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MAYNARD'S ENGLISH CLASSIC SERIES.-No. 55.

THE RAPE OF THE LOCK

WITH

THE EPISTLE TO DR. ARBUTHNOT

BY

ALEXANDER POPE

WITH INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
SELECTED FROM WORKS OF

J. W. HALES, M.A.,

ATE FELLOW AND ASSISTANT TUTOR OF christ's college, CambrIDGE:
LECTURER IN ENGLISH LITERATURE AND CLASSICAL COMPOSITION

AT KING'S COllege schooL, LONDON; CO-EDITOR OF
BISHOP PERCY'S MS. FOLIO; ETC., ETC.

NEW YORK:

MAYNARD, MERRILL, & Co.,

29, 31, AND 33 EAST NINETEENTH STREET.

New Series, No. 110. December 1, 1900. Published Monthly. Subscription Price, 1.00,
Entered at Post Office, New York, as Second-class Matter.

May 23, 1940)
LIBRARY

mw.buracostin Donalds

A COMPLETE COURSE IN THE STUDY OF ENGLISH

Spelling, Language, Grammar, Composition, Literature.

Reed's Word Lessons-A Complete Speller.

Reed's Introductory Language Work.

Reed & Kellogg's Graded Lessons in English.
Reed & Kellogg's Higher Lessons in English.
Reed & Kellogg's One-Book Course in English.
Kellogg & Reed's Word Building.

Kellogg & Reed's The English Language,
Kellogg's Text-Book on Rhetoric.

Kellogg's Illustrations of Style.

Kellogg's Text-Book on English Literature.

In the preparation of this series the authors have had one object
clearly in view-to so develop the study of the English language as
to present a complete, progressive course, from the Spelling-Book to
the study of English Literature. The troublesome contradictions
which arise in using books arranged by different authors on these
subjects, and which require much time for explanation in the school-
room, will be avoided by the use of the above" Complete Course."
Teachers are earnestly invited to examine these books.

MAYNARD, MERRILL, & CO., PUBlishers,

New York.

Copyright, 1885, by CLARK & MAYNARD.

ALEXANDER POPE.

THIS eminent English poet was born in London, May 21, 1688. His parents were Roman Catholics, and to this faith the poet adhered, thus debarring himself from public office and employment. His father, a linen-merchant, having saved a moderate competency, withdrew from business, and settled on a small estate he had purchased in Windsor Forest. He died at Chiswick, in 1717. His son shortly afterwards took a long lease of a house and five acres of land at Twickenham, on the banks of the Thames, whither he retired with his "idowed mother, to whom he was tenderly attached, and where he resided till death, cultivating his little domain with exquisite taste and skill, and embellishing it with a grotto, temple, wilderness, and other adjuncts poetical and picturesque. In this famous villa Pope was visited by the most celebrated wits, statesmen, and beauties of the day, himself being the most popular and successful poet of his age. His early years were spent at Binfield, within the range of the Royal Forest. He received some education at little Catholic schools, but was his own instructor after his twelfth year. He never was a profound or accurate scholar, but he read Latin poets with ease and delight, and acquired some Greek, French, and Italian. He was a poet almost from infancy; he "lisped in numbers," and when a mere youth surpassed all his contemporaries in metrical harmony and correctness. His pastorals and some translations appeared in 1709; but were written three or four years earlier. These were followed by the Essay on Criticism, 1711; Rape of the Lock (when completed, the most graceful, airy, and imaginative of his works), 1712-1714; Windsor Forest, 1713; Temple of Fame, 1715. In a collection of his works printed in 1717 he included the Epistle of Eloisa and Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady, two poems inimitable for pathetic beauty and finished melodious versification.

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