Toland and Tindal, prompt at priests to jeer. Yet filent bow'd to "Chrift's No kingdom here." 400 Who fate the nearest, by the words o'ercome, Slept first, the distant nodded to the hum. Then down are roll'd the books; stretch'd o'er them lies Each gentle clerk, and muttering feals his eyes, VARIATION. Ver. 399. in the first Edit. it was, Collins and Tindal, prompt at Priests to jeer. REMARKS. As Ver. 397. Thrice Budgel aim'd to speak,] Famous for his fpeeches on many occafions about the South Sea fcheme, &c. "He is a very ingenious gentleman, and hath written fome excellent Epilogues to plays, "and one fmall piece on Love, which is very pretty." Jacob, Lives of Poets, vol. ii. p. 289. But this gentleman fince made himself much more eminent, and fonally well known to the greatest Statesmen of all parties, as well as to all the Courts of Law in this nation. per Ver. 399. Toland and Tindal,] Two perfons not fo happy as to be obscure, who writ against the Religion of their Country. Toland, the author of the Atheist's liturgy, called Pantheifticon, was a spy, in pay to Lord Oxford. Tindal was author of the Rights of the Chriftian Church, and Christianity as old as the Creation. He also wrote an abufive pamphlet against Earl S-, which was fuppreffed while yet in MS. by an eminent perfon, then out of the miniftry, to whom he fhewed it, expecting his approbation: This Doctor afterwards published the fame piece, mutatis mutandis, against that very person. Ver. 400. Christ's No kingdom, &c.] This is faid by Curll, Key to Dunc. to allude to a fermon of a reverend Bishop. As what a Dutchman plumps into the lakes, So from the mid-most the nutation spreads 405 Round and more round, o'er all the fea of heads. 410 Boyer the State, and Law the Stage gave o'er, VARIATIONS. Ver. 412. In firft Ed. Old James himself. Norton T-s and T- the Church and State gave o'er, In the fecond, Boyer the State, and Law the Stage gave o'er, REMARKS. Ver. 411. Centlivre] Mrs. Sufanna Centlivre, wife to Mr. Centlivre, Yeoman of the Mouth to his Majesty. She writ many Plays, and a Song (fays Mr. Jacob, vol. i. p. 32.) before she was seven years old. She also writ a Ballad against Mr. Pope's Homer, before he began it. Ver. 413. Boyer the State, and Law the Stage gave o'er,] A. Boyer, a voluminous compiler of Annals, Political Collections, &c.-William Law, A. M. wrote with great zeal against the Stage; Mr. Dennis anfwered with as great: Their books were printed in 1726. The fame Mr. Law is author of a book, intitled, An Appeal to all that doubt of or disbelieve the truth of the Gofpel; in which he has detailed a Syftem of Blefs'd with his father's front, and mother's tongue, Thus the foft gifts of Sleep conclude the day, 415 420 Who REMARKS. of the rankeft Spinozifn, for the most exalted Theology; and amongst other things as rare, has informed us of this, that Sir Ifaac Newton ftole the principles of his philofophy from one Jacob Behmen, a German Cobler. Ver. 414. Morgan] A writer againft Religion, diftinguished no otherwife from the rabble of his tribe, than by the pompoufnefs of his title; for having ftolen his morality from Tindal, and his Philofophy from Spinofa, he calls himself, by the courtesy of England, a Moral Philofopher. Ibid. Mandevil] This writer, who prided himself in the reputation of an Immoral Philofopher, was author of a famous book called the Fable of the Bees written to prove, that Moral Virtue is the Invention of knaves, and Christian Virtue the Impofition of fools; and that Vice is necessary, and alone fufficient to render Society flourishing and happy. Ver. 415. Norton] Norton De Foe, offspring of the famous Daniel, Fortes creantur fortibus. One of the authors of the Flying Post, in which well-bred work Mr. P. had fometime the honour to be abused with his betters; and of many hired fcurrilities and daily papers, to which he never fet his name. Who prouder march'd with magiftrates in ftate, And to mere mortals feem'd a Priest in drink : VARIATION. Ver. 425. In first Ed. How Laurus lay, &c. REMARKS. 425 Ver. 427. Fleet] A prifon for insolvent Debtors on the bank of the Ditch. THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK. THE DUN CIA D. BOOK THE THIRD. ARGUMENT. AFTER the other perfons are difpofed in their proper places of reft, the Goddess transports the King to her Temple, and there lays him to flumber with his head on her lap; a pofition of marvellous virtue, which caufeth all the Vifions of wild enthufiafts, projectors, politicians, inamoratos, caftle-builders, chemifts, and poets. He is immediately carried on the wings of Fancy, and led by a mad Poetical Sibyl, to the Elysian shade; where, on the banks of Lethe, the fouls of the dull are dipped by Bavius, before their entrance into this world. There he is met by the ghoft of Settle, and by him made acquainted with the wonders of the place, and with those which he himfelf is deftined to perform. He takes him to a Mount of Vision, from whence he fhews him the past triumphs of the Empire of Dulness, then the prefent, and lastly the future: how small a part of the world was ever conquered by Science, how foon thofe conquests were stopped, and those very nations again reduced |