<< THE RAPE OF THE LOCK."

357

whether in the Banqueting House, the Pavilions, some of the private apartments, or at the "Toy" inn, there is nothing to show; and, afterwards, they sat down to play at the then fashionable game of ombre, described so wonderfully in the third canto of the poem as finally published. In the middle of the game utensils for coffee were brought in, and, as was the custom in those days, the ladies of the

(From the engraving by Lud. du Guernier in the first edition of the completed poem, published in 1714.)

party roasted and ground the coffee berry, and boiled the

water:

"For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crowned,
The berries crackle, and the mill turns round;

On shining altars of Japan they raise

The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze.
From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide,
While China's earth receives the smoking tide.
At once they gratify their scent and taste,
And frequent cups prolong the rich repast."

It was just after this that "the Baron," Lord Petre, with a pair of scissors belonging to "Clarissa," one of the ladies of the party, was tempted to cut a lock of Miss Fermor's hair, as she bent her beautiful head over her cup. The accompanying plate affords a curious contemporary illustration of the scene.

"The peer now spreads the glittering forsex wide,
T'inclose the lock; now joins it, to divide.
Ev'n then, before the fatal engine closed,
A wretched sylph too fondly interposed;

Fate urged the shears, and cut the sylph in twain
(But airy substance soon unites again).

The meeting points the sacred hair dissever
From the fair head, for ever, and for ever!"

This liberty "the nymph," who was the victim of it, deeply resented; and Lord Petre refusing to restore the lock, a serious breach arose between the two families. Miss Fermor is made to deplore what had occurred in the following couplets:

"For ever cursed be this detested day,

Which snatched my best, my fav'rite curl away!
Happy! ah, ten times happy had I been

If Hampton Court these eyes had never seen!

The poem, however, attained its object, and effected the reconciliation it was written to bring about, by making, as Pope expresses it, a jest of it, and laughing them together.

This is not the place to enter into any careful gauging of the merits of the poem, or into the many discussions and disquisitions that have been lavished on the question of the use of the supernatural "machinery," and Pope's resulting quarrel with Addison on the subject. But we may draw attention to the fact, already adverted to, that, poetic excellence and merit altogether apart, "The Rape of the Lock" presents us with the most perfect picture in miniature possible of life at Hampton Court during the reign of Queen Anne. We have already cited at the beginning of this chapter the opening lines of the third canto, beginning with the words, "Close by those meads," etc.: the verses that follow them, with their delicate irony on the fashionable frivolities of the inhabitants of Hampton Court at that time,

GEORGE I. ARRIVES AT HAMPTON COURT. 359

give us a peep into the interior social life of the palace, than which nothing could be more vivid :

"Hither the heroes and the nymphs resort
To taste awhile the pleasures of a court;
In various talk the instructive hours they passed,
Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last;
One speaks the glory of the British Queen,
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At every word a reputation dies.

Snuff or the fan supply each pause of chat,
With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that."

Thus it comes about that the subject-matter of these pages is associated with the most brilliant and exquisite mock-heroic poem in the English, or perhaps any, language, replete with all the subtlest delicacies of humour, satire, language, and invention, and redolent of the refined and airy graces of the artificial world which it so intimately describes.

Hampton Court, in the autumn of the year 1711, was again visited for a short time by the Queen, who arrived on October 23rd, in a terrible storm of rain; and here she entertained the envoys of the King of France. She was at this time laid up with gout, and Swift, writing to Stella, says, "She is now seldom without it any long time together; I fear it will wear her out in a very few years —a prognostication which was verified in less than three years.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

GEORGE I. AT HAMPTON COURT.

GEORGE I., not long after his arrival in England, removed from London to Hampton Court, thinking it a commodious place to which he might retire from his obnoxious subjects. The King, as we are told by the Comte de Broglio, who came over to England as ambassador from France, had no

regard for the English people, never received in private any English of either sex, and was almost entirely ignorant of the language; none even of his principal officers were admitted to his chamber in the morning to dress him, nor in the evening to undress him, as had been the custom of the Court till his time. Here, accordingly, at a distance from London, and with no royal duties to discharge, he felt himself thoroughly at home.

The only occasions on which George I. appeared in any state, was on his arrival at or his departure from the palace. When he returned to London he walked, or was carried in a sedan-chair, to the riverside, with six footmen in front, and six yeomen of the guard behind, accompanied by the courtiers and attendants; and the whole party embarked in State barges hung with coloured cloth.

This agreeable mode of travelling to and from Hampton Court was the favourite one with the Prince of Wales, who, in the summer of 1716, when the King went to Hanover, was appointed Regent, and allowed by the King to reside at Hampton Court. Here, accordingly, they established themselves; and during their sojourn they lived in semi-regal state, and made use of the beautiful suite of apartments in the eastern range of the new palace, formerly occupied by Queen Anne, and still known as the Queen's State Rooms.

Of the State Bedchamber we append a sketch. The ceiling had just been painted by Mr., afterwards Sir James, Thornhill, who had succeeded Verrio and Laguerre as a decorator of palaces and public buildings. It was by Halifax's influence that Thornhill was employed. The Duke of Shrewsbury, who had become Lord Chamberlain on George I.'s accession, intended that it should be executed by Sebastian Ricci; but Halifax, who was then First Commissioner of the Treasury, preferring his own countryman, told the Duke that "if Ricci painted it he would not pay him." The power of the purse, of course, prevailed, and Thornhill was given the commission.

This ceiling is, in truth, the best at Hampton Court. The design shows Aurora rising out of the ocean in her golden chariot, drawn by four white horses, and attended by cupids; below are Night and Sleep. In the cornice are portraits of George I., with the crown, over the bed; of

SIR JAMES THORNHILL IN 1716.