Page:The Dunciad - Alexander Pope (1743).djvu/77

^{[R. 1]}Sepulchral Lyes^{[R. 2]}, our holy walls to grace,
And New-year Odes^{[R. 3]}, and all the Grub-street race.
45 In clouded Majesty^{[I. 1]} here Dulness shone^{[R. 4]};
Four guardian Virtues, round, support her throne:
Fierce champion Fortitude, that knows no fears
Of hisses, blows, or want, or loss of ears:^{[I. 2]}

Remarks

their execution at Tyburn; and no less customary to print Elegies on their deaths, at the same time, or before.

1. Ver. 42. Magazines,] Miscellanies in prose and verse, in which at some times

   new-born nonsense first is taught to cry;

   at others, dead-born Dulness appears in a thousand shapes. These were thrown out weekly and monthly by every miserable scribler; or picked up piece-meal and stolen from any body, under the title of Papers, Essays, Queries, Verses, Epigrams, Riddles, &c. equally the disgrace of human Wit, Morality, and Decency.
2. Ver. 43. Sepulchral Lyes,] Is a just satyr on the Flatteries and Falshoods admitted to be inscribed on the walls of Churches, in Epitaphs.
3. Ver. 44. New-year Odes,] Made by the Poet Laureate for the time being, to be sung at Court on every New-year's day, the words of which are happily drowned in the voices and instruments. The New-year Odes of the Hero of this work were of a cast distinguished from all that preceded him, and made a conspicuous part of his character as a writer, which doubtless induced our Author to mention them here so particularly.
4. Ver. 45. In clouded Majesty here Dulness shone;] See this Cloud removed, or rolled back, or gathered up to her head, book iv. ver. 17, 18. It is worth while to compare this description of the Majesty of Dulness in a state of peace and tranquillity, with that more busy scene where she mounts the throne in triumph, and is not so much supported by her own Virtues, as by the princely consciousness of having destroyed all other. Scribl.

Imitations

1. Ver. 45. In clouded Majesty]
   ———the Moon
   Rising in clouded Majesty———Milton, Book iv.
2. Ver. 48.———that knows no fears
   Of hisses, blows, or want, or loss of ears:]
   Quem nogue pauperies, neque mors, neque vincula terrent. Horat.