72
The Dunciad.
Book I.
Let Bawdry, Bilingsgate, my daughters dear,
Support his front, and Oaths bring up the rear:
And under his, and under Archer's wing,
310 Gaming[R. 1] and Grub-street skulk behind the King.
O! when shall rise a Monarch all our own,[R. 2]
And I, a Nursing-mother, rock the throne,
'Twixt Prince and People close the Curtain draw,
Shade him from Light, and cover him from Law;
315 Fatten the Courtier, starve the learned band,
And suckle Armies, and dry-nurse the land:
Support his front, and Oaths bring up the rear:
And under his, and under Archer's wing,
310 Gaming[R. 1] and Grub-street skulk behind the King.
O! when shall rise a Monarch all our own,[R. 2]
And I, a Nursing-mother, rock the throne,
'Twixt Prince and People close the Curtain draw,
Shade him from Light, and cover him from Law;
315 Fatten the Courtier, starve the learned band,
And suckle Armies, and dry-nurse the land:
Remarks
- ↑ Ver. 309, 310. Under Archer's wing,—Gaming, &c.] When the Statute against Gaming was drawn up, it was represented, that the King, by ancient custom, plays at Hazard one night in the year; and therefore a clause was inserted, with an exception as to that particular. Under this pretence, the Groom-porter had a Room appropriated to Gaming all the summer the Court was at Kensington, which his Majesty accidentally being acquainted of, with a just indignation prohibited. It is reported, the same practice is yet continued wherever the Court resides, and the Hazard Table there open to all the professed Gamesters in town.
Greatest and justest Sov'reign! know you this?
Alas! no more, than Thames' calm head can know
Whose meads his arms drown, or whose corn o'erflow.
Donne to Queen Eliz. - ↑ Ver. 311. O when shall rise a Monarch, &c.] Boileau, Lutrin, Chant. 2.
Helas! qu'est devenu cet tems, cet heureux tems,
Où les Rois s'honoroient du mem de Faincans:
S'endormoient sur le trone, une servant sans hente,
Laissoient leur sceptre au mains au d'un mair, ou d'un comte:
Aucun soin n'approchoit de leur paisible cour,
On reposoit la nuit, on dornait tout le jeur, &c.
celebrated by the late Earls of Dorset and Rochester, Duke of Buckingham, Mr. Waller, &c.
