[81]In the first edition:As from the god with fearful speed she flew,As did the god with equal speed pursue.[82]Wakefield remarks that Pope, yielding to the exigencies of rhyme, has put "run" for "ran."[83]Sol erat a tergo: vidi præcedere longamAnte pedes umbram; nisi timor illa videbat.Sed certe sonituque pedum terrebar; et ingensCrinales vittas afflabat anhelitus oris. Ovid, Met. lib. v.—Warburton.Sandys, whom our bard manifestly consulted, renders thus:The sun was at our backs; before my feetI saw his shadow, or my fear did see't.Howere his sounding steps, and thick-drawn breathThat fanned my hair, affrighted me to death.—Wakefield.Not only is the story of Lodona copied from the transformation of Arethusa into a stream, but nearly all the particulars are taken from different passages in Ovid, of which Warburton has furnished a sufficient specimen.[84]The river Loddon.—Pope.[85]The idea of "augmenting the waves with tears" was very common among the earliest English poets, but perhaps the most ridiculous use ever made of this combination, was by Shakespeare:Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,And therefore I forbid my tears.—Bowles.Dryden's translation of the first book of Ovid's Art of Love:Her briny tears augment the briny flood.[86]These six lines were added after the first writing of this poem.—Pope.And in truth they are but puerile and redundant.—Warton.[87]Eve, looking into the fountain, in Dryden's State of Innocence, Act ii.:What's here? another firmament belowSpread wide, and other trees that downward grow.—Steevens.[88]The epithet "absent," employed to denote that the trees were only a reflection in the water, is more perplexing than descriptive, particularly as the "absent trees" are distinguished from the "pendant woods," which must equally have been absent.[89]In every edition before Warburton's it was "spreading honours." Pope probably considered that "rear," which denoted an upward direction, could not be consistently conjoined with "spreading." For "shores," improperly applied in the next line to a river, all the editions before 1736 had "banks."[90]"Her" appears for the first time in the edition of Warburton in the place of "his," and is now the accepted reading, but it is manifestly a misprint, since "her" has no antecedent. The couplet is obscure. Pope could hardly intend to assert that the flow of the tide poured as much water into the Thames as all the other rivers of the world discharged into the ocean, and he probably meant that all the navigable rivers of the globe did not send more commerce to the sea than came from the sea up the Thames. Even in this case it was a wild, without being a poetical, exaggeration.[91]In the first edition:No seas so rich, so full no streams appear.The epithets "clear," "gentle," "full," which Pope applies to the Thames, show that he had in his mind the celebrated passage in Cooper's Hill:Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull,Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.[92]The ancients gave the name of the terrestrial Eridanus or Po, to a constellation which has somewhat the form of a winding river. Pope copied Denham:Heav'n her Eridanus no more shall boast,Whose fame in thine, like lesser currents lost,By nobler streams shall visit Jove's abodes,To shine amongst the stars and bathe the gods.[93]Very ill expressed, especially the rivers swelling the lays.—Warton.[94]The original readings were beyond all competition preferable both in strength and beauty:Not fabled Po more swells the poet's laysWhile through the skies his shining current strays.—Wakefield.[95]In saying that the Po did not swell the lays of the poet in the same degree as the Thames, Pope more especially alluded to the celebrated description of the latter in Cooper's Hill.[96]In the earlier editions,Nor all his stars a brighter lustre show,Than the fair nymphs that gild thy shore below.The MS. goes on thus:Whose pow'rful charms enamoured gods may moveTo quit for this the radiant court above;And force great Jove, if Jove's a lover still,To change Olympus, &c.[97]Originally:Happy the man, who to these shades retires,But doubly happy, if the muse inspires!Blest whom the sweets of home-felt quiet please;But far more blest, who study joins with ease.—Pope.The turn of this passage manifestly proves that our poet had in view that incomparable encomium of Virgil's second Georgic on philosophy and a country life.—Wakefield.In addition to the imitation of the second Georgic, and the translation of lines in Horace and Lucan, Pope adopted hints, as Warton has remarked, from Philips's Cider:He to his labour hiesGladsome, intent on somewhat that may easeUnhealthy mortals, and with curious searchExamines all the properties of herbs,Fossils and minerals, &c.or else his thoughtsAre exercised with speculations deep,Of good, and just, and meet, and th' wholesome rulesOf temperance, and ought that may improveThe moral life; &c.[98]Lord Lansdowne.—Croker.[99]This is taken from Horace's epistle to Tibullus:An tacitum silvas inter reptare salubres,Curantem quidquid dignum sapiente bonoque est?—Wakefield.Pope remembered Creech's translation of the passage:Or dost thou gravely walk the healthy wood,Considering what befits the wise and good.[100]——servare modum, finemque tenere,Naturamque sequi. Lucan.—Warburton.[101]Dryden's Virgil, Geor. ii. 673:Ye sacred muses! with whose beauty fired,My soul is ravished, and my brain inspired.—Wakefield.Addison in his Letter from Italy has the expression "fired with a thousand raptures."[102]O, qui me gelidis in vallibus HæmiSistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra! Virg.—Warburton.[103]Cooper's Hill is the elevation, not deserving the name of mountain, just over Egham and Runnymede.—Croker.[104]It stood thus in the MS.Methinks around your hold scenes I rove,And hear your music echoing through the grove:With transport visit each inspiring shade,By god-like poets venerable made.—Warburton.[105]From Philips's Cider, ii. 6:or whatUnrivalled authors by their presence madeFor ever venerable.—Steevens.[106]By "first lays," Pope means Cooper's Hill, but Denham had previously written the Sophy, a tragedy, and translated the second book of the Æneid.[107]Dryden says of the Cooper's Hill, "it is a poem which formajestyof style is, and ever will be, the standard of good writing." From hence, no doubt, Pope took the word "majestic."—Bowles.[108]Mr. Cowley died at Chertsey, on the borders of the Forest, and was from thence conveyed to Westminster.—Pope.Pope told Spence that Cowley was killed by a fever brought on by lying out all night in the fields. He had got drunk, in company with his friend Dean Sprat, at the house of a neighbour, and they lost their way in the attempt to walk home. Sprat had long before related that Cowley caught his last illness in the "meadows," but says it was caused "by staying too long amongst his labourers in the heat of the summer." The drunkenness, and the lying out all night, appear to have been the embellishments of scandal.[109]Cowley died July 28, 1667, in the 49th year of his age. Pope's "O early lost!" is copied from the "O early ripe!" of Dryden in his lines to the Memory of Oldham.[110]Oldham's Imitation of Moschus:This, Thames, ah! this, is now thy second lossFor which in tears thy weeping current flows.[111]On the margin of his manuscript Pope wrote the passage of Virgil which he imitated:quæ, Tiberine, videbisFunera, cum tumulum præterlabere recentem.The "pomp" was not a poetical exaggeration. Evelyn, who attended the funeral, says that Cowley's body was "conveyed to Westminster Abbey in a hearse with six horses, near a hundred coaches of noblemen, and persons of quality following."[112]Originally:What sighs, what murmurs, filled the vocal shore!His tuneful swans were heard to sing no more.—Pope.[113]We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Psalm cxxxvii. 2.—Wakefield.Pope says that "eachmuse" hung up her lyre because Cowley was thought to excel in many departments of verse. "He was beloved," said Dr. Felton, "by every muse he courted, and has rivalled the ancients in every kind of poetry but tragedy." Dr. Sprat entitled his poem on him an "Ode to the English Ovid, Anacreon, Pindar, and Virgil."[114]Warton mentions, that "living lyre" is used by Cowley.[115]This couplet was a triplet in the manuscript with the following middle line:What bard, what angel, tunes the warbling strings?It is surprising that Pope did not feel the bathos of the expression, "'Tis yours, my lord," introduced into the midst of the high-flown adulation.[116]Philips:And paint those honours thou art sure to wear.—Steevens.[117]Meaning, I apprehend, the star of the knights of the Garter installed at Windsor.—Wakefield.The order was founded by Edward III., the builder of Windsor Castle, which further connected it with Pope's subject. Denham had celebrated the institution of the garter in Cooper's Hill, and Lord Lansdowne, in his Progress of Beauty, "sung the honours" in a few despicable verses, which certainly added no "lustre to the silver star."[118]All the lines that follow were not added to the poem till the year 1710 [1712]. What immediately followed this, and made the conclusion, were these;My humble muse in unambitious strainsPaints the green forests and the flow'ry plains;Where I obscurely pass my careless days,Pleased in the silent shade with empty praise,Enough for me that to the list'ning swainsFirst in these fields I sung the sylvan strains.—Pope.[119]Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, one of the first refiners of the English poetry; famous in the time of Henry VIII. for his sonnets, the scene of many of which is laid at Windsor.—Pope.[120]The Fair Geraldine, the general object of Lord Surrey's passionate sonnets, was one of the daughters of Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare. In Warton's History of English Poetry, is a poem of the elegiac kind, in which Surrey laments his imprisonment in Windsor Castle.—Warton.[121]The Mira of Granville was the Countess of Newburgh. Towards the end of her life Dr. King, of Oxford, wrote a very severe satire against her, in three hooks, called The Toast.—Warton.She proved in her conduct to be the reverse of "heavenly." "Granville," says Johnson, "wrote verses to her before he was three-and-twenty, and may be forgiven if he regarded the face more than the mind. Poets are sometimes in too much haste to praise."[122]Not to recount those several kings, to whomIt gave a cradle, and to whom a tomb. Denham.—Bowles.[123]Edward III. born here.—Pope.[124]David Bruce, king of Scotland, taken prisoner at the battle of Nevil's Cross, 1346, and John, king of France, captured at the battle of Poitiers, 1356. "Monarchs chained" conveys the idea of a rigorous imprisonment, and belies the chivalry, which was the pride of Edward and the Black Prince. David, who was the brother-in-law of Edward III., was subjected to so little constraint, that he was allowed to visit Scotland, and confer with his people on the terms of his ransom. John was received with royal honours in England, and during the whole of his residence here was surrounded with regal luxury and state.[125]Denham's Cooper's Hill:——Great Edward, and thy greater son,The lilies which his father wore, he won.Edward III. claimed the crown of France by descent, and quartered the French fleur-de-lis on his shield before the victories of the Black Prince had made the assumption something more than an empty boast.[126]Originally thus in the MS.When brass decays, when trophies lie o'er-thrown,And mould'ring into dust drops the proud stone,From Windsor's roofs, &c.—Warburton.[127]He was a Neapolitan. Without much invention, and with less taste, his exuberant pencil was ready at pouring out gods, goddesses, kings, emperors, and triumphs, over those public surfaces on which the eye never rests long enough to criticise,—I mean ceilings and staircases. Charles II. consigned over Windsor to his pencil. He executed most of the ceilings there, one whole side of St. George's Hall, and the chapel. On the accession of James II., Verrio was again employed at Windsor in Wolsey's Tomb-house.—Horace Walpole.[128]Pope had in his head this couplet of Halifax:The wounded arm would furnish all their rooms,And bleed for ever scarlet in the looms.—Holt White.[129]Henry VI.—Pope.[130]Edward IV.—Pope.[131]The Land's End in Cornwall is called by Diodorus Siculus,Belerium promentorium, perhaps from Bellerus, one of the Cornish giants with which that country and the poems of old British bards were once filled.—T. Warton.[132]Dryden's translation of the tenth Satire of Juvenal, ver. 236:Whom Afric was not able to containWhose length runs level with th' Atlantic main.—Wakefield.[133]Dr. Chetwood's verses to Roscommon:Make warlike James's peaceful virtues known.—Wakefield.[134]Charles I. was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The precise spot was a matter of doubt till an accidental aperture was made in 1813 into the vault of Henry VIII., when a lead coffin was discovered bearing the inscription "King Charles, 1648." It was opened in the presence of the Regent; and the corpse was in a sufficient state of preservation to enable the spectators to recognise the likeness of the countenance to Vandyke's portraits of the king, and to ascertain that the head had been severed from the body.[135]Originally thus in the MS.Oh fact accurst! oh sacrilegious brood,Sworn to rebellion, principled in blood!Since that dire morn what tears has Albion shed,Gods! what new wounds, &c.—Warburton.[136]To say that the plague in London, and its consumption by fire, were judgments inflicted by heaven for the murder of Charles I., is a very extraordinary stretch of tory principles indeed.—Warton.[137]This couplet is directed at the Revolution, considered by Pope, in common with all jacobites, to be a like public calamity with the plague and the fire of London.—Croker.Pope had in his mind, when he wrote the couplet, Creech's Hor., Ode xxxv. lib. 1.I blush at the dishonest show,I die to see the wounds and scars,Those glories of our civil wars.[138]Thus in the MS.Till Anna rose, and bade the Furies cease;Let there be peace—she said, and all waspeace.—Warburton.It may be presumed that Pope varied the couplet from perceiving the impropriety of a parody on the fiat of the Creator.[139]Dryden's Annus Mirabilis:Old Father Thames raised up his rev'rend head.And again, at the conclusion of his Threnodia Augustalis:While, starting from his oozy bed,Th' asserted ocean rears his rev'rend head.—Wakefield.The gods of rivers are invariably represented as old men.[140]Spenser of Father Thames:his beard all grayDewed with silver drops that trickled down alway.—Wakefield.[141]Between verse 330 and 331, originally stood these lines;From shore to shore exulting shouts he heard,O'er all his banks a lambent light appeared,With sparkling flames heav'n's glowing concave shone,Fictitious stars, and glories not her own.He saw, and gently rose above the streamHis shining horns diffused a golden gleam:With pearl and gold his tow'ry front was drest,The tributes of the distant East and West.—Pope.[142]Horns were a classical attribute of rivers,—not I think, according to the common view, as a mark of dignity, but as a symbolical expression of the fact that the principal streams, like the ocean itself, are formed from a confluence of tributaries.—Croker.Pope's personification of the Thames is the echo of Addison's translation of a passage in Claudian, describing the deity of the Eridanus:His head above the floods he gently reared,And as he rose his golden horns appeared,That on the forehead shone divinely brightAnd o'er the banks diffused a yellow light:Beneath his arm an urn supported liesWith stars embellished, and fictitious skies.[143]Augusta was the name which the Romans at one period gave to London. The representation of the god attended byAll little rivers, which owe vassalageTo him, as to their lord, and tribute pay,and the accompanying enumeration of the subsidiary streams, is closely imitated from the Faery Queen. Pope professes to describe the river-gods who stood round the throne of Father Thames, but he has confounded the river-gods with the rivers, and some of his epithets,—"winding Isis," "blue transparent Vandalis," "gulphy Lee,"—are not applicable to persons.[144]The river-gods were said to be the children of Oceanus and Tethys, but in the earlier mythology, Oceanus was himself ariver(not a sea), surrounding the earth, and the lesser rivers were his progeny.[145]The Tamesis. It was a common but erroneous notion, that the appellation was formed from appending the name Isis to Thame.[146]Warton observes that Pope has here copied and equalled the description of rivers in Spenser, Drayton, and Milton. The description is beautiful, but in some points it is deficient. "Winding Isis" and "fruitful Thame" are ill designated. No peculiar and visible image is added to the character of the streams, either interesting from beauty, or incidental circumstances. Most rivers wind and may be called fruitful, as well as the Isis and Thame. The latter part of the description is much more masterly, as every river has its distinctive mark, and that mark is picturesque. It may be said, however, that all the epithets, in a description of this sort, cannot be equally significant, but surely something more striking should have been given as circumstantially characteristic of such rivers as the Isis and Thames, than that they were "winding" and "fruitful," or of the Kennet that it was renowned for "silver eels."—Bowles.[147]Drayton:The crystal Trent for fords and fish renowned.—Bowles.The Kennet is not linked by Pope to any poetical association when he simply says that it is "renowned for silver eels," but Spenser brings a delightful picture before the eye when he speaks of thestill Darent in whose waters cleanTen thousand fishes play, and deck his pleasant stream.[148]Addison:Where silver lakes with verdant shadows crowned.[149]Several of Pope's epithets are borrowed, although he has not always coupled them with the same streams to which they are applied in his originals. For "Kennet swift" Milton has "Severn swift," and for "chalky Wey" Spenser has "chalky Kennet."[150]The Wandle.—Croker.[151]Milton has "gulphy Dun" and "sedgy Lee," and Pope combined the characteristics. The remainder of the couplet is from Addison's translation of a passage in Claudian:Her dropping locks the silver Tessin rears,The blue transparent Adda next appears.[152]Milton's Vacation Exercise:Or sullen Mole, that runneth underneath.—Wakefield.The Mole at particular spots, called the swallows, sinks through crevices in the chalk, and during dry seasons, when there is not sufficient water to till both the subterranean and the upper channel, the bed of the river is laid bare in parts of its course. The stream sometimes entirely disappears from Burford-bridge to the neighbourhood of Thorncroft-bridge, a distance of nearly three miles.[153]Drayton:And the old Lee brags of the Danish blood.—Bowles.Pope's epithet "silent" was suggested by "the still Darent" of Spenser, and the same poet had said of the Eden that it was——stained with blood of many a bandOf Scots and English.[154]Addison's translation of an extract from Ovid:While thus she rested on her arm reclined,The hoary willows waving with the wind.[155]The river god bowing respectfully to his human audience, before he commenced his speech, is a ludicrous idea, into which Pope was seduced by his courtly desire to represent even the deities as doing homage to Queen Anne.[156]So Dryden, Æneis, x. 156:The winds their breath restrain,And the hushed waves lie flatted on the main.—Wakefield.Pope's lines are compiled from the passage quoted by Wakefield and a couplet in the Court Prospect of Hopkins:Unrolling waves steal softly to the shore,They know their sovereign and they fear to roar.[157]The Hermus is characterised by Virgil as "turbid with gold." The property was more usually ascribed to its tributary, the Pactolus, but there was no gold in either.[158]An undoubted imitation, I think, of Dr. Bathurst's verses on Selden:As when old Nilus, who with bounteous flowsWaters a hundred nations as he goes,Scattering rich harvests, keeps his sacred headAmidst the clouds still undiscovered.Homer denominates the Nile, whose sources were unknown, a river that falls from Jupiter or heaven. And our countryman calls it sevenfold, as Ovid before himseptemfluus, and Catullus still earlierseptemgeminus, from the seven mouths by which its waters are discharged into the Mediterranean.—Wakefield.[159]Originally thus in the MS.Let Venice boast her tow'rs amidst the main,Where the rough Adrian swells and roars in vain;Here not a town, but spacious realms shall haveA sure foundation on the rolling wave.—Warburton.This he altered with his usual discernment, on account of the mean conceit in the equivocal use of the word "foundation."—Wakefield.[160]This alludes to General Stanhope's campaigns on the Ebro, and the Duke of Marlborough's on the Danube.—Croker.In saying that British blood should no more dye foreign lands, Pope meant to furnish an argument for the Peace by intimating that the war was kept up, at the sacrifice of English life, for the benefit of other nations.[161]In the manuscript:O'er all the Forests shall appear no trace.[162]And certainly sufficient ferocity is displayed even in these amusements. Cowley says,And all his malice, all his craft is shownIn innocent wars, on beasts and birds alone.His commentator, Dr. Hurd, remarks in a spirit that endears him to the reader, "Innocent, he means, in comparison with wars on his own kind."—Wakefield.
[81]In the first edition:As from the god with fearful speed she flew,As did the god with equal speed pursue.
[81]In the first edition:
As from the god with fearful speed she flew,As did the god with equal speed pursue.
As from the god with fearful speed she flew,As did the god with equal speed pursue.
[82]Wakefield remarks that Pope, yielding to the exigencies of rhyme, has put "run" for "ran."
[82]Wakefield remarks that Pope, yielding to the exigencies of rhyme, has put "run" for "ran."
[83]Sol erat a tergo: vidi præcedere longamAnte pedes umbram; nisi timor illa videbat.Sed certe sonituque pedum terrebar; et ingensCrinales vittas afflabat anhelitus oris. Ovid, Met. lib. v.—Warburton.Sandys, whom our bard manifestly consulted, renders thus:The sun was at our backs; before my feetI saw his shadow, or my fear did see't.Howere his sounding steps, and thick-drawn breathThat fanned my hair, affrighted me to death.—Wakefield.Not only is the story of Lodona copied from the transformation of Arethusa into a stream, but nearly all the particulars are taken from different passages in Ovid, of which Warburton has furnished a sufficient specimen.
[83]
Sol erat a tergo: vidi præcedere longamAnte pedes umbram; nisi timor illa videbat.Sed certe sonituque pedum terrebar; et ingensCrinales vittas afflabat anhelitus oris. Ovid, Met. lib. v.—Warburton.
Sol erat a tergo: vidi præcedere longamAnte pedes umbram; nisi timor illa videbat.Sed certe sonituque pedum terrebar; et ingensCrinales vittas afflabat anhelitus oris. Ovid, Met. lib. v.—Warburton.
Sandys, whom our bard manifestly consulted, renders thus:
The sun was at our backs; before my feetI saw his shadow, or my fear did see't.Howere his sounding steps, and thick-drawn breathThat fanned my hair, affrighted me to death.—Wakefield.
The sun was at our backs; before my feetI saw his shadow, or my fear did see't.Howere his sounding steps, and thick-drawn breathThat fanned my hair, affrighted me to death.—Wakefield.
Not only is the story of Lodona copied from the transformation of Arethusa into a stream, but nearly all the particulars are taken from different passages in Ovid, of which Warburton has furnished a sufficient specimen.
[84]The river Loddon.—Pope.
[84]The river Loddon.—Pope.
[85]The idea of "augmenting the waves with tears" was very common among the earliest English poets, but perhaps the most ridiculous use ever made of this combination, was by Shakespeare:Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,And therefore I forbid my tears.—Bowles.Dryden's translation of the first book of Ovid's Art of Love:Her briny tears augment the briny flood.
[85]The idea of "augmenting the waves with tears" was very common among the earliest English poets, but perhaps the most ridiculous use ever made of this combination, was by Shakespeare:
Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,And therefore I forbid my tears.—Bowles.
Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,And therefore I forbid my tears.—Bowles.
Dryden's translation of the first book of Ovid's Art of Love:
Her briny tears augment the briny flood.
Her briny tears augment the briny flood.
[86]These six lines were added after the first writing of this poem.—Pope.And in truth they are but puerile and redundant.—Warton.
[86]These six lines were added after the first writing of this poem.—Pope.
And in truth they are but puerile and redundant.—Warton.
[87]Eve, looking into the fountain, in Dryden's State of Innocence, Act ii.:What's here? another firmament belowSpread wide, and other trees that downward grow.—Steevens.
[87]Eve, looking into the fountain, in Dryden's State of Innocence, Act ii.:
What's here? another firmament belowSpread wide, and other trees that downward grow.—Steevens.
What's here? another firmament belowSpread wide, and other trees that downward grow.—Steevens.
[88]The epithet "absent," employed to denote that the trees were only a reflection in the water, is more perplexing than descriptive, particularly as the "absent trees" are distinguished from the "pendant woods," which must equally have been absent.
[88]The epithet "absent," employed to denote that the trees were only a reflection in the water, is more perplexing than descriptive, particularly as the "absent trees" are distinguished from the "pendant woods," which must equally have been absent.
[89]In every edition before Warburton's it was "spreading honours." Pope probably considered that "rear," which denoted an upward direction, could not be consistently conjoined with "spreading." For "shores," improperly applied in the next line to a river, all the editions before 1736 had "banks."
[89]In every edition before Warburton's it was "spreading honours." Pope probably considered that "rear," which denoted an upward direction, could not be consistently conjoined with "spreading." For "shores," improperly applied in the next line to a river, all the editions before 1736 had "banks."
[90]"Her" appears for the first time in the edition of Warburton in the place of "his," and is now the accepted reading, but it is manifestly a misprint, since "her" has no antecedent. The couplet is obscure. Pope could hardly intend to assert that the flow of the tide poured as much water into the Thames as all the other rivers of the world discharged into the ocean, and he probably meant that all the navigable rivers of the globe did not send more commerce to the sea than came from the sea up the Thames. Even in this case it was a wild, without being a poetical, exaggeration.
[90]"Her" appears for the first time in the edition of Warburton in the place of "his," and is now the accepted reading, but it is manifestly a misprint, since "her" has no antecedent. The couplet is obscure. Pope could hardly intend to assert that the flow of the tide poured as much water into the Thames as all the other rivers of the world discharged into the ocean, and he probably meant that all the navigable rivers of the globe did not send more commerce to the sea than came from the sea up the Thames. Even in this case it was a wild, without being a poetical, exaggeration.
[91]In the first edition:No seas so rich, so full no streams appear.The epithets "clear," "gentle," "full," which Pope applies to the Thames, show that he had in his mind the celebrated passage in Cooper's Hill:Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull,Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.
[91]In the first edition:
No seas so rich, so full no streams appear.
No seas so rich, so full no streams appear.
The epithets "clear," "gentle," "full," which Pope applies to the Thames, show that he had in his mind the celebrated passage in Cooper's Hill:
Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull,Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.
Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull,Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.
[92]The ancients gave the name of the terrestrial Eridanus or Po, to a constellation which has somewhat the form of a winding river. Pope copied Denham:Heav'n her Eridanus no more shall boast,Whose fame in thine, like lesser currents lost,By nobler streams shall visit Jove's abodes,To shine amongst the stars and bathe the gods.
[92]The ancients gave the name of the terrestrial Eridanus or Po, to a constellation which has somewhat the form of a winding river. Pope copied Denham:
Heav'n her Eridanus no more shall boast,Whose fame in thine, like lesser currents lost,By nobler streams shall visit Jove's abodes,To shine amongst the stars and bathe the gods.
Heav'n her Eridanus no more shall boast,Whose fame in thine, like lesser currents lost,By nobler streams shall visit Jove's abodes,To shine amongst the stars and bathe the gods.
[93]Very ill expressed, especially the rivers swelling the lays.—Warton.
[93]Very ill expressed, especially the rivers swelling the lays.—Warton.
[94]The original readings were beyond all competition preferable both in strength and beauty:Not fabled Po more swells the poet's laysWhile through the skies his shining current strays.—Wakefield.
[94]The original readings were beyond all competition preferable both in strength and beauty:
Not fabled Po more swells the poet's laysWhile through the skies his shining current strays.—Wakefield.
Not fabled Po more swells the poet's laysWhile through the skies his shining current strays.—Wakefield.
[95]In saying that the Po did not swell the lays of the poet in the same degree as the Thames, Pope more especially alluded to the celebrated description of the latter in Cooper's Hill.
[95]In saying that the Po did not swell the lays of the poet in the same degree as the Thames, Pope more especially alluded to the celebrated description of the latter in Cooper's Hill.
[96]In the earlier editions,Nor all his stars a brighter lustre show,Than the fair nymphs that gild thy shore below.The MS. goes on thus:Whose pow'rful charms enamoured gods may moveTo quit for this the radiant court above;And force great Jove, if Jove's a lover still,To change Olympus, &c.
[96]In the earlier editions,
Nor all his stars a brighter lustre show,Than the fair nymphs that gild thy shore below.
Nor all his stars a brighter lustre show,Than the fair nymphs that gild thy shore below.
The MS. goes on thus:
Whose pow'rful charms enamoured gods may moveTo quit for this the radiant court above;And force great Jove, if Jove's a lover still,To change Olympus, &c.
Whose pow'rful charms enamoured gods may moveTo quit for this the radiant court above;And force great Jove, if Jove's a lover still,To change Olympus, &c.
[97]Originally:Happy the man, who to these shades retires,But doubly happy, if the muse inspires!Blest whom the sweets of home-felt quiet please;But far more blest, who study joins with ease.—Pope.The turn of this passage manifestly proves that our poet had in view that incomparable encomium of Virgil's second Georgic on philosophy and a country life.—Wakefield.In addition to the imitation of the second Georgic, and the translation of lines in Horace and Lucan, Pope adopted hints, as Warton has remarked, from Philips's Cider:He to his labour hiesGladsome, intent on somewhat that may easeUnhealthy mortals, and with curious searchExamines all the properties of herbs,Fossils and minerals, &c.or else his thoughtsAre exercised with speculations deep,Of good, and just, and meet, and th' wholesome rulesOf temperance, and ought that may improveThe moral life; &c.
[97]Originally:
Happy the man, who to these shades retires,But doubly happy, if the muse inspires!Blest whom the sweets of home-felt quiet please;But far more blest, who study joins with ease.—Pope.
Happy the man, who to these shades retires,But doubly happy, if the muse inspires!Blest whom the sweets of home-felt quiet please;But far more blest, who study joins with ease.—Pope.
The turn of this passage manifestly proves that our poet had in view that incomparable encomium of Virgil's second Georgic on philosophy and a country life.—Wakefield.
In addition to the imitation of the second Georgic, and the translation of lines in Horace and Lucan, Pope adopted hints, as Warton has remarked, from Philips's Cider:
He to his labour hiesGladsome, intent on somewhat that may easeUnhealthy mortals, and with curious searchExamines all the properties of herbs,Fossils and minerals, &c.or else his thoughtsAre exercised with speculations deep,Of good, and just, and meet, and th' wholesome rulesOf temperance, and ought that may improveThe moral life; &c.
He to his labour hiesGladsome, intent on somewhat that may easeUnhealthy mortals, and with curious searchExamines all the properties of herbs,Fossils and minerals, &c.or else his thoughtsAre exercised with speculations deep,Of good, and just, and meet, and th' wholesome rulesOf temperance, and ought that may improveThe moral life; &c.
[98]Lord Lansdowne.—Croker.
[98]Lord Lansdowne.—Croker.
[99]This is taken from Horace's epistle to Tibullus:An tacitum silvas inter reptare salubres,Curantem quidquid dignum sapiente bonoque est?—Wakefield.Pope remembered Creech's translation of the passage:Or dost thou gravely walk the healthy wood,Considering what befits the wise and good.
[99]This is taken from Horace's epistle to Tibullus:
An tacitum silvas inter reptare salubres,Curantem quidquid dignum sapiente bonoque est?—Wakefield.
An tacitum silvas inter reptare salubres,Curantem quidquid dignum sapiente bonoque est?—Wakefield.
Pope remembered Creech's translation of the passage:
Or dost thou gravely walk the healthy wood,Considering what befits the wise and good.
Or dost thou gravely walk the healthy wood,Considering what befits the wise and good.
[100]——servare modum, finemque tenere,Naturamque sequi. Lucan.—Warburton.
[100]
——servare modum, finemque tenere,Naturamque sequi. Lucan.—Warburton.
——servare modum, finemque tenere,Naturamque sequi. Lucan.—Warburton.
[101]Dryden's Virgil, Geor. ii. 673:Ye sacred muses! with whose beauty fired,My soul is ravished, and my brain inspired.—Wakefield.Addison in his Letter from Italy has the expression "fired with a thousand raptures."
[101]Dryden's Virgil, Geor. ii. 673:
Ye sacred muses! with whose beauty fired,My soul is ravished, and my brain inspired.—Wakefield.
Ye sacred muses! with whose beauty fired,My soul is ravished, and my brain inspired.—Wakefield.
Addison in his Letter from Italy has the expression "fired with a thousand raptures."
[102]O, qui me gelidis in vallibus HæmiSistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra! Virg.—Warburton.
[102]
O, qui me gelidis in vallibus HæmiSistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra! Virg.—Warburton.
O, qui me gelidis in vallibus HæmiSistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra! Virg.—Warburton.
[103]Cooper's Hill is the elevation, not deserving the name of mountain, just over Egham and Runnymede.—Croker.
[103]Cooper's Hill is the elevation, not deserving the name of mountain, just over Egham and Runnymede.—Croker.
[104]It stood thus in the MS.Methinks around your hold scenes I rove,And hear your music echoing through the grove:With transport visit each inspiring shade,By god-like poets venerable made.—Warburton.
[104]It stood thus in the MS.
Methinks around your hold scenes I rove,And hear your music echoing through the grove:With transport visit each inspiring shade,By god-like poets venerable made.—Warburton.
Methinks around your hold scenes I rove,And hear your music echoing through the grove:With transport visit each inspiring shade,By god-like poets venerable made.—Warburton.
[105]From Philips's Cider, ii. 6:or whatUnrivalled authors by their presence madeFor ever venerable.—Steevens.
[105]From Philips's Cider, ii. 6:
or whatUnrivalled authors by their presence madeFor ever venerable.—Steevens.
or whatUnrivalled authors by their presence madeFor ever venerable.—Steevens.
[106]By "first lays," Pope means Cooper's Hill, but Denham had previously written the Sophy, a tragedy, and translated the second book of the Æneid.
[106]By "first lays," Pope means Cooper's Hill, but Denham had previously written the Sophy, a tragedy, and translated the second book of the Æneid.
[107]Dryden says of the Cooper's Hill, "it is a poem which formajestyof style is, and ever will be, the standard of good writing." From hence, no doubt, Pope took the word "majestic."—Bowles.
[107]Dryden says of the Cooper's Hill, "it is a poem which formajestyof style is, and ever will be, the standard of good writing." From hence, no doubt, Pope took the word "majestic."—Bowles.
[108]Mr. Cowley died at Chertsey, on the borders of the Forest, and was from thence conveyed to Westminster.—Pope.Pope told Spence that Cowley was killed by a fever brought on by lying out all night in the fields. He had got drunk, in company with his friend Dean Sprat, at the house of a neighbour, and they lost their way in the attempt to walk home. Sprat had long before related that Cowley caught his last illness in the "meadows," but says it was caused "by staying too long amongst his labourers in the heat of the summer." The drunkenness, and the lying out all night, appear to have been the embellishments of scandal.
[108]Mr. Cowley died at Chertsey, on the borders of the Forest, and was from thence conveyed to Westminster.—Pope.
Pope told Spence that Cowley was killed by a fever brought on by lying out all night in the fields. He had got drunk, in company with his friend Dean Sprat, at the house of a neighbour, and they lost their way in the attempt to walk home. Sprat had long before related that Cowley caught his last illness in the "meadows," but says it was caused "by staying too long amongst his labourers in the heat of the summer." The drunkenness, and the lying out all night, appear to have been the embellishments of scandal.
[109]Cowley died July 28, 1667, in the 49th year of his age. Pope's "O early lost!" is copied from the "O early ripe!" of Dryden in his lines to the Memory of Oldham.
[109]Cowley died July 28, 1667, in the 49th year of his age. Pope's "O early lost!" is copied from the "O early ripe!" of Dryden in his lines to the Memory of Oldham.
[110]Oldham's Imitation of Moschus:This, Thames, ah! this, is now thy second lossFor which in tears thy weeping current flows.
[110]Oldham's Imitation of Moschus:
This, Thames, ah! this, is now thy second lossFor which in tears thy weeping current flows.
This, Thames, ah! this, is now thy second lossFor which in tears thy weeping current flows.
[111]On the margin of his manuscript Pope wrote the passage of Virgil which he imitated:quæ, Tiberine, videbisFunera, cum tumulum præterlabere recentem.The "pomp" was not a poetical exaggeration. Evelyn, who attended the funeral, says that Cowley's body was "conveyed to Westminster Abbey in a hearse with six horses, near a hundred coaches of noblemen, and persons of quality following."
[111]On the margin of his manuscript Pope wrote the passage of Virgil which he imitated:
quæ, Tiberine, videbisFunera, cum tumulum præterlabere recentem.
quæ, Tiberine, videbisFunera, cum tumulum præterlabere recentem.
The "pomp" was not a poetical exaggeration. Evelyn, who attended the funeral, says that Cowley's body was "conveyed to Westminster Abbey in a hearse with six horses, near a hundred coaches of noblemen, and persons of quality following."
[112]Originally:What sighs, what murmurs, filled the vocal shore!His tuneful swans were heard to sing no more.—Pope.
[112]Originally:
What sighs, what murmurs, filled the vocal shore!His tuneful swans were heard to sing no more.—Pope.
What sighs, what murmurs, filled the vocal shore!His tuneful swans were heard to sing no more.—Pope.
[113]We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Psalm cxxxvii. 2.—Wakefield.Pope says that "eachmuse" hung up her lyre because Cowley was thought to excel in many departments of verse. "He was beloved," said Dr. Felton, "by every muse he courted, and has rivalled the ancients in every kind of poetry but tragedy." Dr. Sprat entitled his poem on him an "Ode to the English Ovid, Anacreon, Pindar, and Virgil."
[113]We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Psalm cxxxvii. 2.—Wakefield.
Pope says that "eachmuse" hung up her lyre because Cowley was thought to excel in many departments of verse. "He was beloved," said Dr. Felton, "by every muse he courted, and has rivalled the ancients in every kind of poetry but tragedy." Dr. Sprat entitled his poem on him an "Ode to the English Ovid, Anacreon, Pindar, and Virgil."
[114]Warton mentions, that "living lyre" is used by Cowley.
[114]Warton mentions, that "living lyre" is used by Cowley.
[115]This couplet was a triplet in the manuscript with the following middle line:What bard, what angel, tunes the warbling strings?It is surprising that Pope did not feel the bathos of the expression, "'Tis yours, my lord," introduced into the midst of the high-flown adulation.
[115]This couplet was a triplet in the manuscript with the following middle line:
What bard, what angel, tunes the warbling strings?
What bard, what angel, tunes the warbling strings?
It is surprising that Pope did not feel the bathos of the expression, "'Tis yours, my lord," introduced into the midst of the high-flown adulation.
[116]Philips:And paint those honours thou art sure to wear.—Steevens.
[116]Philips:
And paint those honours thou art sure to wear.—Steevens.
And paint those honours thou art sure to wear.—Steevens.
[117]Meaning, I apprehend, the star of the knights of the Garter installed at Windsor.—Wakefield.The order was founded by Edward III., the builder of Windsor Castle, which further connected it with Pope's subject. Denham had celebrated the institution of the garter in Cooper's Hill, and Lord Lansdowne, in his Progress of Beauty, "sung the honours" in a few despicable verses, which certainly added no "lustre to the silver star."
[117]Meaning, I apprehend, the star of the knights of the Garter installed at Windsor.—Wakefield.
The order was founded by Edward III., the builder of Windsor Castle, which further connected it with Pope's subject. Denham had celebrated the institution of the garter in Cooper's Hill, and Lord Lansdowne, in his Progress of Beauty, "sung the honours" in a few despicable verses, which certainly added no "lustre to the silver star."
[118]All the lines that follow were not added to the poem till the year 1710 [1712]. What immediately followed this, and made the conclusion, were these;My humble muse in unambitious strainsPaints the green forests and the flow'ry plains;Where I obscurely pass my careless days,Pleased in the silent shade with empty praise,Enough for me that to the list'ning swainsFirst in these fields I sung the sylvan strains.—Pope.
[118]All the lines that follow were not added to the poem till the year 1710 [1712]. What immediately followed this, and made the conclusion, were these;
My humble muse in unambitious strainsPaints the green forests and the flow'ry plains;Where I obscurely pass my careless days,Pleased in the silent shade with empty praise,Enough for me that to the list'ning swainsFirst in these fields I sung the sylvan strains.—Pope.
My humble muse in unambitious strainsPaints the green forests and the flow'ry plains;Where I obscurely pass my careless days,Pleased in the silent shade with empty praise,Enough for me that to the list'ning swainsFirst in these fields I sung the sylvan strains.—Pope.
[119]Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, one of the first refiners of the English poetry; famous in the time of Henry VIII. for his sonnets, the scene of many of which is laid at Windsor.—Pope.
[119]Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, one of the first refiners of the English poetry; famous in the time of Henry VIII. for his sonnets, the scene of many of which is laid at Windsor.—Pope.
[120]The Fair Geraldine, the general object of Lord Surrey's passionate sonnets, was one of the daughters of Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare. In Warton's History of English Poetry, is a poem of the elegiac kind, in which Surrey laments his imprisonment in Windsor Castle.—Warton.
[120]The Fair Geraldine, the general object of Lord Surrey's passionate sonnets, was one of the daughters of Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare. In Warton's History of English Poetry, is a poem of the elegiac kind, in which Surrey laments his imprisonment in Windsor Castle.—Warton.
[121]The Mira of Granville was the Countess of Newburgh. Towards the end of her life Dr. King, of Oxford, wrote a very severe satire against her, in three hooks, called The Toast.—Warton.She proved in her conduct to be the reverse of "heavenly." "Granville," says Johnson, "wrote verses to her before he was three-and-twenty, and may be forgiven if he regarded the face more than the mind. Poets are sometimes in too much haste to praise."
[121]The Mira of Granville was the Countess of Newburgh. Towards the end of her life Dr. King, of Oxford, wrote a very severe satire against her, in three hooks, called The Toast.—Warton.
She proved in her conduct to be the reverse of "heavenly." "Granville," says Johnson, "wrote verses to her before he was three-and-twenty, and may be forgiven if he regarded the face more than the mind. Poets are sometimes in too much haste to praise."
[122]Not to recount those several kings, to whomIt gave a cradle, and to whom a tomb. Denham.—Bowles.
[122]
Not to recount those several kings, to whomIt gave a cradle, and to whom a tomb. Denham.—Bowles.
Not to recount those several kings, to whomIt gave a cradle, and to whom a tomb. Denham.—Bowles.
[123]Edward III. born here.—Pope.
[123]Edward III. born here.—Pope.
[124]David Bruce, king of Scotland, taken prisoner at the battle of Nevil's Cross, 1346, and John, king of France, captured at the battle of Poitiers, 1356. "Monarchs chained" conveys the idea of a rigorous imprisonment, and belies the chivalry, which was the pride of Edward and the Black Prince. David, who was the brother-in-law of Edward III., was subjected to so little constraint, that he was allowed to visit Scotland, and confer with his people on the terms of his ransom. John was received with royal honours in England, and during the whole of his residence here was surrounded with regal luxury and state.
[124]David Bruce, king of Scotland, taken prisoner at the battle of Nevil's Cross, 1346, and John, king of France, captured at the battle of Poitiers, 1356. "Monarchs chained" conveys the idea of a rigorous imprisonment, and belies the chivalry, which was the pride of Edward and the Black Prince. David, who was the brother-in-law of Edward III., was subjected to so little constraint, that he was allowed to visit Scotland, and confer with his people on the terms of his ransom. John was received with royal honours in England, and during the whole of his residence here was surrounded with regal luxury and state.
[125]Denham's Cooper's Hill:——Great Edward, and thy greater son,The lilies which his father wore, he won.Edward III. claimed the crown of France by descent, and quartered the French fleur-de-lis on his shield before the victories of the Black Prince had made the assumption something more than an empty boast.
[125]Denham's Cooper's Hill:
——Great Edward, and thy greater son,The lilies which his father wore, he won.
——Great Edward, and thy greater son,The lilies which his father wore, he won.
Edward III. claimed the crown of France by descent, and quartered the French fleur-de-lis on his shield before the victories of the Black Prince had made the assumption something more than an empty boast.
[126]Originally thus in the MS.When brass decays, when trophies lie o'er-thrown,And mould'ring into dust drops the proud stone,From Windsor's roofs, &c.—Warburton.
[126]Originally thus in the MS.
When brass decays, when trophies lie o'er-thrown,And mould'ring into dust drops the proud stone,From Windsor's roofs, &c.—Warburton.
When brass decays, when trophies lie o'er-thrown,And mould'ring into dust drops the proud stone,From Windsor's roofs, &c.—Warburton.
[127]He was a Neapolitan. Without much invention, and with less taste, his exuberant pencil was ready at pouring out gods, goddesses, kings, emperors, and triumphs, over those public surfaces on which the eye never rests long enough to criticise,—I mean ceilings and staircases. Charles II. consigned over Windsor to his pencil. He executed most of the ceilings there, one whole side of St. George's Hall, and the chapel. On the accession of James II., Verrio was again employed at Windsor in Wolsey's Tomb-house.—Horace Walpole.
[127]He was a Neapolitan. Without much invention, and with less taste, his exuberant pencil was ready at pouring out gods, goddesses, kings, emperors, and triumphs, over those public surfaces on which the eye never rests long enough to criticise,—I mean ceilings and staircases. Charles II. consigned over Windsor to his pencil. He executed most of the ceilings there, one whole side of St. George's Hall, and the chapel. On the accession of James II., Verrio was again employed at Windsor in Wolsey's Tomb-house.—Horace Walpole.
[128]Pope had in his head this couplet of Halifax:The wounded arm would furnish all their rooms,And bleed for ever scarlet in the looms.—Holt White.
[128]Pope had in his head this couplet of Halifax:
The wounded arm would furnish all their rooms,And bleed for ever scarlet in the looms.—Holt White.
The wounded arm would furnish all their rooms,And bleed for ever scarlet in the looms.—Holt White.
[129]Henry VI.—Pope.
[129]Henry VI.—Pope.
[130]Edward IV.—Pope.
[130]Edward IV.—Pope.
[131]The Land's End in Cornwall is called by Diodorus Siculus,Belerium promentorium, perhaps from Bellerus, one of the Cornish giants with which that country and the poems of old British bards were once filled.—T. Warton.
[131]The Land's End in Cornwall is called by Diodorus Siculus,Belerium promentorium, perhaps from Bellerus, one of the Cornish giants with which that country and the poems of old British bards were once filled.—T. Warton.
[132]Dryden's translation of the tenth Satire of Juvenal, ver. 236:Whom Afric was not able to containWhose length runs level with th' Atlantic main.—Wakefield.
[132]Dryden's translation of the tenth Satire of Juvenal, ver. 236:
Whom Afric was not able to containWhose length runs level with th' Atlantic main.—Wakefield.
Whom Afric was not able to containWhose length runs level with th' Atlantic main.—Wakefield.
[133]Dr. Chetwood's verses to Roscommon:Make warlike James's peaceful virtues known.—Wakefield.
[133]Dr. Chetwood's verses to Roscommon:
Make warlike James's peaceful virtues known.—Wakefield.
Make warlike James's peaceful virtues known.—Wakefield.
[134]Charles I. was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The precise spot was a matter of doubt till an accidental aperture was made in 1813 into the vault of Henry VIII., when a lead coffin was discovered bearing the inscription "King Charles, 1648." It was opened in the presence of the Regent; and the corpse was in a sufficient state of preservation to enable the spectators to recognise the likeness of the countenance to Vandyke's portraits of the king, and to ascertain that the head had been severed from the body.
[134]Charles I. was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The precise spot was a matter of doubt till an accidental aperture was made in 1813 into the vault of Henry VIII., when a lead coffin was discovered bearing the inscription "King Charles, 1648." It was opened in the presence of the Regent; and the corpse was in a sufficient state of preservation to enable the spectators to recognise the likeness of the countenance to Vandyke's portraits of the king, and to ascertain that the head had been severed from the body.
[135]Originally thus in the MS.Oh fact accurst! oh sacrilegious brood,Sworn to rebellion, principled in blood!Since that dire morn what tears has Albion shed,Gods! what new wounds, &c.—Warburton.
[135]Originally thus in the MS.
Oh fact accurst! oh sacrilegious brood,Sworn to rebellion, principled in blood!Since that dire morn what tears has Albion shed,Gods! what new wounds, &c.—Warburton.
Oh fact accurst! oh sacrilegious brood,Sworn to rebellion, principled in blood!Since that dire morn what tears has Albion shed,Gods! what new wounds, &c.—Warburton.
[136]To say that the plague in London, and its consumption by fire, were judgments inflicted by heaven for the murder of Charles I., is a very extraordinary stretch of tory principles indeed.—Warton.
[136]To say that the plague in London, and its consumption by fire, were judgments inflicted by heaven for the murder of Charles I., is a very extraordinary stretch of tory principles indeed.—Warton.
[137]This couplet is directed at the Revolution, considered by Pope, in common with all jacobites, to be a like public calamity with the plague and the fire of London.—Croker.Pope had in his mind, when he wrote the couplet, Creech's Hor., Ode xxxv. lib. 1.I blush at the dishonest show,I die to see the wounds and scars,Those glories of our civil wars.
[137]This couplet is directed at the Revolution, considered by Pope, in common with all jacobites, to be a like public calamity with the plague and the fire of London.—Croker.
Pope had in his mind, when he wrote the couplet, Creech's Hor., Ode xxxv. lib. 1.
I blush at the dishonest show,I die to see the wounds and scars,Those glories of our civil wars.
I blush at the dishonest show,I die to see the wounds and scars,Those glories of our civil wars.
[138]Thus in the MS.Till Anna rose, and bade the Furies cease;Let there be peace—she said, and all waspeace.—Warburton.It may be presumed that Pope varied the couplet from perceiving the impropriety of a parody on the fiat of the Creator.
[138]Thus in the MS.
Till Anna rose, and bade the Furies cease;Let there be peace—she said, and all waspeace.—Warburton.
Till Anna rose, and bade the Furies cease;Let there be peace—she said, and all waspeace.—Warburton.
It may be presumed that Pope varied the couplet from perceiving the impropriety of a parody on the fiat of the Creator.
[139]Dryden's Annus Mirabilis:Old Father Thames raised up his rev'rend head.And again, at the conclusion of his Threnodia Augustalis:While, starting from his oozy bed,Th' asserted ocean rears his rev'rend head.—Wakefield.The gods of rivers are invariably represented as old men.
[139]Dryden's Annus Mirabilis:
Old Father Thames raised up his rev'rend head.
Old Father Thames raised up his rev'rend head.
And again, at the conclusion of his Threnodia Augustalis:
While, starting from his oozy bed,Th' asserted ocean rears his rev'rend head.—Wakefield.
While, starting from his oozy bed,Th' asserted ocean rears his rev'rend head.—Wakefield.
The gods of rivers are invariably represented as old men.
[140]Spenser of Father Thames:his beard all grayDewed with silver drops that trickled down alway.—Wakefield.
[140]Spenser of Father Thames:
his beard all grayDewed with silver drops that trickled down alway.—Wakefield.
his beard all grayDewed with silver drops that trickled down alway.—Wakefield.
[141]Between verse 330 and 331, originally stood these lines;From shore to shore exulting shouts he heard,O'er all his banks a lambent light appeared,With sparkling flames heav'n's glowing concave shone,Fictitious stars, and glories not her own.He saw, and gently rose above the streamHis shining horns diffused a golden gleam:With pearl and gold his tow'ry front was drest,The tributes of the distant East and West.—Pope.
[141]Between verse 330 and 331, originally stood these lines;
From shore to shore exulting shouts he heard,O'er all his banks a lambent light appeared,With sparkling flames heav'n's glowing concave shone,Fictitious stars, and glories not her own.He saw, and gently rose above the streamHis shining horns diffused a golden gleam:With pearl and gold his tow'ry front was drest,The tributes of the distant East and West.—Pope.
From shore to shore exulting shouts he heard,O'er all his banks a lambent light appeared,With sparkling flames heav'n's glowing concave shone,Fictitious stars, and glories not her own.He saw, and gently rose above the streamHis shining horns diffused a golden gleam:With pearl and gold his tow'ry front was drest,The tributes of the distant East and West.—Pope.
[142]Horns were a classical attribute of rivers,—not I think, according to the common view, as a mark of dignity, but as a symbolical expression of the fact that the principal streams, like the ocean itself, are formed from a confluence of tributaries.—Croker.Pope's personification of the Thames is the echo of Addison's translation of a passage in Claudian, describing the deity of the Eridanus:His head above the floods he gently reared,And as he rose his golden horns appeared,That on the forehead shone divinely brightAnd o'er the banks diffused a yellow light:Beneath his arm an urn supported liesWith stars embellished, and fictitious skies.
[142]Horns were a classical attribute of rivers,—not I think, according to the common view, as a mark of dignity, but as a symbolical expression of the fact that the principal streams, like the ocean itself, are formed from a confluence of tributaries.—Croker.
Pope's personification of the Thames is the echo of Addison's translation of a passage in Claudian, describing the deity of the Eridanus:
His head above the floods he gently reared,And as he rose his golden horns appeared,That on the forehead shone divinely brightAnd o'er the banks diffused a yellow light:Beneath his arm an urn supported liesWith stars embellished, and fictitious skies.
His head above the floods he gently reared,And as he rose his golden horns appeared,That on the forehead shone divinely brightAnd o'er the banks diffused a yellow light:Beneath his arm an urn supported liesWith stars embellished, and fictitious skies.
[143]Augusta was the name which the Romans at one period gave to London. The representation of the god attended byAll little rivers, which owe vassalageTo him, as to their lord, and tribute pay,and the accompanying enumeration of the subsidiary streams, is closely imitated from the Faery Queen. Pope professes to describe the river-gods who stood round the throne of Father Thames, but he has confounded the river-gods with the rivers, and some of his epithets,—"winding Isis," "blue transparent Vandalis," "gulphy Lee,"—are not applicable to persons.
[143]Augusta was the name which the Romans at one period gave to London. The representation of the god attended by
All little rivers, which owe vassalageTo him, as to their lord, and tribute pay,
All little rivers, which owe vassalageTo him, as to their lord, and tribute pay,
and the accompanying enumeration of the subsidiary streams, is closely imitated from the Faery Queen. Pope professes to describe the river-gods who stood round the throne of Father Thames, but he has confounded the river-gods with the rivers, and some of his epithets,—"winding Isis," "blue transparent Vandalis," "gulphy Lee,"—are not applicable to persons.
[144]The river-gods were said to be the children of Oceanus and Tethys, but in the earlier mythology, Oceanus was himself ariver(not a sea), surrounding the earth, and the lesser rivers were his progeny.
[144]The river-gods were said to be the children of Oceanus and Tethys, but in the earlier mythology, Oceanus was himself ariver(not a sea), surrounding the earth, and the lesser rivers were his progeny.
[145]The Tamesis. It was a common but erroneous notion, that the appellation was formed from appending the name Isis to Thame.
[145]The Tamesis. It was a common but erroneous notion, that the appellation was formed from appending the name Isis to Thame.
[146]Warton observes that Pope has here copied and equalled the description of rivers in Spenser, Drayton, and Milton. The description is beautiful, but in some points it is deficient. "Winding Isis" and "fruitful Thame" are ill designated. No peculiar and visible image is added to the character of the streams, either interesting from beauty, or incidental circumstances. Most rivers wind and may be called fruitful, as well as the Isis and Thame. The latter part of the description is much more masterly, as every river has its distinctive mark, and that mark is picturesque. It may be said, however, that all the epithets, in a description of this sort, cannot be equally significant, but surely something more striking should have been given as circumstantially characteristic of such rivers as the Isis and Thames, than that they were "winding" and "fruitful," or of the Kennet that it was renowned for "silver eels."—Bowles.
[146]Warton observes that Pope has here copied and equalled the description of rivers in Spenser, Drayton, and Milton. The description is beautiful, but in some points it is deficient. "Winding Isis" and "fruitful Thame" are ill designated. No peculiar and visible image is added to the character of the streams, either interesting from beauty, or incidental circumstances. Most rivers wind and may be called fruitful, as well as the Isis and Thame. The latter part of the description is much more masterly, as every river has its distinctive mark, and that mark is picturesque. It may be said, however, that all the epithets, in a description of this sort, cannot be equally significant, but surely something more striking should have been given as circumstantially characteristic of such rivers as the Isis and Thames, than that they were "winding" and "fruitful," or of the Kennet that it was renowned for "silver eels."—Bowles.
[147]Drayton:The crystal Trent for fords and fish renowned.—Bowles.The Kennet is not linked by Pope to any poetical association when he simply says that it is "renowned for silver eels," but Spenser brings a delightful picture before the eye when he speaks of thestill Darent in whose waters cleanTen thousand fishes play, and deck his pleasant stream.
[147]Drayton:
The crystal Trent for fords and fish renowned.—Bowles.
The crystal Trent for fords and fish renowned.—Bowles.
The Kennet is not linked by Pope to any poetical association when he simply says that it is "renowned for silver eels," but Spenser brings a delightful picture before the eye when he speaks of the
still Darent in whose waters cleanTen thousand fishes play, and deck his pleasant stream.
still Darent in whose waters cleanTen thousand fishes play, and deck his pleasant stream.
[148]Addison:Where silver lakes with verdant shadows crowned.
[148]Addison:
Where silver lakes with verdant shadows crowned.
Where silver lakes with verdant shadows crowned.
[149]Several of Pope's epithets are borrowed, although he has not always coupled them with the same streams to which they are applied in his originals. For "Kennet swift" Milton has "Severn swift," and for "chalky Wey" Spenser has "chalky Kennet."
[149]Several of Pope's epithets are borrowed, although he has not always coupled them with the same streams to which they are applied in his originals. For "Kennet swift" Milton has "Severn swift," and for "chalky Wey" Spenser has "chalky Kennet."
[150]The Wandle.—Croker.
[150]The Wandle.—Croker.
[151]Milton has "gulphy Dun" and "sedgy Lee," and Pope combined the characteristics. The remainder of the couplet is from Addison's translation of a passage in Claudian:Her dropping locks the silver Tessin rears,The blue transparent Adda next appears.
[151]Milton has "gulphy Dun" and "sedgy Lee," and Pope combined the characteristics. The remainder of the couplet is from Addison's translation of a passage in Claudian:
Her dropping locks the silver Tessin rears,The blue transparent Adda next appears.
Her dropping locks the silver Tessin rears,The blue transparent Adda next appears.
[152]Milton's Vacation Exercise:Or sullen Mole, that runneth underneath.—Wakefield.The Mole at particular spots, called the swallows, sinks through crevices in the chalk, and during dry seasons, when there is not sufficient water to till both the subterranean and the upper channel, the bed of the river is laid bare in parts of its course. The stream sometimes entirely disappears from Burford-bridge to the neighbourhood of Thorncroft-bridge, a distance of nearly three miles.
[152]Milton's Vacation Exercise:
Or sullen Mole, that runneth underneath.—Wakefield.
Or sullen Mole, that runneth underneath.—Wakefield.
The Mole at particular spots, called the swallows, sinks through crevices in the chalk, and during dry seasons, when there is not sufficient water to till both the subterranean and the upper channel, the bed of the river is laid bare in parts of its course. The stream sometimes entirely disappears from Burford-bridge to the neighbourhood of Thorncroft-bridge, a distance of nearly three miles.
[153]Drayton:And the old Lee brags of the Danish blood.—Bowles.Pope's epithet "silent" was suggested by "the still Darent" of Spenser, and the same poet had said of the Eden that it was——stained with blood of many a bandOf Scots and English.
[153]Drayton:
And the old Lee brags of the Danish blood.—Bowles.
And the old Lee brags of the Danish blood.—Bowles.
Pope's epithet "silent" was suggested by "the still Darent" of Spenser, and the same poet had said of the Eden that it was
——stained with blood of many a bandOf Scots and English.
——stained with blood of many a bandOf Scots and English.
[154]Addison's translation of an extract from Ovid:While thus she rested on her arm reclined,The hoary willows waving with the wind.
[154]Addison's translation of an extract from Ovid:
While thus she rested on her arm reclined,The hoary willows waving with the wind.
While thus she rested on her arm reclined,The hoary willows waving with the wind.
[155]The river god bowing respectfully to his human audience, before he commenced his speech, is a ludicrous idea, into which Pope was seduced by his courtly desire to represent even the deities as doing homage to Queen Anne.
[155]The river god bowing respectfully to his human audience, before he commenced his speech, is a ludicrous idea, into which Pope was seduced by his courtly desire to represent even the deities as doing homage to Queen Anne.
[156]So Dryden, Æneis, x. 156:The winds their breath restrain,And the hushed waves lie flatted on the main.—Wakefield.Pope's lines are compiled from the passage quoted by Wakefield and a couplet in the Court Prospect of Hopkins:Unrolling waves steal softly to the shore,They know their sovereign and they fear to roar.
[156]So Dryden, Æneis, x. 156:
The winds their breath restrain,And the hushed waves lie flatted on the main.—Wakefield.
The winds their breath restrain,And the hushed waves lie flatted on the main.—Wakefield.
Pope's lines are compiled from the passage quoted by Wakefield and a couplet in the Court Prospect of Hopkins:
Unrolling waves steal softly to the shore,They know their sovereign and they fear to roar.
Unrolling waves steal softly to the shore,They know their sovereign and they fear to roar.
[157]The Hermus is characterised by Virgil as "turbid with gold." The property was more usually ascribed to its tributary, the Pactolus, but there was no gold in either.
[157]The Hermus is characterised by Virgil as "turbid with gold." The property was more usually ascribed to its tributary, the Pactolus, but there was no gold in either.
[158]An undoubted imitation, I think, of Dr. Bathurst's verses on Selden:As when old Nilus, who with bounteous flowsWaters a hundred nations as he goes,Scattering rich harvests, keeps his sacred headAmidst the clouds still undiscovered.Homer denominates the Nile, whose sources were unknown, a river that falls from Jupiter or heaven. And our countryman calls it sevenfold, as Ovid before himseptemfluus, and Catullus still earlierseptemgeminus, from the seven mouths by which its waters are discharged into the Mediterranean.—Wakefield.
[158]An undoubted imitation, I think, of Dr. Bathurst's verses on Selden:
As when old Nilus, who with bounteous flowsWaters a hundred nations as he goes,Scattering rich harvests, keeps his sacred headAmidst the clouds still undiscovered.
As when old Nilus, who with bounteous flowsWaters a hundred nations as he goes,Scattering rich harvests, keeps his sacred headAmidst the clouds still undiscovered.
Homer denominates the Nile, whose sources were unknown, a river that falls from Jupiter or heaven. And our countryman calls it sevenfold, as Ovid before himseptemfluus, and Catullus still earlierseptemgeminus, from the seven mouths by which its waters are discharged into the Mediterranean.—Wakefield.
[159]Originally thus in the MS.Let Venice boast her tow'rs amidst the main,Where the rough Adrian swells and roars in vain;Here not a town, but spacious realms shall haveA sure foundation on the rolling wave.—Warburton.This he altered with his usual discernment, on account of the mean conceit in the equivocal use of the word "foundation."—Wakefield.
[159]Originally thus in the MS.
Let Venice boast her tow'rs amidst the main,Where the rough Adrian swells and roars in vain;Here not a town, but spacious realms shall haveA sure foundation on the rolling wave.—Warburton.
Let Venice boast her tow'rs amidst the main,Where the rough Adrian swells and roars in vain;Here not a town, but spacious realms shall haveA sure foundation on the rolling wave.—Warburton.
This he altered with his usual discernment, on account of the mean conceit in the equivocal use of the word "foundation."—Wakefield.
[160]This alludes to General Stanhope's campaigns on the Ebro, and the Duke of Marlborough's on the Danube.—Croker.In saying that British blood should no more dye foreign lands, Pope meant to furnish an argument for the Peace by intimating that the war was kept up, at the sacrifice of English life, for the benefit of other nations.
[160]This alludes to General Stanhope's campaigns on the Ebro, and the Duke of Marlborough's on the Danube.—Croker.
In saying that British blood should no more dye foreign lands, Pope meant to furnish an argument for the Peace by intimating that the war was kept up, at the sacrifice of English life, for the benefit of other nations.
[161]In the manuscript:O'er all the Forests shall appear no trace.
[161]In the manuscript:
O'er all the Forests shall appear no trace.
O'er all the Forests shall appear no trace.
[162]And certainly sufficient ferocity is displayed even in these amusements. Cowley says,And all his malice, all his craft is shownIn innocent wars, on beasts and birds alone.His commentator, Dr. Hurd, remarks in a spirit that endears him to the reader, "Innocent, he means, in comparison with wars on his own kind."—Wakefield.
[162]And certainly sufficient ferocity is displayed even in these amusements. Cowley says,
And all his malice, all his craft is shownIn innocent wars, on beasts and birds alone.
And all his malice, all his craft is shownIn innocent wars, on beasts and birds alone.
His commentator, Dr. Hurd, remarks in a spirit that endears him to the reader, "Innocent, he means, in comparison with wars on his own kind."—Wakefield.