WHamilton RA del! FBartolozzi Afculp The Graces stand in sight : a Satyr train Parnell Publifhd Nov 1798.FI.Du Roveray. London. RAPE OF THE LOCK, AN HEROI-COMICAL POEM, BY A. POPE. ADORNED WITH PLATES. LONDON: Printed by C. Bensley; FOR F. J. DU ROVERAY, GREAT ST. HELENS; AND SOLD BY J. AND A. ARCH, GRACECHURCH STREET, AND J. WRIGHT, PICCADILLY. 1798. 280. . j. 305. ADVERTISEMENT. THE Rape of the Lock was first published in the year 1711, and was written in less than a fortnight. It was occasioned by a frolic, carried rather beyond the bounds of good breeding, in which Lord Petre cut off a lock of Mrs. Arabella Fermor's hair: the poem was undertaken at the request of Mr. Caryl, in order to reconcile the two families, this frolic having occasioned a serious rupture between them. It was received with such universal ap plause as to induce Pope to extend it the fol lowing year from two Cantos to five, by the addition of the machinery of the Sylphs and Gnomes. This improvement, which may be considered as one of the happiest efforts of art, did not, however, receive the approbation of. Addison, who, possibly, might not conceive the propriety with which the introduction of this new machinery could be effected. Addison's opinion in this instance was so far from being confirmed by the voice of his cotemporaries, or by the decision of posterity, that it was attributed to jealousy, though it contains no proof of his being actuated by so base a motive: yet, when we consider the imperfections of human nature, and Addison's conduct in regard to Pope and Tickell's trans |