The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems Part 14

The lady on awaking rang a little hand-bell that stood on a table by her bed to call her maid. Then as the maid did not appear at once she tapped impatiently on the floor with the heel of her slipper. The watch in the next line was a repeater.

'19'

All the rest of this canto was added in the second edition of the poem.

See pp. 84-86. Pope did not notice that he describes Belinda as waking in I. 14 and still asleep and dreaming in ll. 19-116.

'20 guardian Sylph':

 

compare ll. 67-78.

'23 a Birth-night Beau':

a fine gentleman in his best clothes, such as he would wear at a ball on the occasion of a royal birthday.

'30'

The nurse would have told Belinda the old tales of fairies who danced by moonlight on rings in the greensward, and dropped silver coins into the shoes of tidy little maids. The priest, on the other hand, would have repeated to her the legend of St. Cecilia and her guardian angel who once appeared in bodily form to her husband holding two rose garlands gathered in Paradise, or of St. Dorothea, who sent an angel messenger with a basket of heavenly fruits and flowers to convert the pagan Theophilus.

'42 militia':

used here in the general sense of "soldiery."

'44 the box':

in the theater.

'the ring':

the drive in Hyde Park, where the ladies of society took the air.

'46 a chair':

a sedan chair in which ladies used to be carried about. Why is Belinda told to scorn it?

'50'

What is the meaning of "vehicles" in this line?

'56 Ombre':

the fas.h.i.+onable game of cards in Pope's day. See his account of a game in Canto III and the notes on that pa.s.sage.

'57-67'

See 'Introduction', p. 85.

'69-70'

Compare 'Paradise Lost', I, 423-431.

'79'

conscious of their face: proud of their beauty.

'81 These':

the gnomes who urge the vain beauties to disdain all offers of love and play the part of prudes.

'85 garters, stars, and coronets':

the garter is the badge of the Knights of the Garter, an order founded by Edward III, to which only n.o.ble princes and n.o.blemen of the highest rank were admitted. "Stars" are the jeweled decorations worn by members of other n.o.ble orders. "Coronets" are the inferior crowns worn by princes and n.o.bles, not by sovereigns.

'86 "Your Grace"':

the t.i.tle bestowed in England on a d.u.c.h.ess--The idea in this pa.s.sage, ll. 83-86, is that the gnomes fill the girls' minds with hopes of a splendid marriage and so induce them to "deny love."

'94 impertinence':

purposeless flirtation.

'97-98 Florio ... Damon':

poetic names for fine gentlemen; no special individuals are meant.

'100' Why is a woman's heart called a "toy-shop"?

'101 Sword-knots':