His death was instant, and without a groan. Who sprung from Kings shall know less joy than I. To rock the cradle of reposing Age, With lenient arts extend a Mother's breath, Make Languor smile, and smooth the bed of Death, Thus far was right, the rest belongs to Heav'n. 405 410 415 5 ODE ON SOLITUDE HAPPY the man whose wish and care In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Blest, who can unconcern'dly find Hours, days, and years slide soft away, Sound sleep by night; study and ease, Thus let me live, unseen, unknown, Steal from the world, and not a stone THE DESCENT OF DULLNESS THE DESCENT OF DULLNESS [From the Dunciad, Book IV] In vain, in vain - the all-composing Hour In vain! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die. For public Flame, nor private, dares to shine; ON MR. GAY IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1732 Or Manners gentle, of Affections mild; 5 10 NOTES THE RAPE OF THE LOCK INTRODUCTION IN 1711 Pope, who had just published his Essay on Criticism, was looking about for new worlds to conquer. A fortunate chance threw in his way a subject exactly suited to his tastes and powers. He seized upon it, dashed off his first sketch in less than a fortnight, and published it anonymously in a Miscellany issued by Lintot in 1712. But the theme had taken firm root in his mind. Dissatisfied with his first treatment of it, he determined, against the advice of the best critic of the day, to recast the work, and lift it from a mere society jeu d'esprit into an elaborate mock-heroic poem. He did so and won a complete success. Even yet, however, he was not completely satisfied and from time to time he added a touch to his work until he finally produced the finished picture which we know as The Rape of the Lock. As it stands, it is an almost flawless masterpiece, a brilliant picture and light-hearted mockery of the gay society of Queen Anne's day, on the whole the most satisfactory creation of Pope's genius, and, perhaps, the best example of the mockheroic in any literature. The occasion which gave rise to The Rape of the Lock has been so often related that it requires only a brief restatement. Among the Catholic families of Queen Anne's day, who formed a little society of their own, Miss Arabella Fermor was a reigning belle. In a youthful frolic which overstepped the bounds of propriety Lord Petre, a young nobleman of her acquaintance, cut off a lock of her hair. The lady was offended, the two families took up the quarrel, a lasting estrangement, possibly even a duel, was threatened. At this juncture a common friend of the two families, a Mr. Caryll, nephew of a well-known Jacobite exile for whom he is sometimes mistaken, suggested to Pope "to write a poem to make a jest of it," and so kill the quarrel with laughter. Pope consented, wrote |