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It will be in vain to deny that I have fome regard for this piece, fince I dedicate it to you; yet you may bear me witness, it was intended only to divert a few young ladies, who have good fenfe and good humour enough to laugh not only at their fex's little unguarded follies, but at their own. But as it was communicated with the air of a fecret, it foon found its way into the world. An imperfect copy having been offered to a bookfeller, you had the good nature, for my fake, to confent to the publication of one more correct: This I was forced to, before I had executed half my defign, for the machinery was entirely wanting to complete it. The machinery, Madam, is a term invented by the critics, to fignify that part which the deities, angels, or dæmons, are made to act in a poem: For the ancient poets are in one respect like many modern ladies; let an action be never fo trivial in itself, they always make it appear of the utmost importance. These machines I determined to raife on a very new and odd foundation, the Roficrusian doctrine of fpirits.

I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a lady; but it is fo much the concern of a poet to have his works understood, and particularly by your fex, that you must give me leave to explain two or three difficult terms.

The Roficrufians are a people I must bring you acquainted with. The beft account I know of then is in a French book called Le Comto de Ga

balis, which, both in its title and fize, is fo like novel, that many of the fair fex have read it for one by mistake. According to these gentlemen, the four elements are inhabited by spirits, which they call fylphs, gnomes, nymphs, and falamanders. The gnomes, or dæmons of earth, delight in mifchief; but the fylphs, whofe habitation is in the air, are the beft-conditioned creatures imaginable; for they fay, any mortals may enjoy the most intimate familiarities with these gentle spirits, upon a condition very eafy to all true adepts, an inviolate prefervation of chastity.

As to the following cantos, all the paffages of them are as fabulous as the vifion at the beginning, or the transformation at the end (except the lofs of your hair, which I always mention with reverence). The human perfons are as fictitious as the airy ones; and the character of Belinda, as it is now managed, refembles you in nothing but in beauty.

If this poem had as many graces as there are in your perfon, or in your mind, yet I could never hope it should pass through the world half fo uncenfured as you have done. But let its fortune be what it will, mine is happy enough, to have given me this occafion of alluring you that I am, with the trueft esteem,

Madam,

Your moft obedient, bumble fervant,
A. POPE

i

THE RAPE OF THE LOCK.

CANTO I.

WHAT dire offence from amorous caufes fprings,
What mighty contests rife from trivial things,
I fing-this verfe to Caryl, mufe is due:
This ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view :
Slight is the fubject, but not fo the praise,
If the infpire, and he approve my lays.

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Say what ftrange motive, goddefs! could compel
A well-bred lord t' affault a gentle belle?
O fay what ftranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?
In tasks fo bold, can little men engage?
And in foft befoms dwells fuch mighty rage?
Sol through white curtains fhot a timorous ray,
And ope'd thofe eyes that muft eclipfe the day:
Now lap-dogs give themfelves the rouzing shake,
And fleepless lovers, juft at twelve, awake:
Thrice rung the bell, the flipper knock'd the ground,
And the prefs'd watch return'd a filver found.
Belinda ftill her downy pillow preft,
Her guardian fylph prolong'd the balmy reft: 30
'Twas he had fummon'd to her filent bed
The morning dream that hover'd o'er her head.
A youth more glittering than a birth-night beau
(That ev'n in flumber caus'd her cheek to glow)
Seem'd to her ear his winning lips to lay,
And thus in whispers faid, or feem'd to say:
Faireft of mortals, thou distinguish'd care
Of thoufand bright inhabitants of air!
If e'er one vifion touch thy infant thought,

Of airy elves by moonlight shadows seen,
The filver token, and the circled green,
Or virgins vifited by angel-powers,
With golden crowns and wreaths of heavenly
flowers;

40

Hear and believe thy own importance know,
Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.
Some fecret truths, from learned pride conceal'd,
To maids alone and children are reveal'd:
What though no credit doubting wits may give?
The fair and innocent shall still believe.
Know then, unnumber'd spirits round thee fly,
The light militia of the lower fky:
Thefe, though unfeen, are ever on the wing,
Hang o'er the box, and hover round the ring.
Think what an equipage thou hast in air.
And view with fcorn two pages and a chair.
As now your own, our beings were of old,
And once enclos'd in woman's beauteous mould;
Thence, by a foft tranfition, we repair
From earthly vehicles to thefe of air.
Think not, when women's tranfient breath 19
fled,

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That all her vanities at once are dead.
Succeeding vanities fhe ftill regards,
And though the plays no more, o'erlooks the cards.
Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive,
And love of ombre, after death furvive,
For when the fair in all their pride expire,
To their first elements their fouls retire:
The fprites of fiery termagants in flame

Of all the nurfe and all the priest have taught; 30 Mount up, and take a falamander's name,

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 11, 12. It was in the first editions:
And dwells fuch rage in softest bofoms then,
And lodge fuch daring fouls in little men?

Ver. 13, &c. ftood thus in the first edition:
Sol through white curtains did his beams difplay,
And ope'd thofe eyes which brighter fhone than
they;

Shock just had given himself the rouzing shake,
And nymphs prepar'd their chocolate to take;
Thrice the wrought flipper knock'd against the
ground,

And ftriking watches the tenth hour refound.

Ver. 19. Belinda ftill, &c.] All the verfes from hence to the end of this canto were added afterwards.

Soft yielding minds to water glide away,
And fip, with nymphs, their elemental tea.
The graver prude finks downward to a gnome,
In fearch of mischief still on earth to roam.
The light coquettes in fylphs aloft repair,
And fport and flutter in the fields of air.

60

Know farther yet; whoever fair and chafte
Rejects mankind, is by fome fylph embrac'd:
For, fpirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease
Affume what fexes and what shape they please. 70.
What guards the purity of melting maids,
In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades,
Safe from the treacherous friends, the daring spark,
The glance by day, the whisper in the dark,
When kind occafion prompts their warm defires,
When music foftens, and when dancing fires?
'Tis but their fylph, the wife celeftials know,
Though honour is the word with men below,

Some nymphs there are, too conscious of their | Repairs her fmiles, awakens every grace, face,

80

For life predeftin'd to the gnomes embrace.
Thefe fwell their profpects, and exalt their pride,
When offers are difdain'd, and love deny'd:
Then gay ideas crowd the vacant brain,
While peers, and dukes, and all theirfweeping train,
And garters, stars, and coronets appear,
And in foft founds, your Grace falutes their ear.
'Tis thefe that early taint the female foul,
Inftru&t the eyes of young coquettes to roll,
Teach infant cheeks a bidden blufh to know,
And little hearts to flutter at a beau.

90

Oft, when the world imagine women ftray, The fylphs through myftic mazes guide their way, Through all the giddy circle they pursue, And old impertinence expel by new, What tender maid but must a victim fall To one man's treat, but for another's ball? When Florio fpeaks, what virgin could withstand, If gentle Damon did not squeeze her hand? With varying vanities, from every part, They shift the moving toy-fhop of their heart; 100 Where wigs with wigs, with fword-knots fwordknots strive,

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Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive.
This erring mortals levity may call;
Oh, blind to truth the fylphs contrive it all.
Of these am I, who thy protection claim,
A watchfal fprite, and Ariel is my name.
Late, as I rang'd the crystal wilds of air,
In the clear mirror of thy ruling star
I faw, alas! fome dread event impend,
Ere to the main this morning fun descend;
But heaven reveals not what, or how, or where:
Warn'd by the fylph, oh pious maid, beware!
This to difclofe is all thy guardian can;
Beware of all, but most beware of man!

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He faid; when Shock, who thought she slept too long,

Leap'd up, and wak'd his mistress with his tongue,
'Twas then, Belinda, if report say true,
Thy eyes first open'd on a billet doux ;
Wounds, charms, and ardours, were no fooner read,
But all the vifion vanish'd fro.n thy head,

rears;

120

130

And now, unveil'd, the toilet stands difplay'd, Each filver vafe in myftic order laid. First, rob'd in white, the nymph intent adores, With head uncover'd, the cofmetic powers. A heavenly image in the glafs appears, To that the bends, to that her eyes fhe Th' inferior priestess, at her altar fide, Trembling, begins the facred rites of pride. Unnumber'd treasures ope at once, and here The various offerings of the world appear; From each the nicely culls with curious toil, And decks the goddess with the glittering spoil. This cafket India's glowing gems unlocks, And all Arabia breathes from yonder box. The tortoise here and elephant unite, Transform'd to combs, the speckled and the white. Here files of pins extend their shining rows, Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux. Now awful beauty puts on all its arms; The fair each moment rises in her charms, 140

And calls forth all the wonders of her face:
Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,
And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.
The bufy fylphs furround their darling care;
These fet the head, and those divide the hair;
Some fold the fleeve, whilft others plait the gown;
And Betty's prais'd for labours not her own.

CANTO II.

Nor with more glories in th' ethereal plain,
The fun first rifes o'er the purpled main,
Than, iffuing forth, the rival of his beams
Launch'd on the bofom of the filver'd Thames.
Fair nymphs and well-drefs'd youths around her
fhone,

ΤΟ

But every eye was fix'd on her alone.
On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore,
Which Jews might kifs, and Infidels adore.
Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose,
Quick as her eyes, and as unfix'd as those :
Favours to none, to all fhe fmiles extends;
Oft the rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the fun, her eyes the gazers strike,
And, like the fun, they shine on all alike.
Yet graceful eafe, and fweetnefs void of pride,
Might hide her faults, if belles had faults to hide:
If to her fhare fome female errors fall,
Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.

This nymph, to the deftruction of mankind, Nourish'd two locks, which graceful hung be

hind

In equal curls, and well confpir'd to deck
Love in thefe labyrinths his flaves detains,
With fhining ringlets the fmooth ivory neck.
With hairy fprings we the birds betray;
And mighty hearts are held in flender chains.
Slight lines of hair furprise the finny prey;
Fair treffes man's imperial race infnare,
And beauty draws us with a fingle hair.

20

Th' adventurous baron the bright locks admir'd;

He faw, he wish'd, and to the prize afpir'd.
Refolv'd to win, he meditates the way,
By force to ravish, or by fraud betray;
For when fuccefs a lovers toil attends,
Few afk, if fraud or force attain'd his ends.
For this, ere Phoebus rofe, he had implor'd
Propitious heav'n, and every power ador'd;
But chiefly Love-to Love an altar built,
Of twelve vaft French romances neatly gilt.
There lay three garters, half a pair of gloves,
And all the trophies of his former loves.

VARIATIONS.

30

40

Ver. 4. Launch'd on the bofom] From hence the poem continues, in the first edition to ver. 46. The reft the winds difpers'd in empty air; all after, to the end of this canto, being additional.

With tender billet-doux he lights the pyre,

And breathes three amorous fighs to raise the fire.
Then proftrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes
Soon to obtain, and long poffefs the prize:
The powers gave ear, and granted halt his prayer;
The reft, the winds difpers'd in empty air.

50

But now fecure the painted veffel glides,
The fun-beams trembling on the floating tides:
While melting music steals upon the sky,
And foften'd founds along the waters die;
Smooth flow the waves, the zephers gently play,
Belinda fmil'd, and all the world was gay,
All but the fylph-with careful thoughts oppre,
Th' impending wo fat heavy on his breast.
He fummons ftrait his denizens of air;
The lucid fquadrons round the fails repair;
Soft o'er the shroud aërial whispers breathe,
That seem'd but zephyrs to the train beneath.
Some to the fun their infect wings unfold,
Waft on the breeze, or fink in clouds of gold;
Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight,
Their fluid bodies half diffolv'd in light.
Loose to the wind their airy garments flew,
Thin glittering textures of the filmy dey,
Dipp'd in the richest tinctures of the skies,
Where light difports in ever-mingling dyes,
While every beam new tranfient colours flings,
Colours that change whene'er they wave their
wings.

Amid the circle on the gilded maft,
Superior by the head was Ariel plac'd ;
His purple pinions opening to the fun,
He rais'd his azure wand and thus begun :

Some dire disaster, or by force, or flight;
But what, or where, the fates have wrapp'd in
night.

Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law,
Or fome frail China-jar receive a flaw;
Or ftain her honour, or her new brocade;
Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade;
Or lofe her heart, or necklace at a ball;

Or whether Heaven has deem'd that Shock muft
fall.
IIO
Hafte then, ye fpirits! to your charge repair :
The fluttering fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we confign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Crifpiffa, tend her favourite Lock;
Ariel himself fhall be the guard of Shock.

To fifty chofen fylphs, of special note,
We trust th' important charge, the petticoat:
Oft have we known that feven-fold fence to fail,
60 Though stiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of

70

Ye fylphs and fylphids, to your chief give.ear;
Fays, fairies, genii, elves, and dæmons, hear!
Ye know the spheres, and various tasks affign'd
By laws eternal to th' aërial kind.
Some in the fields of pureft æther play,
And bask and whiten in the blaze of day;
Some guide the course of wondering orbs on
high,

Or roll the planets through the boundless sky; 80
Some, lefs refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light
Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night,
Or fuck the mifts in groffer air below,
Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,
Or brew fierce tempefts on the wintery main,
Or o'er the glebe distil the kindly rain.
Others on earth o'er human race prefide,
Watch all their ways, and all their actions guide:
Of thefe the chief the care of nations own,
And guard with arms divine the British throne. 90
Our humbler province is to tend the fair,
Not a lefs pleafing, though lefs glorious care;
To fave the powder from too rude a gale,
Nor let th' imprison'd effences exhale;
To draw fresh colours from the vernal flowers;
To fteal from rainbows, ere they drop in fhowers,
A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs,
Affift their blufhes, and infpire their airs;
Nay oft, in dreams, invention we bestow,
To change a flounce, or add a furbelow.

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This day, black omens threat the brightest fair

'That e'er deferv'd a watchful fpirits's care;

whale.

Form a ftrong line about the filver bound,
And guard the wide circumference around.

120

Whatever spirit, carclefs of his charge,
His poft neglects, or leaves the fair at large,
Shall feel sharp vengeance foon o'ertake his fins,
Be ftopp'd in vials, or tranfix'd with pins;
Or plung'd in lakes of bitter washes lie,
Or wedg'd whole ages in a bodkin's eye:
Gums and pomatums fhall his flight restrain,
While clogg'd he beats his filken wings in
vain;
130

Or alum ftyptics with contracting power
Shrink his thin effence like a fhrivel'd flower:
Or, as ixion fix'd, the wretch shall feel
The giddy motion of the whirling mill,
In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow,
And tremble at the fea that froths below!

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Hither the heroes and the nymphs refort,
To tafte awhile the pleasures of a court;
In various talk th' inftructive hours they past.
Who gave the ball, or paid the visit laft';
One fpeaks the glory of the British queen,
And one describes a charming Indian fcreen;
A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes;
At every word a reputation dies.

Snuff, or the fan, fupply each pause of chat,
With finging, laughing, ogling, and all that.

Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day,
The fun bliquely fboots his burning ray;
The hungry judges foon the fentence fign,
And wretches hang, that jurymen may dine;
The merchant from th' Exchange returns
peace,

And the long labours of the toilet cease.
Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites,
Burns to encouuter two adventurous knights,
At Ombre fingly to decide their doom;

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20

in

And fwells her breaft with conquefts yet to

come.

Strait the three bands prepare in arms to join,
Each band the number of the facred nine,
Soon as the spreads her hand, th' aërial guard
Defcend, and fit on each important card:
First Ariel perch'd upon a Matadore,
Then each according to the rank they bore:
For fylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race,
Are, as when wonen, wondrous fond of place.
Behold, four Kings in majefty rever'd,
With hoary wifkers and a forky beard;
And four fair Queens, whole hands fuftain
flower,

30

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Th' expreffive emblem of their fofter power;
Four Knaves in garbs fuccinct, a trusty band;
Caps on their heads, and halberts in their hand;
And party-coloured troops, a fhining train,
Drawn forth to combat on the velvet plain.
The skilful nymph reviews her force with

care:

Let Spades be trumps! fhe faid, and trumps they

were.

Now move to war her fable Matadores, In fhow like leaders of the swarthy Moors. Spadillio firft, unconquerable Lord!

Led off two captive trumps, and fwept
board.

As many more Manillio forc'd to yield,
And march'd a victor from the verdant field.
Him Bato follow'd, but his fate more hard
Gain'd but one trump, and one Plebeian card.
With his broad fabre next, a chief in years,
The hoary Majefty of Spades appears,

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 11, 12 Originally in the first edition,
In various talk the cheerful hours they past,
Of, who was bit, or who capotted last.

50

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Ev'n mighty Pam, that Kings and Queens o'er-
threw,

And mow'd down armies in the fights of Lu,
Sad chance of war now deftitute of aid,
Falls undiîtinguish'd by the victor Spade!

Thus far both armies to Belinda yield;
Now to the Baron fate inclines the field.
His warlike Amazon her host invades,
Th' imperial confort of the crown of Spades.
The Club's black tyrant first her victim dy'd,
Spite of his haughty mien, and barbarous pride: 70
What boots the regal circle on his head.
His giant limbs in ftate unwieldy spread;
That long behind he trails his pompous robe,
And, of all monarchs, only grafps the globe?

The Baron now his Diamonds pours apace;
Th' embroider'd King who shows but half his
face,

And his refulgent Queen with powers combin'd,
Of broken troops an eafy conqueft find.
Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild diforder feen,
With throngs promifcuous ftrow the level green. 80
Thus when difpers'd a routed army runs,
Of Afia's troops, and Afric's fable fons,
With like confufion different nations fly,
Of various habit, and of various dye,
The pierc'd battalions difunited fall,

In heaps on heaps; one fate o'ewhelms them all.
The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts,
And wins (oh fhameful chance!) the Queen of

Hearts.

At this, the blood the virgin's face forfook,
A livid paleness spreads o'er all her look;
She fees, and trembles at th' approaching ill,
Just in the jaws of ruin, and codille.

And now (as oft in fome diftemper'st state)
On one nice trick depends the general fate,
An Ace of Hearts fteps forth: the King unfeen
Lurk'd in her hand, and mourn'd his captive
Queen :

He fprings to vengeance with an eager pace,
And falls like thunder on the proftrate Ace.
the The nymph exulting fills with shouts the sky;
The walls, the woods, and long canals reply. 100
O thoughtless mortals. ever blind to fate,
Too foon dejected, and too foon elate.
Sudden, thefe honours fhall be fnatch'd away,
And curs'd for ever this victorious day.

Ver. 24 And the long labours of the toilet ceafe.] All that follows of the game at Ombre, was added fince the first edition, till ver. 105, which connected thus:

For lo! the board with cups and spoons is
crown'd,

The berries crackle, and the mill turns round:
On fhining altars of Japan they raise
The filver lamp; the fiery fpirits blaze:
From filver spouts the grateful liquors glide,
While China's earth receives the fmoking

tide:

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Ver. 103. Sudden the board, &c.] From hence

Sudden the board with cups and spoons is crown'd. } the first ection continues to ver. 134.

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