IMITATIONS OF ENGLISH POETS.

DONE BY THE AUTHOR IN HIS YOUTH.

These Imitations were first grouped in the "Miscellanies," 1727, but the verses on Silence had previously appeared in Lintot's Miscellany, 1712. The Imitation of Swift is probably of a later date than the others, as Pope's acquaintance with the Dean only began in 1713, and the latter had at that date published little in the manner which is here copied. Generally speaking these compositions, though not always decent, are extremely interesting as showing the versatility and sympathy of Pope's genius, and his rare command of style.

I.

CHAUCER.'

WOMEN ben full of Ragerie,'

Yet swinken not sans secresie.
Thilke Moral shall ye understond,

From Schoole-boy's Tale of fayre Irelond:
Which to the Fennes hath him betake,
To filch the gray Ducke fro the Lake.
Right then, there passen by the Way
His Aunt, and eke her Daughters tway.
Ducke in his Trowses hath he hent,

Not to be spied of Ladies gent.

"But ho! our Nephew," (crieth one)
"Ho!" quoth another, "Cozen John;"
And stoppen, and lough, and callen out,—
This sely Clerk full low doth lout :

1 In the "Miscellanies" the Imitation is entitled "A Tale of Chaucer, lately found in an old manuscript.”

5

10

2 From the Wife of Bath's Pro

logue:

And I was yonge and full of ragerie.

They asken that, and talken this,
"Lo here is Coz, and here is Miss."

But, as he glozeth with Speeches soote,
The Ducke sore tickleth his Erse-roote:
Fore-piece and buttons all-to-brest,
Forth thrust a white neck, and red crest.

1

"Te-he," cry'd Ladies; Clerke nought spake :
Miss star'd; and gray Ducke crieth Quake.
"O Moder, Moder," (quoth the daughter)
"Be thilke same thing Maids longer a'ter?
"Bette is to pyne on coals and chalke,
"Then trust on Mon, whose yerde can talke."

So Hudibras, Part 3, Canto 3, 133:
That laughed and te-he'd with derision.

15

20

25

SPENSER.'

THE ALLEY.

IN ev'ry Town, where Thamis rolls his Tyde, A narrow pass there is, with Houses low; Where ever and anon, the Stream is ey'd, And many a Boat soft sliding to and fro.

There oft are heard the notes of Infant Woe,

The short thick Sob, loud Scream, and shriller Squall:
How can ye, Mothers, vex your Children so?

Some play, some eat, some cack against the wall,
And as they crouchen low, for bread and butter call.

II.

And on the broken pavement, here and there,
Doth many a stinking sprat and herring lie;
A brandy and tobacco shop is near,

And hens, and dogs, and hogs are feeding by;
And here a sailor's jacket hangs to dry.
At ev'ry door are sun-burnt matrons seen,
Mending old nets to catch the scaly fry;

Now singing shrill, and scolding eft between;

10

15

Scolds answer foul-mouth'd scolds; bad neighbourhood I ween.

III.

The snappish cur (the passengers' annoy)
Close at my heel with yelping treble flies;

20

The whimp'ring girl, and hoarser-screaming boy,

Join to the yelping treble shrilling cries;
The scolding Quean to louder notes doth rise,

And her full pipes those shrilling cries confound;

25

To her full pipes the grunting hog replies; The grunting hogs alarm the neighbours round, And curs, girls, boys, and scolds, in the deep bass are drown'd.'

burlesque. Pope meant to turn the style of Spenser upside down; and as the Elizabethan poet excelled in describing abstractions with so much "circumstantial imagery "as to make them resemble paintings, so the eighteenth century satirist gives a mock elevation to the basest realities of life by gravely associating them

with allegorical figures, drawn with all the breadth and vigour of Hogarth, and exhibiting their deformity the more plainly under the transparently antique disguise in which they are presented.

1 A parody of "Faery Queen," Book ii., Canto 12, St. 71: