Together furiously they ran,

That to the ground came horse and man;
The blood out of their helmets span,
So sharp were their encounters;
And though they to the earth were thrown,
Yet quickly they regained their own,-
Such nimbleness was never shown,-
They were two gallant mounters.?
When in a second course again
They forward came with might and
main,
370

Yet which had better of the twain,
The seconds could not judge yet;
Their shields were into pieces cleft,
Their helmets from their heads were reft,
And to defend them nothing left;
These champions would not budge yet.

THE RAPE OF THE LOCK

ALEXANDER POPE

[This poem deals with an episode in the social life of Pope's day. Lord Petre had playfully cut a lock of hair from the head of Miss Arabella Fermor, and the act resulted in resentment and the estrangement of the two families. Caryll, a common friend, suggested to Pope the poetizing of the incident, with the hope that the ill feeling would be laughed away. Pope developed the story in the manner of a mock epic, everywhere imitating the style of the Iliad and the Eneid in particular. Thus the sylphs are introduced to parallel the deities of the ancient epics; Belinda's bodkin (Canto 5, lines 88-96) is described in the manner of the historic sceptre of Agamemnon; and the speeches are in part modeled on epic oratory.] CANTO I

What dire offence from amorous causes springs,

What mighty contests rise from trivial things,

I sing. This verse to Caryll, Muse! is due;

This, e'en Belinda may vouchsafe to view. Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, If she inspire, and he approve my lays.

Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel

A well-bred lord t' assault a gentle belle? Oh, say what stranger cause, yet unexplored,

Could make a gentle belle reject a lord? 10 In tasks so bold, can little men engage, And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage?

Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray,

And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day.

Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake,

And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake. Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knocked the ground,1

And the pressed watch 2 returned a silver sound.

Belinda still her downy pillow pressed, Her guardian sylph prolonged the balmy

rest;

20

Seemed to her ear his winning lips to lay, And thus in whispers said, or seemed to say:

"Fairest of mortals, thou distinguished

care

Of thousand bright inhabitants of air! If e'er one vision touched thy infant thought,

Of all the nurse and all the priest have taught, 30

Of airy elves by moonlight shadows seen,
The silver token, and the circled green,
Or virgins visited by angel powers,
With golden crowns and wreaths of heav-
enly flowers;

Hear and believe; thy own importance know,

Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.

Some secret truths, from learned pride concealed,

To maids alone and children are revealed. What though no credit doubting wits may give?

The fair and innocent shall still believe. 40 Know, then, unnumbered spirits round thee fly,

The light militia of the lower sky.

These, though unseen, are ever on the wing,

Hang o'er the box,2 and hover round the Ring.3

Think what an equipage thou hast in air, And view with scorn two pages and a chair.

As now your own, our beings were of old, And once enclosed in woman's beauteous mould;

Thence, by a soft transition, we repair From earthly vehicles to these of air. Think not, when woman's transient breath

is fled,

50

Assume what sexes and what shapes they please.

70

What guards the purity of melting maids, In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades,

Safe from the treacherous friend, the daring spark,6

The glance by day, the whisper in the dark,

When kind occasion prompts their warm desires,

When music softens, and when dancing fires?

'Tis but their sylph, the wise celestials know,

Though honour is the word with men below.

Some nymphs there are, too conscious of their face,

For life predestined to the gnomes' embrace. 80

These swell their prospects and exalt their pride,

When offers are disdained, and love denied:

Then gay ideas crowd the vacant brain, While peers, and dukes, and all their sweeping train,

And garters, stars, and coronets appear, And in soft sounds 'Your Grace' salutes the ear.

'Tis these that early taint the female soul, Instruct the eyes of young coquettes to roll,

Teach infant cheeks a bidden blush to know,

90

And little hearts to flutter at a beau. "Oft when the world imagine women stray,

The sylphs through mystic mazes guide

their way,

Through all the giddy circle they pursue, And old impertinence expel by new.

6 spark. Beau, gallant.

What tender maid but must a victim fall To one man's treat, but for another's ball? When Florio speaks, what virgin could withstand,

If gentle Damon did not squeeze her hand?

With varying vanities, from every part, They shift the moving toyshop of their heart;

100

Where wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive,

Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive.

This erring mortals levity may call;

Oh, blind to truth! the sylphs contrive it all.

"Of these am I, who thy protection claim,

A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name.
Late, as I ranged the crystal wilds of air,
In the clear mirror of thy ruling star
I saw, alas! some dread event impend,
Ere to the main1 this morning sun de-
scend,

But Heaven reveals not what, or how, or where.

Warned by the sylph, O pious maid, beware!

This to disclose is all thy guardian can: Beware of all, but most beware of man!"

He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long,

Leaped up, and waked his mistress with his tongue.

'Twas then, Belinda, if report say true, Thy eyes first opened on a billet-doux; Wounds, charms, and ardours were no

sooner read,

119

But all the vision vanished from thy head. And now, unveiled, the toilet stands displayed,

Each silver vase in mystic order laid. First, robed in white, the nymph intent adores,

With head uncovered, the cosmetic powers.
A heavenly image in the glass appears,
To that she bends, to that her eyes she
rears;

Th' inferior priestess, at her altar's side,
Trembling begins the sacred rites of pride.
Unnumbered treasures ope at once, and
here

The various offerings of the world appear;

130

From each she nicely culls with curious

toil,

And decks the goddess with the glittering

spoil.

I main. Ocean.

This casket India's glowing gems unlocks, And all Arabia breathes from yonder box. The tortoise here and elephant unite, Transformed to combs, the speckled, and the white.

Here files of pins extend their shining rows,

Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billetsdoux.

Now awful beauty puts on all its arms; The fair each moment rises in her charms, Repairs her smiles, awakens every grace, And calls forth all the wonders of her face; 142

Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,
And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.
The busy sylphs surround their darling

In equal curls, and well conspired to deck With shining ringlets and smooth ivory neck.

Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, And mighty hearts are held in slender chains.

With hairy springes, we the birds betray, Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey, Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair. Th' adventurous baron the bright locks admired;

He saw, he wished, and to the prize aspired. 30

Resolved to win, he meditates the way, By force to ravish, or by fraud betray; For when success a lover's toil attends, Few ask, if fraud or force attained his ends.

For this, ere Phoebus rose, he had implored Propitious

adored,

Heaven, and every power

eyes

Soon to obtain, and long possess the prize. The powers gave ear, and granted half his prayer ;1

The rest the winds dispersed in empty air.

But now secure the painted vessel glides, The sunbeams trembling on the floating tides;

While melting music steals upon the sky, And softened sounds along the waters die; 50

Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play,

Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay. All but the sylph-with careful thoughts oppressed,

Th' impending woe sat heavy on his breast. He summons straight his denizens of air; The lucid squadrons round the sails re

pair;

I half his prayer. He was to obtain the lock, but not to keep it long.

Soft o'er the shrouds aërial whispers breathe,

That seemed but zephyrs to the train beneath.

Some to the sun their insect wings unfold, Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold; 60

Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight,

Their fluid bodies half dissolved in light. Loose to the wind their airy garments flew,

Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew,2 Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies, Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes,

While every beam new transient colours flings,

Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings.

Amid the circle, on the gilded mast
Superior by the head, was Ariel placed; 70
His purple pinions opening to the sun,
He raised his azure wand, and thus be-
gun:

"Ye sylphs and sylphids, to your chief give ear!

Fays, fairies, genii, elves, and demons, hear!

Ye know the spheres, and various tasks assigned

By laws eternal to th' aërial kind.
Some in the fields of purest æther play,
And bask and whiten in the blaze of day.
Some guide the course of wandering orbs
on high,

Or roll the planets through the boundless sky.

Some less refined, beneath the moon's pale

light

80

Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night,

Or suck the mists in grosser air below,
Or dip their pinions in the painted bow,
Or brew fierce tempests on the wintry
main,

Or o'er the glebe distil the kindly rain;
Others on earth o'er human race preside,
Watch all their ways, and all their actions
guide:

Of these the chief the care of nations own, And guard with arms divine the British throne. 90

"Our humbler province is to tend the fair,

Not a less pleasing, though less glorious

care;

2 Gossamer (formerly supposed to be the product of dew).