EPISTLE II. то A LADY. OF THE CHARACTERS OF WOMEN. [The lady to whom this Epistle is addressed, was the poet's cherished friend, Martha Blount, who had then arrived at the sober age of forty-five. Her poet was two years older. Prefixed to the first edition of the poem in 1735 was the following "ADVERTISEMENT. "The author being very sensible how particular a tenderness is due to the female sex, and, at the same time, how little they show to each other, declares, upon his honour, that no one character is drawn from the life in this Epistle. It would otherwise be most improperly inscribed to a lady who, of all the women he knows, is the last that would be entertained at the expense of another." The Epistle was rather coldly received by the public-probably because the author had thus disclaimed all personal allusions. Parts of it had also been published before in the Miscellanies by Pope and Swift, a circumstance which his censors of the Dunciad did not fail to notice. The author of A Letter to Mr. Pope, &c., 1735, asks, "How dare you impose upon the public at this rate? 'Tis sly, if not dishonest; 'tis a sign of an avaricious temper, and shows want of invention. You have sold them already three or four times." In another edition, published the same year, Pope inserted a note calculated to pique the curiosity of his readers, in which it was stated, that the want of connexion in the piece was caused by "the omission of certain examples and illustrations of the maxims laid down, which may put the reader in mind of what the author has said in his Imitation of Horace : "Publish the present age; but, where the text Is vice too high, reserve it for the next!'" Accordingly the characters of Philomedé, Atossa, and Chloe, were addedthough not published till after Pope's death-in the edition which, with the assistance of Warburton, he had prepared for the press. The Epistle was thus extended from 200 to 292 lines, the additions forming the most striking and brilliant passages in the poem.] NOTHING so true as what you once let fall: "Most women have no characters at all." Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, 5 10 Or dress'd in smiles of sweet Cecilia shine, With simpering angels, palms, and harps divine; 1 15 If folly grow romantic, I must paint it. Come, then, the colours and the ground prepare! 20 25 1 Attitudes in which several ladies affected to be drawn, and sometimes one lady in them all. The poet's politeness and complaisance to the sex is observable in this instance, amongst others, that whereas in the characters of men he has sometimes made use of real names, in the characters of women, always fictitious. 2 [This passage may have been suggested or heightened by recollection of the following lines-pointed out by Wakefield-in Cowley's Davideis: "This he with starry vapours spangles all, Took in their prime, ere they grow ripe and fall: Of a new rainbow ere it fret or fade, The choicest part took out, the scarf is made."] 3 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. 4 [In the first edition : "As Flavia's diamonds with her dirty smock; Or Flavia's self in glue (her rising task) And issuing flagrant to an evening mask." The word flagrant, though it occurs in all the early editions, must be a mis So morning insects, that in muck begun, Shine, buzz, and fly-blow in the setting sun. 30 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, 35 All eyes may see-a pimple on her nose. Sighs for the shades-"How charming is a park!" All bathed in tears" Oh odious, odious trees!" 40 Ladies, like variegated tulips, show, 'Tis to their changes half their charms we owe; Fine by defect, and delicately weak, 45 50 As when she touch'd the brink of all we hate. To make a wash, would hardly stew a child; 55 And made a widow happy, for a whim. Why then declare good-nature is her scorn, 60 print for fragrant. The substitution of Sappho for Flavia, is supposed to glance at Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (whose negligence in dress is often coarsely alluded to by Pope and Walpole), but it may have arisen simply from a desire on the part of Pope to avoid the repetition of the name of Flavia, applied to two different characters in the same poem. See verse 87.] 5 Contrarieties in the soft-natured. 6. Contrarieties in the cunning and artful. 7 In the whimsical. Why pique all mortals, yet affect a name? A fool to pleasure, yet a slave to fame: What then? let blood and body bear the fault, Flavia's a wit, has too much sense to pray;10 8 In the lewd and vicious. 9 In the MS.: "In whose mad brain the mix'd ideas roll, Of Tall-boy's breeches, and of Cæsar's soul." [Tall-boy was a character in a comedy called The Jovial Crew.] 10 Contrarieties in the witty and refined. Wise wretch! with pleasures too refined to please; No ass so meek, no ass so obstinate. Turn then from wits; and look on Simo's mate, Or her, that owns her faults, but never mends, 105 Or her, who laughs at hell, but (like her grace) 11 Cries, "Ah! how charming if there's no such place!" Of mirth and opium, ratifia and tears, 110 The daily anodyne, and nightly draught, To kill those foes to fair ones, time and thought. But what are these to great Atossa's mind ?12 115 120 11 [The Duchess of Montagu, Lady Mary Churchill, youngest daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, is said to have been the person here satirized by Pope.] 12 ["Atossa is a name mentioned in Herodotus, and said to be a follower of Sappho. She was daughter of Cyrus, and sister of Cambyses, and married Darius. She is also named in the Persae of Æschylus. She is said to be the first that wrote epistles. See Bentley on Phalaris, p. 385, and Dodwell against Bentley."-WARTON. Pope's Atossa was Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and the choice of the name was certainly felicitous; for Sarah was a great friend of the poet's Sappho, Lady Mary-was married to a great man -and was a great writer of epistles.] 13 In the MS. were these lines: Oppress'd with wealth, and wit, abundance sad! |