455

O! would the Sons of Men once think their Eyes
And Reafon giv'n them but to ftudy Flies!
See Nature in fome partial narrow shape,
And let the Author of the whole efcape;
Learn but to trifle; or, who most obferve,
To wonder at their Maker, not to ferve.

Be that my talk (replies a gloomy Clerk,
Sworn foe to Myftery, yet divinely dark;
Whofe pious hope afpires to fee the day
When Moral Evidence fall quite decay,
And damns implicit faith, and holy lies,
Prompt to impofe, and fond to dogmatize :)
Let others creep by timid fteps and flow,
On plain Experience lay foundations low,
By common fenfe to common knowledge bred,
And laft, to Nature's Caufe through Nature led.
All-feeing in thy mifts, we want no guide,
Mother of Arrogance, and Source of Pride!
We nobly take the high Priori Road,
And reafon downward, till we doubt of God:
Make Nature still incroach upon his plan;
And fhove him off as far as e'er we can:
Thrust fome Mechanic Caufe into his place;
Or bind in Matter, or diffufe in Space.
Or, at one bound o'er leaping all his laws,
Make God Man's Image, Man the final Caufe,
Find Virtue local, ali Relation fcorn,
See all in Self, and but for Self be born:
Of nought fo certain as our Reason still,
Of nought fo doubtful as of Soul and Will.
Oh hide the God still more! and make us fee
Such as Lucretius drew, a God like Thee:
Wrapt up in Self, a God without a Thought,
Regardless of our merit or default.

Or that bright Image to our fancy draw,
Which Theocles in raptur'd vifion faw,
Wild through Poetic fcenes the GENIUS roves,
Or wanders wild in Academic Groves;
That NATURE our Society adores,
Where Tindal dictates, and Silenus fnores.

REMARKS.

Rous'd at his name, up rofe the bowzy Sire,
And shook from out his Pipe the feeds of fire;
Then fuap'd his box, and ftrok'd his belly down, 49
Rofy and reverend, though without a Gown.
Bland and familiar to the throne he came,

Led up the Youth, and call'd the Goddess Dame, Then thus. From Prieftcraft happily fet free, 460 Lo! every finish'd Son returns to thee:

465

470

475

480

First flave to Words, then vaffal to a Name,
Then dupe to Party; child and man the fame;
Bounded by Nature, narrow'd ftill by Art,

A trifling head, and a contracted heart.

500

Thus bred, thus taught, how many have I feen, 595
Smiling on all, and fmil'd on by a Queen!
Mark'd out for Honours, honour'd for their Birth,
To thee the moft rebellious things on earth:
Now to thy gentle thadow all are shrunk,
All melted down in Penfion, or in Punk!
So K, fo B**, fneak'd into the grave,
A Monarch's half, and half a Harlot's flave.

Poor W ** , niptin Folly's broadeft bloom,
Who praises now? his Chaplain on his Tomb.

REMARKS.

510

ten, you might as foon have found a Wolf in Eng✩ land as an Atheist? The truth is, the whole fpecies was exterminated. There is a trifling difference indeed concerning the Auther of the Atchievement. Some, as Dr. Afhenhurst, gave it to Bentley's Boylean Lectures. And he fo well convinced that great 485 Man of the truth, that wherever afterwards he found Atheist, he always read it A Theift. But, in fpite of a claim fo well made out, others gave the honour of this exploit to a latter Boylean Lecturer. A judicious Apologift for Dr. Clarke, against Mr. Whifton, fays, with no less elegance than pofitivezefs of Expreffion, It is a moft certain truth that the De monftration of the being and attributes of God, has extirpated and banished Atheism out of the Chriftian world, p. 18. It is much to be lamented, that the cleareft truths have ftill their dark fide. Here we

490

hope of a poffibility to fly to the Moon; which has put fome volatile Geniufes upon making wings for that purpose.

fee it becomes a doubt which of the two Herculefes was the monster-queller. But what of that? Since the thing is done, and the proof of it fo eertain, there no occafion for fo nice a canvaffing of circumftances.

SCRIBL.

Ibid. Silenus] Silenus was an Epicurean Philofopher, as appears from Virgil, Eclog. vi. where he lings the principles of that philofophy in his drink.

Ver. 462. When Moral Evidence fhall quite de-is cay,] Alluding to a ridiculous and abfurd way of fome Mathematicians, in calculating the gradual decay of Moral Evidence by mathematical proportions: according to which calculation, in about fifty years it will be no longer probable that Julius Cæfar was in Gaul, or died in the Senate House. See Craig's Theologiæ Chriftianæ Principia Mathematica. But as it feems evident, that facts of a thousand years old, for instance, are now as probable, as they were five hundred years ago; it is plain, that if in fifty more they quite disappear, it must be owing, not to their Arguments, but to the extraordinary power of our Goddefs; for whofe help therefore they have

reafon to pray.

Ver. 501. Firft flave to words, &c.] A Recapi tulation of the whole Ceurfe of modern Education defcribed in this book, which confines Youth to the ftudy of Words only in Schools; fubjects them to the authority of Systems in the Univentities; and deludes them with the names of Party distinctions in the world. All equally concarring to narrow the Understanding, and establish Slavery and Error in Literature, Philofophy, and Politics. The whole finished in modern Free-thinking: the completion of whatever is vain, wrong, and destructive to the happiness of mankind; as it establifies Self-love for the fole Principle of Action.

Ver. 492. Where Tindal dictates and Silenus fnores.] It cannot be denied but that this fine ftroke of fatire against Atheism was well intended. But how muft the Reader fmile at our Author's officious Ver. 506. imil'd on by a Queen!] i. e. This al, when he is told, that at the time this was writ-Queen or Goddess of Dulness,

And ftrait fucceeded, leaving fhame no room, Cibberian forehead, or Cimmerian gloom. Kind Self-conceit to fome her glafs applies, Which no one looks in with another's eyes; But, as the Flatterer or Dependant paint, 520 Beholds himself a Patriot, Chief, or Saint. On others Intereft her gay livery filings, Intereft, that waves on Party-colour'd wings: Turn'd to the Sun, the cafts a thousand dyes, And, as the turns, the colours fall or rife. Others the Syrens Sisters warble round, And empty heads confole with empty found. No more, alas! the voice of Fame they hear, The balm of Dulness triqkling in their ear. Great C # , H * *, P * *, R * *, K *, 545 Why all your Toils? your Sons have learn'd to fing. How quick Ambition haftes to ridicule ! The Sire is made a Peer, the Son a Fool

560

What cannot copious Sacrifice atone?
Thy Treufies, Perigord! thy Hams, Bayonne?
With French Libation, and Italian Strain,
Wash Bladen white, and expiate Hays's stain.
KNIGHT lifts the hea: for what are crowds undone,
To three effential Partridges in one?
Gone every blush, and filent all reproach,
Contending Princes mount them in their Coach.
Next, bidding all draw near on bended knees, 565
The Queen confers her Titles and Degrees.
Her children first of more diftinguish'd fort,
Who ftudy Shakespeare at the Inns of Court,

REMARES.

Impale a Glow-worm, or Vertù profess,
Shine in the dignity of F. R. S.
Some, deep Free-mafons, join the filent race
Worthy to fill Pythagoras's place:
Some Botanists, or Florists at the leaft,
Or iffue Members of an Annual feaft.
Nor paft the meanett unregarded, one
Rofe a Gregorian, one a Gormogon,
The last, not leaft in honour or applaufe,
Ifis and Cam made DOCTORS of her Laws.
Then bleffing all, Go, Children of my care!
To Practice now from Theory repair.
All my commands are easy, fhort, and full:
My Sons be proud, be felfish, and be dull.
Guard my Prerogative, affert my Throne:

lating to Wines, which fignify their flavour and This Nod confirms each Privilege your own. poignancy.

St. Evremont has a very pathetic Letter to a Nobleman in difgrace, advifing him to feek comfort in a good Table, and particularly to be attentive to these Qualities in his Champaigne.

Ver. 560. Bladen-Hays] Names of Gamefters. Bladen is a black man. ROBERT KNIGHT, Cashier of the South Sea Company, who fled from England in 1720 (afterwards pardoned in 1742).Thefe lived with the utmost magnificence at Paris, and kept open Tables frequented by perfons of the firft quality of England, and even by Princes of the Blood of France.

Ibid. Bladen, &c.] The former Note of " Bladen " is a black man," is very abfurd. The Manufcript here is partly obliterated, ar, doubtlefs could only have been, Wash Blackmoors white, alluding to a known Proverb. SCRIBL.

Ver. 367. Her children firft of more distinguish'd
fort,

Who study Shakespeare at the Inns of
Court.

REMARKS.

營

530

575

580

man of the last Edition," which we hereby declare concern not his birth, but his adoption only: and mean no more than that he is become a Gentleman. of the lat Edition of the Dunciad. Since Gentleman, then, are fo captious, we think it proper to declare that Mr. Thomas Thimble, who is here faid to be Mr. Thomas Edwards's Ancestor, is only related to him by the Mufe's fide. SCRIBL.

This Tribe of Men, which Scriblerus has here fo well exemplified, our Poet hath elsewhere admirably characterized in that happy line,

"A brain of Feathers, and a heart of Lead.” |

For the fatire extends much farther than to the perfon who occafioned it, and takes in the whole fpecies of thofe on whom a good Education (to fit them for fome ufeful and learned profeffion) has been bestowed in vain. That worthiefs Band

"Of ever-liftlefs Loiterers, that attend

"No caufe, no trust, no duty, and no friend;"

Who, with an understanding too diffipated and futile for the offices of civil life; and a heart too lumpish, narrow, and contracted for those of social, become fit for nothing: and fo turr. Wits and Critics, where fenfe and civility are neither required nor expected.

I would that Scholiaft difcharge his duty, who fhould neglect to honour thofe whom DULNESS has diftinguished; or fuffer them to lie forgotton, when their rare modefty would have left them nameless. Let us not, therefore, overlook the Services which Ver. 571. Some, deep Free-Mafons, join the fihave been done her Cause, by one Mr. THOMAS lent race] The Poet all along expreffes a very partiEDWARDS, a Gentleman, as he is pleafed to call cular concern for this filent Race: He has here prohimself, of Lincoln's Inn; but, in reality, a Gentle.vided, that in cafe they will not waken or open (as man only of the Dunciad; or, to speak him better, in the plain language of our honeft Ancestors to fuch Mushrooms, a Gendeman of the last Edition: who, nobly eluding the folicitude of his careful Father, very early retained himself in the caufe of Dulnefs against Shakespeare, and with the wit and learning of his Ancestor Tom Thimble in the Rehearsal, and with the air of good nature and politeness of Caliban in the Tempest, hath now happily finished the Dunce's progrefs, in perfonal abufe. For a Libeller is nothing but a Grubstreet Critic run to Seed.

was before proposed) to a Humming-Bird or a Cockle, yet at worst they may be made Free-Masons; where Taciturnity is the only effential Qualification, as it was the chief of the difciples of Pythagoras.

Ver. 576. A Gregorian. one a Gormogon.] A fort of Laybrothers, Slips from the Root of the Free

Mafons.

Ver, 584. each Privilege your own, &c.] This fpeech of Dulness to her Sons at parting may poffibly fall fhort of the Reader's expectation; who may imagine the Goddels might give them a Charge of more Lamentable is the Dulness of these Gentlemen of confequence, and, from fuch a Theory as is before the Dunciad. This Fungofo and his friends, who delivered, incite them to the practice of something are all Gentlemen, have exclaimed much against us more extraordinary, than to perfonate Running Tootfor reflecting his birth, in the words, a Gentlemen, Jockeys, Stage Coachmen, & c.

585

Churches and Chapels inftantly it reach'd:
(St. James's first, for leaden G- preach'd)
Then catch'd the Schools; the Hall fearce kept
awake;

The Convocation gap'd, but could not speak: 610
590 Loft was the Nation's Senfe, nor could be found,
While the long folemn Unifon went round :
Wide, and more wide, it spread o'er all the realm;
Ev'n Palinurus nodded at the Helm:
The Vapour mild o'er each Committee crept; 615
595 Unfinish'd Treaties in each Office slept ;

The Cap and Switch be facred to his Grace;
With Staff and Pumps the Marquis leads the Race;
From Stage to Stage the licens'd Earl may run,
Pair'd with his Fellow-Charioteer the Sun;
The learned Baron Butterflies defign,
Or draw to filk Arachne's fubtile line;
The Judge to dance his brother Sergeant call;
The Senator at Cricket urge the ball;
The Bishop ftow (Pontific Luxury !)
An hundred Souls of Turkeys in a pye;
The sturdy Squire to Gallic mafters stoop,
And drown his Lands and Manors in a Soupe.
Others import yet nobler arts from France,
Teach Kings to fiddle, and make Senates dance.
Perhaps more high fome daring fon may foar,
Proud to my lift to add one Monarch more:
And, nobly confcious, Princes are but things
Born for firft Minifters, as Slaves for Kings,
Tyrant fupreme! thall three Eftates command,
And MAKE ONE MIGHTY DUNCIAD OF THE
LAND!
604

600

More fhe had fpoke, but yawn'd-All Nature

nods:

What Mortal can refift the Yawn of Gods

REMARKS.

But if it be well confidered, that whatever inclination they might have to do mischief, her fons are generally rendered harmless by their Inability; and that it is the common effect of Dulness (even in her greatest efforts) to defeat her own defign; the Poet, I am perfuaded, will be juftified, and it will be allowed that thefe worthy perfons, in their feveral ranks, do as much as can be expected from them.

And Chieffefs Armies doz'd out the Campaign!
And Navies yawn'd for Orders on the Main.
O Mafe! relate (for you can tell alone,
Wits have fhort Memories, and Dunces none) 620

REMARKS.

fingular Epitafis of a Poem, to end as this does, with a Great Yawn; but we must confider it as the Yawn of a God, and of powerful elects. It is not out of Nature, most long and grave counfels concluding in this very manner: Nor without Authority, the incompara Spenfer having ended one of the most confiderable of his works with a Roar; but then it is the Roar of a Lion, the effects whereof are defcribed as the Cataftrophe of the Poem.

Ver. 607. Churches and Chapels, &c.] The Progrefs of this Yawn, is judicious, natural, and worthy to be noted. First it feizeth the Churches and Chapels; then catcheth the Schools, where, though the boys be unwilling to fleep, the Mafters are not: Next Westminster-hall, much more hard indeed to fubdue, and not totally put to filence even by the Goddess: Then the Convocation, which though extremely deVer. 585. The Cap and Switch, &c.] The God-firous to speak, yet cannot: Even the House of defs's political balance of favour, in the distribution of her rewards, deferves our notice. It confifts in joining with thofe Honours claimed by birth and high place, others more adapted to the genius and talents of the Candidates. And thus her great Forerunner, John of Leyden, King of Munster, entered on his Government, by making his ancient friend and companion, Knipperdolling, General of his Horfe and Hangman. And had but Fortune feconded his great fchemes of Reformation, it is faid, he would have established his whole Household on the fame reafenable footing. SCRIBL. Ver. 590. Arachne's fubtile line;] This is one of the most ingenious employments affigned, and therefore recommended only to Peers of Learning. Of weaving Stockings of the Webs of Spiders, fee the Phil. Tranf.

Ver. 591. The Judge to dance his brother Sergeant call:] Alluding perhaps to that ancient and folemn Dance, intitled, A call of Sergeants.

Ver, 598. Teach Kings to fiddle,] An ancient amufement of Sovereign Princes, (viz) Achilles, Alexander, Nero; though defpifed by Themistocles, who was a Republican-Make Senates dance, either after their Prince, or to Pontoife, or Siberia.

Ver. 606. What Mortal can refift the Yawn of Gods?] This verfe is truly Homerical; as is the conclufion of the Action, where the great Mother compofes all, in the fame manner as Minerva at the period of the Odyley.-It may indeed feem a very

Commons, juftly called the Senfe of the Nation, is loft (that is to fay fufpe led) during the Yawn; (far be it from our Author to fuggeft it could be loft any longer!) but it fpreadeth at large over all the reft of the Kingdom, to fuch a degree, that Palinuras himself (though as incapable of fleeping as Jupiter) yet noddeth for a moment; the effect of which, though, ever fo momentary, could not but caufe fome Relaxa tion, for the time, in all public affairs.

SCRIBL.

Ver. 610. The Convocation gap'd, but could not fpeak;] Implying a great defire fo to do, as the learned Scholiaft on the place rightly obferves. Therefore beware, Reader, left thou take this Gape for a Yawn, which is attended with no defire but to go to reit: by no means the difpofition of the Convocation; whofe melancholy cafe in short is this: She was, as reported, infected with the general influence of the Goddefs; and while fhe was yawning carelefsly at her eafe, a wanton Courtier took her at advantage, and in the very nick clap'd a Gag into her chops. Well therefore may we know her meaning by her gaping; and this diftrefsful pofture our poet here defcribes, juft as the ftands at this day, a fad example of the effects of Dulness and Malice unchecked, and defpifed. BENTL

Ver. 615-618.] Thefe Verfes were written ma ny years ago, and may be found in the State Poems of that time. So that Scriblerus is mistaken, or whoever elfe have imagined this Poem of a frefter date.

Ver. 620. Wits have fhort Memories,] This foems

Relate, who firft, who laft refign'd to rest;
Whofe Heads the partly, whofe completely bleft';
What charms could Faction, what Ambition lull,
The Venal quiet, and entrance the Dull;

Till drown'd was Senfe, and Shame, and Right, and
Wrong-

O firg, and hush the Nations with thy Song!

In vain, in vain, the all-compofing Hour
Refflefs falls: the Mufe obeys the Power.
She comes! fhe comes? the fable Thrane behold
Of Night Primæval, and of Chaos old!
Before her, Fancy's gilded clouds decay,
And all its varying Rain-bows die away.

Wit fhoots in vain its momentary fires,
The meteor drops, and in a flash expires.
As one by one at dread Medea's firain,

The ckening ftars fade off th' ethereal plain;
As Argus eyes, by Hermes' wand oppreft,
Clos'd one by one to everlasting reft:

REMARKS.

625

630

635

to be the reafon why the Poets, when they give us a
Catalogue, conftantly call for help on the Mufes,
who, as the Daughters of Memory, are obliged not
to forget any thing. So Homer, iliad ii.

Πληθυν δ' εκ αν μυθήσομαι εδ' οιομηνών,
Ει μη Ολυμπιάδες Μεσαι, Διός αιγιόχεια
Ευγαίερες, μνησμιαθ

And Virgil, n. vii.

"Et meminiftis enim, Divæ, et memorare poteftis: "Ad nos vix tenuis famæ perlabitur aura."

Thy hand, great Anarch? lets the curtain fall; 655
And univerfal Darknefs buries All.

REMARKS.

the writings of fome even of our most adored authors, in Divinity, Philofophy, Phyfics, Metaphyfice, &c. who are too good indeed to be named in fuch company.

Ibid. The fable Throne behold] The fable Thrones of Night and Chaos, here reprefented as advancing to extinguish the light of the Sciences, in the first place blot out the Colours of Fancy, and damp the fire of Wit, before they proceed to their work.

Ver. 641. Truth to her old cavern fled.] Alluding to the faying of Democritus. That Truth lay at the bottom of a deep well, from whence he had drawn her: Though Butler fays, He first put her in, before he drew her out.

Ver. 649. Religion blushing veils her facred fires,] Bluthing as well at the memory of the paft overflow of Dulnefs, when the barbarous learning of fo many ages was wholly employed in corrupting the fimplicity, and defiling the purity of Religion, as at the view of thefe her falfe fupports in the prefent; of which it would be endless to recount the particulers. However, amidst the extinction of all other Lights, he is faid only to withdraw hers! as hers alone in its own nature is unextinguishable and eter

gal.

But our Poet had yet another reafon for putting this Tak upon the Mufe, that, all befides being afleep, the only could relate what paffed. SCRIEL. Ver. 624. The Venal quiet, and, &c.] It were a Problem worthy the folution of Mr. Ralph and his Patron, who had lights that we know nothing of, -Which required the greateft effort of our Goddefs's power, to intrance the Dull, or to quiet the Venal. For though the Venal may be more unruly than the Dull, yet, on the other hand, it de- Ver. 650. And unawares Morality expires.] It mands a much greater expence of her Virtue to in-appears from hence that our Poet was of very diftrance than barely to quiet. SCRIBL. fereat fentiments from the Author of the CharacterVer. 629. She comes! fhe comes! &c.] Heretics, who has written a formal treatife on Virtue. the Mufe, like Jove's Eagle, after a fudden Roop at ignoble game, foareth again to the skies. As Prophecy hath ever been one of the chief princes of Poefy, our Poet here foretells from wh we feel, what we are to fear; and in the ftyle of other prophets, hath ufed the future tenfe for the preterit; face what he says shall be, is already to be feen, in

to prove it not only real but durable, without the fupport of Religion. The word Unawares alludes to the confidence of thofe men, who fuppofe that Morality would flourish best without it, and confequeatly to the furprize fuch would be in (if any fuch there are) who indeed love Virtue, and yet do all they can to root out the Religion of their Country.

END OF THE SIXTH VOLUME