Known by the band and suit which Settle wore Oh born to see what none can see awake! 40 Thou, yet unborn, hast touch'd this sacred shore; What mortal knows his pre-existent state? 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 ? Roll all their tides, then back their circles bring; Ascend this hill, whose cloudy point commands 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; How little, mark! that portion of the ball, 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, See, the Cirque falls, th' unpillar'd temple nods, 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, Behold yon isle, by palmers, pilgrims trod, Men bearded, bald, cowl'd, uncowl'd, shod, unshod, That once was Britain-Happy! had she seen Now look through fate! behold the scene she draws! 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 |