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 265 New wizards rise; I see my Cibber there ! 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 labors, 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, 275 Foreseen by me, but, ah! with-held from mine. In Lud's old walls, though long I ruld, renown'd Far as loud Bow's stupendous bells resound;

280

Though my own-aldermen conferr'd the bays,
To me committing their eternal 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 ;
Yet lo! in me what authors have to brag on ! 283
Reduc'd at last to hiss in my own dragon.
Avert in Heav'n! 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 ;
Coach'd, carted, trod upon, now loose, now fasi

,
And carry'd off in some dog's tail at last.
Happier thy fortunes ! 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.

295

300

Already Opera prepares the way,
The sure forerunner of her gentle sway :
Let her thy heart, next drabs and dice, engage,
The third mad passion of thy doting age.
Teach thou the warling Polypheme to roar, 305
And scream thyself as none e'er scream'd before !
To aid our cause, if Heav'n 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 Proserpine. 310
Grub-street ! thy fall should men and gods conspire,
Thy stage shall stand, insure it but from fire.
Another Æschylus appears ! prepare
For new abortions, all ye pregnant fair!
in flames like Semele’s, be brought to bed, 315
While op’ning hell spouts-wild fire at your head.

Now, Bavius, take the poppy from thy brow, Ind place it here ! here, all ye heroes, bow !

This, this is he, foretold by ancient rhymes : Th’ Augustus born to bring Saturnian times. 320 igns following signs lead on the mighty year! jee! the dull stars roll round, and re-appear.

IMITATIONS.

*. 319, 320. This, this is he foretold by ancient rhymes,
The Augustus, &c.)
*llic vir, hic esti tibi quem promitti saepius audis,

Augustus Cæsar, divum genus aurea condet
Secula qui rursus Latio, regnota per arva
• Saturnio quondam'..

Virg Æn. VI. uturnian here relates to the age of Lead, menzioned, B. I, er. 26.

1

See, see, our own true Phæbus wears the bays !
Our Midas sits Lord Chancellor of plays !
On poets' tombs see Benson's titles writ! 323
Lo! Ambrose Philips is preferr'd for wit!

REMARKS. v. 325. On poets' tombs see Benson's titles writ! W- Besson (Surveyor of the buildings to his Majesty King George 1.) gave in a report to the Lords, that their house and the Paintedchamber 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 is, 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, then Secretary, gave ihem an assurance that his Majesty would remove tuning which was done accordingly. in favor of this man, the famous Sir Christopher Wrea, who had been architect to the crown for above fifty years, who built most of the churches in London, Lid 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.

v. 326...lmbrose Philips.] He was (saith Mr. Jacob one of the wits at Button's, and a Justice of the Peace.' But he hath since met with higher preferment in Ireland: and a much greater character we have of him in Mr. Gildon's Complete Art of Pociry, vol. I, p. 157. “ Indeed, he confesses, be dares not set

him quite on the same foot with Virgil, lest it should seemn fiat'tery, but he is much mistaken if posterity does not afford bisa

a greater esteem than he at present enjoys' He endea soured to create some misunderstanding between our Author and Mr. Addison, whom also soon after he abused as much. His con

VRRIATIONS.
V.393. See, see her own, &c.]. In the former edite

Beneath his reiga shall Eusden wear the bays,
Cibber preside Lurd Chancellor of plays,
Benson, sole judge of architecture sit,
And Namby Pamby be preferr'd for wit!
I see th’untinish'd Dormitory wall,
Ise the Savoy torter to her fall;
Hibernian politicks, O Swift! thy doom,
And Pope's translating three whole years with Broome.
Proceed, great days, &c.

See under Ripley rise a new Whitehall,
While Jones' and Boyle's united labours fall:
While Wren with sorrow to the grave

descends, Gay dies unpension'd, with a hundred friends ; 330

REMARKS. stant cry was, that Mr. P.was an enemy to the government; and in particular he was the avowed author of a report very industriously spread, that he bad a hand in a party-paper called The Examiner: A falsehood well known to those, yet living, who had :he direction and publication of it.

0.330. Gay dies unpension'd, &c.] See Mr. Gay's fable of the Hare and many Friends. This gentleman was early in the friendship of our Author, which continued to his death. He wrote several works of humor with great success; The Shepherd's Week, Trivia, the What-d'ye-call it, Fables; and, lastly, the celebrated Beggar's Opera; a piece of satire which' hit ali tastes and degrees of inen; from those of the highest quality to the very rabble. That verse of Horace,

• Primores populi arripuit, populumque tributim.' could never be so justly applied as to this. The vast success of it was unprecedented, and almost incredible : what is related of the wonderful effects of the ancient music or tragedy hardly came up to it: Sophocles and Euripides were less followed and famous. li was acted in London sixty-three days uninterrupted; and reDewed the next season with equal applause. It spread into all the great towns of England, was played in many places to the thirtieth and fortieth time, and at Bath and Bristol fifty, &c. It måde its progress into Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, where it was performed twenty-four days together: it was last acted in Minores. The fame of it was not confined to the author only; the ladies carried about with them the favourite songs of it in fans; and houses were furnished with it in screens. The persi.? who acted Polly, till then obscure, became all at once the favorite of the Town; her pictures were engraved, and sold in great numbers; her life written, books of letters and verses to her published, and pamphlets made even of her sayings and jests.

Furthermore, it drove out of England, for that season, the Italian opera, which had carried all before it for ten years. That idol of the nobility and people, which the great critic Mr. Dennis, by the labors and outeries of a whole life, could not overthrow, was demolished by a single stroke of this gentleman's pen. This happened in the year 1728. Yet so great was his modesty, that he constantly prefixed to all the editions of it this motto. Nos hec norimus esse nihil. POPE, VOL.It.

N