There in his feat two fpacious vents appear,
On this he fits, to that he leans his ear,
And hears the various vows of fond mankind;
Some beg an eastern, fome a western wind :
All vain petitions, mounting to the fy,
With reams abundant this abode fapply;
Amus'd he reads, and then returns the bills
Sign'd with that Ichor which from God's diffils.
In office here fair Cloacina ftands,

85

96

And minifters to Jove with pureft hands.
Forth from the heap the pick'd her vot'ry's pray'r,
And plac'd it next him, a distinction rare!
Oft had the Goddess heard her fervants call,
From her black grottos near the Temple-wall,
Lift'ning delighted to the jeft unclean
Of link-boys vile, and watermen obfcene;
Where as he fish'd her nether realms for Wit,
She oft had favour'd him, and favours yet.

RIMARK S.

VIR. 82. Down with the Bible, up with the Pope's arms.] The Bible, Curl's fign: the Crofs keys, Lintot's.

300

VIR. 83. See Lucian's Icaro-Menippus; where this fiction is more extended.

VZR. 92. Alludes to Homer, Iliad. v.

-ρέε δ' ἄμβροιον αἷμα Θέοιο,

Ἰχώς, οἷος πέρ τε ρέει μακάρεσσι Θεοίσιν.
A ftream of nect'rous humour iffuing flow
Sanguine, fuch as celeftial fp'rits may bleed.

Milton.

VER. 93. Cloacina.] The Roman Goddess of the commonSewers.

VER. 101. Where as he fifb'd &%.] See the preface to Swift's and Pope's Mifcellanies.

Renew'd by ordure's fympathetic force,
As oil'd with magic juices for the course,
Vig'rous he rifes; from th'effluvia Arong
Imbibes new life, and fcours and flinks along;
Re-paffes Lintot, vindicates the race,

Nor heeds the brown dishonours of his face.

105

And now the victor stretch'd his eager hand Where the tall Nothing stood, or feem'd to stand; A fhapeless fhade, it melted from his fight, Like forms in clouds, or visions of the night. To feize his papers, Curl, was next thy care; His papers light, fly diverfe, toft in air;

Songs, fonnets, epigrams the winds uplift,

And whisk 'em back to Evans, Young, and Swift.

REMARK S

VIR, 104. As oil'd with magic juices] Alluding to the opinion that there are ointments used by witches to enable them to fly in the air,

IMITATIONS.

VIR. 108. Nor beeds the brown dishonours of his face.]

faciam oftentabat, & udo

Turpia membra fimo

VER. 111, A shapeless shade, &c.]

-Effugit imago

Virg. Æn. v.

Par levibus ventis, volucrique fimillima fomno. Virg. Æn. vi, VER. 114. His papers light, fly diverfe, toft in air ;]

Carmina

Turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis.

VER, 116, Evans, Young, and Swift.] Some of those perfons, whole writings, epigrams, or jefts he had owned. See Note on ver. 50.

Th'embroider'd fuit at least he deem'd his prey,
That fuit an unpay'd taylor fnatch'd away.
No rag, no scrap, of all the beau, or wit,
That once fo flutter'd, and that once fo writ.

120

Heav'n rings with laughter: of the laughter vain, Dulness, good Queen, repeats the jeft again. Three wicked imps, of her own Grubstreet choir, She deck'd like Congreve, Addison, and Prior; Mears, Warner, Wilkins run: delufive thought! Breval, Bond, Bezaleel, the varlets caught.

REMARK S,

1

126

VER. 118. an unpay'd taylor] This line has been loudly complained of in Mift, June 8, Dedic. to Sawny and others, as a moft inhuman fatire on the poverty of Poets: But it is thought our author will be acquitted by a jury of Taylors. To me this inftance feems unluckily chofen; if it be a satire on any body, it must be on a bad paymafter, since the perfon to whom they have here applied it, was a man of fortune. Not but poets may well be jealous of fo great a prerogative ás non-payment; which Mr. Dennis fo far afferts, as boldly to pronounce, that "if Homer himself was not in debt, it was because "nobody would truft him." Pref. to Rem, on the Rape of the Lock, p. 15.

VER. 124. like Congreve, Addison, and Prior ;} These authors being fuch whose names will reach pofterity, we fhall not give any account of them, but proceed to thofe of whom it is neceffary.-Bezaleel Morris was author of fome fatires on the tranflators of Homer, with many other things printed in news-papers. -"Bond writ a fatire against Mr. P. Capt. Breval was "author of the Confederates, an ingenious dramatic perform❝ance to expofe Mr. P. Mr. Gay, Dr. Arb, and some ladies of quality," fays CURL, Key, p. 11.

VER. 125. Mears, Warner, Wilkins,] Bookfellers, and Printers of much anonymous Auff,

Curl ftretches after Gay, but Gay is gone,
He grafps an empty Joseph for a John:
So Proteus, hunted in a nobler shape,
Became, when feiz'd, a puppy, or an ape.

130

To him the Goddefs: Son! thy grief lay down And turn this whole illufion on the town : As the fage dame, experienc'd in her trade, By names of Toafts retails each batter'd Jade; (Whence hapless Monfieur much complains at Paris Of wrongs from Dutcheffes and Lady Maries; 136

RIMARK 9.

VIR. 126. Breval, Bond, Bezaleel.] I foresee it will be ob jected from this line, that we were in an error in our assertion on ver. 50. of this book, that More was a fictitious name, fince thofe perfons are equally reprefented by the poet as phantoms. So at first it may seem; but be not deceived, reader; these also are not real perfons. 'Tis true, Curl declares Breval, a captain, author of a piece called the Confederates; but the said Curl first faid it was written by Joseph Gay; is his fecond affertion to be credited any more than his firft? He likewife affirms Bond to be one who writ a fatire on our poet: But where is such a satire to be found; were was such a writer ever heard of? As for Bezaleel, it carries forgery in the very name; nor is it as the others are, a furname. Thou may'ft depend upon it, no fuch authors ever lived; all phantoms. SCRIBL.

VER. 128. Jofeph Gay, a fictitious name put by Curl before feveral pamphlets, which made them pass with many for Mr. Gay's. The ambiguity of the word Jofeph, which likewise fig nifies a loose upper coat, gives much pleasantry to the idea. W

VER. 132. And turn this whole illufion on the town:] It was a common practice of this bookfeller to publish vile pieces of obfcure hands under the names of eminent authors.

Be thine, my stationer! this magic gift;
Cook fhall be Prior, and Concanen, Swift:
So fhall each hoftile name become our own,
And we too boast our Garth and Addison.

REMARKS,

140

VER. 137. this magic gift] In verity (faith Scriblerus) a very bungling trick. How much better might our worthy Brethren of Grubstreet be taught (as in many things they have already been) by the modern masters of Polemics? who when they make free with their neighbours, feize upon their good works rather than their good name; as knowing that those will produce a name of their own.

VER. 138. Cook shall be Prior,] The man here specified writ a thing called The Battle of Poets, in which Philips and Welfted were the Heroes, and Swift and Pope utterly routed. He also published some malevolent things in the British, London, and Daily Journals; and at the same time wrote letters to Mr. Pope, protesting his Innocence. His chief work was a transation of Hefiod, to which Theobald writ notes and half notes, which he carefully owned.

VER. 138. and Concanen, Swift:] In the first edition of this poem there were only afterisks in this place, but the names were fince inserted, merely to fill up the verse, and give case to the ear of the reader.

VER. 140. And we too boaft our Garth and Addison.] Nothing is more remarkable than our author's love of praising good writers. He has in this very poem celebrated Mr. Locke, Sir Ifaac Newton, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Atterbury, Mr. Dryden, Mr. Congreve, Dr. Garth, Mr. Addison; in a word, almost every man of his time that deserved it; even Cibber himself (prefum. ing him to be author of the Careless Husband.) It was very difficult to have that pleasure in a poem on this subject, yet he has found means to infert their panegyric, and has made even Dulness out of her own mouth pronounce it. It must have been particularly agreeable to him to celebrate Dr. Garth; both as his conftant friend, and as he was his predeceffor in this kind