"the old barking curs raged in every pulpit" against the classics and new notions, so that the name indicated
an opponent to progress, to learning, and hence a dunce.
"He knew what's what, and that's as high
As metaphysic wit can fly ...
A second Thomas, or at once
To
name them all, another Dunse."
Butler: Hudibras, i. 1.
Dunce. (See Abderitan, Arcadian, Boeotian.) Dunciad The dunce-epic, a satire by Alexander Pope. Eusden, the poet laureate, being dead, the goddess
of Dulness elects Colley Cibber to be his successor. The installation is celebrated by games, the most
important being the proposal to read, without sleeping, two voluminous works - one in verse and the
other in prose; as everyone falls asleep, the games come to an end. King Cibber is now taken to the
temple of Dulness, and is lulled to sleep on the lap of the goddess; and, during his slumber, sees in a
vision the past, present, and future triumphs of the empire. Finally, the goddess, having destroyed order
and science, establishes her kingdom on a firm basis; and, having given directions to her several agents
to prevent thought and keep people to foolish and trifling pursuits, Night and Chaos are restored, and
the poem ends. (See Dennis.)
