Thrice Budgel aim'd to speak, but thrice supprest 400 Then down are roll'd the books; stretch'd o'er 'em lies Each gentle clerk, and mutt'ring seals his eyes, As what a Dutchman plumps into the lakes, One circle first, and then a second makes ; 405 What Dulness dropt among her sons imprest Thrice Budgel aim'd to speak,] Famous for his speeches on many occasions about the South Sea scheme, &c. "He is a very ingenious gentleman, and hath written some excellent Epilogues to Plays, and one small piece on Love, which is very pretty." Jacob, Lives of Poets. But this gentleman since made himself much more eminent, and personally well known to the greatest Statesmen of all parties, as well as to all the Courts of Law in this nation. P. Budgell was a relation of Addison whom he accompanied as clerk to Ireland. He afterwards rose to be Under Secretary of State. After Addison's death he was involved in losses by the South Sea Bubble; a stain fell on his character in consequence of Tindal's bequest in his favour being set aside, and he committed suicide in 1737. Carruthers. [Cf. Epistle to Arbuthnot, vv. 378, 9; and notes.] 2 [Blackmore.] 3 Ver. 399; in the first Edition it was: 'Collins and Tindal, prompt at priests to jeer.' Warburton. Toland and Tindal,] Two persons, not so happy as to be obscure, who writ against the Religion of their Country. Toland, the author of the Atheist's Liturgy, called Pantheisticon, was a spy, in pay to lord Oxford. Tindal was author of the Rights of the Christian Church, and Christianity as old as the Creation. P. [Part om.] [John Toland's most famous work Christianity not mysterious was published in 1696; Matthew Tindal's Christianity as old as the Creation, rather later. Anthony Collins, who probably lost his place in the text for the sake of the alliteration, brought out his Discourse of free Thinking in 1713.] Christ's No kingdom &c.] This is said by Curl, Key to Dunc. to allude to a sermon of a reverend Bishop. P. It alludes to Bishop Hoadley's sermons preached before George I., in 1717, on the Nature of the Kingdom of Christ, 410 which occasioned a long, vehement, and learned debate, known as the Bangorian Controversy, of which see Hoadley was at that time bishop. Wakefield. 5 Centlivre] Mrs Susanna Centlivre, wife to Mr Centlivre, Yeoman of the Mouth to his Majesty. She writ many Plays, and a Song (says Mr Jacob) before she was seven years old. She also writ a Ballad against Mr Pope's Homer before he began it. P. [Some of her plays still keep the stage.] 6 Peter Anthony Motteux, the excellent translator of Don Quixote, and author of a number of forgotten dramatic pieces. Dryden addressed a complimentary Epistle to him. He died in 1718. Carruthers. 7 Boyer the State, and Law the Stage gave o'er,] A. Boyer, a voluminous compiler of Annals, Political Collections, &c.-William Law, A. M. wrote with great zeal against the Stage; Mr Dennis answered with as great: Their books were printed in 1726. The same Mr Law is author of a book, intitled, An Appeal to all that doubt of or disbelieve the truth of the gospel; in which he has detailed a system of the rankest Spinozism, for the most exalted Theology; and amongst other things as rare, has informed us of this, that Sir Isaac Newton stole the principles of his philosophy from one Jacob Bahmen, a German cobbler. P. 8 A man of some learning, and uncommon acuteness, with a strong disposition to Satire, which very often degenerated into scurrility. His most celebrated work is the Moral Philosopher, first published in the year 1737. Bowles. 9 [Bernard de Mandeville was born in Holland, in 1670, and after residing in England during the latter half of his life, died in 1733. The Fable of the Bees, to which he owed his fame, first appeared in 1708 in the form of a short poem, and was afterwards republished with explanatory notes and essays, which drew upon Norton 1, from Daniel and Ostroa sprung, Bless'd with his father's front, and mother's tongue, 415 420 425 THE DUNCIAD. BOOK THE THIRD. ARGUMENT. After the other persons are disposed in their proper places of rest, the Goddess transports the King to her Temple, and there lays him to slumber with his head on her lap; a position of marvellous virtue, which causes all the visions of wild enthusiasts, projectors, politicians, inamoratos, castle-builders, chemists, and poets. He is immediately carried on the wings of Fancy, and led by a mad Poetical Sibyl to the Elysian shade; where, on the banks of Lethe, the souls of the dull are dipped by Bavius, before their entrance into this world. There he is met by the ghost of Settle, and by him made acquainted with the wonders of the place, and with those which he himself is destined to perform. He takes him to a Mount of Vision, from whence he shews him the past triumphs of the Empire of Dulness, then the present, and lastly the future: how small a part of the world was ever conquered by Science, how soon those conquests were stopped, and those very nations again reduced to her dominion. Then distinguishing the Island of Great-Britain, shews by what aids, by what persons, and by what degrees it shall be brought to her Empire. Some of the author the threat of a prosecution. In its enlarged form it bore the second title of Private Vices Public Benefits, which explains the moral or object of the Fable. Though Mandeville only meant to shew that under the system of Providence good is wrought out of evil, he would have done well to leave no doubt as to both the meaning and the limitations of his doctrine.] 1 Norton] Norton De Foe, offspring of the famous Daniel. Fortes creantur fortibus. One of the authors of the Flying Post, in which well-bred work Mr P. has sometime the honour to be abused with his betters; and of many hired scurrilities and daily papers, to which he never set his name. P. [Does Ostræa here signify an oyster-wife?] 2 Fleet] A prison for insolvent Debtors on the bank of the Ditch. P. the persons he causes to pass in review before his eyes, describing each by his proper figure, character, and qualifications. On a sudden the Scene shifts, and a vast number of miracles and prodigies appear, utterly surprising and unknown to the King himself, till they are explained to be the wonders of his own reign now commencing. On this subject Settle breaks into a congratulation, yet not unmixed with concern, that his own times were but types of these. He prophesies how first the nation shall be over-run with Farces, Operas, and Shows; how the throne of Dulness shall be advanced over the Theatres, and set up even at Court; then how her Sons shall preside in the seats of Arts and Sciences: giving a glimpse or Pisgahsight of the future Fulness of her Glory, the accomplishment whereof is the subject of the fourth and last book. B BOOK III. UT in her Temple's last recess enclos'd, On Dulness' lap th' Anointed head repos'd. Hence, from the straw where Bedlam's Prophet nods, And now, on Fancy's easy wing convey'd, Her tresses staring from Poetic dreams, And never wash'd, but in Castalia's streams. Taylor1, their better Charon, lends an oar, 5 IO 15 (Once swan of Thames, tho' now he sings no more.) And Shadwell nods the Poppy on his brows. Taylor] John Taylor the Water-poet, an honest man, who owns he learned not so much as the Accidence: A rare example of modesty in a Poet! I must confess I do want eloquence, And never scarce did learn my Accidence; For having got from possum to posset, I there was gravell'd, could no farther get. He wrote fourscore books in the reign of James I. and Charles I. and afterwards (like Edward Ward) kept an Ale-house in Long-Acre. He died in 1654. P. [Carruthers corrects this date to 1653; and refers for an account of the poetic waterman to Southey's Lives of Uneducated Poets. A splendid edition of Taylor's poems 20 has recently been published by the Spenser Society.] 2 Benlowes,] A country gentleman, famous for his own bad poetry, and for patronizing bad poets, as may be seen from many Dedications of Quarles and others to him. Some of these anagram'd his name, Benlowes into Benevolus: to verify which he spent his whole estate upon them. P. 3 And Shadwell nods the Poppy &c.] Shadwell took Opium for many years, and died of too large a dose, in the year 1692. P. [The hero of MacFlecknoe.] 4 Old Bavius sits,] Bavius was an ancient Poet, celebrated by Virgil for the like cause as And blunt the sense, and fit it for a skull 25 Of solid proof, impenetrably dull: Instant, when dipt, away they wing their flight, Where Brown and Mears1 unbar the gates of Light, Rush to the world, impatient for the day. Millions and millions on these banks he views, Wond'ring he gaz'd: When lo! a Sage3 appears, Thus the great Father to the greater Son. 30 35 40 "Oh born to see what none can see awake! Behold the wonders of th' oblivious Lake. Thou, yet unborn, hast touch'd this sacred shore; The hand of Bavius drench'd thee o'er and o'er. 45 50 How many Dutchmen she vouchsaf'd to thrid? Roll all their tides; then back their circles bring; Bays by our Author, though not in so christianlike a manner: For heathenishly it is declared by Virgil of Bavius, that he ought to be hated and detested for his evil works; Qui Bavium non odit; Whereas we have often had occasion to observe our Poet's great Good Nature and Mercifulness thro' the whole course of this Poem. SCRIBLERUS. Mr Dennis warmly contends, that Bavius was no inconsiderable author; nay, that "He and Mævius had (even in Augustus's days) a very formidable party at Rome, who thought them much superior to Virgil and Horace: For (saith he) I cannot believe they would have fixed that eternal brand upon them, if they had not been coxcombs in more than ordinary credit." Rem. on Pr. Arthur, part II. c. I. An argument which, if this poem should last, will conduce to the honour of the gentlemen of the Dunciad. P. 1 Brown and Mears] Booksellers, Printers for any body. P. [Part om.] 55 2 Ward in pillory.] John Ward of Hackney, Esq. Member of Parliament, being convicted of forgery, was first expelled the House, and then sentenced to the Pillory on the 17th of February 1727. P. [Part om.] [Cf. Moral Essays, Ep. 111. 20, note.] 3 [Dante.] 4 Settle] Elkanah Settle was once a Writer in vogue as well as Cibber, both for Dramatic Poetry and Politics. He was author or publisher of many noted pamphlets in the time of King Charles II. He answered all Dryden's political poems; and, being, caried up on one side, succeeded not a little in his Tragedy of the Empress of Morocco. P. [Part om.] [For an account of this extremely sensational play, against which strictures were indited by Dryden, Shadwell and Crown, see Geneste, u. s. Vol. I. p. 154.] Shall in thee centre, from thee circulate. "Ascend this hill, whose cloudy point commands бо 65 See, round the Poles where keener spangles shine, 70 "Far eastward cast thine eye, from whence the Sun 2 75 "Thence to the south extend thy gladden'd eyes; 1 See, round the Poles &c.] Almost the whole Southern and Northern Continent wrapt in ignorance. P. mæan library, on the gates of which was this inscription, YXHZIATPEION, the Physic of the Soul. P. [A. D. 641. Gibbon was strongly inclined to dispute the fact, but fresh authorities 'Far eastward cast thine eye, from whence the corroborating it have been adduced by Milman.] Sun 2 Ver. 73; in the former Editions: 5 I have been told that this was the couplet by which Pope declared his own ear to be most gratified; but the reason of this preference I cannot discover. Johnson. 6 [The Alemanni, who twice invaded Gaul.] 7 [Kings of the Goths, Vandals and Huns respectively.] 8 (The soil that arts and infant letters bore)] Phoenicia, Syria, &c. where Letters are said to have been invented. In these countries Mahomet began his conquests. P. |