The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings: Poems and Other Writings (Penguin Classics)

by Alexander Pope

  303–4. bay … ivy: The bay (or laurel) of poetry is ‘madding’ with demented inspiration; the wine-producing vine is ‘drunken’ with Bacchic excess; and the ivy is ‘creeping’ (or crawling) with sycophancy at court.

  305. his aide de camp: Hervey.

  306. points: ‘point: a sting of an epigram; a sentence terminated with some remarkable turn of words or thought’ (Dictionary). antitheses: i.e. used as laboured poetic devices; Pope called Hervey ‘one vile antithesis’ in ‘Arbuthnot’, 325.

  307. billingsgate: ‘a cant word, borrowed from Billingsgate in London, a place where there is always a crowd of low people, and frequent brawls and foul language’ (Dictionary).

  309. Archer: Thomas Archer, a royal groom who took advantage of his position’s privileges to keep a gambling den.

  312. nursing-mother: Cf. ‘queens shall be thy nursing mothers’ (Isaiah 43:23).

  314. Shade … law: Dullness prefers a king who is shielded from his people’s needs, and is told that he is above the law.

  315. learnèd band: Scholars, who get no support from the regime.

  316. suckle armies: Support standing armies, which Tories resented as enabling the monarchy’s foreign wars. dry-nurse: A wet-nurse would give milk; the dry-nurse Dullness has none.

  317. senates: Parliament. lullabies divine: Soothing sermons by court preachers.

  318. an Ode of thine: One of Cibber’s soporific official odes.

  319. Chapel Royal: The chapel of the court at St James’s Palace, whose musicians played at the performance of the Laureate’s official odes.

  321. Familiar: Because Cibber was a member.

  322. Drury Lane: Site of brothels and theatres (including the Drury Lane Theatre, managed by Cibber).

  323. Needham: The notorious madam ‘Mother’ Needham. dropped the name of God: i.e. used it in a blasphemous oath.

  325. the Devil: ‘the Devil Tavern in Fleet Street, where these odes are usually rehearsed before they are performed at court’ (Pope’s note).

  327. Jove’s block: In Aesop’s fable, frogs asked for a king, were given instead a log, and failed at first to notice its inertness.

  Book the Second

  Argument: Pythia, Isthmia: Sites of games in ancient Greece; Pope’s mock-epic games imitate those in Iliad, XXIII and Aeneid, V. Thetis: Achilles’ mother, who presided over funeral games held in his honour. booksellers: Publishers (who also owned bookshops). fustian: See ‘Arbuthnot’, 187n. Party-writers: Political propagandists. their parts: Abilities.

  1. High … outshone: Echoing Paradise Lost, II, 1–2, 5: ‘High on a throne of royal state, that far / Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind … Satan exalted sat.’

  2. Henley: John Henley: see ‘Donne’, 51n.; also 370n. below. tub: Contemptuous term for a pulpit. Fleckno’s Irish throne: Dryden’s satire presents Richard Flecknoe ‘high on a throne of his own labours reared’ (‘Mac Flecknoe’, 106), i.e. on a pile of his own books; he was not in fact Irish, though his detractors claimed that his father was an Irish priest.

  3. Or that: The pillory. her curls: A dig at Edmund Curll, who had once been placed in the pillory; see also I, 40n.

  4. fragrant grains and golden show’rs: Rank barley fermented during brewing, and eggs.

  5. Parnassian: See ‘Arbuthnot’, 96n.

  9. His peers: The rest of the Dunces, and also an allusion to Cibber’s popularity among the nobility.

  10. new-bronze: Suggesting Cibber’s brazen impudence.

  12. sparks: With a pun on ‘spark’: see ‘Rape of the Lock’, I, 73n. horns: The sign of cuckoldry.

  14. scarlet hats: Worn by cardinals.

  15. Capitol: The Capitoline Hill in Rome. Querno: Camillo Querno, sixteenth-century buffoonish poetic improvisor whom Pope Leo X jokingly appointed Poet Laureate of Rome.

  16. sev’n hills: The Book of Revelation associates the Antichrist with the seven hills of Rome.

  18. hawkers: Pedlars.

  21–2. long wigs … garters: A truly ‘motley’ assemblage: long wigs were favoured by older gentlemen, bag wigs (with the hair drawn into a pouch at the back) by the young, silks by the wealthy, crapes (woollen cloth) by the lower clergy, and garters by the highly distinguished members of the Order of the Garter.

  24. hacks: Hired hackney carriages. chariots: The carriages of the rich.

  27. that area wide: The square in front of the church of St Mary le Strand, built on the order of Queen Anne, at which time a festive maypole was taken down (28).

  30. saints of Drury Lane: i.e. prostitutes.

  31. Stationers: Booksellers, who also functioned as publishers.

  35. A poet’s form: Recalling the phantom of Aeneas created by Juno to mislead his enemy Turnus (Aeneid, X, 636–40).

  37. adust: Dried out and gloomy.

  38. nightgown: Loose gown for casual dress at home.

  45. sounding strain: Resounding lines of verse.

  48. just: Exact.

  50. More: James Moore-Smyth, notorious for plagiarism; hence, the ‘phantom’ of an author, not a real one; see also ‘Arbuthnot’, 23n.

  52. sword-knot: Ornament on the hilt of a sword.

  53. lofty Lintot: The publisher Bernard Lintot was a tall man; see 82n. below and see also ‘Arbuthnot’, 62n.

  54. tempt: Attempt.

  63. dabchick: A waterbird, clumsy on land.

  64–5. On feet … and head: As Satan, struggling through Chaos to reach the newly created Earth, ‘With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way, / And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies’ (Paradise Lost, II, 949–50).

  67–8. Bernard … Jacob: Lintot and Tonson (see I, 57n).

  70. Corinna: A classical name affected by Curll’s mistress.

  71–2. Such … shop: ‘Cates’ are delicacies; i.e. it is her custom (‘wont’) to empty her chamber pot in the street, but not in front of Curll’s bookshop.

  73. Here fortuned: Curll’s bad luck resembles that of runners in the Iliad and Aeneid, who slip on blood and entrails from the sacrifices that preceded the games.

  74. Strand: Then as today, major London thoroughfare.

  75. bewrayed: Exposed, visible.

  76. plash: ‘a small lake of water or puddle’ (Dictionary, citing this line). his wickedness: In having spent the night with Corinna.

  78. caitiff vaticide: Despicable poet-murderer (vates is Latin for poet).

  80. as any god’s: i.e. Curll and the writers he publishes are as likely to worship a Greek god as the Christian one.

  82. Down with … Arms: Lintot had taken down his shop sign that featured a Bible, replacing it with the Pope’s Head (evidently a dig at Alexander Pope).

  84. ambrosia: Food of the Olympian gods. ease: A privy was euphemistically called a ‘house of ease’.

  87. fond: ‘foolish; silly’ (Dictionary).

  91. bills: The petitions.

  92. ichor: The ethereal blood of the gods; here, evidently, divine excrement.

  93. office: Privy; see 84n. Cloacina: Minor Roman deity, named from cloaca, ‘sewer’.

  95. vot’ry: i.e Votary, worshipper.

  98. black grottos: Coal wharves on the Thames, near the legal centre known as the Temple.

  100. link-boys: Boys hired to carry torches for pedestrians in unlit streets. watermen: Boatmen who rowed passengers on the Thames.

  101. fished her nether realms: Searched the privy for manuscripts that had been used there.

  103. sympathetic: Having an affinity with; i.e. Curll finds excrement congenial.

  104. magic juices: ‘alluding to the opinion that there are ointments used by witches to enable them to fly in the air’ (Pope’s note).

  106. scours: ‘scour: to pass swiftly over’ (Dictionary).

  107. vindicates: Claims victory.

  114. fly diverse: Fly in different directions (borrowed from Paradise Lost, X, 284).

  116. Evans, Young, and Swift: Abel Evans, Edward Young, and Jonathan Swift, writers from whom the ‘papers�
� had been plagiarized.

  118. unpaid tailor snatched away: Not having been paid, the tailor has repossessed the suit.

  123. imps: ‘imp: offspring; progeny’ (Dictionary).

  124. decked … Prior: Publishers could boost sales of hack writing by claiming it was the work of a famous writer; all three of these had died relatively recently.

  125–6. Mears … Besaleel: William Mears, Thomas Warner, etc., publishers, none very prominent; also 238. varlets: Rascals.

  128. Joseph … John: Curll attributed a number of pamphlets to a fictional ‘Joseph Gay’, to deceive buyers into thinking it was the popular John Gay (a ‘joseph’ was also a kind of cloak).

  130. puppy: ‘a name of contemptuous reproach to a man’ (Dictionary). ape: i.e. facile imitator.

  132. turn … the town: Persuade the whole town that the spurious pieces were by important writers.

  133–4. the sage dame … jade: The madam of a brothel claims that her prostitutes (‘jades’) are beauties toasted by fashionable admirers.

  135–6. Monsieur … Lady Mary’s: Alluding to old gossip involving Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and a Frenchman.

  138. Cook … Concanen: Thomas Cooke and Matthew Concanen; when they complained, after an earlier edition appeared, that Pope had maligned them unjustly, he claimed in a disingenuous note that he had inserted their names ‘merely to fill up the verse, and give ease to the ear of the reader’.

  140. Garth: Samuel Garth: see ‘Essay on Criticism’, 619n.

  142. length of face: A ‘long face’ expressed discouragement.

  144. Codrus: In Juvenal (Satire, III, 202), a bad poet too poor to afford a full-size bed. Dunton: John Dunton, writer of libellous satires.

  145. wry-mouthed: Grimacing in pain.

  146. confessors: ‘confessor: one who makes profession of his faith in the face of danger’ (Dictionary); accented on the first syllable.

  147. Earless … De Foe: The novelist Defoe spent time in the pillory for a satire that was considered libellous, but his ears were not in fact clipped; he was ‘unabashed’ inasmuch as he believed the punishment was undeserved.

  148. Tutchin: John Tutchin, a satirist who was publicly flogged with a ‘scourge’, which Pope imagines as leaving his posterior red and ‘flagrant’.

  149. Ridpath, Roper: George Ridpath (see I, 208n.) and Abel Roper, Whig and Tory propagandist respectively, authors of libels ‘for which they equally and alternately deserved to be cudgeled, and were so’ (Pope’s note).

  150. worsted: ‘from Worsted, a town in Norfolk famous for the woollen manufacture: woolen yarn; wool spun’ (Dictionary, citing this line).

  151. Himself: Curll.

  152. the blanket: Curll was indeed tossed in a blanket by Westminster School students, as revenge for his unauthorized publication of writing by one of their number.

  154. pumpings: Drenching an offender under a pump.

  155. In ev’ry loom: As a theme for tapestry-weavers.

  157. Eliza: The novelist Eliza Haywood.

  158. babes of love: Illegitimate children.

  159. confessed: Exposed.

  160. Kirkall: Elisha Kirkall, an engraver whom Pope imagines as supplying Haywood’s portrait as frontispiece to her works.

  162. salient: ‘springing or shooting with a quick motion’ (Dictionary, citing this line).

  164. ox-like eyes: Homeric epithet for Juno (but not, of course, the ‘cow-like udders’).

  165. jordan: Chamber pot, imitating the majestic kettles offered as prizes in Homer.

  167. Osborne: Thomas Osborne, bookseller. ‘Osborne was a man entirely destitute of shame, without sense of any disgrace but that of poverty. He told me, when he was doing that which raised Pope’s resentment, that he should be put into The Dunciad’ (Johnson, Life of Pope, p. 187).

  168. this: Curll. that: Osborne.

  169. One: Osborne.

  171. lettered post: Advertisements for books were fastened to posts.

  172. a curve at most: i.e. his stream is weak.

  173–4. Jove’s bright bow … drowned: Like the rainbow that signalled the end of Noah’s Flood.

  176. meander … face: Osborne splashes his own face.

  178. cock: Tap, with a pun on Osborne’s genitals.

  179. impetuous: ‘violent; forcible’ (Dictionary).

  181. horns: Worn by river gods, but also by cuckolds.

  182. Eridanus … scorns: The river Eridanus (see ‘Windsor Forest’, 227n.) hastens to depart from its source.

  183. urn: As in the constellation Aquarius.

  184. burn: Hinting that Curll suffers from venereal disease.

  191. But now for Authors: As contrasted with the booksellers. palms: Prizes.

  193. chair: Sedan chair.

  196. tickle: Flatter.

  198. quills: Quill pens, useful for tickling as well as writing. Dedicators: Authors who dedicate their works to wealthy patrons in hope of financial reward.

  200. th’ imputed sense: Mental abilities attributed to the noble patron by the flatterers.

  202. struts Adonis: Struts with vanity because the dedicators have told him he is as handsome as Adonis.

  203. Rolli: Paolo Antonio Rolli, who taught Italian to the nobility and directed operas.

  205. Bentley: Richard Bentley (see Horace, Epistle, II, i, 104n.), who flattered George II.

  206. puffed: ‘puff: to swell or blow up with praise’ (Dictionary). tropes: Figures of speech.

  207. Welsted: Leonard Welsted: see ‘Arbuthnot’, 375n. healing balm: i.e. money.

  210. gripes: Grips.

  213. unknown to Phoebus: The god of poetry is unaware of his existence.

  215. Queen of Love: Venus.

  217. As taught by Venus: The Trojan prince Paris chose Venus (Greek Aphrodite) as the most beautiful of three goddesses; his arrow mortally wounded Achilles by striking his heel, the ‘only tender part’ that remained dry when his mother dipped him as an infant in the water of immortality.

  221. the Goddess: Dullness.

  226. the … bowl: In the theatre, pounding on a wooden bowl to simulate thunder.

  230. sense is at a stand: Meaning is at a standstill.

  231. cat-calls: See I, 302n.

  238. Norton: Benjamin Norton Defoe, son of Daniel Defoe; also 415n. Brangling: noisy quarrelling.

  239. captious: Carping.

  240. Snip-snap: ‘tart dialogue’ (Dictionary, citing this line).

  241. Demonstration … Theses: Terms from disputations in logic.

  242. Major, Minor, and Conclusion: The three elements of a syllogism.

  246. welkin: The sky (archaic).

  247. milky mothers: Asses whose milk (‘defrauded’ from their own offspring (249)) was used for medicinal purposes.

  250. guild: Association of artisans or merchants; here, the herd of asses.

  251. Sir Gilbert: Sir Gilbert Heathcote: see ‘III Bathurst’, 101n.

  252. three groats: Equivalent to a shilling, a trivial sum for a rich man to worry about. For groat, see Horace, Epistle, II, ii, 51n.

  254. leather: Of bagpipes.

  255–6. Enthusiast … nose: ‘Enthusiastic’ evangelical preachers intoned through their noses; see also III, Argument note.

  257. deep Divine: Profound clergyman.

  258. Webster: William Webster, clergyman and political journalist. Whitfield: George Whitefield, celebrated open-air Methodist evangelist.

  261. Tot’nam Fields: The Tottenham area in upper Westminster was open country in Pope’s day. brethren: Common term for Dissenting congregations; here, actual asses.

  263. Chanc’ry Lane retentive: The Court of Chancery, which handled cases of equity, was notorious for protracting cases indefinitely (and long remained so, as in Dickens’s Bleak House).

  265. Rufus’ roaring hall: Westminster Hall, built by William II, known as ‘Rufus’; the site of noisy trials.

  266. Hungerford: Market.

  269. Bridewell: Prison in which prostitutes
were incarcerated.

  270. flagellation: Whipping of prisoners, parodying Homer’s indications of the time of day by reference to familiar occupations.

  271. disemboguing: ‘disembogue: to pour out at the mouth of a river’ (Dictionary).

  273. dikes: Ditches; Fleet Ditch was a filthy river that still flows through London and gave its name to Fleet Street; it was covered over in the nineteenth century.

  274. sable: Black.

  281. pig: ‘an oblong mass of lead or unforged iron’ (Dictionary, citing this line).

  282. peck of coals: Not a very generous amount, suggesting that the writers are normally too poor to heat their garrets at all.

  283. Oldmixon: John Oldmixon: ‘he was all his life a virulent party-writer for hire’ (Pope’s note); see 289n and see also ‘Donne’, 61n.

  284. Milo-like: Similar to a Greek wrestling champion who in old age lamented his shrunken muscles.

  287. stranded lighter: Barge, grounded by low tide.

  288. downright: Straight down.

  289. senior’s: Oldmixon was 70 when the final version of the ‘Dunciad’ was published.

  291. Smedley: Jonathan Smedley, clergyman and ‘author and publisher of many scurrilous pieces’ (Pope’s note).

  295. *: Replaces the name of [Aaron] Hill, who persuaded Pope to remove it; he is described as surfacing after only a brief immersion with the dunces.

  298. swans of Thames: As Shakespeare was sometimes called the ‘swan of Avon’.

  306. brother at his back: ‘These were daily papers, a number of which, to lessen the expense, were printed one on the back of another’ (Pope’s note).

  310. blind puppies: Unwanted puppies – blind because newborn – were drowned in Fleet Ditch.

  311. Niobe … gone: Mother who boastfully claimed that her fourteen children excelled Apollo and Diana, the children of the goddess Latona, who punished her by turning them to stone.

  312. Mother Osborne: James Pitt, a Whig journalist, used the pseudonym Francis Osborne; he was nicknamed Mother Osborne for his ponderous style.

  315. Arnall: William Arnall, political writer.

  317. invest: Enclose, encompass.

  323. plunging Prelate: Thomas Sherlock, Bishop of London, as a boy used to dive into icy water. his pond’rous Grace: Possibly John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury (addressed as ‘your Grace’), whose person and writings were both heavy.