Rous'd at his name, up rose the bowzy sire,
And shook from out his pipe the seeds of fire;
Then snapt his box, and strok'd his belly down;
Rosy 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 priestcraft happily set free,
Lo! every finish'd son returns to thee:
First slave to words, then vassal to a name,
Then dupe to party; child and man the same;
Bounded by nature, narrow'd still by art,
A trifling head, and a contracted heart.
Thus bred, thus taught, how many have I seen,
Smiling on all, and smil'd on by a queen !506
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 pension or in punk!
So K*, so B** sneak'd into the grave,
A monarch's half, and half a harlot's slave.
Poor W** nipt in folly's broadest bloom, 513
Who praises now? his chaplain on his tomb.
Then take them all, O take them to thy breast!
Thy Magus, goddess! shall perform the rest.'
With that a wizard old his cup extends,517
506 a queen] A stroke of satire on Queen Caroline.
513 Poor W**] Philip, Duke of Wharton.
517 his cup-Which whoso tastes, &c.] The cup of selflove, which causes a total oblivion of the obligations of friendship or honour, and of the service of God or our country;
Which whoso tastes, forgets his former friends, 518
Sire, ancestors, himself. One casts his eyes
Up to a star, and like Endymion dies:
A feather, shooting from another's head,
Extracts his brain, and principle is fled;
Lost 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, sad example! never to escape
Their infamy, still keep the human shape.
But she, good goddess, sent to every child
Firm impudence, or stupefaction mild;
And straight succeeded, leaving shame 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 dependent paint, Beholds himself a patriot, chief, or saint.
On others Interest her gay livery flings, Interest, that waves on party-colour'd wings: Turn'd to the sun, she casts a thousand dyes, And, as she turns, the colours fall or rise.
all sacrificed to vainglory, court worship, or the yet meaner considerations of lucre and brutal pleasures. From ver. 520 to 528.
518 Which whoso tastes, forgets his former friends,
Sire, &c.] Homer of the Nepenthe, Odyss. iv.
Αυτικ' αρ εις οινον βαλε φαρμακον, ενδεν επινον
Νηπενθες τ' αχολον τε, κακων επιληθον απαντων.
Others the Syren Sisters warble round,
And empty heads console with empty sound.
No more, alas! the voice of fame they hear,
The balm of dulness trickling in their ear.
Great C**, H**, P**, R**, K*,
Why all your toils? your sons have learn❜d to sing
How quick ambition hastes to ridicule :
The sire is made a peer, the son a fool.
On some, a priest succinct in amice white
Attends; all flesh is nothing in his sight!
Beeves, at his touch, at once to jelly turn,
And the huge boar is shrunk 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.556
What cannot copious sacrifice atone?
Thy truffles, Perigord! thy hams, Bayonne!
With French libation, and Italian strain,
Wash Bladen white, and expiate Hays's stain. 560
Knight lifts the head; for what are crowds undone,
556 Seve and verdeur] French terms relating to wines, which signify their flavour and poignancy.
— Bladen—Hays] Names of gamesters. Bladen is a black man..-Robert Knight, Cashier of the South Sea Company, who fled from England in 1720 (afterwards pardoned in 1742). These lived with the utmost magnificence at Paris, and kept open tables frequented by persons of the first quality of England, and even by princes of the blood of France. Colonel Martin Bladen (uncle of Collins the poet) was a man of some literature, and translated Cæsar's Commentaries.
To three essential partridges in one?
Gone every blush, and silent all reproach,
Contending princes mount them in their coach.
Next bidding all draw near on bended knees,
The queen confers her titles and degrees.
Her children first of more distinguish'd sort,
Who study Shakespeare at the Inns of Court,
Impale a glowworm, or vertù profess,
Shine in the dignity of F. R. S.
Some, deep freemasons, join the silent race,
Worthy to fill Pythagoras's place:
Some botanists, or florists at the least,
Or issue members of an annual feast.
Nor past the meanest unregarded, one
Rose a Gregorian, one a Gormogon.
The last, not least in honour or applause,
Isis and Cam made doctors of her laws.
Then, blessing all, ' Go, children of my care! To practice now from theory repair.
All my commands are easy, short, and full:
My sons! be proud, be selfish, and be dull.
Guard my prerogative, assert my throne:
This nod confirms each privilege your own.
The cap and switch be sacred to his grace;
With staff and pumps the marquis leads the race;
From stage to stage the licens'd earl may run,
Pair'd with his fellow charioteer, the sun;
The learned baron butterflies design,
Or draw to silk Arachne's subtile line;
The judge to dance his brother serjeant call;
The senator at cricket urge the ball;
The bishop, stow (pontific luxury!)
A hundred souls of turkeys in a pie ;
The sturdy squire to Gallic masters stoop,
And drown his lands and manors in a soup.
Others import yet nobler arts from France,
Teach kings to fiddle, and make senates dance.
Perhaps more high some daring son may soar,
Proud to my list to add one monarch more;
And nobly-conscious, princes are but things
Born for first ministers, as slaves for kings,
Tyrant supreme! shall three estates command,
And make one mighty Dunciad of the land!'
More she had spoke, but yawn'd-All nature What mortal can resist the yawn of gods? [nods; Churches and chapels instantly it reach'd; (St. James's first, for leaden Gilbert preach'd,)608 Then catch'd the Schools; the Hall scarce kept awake;
The Convocation gap'd, but could not speak:
Lost was the nation's sense, nor could be found,
While the long solemn unison went round :
Wide, and more wide, it spread o'er all the realm;
E'en Palinurus nodded at the helm :
The vapour mild o'er each committee crept ;
Unfinish'd treaties in each office slept;
And chiefless armies doz'd out the campaign;
And navies yawn'd for orders on the main.
608 Gilbert] Dr. Gilbert, Archbishop of York, who had attacked Dr. King of Oxford, whom Pope much respected.
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