The+Birds of Aristophanes. 19 on the Rape of the Lock is not a whit more absurd than the sober earnestness of Professor Silvern. The following extract is a complete anticipation of the style and method of the Essay on the " Birds." " Sir Plume (a proper name for a soldier) has all the circum- stances that agree with Prince Eugene.
- Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain,
And the nice conduct of a clouded cane, With earnest eyes " It is remarkable, this general is a great taker of snuff, as well as towns; his conduct of the clouded cane gives him the honour which is so justly his due, of an exact conduct in battle, which is figured by his cane or truncheon, the ensign of a gene- ral. His earnest eye, or the vivacity of his look, is so particularly remarkable in him, that this character could be mistaken for no other, had not the author purposely obscured it by the fictitious circumstances of a round unthinking face. "Having now explained the chief characters of his human per- sons (for there are some others that will hereafter fall in by the bye, in the sequel of this discourse), I shall next take in pieces his machinery, wherein the satire is wholly confined to ministers of state. " The Sylphs and Gnomes at first sight appeared to me to sig- nify the two contending parties of this nation ; for these being placed in the air, and those on the earth, I thought agreed very well with the common denomination, high and low. But as they are made to be the first movers and influencers of all that happens, it is plain they represent promiscuously the heads of parties; whom he makes to be the authors of all those changes in the state, which are generally imputed to the levity and insta- bility of the British nation : This erring mortals levity may call : Oh blind to truth ! the Sylphs contrive it all. But of this he has given us a plain demonstration ; for, speaking of these spirits, he says in express terms : The chief the care of nations own, And guard with arms divine the British throne. "And here let it not seem odd, if, in this mysterious way of writing, we find the same person, who has before been repre- 22
