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ON RECEIVING FROM

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

THE LADY FRANCES

SHIRLEY

A STANDISH AND TWO PENS.

YES, I beheld th' Athenian Queen

Defcend in all her fober charms; "And take (fhe faid, and fmil'd ferene) "Take at this hand celeftial arms:

"Secure the radiant weapons wield;

"This golden lance shall guard Desert,

NOTES.

5

"And

The Lady Frances Shirley] A Lady whofe great Merit Mr. Pope took a real pleasure in celebrating. WARBURTON.

VER. 1. Yes, I beheld, &c.] To enter into the spirit of this Address, it is necessary to premife, that the Poet was threatened with a profecution in the House of Lords, for the two foregoing Poems, the Epilogue to the Satires. On which, with great refentment against his enemies, for not being willing to distinguish be

tween

Grave Epifles bringing Vice to light,

and licentious Libels, he began a third Dialogue, more severe and fublime than the firft and fecond; which being no fecret, natters were foon compromifed. His enemies agreed to drop the profecution, and he promifed to leave the third Dialogue unfinished and fuppreffed. This affair occafioned this little beautiful poem, to which it alludes throughout, but more efpecially in the four laft ftanzas. WARBURTONM

"And if a Vice dares keep the field,
"This fteel fhall ftab it to the heart."

Aw'd, on my bended knees I fell,

Receiv'd the weapons of the sky;

10

And dipt them in the fable Well,

The Fount of Fame or Infamy.

"What I'ell? what Weapon? (Flavia cries)
"A ftandish, steel and golden pen!
"It came from Bertrand's, not the skies ;
"I gave it you to write again.

But, Friend, take heed whom you attack; "You'll bring a Houfe (I mean of Peers) “Red, Blue, and Green, nay white and black, "Land all about your ears.

"You'd write as fmooth again on glass,

"And run, on ivory, fo glib,

"As not to stick at fool or ass,

"Nor stop at Flattery or Fib.

"Athenian Queen! and fober charms!
"I tell ye, fool, there's nothing in't:

NOTES.

VER. 15. Bertrand's,] A famous toy-shop at Bath.

VER. 23. fool or afs,] The Dunciad.

15

20

25

" "Tis

WARBURTON.

WARBURTON,

VER. 24. Flattery or Fib.] The Epifile to Dr. Arbuthnot.

WARBURTON.

" 'Tis Venus, Venus gives these arms; "In Dryden's Virgil fee the print.

"Come, if you'll be a quiet foul,

"That dares tell neither Truth nor Lies,

30

"I'll lift you in the harmless roll

“Of those that fing of these poor eyes.'

NOTES.

VER 27. thefe arms;] Such toys being the ufual prefents from lovers to their mistreffes. WARBURTON.

VFR. 28 fee the print.] When fhe delivers Æneas a fuit of heavenly armour. WARBURTON.

VER. 30. neither Truth nor Lies,] i. e. If you have neither the courage to write Satire, nor the application to attempt an Epic Poem. He was then meditating on fuch a work.

WARBURTON.

VER. 32. Of those that fing of these poor eyes.] Among the many fwains who fung of "these poor eyes," was Lord Chesterfield, in his well known Ballad :--

"When Fanny blooming fair,

First met my ravish'd fight,
Struck with her face and air,

I gaz'd with strange delight."

This beautiful Lady was fourth daughter of Earl Ferrers, who had at that time a houfe at Twickenham. Notwithstanding her numerous admirers, fhe died at Bath, unmarried, in the year 1762. At Clarendon Park, near Salisbury, the seat of her Sifter's Son, Henry Bathurst efq., there is a full length painting, by Sir Godfrey Kneller; and if she was as handsome as fhe is there reprefented, Lord Chesterfield's paffionate addrefs might be easily accounted for. The writer of this note had looked at it for fome time with admiration, without knowing whofe portrait it was, when the hospitable and benevolent Owner of the mansion said, "That is the celebrated Fanny blooming fair." Her fister, married to Mr. Bathurst's father, is painted at full length in the fame room.

Lady

Lady Frances is dreffed in a Turkish habit, probably întroduced by Lady M. W. Montagu to England at the time, as fhe lived at Twickenham. The drefs is beautiful, and gives great effect to the attitude and countenance. The fketch of Earl Ferrers' House and Gardens is in the back ground.

I fhall here present the Reader with a valuable Literary Curiofity, a Fragment of an unpublished Satire of Pope, intitled, ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND FORTY; communicated to me by the kindnefs of the learned and worthy Dr. Wilfon, formerly fellow and librarian of Trinity College, Dublin; who fpeaks of the Fragment in the following terms:

“This Poem I tranfcribed from a rough draft in Pope's own hand. He left many blanks for fear of the Argus Eye of thofe who, if they cannot find, can fabricate treason; yet, spite of his precaution, it fell into the hands of his enemies. To the hieroglyphics, there are direct allufions, I think in fome of the notes on the Dunciad. It was lent me by a grandson of Lord Chetwynd, an intimate friend of the famous Lord Bolingbroke, who gratified his curiosity by a boxful of the rubbish and sweepings of Pope's study, whofe executor he was, in conjunction with Lord Marchmont." WARTON.

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