Shaking the horrors of his fable brows,
And each ferocious feature grim with ooze.
Greater he looks, and more than mortal ftares;
Then thus the wonders of the deep declares.
Firft he relates, how finking to the chin,
Smit with his mien, the Mud-nymphs fuck'd him in:
How young Lutetia, fofter than the down,
Nigrina black, and Mermadante brown,
Vy'd for his love in jetty bow'rs below,
As Hylas fair was ravifh'd long ago:
Then fung, how shown him by the Nut-brown maids
A branch of Styx here rifes from the Shades,
That, tinctur'd as it runs with Lethe's ftreams,
And wafting Vapours from the land of dreams,
(As under feas Alpheus' fecret fluice
Bears Pifa's off'ring to his Arethuse)
Pours into Thames: and hence the mingled wave
Intoxicates the pert, and lulls the grave:
Here brifker vapours o'er the TEMPLE Creep;
There, all from Paul's to Aldgate drink and fleep.
Thence to the banks where rev'rend bards repofe, They led him foft; each rev'rend bard arofe; And Milbourn chief, deputed by the reft, Gave him the caflock, furcingle, and veft. "Receive (he faid) these robes which once were "mine,
"Dulnefs is facred in a found divine.”
He ceas'd, and spread the robe; the crowd confefs The rev'rend Flamen in his lengthen'd dress.
Around him wide a fable Army ftand,
A low-born, cell-bred, felfish, fervile band, Prompt or to guard or ftab, to faint or damn, Heav'n's Swiss, who fight for any God, or Man.. IBID. P. 135..
BUT, where each Science lifts its modern type,. Hift'ry her Pot, Divinity her Pipe,
While proud Philofophy repines to show,
Dishonest fight! his breeches rent below;
Imbrown'd with native bronze, lo! Henley ftands,.
Tuning his voice, and balancing his hands.
How fluent nonfenfe trickles from his tongue! TA
How fweet the periods, neither faid, nor fung
Still break the benches, Henley! with thy Arain,
While Sherlock, Hare, and Gibson preach in vain,
Oh great Reftorer of the good old Stage,.
Preacher at once, and Zany of thy age!
Oh worthy thou of Egypt's wife abodes,
A decent priest, where monkeys were the gods!
But Fate with Butchers plac'd thy pricftly stall,
Meek modern faith to murder, hack, and mawl;;
And bad thee live, to crown Britannia's praise,,
In Toland's, Tindal's, and in Woolfton's days.
IBID. p. 171..
THE COURT OF DULLNESS..
NOW flam'd the Dog-ftar's unpropitious ray,. Smote ev'ry Brain, and wither'd ev'ry Bay;
Sick was the Sun, the Owl forfook his bow'r,
The moon-ftruck Prophet felt the madding hour:
Then rofe the Seed of Chaos, and of Night,
To blot out Order, and extinguish Light,
Of dull and venal a new World to mold,
And bring Saturnian days of Lead and Gold.
She mounts the 'Throne; her head a cloud conceal'd,
In broad Effulgence all below reveal'd,
('Tis thus afpiring Dullness ever shines)
Soft on her lap her Laureate fon reclines.
Beneath her footstool, Science groans in Chains,
And Wit dreads Exile, Penalties, and Pains.
There foam'd rebellious Logic, gagg'd and bound;
There, ftript, fair Rhet'ric languish'd on the ground;
His blunted Arms by Sophiftry are born,
And fhameless Billing/gate her Robes adorn.,
Morality, by her falfe Guardians drawn,
Chicane in Furs, and Cafuiftry in Lawn,
Gafps, as they ftraiten at each end the cord,
And dies, when Dullness gives her Page the word.
Mad Mathefis alone was unconfin'd,
Too mad for mere material chains to bind,
Now to pure Space lifts her extatic ftare,
Now running round the Circle, finds its fquare.
But held in tenfold bonds the Mufes lie,
Watch'd both by Envy's and by Flatt'ry's eye;
There to her heart fad Tragedy addrefs'd
The dagger wont to pierce the Tyrant's breaft;
But fober History reftrain'd her rage,
And promis'd vengeance on a barb'rous age.
There funk Thalia, nervelefs, cold, and dead,
Had not her Sifter Satire held her head;
Nor could't thou, Chesterfield! a tear refufe,
Thou wept'ft, and with thee wept each gentle Mufe.
When, lo! a Harlot-form soft sliding by,
With mincing ftep, fmall voice, and languid eye;
Foreign her air, her robe's difcordant pride
In patch-work flutt'ring, and her head afide;
By finging Peers upheld on either hand,
She trip'd and laugh'd, too pretty much to standa
Caft on the proftrate Nine a scornful look,
Then thus in quaint Recitativo spoke.
O Cara! Cara! filence all that train: Joy to great Chaös ! let Divifion reign: Chromatic tortures foon shall drive them hence, Break all their nerves, and fritter all their sense: One Trill shall harmonife joy, grief, and rage, Wake the dull Church, and lull the ranting Stage; To the fame notes thy fons fhall hum, or fñore, And all thy yawning daughters cry, encore. Another Phabus, thy own Phœbus, reigns, Joys in my jigs, and dances in my chains. But foon, ah foon, Rebellion will commence, If Mufic meanly borrows aid from Senfe : Strong in new Arms, lo! Giant Handel ftands, Like bold Briareus, with an hundred hands; To ftir, to rouze, to shake the Soul he comes, And Jove's own Thunders follow Mars's Drums.
Arreft him, Emprefs, or you fleep no more
She heard, and drove him to th' Hibernian fhore..
WHEN, lo! a spectre rose, whose index-hand Held forth the Virtue of the dreadful wand; His beaver'd brow a birchen garland wears, Dropping with Infant's blood, and Mother's tears.. O'er ev'ry vein a fhudd'ring horror runs ; Eton and Winton shake through all their Sons. All Flesh is humbled, Westminster's bold race Shrink, and confefs the Genius of the place: The pale Boy-Senator yet tingling ftands, And holds his breeches clofe with both his hands. IBID. P. 201.
PROMPT at the call, around the Goddess roll' Broad hats, and hoods, and caps, a fable fhoal: Thick and more thick the black blockade extends,. A hundred head of Ariftotle's friends.
Nor wert thou, Ifis! wanting to the day,
Tho' Chrift-church long kept prudishly away.
Each ftaunch Polemic, ftubborn as a rock,
Each fierce Logician, ftill expelling Locke,
Came whip and fpur, and dafh'd thro' thin and
thick,
On German Crouzax, and Dutch Burgerfdyck.
As many quit the ftreams that murm'ring fall
To lull the fons of Margret and Clare-hall,
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