Some in the fields of purest Ether play,

And bask and whiten in the blaze of day.
Some guide the course of wand'ring orbs on high,
Or roll the planets through the boundless sky.
Some less refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light
Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night,
Or suck the mists in grosser air below,

Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,

Or brew fierce tempests on the wintry main,

Or o'er the glebe distil the kindly rain.
Others on earth o'er human race preside,

Watch all their ways, and all their actions guide:
Of these the chief the care of Nations own,
And guard with arms divine the British Throne.

NOTES.

80

85

Shakspeare only could have thought of the following gratifications for Titania's lover; and they are fit only to be offered to her lover by a fairy-queen.

"Be kind and courteous to this gentleman,
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes;
Feed him with apricots and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries,
The honey-bags steal from the humble bees,
And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
To have my love to bed, and to arise;

And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,
To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes."

If it should be thought, that Shakspeare has the merit of being the first who assigned proper employments to imaginary persons, in the foregoing lines, yet it must be granted, that by the addition of the most delicate satire to the most lively fancy, Pope, in a following passage (ver. 91), has equalled any thing in Shak speare, or perhaps in any other author.

Ver. 90. And guard with Arms] The Poet was too judicious to desire this should be understood as a compliment. He in

Our humble province is to tend the Fair, Not a less pleasing, tho' less glorious care; To save the powder from too rude a gale, Nor let th' imprison'd essences exhale;

91

To draw fresh colours from the vernal flow'rs; 95
To steal from Rainbows ere they drop in show'rs
A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs,
Assist their blushes, and inspire their airs;
Nay oft, in dreams, invention we bestow,
To change a Flounce, or add a Furbelow.

100

This day, black Omens threat the brightest Fair

That e'er deserv'd a watchful spirit's care;

Some dire disaster, or by force, or slight;

105

But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night.
Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law,
Or some frail China jar receive a flaw ;
Or stain her honour, or her new brocade;
Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade;
Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball;

Or whether Heav'n has doom'd that Shock must fall.
Haste then, ye spirits! to your charge repair: 111
The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care;

NOTES.

tended it for a mere piece of raillery; such as he more openly pursues on another occasion; when he says,

"Where's now the Star which lighted Charles to rise?
With that which followed Julius to the skies.

Angels, that watch'd the Royal Oak so well,

How chanc'd you slept when luckless Sorrel fell?" W.

Ver. 105. Whether the nymph, &c.] The disaster, which makes the subject of this poem, being a trifle, taken seriously; it naturally led the Poet into this fine satire on the female estimate of human mischances. W,

Ver. 112. Zephyretta] The names of his Sylphs are happily

115

The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Crispissa, tend her fav'rite Lock;
Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock.
To fifty chosen Sylphs, of special note,
We trust th' important charge, the Petticoat:
Oft have we known that seven-fold fence to fail,
Tho' stiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale;
Form a strong line about the silver bound,
And guard the wide circumference around.
Whatever spirit, careless of his charge,
His post neglects, or leaves the fair at large,
Shall feel sharp Vengeance soon o'ertake his sins,
Be stop'd in vials, or transfix'd with pins;

121

126

NOTES.

chosen. Castlevetro mentions an odd circumstance, that the names which Boiardo gave to his heroes in his Orlando Inamorato, were only the names of some of the principal tenants and peasants on his estate of Scandiano.

Ver. 118. the Petticoat :] It is impossible here not to recollect that matchless piece of raillery and exquisite humour, of Addison, in the 127th Spectator, on this important part of female dress.

Ver. 125. Shall feel sharp] Our poet still rises in the delicacy of his satire, where he employs, with the utmost judgment and elegance, all the implements and furniture of the toilet, as instruments of punishment to those spirits, who shall be careless

IMITATIONS.

W.

Ver. 119. clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax. Ovid.
Ver. 121. about the silver bound,] In allusion to the shield of
Achilles,

"Thus the broad shield complete the Artist crown'd,
With his last hand, and pour'd the Ocean round:

In living Silver seem'd the waves to roll,

And beat the Buckler's verge, and bound the whole."

W.

Or plung'd in lakes of bitter washes lie,
Or wedg❜d whole ages in a bodkin's eye:
Gums and Pomatums shall his flight restrain,

While clogg'd he beats his silken wings in vain ;
Or Allum styptics with contracting pow'r
Shrink his thin essence like a rivel'd flow'r:
Or, as Ixion fix'd, the wretch shall feel
The giddy motion of the whirling Mill,
In fumes of burning Chocolate shall glow,
And tremble at the sea that froths below!
He spoke; the spirits from the sails descend;
Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend;
Some thrid the mazy ringlets of her hair;
Some hang upon the pendants of her ear;
With beating hearts the dire event they wait,
Anxious, and trembling for the birth of Fate.

NOTES.

131

135

140

of their charge; of punishment, such as Sylphs alone could undergo.

If Virgil has merited such perpetual commendation for exalting his bees, by the majesty and magnificence of his diction, does not Pope deserve equal praises, for the pomp and lustre of his language, on so trivial a subject?

CLOSE by those meads, for ever crown'd with
flow'rs,

5

Where Thames with pride surveys his rising tow'rs,
There stands a structure of majestic frame,
Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name.
Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom
Of foreign Tyrants, and of Nymphs at home;
Here thou, great ANNA! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take-and sometimes Tea.
Hither the Heroes and the Nymphs resort,

To taste awhile the pleasures of a Court;
In various talk th' instructive hours they past,

Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last;
One speaks the glory of the British Queen.
And one describes a charming Indian screen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At every word a reputation dies.

Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat,
With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.

10

15

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 1. Close by those meads,] The first edition continues from this line to ver. 24 of this Canto. P.

Ver. 11, 12. Originally in the first edition,

In various talk the cheerful hours they past,
Of, who was bit, or who capotted last.

P.