Hold-to the Minifter I more incline; To ferve his caufe, O Queen! is ferving thine. VARIATIONS. 215 VER. 213. Hold-to the Minifier-] In the former Edd. REMARK S. A paffage I have always fufpected. Who fees not the antithefis of auratis and argenteus to be unworthy the Virgilian majefty? And what abfurdity to fay a goofe fings? canebat. Virgil gives a contrary character of the voice of this filly bird, in Ecl. ix. argutes inter firepere anfer olores." Read it, therefore, adeffe ftrepebat. And why auratis porticibus? does not the very verfe preceding this inform us, "Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo." Is this thatch in one line, and gold in another, confiftent? I fcruple not (repugnantibus omnibus manufcriptis) to correct it auritis. Horace ufes the fame epithet in the fame fenfe, Auritas fidibus canoris And to fay that walls have ears is common even to a proverb. 66 SCRIBL. VER. 212. And cackling fave the Monarchy of Tories ?] Not out of any preference or affection to the Tories. For what Hobbes fo ingenuoufly confeffes of himself, is true of all Minifterial-writers whatfoever: "That he defends the fupreme powers, as the Geefe by their cackling defended the "Romans, who held the Capitol; for they favoured them no more than the Gauls, their Enemies, but were as ready "to have defended the Gauls, if they had been possessed of "the Capitol." Epift. Dedic. to the Leviathan. VER. 215. Gazetteers] A band of minifterial writers, hired at the price mentioned in the note on book ii. ver. 316 who, on the very day their patron quitted his poft, laid down their paper, and declared they would never more meddle in Politics. What then remains? Ourfelf. Still, ftill remain Cibberian forehead, and Cibberian brain. This brazen Brightness, to the 'Squire so dear ; This polish'd Hardness, that reflects the Peer: 220 This arch Abfurd, that wit and fool delights; This Mefs, tofs'dup of Hockley-hole and White's; Where Dukes and Butchers join to wreathe my crown, At once the Bear and Fiddle of the town. O born in fin, and forth in folly brought! 225 Works damn'd, or to be damn'd! (your father's fault) VARIATIONS. VER. 225. O born in fin, etc.] In the former Edd. Un-stall'd, unfold; thus glorious mount in fire, REMARK S. VER. 218. Cibberian Forehead,] So indeed all the MSS. read, but I make no fcruple to pronounce them all wrong, the Laureate being elsewhere celebrated by our Poet for his great Modefty-modeft Cibber-Read, therefore, at my peril, Cerberian forehead. This is perfectly claffical, and, what is more, Homerical; the Dog was the ancient, as the Bitch is the modern, fymbol of Impudence: (Kuvos oμμar' xwv, fays Achilles to Agamemnon) which, when in a fuperlative degree, may well be nominated from Cerberus, the Dog with three headsBut as to the latter part of this verfe, Cibberian brain, that is certainly the genuine reading. BENTL. VER. 225. O born in fin, etc.] This is a tender and paf fionate Apostrophe to his own works, which he is going to Go, purify'd by flames afcend the iky, My better and more christian progeny ! Sent with a Pass, and vagrant thro' the land; VARIATIONS. Or wafting ginger, round the streets to run, IMITATIONS. Var. And vifit Ale-house] Waller on the Navy, REMARK S. facrifice, agreeable to the nature of man in great affllction; and reflecting like a parent on the many miferable fates to which they would otherwife be fubject. 66 VER. 228. My better and more chriftian progeny !] "It may "be obfervable, that my mufe and my fpoufe were equally prolific; that the one was feldom the mother of a Child, "but in the fame year the other made me the father of a Play. I think we had a dozen of each fort between us; "of both which kinds fome died in their Infancy," &c. Life of C. C. p. 217. 8vo edit. VER. 231. gratis-given Bland-Sent with a Pafs,] It was a practice fo to give the Daily Gazetteer and minifterial pam IMITATIONS. VER. 229. Unftain'd, untouch'd, etc.] "Felix Priamëia virgo ! "Juffa mori: quæ fortitus non pertulit ullos, "Nec victoris heri tetigit captiva cubile! 66 Nos, patria incenfa, diverfa per æquora vectæ," &c. Virg. Æn. iii. Nor fail with Ward, to Ape-and-monkey climes, REMARK S. 240 phlets (in which this B. was a writer) and to fend them Postfree to all the Towns in the kingdom. VER. 233.—with Ward, to Ape-and-monkey climes,] "Ed"ward Ward, a very voluminous poet in Hudibraftic verfe, "but best known by the London Spy, in profe. He has of "late years kept a public house in the City, (but in a genteel "way) and with his wit, humour, and good liquor (ale) af"forded his guests a pleasurable entertainment, especially "those of the high-church party." JACOB, Lives of Poets, vol. ii. p. 225. Great number of his works were yearly fold into the Plantations.-Ward, in a book called Apollo's Maggot, declared this account to be a great falfity, protesting that his public houfe was not in the City, but in Moorfields. VER. 238-240. Tate-Shadwell] Two of his predeceffors in the Laurel. VER. 243. With that, a Tear (portentous fign of Grace!) etc.] It is to be observed, that our Poet hath made his Hero, in imitation of Virgil's, obnoxious to the tender Paffions. He was indeed fo given to weeping, that he tell us, when Goodman the player fwore, if he did not make a good actor, he'd be damn'd; "the furprize of being commended by one, And thrice he lifted high the Birth-day brand, 245 And thrice he dropt it from his quiv'ring hand; Then lights the ftructure, with averted eyes; The rolling smoke involves the facrifice. The op'ning clouds diclofe each work by turns, Now flames the Cid, and now Perolla burns; 250 VARIATIONS. VER. 250. Now flames the Cid, &c.] In the former Edd. Now flames old Memnon, now Rodrigo burns, In one quick flash fee Proferpine expire, And laft, his own cold Efchylus took fire. REMARKS. who had been himself fo eminent on the ftage, and in fo pofitive a manner, was more than he could fupport. In a "word (fays he) it almoft took away my breath, and (laugh "if you pleafe) fairly drew tears from my eyes." P. 149. of his Life, octavo. " VER. 250. Now flames the Cid, &c.] In the first notes on the Dunciad it was faid, that this Author was particularly excellent at Tragedy. "This fays he) is as unjust as to fay I could dance on a Rope.' But certain it is that he had attempted to dance on this Rope, and fell most shamefully, having produced no lefs than four Tragedies (the names of which the Poet preferves in these few lines) the three first of them were fairly printed, acted, and damned; the fourth fuppreffed in fear of the like treatment. IMITATIONS. VER. 245. And thrice he lifted high the Birth-day brand,] Ovid, of Althea on a like occafion, burning her offspring: "Tum conata quater flammis imponere torrem, VER. 259. Now flames the Cid, &c.] "Jam Deiïphobi dedit ampla ruinam, V. icano fuperante domus; jam proximus ardet |