Known by the band and suit which Settle wore
His only suit) for twice three years before:
All as the vest, appear'd the wearer's frame,
Old in new state, another yet the same.
Bland and familiar as in life, begun
Thus the great father to the greater son:

Oh born to see what none can see awake!
Behold the wonders of th' oblivious lake!

40

Thou, yet unborn, hast touch'd this sacred shore;
The hand of Bavius drench'd thee o'er and o'er.
But blind to former, as to future fate,

What mortal knows his pre-existent state?
Who knows how long thy transmigrating soul
Might from Baotian to Baotian roll?

REMARKS.

50

Ver. 37. Settle] Elkanah Settle was once a writer in vogue as well as Cibber, both for dramatic poetry and politics. Mr. Dennis tells us, that he was a formidable rival to Mr. Dryden, and that in the university of Cambridge there were those who gave him the preference.' Mr. Welsted goes yet farther in his behalf! Poor Settle was formerly the mighty rival of Dryden: nay, for many years, bore his reputation above him.' Pref. to his Poems, 8vo. p. 31. And Mr. Milbourne cried out, How little was Dryden able, even when his blood run high, to defend himself against Mr. Settle!' Notes on Dryd. Virg. p. 175. These are comfortable opinions; and no wonder some authors indulge them.

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 cried up on one side, succeeded not a little in his tragedy of the Empress of Morocco [the first that was ever printed with cuts]. Upon this he grew insolent, the wits writ against his play, he replied, and the town judged he had the better. In short, Settle was then thought a very formidable rival to Mr. Dryden;

How many Dutchmen she vouchsaf'd to thrid ?
How many stages through old monks she rid?
And all who since, in wild benighted days,
Mix'd the owl's ivy with the poet's bays.
As man's meanders to the vital spring

Roll all their tides, then back their circles bring;
Or whirligigs, twirl'd round by skilful swain,
Suck the thread in, then yield it out again:
All nonsense thus, of old or modern date,
Shall, in the centre, from thee circulate.
For this, our queen unfolds to vision true
Thy mental eye, for thou hast much to view:
Old scenes of glory, times long cast behind,
Shall, first recall'd, rush forward to thy mind:
Then stretch thy sight o'er all her rising reign,
And let the past and future fire thy brain.

Ascend this hill, whose cloudy point commands
Her boundless empire over seas and lands.
See, round the poles where keener spangles shine,
Where spices smoke beneath the burning line
(Earth's wide extremes), her sable flag display'd,
And all the nations cover'd in her shade!

70

Far eastward cast thine eye, from whence the sun And orient science their bright course begun: One godlike monarch all that pride confounds, He, whose long wall the wand'ring Tartar bounds;

REMARKS.

and not only the town, but the university of Cambridge was divided which to prefer; and in both places the younger sort inclined to Elkanah.' Dennis, Pref. to Rem. on Hom.

Ver. 50. Might from Baotian, &c.] Boeotia lay under the ridicule of the wits formerly, as Ireland does now; though it produced one of the greatest poets and one of the greatest generals of Greece: Bootum crasso jurares aëre natum. Ver. 75. Chi Ho-am-ti, emperor of same who built the great wall between

Horat. China, the China and

Heavens! what a pile! whole ages perish there, And one bright blaze turns learning into air.

80

Thence to the south extend thy gladden'd eyes;
There rival flames with equal glory rise,
From shelves to shelves see greedy Vulcan roll,
And lick up all their physic of the soul.

How little, mark! that portion of the ball,
Where, faint at best, the beams of science fall:
Soon as they dawn, from hyperborean skies
Embodied dark, what clouds of Vandals rise!
Lo! where Mæotis sleeps, and hardly flows
The freezing Tanaïs through a waste of snows,
The north by myriads pours her mighty sous,
Great nurse of Goths, of Alans, and of Huns!
See Alaric's stern port! the martial frame
Of Genseric; and Attila's dread name!
See, the bold Ostrogoths on Latium fall:
See, the fierce Visigoth's on Spain and Gaul!
See, where the morning gilds the palmy shore
(The soil that arts and infant letters bore)
His conqu❜ring tribes th' Arabian prophet draws,
And saving ignorance enthrones by laws.
See Christians, Jews, one heavy sabbath keep,
And all the western world believe and sleep.

90

100

Lo! Rome herself, proud mistress now no more Of arts, but thund'ring against heathen lore;

REMARKS.

Tartary, destroyed all the books and learned men of that empire.

Ver. 81, 82. The caliph, Omar I. having conquered Egypt, caused his general to burn the Ptolemæan library, on the gates of which was this inscription, ΨΥΧΗΣ ΙΑΤΡΕΙΟΝ, the physic of the soul.

Ver. 96. (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.

Ver. 102. thund'ring against heathen lore;] A strong instance of this pious rage is placed to pope

Her grey-hair'd synods damning books unread,
And Bacon trembling for his brazen head.
Padua, with sighs, beholds her Livy burn,
And ev❜n the Antipodes Virgilius mourn.

See, the Cirque falls, th' unpillar'd temple nods,
Streets pav'd with heroes, Tyber choak'd with gods:
Till Peter's keys some christen'd Jove adorn,
And Pan to Moses lends his Pagan horn;

REMARKS.

110

Gregory's account. John of Salisbury gives a very odd encomium of this pope, at the same time that he mentions one of the strangest effects of this excess of zeal in him; Doctor sanctissimus ille Gre gorius, qui melleo prædicatiouis imbre totam rigavit et inebriavit ecclesiam; non modo mathesin jussit ab aula, sed, ut traditur a majoribus incendio dedit probatæ lectionis scripta, Palatinus quæcunque tenebat Apollo? And in another place: Fertur beatus Gregorius bibliothecam combussisse gentilem; quo divinæ paginæ gratior esset locus, et major au thoritas, et diligentia studiosior.' Desiderius, archbishop of Vienna, was sharply reproved by him for teaching grammar and literature, and explaining the põets; because (says this pope)' In uno se ore cum Jovis laudibus Christi laudes non capiunt: Et quam grave nefandumque sit episcopis canere quod nec laico religioso conveniat, ipse considera.' He is said, among the rest, to have burned Livy; ' Quia in superstitionibus et sacris Romanorum perpetuo ver. satur.' The same pope is accused by Vossius, and others, of having caused the noble monuments of the | old Roman magnificence to be destroyed, lest those who came to Rome should give more attention to triumphal arches, &c. thau to holy things. Bayle,

Dict.

Ver. 109. Till Peter's keys some christen'd Jove adorn.] After the government of Rome devolved to the popes, their zeal was for some time exerted in demolishing the heathen temples and statues, so that

See graceful Venus to a virgin turn'd,
Or Phidias broken, and Apelles burn'd.

Behold yon isle, by palmers, pilgrims trod,

Men bearded, bald, cowl'd, uncowl'd, shod, unshod,
Peel'd, patch'd, and pyebald, linsey-wolsey brothers,
Grave mummers! sleeveless some, and shirtless
others.

That once was Britain-Happy! had she seen
No fiercer sons, had Easter never been.
In peace, great goddess, ever be ador'd;
How keen the war, if Dulness draw the sword! 120
Thus visit not thy own! on this blest age
O spread thy influence, but restrain thy rage.
And see, my son! the hour is on its way,
That lifts our goddess to imperial sway;
This favourite isle, long sever'd from her reign,
Dove-like she gathers to her wings again.

Now look through fate! behold the scene she draws!
What aids, what armies, to assert her cause!

REMARKS.

the Goths scarce destroyed more monuments of antiquity out of rage, than these out of devotion. At length they spared some of the temples, by converting them to churches; and some of the statues, by modifying them into images of saints. In much later times, it was thought necessary to change the statues of Apollo and Pallas, on the tomb of Sannazarius, into David and Judith; the lyre easily became a harp, and the Gorgon's head turned to that of Holofernes.

Ver. 117, 118. Happy! had Easter never been!] Wars in England anciently, about the right time of celebrating Easter.

Ver. 126. Dove like, she gathers] This is fulfilled in the fourth book.

Ver. 128. What aids, what armies, to assert her cause!] i. e. Of poets, antiquaries, critics, divines, free-thinkers. But as this revolution is only here