Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, VARIATIONS. VER. II, 12. It was in the first editions, And dwells fuch rage in fofteft bofoms then, And lodge fuch daring Souls in little Men? P. VER. 13. etc. Stood thus in the firft Edition, 10 Sol thro' white curtains did his beams display, NOTES. tot's, without the name of the Author, But it was received fo well, that he made it more confiderable the next year by the addition of the machinery of the Sylphs, and extended it to five Canto's. We fhall give the reader the pleasure of feeing in what manner thefe additions were inferted, fo as to feem not to be added, but to grow out of the Poom. See Notes, Cant. I. 19, etc. P. This infertion he always efteemed, and juftly, the greatest effort of his skill and art as a Poet.. Now lap-dogs give themselves the roufing shake, And fleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake: 16 Thrice rung the bell, the flipper knock'd the ground, And the prefs'd watch return'd a filver found. Belinda ftill her downy pillow preft, Her guardian SYLPH prolong'd the balmy reft: "Twas He had fummon'd to her filent bed 21 The morning dream that hover'd o'er her head, NOTES. VER. 22 Belinda fill, etc.] All the verfes from hence to the end of this Canto were added afterwards. P. VER. 20. Her Guardian Sylph] When Mr. Pope had pro jected to give this Poem its prefent form, he was obliged to find it with its Machinery. For as the fubject of the Epic Poem confifts of two parts, the metaphysical and the civil; fo this mock epic, which is of the satiric kind, and receives its grace from a Judicrous imitation of the other's pomp and folemnity, was to have the fame divifion of the subject. And, as the civil part is intentionally debased by the choice of an infignificant action: fo fhould the metaphyfical, by the ufe of fome very extravagant fyftem. A rule, which tho' neither Boileau nor Garth have been careful enough to attend to, our Author's good fenfe would not suffer him to overlook. And that fort of Machinery which his judgment taught him was only fit for his use, his admirable inven tion fupplied. There was but one Syftem in all nature which was to his purpose, the Roficrufian Philofophy; and this, by the well directed effort of his imagination, he prefently feized upon. The fanatic Alchemifts, in their fearch after the great fecret, had invented a means altogether proportioned to their end. It was a kind of Theological-Philofophy, made up of almoft equal mixtures of Pagan Platonifin, Chriftian Quietifm, and the Jewish Cabbala; a compofition enough to fright Reafon from human commerce. This general fyftem, he tells us, he took as he found it in a little French tract called, Le Comte de Gabalis. This book is written in Dialogue, and is a delicate and very ingeni A Youth more glitt'ring than a Birth-night Beau; Or virgins vifited by Angel-pow'rs, 3 i ous piece of raillery of the Abbe Villiers, upon that invifible fect, of which the stories that went about at that time, made a great deal of noise at Paris. But, as in this fatirical Dialogue, Mr. P. found feveral whimfies, of a very high mysterious kind, told of the nature of thefe elementary beings, which were very unfit to come into the machinery of such a fort of poem, he has with great judgment omitted them; and in their ftead, made ufe of the Legendary ftories of Guardian Angels, and the Nursery Tales of the Fairies; which he has artfully accommodated to the relt of the Roficrufian Syftem. And to this, (unless we will be fo uncharitable to believe he intended to give a needless scandal) we must fuppofe he referred, in these two lines, If e'er one Vifion touch'd thy infant thought, Of all the nurse, and all the priest have taught. Thus, by the most beautiful invention imaginable, he has contrived, that, as in the ferious Epic, the popular belief supports the Machinery; fo, in his mock Epic, the Machinery should be contrived to difmount philofophic pride and arrogance. Hear and believe! thy own importance know, 35 Nor bound thy narrow views to things below. Some fecret truths, from learned pride conceal'd, To Maids alone and Children are reveal'd: ་ 40 What tho' no credit doubting Wits may give? From earthly Vehicles to these of air. 50 Think not, when Woman's tranfient breath is filed, That all her vanities at once are dead; NOTES. VER. 47. As now your own, etc.] He here forfakes the Roficrufian fyftem; which, in this part, is too extravagant even for Poetry; and gives a beautiful fiction of his own, on the Platonic Theology of the continuance of the paffions in another State, when the mind, before its leaving this, has not been purged and purified by philofophy; which furnishes an occafion for much ufeful fatire. Succeeding vanities fhe ftill regards, And tho' the plays no more, o'erlooks the cards. Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive, And love of Ombre, after death furvive. For when the Fair in all their pride expire, The Sprites of fiery Termagants in Flame 55 60 Soft yielding minds to Water glide away, Know farther yet; whoever fair and chafte Rejects mankind, is by fome Sylph embrac'd : For Spirits, freed from mortal laws, with eafe Affume what fexes and what shapes they please. NOTES. 65 VER. 68. is by fome Sylph embrac'd] Here again the Author refumes a tenet peculiar to the Roficrusian system. But the principle, on which it is founded, was by no means fit to be employed in fuch a sort of poem. VER. 54, 55. IMITATIONS. Quæ gratia currûm Armorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentes Virg. Æn. vi. P. |