214. Roscommon: See ‘Essay on Criticism’, 725n.
216. whiter: ‘white: pure; unblemished’ (Dictionary, citing this line).
222. supplied: Supported or supplemented.
224. a poet saved: Swift became a hero in his native Ireland for exposing in the prose Drapier’s Letters an English attempt to allow profiteers to debase the coinage.
226. idiot … poor: Swift set up a fund to assist the poor, and Pope was aware that his will provided for a hospital for the feeble-minded.
229. palms: Tributes.
230. Hopkins and Sternhold: John Hopkins and Thomas Sternhold, sixteenth-century authors of a popular metrical version of the Psalms; see also 236n.
231. whom charity maintains: In schools for poor and orphan children.
232. pathetic strains: Emotionally moving melodies.
236. pope and Turk: Hopkins and Sternhold included a verse translation of a hymn by Martin Luther with the line ‘From Turk and Pope defend us, Lord’.
238. grace: Divine favour.
247. bowl: i.e. wine.
250. alternate: Stressed on the second syllable.
259. warped: ‘warp: to turn aside from the true direction (Dictionary). nice: Fastidious.
266. numbers: Metre, versification.
267. Waller … Dryden: Edmund Waller and John Dryden, who developed the heroic couplet in English verse.
269. energy: ‘strength of expression; force of signification; spirit; life’ (Dictionary); this line, echoing Dryden’s practice in emphatic triplets, has six stresses instead of five.
271. splay-foot: ‘having the foot turned inward’ (Dictionary, citing this line); alludes punningly to clumsy metrical ‘feet’.
272. correctness: ‘accuracy; exactness; freedom from faults’ (Dictionary, citing this line).
274. Racine … Corneille: Jean Racine and Pierre Corneille, the greatest French dramatists of the seventeenth century. For Racine, see also 375n.
277. Otway: Seventeenth-century author of verse tragedies.
279. scarce effaced a line: See ‘Preface to Shakespeare’, note 13.
282. doubt: Are in doubt whether.
287. Congreve: William Congreve, author of The Way of the World and other Restoration comedies; suggests that even when he intends characters to be fools, he makes them witty.
288. Farquhar: George Farquhar, Restoration comic dramatist.
289. Van: Sir John Vanbrugh, comic dramatist and architect.
290–91. Astraea … bed: Aphra Behn, under the pen name Astraea, wrote ‘loose’ comedies filled with sexual innuendo.
292. laws: Of dramatic theory.
293. Pinky: William Penkethman, a comic actor who had to bolt down two chickens onstage in one of Cibber’s plays.
305. the pit: ‘the middle part of the theatre’ (Dictionary).
308. Clatt’ring their sticks: Audiences were notoriously boisterous; here, banging their walking sticks in disapproval.
309. bear: Dancing bear. Black Joke: Popular tune used for indecent songs.
313. heads … ears … eyes: i.e. from thoughtful plays to operas, and then to pantomime and spectacle.
315. scenes: Theatrical scenery pulled back to reveal the inner stage.
317. ermine: Expensive fur lining the robes of peers. gold: In the costume of a herald, custodian of genealogy. lawn: See ‘I Cobham’, 136n.
318. Champion: The King’s Champion, who rode fully armed into Westminster Hall at a royal coronation, and offered to fight anyone who would deny the new king’s right to the throne.
319. Old Edward’s armour: In a play depicting a coronation, armour from the Tower of London (apparently Edward III’s) was borrowed for the actor playing the King’s Champion.
320. Democritus: Known in ancient Athens as the laughing philosopher.
321. gape: With astonishment.
322. so white: Albino creatures were particular attractions.
328. Orcas: The northern tip of Scotland, facing the Orkney Islands.
331. Quin … Oldfield: Popular actors of Pope’s day: James Quin often played heroes in plumed hats, and Anne Oldfield was noted for her elegant costumes and manner (see also ‘I Cobham’, 247n.).
332. birthday suit: Dress clothing worn at court on a monarch’s birthday.
338. rally: ‘to treat with slight contempt; to treat with satirical merriment’ (Dictionary).
345. pity … terror: According to Aristotle’s Poetics, the chief emotions aroused by tragedy.
347. when he will, and where: Thereby defying the neoclassical unities of time and place.
348. this part: i.e. drama.
350. sir: George II.
353. mountain: Mount Parnassus above Delphi, home of the Muses. spring: The Castalian Spring in a ravine at Delphi, sacred to Apollo and poetry.
355. Merlin’s cave: Building in the royal gardens at Richmond that contained a collection of books.
356. My liege: ‘My Lord’, addressing the king.
372. dubbed historians: In former times the Poet Laureate would also have the duties of ‘historiographer royal’.
375. Boileau and Racine: Nicolas Boileau (see also ‘Essay on Criticism’, 714n.) and the dramatist Racine, both appointed historiographers by Louis XIV.
378. some minister: Walpole appointed Cibber Poet Laureate.
380–81. Charles … Bernini: The sculptor Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini made a bust of Charles I.
382. Nassau … Kneller: William III was a prince of the Dutch House of Nassau before he and his wife Mary ascended the English throne. Sir Godfrey Kneller, portrait painter and friend, and sometime justice of the peace.
387–8. William … Quarles: William III, described ironically as a ‘hero’ for his military campaigns, and Charles I, a ‘martyr’ because the Puritans beheaded him, respectively honoured Sir Richard Blackmore (see ‘Essay on Criticism’, 463n.) and the emblem-writer Francis Quarles (see also ‘Dunciad’, I, 140n.).
388. Ben: Ben Jonson. Dennis: John Dennis: see ‘Essay on Criticism’, 270n.
389. ‘No … bear’: Unidentified.
394. Maeonian: See ‘Essay on Criticism’, 648n.
397. dearly bought: George’s wars on the Continent were much resented.
400. nodded: Dozed off.
404. your Majesty disdains: Implying that George, unlike the Emperor Augustus, has no use for good poetry.
413. ‘Praise … disguise’: From an anonymous poem The Celebrated Beauties (1709).
417. Eusden, Philips, Settle: Laurence Eusden, Ambrose Philips, and Elkanah Settle, minor poets who wrote flattering poems on the monarchy. For Eusden and Philips, see ‘Arbuthnot’, 15n. and 100n., respectively; for Settle, see ‘Dunciad’, I, 90 and note.
418. Clothe spice, line trunks: Since paper was handmade and expensive, unwanted books were torn apart to wrap spices and line trunks.
419. Befringe … Soho: Pamphlets were hung outside used-book stalls near the Bedlam (Bethlehem) Hospital and in the district of Soho.
Epistle, II, ii
Epigraph: ‘He will give the appearance of playing, and yet be in torment’ (from the Horatian original).
1. Colonel: probably Arthur Browne, a friend and neighbour of Pope’s, whose estate was Abscourt (232). Cobham: See ‘I Cobham’, Dedication note.
4. Blois: French town noted for the purity of its French.
5. clean: ‘elegant; neat; not unwieldy’ (Dictionary).
10. upholst’rer: ‘one who furnishes houses; one who fits up apartments with beds and furniture’ (Dictionary).
24. Sir Godfrey: Kneller: See Epistle, II, i, 382n.
33. Anna’s wars: The War of the Spanish Succession, during the reign of Queen Anne.
36. doit: Dutch coin of small value; pronounced ‘dight’.
41. standard: Banner flown in battle.
51. groat: See ‘III Bathurst’, 366n.
53. Peleus’ son: Achilles, whose wrath provokes the first episode of the Iliad.
56
. imported: Was important, mattered.
57. Maudlin: Magdalen College, Oxford, pronounced ‘Maudlin’.
58. we knew not: i.e. ‘which we knew not’.
59–61. our paternal cell … all posts: Anti-Catholic legislation, including laws against holding public office or purchasing land, impelled Pope’s father to leave off trade and to move out of London.
63. mighty William: The warlike William III.
67. Convict: Convicted; stressed on the first syllable.
68. thanks to Homer: Pope’s translation of Homer made him wealthy.
70. Munros: James Munro, distinguished London physician.
83. Pindaric lays: See Horace, Epistle, II, i, 77n.
87. Oldfield: See Horace, Satire, II, ii, 25n. Dartineuf: An epicure.
94–7. Palace Yard … rehearsal: Widely separated areas of London, implying hurrying in four hours from the Palace of Westminster to the more northerly Bloomsbury Square, then back to the House of Lords in Westminster, and finally to a play rehearsal in Drury Lane.
96. my cause comes on: i.e. my case comes up in court.
102. nodding: Swaying, tottering. pig: See ‘Dunciad’, II, 281n.
104. Guildhall’s narrow pass: An alley behind the Guildhall, the town hall of the City of London.
107. s-r-v–nce: ‘sir-reverence’, a euphemistic name for excrement. car: Normally short for ‘chariot’, but here, a dung cart to which the peer is obliged to give way.
110. grottos: See ‘Eloisa to Abelard’, 20n.; also 209 below.
112. Blackmore: See ‘Essay on Criticism’, 463n.
113. Tooting or Earl’s Court: In Pope’s day, villages near London (now within the city limits).
116. Isis’ calm retreat: Oxford University, at the part of the Thames known as the Isis.
117. sev’n years: The period required for the BA plus the MA degree.
123. town: The fashionable section of London. City: The financial district.
124. duns: Bill collectors.
127. The Temple: The Inns of Court, legal societies that controlled admission to legal practice, at the site known as the Temple after its formerly religious status; see also ‘Dunciad’, IV, 568n. brother sergeants: Or ‘serjeants’, lawyers of the highest rank, who addressed each other as ‘brother’.
130. Exchequer: The court with jurisdiction over revenue matters. Rolls: Repository of the records (originally rolled-up scrolls) of the Court of Chancery.
131. make you split: i.e. split your sides laughing.
132. Murray: William Murray: see Horace, Ode, IV, i, 9–10n.
134. Cowper … Talbot: William Cowper and Charles Talbot, recent Lords Chancellor, noted for eloquence.
137. Tibbald: See ‘Arbuthnot’, 164n. the Nine: The Muses.
138. Cibber … ode: As Laureate, Colley Cibber was required to produce official odes: See ‘Arbuthnot’, 97n.
139. Merlin’s cave: See Horace, Epistle, II, i, 355n.
140. Stephen: Stephen Duck, librarian of Merlin’s cave, a farm worker who became known as the ‘thresher poet’ and was taken up at court.
143. Tibullus: Roman elegiac poet.
153. In vain … reject: i.e. it is in vain that mankind reject bad poets.
155. hold your tongue: i.e. refrain from insincere praise.
160. That wants … care: That lacks either force, or light, or weight, in care.
161. it: The word.
163. degrade: Demote from its usual place.
168. Bacon … Raleigh: Francis Bacon and Walter Raleigh, early seventeenth-century writers and statesmen admired by Pope.
178–9. ‘But ease … dance’: Quoting (with variations) ‘Essay on Criticism’, 362–3.
180. such the: i.e. such be the.
184. in primo Georgii: ‘in the first year of George I’ (1714).
185. member: Of the House of Lords.
186. the House was up: The House of Lords was in adjournment. sate: Variant spelling of ‘sat’.
190. pasty: Meat pie.
193. cupped: Bled (for medical purposes) with a cupping-glass. purged: Treated with cathartics.
196. Patriot: See ‘III Bathurst’, 139n.
206. my country door: At Pope’s Twickenham villa.
208. Hyde Park Corner: In Pope’s day, at the edge of London, where he would leave the city on his way home.
212. the more you drink: In consequence of a disease causing insatiable thirst, not alcohol.
215. Confess … disease: i.e. confess mental folly as easily as you admit physical disease.
218. golden angels … evil: The King’s evil, a form of tuberculosis then called scrofula, was thought to be curable if the monarch touched the sufferer, who would be given a gold coin known as an angel (Queen Anne was the last monarch to do it).
219. give … the devil: i.e. dismiss it, ‘the devil with it!’
226. or wit: Either wit.
229. Van-muck: Alluding to a rich merchant, Joshua Vanneck, who wanted to buy Bolingbroke’s estate at an unacceptably low price.
230–31. use can give/A property: As in the saying, ‘Possession is nine-tenths of the law.’
233. you: Anyone who gets the benefit of an estate’s produce without having to own it.
234. Worldly: Thinly veiled reference to Edward Wortley Montagu, Lady Mary’s husband.
240. Heathcote: Sir Gilbert Heathcote: see ‘III Bathurst’, 101n.
241. E’sham: The Vale of Evesham in Worcestershire, ‘fat’ because famous for fertility. Lincoln Fen: Marshy area in Lincolnshire that had been drained and put under cultivation.
244. wights: See ‘Donne’, 38n.
245. the devil … Lincoln town: Invoking a proverbial saying, ‘He looks as the devil over Lincoln’, referring to the devil carved on Lincoln Cathedral.
247. perpetuity: Bequeathing an estate in such a way that one’s heirs are forbidden to sell it.
255. park: The grounds of a country estate. chase: Tract of hunting land.
257. Cotswold hills: Sheep-raising district in the west Midlands. Sapperton: Town near the Gloucestershire estate of Pope’s friend Bathurst; Pope was interested in proposals (later successfully carried out) to link the two regions by water.
259. pyramids: Ornamental monuments in patricians’ estates.
261. downs: Grassy upland.
269. a face … a mind: i.e. two persons’ minds are no more alike than their faces.
273. Townshend: Charles, Viscount Townshend, who conducted agricultural experiments and became known as ‘Turnip Townshend’. Grosvenor: Family with mines in Wales.
274. Bubb: See ‘IV Burlington’, 20n.
277. Oglethorp: General James Oglethorp, philanthropist who promoted the Georgia colony in America as a refuge for the poor.
278. Is known … Pow’r: i.e. the answer to that question is known only to God.
279. genius: ‘nature; disposition’ (Dictionary).
287. place: Government position.
290. spare: Save.
296. wot: Knows.
298. make a better figure: Be more graceful and attractive, with ironic reference to Pope’s diminutive size and deformed body.
306. no other: No other tyrant passion.
312. both worlds: This world and the next.
Ode, IV, i
4. Queen Anne: She had died over twenty years previously; in the original Horace names a lover, Cynara.
6. sober fifty: In 1737, when the poem was first published, Pope was 49.
9–10. number five … Murray: The lawyer William Murray, later Earl of Mansfield and Lord Chief Justice, lived in his youth at No. 5, King’s Bench Walk, and was an eloquent speaker in Parliament.
12. part: ‘parts: qualities; powers; faculties; or accomplishments’ (Dictionary).
14. fix: ‘to make fast, firm, or stable’ (Dictionary).
16. stretch … the kind: Extend Venus’ conquests over half of humankind.
20. Chloe: Any lovely nymph.
26. loves
: Cupids.
27. Grace: As in the ‘three Graces’.
33. mutual fire: Reciprocated passion.
35. bowl: Of wine.
47. Cynthia: See ‘II A Lady’, 20n. and ‘Windsor Forest’, 164n., 166n.
Ode, IV, ix
4. vulgar: Commonplace.
7–8. Waller … Cowley’s: Edmund Waller and Abraham Cowley, contemporaries of Milton who still had some reputation in Pope’s time.
11–12. These … those: ‘Sages’ like Newton and ‘chiefs’ like Caesar, respectively.
Epilogue to the Satires
In this pair of linked poems, the first of which was originally entitled One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty Eight: A Dialogue Something Like Horace, Pope sought to confirm his high-minded motives as a satirist, and to identify his critics with the commercial wealth and Whig political corruption which he saw as destroying English civilization. According to Joseph Warton, who published an important edition of Pope in 1797, these poems ‘were more diligently laboured and more frequently corrected than any of our author’s composition’, so that each time a supposedly final version came back from his copyist, Pope would revise it again until ‘every line had been written twice over a second time’.
Dialogue I
1. Fr.: Pope’s abbreviation for ‘Friend’; ‘P.’ presumably stands for ‘Pope’, or possibly ‘Poet’.
3. correct: ‘revised or finished with exactness; free from faults’ (Dictionary).
5. parts: Abilities, faculties.
7. all from Horace: Adapted from Satire, II, iii, 1–4.
8. Tories called him Whig: Pope is quoting himself (see Satire, II, i, 68), as well as adapting Horace.
10. Peter: Peter Walter: See ‘III Bathurst’, 20n.; also 121 below.
11. nice: ‘scrupulously and minutely cautious’ (Dictionary).
12. Bubo: Probably Bubb Dodington: see ‘IV Burlington’, 20n.
13. Sir Billy: Sir William Yonge: see ‘Arbuthnot’, 280n.; also 68 below.
14. Blunt: Sir John Blunt: see ‘III Bathurst’, 103n. Huggins: Warden of the Fleet Prison, condemned for cruelty and extortion.
15. Sappho: See ‘II A Lady’, 24n.
17. waggish: ‘knavishly merry; merrily mischievous; frolicsome’ (Dictionary).
18. cropped our ears: Referring to the incident that provoked the War of Jenkins’ Ear in 1739: Jenkins, a British merchant ship captain, exhibited in Parliament an ear which Spanish coast guards had cut off.
The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings: Poems and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) Page 51
