Rous'd at his name, up rose the bowzy Sire,
And fhook from out his Pipe the feeds of fire;
Then snapt his box, and strok'd his belly down,
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,
Lo! every finish'd Son returns to thee:
First flave to Words, then vaffal to a Name,
Then dupe to Party; child and man the fame;
Bounded by Nature, narrow'd still by Art,
A trifling head, and a contracted heart.

REMARKS.

495

500

Thus

pated and banished Atheism out of the Chriftian world, p. 18. It is much to be lamented, that the clearest truths have still their dark fide. Here we fee it becomes a doubt which of the two Herculefes was the monfterqueller. But what of that? Since the thing is done, and the proof of it so certain, there is no occasion for so nice a canvaffing of circumftances. SCRIBL.

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

Ver. 501. First flave to words, &c.] A Recapitulation of the whole Course of modern Education defcribed in this book, which confines Youth to the ftudy of Words only in Schools; fubjects them to the authority of Syftems in the Universities; and deludes them with the names of Party diftinctions in the world. All equally concurring to narrow the Understanding, and eftablifh Slavery and Error in Literature, Philofophy, and Politics. The whole finished in modern Free-thinking the completion of whatever is vain, wrong, and deftructive to the happinefs of mankind; as it establishes Self-love for the fole Principle of Action.

:

Thus bred, thus taught, how many have I seen,
Smiling on all, and fmil'd on by a Queen!
Mark'd out for Honours, honour'd for their Birth,

To thee the most rebellious things on
earth:
Now to thy gentle shadow 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**, nipt in Folly's broadest bloom,
Who praises now? his Chaplain on his Tomb.
Then take them all, oh take them to thy breaft!
Thy Magus, Goddess! fhall perform the rest.

With that, a WIZARD OLD his Cup extends;
Which whofo taftes, forgets his former friends,
Sire, Ancestors, Himfelf. One cafts his eyes
Up to a Star, and like Endymion dies;

REMARKS.

505

510

515

520

A Feather,

Ver. 506. fmil'd on by a Queen ?] i. e. This Queen or Goddess of Dulnefs.

Ver. 517. With that a Wizard old, &c.] Here beginneth the celebration of the GREATER MYSTERIES of the Goddefs, which the Poet, in his Invocation, ver. 5. promised to fing.

Ver. 518.-forgets his former Friends,] Surely there little needed the force of charms or magic to fet afide an useless Friendship. For of all the accommodations of fashionable life, as there are none more reputable, fo there are none of fo little charge as friendship. It fills up the void of life with a name of dignity and refpect; and at the fame time is ready to give place to every paffion that offers; to difpute poffeffion with it.

SCRIBL.

A Feather, shooting from another's head,
Extracts his brain; and Principle is fled;
Loft is his God, his Country, every thing;
And nothing left but Homage to a King!
The vulgar herd turn off to roll with Hogs,
To run with Horses, or to hunt with Dogs;
But, fad example! never to escape
Their Infamy, still keep the human shape.
But the, good Goddess, sent to every child
Firm Impudence, or Stupefaction mild;

REMARKS.

525

530

And

Ver. 523, 524. Loft is his God, his Country-And nothing left but Homage to a King!] So ftrange as this must seem to a mere English reader, the famous Monf. de la Bruyere declares it to be the character of every good Subject in a Monarchy: "Where (fays he) "there is no fuch thing as Love of our Country, the "Intereft, the Glory, and Service of the Prince, fupply "its place." De la Republique, chap. x.

Of this duty another celebrated French Author speaks indeed a little more difrefpectfully; which for that reafon, we shall not tranflate, but give in his own words, "L'Amour de la Patrie, le grand motif des prémiers "Heros, n'eft plus regardé que comme une Chimêre; "l'idée du Service du Roi, etendüe jufqu'à l'oubli de "tout autre Principe, tient lieu de ce qu'on appelloit "autrefois Grandeur d'Ame et Fidelité." Boulainvilliers Hift. des Anciens Parlements de France, &c.

Ver. 528. ftill keep the human fhape.] The effects of the Magus's Cup, by which is allegorized a total corruption of heart, are just contrary to that of Circe, which only reprefents the fudden plunging into pleafures. Her's, therefore, took away the fhape, and left the human mind; his takes away the mind, and leaves the human shape.

Ver.

And ftrait fucceeded, leaving fhame no room,
Cibberian forehead, or Cimmerian gloom,

Kind Self-conceit to some her glass applies,
Which no one looks in with another's eyes;
But, as the Flatterer or Dependant paint,
Beholds himself a Patriot, Chief, or Saint.

On others Interest her gay livery flings, Intereft, that waves on Party-colour'd wings: Turn'd to the Sun, she casts a thousand dyes, And, as the turns, the colours fall or rife.

535

540

Others the Syren Sisters warble round, And empty heads confole with empty found. No more, alas! the voice of Fame they hear, The balm of Dulness trickling 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.

On

REMARKS.

Ver. 529. But fhe, good Goddefs, &c.] The only comfort people can receive, must be owing in fome shape or other to Dulnefs; which makes fome ftupid, others impudent, gives Self-conceit to fome, upon the Flatteries of their dependants, prefents the falfe colours of Intereft to others, and bufies or amufes the reft with idle Pleasures or Senfuality, till they become eafy under any infamy. Each of which species is bere fhadowed under Allegorical perfons.

Ver. 532. Cibberian forehead, or Cimmerian gloom.] i. e. She communicates to them of her own Virtue, or of her Royal Colleagues. The Cibberian forehead being to fit them for Self-conceit, Self-Intereft, &c. and the Cimmerian gloom, for the Pleafures of Opera and the Table.

SCRIBL.

On fome, a Priest fuccinct in amice white Attends; all flesh is nothing in his fight!

550

Beeves, at his touch, at once to jelly turn,

And the huge Boar is fhrunk into an Urn:

The board with specious miracles he loads,

Turns Hares to Larks, and Pigeons into Toads.
Another (for in all what one can shine?)
Explains the Seve and Verdeur of the Vine.

REMARKS.

555

What

Ver. 553. The board with fpecious Miracles he loads, &c.] Scriblerus feems at a lofs in this place. Speciofa miracula (fays he) according to Horace, were the monftrous fables of the Cyclops, Læftrygons, Scylla, &c. What relation have these to the Transformation of Hares into Larks, or of Pigeons into Toads? I fhall tell thee. The Læftrygons fpitted Men upon Spears, as we do Larks upon Skewers; and the fair Pigeon turned to a Toad, is fimilar to the fair Virgin Scylla ending in a filthy beaft. But here is the difficulty, why Pigeons in fo fhocking a fhape fhould be brought to a Table. Hares indeed might be cut into Larks at a second dreffing, out of frugality: Yet that seems no probable motive, when we confider the extravagance before mentioned, of diffolving whole Oxen and Boars into a small vial of Jelly; nay it is exprefly faid, that all Flefh is nothing in his fight. I have fearched in Apicius, Pliny, and the Feaft of Trimalchio, in vain; I can only refolve it into fome myfterious fuperftitious Rite, as it is faid to be done by a Priett, and foon after called a Sacrifice, attended (as all ancient facrifices were) with Libation and Song.

SCRIBL.

This good Scholiaft, not being acquainted with modern Luxury, was ignorant that these were only the miracles of French Cookery, and that particularly "Pigeons en crapeau" were a common difh.