Here Fannia, leering on her own good man, In Magdalen's loose hair and lifted eye, If Folly grow romantic, I must paint it. 15 19 Come then, the colours and the ground prepare! Dip in the Rainbow, trick her off in Air; Choose a firm Cloud, before it fall, and in it Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute. Rufa, whose eye quick-glancing o'er the Park, Attracts each light gay meteor of a Spark, NOTES. But notwithstanding all the Poet's caution and complaisance, this general satire, or rather moral analysis of human nature, as it appears in the two sexes, will be always received very differently by them. The Men bear a general satire most heroically; the Women with the utmost impatience. This is not from any stronger consciousness of guilt, for I believe the sum of Virtue in the female world does (from many accidental causes) far exceed the sum of Virtue in the male; but from the fear that such representations may hurt the sex in the opinion of the men: whereas the men are not at all apprehensive that their follies or vices would prejudice them in the opinion of the women. Ver. 20. Catch, ere the change, the Cynthia of this minute.] Alluding in the expression to the precept of Fresnoy, i "formæ veneres captando fugaces.". Like a dove's neck she shifts her transient charms." W. W. Young, Sat. 5. Ver. 21. Instances of contrarieties, given even from such characters as are most strongly marked, and seemingly therefore most consistent: as, I. In the Affected, Ver. 21, &c. Ver. 21. Rufa, whose eye] This character of Rufa, and the succeeding ones of Silia, Papillia, Narcissa, and Flavia, are precisely and entirely in the style and manner of the portraits Young Agrees as ill with Rufa studying Locke, 25 The frail one's advocate, the weak one's friend. 30 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; Ver. 29 and 37. II. Contrarieties in the Soft-natured. P. Sudden, she storms! she raves! You tip the wink, 39 Sighs for the shades!" How charming is a Park!" 'Tis to their changes half their charms we owe; Their happy Spots the nice admirer take. 45 Aw'd without Virtue, without Beauty charm'd; To make a wash, would hardly stew a child; NOTES. P. 50 Ver. 45. III. Contrarieties in the Cunning and Artful. 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 60 Now deep in Taylor and the Book of Martyrs, 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 ; "Una 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; She sins with Poets through pure Love of Wit. Flavia's a Wit, has too much sense to pray; VARIATIONS. Ver. 77. What has not fir'd, &c.] In the MS. NOTES. Ver. 69. V. In the Lewd and Vicious. P. 75 80 85 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 hinted at in ver. 76. She sins with Poets Our Author's declaration, therefore, that no particular character was aimed at, is not true. Ver. 87. VI. Contrarieties in the Witty and Refined. P. |