former, after having been hackneyed by every whining love-fick fonneteer, are become trite and common to afford any new and ftriking images, even from the pen of POPE. Witness the following lines. "When bold Sir Plume had drawn Clariffá "down, "Chloe ftep'd in, and kill'd him with a frown; "She fmil'd to fee the doughty hero flain, "But, at her smile, the Beau reviv'd again.” These lines might pafs uncenfured, and might even be deemed pretty in an indifferent poet; but the fentiments and expreffions are too common-placed to be applauded in a genius: And this defcription, upon the whole, does not feem to be exalted to that height of mock dignity, to which Mr. POPE's talents were capable of raising it. It must be admitted, however, that he fhews great addrefs, where he described Belinda throwing fnuff at the Baron, where the machinery is again artfully introduced. "The Gnomes direct, to ev'ry atom juft, "The pungent grains of titillating duft." The laft line affords an inftance of a very beautiful periphrafis. The poet fhews great management in the catastrophe of the piece. The Lock, the reco very of which was the end of all this conteft, is loft; which occafions various conjectures concerning the place of its concealment, and gives the poet an opportunity of making a very ingenious application of that celebrated fiction of Ariofo, that all things loft on earth are treasured in the moon, wherein he has introduced a great deal of keen fatire. "Some thought it mounted to the Lunar sphere, "Since all things loft on earth are treasur'd "there. "There Heros' wits are kept in pond'rous " vafes, "And Beaux in fnuff-boxes and tweezer"cafes. "There broken vows, and death-bed alms are « found, "And lovers' hearts with ends of ribband "bound, "The courtier's promifes, and fick men's "pray'rs, "The fmiles of harlots, and the tears of heirs, Cages for gnats, and chains to yoke a flea, Dry'd butterflies, and tomes of cafuiftry." The Lock, however, is at length discovered in the fkies, where it is lodged with great poetical fancy; and, like Berenice's, becomes a conftellation. The poet does not fuffer the reader to lofe fight of his beautiful machinery: The Sylphs, who had been fo affiduous to preserve it, are finally introduced as viewing it with delight, while it afcends to heaven. "The "The Sylphs behold it kindling as it flies, The poet preferves the vigour of his poetical fancy to the laft. Even after the favourite Lock is transformed into a conftellation, he, with inimitable pleasantry, defcribes the influence it will have on the fons of earth. "This the Beau monde shall from the Mall furvey, "And hail with mufic its propitious ray; "This the bleft Lover fhall for Venus take, "And send up vows from Rosamonda's lake : "This Partridge foon fhall view in cloudless "fkies, "When next he looks thro' Galilæo's eyes; "And hence th' egregious wizard fhall fore"doom "The fate of Louis, and the fall of Rome." Thus the poet has admirably fulfilled the precept of Horace Servetur ad imum Qualis ab incepto procefferit." It will fcarce be credited that a man could be found fo devoid of judgment and tafte, or in whom envy and ill-nature were fo predominant, as to betray him into a fenfelefs and illiberal criticifm on this excellent piece; and yet that doughty critic, Mr. Dennis, whom I have before had had occafion to mention, did not fcruple to expofe his weaknefs and his malice in the moft ridiculous and fcurrilous animadverfions. His refentment and malevolence fo far got the better of the little critical merit which fome have allowed him to poffefs, that he abfurdly condemned feveral paffages, for reafons which conftituted their capital beauties. Such an impotent attack had the effect which might be expected: It ferved to render the critic contemptible, while Mr. POPE's fame rofe above all attempts to fupprefs it; and was not confined to his own country: this celebrated poem having been tranflated into feveral languages. There was, in particular, a French verfion of it, which was printed at Paris, in the year 1728. There were likewise translations of it in Italian, by the Abbé Conti, a noble Venetian; and by the Marquis Rongons, envoy extraordinary from the Duke of Modena to the late king. There have likewife been Latin verfions of it; and a profe irony of it, made its appearance in English*. This *Among the compliments paid to our author on this occafion, we must not omit the Eulogy of Sir William Trumball, who, in one of his letters to our author, fays "You have given me the trueft fatisfaction imaginable, "not only in making good the just opinion I have ever had of "your reach of thought, and my idea of your comprehenfive "genius; but likewife in that pleafure I take, as an Eng❝lifhman, to fee the French, even Boileau himself, in his "Lutrin, out-done in your poem: for you defcend, leviore "plectro, to all the nicer touches, that your own obferva ❝tion K This poem happened to be published at a time when party contests ran high, and among other fubjects of difpute, the famous Barrier treaty was much canvaffed, and applauded by the Whigs. Mr. POPE, though too honest and judicious to be a party-man, was neverthelefs from his birth and education ranked "tion and wit furnish, on fuch a fubject as requires the "finest strokes and the livelieft imagination.' Dean Berkley likewife, in a letter addreffed to our author, dated May 1ft, 1714, speaks of it in the highest terms of applaufe: "I have accidentally met with your Rape of the Lock "here, having never feen it before. Stile, painting, judg"ment, fpirit, I had already admired in other of your 86 writings; but in this I am charmed with the magic of 66 your invention, with all thofe images, allufions and inexplicable beauties, which you raise so surprisingly, and at "the fame time fo naturally, out of a trifle." 66 To the teftimonies in favour of this poem must be added that of the learned and ingenious author of the Elements of Criticifm, who fays The Rape of the Lock is a gen"teel and gay fpecies of writing, lefs ftrained than the "others before mentioned, and is pleafant or ludicrous, "without having ridicule for its chief aim; giving way, however, to ridicule, where it arifes from a particular "character, fuch as that of Sir Plume." He does not fcruple to add, that the verfification is the most complete of any in the English language. * Meaning the Virgil Traveftie of Scarron-The Secchia Rapita of Taffoni-The Batrachomuomachia of Homer, nd the Lutrin of Boileau. 7 among |