"Behold yon isle, by palmers, pilgrims trod, Men bearded, bald, cowl'd, uncowl'd, shod, unshod, Peel'd, patch'd, and pye-bald, linsey-woolsey bro thers, 115 Grave mummers! sleeveless some, and shirtless others. That once was Britain!-Happy! had she seen REMARKS. treasure was anciently kept), by St. Adrian; that of Romulus and Remus in the Via Sacra, by two other brothers, Cosmus and Damianus; that of Antonine the Godly, by Laurence the Saint. But for my part, I should sooner be tempted out of devotion for Romulus or Antonine, to prostrate myself before their statues, than those of a Laurence or a Damian; and much rather with pagan Rome give divine honours to the founders of empires, than with popish Rome to the founders of monasteries." Middleton borrowed much from Les Conformités des Ceremonies modernes avec les anciennes. A Leyde, 1667. Warton. Ver. 112. Or Phidias broken,] Poggius, sitting with a friend on the top of the Capitoline hill, makes a pleasing and eloquent description of the Ruins of Rome, which lay in prospect below him; inserted in the Dialogue De Varietate Fortunæ, republished at Paris, 1723; written about the year 1440. Warton. Ver. 117, 118. Happy!-had Easter never been.] Wars in England anciently, about the right time of celebrating Easter. P. IMITATIONS. Ver. 117, 118. Happy!-had Easter never been.] "Et fortunatam, si nunquam armenta fuissent.” Virg. Ecl. vi. P. VOL. IV. "And see, my son! the hour is on its way, That lifts our Goddess to imperial sway; This fav'rite isle, long sever'd from her reign, 125 Now look thro' fate! behold the scene she draws! Behold, and count them, as they rise to light. 130 In homage to the Mother of the sky, REMARKS. Ver. 126. Dove-like, she gathers] This is fulfilled in the fourth book. P.t "Dove-like, sat'st brooding on the vast abyss." Milton. Bowles. Ver. 128. What aids, what armies, &c.] i. e. of poets, antiquarians, critics, divines, freethinkers. But, as this revolution is only here set on foot by the first of these classes, the poets, they only are here particularly celebrated, and they only properly fall under the care and review of this colleague of Dulness, the laureat. The others, who finish the great work, are reserved for the fourth book, when the Goddess herself appears in full glory. W. IMITATIONS. Ver. 127, 129. Now look through Fate !-See all her progeny, &c.] "Nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quæ deinde sequatur Gloria, qui maneant Italâ de gente nepotes, Illustres animas, nostrumque in nomen ituras, Expediam." Ver. 131. As Berecynthia, &c.] Virg. Æneid. vi. P. "Felix prole virûm; qualis Berecynthia mater Virg. Æneid. vi. P. Surveys around her, in the blest abode, A hundred sons, and ev'ry son a God: Not with less glory mighty Dulness crown'd, 135 Shall take thro' Grub-street her triumphant round; And her Parnassus glancing o'er at once, Behold a hundred sons, and each a Dunce. And thrusts his person full into your face. 140 A second see, by meeker manners known, And modest as the maid that sips alone; From the strong fate of drams if thou get free, 145 Another Durfey, Ward! shall sing in thee ; REMARKS. Ver. 138. and each a Dunce.] Never was there a happier parody! Merum sal-heightened by its allusion to one of the most magnificent passages in Virgil, Anchises shewing to Æneas his future progeny. IMITATIONS. Ver. 139. Mark first that youth, &c.] "Ille vides, purâ juvenis qui nititur hastâ, Proxima sorte tenet lucis loca" Warton. Virg. Æn. vi. P. Ver. 141. With all thy father's virtues] A manner of expression used by Virgil, Ecl. viii. "Nascere! præque diem veniens, age, Lucifer" As also that of patriis virtutibus, Ecl. iv. P. It was very natural to shew to the Hero, before all others, his own son, who had already begun to emulate him in his theatrical, poetical, and even political capacities. By the attitude in which he here presents himself, the reader may be cautioned against ascribing wholly to the father the merit of the epithet Cibberian, which is equally to be understood with an eye to the son. P.t Thee shall each ale-house, thee each gill-house mourn, And answering gin-shops sourer sighs return. 66 Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with awe, Nor less revere him, blunderbuss of law. He REMARKS. Ver. 145. From the strong fate of drams if thou get free, Another Durfey, Ward! shall shine in thee;] 150 appears to have consulted Dryden's translation of the verses parodied with so much humour: "Ah! could'st thou break through fate's severe decree, Wakefield. A new Marcellus shall arise in thee." Ver. 149. Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with_awe,] "This gentleman is son of a considerable maltster of Romsey in Southamptonshire, and bred to the law under a very eminent attorney: who, between his more laborious studies, has diverted himself with poetry. He is a great admirer of poets and their works, which has occasioned him to try his genius that way.-He has writ in prose the Lives of the Poets, Essays, and a great many law-books, The Accomplish'd Conveyancer, Modern Justice, &c. IMITATIONS. Ver. 145. From the strong fate of drams if thou get free,] Ver. 147. Thee shall each ale-house, &c.] "Te nemus Anguitiæ, vitreâ te Fucinus undâ, Te liquidi flevêre lacus." Virgil again, Ecl. x. 66 GILES Virg. Æneid. vi. P. Virg. Æneid. vii. P. illum etiam lauri, etiam flevêre myricæ," &c. Ver. 150.] "duo fulmina belli Scipiadas, cladem Libyæ!" Virg. Æneid. vi. P. VARIATIONS. Ver. 149.] In the first Edit. it was, Woolston, the scourge of scripture, mark with awe! And mighty Jacob, blunderbuss of law! w.t Lo! Popple's brow, tremendous to the town, Horneck's fierce eye, and Roome's funereal frown. REMARKS. GILES JACOB of himself, Lives of Poets, vol. i. He very grossly, Ver. 149, 150. Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with awe, There may seem some error in these verses, Mr. Jacob having proved our author to have a respect for him by this undeniable argument. "He had once a regard for my judgment; otherwise he would never have subscribed Two Guineas to me for one small book in octavo." Jacob's Letter to Dennis, printed in Dennis's Remarks on the Dunciad, p. 49. Therefore I should think the appellation of blunderbuss to Mr. Jacob, like that of thunderbolt to Scipio, was meant in his honour. Mr. Dennis argues the same way. "My writings having made great impression on the minds of all sensible men. Mr. P. repented, and, to give proof of his repentance, subscribed to my two volumes of select works, and afterwards to my two volumes of Letters."Ibid. p. 80. We should hence believe, the name of Mr. Dennis hath also crept into this poem by some mistake. But from hence, gentle reader! thou may'st beware, when thou givest thy money to such authors, not to flatter thyself that thy motives are goodnature or charity. P.† Ver. 151. Lo! Popple's brow,] Popple was the author of some vile plays and pamphlets. He published abuses on our author in a paper called The Prompter. P.t Ver. 152. Horneck and Roome] These two were virulent partywriters, worthily coupled together, and one would think prophetically, since after the publishing of this piece, the former dying, the latter succeeded him in honour and employment. The first was Philip Horneck, author of a Billingsgate Paper, called The High VARIATIONS. Ver. 151. Lo! Popple's brow, &c.] In the former Edd. Lo! Horneck's fierce, and Roome's peculiar face. w.t |