Page:The Dunciad - Alexander Pope (1743).djvu/178

Like the vile straw that's blown about the streets,
290 The needy Poet sticks to all he meets,
Coach'd, carted, trod upon, now loose, now fast,
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,
295 Safe in its heaviness, shall never stray,
But lick up ev'ry blockhead in the way.
Thee shall the Patriot, thee the Courtier taste,^{[R 1]}
And ev'ry year be duller than the last.
'Till rais'd from booths, to Theatre, to Court,
300 Her seat imperial Dulness shall transport.
Already Opera prepares the way,
The sure fore-runner of her gentle sway:
Let her thy heart, next Drabs and Dice, engage,
The third mad passion of thy doting age.

Remarks

remony of a famous Pope-burning on Nov. 17, 1680, then became a trooper in King James's army, at Hounslow heath. After the Revolution he kept a booth at Bartholomew-fair, where, in the droll called St. George for England, he acted in his old age in a Dragon of green leather of his own invention; he was at last taken into the Charter-house, and there died, aged sixty years.

1. Ver. 297. Thee shall the Patriot, thee the Courtier taste,] It stood in the first edition with blanks, ** and **. Concanen was sure "they must needs mean no body but King GEORGE and Queen CAROLINE; and said he would insist it was so, 'till the poet cleared himself by filling up the blanks otherwise, agreeably to the context, and consistent with his allegiance." Pref. to a Collection of verses, essays, letters, &c. against Mr. P. printed for A. Moor, p. 6.