Persist, by all divine in man unawed, REMARKS. 230 ness he treateth our great geometer. As to mathematical demonstrations,' sanh he, founded upon the proportions of lines and circles to each other, and the ringing of changes upon figures, these have no more to do with the greatest part of philosophy, than they have with the man in the moon. Indeed, the zeal for this sort of gibberish, (mathematical principles) is greatly abated of late: and though it is now upwards of twenty years that the Dagon of modern philosophers, sir Isaac Newton, has lain with his face upon the ground before the ark of God, Scripture philosophy; for so long Moses's Principia have been published; and the Treatise of Power Essential and Mechanical, in which sir Isaac Newton's philosophy is treated with the utmost contempt, has been published a dozen years; yet is there not one of the whole society who hath had the courage to attempt to raise him up. And so let him lie.' The Philosophical Principles of Moses asserted, &c. p. 2, by Julias Bate, A. M. chaplain to the right honourable the earl of Harrington London, 1744, 8vo. Scribl scorn your For being which he Of which, Ver. 224. But, 'Learn, ye Dunces! not to God.'] The hardest lesson a dunce can learn. bred to scorn what he does not understand, that understands least he will be apt to scorn most. to the disgrace of all government, and, in the poet's opinion, even of that of Dulness herself, we have had a late example, in a book entitled Philosophical Essays concerning Human Understanding. Ver. 224. Not to scorn your God.'] See this subject pursued in Book iv. Ver 232. (Not half so pleased, when Goodman prophesi ed.)] Mr. Cibber tells us, in his Life, p. 149, that Goodman being at the rehearsal of a play, in which he had a part, clapp'd him on the shoulder, and cried, 'If he does not make a good actor, I'll be d-d.' And,' says Mr. Cibber, 'I make it a question, whether Alexander himself, or Charles the Twelfth of Sweden, when at the head of their first victorious And look'd, and saw a sable sorcerer rise, Till one wide conflagration swallows all. 240 Thence a new world, to nature's laws unknown, Breaks out refulgent, with a heaven its own; Another Cynthia her new journey runs, And other planets circle other suns. The forests dance, the rivers upward rise, Whales sport in woods, and dolphins in the skies; Lo! one vast egg produces human race. What power,' he cries, what power these wonders wrought?' 250 'Son; what thou seek'st is in thee! Look, and find Each monster meets his likeness in thy mind. Yet wouldst thou more? in yonder cloud behold, Whose sarsenet skirts are edged with flaming gold, A matchless youth! his nod these worlds controls, Wings the red lightning, and the thunder rolls. REMARKS. armies, could feel a greater transport in their bosoms than I did in mine.' Ver. 233. A sable sorcerer.] Dr. Faustus, the subject of a set of farces, which lasted in vogue two or three seasons, in which both playhouses strove to outdo each other for some years. All the extravagances in the sixtern lines following, were introduced on the stage, and frequented by persons of the first quality in England, to the twentieth and thirtieth time. Ver. 237. Hell rises, heaven descends, and dance on earth: This monstrous absurdity was actually represented in Tibbald's Rape of Proserpine. Ver. 248. Lo! one vast egg. In another of these farce Harlequin is hatched upon the stage, out of a large egg. Angel of Dulness, sent to scatter round Her magic charms o'er all unclassic ground: 'Midst snows of paper, and fierce hail of peas; On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind. Here shouts all Drury, there all Lincoln's-inn; REMARKS. 270 Ver. 261. Immortal Rich!] Mr. J. Rich, master of the theatre-royal in Covent-garden, was the first that excelled this way. Ver. 266. I see my Cibber there!] The history of the foregoing absurdities is verified by himself, in these words, (Life, chap. xv.) Then sprung forth that succession of monstrous medleys that have so long infested the stage, which arose upon one another alternately at both houses, outvieing each other in expense.' He then proceeds to excuse his own part in them, as follows:- If I am asked why I assented? I have no better excuse for my error than to I did it against my conscience, and had not virtue to starve. Had Henry IV. of France a better for ing his religion? I was still in my heart, as much as could be, on the side of truth and sense: but with this difference, that I had their leave to quit them when they could not support me. But let the question go which way it will, Harry IVth has always been allowed a great man.' This must be confessed a full answer: only the question still seems to be, 1. How the doing a thing against one's conscience is an excuse for it? and, 2dly, It will be hard to prove how he got the leave of truth and sense to quit their service, unless he can produce a certificate that he ever was in it. Ver. 266, 267. Booth and Cibber were joint managers of the theatre in Drury-lane. Ver. 268. On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind. In his letter to Mr. P. Mr. C. solemnly declares this not to be literally true. We hope, therefore, the reader wil understand it allegorically only. Contending theatres our empire raise, And are these wonders, son, to thee unknown? REMARKS. 280 290 Ver. 282. Annual trophies on the lord-mayor's day; and monthly wars in the artillery ground. Ver. 283. Though long my party.] Settle, like most party writers, was very uncertain in his political principles. He was employed to hold the pen in the character of a popish successor, but afterwards printed his narrative on the other Ride. He had managed the ceremony of a famous popeburning, on Nov. 17, 1680; then became a trooper in king James's army, at Hounslow-heath. After the Revolution, he kept a booth at Bartholomew-fair, where, in the drolf called St. George for England, he acted in his old age, in a dragon of green leather of his own invention; he was at last taken into the Charter-house and there died, aged sixty years Thee shall the patriot, thee the courtier taste, 300 The sure forerunner of her gentle sway; REMARKS. 310 Con Ver. 297. Thee shall the patriot, thee the courtier taste,] It stood in the first edition with blanks, ** and **. canen was sure they must needs mean nobody but King George and Queen Caroline; and said he would insist it was so, till the poet cleared himself by filling up the blanks otherwise, agreeably to the context, and consistent with his allegiance.' Pref. to a collection of verses, letters, &c against Mr. P. printed for A. Moore, p. 6. Ver. 305. Polypheme.] He translated the Italian opera of Polifemo; but unfortunately lost the whole jest of the story. The Cyclop asks Ulysses his name, who tells him his name is Noman: after his eye is put out, he roars and calis the brother Cyc.ops to his aid: they inquire who has hurt him he answers Noman: whereupon they all go away again. Our ingenious translator made Ulysses answer, I take no name; whereby all that followed became unintelligible. Hence it appears that Mr. Cibber (who values himself on subscribing to the English translation of Homer's Iliad) had not that merit with respect to the Odyssey, or he might have been better instructed in the Greek punnology. Ver. 308, 309. Faustus, Pluto, &c.] Names of miserable farces which it was the custom to act at the end of the best tragedies, to spoil the digestion of the audience. Ver. 312. Insure it but from fire;] In Tibbald's farce of Proserpine, a corn field was set on fire; whereupon the other playhouse had a barn burnt down for the recreation |