Page:The Dunciad - Alexander Pope (1743).djvu/214

^{[R 1]}Prop thine, O Empress! like each neighbour Throne,
And make a long Posterity thy own.
335 Pleas'd, she accepts the Hero, and the Dame,
Wraps in her Veil, and frees from sense of Shame.
 Then look'd, and saw a lazy, lolling sort,
Unseen at Church, at Senate, or at Court,
Of ever-listless Loit'rers, that attend
340 No Cause, no Trust, no Duty, and no Friend.
Thee too, my Paridel!^{[R 2]} she mark'd thee there,
Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair,
And heard thy everlasting yawn confess^{[R 3]}
The Pains and Penalties of Idleness.
345 She pity'd! but her Pity only shed
Benigner influence on thy nodding head.

Remarks

1. Ibid. sons of whores,] For such have been always esteemed the ablest supports of the Throne of Dulness, even by the confession of those her most legitimate Sons, who have unfortunately wanted that advantage. The illustrious Vanini in his divine encomium on our Goddess, intitled De Admirandis Naturæ Reginæ Deæque mortalium Arcanis, laments that he was not born a Bastard: O utinam extra le gitimum ac connubialem thorum essem procreatus! &c. He expatiates on the prerogatives of a free birth, and on what he would have done for the Great Mother with those advantages; and then sorrowfully concludes, At quia Conjugatorum sum soboles his orbatus sum bonis.
2. Ver. 341. Thee too, my Paridel!] The Poet seems to speak of this young gentleman with great affection. The name is taken from Spenser, who gives it to a wandering Courtly 'Squire, that travell'd about for the same reason, for which many young Squires are now fond of travelling, and especially to Paris.
3. Ver. 342, &c. Stretch'd on the rack—And heard, &c.] Virg. Æn. vi.
   Sedet, æternumque sedebit,
   Infelix Theseus, Phlegyasque miserrimus omnes
   Admonet———