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Yet lo! in me what authors have to brag on!
Reduc'd at last to hiss in my own dragon.
Avert it, Heav'n! that thou, my Cibber, e'er
Should'st wag a serpent-tail in Smithfield fair!
Like the vile straw that's blown about the streets,
The needy Poet sticks to all he meets,

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The sure fore-runner of her gentle sway:

Let her thy heart, next Drabs and Dice, engage,
The third mad passion of thy doting age.
Teach thou the warbling Polypheme to roar,
And scream thyself as none e'er scream'd before!
To aid our cause, if Heav'n thou can'st not bend,
Hell thou shalt move; for Faustus is our friend:
Pluto with Cato thou for this shalt join,
And link the Mourning Bride to Proserpine.
Grubstreet! thy fall should men and Gods conspire,
Thy stage shall stand, ensure it but from Fire 5.
Another Eschylus appears 6! prepare
For new abortions, all ye pregnant fair!
In flames, like Semele's 7, be brought to bed,
While op'ning Hell spouts wild-fire at your head.

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"Now, Bavius, take the poppy from thy brow,
And place it here! here all ye Heroes bow!
This, this is he, foretold by ancient rhymes:
Th' Augustus born to bring Saturnian times.
Signs following signs lead on the mighty year!
See! the dull stars roll round and re-appear.
See, see, our own true Phoebus wears the bays !

Thee shall the Patriot, thee the Courtier taste,] It stood in the first edition with blanks * * and ** Concanen was sure "they must needs mean no body but King GEORGE and Queen CAROLINE; and said he would insist it was so, till the Poet cleared himself by filling up the blanks otherwise, agreeably to the context, and consistent with his allegiance." P.

2 Polypheme] He translated the Italian Opera of Polifemo; but unfortunately lost the whole jest of the story. P. [Part om.]

3 Faustus, Pluto, &c.] Names of miserable Farces, which it was the custom to act at the end of the best Tragedies, to spoil the digestion of the audience. P.

4 [Congreve's tragedy.]

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ensure it but from Fire.] In Tibbald's farce of Proserpine, a corn-field was set on fire: whereupon the other play-house had a barn burnt down for the recreation of the spectators. They also rival'd each other in showing the burnings of hell-fire, in Dr Faustus, P.

6 Another Eschylus appears!] It is reported of Æschylus, that when his Tragedy of the Furies was acted, the audience were so terrified that the children fell into fits. P.

7 like Semele's,] See Ovid, Met. 111. P. 8 Ver. 323. See, see, our own &c.] In the former Edd.:

'Beneath his reign shall Eusden wear the bays,

Our Midas sits Lord Chancellor of Plays!
On Poets' Tombs see Benson's titles writ!!
Lo! Ambrose Philips 2 is preferr'd for Wit!
See under Ripley rise a new White-hall,
While Jones' and Boyle's united Labours fall3;
While Wren with sorrow to the grave descends1;
Gay dies unpension'd5 with a hundred friends;

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Cibber preside Lord Chancellor of plays,
Benson sole Judge of Architecture sit,
And Namby Pamby be preferr'd for Wit!
I see th' unfinish'd Dormitory wall,
I see the Savoy totter to her fall;
Hibernian Politics, O Swift! thy doom,
And Pope's, anslating three whole years with
Broome :

Proceed great days, &c.' Warburton.

1 On Poets' Tombs see Benson's Titles writ!] W-m Benson (Surveyor of the Buildings to his Majesty King George I.) gave in a report to the Lords, that their House and the Painted-chamber adjoining were in immediate danger of falling. Whereupon the Lords met in a committee to appoint some other place to sit in, while the House should be taken down. But it being proposed to cause some other builders first to inspect it, they found it in very good condition. In favour of this man, the famous Sir Christopher Wren, who had been Architect to the Crown for above fifty years, who built most of the churches in London, laid the first stone of St Paul's, and lived to finish it, had been displaced from his employment at the age of near ninety years. P. [Part om.]

2 Ambrose Philips] "He was (saith Mr JA COB) one of the wits at Button's and a justice of the peace; "But he hath since met with higher preferment in Ireland. He endeavoured to create some misunderstanding between our Author and Mr Addison, whom also soon after he abused as much. His constant cry was, that Mr P. was an Enemy to the government; and in particular he was the avowed author of a report very industriously spread, that he had a hand in a Partypaper called the Examiner: A falsehood wellknown to those yet living, who had the direction and publication of it. P. [As to the reasons for Pope's aversion from A. P. see Introductory Memoir, pp. xv, xxviii.]

3 While Jones' and Boyle's united Labours fall;] At the time when this poem was written, the banqueting-house at White-hall, the church and piazza of Covent-garden, and the palace and chapel of Somerset-house, the works of the famous Inigo Jones, had been for many years so neglected, as to be in danger of ruin. The portico of Covent-garden church had been just then restored and beautified at the expense of the earl of Burlington and [Richard Boyle]; who, at the same time, by his publication of the designs of that great Master and Palladio, as well as by many noble buildings of his own, revived the true taste of Architecture in this kingdom. P.

[As to Ripley, Sir Robert Walpole's architect who, according to Wakefield, was employed in repairing Whitehall, cf. Moral Essays, Ep. IV. v. 18 and note.]

4 [Sir Christopher Wren died in 1723, at the age of 91. "The length of his life enriched the reigns of several princes, and disgraced the last of them.' Horace Walpole, Anecdotes of Printing quoted by Warton.]

Gay dies unpension'd &c.] See Mr Gay's fable of the Hare and many Friends. This gentleman was early in the friendship of our Author, which continued to his death. He wrote several works of humour with great success, the Shepherd's Week, Trivia, the What-d'ye-call-it, Fables; and, lastly, the celebrated Beggar's Opera; a piece of satire which hits all tastes and degrees of men, from those of the highest quality to the very rabble. That verse of Horace, Primores populi arripuit, populumque tributim, could never be so justly applied as to this. The vast success of it was unprecedented, and almost incredible: What is related of the wonderful effects of the ancient music or tragedy hardly came up to it: Sophocles and Euripides were less followed and famous. It was acted in London sixtythree days, uninterrupted; and renewed the next season with equal applauses. It spread into all the great towns of England, was played in many places to the thirtieth and fortieth time, at Bath and Bristol fifty, &c. It made its progress into Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, where it was performed twenty-four days together: It was last acted in Minorca. The fame of it was not confined to the Author only; the ladies carried about with them the favourite songs of it in fans; and houses were furnished with it in screens. person who acted Polly, till then obscure, became all at once the favourite of the town; her pictures were engraved, and sold in great numbers; her life written, books of letters and verses to her published; and pamphlets made even of her sayings and jests.

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Furthermore, it drove out of England, for that season, the Italian Opera, which had carried all before it for ten years. That idol of the Nobility and people, which the great Critic Mr Dennis by the labours and outcries of a whole life could not overthrow, was demolished by a single stroke of this gentleman's pen. This happened in the year 1728. Yet so great was his modesty, that he constantly prefixed to all the editions of it this motto, Nos hæc novimus esse nihil. P. [See Epitaph No. xii. and Introductory Memoir, p. xxvi.]

Hibernian Politics, O Swift! thy fate1;

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And Pope's, ten years to comment and translate 2.
Proceed, great days! till Learning fly the shore,
Till Birch shall blush with noble blood no more,
Till Thames see Eton's sons for ever play,
Till Westminster's whole year be holiday,
Till Isis' Elders reel, their pupils' sport,
And Alma Mater lie dissolv'd in Port 3!"

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'Enough! enough!' the raptur'd Monarch cries; And thro' the Iv'ry Gate the Vision flies.

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THE DUNCIAD.

BOOK THE FOURTH.

ARGUMENT.

The Poet being, in this Book, to declare the Completion of the Prophecies mentioned at the end of the former, makes a new Invocation; as the greater Poets are wont, when some high and worthy matter is to be sung. He shews the Goddess coming in her Majesty, to destroy Order and Science, and to substitute the Kingdom of the Dull upon earth. How she leads captive the Sciences, and silenceth the Muses, and what they be who succeed in their stead. All her Children, by a wonderful attraction, are drawn about her; and bear along with them divers others, who promote her Empire by connivance, weak resistance, or discouragement of Arts; such as Half-wits, tasteless Admirers, vain Pretenders, the Flatterers of Dunces, or the Patrons of them. All these crowd round her; one of them offering to approach her is driven back by a Rival; but she commends and encourages both. The first who speak in form are the Geniuses of the Schools, who assure her of their care to advance her Cause, by confining Youth to Words, and keeping them out of the way of real Knowledge. Their Address, and her gracious Answer; with her Charge to

1 Ver. 331, in the former Editions thus:

-O Swift! thy doom,

And Pope's, translating ten whole years with
Broome.'

On which was the following Note, "He con-
cludes his irony with a stroke upon himself; for
whoever imagines this a sarcasm on the other in-
genious person is surely mistaken. The opinion
our Author had of him was sufficiently shewn by
his joining him in the undertaking of the Odyssey;
in which Mr Broome, having engaged without
any previous agreement, discharged his part so
much to Mr Pope's satisfaction, that he gratified
him with the full sum of Five hundred pounds,
and a present of all those books for which his
own interest could procure him subscribers, to

the value of One hundred more. The Author only seems to lament, that he was employed in Translation at all." P.

Hibernian Politics, O Swift! thy fate;] See Book 1. ver 26. P.

2 And Pope's, ten years to comment and translate.] The Author here plainly laments that he was so long employed in translating and commenting. He began the Iliad in 1713, and finished it in 1719. The edition of Shakespear (which he undertook merely because no body else would) took up near two years more in the drudgery of comparing impressions, rectifying the Scenery, &c., and the translation of half the Odyssey employed him from that time to 1725. P. 3 [Cf. Book IV. V. 202.]

them and the Universities. The Universities appear by their proper Deputies, and assure her that the same method is observed in the progress of Education. The speech of Aristarchus on this subject. They are drawn off by a band of young Gentlemen returned from Travel with their Tutors; one of whom delivers to the Goddess, in a polite oration, an account of the whole Conduct and Fruits of their Travels: presenting to her at the same time a young Nobleman perfectly accomplished. She receives him graciously, and endues him with the happy quality of Want of Shame. She sees loitering about her a number of Indolent Persons abandoning all business and duty, and dying with laziness: To these approaches the Antiquary Annius, intreating her to make them Virtuoso's, and assign them over to him. But Mummius, another Antiquary, complaining of his fraudulent proceeding, she finds a method to reconcile their difference. Then enter a troop of people fantastically adorned, offering her strange and exotic presents: Amongst them one stands forth and demands justice on another, who had deprived him of one of the greatest Curiosities in nature; but he justifies himself so well, that the Goddess gives them both her approbation. She recommends to them to find proper employment for the Indolents before-mentioned, in the study of Butterflies, Shells, Birdsnests, Moss, &c. but with particular caution, not to proceed beyond Trifles, to any useful or extensive views of Nature, or of the Author of Nature. Against the last of these apprehensions, she is secured by a hearty address from the Minute Philosophers and Freethinkers, one of whom speaks in the name of the rest. The Youth, thus instructed and principled, are delivered to her in a body, by the hands of Silenus, and then admitted to taste the cup of the Magus her High Priest, which causes a total oblivion of all Obligations, divine, civil, moral, or rational. To these her Adepts she sends Priests, Attendants, and Comforters, of various kinds; confers on them Orders and Degrees; and then dismissing them with a speech, confirming to each his Privileges, and telling what she expects from each, concludes with a Yawn of extraordinary virtue: The Progress and Effects whereof on all Orders of men, and the Consummation of all, in the restoration of Night and Chaos, conclude the Poem.

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Then rose the Seed of Chaos, and of Night,
To blot out Order, and extinguish Light,
Of dull and venal a new World' to mould,

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And bring Saturnian days of Lead and Gold.

She mounts the Throne: her head a Cloud conceal'd,

In broad Effulgence all below reveal'd;

('Tis thus aspiring Dulness ever shines)

Soft on her lap her Laureate son reclines.

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Beneath her footstool2, Science groans in Chains,

And Wit dreads Exile, Penalties, and Pains.
There foam'd rebellious Logic, gagg'd and bound,

There, stript, fair Rhet'ric languish'd on the ground;
His blunted Arms by Sophistry are born,

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And shameless Billingsgate her Robes adorn.
Morality, by her false Guardians drawn,

Chicane in Furs, and Casuistry in Lawn,

Gasps, as they straiten at each end the cord,

And dies, when Dulness gives her Page the word3.
Mad Mathesis alone was unconfin'd,

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1 a new World] In allusion to the Epicurean opinion, that from the Dissolution of the natural World into Night and Chaos a new one should arise; this the Poet alluding to, in the Production of a new moral World, makes it partake of its original Principles. P. and Warburton.

Beneath her footstool, &c.] We are next presented with the pictures of those whom the Goddess leads in captivity. Science is only depressed and confined so as to be rendered useless; but Wit or Genius, as a more dangerous and active enemy, punished, or driven away: Dulness being often reconciled in some degree with Learning, but never upon any terms with Wit. And accordingly it will be seen that she admits something like each Science, as Casuistry, Sophistry, &c. but nothing like Wit, Opera alone supplying its place. P. and Warburton.

gives her Page the word.] There was a Judge of this name, always ready to hang any Man that came before him, of which he was suffered to give a hundred miserable examples during a long life, even to his dotage. P. and Warburton. [Cf. Epilogue to Satires, Dial. II. v. 159.]

Mad Máthesis] Alluding to the strange Conclusions some Mathematicians have deduced from their principles, concerning the real Quan

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tity of Matter, the Reality of Space, &c. P. and Warburton.

5 running round the Circle finds it square.] Regards the wild and fruitless attempts of squaring the Circle. P. and Warburton.

6 Watch'd both by Envy's and by Flatt'ry's eye.] One of the misfortunes falling on Authors from the Act for subjecting Plays to the power of a Licenser, being the false representations to which they were exposed, from such as either gratify'd their Envy to Merit, or made their Court to Greatness, by perverting general Reflections against Vice into Libels on particular Persons. P. and Warburton. [A licensing Act had been introduced by Sir John Barnard in 1735, but immediately abandoned; the Act of 1737 was occasioned by the political strokes in Fielding's Pasquin and the scurrilities of other plays. The bill was carried by Walpole, notwithstanding the vigorous opposition of Lord Chesterfield, who treated it as a first step towards a censorship of the press. Though the powers conferred by this Act are still retained by the Lord Chamberlain, they are used so sparingly and temperately (in 14 years, from 1852 to 1865, only 19 plays were rejected out of 2,816) that the restriction is practically little felt by managers, authors or public.]

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