Oh thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate, is crown'd, For lo! the board with cups and spoons The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze: 106 While China's earth receives the smoaking tide: 110 And see through all things with his half-shut eyes) She dearly pays for Nisus' injur'd hair! 120 NOTES. Ver. 105. For lo! the board] It is doubtless as hard to make a coffeepot shine in poetry, as a plough; yet our author has succeeded in giving elegance to a familiar object, as well as Virgil.-Warton. Ver. 122. and think of Scylla's fate!] Vide Ovid's Metamorphoses, viii. -P. VARIATIONS. Ver. 105. For lo! the board, &c.] From hence, the first Edition continues to ver. 134.-P. Ver. 101.] IMITATIONS. "Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futuræ ; 130 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. 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, 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: As on the nosegay in her breast reclin'd, 135 140 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, Fate urg'd the sheers, and cut the Sylph in twain, NOTES. 150 Ver. 152. But airy substance] See Milton, lib. vi. of Satan cut asunder by the Angel Michael.-P. VARIATIONS. Ver. 134.] In the first Edition it was thus, As o'er the fragrant stream she bends her head.-P. Ver. 147.] First he expands the glitt'ring Forfex wide T'inclose the Lock; then joins it to divide : The meeting points the sacred hair dissever, From the fair head, for ever, and for ever. All that is between was added afterwards.-P. [This The meeting points the sacred hair dissever Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes, 155 Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine, 160 NOTES. This line is an admirable parody on that passage of Milton, which, perhaps oddly enough, describes Satan wounded: “ The griding sword, with discontinuous wound, Pass'd thro' him; but th' etherial substance clos'd, Not long divisible." The parodies are some of the most exquisite parts of this poem. That which follows from the " Dum juga montis aper," of Virgil, contains some of the most artful strokes of satire, and the most poignant ridicule imaginable. The introduction of frequent parodies on serious and solemn passages of Homer and Virgil, gives much life and spirit to heroi-comic poetry. "Tu dors, Prélat ? tu dors ?” in Boileau, is the “ Edeus, 'Arpéos vié ;" of Homer, and is full of humour. The wife of the barber talks in the language of Dido, in her expostulations to her Æneas, at the beginning of the second Canto of the Lutrin. Pope's parodies of Sarpedon in Homer, and of the description of Achilles's sceptre, together with the scales of Jupiter, from Homer, Virgil, and Milton, are judiciously introduced in their several places, are perhaps superior to those Boileau or Garth have used, and are worked up with peculiar pleasantry. The mind of the reader is engaged by novelty, when it so unexpectedly finds a thought or object it had been accustomed to survey in another form, suddenly arrayed in a ridiculous garb. A mixture also of comic and ridiculous images, with such as are serious and important, adds no small beauty to this species of poetry, when real and imaginary distresses are coupled together. "Not youthful kings, in battle seiz'd alive, Not scornful virgins who their charms survive," &c. Which is much superior to a similar passage in the Dispensary, Canto v.— Warton. Ver. 163. 170.] IMITATIONS. "Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit, Virg.-P. As long as Atalantis shall be read, 165 Or the small pillow grace a Lady's bed, Steel could the labour of the Gods destroy, 170 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, NOTES. Ver. 165. Atalantis] A famous book written about that time by a woman full of Court and Party scandal; and in a loose effeminacy of style and sentiment, which well-suited the debauched taste of the better vulgar. -Warburton. Mrs. Manley, the author of it, was the daughter of Sir Roger Manley, Governor of Guernsey, and the author of the first volume of the famous Turkish Spy, published from his papers, by Dr. Midgley. She was known and admired by all the wits of the times. She wrote three plays; Lucius, the last, 1717, was dedicated to Sir Richard Steele, with whom she had quarrelled some time before. He wrote the prologue to it, and Prior the epilogue. She was also celebrated by Lord Lansdown. She died in the house of Alderman Barber, Swift's friend; and was said to have been the mistress of the Alderman.-Warton. Ver. 177.] IMITATIONS. "Ille quoque eversus mons est, &c. Quid faciant crines, cum ferro talia cedant ?" CATULL. de Com. Berenices.-P.. Ver. 1.] “ At regina gravi," &c.—Virg. Æneid. iv.—P. Not youthful kings in battle seiz'd alive, Not scornful virgins who their charms survive, Not ancient ladies when refus'd a kiss, Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die, 5 Not Cynthia when her manteau's pinn'd awry, As thou, sad Virgin! for thy ravish'd Hair. 10 For, that sad moment, when the Sylphs withdrew, And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew, Down to the central earth, his proper scene, Repair'd, to search the gloomy Cave of Spleen. 15 20 Ver. 16. Cave of Spleen.] NOTES. "Thro' me ye pass to Spleen's terrific dome, Thro' me, to those who sadden'd human life, By sullen humour or vexatious strife; And here thro' scenes of endless vapour hurl'd, Are punish'd in the forms they plagu'd the world; All ye who enter, every hope forego! It is thus Mr. Hayley, in allusion to Dante's striking inscription over hellgate, begins his description of the dwelling of Spleen. She and her attendants are afterwards painted with force and spirit in the next 200 verses, and more. His mild and engaging Serena, her prim and sour aunt Penelope, and the good old Squire, are admirable portraits.-Warton. VARIATIONS. Ver. 11. For, that sad moment, &c.] All the lines from hence to the 94th verse, that describe the house of Spleen, are not in the first Edition; instead of them followed only these, While her rack'd Soul repose and peace requires, The fierce Thalestris fans the rising fires. And continued at the 94th verse of this Canto.-P. |