THE

DUNCIA D.

BOOK THE SECOND.

ARGU ME N T.

THE King being proclaimed, the folemnity is graced with public Games and sports of various kinds; not instituted by the Hero, as by Æneas in Virgil, but for greater honour by the Goddess in person (in like manner as the games Pythia, Ifthmia, etc. were anciently faid to be ordained by the Gods, and as Thetis herself appearing, according to Homer, Od. xxiv. proposed the prizes in honour of her son Achilles) Hither flock the Poets and Critics, attended, as is but juft, with their Patrons and Bookfellers. The Goddefs is first pleased, for her difport, to propofe games to the Bookfellers, and fetteth up the phantom of a Poet, which they contend to overtake. The Races defcribed, with their divers accidents. Next, the game for a Poetess. Then follow the exercises for the Poets, of tickling, vociferating, diving: The first holds forth the arts and practices of Dedicators, the second of Disputants and fuftian Poets, the third of profound, dark, and dirty party-writers. Lastly, for the Critics, the Goddess proposes (with great propriety) an Exercise, not of their parts, but their patience, in hearing the works of two voluminous Authors, one in verse, and the VOL. IV.

H

other in profe, deliberately read, without sleeping: The various effects of which, with the feveral degrees and manners of their operation, are here set forth; till the whole number, not of Critics only, but of Spectators, actors, and all present, fall fast afleep; which naturally and neceffarily ends the games.

HIGH on a gorgeous feat, that far out-shone

Henley's gilt tub, or Fleckno's Irish throne, Or that where on her Curls the Public pours, All-bounteous, fragrant Grains and Golden show'rs, Great Cibber fate: The proud Parnaffian fneer, The conscious fimper, and the jealous leer, Mix on his look: All eyes direct their rays On him, and crowds turn Coxcombs as they gaze. His Peers fhine round him with reflected grace, New edge their dulnefs, and new-bronze their face. So from the Sun's broad beam, in shallow urns Heaven's twinkling Sparks draw light, and point their horns.

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 1. High on a gorgeous feat] Parody of Milton,

book ii.

"High on a throne of royal state, that far "Outfhone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, "Or where the gorgeous Eaft with richest hand "Showers on her kings Barbaric pearl and gold, "Satan exalted fate,

Not with more glee, by hands Pontific crown,d,
With fearlet hats wide-waving circled round,
Rome in her Capitol faw Querno fit,

Thron'd on seven hills, the Antichrist of Wit.
And now the Queen, to glad her fons, proclaims
By herald Hawkers, high heroic Games.
They fummon all her Race: An endless band
Pours forth, and leaves unpeopled half the land.
A motley mixture! in long wigs, in bags,
In filks, in crapes, in Garters, and in rags,
From drawing-rooms, from colleges, from garrets,
On horse, on foot, and hacks, and gilded chariots:
All who true Dunces in her cause appear'd,

And all who knew thofe Dunces to reward.

Amid that area wide they took their stand,
Where the tall May-pole once o'er-look'd the Strand,
But now (fo ANNE and Piety ordain)
A Church collects the faints of Drury-lane.
With Authors, Stationers obey'd the call,
(The field of glory is a field for all)

Glory and gain, th' industrious tribe provoke;
And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.
A Poet's form the plac'd before their eyes,
And bade the nimblest racer seize the prize;

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 35. A Poet's form fhe plac'd before their eyes,] This is what Juno does to deceive Turnus, Æn. x. "Tum Dea nube cava, tenuem fine viribus umbram

No meagre, mufe-rid mope, aduft and thin,
In a dun night-gown of his own loose skin;
But fuch a bulk as no twelve bards could raise,
Twelve starv'ling bards of thefe degen'rate days.
All as a partridge plump, full-fed and fair,
She form'd this image of well-body'd air;
With pert flat eyes fhe window'd well its head;
A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead;
And empty words she gave, and founding strain,
But fenfelefs, lifelefs! idol void and vain!
Never was dash'd out, at one lucky hit,
A fool, so just a copy of a wit;

IMITATIONS.

** In faciem Æneae (visu mirabile monstrum!) "Dardaniis ornat telis, clypeumque jubasque "Divini affimilat capitis

The reader will observe how exactly some of these verfes fuit with their allegorical application here to a Plagiary: there feems to me a great propriety in this Episode, where fuch an one is imaged by a phantom that deludes the grasp of the expecting bookfeller. Ver. 39. But fuch a bulk as no twelve bards could raife.]

Vix illud lecti bis fex

"Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus. Virg. Æn. xii.