410 At last Centlivre[342] felt her voice to fail, Motteux[343] himself unfinished left his tale, Boyer the state, and Law the stage gave o'er,[344] Morgan[345] and Mandeville[346] could prate no more; Norton,[347] from Daniel and Ostroea sprung, Bless'd with his father's front and mother's tongue, Hung silent down his never-blushing head; And all was hush'd, as Polly's self lay dead. Thus the soft gifts of sleep conclude the day, And stretch'd on bulks, as usual, poets lay. 420 Why should I sing what bards the nightly Muse Did slumbering visit, and convey to stews; Who prouder march'd, with magistrates in state, To some famed round-house, ever open gate! How Henley lay inspired beside a sink, And to mere mortals seem'd a priest in drink; While others, timely, to the neighbouring Fleet (Haunt of the Muses!) made their safe retreat? VARIATIONS. VER. 207 in the first edition-- But Oldmixon the poet's healing balm, &c. After VER. 298 in the first edition, followed these-- Far worse unhappy D---r succeeds, He searched for coral, but he gather'd weeds. VER. 399. In the first edition it was-- Collins and Tindal, prompt at priests to jeer. VER. 413. In the first edition it was-- T---s and T---- the Church and State gave o'er, Nor ---- talk'd nor S---- whisper'd more. BOOK THE THIRD. ARGUMENT. After the other persons are disposed in their proper places of rest, the goddess transports the king to her temple, and there lays him to slumber with his head on her lap; a position of marvellous virtue, which causes all the visions of wild enthusiasts, projectors, politicians, inamoratos, castle-builders, chemists, and poets. He is immediately carried on the wings of Fancy, and led by a mad poetical Sibyl, to the Elysian shade; where, on the banks of Lethe, the souls of the dull are dipped by Bavius, before their entrance into this world. There he is met by the ghost of Settle, and by him made acquainted with the wonders of the place, and with those which he himself is destined to perform. He takes him to a mount of vision, from whence he shows him the past triumphs of the empire of Dulness, then the present, and lastly the future: how small a part of the world was ever conquered by science, how soon those conquests were stopped, and those very nations again reduced to her dominion: then distinguishing the island of Great Britain, shows by what aids, by what persons, and by what degrees it shall be brought to her empire. Some of the persons he causes to pass in review before his eyes, describing each by his proper figure, character, and qualifications. On a sudden the scene shifts, and a vast number of miracles and prodigies appear, utterly surprising and unknown to the king himself, till they are explained to be the wonders of his own reign now commencing. On this subject Settle breaks into a congratulation, yet not unmixed with concern, that his own times were but the types of these.