Agrees as ill with Rufa studying Locke,
As Sappho's di'monds with her dirty smock;
Or Sappho at her toilet's greasy task,
With Sappho fragrant at an ev'ning Mask:
So morning Insects that in muck begun,
Shine, buzz, and fly-blow, in the setting sun.
How soft is Silia! fearful to offend;

;

25

The frail one's advocate, the weak one's friend. 30 To her, Calista prov'd her conduct nice;

And good Simplicius asks of her advice.

NOTES.

has given us in his Fifth Satire on Women. The pictures of Young are sketched with a lighter and more sportive pencil; those of our Author with a firmer hand and a chaster manner. Pope put forth all his strength to excel his witty rival in this the best part of the Universal Passion; and he has succeeded accordingly. Both Pope and Boileau (see his tenth satire) have been censured for their severity on the fair sex. They have been reckoned as bad as Euripides; but surely they have not been quite so naughty as an old comic poet, Eubulus, in a fragment preserved in that most entertaining book, the Excerpta ex Trag. et Comoed. of Grotius, 4to. p. 659, who, after mentioning Medæa, Clytemnestra, and Phædra, suddenly stops, and wickedly pretends that his memory fails him in enabling him to mention any one good character among women. The ladies of France revenged themselves on Boileau, by saying he was made incapable of love and marriage, by an accident that befel him in his early youth.

Ver. 23. Agrees as ill] This thought is expressed with great humour in the following stanza, said to mean Q. Caroline;

"Tho' Artemesia talks, by fits,

Of councils, classics, fathers, wits;

Reads Malbranche, Boyle, and Locke;
Yet in some things, methinks, she fails,
"Twere well, if she would pare her nails,
And wear a cleaner smock,"

Ver, 29 and 37. II. Contrarieties in the Soft-natured,

P.

Sudden, she storms! she raves! You tip the wink,
But spare your censure; Silia does not drink.

All eyes may see from what the change arose, 35
All eyes may see a pimple on her nose.
Papillia, wedded to her am'rous spark,

39

Sighs for the shades!" How charming is a Park!"
A Park is purchas'd, but the Fair he sees
All bath'd in tears-" Oh odious, odious Trees!"
Ladies, like variegated Tulips, show;

'Tis to their changes half their charms we o we;
Fine by defect, and delicately weak,

Their happy Spots the nice admirer take.
'Twas thus Calypso once each heart alarm'd,
Aw'd without Virtue, without Beauty charm'd;
Her Tongue bewitch'd as oddly as her eyes;
Less Wit than Mimic, more a Wit than wise.
Strange graces still, and stranger flights she had,
Was just not ugly, and was just not mad ;
Yet ne'er so sure our passion to create,
As when she touch'd the brink of all we hate.
Narcissa's nature, tolerably mild,

To make a wash, would hardly stew a child;

NOTES.

45

50

Ver. 45. III. Contrarieties in the Cunning and Artful. P. Ver. 52. As when she touch'd the brink of all we hate.] Her charms consisted in the singular turn of her vivacity; consequently the stronger she exerted this vivacity, the more forcible was her attraction. But when her vivacity arose to that height in which it was most attractive, it was upon the brink of Excess; the point where the delicacy of sensuality disappears, and all the coarseness of it stands exposed. W.

Ver. 53. IV. In the Whimsical. P..

Ver. 54. would hardly stew a child;] This hyperbolical ridicule is carried to a great height, but in an image too disgusting.

Has ev'n been prov'd to grant a Lover's pray'r, 55
And paid a Tradesman once to make him stare;
Gave alms at Easter, in a Christian trim,
And made a Widow happy, for a whim.
Why then declare Good-nature is her scorn,
When 'tis by that alone she can be born?
Why pique all mortals, yet affect a name?
A fool to Pleasure, yet a slave to Fame :

60

Now deep in Taylor and the Book of Martyrs,
Now drinking Citron with his Grace and Chartres:
Now Conscience chills her, and now passion

burns:

And Atheism and Religion take their turns;
A very Heathen in the carnal part,

Yet still a sad, good Christian at her heart.

65

NOTES.

Juvenal, in his sixth satire, speaking of a great female talker, uses a pleasant hyperbole ;

66

Úna laboranti poterit succurrere lunæ.”

Ver. 57. in a Christian trim,] This is finely expressed; implying that her very charity was as much an exterior of Religion, as the ceremonies of the season. It was not even in a Christian humour, it was only in a Christian trim: not so much as habit, only fashion.

Ver. 58. And made a Widow happy,] There are some female characters sketched with exquisite delicacy and deep knowledge of Nature, in a book where one would not expect to find them, Law's Christian Perfection.

Ver. 65. Now Conscience chills her,] Madame de Montespan, during her criminal intercourse with Louis XIV, kept her Lents so strictly, that she used to have her bread weighed out to her.

Ver. 68. Yet still a sad,] I have been informed, on good authority, that this character was designed for the then Dutchess of Hamilton.

70

See Sin in State, majestically drunk ; Proud as a Peeress, Prouder as a Punk; Chaste to her Husband, frank to all beside, A teeming Mistress, but a barren Bride. What then? let Blood and Body bear the fault, Her Head's untouch'd, that noble seat of thought; Such this day's doctrine-in another fit She sins with Poets through pure Love of Wit. A

X75

pab.woй

What has not fir'd her bosom or her brain?
Cæsar and Tall-boy, Charles and Carlema❜ne.
As Helluo, late Dictator of the Feast,
The Nose of Hautgout and the Tip of Taste,
Critiqu'd your wine, and analyz'd your meat,
Yet on plain Pudding deign'd at home to eat
So Philomedé, lect'ring all mankind,
On the soft Passion, and the Taste refin'd,
Th' address, the Delicacy-stoops at once,
And makes her hearty meal upon a Dunce.

Flavia's a Wit, has too much sense to pray;
To toast our wants and wishes, is her way;

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 77. What has not fir'd, &c.] In the MS. 8
In whose mad brain the mixt ideas roll,

Of Tall-boy's breeches, and of Cæsar's soul. Sino

NOTES.

Ver. 69. V. In the Lewd and Vicious. P.

Ver. 70. Proud as a Peeress,] Designed for the Dutchess of Marlborough, who so much admired Congreve; and after his death caused a figure in wax-work to be made of him, and placed frequently at her table. This connexion is particularly 5 hinted at in ver. 76.

She sins with Poets

Our Author's declaration, therefore, that no particular characteris was aimed at, is not true.

Ver. 87. VI. Contrarieties in the Witty and Refined. P. VOL. III.

P

4

Nor asks of God, but of her Stars, to give
The mighty blessing, "While we live, to live." 90
Then all for Death, that Opiate of the soul!
Lucretia's dagger, Rosamonda's bowl.
Say, what can cause such impotence of mind?
A Spark too fickle, or a Spouse too kind.

96

Wise Wretch with pleasures too refin'd to please!
With too much Spirit to be e'er at ease:
With too much Quickness ever to be taught;
With too much Thinking to have common Thought:
You purchase Pain with all that Joy can give,
And die of nothing but a Rage to live.

100

Turn then from Wits; and look on Simo's Mate,

No Ass so meek, no Ass so obstinate.

Or her, that owns her faults, but never mends,
Because she's honest, and the best of Friends.

Or her, whose life the Church and Scandal share,
For ever in a Passion or a Pray'r.

106

Or her, who laughs at Hell, but (like her Grace) Cries, "Ah! how charming if there's no such place;" Or who in sweet vissicitude appears,

Of Mirth and Opium, Ratafie and Tears,

110

NOTES.

Ver. 107. Or her, who laughs at Hell,]

"Shall pleasures of a short duration chain

A Lady's soul in everlasting pain?

Will the Great Author us poor worms destroy
For now and then a sip of transient joy?

No; He's for ever in a smiling mood;

He's like themselves; or how could he be good ?"

From Young, Sat. 5. The person Pope intended to ridicule was the Dutchess of Montague.