Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

THE

DUNCIA D:

то

DR. JONATHAN SWIFT.

ARGUMENT to Book the FIRST.

THE Propofition, the Invocation, and the Infcription. Then the Original of the great Empire of Dulness, and cause of the continuance thereof. The beloved feat of the Goddess is defcribed, with her chief attendants and officers, her functions, operations, and effects. Then the poem haftes into the midst of things, prefenting her on the evening of a Lord Mayor's day, revolving the long fucceffion of her fons, and the glories paft and to come. She fixes her eye on Tibbald to be the inftrument of that great event which is the Subject of the poem. He is defcribed pensive in his study, giving up the cause, and apprehending the period of her empire from the old age of the prefent monarch Settle: Wherefore debating whether to betake himself to Law or Politicks, he raises an altar of proper books, and (making first his folemn prayer and declaration) purposes thereon to facrifice all his unfuccefsful writings. As the pile is kindled, the Goddess beholding the flame from her

VOL. V.

Seat,

feat, flies in perfon and puts it out, by cafting upon it the poem of Thule. She forthwith reveals herfelf to him, tranSports him to her Temple, unfolds her arts, and initiates him into her myfteries; then announcing the death of Settle that night, anoints, and proclaims him Succeffor.

BOOK I.

Books and the Man I fing, the first who brings

The Smithfield Mufes to the Ear of Kings. Say great Patricians! (fince yourselves inspire Thefe wond'rous works: fo Jove and Fate require) Say from what cause, in vain decry'd and curst, Still Dunce the second reigns like Dunce the first. In eldest time, e'er mortals writ or read, E'er Pallas iffu'd from the Thund'rer's head, Dulness o'er all poffefs'd her antient right, Daughter of Chaos and eternal Night: Fate in their dotage this fair ideot gave, Grofs as her fire, and as her mother grave, Laborious, heavy, bufy, bold, and blind, She rul'd in native Anarchy, the mind.

Still her old empire to confirm, she tries,
For born a Goddefs, Dulness never dies.

O THOU! whatever Title please thine ear,
Dean, Drapier, Bickerstaff, or Gulliver,
Whether thou chufe Cervantes' ferious air,
Or laugh and shake in Rab'lais eafy Chair,
Or praise the Court, or magnify Mankind,
Or thy griev'd Country's copper chains unbind;
From thy Bæotia tho' Her Pow'r retires,

5

10

15

20

Grieve not, my SWIFT at ought our realm acquires,

[blocks in formation]

Here pleas'd behold her mighty wings out-fpread, 25
To hatch a new Saturnian Age of Lead.

Where wave the tatter'd enfigns of Rag-fair,
A yawning ruin hangs and nods in air;
Keen, hollow winds howl thro' the bleak recess,
Emblem of Mufic caus'd by Emptiness.

Here in one bed two shiv'ring Sisters lye,
The Cave of Poverty and Poetry.

30

This, the Great Mother dearer held than all
The clubs of Quidnunc's, or her own Guild-hall.
Here stood her Opium, here she nurs'd her Owls, 35
And deftin'd here the imperial feat of fools.
Hence springs each weekly Muse, the living boast
Of Curl's chafte prefs, and Lintot's rubric poft,
Hence hymning Tyburn's elegiac lay,

;

40

Hence the foft fing-fong on Cecilia's day,
Sepulchral Lyes, our holy walls to grace,
And New-year Odes, and all the Grubstreet race.
'Twas here in clouded majesty she shone
Four guardian Virtues, round, fupport her throne;
Fierce champion Fortitude, that knows no fears 45
Of hiffes, blows, or want, or lofs of ears:
Calm Temperance, whofe bleffings those partake
Who hunger, and who thirst, for scribling fake:
Prudence, whofe glass presents th' approaching jayl:
Poetic Juftice, with her lifted fcale;

50

Where, in nice balance, truth with gold fhe weighs, And folid pudding against empty praise.

Here she beholds the Chaos dark and deep, Where, nameless. Somethings in their caufes fleep,

« ZurückWeiter »