122
The Dunciad.
Book III.
15 A slip-shod Sibyl[R 1] led his steps along,
In lofty madness meditating song;
Her tresses staring from Poetic dreams,
And never wash'd, but in Castalia's streams.
Taylor,[R 2] their better Charon, lends an oar,
20 (Once swan of Thames, tho' now he sings no more.)
Benlowes,[R 3] propitious still to blockheads, bows;
And Shadwell nods the Poppy on his brows.[R 4]
In lofty madness meditating song;
Her tresses staring from Poetic dreams,
And never wash'd, but in Castalia's streams.
Taylor,[R 2] their better Charon, lends an oar,
20 (Once swan of Thames, tho' now he sings no more.)
Benlowes,[R 3] propitious still to blockheads, bows;
And Shadwell nods the Poppy on his brows.[R 4]
Remarks
- ↑ Ver. 15. A slip-shod Sibyl] This allegory is extremely just, no conformation of the mind so much subjecting it to real Madness, as that which produces real Dulness. Hence we find the religious (as well as the poetical) Enthusiasts of all ages were ever, in their natural state, most heavy and lumpish; but on the least application of heat, they run like lead, which of all metals falls quickest into fusion. Whereas fire in a Genius is truly Promethean, it hurts not its constituent parts, but only fits it (as it does well-tempered steel) for the necessary impressions of art. But the common people have been taught (I do not know on what foundation) to regard Lunacy as a mark of Wit, just as the Turks and our modern Methodists do of Holiness. But if the cause of Madness assigned by a great Philosopher be true, it will unavoidably fall upon the dunces. He supposes it to be the dwelling over long on one object or idea: Now as this attention is occasioned either by Grief or Study, it will be fixed by Dulness; which hath not quickness enough to comprehend what it seeks, nor force and vigour enough to divert the imagination from the object it laments.
- ↑ Ver. 19. Taylor,] John Taylor the Water-poet, an honest man, who owns he learned not so much as the Accidence: A rare example of modesty in a Poet!
I most confess I do want eloquence,
And never scarce did learn my Accidence;
For having got from possum to posset,
I there was gravel'd, could no farther get.
He wrote fourscore books in the reign of James I. and Charles I. and afterwards (like Edward Ward) kept an Alehouse in Long-Acre. He died in 1654. - ↑ Ver. 21. Benlowes,) A country gentleman, famous for his own bad Poetry, and for patronizing bad Poets, as may be seen from many Dedications of Quarles and others to him. Some of these anagram'd his name, Benlowes into Benevolus: to verify which, he spent his whole estate upon them.
- ↑ Ver. 22. And Shadwell nods the Poppy, &c.] Shadwell took Opium for many
