IMPROMPTU TO LADY WINCHILSEA.1 OCCASIONED BY FOUR SATIRICAL VERSES ON WOMEN WITS, IN THE RAPE OF THE LOCK. you N vain boast poetic names of yore, no more: Fate doomed the fall of every female wit; But doomed it then, when first Ardelia writ. Light to the stars the sun does thus restore, OCCASIONED BY SOME VERSES OF HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.2 USE, 'tis enough; at length thy labour M ends, And thou shalt live, for Buckingham commends. Let crowds of critics now my verse assail, 1 Lady Winchilsea published a tragedy and a volume of poems, under the name of Ardelia. 2 Complimenting Pope on his Iliad, and on his merit as a friend. For the Duke of Buckingham, see Essay on Criticism, v. 723. Let Dennis write, and nameless numbers rail; This more than pays whole years of thankless pain : Time, health, and fortune are not lost in vain. Sheffield approves, consenting Phoebus bends, And I and Malice from this hour are friends. TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF OXFORD.1 UPON A PIECE OF NEWS IN MIST (MIST'S JOURNAL), ESLEY, if Wesley 'tis they mean, What patron this, a doubt must be, That both were good must be confessed; But which to Him will be the best, 1 From Nichols's Literary Anecdotes; the allusions are to the Rev. Samuel Wesley, and Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester. LINES IN EVELYN'S BOOK OF COINS.1 OM WOOD of Chiswick, deep divine, LINES ON SWIFT'S ANCESTORS.2 ONATHAN SWIFT By fatherige, motherige, To come from Gotherige, In this church he has put For England hath its own. 1 Written in Evelyn's Book of Coins, given by Mr. Wood to Kent. Communicated to Notes and Queries, Mar. 13, 1851. 2 "Swift put up a plain monument to his grandfather, and also presented a cup to the church of Goodrich, or Gotheridge (Herefordshire). He sent a pencilled elevation of the monument (a simple tablet) to Mrs. Howard, who returned it with the following lines inscribed on the drawing by Pope. The paper is indorsed, in Swift's hand, Model of a Monument for my grandfather, with Mr. Pope's roguery.' ”. SCOTT's Life of Swift, p. 3. · LINES SUNG BY DURASTANTI WHEN SHE TOOK LEAVE OF THE ENGLISH STAGE.' THE WORDS WERE IN HASTE PUT TOGETHER BY MR. POPE, AT THE REQUEST OF LORD PETERBOROUGH. ENEROUS, gay, and gallant nation, Land secure from all invasion, you Let old charmers yield to new ; In arms, in arts, be still more shining; All your joys be still increasing; All your tastes be still refining; All your jars for ever ceasing: But let old charmers yield to new. ON THE COUNTESS OF BURLINGTON CUTTING PAPER. ALLAS grew vapourish once, and odd, She would not do the least right thing, Either for goddess, or for god, Nor work, nor play, nor paint, nor sing. 1 Margarita Durastanti was brought to England by Handel in 1719, and retired in 1723. Jove frowned, and, "Use," he cried, "those eyes So skilful, and those hands so taper; Do something exquisite and wise-" This vexing him who gave her birth, Pallas, you give yourself strange airs; Alas! one bad example shown; Her maiden name was Lady Dorothy Saville. She married Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington, in 1721. 2 We may conjecture that the Countess of Burlington had, in an absent mood, amused herself with cutting to pieces one of the Sibylline leaves of paper on which Pope had written some verses. Perhaps John Overton, her servant, had been called to remove the litter, and hence had helped to “o'erthrow the arts."-Courthope. |