Dunciad, and of whom the most distinguished now fleep in oblivion. This piece being of the mock epic kind, preferves all the dignity peculiar to that fpecies of compofition, and is penned in ftrict conformity to the rules obferved by the great epic writers in their fublimer pieces. It is divided into four books, and the firft opens with an affected folemnity in the Maronian strain. "The Mighty Mother, and her Son, who brings "The Smithfield Muses to the ear of Kings, “I fing.". The fubject being propofed, to preserve the mock majesty of the piece, a folemn invocation enfues and at length the college of dulnefs is defcribed, where the goddess fits enthroned in clouded majefty, contemplating the wild and monftrous creation to which she had given birth. Our poet here ridicules the grofs abfurdities and inconsistencies in the productions of the fons of Dulness, with fuch pleasant raillery and exquifite poignance, that the length of the following quotation needs no apology. "Here fhe beholds the Chaos dark and deep, "Where nameless Somethings in their causes fleep, "Till genial Jacob, or a warm Third day, "Call forth each mafs, a Poem, or a Play: "How "How hints, like fpawn, fcarce quick in " embryo lie, 66 "How new-born nonsense first is taught to cry, "Maggots half-form'd in rhyme exactly meet, "And learn to crawl upon poetic feet. "Here one poor word an hundred clenches "makes, "And ductile dulnefs new meanders takes ; "There motley images her fancy ftrike, 66 Figures ill pair'd, and Similes unlike. "She fees a mob of Metaphors advance, "Pleas'd with the madness of the mazy dance; "How Tragedy and Comedy embrace; "How Farce and Epic get a jumbled race; "How Time himself ftands ftill at her com "mand, "Realms fhift their place, and Ocean turns to "land. "Here gay Defcription Egypt glads with fhow'rs, "Or gives to Zembla fruits, to Barca flow'rs; Glitt❜ring with ice here hoary hills are seen, "There painted vallies of eternal green, "In cold December fragrant chaplets blow, "And heavy harvests nod beneath the fnow." The goddess is then introduced on the evening of a Lord Mayor's Feftival, when "All hufh'd and fatiate lay, "Yet eat, in dreams, the cuftard of the day; "While penfive Poets painful vigils keep, Sleepless themselves to give their readers "fleep." During this ftill and lethargic period, she revolves in her mind, with parental joy, the long fucceffion of her fons, but chiefly, and with peculiar delight, fixes her attention on Bays, the hero of the piece. He is defcribed, after an ill run at play, and the ill fuccefs of a dramatic piece, fitting in his study in deep despair. There is a great deal of keen raillery in this description. Swearing and fupperlefs the Hero fate, "Blafphem'd his Gods, the Diee, and damn'd "his Fate. "Then gnaw'd his Pen, then dash'd it on the "ground, "Sinking from thought to thought, a vast "profound! "Plung'd for his fenfe, but found no bottom "there, "Yet wrote and flounder'd on, in mere defpair." Full of apprehenfions, left the empire of dulnefs was drawing to a period, he ponders with himself what courfe to follow, whether to betake himself to the church, to gaming, or to party writing. In this ftate of uncertainty and defpondence, cafting a mournful look on his library, and erecting a pile of dull books, into a kind of altar, he folemnly invokes the goddefs. "Then he: Great Tamer of all human art! "Dulness! whofe good old cause I yet defend, "With whom my Mufe began, with whom "fhall end, "E'er fince Sir Fopling's Periwig was Praise, "To the last honours of the Butt and Bays; "O thou! of bus'nefs the directing foul! "To this our head like byass to the bowl, "Which, as more pond'rous, made its aim 66 more true, Obliquely wadling to the mark in view: "O! ever gracious to perplex'd mankind, "Still spread a healing mift before the mind; "And, left we err by Wit's wild dancing light, "Secure us kindly in our native night. "Or, if to Wit a Coxcomb make pretence, "Guard the fure barrier between that and "Sense; "Or quite unravel all the reas'ning thread, "And hang fome curious cobweb in its ftead! "As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly, "And pond'rous flugs cut fwiftly through the "ky; "As clocks to weight their nimble motion 66 owe, "The wheels above urg'd by the load below; "Me Emptinefs, and Dulnefs could inspire, "And were my Elafticity, and Fire. "Some Daemon ftole my pen (forgive th' "offence) "And once betray'd me into common sense." There is certainly a great deal of wit and admirable raillery in thefe lines; but in the opinion of fome, it has been thought to wound proba probability too much to make the hero the worThipper and champion of Dulnefs, in her proper person, without the leaft disguise. The author of the Elements of Criticifm, among others, profeffes himself of this fentiment:-" Dulness, fays he, may be imagined a Deity or Idol to “be worshipped by bad writers, but then fome "fort of difguife is requifite, fome baftard virtue "must be bestowed, to give the idol a plaufible 66 appearance. Yet in the Dunciad, dulnefs, "without the leaft difguife, is made the object "of worship: the mind rejects fuch a fiction as unnatural; for dulnefs is a defect of which even the dulleft mortal is afhamed." This writer, however, appears to be mistaken, if he prefumes that no baftard virtue is in this poem attributed to the goddess. Is there no baftard virtue in the mighty mother-who brings the Smithfield mufes to the ears of Kings? Starving poetafters would prefer her for this fingle virtue, to Apollo and the nine mufes. Is there no baftard virtue in the peace of which he makes her the author? "The Goddefs bad Britannia fleep." Has not the poet celebrated her for her beauty? "Fate---this fair ideot gave-" As alfo for her gravity, her industry? The fuppliant hero could find great confolation in her baftard virtues. |
