Or praife the Court, or magnify Mankind,
Or thy griev'd Country's copper chains unbind;
From thy Boeotia tho' her Pow'r retires,

Mourn not, my SWIFT, at ought our Realm acquires.
Here pleas'd behold her mighty wings out-fpread
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,
Great Cibber's brazen, brainless brothers ftand;
One Cell there is, conceal'd from vulgar eye,
The Cave of Poverty and Poetry.

Keen, hollow winds howl thro' the bleak recefs,
Emblem of Mufic caus'd by Emptiness.

Hence Bards, like Proteus long in vain ty'd down,
Escape in Monsters, and amaze the town.
Hence Mifcellanies fpring, the weekly boast
Of Curls chafte prefs, and Lintot's rubric post:

VARIATIONS.

But this was to be understood, as the Poet fays, ironice, like the 23d Verse.

Ver. 29. Clofe to thofe walls, &c.] In the former Edit. thus,

Where wave the tatter'd enfigns of Rag-fair,

A yawning ruin hangs and nods in air; Keen hollow winds howl thro' the bleak recefs, Emblem of Mufic caus'd by Emptiness; Here in one bed two fhiv'ring Sifters lie, The Cave of Poverty and Poetry.

Hence hymning Tyburn's elegiac lines,

Hence Journals, Medley's, Merc'ries, MAGAZINES: Sepulchral Lies, our holy walls to grace,

And New-year Odes, and all the Grub-street race.
In clouded Majesty here Dulness shone;
Four guardian Virtues, round, fupport her throne :
Fierce champion Fortitude, that knows no fears
Of hiffes, blows, or want, or lofs of ears:
Calm Temperance, whose bleffings those partake
Who hunger, and who thirst for scribling fake:

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 41. in the former Edit.

Hence hymning Tyburn's elegiac Lay, Hence the soft sing-fong on Cecilia's Day. Ver. 42. Alludes to the annual Songs compofed to Mufic on St. Cecilia's Feast.

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 41, 42. Hence hymning Tyburn's-- Hence, &c.] 6C -Genus unde Latinum,

"Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae.

that knows no fears

"Rifing in clouded Majefty

Ver. 48.

Of hiffes, blows, or want, or loss of ears:]

Quem neque pauperies, neque mors, neque vincula

Hor

terrent.

Prudence, whofe glass presents th' approaching jail: Poetic Juftice, with her lifted fcale,

Where, in nice balance, truth with gold fhe weighs, And folid pudding against empty praise.

Here the beholds the Chaos dark and deep,
Where nameless Somethings in their causes fleep,
'Till genial Jacob, or a warm Third day,
Call forth each mafs, a Poem, or a play:
How hints, like fpawn, fcarce quick in embryo lie,
How new-born nonfense first is taught to cry,
Maggots half-form'd in rhyme exactly meet,
And learn to crawl upon poetic feet.

Here one poor word an hundred clenches makes,
And ductile Dulness new meanders takes;

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 55. Here he beholds the Chaos dark and deep,
Where nameless Somethings, &c.]

That is to fay, unformed things, which are either made into Poems or Plays, as the Booksellers or the Players bid most. These lines allude to the following in Garth's Difpenfary, Cant. vi.

"Within the chambers of the globe they spy "The beds where fleeping vegetables lie, ""Till the glad fummons of a genial ray "Unbinds the glebe, and calls them out to day." Ver. 64. And ductile Dulness, &c.] A parody on a verfe in Garth, Cant. i.

"How ductile matter new meanders takes."

There motley Images her fancy strike,
Figures ill-pair'd, and Similes unlike.
She fees a Mob of Metaphors advance,

Pleas'd with the madness of the mazy dance;
How Tragedy and Comedy embrace;

How Farce and Epic get a jumbled race;

How Time herself stands still at her command,
Realms shift their place, and Ocean turns to land.
Here gay Description Ægypt glads with fhow'rs,
Or gives to Zembla fruits, to Barca flow'rs;
Glitt'ring with ice here hoary hills are seen,
There painted vallies of eternal green,
In cold December fragrant chaplets blow,
And heavy harvests nod beneath the fnow.

All these, and more, the cloud-compelling Queen
Beholds thro' fogs, that magnify the scene.
She, tinfel'd o'er in robes of varying hues,
With felf-aplaufe her wild creation views;
Sees momentary monsters rife and fall,

And with her own fools-colours gilds them all. 'Twas on the day, when ** rich and grave, Like Cimon, triumph'd both on land and wave:

VARIATIONS.

Ver. S5. in the former Editions,

"Twas on the day when Thorold, rich and grave. Sir George Thorold, Lord Mayor of London, in the year 1720.

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 79. The cloud-compelling Queen] From Ho mer's Epithet of Jupiter, νεφεληγερέτα Ζευς.

(Pomps without guilt, of bloodless fwords and maces,
Glad chains, warm furs, broad banners, and broad faces)
Now Night defcending, the proud fcene was o'er,
But liv'd, in Settle's numbers, one day more.
Now May'rs and Shrieves all hush'd and fatiate lay,
Yet eat, in dreams, the custard of the day;
While penfive Poets painful vigils keep,
Sleepless themselves, to give their readers sleep.
Much to the mindful Queen the feast recalls
What City Swans once fung within the walls;
Much fhe revolves their arts, their ancient praise
And fure fucceffion down from Heywood's days.
She faw, with joy, the line immortal rur,
Each fire impreft and glaring in his fon :
So watchful Bruin forms, with plastic care,
Each growing lump, and brings it to a Bear.
She faw old Pryn in reftlefs Daniel shine,
And Eufden eke out Blackmore's endless line;
She faw flow Philips creep like Tate's poor page,
And all the mighty mad in Dennis rage.

In each the marks her Image full expreft,
But chief in BAYS's monfter-breeding breast;

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 108. But chief in Bays's, &c.] In the former Edit. thus,

But chief, in Tibbald's monster-breeding breast;
Sees Gods with Daemons in strange league engage,
And earth, and heav'n, and hell her battles wage.