[346]Lectures on the English Poets, p. 389.[347]Moore's Life of Byron, p. 694.[348]Moore's Life of Byron, p. 697.[349]Bowles's Pope, vol. x. p. 371.[350]Warburton's Pope, vol. iv. p. 16.[351]Warton's Essay on the Genius of Pope, 5th ed., vol. ii. p. 404; Bowles's Letters to T. Campbell, 2nd ed., p. 28.[352]Johnson's Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 116; Cowper to Unwin, Jan. 5, 1782.[353]Johnson's Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 137; Hazlitt's Lectures on the English Poets, p. 133.[354]Byron's Works, 1 vol. ed., p. 804.[355]Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. ii. p. 215, 225, 470.[356]Lectures on the English Poets, p. 137.[357]Pope's Poetical Works, vol. i. p. 4.[358]Prologue to the Satires, ver. 28, 342; Essay on Man, Ep. i. ver. 16.[359]Hurd's Horace, 5th ed., vol. iii. p. 148.[360]Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. i. p. 339, 342.[361]The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry, chap. 3.[362]Advancement of Learning, ed. Montagu, p. 127. A sentence from the passage is quoted by Hurd, who concludes that "pleasure in the idea of Lord Bacon is the ultimate and appropriate end of poetry." Hurd could not have looked into the original, and must have been deceived by trusting to second-hand extracts.[363]Advancement of Learning, p. 127.[364]The Recluse, Book v.[365]The title of Mrs. continued in Pope's early time to be applied indifferently to all grown up ladies, whether married or single. The contracted form Miss was appropriated to young girls and women of loose character.[366]Pope never, I think, is so unsuccessful as when he is writing to the ladies. He talks of the impropriety of using hard words before a lady. He must bring "her acquainted with the Rosicrucians," and explain what is meant by "machinery." This is done with such an air of conceited superiority, and of affected condescension, that it appears to me as pedantic as the pedantry he pretended to despise. The latter part of the epistle is certainly urbane, elegant and unaffected.—Bowles.[367]C—— or C——l in all the impressions which appeared in Pope's lifetime. "In this more solemn edition," Pope wrote to Caryll, Feb. 25, 1714, when the poem was about to be published in its enlarged shape, "I was strangely tempted to have set your name at length, as well as I have my own; but I remembered the desire you formerly expressed to the contrary, besides that it may better become me to appear as the offerer of an ill present, than you as the receiver of it."[368]Roscommon in his Essay:Or Gallus song, so tender and so true,As e'en Lycoris might with pity view.—Wakefield.[369]This is formed from Virgil, Geor. iv. 6. Sedley's version of the passage imitated:The subject's humble, but not so the praise,If any muse assists the poet's lays.Dryden's Translation:Slight is the subject, but the praise not smallIf heav'n assist, and Phœbus hear my call.—Wakefield.[370]"Compel," says Dennis, "is a botch for the sake of the rhyme. The word that should naturally have been used was eitherinduceorprovoke."Impelwould have fitted both the rhyme and the sense.[371]"Belinda was Mrs. Arabella Fermor; the Baron was Lord Petre, of small stature, who soon after married a great heiress, Mrs. Warmsley, and died, leaving a posthumous son; Thalestris was Mrs. Morley; Sir Plume was her brother, Sir George Brown, of Berkshire." Copied from a MS. in a book presented by R. Lord Burlington, to Mr. William Sherwin.—Warton.All these persons were Roman Catholics. The marriage of Lord Petre to Miss Warmsley took place in March, 1712, and he died the year after in March, 1713, at the age of 22. Miss Fermor married Mr. Perkins, of Ufton Court, near Reading, in 1714. Her husband died in 1736, and she herself in 1738.—Croker.[372]This passage is a palpable imitation of the exordium of the Æneis, and particularly the last line.———tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ?And dwell such passions in cœlestial minds?—Wakefield.It was in the first editions:And dwells such rage in softest bosoms then,And lodge such daring souls in little men?—Pope.The second line of the rejected reading was from Addison's translation of the fourth Georgic:Their little bodies lodge a mighty soul.Pope probably altered the couplet in consequence of an objection of the author of the Supplement to the Profound, who remarked upon the mean effect which resulted from throwing the rhyme upon "then;" "for the rhyme," says Dr. Trapp, "draws out the sound of little and ignoble words, and makes them observed."[373]BytimorousI understandfeeble, from the medium through which it passed.—Wakefield.[374]Verse 13, &c., stood thus in the first edition:Sol through white curtains did his beams display,And ope'd those eyes which brighter shine than they:Shock just had giv'n himself the rousing shake,And nymphs prepared their chocolate to take;Thrice the wrought slipper knocked against the ground,And striking watches the tenth hour resound.—Pope.[375]Belinda rung a hand-bell, which not being answered, she knocked with her slipper. Bell-hanging was not introduced into our domestic apartments till long after the date of the Rape of the Lock. There are no bells at Hampton Court, nor were there any in the first quarter of the present century at Chatsworth and Holkham.I myself, about the year 1790, remember that it was still the practice for ladies to summon their attendants to their bedchambers by knocking with a high-heeled shoe. Servants, too, were accustomed to wait in ante-rooms, whence they were summoned by hand-bells, and this explains the extraordinary number of such rooms in the houses of the last century.—Croker.[376]All the verses from hence to the end of this canto were added afterwards.—Pope.And, as Mr. Croker observes, Pope, in adding them, did not perceive that he introduced an inconsistency. At ver. 14 Belinda is represented as waking, and at ver. 20 we have her still sleeping.[377]The frequenters of the court appeared in clothes of unusual splendour on the birth-day of King, Queen, Prince or Princess of Wales. There are innumerable allusions in the writings of the time to the magnificence of the dresses at the birth-night balls.[378]"The silver token" alludes to the silver pennies which fairies were said to drop at night into the shoes of maids who kept the house clean and tidy. "The circled green" refers to those rings of grass of a deeper hue than the surrounding pasture, which were formerly believed to be caused by the midnight dances "of airy elves." This was the lore taught by the nurse. The priest infused the legends of "virgins visited by angel-powers."—Croker.[379]The drive in Hyde Park is still called the ring, though the site and shape have been changed.—Croker.The box at the theatre, and the ring in Hyde Park, are frequently mentioned as the two principal places for the public display of beauty and fashion. Thus Lord Dorset, in his lines on Lady Dorchester:Wilt thou still sparkle in the boxOr ogle in the ring.And Garth, in the Dispensary, speaking of a deceased young lady, says:How lately did this celebrated thingBlaze in the box, and sparkle in the ring.[380]Epilogue to Dryden's Tyrannick Love:For after death we sprites have just such naturesWe had, for all the world, when human creatures.—Steevens.[381]Quæ gratia currûmArmorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentesPascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. Virg. Æneid, vi.—Pope.To Dryden's version of which passage our poet was indebted:The love of horses which they had alive,And care of chariots, after death survive.—Wakefield.[382]Dryden, Æn. i. 196:The realms of ocean and the fields of air.—Wakefield.In Le Comte de Gabalis the salamanders who dwelt in fire, the nymphs who peopled the seas and rivers, the gnomes who filled the earth almost to the centre, and the sylphs who in countless multitudes floated in the air, are said to be formed of the purest portion of the elements they respectively inhabit. But their moral and mental natures are not, as in the Rape of the Lock, the counter-part of their corporeal qualities, and they are a race of beings distinct from man, and not deceased mortals, as with Pope, who was indebted for this circumstance to the account of the fairy train in Dryden's Flower and Leaf:And all those airy shapes you now beholdWere human bodies once, and clothed with earthly mould.[383]The idea and the phraseology are both from Paradise Lost, i. 423:For spirits when they pleaseCan either sex assume, or both....... In what shape they choose,Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,Can execute their aery purposes,And works of love or enmity fulfill.[384]Parody of Homer.—Warburton.Dryden, Hind and Panther, 3rd part:Immortal pow'rs the term of conscience know,But int'rest is her name with men below.—Holt White.[385]That is, too sensible of their beauty.—Warburton.[386]The gnomes who prompt the disdain of the nymphs predestined to disappointment.—Croker.[387]Jam clypeus clypeis, umbone repellitur umbo.Ense minax ensis, pede pes, et cuspide cuspis, &c. Statius.—Warburton.To drive a coach has an exclusive technical meaning, which renders Pope's phrase improper for expressing that the thought of a second coach obliterates from the minds of belles the thought of a previous coach.[388]"Claim thy protection" signifies "I claim to be protected by thee," whereas the sense here is, "I claim to protect thee."[389]The language of the Platonists, the writers of the intelligible world of Spirits, &c.—Pope.[390]It cannot be that Belinda then saw for the first time a billet-doux. The meaning no doubt is that a billet-doux was the first thing she saw that morning.—Croker.[391]Evidently from Addison's Spectator, No. 69, May, 1711. "The single dress of a woman of quality is often the product of an hundred climates. The muff and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The scarf is sent from the torrid zone, and the tippet from beneath the pole. The brocade petticoat arises out of the mines of Peru, and the diamond necklace out of the bowels of Indostan."—Warton.[392]Ancient traditions of the Rabbis relate, that several of the fallen angels became amorous of women, and particularize some; among the rest Asael, who lay with Naamah, the wife of Noah, or of Ham; and who, continuing impenitent, still presides over the women's toilets. Bereshi Rabbi, in Genes, vi. 2.—Pope.[393]A comparison pressed too far loses its beauty in departing from truth. When Pope makes Belinda equal, in the glory of her appearance, to the sun,—"the rival of his beams" who was "of this great world both eye and soul," he falls into an insipid hyperbole. When Chaucer, in his Knight's Tale, says,Up rose the sun, and up rose Emily,everyone feels the matchless charm of the allusion.[394]From hence the poem continues, in the first edition, to ver. 46:"The rest, the winds dispersed in empty air;"all after, to the end of this Canto, being additional.—Pope.[395]Wakefield remarks, that this line is marred by the abbreviation,you'll, and he suggests that a better reading would be,Look on her face andyouforget them all.[396]Sandys's Paraphrase of the Song of Solomon, 1641:One hair of thine in fetters ties.Buchanan, Epigram, lib. i. xiv.:Et modo membra pilo vinctus miser abstrahoruno.—Steevens.Dryden's Persius, v. 247:She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,Can draw you to her with a single hair.[397]An imitation, or a translation rather, of Æneid, ii. 390:———dolus, an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?—Wakefield.[398]Virgil, Æneid, xi. 798.—Pope.Dryden's Translation:Apollo heard, and granting half his pray'r,Shuffled in winds the rest, and tossed in empty air.So Dryden's version of Ceyx & Alcyone, Ovid.Met.x.:This last petition heard of all her pray'rThe rest dispersed by winds were lost in air.—Wakefield.[399]Dryden, Æn. vii. 10:the moon was brightAnd the sea trembled with her silver light.—Holt White.Pope, says Wakefield, has put "tides" in the plural "merely to accommodate the rhyme." The tides are the ebb and the flow, and cannot be applied to only one of the two.[400]Dryden's Virgin Martyr:And music dying in remoter sounds.—Steevens.[401]A parody on the beginning of the second and tenth books of the Iliad.—Wakefield.Pope's own translation of the commencement of the tenth book has a close resemblance to the lines in the Rape of the Lock:All night the chiefs before their vessels lay,And lost in sleep the labours of the day:All but the king; with various thoughts oppressedHis country's cares lay rolling in his breast.[402]The gossamer, which is spun in autumn by a species of spider that has the power of sailing in the air, was formerly supposed to be the product of sun-burnt dew. Thus Spenser speaks of———The fine nets which oft we woven seeOf scorched dew.[403]Milton of the wings of Raphael, Par. Lost, v. 283:And colours dipped in heav'n;Sky-tinctured grain.—Wakefield.[404]The comets.[405]"Did you ever," says Dennis, "hear before that the planets were rolled by theaerialkind?" and Pope writes on the margin "expressly otherwise." He states that the "ethereal" kind are described down to ver. 80, and that the "aerial kind" are the "less refined" beings who dwell "beneath the moon." Clearly the distinction had not occurred to him when he wrote the poem, for he calls both kinds "aerial" at ver. 76.[406]In the first edition:Hover, and catch the shooting stars by night.Dryden's Flower and Leaf:At other times we reign by night alone,And posting through the skies pursue the moon.[407]A compliment to Queen Anne, whom he lavishly commends in his Windsor Forest.—Wakefield.The angel in Addison's Rosamond, Act 3, says,In hours of peace, unseen, unknownI hover o'er the British throne.[408]Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med. Part I. 31; "I do think that many mysteries ascribed to our own inventions have been the courteous revelations of spirits; for those noble essences in heaven bear a friendly regard unto their fellow natures on earth." The comparative inferiority of Pope's mimic subject is strongly felt when we bring the diminutive ideas into immediate contrast with their elevated originals.[409]That is, her ear-drops set with brilliants.—Wakefield.[410]To crisp in our earlier writers is a common word for curl, from the Latincrispo.—Wakefield.[411]"This," says Warburton, in a manuscript note, "was a fine stroke of satire to insinuate that the lapdog is often the concern of the fair, superior to all the charities, as Milton calls them, of parental relation."[412]Ovid, Met. xiii, 2: Clypei dominusseptemplicisAjax.—Warburton.Sandys's Translation:Uprose the master of the seven-fold Shield.[413]The hoop petticoat, in spite of the notion of Addison, that "a touch of his pen would make it contract itself like the sensitive plant," continued in fashion as an ordinary dress for upwards of threescore years, and remained the court costume till the death of Queen Charlotte.—Croker.[414]Many modern editions readshrivelled, but Pope took his epithet, now obsolete, from Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Then drooped the fading flow'rs, their beauty fled,And rivelled up with heat, lay dying in their bed.—Wakefield.[415]Chocolate was made in a kind of mill.—Croker.[416]The anonymous translator of Ariadne to Theseus:And trembling at the waves which roll below.—Wakefield.[417]The first edition continues from this line to ver. 24 of this Canto.—Pope.[418]The modern portion of Hampton Court, and the East and South fronts, were built by William III., who frequently resided there. Queen Anne only went there occasionally.—Croker.[419]Originally in the first edition,In various talk the cheerful hours they passed,Of who was bit, or who capotted last.—Pope.When one party has won all the tricks of cards at picquet, he is said to havecapottedhis antagonist.—Johnson.Dryden's Æn. vi. 720:While thus in talk the flying hours they pass.[420]Japan screens, as appears from the Spectator, were then the rage, and in the Woman of Taste, 1733, we have the couplet,Ne'er chuse a screen, and never touch a fan,Till it has sailed from India or Japan.[421]The snuff-box of the beau, and the fan of the woman of fashion, are frequent subjects of ridicule in the Spectator. The fan was employed to execute so many little coquettish manœuvres, that Addison ironically proposed that ladies should be drilled in the use of it, as soldiers were trained to the exercise of arms.[422]The fifth Pastoral of A. Philips:The sun now mounted to the noon of dayBegan to shoot direct his burning ray.[423]From Congreve.—Warton.A repulsive and unfounded couplet. Judges never sign sentences, and if a juryman is in haste to dine it is at least as easy to acquit as to condemn.—Croker.[424]Dryden's Æn. vii. 170:And the long labours of your voyage end.—Wakefield.Owing to the change of fashion the particulars in the text no longer serve to mark the time of the day. From Swift's Journal of a Modern Lady, written in 1728, we learn that the fashionable dinner-hour, when "the long labours of the toilet ceased," was four o'clock. Cards were reserved for after tea; but the holiday-makers, who in the Rape of the Lock, go by water to Hampton Court, are represented as playing from the usual dinner-hour till coffee is brought in, which may have been a common arrangement in these pleasure-parties.[425]All that follows of the game at ombre, was added since the first edition, till ver. 105, which connected thus,Sudden the board with cups and spoons is crowned.—Pope.[426]Ombre was invented in Spain, and owed its name to the phrase which was to be used by the person who undertook to stand the game,—"Yo soy l'hombre, I am the man." In the Rape of the Lock Belinda was the ombre, and hence she is described as encountering singly her two antagonists.[427]The game could be played with two, three, or five; but three was the usual number, and nine cards were dealt to each.[428]From the Spanishmatador, a murderer, because the matadors in ombre were the three best cards, and the slayers of all that came into competition with them.[429]Knave was the old term for a servant, and Wakefield remarks that they are represented "in garbs succinct," because, among the ancients, domestics, when at work, had their flowing robes gathered up to the girdle about the waist.[430]The ombre had the privilege of deciding which suit should be trumps.[431]The whole idea of this description of a game at ombre is taken from Vida's description of a game at Chess in his poem intitledScacchia Ludus.—Warburton.Pope not only borrowed the general conception of representing the game under the guise of a battle, but he has imitated particular passages of his Latin prototype. Vida's poem is a triumph of ingenuity, when the intricacy of chess is considered, and the difficulty of expressing the moves in a dead language. Yet the original is eclipsed by Pope's more consummate copy.[432]Spadillio is fromEspadilla, the Spanish term for the ace of spades; andBastois the Spanish name for the ace of clubs. Whatever suit was trumps the ace of spades was the first card in power, and the ace of clubs the third. Manillio, the second in power of the three Matadores, varied with the trumps. When spades or clubs were trumps Manillio was the two of trumps, and when hearts or diamonds were trumps Manillio was the seven of trumps.[433]Dryden's MacFlecknoe:The hoary prince in majesty appeared.[434]Pam, the highest card in loo, is the knave of clubs.[435]These lines are a parody of several passages in Virgil.—Wakefield.[436]Dryden's Æn. vi. 384:Just in the gate, and in the jaws of hell.—Wakefield.If either of the antagonists made more tricks than the ombre, the winner took the pool, and the ombre had to replace it for the next game. This was called codille.[437]Unless hearts were trumps the ace of hearts ranked after king, queen, and knave.[438]Dryden's Æn. xii. 1344:With groans the Latins rend the vaulted sky,Woods, hills, and valleys to the voice reply.[439]Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futuræ;Et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis!Turno tempus erit magno cum optaverit emptumIntactum Pallanta; et cum spolia ista diemqueOderit. Virg.—Warburton.Dryden's Translation, x. 698:O mortals! blind of fate; who never knowTo bear high fortune, or endure the low!The time shall come, when Turnus, but in vain,Shall wish untouched the trophies of the slain:Shall wish the fatal belt were far away;And curse the dire remembrance of the day.—Wakefield.[440]From hence the first edition continues to ver. 134.—Pope.[441]Coffee it seems was then not only made but ground by the ladies, and from the expression "the berries crackle" it might almost be supposed that they roasted it also.—Croker."There was a side-board of coffee," says Pope, in his letter describing Swift's mode of life at Letcombe in 1714, "which the Dean roasted with his own hands in an engine for that purpose."[442]A sarcastic allusion to the pretentious talk of the would-be politicians who frequented coffee-houses. These oracles were a standing topic of ridicule.
[346]Lectures on the English Poets, p. 389.
[346]Lectures on the English Poets, p. 389.
[347]Moore's Life of Byron, p. 694.
[347]Moore's Life of Byron, p. 694.
[348]Moore's Life of Byron, p. 697.
[348]Moore's Life of Byron, p. 697.
[349]Bowles's Pope, vol. x. p. 371.
[349]Bowles's Pope, vol. x. p. 371.
[350]Warburton's Pope, vol. iv. p. 16.
[350]Warburton's Pope, vol. iv. p. 16.
[351]Warton's Essay on the Genius of Pope, 5th ed., vol. ii. p. 404; Bowles's Letters to T. Campbell, 2nd ed., p. 28.
[351]Warton's Essay on the Genius of Pope, 5th ed., vol. ii. p. 404; Bowles's Letters to T. Campbell, 2nd ed., p. 28.
[352]Johnson's Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 116; Cowper to Unwin, Jan. 5, 1782.
[352]Johnson's Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 116; Cowper to Unwin, Jan. 5, 1782.
[353]Johnson's Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 137; Hazlitt's Lectures on the English Poets, p. 133.
[353]Johnson's Lives of the Poets, vol. iii. p. 137; Hazlitt's Lectures on the English Poets, p. 133.
[354]Byron's Works, 1 vol. ed., p. 804.
[354]Byron's Works, 1 vol. ed., p. 804.
[355]Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. ii. p. 215, 225, 470.
[355]Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. ii. p. 215, 225, 470.
[356]Lectures on the English Poets, p. 137.
[356]Lectures on the English Poets, p. 137.
[357]Pope's Poetical Works, vol. i. p. 4.
[357]Pope's Poetical Works, vol. i. p. 4.
[358]Prologue to the Satires, ver. 28, 342; Essay on Man, Ep. i. ver. 16.
[358]Prologue to the Satires, ver. 28, 342; Essay on Man, Ep. i. ver. 16.
[359]Hurd's Horace, 5th ed., vol. iii. p. 148.
[359]Hurd's Horace, 5th ed., vol. iii. p. 148.
[360]Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. i. p. 339, 342.
[360]Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. i. p. 339, 342.
[361]The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry, chap. 3.
[361]The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry, chap. 3.
[362]Advancement of Learning, ed. Montagu, p. 127. A sentence from the passage is quoted by Hurd, who concludes that "pleasure in the idea of Lord Bacon is the ultimate and appropriate end of poetry." Hurd could not have looked into the original, and must have been deceived by trusting to second-hand extracts.
[362]Advancement of Learning, ed. Montagu, p. 127. A sentence from the passage is quoted by Hurd, who concludes that "pleasure in the idea of Lord Bacon is the ultimate and appropriate end of poetry." Hurd could not have looked into the original, and must have been deceived by trusting to second-hand extracts.
[363]Advancement of Learning, p. 127.
[363]Advancement of Learning, p. 127.
[364]The Recluse, Book v.
[364]The Recluse, Book v.
[365]The title of Mrs. continued in Pope's early time to be applied indifferently to all grown up ladies, whether married or single. The contracted form Miss was appropriated to young girls and women of loose character.
[365]The title of Mrs. continued in Pope's early time to be applied indifferently to all grown up ladies, whether married or single. The contracted form Miss was appropriated to young girls and women of loose character.
[366]Pope never, I think, is so unsuccessful as when he is writing to the ladies. He talks of the impropriety of using hard words before a lady. He must bring "her acquainted with the Rosicrucians," and explain what is meant by "machinery." This is done with such an air of conceited superiority, and of affected condescension, that it appears to me as pedantic as the pedantry he pretended to despise. The latter part of the epistle is certainly urbane, elegant and unaffected.—Bowles.
[366]Pope never, I think, is so unsuccessful as when he is writing to the ladies. He talks of the impropriety of using hard words before a lady. He must bring "her acquainted with the Rosicrucians," and explain what is meant by "machinery." This is done with such an air of conceited superiority, and of affected condescension, that it appears to me as pedantic as the pedantry he pretended to despise. The latter part of the epistle is certainly urbane, elegant and unaffected.—Bowles.
[367]C—— or C——l in all the impressions which appeared in Pope's lifetime. "In this more solemn edition," Pope wrote to Caryll, Feb. 25, 1714, when the poem was about to be published in its enlarged shape, "I was strangely tempted to have set your name at length, as well as I have my own; but I remembered the desire you formerly expressed to the contrary, besides that it may better become me to appear as the offerer of an ill present, than you as the receiver of it."
[367]C—— or C——l in all the impressions which appeared in Pope's lifetime. "In this more solemn edition," Pope wrote to Caryll, Feb. 25, 1714, when the poem was about to be published in its enlarged shape, "I was strangely tempted to have set your name at length, as well as I have my own; but I remembered the desire you formerly expressed to the contrary, besides that it may better become me to appear as the offerer of an ill present, than you as the receiver of it."
[368]Roscommon in his Essay:Or Gallus song, so tender and so true,As e'en Lycoris might with pity view.—Wakefield.
[368]Roscommon in his Essay:
Or Gallus song, so tender and so true,As e'en Lycoris might with pity view.—Wakefield.
Or Gallus song, so tender and so true,As e'en Lycoris might with pity view.—Wakefield.
Or Gallus song, so tender and so true,As e'en Lycoris might with pity view.—Wakefield.
[369]This is formed from Virgil, Geor. iv. 6. Sedley's version of the passage imitated:The subject's humble, but not so the praise,If any muse assists the poet's lays.Dryden's Translation:Slight is the subject, but the praise not smallIf heav'n assist, and Phœbus hear my call.—Wakefield.
[369]This is formed from Virgil, Geor. iv. 6. Sedley's version of the passage imitated:
The subject's humble, but not so the praise,If any muse assists the poet's lays.
The subject's humble, but not so the praise,If any muse assists the poet's lays.
The subject's humble, but not so the praise,If any muse assists the poet's lays.
Dryden's Translation:
Slight is the subject, but the praise not smallIf heav'n assist, and Phœbus hear my call.—Wakefield.
Slight is the subject, but the praise not smallIf heav'n assist, and Phœbus hear my call.—Wakefield.
Slight is the subject, but the praise not smallIf heav'n assist, and Phœbus hear my call.—Wakefield.
[370]"Compel," says Dennis, "is a botch for the sake of the rhyme. The word that should naturally have been used was eitherinduceorprovoke."Impelwould have fitted both the rhyme and the sense.
[370]"Compel," says Dennis, "is a botch for the sake of the rhyme. The word that should naturally have been used was eitherinduceorprovoke."Impelwould have fitted both the rhyme and the sense.
[371]"Belinda was Mrs. Arabella Fermor; the Baron was Lord Petre, of small stature, who soon after married a great heiress, Mrs. Warmsley, and died, leaving a posthumous son; Thalestris was Mrs. Morley; Sir Plume was her brother, Sir George Brown, of Berkshire." Copied from a MS. in a book presented by R. Lord Burlington, to Mr. William Sherwin.—Warton.All these persons were Roman Catholics. The marriage of Lord Petre to Miss Warmsley took place in March, 1712, and he died the year after in March, 1713, at the age of 22. Miss Fermor married Mr. Perkins, of Ufton Court, near Reading, in 1714. Her husband died in 1736, and she herself in 1738.—Croker.
[371]"Belinda was Mrs. Arabella Fermor; the Baron was Lord Petre, of small stature, who soon after married a great heiress, Mrs. Warmsley, and died, leaving a posthumous son; Thalestris was Mrs. Morley; Sir Plume was her brother, Sir George Brown, of Berkshire." Copied from a MS. in a book presented by R. Lord Burlington, to Mr. William Sherwin.—Warton.
All these persons were Roman Catholics. The marriage of Lord Petre to Miss Warmsley took place in March, 1712, and he died the year after in March, 1713, at the age of 22. Miss Fermor married Mr. Perkins, of Ufton Court, near Reading, in 1714. Her husband died in 1736, and she herself in 1738.—Croker.
[372]This passage is a palpable imitation of the exordium of the Æneis, and particularly the last line.———tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ?And dwell such passions in cœlestial minds?—Wakefield.It was in the first editions:And dwells such rage in softest bosoms then,And lodge such daring souls in little men?—Pope.The second line of the rejected reading was from Addison's translation of the fourth Georgic:Their little bodies lodge a mighty soul.Pope probably altered the couplet in consequence of an objection of the author of the Supplement to the Profound, who remarked upon the mean effect which resulted from throwing the rhyme upon "then;" "for the rhyme," says Dr. Trapp, "draws out the sound of little and ignoble words, and makes them observed."
[372]This passage is a palpable imitation of the exordium of the Æneis, and particularly the last line.
———tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ?And dwell such passions in cœlestial minds?—Wakefield.
———tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ?And dwell such passions in cœlestial minds?—Wakefield.
———tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ?And dwell such passions in cœlestial minds?—Wakefield.
It was in the first editions:
And dwells such rage in softest bosoms then,And lodge such daring souls in little men?—Pope.
And dwells such rage in softest bosoms then,And lodge such daring souls in little men?—Pope.
And dwells such rage in softest bosoms then,And lodge such daring souls in little men?—Pope.
The second line of the rejected reading was from Addison's translation of the fourth Georgic:
Their little bodies lodge a mighty soul.
Pope probably altered the couplet in consequence of an objection of the author of the Supplement to the Profound, who remarked upon the mean effect which resulted from throwing the rhyme upon "then;" "for the rhyme," says Dr. Trapp, "draws out the sound of little and ignoble words, and makes them observed."
[373]BytimorousI understandfeeble, from the medium through which it passed.—Wakefield.
[373]BytimorousI understandfeeble, from the medium through which it passed.—Wakefield.
[374]Verse 13, &c., stood thus in the first edition:Sol through white curtains did his beams display,And ope'd those eyes which brighter shine than they:Shock just had giv'n himself the rousing shake,And nymphs prepared their chocolate to take;Thrice the wrought slipper knocked against the ground,And striking watches the tenth hour resound.—Pope.
[374]Verse 13, &c., stood thus in the first edition:
Sol through white curtains did his beams display,And ope'd those eyes which brighter shine than they:Shock just had giv'n himself the rousing shake,And nymphs prepared their chocolate to take;Thrice the wrought slipper knocked against the ground,And striking watches the tenth hour resound.—Pope.
Sol through white curtains did his beams display,And ope'd those eyes which brighter shine than they:Shock just had giv'n himself the rousing shake,And nymphs prepared their chocolate to take;Thrice the wrought slipper knocked against the ground,And striking watches the tenth hour resound.—Pope.
Sol through white curtains did his beams display,And ope'd those eyes which brighter shine than they:Shock just had giv'n himself the rousing shake,And nymphs prepared their chocolate to take;Thrice the wrought slipper knocked against the ground,And striking watches the tenth hour resound.—Pope.
[375]Belinda rung a hand-bell, which not being answered, she knocked with her slipper. Bell-hanging was not introduced into our domestic apartments till long after the date of the Rape of the Lock. There are no bells at Hampton Court, nor were there any in the first quarter of the present century at Chatsworth and Holkham.I myself, about the year 1790, remember that it was still the practice for ladies to summon their attendants to their bedchambers by knocking with a high-heeled shoe. Servants, too, were accustomed to wait in ante-rooms, whence they were summoned by hand-bells, and this explains the extraordinary number of such rooms in the houses of the last century.—Croker.
[375]Belinda rung a hand-bell, which not being answered, she knocked with her slipper. Bell-hanging was not introduced into our domestic apartments till long after the date of the Rape of the Lock. There are no bells at Hampton Court, nor were there any in the first quarter of the present century at Chatsworth and Holkham.I myself, about the year 1790, remember that it was still the practice for ladies to summon their attendants to their bedchambers by knocking with a high-heeled shoe. Servants, too, were accustomed to wait in ante-rooms, whence they were summoned by hand-bells, and this explains the extraordinary number of such rooms in the houses of the last century.—Croker.
[376]All the verses from hence to the end of this canto were added afterwards.—Pope.And, as Mr. Croker observes, Pope, in adding them, did not perceive that he introduced an inconsistency. At ver. 14 Belinda is represented as waking, and at ver. 20 we have her still sleeping.
[376]All the verses from hence to the end of this canto were added afterwards.—Pope.
And, as Mr. Croker observes, Pope, in adding them, did not perceive that he introduced an inconsistency. At ver. 14 Belinda is represented as waking, and at ver. 20 we have her still sleeping.
[377]The frequenters of the court appeared in clothes of unusual splendour on the birth-day of King, Queen, Prince or Princess of Wales. There are innumerable allusions in the writings of the time to the magnificence of the dresses at the birth-night balls.
[377]The frequenters of the court appeared in clothes of unusual splendour on the birth-day of King, Queen, Prince or Princess of Wales. There are innumerable allusions in the writings of the time to the magnificence of the dresses at the birth-night balls.
[378]"The silver token" alludes to the silver pennies which fairies were said to drop at night into the shoes of maids who kept the house clean and tidy. "The circled green" refers to those rings of grass of a deeper hue than the surrounding pasture, which were formerly believed to be caused by the midnight dances "of airy elves." This was the lore taught by the nurse. The priest infused the legends of "virgins visited by angel-powers."—Croker.
[378]"The silver token" alludes to the silver pennies which fairies were said to drop at night into the shoes of maids who kept the house clean and tidy. "The circled green" refers to those rings of grass of a deeper hue than the surrounding pasture, which were formerly believed to be caused by the midnight dances "of airy elves." This was the lore taught by the nurse. The priest infused the legends of "virgins visited by angel-powers."—Croker.
[379]The drive in Hyde Park is still called the ring, though the site and shape have been changed.—Croker.The box at the theatre, and the ring in Hyde Park, are frequently mentioned as the two principal places for the public display of beauty and fashion. Thus Lord Dorset, in his lines on Lady Dorchester:Wilt thou still sparkle in the boxOr ogle in the ring.And Garth, in the Dispensary, speaking of a deceased young lady, says:How lately did this celebrated thingBlaze in the box, and sparkle in the ring.
[379]The drive in Hyde Park is still called the ring, though the site and shape have been changed.—Croker.
The box at the theatre, and the ring in Hyde Park, are frequently mentioned as the two principal places for the public display of beauty and fashion. Thus Lord Dorset, in his lines on Lady Dorchester:
Wilt thou still sparkle in the boxOr ogle in the ring.
Wilt thou still sparkle in the boxOr ogle in the ring.
Wilt thou still sparkle in the boxOr ogle in the ring.
And Garth, in the Dispensary, speaking of a deceased young lady, says:
How lately did this celebrated thingBlaze in the box, and sparkle in the ring.
How lately did this celebrated thingBlaze in the box, and sparkle in the ring.
How lately did this celebrated thingBlaze in the box, and sparkle in the ring.
[380]Epilogue to Dryden's Tyrannick Love:For after death we sprites have just such naturesWe had, for all the world, when human creatures.—Steevens.
[380]Epilogue to Dryden's Tyrannick Love:
For after death we sprites have just such naturesWe had, for all the world, when human creatures.—Steevens.
For after death we sprites have just such naturesWe had, for all the world, when human creatures.—Steevens.
For after death we sprites have just such naturesWe had, for all the world, when human creatures.—Steevens.
[381]Quæ gratia currûmArmorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentesPascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. Virg. Æneid, vi.—Pope.To Dryden's version of which passage our poet was indebted:The love of horses which they had alive,And care of chariots, after death survive.—Wakefield.
[381]
Quæ gratia currûmArmorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentesPascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. Virg. Æneid, vi.—Pope.
Quæ gratia currûmArmorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentesPascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. Virg. Æneid, vi.—Pope.
Quæ gratia currûmArmorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentesPascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. Virg. Æneid, vi.—Pope.
To Dryden's version of which passage our poet was indebted:
The love of horses which they had alive,And care of chariots, after death survive.—Wakefield.
The love of horses which they had alive,And care of chariots, after death survive.—Wakefield.
The love of horses which they had alive,And care of chariots, after death survive.—Wakefield.
[382]Dryden, Æn. i. 196:The realms of ocean and the fields of air.—Wakefield.In Le Comte de Gabalis the salamanders who dwelt in fire, the nymphs who peopled the seas and rivers, the gnomes who filled the earth almost to the centre, and the sylphs who in countless multitudes floated in the air, are said to be formed of the purest portion of the elements they respectively inhabit. But their moral and mental natures are not, as in the Rape of the Lock, the counter-part of their corporeal qualities, and they are a race of beings distinct from man, and not deceased mortals, as with Pope, who was indebted for this circumstance to the account of the fairy train in Dryden's Flower and Leaf:And all those airy shapes you now beholdWere human bodies once, and clothed with earthly mould.
[382]Dryden, Æn. i. 196:
The realms of ocean and the fields of air.—Wakefield.
In Le Comte de Gabalis the salamanders who dwelt in fire, the nymphs who peopled the seas and rivers, the gnomes who filled the earth almost to the centre, and the sylphs who in countless multitudes floated in the air, are said to be formed of the purest portion of the elements they respectively inhabit. But their moral and mental natures are not, as in the Rape of the Lock, the counter-part of their corporeal qualities, and they are a race of beings distinct from man, and not deceased mortals, as with Pope, who was indebted for this circumstance to the account of the fairy train in Dryden's Flower and Leaf:
And all those airy shapes you now beholdWere human bodies once, and clothed with earthly mould.
And all those airy shapes you now beholdWere human bodies once, and clothed with earthly mould.
And all those airy shapes you now beholdWere human bodies once, and clothed with earthly mould.
[383]The idea and the phraseology are both from Paradise Lost, i. 423:For spirits when they pleaseCan either sex assume, or both....... In what shape they choose,Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,Can execute their aery purposes,And works of love or enmity fulfill.
[383]The idea and the phraseology are both from Paradise Lost, i. 423:
For spirits when they pleaseCan either sex assume, or both....... In what shape they choose,Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,Can execute their aery purposes,And works of love or enmity fulfill.
For spirits when they pleaseCan either sex assume, or both....... In what shape they choose,Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,Can execute their aery purposes,And works of love or enmity fulfill.
For spirits when they pleaseCan either sex assume, or both....... In what shape they choose,Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,Can execute their aery purposes,And works of love or enmity fulfill.
[384]Parody of Homer.—Warburton.Dryden, Hind and Panther, 3rd part:Immortal pow'rs the term of conscience know,But int'rest is her name with men below.—Holt White.
[384]Parody of Homer.—Warburton.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, 3rd part:
Immortal pow'rs the term of conscience know,But int'rest is her name with men below.—Holt White.
Immortal pow'rs the term of conscience know,But int'rest is her name with men below.—Holt White.
Immortal pow'rs the term of conscience know,But int'rest is her name with men below.—Holt White.
[385]That is, too sensible of their beauty.—Warburton.
[385]That is, too sensible of their beauty.—Warburton.
[386]The gnomes who prompt the disdain of the nymphs predestined to disappointment.—Croker.
[386]The gnomes who prompt the disdain of the nymphs predestined to disappointment.—Croker.
[387]Jam clypeus clypeis, umbone repellitur umbo.Ense minax ensis, pede pes, et cuspide cuspis, &c. Statius.—Warburton.To drive a coach has an exclusive technical meaning, which renders Pope's phrase improper for expressing that the thought of a second coach obliterates from the minds of belles the thought of a previous coach.
[387]
Jam clypeus clypeis, umbone repellitur umbo.Ense minax ensis, pede pes, et cuspide cuspis, &c. Statius.—Warburton.
Jam clypeus clypeis, umbone repellitur umbo.Ense minax ensis, pede pes, et cuspide cuspis, &c. Statius.—Warburton.
Jam clypeus clypeis, umbone repellitur umbo.Ense minax ensis, pede pes, et cuspide cuspis, &c. Statius.—Warburton.
To drive a coach has an exclusive technical meaning, which renders Pope's phrase improper for expressing that the thought of a second coach obliterates from the minds of belles the thought of a previous coach.
[388]"Claim thy protection" signifies "I claim to be protected by thee," whereas the sense here is, "I claim to protect thee."
[388]"Claim thy protection" signifies "I claim to be protected by thee," whereas the sense here is, "I claim to protect thee."
[389]The language of the Platonists, the writers of the intelligible world of Spirits, &c.—Pope.
[389]The language of the Platonists, the writers of the intelligible world of Spirits, &c.—Pope.
[390]It cannot be that Belinda then saw for the first time a billet-doux. The meaning no doubt is that a billet-doux was the first thing she saw that morning.—Croker.
[390]It cannot be that Belinda then saw for the first time a billet-doux. The meaning no doubt is that a billet-doux was the first thing she saw that morning.—Croker.
[391]Evidently from Addison's Spectator, No. 69, May, 1711. "The single dress of a woman of quality is often the product of an hundred climates. The muff and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The scarf is sent from the torrid zone, and the tippet from beneath the pole. The brocade petticoat arises out of the mines of Peru, and the diamond necklace out of the bowels of Indostan."—Warton.
[391]Evidently from Addison's Spectator, No. 69, May, 1711. "The single dress of a woman of quality is often the product of an hundred climates. The muff and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The scarf is sent from the torrid zone, and the tippet from beneath the pole. The brocade petticoat arises out of the mines of Peru, and the diamond necklace out of the bowels of Indostan."—Warton.
[392]Ancient traditions of the Rabbis relate, that several of the fallen angels became amorous of women, and particularize some; among the rest Asael, who lay with Naamah, the wife of Noah, or of Ham; and who, continuing impenitent, still presides over the women's toilets. Bereshi Rabbi, in Genes, vi. 2.—Pope.
[392]Ancient traditions of the Rabbis relate, that several of the fallen angels became amorous of women, and particularize some; among the rest Asael, who lay with Naamah, the wife of Noah, or of Ham; and who, continuing impenitent, still presides over the women's toilets. Bereshi Rabbi, in Genes, vi. 2.—Pope.
[393]A comparison pressed too far loses its beauty in departing from truth. When Pope makes Belinda equal, in the glory of her appearance, to the sun,—"the rival of his beams" who was "of this great world both eye and soul," he falls into an insipid hyperbole. When Chaucer, in his Knight's Tale, says,Up rose the sun, and up rose Emily,everyone feels the matchless charm of the allusion.
[393]A comparison pressed too far loses its beauty in departing from truth. When Pope makes Belinda equal, in the glory of her appearance, to the sun,—"the rival of his beams" who was "of this great world both eye and soul," he falls into an insipid hyperbole. When Chaucer, in his Knight's Tale, says,
Up rose the sun, and up rose Emily,
everyone feels the matchless charm of the allusion.
[394]From hence the poem continues, in the first edition, to ver. 46:"The rest, the winds dispersed in empty air;"all after, to the end of this Canto, being additional.—Pope.
[394]From hence the poem continues, in the first edition, to ver. 46:
"The rest, the winds dispersed in empty air;"
all after, to the end of this Canto, being additional.—Pope.
[395]Wakefield remarks, that this line is marred by the abbreviation,you'll, and he suggests that a better reading would be,Look on her face andyouforget them all.
[395]Wakefield remarks, that this line is marred by the abbreviation,you'll, and he suggests that a better reading would be,
Look on her face andyouforget them all.
[396]Sandys's Paraphrase of the Song of Solomon, 1641:One hair of thine in fetters ties.Buchanan, Epigram, lib. i. xiv.:Et modo membra pilo vinctus miser abstrahoruno.—Steevens.Dryden's Persius, v. 247:She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,Can draw you to her with a single hair.
[396]Sandys's Paraphrase of the Song of Solomon, 1641:
One hair of thine in fetters ties.
Buchanan, Epigram, lib. i. xiv.:
Et modo membra pilo vinctus miser abstrahoruno.—Steevens.
Dryden's Persius, v. 247:
She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,Can draw you to her with a single hair.
She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,Can draw you to her with a single hair.
She knows her man, and when you rant and swear,Can draw you to her with a single hair.
[397]An imitation, or a translation rather, of Æneid, ii. 390:———dolus, an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?—Wakefield.
[397]An imitation, or a translation rather, of Æneid, ii. 390:
———dolus, an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?—Wakefield.
[398]Virgil, Æneid, xi. 798.—Pope.Dryden's Translation:Apollo heard, and granting half his pray'r,Shuffled in winds the rest, and tossed in empty air.So Dryden's version of Ceyx & Alcyone, Ovid.Met.x.:This last petition heard of all her pray'rThe rest dispersed by winds were lost in air.—Wakefield.
[398]Virgil, Æneid, xi. 798.—Pope.
Dryden's Translation:
Apollo heard, and granting half his pray'r,Shuffled in winds the rest, and tossed in empty air.
Apollo heard, and granting half his pray'r,Shuffled in winds the rest, and tossed in empty air.
Apollo heard, and granting half his pray'r,Shuffled in winds the rest, and tossed in empty air.
So Dryden's version of Ceyx & Alcyone, Ovid.Met.x.:
This last petition heard of all her pray'rThe rest dispersed by winds were lost in air.—Wakefield.
This last petition heard of all her pray'rThe rest dispersed by winds were lost in air.—Wakefield.
This last petition heard of all her pray'rThe rest dispersed by winds were lost in air.—Wakefield.
[399]Dryden, Æn. vii. 10:the moon was brightAnd the sea trembled with her silver light.—Holt White.Pope, says Wakefield, has put "tides" in the plural "merely to accommodate the rhyme." The tides are the ebb and the flow, and cannot be applied to only one of the two.
[399]Dryden, Æn. vii. 10:
the moon was brightAnd the sea trembled with her silver light.—Holt White.
the moon was brightAnd the sea trembled with her silver light.—Holt White.
the moon was brightAnd the sea trembled with her silver light.—Holt White.
Pope, says Wakefield, has put "tides" in the plural "merely to accommodate the rhyme." The tides are the ebb and the flow, and cannot be applied to only one of the two.
[400]Dryden's Virgin Martyr:And music dying in remoter sounds.—Steevens.
[400]Dryden's Virgin Martyr:
And music dying in remoter sounds.—Steevens.
[401]A parody on the beginning of the second and tenth books of the Iliad.—Wakefield.Pope's own translation of the commencement of the tenth book has a close resemblance to the lines in the Rape of the Lock:All night the chiefs before their vessels lay,And lost in sleep the labours of the day:All but the king; with various thoughts oppressedHis country's cares lay rolling in his breast.
[401]A parody on the beginning of the second and tenth books of the Iliad.—Wakefield.
Pope's own translation of the commencement of the tenth book has a close resemblance to the lines in the Rape of the Lock:
All night the chiefs before their vessels lay,And lost in sleep the labours of the day:All but the king; with various thoughts oppressedHis country's cares lay rolling in his breast.
All night the chiefs before their vessels lay,And lost in sleep the labours of the day:All but the king; with various thoughts oppressedHis country's cares lay rolling in his breast.
All night the chiefs before their vessels lay,And lost in sleep the labours of the day:All but the king; with various thoughts oppressedHis country's cares lay rolling in his breast.
[402]The gossamer, which is spun in autumn by a species of spider that has the power of sailing in the air, was formerly supposed to be the product of sun-burnt dew. Thus Spenser speaks of———The fine nets which oft we woven seeOf scorched dew.
[402]The gossamer, which is spun in autumn by a species of spider that has the power of sailing in the air, was formerly supposed to be the product of sun-burnt dew. Thus Spenser speaks of
———The fine nets which oft we woven seeOf scorched dew.
———The fine nets which oft we woven seeOf scorched dew.
———The fine nets which oft we woven seeOf scorched dew.
[403]Milton of the wings of Raphael, Par. Lost, v. 283:And colours dipped in heav'n;Sky-tinctured grain.—Wakefield.
[403]Milton of the wings of Raphael, Par. Lost, v. 283:
And colours dipped in heav'n;Sky-tinctured grain.—Wakefield.
And colours dipped in heav'n;Sky-tinctured grain.—Wakefield.
And colours dipped in heav'n;Sky-tinctured grain.—Wakefield.
[404]The comets.
[404]The comets.
[405]"Did you ever," says Dennis, "hear before that the planets were rolled by theaerialkind?" and Pope writes on the margin "expressly otherwise." He states that the "ethereal" kind are described down to ver. 80, and that the "aerial kind" are the "less refined" beings who dwell "beneath the moon." Clearly the distinction had not occurred to him when he wrote the poem, for he calls both kinds "aerial" at ver. 76.
[405]"Did you ever," says Dennis, "hear before that the planets were rolled by theaerialkind?" and Pope writes on the margin "expressly otherwise." He states that the "ethereal" kind are described down to ver. 80, and that the "aerial kind" are the "less refined" beings who dwell "beneath the moon." Clearly the distinction had not occurred to him when he wrote the poem, for he calls both kinds "aerial" at ver. 76.
[406]In the first edition:Hover, and catch the shooting stars by night.Dryden's Flower and Leaf:At other times we reign by night alone,And posting through the skies pursue the moon.
[406]In the first edition:
Hover, and catch the shooting stars by night.
Dryden's Flower and Leaf:
At other times we reign by night alone,And posting through the skies pursue the moon.
At other times we reign by night alone,And posting through the skies pursue the moon.
At other times we reign by night alone,And posting through the skies pursue the moon.
[407]A compliment to Queen Anne, whom he lavishly commends in his Windsor Forest.—Wakefield.The angel in Addison's Rosamond, Act 3, says,In hours of peace, unseen, unknownI hover o'er the British throne.
[407]A compliment to Queen Anne, whom he lavishly commends in his Windsor Forest.—Wakefield.
The angel in Addison's Rosamond, Act 3, says,
In hours of peace, unseen, unknownI hover o'er the British throne.
In hours of peace, unseen, unknownI hover o'er the British throne.
In hours of peace, unseen, unknownI hover o'er the British throne.
[408]Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med. Part I. 31; "I do think that many mysteries ascribed to our own inventions have been the courteous revelations of spirits; for those noble essences in heaven bear a friendly regard unto their fellow natures on earth." The comparative inferiority of Pope's mimic subject is strongly felt when we bring the diminutive ideas into immediate contrast with their elevated originals.
[408]Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med. Part I. 31; "I do think that many mysteries ascribed to our own inventions have been the courteous revelations of spirits; for those noble essences in heaven bear a friendly regard unto their fellow natures on earth." The comparative inferiority of Pope's mimic subject is strongly felt when we bring the diminutive ideas into immediate contrast with their elevated originals.
[409]That is, her ear-drops set with brilliants.—Wakefield.
[409]That is, her ear-drops set with brilliants.—Wakefield.
[410]To crisp in our earlier writers is a common word for curl, from the Latincrispo.—Wakefield.
[410]To crisp in our earlier writers is a common word for curl, from the Latincrispo.—Wakefield.
[411]"This," says Warburton, in a manuscript note, "was a fine stroke of satire to insinuate that the lapdog is often the concern of the fair, superior to all the charities, as Milton calls them, of parental relation."
[411]"This," says Warburton, in a manuscript note, "was a fine stroke of satire to insinuate that the lapdog is often the concern of the fair, superior to all the charities, as Milton calls them, of parental relation."
[412]Ovid, Met. xiii, 2: Clypei dominusseptemplicisAjax.—Warburton.Sandys's Translation:Uprose the master of the seven-fold Shield.
[412]Ovid, Met. xiii, 2: Clypei dominusseptemplicisAjax.—Warburton.
Sandys's Translation:
Uprose the master of the seven-fold Shield.
[413]The hoop petticoat, in spite of the notion of Addison, that "a touch of his pen would make it contract itself like the sensitive plant," continued in fashion as an ordinary dress for upwards of threescore years, and remained the court costume till the death of Queen Charlotte.—Croker.
[413]The hoop petticoat, in spite of the notion of Addison, that "a touch of his pen would make it contract itself like the sensitive plant," continued in fashion as an ordinary dress for upwards of threescore years, and remained the court costume till the death of Queen Charlotte.—Croker.
[414]Many modern editions readshrivelled, but Pope took his epithet, now obsolete, from Dryden's Flower and Leaf:Then drooped the fading flow'rs, their beauty fled,And rivelled up with heat, lay dying in their bed.—Wakefield.
[414]Many modern editions readshrivelled, but Pope took his epithet, now obsolete, from Dryden's Flower and Leaf:
Then drooped the fading flow'rs, their beauty fled,And rivelled up with heat, lay dying in their bed.—Wakefield.
Then drooped the fading flow'rs, their beauty fled,And rivelled up with heat, lay dying in their bed.—Wakefield.
Then drooped the fading flow'rs, their beauty fled,And rivelled up with heat, lay dying in their bed.—Wakefield.
[415]Chocolate was made in a kind of mill.—Croker.
[415]Chocolate was made in a kind of mill.—Croker.
[416]The anonymous translator of Ariadne to Theseus:And trembling at the waves which roll below.—Wakefield.
[416]The anonymous translator of Ariadne to Theseus:
And trembling at the waves which roll below.—Wakefield.
[417]The first edition continues from this line to ver. 24 of this Canto.—Pope.
[417]The first edition continues from this line to ver. 24 of this Canto.—Pope.
[418]The modern portion of Hampton Court, and the East and South fronts, were built by William III., who frequently resided there. Queen Anne only went there occasionally.—Croker.
[418]The modern portion of Hampton Court, and the East and South fronts, were built by William III., who frequently resided there. Queen Anne only went there occasionally.—Croker.
[419]Originally in the first edition,In various talk the cheerful hours they passed,Of who was bit, or who capotted last.—Pope.When one party has won all the tricks of cards at picquet, he is said to havecapottedhis antagonist.—Johnson.Dryden's Æn. vi. 720:While thus in talk the flying hours they pass.
[419]Originally in the first edition,
In various talk the cheerful hours they passed,Of who was bit, or who capotted last.—Pope.
In various talk the cheerful hours they passed,Of who was bit, or who capotted last.—Pope.
In various talk the cheerful hours they passed,Of who was bit, or who capotted last.—Pope.
When one party has won all the tricks of cards at picquet, he is said to havecapottedhis antagonist.—Johnson.
Dryden's Æn. vi. 720:
While thus in talk the flying hours they pass.
[420]Japan screens, as appears from the Spectator, were then the rage, and in the Woman of Taste, 1733, we have the couplet,Ne'er chuse a screen, and never touch a fan,Till it has sailed from India or Japan.
[420]Japan screens, as appears from the Spectator, were then the rage, and in the Woman of Taste, 1733, we have the couplet,
Ne'er chuse a screen, and never touch a fan,Till it has sailed from India or Japan.
Ne'er chuse a screen, and never touch a fan,Till it has sailed from India or Japan.
Ne'er chuse a screen, and never touch a fan,Till it has sailed from India or Japan.
[421]The snuff-box of the beau, and the fan of the woman of fashion, are frequent subjects of ridicule in the Spectator. The fan was employed to execute so many little coquettish manœuvres, that Addison ironically proposed that ladies should be drilled in the use of it, as soldiers were trained to the exercise of arms.
[421]The snuff-box of the beau, and the fan of the woman of fashion, are frequent subjects of ridicule in the Spectator. The fan was employed to execute so many little coquettish manœuvres, that Addison ironically proposed that ladies should be drilled in the use of it, as soldiers were trained to the exercise of arms.
[422]The fifth Pastoral of A. Philips:The sun now mounted to the noon of dayBegan to shoot direct his burning ray.
[422]The fifth Pastoral of A. Philips:
The sun now mounted to the noon of dayBegan to shoot direct his burning ray.
The sun now mounted to the noon of dayBegan to shoot direct his burning ray.
The sun now mounted to the noon of dayBegan to shoot direct his burning ray.
[423]From Congreve.—Warton.A repulsive and unfounded couplet. Judges never sign sentences, and if a juryman is in haste to dine it is at least as easy to acquit as to condemn.—Croker.
[423]From Congreve.—Warton.
A repulsive and unfounded couplet. Judges never sign sentences, and if a juryman is in haste to dine it is at least as easy to acquit as to condemn.—Croker.
[424]Dryden's Æn. vii. 170:And the long labours of your voyage end.—Wakefield.Owing to the change of fashion the particulars in the text no longer serve to mark the time of the day. From Swift's Journal of a Modern Lady, written in 1728, we learn that the fashionable dinner-hour, when "the long labours of the toilet ceased," was four o'clock. Cards were reserved for after tea; but the holiday-makers, who in the Rape of the Lock, go by water to Hampton Court, are represented as playing from the usual dinner-hour till coffee is brought in, which may have been a common arrangement in these pleasure-parties.
[424]Dryden's Æn. vii. 170:
And the long labours of your voyage end.—Wakefield.
Owing to the change of fashion the particulars in the text no longer serve to mark the time of the day. From Swift's Journal of a Modern Lady, written in 1728, we learn that the fashionable dinner-hour, when "the long labours of the toilet ceased," was four o'clock. Cards were reserved for after tea; but the holiday-makers, who in the Rape of the Lock, go by water to Hampton Court, are represented as playing from the usual dinner-hour till coffee is brought in, which may have been a common arrangement in these pleasure-parties.
[425]All that follows of the game at ombre, was added since the first edition, till ver. 105, which connected thus,Sudden the board with cups and spoons is crowned.—Pope.
[425]All that follows of the game at ombre, was added since the first edition, till ver. 105, which connected thus,
Sudden the board with cups and spoons is crowned.—Pope.
[426]Ombre was invented in Spain, and owed its name to the phrase which was to be used by the person who undertook to stand the game,—"Yo soy l'hombre, I am the man." In the Rape of the Lock Belinda was the ombre, and hence she is described as encountering singly her two antagonists.
[426]Ombre was invented in Spain, and owed its name to the phrase which was to be used by the person who undertook to stand the game,—"Yo soy l'hombre, I am the man." In the Rape of the Lock Belinda was the ombre, and hence she is described as encountering singly her two antagonists.
[427]The game could be played with two, three, or five; but three was the usual number, and nine cards were dealt to each.
[427]The game could be played with two, three, or five; but three was the usual number, and nine cards were dealt to each.
[428]From the Spanishmatador, a murderer, because the matadors in ombre were the three best cards, and the slayers of all that came into competition with them.
[428]From the Spanishmatador, a murderer, because the matadors in ombre were the three best cards, and the slayers of all that came into competition with them.
[429]Knave was the old term for a servant, and Wakefield remarks that they are represented "in garbs succinct," because, among the ancients, domestics, when at work, had their flowing robes gathered up to the girdle about the waist.
[429]Knave was the old term for a servant, and Wakefield remarks that they are represented "in garbs succinct," because, among the ancients, domestics, when at work, had their flowing robes gathered up to the girdle about the waist.
[430]The ombre had the privilege of deciding which suit should be trumps.
[430]The ombre had the privilege of deciding which suit should be trumps.
[431]The whole idea of this description of a game at ombre is taken from Vida's description of a game at Chess in his poem intitledScacchia Ludus.—Warburton.Pope not only borrowed the general conception of representing the game under the guise of a battle, but he has imitated particular passages of his Latin prototype. Vida's poem is a triumph of ingenuity, when the intricacy of chess is considered, and the difficulty of expressing the moves in a dead language. Yet the original is eclipsed by Pope's more consummate copy.
[431]The whole idea of this description of a game at ombre is taken from Vida's description of a game at Chess in his poem intitledScacchia Ludus.—Warburton.
Pope not only borrowed the general conception of representing the game under the guise of a battle, but he has imitated particular passages of his Latin prototype. Vida's poem is a triumph of ingenuity, when the intricacy of chess is considered, and the difficulty of expressing the moves in a dead language. Yet the original is eclipsed by Pope's more consummate copy.
[432]Spadillio is fromEspadilla, the Spanish term for the ace of spades; andBastois the Spanish name for the ace of clubs. Whatever suit was trumps the ace of spades was the first card in power, and the ace of clubs the third. Manillio, the second in power of the three Matadores, varied with the trumps. When spades or clubs were trumps Manillio was the two of trumps, and when hearts or diamonds were trumps Manillio was the seven of trumps.
[432]Spadillio is fromEspadilla, the Spanish term for the ace of spades; andBastois the Spanish name for the ace of clubs. Whatever suit was trumps the ace of spades was the first card in power, and the ace of clubs the third. Manillio, the second in power of the three Matadores, varied with the trumps. When spades or clubs were trumps Manillio was the two of trumps, and when hearts or diamonds were trumps Manillio was the seven of trumps.
[433]Dryden's MacFlecknoe:The hoary prince in majesty appeared.
[433]Dryden's MacFlecknoe:
The hoary prince in majesty appeared.
[434]Pam, the highest card in loo, is the knave of clubs.
[434]Pam, the highest card in loo, is the knave of clubs.
[435]These lines are a parody of several passages in Virgil.—Wakefield.
[435]These lines are a parody of several passages in Virgil.—Wakefield.
[436]Dryden's Æn. vi. 384:Just in the gate, and in the jaws of hell.—Wakefield.If either of the antagonists made more tricks than the ombre, the winner took the pool, and the ombre had to replace it for the next game. This was called codille.
[436]Dryden's Æn. vi. 384:
Just in the gate, and in the jaws of hell.—Wakefield.
If either of the antagonists made more tricks than the ombre, the winner took the pool, and the ombre had to replace it for the next game. This was called codille.
[437]Unless hearts were trumps the ace of hearts ranked after king, queen, and knave.
[437]Unless hearts were trumps the ace of hearts ranked after king, queen, and knave.
[438]Dryden's Æn. xii. 1344:With groans the Latins rend the vaulted sky,Woods, hills, and valleys to the voice reply.
[438]Dryden's Æn. xii. 1344:
With groans the Latins rend the vaulted sky,Woods, hills, and valleys to the voice reply.
With groans the Latins rend the vaulted sky,Woods, hills, and valleys to the voice reply.
With groans the Latins rend the vaulted sky,Woods, hills, and valleys to the voice reply.
[439]Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futuræ;Et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis!Turno tempus erit magno cum optaverit emptumIntactum Pallanta; et cum spolia ista diemqueOderit. Virg.—Warburton.Dryden's Translation, x. 698:O mortals! blind of fate; who never knowTo bear high fortune, or endure the low!The time shall come, when Turnus, but in vain,Shall wish untouched the trophies of the slain:Shall wish the fatal belt were far away;And curse the dire remembrance of the day.—Wakefield.
[439]
Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futuræ;Et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis!Turno tempus erit magno cum optaverit emptumIntactum Pallanta; et cum spolia ista diemqueOderit. Virg.—Warburton.
Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futuræ;Et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis!Turno tempus erit magno cum optaverit emptumIntactum Pallanta; et cum spolia ista diemqueOderit. Virg.—Warburton.
Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futuræ;Et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis!Turno tempus erit magno cum optaverit emptumIntactum Pallanta; et cum spolia ista diemqueOderit. Virg.—Warburton.
Dryden's Translation, x. 698:
O mortals! blind of fate; who never knowTo bear high fortune, or endure the low!The time shall come, when Turnus, but in vain,Shall wish untouched the trophies of the slain:Shall wish the fatal belt were far away;And curse the dire remembrance of the day.—Wakefield.
O mortals! blind of fate; who never knowTo bear high fortune, or endure the low!The time shall come, when Turnus, but in vain,Shall wish untouched the trophies of the slain:Shall wish the fatal belt were far away;And curse the dire remembrance of the day.—Wakefield.
O mortals! blind of fate; who never knowTo bear high fortune, or endure the low!The time shall come, when Turnus, but in vain,Shall wish untouched the trophies of the slain:Shall wish the fatal belt were far away;And curse the dire remembrance of the day.—Wakefield.
[440]From hence the first edition continues to ver. 134.—Pope.
[440]From hence the first edition continues to ver. 134.—Pope.
[441]Coffee it seems was then not only made but ground by the ladies, and from the expression "the berries crackle" it might almost be supposed that they roasted it also.—Croker."There was a side-board of coffee," says Pope, in his letter describing Swift's mode of life at Letcombe in 1714, "which the Dean roasted with his own hands in an engine for that purpose."
[441]Coffee it seems was then not only made but ground by the ladies, and from the expression "the berries crackle" it might almost be supposed that they roasted it also.—Croker.
"There was a side-board of coffee," says Pope, in his letter describing Swift's mode of life at Letcombe in 1714, "which the Dean roasted with his own hands in an engine for that purpose."
[442]A sarcastic allusion to the pretentious talk of the would-be politicians who frequented coffee-houses. These oracles were a standing topic of ridicule.
[442]A sarcastic allusion to the pretentious talk of the would-be politicians who frequented coffee-houses. These oracles were a standing topic of ridicule.