Hold-to the Minifter I more incline;

215

To serve his cause, O Queen! is ferving thine.
And fee! thy very Gazetteers give o'er,
Evin Ralph repents, and Henly writes no more.
What then remains? Ourself. Still, ftill remain
Cibberian forehead, and Cibberian brain.
This brazen Brightness, to the 'Squire fo dear;
This polish'd Hardness, that reflects the Peer;
This arch Abfurd, that wit and fool delights;
This Mefs, tofs'd up of Hockley-hole and White's;

VARIATIONS.

220

VER. 213. Hold-to the Minifter-] In the former Edd. Yes, to my Country I my pen confign,

Yes, from this moment, mighty Mift! am thine.

NOTES.

VER. 215. Gazetteers] A band of minifterial writers, hired at the price mentioned in the note on book ii. ver.. 316. who, on the very day their Patron quitted his post, laid down their paper, and declared they would never more meddle in Politics.

VER. 218. Cibberian forehead] So indeed all the MSS. read, but I make no fcruple to pronounce them all wrong, the Laureate being elfewhere celebrated by our Poet for his great Modefty-modeft Cibber-Read, therefore, at my peril, Cerberian forehead. This is perfectly claffical, and, what is more, Homerical; the Dog was the ancient, as the Bitch is the modern, fymbol of Impudence; (Kuvos omμal"

v, fays Achilles to Agamemnon) which, when in a fuperlative degree, may well be denominated from Cerberus, the Dog with three heads.-But as to the latter part of this verfe, Cibberian brain, that is certainly the genuine reading.

BENTL.

Where Dukes and Butchers join to wreathe my

crown,

At once the Bear and Fiddle of the town.

O born in fin, and forth in folly brought!

225

Works damn'd, or to be damn'd! (your father's fault) Go, purify'd by flames afcend the sky,

My better and more christian progeny !

VARIATIONS.

VER. 225. O born in fin, &c.] In the former Edd.
Adieu, my Children! better thus expire

Un-ftall'd, unfold; thus glorious mount in fire,
Fair without fpot; than greas'd by grocer's hands,
Or fhipp'd with Ward to Ape-and-monkey lands,
Or wafting ginger, round the streets to run,
And vifit Alehoufe, where ye firft begun.
With that he lifted thrice the sparkling brand,
And thrice he dropp'd it, &c.-

IMITATIONS.

Var. And vifit Alehoufe,] Waller on the Navy,
Thofe tow'rs of Oak o'er fertile plains may go,
And vifit Mountains where they once did grow.

NOTES.

VER 225. O born in fin, &c.] This is a tender and paffionate Apoftrophe to his own works, which he is going to facrifice, agreeable to the nature of man in great affliction; and reflecting, like a parent, or the many miferable fates to which they would otherwife be fubject. c. It

66

Ver. 228. My better and more chriftian progeny!]" 66 may be obfervable, that my mufe and my spouse were equally prolific; that the one was feldom the mother "of a Child, but in the fame year the other made me the "father of a Play. I think we had a dozen of each fort "between us; of both which kinds fome died in their Infancy," &c. Life of C. C. p. 217. 8vo. edit.

Unftain'd, untouch'd, and yet in maiden fheets;
While all your smutty fifters walk the streets. 230
Ye fhall not beg, like gratis-given Bland,

Sent with a Pafs, and vagrant thro' the land;
Not fail with Ward, to Ape-and-monkey climes,
Where vile Mundungus trucks for viler rhymes :
Not fulphur-tipt, emblaze an Ale-house fire;
Not wrap up Oranges, to pelt your fire!
O pafs more innocent, in infant ftate,
To the mild Limbo of our Father Tate:

IMITATIONS.

.

VER. 229. Unftain'd, untouch'd, &c.]

Felix Priameia virgo !

Juffa mori: quæ fortitus non pertulit ulios,

Nec victoris heri tetigit captiva cubile!

Nos, patria incenfa, diverfa per æquora vectæ, &c.

NOTES.

235

Virg. Æn. iii.

VER. 231, gratis-given Bland-Sent with a Pafs,] It was a practice fo to give the Daily Gazetteer and miniftertal pamphlets (in which this B. was a writer) and to fend them Poft-free to all the Towns in the kingdom

VER 233.with Ward, to Ape-and-monkey climes,] "Edward Ward, a very voluminous Poet in Hudibraftic verfe, but best known by the London Spy, in profe. He "has of late years kept a public houfe in the City, (but "in a genteel way) and with his wit, humour, and good

liquor (ale) afforded his guests a pleasurable entertain"ment, efpecially thofe of the high-church party." JaCOB, Lives of Poets, vol ii. p. 225. Great number of his works were yearly fold into the Plantations.-Ward, in a book called Apollo's Maggot, declared this account to be a great falfity, protefting that his public houfe was not in the City, but in Moorfields.

Or peaceably forgot, at once be bleft

In Shadwell's bofom with eternal Reft!

240

Soon to that mass of Nonsense to return,

Where things deftroy'd are fwept to things unborn.
With that, a tear (portentous fign of Grace !)
Stole from the Mafter of the fev'nfold Face :
And thrice he lifted high the Birth-day brand, 245
And thrice he dropt it from his quivʼring hand;
Then lights the ftructure, with averted eyes :
The rowling fmokes involve the facrifice.
The op'ning clouds difclofe each work by turns,
Now flames the Cid, and now Perolla burns; 250

VARIATION S.

VER. 250. Now flames the Cid, &c] In the former Edd.
Now flames old Memnon, now Rodrigo burns,
In one quick flash fee Proferpine expire,
And laft, his own cold Æfchylus took fire.

Then gush'd the tears, as from the Trojan's eyes

When the laft blaze, &c. ̈

Var. Now flames old Memnon, now Rodrigo burns,
In one quick flof fee Proferpine expire.]

Memnon, a hero in the Perfian Princefs, very apt to take

NOTES.

VER. 238, 240. Tate-Shadwell] Two of his predeceffors in the Laurel.

VER. 243 With that, a Tear, (portentous fign of Grace!) &c.] It is to be observed that our Poet hath made his Hero, in imitation of Virgil's, obnoxious to the tender Paffions. He was indeed fo given to weeping, that he tells us, when Goodman the player fwore, if he did not make a good actor, he'd be damn'd; "the surprise of being "commended by one, who had been himself fo eminent on the ftage, and in fo pofitive a manner, was more than

Great Cæfar roars, and hiffes in the fires;

King John in filence modeftly expires :

VARIATIONS.

fire, as appears by these lines, with which he begins the play,

By heav'n it fires my frozen blood with rage,

And makes it fald my aged trunk.

Rodrigo, the chief perfonage of the Perfidious Brother (a play written between Tibbald and a Watchmaker.) The Rape of Proferpine, one of the Farces of this author, in which Ceres fetting fire to a corn field, endangered the burning the Play-house.

Var. And laft, his own cold Æschylus took fire ] He had been (to use an expreffion of our Poet) about Efchylus for ten years, and had received fubfcriptions for the fame, but then went about other books. The character of this tragic Poet is Fire and Boldnefs in a high degree, but our author fupposes it very much cooled by the tranflation: upon fight of a specimen of which was made this Epigram, "Alas! poor schylus! unlucky Dog!

"

"Whom once a Lobfter kill'd, and now a Log. But this is a grievous error, for Efchylus was not flain by the fall of a Lobster on his head, but of a Tortoife, tefte Val. Max. 1. ix. cap. 12. SCRIBL.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 245. And thrice he lifted high the Birth-day brand,] Ovid, of Althea on a like occafion, burning her offspring: Tum conata quater flammis imponere torrem,

Coepta quater tenuit.

VER. 250. Now flames the Cid, &c.]

-Jam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinam, Vulcano fuperante domus ; jam proximus ardet Ucalegon.

NOTES.

he could fupport. In a word (fays he) it almost took "away my breath, and (laugh if you pleafe) fairly drew tears from my eyes." P. 149. of his Life, octavo. W. VER. 250. Now flames the Cid, &c.] In the first notes on the Dunciad it was faid, that this Author was particu