Joy fills his soul, joy innocent of thought; • What pow'r,' he cries, what pow'r 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 edg'd with flaming gold, A matchless youth ! his nod these worlds controls, Wings the red lightning, and the thunder rolls. Angel of Dulness sent to scatter round Her magic charms o'er all unclassic ground: Yon stars, yon sons, he rears at pleasure higher, Illumes their light, and sets their flames on fire. 260 Immortal Rich! how calm he sits at ease 'Midst snows of paper, and fierce hail of pease; And, proud his mistress' orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.

But lo! to dark encounter in mid air. New wizards rise ; I see my Cibber there !

REMARKS. Ver. 261. Immortal Rich!) Mr. John 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 inedleys that have so long infested the stage, which arose upon one another alternately at both houses, out-vying each other in expense.' He then proceeds to excuse his own part in them, as follows: 'If I am asked why I as sented ? I have no better excuse for my error than to confess I did it against my conscience, and had not virtue enough to starve. Had Henry IV. of France a better for changing his religion? I was still in my heart as much as he could be, on the side of truth and sense: but with this difference, that I had their leave to quit them when they could

Booth in his cloudy tabernacle shrin'd
On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind.
Dire is the conflict, dismal is the din,
Here shouts all Drury, there all Lincoln's-inn ; 270
Contending theatres our empire raise,
Alike their labours, and alike their praise.

And are these wonders, son, to thee unknown?
Unknown to thee? These wonders are thy own.
These fate reserv'd to grace thy reign divine,
Foreseen by me, but, ah! withheld from mine
In Lud's old walls though long I rul'd, renown'd
Far as loud Bow's stupendous bells resound:
Though my own aldermen conferr'd the bays,
To me committing their eterual praise,
Their full-fed heroes, their pacific may’rs,
Their annual trophies, and their monthly wars:
Though long my party built on me their hopes,
For writing pamphlets, and for roasting popes!

REMARKS.

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, edly, 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 ma. nagers of the theatre in Drury-lane.

Ver. 268. On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind. In his letter to Mr. P. Mr. C. solemnle declares this not to be literally true. We hope, therefore, the reader will understand it allegorically only.

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 bis po

Yet lo! in me what authors have to brag on!
Reduc'd at last to hiss in my own dragon.
Avert it, Heaven ! that thou my Cibber, e'er
Shouldst wag a serpent-tail in Smithfield fair!
Like the vile straw that's blown about the streets,
The needy poet sticks to all he meets,

990
Coach'd, carted, trod upon, now loose, now fast,
And carried off in some dog's tail at last.
Happier thy fortuues ! like a rolling stone,
Thy giddy dulness still shall lumber on,
Safe in its heaviness, shall never stray,
But lick up ev'ry blockhead in the way.
Thee shall the patriot, thee the courtier taste,
And ev'ry year be duller than the last,
Till rais'd from booths, to theatre, to court,
Her seat imperial Dulness shall transport. 300
Already opera prepares the way,
The sure forerunner of her gentle sway;

REMARKS. litical principles. He was employed to hold the pen in the character of a popish successor, but afterwards printed his narrative on the other side.. 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 droll 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.

Ver. 297. Thee shall the patriot, thee the courtier taste,] It stood in the first edition with blanks, ** and **. Concanen 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. Moor, p.6.

Let her thy heart, next drabs and dice, engage,
The third mad passion of thy doting age.
Teach thou the warbling Polypheme to roar,
And scream thyself as none e'er scream'd before !
To aid our cause, if heaven thou canst not bend,
Hell thou shalt move; for Faustus is our friend :
Pluto with Cato thou for this shalt join,
And link the Mourning Bride to Proserpipe. 310
Grub-street! thy fall should men and gods conspire,
Thy stage shall stand, ensure it but from fire.
Another Æschylus appears! prepare
For new abortions, all ye prégnant fair!

REMARKS. Ver. 305. Polypheme] He translated the Italian opera of Polifemo; but unfortunately lost the whole jest of the story. The Cyclops asks Ulysses his name, who tells him his name is Noman: after his eye is put out, he roars and calls the brother Cyclops to his aid: they inquire who has hurt him? he answers Noman: whereupon they all go away again. Our ingenious translator niade Ulysses answer, I take no name; whereby all that followed became up. intelligible. Hence it appears that Mr. Cibber (who values himself on subscribing to the English translation of Homer's Iliad) had not that merit with re. spect to the Odyssey, or he might have been better in. structed in the Greek Punnology.

Ver. 308, 309. Faustus, Pluto, &c.] Names of mi. serable farces, which it was the custom to act at the end of the best tragedies, to spoil the digestion of the audience. • Ver. 319. ensure it but from fire. In Tibbald's farce of Proserpine, a coro-field was set on bre: whereupon the other playhouse had a barn burnt down for the recreation of the spectators. They also rivalled each other iv showing the burnings of hellfire, in Dr. Faustus.

Ver. 313. Another Æschylus appears!) It is re

In Aames, like Semele's, be brought to bed, ! While opening hell spouts wild-fire at your head. i Now, Bavius, take the poppy from thy brow, ! And place it here ! here, all ye heroes, bow! 1 This, this is he, foretold by ancient rhymes :

Th' Augustus born to bring Saturnian times. 520
Signs foll’wing signs lead on the mighty year,
See! the dull stars roll round and re-appear.
See, see, our own true Phæbus wears thy bays!
Our Midas sits lord chancellor of plays!
On poets' tombs see Benson's titles writ!
Lo! Ambrose Phillips is preferr'd for wit!

REMARKS. ported of Æschylus, that when his tragedy of the Furies was acted, the audience were so terrified that the children fell into fits, and the big-bellied women miscarried.

Ver. 325. On poets' tombs see Benson's titles writ!] W.-m Benson (surveyor of the buildings to his majesty K. George I) gave in a report to the lords, that their house and the Painted-chainber adjoining were in immediate danger of falling. Whereupon the lords met in a committee to appoint some other place to sit in, while the house should be taken down. But it being proposed to cause some other builders first to inspect it, they found it in very good condition. The lords, upon this, were going upon an address to the king against Benson, for such a misrepresentation; but the earl of Sunderland, theu secretary, gave them an assurance that his majesty would remove him, which was done according. ly. In favour of this man, the famous sir Christopher Wren, who had been architect to the crown for above fifty years, who built most of the churches in London, laid the first stone of St. Paul's, and lived to finish it, had been displaced from his employment at the age of near ninety years.

Ver. 326. Ambrose Philips] • He was,' saith Mr.