THE RAPE OF THE LOCK AND OTHER POEMS BY ALEXANDER POPE EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY THOMAS MARC PARROTT, PH. D. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY THIS EDITION PUBLISHED 1906 PREFACE It has been the aim of the editor in preparing this little book to gettogether sufficient material to afford a student in one of our highschools or colleges adequate and typical specimens of the vigorous andversatile genius of Alexander Pope. With this purpose he has included inaddition to 'The Rape of the Lock', the 'Essay on Criticism' asfurnishing the standard by which Pope himself expected his work to bejudged, the 'First Epistle' of the 'Essay on Man' as a characteristicexample of his didactic poetry, and the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot', both forits exhibition of Pope's genius as a satirist and for the picture itgives of the poet himself. To these are added the famous close of the'Dunciad', the 'Ode to Solitude', a specimen of Pope's infrequent lyricnote, and the 'Epitaph on Gay'. The first edition of 'The Rape of the Lock' has been given as anappendix in order that the student may have the opportunity of comparingthe two forms of this poem, and of realizing the admirable art withwhich Pope blended old and new in the version that is now the only oneknown to the average reader. The text throughout is that of the GlobeEdition prepared by Professor A. W. Ward. The editor can lay no claim to originality in the notes with which hehas attempted to explain and illustrate these poems. He is indebted atevery step to the labors of earlier editors, particularly to Elwin, Courthope, Pattison, and Hales. If he has added anything of his own, ithas been in the way of defining certain words whose meaning orconnotation has changed since the time of Pope, and in paraphrasingcertain passages to bring out a meaning which has been partiallyobscured by the poet's effort after brevity and concision. In the general introduction the editor has aimed not so much to recitethe facts of Pope's life as to draw the portrait of a man whom hebelieves to have been too often misunderstood and misrepresented. Thespecial introductions to the various poems are intended to acquaint thestudent with the circumstances under which they were composed, to tracetheir literary genesis and relationships, and, whenever necessary, togive an outline of the train of thought which they embody. In conclusion the editor would express the hope that his labors in thepreparation of this book may help, if only in some slight degree, tostimulate the study of the work of a poet who, with all his limitations, remains one of the abiding glories of English literature, and maycontribute not less to a proper appreciation of a man who with all hisfaults was, on the evidence of those who knew him best, not only a greatpoet, but a very human and lovable personality. T. M. P. 'Princeton University', 'June' 4, 1906. * * * * * CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE RAPE OF THE LOCK AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM AN ESSAY ON MAN, EPISTLE I AN EPISTLE TO DR ARBUTHNOT ODE ON SOLITUDE THE DESCENT OF DULLNESS [FROM THE 'Dunciad', BOOK IV] EPITAPH ON GAY NOTES THE RAPE OF THE LOCK AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM AN ESSAY ON MAN (EPISTLE I) AN EPISTLE TO DR ARBUTHNOT SELECTIONS APPENDIX THE FIRST EDITION OF THE RAPE OF THE LOCK * * * * * INTRODUCTION Perhaps no other great poet in English Literature has been sodifferently judged at different times as Alexander Pope. Accepted almoston his first appearance as one of the leading poets of the day, herapidly became recognized as the foremost man of letters of his age. Heheld this position throughout his life, and for over half a centuryafter his death his works were considered not only as masterpieces, butas the finest models of poetry. With the change of poetic temper thatoccurred at the beginning of the nineteenth century Pope's fame wasovershadowed. The romantic poets and critics even raised the questionwhether Pope was a poet at all. And as his poetical fame diminished, theharsh judgments of his personal character increased. It is almostincredible with what exulting bitterness critics and editors of Popehave tracked out and exposed his petty intrigues, exaggerated hisdelinquencies, misrepresented his actions, attempted in short to blasthis character as a man. Both as a man and as a poet Pope is sadly in need of a defender to-day. And a defense is by no means impossible. The depreciation of Pope'spoetry springs, in the main, from an attempt to measure it by otherstandards than those which he and his age recognized. The attacks uponhis character are due, in large measure, to a misunderstanding of thespirit of the times in which he lived and to a forgetfulness of thespecial circumstances of his own life. Tried in a fair court byimpartial judges Pope as a poet would be awarded a place, if not amongthe noblest singers, at least high among poets of the second order. Andthe flaws of character which even his warmest apologist must admit wouldon the one hand be explained, if not excused, by circumstances, and onthe other more than counterbalanced by the existence of noble qualitiesto which his assailants seem to have been quite blind. Alexander Pope was born in London on May 21, 1688. His father was aRoman Catholic linen draper, who had married a second time. Pope was theonly child of this marriage, and seems to have been a delicate, sweet-tempered, precocious, and, perhaps, a rather spoiled child. Pope's religion and his chronic ill-health are two facts of the highestimportance to be taken into consideration in any study of his life orjudgment of his character. The high hopes of the Catholics for arestoration of their religion had been totally destroyed by theRevolution of 1688. During all Pope's lifetime they were a sect at oncefeared, hated, and oppressed by the severest laws. They were excludedfrom the schools and universities, they were burdened with double taxes, and forbidden to acquire real estate. All public careers were closed tothem, and their property and even their persons were in times ofexcitement at the mercy of informers. In the last year of Pope's life aproclamation was issued forbidding Catholics to come within ten miles ofLondon, and Pope himself, in spite of his influential friends, thoughtit wise to comply with this edict. A fierce outburst of persecutionoften evokes in the persecuted some of the noblest qualities of humannature; but a long-continued and crushing tyranny that extends to allthe details of daily life is only too likely to have the mostunfortunate results on those who are subjected to it. And as a matter offact we find that the well-to-do Catholics of Pope's day lived in anatmosphere of disaffection, political intrigue, and evasion of the law, most unfavorable for the development of that frank, courageous, andpatriotic spirit for the lack of which Pope himself has so often beenmade the object of reproach. In a well-known passage of the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot', Pope has spokenof his life as one long disease. He was in fact a humpbacked dwarf, notover four feet six inches in height, with long, spider-like legs andarms. He was subject to violent headaches, and his face was lined andcontracted with the marks of suffering. In youth he so completely ruinedhis health by perpetual studies that his life was despaired of, and onlythe most careful treatment saved him from an early death. Toward theclose of his life he became so weak that he could neither dress norundress without assistance. He had to be laced up in stiff stays inorder to sit erect, and wore a fur doublet and three pairs of stockingsto protect himself against the cold. With these physical defects he hadthe extreme sensitiveness of mind that usually accompanies chronic illhealth, and this sensitiveness was outraged incessantly by the brutalcustoms of the age. Pope's enemies made as free with his person as withhis poetry, and there is little doubt that he felt the former attacksthe more bitterly of the two. Dennis, his first critic, called him "ashort squab gentleman, the very bow of the God of love; his outward formis downright monkey. " A rival poet whom he had offended hung up a rod ina coffee house where men of letters resorted, and threatened to whipPope like a naughty child if he showed his face there. It is said, though perhaps not on the best authority, that when Pope once forgothimself so far as to make love to Lady Mary Wortley Montague, the lady'sanswer was "a fit of immoderate laughter. " In an appendix to the'Dunciad' Pope collected some of the epithets with which his enemies hadpelted him, "an ape, " "an ass, " "a frog, " "a coward, " "a fool, " "alittle abject thing. " He affected, indeed, to despise his assailants, but there is only too good evidence that their poisoned arrows rankledin his heart. Richardson, the painter, found him one day reading thelatest abusive pamphlet. "These things are my diversion, " said the poet, striving to put the best face on it; but as he read, his friends saw hisfeatures "writhen with anguish, " and prayed to be delivered from allsuch "diversions" as these. Pope's enemies and their savage abuse aremostly forgotten to-day. Pope's furious retorts have been secured toimmortality by his genius. It would have been nobler, no doubt, to haveanswered by silence only; but before one condemns Pope it is only fairto realize the causes of his bitterness. Pope's education was short and irregular. He was taught the rudiments ofLatin and Greek by his family priest, attended for a brief period aschool in the country and another in London, and at the early age oftwelve left school altogether, and settling down at his father's housein the country began to read to his heart's delight. He roamed throughthe classic poets, translating passages that pleased him, went up for atime to London to get lessons in French and Italian, and above all readwith eagerness and attention the works of older English poets, --Spenser, Waller, and Dryden. He had already, it would seem, determined to becomea poet, and his father, delighted with the clever boy's talent, used toset him topics, force him to correct his verses over and over, andfinally, when satisfied, dismiss him with the praise, "These are goodrhymes. " He wrote a comedy, a tragedy, an epic poem, all of which heafterward destroyed and, as he laughingly confessed in later years, hethought himself "the greatest genius that ever was. " Pope was not alone, however, in holding a high opinion of his talents. While still a boy in his teens he was taken up and patronized by anumber of gentlemen, Trumbull, Walsh, and Cromwell, all dabblers inpoetry and criticism. He was introduced to the dramatist Wycherly, nearly fifty years his senior, and helped to polish some of the oldman's verses. His own works were passed about in manuscript from hand tohand till one of them came to the eyes of Dryden's old publisher, Tonson. Tonson wrote Pope a respectful letter asking for the honor ofbeing allowed to publish them. One may fancy the delight with which thesixteen-year-old boy received this offer. It is a proof of Pope'spatience as well as his precocity that he delayed three years beforeaccepting it. It was not till 1709 that his first published verses, the'Pastorals', a fragment translated from Homer, and a modernized versionof one of the 'Canterbury Tales', appeared in Tonson's 'Miscellany'. With the publication of the 'Pastorals', Pope embarked upon his life asa man of letters. They seem to have brought him a certain recognition, but hardly fame. That he obtained by his next poem, the 'Essay onCriticism', which appeared in 1711. It was applauded in the 'Spectator', and Pope seems about this time to have made the acquaintance of Addisonand the little senate which met in Button's coffee house. His poem the'Messiah' appeared in the 'Spectator' in May 1712; the first draft of'The Rape of the Lock' in a poetical miscellany in the same year, andAddison's request, in 1713, that he compose a prologue for the tragedyof 'Cato' set the final stamp upon his rank as a poet. Pope's friendly relations with Addison and his circle were not, however, long continued. In the year 1713 he gradually drew away from them andcame under the influence of Swift, then at the height of his power inpolitical and social life. Swift introduced him to the brilliant Tories, politicians and lovers of letters, Harley, Bolingbroke, and Atterbury, who were then at the head of affairs. Pope's new friends seem to havetreated him with a deference which he had never experienced before, andwhich bound him to them in unbroken affection. Harley used to regretthat Pope's religion rendered him legally incapable of holding asinecure office in the government, such as was frequently bestowed inthose days upon men of letters, and Swift jestingly offered the youngpoet twenty guineas to become a Protestant. But now, as later, Pope wasfirmly resolved not to abandon the faith of his parents for the sake ofworldly advantage. And in order to secure the independence he valued sohighly he resolved to embark upon the great work of his life, thetranslation of Homer. "What led me into that, " he told a friend long after, "was purely thewant of money. I had then none; not even to buy books. " It seems thatabout this time, 1713, Pope's father had experienced some heavyfinancial losses, and the poet, whose receipts in money had so far beenby no means in proportion to the reputation his works had brought him, now resolved to use that reputation as a means of securing from thepublic a sum which would at least keep him for life from poverty or thenecessity of begging for patronage. It is worth noting that Pope was thefirst Englishman of letters who threw himself thus boldly upon thepublic and earned his living by his pen. The arrangements for the publication and sale of Pope's translation ofHomer were made with care and pushed on with enthusiasm. He issued in1713 his proposals for an edition to be published by subscription, andhis friends at once became enthusiastic canvassers. We have acharacteristic picture of Swift at this time, bustling about a crowdedante-chamber, and informing the company that the best poet in Englandwas Mr. Pope (a Papist) who had begun a translation of Homer for whichthey must all subscribe, "for, " says he, "the author shall not begin toprint till I have a thousand guineas for him. " The work was to be in sixvolumes, each costing a guinea. Pope obtained 575 subscribers, many ofwhom took more than one set. Lintot, the publisher, gave Pope £1200 forthe work and agreed to supply the subscription copies free of charge. Asa result Pope made something between £5000 and £6000, a sum absolutelyunprecedented in the history of English literature, and amply sufficientto make him independent for life. But the sum was honestly earned by hard and wearisome work. Pope was noGreek scholar; it is said, indeed, that he was just able to make out thesense of the original with a translation. And in addition to the fifteenthousand lines of the 'Iliad', he had engaged to furnish an introductionand notes. At first the magnitude of the undertaking frightened him. "What terrible moments, " he said to Spence, "does one feel after one hasengaged for a large work. In the beginning of my translating the'Iliad', I wished anybody would hang me a hundred times. It sat soheavily on my mind at first that I often used to dream of it and dosometimes still. " In spite of his discouragement, however, and of theill health which so constantly beset him, Pope fell gallantly upon histask, and as time went on came almost to enjoy it. He used to translatethirty or forty verses in the morning before rising and, in his owncharacteristic phrase, "piddled over them for the rest of the day. " Heused every assistance possible, drew freely upon the scholarship offriends, corrected and recorrected with a view to obtaining clearnessand point, and finally succeeded in producing a version which not onlysatisfied his own critical judgment, but was at once accepted by theEnglish-speaking world as the standard translation of Homer. The first volume came out in June, 1715, and to Pope's dismay and wratha rival translation appeared almost simultaneously. Tickell, one ofAddison's "little senate, " had also begun a translation of the 'Iliad', and although he announced in the preface that he intended to withdraw infavor of Pope and take up a translation of the 'Odyssey', the poet'ssuspicions were at once aroused. And they were quickly fanned into aflame by the gossip of the town which reported that Addison, therecognized authority in literary criticism, pronounced Tickell's version"the best that ever was in any language. " Rumor went so far, in fact, asto hint pretty broadly that Addison himself was the author, in part, atleast, of Tickell's book; and Pope, who had been encouraged by Addisonto begin his long task, felt at once that he had been betrayed. Hisresentment was all the more bitter since he fancied that Addison, now atthe height of his power and prosperity in the world of letters and ofpolitics, had attempted to ruin an enterprise on which the younger manhad set all his hopes of success and independence, for no better reasonthan literary jealousy and political estrangement. We know now that Popewas mistaken, but there was beyond question some reason at the time forhis thinking as he did, and it is to the bitterness which this incidentcaused in his mind that we owe the famous satiric portrait of Addison asAtticus. The last volume of the 'Iliad' appeared in the spring of 1720, and in itPope gave a renewed proof of his independence by dedicating the wholework, not to some lord who would have rewarded him with a handsomepresent, but to his old acquaintance, Congreve, the last survivor of thebrilliant comic dramatists of Dryden's day. And now resting for a timefrom his long labors, Pope turned to the adornment and cultivation ofthe little house and garden that he had leased at Twickenham. Pope's father had died in 1717, and the poet, rejecting politely butfirmly the suggestion of his friend, Atterbury, that he might now turnProtestant, devoted himself with double tenderness to the care of hisaged and infirm mother. He brought her with him to Twickenham, where shelived till 1733, dying in that year at the great age of ninety-one. Itmay have been partly on her account that Pope pitched upon Twickenham ashis abiding place. Beautifully situated on the banks of the Thames, itwas at once a quiet country place and yet of easy access to London, toHampton Court, or to Kew. The five acres of land that lay about thehouse furnished Pope with inexhaustible entertainment for the rest ofhis life. He "twisted and twirled and harmonized" his bit of ground"till it appeared two or three sweet little lawns opening and openingbeyond one another, the whole surrounded by impenetrable woods. "Following the taste of his times in landscape gardening, he adorned hislawns with artificial mounds, a shell temple, an obelisk, and acolonnade. But the crowning glory was the grotto, a tunnel decoratedfantastically with shells and bits of looking-glass, which Pope dugunder a road that ran through his grounds. Here Pope received in state, and his house and garden was for years the center of the most brilliantsociety in England. Here Swift came on his rare visits from Ireland, andBolingbroke on his return from exile. Arbuthnot, Pope's belovedphysician, was a frequent visitor, and Peterborough, one of the mostdistinguished of English soldiers, condescended to help lay out thegarden. Congreve came too, at times, and Gay, the laziest and mostgood-natured of poets. Nor was the society of women lacking at thesegatherings. Lady Mary Wortley Montague, the wittiest woman in England, was often there, until her bitter quarrel with the poet; the grim oldDuchess of Marlborough appeared once or twice in Pope's last years; andthe Princess of Wales came with her husband to inspire the leaders ofthe opposition to the hated Walpole and the miserly king. And from firstto last, the good angel of the place was the blue-eyed, sweet-temperedPatty Blount, Pope's best and dearest friend. Not long after the completion of the 'Iliad', Pope undertook to editShakespeare, and completed the work in 1724. The edition is, of course, quite superseded now, but it has its place in the history ofShakespearean studies as the first that made an effort, though irregularand incomplete, to restore the true text by collation and conjecture. Ithas its place, too, in the story of Pope's life, since the bittercriticism which it received, all the more unpleasant to the poet sinceit was in the main true, was one of the principal causes of his writingthe 'Dunciad'. Between the publication of his edition of Shakespeare, however, and the appearance of the 'Dunciad', Pope resolved to completehis translation of Homer, and with the assistance of a pair of friends, got out a version of the Odyssey in 1725. Like the 'Iliad', this waspublished by subscription, and as in the former case the greatest men inEngland were eager to show their appreciation of the poet by filling uphis lists. Sir Robert Walpole, the great Whig statesman, took tencopies, and Harley, the fallen Tory leader, put himself, his wife, andhis daughter down for sixteen. Pope made, it is said, about £3700 bythis work. In 1726, Swift visited Pope and encouraged him to complete a satirewhich he seems already to have begun on the dull critics and hackwriters of the day. For one cause or another its publication wasdeferred until 1728, when it appeared under the title of the 'Dunciad'. Here Pope declared open war upon his enemies. All those who had attackedhis works, abused his character, or scoffed at his personal deformities, were caricatured as ridiculous and sometimes disgusting figures in amock epic poem celebrating the accession of a new monarch to the throneof Dullness. The 'Dunciad' is little read to-day except by professedstudents of English letters, but it made, naturally enough, a great stirat the time and vastly provoked the wrath of all the dunces whose namesit dragged to light. Pope has often been blamed for stooping to suchignoble combat, and in particular for the coarseness of his abuse, andfor his bitter jests upon the poverty of his opponents. But it must beremembered that no living writer had been so scandalously abused asPope, and no writer that ever lived was by nature so quick to feel andto resent insult. The undoubted coarseness of the work is in part due tothe gross license of the times in speech and writing, and moreparticularly to the influence of Swift, at this time predominant overPope. And in regard to Pope's trick of taunting his enemies withpoverty, it must frankly be confessed that he seized upon this charge asa ready and telling weapon. Pope was at heart one of the most charitableof men. In the days of his prosperity he is said to have given away oneeighth of his income. And he was always quick to succor merit indistress; he pensioned the poet Savage and he tried to secure patronagefor Johnson. But for the wretched hack writers of the common press whohad barked against him he had no mercy, and he struck them with thefirst rod that lay ready to his hands. During his work on the 'Dunciad', Pope came into intimate relations withBolingbroke, who in 1725 had returned from his long exile in France andhad settled at Dawley within easy reach of Pope's villa at Twickenham. Bolingbroke was beyond doubt one of the most brilliant and stimulatingminds of his age. Without depth of intellect or solidity of character, he was at once a philosopher, a statesman, a scholar, and a fascinatingtalker. Pope, who had already made his acquaintance, was delighted torenew and improve their intimacy, and soon came wholly under theinfluence of his splendid friend. It is hardly too much to say that allthe rest of Pope's work is directly traceable to Bolingbroke. The 'Essayon Man' was built up on the precepts of Bolingbroke's philosophy; the'Imitations of Horace' were undertaken at Bolingbroke's suggestion; andthe whole tone of Pope's political and social satire during the yearsfrom 1731 to 1738 reflects the spirit of that opposition to theadministration of Walpole and to the growing influence of the commercialclass, which was at once inspired and directed by Bolingbroke. And yetit is exactly in the work of this period that we find the best and withperhaps one exception, the 'Essay on Man', the most original, work ofPope. He has obtained an absolute command over his instrument ofexpression. In his hands the heroic couplet sings, and laughs, andchats, and thunders. He has turned from the ignoble warfare with thedunces to satirize courtly frivolity and wickedness in high places. Andmost important of all to the student of Pope, it is in these last worksthat his personality is most clearly revealed. It has been well saidthat the best introduction to the study of Pope, the man, is to get the'Epistle to Arbuthnot' by heart. Pope gradually persuaded himself that all the works of these years, the'Essay on Man', the 'Satires, Epistles', and 'Moral Essays', were butparts of one stupendous whole. He told Spence in the last years of hislife: "I had once thought of completing my ethic work in fourbooks. --The first, you know, is on the Nature of Man [the 'Essay onMan']; the second would have been on knowledge and its limits--herewould have come in an Essay on Education, part of which I have insertedin the 'Dunciad' ['i. E. ' in the Fourth Book, published in 1742]. Thethird was to have treated of Government, both ecclesiastical andcivil--and this was what chiefly stopped my going on. I could not havesaid what 'I would' have said without provoking every church on the faceof the earth; and I did not care for living always in boilingwater. --This part would have come into my 'Brutus' [an epic poem whichPope never completed], which is planned already. The fourth would havebeen on Morality; in eight or nine of the most concerning branches ofit. " It is difficult, if not impossible, to believe that Pope with hisirregular methods of work and illogical habit of thought had planned sovast and elaborate a system before he began its execution. It is farmore likely that he followed his old method of composing on theinspiration of the moment, and produced the works in question withlittle thought of their relation or interdependence. But in the lastyears of his life, when he had made the acquaintance of Warburton, andwas engaged in reviewing and perfecting the works of this period, henoticed their general similarity in form and spirit, and, possibly underWarburton's influence, conceived the notion of combining andsupplementing them to form that "Greater Essay on Man" of which he spoketo Spence, and of which Warburton himself has given us a detailedaccount. Warburton, a wide-read, pompous, and polemical clergyman, had introducedhimself to the notice of Pope by a defense of the philosophical andreligious principles of the 'Essay on Man'. In spite of the influence ofthe free-thinking Bolingbroke, Pope still remained a member of theCatholic church and sincerely believed himself to be an orthodox, thoughliberal, Christian, and he had, in consequence, been greatlydisconcerted by a criticism of his poem published in Switzerland andlately translated into English. Its author, Pierre de Crousaz, maintained, and with a considerable degree of truth, that the principlesof Pope's poem if pushed to their logical conclusion were destructive toreligion and would rank their author rather among atheists thandefenders of the faith. The very word "atheist" was at that daysufficient to put the man to whom it was applied beyond the pale ofpolite society, and Pope, who quite lacked the ability to refute inlogical argument the attack of de Crousaz, was proportionately delightedwhen Warburton came forward in his defense, and in a series of lettersasserted that Pope's whole intention was to vindicate the ways of God toman, and that de Crousaz had mistaken his purpose and misunderstood hislanguage. Pope's gratitude to his defender knew no bounds; he declaredthat Warburton understood the 'Essay' better than he did himself; hepronounced him the greatest critic he ever knew, secured an introductionto him, introduced him to his own rich and influential friends, in shortmade the man's fortune for him outright. When the University of Oxfordhesitated to give Warburton, who had never attended a university, thedegree of D. D. , Pope declined to accept the degree of D. C. L. Which hadbeen offered him at the same time, and wrote the Fourth Book of the'Dunciad' to satirize the stupidity of the university authorities. Inconjunction with Warburton he proceeded further to revise the wholepoem, for which his new friend wrote notes and a ponderous introduction, and made the capital mistake of substituting the frivolous, but clever, Colley Gibber, with whom he had recently become embroiled, for his oldenemy, Theobald, as the hero. And the last year of his life was spent ingetting out new editions of his poems accompanied by elaboratecommentaries from the pen of Warburton. In the spring of 1744, it was evident that Pope was failing fast. Inaddition to his other ailments he was now attacked by an asthmaticaldropsy, which no efforts of his physicians could remove. Yet hecontinued to work almost to the last, and distributed copies of his'Ethic Epistles' to his friends about three weeks before his death, withthe smiling remark that like the dying Socrates he was dispensing hismorality among his friends. His mind began to wander; he complained thathe saw all things as through a curtain, and told Spence once "with asmile of great pleasure and with the greatest softness" that he had seena vision. His friends were devoted in their attendance. Bolingbroke satweeping by his chair, and on Spence's remarking how Pope with everyrally was always saying something kindly of his friends, replied: "Inever in my life knew a man that had so tender a heart for hisparticular friends, or a more general friendship for mankind. I haveknown him these thirty years; and value myself more for that man's lovethan"--here his head dropped and his voice broke in tears. It wasnoticed that whenever Patty Blount came into the room, the dying flameof life flashed up in a momentary glow. At the very end a friendreminded Pope that as a professed Catholic he ought to send for apriest. The dying man replied that he did not believe it essential, butthanked him for the suggestion. When the priest appeared, Pope attemptedto rise from his bed that he might receive the sacrament kneeling, andthe priest came out from the sick room "penetrated to the last degreewith the state of mind in which he found his penitent, resigned andwrapt up in the love of God and man. " The hope that sustained Pope tothe end was that of immortality. "I am so certain of the soul's beingimmortal, " he whispered, almost with his last breath, "that I seem tofeel it within me, as it were by intuition. " He died on the evening ofMay 30, so quietly that his friends hardly knew that the end had come. He was buried in Twickenham Church, near the monument he had erected tohis parents, and his coffin was carried to the grave by six of thepoorest men of the parish. It is plain even from so slight a sketch as this that the commonconception of Pope as "the wicked wasp of Twickenham, " a bitter, jealous, and malignant spirit, is utterly out of accord with the factsof his life. Pope's faults of character lie on the surface, and the mostperceptible is that which has done him most harm in the eyes ofEnglish-speaking men. He was by nature, perhaps by training also, untruthful. If he seldom stooped to an outright lie, he never hesitatedto equivocate; and students of his life have found that it is seldompossible to take his word on any point where his own works or interestswere concerned. I have already (p. X) attempted to point out theprobable cause of this defect; and it is, moreover, worth while toremark that Pope's manifold intrigues and evasions were mainly of thedefensive order. He plotted and quibbled not so much to injure others asto protect himself. To charge Pope with treachery to his friends, as hassometimes been done, is wholly to misunderstand his character. Another flaw, one can hardly call it a vice, in Pope's character was hisconstant practice of considering everything that came in his way ascopy. It was this which led him to reclaim his early letters from hisfriends, to alter, rewrite, and redate them, utterly unconscious of thetrouble which he was preparing for his future biographers. The letters, he thought, were good reading but not so good as he could make them, andhe set to work to improve them with all an artist's zeal, and without atrace of a historian's care for facts. It was this which led him toembody in his description of a rich fool's splendid house and parkcertain unmistakable traces of a living nobleman's estate and to startin genuine amazement and regret when the world insisted on identifyingthe nobleman and the fool. And when Pope had once done a good piece ofwork, he had all an artist's reluctance to destroy it. He kept bits ofverse by him for years and inserted them into appropriate places in hispoems. This habit it was that brought about perhaps the gravest chargethat has ever been made against Pope, that of accepting £1000 tosuppress a satiric portrait of the old Duchess of Marlborough, and yetof publishing it in a revision of a poem that he was engaged on justbefore his death. The truth seems to be that Pope had drawn thisportrait in days when he was at bitter enmity with the Duchess, andafter the reconcilement that took place, unwilling to suppress itentirely, had worked it over, and added passages out of keeping with thefirst design, but pointing to another lady with whom he was now at odds. Pope's behavior, we must admit, was not altogether creditable, but itwas that of an artist reluctant to throw away good work, not that of aruffian who stabs a woman he has taken money to spare. Finally Pope was throughout his life, and notably in his later years, the victim of an irritable temper and a quick, abusive tongue. Hisirritability sprang in part, we may believe, from his physicalsufferings, even more, however, from the exquisitely sensitive heartwhich made him feel a coarse insult as others would a blow. And of thecoarseness of the insults that were heaped upon Pope no one except thecareful student of his life can have any conception. His genius, hismorals, his person, his parents, and his religion were overwhelmed inone indiscriminate flood of abuse. Too high spirited to submit tamely tothese attacks, too irritable to laugh at them, he struck back, and hisweapon was personal satire which cut like a whip and left a brand like ahot iron. And if at times, as in the case of Addison, Pope was mistakenin his object and assaulted one who was in no sense his enemy, the faultlies not so much in his alleged malice as in the unhappy state ofwarfare in which he lived. Over against the faults of Pope we may set more than one noblecharacteristic. The sensitive heart and impulsive temper that led him sooften into bitter warfare, made him also most susceptible to kindnessand quick to pity suffering. He was essentially of a tender and lovingnature, a devoted son, and a loyal friend, unwearied in acts of kindnessand generosity. His ruling passion, to use his own phrase, was adevotion to letters, and he determined as early and worked as diligentlyto make himself a poet as ever Milton did. His wretched body wasdominated by a high and eager mind, and he combined in an unparalleleddegree the fiery energy of the born poet with the tireless patience ofthe trained artist. But perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of Pope is his manlyindependence. In an age when almost without exception his fellow-writersstooped to accept a great man's patronage or sold their talents into theslavery of politics, Pope stood aloof from patron and from party. Herepeatedly declined offers of money that were made him, even when nocondition was attached. He refused to change his religion, though he wasfar from being a devout Catholic, in order to secure a comfortableplace. He relied upon his genius alone for his support, and his geniusgave him all that he asked, a modest competency. His relations with hisrich and powerful friends were marked by the same independent spirit. Henever cringed or flattered, but met them on even terms, and raisedhimself by merit alone from his position as the unknown son of an humbleshopkeeper to be the friend and associate of the greatest fortunes andmost powerful minds in England. It is not too much to say that thecareer of a man of letters as we know it to-day, a career at oncehonorable and independent, takes its rise from the life and work ofAlexander Pope. The long controversies that have raged about Pope's rank as a poet seemat last to be drawing to a close; and it has become possible to strike abalance between the exaggerated praise of his contemporaries and thereckless depreciation of romantic critics. That he is not a poet of thefirst order is plain, if for no other reason than that he never produceda work in any of the greatest forms of poetry. The drama, the epic, thelyric, were all outside his range. On the other hand, unless adefinition of poetry be framed--and Dr. Johnson has well remarked that"to circumscribe poetry by a definition will only show the narrowness ofthe definer"--which shall exclude all gnomic and satiric verse, and sodebar the claims of Hesiod, Juvenal, and Boileau, it is impossible todeny that Pope is a true poet. Certain qualities of the highest poetPope no doubt lacked, lofty imagination, intense passion, wide humansympathy. But within the narrow field which he marked out for his own heapproaches perfection as nearly as any English poet, and Pope's meritconsists not merely in the smoothness of his verse or the polish ofseparate epigrams, as is so often stated, but quite as much in the vigorof his conceptions and the unity and careful proportion of each poem asa whole. It is not too much to say that 'The Rape of the Lock' is one ofthe best-planned poems in any language. It is as symmetrical andexquisitely finished as a Grecian temple. Historically Pope represents the fullest embodiment of that spirit whichbegan to appear in English literature about the middle of theseventeenth century, and which we are accustomed to call the "classical"spirit. In essence this movement was a protest against the irregularityand individual license of earlier poets. Instead of far-fetched wit andfanciful diction, the classical school erected the standards of commonsense in conception and directness in expression. And in so doing theyrestored poetry which had become the diversion of the few to thepossession of the many. Pope, for example, is preeminently the poet ofhis time. He dealt with topics that were of general interest to thesociety in which he lived; he pictured life as he saw it about him. Andthis accounts for his prompt and general acceptance by the world of hisday. For the student of English literature Pope's work has a threefold value. It represents the highest achievement of one of the great movements inthe developments of English verse. It reflects with unerring accuracythe life and thought of his time--not merely the outward life of beauand belle in the days of Queen Anne, but the ideals of the age in art, philosophy, and politics. And finally it teaches as hardly any otherbody of English verse can be said to do, the perennial value ofconscious and controlling art. Pope's work lives and will live whileEnglish poetry is read, not because of its inspiration, imagination, ordepth of thought, but by its unity of design, vigor of expression, andperfection of finish--by those qualities, in short, which show the poetas an artist in verse. CHIEF DATES IN POPE'S LIFE 1688 Born, May 21. 1700 Moves to Binfield. 1709 'Pastorals'. 1711 'Essay on Criticism'. 1711-12 Contributes to 'Spectator'. 1712 'Rape of the Lock', first form. 1713 'Windsor Forest'. 1713 Issues proposals for translation of Homer. 1714 'Rape of the Lock', second form. 1715 First volume of the 'Iliad'. 1715 'Temple of Fame'. 1717 Pope's father dies. 1717 'Works', including some new poems. 1719 Settles at Twickenham. 1720 Sixth and last volume of the 'Iliad'. 1722 Begins translation of 'Odyssey'. 1725 Edits Shakespeare. 1726 Finishes translation of 'Odyssey'. 1727-8 'Miscellanies' by Pope and Swift. 1728-9 'Dunciad'. 1731-2 'Moral Essays': 'Of Taste', 'Of the Use of Riches'. 1733-4 'Essay on Man'. 1733-8 'Satires and Epistles'. 1735 'Works'. 1735 'Letters' published by Curll. 1741 'Works in Prose'; vol. II. Includes the correspondence with Swift. 1742 Fourth book of 'Dunciad'. 1742 Revised 'Dunciad'. 1744 Died, May 30. 1751 First collected edition, published by Warburton, 9 vols. * * * * * SELECTIONS FROM POPE * * * * * THE RAPE OF THE LOCK AN HEROI-COMICAL POEM Nolueram, Belinda, tuos violare capillos; Sed juvat, hoc precibus me tribuisse tuis. Mart, [Epigr, XII. 84. ] TO MRS. ARABELLA FERMOR MADAM, It will be in vain to deny that I have some regard for this piece, sinceI dedicate it to You. Yet you may bear me witness, it was intended onlyto divert a few young Ladies, who have good sense and good humour enoughto laugh not only at their sex's little unguarded follies, but at theirown. But as it was communicated with the air of a Secret, it soon foundits way into the world. An imperfect copy having been offer'd to aBookseller, you had the good-nature for my sake to consent to thepublication of one more correct: This I was forc'd to, before I hadexecuted half my design, for the Machinery was entirely wanting tocompleat it. The Machinery, Madam, is a term invented by the Critics, to signify thatpart which the Deities, Angels, or Dæmons are made to act in a Poem:For the ancient Poets are in one respect like many modern Ladies: let anaction be never so trivial in itself, they always make it appear of theutmost importance. These Machines I determined to raise on a very newand odd foundation, the Rosicrucian doctrine of Spirits. I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a Lady;but't is so much the concern of a Poet to have his works understood, andparticularly by your Sex, that you must give me leave to explain two orthree difficult terms. The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted with. The bestaccount I know of them is in a French book call'd 'Le Comte deGabalis', which both in its title and size is so like a Novel, thatmany of the Fair Sex have read it for one by mistake. According to theseGentlemen, the four Elements are inhabited by Spirits, which they callSylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, and Salamanders. The Gnomes or Dæmons of Earthdelight in mischief; but the Sylphs whose habitation is in the Air, arethe best-condition'd creatures imaginable. For they say, any mortals mayenjoy the most intimate familiarities with these gentle Spirits, upon acondition very easy to all true Adepts, an inviolate preservation ofChastity. As to the following Canto's, all the passages of them are as fabulous, as the Vision at the beginning, or the Transformation at the end;(except the loss of your Hair, which I always mention with reverence). The Human persons are as fictitious as the airy ones; and the characterof Belinda, as it is now manag'd, resembles you in nothing but inBeauty. If this Poem had as many Graces as there are in your Person, or in yourMind, yet I could never hope it should pass thro' the world half soUncensur'd as You have done. But let its fortune be what it will, mineis happy enough, to have given me this occasion of assuring you that Iam, with the truest esteem, Madam, Your most obedient, Humble Servant, A. Pope CANTO I What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I sing--This verse to CARYL, Muse! is due: This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view: Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, 5 If She inspire, and He approve my lays. Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel A well-bred Lord t' assault a gentle Belle? O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd, Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord? 10 In tasks so bold, can little men engage, And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty Rage? Sol thro' white curtains shot a tim'rous ray, And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day: Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake, 15 And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake: Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock'd the ground, And the press'd watch return'd a silver sound. Belinda still her downy pillow prest, Her guardian SYLPH prolong'd the balmy rest: 20 'Twas He had summon'd to her silent bed The morning-dream that hover'd o'er her head; A Youth more glitt'ring than a Birth-night Beau, (That ev'n in slumber caus'd her cheek to glow) Seem'd to her ear his winning lips to lay, 25 And thus in whispers said, or seem'd to say. Fairest of mortals, thou distinguish'd care Of thousand bright Inhabitants of Air! If e'er one vision touch. 'd thy infant thought, Of all the Nurse and all the Priest have taught; 30 Of airy Elves by moonlight shadows seen, The silver token, and the circled green, Or virgins visited by Angel-pow'rs, With golden crowns and wreaths of heav'nly flow'rs; Hear and believe! thy own importance know, 35 Nor bound thy narrow views to things below. Some secret truths, from learned pride conceal'd, To Maids alone and Children are reveal'd: What tho' no credit doubting Wits may give? The Fair and Innocent shall still believe. 40 Know, then, unnumber'd Spirits round thee fly, The light Militia of the lower sky: These, tho' unseen, are ever on the wing, Hang o'er the Box, and hover round the Ring. Think what an equipage thou hast in Air, 45 And view with scorn two Pages and a Chair. As now your own, our beings were of old, And once inclos'd in Woman's beauteous mould; Thence, by a soft transition, we repair From earthly Vehicles to these of air. 50 Think not, when Woman's transient breath is fled That all her vanities at once are dead; Succeeding vanities she still regards, And tho' she plays no more, o'erlooks the cards. Her joy in gilded Chariots, when alive, 55 And love of Ombre, after death survive. For when the Fair in all their pride expire, To their first Elements their Souls retire: The Sprites of fiery Termagants in Flame Mount up, and take a Salamander's name. 60 Soft yielding minds to Water glide away, And sip, with Nymphs, their elemental Tea. The graver Prude sinks downward to a Gnome, In search of mischief still on Earth to roam. The light Coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair, 65 And sport and flutter in the fields of Air. "Know further yet; whoever fair and chaste Rejects mankind, is by some Sylph embrac'd: For Spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease Assume what sexes and what shapes they please. 70 What guards the purity of melting Maids, In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades, Safe from the treach'rous friend, the daring spark, The glance by day, the whisper in the dark, When kind occasion prompts their warm desires, 75 When music softens, and when dancing fires? 'Tis but their Sylph, the wise Celestials know, Tho' Honour is the word with Men below. Some nymphs there are, too conscious of their face, For life predestin'd to the Gnomes' embrace. 80 These swell their prospects and exalt their pride, When offers are disdain'd, and love deny'd: Then gay Ideas crowd the vacant brain, While Peers, and Dukes, and all their sweeping train, And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear, 85 And in soft sounds, Your Grace salutes their ear. 'T is these that early taint the female soul, Instruct the eyes of young Coquettes to roll, Teach Infant-cheeks a bidden blush to know, And little hearts to flutter at a Beau. 90 Oft, when the world imagine women stray, The Sylphs thro' mystic mazes guide their way, Thro' all the giddy circle they pursue, And old impertinence expel by new. What tender maid but must a victim fall 95 To one man's treat, but for another's ball? When Florio speaks what virgin could withstand, If gentle Damon did not squeeze her hand? With varying vanities, from ev'ry part, They shift the moving Toyshop of their heart; 100 Where wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive, Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive. This erring mortals Levity may call; Oh blind to truth! the Sylphs contrive it all. Of these am I, who thy protection claim, 105 A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name. Late, as I rang'd the crystal wilds of air, In the clear Mirror of thy ruling Star I saw, alas! some dread event impend, Ere to the main this morning sun descend, 110 But heav'n reveals not what, or how, or where: Warn'd by the Sylph, oh pious maid, beware! This to disclose is all thy guardian can: Beware of all, but most beware of Man!" He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long, 115 Leap'd up, and wak'd his mistress with his tongue. 'T was then, Belinda, if report say true, Thy eyes first open'd on a Billet-doux; Wounds, Charms, and Ardors were no sooner read, But all the Vision vanish'd from thy head. 120 And now, unveil'd, the Toilet stands display'd, Each silver Vase in mystic order laid. First, rob'd in white, the Nymph intent adores, With head uncover'd, the Cosmetic pow'rs. A heav'nly image in the glass appears, 125 To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears; Th' inferior Priestess, at her altar's side, Trembling begins the sacred rites of Pride. Unnumber'd treasures ope at once, and here The various off'rings of the world appear; 130 From each she nicely culls with curious toil, And decks the Goddess with the glitt'ring spoil. This casket India's glowing gems unlocks, And all Arabia breathes from yonder box. The Tortoise here and Elephant unite, 135 Transformed to combs, the speckled, and the white. Here files of pins extend their shining rows, Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux. Now awful Beauty puts on all its arms; The fair each moment rises in her charms, 140 Repairs her smiles, awakens ev'ry grace, And calls forth all the wonders of her face; Sees by degrees a purer blush arise, And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes. The busy Sylphs surround their darling care, 145 These set the head, and those divide the hair, Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown: And Betty's prais'd for labours not her own. CANTO II Not with more glories, in th' etherial plain, The Sun first rises o'er the purpled main, Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams Launch'd on the bosom of the silver Thames. Fair Nymphs, and well-drest Youths around her shone. 5 But ev'ry eye was fix'd on her alone. On her white breast a sparkling Cross she wore, Which Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore. Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose, Quick as her eyes, and as unfix'd as those: 10 Favours to none, to all she smiles extends; Oft she rejects, but never once offends. Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, And, like the sun, they shine on all alike. Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride, 15 Might hide her faults, if Belles had faults to hide: If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all. This Nymph, to the destruction of mankind, Nourish'd two Locks, which graceful hung behind 20 In equal curls, and well conspir'd to deck With shining ringlets the smooth iv'ry neck. Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, And mighty hearts are held in slender chains. With hairy springes we the birds betray, 25 Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey, Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair. Th' advent'rous Baron the bright locks admir'd; He saw, he wish'd, and to the prize aspir'd. 30 Resolv'd to win, he meditates the way, By force to ravish, or by fraud betray; For when success a Lover's toil attends, Few ask, if fraud or force attain'd his ends. For this, ere Phoebus rose, he had implor'd 35 Propitious heav'n, and ev'ry pow'r ador'd, But chiefly Love--to Love an Altar built, Of twelve vast French Romances, neatly gilt. There lay three garters, half a pair of gloves; And all the trophies of his former loves; 40 With tender Billet-doux he lights the pyre, And breathes three am'rous sighs to raise the fire. Then prostrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes Soon to obtain, and long possess the prize: The pow'rs gave ear, and granted half his pray'r, 45 The rest, the winds dispers'd in empty air. But now secure the painted vessel glides, The sun-beams trembling on the floating tides: While melting music steals upon the sky, And soften'd sounds along the waters die; 50 Smooth flow the waves, the Zephyrs gently play, Belinda smil'd, and all the world was gay. All but the Sylph--with careful thoughts opprest, Th' impending woe sat heavy on his breast. He summons strait his Denizens of air; 55 The lucid squadrons round the sails repair: Soft o'er the shrouds aërial whispers breathe, That seem'd but Zephyrs to the train beneath. Some to the sun their insect-wings unfold, Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold; 60 Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight, Their fluid bodies half dissolv'd in light, Loose to the wind their airy garments flew, Thin glitt'ring textures of the filmy dew, Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies, 65 Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes, While ev'ry beam new transient colours flings, Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings. Amid the circle, on the gilded mast, Superior by the head, was Ariel plac'd; 70 His purple pinions op'ning to the sun, He rais'd his azure wand, and thus begun. Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear! Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons, hear! Ye know the spheres and various tasks assign'd 75 By laws eternal to th' aërial kind. Some in the fields of purest Æther play, And bask and whiten in the blaze of day. Some guide the course of wand'ring orbs on high, Or roll the planets thro' the boundless sky. 80 Some less refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night, Or suck the mists in grosser air below, Or dip their pinions in the painted bow, Or brew fierce tempests on the wintry main, 85 Or o'er the glebe distil the kindly rain. Others on earth o'er human race preside, Watch all their ways, and all their actions guide: Of these the chief the care of Nations own, And guard with Arms divine the British Throne. 90 Our humbler province is to tend the Fair, Not a less pleasing, tho' less glorious care; To save the powder from too rude a gale, Nor let th' imprison'd-essences exhale; To draw fresh colours from the vernal flow'rs; 95 To steal from rainbows e'er they drop in show'rs A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs, Assist their blushes, and inspire their airs; Nay oft, in dreams, invention we bestow, To change a Flounce, or add a Furbelow. 100 This day, black Omens threat the brightest Fair, That e'er deserv'd a watchful spirit's care; Some dire disaster, or by force, or slight; But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night. Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, 105 Or some frail China jar receive a flaw; Or stain her honour or her new brocade; Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade; Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball; Or whether Heav'n has doom'd that Shock must fall. 110 Haste, then, ye spirits! to your charge repair: The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care; The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign; And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine; Do thou, Crispissa, tend her fav'rite Lock; 115 Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock. To fifty chosen Sylphs, of special note, We trust th' important charge, the Petticoat: Oft have we known that seven-fold fence to fail, Tho' stiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale; 120 Form a strong line about the silver bound, And guard the wide circumference around. Whatever spirit, careless of his charge, His post neglects, or leaves the fair at large, Shall feel sharp vengeance soon o'ertake his sins, 125 Be stopp'd in vials, or transfix'd with pins; Or plung'd in lakes of bitter washes lie, Or wedg'd whole ages in a bodkin's eye: Gums and Pomatums shall his flight restrain, While clogg'd he beats his silken wings in vain; 130 Or Alum styptics with contracting pow'r Shrink his thin essence like a rivel'd flow'r: Or, as Ixion fix'd, the wretch shall feel The giddy motion of the whirling Mill, In fumes of burning Chocolate shall glow, 135 And tremble at the sea that froths below! He spoke; the spirits from the sails descend; Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend; Some thrid the mazy ringlets of her hair; Some hang upon the pendants of her ear: 140 With beating hearts the dire event they wait, Anxious, and trembling for the birth of Fate. CANTO III Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs, Where Thames with pride surveys his rising tow'rs, There stands a structure of majestic frame, Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name. Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom 5 Of foreign Tyrants and of Nymphs at home; Here thou, great ANNA! whom three realms obey. Dost sometimes counsel take--and sometimes Tea. Hither the heroes and the nymphs resort, To taste awhile the pleasures of a Court; 10 In various talk th' instructive hours they past, Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last; One speaks the glory of the British Queen, And one describes a charming Indian screen; A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes; 15 At ev'ry word a reputation dies. Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat, With singing, laughing, ogling, and _all that_. Mean while, declining from the noon of day, The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray; 20 The hungry Judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jury-men may dine; The merchant from th' Exchange returns in peace, And the long labours of the Toilet cease. Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites, 25 Burns to encounter two advent'rous Knights, At Ombre singly to decide their doom; And swells her breast with conquests yet to come. Straight the three bands prepare in arms to join, Each band the number of the sacred nine. 30 Soon as she spreads her hand, th' aërial guard Descend, and sit on each important card: First Ariel perch'd upon a Matadore, Then each, according to the rank they bore; For Sylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race, 35 Are, as when women, wondrous fond of place. Behold, four Kings in majesty rever'd, With hoary whiskers and a forky beard; And four fair Queens whose hands sustain a flow'r, Th' expressive emblem of their softer pow'r; 40 Four Knaves in garbs succinct, a trusty band, Caps on their heads, and halberts in their hand; And particolour'd troops, a shining train, Draw forth to combat on the velvet plain. The skilful Nymph reviews her force with care: 45 Let Spades be trumps! she said, and trumps they were. Now move to war her sable Matadores, In show like leaders of the swarthy Moors. Spadillio first, unconquerable Lord! Led off two captive trumps, and swept the board. 50 As many more Manillio forc'd to yield, And march'd a victor from the verdant field. Him Basto follow'd, but his fate more hard Gain'd but one trump and one Plebeian card. With his broad sabre next, a chief in years, 55 The hoary Majesty of Spades appears, Puts forth one manly leg, to sight reveal'd, The rest, his many-colour'd robe conceal'd. The rebel Knave, who dares his prince engage, Proves the just victim of his royal rage. 60 Ev'n mighty Pam, that Kings and Queens o'erthrew And mow'd down armies in the fights of Lu, Sad chance of war! now destitute of aid, Falls undistinguish'd by the victor spade! Thus far both armies to Belinda yield; 65 Now to the Baron fate inclines the field. His warlike Amazon her host invades, Th' imperial consort of the crown of Spades. The Club's black Tyrant first her victim dy'd, Spite of his haughty mien, and barb'rous pride: 70 What boots the regal circle on his head, His giant limbs, in state unwieldy spread; That long behind he trails his pompous robe, And, of all monarchs, only grasps the globe? The Baron now his Diamonds pours apace; 75 Th' embroider'd King who shows but half his face, And his refulgent Queen, with pow'rs combin'd Of broken troops an easy conquest find. Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild disorder seen, With throngs promiscuous strow the level green. 80 Thus when dispers'd a routed army runs, Of Asia's troops, and Afric's sable sons, With like confusion different nations fly, Of various habit, and of various dye, The pierc'd battalions dis-united fall, 85 In heaps on heaps; one fate o'erwhelms them all. The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts, And wins (oh shameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts. At this, the blood the virgin's cheek forsook, A livid paleness spreads o'er all her look; 90 She sees, and trembles at th' approaching ill, Just in the jaws of ruin, and Codille. And now (as oft in some distemper'd State) On one nice Trick depends the gen'ral fate. An Ace of Hearts steps forth: The King unseen 95 Lurk'd in her hand, and mourn'd his captive Queen: He springs to Vengeance with an eager pace, And falls like thunder on the prostrate Ace. The nymph exulting fills with shouts the sky; The walls, the woods, and long canals reply. 100 Oh thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate, Too soon dejected, and too soon elate. Sudden, these honours shall be snatch'd away, And curs'd for ever this victorious day. For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crown'd, 105 The berries crackle, and the mill turns round; On shining Altars of Japan they raise The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze: From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide, While China's earth receives the smoking tide: 110 At once they gratify their scent and taste, And frequent cups prolong the rich repast. Straight hover round the Fair her airy band; Some, as she sipp'd, the fuming liquor fann'd, Some o'er her lap their careful plumes display'd, 115 Trembling, and conscious of the rich brocade. Coffee, (which makes the politician wise, And see thro' all things with his half-shut eyes) Sent up in vapours to the Baron's brain New Stratagems, the radiant Lock to gain. 120 Ah cease, rash youth! desist ere't is too late, Fear the just Gods, and think of Scylla's Fate! Chang'd to a bird, and sent to flit in air, She dearly pays for Nisus' injur'd hair! But when to mischief mortals bend their will, 125 How soon they find fit instruments of ill! Just then, Clarissa drew with tempting grace A two-edg'd weapon from her shining case: So Ladies in Romance assist their Knight, Present the spear, and arm him for the fight. 130 He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends The little engine on his fingers' ends; This just behind Belinda's neck he spread, As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head. Swift to the Lock a thousand Sprites repair, 135 A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair; And thrice they twitch'd the diamond in her ear; Thrice she look'd back, and thrice the foe drew near. Just in that instant, anxious Ariel sought The close recesses of the Virgin's thought; 140 As on the nosegay in her breast reclin'd, He watch'd th' Ideas rising in her mind, Sudden he view'd, in spite of all her art, An earthly Lover lurking at her heart. Amaz'd, confus'd, he found his pow'r expir'd, 145 Resign'd to fate, and with a sigh retir'd. The Peer now spreads the glitt'ring Forfex wide, T' inclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide. Ev'n then, before the fatal engine clos'd, A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd; 150 Fate urg'd the shears, and cut the Sylph in twain, (But airy substance soon unites again) The meeting points the sacred hair dissever From the fair head, for ever, and for ever! Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes, 155 And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies. Not louder shrieks to pitying heav'n are cast, When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last; Or when rich China vessels fall'n from high, In glitt'ring dust and painted fragments lie! 160 Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine (The victor cry'd) the glorious Prize is mine! While fish in streams, or birds delight in air, Or in a coach and six the British Fair, As long as Atalantis shall be read, 165 Or the small pillow grace a Lady's bed, While visits shall be paid on solemn days, When num'rous wax-lights in bright order blaze, While nymphs take treats, or assignations give, So long my honour, name, and praise shall live! 170 What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date, And monuments, like men, submit to fate! Steel could the labour of the Gods destroy, And strike to dust th' imperial tow'rs of Troy; Steel could the works of mortal pride confound, 175 And hew triumphal arches to the ground. What wonder then, fair nymph! thy hairs should feel, The conqu'ring force of unresisted steel? CANTO IV But anxious cares the pensive nymph oppress'd, And secret passions labour'd in her breast. Not youthful kings in battle seiz'd alive, Not scornful virgins who their charms survive, Not ardent lovers robb'd of all their bliss, 5 Not ancient ladies when refus'd a kiss, Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die, Not Cynthia when her manteau's pinn'd awry, E'er felt such rage, resentment, and despair, As thou, sad Virgin! for thy ravish'd Hair. 10 For, that sad moment, when the Sylphs withdrew And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew, Umbriel, a dusky, melancholy sprite, As ever sully'd the fair face of light, Down to the central earth, his proper scene, 15 Repair'd to search the gloomy Cave of Spleen. Swift on his sooty pinions flits the Gnome, And in a vapour reach'd the dismal dome. No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows, The dreaded East is all the wind that blows. 20 Here in a grotto, shelter'd close from air, And screen'd in shades from day's detested glare, She sighs for ever on her pensive bed, Pain at her side, and Megrim at her head. Two handmaids wait the throne: alike in place, 25 But diff'ring far in figure and in face. Here stood Ill-nature like an ancient maid, Her wrinkled form in black and white array'd; With store of pray'rs, for mornings, nights, and noons, Her hand is fill'd; her bosom with lampoons. 30 There Affectation, with a sickly mien, Shows in her cheek the roses of eighteen, Practis'd to lisp, and hang the head aside. Faints into airs, and languishes with pride, On the rich quilt sinks with becoming woe, 35 Wrapt in a gown, for sickness, and for show. The fair ones feel such maladies as these, When each new night-dress gives a new disease. A constant Vapour o'er the palace flies; Strange phantoms rising as the mists arise; 40 Dreadful, as hermit's dreams in haunted shades, Or bright, as visions of expiring maids. Now glaring fiends, and snakes on rolling spires, Pale spectres, gaping tombs, and purple fires: Now lakes of liquid gold, Elysian scenes, 45 And crystal domes, and angels in machines. Unnumber'd throngs on every side are seen, Of bodies chang'd to various forms by Spleen. Here living Tea-pots stand, one arm held out, One bent; the handle this, and that the spout: 50 A Pipkin there, like Homer's Tripod walks; Here sighs a Jar, and there a Goose-pie talks; Men prove with child, as pow'rful fancy works, And maids turn'd bottles, call aloud for corks. Safe past the Gnome thro' this fantastic band, 55 A branch of healing Spleenwort in his hand. Then thus address'd the pow'r: "Hail, wayward Queen! Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen: Parent of vapours and of female wit, Who give th' hysteric, or poetic fit, 60 On various tempers act by various ways, Make some take physic, others scribble plays; Who cause the proud their visits to delay, And send the godly in a pet to pray. A nymph there is, that all thy pow'r disdains, 65 And thousands more in equal mirth maintains. But oh! if e'er thy Gnome could spoil a grace, Or raise a pimple on a beauteous face, Like Citron-waters matrons cheeks inflame, Or change complexions at a losing game; 70 If e'er with airy horns I planted heads, Or rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds, Or caus'd suspicion when no soul was rude, Or discompos'd the head-dress of a Prude, Or e'er to costive lap-dog gave disease, 75 Which not the tears of brightest eyes could ease: Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin, That single act gives half the world the spleen. " The Goddess with a discontented air Seems to reject him, tho' she grants his pray'r. 80 A wond'rous Bag with both her hands she binds, Like that where once Ulysses held the winds; There she collects the force of female lungs, Sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues. A Vial next she fills with fainting fears, 85 Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears. The Gnome rejoicing bears her gifts away, Spreads his black wings, and slowly mounts to day. Sunk in Thalestris' arms the nymph he found, Her eyes dejected and her hair unbound. 90 Full o'er their heads the swelling bag he rent, And all the Furies issu'd at the vent. Belinda burns with more than mortal ire, And fierce Thalestris fans the rising fire. "O wretched maid!" she spread her hands, and cry'd, 95 (While Hampton's echoes, "Wretched maid!" reply'd) "Was it for this you took such constant care The bodkin, comb, and essence to prepare? For this your locks in paper durance bound, For this with tort'ring irons wreath'd around? 100 For this with fillets strain'd your tender head, And bravely bore the double loads of lead? Gods! shall the ravisher display your hair, While the Fops envy, and the Ladies stare! Honour forbid! at whose unrivall'd shrine 105 Ease, pleasure, virtue, all our sex resign. Methinks already I your tears survey, Already hear the horrid things they say, Already see you a degraded toast, And all your honour in a whisper lost! 110 How shall I, then, your helpless fame defend? 'T will then be infamy to seem your friend! And shall this prize, th' inestimable prize, Expos'd thro' crystal to the gazing eyes, And heighten'd by the diamond's circling rays, 115 On that rapacious hand for ever blaze? Sooner shall grass in Hyde-park Circus grow, And wits take lodgings in the sound of Bow; Sooner let earth, air, sea, to Chaos fall, Men, monkeys, lap-dogs, parrots, perish all!" 120 She said; then raging to Sir Plume repairs, And bids her Beau demand the precious hairs; (Sir Plume of amber snuff-box justly vain, And the nice conduct of a clouded cane) With earnest eyes, and round unthinking face, 125 He first the snuff-box open'd, then the case, And thus broke out--"My Lord, why, what the devil? "Z--ds! damn the lock! 'fore Gad, you must be civil! Plague on't!'t is past a jest--nay prithee, pox! Give her the hair"--he spoke, and rapp'd his box. 130 "It grieves me much" (reply'd the Peer again) "Who speaks so well should ever speak in vain. But by this Lock, this sacred Lock I swear, (Which never more shall join its parted hair; Which never more its honours shall renew, 135 Clipp'd from the lovely head where late it grew) That while my nostrils draw the vital air, This hand, which won it, shall for ever wear. " He spoke, and speaking, in proud triumph spread The long-contended honours of her head. 140 But Umbriel, hateful Gnome! forbears not so; He breaks the Vial whence the sorrows flow. Then see! the nymph in beauteous grief appears, Her eyes half-languishing, half-drown'd in tears; On her heav'd bosom hung her drooping head, 145 Which, with a sigh, she rais'd; and thus she said. "For ever curs'd be this detested day, Which snatch'd my best, my fav'rite curl away! Happy! ah ten times happy had I been, If Hampton-Court these eyes had never seen! 150 Yet am not I the first mistaken maid, By love of Courts to num'rous ills betray'd. Oh had I rather un-admir'd remain'd In some lone isle, or distant Northern land; Where the gilt Chariot never marks the way, 155 Where none learn Ombre, none e'er taste Bohea! There kept my charms conceal'd from mortal eye, Like roses, that in deserts bloom and die. What mov'd my mind with youthful Lords to roam? Oh had I stay'd, and said my pray'rs at home! 160 'T was this, the morning omens seem'd to tell, Thrice from my trembling hand the patch-box fell; The tott'ring China shook without a wind. Nay, Poll sat mute, and Shock was most unkind! A Sylph too warn'd me of the threats of fate, 165 In mystic visions, now believ'd too late! See the poor remnants of these slighted hairs! My hands shall rend what ev'n thy rapine spares: These in two sable ringlets taught to break, Once gave new beauties to the snowy neck; 170 The sister-lock now sits uncouth, alone, And in its fellow's fate foresees its own; Uncurl'd it hangs, the fatal shears demands, And tempts once more thy sacrilegious hands. Oh hadst thou, cruel! been content to seize 175 Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these!" CANTO V She said: the pitying audience melt in tears. But Fate and Jove had stopp'd the Baron's ears. In vain Thalestris with reproach assails, For who can move when fair Belinda fails? Not half so fix'd the Trojan could remain, 5 While Anna begg'd and Dido rag'd in vain. Then grave Clarissa graceful wav'd her fan; Silence ensu'd, and thus the nymph began. "Say why are Beauties prais'd and honour'd most, The wise man's passion, and the vain man's toast? 10 Why deck'd with all that land and sea afford, Why Angels call'd, and Angel-like ador'd? Why round our coaches crowd the white-glov'd Beaux, Why bows the side-box from its inmost rows; How vain are all these glories, all our pains, 15 Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains: That men may say, when we the front-box grace: 'Behold the first in virtue as in face!' Oh! if to dance all night, and dress all day, Charm'd the small-pox, or chas'd old-age away; 20 Who would not scorn what housewife's cares produce, Or who would learn one earthly thing of use? To patch, nay ogle, might become a Saint, Nor could it sure be such a sin to paint. But since, alas! frail beauty must decay, 25 Curl'd or uncurl'd, since Locks will turn to grey; Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade, And she who scorns a man, must die a maid; What then remains but well our pow'r to use, And keep good-humour still whate'er we lose? 30 And trust me, dear! good-humour can prevail, When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail. Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul. " So spoke the Dame, but no applause ensu'd; 35 Belinda frown'd, Thalestris call'd her Prude. "To arms, to arms!" the fierce Virago cries, And swift as lightning to the combat flies. All side in parties, and begin th' attack; Fans clap, silks rustle, and tough whalebones crack; 40 Heroes' and Heroines' shouts confus'dly rise, And bass, and treble voices strike the skies. No common weapons in their hands are found, Like Gods they fight, nor dread a mortal wound. So when bold Homer makes the Gods engage, 45 And heav'nly breasts with human passions rage; 'Gainst Pallas, Mars; Latona, Hermes arms; And all Olympus rings with loud alarms: Jove's thunder roars, heav'n trembles all around, Blue Neptune storms, the bellowing deeps resound: 50 Earth shakes her nodding tow'rs, the ground gives way. And the pale ghosts start at the flash of day! Triumphant Umbriel on a sconce's height Clapp'd his glad wings, and sate to view the fight: Propp'd on the bodkin spears, the Sprites survey 55 The growing combat, or assist the fray. While thro' the press enrag'd Thalestris flies, And scatters death around from both her eyes, A Beau and Witling perish'd in the throng, One died in metaphor, and one in song. 60 "O cruel nymph! a living death I bear, " Cry'd Dapperwit, and sunk beside his chair. A mournful glance Sir Fopling upwards cast, "Those eyes are made so killing"--was his last. Thus on Mæander's flow'ry margin lies 65 Th' expiring Swan, and as he sings he dies. When bold Sir Plume had drawn Clarissa down, Chloe stepp'd in, and kill'd him with a frown; She smil'd to see the doughty hero slain, But, at her smile, the Beau reviv'd again. 70 Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air, Weighs the Men's wits against the Lady's hair; The doubtful beam long nods from side to side; At length the wits mount up, the hairs subside. See, fierce Belinda on the Baron flies, 75 With more than usual lightning in her eyes: Nor fear'd the Chief th' unequal fight to try, Who sought no more than on his foe to die. But this bold Lord with manly strength endu'd, She with one finger and a thumb subdu'd: 80 Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew, A charge of Snuff the wily virgin threw; The Gnomes direct, to ev'ry atom just, The pungent grains of titillating dust. Sudden, with starting tears each eye o'erflows, 85 And the high dome re-echoes to his nose. Now meet thy fate, incens'd Belinda cry'd, And drew a deadly bodkin from her side. (The same, his ancient personage to deck, Her great great grandsire wore about his neck, 90 In three seal-rings; which after, melted down, Form'd a vast buckle for his widow's gown: Her infant grandame's whistle next it grew, The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew; Then in a bodkin grac'd her mother's hairs, 95 Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears. ) "Boast not my fall" (he cry'd) "insulting foe! Thou by some other shalt be laid as low, Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind: All that I dread is leaving you behind! 100 Rather than so, ah let me still survive, And burn in Cupid's flames--but burn alive. " "Restore the Lock!" she cries; and all around "Restore the Lock!" the vaulted roofs rebound. Not fierce Othello in so loud a strain 105 Roar'd for the handkerchief that caus'd his pain. But see how oft ambitious aims are cross'd, And chiefs contend 'till all the prize is lost! The Lock, obtain'd with guilt, and kept with pain, In ev'ry place is sought, but sought in vain: 110 With such a prize no mortal must be blest, So heav'n decrees! with heav'n who can contest? Some thought it mounted to the Lunar sphere, Since all things lost on earth are treasur'd there. There Hero's wits are kept in pond'rous vases, 115 And beau's in snuff-boxes and tweezer-cases. There broken vows and death-bed alms are found, And lovers' hearts with ends of riband bound, The courtier's promises, and sick man's pray'rs, The smiles of harlots, and the tears of heirs, 120 Cages for gnats, and chains to yoke a flea, Dry'd butterflies, and tomes of casuistry. But trust the Muse--she saw it upward rise, Tho' mark'd by none but quick, poetic eyes: (So Rome's great founder to the heav'ns withdrew, 125 To Proculus alone confess'd in view) A sudden Star, it shot thro' liquid air, And drew behind a radiant trail of hair. Not Berenice's Locks first rose so bright, The heav'ns bespangling with dishevell'd light. 130 The Sylphs behold it kindling as it flies, And pleas'd pursue its progress thro' the skies. This the Beau monde shall from the Mall survey, And hail with music its propitious ray. This the blest Lover shall for Venus take, 135 And send up vows from Rosamonda's lake. This Partridge soon shall view in cloudless skies, When next he looks thro' Galileo's eyes; And hence th' egregious wizard shall foredoom The fate of Louis, and the fall of Rome. 140 Then cease, bright Nymph! to mourn thy ravish'd hair, Which adds new glory to the shining sphere! Not all the tresses that fair head can boast, Shall draw such envy as the Lock you lost. For, after all the murders of your eye, 145 When, after millions slain, yourself shall die: When those fair suns shall set, as set they must, And all those tresses shall be laid in dust, This Lock, the Muse shall consecrate to fame, And 'midst the stars inscribe Belinda's name. 150 * * * * * CONTENTS OF THE ESSAY ON CRITICISM PART I Introduction. That 'tis as great a fault to judge ill, as to writev. 1. Ill, and a more dangerous one to the public, v. 9 to 18 That a true Taste is as rare to be found, as a true Genius. v. 19 to 25 That most men are born with some Taste, but spoiled by false Education. v. 26 to 45 The multitude of Critics, and causes of them. v. 46 to 67. That we are to study our own Taste, and know the Limits of it. v. 68 to 87 Nature the best guide of Judgment. v. 88 Improv'd by Art and Rules, --which are but methodis'd Nature. v. Id, to 110 Rules derived from the Practice of the Ancient Poets. v. 120 to 138 That therefore the Ancients are necessary to be studyd, by a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil. v. 140 to 180 Of Licenses, and the use of them by the Ancients. v. 181, etc. Reverence due to the Ancients, and praise of them. PART II. Ver. 201, etc. Causes hindering a true Judgment, v. 208 1. Pride. V. 215 2. Imperfect Learning. v. 233 to 288 3. Judging by parts, and not by the whole. v. 288, 305, Critics in Wit, Language, Versification, only. 399, etc. v. 384 4. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire. v. 394 5. Partiality--too much Love to a Sect, --to the Ancients or Moderns. v. 408 6. Prejudice or Prevention. v. 424 7. Singularity. v. 430 8. Inconstancy. v. 452 etc. 9. Party Spirit. v. 466 10. Envy. v. 508, etc. Against Envy, and in praise of Good-nature. v. 526, etc. When Severity is chiefly to be used by Critics. PART III. Ver. 560, etc. v. 563 Rules for the Conduct of Manners in a Critic. v. 566 1. Candour, Modesty. v. 572 Good-breeding. v. 578 Sincerity, and Freedom of advice. v. 584 2. When one's Counsel is to be restrained. v. 600 Character of an incorrigible Poet. v. 610 And of an impertinent Critic, etc. v. 629 Character of a good Critic. v. 645. The History of Criticism, and Characters of the best Critics, Aristotle, v. 653 Horace, v. 665 Dionysius, v. 667 Petronius, v. 670 Quintilian, v. 675 Longinus. v. 693 Of the Decay of Criticism, and its Revival. Erasmus, v. 705 Vida, v. 714 Boileau, v. 725 Lord Roscommon, etc. Conclusion. AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM 'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill; But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' offence To tire our patience, than mislead our sense. Some few in that, but numbers err in this, 5 Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss; A fool might once himself alone expose, Now one in verse makes many more in prose. 'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own. 10 In Poets as true genius is but rare, True Taste as seldom is the Critic's share; Both must alike from Heav'n derive their light, These born to judge, as well as those to write. Let such teach others who themselves excel, 15 And censure freely who have written well. Authors are partial to their wit, 'tis true, But are not Critics to their judgment too? Yet if we look more closely, we shall find Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind: 20 Nature affords at least a glimm'ring light; The lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right. But as the slightest sketch, if justly trac'd, } Is by ill-colouring but the more disgrac'd, } So by false learning is good sense defac'd: } 25 Some are bewilder'd in the maze of schools, And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools. In search of wit these lose their common sense, And then turn Critics in their own defence: Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write, 30 Or with a Rival's, or an Eunuch's spite. All fools have still an itching to deride, And fain would be upon the laughing side. If Mævius scribble in Apollo's spite, There are who judge still worse than he can write. 35 Some have at first for Wits, then Poets past, Turn'd Critics next, and prov'd plain fools at last. Some neither can for Wits nor Critics pass, As heavy mules are neither horse nor ass. Those half-learn'd witlings, num'rous in our isle, 40 As half-form'd insects on the banks of Nile; Unfinish'd things, one knows not what to call, Their generation's so equivocal: To tell 'em, would a hundred tongues require, Or one vain wit's, that might a hundred tire. 45 But you who seek to give and merit fame, And justly bear a Critic's noble name, Be sure yourself and your own reach to know, How far your genius, taste, and learning go; Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet, 50 And mark that point where sense and dulness meet. Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit, And wisely curb'd proud man's pretending wit. As on the land while here the ocean gains, In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains; 55 Thus in the soul while memory prevails, The solid pow'r of understanding fails; Where beams of warm imagination play, The memory's soft figures melt away. One science only will one genius fit; 60 So vast is art, so narrow human wit: Not only bounded to peculiar arts, But oft in those confin'd to single parts. Like kings we lose the conquests gain'd before, By vain ambition still to make them more; 65 Each might his sev'ral province well command, Would all but stoop to what they understand. First follow Nature, and your judgment frame By her just standard, which is still the same: Unerring NATURE, still divinely bright, 70 One clear, unchang'd, and universal light, Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart, At once the source, and end, and test of Art. Art from that fund each just supply provides, Works without show, and without pomp presides: 75 In some fair body thus th' informing soul With spirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole, Each motion guides, and ev'ry nerve sustains; Itself unseen, but in th' effects, remains. Some, to whom Heav'n in wit has been profuse, 80 Want as much more, to turn it to its use; For wit and judgment often are at strife, Tho' meant each other's aid, like man and wife. 'T is more to guide, than spur the Muse's steed; Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed; 85 The winged courser, like a gen'rous horse, Shows most true mettle when you check his course. Those RULES of old discovered, not devis'd, Are Nature still, but Nature methodiz'd; Nature, like liberty, is but restrain'd 90 By the same laws which first herself ordain'd. Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites, When to repress, and when indulge our flights: High on Parnassus' top her sons she show'd, And pointed out those arduous paths they trod; 95 Held from afar, aloft, th' immortal prize, And urg'd the rest by equal steps to rise. Just precepts thus from great examples giv'n, She drew from them what they deriv'd from Heav'n. The gen'rous Critic fann'd the Poet's fire, 100 And taught the world with reason to admire. Then Criticism the Muse's handmaid prov'd, To dress her charms, and make her more belov'd: But following wits from that intention stray'd, Who could not win the mistress, woo'd the maid; 105 Against the Poets their own arms they turn'd, Sure to hate most the men from whom they learn'd. So modern 'Pothecaries, taught the art By Doctor's bills to play the Doctor's part, Bold in the practice of mistaken rules, 110 Prescribe, apply, and call their masters fools. Some on the leaves of ancient authors prey, Nor time nor moths e'er spoil'd so much as they. Some drily plain, without invention's aid, Write dull receipts how poems may be made. 115 These leave the sense, their learning to display, And those explain the meaning quite away. You then whose judgment the right course would steer, Know well each ANCIENT'S proper character; His fable, subject, scope in ev'ry page; 120 Religion, Country, genius of his Age: Without all these at once before your eyes, Cavil you may, but never criticize. Be Homer's works your study and delight, Read them by day, and meditate by night; 125 Thence form your judgment, thence your maxims bring, And trace the Muses upward to their spring. Still with itself compar'd, his text peruse; And let your comment be the Mantuan Muse. When first young Maro in his boundless mind 130 A work t' outlast immortal Rome design'd, Perhaps he seem'd above the critic's law, And but from Nature's fountains scorn'd to draw: But when t' examine ev'ry part he came, Nature and Homer were, he found, the same. 135 Convinc'd, amaz'd, he checks the bold design; And rules as strict his labour'd work confine, As if the Stagirite o'erlook'd each line. Learn hence for ancient rules a just esteem; To copy nature is to copy them. 140 Some beauties yet no Precepts can declare, For there's a happiness as well as care. Music resembles Poetry, in each Are nameless graces which no methods teach, And which a master-hand alone can reach. 145 If, where the rules not far enough extend, (Since rules were made but to promote their end) Some lucky Licence answer to the full Th' intent propos'd, that Licence is a rule. Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take, 150 May boldly deviate from the common track; From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part, And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art, Which without passing thro' the judgment, gains The heart, and all its end at once attains. 155 In prospects thus, some objects please our eyes, Which out of nature's common order rise, The shapeless rock, or hanging precipice. Great wits sometimes may gloriously offend, And rise to faults true Critics dare not mend. 160 But tho' the Ancients thus their rules invade, (As Kings dispense with laws themselves have made) Moderns, beware! or if you must offend Against the precept, ne'er transgress its End; Let it be seldom, and compell'd by need; 165 And have, at least, their precedent to plead. The Critic else proceeds without remorse, Seizes your fame, and puts his laws in force. I know there are, to whose presumptuous thoughts Those freer beauties, ev'n in them, seem faults. 170 Some figures monstrous and mis-shap'd appear, Consider'd singly, or beheld too near, Which, but proportion'd to their light, or place, Due distance reconciles to form and grace. A prudent chief not always must display 175 His pow'rs in equal ranks, and fair array. But with th' occasion and the place comply, Conceal his force, nay seem sometimes to fly. Those oft are stratagems which error seem, Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. 180 Still green with bays each ancient Altar stands, Above the reach of sacrilegious hands; Secure from Flames, from Envy's fiercer rage, Destructive War, and all-involving Age. See, from each clime the learn'd their incense bring! 185 Hear, in all tongues consenting Pæans ring! In praise so just let ev'ry voice be join'd, And fill the gen'ral chorus of mankind. Hail, Bards triumphant! born in happier days; Immortal heirs of universal praise! 190 Whose honours with increase of ages grow, As streams roll down, enlarging as they flow; Nations unborn your mighty names shall sound, And worlds applaud that must not yet be found! Oh may some spark of your celestial fire, 195 The last, the meanest of your sons inspire, (That on weak wings, from far, pursues your flights; Glows while he reads, but trembles as he writes) To teach vain Wits a science little known, T' admire superior sense, and doubt their own! 200 Of all the Causes which conspire to blind Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind, What the weak head with strongest bias rules, Is _Pride_, the never-failing voice of fools. Whatever nature has in worth denied, 205 She gives in large recruits of needful pride; For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find What wants in blood and spirits, swell'd with wind: Pride, where wit fails, steps in to our defence, And fills up all the mighty Void of sense. 210 If once right reason drives that cloud away, Truth breaks upon us with resistless day. Trust not yourself; but your defects to know, Make use of ev'ry friend--and ev'ry foe. A _little learning_ is a dang'rous thing; 215 Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again. Fir'd at first sight with what the Muse imparts, In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts, 220 While from the bounded level of our mind Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind; But more advanc'd, behold with strange surprise New distant scenes of endless science rise! So pleas'd at first the tow'ring Alps we try, 225 Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky, Th' eternal snows appear already past, And the first clouds and mountains seem the last; But, those attain'd, we tremble to survey The growing labours of the lengthen'd way, 230 Th' increasing prospect tires our wand'ring eyes, Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise! A perfect Judge will read each work of Wit With the same spirit that its author writ: Survey the WHOLE, nor seek slight faults to find 235 Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind; Nor lose, for that malignant dull delight, The gen'rous pleasure to be charm'd with Wit. But in such lays as neither ebb, nor flow, Correctly cold, and regularly low, 240 That shunning faults, one quiet tenour keep, We cannot blame indeed--but we may sleep. In wit, as nature, what affects our hearts Is not th' exactness of peculiar parts; 'Tis not a lip, or eye, we beauty call, 245 But the joint force and full result of all. Thus when we view some well-proportion'd dome, (The world's just wonder, and ev'n thine, O Rome!) No single parts unequally surprize, All comes united to th' admiring eyes; 250 No monstrous height, or breadth, or length appear; The Whole at once is bold, and regular. Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be. In every work regard the writer's End, 255 Since none can compass more than they intend; And if the means be just, the conduct true, Applause, in spight of trivial faults, is due; As men of breeding, sometimes men of wit, T' avoid great errors, must the less commit: 260 Neglect the rules each verbal Critic lays, For not to know some trifles, is a praise. Most Critics, fond of some subservient art, Still make the Whole depend upon a Part: They talk of principles, but notions prize, 265 And all to one lov'd Folly sacrifice. Once on a time, La Mancha's Knight, they say, A certain bard encount'ring on the way, Discours'd in terms as just, with looks as sage, As e'er could Dennis of the Grecian stage; 270 Concluding all were desp'rate sots and fools, Who durst depart from Aristotle's rules. Our Author, happy in a judge so nice, Produc'd his Play, and begg'd the Knight's advice; Made him observe the subject, and the plot, 275 The manners, passions, unities; what not? All which, exact to rule, were brought about, Were but a Combat in the lists left out. "What! leave the Combat out?" exclaims the Knight; Yes, or we must renounce the Stagirite. 280 "Not so, by Heav'n" (he answers in a rage), "Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the stage. " So vast a throng the stage can ne'er contain. "Then build a new, or act it in a plain. " Thus Critics, of less judgment than caprice, 285 Curious not knowing, not exact but nice, Form short Ideas; and offend in arts (As most in manners) by a love to parts. Some to _Conceit_ alone their taste confine, And glitt'ring thoughts struck out at ev'ry line; 290 Pleas'd with a work where nothing's just or fit; One glaring Chaos and wild heap of wit. Poets like painters, thus, unskill'd to trace The naked nature and the living grace, With gold and jewels cover ev'ry part, 295 And hide with ornaments their want of art. True Wit is Nature to advantage dress'd, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd; Something, whose truth convinc'd at sight we find, That gives us back the image of our mind. 300 As shades more sweetly recommend the light, So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit. For works may have more wit than does 'em good, As bodies perish thro' excess of blood. Others for Language all their care express, 305 And value books, as women men, for Dress: Their praise is still--the Style is excellent: The Sense, they humbly take upon content. Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found, 310 False Eloquence, like the prismatic glass, Its gaudy colours spreads on ev'ry place; The face of Nature we no more survey, All glares alike, without distinction gay: But true expression, like th' unchanging Sun, 315 Clears and improves whate'er it shines upon, It gilds all objects, but it alters none. Expression is the dress of thought, and still Appears more decent, as more suitable; A vile conceit in pompous words express'd, 320 Is like a clown in regal purple dress'd: For diff'rent styles with diff'rent subjects sort, As several garbs with country, town, and court. Some by old words to fame have made pretence, Ancients in phrase, mere moderns in their sense; 325 Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearn'd, and make the learned smile. Unlucky, as Fungoso in the play, } These sparks with awkward vanity display } What the fine gentleman wore yesterday; } 330 And but so mimic ancient wits at best, As apes our grandsires, in their doublets drest. In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; Alike fantastic, if too new, or old: Be not the first by whom the new are try'd, 335 Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. But most by Numbers judge a Poet's song; And smooth or rough, with them is right or wrong: In the bright Muse though thousand charms conspire, Her voice is all these tuneful fools admire; 340 Who haunt Parnassus but to please their ear, } Not mend their minds; as some to Church repair, } Not for the doctrine, but the music there. } These equal syllables alone require, Tho' oft the ear the open vowe's tire; 345 While expletives their feeble aid do join; And ten low words oft creep in one dull line: While they ring round the same unvary'd chimes, With sure returns of still expected rhymes; Where-e'er you find "the cooling western breeze, " 350 In the next line, it "whispers through the trees:" If crystal streams "with pleasing murmurs creep, " The reader's threaten'd (not in vain) with "sleep:" Then, at the last and only couplet fraught With some unmeaning thing they call a thought, 355 A needless Alexandrine ends the song That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along. Leave such to tune their own dull rhymes, and know What's roundly smooth or languishingly slow; And praise the easy vigour of a line, 360 Where Denham's strength, and Waller's sweetness join. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance. 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence, The sound must seem an Echo to the sense: 365 Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar: When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, 370 The line too labours, and the words move slow; Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main. Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprize, And bid alternate passions fall and rise! 375 While, at each change, the son of Libyan Jove Now burns with glory, and then melts with love, Now his fierce eyes with sparkling fury glow, Now sighs steal out, and tears begin to flow: Persians and Greeks like turns of nature found, 380 And the world's victor stood subdu'd by Sound! The pow'r of Music all our hearts allow, And what Timotheus was, is DRYDEN now. Avoid Extremes; and shun the fault of such, Who still are pleas'd too little or too much. 385 At ev'ry trifle scorn to take offence, That always shows great pride, or little sense; Those heads, as stomachs, are not sure the best, Which nauseate all, and nothing can digest. Yet let not each gay Turn thy rapture move; 390 For fools admire, but men of sense approve: As things seem large which we thro' mists descry, Dulness is ever apt to magnify. Some foreign writers, some our own despise; The Ancients only, or the Moderns prize. 395 Thus Wit, like Faith, by each man is apply'd To one small sect, and all are damn'd beside. Meanly they seek the blessing to confine, And force that sun but on a part to shine, Which not alone the southern wit sublimes, 400 But ripens spirits in cold northern climes; Which from the first has shone on ages past, Enlights the present, and shall warm the last; Tho' each may feel increases and decays, And see now clearer and now darker days. 405 Regard not then if Wit be old or new, But blame the false, and value still the true. Some ne'er advance a Judgment of their own, But catch the spreading notion of the Town; They reason and conclude by precedent, 410 And own stale nonsense which they ne'er invent. Some judge of author's names, not works, and then Nor praise nor blame the writings, but the men. Of all this servile herd the worst is he That in proud dulness joins with Quality, 415 A constant Critic at the great man's board, To fetch and carry nonsense for my Lord. What woful stuff this madrigal would be, In some starv'd hackney sonneteer, or me? But let a Lord once own the happy lines, 420 How the wit brightens! how the style refines! Before his sacred name flies ev'ry fault, And each exalted stanza teems with thought! The Vulgar thus through Imitation err; As oft the Learn'd by being singular; 425 So much they scorn the crowd, that if the throng By chance go right, they purposely go wrong; So Schismatics the plain believers quit, And are but damn'd for having too much wit. Some praise at morning what they blame at night; 430 But always think the last opinion right. A Muse by these is like a mistress us'd, This hour she's idoliz'd, the next abus'd; While their weak heads like towns unfortify'd, 'Twixt sense and nonsense daily change their side. 435 Ask them the cause; they're wiser still, they say; And still to-morrow's wiser than to-day. We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow, Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so. Once School-divines this zealous isle o'er-spread; 440 Who knew most Sentences, was deepest read; Faith, Gospel, all, seem'd made to be disputed, And none had sense enough to be confuted: Scotists and Thomists, now, in peace remain, Amidst their kindred cobwebs in Duck-lane. 445 If Faith itself has diff'rent dresses worn, What wonder modes in Wit should take their turn? Oft', leaving what is natural and fit, The current folly proves the ready wit; And authors think their reputation safe, 450 Which lives as long as fools are pleas'd to laugh. Some valuing those of their own side or mind, Still make themselves the measure of mankind: Fondly we think we honour merit then, When we but praise ourselves in other men. 455 Parties in Wit attend on those of State, And public faction doubles private hate. Pride, Malice, Folly, against Dryden rose, In various shapes of Parsons, Critics, Beaus; But sense surviv'd, when merry jests were past; 460 For rising merit will buoy up at last. Might he return, and bless once more our eyes, New Blackmores and new Milbourns must arise: Nay should great Homer lift his awful head, Zoilus again would start up from the dead. 465 Envy will merit, as its shade, pursue; But like a shadow, proves the substance true; For envy'd Wit, like Sol eclips'd, makes known Th' opposing body's grossness, not its own, When first that sun too pow'rful beams displays, 470 It draws up vapours which obscure its rays; But ev'n those clouds at last adorn its way, Reflect new glories, and augment the day. Be thou the first true merit to befriend; His praise is lost, who stays, till all commend. 475 Short is the date, alas, of modern rhymes, And 'tis but just to let them live betimes. No longer now that golden age appears, When Patriarch-wits surviv'd a thousand years: Now length of Fame (our second life) is lost, 480 And bare threescore is all ev'n that can boast; Our sons their fathers' failing language see, And such as Chaucer is, shall Dryden be. So when the faithful pencil has design'd Some bright Idea of the master's mind, 485 Where a new world leaps out at his command, And ready Nature waits upon his hand; When the ripe colours soften and unite, And sweetly melt into just shade and light; When mellowing years their full perfection give, 490 And each bold figure just begins to live, The treach'rous colours the fair art betray, And all the bright creation fades away! Unhappy Wit, like most mistaken things, Atones not for that envy which it brings. 495 In youth alone its empty praise we boast, But soon the short-liv'd vanity is lost: Like some fair flow'r the early spring supplies. That gaily blooms, but ev'n in blooming dies. What is this Wit, which must our cares employ? 500 The owner's wife, that other men enjoy; Then most our trouble still when most admir'd, And still the more we give, the more requir'd; Whose fame with pains we guard, but lose with ease, Sure some to vex, but never all to please; 505 'Tis what the vicious fear, the virtuous shun, By fools't is hated, and by knaves undone! If Wit so much from Ign'rance undergo, Ah let not Learning too commence its foe! Of old, those met rewards who could excel, 510 And such were prais'd who but endeavour'd well: Tho' triumphs were to gen'rals only due, Crowns were reserv'd to grace the soldiers too, Now, they who reach Parnassus' lofty crown, Employ their pains to spurn some others down; 515 And while self-love each jealous writer rules, Contending wits become the sport of fools: But still the worst with most regret commend, For each ill Author is as bad a Friend. To what base ends, and by what abject ways, 520 Are mortals urg'd thro' sacred lust of praise! Ah ne'er so dire a thirst of glory boast, Nor in the Critic let the Man be lost. Good-nature and good-sense must ever join; To err is human, to forgive, divine. 525 But if in noble minds some dregs remain Not yet purg'd off, of spleen and sour disdain; Discharge that rage on more provoking crimes, Nor fear a dearth in these flagitious times. No pardon vile Obscenity should find, 530 Tho' wit and art conspire to move your mind; But Dulness with Obscenity must prove As shameful sure as Impotence in love. In the fat age of pleasure wealth and ease Sprung the rank weed, and thriv'd with large increase: 535 When love was all an easy Monarch's care; Seldom at council, never in a war: Jilts rul'd the state, and statesmen farces writ; Nay wits had pensions, and young Lords had wit: The Fair sate panting at a Courtier's play, 540 And not a Mask went unimprov'd away: The modest fan was lifted up no more, And Virgins smil'd at what they blush'd before. The following licence of a Foreign reign Did all the dregs of bold Socinus drain; 545 Then unbelieving priests reform'd the nation, And taught more pleasant methods of salvation; Where Heav'n's free subjects might their rights dispute, Lest God himself should seem too absolute: Pulpits their sacred satire learn'd to spare, 550 And Vice admir'd to find a flatt'rer there! Encourag'd thus, Wit's Titans brav'd the skies, And the press groan'd with licens'd blasphemies. These monsters, Critics! with your darts engage, Here point your thunder, and exhaust your rage! 555 Yet shun their fault, who, scandalously nice, Will needs mistake an author into vice; All seems infected that th' infected spy, As all looks yellow to the jaundic'd eye. Learn then what MORALS Critics ought to show, 560 For't is but half a Judge's task, to know. 'Tis not enough, taste, judgment, learning, join; In all you speak, let truth and candour shine: That not alone what to your sense is due All may allow; but seek your friendship too. 565 Be silent always when you doubt your sense; And speak, tho' sure, with seeming diffidence: Some positive, persisting fops we know, Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so; But you, with pleasure own your errors past, 570 And make each day a Critic on the last. 'T is not enough, your counsel still be true; Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do; Men must be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown propos'd as things forgot. 575 Without Good Breeding, truth is disapprov'd; That only makes superior sense belov'd. Be niggards of advice on no pretence; For the worst avarice is that of sense. With mean complacence ne'er betray your trust, 580 Nor be so civil as to prove unjust. Fear not the anger of the wise to raise; Those best can bear reproof, who merit praise. 'T were well might critics still this freedom take, But Appius reddens at each word you speak, 585 And stares, tremendous, with a threat'ning eye, Like some fierce Tyrant in old tapestry. Fear most to tax an Honourable fool, Whose right it is, uncensur'd, to be dull; Such, without wit, are Poets when they please, 590 As without learning they can take Degrees. Leave dang'rous truths to unsuccessful Satires, And flattery to fulsome Dedicators, Whom, when they praise, the world believes no more, Than when they promise to give scribbling o'er. 595 'T is best sometimes your censure to restrain, And charitably let the dull be vain: Your silence there is better than your spite, For who can rail so long as they can write? Still humming on, their drowsy course they keep, 600 And lash'd so long, like tops, are lash'd asleep. False steps but help them to renew the race, As, after stumbling, Jades will mend their pace. What crowds of these, impenitently bold, In sounds and jingling syllables grown old, 605 Still run on Poets, in a raging vein, Ev'n to the dregs and squeezings of the brain, Strain out the last dull droppings of their sense, And rhyme with all the rage of Impotence. Such shameless Bards we have; and yet't is true, 610 There are as mad abandon'd Critics too. The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head, With his own tongue still edifies his ears, And always list'ning to himself appears. 615 All books he reads, and all he reads assails. From Dryden's Fables down to Durfey's Tales. With him, most authors steal their works, or buy; Garth did not write his own Dispensary. Name a new Play, and he's the Poet's friend, 620 Nay show'd his faults--but when would Poets mend? No place so sacred from such fops is barr'd, Nor is Paul's church more safe than Paul's churchyard: Nay, fly to Altars; there they'll talk you dead: For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. 625 Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks, } It still looks home, and short excursions makes; } But rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks, } And never shock'd, and never turn'd aside, Bursts out, resistless, with a thund'ring tide. 630 But where's the man, who counsel can bestow, Still pleas'd to teach, and yet not proud to know? Unbiass'd, or by favour, or by spite; Not dully prepossess'd, nor blindly right; Tho' learn'd, well-bred; and tho' well-bred, sincere, 635 Modestly bold, and humanly severe: Who to a friend his faults can freely show, And gladly praise the merit of a foe? Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfin'd; A knowledge both of books and human kind: 640 Gen'rous converse; a soul exempt from pride; And love to praise, with reason on his side? Such once were Critics; such the happy few, Athens and Rome in better ages knew. The mighty Stagirite first left the shore, 645 Spread all his sails, and durst the deeps explore: He steer'd securely, and discover'd far, Led by the light of the Mæonian Star. Poets, a race long unconfin'd, and free, Still fond and proud of savage liberty, 650 Receiv'd his laws; and stood convinc'd 't was fit, Who conquer'd Nature, should preside o'er Wit. Horace still charms with graceful negligence, And without method talks us into sense, Will, like a friend, familiarly convey 655 The truest notions in the easiest way. He, who supreme in judgment, as in wit, Might boldly censure, as he boldly writ, Yet judg'd with coolness, tho' he sung with fire; His Precepts teach but what his works inspire. 660 Our Critics take a contrary extreme, They judge with fury, but they write with fle'me: Nor suffers Horace more in wrong Translations By Wits, than Critics in as wrong Quotations. See Dionysius Homer's thoughts refine, 665 And call new beauties forth from ev'ry line! Fancy and art in gay Petronius please, The scholar's learning, with the courtier's ease. In grave Quintilian's copious work, we find The justest rules, and clearest method join'd: 670 Thus useful arms in magazines we place, All rang'd in order, and dispos'd with grace, But less to please the eye, than arm the hand, Still fit for use, and ready at command. Thee, bold Longinus! all the Nine inspire, 675 And bless their Critic with a Poet's fire. An ardent Judge, who zealous in his trust, With warmth gives sentence, yet is always just; Whose own example strengthens all his laws; And is himself that great Sublime he draws. 680 Thus long succeeding Critics justly reign'd, Licence repress'd, and useful laws ordain'd. Learning and Rome alike in empire grew; And Arts still follow'd where her Eagles flew; From the same foes, at last, both felt their doom, 685 And the same age saw Learning fall, and Rome. With Tyranny, then Superstition join'd, As that the body, this enslav'd the mind; Much was believ'd, but little understood, And to be dull was constru'd to be good; 690 A second deluge Learning thus o'er-run, And the Monks finish'd what the Goths begun. At length Erasmus, that great injur'd name, (The glory of the Priesthood, and the shame!) Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barb'rous age, 695 And drove those holy Vandals off the stage. But see! each Muse, in LEO'S golden days, Starts from her trance, and trims her wither'd bays, Rome's ancient Genius, o'er its ruins spread, Shakes off the dust, and rears his rev'rend head. 700 Then Sculpture and her sister-arts revive; Stones leap'd to form, and rocks began to live; With sweeter notes each rising Temple rung; A Raphael painted, and a Vida sung. Immortal Vida: on whose honour'd brow 705 The Poet's bays and Critic's ivy grow: Cremona now shal ever boast thy name, As next in place to Mantua, next in fame! But soon by impious arms from Latium chas'd, Their ancient bounds the banish'd Muses pass'd; 710 Thence Arts o'er all the northern world advance, But Critic-learning flourish'd most in France: The rules a nation, born to serve, obeys; And Boileau still in right of Horace sways. But we, brave Britons, foreign laws despis'd, 715 And kept unconquer'd, and unciviliz'd; Fierce for the liberties of wit, and bold, We still defy'd the Romans, as of old. Yet some there were, among the sounder few Of those who less presum'd, and better knew, 720 Who durst assert the juster ancient cause, And here restor'd Wit's fundamental laws. Such was the Muse, whose rules and practice tell, "Nature's chief Master-piece is writing well. " Such was Roscommon, not more learn'd than good, 725 With manners gen'rous as his noble blood; To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, And ev'ry author's merit, but his own. Such late was Walsh--the Muse's judge and friend, Who justly knew to blame or to commend; 730 To failings mild, but zealous for desert; The clearest head, and the sincerest heart. This humble praise, lamented shade! receive, This praise at least a grateful Muse may give: The Muse, whose early voice you taught to sing, 735 Prescrib'd her heights, and prun'd her tender wing, (Her guide now lost) no more attempts to rise, But in low numbers short excursions tries: Content, if hence th' unlearn'd their wants may view, The learn'd reflect on what before they knew: 740 Careless of censure, nor too fond of fame; Still pleas'd to praise, yet not afraid to blame, Averse alike to flatter, or offend; Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend. * * * * * AN ESSAY ON MAN TO H. ST. JOHN LORD BOLINGBROKE THE DESIGN Having proposed to write some pieces on Human Life and Manners, such as(to use my Lord Bacon's expression) _come home to Men's Business andBosoms_, I thought it more satisfactory to begin with considering _Man_in the abstract, his _Nature_ and his _State_; since, to prove any moralduty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection orimperfection of any creature whatsoever, it is necessary first to knowwhat _condition_ and _relation_ it is placed in, and what is the properend and purpose of its _being_. The science of Human Nature is, like all other sciences, reduced to a_few clear points_: There are not _many certain truths_ in this world. It is therefore in the Anatomy of the mind as in that of the Body; moregood will accrue to mankind by attending to the large, open, andperceptible parts, than by studying too much such finer nerves andvessels, the conformations and uses of which will for ever escape ourobservation. The _disputes_ are all upon these last, and, I will ventureto say, they have less sharpened the _wits_ than the _hearts_ of menagainst each other, and have diminished the practice, more than advancedthe theory of Morality. If I could flatter myself that this Essay hasany merit, it is in steering betwixt the extremes of doctrines seeminglyopposite, in passing over terms utterly unintelligible, and in forming a_temperate_ yet not _inconsistent_, and a _short_ yet not _imperfect_system of Ethics. This I might have done in prose, but I chose verse, and even rhyme, fortwo reasons. The one will appear obvious; that principles, maxims, orprecepts so written, both strike the reader more strongly at first, andare more easily retained by him afterwards: The other may seem odd, butis true, I found I could express them more _shortly_ this way than inprose itself; and nothing is more certain, than that much of the _force_as well as _grace_ of arguments or instructions, depends on their_conciseness_. I was unable to treat this part of my subject more in_detail_, without becoming dry and tedious; or more _poetically_, without sacrificing perspicuity to ornament, without wandring from theprecision, or breaking the chain of reasoning: If any man can unite allthese without diminution of any of them, I freely confess he willcompass a thing above my capacity. What is now published, is only to be considered as a _general Map_ ofMAN, marking out no more than the _greater parts_, their _extent_, their_limits_, and their _connection_, and leaving the particular to be morefully delineated in the charts which are to follow. Consequently, theseEpistles in their progress (if I have health and leisure to make anyprogress) will be less dry, and more susceptible of poetical ornament. Iam here only opening the _fountains_, and clearing the passage. Todeduce the _rivers_, to follow them in their course, and to observetheir effects, may be a task more agreeable. P. ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE I Of the Nature and State of Man, with respect to the UNIVERSE. _Of_ Man _in the abstract_. I. V. 17 &c. _That we can judge only with regard to our_ own system, _being ignorant of the_ relations _of systems and things_. II. V. 35, &c. _That Man is not to be deemed_ imperfect, _but a Being suited to his_ place _and_ rank _in the creation, agreeable to the_ general Order _of things, and conformable to_ Ends _and_ Relations _to him unknown_. III. V. 77, &c. _That it is partly upon his_ ignorance _of_ future _events, and partly upon the_ hope _of a_ future _state, that all his happiness in the present depends_. IV. V. 109, &c. _The_ pride _of aiming at more knowledge, and pretending to more Perfections, the cause of Man's error and misery. The_ impiety _of putting himself in the place of_ God, _and judging of the fitness or unfitness, perfection or imperfection, justice or injustice of his dispensations_. V. V. 131, &c. _The_ absurdity _of conceiting himself the _final cause _of the creation, or expecting that perfection in the_ moral _world, which is not in the_ natural. VI. V. 173, &c. _The_ unreasonableness _of his complaints against_ Providence, _while on the one hand he demands the Perfections of the Angels, and on the other the bodily qualifications of the Brutes; though, to possess any of the_ sensitive faculties _in a higher degree, would render him miserable_. VII. V. 207. _That throughout the whole visible world, an universal_ order _and_ gradation _in the sensual and mental faculties is observed, which causes a_ subordination _of creature to creature, and of all creatures to Man. The gradations of_ sense, instinct, thought, reflection, reason; _that Reason alone countervails fill the other faculties_. VIII. V. 233. _How much further this_ order _and_ subordination _of living creatures may extend, above and below us; were any part of which broken, not that part only, but the whole connected_ creation _must be destroyed_. IX. V. 250. _The_ extravagance, madness, _and_ pride _of such a desire_. X. V. 281, &c. _The consequence of all, the_ absolute submission_to the end_. _due to Providence, both as to our_ present _and_ future state, EPISTLE I Awake, my ST. JOHN! leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of Kings. Let us (since Life can little more supply Than just to look about us and to die) Expatiate free o'er all this scene of Man; 5 A mighty maze! but not without a plan; A Wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot; Or Garden, tempting with forbidden fruit. Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield; 10 The latent tracts, the giddy heights, explore Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar; Eye Nature's walks, shoot Folly as it flies, And catch the Manners living as they rise; Laugh where we must, be candid where we can; 15 But vindicate the ways of God to Man. I. Say first, of God above, or Man below, What can we reason, but from what we know? Of Man, what see we but his station here, From which to reason, or to which refer? 20 Thro' worlds unnumber'd tho' the God be known, 'Tis ours to trace him only in our own. He, who thro' vast immensity can pierce, See worlds on worlds compose one universe, Observe how system into system runs, 25 What other planets circle other suns, What vary'd Being peoples ev'ry star, May tell why Heav'n has made us as we are. But of this frame the bearings, and the ties, The strong connexions, nice dependencies, 30 Gradations just, has thy pervading soul Look'd thro'? or can a part contain the whole? Is the great chain, that draws all to agree, And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee? II. Presumptuous Man! the reason wouldst thou find, 35 Why form'd so weak, so little, and so blind? First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess, Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less? Ask of thy mother earth, why oaks are made Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade? 40 Or ask of yonder argent fields above, Why JOVE'S satellites are less than JOVE? Of Systems possible, if 'tis confest That Wisdom infinite must form the best, Where all must full or not coherent be, 45 And all that rises, rise in due degree; Then, in the scale of reas'ning life, 'tis plain, There must be, somewhere, such a rank as Man: And all the question (wrangle e'er so long) Is only this, if God has plac'd him wrong? 50 Respecting Man, whatever wrong we call, May, must be right, as relative to all. In human works, tho' labour'd on with pain, A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain; In God's, one single can its end produce; 55 Yet serves to second too some other use. So Man, who here seems principal alone, Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown, Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal; 'Tis but a part we see, and not a whole. 60 When the proud steed shall know why Man restrains His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains: When the dull Ox, why now he breaks the clod, Is now a victim, and now Ægypt's God: Then shall Man's pride and dulness comprehend 65 His actions', passions', being's, use and end; Why doing, suff'ring, check'd, impell'd; and why This hour a slave, the next a deity. Then say not Man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault; Say rather, Man's as perfect as he ought: 70 His knowledge measur'd to his state and place; His time a moment, and a point his space. If to be perfect in a certain sphere, What matter, soon or late, or here or there? The blest to day is as completely so, 75 As who began a thousand years ago. III. Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of Fate, All but the page prescrib'd, their present state: From brutes what men, from men what spirits know: Or who could suffer Being here below? 80 The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, Had he thy Reason, would he skip and play? Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flow'ry food, And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood. Oh blindness to the future! kindly giv'n, 85 That each may fill the circle mark'd by Heav'n: Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish, or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd, And now a bubble burst, and now a world. 90 Hope humbly then: with trembling pinions soar; Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore. What future bliss, he gives not thee to know, But gives that Hope to be thy blessing now. Hope springs eternal in the human breast: 95 Man never Is, but always To be blest: The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind: 100 His soul, proud Science never taught to stray Far as the solar walk, or milky way; Yet simple Nature to his hope has giv'n, Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humbler heav'n; Some safer world in depth of woods embrac'd, 105 Some happier island in the watry waste, Where slaves once more their native land behold, No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. To Be, contents his natural desire, He asks no Angel's wing, no Seraph's fire; 110 But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall bear him company. IV. Go, wiser thou! and, in thy scale of sense, Weight thy Opinion against Providence; Call imperfection what thou fancy'st such, 115 Say, here he gives too little, there too much: Destroy all Creatures for thy sport or gust, Yet cry, If Man's unhappy, God's unjust; If Man alone engross not Heav'n's high care, Alone made perfect here, immortal there: 120 Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, Re-judge his justice, be the God of God. In Pride, in reas'ning Pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes, 125 Men would be Angels, Angels would be Gods. Aspiring to be Gods, if Angels fell, Aspiring to be Angels, Men rebel: And who but wishes to invert the laws Of ORDER, sins against th' Eternal Cause. 130 V. Ask for what end the heav'nly bodies shine, Earth for whose use? Pride answers, "'Tis for mine: For me kind Nature wakes her genial Pow'r, Suckles each herb, and spreads out ev'ry flow'r; Annual for me, the grape, the rose renew 135 The juice nectareous, and the balmy dew; For me, the mine a thousand treasures brings; For me, health gushes from a thousand springs; Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; My foot-stool earth, my canopy the skies. " 140 But errs not Nature from his gracious end, From burning suns when livid deaths descend, When earthquakes swallow, or when tempests sweep Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep? "No, ('tis reply'd) the first Almighty Cause 145 Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral laws; Th' exceptions few; some change since all began: And what created perfect?"--Why then Man? If the great end be human Happiness, Then Nature deviates; and can Man do less? 150 As much that end a constant course requires Of show'rs and sun-shine, as of Man's desires; As much eternal springs and cloudless skies, As Men for ever temp'rate, calm, and wise. If plagues or earthquakes break not Heav'n's design, 155 Why then a Borgia, or a Catiline? Who knows but he, whose hand the lightning forms, Who heaves old Ocean, and who wings the storms; Pours fierce Ambition in a Cæsar's mind, Or turns young Ammon loose to scourge mankind? 160 From pride, from pride, our very reas'ning springs; Account for moral, as for nat'ral things: Why charge we Heav'n in those, in these acquit? In both, to reason right is to submit. Better for Us, perhaps, it might appear, 165 Were there all harmony, all virtue here; That never air or ocean felt the wind; That never passion discompos'd the mind. But ALL subsists by elemental strife; And Passions are the elements of Life. 170 The gen'ral ORDER, since the whole began, Is kept in Nature, and is kept in Man. VI. What would this Man? Now upward will he soar, And little less than Angel, would be more; Now looking downwards, just as griev'd appears 175 To want the strength of bulls, the fur of bears. Made for his use all creatures if he call, Say what their use, had he the pow'rs of all? Nature to these, without profusion, kind, The proper organs, proper pow'rs assign'd; 180 Each seeming want compensated of course, Here with degrees of swiftness, there of force; All in exact proportion to the state; Nothing to add, and nothing to abate. Each beast, each insect, happy in its own: 185 Is Heav'n unkind to Man, and Man alone? Shall he alone, whom rational we call, Be pleas'd with nothing, if not bless'd with all? The bliss of Man (could Pride that blessing find) Is not to act or think beyond mankind; 190 No pow'rs of body or of soul to share, But what his nature and his state can bear. Why has not Man a microscopic eye? For this plain reason, Man is not a Fly. Say what the use, were finer optics giv'n, 195 T' inspect a mite, not comprehend the heav'n? Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er, To smart and agonize at every pore? Or quick effluvia darting thro' the brain, Die of a rose in aromatic pain? 200 If Nature thunder'd in his op'ning ears, And stunn'd him with the music of the spheres, How would he wish that Heav'n had left him still The whisp'ring Zephyr, and the purling rill? Who finds not Providence all good and wise, 205 Alike in what it gives, and what denies? VII. Far as Creation's ample range extends, The scale of sensual, mental pow'rs ascends: Mark how it mounts, to Man's imperial race, From the green myriads in the peopled grass: 210 What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam: Of smell, the headlong lioness between, And hound sagacious on the tainted green: Of hearing, from the life that fills the Flood, 215 To that which warbles thro' the vernal wood: The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! Feels at each thread, and lives along the line: In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true From pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew? 220 How Instinct varies in the grov'lling swine, Compar'd, half-reas'ning elephant, with thine! 'Twixt that, and Reason, what a nice barrier, For ever sep'rate, yet for ever near! Remembrance and Reflection how ally'd; 225 What thin partitions Sense from Thought divide: And Middle natures, how they long to join, Yet never pass th' insuperable line! Without this just gradation, could they be Subjected, these to those, or all to thee? 230 The pow'rs of all subdu'd by thee alone, Is not thy Reason all these pow'rs in one? VIII. See, thro' this air, this ocean, and this earth, All matter quick, and bursting into birth. Above, how high, progressive life may go! 235 Around, how wide! how deep extend below! Vast chain of Being! which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, No glass can reach; from Infinite to thee, 240 From thee to Nothing. --On superior pow'rs Were we to press, inferior might on ours: Or in the full creation leave a void, Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroy'd: From Nature's chain whatever link you strike, 245 Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike. And, if each system in gradation roll Alike essential to th' amazing Whole, The least confusion but in one, not all That system only, but the Whole must fall. 250 Let Earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly, Planets and Suns run lawless thro' the sky; Let ruling Angels from their spheres be hurl'd, Being on Being wreck'd, and world on world; Heav'n's whole foundations to their centre nod, 255 And Nature tremble to the throne of God. All this dread ORDER break--for whom? for thee? Vile worm!--Oh Madness! Pride! Impiety! IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the dust to tread, Or hand, to toil, aspir'd to be the head? 260 What if the head, the eye, or ear repin'd To serve mere engines to the ruling Mind? Just as absurd for any part to claim To be another, in this gen'ral frame: Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains, 265 The great directing MIND of ALL ordains. All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; That, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the same; Great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame; 270 Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent; Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, 275 As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart: As full, as perfect, in vile Man that mourns, As the rapt Seraph that adores and burns: To him no high, no low, no great, no small; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. 280 X. Cease then, nor ORDER Imperfection name: Our proper bliss depends on what we blame. Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestows on thee. Submit. --In this, or any other sphere, 285 Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear: Safe in the hand of one disposing Pow'r, Or in the natal, or the mortal hour. All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee; All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not see; 290 All Discord, Harmony not understood; All partial Evil, universal Good: And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite, One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT. * * * * * EPISTLE TO DR ARBUTHNOT Advertisement to the first publication of this _Epistle_ This paper is a sort of bill of complaint, begun many years since, anddrawn up by snatches, as the several occasions offered. I had nothoughts of publishing it, till it pleased some Persons of Rank andFortune (the Authors of _Verses to the Imitator of Horace_, and of an_Epistle to a Doctor of Divinity from a Nobleman at Hampton Court_) toattack, in a very extraordinary manner, not only my Writings (of which, being public, the Public is judge), but my P_erson, Morals_, and_Family_, whereof, to those who know me not, a truer information may berequisite. Being divided between the necessity to say something of_myself_, and my own laziness to undertake so awkward a task, I thoughtit the shortest way to put the last hand to this Epistle. If it have anything pleasing, it will be that by which I am most desirous to please, the _Truth_ and the _Sentiment_; and if any thing offensive, it will beonly to those I am least sorry to offend, _the vicious_ or _theungenerous_. Many will know their own pictures in it, there being not a circumstancebut what is true; but I have, for the most part, spared their _Names_, and they may escape being laughed at, if they please. I would have some of them know, it was owing to the request of thelearned and candid Friend to whom it is inscribed, that I make not asfree use of theirs as they have done of mine. However, I shall have thisadvantage, and honour, on my side, that whereas, by their proceeding, any abuse may be directed at any man, no injury can possibly be done bymine, since a nameless character can never be found out, but by its_truth_ and _likeness_. P. P. Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigu'd, I said, Tie up the knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead. The Dog-star rages! nay't is past a doubt, All Bedlam, or Parnassus, is let out: Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, 5 They rave, recite, and madden round the land. What walls can guard me, or what shade can hide? They pierce my thickets, thro' my Grot they glide; By land, by water, they renew the charge; They stop the chariot, and they board the barge. 10 No place is sacred, not the Church is free; Ev'n Sunday shines no Sabbath-day to me; Then from the Mint walks forth the Man of rhyme, Happy to catch me just at Dinner-time. Is there a Parson, much bemus'd in beer, 15 A maudlin Poetess, a rhyming Peer, A Clerk, foredoom'd his father's soul to cross, Who pens a Stanza, when he should _engross_? Is there, who, lock'd from ink and paper, scrawls With desp'rate charcoal round his darken'd walls? 20 All fly to TWIT'NAM, and in humble strain Apply to me, to keep them mad or vain. Arthur, whose giddy son neglects the Laws, Imputes to me and my damn'd works the cause: Poor Cornus sees his frantic wife elope, 25 And curses Wit, and Poetry, and Pope. Friend to my Life! (which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle song) What _Drop_ or _Nostrum_ can this plague remove? Or which must end me, a Fool's wrath or love? 30 A dire dilemma! either way I'm sped, If foes, they write, if friends, they read me dead. Seiz'd and tied down to judge, how wretched I! Who can't be silent, and who will not lie. To laugh, were want of goodness and of grace, 35 And to be grave, exceeds all Pow'r of face. I sit with sad civility, I read With honest anguish, and an aching head; And drop at last, but in unwilling ears, This saving counsel, "Keep your piece nine years. " 40 "Nine years!" cries he, who high in Drury-lane, Lull'd by soft Zephyrs thro' the broken pane, Rhymes ere he wakes, and prints before _Term_ ends, Oblig'd by hunger, and request of friends: "The piece, you think, is incorrect? why, take it, 45 I'm all submission, what you'd have it, make it. " Three things another's modest wishes bound, My Friendship, and a Prologue, and ten pound. Pitholeon sends to me: "You know his Grace I want a Patron; ask him for a Place. " 50 "Pitholeon libell'd me, "--"but here's a letter Informs you, Sir, 't was when he knew no better. Dare you refuse him? Curll invites to dine, " "He'll write a _Journal_, or he'll turn Divine. " Bless me! a packet. --"'Tis a stranger sues, 55 A Virgin Tragedy, an Orphan Muse. " If I dislike it, "Furies, death and rage!" If I approve, "Commend it to the Stage. " There (thank my stars) my whole Commission ends, The Play'rs and I are, luckily, no friends, 60 Fir'd that the house reject him, "'Sdeath I'll print it, And shame the fools--Your Int'rest, Sir, with Lintot!" 'Lintot, dull rogue! will think your price too much:' "Not, Sir, if you revise it, and retouch. " All my demurs but double his Attacks; 65 At last he whispers, "Do; and we go snacks. " Glad of a quarrel, straight I clap the door, Sir, let me see your works and you no more. 'Tis sung, when Midas' Ears began to spring, (Midas, a sacred person and a king) 70 His very Minister who spy'd them first, (Some say his Queen) was forc'd to speak, or burst. And is not mine, my friend, a sorer case, When ev'ry coxcomb perks them in my face? A. Good friend, forbear! you deal in dang'rous things. 75 I'd never name Queens, Ministers, or Kings; Keep close to Ears, and those let asses prick; 'Tis nothing--P. Nothing? if they bite and kick? Out with it, DUNCIAD! let the secret pass, That secret to each fool, that he's an Ass: 80 The truth once told (and wherefore should we lie?) The Queen of Midas slept, and so may I. You think this cruel? take it for a rule, No creature smarts so little as a fool. Let peals of laughter, Codrus! round thee break, 85 Thou unconcern'd canst hear the mighty crack: Pit, Box, and gall'ry in convulsions hurl'd, Thou stand'st unshook amidst a bursting world. Who shames a Scribbler? break one cobweb thro', He spins the slight, self-pleasing thread anew: 90 Destroy his fib or sophistry, in vain, The creature's at his dirty work again, Thron'd in the centre of his thin designs, Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines! Whom have I hurt? has Poet yet, or Peer, 95 Lost the arch'd eye-brow, or Parnassian sneer? * * * * * Does not one table Bavius still admit? Still to one Bishop Philips seem a wit? Still Sappho--A. Hold! for God's sake--you 'll offend, No Names!--be calm!--learn prudence of a friend! 100 I too could write, and I am twice as tall; But foes like these--P. One Flatt'rer's worse than all. Of all mad creatures, if the learn'd are right, It is the slaver kills, and not the bite. A fool quite angry is quite innocent: 105 Alas! 'tis ten times worse when they _repent_. One dedicates in high heroic prose, And ridicules beyond a hundred foes: One from all Grubstreet will my fame defend, And more abusive, calls himself my friend. 110 This prints my _Letters_, that expects a bribe, And others roar aloud, "Subscribe, subscribe. " There are, who to my person pay their court: I cough like _Horace_, and, tho' lean, am short, _Ammon's_ great son one shoulder had too high, 115 Such _Ovid's_ nose, and "Sir! you have an Eye"-- Go on, obliging creatures, make me see All that disgrac'd my Betters, met in me. Say for my comfort, languishing in bed, "Just so immortal _Maro_ held his head:" 120 And when I die, be sure you let me know Great _Homer_ died three thousand years ago. Why did I write? what sin to me unknown Dipt me in ink, my parents', or my own? As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, 125 I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came. I left no calling for this idle trade, No duty broke, no father disobey'd. The Muse but serv'd to ease some friend, not Wife, To help me thro' this long disease, my Life, 130 To second, ARBUTHNOT! thy Art and Care, And teach the Being you preserv'd, to bear. But why then publish? _Granville_ the polite, And knowing _Walsh_, would tell me I could write; Well-natur'd _Garth_ inflam'd with early praise; 135 And _Congreve_ lov'd, and _Swift_ endur'd my lays; The courtly _Talbot, Somers, Sheffield_, read; Ev'n mitred _Rochester_ would nod the head, And _St. John's_ self (great _Dryden's_ friends before) With open arms receiv'd one Poet more. 140 Happy my studies, when by these approv'd! Happier their author, when by these belov'd! From these the world will judge of men and books, Not from the _Burnets, Oldmixons_, and _Cookes_. Soft were my numbers; who could take offence, 145 While pure Description held the place of Sense? Like gentle _Fanny's_ was my flow'ry theme, A painted mistress, or a purling stream. Yet then did _Gildon_ draw his venal quill;-- I wish'd the man a dinner, and sat still. 150 Yet then did _Dennis_ rave in furious fret; I never answer'd, --I was not in debt. If want provok'd, or madness made them print, I wag'd no war with _Bedlam_ or the _Mint_. Did some more sober Critic come abroad; 155 If wrong, I smil'd; if right, I kiss'd the rod. Pains, reading, study, are their just pretence, And all they want is spirit, taste, and sense. Commas and points they set exactly right, And 'twere a sin to rob them of their mite. 160 Yet ne'er one sprig of laurel grac'd these ribalds, From slashing _Bentley_ down to pidling _Tibalds_: Each wight, who reads not, and but scans and spells, Each Word-catcher, that lives on syllables, Ev'n such small Critics some regard may claim, 165 Preserv'd in _Milton's_ or in _Shakespeare's_ name. Pretty! in amber to observe the forms Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms! The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare, But wonder how the devil they got there. 170 Were others angry: I excus'd them too; Well might they rage, I gave them but their due. A man's true merit 'tis not hard to find; But each man's secret standard in his mind, That Casting-weight pride adds to emptiness, 175 This, who can gratify? for who can _guess?_ The Bard whom pilfer'd Pastorals renown, Who turns a Persian tale for half a Crown, Just writes to make his barrenness appear, And strains, from hard-bound brains, eight lines a year; 180 He, who still wanting, tho' he lives on theft, Steals much, spends little, yet has nothing left: And He, who now to sense, now nonsense leaning, Means not, but blunders round about a meaning: And He, whose fustian's so sublimely bad, 185 It is not Poetry, but prose run mad: All these, my modest Satire bade _translate_, And own'd that nine such Poets made a _Tate_. How did they fume, and stamp, and roar, and chafe! And swear, not ADDISON himself was safe. 190 Peace to all such! but were there One whose fires True Genius kindles, and fair Fame inspires; Blest with each talent and each art to please, And born to write, converse, and live with ease: Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, 195 Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne. View him with scornful, yet with jealous eyes, And hate for arts that caus'd himself to rise; Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; 200 Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike; Alike reserv'd to blame, or to commend. A tim'rous foe, and a suspicious friend; Dreading ev'n fools, by Flatterers besieg'd, 205 And so obliging, that he ne'er oblig'd; Like _Cato_, give his little Senate laws, And sit attentive to his own applause; While Wits and Templars ev'ry sentence raise, And wonder with a foolish face of praise:-- 210 Who but must laugh, if such a man there be? Who would not weep, if Atticus were he? What tho' my Name stood rubric on the walls Or plaister'd posts, with claps, in capitals? Or smoking forth, a hundred hawkers' load, 215 On wings of winds came flying all abroad? I sought no homage from the Race that write; I kept, like Asian Monarchs, from their sight: Poems I heeded (now be-rhym'd so long) No more than thou, great George! a birth-day song. 220 I ne'er with wits or witlings pass'd my days, To spread about the itch of verse and praise; Nor like a puppy, daggled thro' the town, To fetch and carry sing-song up and down; Nor at Rehearsals sweat, and mouth'd, and cry'd, 225 With handkerchief and orange at my side; But sick of fops, and poetry, and prate, To Bufo left the whole Castalian state. Proud as Apollo on his forked hill, Sat full-blown Bufo, puff'd by ev'ry quill; 230 Fed with soft Dedication all day long. Horace and he went hand in hand in song. His Library (where busts of Poets dead And a true Pindar stood without a head, ) Receiv'd of wits an undistinguish'd race, 235 Who first his judgment ask'd, and then a place: Much they extoll'd his pictures, much his seat, And flatter'd ev'ry day, and some days eat: Till grown more frugal in his riper days, He paid some bards with port, and some with praise; 240 To some a dry rehearsal saw assign'd, And others (harder still) he paid in kind. _Dryden_ alone (what wonder?) came not nigh, _Dryden_ alone escap'd this judging eye: But still the _Great_ have kindness in reserve, 245 He help'd to bury whom he help'd to starve. May some choice patron bless each gray goose quill! May ev'ry _Bavius_ have his _Bufo_ still! So, when a Statesman wants a day's defence, Or Envy holds a whole week's war with Sense, 250 Or simple pride for flatt'ry makes demands, May dunce by dunce be whistled off my hands! Blest be the _Great!_ for those they take away. And those they left me; for they left me Gay; Left me to see neglected Genius bloom, 255 Neglected die, and tell it on his tomb: Of all thy blameless life the sole return My Verse, and Queenb'ry weeping o'er thy urn. Oh let me live my own, and die so too! (To live and die is all I have to do:) 260 Maintain a Poet's dignity and ease, And see what friends, and read what books I please; Above a Patron, tho' I condescend Sometimes to call a minister my friend. I was not born for Courts or great affairs; 265 I pay my debts, believe, and say my pray'rs; Can sleep without a Poem in my head; Nor know, if _Dennis_ be alive or dead. Why am I ask'd what next shall see the light? Heav'ns! was I born for nothing but to write? 270 Has Life no joys for me? or, (to be grave) Have I no friend to serve, no soul to save? "I found him close with _Swift_"--'Indeed? no doubt, ' (Cries prating _Balbus_) 'something will come out. ' 'Tis all in vain, deny it as I will. 275 'No, such a Genius never can lie still;' And then for mine obligingly mistakes The first Lampoon Sir _Will_, or _Bubo_ makes. Poor guiltless I! and can I choose but smile, When ev'ry Coxcomb knows me by my _Style_? 280 Curst be the verse, how well soe'er it flow, That tends to make one worthy man my foe, Give Virtue scandal, Innocence a fear, Or from the soft-eyed Virgin steal a tear! But he who hurts a harmless neighbour's peace, 285 Insults fall'n worth, or Beauty in distress, Who loves a Lie, lame slander helps about, Who writes a Libel, or who copies out: That Fop, whose pride affects a patron's name, Yet absent, wounds an author's honest fame: 290 Who can _your_ merit _selfishly_ approve. And show the _sense_ of it without the _love_; Who has the vanity to call you friend, Yet wants the honour, injur'd, to defend; Who tells whate'er you think, whate'er you say, 295 And, if he lie not, must at least betray: Who to the _Dean_, and _silver bell_ can swear, And sees at _Canons_ what was never there; Who reads, but with a lust to misapply, Make Satire a Lampoon, and Fiction, Lie. 300 A lash like mine no honest man shall dread, But all such babbling blockheads in his stead. Let _Sporus_ tremble--A. What? that thing of silk, _Sporus_, that mere white curd of Ass's milk? Satire or sense, alas! can _Sporus_ feel? 305 Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? P. Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, This painted child of dirt, that stinks and stings; Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys, Yet wit ne'er tastes, and beauty ne'er enjoys: 310 So well-bred spaniels civilly delight In mumbling of the game they dare not bite. Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, As shallow streams run dimpling all the way. Whether in florid impotence he speaks, 315 And, as the prompter breathes, the puppet squeaks; Or at the ear of _Eve_, familiar Toad, Half froth, half venom, spits himself abroad, In puns, or politics, or tales, or lies, Or spite, or smut, or rhymes, or blasphemies. 320 His wit all see-saw, between _that_ and _this_, } Now high, now low, now master up, now miss, } And he himself one vile Antithesis. } Amphibious thing! that acting either part, The trifling head or the corrupted heart, 325 Fop at the toilet, flatt'rer at the board, Now trips a Lady, and now struts a Lord. _Eve's_ tempter thus the Rabbins have exprest, A Cherub's face, a reptile all the rest; Beauty that shocks you, parts that none will trust; 330 Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust. Not Fortune's worshipper, nor fashion's fool, Not Lucre's madman, nor Ambition's tool, Not proud, nor servile;--be one Poet's praise, That, if he pleas'd, he pleas'd by manly ways: 335 That Flatt'ry, ev'n to Kings, he held a shame, And thought a Lie in verse or prose the same. That not in Fancy's maze he wander'd long, But stoop'd to Truth, and moraliz'd his song: That not for Fame, but Virtue's better end, 340 He stood the furious foe, the timid friend, The damning critic, half approving wit, The coxcomb hit, or fearing to be hit; Laugh'd at the loss of friends he never had, The dull, the proud, the wicked, and the mad; 345 The distant threats of vengeance on his head, The blow unfelt, the tear he never shed; The tale reviv'd, the lie so oft o'erthrown, Th' imputed trash, and dulness not his own; The morals blacken'd when the writings scape, 350 The libell'd person, and the pictur'd shape; Abuse, on all he lov'd, or lov'd him, spread, A friend in exile, or a father, dead; The whisper, that to greatness still too near, Perhaps, yet vibrates on his SOV'REIGN'S ear:-- 355 Welcome for thee, fair _Virtue_! all the past; For thee, fair Virtue! welcome ev'n the _last_! A. But why insult the poor, affront the great? P. A knave's a knave, to me, in ev'ry state: Alike my scorn, if he succeed or fail, 360 _Sporus_ at court, or _Japhet_ in a jail A hireling scribbler, or a hireling peer, Knight of the post corrupt, or of the shire; If on a Pillory, or near a Throne, He gain his Prince's ear, or lose his own. 365 Yet soft by nature, more a dupe than wit, _Sappho_ can tell you how this man was bit; This dreaded Sat'rist _Dennis_ will confess Foe to his pride, but friend to his distress: So humble, he has knock'd at _Tibbald's_ door, 370 Has drunk with _Cibber_, nay has rhym'd for _Moore_. Full ten years slander'd, did he once reply? Three thousand suns went down on _Welsted's_ lie. To please a Mistress one aspers'd his life; He lash'd him not, but let her be his wife. 375 Let _Budgel_ charge low _Grubstreet_ on his quill, And write whate'er he pleas'd, except his Will; Let the two _Curlls_ of Town and Court, abuse His father, mother, body, soul, and muse. Yet why? that Father held it for a rule, 380 It was a sin to call our neighbour fool: That harmless Mother thought no wife a whore: Hear this, and spare his family, _James Moore!_ Unspotted names, and memorable long! If there be force in Virtue, or in Song. 385 Of gentle blood (part shed in Honour's cause. While yet in _Britain_ Honour had applause) Each parent sprung--A. What fortune, pray?--P. Their own, And better got, than _Bestia's_ from the throne. Born to no Pride, inheriting no Strife, 390 Nor marrying Discord in a noble wife, Stranger to civil and religious rage, The good man walk'd innoxious thro' his age. Nor Courts he saw, no suits would ever try, Nor dar'd an Oath, nor hazarded a Lie. 395 Un-learn'd, he knew no schoolman's subtle art, No language, but the language of the heart. By Nature honest, by Experience wise, Healthy by temp'rance, and by exercise; His life, tho' long, to sickness past unknown, 400 His death was instant, and without a groan. O grant me, thus to live, and thus to die! Who sprung from Kings shall know less joy than I. O Friend! may each domestic bliss be thine! Be no unpleasing Melancholy mine: 405 Me, let the tender office long engage, To rock the cradle of reposing Age, With lenient arts extend a Mother's breath, Make Languor smile, and smooth the bed of Death, Explore the thought, explain the asking eye, 410 And keep a while one parent from the sky! On cares like these if length of days attend, May Heav'n, to bless those days, preserve my friend, Preserve him social, cheerful, and serene, And just as rich as when he serv'd a QUEEN. 415 A. Whether that blessing be deny'd or giv'n, Thus far was right, the rest belongs to Heav'n. * * * * * ODE ON SOLITUDE Happy the man whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air, In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, 5 Whose flocks supply him with attire, Whose trees in summer yield him shade, In winter fire. Blest, who can unconcern'dly find Hours, days, and years slide soft away, 10 In health of body, peace of mind, Quiet by day, Sound sleep by night; study and ease, Together mixt; sweet recreation; And Innocence, which most does please 15 With meditation. Thus let me live, unseen, unknown, Thus unlamented let me die, Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie. 20 * * * * * THE DESCENT OF DULLNESS [From the 'Dunciad', Book IV] In vain, in vain--the all-composing Hour Resistless falls: the Muse obeys the Pow'r. She comes! she comes! the sable Throne behold Of _Night_ primæval and of _Chaos_ old! Before her, _Fancy's_ gilded clouds decay, 5 And all its varying Rain-bows die away. _Wit_ shoots in vain its momentary fires, The meteor drops, and in a flash expires. As one by one, at dread Medea's strain, The sick'ning stars fade off th' ethereal plain; 10 As Argus' eyes by Hermes' wand opprest, Clos'd one by one to everlasting rest; Thus at her felt approach, and secret might, _Art_ after _Art_ goes out, and all is Night. See skulking _Truth_ to her old cavern fled, 15 Mountains of Casuistry heap'd o'er her head! _Philosophy_, that lean'd on Heav'n before, Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more. _Physic_ of _Metaphysic_ begs defence, And _Metaphysic_ calls for aid on _Sense_! 20 See _Mystery_ to _Mathematics_ fly! In vain! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die. _Religion_ blushing veils her sacred fires, And unawares _Morality_ expires. For _public_ Flame, nor _private_, dares to shine; 25 Nor _human_ Spark is left, nor Glimpse _divine_! Lo! thy dread Empire, CHAOS! is restor'd; Light dies before thy uncreating word; Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall, And universal Darkness buries All. 30 * * * * * ON MR. GAY IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1732 Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild; In Wit, a Man; Simplicity, a Child: With native Humour temp'ring virtuous Rage, Form'd to delight at once and lash the age: Above Temptation, in a low Estate, 5 And uncorrupted, ev'n among the Great: A safe Companion, and an easy Friend, Unblam'd thro' Life, lamented in thy End. These are Thy Honours! not that here thy Bust Is mix'd with Heroes, or with Kings thy dust; 10 But that the Worthy and the Good shall say, Striking their pensive bosoms--_Here_ lies GAY. * * * * * NOTES THE RAPE OF THE LOCK INTRODUCTION In 1711 Pope, who had just published his 'Essay on Criticism', waslooking about for new worlds to conquer. A fortunate chance threw in hisway a subject exactly suited to his tastes and powers. He seized uponit, dashed off his first sketch in less than a fortnight, and publishedit anonymously in a 'Miscellany' issued by Lintot in 1712. But the themehad taken firm root in his mind. Dissatisfied with his first treatmentof it, he determined, against the advice of the best critic of the day, to recast the work, and lift it from a mere society 'jeu d'esprit' intoan elaborate mock-heroic poem. He did so and won a complete success. Even yet, however, he was not completely satisfied and from time to timehe added a touch to his work until he finally produced the finishedpicture which we know as 'The Rape of the Lock'. As it stands, it is analmost flawless masterpiece, a brilliant picture and light-heartedmockery of the gay society of Queen Anne's day, on the whole the mostsatisfactory creation of Pope's genius, and, perhaps, the best exampleof the mock-heroic in any literature. The occasion which gave rise to 'The Rape of the Lock' has been so oftenrelated that it requires only a brief restatement. Among the Catholicfamilies of Queen Anne's day, who formed a little society of their own, Miss Arabella Fermor was a reigning belle. In a youthful frolic whichoverstepped the bounds of propriety Lord Petre, a young nobleman of heracquaintance, cut off a lock of her hair. The lady was offended, the twofamilies took up the quarrel, a lasting estrangement, possibly even aduel, was threatened. At this juncture a common friend of the twofamilies, a Mr. Caryll, nephew of a well-known Jacobite exile for whomhe is sometimes mistaken, suggested to Pope "to write a poem to make ajest of it, " and so kill the quarrel with laughter. Pope consented, wrote his first draft of 'The Rape of the Lock', and passed it about inmanuscript. Pope says himself that it had its effect in the twofamilies; certainly nothing more is heard of the feud. How Miss Fermorreceived the poem is a little uncertain. Pope complains in a letterwritten some months after the poem had appeared in print that "thecelebrated lady is offended. " According to Johnson she liked the verseswell enough to show them to her friends, and a niece of hers said yearsafterward that Mr. Pope's praise had made her aunt "very troublesome andconceited. " It is not improbable that Belinda was both flattered andoffended. Delighted with the praise of her beauty she may none the lesshave felt called upon to play the part of the offended lady when thepoem got about and the ribald wits of the day began to read into itdouble meanings which reflected upon her reputation. To soothe herruffled feelings Pope dedicated the second edition of the poem to her ina delightful letter in which he thanked her for having permitted thepublication of the first edition to forestall an imperfect copy offeredto a bookseller, declared that the character of Belinda resembled her innothing but in beauty, and affirmed that he could never hope that hispoem should pass through the world half so uncensured as she had done. It would seem that the modern critics who have undertaken to championMiss Fermor against what they are pleased to term the revolting behaviorof the poet are fighting a needless battle. A pretty girl who would longsince have been forgotten sat as an unconscious model to a great poet;he made her the central figure in a brilliant picture and rendered hername immortal. That is the whole story, and when carping critics beginto search the poem for the improprieties of conduct to which they sayPope alluded, one has but to answer in Pope's own words. If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all. Pope's statement in the dedication that he had been forced intopublishing the first draft of the poem before his design of enlarging itwas half executed is probably to be taken, like many of his statements, with a sufficient grain of salt. Pope had a curious habit of protestingthat he was forced into publishing his letters, poems, and othertrifles, merely to forestall the appearance of unauthorized editions. Itis more likely that it was the undoubted success of 'The Rape of theLock' in its first form which gave him the idea of working up the sketchinto a complete mock-heroic poem. Examples of such a poem were familiar enough to Pope. Not to go back tothe pseudo-Homeric mock epic which relates the battle of the frogs andmice, Vida in Italy and Boileau in France, with both of whom Pope, asthe 'Essay on Criticism' shows, was well acquainted, had done work ofthis kind. Vida's description of the game of chess in his 'ScacchiaLudus' certainly gave him the model for the game of ombre in the thirdcanto of 'The Rape of the Lock'; Boileau's 'Lutrin' probably suggestedto him the idea of using the mock-heroic for the purposes of satire. Now it was a dogma of the critical creed of the day, which Pope devoutlyaccepted, that every epic must have a well-recognized "machinery. "Machinery, as he kindly explained to Miss Fermor, was a "term inventedby the critics to signify that part which the deities, angels, or demonsare made to act in a poem, " in short for the whole supernatural element. Such machinery was quite wanting in the first draft of the Rape; it mustbe supplied if the poem was to be a true epic, even of the comic kind. And the machinery must be of a nature which would lend itself to thelight satiric tone of the poem. What was it to be? The employment ofwhat we may call Christian machinery, the angels and devils of Tasso andMilton, was, of course, out of the question. The employment of theclassic machinery was almost as impossible. It would have been hard forsuch an admirer of the classics as Pope to have taken the deities ofOlympus otherwise than seriously. And even if he had been able to treatthem humorously, the humor would have been a form of burlesque quite atvariance with what he had set out to accomplish. For Pope's purpose, springing naturally from the occasion which set him to writing the'Rape', was not to burlesque what was naturally lofty by exhibiting itin a degraded light, but to show the true littleness of the trivial bytreating it in a grandiose and mock-heroic fashion, to make the quarrelover the stolen lock ridiculous by raising it to the plane of the epiccontest before the walls of Troy. In his perplexity a happy thought, little less in fact than aninspiration of genius, came to Pope. He had been reading a book by aclever French abbé treating in a satiric fashion of the doctrines of theso-called Rosicrucians, in particular of their ideas of elementalspirits and the influence of these spirits upon human affairs. Here wasthe machinery he was looking for made to his hand. There would be noburlesque in introducing the Rosicrucian sylphs and gnomes into amock-heroic poem, for few people, certainly not the author of the 'Comtede Gabalis', took them seriously. Yet the widespread popularity of thisbook, to say nothing of the existence of certain Rosicrucian societies, had rendered their names familiar to the society for which Pope wrote. He had but to weave them into the action of his poem, and the brilliantlittle sketch of society was transformed into a true mock-epic. The manner in which this interweaving was accomplished is one of themost satisfactory evidences of Pope's artistic genius. He was proud ofit himself. "The making the machinery, and what was published before, hit so well together, is, " he told Spencer, "I think, one of thegreatest proofs of judgment of anything I ever did. " And he might wellbe proud. Macaulay, in a well-known passage, has pointed out how seldomin the history of literature such a recasting of a poem has beensuccessfully accomplished. But Pope's revision of 'The Rape of the Lock'was so successful that the original form was practically done away with. No one reads it now but professed students of the literature of QueenAnne's time. And so artfully has the new matter been woven into the oldthat if the recasting of 'The Rape of the Lock' were not a commonplaceeven in school histories of English literature, not one reader in ahundred would suspect that the original sketch had been revised andenlarged to more than twice its length. It would be an interesting taskfor the student to compare the two forms printed in this edition, tonote exactly what has been added, and the reasons for its addition, andto mark how Pope has smoothed the junctures and blended the old and thenew. Nothing that he could do would admit him more intimately to thesecrets of Pope's mastery of his art. A word must be said in closing as to the merits of 'The Rape of theLock' and its position in English literature. In the first place it isan inimitable picture of one phase, at least, of the life of the time, of the gay, witty, heartless society of Queen Anne's day. Slowlyrecovering from the licentious excesses of the Restoration, society atthis time was perhaps unmoral rather than immoral. It was quite withoutideals, unless indeed the conventions of "good form" may be dignified bythat name. It lacked the brilliant enthusiasm of Elizabethan times aswell as the religious earnestness of the Puritans and the devotion topatriotic and social ideals which marked a later age. Nothing, perhaps, is more characteristic of the age than its attitude toward women. Itaffected indeed a tone of high-flown adoration which thinly veiled acynical contempt. It styled woman a goddess and really regarded her aslittle better than a doll. The passion of love had fallen from the highestate it once possessed and become the mere relaxation of the idlemoments of a man of fashion. In the comedies of Congreve, for example, a lover even if honestly inlove thinks it as incumbent upon him to make light of his passion beforehis friends as to exaggerate it in all the forms of affected complimentbefore his mistress. In 'The Rape of the Lock' Pope has caught and fixed forever theatmosphere of this age. It is not the mere outward form andcircumstance, the manners and customs, the patching, powdering, ogling, gambling, of the day that he has reproduced, though his account of thesewould alone suffice to secure the poem immortality as a contribution tothe history of society. The essential spirit of the age breathes fromevery line. No great English poem is at once so brilliant and so empty, so artistic, and yet so devoid of the ideals on which all high artrests. It is incorrect, I think, to consider Pope in 'The Rape of theLock' as the satirist of his age. He was indeed clever enough toperceive its follies, and witty enough to make sport of them, but it ismuch to be doubted whether he was wise enough at this time to raise hiseyes to anything better. In the social satires of Pope's great admirer, Byron, we are at no loss to perceive the ideal of personal liberty whichthe poet opposes to the conventions he tears to shreds. Is it possibleto discover in 'The Rape of the Lock' any substitute for Belinda'sfancies and the Baron's freaks? The speech of Clarissa which Popeinserted as an afterthought to point the moral of the poem recommendsBelinda to trust to merit rather than to charms. But "merit" isexplicitly identified with good humor, a very amiable quality, buthardly of the highest rank among the moral virtues. And the avowed endand purpose of "merit" is merely to preserve what beauty gains, theflattering attentions of the other sex, --surely the lowest ideal everset before womankind. The truth is, I think, that 'The Rape of the Lock'represents Pope's attitude toward the social life of his time in theperiod of his brilliant youth. He was at once dazzled, amused, anddelighted by the gay world in which he found himself. The apples ofpleasure had not yet turned to ashes on his lips, and it is the poet'ssympathy with the world he paints which gives to the poem the air, mostcharacteristic of the age itself, of easy, idle, unthinking gayety. Wewould not have it otherwise. There are sermons and satires in abundancein English literature, but there is only one 'Rape of the Lock'. The form of the poem is in perfect correspondence with its spirit. Thereis an immense advance over the 'Essay on Criticism' in ease, polish, andbalance of matter and manner. And it is not merely in matters of detailthat the supremacy of the latter poem is apparent. 'The Rape of theLock' is remarkable among all Pope's longer poems as the one completeand perfect whole. It is no mosaic of brilliant epigrams, but an organiccreation. It is impossible to detach any one of its witty paragraphs andread it with the same pleasure it arouses when read in its properconnection. Thalestris' call to arms and Clarissa's moral reproof areintegral parts of the poem. And as a result, perhaps, of its essentialunity 'The Rape of the Lock' bears witness to the presence of a power inPope that we should hardly have suspected from his other works, thepower of dramatic characterization. Elsewhere he has shown himself amaster of brilliant portraiture, but Belinda, the Baron, and Thalestrisare something more than portraits. They are living people, acting andspeaking with admirable consistency. Even the little sketch of Sir Plumeis instinct with life. Finally 'The Rape of the Lock', in its limitations and defects, no lessthan in its excellencies, represents a whole period of English poetry, the period which reaches with but few exceptions from Dryden toWordsworth. The creed which dominated poetic composition during thisperiod is discussed in the introduction to the Essay on Criticism, (seep. 103) and is admirably illustrated in that poem itself. Its repressionof individuality, its insistence upon the necessity of following in thefootsteps of the classic poets, and of checking the outbursts ofimagination by the rules of common sense, simply incapacitated the poetsof the period from producing works of the highest order. And itsinsistence upon man as he appeared in the conventional, urban society ofthe day as the one true theme of poetry, its belief that the end ofpoetry was to instruct and improve either by positive teaching or bynegative satire, still further limited its field. One must remember inattempting an estimate of 'The Rape of the Lock' that it was composedwith an undoubting acceptance of this creed and within all thesenarrowing limitations. And when this is borne in mind, it is hardly toomuch to say that the poem attains the highest point possible. In itstreatment of the supernatural it is as original as a poem could be atthat day. The brilliancy of its picture of contemporary society couldnot be heightened by a single stroke. Its satire is swift and keen, butnever ill natured. And the personality of Pope himself shines throughevery line. Johnson advised authors who wished to attain a perfect styleto give their days and nights to a study of Addison. With equal justiceone might advise students who wish to catch the spirit of our so-calledAugustan age, and to realize at once the limitations and possibilitiesof its poetry, to devote themselves to the study of 'The Rape of theLock'. DEDICATION 'Mrs. Arabella': the title of Mrs. Was still given in Pope's time to unmarried ladies assoon as they were old enough to enter society. 'the Rosicrucian doctrine': the first mention of the Rosicrucians is in a book published in Germanyin 1614, inviting all scholars to join the ranks of a secret societysaid to have been founded two centuries before by a certain ChristianRosenkreuz who had mastered the hidden wisdom of the East. It seemsprobable that this book was an elaborate hoax, but it was takenseriously at the time, and the seventeenth century saw the formation ofnumerous groups of "Brothers of the Rosy Cross. " They dabbled inalchemy, spiritualism, and magic, and mingled modern science withsuperstitions handed down from ancient times. Pope probably knew nothingmore of them than what he had read in 'Le Comte de Gabalis'. This was the work of a French abbé, de Montfaucon Villars (1635-1673), who was well known in his day both as a preacher and a man of letters. It is really a satire upon the fashionable mystical studies, but treatsin a tone of pretended seriousness of secret sciences, of elementalspirits, and of their intercourse with men. It was translated intoEnglish in 1680 and again in 1714. CANTO I Lines '1-2' Pope opens his mock-epic with the usual epic formula, the statement ofthe subject. Compare the first lines of the 'Iliad', the 'Æneid', and'Paradise Lost'. In l. 7 he goes on to call upon the "goddess, " i. E. Themuse, to relate the cause of the rape. This, too, is an epic formula. Compare 'Æneid', I, 8, and 'Paradise Lost', I, 27-33. '3 Caryl': see Introduction, p. 83. In accordance with his wish his name was notprinted in the editions of the poem that came out in Pope's lifetime, appearing there only as C----or C----l. '4 Belinda': a name used by Pope to denote Miss Fermor, the heroine of 'The Rape ofthe Lock'. '12' This line is almost a translation of a line in the 'Æneid' (I, 11), where Virgil asks if it be possible that such fierce passions (asJuno's) should exist in the minds of gods. '13 Sol': a good instance of the fondness which Pope shared with most poets of histime for giving classical names to objects of nature. This trick wassupposed to adorn and elevate poetic diction. Try to find otherinstances of this in 'The Rape of the Lock'. Why is the sun's ray called "tim'rous"? '16' It was an old convention that lovers were so troubled by their passionthat they could not sleep. In the 'Prologue to the Canterbury Tales'(ll. 97-98), Chaucer says of the young squire: So hote he lovede, that by nightertale He sleep namore than dooth a nightingale. Pope, of course, is laughing at the easy-going lovers of his day who inspite of their troubles sleep very comfortably till noon. '17' The lady on awaking rang a little hand-bell that stood on a table by herbed to call her maid. Then as the maid did not appear at once she tappedimpatiently on the floor with the heel of her slipper. The watch in thenext line was a repeater. '19' All the rest of this canto was added in the second edition of the poem. See pp. 84-86. Pope did not notice that he describes Belinda as wakingin I. 14 and still asleep and dreaming in ll. 19-116. '20 guardian Sylph': compare ll. 67-78. '23 a Birth-night Beau': a fine gentleman in his best clothes, such as he would wear at a ball onthe occasion of a royal birthday. '30' The nurse would have told Belinda the old tales of fairies who danced bymoonlight on rings in the greensward, and dropped silver coins into theshoes of tidy little maids. The priest, on the other hand, would haverepeated to her the legend of St. Cecilia and her guardian angel whoonce appeared in bodily form to her husband holding two rose garlandsgathered in Paradise, or of St. Dorothea, who sent an angel messengerwith a basket of heavenly fruits and flowers to convert the paganTheophilus. '42 militia': used here in the general sense of "soldiery. " '44 the box': in the theater. 'the ring': the drive in Hyde Park, where the ladies of society took the air. '46 a chair': a sedan chair in which ladies used to be carried about. Why is Belindatold to scorn it? '50' What is the meaning of "vehicles" in this line? '56 Ombre': the fashionable game of cards in Pope's day. See his account of a gamein Canto III and the notes on that passage. '57-67' See 'Introduction', p. 85. '69-70' Compare 'Paradise Lost', I, 423-431. '79' conscious of their face: proud of their beauty. '81 These': the gnomes who urge the vain beauties to disdain all offers of love andplay the part of prudes. '85 garters, stars, and coronets': the garter is the badge of the Knights of the Garter, an order foundedby Edward III, to which only noble princes and noblemen of the highestrank were admitted. "Stars" are the jeweled decorations worn by membersof other noble orders. "Coronets" are the inferior crowns worn byprinces and nobles, not by sovereigns. '86 "Your Grace"': the title bestowed in England on a duchess--The idea in this passage, ll. 83-86, is that the gnomes fill the girls' minds with hopes of asplendid marriage and so induce them to "deny love. " '94 impertinence': purposeless flirtation. '97-98 Florio . .. Damon': poetic names for fine gentlemen; no special individuals are meant. '100' Why is a woman's heart called a "toy-shop"? '101 Sword-knots': tassels worn at the hilts of swords. In Pope's day every gentlemancarried a sword, and these sword-knots were often very gay. '105 who thy protection claim': what is the exact meaning of his phrase? '108 thy ruling Star': the star that controls thy destinies, a reference to the old belief inastrology. '115 Shock': Belinda's pet dog. His name would seem to show that he was arough-haired terrier. '118' Does this line mean that Belinda had never seen a billet-doux before? '119 Wounds, Charms, and Ardors': the usual language of a love-letter at this time. '124 the Cosmetic pow'rs': the deities that preside over a lady's toilet. Note the playful satirewith which Pope describes Belinda's toilet as if it were a religiousceremony. Who is "th' inferior priestess" in l. 127? '131 nicely': carefully. '134 Arabia': famous for its perfumes. '145 set the head': arrange the head-dress. '147 Betty': Belinda's maid. CANTO II '4 Launch'd': embarked. '25 springes': snares. '26 the finny prey': a characteristic instance of Pope's preference or circumlocution to adirect phrase. '35-36' A regular formula in classical epics. In Virgil (XI, 794-795) Phoebusgrants part of the prayer of Arruns; the other part he scatters to thelight winds. '38 vast French Romances': these romances were the customary reading of society in Pope's day whenthere were as yet no English novels. Some of them were of enormouslength. Addison found several of them in a typical lady's library, greatfolio volumes, finely bound in gilt ('Spectator', 37). '58 All but the Sylph': so in Homer (1-25), while all the rest of the army is sleeping Agamemnonis disturbed by fear of the doom impending over the Greeks at the handsof Hector. '60 Waft': wave, or flutter. '70 Superior by the head': so in Homer ('Iliad', III, 225-227) Ajax is described as towering overthe other Greeks by head and shoulders. '73 sylphids': a feminine form of "sylphs. " '74' This formal opening of Ariel's address to his followers is a parody of apassage in 'Paradise Lost', V, 600-601. '75 spheres': either "worlds" or in a more general sense "regions. " '79' What are the "wandering orbs, " and how do they differ from planets in l. 80? '97 a wash': a lotion for the complexion. '105' Diana, the virgin huntress, was in a peculiar sense the goddess ofchastity. '106 China jar': the taste for collecting old china was comparatively new in England atthis time. It had been introduced from Holland by Queen Anne's sister, Queen Mary, and was eagerly caught up by fashionable society. '113 The drops': the diamond earrings. '118 the Petticoat': the huge hoop skirt which had recently become fashionable. Addison, in ahumorous paper in the 'Tatler' (No. 116), describes one as abouttwenty-four yards in circumference. '128 bodkin': a large needle. '133 rivel'd': an obsolete raiment of "obrivelled. " '133 Ixion': according to classical mythology Ixion was punished for his sins bybeing bound forever upon a whirling wheel. '134 Mill': the mill in which cakes of chocolate were ground up preparatory tomaking the beverage. '138 orb in orb': in concentric circles. '139 thrid': a variant form of "thread. " CANTO III '3 a structure': Hampton Court, a palace on the Thames, a few miles above London. It wasbegun by Wolsey, and much enlarged by William III. Queen Anne visited itoccasionally, and cabinet meetings were sometimes held there. Popeinsinuates (l. 6) that the statesmen who met in these councils were asinterested in the conquest of English ladies as of foreign enemies. '8' Tea was still in Queen Anne's day a luxury confined to the rich. Itcost, in 1710, from twelve to twenty-eight shillings per pound. '9 The heroes and the nymphs': the boating party which started for Hampton Court in Canto II. '17' Snuff-taking had just become fashionable at this time. The practice issaid to date from 1702, when an English admiral brought back fifty tonsof snuff found on board some Spanish ships which he had captured in VigoBay. In the 'Spectator' for August 8, 1711, a mock advertisement is insertedprofessing to teach "the exercise of the snuff-box according to the mostfashionable airs and motions, " and in the number for April 4, 1712, Steele protests against "an impertinent custom the fine women havelately fallen into of taking snuff. " '22 dine': the usual dinner hour in Queen Anne's reign was about 3 P. M. Fashionablepeople dined at 4, or later. This allowed the fashionable lady who roseat noon time to do a little shopping and perform "the long labours ofthe toilet. " '26 two . .. Knights': one of these was the baron, see l. 66. '27 Ombre': a game of cards invented in Spain. It takes its name from the Spanishphrase originally used by the player who declared trumps: "Yo soyl'hombre, " 'i. E. ' I am the man. It could be played by three, five, ornine players, but the usual number was three as here. Each of thesereceived nine cards, and one of them named the trump and thus became the"ombre, " who played against the two others. If either of the ombre'sopponents took more tricks than the ombre, it was "codille" (l. 92). This meant that the opponent took the stake and the ombre had to replaceit for the next hand. A peculiar feature of ombre is the rank, or value, of the cards. Thethree best cards were called "matadores, " a Spanish word meaning"killers. " The first of these matadores was "Spadillio, " the ace ofspades; the third was "Basto, " the ace of clubs. The second, "Manillio, "varied according to the suit. If a black suit were declared, Maniiliowas the two of trumps; if a red suit, Manillio was the seven of trumps. It is worth noting also that the red aces were inferior to the facecards of their suits except when a red suit was trump. A brief analysis of the game played on this occasion will clear up thepassage and leave the reader free to admire the ingenuity with whichPope has described the contest in terms of epic poetry. Belinda declares spades trumps and so becomes the "ombre. " She leads oneafter the other the three matadores; and takes three tricks. She thenleads the next highest card, the king of spades, and wins a fourthtrick. Being out of trumps she now leads the king of clubs; but thebaron, who has actually held more spades than Belinda, trumps it withthe queen of spades. All the trumps are now exhausted and the baron'slong suit of diamonds is established. He takes the sixth, seventh, andeighth tricks with the king, queen, and knave of diamonds, respectively. Everything now depends on the last trick, since Belinda and the baroneach have taken four. The baron leads the ace of hearts and Belindatakes it with the king, thus escaping "codille" and winning the stake. '30 the sacred nine': the nine Muses. '41 succint': tucked up. '54 one Plebeian card': one of Belinda's opponents is now out of trumps and discards a low cardon her lead. '61 Pam': a term applied to the knave of clubs which was always the highest cardin Lu, another popular game of that day. '74 the globe': the jeweled ball which forms one of the regalia of a monarch. The aspectof playing cards has changed not a little since Pope's day, but theglobe is still to be seen on the king of clubs. '79 Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts': these are the losing cards played by Belinda and the third player on thebaron's winning diamonds. '99' Pope's old enemy, Dennis, objected to the impropriety of Belinda'sfilling the sky with exulting shouts, and some modern critics have beenfoolish enough to echo his objection. The whole scene is a masterpieceof the mock-heroic. The game is a battle, the cards are warriors, andBelinda's exclamations of pleasure at winning are in the same fashionmagnified into the cheers of a victorious army. '100 long canals': the canals which run through the splendid gardens of Hampton Court, laidout by William III in the Dutch fashion. '106 The berries crackle': it would seem from this phrase that coffee was at that time roasted aswell as ground in the drawing-room. In a letter written shortly afterthe date of this poem Pope describes Swift as roasting coffee "with hisown hands in an engine made for that purpose. " Coffee had been introduced into England about the middle of theseventeenth century. In 1657 a barber who had opened one of the firstcoffeehouses in London was indicted for "making and selling a sort ofliquor called coffee, as a great nuisance and prejudice of theneighborhood. " In Pope's time there were nearly three thousandcoffee-houses in London. 'The mill': the coffee-mill. '107 Altars of Japan': japanned stands for the lamps. '117-118' The parenthesis in these lines contains a hit at the would-be omniscientpoliticians who haunted the coffee-houses of Queen Anne's day, and whoprofessed their ability to see through all problems of state with theireyes half-shut. Pope jestingly attributes their wisdom to the inspiringpower of coffee. '122 Scylla': the daughter of King Nisus in Grecian legends. Nisus had a purple hairand so long as it was untouched he was unconquerable. Scylla fell inlove with one of his enemies and pulled out the hair while Nisus slept. For this crime she was turned into a bird. The story is told in full inOvid's 'Metamorphoses', Bk. VIII. '127 Clarissa': it does not appear that Pope had any individual lady in mind. We do notknow, at least, that any lady instigated or aided Lord Petre to cut offthe lock. '144 An earthly Lover': we know nothing of any love affair of Miss Fermor's. Pope mentions the"earthly lover" here to account for Ariel's desertion of Belinda, for hecould only protect her so long as she "rejected mankind"; compare CantoI, ll. 67-68. '147 Forfex': a Latin word meaning scissors. '152' Pope borrowed this idea from Milton, who represents the wound inflictedon Satan, by the Archangel Michael as healing immediately-- Th' ethereal substance closed Not long divisible. --'Paradise Lost', VI, 330-331. '165 Atalantis': 'The New Atalantis', a four-volume "cornucopia of scandal" involving almost every publiccharacter of the day, was published by a Mrs. Manley in 1709. It wasvery widely read. The Spectator found it, along with a key whichrevealed the identities of its characters, in the lady's library alreadymentioned ('Spectator', No. 37). '166 the small pillow': a richly decorated pillow which fashionable ladies used to prop them upin bed when they received morning visits from gentlemen. Addison givesan account of such a visit in the 'Spectator', No. 45. '167 solemn days': days of marriage or mourning, on which at this time formal calls werepaid. '173 the labour of the gods': the walls of Troy built by Apollo and Neptune for King Laomedon. '178 unresisted': irresistible. CANTO IV '8 Cynthia': a fanciful name for any fashionable lady. No individual is meant. 'manteau': a loose upper garment for women. '16 Spleen': the word is used here as a personification of melancholy, or lowspirits. It was not an uncommon affectation in England at this time. Aletter to the 'Spectator', No. 53, calls it "the distemper of the greatand the polite. " '17 the Gnome': Umbriel, who in accordance with his nature now proceeds to stir uptrouble. Compare Canto I, ll. 63-64. '20' The bitter east wind which put every one into a bad humor was supposedto be one of the main causes of the spleen. '23 She': the goddess of the spleen. Compare l. 79. '84 Megrim': headache. '29 store': a large supply. '38 night-dress': the modern dressing-gown. The line means that whenever a fashionablebeauty bought a new dressing-gown she pretended to be ill in order toshow her new possession to sympathetic friends who called on her. '40 phantoms': these are the visions, dreadful or delightful, of the disorderedimagination produced by spleen. '43 snakes on rolling spires': like the serpent which Milton describes in 'Paradise Lost', IX, 501-502, "erect amidst his circling spires. " '46 angels in machines': angels coming to help their votaries. The word "machine" here has anold-fashioned technical sense. It was first used to describe theapparatus by which a god was let down upon the stage of the Greektheater. Since a god was only introduced at a critical moment to helpthe distressed hero, the phrase, "deus ex machina, " came to mean a godwho rendered aid. Pope transfers it here to angels. '47 throngs': Pope now describes the mad fancies of people so affected by spleen as toimagine themselves transformed to inanimate objects. '51 pipkin': a little jar. Homer ('Iliad', XVIII, 373-377) tells how Vulcan had madetwenty wonderful tripods on living wheels that moved from place to placeof their own accord. '52' Pope in a note to this poem says that a lady of his time actuallyimagined herself to be a goose-pie. '56 A branch': so Æneas bore a magic branch to protect him when he descended to theinfernal regions ('Æneid', VI, 136-143). 'Spleenwort': a sort of fern which was once supposed to be a remedy against the spleen. '58 the sex': women. '59 vapours': a form of spleen to which women were supposed to be peculiarly liable, something like our modern hysteria. It seems to have taken its name fromthe fogs of England which were thought to cause it. '65 a nymph': Belinda, who had always been so light-hearted that she had never been avictim of the spleen. '89 Citron-waters': a liqueur made by distilling brandy with the rind of citrons. It was afashionable drink for ladies at this time. '71' Made men suspicious of their wives. '82 Ulysses': Homer ('Odyssey', X, 1-25) tells how Æolus, the god of the winds, gaveUlysses a wallet of oxhide in which all the winds that might oppose hisjourney homeward were closely bound up. '89 Thalestris': the name of a warlike queen of the Amazons. Pope uses it here for afriend of Belinda's, who excites her to revenge herself for the rape ofher lock. It is said that this friend was a certain Mrs. Morley. '102 loads of lead': curl papers used to be fastened with strips of lead. '105 Honour': female reputation. '109 toast': a slang term in Pope's day for a reigning beauty whose health wasregularly drunk by her admirers. Steele ('Tatler', No. 24) says that theterm had its rise from an accident that happened at Bath in the reign ofCharles II. A famous beauty was bathing there in public, and one of heradmirers filled a glass with the water in which she stood and drank herhealth. "There was in the place, " says Steele "a gay fellow, half-fuddled, who offered to jump in, and swore though he liked not the liquor, he would have the Toast. He was opposed in his resolution; yet this whim gave foundation to the present honor which is done to the lady we mention in our liquors, who has ever since been called a TOAST. " To understand the point of the story one must know that it was an oldcustom to put a bit of toast in hot drinks. In this line in the poem Thalestris insinuates that if Belinda submitstamely to the rape of the lock, her position as a toast will beforfeited. '113-116' Thalestris supposes that the baron will have the lock set in a ringunder a bit of crystal. Old-fashioned hair-rings of this kind are stillto be seen. '117 Hyde-park Circus': the Ring of Canto I, l. 44. Grass was not likely to grow there so longas it remained the fashionable place to drive. '118 in the sound of Bow': within hearing of the bells of the church of St. Mary le Bow inCheapside. So far back as Ben Jonson's time (Eastward Ho, I, ii, 36) itwas the mark of the unfashionable middle-class citizen to live in thisquarter. A "wit" in Queen Anne's day would have scorned to lodge there. '121 Sir Plume': this was Sir George Brown, brother of Mrs. Morley (Thalestris). He wasnot unnaturally offended at the picture drawn of him in this poem. Popetold a friend many years later that "nobody was angry but Sir George Brown, and he was a good deal so, and for a long time. He could not bear that Sir Plume should talk nothing but nonsense. " '124 a clouded cane': a cane of polished wood with cloudlike markings. In the 'Tatler', Mr. Bickerstaff sits in judgment on canes, and takes away a cane, "curiouslyclouded, with a transparent amber head, and a blue ribband to hang uponhis wrist, " from a young gentleman as a piece of idle foppery. There aresome amusing remarks on the "conduct" of canes in the same essay. '133' The baron's oath is a parody of the oath of Achilles ('Iliad', I, 234). '142' The breaking of the bottle of sorrows, etc. , is the cause of Belinda'schange of mood from wrath as in l. 93 to tears, 143-144. '155 the gilt Chariot': the painted and gilded coach in which ladies took the air in London. '156 Bohea:' tea, the name comes from a range of hills in China where a certain kindof tea was grown. '162 the patch-box:' the box which held the little bits of black sticking-plaster with whichladies used to adorn their faces. According to Addison ('Spectator', No. 81), ladies even went so far in this fad as to patch on one side of theface or the other, according to their politics. CANTO V '5 the Trojan:' Æneas, who left Carthage in spite of the wrath of Dido and theentreaties of her sister Anna. '7-36' Pope inserted these lines in a late revision in 1717, in order, as hesaid, to open more clearly the moral of the poem. The speech of Clarissais a parody of a famous speech by Sarpedon in the 'Iliad', XII, 310-328. '14' At this time the gentlemen always sat in the side boxes of the theater;the ladies in the front boxes. '20' As vaccination had not yet been introduced, small-pox was at this time aterribly dreaded scourge. '23' In the 'Spectator', No. 23, there is inserted a mock advertisement, professing to teach the whole art of ogling, the church ogle, theplayhouse ogle, a flying ogle fit for the ring, etc. '24' Painting the face was a common practice of the belles of this time. 'TheSpectator', No. 41, contains a bitter attack on the painted ladies whomit calls the "Picts. " '37 virago:' a fierce, masculine woman, here used for Thalestris. '45' In the 'Iliad' (Bk. XX) the gods are represented as taking sides for theGreeks and Trojans and fighting among themselves. Pallas opposes Ares, or Mars; and Hermes, Latona. '48 Olympus:' the hill on whose summit the gods were supposed to dwell, often used forheaven itself. '50 Neptune:' used here for the sea over which Neptune presided. '53 a sconce's height:' the top of an ornamental bracket for holding candles. '61' Explain the metaphor in this line. '64' The quotation is from a song in an opera called 'Camilla'. '65' The Mæander is a river in Asia Minor. Ovid ('Heroides', VII, 1-2)represents the swan as singing his death-song on its banks. '68' Chloe: a fanciful name. No real person is meant. '71' The figure of Jove weighing the issue of a battle in his scales is foundin the 'Iliad', VIII, 69-73. Milton imitated it in 'Paradise Lost', IX, 996-1004. When the men's wits mounted it showed that they were lighter, less important, than the lady's hair, and so were destined to lose thebattle. '89-96' This pedigree of Belinda's bodkin is a parody of Homer's account ofAgamemnon's scepter ('Iliad', II, 100-108). '105-106' In Shakespeare's play Othello fiercely demands to see a handkerchiefwhich he has given his wife, and takes her inability to show it to himas a proof of her infidelity. '113' the lunar sphere: it was an old superstition that everything lost onearth went to the moon. An Italian poet, Ariosto, uses this notion in apoem with which Pope was familiar ('Orlando Furioso', Canto XXXIV), andfrom which he borrowed some of his ideas for the cave of Spleen. '122' Why does Pope include "tomes of casuistry" in this collection? '125' There was a legend that Romulus never died, but had been caught up tothe skies in a storm. Proculus, a Roman senator, said that Romulus haddescended from heaven and spoken to him and then ascended again (Livy, I, 16). '129' Berenice's Locks: Berenice was an Egyptian queen who dedicated a lock of hair for herhusband's safe return from war. It was said afterward to have become aconstellation, and a Greek poet wrote some verses on the marvel. '132' Why were the Sylphs pleased? '133' the Mall: the upper side of St. James's park in London, a favorite place at thistime for promenades. '136' Rosamonda's lake: a pond near one of the gates of St. James's park, a favorite rendezvousfor lovers. '137' Partridge: an almanac maker of Pope's day who was given to prophesying futureevents. Shortly before this poem was written Swift had issued a mockalmanac foretelling that Partridge would die on a certain day. When thatday came Swift got out a pamphlet giving a full account of Partridge'sdeath. In spite of the poor man's protests, Swift and his friends kepton insisting that he was dead. He was still living, however, when Popewrote this poem. Why does Pope call him "th' egregious wizard"? '138' Galileo's eyes: the telescope, first used by the Italian astronomer Galileo. '140' Louis XIV of France, the great enemy of England at this time '--Rome:' here used to denote the Roman Catholic Church. '143 the shining sphere:' an allusion to the old notion that all the stars were set in one spherein the sky. Belinda's lost lock, now a star, is said to add a new lightto this sphere. 147 What are the "fair suns"? * * * * * AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM INTRODUCTION The 'Essay on Criticism' was the first really important work that Popegave to the world. He had been composing verses from early boyhood, andhad actually published a set of 'Pastorals' which had attracted someattention. He was already known to the literary set of Londoncoffeehouses as a young man of keen wit and high promise, but to thereading public at large he was as yet an unknown quantity. With theappearance of the 'Essay', Pope not only sprang at once into the fulllight of publicity, but seized almost undisputed that position as thefirst of living English poets which he was to retain unchallenged tillhis death. Even after his death down to the Romantic revival, in fact, Pope's supremacy was an article of critical faith, and this supremacywas in no small measure founded upon the acknowledged merits of the'Essay on Criticism. ' Johnson, the last great representative of Pope'sown school of thought in matters literary, held that the poet had neverexcelled this early work and gave it as his deliberate opinion that ifPope had written nothing else, the 'Essay' would have placed him amongthe first poets and the first critics. The 'Essay on Criticism' ishardly an epoch-making poem, but it certainly "made" Alexander Pope. The poem was published anonymously in the spring of 1711, when Pope wastwenty-three years old. There has been considerable dispute as to thedate of its composition; but the facts seem to be that it was begun in1707 and finished in 1709 when Pope had it printed, not for publication, but for purposes of further correction. As it stands, therefore, itrepresents a work planned at the close of Pope's precocious youth, andexecuted and polished in the first flush of his manhood. And it is quitefair to say that considering the age of its author the 'Essay onCriticism' is one of the most remarkable works in English. Not that there is anything particularly original about the 'Essay. ' Onthe contrary, it is one of the most conventional of all Pope's works. Ithas nothing of the lively fancy of 'The Rape of the Lock', little ornothing of the personal note which stamps the later satires and epistlesas so peculiarly Pope's own. Apart from its brilliant epigrammaticexpression the 'Essay on Criticism' might have been written by almostany man of letters in Queen Anne's day who took the trouble to think alittle about the laws of literature, and who thought about those lawsstrictly in accordance with the accepted conventions of his time. Popeis not in the least to be blamed for this lack of originality. Profoundoriginal criticism is perhaps the very last thing to be expected of abrilliant boy, and Pope was little more when he planned this work. Butboy as he was, he had already accomplished an immense amount ofdesultory reading, not only in literature proper, but in literarycriticism as well. He told Spence in later years that in his youth hehad gone through all the best critics, naming especially Quintilian, Rapin, and Bossu. A mere cursory reading of the Essay shows that he hadalso studied Horace, Vida, and Boileau. Before he began to write he had, so he told Spence, "digested all the matter of the poem into prose. " Inother words, then, the 'Essay on Criticism' is at once the result ofPope's early studies, the embodiment of the received literary doctrinesof his age, and, as a consecutive study of his poems shows, theprogramme in accordance with which, making due allowance for certainexceptions and inconsistencies, he evolved the main body of his work. It would, however, be a mistake to treat, as did Pope's first editor, the 'Essay on Criticism' as a methodical, elaborate, and systematictreatise. Pope, indeed, was flattered to have a scholar of suchrecognized authority as Warburton to interpret his works, and permittedhim to print a commentary upon the 'Essay', which is quite as long andinfinitely duller than the original. But the true nature of the poem isindicated by its title. It is not an 'Art of Poetry' such as Boileaucomposed, but an 'Essay'. And by the word "essay, " Pope meant exactlywhat Bacon did, --a tentative sketch, a series of detached thoughts upona subject, not a complete study or a methodical treatise. All that weknow of Pope's method of study, habit of thought, and practice ofcomposition goes to support this opinion. He read widely butdesultorily; thought swiftly and brilliantly, but illogically andinconsistently; and composed in minute sections, on the backs of lettersand scraps of waste paper, fragments which he afterward united, ratherthan blended, to make a complete poem, a mosaic, rather than a picture. Yet the 'Essay' is by no means the "collection of independent maximstied together by the printer, but having no natural order, " which DeQuincey pronounced it to be. It falls naturally into three parts. Thefirst deals with the rules derived by classic critics from the practiceof great poets, and ever since of binding force both in the compositionand in the criticism of poetry. The second analyzes with admirablesagacity the causes of faulty criticism as pride, imperfect learning, prejudice, and so on. The third part discusses the qualities which atrue critic should possess, good taste, learning, modesty, frankness, and tact, and concludes with a brief sketch of the history of criticismfrom Aristotle to Walsh. This is the general outline of the poem, sufficient, I think, to show that it is not a mere bundle of poeticformulae. But within these broad limits the thought of the poem wandersfreely, and is quite rambling, inconsistent, and illogical enough toshow that Pope is not formulating an exact and definitely determinedsystem of thought. Such indeed was, I fancy, hardly his purpose. It was rather to giveclear, vivid, and convincing expression to certain ideas which were atthat time generally accepted as orthodox in the realm of literarycriticism. No better expression of these ideas can be found anywherethan in the 'Essay' itself, but a brief statement in simple prose ofsome of the most important may serve as a guide to the young student ofthe essay. In the first place, the ultimate source alike of poetry and criticism isa certain intuitive faculty, common to all men, though more highlydeveloped in some than others, called Reason, or, sometimes, Good Sense. The first rule for the budding poet or critic is "Follow Nature. " This, by the way, sounds rather modern, and might be accepted by any romanticpoet. But by "Nature" was meant not at all the natural impulses of theindividual, but those rules founded upon the natural and common reasonof mankind which the ancient critics had extracted and codified from thepractice of the ancient poets. Pope says explicitly "to follow nature isto follow them;" and he praises Virgil for turning aside from his ownoriginal conceptions to imitate Homer, for: Nature and Homer were, he found, the same. Certain exceptions to these rules were, indeed, allowable, --severercritics than Pope, by the way, absolutely denied this, --but only to theancient poets. The moderns must not dare to make use of them, or at thevery best moderns must only venture upon such exceptions to the rules asclassic precedents would justify. Inasmuch as all these rules werediscovered and illustrated in ancient times, it followed logically thatthe great breach with antiquity, which is called the Middle Ages, was aperiod of hopeless and unredeemed barbarism, incapable of bringing forthany good thing. The light of literature began to dawn again with therevival of learning at the Renaissance, but the great poets of theRenaissance, Spenser and Shakespeare, for example, were "irregular, "that is, they trusted too much to their individual powers and did notaccept with sufficient humility the orthodox rules of poetry. Thisdogma, by the way, is hardly touched upon in the 'Essay', but iselaborated with great emphasis in Pope's later utterance on theprinciples of literature, the well-known 'Epistle to Augustus'. Finallywith the establishment of the reign of Reason in France under Louis XIV, and in England a little later, the full day had come, and literary sinsof omission and commission that might be winked at in such an untutoredgenius as Shakespeare were now unpardonable. This last dogma explainsthe fact that in the brief sketch of the history of criticism whichconcludes the 'Essay', Pope does not condescend to name an English poetor critic prior to the reign of Charles II. It would be beside the purpose to discuss these ideas to-day or toattempt an elaborate refutation of their claims to acceptance. Time hasdone its work upon them, and the literary creed of the wits of QueenAnne's day is as antiquated as their periwigs and knee-breeches. Exceptfor purposes of historical investigation it is quite absurd to take the'Essay on Criticism' seriously. And yet it has even for us of to-day a real value. Our age absolutelylacks a standard of literary criticism; and of all standards the oneleast likely to be accepted is that of Pope and his fellow-believers. Individual taste reigns supreme in this democratic age, and one man'sjudgment is as good as, perhaps a little better than, another's. Buteven this democratic and individual age may profit by turning back for atime to consider some of the general truths, as valid to-day as ever, towhich Pope gave such inimitable expression, or to study the outlines ofthat noble picture of the true critic which St. Beuve declared everyprofessed critic should frame and hang up in his study. An age whichseems at times upon the point of throwing classical studies overboard asuseless lumber might do far worse than listen to the eloquent tributewhich the poet pays to the great writers of antiquity. And finallynothing could be more salutary for an age in which literature itself hascaught something of the taint of the prevailing commercialism than tobathe itself again in that spirit of sincere and disinterested love ofletters which breathes throughout the 'Essay' and which, in spite of allhis errors, and jealousies, and petty vices, was the master-passion ofAlexander Pope. '6 censure:' the word has here its original meaning of "judge, " not its modern "judgeseverely" or "blame. " '8' Because each foolish poem provokes a host of foolish commentators andcritics. '15-16' This assertion that only a good writer can be a fair critic is not to beaccepted without reservation. '17' The word "wit" has a number of different meanings in this poem, and thestudent should be careful to discriminate between them. It means 1) mind, intellect, l. 61;2) learning, culture, l 727;3) imagination, genius, l. 82;4) the power to discover amusing analogies, or the apt expression ofsuch an analogy, ll. 449, 297;5) a man possessed of wit in its various significations, l. 45;this last form usually occurs in the plural, ll. 104, 539. '26 the maze of schools:' the labyrinth of conflicting systems of thought, especially of criticism. '21 coxcombs . .. Fools:' what is the difference in meaning between these words in this passage? '30-31' In this couplet Pope hits off the spiteful envy of conceited criticstoward successful writers. If the critic can write himself, he hates theauthor as a rival; if he cannot, he entertains against him the deepgrudge an incapable man so often cherishes toward an effective worker. '34 Mævius:' a poetaster whose name has been handed down by Virgil and Horace. Hisname, like that of his associate, Bavius, has become a by-word for awretched scribbler. 'Apollo': here thought of as the god of poetry. The true poet was inspired byApollo; but a poetaster like Mævius wrote without inspiration, as itwere, in spite of the god. '40-43' Pope here compares "half-learned" critics to the animals which oldwriters reported were bred from the Nile mud. In 'Antony and Cleopatra', for example, Lepidus says, "Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of yourmud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile. " Pope thinks ofthese animals as in the unformed stage, part "kindled into life, part alump of mud. " So these critics are unfinished things for which no propername can be found. "Equivocal generation" is the old term used to denotespontaneous generation of this sort. Pope applies it here to criticswithout proper training who spring spontaneously from the mire ofignorance. '44 tell:' count. '45' The idea is that a vain wit's tongue could out-talk a hundred ordinarymen's. '53 pretending wit:' presuming, or ambitious mind. '56-58 memory . .. Understanding imagination. ' This is the old threefold division of the human mind. Pope means thatwhere one of these faculties is above the average in any individual, another of them is sure to fall below. Is this always the case? '63 peculiar arts:' special branches of knowledge. '73' In what sense can nature be called the source, the end, and the test ofart? '76 th' informing soul:' the soul which not only dwells in, but animatesand molds the body. '80-81' What two meanings are attached to "wit" in this couplet? '84 'Tis more:' it is more important. 'the Muse's steed:' Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology, was supposed to be thehorse of the Muses and came to be considered a symbol of poetic genius. '86 gen'rous:' high-bred. '88' What is the difference between "discovered" and "devised"? '94 Parnassus' top:' the Muses were supposed to dwell on the top of Parnassus, a mountain inGreece. Great poets are here thought of as having climbed the mountainto dwell with the Muses. '96' What is (cf. Text) "the immortal prize"? '99 She', i. E. Learned Greece, especially Greek criticism, which obtained therules of poetry from the practice of great poets, and, as it were, systematized their inspiration. '104 following wits': later scholars. '105' What is meant by "the mistress" and "the maid" in this line? '109 Doctor's bills:' prescriptions. '112' These are the prosy commentators on great poets, whose dreary notesoften disgust readers with the original. '120 fable:' plot. '123' What is the difference between "cavil" and "criticise"? '129 the Mantuan Muse:' the poetry of Virgil, which Pope thinks the best commentary on Homer. Inwhat sense is this to be understood? '130 Maro:' Virgil, whose full name was Publius Vergilius Maro, Pope here praisesVirgil's well-known imitation of Homer. Since "nature and Homer were thesame, " a young poet like Virgil could do nothing better than copy Homer. '138 the Stagirite:' Aristotle, a native of Stagyra, was the first and one of the greatest ofliterary critics. His "rules" were drawn from the practice of greatpoets, and so, according to Pope, to imitate Homer was to obey the"ancient rules. " '141' There are some beauties in poetry which cannot be explained by criticism. '142 happiness:' used here to express the peculiar charm of spontaneous poetic expressionas contrasted with "care, " 'i. E. ' the art of revising and improving, which can be taught. '152 vulgar bounds:' the limitations imposed upon ordinary writers. '157 out of . .. Rise:' surpass the ordinary scenes of nature. '159 Great wits:' poets of real genius. '160 faults:' here used in the sense of irregularities, exceptions to the rules ofpoetry. When these are justified by the poet's genius, true critics donot presume to correct them. In many editions this couplet comes afterl. 151. This was Pope's first arrangement, but he later shifted it toits present position. '162 As Kings:' the Stuart kings claimed the right to "dispense with laws, " that is, toset them aside in special instances. In 1686 eleven out of twelveEnglish judges decided in a test case that "it is a privilegeinseparably connected with the sovereignty of the king to dispense withpenal laws, and that according to his own judgment. " The English peoplevery naturally felt that such a privilege opened the door to absolutemonarchy, and after the fall of James II, Parliament declared in 1689that "the pretended power of suspending of laws . .. Without the consentof Parliament, is illegal. " '164 its End:' the purpose of every law of poetry, namely, to please the reader. Thispurpose must not be "transgressed, " 'i. E. ' forgotten by those who wishto make exceptions to these laws. '166 their precedent:' the example of classic poets. '179 stratagems . .. Error:' things in the classic poets which to carping critics seem faults areoften clever devices to make a deeper impression on the reader. '180 Homer nods:' Horace in his 'Art of Poetry' used this figure to imply that even thegreatest poet sometimes made mistakes. Pope very neatly suggests that itmay be the critic rather than the poet who is asleep. '181 each ancient Altar:' used here to denote the works of the great classic writers. The wholepassage down to l. 200 is a noble outburst of enthusiasm for the poetswhom Pope had read so eagerly in early youth. '186 consenting Pæans:' unanimous hymns of praise. '194 must . .. Found:' are not destined to be discovered till some future time. '196' Who is "the last, the meanest of your sons"? '203 bias:' mental bent, or inclination. '208' This line is based upon physiological theories which are now obsolete. According to these wind or air supplied the lack of blood or of animalspirits in imperfectly constituted bodies. To such bodies Pope comparesthose ill-regulated minds where a deficiency of learning and naturalability is supplied by self-conceit. '216' The Pierian spring: the spring of the Muses, who were called Pierides in Greek mythology. Itis used here as a symbol for learning, particularly for the study ofliterature. '222' the lengths behind: the great spaces of learning that lie behind the first objects of ourstudy. '225-232' This fine simile is one of the best expressions in English verse of themodesty of the true scholar, due to his realization of the boundlessextent of knowledge. It was such a feeling that led Sir Isaac Newton tosay after all his wonderful discoveries, "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary whilst the great ocean of truth lay all the time undiscovered before me. " '244' peculiar parts: individual parts. '248 ev'n thine, O Rome:' there are so many splendid churches in Rome that an inhabitant of thiscity would be less inclined than a stranger to wonder at the perfectproportions of any of them. But there are two, at least, the Pantheonand St. Peter's, which might justly evoke the admiration even of aRoman. It was probably of one of these that Pope was thinking. '265' What is the difference between "principles" and "notions" in this line? '265 La Mancha's Knight:' Don Quixote. The anecdote that follows is not taken from Cervantes'novel, but from a continuation of it by an author calling himselfAvellanada. The story is that Don Quixote once fell in with a scholarwho had written a play about a persecuted queen of Bohemia. Herinnocence in the original story was established by a combat in thelists, but this the poet proposed to omit as contrary to the rules ofAristotle. The Don, although professing great respect for Aristotle, insisted that the combat was the best part of the story and must beacted, even if a special theater had to be built for the purpose, or theplay given in the open fields. Pope quotes this anecdote to show howsome critics in spite of their professed acceptance of general rules areso prejudiced in favor of a minor point as to judge a whole work of artfrom one standpoint only. '270 Dennis:' John Dennis, a playwright and critic of Pope's time. Pope and he wereengaged in frequent quarrels, but this first reference to him in Pope'sworks is distinctly complimentary. The line probably refers to someremarks by Dennis on the Grecian stage in his 'Impartial Critic', apamphlet published in 1693. '273 nice:' discriminating; in l. 286 the meaning is "over-scrupulous, finicky. " '276 unities:' according to the laws of dramatic composition generally accepted inPope's day, a play must observe the unities of subject, place, and time. That is, it must have one main theme, not a number of diverse stories, for its plot; all the scenes must be laid in one place, or as nearly soas possible; and the action must be begun and finished within the spaceof twenty-four hours. '286 Curious:' fastidious, over-particular. '288 by a love to parts:' by too diligent attention to particular parts of a work of art, whichhinders them from forming a true judgment of the work as a whole. '289 Conceit:' an uncommon or fantastic expression of thought. "Conceits" had been muchsought after by the poets who wrote in the first half of the seventeenthcentury. '297 True Wit:' here opposed to the "conceit" of which Pope has been speaking. It isdefined as a natural idea expressed in fit words. '299 whose truth . .. Find:' of whose truth we find ourselves at once convinced. '308 take upon content:' take for granted. '311-317' Show how Pope uses the simile of the "prismatic glass" to distinguishbetween "false eloquence" and "true expression. " '319 decent:' becoming. '328 Fungoso:' a character in Ben Jonson's 'Every Man out of his Humour'. He is the sonof a miserly farmer, and tries hard, though all in vain, to imitate thedress and manners of a fine gentleman. '329 These sparks:' these would-be dandies. '337 Numbers:' rhythm, meter. '341 haunt Parnassus: read poetry. --ear:' note that in Pope's day this word rhymed with"repair" and "there. " '344 These:' critics who care for the meter only in poetry insist on the propernumber of syllables in a line, no matter what sort of sound or senseresults. For instance, they do not object to a series of "open vowels, "'i. E. ' hiatuses caused by the juxtaposition of such words as "tho" and"oft, " "the" and "ear. " Line 345 is composed especially to show howfeeble a rhythm results from such a succession of "open vowels. " They donot object to bolstering up a line with "expletives, " such as "do" in l. 346, nor to using ten "low words, " 'i. E. ' short, monosyllabic words tomake up a line. '347' With this line Pope passes unconsciously from speaking of bad critics todenouncing some of the errors of bad poets, who keep on using hackneyedphrases and worn-out metrical devices. '356 Alexandrine:' a line of six iambic feet, such as l. 357, written especially toillustrate this form. Why does Pope use the adjective "needless" here? '361 Denham's strength . .. Waller's sweetness:' Waller and Denham were poets of the century before Pope; they are almostforgotten to-day, but were extravagantly admired in his time. Wallerbegan and Denham continued the fashion of writing in "closed" heroiccouplets, 'i. E. ' in verses where the sense is for the most partcontained within one couplet and does not run over into the next as hadbeen the fashion in earlier verse. Dryden said that "the excellence anddignity of rhyme were never fully known till Mr. Waller taught it, " andthe same critic spoke of Denham's poetry as "majestic and correct. " '370 Ajax:' one of the heroes of the 'Iliad'. He is represented more than once ashurling huge stones at his enemies. Note that Pope has endeavored inthis and the following line to convey the sense of effort and struggle. What means does he employ? Do you think he succeeds? '372 Camilla:' a heroine who appears in the latter part of the 'Æneid' fighting againstthe Trojan invaders of Italy. Virgil says that she was so swift of footthat she might have run over a field of wheat without breaking thestalks, or across the sea without wetting her feet. Pope attempts in l. 373 to reproduce in the sound and movement of his verse the sense ofswift flight. '374 Timotheus:' a Greek poet and singer who was said to have played and sung beforeAlexander the Great. The reference in this passage is to Dryden's famouspoem, 'Alexander's Feast'. '376 the son of Libyan Jove:' Alexander the Great, who boasted that he was the son of Jupiter. Thefamous oracle of Jupiter Ammon situated in the Libyan desert was visitedby Alexander, who was said to have learned there the secret of hisparentage. '383 Dryden:' this fine compliment is paid to a poet whom Pope was proud toacknowledge as his master. "I learned versification wholly from Dryden'sworks, " he once said. Pope's admiration for Dryden dated from earlyyouth, and while still a boy he induced a friend to take him to see theold poet in his favorite coffee-house. '391' admire: not used in our modern sense, but in its original meaning, "to wonderat. " According to Pope, it is only fools who are lost in wonder at thebeauties of a poem; wise men "approve, " 'i. E. ' test and pronounce themgood. '396-397' Pope acknowledged that in these lines he was alluding to theuncharitable belief of his fellow-Catholics that all outside the fold ofthe Catholic church were sure to be damned. '400 sublimes:' purifies. '404 each:' each age. '415 joins with Quality:' takes sides with "the quality, " 'i. E. ' people of rank. '429' Are so clever that they refuse to accept the common and true belief, andso forfeit their salvation. '441 Sentences:' the reference is to a mediaeval treatise on Theology, by Peter Lombard, called the 'Book of Sentences'. It was long used as a universitytext-book. '444 Scotists and Thomists:' mediaeval scholars, followers respectively of Duns Scotus and ThomasAquinas. A long dispute raged between their disciples. In this coupletPope points out that the dispute is now forgotten, and the books of theold disputants lie covered with cobwebs in Duck-lane, a street in Londonwhere second-hand books were sold in Pope's day. He calls the cobwebs"kindred, " because the arguments of Thomists and Scotists were as finespun as a spider's web. '449' "The latest fashionable folly is the test, or the proof, of a quick, up-to-date wit. " In other words, to be generally accepted an author mustaccept the current fashion, foolish though it may be. '457' This was especially true in Pope's day when literature was so closelyconnected with politics that an author's work was praised or blamed notupon its merits, but according to his, and the critic's, politics. '459 Parsons, Critics, Beaus': Dryden, the head of English letters in the generation before Pope, hadbeen bitterly assailed on various charges by parsons, like JeremyCollier, critics like Milbourn, and fine gentlemen like the Duke ofBuckingham. But his works remained when the jests that were made againstthem were forgotten. '463' Sir Richard Blackmore, a famous doctor in Dryden's day, was also a verydull and voluminous writer. He attacked Dryden in a poem called 'ASatire against Wit'. Luke Milbourn was a clergyman of the same period, who abused Dryden's translation of Virgil. '465 Zoilus': a Greek critic who attacked Homer. '481' The English language and the public taste had changed very rapidlyduring the century preceding Pope. He imagined that these changes wouldcontinue so that no poet's reputation would last longer than a man'slife, "bare threescore, " and Dryden's poetry would come to be as hard tounderstand and as little read as Chaucer's at that time. It is worthnoting that both Dryden and Pope rewrote parts of Chaucer in modernEnglish. '506-507' Explain why "wit" is feared by wicked men and shunned by the virtuous, hated by fools, and "undone" or ruined by knaves. '521 sacred': accursed, like the Latin 'sacer'. '527 spleen': bad temper. '534 the fat age': the reign of Charles II, as ll. 536-537 show, when literature becamenotoriously licentious. '538 Jilts . .. Statesmen': loose women like Lady Castlemaine and the Duchess of Portsmouth hadgreat influence on the politics of Charles II's time, and statesmen ofthat day like Buckingham and Etheredge wrote comedies. '541 Mask': it was not uncommon in Restoration times for ladies to wear a mask inpublic, especially at the theater. Here the word is used to denote thewoman who wore a mask. '544 a Foreign reign': the reign of William III, a Dutchman. Pope, as a Tory and a Catholic, hated the memory of William, and here asserts, rather unfairly, that hisage was marked by an increase of heresy and infidelity. '545 Socinus': the name of two famous heretics, uncle and nephew, of the sixteenthcentury, who denied the divinity of Christ. '549' Pope insinuates here that the clergy under William III hated an absolutemonarch so much that they even encouraged their hearers to question theabsolute power of God. '551 admir'd:' see note l. 391. '552 Wit's Titans:' wits who defied heaven as the old Titans did the gods. The reference isto a group of freethinkers who came into prominence in King William'sreign. '556 scandalously nice:' so over-particular as to find cause for scandal where none exists. '557 mistake an author into vice:' mistakenly read into an author vicious ideas which are not really to befound in his work. '575' Things that men really do not know must be brought forward modestly asif they had only been forgotten for a time. '577 That only:' good-breeding alone. '585 Appius:' a nickname for John Dennis, taken from his tragedy, 'Appius andVirginia', which appeared two years before the 'Essay on Criticism'. Lines 585-587 hit off some of the personal characteristics of thishot-tempered critic. "Tremendous" was a favorite word with Dennis. '588 tax:' blame, find fault with. '591' In Pope's time noblemen could take degrees at the English universitieswithout passing the regular examinations. '617' Dryden's 'Fables' published in 1700 represented the very best narrativepoetry of the greatest poet of his day. D'Urfey's 'Tales', on the otherhand, published in 1704 and 1706, were collections of dull and obscenedoggerel by a wretched poet. '618 With him:' according to "the bookful blockhead. " '619 Garth:' a well-known doctor of the day, who wrote a much admired mock-heroicpoem called 'The Dispensary'. His enemies asserted that he was notreally the author of the poem. '623' Such foolish critics are just as ready to pour out their opinions on aman in St. Paul's cathedral as in the bookseller's shops in the squarearound the church, which is called St. Paul's churchyard. '632 proud to know:' proud of his knowledge. '636 humanly:' an old form for "humanely. " '642 love to praise:' a love of praising men. '648 Mæonian Star:' Homer. Mæonia, or Lydia, was a district in Asia which was said to havebeen the birthplace of Homer. '652 conquered Nature:' Aristotle was a master of all the knowledge of nature extant in his day. '653 Horace:' the famous Latin poet whose 'Ars Poetica' was one of Pope's models forthe 'Essay on Criticism'. '662 fle'me:' phlegm, according to old ideas of physiology, one of the four "humours"or fluids which composed the body. Where it abounded it made men dulland heavy, or as we still say "phlegmatic. " '663-664' A rather confused couplet. It means, "Horace suffers as much by themisquotations critics make from his work as by the bad translations thatwits make of them. " '665 Dionysius:' Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a famous Greek critic. Pope's manner ofreference to him seems to show that he had never read his works. '667 Petronius:' a courtier and man of letters of the time of Nero. Only a few lines ofhis remaining work contain any criticism. '669 Quintilian's work:' the 'Institutiones Oratoriæ' of Quintilianus, a famous Latin critic ofthe first century A. D. '675 Longinus:' a Greek critic of the third century A. D. , who composed a famous workcalled 'A Treatise on the Sublime'. It is a work showing highimagination as well as careful reasoning, and hence Pope speaks of theauthor as inspired by the Nine, 'i. E. ' the Muses. '692' The willful hatred of the monks for the works of classical antiquitytended to complete that destruction of old books which the Goths beganwhen they sacked the Roman cities. Many ancient writings were erased, for example, in order to get parchment for monkish chronicles andcommentaries. '693 Erasmus:' perhaps the greatest scholar of the Renaissance. Pope calls him the"glory of the priesthood" on account of his being a monk of suchextraordinary learning, and "the shame" of his order, because he was soabused by monks in his lifetime. Is this a good antithesis? '697 Leo's golden days:' the pontificate of Leo X (1513-1521). Leo himself was a generous patronof art and learning. He paid particular attention to sacred music (l. 703), and engaged Raphael to decorate the Vatican with frescoes. Vida(l. 704) was an Italian poet of his time, who became famous by theexcellence of his Latin verse. One of his poems was on the art ofpoetry, and it is to this that Pope refers in l. 706. '707-708' Cremona was the birthplace of Vida; Mantua, of Virgil. '709' The allusion is to the sack of Rome by the Constable Bourbon's army in1527. This marked the end of the golden age of arts in Italy. '714 Boileau:' a French poet and critic (1636-1711). His 'L'Art Poetique' is founded onHorace's 'Ars Poetica'. '723 the Muse:' 'i. E. ' the genius, of John Sheffield (1649-1720), Duke of Buckingham(not to be confounded with Dryden's enemy). Line 724 is quoted from his'Essay on Poetry'. '725 Roscommon:' Wentworth Dillon (1633-1684), Earl of Roscommon, author of a translationof the 'Ars Poetica' and of 'An Essay on Translated Verse'. '729 Walsh:' a commonplace poet (1663-1708), but apparently a good critic. Dryden, infact, called him the best critic in the nation. He was an early friendand judicious adviser of Pope himself, who showed him much of his earlywork, including the first draft of this very poem. Pope was sincerelyattached to him, and this tribute to his dead friend is marked by deepand genuine feeling. '738 short excursions:' such as this 'Essay on Criticism' instead of longer and more ambitiouspoems which Pope planned and in part executed in his boyhood. There isno reason to believe with Mr. Elwin that this passage proves that Popeformed the design of the poem after the death of Walsh. * * * * * AN ESSAY ON MAN INTRODUCTION The 'Essay on Man' is the longest and in some ways the most importantwork of the third period of Pope's career. It corresponds closely to hisearly work, the 'Essay on Criticism'. Like the earlier work, the 'Essayon Man' is a didactic poem, written primarily to diffuse and popularizecertain ideas of the poet. As in the earlier work these ideas are by nomeans original with Pope, but were the common property of a school ofthinkers in his day. As in the 'Essay on Criticism', Pope here attemptsto show that these ideas have their origin in nature and are consistentwith the common sense of man. And finally the merit of the later work, even more than of the earlier, is due to the force and brilliancy ofdetached passages rather than to any coherent, consistent, andwell-balanced system which it presents. The close of the seventeenth century and beginning of the eighteenth wasmarked by a change of ground in the sphere of religious controversy. Theold debates between the Catholic and Protestant churches gradually diedout as these two branches of Western Christianity settled down in quietpossession of the territory they still occupy. In their place arose avigorous controversy on the first principles of religion in general, onthe nature of God, the origin of evil, the place of man in the universe, and the respective merits of optimism and pessimism as philosophictheories. The controversialists as a rule either rejected or neglectedthe dogmas of revealed religion and based their arguments upon real orsupposed facts of history, physical nature, and the mental processes andmoral characteristics of man. In this controversy the two parties attimes were curiously mingled. Orthodox clergymen used arguments whichjustified a strong suspicion of their orthodoxy; and avowed freethinkersbitterly disclaimed the imputation of atheism and wrote in terms thatmight be easily adopted by a devout believer. Into this controversy Pope was led by his deepening intimacy withBolingbroke, who had returned from France in 1725 and settled at hiscountry place within a few miles of Twickenham. During his long exileBolingbroke had amused himself with the study of moral philosophy andnatural religion, and in his frequent intercourse with Pope he pouredout his new-found opinions with all the fluency, vigor, and polish whichmade him so famous among the orators and talkers of the day. Bolingbroke's views were for that time distinctly heterodox, and, iflogically developed, led to complete agnosticism. But he seems to haveavoided a complete statement of his ideas to Pope, possibly for fear ofshocking or frightening the sensitive little poet who still remained aprofessed Catholic. Pope, however, was very far from being a strictCatholic, and indeed prided himself on the breadth and liberality of hisopinions. He was, therefore, at once fascinated and stimulated by theeloquent conversation of Bolingbroke, and resolved to write aphilosophical poem in which to embody the ideas they held in common. Bolingbroke approved of the idea, and went so far as to furnish the poetwith seven or eight sheets of notes "to direct the plan in general andto supply matter for particular epistles. " Lord Bathurst, who knew bothPope and Bolingbroke, went so far as to say in later years that the'Essay' was originally composed by Bolingbroke in prose and that Popeonly put it into verse. But this is undoubtedly an exaggeration of whatPope himself frankly acknowledged, that the poem was composed under theinfluence of Bolingbroke, that in the main it reflected his opinions, and that Bolingbroke had assisted him in the general plan and innumerous details. Very properly, therefore, the poem is addressed toBolingbroke and begins and closes with a direct address to the poet's"guide, philosopher, and friend. " In substance the 'Essay on Man' is a discussion of the moral order ofthe world. Its purpose is "to vindicate the ways of God to man, " and itmay therefore be regarded as an attempt to confute the skeptics whoargued from the existence of evil in the world and the wretchedness ofman's existence to the impossibility of belief in an all-good andall-wise God. It attempts to do this, not by an appeal to revelation orthe doctrines of Christianity, but simply on the basis of a common-senseinterpretation of the facts of existence. A brief outline of the poem will show the general tenor of Pope'sargument. The first epistle deals with the nature and state of man with respect tothe universe. It insists on the limitations of man's knowledge, and theconsequent absurdity of his presuming to murmur against God. It teachesthat the universe was not made for man, but that man with all hisapparent imperfections is exactly fitted to the place which he occupiesin the universe. In the physical universe all things work together forgood, although certain aspects of nature seem evil to man, and likewisein the moral universe all things, even man's passions and crimes conduceto the general good of the whole. Finally it urges calm submission andacquiescence in what is hard to understand, since "one truth isclear, --whatever is, is right. " The second epistle deals with the nature of man as an individual. Itbegins by urging men to abandon vain questionings of God's providenceand to take up the consideration of their own natures, for "the properstudy of mankind is man. " Pope points out that the two cardinalprinciples of man's nature are self-love and reason, the first animpelling, the second a regulating power. The aim of both theseprinciples is pleasure, by which Pope means happiness, which he takesfor the highest good. Each man is dominated by a master passion, and itis the proper function of reason to control this passion for good and tomake it bear fruit in virtue. No man is wholly virtuous or vicious, andHeaven uses the mingled qualities of men to bind them together in mutualinterdependence, and makes the various passions and imperfections ofmankind serve the general good. And the final conclusion is that "thoughman's a fool, yet God is wise. " The third epistle treats of the nature of man with respect to society. All creatures, Pope asserts, are bound together and live not forthemselves alone, but man is preeminently a social being. The firststate of man was the state of nature when he lived in innocent ignorancewith his fellow-creatures. Obeying the voice of nature, man learned tocopy and improve upon the instincts of the animals, to build, to plow, to spin, to unite in societies like those of ants and bees. The firstform of government was patriarchal; then monarchies arose in whichvirtue, "in arms or arts, " made one man ruler over many. In either casethe origin of true government as of true religion was love. Graduallyforce crept in and uniting with superstition gave rise to tyranny andfalse religions. Poets and patriots, however, restored the ancient faithand taught power's due use by showing the necessity of harmony in thestate. Pope concludes by asserting the folly of contention for forms ofgovernment or modes of faith. The common end of government as ofreligion is the general good. It may be noticed in passing that Pope'saccount of the evolution of society bears even less relation tohistorical facts than does his account of the development of literaturein the 'Essay on Criticism. ' The last epistle discusses the nature of happiness, "our being's end andaim. " Happiness is attainable by all men who think right and mean well. It consists not in individual, but in mutual pleasure. It does notconsist in external things, mere gifts of fortune, but in health, peace, and competence. Virtuous men are, indeed, subject to calamities ofnature; but God cannot be expected to suspend the operation of generallaws to spare the virtuous. Objectors who would construct a system inwhich all virtuous men are blest, are challenged to define the virtuousand to specify what is meant by blessings. Honors, nobility, fame, superior talents, often merely serve to make their possessors unhappy. Virtue alone is happiness, and virtue consists in a recognition of thelaws of Providence, and in love for one's fellow-man. Even this brief outline will show, I think, some of the inconsistenciesand omissions of Pope's train of thought. A careful examination of hisarguments in detail would be wholly out of place here. The reader whowishes to pursue the subject further may consult Warburton's elaboratevindication of Pope's argument, and Elwin's equally prosy refutation, orbetter still the admirable summary by Leslie Stephen in the chapter onthis poem in his life of Pope ('English Men of Letters'). No one is nowlikely to turn to the writer of the early eighteenth century for asystem of the universe, least of all to a writer so incapable of exactor systematic thinking as Alexander Pope. If the 'Essay on Man' has anyclaim to be read to-day, it must be as a piece of literature pure andsimple. For philosophy and poetry combined, Browning and Tennyson lienearer to our age and mode of thought than Pope. Even regarded as a piece of literature the 'Essay on Man' cannot, Ithink, claim the highest place among Pope's works. It obtained, indeed, a success at home and abroad such as was achieved by no other Englishpoem until the appearance of 'Childe Harold'. It was translated intoFrench, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, and Latin. It was imitatedby Wieland, praised by Voltaire, and quoted by Kant. But this successwas due in part to the accuracy with which it reflected ideas which werethe common property of its age, in part to the extraordinary vigor andfinish of its epigrams, which made it one of the most quotable ofEnglish poems. But as a whole the Essay is not a great poem. The poet isevidently struggling with a subject that is too weighty for him, and attimes he staggers and sinks beneath his burden. The second and thirdbooks in particular are, it must be confessed, with the exception of oneor two fine outbursts, little better than dull, and dullness is not aquality one is accustomed to associate with Pope. The 'Essay on Man'lacks the bright humor and imaginative artistry of 'The Rape of theLock, ' and the lively portraiture, vigorous satire, and strong personalnote of the 'Moral Epistles' and 'Imitations of Horace'. Pope is at hisbest when he is dealing with a concrete world of men and women as theylived and moved in the London of his day; he is at his worst when he isattempting to seize and render abstract ideas. Yet the 'Essay on Man' is a very remarkable work. In the first place, itshows Pope's wonderful power of expression. No one can read the poem forthe first time without meeting on page after page phrases and epigramswhich have become part of the common currency of our language. Pope's"precision and firmness of touch, " to quote the apt statement of LeslieStephen, "enables him to get the greatest possible meaning into a narrowcompass. He uses only one epithet, but it is the right one. " Even whenthe thought is commonplace enough, the felicity of the expression givesit a new and effective force. And there are whole passages where Poperises high above the mere coining of epigrams. As I have tried to showin my notes he composed by separate paragraphs, and when he chances upona topic that appeals to his imagination or touches his heart, we get anoutburst of poetry that shines in splendid contrast to the prosaicplainness of its surroundings. Such, for example, are the noble versesthat tell of the immanence of God in his creation at the close of thefirst epistle, or the magnificent invective against tyranny andsuperstition in the third (ll. 241-268). Finally the 'Essay on Man' is of interest in what it tells us of Popehimself. Mr. Elwin's idea that in the 'Essay on Man' Pope, "partly thedupe, partly the accomplice of Bolingbroke, " was attempting craftily toundermine the foundations of religion, is a notion curiously compoundedof critical blindness and theological rancor. In spite of all itsincoherencies and futilities the 'Essay' is an honest attempt to expressPope's opinions, borrowed in part, of course, from his admired friend, but in part the current notions of his age, on some of the greatestquestions that have perplexed the mind of man. And Pope's attitudetoward the questions is that of the best minds of his day, at oncereligious, independent, and sincere. He acknowledges the omnipotence andbenevolence of God, confesses the limitations and imperfections of humanknowledge, teaches humility in the presence of unanswerable problems, urges submission to Divine Providence, extols virtue as the true sourceof happiness, and love of man as an essential of virtue. If we study the'Essay on Man' as the reasoned argument of a philosopher, we shall turnfrom it with something like contempt; if we read it as the expression ofa poet's sentiments, we shall, I think, leave it with an admirationwarmer than before for a character that has been so much abused and solittle understood as that of Pope. THE DESIGN '2 Bacon's expression:' in the dedication of his 'Essays' (1625) to Buckingham, Bacon speaks ofthem as the most popular of his writings, "for that, as it seems, theycome home to men's business and bosoms. " '11 anatomy:' dissection. EPISTLE I '1 St. John:' Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, Pope's "guide, philosopher, andfriend, " under whose influence the 'Essay on Man' was composed. '5 expatiate:' range, wander. '6' Pope says that this line alludes to the subject of this first Epistle, "the state of man here and hereafter, disposed by Providence, though tohim unknown. " The next two lines allude to the main topics of the threeremaining epistles, "the constitution of the human mind . .. Thetemptations of misapplied self-love, and the wrong pursuits of power, pleasure, and false happiness. " '9 beat . .. Field:' the metaphor is drawn from hunting. Note how it is elaborated in thefollowing lines. '12 blindly creep . .. Sightless soar:' the first are the ignorant and indifferent; those who "sightless soar"are the presumptuous who reason blindly about things too high for humanknowledge. '15 candid:' lenient, free from harsh judgments. '16' An adaptation of a well-known line of Milton's 'Paradise Lost', l, 26. '17-23' Pope lays down as the basis of his system that all argument about man orGod must be based upon what we know of man's present life, and of God'sworkings in this world of ours. '29 this frame:' the universe. Compare 'Hamlet', II, ii, 310, "this goodly frame, theearth. " '30 nice dependencies:' subtle inter-relations. '31 Gradations just:' exact shades of difference. '32 a part:' the mind of man, which is but a part of the whole universe. '33 the great chain:' according to Homer, Jove, the supreme God, sustained the whole creationby a golden chain. Milton also makes use of this idea of the visibleuniverse as linked to heaven in a golden chain, 'Paradise Lost', II, 1004-1006, and 1051-1052. '41 yonder argent fields:' the sky spangled with silvery stars. The phrase is borrowed from Milton, 'Paradise Lost', III, 460. '42 Jove:' the planet Jupiter. 'satellites:' Pope preserves here the Latin pronunciation, four syllables, with theaccent on the antepenult. '43-50. ' Pope here takes it for granted that our universe, inasmuch as it is thework of God's infinite wisdom, must be the best system possible. If thisbe granted, he says, it is plain that man must have a place somewhere inthis system, and the only question is whether "God has placed him wrong. " '45' Every grade in creation must be complete, so as to join with that whichis beneath and with that which is above it or there would be a lack ofcoherency, a break, somewhere in the system. '47 reas'ning life:' conscious mental life. '51-60' Pope argues here that since man is a part of the best possible system, whatever seems wrong in him must be right when considered in relation tothe whole order of the universe. It is only our ignorance of this orderwhich keeps us from realizing this fact. '55 one single:' the word "movement" is understood after "single. " '61-68' Pope here illustrates his preceding argument by analogy. We can know nomore of God's purpose in the ordering of our lives than the animals canknow of our ordering of theirs. '64 Ægypt's God:' One of the gods of the Egyptians was the sacred bull, Apis. '68 a deity:' worshiped as a god, like the Egyptian kings and Roman emperors. '69-76' Pope now goes on to argue that on the basis of what has been proved weought not to regard man as an imperfect being, but rather as one who isperfectly adapted to his place in the universe. His knowledge, forexample, is measured by the brief time he has to live and the briefspace he can survey. '69 fault:' pronounced in Pope's day as rhyming with "ought. " '73-76' These lines are really out of place. They first appeared after l. 98;then Pope struck them out altogether. Just before his death he put theminto their present place on the advice of Warburton, who probablyapproved of them because of their reference to a future state of bliss. It is plain that they interfere with the regular argument of the poem. '79' This line is grammatically dependent upon "hides, " l. 77. '81 riot:' used here in the sense of "luxurious life. " The lamb is slain to providefor some feast. '86 Heav'n:' 'i. E. ' God. Hence the relative "who" in the next line. '92-98' Pope urges man to comfort himself with hope, seeing that he cannot knowthe future. '93 "What future bliss:" the words "shall be" are to be understood after this phrase. '96' Point out the exact meaning of this familiar line. '97 from home:' away from its true home, the life to come. This line represents one ofthe alterations which Warburton induced Pope to make. The poet firstwrote "confined at home, " thus representing this life as the home of thesoul. His friend led him to make the change in order to express moreclearly his belief in the soul's immortality. '89' Show how "rests" and "expatiates" in this line contrast with "uneasy"and "confined" in l. 97. '99-112' In this famous passage Pope shows how the belief in immortality is foundeven among the most ignorant tribes. This is to Pope an argument thatthe soul must be immortal, since only Nature, or God working throughNature, could have implanted this conception in the Indian's mind. '102 the solar walk:' the sun's path in the heavens. 'the milky way:' some old philosophers held that the souls of good men went thither afterdeath. Pope means that the ignorant Indian had no conception of a heavenreserved for the just such as Greek sages and Christian believers have. All he believes in is "an humbler heaven, " where he shall be free fromthe evils of this life. Line 108 has special reference to the torturesinflicted upon the natives of Mexico and Peru by the avaricious Spanishconquerors. '109-110' He is contented with a future existence, without asking for the gloriesof the Christian's heaven. '111 equal sky:' impartial heaven, for the heaven of the Indians was open to all men, good or bad. '113-130' In this passage Pope blames those civilized men who, though they shouldbe wiser than the Indian, murmur against the decrees of God. Theimperative verbs "weigh, " "call, " "say, " etc. , are used satirically. '113 scale of sense:' the scale, or means of judgment, which our senses give us. '117 gust:' the pleasure of taste. '120' The murmurers are dissatisfied that man is not at once perfect in hispresent state and destined to immortality, although such gifts have beengiven to no other creature. '123 reas'ning Pride:' the pride of the intellect which assumes to condemn God's providence. '131-172' In this passage Pope imagines a dialogue between one of the proudmurmurers he has described and himself. His opponent insists that theworld was made primarily for man's enjoyment (ll. 132-140). Pope askswhether nature does not seem to swerve from this end of promoting humanhappiness in times of pestilence, earthquake, and tempest (ll. 141-144). The other answers that these are only rare exceptions to the generallaws, due perhaps to some change in nature since the world began (ll. 145-148). Pope replies by asking why there should not be exceptions inthe moral as well as in the physical world; may not great villains becompared to terrible catastrophes in nature (ll. 148-156)? He goes on tosay that no one but God can answer this question, that our humanreasoning springs from pride, and that the true course of reasoning issimply to submit (ll. 156-164). He then suggests that "passions, " bywhich he means vices, are as necessary a part of the moral order asstorms of the physical world (ll. 165-172). '142 livid deaths': pestilence. '143-144' Pope was perhaps thinking of a terrible earthquake and flood that hadcaused great loss of life in Chili the year before this poem appeared. '150 Then Nature deviates': Nature departs from her regular order on such occasions as thesecatastrophes. '151' that end: human happiness, as in l. 149. '156' Cæsar Borgia, the wicked son of Pope Alexander VI, and Catiline arementioned here as portents in the moral world parallel to plagues andearthquakes in the physical. '160 young Ammon': Alexander the Great. See note on 'Essay on Criticism', l. 376. '163' Why do we accuse God for permitting wickedness when we do not blame Himfor permitting evil in the natural world? '166 there': in nature. 'here': in man. '173-206' In this section Pope reproves those who are dissatisfied with man'sfaculties. He points out that all animals, man included, have powerssuited to their position in the world (ll. 179-188), and asserts that ifman had keener senses than he now has, he would be exposed to evils fromwhich he now is free (ll. 193-203). '176 To want': to lack. '177' Paraphrase this line in prose. '181 compensated': accented on the antepenult. '183 the state': the place which the creature occupies in the natural world. '195 finer optics': keener power of sight. '197 touch': a noun, subject of "were given, " understood from l. 195. '199 quick effluvia': pungent odors. The construction is very condensed here; "effluvia" maybe regarded like "touch" as a subject of "were given" (l. 195); but onewould expect rather a phrase to denote a keener sense of smell than mannow possesses. '202 music of the spheres': it was an old belief that the stars and planets uttered musical notes asthey moved along their courses. These notes made up the "harmony of thespheres. " Shakespeare ('Merchant of Venice', V, 64-5) says that oursenses are too dull to hear it. Pope, following a passage in Cicero's'Somnium Scipionis', suggests that this music is too loud for humansenses. '207-232' Pope now goes on to show how in the animal world there is an exactgradation of the faculties of sense and of the powers of instinct. Manalone is endowed with reason which is more than equivalent to all thesepowers and makes him lord over all animals. '212' The mole is almost blind; the lynx was supposed to be the mostkeen-sighted of animals. '213-214' The lion was supposed by Pope to hunt by sight alone as the dog byscent. What does he mean by "the tainted green"? '215-216' Fishes are almost deaf, while birds are very quick of hearing. '219 nice:' keenly discriminating. 'healing dew:' healthful honey. '221-222' The power of instinct which is barely perceptible in the pig amountsalmost to the power of reason in the elephant. '223 barrier:' pronounced like the French 'barrière', as a word of two syllables withthe accent on the last. '226 Sense . .. Thought:' sensation and reason. '227 Middle natures:' intermediate natures, which long to unite with those above or belowthem. The exact sense is not very clear. '233-258' In this passage Pope insists that the chain of being stretches unbrokenfrom God through man to the lowest created forms. If any link in thischain were broken, as would happen if men possessed higher facultiesthan are now assigned them, the whole universe would be thrown intoconfusion. This is another answer to those who complain of theimperfections of man's nature. '234 quick:' living. Pope does not discriminate between organic and inorganic matter. '240 glass:' microscope. '242-244' Inferior beings might then press upon us. If they did not, a fatal gapwould be left by our ascent in the scale. '247 each system:' Pope imagines the universe to be composed of an infinite number ofsystems like ours. Since each of these is essential to the orderlyarrangement of the universe, any disorder such as he has imagined wouldhave infinitely destructive consequences. These are described in ll. 251-257. '267-280' In these lines Pope speaks of God as the soul of the world in anoutburst of really exalted enthusiasm that is rare enough in his work. '269 That:' a relative pronoun referring to "soul, " l. 268. '270 th' ethereal frame:' the heavens. '276 as perfect in a hair as heart:' this has been called "a vile antithesis, " on the ground that there is noreason why hair and heart should be contrasted. But Pope may have had inmind the saying of Christ. "the very hairs of your head are allnumbered. " The hairs are spoken of here as the least important part ofthe body; the heart, on the other hand, has always been thought of asthe most important organ. There is, therefore, a real antithesis betweenthe two. '278 Seraph . .. Burns:' the seraphim according to old commentators are on fire with the love ofGod. '280 equals all:' makes all things equal. This does not seem consistent with the idea ofthe gradations of existence which Pope has been preaching throughoutthis Epistle. Possibly it means that all things high and low are filledalike with the divine spirit and in this sense all things are equal. Butone must not expect to find exact and consistent philosophy in the'Essay on Man'. '281-294' Here Pope sums up the argument of this Epistle, urging man to recognizehis ignorance, to be content with his seeming imperfections, and torealize that "whatever is, is right. " '282 Our proper bliss:' our happiness as men. '283 point:' appointed place in the universe. '286 Secure:' sure. '289' Hobbes, an English philosopher with whose work Pope was, no doubt, acquainted, says, "Nature is the art whereby God governs the world. " * * * * * AN EPISTLE TO DR ARBUTHNOT INTRODUCTION Next to 'The Rape of the Lock', I think, the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot' isthe most interesting and the most important of Pope's poems--the mostimportant since it shows the master poet of the age employing hisripened powers in the field most suitable for their display, that ofpersonal satire, the most interesting, because, unlike his formersatiric poem the 'Dunciad', it is not mere invective, but gives us, asno other poem of Pope's can be said to do, a portrait of the poethimself. Like most of Pope's poems, the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot' owes its existenceto an objective cause. This was the poet's wish to justify himselfagainst a series of savage attacks, which had recently been directedagainst him. If Pope had expected by the publication of the 'Dunciad' tocrush the herd of scribblers who had been for years abusing him, he musthave been woefully disappointed. On the contrary, the roar of insult andcalumny rose louder than ever, and new voices were added to the chorus. In the year 1733 two enemies entered the field against Pope such as hehad never yet had to encounter--enemies of high social position, ofacknowledged wit, and of a certain, though as the sequel proved quiteinadequate, talent for satire. These were Lady Mary Wortley Montague andLord John Hervey. Lady Mary had been for years acknowledged as one of the wittiest, mostlearned, and most beautiful women of her day. Pope seems to have met herin 1715 and at once joined the train of her admirers. When sheaccompanied her husband on his embassy to Constantinople in thefollowing year, the poet entered into a long correspondence with her, protesting in the most elaborate fashion his undying devotion. On herreturn he induced her to settle with her husband at Twickenham. Here hecontinued his attentions, half real, half in the affected gallantry ofthe day, until, to quote the lady's own words to her daughter many yearsafter, "at some ill-chosen time when she least expected what romancerscall a declaration, he made such passionate love to her, as, in spite ofher utmost endeavours to be angry and look grave, provoked an immoderatefit of laughter, " and, she added, from that moment Pope became herimplacable enemy. Certainly by the time Pope began to write the'Dunciad' he was so far estranged from his old friend that he permittedhimself in that poem a scoffing allusion to a scandal in which she hadrecently become involved. The lady answered, or the poet thought thatshe did, with an anonymous pamphlet, 'A Pop upon Pope', describing acastigation, wholly imaginary, said to have been inflicted upon the poetas a proper reward for his satire. After this, of course, all hope of areconciliation was at an end, and in his satires and epistles Poperepeatedly introduced Lady Mary under various titles in the mostoffensive fashion. In his first 'Imitation of Horace', published inFebruary, 1733, he referred in the most unpardonable manner to a certainSappho, and the dangers attendant upon any acquaintance with her. LadyMary was foolish enough to apply the lines to herself and to send acommon friend to remonstrate with Pope. He coolly replied that he wassurprised that Lady Mary should feel hurt, since the lines could onlyapply to certain women, naming four notorious scribblers, whose liveswere as immoral as their works. Such an answer was by no meanscalculated to turn away the lady's wrath, and for an ally in thecampaign of anonymous abuse that she now planned she sought out herfriend Lord Hervey. John Hervey, called by courtesy Lord Hervey, thesecond son of the Earl of Bristol, was one of the most prominent figuresat the court of George II. He had been made vice-chamberlain of theroyal household in 1730, and was the intimate friend and confidentialadviser of Queen Caroline. Clever, affable, unprincipled, and cynical, he was a perfect type of the Georgian courtier to whom loyalty, patriotism, honesty, and honor were so many synonyms for folly. He waseffeminate in habits and appearance, but notoriously licentious; heaffected to scoff at learning but made some pretense to literature, andhad written 'Four Epistles after the Manner of Ovid', and numerouspolitical pamphlets. Pope, who had some slight personal acquaintancewith him, disliked his political connections and probably despised hisverses, and in the 'Imitation' already mentioned had alluded to himunder the title of Lord Fanny as capable of turning out a thousand linesof verse a day. This was sufficient cause, if cause were needed, toinduce Hervey to join Lady Mary in her warfare against Pope. The first blow was struck in an anonymous poem, probably the combinedwork of the two allies, called 'Verses addressed to the Imitator ofHorace', which appeared in March, 1733, and it was followed up in Augustby an 'Epistle from a Nobleman to a Doctor of Divinity', which alsoappeared anonymously, but was well known to be the work of Lord Hervey. In these poems Pope was abused in the most unmeasured terms. His workwas styled a mere collection of libels; he had no invention except indefamation; he was a mere pretender to genius. His morals were not leftunimpeached; he was charged with selling other men's work printed in hisname, --a gross distortion of his employing assistants in the translationof the 'Odyssey', --he was ungrateful, unjust, a foe to human kind, anenemy like the devil to all that have being. The noble authors, probablywell aware how they could give the most pain, proceeded to attack hisfamily and his distorted person. His parents were obscure and vulgarpeople; and he himself a wretched outcast: with the emblem of [his] crooked mind Marked on [his] back like Cain by God's own hand. And to cap the climax, as soon as these shameful libels were in print, Lord Hervey bustled off to show them to the Queen and to laugh with herover the fine way in which he had put down the bitter little poet. In order to understand and appreciate Pope's reception of these attacks, we must recall to ourselves the position in which he lived. He was aCatholic, and I have already (Introduction, p. X) called attention tothe precarious, tenure by which the Catholics of his time held theirgoods, their persons, their very lives, in security. He was the intimateof Bolingbroke, of all men living the most detested by the court, andhis noble friends were almost without exception the avowed enemies ofthe court party. Pope had good reason to fear that the malice of hisenemies might not be content to stop with abusive doggerel. But he wasnot in the least intimidated. On the contrary, he broke out in a fineflame of wrath against Lord Hervey, whom he evidently considered thechief offender, challenged his enemy to disavow the 'Epistle', and onhis declining to do so, proceeded to make what he called "a properreply" in a prose 'Letter to a Noble Lord'. This masterly piece ofsatire was passed about from hand to hand, but never printed. We aretold that Sir Robert Walpole, who found Hervey a convenient tool incourt intrigues, bribed Pope not to print it by securing a good positionin France for one of the priests who had watched over the poet's youth. If this story be true, and we have Horace Walpole's authority for it, wemay well imagine that the entry of the bribe, like that of Uncle Toby'soath, was blotted out by a tear from the books of the Recording Angel. But Pope was by no means disposed to let the attacks go without ananswer of some kind, and the particular form which his answer took seemsto have been suggested by a letter from Arbuthnot. "I make it my lastrequest, " wrote his beloved physician, now sinking fast under thediseases that brought him to the grave, "that you continue that nobledisdain and abhorrence of vice, which you seem so naturally endued with, but still with a due regard to your own safety; and study more to reformthan to chastise, though the one often cannot be effected without theother. " "I took very kindly your advice, " Pope replied, ". .. And it hasworked so much upon me considering the time and state you gave it in, that I determined to address to you one of my epistles written bypiecemeal many years, and which I have now made haste to put together;wherein the question is stated, what were, and are my motives ofwriting, the objections to them, and my answers. " In other words, the'Epistle to Arbuthnot' which we see that Pope was working over at thedate of this letter, August 25, 1734, was, in the old-fashioned phrase, his 'Apologia', his defense of his life and work. As usual, Pope's account of his work cannot be taken literally. Acomparison of dates shows that the 'Epistle' instead of having been"written by piecemeal many years" is essentially the work of oneimpulse, the desire to vindicate his character, his parents, and hiswork from the aspersions cast upon them by Lord Hervey and Lady Mary. The exceptions to this statement are two, or possibly three, passageswhich we know to have been written earlier and worked into the poem withinfinite art. The first of these is the famous portrait of Addison as Atticus. I havealready spoken of the reasons that led to Pope's breach with Addison(Introduction, p. Xv); and there is good reason to believe that thisportrait sprang directly from Pope's bitter feeling toward the elderwriter for his preference of Tickell's translation. The lines werecertainly written in Addison's lifetime, though we may be permitted todoubt whether Pope really did send them to him, as he once asserted. They did not appear in print, however, till four years after Addison'sdeath, when they were printed apparently without Pope's consent in avolume of miscellanies. It is interesting to note that in this form thefull name "Addison" appeared in the last line. Some time later Popeacknowledged the verses and printed them with a few changes in his'Miscellany' of 1727, substituting the more decorous "A---n" for the"Addison" of the first text. Finally he worked over the passage againand inserted it, for a purpose that will be shown later, in the 'Epistleto Arbuthnot'. It is not worth while to discuss here the justice or injustice of thisfamous portrait. In fact, the question hardly deserves to be raised. Thepassage is admittedly a satire, and a satire makes no claim to be a justand final sentence. Admitting, as we must, that Pope was in the wrong inhis quarrel with Addison, we may well admit that he has not done himfull justice. But we must equally admit that the picture is drawn withwonderful skill, that praise and blame are deftly mingled, and that thesatire is all the more severe because of its frank admission of thegreat man's merits. And it must also be said that Pope has hit off someof the faults of Addison's character, --his coldness, hisself-complacency, his quiet sneer, his indulgence of flatteringfools--in a way that none of his biographers have done. That Pope wasnot blind to Addison's chief merit as an author is fully shown by apassage in a later poem, less well known than the portrait of Atticus, but well worth quotation. After speaking of the licentiousness ofliterature in Restoration days, he goes on to say: In our own (excuse some courtly stains) No whiter page than Addison's remains, He from the taste obscene reclaims our youth, And sets the passions on the side of truth, Forms the soft bosom with the gentlest art, And pours each human virtue in the heart. 'Epistle to Augustus, II'. 215-220. If Pope was unjust to Addison the man, he at least made amends toAddison the moralist. The second passage that may have had an independent existence before the'Epistle' was conceived is the portrait of Bufo, ll. 229-247. There isreason to believe that this attack was first aimed at Bubb Doddington, acourtier of Hervey's class, though hardly of so finished a type, to whomPope alludes as Bubo in l. 278. When Pope was working on the 'Epistle', however, he saw an opportunity to vindicate his own independence ofpatronage by a satiric portrait of the great Maecenas of his youngerdays, Lord Halifax, who had ventured some foolish criticisms on Pope'stranslation of the 'Iliad', and seems to have expected that the poetshould dedicate the great work to him in return for an offer of apension which he made and Pope declined. There is no reason to believethat Pope cherished any very bitter resentment toward Halifax. On thecontrary, in a poem published some years after the 'Epistle' he boastedof his friendship with Halifax, naming him outright, and adding in anote that the noble lord was no less distinguished by his love ofletters than his abilities in Parliament. The third passage, a tender reference to his mother's age and weakness, was written at least as early as 1731, --Mrs. Pope died in 1733, --and wasincorporated in the 'Epistle' to round it off with a picture of the poetabsorbed in his filial duties at the very time that Hervey and Lady Marywere heaping abuse upon him, as a monster devoid of all good qualities. And now having discussed the various insertions in the 'Epistle', let uslook for a moment at the poem as a whole, and see what is the nature ofPope's defense of himself and of his reply to his enemies. It is cast in the form of a dialogue between the poet himself andArbuthnot. Pope begins by complaining of the misfortunes which hisreputation as a successful man of letters has brought upon him. He is amark for all the starving scribblers of the town who besiege him foradvice, recommendations, and hard cash. Is it not enough to make a manwrite 'Dunciads?' Arbuthnot warns him against the danger of making foes(ll. 101- 104), but Pope replies that his flatterers are even moreintolerable than his open enemies. And with a little outburst ofimpatience, such as we may well imagine him to have indulged in duringhis later years, he cries: Why did I write? What sin to me unknown Dipt me in ink, my parents' or my own? and begins with l. 125 his poetical autobiography. He tells of his firstchildish efforts, of poetry taken up "to help me thro' this long diseasemy life, " and then goes on to speak of the noble and famous friends whohad praised his early work and urged him to try his fortune in the openfield of letters. He speaks of his first poems, the 'Pastorals' and'Windsor Forest', harmless as Hervey's own verses, and tells how eventhen critics like Dennis fell foul of him. Rival authors hated him, too, especially such pilfering bards as Philips. This he could endure, butthe coldness and even jealousy of such a man as Addison--and hereappears the famous portrait of Atticus--was another matter, seriousenough to draw tears from all lovers of mankind. Passing on (l. 213) to the days of his great success when his 'Homer'was the talk of the town, he asserts his ignorance of all the arts ofpuffery and his independence of mutual admiration societies. He leftthose who wished a patron to the tender mercies of Halifax, who fed faton flattery and repaid his flatterers merely with a good word or a seatat his table. After all, the poet could afford to lose the society ofBufo's toadies while such a friend as Gay was left him (l. 254). After an eloquent expression of his wish for independence (ll. 261-270), he goes on to speak of the babbling friends who insist that he is alwaysmeditating some new satire, and persist in recognizing some wretchedpoetaster's lampoon as his. And so by a natural transition Pope comes tospeak of his own satiric poems and their aims. He says, and rightly, that he has never attacked virtue or innocence. He reserves his lash forthose who trample on their neighbors and insult "fallen worth, " for coldor treacherous friends, liars, and babbling blockheads. Let Sporus(Hervey) tremble (l. 303). Arbuthnot interposes herewith an ejaculationof contemptuous pity; is it really worth the poet's while to castigatesuch a slight thing as Hervey, that "mere white curd"? But Pope hassuffered too much from Hervey's insolence to stay his hand, and he nowproceeds to lay on the lash with equal fury and precision, drawing bloodat every stroke, until we seem to see the wretched fop writhing andshrieking beneath the whip. And then with a magnificent transition hegoes on (ll. 332-337) to draw a portrait of himself. Here, he says ineffect, is the real man that Sporus has so maligned. The portrait isidealized, of course; one could hardly expect a poet speaking in his owndefense in reply to venomous attacks to dissect his own character withthe stern impartiality of the critics of the succeeding century, but itis in all essentials a portrait at once impressive and true. Arbuthnot again interrupts (l. 358) to ask why he spares neither thepoor nor the great in his satire, and Pope replies that he hates knavesin every rank of life. Yet by nature, he insists, he is of an easytemper, more readily deceived than angered, and in a long catalogue ofinstances he illustrates his own patience and good nature (ll. 366-385). It must be frankly confessed that these lines do not ring true. Popemight in the heat of argument convince himself that he was humble andslow to wrath, but he has never succeeded in convincing his readers. With l. 382 Pope turns to the defense of his family, which, as we haveseen, his enemies had abused as base and obscure. He draws a noblepicture of his dead father, "by nature honest, by experience wise"simple, modest, and temperate, and passes to the description of himselfwatching over the last years of his old mother, his sole care to Explore the thought, explain the asking eye And keep a while one parent from the sky. If the length of days which Heaven has promised those who honor fatherand mother fall to his lot, may Heaven preserve him such a friend asArbuthnot to bless those days. And Arbuthnot closes the dialogue with aword which is meant, I think, to sum up the whole discussion and topronounce the verdict that Pope's life had been good and honorable. Whether that blessing [1] be deny'd or giv'n, Thus far was right, the rest belongs to Heav'n. It seems hardly necessary to point out the merits of so patent amasterpiece as the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot'. In order to enjoy it to thefull, indeed, one must know something of the life of the author, of thecircumstances under which it was written, and, in general, of the socialand political life of the time. But even without this special knowledgeno reader can fail to appreciate the marvelous ease, fluency, andpoignancy of this admirable satire. There is nothing like it in ourlanguage except Pope's other satires, and of all his satires it is, bycommon consent, easily the first. It surpasses the satiric poetry ofDryden in pungency and depth of feeling as easily as it does that ofByron in polish and artistic restraint. Its range of tone is remarkable. At times it reads like glorified conversation, as in the opening lines;at times it flames and quivers with emotion, as in the assault onHervey, or in the defense of his parents. Even in the limited field ofsatiric portraiture there is a wide difference between the manner inwhich Pope has drawn the portrait of Atticus and that of Sporus. Thelatter is a masterpiece of pure invective; no allowances are made, nolights relieve the darkness of the shadows, the portrait is franklyinhuman. It is the product of an unrestrained outburst of bitterpassion. The portrait of Atticus, on the other hand, was, as we know, the work of years. It is the product not of an outburst of fury, but ofa slowly growing and intense dislike, which, while recognizing themerits of its object, fastened with peculiar power upon his faults andweaknesses. The studious restraint which controls the satirist's handmakes it only the more effective. We know well enough that the portraitis not a fair one, but we are forced to remind ourselves of this atevery step to avoid the spell which Pope's apparent impartiality castsover our judgments. The whole passage reads not so much like the heatedplea of an advocate as the measured summing-up of a judge, and the lastcouplet falls on our ears with the inevitability of a final sentence. But the peculiar merit of the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot' consists neither inthe ease and polish of its style, nor in the vigor and effectiveness ofits satire, but in the insight it gives us into the heart and mind ofthe poet himself. It presents an ideal picture of Pope, the man and theauthor, of his life, his friendships, his love of his parents, hisliterary relationships and aims. And it is quite futile to object, assome critics have done, that this picture is not exactly in accordancewith the known facts of Pope's life. No great man can be tried andjudged on the mere record of his acts. We must know the circumstancesthat shaped these, and the motives that inspired them. A man's ideals, if genuinely held and honestly followed, are perhaps even more valuablecontributions to our final estimate of the man himself than all he didor left undone. All I could never be, All, men ignored in me, This, I was worth to God, whose wheel the pitcher shaped. And in the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot' we recognize in Pope ideals ofindependence, of devotion to his art, of simple living, of loyalfriendship, and of filial piety which shine in splendid contrast withthe gross, servile, and cynically immoral tone of the age and society inwhich he lived. [Footnote 1: i. E. The blessing of Arbuthnot's future companionship, for which Pope (l. 413) had just prayed. ] ADVERTISEMENT Dr. John Arbuthnot, one of Pope's most intimate friends, had beenphysician to Queen Anne, and was a man of letters as well as a doctor. Arbuthnot, Pope, and Swift had combined to get out a volume ofMiscellanies in 1737. His health was failing rapidly at this time, andhe died a month or so after the appearance of this 'Epistle'. EPISTLE '1 John:' John Searle, Pope's faithful servant. '4 Bedlam:' a lunatic asylum in London in Pope's day. Notice how Pope mentions, inthe same breath, Bedlam and Parnassus, the hill of the Muses which poetsmight well be supposed to haunt. '8 thickets:' the groves surrounding Pope's villa. 'Grot:' see Introduction [grotto]. '10 the chariot:' the coach in which Pope drove. 'the barge:' the boat in which Pope was rowed upon the Thames. '13 the Mint:' a district in London where debtors were free from arrest. As they couldnot be arrested anywhere on Sunday, Pope represents them as taking thatday to inflict their visits on him. '15 Parson:' probably a certain Eusden, who had some pretensions to letters, but whoruined himself by drink. '17 Clerk:' a law clerk. '18 engross:' write legal papers. '19-20' An imaginary portrait of a mad poet who keeps on writing verses even inhis cell in Bedlam. Pope may have been thinking of Lee, a dramatist ofDryden's day who was confined for a time in this asylum. '23 Arthur:' Arthur Moore, a member of Parliament for some years and well known inLondon society. His "giddy son, " James Moore, who took the name of MooreSmythe, dabbled in letters and was a bitter enemy of Pope. '25 Cornus:' Robert Lord Walpole, whose wife deserted him in 1734. Horace Walpolespeaks of her as half mad. '31 sped:' done for. '40' Pope's counsel to delay the publication of the works read to him isborrowed from Horace: "nonumque prematur in annum" '(Ars Poetica, 388). ' '41 Drury-lane, ' like Grub Street, a haunt of poor authors at this time. '43 before Term ends:' before the season is over; that is, as soon as the poem is written. '48 a Prologue:' for a play. Of course a prologue by the famous Mr. Pope would be ofgreat value to a poor and unknown dramatist. '49 Pitholeon:' the name of a foolish poet mentioned by Horace. Pope uses it here forhis enemy Welsted, mentioned in l. 373. --'his Grace:' the title given aDuke in Great Britain. The Duke here referred to is said to be the Dukeof Argyle, one of the most influential of the great Whig lords. '53 Curll': a notorious publisher of the day, and an enemy of Pope. The implicationis that if Pope will not grant Pitholeon's request, the latter willaccept Curll's invitation and concoct a new libel against the poet. '60' Pope was one of the few men of letters of his day who had not written aplay, and he was at this time on bad terms with certain actors. '62' Bernard Lintot, the publisher of Pope's translation of Homer. '66 go snacks': share the profits. Pope represents the unknown dramatist as trying tobribe him to give a favorable report of the play. '69 Midas': an old legend tells us that Midas was presented with a pair of ass'sears by an angry god whose music he had slighted. His barber, or, Chaucer says, his queen, discovered the change which Midas had tried toconceal, and unable to keep the secret whispered it to the reeds in theriver, who straightway spread the news abroad. '75' With this line Arbuthnot is supposed to take up the conversation. Thisis indicated here and elsewhere by the letter A. '79 Dunciad': see Introduction, p. Xviii. '85 Codrus': a name borrowed from Juvenal to denote a foolish poet. Pope uses it herefor some conceited dramatist who thinks none the less of himself becausehis tragedy is rejected with shouts of laughter. '96' Explain the exact meaning of this line. '97 Bavius': a stock name for a bad poet. See note on 'Essay on Criticism', l. 34. '98 Philips': Ambrose Philips, author among other things of a set of 'Pastorals' thatappeared in the same volume with Pope, 1709. Pope and he soon becamebitter enemies. He was patronized by a Bishop Boulter. '99 Sappho': Here as elsewhere Pope uses the name of the Greek poetess for his enemy, Lady Mary Wortley Montague. '109 Grubstreet': a wretched street in London, inhabited in Pope's day by hack writers, most of whom were his enemies. '111 Curll' (see note to l. 53) had printed a number of Pope's letters without thepoet's consent some years before this poem was written. '113-132' Pope here describes the flatterers who were foolish enough to pay himpersonal compliments. They compare him to Horace who was short likePope, though fat, and who seems to have suffered from colds; also toAlexander, one of whose shoulders was higher than the other, and toOvid, whose other name, Naso, might indicate that long noses were acharacteristic feature of his family. Pope really had large andbeautiful eyes. Maro, l. 122, is Virgil. '123' With this line Pope begins an account of his life as a poet. For hisprecocity, see Introduction, p. Xii. '129 ease:' amuse, entertain. 'friend, not Wife:' the reference is, perhaps, to Martha Blount, Pope's friend, and may havebeen meant as a contradiction of his reported secret marriage to her. '132 to bear:' to endure the pains and troubles of an invalid's life. '133 Granville:' George Granville, Lord Lansdowne, a poet and patron of letters to whomPope had dedicated his 'Windsor Forest. ' '134 Walsh:' see note on 'Essay on Criticism, ' l. 729. '135 Garth:' Sir Samuel Garth, like Arbuthnot, a doctor, a man of letters, and anearly friend of Pope. '137' Charles Talbot, Duke of Shrewsbury; John, Lord Somers; and JohnSheffield, Duke of Buckingham; all leading statesmen and patrons ofliterature in Queen Anne's day. '138 Rochester:' Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, an intimate friend of Pope. '139 St. John:' Bolingbroke. For Pope's relations with him, see introduction to the'Essay on Man, ' p. 116. '143' Gilbert Burnet and John Oldmixon had written historical works from theWhig point of view. Roger Cooke, a now forgotten writer, had published a'Detection of the Court and State of England. ' Pope in a note on thisline calls them all three authors of secret and scandalous history. '146' The reference is to Pope's early descriptive poems, the 'Pastorals' and'Windsor Forest. ' '147 gentle Fanny's:' a sneer at Lord Hervey's verses. See the introduction to this poem, p. 126. '149 Gildon:' a critic of the time who had repeatedly attacked Pope. The poet toldSpence that he had heard Addison gave Gildon ten pounds to slander him. '151 Dennis:' see note on 'Essay on Criticism. ' l. 270. '156 kiss'd the rod:' Pope was sensible enough to profit by the criticisms even of hisenemies. He corrected several passages in the 'Essay on Criticism' whichDennis had properly found fault with. '162 Bentley:' the most famous scholar of Pope's day. Pope disliked him because of hiscriticism of the poet's translation of the 'Iliad', "good verses, butnot Homer. " The epithet "slashing" refers to Bentley's edition of'Paradise Lost' in which he altered and corrected the poet's text tosuit his own ideas. 'Tibbalds': Lewis Theobald (pronounced Tibbald), a scholar who had attacked Pope'sedition of Shakespeare. Pope calls him "piddling" because of hisscrupulous attention to details. '177 The Bard': Philips, see note on l. 98. Pope claimed that Philips's 'Pastorals' wereplagiarized from Spenser, and other poets. Philips, also, translatedsome 'Persian Tales' for the low figure of half a crown apiece. '187 bade translate': suggested that they translate other men's work, since they could writenothing valuable of their own. '188 Tate': a poetaster of the generation before Pope. He is remembered as the partauthor of a doggerel version of the Psalms. '191-212' For a discussion of this famous passage, see introduction to the'Epistle' p. 130. '196 the Turk': it was formerly the practice for a Turkish monarch when succeeding tothe throne to have all his brothers murdered so as to do away withpossible rivals. '199 faint praise': Addison was hearty enough when he cared to praise his friends. Pope isthinking of the coldness with which Addison treated his 'Pastorals' ascompared to those of Philips. '206 oblig'd': note the old-fashioned pronunciation to rhyme with "besieged. " '207 Cato': an unmistakable allusion to Addison's tragedy in which the famous Romanappears laying down the law to the remnants of the Senate. '209 Templars': students of law at the "Temple" in London who prided themselves on theirgood taste in literature. A body of them came on purpose to applaud'Cato' on the first night. 'raise': exalt, praise. '211-212 laugh . .. Weep': explain the reason for these actions. 'Atticus': Addison's name was given in the first version of this passage. Then itwas changed to "A---n. " Addison had been mentioned in the 'Spectator'(No. 150) under the name of Atticus as "in every way one of the greatestgeniuses the age has produced. " '213 rubric on the walls': Lintot, Pope's old publisher, used to stick up the titles of new booksin red letters on the walls of his shop. '214 with claps': with clap-bills, posters. '215 smoking:' hot from the press. '220 George:' George II, king of England at this time. His indifference to literaturewas notorious. '228 Bufo:' the picture of a proud but grudging patron of letters which follows wasfirst meant for Bubb Doddington, a courtier and patron of letters at thetime the poem was written. In order to connect it more closely with thetime of which he was writing, Pope added ll. 243-246, which pointed toCharles Montague, Earl of Halifax. Halifax was himself a poet andaffected to be a great patron of poetry, but his enemies accused him ofonly giving his clients "good words and good dinners. " Pope tells anamusing story of Montague's comments on his translation of the 'Iliad'(Spence, 'Anecdotes', p. 134). But Halifax subscribed for ten copies ofthe translation, so that Pope, at least, could not complain of his lackof generosity. 'Castalian state:' the kingdom of poets. '232' His name was coupled with that of Horace as a poet and critic. '234 Pindar without a head:' some headless statue which Bufo insisted was a genuine classic figure ofPindar, the famous Greek lyric poet. '237 his seat:' his country seat. '242 paid in kind:' What does this phrase mean? '243' Dryden died in 1700. He had been poor and obliged to work hard for aliving in his last years, but hardly had to starve. Halifax offered topay the expenses of his funeral and contribute five hundred pounds for amonument, and Pope not unreasonably suggests that some of this bountymight have been bestowed on Dryden in his lifetime. '249' When a politician wants a writer to put in a day's work in defendinghim. Walpole, for example, who cared nothing for poetry, spent largesums in retaining writers to defend him in the journals and pamphlets ofthe day. '254' John Gay, the author of some very entertaining verses, was an intimatefriend of Pope. On account of some supposed satirical allusions hisopera 'Polly' was refused a license, and when his friends, the Duke andDuchess of Queensberry (see l. 260) solicited subscriptions for it inthe palace, they were driven from the court. Gay died in 1732, and Popewrote an epitaph for his tomb in Westminster Abbey. It is to this thathe alludes in l. 258. '274' Balbus is said to mean the Earl of Kinnoul, at one time an acquaintanceof Pope and Swift. '278' Sir William Yonge, a Whig politician whom Pope disliked. He seems tohave written occasional verses. Bubo is Bubo Doddington (see note on l230). '297-298' In the Fourth Moral Essay, published in 1731 as an 'Epistle to the Earlof Burlington', Pope had given a satirical description of a nobleman'shouse and grounds, adorned and laid out at vast expense, but in badtaste. Certain features of this description were taken from Canons, thesplendid country place of the Duke of Chandos, and the duke was at onceidentified by a scandal-loving public with the Timon of the poem. In thedescription Pope speaks of the silver bell which calls worshipers toTimon's chapel, and of the soft Dean preaching there "who never mentionsHell to ears polite. " In this passage of the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot' heis protesting against the people who swore that they could identify thebell and the Dean as belonging to the chapel at Canons. '303 Sporus': a favorite of Nero, used here for Lord Hervey. See introduction to thispoem, p. 128. '304 ass's milk': Hervey was obliged by bad health to keep a strict diet, and a cup ofass's milk was his daily drink. '308 painted child': Hervey was accustomed to paint his face like a woman. '317-319' Pope is thinking of Milton's striking description of Satan "squat like atoad" by the ear of the sleeping Eve ('Paradise Lost', IV, 800). In thispassage "Eve" refers to Queen Caroline with whom Hervey was on intimateterms. It is said that he used to have a seat in the queen's huntingchaise "where he sat close behind her perched at her ear. " '322 now master up, now miss': Pope borrowed this telling phrase from a pamphlet against Hervey writtenby Pulteney, a political opponent, in which the former is called "apretty little master-miss. " '326 the board': the Council board where Hervey sat as member of the Privy Council. '328-329' An allusion to the old pictures of the serpent in Eden with a snake'sbody and a woman's, or angel's, face. '330 parts': talents, natural gifts. '338-339' An allusion to Pope's abandoning the imaginative topics to his earlypoems, as the 'Pastorals' and 'The Rape of the Lock', and turning todidactic verse as in the 'Essay on Man', and the 'Moral Epistles'. '347' An allusion to a story circulated, in an abusive pamphlet called 'A Popupon Pope', that the poet had been whipped for his satire and that hehad cried like a child. '349' Dull and scandalous poems printed under Pope's name, or attributed tohim by his enemies. '351 the pictur'd shape': Pope was especially hurt by the caricatures which exaggerated hispersonal deformity. '353 A friend in exile': probably Bishop Atterbury, then in exile for his Jacobite opinions. '354-355' Another reference to Hervey who was suspected of poisoning the mind ofthe King against Pope. '361 Japhet': Japhet Crooke, a notorious forger of the time. He died in prison in1734, after having had his nose slit and ears cropped for his crimes;see below, l. 365. '363 Knight of the post': a slang term for a professional witness ready to, swear to anything formoney. A knight of the shire, on the other hand, is the representativeof a county in the House of Commons. '367 bit': tricked, taken in, a piece of Queen Anne slang. The allusion is probablyto the way in which Lady Mary Wortley Montague allowed Pope to make loveto her and then laughed at him. '369 friend to his distress': in 1733, when old Dennis was in great poverty, a play was performed forhis benefit, for which Pope obligingly wrote a prologue. '371' Colley Gibber, actor and poet laureate. Pope speaks as if it were an actof condescension for him to have drunk with Gibber. --'Moore': JamesMoore Smythe (see note on l. 23), whom Pope used to meet at the house ofthe Blounts. He wrote a comedy, 'The Rival Modes', in which heintroduced six lines that Pope had written. Pope apparently had givenhim leave to do so, and then retracted his permission. But Moore usedthem without the permission and an undignified quarrel arose as to thetrue authorship of the passage. '373 Welsted', a hack writer of the day, had falsely charged Pope with beingresponsible for the death of the lady who is celebrated in Pope's 'Elegyto the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady'. '374-375' There is an allusion here that has never been fully explained. Possiblythe passage refers to Teresa Blount whom Pope suspected of havingcirculated slanderous reports concerning his relations with her sister. '376-377' Suffered Budgell to attribute to his (Pope's) pen the slanderous gossipof the 'Grub Street Journal', --a paper to which Pope did, as a matter offact, contribute--and let him (Budgell) write anything he pleased excepthis (Pope's) will. Budgell, a distant cousin of Addison's, fell into badhabits after his friend's death. He was strongly suspected of havingforged a will by which Dr. Tindal of Oxford left him a considerable sumof money. He finally drowned himself in the Thames. '378 the two Curlls': Curll, the bookseller, and Lord Hervey whom Pope here couples with himbecause of Hervey's vulgar abuse of Pope's personal deformities andobscure parentage. '380 Yet why': Why should they abuse Pope's inoffensive parents? Compare the followinglines. '383' Moore's own mother was suspected of loose conduct. '386-388 Of gentle blood . .. Each parent': Pope asserted, perhaps incorrectly, that his father belonged to agentleman's family, the head of which was the Earl of Downe. His motherwas the daughter of a Yorkshire gentleman, who lost two sons in theservice of Charles I (cf. L. 386). '389 Bestia': probably the elder Horace Walpole, who was in receipt of a handsomepension. '391' An allusion to Addison's unhappy marriage with the Countess of Warwick. '393 The good man': Pope's father, who as a devout Roman Catholic refused to take the oathof allegiance (cf. L. 395), or risk the equivocations sanctioned by the"schoolmen, " 'i. E'. The Catholic casuists of the day (l. 398). '404 Friend': Arbuthnot, to whom the epistle is addressed. '405-411' The first draft of these appeared in a letter to Aaron Hill, September3, 1731, where Pope speaks of having sent them "the other day to aparticular friend, " perhaps the poet Thomson. Mrs. Pope, who was veryold and feeble, was of course alive when they were first written, butdied more than a year before the passage appeared in its revised form inthis 'Epistle'. '412' An allusion to the promise contained in the fifth commandment. '415 served a Queen': Arbuthnot had been Queen Anne's doctor, but was driven out of his roomsin the palace after her death. '416 that blessing': long life for Arbuthnot. It was, in fact, denied, for he died a month orso after the appearance of the 'Epistle'. * * * * * NOTES ON ODE ON SOLITUDE Pope says that this delightful little poem was written at the early ageof twelve. It first appeared in a letter to his friend, Henry Cromwell, dated July 17, 1709. There are several variations between this firstform and that in which it was finally published, and it is probable thatPope thought enough of his boyish production to subject it to repeatedrevision. Its spirit is characteristic of a side of Pope's nature thatis often forgotten. He was, indeed, the poet of the society of his day, urban, cultured, and pleasure-loving; but to the end of his days heretained a love for the quiet charm of country life which he had come tofeel in his boyhood at Binfield, and for which he early withdrew fromthe whirl and dissipations of London to the groves and the grotto of hisvilla at Twickenham. * * * * * NOTES ON THE DESCENT OF DULLNESS In the fourth book of the 'Dunciad', Pope abandons the satire on thepretenders to literary fame which had run through the earlier books, andflies at higher game. He represents the Goddess Dullness as "coming inher majesty to destroy Order and Science, and to substitute the Kingdomof the Dull upon earth. " He attacks the pedantry and formalism ofuniversity education in his day, the dissipation and false taste of thetraveled gentry, the foolish pretensions to learning of collectors andvirtuosi, and the daringly irreverent speculations of freethinkers andinfidels. At the close of the book he represents the Goddess asdismissing her worshipers with a speech which she concludes with "a yawnof extraordinary virtue. " Under its influence "all nature nods, " andpulpits, colleges, and Parliament succumb. The poem closes with themagnificent description of the descent of Dullness and her finalconquest of art, philosophy, and religion. It is said that Pope himselfadmired these lines so much that he could not repeat them without hisvoice faltering with emotion. "And well it might, sir, " said Dr. Johnsonwhen this anecdote was repeated to him, "for they are noble lines. " AndThackeray in his lecture on Pope in 'The English Humorists' says: "In these astonishing lines Pope reaches, I think, to the very greatest height which his sublime art has attained, and shows himself the equal of all poets of all times. It is the brightest ardor, the loftiest assertion of truth, the most generous wisdom, illustrated by the noblest poetic figure, and spoken in words the aptest, grandest, and most harmonious. " * * * * * EPITAPH ON GAY John Gay, the idlest, best-natured, and best-loved man of letters of hisday, was the special friend of Pope. His early work, 'The Shepherd'sWeek', was planned as a parody on the 'Pastorals' of Pope's rival, Ambrose Philips, and Pope assisted him in the composition of hisluckless farce, 'Three Hours after Marriage'. When Gay's opera 'Polly'was forbidden by the licenser, and Gay's patrons, the Duke and Duchessof Queensberry, were driven from court for soliciting subscriptions forhim, Pope warmly espoused his cause. Gay died in 1732 and was buried inWestminster Abbey. Pope's epitaph for his tomb was first published inthe quarto edition of Pope's works in 1735--Johnson, in his discussionof Pope's epitaphs ('Lives of the Poets'), devotes a couple of pages ofsomewhat captious criticism to these lines; but they have at least thevirtue of simplicity and sincerity, and are at once an admirableportrait of the man and a lasting tribute to the poet Gay. * * * * * APPENDIX THE RAPE OF THE LOCK Nolueram, Belinda, tuos violare capillos Sed juvat, hoc precibus me tribuisse tuis. MART. FIRST EDITION CANTO I What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty quarrels rise from trivial things, I sing--This verse to C--l, Muse! is due: This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view: Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, 5 If she inspire, and he approve my lays. Say what strange motive, goddess! could compel A well-bred lord t' assault a gentle belle? O say what stranger cause, yet unexplored, Could make a gentle belle reject a lord? 10 And dwells such rage in softest bosoms then, And lodge such daring souls in little men? 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, 15 And nymphs prepared their chocolate to take; Thrice the wrought slipper knocked against the ground, And striking watches the tenth hour resound. Belinda rose, and midst attending dames, Launched on the bosom of the silver Thames: 20 A train of well-dressed youths around her shone, And ev'ry eye was fixed on her alone: On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore Which Jews might kiss and infidels adore. Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose, 25 Quick as her eyes, and as unfixed as those: Favours to none, to all she smiles extends; Oft she rejects, but never once offends. Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, And, like the sun, they shine on all alike. 30 Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride, Might hide her faults, if belles had faults to hide: If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forgive 'em all. This nymph, to the destruction of mankind, 35 Nourished two locks, which graceful hung behind In equal curls, and well conspired to deck With shining ringlets her smooth iv'ry neck. Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, And mighty hearts are held in slender chains. 40 With hairy springes we the birds betray, Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey, Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair. Th' adventurous baron the bright locks admired; 45 He saw, he wished, and to the prize aspired. Resolved to win, he meditates the way, By force to ravish, or by fraud betray; For when success a lover's toil attends, Few ask if fraud or force attained his ends. 50 For this, ere Phoebus rose, he had implored Propitious heav'n, and every pow'r adored, But chiefly Love--to Love an altar built, Of twelve vast French romances, neatly gilt. There lay the sword-knot Sylvia's hands had sewn 55 With Flavia's busk that oft had wrapped his own: A fan, a garter, half a pair of gloves, And all the trophies of his former loves. With tender billets-doux he lights the pire, And breathes three am'rous sighs to raise the fire. 60 Then prostrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes Soon to obtain, and long possess the prize: The pow'rs gave ear, and granted half his pray'r, The rest the winds dispersed in empty air. Close by those meads, for ever crowned with flow'rs, 65 Where Thames with pride surveys his rising tow'rs, There stands a structure of majestic frame, Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name. Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom Of foreign tyrants, and of nymphs at home; 70 Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take--and sometimes tea. Hither our nymphs and heroes did resort, To taste awhile the pleasures of a court; In various talk the cheerful hours they passed, 75 Of who was bit, or who capotted last; This speaks the glory of the British queen, And that describes a charming Indian screen; A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes; At ev'ry word a reputation dies. 80 Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat, With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that. Now when, declining from the noon of day, The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray; When hungry judges soon the sentence sign, 85 And wretches hang that jurymen may dine; When merchants from th' Exchange return in peace, And the long labours of the toilet cease, The board's with cups and spoons, alternate, crowned, The berries crackle, and the mill turns round; 90 On shining altars of Japan they raise The silver lamp, and fiery spirits blaze: From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide, While China's earth receives the smoking tide. At once they gratify their smell and taste, 95 While frequent cups prolong the rich repast. Coffee (which makes the politician wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes) Sent up in vapours to the baron's brain New stratagems, the radiant lock to gain. 100 Ah cease, rash youth! desist ere't is too late, Fear the just gods, and think of Scylla's fate! Changed to a bird, and sent to flit in air, She dearly pays for Nisus' injured hair! But when to mischief mortals bend their mind, 105 How soon fit instruments of ill they find! Just then, Clarissa drew with tempting grace A two-edged weapon from her shining case: So ladies, in romance, assist their knight, Present the spear, and arm him for the fight; 110 He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends The little engine on his fingers' ends; This just behind Belinda's neck he spread, As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head. He first expands the glitt'ring forfex wide 115 T' enclose the lock; then joins it, to divide; One fatal stroke the sacred hair does sever From the fair head, for ever, and for ever! The living fires come flashing from her eyes, And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies. 120 Not louder shrieks by dames to heav'n are cast, When husbands die, or lapdogs breathe their last; Or when rich china vessels, fall'n from high, In glitt'ring dust and painted fragments lie! "Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine, " 125 The victor cried, "the glorious prize is mine! While fish in streams, or birds delight in air, Or in a coach and six the British fair, As long as Atalantis shall be read, Or the small pillow grace a lady's bed, 130 While visits shall be paid on solemn days, When num'rous wax-lights in bright order blaze, While nymphs take treats, or assignations give, So long my honour, name, and praise shall live!" What time would spare, from steel receives its date, 135 And monuments, like men, submit to fate! Steel did the labour of the gods destroy, And strike to dust th' aspiring tow'rs of Troy; Steel could the works of mortal pride confound, And hew triumphal arches to the ground. 140 What wonder then, fair nymph! thy hairs should feel The conqu'ring force of unresisted steel? CANTO II But anxious cares the pensive nymph oppressed, And secret passions laboured in her breast. Not youthful kings in battle seized alive, Not scornful virgins who their charms survive, Not ardent lover robbed of all his bliss, 5 Not ancient lady when refused a kiss, Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die, Not Cynthia when her manteau's pinned awry, E'er felt such rage, resentment, and despair, As thou, sad virgin! for thy ravished hair. 10 While her racked soul repose and peace requires, The fierce Thalestris fans the rising fires. "O wretched maid!" she spread her hands, and cried, (And Hampton's echoes, "Wretched maid!" replied) "Was it for this you took such constant care 15 Combs, bodkins, leads, pomatums to prepare? For this your locks in paper durance bound? For this with tort'ring irons wreathed around? Oh had the youth been but content to seize Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these! 20 Gods! shall the ravisher display this hair, While the fops envy, and the ladies stare! Honour forbid! at whose unrivalled shrine Ease, pleasure, virtue, all, our sex resign. Methinks already I your tears survey, 25 Already hear the horrid things they say, Already see you a degraded toast, And all your honour in a whisper lost! How shall I, then, your helpless fame defend? 'T will then be infamy to seem your friend! 30 And shall this prize, th' inestimable prize, Exposed through crystal to the gazing eyes, And heightened by the diamond's circling rays, On that rapacious hand for ever blaze? Sooner shall grass in Hyde Park Circus grow, 35 And wits take lodgings in the sound of Bow; Sooner let earth, air, sea, to chaos fall, Men, monkeys, lapdogs, parrots, perish all!" She said; then raging to Sir Plume repairs, And bids her beau demand the precious hairs: 40 Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain, And the nice conduct of a clouded cane, With earnest eyes, and round unthinking face, He first the snuff-box opened, then the case, And thus broke out--"My lord, why, what the devil! 45 Zounds! damn the lock! 'fore Gad, you must be civil! Plague on't! 't is past a jest--nay, prithee, pox! Give her the hair. "--He spoke, and rapped his box. "It grieves me much, " replied the peer again, "Who speaks so well should ever speak in vain: 50 But by this lock, this sacred lock, I swear, (Which never more shall join its parted hair; Which never more its honours shall renew, Clipped from the lovely head where once it grew) That, while my nostrils draw the vital air, 55 This hand, which won it, shall for ever wear. " He spoke, and speaking, in proud triumph spread The long-contended honours of her head. But see! the nymph in sorrow's pomp appears, Her eyes half-languishing, half drowned in tears; 60 Now livid pale her cheeks, now glowing red On her heaved bosom hung her drooping head, Which with a sigh she raised, and thus she said: "For ever cursed be this detested day, Which snatched my best, my fav'rite curl away; 65 Happy! ah ten times happy had I been, If Hampton Court these eyes had never seen! Yet am not I the first mistaken maid, By love of courts to num'rous ills betrayed. O had I rather unadmired remained 70 In some lone isle, or distant northern land, Where the gilt chariot never marked the way, Where none learn ombre, none e'er taste bohea! There kept my charms concealed from mortal eye, Like roses, that in deserts bloom and die. 75 What moved my mind with youthful lords to roam? O had I stayed, and said my pray'rs at home! 'Twas this the morning omens did foretell, Thrice from my trembling hand the patchbox fell; The tott'ring china shook without a wind, 80 Nay, Poll sat mute, and Shock was most unkind! See the poor remnants of this slighted hair! My hands shall rend what ev'n thy own did spare: This in two sable ringlets taught to break, Once gave new beauties to the snowy neck; 85 The sister-lock now sits uncouth, alone, And in its fellow's fate foresees its own; Uncurled it hangs, the fatal shears demands, And tempts once more thy sacrilegious hands. " She said: the pitying audience melt in tears; 90 But fate and Jove had stopped the baron's ears. In vain Thalestris with reproach assails, For who can move when fair Belinda fails? Not half so fixed the Trojan could remain, While Anna begged and Dido raged in vain. 95 "To arms, to arms!" the bold Thalestris cries, And swift as lightning to the combat flies. All side in parties, and begin th' attack; Fans clap, silks rustle, and tough whalebones crack; Heroes' and heroines' shouts confus'dly rise, 100 And bass and treble voices strike the skies; No common weapons in their hands are found, Like gods they fight, nor dread a mortal wound. So when bold Homer makes the gods engage, And heav'nly breasts with human passions rage, 105 'Gainst Pallas, Mars; Latona, Hermes arms, And all Olympus rings with loud alarms; Jove's thunder roars, heav'n trembles all around, Blue Neptune storms, the bellowing deeps resound: Earth shakes her nodding tow'rs, the ground gives way, 110 And the pale ghosts start at the flash of day! While through the press enraged Thalestris flies, And scatters death around from both her eyes, A beau and witling perished in the throng, One died in metaphor, and one in song. 115 "O cruel nymph; a living death I bear, " Cried Dapperwit, and sunk beside his chair. A mournful glance Sir Fopling upwards cast, "Those eyes are made so killing"--was his last. Thus on Mæander's flow'ry margin lies 120 Th' expiring swan, and as he sings he dies. As bold Sir Plume had drawn Clarissa down, Chloe stepped in, and killed him with a frown; She smiled to see the doughty hero slain, But at her smile the beau revived again. 125 Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air, Weighs the men's wits against the lady's hair; The doubtful beam long nods from side to side; At length the wits mount up, the hairs subside. See fierce Belinda on the baron flies, 130 With more than usual lightning in her eyes: Nor feared the chief th' unequal fight to try, Who sought no more than on his foe to die. But this bold lord, with manly strength endued, She with one finger and a thumb subdued: 135 Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew, A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw; Sudden, with starting tears each eye o'erflows, And the high dome re-echoes to his nose. "Now meet thy fate, " th' incensed virago cried, 140 And drew a deadly bodkin from her side. "Boast not my fall, " he said, "insulting foe! Thou by some other shalt be laid as low; Nor think to die dejects my lofty mind; All that I dread is leaving you behind! 145 Rather than so, ah let me still survive, And still burn on, in Cupid's flames, alive. " "Restore the lock!" she cries; and all around "Restore the lock!" the vaulted roofs rebound. Not fierce Othello in so loud a strain 150 Roared for the handkerchief that caused his pain. But see how oft ambitious aims are crossed, And chiefs contend till all the prize is lost! The lock, obtained with guilt, and kept with pain, In ev'ry place is sought, but sought in vain: 155 With such a prize no mortal must be blessed, So heav'n decrees! with heav'n who can contest? Some thought it mounted to the lunar sphere, Since all that man e'er lost is treasured there. There heroes' wits are kept in pond'rous vases, 160 And beaux' in snuff-boxes and tweezer-cases. There broken vows, and death-bed alms are found, And lovers' hearts with ends of ribbon bound, The courtier's promises, and sick man's pray'rs, The smiles of harlots, and the tears of heirs, 165 Cages for gnats, and chains to yoke a flea, Dried butterflies, and tomes of casuistry. But trust the muse--she saw it upward rise, Though marked by none but quick poetic eyes: (Thus Rome's great founder to the heav'ns withdrew, 170 To Proculus alone confessed in view) A sudden star, it shot through liquid air, And drew behind a radiant trail of hair. Not Berenice's locks first rose so bright, The skies bespangling with dishevelled light. 175 This the beau monde shall from the Mall survey, } As through the moonlight shade they nightly stray, } And hail with music its propitious ray; } This Partridge soon shall view in cloudless skies, When next he looks through Galileo's eyes; 180 And hence th' egregious wizard shall foredoom The fate of Louis, and the fall of Rome. Then cease, bright nymph! to mourn thy ravished hair, Which adds new glory to the shining sphere! Not all the tresses that fair head can boast, 185 Shall draw such envy as the lock you lost. For after all the murders of your eye, When, after millions slain, yourself shall die; When those fair suns shall set, as set they must, And all those tresses shall be laid in dust, 190 This lock the muse shall consecrate to fame, And 'midst the stars inscribe Belinda's name.