110. a parent: Pope’s mother died in June 1733, at the age of 91.
116. improved: In an ironic sense.
118. Abel … Cain: Cain murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4).
120. dire disease: Syphilis, then incurable.
123. Aetna … a sage: The philosopher Empedocles, studying an eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily, got too close and died; Pope may be recalling a tradition that he deliberately threw himself in to prove that he had become a god.
126. Bethel: Hugh Bethel, a Member of Parliament, a country gentleman in Yorkshire, and an old friend of Pope’s, who had journeyed to Italy in the hope of relieving his asthma.
130. Chartres: Francis Charteris, a notorious gambler and rake whose sexual ‘vigour’ was sapped by debauchery; he was condemned to death in 1730 for raping a servant, and his subsequent pardon was widely thought to have been due to bribery. reserve the hanging wall: i.e. will a church that is about to fall down wait until its collapse can crush a villain like Charteris?
137. Calvin: John Calvin, Protestant reformer who broke with Roman Catholicism in 1630, and whose theology became widely influential under the name of Calvinism.
139. rod: Of punishment.
146. Caesar … Titus: Julius Caesar is taken as an example of a ruthless conqueror, and the Emperor Titus, who lamented wasting any day in which he accomplished nothing good, as his opposite.
153. tempts the main: Risks going to sea in hope of profit.
160. private: i.e. private citizen.
166. stand: Stop, make a stand.
170. coach and six: Carriage with six horses, suggestive of great wealth.
171. gown: As worn by clergymen, academics, and judges.
175. an individual: The same person as child and as adult.
192. wants: Lacks.
193. condition: Rank or station in life.
199. cowl: Monastic hood.
201. monarch: Probably referring to Philip V of Spain, who abdicated in 1724 and retired briefly to a monastery (his son’s death forced him to resume the throne).
203. fellow: ‘a word of contempt: the foolish mortal; the mean wretch; the sorry rascal’ (Dictionary, citing this line).
204. leather: The apron worn by cobblers. prunello: ‘a kind of stuff of which the clergymen’s gowns are made’ (Dictionary, citing this line).
205. strings: Identified by Pope in a note as ‘honours’, such as the ribbons of a knightly order.
208. Lucrece: Virtuous Roman matron who committed suicide after being raped by Tarquin. See also ‘II A Lady’, 92n.
212. the Flood: i.e. Noah’s.
214. own: Admit.
216. Howards: A great aristocratic family, which included the dukes of Norfolk.
220. Macedonia’s madman: Alexander the Great, obsessed with conquering the world. the Swede: Charles XII of Sweden, a spectacular recent conqueror who was killed in battle in 1718.
225. politic: ‘artful; cunning’ (Dictionary, citing this line).
235. Aurelius: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher.
236. Socrates: The great philosopher was executed by the Athenians for allegedly corrupting the minds of his young followers.
240. Tully: Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman writer and politician, author of celebrated orations in the trial of Catiline (I, 156), and eventually executed for his opposition to Mark Antony.
244. Eugene: Prince Eugene of Savoy, commander of the army of the Austrian Empire, who fought alongside the Duke of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession.
246. Rubicon: River in northern Italy which Caesar crossed against the orders of the Roman senate, which became proverbial for taking an irrevocable step.
247. feather: The quill pen of a writer (‘wit’). rod: Perhaps a general’s baton.
252. hung on high: As the corpses of traitors and criminals were once publicly displayed.
256. huzzas: Hurrahs.
257. Marcellus: A friend of Cicero’s, who ended his life in exile.
259. parts: ‘qualities; powers; faculties; accomplishments’ (Dictionary).
260. you: Bolingbroke.
270. ’mount: Amount.
277. ribbons: Honorary distinctions (cf. 205).
278. Umbra: Shadow (Latin), often applied to flatterers and intriguers. Sir Billy: Dismissive name for any foolish knight.
279. yellow dirt: i.e. gold.
280. Gripus: Grasping, miserly (Latin).
281. Bacon: Francis Bacon, essayist and philosopher of science, who became Lord Chancellor under James I but was subsequently convicted of corruption.
282. meanest: ‘mean: contemptible; despicable’ (Dictionary).
284. Cromwell: See ‘I Cobham’, 88n.
288. scale: Ladder (as in French échelle).
290. those … betray: i.e. people who ruined the kings (‘those’) who trusted them, and betrayed the queens (‘these’) who loved them.
299. wealth ill fated: Pope seems to have had in mind Marlborough, who grew immensely rich through his military campaigns and was accused by the Tories (as in ‘Windsor Forest’) of protracting the war for his own profit.
307. enormous: Excessive; cf. III, 242n.
308. tale: ‘Tally’ as well as ‘story’.
336. But touches: That doesn’t touch.
365. straight: Straightway, immediately.
373. genius: Guardian spirit (again addressing Bolingbroke).
378. fall with dignity: As Bolingbroke left office when George I dismissed him in 1714; see also Horace, Satire, II, i, 127n. temper: ‘calmness of mind; moderation’ (Dictionary).
385. bark: Small seagoing vessel.
389. pretend: Profess, proclaim.
Epistles to Several Persons The four poems collected by Pope under this title (renamed, after his death, Moral Essays by his editor William Warburton) were published from 1731 to 1735, coinciding with ‘An Essay on Man’, which came out in 1733–4. ‘Burlington’ and, a year later, ‘Bathurst’ were the first to be published, but were reprinted afterward by Pope in the sequence given here. The subtitles indicate the ways in which he hoped they would take their place in a never-realized Opus Magnum. ‘Of … the Characters of MEN’ (‘Cobham’) advances the concept of the ‘ruling passion’, also treated in the ‘Essay on Man’. ‘Of the Characters of WOMEN’ (‘A Lady’) claims that women are prone to histrionic variability and in that sense have ‘no characters at all’: their personalities may be vivid, but they lack the stable and predictable ‘character’ of traditional psychology. The first of the two poems on ‘Of the Use of RICHES’ contrasts wise stewardship with prodigal extravagance, yet claims that both extremes are beneficial to society as a whole; the second addresses the narrower subject of true and false taste in architecture and other arts.
Epigraph: ‘The work should have brevity, so that the thought may run freely and not entangle itself in words that are burdensome to weary ears. The style should be sometimes serious and often humorous, in keeping with the role of an orator or poet, and at other times of a wit who holds back his strength and wisely diminishes it’ (Horace, Satire, I, 9–14).
Epistle I
To Sir Richard Temple, Lord Cobham
Dedication: Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham, was a Whig politician who nevertheless opposed the policies of the Walpole administration. He had been dismissed from his post as an army general in retribution for supporting an investigation into government corruption, and Pope, who visited Cobham’s estate at Stowe in Buckinghamshire shortly afterward, dedicated this poem to him as a tribute to his independence and integrity.
5. coxcomb: See ‘Essay on Criticism’, 27n.
7. passenger: Passer-by.
14. these: i.e. these observations.
15. peculiar: Specific, unique.
18. moss: ‘There are about 300 sorts of moss observed by naturalists’ (Pope’s note); today approximately 12,000 species.
37. stay: Pause.
39. sedate: ‘calm;
quiet; serene’ (Dictionary).
42. spring: Source of energy, as in the mainspring driving a clock.
43. determined: ‘determine: to direct to any certain point’ (Dictionary).
46. sense: i.e. the senses.
54. CHANDOS: Wealthy duke, patron of the arts, whose estate at Cannons was mistakenly believed to be the original for Timon’s villa in ‘IV Burlington’, 99; Pope is here attempting to make amends to the offended Chandos.
55. Shylock: Any (unscrupulous) usurer, after the character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
56. at squat: Squatting.
57. gen’rous: ‘magnanimous; open of heart’ (Dictionary). Manly: An attractively plain-spoken character in The Plain Dealer (1676) by Pope’s friend Wycherley.
59. Umbra: See ‘Essay on Man’, IV, 278n.
60. vulgar: Common.
62. spleen: Misanthropy, probably referring to Swift, whose indignation at human folly was the source of wit.
64. bent: ‘turn of the temper, or disposition’ (Dictionary).
65. contraries: Accented on the first syllable.
72. place: Public office.
73. hazard: Gambling with dice.
75. borough: Town or city parliamentary constituency, where candidates were expected to treat the electors to drink.
76. Hackney: London borough, where the candidate would be ‘friendly’ to the electors. Whitehall: The seat of government, where the Member of Parliament would ignore their wishes after the election was over.
77. Catius: An epicure from Horace’s Satire, II, iv.
78. Thinks who: i.e. thinks that he who.
81. Patritio: A Patriot; see “III Bathurst’, 139n.
85. picquette: Picquet, a card game.
86. Newmarket: Site in Suffolk of a celebrated racecourse, made fashionable by Charles II.
87. Montaigne: Michel de Montaigne, sixteenth-century writer whose Essays expressed scepticism about the possibility of certain knowledge; see also Horace, Satire, II, i, 52n. Charron: Pierre Charron, Montaigne’s friend, author of a treatise Of Wisdom that was likewise sceptical. Both accepted the Roman Catholic religion; it is not known why Pope considered Charron ‘more sage’.
88. Otho: Roman emperor for three months in 69 AD, who committed suicide after defeat in battle. Cromwell: Oliver Cromwell, who rose from obscurity to lead the victorious Puritan army and then to rule England as Lord Protector after the execution of Charles I; since he retained the simple manners of a country gentleman, he apparently seemed a ‘buffoon’ to Pope.
89. leaden saint: ‘Louis XI of France wore in his hat a leaden image of the Virgin Mary, which when he swore by, he feared to break his oath’ (Pope’s note); ‘revere’ was pronounced ‘revar’.
90. godless regent … star: The Duke of Orleans, regent of France while Louis XV was a minor, was irreligious but believed in astrology.
91. bigot … genius: ‘Philip V of Spain, who, after renouncing the throne for religion, resumed it to gratify his queen; and Victor Amadeus II, king of Sardinia, who resigned the crown, and in trying to reassume it, was imprisoned till his death’ (Pope’s note).
93. a woman, child, or dotard: Then in power: Russia was ruled by the Czarina Anna, Louis XV had ascended the French throne in 1715 at the age of 5, and Pope Clement XII was 82.
94. just: No less then, positively.
97. bird of passage: Migratory bird.
104. shave their crowns: As monks.
107. adust complexion: Melancholy temperament; ‘adust’ indicates dry bodily humours.
108. Charles: In 1555 the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V abdicated and entered a Spanish monastery. Philip: Charles’s son Philip II fought against France (‘the field’ is the battlefield) and sent the Spanish Armada against England.
112. east: The east wind tends to be damp and chilly in England, and was regarded as unhealthy.
122. balance … dark: Fine distinctions can’t be made among the many actions that don’t stand out from the rest.
124. policy: ‘management of affairs; stratagem’ (Dictionary).
125. the character to save: i.e. to preserve the appearance of a consistent character.
131. punk: Whore (by implication, Cleopatra).
134. Conduct: ‘the act of leading troops; the duty of a general’ (Dictionary). heroic Love: Glorifying Caesar’s liaison with Cleopatra.
136. crape: ‘a thin stuff, loosely woven, of which the dress of the clergy is sometimes made’. lawn: ‘fine linen, remarkable for being used in the sleeves of bishops’ (Dictionary, citing this line for both words).
137. chanc’lor: The Lord Chancellor, highest judicial official in England.
138. gownman: Clergyman or lawyer.
141. rate: Rating, valuation.
142. Heav’n’s influence: Gems were supposedly ripened by the sun’s heat.
144. here: At court.
147. his: The sun’s.
154. scriv’ner: Moneylender.
155. churchman: Clergyman in the Church of England, as the established church was closely allied to political power.
157. freethinker: ‘a libertine; a contemner of religion’ (Dictionary).
158. Scoto: Any Scottish merchant.
160. by the setting sun: i.e. by the time the sun sets.
165. minister: Cabinet minister.
167. take place: Take precedence.
171. in what: i.e. in what things.
172. humours: Temperaments.
178. clue: ‘a guide; a direction: because men direct themselves by a clew of thread in a labyrinth’ (Dictionary).
179. Wharton: Philip, Duke of Wharton, unstable and spendthrift, notable for startling changes of lifestyle; he was a convert to Catholicism and a Jacobite supporter of the exiled Stuart monarchy, and died in a Spanish monastery.
186. parts: ‘qualities; powers; faculties; or accomplishments’ (Dictionary).
187. Tully: See ‘Essay on Man’, IV, 240n. Wilmot: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, scandalous playboy–poet during the Restoration.
196. still: Always.
198. bounty … made: i.e. his free spending gained him no friends.
205. flagitious: ‘wicked; villainous; atrocious’ (Dictionary).
208. prodigies: ‘prodigy: anything out of the ordinary process of nature, from which omens are drawn’ (Dictionary).
209. Comets are regular: i.e. just as Newton’s laws show how their ‘eccentric’ orbits bring them back past earth at regular intervals, so the theory of the ruling passion can explain psychological eccentricity.
211. If second … take: If they mistake secondary effects for primary causes.
212. Catiline: First-century Roman politician who got rich as a general (‘by rapine’), was opposed by Cicero, and led a failed conspiracy against the Republic.
213. noble dame: Servilia, mistress of Julius Caesar and mother of his assassin Marcus Brutus.
216. Scipio: See ‘Windsor Forest’, 257n.
217. by chastity at praise: He would have sought to win praise for his chastity.
218. Lucullus: Roman epicure whose name became synonymous with lavish ‘Lucullan’ feasts.
219. Sabine: Hilly region outside Rome noted for simple living; Horace celebrated his Sabine farm.
221. pile: Large building.
224. lenient: ‘assuasive; softening; mitigating’ (Dictionary, citing this line).
225. sand: In an hourglass.
230. out: Out of order, inappropriate.
231. Lanesb’rough: Lanesborough was a nobleman who continued to dance, believing it good for health, even after he was crippled by gout.
233. a nameless race: Illegitimate children.
234. Shoved from the wall: The pavement close to the walls of buildings was cleaner than the street side, so bullies ‘took the wall’.
237. sparrow: Reputed to be lecherous.
238. salmon’s belly: A rich delicacy. Helluo: Glutton (Latin).
240. soul: Pronounced
to rhyme with ‘fowl’.
245. one puff more: The miserly old lady tries to blow out the candle for the last rites so that the stub can be used again.
246. woollen: In support of the British wool industry, burials had to be in wool rather than in imported silk or linen.
247. Narcissa: Suggestive of self-love, and referring to the actress Anne Oldfield, who often played a character named Narcissa in Colley Cibber’s comedy Love’s Last Shift.
248. chintz: ‘cloth of cotton made in India, and printed with colours’ (Dictionary, citing this line).
251. Betty: Generic name for a lady’s maid; cf. ‘Rape of the Lock’.
256. devise: Bequeath. Euclio: A miser in a play by Plautus.
265. shall be your last: Cobham did not in fact speak these words, but finding himself too weak to bring a glass of jelly to his mouth, flung it in the face of his niece and expired.
Epistle II
To A Lady
1. you: Martha Blount, the unnamed ‘lady’ to whom the epistle is addressed. See Selected Letters, note 5.
2. no characters at all: See headnote and Argument.
4. black: Dark-haired.
7–8. ermined pride … Pastora: The countess has herself depicted in opulent ermine furs, and also as a simple shepherdess in a pastoral scene. ‘The poet’s politeness and complaisance to the sex is observable in this instance, among others, that whereas in the Characters of Men he has sometimes made use of real names, in the Characters of Women always fictitious’ (Pope’s note).
9. Fannia: Roman lady convicted of adultery.
10. Leda: Zeus ravished her, taking the form of a swan; the story gave painters free rein with an erotic subject.
12. Magdalen: Mary Magdalen (or Magdalene), mentioned only briefly in the Gospels, but according to tradition a former prostitute whom Jesus forgave; thus, another opportunity for painters to exploit an erotic subject.
13. Cecilia: Patron saint of music.
17. ground: Undercoat before applying colours.
19. a firm cloud: Presumably the painter makes it seem rather too substantial.
20. Cynthia: Goddess of the moon, hence changing minute by minute.
The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings Page 45