THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. INTRODUCTION.-A quarrel had arisen between the family of Miss Arabella Fermor and that of Lord Petre "on the trifling occasion of his having cut off a lock of her hair." One of their and of Pope's friends, a Mr. Caryl, laid the matter before the poet, that his wit might laugh away the clouds that had gathered. The result was a poem of two cantos, describing in a mock-heroic manner the circumstances of the robbery and the battle which ensued. This was published in a Miscellany of Bernard Lintot's in 1711. "It was received so well," says Pope, in his note to the poem, "that he [the author] made it more considerable the next year by the addition of the machinery of the Sylphs, and extended it to five cantos." The game at Ombre was also inserted, as also the picture of the Cave of Spleen. The piece grew, in fact, from an amusing sketch into an epic on a small scale. Pope's models for this work were Tassoni's Rage of the Bucket, and Boileau's Lectern; but indeed there is no work of his that belongs more truly to his age than this one. The exquisite raillery with which the poem perpetually sparkles, the familiarity which it exhibits with the epics of antiquity, and the use to which that familiarity is turned, the finished ease of its style, all at once connect it with the age which produced it. is, "pure wit," in its earlier form. they do in some degree impair its prive it of that happy title. Addison called it merum sal, that Certainly the additions made, if unity, must not be allowed to de The spirit of that age found its most complete embodiment in burlesque poetry. It was then in perfect accordance with that spirit that Pope developed and expanded his jeu d'esprit into its fuller form. It was thought that supernatural agents were essential to an epic poem. Pope was particularly happy in his selection of such beings. He made use, with certain modifications, of the spiritual system of the Rosicrucians, a sect well known throughout Western Europe in the seventeenth century. This, too, he used with the characteristic light mockery of his age. The idea of the game at Ombre was suggested by Vida's Scacchia Ludus. Vida was a Latin-writing poet who flourished under the smile of Leo X. Pope's age, in the somewhat indiscriminate ardor of its Ro 5 man classicism, embraced even the Latin poets of the Renaissance. The game Ombre was introduced into England about the middle of the seventeenth century from Spain, as its name and the names of its cards show. In Queen Anne's time it was the favorite ladies' game, as Piquet was the gentlemen's, Whist or Whisk that of clergymen and country squires. When it fell into disuse Quadrille, which was a species of it, "obtained vogue, which It maintained till Whisk was introduced, which now," says Barrington, writing in 1787 (quoted in Chatto's Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing Cards), "prevails not only in England, but in most of the civilized parts of Europe." CANTO I. WHAT dire offence from am'rous causes springs, Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel 1. Comp. beginning of Pope's translation of the Iliad. 3. This verse, etc. See Introduction. 4. [What is the force of ev'n here? What part of speech is it?] 15 6. [Would there be any difference in the sense if he had written inspires and approves ?] 8. Belle. Beau (1. 23, etc.) is almost fallen out of use. 13. Sol. The tendency to classical names and titles was beginning to be excessive in the early part of the eighteenth century. Phoebus, Titan, Sol, were superseding the simple sun; Chloe, Mary, etc. Cowper may be said to have commenced for us that deliverance from such classicism which Wordsworth completed. 14. Must are ordained. See Lycidas, 38. English Classics No. 46. 15. Lap-dogs. There are many references in our literature to these pets of the ladies, from Chaucer's Prologue downwards. [What is the force of the here?] And sleepless lovers, just at twelve awake; Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock'd the ground, Her guardian sylph prolong'd the balmy rest. 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— 20 2,5 30 35 With golden crowns and wreaths of heav'nly flow'rs- 16. [What part of speech is just here? How can he say they awake, if they were sleepless ?] 17. It would seem that three rings of the bell with a tap on the floor were the signal that the sleeper had arisen. Rung. See note on blow, Hymn Nativity, 130. English Classics No. 46. 18. The watch was what we should call "a repeater." 19. Prest, In the preceding line the past participle is spelt pressed. 20. Sylph. See Introduction. 22. Comp. Il Penseroso, 147. English Classics No. 2. 23. A Birth-night beau, i. e., a fine gentleman, such as were to be seen at the state ball given on the anniversary of the royal birthday. 27. He is parodying Paradise Lost, v. 35, et seq. Care. See note on sorrow, in Lycidas, 166. 30. The nurse, etc., the priest, etc. This conjunction is not insignifi cant of the age. [What is the force of the here?] 31. Comp. Paradise Lost, i. 781-8 [What is the force of by here?] 36. Narrow is used here anticipatingly. [What is the force of bound here?] 37. He does not shrink from parodying the New Testament. See St. Matthews Gospel, xi. 25. The fair and innocent shall still believe. Know, then, unnumber'd spirits round thee fly, These, tho' unseen, are ever on the wing, Hang o'er the Box, and hover round the Ring. 40 45 50 Think not, when woman's transient breath is fled, Succeeding vanities she still regards, And tho' she plays no more, o'erlooks the cards. 55 And love of Ombre, after death survive. In courtly balls and midnight masquerades, 40. [What does still mean here?] бо 65 42. Militia. There was scarcely yet that sharp antithesis between "the militia" and "the army" which prevailed afterwards. 44. 1 he Box: i. e. at the opera. The Ring the "Row" in Hyde Park, England. 55. See Virg. En. vi. 653-5. A passion of the ladies for fine equipages. 56. Ombre. See below. Safe from the treach'rous friend, the daring spark, 75 80 85 While peers, and dukes, and all their sweeping train, 90 Oft', when the world imagine women stray, The sylphs thro' mystic mazes guide their way; 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 73. [What part of the sentence is safe?] Spark. Comp. "flame." 87. Tis these. Dr. Johnson, in his Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language, 1747, quotes this line as erroneous in syntax, to illustrate the unsettled, ill-regulated state of our language; but his objection would not seem well-founded. Comp. the Greek idiom. 'Tis here, as often, is used in a purely rhetorical manner; 'tis these that is but a more emphatic form of these. In such uses 'tis and 'twas do not necessarily require numerical inflection. They serve just to introduce the subject of the sentence; they need not vary in form according to the number of that subject. 94. [What does impertinence mean here? What is its etymological meaning?] 96. [What is meant by treat ?] See below, and Prior to Swift: "I have treated Lady Harriot at Cambridge, (a Fellow of a College treat!) and spoke verses to her in a gown and cap," etc. 100. They keep re-arranging the affections, so to speak. Comp. Addi |