To afk, to guefs, to know, as they commence, As Fancy opens the quick springs of Sense, 156 We ply the Memory, we load the brain, Bind rebel Wit, and double chain on chain, REMARK S. 161 165 170 VER. 154. to fland too wide] A pleasant allufion to the defcription of the door of Wisdom in the Table of Cebes, Θύραν τινα μικρὰν. W. VER. 159. to exercife the breath; By obliging them to get the claffic poets by heart, which furnishes them with endlefs matter for Converfation and Verbal amusement for their whole lives. P. W. VER. 162. We hang one jingling padlock, &c.] For youth being used like Pack-horfes and beaten under a heavy load of Words, left they fhould tire, their inftructors contrive to make the Words jingle in rhyme or metre. VER. 165. in yonder House or Hall.] Weftminster-hall and the House of Commons. Had reach'd the Work, the All that mortal can; Oh (cry'd the Goddess) for some pedant reign! Some gentle JAMES, to bless the land again; 176 REMARK S. VER. 174. that Mafter-piece of Man.] Viz. an Epigram. The famous Dr. South ufed to declare that a perfect Epigram was as difficult a performance as an Epic Poem. And the Critics fay, "an Epic Poem is the greatest work human nature is capable of." P. W. VER. 175. Ob (cry'd the Goddess) &c.] The matter under debate is how to confine men to words, for life. The inftructors of youth fhew how well they do their parts; but complain that when men come into the world they are apt to forget their learning, and turn themselves to useful knowledge. This was an evil that wanted to be redreffed. And this the Goddess affures them will need a more extenfive Tyranny than that of Grammar fchools. She therefore points out to them the remedy, in her wishes for arbitrary Power; whofe intereft it being to keep men from the ftudy of things, will encourage the propagation of words and founds; and, to make all fure, the wishes for another Pedant Monarch. The fooner to obtain fo great a bleffing, fhe is willing even for once to violate the fundamental principle of her politics, in having her fons taught at least one thing; but that fufficient, the Doctrine of Divine right. Nothing can be juster than the obfervation here infinuated, that no branch of Learning thrives well under arbitrary Government but the verbal. The reasons are evident. It is unfafe under fuch Governments to cultivate the study of things, especially things of importance. Befides, when men have loft their public virtue, they naturally delight in trifles, if their private morals fecure them from being vicious. Hence fo great a cloud of Scholiafts and Grammarians fo foon overfpread the light of Greece and Rome, when once thofe famous To ftick the Doctor's Chair into the Throne, REMARKS. 180 Another reafon Communities had loft their Liberties. is the encouragement which arbitrary Governments give to the ftudy of words, in order to bufy and amuse active Genius's, who might otherwife prove troublesome and inquifitive. So when Cardinal Richlieu had deAtroyed the poor remains of his Country's liberties, and made the fupreme Court of Parliament merely minifierial, he inftituted the French Academy, for the perfecting their language. What was faid upon that occafion, by a brave Magistrate, when the letters-patent of its erection came to be verified in the Parliament of Paris, deserves to be remembered: He told the affembly, that is put him in mind how an Emperor of Rome once treated his Senate; who when he had deprived them of the cognizance of Public matters, fent a message to them in form for their opinion about the best fauce for a Turbot. W, VER. 176. Some gentle JAMES, &c.] Wilfon tells us that this King, James the firft, took upon himself to teach the Latin tongue to Car, Earl of Somerfet; and that Gondomar the Spanish Ambaffador would fpeak falfe Latin to him, on purpose to give him the pleafure of corecting it, whereby he wrought himfelf into his good graces. This great prince was the first who affumed the title of Sacred Majefty, which his loyal Clergy transfer'd from God to Him. "The principles of Paffive Obedience "and Non-refiftance (fays the Author of the Differ "tation on Parties, Letter 8.) which before his time "had fkulk'd perhaps in fome old Homily, were talk'd, "written, and preach'd into vogue in that inglorious "reign." P. W. For fure, if Dulness fees a grateful Day, 'Tis in the fhade of Arbitrary Sway. O! if my fons may learn one earthly thing, That which my Priefts, and mine alone, maintain, 186 May you, my Cam, and Ifis, preach it long! "The RIGHT DIVINE of Kings to govern wrong. REMARK S. VER. 181, 182. if Dulness fees a grateful Day,-'Tis in the fhade of Arbitrary Sway.] And grateful it is in Dulnefs to make this confeffion. I will not say she alludes to that celebrated verse of Claudian, nunquam Libertas gratior exflat Quam fub Rege pio; But this I will fay, that the words Liberty and Monarchy have been frequently confounded and mistaken one for the other by the graveft authors. I should therefore conjecture, that the genuine reading of the forecited verfe was thus, nunquam Libertas gratior exftat Quam fub Lege pia, and that Rege was the reading only of Dulness herself : And therefore fhe might allude to it. SCRIB. I judge quite otherwife of this paffage: The genuine reading is Libertas and Rege: So Claudian gave it. But the error lies in the verb: It should be exit, not exstat, and then the meaning will be, that Liberty was never loft, or went away with fo good a grace, as under a good King: it being without doubt a tenfold fhame to lofe it under a bad one. This farther leads me to animadvert upon a most grievous piece of nonfenfe to be found in all the Edi Prompt at the call, around the Goddess roll Broad hats, and hoods, and caps, a fable fhoal Thick and more thick the black blockade extends, A hundred head of Ariftotle's friends. REMARKS. : 192 tions of the Author of the Dunciad himself. A moft capital one it is, and owing to the confufion mentioned above by Scriblerus, of the two words Liberty and Monarchy. Effay on Crit. "Nature, like Monarchy, is but restrain'd By the fame Laws herself at first ordain'd. Who fees not, it should be, Nature, like Liberty? Correct it therefore repugnantibus omnibus (even tho' the Author himself should oppugn) in all the impreffions which have been, or shall be, made of his works. BENTL. P. W. VER. 189. Prompt at the call,-Ariftotle's Friends] The Author, with great propriety, hath made thefe, who were fo prompt, at the call of Dulness to become preachers of the divine Right of Kings, to be the friends of Ariftotle for this philofopher, in his politics, hath laid it down as a principle, that fome men were by nature made to serve, and others to command. W. VER. 192. Ariftotle's friends.] A Satire on SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY, which was founded in a corrupt Ariftotelianism, and is the art of making a great deal from nothing, in Theology; and nothing from a great deal in Phyfics. W. Ibid. A hundred bead of Ariftotle's friends:] The Philofophy of Ariftotle had fuffered a long difgrace in this learned Univerfity: being first expelled by the Cartefian, which, in its turn, gave place to the Newtonian. But it had all this while fome faithful followers in fecret, who never bowed the knee to Baal, nor acknowledged any ftrange God in Philofophy. Thefe, on this new appearance of the Goddefs, come out like Confeffors, and make an open profeffion of the ancient Faith, in the ipfe dixit of their Master. Thus far SCRIBLERUS. N VOL, V. |
