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APPENDIX - Alexander Pope, The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope [1903]

Edition used:

The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope. Cambridge Edition, ed. Henry W. Boynton (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1903).

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APPENDIX

A. A GLOSSARY OF NAMES OF POPE’S CONTEMPORARIES MENTIONED IN THE POEMS.

This Glossary includes only such names as from their importance, from Pope’s frequent mention of them, or for some other obvious reason, could not profitably be treated in the Notes.

Allen, Ralph. Friend and correspondent of Pope, and afterward patron of Fielding.

Anstis. Garter King at Arms.

Arbuthnot, John (1675-1735). Physician, mathematician, and classical scholar. A Tory in politics. Member of Scriblerus Club. Friend of Pope, Swift, and Gay, whom he rivalled in satire. Swift said, ‘He has more wit than we all have, and more humanity than wit.’

Argyle, John, 2d Duke of (1678-1743). Statesman, soldier, and lover of letters; of a varied career both in war and in politics, but an honest man.

Arnall, William. Party-writer and journalist, of whom Pope complains that he admitted having ‘received, in the space of four years, no less than £1997 6s. 8d. out of the Treasury.’

Atterbury, Francis, Bishop of Rochester. Friend of Pope and Swift. Banished as a plotting Jacobite in 1722, and thereafter influential at the court of the Pretender till his death in 1731.

Barnard, Sir John. Convert from Quakerism to the Church of England, member of Parliament for London City, and an authority upon questions of finance; Lord Mayor in 1738.

Bathurst, Allen Apsley, Lord, a Tory peer, was one of the most intimate of Pope’s friends and associates. ‘He united,’ says Carruthers, ‘a sort of French vivacity’ [‘Bathurst impetuous, whom you and I strive who shall love the most,’ is the mention of him in Gay’s catalogue of Pope’s friends] ‘to English principles, and mingled freely in society till past ninety, living to walk under the shade of lofty trees which Pope and he had planted, and to see his son Lord Chancellor of England.’ He died in the year 1774, at the age of ninety-one. (Ward.)

Bentley, Richard. Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and one of the great classical scholars of the time.

Berkeley, Dr., Bishop of Cloyne. Author of Alciphron, and a man of great learning and probity.

Bethel, Hugh. A Yorkshire gentleman with whom Pope was intimate, and frequently corresponded. He was a close friend of Pope’s dearest friends, the Blounts of Mapledurham. He died in 1748. (Ward.)

Betterton, Thomas. Pope copied a portrait by Kneller of this famous actor, which is still extant. Betterton achieved success in all the major Shakespearean parts.

Blackmore, Sir Richard (1652-1729). Author of a philosophical poem called The Creation; and immortalized as the Quack Maurus of Dryden’s prologue to The Secular Masque. ‘His indefatigable muse,’ says Pope, ‘produced no less than six epic poems: Prince and King Arthur, twenty books; Eliza, ten; Alfred, twelve; The Redeemer, six; besides Job, in folio, the whole book of Psalms; The Creation, seven books; and many more. ’T is in this sense he is styled afterwards the Everlasting Blackmore.’

Bladen. Colonel Martin Bladen was a man of some literature and translated Cæsar’s Commentaries. I never could learn that he had offended Pope. He was uncle to Wm. Collins, the poet, whom he left an estate. (Warton.)

Bland. Dr. Bland was Provost of Eton, and, according to Warton, ‘a very bad writer.’

Blount, Martha. The woman for whom Pope seems to have cherished the feeling nearest akin to love. Indeed, it is supposed that if it had not been for the older sister Teresa, the attachment between Pope and Martha Blount might have come to marriage.

Blount, Teresa. See previous note, and Biographical Sketch.

Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Lord (1678-1751). Tory and High Churchman, one of the great orators of the day, and member of several ministries. Friend of Prior and Swift, and later of Pope, much of whose later work was influenced by the shallow philosophy of Bolingbroke.

Booth, Barton. Actor, especially noted for his articulation; the original Cato in Addison’s drama.

Boyle, Henry, Lord Carleton. Nephew of the famous Robert Boyle. Secretary of State under William III., and President of the Council under Queen Anne. (Pope.)

Boyle, Richard, Earl of Burlington (1695-1753). He took no prominent part in politics, although his high rank obtained for him a great post at court and the order of the Garter. But he obtained wide fame by his taste in architecture, inspired by a natural love of art and educated by studies in Italy. Horace Walpole says of him that he ‘had every quality of genius and artist, except envy.’ (Ward.)

Brydges, James, Duke of Chandos. Friend of Pope and master of the Estate of Canons, which Pope was supposed to have satirized (Moral Essays, Epistle IV. 98-126). Paymaster of the Forces, under Godolphin.

Buckingham, Edmund, Duke of. Only son of John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, by Katherine Darnley, natural daughter of James II. (Roscoe.)

Buckingham, more properly Buckinghamshire, John Sheffield, Duke of. See Sheffield.

Budgell, Eustace (1685-1737). Kinsman and friend of Addison. Accompanied Addison to Ireland as clerk, and became Under-Secretary of State. Wrote thirty-seven numbers of The Spectator. Was accused of forging a will in his own favor, fell into disgrace and debt, and committed suicide.

Burlington, Richard Boyle, Earl of. See Richard Boyle.

Campbell, John, 2d Duke of Argyle. See Argyle.

Carey, Henry. Author of Sally in Our Alley; and dramatist.

Carleton, Henry Boyle, Lord. See Henry Boyle.

Carteret, John, Earl Granville. Statesman, diplomat, and classical scholar. Political opponent of Walpole.

Caryll, John. Member of one of the Roman Catholic families living in the neighborhood of Windsor Forest. The Rape of the Lock was due to his suggestion, and he remained a life-long friend of the poet.

Chandos, James Brydges, First Duke of. See Brydges.

Charteris, Francis. See Pope’s note on Moral Essays, Epistle III., line 20.

Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of. The most accomplished man of his time, wit, diplomatist, statesman, arbiter of manners; now mainly famous as the writer of the Letters to his Son.

Cibber, Colley (1671-1757). Actor, manager, and playwright; author of The Careless Husband. He incurred the enmity of Pope by burlesquing the farce, Three Hours after Marriage, and eventually displaced Theobald as hero of The Dunciad.

Cobham, Richard Temple, Lord. Sir Richard Temple, created Viscount Cobham by George I. in 1718, and made a Field Marshal in 1742, was on intimate terms with Pope during the latter part of the poet’s life. Pope speaks, in his last letter to Swift, of ‘generally rambling in the summer for a month to Lord Cobham’s, the Bath, or elsewhere.’ (Ward.)

Congreve, William (1669-1728), of good family, well educated. Studied law, gained fame by his plays. One tragedy, The Mourning Bride, and several licentious comedies are now associated with his name. he was one of those who encouraged Pope’s earliest efforts. To him Pope dedicated the translation of The Iliad.

Cornbury, Lord. Afterwards Lord Hyde, ‘a young Tory nobleman of literary tastes,’ says Ward, to whom Bolingboke addressed his Letters on History.

Cowper, William, First Earl. Lord Keeper, in 1705, and one of the Lords Justices on the death of Queen Anne.

Craggs, James. A man of low birth, who gained place and power. A friend of Pope’s after 1711. Secretary of War in 1717, Secretary of State in 1720. His death in 1721 probably prevented his conviction of fraud in connection with the South Sea affair.

Curll, Edmund. A bookseller with whom Pope had for years a friendly connection, but who incurred Pope’s resentment by publishing some of his private correspondence in 1727. The possible fact of his own complicity in the publication did not prevent Pope from placing Curll in the pillory of The Dunciad.

Dartineuf, Charles. A noted glutton.

Demoivre. A French mathematician especially famed for his skill in trigonometry.

Dennis, John (1657-1734). A forcible though unrefined critic, by no means the dunce Pope makes him out. His attack on Addison’s Cato, and Addison’s reception of Pope’s unsolicited championship of the play, led to the estrangement between Pope and Addison. Dennis was not slow to retort upon Pope, who never forgave an injury to his self-esteem.

Digby, Robert. A frequent correspondent of Pope’s during the years 1717 and 1724; died in 1726, and was lamented by Pope in a letter to his brother, Edward Digby, and in an epitaph.

Dodington, Bubb, afterwards Lord Melcombe, the author of a well-known diary, and the confidential adviser of Frederick, Prince of Wales. He is a character in many respects representative of his age; utterly unconscientious and cheerfully blind to his unconscientiousness; and a liberal rather than discriminating patron of literary men. He died in 1762. (Ward.)

Dorset, Charles Sackville, Earl of (1637-1706). Author of the ballad, ‘To all you Ladies Now at Land,’ some other songs, and a few satires. Belonged to the household of Charles II. and of William and Mary. He introduced Hudibras to notice, and was the friend and patron of Waller and Dryden.

Duck, Stephen. A modest and worthy man, who had the honour (which many, who thought themselves his betters in poetry, had not) of being esteemed by Mr. Pope. Queen Caroline chose this man for her favourite poet. (Warburton.)

Dunton, John. A broken bookseller and abusive scribbler; he writ Neck or Nothing, a violent satire on some ministers of state; a libel on the Duke of Devonshire and the Bishop of Peterborough. (Pope.)

Durfey or D’Urfey, Thomas. A scribbler and poetaster who would now be unknown if Pope had not named him so frequently.

Farquhar, George (1678-1707). An Irish actor and writer of comedies, whose work has a good deal of spirit. His two best-known plays are The Recruiting Officer and The Beaux’ Stratagem.

Fenton, Elijah. A poet of no mean talent, and translator of four books of Pope’s Odyssey.

Fleury, Cardinal. Prime minister of France from 1726 to his death, in 1743.

Fortescue, Hon. W. An intimate friend and a frequent associate and correspondent of the poet’s, and a schoolfellow of Gay’s. He afterwards became one of the Barons of the Exchequer, and ultimately Master of the Rolls. (Ward.)

Frowde, Philip. A dramatic writer and fine scholar, a friend of Addison’s. (Carruthers.)

Garth, Sir Samuel. A physician, and author of the mock-heroic poem The Dispensary. He was one of the first to encourage the early efforts of Pope.

Gay, John (1638-1732). A close friend of Pope and Swift, a clever poet, and author of the famous Beggars’ Opera.

Gildon, Charles (1665-1724) wrote a number of works, critical and dramatic. His plays were unsuccessful, but his Complete Art of Poetry (1718) is a work of considerable research and care. (Chambers.)

Godolphin, Lord. Lord Treasurer under Queen Anne. He was Addison’s patron, but Macaulay says of him, ‘Most of the time which he could save from public business was spent in racing, card-playing, and cock-fighting.’

Gonson, Sir John. A hanging judge said to have been particularly severe in his punishment of unfortunate women. His portrait is supposed to have been inserted by Hogarth in Plate III. of The Harlot’s Progress.

Grafton, Charles, second Duke of.

Granville, George, afterward Lord Lansdowne (1667-1735). A poetical imitator of Waller; Secretary of War under Queen Anne, and raised to the peerage in 1717.

Grosvenor, Sir Thomas. A country baronet, member of Parliament. Remarkable for his obstinate independence.

Hale, Dr. Stephen. Not more estimable for his useful studies as a natural philosopher than for his exemplary life and pastoral charity as a parish priest. (Pope.)

Halifax, Charles Montagu, Earl of. A peer no less distinguished by his love of letters than his abilities in Parliament. He was disgraced in 1710, on the change of Queen Anne’s ministry. (Pope.)

Hare, Francis, Bishop of Chichester. Tutor at Cambridge of (Sir) Robert Walpole.

Harley, Robert, Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer. Speaker of the House of Commons in 1701, Secretary of State in the Godolphin ministry. Subsequently created Earl of Oxford and appointed Lord Treasurer. A rival of Bolingbroke. Impeached for Jacobitism in 1716 and imprisoned in the Tower. Died in 1724. Subject of an epistle by Pope, p. 116, this edition.

Hearne, Thomas. Antiquary. He revenged himself, says Ward, for the sarcastic reference to him in The Dunciad by ill-natured reflections on Pope’s education and parentage in his Diary.

Henley, John. A native of Leicestershire, had graduated at Cambridge; but set up a scheme of Universology on his own account, establishing his ‘Oratory’ in a wooden booth in Newport market in 1726. Three years later he removed his pulpit to the corner of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and though subjected to a prosecution for profaning the clerical character, continued his exhibitions till the middle of the century. (Ward).

Hervey, John Lord. Author of Memoirs of the Reign of George II.; a courtier, Vice Chamberlain to George II., and later Lord Privy Seal. He married one of Pope’s court friends, Miss Lepell (see The Challenge). The cause of Pope’s enmity is unknown, but after the year 1727 Pope lost no opportunity to asperse the character of the peer, alluding to him as ‘Lord Fanny,’ ‘Fannius,’ and finally ‘Sporus.’ (Epistle to Arbuthnot, 305-333.)

Hopkins, ‘Vulture.’ See Pope’s note on Moral Essays, III. 85.

Jacob Tonson. See Tonson.

Japhet Crook. A Londoner who amasses a large fortune by sharp practice. See Pope’s note on Moral Essays, III. 86.

Jervas, Charles. See head-note to the Epistle to Jervas, p. 82.

Johnson, Charles. A second-rate dramatist. (Bowles.)

Kneller, Sir Godfrey (1648-1726). A German by birth, state painter to English royalty from Charles II. to George I.

Lansdowne, Lord. See George Granville.

Lintot, Bernard. A publisher pilloried with Curll in The Dunciad; but he himself had published some of Pope’s earlier work, to the advantage of the poet.

Marchmont, Earl of. A friend of Pope’s, afterward one of his executors.

Mead, Dr. Physician to George II., and one of the eminent scientists of his day.

Mist, Nathaniel. Editor of a famous Tory journal. (Pope.)

Monroe, Dr. Physician to Bedlam Hospital. (Pope.)

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley. One of the most interesting women of her day. A fair scholar and a clever versifier. Pope became acquainted with her in 1715, when she was already married to a dull man; and was for a time much attached to her. They quarrelled, and Pope thereafter lost no chance to insult her in prose and verse, commonly under the name of ‘Sappho.’

Moore, James, afterward Moore-Smythe. A member of Pope’s own circle, and a friend of Teresa Blount’s, but the object of Pope’s lasting rancour. The inoffensive author of many verses and a comedy, The Rival Modes, in which occurred certain lines which Pope accused him of having stolen from his lines to Martha Blount. Moore-Smythe retorted the charge.

Morris, Bezaleel. Author of some satires on the translators of Homer, with many other things printed in newspapers. (Pope.)

Murray, William, afterwards Lord Mansfield. A man of wit and cultivation, the incumbent of many high offices. He earned Pope’s friendship by defending the Essay on Man from the attacks of various critics.

Oglethorpe, James Edward. Served under Prince Eugene, settled the colony of Georgia. ‘Mr. Croker suggests,’ says Ward, ‘that to his supposed Jacobite leanings may be attributed much of the animosity displayed by the Whigs toward him, as well as of the friendliness existing between him and Pope and Johnson.’

Oldfield, Mrs. The most famous comédienne of the age.

Oldfield, Mr. This eminent glutton ran through a fortune of fifteen hundred pounds a year in the simple luxury of good eating. (Warburton.)

Onslow, Arthur. Sprung from a family members of which had already in two instances filled the chair, was elected Speaker in 1728, and occupied the post for thirty-three years, to the satisfaction of both parties in the House. (Ward.)

Osborne, Thomas. The bookseller who had the honour of a thrashing at the hands of Dr. Johnson; a tricky and unreliable man against whom Pope had more than one grievance.

Oxford, Robert Harley, Earl of. See Harley.

Ozell, John. A translator of French plays, whom Pope several times ridicules.

Page, Sir Francis. A justice popularly known as ‘the hanging judge.’

Parnell, Thomas (1679-1717). Poet, and member of the Scriblerus Club. He wrote the life of Homer for Pope’s Iliad, and after his death Pope brought out an edition of his poems.

Pelham, Henry. Became First Lord of the Treasury in 1743, through Walpole’s influence; and died in 1754, the King exclaiming on his death: ‘Now I shall have no more peace!’ (Ward.)

Peter (Walter). See Walter.

Philips, Ambrose. Poet, Whig, and member of Addison’s coterie. Author of the Pastorals with which Pope’s were published, and frequent subject thereafter of Pope’s satire.

Polwarth. The Hon. Hugh Hume, son of Alexander, Earl of Marchmont, grandson of Patrick, Earl of Marchmont, and distinguished, like them, in the cause of liberty. (Pope.) He was made one of Pope’s executors.

Pulteney, William, afterward Earl of Bath. Orator and pamphleteer, and principal opponent to Sir Robert Walpole.

Queensbury, Duchess of. A leader of fashion and patron of letters; friend of Gay and Swift.

Ralph, James. A hack writer of American birth. Incurred Pope’s anger by coming forward to defend Pope’s victims in the first edition of The Dunciad.

Rich, John. Manager of the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden.

Rochester, Francis Atterbury, Bishop of. See Atterbury.

Rolli, Paolo Antonio. An Italian poet, and writer of many operas in that language, which, partly by the help of his genius, prevailed in England near twenty years. He taught Italian to some fine gentlemen, who affected to direct the operas. (Pope.)

Rowe, Nicholas (1673-1718). Friend of Addison, editor of Shakespeare, and writer of plays in blank verse, among the best known of which are Jane Shore and The Fair Penitent.

Rundel, Dr., Bishop of Derry. A friend of Pope and Swift, and frequently mentioned in their letters.

Sackville, Charles, Earl of Dorset. See Dorset.

Sandys, Samuel, First Baron. Opponent of Sir Robert Walpole. A man of steady industry rather than of talent.

Schutz, Augustus. Held, according to Carruthers, court offices near the person of George II., both before and after his accession to the throne.

Secker, Thomas (1693-1768). Bishop of Bristol, later of Oxford, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury. Noted for his piety and liberality.

Sheffield, John, Duke of Buckinghamshire (1649-1722). Author of an Essay on Poetry, which both Dryden and Pope praised, but which the modern critic finds of little value.

Shippen, William. A free-speaking Jacobite, who was sent to the Tower in 1718.

Shrewsbury, Charles Talbot, Duke of. Had been Secretary of State, Embassador in France, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Chamberlain, and Lord Treasurer. He several times quitted his employments, and was often recalled. He died in 1718 (Pope).

Smythe, James Moore-. See Moore.

Somers, John Lord. He had been Lord Keeper in the reign of William III., who took from him the seals in 1700. The author had the honour of knowing him in 1706. A faithful, able, and incorrupt minister; who, to the qualities of a consummate statesman, added those of a man of learning and politeness. (Pope.)

Southern, Thomas (1660-1746). Author of Oroonoko, a play founded on Mrs. Behn’s novel of the name, and very popular in its day.

Stanhope, James Earl. A nobleman of equal courage, spirit, and learning. General in Spain, and Secretary of State. (Pope.)

Talbot, Charles, Duke of Shrewsbury. See Shrewsbury.

Temple, Richard, Lord Cobham. See Cobham.

Theobald, Lewis. Usually called Tibbald by Pope. Author and translator. Editor of a respectable Shakespeare, and critic of Pope’s edition of the dramatist: therefore made hero of The Dunciad.

Tibbald. See Theobald.

Tickell, Thomas. A member of Addison’s coterie, and author of numerous papers in the Spectator and Guardian; notably the papers on English Pastoral which provoked Pope’s enmity.

Tonson, Jacob. A leading bookseller in Pope’s day, and publisher of much of his work.

Trumbull, or Trumbal, Sir William. See Biographical Sketch in this edition, p. xiii.

Vanbrugh, John, Sir (1666-1726). Architect and writer of comedies. Designer of Castle Howard and Blenheim, and author of The Provoked Wife and The Relapse.

Villiers, George, Duke of Buckingham. See Buckingham.

Walpole, Sir Robert. For twenty years Whig Prime Minister of England, and originator of the present Cabinet system of government.

Walter, Peter. A London capitalist whom Pope frequently mentions (under the name of Peter) as an example of extreme rapacity.

Warwick, Lord. Son of the Countess of Warwick, whom Addison married.

Wasse, Joseph. Fellow of Queen’s College, Cambridge, and coeditor with Jebb of the Bibliotheca Literaria.

Welsted, Leonard. Journalist and Whig pamphleteer; author of some satirical verses on Pope.

Wharton, Philip, Duke of. Son of Addison’s patron. A man of ability who died an exile, after a life of wild dissipation.

Withers, General Henry. A distinguished soldier. In his old age the friend of Pope and Gay.

Wortley, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. See Montagu.

Wycherley, William (1640-1715). Dramatist and one of Pope’s earliest friends.

Yonge, Sir William. A fop and small poet several times alluded to by Pope as ‘Sir Will’ and ‘Sir Billy.’

B.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page 2.The First Book of Statius’s Thebais.

Lines 89-92. These four last lines allude to the several subjects of the four pastorals, and to the several scenes of them, particularized before in each. (Pope.)

Line 207. The river Loddon.

Lines 211-216. These six lines were added after the first writing of this poem. (Pope.)

Line 355-368. The allusions are of course to the expected peace, for which the conferences were opened in 1711 at Utrecht; to the previous campaigns in Spain and Germany; to the war between Peter the Great and Charles XII.; and to the early difficulties of our East Indian settlements. (Ward.)

Line 111. The learning of the old Egyptian priests consisted for the most part in geometry and astronomy; they also preserved the history of their nation. Their greatest hero upon record is Sesostris, whose actions and conquests may be seen at large in Diodorus, etc. (Pope.)

Line 507.While thus I stood, etc. The hint is taken from a passage in another part of the third book, but here more naturally made the conclusion, with the addition of a moral to the whole. (Pope.)

Line 157.Roscommon. Wentworth Dillon, Earl of Roscommon (1632-1684). A comparatively chaste poet of the Restoration, and projector of an English Academy of letters.

Lines 1-4. Before Pope’s successes in verse admitted him to the best society in England, he had moved in a small circle of Roman Catholic families in the immediate neighborhood of Windsor. To one of these families belonged Miss Arabella Fermor, the Belinda of The Rape of the Lock; to another, Lord Petre, called in the poem simply the Baron, the hero—or villain—of the story; and to a third belonged John Caryll. Lord Petre really stole a lock of Miss Fermor’s hair, and some unpleasantness arose between the families in consequence. Caryll suggested to Pope that a humorous treatment of the incident in verse might help matters.

Lines 163-170.

  • ‘Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit,
  • Semper honos nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt.’

  • Virgil, Eclogues, v. 76-77.

Lines 99-106.The same, his ancient personage on deck, etc. In imitation of the progress of Agamemnon’s sceptre in Homer, Iliad, ii. (Pope.)

Lines 137-138. A hidden star, etc.

  • ‘Flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite crinem
  • Stella micat.’

  • Ovid, Metam. xv. 849, 850. (Pope.)

Line 110. Pope’s mother died in 1733, shortly before this epistle was written, at the age of ninety-one.

Lines 298-308. This passage evidently refers to the Duke of Marlborough.

Lines 253-256. Originally the last four lines of the short poem called Erinna.

Mr. Waters, the third of these worthies, was a man no way resembling the former in his military, but extremely so in his civil capacity; his great fortune having been rais’d by the like diligent attendance on the necessities of others. But this gentleman’s history must be deferred till his death, when his worth may be known more certainly. (Pope.)

Fr. Chartres, a man infamous for all manner of vices. When he was an ensign in the army, he was drumm’d out of the regiment for a cheat; he was next banish’d Brussels, and drumm’d out of Ghent on the same account. After a hundred tricks at the gaming tables, he took to lending of money at exorbitant interest and on great penalties, accumulating premium, interest, and capital into a new capital, and seizing to a minute when the payments became due; in a word, by a constant attention to the vices, wants, and follies of mankind, he acquired an immense fortune. His house was a perpetual bawdy-house. He was twice condemn’d for rapes, and pardoned: but the last time not without imprisonment in Newgate, and large confiscations. He died in Scotland in 1731, aged 62. The populace at his funeral rais’d a great riot, almost tore the body out of the coffin, and cast dead dogs, &c., into the grave along with it. The following Epitaph contains his character very justly drawn by Dr. Arbuthnot:

  • HERE continueth to rot
  • The Body of FRANCIS CHARTRES,
  • Who with an inflexible constancy,
  • and Inimitable Uniformity of Life, Persisted,
  • In spite of Age and Infirmities,
  • In the Practice of Every Human Vice;
  • Excepting Prodigality and Hypocrisy:
  • His insatiable Avarice exempted him from the first,
  • His matchless Impudence from the second.
  • Nor was he more singular
  • in the undeviating Pravity of his Manners
  • Than successful
  • in AccumulatingWealth.
  • For, without Trade or Profession,
  • Without Trust of Public Money,
  • And without Bribe-worthy Service,
  • He acquired, or more properly created,
  • A Ministerial Estate.
  • He was the only Person of his Time,
  • Who could cheat without the Mask of Honesty,
  • Retain his Primeval Meanness
  • When possess’d of Ten Thousand a Year,
  • And having daily deserved the Gibbet for what he did,
  • Was at last condemn’d to it for what he could not do.
  • Oh Indignant Reader!
  • Think not his Life useless to Mankind!
  • Providence conniv’d at his execrable Designs,
  • To give to After-ages
  • A conspicuous Proof and Example,
  • Of how small Estimation is Exorbitant
  • Wealth in the Sight of GOD,
  • By his bestowing it on the most unworthy of all Mortals.

This Gentleman was worth seven thousand pounds a year estate in Land, and about one hundred thousand in Money. (Pope.)

And the Devil. Alluding to the vulgar opinion, that all mines of metal and subterraneous treasures are in the guard of the Devil: which seems to have taken its rise from the pagan fable of Plutus the God of Riches. (Warburton.)

We must understand what is here said, of actually performing, to mean by the contributions which the Man of Ross, by his assiduity and interest, collected in his neighbourhood. (Warburton.)

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, the son of the first Duke (the favourite and minister of James I. and Charles I.), was born in 1637. He lost his estates as a royalist, but recovered them by his marriage with the daughter of Lord Fairfax. He is the Zimri of the Absalom and Achitophel of Dryden, whom he had ridiculed as Bayes in the burlesque play of The Rehearsal. Thus we have portraits of this typical hero of the Restoration period by Dryden and Pope, as well as by Burnet and Butler, Count Grammont and Horace Walpole. The tenant’s house at which he died (in 1687) was at Kirby Moor Side, near Helmsly in Yorkshire. (Ward.)

Line 8. An artificial grotto, constructed under a road, was one of Pope’s fanciful improvements of his little estate at Twickenham. Twitenham or Twit’nam (line 21) are forms of the name affected by Pope.

Line 60. In the early editions the line read—

‘Cibber and I are luckily no friends.’

Pope’s one attempt at dramatic writing, Three Hours after Marriage, written in connection with Gay and Arbuthnot, was a flat failure. The legitimate fun made of it by Colley Cibber was the source of a feud between them, which ended only in Cibber’s being made the main figure in The Dunciad.

Line 88. Alluding to Horace, Ode iii. 3:—

  • ‘Si fractus illabatur orbis
  • Impavidum ferient ruinae.’

  • (Pope.)

In translating this ode Addison had used the phrase ‘the mighty crack’ (86 above), and Pope had ridiculed him for it.

Lines 193-214. The famous passage on Addison had been published twelve years before the Epistle to Arbuthnot was written. Addison’s name appeared in the earlier version.

Lines 382-387. Pope has a long note on this passage, in which he goes much into detail to prove the respectability of his parents.

Line 397. He was a non-juror, and would not take the oath of allegiance or supremacy, or the oath against the Pope. (Bowles.)

The poem is dedicated to William Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield. See Glossary.

  • ‘Nil admirari prope res una, Numici,
  • Solaque, quae possit facere et servare beatum.’

  • Horace.

The translation is, as Pope admits, that of Richard Creech, translator of Homer and Lucretius.

Line 142. A verse of the Lord Lansdown. (Pope.)

Line 413. This line, according to Carruthers, is quoted from an anonymous poem printed in Tonson’s Miscellany in 1709.

Lines 1-2. These two lines are from Horace; and the only two lines that are so in the whole poem; being meant to be a handle to that which follows in the character of an impertinent Censurer, ’T is all from Horace, etc. (Pope.)

Line 255. Ver. 255 in the MS.

‘Quit, quit these themes, and write Essays on Man.’

This was the last poem of the kind printed by our author, with a resolution to publish no more; but to enter thus, in the most plain and solemn manner he could, a sort of protest against that insuperable corruption and depravity of manners, which he had been so unhappy as to live to see. Could he have hoped to have amended any, he had continued those attacks; but bad men were grown so shameless and so powerful, that Ridicule was become as unsafe as it was ineffectual. The Poem raised him, as he knew it would, some enemies; but he had reason to be satisfied with the approbation of good men, and the testimony of his own conscience. (Pope.)

Line 125. At this point Pope’s part in the imitation begins.

  • ‘Books and the Man I sing, the first who brings
  • The Smithfield Muses to the ear of Kings,’ etc.

  • (Pope.)

‘New born nonsense first is taught to cry;’

at others, dead-born Scandal has its monthly funeral, where Dulness assumes all the various shapes of Folly to draw in and cajole the Rabble. The eruption of every miserable Scribbler; the scum of every dirty News-paper; or Fragments of Fragments, picked up from every Dunghill, under the title of Papers, Essays, Reflections, Confutations, Queries, Verses, Songs, Epigrams, Riddles, etc., equally the disgrace of human Wit, Morality, Decency, and Common Sense. (Pope and Warburton.)

Line 86.In the former Editions,—

‘ ’T was on the day when Thorold, rich and grave.’

Sir George Thorold, Lord Mayor of London in the year 1720. The Procession of a Lord Mayor is made partly by land, and partly by water.—Cimon, the famous Athenian General, obtained a victory by sea, and another by land, on the same day, over the Persians and Barbarians. (Pope.)

This Tibbald, or Theobald, published an edition of Shakespear, of which he was so proud himself as to say, in one of Mist’s Journals, June 8, ‘That to expose any Errors in it was impracticable.’ And in another, April 27, ‘That whatever care might for the future be taken by any other Editor, he would still give above five hundred emendations, that shall escape them all.’ (Pope.)

Lines 249-255. The works referred to here are Colley Cibber’s.

Gildon. Charles Gildon, a writer of criticisms and libels of the last age, bred at St. Omer’s with the Jesuits; but renouncing popery, he published Blount’s books against the divinity of Christ, the Oracles of Reason, etc. He signalized himself as a critic, having written some very bad Plays; abused Mr. P. very scandalously in an anonymous pamphlet of the Life of Mr. Wycherley, printed by Curll; in another called the New Rehearsal, printed in 1714; in a third, entitled the Complete Art of English Poetry, in two volumes; and others. (Pope.) See note to Epistle to Arbuthnot, line 151.

Line 300.Under Archer’s Wing. Under cover of a special license given to a member of the king’s household, a gambling establishment was conducted in the royal palace.

Or Fleckno’s Irish throne. Richard Fleckno was an Irish priest, but had laid aside (as himself expressed it) the mechanic part of priesthood. He printed some plays, poems, letters, and travels. I doubt not our Author took occasion to mention him in respect to the poem of Mr. Dryden, to which this bears some resemblance, though of a character more different from it than that of the Æneid from the Iliad, or the Lutrin of Boileau from the Défait de Bouts Rimées of Sarazin. (Pope.)

Concanen. See note to line 299 below.

Mandeville. Bernard de Mandeville was born in Holland, in 1670, and after residing in England during the latter half of his life, died in 1733. (Ward.)

Line 578. Pope refused this degree when offered to him on a visit undertaken to Oxford with Warburton, because the University would not confer the degree of D. D. upon Warburton, to whom some of its members had proposed it. (Roscoe.)

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Mention is made in this list merely of the collected editions of Pope’s poems which were published during his life, and of the best editions which have been published since.

1.The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope. London: Printed by W. Bowyer for Bernard Lintot, between the Temple Gates, 1717. Quarto and folio. (Containing all the acknowledged poems which Pope had hitherto published, and some new ones.)

2. Same title. Vol. II. London: Printed by J. Wright for Lawton Gilliver, at Homer’s Head in Fleet Street, 1735. Quarto and folio. (Containing poems published by Pope after 1717.)

3.The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope in Prose. Letters of Mr. Alexander Pope and Several of his Friends. London: Knapton, Gilliver, Brindley and Dodsley, 1737. (The first avowed edition of his letters.)

4. Same title. Vol. II. London: Dodsley, 1741. (Containing correspondence with Swift, Memoirs of Scriblerus, papers from The Guardian, etc.)

5.The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq. In Nine Volumes complete. With his last corrections, additions, and improvements, as they were delivered to the editor a little before his death; together with the Commentaries and Notes of Mr. Warburton. London: Knapton, Lintot, Tonson, and Draper, 1751. Octavo.

6.The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq., in Nine Volumes Complete, with a Memoir of the Author, and with Notes and Illustrations by Joseph Warton, D.D., and others. London: 1797.

7.The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq. in Prose and Verse, containing the principal Notes of Drs. Warburton and Warton, Illustrations and Critical and Explanatory Remarks by Johnson, Wakefield, A. Chalmers, and others. To which are added, now first published, some original Letters, additional Observations, and Memoirs of the Life of the Author, by the Rev. William Lisle Bowles. London: 1806. Octavo, 10 vols.

(This edition led to some controversy between Bowles and Lord Byron.)

8.The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq. With Notes and Illustrations by himself and others: to which are added a New Life of the Author, an Estimate of his poetical Character and Writings, and occasional Remarks. By William Roscoe. London: 1824. Octavo, 10 vols.

9. Poetical Works. With extracts from his Correspondence, and Memoir by Robert Carruthers. London: 1858. Octavo, 2 vols.

10. The Works of Alexander Pope. New Edition. Including unpublished letters, and other new materials. Collected in part by J. W. Croker. With Introduction and Notes by Whitwell Elwin, and by W. J. Courthope. London: Murray, 1871-1889. Octavo, 10 vols. (This is now the standard edition of Pope.)

The Riverside Press

Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.

Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.

[Line 24.] The mighty Cæsar here referred to is Domitian, to whom Juvenal as well as Statius awarded divine honors.

[Line 62.]The prophet. Amphiaraus.

[Line 65.]The youth. Parthenopæus.

[Line 399.]Such sons. Eteocles and Polynices.

[Line 470.]Scyron. Pope evidently confounds the island of Scyros in the Ægean with the rocks between Megaris and Attica infested by the robber Sciron whom Theseus slew. See Ovid, Metam. vii. 444. (Ward.)

Line 37. Partridge. John Partridge was a ridiculous star-gazer, who in his almanacks every year never failed to predict the downfall of the Pope and the King of France, then at war with the English. (Pope.) Partridge was the butt of Swift’s famous hoax in 1707.

Epistle III. Line 68. Favour’d man. Several of the ancients, and many of the orientals since, esteemed those who were struck by lightning as favoured persons, and the particular favourites of Heaven. (Pope.)