The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems
interested in the conquest of English ladies as of foreign enemies.
'8'
Tea was still in Queen Anne's day a luxury confined to the rich. It
cost, in 1710, from twelve to twenty-eight shillings per pound.
'9 The heroes and the nymphs':
the boating party which started for Hampton Court in Canto II.
'17'
Snuff-taking had just become fashionable at this time. The practice is
said to date from 1702, when an English admiral brought back fifty tons
of snuff found on board some Spanish ships which he had captured in Vigo
Bay.
In the 'Spectator' for August 8, 1711, a mock advertisement is inserted
professing to teach "the exercise of the snuff-box according to the most
fashionable airs and motions," and in the number for April 4, 1712,
Steele protests against "an impertinent custom the fine women have
lately fallen into of taking snuff."
'22 dine':
the usual dinner hour in Queen Anne's reign was about 3 P.M. Fashionable
people dined at 4, or later. This allowed the fashionable lady who rose
at noon time to do a little shopping and perform "the long labours of
the toilet."
'26 two ... Knights':
one of these was the baron, see l. 66.
'27 Ombre':
a game of cards invented in Spain. It takes its name from the Spanish
phrase originally used by the player who declared trumps: "Yo soy
l'hombre," 'i.e.' I am the man. It could be played by three, five, or
nine players, but the usual number was three as here. Each of these
received nine cards, and one of them named the trump and thus became the
"ombre," who played against the two others. If either of the ombre's
opponents took more tricks than the ombre, it was "codille" (l. 92).
This meant that the opponent took the stake and the ombre had to replace
it for the next hand.
A peculiar feature of ombre is the rank, or value, of the cards. The
three best cards were called "matadores," a Spanish word meaning
"killers." The first of these matadores was "Spadillio," the ace of
spades; the third was "Basto," the ace of clubs. The second, "Manillio,"
varied according to the suit. If a black suit were declared, Maniilio
was the two of trumps; if a red suit, Manillio was the seven of trumps.
It is worth noting also that the red aces were inferior to the face
cards of their suits except when a red suit was trump.
A brief analysis of the game played on this occasion will clear up the
passage and leave the reader free to admire the ingenuity with which
Pope has described the contest in terms of epic poetry.
Belinda declares spades trumps and so becomes the "ombre." She leads one
after the other the three matadores; and takes three tricks. She then
leads the next highest card, the king of spades, and wins a fourth
trick. Being out of trumps she now leads the king of clubs; but the
baron, who has actually held more spades than Belinda, trumps it with
the queen of spades. All the trumps are now exhausted and the baron's
long suit of diamonds is established. He takes the sixth, seventh, and
eighth tricks with the king, queen, and knave of diamonds, respectively.
Everything now depends on the last trick, since Belinda and the baron
each have taken four. The baron leads the ace of hearts and Belinda
takes it with the king, thus escaping "codille" and winning the stake.
'30 the sacred nine':
the nine Muses.
'41 succint':
tucked up.
'54 one Plebeian card':
one of Belinda's opponents is now out of trumps and discards a low card
on her lead.
'61 Pam':
a term applied to the knave of clubs which was always the highest card
in Lu, another popular game of that day.
'74 the globe':
the jeweled ball which forms one of the regalia of a monarch. The aspect
of playing cards has changed not a little since Pope's day, but the
globe is still to be seen on the king of clubs.
'79 Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts':
these are the losing cards played by Belinda and the third player on the
baron's winning diamonds.
'99'
Pope's old enemy, Dennis, objected to the impropriety of Belinda's
filling the sky with exulting shouts, and some modern critics have been
foolish enough to echo his objection. The whole scene is a masterpiece
of the mock-heroic. The game is a battle, the cards are warriors, and
Belinda's exclamations of pleasure at winning are in the same fashion
magnified into the cheers of a victorious army.
'100 long canals':
the canals which run through the splendid gardens of Hampton Court, laid
out by William III in the Dutch fashion.
'106 The berries crackle':
it would seem from this phrase that coffee was at that time roasted as
well as ground in the drawing-room. In a letter written shortly after
the date of this poem Pope describes Swift as roasting coffee "with his
own hands in an engine made for that purpose."
Coffee had been introduced into England about the middle of the
seventeenth century. In 1657 a barber who had opened one of the first
coffeehouses in London was indicted for "making and selling a sort of
liquor called coffee, as a great nuisance and prejudice of the
neighborhood." In Pope's time there were nearly three thousand
coffee-houses in London.
'The mill':
the coffee-mill.
'107 Altars of Japan':
japanned stands for the lamps.
'117-118'
The parenthesis in these lines contains a hit at the would-be omniscient
politicians who haunted the coffee-houses of Queen Anne's day, and who
professed their ability to see through all problems of state with their
eyes half-shut. Pope jestingly attributes their wisdom to the inspiring
power of coffee.
'122 Scylla':
the daughter of King Nisus in Grecian legends. Nisus had a purple hair
and so long as it was untouched he was unconquerable. Scylla fell in
love with one of his enemies and pulled out the hair while Nisus slept.
For this crime she was turned into a bird. The story is told in full in
Ovid's 'Metamorphoses', Bk. VIII.
'127 Clarissa':
it does not appear that Pope had any individual lady in mind. We do not
know, at least, that any lady instigated or aided Lord Petre to cut off
the lock.
'144 An earthly Lover':
we know nothing of any love affair of Miss Fermor's. Pope mentions the
"earthly lover" here to account for Ariel's desertion of Belinda, for he
could only protect her so long as she "rejected mankind"; compare Canto
I, ll. 67-68.
'147 Forfex':
a Latin word meaning scissors.
'152'
Pope borrowed this idea from Milton, who represents the wound inflicted
on Satan, by the Archangel Michael as healing immediately--
Th' ethereal substance closed
Not long divisible.
--'Paradise Lost', VI, 330-331.
'165 Atalantis': 'The New Atalantis',
a four-volume "cornucopia of scandal" involving almost every public
character of the day, was published by a Mrs. Manley in 1709. It was
very widely read. The Spectator found it, along with a key which
revealed the identities of its characters, in the lady's library already
mentioned ('Spectator', No. 37).
'166 the small pillow':
a richly decorated pillow which fashionable ladies used to prop them up
in bed when they received morning visits from gentlemen. Addison gives
an account of such a visit in the 'Spectator', No. 45.
'167 solemn days':
days of marriage or mourning, on which at this time formal calls were
paid.
'173 the labour of the gods':
the walls of Troy built by Apollo and Neptune for King Laomedon.
'178 unresisted':
irresistible.
CANTO IV
'8 Cynthia':
a fanciful name for any fashionable lady. No individual is meant.
'manteau':
a loose upper garment for women.
'16 Spleen':
the word is used here as a personification of melancholy, or low
spirits. It was not an uncommon affectation in England at this time. A
letter to the 'Spectator', No. 53, calls it "the distemper of the great
and the polite."
'17 the Gnome':
Umbriel, who in accordance with his nature now proceeds to stir up
trouble. Compare Canto I, ll. 63-64.
'20'
The bitter east wind which put every one into a bad humor was supposed
to be one of the main causes of the spleen.
'23 She':
the goddess of the spleen. Compare l. 79.
'84 Megrim':
headache.
'29 store':
a large supply.
'38 night-dress':
the modern dressing-gown. The line means that whenever a fashionable
beauty bought a new dressing-gown she pretended to be ill in order to
show her new possession to sympathetic friends who called on her.
'40 phantoms':
these are the visions, dreadful or delightful, of the disordered
imagination produced by spleen.
'43 snakes on rolling spires':
like the serpent which Milton describes in 'Paradise Lost', IX, 501-502,
"erect amidst his circling spires."
'46 angels in machines':
angels coming to help their votaries. The word "machine" here has an
old-fashioned technical sense. It was first used to describe the
apparatus by which a god was let down upon the stage of the Greek
theater. Since a god was only introduced at a critical moment to help
the distressed hero, the phrase, "deus ex machina," came to mean a god
who rendered aid. Pope transfers it here to angels.
'47 throngs':
Pope now describes the mad fancies of people so affected by spleen as to
imagine themselves transformed to inanimate objects.
'51 pipkin':
a little jar. Homer ('Iliad', XVIII, 373-377) tells how Vulcan had made
twenty wonderful tripods on living wheels that moved from place to place
of their own accord.
'52'
Pope in a note to this poem says that a lady of his time actually
imagined herself to be a goose-pie.
'56 A branch':
so AEneas bore a magic branch to protect him when he descended to the
infernal regions ('AEneid', VI, 136-143).
'Spleenwort':
a sort of fern which was once supposed to be a remedy against the spleen.
'58 the sex':
women.
'59 vapours':
a form of spleen to which women were supposed to be peculiarly liable,
something like our modern hysteria. It seems to have taken its name from
the fogs of England which were thought to cause it.
'65 a nymph':
Belinda, who had always been so light-hearted that she had never been a
victim of the spleen.
'89 Citron-waters':
a liqueur made by distilling brandy with the rind of citrons. It was a
fashionable drink for ladies at this time.
'71'
Made men suspicious of their wives.
'82 Ulysses':
Homer ('Odyssey', X, 1-25) tells how AEolus, the god of the winds, gave
Ulysses a wallet of oxhide in which all the winds that might oppose his
journey homeward were closely bound up.
'89 Thalestris':
the name of a warlike queen of the Amazons. Pope uses it here for a
friend of Belinda's, who excites her to revenge herself for the rape of
her lock. It is said that this friend was a certain Mrs. Morley.
'102 loads of lead':
curl papers used to be fastened with strips of lead.
'105 Honour':
female reputation.
'109 toast':
a slang term in Pope's day for a reigning beauty whose health was
regularly drunk by her admirers. Steele ('Tatler', No. 24) says that the
term had its rise from an accident that happened at Bath in the reign of
Charles II. A famous beauty was bathing there in public, and one of her
admirers filled a glass with the water in which she stood and drank her
health.
"There was in the place," says Steele "a gay fellow, half-fuddled, who
offered to jump in, and swore though he liked not the liquor, he would
have the Toast. He was opposed in his resolution; yet this whim gave
foundation to the present honor which is done to the lady we mention
in our liquors, who has ever since been called a TOAST."
To understand the point of the story one must know that it was an old
custom to put a bit of toast in hot drinks.