Book IV.
The Dunciad.
189
He ceas'd, and wept. With innocence of mien,
420 Th' Accus'd stood forth, and thus address'd the Queen.
Of all th' enamel'd race,[I 1] whose silv'ry wing
Waves to the tepid Zephyrs of the spring,
Or swims along the fluid atmosphere,
Once brightest shin'd this child of Heat and Air.
425 I saw, and started from its vernal bow'r
The rising game, and chac'd from flow'r to flow'r,
It fled, I follow'd; now in hope, now pain;
It stopt, I stopt; it mov'd, I mov'd again.[I 2]
At last it fix'd, 'twas on what plant it pleas'd,
430 And where it fix'd, the beauteous bird I seiz'd:
Rose or Carnation was below my care;
I meddle, Goddess! only in my sphere.
I tell the naked fact without disguise,
And, to excuse it, need but shew the prize;
435 Whose spoils this paper offers to your eye,
Fair ev'n in death! this peerless Butterfly.
420 Th' Accus'd stood forth, and thus address'd the Queen.
Of all th' enamel'd race,[I 1] whose silv'ry wing
Waves to the tepid Zephyrs of the spring,
Or swims along the fluid atmosphere,
Once brightest shin'd this child of Heat and Air.
425 I saw, and started from its vernal bow'r
The rising game, and chac'd from flow'r to flow'r,
It fled, I follow'd; now in hope, now pain;
It stopt, I stopt; it mov'd, I mov'd again.[I 2]
At last it fix'd, 'twas on what plant it pleas'd,
430 And where it fix'd, the beauteous bird I seiz'd:
Rose or Carnation was below my care;
I meddle, Goddess! only in my sphere.
I tell the naked fact without disguise,
And, to excuse it, need but shew the prize;
435 Whose spoils this paper offers to your eye,
Fair ev'n in death! this peerless Butterfly.
Imitations
- ↑ Ver. 421. Of all th'enamel'd race,] The poet seems to have an eye to Spenser, Muiopotmos.Of all the race of silver-winged Flies
Which do possess the Empire of the Air. - ↑ Ver. 427, 428. It fled, I follow'd, &c.]———I started back,
It started back; but pleas'd I soon return'd,
Pleas'd it return'd as soon ———Milton.
