Page:The Dunciad - Alexander Pope (1743).djvu/142

He brings up half the bottom on his head,
And loudly claims the Journals and the Lead.
The plunging Prelate, and his pond'rous Grace,
With holy envy gave one Layman place.
When lo! a burst of thunder shook the flood. 325
Slow rose a form, in majesty of Mud;
Shaking the horrors of his sable brows,
And each ferocious feature grim with ooze.
Greater he looks, and more than mortal stares:^{[I 1]}
Then thus the wonders of the deep declares.330
First he relates, how sinking to the chin,
Smit with his mien, the Mud-nymphs suck'd him in:
How young Lutetia, softer than the down,
Nigrina black, and Merdamante brown,
Vy'd for his love in jetty bow'rs below, 335
As Hylas fair^{[R 1]} was ravish'd long ago.
Then sung, how shown him by the Nut-brown maids
A branch of Styx here rises from the Shades,^{[R 2]}

Remarks

1. Ver. 336. As Hylas fair] Who was ravished by the water-nymphs and drawn into the river. The story is told at large by Valerius Flaccus, lib. 3. Argon. See Virgil, Ecl. vi.
2. Ver. 338. A branch of Styx, &c.]

Imitations

1. Ver. 329. Greater be looks, and more than mortal stares;] Virg, Æn. vi. of the Sibyl:
   ———majorque videri,
   
   Nec mortale sonans———