Loud thunder to its bottom shook the bog; Ye little wits, that gleam'd awhile, To compass Phoebus' car about, Each lends his cloud, to put him out, Alas! those skies are not your sphere; There he shall ever burn: Weep, weep, and fall! for earth ye were, 330 ARGUMENT OF BOOK II. The king being proclaimed, the solemnity is graced with public games and sports of various kinds; not instituted by the hero, as by Æneas in Virgil; but, for greater honor, by the goddess in person, in like manner as the games Pythia, Isthmia, &c. were anciently said to be ordained by the gods; and as Thetis herself appearing, according to Homer, Odyss. xxiv. proposed the prizes in honor of her son Achilles. Hither flock the poets and critics, attended, as is but just, with their patrons and booksellers. The goddess is first pleased, for her disport, to propose games to the booksellers, and setteth up the phantom of a poet, which they contend to overtake. The races described, with their divers accidents. Next, the game for a poetess. Then follow the exercises for the poets, of tickling, vociferating, diving: the first holds forth the arts and practices of dedicators; the second of disputants and fustian poets; the third of profound, dark, and dirty party-writers. Lastly, for the critics, the goddess proposes, with great propriety, an exercise, not of their parts, but their patience, in hearing the works of two voluminous authors, the one in verse, and the other in prose, deliberately read, without sleeping; the various effects of which, with the several degrees and manners of their operation, are here set forth; till the whole number, not of critics only, but of spectators, actors, and all present, fall fast asleep; which naturally and necessarily ends the games. THE DUNCIAD. BOOK II. HIGH on a gorgeous seat, that far outshone 1 High on a gorgeous seat. Parody of Milton, book ii. Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, 2 Henley's gilt tub. The pulpit of a dissenter is usually called a tub; but that of Mr. orator Henley was covered with velvet, adorned with gold: he had also a fair altar, and over it this extraordinary inscription,- The Primitive Eucharist.' -P. 2 Or Fleckno's Irish throne. Richard Fleckno was an Irish priest, but had laid aside (as himself expressed it) the mechanic part of priesthood. He printed some plays, poems, letters, and travels.-P. 3 Or that where on her Curlls the public pours. Edmund Curll stood in the pillory at Charing-Cross, in March, 1727-8. This,' saith Edmund Curll, is a false assertion: I had indeed the corporal punishment of what the gentlemen of the long robe are pleased jocosely to call mounting the rostrum' for one hour; but that scene of action was not in the month of March, but in February.' Curliad, 12mo. p. 19. And of the history of his being tossed in a blanket, he saith, thou leesest in what thou assertest concerning the blanket: it was not a blanket, but a rug,' p. 25. Much in the same Here, Scriblerus! Great Cibber sat. The proud Parnassian sneer, 6 On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze: His shine round him with reflected grace, peers New edge their dulness, and new bronze their face: 10 So from the sun's broad beam, in shallow urns Heaven's twinkling sparks draw light, and point their horns. 15 Not with more glee, with hands pontific crown'd, With scarlet hats wide-waving circled round, Rome in her Capitol saw Querno sit, Throned on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit. And now the queen, to glad her sons, proclaims, By herald hawkers, high heroic games. They summon all her race: an endless band Pours forth, and leaves unpeopled half the land. manner Mr. Cibber remonstrated, that his brothers, at Bedlam, mentioned book. i., were not brazen, but blocks; yet our author let it pass unaltered, as a trifle that no way altered the relationship.-P.t 15 Rome in her Capitol saw Querno sit. Camillo Querno was of Apulia ; who, hearing the great encouragement which Leo X. gave to poets, travelled to Rome with a harp in his hand, and sung to it twenty thousand verses of a poem called 'Alexias.' He was introduced as a buffoon to Leo, and promoted to the honor of the laurel; a jest which the court of Rome and the pope himself entered into so far, as to cause him to ride on an elephant to the Capitol, and to hold a solemn festival on his coronation; at which, it is recorded, the poet himself was so transported, as to weep for joy. He was ever after a constant frequenter of the pope's table, forth verses without number. cap. lxxxii. Some idea of his in his Prolusions.-P. drank abundantly, and poured Paulus Jovius, Elog. Vir. doct. poetry is given by Fam. Strada, |