unwilling to fleep, the Mafters are not: Next Westminster-hall, much more hard indeed to fubdue, and not totally put to filence even by the Goddess: Then the Convocation, which tho' extremely defirous to fpeak, yet cannot: Even the House of Commons, justly called the Senfe of the Nation, is left (that is to fay fufpended) during the Yawn (far be it from our Author to fuggeft it could be lost any longer!) but it spreadeth at large

Then catch'd the Schools; the Hall fearce kept

awake;

610

The convocation gap'd, but could not speak :
Loft was the Nation's Senfe, nor could be found,
While the long folemn Unifon went round:
Wide, and more wide, it spread o'er all the realm;
Ev'n Palinurus nodded at the Helm :

The Vapour mild o'er each Committee crept; 615
Unfinish'd Treaties in each Office flept;

And Chicflefs Armies doz'd out the Campaign;
And Navies yawn'd for Orders on the Main.
REMARKS.

over all the rest of the Kingdom, to such a degree, that Palinurus himfelf (though as incapable of fleeping as Jupiter) yet noddeth for a moment: the effect of which, though ever so momentary, could not but cause fome Relaxation, for the time, in all public affairs. SCRIBL.

VER. 610. The Convocation gap'd, but could not speak :] Implying a great defire so to do, as the learned Scholiaft on the place rightly obferves.. Therefore, beware Reader, left thou take this Gape for a Yawn, which is attended with no defire but to go to reft: by no means the difpofition of the Convocation; whofe melancholy cafe in fhort is this: She was, as is reported, infected with the general influence of the Goddefs; and while the was yawning carelefly at her ease, a wanton Courtier took her at advantage, and in the very पं. nick clap'd a Gag into her chops. Well therefore may we know her meaning by her gaping; and this distressful posture our poet here describes, just as fhe ftands at this day, a fad example of the effects of Dulnefs and Málice uncheck'd and defpifed. BENTL.

VER. 615, 618.] Thefe Verfes were written many years ago, and may be found in the State Poems of that time. So that Scriblerus is mistaken, or whoever else have imagined this Poem of a fresher date.

O Mufe! relate (for you can tell alone,

Wits have short Memories, and Dunces none) 620
Relate, who first, who laft refign'd to reft;

Whofe heads the partly, whofe completely bleft;
What charms could Faction, what Ambition lull,
The Venal quiet, and intrance the Dull;

Till drown'd was Senfe, and Shame, and Right, and Wrong

O fing, and hush the Nations with thy Song!

REMARKS.

625

VER. 620. Wits have fhort Memories,] This seems to be the reason why the Poets, when they give us a Catalogue, constantly call for help on the Muses, who, as the Daughters of Memory, are obliged not to forget any thing. So Homer, Iliad ii.

Πληθὺν δ ̓ εἰκ ἂν ἐγὼ μυθήσομαι ἐδ ̓ ὀνομήνω,
Εἰ μὴ Ὀλυμπιάδες Μᾶσαι, Διὸ; αἰγιόχοιο
Θυγατέρες, μνησαίαθ

And Virgil, Æn. vii.

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Et meminiftis enim, Divæ, & memorare poteffis :

Ad nos vix tenuis famæ perlabitur aura.

But our Poet had yet another reason for putting this Task upon the Mufe, that, all befides being asleep, the only could relate what paffed.

SCRIBL.

VER. 624. The Venal quiet, and &c.] It were a Problem

IMITATIONS.

VER, 621. Relate who firft, who last refign'd to reft;
Whofe beads fhe partly, whofe completely bleft.]

Quem telo primum, quem poftremum afpera Virgo

Dejicis? aut quot bumi, morientia corpora fundis ? VIRG.

In vain, in vain,-the all-compofing Hour
Refistless falls: the Muse obeys the Pow'r.

She comes! fhe comes! the fable Throne behold
Of Night Primæval, and of Chaos old!

Before her, Fancy's gilded clouds decay,
And all its varying Rain-bows die away.
Wit shoots in vain its momentary fires,
The meteor drops, and in a flash expires.

REMARKS.

630

worthy the folution of that profound Scholiaft, Mr. Upton himself (and perhaps not of lefs importance than some of those so long difputed amongst Homer's) to inform us, which required the greatest effort of our Goddefs's power, to intrance the Dull, or to quiet the Venal. For though the Venal may be more unruly than the Dull, yet, on the other hand, it demands a much greater expence of her Virtue to intrance than barely to quiet. SCRIBL.

VER. 629. She comes! fhe comes! &c.] Here the Muse, like Jove's Eagle, after a sudden stoop at ignoble game, foareth again to the fkies. As Prophefy hath ever been one of the chief provinces of Poefy, our poet here foretells from what we feel, what we are to fear; and in the style of other prophets, hath used the future tense for the preterit: fince what he says shall be, is already to be seen, in the writings of fome even of our most adored authors, in Divinity, Philofophy, Phyfics, Metaphyfics, &c. who are too good indeed to be named in fuch company.

Ibid. The fable Throne bebold] The fable Thrones of Night and Chaos, here reprefented as advancing to extinguish the light of the Sciences, in the first place blot out the Colours of Fancy and damp the Fire of Wit, before they proceed to their work,

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