Ver. 45. xi. P. [vv. 794-5.] Ver. 119. Warburton. Ver. 35. So spoke the Dame.] It is a verse Ver. 53. The pow'rs gave ear.] Virg. Æn. frequently repeated in Homer after any speech, —‘clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax.' Ovid. Ver. 121. sion to the shield of Achilles, With his last band, and pour'd the Ocean round: Ver. 101. CANTO III. 'Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futuræ, tum Intactum Pallanta; et cum spolia ista diemque Ver. 163, 170. Ver. 64. Those eyes are made so killing.] The words of a Song in the Opera of Camilla. 'Flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite crinem Ovid. P. [Metam. lib. xv. vv. 849-50.] 'Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis ama- Stella micat.' bit, ELEGY TO THE MEMORY OF AN UNFORTUNATE LADY1. [This Elegy was first published in 1717, but doubtless written earlier. After endless enquiries and conjectures as to the 'Unfortunate Lady' had failed in fixing her identity, it was pointed out that in certain letters of Pope, described by him in the table of contents as relating to an Unfortunate Lady,' we are introduced to a Mrs W. who had endured a series of hardships and misfortunes. This Mrs W. has been proved to have been a Mrs Weston (by birth a Miss Gage, the sister of the first Viscount Gage and of the 'modest Gage' of Moral Essays, Ep. III. v. 128), who was soon after her marriage separated from her husband. Her case was warmly taken up by Pope, by whose aid the quarrel was adjusted, though with small thanks to him for interposing. 'Buckingham's lines,' says Carruthers, who discusses the question at length in his Life of Pope, Ch. II., suggested the outline of the picture, Mrs Weston's misfortunes and the poet's admiration of her gave it life and warmth, and imagination did the rest. But even if the situation upon which the poem is based were real instead of fictitious, Dr Johnson's accusation against it as attempting a defence of suicide would remain unwarranted. execution this elegy ranks with Pope's most consummate efforts, in pathetic power it stands almost alone among his works.] WHAT beck'ning ghost, along the moon-light shade 'Tis she!-but why that bleeding bosom gor'd, Oh ever beauteous, ever friendly! tell, Is it, in heav'n, a crime to love too well? To act a Lover's or a Roman's part? Is there no bright reversion in the sky, Why bade ye else, ye Pow'rs! her soul aspire See the Duke of Buckingham's verses to a Lady designing to retire into a Monastery compared with Mr Pope's Letters to several Ladies, p. 206. She seems to be the same person whose unfortunate death is the subject of this poem. P. If this note was written by Pope (of which we have strong doubts), it must have been written purely for mystification and deception. The In 10 Duke's verses were first published in Tonson's Miscellany for 1709, when he was in his sixtieth year and married to his third wife! They were, most likely, a much earlier production, and this renders it in the highest degree improbable that the same lady should have also been commemorated by Pope, who was thirty-seven years younger than his friend. Carruthers. Dim lights of life, that burn a length of years And sep'rate from their kindred dregs below; But thou, false guardian of a charge too good, Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall; Lo these were they, whose souls the Furies steel'd, The gaze of fools, and pageant of a day! So perish all, whose breast ne'er learn'd to glow Thy fate unpity'd, and thy rites unpaid? Pleas'd thy pale ghost, or grac'd thy mournful bier. To midnight dances, and the public show? 20 30 40 50 60 1 [Compare Byron's Childe Harold, canto iv. stanza cii.] 2 [It has been fairly asked whether the poet is not in these lines guilty of an anticlimax.] While Angels with their silver wings o'ershade So peaceful rests, without a stone, a name, The Muse forgot, and thou be lov'd no more! 70 80 PROLOGUE ΤΟ MR ADDISON'S TRAGEDY OF CATO. [Addison's Cato which the author had kept by him in an unfinished state for seven years was produced at Drury Lane on April 14th, 1713; eleven days after the news had reached London of the definitive conclusion of the Peace of Utrecht. The Whigs attempted to identify Cato with the faithful remnant of their own party which still upheld the glories and liberties of the past; while the Tories sagaciously refused to recognise the analogy, and vied with the Whigs in applauding the play, Bolingbroke presenting Booth, who performed Cato, with fifty guineas ‘in acknowledgment for defending the cause of liberty so well against a perpetual dictator.' Addison disclaimed all political design, and waived the profits of the performances of the tragedy which continued for a month in London, and then recommenced at Oxford. See Cibber's account in the Apology. The epilogue was written by Garth, who dwelt chiefly on those amatory episodes in the play, which Schlegel has so successfully ridiculed. As to the relations between Pope and Addison see Introductory Memoir.] To wake the soul by tender strokes of art, In pitying Love, we but our weakness show, What bosom beats not in his Country's cause? Who sees him act, but envies ev'ry deed? Who hears him groan, and does not wish to bleed? The spoils of nations, and the pomp of wars, Show'd Rome her Cato's figure drawn in state; Rome learning arts from Greece, whom she subdu'd; On French translation, and Italian song. Dare to have sense yourselves; assert the stage, 20 30 40 Be justly warm'd with your own native rage: But what with pleasure] This alludes to a famous passage of Seneca, which Mr. Addison afterwards used as a motto to his play, when it was printed. Warburton. [It is taken from Sen. de Divin. Prov. and runs as follows: 'Ecce spectaculum dignum, ad quod respiciat, intentus operi suo, Deus! Ecce par Deo dignum, vir fortis cum malâ fortunâ compositus! Non video, inquam, quid habeat in terris Jupiter pulchrius, si convertere animum velit, quam ut spectet Catonem, jam paribus non semel fractis, nihilominus inter ruinas publicas erectum.'] Britons, attend] Mr. Pope had written it arise, in the spirit of Poetry and Liberty; but Mr. Addison frighten'd at so daring an expression, which, he thought, squinted at rebellion, would have it alter'd, in the spirit of Prose and Politics, to attend. Warburton. 3 As Cato's self, etc.] This alludes to the famous story of his going into the Theatre, and immediately coming out again, related by Martial. Warburton. [Martial. Lib. 1. Epigr. 1.] |