So morning insects, that in muck begun,

Shine, buzz, and fly-blow in the setting sun.

How soft is Silia! fearful to offend;1

The frail one's advocate, the weak one's friend.

To her, Calista proved her conduct nice;
And good Simplicius asks of her advice.

Sudden, she storms! she raves! You tip the wink,
But spare your censure-Silia does not drink.

All eyes may see from what the change arose,
All eyes may see- -a pimple on her nose.

Papillia, wedded to her amorous spark,
Sighs for the shades-" How charming is a park!"
A park is purchased, but the fair he sees

All bathed in tears.-"Oh odious, odious trees!"" Ladies, like variegated tulips, show;

'Tis to their changes half their charms we owe;
Fine by defect, and delicately weak,

Their happy spots the nice admirer take."
'Twas thus Calypso once each heart alarmed,'
Awed without virtue, without beauty charmed;

Her tongue bewitched as oddly as her eyes,
Less wit than mimic, more a wit than wise;
Strange graces still, and stranger flights she had,
Was just not ugly, and was just not mad;
Yet ne'er so sure our passion to create,

As when she touched the brink of all we hate.
Narcissa's nature, tolerably mild,'

To make a wash, would hardly stew a child;
Has ev'n been proved to grant a lover's prayer,
And paid a tradesman once, to make him stare;
Gave alms at Easter, in a Christian trim,
And made a widow happy, for a whim.
Why then declare good-nature is her scorn,"
When 'tis by that alone she can be borne ?
Why pique all mortals, yet affect a name?
A fool to pleasure, yet a slave to fame:
Now deep in Taylor and the Book of Martyrs,'
Now drinking citron with his Grace and Chartres:
Now conscience chills her, and now passion burns;

And atheism and religion take their turns;
A very heathen in the carnal part,

Yet still a sad, good Christian at her heart."

Sylvia my heart in wondrous wise alarmed, Awed without sense, and without beauty charmed;

But some odd graces and fine flights she
had,

Was just not ugly, and was just not mad!
Her tongue still ran on credit from her eyes,
More pert than witty, more a wit than
wise.

1 Contrarieties in the whimsical.POPE

2 Narcissa's character is made up of the remains of Sylvia :

Good nature, she declared it, was her scorn,
Though 'twas by that alone she could be
borne.

Affronting all, yet fond of a good name;
A fool to pleasure, and a slave to fame :
Now coy, and studious in no point to fall,
Now all agog for D- -y at a ball.

Now deep in Taylor and the Book of
Martyrs,

Now drinking citron with his Grand
Ch-

*

Frail feverish sex! their Fit now chills and
burns;

Atheism and superstition rule by turns;
And the mere heathen, in her carnal part,
Is still a sad good Christian at her heart.

3 Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living and Holy Dying, and Fox's Book of Martyrs.

4 In early editions, Ch * * "His Grace" was probably the Duke of Wharton, whose extravagances were notorious about the time when Sylvia was written.

5 I have been informed on good authority that this character was

1

See Sin in state, majestically drunk ;'
Proud as a peeress, prouder as a punk;
Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside,
A teeming mistress, but a barren bride.'

What then? let blood and body bear the fault,
Her head's untouched, that noble seat of thought:
Such this day's doctrine-in another fit
She sins with poets through pure love of wit.
What has not fired her bosom or her brain?
Cæsar and Tall-boy, Charles and Charlemagne."

designed for the Duchess of Hamilton.

-WARTON.

Warton does not notice the fact that the character had been originally published in another form, and that part of this original is here transferred to the character of Calypso. There is no reason to suppose that either Sylvia, Calypso, or Narcissa, were meant for exact portraits, though traits and incidents of reality probably formed the basis of the poetical creation. Pope was fond of bringing together materials from all quarters, and he no doubt saw that his imaginary Sylvia could be easily divided into two. 1 Contrarieties in the lewd and vicious.-POPE.

Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough, eldest daughter of the first Duke, and Duchess in her own right. She erected a monument to Congreve in Westminster, with an inscription written by herself:-"Mr. William Congreve died Jan. the 19th, 1728, aged fifty-six, and was buried near this place; to whose most valuable memory this monument is set up by Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough, as a mark how deeply she remembers the happiness and honour she enjoyed in the sincere friendship of so worthy and honest a man, whose virtue, candour, and wit, gained him the love and esteem of the present age, and whose writings will be the admiration of the

70

75

future." Congreve had left her the larger part of his fortune, amounting to about £10,000. Of this, she spent £7000 on a diamond necklace. She married the second Earl of Godolphin, and died 30th October, 1733. Pope seems to allude to her in his Character of Marlborough: "Madness and Lust," said God, "be you his heirs!" (See Appendix III.)

This passage, ver. 69 to 86, was not published in the early editions.

2 So Dryden, Essay on Satire :
A teeming widow but a barren wife.

The Duchess had children; one son and two daughters. Pope appears to imply that they were not the children of Lord Godolphin.

3 In the MS.:

In whose mad brain the mixed ideas roll,
Of Tall-boy's breeches, and of Cæsar's soul.

Tall-boy is introduced as a type of
low comedy. Colley Cibber says in
his Life, chapter vi., "Montfort in
his youth had acted low humour
with great success, even down to
Tallboy in the Jovial Crew.""
This play was written by Richard
Brome, and produced in 1652.
was altered to a comic opera by
the addition of several songs by
Roome, Concanen, and Sir William
Yonge, and brought on the stage in
1731, when Pope no doubt witnessed
the performance.

It

As Helluo, late dictator of the feast,
The nose of haut-goût,' and the tip of taste,
Critiqued your wine, and analysed your meat,
Yet on plain pudding deigned at home to eat :
So Philomedé, lecturing all mankind'
On the soft passion, and the taste refined,
The address, the delicacy-stoops at once,
And makes her hearty meal upon a dunce.

Flavia's a wit, has too much sense to pray;"

To toast our wants and wishes is her way;
Nor asks of God, but of her stars, to give
The mighty blessing, "While we live, to live."
Then all for death, that opiate of the soul!
Lucretia's dagger, Rosamonda's bowl.*
Say, what can cause such impotence of mind?
A spark too fickle, or a spouse too kind.

1 Haut-goût. Johnson defines this word to mean "anything with a strong relish or strong scent, as overkept venison or game."

2 Designed for the Duchess 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.-WARTON.

As has been already pointed out, the character of Philomede was not inserted in the first edition of the Essay to which the declaration in question was prefixed. Mr. Croker doubts whether Philomede was meant for the young Duchess of Marlborough. He says: "Some points may be like, but surely not the making 'her hearty meal upon a dunce.' No one could think Congreve a dunce.

But, after all, is it quite clear that there were not two persons meantthe proud peeress and Philomede? A new line at 'as Helluo,' would divide the two characters, which seem to me somewhat incongruous. The first is drunken, profligate, intriguing with all mankind from wits to footmen, while Philomede may have done no worse than marry a dunce." This theory, though ingenious, is inconsistent with the fact that Pope himself, in his notes, makes no fresh division, but proceeds from "contrarieties in the lewd and vicious," to "contrarieties in the witty and refined." Johnson observes: "What was said of Philomede was true of Prior." 3 Contrarieties in the witty and refined.-POPE.

4 Lord Hailes wrote to Malone (Malone's Life by Prior, p. 253): "Rosamond's bowl I think respects Lady Lechmere of the Carlisle family, of whom you will see enough on a tablet on Westminster Abbey." And

Wise wretch!' with pleasures too refined to please;
With too much spirit to be e'er at ease;

With too much quickness ever to be taught;
With too much thinking to have common thought;
You purchase pain with all that joy can give,
And die of nothing, but a rage to live.'

Turn then from wits; and look on Simo's mate,

No ass so meek, no ass so obstinate.

Or her, that owns her faults, but never mends,
Because she's honest, and the best of friends.
Or her, whose life the church and scandal share,
For ever in a passion, or a prayer.

Or her, who laughs at hell, but (like her Grace)
Cries, "Ah! how charming if there's no such place!
Or who in sweet vicissitude appears

Of mirth and opium, ratifia and tears,

The daily anodyne, and nightly draught,

To kill those foes to fair ones, time and thought.

Lady M. W. Montagu says in a letter to the Countess of Mar (1725): "The melancholy catastrophe of poor Lady Lechmere is too extraordinary not to attract the attention of everybody. After having played away her reputation and fortune, she has poisoned herself." As Lady Lechmere did not die till 1739, this can only refer to an attempt at suicide, such as that glanced at in the text.

1 In edition of 1743, "wise fool" altered back to "wise wretch," perhaps on account of "the wisest fool much time hath ever made," in the character of Atossa.

2 The antithesis of these verses resembles that in the character of the Duke of Wharton. Moral Essay, i. ver. 198 to 205.

This couplet was not in the first edition.

Shall pleasures of a short duration chain
A lady's soul in everlasting pain?

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100

105

110

Will the great Author us poor worms
destroy

For now and then a sip of transient joy?
No; he's for ever in a smiling mood,
He's like themselves, or how could he be
good?-Young, Sat. V.

The person Pope intended to ridicule was the Duchess of Montague.WARTON.

Pope alluded no doubt to some innocent and jocular phrase of a Duchess, and possibly of the Duchess of Montague; but if he meant generally to ridicule her, he was very inconsistent, for she was one of the persons whom he the most admired. He painted her portrait two or three times, and paid her a compliment worthy of a better place than he gave it, when he called her "angel, goddess, Montague."-CROKER. The line referred to is in the Sober Advice from Horace.