FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[1]This poem is introduced in the manner of the Provençal poets, whose works were for the most part visions, or pieces of imagination, and constantly descriptive. From these, Petrarch and Chaucer frequently borrow the idea of their poems. See the Trionfi of the former, and the Dream, Flower and the Leaf, &c. of the latter. The author of this therefore chose the same sort of exordium.—Pope.[2]Dryden, Virg. Geor. ii. 456:And boldly trust their buds in open air.In this soft season.—Wakefield.Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Where Venus from her orb descends in show'rsTo glad the ground, and paint the fields with flow'rs.[3]Dryden, Geor. iii. 500:But when the western winds with vital pow'rCall forth the tender grass, and budding flow'r.—Wakefield.[4]Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Salute the welcome sun and entertain the day.[5]That admirable term "relenting" might probably be furnished by Ogilby at the beginning of the first Georgic:And harder glebe relents with vernal winds.—Wakefield.[6]Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Cares I had none to keep me from my rest,For love had never entered in my breast.[7]Morning dreams were thought the most significant. Thus Dryden, in his version of the Tale of the Nun's Priest:Believe me, madam, morning dreams foreshowTh' events of things, and future weal or woe.[8]Cowley, in his Complaint:In a deep vision's intellectual scene;and Mrs. Singer's Vision:No wild uncouth chimeras interveneTo break the perfect intellectual scene.—Wakefield.[9]Dryden, Ovid, Met. xii.:Full in the midst of this created space,Betwixt heav'n, earth, and skies, there stands a placeConfining on all three.—Wakefield.[10]This verse was formed from a very fine one in Paradise Lost, vii. 242:And earth self-balanced on her center hung.—Wakefield.[11]Addison's translation of a passage from Ausonius:And intermingled temples rise between.[12]These verses are hinted from the following of Chaucer, book ii.:Tho beheld I fields and plains,And now hills, and now mountains,Now valeys, and now forestes,And now unnethes great bestes,Now riveres, now citees,Now townes, and now great trees,Now shippes sayling in the sea.—Pope.Dennis objected to Pope's version that "if the whole creation was open to his eyes" he must be too high "to discern such minute objects as ships and trees." But the imagination in dreams conjures up appearances which are beyond the compass of the waking powers, and it is therefore strictly natural to represent events as passing in visions, which would be unnatural in actual life. Added to this, Pope had before him Ovid's description of the house of Fame, which is endued with the property of enabling the beholder to distinguish the smallest objects however remote:Unde quod est usquam, quamvis regionibus absit,Inspicitur.Or as Sandys translates it,Where all that's done, though far removed, appears.[13]Dryden's translation of Ovid's Met. book xii.:Confused and chiding, like the hollow roarOf tides, receding from th' insulted shore;Or like the broken thunder heard from farWhen Jove at distance drives the rolling war.This is more poetically expressed than the same image in our author. Dryden's lines are superior to the original.—Warton.Pope copied Dryden's translation of Ovid, and for this reason did not quote the parallel passage from Chaucer's second book of the House of Fame, where the eagle, when they come within hearing of the swell of indistinct voices, holds a colloquy with the poet on the phenomenon:"And what sound is it like?" quoth he."Peter! beating of the sea,"Quoth I, "against the rockes hollow,When tempest doth the shippes swallow,Or elles like the last humblingAfter the clap of a thundring.""Peter" is an exclamation; and the sense is, "By St. Peter it is like the beating of the sea against the hollow rocks." In Pope's poem no cause is assigned for the "wild promiscuous sound." In Chaucer it is produced by the confluence of the talk upon earth, every word of which is conveyed to the House of Fame.[14]Chaucer's third book of Fame:It stood upon so high a rock,Higher standeth none in Spayne—What manner stone this rock was,For it was like a lymed glass,But that it shone full more clere;But of what congeled matereIt was, I niste redily;But at the last espied I,And found that it was every dele,A rock of ice and not of stele.—Pope.The temple of Fame is represented on a foundation of ice, to signify the brittle nature and precarious tenure, as well as the difficult attainment of that possession, according to the poet himself below, ver. 504:So hard to gain, so easy to be lost.—Wakefield.Having complained that it was contrary to the laws of sight to suppose that a prospect in sleep could be extended beyond the ordinary range of mortal vision, Dennis proceeds to contend that for a rock to be sustained in the air was contrary to the eternal laws of gravitation, "which," says Pope sarcastically, in a manuscript note, "no dream ought to be." The cavil of Dennis was as false in science as in criticism, for it is not more contrary to the laws of gravitation for a rock to be suspended in space than for the earth itself.[15]Dryden, Æneis, vi. 193:Smooth the descent, and easy is the way.[16]Tho saw I all the hill y-graveWith famous folkes names fele.That had been in muchel weleAnd her fames wide y-blow;But well unneth might I knowAny letters for to redeTheir names by, for, out of drede,They weren almost off-thawen so,That of the letters one or twoWere molte away of every name,So unfamous was woxe their fame;But men said what may ever last.—Pope.[17]Tho gan I in myne harte cast,That they were molte away for heate,And not away with stormes beate.—Pope.[18]Does not this use of the heat of the sun appear to be a puerile and far-fetched conceit? What connection is there betwixt the two sorts of excesses here mentioned? My purpose in animadverting so frequently as I have done on this species of false thoughts is to guard the reader, especially of the younger sort, from being betrayed by the authority of so correct a writer as Pope into such specious and false refinements of style.—Warton.Not only is the comparison defective, but the fundamental idea is unfounded, for though excess of admiration may produce a temporary reaction, the opinion of the world oscillates back to the middle line, and no instance can be quoted of an author who has finally lost his due reputation because he had once been overpraised. Chaucer makes a different use of the image. In his poem the north side of the icy mountain bears the names of the ancients which were safe from injury. The sunny side bears the names of the moderns, and he perhaps intended to intimate his opinion that the reason why their fame was less durable than that of the Greeks and Romans was that they were a more luxurious race, and did not in the same degree "scorn delights, and live laborious days" for the sake of producing immortal works.[19]For on that other side I seyOf that hill which northward ley,How it was written full of namesOf folke, that had afore great fames,Of olde time, and yet they wereAs fresh as men had written hem thereThe self day, right or that houreThat I upon hem gan to poure:But well I wiste what it made;It was conserved with the shade(All the writing that I sye)Of the castle that stoode on high,And stood eke in so cold a place,That heate might it not deface.—Pope.[20]Though a strict verisimilitude be not required in the descriptions of this visionary and allegorical kind of poetry, which admits of every wild object that fancy may present in a dream, and where it is sufficient if the moral meaning atone for the improbability, yet men are naturally so desirous of truth that a reader is generally pleased, in such a case, with some excuse or allusion that seems to reconcile the description to probability and nature. The simile here is of that sort, and renders it not wholly unlikely that a rock of ice should remain for ever by mentioning something like it in our northern regions agreeing with the accounts of our modern travellers.—Pope.[21]"Mountainsproppingthe sky" was one of those vicious common-places of poetry which falsify natural appearances.[22]A real lover of painting will not be contented with a single view and examination of this beautiful winter-piece; but will return to it again and again with fresh delight. The images are distinct, and the epithets lively and appropriate, especially the words "pale," "unfelt," "impassive," "incumbent," "gathered."—Warton.[23]This excellent line was perhaps suggested by a fine couplet in Addison's translation of an extract from Silius Italicus:Stiff with eternal ice, and hid in snow,That fell a thousand centuries ago.[24]Dryden's Hind and Panther:Eternal house not built with mortal hands.[25]The temple is described to be square, the four fronts with open gates facing the different quarters of the world, as an intimation that all nations of the earth may alike be received into it. The western front is of Grecian architecture: the Doric order was peculiarly sacred to heroes and worthies. Those whose statues are after mentioned, were the first names of old Greece in arms and arts.—Pope.The exterior of the Doric temples abounded in sculptured figures, which may be the reason that Pope supposes the order to have been "peculiarly sacred to heroes and worthies," but it may be doubted whether he had any good grounds for his assertion.[26]The expression literally interpreted would signify that the gates were placed on the top of columns. Pope could not have had such a preposterous notion in his mind, and the meaning must be that the lofty gates were hung upon columns. He copied a couplet in Dryden's Æneis, vi. 744, where the translation misrepresents the original:Wide is the fronting gate, and raised on highWith adamantine columns, threats the sky.[27]Addison's Vision of the Table of Fame, in the Tatler: "In the midst there stood a palace of a very glorious structure; it had four great folding doors that faced the four several quarters of the world."Charles Dryden's translation of the seventh Satire of Juvenal, ver. 245:Behold how raised on highA banquet house salutes the southern sky.[28]Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. iii. 142:No Thracian born,But in that town which arms and arts adorn.[29]In the early editions:The fourfold walls in breathing statues grace.Addison in his Letter from Italy had called the Roman statues "breathing rocks."[30]Addison's Letter from Italy:Or teach their animated rocks to live.And emperors in Parian marble frown.[31]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 714:Doric pillars overlaidWith golden architrave, nor did there wantCornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven.—Wakefield.[32]Dryden, Ovid's Met. book xii.:An ample goblet stood of antique mouldAnd rough with figures of the rising gold.Dryden, Æn. viii. 830:And Roman triumphs rising on the gold.Addison's Letter from Italy:And pillars rough with sculpture pierce the skies.[33]This legendary hero was an Athenian knight-errant who, in imitation of Hercules, went about doing battle with the scourges of mankind, both human and animal.[34]Minerva presented Perseus with her shield when he undertook to kill the Gorgon, Medusa.[35]This figure of Hercules is drawn with an eye to the position of the famous statue of Farnese.—Pope.It were to be wished that our author, whose knowledge and taste of the fine arts were unquestionable, had taken more pains in describing so famous a statue as that of the Farnesian Hercules; for he has omitted the characteristical excellencies of this famous piece of Grecian workmanship; namely, the uncommon breadth of the shoulders, the knottiness and spaciousness of the chest, the firmness and protuberance of the muscles in each limb, particularly the legs, and the majestic vastness of the whole figure, undoubtedly designed by the artist to give a full idea of strength, as the Venus de Medicis of beauty. To mention the Hesperian apples, which the artist flung backwards, and almost concealed as an inconsiderable object, and which therefore scarcely appear in the statue, was below the notice of Pope.—Warton.Addison's Vision: "At the upper end sat Hercules, leaning an arm upon his club."[36]The pause at the word "strikes" renders the verse finely descriptive of the circumstance. Milton, in Par. Lost, xi. 491, has attempted this beauty with success:And over them triumphant Death his dartShook, but delayed to strike.—Wakefield.[37]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 710:a fabric hugeRose like an exhalation.—Bowles.[38]"Trees," says Dennis, "starting from their roots, a mountain rolling into a wall, and a town rising like an exhalation are things that are not to be shown in sculpture." This objection, that "motion is represented as exhibited by sculpture," is said by Johnson, "to be the most reasonable of Dennis' remarks," but Dennis neutralised his own criticism when he added, that "sculpture can indeed show posture and position, and from posture and position we may conclude that the objects are in motion."[39]Wakefield quotes from Milton (Par. Lost, ii. 4), the expression, "barbaric pearl and gold," and from Addison's translation of the second book of Ovid's Met. the line in which it is said that the palace of the sunWith burnished gold and flaming jewels blazed.[40]Cyrus was the beginning of the Persian, as Ninus was of the Assyrian monarchy.—Pope.[41]The Magi and Chaldæans (the chief of whom was Zoroaster) employed their studies upon magic and astrology, which was, in a manner, almost all the learning of the ancient Asian people. We have scarce any account of a moral philosopher, except Confucius, the great law-giver of the Chinese, who lived about two thousand years ago.—Pope.There are several mistakes in Pope's note. Zoroaster was not a magician who "waved the circling wand" of the necromancer. "The Magians," says Plato, "teach the magic of Zoroaster, but this is the worship of the Gods." His creed was theological, and had no connexion with sorcery. Some of his nominal followers subsequently professed to be fortune-tellers. Astrology was not a general characteristic of the diverse nations who constituted the "ancient Asian people," and their learning was by no means limited to it. The Hindoos, for instance, were the precursors of Aristotle in logic, and the earliest metaphysicians whose doctrines have come down to us. "The Indian philosophy," says M. Cousin, "is so vast that all the philosophical systems are represented there, and we may literally affirm that it is an abridgment of the entire history of philosophy." Nor was Confucius the only oriental "law-giver who taught the useful science to be good." The Hindoo body of laws, which bears the name of Menu, was compiled centuries before Confucius was born, and it is eminently a moral and religious, as well as a political code.[42]It was often erroneously stated that the Brahmins dwelt always in groves. By the laws of Menu the life of a Brahmin was divided into four portions, and it was during the third portion only that he was commanded to become an anchorite in the woods, to sleep on the bare ground, to feed on roots and fruit, to go clad in bark or the skin of the black antelope, and to expose himself to the drenching rain and scorching sun. The caste have ceased to conform to the primitive discipline, and the old asceticism is now confined to individual devotees. The functions which Pope ascribes to the Brahmins formed no part of their practices. They did not pretend to "stop the moon," and summon spirits to "midnight banquets." Pope copied Oldham's version of Virgil's eighth Eclogue:Charms in her wonted course can stop the moon.[43]Addison's translation of a passage in Claudian:Thin airy shapes, that o'er the furrows rise,A dreadful scene! and skim before his eyes.[44]Dryden's Palamon and Arcite:And sigils framed in planetary hours.Dryden's Virgil, Æn. vii. 25:That watched the moon and planetary hour.[45]Confucius flourished about two thousand three hundred years ago, just before Pythagoras. He taught justice, obedience to parents, humility, and universal benevolence: and he practised these virtues when he was a first minister, and when he was reduced to poverty and exile.—Warton.[46]The learning of the old Egyptian priests consisted for the most part in geometry and astronomy: they also preserved the history of their nation. Their greatest hero upon record is Sesostris, whose actions and conquests may be seen at large in Diodorus, &c. He is said to have caused the kings he vanquished to draw him in his chariot. The posture of his statue, in these verses, is correspondent to the description which Herodotus gives of one of them, remaining in his own time.—Pope.[47]The colossal statue of the celebrated Eastern tyrant is not very strongly imagined. The word "hold" is particularly feeble.—Warton.[48]Virgil's giant Bitias, Æn. ix. 958, has in Dryden's translation, quoted by Wakefield, "a coat of double mail with scales of gold."[49]Two flatter lines upon such a subject cannot well be imagined.—Bowles.[50]The architecture is agreeable to that part of the world.—Pope.[51]The learning of the northern nations lay more obscure than that of the rest. Zamolxis was the disciple of Pythagoras, who taught the immortality of the soul to the Scythians.—Pope.They worshipped Zamolxis, and thought they should go to him when they died. He was said by the Greeks who dwelt on the shores of the Hellespont, to have been the slave of Pythagoras before he became the instructor of his countrymen, but Herodotus believed that if Zamolxis ever existed, he was long anterior to the Greek philosopher.[52]Odin, or Woden, was the great legislator and hero of the Goths. They tell us of him, that, being subject to fits, he persuaded his followers, that during those trances he received inspirations, from whence he dictated his laws. He is said to have been the inventor of the Runic characters.—Pope.[53]Pope borrowed this idea from the passage he quotes at ver. 179, where Chaucer describes Statius as standingUpon an iron pillar strongThat painted was, all endelong,With tigers' blood in every place.[54]These were the priests and poets of those people, so celebrated for their savage virtue. Those heroic barbarians accounted it a dishonour to die in their beds, and rushed on to certain death in the prospect of an after-life, and for the glory of a song from their bards in praise of their actions.—Pope.The opinion was general among the Goths that men who died natural deaths went into vast caves underground, all dark and miry, full of noisome creatures, and there for ever grovelled in stench and misery. On the contrary, all who died in battle went to the hall of Odin, their god of war, where they were entertained at infinite tables in perpetual feasts, carousing in bowls made of the skulls of the enemies they had slain.—Sir W. Temple.[55]It shone lighter than a glass,And made well more than it was,To semen every thing, ywis,As kind of thinge Fames is.—Pope.[56]Addison's Vision: "On a sudden the trumpet sounded; the whole fabric shook, and the doors flew open."[57]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 717:The roof was fretted gold.—Wakefield.[58]The exterior of Chaucer's House of Fame,Both the castle, and the towerAnd eke the hall, and every bowerwas of beryl, which Pope transfers to the inside of the building. Chaucer says of the interior thatEvery wallOf it, and floor, and roof, and allWas plated half a foote thickOf gold.This gold was covered, as grass clothes a meadow, with jewelled ornamentsFine, of the finest stones fairThat men read in the Lapidaire.[59]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 726:From the arched roofPendent by subtle magic many a rowOf starry lamps and blazing cressets, fedWith Naptha and Asphaltus, yielded lightAs from a sky.—Wakefield.[60]Addison's Vision: "A band of historians took their station at each door."[61]Alexander the Great. The tiara was the crown peculiar to the Asian princes. His desire to be thought the son of Jupiter Ammon, caused him to wear the horns of that god, and to represent the same upon his coins, which was continued by several of his successors.—Pope.[62]Dryden, Ode to St. Cecilia:A dragon's fiery form belied the god.—Bowles.[63]As a warrior and a man of letters; for skill in both capacities was supposed to be due to Minerva.[64]Prior, in his Carmen Seculare, says of William III.,How o'er himself as o'er the world he reigns.[65]A concise and masterly stroke, which at once sets before us the mixture of character, which appears in that extraordinary man, Julius Cæsar.—Bowles.[66]"In other illustrious men you will observe that each possessed some one shining quality, which was the foundation of his fame: in Epaminondas all the virtues are found united; force of body, eloquence of expression, vigour of mind, contempt of riches, gentleness of disposition, and, what is chiefly to be regarded, courage and conduct in war."—Diodorus Siculus, lib. xv.—Warton.[67]Timoleon had saved the life of his brother Timophanes in the battle between the Argives and Corinthians; but afterwards killed him when he affected the tyranny, preferring his duty to his country to all the obligations of blood.—Pope.Pope followed the narrative of Diodorus. Plutarch says that Timoleon did not strike the blow, but stood by weeping, and giving his passive countenance to the assassins. Some of the Corinthians applauded, and some execrated his conduct. He was soon overtaken with remorse, and shunning the haunts of men he passed years in anguish of mind.[68]This triplet was not in the first edition.[69]In the first edition,Here too the wise and good their honours claim,Much-suff'ring heroes of less noisy fame.Pope did not perceive that in the attempt to improve the poetry he had introduced an inconsistency. He winds up the preceding group of patriots with the "wise Aurelius," whom he celebrates as an example of "unbounded virtue," and the "much-suffering heroes" could not be instances of "less guilty fame" than a man whose virtue was unbounded. The classification was probably suggested by Addison's Vision in the Tatler of the Three Roads of Life, and having his original in his mind when he composed his poem, Pope avoided the inconsistency which he subsequently imported into the passage. "The persons," says Addison, "who travelled up this great path, were such whose thoughts were bent upon doing eminent services to mankind, or promoting the good of their country. On each side of this great road were several paths. These were most of them covered walks, and received into them men of retired virtue, who proposed to themselves the same end of their journey, though they chose to make it in shade and obscurity."[70]The names which follow are inappropriate examples of "fair virtue'ssilenttrain." The first on the list spent his days in promulgating his philosophy, and they were all energetic public characters who made a stir in the world. When Pope originated the expression, he must have been thinking of the unobtrusive virtues of private life, and he probably added the illustrations later without observing the incongruity.[71]Aristides, who for his great integrity was distinguished by the appellation of the Just. When his countrymen would have banished him by the ostracism, where it was the custom for every man to sign the name of the person he voted to exile in an oyster-shell, a peasant, who could not write, came to Aristides to do it for him, who readily signed his own name.—Pope.[72]Who, when he was about to drink the hemlock, charged his son to forgive his enemies, and not to revenge his death on those Athenians who had decreed it.—Warton.He was condemned to deathB. C.317, at the age of 85, on the charge of treason to his country. Mistrusting the ability of Athens to maintain its independence, he connived at the dominion of the Macedonian kings. Many of those who admit his integrity contend that his policy was mistaken and unpatriotic. His party regained the ascendancy after his death, honoured his remains with a public funeral, and erected a statue of brass to his memory.[73]Very unpoetically designated. Agis might as well have been left out, if all that could be said of him was that he was "not the last of Spartan names."—Bowles.Agis, king of Sparta, was celebrated for his attempt to restore the ancient Spartan regulations. Especially he was anxious to resume the excess of land possessed by the rich and divide it among the poor. He failed in his design, and was dethroned, and beheaded. At his execution one of the officers of justice shed tears. "Lament me not," said Agis; "I am happier than my murderers."[74]In the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey, Cato sided with Pompey, and when the cause was lost, he stabbed himself in the bowels to avoid being captured. He was found by his friends insensible, but alive, and a physician began to sew up the wound. Cato recovered his consciousness, pushed away the physician, tore open the wound, and expired.[75]A horrible spectre appeared to Brutus while he sat meditating in his tent at night. "What art thou?" said Brutus, "and what is thy business with me?" "I am thy evil genius," replied the spectre; "thou wilt see me at Philippi." At Philippi the spectre rose up again before him on the night preceding the battle in which he suffered a total defeat. He destroyed himself in the night which followed.[76]In the midst of the Temple, nearest the throne of Fame, are placed the greatest names in learning of all antiquity. These are described in such attitudes as express their different characters. The columns on which they are raised are adorned with sculptures, taken from the most striking subjects of their works, which sculpture bears a resemblance, in its manner and character, to the manner and character of their writings.—Pope.This was a trite device, and is poorly applied in the present instance. "The manner and character of the writings" of Homer, Virgil, Pindar, Horace, Aristotle, and Cicero could hardly have been described in a vaguer and more common-place way.[77]From the dees many a pillere,Of metal that shone not full clere, &c.Upon a pillere saw I stondeThat was of lede and iron fine,Him of the sect Saturnine,The Ebraike Josephus the old, &c.Upon an iron piller strong,That painted was all endelong,With tigers' blood in every place,The Tholosan that highte Stace,That bare of Thebes up the fame, &c.—Pope.[78]Full wonder hye on a pillereOf iron, he the great Omer,And with him Dares and Titus, &c.—Pope.[79]Pope has selected from Homer only three subjects as the most interesting: Diomed wounding Venus, Hector slaying Patroclus, and the same Hector dragged along at the wheels of Achilles' chariot. Are these the most affecting and striking incidents of the Iliad? But it is highly worth remarking, that this very incident of dragging the body of Hector thrice round the walls of Troy, is absolutely not mentioned by Homer. Heyne thinks that Virgil, for he first mentioned it, adopted the circumstance from some Greek tragedy on the subject.—Warton.[80]There saw I stand on a pillereThat was of tinned iron cleere,The Latin poete Virgyle,That hath bore up of a great whileThe fame of pious Æneas.And next him on a pillere wasOf copper, Venus' clerk Ovide,That hath y-sowen wondrous wideThe great God of Love's name—Tho saw I on a pillere byOf iron wrought full sternely,The greate poet Dan Lucan,That on his shoulders bore up thanAs high as that I mighte see,The fame of Julius and Pompee.And next him on a pillere stoodeOf sulphur, like as he were woode,Dan Claudian, sothe for to tell,That bare up all the fame of hell, &c.—Pope.Since Homer is placed by Chaucer upon a pillar of iron, he places Virgil upon iron tinned over, to indicate that the Æneis was based upon the Iliad and was both more polished and less vigorous. The sulphur upon which Claudian stands, is typical of the hell he described in his poem on the Rape of Proserpine. Ovid, the poet of love, is put upon a pillar of copper, because copper was the metal of Venus; and Lucan, like Homer, has a pillar of iron allotted to him because he celebrated in his Pharsalia the wars of Cæsar and Pompey, and, as Chaucer says,Iron Martes metal is,Which that god is of battaile.[81]Wakefield supposes that "modest majesty" was suggested by Milton's phrase, "modest pride," in Par. Lost, iv. 310.[82]For this expression Wakefield quotes Dryden, Æn. vi. 33.There too in living sculpture might be seenThe mad affection of the Cretan queen.[83]The rhyme is dearly purchased by such an inexcusable inversion as "silver blight."[84]Pindar being seated in a chariot, alludes to the chariot races he celebrated in the Grecian games. The swans are emblems of poetry, their soaring posture intimates the sublimity and activity of his genius. Neptune presided over the Isthmian, and Jupiter over the Olympian games.—Pope.[85]A. Philips, Past. v. 95.He sinks into the cords with solemn pace,To give the swelling tones a bolder grace.—Wakefield.[86]"Distorted," which is always used in an unfavourable sense, is a disparaging epithet by which to characterise the vehement eagerness of the champions. It is not clear who or what they "threaten," whether the horses or each other, and in either case there is nothing "great" in the image of a person uttering threats in a "distorted posture."[87]This expresses the mixed character of the odes of Horace: the second of these verses alludes to that line of his,Spiritum Graiæ tenuem camœnæ,as another which follows, toExegi monumentum ære perennius.The action of the doves hints at a passage in the fourth ode of his third book:Me fabulosæ Vulture in ApuloAltricis extra limen Apuliæ,Ludo fatigatumque somno,Fronde nova puerum palumbesTexêre; mirum quod foret omnibus—Ut tuto ab atris corpore viperisDormirem et ursis; ut premerer sacraLauroque, collataque myrto,Non sine Dîs animosus infans.Which may be thus Englished:While yet a child, I chanced to stray,And in a desert sleeping lay;The savage race withdrew, nor daredTo touch the muses' future bard;But Cytherea's gentle doveMyrtles and bays around me spread,And crowned your infant poet's headSacred to music and to love.—Pope.In addition to these passages, he had in his mind Hor. Epist. lib. i. 19, quoted by Wakefield:Temperat Archilochi Musam pede mascula Sappho,Temperat Alcæus.[88]Horace speaking, in his ode to Augustus, of the relative glory of different families, says that the Julian star shone among all the rest as the moon shines among the lesser lights. The star referred to the comet which appeared for seven days the year after the death of Julius Cæsar, and which was supposed to indicate that he had become a deity in the heavens. A star was sculptured in consequence on his statue in the forum.[89]Surely he might have selected for the basso rilievos about the statue of Horace ornaments more manly and characteristical of his genius.—Warton.[90]A very tame and lifeless verse indeed, alluding to the treatise of Aristotle "concerning animals."—Wakefield.[91]Pope here refers to Aristotle's treatise on the Heavens.[92]This beautiful attitude is copied from a statue in the collection which Lady Pomfret presented to the University of Oxford.—Warton.[93]Addison's translation of some lines from Sannazarius:And thou whose rival tow'rs invade the skies.[94]Chaucer in a passage, not quoted by Pope, represents Fame as enthroned upon "a seat imperial," which was formed of rubies.[95]Methoughte that she was so liteThat the length of a cubiteWas longer than she seemed to be;But thus soon in a while she,Herself tho wonderly straight,That with her feet she carthe reight,And with her head she touched heaven.—Pope.[96]This notion of the enlargement of the temple is also from Chaucer, who says that it became in length, breadth, and height, a thousand times bigger than it was at first.[97]The corresponding passage in Chaucer is not quoted by Pope, who translated from their common original, Virg. Æn. iv. 181:Cui quot sunt corpore plumæ,Tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,Tot lunguæ, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit auris.[98]I heard about her throne y-sungThat all the palays walles rung;So sung the mighty Muse, sheThat cleped is Calliope,And her eighte sisters eke.—Pope.Pope should have continued the extract; for his next four lines were prompted by the succeeding four in Chaucer:And evermore eternallyThey sing of Fame as tho heard I;"Heried be thou and thy nameGoddess of renown or fame.""Heried" means praised.[99]I heard a noise approchen blive,That fared as bees done in a hive,Against their time of out flying;Right such a manere murmering,For all the world it seemed me.Tho gan I look about and seeThat there came entring into th' hall,A right great company withal;And that of sundry regions,Of all kind of conditions, &c.—Pope.[100]This description is varied with improvements from Dryden, Æneis, vi. 958.About the boughs an airy nation flewThick as the humming bees that hunt the golden dew:The winged army roams the field around,The rivers and the rocks remurmer to the sound.—Wakefield.He was assisted by another passage in Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Thick as the college of the bees in May,When swarming o'er the dusky fields they fly,Now to the flow'rs, and intercept the sky.[101]So in Chaucer all degrees, "poor and rich" fall down on their knees before Fame and beg her to grant them their petition.[102]"The tattling quality of age which, as Sir William Davenant says, is always narrative." Dryden's Dedication of Juvenal.—Wakefield.[103]And some of them she granted sone,And some she warned well and fair,And some she granted the contrair—Right as her sister dame FortuneIs wont to serven in commune.—Pope.Chaucer and Pope describe Fame as bestowing reputation upon some, and traducing others, when their deserts were equal, but neither Pope nor Chaucer touch upon the truth that the same person is commonly both lauded and denounced. This is finely expressed by Milton, Samson Agonistes, ver. 971:—Fame if not double-faced is double-mouthed,And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds;On both his wings, one black, the other white,Bears greatest names in his wild aery flight.[104]The idea is from Chaucer:They hadde good fame each deservedAlthough they were diversely served.Besides the passage in Chaucer, Pope evidently recalled Creech's translation of Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 132.ev'ry age relatesThat equal crimes have met unequal fates;That sins alike, unlike rewards have found,And whilst this villain's crucified the other's crowned.[105]In Chaucer, Fame sends for Eolus, who comes with two trumpets, a golden trumpet, from which he gives forth praises, and a black trumpet of brass, from which he sends forth blasts of slander. In Pope the golden trumpet is blown by the muses, and the trump of slander sounds without the mention of any agent.[106]Tho came the thirde companye,And gan up to the dees to hye,And down on knees they fell anone,And saiden: We ben everichoneFolke that han full truelyDeserved fame rightfully,And prayen you it might be knoweRight as it is, and forthe blowe.I grant, quoth she, for now me listThat your good works shall be wist.And yet ye shall have better loos,Right in despite of all your foos,Than worthy is, and that anone.Let now (quoth she) thy trumpe gone—And certes all the breath that wentOut of his trumpes mouthe smel'dAs men a pot of baume heldAmong a basket full of roses.—Pope.[107]Prior, Carmen Seculare:In comely rank call ev'ry merit forth,Imprint on ev'ry act its standard worth.[108]The whole tribe of the "good and just," who obtain any fame at all, are said by Pope to get more than they deserve. For this notion there is certainly no foundation, unless he meant that the fact of desiring reputation deprived virtue of the title to it.[109]Therewithal there came anoneAnother huge companye,Of good folke—What did this Eolus, but heTook out his black trump of brass,That fouler than the devil was:And gan this trumpe for to blowe,As all the world should overthrowe.Throughout every regioneWent this foule trumpes soune,As swift as pellet out of gunne,When fire is in the powder runne.And such a smoke gan oute wende,Out of the foule trumpes ende, &c.—Pope.[110]In his account of the reception given by Fame to her various suppliants, Pope is detailing the manner in which praise and blame are dispensed in this world, and it is a departure from reality to consign the entire race of conquerors to oblivion. However little they may deserve fame, they at least obtain it. The inconsistency is the more glaring that when he describes the temple in the opening of the poem, he tells us that,Within stood heroes, who through loud alarms,In bloody fields pursued renown in arms.[111]I saw anone the fifth route,That to this lady gan loute,And down on knees anone to fall,And to her they besoughten all,To hiden their good workes eke,And said, they yeven not a lekeFor no fame ne such renowne;For they for contemplacyoune,And Goddes love hadde ywrought,Ne of fame would they ought.—Pope.[112]What, quoth she, and be ye wood?And wene ye for to do good,And for to have of it no fame?Have ye despite to have my name?Nay, ye shall lien everichone:Blowe they trump, and that anone(Quoth she) thou Eolus yhote,And ring these folkes works be note,That all the world may of it hear;And he gan blow their loos so cleare,In his golden clarioune,Through the world went the soune,All so kenely, and eke so soft,That their fame was blowen aloft.—Pope.Pope makes everybody obtain fame who seeks to avoid it, which is absurd. Chaucer keeps to truth. The first company came,And saiden, Certes, lady bright,We have done well with all out might,But we ne kepen have for fame,Hide our workes and our name."I grant you all your asking," she replies; "let your works be dead." The second company arrive immediately afterwards, and prefer the same request in the lines versified by Pope, when Fame, with her usual capriciousness, refuses their prayer, and orders Eolus to sound their praises.[113]An obvious imitation of a well-known verse in Denham:Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull.—Wakefield.[114]The reader might compare these twenty-eight lines following, which contain the same matter, with eighty-four of Chaucer, beginning thus:Tho came the sixthe companye,And gan faste to Fame cry, &c.,being too prolix to be here inserted.—Pope.[115]"A pretty fame," says Dennis, "when the very smartest of these coxcombs is sure to have his name rotten before his carcase. When the author introduced these fellows into the temple of Fame, he ought to have made the chocolate-house, and the side-box, part of it." The criticism was just. The contemptible creatures who buzzed their profligate falsehoods for the hour, and were heard of no more, should have been introduced, if at all, into the Temple of Rumour, and not into the Temple of Fame. Pope followed Chaucer.[116]Strokes of pleasantry and humour, and satirical reflections on the foibles of common life, are unsuited to so grave and majestic a poem. They appear as unnatural and out of place as one of the burlesque scenes of Heemskirk would do in a solemn landscape of Poussin. When I see such a line asAnd at each blast a lady's honour diesin the Temple of Fame, I lament as much to find it placed there as to see shops and sheds and cottages erected among the ruins of Diocletian's baths.—Warton.[117]Pope places the temple of Fame on a precipitous rock of ice, and Dennis charges him with departing from his allegory when he describes the self-indulgent multitude, who are "even fatigued with ease," as having toiled up the "steep and slippery ascent" to present themselves before the goddess. There is the same defect in Chaucer.[118]Tho come another companyeThat Lad ydone the treachery, &c.—Pope.Pope in this paragraph had not only Chaucer in view, but the passage of Virgil where he describes the criminals in the infernal regions. The second line of Pope's opening couplet was suggested by Dryden's translation, Æneis, vi. 825:Expel their parents and usurp the throne.[119]A glance at the Revolution of 1688.—Croker.[120]The scene here changes from the Temple of Fame to that of Rumour, which is almost entirely Chaucer's. The particulars follow:Tho saw I stonde in a valey,Under the castle faste byA house, that Domus DedaliThat Labyrinthus cleped is,Nas made so wonderly I wis,Ne half so queintly ywrought;And evermo, as swift as thought,This queinte house aboute went,That never more stille it stent—And eke this house hath of entreesAs fele of leaves as ben on treesIn summer, when they grene ben;And in the roof yet men may seneA thousand holes, and well moTo letten well the soune out go;And by day in every tideBen all the doores open wide,And by night each one unshet;No porter is there one to letNo manner tydings in to pace:Ne never rest is in that place.—Pope.[121]This thought is transferred thither out of the second book of Fame, where it takes up no less than one hundred and twenty verses, beginning thus:Geffray, thou wottost well this, &c.—Pope.[122]From Chaucer:If that thouThrow on water now a stone,Well wost thou it will make anonA little roundel as a circle,Paraunture broad as a covercle,And right anon thou shalt see wele,That circle will cause another wheel,And that the third, and so forth, brother,Every circle causing other,And multiplying evermoe,Till that it so far ygoThat it at bothe brinkes be.* * * * * * * * * *And right thus every word, ywis,That loud or privy y-spoken is,Moveth first an air about,And of this moving, out of doubt,Another air anon is moved,As I have of the water provedThat every circle causeth other.A "covercle" was the cover or lid of a pot.[123]Dryden's version of Ovid, Met. xii.:Whence all things, though remote, are viewed aroundAnd hither bring their undulating sound.—Wakefield.[124]Of werres, of peace, of marriages,Of rest, of labour, of voyages,Of abode, of dethe, of life,Of love and hate, accord and strife,Of loss, of lore, and of winnings,Of hele, of sickness, and lessings,Of divers transmutationsOf estates and eke of regions,Of trust, of drede, of jealousy,Of wit, of winning, of folly,Of good, or bad governement,Of fire, and of divers accident.—Pope.The dismissal of Lord Oxford, the death of Queen Anne immediately afterwards, on August 1, 1714, and the overthrow of Bolingbroke, were events which had recently happened when Pope published his poem, and there never was a time when "changes in the state," "the falls of favourites," and "old mismanagements" were a more universal topic of conversation.[125]But such a grete congregationOf folke as I saw roame about,Some within, and some without.Was never seen, ne shall be eft—And every wight that I saw thereRowned everich in others earA newe tyding privily,Or elles he told it openlyRight thus, and said, Knowst not thouThat is betide to night now?No, quoth he, tell me whatAnd then he told him this and that, &c.—Pope.[126]Thus north and southWent every tiding fro mouth to mouth,And that encreasing evermo,As fire is wont to quicken and goFrom a sparkle sprong amiss,Till all the citee brent up is.—Pope.[127]Dryden, Ovid, Met. xii.:Fame sits aloft.In Ovid the scene is laid in the house of Fame. Pope lays it in the house of Rumour, and having left Fame enthroned in her own temple, he now represents her as permanently "sitting aloft" in a totally different edifice.[128]And sometime I saw there at once,A lesing and a sad sooth sawThat gonnen at adventure drawOut of a window forth to pace—And no man be he ever so wrothe,Shall have one of these two, but bothe, &c.—Pope.[129]The hint is taken from a passage in another part of the third book, but here more naturally made the conclusion, with the addition of a moral to the whole. In Chaucer, he only answers, "he came to see the place;" and the book ends abruptly, with his being surprized at the sight of a man of great authority, and awaking in a fright.—Pope.This is an imperfect representation. While Chaucer is standing in the House of Fame, a person goes up to him,And saide, Friend, what is thy name,Artow come hither to have fame?The poet disclaims any such intention, and protests that he has no desire that his name should be known to a single soul. He is then asked what he does there, and he replies that he who brought him to the place promised him that he should learn new and wonderful things, in which, he says, he has been disappointed, for he was aware before that people coveted fame, though he was not hitherto acquainted with the dwelling of the goddess, nor with her appearance and condition. His interrogator answers that he perceives what it is he desires to know, and conducts him to the house of Rumour. There he has revealed to him the falsehood of the world, and especially of pilgrims and pardoners, which was an important doctrine to be inculcated in those days. When the scene has been fully disclosed, "a man of great authority" appears, and the poet starts up from his sleep, by which he seems to intimate that the wise and serious frown upon those who listen to idle tales. His awaking "half afraid," is the result of hisRemembring well what I had seen,And how high and far I had beenIn my ghost.Pope, by reserving the inquiry addressed to him for the end of the poem, represents himself as being asked in the temple of Rumour whether he has come there for fame, which, is not more, but much less natural than the arrangement of Chaucer, who supposes the question to be put in the temple of Fame itself. Nor would it have been congenial to Chaucer's modest disposition to make himself the climax of the piece.[130]Garth, in the preface to his Dispensary: "Reputation of this sort is very hard to be got, and very easy to be lost."—Wakefield.[131]Cowley's Complaint:Thou who rewardest but with popular breathAnd that too after death.—Wakefield.Pope's moral is inconsistent with the previous tone of his poem. He has not treated the "second life in others' breath" as "vain," but speaks of the position of Homer, Aristotle, &c. in the temple of Fame as though it were a substantial triumph, a real dignity, and a glorious reward. The purport of his piece is to enforce, and not to depreciate, the value of literary renown. His whole life attests that this was his genuine opinion. He was not endowed with the equanimity which neither covets nor despises reputation, and it was pure affectation when he pretended, in the concluding paragraph, that he did not "call for the favours of fame," and that he held posthumous fame, in particular, to be a worthless possession.[132]Dryden, in Palamon and Arcite, says of women that theyStill follow fortune where she leads the way.

[1]This poem is introduced in the manner of the Provençal poets, whose works were for the most part visions, or pieces of imagination, and constantly descriptive. From these, Petrarch and Chaucer frequently borrow the idea of their poems. See the Trionfi of the former, and the Dream, Flower and the Leaf, &c. of the latter. The author of this therefore chose the same sort of exordium.—Pope.

[2]Dryden, Virg. Geor. ii. 456:And boldly trust their buds in open air.In this soft season.—Wakefield.Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Where Venus from her orb descends in show'rsTo glad the ground, and paint the fields with flow'rs.

[2]Dryden, Virg. Geor. ii. 456:

And boldly trust their buds in open air.In this soft season.—Wakefield.

Dryden's Flower and Leaf:

Where Venus from her orb descends in show'rsTo glad the ground, and paint the fields with flow'rs.

[3]Dryden, Geor. iii. 500:But when the western winds with vital pow'rCall forth the tender grass, and budding flow'r.—Wakefield.

[3]Dryden, Geor. iii. 500:

But when the western winds with vital pow'rCall forth the tender grass, and budding flow'r.—Wakefield.

[4]Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Salute the welcome sun and entertain the day.

[4]Dryden's Flower and Leaf:

Salute the welcome sun and entertain the day.

[5]That admirable term "relenting" might probably be furnished by Ogilby at the beginning of the first Georgic:And harder glebe relents with vernal winds.—Wakefield.

[5]That admirable term "relenting" might probably be furnished by Ogilby at the beginning of the first Georgic:

And harder glebe relents with vernal winds.—Wakefield.

[6]Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Cares I had none to keep me from my rest,For love had never entered in my breast.

[6]Dryden's Flower and Leaf:

Cares I had none to keep me from my rest,For love had never entered in my breast.

[7]Morning dreams were thought the most significant. Thus Dryden, in his version of the Tale of the Nun's Priest:Believe me, madam, morning dreams foreshowTh' events of things, and future weal or woe.

[7]Morning dreams were thought the most significant. Thus Dryden, in his version of the Tale of the Nun's Priest:

Believe me, madam, morning dreams foreshowTh' events of things, and future weal or woe.

[8]Cowley, in his Complaint:In a deep vision's intellectual scene;and Mrs. Singer's Vision:No wild uncouth chimeras interveneTo break the perfect intellectual scene.—Wakefield.

[8]Cowley, in his Complaint:

In a deep vision's intellectual scene;

and Mrs. Singer's Vision:

No wild uncouth chimeras interveneTo break the perfect intellectual scene.—Wakefield.

[9]Dryden, Ovid, Met. xii.:Full in the midst of this created space,Betwixt heav'n, earth, and skies, there stands a placeConfining on all three.—Wakefield.

[9]Dryden, Ovid, Met. xii.:

Full in the midst of this created space,Betwixt heav'n, earth, and skies, there stands a placeConfining on all three.—Wakefield.

[10]This verse was formed from a very fine one in Paradise Lost, vii. 242:And earth self-balanced on her center hung.—Wakefield.

[10]This verse was formed from a very fine one in Paradise Lost, vii. 242:

And earth self-balanced on her center hung.—Wakefield.

[11]Addison's translation of a passage from Ausonius:And intermingled temples rise between.

[11]Addison's translation of a passage from Ausonius:

And intermingled temples rise between.

[12]These verses are hinted from the following of Chaucer, book ii.:Tho beheld I fields and plains,And now hills, and now mountains,Now valeys, and now forestes,And now unnethes great bestes,Now riveres, now citees,Now townes, and now great trees,Now shippes sayling in the sea.—Pope.Dennis objected to Pope's version that "if the whole creation was open to his eyes" he must be too high "to discern such minute objects as ships and trees." But the imagination in dreams conjures up appearances which are beyond the compass of the waking powers, and it is therefore strictly natural to represent events as passing in visions, which would be unnatural in actual life. Added to this, Pope had before him Ovid's description of the house of Fame, which is endued with the property of enabling the beholder to distinguish the smallest objects however remote:Unde quod est usquam, quamvis regionibus absit,Inspicitur.Or as Sandys translates it,Where all that's done, though far removed, appears.

[12]These verses are hinted from the following of Chaucer, book ii.:

Tho beheld I fields and plains,And now hills, and now mountains,Now valeys, and now forestes,And now unnethes great bestes,Now riveres, now citees,Now townes, and now great trees,Now shippes sayling in the sea.—Pope.

Dennis objected to Pope's version that "if the whole creation was open to his eyes" he must be too high "to discern such minute objects as ships and trees." But the imagination in dreams conjures up appearances which are beyond the compass of the waking powers, and it is therefore strictly natural to represent events as passing in visions, which would be unnatural in actual life. Added to this, Pope had before him Ovid's description of the house of Fame, which is endued with the property of enabling the beholder to distinguish the smallest objects however remote:

Unde quod est usquam, quamvis regionibus absit,Inspicitur.

Or as Sandys translates it,

Where all that's done, though far removed, appears.

[13]Dryden's translation of Ovid's Met. book xii.:Confused and chiding, like the hollow roarOf tides, receding from th' insulted shore;Or like the broken thunder heard from farWhen Jove at distance drives the rolling war.This is more poetically expressed than the same image in our author. Dryden's lines are superior to the original.—Warton.Pope copied Dryden's translation of Ovid, and for this reason did not quote the parallel passage from Chaucer's second book of the House of Fame, where the eagle, when they come within hearing of the swell of indistinct voices, holds a colloquy with the poet on the phenomenon:"And what sound is it like?" quoth he."Peter! beating of the sea,"Quoth I, "against the rockes hollow,When tempest doth the shippes swallow,Or elles like the last humblingAfter the clap of a thundring.""Peter" is an exclamation; and the sense is, "By St. Peter it is like the beating of the sea against the hollow rocks." In Pope's poem no cause is assigned for the "wild promiscuous sound." In Chaucer it is produced by the confluence of the talk upon earth, every word of which is conveyed to the House of Fame.

[13]Dryden's translation of Ovid's Met. book xii.:

Confused and chiding, like the hollow roarOf tides, receding from th' insulted shore;Or like the broken thunder heard from farWhen Jove at distance drives the rolling war.

This is more poetically expressed than the same image in our author. Dryden's lines are superior to the original.—Warton.

Pope copied Dryden's translation of Ovid, and for this reason did not quote the parallel passage from Chaucer's second book of the House of Fame, where the eagle, when they come within hearing of the swell of indistinct voices, holds a colloquy with the poet on the phenomenon:

"And what sound is it like?" quoth he."Peter! beating of the sea,"Quoth I, "against the rockes hollow,When tempest doth the shippes swallow,Or elles like the last humblingAfter the clap of a thundring."

"Peter" is an exclamation; and the sense is, "By St. Peter it is like the beating of the sea against the hollow rocks." In Pope's poem no cause is assigned for the "wild promiscuous sound." In Chaucer it is produced by the confluence of the talk upon earth, every word of which is conveyed to the House of Fame.

[14]Chaucer's third book of Fame:It stood upon so high a rock,Higher standeth none in Spayne—What manner stone this rock was,For it was like a lymed glass,But that it shone full more clere;But of what congeled matereIt was, I niste redily;But at the last espied I,And found that it was every dele,A rock of ice and not of stele.—Pope.The temple of Fame is represented on a foundation of ice, to signify the brittle nature and precarious tenure, as well as the difficult attainment of that possession, according to the poet himself below, ver. 504:So hard to gain, so easy to be lost.—Wakefield.Having complained that it was contrary to the laws of sight to suppose that a prospect in sleep could be extended beyond the ordinary range of mortal vision, Dennis proceeds to contend that for a rock to be sustained in the air was contrary to the eternal laws of gravitation, "which," says Pope sarcastically, in a manuscript note, "no dream ought to be." The cavil of Dennis was as false in science as in criticism, for it is not more contrary to the laws of gravitation for a rock to be suspended in space than for the earth itself.

[14]Chaucer's third book of Fame:

It stood upon so high a rock,Higher standeth none in Spayne—What manner stone this rock was,For it was like a lymed glass,But that it shone full more clere;But of what congeled matereIt was, I niste redily;But at the last espied I,And found that it was every dele,A rock of ice and not of stele.—Pope.

The temple of Fame is represented on a foundation of ice, to signify the brittle nature and precarious tenure, as well as the difficult attainment of that possession, according to the poet himself below, ver. 504:

So hard to gain, so easy to be lost.—Wakefield.

Having complained that it was contrary to the laws of sight to suppose that a prospect in sleep could be extended beyond the ordinary range of mortal vision, Dennis proceeds to contend that for a rock to be sustained in the air was contrary to the eternal laws of gravitation, "which," says Pope sarcastically, in a manuscript note, "no dream ought to be." The cavil of Dennis was as false in science as in criticism, for it is not more contrary to the laws of gravitation for a rock to be suspended in space than for the earth itself.

[15]Dryden, Æneis, vi. 193:Smooth the descent, and easy is the way.

[15]Dryden, Æneis, vi. 193:

Smooth the descent, and easy is the way.

[16]Tho saw I all the hill y-graveWith famous folkes names fele.That had been in muchel weleAnd her fames wide y-blow;But well unneth might I knowAny letters for to redeTheir names by, for, out of drede,They weren almost off-thawen so,That of the letters one or twoWere molte away of every name,So unfamous was woxe their fame;But men said what may ever last.—Pope.

[16]

Tho saw I all the hill y-graveWith famous folkes names fele.That had been in muchel weleAnd her fames wide y-blow;But well unneth might I knowAny letters for to redeTheir names by, for, out of drede,They weren almost off-thawen so,That of the letters one or twoWere molte away of every name,So unfamous was woxe their fame;But men said what may ever last.—Pope.

[17]Tho gan I in myne harte cast,That they were molte away for heate,And not away with stormes beate.—Pope.

[17]

Tho gan I in myne harte cast,That they were molte away for heate,And not away with stormes beate.—Pope.

[18]Does not this use of the heat of the sun appear to be a puerile and far-fetched conceit? What connection is there betwixt the two sorts of excesses here mentioned? My purpose in animadverting so frequently as I have done on this species of false thoughts is to guard the reader, especially of the younger sort, from being betrayed by the authority of so correct a writer as Pope into such specious and false refinements of style.—Warton.Not only is the comparison defective, but the fundamental idea is unfounded, for though excess of admiration may produce a temporary reaction, the opinion of the world oscillates back to the middle line, and no instance can be quoted of an author who has finally lost his due reputation because he had once been overpraised. Chaucer makes a different use of the image. In his poem the north side of the icy mountain bears the names of the ancients which were safe from injury. The sunny side bears the names of the moderns, and he perhaps intended to intimate his opinion that the reason why their fame was less durable than that of the Greeks and Romans was that they were a more luxurious race, and did not in the same degree "scorn delights, and live laborious days" for the sake of producing immortal works.

Not only is the comparison defective, but the fundamental idea is unfounded, for though excess of admiration may produce a temporary reaction, the opinion of the world oscillates back to the middle line, and no instance can be quoted of an author who has finally lost his due reputation because he had once been overpraised. Chaucer makes a different use of the image. In his poem the north side of the icy mountain bears the names of the ancients which were safe from injury. The sunny side bears the names of the moderns, and he perhaps intended to intimate his opinion that the reason why their fame was less durable than that of the Greeks and Romans was that they were a more luxurious race, and did not in the same degree "scorn delights, and live laborious days" for the sake of producing immortal works.

[19]For on that other side I seyOf that hill which northward ley,How it was written full of namesOf folke, that had afore great fames,Of olde time, and yet they wereAs fresh as men had written hem thereThe self day, right or that houreThat I upon hem gan to poure:But well I wiste what it made;It was conserved with the shade(All the writing that I sye)Of the castle that stoode on high,And stood eke in so cold a place,That heate might it not deface.—Pope.

[19]

For on that other side I seyOf that hill which northward ley,How it was written full of namesOf folke, that had afore great fames,Of olde time, and yet they wereAs fresh as men had written hem thereThe self day, right or that houreThat I upon hem gan to poure:But well I wiste what it made;It was conserved with the shade(All the writing that I sye)Of the castle that stoode on high,And stood eke in so cold a place,That heate might it not deface.—Pope.

[20]Though a strict verisimilitude be not required in the descriptions of this visionary and allegorical kind of poetry, which admits of every wild object that fancy may present in a dream, and where it is sufficient if the moral meaning atone for the improbability, yet men are naturally so desirous of truth that a reader is generally pleased, in such a case, with some excuse or allusion that seems to reconcile the description to probability and nature. The simile here is of that sort, and renders it not wholly unlikely that a rock of ice should remain for ever by mentioning something like it in our northern regions agreeing with the accounts of our modern travellers.—Pope.

[21]"Mountainsproppingthe sky" was one of those vicious common-places of poetry which falsify natural appearances.

[22]A real lover of painting will not be contented with a single view and examination of this beautiful winter-piece; but will return to it again and again with fresh delight. The images are distinct, and the epithets lively and appropriate, especially the words "pale," "unfelt," "impassive," "incumbent," "gathered."—Warton.

[23]This excellent line was perhaps suggested by a fine couplet in Addison's translation of an extract from Silius Italicus:Stiff with eternal ice, and hid in snow,That fell a thousand centuries ago.

[23]This excellent line was perhaps suggested by a fine couplet in Addison's translation of an extract from Silius Italicus:

Stiff with eternal ice, and hid in snow,That fell a thousand centuries ago.

[24]Dryden's Hind and Panther:Eternal house not built with mortal hands.

[24]Dryden's Hind and Panther:

Eternal house not built with mortal hands.

[25]The temple is described to be square, the four fronts with open gates facing the different quarters of the world, as an intimation that all nations of the earth may alike be received into it. The western front is of Grecian architecture: the Doric order was peculiarly sacred to heroes and worthies. Those whose statues are after mentioned, were the first names of old Greece in arms and arts.—Pope.The exterior of the Doric temples abounded in sculptured figures, which may be the reason that Pope supposes the order to have been "peculiarly sacred to heroes and worthies," but it may be doubted whether he had any good grounds for his assertion.

The exterior of the Doric temples abounded in sculptured figures, which may be the reason that Pope supposes the order to have been "peculiarly sacred to heroes and worthies," but it may be doubted whether he had any good grounds for his assertion.

[26]The expression literally interpreted would signify that the gates were placed on the top of columns. Pope could not have had such a preposterous notion in his mind, and the meaning must be that the lofty gates were hung upon columns. He copied a couplet in Dryden's Æneis, vi. 744, where the translation misrepresents the original:Wide is the fronting gate, and raised on highWith adamantine columns, threats the sky.

Wide is the fronting gate, and raised on highWith adamantine columns, threats the sky.

[27]Addison's Vision of the Table of Fame, in the Tatler: "In the midst there stood a palace of a very glorious structure; it had four great folding doors that faced the four several quarters of the world."Charles Dryden's translation of the seventh Satire of Juvenal, ver. 245:Behold how raised on highA banquet house salutes the southern sky.

Charles Dryden's translation of the seventh Satire of Juvenal, ver. 245:

Behold how raised on highA banquet house salutes the southern sky.

[28]Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. iii. 142:No Thracian born,But in that town which arms and arts adorn.

[28]Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. iii. 142:

No Thracian born,But in that town which arms and arts adorn.

[29]In the early editions:The fourfold walls in breathing statues grace.Addison in his Letter from Italy had called the Roman statues "breathing rocks."

[29]In the early editions:

The fourfold walls in breathing statues grace.

Addison in his Letter from Italy had called the Roman statues "breathing rocks."

[30]Addison's Letter from Italy:Or teach their animated rocks to live.And emperors in Parian marble frown.

[30]Addison's Letter from Italy:

Or teach their animated rocks to live.And emperors in Parian marble frown.

[31]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 714:Doric pillars overlaidWith golden architrave, nor did there wantCornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven.—Wakefield.

[31]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 714:

Doric pillars overlaidWith golden architrave, nor did there wantCornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven.—Wakefield.

[32]Dryden, Ovid's Met. book xii.:An ample goblet stood of antique mouldAnd rough with figures of the rising gold.Dryden, Æn. viii. 830:And Roman triumphs rising on the gold.Addison's Letter from Italy:And pillars rough with sculpture pierce the skies.

[32]Dryden, Ovid's Met. book xii.:

An ample goblet stood of antique mouldAnd rough with figures of the rising gold.

Dryden, Æn. viii. 830:

And Roman triumphs rising on the gold.

Addison's Letter from Italy:

And pillars rough with sculpture pierce the skies.

[33]This legendary hero was an Athenian knight-errant who, in imitation of Hercules, went about doing battle with the scourges of mankind, both human and animal.

[34]Minerva presented Perseus with her shield when he undertook to kill the Gorgon, Medusa.

[35]This figure of Hercules is drawn with an eye to the position of the famous statue of Farnese.—Pope.It were to be wished that our author, whose knowledge and taste of the fine arts were unquestionable, had taken more pains in describing so famous a statue as that of the Farnesian Hercules; for he has omitted the characteristical excellencies of this famous piece of Grecian workmanship; namely, the uncommon breadth of the shoulders, the knottiness and spaciousness of the chest, the firmness and protuberance of the muscles in each limb, particularly the legs, and the majestic vastness of the whole figure, undoubtedly designed by the artist to give a full idea of strength, as the Venus de Medicis of beauty. To mention the Hesperian apples, which the artist flung backwards, and almost concealed as an inconsiderable object, and which therefore scarcely appear in the statue, was below the notice of Pope.—Warton.Addison's Vision: "At the upper end sat Hercules, leaning an arm upon his club."

[35]This figure of Hercules is drawn with an eye to the position of the famous statue of Farnese.—Pope.

It were to be wished that our author, whose knowledge and taste of the fine arts were unquestionable, had taken more pains in describing so famous a statue as that of the Farnesian Hercules; for he has omitted the characteristical excellencies of this famous piece of Grecian workmanship; namely, the uncommon breadth of the shoulders, the knottiness and spaciousness of the chest, the firmness and protuberance of the muscles in each limb, particularly the legs, and the majestic vastness of the whole figure, undoubtedly designed by the artist to give a full idea of strength, as the Venus de Medicis of beauty. To mention the Hesperian apples, which the artist flung backwards, and almost concealed as an inconsiderable object, and which therefore scarcely appear in the statue, was below the notice of Pope.—Warton.

Addison's Vision: "At the upper end sat Hercules, leaning an arm upon his club."

[36]The pause at the word "strikes" renders the verse finely descriptive of the circumstance. Milton, in Par. Lost, xi. 491, has attempted this beauty with success:And over them triumphant Death his dartShook, but delayed to strike.—Wakefield.

[36]The pause at the word "strikes" renders the verse finely descriptive of the circumstance. Milton, in Par. Lost, xi. 491, has attempted this beauty with success:

And over them triumphant Death his dartShook, but delayed to strike.—Wakefield.

[37]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 710:a fabric hugeRose like an exhalation.—Bowles.

[37]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 710:

a fabric hugeRose like an exhalation.—Bowles.

[38]"Trees," says Dennis, "starting from their roots, a mountain rolling into a wall, and a town rising like an exhalation are things that are not to be shown in sculpture." This objection, that "motion is represented as exhibited by sculpture," is said by Johnson, "to be the most reasonable of Dennis' remarks," but Dennis neutralised his own criticism when he added, that "sculpture can indeed show posture and position, and from posture and position we may conclude that the objects are in motion."

[39]Wakefield quotes from Milton (Par. Lost, ii. 4), the expression, "barbaric pearl and gold," and from Addison's translation of the second book of Ovid's Met. the line in which it is said that the palace of the sunWith burnished gold and flaming jewels blazed.

With burnished gold and flaming jewels blazed.

[40]Cyrus was the beginning of the Persian, as Ninus was of the Assyrian monarchy.—Pope.

[41]The Magi and Chaldæans (the chief of whom was Zoroaster) employed their studies upon magic and astrology, which was, in a manner, almost all the learning of the ancient Asian people. We have scarce any account of a moral philosopher, except Confucius, the great law-giver of the Chinese, who lived about two thousand years ago.—Pope.There are several mistakes in Pope's note. Zoroaster was not a magician who "waved the circling wand" of the necromancer. "The Magians," says Plato, "teach the magic of Zoroaster, but this is the worship of the Gods." His creed was theological, and had no connexion with sorcery. Some of his nominal followers subsequently professed to be fortune-tellers. Astrology was not a general characteristic of the diverse nations who constituted the "ancient Asian people," and their learning was by no means limited to it. The Hindoos, for instance, were the precursors of Aristotle in logic, and the earliest metaphysicians whose doctrines have come down to us. "The Indian philosophy," says M. Cousin, "is so vast that all the philosophical systems are represented there, and we may literally affirm that it is an abridgment of the entire history of philosophy." Nor was Confucius the only oriental "law-giver who taught the useful science to be good." The Hindoo body of laws, which bears the name of Menu, was compiled centuries before Confucius was born, and it is eminently a moral and religious, as well as a political code.

There are several mistakes in Pope's note. Zoroaster was not a magician who "waved the circling wand" of the necromancer. "The Magians," says Plato, "teach the magic of Zoroaster, but this is the worship of the Gods." His creed was theological, and had no connexion with sorcery. Some of his nominal followers subsequently professed to be fortune-tellers. Astrology was not a general characteristic of the diverse nations who constituted the "ancient Asian people," and their learning was by no means limited to it. The Hindoos, for instance, were the precursors of Aristotle in logic, and the earliest metaphysicians whose doctrines have come down to us. "The Indian philosophy," says M. Cousin, "is so vast that all the philosophical systems are represented there, and we may literally affirm that it is an abridgment of the entire history of philosophy." Nor was Confucius the only oriental "law-giver who taught the useful science to be good." The Hindoo body of laws, which bears the name of Menu, was compiled centuries before Confucius was born, and it is eminently a moral and religious, as well as a political code.

[42]It was often erroneously stated that the Brahmins dwelt always in groves. By the laws of Menu the life of a Brahmin was divided into four portions, and it was during the third portion only that he was commanded to become an anchorite in the woods, to sleep on the bare ground, to feed on roots and fruit, to go clad in bark or the skin of the black antelope, and to expose himself to the drenching rain and scorching sun. The caste have ceased to conform to the primitive discipline, and the old asceticism is now confined to individual devotees. The functions which Pope ascribes to the Brahmins formed no part of their practices. They did not pretend to "stop the moon," and summon spirits to "midnight banquets." Pope copied Oldham's version of Virgil's eighth Eclogue:Charms in her wonted course can stop the moon.

Charms in her wonted course can stop the moon.

[43]Addison's translation of a passage in Claudian:Thin airy shapes, that o'er the furrows rise,A dreadful scene! and skim before his eyes.

[43]Addison's translation of a passage in Claudian:

Thin airy shapes, that o'er the furrows rise,A dreadful scene! and skim before his eyes.

[44]Dryden's Palamon and Arcite:And sigils framed in planetary hours.Dryden's Virgil, Æn. vii. 25:That watched the moon and planetary hour.

[44]Dryden's Palamon and Arcite:

And sigils framed in planetary hours.

Dryden's Virgil, Æn. vii. 25:

That watched the moon and planetary hour.

[45]Confucius flourished about two thousand three hundred years ago, just before Pythagoras. He taught justice, obedience to parents, humility, and universal benevolence: and he practised these virtues when he was a first minister, and when he was reduced to poverty and exile.—Warton.

[46]The learning of the old Egyptian priests consisted for the most part in geometry and astronomy: they also preserved the history of their nation. Their greatest hero upon record is Sesostris, whose actions and conquests may be seen at large in Diodorus, &c. He is said to have caused the kings he vanquished to draw him in his chariot. The posture of his statue, in these verses, is correspondent to the description which Herodotus gives of one of them, remaining in his own time.—Pope.

[47]The colossal statue of the celebrated Eastern tyrant is not very strongly imagined. The word "hold" is particularly feeble.—Warton.

[48]Virgil's giant Bitias, Æn. ix. 958, has in Dryden's translation, quoted by Wakefield, "a coat of double mail with scales of gold."

[49]Two flatter lines upon such a subject cannot well be imagined.—Bowles.

[50]The architecture is agreeable to that part of the world.—Pope.

[51]The learning of the northern nations lay more obscure than that of the rest. Zamolxis was the disciple of Pythagoras, who taught the immortality of the soul to the Scythians.—Pope.They worshipped Zamolxis, and thought they should go to him when they died. He was said by the Greeks who dwelt on the shores of the Hellespont, to have been the slave of Pythagoras before he became the instructor of his countrymen, but Herodotus believed that if Zamolxis ever existed, he was long anterior to the Greek philosopher.

[51]The learning of the northern nations lay more obscure than that of the rest. Zamolxis was the disciple of Pythagoras, who taught the immortality of the soul to the Scythians.—Pope.

They worshipped Zamolxis, and thought they should go to him when they died. He was said by the Greeks who dwelt on the shores of the Hellespont, to have been the slave of Pythagoras before he became the instructor of his countrymen, but Herodotus believed that if Zamolxis ever existed, he was long anterior to the Greek philosopher.

[52]Odin, or Woden, was the great legislator and hero of the Goths. They tell us of him, that, being subject to fits, he persuaded his followers, that during those trances he received inspirations, from whence he dictated his laws. He is said to have been the inventor of the Runic characters.—Pope.

[53]Pope borrowed this idea from the passage he quotes at ver. 179, where Chaucer describes Statius as standingUpon an iron pillar strongThat painted was, all endelong,With tigers' blood in every place.

[53]Pope borrowed this idea from the passage he quotes at ver. 179, where Chaucer describes Statius as standing

Upon an iron pillar strongThat painted was, all endelong,With tigers' blood in every place.

[54]These were the priests and poets of those people, so celebrated for their savage virtue. Those heroic barbarians accounted it a dishonour to die in their beds, and rushed on to certain death in the prospect of an after-life, and for the glory of a song from their bards in praise of their actions.—Pope.The opinion was general among the Goths that men who died natural deaths went into vast caves underground, all dark and miry, full of noisome creatures, and there for ever grovelled in stench and misery. On the contrary, all who died in battle went to the hall of Odin, their god of war, where they were entertained at infinite tables in perpetual feasts, carousing in bowls made of the skulls of the enemies they had slain.—Sir W. Temple.

The opinion was general among the Goths that men who died natural deaths went into vast caves underground, all dark and miry, full of noisome creatures, and there for ever grovelled in stench and misery. On the contrary, all who died in battle went to the hall of Odin, their god of war, where they were entertained at infinite tables in perpetual feasts, carousing in bowls made of the skulls of the enemies they had slain.—Sir W. Temple.

[55]It shone lighter than a glass,And made well more than it was,To semen every thing, ywis,As kind of thinge Fames is.—Pope.

[55]

It shone lighter than a glass,And made well more than it was,To semen every thing, ywis,As kind of thinge Fames is.—Pope.

[56]Addison's Vision: "On a sudden the trumpet sounded; the whole fabric shook, and the doors flew open."

[57]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 717:The roof was fretted gold.—Wakefield.

[57]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 717:

The roof was fretted gold.—Wakefield.

[58]The exterior of Chaucer's House of Fame,Both the castle, and the towerAnd eke the hall, and every bowerwas of beryl, which Pope transfers to the inside of the building. Chaucer says of the interior thatEvery wallOf it, and floor, and roof, and allWas plated half a foote thickOf gold.This gold was covered, as grass clothes a meadow, with jewelled ornamentsFine, of the finest stones fairThat men read in the Lapidaire.

[58]The exterior of Chaucer's House of Fame,

Both the castle, and the towerAnd eke the hall, and every bower

was of beryl, which Pope transfers to the inside of the building. Chaucer says of the interior that

Every wallOf it, and floor, and roof, and allWas plated half a foote thickOf gold.

This gold was covered, as grass clothes a meadow, with jewelled ornaments

Fine, of the finest stones fairThat men read in the Lapidaire.

[59]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 726:From the arched roofPendent by subtle magic many a rowOf starry lamps and blazing cressets, fedWith Naptha and Asphaltus, yielded lightAs from a sky.—Wakefield.

[59]Milton, Par. Lost, i. 726:

From the arched roofPendent by subtle magic many a rowOf starry lamps and blazing cressets, fedWith Naptha and Asphaltus, yielded lightAs from a sky.—Wakefield.

[60]Addison's Vision: "A band of historians took their station at each door."

[61]Alexander the Great. The tiara was the crown peculiar to the Asian princes. His desire to be thought the son of Jupiter Ammon, caused him to wear the horns of that god, and to represent the same upon his coins, which was continued by several of his successors.—Pope.

[62]Dryden, Ode to St. Cecilia:A dragon's fiery form belied the god.—Bowles.

[62]Dryden, Ode to St. Cecilia:

A dragon's fiery form belied the god.—Bowles.

[63]As a warrior and a man of letters; for skill in both capacities was supposed to be due to Minerva.

[64]Prior, in his Carmen Seculare, says of William III.,How o'er himself as o'er the world he reigns.

[64]Prior, in his Carmen Seculare, says of William III.,

How o'er himself as o'er the world he reigns.

[65]A concise and masterly stroke, which at once sets before us the mixture of character, which appears in that extraordinary man, Julius Cæsar.—Bowles.

[66]"In other illustrious men you will observe that each possessed some one shining quality, which was the foundation of his fame: in Epaminondas all the virtues are found united; force of body, eloquence of expression, vigour of mind, contempt of riches, gentleness of disposition, and, what is chiefly to be regarded, courage and conduct in war."—Diodorus Siculus, lib. xv.—Warton.

[67]Timoleon had saved the life of his brother Timophanes in the battle between the Argives and Corinthians; but afterwards killed him when he affected the tyranny, preferring his duty to his country to all the obligations of blood.—Pope.Pope followed the narrative of Diodorus. Plutarch says that Timoleon did not strike the blow, but stood by weeping, and giving his passive countenance to the assassins. Some of the Corinthians applauded, and some execrated his conduct. He was soon overtaken with remorse, and shunning the haunts of men he passed years in anguish of mind.

Pope followed the narrative of Diodorus. Plutarch says that Timoleon did not strike the blow, but stood by weeping, and giving his passive countenance to the assassins. Some of the Corinthians applauded, and some execrated his conduct. He was soon overtaken with remorse, and shunning the haunts of men he passed years in anguish of mind.

[68]This triplet was not in the first edition.

[69]In the first edition,Here too the wise and good their honours claim,Much-suff'ring heroes of less noisy fame.Pope did not perceive that in the attempt to improve the poetry he had introduced an inconsistency. He winds up the preceding group of patriots with the "wise Aurelius," whom he celebrates as an example of "unbounded virtue," and the "much-suffering heroes" could not be instances of "less guilty fame" than a man whose virtue was unbounded. The classification was probably suggested by Addison's Vision in the Tatler of the Three Roads of Life, and having his original in his mind when he composed his poem, Pope avoided the inconsistency which he subsequently imported into the passage. "The persons," says Addison, "who travelled up this great path, were such whose thoughts were bent upon doing eminent services to mankind, or promoting the good of their country. On each side of this great road were several paths. These were most of them covered walks, and received into them men of retired virtue, who proposed to themselves the same end of their journey, though they chose to make it in shade and obscurity."

[69]In the first edition,

Here too the wise and good their honours claim,Much-suff'ring heroes of less noisy fame.

Pope did not perceive that in the attempt to improve the poetry he had introduced an inconsistency. He winds up the preceding group of patriots with the "wise Aurelius," whom he celebrates as an example of "unbounded virtue," and the "much-suffering heroes" could not be instances of "less guilty fame" than a man whose virtue was unbounded. The classification was probably suggested by Addison's Vision in the Tatler of the Three Roads of Life, and having his original in his mind when he composed his poem, Pope avoided the inconsistency which he subsequently imported into the passage. "The persons," says Addison, "who travelled up this great path, were such whose thoughts were bent upon doing eminent services to mankind, or promoting the good of their country. On each side of this great road were several paths. These were most of them covered walks, and received into them men of retired virtue, who proposed to themselves the same end of their journey, though they chose to make it in shade and obscurity."

[70]The names which follow are inappropriate examples of "fair virtue'ssilenttrain." The first on the list spent his days in promulgating his philosophy, and they were all energetic public characters who made a stir in the world. When Pope originated the expression, he must have been thinking of the unobtrusive virtues of private life, and he probably added the illustrations later without observing the incongruity.

[71]Aristides, who for his great integrity was distinguished by the appellation of the Just. When his countrymen would have banished him by the ostracism, where it was the custom for every man to sign the name of the person he voted to exile in an oyster-shell, a peasant, who could not write, came to Aristides to do it for him, who readily signed his own name.—Pope.

[72]Who, when he was about to drink the hemlock, charged his son to forgive his enemies, and not to revenge his death on those Athenians who had decreed it.—Warton.He was condemned to deathB. C.317, at the age of 85, on the charge of treason to his country. Mistrusting the ability of Athens to maintain its independence, he connived at the dominion of the Macedonian kings. Many of those who admit his integrity contend that his policy was mistaken and unpatriotic. His party regained the ascendancy after his death, honoured his remains with a public funeral, and erected a statue of brass to his memory.

[72]Who, when he was about to drink the hemlock, charged his son to forgive his enemies, and not to revenge his death on those Athenians who had decreed it.—Warton.

He was condemned to deathB. C.317, at the age of 85, on the charge of treason to his country. Mistrusting the ability of Athens to maintain its independence, he connived at the dominion of the Macedonian kings. Many of those who admit his integrity contend that his policy was mistaken and unpatriotic. His party regained the ascendancy after his death, honoured his remains with a public funeral, and erected a statue of brass to his memory.

[73]Very unpoetically designated. Agis might as well have been left out, if all that could be said of him was that he was "not the last of Spartan names."—Bowles.Agis, king of Sparta, was celebrated for his attempt to restore the ancient Spartan regulations. Especially he was anxious to resume the excess of land possessed by the rich and divide it among the poor. He failed in his design, and was dethroned, and beheaded. At his execution one of the officers of justice shed tears. "Lament me not," said Agis; "I am happier than my murderers."

[73]Very unpoetically designated. Agis might as well have been left out, if all that could be said of him was that he was "not the last of Spartan names."—Bowles.

Agis, king of Sparta, was celebrated for his attempt to restore the ancient Spartan regulations. Especially he was anxious to resume the excess of land possessed by the rich and divide it among the poor. He failed in his design, and was dethroned, and beheaded. At his execution one of the officers of justice shed tears. "Lament me not," said Agis; "I am happier than my murderers."

[74]In the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey, Cato sided with Pompey, and when the cause was lost, he stabbed himself in the bowels to avoid being captured. He was found by his friends insensible, but alive, and a physician began to sew up the wound. Cato recovered his consciousness, pushed away the physician, tore open the wound, and expired.

[75]A horrible spectre appeared to Brutus while he sat meditating in his tent at night. "What art thou?" said Brutus, "and what is thy business with me?" "I am thy evil genius," replied the spectre; "thou wilt see me at Philippi." At Philippi the spectre rose up again before him on the night preceding the battle in which he suffered a total defeat. He destroyed himself in the night which followed.

[76]In the midst of the Temple, nearest the throne of Fame, are placed the greatest names in learning of all antiquity. These are described in such attitudes as express their different characters. The columns on which they are raised are adorned with sculptures, taken from the most striking subjects of their works, which sculpture bears a resemblance, in its manner and character, to the manner and character of their writings.—Pope.This was a trite device, and is poorly applied in the present instance. "The manner and character of the writings" of Homer, Virgil, Pindar, Horace, Aristotle, and Cicero could hardly have been described in a vaguer and more common-place way.

This was a trite device, and is poorly applied in the present instance. "The manner and character of the writings" of Homer, Virgil, Pindar, Horace, Aristotle, and Cicero could hardly have been described in a vaguer and more common-place way.

[77]From the dees many a pillere,Of metal that shone not full clere, &c.Upon a pillere saw I stondeThat was of lede and iron fine,Him of the sect Saturnine,The Ebraike Josephus the old, &c.Upon an iron piller strong,That painted was all endelong,With tigers' blood in every place,The Tholosan that highte Stace,That bare of Thebes up the fame, &c.—Pope.

[77]

From the dees many a pillere,Of metal that shone not full clere, &c.Upon a pillere saw I stondeThat was of lede and iron fine,Him of the sect Saturnine,The Ebraike Josephus the old, &c.Upon an iron piller strong,That painted was all endelong,With tigers' blood in every place,The Tholosan that highte Stace,That bare of Thebes up the fame, &c.—Pope.

[78]Full wonder hye on a pillereOf iron, he the great Omer,And with him Dares and Titus, &c.—Pope.

[78]

Full wonder hye on a pillereOf iron, he the great Omer,And with him Dares and Titus, &c.—Pope.

[79]Pope has selected from Homer only three subjects as the most interesting: Diomed wounding Venus, Hector slaying Patroclus, and the same Hector dragged along at the wheels of Achilles' chariot. Are these the most affecting and striking incidents of the Iliad? But it is highly worth remarking, that this very incident of dragging the body of Hector thrice round the walls of Troy, is absolutely not mentioned by Homer. Heyne thinks that Virgil, for he first mentioned it, adopted the circumstance from some Greek tragedy on the subject.—Warton.

[80]There saw I stand on a pillereThat was of tinned iron cleere,The Latin poete Virgyle,That hath bore up of a great whileThe fame of pious Æneas.And next him on a pillere wasOf copper, Venus' clerk Ovide,That hath y-sowen wondrous wideThe great God of Love's name—Tho saw I on a pillere byOf iron wrought full sternely,The greate poet Dan Lucan,That on his shoulders bore up thanAs high as that I mighte see,The fame of Julius and Pompee.And next him on a pillere stoodeOf sulphur, like as he were woode,Dan Claudian, sothe for to tell,That bare up all the fame of hell, &c.—Pope.Since Homer is placed by Chaucer upon a pillar of iron, he places Virgil upon iron tinned over, to indicate that the Æneis was based upon the Iliad and was both more polished and less vigorous. The sulphur upon which Claudian stands, is typical of the hell he described in his poem on the Rape of Proserpine. Ovid, the poet of love, is put upon a pillar of copper, because copper was the metal of Venus; and Lucan, like Homer, has a pillar of iron allotted to him because he celebrated in his Pharsalia the wars of Cæsar and Pompey, and, as Chaucer says,Iron Martes metal is,Which that god is of battaile.

[80]

There saw I stand on a pillereThat was of tinned iron cleere,The Latin poete Virgyle,That hath bore up of a great whileThe fame of pious Æneas.And next him on a pillere wasOf copper, Venus' clerk Ovide,That hath y-sowen wondrous wideThe great God of Love's name—Tho saw I on a pillere byOf iron wrought full sternely,The greate poet Dan Lucan,That on his shoulders bore up thanAs high as that I mighte see,The fame of Julius and Pompee.And next him on a pillere stoodeOf sulphur, like as he were woode,Dan Claudian, sothe for to tell,That bare up all the fame of hell, &c.—Pope.

Since Homer is placed by Chaucer upon a pillar of iron, he places Virgil upon iron tinned over, to indicate that the Æneis was based upon the Iliad and was both more polished and less vigorous. The sulphur upon which Claudian stands, is typical of the hell he described in his poem on the Rape of Proserpine. Ovid, the poet of love, is put upon a pillar of copper, because copper was the metal of Venus; and Lucan, like Homer, has a pillar of iron allotted to him because he celebrated in his Pharsalia the wars of Cæsar and Pompey, and, as Chaucer says,

Iron Martes metal is,Which that god is of battaile.

[81]Wakefield supposes that "modest majesty" was suggested by Milton's phrase, "modest pride," in Par. Lost, iv. 310.

[82]For this expression Wakefield quotes Dryden, Æn. vi. 33.There too in living sculpture might be seenThe mad affection of the Cretan queen.

[82]For this expression Wakefield quotes Dryden, Æn. vi. 33.

There too in living sculpture might be seenThe mad affection of the Cretan queen.

[83]The rhyme is dearly purchased by such an inexcusable inversion as "silver blight."

[84]Pindar being seated in a chariot, alludes to the chariot races he celebrated in the Grecian games. The swans are emblems of poetry, their soaring posture intimates the sublimity and activity of his genius. Neptune presided over the Isthmian, and Jupiter over the Olympian games.—Pope.

[85]A. Philips, Past. v. 95.He sinks into the cords with solemn pace,To give the swelling tones a bolder grace.—Wakefield.

[85]A. Philips, Past. v. 95.

He sinks into the cords with solemn pace,To give the swelling tones a bolder grace.—Wakefield.

[86]"Distorted," which is always used in an unfavourable sense, is a disparaging epithet by which to characterise the vehement eagerness of the champions. It is not clear who or what they "threaten," whether the horses or each other, and in either case there is nothing "great" in the image of a person uttering threats in a "distorted posture."

[87]This expresses the mixed character of the odes of Horace: the second of these verses alludes to that line of his,Spiritum Graiæ tenuem camœnæ,as another which follows, toExegi monumentum ære perennius.The action of the doves hints at a passage in the fourth ode of his third book:Me fabulosæ Vulture in ApuloAltricis extra limen Apuliæ,Ludo fatigatumque somno,Fronde nova puerum palumbesTexêre; mirum quod foret omnibus—Ut tuto ab atris corpore viperisDormirem et ursis; ut premerer sacraLauroque, collataque myrto,Non sine Dîs animosus infans.Which may be thus Englished:While yet a child, I chanced to stray,And in a desert sleeping lay;The savage race withdrew, nor daredTo touch the muses' future bard;But Cytherea's gentle doveMyrtles and bays around me spread,And crowned your infant poet's headSacred to music and to love.—Pope.In addition to these passages, he had in his mind Hor. Epist. lib. i. 19, quoted by Wakefield:Temperat Archilochi Musam pede mascula Sappho,Temperat Alcæus.

[87]This expresses the mixed character of the odes of Horace: the second of these verses alludes to that line of his,

Spiritum Graiæ tenuem camœnæ,

as another which follows, to

Exegi monumentum ære perennius.

The action of the doves hints at a passage in the fourth ode of his third book:

Me fabulosæ Vulture in ApuloAltricis extra limen Apuliæ,Ludo fatigatumque somno,Fronde nova puerum palumbesTexêre; mirum quod foret omnibus—Ut tuto ab atris corpore viperisDormirem et ursis; ut premerer sacraLauroque, collataque myrto,Non sine Dîs animosus infans.

Which may be thus Englished:

While yet a child, I chanced to stray,And in a desert sleeping lay;The savage race withdrew, nor daredTo touch the muses' future bard;But Cytherea's gentle doveMyrtles and bays around me spread,And crowned your infant poet's headSacred to music and to love.—Pope.

In addition to these passages, he had in his mind Hor. Epist. lib. i. 19, quoted by Wakefield:

Temperat Archilochi Musam pede mascula Sappho,Temperat Alcæus.

[88]Horace speaking, in his ode to Augustus, of the relative glory of different families, says that the Julian star shone among all the rest as the moon shines among the lesser lights. The star referred to the comet which appeared for seven days the year after the death of Julius Cæsar, and which was supposed to indicate that he had become a deity in the heavens. A star was sculptured in consequence on his statue in the forum.

[89]Surely he might have selected for the basso rilievos about the statue of Horace ornaments more manly and characteristical of his genius.—Warton.

[90]A very tame and lifeless verse indeed, alluding to the treatise of Aristotle "concerning animals."—Wakefield.

[91]Pope here refers to Aristotle's treatise on the Heavens.

[92]This beautiful attitude is copied from a statue in the collection which Lady Pomfret presented to the University of Oxford.—Warton.

[93]Addison's translation of some lines from Sannazarius:And thou whose rival tow'rs invade the skies.

[93]Addison's translation of some lines from Sannazarius:

And thou whose rival tow'rs invade the skies.

[94]Chaucer in a passage, not quoted by Pope, represents Fame as enthroned upon "a seat imperial," which was formed of rubies.

[95]Methoughte that she was so liteThat the length of a cubiteWas longer than she seemed to be;But thus soon in a while she,Herself tho wonderly straight,That with her feet she carthe reight,And with her head she touched heaven.—Pope.

[95]

Methoughte that she was so liteThat the length of a cubiteWas longer than she seemed to be;But thus soon in a while she,Herself tho wonderly straight,That with her feet she carthe reight,And with her head she touched heaven.—Pope.

[96]This notion of the enlargement of the temple is also from Chaucer, who says that it became in length, breadth, and height, a thousand times bigger than it was at first.

[97]The corresponding passage in Chaucer is not quoted by Pope, who translated from their common original, Virg. Æn. iv. 181:Cui quot sunt corpore plumæ,Tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,Tot lunguæ, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit auris.

[97]The corresponding passage in Chaucer is not quoted by Pope, who translated from their common original, Virg. Æn. iv. 181:

Cui quot sunt corpore plumæ,Tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,Tot lunguæ, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit auris.

[98]I heard about her throne y-sungThat all the palays walles rung;So sung the mighty Muse, sheThat cleped is Calliope,And her eighte sisters eke.—Pope.Pope should have continued the extract; for his next four lines were prompted by the succeeding four in Chaucer:And evermore eternallyThey sing of Fame as tho heard I;"Heried be thou and thy nameGoddess of renown or fame.""Heried" means praised.

[98]

I heard about her throne y-sungThat all the palays walles rung;So sung the mighty Muse, sheThat cleped is Calliope,And her eighte sisters eke.—Pope.

Pope should have continued the extract; for his next four lines were prompted by the succeeding four in Chaucer:

And evermore eternallyThey sing of Fame as tho heard I;"Heried be thou and thy nameGoddess of renown or fame."

"Heried" means praised.

[99]I heard a noise approchen blive,That fared as bees done in a hive,Against their time of out flying;Right such a manere murmering,For all the world it seemed me.Tho gan I look about and seeThat there came entring into th' hall,A right great company withal;And that of sundry regions,Of all kind of conditions, &c.—Pope.

[99]

I heard a noise approchen blive,That fared as bees done in a hive,Against their time of out flying;Right such a manere murmering,For all the world it seemed me.Tho gan I look about and seeThat there came entring into th' hall,A right great company withal;And that of sundry regions,Of all kind of conditions, &c.—Pope.

[100]This description is varied with improvements from Dryden, Æneis, vi. 958.About the boughs an airy nation flewThick as the humming bees that hunt the golden dew:The winged army roams the field around,The rivers and the rocks remurmer to the sound.—Wakefield.He was assisted by another passage in Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Thick as the college of the bees in May,When swarming o'er the dusky fields they fly,Now to the flow'rs, and intercept the sky.

[100]This description is varied with improvements from Dryden, Æneis, vi. 958.

About the boughs an airy nation flewThick as the humming bees that hunt the golden dew:The winged army roams the field around,The rivers and the rocks remurmer to the sound.—Wakefield.

He was assisted by another passage in Dryden's Flower and Leaf:

Thick as the college of the bees in May,When swarming o'er the dusky fields they fly,Now to the flow'rs, and intercept the sky.

[101]So in Chaucer all degrees, "poor and rich" fall down on their knees before Fame and beg her to grant them their petition.

[102]"The tattling quality of age which, as Sir William Davenant says, is always narrative." Dryden's Dedication of Juvenal.—Wakefield.

[103]And some of them she granted sone,And some she warned well and fair,And some she granted the contrair—Right as her sister dame FortuneIs wont to serven in commune.—Pope.Chaucer and Pope describe Fame as bestowing reputation upon some, and traducing others, when their deserts were equal, but neither Pope nor Chaucer touch upon the truth that the same person is commonly both lauded and denounced. This is finely expressed by Milton, Samson Agonistes, ver. 971:—Fame if not double-faced is double-mouthed,And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds;On both his wings, one black, the other white,Bears greatest names in his wild aery flight.

[103]

And some of them she granted sone,And some she warned well and fair,And some she granted the contrair—Right as her sister dame FortuneIs wont to serven in commune.—Pope.

Chaucer and Pope describe Fame as bestowing reputation upon some, and traducing others, when their deserts were equal, but neither Pope nor Chaucer touch upon the truth that the same person is commonly both lauded and denounced. This is finely expressed by Milton, Samson Agonistes, ver. 971:—

Fame if not double-faced is double-mouthed,And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds;On both his wings, one black, the other white,Bears greatest names in his wild aery flight.

[104]The idea is from Chaucer:They hadde good fame each deservedAlthough they were diversely served.Besides the passage in Chaucer, Pope evidently recalled Creech's translation of Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 132.ev'ry age relatesThat equal crimes have met unequal fates;That sins alike, unlike rewards have found,And whilst this villain's crucified the other's crowned.

[104]The idea is from Chaucer:

They hadde good fame each deservedAlthough they were diversely served.

Besides the passage in Chaucer, Pope evidently recalled Creech's translation of Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 132.

ev'ry age relatesThat equal crimes have met unequal fates;That sins alike, unlike rewards have found,And whilst this villain's crucified the other's crowned.

[105]In Chaucer, Fame sends for Eolus, who comes with two trumpets, a golden trumpet, from which he gives forth praises, and a black trumpet of brass, from which he sends forth blasts of slander. In Pope the golden trumpet is blown by the muses, and the trump of slander sounds without the mention of any agent.

[106]Tho came the thirde companye,And gan up to the dees to hye,And down on knees they fell anone,And saiden: We ben everichoneFolke that han full truelyDeserved fame rightfully,And prayen you it might be knoweRight as it is, and forthe blowe.I grant, quoth she, for now me listThat your good works shall be wist.And yet ye shall have better loos,Right in despite of all your foos,Than worthy is, and that anone.Let now (quoth she) thy trumpe gone—And certes all the breath that wentOut of his trumpes mouthe smel'dAs men a pot of baume heldAmong a basket full of roses.—Pope.

[106]

Tho came the thirde companye,And gan up to the dees to hye,And down on knees they fell anone,And saiden: We ben everichoneFolke that han full truelyDeserved fame rightfully,And prayen you it might be knoweRight as it is, and forthe blowe.I grant, quoth she, for now me listThat your good works shall be wist.And yet ye shall have better loos,Right in despite of all your foos,Than worthy is, and that anone.Let now (quoth she) thy trumpe gone—And certes all the breath that wentOut of his trumpes mouthe smel'dAs men a pot of baume heldAmong a basket full of roses.—Pope.

[107]Prior, Carmen Seculare:In comely rank call ev'ry merit forth,Imprint on ev'ry act its standard worth.

[107]Prior, Carmen Seculare:

In comely rank call ev'ry merit forth,Imprint on ev'ry act its standard worth.

[108]The whole tribe of the "good and just," who obtain any fame at all, are said by Pope to get more than they deserve. For this notion there is certainly no foundation, unless he meant that the fact of desiring reputation deprived virtue of the title to it.

[109]Therewithal there came anoneAnother huge companye,Of good folke—What did this Eolus, but heTook out his black trump of brass,That fouler than the devil was:And gan this trumpe for to blowe,As all the world should overthrowe.Throughout every regioneWent this foule trumpes soune,As swift as pellet out of gunne,When fire is in the powder runne.And such a smoke gan oute wende,Out of the foule trumpes ende, &c.—Pope.

[109]

Therewithal there came anoneAnother huge companye,Of good folke—What did this Eolus, but heTook out his black trump of brass,That fouler than the devil was:And gan this trumpe for to blowe,As all the world should overthrowe.Throughout every regioneWent this foule trumpes soune,As swift as pellet out of gunne,When fire is in the powder runne.And such a smoke gan oute wende,Out of the foule trumpes ende, &c.—Pope.

[110]In his account of the reception given by Fame to her various suppliants, Pope is detailing the manner in which praise and blame are dispensed in this world, and it is a departure from reality to consign the entire race of conquerors to oblivion. However little they may deserve fame, they at least obtain it. The inconsistency is the more glaring that when he describes the temple in the opening of the poem, he tells us that,Within stood heroes, who through loud alarms,In bloody fields pursued renown in arms.

Within stood heroes, who through loud alarms,In bloody fields pursued renown in arms.

[111]I saw anone the fifth route,That to this lady gan loute,And down on knees anone to fall,And to her they besoughten all,To hiden their good workes eke,And said, they yeven not a lekeFor no fame ne such renowne;For they for contemplacyoune,And Goddes love hadde ywrought,Ne of fame would they ought.—Pope.

[111]

I saw anone the fifth route,That to this lady gan loute,And down on knees anone to fall,And to her they besoughten all,To hiden their good workes eke,And said, they yeven not a lekeFor no fame ne such renowne;For they for contemplacyoune,And Goddes love hadde ywrought,Ne of fame would they ought.—Pope.

[112]What, quoth she, and be ye wood?And wene ye for to do good,And for to have of it no fame?Have ye despite to have my name?Nay, ye shall lien everichone:Blowe they trump, and that anone(Quoth she) thou Eolus yhote,And ring these folkes works be note,That all the world may of it hear;And he gan blow their loos so cleare,In his golden clarioune,Through the world went the soune,All so kenely, and eke so soft,That their fame was blowen aloft.—Pope.Pope makes everybody obtain fame who seeks to avoid it, which is absurd. Chaucer keeps to truth. The first company came,And saiden, Certes, lady bright,We have done well with all out might,But we ne kepen have for fame,Hide our workes and our name."I grant you all your asking," she replies; "let your works be dead." The second company arrive immediately afterwards, and prefer the same request in the lines versified by Pope, when Fame, with her usual capriciousness, refuses their prayer, and orders Eolus to sound their praises.

[112]

What, quoth she, and be ye wood?And wene ye for to do good,And for to have of it no fame?Have ye despite to have my name?Nay, ye shall lien everichone:Blowe they trump, and that anone(Quoth she) thou Eolus yhote,And ring these folkes works be note,That all the world may of it hear;And he gan blow their loos so cleare,In his golden clarioune,Through the world went the soune,All so kenely, and eke so soft,That their fame was blowen aloft.—Pope.

Pope makes everybody obtain fame who seeks to avoid it, which is absurd. Chaucer keeps to truth. The first company came,

And saiden, Certes, lady bright,We have done well with all out might,But we ne kepen have for fame,Hide our workes and our name.

"I grant you all your asking," she replies; "let your works be dead." The second company arrive immediately afterwards, and prefer the same request in the lines versified by Pope, when Fame, with her usual capriciousness, refuses their prayer, and orders Eolus to sound their praises.

[113]An obvious imitation of a well-known verse in Denham:Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull.—Wakefield.

[113]An obvious imitation of a well-known verse in Denham:

Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull.—Wakefield.

[114]The reader might compare these twenty-eight lines following, which contain the same matter, with eighty-four of Chaucer, beginning thus:Tho came the sixthe companye,And gan faste to Fame cry, &c.,being too prolix to be here inserted.—Pope.

[114]The reader might compare these twenty-eight lines following, which contain the same matter, with eighty-four of Chaucer, beginning thus:

Tho came the sixthe companye,And gan faste to Fame cry, &c.,

being too prolix to be here inserted.—Pope.

[115]"A pretty fame," says Dennis, "when the very smartest of these coxcombs is sure to have his name rotten before his carcase. When the author introduced these fellows into the temple of Fame, he ought to have made the chocolate-house, and the side-box, part of it." The criticism was just. The contemptible creatures who buzzed their profligate falsehoods for the hour, and were heard of no more, should have been introduced, if at all, into the Temple of Rumour, and not into the Temple of Fame. Pope followed Chaucer.

[116]Strokes of pleasantry and humour, and satirical reflections on the foibles of common life, are unsuited to so grave and majestic a poem. They appear as unnatural and out of place as one of the burlesque scenes of Heemskirk would do in a solemn landscape of Poussin. When I see such a line asAnd at each blast a lady's honour diesin the Temple of Fame, I lament as much to find it placed there as to see shops and sheds and cottages erected among the ruins of Diocletian's baths.—Warton.

And at each blast a lady's honour dies

in the Temple of Fame, I lament as much to find it placed there as to see shops and sheds and cottages erected among the ruins of Diocletian's baths.—Warton.

[117]Pope places the temple of Fame on a precipitous rock of ice, and Dennis charges him with departing from his allegory when he describes the self-indulgent multitude, who are "even fatigued with ease," as having toiled up the "steep and slippery ascent" to present themselves before the goddess. There is the same defect in Chaucer.

[118]Tho come another companyeThat Lad ydone the treachery, &c.—Pope.Pope in this paragraph had not only Chaucer in view, but the passage of Virgil where he describes the criminals in the infernal regions. The second line of Pope's opening couplet was suggested by Dryden's translation, Æneis, vi. 825:Expel their parents and usurp the throne.

[118]

Tho come another companyeThat Lad ydone the treachery, &c.—Pope.

Pope in this paragraph had not only Chaucer in view, but the passage of Virgil where he describes the criminals in the infernal regions. The second line of Pope's opening couplet was suggested by Dryden's translation, Æneis, vi. 825:

Expel their parents and usurp the throne.

[119]A glance at the Revolution of 1688.—Croker.

[120]The scene here changes from the Temple of Fame to that of Rumour, which is almost entirely Chaucer's. The particulars follow:Tho saw I stonde in a valey,Under the castle faste byA house, that Domus DedaliThat Labyrinthus cleped is,Nas made so wonderly I wis,Ne half so queintly ywrought;And evermo, as swift as thought,This queinte house aboute went,That never more stille it stent—And eke this house hath of entreesAs fele of leaves as ben on treesIn summer, when they grene ben;And in the roof yet men may seneA thousand holes, and well moTo letten well the soune out go;And by day in every tideBen all the doores open wide,And by night each one unshet;No porter is there one to letNo manner tydings in to pace:Ne never rest is in that place.—Pope.

[120]The scene here changes from the Temple of Fame to that of Rumour, which is almost entirely Chaucer's. The particulars follow:

Tho saw I stonde in a valey,Under the castle faste byA house, that Domus DedaliThat Labyrinthus cleped is,Nas made so wonderly I wis,Ne half so queintly ywrought;And evermo, as swift as thought,This queinte house aboute went,That never more stille it stent—And eke this house hath of entreesAs fele of leaves as ben on treesIn summer, when they grene ben;And in the roof yet men may seneA thousand holes, and well moTo letten well the soune out go;And by day in every tideBen all the doores open wide,And by night each one unshet;No porter is there one to letNo manner tydings in to pace:Ne never rest is in that place.—Pope.

[121]This thought is transferred thither out of the second book of Fame, where it takes up no less than one hundred and twenty verses, beginning thus:Geffray, thou wottost well this, &c.—Pope.

[121]This thought is transferred thither out of the second book of Fame, where it takes up no less than one hundred and twenty verses, beginning thus:

Geffray, thou wottost well this, &c.—Pope.

[122]From Chaucer:If that thouThrow on water now a stone,Well wost thou it will make anonA little roundel as a circle,Paraunture broad as a covercle,And right anon thou shalt see wele,That circle will cause another wheel,And that the third, and so forth, brother,Every circle causing other,And multiplying evermoe,Till that it so far ygoThat it at bothe brinkes be.* * * * * * * * * *And right thus every word, ywis,That loud or privy y-spoken is,Moveth first an air about,And of this moving, out of doubt,Another air anon is moved,As I have of the water provedThat every circle causeth other.A "covercle" was the cover or lid of a pot.

[122]From Chaucer:

If that thouThrow on water now a stone,Well wost thou it will make anonA little roundel as a circle,Paraunture broad as a covercle,And right anon thou shalt see wele,That circle will cause another wheel,And that the third, and so forth, brother,Every circle causing other,And multiplying evermoe,Till that it so far ygoThat it at bothe brinkes be.* * * * * * * * * *And right thus every word, ywis,That loud or privy y-spoken is,Moveth first an air about,And of this moving, out of doubt,Another air anon is moved,As I have of the water provedThat every circle causeth other.

A "covercle" was the cover or lid of a pot.

[123]Dryden's version of Ovid, Met. xii.:Whence all things, though remote, are viewed aroundAnd hither bring their undulating sound.—Wakefield.

[123]Dryden's version of Ovid, Met. xii.:

Whence all things, though remote, are viewed aroundAnd hither bring their undulating sound.—Wakefield.

[124]Of werres, of peace, of marriages,Of rest, of labour, of voyages,Of abode, of dethe, of life,Of love and hate, accord and strife,Of loss, of lore, and of winnings,Of hele, of sickness, and lessings,Of divers transmutationsOf estates and eke of regions,Of trust, of drede, of jealousy,Of wit, of winning, of folly,Of good, or bad governement,Of fire, and of divers accident.—Pope.The dismissal of Lord Oxford, the death of Queen Anne immediately afterwards, on August 1, 1714, and the overthrow of Bolingbroke, were events which had recently happened when Pope published his poem, and there never was a time when "changes in the state," "the falls of favourites," and "old mismanagements" were a more universal topic of conversation.

[124]

Of werres, of peace, of marriages,Of rest, of labour, of voyages,Of abode, of dethe, of life,Of love and hate, accord and strife,Of loss, of lore, and of winnings,Of hele, of sickness, and lessings,Of divers transmutationsOf estates and eke of regions,Of trust, of drede, of jealousy,Of wit, of winning, of folly,Of good, or bad governement,Of fire, and of divers accident.—Pope.

The dismissal of Lord Oxford, the death of Queen Anne immediately afterwards, on August 1, 1714, and the overthrow of Bolingbroke, were events which had recently happened when Pope published his poem, and there never was a time when "changes in the state," "the falls of favourites," and "old mismanagements" were a more universal topic of conversation.

[125]But such a grete congregationOf folke as I saw roame about,Some within, and some without.Was never seen, ne shall be eft—And every wight that I saw thereRowned everich in others earA newe tyding privily,Or elles he told it openlyRight thus, and said, Knowst not thouThat is betide to night now?No, quoth he, tell me whatAnd then he told him this and that, &c.—Pope.

[125]

But such a grete congregationOf folke as I saw roame about,Some within, and some without.Was never seen, ne shall be eft—And every wight that I saw thereRowned everich in others earA newe tyding privily,Or elles he told it openlyRight thus, and said, Knowst not thouThat is betide to night now?No, quoth he, tell me whatAnd then he told him this and that, &c.—Pope.

[126]Thus north and southWent every tiding fro mouth to mouth,And that encreasing evermo,As fire is wont to quicken and goFrom a sparkle sprong amiss,Till all the citee brent up is.—Pope.

[126]

Thus north and southWent every tiding fro mouth to mouth,And that encreasing evermo,As fire is wont to quicken and goFrom a sparkle sprong amiss,Till all the citee brent up is.—Pope.

[127]Dryden, Ovid, Met. xii.:Fame sits aloft.In Ovid the scene is laid in the house of Fame. Pope lays it in the house of Rumour, and having left Fame enthroned in her own temple, he now represents her as permanently "sitting aloft" in a totally different edifice.

[127]Dryden, Ovid, Met. xii.:

Fame sits aloft.

In Ovid the scene is laid in the house of Fame. Pope lays it in the house of Rumour, and having left Fame enthroned in her own temple, he now represents her as permanently "sitting aloft" in a totally different edifice.

[128]And sometime I saw there at once,A lesing and a sad sooth sawThat gonnen at adventure drawOut of a window forth to pace—And no man be he ever so wrothe,Shall have one of these two, but bothe, &c.—Pope.

[128]

And sometime I saw there at once,A lesing and a sad sooth sawThat gonnen at adventure drawOut of a window forth to pace—And no man be he ever so wrothe,Shall have one of these two, but bothe, &c.—Pope.

[129]The hint is taken from a passage in another part of the third book, but here more naturally made the conclusion, with the addition of a moral to the whole. In Chaucer, he only answers, "he came to see the place;" and the book ends abruptly, with his being surprized at the sight of a man of great authority, and awaking in a fright.—Pope.This is an imperfect representation. While Chaucer is standing in the House of Fame, a person goes up to him,And saide, Friend, what is thy name,Artow come hither to have fame?The poet disclaims any such intention, and protests that he has no desire that his name should be known to a single soul. He is then asked what he does there, and he replies that he who brought him to the place promised him that he should learn new and wonderful things, in which, he says, he has been disappointed, for he was aware before that people coveted fame, though he was not hitherto acquainted with the dwelling of the goddess, nor with her appearance and condition. His interrogator answers that he perceives what it is he desires to know, and conducts him to the house of Rumour. There he has revealed to him the falsehood of the world, and especially of pilgrims and pardoners, which was an important doctrine to be inculcated in those days. When the scene has been fully disclosed, "a man of great authority" appears, and the poet starts up from his sleep, by which he seems to intimate that the wise and serious frown upon those who listen to idle tales. His awaking "half afraid," is the result of hisRemembring well what I had seen,And how high and far I had beenIn my ghost.Pope, by reserving the inquiry addressed to him for the end of the poem, represents himself as being asked in the temple of Rumour whether he has come there for fame, which, is not more, but much less natural than the arrangement of Chaucer, who supposes the question to be put in the temple of Fame itself. Nor would it have been congenial to Chaucer's modest disposition to make himself the climax of the piece.

This is an imperfect representation. While Chaucer is standing in the House of Fame, a person goes up to him,

And saide, Friend, what is thy name,Artow come hither to have fame?

The poet disclaims any such intention, and protests that he has no desire that his name should be known to a single soul. He is then asked what he does there, and he replies that he who brought him to the place promised him that he should learn new and wonderful things, in which, he says, he has been disappointed, for he was aware before that people coveted fame, though he was not hitherto acquainted with the dwelling of the goddess, nor with her appearance and condition. His interrogator answers that he perceives what it is he desires to know, and conducts him to the house of Rumour. There he has revealed to him the falsehood of the world, and especially of pilgrims and pardoners, which was an important doctrine to be inculcated in those days. When the scene has been fully disclosed, "a man of great authority" appears, and the poet starts up from his sleep, by which he seems to intimate that the wise and serious frown upon those who listen to idle tales. His awaking "half afraid," is the result of his

Remembring well what I had seen,And how high and far I had beenIn my ghost.

Pope, by reserving the inquiry addressed to him for the end of the poem, represents himself as being asked in the temple of Rumour whether he has come there for fame, which, is not more, but much less natural than the arrangement of Chaucer, who supposes the question to be put in the temple of Fame itself. Nor would it have been congenial to Chaucer's modest disposition to make himself the climax of the piece.

[130]Garth, in the preface to his Dispensary: "Reputation of this sort is very hard to be got, and very easy to be lost."—Wakefield.

[131]Cowley's Complaint:Thou who rewardest but with popular breathAnd that too after death.—Wakefield.Pope's moral is inconsistent with the previous tone of his poem. He has not treated the "second life in others' breath" as "vain," but speaks of the position of Homer, Aristotle, &c. in the temple of Fame as though it were a substantial triumph, a real dignity, and a glorious reward. The purport of his piece is to enforce, and not to depreciate, the value of literary renown. His whole life attests that this was his genuine opinion. He was not endowed with the equanimity which neither covets nor despises reputation, and it was pure affectation when he pretended, in the concluding paragraph, that he did not "call for the favours of fame," and that he held posthumous fame, in particular, to be a worthless possession.

[131]Cowley's Complaint:

Thou who rewardest but with popular breathAnd that too after death.—Wakefield.

Pope's moral is inconsistent with the previous tone of his poem. He has not treated the "second life in others' breath" as "vain," but speaks of the position of Homer, Aristotle, &c. in the temple of Fame as though it were a substantial triumph, a real dignity, and a glorious reward. The purport of his piece is to enforce, and not to depreciate, the value of literary renown. His whole life attests that this was his genuine opinion. He was not endowed with the equanimity which neither covets nor despises reputation, and it was pure affectation when he pretended, in the concluding paragraph, that he did not "call for the favours of fame," and that he held posthumous fame, in particular, to be a worthless possession.

[132]Dryden, in Palamon and Arcite, says of women that theyStill follow fortune where she leads the way.

[132]Dryden, in Palamon and Arcite, says of women that they

Still follow fortune where she leads the way.

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