Baskets of fish at Billingsgate did watch,

30 Cod, whiting, oyster, mackrel, sprat, or plaice: There learn'd she speech from tongues that never

cease.

Slander beside her, like a magpye, chatters,
With Envy (spitting cat) dread foe to peace;
Like a curs'd cur, Malice before her clatters, 35
And vexing ev'ry wight, tears clothes and all to tatters.

V.

40

Her dugs were mark'd by ev'ry collier's hand,
Her mouth was black, as bull-dog's at the stall :
She scratched, bit, and spar'd ne lace ne band,
And bitch and rogue, her answer was to all;
Nay, e’en the parts of shame by name would call :
Yea, when she passes by or lane or nook,
Would greet the man who turn'd him to the wall,
And by his hand obscene the porter took,
Nor ever did askance like modest virgin look.

45

VI.

Such place hath Deptford, navy-building town,
Woolwich and Wapping, smelling strong of pitch:
Such Lambeth, envy of each band and gown,
And Twick'nam such, which fairer scenes enrich,
Grots, statues, urns, and Jo—n's Dog and Bitch;

50

NOTES.

Ver. 36.]

Ver. 30. Baskets of fish] How different from those enchanting imitations of Spenser, the Castle of Indolence and the Minstreld—Warton.

The above personages of Obloquy, Slander, Envy, and Malice, are not marked with any distinct attributes. They are not those living figures, whose attitudes and behaviour Spenser has minutely drawn, with so much clearness and truth, that we behold them with our eyes, as plainly as we do on the ceiling of the Banqueting-house. For, in truth, the pencil of Spenser is as powerful as that of Rubens, his brotherallegorist; which two artists resembled each other, in many respects ; but Spenser had more grace, and was as warm a colourist.-Warlon.

It is scarcely candid to say that Pope's allegorical personages are not marked by distinctive attributes and behaviour. Obloquy was a Billingsgate fish woman, surrounded by the articles in which she had dealt; Slander chatters like a magpye ; Envy spits like a cat ; Malice clatters like a cur ; and Envy tears her neighbours' clothes in tatters. A more characteristic, concise, and, at the same time, poetical passage, will not frequently be met with, even in Spenser himself.

Ne village is without, on either side,
All up the silver Thames, or all adown;
Ne Richmond's self, from whose tall front are ey'd
Vales, spires, meand'ring streams, and Windsor's tow'ry
pride.

55

III.

WALLER

Pope has imitated Waller, with elegance, especially in the verses on a Fan of his own design ; for he designed with dexterity and taste.

The application of the story of Cephalus and Procris is as ingenious as Waller's Phæbus and Daphne. Waller abounds, perhaps to excess, in allusions to mythology and the ancient classics.-Warton.

ON A LADY SINGING TO HER LUTE.

5

Fair Charmer, cease! nor make your voice's prize
A heart, resign'd, the conquest of your eyes :
Well might, alas ! that threat'ned vessel fail,
Which winds and lightning both at once assail.
We were too blest with these enchanting lays,
Which must be heav'nly, when an angel plays :
But killing charms your lover's death contrive,
Lest heav'nly music should be heard, alive.
Orpheus could charm the trees; but thus a tree,
Taught by your hand, can charm no less than he:
A poet made the silent wood pursue,
This vocal wood had drawn the poet too.

10

On a fan of the Author's design, in which was painted the story of

CEPHALUS and Procris, with the Motto, AURA, VENI.

COME, gentle Air! th’ Æolian shepherd said,
While Procris panted in the secret shade;
Come, gentle Air! the fairer Delia cries,
While at her feet her swain expiring lies.

Lo the glad gales o'er all her beauties stray,

5 Breathe on her lips, and in her bosom play! In Delia's hand this toy is fatal found, Nor could that fabled dart more surely wound: Both gifts destructive to the givers prove; Alike both lovers fall by those they love.

10 Yet guiltless too this bright destroyer lives, At random wounds, nor knows the wound she gives : She views the story with attentive eyes, And pities Procris, while her lover dies.

IV.

COWLEY.

66

In the imitation of Cowley, in two pieces, on a Garden, and on Weeping, Pope has properly enough, in conformity to his original, extorted some moral, or darted forth some witticism on every object he mentions. It is not enough to say, that the laurels sheltered the fountain from the heat of the day ; but this idea must be accompanied with a conceit :

Daphne, now a tree, as once a maid,

Still from Apollo vindicates her shade.” The Aowers that grow on the water-side could not be sufficiently described without saying, that

“ The pale Narcissus on the bank, in vain

Transformed, gazes on himself again.” In the lines on a Lady Weeping, you might expect a touching picture of beauty in distress ; you will be disappointed. Wit, on the present occasion, is to be preferred to tenderness; the babe in her eye is said to resemble Phaeton so much,

“ That heav'n, the threat'ned world to spare,

Thought fit to drown him in her tears ;
Else might th' ambitious nymph aspire

To set, like him, the world on fire.” Let not this strained affectation of striving to be witty upon all occasions be thought exaggerated, or a caricature of Cowley. It is painful to censure a writer of so amiable a mind, such integrity of manners, and such a sweetness of temper. His fancy was brilliant, strong, and sprightly ; but his taste false and unclassical, even though he had much learning. In his Latin compositions, his six books on plants, where the subject might have led him to a contrary practice, he imitates Martial rather than Virgil, and has given us more epigrams than descriptions.

Pope, in one of his imitations of Horace, has exhibited the real character of Cowley with delicacy and candour :

“ Who now reads Cowley ? if he pleases yet,

His moral pleases, not his pointed wit ;
Forgot his epic, nay Pindaric art,
But still I love the language of his heart.”- Wartun.

THE GARDEN.

Fain would my Muse the flow'ry Treasures sing,
And humble glories of the youthful Spring;
Where op’ning Roses breathing sweets diffuse,
And soft Carnations show'r their balmy dews;
Where Lilies smile in virgin robes of white,

5
The thin Undress of superficial Light,
And vary'd Tulips show so dazzling gay,
Blushing in bright diversities of day.
Each painted flowret in the lake below
Surveys its beauties, whence its beauties grow; 10
And pale Narcissus on the bank, in vain
Transformed, gazes on himself again.
Here aged trees Cathedral Walks compose,
And mount the Hill in venerable rows :
There the green Infants in their beds are laid, 15
The Garden's Hope, and its expected shade.
Here Orange-trees with blooms and pendants shine,
And vernal honours to their autumn join,
Exceed their promise in the ripen'd store,
Yet in the rising blossom promise more.
There in bright drops the crystal Fountains play,
By Laurels shielded from the piercing day:
Where Daphne, now a tree, as once a maid,
Still from Apollo vindicates her shade,
Still turns her beauties from th' invading beam, 25
Nor seeks in vain for succour to the Stream.
The stream at once preserves her virgin leaves,
At once a shelter from her boughs receives,
Where Summer's beauty midst of Winter stays,
And Winter's Coolness spite of Summer's rays.

20

30

WEEPING.
While Celia's Tears make sorrow bright,

Proud Grief sits swelling in her eyes ;
The Sun, next those the fairest light,

Thus from the Ocean first did rise: And thus through Mists we see the sun, Which else we durst not gaze upon.

5

These silver drops, like morning dew,

Foretell the fervour of the day :
So from one Cloud soft show'rs we view,

And blasting lightnings burst away.
The Stars that fall from Celia's eye,
Declare our Doom in drawing nigh.

10

15

The Baby in that sunny Sphere

So like a Phaëton appears,
That Heav'n, the threaten'd World to spare,

Thought fit to drown him in her tears:
Else might th' ambitious Nymph aspire,
To set, like him, Heav'n too on fire.

V.

E. OF ROCHESTER.

The verses on Silence are a sensible imitation of the Earl of Rochester's on Nothing ; which piece, together with his Satire on Man from the fourth of Boileau, and the tenth Satire of Horace, (which in truth is excellent,) are the only pieces of this profligate nobleman which modesty or common sense will allow any man to read. Rochester had much energy in his thoughts and diction ; and though the ancient satirists often use great liberty in their expressions, yet, as the ingenious Historian observes, “ Their freedom no more resembles the license of Rochester, than the nakedness of an Indian does that of a common prostitute.”

Pope, in this imitation, has discovered a fund of solid sense, and just observation upon vice and folly, that are very remarkable in a person so

| Hume's History of Great Britain, vol. ii. p. 434.