· Sir Roger de Coverley: a gentleman of Worcestershire, of ancient descent, a baronet' (Spect., No. 2); an imaginary character, more or less typical of the country squire of the time. 'Portrait of an English country gentleman, generous, ignorant, loyal, patriotic, and prejudiced' (T. Arnold). One of those who is. 'Is' ought to be 'are,' on the strict principle that the antecedent to who' is 'those,' not 'one.' The singular construction was usual in the oldest English; but though still common, it is now reckoned an error. Cf. This is the epoch of one of the most singular discoveries that has been made among men' (Hume). I resemble one of those animals that has been forced from its forest to gratify human curiosity' (Goldsmith). Will. Wimble 'is younger brother to a baronet, and descended of the ancient family of the Wimbles' (Spect. 108). He, too, is an imaginary character representative of the younger sons of country gentlemen. Assizes, lit. sessions (cf., below, 'a quarter-sessions'); court of justice in England, held twice a year in every county. From Lat. ad, sessum (to sit), through Fr. assises. A couple of plain men, and (below) 'a couple of honest gentlemen.' We should not use 'couple' thus, except in such familiar composition. Rid. We should now use 'rode.' A year; and (below) a week. The 'a' is a degenerate 'on' (prep.). The game-act. The 3d of James I., chap. 13, clause 4, provides 'that if any person or persons not having any manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments of the clear yearly value of forty pounds, or not worth in goods or chattels the sum of two hundred pounds, shall use any gun, bow, or cross-bow to kill any deer or coneys, or shall keep any buckstall or engine, hays, gate-nets, purse-nets, ferrets, or coney-dogs. ... Then every person having lands, tenements, or hereditaments, of the clear yearly value of one hundred pounds ... may take from the person or possession of such malefactor or malefactors, and to his own use for ever keep, such guns, bows, cross-bows, buckstalls, or engine, hays, gate-nets, pursenets, ferrets, and coney dogs.' 'This amiable enactment-which permitted a one-hundred-pound freeholder to become in his single person accuser, witness, judge, jury, and executioner; and which made an equally respectable but poorer man who shot a hare a "malefactor"-was the law of the land even so lately as 1827, for it was only repealed by the 7th and 8th Geo. IV., chap. 27' (Wills). Shoots flying. A high commendation. The expression is condensed: give it in full. Petty-jury. The persons composing 'the jury' (Law Lat. jurāta) were called juräti (the sworn men), Fr. les jurés, being sworn to decide facts truly according to the evidence laid before them. 'Petty' small, Fr. petit (small); opposed to 'grand' (see Shak., note to 'grand-jurors,' page 127). A petty-jury consists of twelve freeholders, who are empannelled to try causes at the bar of a court. = The widow. It is said he [the knight] keeps himself a bachelor, by reason he was crossed in love by a perverse beautiful widow of the next county to him' (Spect. 2). See also Spect. 115 and 118. So long-till looks like a mixture of two constructions; perhaps owing to the distance between the two parts. Cast, thrown his adversary (as in a wrestling match), won his case. 'Been cast' lost his case. Both the one result and the other seem to have cost him money. Determination, decision; opinion that brings the question to a termination, or end. Was sat. Auxiliary verb 'be' used with intrans. verb 'sit.' Cf. 'am come,' 'was arrived,' &c. The passive form is simulated: cf. the poetic 'I sit me down,' 'he sat him down,' where the verb is used in the active voice reflexively. Circuit, round; the journey of judges from place to place to try causes. From Lat. circu-itus (around-going). After about an hour's sitting: a very common phrase form in Addison, neatly taking the place of a clause-' after the court had sat about an hour.' Cf. (below) 'upon his first rising," 'upon Sir Roger's alighting,' &c. Was designed. The subject should be supplied. The gentlemen of the country, or of the At the charge of it. 'It' occurs twice, The balance may sometimes be improved.-It may be considered whether this paper treats Sir Roger with genial humour or with polite ridicule. ALEXANDER POPE.-1688-1744. ALEXANDER POPE was the son of a London linen-merchant. He was for the most part privately educated, owing to his delicate health, and to his parents being Roman Catholics. Early in his teens he made up his mind to be a poet by profession. In 1716 he settled at Twickenham, where he resided all the rest of his life. Pope tells us that he 'lisped in numbers for the numbers came.' He wrote the Ode on Solitude at twelve, and the Pastorals at sixteen. Meantime he had composed and burnt a comedy, a tragedy, and an epic poem. An Essay on Criticism was written in 1709, and The Rape of the Lock in 1712. The translation of Homer's Iliad, undertaken in 1713, was completed in 1720. An edition of Shakspeare followed in 1721. Homer's Odyssey (1723–5) was divided between Pope and certain assistants, Pope translating twelve books. In 1729, The Dunciad crushed and immortalised his literary enemies. The Essay on Man, written at the suggestion of Bolingbroke, was published in 1733. The Epistles and Satires (1733-8) are the most important of his other works. THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. ['The Lock' was a lock of hair cherished with especial regard by Miss Arabella Fermor, and the Rape' of it was a daring trick of Lord Petre's, who at a pleasure-party found ways and means of cutting it off. This gallantry of my lord's the lady took so much to heart, that the two families became estranged. Whereupon a common acquaintance and well-wisher to both desired me to write a poem to make a jest of it and laugh them together again' (Pope). And it was done. The poem in its first form was written in a fortnight of 1711 in two cantos. Next year it was expanded to five cantos, the supernatural machinery of spirits being then added. "The Rape of the Lock is the most exquisite monument of playful fancy that universal literature offers' (De Quincey).] BELINDA AT THE TOILET. (From Canto i.) And now, unveiled, the toilet stands displayed, To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears; 125 130 This casket India's glowing gems unlocks, And all Arabia breathes from yonder box. The tortoise here and elephant unite, 135 Transformed to combs, the speckled and the white. Here files of pins extend their shining rows, Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billets-doux. Now awful beauty puts on all its arms; The fair each moment rises in her charms, 140 Repairs her smiles, awakens every grace, NOTES. 123. The nymph. The fair lady (140: cf. 'belles,' ii. 16); 'Belinda;' Miss Fermor. 124. Cosmetic, adorning, beautifying. Fr. cosmétique, from Gr. kosmētikos, from kosmein (to adorn), from kosmos (order, ornament). 127. The inferior priestess. Betty, her maid (148). 130. The various offerings &c. Cf. Addison, Spectator, No. 69 (May 19, 1711): The single dress of a woman of quality is often the product of a hundred climates. The muff and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The scarf is sent from the torrid zone, and the tippet from beneath the pole. The brocade petticoat rises out of the mines of Peru, and the diamond necklace out of the bowels of Hindostan' (Warton). 134. Arabia. A common figure for the perfumes and such-like products 145 Cf. Shak., brought from Arabia. Macb. v. 1: 'Lady Macbeth. Here's the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.' 138. Patches. See Spect., Nos. 50 and 81. Billets-doux. French,= 'sweet notes,' short love-letters. 145. Sylphs. The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted with . ... According to these gentlemen, the four elements are inhabited by spirits, which they call sylphs, gnomes, nymphs, and salamanders. The gnomes or demons of earth delight in mischief; but the sylphs, whose habitation is in the air, are the best-conditioned creatures imaginable' (Pope's Preface). -Care, object of care, person cared for: a common figure. BELINDA ON THE THAMES. (From Canto ii.) Not with more glories in the ethereal plain, Fair nymphs and well-dressed youths around her shone, 5 : On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, 15 If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all. This nymph, to the destruction of mankind, Nourished two locks, which graceful hung behind 20 25 Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair. The adventurous baron the bright locks admired; He saw, he wished, and to the prize aspired, 30 Resolved to win, he meditates the way, But now secure the painted vessel glides, 10 |