ON RECEIVING FROM THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LADY LADr FRANCES SHIRLEY A STANDISH AND TWO PENS. Yes, I beheld th’ Athenian Queen Descend in all her sober charms; “ And take (she said, and smil'd serene) " Take at this hand celestial arms : “ Secure the radiant weapons wield; “ This golden lance shall guard Desert, 5 And NOTES. The Lady Frances Shirley] A Lady whose great Merit Mr. Pope took a real pleasure in celebrating. WARBURTON. Ver. 1. Yes, I beheld, &c.] To enter into the spirit of this Address, it is necessary to premise, that the Poet was threatened with a profecution in the House of Lords, for the two foregoing Poems, the Epilogue to the Satires. On which, with great resentment against his enemies, for not being willing to distinguish be. tween Grave Epistle, bringing Vice to light, and licentious Libels, he began a third Dialogue, more severe and sublime than the first and second ; which being no secret, natters were foon compromised. His enemies agreed to drop the profecution, and he promised to leave the third Dialogue unfinished and suppressed. This affair occasioned this little beautiful poem, to which it alludes throughout, but more especially in the four last stanzas. WARBURTON e And if a Vice dares keep the field, " This steel shall stab it to the heart." Aw'd, on my bended knees I fell, Receiv'd the weapons of the sky; And dipt them in the fable Well, The Fount of Fame or Infamy. • What Well? what Weapon? (Flavia cries) A ftandish, steel and golden pen! “ It came from Bertrand's, not the skies; “ I gave it you to write again. 15 “ But, Friend, take heed whom you attack ; “ You'll bring a House (I mean of Peers) Red, Blue, and Green, nay white and black, 6 — and all about your ears. 20 6 You'd write as smooth again on glass, “ And run, on ivory, so glib, 6 As not to stick at fool or ass, “ Nor stop at Flattery or Fib. 25 “ Athenian Queen! and fober charms ! “ I tell ye, fool, there's nothing in't : 66 'Tis NOTES. VER. 15. Bertrand's,] A famous toy-shop at Bath. WARBURTON VER. 23. fool or afs,] The Duriciad. WARBURTON, VER. 24. Flatlery or Fib.] The Epiflle to Dr. Arbuthnot. WARBURTON. « 'Tis Venus, Venus gives these arms; "' In Dryden's Virgil see the print. 30 " Come, if you'll be a quiet foul, C6 That dares tell neither Truth nor Lies, « l’ll list you in the harmless roll " Of those that sing of these poor eyes.” NOTES. VR 27. these arms ;] Such toys being the usual prefents from lovers to their mistresses. WARBURTON. VER. 28. see the print. ] When she delivers Æneas a fuit of heavenly armour. WARBURTON. VER. 30. neither Truth nor Lies,] i. e. If you have neither the courage to write Satire, nor the application to attempt an Epic Poem.--He was then meditating on such a work. WAX3UKTON. First met my ravish'd fight, I gaz'd with strange delight." year 1762. At Clarendon Park, near Salisbury, the seat of her Sister's Son, Henry Bathurst esq., there is a full length painting, by Sir Godfrey Kneller; and if she was as handsome as she is there represented, Lord Chesterfield's passionate address might be easily accounted for. The writer of this note had looked at it for some time with admiration, without knowing whose portrait it was, when the hospitable and benevolent Owner of the manfion said, “ That is the celebrated Fanny blooming fair." Her fifter, mar. ried to Mr. Bathurst's father, is painted at full length in the same room. Lady Lady Frances is dreffed in a Turkish habit, probably introduced by Lady M. W. Montagu to England at the time, as the lived at Twickenham. The dress is beautiful, and gives great effect to the attitude and countenance. The sketch of Earl Ferrers' House and Gardens is in the back ground. I fhall here present the Reader with a valuable Literary Curio. sity, a Fragment of an unpublished Satire of Pope, intitled, One THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND FORTY; communicated to me by the kindness of the learned and worthy Dr. Wilson, formerly fellow and librarian of Trinity College, Dublin, who (peaks of the Fragment in the following terms: « This Poem I transcribed froni a rough draft in Pope's own hand. He left many blanks for fear of the Argus Eye of those who, if they cannot find, can fabricate treason; yet, spite of his precaution, it fell into the hands of his enemies. To the hiero. glyphics, there are direct allusions, I think in some of the notes on the Dunciad. It was lent me by a grandson of Lord Cheswynd; an intimate friend of the famous Lord Bolingbroke, who gratified his curiosity by a boxful of the rubbish and sweepings of Pope's ftudy, whose executor he was, in conjunction with Lord Marchmont." WARTON. |
