[443]Vide Ovid's Metamorphoses, viii.—Pope.Nisus had a purple hair on which depended the safety of himself and his kingdom. When the Cretans made war upon him, his daughter Scylla fell in love with their leader Minos, whom she saw from a high tower. Hurried away by her passion, she plucked out her father's hair as he slept, and carried it to Minos, who was victorious in consequence, and Scylla was turned for her crime into a bird. The line of Pope is made up from a passage in Dryden's translation of the first Georgic, where, having applied the epithet "injured" to Nisus, he adds,And thus the purple hair is dearly paid.[444]Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel:But when to sin our blessed nature leansThe careful devil is still at hand with means.[445]In the first edition it was thus,As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head.—Ver. 134.First he expands the glitt'ring forfex wideT' inclose the lock; then joins it to divide;The meeting points the sacred hair dissever,From the fair head, for ever, and for ever.—Ver. 154.All that is between was added afterwards.—Pope.[446]This repetition is formed on similar passages in Virgil.—Wakefield.As, for instance, Dryden's Æn. vi. 950:Then thrice around his neck his arms he threw;And thrice the flitting shadow slipped away.[447]See Milton, lib. vi. 330, of Satan cut asunder by the Angel Michael.—Pope.But th' ethereal substance closedNot long divisible.[448]Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit,Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt. Virg.—Pope.[449]A famous book written about that time by a woman: full of court and party scandal; and in a loose effeminacy of style and sentiment, which well-suited the debauched taste of the better vulgar.—Warburton.Mrs. Manley, the author of it, was the daughter of Sir Roger Manley, Governor of Guernsey, and the author of the first volume of the famous Turkish Spy, published from his papers, by Dr. Midgley. She was known and admired by all the wits of the times. She died in the house of Alderman Barber, Swift's friend; and was said to have been the mistress of the alderman.—Warton.Her actions were even more infamous than her writings. One Mary Thompson had been kept by a person named Pheasant, and at his death, in 1705, she endeavoured to pass herself off for his wife, that she might have a right of dower out of his estate. According to Mr. Nichols, in a note to Steele's Letters, Mrs. Manley was bribed by the promise of 100l.a-year for life, to aid Mrs. Thompson in getting a forged entry of the marriage inserted in a register. The case was heard in Doctors' Commons, and Mrs. Manley's guilt was proved. But neither her profligacy nor her frauds could deprive her of the countenance of political partisans like Swift and Prior, or of good-natured men of pleasure like Steele.[450]Ladies in those days sometimes received visits in their bed-chambers, when the bed was covered with a richer counterpane, and "graced" by a small pillow with a worked case and lace edging. Of the female fashions which Pope pleasantly assumes will be as lasting as the swimming of fishes or the flight of birds, the greater part have passed away.—Croker.[451]Ogilby, Virg. Ecl. v.:So long thy honoured name and praise shall last.Dryden, Æn. i. 857:Your honour, name, and praise shall never die!—Wakefield.[452]So Juvenal exactly, x. 146:Quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulchris.—WAKEFIELD.[453]Addison of Troy in his poem to the king:And laid the labour of the gods in dust.—Wakefield.[454]Addison's translation of Horace, Ode iii. 3:Thrice should my favourite Greeks his works confound,And hew the shining fabric to the ground.—WAKEFIELD.[455]Ille quoque eversus mons est, &c.Quid faciant crines, cum ferro talia cedant?Catull. de Com. Berenices.—Pope.[456]At regina gravi, &c.—Virg. Æn. iv. 1.—Pope.But anxious cares already seized the queen;She fed within her veins a flame unseen.Dryden's Transl.—Wakefield.[457]The thought and turn of these lines is imitated from the Dispensary, Canto iii.:Not beauties fret so much if freckles come,Or nose should redden in the drawing-room.[458]All the lines from hence to the 94th verse, that describe the house of Spleen, are not in the first edition; instead of them followed only these:While her racked soul repose and peace requires,The fierce Thalestris fans the rising fires.And continued at the 94th verse of this Canto.—Pope.[459]Garth in the Dispensary, canto iv.:The bat with sooty wings flits through the grove.[460]Spleen was thought to be engendered by the east wind. Cowper, in the Task, Bk. iv. ver. 363, speaks ofthe unhealthful eastThat breathes the spleen.[461]In this description our poet seems to have had before him the Cave of Envy in Ovid, Met. ii. 760:Protinus Invidiæ nigro squallentia taboTecta petit. Domus est imis in vallibus antriAbdita, sole carens, non ulli pervia vento.Shut from the winds and from the wholesome skies,In a deep vale the gloomy dungeon lies;Dismal and cold, where not a beam of lightInvades the winter, or disturbs the night. Addison's Trans.—Wakefield.[462]For "Megrim," the first edition has "Languor."[463]"Wait" for "wait on" or "by" is a very harsh ellipse, though it has the sanction of Dryden.[464]Hypochondriacal disorders, under the name of vapours or spleen, were then the fashionable complaint, and as they often presented no definite bodily symptoms they could be readily feigned. The "gown" and "night-dress" of Pope are the "dressing-gown" of our day.[465]Oldham had expressed the same idea in The Dream:Not dying saints enjoy such ecstaciesWhen they in visions antedate their bliss.The ancients believed the spleen to be the seat of mirth, and hence a disordered spleen was supposed to produce melancholy and moroseness. The second sense, in modern usage, has driven out the first, and spleen has become synonymous with surliness and gloom, but Pope in prose as well as verse gave it a wider range, and appears to ascribe to it those creations of the imagination which are mistaken for realities. "Methinks," he writes to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, "I am imitating in my ravings thedreams of spleneticenthusiasts and solitaires, who fall in love with saints and fancy themselves in favour of angels and spirits."[466]Snakes erect on the "rolling spires," or coils of their bodies, as Milton says that the neck of the serpent was "erect amidst his circling spires."[467]In the last century the word "machine" was currently employed to designate the supernatural agents in a fiction, and their proceedings when acting in human affairs. Thus, by the expression "angels in machines" is meant angels interposing on behalf of mankind.[468]Ovid, Met. i. 1:In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas Corpora.Of bodies changed to various forms I sing.—Dryden's Trans.—Wakefield.[469]See Hom. Iliad, xviii., of Vulcan's walking tripods.—Pope.Van Swieten, in his Commentaries on Boerhaave, relates that he knew a man who had studied till he fancied his legs to be of glass. His maid bringing wood to his fire threw it carelessly down. Our sage was terrified for his legs of glass. The girl, out of patience with his megrims, gave him a blow with a log on the parts affected. He started up in a rage, and from that moment recovered the use of his glass legs.—Warton.[470]Alludes to a real fact; a lady of distinction imagined herself in this condition.—Pope.[471]The fanciful person, here alluded to, was Dr. Edward Pelling, chaplain to several successive monarchs. Having studied himself into hypochondriasis between the age of forty and fifty, he imagined himself to be pregnant, and forbore all manner of exercise lest motion should prove injurious to his ideal burden.—Steevens.[472]This is adopted from the Loyal Subject of Beaumont and Fletcher.—Steevens.[473]In imitation of the golden branch which Æneas carried as a passport when he visited the infernal regions. Spleenwort is a species of fern. "Its virtues," says Cowley, "are told in its name." He makes it compare itself with "painted flowers," and exclaim,They're fair, 'tis true, they're cheerful, and they're green,But I, though sad, procure a gladsome mien.The plant has lost the little credit it once possessed as a remedy for hypochondriacal affections.[474]Bishop Lowth notices Pope's frequent violation of grammar in joining a pronoun in the singular to a verb in the plural. Thus when he says in the Messiah,O thou my voice inspireWho touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire,either "thou" should be "you," or else "touched" should be "touchedst, didst touch." Pope has committed the same error in this speech to the Queen of Spleen; for that "thou," and not "you," is, or ought to be, the pronoun understood follows from the expression "thypower" at ver. 65. Hence "who rule" should be "who rulest," or "who dost rule," and so with the other verbs in the second person.[475]The disease was probably named from the atmospheric vapours which were reputed to be a principal cause of English melancholy. Cowper says of England in his Task, Bk. v. ver. 462,Thy clime is rude,Replete with vapours, and disposes muchAll hearts to sadness, and none more than mine.[476]Citron-water was a cordial distilled from a mixture of spirit of wine with the rind of citrons and lemons. There are numerous allusions in the literature of Pope's day to the fondness of women of fashion for this drink, as in Swift's Journal of a Modern Lady, where he says that "to cool her heated brains" when she wakes at noon sheTakes a large dram of citron-water.[477]The curl papers of ladies' hair used to be fastened with strips of pliant lead.—Croker.[478]That is, at whose shrine all our sex resign ease, pleasure, and virtue. "Honour" means female reputation.[479]A parody of Virgil, Ecl. i. 60.—Wakefield.Garth, Dispensary, Canto iii.:The tow'ring Alps shall sooner sink to vales,And leeches in our glasses swell to whales;Or Norwich trade in instruments of steel,And Bromingham in stuffs and druggets deal.[480]Sir George Brown. He was angry that the poet should make him talk nothing but nonsense: and in truth one could not well blame him.—Warburton.This is one instance out of many in which Pope took unwarrantable liberties with private character. Spence had been told that the description "was the very picture of the man."[481]A cane diversified with darker spots.—Wakefield.The "nice conduct" of canes is ridiculed by Addison in No. 103 of the Tatler. A man of fashion, with "a cane very curiously clouded, and a blue ribbon to hang it on his wrist," protests that the "knocking it upon his shoe, leaning one leg upon it, or whistling with it on his mouth are such great reliefs to him in conversation that he does not know how to be good company without it." A second beau is warned that his cane must be forfeited if "he walks with it under his arm, brandishes it in the air, or hangs it on a button."[482]In allusion to Achilles's oath in Homer, Il. i.—Pope.But by this scepter solemnly I swearWhich never more green leaf or growing branch shall bear.Dryden's Trans.—Wakefield.[483]Dryden's Æn. i. 770:If yet he lives and draws this vital air.[484]Borrowed from Dryden's Epistle to Mr. Granville:The long contended honours of the field.—Holt White.[485]These two lines are additional; and assign the cause of the different operation on the passions of the two ladies. The poem went on before without that distinction, as without any machinery, to the end of the Canto.—Pope.At ver. 91, Umbriel empties the bag which contains the angry passions over the heads of Thalestris and Belinda. At ver. 142 he breaks the phial of sorrow over Belinda alone, whence Belinda's anger is turned to grief, and Thalestris remains indignant.[486]A parody of Virg. Æn. iv. 657:Felix heu nimium felix! si litora tantumNunquam Dardaniæ tetigissent nostra carinæ.—Wakefield.[487]Pope originally wrote:'Twas this the morning omens did foretell.He altered the verse, together with one or two others of the same kind, to get rid of the "did".[488]Butler, the poet, says that the object of black patches was to make the complexion look fairer by the contrast. Dryden has a similar idea in Palamon and Arcite:Some sprinkled freckles on his face were seenWhose dusk set off the whiteness of his skin.[489]Prior's Henry and Emma:No longer shall thy comely tresses breakIn flowing ringlets on thy snowy neck.—Wakefield.[490]Sir William Bowles on the Death of Charles II.:And in their rulers fate bewail their own.[491]Translated from Virgil, Æn. iv. 440:Fata obstant, placidasque viri deus obstruit aures.Fate and great Jove had stopped his gentle tears.—Waller.—Wakefield.[492]The entreaties to stay which Dido's sister, Anna, addressed to Æneas.—Croker.Virgil says that the pathetic entreaties to stay sent a thrill of grief through the mighty breast of Æneas, but that his resolution was unshaken. Pope's couplet supposes that he inwardly wavered.[493]A new character introduced in the subsequent editions, to open more clearly the moral of the poem, in a parody of the speech of Sarpedon to Glaucus in Homer.—Pope.The parody first appeared when the Rape of the Lock was inserted in the quarto of 1717. In the previous enlarged editions, which contained the machinery, the sixth verse was followed by what is now verse thirty-seven:To arms, to arms! the bold Thalestris cries.[494]Homer.Why boast we, Glaucus! our extended reign,Where Xanthus' streams enrich the Lycian plain;Our num'rous herds that range each fruitful field,And hills where vines their purple harvest yield;Our foaming bowls with gen'rous nectar crowned,Our feasts enhanced with music's sprightly sound;Why on those shores are we with joy surveyed,Admired as heroes, and as gods obeyed;Unless great acts superior merit prove,And vindicate the bounteous pow'rs above?'Tis ours, the dignity they give, to grace;The first in valour, as the first in place:That while with wond'ring eyes our martial bandsBehold our deeds transcending our commands,Such, they may cry, deserve the sov'reign state,Whom those that envy, dare not imitate.Could all our care elude the greedy grave,Which claims no less the fearful than the brave,For lust of fame I should not vainly dareIn fighting fields, nor urge thy soul to war.But since, alas! ignoble age must come,Disease, and death's inexorable doom;The life which others pay, let us bestow,And give to fame what we to nature owe;Brave though we fall, and honoured if we live,Or let us glory gain, or glory give.—Warburton.The passage quoted by Warburton is from Pope's own translation of the Episode of Sarpedon, which appeared in Dryden's Miscellany, in 1710.[495]Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel:The young men's vision, and the old men's dream.—Wakefield.[496]Denham, in his version of the speech of Homer parodied by our poet:Why all the tributes land and sea affords?—As gods behold us, and as gods adore.—Wakefield.[497]Gay, in the Toilette:Nor shall side-boxes watch my restless eyes,And, as they catch the glance in rows ariseWith humble bows; nor white-gloved beaux approachIn crowds behind to guard me to my coach.—Wakefield.[498]The ladies at this time always sat in the front, the gentlemen in the side-boxes.—Nichols.In Steele's Theatre, No. 3, January 9, 1720, his "representatives of a British audience" are "three of the fair sex for the front boxes, two gentlemen of wit and pleasure for the side-boxes, and three substantial citizens for the pit." "The virgin ladies," he said, in the Guardian, No. 29, April 14, 1713, "usually dispose themselves in the front of the boxes, the young married women compose the second row, while the rear is generally made up of mothers of long standing, undesigning maids, and contented widows."—Cunningham.[499]It is a verse frequently repeated in Homer after any speech,——So spoke—and all the heroes applauded.—Pope.[500]From hence the first edition goes on to the conclusion, except a very few short insertions added to keep the machinery in view to the end of the poem.—Pope.[501]Æneid. v. 140:———ferit æthera clamor.Their shouting strikes the skies.—Wakefield.[502]Homer, Il. xx.—Pope.[503]This verse is an improvement on the original, Æneid. viii. 246:———trebidentque immisse lumine manes.And the ghosts tremble at intruding light.—Wakefield.The concluding line of the paragraph is from Addison's translation of a passage in Silius Italicus:Who pale with fear the rending earth surveyAnd startle at the sudden flash of day.There is more of bathos than of humour from ver. 43 to ver. 52. The exaggeration is carried so far that even the similitude of caricature is lost.[504]These four lines added, for the reason before mentioned.—Pope.[505]Minerva in like manner, during the battle of Ulysses with the suitors in the Odyssey, perches on a beam of the roof to behold it.—Pope.[506]Like the heroes in Homer when they are spectators of a combat.—Warton.[507]This idea is borrowed from a couplet in the Duke of Buckingham's Essay on Poetry where he ridicules the poetical dialogues of thedramatis personæin the reign of Charles II.Or else like bells, eternally they chimeThey sigh in simile, and die in rhyme.[508]Wakefield quotes passages from Sir Philip Sidney, Drummond, and Milton, in which the phrase "living death" occurs.[509]The words of a song in the Opera of Camilla.—Pope."Here," said Dennis, speaking of the death of the beau and witling, "we have a real combat, and a metaphorical dying," and he did the lines no injustice when he added that they were but a "miserable pleasantry."[510]Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abjectus in herbis,Ad vada Mæandri concinit albus olor.Ov. Ep.—Pope.[511]Vid. Homer, Il. viii. and Virg. Æn. xii.—Pope.The passage in Homer to which the poet refers is where Jupiter, before the conflict between Hector and Achilles, weighs the issue in a pair of scales.[512]These two lines added for the above reason.—Pope.[513]In imitation of the progress of Agamemnon's sceptre in Homer, Il. ii.—Pope.[514]Pins to adorn the hair were then called bodkins, and Sir George Etherege, in Tonson's Second Miscellany, traces the genealogy of some jewels through the successive stages of the ornament of a cap, the handle of a fan, and ear-rings, till they became, like the gold seal rings, in the Rape of the Lock,A diamond bodkin in each tress,The badges of her nobleness,For every stone, as well as she,Can boast an ancient pedigree.[515]"Who," asked Dennis, "ever heard of a dead man that burnt in Cupid's flames?" Pope had originally written,And still burn on, in Cupid's flames, alive.[516]Dryden's Alexander's Feast:A present deity! they shout around:A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound.—Steevens.[517]Vide Ariosto, Canto xxxiv.—Pope.From the catalogue which follows it appears that, by "allthings lost on earth," Pope meant only such things as, in his opinion, were hypocritical, foolish, and frivolous. These mounted to the lunar sphere when they had finished their course here below,—a career very short in instances like the "tears of heirs," and, perhaps, very long in instances like the butterflies preserved in the cabinets of collectors.[518]Apparently Pope had the erroneous idea that distinguished soldiers were men of dull and ponderous minds.[519]The alms would not be "lost on earth," however unprofitable they might be to the alms-givers, from whom they had been extorted by fear instead of proceeding from a benevolent disposition.[520]Dryden's Œdipus, act 2:The smiles of courtiers, and the harlot's tears,The tradesman's oaths, and mourning of an heir,Are truths, to what priests tell.—Holt White.[521]Denham, in Cooper's Hill, gave him a hint:their airy shapeAll but a quick poetic sight escape.—Wakefield.[522]Flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite crinemStella micat. Ovid.—Pope.Dryden, Æneis, v. 1092:Descends, and draws behind a trail of light.—Wakefield.[523]These two lines added, for the same reason, to keep in view the machinery of the poem.—Pope.Dryden's Æneis, v. 691:And as it flewA train of following flames ascending drew;Kindling they mount, and mark the shiny wayAcross the skies, as falling meteors play.[524]The promenades in the Mall lasted till the middle of the reign of George III., and it would appear from this line that they were enlivened by music.—Croker.[525]Rosamond's lake was a small oblong piece of water near the Pimlico Gate of St. James's Park. When it was done away with, about the middle of the last century, the public, unwilling to lose the romantic name, transferred it to the dirty pond in the Green Park, which has, in its turn, been filled up.—Croker.[526]John Partridge was a ridiculous stargazer, who in his almanacks every year never failed to predict the downfall of the Pope, and the King of France, then at war with the English.—Pope.He had been made the subject of ridicule by Swift, Steele, Addison and others.—Croker.[527]Milton, Par. Lost, v. ver. 261, calls the telescope "the glass of Galileo," who first employed it to observe the heavens.[528]Phebe in As You Like It, Act iii. Sc. 5, says to her despised and despairing lover,Thou tell'st me there is murder in mine eye.[529]The compliment was meant to be serious, but is marred by its extravagance. "Millions" is too hyperbolical.[530]Spenser in his 75th Sonnet:Not so, quoth I: let baser things deviseTo die in dust, but you shall live by fame:My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,And in the heavens write your glorious name.And Cowley, in his imitation of Horace, Ode iv. 2:He bids him live and grow in fameAmong the stars he sticks his name.—Wakefield.
[443]Vide Ovid's Metamorphoses, viii.—Pope.Nisus had a purple hair on which depended the safety of himself and his kingdom. When the Cretans made war upon him, his daughter Scylla fell in love with their leader Minos, whom she saw from a high tower. Hurried away by her passion, she plucked out her father's hair as he slept, and carried it to Minos, who was victorious in consequence, and Scylla was turned for her crime into a bird. The line of Pope is made up from a passage in Dryden's translation of the first Georgic, where, having applied the epithet "injured" to Nisus, he adds,And thus the purple hair is dearly paid.
[443]Vide Ovid's Metamorphoses, viii.—Pope.
Nisus had a purple hair on which depended the safety of himself and his kingdom. When the Cretans made war upon him, his daughter Scylla fell in love with their leader Minos, whom she saw from a high tower. Hurried away by her passion, she plucked out her father's hair as he slept, and carried it to Minos, who was victorious in consequence, and Scylla was turned for her crime into a bird. The line of Pope is made up from a passage in Dryden's translation of the first Georgic, where, having applied the epithet "injured" to Nisus, he adds,
And thus the purple hair is dearly paid.
[444]Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel:But when to sin our blessed nature leansThe careful devil is still at hand with means.
[444]Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel:
But when to sin our blessed nature leansThe careful devil is still at hand with means.
But when to sin our blessed nature leansThe careful devil is still at hand with means.
But when to sin our blessed nature leansThe careful devil is still at hand with means.
[445]In the first edition it was thus,As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head.—Ver. 134.First he expands the glitt'ring forfex wideT' inclose the lock; then joins it to divide;The meeting points the sacred hair dissever,From the fair head, for ever, and for ever.—Ver. 154.All that is between was added afterwards.—Pope.
[445]In the first edition it was thus,
As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head.—Ver. 134.
First he expands the glitt'ring forfex wideT' inclose the lock; then joins it to divide;The meeting points the sacred hair dissever,From the fair head, for ever, and for ever.—Ver. 154.
First he expands the glitt'ring forfex wideT' inclose the lock; then joins it to divide;The meeting points the sacred hair dissever,From the fair head, for ever, and for ever.—Ver. 154.
First he expands the glitt'ring forfex wideT' inclose the lock; then joins it to divide;The meeting points the sacred hair dissever,From the fair head, for ever, and for ever.—Ver. 154.
All that is between was added afterwards.—Pope.
[446]This repetition is formed on similar passages in Virgil.—Wakefield.As, for instance, Dryden's Æn. vi. 950:Then thrice around his neck his arms he threw;And thrice the flitting shadow slipped away.
[446]This repetition is formed on similar passages in Virgil.—Wakefield.
As, for instance, Dryden's Æn. vi. 950:
Then thrice around his neck his arms he threw;And thrice the flitting shadow slipped away.
Then thrice around his neck his arms he threw;And thrice the flitting shadow slipped away.
Then thrice around his neck his arms he threw;And thrice the flitting shadow slipped away.
[447]See Milton, lib. vi. 330, of Satan cut asunder by the Angel Michael.—Pope.But th' ethereal substance closedNot long divisible.
[447]See Milton, lib. vi. 330, of Satan cut asunder by the Angel Michael.—Pope.
But th' ethereal substance closedNot long divisible.
But th' ethereal substance closedNot long divisible.
But th' ethereal substance closedNot long divisible.
[448]Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit,Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt. Virg.—Pope.
[448]
Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit,Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt. Virg.—Pope.
Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit,Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt. Virg.—Pope.
Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit,Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt. Virg.—Pope.
[449]A famous book written about that time by a woman: full of court and party scandal; and in a loose effeminacy of style and sentiment, which well-suited the debauched taste of the better vulgar.—Warburton.Mrs. Manley, the author of it, was the daughter of Sir Roger Manley, Governor of Guernsey, and the author of the first volume of the famous Turkish Spy, published from his papers, by Dr. Midgley. She was known and admired by all the wits of the times. She died in the house of Alderman Barber, Swift's friend; and was said to have been the mistress of the alderman.—Warton.Her actions were even more infamous than her writings. One Mary Thompson had been kept by a person named Pheasant, and at his death, in 1705, she endeavoured to pass herself off for his wife, that she might have a right of dower out of his estate. According to Mr. Nichols, in a note to Steele's Letters, Mrs. Manley was bribed by the promise of 100l.a-year for life, to aid Mrs. Thompson in getting a forged entry of the marriage inserted in a register. The case was heard in Doctors' Commons, and Mrs. Manley's guilt was proved. But neither her profligacy nor her frauds could deprive her of the countenance of political partisans like Swift and Prior, or of good-natured men of pleasure like Steele.
[449]A famous book written about that time by a woman: full of court and party scandal; and in a loose effeminacy of style and sentiment, which well-suited the debauched taste of the better vulgar.—Warburton.
Mrs. Manley, the author of it, was the daughter of Sir Roger Manley, Governor of Guernsey, and the author of the first volume of the famous Turkish Spy, published from his papers, by Dr. Midgley. She was known and admired by all the wits of the times. She died in the house of Alderman Barber, Swift's friend; and was said to have been the mistress of the alderman.—Warton.
Her actions were even more infamous than her writings. One Mary Thompson had been kept by a person named Pheasant, and at his death, in 1705, she endeavoured to pass herself off for his wife, that she might have a right of dower out of his estate. According to Mr. Nichols, in a note to Steele's Letters, Mrs. Manley was bribed by the promise of 100l.a-year for life, to aid Mrs. Thompson in getting a forged entry of the marriage inserted in a register. The case was heard in Doctors' Commons, and Mrs. Manley's guilt was proved. But neither her profligacy nor her frauds could deprive her of the countenance of political partisans like Swift and Prior, or of good-natured men of pleasure like Steele.
[450]Ladies in those days sometimes received visits in their bed-chambers, when the bed was covered with a richer counterpane, and "graced" by a small pillow with a worked case and lace edging. Of the female fashions which Pope pleasantly assumes will be as lasting as the swimming of fishes or the flight of birds, the greater part have passed away.—Croker.
[450]Ladies in those days sometimes received visits in their bed-chambers, when the bed was covered with a richer counterpane, and "graced" by a small pillow with a worked case and lace edging. Of the female fashions which Pope pleasantly assumes will be as lasting as the swimming of fishes or the flight of birds, the greater part have passed away.—Croker.
[451]Ogilby, Virg. Ecl. v.:So long thy honoured name and praise shall last.Dryden, Æn. i. 857:Your honour, name, and praise shall never die!—Wakefield.
[451]Ogilby, Virg. Ecl. v.:
So long thy honoured name and praise shall last.
Dryden, Æn. i. 857:
Your honour, name, and praise shall never die!—Wakefield.
[452]So Juvenal exactly, x. 146:Quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulchris.—WAKEFIELD.
[452]So Juvenal exactly, x. 146:
Quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulchris.—WAKEFIELD.
[453]Addison of Troy in his poem to the king:And laid the labour of the gods in dust.—Wakefield.
[453]Addison of Troy in his poem to the king:
And laid the labour of the gods in dust.—Wakefield.
[454]Addison's translation of Horace, Ode iii. 3:Thrice should my favourite Greeks his works confound,And hew the shining fabric to the ground.—WAKEFIELD.
[454]Addison's translation of Horace, Ode iii. 3:
Thrice should my favourite Greeks his works confound,And hew the shining fabric to the ground.—WAKEFIELD.
Thrice should my favourite Greeks his works confound,And hew the shining fabric to the ground.—WAKEFIELD.
Thrice should my favourite Greeks his works confound,And hew the shining fabric to the ground.—WAKEFIELD.
[455]Ille quoque eversus mons est, &c.Quid faciant crines, cum ferro talia cedant?Catull. de Com. Berenices.—Pope.
[455]
Ille quoque eversus mons est, &c.Quid faciant crines, cum ferro talia cedant?Catull. de Com. Berenices.—Pope.
Ille quoque eversus mons est, &c.Quid faciant crines, cum ferro talia cedant?Catull. de Com. Berenices.—Pope.
Ille quoque eversus mons est, &c.Quid faciant crines, cum ferro talia cedant?Catull. de Com. Berenices.—Pope.
[456]At regina gravi, &c.—Virg. Æn. iv. 1.—Pope.But anxious cares already seized the queen;She fed within her veins a flame unseen.Dryden's Transl.—Wakefield.
[456]
At regina gravi, &c.—Virg. Æn. iv. 1.—Pope.
But anxious cares already seized the queen;She fed within her veins a flame unseen.Dryden's Transl.—Wakefield.
But anxious cares already seized the queen;She fed within her veins a flame unseen.Dryden's Transl.—Wakefield.
But anxious cares already seized the queen;She fed within her veins a flame unseen.Dryden's Transl.—Wakefield.
[457]The thought and turn of these lines is imitated from the Dispensary, Canto iii.:Not beauties fret so much if freckles come,Or nose should redden in the drawing-room.
[457]The thought and turn of these lines is imitated from the Dispensary, Canto iii.:
Not beauties fret so much if freckles come,Or nose should redden in the drawing-room.
Not beauties fret so much if freckles come,Or nose should redden in the drawing-room.
Not beauties fret so much if freckles come,Or nose should redden in the drawing-room.
[458]All the lines from hence to the 94th verse, that describe the house of Spleen, are not in the first edition; instead of them followed only these:While her racked soul repose and peace requires,The fierce Thalestris fans the rising fires.And continued at the 94th verse of this Canto.—Pope.
[458]All the lines from hence to the 94th verse, that describe the house of Spleen, are not in the first edition; instead of them followed only these:
While her racked soul repose and peace requires,The fierce Thalestris fans the rising fires.
While her racked soul repose and peace requires,The fierce Thalestris fans the rising fires.
While her racked soul repose and peace requires,The fierce Thalestris fans the rising fires.
And continued at the 94th verse of this Canto.—Pope.
[459]Garth in the Dispensary, canto iv.:The bat with sooty wings flits through the grove.
[459]Garth in the Dispensary, canto iv.:
The bat with sooty wings flits through the grove.
[460]Spleen was thought to be engendered by the east wind. Cowper, in the Task, Bk. iv. ver. 363, speaks ofthe unhealthful eastThat breathes the spleen.
[460]Spleen was thought to be engendered by the east wind. Cowper, in the Task, Bk. iv. ver. 363, speaks of
the unhealthful eastThat breathes the spleen.
the unhealthful eastThat breathes the spleen.
the unhealthful eastThat breathes the spleen.
[461]In this description our poet seems to have had before him the Cave of Envy in Ovid, Met. ii. 760:Protinus Invidiæ nigro squallentia taboTecta petit. Domus est imis in vallibus antriAbdita, sole carens, non ulli pervia vento.Shut from the winds and from the wholesome skies,In a deep vale the gloomy dungeon lies;Dismal and cold, where not a beam of lightInvades the winter, or disturbs the night. Addison's Trans.—Wakefield.
[461]In this description our poet seems to have had before him the Cave of Envy in Ovid, Met. ii. 760:
Protinus Invidiæ nigro squallentia taboTecta petit. Domus est imis in vallibus antriAbdita, sole carens, non ulli pervia vento.
Protinus Invidiæ nigro squallentia taboTecta petit. Domus est imis in vallibus antriAbdita, sole carens, non ulli pervia vento.
Protinus Invidiæ nigro squallentia taboTecta petit. Domus est imis in vallibus antriAbdita, sole carens, non ulli pervia vento.
Shut from the winds and from the wholesome skies,In a deep vale the gloomy dungeon lies;Dismal and cold, where not a beam of lightInvades the winter, or disturbs the night. Addison's Trans.—Wakefield.
Shut from the winds and from the wholesome skies,In a deep vale the gloomy dungeon lies;Dismal and cold, where not a beam of lightInvades the winter, or disturbs the night. Addison's Trans.—Wakefield.
Shut from the winds and from the wholesome skies,In a deep vale the gloomy dungeon lies;Dismal and cold, where not a beam of lightInvades the winter, or disturbs the night. Addison's Trans.—Wakefield.
Shut from the winds and from the wholesome skies,In a deep vale the gloomy dungeon lies;Dismal and cold, where not a beam of lightInvades the winter, or disturbs the night. Addison's Trans.—Wakefield.
[462]For "Megrim," the first edition has "Languor."
[462]For "Megrim," the first edition has "Languor."
[463]"Wait" for "wait on" or "by" is a very harsh ellipse, though it has the sanction of Dryden.
[463]"Wait" for "wait on" or "by" is a very harsh ellipse, though it has the sanction of Dryden.
[464]Hypochondriacal disorders, under the name of vapours or spleen, were then the fashionable complaint, and as they often presented no definite bodily symptoms they could be readily feigned. The "gown" and "night-dress" of Pope are the "dressing-gown" of our day.
[464]Hypochondriacal disorders, under the name of vapours or spleen, were then the fashionable complaint, and as they often presented no definite bodily symptoms they could be readily feigned. The "gown" and "night-dress" of Pope are the "dressing-gown" of our day.
[465]Oldham had expressed the same idea in The Dream:Not dying saints enjoy such ecstaciesWhen they in visions antedate their bliss.The ancients believed the spleen to be the seat of mirth, and hence a disordered spleen was supposed to produce melancholy and moroseness. The second sense, in modern usage, has driven out the first, and spleen has become synonymous with surliness and gloom, but Pope in prose as well as verse gave it a wider range, and appears to ascribe to it those creations of the imagination which are mistaken for realities. "Methinks," he writes to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, "I am imitating in my ravings thedreams of spleneticenthusiasts and solitaires, who fall in love with saints and fancy themselves in favour of angels and spirits."
[465]Oldham had expressed the same idea in The Dream:
Not dying saints enjoy such ecstaciesWhen they in visions antedate their bliss.
Not dying saints enjoy such ecstaciesWhen they in visions antedate their bliss.
Not dying saints enjoy such ecstaciesWhen they in visions antedate their bliss.
The ancients believed the spleen to be the seat of mirth, and hence a disordered spleen was supposed to produce melancholy and moroseness. The second sense, in modern usage, has driven out the first, and spleen has become synonymous with surliness and gloom, but Pope in prose as well as verse gave it a wider range, and appears to ascribe to it those creations of the imagination which are mistaken for realities. "Methinks," he writes to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, "I am imitating in my ravings thedreams of spleneticenthusiasts and solitaires, who fall in love with saints and fancy themselves in favour of angels and spirits."
[466]Snakes erect on the "rolling spires," or coils of their bodies, as Milton says that the neck of the serpent was "erect amidst his circling spires."
[466]Snakes erect on the "rolling spires," or coils of their bodies, as Milton says that the neck of the serpent was "erect amidst his circling spires."
[467]In the last century the word "machine" was currently employed to designate the supernatural agents in a fiction, and their proceedings when acting in human affairs. Thus, by the expression "angels in machines" is meant angels interposing on behalf of mankind.
[467]In the last century the word "machine" was currently employed to designate the supernatural agents in a fiction, and their proceedings when acting in human affairs. Thus, by the expression "angels in machines" is meant angels interposing on behalf of mankind.
[468]Ovid, Met. i. 1:In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas Corpora.Of bodies changed to various forms I sing.—Dryden's Trans.—Wakefield.
[468]Ovid, Met. i. 1:
In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas Corpora.
Of bodies changed to various forms I sing.—Dryden's Trans.—Wakefield.
[469]See Hom. Iliad, xviii., of Vulcan's walking tripods.—Pope.Van Swieten, in his Commentaries on Boerhaave, relates that he knew a man who had studied till he fancied his legs to be of glass. His maid bringing wood to his fire threw it carelessly down. Our sage was terrified for his legs of glass. The girl, out of patience with his megrims, gave him a blow with a log on the parts affected. He started up in a rage, and from that moment recovered the use of his glass legs.—Warton.
[469]See Hom. Iliad, xviii., of Vulcan's walking tripods.—Pope.
Van Swieten, in his Commentaries on Boerhaave, relates that he knew a man who had studied till he fancied his legs to be of glass. His maid bringing wood to his fire threw it carelessly down. Our sage was terrified for his legs of glass. The girl, out of patience with his megrims, gave him a blow with a log on the parts affected. He started up in a rage, and from that moment recovered the use of his glass legs.—Warton.
[470]Alludes to a real fact; a lady of distinction imagined herself in this condition.—Pope.
[470]Alludes to a real fact; a lady of distinction imagined herself in this condition.—Pope.
[471]The fanciful person, here alluded to, was Dr. Edward Pelling, chaplain to several successive monarchs. Having studied himself into hypochondriasis between the age of forty and fifty, he imagined himself to be pregnant, and forbore all manner of exercise lest motion should prove injurious to his ideal burden.—Steevens.
[471]The fanciful person, here alluded to, was Dr. Edward Pelling, chaplain to several successive monarchs. Having studied himself into hypochondriasis between the age of forty and fifty, he imagined himself to be pregnant, and forbore all manner of exercise lest motion should prove injurious to his ideal burden.—Steevens.
[472]This is adopted from the Loyal Subject of Beaumont and Fletcher.—Steevens.
[472]This is adopted from the Loyal Subject of Beaumont and Fletcher.—Steevens.
[473]In imitation of the golden branch which Æneas carried as a passport when he visited the infernal regions. Spleenwort is a species of fern. "Its virtues," says Cowley, "are told in its name." He makes it compare itself with "painted flowers," and exclaim,They're fair, 'tis true, they're cheerful, and they're green,But I, though sad, procure a gladsome mien.The plant has lost the little credit it once possessed as a remedy for hypochondriacal affections.
[473]In imitation of the golden branch which Æneas carried as a passport when he visited the infernal regions. Spleenwort is a species of fern. "Its virtues," says Cowley, "are told in its name." He makes it compare itself with "painted flowers," and exclaim,
They're fair, 'tis true, they're cheerful, and they're green,But I, though sad, procure a gladsome mien.
They're fair, 'tis true, they're cheerful, and they're green,But I, though sad, procure a gladsome mien.
They're fair, 'tis true, they're cheerful, and they're green,But I, though sad, procure a gladsome mien.
The plant has lost the little credit it once possessed as a remedy for hypochondriacal affections.
[474]Bishop Lowth notices Pope's frequent violation of grammar in joining a pronoun in the singular to a verb in the plural. Thus when he says in the Messiah,O thou my voice inspireWho touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire,either "thou" should be "you," or else "touched" should be "touchedst, didst touch." Pope has committed the same error in this speech to the Queen of Spleen; for that "thou," and not "you," is, or ought to be, the pronoun understood follows from the expression "thypower" at ver. 65. Hence "who rule" should be "who rulest," or "who dost rule," and so with the other verbs in the second person.
[474]Bishop Lowth notices Pope's frequent violation of grammar in joining a pronoun in the singular to a verb in the plural. Thus when he says in the Messiah,
O thou my voice inspireWho touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire,
O thou my voice inspireWho touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire,
O thou my voice inspireWho touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire,
either "thou" should be "you," or else "touched" should be "touchedst, didst touch." Pope has committed the same error in this speech to the Queen of Spleen; for that "thou," and not "you," is, or ought to be, the pronoun understood follows from the expression "thypower" at ver. 65. Hence "who rule" should be "who rulest," or "who dost rule," and so with the other verbs in the second person.
[475]The disease was probably named from the atmospheric vapours which were reputed to be a principal cause of English melancholy. Cowper says of England in his Task, Bk. v. ver. 462,Thy clime is rude,Replete with vapours, and disposes muchAll hearts to sadness, and none more than mine.
[475]The disease was probably named from the atmospheric vapours which were reputed to be a principal cause of English melancholy. Cowper says of England in his Task, Bk. v. ver. 462,
Thy clime is rude,Replete with vapours, and disposes muchAll hearts to sadness, and none more than mine.
Thy clime is rude,Replete with vapours, and disposes muchAll hearts to sadness, and none more than mine.
Thy clime is rude,Replete with vapours, and disposes muchAll hearts to sadness, and none more than mine.
[476]Citron-water was a cordial distilled from a mixture of spirit of wine with the rind of citrons and lemons. There are numerous allusions in the literature of Pope's day to the fondness of women of fashion for this drink, as in Swift's Journal of a Modern Lady, where he says that "to cool her heated brains" when she wakes at noon sheTakes a large dram of citron-water.
[476]Citron-water was a cordial distilled from a mixture of spirit of wine with the rind of citrons and lemons. There are numerous allusions in the literature of Pope's day to the fondness of women of fashion for this drink, as in Swift's Journal of a Modern Lady, where he says that "to cool her heated brains" when she wakes at noon she
Takes a large dram of citron-water.
[477]The curl papers of ladies' hair used to be fastened with strips of pliant lead.—Croker.
[477]The curl papers of ladies' hair used to be fastened with strips of pliant lead.—Croker.
[478]That is, at whose shrine all our sex resign ease, pleasure, and virtue. "Honour" means female reputation.
[478]That is, at whose shrine all our sex resign ease, pleasure, and virtue. "Honour" means female reputation.
[479]A parody of Virgil, Ecl. i. 60.—Wakefield.Garth, Dispensary, Canto iii.:The tow'ring Alps shall sooner sink to vales,And leeches in our glasses swell to whales;Or Norwich trade in instruments of steel,And Bromingham in stuffs and druggets deal.
[479]A parody of Virgil, Ecl. i. 60.—Wakefield.
Garth, Dispensary, Canto iii.:
The tow'ring Alps shall sooner sink to vales,And leeches in our glasses swell to whales;Or Norwich trade in instruments of steel,And Bromingham in stuffs and druggets deal.
The tow'ring Alps shall sooner sink to vales,And leeches in our glasses swell to whales;Or Norwich trade in instruments of steel,And Bromingham in stuffs and druggets deal.
The tow'ring Alps shall sooner sink to vales,And leeches in our glasses swell to whales;Or Norwich trade in instruments of steel,And Bromingham in stuffs and druggets deal.
[480]Sir George Brown. He was angry that the poet should make him talk nothing but nonsense: and in truth one could not well blame him.—Warburton.This is one instance out of many in which Pope took unwarrantable liberties with private character. Spence had been told that the description "was the very picture of the man."
[480]Sir George Brown. He was angry that the poet should make him talk nothing but nonsense: and in truth one could not well blame him.—Warburton.
This is one instance out of many in which Pope took unwarrantable liberties with private character. Spence had been told that the description "was the very picture of the man."
[481]A cane diversified with darker spots.—Wakefield.The "nice conduct" of canes is ridiculed by Addison in No. 103 of the Tatler. A man of fashion, with "a cane very curiously clouded, and a blue ribbon to hang it on his wrist," protests that the "knocking it upon his shoe, leaning one leg upon it, or whistling with it on his mouth are such great reliefs to him in conversation that he does not know how to be good company without it." A second beau is warned that his cane must be forfeited if "he walks with it under his arm, brandishes it in the air, or hangs it on a button."
[481]A cane diversified with darker spots.—Wakefield.
The "nice conduct" of canes is ridiculed by Addison in No. 103 of the Tatler. A man of fashion, with "a cane very curiously clouded, and a blue ribbon to hang it on his wrist," protests that the "knocking it upon his shoe, leaning one leg upon it, or whistling with it on his mouth are such great reliefs to him in conversation that he does not know how to be good company without it." A second beau is warned that his cane must be forfeited if "he walks with it under his arm, brandishes it in the air, or hangs it on a button."
[482]In allusion to Achilles's oath in Homer, Il. i.—Pope.But by this scepter solemnly I swearWhich never more green leaf or growing branch shall bear.Dryden's Trans.—Wakefield.
[482]In allusion to Achilles's oath in Homer, Il. i.—Pope.
But by this scepter solemnly I swearWhich never more green leaf or growing branch shall bear.Dryden's Trans.—Wakefield.
But by this scepter solemnly I swearWhich never more green leaf or growing branch shall bear.Dryden's Trans.—Wakefield.
But by this scepter solemnly I swearWhich never more green leaf or growing branch shall bear.Dryden's Trans.—Wakefield.
[483]Dryden's Æn. i. 770:If yet he lives and draws this vital air.
[483]Dryden's Æn. i. 770:
If yet he lives and draws this vital air.
[484]Borrowed from Dryden's Epistle to Mr. Granville:The long contended honours of the field.—Holt White.
[484]Borrowed from Dryden's Epistle to Mr. Granville:
The long contended honours of the field.—Holt White.
[485]These two lines are additional; and assign the cause of the different operation on the passions of the two ladies. The poem went on before without that distinction, as without any machinery, to the end of the Canto.—Pope.At ver. 91, Umbriel empties the bag which contains the angry passions over the heads of Thalestris and Belinda. At ver. 142 he breaks the phial of sorrow over Belinda alone, whence Belinda's anger is turned to grief, and Thalestris remains indignant.
[485]These two lines are additional; and assign the cause of the different operation on the passions of the two ladies. The poem went on before without that distinction, as without any machinery, to the end of the Canto.—Pope.
At ver. 91, Umbriel empties the bag which contains the angry passions over the heads of Thalestris and Belinda. At ver. 142 he breaks the phial of sorrow over Belinda alone, whence Belinda's anger is turned to grief, and Thalestris remains indignant.
[486]A parody of Virg. Æn. iv. 657:Felix heu nimium felix! si litora tantumNunquam Dardaniæ tetigissent nostra carinæ.—Wakefield.
[486]A parody of Virg. Æn. iv. 657:
Felix heu nimium felix! si litora tantumNunquam Dardaniæ tetigissent nostra carinæ.—Wakefield.
Felix heu nimium felix! si litora tantumNunquam Dardaniæ tetigissent nostra carinæ.—Wakefield.
Felix heu nimium felix! si litora tantumNunquam Dardaniæ tetigissent nostra carinæ.—Wakefield.
[487]Pope originally wrote:'Twas this the morning omens did foretell.He altered the verse, together with one or two others of the same kind, to get rid of the "did".
[487]Pope originally wrote:
'Twas this the morning omens did foretell.
He altered the verse, together with one or two others of the same kind, to get rid of the "did".
[488]Butler, the poet, says that the object of black patches was to make the complexion look fairer by the contrast. Dryden has a similar idea in Palamon and Arcite:Some sprinkled freckles on his face were seenWhose dusk set off the whiteness of his skin.
[488]Butler, the poet, says that the object of black patches was to make the complexion look fairer by the contrast. Dryden has a similar idea in Palamon and Arcite:
Some sprinkled freckles on his face were seenWhose dusk set off the whiteness of his skin.
Some sprinkled freckles on his face were seenWhose dusk set off the whiteness of his skin.
Some sprinkled freckles on his face were seenWhose dusk set off the whiteness of his skin.
[489]Prior's Henry and Emma:No longer shall thy comely tresses breakIn flowing ringlets on thy snowy neck.—Wakefield.
[489]Prior's Henry and Emma:
No longer shall thy comely tresses breakIn flowing ringlets on thy snowy neck.—Wakefield.
No longer shall thy comely tresses breakIn flowing ringlets on thy snowy neck.—Wakefield.
No longer shall thy comely tresses breakIn flowing ringlets on thy snowy neck.—Wakefield.
[490]Sir William Bowles on the Death of Charles II.:And in their rulers fate bewail their own.
[490]Sir William Bowles on the Death of Charles II.:
And in their rulers fate bewail their own.
[491]Translated from Virgil, Æn. iv. 440:Fata obstant, placidasque viri deus obstruit aures.Fate and great Jove had stopped his gentle tears.—Waller.—Wakefield.
[491]Translated from Virgil, Æn. iv. 440:
Fata obstant, placidasque viri deus obstruit aures.Fate and great Jove had stopped his gentle tears.—Waller.—Wakefield.
Fata obstant, placidasque viri deus obstruit aures.Fate and great Jove had stopped his gentle tears.—Waller.—Wakefield.
Fata obstant, placidasque viri deus obstruit aures.Fate and great Jove had stopped his gentle tears.—Waller.—Wakefield.
[492]The entreaties to stay which Dido's sister, Anna, addressed to Æneas.—Croker.Virgil says that the pathetic entreaties to stay sent a thrill of grief through the mighty breast of Æneas, but that his resolution was unshaken. Pope's couplet supposes that he inwardly wavered.
[492]The entreaties to stay which Dido's sister, Anna, addressed to Æneas.—Croker.
Virgil says that the pathetic entreaties to stay sent a thrill of grief through the mighty breast of Æneas, but that his resolution was unshaken. Pope's couplet supposes that he inwardly wavered.
[493]A new character introduced in the subsequent editions, to open more clearly the moral of the poem, in a parody of the speech of Sarpedon to Glaucus in Homer.—Pope.The parody first appeared when the Rape of the Lock was inserted in the quarto of 1717. In the previous enlarged editions, which contained the machinery, the sixth verse was followed by what is now verse thirty-seven:To arms, to arms! the bold Thalestris cries.
[493]A new character introduced in the subsequent editions, to open more clearly the moral of the poem, in a parody of the speech of Sarpedon to Glaucus in Homer.—Pope.
The parody first appeared when the Rape of the Lock was inserted in the quarto of 1717. In the previous enlarged editions, which contained the machinery, the sixth verse was followed by what is now verse thirty-seven:
To arms, to arms! the bold Thalestris cries.
[494]Homer.Why boast we, Glaucus! our extended reign,Where Xanthus' streams enrich the Lycian plain;Our num'rous herds that range each fruitful field,And hills where vines their purple harvest yield;Our foaming bowls with gen'rous nectar crowned,Our feasts enhanced with music's sprightly sound;Why on those shores are we with joy surveyed,Admired as heroes, and as gods obeyed;Unless great acts superior merit prove,And vindicate the bounteous pow'rs above?'Tis ours, the dignity they give, to grace;The first in valour, as the first in place:That while with wond'ring eyes our martial bandsBehold our deeds transcending our commands,Such, they may cry, deserve the sov'reign state,Whom those that envy, dare not imitate.Could all our care elude the greedy grave,Which claims no less the fearful than the brave,For lust of fame I should not vainly dareIn fighting fields, nor urge thy soul to war.But since, alas! ignoble age must come,Disease, and death's inexorable doom;The life which others pay, let us bestow,And give to fame what we to nature owe;Brave though we fall, and honoured if we live,Or let us glory gain, or glory give.—Warburton.The passage quoted by Warburton is from Pope's own translation of the Episode of Sarpedon, which appeared in Dryden's Miscellany, in 1710.
[494]Homer.
Why boast we, Glaucus! our extended reign,Where Xanthus' streams enrich the Lycian plain;Our num'rous herds that range each fruitful field,And hills where vines their purple harvest yield;Our foaming bowls with gen'rous nectar crowned,Our feasts enhanced with music's sprightly sound;Why on those shores are we with joy surveyed,Admired as heroes, and as gods obeyed;Unless great acts superior merit prove,And vindicate the bounteous pow'rs above?'Tis ours, the dignity they give, to grace;The first in valour, as the first in place:That while with wond'ring eyes our martial bandsBehold our deeds transcending our commands,Such, they may cry, deserve the sov'reign state,Whom those that envy, dare not imitate.Could all our care elude the greedy grave,Which claims no less the fearful than the brave,For lust of fame I should not vainly dareIn fighting fields, nor urge thy soul to war.But since, alas! ignoble age must come,Disease, and death's inexorable doom;The life which others pay, let us bestow,And give to fame what we to nature owe;Brave though we fall, and honoured if we live,Or let us glory gain, or glory give.—Warburton.
Why boast we, Glaucus! our extended reign,Where Xanthus' streams enrich the Lycian plain;Our num'rous herds that range each fruitful field,And hills where vines their purple harvest yield;Our foaming bowls with gen'rous nectar crowned,Our feasts enhanced with music's sprightly sound;Why on those shores are we with joy surveyed,Admired as heroes, and as gods obeyed;Unless great acts superior merit prove,And vindicate the bounteous pow'rs above?'Tis ours, the dignity they give, to grace;The first in valour, as the first in place:That while with wond'ring eyes our martial bandsBehold our deeds transcending our commands,Such, they may cry, deserve the sov'reign state,Whom those that envy, dare not imitate.Could all our care elude the greedy grave,Which claims no less the fearful than the brave,For lust of fame I should not vainly dareIn fighting fields, nor urge thy soul to war.But since, alas! ignoble age must come,Disease, and death's inexorable doom;The life which others pay, let us bestow,And give to fame what we to nature owe;Brave though we fall, and honoured if we live,Or let us glory gain, or glory give.—Warburton.
Why boast we, Glaucus! our extended reign,Where Xanthus' streams enrich the Lycian plain;Our num'rous herds that range each fruitful field,And hills where vines their purple harvest yield;Our foaming bowls with gen'rous nectar crowned,Our feasts enhanced with music's sprightly sound;Why on those shores are we with joy surveyed,Admired as heroes, and as gods obeyed;Unless great acts superior merit prove,And vindicate the bounteous pow'rs above?'Tis ours, the dignity they give, to grace;The first in valour, as the first in place:That while with wond'ring eyes our martial bandsBehold our deeds transcending our commands,Such, they may cry, deserve the sov'reign state,Whom those that envy, dare not imitate.Could all our care elude the greedy grave,Which claims no less the fearful than the brave,For lust of fame I should not vainly dareIn fighting fields, nor urge thy soul to war.But since, alas! ignoble age must come,Disease, and death's inexorable doom;The life which others pay, let us bestow,And give to fame what we to nature owe;Brave though we fall, and honoured if we live,Or let us glory gain, or glory give.—Warburton.
The passage quoted by Warburton is from Pope's own translation of the Episode of Sarpedon, which appeared in Dryden's Miscellany, in 1710.
[495]Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel:The young men's vision, and the old men's dream.—Wakefield.
[495]Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel:
The young men's vision, and the old men's dream.—Wakefield.
[496]Denham, in his version of the speech of Homer parodied by our poet:Why all the tributes land and sea affords?—As gods behold us, and as gods adore.—Wakefield.
[496]Denham, in his version of the speech of Homer parodied by our poet:
Why all the tributes land and sea affords?—As gods behold us, and as gods adore.—Wakefield.
Why all the tributes land and sea affords?—As gods behold us, and as gods adore.—Wakefield.
Why all the tributes land and sea affords?—As gods behold us, and as gods adore.—Wakefield.
[497]Gay, in the Toilette:Nor shall side-boxes watch my restless eyes,And, as they catch the glance in rows ariseWith humble bows; nor white-gloved beaux approachIn crowds behind to guard me to my coach.—Wakefield.
[497]Gay, in the Toilette:
Nor shall side-boxes watch my restless eyes,And, as they catch the glance in rows ariseWith humble bows; nor white-gloved beaux approachIn crowds behind to guard me to my coach.—Wakefield.
Nor shall side-boxes watch my restless eyes,And, as they catch the glance in rows ariseWith humble bows; nor white-gloved beaux approachIn crowds behind to guard me to my coach.—Wakefield.
Nor shall side-boxes watch my restless eyes,And, as they catch the glance in rows ariseWith humble bows; nor white-gloved beaux approachIn crowds behind to guard me to my coach.—Wakefield.
[498]The ladies at this time always sat in the front, the gentlemen in the side-boxes.—Nichols.In Steele's Theatre, No. 3, January 9, 1720, his "representatives of a British audience" are "three of the fair sex for the front boxes, two gentlemen of wit and pleasure for the side-boxes, and three substantial citizens for the pit." "The virgin ladies," he said, in the Guardian, No. 29, April 14, 1713, "usually dispose themselves in the front of the boxes, the young married women compose the second row, while the rear is generally made up of mothers of long standing, undesigning maids, and contented widows."—Cunningham.
[498]The ladies at this time always sat in the front, the gentlemen in the side-boxes.—Nichols.
In Steele's Theatre, No. 3, January 9, 1720, his "representatives of a British audience" are "three of the fair sex for the front boxes, two gentlemen of wit and pleasure for the side-boxes, and three substantial citizens for the pit." "The virgin ladies," he said, in the Guardian, No. 29, April 14, 1713, "usually dispose themselves in the front of the boxes, the young married women compose the second row, while the rear is generally made up of mothers of long standing, undesigning maids, and contented widows."—Cunningham.
[499]It is a verse frequently repeated in Homer after any speech,——So spoke—and all the heroes applauded.—Pope.
[499]It is a verse frequently repeated in Homer after any speech,
——So spoke—and all the heroes applauded.—Pope.
[500]From hence the first edition goes on to the conclusion, except a very few short insertions added to keep the machinery in view to the end of the poem.—Pope.
[500]From hence the first edition goes on to the conclusion, except a very few short insertions added to keep the machinery in view to the end of the poem.—Pope.
[501]Æneid. v. 140:———ferit æthera clamor.Their shouting strikes the skies.—Wakefield.
[501]Æneid. v. 140:
———ferit æthera clamor.Their shouting strikes the skies.—Wakefield.
———ferit æthera clamor.Their shouting strikes the skies.—Wakefield.
———ferit æthera clamor.Their shouting strikes the skies.—Wakefield.
[502]Homer, Il. xx.—Pope.
[502]Homer, Il. xx.—Pope.
[503]This verse is an improvement on the original, Æneid. viii. 246:———trebidentque immisse lumine manes.And the ghosts tremble at intruding light.—Wakefield.The concluding line of the paragraph is from Addison's translation of a passage in Silius Italicus:Who pale with fear the rending earth surveyAnd startle at the sudden flash of day.There is more of bathos than of humour from ver. 43 to ver. 52. The exaggeration is carried so far that even the similitude of caricature is lost.
[503]This verse is an improvement on the original, Æneid. viii. 246:
———trebidentque immisse lumine manes.And the ghosts tremble at intruding light.—Wakefield.
———trebidentque immisse lumine manes.And the ghosts tremble at intruding light.—Wakefield.
———trebidentque immisse lumine manes.And the ghosts tremble at intruding light.—Wakefield.
The concluding line of the paragraph is from Addison's translation of a passage in Silius Italicus:
Who pale with fear the rending earth surveyAnd startle at the sudden flash of day.
Who pale with fear the rending earth surveyAnd startle at the sudden flash of day.
Who pale with fear the rending earth surveyAnd startle at the sudden flash of day.
There is more of bathos than of humour from ver. 43 to ver. 52. The exaggeration is carried so far that even the similitude of caricature is lost.
[504]These four lines added, for the reason before mentioned.—Pope.
[504]These four lines added, for the reason before mentioned.—Pope.
[505]Minerva in like manner, during the battle of Ulysses with the suitors in the Odyssey, perches on a beam of the roof to behold it.—Pope.
[505]Minerva in like manner, during the battle of Ulysses with the suitors in the Odyssey, perches on a beam of the roof to behold it.—Pope.
[506]Like the heroes in Homer when they are spectators of a combat.—Warton.
[506]Like the heroes in Homer when they are spectators of a combat.—Warton.
[507]This idea is borrowed from a couplet in the Duke of Buckingham's Essay on Poetry where he ridicules the poetical dialogues of thedramatis personæin the reign of Charles II.Or else like bells, eternally they chimeThey sigh in simile, and die in rhyme.
[507]This idea is borrowed from a couplet in the Duke of Buckingham's Essay on Poetry where he ridicules the poetical dialogues of thedramatis personæin the reign of Charles II.
Or else like bells, eternally they chimeThey sigh in simile, and die in rhyme.
Or else like bells, eternally they chimeThey sigh in simile, and die in rhyme.
Or else like bells, eternally they chimeThey sigh in simile, and die in rhyme.
[508]Wakefield quotes passages from Sir Philip Sidney, Drummond, and Milton, in which the phrase "living death" occurs.
[508]Wakefield quotes passages from Sir Philip Sidney, Drummond, and Milton, in which the phrase "living death" occurs.
[509]The words of a song in the Opera of Camilla.—Pope."Here," said Dennis, speaking of the death of the beau and witling, "we have a real combat, and a metaphorical dying," and he did the lines no injustice when he added that they were but a "miserable pleasantry."
[509]The words of a song in the Opera of Camilla.—Pope.
"Here," said Dennis, speaking of the death of the beau and witling, "we have a real combat, and a metaphorical dying," and he did the lines no injustice when he added that they were but a "miserable pleasantry."
[510]Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abjectus in herbis,Ad vada Mæandri concinit albus olor.Ov. Ep.—Pope.
[510]
Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abjectus in herbis,Ad vada Mæandri concinit albus olor.Ov. Ep.—Pope.
Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abjectus in herbis,Ad vada Mæandri concinit albus olor.Ov. Ep.—Pope.
Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abjectus in herbis,Ad vada Mæandri concinit albus olor.Ov. Ep.—Pope.
[511]Vid. Homer, Il. viii. and Virg. Æn. xii.—Pope.The passage in Homer to which the poet refers is where Jupiter, before the conflict between Hector and Achilles, weighs the issue in a pair of scales.
[511]Vid. Homer, Il. viii. and Virg. Æn. xii.—Pope.
The passage in Homer to which the poet refers is where Jupiter, before the conflict between Hector and Achilles, weighs the issue in a pair of scales.
[512]These two lines added for the above reason.—Pope.
[512]These two lines added for the above reason.—Pope.
[513]In imitation of the progress of Agamemnon's sceptre in Homer, Il. ii.—Pope.
[513]In imitation of the progress of Agamemnon's sceptre in Homer, Il. ii.—Pope.
[514]Pins to adorn the hair were then called bodkins, and Sir George Etherege, in Tonson's Second Miscellany, traces the genealogy of some jewels through the successive stages of the ornament of a cap, the handle of a fan, and ear-rings, till they became, like the gold seal rings, in the Rape of the Lock,A diamond bodkin in each tress,The badges of her nobleness,For every stone, as well as she,Can boast an ancient pedigree.
[514]Pins to adorn the hair were then called bodkins, and Sir George Etherege, in Tonson's Second Miscellany, traces the genealogy of some jewels through the successive stages of the ornament of a cap, the handle of a fan, and ear-rings, till they became, like the gold seal rings, in the Rape of the Lock,
A diamond bodkin in each tress,The badges of her nobleness,For every stone, as well as she,Can boast an ancient pedigree.
A diamond bodkin in each tress,The badges of her nobleness,For every stone, as well as she,Can boast an ancient pedigree.
A diamond bodkin in each tress,The badges of her nobleness,For every stone, as well as she,Can boast an ancient pedigree.
[515]"Who," asked Dennis, "ever heard of a dead man that burnt in Cupid's flames?" Pope had originally written,And still burn on, in Cupid's flames, alive.
[515]"Who," asked Dennis, "ever heard of a dead man that burnt in Cupid's flames?" Pope had originally written,
And still burn on, in Cupid's flames, alive.
[516]Dryden's Alexander's Feast:A present deity! they shout around:A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound.—Steevens.
[516]Dryden's Alexander's Feast:
A present deity! they shout around:A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound.—Steevens.
A present deity! they shout around:A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound.—Steevens.
A present deity! they shout around:A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound.—Steevens.
[517]Vide Ariosto, Canto xxxiv.—Pope.From the catalogue which follows it appears that, by "allthings lost on earth," Pope meant only such things as, in his opinion, were hypocritical, foolish, and frivolous. These mounted to the lunar sphere when they had finished their course here below,—a career very short in instances like the "tears of heirs," and, perhaps, very long in instances like the butterflies preserved in the cabinets of collectors.
[517]Vide Ariosto, Canto xxxiv.—Pope.
From the catalogue which follows it appears that, by "allthings lost on earth," Pope meant only such things as, in his opinion, were hypocritical, foolish, and frivolous. These mounted to the lunar sphere when they had finished their course here below,—a career very short in instances like the "tears of heirs," and, perhaps, very long in instances like the butterflies preserved in the cabinets of collectors.
[518]Apparently Pope had the erroneous idea that distinguished soldiers were men of dull and ponderous minds.
[518]Apparently Pope had the erroneous idea that distinguished soldiers were men of dull and ponderous minds.
[519]The alms would not be "lost on earth," however unprofitable they might be to the alms-givers, from whom they had been extorted by fear instead of proceeding from a benevolent disposition.
[519]The alms would not be "lost on earth," however unprofitable they might be to the alms-givers, from whom they had been extorted by fear instead of proceeding from a benevolent disposition.
[520]Dryden's Œdipus, act 2:The smiles of courtiers, and the harlot's tears,The tradesman's oaths, and mourning of an heir,Are truths, to what priests tell.—Holt White.
[520]Dryden's Œdipus, act 2:
The smiles of courtiers, and the harlot's tears,The tradesman's oaths, and mourning of an heir,Are truths, to what priests tell.—Holt White.
The smiles of courtiers, and the harlot's tears,The tradesman's oaths, and mourning of an heir,Are truths, to what priests tell.—Holt White.
The smiles of courtiers, and the harlot's tears,The tradesman's oaths, and mourning of an heir,Are truths, to what priests tell.—Holt White.
[521]Denham, in Cooper's Hill, gave him a hint:their airy shapeAll but a quick poetic sight escape.—Wakefield.
[521]Denham, in Cooper's Hill, gave him a hint:
their airy shapeAll but a quick poetic sight escape.—Wakefield.
their airy shapeAll but a quick poetic sight escape.—Wakefield.
their airy shapeAll but a quick poetic sight escape.—Wakefield.
[522]Flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite crinemStella micat. Ovid.—Pope.Dryden, Æneis, v. 1092:Descends, and draws behind a trail of light.—Wakefield.
[522]
Flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite crinemStella micat. Ovid.—Pope.
Flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite crinemStella micat. Ovid.—Pope.
Flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite crinemStella micat. Ovid.—Pope.
Dryden, Æneis, v. 1092:
Descends, and draws behind a trail of light.—Wakefield.
Descends, and draws behind a trail of light.—Wakefield.
Descends, and draws behind a trail of light.—Wakefield.
[523]These two lines added, for the same reason, to keep in view the machinery of the poem.—Pope.Dryden's Æneis, v. 691:And as it flewA train of following flames ascending drew;Kindling they mount, and mark the shiny wayAcross the skies, as falling meteors play.
[523]These two lines added, for the same reason, to keep in view the machinery of the poem.—Pope.
Dryden's Æneis, v. 691:
And as it flewA train of following flames ascending drew;Kindling they mount, and mark the shiny wayAcross the skies, as falling meteors play.
And as it flewA train of following flames ascending drew;Kindling they mount, and mark the shiny wayAcross the skies, as falling meteors play.
And as it flewA train of following flames ascending drew;Kindling they mount, and mark the shiny wayAcross the skies, as falling meteors play.
[524]The promenades in the Mall lasted till the middle of the reign of George III., and it would appear from this line that they were enlivened by music.—Croker.
[524]The promenades in the Mall lasted till the middle of the reign of George III., and it would appear from this line that they were enlivened by music.—Croker.
[525]Rosamond's lake was a small oblong piece of water near the Pimlico Gate of St. James's Park. When it was done away with, about the middle of the last century, the public, unwilling to lose the romantic name, transferred it to the dirty pond in the Green Park, which has, in its turn, been filled up.—Croker.
[525]Rosamond's lake was a small oblong piece of water near the Pimlico Gate of St. James's Park. When it was done away with, about the middle of the last century, the public, unwilling to lose the romantic name, transferred it to the dirty pond in the Green Park, which has, in its turn, been filled up.—Croker.
[526]John Partridge was a ridiculous stargazer, who in his almanacks every year never failed to predict the downfall of the Pope, and the King of France, then at war with the English.—Pope.He had been made the subject of ridicule by Swift, Steele, Addison and others.—Croker.
[526]John Partridge was a ridiculous stargazer, who in his almanacks every year never failed to predict the downfall of the Pope, and the King of France, then at war with the English.—Pope.
He had been made the subject of ridicule by Swift, Steele, Addison and others.—Croker.
[527]Milton, Par. Lost, v. ver. 261, calls the telescope "the glass of Galileo," who first employed it to observe the heavens.
[527]Milton, Par. Lost, v. ver. 261, calls the telescope "the glass of Galileo," who first employed it to observe the heavens.
[528]Phebe in As You Like It, Act iii. Sc. 5, says to her despised and despairing lover,Thou tell'st me there is murder in mine eye.
[528]Phebe in As You Like It, Act iii. Sc. 5, says to her despised and despairing lover,
Thou tell'st me there is murder in mine eye.
[529]The compliment was meant to be serious, but is marred by its extravagance. "Millions" is too hyperbolical.
[529]The compliment was meant to be serious, but is marred by its extravagance. "Millions" is too hyperbolical.
[530]Spenser in his 75th Sonnet:Not so, quoth I: let baser things deviseTo die in dust, but you shall live by fame:My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,And in the heavens write your glorious name.And Cowley, in his imitation of Horace, Ode iv. 2:He bids him live and grow in fameAmong the stars he sticks his name.—Wakefield.
[530]Spenser in his 75th Sonnet:
Not so, quoth I: let baser things deviseTo die in dust, but you shall live by fame:My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Not so, quoth I: let baser things deviseTo die in dust, but you shall live by fame:My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Not so, quoth I: let baser things deviseTo die in dust, but you shall live by fame:My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,And in the heavens write your glorious name.
And Cowley, in his imitation of Horace, Ode iv. 2:
He bids him live and grow in fameAmong the stars he sticks his name.—Wakefield.
He bids him live and grow in fameAmong the stars he sticks his name.—Wakefield.
He bids him live and grow in fameAmong the stars he sticks his name.—Wakefield.