Page:The Dunciad - Alexander Pope (1743).djvu/197

But spread, my sons, your glory thin or thick,
130 On passive paper, or on solid brick.
So by each Bard an Alderman shall sit,^{[R 1]}
A heavy Lord shall hang at ev'ry Wit,
And while on Fame's triumphal Car they ride,
Some Slave of mine be pinion'd to their side.
135 Now crowds on crowds around the Goddess press,
Each eager to present the first Address.
Dunce scorning Dunce beholds the next advance,
But Fop shews Fop superior complaisance.^{[R 2]}
When lo! a Spectre rose, whose index-hand
140 Held forth the Virtue of the dreadful wand;^{[R 3]}
His beaver'd brow a birchen garland wears,
Dropping with Infant's blood, and Mother's tears.
O'er ev'ry vein a shudd'ring horror runs;
Eton and Winton shake thro' all their Sons.

Remarks

Follower, or Attendant; no Poet having had a Page since the death of Mr. Thomas Durfey Scribl..

1. Ver. 131. So by each Bard an Alderman, &c.] Vide the Tombs of the Poets, Editio Westmonasteriensis.
2. Ver. 137, 138, Dunce scorning dunce beholds the next advance,
   But Fop shows Fop superior complaisance.]
   This is not to be ascribed so much to the different manners of a Court and College, as to the different effects which a pretence to Learning, and a pretence to Wit, have on Blockheads. For as Judgment consists in finding out the differences in things, and with finding out their likenesses, the Dunce is all discord and dissension, and constantly busied in reproving, examining, confuting, &c. while the Fop flourishes in peace, with Songs and Hymns of Praise, Addresses, Characters, Epithalamiums, &c.
3. Ver. 140. the dreadful wand;] A Cane usually born by Schoolmasters, which drives the poor Souls about like the wand of Mercury. Scribl.