Book I.
The Dunciad.
59
De Lyra[R. 1] there a dreadful front extends,
And here the groaning shelves Philemon[R. 2] bends.
155 Of these twelve volumes, twelve of amplest size,
Redeem'd from tapers and defrauded pies,
Inspir'd he seizes: These an altar raise:
An hecatomb of pure, unsully'd lays
That altar crowns: A folio Common-place
160 Founds the whole pile, of all his works the base:
Quartos, octavos, shape the less'ning pyre;
A twisted Birth-day Ode completes the spire.
Then he: Great Tamer of all human art!
First in my care, and ever at my heart;
165 Dulness! whose good old cause I yet defend,
With whom my Muse began, with whom shall end;[I. 1]
E'er since Sir Fopling's Periwig[R. 3] was Praise,
To the last honours of the Butt and Bays:
And here the groaning shelves Philemon[R. 2] bends.
155 Of these twelve volumes, twelve of amplest size,
Redeem'd from tapers and defrauded pies,
Inspir'd he seizes: These an altar raise:
An hecatomb of pure, unsully'd lays
That altar crowns: A folio Common-place
160 Founds the whole pile, of all his works the base:
Quartos, octavos, shape the less'ning pyre;
A twisted Birth-day Ode completes the spire.
Then he: Great Tamer of all human art!
First in my care, and ever at my heart;
165 Dulness! whose good old cause I yet defend,
With whom my Muse began, with whom shall end;[I. 1]
E'er since Sir Fopling's Periwig[R. 3] was Praise,
To the last honours of the Butt and Bays:
Remarks
- ↑ Ver. 153. Nich. de Lyra, or Harpsfield, a very voluminous commentator, whose works, in five vast folios, were printed in 1472.
- ↑ Ver. 154. Philemon Holland Doctor in Physic. He translated so many books, that a man would think he had done nothing else; insomuch that he might be called Translator general of his age. The books alone of his turning into English are sufficient to make a Country Gentleman a complete Library. Winstanl.
- ↑ Ver. 167. E'er since Sir Fopling's Periwig] The first visible cause of the
Imitations
